Appellation odder beruffung an ein Christlich frey Conciliu[m] von dem Bapst Leo und seine[n] unrechte[n] freuel vorneweret und repetirt

[Wittenberg]: Melchior Lotter, 1520. SECOND EDITION, printed in the year of the 1st ed. Hardcover. Fine. A very fine copy on sturdy paper with wide margins and just a faint bit of marginal soiling and an almost imperceptible bit of paper fill in the lower blank margin of the title. On June 15th, 1520, Pope Leo X issued the bull "Exsurge Domine", condemning 41 of Luther's 95 theses and threatening Luther with excommunication unless he recants his "errors" within sixty days. Faced with the grim prospect of excommunication and unwilling to be condemned without a hearing, Luther issued the present appeal for the convening of a general church council. The basis for the text is Luther's first appeal to a council, which he had issued in 1518 after his audience with the papal legate Cardinal Cajetan. As Luther tells us in this new appeal of 1520, even though he had maintained readiness to be shown his errors and to revoke certain statements if proven wrong, he was ignored and proceedings continued against him in Rome.

He now appeals to Emperor Charles V, the Imperial Electors, and German Christian magistracy to adhere to his appeal for Catholic truth, God's glory, the faith and Church of Christ, and the right of a legitimate Council. He asks them to turn away from the Pope's actions, resist his tyranny, or at least defer executing the papal bull until Luther has been legitimately summoned, proven by impartial judges, and convicted by scriptures.

In making his appeal for a general council to settle the indulgence controversy, Luther sought both to dilute the pope's authority and to strengthen his own theological position. In 1418, the Council of Constance had decreed that the supreme power of the church in matters of faith and practice resided in regularly convened councils. Yet, by the early sixteenth century, the popes had wrested away much of that power. By appearing before a church council rather than the Roman Curia, Luther could effectively switch judges by appealing to the authority of Scripture to adjudicate his dispute with the pope.

Luther makes his bold appeal in the most inflammatory language. He denies the authority of the pope, who behaves like the Antichrist whom Scripture condemns.

Ultimately, Luther's appeal to a council would never be heard. No such council would meet until the Council of Trent (1545-1563), long after the Protestant Reformation had become an irreversible fact.