Object description: The Ninety-five Theses, also known as Disputation on the Power of Indulgences, is a list of arguments written in 1517 by Martin Luther. Luther wanted to strike the abuse of the practice of clergy selling plenary indulgences, which were certificates believed to reduce the temporal punishment in purgatory for sins committed by the purchasers or their loved ones.
Why we considered it: Paired with the indulgence, this item is crucial to understand the impact of Gutenberg invention on the religious ideas spreading. XVI and XVII centuries saw a huge use of press for ideological reasons and as another channel for fighting enemies not on the battlefield, but on the propaganda level. Before Martin Luther, there were many people that tried to reform or to sever the relationship with the Catholic church. One of the reasons of their failure was the lack of an adequate diffusion of their ideas. Luther managed to use printing press to spread his 95 Thesis along all Europe.
Standard used: This Item uses a METS XML encoding standard.