what was protestant education like in the 16th century?

OK, now. The protestant movement began on the 16th century thanks to Luther, a german monk that wrote a manuscript he called The Reformation, and that was hung at the gates of the Pope´s central church in Rome (the Vatican didn´t exist as the central offices of the roman church as we know it today). The text was basically a rejection to several acts of corruption the Pope and Cardinals were involved, such as taking money from kings to absolve them of several unforgivable sins (according to the believes of the time), covering up the things some Cardinals and high priests did to the villages the lived in, like child abuse and sodomizing, among others. Also he stood up against the vows of silence and chastity, giving the argument that a priest, as a social icon and example, should be the first ones to get married and serve as an example on how to live a live in God´s blessing.

Another thing he stood up for was that, at that time, the mass was used to be given on Latin all around Europe, and most people didn´t have any knowledge of this language since it was reserved for those who could afford studying in an university (very exclusive at that time, only a few people from the nobles could afford such a thing) so he complained about this and demanded that from then on, the mass should be translated to the local languages so everybody could understand what was said on it. Also he was against the use of some unbreakable rules on church music composition.

As a respond to this, the roman catholic church (the Pope) published another manuscript called the Counter-reformation, explaining that he didn´t agree with any of what Luther was claiming, proposing their own thoughts about what the mass and church music should be like (remaining basically the same) and trying to get everyone calmed as the people believed that the church was suffering some kind of brake in two halves. The result was the foundation of what we know as the protestant church, and the so feared division of the roman church in to halves, those who stuck by the pope´s side and those followers of Luther.

Hope this info is any usefull!

Without the Reformers of John Wycliffe, Calvin, Luther, and especially, William Tyndall, we wouldn't have the Holy Bible translated into the English language.

Tyndall was instrumental in the translations of the scriptures from Latin, to Hebrew and Greek, and to English, but at extreme peril. As the others before him, he was burned at the stake for heresy.

Yet shortly after his death in 1536, King Henry VIII allowed the Great Bible, the very translation that William Tyndall had accomplished and died for, to be placed in every parish church in England.

As we know, the King James Bible was published in 1611, but only after years and years of innocent and educated men and women going to the fires after seeking the truth through understandable English.

I just finished reading a book about William Tyndall titled, "Fire in the Bones," by S. Michael Wilcox. It was published by Deseret Book Company in Salt Lake City, an LDS affiliated corporation. The book compares Tyndall's sacrifice with that of Joseph Smith three centuries later.

I cannot relate more than what I've done here, but there must exist books about the Reformation that brought about the necessary changes for freedom of religion that we in America can follow.

The Reformation and all the martyrs that resulted from it was a necessary step that led the world from spiritual darkness into the light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I hope this tidbit of information is helpful.

Google it type in the question, wish you luck