An den Christlichenn Adel deutscher Nation: von des Christlichen standes besserung: D. Martinus Luther. Durch yhn selbs ge/mehret vnd corrigirt.

Title within nice decorative woodcut border, attributed to Lucas Cranach and woodcut initial on A3. [50] ff. Small 4to (212 x 157 mm). Late 19th century half cloth (one corner bumped). Wittenberg, (Melchior Lotter, the younger, 1520). First printing of the editio definitiva (Druck B) of the appeal "To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation" addressed to the Emperor and the German nobility. Present here is for the first time the complete enlarged and finally text immediately issued after printing the forthy-eight-page template from Aug. 5, 1520. Considered Martin Luther's (1483-1546) pivotal work this is the most influential and important of the first of his three primary treatises. It is Luther's answer to the "Bull of Excommunication" published in Rome in June 1520. A first and most important powerful call to action, urging the nobility and leaders to participate actively in reforming the Church and society. Here Luther asserts the right of civil power to reform the spiritual and asks the government to exercise this right. He boldly identifies the pope as the Antichrist and goes on to attack the concept that the Church is superior to the State by his assertion that every baptized Christian is a priest. The new added chapter 26 on the false legal claims of the popes' claims to have taken over the Holy Roman Empire from Byzantine Emperors and brought it into the German nation. This gave the work additional explosive force. Luther then proposes drastic reforms against the authority of the Pope, against a celibate priesthood, and against corruption in the Church. It is interesting to note that Machiavelli and Morus both looked critically at political power and the behavior of rulers. So in summary these connections demonstrate that Luther's "An den Christlichen Adel deutscher Nation" is embedded within a broader philosopical context that also includes the works of Thomas Morus and Niccolò Machiavelli. Luther's book was in effect a call for the Reformation to begin and had a most profound influence on the history of Europe and later on large parts of the world over all centuries.- Nice copy of outmost and exceptionally rarity. - VD 16 L 3759; Benzing 684; cf. PMM 49; Stickelberger Coll. 407; Pflugk-Harttung 49; not in Adams nor Knaake or Kuczynski. REFORMATION ; GERMANY ;