Martin Luther, An den christlichen Adel deutscher Nation, Augsburg 1520 (Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Res/Polem. 3126 h)

The work called “Adelsschrift” (To the Nobility) is one of Luther’s essential theological texts. Together with “De captivitate babylonica ecclesiae” (On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church) and “Von der Freiheit eines Christenmenschen” (On the Liberty of a Christian) it is considered one of the three strongest reformatory pamphlets. All three were published in the second half of 1520.

Luther composed “Adelsschrift” in the style of an open letter which he addressed in German to the secular German princes and to the emperor. In this letter, he encourages them to undertake a radical reform of the church. The essential theological aspect for him is the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers by which Luther denies the authority of the pope. The head of the church even seems to him to be the “antichrist”. Luther also no longer accepts the mediaeval principle that the sacred state is placed above the secular. According to Luther, celibacy needed to be abolished, the ecclesiastical social services reorganised and the encroaching monasticism contained.

The treatise was published in an enormously numerous first edition of 4,000 copies that were sold out within two weeks. In the year 1520 alone, there followed a further 15 editions – proof that the Reformation marched together with a “media revolution”. The exemplar shown here comes from the Augsburg print shop of Melchior Ramminger (d. 1543) and is dated to 1520.

To the digitised copy