Letter to Emperor Charles V

Luther fled Worms in April and wrote a letter back to Charles V reiterating his stance and making a second attempt to defend his position. The letter was never given to the emperor (some say because no one was brave enough to deliver it), but it was soon available in print for public consumption. This manuscript letter was purchased at auction in 1911 by Pierpont Morgan, our library’s founder, but within a few months Morgan gave it to Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany as a gift to that nation. Since 1911 it has resided in the Luther House in Wittenberg.