Schwenkfeld, Kaspar von, 1490–1561, German religious reformer. Schwenkfeld was in court service with the duke of Liegnitz from 1510 to c.1522. He visited Wittenberg during Martin Luther's abse...

Anabaptists [Gr.,=rebaptizers], name applied, originally in scorn, to certain Protestant sects holding that infant baptism is not authorized in Scripture and that baptism should be administere...

Leipzig, city (1994 pop. 490,850), Saxony, E central Germany, at the confluence of the Pleisse, White Elster, and Parthe rivers. One of Germany's major industrial, commercial, and transportati...

Luther, Martin, 1483–1546, German leader of the Protestant Reformation, b. Eisleben, Saxony, of a family of small, but free, landholders. Luther was educated at the cathedral school at Eisenac...

Reformation, religious revolution that took place in Western Europe in the 16th cent. It arose from objections to doctrines and practices in the medieval church (see Roman Catholic Church) and...