Martin Luther and the 95 Theses
On October 31, 1517 the Augustinian friar Martin Luther sent 95 propositions against the sale of indulgences to the Archbishop of Mainz — and the Reformation began.
Martin Luther (1483–1546) was a German Augustinian friar and professor of biblical theology at the University of Wittenberg. The immediate trigger for his 95 Theses was the campaign of the Dominican preacher Johann Tetzel, who was selling indulgences in Saxony to fund the rebuilding of St Peter's Basilica in Rome.
On October 31, 1517 — the eve of All Saints' Day — Luther sent his 95 Theses ("Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences") to Archbishop Albrecht of Mainz. The traditional image of Luther nailing them to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg is widely repeated but historically disputed; what is certain is that the printed text spread across Germany within weeks thanks to the new printing presses.
Excommunicated by Pope Leo X in 1521 and outlawed by the Holy Roman Emperor at the Diet of Worms, Luther refused to recant ("Here I stand; I can do no other"). He spent the following months hidden at the Wartburg, where he translated the New Testament from Greek into German — a text that shaped the modern German language as decisively as the King James later shaped English.