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Title page of On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church

Martin Luther · 1520

The 1520 printed title page of Luther's Latin treatise attacking the Church's sacraments.

This is the title page of one of Luther's own landmark treatises attacking Church teaching.

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Title page of Martin Luther's 1520 Latin work De captivitate Babylonica ecclesiae praeludium, printed in Wittenberg. Ornate woodcut border with a coat of arms at top and bottom; handwritten date 1520 below the imprint.
Martin Luther, De captivitate Babylonica ecclesiae praeludium, title page, Wittenberg, 1520.

About this source

What it is

This is the title page of Luther's 1520 Latin treatise, printed in Wittenberg by Melchior Lotter the Younger. The page has an ornate woodcut border with a coat of arms, and a handwritten date of 1520 below the printed text.

Why it matters

This treatise was one of Luther's major attacks on the Catholic Church's teaching on the sacraments, published the same year he was threatened with excommunication. It shows how quickly Luther's ideas were being printed and spread, and how printing itself became a weapon in the Reformation.

Look closer

  • What does the elaborate decoration of the title page suggest about how books were valued at the time?
  • Why might a printer like Melchior Lotter choose to print such a controversial work?
  • What can a title page tell you, and what does it leave out, about the contents of the book?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Martin Luther on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Luther Bible

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