The 'Protestant Reformers' were those theologians, churchmen, and statesmen whose careers, works, and actions brought about the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century. Historically speaking, "Protestant" was the name given to those theologians, magnates, and delegations present at the Holy Roman Imperial Diet of Speyer in 1529 who protested the revocation of the suspension, granted at a prior Diet of Speyer in 1526, of Edict of Worms of 1521, which had outlawed Martin Luther and his followers.

The meaning of the label "Protestant" widened over time to embrace all Western Christians as distinguished from the Roman Catholic Church, except for the Anabaptists and other Radical Reformers. This reflected the widening spread of the Protestant Reformation over Europe into diversifying movements like Lutheranism, Anglicanism, Calvinism, and Arminianism. Today, all Western Christian denominations other than the Roman Catholic Church are loosely known as Protestant churches.

Precursors

There were a number of people who contributed to the development of the reformation, but lived before it, including:

• John Hus
• Jerome of Prague
• Savonarola
• Peter Waldo
• Wessel Harmenz. Gansfort
• John Wycliffe

Magisterial Reformers

The Protestant Reformation, popularly thought to have begun on October 31, 1517 with the posting of Martin Luther's 95 theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, divided Western Christendom, as distinguished from Eastern Christendom, into the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant churches.

The Magisterial Reformation connected the visible Christian church with society as a whole, as the Roman Catholic Church had before, thus imposing on the government and magistrates Christian duties, such as supporting the new churches economically and weighing in on issues of doctrine.

There were a number of key reformers within the Magisterial Reformation, including:

• Theodore Beza
• Martin Bucer
• Heinrich Bullinger
• John Calvin
• Andreas von Carlstadt, later a Radical Reformer
• Wolfgang Fabricius Capito
• Martin Chemnitz
• Thomas Cranmer
• William Farel
• Matthias Flacius
• Caspar Hedio
• Justus Jonas
• John Knox
• Jan ?aski
• Martin Luther
• Philipp Melanchthon
• Johannes Oecolampadius
• Peter Martyr
• Aonio Paleario
• Laurentius Petri
• Olaus Petri
• William Tyndale
• Joachim Vadian
• Pierre Viret
• Huldrych Zwingli

Radical Reformers

Because these reformers were those of the Radical Reformation and the Anabaptist movement, they have not been traditionally listed with the mainline Protestant reformers. (Compare the reformers of the "Second Front" of the Reformation below):

• John of Leiden
• Thomas Müntzer
• Kaspar Schwenkfeld
• Sebastian Franck
• Menno Simons

Counter-reformers

Catholics who worked against the Reformation include:

• Jerome Cardinal Aleander
• Augustine Alveld
• Thomas Cardinal Cajetan
• Johann Cochlaeus
• Johann Eck
• Jerome Emser
• Pope Leo X
• John Tetzel

Second Front Reformers

There were also a number of people who initially cooperated with the Reformers, but who separated from them to form a "Second Front", principally in objection to the Reformers' sacralism. Among these were:

• Hans Denck
• Conrad Grebel
• Balthasar Hubmaier
• Felix Manz

See also

• List of Protestant Reformers (alphabetical)

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