The spread of Protestantism was a major development linked to printing. The Protestant Reformation was a movement of religious protest and reform that burst on the European scene in the early sixteenth century. Martin Luther (1483-1546), a German Christian monk, challenged the Roman Catholic Church to make numerous reforms in doctrine and leadership. The result was a long and bitter struggle for religious and political power that divided western Europeans for well over a century. At the same time, the Catholic Church continued to gain followers, and a variety of Protestant churches sprang up, the forerunners of modern denominations such as the Lutherans, Presbyterians, Methodists, Episcopalians, and Baptists.