Long before Luther and Calvin others  worked towards a reformation of the Catholic Church. Throughout the Middle-Ages there were constant movements calling for reformation, some were absorbed by the Catholic Church and caused new religious orders to be created, while others were rejected.

In these reformers, rejected by the atholic Church, Protestant historians saw forerunners of the Reformation, in Pierre Valdo in France in the 12th century, John Wyclif in England in the 14th century, Jan Hus and Jerome of Prague in Bohemia in the 15th century, humanists Erasmus and Lefèvre d’Étaples who both translated the Bible in the early 16th century.

However they did not retain either the Cathars in the 11th to 13th centuries, or Savonarola (1452-1498).