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Girolamo Savonarola · 1496 · Treatise
Written in 1496 during the height of Savonarola's influence in Florence, this treatise emerged from the Dominican friar's urgent conviction that the Christian life had been corrupted by worldly complexity and ecclesiastical…
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Girolamo Savonarola · 1496–1497 · Sermon
These sermons on the prophets Amos and Zechariah emerged from Girolamo Savonarola's pulpit ministry at San Marco in Florence during the tumultuous years of 1496-1497. Delivered as the Dominican friar's conflict with…
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Girolamo Savonarola · 1496–1497 · Sermon
These sermons on the prophet Ezekiel represent Girolamo Savonarola's final sustained biblical commentary, delivered to packed congregations at San Marco in Florence during the tumultuous months of 1496 and 1497. As the…
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Girolamo Savonarola · 1497 · Book
Written during Girolamo Savonarola's final imprisonment in Florence, The Triumph of the Cross stands as the Dominican friar's most systematic theological work and his ultimate defense of Christian faith. Composed in 1497…
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Girolamo Savonarola · 1498 · Sermon
These sermons on the Book of Exodus emerged from Girolamo Savonarola's pulpit ministry at San Marco in Florence during the tumultuous years of the 1490s. As the Dominican friar faced mounting opposition…
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Girolamo Savonarola · 1498 · Treatise
Savonarola's treatise on the government of Florence emerged from his direct involvement in the city's political transformation following the expulsion of the Medici in 1494. Writing as both Dominican friar and civic…
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Desiderius Erasmus · 1500–1536 · Other
Erasmus's Adagia began as a modest collection of classical proverbs published in 1500, containing about 800 entries drawn from ancient Greek and Latin authors. What started as a practical handbook for students…
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Desiderius Erasmus · 1503 · Book
Erasmus composed this spiritual manual in 1503 as a practical guide for Christian living in an age when many found traditional forms of devotion inadequate to the challenges of daily life. Writing…
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Martin Luther · 1507–1546 · Letter
Luther's letters to friends, princes, opponents, his wife and his children, from 1507 to the week of his death, in Latin and German.
FreeModerate
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Desiderius Erasmus · 1509 · Essay
Erasmus composed this satirical masterpiece in 1509 while recovering from illness at the home of his friend Thomas More in England. Writing in elegant Latin, he created a mock encomium — a…
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Thomas More · 1513–1518 · Book
Thomas More's unfinished biography of Richard III emerged from the political turbulence of early Tudor England, where the legitimacy of Henry VII's dynasty depended partly on vilifying the Yorkist king he had…
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Desiderius Erasmus · 1514 · Treatise
Julius exclusus is a satirical dialogue written by Erasmus around 1514, presenting the recently deceased Pope Julius II attempting to gain entry to heaven only to be turned away by Saint Peter.…
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Martin Luther · 1515–1516 · Commentary
Luther's Wittenberg lectures on Romans of 1515–16, rediscovered in manuscript around 1900, in which his teaching on justification takes shape.
Original languageHard
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Desiderius Erasmus · 1516 · Commentary
Erasmus's Novum Instrumentum omne stands as the first published edition of the Greek New Testament, appearing in Basel in 1516 at a moment when humanist scholarship was reshaping Christian learning. Working from…
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Novum Instrumentum Erasmus — Novum Instrumentum / Novum Testamentum
Desiderius Erasmus · 1516 · Scripture
First published under the title Novum Instrumentum and in later editions as Novum Testamentum, this pivotal Greek-Latin New Testament directly enabled Reformation-era vernacular translation. Its scope is the New Testament, translated from…
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Selected Works Selected Works of Huldreich Zwingli
Huldrych Zwingli · 1516–1531 · Book
The selected works of Huldrych Zwingli emerged from the tumultuous early decades of the Swiss Reformation, when the humanist-trained priest found himself at the center of religious and political upheaval in Zurich.…
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Desiderius Erasmus · 1516 · Treatise
Erasmus wrote this treatise on Christian governance in 1516 as an educational manual for the young Charles V, who would soon become Holy Roman Emperor. The work emerged during a pivotal moment…
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Thomas More · 1516 · Book
Thomas More's Utopia emerged from the intellectual ferment of early sixteenth-century humanism, written during More's diplomatic mission to Flanders in 1515. The work responds to the social upheavals of his time—enclosure of…
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Martin Luther · 1517 · Treatise
Ninety-seven theses of September 1517, a month before the indulgence theses, attacking Aristotle's place in theology and the scholastic teaching on the will and grace.
Original languageHard
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Martin Luther · 1517 · Treatise
For anyone who wants to see where the Reformation began: short numbered propositions against the sale of indulgences. Read it with a note on what indulgences were; it is a debate paper, not a full statement of Luther's faith.
Read hereFreeOriginal languageDemanding
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Desiderius Erasmus · 1517 · Treatise
The Complaint of Peace stands as Erasmus's most sustained meditation on war and Christian governance, written in 1517 as Europe teetered on the brink of renewed conflict. With the major powers of…
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Martin Luther · 1518 · Sermon
Twenty short points in German on indulgences, written in 1518 for lay readers; it spread far more widely than the Latin theses.
Original languageEasy or light
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Colloquies The Colloquies of Erasmus
Desiderius Erasmus · 1518–1533 · Other
The Colloquies began as simple Latin conversation exercises for Erasmus's pupils but evolved over fifteen years into a sophisticated collection of satirical dialogues that held up a mirror to sixteenth-century European society.…
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Martin Luther · 1518 · Treatise
Luther's own long commentary on each of the Ninety-Five Theses, sent to Pope Leo X in 1518 with a letter submitting them to his judgment.
Original languageHard
