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Who was Johann Tetzel and why was he associated with the sale of indulgences?

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Anastasis (Christ ascending from hell), apse fresco, c. 1320; in the Church of the Holy Saviour at the Monastery of the Chora (now the Kariye Museum), Istanbul. — purgatory *Anastasis* (Christ ascending from hell), apse fresco, c. 1320; in the Church of the Holy Saviour at the Monastery of the Chora (now the Kariye Museum), Istanbul.

Johann Tetzel (c. 1465–1519) was a German Dominican friar who became a central figure in the controversy surrounding the Roman Catholic practice of indulgences.1

He was appointed as a general commissioner by Archbishop Albert of Mainz to preach and sell a special plenary indulgence. This initiative was designed to raise funds for the rebuilding of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, with half of the proceeds intended to help the archbishop pay off debts incurred from his acquisition of various church offices.1

Tetzel is famously associated with the aggressive marketing of these indulgences, particularly those intended to benefit souls in purgatory. He is often credited with the slogan, "When a penny in the coffer rings, / A soul from Purgatory springs". His methods were widely viewed by contemporaries as an abuse of the sacrament of penance. This practice, which commodified the process of salvation, became a primary catalyst for Martin Luther to publish his Ninety-five Theses in 1517, ultimately sparking the Reformation.21