Introduction

On 31 October 1517 Luther sent his Ninety-Five Theses, written in Latin, to the Archbishop of Mainz, and, as tradition has it, nailed them to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, inviting scholars to debate the efficacy of indulgences. 'Why does not the pope, whose wealth is greater than that of the richest, build the basilica of St Peter with his own money rather than with the money of poor believers?' Within weeks the theses had spread throughout Germany, and the Reformation had begun. In 1520 he wrote, in German, On the Freedom of a Christian, with its famous paradox: 'A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none; a Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all.' This volume contains these two documents that changed the history of the world.