The Protestant Reformation is the name given to a religious and political development in the early 16th century. On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther, a monk from Germany published "95 These." He said that the Roman Catholic church was corrupt and that it should be reformed. Luther also argued that reformation was required with regards to: 1) the language that the Bible was produced in because most people couldn't read Latin; and 2) the selling of forgiveness which was considered to be immoral by Luther but had been standard practice by some monks and priests for years. The ideas behind the Protestant Reformation were simple. The church should be changed so that it was less greedy, fairer and accessible to all people, not just the rich and well educated. (source: www.schoolshistory.org.uk/ protestantreformation.htm#.WKYUbX-QM2w)