Reformed Founders

How they connect

The Reformed tradition was built by people who argued, wrote to each other, taught each other, and took over each other’s pulpits. This timeline puts the 6 founders on one line so you can see where their lives cross.

Each entry names who’s involved and links to the source. Dates marked “c.” are approximate.

Births

  • 1484 Zwingli. Born January 1 in Wildhaus, in the Toggenburg valley.1
  • 1491 Bucer. Born November 11 in Sélestat, Alsace.2
  • 1504 Bullinger. Born July 18 in Bremgarten.3
  • 1509 Calvin. Born July 10 in Noyon, France.4
  • c. 1514 Knox. Born near Haddington, East Lothian, Scotland.5
  • 1519 Beza. Born June 24 in Vézelay, France.6

Connections

  • 1518 Zwingli. Appointed people’s priest at the Grossmünster in Zurich.7
  • 1523 Zwingli. Publishes the 67 Articles for Zurich’s January disputation.8
  • 1523 Bucer. Excommunicated, he moves to Strasbourg and rises to lead its church.9
  • 1523 Zwingli and Bullinger. Bullinger comes to know Zwingli and gradually adopts his theology.10
  • 1528 Zwingli and Bullinger. Both take part in the disputation that brings the Reformation to Bern.11
  • 1529 Zwingli, Bucer, and Luther. At Marburg, Zwingli and Bucer offer Luther their hands. They have split over the Lord’s Supper, and Luther refuses.12
  • 1531 Zwingli → Bullinger. Zwingli is killed at Kappel on October 11. On December 9, Bullinger is called to succeed him.13
  • 1536 Calvin. Publishes the first edition of the Institutes.14
  • 1536 Bullinger and Bucer. Both help write the First Helvetic Confession in Basel.15
  • 1536 Farel → Calvin. Guillaume Farel finds Calvin spending a night in Geneva and persuades him to stay.16
  • 1538 Bucer → Calvin. Expelled from Geneva with Farel, Calvin spends 3 years in Strasbourg, learning church administration from Bucer.17
  • 1541 Calvin. Invited back to Geneva in September.18
  • 1547 Knox. Called to preach at St Andrews. That summer he is sent to the French galleys.19
  • 1548 Beza → Calvin. Beza travels to Geneva to join Calvin.20
  • 1548 Bucer. Dismissed by Strasbourg; invited to England by Archbishop Cranmer.21
  • 1549 Bullinger ↔ Calvin. The Consensus Tigurinus brings Zurich and Geneva into agreement on the Lord’s Supper.22
  • 1550 Bucer and Knox. Both in England. Bucer backs Cranmer’s cautious reform against the more radical program urged by John Hooper and Knox.23
  • 1551 Bucer. Dies in England on February 28.24
  • 1553 Calvin and Beza. Michael Servetus is burned for heresy at Champel after a trial in which Calvin played a prominent role. Beza later writes in defense of the burning.25
  • 1554 Calvin → Knox. At Calvin’s urging, Knox pastors English refugees in Frankfurt, then leads the English congregation in Geneva.26
  • 1559 Calvin and Beza. They found the Geneva Academy, with Beza as first rector.27
  • 1559 Knox. Returns to Scotland.28
  • 1560 Knox. Scotland’s Parliament adopts the Scots Confession, prepared by Knox and 3 others.29
  • 1564 Calvin → Beza. Calvin dies on May 27. Beza succeeds him as chief pastor of Geneva.30
  • 1566 Bullinger. His confession becomes the Second Helvetic Confession.31
  • 1572 Knox. Dies in Edinburgh on November 24.32
  • 1572 Beza. Welcomes French Protestants who survived the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre.33
  • 1575 Bullinger. Dies in Zurich on September 17.34
  • 1580 Beza. Publishes the Icones, portraits and short lives of reformers.35
  • 1605 Beza. Dies in Geneva on October 13, the last of the 6.36

By Casey Case · Sources last checked September 26, 2026

Sources

  1. Britannica, “Huldrych Zwingli.” ↩︎
  2. Britannica, “Martin Bucer.” ↩︎
  3. Britannica, “Heinrich Bullinger.” ↩︎
  4. Britannica, “John Calvin.” ↩︎
  5. Britannica, “John Knox.” ↩︎
  6. Britannica, “Theodore Beza.” ↩︎
  7. Britannica, “Huldrych Zwingli.” ↩︎
  8. Britannica, “Huldrych Zwingli.” ↩︎
  9. Britannica, “Martin Bucer.” ↩︎
  10. Britannica, “Heinrich Bullinger.” ↩︎
  11. Britannica, “Heinrich Bullinger” and “Huldrych Zwingli.” ↩︎
  12. Britannica, “Huldrych Zwingli” and “Martin Bucer.” ↩︎
  13. Britannica, “Huldrych Zwingli“; Hans Ulrich Bächtold, “Bullinger, Heinrich,” Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz. ↩︎
  14. Britannica, “John Calvin.” ↩︎
  15. Britannica, “Heinrich Bullinger” and “Martin Bucer.” ↩︎
  16. Britannica, “John Calvin.” ↩︎
  17. Britannica, “John Calvin.” ↩︎
  18. Britannica, “John Calvin.” ↩︎
  19. Britannica, “John Knox.” ↩︎
  20. Britannica, “Theodore Beza.” ↩︎
  21. Britannica, “Martin Bucer.” ↩︎
  22. Britannica, “Heinrich Bullinger“; Bächtold, “Bullinger, Heinrich.” ↩︎
  23. Britannica, “Martin Bucer“; Bucer’s letter from Cambridge, May 15, 1550, in Original Letters Relative to the English Reformation, second portion (Parker Society, 1847), p. 543. ↩︎
  24. Britannica, “Martin Bucer.” ↩︎
  25. Britannica, “Michael Servetus” and “Theodore Beza.” ↩︎
  26. Britannica, “John Knox.” ↩︎
  27. Britannica, “Theodore Beza.” ↩︎
  28. Britannica, “John Knox.” ↩︎
  29. Britannica, “John Knox.” ↩︎
  30. Britannica, “John Calvin” and “Theodore Beza.” ↩︎
  31. Bächtold, “Bullinger, Heinrich“; Britannica, “Heinrich Bullinger.” ↩︎
  32. Britannica, “John Knox.” ↩︎
  33. Britannica, “Theodore Beza.” ↩︎
  34. Britannica, “Heinrich Bullinger.” ↩︎
  35. Theodore Beza, Icones (Geneva, 1580), e-rara. ↩︎
  36. Britannica, “Theodore Beza.” ↩︎