ABSTRACT
A group of Protestants astutely aware of this was Strasbourg's intellectual triumvirate', the pedagogue Johann Sturm, as well as Martin Bucer and Jakob Sturm, the intellectual figure heads of the Schmalkaldic League. Sleidan was born in 1506 as Johann Philipson or Philippi into a wealthy middle class family in Schleiden in the Eifel mountains west of the Rhine. In early 1544, Sleidan moved to Strasbourg, one of the diplomatic centres of the Empire and the gateway to France, and home of the Sturms and Bucer, who seem to have pushed for this move. The Commentaries were an immediate success there, not least because they were far less controversial outside of the immediate German political sphere. The history of Christianity, retold by writers such as Sleidan, provided both legitimisation and a vision of the future for the new reformed churches. Whilst in Germany the initial public outcry was followed by wide acceptance, the reaction in France was quite the reverse.
