Martin Luther and the Diet of Worms: Yoking Lutheranism to Secular Power. A thesis submitted to the faculty of the

Transcription

1 Martin Luther and the Diet of Worms: Yoking Lutheranism to Secular Power A thesis submitted to the faculty of the Athenaeum of Ohio/Mount St. Mary s Seminary of the West in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts Theology By Jarred Lee Kohn Cincinnati, Ohio March 2018

2 Abstract The Diet of Worms in 1521 would come to be a turning point for Western Christianity. Martin Luther denied any error existed in his teachings and he was supported in his ideas by the German princes. Holy Roman Emperor Charles V found Luther s teachings to be contrary to the whole of Christian tradition and upheld Catholic teaching from the diet until his eventual abdication in As a result, Luther came to rely on the German princes to protect him from imperial and ecclesial censure. The princes desired to break free of imperial power and gain greater control over the Church in their own territories. They aided Luther in instituting his notion of reform and Luther in turn capitulated to some of the princes demands to maintain their favor. Luther became a means for the princes to circumvent imperial and ecclesial authority.

3 This thesis by Jarred L. Kohn fulfills the thesis requirement for the master s degree in Theology and is approved by: Advisor: Rev. David J. Endres, Ph.D. Readers: Rev. Msgr. Frank P. Lane, Ph.D. Alan D. Mostrom, M.A. iii

4 Table of Contents Introduction... 1 Chapter 1: The Historical Context of the Diet of Worms... 3 Political Ideology... 3 The New Holy Roman Emperor... 6 The State of the Holy Roman Empire... 7 Luther s Journey toward Reform... 8 Wittenberg University Renaissance Humanism The State of Religion in Germany preceding the Diet of Worms The Papacy in the Late Medieval Period Chapter 2: The Diet of Worms Luther Provokes Rome Debate over the Luther Controversy Luther Summoned Luther Appears before the Diet I am bound by the Scriptures The Emperor Responds Chapter 3: The Edict of Worms The Diet and Emperor Deliberate Luther s Fate The Edict Promulgated The Edict Ignored Papal and Imperial Authority Undermined Luther s Imprisonment at Wartburg Castle Charles Defers the Settlement of the Lutheran Controversy Luther after Worms The Christian Nobility of the German Nation Charles V Attempts to Reassert His Authority Conclusion Bibliography iv

5 Introduction While many would call Martin Luther s nailing of his Ninety-Five Theses to the Wittenberg Castle Door on October 31, 1517 the beginning of the Reformation or at least the symbolic beginning of it, the Diet of Worms (January 28-May 26, 1521) would come to define how or perhaps more appropriately who would spread the Reformation. It would fall to the German princes and other nobles/government officials to institute Luther s reform or at least the parts of that reform that suited them and their ends. The Diet of Worms would make Luther officially an outlaw within the Holy Roman Empire. Many of the princes would oppose this measure and Luther would have to avoid Holy Roman Emperor Charles V for the rest of his life after Worms. Charles would maintain his defense of the Catholic faith and dreams of Hapsburg hegemony in Europe and globally as the Spanish Empire expanded. All the forces that led to the Diet of Worms and its aftermath did not arise in For many years prior, the intellectual, religious, economic, and political currents worked to feed what would eventually begin with Martin Luther, an Augustinian monk from Saxony. In order to understand the Diet of Worms and its consequences, one must understand the context of the situation within Germany and beyond during the sixteenth century. The first chapter explores the context of the period leading up to the Diet of Worms. This context covers the social, political, and theological trends of the fifteenth and sixteenth century. The second chapter is an in depth account of the Diet of Worms. The various characters and political machinations that contributed to the diet s outcome are evaluated. In the third and final chapter, the Edict of Worms and subsequent attempts 1

6 that tilt the balance between Catholicism and Lutheranism within Germany will be explored. This will help to explain how Luther came to depend on the German princes for protection and for the implementation of his reform, exploring, in addition, how the princes were able to circumvent the power of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. It has been argued that the Diet of Worms was the unleashing of the Reformation in which Luther definitively rebelled against the authority of the Church in favor of the authority of scripture, thus, allowing for a nascent form of religious liberty which gave the individual freedom to choose his or her religion. By using secondary sources from contemporary historians, the writings of Martin Luther, and texts of the earliest accounts of the diet itself, it will be argued that Luther did free Christianity in Germany from the authority of the Catholic Church, but not in favor of scripture alone, he also allowed greater pressure and influence from the princes and Luther s personal interpretation to form part of the new authority within Christianity in the territories of the Holy Roman Empire ruled by princes in favor of Luther s reform. 1 Luther, despite an early hope to free the word of God, was confronted by a lack of unity as he found that other reformers interpreted the scriptures differently than himself and thus, Luther came to rely on the German princes to enact his revolution while also having to succumb to some of their demands in order to protect his reform from being squelched or distorted at its core. 1 The main secondary sources used in this research include Harold Grimm, The Reformation Era: , which, in my mind, provides the most balanced view of Luther, his supporters, and the Catholic Church during the Reformation. Diarmaid McCullouch s The Reformation, considered by many to be the standard text for understanding the Reformation since its publication in 2005, was consulted and cited. Heinz Schilling s Martin Luther: Rebel in an Age of Upheaval, is the most recent biography of Martin Luther, published in 2017, which provides an up-to-date scholarly assessment of Luther. Harald Kleinschmidt s Charles V: The World Emperor and Sam Wellman s Frederick the Wise provided helpful accounts of two men who would shape the political arc of Luther s reform. James Atkinson s The Trial of Luther was useful because of its focus on the legal proceedings at the Diet of Worms and its many references to primary sources. 2

7 Political Ideology Chapter 1: The Historical Context of the Diet of Worms Leading up to the Reformation there were two distinct ideas of how to achieve peace between contending European powers. The first position was championed by the humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam who focused primarily on maintaining the current makeup of Europe into nations, republics, and kingdoms of various sizes. This school of political theory believed that by encouraging the rulers of various European nations to focus on maintaining peace within their own realms and furthering the welfare of their people, a nation s desire for war could be kept in check. 2 This school shows the positive view the humanists often had of human nature, though ironically Europe would go to war for the next five centuries on and off because of ascending nationalist tendencies during this period. One could see the above position as the pragmatic school of political theory at the time of the Reformation because as Heinz Schilling claims, there was no united Christianity in the West at the time preceding the Reformation: Diversity was a hallmark of devotional practices and ecclesiastical Institutions, but particularism and the favouring of individual interests were also characteristic of both rulers and peoples as they sought to assert their power and pre-eminence. 3 Schilling over-estimates the fragmentation of Christianity throughout Europe in the period preceding the division of Christianity beginning in 1517, ignoring the reality that the popes of the fifteenth century won a significant victory over the conciliarist 2 Harald Kleinschmidt, Charles V: The World Emperor (Stroud: Sutton, 2004), Heinz Schilling, Martin Luther: Rebel in an Age of Upheaval, trans. Rona Johnston Gordon, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2017), 19. 3

8 movement, which emphasized the strong unity between the various national and ethnic expressions of European Christianity. 4 This victory, however, did not fully settle the issue as there continued to be debates about the pope s power within the Church and divisions that lurked within Roman Christianity. The second school on how to maintain European peace was a medieval universalism for which there was a strong historical strain within the Christian tradition, beginning with Augustine who believed that God would not allow the Roman Empire to fall if it remained Christian and even saw the Roman Empire as vehicle for evangelization. The great poet Dante also espoused this school of political thought. 5 Immediately preceding the Reformation and during its initial stages, medieval universalism was espoused by Charles V and his advisor Mercurino Gattinara who would serve as Charles chancellor of the Holy Roman Empire. Medieval universalism held the reestablishment of one leader within Europe as its head as the best way to maintain peace and also defeat the Ottoman Empire that was threatening Western Europe. Like Augustine, Charles and Gattinara both sought a renewed Holy Roman Empire under which there would be one spiritual head (the pope) and one temporal ruler (one of the Hapsburgs). The view being that [o]nce [Charles V] established political unity, the emperor could unite all the people of the Christian faith. This required both the reformation of the Catholic Church, which had fallen into corruption, and the conquest of the Muslim heresy. The ultimate goal was world peace and the Millenium on Earth. 6 4 Diarmaid MacCulloch, The Reformation (London: Penguin Books, 2005), Kleinschmidt, Charles V, Rebecca Ard Boone, Mercurino Di Gattinara and the Creation of the Spanish Empire, Empires in Perspective, 23 (Brookfield, VT: Pickering & Chatto, 2014),

9 This is evidence that Charles viewed his role as Holy Roman Emperor as connected with the divine prerogative to unite Christianity under his monarchy. While Charles himself never suggested himself above the pope, Gattinara seems to have endorsed the emperor over the pope in Christendom in some of his works. 7 He referenced Charles as the temporal leader of Christendom distinguishing Charles power from the pope s power over religious matters. We will see that at the Diet of Worms Charles was a staunch defender of the papacy and while he was not an ultramontane Catholic, he did have respect for the office of the pope. When he invaded Rome in 1527, he considered it as more of a check on Pope Clement VII s machinations against him, machinations which in turn limited his ability to combat the Lutheran heresy. 8 While it would be easy to dismiss this political philosophy (in as much as it is a political theology), and while it may be true that Charles may have personally wanted power, the desire for a united Europe with Roman Catholicism as the only religion was not a mere means to his own ambitious ends. He had his plans directed towards the future, in which the Hapsburgs would govern the temporal affairs of Europe and the Continent could then focus on preaching the gospel to the entire world, just as Christianity had done in the fourth century after it became the religion of the majority of the Roman citizens and later the state religion of the Roman Empire. 9 Christianity s spread with the expansion of the Roman Empire, had the noteworthy defect of tying the 7 Ibid., MacCulloch, The Reformation, Kleinschmidt, Charles V,

10 fate of the Church to the fate of a temporal power. 10 Medieval universalism would also mesh well with Charles dynasticism which he took up from his grandfather Maximillian, a dynasticism that was more about spreading the influence of the Hapsburg family than the influence of one man. 11 These different ways of approaching peace and how to achieve it shows that in Charles actions at Worms and at subsequent diets, he was not an incompetent ruler, indifferent, or fanatically religious ruler, but a man with grand ambitions and deep faith. The complexity of Charles V is one of the most overlooked areas of Reformation research and a better understanding of him and his style of rule helps to better appreciate the spread of Lutheranism in Germany. The New Holy Roman Emperor Equally intriguing to Charles political thought are the events surrounding his election as Holy Roman Emperor. Following the death of his grandfather Maximillian in 1519, who had been the Holy Roman Emperor, it now fell to seven electors from around the empire to elect Emperor Maximillian s successor. Names that were floated included Charles, the king of Spain; Francis I, the king of France; Henry VIII, the king of England; and Frederick of Saxony, who was an elector himself. 12 Both Francis and Charles used bribes to attempt to win electors to their cause. 10 Robert L. Montgomery, The Lopsided Spread of Christianity: Toward an Understanding of the Diffusion of Religions (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2002), Kleinschmidt, Charles V, Sam Wellman, Frederick the Wise: Seen and Unseen Lives of Martin Luther s Protector (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2015),

11 Ultimately, Charles would be selected unanimously as the new Holy Roman Emperor. While Charles won the election to succeed his grandfather, the victory also came with a set of conditions that would seriously curb the emperor s power, including losing the power to impose taxes, the use of only German or Latin in official imperial communications (to limit Spanish or Dutch influence on the empire), and an interdict on foreign troops being transported or used in battle in the empire. The latter condition would be the one that would plague Charles the most in his fight against the spread of Lutheranism. 13 Charles accepted the terms and was finally crowned in the imperial city of Aachen, located in Germany on its modern border with Belgium. The Diet of Worms would be his first diet as the emperor. A diet being a gathering of the various princes and some bishops from throughout the Holy Roman Empire that would meet to debate imperial law and the proper powers that belonged to the emperor and the princes. The State of the Holy Roman Empire At the time of the Diet of Worms, the Holy Roman Empire had lost much of its prestige in Europe. 14 Yet, as was shown in the election of Emperor Charles V, the power to govern the empire was still a substantial force in the hand of the emperor. While the political unity within the empire had disintegrated, there was still a debate between the emperor and the princes over who wielded what and how much power. The makeup of the empire was a collection of territorial states ruled by German princes with the emperor as the supreme head. However, by the time of Worms there was 13 Ibid., Harold Grimm, The Reformation Era , 2nd Edition (New York: Macmillian Publishing Co., 1973), 99. 7

12 a strong move toward the empire becoming a loose conglomerate of territorial states with weak central power. While in the initial history of the Holy Roman Empire, the role of the emperor would have been more significant, over time the power within the empire would tip toward the electors and princes. As Schilling wrote, [T]he search for a balance between territorial interests and the interests of the Empire, would dictate both Luther s own fate and the fate of his reformation. 15 Thus, the move towards the rights of the princes over the rights of the emperor affected Luther s reform. Luther s Journey toward Reform As historian Harold Grimm notes, Luther s religious upbringing contained nothing that could have foreshadowed his later activities as a reformer, for his parents and acquaintances were typical representatives of late-medieval Catholic piety. 16 Grimm does note that Luther comes to represent the yearnings and complaints of the German people. 17 Increasingly, the Germans resented taxation by the Church. Because of the Holy Roman Empire s lack of political cohesion it was simpler for the Church to gain an avenue within the empire to obtain funds from the German people. Without a strong imperial authority to regulate the movement of money, the Church was able to promise favors to lower officials, such as episcopal sees and ecclesial taxes with a specified percentage going to Rome and some staying with the local bishop or ruler Schilling, Martin Luther, Grimm, The Reformation Era , Ibid., Ibid. 8

13 While some aspects of this relationship were mutually beneficial, many people felt that too much money was going to Rome to feed the papal court s extravagant spending. This for Luther was reinforced when he visited the Roman Curia in 1510 and found Rome a highly secularized center of the renaissance with Pope Julius II as patron of the renaissance s many expensive endeavors. 19 Luther had gone as a pilgrim and left scandalized by what he perceived as the worldly ways of the papal court, an impression that may have impacted his eventual break with Rome. When Luther came to prominence as a leader of a reform movement (he was not the first to attempt to reform Western Christianity at the time), it was due in part to both Luther s prolific writing and the new printing press technology that allowed for Luther s tracts to be mass produced and spread throughout Germany. 20 The printing press allowed Luther to come to fame within a short period of time. Some historians such as Diarmaid MacCulloch have argued that Luther s rich paradoxes looked as if they were capable of producing a Christian theology for the weak and powerless without involving any attack on the existing Church. 21 Yet it is clear that much of Luther s issue with the current form of Christianity from 1518 on was already significantly different from someone like Erasmus (a humanist, who also endorsed Church reform but never broke with Rome.) For one, while Luther seems to have been hopeful that Rome and the Church universal would begin to see his great insight and conform the Church s teaching accordingly, in Spring 1518, Luther would have his tower 19 Ibid., MacCulloch, The Reformation, Ibid.,

14 experience (or toilet experience depending on the account), a moment in which his reflection upon Romans 1:17 convinced him that he had rediscovered the core of the Gospel message: that man s salvation comes by faith alone, Christ s righteousness is imputed to us and any act of ours cannot be called good or just. 22 Luther deemed this event as a rediscovery of the true gospel. Believing that the true understanding of salvation had been obscured by the Roman Catholic Church which had taught something different about salvation throughout the medieval period, it is not clear how he could have thought he was not challenging both the authority of the Pope and modern Church, as some scholars claim. 23 If he had remained in the realm of indulgences, the Lutheran affair could have gone differently as it has been noted that Luther was not alone in his critique of the structure and manner in which indulgences were sometimes utilized. He may have had more sympathetic ears among those who saw a need for reform but believed in the authority of the Roman Church. One of the first areas of Luther s theology to be affected by his insight about salvation was the sacraments. While the Roman Church had defined seven sacraments, Luther argued that a sacrament consisted of a divine promise marked by a divine command, both of which were only to be found in scripture, and on this test only baptism, Eucharist and penance survived. 24 Even penance would be removed from Luther s already shortened list. This indicates that already by the time of the pope s condemnation of Luther in the bull Exsurge Domine in 1520, Luther s theology was 22 Martin Luther to John Von Staupitz, May 30, 1518 in Letters I, American ed, Luther s Works 48 (Saint Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 1963), 65-70; Schilling, Martin Luther, Grimm, The Reformation Era , MacCulloch, The Reformation,

15 markedly different from that of the Roman Catholic Church, even before Pope Leo X condemned Luther s teachings. Wittenberg University Luther had been teaching at the recently formed university at Wittenberg, a university founded by Frederick the Wise. 25 It is here that Luther became a renowned lecturer, teaching about the Bible. It is through his study of the scriptures that he would eventually come to his tower experience already mentioned. What is noteworthy about Luther s placement at Wittenberg is that Frederick seems to have continually defended Luther from the outset. It is not clear why Frederick did so, as Luther had proven to draw more attention to Saxony than Frederick usually preferred. 26 This attachment to Luther is also interesting because of how much trouble Frederick would receive from Charles V regarding Luther. Given Charles deep faith and adherence to Catholicism, which would have been well known throughout the empire, 27 why did Frederick not challenge Charles in the election of the Holy Roman Emperor? Instead of challenging him, he endorsed him, even when the pope bestowed the Golden Rose to Frederick (an award given by the pope to a most Christian ruler), in hopes that Frederick would contend for the imperial crown. 28 Most say that it was because Frederick recognized that he was not suited for the role, making Frederick appear as a humble figure. 25 Wellman, Frederick the Wise, Ibid. 27 MacCulloch, The Reformation, Grimm, The Reformation Era ,

16 Frederick also saw Luther as a high profile professor at his new university, a professor making an impact on the academic world at large who could boost his university s status among the numerous academic institutions throughout the empire. Thus, he would have had good reason to keep Luther on faculty and shield him from censure that would have either forced Luther to recant or give him over to authorities who could have silenced him, or executed him at worst. Either decision would have left Frederick s new school with a poor reputation which would not have bode well for the longevity of Wittenberg University. Renaissance Humanism Humanism in general had a large impact on the path Luther s reformation would take. This intellectual movement would lay the foundations for Luther s and other Reformers rejection of Catholic tradition. This is not to say that humanism itself was against Catholicism, as the heart of Renaissance Humanism was found in Italy. Schilling suggests that Luther actually rejected the Renaissance and this became a significant part of his reformation. 29 While Luther did reject certain aspects of the renaissance, in particular its positive view of fallen human nature, this feature of the renaissance did not reside only within the new scholarship known as humanism but also existed within the Thomistic (and thus, scholastic thought) of Cardinal Cajetan (a Dominican well known for his exposition of St. Thomas Aquinas and his actions as papal legate to Wittenberg). 30 Reactions against the scholastic method were a feature of renaissance humanism, 29 Schilling, Martin Luther, David Curtis Steinmetz, Luther in Context (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1986), 12

17 showing that a positive view of human nature was not an unusual feature in the early sixteenth century intellectual life, even in opposing schools of thought. Schilling in this example is correct in his appraisal of Luther as a rebel against the renaissance movement. However, Schilling overlooks what stands at the center of Luther s reformation, namely the belief that Luther had rediscovered the core of the gospel. This rediscovery of previously lost meaning bears a great resemblance to the humanist s focus on a return to the Latin and Greek sources and the original meaning of the words within the text itself, resulting in renaissance methods of determining the authenticity of various texts. 31 Luther s understanding of Christianity was primarily influenced by what he believed to be a more correct understanding of salvation than what was found in medieval Christianity. The methods of the renaissance resulted in the questioning of some documents that the medieval culture had taken to be authentic, but were then shown to be less than what they claimed, such as the Donation of Constantine (a manuscript that was allegedly signed the Emperor Constantine bequeathed the Papal States to the pope, during the renaissance the document was proven to be of later scholarship), a document upon which much of the pope s temporal authority rested (in the opinion of some). 32 In short, the renaissance methodology undermined traditional views of authority, which not only 31 MacCulloch, The Reformation, Ibid., The Donation of Constantine was a text that had been thought to be of fourth century origin in which the Emperor Constantine gave the pope significant power. In the fifteenth century, humanist scholars noted that the style of the document differed from other fourth century documents. Thus, destroying one source of papal authority. Though it should be noted that while many scholars discredit the document because of its later date (sixth-ninth centuries), others did not deny its late authorship but reasoned that the document could have expressed a reality that had been accepted before its literal composition and we should not impose modern standards of forgery and authorship onto the Donation of Constantine. 13

18 allowed Luther s reformation to succeed but may have given him confidence in his own insights over those of the Roman Church when it came to the interpretation of Scripture. Renaissance Humanists, like Erasmus, desired the reform of ecclesial and religious life in Europe. In fact, many humanists despite nationality initially supported Luther in his attempts to reform the Church. However, it became clear soon after his initial attempts to correct Rome that Luther had more in mind than merely reinvigorating the existing ecclesial institutions and had in mind more foundational reforms that many humanists thought too extreme. In fact it is argued by Robert Rosin that the humanists older than Luther were so attached to the Roman church that they could not stay with Luther when he said "faith alone." The older humanists believed in Christ but they also saw Him as a model or blueprint they needed to follow the philosophia Chrìsti, the philosophy of Christ. That was still a mix of faith and works, that old theology that Luther would reject. 33 Luther would use humanist methods in his scriptural interpretation and in his rhetorically eloquent works. A love for words and eloquence in their composition is something that Alister McGrath identifies as a marker of Renaissance Humanism, while noting that this eloquence was a means to an end not an end in and of itself. 34 Thus, like many of the humanists Luther would use a similar methodology but come to different conclusions than his contemporaries. This issue would plague the Reformation movement later when the various reformers would be unable to agree with one another on any theological point except for anti-roman sentiment. Thus, we can see that while Luther came to markedly different 33 Robert Rosin, Luther at Worms and the Wartburg: Still Confessing: Find It!, Concordia Journal 32, no. 2 (April 2006): Alister E. McGrath, Reformation Thought: An Introduction (New York: Blackwell, 1988),

19 conclusions than many men of the Italian Renaissance, he still applied the humanist methods to reach his theological conclusions and to spread his rediscovered gospel via eloquent preaching and rhetorically sound (though harsh) tracts treating various areas of religious reform. The State of Religion in Germany preceding the Diet of Worms The religious issues within Germany in the period leading up to the Reformation were numerous. The issue that stands out in the popular mind is the debate over indulgences. The particular set of indulgences that incurred the criticism of Luther was the Jubilee Indulgence that Pope Julius II called to aid in building the new St. Peter s Basilica in Rome. 35 The reason many German princes consented to the sale of indulgences within Germany was that Rome promised a percentage of the proceeds to the princes or to the bishoprics in their realm. When Albert of Mainz was made archbishop of Mainz an agreement was drawn up, that stipulated half of the money from the sale of indulgences in his domain would go to the pope and the other half would to go Albert and the Fuggers, a prominent German banking family. 36 Thus, many high-profile Germans consented to this action because they themselves profited from the sale of indulgences. However, there were also some who criticized money going to Rome, money that they believed should have stayed in Germany. This mindset would eventually give Luther s condemnation of Rome some fuel among the ruling class of the Holy Roman Empire who saw an opportunity to take 35 Grimm, The Reformation Era , Ibid.,

20 control of ecclesial institutions and the monetary benefits they would no longer need to share with Rome. While Luther did not get involved in the profit-sharing aspect of the indulgence controversy, he instead criticized that indulgences were sold as a means of salvation separate from the need of repentance on the part the individual who bought the indulgence. 37 Though it should be noted that the formal teaching of the church (and for that matter, the theological consensus) was one side of the matter, and the perception of the common people, who flocked to hear (and pay) Tetzel, [was] quite another. 38 So while Luther began to be viewed as rebel by many upon his critique of the sale of indulgences even Catholic theologians of the time period would have agreed with most (not all) of his judgement on indulgences. Yet, this controversy would give Luther a popularity among both the intelligentsia of his day and the common people, a popularity that he would exploit and which the German princes would utilize at the Diet of Worms. The devotio moderna movement also had a significant role in the religious outlook of many Germans leading up to the Reformation. This spiritual movement focused on private prayer; one s own relationship with God was the focus of this spiritual movement not a particular devotion to a saint or an aspect of the Lord s life. While much of devotio moderna focused on the sacramental life, like attending Mass and going to confession, its main focus sought to draw one into deeper relationship with the Lord by reading scripture and other spiritual works. 39 The most enduring representation of devotio 37 Hans Joachim Hillerbrand, The Division of Christendom: Christianity in the Sixteenth Century, (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2007), Ibid., Schilling, Martin Luther,

21 moderna is Thomas a Kempis Imitation of Christ, a work that focused primarily on the individual s relationship with the Lord. The devotio moderna movement was important for Luther and the spread of Lutheranism (and the vast number of other reformations that would follow in Luther s wake) since Luther would often assert the meaning of scripture is left to the individual believer who did not need the authority of the Church to inform him of scripture s meaning. 40 The devotio moderna movement was not primarily responsible for the turn to the subject in the realm of religion since the humanism of the Renaissance and other philosophies like Occam s school of thought made the greatest impact on that move in intellectual circles. 41 Though it is unclear how much of a role the devotio moderna movement played in Luther s journey toward the reformation, one can see the personal search of Luther for God s grace bears some semblance to the personal search the devotio moderna movement emphasized. The Papacy in the Late Medieval Period The power of the papacy during the late Medieval period had waxed and waned due to its difficulty in balancing its role as successor of St. Peter and its status as a secular power in the form of the Papal States. While it would be easy to assume that the secular power of the papacy would undermine the authority of the pope in religious matters, it should be noted that the popes of the medieval period had concerns (not without reason) that without the Papal States the papacy could become the apparatus of a European 40 Martin Luther, To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, in The Christian in Society I, American ed., Luther s Works 44 (Saint Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 1966), Jared Wicks, Luther and His Spiritual Legacy (Wilmington, DE: M. Glazier, 1983),

22 monarch who may have attempted to use the religious power of the papacy to benefit his own state and relegate the papacy to a marginal role in European politics. By the sixteenth century the papacy s role in European affairs had lessened but it was still a prominent player in European politics with a fair amount of autonomy from secular powers. 42 The debate between the conciliarists (those who thought the highest authority in Christendom was an ecumenical council) and those in favor of the absolute power of the pope (with many somewhere in between) dominated the discussion about the role of the papacy leading up to the sixteenth century. With the papal schism that lasted from , it was the calling of a council, the Council of Constance that resulted in finally ending the schism. This council ended the two-line papacy and brought an end to the schism, giving the impression that conciliarism had won out over the papacy s absolute power. However, by the mid-fifteenth century the papacy with help from secular rulers won a victory against the conciliarists. 43 This allowed the popes to avoid the use of ecumenical councils to bring about reform and put the power of reform in the hands of the papacy. But was not the end of the conciliarist debate as Luther, Charles, and many others would call for a Church council to achieve reform within the Church, though the pope would fight against these calls for an ecumenical council until Pope Paul III after the reformation had progressed called the Council of Trent in Up until that point the papacy while not shirking its spiritual responsibility, would often mix political and 42 Grimm, The Reformation Era , Schilling, Martin Luther, Grimm, The Reformation Era ,

23 religious interests, an intermingling that flowed primarily from the papacy viewing itself as an Italian city-state and an European power, without forgetting at the same time the claim to be the vice-regent of Christ. 45 This is the world in which Luther began his efforts at reform. 45 Roland H. Bainton, The Reformation of the Sixteenth Century (Boston: Beacon Press, 1985),

24 Chapter 2: The Diet of Worms Luther Provokes Rome Martin Luther first gained the attention of Rome when he protested the sale of indulgences in 1517 with his Ninety-Five Theses which called into question the understanding of indulgences as espoused by the indulgence preacher and Dominican Johann Tetzel. At first Luther was convinced that the pope did not know what Tetzel and other Dominicans were doing. However, when he was spurned by Rome on the issue, the pope simply sent legates to deal with what he thought was a squabble between Augustinians and Dominicans, Luther s order and Tetzel s. 46 After this experience Luther s theology began to evolve and he jettisoned much of the traditional sacramental system. Luther also began to develop a novel notion of salvation. These two developments in Luther s thought obtained the ire of Rome and Catholic controversialists, the latter of which exchanged heated debates through correspondence with Luther. Finally, in 1520 the papal bull, Exsurge Domini, was promulgated by Pope Leo X. While it did not name Luther, it condemned a number of his teachings. Leo then demanded that imperial authorities bring Luther to justice. Debate over the Luther Controversy Cardinal Jerome Aleander, the papal legate at the Diet of Worms, opened the Diet of Worms discussion of how the Holy Roman Empire should treat the controversy surrounding Doctor Martin Luther. Aleander as the Papal representative at the diet argued before the diet on January 18, 1521, that the princes of Germany should not give Luther a 46 Grimm, The Reformation Era ,

25 hearing or examine him but should carry out what Pope Leo X had decreed in his bull Exsurge Domine. The Germanic princes, however, believed that Luther deserved an impartial hearing. The hearing requested by Frederick the Wise would ask clarification on issues raised by Luther, a list compiled by the well-known Erasmus of Rotterdam. 47 It is not clear what the princes and, in particular, Frederick s expectation were for this impartial hearing. It seemed that they wanted men of learning, biblical scholars, to examine Luther on his teachings. Although, Johann Eck (a different individual than the Eck that would question Luther later at this diet) at the Leipzig Disputation used biblical arguments to counter the teachings of Luther. The official record of the disputation, which registered in detail every statement made by the debaters, was sent to the conservative theological faculties at Cologne and Louvain. 48 All above mentioned parties condemned the teachings of Luther, suggesting that perhaps the princes wanted not so much further theological debate but an approval of Luther s teaching by scholars at an imperial diet to give them some leverage over the pope and emperor. This authorization of Luther s theology at an imperial diet would mean that Luther s criticism of Papal authority had received approval from other learned men. This would weaken the pope s authority over the German church since the emperor s power rested on the divine right invested in him by the pope, who traditionally crowned the Holy Roman Emperor. Luther s theology would further undermine the emperor s authority along with papal authority. Both would help the German princes to obtain further independence from imperial jurisdiction and give them greater authority over their 47 James Atkinson, The Trial of Luther, ed. J.P. Kenyon, Historic Trials Series (New York: Stein and Day, 1971), Schilling, Martin Luther,

26 respective territorial churches. Both were concerns of the German princes at the diet, as James Atkinson writes: Two major issues dominated the German mind at this hour: imperial reform and church reform. In the matter of imperial reform the Estates sought for a weakening and restriction of imperial power and authority with the corresponding increase in their own People and princes wanted a renewed assertion of the sovereignty of the prince over his territorial church. 49 Thus, there were three differing political forces at work at Worms. First, most of the German princes wanted a decentralized form of government for the empire, granting them more autonomy as local rulers. The nobility were more noticeably divided over Luther evidenced by some accounts that report German princes fighting over whether Luther was a heretic. The second was the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V s efforts to retain control over the empire. The twenty-year-old emperor had no desire to lose any of the power belonging to the emperor (powers that had already been curbed upon his election) and thus was against de-centralizing the empire. As the leader of not only the Holy Roman Empire, but of Spain and its overseas holdings, the Duchy of Burgundy, the Low Countries, Austria, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, and Dalmatia which made Charles the most powerful man in Europe. His dynastic concerns are seen in his actions early on as the successor of Maximillian. 50 His primary goal at the Diet of Worms was to maintain control of the Holy Roman Empire and to uphold the oath he had taken as emperor to defend the Catholic Faith. 49 Atkinson, The Trial of Luther, Harold Grimm, The Reformation Era,

27 The pope s part in the politics and the theological debate at the diet was complicated by factors including Germany s disdain for Rome s perceived tyranny over the Church in Germany. However, the pope s attempts to work against the election of Charles V as the emperor, gave Charles no reason to support the pope s cause at the diet. 51 It is also important to note that the papal court s only official representative at Luther s trial was Cardinal Aleander. Thus, while Rome s theological concerns had supporters at the diet, there appears to have been little support for the political interests of the Papal States at the Diet of Worms. 52 Thus, the Papal State's lack of influence at the diet would suggest that those who opposed Luther in favor of Church unity most likely did so out of personal religious and theological conviction and not a political maneuver to curry favor with Rome. Support for Luther s summons to the diet increased despite Cardinal Aleander s attempts to keep Luther away from the diet. Aleander s position was strengthened when the pope finally excommunicated Luther with the bull titled Decet Pontificem Romanum on January 3, 1521, reaching Aleander on February 10, The Teutonic leaders, argued that Luther s case was sitting before the bishop of Trier and Cardinal Cajetan, The Pope s proceedings against Doctor Martin were null and void, though the pope had always condemned profound instances of heresy without much consultation of the local bishops and other authorities. 54 The pope should have been viewed as the chief authority 51 Sam Wellman, Frederick the Wise, Wim Francois, The Louvain Theologian John Driedo versus the German Reformer Martin Luther: And Who Could Impose Their Truth, In Theology and the Quest for Truth: Historical- and Systematic-Theological Studies, (Dudley, MA: Leuven University Press, 2007), Atkinson, The Trial of Luther, Ibid.,

28 on matters theological in any Catholic state, but especially the Holy Roman Empire. This would be the first of several legal discrepancies at the Diet of Worms and its immediate aftermath. What Atkinson considers to be the opening of the prosecution of Luther at the diet begins with the following from Aleander: [T]he promulgation of a general edict throughout the cities and land of Germany to hand this same Martin [Luther] and other heretics supporting him as well as those who further and harbour him and those who follow such perversity, to those punishments decreed against them in our missives, unless they recant. They are to be punished by ordering the rulers of the cities and the governors of thy provinces and all other public servants and officials under punishments which seem to thee appropriate, that it be declared and made known by public proclamation that they would take proceedings against this same Martin as well as against these condemned heretics, his supporters, and all who favour and further the cause, according to express command of our [Papal] instruction. 55 Aleander would proceed to try and argue for the princes, electors, and emperor to respect the authority of the pope. Calling into question whether the princes claims that Luther s piety and the holiness justifies his calling before an imperial diet. Just because Luther is calling for reform of the Church does not make Luther special in Aleander s mind because many heretics had also called for ecclesial reform, yet, the princes thought Luther s case to be unique and worthy of an imperial hearing despite Aleander s point. Aleander retorted by asking the princes to once again, carry out what the spiritual arm had decreed. Aleander argued, [T]he Diet is not a competent court in this matter. The Emperor himself is not in a position to judge affairs of this kind Holy Roman Empire, and Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Deutsche Reichstagsakten, in Atkinson, The Trial of Luther, Atkinson, The Trial of Luther,

29 The German nobles received this speech of Aleander as an argument for maintaining the status quo within the Church and state, something that would not help bring about reform of the Church in Germany. Following his speech, Aleander introduced a draft of an edict that Emperor Charles supported, but the estates opposed the edict because the German people would not be satisfied unless Luther was given a proper hearing. The princes suggested that Luther s arguments be heard and he be asked to recant the teachings opposed to the traditional faith. If he did so, they further suggested that he then be heard out in the areas of Church reform for which he called. However, if Luther refused to recant of his opposition to the true Christian Faith, the estates promised to carry out the will of the emperor. 57 The second draft of Aleander s the result of the text which still condemned Luther s theology and emphasized the pope s good will towards someone he saw as a wayward Augustinian. This document was submitted to and approved by Charles V. 58 Luther Summoned Charles made a further promise enumerated in a letter to Luther: Honourable, dear, and reverend Sir, Inasmuch as We and the Estates fo the Holy Roman Empire, now assembled here, have undertaken and decided to receive some explanation from you an account of the doctrines and books which you have produced for some time now, We give you immediate security and a safe conduct to come to Us here, and from here a safe return home, a safe conduct recognized by Us and our Empire and attached herewith come to Us, and within twenty-one days be with Us for certain, nothing doubting. Do not stay aloof Given in Worms our 57 Ibid., Ibid.,

30 imperial city on the sixth day of the month of March in the year of our Lord 1521 and in the second year of our reign. 59 Aleander perceived the above action taken by the emperor as a gross mistake. The Church in Germany could have nothing to do with a man who had been declared a heretic by the head of the Church. To summon him to a diet was to dialogue with evil. 60 While Aleander may have been correct, that to summon Luther to the Diet of Worms was to invite trouble for the Church and emperor, the emperor would have had good reasons for allowing Luther to appear. Charles realized his position as emperor depended upon the many estates of the Holy Roman Empire. As such it would be difficult to ignore the request of the princes that Luther be given a fair hearing. Such an action would show the German nation that he was willing to listen to their complaints against Rome and suggest he took an interest in their plight. There may have also been the added benefit of reminding the pope that the Holy Father would need the emperor s support in combatting Luther and his movement. It is evident that the emperor had no desire to dialogue with Luther whom he saw as an errant monk as evidenced by his reaction to receiving a letter from Luther. Instead of reading the letter, Charles V ripped it to shreds upon the letter s arrival. 61 Being thus summoned by Caspar Sturm, the imperial herald of the Emperor, Luther began his journey to Worms. Even the Saxon contingent, who was supportive of Luther, was unsure if Luther should make the journey to Worms. The memory of John Hus, who had been promised safe conduct in his summons to the Council of Constance 59 Holy Roman Empire, and Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Deutsche Reichstagsakten, quoted in Atkinson, Atkinson, The Trial of Luther Schilling, Martin Luther,

31 but was still condemned to the infamous stake, gave both the Saxon elector and Luther some doubts to the emperor s intention in calling Luther to the diet. 62 Luther, despite declaring in a letter to George Spalatin, an advisor to Frederick the Wise, that all the way from Eisenach to here I have been sick, 63 he preached throughout his travels from Wittenberg to Worms. He received a warm welcome in many of the towns through which he traveled, showing that Luther had struck a chord with existent discontent among the German people with Rome and corruption that was currently within the German church. 64 Von Sickingen and Hutten (German Knights) tried to convince Luther to join them for they were meditating an open war against the pro-roman emperor. Luther refused to subvert the emperor whom he saw as the highest authority on earth even above the pope. 65 It would appear that Luther s reverence for the emperor s office was sincere. Something made clear, upon a close reading of Luther s treatise, To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, we see (1520), For these reasons the temporal Christian authority ought to exercise its office without hindrance, regardless of whether it is pope, bishop, or priest whom it affects. 66 Luther believed that the secular authority was the one responsible for enacting and enforcing ecclesial laws something the German princes would actively embrace, giving them the power to appoint bishops and pass ecclesial laws and change local religious 62 Ibid., Martin Luther to George Spalatin Frankfurt/Main, April 14, 1521, in Letters I, American ed, Luther s Works 48 (Saint Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 1963) Grimm, The Reformation Era , Gordon Rupp, Luther s Progress to the Diet of Worms (New York: Harper & Row, 1964), Luther, "To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation,"