Andreas Rudolph Bodenstein von Karlstadt (148624 December 1541), better known as Andreas Karlstadt, Andreas Carlstadt or Karolostadt, in Latin, Carolstadius, or simply as Andreas Bodenstein, was a German Protestant theologian, University of Wittenberg chancellor, a contemporary of Martin Luther and a reformer of the early Reformation. Karlstadt became a close associate of Martin Luther and one of the earliest Protestant Reformers. After Frederick III, Elector of Saxony concealed Luther at the Wartburg (1521–1522), Karlstadt and Thomas Müntzer started the first iconoclastic movement in Wittenberg and preached theology that was viewed as Anabaptist, but Karlstadt and Müntzer never regarded themselves as Anabaptists. Karlstadt operated as a church reformer largely in his own right, and after coming in conflict with Luther, he switched his allegiance from the Lutheran to the Reformed camp, and later became a radical reformer before once again returning to the Reformed tradition. First, he served as one of many Lutheran preachers in Wittenberg. He travelled widely, but only within the borders of the Holy Roman Empire, visiting German-speaking, French-speaking and Italian-speaking lands. By the end of his life he had allied himself with Heinrich Bullinger in Switzerland and worked in Basel, where he eventually died. Despite coming closer to the Reformed tradition by the time of his death, Karlstadt maintained his own distinct understanding on many theological issues throughout much of his life. Education Karlstadt received his doctorate of theology in 1510 from the University of Wittenberg. Previously, Karlstadt had been educated at Erfurt (1499–1503) and in Cologne (1503–1505). Karlstadt obtained his master's degree from the newly founded university at Wittenburg in 1505, and received his doctorate from the same university five years later. In the same year in which Karlstadt received his doctorate he became archdeacon and the chair of the theology department. In 1511 he became chancellor of Wittenberg university. In 1512 he awarded Martin Luther his doctorate. From 1515–16, he studied in Rome, where he obtained the double degree in canon and civil law (utriusque juris) at the Sapienza university. Reformation Before 1515, Karlstadt was a proponent of a modified scholasticism. He was a "secular" cleric with no official ties to any monastic order. His beliefs were challenged during his stay in Rome, where he alleges he saw large-scale corruption in the Catholic Church, and on a document dated 16 September 1516 he wrote a series of 151 theses. (These should not be confused with