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312 General History of Europe claimed, moreover, that it was the right and duty of the rulers to punish a churchman who did wrong just as if he were the humblest layman. The Address to the German Nobility closed with a long list of evils which must be done away with before Germany could become prosperous. Luther saw that his view of religion really implied a social revolution. He advocated reducing the monas- teries to a tenth of their number and permitting those monks who were disappointed in the good they got from living in them freely to leave. He pointed out the evils of pilgrimages and of the numerous church holidays, which interfered with daily work. The clergy, he urged, should be permitted to marry and have fam- ilies like other citizens. The universities should be reformed and "the accursed heathen, Aristotle," should be cast out from them. 527. Luther Excommunicated; Burning of the Papal Bull (1520). Luther had long expected to be excommunicated for his criticisms of the beliefs of the Church. But it was not until the autumn of 1520 that a papal bull or decree arrived condemning many of Luther's assertions as heretical and giving him sixty days to recant. The bull irritated many of the German rulers, who were quite willing to have a reformer bold enough to de- nounce evils which they themselves realized well enough. Some of the princes and universities published it, but in many cases it was ignored, and Luther's own ruler, the elector of Saxony, continued to protect his professor. Luther decided that he must make a public protest, and so he summoned his students to witness what he called "a pious reli- gious spectacle." He had a fire built outside the walls of Witten- berg and cast into it Leo X's bull condemning him, and a copy of the Laws of the Church, together with a volume of scholastic theology which he specially disliked. Yet Luther ' dreaded disorder. He was certainly sometimes reckless and violent in his writings and often said that bloodshed could not be avoided. Yet he always opposed hasty reform. He was reluctant to make changes, except in belief. He held that so long as an institution did not actually mislead, it did no harm.