AT THE TRIBUNAL OF CAESAR 1 W.H.T,DAU 1 i-A QforticU Unioetattg Eibrary Date Due NOV 8 8 194|0 mi. APR3Q:l 94f Archbishop Albert of Alayence writes to Pope Leo:-— I have studied to suppress the nascent fury of Luther, and at the very first I warned Your Holiness of the movement which has now, alas ! become a mighty conflagration throughout almost aU Germany. I left nothing undone which either theologians or jurists adi'ised me to do. Under the terrifying spell of this movement the Arch- bishop has felt himself partly paralyzed and unable to exe- cute the terms of the bull against Luther. He hastens to make his excuse : — Wherefore, most blessed Father, considering not so much the words as the intent of the present commands to publish the bull in the dioceses of ^layence and Magdeburg and in those of my reverend suffragans, I am now doing my best, with the advice of the nuncios (Aleander and Caraccioli), to conciliate the favor of the secular princes without which every effort of ours will be in vain. \\"hat success we shall have I know not, but I have good hopes.2®) This meant that the Archbishop was hoping for the best while expecting the worst — ever the mental attitude of the optimistic fool on the eve of disaster. That sensitive psychometer of the age, registering promptly every depression in the political and social atmos- phere, Erasmus, the confidant of the great men of affairs all over Europe, writes to the imperial counselor Conrad Peutinger-') from Cologne, November 9 : — I know that you have no leisure to read all sorts of letters, excellent Sir, nor have I much more time to write, yet I was induced to do so by John Faber.^s) a Dominican theologian, 26) Letter of an uncertain date (about November 1, 1520), and from an uncertain place (possibly Mayence). Reproduced in Boecking's Collec- tion of Hutten's Epistles. SC, 1, 382. 27) DGR, pp. 154. 162. 171. Peutinger of Augsburg (1465-1547) studied in Italy; in 1507 he was appointed town clerk of his native city, in the service of which he discharged various missions, and was made im- perial counselor by Maximilian. His passion was the study of antiquities, on which he produced several works. SC. 1, 116. 2S) Of Augsburg (1470-1530); studied in Italy and became Dominican Prior at Augsburg. He met Erasmus at Louvain, October, 1520, and with him planned a peaceful solution of the Lutheran schism, composing at this time at Cologne, with Erasmus's help, the Consilium cujiisdam cupientis constiltum esse . , which he pressed on the Emperor's advisers. SC, 1, 390. HEADING OFF THE STORM. 9 whom I discovered, by careful examination, to be very different from some of that brotherhood ; for besides solid learning, in- tegrity, and affability I found in him excellent judgment. We have often consulted on the method of composing this Lutheran tragedy without a cataclysm of the whole globe. For what lover of mankind is not moved by the beginning of this drama, seeing that there is imminent peril, unless something is done, that it shall lead to a catastrophe dangerous to Christianity? The most horrible wars are often started by trifles. And in my opinion Cicero was right in saying that an unjust peace is better than the justest war.^o) Now this drama has gone further than I could have wished, but I think the evil is curable; certainly it is more so now than if it goes on increasing. I should also wish it so healed, that it may not merely be suppressed for a time to become worse later, as happens to patients when physicians cool their fever with a potion without bleeding, or to those who scarify a wound which has not been sufficiently cleansed. Some think that severity had better be used, and Faber would not disagree with them, did he not fear that it would hardly suc- ceed. He says that it is not sufficient in this matter to follow your inclination, but that several things must be considered. First, we must consult the dignity of the Roman Pontiff, whom all lovers of Christ must favor as Christ's vicar, lest the Gospel truth should suffer. And I doubt not that Leo is of this mind, that he considers his only glory to lie in the flourishing of the doctrine of his Prince. Faber says we should not consider only what Luther deserves, or what people favor Luther, but what conduces to the public peace. It makes a great difference who the people are that lay hands on this evil, and with what medi- cines it is cured. Some mix in this affair only to exasperate it with their misplaced zeal, and double it, consulting not the authority of the Pope, but their own advantage. Briefly, they so act that they hurt sound learning more than they do Luther. For it is not right that innocent or rather holy studies should suffer on account of Luther, nor ought other men, without cause, to be involved in this affair.^") He added that we should con- sider from what fount the whole thing flowed, namely, from hatred of good learning. . . . It is not for men like me to judge the Pope's breves. But there were some who missed in the bull brought by the nuncio th# gentleness worthy of Christ's vicar and of this peaceful Leo, and they impute the bull not to him, but to his advisers. . . 29) Epistle VI, 6, 5. 30) 0pp. Ill, 1889; SC, 1, 401 f. 10 HEADING OFF THE STORM. But Faber himself will explain his plan more fully to you? in person, and if you approve it, you can help him at the Diet of Worms to carry through a plan which all will approve."^) A true Erasmian letter ! Halting in its opinion, defer- ential to power, full of the cultured Humanist's refined selfishness, which crops out in the form of dread that the existing state of affairs, in which creatures like Erasmus thrive best, might be seriously disturbed. Erasmus evi- dently knew more than he cared to express in this letter; but what he said was said with the distinct purpose of im- pressing a member of the German Diet and an official adviser of Charles V. From the Ebernburg Hutten writes to Bucer,^^) Novem- ber 25 :— I hear that all orders of men are greatly grieved at the act [the burning of Luther's books], and only a few priests were pleased with it. I hear that some of the nobles favor Luther so strongly that Sickingen thinks there would have, been an ex- tremely dangerous rebellion at Cologne, if only Frederick of Saxony had been there, for he left a short time before.^^) 31) Erasmi Opera. Ill, 590; SC, 1, 390. — The dissimulation which Erasmus practised at this time can be seen by comparing two letters. The first, dated at the Ebernburg, November 13, was written to Erasmus by Hutten, who treats Erasmus as if he were a Lutheran. "I greatly wonder what you are doing there [at Cologne], where, as I believe, there is so much hostility to us, and where, as I hear, the mandates of Leo X are cruelly executed. Do you even imagine that you can be safe while Luther's books are burned, and that his condemnation will not prejudice your cause, or that those who condemn him will spare you? Fly, fly, and keep yourself for us! I have sufficient, even infinite peril, but my mind is used to danger and to whatever fortune may bring. With you it is different. Fly, excel- lent Erasmus; fly while you can, before some disaster falls on you," etc. SC, 1, 394. In the other letter, of November 20, Oswald Myconius relates to Rudolph Clivanus 32) at Milan this humorous episode: "Would you like to hear something . . of Erasmus? I will tell you something. He is a scoundrel. Hear what he did. He was summoned by the king of England to a conference [at Calais, July. 1520], The king patted him on the shoulder and said, 'Erasmus, why don't you defend that good Luther?' Erasmus answered, 'Because I am not enough of a theologian; now that the professors at Louvain have put me down as a grammarian, I don't touch such things.' After a long conversation the king said, 'You are a good man, Erasmus.' and dismissed him with a gift of fifty ducats. Then Eras- mus went to Frankfort. When his friends came to see him, he waved them away. 'Look out,* he said, 'don't touch me,' and held out his hand as if he feared to be hurt. When they expressed sympathy and asked him what was tlie matter, he told them he had a wound. When they asiced him where, he replied, 'In the purse.' Thus he tried to turn the bargain into a joke." SC, 1, 396. Dr. Smith questions the reliability of the anecdote. It comports, however, with what we know of the character of Erasmus. 32) Rudolph zum Buhl (Clivanus) 1499-1578; teacher of Greek at Zurich and after 1519 a friend of Zwingli. CR, XCIV, 339; SC, 1 396 33) DGR, p. 77. 34) From Boecking. /. c, I, 437; SC. 1, 397. HEADING OFF THE STORM. 11 Capito^'"') was at that time in the employ of Archbishop Albert, and was seeking to obtain a prebend at Strassburg. It is therefore not purely cordial concern for Luther, but also self-interest, that makes him sum up the critical character of the times in a letter to Luther from Mayence, Decem- ber 4 :— You have often blown the trumpet, and Hutten, who will try arms, shouts war for us. I think that you will be safe there [at the Ebernburg, Sickingen's castle], nor shall our chief lack an asylum. Our enemies are protected by strong bulwarks, cas- tles, and moats, relying on money, arms, and numerous de- pendents. A certain popular sentiment is for you ; not the smallest part, however, is with the Romanists. "Alas !" the latter exclaim, "what a monstrous state of affairs this is, that a dwarf without authority should with impunity call into question the ancient decretals !" To which the saner reply : "What impiety it is to extinguish Christ's doctrines with human decretals !" Why do I say all this ? Only to show that everything is tending towards a tremendous revolution, of which the outcome is uncer- tain. There are men who fear that such a strife would obliterate all show of religion. For they take your teachings in a sinister way, as it were. Some one has written a satirical dialog^s) at Cologne against Hogstraten, taxing Eck and Aleander with the burning of the books, and even casting some aspersions at me, who certainly did not wish the books burned, but did conceal my opinion about it. Eck wrote back furiously to Cologne. Aleander digests the insult in silence, making not very witty jokes about it; therefore, he has been branded with another sharp letter, and with a song by no means bad, and with another more learned one with much gall in it. . . . He burned your books with much bluster at Cologne. ... He was hissed by the people as a Jew^^) who under the pretext of religion would labor for the glory of Moses, as 35) DGR, pp. 53. 144, and passim. — Capito is Wolfgang Fabricius Koepfel of Hagenau (1478P-1541); he studied at Freiburg and Ingolstadt, where he took his doctorate in divinity by 1513. In 1513 he went to Basle,, where he became cathedral preacher and professor of theology in the uni- •versity. In 1580 he entered the service of Archbishop Albert of Mayence. Three years later he declared for the Reformation and went to Strassburg, at which place, in company with Bucer, he occupied a leading position for the rest of his life, taking part in the Synod of Bern in 1532, and in the Wittenberg Concord of 1536. His religious views were already advanced in 1512, from which time on for several years he was an ardent admirer of Erasmus. SC, 1, 71 f. 36) The Hochstratus Ovans, reprinted in Boecking, supplement I, 468. 37) DRG, p. 271. 12 HEADING OFF THE STORM. though he were not a sincere Christian, having been recently con- verted. The people are of two minds. The shame of the burn- ing terrified some, but exasperated the hatred of many against the Romanists. . . . I see that what I always feared will come to pass, that tyranny will be the head of the whole business, and that those who do all things with cunning do not see that what is below the requirement of the law is above the power of man born of Adam. You gather what I hint at; turn your mind back to former times and consider what bloody wars sprang from bloody tyranny. I want Christ to be strong again ; you know whether He prospers by doing or by suffering violence. Religion was born, grew, and became strong by innocent, unwarlike men ; by suffering wrong, the unarmed struck arms from furious hands. I have not noticed that any race received pure religion from bloody soldiers, al- though I know that the ancient Jewish religion (to which we are in many respects similar) was often maintained by force. I know that we have often tried to do the same, though I cannot say with much piety or success, since our religion has rather grown weaker thereby. Wherefore, pray, deter your followers from relying on arms. I understand the reason for your plan, but with me it is another reason to the contrary. For what is deep-rooted is not eradicated all at once; it must be gradually torn down until at last it falls under the hand pushing it. Now that everything is in commotion, every one who knows the nature of the mob can see what a revolution and what passions will result. Therefore I see no hope of safety, unless with calm mind and free from earthly passions we come together, and each yield something to the other. If the evil should have been stirred up, now I think it ought to be quieted again. The Lamb^S) is able to make all things new. We can easily stir things up, but it does not seem within our power to settle them again ; however, to do that we must humbly strive for Christ's aid. He sees what we hardly think of. I frankly confess to you, dearest brother, that daily I more and more doubt about this business, nor do I mean this ill. For practical life easily teaches us how small an impulse can turn the people either to good or evil. I do not say that we should cease doing Christ's work, but that we should pardon the coarse people for much of what they are doing. As you say, some things are necessary to the Christian, and there are some things expressly overlooked which will be readily un- derstood from the former. You have recently experienced this yourself, as one armed in a holy war to fight daily with enemies 38) Rev. 21, 5. HEADING OFF THE STORM. 13 to hold your positions. Consider our weakness, which is in need of milk rather than of strong meat.^'-') Do not extinguish the devotion of the people by asking too much of them; and preach the Word of Christ not from strife, but from charity.*") This whole foolish letter is, as you know, from Capito, who desires the best for Luther, and who wishes peace and is striving with all his might for concord. I doubt not that you desire the same, but that hitherto your adversaries have thwarted you. Their end shall be death,*!) whether they were born of contention, or whether they were begotten of guile, sycophancy, and imposture. We must pray for peace in our time through Jesus Christ. Fare- well in Him, Christian soul, dear to my heart.*^) The popular unrest was spreading beyond the borders of Germany. From Paris, Henry Glarean*^) writes to Zwingli at Zurich, November 1 : — Now hear some news about Luther ! When the debate be- tween Geek**) and Luther was laid before the University of Paris for judgment,*") although it perhaps would have censured some of the articles, now, after it has heard that Luther is con- demned by the Pope, it refrains from giving judgment. Np one's books are bought more eagerly. A certain bookseller told me that at the last Frankfort Fair he sold fourteen hundred copies 30) 1 Cor. 8, 2. 40) Phil. 1, 16 f. 41) Phil. 3, 19. 4-2) EB, 3, 3 ff. ; SC, 1, 405 ff. 43) Henry Loriti, of Glarus (1488-1663), matriculated at Cologne 1500, M. A. 1510, matriculated at Basle 1514, where for a time he worked with Froben, and became a devoted friend of Erasmus. From 1517 to 1522 he was at Paris teaching school. Thence he returned to Basle, but being unable to follow his friend Zwingli in the Reformation, he retired to Freiburg in 1.529. He published an original work on music in 1547. Glarean is particularly interesting to Americans for having made the first map of the New World in which the continent is called America. The MS. of this, dating 1513, was sold by Sotheby in 1612. It was printed under the title De Geographia, in 1.527, at Basle. SC, 1, 383. 44) In a letter to Staupitz, October 3. 1619, Luther writes: "Letters have come from France, reporting that Erasmus said: 'I fear Martin will perish for his righteousness,' and of Eck, that his name lacks one letter, and he should be called 'Jeck,' which is the Dutch for fool. Thus Christ beats down vainglory, so that him whom Leipzig adores as Eck, all learned men (they say) simply detest as 'Jeck.'" XV, 3462 f . ; EB, 2, 184; SC, 1, 220. In 1640 Eck complained of this taunt in his Schutzred Kindtlicher ynschuld wider den Catechisten Andre Hosander, etc., saying:^ "Wie die iEhrendieb mich lang in vielerlei Gestalt malen lassen, auch ein Sau ins Kartenspiel gebracht, gehobelt (Eccius Dedolatus), gebraten, jetz Doctor Keck da-nn Doctor Geek." etc. EB, ibid., p. 186. — Here Glarean makes the same pun, and Zwingli repeats it in 1624. (.0pp., Ill, 81.) "Jeck is the same as the rare English word 'geek' (fool), used by Shakespeare: Cymbeline, act V, scene IV, line 67." SC, 1, 220. In modern German "Geek" means "fop." 46) DLD, p. 194. 14 HEADING OFF THE STORM. of Luther's works. Something altogether unprecedented in the sale of books of any author. Everybody speaks well of Luther. Truly, the monk's chain is long.''^) In accordance with instructions received from Aleander, the papal nuncio in Switzerland, Pucci,^"^ proposed during the Swiss congress at Baden, on October 22, the burning of Luther's books. Oswald Myconius^^) reports the event to Zwingli, November 2 : — You know, and that, much more clearly than I do, what that Roman rascal who is with us proposed, or rather commanded under pain of excommunication. . . . First, we want to know your opinion, whether we ought to obey or not, after the command shall be published, and then, what your men at Zurich decided to do. Briefly, my own opinion is that the excommunication is to be disregarded, not so much because I favor Luther as that I would unwillingly lose the money I spent for the books, and also because I think the thing is too unjust to be obeyed. When was it ever heard in the Church that any one should be con- demned before he had a chance to state the reasons for his opin- ions, especially when he particularly wished to do so ? It is proclaimed through the whole town here that Luther and the schoolmaster'*^) are to be burned, although I never speak of him except to my intimates, and that, rarely; nor have I ever brought forward a single opinion from him.^") Yet I know why they join my name with Luther's ; it is because in my classes I speak the Gospel truth, and say what the subject demands, though no more. And because this agrees with what he says in several places, they think that that is from Luther, which is really from the Gospel. I could easily answer this charge if necessary. Yet I would not willingly lose his books, for I have not one or two, 46) CR, XCIV, 360; SC, 1, 383. 47) Lawrence Pucci, a professor of law at Pisa, papal datary under Julius II, given the red hat by Leo X in 1513. He was at the sack of Rome in 1527, and under Clement VIT Grand Penitentiary. SC, 1, 316. 48) Myconius (also Geisshuessler and Mueller) of Lucerne, matriculated at Basle 1510, B. A. 1514, then became public reader. In 1516 he went to Zurich, where he was instrumental in getting Zwingli called. In the autumn of 1519 he returned to Lucerne to open a school, which he had to give up when he joined the Reformation in 1522. After a year at Einsiedeln he came early in 1524 to Zurich, where he taught school after Zwingli's death (1531), when he went to Basle as successor to Oecolampadius. He died here in 1552. SC, 1, 304. 49) Myconius means himself. 50) Dr. Smith remarks pertinently: "The emphasis upon reliance on the Bible independently of Luther is characteristic of the Swiss Reforma- tion." SC, 1, 384. Zwingli started this self-deception: he failed to see, or acknowledge, that the light he had received from Luther made him see truths in the Scriptures. HEADING OFF THE STORM. 15 but a great many. Wherefore advise us, and we shall follow your advice.51) Beatus Rhenanus''^) informs Boniface Amerbach^^) at Avignon, November 8: — The Pope has sent Jerome Aleander with a monstrous bull to the Emperor to induce him to crush Luther. ... It is to be feared that the Emperor will give his consent, as one too young to understand these things. The whole of Germany is for Luther. Hutten has fairly translated the Pope's bull which curses Luther ; that is, he has explained and mocked it with witty, caustic notes. In the title-page of the booklet he has sur- rounded the Pope's arms with this verse : "At his right hand stood a bull in cloth of gold and many-colored garments." Ypu never read anything more cutting.^*) For, as you know, the Pope anathematized Hutten, and wrote to some of the princes that they should either kill him or senfl him bound to Rome. Hence the bitterness of his invective. Pucci, who tried to do much against Luther in Switzerland, is simply despised. You know that hitherto Zasius^'^) favored Luther. Now he has some- what changed his opinion, because Luther wrote it would be better for priests to have wives than harlots. . . . The Pope has recently condemned Reuchlin's article to please the monks, whose help the needs, and to spite Luther.^s) From Cologne Francis von Sickingen^'^) writes to Luther, November 3 : — 51) CR, XCIV. 365; SC, 1, 3S3 f. 52) DRG, p. 77. 53) Ibid., p. 300. He was born October 11, 1495, died April 5, 1662. His fatber was tbe Basle printer. Boniface A. matriculated tbere 1509, M. A. 1513. He then studied law witb Zasius at Freiburg, and witb Alciati at Avignon, May, 1520-1524, with an interval of May, 1521, to May, 1522, at Basle. He took his doctor's degree at Avignon, 1525, after which he spent his life teaching and practising law at Basle. He was one of Eras- mus's best friends, and bis executor. SC, 1, 221 f. 54) XV, 1425-1461. 55) DLD, pp. 4, 8. Ulrich Zaesi of Constanz (1461-November 24, 1535) matriculated at Tuebingen, 1481; after some years returned as bishop's notary to Constance; in 1491 he went to Freiburg in the Breisgau as town clerk. He studied law, taking his doctorate in 1500, and lectured on poetry till 1506, when he obtained the professorship of jurisprudence, which he held till the end of his life. SC, 1, 188. 56) From Briefwechsel d. B. Rhenanus, p. 250; SC, 1, 389. 57) Sickingen (1481, May 7, 1623) of the Ebernburg, near Kreuznach, a knight who succeeded his father in 1606 to large domains. He had a feud about Worms in 1513, and one with Hesse. On October 25, 1519, he was made imperial counselor and chamberlain. He was interested by Hutten in the cause of Reuchlin and Luther. In 1521 he was made general of the army against France, but failed to accomplish much, chiefly through lack of funds. In 1522 he attacked Treves witb the purpose of leading an insur- rection, but was defeated and killed at Landstuhl. SC, 1, 275 f. 16 HEADING OFF THE STORM. I received your last two letters at Cologne, and read them, together with your Offer and Protestation^^, and have heard what George Spalatin has to say, and I am glad to learn that you are minded to show forth the Christian truth and to abide by it. I am inclined to give you what help and favor may be in my power for this end. I would not conceal this my answer to your letter, for you will find me ready to do you any favor I can. God bless you and govern your affair according to His will.sw) In this group of letters there is a veiled criticism of Luther. It is to be noted that this criticism comes chiefly from parties that were in close touch with the Romanists. Among the men who were following the lead of Zwingli there is a spirit of aloofness. The former were charging Luther outright with planning to overthrow the established secular order. Luther was to them a raving bolshevik. The latter were lukewarm in their defense of Luther. Even Spalatin seems to have deemed it, necessary to warn Luther against inciting the passions of men : for on February 27 Luther writes to his friend: — Take care lest you be one of those who believe the people that blame me for excessive bitterness in my writings. For their object is to sully my name, since they cannot do anything else. But I find that they are, as a rule, persons who do not read, but follow the reports of others. Besides, they are not accus- tomed to see vices cauterized. I am not conscious yet of such fury as they accuse me of. Enough said.^) Roman Catholic historians of the present age love to draw weird pictures of the revolutionary Germany which Luther's writings had produced. A writer in the Cathalic Encyclopedia informs his readers : — Germany was living on a politico-religious volcano. All walks of life were in a convulsive state of unrest that boded ill for oS) Upon suggestion of Elector Frederick, Luther had addressed a let- ter to Emperor Charles V (DGR, p. 261 f."). -Vt the same time Luther drew up a document which he called "Protestation und Erbieten" (X\*. 1392-1397), in which he declares that he has never knowingly written and taught anything contrary to the divine truth, that he is an obedient son of the Church, and that he would gladly keep silence if his adversaries would let him do so. This is the writing to which Sickingen refers; it was intended for the Emperor, who was to be favorably impressed by it and inclined toward Luther. But it failed entirely of its purpose because the Emperor refused to read it. 59) XV. 1637; EB, 2, 506; SC. 1, 384 f. 60) XXIa, 335; EB, 3, S9 f.; SC, 1, 472 f. HEADING OFF THE STORM. 17 Church and State. Luther, by his inflammatory denunciation of Pope and clergy, let loose a veritable hurricane of fierce, uncontrollable racial and religious hatred, which was to spend itself in the Peasants' War and the orgies of the sack of Rome;6i) his adroit ju.xtaposition of the relative wealth and powers of the temporal and spiritual estates fostered jealousy and fed avarice ; the chicanery of the revolutionary propagandists and pamphleteering poetasters lit up the nation with rhetorical tireworks, in which sedition and impiety, artfully garbed in Biblical phraseology and sanctimonious platitudes, posed as "evangelical" liberty and pure patriotism. The restive peasants, victims of oppression and poverty, after futile sporadic uprisings, lapsed into stifled, but sullen and resentful malcontents ; the un- redressed wrongs of the burghers and laborers in the populous cities clamored for a change, and the victims were prepared to adopt any method to shake off disabilities daily becoming more irksome. The increasing expense of living, the decreasing eco- nomic advancement, goaded the impecunious knights to despera- tion, their very lives since 1495 being nothing more than a struggle for existence. (Maurenbrecher, Studien u. Skizzen, p. 246.) The territorial lords cast envious eyes on the teaming fields of the monasteries, and did not scruple in the vision of a future German autonomy to treat even the "Spanish" sovereign with dictatorial arrogance and tolerant complacency. The city of Worms itself was within the grasp of a reign of lawlessness, debauchery, and murder. (Jansen, Hist. II, 162.) From the bristling Ebernburg, Sickingen's lair, only six miles from the city, Hutten was hurling his truculent philippics, threatening with outrage and death the legate (whom he failed to waylay), the spiritual princes and church dignitaries, not sparing even the emperor, whose pension as a bribe to silence had hardly been received. Germany was in a reign of terror; consternation seemed to paralyze all minds. A fatal blow was to be struck at the clergy, it was whispered, and then the famished knights would scramble for their property. Over all loomed the for- midable apparition of Sickingen. He was in Aleander's opinion "sole king of Germany now ; for he has a following when and as large as he wishes. The emperor is unprotected, the princes are inactive, the prelates quake with fear. Sickingen at the moment is the terror of Germany, before whom all quail." (Brieger, Aleander u. Luther, p. 125.) "If a proper leader could be found, the elements of revolution were already at hand, and 61) This is nothing else than the fallacy of post hoc propter hoc. DLER, chap. 83: "Luther Anarchist," etc., p. 178 ff. DAU, TRIBUNAL OF CaESAB. 2 18 HEADING OFF THE STORM. only awaited the signal for an outbreak." (Maurenbrecher, /. c, p. 246.) 62) This is not history, but melodrama. The original for the whole of it — not only for the last part — is contained in the dispatches which that coward and habitual prevaricator, Aleander, sent to Rome from Worms. In the foregoing account events that lie apart are synchronized. Luther is lloaded with the blame for social and economical conditions which existed before Luther was born, and for which greedy Roman priests and bishops were responsible. Worldly aspirations that Luther never endorsed are fathered upon him. That Hutten, with all his linguistic bravado, was re- garded as a moral coward, "a dog that barks, but does not bite" ; that he was bought by Glapion during the Diet for four hundred gulden, while the formidable Sickingen was bribed with a generalship in the imperial army ; that the perfect rottenness of public morals at Worms during the Diet was thoroughly Italian and Spanish; that the signal for revolt was never given by the man who was expected to give it, — all these details have escaped this Catholic reviewer. But did not Luther tell the people they should strike the priests on the head and bathe their hands in the blood of monks ? Did he not call the German knights, and even the Emperor, to arms against the papacy? Did he not have a secret understanding with Sickingen and Hutten? No. What Luther did say was, that he would not be surprised if the reckless priests and monks would come to grief. Luther saw that the people were driven to the point where their patience would come to an end, and that Rome was doing the driving. Luther urged the nobility of Germany to pass laws and ordinances by which the oppressive measures of Rome would be abrogated. Luther never was in a political alliance with the knights of the Ebernburg. They had ap- proached Luther, and Luther had for a brief season become interested in them as in people that had just grievances against the Roman hierarchy. The spirit of the restlessly 63) H. G. Ganss, in Cath. Encycl, IX, 446 f. HEADING OFF THE STORM. 19 plotting, yet ever diffident Hutten was not revealed to Luther until the end of 1520. He had expressed satisfaction with Hutten's spirited writing, and when he was told of Hutten's miscarried attempt to kidnap the two papal nuncios on their way from Mayence to Worms he had laughingly exclaimed : "If he had only caught them l"*'''^) But on December 9 he received a letter from Hutten in which the knight, bursting with ungratified ambition, bewailed his disappointments and his inward imrest; he; would like to hurl himself against the Romanists, but his powerful friend Sickingen, he complains, is always restraining him. Hence he is forced to do his noble work on the quiet: yearning to descend upon the Papists like the eagle upon his quarry, he must work like a mole. He suggests to Luther that it would be valuable information to him and all who are ready to meet Rome by force of arms®"*) to know the Elector's attitude towards such an aggressive enterprise. This opened Luther's eyes, and now that he had had a glimpse of Hutten's revolutionary plans, he wrote to Spalatin : — Behold Hutten's book. . . . Good God ! what will be the end of these novel schemes ?65) I begin to regard the papacy, hitherto invincible, as apt to be overthrown, contrary to the general opinion, or else the last day is at hand.^^) On January 16 he wrote his friend : — I am sending you Hutten's letter to me, together with his (edition of the) bull and other writings of his.*'') . . . What he is aiming at you see. I would have no fighting done in behalf of the Gospel with force and slaughter. I wrote the man to that 63) Catholic writers report Luther's remark thus: "If he had only murdered them!" M) XXIa, 319. 65) "Hutten's book" contained letters to the Emperor, to the princes and men of Germany, to Albert of Brandenburg, to the Elector Frederick, and to the other Electors. 66) XXIa, 325; EB, 3, 29; SB, 1, 423. 67) This is the letter of December 9. Hutten's edition of the bull Exsurge Domine is his most spirited product. The other writings were: tVail over the Burning of Luther's Books at Mayence; Wail and Exhorta- tion because of the Excessive, Unchristian Power of the Pope, and of Ha Unspiritual Spirituals. 20 HEADING OFF THE STORM. efifect.68) With the Word the world has been overcome.^s) and the Church preserved; with the Word it will also be restored. However, Antichrist, too, as he started [his career] without vio- lence, so will he also be crushed without violence, by the Word.'") On February 27 Luther wrote Spalatin : — The Lord Himself alone is the Author and Protector of His Word; however, we are pleased that for the time being the fury of our enemies is delayed by the counsel of God; for when it breaks forth, all predict that it will be an uprising similar to that [of the Hussites] in Bohemia, and that it will be directed also against our clergy. I am blameless ; for my aim has been that the nobility of Germany should set bounds to these Romanists, not with the sword, but with wise counsels and decrees, which they can easily do. For to wage war on the unarmed crowd of clergymen is the same as to wage war on women and children. But I am afraid that the fury of the Romanists cannot be quenched by wise counsels and decrees, and that their stubborn- ness in this fury will itself bring disaster on their heads.'^i) ^^'hen Luther wrote this letter, he had already been in- formed of a monstrous threat of Aleander, and had reported it to Link: — Spalatin writes that Aleander dared to say : "Even if you Germans, who pay less than any other nation to the Pope, should break the yoke of Rome, yet will we take care that you shall be consumed by mutual slaughter and perish in your own blood." This is his news. I always said and wrote that the Romans cherished this monstrous plan against us. Behold how the Pope feeds Christ's sheep I''^) f'tS) This letter did not reach Hutten, who writes in a letter to Spalatin, January IG: "W'liat may be the reason why Luther does not even write me a word?" Spalatin seems to have forwarded this new "wail" of the knight to Luther; for on February 17 Luther writes to Spalatin: "What wind has blown away all that I wrote to Hutten? I know not why I should try so hard to keep writing and sending things." It seems that both the outgoing and the incoming mail of Luther was very irregularly delivered. In the letter from which we have just quoted, Luther says to his friend: "I hope that my letters and books have at last reached you. I wonder what pre- vented your getting them sooner, as in the mean time I have received two letters from you, neither of which mentions your getting mine." XXIa 332- EE, 3, 86; SC, 1, 465. In his letter to Spalatin of January 16 Luther encloses letters from Bucer, and says that one of them had been delivered to him in a mutilated condition, "possibly through being rubbed somehow by the messenger." XV, 2505; EB, 3, 73; SC, 1, 442. On February 9 he writes to Staupitz: "I am surprised that you have not received my letter and pamphlets, as I gather from your letter" (to Link) XV 9i9i- FR 3, 83; SC, 1, 108. ' ' '^"^ 69) 1 John 5, 4. 70) XV, 2505; EB, 3, 73; SC, 1, 442; see FHY, pp. 316 ff. 71) XXIa, 334; EB, 8,89; SC, 1, 472. 72) XV, 1710; EB, 3, 79; SC, 1, 451. HEADING OFF THE STORM. 21 There was a way even in Luther's day for controlling and forming' that awe-inspiring phenomenon known as "public opinion." It may not have been as gigantic in proportion nor as efficient as a campaign by the Northcliffe press or the great free American press, but it was able to do its con- temptible work then as now. Luther must have received a sample of its workmanship when he found it necessary to write to Link at Nuremberg, one of his closest friends, on January 14. — I am greatly surprised at your suggestion, vi::., that I should publish a book and testify that I have written nothing against the civil power ; for all my writings show that I have done the opposite. But who can stop the mouth of everybody, when the majority will not read my writings, solely because they have been told that my writings cannot be read without being repre- hended or disbelieved ? Against such shameless men, what can I do?T3) Very true ! Against a league of liars the individual is powerless. The real disturbers of the peace of Germany in Luther's time were the champions of the old ecclesiastical regime. They were ruthless men, ready to take desperate chances. They were contemplating dire measures in revenge for the wrecking of their usurped authority and the revenues that were slipping from them. By their impudent bearing and extortionate demands they were constantly provoking men to violent acts, and at the same time they were assiduously circulating dreadful reports of approaching political con- vulsions which they were bringing on. A few of them may have been sincere in the fears they expressed. By an odd psychological process the partisan mind of bigots beholds disaster resulting from its schemes, and dreads disaster, but keeps on forcing the issue, somewhat like the confirmed drunkard who has been known to loathe the drjnk which he knows is ruining him, and yet persists in his dissipation. While pushing their provoking and irritating measures fur- ther and further, the leading Romanists were dexterously 73) XV, 2507; EB, 3, 72; SC, 1, 441. 22 LAW VERSUS JUSTICE. throwing- on Luther the odium for any disturbance of the public peace of Germany that might arise from their acts. They were not in favor of a peaceful and equitable setlie- ment of the differences between the reform party and the Curia, because they could not hope for any good to result from such a settlement for their autocratic policies. Their motto was the motto of all tyrants : Rule or ruin ! Luther, on the other hand, with all his fighting and remonstrances, was a man of peace, and his writings were instruments of fundamental and genuine peace. Also his journey to Worms turned out a peace-measure that kept the dogs of war in leash to the end of his life. 3. Law Versus Justice. In the popular view, Luther's appearance before the German Diet is regarded as the last legal stage in his triaf for heresy. The actual events at Luther's hearing at Worms lend some color to this view; for Luther was brought into the Diet as a heretic and asked to recant his teachings; he spoke in his own defense; and he was finally outlawed as a heretic by an imperial decree with the consent of the Diet. Nevertheless, Luther's hearing before the Diet was not a legal, but, in the view of all who knew the law in the case, a rather illegal act. With the publication of the bull of excommunication against Luther the case of ''The Church vs. Friar Martin, the heretic'' had been legally terminated. There had been a due process, from the lowest to the highest tribunal. From the first canonical admonition mildly ad- ministered to Luther by his immediate superior. Bishop Scultetus of Brandenburg, to the last admonition solemnly and dramatically delivered by the Supreme Pontiff on June 15, 1520, the case had advanced along the normal lines of the jus canonicmn. By his twofold Appeal from the Pope III Informed to the Pope to he Better Informed, and to a General Council of the Church, Luther himself had entered into the juridical spirit of the afifair. What objections had been LAW VERSUS JUSTICE. 23 raised at particular points during the unusually long trial (had been raised, not so much against the fact that such a (process was at all attempted, as rather on the ground that it was not properly conducted. When the time of grace fixed by the bull Bxsurge D amine had expired, Luther's case had become res adjudicata, a matter duly settled by law, namely, by the law of the Church, which was the only law applicable in the case. The later bull, which was issued against Luther after the expiration of the term of grace, expressed this view.''*) Accordingly, the reverend prosecutors and judges of Luther felt that they had just cause for surprise when they received evidence upon evidence that the famous case which they had settled was not at all considered settled in certain quarters, yea, that the settlement was denounced as in- famous. Their Curia certainly was, by precept and prece- dent, the only court that had jurisdiction in a case of this nature. The matter for which they had tried and condemned Luther was a canonical offense, cognizable by them. And the authority of the Pope, on which rested the final verdict rendered against Luther, they held, could not be disputed. Still, there was not only much open and much more concealed dissent from their decision, but there was an actual deter- mination to reopen Luther's case after it had been decided by the Pope, and to turn the German Diet into a court of revision. On December 14 Aleander sent a long dispatch from Worms to his employer at Rome'^^) ;„ which he describes his successes and failures since November 28 (the date of his previous dispatch) in having the bull against Luther exe- cuted : — I told you that on account of the brevity of the Emperor's stay at Mayence,'''') and on account of the Archbishop's occupa- tion with other business, and, to speak frankly, on account of the 74) XV, 1704-1710. ■!5) Vice-chancellor Julius de' Medici, born 1478, made Archbishop of Florence and Cardinal, 1613, was elected Pope, as Clement VII, m 1523, 3nd died in 1534. 76) Charles V tarried at Mayence from November S3 to 28. 24 LAW \'ERSUS JUSTICE. evil animus of the counselors who were trusted with the Lutheran affair/"' as well as on account of the hostility of the citizens (who have always been worthless, and who played me an ugly trickl,"S) it was very difficult for me to execute the bull. Xow, however. I must relate that, on the very evening after the dispatch of my previous letter, the Cardinal [of Mayence] expressed his extreme displeasure that his subjects had not acted as the citizens of other cities acted, and he promised to make good the fault which was excused by his officers. So, on the following morning, November 29, he had the condemnation of the books [of Luther] announced with blare of trumpets in all the city, and invited the people to the public burning of the same. So it happened, although the cardinal, as he said, was annoyed the whole night by many importunate noblemen, who advised him against the burning and would not let him sleep, that it all turned out happily in the end. These rascal Lutherans in disguise pretend to act in our interest in advising against burning the books, so that, as they say, we may not thereby arouse more hostility. As if that were possible ! Nevertheless, after careful consideration, it seems that this course is useful and wholesome. For in the first place, the condemnation of such writings in Germany and other countries is more surely made known by burning them than it would be by communicating the bull to the bishops and their agents, although I have not neglected to do this also in all quarters. Again, such an execution of judgment by papal and imperial power makes so deep an impression on the laity, who are always tainted by the sermons and tracts of this heretic, a thousand times worse than Arius, that many of them become convinced of the badness 77) Among them Capito. 7S) Hedio 79) writes to Zwingli, December 21: "We burned Luther here in obedience to the Pope's decree, but it was a ridiculous affair. Some swear that it was not Luther that was burned, but Aeneas Sylvius; SO) some, that it was Eck; and some Priertas. But whatever books were burned, it was done to hurt Lutlter. The people almost threw Aleander into a cesspool. It has been decreed by the council of princes to summon Luther to Worms to g:ive an answer for his writings. Good heavens, how the Roman legates withstand this! They don't want a heretic to be heard. They make many threats, but, I think their efforts are vain. \\e shall soon see what will happen." CR, XCIV, 376; SC, 1, 430. 79) Caspar Heyd, of Baden (1494-1552), a graduate of Freiburg (1516), chaplain at Basle, 1519, whence he wrote Luther a letter June 23, 1520 (XV, 1377; EB, 2, 421), thence removed to Mayence, and finally settled at Strassburg, where he was one of the leading reformers until his death. SC, 1, 368. SO) Aeneas Sylvius Piccoloraini, later Pope Pius II, 1458-1464. t.AW VERSUS JUSTICE. 25 of the condemned writings, and by a common impulse give them freely to the flames. I have been completely decided for the advisability of these measures by observing that all those who advise us against them are found to be without exception Lutherans, and that avowed Lutherans also do their best, by fraud or force, to prevent the burning. In short, there is no better method whatever at all effective, if this scoundrel will not be moved to recantation. Aleander now describes his journey from Mayence to Worms, and the warning he had received from Treves to beware of being waylaid by Hutten, and then proceeds: — Alas ! for some reasons unknown to me, the sky, which has hitherto been so clear, seems to have become cloudy at Worms, and the hitherto so fortunate journey of our little boat has met with a check. As previously related, I obtained from the Emperor a man- date against the writings of Luther and all others who attacked the Pope and the Holy See, for the imperial hereditary dominions and kingdoms. I always carry it with me. At present we request urgently a mandate good for the whole Empire and threatening the ban ; for the imperial counselors, before the coronation at Aix, stated that they could not at that time draw up such an edict, although according to the decree of the Lateran Council it is desirable, yea, indispensable, as a weapon against Luther's person and against his printers. Now, however, the imperialists are sullenly crawling behind the worthless excuse that the con- demnation of a German unheard by them would cause grave scandal; wherefore they say it is advisable to hear him and to summon him to the Diet. Yet they say that he shall only come to recant, and therefore they have already in good faith requested the Elector to bring him to the Diet. Others again advise him to demand only the recantation of the opinions condemned by general councils and emperors. So it appears that they make absolutely no mention of the present Pope and his predecessors, and leave the question of papal primacy undiscussed. What ras- cality ! Contrariwise, we represent to them that there can be no question of trial or investigation of that which is only too loudly .proclaimed by Luther's writings; that in earlier times many heretics were thus condemned by the Popes, who have sole jurisdiction in such cases, whereas princes were obliged to execute the punishment at the demand of the Pope; that finally, as St. Jerome teaches in his work against the Luciferians, "the safety of the Church depends on the absolute arl^ supreme power of 26 LAW VERSUS JUSTICE. the Pope; for otherwise there would be as many schisms as priests."*!.* Aleander states the case correctly from the papal view- point. According to the teaching of Rome, the Pope has been given two swords, the sword of the Spirit,*^' the Word of God, by means of which he determines what the faith of Christians is, and the secular sword, the authority of civil magistrates, who are to support the Pope's spiritual author- ity. All medieval history is dominated by this naughty prin- ciple of papocaesarism,*^' that is, the appropriation of secu- lar authority by a religionist because of his religion. Pro- ceedings against heretics were going on nearly all the time within the pale of the Roman Church.*^) It does not appear that these proceedings caused excitement among the populace of Spain, Italy, or France. They were commonly regarded as the legitimate business of the Church, and the authority that supported them was unquestioned. Nor had Germany formed an exception to the rule until lately. The extortionate practises of the Roman clergy probably were not greater in Germany than efsewhere, but they were more keenly felt by the Germans than by others, because, as a rule, the Ger- mans of those days still took their religious duties seriously. That was the reason, too, why the habitual levity of leading Italian churchmen shocked the unsophisticated mind of Ger- mans more than that of others, in whom the spiritual sense had become deadened through the corrupting influence of the Roman clergy. For a long time the Germans, both men of noble rank and the common citizenry, were nursing a strong resentment against their Italian oppressors and despoilers. Luther's trial and condemnation by the Curia furnished them the opportunity for venting their pent-up indignation. In rallying around this monk, they sought to redress their own grievance. Luther had gained many friends by his exposition 81) BAL, pp. 17-20; KDA, pp. 10-16; SC, 1, 416 ff. 82) Eph. 6, 17. 83) Not defined in the latest edition of the Standard I'ctionary al- though "caesaropapism" is. ' 84) See H. C. Lea, Hist, of the Jnquis. of the Middle Ages, and article on "InquisTtion" by Dr. Elphege Vacandard in ERE, 7, 330 ff. LAW VERSUS JUSTICE. 27 of positive Christian truth, but Rome had unwittingly made more friends for Luther by its reckless policy of repression. Thus Luther's trial became a state affair of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. For the first time in hun- dreds of years the secular power refused to function at the behest of the spiritual. Try as he would, the papal nuncio at Worms could not keep the affair of Luther out of the Diet. Vedder has correctly sketched the situation: "The law," he says, ''or at least custom, required the execution of the bull, and was against granting to a condemned heretic a new hearing before a secular tribunal. It was one of those often occurring cases in which law demands one thing and ex- pediency or justice another. In such cases men usually resort to compromise; as nearly as possible they neither keep nor violate the law; and this the Diet did."®^) Grisar does not elucidate this point, but speaks of Luther's appearance be- fore the representatives of the highest spiritual anH secular authority as a mere incident in the trial of Luther. The truth is, Rome had actually lost its case when it had to permit the summons of Luther. That action broke the back- bone of its age-long principle. Luther's summons to appear before the Diet is inexpli- cable without a study of the political conditions confronting Emperor Charles V. Luther had not appealed his case to the Diet, and he was probably the last man to think of such a termination of his controversy with the Pope. In order, therefore, to do justice to the subject of this review, it will be necessary to take the reader to the back-room of the stage at Worms, and make him observe the strange play of conflicting interests which brought on the religio-political drama at the sessions of the Diet on April 17 and 18. 85) VRG, p. 146. 28 POLITICS AND POLITICIANS. 4. Politics and Politicians. In order not to break up the narrative that forms the back- bone of this review more than is absolutely necessary, the account of the origin of the German Diet and its character in Luther's time, also an account of the city of Worms, have been moved to the Appendix. The reader who desires to understand fully the historical background of the story will find the perusal of chapters I and II of the Appendix opportune at this point. The political interests of- Charles V were paramount dur- ing the entire Diet of Worms. He had to settle, first, upon a suitable policy for his administration of the German Empire. His reign began with a constitutional struggle. Charles represented the principle of centralization of power. He was opposed b}' a strong party of German nobles, who stood for decentralization. At Worms, Charles represented the cause of national union, the constitutional monarchy ; the princes stood for the existing oligarchy ; each was contending for the mastery, or at least for a definite advantage. . . . Before the question of Luther came before the Diet, weeks had been spent in wrangling about the constitutional question, and it was still dragging along when he reached Worms. The princes proposed a permanent imperial Council (Reichsregiment) , which should exercise the chief func- tions of rule, whether the Emperor were present or absent, and should therefore decide all imperial questions, domestic as well as foreign. The Emperor should not even be represented in this Council, save as his hereditary domains should elect members : but the Estates of the empif e, and even the towns, should elect representatives. Under such a constitution the imperial power would have been absolutely extinguished, and Germany would have become a federated oligarchy. Charles, on his part, proposed that there should be a representative Coun- cil, indeed, but that it should sit only during his absence from Germany, and then under a regent appointed by himself. Of twenty members he should have power to appoint six, and while the members representing the Estates should be changed quar- terly, his nominees should be permanent. Direction of foreign affairs was to be reserved to the Emperor himself, and his assent should be required for all domestic measures of im- portance. This would have made the imperial power a reality, such as no Emperor of recent times certainly had possessed. As usual, a compromise was the result of these conflicting claims. The Emperor was permitted to nominate the president of the Council and four members out of twenty-two. The POLITICS AND POLITICIANS. 29 Council was to sit only in the Emperor's absence, but on his return should be an advisory body until a Diet was convoked. The power to transact ordinary business was conceded to the Diet in the Emperor's absence, but the decision of important matters was reserved to him; while as to foreign policy a check was placed on the imperial authority by the promise of Charles to form no alliances affecting the empire without its consent. On the whole, Charles was considerably the gainer by these prolonged debates. Much was done to strengthen the imperial Council, which during the subsequent years of the Reformation had so prominent a part in affairs. An attempt was made also to strengthen the imperial finance, for just at this juncture the imperial treasury was at a very low ebb, and the other re sources of Charles were not immediately available in proportion to his wants. It has been well for us to pause for the considera- tion of these matters ; for they not only are indispensable for an understanding of subsequent events, but have an important bearing 'on the matter in hand — they help to explain the com- parative mildness with which Luther was treated. A strong party in the Diet, possibly a majority, was sufficiently in his favor to make it inexpedient for the Emperor to do anything to antagonize them, while his personal affairs and his dynastic position was so delicately poised.*^/' Still greater problems confronted Charles in his external policy. His election had seriously disturbed the balance of power among the European nations. In the person of Charles V the Emperor once more began to seem a great figure, but this was because of his immense hereditary possessions, greater than had ever before been united under a single European ruler since Charlemagne. From Spain he could draw soldiers whose numbers were limited only by his ability to pay them, and whose fighting qualities were unsurpassed in Europe; while from the rich Netherlands and from the mines of his colonies in the New World he could draw the money to equip them and keep them in the field. This was what made Charles a great prince ; the Empire was his weakness, not his strength; it increased his obligations, not his resources.^T) Rome had been the first to scent the danger of an all- powerful emperor in the person of Charles. Its legates had strenuously worked to defeat his election, and throw it to Francis I of France. This monarch had spent huge sums 86) VRG, pp. 151, 152 £, 87) VRG, p. 151. 30 POLITICS AND POLITICIANS. of money in his campaign for the German crown. After his defeat he nursed a bitter resentment, which became directed against his successful rival. The Pope and the French mon- arch became logical allies for curbing the power of Charles. Leo X had indeed congratulated Charles upon his election, but after bestowing the papal blessing on his reign, the Pope set to work immediately to stir up riots and seditious move- ments for Charles in Spain. He took away from Charles a valuable prerogative of the Spanish crown, and sustained a prominent disloyal prelate against the Spanish monarch. The Emperor needed the good will of the Pope for main- taining his authority over his Spanish subjects, who were all Catholics, and for his coronation at Rome, which he hoped to obtain after the Diet. At the same time, he had to keep the good will of his German subjects, who had become seri- ously divided on questions of religion. If he favored the Pope, the Germans sulked and became irresponsive to meas- ures for which he had to enlist their military and financial resources. If he yielded to the German reform party, he was decried in Catholic countries as a secret partisan of Luther and an enemy of the Church. This German reform party was a formidable element at the Diet, even if it was still in the minority. It represented, on the one hand, a Los von Rom movement in matters of religion, and on the other hand, a Los Z'on Welschland movement, as regards affairs of state. The point of both movements was directed against the Curia, which, in the eyes of these Germans, was the mother of all ecclesiastical and political ills of Germany. The rising German national spirit was strong in this party. Per- sonally the Emperor was a sound Catholic, and such were his immediate advisers. Whenever they seemed less ardent in their devotion to Catholicism, they were dissembling for some political end. Among the German princes there existed dynastic trou- bles, as between the Saxon House of Wettin and the Bran- denburg House of Hohenzollern. Religious differences di- vided the Elector Frederick and Duke George of Saxony, although both were members of the Roman Church. The POLITICS AND POLITICIANS. 31 Bavarian Dukes were staunch Catholics, while the Prince Palatine was friendly to the Lutherans. These differences among the secular rulers had their influence on the church dignitaries in the various countries and produced various degrees of loyalty to Rome. To Elector Frederick, who had declined the German crown in 1519, and had thrown his great influence toward Charles, the latter felt himself under peculiar obligations. The Lutheran movement, at the time of the Diet of Worms, had not yet crystalized into a party. It was strongest among the common people. Its adherents among the office- holding class of Germans were numerous, but many of these were dependent upon Catholic superiors, and this circum- stance not infrequently influenced their action against their better knowledge and sentiment, as was seen in the case of Peutinger and Adelmann of Augsburg, Scheurl and Spengler of Nuremberg, Capito of Mayence, and others. The religious views of many who openly favored Luther and could afford to do so, were not clarified. To the Humanists, Luther was an intellectual liberator ; the impoverished knights and lower gentry looked to him for restoration of their former wealth. Praises of Luther from these quarters must be taken at a discount. Then there were, among those whom Luther's religious views had attracted, dangerous elements, who were ready to inject a fanatical element into the reform move- ment. These not infrequently hampered the work of Luther, and checked the counsels of his wise and enlightened friends. Hundreds of interests were thus crossing each other in the councils of the German national assembly, and these were further augmented by the ordinary strivings of selfish- ness in its many forms. Struggles for personal advantage, jealousies, old grudges, special ambitions, occasionally ar- rayed persons who were working in a common cause against one another. Among the Catholic party, whose members were apt to adopt the unscrupulous methods of Italian prel- ates, this was more apparent than among the evangelical party. Thus Aleander tries to discredit Erasmus at Rome, and Erasmus circulates damaging reports about the life of 32 POLITICS AND POLITICIANS. the papal nuncio at Worms. The Vatican must send a warning note to Aleander, by all means not to quarrel with Eck. Caraccioli at times fails his brother nuncio at an im- portant juncture. Glapion, the Emperor's confessor, is will- ing to cooperate with Aleander in his schemes, if the latter will help him to secure greater recognition at Rome. Persons seeking some preferment, a prebend, a better income, some- times a mere honorable mention in a letter of the Pope, dicker first with one Romanist, then with another, and betray the confidences of the one to the other. Aleander, who was the leader of th« anti-Luther propa- ganda at Worms, proceeded on the assumption that every person is venal, and it is only necessary to find out the exact price at which he will become serviceable. Secretaries, cham- berlains, janitors, confessors, are tapped by him for any, even the most trivial, information he can get from them. He seeks to discover in what direction their influence tends, and how great it is. He is a thorough "diplomat of the back- stairs and the keyhole." He needs great sums of money for paying "gratificazioni" for all sorts of service of a shady nature rendered him. His employers are astonished at his expense accounts. Their troubles in Germany had been started by an agent who had traveled through Germany - with a money-chest, bearing the inscription : — As soon as the money rings in my chest, From purgatory the soul finds rest ! The traffic had yielded a meager return, and now Rome had to expend vast sumsl to overcome the evil efifects of the traffic, which thus proved a doubly losing venture. Cash money was Aleander's master-key for his diplomatic burglaries. Even his tips to lackeys are diplomatic invest- ments. He discovers that a person is in financial straits, and exchanges a few gulden for valuable knowledge which the person possesses. At times, however, it is necessary to expend hundreds of ducats and thousands of gulden. A less expensive medium of exchange that Aleander employs are "prospects.'' The Bishop of Liege would very much like a cardinal's hat ; Aleander promises to get it for him in consid- POLITICS AND POLITICIANS. 33 eration of news items from the imperial Privy Council, or of a letter that the Emperor has received from Hutten. The imperial chamberlain Armstorf, who sleeps near Charles, has a brother who has made application at Rome for a rich prebend, but has been refused because the particular prebend has already been given to another. Armstorf at once be- comes frigid to Aleander, who soon discovers the reason, and informs his home office that it is impossible for him to do business at Worms if gentlemen who sleep in the Em- peror's antechamber have their requests turned down by the Curia. Result : the prebend is given to Armstorf's brother, and the loser receives an indemnity of hundred ducats. Aleander's cheapest commodities are papal breves, that is, letters of commendation for distinguished service. Courtiers and clergymen, merchants and professors, are dying to see themselves mentioned in laudatory terms in a letter of the Pope. Aleander has the Roman chancellery furnish him a stack of such letters with blank space for the insertion of a name, and delights his victims with them. As he does, so he expects everybody else to do. He care- fully watches the bribe-giving and -taking that is going on at Worms, and always figures with the possibility that some one may outbid him. When any of his tools fail him, or he finds his detective's operations balked, his first thought is that somebody has bribed his own agents, or has been able to employ better secret service men. He suspects chiefly the Elector of Saxony as an expert in this art.^^) Amid this maze of intrigues, perfidies, corruptions, Luther's privilege of being heard by the Diet had to be forced from an opposition that held every post of prominence in the assembly, commanded vast resources, and was super- latively crafty. 88) HAL, pp. 7-13; 169-175. DAU, TRIBUNAL OF CAESAR. 34 THE ElfPEROR IN AN UNGUARDED MOMENT. 5. The Emperor in an Unguarded Moment. From the day that he had presented his credentials to the Emperor at Antwerp, Aleander had kept in closest touch with the young monarch, incessantly urging the immediate execution of the bull of excommunication against Luther. He had traveled with the imperial court as far as Mayence, and when the court, on November 28, proceeded to Oppen- heim, Aleander had remained at Mayence to superintend the burning of Luther's books. He left Mayence November 30, and proceeded directly to \\'orms. The imperial court, however, made a detour from Oppen- heim to Heidelberg to pay the Elector Palatine, Louis V, a visit. Grand festivities were arranged at the castle of the Prince Palatine in honor of "His Spanish Majesty." Charles V was an ardent admirer of the chivalrous sports of those days, when knights met in tournaments to exhibit their prowess and skill in arms and in horsemanship. At the coronation festivities in Aix, Louis V had created a sensa- tion by bringing with him seven hundred mailed horsemen. At the Emperor's visit to his capital he again displayed the resources and splendors of his rich Palatinate. Magnificent tournaments, at which many a lance was shattered by famous knights, took place on the sands along the Rhine. The hunt- er's horn and the baying of the dogs resounded through the wintry forests of the Odcmvald. At night the new palace of Louis V was resplendent with thousands of candles ; merry dancers were whirling in its great hall. Fifty wagonloads of wine from the Palatine cellars helped to keep the grand com- pany in good spirits. Meanwhile Aleander had reached Worms. In a letter of about the middle of December he reports his first experiences in this city to Cardinal Medici at Rome : — They refuse to let me have the lodgings engaged for me, although I pay more than any one. They strike my name off the door, and play me a hundred other rude, bold tricks, which are very extraordinary and would hardly be credible, although I write of them in order to inform your Lordship fully. More anxiety has been caused me by the wide-spread rumor that THE EMPEROR IN AN UNGUARDED MOMENT. 35 Hutten and his friends have sworn to murder me. Not only do my friends advise me of this, but certain imperial secretaries warned me through the Bishop of Liege that I had better be on my guard, or I would hardly escape from Germany. I feel less safe in this city than in the Campagna; wherefore with much trouble and expense I hired myself a little chamber near the court in the house of a poor man. I suffer unaccustomed hard- ship. On the icy bank of the Rhine, I, who have been accus- tomed to a comfortably heated room from September to May, lack a fire. I can hardly keep well. There is indeed one room in this house that can be heated, but it is so low that the landlord can hardly stand upright in it; moreover, it is so filthy and infested that I prefer to perish from cold rather than from stench and filth. True, there are few in this city who have reason to be satisfied with their lodging, but I least of all. I have been forced into this condition because it was represented to me from all sides that I must have my lodging in the closest proximity possible to the court, and no better dwelling was to be had in this neighborhood. I would not know how to come safely through a sickness in this place. Contrary to my own and everybody's expectation, I have so far enjoyed good health, God be praised ! . . . However, I pray your Magnificence not to suspect me of exaggerating; for I simply report facts. If anything should happen to me, I wish to have my soul com- mended to the Holy Father, and my brethren to your Magnifi- cence, likewise the servants who are here, sharing good and ill with me.89) However, the physical discomforts and mental unrest of which Aleander complained were the least of his troubles. In a letter of December 14 he states that a report has reached him that Luther is to be brought to Worms.s*) During the few days which Aleander had been absent from the imperial court a correspondence had taken place that threatened to upset all of his plans. William de Croy^i) and Henry otf 89) KDA, p. 37 f.; HAL, p. 7 f.; cf. SC, 1, 443 f. 90) BAL, p. 19 f.; KDA, p. 37 f.; HAL, p. 85 f.; SC, 1, 417 f. 91) Croy (1485-May 27, 1521) was made stadtholder of the Nether- lands in 1506; in 1509 he took charge of the education of Charles V, to whom he became chief adviser after 1516. He died at Worms. SC, 1, 397 f. 36 THE EMPEROR IN AN UNGUARDED MOMENT. I\assau,92) two of the most trusted ministers of Charles V, a3dressed a joint letter to the Elector from Oppenheim. The letter, dated November 27, states that the writers have re- ceived the Elector's letter written in behalf of Luther, and have, in accordance with the Elector's request, communi- cated with the Emperor, who has decided to ask the Elector to bring Luther with him to the Diet, and will write the Elector to that effect.^^) The Elector's letter mentioned in this correspondence is lost, but we may infer from the joint letter of Charles' ministers that the Elector had not sug- gested a hearing of Luther at the Diet; for the ministers deem it necessary to urge the Elector by all means to enter upon this plan "from his habitual kindness and because of his Christian devotion to our holy faith." They state that the Emperor had formed his decision after their conference with him, but do not say that they had suggested such a plan to him. This letter reached the Elector at Eylenburg De- cember 7. Replying to this letter December 14 from Allstedt, the Elector says that he has received no letter from the Emperor, and hence cannot express any opinion on the plan of bringing Luther to Worms. I only pray that you continue to have Dr. Martin's cause at heart, so that no violence is used against him, regardless of his frequent protestation and offer [to compromise his differences with his adversaries]. For it is reported that after my depar- ture from Cologne his books were burned in that city, at Mayence, and in other places. This is the last thing that I would have expected, partly, because Doctor Martin has so often de- clared, and still declares himself ready to do all that he can and ought to do for God's sake and without injury to his Christian name ; partly, because I have myself requested that 92) Henry of Nassau (1483-September 14, 1538), an officer of Maxi- milian. In 1516-17 he was in command at tlie siege of Arnlieim; in 1521 lie fought against France. He was then made governor of the Netherlands. He visited Spain in 1522 and 1534. He was at the Diet of Augsburg in 1530. The following anecdote of him is found in a contemporary publica- tion, reprinted by P. Fredericq, Corpus inquimtionis Neerlandicae, IV, No. 37: "The Count of Nassau said to the preachers at The Hague, 'Go and preach the Gospel simply like Luther, offending no one.' . . . Then the professors of Louvain complained to Margaret, sister of Charles V, who said, 'Who is Luther?' *An unlearned monk,' they said. *Then,' said she, 'all you learned men write against one unlearned, and the world will rather believe many learned than one unlearned.* " SC, 1, 398, 93) XV, 1696 ,f.; SC, 1, 398. THE EMPEROR IN AN UNGUARDED MOMENT. 57 Doctor Martin be not condemned unheard, nor his books burned. Now, if Doctor Martin, prompted by such wanton acts of his adversaries, has rendered them like for Hkc^-*) I trust that His Imperial Majesty will graciously overlook it, and that in your conversation with His Majesty you put the best construc- tion on it, and humbly commend the man and his cause to His Majesty.ss) It is possible that the Elector, as some think, feigned not to have received the Emperor's letter, in order to gain time ; ' but there is no evidence of it. The Emperor's letter dated Oppenheim, November 28, reads : — High-born, dear Uncle^") and Elector: To guard against further damage, we have been urgently requested at sundry times by the nuncio of His Papal Holiness to order the burning of Doctor Martin Luther's books here and at other places in our holy Empire, as has been done in our hereditary possessions in Lower Burgundy. Now our high-born, dear uncle^e), William, Marquis of Arschott, and the well-born, our dear and trusty Henry, Count of Nassau, our viceroy in the Netherlands, have informed us that you desire of us not to have anything done or undertaken against the said Luther unless he has first been heard. Inasmuch as we should like, indeed, to terminate this affair, from which much disorder and error might arise, we earnestly request that you bring the said Luther with you to the next Diet at Worms, and we shall there have him examined by learned and wise persons, and shall see that no wrong nor anything illegal is done to him. However, to prevent further trouble, we request that you strictly order the said Luther in the mean time not to write or publish anything against His Papal Holiness or the See of Rome, and that you see to it that he does not do so. Thereby you will do us special pleasure, which we . shall graciously acknowledge.^^) What had prompted (this decision of the Emperor? Chiefly the political considerations which were indicated in the preceding chapter : a due regard for the known wishes of a powerful German magnate, whose support the Emperor needed, and to whom he felt himself under a special obliga- 94) By Dec. 14 the Elector knew that Luther had burned the Pope's bull. 95) XV, 1696 f. ; SC, 1, 410. 96) A term of condescending affection employed by sovereigns in their intercourse with persons of equal rank, if the latter are older than the speaker; otherwise the term "cousin" is used. No kinship is implied in either case. 97) XV, 1697 f.; SC, 1, 398. 38 THE EMPEROR IN AN UNGUARDED MOMENT. tion. Moreover, in the Emperor's overture to the Elector we can trace the influence of Erasmus. \\'hile the imperial com- pany had tarried at Cologne, the Elector had asked Erasmus for his opinion of Luther's controversy,^®^ and Erasmus had advised that Euther be given a fair trial before compe- tent judges. In an extensive, but unsigned memorandum to the Elector, embodying twenty-two theses, he outlined a plan for such a trial to be conducted under the direct super- vision of the Emperor, the king of England, and the king of Hungary, by judges whom these monarchs were to select.®®) This opinion of the scholar the Elector had communicated to Aleander as his own.^**^) Erasmus exerted his influence in OSt DGR, p. 2T6 f.; XV. 1716-21; ErI. Ed. Opp. v. a, 5. 2-41 f. With the aid of Erasmus the Dominican Prior John Faber drew up a similar plan, X\'^, 1722 f. Erasmus's plan was published during the Diet and gave Aleander an opportunity to vent his hatred of Erasmus.^ Luther writes to Spalatin, February 27: "We regret no less than you that Erasmus's A.rioms and the reply of our Elector have been published at Leipzig. I know not where they got them, for we were much surprised when they appeared, and did not know where they got their copies; ours are still \\'ith us. So there is ho reason why you should accuse us in this matter, for we are much annoyed by their being published, since they make people suspect us of being both afraid and boastful." XXIa, 334 f . ; EB, 3, 89 f.; SC, 1, 473 f. 99) XV, 1720. 100) On November 6 the Elector's Counselors, in the presence of the Archbishop of Trent, replied orally at the monastery of the Barefooted Monks at Cologne to the papal breve which Aleander had delivered to the Elector on All Saints' Day, while the latter was worshiping at that place.9S) They told Aleander and CaraccioH that the Elector repelled the insinua- tion that by shielding Luther against the Church he had left the path in which his pious forefathers had walked, and that the Elector was indignant at the audacity of Eck, who was executing a papal bull in the Elector's domains by circumventing the Elector's sovereign authority, and was includ- ing in that bull men like Carlstadt, Feldkirchen, and others, who were not named at all in the bull. Such an illicit procedure, they said, could have no other effect than to force others to join Luther in his Appeal and Protestation, and to win the support of all the common people for Luther. Reviewing the events since 1517, they showed that the Elector had never identified himself with Luther's controversy. The Elector, they said, would regret if Luther should have written anything unbecoming; however, he was convinced that Luther's writings did not deserve to be burned. Ac- cordingly, the Elector requested that the measures to mete out quick Italian justice to Luther be stopped, and arrangements be made for giving Luther an impartial hearing before learned, godly, and fair judges, at a convenient place and under a safe-conduct. If Luther should then be convicted of error, the Elector, as an obedient son of the holy Christian Church, did not purpose to shield him. Erl. Ed. Opp. v. a. 5, 244-7. Aleander, who at once sensed the influence of Erasmus in this reply, reported the interview to the Pope on November 6: "I know that Your Holiness is very anxious to know what we did with the Elector of Saxony. . . . We did see him on November 4, and worked on him so that he seemed to be persuaded by us and said that he had never spoken twenty words with Luther." RA, II, 460; SC, 1, 388 f. The claim of a personal meeting with the Elector in this report is false. THE EMPEROR IN AN UNGUARDED MOMENT. 39 favor of his plan on the Emperor's minister, William of Croix, and on Glapion, the Emperor's confessor. i"!) Through these men Erasmus's idea of an imperial commission to investigate Luther's case reached the Emperor. William of Croix was by disposition inclined to moderation and peaceable measures in all affairs of State and Church ; Glapion, though he allowed no one to see through his plans, was never blind to his own interests; his intimate relation to the Emperor > gave him an immense influence on the Emperor's decisions, and this influence could be so used as to make Glapion a person to be reckoned with by the Pope. Reports which reached the imperial court from France and Spain were not reassuring. Francis I was plotting against the Emperor, and the Pope was abetting him. In Spain the inquisition had been removed from under Charles's jurisdiction and placed in the hands of the Spanish prelates. Besides, there was rioting in certain parts of Spain, in which the Bishop of Zamora was involved. Charles asked the Pope to remove the bishop from office, but the Pope failed to comply with the request. At this time a letter rhay have been remembered that had been written by John Manuel, i**^) the Emperor's ambassador at Rome. On May 12, 1520, the ambassador had sent this note : — If Your Majesty go to Germany, you ought to show some favorios) to a certain friar who calls himself Friar Martin, who 101) John Glapion, born in the province of Maine, France, became a Franciscan at Bruges. At the time of the election of Charles as Emperor he visited that monarch in Catalonia, and in 1519 or 1520 was recommended to the position of confessor to His Majesty by P. de Croy, Marquis of Arscot. He was then made Bishop of Toledo. He died September 15 or 22, 1582. SC, 1, 420. 102) Manuel was a Spanish grandee who had fallen into disfavor and been imprisoned in 1513 for rendering bad services to Ferdinand. Later he became imperial ambassador at Rome, an office which he held from, 1520 to 152.3, when, apparently on account of the hostility of Pope Adrian, he was removed. SC, 1, 318. 103) Dr. Smith here points out a misstatement in Pastor's History of the Popes, VIII, 17 f . : "Strange to say, Dr. Pastor has exactly reversed the meaning of this dispatch, interpreting it, *Your Majesty ought to refrain from showing favor.' A more literal translation of the Spanish, kindly furnished me by my friend. Prof. S. L. Galpin, of Amherst College, is: 'And Your Majesty may come to Germany, at which they will again be greatly afraid, and a little favor may secretly [be done] to a friar who calls himself Friar Martin.* Both the language and the contest show that Bergenroth's translation" (which Smith has given!) "is correct." SC, 1, 318. 40 REVERSING THE IMPERIAL ENGINE. is staying with the Elector of Saxony. The Pope is exceed- ingly afraid of him, as he preaches openly against the authority of Rome, and is said to be a great scholar. I think he would be a good means of forcing the Pope to conclude an alliance. I am, however, of the opinion that these means ought to be em- ployed only if the Pope refuses to make an alliance, or if he afterwards breaks it.io-t) The combined force of all these considerations had prompted the correspondence of the Emperor and his coun- selors with the Elector, as well as the direction to bring Luther to Worms. Luther was being used by these diplomats to bring pressure to bear on the Pope. The idea, then, of summoning Luther to Worms was at its root a diplomatic move, decided upon in the most intimate circles of the politi- cal advisers of Charles V. But all these gentlemen had miscalculated the power and cunning of Aleander. 6. Reversing the Imperial Engine. Immediately upon the receipt of the first intimation from Charles's ministers that he was to bring Luther to Worms, the Elector had ordered Spalatin to ascertain what Luther thought of the proposition. Before Spalatin's inquiry reached Luther, the Emperor's letter was delivered to the Elector. The Elector was perplexed by the Emperor's order. Hitherto he had studiously maintained an attitude of benevo- lent neutrality towards Luther. His religious views were deeply tinged with the medieval conceptions of holiness. He w^orshiped the saints, relied on their intercession, observed their festivals, and collected their relics. Aleander could truthfully report that the Elector was of good disposition, very pious, and a regular attendant at church.i''5) Luther's edifying tracts appealed to him, and he also found himself in agreement with Luther in the latter's opposition to the op- pression practised on the Germans by Rome. But he did not 104) R.-\, II, 461; HAL, p. 31. 106) In the letter to Leo X of November 6. REVERSING THE IMPERIAL ENGINE. 41 like the polemics of Luther, and "as a layman not deeply versed in Scripture" he declined to take Luther's part in discussions of questions of theology. It had never entered his mind to bring Luther with him to Worms; his plan had been that Archbishop Greiffenklau of Treves should arbi- trate Luther's case, and then the controversy was to be quietly buried. If Luther entered Worms in the Elector's company, the latter felt that he would be personally drawn into Luther's controversy and cease to be regarded as neu- tral. He felt that, no matter whether he undertook to protect or to sacrifice Luther at Worms, he would arouse enmity against himself. Moreover, the Emperor's letter laid the injunction upon him to hold himself responsible for Luther's future conduct. Accordingly, scenting danger in the Emperor's communication, Frederick, without waiting for Luther's answer, dispatched the following answer to the Emperor, December 20: — Most gracious Lord : Your Imperial Majesty's letter from Oppenheim, on November 28, has been received by me here at AUstedt with becoming reverence and devotion. [The Elector now rehearses the contents of the Emperor's letter.] In reply I humbly submit to Your Majesty that I have never assumed, and do not now assume, to defend, or to be responsible for, Doc- tor Martin's writing or preaching, but have left him to answer for them himself, as he has offered to do. This I have at sundry times written and communicated to His Papal Holiness and his ambassadors. As regards my asking the Marquis and Nassau humbly to request Your Majesty not to permit anything to be done or undertaken against Luther, except he be first given a hearing, this I did in order that the truth might be revealed, and to estaWish whether Luther is in error in his writings. For the said Luther has always offered, on sufficient guarantee, to come forward and be examined by fair, honorable, and unsus- pected judges, and if he is overcome by the Holy Scriptures, humbly to stand corrected. Thus he has stated at length in his published Protest and Offer. That, and nothing else, induced me to submit my petition to Your Majesty through the said gentle- men. Accordingly, I had hoped that the matter would be stayed and allowed to rest by the adversaries, especially since the am- bassador of His Holiness stated to me amongst other things, that he would propose ways and means in this affair how I was to act, and I offered to act as he would propose. However, I am 42 REVERSING THE IMPERIAL ENGINE. informed that since I left Your Majesty, the books of Luther, although he had not been heard and overcome with Holy Scrip- ture, have been burned at Cologne, Mayence, and elsewhere. This I had not expected, but had rather hoped that, even though they had no regard for Luther, I at least would be considered in this matter. Now, then, since this has happened against my humble prayer and against the promise of the papal nuncio, more- over, since I cannot perceive from Your Majesty's letter that this burning was permitted by Your Majesty, and since Luther may also have undertaken to do something in return before Your Majesty's letter reached me, I therefore ask Your Majesty to consider graciously that it imposes a hardship on me to bring Luther with me to the Diet. I have, accordingly, been compelled to communicate all this in advance to Your Majesty, and I very humbly beg Your Majesty for once to spare me this hardship of bringing Luther with me to Worms, and not to take it ill that, for the reasons stated, I shall fail to do so. For otherwise I am quite willing humbly to obey Your Majesty's wishes. If, in con- sequence of this, it should be reported to you that my object in this matter is entirely different from the one indicated by me, or that I intend to act in opposition to our holy Christian faith, I humbly beg you not to credit such report. For, God willing, such shall never be my purpose, mind, and intention ; on the contrary, I trust that God Almighty will grant me grace faithfully to advance, to the extent of my ability, whatever may serve to strengthen and increase our Christian faith.i06) The Elector communicated the contents of this letter on the same day to Chievres and Nassau, and commen,ded Luther's cause to them once more.i^^) In the mean time Luther had prepared his answer. On December 21 he wrote to Spalatin: — To-day I received copies of your letter from AUstedt, 108) and from Kindelbrueckioo) the letter in which you ask me to state what I would do if, without danger to the Gospel and the public welfare, I were summoned by the Emperor Charles ; for you observe that the enemies are setting everything in motion to hurry up this business. 106) XV, 1698 ff.; cf. SC, 1, 420. 107) XV, 1700 ff. 108) Allstedt, now in the district of Saxony- Weimar, at that time in the duchy of Mansfeld-Mittelort. Spalatin was at this place in the Elector's company, December 16. 109) This town is located in the Prussian district of Erfurt, county of Weissensee. REVERSING THE IMPERIAL ENGINE. 43 As for me, if I am summoned, I shall do everything to make my going there possible ; and if I cannot come in good health, I shall have myself carried thither sick. For no one has a right to doubt that I am summoned by the Lord if the Emperor sum- mons me. Moreover, if they carry this matter through with vio- lence, as is likely, — for they are not having me called to be in- structed by me, — my cause must be committed to the Lord. For He still lives and reigns who saved the three youths in the fur- nace of the king of Babylon. no) If He does not wish to save me, my head is a paltry matter compared with Christ, who was slain in the most shameful manner to the scandal of all and the ruin of many. For here nobody's risk, nobody's safety is to be taken into consideration; on the contrary, our only concern must be that we do not abandon the Gospel which we have begun to preach to the mockery of the wicked, and give our adversaries cause for boasting that we dare not confess what we have taught, and are afraid to shed our blood for it. May Christ the Merciful prevent such cowardice on our part and such a triumph on theirs ! Amen. Accordingly, though it must come to this that the kings of the earth and the princes come together and rage with the Gentiles and the peoples against the Lord and His Anointed.m) still the Spirit teaches in the same Psalm that those shall be blessed that put their trust in Him.n^) And not only this, but the Lord Himself will laugh at them and hold them in derision.ii^) It surely is not for us to decide whether more or less danger will arise for the Gospel and the public welfare from my life or my death. You know that the truth of God is a rock of offense,"*) set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel.ns) However, for the present this only task is left to our care to pray the Lord that the administration of Charles may not stain its first acts with my blood or anybody else's, in order to protect wickedness. I should prefer, as I have said quite often, to perish only at the hands of the Romanists, so that the Emperor and his people may not be involved in my cause. You know what misery pursued the Emperor Sigismund after the slaying of Hus ; he had no success in anything thereafter; he died without an heir, and afterwards even his daughter's son Ladislaus perished, and his name was wiped out in one generation; his wife Barbara 110) Dan. 3, 23 i=f. 111) Ps. 2, 2. 112) Ps. 2, 12. 113) Ps. 2, 4. 114) Is. 8, 14. 116) Luke 2, 34. 44 reversiMg the imperial engine. became a scandal among queens,!!^) and I think you know of other misfortunes that befell him. Yet, if it must come to this that I, too, must be delivered, not only to the Papists,!!''') ^j^- also to the Gentiles, the Lord's will be done. Amen. There you have my plan and purpose. You may expect me to do anything but dee and recant. Flee I shall not, much less recant. May the Lord Jesus strengthen me in this ! For I could do neither without jeopardizing religion and the salvation of many. I am returning your copies, and in due time shall send a letter to the Elector, as you have directed me to do. . . . Fare- well, and be strong in the Lord. Wittenberg, on the Day of St. Thomas the J\'Iartyr (which many believe him to have been). 118) "While the Elector was declining the task which the Em- peror had laid on him and Luther was preparing for his martyrdom, a letter was on the way to the Elector. It was dated December 17 and came again from His Majesty, who had meanwhile reached Wormis. The Emperor had under- gone a change of mind. He writes : — Inasmuch as we have now been credibly informed that the said Luther has come under the extreme ban of the Pope, and that all the places and regions into which he comes or in which he abides have been placed under the papal interdict, and that all who have dealings with him or associate with him also come under the said extreme ban ; therefore we have fully considered that, if the said Luther should come hither with you, a notable injury might arise therefrom to the Holy Empire and its Estates, which would be placed under a distinct stigma by foreign nations ; and this, as you will readily see, ought by all means to be pre- vented.118) In view of this we desire earnestly that you will indicate and set forth to the said Luther the following: If he now and before starting on his journey recants all that he has written against His Papal Holiness and the See of Rome, also 116) Sigismund left only one daughter, Elizabeth, who was married to Emperor Albert II. Their son, Ladislaus Posthumus, became king of Hungary and Bohemia, and died November 23, 1457, without issue. The second wife of Sigismund was Barbara, Duchess of Cilly. On her profligate life see Aschbach, Kaiser Sigismund, II, 397; IV, 391. 117) Evidently Luther thought that the idea of summoning him to Worms had originated with, or was fostered by, the Papists. 118) XV. 1884 ff.; EB, 3, 33 ff. ; SL, p. 105. While Luther wrote this letter, his Assertio and Grund und Ursach were coming off the press, and he is telling Spalatin that he is forwarding the sheets to him as fast as tjiey are ready. 119) The original at this place is defective; the translation offered is according to the text as reconstructed by Koestlin and Hoppe. REVERSING THE IMPERIAL ENGINE. 45 against the decrees of councils, and is willing to submit to the judgment of the said Papal Holiness and of the See of Rome, you may bring him with you; however, do not bring him hither to Worms, but leave him at Frankfort on the Main, or in some other place thereabout, where he is to await further instructions. But if he declines and is not willing to do this, leave him at home, until we have orally discussed this matter with you.i^o) The Emperor's scruples are plainly inspired. The bull Exsurge Dominc had already gone into effect on November 27, the day before he made his first proposition to the Elec- tor. If the Emperor was not aware of this, his confessor surely was. The stigma which the Emperor fears might be fastened on him in foreign countries points to Spain, where the Emperor's former teacher, Adrian, was voicing his con- tempt for Luther's theology, and would certainly include the Emperor in his contempt if the latter should have dealings with an excommunicated heretic. Thus the Emperor's in- fluence in his home-land might be still more undermined. Protests had -also arrived from the kings of Portugal and England, who deprecated any lenient measures in dealing with Luther. But the principal agent in bringing about this change of mind on the part of the Emperor was Aleander. When the imperial party entered Worms, he began at once to interview Charles's ministers, and learned to his horror that "the sky which has hitherto been so clear seems to have become overcast." We have seen the account which, on De- cember 14, he gave to Medici of his previous successes and the sudden check he had received. That account relates to Aleander's interview with the Emperor's ministers, chiefly Chievres, on whom all arguments of Aleander for the time being were lost. The statesman evidently enjoyed the plight that had been created for the crafty Italian and his intriguing masters at ■ Rome by the Emperor's letter to the Elector. Rome was to be shown that perplexities could be created for the Curia also. It now becamie necessary for Aleander to approach the Emperor directly, in order to break down the influence of 120) XV, 1702 f.; SC, 1, 424 f. 46 EEyXKSESG THE IMPERIAL EXGIXZ. Charles's ministers over their sovereign. The Bishop of Liege became Aleander's friend in need and took him to the Bischofshof, the episcopal palace, where the Emperor was lodged. The monarch veiled himself in silence as Aleander was introduced, and Chie\Tes had to carry on the conversa- tion and submit once more to Aleander's Dleadmg. The nuncio reports these proceedings to Cardinal Medici, De- cember 15: — Yesterday evening at eleven o'clock the Bishop of Liege, my old patron, took me to the Emperor. On this occasion I had a pri\-ate conference with Chie^xes. who heard my argument on the whole business with great attention and satisfaction, and there- upon assured me that the honor of the Pope and of the Church would he consulted at ever\- turn, and that the Emperor would act as a tndy Christian prince. The gist of this conference Aleander gives in a letter to Cardinal Pucci of December 17 : — I said to him in reply that we by no means needed to fear a meeting with Martin Luther, as though we knew that we were wrong and he was right, but [the reason for our refusing such a meeting was] because a matter that had already been decided by the decree and condemnation of the Holy Father, who is the only competent judge, ought not to be drawn into discussion once more. I appealed to history, which teaches that alongside of this authorit}' appointed for the whole world the princes and estates of tiie Empire would assume no jurisdiction in such a matter. Finally, as I stated in my letter from Cologne.^-^^ Luther, in the Protest which he has issued together with his demand for a disputation, wants all the representatives of the Church, all theologians, jurists, canonists, and philosophers, in short, all who are suspected by him, that is. the whole learned world, with the exception of certain Germans, debarred from act- ing as judges. It seems that he will acknowledge as judges only Hutten and his miserable crowd of German Humanists. I added that if Luther intended to recant, or they [the imperialists] hoped to induce him to recant, the recantation would nevertheless have to take place in the form prescribed in the bull before he would be permitted to appear before the Diet or at any other place where he might desire to receive the forgiveness of the Pope, and to be readmitted in accordance with the custom in such cases, as a good son of the Church. For the Holy Father does not 121) See note 100. REVERSING THE IMPERIAL ENGINE. 47 desire the death nor the blood of Luther, but the salvation of his soul and the welfare of the Church. i--) Chievjres replied that the summons to Luther had been planned only in the certain ex- pectation that Luther would recant, but that he would be on his guard now that he had his attention drawn by my talk to the scandal which would necessarily result in case Luther should refuse to recant. In his letter to Cardinal Medici, Aleander states that his conference with Chievres in the Emperor's lodging was pri- vate, and in both the letters from which we have quoted he asserts that Chievres had invited him to attend a meeting of the German State Council the next morning. It seems that Chievres was weakening and counted on support from members of the Council. Caraccioli^^^) was indisposed and could not attend this meeting on December 15, at which the Cardinal Bishop of Salzburgi^*) presided, assisted by the Bishop of Liege,i^5> as a prince of the German Empire, and 122) Also at Cologne, Aleander had assured the Elector that the Pope had no intention of attaching Luther's person and staining his hands with Luther's blood. However, this was a prevarication, for the bull of ex- communication had decreed against Luther all the punishment prescribed by law, and had expressly condemned Luther's thesis, that the burning of heretics is contrary to the will of the Holy Spirit. What Aleander stated on these fwo occasions was, accordingly, in contradiction to the official declarations of the Curia, and the Curia could decline to be responsible for the private statements of Aleander. 123) Marino Caraccioli, the papal prothonotary, was the first nuncio delegated to represent the Pope at the Diet of Worms. He had been entrusted with the secular interests of the Curia, and Aleander, to whom the management of Luther's affair was assigned, had been instructed to do nothing except upon previous consultation with Caraccioli. Every student of history joins Kalkoff in his regret that the dispatches of Caraccioli have been lost; for the discussion of the ecclesiastical affairs at the Diet was constantly swayed by political considerations. — Caraccioli, a native ot Naples, had studied at Milan, and entered the service of the Duke of Milan During a mission for his sovereign to Rome in 1515 he had been given the office of prothonotary by Leo X, and appointed nuncio at the imperial court in 1520. At a later time Charles V attached him to his court, employing him for the most important diplomatic missions, and obtained for him the cardinalate in 1535, and the regency of Milan, where Caraccioli die22, he submitted a scheme of reform to Adrian VI. He died October 1, 1522. SC, 1, 453. 154) See chap. 2 in this book. — Link reported this statement of .'Vleander to Scheurl, who, in turn, transmitted it to Hector Poemer. iBriefb. II, 423 f.') It is also found in Hutten's InvecHva in Hieron. Aleandr. (Boeck, Opp. II, 15), in Simon Hess's Frag und Antwort (ibid. IV, 611), and in a letter of Bernh. v. Hirschfeld, who, on February 35, writes from Worms to Anton Tucher at Nuremberg that the Emperor intends peremptorily to outlaw Luther; but such an action, he says, "would cause a great riot and revolution in the Empire, and lead to the very result which the Pope and his followers diligently seek to achieve, z'i?., that we Germans persecute each other and in the mean time forget the Papists, who would thus remain unreformed." XV, 1711; EB, 3, 80. DAU, TRIBUNAL OF CAESAR. 5 66 LIFE AT WORMS DURING THE DIET. Lutheran Germany during the next century. Rome's Rule- or-Ruin policy has nowhere been applied with greater per- sistency and more teling effect than against the land that dared to back Luther in his fight against papal absolutism. 9. Life at Worms During the Diet. The Diet had been summoned to meet on Epiphany Sun- day; it was not opened till January 28, owing chiefly to the tardy arrival of the members. The Saxon Elector had ar- rived prompth- on January 5. but the delegation from Brandenburg, for instance, with Elector Joachim at their head, passed through Wittenberg on their wav to Worms as late as January 16. On that day Luther sends this piece of news to Spalatin : — To-day I appeared before the ^largrave of Brandenburg and his company of princes ;i^5) I had been called for an interview, for they wanted to see the man {hominem, that is, Luther^ .156) This uncanonical interview with an excommunicated here- tic shows that the Pope's ban sat lightly even on such an or- thodox conscience as that of the Brandenburg Elector, one of the staunchest Romanists in Germany. Perhaps the thrifty Hohenzollern deferred to the wishes of his company; he may even have made a slight detour to pass through Wit- tenberg. But it is possible, too, that he wanted to study the psychological effects of the papal anathema and get a close view of its victim. If so, he found Luther ready to give a reason for the hope that was in him, and received a fore- taste of that scene three months later when he saw the monk standing before the Emperor, an event for which he surely was not looking at this time, and which he tried to fore- stall with all his might when at Worms. 155) In the company was Duke Albrecht of Mecklenburg (1486-1547) who began to reign in conjunction with his uncle and brothers in 1503. When the land was partitioned on May 7, 1520, he got the duchy of Guestrow. In 1531 he tried unsuccessfully for the Danish crown. SC, 1, 442. 156) XV, 2506; EB, 3, 74; CS, 1, 442. « LIFE AT WORMS DURING THE DIET. 67 Duke Bogislav X passed through Wittenberg February 3. On that day Luther writes to Spalatin : — I dined with Duke Bogislav of Pomerania, who also heard my sermon at the parish church to-day (Sexagesima Sunday) .157) Philip of Hesse arrived at Worms January 16, the Dukes of Bavaria and the Bishops of Bamberg and Wuerzburg were expected to arrive January 28, the Brandenburgers soon after that date. Duke John of Saxony arrived February 7, etc. While the tardy delegates with the complacent leisure of German magnates are proceeding to their waiting mon- arch at Worms, we may let the old chroniclers and letter- writers describe to us life as it was in the famous city on the Rhine in the days of the Diet. The Diet utterly overtaxed the hospitality of the city. Elector Frederick had promised to find quarters for his brother John. After a long search he found in the neighborhood of his own quarters three rooms, which he had difficulty in renting from the Domini- cans. He writes his brother : — I know that your Honor has no idea what the condition of the inns at this place is. Good beds are scarcely to be had; besides, it is not easy to make up your mind to sleep in them. . . . Accordingly, I send you a friendly warning to bring beds with you for yourself and our son. 1^8) The representative of the city of Strassburg with a com- pany of gentlemen wandered through all the streets and alleys of the city for several days in search of a lodging. When he had claimed a lodging one day, it was taken away from him the next day by the imperial quartermaster. He made complaint to the imperial chamberlain and had his lodg- ing returned to him. But now the priests of St. Paul, who owned the house, created new trouble for him by demanding ■four gulden a week for the lodging. The gentleman con- sidered this profiteering, and appealed to the burgomaster, who advised hihi to make no contract with the monks, but insist that they must not charge him more than the price 157) XXIa, 330; EB. 3, 8; SC, 1, 451. 158) FNU, I, pp. 6, 7, 10. 68 LIFE AT WORMS DURING THE DIET. fixed by the city ordinance for innkeepers. For his bed, kitchen utensils, wood, and coal the representative had to send to Strassburg. Elector Frederick advised his brother to have wine and all provisions sent to him during his stay at Worms; for the "godly Jews''^^^) had inaugurated a most ungodly era of H. C. L. A quail sold for four albi, a duck for three and a half, a single room for an albus a day. By April 24 the Elector had spent for himself and his retinue 12,000 gulden, half of which he still owed when he left Worms. Firewood was at a premium, and the winter of 1S20-'21 was not a mild one. The princes had fastened their escutcheons to the stacks of cord-wood along the Rhine, thus claiming the supply for themselves. These claim signs were removed, and the servants fought regular battles for the fuel. Fish, as a rule very cheap along the Rhine, com- manded exorbitant prices. Stables for horses and fodder were still more scarce. The representative of the city of Frankfort wrote home : — The princes cannot all be placed in lodgings. To-day one will set up his colors in an inn ; to-morrow some one comes and tears them down. Fist-fights are the order of the day. Last night there was a riot at our inn. More than twenty knives were brandished. The quiet, orderly Elector groaned amid this turmoil and confusion, and wrote his brother: — Verily, what is happening here cannot be called decent. People hustle one another out of the inns by force. There is no order here. Ultimately great crowds had to encamp outside of the city walls, or find shelter in the neighborhood villages. Spite of all this congestion and lack of comfort, there developed an exceedingly gay life at Worms. Landgrave Philip of Hesse rode into the city with 600 horsemen, Duke William came from Munich with 400, and Duke John of Saxony asked for stable-room for 300 horses. The German magnates were vying with one another to display their re- sources and their knightly qualities to "His Spanish Maj- 159) See Appendix, chap. 2. LIFE AT WORMS DURING THE DIET. 69 esty" ; and in the case of some of them there may have been a sinister meaning in their feats of skill in the arena. The Saxon Elector is very solicitous that his brother John bring with him skilled "Stecher,'' knights who can prick their an- tagonist at a tournament out of the saddle and send him sprawling in the dust. The young Emperor was an enthusi- astic lover of these chivalrous sports,!^") as well as of the chase, and his court was filled with the dazzling splendor of medieval pomp. Even the aged Elector was captivated by the gaudy scenes that met him on all sides as he bustled his way through the gay and merry throng to the Emperor's chambers or to some brother prince. He writes his brother : — If I were still young and eager to display myself before my host, I should like to live at this court. We sleep into the morning; His Majesty hears mass about ten or eleven' o'clock.Wl) He also reports that one evening he had received a sere- nade by two thousand singers, but had not left his room. When brother John arrived with his cavalcade, the Elector was delighted; for the pick of the Saxon nobility was gath- ered about him, and His Spanish Majesty was so visibly impressed by the valor and equipment of the Saxon knights that he asked for samples of their coats of mail and accoutre- ments. Those were proud days for the old Burgundian metropo- lis on the Rhine. Worms had for a few months become the political center of the Occident. There was no monarch on the face of the earth that held sway over such vast and rich possessions as Charles V. Even from America, Cortez had sent a native Mexican to pay homage to him. From 160) In FNU, I, p. 80 f., there is a list of all the tournaments that took place during the Diet, with a brief description of the encounter and the result. It reads like the official report of a modern prize-fight, e. g.; Duke Henry of Brunswick and Eberhard Bischoff Rod; two encounters; Eberhard Bischoflf Rod fell both times,— Duke William of Brunswick and Levyn von Feldhayn; four encounters; during the first three both kept their saddles, at the fourth von Feldhayn fell. — Duke John Frederick of Saxony and Anarch, Lord of Wildenfels; three encounters; at the first von Wdden- fels fell- at the second both kept their saddles; at the third both fell. — The younger Duke John of Saxony and John Bock; two encounters; at the first both missed; at the second both fell; etc. 161) FNU, I, pp. 5 ff. 70 LIFE AT WORMS DURING THE DIET. all parts of the Emperor's domains the most distinguished personages had flocked to his court ; the shrewdest diplomats, 'the most famous generals thronged the imperial chambers; Dutch, Spanish, Italian petitioners, with matters of grave import, were suing for favorable decisions from His Majesty. Momentous issues, involving the fortunes of the leading nations of Europe, such as the war with France, the alliances of Charles, the sequestration of the principality of Wuert- temberg, the reorganization of the German Empire, were to be decided within the walls of Worms in those days. And the one -issue that dwarfed all this proud secular business into insignificance was — Luther and the Gospel. One of the most vivid sketches of the social life at Worms during the Diet has been drawn by Dietrich Butz- bach, who on March 7 writes to a friend: — • My service to you, dear neighbor. I should like to write you some news, but I know not what to say, except that there is gathered here a remarkably great concourse of princes and lords. I have written down the names of all of them, but it is too much labor to copy them ; I shall only state their number : 80 princes, 130 dukes, IS ambassadors of foreign kings and lords,i^2) a. host of representatives, and an innumerable multi- tude of knights, noblemen and their attendants ; also great mer- chants and tradesmen from Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, and Germany. There is such an exceedingly great display of costly garments among the German, Spanish, and French lords, and they have such very fine, spirited race horses, that it is impossible for me to describe all to you. So far little state business has been transacted ; all interest at the Council of the Electors has so far centered on Martin [Luther]. Philip of Hesse, he thinks, claims the greatest amount of interest after Luther, because of his many lawsuits that he is pressing at the Diet, chiefly the suit against his own mother. But he is a very spirited knight and keeps a grand and splendid court. He is always in the lists, shattering lances. He is a dashing horseman, and his lance strikes home. He gambles with all the princes for remarkably great stakes, as high as a thousand gulden, and of all the princes he has been 163) The most distinguished embassies were those of Henry VIIJ of England and of Francis I of France, LIFE AT WORMS DURING THE DIET. 71 praised and lauded most for his trumpeters, wardrobe, courtiers, horses, encounters at the tournament, and other doings The Emperor shows himself a gay man of the world; he rides to the arena every day for the contests. He has the most beautiful horses; they are called jennets. Never in my life have I seen horses prance in such beautiful capers. They are very speedy, and the Emperor has astonished everybody by his fine horsemanship. At the carnival he was very merry; I cannot write you all he did. All his actions seem quite becoming, and he is very adroit ; only his mouth disfigures him ; I am sincerely sorry for him. Two foreign delegations from the island of Jerba and from the newly subjugated Algarbia caught Butzbach's eye: — There is a representative here from the new island that was recently discovered; he is dressed in costly silks, but about the head he and his servants go veiled like gypsy women. Their veils are ten yards long. Butzbach also noted the low morals of this crowd of aristocratic roues: — It is not safe here to be out of doors at night ; hardly a night passes but three or four persons are murdered. The Emperor keeps an attendant who has drowned, hanged, and murdered more than a hundred persons. Murdering, thieving, and prosti- tution are as ordinary events here as at Rome. Plenty of public women are found in every street. No Lent is observed here ; tournaments are held ; people gorge themselves with mutton, chicken, pigeons, eggs, milk, cheese, and life he is on the order of that in Dame Venus's Mountain .... Let me tell you also that many lords and foreigners are dying here ; they all kill them- selves drinking strong wines.l®^) These sketches are fully corroborated by the accounts of others. Lazarus Spengler, the city clerk of Nuremberg, was shocked by the general profligacy and the wild excesses which he witnessed during the Diet. Instead of attending to affairs of state, he says, the lords spend their time ban- queting and gambling, and the leading prelates of the Church are the worst debauchees. One of them lost 34,000 gulden in one week, a certain nobleman even 60,000. At a drinking 163) RA, I, 815; HAL, p. 99 f. 1 1 LIFE AT WORMS DUBIXC THE DIET. bout seventy-two lords consumed l,2iX) measures ("J/ajj") of wine. Every troop of travelers that arrived at \\'orms reported highway robberies. Merchants' caravans were plundered, the French ambassador was stripped of every- thing he had, while a French merchant was slain near the gates of Worms. The congested conditions in the city brought on con- tagious diseases, which decimated especially the ranks of the Spaniards, who were not used to the climate. Elector Fred- erick writes home that "the plague has broken out at Worms among high and low, and people are dying in great numbers.' The Elector was advised not to take the street which he usually took when going out to call on the Emperor, because two women had died in that street in one night.^®*^ According to the custom of the times great dignitaries who happened to visit a city were entertained at the expense of the city. During the Diet of 1521 the demands that were made on the city fiscus of Worms for entertaining guests of honor became so excessive that the citizens refused to honor them, and it began to be rumored that the Diet would be removed to some wealthier city like Nuremberg, Augs- burg, or Strassburg. Four precious weeks had been trifled away in costly and senseless frivolities. The Council of State, also called the Imperial Council, had had fits of oflBcial activity, but all its work had been tentative. It seemed as if the Diet would never be opened; for as the days wore on, a new cause of delay appeared: the princes were wrangling over an inter- minable question of etiquette. .All the Electors had at length arrived, but could come to no agreement as to their seats in the Diet. The Elector writes to his brother: — There is nothing here but pride. The onl)- reason why we have not been able to open the Diet is because we could not agree on the seat each was to occupy. The Bavarians refuse to let us Saxons have the first seat although we are the older. Likewise 161) R. .\., II, S59, 902; H-\L, p. 100 f. LIFE AT WORMS DURING THE DIET. Ti Margrave Casimir demands a seat ahead of several princes. 16^) It is, verily, a grievous thing that His Imperial Majesty and the Estates must sit idle here on account of this pride.ifis) The old chroniclers discuss this remarkable dilemma without a twitching of their face; it is to them a solemn state-affair. The solution finally arrived at was also re- markable: at the opening of the Diet on St. Agnes's Day all the princes and dukes had to stand. The genius who hit upon this device deserves the thanks of posterity; for without it there would have been no Diet. Rather than yield a hair's breadth of prerogative the magnates vVould have gone home and left the Emperor to conduct the affairs of the Empire as best he could, or dared. Even this happy arrangement made two gentlemen very indignant. Duke Alba, who had come with the Emperor from Spain, was told that, as he was not a member of the German Diet, no seat would be assigned him. He left in a rage and was in dudgeon during the entire Diet, declining haughtily every invitation that was extended to him. The papal nuncio, who was suffering daily indignities at the hands of the German princes and the citizens of Worms, was permitted to take his place in the crowd at the opening cere- mony, and reported to Rome the grievous and damnable sin with which the Diet had been opened, because no notice had been taken of the representative of His Holiness. 165) A similar quarrel had occurred three months before at the coronation at Aix. The Emperor's train was halted two hours at the city gates because the princes of Julich and Saxony were engaged _ in a hot dispute as to which of them should head the procession. Finally the Emperor sent the angry order to Duke Charles of Julich either to proceed "in the devil's name or to^ fall back to the rear." Julich then entered Aix ahead of the Saxons; the latter, however, waited till they were told that the Duke of Julich had passed out of the city by the opposite gate, and then entered and claimed that they had not come into Aix behind the Duke of Julich. RA, II, 91; HAL, p. 103. 166) RA, II, 91, ff.; HAL, p. 103. 74 WITH LUTHER AT WITTENBERG. 10. With Luther at Wittenberg. With a sense of relief the student turns from the tur- moil of passions at Worms to the quiet university town on the Elbe to observe Luther at his ordinary work. As on previous occasions we find him a very busy man. In a friendly banter he expostulates with Spalatin December 7 : — Do try and restrain yourself a little in giving me so many commands. A man could not so suddenly start such a confla- gration in this little hole, if he gave the world nothing.i*''^) This means that Luther is beginning to realize that he is' becoming a teacher with a world mission, and cannot give his entire time to the Saxon court that is plying him with requests and questions of a religious nature. He is about to gain a little time by discontinuing such monkish prac- tises as the observation of canonical hours ; for after the publication of the second bull against him^*^) he drops these, and retains of his monastic qualities only his cell in the clois- ter and his garb.^^^) To Lang at Erfurt he writes March 6: — Although very busy, I write, Father, only to prevent your complaint that I am writing nothing to you ; for there is abso- lutely no other reason urging me to write. I send my trifles. My answer to Emser is in preparation. Murnar has written three books against me. Two Italians are also said to have written against me, but as yet I have not seen the writings of either of them. In addition an attack upon me by the Louvain professors is running in the press. Thus am I alone assailed by so many hydras, and am forced to explode the proverb that Hercules cannot fight with two ; for I am 167) XXIa, 318; EB, 3, 12; SC, 1, 412. We have given the passage in Smith's rendering. It sliould really, read: "That man will not start a great conflagration in his corner 'because he is not disseminating anything to the world." Luther is speaking of Francis Guenther, pastor at Lochau. But the sentiment expressed certainly applies to Luther himself. 168) See chap. 12 in this book. 169) Signs of disintegration were beginning to appear at the AugLis- tinian convent at Wittenberg. On February 3 (according to Smith) Luther writes to Link at Nuremberg, who had charge of the cloisters in that district; "Our Prior [Heltl complains about you, Father; on the same day OUT procurator and our subprior are taken from us, so that he alone is bearing our burden, which is now greater than before.*' XV, 1710; EB, S, 79; SC, 1, 451. The procurator was Matthias Gruneus. Seidemann thinks that he is the same person who is mentioned as the miller of the Augustinians at Grimma. EB, 2, 52. Who the subprior was I have not been able to discover. Melanchthon speaks of him and his leaving in CR, 1, 383, but does not give his name. He went to Coblenz. WITH LUTHER AT WITTENBERG. 75 fighting with ten. Preaching twice a day is work enough for one man, lecturing on the Psalter for three, my postilla for as many, and besides these there are so many enemies, not to men- tion my occasional works and letters to friends, as ,well as my conversations and fraternal ministrations. For I am absolved from the rules of the Order and' of the Pope and excommuni- cated by the authority of the bull. I am glad of it and accept it; only I do not leave my garb nor my cell, l™) The exhaustive commentary on the articles condemned in the bull, which Luther had promised the Elector, engaged him chiefly during the latter part of December and during January and February. He kept Spalatin closely informed regarding the progress of this work, and forwarded the printed sheets to Worms as fast as they came off the press. The Latin edition appeared about the middle of January under the caption, "Vindication of All the Articles of M. Luther that have been Condemned by the Most Recent Bull of Leo X."i'^i) The German edition was elaborated sepa- rately : it is not a mere translation, but sometimes expands and sometimes contracts the material of the Latin edition. It was issued March 1, 1S2L"2) The treatise takes up forty-one distinct articles for dis- cussion. Thoroughly and clearly Luther, in this treatise, explains once more his views and states his reasons, for the benefit of both scholars and laymen. Purposely he presents some articles in a more pointed form, or reminds the reader that he has on previous occasions taken a more advanced position, as the author of the bull must know. For instance, he now retracts the article concerning indulgences which the bull has condemned, vis., that indulgences belong to the class of things that might be tolerated as a pious fraud ; he says that he wants to confess his error on this point: they belong to the class of things that destroy men's souls and are a diabolical, antichristian fraud, theft, and robbery. In a similar manner he retracts his statement that some of the 170) XV, 2508; EB, 3, 100; SC, 1, 481. 171) Assertio Omnium Articulorum M. Lutheri, per Bullam Leonis X Novissimam, Damnatorum. 173) Grand und Ursach alter Artikel, so durch die roemtsche Bulle unrechtlich verdammt warden, XV, 1476-1565, 76 WITH LUTHER AT WITTENBERG. articles of Huss condemned at Constance are entirely Chris- tian in character : he wants to declare now that all those articles are of that character, and that by condemning Huss the Pope and the Papists have condemned the holy Gospel, and in the place of it have set up the doctrine of the infernal dragon. The most advanced position from a dogmatic point of view Luther now takes in his opposition to every kind of freedom that men ascribe to the human will over and against divine monergism : not a single one of our thoughts, he says, is within our own power. Nor does he restrict the meaning of this statement to a mere weakening or paralyzing of man's will by sin. In a quite general way he asserts : "If you view affairs in this lower sphere, they seem arbi- trary and accidental, but if you look upward (and view them in relation to God), everything is of necessity." Luther bases all the expository statements he makes in this treatise on his right freely and independently to explore and interpret Holy Scripture, to teach in accordance with it alone, and to pass judgment on all doctrines of men. Especially in the Latin edition Luther meets the objection that it is arrogant in a single individual to use Scripture thus, in defiance of all ecclesiastical authorities. He asks why a person cannot be permitted nowadays to study the Scriptures as they were studied in the primitive Christian Church, when there was not yet an Augustine, Thomas, or other authority. Moreover, he points out that these authori- ties often conflict with each other in their interpretation of the Scriptures, and often do. violence to the text. How, then, is Scripture to be interpreted? Nobody, he asserts, may interpret Scripture in any other way than in accordance with its spirit. The spirit, howxver, in which the Scrip- tures were written is nowhere more vitally present than in the Scriptures themselves. One must enter into the depths of the Word of God, meditating on it day and night.i^^) The revelation which comes by means of the Word of God 173) Ps. 1, 2. WITH LUTHER AT WITTENBERG. 11 illumines and gives understanding- to the simple.^'^'') The spirit in which the Word of God has been written, and which operates through it, automatically guides a person to a proper understanding of Scripture. Hence Luther claims the right to understand the Scriptures by himself, and to exercise himself in them. Accordingly, he does not claim to be anybody's master and a lord superior to the Scrip- tures, but everybody is to interpret the Scriptures for him- self. In the German edition he meets the charge that he is presumptuous because he alone undertakes to teach every- body. He says that his enemies have dragged him into the arena of public discussion to gain praise and honor by defeating him, and he was thus compelled to contend for the correctness of his position. Supposing it were true, he says, that I alone thrust myself forward, that would not exonerate my adversaries. Who can tell whether God has not raised me up for this purpose? Let them be careful to guard their reverence for God, lest in despising me they despise God. Do we not read that in the Old Testament God, as a rule, did not raise up more than one prophet at a time, and that He never chose him from among the chief priests or from other elevated stations, but usually selected lowly and despised persons for that ofifice? So it happened that the blessed saints always had to preach against the leaders, princes, priests, and doctors, and had, to place their neck in jeopardy. I do not say, he exclaims, that I am a prophet: but I do say that they have much more reason to fear that I might be one, the more they despise me and hold themselves in esteem. If I am not a prophet, I am neverthe- less certain in my own mind that the Word of God is on my side and not on theirs. And though many great Johnnies may envy and persecute me, that does not scare me; yea, it comforts and strengthens me, since it is manifest by all the Scriptures that persecutors and detractors, as a rule, are in the wrong, and the persecuted in the right, and the greater crowd has always followed after a lie while the smaller 174) Ps. 119, J30. 78 WITH LUTHER AT WITTENBERG. Stood by the truth. Accordingly I shall gladly vindicate and defend the articles that have been condemned by the bull, and I trust that by the grace of God I shall be able to maintain them against injustice. When it comes to using violence, I have nothing more to offer than my poor body, which I commend to God and to the truth which the Pope has con- demned. ^'^^'^ The reason for some of the strong statements in these treatises Luther explained in advance to his friend Spalatin, when he wrote him January 16: — Several quaternions of my Latin Assertio were sent you some time ago ; now the rest follows. Do not pronounce it harsh ; the German edition will be plainer and simpler. I had to sprinkle some salt on it for Latin storaachs.^'''^) A melancholy circumstance attaches to the publication of the Latin edition. Luther had decided to dedicate it to his trusted friend and counselor at Augsburg, Altenburg, and elsewhere, Fabian von Feilitzsch, when this worthy gentle- man died. However, Luther did not alter his purpose,^''''' and let the edition go out as originally planned, with the following letter; — You are the foremost person, my Fabian Fortunate, or rather Most Fortunate,!'^*) to prove and make plain what I have so often declared on previous occasions, via., that there is also in laymen a spirit of judgment and zeal (to use Isaiah's lan- guage). i'''^) For when my friend Philip and I were with you at EyIenburg.if'O) what a splendid example did you give of your ability to judge, and discourse on, the Christian religion in a 175) KL, I, 376 f. 176) XV, 3S06; EB, 3, 73; SC, 1, 442. 177) De Wette, misinterpreting a remark of Luther in a letter to Spalatin on December 7, surmised that Spalatin had attempted to dissuade Luther from dedicating this treatise to Feilitzsch. Luther gives no hint of any suggestion to that effect, but says- that the part containing the dedi- cation was already off the press and could not be changed, moreover, it did not require being changed, because Feilitzsch was now living in a more exalted sense than ever. — Luther hesitated to dedicate the German edition of the treatise to Francis von Sickingen because of the envy which such an action might excite among the Franconian nobility. XXIa, 318; E'B 3, 13; SC, 1, 412. 178) Luther attempts a derivation of his friend's name Feilitzsch from the Latin Feli.x, "happy." 179) Is. 4, 4. 180) In November. 1520; they had gone thither to advise the pro- vost of the Bishop of Naumburg regarding the posting of the bull of excommunication. WITH LUTHER AT WITTENBERG. 79 clear, conclusive, godly, and happy manner ! Nor do I doubt that you have at our court ever so many striving in the same direction with you, so that I simply rejoice to see the admirable plan and judgment of God, by which He shows Himself f reward with the froward and elect with the elect.^^i) For while we who are of the Lord's chosen band [clergy], and ought to be the laymen's teachers, have turned our backs upon Christ and the Gospel, He, too, has, with the same measure [of civility], turned His back upon us, so that, as we provoke Him with that which is not God, and with a Word that is not the gospel. He, in turn, provokes us with such as are not chosen ones [clergy- men], and with such as are not teachers, namely, by giving to laymen the pure knowledge of Himself, while leaving to us our foolish and godless notions. Righteous art Thou, O Lord, and righteous is Thy judgment.l^^) Now, although I have heretofore written and spoken much, not knowing that there was so much blindness in the shepherds of Israel,!^^) still I learned nothing by it except that they reviled me for that for which they should have loved me, and rendered me evil for good,!^'*) until they went so far in their rage against their own salvation that they publicly condemned and burned my books at Cologne and Louvain. For they have a zeal for God superior to others, but not according to knowledgcl^-') I am so far from being angry at them in this matter that I greatly pity their blindness and perdition, or rather their childish folly. For what is easier than to burn books which you cannot refute? The wicked king Jehoiakin burned the books of the prophet Jeremiah, 1*6) Jmt he did not become righteous through that act. But, as I remarked, this, too, belongs to our perversity and to the reprobate mind to which God has given us over,l87) that we clergymen condemn the truth which laymen embrace, and thus those become priests who are not priests, and those laymen who are not laymen. Therefore it has seemed good to me henceforth to write to you laymen as to a new race of priests, and with God's help to make a happy beginning under the auspices of your happy name, .intending to assert and fortify all the points which those incen- diaries have condemned in the bull that is quite like themselves. 181) Ps. 18, 26. Luther quotes the text from the Latin Vulgate and connects with the term "elect" the original meaning of the Greek kleros, something that falls to one's lot, something chosen, or selected. 182) Rev. 16, 7; 19, 2. 183) Is. 56, 10. 184) Ps. 109, 4 f. 185) Rom. 10, 2. 186) Jer. 36, 83, 38. 187) Rom. 1, 24. 80 WITH LUTHER AT WITTENBERG. Accordingly, let me, or rather the Christian doctrine, be com- mended to you and to your entire nobility by the treatise which has been issued in your honor.i*^) About the middle of February Luther published his hi- striictioH for Those Going to Confession. This is a brief tract, in which he gives spiritual counsel to laymen whom their priests refuse to absolve unless they tell them whether they have writings of Luther in their possession and are willing to surrender them.^^^' The laymen whom Luther has in mind are persons who are convinced that Luther's doc- trine agrees with Scripture, but are still weak in faith. Under clerical pressure they might act contrary to their better knowledge and conviction. Luther advises them to refuse answering questions regarding his books, and to tell the confessor that they assume responsibility for anything that they do not reveal. If the confessor reminds them of the bull issued against Luther, they are to tell him that they know of God-fearing people who pay no attention to the bull, that the Pope has been known to change his decisions, and that they will not build their faith on the shifting sand of His deliverances. If the confessor refuses to absolve them, they are cheerfully to rely on the absolution which God grants them in answer to their prayers for forgiveness. But if any one is given the spiritual boldness to confess the truth openly, let him plainly declare to the confessor that he has writings of Luther, but v/ill not give them up, because we must obey God rather than men.i'") If the priest refuses not only absolution, but also communion, the laymen first should humbly repeat their request, and when still refused, they are to abandon the Sacrament, altar, priest, and Church of Rome. For the divine Word that has been condemned in the bull is of greater momient than all other things. The soul cannot do without the divine Word, but it can do with- out the Sacrament, because Christ, the true Bishop, feeds the soul spiritually with the Sacrament. Finally, Luther begs 188) XXIa, 312 ff.; Eli, 3, 1 ff.; SC, 1, 403 f. 189) XIX, 808-15. 190) Acts 5, 29. WITH HITHER AT WITTENBERG. 81 all prelates and confessors not to use violence against the lay people, and not to torture their conscience, "lest the lay- men be moved to ask their confessors a counter-question, vis., whence they had the authority to institute auricular confession and inquire into the private affairs of men. That would raise a tumult which the priests might not find it easy to quell." W'ith a fine spiritual discrimination Luther adds that "confession is a most salutary ordinance," even though it is but of human origin. "It is necessary, therefore, not to allow this salutary ordinance to be destroyed by the malice, violence, and force of rulers. Blustering will no longer work," he says to the RomBnists; "beware and be wise !" At Basle an edition of his Annotations to the Psalms^^^) was being printed, with all the mistakes contained in former editions. This prompts Luther at the end of February to write to Conrad Pellican i^^) at Basle: — I do not understand how, it is that you so praise my writings ; I fear you are partial. To me, at least, my Psaltery is an object of disgust, not so much on account of the sense, which I believe to be correct, as on account of its verbosity, lack of order, and chaotic arrangement. For it is a book which I am forced to conceive, form, nourish, and bring forth all at once, on account of lack of time and lack of leisure. I have long thought of recalling it. For with the living voice the hearers get much light and grace, such as this chaos of letters neither has nor can receive. If Ps. XI is not yet printed, please strike out twelve verses at the end of page B, with the three following verses on page C.i^^) For you see how sadly I erred about the word sabib. For I was then absent-minded and thinking of other things, as I often am. I am, indeed, very busy, preaching twice a day, treating the Psalter, writing Postilla (as they are called), answering my enemies, attacking the bull in Latin and German, 1911 Operationes in Psalm^s (Ps. 1-21; Ps. 22 was added later). IV, 220-1225. 192) Conrad Pellican (QRUr-1566) of Ruffach, Alsace, became a Franciscan in 1493, General Vicar of Alsace in 1499, studied Hebrew with Reuchlin and Matthew Adrian; began to lecture on Hebrew at Basle in 1502; went to Rome in 1517, returning to Basle 1519, at which time he became a follower of Luther, and after 1522 a warm friend of Oecolam- padius. In 1523 he began to lecture on the Old Testament. In 1527 he was called to Zurich by Zwingli, and remained there till his death. 193) In the first print there is a marginal gloss, which says that Luther is speaking of the pagination in the Wittenberg edition. Luther follows the numeration of the Psalms in the Vulgate, which is one number in arrears of the numeration in the English Bible. DAU, TRIBUNAL OF CAESAR. 6 82 WITH LUTHER AT WITTENBERG. and defending myself, not to mention answering my friends' letters and conversing with those of my household, and with accidental visitors. One other thing that I forgot, — please strike out what I dreamed about the word maskil, Ps. XIII, v. 26. I will take care to explain the words of understanding as diligently as I did the words of strength, Ps. XX.ls*) There are many other things, but of less moment, for the book is full of typographical errors. You are doing well in praying for me. I am overwhelmed with many evils, am kept from the sacred things, and my life is a cross. I am now stn the twenty-first Psalm, "Eli, Eli." I might hope to finish the Psalter if Christ would give me quiet, so that I were able to work on it with all my might. At present I cannot even give the fourth part of my time to the Psalter; I simply have to steal the time I am spending on it. You rightly warn me to practise moderation ; I myself know that, but I am not master of myself, being carried along by I know not what spirit, though I know that I consciously wish no one evil. They press furiously upon me, so that I am not sufficiently on my guard against Satan. Therefore pray the Lord for me that I may learn, speak, and write what is worthy of Him and of me, not what suits them.195) In many of Luther's letters during this period, as in the foregoing, there is a reference to a Postil which he is writing. The suggestion for this work had come from the Elector, who wished to have homilies on the pericopal lessons read at the churches, not only for his private edifica- tion, but also as a help to incapable preachers. During February Luther finished a section of this work covering the Advent cycle of Scripture-lessons, and dedicated it to the Elector with a letter of March 3 : — Most illustrous and clement Prince, I know not to what I ought to attribute it that I have hitherto been unable to meet Your Highness's wishes, and, as one thing gave rise to another, that I have been forced to defer doing so from day to day. It was your excellent advice that I should refrain from contentious, sharp, and polemic writings, in which I have now lost three years, and devote myself to sacred and peaceable studies. You advised that, in addition to my commentary on the Psalter, I should pre- pare homilies on the Gospels and Epistles (commonly called 194) IV, 1218. 195) IV, 13S4 f.; EB, 3, 98 ff.; SC, 1, 477 f. WITH LUTHER AT WITTENBERG. 83 Postilla) for the great mass of pastors and people; for you thought that if I were engaged in such a mountain of work, I would have peace even against the will of my enemies. Thus your disposition, like your name, is peaceful, so that you often show me plainly how much these contentions about triflesi^^) annoy you ; for I beg leave myself to despise those magnificent battles for ecclesiastical lucre, and with the prophetic') to make Bethaven of Bethel. I myself cannot easily express my aversion to being plunged into these whirlpools and taken from my studies, so that I could not categorically command my flesh and blood to treat the obstinate impudence of the wicked with moderation, and less sharply, out of regard for my religious order. As I acknowledge my fault in this matter, I hope that pardon will be denied me by no one who once considers what lions of Moab, what Rabshakehs of the Assyrians, what extremely vicious Shimeis I alone have long been forced to contend with, to my own loss and that of many whom I might have profited by expounding the Word of God. Thus my mind has been tossed by these whirlwinds, and yet has never given up hope of getting peace some time, so that I might accommodate myself to Your Highness, through whom, we must not doubt, the mercy of God has brought not a little profit to Christ's Gospel. But as I see that my hope was merely a human imagination, and that I am daily more deeply involved in this great sea, in which innumerable reptiles and great and small animals join forces against me, I also see that my hope was a temptation of Satan, who only sought to make me distracted with a sense of my nothingness, and to divert me at length from my main purpose. He wanted me to go to Babylon before I had fortified and pro- visioned my Jerusalem. So clever is his wickedness ! Consider- ing this, I remembered that holy man Nehemiah, and leaving idle musings to Ezra, the learned scribe, I began to despair of peace, and arming myself equally for peace or war, I held the sword with one hand ready to repulse my Arabians, and with the other prepared to build the wall, l^^) lest, were I to give my whole attention to either pursuit, I should accomplish neither. Jerome, too, says that one who does not resist enemies of the Church does her as much harm as he does good, on the other hand, by building her up. 196) de lana caprina, "about goat's hair." Horace, Epistles I, XVIII, 16. 197) Amos 5, 5. Bethaven — "house of vanity"; Bethel — "house of God." 198) Neh. 4, 17. 84 WITH LUTHER AT WITTENBERG. The apostleiss^ also commands a bishop not only to be powerful in exhorting with sound doctrine, but also to refute those who attack it. Not that I think I am a bishop, — for I lack both the wealth and the insignia of office which today are the principal marks of a bishop, — but because one who discharges the ministry of the Word discharges the office of a bishop. Such a person needs to be an ambidextrous Ehud, and, with his warlike left hand ready for the occasion of the onset, thrust a dagger into fat Eglon and slay him.200) So I, in the midst of the Papists' swords, bulls, trumpets, and horns trying in vain to terrify me, by God's grace bravely despise them all, and am girt up for a work of peace. Thus I offer Your Highness the homilies you asked for. What can I not do through Him who' strengthens me?20i) If I wanted to take the measure of my own strength, , I should not dare to give myself to this one book of the Psalter, so much genius, learning, diligence, and grace that book requires, not to mention my two sermons daily. I say nothing of my occupations outside of the ministry of the Word. I fear that the work will fall far short of your expectation. For as there is nothing more holy in the heart of every one than knowledge of the Gospel, — and rightly, since its majesty is inestimable and adorable, — many will expect homilies worthy of the Gospel, whereas they will find only a rrtouse bom of the mountain's labor,2f2) and that, having conceived fire, I bring forth straw. I say nothing about my eloquence and elegant Latinity. For as I am unskilled in these things, I do not write for those who are skilled in them, but for the people, and for men whose breath is in their nostrils, and who are considered noble by God, as Isaiah says.^fS) Though they speak artlessly, their judgment is what I fear, especially yours, most illustrious Prince, who not only favor, and are bent upon, sacred studies with incomparable zeal, but who are so well informed that you can give any theologian, no matter how great, plenty of work if you only begin to ask him questions. This is why the Romanists are unable to impose on you with the glare and hocus-pocus of their bulls, and cannot snare you in their impious super- stitions, although with this gross nonsense they have to-day sent all the bishops insane. I shall be satisfied if at any rate I have opened up the pure and simple sense of the Gospel, and thus meet the dull and 199) Titus 1, 9. SOO) Judg. 3, 16 ff. 201) Phil, i, 13. 202) Horace, Epist. ad Pisonem 139. 203) Is. 2, 22. WITH LUTHER AT WITTENBERG. 85 foolish commentaries of some. Thus the people can at least hear, instead of fables and dreams, the pure Word of God purged from human dross. I promise nothing but this pure and simple meaning of the Gospel truth, adapted to the intelli- gence of the lowly and meek. Whether I even accomplish this much, others must judge; but at least no one shall learn from me to discuss matters which have nothing to do with the subject. Deign, therefore, most illustrious Prince, in clemency to accept this my gift, and as you are now doing for the Gospel of Christ, remain in Christ's favor Frederick, the pious, the great, the Saxon, the duke, and the elector. Farewell in Christ.20'*) Besides preparing these writings Q>f a constructive nature, Luther was again forced to engage in polemics. Emser^"') had published at Leipzig, January 20, a brochure bearing the title, Against the Unchristian Appeal of Martin Luther, Augustinian, to the German Nobility; a Refutation" etc. Luther's host during the Leipzig Debate, Martin Herbipo- lensis (Landberg) was the publisher. On the title-page the motto was printed : "Look out, the goat will butt you" — an illustration of Eraser's coat of arms. Luther answered this invective in his Reply to the Superchristian, Supcrspiritual, and Supercunning Book of Goat Emser.^"*^) The style both of Eraser's attack and of Luther's re- joinder is coarse. Luther indulges freely in irony and saccasm against an opponent whom he had learned to despise after Eraser's treacherous action at Leipzig.^"'^) Luther's reply, however, has dogmatical value, because in this treatise Luther discusses, (1) the universal priesthood of believers and its Scriptural basis, (2) the correct method of finding and explaining the true meaning of Scripture. Luther had based the doctrine of the universal priesthood of believers especially on 1 Pet. 2, 9. Eraser tried to defeat Luther's argument by claiming for Scripture a double meaning, one spiritual, the other literal. This idea Luther rejected as an 204) XXIa, 330 ff.; EB, 3, 94 f=f, ; 1, 478 ff. 206) DGR, 229 ff. 206) XVIII, 1270-1363. 807) DLD, p. 48 f. 85 WITH LUTHER AT WITTENBERG. arbitrary, human invention, and showed that Paul's state- ment in 2 Cor. 3, 6 about the letter that kills and the Spirit that makes alive has nothing to do with Emser's distinction. Luther maintains that the Scriptures must be understood simply as they read; for "the Holy Spirit is the plainest writer and speaker in heaven and on earth ; therefore His words can have but one meaning, and that, the simplest." If any other than the plain m.eaning is to be given to a certain passage of the Old Testament, which contains types and figures, Scripture itself must indicate the other meaning. In a controversy only the simple words of Scripture, under- stood in their plain meaning, must be used for argument. The position which Luther occupies in this treatise is epochal. It is a clear renunciation of the old allegorical, rather the arbitrary, method of interpretation, which gave free rein to the whim and fancy of the interpreter. Since the end of 1520 another monk joined the ranks of Luther's literary opponents. Thomas Murner^"^) was a rough, coarse, vulgar Franciscan, who had become popular through his satirical sermons on the moral corruptions and follies of the age, especially those of the clergy. At one time he had been regarded as almost a Humanist. He wrote a reply to Luther's Appeal to the German Nobility, and addressed a letter of admonition to Luther. ^os) Luther regarded Murner's attempt as meretricious and not worthy of a special rejoinder because of its verbal bulk and small intellectual content. He appended a chapter to his treatise against Emser : "To Murnarr,^io) jj^ which he explains his 308) Murnar (1475-1537) entered the Franciscan order at Strassburg 1491 and became priest 1494. He studied at Paris 1497, and after wander- ing about, returned to Strassburg 1502. In that year he had a literary feud with Wimpfeling. In 1506 he became a D. D., and in 1515 was crowned Poet Laureate. Of his many satires his Conjuring of Fools, 1513, is the best. He was the most popular writer against Luther, particularly in his Big Lutheran Fool, 1522. In 1525 he was banished by the Strassburg Protestants to Oberehenheim. SC, 1, 407. 309) EB, 3, 27 ff. 210) XVIII, 1344-53. Murnar's name was originally spelled "Murner.*' When the Franciscan attacked Wimpfeling's great historical work, Germania, Wimpfeling began to spell the name "Murr-Narr" or "Murnar" — a meowing tomcat, and this spelling was kept up throughout the era of the Reformation. WITH LUTHER AT WITTENBERG. 87 conception of the Christian Church as the sum total of believers in Christ, and declines any further attention .from this monkish buffoon and harlequin. In a letter to Spalatin, February 3, Luther speaks of a treatise on the Florentine Council that he will publish. He meant to refute, no doubt, the argument with which Aleander had deceived the German Council of State.^n) It is not known that he carried out this intention. The university claimed Luther's liveliest interest. To Staupitz at Salzburg he writes January 14 : — As heretofore, everything is in a flourishing condition with US.212) On March 7 he informs Spalatin : — Two Counts of Stolberg^is) have come to us to study.^i^) On February 17 he writes to him : — Lately, during the days of the carnival, our youths, for a great joke, carried about a lofty and pompous figure of the Pope. Finally at the market-place, making as though they would throw him into the creek, they dispersed him with his cardinals, bishops, and chamberlains to all parts of the town and pursued them. It was a very funny and clever mask. For the enemy of Christ deserves such mockery because he mocks the greatest kings, yea„ Christ Himself. The performance described in Latin verses is now being printed.^is) Provost Henning Goede, "the monarch of jurispru- dence" at the university ,21^) died January 21,21'^) and Tilo 211) See chap. 6 of this book. ' 212) XV, 2423; EB, 3, 70. 213) Duke Wolfgang (Oct. 15, 1501-March 8, 16.53) and Duke Louis (Jan. 13, 1505-Aug. 24, 1575) from Wertheim on the Main, sons of Duke Botho. They are recorded in the Album of the university as the first that matriculated for the winter semester of 1520. 214) XV, 2498; EB, 3„106; SC, 1, 484. 215) XXIa, 332; EB, 3, 86; SC, 1, 465. 216) Henning Goede was born about 1450 at Havelberg; professor at Erfurt till 1509, when he went to Wittenberg as professor of canon law and provost of the city church. In 1516 he returned to Erfurt for two years and established amicable relations between the two universities. He returned to Wittenberg and was an opponent of the Reformation. In 1541 his heirs demanded the payment of a debt which, they claimed, Luther owed Henning. The Elector offered the provostship vacated by Henning's death on J'anuary 21 to Mutian on February 12, but the offer was declined and the position was finally filled by Justus Jonas. ?17) XXIa, 328, 80 WITH LUTHER AT WITTENBERG. Dene -'*' was ailing. \\"olfgang Stehlin.-i^^ who had become estranged from the Wittenbergers, left the faculty and entered Romanist circles. Dr. Matthew Beskau, also of the law faculty, was to be relieved of his lectures on jurisprudence. Luther asked Spalatin to submit to the Elector the following arrangement of the faculty : — I ask 3-ou to be a good spokesman and mediator for John Schwertfeger.220) If he could have the lectures on civil law, in which he is equal even to our Philip, assigned him, he might change his form of life, and from a priest turn layman, which would also be more suitable to the man.221) For the provostship Luther on January 22 made the fol- lowing suggestion : — In regard to the election of the new provost it would not seem absurd if you would suggest to the Elector the appoint- ment of Carlstadt, and if Amsdorf would assume the latter's archdeaconship, in order that this excellent man might be sup- plied with a fatter salary.^^-^ However, use your own judg- ment.--''^ But on January 29 Luther withdraws this suggestion : — ^^'hat I recently wrote about Carlstadt as provost was foolish.224) Luther is worried about a certain Tesch. On January 14 he writes to Staupitz : — Tesch ~5) ij at Grimraa; he is said to have left; God keen him.226) 218) Tilo Dene, born 1465. was burgomaster of Wittenberg since 1501. He died November 29. 1545, 210) Of Rotheburg, came to Wittenberg from Tuebingen in 1502. He was chancellor of Duke Henry of Saxony 1521-5, and lived at Freiberg. His opposition to the Reformation dates from this time. 220) John Schwertfeger from Misnia matriculated at Wittenberg for the summ;;r semester of 1507. He became Stehlin's successor, and died May 10, 152-1. 221) XV, 2494; EB, 3, 75. 222) Enders suggests that this was not a friendly office of Luther rendered to Carlstadt, whom he wanted removed from his purely theological chair and relegated to the despised chair of the jus canonicum. The better explanation would be that Luther considered Carlstadt incompetent as a theologian ever since the Leipzig Debate. 223) XXIa, 3238; EB, 3, 77. 224) XXIa, 329; EB. 3, 78. 225) Smith: "By Teschius, otherwise unknown, is it possible that Luther means Wolfgang Zeschau, Augustinian Prior of Grimma, and later master of the Hospice of St. John at the same place? Lutiier speaks of him on November 5, 1518 (EB, 1. 276). and on July 26, 1519. mentions him in connection with Staupitz's and Link's visit to Grimma, saying that he fears Zeschau will be dismissed." SC, 1, 441. 226) XV, 2423; EB, 3, 70. WITH LUTHER AT WITTENBERG. 89 On the same day he informs Link: — We have evil tidings concerning Tesch.22'') On February 17 he advocates another change in the fac- ulty :— Matthew Adrian^ss) has asked permission to leave ; we gave it to him promptly. So we are delivered from that man. Would that Aurogallus might follow him l--^) By the way, there is a rumor that our Elector will appoint some stranger in the place of Dr. Burckhardt, -so) ^j^g physician. Inasmuch as Mag. Augustine Schurf^si) has long solicited the position and we have interceded for him, why is not he accepted who comes from our midst? Or it might be proper to appoint Dr. Stephan Wild,232) the new son-in-law of the old collector, if our petitions cannot obtain the position for Augustine. I say this in order that you may, if it is necessary and you are able, suggest persons suitable to us.-^*) On February 27 Luther informs Spalatin that Amsdorf is composing' something pleasant about "the singer at the door," most likely the parties who had serenaded the Elector at Worms.23*) On March 19 Luther informs Spalatin that he has changed his mind about Aurogallus : — 227) XV, 8507; EB, 3, 72; SC,, 8, 441, 228) A baptized Spanish Jew, a physician. He taught Hebrew at Basle, then at Heidelberg, then (1517) at the Collegium Trilingue at Louvain, then in Wittenberg, where he remained about a year (to February, 1521). SC, 1, 290. 229) Matthew Aurogallus, or Goldhahn (c. 1490-Nov. 10, 1543), of Commotau in Bohemia, is first heard of as a school-teacher in Schmal- kalden. In 1519 he came to Wittenberg, and in 1521 was appointed professor of Hebrew to succeed Adrian. He was a great help to Luther in translating the Old Testament. In 1535 he published a Hebrew grammar, SC, 1, 465. " 230) Since September, 1518, professor of medicine at Wittenberg. In the summer of 1521 he went to Ingolstadt, where he died in the spring of 1526. He became a strong opponent of Luther. He had studied medicine at Ferrara, and taught it at Ingolstadt after 1497, SC, 1, 204. 231) Brother of the jurist, who at this time was at Worms and acted as Luther's leual aid at the Diet. Augustine S. was born at St. Gall, January 6, 1495, and died May 9, 1548. 232) Stephan Wild of Bleinfeld, in the diocese of Aystett, matricu- lated at Wittenberg July 27, 1618. He had been one of the leaders in the students' riot in 1520, had been expelled, sued for grace with the Elector, and was readmitted. It seems that he became Burcichardt's- successor, but left Wittenberg in November, 1522, and became city physician at Zwickau, was elected into the city council in 1533, and died 1550. EB, 3, 88. 233) XXIa, 332; EB, 386; SC, 1, 465. 834) XXIa, 334; EB, 3, 89; SC, l,-472. 90 WITH LUTHER AT WITTENBERG. We have discussed the course in Hebrew, and in our judg- ment Aurogallus is competent to hold this chair. You may hint his name to the Elector.235) For once in his life Luther had a considerable sum of money in his possession, and squirmed uncomfortably under the novel sensation. He writes to Spalatin January 16 : — The hundred gulden left to me I received through Tauben- heym ;236) Schart^ST) also gave me fifty, so that I begin to fear that God is giving me my reward. But I have protested that I will not be thus gorged by Him or I shall promptly return and spend the money. For what need have I of so much money? I gave our Father Prior half of- it and made him glad.238) Also from Fabian von Feilitzsch he received a bequest at this time ; for on INIarch 6 he informs Spalatin : — The Bishop of Misnia resents that money was bequeathed to me by Schmidling and Fabian; recently he sent a secret messen- ger who was to find out whether Fabian had really willed me two thousand gulden in gold.239) On March 7 he requests Link: — Give these German books to the apothecary Stephen Hoff, and thank him, please, for the gift he sent me-^*") A gift thafpleased him more than all this money he re- ports to Spalatin February 3 : — A learned youth from Bohemia^^i) has sent me his book, in which he tries to prove by eighteen hypotheses that St. Peter never was at Rome ; but he does not prove it. They have sent me a Bohenjian translation, printed with their own types, of my Ten Commandments and the Lord's Prayer, and are greatly spreading the Word among their people.2''2) 235) XV. 1724; EB, 3, 113; SL, p. 110. 236) John von Taubenheim, mentioned in 1490 as a page of Fred- erick the Wise, matriculated at Leipzig 1504, B. A. 1505. At the latest in 1511 he entered the official service, becoming treasurer and collector of taxes. In 1515-6 he collected moneys and paid salaries (including those of the professors) at Wittenberg. In 1528 he was one of the church visitors. He died in 1541 or 1542 as a warm friend of Luther. SC, 1, 325; SL, p. 369. The money of which Luther speaks was willed him by Provost Schmidling of Leitzkau. DGR, p. 270. 237) Marcus Schart and his brother Bernard were the servants of the two natural sons of Elector Frederick. Marcus repeatedly made Luther a present of a considerable sum of money. He died in Hessia in 1529. 23S) XV, 2606; EB, 3, 73; SC, 1, 442. 239) XV, 2496; EB, 3, 98. 240) XV, 2497; EB, 3, 104. 241) The publication to which Luther refers is that by Ulrivh Velenus: "In hoc libello gravissimis certissimisque et in Sacra Scriptura fundatis rationibus variis probatur, Apostohim Petruni Romam non venisse/' etc. 242) XXIa, 330 EB, 3, 81; SC, 1, 451. WITH LUTHER AT WITTENBERG. 91 In the letters contained in this chapter Luther has re- ferred to friendly services that he fain would render, thus reducing his time for literary work still more. He could not meet all the demands made upon him for correspondence. On February 9 he closes a letter to Staupitz with this re- quest : — Please greet Dr. Ludwig, the physician,243) y^hg has written me in a very learned manner. I had no time to write to him, since I am compelled to keep three presses busy.^-**) But no one in distress appealed to him in vain. On Janu- ary 29 he writes to Spalatin : — Mag. Jodocus Morlin,245) who has been nominated for the Westhusen parish, is very poor; he asks for Christ's sake that you and I intercede for him, in order that the cost of his presentation at that court^is) may be reduced as much as possible. I pray that this be done; do you also pray. I shall see to it that he has something at least.^*'?) A very fine letter Luther wrote to his troubled friend Nicholas Hausmann at Schneeberg^.'is) on March 22 : — I received your letter, dearest Nicholas, telling me that you are called to the Zwickau pastorate and asking consolation from poor little me. You know how perilous are these times, and that it is simply that time for flight which Christ predicted.2*9) For it is a time when sound doctrine is not endured,^^©) when wolves are made shepherds, and there is no consolation for us, save to pray the Lord, by whose aid we, too, may either escape or stand fast in these evil days. I am daily experiencing ever more how widely and deeply Satan reigns, so that it is a horror 243) Probably Dr. Leonhard Schmaus. 244) XV, 2424; EB, 3, 83; SL, p. 108. 245) He had been a pupil of Eck, and at this time held the chair of metaphysics at Wittenberg. The pastorate to which he was called was located in Saxonia-Meiningen and had been a prebend of Goede. He died as pastor of this parish September 15, 1550. During the visitation of churches in 1528 he rwas almost deposed from office because the peasants complained that he was addicted to drink, although they liked him as a preacher. He reformed, and had a very good reputation after that. 246) The court of Margrave George of Brandenburg. 24Y) XXIa, 329, EB, 3 78. 248) Hausmann (1479-October 17, 1538), born at Freiberg in Saxony, was one of Luther's warmest friends, more than a hundred letters of the Reformer to him being extant. In 1521 he became pastor at Zwickau, from which place he was driven by a quarrel with his congregation in 1631. After spending ten months at Wittenberg, he accepted a call to the court chaplaincy of the Princes of Anhalt at Dessau, In 1538 he went (Q Freiberg. SC. 1, 498. 249) Matt. 24, 16. ?50) 2 Tiro, i, 3. , 92 BRUECK AND GLAPION. to me to envisage the Church. My conviction has at last reached this point that no one can be saved unless he fights against the laws and commands of the Pope and of the bishops with all his might through life and death. Is this surprising or novel to you? But it is so, dearest Nicholas. If you do not grasp it, you are not capable of receiving any consolation from me. We have found that the Pope and his men are simply enemies of Christ, so that no one can preach save he who takes care to lead the sheep away from Him and to drive them off as a wolf. You know how loudly they shout against this crime nowadays, calling it schism, heresy, and a boundless evil ; but what can we do? There is no other means of safety in this time of perdition. Now, Nicholas, since my advice, if it is evil, must be worst of all for him who gives it, I will let you act on your judgment and at your own risk in regard to following it. If you take the pastorate, you will make yourself the enemy of the Pope and the bishops by fighting their decrees ; if you do not fight them, you will be an enemy of Christ. Christ's faith does not stand in its full liberty amidst their snares and fallacies. In all this I am judging nothing for you, but advising you as I myself would wish to be advised. You should either not ask advice, or you should take it in a godly and kind manner when given. I call God to witness that I can give no other.^si) 11. Brueck and Glapion. First Conference. Picking up the threads of our story which we dropped at Worms, we meet with a report of Aleander to Cardinal !Medici on February 18 : — The Saxon Elector has on seven or eight consecutive days delegated a counselor of strictly Lutheran tendencies^s^) to hold conferences of three to four hours' duration with the confessor [of the Emperor] ; but there has been no result.-^s) 251) XXIa, 343; EB, 3, US; SC. 1, 504. 252) Gregory Brueck (14S3 or 14S6-1557), born near Wittenberg, where he studied 1502-3, then at Franlifort on the Oder, then baclc to Wittenberg, where he became Bachelor of Law in 1509. In 1520 he entered the Elector's service, soon rising to the highest position, that of Chancellor, SC, 1, 462. 353) BAL, p. 64; KDA, p. 62. BRUECK AND GLAPION. 93 This brief memorandum reads as if Aleander were not interested in the event and hence took only a perfmictory notice of it; and yet it refers to an earnest effort on the part of the nuncio to break down the influence of the Saxon Elector at the Diet. Every attempt which Aleander had made to get into touch with the Elector, so as to be able to control the latter's decisions, had been foiled by the Elector's refusal to become personally identified with Luther's contro- versy. Aleander had reached an impasse in his maneuvers, and felt that he must approach "the basilisk" from another angle. He resorted to his most efficient agent, the Emperor's confessor, whom he used as a decoy to draw the Elector out of his studied neutrality, and to break down what he regarded as the Elector's policy of temporizing. A favorable oppor- tunity presented itself soon after Faber's funeral oration, which had perplexed the Elector. He was informed that the Emperor and the majority of the members of the Diet were bent upon the destruction of Luther. Faber's oration and the Emperor's manifest favor to Faber did not at all accord with such a purpose. The Saxon court was now desirous of learning the Emperor's real intention regarding Luther. It had been rumored that the Emperor never had issued a mandate to Aleander for the burning of Luther's books. Luther himself believed this rumor, and held that Aleander in his inquisitorial acts was an impostor, and his auto-da-fes frauds which had been rendered possible by large bribes from the "reptile fund" of the Curia. Could it be possible that the cooperation of the imperial court in Luther's persecution by the Curia was all a deception? On the other hand, Ale- ander and the Emperor with his ministers were just as anxious to learn how far the Elector meant to go in his protection of Luther. At this moment the oily and inscrutable Glapion hinted to Henry of Nassau that he knew a way to settle the Luther afifair. Nassau and Chievres had been the persons through whom the Elector had conveyed his wishes concerning Luther 94 BRUECK AND GLAPION. to the Emperor.251) Glapion's object, which he plainly stated to Nassau, was to obtain a private interview with the Elector. Nassau communicated Glapion's wish to the Elector, and the Elector instructed his trusted Chancellor Brueck (Pontanus) to confer with Glapion. Regarding these conferences we have the reports of Brueck to the Elector, drawn up with the painstaking accuracy of the statesman. Brueck began the conversation by stating to Glapion that he had been authorized and had received instructions for this interview from the Elector. Glapion at once assumed a very confidential air, and admitted Brueck to the knowl- edge of certain profound secrets which he had hitherto kept concealed in his heart. Brueck relates : — His Imperial Majesty's confessor replied that he had been greatly and exceedingly delighted with Luther's writings ; for he had discovered and observed in them a noble, new plant that had sprung up in Luther's heart; and not only had it germinated, but it had thrived so prodigiously that twigs and branches had grown from it, and useful fruits had made their appearance which might have been of service to the Church. True, others (before Luther) had had knowledge and understanding of these things, but none had mustered the courage to tell the plain truth. However, when he had received and read the treatise on the Babylonian^ Captivity, he had received a severe shock. He had felt as if some one had whipped and bruised him from head to foot. He was loath to believe that Luther would own this \treatise as his, for it lacked the style and ability of his former writings. But even if it were his and he were to acknowledge it as his own, Glapion said that he could under- stand that Luther had been roused to anger by the Pope's bull, and that he had written the treatise in hot fury. However, no wound was so great ^md grievous but a remedy could be found for its healing. He was in hope that for this matter, too, a redress could be found. Then he began to speak of Luther's errors. Upon my request that he permit me to make a note of the erroneous articles for my report to Your Electoral Grace, he let me write them down as he enumerated them, and I also took down the remarks with which he interlarded his enumeration. 254) See chap. 5 in this book. BRUECK AND GLAPION. 95 Glapion had a copy of the first print of Luther's Babylo- nian Captivity in his hand, as his page references show. He had marked the passages that had struck him as objection- able. The bracketed portions in the Appendix are Brueck's comment. Glapion's exceptions were mostly verbatim cita- tions: they referred to the subjects of the Lord's Supper, the mass, the sacraments of penitence, confirmation, matri- mony, ordination to the priesthood, and extreme unction. Brueck continues his report: — When I had noted down all his exceptions, I questioned him in regard to some of them, in order to find out the drift of his argument. He stated that Christ said to St. Peter, when He promised him the keys of the kingdom of heaven, that Peter's faith should not fail.^^s) Accordingly, it was impossible to believe that God should have permitted His Church to be in error up to the present time, and all that Luther had said in his Babylonian Captiznty were mere words. Therefore it would be proper to adhere to the established custom of the Church. How- ever, this is what he was willing to do if he could obtain Your Grace's consent, vis., he would call on Your Grace and bring with hira some one that knows Latin, German, Italian, and French, and Your Grace might select me or some one else (as witnesses), and he would then explain orally and at length the basis of Luther's errors. I noticed that he had diligently read the entire treatise, and all his marginal jottings were arguments for the contrary opinion. I replied that business at the Diet might prevent Your Grace from entering upon his plan. Besides, I reminded him of what I had said at our introduction, that Your Grace had not espoused the cause of Doctor Luther. Next, I requested — since he himself had said that there was no wound but a remedy could be found for it, and since he had offered to Count von Nassau to suggest means for a settlement — that he name them. He then suggested such means and began with a sanctimonious mien to tell how His Imperial Majesty had earnestly desired and striven to have such an eminent man as Luther reconciled with the Christian Church and brought into a relation of unity with it. For before the publication of the Babylonian Captiznty His Imperial Majesty had derived some pleasure from Luther's writings. Moreover, as there was reason for supposing that Doctor Luther had issued this treatise partly 255) Luke 22, 32. 96 BRUECK AND GLAPION. in anger, and as none of his teachings in this treatise were so incorrect that a Christian meaning and good Catholic sense could not be found in them and drawn from them, Doctor Luther was to declare that he did not wish to have his teachings understood in any other than in that sense, vi"., the sense which the Romanists would extract from them and regard as Christian according to their pleasure. And though Luther had written with greater zeal than his intended meaning required, he should say that this had been due to his agitated and angry state of mind, and that he had written salva pace sanctae matris ecdesiae, without wishing to endanger the peace of Holy Mother Church. After making this suggestion, he asked again to be admitted to Your Grace, and begged that you would hear him personally and discuss the matter with him, that he might explain his suggestion to you more fully. But if this could not be done on account of Your Grace's other business, he asked that Your Grace would appoint me or some one else to confer with him and state Your Grace's opinion of the suggestion he has made. For if Martin should accept his suggestion, he would have many learned people in all nations on his side, who would support him in what he had said in his other writings. I said in reply, as at the start, that although Your Grace did not intend to espouse Martin's cause, I would use diligence to convey his request to Your Grace, etc. Finally he asked me to assure Your Grace of his cordial prayer in Your Grace's behalf, and that he wished Your Grace a blessed night in Christ Jesus.256) While Glapion engaged in this reassuring interview with Brueck, he was distributing three hundred copies of the bull Exsnrge Dominc, for which he had sent to RoiTie, to Franciscan convents in Europe, in order to fire the monks to still greater animosity against Luther. But the mask of hypocrisy which he had donned for the interview with the Saxon chancellor did not conceal Glapion's duplicity from Brueck. Glapion achieved nothing ; he only revealed the irreparable damage which Luther had inflicted on the Roman hierarchy by his treatise on the Babylonian Cap- tivity. The wound inflicted by that single treatise could never be healed excej)t by a withdrawal of the treatise.. 256) FNU, p. 36 f. brueck and glapion. 97 Second Conferenci;. The interview with Glapion had been without any tangible results. There was only one consideration that could move the Elector to have these interviews continued: there might be some advantage in following the suggestion that commissioners look into Luther's affair; and this advantage the Elector did not wish to lose by a refusal. Accordingly, Brueck was authorized to hold a second con- ference with Glapion. He opened the conference by express- ing the Elector's regrets that he could not grant Glapion a personal interview. Brueck reports : — His ^lajesty's confessor answered that there would have been no need of excusing Your Grace, whose virtue was poured out with transcendent splendor on the whole world, to a poor monk and brother. His humble request for a personal inter- view with Your Grace had been made, not so much for Doctor Luther's sake, as rather for his own sake, in order that he might personally obtain a taste of the great gifts and excellent qualities conferred on Your Grace by God, which he had heard extolled by many. But no matter ! He declared that he had grasped the purpose of my remarks, etc. He would not conceal from me that before reading the treatise on the Babylonian Captivity, he had always held that Luther's mind and purpose had been a most salutary one, by which many timid people, who had attained to the same knowledge before Luther, had been strengthened and encouraged to publish the truth more plainly than they had previously done ; and that Luther had aimed at this happy end, vis., to bring about a general reformation of the Church, which had indeed become disfigured a long time ago by many abuses, and many learned people had believed that this was Luther's purpose, and had praised him for it. But when the treatise on the Babylonian Captivity appeared, he and others had observed that Luther was essaying to roll a stone that was too heavy for his strength, and had thereby thwarted his former laudable and good purpose, from which the entire Christian Church might have derived a benefit. Instead of carefully considering the inopportune time and the interests of the common people and of the great lords, he had rolled an obstacle into his own path that would frustrate his salutary beginning. Matters had now come to such a pass that, if the afi^air were to be put on a smooth way again, there DAU. TRIBUNAL OF CAESAR. 7 98 BRUECK AND GLAPION. would have to be conferences in strictest secrecy, and there must not be much public discussion. For even without these the devil would not omit sowing his seed, in order to hinder the reforma- tion of the Holy Church, and to excite unrest, war, and rev- olution. Accordingly, his humble request was to approach Your Grace, and that Your Grace would take to heart the interests of the entire Christian Church, and delegate some one in strictest secrecy to treat of this matter. Many considerations and circum- stances would have to be weighed in this connection, and further suggestions and means [for composing the trouble] submitted. For if it had been feasible, and if he had noticed that it would redound to the benefit of Christian unity to have these matters publicly discussed, he would long ago have published a! great book which he had written against Luther and in which he had refuted the Babylonian Captivity with respectable arguments. Glapion's insistence on a secret conference was inspired by the dread that Luther might be brought to Worms, — • an issue that was being voiced with daily increasing emphasis in these days. Brueck continues : — I replied that His Reverence had heard me state repeatedly that my gracious lord had not espoused Luther's cause, and as Your Grace had not foreseen that such a request would be made of him at this time, he had brought nobody with him sufficiently versed in the Holy Scriptures and the Latin language. Besides, a point to be considered would be this : with what right could a conference be held regarding Luther when the latter had given Your Grace no command, mandate, or authorization to that effect, and Your Grace would not accept any? The Father replied that he would be satisfied if Your Grace would send me, with the understanding, however, that I had been ordered and commissioned by Your Grace to take hold of and treat this matter, the whole affair to be kept quiet and secret for the reasons named. For this reason he had desired to confer personally with Your Grace, or to have some one sent by Your Grace on a secret mission. • Moreover, there would be others present besides himself, and especially His Majesty would appoint some one to attend this conference. The other point, vie, that Your Grace had not espoused Luther's cause, he compleftely passed over and proceeded to assure me in the name of Jesus Christ that -he was acting with a good intention for the good of Christianity and of Doctor Luther, who had opened the door to many blessings. The said Doctor, he stated, could not have done anything worse than to publish the clumsy treatise on the Babylonian Captivity, which contained nothing but words. For a remedy would have been found for all the other ills, if Doctor BRUECK ANC GLAPION. 99 Lutlier had shown greater consideration for the general welfare of the Christian Church than for his own personal honor and convenience, if he were seeking not his own, but the things that are of God.^^T) and would not himself blast the good intention with which he undoubtedly began his work. For he had believed, said Glapion, that Luther was striving for a reformation of the Church. I now repeated, in part, my former statements and prepared to leave, but the Father would, not let me. Finally I said, "How, then, can the Doctor and the Christian Church in general be helped?" The Father replied : It could be done in this way that Luther either recanted the treatise on the Babylonian Captivity, and stated that he had written the treatise in an angry mood, having been provoked by his adversaries and the bull, or that he disavowed it and refused to acknowledge it as his own, which he could easily do on good grounds and with honor to himself. For he could rest assured that nobody who had read Luther's former writings would believe that Luther was the author of this unfortunate treatise. Why should he be concerned about his failure to acknowledge the treatise as his? I replied : "Reverend father, even if Luther were to follow your suggestion regarding the Babylonian Captivity, that would not relieve him of his troubles. For as Your Reverence knows, several of his books and teachifigs were condemned at Rome by the bull before this treatise was published." The Father replied: "Hor, segnor, hor!" (Tut, tut, my dear sir!) If Luther would do as suggested with the treatise on the Babylonian Captivity, a way would be found out of the other difficulties. For it is true, they say that the Pope has previously condemned some of his books and teachings, and has issued a bull to that effect. But this condemnation was for contumacy and disobedience, and Luther was not tried. Now, if Luther were to accept this suggestion regarding the Babylonian Captivity, His Holiness the Pope could by virtue of the plenitude of his power cancel the sentence and stay the execution, and grant him another hearing. And this would have to be done, for he knew that without such a hearing the proceedings against Luther would not be considered just and fair; the case would have to be com- mitted to upright, intelligent, impartial men of learning that were unexceptionable in Germany. Still, his advice was that Luther should not quit the country and thus deprive himself of the protection of his powerful and excellent prince, and should 257) Phil. 2, 21, 100 BRUECK AND GLAPION. not place himself under the protection of some one else. "I mean well with Luther," he said; "for nothing would please me better than a reformation of the Church, for which we now have a leader, God be praised !" He asked me once more to communi- cate his request to Your Grace ; for if some one were appointed by Your Grace for a conference, he would receive further sug- gestions. Furthermore he declared it a simple matter^ss) to introduce heresy, or error. The Bible, he said, was a book similar to soft wax that could be drawn and twisted as a person liked. If anything were gained by it, he could start much more violent and strange opinions and support them well with Scripture than Luther. He named a few teachings. He would prove from Scripture that no one at the present time had authority to cele- brate mass, because when Christ said : "When you do all this, do it in remembrance of Me."-^^) He gave this authority only to His apostles. Likewise, he would prove that in the Sacrament of the Altar not only is there no transubstantiation, but God is not present at all. For when Christ said, "This is My body," there follow in the Greek text the words : "which is broken for you," not : "which is given," and it is impossible to break the body of Christ because it is glorified. Again, Christ said : "If you have an eye that inclines to lust, pluck it out and cast it from thee."^^'') Now, if all that Christ said had to be regarded as precepts, every one would be obliged to pluck out such an eye. How, then, could Luther say that everything that is expressed in the Gospel is a precept? Luther says the vows of chastity are to be void. Paul plainly contradicts this, for while he does not forbid matrimony and advises men to marry, he himself took no wife and com- manded his brethren to observe chastity when he said : "I would that all men were even as I myself. "-^i) Did he, then, command chastity [celibacy] ? Again, Luther says, nobody is to become a monk unless he knows how to distinguish, between the work of a farmer and that of a priest. Good God, who is unable to discern that in God's sight there is a difference between works? It is plain that Christ regards the work of Mary Magdalene as higher than that of Martha. 25S) "eine slechte sache"=eine einfache, leichte Sache; Hausrath reproduces this: "eine schlimme Sache.'* 259) 1 Cor. 11. 25, freely quoted. 260) Matt. 18, 9. 361) 1 Cor. 7. 7. BRUECK AND GLAPION. 101 Finally he begged me to persuade Luther not to destroy the good work he had begun, and not to defeat his own purpose, and thus cause greater evil and inflict serious damage on the en- tire Christian Church as well as on himself. "Suppose His Maj- esty to-day or to-morrow were to unfurl his banner and march against the rebels; where would Luther find protection? Who would keep him, or go to any expense on his account? I am aware that the majority of the German nation and of the princes are with the clergy. Consider what that means. What would our rivals, the kings of France, England, and others, do, if they were to behold us torn by internal strife? To be sure, they would like to see that best of all. My advice, therefore, is that Luther shape his course so as not to thwart his own good purpose." At this point I took my leave of him, and he again instructed me to assure Your Grace of his earnest prayer for you. Aside from the confessor's levity and recklessness in handling Scripture-texts, two points stand out prominently in this interview: 1) his fear that Luther might quit his shelter at Wittenberg and find an asylum elsewhere, most probably with Sickingen and Hutten at the Ebernburg ; 2) that the issue of an armed attempt to suppress the rising "rebellion" in Germany was being considered at this time by persons closest to the Emperor and in a position to shape his decision. And these Roman gentlemen — min- isters of Christ and the Gospel — while plotting war have branded Luther as a bloodthirsty anarchist l^^^) Third Conference. Tlie Elector had instructed Brueck to remind Glapion of the fruitless conferences between Luther and Cajetan, and of the Elector's conferences at Cologne with the Bishop of Trent regarding the violent activities of the papal nuncios Caraccioli and Aleander. Brueck carried out these instruc- tions, and he reports: — His Majesty's confessor replied to my reminder that con- cerning the conference with Cardinal Cajetan at Augsburg and afterwards with the papal legate Charles von Miltitz he had learned from the letter to His Holiness with which Luther had 262) FNU, PB. 48-50. 102 BRUECK AND GLAPION. prefaced his treatise on The Liberty of a Christian Man, and that my account of those conferences agreed with what he had read. But of the conference at Cologne regarding the papal nuncios Marinus [Caraccioli] and Aleander he had had no knowledge, nor could he commend the actions of the nuncios in burning Luther's books at Cologne and Mayence. He' then passed on to Your Grace's principal request, vie, that he should name the proofs for the errors of Doctor Luther to which he had taken exception, in order that they might be presented to Doctor Luther. He said that there were two points which he wished to note in his reply : — 1) He desired to have the exceptions submitted by him regarded as an appendix and as on a par with the other treatises and teachings of Luther that had been condemned in the bull. From this it would follow — and the other side would have to accept this view — that if Luther made a revocation or explanation in the manner suggested, he would thereby have silently recanted nearly all of his previous writings, and there would then be no need of a further hearing. Now Glapion declared that he could not know whether any of the excep- tions which he had submitted could really pass as an appen- dix, unless the former treatises of Luther were given a special interpretation. For, in the first place, he did not know whether Luther in any of his previous treatises had said or touched upon the point that by Baptism all of us have equally become priests and may discharge the functions of priest. Another point to which he had referred before was that no man has power or authority to issue laws binding on a Christian. Again, that no man was to receive priestly orders unless he was intelligent enough to know the difference between the work of a farmer and that of a monk or priest. He said he would like to know how these teachings would be regarded as corollaries to Luther's previous teachings ; for these teachings, in the manner in which they were stated in the Babylonian Captivity, Luther would never maintain. However, that these teachings, as he had stated to Count von Nassau and me, could be in a manner correctly used and taken in a good sense, was true. Luther himself had explained some of these teachings in his treatise on The Liberty of a Christian Man, in which he had exhibited great knowledge, skill and spirit, and had written like a man. 2) In all fairness he would have to say that Doctor Luther ought to fortify his treatise by quotations from Scripture. He had found in the treatise no Scripture cited that looked to him like a sufficient proof for Luther's teachings. For, although no definite statement is made in the Gospel regarding the number BRUECK AND GLAPION. 103 of sacraments, still the Church had hitherto held and ordained that there were seven sacraments, and some regard must he had for the time-honored usage of the Church. For Christ had reserved many things for the Church to ordain, which He did not ordain Himself, saying: "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now; but when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, ye will perceive them."283) Poj- this reason Scotus had said before Luther that he would not determine any- thing except the Church had determined it, and had stuck to the usage of the Church. Likewise, Bernard says in one Epistle (regarding an edition of the Bible) : "We accept the better edition, and so the Church has accepted the Gospel of Matthew, but not that of Bar- tholomew." Glapion said that, if Luther had reproved the abuses which the priests practise in administering the sacraments to the people, and which he had in part indicated, he would have received the praises of all men. Glapion would readily believe that the lay- men would flock to Luther, because they were forced to buy the sacraments from the priests, and were in other ways oppressed. When Luther's first treatise on grace and indulgence was published, he deserved praise. There were not many learned people at that time who did not side with Luther. Glapion now began to make many vague statements, and 1 told him that, not being versed in Holy Writ, I could not remem- ber his reasons for believing Luther in error, and he had surely understood that Your Grace had requested that his exceptions be submitted in writing or in some such way as to make it possible to present them to Doctor Luther. For since he had off^ered to give his reasons to Your Grace orally, etc., etc. He replied that "of making many books there was no end" ;2M) one book was coming, the other going, and nothing was being accomplished except that the common people were scandal- ized. For this reason he did not like to take up his pen. Recently a certain Brother Ambrosius [Catharinus] of the Order of Preaching Friars had written against Luther, and His Holiness had these days sent the treatise to His Majesty. "What has he written? And what will he have achieved when Luther gets to see the treatise? I do not like such things." He s^id his advice had always been to discuss such matters on the quiet among the learned. For otherwise the devil could 263) John 16, 12-13. 364) Eccl. 12. 12. 104 BRUECK AND GLAPION. not suffer such affairs to conduce to unity or any other good. "Unless these matters are treated in secret," he said, "the devil ultimately will be master." And although he had recently suggested that Doctor Luther recant his treatise on the Babylonian Captivity, he had done that with a good intention ; (he smiled and shrugged his shoulders) as if he meant to say that he acted upon the prompting of other people, but did not care to reveal anything. He added that it would be better to recant or forswear error than stubbornly to cling to it; still it was not for him to pass judgment, nor would he do so. For this reason, he said, he had suggested to Count of Nassau that other means be tried, and he believed that while the matter was in litigation, no better means could be suggested than the one he had named, if the end intended, viz., the reformation of the Church, was to be achieved. The Pope thinks that Doctor Luther has no right nor reason to write against him ; Doctor Luther denies this ; each considers' his own interest. Accordingly, vipon some convenient time godly, upright, impartial men of great learning and justly commended for their teaching and life, would have to be appointed [to try this case]. The Pope must not become refractory and say that such matters were none of the Emperor's business, and each should tend to his own affairs, but must submit to the finding and verdict of such learned, honest, and unsuspected men. Doctor Luther must do likewise and appear at a convenient time and place for a hearing, and the commissioners would investigate whether there' had been error on either side, would weigh the arguments of each, and either approve or disapprove them. Such oral communication would accomplish much more than the writing of so many controversial books, for the hving voice, he said, is the living spirit, but a writing is a dead spirit. But while this controversy was pending settlement, neither side must undertake to do anything. Doctor Luther must cease writing and give his published writings in custody to some impartial person. Likewise the Pope and his nuncios must cease burning Luther's books and engaging in other acts, until a decision had been rendered. There was no doubt, he said, that Luther would come off victorious in many points ; for, being a learned man, he had said many good things notwithstanding the fact that recently during the death-watch for the cardinapes) a bishop had said to him': "Of what use is it to .hear the man? His books are before the 2'6-5) I am not sure whether I have hit Glapion's meaning by referring the remark "in des Cardinals Vigilien" to the recent death-watch for Cardinal de Croy. BRUECK AND GLAPION. lOS public, and he cannot deny them." To which he had replied that he would not advise to refuse Luther a hearing, because the teachings published by him were in a certain sense true ; therefore lie must be heard. Accordingly, he requested that his suggestion be laid before Your Grace, and .that if Your Grace pleased, he be given Your Grace's answer to-day or, latest, early to-morrow morning. He ■would then confer first with Chievres and next with His Majesty, — for I told him that it was worth while for him to do something effectual in the affair, — and if the method proposed by him were ■deemed efficient, it should be acted upon ; if otherwise, another method should be proposed. He stated, however, that he was in hope that his suggestion would please His Majesty, and any other action [against Luther] that was being contemplated would be ■omittrf; for he had already told His Majesty that God would put the blame on him and all the princes, if they would fail to liberate the Church from the excessive abuses now prevailing. He stated furthermore that he had told His Majesty that this man IMartin] had been sent by God and had received a command to curse men and to be a scourge to them on account of their sins. Upon my remark that a report had come to Your Grace, that for some time there had been daily consultations regarding this affair, and that Your Grace hoped that no sudden decision "would be rendered by His Majesty, for His Majesty had always ■spoken in a gracious and friendly manner, etc., he said only this much, that there had been a consultation regarding this affair some time ago, at which he had been present. The papal nuncios had asked that His Majesty order Luther's books burned through- out Germany, and strictly forbid their publication and sale; after that he had had no desire to be present at these consultations. But as far as he knew, the Emperor had so far refused his con- sent, although he was being daily importuned. These nuncios, he said, were simply doing what they had been ordered to do. Your. Grace, however, need not fear that Your Grace's laudable and virtuous action at the imperial election would ever be for- gotten. If His Majesty would reach the fifth year of his admin- istration, it would be apparent what he was doing towards reforming the Church. He advised once more that Doctor Martin do not come to Rome, but stay in Your Grace's country. I replied, etc., etc.266) The frequently unfinished , memoranda of Brueck shov; that all the reassuring words of Glapion were wasted on the 266) FNU, I, pp. 50-2. 106 BRUECK AND GLAPION. wary Saxon chancellor, all the more because the confessor had begun to qualify materially his suggestion regarding Luther's recantation of the Babylonian Captivity, which was evidently wormwood and gall to the hierarchy. From these conferences the Elector ultimately gained a better insight into the intentions of the papal party than the latter gained into his. Last Conference. Brueck reported to the confessor that the Elector acquiesced in the plan to submit Glapion's method for settling Luther's case to the Emperor. I replied : Although Your Grace had humbly requested His Majesty to summon Luther for a hearing, and not to permit him to be overpowered without such a hearing, tliis had been done for the sole purpose of bringing the truth to light whether Doctor Luther had erred. In no other way had Your Grace espoused Luther's cause, but had always left, Luther to answer for himself. Accordingly, His Reverence must consider how awkward it would be for Your Grace to ask that methods and recommendations be submitted to His Majesty in behalf of Doctor Luther. For Your Grace had to anticipate that such a proposal, when made by him, would be regarded as your pleasure in the affair. Doctor Luther, no matter how inconvenient and burdensome the proposal might prove to be, would not oppose it, but gladly suffer any consequences, and Your Grace would be blamed for having been the cause of them. This blame, that Luther's cause had become more precarious than it bad been before, Your Grace was un- willing to assume. But if His Reverence could lead the delibera- tions to such a point that the suggested method be communicated to Martin Luther, Your Grace would gladly help towards that end in every way possible, provided, however, that in the mean time nothing were done against Luther by way of burning his books or in other ways. The Father answered with a deep sigh that God knew what he had done in this matter had been done with a good intention, without anybody's prompting, upon his own initiative, to the end that the blessed purpose so often mentioned by him might not be thwarted, and that the precious merchandise which Luther had almost brought to port for landing be not scattered. He knew of no person in the world who could give greater help towards that end than Your Grace, because Doctor Luther was living in Your Grace's country, in which — ^if his advice were accepted — he would BRUECK AND GLAPION. 107 abide, and which he should by no means leave. Your Grace must not permit any person's opinion to influence you, but consider only what a God-pleasing work you would be doing if error were removed and a reformation were instituted. For my amusement I said in reply: Reverend father; if all the books were collected and deposited with a neutral person, and His Majesty would leave Germany and return to Spain, as rumor has it that he intends to do, and His Holiness would then seize the opportunity to issue an order on his papal authority as censor to the person with whom the books were deposited to burn them on a pile, declaring that this was none of His Majesty's business, as Jerome Aleander, the papal nuncio, already declared recently at Cologne in my presence and that of your Grace's commissioners, — what then? The Father replied : Such an event must not be anticipated ; for if His Majesty would consider the proposed plan convenient. His Holiness, without doubt, would in no way oppose it. But if there were any such danger, His Majesty could order everybody who was in possession of writings of Luther to lock them away in his own house and not permit them to be circulated. He knew of no better plan; moreover, all the imperial counselors had been pleased with it. Furthermore, he said that this affair could not be settled by writing; it would have to come to this, that Luther be heard by intelligent, honest, godly persons, and for this the proposed plan provided. A member of the Order of Preaching Friars, Ambrosius [Catharinus] by name, had just written against Luther, and the Pope had these days sent the book to His Majesty. Glapion said that he had not finished reading this book, but he had already noted nearly twenty places where the author had missed Luther's scope and meaning. "What will he have accomplished," he said, "when Luther gets to see the book?" Next, he asked me what the distance from here to Witten- berg was, and how many days were required to make the journey. I could not but tell him that Your Grace had consumed three weeks in the journey from those parts hither. He suggested that it might be possible to bring Luther to Worms more speedily by post horses. I told him that I could not say anything as to that, since I had never heard Your Grace speak of such a possibility. Then I took my leave of His Reverence, who instructed me again to inform Your Grace that he remembers Your Grace in his humble prayers, as that is all he can dc^^T) 267) FNU, I, pp. 52-4. 108 "it behooves the roman pontiff." Thus ended this remarkable series of interviews. Brueck at no time during its progress believed the profuse assurances of Glapion that he wished to save Luther, and advised the Elector not to enter upon the plan suggested by the confessor — an advice that was in complete harmony with the Elector's personal wishes and previous policy. Brueck, however, had a glimpse during these conferences of the dread with which Rome viewed the possible escape of Luther from Wittenberg to some other asylum, and still more the possibility of his appearing at Worms for a public hearing before the Diet. 12. "It Behooves the Roman Pontiff." The time which had been allowed Luther for recantation after the publication of the bull Exsurge Domine had expired on November 27. Rome now proceeded to drive the last canonical nail into Luther's canonical coffin. On January 4. 1521, there was issued at Rome another bull under the caption Condaiination and Excommunication of Martin Luther, the Heretic, and of His Followers. It began with the words Dccet Romaniim Pontificem, and is cited by these initial words. Its unwieldy opening sentence reads : — Bishop Leo, servant of the servants of God, for perpetual remembrance. It behooves the Roman Pontiff, who by virtue of the authority given him by God has been appointed steward to assess penalties, spiritual and temporal, according to each one's desert, for the purpose of checking the impious undertakings of perverse men, whose noxious will has become engrossed with malicious inten- tion to such an extent that, setting aside the fear of God and treating with contempt canonical decrees and apostolical orders, they are not afraid to invent new and false teachings and to cause a scandalous schism in the Church of God, or to abet, sup- port, and aid the riotous spirits who endeavor to rend our Savior's seamless coat and the unity of the true faith — (it behooves the Roman Pontiff, we say) to employ severity against such people and their adherents, lest the bark of Peter seem to be. without pilot and helmsman; also to bring about, by increased ''it behooves TilE ROMAN PONTIFF." 109 penalties and other means, that these contemners, who have been given over to a reprobate mind, and their adherents, may not by false assertions and vi^ily tricks deceive the poor people and drag them along into all sorts of errors and perdition, and, as it were, infect them with their disease ; also, for putting the condemned to still greater shame, to show the believing Christians and publicly to explain to them to what a fearful ban and punishment they would be subjected ; to the end that, having been thus informed and instructed, they may be ashamed of themselves, become contrite, repent, and entirely shun the forbidden society and com- munion of such excommunicated and accursed persons, and refuse them obedience, and that they may thus escape the divine ven- geance, and not fall into the same condemnation with them. The Pope now recapitulates the charges against Luther by inserting the contents of the bull Bxsiirge Dominc, and then records, on the one hand, his grateful pastoral joy over the burning of Luther's books in some places, and over the repentance of some of the guilty persons who had been named with Luther in the preceding bull, and whom he has now ordered absolved by his nuncios and restored to his fatherly affection; and, on the other hand, his "great grief and amazement" at the contumacy of impenitent Luther and of the recklessness of sundry persons of "great renown and dignity" who are following Luther and his noxious gang of heretics and are aiding and abetting him in his disobedience and obduracy, being unmindful of the apostle's warning: ■'A man that is a heretic after the first and second admonition reject, knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself. "^^s) (§3.) These persons the Pope proceeds to curse and damn in absentia et ignorantia, as it were. No matter what their names are, and how elevated their station may be, they are to be regarded as included in Luther's sentence; for ^ pun- ishment they are to be called "Lutherans"; they are to be treated as heretics and as under the eternal malediction and under all the canonical penalties, just ab if their names liad not been individually and specifically recorded in this bull. (§4.) 268) Titus 3, 10-11. 110 "it behooves the ROMAN PONTIFF." All countries, cities, castles (!), villages, and places in which Luther or any one of his followers may happen to sojourn are declared unclean and under the papal interdict for the time of such sojourn. Masses can be said in sucn places only in certain excepted cases, and then only behind closed doors. Chapters and cloisters forfeit their posses- sions if they break this rule, and fail to publish the papal ban against Luther and his followers. All the ceremonies prescribed by canon law for such publications must be observed, e. g., the piiblication must take place on a Sunday or festival day, when there is a large concourse of wor- shipers at the churches; the flag of the cross must be dis- played, the bells tolled, and candles lighted, extinguished, and thrown on the ground, etc. (§§ 5-6.) The entire clergy of the Church, from the highest to the lowest rank, are to cry out and warn the people unceas- ingly against the Lutheran heresies, and thus as "clouds, ordained for this purpose by God, drop spiritual rain on God's people." They are to do this in a spirit of holy courage and devotion to the Church, remembering that "perfect love casteth out fear,^*'^) and that by the Pope's solicitation they shall obtain the victor's crown of honor and abundant praise for their zeal. (§§7-9.) Inasmuch, however, as it may not be feasible, owing to the present condition of Germany, duly to publish this bull, it is to be sufficient if the publication takes place in some localities, and copies of the bull prepared by the nuncios are to be as authentic as bulls issued directly from the papal office at Rome. (§§ 10-12.) Any one who dares to mutilate the bull, or to set at naught any of its injunctions, falls under the certain dis- pleasure of Almighty God and of His holy apostles Peter and Paul.sTO) (| 13.) One of the persons involved in the bull was Staupitz. To get peace, he had retired to Salzburg. On the same day 209) 1 John 4, 18. 270) XV, 1704-10. "it behooves the ROMAN PONTIFF." Ill that the bull Deed Romannm Pontificcm was issued at Rome, he writes to Link at Nuremberg : — To us also has come the roar of the lion [Leo], seeking whom he may devour.-'^) For our Very Reverend Cardinal [Lang] has been instructed to compel me to state that Martin's opinions are, respectively, heretical, erroneous, and offensive to pious ears, and to reject them in the presence of a notary and of witnesses. But as I am unable to recant and reject opinions which I never asserted, and which are not mine, I begged the lord cardinal to have me excused. I know not what will happen. It would be sufficient to have written this to the Father concerning me, and perhaps to one other. I thought I was going to enjoy peace at last, and now this perplexing trial comes up. I am not able to fly with wings, as I am not distinguished either for learning or for a holy life, and yet I think it the worst impiety to desert the truth. Therefore I shall take the wholesome cup and invoke the name of the Lord.^^^) Reverend father, pray give me your counsel and aid.^^*) -Martin has begun a hard task and acts with great courage, divinely inspired; I stammer and am a child needing milk. Farewell, reverend father, and do not desert me under this dark star at the back of the world. My fellow- captives Mayr^'i'*) and Bessler^TS) sakite you, desiring to see the face of Your Reverence, and to drink wine together, which is excellent at Salzburg. They promise to bear adversity with you calmly.276) Poor Staupitz ! He had gone in the quest of peace by running away from a duty, in other words, by trying to run away from Iiis conscience. Many have made the same pathetic attempt, not realizing that strife for God's sake is peace, and avoiding such strife brings the worst unrest. Staupitz went down to ignominious defeat under the papal threats, signing a declaration that he submitted to the Pope. The two Nuremberg friends of Luther, Pirckheimer 271) 1 Pet. 6, 8. 272) Ps. 116, 13. 273) After the resignation of Staupitz, Link had become Vicar of the Augustinian Order. 274) One of Staupitz's oldest friends who had matriculated with him at Tuebingen 1497; later Prior at Munich; in 1508-9 he went on business of the order to Italy. SC, 1, 437. 375) .'Mso an old friend, who had succeeded Staupitz as Prior at Munich. In 1505 he made a trip to Italy on business of the order, and was forcibly detained there four years. Later Prior at Nuremberg, and after accompanying Staupitz to Salzburg, Prior at Cologne, where we last hear of him in 1529. Ibid. 276) SC, 1, 437. 112 "it behooves the ROMAN PONTIFF." and Spengler, did the same. Staupitz's declaration was in the form of an open letter that evinced a hard struggle on the part of the writer to be non-committal and to effect a compromise. But the declaration stated that Staupitz bowed to the judgment of the Pope, and it was generally interpreted as a renunciation of Luther's teaching. When Luther, through Link, heard of this action of his oldest friend, he wrote him February 9 : — I was not displeased to hear that you, too, are attacked by Leo, and that you are setting up the cross which you have preached so well for an example to the world. For I could wish that that wolf were not satisfied with your declaration, as you yield more to him than is right. For now that you have declared you will accept him as your judge, he will interpret your state- ment as a complete renunciation of me and all my actions. There- fore Christ, if He loves you, will compel you to revoke your writing, because in this bull the Pope has condemned everything that you have' heretofore taught and believed concerning the mercy of God. Since you well know this, it seems to me that you cannot, without oif ending Christ, appeal to the judgment of him whom you see raging as an adversary of Christ, with hostile fury against the Word of Grace. For it behooved you to assert this to his face, and to reprove him for his wickedness. This is not the time to be timid, but to cry out when our Lord Jesus Christ is sentenced, stripped, and blasphemed. Therefore, as much as you exhort me to humility, I exhort you to defiance. There is too much humility with you, as with me there is too much defiance. Indeed, it is a serious matter. We see Christ suffer. It was proper heretofore to be silent and to submit, but now that the dearest Savior, who gave Himself for us, is made a mock of throughout the world, shall we not, I appeal to you, fight for Him ? Must we not offer our necks ? Dear father, this is a more glorious danger than many believe ; for here the Gospel is starting on its course, which says : "Whosoever shall confess Me before men, him will I also confess before My Father."^''"?) "Whosoever shall be ashamed of Me, of him I shall also be ashamed. "2^'') I do not care if I pass for a proud man, a miser, an adulterer, a murderer, an antipapist, and one guilty of all vices, if only I am not accused of wicked silence while the Lord is suffering and says : "I looked on My right hand, and beheld, 277) Matt. 10, 33. 278) Luke 9, 26. "it behooves the ROMAN iPONTlFF." 113 but there was no man that would know Me. Refuge failed Me; no man cared for My sou1."2T8) For by such a confession I hope to be absolved from all my sins. And that is the reason wliy I have boldly raised my horns against this Roman idol and the very Antichrist. The Word of Christ is not a word of peace, but of war. But why should a 4unce try to teach a sageP^so) I am writing these things to you rather intimately, because I fear that you will stand wavering between Christ and the Pope, although you see that they are most bitterly opposed to one another. Let us pray tliat the Lord Jesus may speedily destroy this son of perdition with the breath of His mouth.^^l) Jf you will not follow me, let me go and be snatched up ; by the grace of Christ I shall not keep still before this monster about his monstrous crimes. Truly, your submission lias saddened me not a little, and shown me a different Staupitz from the one who was a herald of grace and the cross. You would not have saddened me if you had done this before you had knowledge of this bull and this shame of Christ. No doubt, to encourage his faltering friend Luther adds : — ■ Hutten and many , others write strongly for me, and daily there are songs composed which furnish small delight to that Babylon. Our Elector acts just as constantly as prudently and faithfully, and at his command I am publishing my defense in both languages.282) Philip sends you greetings, and prays for more spirit for you.^^S) Staupitz's answer to this letter is lost; we can surmise its tenor from a letter which he wrote to Link March 5 : — I am answering our Martin, who, like you, blames my pusillanimity. As you are to me another Peter and Paul, I willingly acknowledge my fault, although I could make a verbal defense. May He who is Wisdom give us wisdom, and He who is the Virtue of God give us courage, without whom none are strong or holy. We have no news. We anxiously await what will happen at Worms. The Very Reverend Cardinal [Lang] has tried nothing against Martin in this diocese of Salzburg, and we hope thus to live in peace until we are stronger in faith and 279) Ps. 142, 2. 280) "Quid ego sits Minervam?" 281j 2 Thess. 2, 8. 282) The Articles Wrongly Condemned by the Pope appeared in Latin in Tanuary. and in German in March. 283) XV, 2424 ff. ; EB, 3, 83 ff.; SL, p. 198 f. DAU, TRIBUNAL OF CAESAR. 8 114 ''it behooves the ROMAN PONTIFF." filled with the Gospel, when we shall play the man. If news comes from Wittenberg, please communicate it to us. We also shall do what will please you.284) FVom the correspondence of those days we glean knowl- edge of other effects of the bull. Melanchthon writes to John Hess^^-'') at Breslau February 20': — I cannot understand why you are writing so little to us at this time, unless you think that you ought not to do so on ac- count of the Pope. If this is true, Hess, where is your Chris- tian courage? Where is your old strength of soul? How can you, who know that Luther stands for piety and truth, yet hesitate? Schleupner has left Leipzig in fear, and is looking for a safe place ; if his example has won you away from us, I shall be doubly angry with him. But I hardly know whether other reasons invited him to Leipzig. Martin still lives and flourishes in spite of the rage and roars of Leo, whom people hitherto believed to be omnipotent. No one here approves the bull of Eck, except those who have more regard for their bellies than for the Gospel. Cer- tainly it has brought us into no danger, even if the bishops are promulgating it and thundering. I wish that you knew how frightened the bishops are in carrying out the commands of the Pope, standing, as it were, between the devil and the deep sea, fearing on one side the opinion of the world and on the other the wrath of the Pope. The latter prevails with many who prefer to be openly wicked rather than to seem too little de- pendent on His Pontifical Holiness. Though I doubt not that you know what is done at the Diet of Worms, yet I will briefly relate the plans of pur ene- mies. The Emperor is daily asked to proscribe Luther, and there is a lively altercation over this point. We shall perish if the Papists are able to do what their wrath suggests. They regret that the furies of the Pope have accomplished so little, and hope that those of the Emperor will be stronger. So they are trying by all legal as well as all illegal means to wrest such a mandate from the Emperor. But I hope their efforts will be in vain. Martin fears nothing, but would willingly lay down his life if, by doing so, he could purchase glory and profit for 284) SC, 1, 481. 285) John Hess of Nuremberg (1490-January 5, 1547), studied at Leipzig 1506-10, then at Wittenberg till 1513, when he became secretary to John Turgo, Bishop of Breslau. In 1517 he was in Italy; in 1519 he was back in Wittenberg. From there he went to Breslau, where he intro- duced the Reformation. He had a good deal to do with Caspar Schwenk- feld. In 1522 he went to Oels, in 1523 to Nuremberg, and then back to Breslau, where he remained the rest of his life. SC, 1, 239. ■'it behooves the ROMAN PONTIFF." 115 the Gospel. Perhaps you have read his Assertion against the Bull of Leo. It is written in German. . . . Lutlier sends his greeting.286) Micliael Hummelberg^^^) writes to Jolm Heckmann^^^J in March : — Alas, dear Heckmann ! Who fooled you by saying that I was a Lutheran ? ' Whoever thought that I should be baptized anew with this name, whicli I abhor as seditious, was mistaken. For being a Lutlieran involves one in as much altercation as being an Eckian in malice. These are the names of heresies and scliisms, not of Cliristian charity. According to the teaching of St. Paul I think not a man, but Clirist, is to be regarded, and I wish to bear His name only, and to be called, not a Lutheran, but a Christian. . . But I welcome and cherish whatever I find good in Luther's books, not because it is his, but because it is God's, from whom coraeth down every good gift.^^^) Nor does it bother me if he does not please those barbarian theologs, and does not agree with the madness of the sycophants. ... I shall therefore expect the judgment of the universal Church, con- vened by the Holy Spirit in a council. Whatever holy and pious decrees are then made, I shall also follow.^so) Here we have the type of eclectic Lutheranism that borrows the name of the great Reformer for parade pur- poses and on days of sunshine, but quickly crawls under cover and cries. No kin ! when a cold breath of public disfavor strikes them. While forsaking Christ's people, these men vow allegiance to Christ. What a self-deception ! The man for whom the papal fulminations and the ire of the Papists necessitated the most ludicrous mental and moral readjustments was the literary king of Europe, Erasmus. "To a powerful gentleman" he writes from Louvain January 28: — I am not sorry to hear that Luther's books are, as you write, in your hands, provided only that you read them as I do — gathering the good in them and skipping the bad. ... I have never had anything to do with Luther, except what com- 286) SC, 1, 468. „ . 287) Hummelberg of Ratisbon (1487-15S7), studied at Pans 1504-11, and at Rome 1514-17, his specialty being Greek. Shortly after his return to Ratisbon he became a teacher, and as such enjoyed much reputa- tion with the Humanists. SC. 1, 271. 288) Heckmann was a monk at Salmansweiler, an intimate friend of Hummelberg. SC, 1, 506. 289) James 1, 17. 290) SC, 1, 600. 116 ''it behooves the ROMAN PONTIFF." men Christian friendship demanded. This is true, and I have often asserted it. I am neither the author nor judge of his books. . Now the bull has been published, which, terrible. as it is, will not be able to alienate the minds of men from him. . . . You exhort me to join Luther, and I would easily do so if I saw him on the side of the Catholic Church. Not that I say that he is not, or that I am able to condemn him. . . .^^i) To Alexander, the secretary of the Count of Nassau, he writes March 8: — I do not read Luther's books, nor have I anything in com- mon with him more than with any Christian. Certainly I should prefer him corrected rather than slain. And if any poison has infected the people, no one can draw' it out again as well as he who put it in. But I do not object if they wish Luther roasted or boiled ; the loss of one man is small. And yet we ought to think of the public peace. Would that the crafty rather than wise agents for this affair were as prudent as they seem zealous in the cause of the Pope ! Certainly none hurt the Pope's dig- nity more than those who clamor hatefully against Luther; no one commends him to the people more than they do. So stupidly and tumultuously is the business conducted by certain monks, not one of whom is a good man ! The bull commands them to preach against Luther, that is, to rebutt his opinions with proof from Scripture and to teach better ones. But no one takes the pen to refute him, though many desire it ; there is no one who argues, but all revile and often lie about it. They say that he would abolish confession and purgatory, and that he writes blasphemy against God. A certain Jacobin at Antwerp said that he had written that Christ performed His miracles by magic. A Carmelite preaching before the King of France said that now the antichrist had come, and that there were four harbingers : some Franciscan or other in Italy,-^^) Lefevre d'Etaples in France,293) Reuchlin in Germany,294) and Erasmus 291) SC, 1, 448. 292) "Savonarola was a Dominican; but perhaps he is meant.*' (Smith.) 293) Tames Lefevre, of Etaples in Picardy, **the little Luther," as Michelet called him (c. 1455-1536), after studying in Italy, Germany, and Paris, settled at St. Germain-des-Pres (a church now on the Boulevard St. Germain in Paris) in 1.507 and devoted himself to Biblical studies. In 1509 he published a Qintuplex PsaJterium, or Psalter in five languages, of which Luther owned and annotated a copy (his notes in WE, IV, 463) in 1513-16. He published the first complete translation of the Bible in French, 1530. In 1521 and 1523 he was attacked by the Sorbonne for Lutheranism, and during Francis's I captivity in 1525 fled to Strassburg, but later returned and finished his life at Paris. SC, 1, 44. 294) John Reuchlin (Capnio), born at Pforzheim, February 22, 1455, died in 1522. Known chiefly as a scholar of Greek and Hebrew, which plunged him into a controversy with the monks at Cologne. His official work was the practise of law. "it behooves the ROMAN PONTIFF.'' 117 in Brabant.295) At Bruges a Franciscan, a suffragan of the Bishop of Tournai, preached in the church of St. Donatian a whole hour against Luther and me (for the monks have agreed over their cups always to join my name with Luther's, though I have nothing in common with him) ; but instead of teaching us, he only called us geese, asses, beasts, stocks, antichrists, in short, spoke so that the people all thought him insane. . . . Whatever Luther may deserve, it is certainly time for Charles to think of the peace of Christendom. This will be done if silence is imposed on both parties, and if Luther ceases to write such books, or rather takes out of those that he has already written all seditious matter. Those who hunt for glory in public misfortunes prefer to end the thing at once by force; would that it were ended for the glory of Christ! But no one would believe how deeply Luther has crept into the minds of many nations, nor how widely his books have been translated into every tongue and scattered everywhere. People are whisper- ing about a terrific mandate of Charles; I pray that whatever the excellent prince does may be fortunate for the Christian world. However, I fear that things will not turn out as some think. Do you. ask, dear Alexander, why I write this? Only to prevent a pernicious tumult which I see is threatening unless the princes prefer the interests of the state to the desires of some men. I do not plead Luther's cause, nor do I care how he is punished ; I only thinlc of the peace of the world. . . .^96) To the fullest extent Erasmus speaks his mind about Luther in a letter of March 25 to Aloisius Marlian, the Bishop of Tuy,2**'^) who was attending the Diet : — I have learned from the letters of good friends, though I know not whether they wrote in pure affection, that new rumors and suspicions are spread abroad here by some secret detractors that I favor Luther, and that evil books, I know not which, are attributed to me, of which I hear that some are published here, 295) Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam (October 28, 1466-July 13, t536), attended school at Deventer 1475-84, at Hertogenbusch 1484-6, entered the monastery of Augustinians at Stein 1486, professed 1488, studied at Paris 1496-9, visited England 1499-1600, 1605-6, and 1509-14; Italy 1506-9; lived at Louvain 1514-21, Basle 1521-8, Freiburg in Breisgau 1528-35, when he returned to Basle. SC, 1, 32. 296) SC, 1, 494. 297) Aloisius Marlian of Milan, made Bishop of Tuy 1517. Early in 1521 he published an oration against Luther. He died in the same year in September or October, SC, 1, 421. 118 "it behooves the ROMAN PONTIFF." some elsewhere. I know that these days are the very kingdom of calumny, and that at no time has more unbridled vitupera- ti&n been allowed, and yet wise, learned, and grave men, among whom I consider you one of the first, should not allow any place to such accusations. Your prudence first warned me, though I was, as they say, mindful of it myself, that I should not mix in the Lutheran afifair. So far was I from mixing in it that I exerted all my strength to keep the affair from getting to that point where I should least care to see it. Only at first, before I saw where Luther was tending, I did not approve turbulent clamors among the people. I advised that the affair be treated in learned books. I preferred to have Luther corrected rather than crushed, or if he were to be crushed, I preferred that it should be done without turning the world upside down. Even the PoVe would have approved this advice, had he known how things were done, and with what zeal several nations would follow Luther. But the rumors were the fabrications of cer- tain monks, wlio love me no more than they do sound learning, and who were determined to involve me willy nilly in the Lutheran affair. On the other hand, those who seemed to favor Luther tried in every way to draw me into their party. Those who hated Luther also tried to precipitate me into his faction, frequently in public sermons raging against my name more odiously than they did against Luther himself. But by no arts could I be moved from my own purpose. I recognize Christ, I do not know Luther ; I recognize the Roman Church, which, I think, is not different from the Catholic Church. Death shall not make me abandon lier, unless she openly is abandoned by Christ. I have always abhorred sedition; would that Luther and all Germans were of the same mind! I see that in many lands this side of the Alps there are men who favor Luther, as it were, by fatality. Indeed, it is remarkable that as his enemies help him most, so he helps them, as if they were in a conspiracy. For no one hvirts Luther more than he does himself with his new books, each one more odious than the last previous. On the other hand, there are some who stir up the people so unlearnedly, so foolishly, and so seditiously that they make themselves hate- ful to all, commend Luther to the affections .of men, and com- promise the cause of the Pope as bad patrons always com- promise their clients. I praise those who favor the Pope, whom every pious man favors. Who would not favor him who is the first imitator of Christ, and who spends himself for Christian salvation? But I wish he had wiser defenders. They hunger for nothing but Luther; nor is it anything to me whether they prefer him boiled or roasted. It is certain that they confound "it behooves the ROMAN PONTIFF.'' 119 me with an affair from which I am totally distinct, and that they thus act both wrongly and foolishly; for they would van- quish Luther sooner if they would let me alone. Even in Aleander, a man otherwise kind and learned, I miss the pru- dence necessary for such an affair, — at least, if what is written and said about him is true. There was formerly a very close friendship between us,298) and when he went to France, I gave him letters of recommendation and spoke of him very highly even in my writings ; I respected the man's learning, liked his character, although it was peculiar, nor did it seem that we got along together badly. He was commanded by all means to win over those who had formerly been of the Lutheran party, — so far was it from the Pope's tlioughts to alienate those wlio were innocent. But though by nature not unkind, he used force at the instigation of certain men. He would have approached the Lutheran affair better, had he joined his advantages to mine. He would have had a helper in a pious work, and one certainly not adverse to the power of the Pope. They bandy about an impudent lie, that Luther has taken much from my books. But the very first article of the charge refutes it. When have I asserted that all that we do is sin? — not to mention innumerable other things, the like of which is not found in any of my writings, even in the sportive ones. And yet of old the heretics have drunk their poison from the gospels and apostolic letters. I speak for the moment as if . he had really written something heretical and had taken it from my books. It is said that he does not recognize certain of his books ; perhaps he would do well to deny them all. But in any case, by whomsoever the books that pass under his name were written, there is not in any of them a syllable of mine; this I do not hesitate to swear solemnly. For many years I have respected your singular prudence and your candid friend- ship for me, and your authority is known to all. Therefore I beg you to defend my innocence against such malicious calum- nies. Everything is printed, even that which I wrote privately to the bosom of my friends, including some things which were perhaps freer, according to my natural inclination, than was al- ways expedient. Even those things which we are accustomed to say in our cups have been printed, and yet nothing is found except that I said I would prefer Luther corrected rather than put to death, while there was yet hope that he might devote himself to better things.299) 298) In Venice, 1508. 299) Erasmi 0pp. Ill, 543; SC, 1, 500 ff. 120 ASH WEDNESDAY AT THE DIET. The Stand which leading men in Europe took, or failed to take, on the excommunication of Luther, has determined the course of the Reformation. These expressions of their mind are therefore most valuable for understanding later developments. However, they also belong in the panorama of Luther at Worms. Against this background the figure of the lone monk, who would not deny the truth that Christ had given him to see, stands out strong and clear. Long before Luther uttered the sentiment that is recorded at the end of his hearing at Worms, he had acted it. His unwaver- ing courage stablished the hearts of thousands in those days. 13. Ash Wednesday at the Diet. The bull Decet Romanum reached Aleander February 10. It fired the nuncio's zeal to put forth an effort greater than any previous one to obtain from the Emperor the coveted mandate against Luther. His success seemed assured this time, because with the bull the nuncio had received two papal breves that were to be delivered to the Emperor. One, dated January 16, declared that the Pope had reversed his policy in regard to the Spanish inquisition, the control of which was now restored to Charles. The Pope had calculated that by withdrawing the inquisition from the control of the Spanish monarch he had not increased his own authority in Spain, but only that of the Spanish prel- ates to whom he had assigned the direction of inquisitorial proceedings. By restoring it to Charles, he hoped to make the Emperor agreeable to the last measure that was neces- sary for crushing Luther. The second breve, dated two days later, was an earnest appeal to the Emperor's Catholic con- science to stamp out Lutheran heresy.^"") 300) The greater part of the Pope's breve to the Emperor is repro- duced in SC, 1, 444 f. ASH WEDNESDAY AT THfi DIET. 121 The Emperor was willing to accede to the Pope's wish. His ministers, however, reaffirmed the position they had taken on December 29, when the Council of State had virtu- ally promised Aleander the mandate against Luther. They insisted that the mandate, before being issued, must be sub- mitted to the Diet for its consent. Aleander protested again that Luther's case was res adjudicata, and solemnly loaded Gattinara with all blame for the weakening of the papal authority in Germany if his plan were adopted and the Diet were allowed to debate a papal decree. But Aleander acquiesced when it was decided that he himself should address the Diet on February 13 and wrest from its members the order against Luther which, the imperial counselors feared, would never be obtained from them. This decision tickled the vanity of the nuncio greatly. It conjured up before his ambitious mind a wonderful vision of himself as the central figure in the greatest assembly of potentates of Europe. The lords of the earth were to be wax in his hands, and he would deftly mold them to suit the purpose of his master. At the same time he would comipensate himself by these few hours of glory for all the ill treatment and unconcealed contempt that had daily been served him in generous measui-e by these titled German yokels. His fertile mind began to study every possible advantage for its psychological bearings and effects ; the drama was to open with a startling surprise, and to men tense with excitement, their critical temper being momen- tarily subdued, the reverend dramaturge planned to exhibit the dazzling feats of finished Roman oratory and diplomacy. February 13 was Ash Wednesday, but sackcloth and ashes did not enter into the regimen of the noble sons of the Church assembled at Worms. A great tournament had been announced for the day, and everybody was hastening to the arena. Preparations for the knightly bouts were in progress ; the Emperor's cloth had been spread; when suddenly there appeared a hurrying messenger with a summons to the members of the Diet to repair at once to the Bischofshof for an important session ; for a communication had arrived from 122 ASH W-ECNESDAY AT THE DIET. the Holy Father that required immediate action. Consterna- tion seized the assembly, and eager questioning took place as to what the hurry call might mean. The Saxon Elector promptly decided that he was too ill to attend this session, and sent his Chancellor Brueck with a number of speedy writers as secretaries to act as his repre- sentative. He was not going to be taken by suirprise. This Fabian policy was the first check administered to Aleander, and when he noticed it, he could not conceal his chagrin. The nimble Saxon secretaries annoyed him, and he had to speed his tongue to outrace their pens. Besides the protocol of the Diet we have several accounts of t}iis session, one by Aleandef himself in several of his letters and dispatches, one by Brueck, and one in the form of a correspondence which Kalkoff tentatively ascribes to the papal chamberlain Antony della Sassetta and Francis de Pellegrini. These accounts enable us to reconstruct the memorable scene and to blue-pencil Aleander's own report for logical and historical inaccuracies. The Emperor had taken his seat in the crowded hall, when the nuncio arose and handed a papal breve to the Chancellor of the Empire, Archbishop Albert of Mayence, who ordered the Abbot of Fulda^^i) to read it. We know its contents from previous chapters : it was a rehearsal of Luther's case and a formal notice from Rome that now the time had arrived when the secular power must complete the work of the spiritual authority, and finish Luther. It was pointed out to the young Emperor that a rare oppor- tunity was offered him to take his place among his illustrious ancestors, and immortalize his name by wij)ing out heresy. The document read, the Emperor extended permission to Aleander to speak in explanation and defense of it, and suggest a feasible plan for executing its terms. 301 J Hartmann von Kirchberg, who is found as Doc or of Law and priest of the Nuremberg diocese in 1494. In 1507 he bea le coadjutor and the abbott of Fulda, from which position he was expelleu in 1517 on account of his prodigal rule. He was favored by Maximilian; in 1521 he received a pension in return for his abbacy, and died at Mayence in 1529, SC, 1, 471. ASH WEDNESDAY AT THE DIET. 123 With his oration before the Emperor and the Empire, Aleander's career entered its zenith. In his own reports to Rome he struts before the reader like a peacock, and rightly Hausrath has likened his oratorical effort to a wonderful flash of the peacock's spreading fan. Pathetic declamations, after Verrine and Catilinarian models, nicely calculated in- discretions, vulgar jokes and anecdotes, and serious issues of national and international politics were delivered in bewil- dering variety, interlarded with mere gossip and bold refer- ences and tales involving persons in high stations. In a less dignified manner the serious question before the Diet could not have been treated. The man who spoke on this occasion to the German princes was a thoroughly corrupt character; but he was an accomplished sophist, with a com- plete mastery of forms, and knew how to manipulate his subject-matter skilfully and modulate his voice so as to avoid tedium. His invectives against Luther were framed with the choicest rhetorical arabesques : the meanest things he managed to "say with flowers." These floral displays of his genius were evidently of greater importance to him than his theological arguments ; for these were astonishingly poor, and his account of Luther's heresy is gaping with imperfections. His dogmatic reasoning is a blade of lead that only looks gay because it is sheathed in a velvet and embroidered scabbard. With admirable dexterity he brushed delicate questions with the lightness of a swallow's wing and dodged critical points, never saying enough to permit any one to nailfhim down to a definite opinion. Now he floated a pretty flattery towards the Emperor, now he threw verbal bonbons to his patron, the Bishop of Liege, now he dropped an innuendo against the Saxon Elector, now he excited the risibility of the knights by a bit of coarse humor. Even the indiscretions which he committed were all according to program. He wants all the world to know that in private conversations he has been persuaded to go ahead bravely by many an influential person that has afterwards acted the part of an impartial judge in public— a thrust at Chievres ! 124 ASH WEDNESDAY AT THE DIET, To defeat Luther's assertion that the permission to burn his books had been purchased by Aleander by means of bribes, he appeals to Charles with magnificent pathos : "Most invincible Emperor, Your Majesty knows the facts; I ask you to testify for m€ whether I bought the permission to burn those books for many thousands of ducats.'' It was a bold risk which Aleander took at this point. He relied on the patience and forbearance of Chievres ; for he knew how annoying his hasty actions in Flanders had been to the ministers of Charles, and had so reported to Rome. Craftily he touched upon a favorite subject of Charles when he reminded him of the staunch Catholicism of his father Philip, and when he spoke of his famous ancestor Charles the Bold, whose image had filled the boyhood dreams of the Emperor. Adverting to an earlier assertion of Luther and his friends that the bull vvas counterfeit, he unrolled with a flourish the original document, and called upon the Emperor, the princes, and the Estates to examine it. At the same time he bowed with exquisite reverence to his companion in drink. Bishop Eberhard of Liege, and remarked that this learned and experienced statesman had examined the docu- ment as to its authenticity before permitting it to be exec- uted in his diocese. The episcopal toper nodded a solemn assent, and the knightly analphabets looked with awe at the unfolded bull. Nevertheless, the nuncio said he had to sufifer himself to be insulted as a counterfeiter and deceiver, and had been unjustly persecuted. Some had even slander- ously asserted that he was a baptized Jew, and this matter seemed to him of such moment that he proceeded on the flooV of the imperial Diet to establish his pedigree : he was descended from the Margrave of Yserstein in Istria, and many gentlemen present could testify that he had passed a rigid genealogical test when he was made a canon at Liege. However, he did not wish his present remarks to be offen- sive to the godly Jews of Worms. "Suppose I were a born Jew and had been baptized, that would give no one a right ASH WEDNESDAY AT THE DIET. 125 to despise me; for Christ and His apostles also were born Jews." With such gossip Aleander entwined his dogmatic argu- ment in defense of the papal verdict against Luther. His argument showed that he had not concerned himself greatly about Luther's teaching. He knew exactly which lackeys were leaning towards Luther," which clerks and chamberlains could be employed against Luther, but his oration gives no evidence of the truth of his boast that he knew Luther's writings by heart. His accusations against Luther are garbled statements - from Luther's last treatise against the bull — the Assertio. He was arbitrary and unscrupulous in framing his indictment. He had no inkling of the scope of Luther's thought. For instance, he snatched up Luther's statement that all the teachings of Huss, two of which he had defended at Leipzig, were Christian and evangelical. No statement of Luther could have pleased Aleander better ; by means of extreme syllogistic inferences he drew from this statement damaging evidence against Luther. A glaring- dishonesty was perpetrated by the speaker when he glori- fied the Council of Constance. "What this holy council praised Luther condemns; and what it condemned Luther praises." Now, the popes had never manifested a great love for the decrees of this council because of its opposition to papal absolutism. On the latter question the last Lateran Council had taken the same position. Suppressing these facts, Aleander argued that by approving Huss's teachings, which were condemned at Constance, Luther also approved the forty-five articles of Wiclif which Huss had defended; hence he denied the real presence of the body of Christ in the Sacrament. "Good God, what a blasphemy !" Aleander exclaimed, and then took up Wiclif's and Huss's articles one by one for further proof of Luther's blasphemous teaching on the authority of the Pope, on the binding force of the canon law and of secular laws, on the death penalty, etc. His laudatory references in this connection to "the good Emperor Sigismund" were a German string on which he 126 ASH WEDNESDAY AT THE DIET. played a few bars to show the Germans that he was guarding their national honor which Luther had befouled by calling Sigismund a traitor. From Aleander's lurid review Luther emerged a plain revolutionary. Aleander did not shrink from lying outright; for he charged Luther with denying purgatory, while in the thirty- seventh article of the book from which he was quoting Luther said : "I have never denied purgatory, and have declared so in speech and writing many times.'' Luther had merely denied the alleged Scripture-proof and the scholastic arguments for purgatory. Luther's assertion that the Greek Church had never acknowledged the supremacy of the Pope, Aleander defeated by exhibiting a copy of the decrees of the Council of Florence of 1439, in which the Greek representatives acknowledge the Pope as supreme. He said he had found the document "by accident" in the library of the Bishop of Worms. He handed the document to the Archbishop of Mayence, who examined it carefully and passed it on to the Archbishop of Treves, who returned it to Aleander with a significant nod. As on the previous occasion in the Council of State where Aleander had employed the same device, he omitted to tell the assembly that the Florentine decrees had never been ratified by the Greek Church, but hastened to exhibit a copy of the Strass- burg edition of Luther's treatise on the Babylonian Cap- tk'ity of the Church, at the end of which there was a vignette depicting two fighting dogs. The two dogs, he said, repre- sented a mystery that would soon be solved: priests and laymen would tear each other to pieces. For had not Luther stated in his treatise against Prierias that the laymen would be washing their hands in the blood of priests? This remark he understood literally, ahd what Luther had written as a warning he proclaimed as Luther's policy. He pictured Luther as a person void of reverence for holy things : Luther had made a sneering remark about Dion3'sius Areo- pagita and denounced saint-worship. Nobody need be sur- prised to hear this heretic quote Scripture, for the devil ASH WEDNESDAY AT THE DIET. 127 could do the same. Aleander reminded his audience that they had heard this fact at church in the Gospel-lesson for the past Sunday. He must not have attended church that Sun- day and his pericopal knowledge had become mixed; for the Gospel-lesson to which he referred is the one for the Sunday after Ash Wednesday. The original cause of Luther's controversy with Rome, indulgences, Aleander touched with the 'brief remark that Luther had "written unbecomingly" on this subject. Brueck remarks ironically: "Aleander hadt von der Indulgcncicn mit diesen kursen ivorten abgcbiesscn." In a similar manner he vaulted across Luther's Appeal to the Christian Nobility, which was a great favorite among the knights. What Luther had said in this treatise regarding the universal priesthood of believers, Aleander transferred to the hated treatise on the Babylonian Captivity, and by means of his inductive logic he again drew the most astonishing infer- ences from garbled remarks of Luther. Amongst other things he inferred that Luther denied the consubstantiality of the Son with the Father, and expressed the hope that the Pope vifQuld include this heresy in his next bull against here- tics.302) The cold-blooded villainy that pervades the entire argu- mentation of Aleander beggars description. Nowhere did he reveal any intimate knowledge of Luther's doctrinal positions ; he simply inferred, deduced, cried "Blasphemy !" and looked about him with the air of a toreador after the coup de grace. His peroration was a reply to those who were counseling leniency toward Luther. It became an impassioned outburst of deep hatred against Luther. It would be sacrilege, he said, to practise moderation against such a monster of wickedness. By such temporizing the Head of the Church (Leo X!) would be scandalized, his unquestioned power would be set aside, and the Emperor would shame the memory of his blessed predecessors in office 303) This was done on Maundy Thursday at the annual reading of the bull In Coena Domini. 128 THE CLASH IN THE ELECTORAL COUNCIL. if he failed to act now. Besides, Luther, though constantly appealing to a council of the Church, would never submit to a decree of any council that decided against him.^"^) 14. The Clash in the Electoral Council. Aleander had consumed three hours^"^' with his address. In the flush of victory he reported to Rome that the opposi- tion had been shattered : he had lectured the Lutheran party at the Diet like a set of schoolboys, and had not minded their scowling looks ; he had delighted the Catholic party, and had completely won the Emperor's heart. His speech had been praised, he said, as a masterly effort, skil- fully arranged, to the point, and effective, although he would call it only mediocre, because he had been allowed only a few hours for preparation. Still he had been so full of his subject that he could have spoken four hours longer. Medici understood from this report that his vain servant craved for a papal caress, and wrote Aleander that his oration was considered a brilliant success at the Vatican, and would be of extraordinary service to the cause. The truth is, that Aleander s oration was only understood by a small minority in the Diet, — the prelates, — for he spoke Latin, which the majority of the German princes did not understand. Fuerstenberg, the representative of the city of Frankfort, asked a member of the Diet what it had all been about, and was told : "Oh, there was a very long apostolic breve read and an admonition regarding Luther delivered." Cochlaeus reports that there had been an incredulous shaking of heads at the assertions which Aleander made on the basis of Luther's Babylonian Captiz'ity. The absence of the Saxon Elector and the presence of his stenographic reporters had so irritated Aleander that he spoke in plain terms of dis- 303) FNU, I, pp. 30-35; BAL, pp. 60-63; KDA, pp. 57-60; HAL, pp. 123-1S7; SC, 1, 462 ff; 467, 470. 304) So he writes to Medici; in a letter to Eck, a few days later, he reduces the claim to two hours. THE CLASH TN THK F.LECTOEAI. COUNCIL. 129 respect of the Elector, saying that at Cologne the Elector had feigned illness to avoid discussion, and had returned vague replies to his questions. On Brueck's report the Elector lodged a complaint against Aleander for unbecoming conduct. When the report of this indiscretion on the part of its agent reached the Curia, and Aleander was asked for an explanation, he denied it and said: "True, if the Elector had been present, I should have pinched him a little, of course, with all modesty and due observance of the proprie- ties ; for we may not hope any longer to win him over by kind addresses," which means that even four hundred years ago when a bluff was called, men considered a lie a safe way of escape. On the day after Aleander's oration the Emperor com- municated to the princes that he wished to issue a mandate against Luther. The mandate was submitted to the Estates on February 15. This is the mandate which Archbishop Albert had been directed to prepare December 29, and which he had delayed so long that upon the constant urging of Aleander a special commission had been appointed to draw up the document. The commission consisted of the Cardinal of Sitten.^f^) the Archbishop of ' Trieste,^''^) the imperial counselor Banisius, Archbishop Lang of Salzburg (Cardinal Gurk, and two German counselors. The work of this com- mission was delayed principally by the duplicity of Cardinal Gurk), and the delay was only terminated by the personal interposition, on February 3, of the Emperor himself. The story is told in a letter of Raphael de' Medici^"'') to Cardinal Julius de' Medici, dated February 6 and 7; — Since the preparation of a mandate against Luther has been assigned [to the gentlemen aforementioned], everything has gone- fine. But when the Cardinal of Gurk ordered the Cardinal of Sitten not to consider the mandate without consulting two other .305) This is the cardinal who sold his Swiss countrymen to the Pope as cannon-fodder for the Pope's campaigns in Northern Italy. _ 306) Peter Bonomo, Bishop of Trieste 1502-46, a Humanist and a capable officer, SC, 1, 419. ./-.,, 307) Raphael de' Medici, chamberlain of Leo X, was nuncio to Charles V, 1516-7, and from August, 1519, to April, 1521. He died 1583. DAU. TRIBUNAL OF CAESAR. 9 130 THE CLASH IX THE ELECTORAL COUNCIL. German counselors, the Cardinal of Sion [Sitten] became angry, for at every session for the last three days they have sent to get the others vi^ithout being able to find them. The Cardinal of Gurk was responsible for this, desiring, in order to please the Elector of Saxony, to put off the mandate. The Cardinal of Sion was certain that he [Cardinal Lang] had arranged that the counselors should not be found at home. The Count Camillo of Gambara told me that at the table of the Cardinal of Gurk, in his presence, they had spoken evil of His Holiness, but he did not tell me what they said. Four days ago the King held a council of state four hours long on the preparation of the mandate. The counselors, on giving their opinion on it, generally spoke German. When they had finished, the King said : "Do you believe I did not under- stand you ? You said so and so ; this displeases me for such and such reasons, and that, for other reasons, has my assent." Every one wondered at that; and thus the mandate was at once drawn up in the best form and translated into German. Jerome Aleander will have it printed and sent everywhere. The King has acted splendidly, but many of these princes say that a council must pronounce on these matters, and -the whole people declare that this council will take place, and that they will not pay any more annates. . .308) The mandate had been drawn up by Aleander, and, nat- urally, was couched in the severest terms. Basing on the fact that the Pope had condemned Luther as a manifest and contumacious heretic, the document declared that His Imperial Majesty herewith orders that the sale, reading, hearing, and the describing of Luther's books must be stopped, that the books be publicly burned and utterly destroyed, to prevent bloodshed and the overthrow of the spiritual and the secular powers, that the papal commissaries appointed to execute the Pope's decree be given every aid in the per- formance of their duties, and that Luther be placed in prison and kept there pending the Emperor's decision. All the adherents, followers, patrons, and supporters of Luther, no matter what their rank, station, or character may be, are to receive a similar treatment : they are to be stripped of their titles, dignities, franchises, liberties, and possessions. Any disregard of this order is denounced as the crime of 308) SC, 1, 462 ff. "THE CLASH IN THE ELECTORAL COUNCIL. 131 lese majesty, exposing the offender to outlawry. "Where- unto all and sundry take heed!"309) This mandate represents the fruit of eight months of incessant diplomatic labor on the part of Aleander. Its final acceptation by the Emperor was the joint triumph of Glapion and Aleander over the reluctant ministers of Charles, who had always shown themselves adverse to this measure. When the mandate was submitted to the Estates, all present felt that it meant the immediate outbreak of religious war in Germany. That was the exact point towards which the policy of Rome (Rule or Ruin!) was steering. Fuerstenberg, in his report to the city of Frankfort, breaks forth in this wail: "What will come of this nobody knows. God grant that in this matter and others wise counsel will prevail. Alas ! there is need of it.'' The Estates, however, did not take such a tragic view of the matter. They debated the imperial proposition coolly, and nonchalantly declared that they would take the imperial suggestion "under consideration." The Elector still being indisposed, and having expressed a desire to be present at the deliberations on the mandate, the Emperor had to grant a postponement of four days. This happened on Friday. On Monday and Tuesday, February 18 and 19, the ugly business v;as threshed out in the Electoral Council, and culminated in a terrifiic clash between Hohenzollern-Brandenburg on the one hand, and Saxony and the Prince Palatine on the other. Elector Joachim took up the cause of Rome. Well versed in I^atin and German, he was an able speaker, and he was ably seconded by his brother, the Archbishop of Mayence, and the two Archbishops of Treves and Cologne. To their powerful pleading Fuerstenberg refers when he says in his report to Frankfort : "Martin Luther's case was discussed last Friday, Monday, and Tuesday. The monk causes much worry. One party would like to nail him to the cross ; I fear that he will not be able to escape them." But the glib- 309) FNU, I, pp. 54-56. lo- THE CLASH IX THE ELECTORAL COU^'CIL. • toiigued Hohenzollern found a match in Elector Frederick. With a massive array of arguments prepared for him by Brueck, the Saxon depicted the state of mind in Germany at the time, and the Roman misrule which had scandalized the nation. \\'hat he rehearsed was the common knowledge of all the magnates present r the publication of the man- date meant the unleashing of the dogs of war. He spoke calmly and without the least oratorical effort; by the simple force of his facts he crushed the Hohenzollern's plea. Beneath the calm surface of his delivery, however, there was much pent-up anger at the anti-Saxon policy pursued for many years by the grasping Brandenburgers. Joachim was undaunted ; he stricdy upheld the papal position, and Aleander gloated over him. The debate became so passionate that the two Electors were about to come to blows, when Archbishop Lang threw himself between them. The Prince Palatine, Louis V. backed Elector Frederick. The Palatine prince vvac a taciturn, melancholy person; he seemed stupid, and indif- ferent to what was going on about him. But on this occasion he burst forth against the Brandenburgers in an appalling fit of rage. Aleander reported to Rome that he had "bellowed conic died tori" (like ten bulls), and that both men had reached for their daggers. Such a scene had never been witnessed in the Electoral Council. The nuncio was so awed by the reports which his messengers brought him about these elemental brain tornadoes of German potentates that he expressed the fear of grave complications arising from these clashes, ^^'hen the papal misrule in Germany was taken up for discussion, and Duke George, a devout Catholic, became the chief spokesman of the opposition to Rome on this score, the Archbishop of Salzburg ostentatiously left the meeting. During these debates the terms of the man- date were considerably toned down and some of its Alean- drian fangs were drawn. Still, when it was finally voted on and a majority of votes was polled for it. Electors Frederick and Louis Y arose and left the meeting, loudly voicing their protests. THE CLASH IN THE ELECTORAL COONCIL. . 133 Equally agitated and turbulent scenes were enacted in the other branches of the Diet. The first week in Lent, that season of quiet introspection for devout churchmen, had become a week of unbridled passion and fury. With trem- bling amazement Aleander watched the titanic battling of spirits that he had summoned, and for whom he had no binding spell. Observing his fear, some of his Catholic friends, like the Cardinal of Sion, played cruel practical jokes on him during these weeks. The Estates, at their session on February 19, voted an answer to the proposal of the Electors, the gist of which was that it was inopportune in the present agitated condition of Germany to employ violent measures against Luther, who, in the opinion of the common people, had a just cause against Rome. Rather should he be asked to state whether or not he accepted the holy Christian faith as held for generations by the Germans, and if he would abide by it. If he had written anything contrary to this faith, he ought to recant, and in that event the Estates held that it would be only fair to hear him in regard tc his grievances, and to render a just decision on them.sio) What happened next, and the entire situation that had now arisen in the Diet, is fully reflected in Aleander's report to the Medici of February 27 : — As I previously reported to Your Lordship, notwithstanding our strenuous endeavor to preveiit Luther's affairs coming be- fore the Diet, the undisguised, senseless partiality for Luther on the part of the princes, or rather the insane, detestable sug- gestions of Satan which he has put into the heads of all Ger- mans, have won the Emperor for this course. This was even recommended by his Privy Council, who want to please both God and the world, and yet act so as to draw upon themselves the displeasure of both. They allege that this conflagration will be more easily dealt with if the edicts of the Emperor are pro- mulgated with the advice and consent of the princes. We pointed out the danger that the princes would have an opinion different from the Emperor's, whose hands would then be bound, and that it would be the safest thing simply to carry out by execu- tive power the judgment given by the Pope in spiritual mat' 310) FNU, I, pp. 57 f. 134 THE CLASH IN THE ELECTORAL COUNCIL. ters. The Emperor both could and should do that in the Em- pire, as he had already done in his hereditary lands, Burgundy and Flanders. The majority, almost the entire German Council, agreed to this; but the Chancellor [Gattinara] replied that the Emperor would guard the freedom of his action ;3ii) His Jilajesty would simply, when I made my proposal in the name of the Pope, announce that he had already, on the mature ad- vice of all his peoples, promulgated a decree against Luther and his books, which had taken effect in his hereditary dominions and kingdoms, and would do so in the Empire when promul- gated with the knowledge of the princes, but not by their ad- vice and consent. The Chancellor and all the privy counselors declared further that even if the princes raised obstacles, the Emperor would none the less proceed in this manner. As yet, however, it has not been done. For, although on the same day on which I made my demand [February 13] the Emperor an- nounced his pleasure, and the day after, at the assembly of the princes, again expressed his will by one of his counselors, yet the princes debated a whole week so fiercely. . . . The College of Electors in their own chamber were divided, as I am in- formed, the three archbishops and the Alargrave of Branden- burg being of one opinion, which, however, did not entirely agree with ours. The Elector of Saxony and the Elector Pala- tine, who are both extremely obstinate, conducted themselves so senselessly that they left the session under loud protest, although they are bound to abide peaceably by the decision of the majority of their colleagues. The four electors announced their opinion [on February 19] by the mouth of the Margrave of Brandenburg, who is a master of both German and Latin. Many members of the chamber of princes agreed with them, shortly after which the other two electors announced that they would submit to the majority of their colleagues as they were legally bound to do. Because, however, of the great differences of the original opinions and because of the intrigues of the Saxon, the whole decision, which- should have been in our favor, turned out so crazily that it agreed neither with the views of the Elector of Saxony nor 311) A note which Aleander sent to Gattinara at this time expresses the same view: *'.Mthough I surmised that, if this matter were laid before the Diet, the princes and Estates would decline the proposition of the Emperor, or would postpone action, as one of the leading princes told me they would, still I am confident that such a wise statesman as the chan- cellor of Charles will not permit the position of his master, which is elevated far above any vote of the Diet, to become shaken, and the Pope, or, I should rather say, the pure faith of the Christian Church, to be cur- tailed; This I would urgently commend to the serious consideration of Your Magnificence." BAL, p. 65 f.; KDA, p. 65. THE CLASH IN THE ELECTORAL COUNCIL. 135 with the prc\ious proposals, so favorable to us, of the four electors. As far as we can learn, the four articles on which the whole Diet finally agreed were tendered to the Emperor in German. First, they thanked him for not promulgating, as he well might have done, an edict on his own authority, but that, by guarding the rights of the Empire, he had put himself in touch with them. Secondly, they warned him by no means to issue the edict we desired, as it would raise a storm of protest and give the people the excuse they wanted to rebel. The Emperor had shown prudence in having requested their opinion, for other- wise they would have seen a great conflagration in Germany. Thus they asserted their right of being consulted in this matter, although the Chancellor — God forgive him ! — had promised that this should not be. Thirdly, they declared it necessary that before the pro- mulgation of an edict Martin should be summoned under safe- conduct in order to ask him whether he had written these books, and to demand an immediate recantation of the articles touching the faith and the Sacraments. In case he refused, he should be considered heretic, and proceeded against as such after he had returned home from the Diet, as soon as he could be caught. All the princes would stake life and land on that. But these German princes gave the fine advice that he should be heard by imperial judges in a public debate on the articles con- cerning the power of the Pope and positive laws [of the Ger- man nation], only after which the edict could be issued. In this again can be seen the secret plan of the Saxon, who desires to draw the matter out. Many of the other princes may per- haps sincerely have held this bad decision to be the best; they do evil not from wickedness, but from short-sightedness. At the same time they keep on saying that they leave it all to His Imperial Majesty, and only warn him against the great indigna- tion which the promulgation of an edict contrary to their ad- vice would excite in the Empire. Finally, they prayed the Emperor to free them from the tyranny of Rome; taking this occasion to pour out all their wrath against us in a worse manner than I can say. After the Emperor had had their decision translated into French, he wisely answered that the grievances against the Roman Curia must not be confounded with Luther's cause, that is, with a question of the faith, and that he would write to the Pope in hopes that His Holiness would remedy such abuses as were really as represented. 136 THE CLASH IN THE ELECTORAL COUNCIL. The Emperor declared that under no circumstances would he allow a debate on the authority of the Pope and the Canon Law, but that, if Luther should come, he was only to be asked whether he had written the books, and, if he confessed that, whether he would maintain and defend what he had written contrary to the faith, the laws, and customs "which our fathers have in all points observed unto the present day." If Luther would recant, he, the Emperor, would take it upon himself to get papal absolution for him ; but if he obstinately adhered to his heresy, he was to be seized and punished as a heretic as soon as he had returned under safe-conduct to the place from which he had set out. Thereupon he summoned the counselors of all his nations together, and talked with them until ten o'clock in the evening. We awaited the announcement of their decision, but they did not reach an agreement because of the differences of opinion of the counselors, some of whom are secretly getting pensions from the Saxon Elector. Finally, the Emperor appointed a com- mission of the Archbishops and Bishops of Salzburg, Sion, Trieste, Palencia,'^^^) Tuy, the confessor [Glapion], and three doctors. They were to seek the way to satisfy God and the Pope, to guard the honor and duty of the Emperor, to pacify the princes, and quiet the people — if they could l^i^) The closing remarks in this letter are ironical and show the depths of the corruption in Aleander's heart. To satisfy God and the Pope is impossible, therefore — down with God ! The session of the Council of State at which the decision was reached to appoint a new commission took place upon a hurried call of the Emperor immediately upon receipt of the answers from the Diet : the four electors who had voted for issuing the mandate reported their action, the majority came to declare its dissent, and the other estates communicated their answer by messenger. The Council was composed of the' leading princes from all of the Emperor's domains. Its deliberations led to nothing but the appointment of a new commission. Aleander had been checked again. .312) Peter Ruiz de la Mota, Grand Almoner of Charles V. He died 1.522. 313) BAL, p. 68 ff.; KDA, p. 64 f.; SC, 1, 473 ff. THE DIET SAYS LUTHER SHALL COME ! 137 15. The Diet Says Luther Shall Come! In their reply to the Emperor's mandate the members of the Diet had made three points plain: 1) that they would not consent to the publication of the mandate; 2) that Luther must be given a fair hearing; 3) that the causes upon which the grievances of the Germans against papal misrule in their country were based, must be removed. These three issues were to be dealt with separately as follows : The new commission, appointed February 19, was to discuss the mandate and the citation of Luther. Aleander established ■connection with this commission through Cardinal Lang. However, he found the Cardinal vacillating; he reports to J^Iedici February 27 : — The Archbishop of Salzburg especially declared to us that he was not in favor of summoning Luther; however, since all the princes and estates would have it so, he saw no other pos- :sibility of a favorable outcome. At the same time he wished to ■obtain our view.^i*) We replied that in accordance with our commission we could not and must not permit a matter- decided by the decrees of the ■old councils and the sentence of the living Pope to be taken up again for discussion. Moreover, we referred to the scandal which might be created in the Christian Church by a citation 'of Luther, and, amongst other things, we also pointed out that, when the Emperor saw the writings of Luther, which in the judgment of all men are really abominable, condemned by the Pope, the only competent judge in this matter, it was his duty publicly to brand them as such, and to deal with Luther ac- cording to the statutes and laws. If from fear of the people he departed from the regular process, he might seek other ways and means, such as seemed best to him, but he must not in- fringe upon the authority of the Holy See, and with all his good intentions only make the matter worse. Accordingly, we are all in such a labyrinth this time that, verily, we do not know whether to go ahead or not; for if Martin comes, we may expect the worst. Thus, when we insist that he must not be summoned, since, by doing so, the imperialists would fail in their duty towards the Church, they always object to us that it is through our 314) The nuncii, Caraccioli and Aleander, acted jointly at this inter- view. 138 THE DIET SAYS LUTHER SHALL COME ! fault that the matter is still undecided, because our employers at Rome weigh issues not with the honest zeal which they re- quire, but according to the possible outcome. Hence every day we have to pass through fear and wrangling : when we make complaint to Chievres, the Chancellor, and others that the mat- ter has not been submitted to the Germans, they reply that the princes have already protested that they will not obey such a mandate, unless it is prepared agreeably to their decisions. True, Glapion and many other gentlemen declare that many princes and knights have had no knowledge of Luther's errors, but only of his scandalous attacks upon the Pope and the clergy, and, being caught in a rampant error, had become asso- ciated with the Lutheran traitors ; but they have now become completely changed and have returned to the true faith, since they have heard of the heresies which, as I proved before the Emperor and the Diet, Luther's writings contain. God knows how much truth there is in this. I only wish that, setting aside the Diet, the Emperor would have granted us the mandate after the decision of December 29 last year. May God pardon him [the Archbishop of Mayence], who had been entrusted with the preparation of the mandate, and who has caused the delay by his faint-heartedness. Of course, if after the remarkable session and decision of the princes we could still bring the matter to a happy finish, that would be a thousand times better; we would not have to raise a protest against the decision, and the utter destruction of the Lutheran hydra could then be predicted with certainty. Owing to my incessant appeals the Archbishop of Salzburg has now made up his mind so to alter the document that no ob- jection either from the princes or from the people need be feared, and yet the result which we desire will be achieved. Accordingly, last night the mandate was completed in Ger- man, and very early this morning the Archbishop showed it to me. Spiegel-'l5) was ordered to translate the mandate into Latin, and to submit it to me before any of the commission- ers might get to see it. But this has not been done ; however, from four o'clock till the present hour, half past eight in the evening, they are deliberating upon it at the lodging of the Bishop of Sitten. I shall try to obtain information early to- morrow morning, and see what can be done. Thus our affairs proceed in an uncertain manner and are hourly subject to change. No human genius could point out a means of saving our cause. On all sides we meet with ob- 315) The secretary whom Aleander had bribed. THE DIET SAYS LUTHER SHALL COME ! 139 stacks and personal animosities. If the Emperor were not so well disposed, we should have to give up the game. Although it is not easy to discover the cause that is at the base of the existing conditions, still it has become clear to me to a great extent, but before my removal from Germany I dare not make a report of these unheard-of matters. They are of such a nature that no one would believe them. But it is dangerous to em- body them in a written report. Nor would my communicating them change the course of events that break my heart, when I reflect that this treatment affects, not me, but God, our faith, and the Holy Father. I -urgently request Your Lordship to consider my account of the situation the only correct one ; and, for God's sake ! be careful not to communicate to others my report of the clash among the electors and princes while I am still sojourning in lands under their jurisdiction. For when some one here dropped a remark about the affair, they became greatly excited and wanted to know who was spreading their secrets. You know they are only seeking an opportifliity for laying hands on some one — and I would be the first one to suffer blows — or for new wrangling by which they hope to delay the execution of my orders. In conclusion, I assure Your Holiness that we are endeavor- ing to discharge our duties with the utmost fidelity and zeal. Caraccioli and Monsignor Raphael never tire in their support of the measures which I have adopted in this matter. It would be unbecoming in me to speak of my person ; I only mention that my state of health is so low that I am afraid that I shall have to sacrifice my life in this cause. That would not be sur- prising, indeed ; for the task is an altogether extraordinary and dangerous one, and the world seems metamorphosed. Besides, the immense burden of pubHc addresses and private conversa- tions, the gathering and disseminating of information, debates, and similar measures that are necessary have been loaded on me. God's will be done. May He guide His cause, and protect our Holy Father, His true vicegerent, and Your Lordship 3i6) The Courier did not start at once with the foregoing letter, and Aleander gave him another dispatch, dated Feb- ruary 28, which explains to some extent the mysterious trans- actions of the <;ommission. Before sunrise I conferred with Chievres, who informed me that the Emperor earnestly desired to see order brought into the Lutheran affair. When I dilated on the evil effects of this 316) EAL, pp. 74-7; KDA, pp. 70-3; HAL, p. 144 f. 140 THE DIET SAYS LUTHER SHALL COMe! tardy process and on the danger which this heresy held for the Christian Church and for every commonwealth, he repeatedly expressed the opinion that he could control the movement with- out great difficulty, if only the Emperor's policy were followed. In doing this one need not utterly disregard the resolution passed by the German princes. This was the third or fourth time that he told me that in his opinion the movement was not as hard to conquer as all claimed. On the other hand, the Chancellor considers a campaign for the suppression of the heresy futile without the aid of the Council. "The fates are against us" — ^that is his standing evasion. Glapion thinks he sees even now everything going up in smoke. The princes are full of indecision, the prelates full of fear; nobody knows a way how to meet this heresy ; even those who fear Luther speak in his favor. Next I went to the Bishop of Sitten, in whose lodging the conference took place yesterday. I cannot get out of him all that was decided, but I know from a reliable source that in the same mandate they intend to order the destruction of Luther's books and his citation, the latter of which is to be for the pur- pose of asking him whether he wrote the condemned books, and whether he intends to defend them. The rest is as I reported yesterday. The Bishop of Tuy told me that so far the man- date exists only in a German draft, and when I inquired about the mode of their deliberations, he told me that concerning each article they were hearing various opinions, and then took them up for discussion. They finally gave the draft to Spiegel this morning; he is to translate it into Latin and communicate it to me.si") If they will only do this ; but I fear they will form their decision before we shall be able to inspect the mandate. It seems that, contrary to the Emperor's orders, and to my disgust and his own, Glapion has been excluded from these deliberations ; he advised me to-day about noon to be on my guard lest the imperialists spoil the edict, by mixing up one issue with the other and, under the pretext of citing Luther, allowing nothing to be done. He says he never saw such a confusion ; everybody was talking at the same time, and all be- lieved that the end of the world had come, but nobody was able to form a decision. In one hour everything seemed to be set- tled, in the next some little circumstance would upset every- thing. God alone can point the way out of this labyrinth. This morning at eight Caraccioli, Monsignor Raphael, and I entered the Emperor's audience room and waited for him 317) That is, the Latin draft. THE nXET SAYS LUTHER .SHALL rOME! 141 two whole hours,' while he was upstairs in the Council of State, where he stayed a long time. During this time Elector Joachim advised us under no condition to consent to the citation of Luther, as that would cause the most distressing scenes ; he said he knew the mind and intentions of these princes and estates. May God protect us in this vast danger ! When the King came down, he seemed very morose, most likely on ac- count of the evil reports that had come in from Spain. Still, after Caraccioli and I had a'ddressed him, he promised to take the matter up in the afternoon, and when I pictured to him the sad state of affairs that had resulted from the procrastinations of the last two months, he promised to do his utmost to establish order. But he did not appear as determined as formerly, though all are forced to admit what I firmly believe, via., that he desires with all his heart the extinction of the heresy. However, his confidential agents are delaying the decision. Heaven knows for what reasons. It seems to me that they have a greater re- gard for men than for God, and that from the straitened con- dition of the Church they intend to draw some advantage for their worldly politics.^l*) In these dispatches the victorious orator of Ash Wednes- day is a thoroughly humibled individual. His pious reflec- tions on the interposition of Providence and his godly sorrow over the wickedness of mingling Church and State, coming from such a source, have a comic effect. But what had happened that closed all doors to the councils of the Diet tight against Roman eavesdropping and interlopers? The message that had arrived from Spain stated that the revolt of the Commnncros in Castile had been greatly strengthened by the accession of the mighty Duke of Salvatierra and by the revohitionary activities of the bold, crafty, and ambitious Acunna, Bishop of Zamora. Charles had requested the Pope to depose this seditious and sacrilegious prelate, who was pillaging Spanish sanctuaries and using the spoils for advancing his political schemes ; but he had failed to obtain what he had asked for. The Bishop's gold had purchased powerful friends for him at Rome, who balked the aims of Charles. The Bishop was now attempting to wrest to him- self the archiepiscopate of Toledo and therewith the primacy 318) BAL, pp. 78-80; KDA, pp. 74-6; HAL, p. 145 ff. 1-1.2 THE DIET SAYS LUTHER SHALL COME ! of Spain, and with the aid of France he hoped to obtain the papal confirmation. Nor was this all ; a revolution was in progress also in Valencia, and this disturbance had gained a terrific impetus in February and was spreading to Andalusia, Aragon, Mallorca and Saragossa. Rome was connected with all these seditious enterprises, hoping thereby to curb the excessive power of Charles and to make him pliant to Vatican diplomacy. The papal scheme produced the yery opposite effect in Charles and his ministers. The revised edition of the man- date emerged from Lang's commission some time during the afternoon of February 28. It advised the burning of Luther's books and his citation.^^^) The Emperor immedi- ately called a meeting of the Diet for March 1 at noon, and submitted three questions : 1 ) ^^'hen and to what place shall Luther be summoned? The Emperor preferred not to have him summoned to Vorms, but to Frankfort or to some other place in the neighborhood. 2) Are manifestly heretical books of Luther to be burned or suppressed at once? 3) In case Luther would disregard the citation and refuse to recant his heretical books, will the Estates be ready to proceed against him as a manifest heretic by publishing a mandate? At the same time the Emperor gave an oral and, on the next day, a written reply to the opinion which the Diet had expressed to him February 19, and promised Luther a fair hearing and a safe-conduct. As regards the grievances against the Roman See, the Emperor requested that they be submitted in writing, and promised that he would gra- ciously receive and deliberate upon them with the Diet. In this session on Friday, March 1, the Estates did no more than receive the Emperor's communication ad referendum, for further deliberation. The revised mandate was discussed by them in the session on Saturday, IMarch 2. The citation of Luther for a fair hearing under an imperial safe-conduct was promptly accepted. Regarding the mandate the con- sensus of opinions voiced was : First let Luther be heard 319) FNU, I, pp. 58-61. THE DIET SAYS LUTHER SHALL COME ! 143 before any decision is reached regarding a mandate. Tlie Estates asked for four to five days to deliberate on this question. The temper of the Diet in these days is reflected in a letter of Spalatin to Lang at Erfurt. He writes on March 8:— The cause of the Gospel and Luther is much agitated, but it is remarkable what agreement on the man there is among clergy and laity, princes and people, albeit I hear that most of the clergy are passive, not wishing to resist the Pope. Satur- day of last week the Emperor had a document read against our Luther and his followers, to be published, and to say that he will be summoned either here or elsewhere to recant the doc- trines which his little professors have told him are heretical ; I know not what will happen. God helping us we shall see ; meantime let us pray for the safety of the whole Church. 1 do not think our Elector need be bothered about writing letters in Luther's behalf to the town council and people of Erfurt, For Luther will be safe, even though all the enemies of the Gospel are unconquered.^^o) LTnder the pressure of his clerical advisers, who protested against further procrastination, the Emperor granted the Diet until . March 5 to come to a decision regarding the mandate. The Estates met — and declined to act on the mandate. Duke William of Bavaria was so fully convinced that nothing would be done to Luther before he had received a hearing at the Diet that he dispatched a special messenger to his domains with orders to stop all persecutions of Lutherans. The decision of the Diet was communicated to the Emperor at eight o'clock on the morning of March 6, and he accepted it immediately, and ordered the citation of Luther and a safe-conduct to be prepared. The place where Luther was to appear had also been settled by the Diet: it was to be Worms.' With supreme relish, almost with avidity, the Diet took up the Emperor's suggestion to compile grievances against the Curia. A commission was appointed, composed of spiritual and secular electors and princes, which was to collect the grievances. On this one issue the hitherto sluggish, indif- 330) SC, 1, 489. 144 ALEANDER TRIES TO ARRANGE LUTHER's JOURNEY TO WORMS. ferent, reluctant Diet became enthusiastically active. Nearly every member worked on some report of a grievance, and the rooms of the Commission on Grievances were crowded from early morning till late at night. The Commission, too, worked with a will ; it did not stop gathering evidence until one hundred and two gravamina were collected, which faithfully mirror to the reader the religious and social condi- tions of Germany on the eve of the nation's break with Rome. The index of the gravamina alone fills four columns in Walch.-''-^) These grievances were not redressed at Worms, but they are for the next years the corpus delicti with which the German nation confronted the saintly high- binders at the Tiber whom it was trying at its own tribunal. 16. Aleander Tries to Arrange Luther's Journey to Worms. The Acts of the Diet record that immediately after deciding to summon Luther, the Emperor importuned Elector Frederick to issue the . citation on his own authority, because for the Emperor to address a letter to a condemned heretic seemed unbecoming and would put the Emperor in bad odor with other nations. The Emperor's Catholic con- science and reputation were put to a severe test by the cita- tion. What would Charles's Spanish subjects, especially the clergy, what would Francis I of France, his bitter enemy, what would Henry VIII of England say? How could they not exploit this imperial act to break down the young mon- arch's influence and sully his fair name! And not only the Emperor, but every Romanist felt disgraced by the imperial summons to i^uther. Lazarus Spengler drastically describes the disgust of the Papists at Worms by saying that the citation of the heretic was more unpalatable to them than 381) XV, 1730-79. ALEANDER TRIES TO ARRANGE LUTHER's JOURNEY TO WORMS. 14S Eiiibeck beer to the Italians, and had queered every stop in Alcander's organ. True to his policy of non-interference, the Elector declined isuing the citation ; not he, but the Empire, he said, was summoning Luther. Moreover, he pleaded that if any- thing should happen to Luther, the blame would be put on the Elector."--' The Emperor had to quaff the bitter cup that his German Diet had filled for him, and the draft was not made sweeter to him by any means when his ambassador at Rome wrote to him on March 20 : — The Pope urges me to remind Your Majesty in every letter I write that you should not treat the affair concerning Martin Luther lightly. Some of the cardinals complained in consistory that Your Majesty had ordered Martin Luther into your pres- ence, saying that you had thereby arrogated to yourself a juris- diction belonging to the Holy See. I exculpated you. The Pope said that he had been informed that Your Majesty was ill ad- vised when you decided to see Martin Luther, "who would not be well received even in hell." His Holiness begs Your Maj- esty not to forget your obligations towards God, the Church, and himseIf.^-3) The Curia was furious when Aleander reported the unheard-of event of March 6. The recall of Aleander as an inefficient agent had been under consideration for some time, because of the doleful dispatches the nuncio was send- ing, and because his enemies at Worms were sending unfavorable reports about his conduct to Rome. Aleander had been able to avert the disgrace of his life by describing, v.-ith a fair degree of truthfulness, the tremendous amount of work which he was doing day and night for Rome, and by pointing out that his recall would only b? playing into the hands of Rome's enemies, and would not improve the situa- tion. A new agent could not hope to become master of the situation at this juncture at once, and the Diet might be adjourned before he had found his bearings, while he, Aleander, with his accumulated knowledge and abundant ^22) The documents on this episode from Cyprian's Nuctsliche Urknnden (11, 211) are found in X\^ 1784 f. 323y SC, 1, 498. DAU, TRIBUNAL OF CAESAR. 10 146 ALEANDER TRIES TO ARRANGE LUTHER's JOURNEY TO WORMS. experience, might still snatch victory from defeat. The Curia saw the wisdom of this argument and soothed the agitated nuncio by new marks of its favor. And now there had to come this resolution that Luther must be brought to Worms ! It was a terrible blow to Aleander, However, he made up his mind to yield no more ground than he was compelled to, and to fight to the last ditch. The citation of Luther was irrevocably settled; the resolution cculd not be revoked. But Aleander proposed to have the citation put in such formidable terms that Luther would decline to obey it. Aleander kept in closest touch with the imperial chancellery. On March 8 he was shown a citation that was so plainly deterrent that Aleander felt sure Luther would not come. He was also glad to hear that a common courier would carry the message to Wittenberg, and the starting of the citation from Worms would not be made a great state event. Still it might be possible that this dare- devil monk would obey the summons after all. Aleander prepared for that eventuality. He began to map out the itinerary and travel program for Luther. The heretic must be brought to Worms with the greatest secrecy ; at all places through which he must pass the people must be prevented from coming in contact with him. On his arrival at Worms he must be locked up in the Bishop's Palace, or in a trust- worthy monastery, and no suspected persons must be per- mitted to communicate with him. The Emperor's counselors promised Aleander to assign Luther a lodging at the Augustinian cloister, and to place a guard at its entrance. This arrangement, however, seemed suspicious to Aleander, because the Augustinians might favor their brother Augus- tinian, Luther, too much. His suspicion was greatly increased when he learned that the departure of the mes- senger who was to carry the citation to Wittenberg was being delayed from day to day, and that instead of a common courier a herald of the Empire was to be sent with the citation, and last, not least, that the threatening citation prepared by Aleander had been changed into a very cour- ALEANDER TRIES TO ARRANGE LUTHER's JOURNEY TO WORMS. 147 teous one. When Aleander complained of these changes, he was told that the courteous style of the citation was the ordinary style used by the imperial chancellery, and to send a threatening citation would have meant to warn Luther not to come. Aleander discovered that he was being- shut out from the councils of the great, and that all his sources of information were beginning to fail him. He rightly connected this change of attitude against him with the report which had just reached Worms that Robert de la Mark had started the French war against Charles V by an incur- sion into Flanders. Still undaunted by these disappointments, Aleander now tried to have a mandate issued on the Emperor's personal responsibility for the burning of Luther's books. He calcu- lated that this mandate, posted all along Luther's route of travel, would scare Luther from starting on his journey, or induce him to turn back if he had already started. This mandate seemed all the more necessary to Aleander, since Caraccioli had told him of a conversation with the ministers of the Emperor in which the latter stated Luther would only be asked to recant certain dogmatic statements, but not his attacks on the Pope. The Emperor, to make an impression on his enemies at Paris, London, and Rome, who were ready to denounce him as an enemy of the Church, was ready to issue the mandate, and ordered his ministers to prepare the document. Aleander helped in the preparation, and, when the document was ready, reported to Rome: "What a beautiful mandate had I prepared in Latin, exactly after my own heart ! And the commission which was to pass on it had endorsed it ten times !" The mandate changed Luther's citation into a simple summons to come to Worms and recant. But once more Aleander was balked; the ministers of Charles V argued that after the adverse vote on the mandate in the Diet the Emperor risked too much by issuing it on his own authority, and that some deference must be shown the Diet. Accordingly, the paragraphs lauding the zeal of the Pope and those denouncing Luther in harsh 148 ALEANDER TRIES TO ARRANGE LUTHER's JOURNEY TO WORMS. terms, which Aleander had inserted, were eliminated, and the order to burn Luther's books was changed into an order that his books be sequestered by the magistrates until further orders from the Emperor. This was done in order to identify the Diet to a certain extent with the mandate, because it could be said now that the Emperor had considered the wishes of the Diet in fixing the terms of the mandate. Aloreover, at the time when the imperial mandate in its toned- down form was communicated to the Diet as a piece of inforriiation, the Diet was deliberating on Charles's Rom- fahrt, the customary journey of German Emperors to Rome for presentation and solemn inauguration inio office by the Pope. Since the expenses for this journey had to be borne by the German nation, it was not politic to rouse the Diet's resentment b}' the Emperor's mandate. Even in its mild form the mandate disgusted the Diet ; the Saxon Elector heard it with eloquent silence ; the knights and estates denounced it as a base Italian trick. Luther always declared it a breach of his safe-conduct. Aleander came to be more detested in those days than ever before. His letters are overflowing with descriptions of the personal dangers to which he is constantly exposed, and of the vile literature that is being published against him and Rome by the two printing-presses that had been set up in the city. He forwards copies of this literature to Rome, among them a German litany sung in mockery and scorn by Germans during Lent in 1521.^24) Aleander scored a momentary triumph over the printers and booksellers of Worms ; for when the news of the Emperor's mandate against Luther's books began to circulate, the booksellers hurriedly packed up their stock and removed it to a safe place. Aleander's efforts received another check. He had the printing of the mandate started at once, and even reported to Rome that the mandate had come off the press. But now the publication was stayed by Charles's ministers, and as soon as this was known, three wagonloads of Luther's 324) See Appendix. THE CITATION TO WORMS. 149 writings were brought into Worms, and the trade in Luther's books flourished more greatly than ever. The reason for the new order was that the Emperor had been taken seriously ill. He had been in feeble health during the greater part of bis stay at sickly Worms, and while inspecting three horses which the Duke of Mantua had presented to him, had con- tracted a severe cold. He was confined to his room till March 19. The herald with the citation to Luther had already left Worms when the Emperor was able to be up and about. Aleander was utterly perplexed ; not until March 26 did he obtain permission to publish the mandate. On that day the herald entered Wittenberg. Aleander's anxieties, hopes, fears, and disappointments during these days have been described in a digest of the news in his dispatches to Medici in the Appendix. The only pleasing event that came to him in thes^ days of distress was to the effect that a certain well-known lady in Rome, who had served several gentlemen with the same surprise before, was preparing to declare Aleander the father of her latest child. 17. The Citation to Worms. On Tuesday during Holy Week, March 26,^2r,) tjjgre rode into Wittenberg the special imperial messenger that brought to Luther the summons to appear before the Diet. Kaspar Storm (Sturm), surnamed "Deutschland," the bearer of the citation, is the same gentleman whom we saw em- broiled in the quarrel over the oration of Faber at the 325) Cordatus (1731) names March 25 as the day. and Walch (XV, 2123) even March 28. The imperial safe-conduct was for twenty-one days after the delivery of the summons. Luther arrived at Worms April 16, the very day when his safe-conduct expired. Storm had left Worms for Wittenberg March 16, and had reached Wittenberg in ten days. Luther's journey to Worms required twelve days. To date the delivery of the summons sooner than March 26 would leave the last days of Luther's journey uncovered by the safe-conduct, and we Hear of no charge against Luther that he had broken its terms. March 26 is given as the date in Colloquia, ed. Bindseil II, 439; III, ISO, and in Tischreden, ed. Foer- stemann, Mr. 2609, IV, 348. 150 THE CITATION TO WORMS. funeral of Cardinal de Croy.^^") jjg ^^s an honored citizen of Oppenheim, and the fact that he was sent on this mission as a "herald of the Empire" reflected considerable distinction on the citation of Luther. It caused the citation to appear as a great affair of state. But this was not the only reason why Aleander was disconcerted over the choice of such a mes- senger ; the papal nuncio remembered that Storm had boldly voiced sentiments decidedly hostile to the Roman clergy and plainly favorable to Luther.^^T) Aleander scented treachery in the choice of such an outspoken friend of Luther as official guide and protector to the heretic on his journey to Worms. In a letter to Medici of April 15 he expresses his grief and suspicions : — This is the same herald who in the Emperor's hall drew his sword against a retainer^^S) gf the Bishop of Sion, when the man defended, the papal prerogative against the monk John Faber of Augsburg. The last-named, in his funeral oration for the Cardinal de Croy, reviled the Holy See, unmindful of the many favors shown him by the Pope. This herald is an im- pudent fool and clown, a bitter foe to the clergy, and just the man to invent the story of some miracle done by Martin on this journey, or an appearance of the Holy Ghost over his head, as is already represented in his pictures. And although, as a world-famous liar, the herald deserves no credence, yet the whole populace is possessed of such a passion for Luther that they would believe the devil himself, — who, by the way, rules them all, — if he spoke well of Luther. As the imperialists ob- stinately concealed from us the name of the herald and the time of his departure, we could not hinder the choice of such a man. They were probably afraid that we should try to bribe the herald to frighten Luther from coming, which they then, as I previously related, greatly desired, but which they now regret. Or else they feared we might waylay Luther; but both their suspicions were absolutely false. The fact is that for a 386) See chap. 8 in this book. 327) In 1530 Justus Jonas, in a letter from Augsburg to Luther, writes his name *'J. Sturm" and calls him "our herald and guide to the Diet of Worms." He reports that Storm is at that time with him at Augs- burg, and "is speaking of Luther in jnost respectful terms." XXIa, 1540. 328) A certain Michael Sander, Doctor of Law, who had studied at Bologna, and was now secretary to Matthew Schinner, Cardinal of Sion. THE CITATION TO WORMS. 151 long time we could not by any way learn anything on the two points aforenientioned.829) Storm delivered to Luther the following letter of the Emperor : — Charles, by God's grace Emperor-elect.^^") at all times Aug- menter of the Realm,33i) etc. Honorable, Dear, and Pious Sir ! As we and the Estates of the Holy Empire, here assembled, have purposed and decided to obtain information about the doctrine and books which have been issued by you some time ago, we have given, and hereby send you, our and the Empire's free and straight safe-conduct to come hither and return hence to your safe domicile. We desire that you start promptly, so as to be with us here without fail within the twenty-one days fixed in our safe-conduct ;332) and that you do not stay away from fear of any violence or wrong. For we shall strictly hold you to this our safe-conduct, and absolutely rely on your coming. By so doing you will act in accordance with our serious purpose. Given in our and the Empire's city of Worms, on the sixth day of the month of March, 1521. Charles. [seal] Signed by the command of the Emperor : Albert Cardinal of Mayence, Arch-Chancellor, with his own hand. Nicholas Ziegler.sss) The imperial safe-conduct stated : — We, Charles the Fifth, by God's grace Roman Eraperor- elect, at all times Augmenter of the Realm of Germany, Spain, both Sicilies; Jerusalem, Hungary, Dalmatia, Croatia, etc., King, Archduke of Austria and Duke of Burgundy, Count of Haps- burg, Flanders and Tyrol, etc., — Declare that, inasmuch as we have for good reasons invited Martin Luther of the Augustinian Order hither to Worms, we 389) BAL, p. 139 f . ; KDA, p. 130 f . ; SC, 1, 519.— This letter shows that Aleander had kept himself closely informed on Luther's activities during his journey; for reports of miracles that had occurred on that journey were current at the time. 330) Altfiough he had been crowned at Aix, Charles still calls himself "elected" Roman Emperor, because he had not yet been crowned by the Pope, which was done at Bologna in February, 1530, SC, 1, 483. 331) This title -was assumed by the emperors to show their zeal for increasing the imperial territory (Mehrer des Reichs). It was recently applied to Francis Joseph on his annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. For the same reason the title "Augustus" was assumed by Philip of France, because he thought it was derived from augeo, and indicated that he had enlarged the kingdom, SC, 1, 182. 332) Reckoned from the day on which the herald handed Luther the summons, March 27. 333) XV, 1V86 f.; EB, 3, 101 f . ; SC, 1, 482 f. 152 THE CITATION TO WORMS. have to that end given and promised to him our and the Holy Empire's free and straight safe-conduct, and by virtue of our imperial ]\Iajesty we publish this fact by means of this letter. Accordingly, within one-and-twenty days after the delivery of this letter, he is to come hither to Worms, and there await our and the Diet's action, and then to return henfe to his safe place uninjured and unhindered by us and by all men. By this letter we earnestly command all Electors and Princes, spiritual and temporal. Prelates, Counts, Barons, Lords, Knights and their attendants. Captains, Provosts, Bailiffs, Wardens, Lieutenants, Officers, Judges, Burgomasters, Justices, Counselors, Citizens and Commons, and all other our and the Empire's loyal sub- jects in whatever office, station, or condition they may be, and desire that they maintain inviolate this safe-conduct for the said Martin Luther, to escort him, and have him escorted, on his journey hither and back; and, on the other hand, that they do not injure or grieve him, nor permit any one else to do so in any way, under pain of our and the Empire's severe dis- pleasure and punishment. This letter gives notice of our earnest purpose. Given in our and the Empire's city of Worms, on the sixth day of ilarch, 1521, in the second year of our reign as Emperor and in the sixth of our other sovereignties. Charles. Signed at the command of the Lord Emperor: Albert Car- dinal of Mayence, .\rch-Chancellor. with his own hand. Nicholas Ziegler.ss-*) Duke George had added a safe-conduct of his own, dated JNlarch 8, "inasmuch as Doctor !N[artin's journey for a part of the way will be through our duchy," and "in order that he may arrive here the more speedily. ''^^^^ Elector Frederick and Duke John issued a safe-conduct March 12, in terms of the imperial document,^^'^) and the Elector added a letter, dated March 11: — In the name of God ! Greeting. Honorable, reverend, and learned, dear and pious Sir! We graciously inform you that His Imperial Majesty has requested us also to provide you with a safe-conduct. We send you herewith a written safe-conduct addressed to the officers, cities, and other subjects of our brother 334) XV, ITSr ff.; EB, 3. 102 ff.; SC, 1, 483 f. — The safe-conduct was formulated by Chievres. A'arillarius, De Educ. PrincipiSj Lib. VI, fin., and Seckcndorf, I. 89, p. I4V. 335) XV, 1790 f.; EB, 3, IDS f. 336) XV, 1789 f.; EB, 3, 110 f.; FNU, p. 64. THE CITATION TO WORMS. IS.'? und ourself, directing them to provide you and those who will be with you with sufficient escort through our dominions. His Imperial Ma.iesty also sends you a safe-conduct, and writes you as you will learn. We would not conceal this from you, for we are graciously inclined to you.33'^) At the same time the Elector instructed his counselors at Wittenberg, Heinrich von Einsiedeln and Christoph von Taubenheim, to see to it that the imperial herald, during his passage through the Elector's country, ''be not grieved by words, or acts, or in other ways; to appoint assistants for him, if he should request any, or if such should, to the counselors, appear necessary, and to expedite his business in every way."^''^) Luther had received advance information of his possible citation from Spalatin, who had sent him also Glapion's exceptions to his writings that had been submitted at the conferences with Brueck."^'') Luther answers his friend :\iarch 19:— I have received the articles they ask me to recant, with the list of things they want me to do. Doubt not that I shall re- cant nothing, as I see that they rely on no other argument than that I have written (as they pretend) against the usages and customs of the Church. I shall answer the Emperor Charles that if I am summoned solely for the sake of recantation, I shall not come, seeing that it is all the same as if I had gone thither and returned here. For I can recant just as well here if that is their only business. But if he wishes to summon me to be slain, and to hold me as an enemy of the Empire for such an answer, I shall ofifer to go. I will not flee, Christ helping me, nor abandon His Word in the battle. I am assuredly con- vinced that those bloody men will never rest until they slay me. I wish, however, if it were possible, that none but Papists should be guilty of my blood. We are plainly turned heathen again as we were before Christ, so firmly does Antichrist, that arch- trickster, hold the kingdoms of the world captive in his hand. The Lord's will be done. Meanwhile advise whomsoever you can not to take part in this council of the ungodly. . . .340) 337) XXIa, 342; EB, 3, 110; SC, 1,492 f. 338) FNU, p. 64. 339) See Appendix. 340) XV, 1724 f.; EB, 3, 113; SL, p. 110. 154 THE CITATION TO WORMS. The calm resolution which this letter breathes, to die rather than to yield an inch to the Romanists, is reflected in two letters which Luther wrote a few days later. In both these letters, moreover, he seeks to transfer his own spirit to the mind of his friends. The one is the letter to his friend Nicholas Hausmann of March 22, who had been called to a pastorate at Zwickau and had asked Luther's advice. This letter was reviewed in a previous chapter.^'*!) The other letter, written on Palm Sunday, March 24, was addressed to a correspondent whose identity is in doubt.^"'^' Greeting: "I do not write you"? It is your fault, reverend father. You are committing a twofold sin : first, because you have written me but once yourself ; secondly, because you have not sent a messenger who might carry a letter to you; and where could I, who am hidden away in this corner of the world, find a messenger? I do write you; and now I ask you also, together with your people, to pray, not for me, but for the Word of God. For I am unconcerned about myself, though many thousands — it is wonderful to relate ! — have become guilty of the warm blood that is still coursing in me. And that most holy adversary of Christ, the principal instigator and teacher of murderers, exerts his utmost strength to destroy me. Amen. The Lord's will be done. My Christ will give me the spirit to despise these servants of Satan while I am living, and to con- quer them when I am dying. — You are not sending your brother Peter any money, as he tells me ; see that you provide for him. There are no news from here. You wrote that all my writings were sold in your place. Moreover, you are informed sooner than I of the discussions at Worms concerning myself. They are working for my recantation of many articles ; but my re- cantation will be this ; Formerly I said that the Pope is the vicegerent of Christ. I now recant and say: The Pope is the adversary of Christ and an apostle of the devil. I am com- pelled to do this by that perfectly abominable and blasphemous bull by which they, manifestly condemn Christ.3'43) I The next morning the Marshal of the Empire, Ulrich von Pappenheim, entered Luther's room "with due rever- ence." Ominous name ! A Pappenheim had summoned Huss before Emperor Sigismund a hundred years before. The gentleman came to announce to Luther officially that at four o'clock in the afternoon he was to appear in the presence of the Emperor and the Estates of the Empire, to be told for what reason and to what end he had been summoned. The fateful moment, then, which had arrayed the members of the Empire against one another had arrived. Six hours still remained to Luther for collecting his thoughts, but even these were reduced by a call of distress that was sent him by Hans von Minkwitz, a Saxon noble- man, who was ill and wished Luther to shrive him. The excommunicated heretic did not shame the bold confidence of the knight, but went to him, heard his confession, and gave him the fSacrament. How did I,uther spend his time till four o'clock? Since we are absolutely without information on these hours of leisure, the field is open to speculation. A natural assump- tion is that Luther spent these hours in prayer and medita- tion. Nor is it unreasonable to assume that he was in con- sultation with Schurf, his legal adviser, with Spalatin, Brueck, and the Saxon counselors, regarding possible issues 419) X, 1420 fF. BEFORE THE CRISIS. 195 that might arise during his hearing. But since everything was problematical, since the Emperor had not published a program of the proceedings against Luther, it is unwar- ranted to speak of a well-thought-out plan or tactical move- ment that was carefully elaborated for Luther, and which he then carried out before the Diet with the skill of a vet- eran actor.'*^'') However, the Papists were busy preparing the program for Luther's trial. Aleander was not yet certain that Luther had arrived when he sent the following note to Glapion April 16:— There is a frequent rumor that Luther has already landed here. This leads me to fear that the Saxon Elector has to-day announced a meeting of the Diet in order that Martin may there pour forth his poison. Be pleased, therefore, to meet this eventuality with such obstacles as you can devise. For it is no trifle that is at stake, but something that concerns the Church of God, the authority of the Pontiff, and the honor or shame of your Emperor.*21) What else Aleander did appears from his report of April 17 to Medici:— Early this morning I conferred with the Confessor, in order to give directions agreeably to our purpose. Then in the palace, where they had as yet come to no decision on any question, I arranged that the Electors should be summoned before the Emperor at two o'clock in the afternoon, and the other princes and estates at four, and that then Luther, too, should appear, simply to answer the questions put to him, and not to be heard further. I myself wrote the orders in question, but they were not presented in our [Caraccioli's and Aleander's] name; for in our written overtures we have always been governed by the text of the bull, because it is not for us to choose another way, and in the end that is the best way which takes us to the goal.422) The conference at the palace was attended by both nun- cios, and by Gattinara and Glapion. Aleander does not tell the truth about the prominent part he played at this confer- ence. The proceedings were these : A resolution was sub- 4-20) This is the extreme view of Hausrath. HAL, pp. 246-8. 421) BAL, p. 142. 428) BAL, p. 145 f.; KDA, p. 135.; SC, 1, 625. 196 BEFORE THE CRISIS. mitted by Gattinara and Glapion jointly as to the procedure to be adopted by the Emperor in the trial of Luther. It was chiefly Glapion that formulated the resolution, which provided as follows : The nuncii are to enter a statement into the protocol of this meeting that the present resolution did not originate with them; however, if the Emperor wished to pursue this way, he might do so upon his own initiative. (This meant that the whole trial of Luther in an open ses- sion of the Diet was against the advice of Rome, and Rome would assume no responsibility for it.) The following is to be the mode of procedure : Well-intentioned and well-in- formed persons are to ask Luther by order of the Emperor whether he acknowledges the books that are circulating under his name as his ; if not, he is to give a written dec- laration to that effect. If he acknowledges them as his works, and after due admonition refuses to recant the articles condemned by the Pope, aS well as those which con- tain contradictions to the Creed, the Councils, the Decretals, etc., and also his abusive writing, the Emperor is to take measures against him without delay and without permitting any subterfuge. If Luther recants or interprets his writings in a fair Catholic sense, and abjures that view of his teach- ing which is current among the clergy and the people, he is to make a public declaration to that effect in a book and then to be restored to favor. If he disavows the authorship of some of the books ascribed to him, these are to be speci- fied in the protocol, and as to the rest the process afore described is to be followed. Meanwhile the books are to be sequestered, and later burned, or treated in accordance with a judicial decision that is to be rendered concerning them.*^^) Nor was this all. It was of considerable moment to find a reliable person to do the questioning of Luther in the Diet. Aleander found that person — by an adorable chance ! — for the man lived next door to him. He expresses his delight at this providential discovery to Medici: — 423) KDA, p. 135 i. Luther's first appearance before the diet. 197 Chance entrusted the duty of questioning Luther to the Official of Treves,*24) ^ learned and orthodox man, who is very conscientious in carrying out the apostolic and imperial man- dates. In Treves he burned the heretical books so thoroughly that not one was left. This truly excellent man, for whom God be praised, lives in the same house with me, in the very next room.*2S) This lucky find of Aleander cost the Curia a snug grati- ficasione, and Medici is promptly reminded not to delay send- ing a generous reward for Eck. The Curia understood, of course, that Aleander had held ' out this gratificasione to Eck when he providentially discovered this ruby of a faith- ful official of the Empire. The program as arranged had to be ready at two o'clock for the Electors' meeting. The Elector Frederick, when he heard Eck of Treves mentioned at this meeting as the per- son entrusted with the questioning of Luther, may have cal- culated that this official, being a subaltern of his friend. Archbishop Greiffenklau, would discharge his task in a fair and upright manner. He did not know that Eck had been providentially found and "gratificationized" by Aleander. Now, if Luther was prompted how to act at his hearing so as to thwart the scheme of Aleander and Glapion, the infor- mation necessary for that prompting must have come out of the Electors' meeting between two and four o'clock. It is, of course, possible that such information was conveyed to Luther, but there is no evidence that it was. 25. Luther's First Appearance Before the Diet. Marshal Pappenheim and Sturm, the herald, at the stroke of four o'clock, came to conduct Luther to the Bischofshof, 434) John Eck, or von Eck, or von der Ecken, not to be confounded with the theologian of Ingolstadt who debated with Luther at Leipzig, was a jurist of an old family of Treves, in which diocese he held various ecclesiastical preferments. In 1515 he was entrusted with a mission to Rome, and was now the lea(^ing minister of the Archbishop, who had general charge of Luther's case at the Diet. Eck was married m 1633, and died in 1524. 425) SC, 1, 626. 198 Luther's first appearjVnce before the diet. where the Emperor and his brother, Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, had their quarters. In the upper story of this huge building was a large hall, in which the sessions of the Diet were held. The street was jammed with people as Luther left the Hostel of the Knights of St. John. He got as far as the Swan Inn ; then his guides decided to take him to the Diet by a circuitous route. They passed through the inn where the Prince Palatine lodged, and went back to the rear of Luther's lodging, where the Knights had a garden that adjoined the city walls; Ihence they made their way over private paths into the Bischofshof. This was done "lest Luther be injured by the people," who had gathered in the street leading to the Emperor's quarters. Many, when they learned what was going on, came .running and wanted to enter the palace, but the guards forced them back. Many climbed on the roofs to see Doctor Martin.*^'^^ Luther had to wait in the lobby on the first floor till six o'clock before he was called upstairs. The Bischofshof, too, was crowded to the utmost, and as Luther forged his way through this congested mass of curious men, many a v.'ord of encouragement was addressed to him — "to be brave and intrepid, to act like a man, and not to be afraid of those who can kill the body only."*28) gg (.}jg Saxon official report relates.*29) It is possible that it was on this occasion that the re- nowned General George von Frundsberg, who attended the Diet, patted Luther on the shoulder as he passed through thes-door, and said to him : "Little monk, you are going forward to take up a position such as I and many a captain have not occupied in our most critical battles. If you are in the right and sure of your cause, go ahead in God's name, and be assured that God will not forsake you."*^*') 426) BAL, p. 146; KDA, p. 136; SC, 1, 536. 427) XV, 1918. 438) Matt. 10, 38. 439) Acta Lutheri Vormatias, published in May, 1531. 430) This story is published first, as an old tradition, in Cyriakus Spangenberg's Adelsspiegel (B, II, 54), in 1691. Luther's first appearance before the diet. 199 Luther entered the hall cheerfully. Aleander reports that he came in laughing. When he had reached the open space in front, he looked around and noticed Peutinger of Augsburg, who had been his host during the trial before Cajetan. Without the least embarrassment he greeted him, "Ah, Doctor Peutinger, are you here, too?""'-''^' .And now he began to survey, with self-possessed curiosity, the gor- geous scene before him, which Myconius has described : — There sat the Emperor with all the Electors in their majesty, surrounded by all the princes, bishops, and prelates of the Em- pire. The counts, lords, and knights were standing. When Luther had to come forward, there was such a congestion that halberdiers had to make a way for him with their lances, so that he might step before the Emperor. There were four car- dinals and legates from Rome present, not to mention other ambassadors, an innumerable throng, and many learned men.*^^) Aleander was indignant at Luther's careless ease ; he reported to Medici : — In the presence of the Emperor he was continually moving his head hither and thither, up and down. Aleander's view of a proper bearing for Luther on this occasion probably was that he ought to have crouched before the great Johnnies like a scared rabbit. The Emperor scrutinized Luther, and was disgusted. Aleander was de- lighted to be able to report: — Luther's appearance has had the most salutary consequences; for now the Emperor and almost all other persons recognize that he is a foolish, immoral, crazy man. At the very first glance the Emperor said, "He will never make me a heretic."*^^) As I,uther's eyes were roaming over the scenes before him, he noticed a collection of books, and looking closely, he relates : — There lay all my books in a row on a bench. Where they may have gotten them I do not know.*^*) It had cost Aleander much patient searching in book- stores to make that collection. 431) Kolde, Analecta, p. 60. 432) Histotia, etc., ed. Cyprian, p. 89. 433) BAL, p. 170; KDA, p. 158; SC, 1,553. 434) XV, 1878. 200 Luther's first appearance before the met. Next Luther was attracted by a pronounced Hebrew physiognomy — he was looking at Aleander. To the end of his life Luther insisted that the nuncio was a Jew. And now he is looking at the Emperor : a pale, immature youth, sitting among the somber Electors, the Spanish cour- tiers, and- the scarlet-robed cardinals, who were looking dag- gers at Luther. On a later occasion he said the Emperor was sitting "like an innocent lamb among swine and dogs, yea, among a host of demons."^^-') This sentiment does honor to I,uther's heart, but the Emperor did not deserve It ; for he was even at that time anything but "an innocent lamb.'' Presently Luther found himself casting about in his mind what would be a proper form for addressing the Emperor. Should he sav, "Most gracious Sir"? But that would not be true; for the Emperor had not acted like a gracious man to him on this journey to Worms. Luther's musings were cut short by Pappenheim, who opened the proceedings by reminding Luther that he must not speak a word except in answer to a question. An auspicious beginning, forsooth ! This was the gag which Aleander and Glapion had prepared for Luther; Pappenheim put it into Luther's mouth, and Eck was to take it out for a second to allow Luther to say yes or no. The Fiscal of Treves, Eck, now arose to examine Luther. Aleander had taken the place next to him, to stabilize him in his arduous task, and fill him with moral courage for his virtuous action. Aleander reported the scene which now followed thus : — He spoke to Luther as follows : "Martin Luther, the Em- peror and the Realm have summoned you hither that you may say and tell them whether you have composed these books," — for at the Emperor's order I had sent in twenty-five or more Lutheran books, — "and others which bear your name; and, sec- ondly, that you may let us know whether you purpose to de- fend and stand by these books."'*^^) 435) Erl. Ed. 24, 322. 436) BAL, p. 146; KDA, p. 136, 1, 526. luti-ier's first appearance before the diet. 201 The question had been put in Latin and was repeated in German. Luther relates: — I was about to say yes, when Doctor Jerome Schurf called with a loud voice: "Let the titles of the books be read!" The titles were read, and, lo ! the books were all mine.^^T) Aleander claimed to have sent to the Diet more than twenty-five books of Luther. Only nineteen titles were readi among them were the Appeal to the Christian No- bility, The Babylonian Captivity, Basis and Proof of All the Books Condemned by the Pope, Against the Bull of Antichrist, Of the Liberty of a Christian Man, and "some other Christian books which. were not polemical. "*38) ^s^jg. ander himself was the party that read the titles to the Diet, and his reading was in part a burlesque performance, and exhibited his ignorance of Luther's writings. For instance, the title of Luther's treatise against Eniser he read_,with an Italian pronunciation, thus: "Ahn den botsh" (An den ©och^Book) : Luther's Sermon on Usury he introduced thus : "A sermon on which there is a picture of a man with a rod."«9) Aleander was closely watching the Emperor during these proceedings and picked up another ingenious remark of the youthful sovereign, vis., that he would never believe that the monk had written all those books. Aleander prized this remark of Charles the more highly because it coincided with .a notion that had become fixed in his own mind;^*"' in fact, it*is not unreasonable to conjecture that the notion had been •grafted on Charles's mind by Aleander. Luther now began his answer. Clearly and precisely he repeated Eck's two questions. To the first he replied that all these books were by him, and he would always acknowl- edge them as his own. In reporting this answer, Aleander adds indignantly :— 437) XV, 1878. 438) The complete list is given in Monumenta Reformat, Lutheran, (p. 183) by Peter Balan, the custodian of the Secret Archives of the Vatican. 439) RA, 548. 440) BAL, p. 163; KDA, p. 152; SC, 1, 544 f. 202 Luther's first appearance before the diet. This was a lie ; for every one knows that some of the books have other authors, although they go under Martin's name.**l) The second question Luther analyzed, saying that it de- manded of him either to maintain all these writings equally or to recant everything that was considered heretical. Care- fully weighing his words, he said : — Since this question concerns the Creed, the salvation of souls, and the Word of God, which is the sublimest matter in heaven and on earth, duly to he revered by all, it would be presumptuous and dangerous for me to make an ill-con- sidered statement ; for I might rashly and thoughtlessly de- clare and assert as certain cither less than the matter before me requires or more than comports with the truth. In either case I should come under the verdict which Christ laid down when He said; "Whosoever shall deny Me before men, him zvill I also deny before My Father which is in heaven."^^^^ Accordingly, I pray Your Imperial Majesty, ivith the utmost devotion and humility, to give m,e time to consider, in order that, without detriment to the Word of God and zvithout jeopardizing the salvation of my soul, 1 may return a right answer to the question proposed to me. This is the answer of which Hausrath believes that it was carefully prepared and studied beforehand. His whole argument rests on the logical cogency and the immediate effect of this answer on Luther's adversaries. As if Luther could not think and speak with logical precision except after careful preparation ! The answer created indeed the utmost confusion in the ranks of the Papists ; for according to their maneuver Luther was to be inveigled into saying either \cs or no. In either event his case would have been settled in a trice, and he would have been sent back on his way to Wittenberg that evening. For this answer they were not prepared ; it fell among them like a bomb, and a panic seized them. The meeting of the Diet was momentarily broken up; while I,uther's answer was being tranfslated to the Emperor, 441) BAL, p. 146; KDA, p. 137; SC, 1, 526. 442) Matt. 10, 33. Luther's first appearance before the diet. 203 eager conversations were begun throughout the hall. The Electors retired for a private consultation, the princes and the representatives of cities withdrew likewise. The papistic party was in an awful predicament: they might talk about undue delay, procrastination, subterfuge, etc., as much as they pleased, they might gnash their teeth in impotent rage, still they could not overcome the general conviction that fairness demanded that Luther's request be granted. Aleander thought that he saw in Luther's answer a deep scheme of the Elector, and hinted that the object was to open a debate on Luther's teaching in the next session of the Diet. Eck spoke of juristic tricks. It was all of no avail : the agreement was reached that Luther should be given twenty-four hours to consider his answer. Eck had to make the announcement to Luther. He did it in a most ungracious and insulting manner, but to the de- light of Aleander. With no attempt to conceal his irrita- tion or to repress his anger, he began to chide Luther for not being ready to give a decent answer, when he had known all this time for what purpose he had been summoned to the Diet. This was unjust; for Luther had never been told that he was cited only to recant. Eck continued: Although this fresh delay would increase the danger to which the faith of believers had been exposed, and would scandalize the Church still more, still His Majesty, out of pure imperial goodness, had granted lAither's request, and he would be given another hearing to-morrow. He must give his answer orally, not in writing. The object was to limit the publicity that might be given to Luther's answer, and to shorten the proceedings at the next meeting. By order of the Emperor — so Aleander reports — Eck concluded his announcement with an unctuous admonition to Luther to employ the time granted him for serious reflection on the enormity of his offense against the Holy vSee and the appalling heresies which he had disseminated. Luther was also reminded that if the offense which he had given were not removed, a conflagration might be started which neither his recantation 204 ON THE EVE OF THE GREAT DAY. nor the authority of the Emperor would be able to put out.-'*^) After this pious harangue Caspar Sturm took charge of Luther and conducted him to his lodging. 26. On the Eve of the Great Day. The cheerful mien with which Luther had entered the Diet had vanished while Eck addressed him. Aleander, who noticed everything, reported to Rome that Luther had not been "cosi allegro," so spirited, when he left the hall. Others had the same impression. Xo wonder, Luther was chafing under the undeserved rebuke and unwarranted ad- monition of his prosecutor, to which ne was not permitted to reply. He would have been silly if he had smiled at the irreverent language in which Eck shamelessly abused him, and prejudged his case. A feeling of disappointment at Luther's conduct was gejieral among the knights in the assembly, who had ex- pected a great feat of heroism from Luther, some daring charge on the Papists that would have enraged them, cre- ated a tumultuous scene in the Diet, and furnished them a welcome opportunity for releasing the anger which they had stored up in their hearts against the Roman brood that had stripped many of them of their possessions. Philip Fuersten- berg, the representative of the city of Frankfort, reported that Luther had spoken in a rather low voice and listlessly, and that he had not been well understood, even not by those near him : he had seemed abashed and terrified. The dele- gate from Strassburg sent home a similar report. There is a psvchological explanation for these impressions. People reading a book filled with powerful arguments and written in an aggressive style are apt to picture to themselves the author of such a book as a person of gigantic proportions, in whom e\ery element of strength has been developed in 44S) E.\L, p. 147; KDA, p. 13S;.SC, 1, 527. ON THE EVE OP THE GREAT DAY. 20S an extraordinary degree. Such people are disappointed when they meet the author and find that he does not correspond to the ideal portrait which their imagination had made of him. Luther's voice was clear and of fair volume, but it never was strong- and sonorous. Moreover, Luther had no reason to raise his voice when answering the questions addressed to him. He was not addressing the assembly, but speaking to the Emperor who had summoned him. Here is another psychological explanation : many of those present had come expecting to see a great dramatic spectacle. Luther had not come in such a spirit, and he did not "play to the gal- leries." He simply tended to the business before him, and that, moreover, was of such a nature, especially when he framed his second answer, as to subdue temper and to make his speech halting, because of his effort to be careful of what he was saying. Besides, there was never perfect quiet in the surging crowd in the hall that ilight, and Fuerstenberg had a place in the rear of the hall, as he states himself. It is really remarkable that he heard as much as he reported. But he had not actually heard all that he reported. He says that Luther in his first answer had spoken deprecatingly about his books, saying "he could not deny that they were his," and in the second answer he had appealed to the Em- peror's pity: "for God's sake to give him a little time to consider." Now, these are not facts; none of those sitting near Luther, the secretaries of the Diet, Peutinger, and Ale- ander himself, have reported them. And most unfavorable to Fuerstenberg's credibility is the fact that he makes a similar report of the proceedings on the next day, when everybody was delighted with Luther's manly bearing. When Luther came out of the Bischofshof, the people started to cheer him; they were satisfied that he had gone into the lion's den and had come out alive. In many ways the crowd showered its admiration on Luther; one voice was even heard to say to him : "Blessed is the womb that bare thee.'"'*-'' But the authority for this is Cochlaeus. 444) Luke 11, 27. 206 ON THE EVE OP THE GREAT DAY. At his lodging Luther was again visited by many people of rank. Fie relates : — Many noblemen came to my lodging and said : "Doctor, how are you? We hear they want to burn you; but that shall never be, or everything will have to go to wreck at the same time." And that would have happened.''""') Among his callers I,uther found Bucer, who had come with letters for Luther and Jonas from Hutten. With gran- diloquent pathos the erratic knight wrote to Luther : — The Lord hear thee in the day of 'tribulation; the name of the God of Jacob protect thee ! May He send thee help from His holy place and guard thee from Zion; may He give unto thee according to thy heart, and strengthen all thy counsel; may He fulfil all thy petitions, and hear thee from His holy heaven in the might of His right hand.*"*^) What else ought I to pray for you, my dearest Luther, my venerable father? Be strong and courageous.**'') You see what is staked on you, what a crisis this is. You must never doubt me as long as you are constant ; I will cling to you to my last breath. Many dogs surround you, and the council of the malignant besieges you : they havfe opened their mouths against you like raging and roaring lions ;**8) they exult and rejoice over you, seeking you.**-') But the Lord is careful for you.'iso) and will repay the proud. He will arise with you against the malignant, and stand with you against those who work iniquity, and will destroy them in their evil.*^i) Thus it will be, Luther; for God, the just and strong Judge, can no longer connive at such wickedness.*52) Fight strenuously for Christ; yield not to evil, but go the more boldly against it.*^'^) Bear affliction as a good soldier of Christ,'*54) and use zealously the gift of God*^^) vvhich is in you, persuaded that He is able to guard that which you have committed unto Him against that day. Meanwhile, I, too, will strive for the same thing; but my plans differ from one another, for they are human ; you are more perfect and act only from holy motives. Would that I could see with what eyes they 446) XV, 1878. 446) Ps. aO, 2-7. 447) Josh. 1, 7. 448) Ps. 2S, 17. 14. 449) Ps. 40, 17. 4.50) Ps. 40, 18. 461) Ps. 94, 2. 16. 23. 452) Ps. 7, 12. 453) Rom. 12, 21; cp. Vergil, Aeneid, VI, 96 454) 2 Tim. 2, 3. 455) 3 Tim. 1, 12. ON THE EVE OF THE GREAT DAY. 207 look at you;4B6) ^hat faces they turn to you; how they knit their brows. I imagine all that is most dreadful, nor do I think that I am wrong, for I expect the Lord will purge the vine- yard of Sabaoth,*S7) which the boar of the wood doth ravage and the wild beast feedeth on.^ss) This I write briefly in great anxiety for you. May Christ save you!*59) The redeeming feature in this letter is that Hutten dis- tinctly puts Luther's effort against Rome in a class different from his ovrai. As to the fervent encouragement which he addressed to Luther, there was no need of that. It is amus- ing to think how the knight in Sickingen's stronghold sits and pictures to himself the awful danger of Luther in which he is so deeply interested, but which he would rather view from a safe distance. The knight's assurances of undying devotion must have been received with mixed feelings by Luther, after the attempt that Hutten, Sickingen, and Bucer had made to turn him out of the path of duty at Offenbach. In the letter to Jonas the knight lauds "the piety, worthy of all love," that had prompted Jonas to throw in his lot with Luther. "Truly, Justus, I loved you before, but on this account I now love you a hundred times more." Then he grows indignant at the maneuvers of the men who find that they cannot attack Luther because of the imperial safe- condnct, and now want to compensate themselves by wreak- ing their vengeance on the unprotected Jonas. "Would that I might be present,'' he exclaims, "and start some commo- tion or some tunmlt.'' He was always about to begin start- ing something, and never arrived at the moment of action. "But it is better to be quiet," he adds; and he stayed where it was not only quiet, but also safe for him to compose classic letters on the fortitude of others — on the impregnable Ebernburg.'i®**) 456) That is, the men in the Diet before whom Luther made his first appearance on this day. 457) John 15, 2; Is. 5, 7. 458) Ps. 80, 13. 469) EB, 3, 123 ff.; SC, 1, 523 f. 460) SC, 1, 525. 208 ox THE EVE OF THE GREAT DAY. Another letter was delivered to Luther as he came out of the Diet. It came from Cuspinian,^6i) the imperial coun- selor at Vienna, \vas brought by the writer's brother, who had come to the Diet as canon with the Bishop of Wuerz- burg, and contained such pleasing assurances of good will from an influential person that Luther wrote a reply the same evening. Your brother, most famous Cuspinian, has easily jjersuaded me to write to you from the midst of this tumult, since I have long wished to become personally acquainted with you on ac- count of your celebrity. Take me, therefore, into the register of your friends, that I may prove the truth of what your brother has so generously told me of you. This hour I have stood before the Emperor and Diet and was asked whether I would revoke my books. To which f answered that the books were indeed mine, but that I would give them my reply about recanting to-morrow, having asked and obtained no longer time for consideration. Truly, with Christ's aid, I shall never recant one jot or tittle.*''^) Amid the commotion in his lodging Luther prepared his reply for the next day. There still exists a fragment of a manuscript on which Luther sketched the proceedings of the meeting which he had just left, and jotted down ob- servations which he intended to elaborate carefully next morning.^''^' Peutinger, who called on him in the morning, found him cheerful in reliance upon God. Luther greeted him: "Doctor, how is your wife and the children?'' He had not forgotten the cozy home at Augsburg where he had been a guest and found cheer in days of great stress. George ^■'ogler also came in. He summed up his interview with Luther in a letter in which he says: — 461) John Cuspinian foriginally, Spiesshaymer), born 1473 at Spiess- heim, near Schweinfurt, died April 19, 1529, at Vienna; Humanist, and editor of a number of classics; physician, distinguished especially as a diplomat, and frequently employed for embassies. EB, 3, 123. 402) XXIa, 348 f.; EB, 3, 122 f.; SL, p. 114. This letter is given entirely in the translation of Dr. Smith, who has rendered it from the text given by Haase and has consulted Ka^werau on the faulty text printed in all the old editions. 463) FSV, I, p. 69 f. ON THE EVE OF THE GREAT DAY. 209 I could write you many things about the fine, godly con- versations which I and others have had with him, and what a lovable person he is.'*''*) In his report to Medici, Aleaiider says: — Many even of Luther's supporters, after they had seen him, said that he was foolish ; others, that he was possessed. But many others thought him a pious man, full of the Holy Ghost. In any case he has lost considerable reputation in the regard of all. On these two days the Emperor has shown the constancy of his character and of his religious convictions against the efforts of many to confuse the issue. May God keep him thus! After Martin was dismissed to-day, he spoke very earnestly to the Elector of Saxony. The Official of Treves communicated to me a saying of his master about the Elector, who seems to have somewhat changed his position ; for he said : "This reck- less monk has ruined everything, and to ray annoyance and disgust has gone too far in his ranting opinions." Nevertheless, this prince does all the evil he can, and his people do still more. The first appearance of Luther has not turned out so ill ; if only he is not instigated by his followers to give an answer to-morrow necessitating further delay. We will do our best to meet him. This evening the Emperor commissioned the confessor and the official to come to an understanding with me as to what is now to be done. Delighted at their wish to co- operate with us, I intend first to ascertain their opinions, and then to decide what will be the best thing to do. I pray that these imperialists, who hitherto, from wicked- ness, cowardice, frivolity, or worldly considerations, have in all matters acted against God and the laws, against their own honor and the good of Christendom, now at last may remember God and His vicar and their sworn duty, and do it. God grant that the appearance of this antichrist, which we have always deprecated as unreasonable, may contribute to the peace and quiet of Christendom.*6S) At the consultation with Glapion and Eck the situation created by Luther's request for an extension of time, and the answer which he would likely render at his final hear- ing, was carefully gone over. As a result, the two nuncii resolved not to attend the next session of the Diet. Why? They calculated that Luther had gained this point against 464) HAL, pp. 260. 383. 465) B.\L, p. 147 f.; KDA, p. 138 f.; SC, 1, 637 f. DAU, TRIBUNAL OF CAESAR. 14 210 "cod help me! amen." them that the Diet would hear him in his own defense. That meant that he would most likely say things to which a devout son of the Holy Father could not decently listen. Accord- ingly, on the great day of the Diet they went into becoming religious retirement,***^) not wishing to hear the shame of Rome proclaimed to their faces. 27. "God Help Me! Amen." On Thursday .April IS, the street to the Biscliofshof was one solid mass of humanity, as Luther, at four o'clock, was conducted to the Diet. !More than live thousand persons, say the old chronicles, were besieging the palace. Late comers turned away in dismay ; for it was impossible to force a way through this crowd. In the hall upstairs the congestion was' so great that even the Emperor and the Electors were crowded. The room was suffocatingly hot. Luther had to wait below an hour and a half ;' it was dusk when he entered the hall, and the torches were lighted. The Electors were still standing when he passed through the door, and Luther had to wait till they were all seated. Every witness that has reported Luther's entrance into the hall on this day has re- corded the cheerful, animated state of mind that Luther manifested. At last he stood before the Emperor. Two chairs before him were vacant, Caraccioli's and Aleander's. (But Aleander's spies were out, and the nuncio's dispatches of April 18 and 19 show that he was minutely informed.) I. Eck plunged at once into the business of the hour. Im- patiently he began {prorupit in I'crha') : — Yesterday you asked for an extension of time to consider your answer. That time has expired. You had no right to ask for such a privilege; for you knew long ago for what pur- pose j'ou were summoned. Moreover, in matters relating to 466 Hausrath: "und so blieben sie in Zuechten in ihrer Wohnung." HAL, p. 260. "god hbxp me! amen." 211 faith every one, especially such a great and learned professor of theology, ought to be certain, so as to be ready at any moment, when asked, to give a definite and firm account. Upon the demand of the Emperor, then, make answer at last: Will you defend all the books which you have acknowledged as your own, or will you retract anything?*"^) This haughty speech, which breatlied all the malevolence of Aleander, was delivered first ^in Latin and then, for the benefit of the knights, who understood no Latin, in German ; however, in the German version the insolent portions were considerably toned down. There is a noteworthy change in the form of Eck's ques- tion from the day before. At the first hearing Eck had asked whether Luther would recant all his books. In the mean time it must have been pointed out to him what a stupid question that was. Persons who had knowledge of the contents of the books whose titles had been read in the Diet must have wondered how Luther could possibly answer that question witli a simple yes or no. Those books con- tained the progressive development of Luther's theology during four years. He had first admitted, afterwards de- nied, that there is such a place as purgatory; he had first called the papacv a good human ordinance, afterwards he had denounced it as a diabolical institution ; he had first sub- mitted to the mediatorship of priests, afterwards he had rejected it. Now, if he recanted, what did he recant? That there was a purgatory, ,or that there was none? That the papacy >vas of men, or that it was of the devil? etc. In the heat of controversy Luther had hurled angry words at his adversaries, had indulged in the rhetoric of excitement and passion, and had answered fools according to their folly. When his wrath had cooled, he recalled such utterances. In his greater treatise against Emser he had explained what the true weapons and the proper method of his warfare must be on the basis of the Christian panoply which Paul has described in Eph. 6, 13 ff.^e^) with their 467) KL, I, 414. 468) XVIII, 1272 ff. 212 "god help me ! amek." charge of angry polemics his accusers could not come into court with clean hands : they had outdone each other in vilest abuses of Luther. It was, therefore, an unreasonable demand on the part of the adversaries that Luther retract indiscriminately every heated expression that had escaped hirn. If he had yielded to- that demand, he would only have become discredited to his followers, who would not discrim- inate between what had actually been retracted and what not ; and his opponents would zealously have misconstrued the smallest admission he made to them. At any rate, Eck's question, since it involved these matters also, required a cau- tions and discriminating answer, to be fair. Again, Luther had written many treatises of an exposi- tory nature for the edification of Christians; in fact,- this class of his writings was greater than the others. In these writings the holiest movements of his soul had been depos- ited, and they were the reflex of the Divine Word. To recant them meant to deny Christ. Only the brutal and per- fidious mind of Alcander could make such a demand. Lastly, Luther had published treatises against the tyr- anny and oppression of Rome, which had helped the Diet in those very days to draw up its crushing indictment of papal misrule, the Grievances of the German Nation. In- deed, these writings, before all the rest, Aleander vrished to have recanted ; but these writings, before all the rest, many members of the Diet were ready to sustain. This point had been made so clear to Eck overnight that he re- vised his question to Luther. Since the last session a change had occurred which necessitated a readjustment of tac- tics.469) II. Luther, too, had become wiser overnight. His attention must have been called to his somewhat indifferent demeanor before the august majesty of the Emperor and the Electors. He had made up' his mind this time to show due deference to worldly rank and dignity. With a slight bending of the 469) HAL, pp. 262-4. "cod help me! amen." 21.1 knee, such as etiquette prescribed for inferiors when ad- dressing their superiors, he stepped before the imperial dais. And though his figure must have straightened in the course of his remarks, he did not abandon the attitude of self- respecting modesty, and indulged in no bravado of mien or gesture. The defiant posture, with his head thrust backward and eyes directed to heaven, the chest thrown out and one foot pushed forward, etc., which painters and sculptors have favored, is art, and it is true to the moral and spiritual meaning of the great moment, but it is not history. How- ever, his deferential attitude notwithstanding, Luther spoke with every mark of a fearless mind and raised his voice so that he was plainly understood even in the remotest parts of the hall. Luther said : — Most serene, most puissant Emperor! Serene Princes! Most gracious and gracious Lords! Obedient to the terms laid dozmt for me yesterday, I ap- pear before you and ask, for the mercy of God, that Your Imperial Majesty and Your Worships ivill deign graciously to hear this matter, zvhich I hope to show is a matter of righteousness and truth. If I should fail, because of my inexperience, to accord to each his becoming title, or should in any wise by my manners and deportment offend against court etiquette, I ask you graciously to pardon these defects in me. I have not sojourned at the courts of princes, but in the cells of monks. Regarding myself, I cannot offer you any other testimony than this: In what I have taught and ivritten with single- ness of mind I have only sought the honor of God and the sound instruction of believing Christians. Most serene Emperor! Most gracious and gracious Electors, Princes, and Lords! Of the two questions that were proposed to me yesterday, I gave my ready and plain answer yesterday to the first qv.estion. I still stand by those zvords, and say that these 214 "god help me! amen." books hare been ti'rittcn by me; provided that nothing has been changed in them since I published them, or is incor- rectly quoted from them through the deception of men who zvish me ill, or through lack of understanding on the part of incapable persons. As I am to answer the other question, 1 humbly ask Your Imperial Majesty and Your Worships to note care- fully that my books are not all of one kind. For there are among them some in ziliich I Jiave in a simple and evangelical inanner expounded the Creed and moral duties. Even my adversaries are forced to admit that these books are useful, not injurious, and worthy to be read by Christians. Moreover, the bull, znolent though it is, declares that some of my books arc not injurious, although 'n'ith an unreasonable verdict it condemns them along with the rest. Now, if I undertook to recant these books, what else zi'ouid I do than condemn the truth which is equally confessed by friend and foe? There is another class of my books which is directed against the Papacy and the teachings of the Papists as against men who by their doctrines and example have dev- astated the Christian Church icith evils of the body and of the soul. For nobody can deny nor hide zvhat is established bv the testimony of the experience and complaints of all, ri'^., that by the papal laws and traditions of men the con- sciences of Christians have been miserably enslaved and tortured; the goods and possessions, especially of the Ger- man nation, have been swallowed up by an incredible tyranny; despite the fact that in their own laws the Papists declare that such laws and doctrines of the Pope as might be contrary to the Gospel and the decrees of the Fathers are to be considered erroneous. (Here Luther cited two passages from the Canon Law.) Now, by recanting these books I should strengthen tyranny, and open, not only the Tviiidozvs, but also the doors to unchristian practise — all the more, if it could be said that I had done this upon the authority of His Imperial Majesty and of the entire Roman "god ITELP me ! AMEN.'' ' 215 Emphc. Good God, zvhat a shelter I would become for iniquity and tyranny! In the third class of my books are such as I have written against individual persons who undertook to defend the Roman tyranny and to exterminate the godly doctrines which- I had been teaching. I confess that in opposing these per- sons I have been more violent than ivas becoming. For I do not make myself out a saint; neither am I arguing in behalf of my conversation, but in behalf of the doctrine of Christ. But even these books I cannot recant because I would thereby give shelter to tyranny and wickedness. Inasmuch, hoivcvcr, as I am a man and not God, I cannot defend my booklets against accusations in any different man- ner than as the Lord Christ Himself defended His teaching: zvhcn He was asked before Annas concerning His doctrine, and one of the seri'ants smote His face. He said: "If I have spoken evil, bear zvitness of the evil."^'^^') If the Lord, zvho knew that He could not err, did ndt refuse to accept testimony against His teaching from the vilest servant, how much more must I, the most abject, erring creature, await and desire to receive anybody's counter-testimony to my teaching ! Accordingly, by the mercy of God I ask Your Imperial Majesty, your most gracious Worships, or whoever else is able, high or lozv, to offer me counter-testimony , to convince me of error, to overcome m.e zvith the prophetic and evan- gelic Scripttires. I shall be most willing and ready, zvhen convinced, to recant every error, and I shall be the first to cast my ozvn books into the fire. From all this it is apparent, I think, that 1 have suffi- ciently considered the danger, discord, and riot, which has arisen because of my teaching, and of which I was earnestly reminded yesterday. Yes, I like nothing better than that contention and discord arise because of the Word of God, as the Lord says: "I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father 470) John 18, 216 "god help me ! amen." and the daughter against her mother."*'^^ We must, there- fore, consider how 'wonderful and terrible our God is in His judgments, lest what we are devising now for the purpose of restoring quiet may in the end bring upon us a deluge of intolerable eznls, if wc begin [our pacifying measures] by cnv.dcnvning the Word of God. We must be mindful and careful not to cause an unfortunate beginning and an un- happy administration for this youthful, noble Emperor Charles, on whom, under God, wc stake great hopes. I could cite numerous examples for what I have said from Holy Scripture, such as Pharaoh, the king of Babylon, the kings of Israel, who prepared their own ruin most by the very devices of superior prudence with which they in- tended to give peace to their realms and to fortify them. For it is He that "taketh the wise in their own crafti- ness"'^''^') before they are aware of it. There is need, then, of the fear of God. I do not say these things as though such exalted digni- taries zvere in need of my teaching and admonition, but be- cause I dare not decline to render Germany the service which I owe to my fatherland. Herewith I commend myself to Your Most Serene Majesty and to Your Lordships, praying that you will not suffer Mc to be calumniated and brought into disgrace by my adversaries. I have spoken.*-"'^^ Luther was showing signs of exhaustion when he had fin- ished this Latin oration, and now started to repeat it in German. His room-mate, Friedrich von Thun, who noticed his fatigue, called to him: "If you cannot do it, Doctor, this will be sufficient."' But bracing himself to the extra effort, Luther in a fine, fluent manner repeated in German the noble argument which he had just laid before the learned part of the Diet. It is this German address which we have 471) Matt. 10. 34 f. 472) 1 Cor. 3, 19. 473) WE, 7, 816 ff.; 869 SE. "god HFxr me! amen." 217 reproduced. Breathlessly the greatest men of Europe hung on his lips, and when he had concluded, there ran through the audience ripple after ripple of murmured approval. Peutinger wrote the Doctor had proved his case, "verily, with much beautiful speaking." Luther relates: "I per- spired freely ; it was very hot because of the congestion ; another reason was because I stood among the princes."*''*) Aleander reported to Rome that at the point where Luther recounted the misrule of the Papacy, the Emperor interrupted him with the remark, "No more of that V'*''^ This is pure fiction, intended to commend the Emperor to the Pope. The Emperor did not understand either Latin or German sufficiently to interrupt the speaker. He was not aware that he had just listened to the greatest speech in the world of his day ; for that speech ushered in the greatest era in the world. Its sentiments have often been garbled and prostituted to ignoble ends. Luther has become a great name to conjure with. This speech, with the extraordinary glamor surrounding it, has made Luther an authority to many people who refuse to bow to the authority to which Luther bowed. In this speech genuine, God-given authority stood face to face with a bastard authority, and that hour at \\''orms has spelled the doom for every sort of stolen power. III. Luther had offered a fair discussion to his adversaries, and he was by all divine and human laws of equity entitled to it. But the imperial conscience had become moftgaged to Rome. When Charles had been told what the mad monk wanted, he remembered his promise to the Papists that there' should be no debate. Accordingly, Eck was ordered to repeat the original alternative to Luther : whether he would recant, or no. Again he addressed Luther in a spiteful manner, as if to scold him. I2. 197. Greek Cluueh, 4S f. 120. Gregory VIT, -I'M. Greiffeiiklaii, 2. 41. 54. 12(i. l;il. 107. Grievances of German Kation, 142 ff. l.->5. 212. Grisar, 27. Gruenenlicrg. 2211. Gruneua. 74. Gnentlier, Franz, 74. Guenther, King, 2:32. Halberstadt. 5. Hausmann, 01. 154. Hausrath, 100. 123. 172 f. 182. 101. 105. 202. 210. 220. 235. 237. Heckmann, 115. Hedio, 24. Heidelberg, 34. Heisterbach, Caesarius von, 237. Helt, 74. 00. Henry IV, 227. 233 f. Henry A', 234. Henry VIII, 10. 45. 70. 144. Herbipolensis, 85. Hess, 114. Hesse, Koban, 174. 170. Hirsehfeld, Bernard v., 05. 180. 102. Hoff, 00; Hermann von, 179. Hogstratcn, 11. Hohenzollern, 30. 131 fl'. Hiunanists, 31. 46. 174. Hummelberg, 115. ' Huns, 232. Huss and Hussites, 1. 20. 43. 76. 125. 194. 218. 235. Hutten, 10. 17 ff. 25. 33. 35. 46. 65. 101. 113. 174. 185 ff. 206. Imperial Council of Germany, 28. 227 ff. Indulgences, 75. 103. 127. Infallibility, 4. Innocent IV, 5. Inquisition, 26. 120. Investitures, 233 f . Janssen, 17. Jerba, 71. Jerome, St., 25. 8:1 ; of Prague, 1. JeAvs, 68. 124; "godly," 237. Jessen, Sebaat. and Fred v., 53. Joachim, Elector, (iO. l.'!l f. 134. 141. 190. Jodocus, 55. John, Duke, 58 f. 67 f. 152. 150. 158. 161 f. 172. 188 f. John Frederick, Duke, 50. 161. John, Knights of St., 58. 180. 230. John XXII, Pope, 233. Jonas, 87. 150. 173. 189. 206 f. Julich, 73. Julius de itcdici (sec Jledici). Kirchberg, Hartmann von, 122. Knights Templar, 236. Koestlin, 220. Kottbus, 5. Kriemhilde, 232. Ladislaus, 43 f. Landsberg, 1. Landstuhl, 15. Lang, Johann, 143. 154. 173. 176. Lang, Cardinal, 47. 111.113.120. 132. 136 f. 138. 142. Lang(»r, Johann, 171. Lateran Council, 25. Laymen, 78 f. 103. 150. 107. Lea, 26. Lefevre, 116. Leipzig, 7. 171. Leo X, 3. 8 f. 30. 38. 145. Liberty, Christian, 241. 244. Lindenau, Albert von, 180. Link, 6. 20 f. 62. HI. 113. 164. Litany, German, 148. 246 — 253. Lord's Supper, 156 f. Louis the German, 232. 284 Louvain, 6. 74. Ludwig, Dr., 01. Luther, his "revolutionary tac- tics," 17 f. 52. 12.5 f.; inno- cence, 18. 20; summons to Worms, 25. 35^ 37. 124 f. 146 f. 151 f.; motives, 61: polemics, 82; simple style, 84 f.; "pre- sumptuousness," 77 ; very busv, 7.'). 81 f. 84. ni; cour- age', 43 f. 60. 78. 112. l.i:i. in4; recantation, 44. 46. 56. 04. 102. 135 f. 153. 155 f. 106. 208. 218. 222; ceases monk's life, 74; rich, 00. 156; on marriage, 48; prayer at Worms, 103 f.; edict against him, 25. 50. 57. 105. 117. 120. 120 ff. 135. 137. 142. 147. 140. 171. 102. lA:t1rrs to: Spalatin, 5 f. li. 16. 10 f. 42 flf. 02. 66 f. 74. 78. 87. 88. 80. 00. 01. 153. 162. 165. 184. 188; .Staupitz, 6. 13. 20. 87. 112 f.; Link, 6. 65. 74. 80. 164 f. 166 f.; Hutten, 20; Elector Frederick, 59 f . 82 f . ; Lang, 74. 156; Feilitzsch, 78 ff.; Pellican, 81 f.; Haus- mann, 01 ; Duke John, 163 f . ; Cranach, 160; Cuspinian, 208. Writings: Xew Eckian Bulls and Lies, 1 ; Adv. exe- crab. Antichr. bullam, 2 ff. ; Wid. d. Bulle d. Endchrists, 2ff. 201; (Expositio) Asser- ■ tio omnium articulorum, 4 f. 44. 75f. 113. 125. 165; Magni- ficat, 5. 162 f . ; Babvl'onian Captivity, 6. 48 f. 51. 04 ff. 97 ff. 100 ff. 103 ff. 106 ff. 126. 165. 201. 238 ff.: Protestatio u. Erbieten, 15. 38. 41. 46. 51. 60; Appeal to Pope, 22; to Council, 22; Grund und Ur- sach, 44. 75 ff. 115. 201: In- struction concerning Confes- sion, 80 f. ; Annotations to Psalms, 811; Postil, 8 Iff.; Eeply to Emser, 85 f. 201; Bohemian translation of his writings, 90; Liberty of Christian Man, 102. 201 ; Ap- peal to Christian Nobility, 127. 161. 169. 201 ; True Wor- thiness of Communicants, 156; Sermon on Good Works, 158 ff.; on Usury, 201. Lutherans, 24. lOo! 115. Lyons, Council of, 5. ilagdeliurg, 5 f. Magnates. German, 225 f. ilaimbourg, 169. JIaler, 1. Manuel, 39. 145. Marck, de la, Eberhard. 32. 35. 46 f. 51. 123; Robert, 147. Margaret, sister of Charles V, 36. Marlian, Bishop, 117. ilarriage, 244. Mass, 100. 240; canon of, 230. Maurenbrecher, 17 f. ila.ximilian I, 234. 238. ilavence, 6. 227. Mavr, 111. Medici, 5. 47 f. 92. 128. 137 ff. 150; Raphael de 129. 139 f. Melanchthon, 78. 88. 113 f. 181. Merian, 235. Merovingians, 232. Merseburg, 6. Miltitz, 1 f. 101. Minkwitz, 194. Minorites, 5. Misnia, 6. 00. Monasticism, 100. 102. 178. Mori in, 91. Municipalities at Diet, 220 f. Murner, 74. 86 f. JIutian, 87. 174. Myconius, 10. 14. 172. 190. Nassau, 35 f. 37. 93. 102. 104. Xaumburg, 171. Xesen. 182. y ihelungen, 232. Oberndorf, 1. Oecolampad, 81. Oelhafen, 221. Ofterdingen, Heinr. von, 232. Oppenheim, 34. 188. 285 Ordination, 245. Orosius, 232. Oswald, 182. Palatine, Elector, 31. 34. 132. 190. 198. 227. Paleologus, Jolin, 49. Paltz, 178. Papocaesarism, 26. Pappcnheira, 192. 194. 197. 200. Parentos, 1S2. Paris, 5. Passionary of Christ and Anti- christ, 2.54 11. Pastor, 39. Peace, Perpetual, 224. Pellegrini, 122. Pollican, 81. Petzensteiner, 169 f. Peutinger, 8. 31. 189. 190. 208. 217. Philip of Spain, 124. Philip, Landgrave, 58. 67 f . 70 f . Pirckheimer, 111. Pius II, 24. Poemer, 65. 164. Portugal, King of, 45. Precepts in Scripture, 100. Press, the, 21. Prierias, 24. 166 f. Priesthood, universal, 85 f. 102. 127. 243. 245. Primacy of Pope, 25. 44 f. 46. 51. 55 f. 65. 102. 125. 135. 137. 145. 165. 195. 205. 209. 241. Pucci, 14. 46. 48. 51. Ratzeberger, 182. Real Presence, 125. Reformation by Rome, 9511. 105. Reinhardt von Rippur, Bishop, 236. 238. Eeinhardtsbrunn, 182. Renee de France, 191. Reuchlin, 15. 81. 116. 235. Rhenanus, 15. Richard of Cornwallis, 227. Romanists, 20 flf. 27. 43 f. 246. 253. Romfahrt, 148. Rubeanus, Crotua, 174. 179. Rudolph of Hapsburg, 228; of Suabia, 227. Ruiz de la Mota, 136. Sacraments, 103. 143; in both forms, 239. Salmann, Bishop, 233. Salvatierra, 141. Salzburg, 231. Sander, 1.50. Sassetta della, Antony, 122. Savonarola, 116. 171. Saxony, 227. Schart, 90. Scheurl, 31. 65. 164. Schinner; Card., 65. 129 f. 133. 136. 138. 140. Schleupner, 114. Schmalz, 180. Schmidling, 90. Schott, 189. 192. Schurf, Augustine, 89; Jerome, 169. 194.- 201. Schwenkfeld, 114. Schwertfeger, 88. Scotus, 103. Scultetus, 22. Seckendorf, 171. Seidemann, 74. Shakespeare, 13. Sickingen, 10. 15 f . 17 f. 5S. 78. 101. 185 flf. 192. 238; Rein- hard von. Bishop, 233. 235. Siegfried, 232. Sigismund, Emperor, 1. 43 f. 125. 194. Sleep of Christ, 163 f. Smith, Preserved, 39. 2(IS. Spain, 30. 45. 141 f. Spalatin, 4. 16. 40. 143. 158. 183 f. 187. 192. 194. 221. Spengler, 31. 71. 112. 144. Spiegel, 138. 140. Stadion, 5. Stallburg, 183. Staupitz, 6. 110. 112. 113. Stehlin, 88. Stolberg, 87. Storm, 63. 149. 197. 204. Suaven, 169 f. Hupersedeas, 64. Switzerland, 14 f . Taubenheym, 90. 153. Tesch, 88. Teutonic Knights, 236. Thun, Fred von, 192. 216, 286 Thungen, Arnold von, 174. Torgau, 7. Tournaments, 34. 69. 121. Towns, imperial and episcopal, 229. Treves, 227. Trutfetter, 178. Tucher, 65. Tunstall, 63. Ulrich, Duke, 50. Unctitin, extreme, 240. Usintren, I7(i f, Vacandard, 2(>. Vangionca, 231. \'eddor, 27 «'. A'elenus, 90. ^"^■Ilice, (i't. \'('senmeyi'r, 154. \'oi;el, or \'ogler, ISO. 2US. Voigt, 177. Vo\Y.s, 241 f. Warbcck, 182. 188 f. Warham, Archbishop, 63. Weimar, 171. Woller, Anna, 53. Wesel, Ruchart von, 235. Westphalia, Peace of, 229. Wiclif, 125. 218. Wild, 89. ^ViUeh|■irf,■. i'lfi.. Wimpfcling, 86. Wittonlirrg, 5; vuiiversitv of, S7. S9. \\'olMy, t'ard., 63. Works, Kood, 1.59 f. 172. Worms, 5. 7. 17 f. 34 f. W< IT. 231 to 238. Zasius, 15. Zcvenlicrgen, 50 f. Ziegler, 151 f. Zorn, 235. Zwingli, 5. 13 f. 10. 24. 81.