Protestant Reformers were those
theologians,
churchmen, and
statesmen whose careers, works, and actions brought about the
Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century. Historically speaking, "
Protestant" was the name given to those theologians, magnates, and delegations present at the
Holy Roman Imperial Diet of Speyer in 1529 who protested the revocation of the suspension, granted at a prior
Diet of Speyer in 1526, of
Edict of Worms of 1521, which had outlawed
Martin Luther and
his followers.