Saint Ignatius of Loyola, also known as Ignacio López de Loyola, was the principal founder and first Superior General of the Society of Jesus, a religious order of the Catholic Church professing direct service to the Pope in terms of missio...

William Tyndale was an English scholar who became a leading figure in Protestant reform, in the years leading up to his execution. He is well known for his translation of the Bible into English. He was influenced by the work of Desiderius E...

Francis I of France, called the Father and Restorer of Letters, was crowned King of France in 1515 in the cathedral at Reims and reigned until 1547. Francis I is considered to be France's first Renaissance monarch. His reign saw France make...

Gustav I, born Gustav Eriksson and later known as Gustav Vasa, was King of Sweden from 1523 until his death. He was the first monarch of the House of Vasa, an influential noble family which came to be the royal house of Sweden for much of t...

Menno Simons is without doubt the greatest figure in the history of the Mennonite Church. He was not the founder but is often called the regenerator of the Anabaptist movement. He certainly was its most important leader in the Netherlands d...

Hans Holbein the Younger was a German artist and printmaker who worked in a Northern Renaissance style. He is best known as one of the greatest portraitists of the 16th century. He also produced religious art, satire, and Reformation propag...

Charles V was Holy Roman Emperor from 1519-1558; he was also King of Spain from 1516-1556, officially as Charles I of Spain, although often referred to as Charles V ("Carlos Quinto" or "Carlos V") in Spain and Latin America. He was the son...

Anne Boleyn, Marchioness of Pembroke and Queen Consort of England (1505/1507 – May 19, 1536) was the second (of the six) wife and queen consort of Henry VIII and the mother of Elizabeth I of England who would become Queen. Born into the Eng...

Christian III was king of Denmark and Norway from 1534–59. Early in his reign, he allied with Gustavus I of Sweden to defeat the German city of Lübeck in 1536. That victory broke the power of the Hanseatic League and made the Danish fleet s...

Pope Saint Pius V was Pope from 1566 to 1572 and is a saint of the Catholic Church. He is chiefly notable for his role in the Council of Trent, the Counter-Reformation, and the standardization of the Roman liturgy within the Latin Church. P...

Juliana of Stolberg was the mother of William 1 of Orange (Willem van Oranje), also known as William the Silent (Willem de Zwijger). Juliana was the daughter of Botho VIII of Stolberg-Wernigerode and Anna of Eppstein-Königstein. Her first m...

Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, the third Duke of Alba was a Spanish general and governor of the Spanish Netherlands (1567 - 1573), nicknamed "the Iron Duke" by Protestants of the Low Countries because of harsh rule. Although the Duke led oppre...

John of Leiden was an Anabaptist leader from the Dutch city of Leiden. Raised in poverty, young John became a charismatic leader who was widely revered by his followers. According to his own testimony, he went to the German city of Münster,...

John Calvin was an influential French theologian and pastor during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism. Originally trained as a humanist lawyer,...

John Knox was a Scottish clergyman and a leader of the Protestant Reformation who is considered the founder of the Presbyterian denomination in Scotland. Influenced by early church reformers such as George Wishart, he joined the movement to...