Charles the Fifth (1500-1558)
Charles the Fifth inherited a vast empire; although he saw himself as a defender of Catholicism, he was unable to prevent the spread of the Reformation Movement in the Holy...
Lucas Cranach the Elder (1427-1553)
The painter and engraver Lucas Cranach or Cranach the Elder adopted the reformation ideas of Luther as soon as his theses were posted in 1517. He was the official painter...
Martin Luther and the Lutheran Reformation
Martin Luther, a german augustin monk, questioned the dogma of salvation through deeds. He was condemned by Pope Leon X, and started the extensive movement of religious reform of the...
Philadelphe Delord, the friend of the lepers (1869-1947)
In 1926 pastor Philadelphe Delord founded, with the help of the Institut Pasteur, the first sanatorium for lepers in the charterhouse in Valbonne, in the Gard. The establishment won international...
The Pastor Eugène Bersier Foundation
The Foundation follows a long tradition of serving the inhabitants of western Paris and also French Protestantism. It is specialized in audio-visual techniques and supports Protestant associations in a wide...
Christianity in the West in 16th century
At the beginning of the 16th century, the Church of Rome had been in a state of moral and political crisis for two centuries, but had not managed to overcome...
Pierre Valdo (1140-1217) and the Waldenses
Pierre Valdo started the Waldenses movement, which spread throughout southern Europe.
John Wyclif (c. 1328-1384) and the Lollards
Wyclif, a distant precursor of the Reformation, challenged the Church’s authority and hierarchy. His followers, the Lollards, instigated a peasant revolt. They denounced the established Church.
Jan Hus (1369-1415) and the Hussite wars (1419-1436)
Hus was a Czech priest, who, a century before Luther, called for a reform of the Chuch and was burnt at the stake. His death set off a religious, political...
Forerunners of the Reformation
The Forerunners of the Reformation developed many ideas which inspired Luther. Among them Pierre Valdo was the first, in the XIIth century.
Jacques Lefèvre d’Etaples (1450-1537)
Jacques Lefèvre d’Etaples was a theologian who founded the “Cenacle of Meaux” and was the first to translate the Bible into French.
The “Cenacle of Meaux” (1521-1525)
The “Cenacle of Meaux” was founded in 1521 by Lefèvre d’Etaples ; its function was to encourage reflexion on the Scriptures and to spread new ideas – notably, it advocated the...
Michel de l’Hospital (1505-1573)
Michel de l’Hospital was a Catholic lawyer, who was called on by Catherine de Médicis to try to establish the peaceful coexistence of Catholics and Protestants. However he failed in...
The revolution of printing
Block print technology was now highly developed and had a considerable impact on the dissemination of ideas – it was thanks to printing that the ideas of the Reformation spread...
Factors preceding the Reformation
Forerunning factors to the Protestant Reformations had been accumulating for many years.
Philipp Melanchthon (1497-1560)
Melanchton was a humanist and a theologian who adapted Luther’s ideas. His attempts to reconcile the different reformation trends failed.
The Augsburg confession (1530)
This confession of faith was written by Philipp Melanchton for the diet in Augsburg in 1530 and was meant as a unifying text. It was based on the Scriptures and...
The Lutheran Reformation
Luther initiated a reformation movement with the aim of correcting the practices as well as the doctrine of the Church. He did not intend to found a new Church. But...
Jean Calvin’s doctrine
Calvin presented his doctrine in his major work : The Institutes of the Christian Religion.