Protestants weren't the first of their sort - they were there well before the printing press made it there. Protestants were just the first to get political bac

Protestants weren't the first of their sort - they were there well before the printing press made it there. Protestants were just the first to get political backing and remain successful enough to persist unlike their deceased elder sibling heresies of the Lollards, Hussities, and Waldesians. These weren't stubborn local heterodox traditions which stuck around despite corrections from Rome but arose from dissent. The Catholic Church had far too many transparent self contradictions in preaching poverty and mercy while being covered with gold, not providing sufficiently for the destitute, and sentencing people to death (regardless of any semantics or sleight of hand in turning the condemned over to secular authorities).