Born in 1483, died in 1546; his father a slate-cutter:
studied at Magdeburg and Erfurt; against the wishes of his
family, became a monk; went to Rome in 1510; published on
the church door at Wittenburg in 1517 his thesis against the
sale of indulgences; summoned to Rome, he refused to go and
published further attacks upon the Church; excommunicated in
1520 and his writings publicly burned, whereupon he publicly
burned the papal bull of excommunication; made his speech
before the Diet of Worms in 1521; taken prisoner and
confined in the Wartburg, he there translated the New
Testament; later translated the Old Testament, and published
a hymn-book; in 1525 married a nun; published numerous
polemical pamphlets against the Church; had great influence
in the formation of the present literary language of
Germany.