Strasbourg, where Martin Bucer was a leader of reform.

Of Alsatian background, Martin Bucer was a Dominican friar and secular priest before joining the Protestant cause. His theology was shaped by early studies in Thomistic theology and exposure to the humanism of Erasmus of Rotterdam. As a reformer he was drawn to what would become primary themes of the Reformed tradition. He took a strongly communal view of the church and considered disciplined, faithful activity in the world as one of the hallmarks of the individual Christian believer. He was most active as a reformer in southern German territories but also took part in the ecclesiastical politics of the Holy Roman Empire, particularly in the 1540s. Among Protestants he urged the reconciliation of differences between Lutherans and Zwinglians and represented the Zwinglian party at the Colloquy of Marburg in 1529, but these efforts were ultimately to little avail. As the leader of reform in Strasbourg he befriended John Calvin who lived in the city after fleeing France and before taking refuge in Switzerland. Through his mentoring of Calvin, Bucer later exercised considerable influence on the entire Reformed tradition. When Strasbourg was forced to submit to the ecclesiastical policies of the Holy Roman Emperor in 1549, Bucer fled to England where, among other things, he advised Thomas Cranmer on the reform of the Church of England. Bucer died in England in 1551.