Martin Luther (German, 1483-1546)
The church started by Luther is called Protestant Church, because it protested against Catholic ideas.
Luther was the founder of Protestantism. He became a priest in 1507 and taught at Wittenberg University. He was shocked when he went to Rome and saw the luxury of the Pope's court.

In 1517 he attacked the sale of pardons. Pardons were papers which people brought from the Church to say their sins were forgiven. He nailed his protest to the church door at Wittenburg.

Luther's ideas was that church Church should be simple, only God could forgive sins, and the way through reading the Bible, not priests and Pope. He also said Bible should be in the people's language, not Latin.

Luther did not want to break away form the Church, he just wanted to reform it. But after he was called to defend his ideas, the Pope excommunicated him.

Luther had to hide under the protection of a powerful German prince, but his ideas spread across northern Europe just like Britain. Later, the Protestant Church became powerful.