Their basic faith amounted to modern Protestantism of the church of the apostles. But through it all the hand of God guided the development of conditions which ushered in the tumultuous period of the Reformation.
In Western Europe strong centralized governments worked to curtail the power of the church and help make a religious revolt possible. The
As a result of wars, famines, plagues, fears of Turkish invasion, general social unrest, the activity of the Humanists and their call to literal Bible
Perhaps the foremost reason for the coming of the Reformation is that there were abuses in the church itself, abuses that had existed for nearly
Almost without exception, the leaders of the Reformation were highly educated men of that generation. Soon after, Karoli, one of the most energetic of Magyar preachers, had done the same in the Magyar tongue.
BOHEMIA
JOHN HUSS
News of the Hussite opposition to the indulgences with a consequent loss of money to the papal treasury and other anticlerical disturbances. The Council of Constance convened Pope John XXIII, one of the three rival popes, at the request of Emperor Sigismund.
JEROME OF PRAGUE
He supported the Church's views on the Lord's Supper, in contrast to Wycliffe's position. His critique of the degeneration of the church of his day was mixed with depth of knowledge, humor and sarcasm.
ENGLAND, SCOTLAND
THOMAS BILNEY
In the case of Barnes, "the Goliath of the university," he first prayed long and earnestly. Since Wolsey was too busy with the affairs of the kingdom, he left the trial in the hands of Cuthbert Tunstall, bishop of London.
ROBERT BROWNE
Necessity now demanded that true and faithful Christians should separate themselves from the existing corruption of the Established Church. He submitted, outwardly at least, to the orders of the Church of England, maintaining his faith under a cloak of submission.
THOMAS CARTWRIGHT
The battle for the garments became heated; the universities, the bishops, and the court were all involved in the dispute. Foremost among the Puritan scribes was John Lidall, who died in prison for his defiance of the church.
JOHN COLET
It was Colet who influenced More and Erasmus, the other two of the Oxford Reformers. Colet was the creator of the Oxford Reformers, the leader of the English Renaissance, the founder of St.
MILES COVERDALE
It is likely that Coverdale escaped martyrdom because his translation of the Bible was not. In 1558 he was in Geneva, and it is assumed by some that he took part in the preparation of the Geneva Bible, which was published in 1560.
THOMAS CRANMER
One of Cranmer's most far-reaching acts for the cause of the Reformation was the encouragement he gave to the translation and sale of the Bible. In fact, Cranmer was one of the few individuals Henry was known to stay with.
JOHN FOXE
Also, he acquired a thorough knowledge of the Bible in the original language, which "led him to discern the errors of popery and to seek the only way. These he gave to Fox, who later also had access to the bishops' archives and registers. In 1559 the Acts and Monuments of the Church, written in Latin and dedicated to the Duke of Norfolk, his former pupil, appeared at Basel.
JOHN FRITH
The doctrine of the sacrament is not an article of faith to be held under penalty of damnation. It is neither right nor necessary to take the word of Christ literally, for it must be interpreted by the analogy of the Bible. He regarded Frith as "the great hope of the Church in England," and did not want any harm to come to him.
PATRICK HAMILTON
The Hamiltons were in the midst of battle, their bonds split between the warring factions. In this one month he was able to touch the heart of the nation with his message of reform. On the same day he was tried, Hamilton was rushed to execution outside the gates of St.
JOHN HOOPER
Hooper came to national prominence at the time of the adoption of the Six Articles. It was at this time that he took the place of a leader of the Reformers, constantly seeking to accept the middle path of Zwingli and Calvin, as opposed to Lutheranism and Catholicism. From this year until the time of his death, Hooper was a member of the commission whose duty it was to report on canon law.
JOHN KNOX
In 1552 he had a hand in the compilation of the Book of Common Prayer and thereby contributed to making it more Protestant. Here he found himself in the middle of the competition, one that he himself had helped to produce. The other occasion was Knox's sermon against the persecution of the Huguenots in France, an event Mary celebrated with a ball at Holyrood.
HUGH LATIMER
He was sent to the country schools and then to Cambridge, where he became a fellow at Clare Hall and took the master's degree in art. However, the opposition of the Catholic party led in 1539 to the adoption of the Six Articles, which established and excluded transubstantiation. When Mary Tudor followed son Edward to the throne in 1553, it was all over.
ANDREW MELVILLE
He was exceedingly learned, and at the age of twenty-one he was offered the regency of the College of St. The ecclesiastical courts had jurisdiction independent of the civil magistrates. For most of the following year he was imprisoned in the homes of the Dean of St.
NICHOLAS RIDLEY
His gradual deviation from the Catholic order, however, did not lead to carelessness in the performance of his duties, nor to a neglect of due recognition of the established order. Ridley "stuck more to the ceremonies of the church than any of his brothers in the reign of Edward VI." This was especially true when he followed the liturgy of the developing Church of England. His calm demeanor in his execution also advanced, rather than hindered, the cause of the Reformation.
JOHN ROGERS
Within four years and four months, 24,000 copies of the entire Bible were sold in London. Coverdale's name was not mentioned because his Bible had failed to win approval. And he also resisted all the attempts of the Papists to compel him to recant just before the execution.
WILLIAM TYNDALE
Many of them are said to have recognized for the first time the great similarity between Tyndale's version and the authorized one. It has already been mentioned that the bishops in England tried to keep Tyndall's translation out of the country; but when he succeeded to such an extent, they were very clever under his victory. Sir Thomas Elyot, the author of The Governor, was sent to trap him, but failed.
GEORGE WISHART
One day while Wishart was in the pulpit, one of the most prominent citizens, by order of the cardinal, interrupted him and ordered him to leave the city in the name of Mary of Guise. He then went to Ayrshire, where there still remained some of the followers of the Lollards. With gentleness and sweetness, it is said, Wishart reiterated his position on the teachings of the Bible.
JOHN WYCLIFFE
Whatever one wants to classify him, he stands as one of the leading men of his time. Apparently, apart from time, there is not much that distinguishes him from the reformers of the sixteenth century. As the first major scientific opponent of the medieval papacy, he exerted an undying influence.
FRANCE
LOUIS DE BERQUIN
Some of Berquin's hearers reported what they saw and heard to the bishop of Amiens, who reported it to Bede, the hound of the Sorbonne. This raised Berquin's spirits to the highest pitch, as he thought of the king's acting as another elector of Saxony. He was asked to carry a lighted taper in the great courtyard of the palace and ask forgiveness from the king and God.
GASPARD DE COLIGNY
Did you ever read or hear of anything more appropriate than the death of a king? In December 1560, at the Assembly of the States General in Orleans, Coligny again stood up for his co-religionists. For his role in the successful marriage negotiations, Coligny was showered with tokens of goodwill from the royal family.
JACQUES LEFEVRE
Some of his greatest achievements lay in the work of men who were his disciples. He is also known as Faber Stapulensis, the Latin name applied to him according to the custom of the Humanists. However, it was not until 1507 that he began to devote all his time to the study of the Scriptures.
GERMANY
MARTIN BUCER
The main purpose of the discussion was to resolve the opposing views of the Lord's Supper. This time, however, the bulk of the blame for failure seems to have rested with the Swiss Reformers. Mary's Church with high praise in the presence of the entire university and three thousand citizens.
MARTIN LUTHER
Quickly his three great pamphlets of reform, the Liberty of the Christian Man, the Christian Nobility of the German Nation. Concerning the Reformation of the Christian Commonwealth, and On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church, reached the people. It appears at the core of his teaching, colored with the democratic theory of the equality of all people.
PHILIPP MELANCHTHON
He spared no expense in making this production monumental, as it was to be read before Emperor Charles V as the fundamental creed of the German Protestants. The effect of the Confession on the emperor and others at court is described as follows: A cold caught in the spring of 1560 resulted in his death on April 19 of the same year.
HOLLAND
MENNO SIMONS
Almost all historians allow their Anabaptist annals to be tainted by the deeds of the Munsters. It is indisputably true that John of Leyden declared polygamy to be the law of the realm, "the only dark stain on the Anabaptists of Munster." A few authors, however, came to the defense of the sober Anabaptists and the doctrines they taught.
ITALY
PETER MARTYR
In 1530 he was elected abbot of the Augustinian monastery in Spoleto, and three years later he was appointed prior of the monastery of St. For a time he tried to hide his newfound faith, but further study convinced him of the pope's mistake. Catholic Church. The viceroy of Naples stopped his sermons, but an appeal to Rome brought about a reversal of the restriction, influenced by Martyr's many friends among the cardinals, including Pole and Contarini.
