CHAPTER II

THE RELIGIOUS REVOLUTION

LUTHERIANISM AND ZWINGLIANISM

(a) In Germany.

Janssen, op. cit. (i., a). Pastor, op. cit. (i. a). Dollinger,

/Die Reformation/, 1846-8. Hergenrother-Kirsch, op. cit. (i., b).

Grisar, S.J., /Luther/, 3 Bde, 1911-12 (Eng. Trans. 1913-14).

Denifle-Weiss, O.P., /Luther und Luthertum in der ersten

Entwicklung/, 1906-9. Weiss, /Lutherpsychologie als Schlussel zur

Lutherlegende/, 2 auf., 1906. Hausrath, /Luthers Leben/, 2 Bde.

1904. Kostlin-Kawerau, /Martin Luther, Sein Leben und seine

schriften/, 1903. Cardauns, /Zur Geschichte der Kirchlichen Unions

--und Reformsbestrebungen von 1538-42/, 1910. Laemmer, /Monumenta

Vaticana historiam ecclesiasticam saeculi XVI. illustrantia/,

1861. Raynaldus, /Annales Ecclesiastici/, 1735 (tom. xx.-xxi.).

Armstrong, /The Emperor Charles V./, 1902. /Cambridge Modern

History/, vol. ii. (The Reformation), 1903. Kidd, /Documents

Illustrative of the Continental Reformation/, 1911. For a fairly

complete bibliography on this period of history, cf. Grisar's

/Luther/ (Eng. Trans., vol. i., xv.-xxv.; Cambridge Modern

History, ii., pp. 728-64; Hergenrother-Kirsch, Bd. iii., pp. 4-8).

The religious revolt that had been foretold by many earnest

ecclesiastics began in Germany in 1517. Its leader was Martin Luther,

the son of a miner, born at Eisleben in 1483. As a boy he attended

school at Eisenach and Magdeburg, supporting himself by singing in the

streets until a kind benefactress came to his assistance in the person

of Ursula Cotta. His father, having improved his position in the

world, determined to send the youth to study law at the University of

Erfurt, which was then one of the leading centres of Humanism on the

northern side of the Alps. But though Luther was in close touch with

some of the principal classical scholars of Germany and was by no

means an indifferent classical scholar himself, there is no evidence

of his having been influenced largely in his religious views by the

Humanist movement. He turned his attention principally to the study of

philosophy, and having received his degree in 1505, he began to

lecture on the physics and ethics of Aristotle.

Suddenly, to the surprise of his friends, and the no small vexation of

his father the young Luther, who had not been particularly remarkable

for his religious fervour, abandoned his career at the university and

entered the novitiate of the Augustinian monastery at Erfurt (July

1505). The motives which induced him to take this unexpected step are

not clear. Some say he was led to do so by the sudden death of a

student friend, others that it was in fulfilment of a vow which he had

made during a frightful thunderstorm that overtook him on a journey

from his father's house to Erfurt, while he himself tells us that he

became a monk because he had lost confidence in himself.[1] Of his

life as a student very little is known for certain. Probably he was no

worse and no better than his companions in a university city, which

was described by himself in later life as a "beerhouse" and a "nest of

immorality."[2]

The sudden change from the freedom and excitement of the university to

the silence and monotony of the cloister had a depressing influence on

a man like Luther, who, being of a nervous, highly-strung temperament,

was inclined to pass quickly from one extreme to another. He began to

be gloomy and scrupulous, and was driven at times almost to despair of

his salvation; but Staupitz, the superior of the province, endeavoured

to console him by impressing on him the necessity of putting his trust

entirely in the merits of Christ. Yet in spite of his scruples

Luther's life as a novice was a happy one. He was assiduous in the

performance of his duties, attentive to the instruction of his

superiors, and especially anxious to acquire a close acquaintance with

the Sacred Scriptures, the reading and study of which were strongly

recommended to all novices in the Augustinian order at this period.[3]

In 1506 he was allowed to make his vows, and in the following year he

was ordained priest. During the celebration of his first Mass he was

so overcome by a sense of his own unworthiness to offer up such a pure

sacrifice that he would have fled from the altar before beginning the

canon had it not been for his assistants, and throughout the ceremony

he was troubled lest he should commit a mortal sin by the slightest

neglect of the rubrics. At the breakfast that followed, to which

Luther's relatives had been invited, father and son met for the first

time since Luther entered the monastery. While the young priest waxed

eloquent about the happiness of his vocation and about the storm from

heaven that helped him to understand himself, his father, who had kept

silent throughout the repast, unable to restrain himself any longer

interrupted suddenly with the remark that possibly he was deceived,

and that what he took to be from God might have been the work of the

devil. "I sit here," he continued, "eating and drinking but I would

much prefer to be far from this spot." Luther tried to pacify him by

reminding him of the godly character of monasticism, but the

interruption was never forgotten by Luther himself or by his friends

who heard it.

After his ordination the young monk turned his attention to theology,

but, unfortunately, the theological training given to the Augustinian

novices at this period was of the poorest and most meagre kind.[4] He

studied little if anything of the works of the early Fathers, and

never learned to appreciate Scholasticism as expounded by its greatest

masters, St. Thomas or St. Bonaventure. His knowledge of Scholastic

Theology was derived mainly from the works of the rebel friar William

of Occam, who, in his own time, was at constant war with the Popes,

and who, during the greater part of his life, if not at the moment of

his death, was under sentence of excommunication from the Church. The

writings of such a man, betraying as they did an almost complete

unacquaintance with the Scriptures and exaggerating men's natural

powers to the undervaluing or partial exclusion of Grace, exercised a

baneful influence on a man of Luther's tastes and temperaments.

Accepted by Luther as characteristic of Scholastic Theology, such

writings prejudiced him against the entire system. Acting on the

advice of the provincial, Staupitz, he gave himself up with great zeal

to the study of the Bible, and later on he turned his attention to the

works of St. Augustine, particularly the works written in defence of

the Catholic doctrine on Grace against the Pelagians. In 1508 he went

to the university of Wittenberg, founded recently by Frederick of

Saxony, to lecture on Logic and Ethics, and to continue his

theological studies; but for some reason, as yet unexplained, he was

recalled suddenly to his monastery at Erfurt, where he acquired fame

rapidly as a lecturer and preacher.

Thirty foundations of the Augustinians in Saxony had accepted the

reform begun by Andrew Proles in the fifteenth century, and had

separated themselves definitely from the unreformed houses of the

order in Germany. They were subject immediately to the general of the

order, whose vicar at this time in Saxony was the well-known Humanist,

Staupitz.[5] The latter was anxious to bring about a reunion between

the two parties and to have himself appointed as superior; but the

party who stood for the strict observance were opposed bitterly to

such a step, and determined to send a representative to Rome to plead

their cause. The fact that they selected so young a man as Luther to

champion their interests is a sufficient proof of the position which

he had won for himself amongst his religious brethren. He was looked

up to already as an ornament of the order, and his selection for this

highly important mission served to increase the over-weening pride and

self-confidence that had manifested themselves already as weak spots

in his character. Accompanied by a companion of his order he started

on his long journey across the Alps. As he reached the heights of

Monte Mario and surveyed the Popes he fell on his knees, according to

the custom of the pilgrims, and hailed "the city thrice sanctified by

the blood of martyrs." He had looked forward with pleasure to a stay

in Rome, where he might have an opportunity of setting his scruples to

rest by a general confession of his sins, but, unfortunately, his

brother Augustinians in Rome and those with whom he came most in

contact seemed to have been more anxious to regale him with stories

about the real or imaginary scandals of the city than to give him

spiritual consolation or advice. Yet in later life, when he had

definitely separated from the Church and when he was most anxious to

blacken the character of Rome and the Popes, it is remarkable that he

could point to very little detrimental to them of which he had

personal knowledge, and was forced to rely solely on what had been

told him by others. Nor did he leave Rome as a declared enemy of the

Papacy, for even so late as 1516 he defended warmly the supremacy of

the Pope as the one safeguard for the unity of the Church.[6] Many of

his biographers, indeed, assert that, as he stood by the /Scala

Sancta/ and witnessed the pilgrims ascending on their bare knees, he

turned aside disgusted with the sight and repeated the words of St.

Paul, "the just man lives by his faith"; but such a statement, due

entirely to the imagination of his relatives and admirers is rejected

as a legend by those best qualified to judge.[7] The threatened union

of the strict and unreformed that had occasioned Luther's journey to

Rome was abandoned; but it is worthy of note that Staupitz had

succeeded in detaching him from his former friends, and that he

returned to Germany a convinced and violent opponent of the party of

strict observance, who had sent him to Rome as their representative.

During his stay in the city there is good reason for believing that on

his own behalf he sought for permission to lay aside his monastic

habit and to devote himself for ten years to study in Italy, but his

request was refused on the ground that it was not supported by the

authority of his superiors. This petition was probably the foundation

for the rumours that were circulated in Germany by his opponents that

while in Rome he endeavoured to have himself "secularised" and to

obtain a dispensation to marry.

On his return to Germany he devoted himself once more to the study of

theology in preparation for the doctorate which he won at Wittenberg

in 1512. Almost immediately he was appointed professor at the

university and undertook to lecture on the Psalms. His eloquence and

his imagination, his retentive memory enabling him to illustrate his

texts by parallel passages drawn from the books of the Old Testament,

and in a certain way his exaggerations, his strength of diction, and

his asperity of language towards all with whose views he did not find

himself in agreement, made his lectures most popular at the

university, and filled his hall with an eager and attentive audience.

Amongst the students Luther had no rival, and even the few professors

who were inclined to resent his methods and his views were captivated

by the magic influence of their brilliant young colleague. The

Augustinians, mindful of the honour he was achieving for their order,

hastened to appoint him to the important position of district vicar

(1515), while the Elector Frederick could not conceal his delight at

having secured the services of so capable a professor for the new

university.

At Wittenberg Luther felt himself completely at home. He was proud of

the distinctions conferred upon him by his brethren, and of the

influence accorded to him by his companions in the university. Great

as were his industry and his powers of application, yet they were put

to the most severe tests to enable him to complete the programme he

had set himself to accomplish. His lectures at the university, his

sermons preached in the Augustinian church, his visitations of the

houses of his order in the district over which he was vicar, his

correspondence, partly routine and partly entailed by his close

relations with some of the leading men in Germany, occupied all his

time even to the exclusion of the spiritual exercises enjoined by his

rule. Very frequently he neglected to celebrate Mass or even to read

the divine office, and then alarmed by his negligence and guilt he had

recourse to extraordinary forms of penance. Fits of laxity were

followed by fits of scrupulousness until at last he was driven at

times almost to despair. It was then that he called to mind the

consoling advice given to him by his superior that he should put his

trust in the merits of Christ, and the teaching of St. Augustine on

the frailty of human nature unless it was aided and supported by

divine Grace. He began to develop the idea that justification could

not be acquired by good works, that concupiscence could not be

overcome, and that consequently man could be justified only by the

imputation of the merits of Christ. Years before, views such as these

had been passing through his mind, as may be seen in his sermons

against the Augustinians of the strict observance, but they found

adequate expression only in his commentaries on the Epistles of St.

Paul to the Romans and to the Galatians (1515-6). Still, as yet, he

held strongly to the principle of authority in matters of religion,

and inveighed against heretics who would dare to set aside the

authority of the Pope in order to follow their own judgment. In

reality, however, his own teaching on merit and justification was no

longer in harmony with Catholic doctrine, and only a slight occasion

was required to bring him into open and definite conflict with the

authorities of the Church.

This occasion was provided by the preaching in Germany of an

Indulgence proclaimed by Leo X. (1513-21). The building of St. Peter's

had been begun by Julius II. and was continued by his successor Leo

X., the son of Lorenzo de' Medici, and the great patron of the

Humanist movement. In order to provide funds to enable him to continue

this gigantic undertaking Leo X. proclaimed an Indulgence. In addition

to Confession and Holy Communion it was ordered that those of the

faithful who wished to share in the spiritual favours granted by the

Pope should contribute according to their means for the completion of

St. Peter's, or that they should pray for the success of the work in

case poverty did not permit them to give alms. The publication of the

Indulgence in a great part of Germany was entrusted to Albrecht of

Brandenberg, who had been elected Archbishop of Mainz though he was

already Archbishop of Magdeburg and Administrator of Halberstadt. The

fees to be paid by an archbishop appointed to Mainz were exceptionally

high not to speak of the large sum required for the extraordinary

favour of being allowed to hold two archbishoprics. As a means of

enabling Albrecht to raise the required amount, it was proposed by an

official of the Datary that he should be allowed to retain half of the

contributions given on the occasion of the publication of the

Indulgence in the provinces of Mainz and Magdeburg, and in the lands

of the House of Brandenburg.

To publish the Indulgence in the above-mentioned territories Albrecht

appointed the Dominican John Tetzel,[8] who had acquired already

considerable renown as a preacher. Tetzel was a man of solid education

and of good moral standing, whose reputation as a successful popular

preacher stood high in Germany at this period. Many grave abuses have

been alleged against him by his enemies concerning his manner of

carrying out the office entrusted to him by the archbishop, and in

regard to his own private life serious crimes have been laid to his

charge; but as a matter of history it is now admitted that Tetzel was

a much maligned man, that his own conduct can bear the fullest

scrutiny, and that in his preaching the worst that can be said against

him is that he put forward as certainties, especially in regard to

gaining indulgences for the souls of the faithful departed, what were

merely the opinions of certain schools of theologians. Nor is it true

to say that as the result of his activity vast sums of money made

their way into the papal treasury. The accounts of the monies received

during the greater portion of the time are now available, and it can

be seen that when all expenses were paid comparatively little remained

for either the Archbishop of Mainz or the building fund of St.

Peter's.[9]

Tetzel preached with considerable success in Halberstadt, Magdeburg

and Leipzig, and in May 1517 he found himself in the neighbourhood of

Wittenberg, whence many people flocked to see him, and to gain the

Indulgence. This was not calculated to please Luther or his patron the

Elector, Frederick of Saxony, and provided Luther with an occasion of

giving vent to his own views on good works, Grace, and Justification.

Years before, both in his sermons attacking the Augustinians of the

strict observance for their over confidence in the merits of good

works and penance, and in his commentaries on the Epistles of St. Paul

to the Romans and to the Galatians, he had indicated already that his

views on man's power to do anything good, and on the means and nature

of justification differed widely from those put forward by Catholic

theologians. At last, after careful consideration, following the bent

of his own inclination and the advice of his friends, he determined to

take the field openly by publishing, on the eve of the festival of All

Saints, 1517, his celebrated seventy theses against Indulgences.[10]

This document was drawn up with great skill and foresight. Some of the

theses were perfectly orthodox and professed great reverence for the

teaching of the Church and the authority of the Pope; others of them

were open to an orthodox as well as to an unorthodox interpretation;

others, still, were opposed clearly and definitely to Catholic

doctrine, and all of them were put forward in a way that was likely to

arrest public attention and to win the support of the masses.[11] They

were affixed to the doors of the university church in Wittenberg, and

copies of them were spread broadcast through Germany. Before a week

had elapsed they were discussed with eagerness in all parts of the

country, and the state of feeling became so intense that Tetzel was

obliged to discontinue his mission, and to retire to Frankfurt, where

under the direction of Wimpina, he set himself to draw up a number of

counter theses which he offered to defend.

The circumstances of the time were very favourable to a campaign such

as Luther had initiated. The princes of Germany and even some of the

bishops made no secret of their opinion that indulgences had been

abused, and many of them were anything but displeased at the step that

had been taken by the Wittenberg professor. The old opposition between

the Teuton and the Latin was growing daily more marked owing to the

violent and abusive language of men like Ulrich von Hutten, who posed

as German patriots; while the Humanist party, roused by the attacks

made upon Reuchlin by the Dominicans of Cologne, backed by the

Scholastic Theologians, were not sorry to see their opponents

challenged in their own special department, and obliged to act on the

defensive. The knights or lower nobles, too, who had been deprived of

many of their privileges by the princes, were ready for any scheme of

violence in the hope that it might conduce to their advantage; and the

lower classes ground down for centuries were beginning to realise

their own strength, partly owing to the spread of secret societies,

and were willing to lend a ready ear to a leader who had given

expression to views that were coursing already through their minds.

From all parts of Germany letters of congratulation poured in upon

Luther. Many of these came from men who had no desire for a religious

change, but who thought that Luther's campaign was directed only

against abuses in the Church. From the Humanists, from several of the

professors and students of Wittenberg, and even from the superiors of

his order he received unstinted praise and encouragement. At least one

of the bishops, Lorenz von Bibra of Wurzburg, hastened to intercede

for him with Frederick the Elector of Saxony, while none of the others

took up an attitude of unflinching opposition. Tetzel, who had been

forced to abandon his work of preaching, defended publicly at

Frankfurt on the Maine a number of counter theses formulated by Conrad

Wimpina. To this attack Luther replied in a sermon on indulgences in

which he aimed at expressing in a popular style the kernel of the

doctrine contained in his theses. Sylvester Prierias, the master of

the Sacred Palace in Rome, to whom Luther's theses had been forwarded

for examination, published a sharp attack upon them,[12] and was

answered in Luther's most abusive style. The most distinguished,

however, of the men who took the field against him was John Eck,[13]

Professor of Theology and Vice-Chancellor of the University of

Ingolstadt. He was a man well versed in the Scriptures and in the

writings of the Fathers, a ready speaker and an incisive writer, in

every way qualified to meet such a versatile opponent. While on a

visit with the Bishop of Eichstatt he was consulted about Luther's

theses, and gave his opinion in the /Obelisks/ on the dangerous

character of the teaching they contained. The /Obelisks/ was prepared

hastily and was not intended for publication, but it was regarded as

so important that copies of it were circulated freely even before it

was given to the world. Luther replied in the /Asterisks/, a work full

of personal invective and abuse. A Dominican of Cologne, Hochstraten,

also entered the lists against Luther, but his intervention did more

harm than good to the cause of the Church by alienating the Humanist

party whom he assailed fiercely as allies and abettors of Luther.

These attacks, however, served only to give notoriety to Luther's

views and to win for him the sympathy of his friends. His opponents

made one great mistake. Their works were intended in great part only

for the learned, while Luther aimed principally at appealing to the

masses of the people. The Augustinians represented him as the victim

of a Dominican conspiracy, and to show their high appreciation of his

services they selected him to conduct the theological disputation at a

chapter meeting held at Leipzig six months after the publication of

his theses (1518). At this same meeting Luther defended the view that

free will in man and all power of doing good were destroyed by

original sin, and that everything meritorious accomplished by man is

really done by God. His old opponent at the university, Bodenstein

(surnamed Carlstadt from his place of birth), declared himself openly

in favour of Luther's teaching on free will, and published a reply to

Eck.

As a result of this controversy between Eck and Carlstadt it was

arranged that a public disputation should be held at Leipzig (27 June-

15 July, 1519). The Catholic teaching was to be defended by Eck

against his two opponents, Luther and Carlstadt. A hall in the castle

of Pleissenburg was placed at the disposal of the disputants by Duke

George of Saxony, who was a convinced Catholic himself, and who

believed that the disputation might be the means of removing many

doubts and misunderstandings. The acts of the disputation were to be

drawn up and forwarded to the Universities of Paris and Erfurt for

their decision. When it became known throughout Germany that a meeting

had been arranged between Eck and his two principal opponents, the

excitement, especially in the learned circles, became intense, and so

great was the rush of scholars from all parts of the country to

witness the encounter, that the immense hall was packed with an eager

and attentive audience when Eck and Carlstadt entered the pulpits that

had been prepared for them.

Few men in Germany, or outside it, were more fitted to hold their own

in such a disputation than the distinguished Vice-Chancellor of

Ingolstadt. He was a man of imposing appearance, gifted with a clear

and pleasing voice and good memory, even tempered and ready, quick to

detect the weak points of his adversaries, and keenly alert to their

damaging concessions and admissions. The first point to be debated

between him and Carlstadt was the question of Grace and Free Will.

Carlstadt was at last obliged to concede that the human will was

active at least to the extent of co-operating or of not co-operating

with divine Grace, a concession that was opposed entirely to the

thesis he had undertaken to sustain. Luther, alarmed by the

discomfiture of his colleague, determined to enter the lists at once

on the question of the primacy of the Roman See. He was not, however,

more successful than Carlstadt. Eck, taking advantage of Luther's

irascible temperament and his exaggerations of speech, forced him step

by step to put aside as worthless interpretations given by the early

Fathers to certain passages of Scripture, and to reject the authority

and infallibility of General Councils. Such a line of arguments,

opposed as it was to the teaching and beliefs of the Church, roused

the opposition of the audience, and served to open the eyes of Duke

George to the real nature of Luther's movement. Annoyed by his own

defeat and by the attentions and applause lavished upon his rival by

the people of Leipzig, Luther left the city in disgust. The

disputation undoubtedly did good in so far as it made clear to all the

position of the two parties, and succeeded in holding Duke George of

Saxony and the city of Leipzig loyal to the Church; but it also did

much harm by giving Luther the notoriety that he was so anxious to

obtain, and by winning to his side Philip Melanchthon, who was

destined to be in after life his ablest lieutenant. Both sides, as is

usual in such contests, claimed the victory. The Universities of

Cologne and Louvain condemned Luther immediately, as did also Paris in

1521, but as far as can be known Erfurt pronounced no decision on the

questions submitted.

Meanwhile what was the attitude of the authorities in Rome towards

Luther's movement. Leo X., having learned something of the turmoil

created in Germany by Luther's theses and sermons, requested the

vicar-general of the Augustinians to induce his rebellious subject to

recall his teaching, or, at least, to keep silent. The vicar wrote to

the principal, Staupitz, but, as the latter was one of those who had

encouraged Luther to take the steps he had taken, very little was done

to secure peace. Luther was, however, induced to write a most

submissive letter to the Pope in which he begged for an investigation,

pledging himself at the same time to accept the decision of Leo X. as

the decision of Christ (30th May, 1518).[14] Not satisfied with the

course of events, and alarmed by the reports forwarded to him from

Germany, the Pope appointed a commission to examine the whole

question, the result of which commission was that Luther was summoned

to submit at once or to appear at Rome to defend himself within sixty

days.

He and his friends were thrown into a state of great alarm by this

unexpected step. On the one hand, were he to submit and to acknowledge

that he had been in error his reputation would be shattered, the

Augustinians would feel themselves disgraced, and the University of

Wittenberg would lose caste in the estimation of educated Germans. On

the other hand, if he adopted the bold policy of refusing to yield to

the papal entreaties he was in danger of being denounced publicly as a

heretic. In this difficult situation his friends determined to invoke

the protection of the Elector Frederick of Saxony, the founder and

patron of Wittenberg University. Alarmed by the danger that threatened

this institution from the removal or excommunication of one of its

most popular professors, and anxious to gain time, Frederick requested

the Pope to refer the matter for decision to some German bishop or to

a neutral university. In reply to this request Leo X. appointed

Cardinal Cajetan, papal legate in Germany, to hold an inquiry (23

Aug., 1518). Luther, having armed himself with a safe conduct, went to

Augsburg to meet the papal representative, who received him very

kindly, and exhorted him to withdraw his statements and submit. Luther

endeavoured to induce the cardinal to enter into a discussion on the

questions in dispute, but the latter did not allow himself to be drawn

into a disputation. Finally, Luther refused to submit, though, at the

same time, he declared solemnly that he wished unsaid and unwritten

what he had said or written against the Roman Church. A few days later

he fled from Augsburg after having drawn up a formal appeal "from the

Pope ill-informed to the Pope well-informed," while the cardinal,

disappointed by the failure of his efforts, turned to the Elector of

Saxony for help against the rebellious monk. But the latter, deceived

by the recommendations forwarded on Luther's behalf by his own

superior, Staupitz, yielded to the entreaties of Spalatin, the court

chaplain, and of the professors of Wittenberg, and declined to take

any steps to compel Luther to submit. Fearful, however, lest his

patron might not be able to shield him from the censures of Rome,

Luther determined to anticipate the expected condemnation by issuing

an appeal to a future General Council (28 Nov., 1518).

In the meantime Leo X. who had learned from his representative the

result of the Augsburg interviews, issued the Bull, /Cum postquam/ (9

Nov., 1518), in which he explained authoritatively the Catholic

doctrine on Indulgences, and threatened excommunication against all

who refused to accept it. This document was deprived of much of its

effect owing to the misrepresentations of Luther and his friends, who

announced that it owed its origin to the schemes and intrigues of

their Dominican opponents at Rome and in Germany. The occasion called

for speedy and decisive action. But the impending imperial election,

in which Charles I. of Spain (1516-56) and Francis I. of France (1515-

47) were to be rival candidates, made it necessary for the Pope to

proceed cautiously, and above all, to do nothing that might antagonise

the Elector of Saxony, whose influence would be of the greatest

importance in deciding the votes of the electoral college, if, indeed,

it did not secure his own election. Had the appointment of a successor

to Maximilian I. rested with Leo X. it can hardly be doubted that, in

the hope of preserving the balance of power and of securing the

freedom of the Holy See, he would have favoured the claims of the

Elector against either or both the rival monarchs.[15]

In these circumstances it was decided to send Karl von Miltitz,[16]

who was by birth a Saxon nobleman and at that period a chamberlain at

the Papal Court, to present Frederick with the Golden Rose, and to

bring about a peaceful settlement of a controversy that had been

disturbing the whole Empire. The selection of Miltitz for such a

delicate mission was most unfortunate. Proud, obstinate, and ill-

informed about the real issues at stake, he was anxious to have the

glory of putting an end to the controversy at all costs, and hence he

was willing to appear before Luther as a humble suitor for peace

rather than as a stern judge. All his severity and reproaches were

reserved for Luther's opponents, especially for Tetzel, whom he held

primarily responsible for the whole mischief, and towards whom he

acted both imprudently and unjustly. The Elector showed himself but

little inclined to respond to the advances of Leo X. He consented,

however, to arrange an interview between Miltitz and Luther at

Altenburg (Jan. 1519). During the course of the interviews that took

place between them, Luther pledged himself to remain silent if his

opponents were forced to do likewise. He promised, too, that if

Miltitz wrote advising the Pope to appoint a German bishop to try the

case and to convince him of his error he would be willing to retract

his theses, to submit to the Church, and to advise all his supporters

to remain loyal to the Holy See. At the same time he prepared a letter

for transmission to Rome, in which he addressed the Pope in the most

respectful terms, declaring as on oath before God and creatures that

it never entered into his mind to attack in any way the authority of

the Roman Church or of the Pope, that he confessed willingly that in

this Church was vested supreme jurisdiction, and that neither in

heaven or on earth was there anything he should put before it except

Jesus Christ the Lord of all things.[17] Throughout these proceedings

it is clear that Luther meant only to deceive Miltitz and to lull the

suspicions of the Roman authorities, until the seed he had planted

should have taken root. Only a short time before he had written to a

friend, hinting that the Pope was the real Anti-Christ mentioned by

St. Paul in the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians, and asserting his

ability to prove that he who ruled at the Roman Court was worse than

the Turk.[18]

Several months passed and no further steps were taken by Rome to meet

the crisis. This delay was due in great measure to the death of

Maximilian I. (1519), and to the sharp contest that ensued. The two

strongest candidates were Charles I., King of Spain, who as son of

Philip the Handsome (son of Maximilian), and of Joanna of Castile

(daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella), was ruler of Spain, the

Netherlands, Austria, and Naples, and Francis I., King of France. For

centuries the Pope had striven to prevent the union of Naples and the

Empire, and with good reason, for such a union must prove almost of

necessity highly detrimental to the safety of the Papal States and the

independence of the Holy See. For this reason, if for no other, Leo X.

did not favour the candidature of Charles. Nor could he induce himself

to display any enthusiasm for the cause of Francis I., whose

intervention in Italian affairs the Pope had good grounds to dread. As

against the two the Pope endeavoured to induce the princes to elect

one of their own number, preferably the Elector of Saxony. But the

Elector showed no anxiety to accept such a responsible office, and in

the end Charles succeeded in winning over to his side the majority of

the princes. He was elected and proclaimed Emperor under the title of

Charles V. (1519).

While Rome remained inactive, and while the opponents of Luther in

Germany were handicapped by the crude diplomacy of Miltitz, Luther was

gaining ground with marvellous rapidity. His success was due partly to

his own great personal gifts as a popular demagogue, and partly also

to the fact that no man knew better than he how to make capital out of

the ecclesiastical abuses of the time, and to win to his side all who

had any reason to be discontented with the existing order. He was

strengthened very much by the inactivity of the German bishops, who

seemed unwilling to take any severe measures against him, by the help

and encouragement of Frederick of Saxony, who, during the interregnum

and for some time after the election of Charles V. was the real

administrator of Germany, by his union with the leading Humanist

scholars and professors, especially Erasmus, all of whom regarded

Luther merely as the champion of liberty against the obscurantism of

the Scholastics, and by his secret alliances with discontented nobles,

such as Ulrich von Hutten and Franz von Sickingen, whose sole hope of

improving their fortunes lay in the creation of public disorder.

Johann Eck, Luther's chief opponent, realising that there was no hope

of stirring up the German authorities to take action, hastened to Rome

to impress upon the Pope and his advisers the extreme gravity of the

situation, and to urge them to proceed against the revolt with all

possible energy and despatch. Luther himself recognised clearly enough

that the crisis he had long foreseen was at hand, and he began to

prepare men's minds for complete rupture with the Church by his sermon

on excommunication in which he bade defiance to the ecclesiastical

authorities. He threw himself with renewed energy into the fray,

turning out volume after volume with feverish rapidity, each more

violent and abusive than its predecessor, and nearly all couched in

language that was as intelligible to the peasant as it was to the

professor. In his /Address to the Nobles of Germany/, in his works /On

the Mass/, /On the Improvement of Christian Morality/, and /On the

Babylonian Captivity/, he proclaimed himself a political as well as a

religious revolutionary. There was no longer any concealment or

equivocation. The veil was lifted at last, and Luther stood forth to

the world as the declared enemy of the Church and the Pope, the

champion of the Bible as the sole rule of faith, and the defender of

individual judgment as its only interpreter. In these works he

rejected the Mass, Transubstantiation, vows of chastity, pilgrimages,

fasts, the Sacraments, the powers of the priesthood, and the

jurisdiction and supremacy of the Pope. With such a man there could be

no longer any question of leniency or of compromise. The issues at

stake, namely, whether the wild and impassioned assertions of a rebel

monk should be accepted in preference to the teaching of Christ's

Church, ought to have been apparent to every thinking man; and yet so

blinded were some of his contemporaries by their sympathy with the

Humanists as against the Theologians, that even still they forced

themselves to believe Luther sought only for reform.

At Rome the trouble in Germany was one of the main subjects that

engaged the attention of the Curia. It was felt that the time had come

when decisive measures must be taken. After long and anxious

deliberations Leo X. published the Bull, /Exsurge Domine/ (June 1520),

in which forty propositions taken from Luther's writings were

condemned, his works were ordered to be burned, the full penalties of

excommunication were proclaimed against him unless he withdrew his

errors and made his submission within sixty days, while his aiders and

abettors were besought in the most touching terms to abandon the

dangerous path into which they had been betrayed. Had such a

pronouncement been issued at the beginning of the movement it might

have done much to restore peace to the Church, but, coming as it did

at a time when Luther's movement, backed by all the revolutionary

forces of Germany, had already acquired considerable dimensions, it

failed to put an end to the tumult. Besides, the papal decision was

deprived of much of its force by the fact that Eck, Caraccioli, and

Aleandro were appointed as a commission to superintend its execution.

The appointment of Eck was a great tactical blunder, as it afforded

Luther and his friends an opportunity of proclaiming that the sentence

of excommunication was procured by the intrigues and

misrepresentations of their personal enemies; while the fact that the

German bishops were disregarded in the execution of the Bull as if

they were not above suspicion themselves, was looked upon by many as

a studied insult to the entire German hierarchy. Even though Luther

had entertained any thoughts of submission, the triumph of Eck would

have created very serious obstacles; but, knowing as he did, that even

at the worst he could reckon upon the support of a certain number of

the discontented nobles who had pledged themselves to put their swords

at his disposal, he had no intention of making his submission.

The reception accorded to the papal document varied according to the

views of the local authorities and the state of public feeling in the

different cities and provinces. Thus, while its publication was

welcomed in Cologne, Mainz, Halberstadt, and Freising, it was received

with very mixed feelings at Leipzig and at Erfurt. Frederick of

Saxony, to whom Leo X. had addressed a personal appeal, refused to

abandon Luther's cause unless it were proved from the Scriptures that

he was wrong. He did, indeed, suggest that Luther should write a

respectful letter to the Pope, but his suggestion passed unheeded. At

first Luther pretended that the Bull was a forgery brought forward by

Eck to discredit him, but when this line of defence proved useless, he

boldly attacked the papal pronouncement in his pamphlet, /Against the

Bull of Anti-Christ/, in which he denounced Leo X. as a heretic and

apostate, an enemy of the Holy Scriptures, a tyrant, and a

calumniator. Lest, however, the courage of his supporters might be

overcome by the terrors of excommunication, he issued an appeal from

the sentence of the Pope to the judgment of a future General Council.

Finally, on the 10th December, 1520, in the presence of an immense

concourse of the citizens and students of Wittenberg, he burned

publicly the papal Bull and the writings of his political opponents.

On this occasion he proclaimed his intention of overthrowing the

ecclesiastical organisation, and of introducing a new theological

system. For the future it was to be war to the knife against the Pope

and the Church, and he called upon German patriots and all true

friends of personal liberty to take their stand by his side in the

conflict that had been begun.

Charles V. was apparently in a very strong position. Not since the

days of Charlemagne had any ruler claimed jurisdiction over so wide a

territory as his, comprising, as it did, Germany and Austria, the

kingdom of the two Sicilies, Spain, and the Netherlands. But in

reality the very extent of his dominions made him much less powerful

than he might have been as the sovereign of a smaller but more compact

region. It served to awaken the suspicions of his subjects, who feared

that he might abolish their distinctive national constitutions and

weld his scattered territories into one great empire, and to excite

the jealousy of the other rulers of Europe, who imagined that he might

declare himself dictator of the western world. The German princes,

having resisted successfully all the efforts made by his grandfather,

Maximilian I., to convert the loose confederation of the German States

into a united and centralised nation, were on their guard lest his

successor should attempt a similar policy with the aid of Spanish

troops and Spanish gold; the Spaniards resented the absence of the

king from Spain, where many of the lower classes were in a state

bordering on rebellion; Francis I. of France, trembling for the very

existence of his country, was willing to do all things, even to agree

to an alliance with the sons of Mohammed, if he could only lessen the

influence of his powerful rival. The Turks under Soliman I. were

determined to realise the dreams of their race by extending their

territories from the Bosphorus to the Atlantic; while even the Pope

had good reason to suspect that Charles V., unmindful of the example

of his great namesake, might seek to become the master rather than the

protector of the Church.[19]

On account of the troubles in Spain it was only late in the year 1520

that Charles V. could come to Germany to meet the electors, and to

take over formally the administration of the Empire (23 Oct.). Less

than two weeks had elapsed when the papal representative, Aleandro,

himself a distinguished Humanist, sought an interview with the new

ruler, and besought him to enforce the papal Bull against Luther with

the full weight of his imperial authority. But the wavering attitude

of many of the princes and the determined opposition of Frederick of

Saxony made the Emperor hesitate to condemn Luther without giving him

an opportunity for explanation and defence. The Diet was soon to open

at Worms, and Charles V. issued an invitation to Luther to attend,

guaranteeing at the same time his personal safety on the way to and

from Worms and during his sojourn in the city.

The Diet met in January 1521, but despite the efforts of Aleandro the

majority of the princes still failed to realise the gravity of the

situation. Feeling against Rome was running very high in Germany at

the time. Many of the princes insisted on presenting a document

embodying the grievances of Germany (/Centum Gravamina/)[20] to the

papal ambassador, while even such an orthodox supporter of the Church

as Duke George of Saxony, brought forward very serious complaints

against the clergy, accompanied by a demand that a General Council

should be summoned to restore peace to the Church. Luther,

strengthened by the safe conduct of the Emperor and by a secret

understanding with some of the princes and knights, set out from

Wittenberg for Worms, where he arrived in April 1521. On presenting

himself before the Diet he was invited to state if he were really the

author of the works published under his name, copies of which were

presented to him, and, if so, was he willing to retract the doctrines

contained in them. In reply to the former of these questions he

admitted the authorship of the volumes, but asked for time to consider

what answer he should make in regard to the latter. A day was allowed

him for consideration. When he appeared again, all traces of the

hesitation and nervousness that marked his attitude at the previous

session had disappeared. He refused to retract his opinions, and made

it clear that he no longer acknowledged the authority of the Pope or

of General Councils as a safe guide in matters religious.

Thereupon the Emperor intimated to the princes that he was determined

to take vigorous action against such a heretic and disturber of the

public peace, though at the request of some of the princes he allowed

time for private conferences between Luther and representative

Catholic theologians, notably Eck and Cochlaeus.[21] These conferences

having failed to produce any result the Emperor issued an order (25th

April) commanding Luther to depart from Worms without delay, and

forbidding him to preach to the people on his journey under pain of

forfeiting his safe conduct. A month later Charles V. published a

decree placing Luther under the ban of the Empire. He was denounced as

a public heretic whom no one should receive or support; he was to be

seized by any one who could do so, and delivered to the Emperor; his

writings were to be burned, and all persons proved guilty of

countenancing himself or his errors were liable to severe punishment.

Many hoped that the decree might put an end to the confusion, but in

reality Charles V. was powerless to enforce it, especially as the

majority of the princes were unwilling to carry out its terms in their

territories. Hence, outside the hereditary dominions of the House of

Habsburg, the lands of Joachim I. of Brandenburg and of Duke George of

Saxony, and in Bavaria, it remained a dead letter.

On the route from Worms Luther was taken prisoner by soldiers of the

Elector, Frederick of Saxony, according to arrangements that had been

made for his protection, and was brought to the castle at Wartburg

where he remained for close on a year (May 1521-March 1522) under the

assumed name of Yonker George, safe in spite of the imperial decrees.

In the silence of his retreat at Wartburg Luther had an opportunity

for reflection on the gravity of the situation that he had created. At

times he trembled, as he thought of separating himself definitely from

the great world-wide organisation which recognised the jurisdiction of

the Bishop of Rome, and of setting up his own judgment against the

faith that had been handed down for centuries, and that was supported

by the ablest scholars from the days of Clement of Rome to those of

St. Thomas and St. Bonaventure.

In his anxiety of mind he was the victim of hallucinations, believing

that the spirit of evil appeared to him in visible form, and held

commune with him in human speech. He was assailed, too, with violent

temptations of the flesh, which reduced him to a state bordering on

despair. But these moments of depression passed away, to be succeeded

by fits of wild exultation in which he rejoiced at the storm that he

had created already, and at the still greater storm he was soon to

create. He set to work with tireless energy, believing himself to be

inspired from on high as was the apostle, St. John, during his stay in

the island of Patmos. At the instigation of his friends, who urged him

to attack the celibacy of the monks and nuns, he turned his attention

to this question, and issued a work /On Monastic Vows/, in which he

declared that such vows of chastity, being opposed to the freedom of

the Gospel, were sinful and should be neglected. In his book /On the

Mass/ he assailed the Mass and the whole theory of the Christian

priesthood, declaring that every believer was in a true sense a

priest. He poured out a most violent torrent of abuse against Henry

VIII. of England, who, in his /Defence of the Seven Sacraments/, had

ventured to join issue with the German reformer. At the same time he

undertook to prepare a translation of the New Testament as a means of

advancing his propaganda. By aid of mis-translations and marginal

notes he sought to popularise his views on Faith and Justification,

and to win favour with the people by opening to them the word of God,

which he asserted falsely had been closed against them for centuries.

All his pamphlets were couched in popular language and were exactly

the kind of works likely to appeal to the masses of the people, as

well as to the debased instincts of those who had entered into the

religious state in response to the wishes of their parents or

guardians rather than in obedience to the call of God. But while

Luther thus catered for the multitude, Melanchthon sought to gain the

support of the more educated classes by throwing Luther's teaching

into scientific and systematic form in his work, /Loci Communes/

(1521), a book that remained for centuries the standard authority on

Lutheran teaching.

It would be wrong to assume that Luther developed his theological

system in its entirety before his separation from the Church. On the

question of Justification and Free-will he had arrived at views

distinctly opposed to Catholic doctrine, but his system as such took

shape only gradually in response to the attacks of his opponents or

the demands of his friends. On the one hand, imbued with the ideas of

German Pantheistic mysticism, Luther started with the fixed principle

that man's action is controlled by necessary laws, and that even after

justification man is completely devoid of free will at least in

religious matters. According to him, human nature became so

essentially maimed and corrupted by the sin of Adam that every work

which man can do is and must be sinful, because it proceeds in some

way from concupiscence. Hence it is, he asserted, that good works are

useless in acquiring justification, which can be obtained only by

faith; and by faith he understood not the mere intellectual assent to

revealed doctrines, but a practical confidence, resulting, no doubt,

from this assent, that the merits of Christ will be applied to the

soul. Through this faith the sinner seizes upon the righteousness of

Christ, and by applying to himself the justice of his Saviour his sins

are covered up. For this reason Luther explained that justification

did not mean the actual forgiveness of sin by the infusion of some

internal habit called sanctifying grace, but only the non-imputation

of the guilt on account of the merits of Christ.

Since faith alone is necessary for justification it followed as a

logical consequence that there was no place in Luther's system for the

Sacraments, though in deference to old traditions he retained three

Sacraments, Baptism, Penance, and the Eucharist. These, however, as he

took care to explain, do not produce grace in the soul. They are mere

outward pledges that the receiver has the faith without which he

cannot be justified. Having in this way rejected the sacramental

system and the sacrificial character of the Mass, it was only natural

that he should disregard the priesthood, and proclaim that all

believers were priests. In harmony with his theory on justification,

and its dependence on faith, he denounced Purgatory, Prayers for the

Dead, Indulgences, and Invocation of the Saints as being in themselves

derogatory to the merits of Christ.

On the other hand, he laid it down as the leading principle that the

Bible was the sole rule of faith, and that individual judgment was its

only interpreter. Consequently he rejected the idea of a visible

authority set up by Christ as an infallible guide in religious

affairs. In this way he sought to undermine the authority of the

Church, to depreciate the value of the decrees of the Popes and

General Councils, and to re-assure his less daring followers by

stripping ecclesiastical censures of more than half their terrors.[22]

The results of Luther's literary activity were soon apparent at

Wittenberg and other centres in Germany. The Augustinians in Luther's

own convent set aside their vows as worthless, and rejected the Mass.

Carlstadt made common cause with the most radical element in the city,

celebrated Mass on Christmas morning in the German language (1521),

and administered Holy Communion to every one who came forward to

receive, without any inquiry about their spiritual condition. Putting

himself at the head of a body of students and roughs he went round the

churches destroying the pictures, statues, confessionals, and altars.

To increase the confusion a party of men at Zwickau led by a

shoemaker, Nicholas Storch, and a preacher, Thomas Munzer, following

the principle of private judgment advocated by Luther, insisted on

faith as a condition for baptism and rejected infant baptism as

worthless. They were called Anabaptists. They claimed to be special

messengers from God, gifted with the power of working miracles, and

favoured with visions from on high. In vain did Luther attack them as

heretics, and exhort his lieutenants to suppress them as being more

dangerous than the Papists. Carlstadt, unable to answer their

arguments from Scripture, went over to their side, and even

Melanchthon felt so shaken in his opposition that he appealed to

Wartburg for guidance. The students at the university became so

restless and turbulent that Duke George of Saxony began to take the

prompt and decisive action necessary for dealing with such a dangerous

situation. Luther, alarmed for the future of his work, abandoned his

retreat at Wartburg (March 1522) and returned to Wittenberg, where he

had recourse to stern measures to put an end to the confusion. He

drove Carlstadt from the city, and even followed him to other places

where he tried to find refuge, till at last, after a very disedifying

scene between them in a public tavern, he forced him to flee from

Saxony. Carlstadt's greatest offence in the eyes of his master was his

preaching against the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, though

Luther himself admitted that he should have liked to deny the Real

Presence if only to annoy the Pope, were it not that the words of

Scripture proved too strong. Carlstadt adopted a different

interpretation, but Luther was not the man to tolerate individual

judgment in the case of one of his own lieutenants. Carlstadt was

denounced as a heretic and a blasphemer, for whom no punishment could

be sufficiently severe. Munzer, too, was banished, and with the

assistance of the Elector, Luther was enabled to overcome all his

opponents.

Luther owed his success in the opening years of his campaign mainly to

his ability in gauging the feelings of the different classes whose

support he wished to obtain, as well as to his complete mastery of the

German language. In appealing to the monks and nuns, who were longing

to escape from the obligations they had contracted, he offered them

complete liberty by denouncing their vows as opposed to the freedom of

the Gospel and consequently sinful. Many of the monks and nuns

abandoned their cloisters and fled to Wittenberg to seek the pleasures

denied them hitherto, and to put in practice Luther's teaching on the

necessity of marriage. Though he encouraged bishops and priests to

marry, and though he forwarded his warmest congratulations to

Carlstadt on his betrothal to a fifteen year old maiden (1522), Luther

himself hesitated long before taking his final plunge; but at last,

against the advice of his best friends, he took as his wife Catherine

Bora, one of the escaped nuns who had sought refuge in Wittenberg. His

marriage (1525) was a source of amusement to his opponents as it was

of dismay to his supporters. Melanchthon complained bitterly of the

step his master had taken, but he consoled himself with the thought

that the marriage might out an end to his former frivolity, and might

allay the suspicions that his conduct had aroused.[23] To the princes,

the free cities, and the landless knights he appealed by holding out

hopes that they might be enriched by a division of the ecclesiastical

estates and of the goods of the monasteries and churches. With the

overthrow of the Pope and of the bishops the princes were led to

expect that they might themselves become spiritual dictators in their

own dominions. To the friends of the Humanist movement and the great

body of the professors and students he represented himself as the

champion of learning and intellectual freedom, anxious to defend them

against the obscurantism of the Scholastics and the interference of

the Roman congregations.

A large number of the leading Humanists, believing that Luther had

undertaken only a campaign against universally recognised abuses, were

inclined at first to sympathise with his movement. The friendly

attitude they adopted, and the influence employed by Erasmus and

others on his behalf during the early years of his revolt contributed

not a little to his final success. But as it became evident that his

object was the overthrow of the Church and of doctrines accepted as

dogmas of faith by the whole Christian world, his former allies fell

away one by one. On the question of free-will Erasmus, who had long

played a double role, found it necessary to take the field openly

against him.[24] Luther's answer, full of personal abuse and

invective, drew a sharp reply from Erasmus, and all friendly

intercourse between them was broken off for ever.

But it was on the mass of the people, the peasants and the artisans,

that Luther relied mainly for support, and it was to these he

addressed his most forcible appeals. The peasants of Germany, ground

down by heavy taxes and reduced to the position of slaves, were ready

to listen to the revolutionary ideas put forward by leaders like

Sickingen and von Hutten, and to respond to the call of Luther to rise

against their princes whether they were secular or ecclesiastical. In

the imagination of the peasants Luther appeared as the friend of human

liberty, determined to deliver them from the intolerable yoke that had

been laid upon them by their masters. His attacks were confined at

first to the prince-bishops and abbots, but soon realising the

strength of the weapon he wielded, he attacked the lay princes in the

pamphlets entitled /Christian Liberty/ and /The Secular Magistracy/,

and advocated the complete overthrow of all authority. It is true,

undoubtedly, that many of the peasants were already enrolled in the

secret societies, and that had there never been a Luther a popular

rising might have been anticipated; but his doctrines on evangelical

freedom and his frenzied onslaughts on the ecclesiastical and lay

rulers, turned the movement into an anti-religious channel, and

imparted to the struggle a uniformity and bitterness that otherwise it

could never have acquired.

Risings of the peasantry took place in various parts of Germany,

notably in Swabia, Thuringia, the Rhine Provinces, and Saxony (1524).

Thomas Munzer, the leader of the Anabaptists, encouraged them in their

fight for freedom. At first the attack was directed principally

against the spiritual princes. Many monasteries and churches were

plundered, and several of the nobles were put to death. Soon the lay

princes of Germany, alarmed by the course of the revolutionaries and

fearing for the safety of their own territories, assembled their

forces and marched against the insurgents. The war was carried on

mercilessly on both sides, close upon 100,000 peasants being killed in

the field, while many of their leaders, amongst them Thomas Munzer,

were arrested and condemned to death. In nearly every important

engagement the peasants, as might be expected, suffered defeat, so

that before the end of 1525 the movement was, practically speaking, at

an end. Luther, who had been consulted by both sides, and who had

tried to avoid committing himself to either, frightened by the very

violence of the storm he had been instrumental in creating, issued an

appeal to the princes calling upon them to show no mercy to the forces

of disorder,[25] and even Melanchthon, gentle and moderate as he

usually was, did not hesitate to declare that the peasants of Germany

had more liberty than should be allowed to such a rude and uncultured

people. The Peasants' War, disastrous as it was, did some good by

opening men's eyes to the dangerous consequences of Luther's

extravagant harangues, and by giving some slight indications as to the

real character and methods of the man, who was posing as a heaven-sent

reformer and at the same time as a champion of popular liberty.

But though Luther lost ground in many quarters owing to the part he

played before and during the Peasants' War, he had no intention of

abandoning the struggle in despair. During the early years of his

campaign his mind was so engrossed with the overthrow of existing

religious institutions, that he had little time to consider how he

should rebuild what he had pulled down. At first he thought that no

visible organisation was necessary, as the Church, according to his

view, consisted of all those who had true faith and charity. But soon

he abandoned this idea in favour of district or local churches that

should be left completely independent. The disturbances in Germany

during the Peasants' War taught him the hopelessness of such a scheme,

and showed him that his only chance of permanent success lay in the

organisation of state churches to be placed under the protection and

authority of the civil rulers. By this bribe he hoped to conciliate

the princes, whom he had antagonised by his attacks on their own body

as well as by his attitude during the early stages of the disturbance.

The Elector John of Saxony, who had succeeded his brother Frederick,

hesitated at first to assist him in the momentous work of setting up a

rival Christian organisation. But, at last, mindful of the advantages

that would accrue to him from being recognised as supreme head of the

Church in his own dominions, he gave a reluctant consent to the plans

formulated by Luther.

A body of visitors consisting of clerics and lawyers was appointed to

draw up a new ecclesiastical constitution, the most noteworthy feature

of which was the complete dependence of the new church on the secular

authority of each state. Episcopal jurisdiction was rejected, and in

place of the bishops, superintendents were appointed. The ordinary

administration was to be carried out by a synod of clerics and laymen

elected by the various parishes, but, in reality, the right of

appointment, of taxation, of apportioning the temporal goods, and of

deciding legal difficulties passed under the control of the sovereign.

Strange to say, though Luther insisted on individual judgment during

his campaign against the Catholic Church, he had no difficulty in

urging the civil rulers to force all their subjects to join the new

religious body. The goods of the Catholic Church were to be

appropriated, some of them being set aside for the support of the new

religious organisation, while the greater portion of them found their

way into the royal treasury. The Mass, shorn of the Elevation and of

everything that would imply the idea of sacrifice, was translated into

the German language, so that in all solemn religious services the

place of the Sacrifice was taken by the hymns, Scriptural lessons, the

sermon, and the Lord's Supper. Melanchthon wrote a Visitation Book

(1527) for the guidance of Lutheran ministers, and Luther himself

published two catechisms for the instruction of the children. The

Lutheran church was organised on a similar plan in Hesse and

Brandenburg and in many of the free cities such as Nurnberg,

Magdeburg, Bremen, Frankfurt, Ulm, etc. By these measures the

separation was completed definitely, and a certain amount of unity was

ensured for the new religion.

Meanwhile, how fared it with the Emperor and the Pope? Shortly after

the Diet of Nurnberg (1522) Charles V. left Germany for the

Netherlands. Owing to the troubles in Spain and the long drawn out war

with France he was unable to give any attention to the progress of

affairs in Germany. The administration of the Empire was committed to

three representatives, the ablest of whom was the Elector Frederick of

Saxony, the friend and patron of Luther. The result was that Luther

had a free hand to spread his views notwithstanding the decree of

Worms.

Leo X. died in 1521 and was succeeded by Adrian VI. (1522-3), a former

tutor of the Emperor. As a Hollander it might be anticipated that his

representations to the German princes would prove more effective than

those of his Italian predecessor, particularly as not even his worst

enemies could discover anything worthy of reproach either in his

principles or personal conduct. Convinced that Luther's only chance of

winning support lay in his exaggerated denunciations of real or

imaginary abuses, he determined to bring about a complete reform,

first in Rome itself and then throughout the entire Christian world.

Owing to his ill-disguised contempt for all that was dear to the heart

of the Humanist Leo X., and to the severe measures taken by him to

reduce expenses at the Roman Court, he encountered great opposition in

Rome, and incurred the dislike both of officials and people.

When he learned that a Diet was to be held at Nurnberg (1522) to

consider plans for the defence of the Empire against the Turks who had

conquered Belgrade, he despatched Chieregati as his nuncio to invite

the princes to enforce the decree of Worms, and to restore peace to

the Church by putting down the Lutheran movement. In his letters to

individual members of the Diet and in his instructions to the nuncio,

which were read publicly to the assembled representatives, Adrian VI.

admitted the existence of grave abuses both in Rome itself and in

nearly every part of the church.[26] He promised, however, to do

everything that in him lay to bring about a complete and thorough

reform.

These admissions served only to strengthen the hands of Luther and his

supporters, who pointed to them as a justification for the whole

movement, and to provide the princes with a plausible explanation of

their inactivity in giving effect to the decree of Worms. The princes

refused to carry out the decree of Worms, alleging as an excuse the

danger of popular commotion. They brought forward once more the

grievances of the German nation against Rome (/Centum Gravamina/),

insisted on a General Council being called to restore peace to the

Church, and held out a vague hope that an effort would be made to

prevent the spread of the new doctrine till the Council should be

convoked.

The papal nuncio, dissatisfied with the attitude of the

representatives, withdrew from the Diet before the formal reply was

delivered to him. Adrian VI., cognisant of the failure of his efforts

and wearied by the opposition of the Romans to whom his reforms were

displeasing, made a last fruitless effort to win over Frederick of

Saxony to his side. The news that the island of Rhodes, for the

defence of which he had laboured and prayed so strenuously, had fallen

into the hands of the Turks, served to complete his affliction and to

bring him to a premature grave. He died in September 1523 to the great

delight of the Romans, who could barely conceal their rejoicing even

when he lay on his bed of death. He was an excellent Pope, though

perhaps not sufficiently circumspect for the critical times in which

he lived. Had he been elected a century earlier, and had he been given

an opportunity of carrying out reforms, as had been given to some of

his predecessors, the Lutheran movement would have been an

impossibility.

He was succeeded by Clement VII. (1523-34). The new Pope was a

relative of Leo X., and, like him, a patron of literature and art. He

was a man of blameless life and liberal views, and endowed with great

prudence and tact, but his excessive caution and want of firmness led

to the ruin of his best-conceived plans and to the failure of his

general policy. He despatched Cardinal Campeggio as his legate to the

Diet of Nurnberg (1524). Once again the princes of Germany closed

their ears to the appeal of the Pope, refused to take energetic

measures to enforce the decree of Worms, and talked of establishing a

commission to consider the grievances of their nation against Rome,

and to inquire into the religious issues that had been raised.

Campeggio, feeling that it was hopeless to expect assistance from the

Diet, turned to the individual princes. He succeeded in bringing about

an alliance at Ratisbon (1524) between the rulers of Austria, Bavaria,

and several of the ecclesiastical princes of Southern Germany for the

purpose of opposing the new teaching and safeguarding the interests of

the Catholic Church. A similar alliance of the Catholic princes of

Northern Germany was concluded at Dessau in 1526. At the same time the

princes who were favourable to Lutheran views, notably Philip of

Hesse, John, Elector of Saxony, the rulers of Brandenburg, Prussia,

Mecklenburg and Mansfeld, together with the representatives of the

cities of Brunswick and Mecklenburg, met and pledged themselves to

make common cause, were any attempt made by the Emperor or the

Catholic princes to suppress Luther's doctrine by force. In this way

Germany was being divided gradually into two hostile camps.

Unfortunately Charles V., whose presence in Germany might have

exercised a restraining influence, was so engrossed in the life and

death struggle with France that he had no time to follow the progress

of the religious revolt. To complicate the issue still more, Clement

VII., who had been friendly to the Emperor for some time after his

election, alarmed lest the freedom of the Papal States and of the Holy

See might be endangered were the French driven completely from the

peninsula, took sides openly against Charles V. and formed an alliance

with his opponent. The good fortune that had smiled on the French arms

suddenly deserted them. In 1525 Francis I. was defeated at Pavia and

taken as prisoner to Spain, where he was forced to accept the terms

dictated to him by his victorious rival. On his release in 1526 he

refused to abide by the terms of the Treaty, and a new alliance,

consisting of the Pope, France, England, Venice, Florence, Milan, and

Switzerland was formed against Charles V. Disturbances, fomented by

the Italian supporters of the Emperor, broke out in the Papal States,

and a German army led by the Prince of Bourbon marched on Rome without

the knowledge of Charles, captured the city, plundered its treasures,

and for several days wreaked a terrible vengeance on the citizens.

Charles, who was in Spain at the time, was deeply grieved when the

news was brought to him of the havoc that had been wrought by his

subordinates. A temporary peace was concluded immediately between the

Emperor and the Pope, and the peace of Barcelona in 1529 put an end to

this unholy strife. About the same time the hostilities between

Charles and Francis I. were brought to a conclusion by the Peace of

Cambrai, and the Emperor, having been crowned by the Pope at Bologna

(1530), was free at last to turn his attention to the religious

revolution in Germany.[27]

During the struggle between Charles V. and the Pope the Lutheran

princes had a free hand to do as they pleased, and, indeed, at one

time they were not without hope that Charles might be induced to place

himself at their head. Besides, owing to the fact that the Turks were

advancing on Hungary and were likely to overrun the hereditary

dominions of the House of Habsburg, they felt confident that no

attempt could be made to suppress Lutheranism by force. At the Diet of

Speier, in 1526, John Duke of Saxony, and Philip of Hesse adopted so

violent and unconciliatory an attitude that Germany was on the brink

of civil war, had not the Archduke Ferdinand, alarmed by the success

of the Turks, used all his powers to prevent a division. It was agreed

that both sides should unite against the Turks, that a Council should

be called within a year to discuss the religious difficulties, and

that in the meantime individual rulers were free to enforce or

disregard the decree of Worms as they wished.

These concessions, wrung from the Catholic princes owing to the fear

of Turkish invasion, did not satisfy either party. False rumours were

spread among the Protestant princes that Duke George of Saxony and

other Catholic rulers intended to have recourse to arms, and though

the Duke was able to clear himself of the charge, the relations

between the two parties became gradually more strained. In 1526 the

Turks overcame the Hungarians and Bohemians at Mohacz, and advancing

into Austria were encamped under the very walls of Vienna. It became

necessary to summon another Diet at Speier (1529). The Catholic

princes were in the majority, and the knowledge, that the Emperor had

concluded peace with France and the Pope and was now ready to support

them, rendered them less willing to accept dictation. It was carried

by a majority that the Emperor should endeavour to have a Council

convoked within a year, that in the meantime the rulers in whose

territories the decree of Worms had been in force should continue to

enforce it, and that in the states where the new teaching had taken

root the rulers were at liberty to allow it to continue, but, in the

interval before the Council they should permit no further changes to

be introduced. Nobody should be allowed to preach against the

Sacrament of the Altar; the Mass should be celebrated if it had not

been abolished, and if abolished no one should be punished for

celebrating or attending it, and the Scripture should be expounded

according to the traditional interpretation of the Church.

The Lutheran party objected strongly to this decree, and as their

objections were over-ruled they submitted a formal protest, on account

of which they received the distinctive title of Protestants.[28] The

protest, signed by the Elector of Saxony, the Margrave of Brandenburg,

the Dukes of Brunswick-Luneburg, Philip of Hesse, and the

representatives of fourteen cities, having failed to produce any

effect on the Diet, a deputation was appointed to interview the

Emperor and to place their grievances before him. But Charles V.,

mindful of his imperial oath, refused to allow himself to be

intimidated. He warned the deputation that he and the Catholic princes

had also their duties to fulfil towards God and the Church, and that

until a Council should assemble they must obey the decrees of the

Diet. In January 1530 he convened a new Diet to meet at Augsburg at

which he himself promised to be present.

The Diet was convened to meet at Augsburg in April 1530, but it was

the middle of June before the Emperor, accompanied by the papal

legate, made his formal entrance into the city. On the following day

the feast of Corpus Christi was celebrated with the customary

solemnities, and the Emperor was pained deeply when he learned that

the Protestant princes refused to be present or to take any part in

the function. At the opening of the Diet it was agreed that the

religious question should take precedence, and the Protestant princes

were invited to make a clear statement of their doctrines and demands.

Luther himself could not be present on account of the decree of Worms,

and hence the duty of preparing a complete exposition of the

Protestant doctrine devolved upon the ablest of his lieutenants,

Philip Melanchthon. He drew up and presented to the Diet the document

known as the /Augsburg Confession/ (/Confessio Augustana/), accepted

by Luther himself as a masterly though perhaps too moderate statement

of the new teaching. The Confession was divided into two parts, the

former of which consisted of twenty-one articles or dogmas of faith

received by himself and his friends; the latter dwelt with what he

termed abuses which they rejected, notable amongst these being

celibacy of the clergy, monastic vows, auricular confession, private

masses, communion under one kind, abstinence, and episcopal

government. The Confession was drawn up very skilfully, great

prominence being given to the doctrines on which all Christians were

agreed, while the distinctive tenets of the Protestant reformers were

put forward in their mildest and least offensive form. The document

was read to the Diet in German by Bayer, Chancellor of the Elector of

Saxony, and undoubtedly it produced a marked impression on the

assembly. The Emperor held a conference with the Catholic princes,

some of whom advocated prompt recourse to the sternest measures.

Others, however, amongst them being several of the ecclesiastical

princes, misled by the temperate and, in a certain sense, misleading

character of Melanchthon's statement, and believing that a peaceful

solution to the religious difficulty was still possible, urged Charles

V. to abstain from decisive action. It was agreed that the work of

examining and refuting the Augsburg Confession should be entrusted to

a certain number of Catholic theologians, the most prominent of whom

were Eck, Cochlaeus, and Conrad Wimpina.[29] Unfortunately these men

allowed their natural feelings of irritation to overcome their

judgment, and not content with a calm and judicial refutation of the

document submitted to them, they attacked warmly the exaggerations,

contradictions, and misrepresentations of Catholic doctrine of which

Luther had been guilty, and succeeded in imparting to their reply a

bitter and ironical tone more likely to widen than to heal the

division. At the request of the Emperor they modified it very

considerably, confining themselves entirely to a brief and

dispassionate examination of the individual points raised by

Melanchthon, and in its modified form their refutation (/Confutatio

Confessionis Augustanae/) was presented to the Diet (3rd Aug.).

When the reply of the Catholic theologians had been read the Emperor

called upon the Protestant princes to return to the unity of the

Church; but his appeal fell upon deaf ears, and it seemed as if the

issue were to be decided immediately by civil war. By way of

compromise it was suggested that representatives of both parties

should meet in conference, Eck, Cochlaeus, and Wimpina being selected

as the Catholic theologians, Melanchthon, Brenz, and Schnep as the

champions of Lutheranism. From the very outset it should have been

evident to all that, where disagreement was so fundamental, one party

maintaining the theory of an infallible Church as the only safe guide

in religious matters, the other rejecting entirely the authority of

the Church and the Pope in favour of individual judgment, the

discussion of particular dogmas could never lead to unity. As a matter

of fact Melanchthon was willing to make most important concessions,

and on the question of original sin, free-will, justification, faith,

penance, and the intercession of the saints, formulas were put forward

not displeasing to either party. Even in regard to the Eucharist, the

jurisdiction of the bishops, and the supremacy of Rome, Melanchthon

was inclined to go far to meet his opponents, much to the disgust of

the extremists of his own party and to the no small alarm of

Luther.[30] But in reality the apparent harmony existed only on paper,

and the concessions made by Melanchthon depended entirely on the

meaning that should be placed on the ambiguous phraseology and

qualifications with which they were clothed. On the question of the

Mass, the celibacy of the clergy, and the meritorious character of

good works, no agreement was arrived at, as Melanchthon, alarmed by

the opposition of his own supporters and the reproofs of Luther, was

unwilling to modify his position. What the conference of theologians

had failed to do was undertaken by a mixed commission consisting of

princes, theologians, and lawyers, but without any result. In

September the Emperor announced that he was endeavouring to procure

the convocation of a General Council and that in the meantime the

Protestants should return to the old faith, a certain time being

allowed them for consideration, that they should attempt no further

innovations or interference with the followers of the old faith, that

they should restore the ecclesiastical goods which had been seized,

and that they should unite with the Catholics in opposing the

Anabaptists and the Sacramentarians.

The Protestant princes refused to submit on the ground that their

doctrines were in harmony with the Word of God, and to justify this

contention Melanchthon published the /Apologia Confessionis

Augustanae/, which was in many points more full and explicit than the

Confession itself. Some of the German cities that had embraced the

Zwinglian doctrine, notably, Strassburg and Constance, repudiated the

Augsburg Confession, and presented a document embodying their beliefs,

known as the /Confessio Tetrapolitana/ which found no favour with

Charles V. or with the Diet. Finally, on the 18th November, the

Emperor announced to the Diet that until a General Council should

meet, everything must be restored to the /status quo/, that he felt it

incumbent upon him as protector of the Church to defend the Catholic

faith with all his might, and that in this work he could count on the

full support of the Catholic princes. Unfortunately, it was by no

means correct to state that the Catholic rulers of Germany stood

behind their Emperor. Nearly all of them were anxious to avoid civil

war at any cost, and not a few of them hesitated to support the

Emperor lest the suppression of the Protestant princes might lead to

the establishment of a strong central power. Nor were the Protestants

alarmed by the threat of force. With the Turks hovering on the flanks

of the empire, they were confident that they might expect concessions

rather than violence.

The Protestant princes met in December (1530) at Schmalkald to

consider their position, and early in the following year (1531) they

formed the Schmalkaldic League for the defence of their religious and

temporal interests. Negotiations were opened up with France, Denmark,

and England, and notification was made to the Emperor that they must

withhold their assistance against the Turks until their religious

beliefs were secured. They refused, furthermore, to recognise

Ferdinand, brother of Charles V., whom Charles had proclaimed King of

the Romans. The Emperor, alarmed by the news that Soliman was

preparing an immense army for a general attack on Italy and Austria,

and well aware that he could not count either on the assistance of the

Catholic princes or the neutrality of France, was forced to give way.

In July 1532 peace was concluded at Nurnberg. According to the terms

of the Peace of Nurnberg it was agreed that until a General Council

should assemble no action should be taken against the Protestant

princes, and that in the interval everything was to remain unchanged.

This agreement, it was stipulated, should apply only to those who

accepted the Confession of Augsburg, a stipulation that was meant to

exclude the followers of Zwingli.

Charles V. was really anxious that a Council should be called, nor was

Clement VII. unwilling to meet his wishes, if only he could have been

certain that a Council constituted as such assemblies had been

constituted traditionally, could serve any useful purpose. Time and

again Luther had expressed his supreme contempt for the authority of

General Councils, though he professed to be not unwilling to submit

the matters in dispute to a body of men selected by the civil rulers.

In 1532-3 Pope and Emperor met at Bologna to discuss the situation,

and messengers were despatched to see on what terms the Protestants

would consent to attend the Council. The members of the Schmalkaldic

League refused (1533) to accept the conditions proposed by the Pope,

namely, that the Council should be constituted according to the plan

hitherto followed in regard to such assemblies, and that all should

pledge themselves beforehand to accept its decrees.[31]

Clement VII. died in September (1534) and was succeeded by Paul III.

(1534-49). He convoked a General Council to meet at Mantua in 1537,

but the League refused once more to attend (1535). Even had there been

no other difficulties in the way, the war that broke out with renewed

bitterness between Charles V. and Francis I. would have made it

impossible for such a body to meet with any hope of success. The

helpless condition of the Emperor, confronted, as he was, on the one

side by the French and on the other by the Turks, raised the hopes of

the Protestant party, and made them more determined than ever to

attend no Council in which the authority of the bishops or the

jurisdiction of the Pope should be recognised. Moreover, each year

brought new accessions to their ranks. The appearance of organised

Christian bodies, completely national in character, accepting the

civil rulers as their head, and conceding to them full power to deal

as they liked with ecclesiastical property, created a deep impression

on several princes and free cities, and made them not averse to giving

the new religion a fair trial. In 1530, the Elector of Saxony, Philip

of Hesse and the rulers of Ansbach, Anhalt, Brunswick-Luneburg,

Bayreuth, East Friesland, and a few of the larger cities had gone over

to Luther. Before ten years had elapsed the greater part of Northern

Germany had fallen from the Catholic Church, and even in Southern

Germany Protestantism had made serious inroads. Several of the more

important cities such as Wittenberg, Strassburg, Nurnberg, Magdeburg,

Frankfurt-on-Main, Hamburg, and Erfurt became leading centres for the

spread of the new teaching, while many of the German universities, for

example, Erfurt, Basle, Frankfurt, Rostock, and Marburg supported

strongly the efforts of Luther.

The Catholic princes, alarmed by the rapid spread of the new doctrines

and by the extravagant demands of the Protestants, met together to

form the Holy League (1538) as a defence against the Schmalkaldic

confederation. Feeling was running so high at the time that the long

expected war might have broken out immediately, had not the dread of a

Turkish invasion exercised a restraining influence on both parties. In

1539 negotiations were opened up for a temporary armistice, and

another fruitless attempt was made to arrive at peace by means of a

religious conference. Before any result had been attained the Emperor

summoned a Diet to meet at Ratisbon (April 1541). Three theologians

were appointed from both sides to discuss the questions at issue.

Though some of the Catholic representatives showed clearly enough that

their desire for union was much greater than their knowledge of

Catholic principles, an understanding was arrived at only in regard to

a few points of difference. By the Recess of the Diet (known as the

/Ratisbon Interim/) it was ordered that both parties should observe

the articles of faith on which they had agreed until a General Council

should meet, that in the interval the terms of the Peace of Nurnberg

should be carried out strictly, that the religious houses that had

escaped destruction hitherto should remain undisturbed, and that the

disciplinary decrees promulgated by the cardinal legate (Contarini)

should be obeyed by the Catholics.

The Protestant princes were still dissatisfied. In order to procure

their assistance Charles was obliged to yield to further demands,

notably, to permit them to suppress the monasteries in their

dominions. But, fortunately for the Catholic Church, the agreement

embodied in the /Ratisbon Interim/ was rejected by the more extreme

Protestant Party led by Luther himself, and the danger of grave

misunderstanding was removed.