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Pope Joan
Pope Joan was a legendary female pope of the Middle Ages said to have reigned from 855 to 858. After her story was popularized by Italian writer Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375), a statue of her was placed alongside those of other popes at...
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Martin Luther's 95 Theses
Martin Luther's 95 Theses of 31 October 1517, although they have since come to represent the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, were not written to challenge the authority of the Roman Catholic Church but were simply an invitation to...
Definition
Martin Luther
Martin Luther (l. 1483-1546) was a German priest, monk, and theologian who became the central figure of the religious and cultural movement known as the Protestant Reformation. Even though earlier reformers had expressed Luther's views, his...
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Medieval Indulgence & Martin Luther
The medieval indulgence was a writ offered by the Church, for money, guaranteeing the remission of sin, and its abuse was the spark that inspired Martin Luther's 95 Theses. Luther (l. 1483-1546) claimed the sale of indulgences was unbiblical...
Definition
Martin Bucer
Martin Bucer (l. 1491-1551) was a German reformer and theologian who had been a Dominican friar and priest until converted to the Protestant vision by Martin Luther (l. 1483-1546) c. 1518. Bucer is best known for his focus on unity among...
Definition
Martin Frobisher
Sir Martin Frobisher (c. 1535-1594 CE) was an Elizabethan adventurer and explorer who embarked on three expeditions in the 1570s CE to chart the waters of the North American Arctic and find the Northwest Passage to Asia. Unsuccessful in these...
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The Ideology of the Holy Roman Empire
"The Holy Roman Empire was in no way holy, nor Roman, nor an empire," wrote Voltaire, and this interpretation still dominates the popular imagination, so the Holy Roman Empire is treated as a bad joke, a pale parody of the glory of Rome...
Definition
Diet of Worms
The Diet of Worms (January-May 1521) was the assembly convened by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor to address, among other issues, the works of the reformer Martin Luther (l. 1483-1546) who openly criticized the Church. Luther was told to recant...
Definition
Frederick II
Frederick II (l. 1194-1250 CE) was the king of Sicily (r. 1198-1250 CE), Germany (r. 1215-1250 CE), Jerusalem (r. 1225-1228 CE), and also reigned supreme as the Holy Roman Emperor (r. 1220-1250 CE). He was born in Jesi in 1194 CE but spent...
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1521 Excommunication of Luther: Complete Text
In response to Martin Luther's 95 Theses, as well as his other works, Pope Leo X sent a papal bull threatening him with excommunication in June 1520. Luther publicly burned the bull at Wittenberg on 10 December 1520 and was officially excommunicated...