24. Martin Luther (1483–1546). Belijdinghe oft bekentenisse D. Martini Lutheri vant Aventmael des heeren tegen die blasphemie Ulrici Zwinglii ende Joannis Ecolampadii ende teghen den Swermgeest inder Slesie. “Wittemberch” [Antwerp: The “Hans Luft in Marburg” Printer], 1528.

Class I: Prohibited Authors

For the compilers of the Index librorum prohibitorum, Martin Luther was the most significant heretic of the first class. This book is the only surviving copy of the Dutch translation of Luther’s principal work on the Eucharist, Vom Abendmal Christi, Bekendnis. Its rarity is a direct result of Church censorship. Beginning in 1520, copies of Luther’s writings were confiscated and burned in Louvain, and by 1529, the printing or possession of Protestant works in the Low Countries carried the death penalty, although enforcement was lax in cosmopolitan Antwerp. Throughout this period, most printers of Protestant texts outside of Germany concealed their identities behind false imprints. The Belijdinghe was one of several clandestine editions published in Antwerp by a printer who often used the pseudonym “Hans Luft of Marburg.”