When was the Spanish Reformation?
English: Fray Pedro Fernández Pecha, by Valdés Leal, 1656, Museo de Bellas Artes de Sevilla (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) The sixteenth century in Europe was a century of church reform. Using the newly-invented printing press, many called the church to clean up its act. Martin Luther set reform blazing in Germany with pamphlets and a German Bible. William Tyndale issued the Bible and many booklets in English and died for it. John Calvin published a powerful theological work that won millions of followers. The very air seemed charged with new learning. Spain , too, had its champion of reformation--a freshman at the University of Alcalá. Juan Valdés was just eighteen years old on this day January 14, 1529when he published his Dialogue on Christian Doctrine . The work was not quite as he had planned. One of his professors cautioned him to make some changes so that he would not rouse the wrath of the Inquisition . Valdés agreed. Even so, the book was strongly Protestant in tone. What