Diet of Worms
|
Luther Before the Diet of Worms, photogravure after the historicist painting by Anton von Werner (1843-1915) in the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart |
The
Diet of Worms was a general assembly (a
Diet) of
the estates of the
Holy Roman Empire that took place in
Worms, a small town on the
Rhine river located in what is now
Germany. It was conducted from
January 28 to
May 25,
1521, with Emperor
Charles V presiding. Although other issues were dealt with at the Diet of Worms, it is most memorable for addressing
Martin Luther and the effects of the
Protestant Reformation.
The previous year,
Pope Leo X had issued the
Papal bull Exsurge Domine, demanding that Luther retract forty-one of his
95 theses criticising the Church. Luther was summoned by the Emperor to appear before the Imperial Diet. Prince
Frederick III, Elector of Saxony obtained an agreement that if Luther appeared he would be promised safe passage to and from the meeting. Such a guarantee was essential after the treatment of
Jan Hus, who was tried and executed at the
Council of Constance in 1415, despite a safe conduct pass.
Emperor Charles V opened the imperial Diet of Worms on
January 22,
1521. Luther was summoned to renounce or reaffirm his views. When he appeared before the assembly on
April 16,
Johann Eck, an assistant of
Archbishop of Trier (
Richard Greiffenklau zu Vollraths at that time), acted as spokesman for the Emperor. He presented Luther with a table filled with copies of his writings. Eck asked Luther if the books were his and if he still believed what these works taught. Luther requested time to consider his answer. It was granted.
Luther prayed, consulted with friends and mediators and presented himself before the Diet the next day. When the counselor put the same questions to Luther, he said: "They are all mine, but as for the second question, they are not all of one sort." Luther went on to say that some of the works were well received by even his enemies. These he would not reject.
The second category of his books attacked the abuses, lies and desolation of the
Christian world. These, Luther believed, could not safely be rejected without encouraging abuses to continue.
The third group contained attacks on individuals. He apologized for the harsh tone of these writings, but did not reject the substance of what he taught in them. If he could be shown from the
Scriptures that he was in error, Luther continued, he would reject them.
Counsellor Eck, after countering that Luther had no right to teach contrary to the Church through the ages, asked Luther to plainly answer the question: "Would Luther reject his books and the errors they contain?"
Luther replied: "Unless I am convicted by Scripture and plain reasonâ€"I do not accept the authority of popes and councils, for they have contradicted each otherâ€"my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe."
According to tradition, Luther is then said to have spoken these words: "Hier stehe ich. Ich kann nicht anders. Gott helfe mir. Amen." (
"Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen.") Some scholars now question whether these famous words were actually spoken, however, since only the last four appear in contemporary accounts.
Private conferences were held to determine Luther's fate. Before a decision was reached, Luther left Worms. During his return to
Wittenberg, he disappeared.
Main article: Edict of Worms
.The Emperor issued the
Edict of Worms on
May 25,
1521, declaring Martin Luther an outlaw and a heretic and banning his literature.
The
Papal nuncio at the Diet,
Girolamo Aleandro, drew up and proposed the Edict's fierce denunciations, which declared Luther an outlaw and banned the reading or possession of his writings. It permitted anyone to kill Luther without legal consequence. The Edict was a divisive move that distressed more moderate men, and in particular
Erasmus.
Despite the agreement that he could return home safely, it was privately understood that Luther would soon be arrested and punished. To protect him from this fate,
Prince Frederick seized him on his way home and hid him away in
Wartburg Castle. It was during his time in Wartburg that Luther began his German translation of the Bible.
When Luther eventually came out of hiding, the Emperor was preoccupied with military concerns, and because of rising public support for Luther among the German people, the Edict of Worms was never enforced. Luther continued to call for reform until his death in
1546.
*
Translation of the Edict of Worms by De Lamar Jensen and Jacquelin Delbrouwire
* [
1]
Shakespeare, in
Hamlet (Act IV, Scene 3) makes a punning reference to the Diet of Worms, where Hamlet says of the dead Polonius: "A certain convocation of politic worms are e'en at him. Your worm is your only emperor for diet."
