Edict of Worms

The way it turned out, it was, uh, it...

From, from this diet going forth, at least for a little while, German princes were allowed to basically, um, implement the Edict of Worms according to their conscience.

So, like, the Edict of Worms declared Luther an outlaw of the empire.

This is about six years before.

And Luther's living in Saxony and can't really leave Saxony without endangering himself, 'cause at least the prince there, in electoral Sa- Saxony I should say, is, uh, protecting him.

In 1495, in need of money and men, he summoned the Diet of Worms.

By the Edict of Worms issued by this Diet, a, the common penny, a tax on all property and a poll tax on people of small means, was to be collected throughout the empire and part of it to be granted to the emperor.

The rest was to be in the hands of nominees of the Diet who were responsible for collection and expenditure.

B.

The people recognized their leader, order was restored in Wittenberg, and the prophets departed.

In the absence of Charles from Germany, the power was in the hands of the newly formed Council of Regency.

Some of the members were favorable to Luther, and the others did not wish to bring upon themselves the unpopularity which would result from the enforcement of the Edict of Worms.

The new pope, Adrian VI, however, exhorted them to deliver Luther into the hands of the papal court, and to take measures against the spread of his doctrines.

So that's the more traditional version.

This refusal led to the Edict of Worms, which declared Luther an outlaw, meaning anyone in the empire could legally kill him without consequences.

In an era when defying both the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor of the time in the same year could easily get a person executed, Luther's survival was far from guaranteed as other followers would soon be arrested and killed.

So he walked out of that assembly a condemned man.

And so he didn't press for Luther's immediate arrest.

So ultimately, with rising public support for Luther among the German people, he got the protection of some of the princes.

The Edict of Worms was never really enforced in Germany much.

Frederick the Wise was the one everyone always remembers as the prince who governed Luther's home region in Saxony.

He was as active, strong, brave, and generous as the most famous knights of chivalry.

as fond of adventure and as full of hope as the men who set out across the seas to discover new routes and new lands as much interested in art and literature as the artists and students whom he encouraged and patronized kind and affable to all he never lost his kingly dignity and his ready sympathy and gracious manners won for him the devotion of knight citizen and peasant he was full of high ideals and of brilliant projects but his many interests his very quickness and versatility combined with his want of perseverance prevented him from bringing his plans to a successful issue as a german king maximilian was a failure but we cannot wonder that this lovable fascinating imaginative man of brilliant intellect and wide sympathies father maximilian as his knights called him is still one of the heroes of the german people and yet this knight-errant this fantastic dreamer of dreams had serious faults in his political negotiations he would stoop to acts of meanness and duplicity worthy of an italian statesman of the period he was wildly ambitious over self-confident and very jealous of his own authority generally preferring for his ministers men of low origin who owed everything to him but always conscious of his abilities and his gifts he was also conscious of his faults and in his teuerdank an epic poem describing his own adventures during the wooing of mary of burgundy he recognized that the greatest dangers that beset the hero are self-conceit and a desire for adventure as king of the romans in his father's lifetime maximilian had shown a sympathy with constitutional reform that had led the reforming party to hope great things from his reign but after his accession he had a lofty idea of his own position and was not ready to favor reforms that would lessen his prerogative other projects however of seemingly more far-reaching importance than purely german affairs were occupying the first place in maximilian's thoughts during the early years of his reign charles the eighth of france had invaded italy and the king of the romans wished to play his part in the struggle that was going on in the peninsula to overthrow the increasing power of the frenchmen and to regain the old influence of the emperors in italy the history of maximilian's foreign expeditions pitiably unsuccessful as they were on the whole can be best studied in connection with the history of france and the italian states but they are important here in so far as they affect his german policy to obtain supplies for these wars he was willing to make concessions to the reforming party in the empire the head of this party was berthold the archbishop of mainz one of the seven electors his ambition was to make a united state of germany similar to those of france and spain by forming a strong centralized government though the supreme control over the executive was to be vested not in the emperor but in the princes in other words the strong feeling of nationality that was beginning to throb in the hearts of all germans was to be satisfied and germany was to take her place among the newly organized strong states that had sprung up in western europe the part played however by the monarch in france spain and england was in germany to be played by the aristocracy it is unlikely that such a government would have been acceptable to the large body of smaller landowners the knights or to the free cities and it is doubtful whether it could have been successful but in any case maximilian although willing to support moderate reform had no intention of allowing his own authority slight as it was in reality to be superseded in fourteen ninety five in need of money and men he summoned the diet of worms by the edict of worms issued by this diet a the common penny a tax on all property and a poll tax on people of small means was to be collected throughout the empire and part of it to be granted to the emperor the rest was to be in the hands of nominees of the diet who were responsible for collection and expenditure b the imperial chamber the supreme court of justice was to be reorganized its sessions were to be in a fixed place and it was no longer to follow the king the sixteen members were to be nominated by the diet the president only being appointed by the emperor the chamber was to have authority to settle all cases of dispute between states and the empire and to hear cases of appeal brought from other courts c the diet was to meet annually and the emperor was to decide no important matters without its advice the reforming party had gained much though by no means all that it had hoped but both maximilian and the estates were disappointed in the results of the concessions it was found impossible to collect the common penny satisfactorily and though the imperial chamber tried the cases brought before it and in many instances gave justice where previously there would have been none there was no authority to see that its decisions were always enforced A central administrative body was needed, but this Maximilian had declined to grant.

Yet to this scheme also he gave his consent at the Diet of Augsburg in 1500, being driven to it by the failure of his Italian expedition and his great need of support.

The Council of Regency, as this new executive body was called, was to be presided over by the Emperor, or a deputy nominated by him.

Some thought he had been seized by the Imperial or Papal party and put to death, and the greatest anxiety was felt throughout Germany until the news leaked out that he was safe.

At Worms there was still some difficulty about the issuing of the Imperial ban, and it was not until May 25th, 1521, after the departure of Frederick of Saxony and other members favorable to Luther, that the consent of the Diet was obtained.

This ban, which is known as the Edict of Worms, and was dated May 8th, declared the heretic's life to be forfeited and ordered all his writings to be burnt.

After May 14th, none were to receive him into their houses or give him food or drink under pain of the most severe penalties.

As for the life and morals of the clergy at large, it would be desirable to carry out the decrees of the Lateran Council.

On the other side, while the memorial insisted on the necessity of restricting improper concessions granted in concordats to temporal princes, it demanded the rigorous execution of the Edict of Worms against the new German heresy.

The Holy See should hasten to take advantage of the readiness of Bohemia to be reconciled to it.

While with a view, no doubt, to the suppression of the more recent and more dangerous religious revolt, it should use its best endeavors to mediate peace between the Empire, France, and England.

The Diet replied in a very cool tone, recurring to the grievances of the German nation against the Roman Curia, and suggesting that they should be remedied before the proposed steps were taken against Luther.

In no other way could a modus vivendi be found up to the meeting of a general council, which it was hoped would soon be summoned to some suitable German city.

No desire was indicated to break with the Pope, but the sanction of the Diet to the execution of the Edict of Worms was distinctly refused, and even a request on the part of the Pope for the institution of proceedings against certain preachers of heresy in Nuremberg itself were declined.

The result must have been a bitter disappointment to Adrian, although in truth his difficulties at Rome left him no time for proceeding effectively against the German Reformation.