1: In 1483, Martin Luther was born. He was one day caught in a thunderstorm. He promised that if he survived, he would enter a monastery. He survived, and he entered a Monastery. In 1510, he visited Rome, and was very shocked at what he saw.

2: He stared with disbelief at the sumptuous houses of the Catholic cardinals. He saw the bishops, even the pope, break their religious vows. The sales of indulgences, or pardons for sins, is what angered him the most. He posted a document entitled 95 thesis on the door of the main church in Wittenburg.

3: The Holy Roman Emperor summoned Luther before a diet, or an assembley, in the city of Worms. The diet declared Luther an outlaw. Meanwhile, many people knew Luther as a hero for his strong stand against the abuses of the church.

4: John Calvin was born in France in 1509. In the 130s, he had a "sudden conversion" and declared himself a protestant. He published a book called The Institutes of Christian Religion in 1536. In it, he set out the basic ideas of Protestant faith. The Institutes became the major authority on protestant thought.

5: At about the same time, William Tyndale printed an English translation of the New Testament of the Bible. His translation helped bring Reformation ideas to England.