The Ninety-Five Theses on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences (original ) were written by
Martin Luther and are widely regarded as the initial catalyst for the
Protestant Reformation. The
disputation protests against clerical abuses, especially
nepotism,
simony,
usury,
pluralism, and the sale of
indulgences. It is generally believed that, according to university custom, on 31 October 1517, Luther posted the ninety-five theses, which he had composed in Latin, on the door of
All Saints' Church in Wittenberg.