Ok, I guess the way I worded that it does sound like I got my facts mixed up. But I still stand by what I said in that not all protestants came from RCC. There were christian bodies in existance since the time of Christ that had nothing to do with RCC. If I still had my book "The Protestant Reformation" I could fill you in on which groups those were. Unfortunately during all my traveling in the military I lost things along the way. That was one of them, and I cry every time I think about it. These groups, as I said, were in existance before the Reformation and came out and identified with the reformers when the movement started.
There were and always have been various Christian sects...since the time of the Apostles. IN THE WEST THOUGH, from the time of the official break with the Eastern Orthodox churches in 1054 though, until Martin Luther in 1517 , every single one of those sects (and many were cults) was suppressed and destroyed. It can accurately be said that several of the orders (the Franciscans for example) started as a kind of sect--but obedient, as they thought their duty--to Rome however placing different emphases than others.
It is a serious misunderstanding of the ruthless power of the church/state alliance of medieval times to think that little non-catholic sects of Christians existed side by side with the Roman church.
There are a few very sectarian baptist writers--who have no respect among historians--who try to prove an unbroken sucession of believer-baptizers (while not revealing that many of these tiny groups were cultic--and fully un-Christian (before they were destroyed)) back to the New Testament times, but like I said, such theories hold no water. Western Europe 500 years ago was Roman Catholic (besides a few Jews they tolerated...and persecuted), period. Religioius pluralism is a modern phenomena, not something valued at that time.
Of course in the East you have the various Orthodox churches....more national in character than the Roman church--and you have the Copts of Egypt, and the Armenian church... But in the West, it was only Rome.
I've had graduate level courses in Church history, so trust me... all modern protestants came out of the groups that can trace their spiritual ancestry back to the Roman Catholic church. And to that fact, I say, so what? Until the tenth or eleventh centuries the Roman Church was not that far off.
I regard attempts to claim otherwise as done by religous people who hate Catholicism so much, they can't imagine there's any historic relationship between their denomination and the Catholics--so they bend the facts to their liking...kinda sad, IMHO. Also makes the Reformation appear to be less of a mirracle than it really was.