Exsurge Domine: Cardinal Wolsey Burns Luther's Writing; Luther Burns Papal Bull

"communications repertoire of the early modern state."

Luther burns the papal bull. (Detail from 19th century lithograph by H. Schile, after the original of H. Brüchner.)

Exsurge Domine- was a papal bull promulgated on 15 June 1520 by Pope Leo X written in response to the teachings of Martin Luther which opposed the views of the Catholic Church. 

Image of the title page of Pope Leo X's Bull, Exurge Domine

On May 1521, with Cardinal Wolsey attending in state and the imperial and papal ambassadors present to observe, a selection of Luther's books were burned in the churchyard of St. Paul's cathedral. John Fisher, the bishop of Rochester, preached against heresy, and the offending publications were set alight in the course of the bishop's sermon.  ¹

The public rituals of censorship formed part of the communications repertoire of the early modern state. The banning and burning of books involved dialogue and discourse, speaker and audience, spectacle and spectators in the making and transmission of meaning. ²

Sixty days after receiving the papal bull, Luther made his ultimate response. On December 10, 1520 Luther—joined by faculty and students of the University of Wittenberg—assembled outside for a bonfire of his own. There Luther threw the bull to the flames, while others added books of canon law and other works which had obscured the Gospel of Christ. ³

1. Carl S. Meyer, "Henry VIII Burns Luther's Books, 12 May 1521," Journal of Ecclesiastical History 9 (1958): 173-87.

2. Cressy, David. 2005. “Book Burning in Tudor and Stuart England.” The Sixteenth Century Journal 36 (2): 359–74.

3. Mathew Block. 2017. History of the Reformation: The Excommunication of Luther. Lutheran Church-Canada.