Luther-Bibel, 1541 (Landesbibliothek Coburg, P I 1/10)

In early 1521, Pope Leo X (1475–1521, pope 1513–1521) excommunicated Martin Luther (1483-1546). When the reformer did not revoke his doctrines at the 1521 Diet of Worms, King Charles V (Roman-German king 1519–1556, emperor from 1530) on 26 May 1521 imposed on him the imperial ban in the so-called Wormser Edikt (imperial edict pronounced at the Diet of Worms).

Luther was supposed to be imprisoned and to be delivered to the emperor and his writings were to be destroyed. To protect Luther, his sovereign Elector Frederick the Wise (1463–1525, elector 1486–1525), on 4 May had brought him to the Wartburg located on the western border of the Saxon electorate. Here, Luther translated the New Testament into German. In 1534, finally the entire Bible could be printed in a German translation.

Up to his death, Luther undertook several revisions of his translation of the Bible. The version of 1541 bears the printing privilege by Elector John Frederick the Magnanimous (1503–1554, elector 1532–1554), dated to 1534, which forbids any reproduction of the Bible in the electorate of Saxony outside Wittenberg. Subsequently, followed a “warning” by Luther in which he takes to task the overwhelming number of unauthorised reprints.

The title page of this exemplar shows the 14 coats of arms of the elector of Saxony. On the verso is the half-length likeness of the Saxon Elector John Frederick. It is marked with the symbol of Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472–1553), the winged serpent (on the left of the collar).

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