Protestant Reformation

Timeline

1. 1517Wittenberg, Castle Church · Electorate of SaxonyOn October 31, 1517, Martin Luther sent the Ninety-Five Theses protesting the sale of indulgences to Archbishop Albrecht of Mainz, and according to tradition posted the Latin original on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg. Gutenberg's printing press quickly translated the theses into German and spread them widely, provoking open questioning of papal authority across Europe.
2. 1519Leipzig, Pleissenburg · SaxonyIn 1519 Luther held a famous debate in Leipzig with the scholastic theologian Johann Eck; Luther publicly denied papal infallibility and the authority of councils, declaring that both pope and councils could err and that only Scripture held supreme authority. This marked the rupture between the reform movement and the Roman Curia evolving from theological dispute into institutional opposition.
3. 1520Wittenberg · Electorate of SaxonyIn 1520 Luther successively published three major reform treatises — To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, The Babylonian Captivity of the Church, and The Freedom of a Christian — systematically setting out theological positions such as the separation of the spiritual and secular realms, the reduction of the seven sacraments to two, and the priesthood of all believers. That same year Pope Leo X issued the bull Exsurge Domine, giving Luther a deadline to retract his views; Luther publicly burned the bull and was promptly excommunicated, institutionally establishing the Reformation.