Martin Luther

Born in Eisleben in 1483, Luther was ordained a priest in 1507 and spent his early years as an Augustinian friar. By 1517 he'd grown convinced the Roman Catholic Church had corrupted the Gospel, particularly through the sale of indulgences, and he laid out his objections in the Ninety-five Theses. Pope Leo X demanded he recant in 1520; Luther refused and was excommunicated in January 1521, then condemned as an outlaw by Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Worms later that year. He taught that salvation came through faith alone, not human merit, and that the Bible - not priests or popes - was the sole divine authority. His German translation of Scripture gave the laity direct access to the text, shaped modern German, and influenced English Bibles like Tyndale's; his marriage to former nun Katharina von Bora legitimized clerical marriage across Protestant lands. In his final years he wrote virulent tracts against Jews, calling for expulsion and the burning of synagogues - rhetoric some historians link to centuries of German antisemitism. He died in 1546, still excommunicated, the Reformation he ignited already beyond containment.