3-038-637 - LTL/Heritage Images

Satire against the sale of indulgences, Protestant Reformation, Germany, 1885. Facsimile of an engraving of the period (16th century). Attached to the cross are Christ's crown of thorns, and the flail and bundle of switches used to flagellate him. Below are Catholic priessts, cardinals and bishops, with the pope in the centre, flanked by banners with his insignia of the keys of heaven and the papal tiara. The clerics are attached to clawed animal legs on top of a money chest, and beneath is the Regnum Diaboli - the Kingdom of the Devil. Indulgences were a target of attacks by Martin Luther and other Protestant theologians. From "Universal History", 1885. (Colorised black and white print).