The Ninety-five Theses

The essay's example of what the press did to the speed of dissemination: copies across Europe within weeks, a viral pamphlet before the concept existed.

That claim is not in dispute. The accompanying image of Luther nailing the theses to the door at Wittenberg is. Luther never mentioned doing it, the story first appears in Melanchthon's account of 1548, two years after Luther's death, and it gained currency around the Reformation centenary of 1617. Andrew Pettegree calls it very unlikely to have happened, and Peter Marshall has written a book-length treatment of the legend.

The essay states the door-nailing as fact. See the essay record.