Martin Luther, the son
of a copper miner, was born
in Germany in about 1483. He went to school
in Magdeburg before going to the University of Erfurt in 1501. After
a spell in the Augustinian monastery at Erfurt (1505-8) Luther became
a teacher at Wittenberg University.
While he was in Wittenberg
a man called Johann Tetzel arrived in the town from Rome. He was selling
documents called indulgences that pardoned people for the sins they
had committed. Tetzel told people that the money raised by the sale
of these indulgences would be used to repair St. Peter's cathedral
in Rome.
Luther was very angry
that Pope Leo X was raising money in this
way. He believed that it was wrong for people to be able to buy forgiveness
for sins they had committed. Luther decided to write down his views
on the subject. He then nailed the paper to the door of the church
in Wittenberg.
Pope Leo X ordered Luther
to stop stirring up trouble. This attempt to keep Luther quiet had
the opposite effect. Luther now started issuing statements about other
issues. For example, at that time people believed that the Pope was
infallible (incapable of error). However, Luther was convinced that
Leo X was wrong to sell indulgences. Therefore, Luther argued, the
Pope could not possibly be infallible.
If the Pope could be wrong
about indulgences, Luther argued he could be wrong about other things.
For hundreds of years popes had only allowed bibles to be printed
in Latin or Greek. Luther pointed out that only a minority of people
in Germany could read these languages. Therefore to find out what
was in the Bible they had to rely on priests who could read and speak
Latin or Greek. Luther, on the other hand, wanted people to read the
Bible for themselves.
In 1521 orders were given
for Luther to be arrested. However, Luther had many supporters in
Germany and some of these people helped to save his life by hiding
him in a castle. While Luther was there he translated the Bible into
German. It was not long
before copies of Luther's Bible were being
read by people all over Germany.
Henry
VIII initially disagreed with Luther's views. Henry feared that
criticism of the Church might encourage people to criticise the monarchy.
At the time, it was believed that Wycliffe's attacks on the Pope had
been partly responsible for the Peasants' Revolt in 1381. In 1521
Henry wrote a book attacking Luther's views on the Church. The Pope
was so pleased with Henry's loyalty that he gave him the title 'Defender
of the Faith'.
Luther's ideas also spread
to other countries. Gradually large numbers of people living in England,
the Netherlands (today called Holland and Belgium), Switzerland and
the Scandinavian countries began to call themselves Lutherans or Protestants.
Protestants were no longer willing to accept the authority of the
Pope. They argued that people needed to read the Bible if they wanted
to find out how God wanted them to behave.
In 1525 Luther created
even more controversy when he married a nun, Katherine von Bora. Martin
Luther died in 1546 and is buried at Wittenberg.
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