Luther spent his early life as an Augustinian monk. He struggled greatly with the concept of sin and was constantly trying to rid himself of it. Luther joined the University of Wittenburg in 1508 as part of the faculty of Theology. It was here that his thoughts became clearer as he lectured to pupils. On reading St. Paul's epistle to the Romans this sentence jumped out at him, " He who through faith is righteous shall live". Luther developed the central doctrine of Protestantism. He believed that faith alone, 'Sola fide' was the only means of justification. He believed no good works or human effort could make any difference as faith was the gift of God.
In 1517 Martin Luther wrote his 95 Theses attacking the sale of indulgences by the Church. Indulgences were holy items that would rescue your soul or the soul of a loved one from Purgatory. These cost money and Luther believed that this was a public scandal. Johan Tetzel was a Dominican preacher who appeared on the borders of Saxony selling indulgences. Tetzel had a chant, "as soon as the gold in the basin rings, then the soul to heaven springs". Luther had many grievances with the work he did.
The impact of the 95 theses was immediate. Due to the recently introduced printing press Luther's word was able to spread quickly. Luther's message was a threat to the Church as a whole. The Church in Rome needed to put a stop to his teachings before their revenue from indulgences was cut off and before people started to question the fundamental doctrine of the Church.
Luther had support from the start. He firstly won over the support of some of the monks from his order. Also Frederick the Elector of Saxony was proud of his University and was not going to stand by and watch one of its professors suppressed.
Luther was summonsed to Augsburg in 1518 to meet with Cardinal Cajetan (the Pope's ambassador in Germany). Cajetan reminded him of the dangers of opposing the Pope and being judged a Heretic. Luther refused to go back on his words and defied Cajetan.
Other factors meant that Luther suffered no strong opposition at this stage. In 1519 the Emperor Maximillian died. Pope Leo X did not want his grandson Charles to take over and so needed to secure votes against him. In order to win favour he sent a golden rose to the Elector Frederick and did not mention the Luther problem.
In 1519, at Leipzig, Luther met one Johan Eck who was a great debater and a champion of the Catholic Church. Eck likened Luther to Jan Hus who had been convicted of heresy a century earlier by the General Council at Constance. Luther stated that the only authority he would obey was the true scripture, 'sola scriptura'. This belief in scripture alone was to take its place alongside faith alone as the basis of Protestantism. Luther relied on the Greek New Testament produced by the Humanist Erasmus in 1516. He believed that the Latin Vulgate had errors in the translation and that only the study of the pure word was right.
In 1520 Luther produced 3 pamphlets, 'Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation', "The Babylonish Captivity of the Church" and, "The freedom of the Christian man". Luther wrote of a "priesthood of all believers" stating that priests were simply intermediaries between man and god but they were no more sacred than the ordinary man. He denied four of the seven sacraments saying that only the Eucharist, baptism and penance existed (though he later even denied penance). The most shocking revelation was that Luther denied transubstantiation. Transubstantiation is the Catholic belief that in the Eucharist the bread and wine are physically transformed into the body and blood of Christ. Luther believed that Christ was present within the bread and wine but not physically turned into it.
The papal bull "Exsurge Domine" threatened Luther with excommunication unless he recanted his heresy. Frederick arranged for Luther to be heard at the Imperial Diet at Worms in April 1521. Here Luther's confidence faltered and he asked for a day to think things over. When he returned his confidence was as strong as ever and he point blank refused to recant. The Emperor Charles V put Luther under the ban of the Empire (nice propaganda point against the Pope for Charles- he acted first against Luther!) Luther began to travel home when he was kidnapped. His kidnappers were sent by Frederick to protect him from others that may have wished to do him real harm. Luther was installed at the Elector's castle at Wartburg. From here he was physically safe and able to turn out anti-Catholic works at the rate of about one a fortnight.
Reasons the Reformation was able to take off
People were sick and tired of ecclesiastical extravagances. The Church was obsessed with funding its huge bureaucracy. The princes compiled a list of 102 grievances against Papal extortions at the Diet of Worms. The German clergy were looked upon badly for living a luxurious life at the expense of the people. Peasants were aggrieved to pay their tithe and protests had been in place before 1521. It must be remembered though that Germany's grievances did not pave the way for Luther and the Reformation to simply take over. The beliefs and rituals of the Catholic Church were still very much seen as the only route to Salvation.
The Humanists gave the Reformation much of its political force. Humanists liked Luther's idea of Sola Scriptura as it meant going back to the original sources which was close to their own work. It also appealed to their sense of nationalism, which Humanists such as Conrad Celtis were interested in. As time went on though differences between Humanists and Luther appeared. Some felt that Luther would not purify the Church he would just destroy it. Erasmus argued with Luther over free will saying that we must believe in it or man has no purpose on earth, he is just a puppet. Luther disagreed conveying his opinion that all things are ultimately decided by God's infallible will.
The printing press was key to the spread of the Reformation. It ended scribal corruption and copying errors. The Bible could now be mass- produced. In 1522 Luther produced his, 'September Testament', which was the translation of the Erasmus's Greek New Testament into German. Literacy levels soared and people's appetite for literacy grew amongst the Reformation controversy. Luther was able to produce sheets of Church Services and in 1526 produced the Deutsch Messe, (The German Mass). Printing did not ensure control over the Reformation. The speedy spreading of Luther's word was important but more important was the reaction to it. There were radicals, especially in Switzerland who had independent minds and could not be calmed.
