Few episodes of the Reformation are so iconic or so laden with the burden of collective memory than the events of October 31, 1517, when a junior professor at the provincial University of Wittenberg is said to have nailed a “Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences,” commonly known as the “Ninety-Five Theses,” to the door of the castle church. With this bold act of defiance against the authority of the Roman church, so the conventional wisdom holds, Martin Luther (1483-1546) set in motion the most epoch-making transformation of religion in Europe since the founding and spread of Christianity itself. Here's a contemporary version of the story, as told by The History Channel. Somebody went to the trouble of creating a LEGO version of these events. You won't be surprised to learn that there's a rap music variation on the theme as well.

But how do we know that this event occurred? Here is the earliest evidence we have of the event. How does it stack up, in your view?

First, click here for the earliest evidence that Luther posted the Ninety-Five Theses to the door of the castle church.

Second, click here for some of the earliest accounts of the dissemination of the Ninety-Five Theses.

Image right: The door of the castle church in Wittenberg, as it appears today. The original, 1499 stone doorjamb still encases the door, but the rest is more recent. The original wooden doors, upon which the Ninety-Five Theses were supposedly nailed, burned in 1760 and were replaced in 1768 with doors bearing the text of Luther's famous disputation. Image source: Wikimedia Commons.