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On November 10th, 1483 Martin Luther was born in Eisleben, Germany in a small mining town. His parents Hans and Margarette Luther were hardworking and Hans was a miner. -
Martin Luther attended the universty of Erfurt, he took the customary course in the liberal arts and received the baccalaureate degree in 1502.
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Martin Luther's Father wanted Him to become a lawyer so upon his fathers request he went ot study law, however in 1505 Luther abandoned the study of law and entered the monastery in Erfurt of the Order of the Hermits of St. Augustine.
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Luther transferred to the Wittenberg monastery to finish his studies at the university there. He received his doctorate in the fall of 1512 and assumed the professorship in biblical studies, which was supplied by the Augustinian order.
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In 1513 Luther finally gained religious enlightenment. Luther was made provincial vicar of Saxony and Thuringia by his religious order in 1515. This meant he was to visit and oversee each of eleven monasteries in his province.
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Luther came to reject some teachings and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money, proposing an academic discussion of the practice and efficacy of indulgences in his Ninety-five Theises which he wrote in 1517.
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Luther between 1519-1520 wrote a series of pamphlets developing his ideas - 'On Christian Liberty', 'On the Freedom of a Christian Man', 'To the Christian Nobility' and 'On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church'. Thanks to the Printing press these pamphlets spread quickly.
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In January 1520 a consistory heard the recommendation that Luther’s orthodoxy be examined, and one month later a papal commission concluded that Luther’s teachings were heretical. Being called a heretic at this time was a death sentence. Luther was given 60 days upon receiving the bull to recant and another 60 days to report his recantation to Rome.
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In January 1521, Pope Leo X excommunicated Luther. Three months later, Luther was called to defend his beliefs before Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at the ´Diet of Worms´, where he was famously defiant. For his refusal to recant his writings, the emperor declared him an outlaw and a heretic.
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Luther returns to Lutherstadt, Wittenberg and sets off a series of theological and social reforms, such as education for all. He encourages musicians and poets to write music and hymns for church services. ( very humanist of him! )