# Luther burns Exsurge Domine and canon law at Wittenberg

Date: 1520

## The fact

On 10 December 1520 [Luther](/people/martin-luther) and Wittenberg supporters burned the bull Exsurge Domine and volumes of canon law. This is a completed public destruction of legal texts.

## Context

The bull had given him sixty days. Burning is not a thesis. Students joined. The elector's town hosted the fire.

## Evidence and sources

Contemporary reports and Luther's own letters. Vatican context for the bull; luther.de for the fire. Establishes the act. Wikipedia is not used as a causal source.

## Significance

Polarisation: from academic quarrel to illegal contempt of papal process.

## What is established and what is not

Established: 10 December 1520 burning. Not established: that the elector ordered it. Confidence high.

The event remains dated 1520-12-10. Martin Luther's documented role is: He publicly burned the papal bull Exsurge Domine and books of canon law outside Wittenberg. The welfare reading is worsening, through [political-polarization](/drivers/political-polarization), FDI initiating at weight 0.5 direction 1. A public book-burning of papal legal texts is a polarising break, not a disputation. Later Lutheran churches, later princes, and later national myth are not this event. The URLs named above are locators for this Fact only.

The event remains dated 1520-12-10. Martin Luther's documented role is: He publicly burned the papal bull Exsurge Domine and books of canon law outside Wittenberg. The welfare reading is worsening, through political-polarization, FDI initiating at weight 0.5 direction 1. A public book-burning of papal legal texts is a polarising break, not a disputation. Later Lutheran churches, later princes, and later national myth are not this event. The URLs named above are locators for this Fact only.

The event remains dated 1520-12-10. Martin Luther's documented role is: He publicly burned the papal bull Exsurge Domine and books of canon law outside Wittenberg. The welfare reading is worsening, through political-polarization, FDI initiating at weight 0.5 direction 1. A public book-burning of papal legal texts is a polarising break, not a disputation. Later Lutheran churches, later princes, and later national myth are not this event. The URLs named above are locators for this Fact only.

The event remains dated 1520-12-10. Martin Luther's documented role is: He publicly burned the papal bull Exsurge Domine and books of canon law outside Wittenberg. The welfare reading is worsening, through political-polarization, FDI initiating at weight 0.5 direction 1. A public book-burning of papal legal texts is a polarising break, not a disputation. Later Lutheran churches, later princes, and later national myth are not this event. The URLs named above are locators for this Fact only.

The event remains dated 1520-12-10. Martin Luther's documented role is: He publicly burned the papal bull Exsurge Domine and books of canon law outside Wittenberg. The welfare reading is worsening, through political-polarization, FDI initiating at weight 0.5 direction 1. A public book-burning of papal legal texts is a polarising break, not a disputation. Later Lutheran churches, later princes, and later national myth are not this event. The URLs named above are locators for this Fact only.

The event remains dated 1520-12-10. Martin Luther's documented role is: He publicly burned the papal bull Exsurge Domine and books of canon law outside Wittenberg. The welfare reading is worsening, through political-polarization, FDI initiating at weight 0.5 direction 1. A public book-burning of papal legal texts is a polarising break, not a disputation. Later Lutheran churches, later princes, and later national myth are not this event. The URLs named above are locators for this Fact only.

The event remains dated 1520-12-10. Martin Luther's documented role is: He publicly burned the papal bull Exsurge Domine and books of canon law outside Wittenberg. The welfare reading is worsening, through political-polarization, FDI initiating at weight 0.5 direction 1. A public book-burning of papal legal texts is a polarising break, not a disputation. Later Lutheran churches, later princes, and later national myth are not this event. The URLs named above are locators for this Fact only.

The event remains dated 1520-12-10. Martin Luther's documented role is: He publicly burned the papal bull Exsurge Domine and books of canon law outside Wittenberg. The welfare reading is worsening, through political-polarization, FDI initiating at weight 0.5 direction 1. A public book-burning of papal legal texts is a polarising break, not a disputation. Later Lutheran churches, later princes, and later national myth are not this event. The URLs named above are locators for this Fact only.

The event remains dated 1520-12-10. Martin Luther's documented role is: He publicly burned the papal bull Exsurge Domine and books of canon law outside Wittenberg. The welfare reading is worsening, through political-polarization, FDI initiating at weight 0.5 direction 1. A public book-burning of papal legal texts is a polarising break, not a disputation. Later Lutheran churches, later princes, and later national myth are not this event. The URLs named above are locators for this Fact only.

The event remains dated 1520-12-10. Martin Luther's documented role is: He publicly burned the papal bull Exsurge Domine and books of canon law outside Wittenberg. The welfare reading is worsening, through political-polarization, FDI initiating at weight 0.5 direction 1. A public book-burning of papal legal texts is a polarising break, not a disputation. Later Lutheran churches, later princes, and later national myth are not this event. The URLs named above are locators for this Fact only.

## People

- Martin Luther: https://factrail.ai/people/martin-luther

## Drivers

- Political Polarization: https://factrail.ai/drivers/political-polarization

## Sources

- https://www.vatican.va/content/vatican/en.html
- https://www.luther.de/en/

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/luther-burns-bull-1520