COURSE OF THE PROTESTANT REVOLT IN GERMANY
1521-1555
[Sidenote: Luther begins a new translation of the Bible in the
Wartburg.]
149. As Luther neared Eisenach upon his way home from Worms he was
seized by a band of men and conducted to the Wartburg, a castle
belonging to the elector of Saxony. Here he was concealed until any
danger from the action of the emperor or diet should pass by. His chief
occupation during several months of hiding was to begin a new
translation of the Bible into German. He had finished the New Testament
before he left the Wartburg in March, 1522.
Up to this time, German editions of the Scriptures, while not uncommon,
were poor and obscure. Luther's task was a difficult one. He said with
truth that "translation is not an art to be practiced by every one; it
demands a right pious, true, industrious, reverent, Christian,
scholarly, experienced, and well-trained mind." He had studied Greek for
only two or three years, and he knew far less Hebrew than Greek.
Moreover, there was no generally accepted form of the German language of
which he could make use. Each region had its peculiar dialect which
seemed outlandish to the neighboring district.
[Sidenote: Luther's Bible the first important book in modern German.]
He was anxious above all that the Bible should be put into language that
would seem perfectly clear and natural to the common folk. So he went
about asking the mothers and children and the laborers questions which
might draw out the expression that he was looking for. It sometimes took
him two or three weeks to find the right word. But so well did he do
his work that his Bible may be regarded as a great landmark in the
history of the German language. It was the first book of any importance
written in modern German, and it has furnished an imperishable standard
for the language.
[Sidenote: General discussion of public questions in pamphlets and
satires.]
Previous to 1518 there had been very few books or pamphlets printed in
German. The translation of the Bible into language so simple that even
the unlearned might profit by it was only one of the signs of a general
effort to awaken the minds of the common people. Luther's friends and
enemies also commenced to write for the great German public in its own
language. The common man began to raise his voice, to the scandal of the
learned.
Hundreds of pamphlets, satires, and pictorial caricatures have come down
to us which indicate that the religious and other questions of the day
were often treated in somewhat the same spirit in which our comic papers
deal with political problems and discussions now. We find, for instance,
a correspondence between Leo X and the devil, and a witty dialogue
between Franz von Sickingen and St. Peter at the gate of heaven. In the
latter Peter confesses that he has never heard of the right "to loose
and to bind," of which his successors say so much. He refuses to discuss
military matters with Sickingen, but calls in St. George, who is
supposed to be conversant with the art of war. In another satire, a
vacation visit of St. Peter to the earth is described. He is roughly
treated, especially by the soldiers at an inn, and hastens back to
heaven with a sad tale of the evil plight of Germany, of how badly
children are brought up, and how unreliable the servants are.[284]
[Sidenote: Divergent notions of how the Church should actually be
reformed.]
150. Hitherto there had been a great deal of talk of reform, but as yet
nothing had actually been done. There was no sharp line drawn between
the different classes of reformers. All agreed that something should be
done to better the Church, few realized how divergent were the real ends
in view. The princes listened to Luther because they hoped to control
the churchmen and their property and check the outflow of money to Rome.
The knights, under Sickingen, hated the princes, of whose increasing
power they were jealous. Their idea of "righteousness" involved the
destruction of the existing rulers and the exaltation of their own
class. The peasants heard Luther gladly because he seemed to furnish new
proofs of the injustice of the dues which they paid to their lords. The
higher clergy were bent upon escaping the papal control, and the lower
clergy wished to have their marriages sanctioned. It is clear that
religious motives must have been often subordinated to other interests.
Disappointment and chagrin awaited Luther when each of the various
parties began to carry out its particular notions of reform. His
doctrines were misunderstood, distorted, and dishonored. He sometimes
was driven to doubt if his belief in justification by faith were not
after all a terrible mistake. His first shock came from Wittenberg.
[Sidenote: Carlstadt advocates breaking up the monasteries.]
While Luther was still at the Wartburg, Carlstadt, one of his colleagues
in the university, became convinced that the monks and nuns ought to
leave their cloisters and marry like other people. This was a serious
proposition for two reasons. In the first place, those who deserted the
cloister were violating an oath which they had voluntarily taken; in the
second place, if the monasteries were broken up the problem would
present itself of the disposal of the property, which had been given to
them by pious persons for the good of their souls, and with the
expectation that the monks would give the donors the benefit of their
prayers. Nevertheless, the monks began to leave Luther's own monastery,
and the students and citizens to tear down the images of the saints in
the churches. The Lord's Supper was no longer celebrated in the form of
the Mass, since that was declared to be an idolatrous worshiping of the
bread and wine. Then Carlstadt reached the conclusion that all learning
was superfluous, for the Scriptures said plainly that God had concealed
himself from the wise and revealed the truth unto babes. He astonished
the tradespeople by consulting them in regard to obscure passages in the
Bible. The school at Wittenberg was turned into a bake-shop. The
students, who had been attracted to the university from all parts of
Germany, began to return home, and the professors prepared to emigrate.
[Sidenote: Luther returns to Wittenberg and explains his plan of reform,
1522.]
When the news of these events reached Luther, he left his concealment,
regardless of the danger, and returned to Wittenberg. Here he preached a
series of vigorous sermons in which he pleaded for moderation and
reason. With some of the changes advocated by Carlstadt he sympathized.
He would, for instance, have done away with the adoration of the host
and the celebration of private masses. On the other hand, he disapproved
of the disorderly breaking up of the monasteries, although he held that
those who had accepted the doctrine of justification by faith might lay
aside their cowls, since they had taken their vows when they were under
the misapprehension that they could save themselves by good works. Those
who remained in the monasteries were not, moreover, to beg any longer,
but should earn an honest livelihood.
[Sidenote: Luther advocates patience and moderation.]
Luther felt that all changes in religious practices should be made by
the government; it should not be left to "Mr. Everybody" (_Herr Omnes_)
to determine what should be rejected and what retained. If the
authorities refused to act, then there was nothing to do but to be
patient and use one's influence for good. "Teach, speak, write, and
preach that the ordinances of man are naught. Advise that no one shall
any more become a priest, monk, or nun, and that those who occupy such
positions shall leave them. Give no more money for papal privileges,
candles, bells, votive tablets, and churches, but say that a Christian
life consists in faith and love. Let us keep this up for two years and
you will see where pope, bishop, monks, nuns, and all the hocus-pocus
of the papal government will be; it will vanish away like smoke." God,
Luther urged, has left us free to choose whether we shall marry, become
monks, fast, confess, or place images in the churches. These things are
not vital to salvation, and each may do what seems to him to be helpful
in his particular case.
[Sidenote: Impossibility of peaceful reform.]
Luther's plan of moderation was, however, wholly impracticable. The
enthusiasm of those who rejected the old views led to a whole-hearted
repudiation of everything which suggested their former beliefs. Few
could look with forbearance upon the symbols and practices of a form of
religion which they had learned to despise. Moreover, many who had no
deep religious feelings delighted in joining in the destruction of the
paintings, stained glass, and statues in the churches, simply from a
love of disorder.
[Sidenote: Franz von Sickingen attacks the Archbishop of Treves.]
151. Luther was soon to realize that a peaceful revolution was out of
the question. His knightly adherents, Hutten and Franz von Sickingen,
were the first to bring discredit upon the religious movement by their
violence. In the autumn of 1522 Sickingen declared war upon his
neighbor, the Archbishop of Treves, in order to make a beginning in the
knights' proposed attack upon the princes in general. He promised the
people of Treves "to free them from the heavy, unchristian yoke of the
parsons and to lead them into evangelical liberty." He had already
abolished the Mass in his castle and given shelter to some of Luther's
followers. But Franz, in undertaking to put the gospel, as he understood
it, in practice by arms, had other than religious motives. His
admiration of Luther probably had but little to do with his anxiety to
put down a hated ecclesiastical prince and seize his property.
[Sidenote: Confederation of knights broken up by the princes.]
[Sidenote: Death of Franz von Sickingen and Hutten.]
The Archbishop of Treves proved himself a sagacious military commander
and gained the support of his subjects. Franz was forced to retire to
his castle, where he was besieged by the neighboring elector of the
Palatinate and the landgrave of Hesse, a friend of Luther's. The walls
of the stronghold were battered down by the "unchristian cannonading,"
and the "executor of righteousness," as Franz was called, was fatally
injured by a falling beam. A few months later, Hutten died, a miserable
fugitive in Switzerland. A confederation of the knights, of which
Sickingen had been the head, aroused the apprehension of the princes,
who gathered sufficient forces to destroy more than twenty of the
knights' castles. So Hutten's great plan for restoring the knights to
their former influence came to a sad and sudden end. It is clear that
these men had little in common with Luther; yet they talked much of
evangelical reform, and he was naturally blamed for their misdeeds.
Those who adhered to the old Church now felt that they had conclusive
proof that heresy led to anarchy; and since it threatened the civil
government as well as the Church, they urged that it should be put down
with fire and sword.
[Sidenote: Hadrian VI confesses the evil deeds of the papacy.]
152. While Luther was in the Wartburg, the cultured and worldly Leo X
had died and had been succeeded by a devout professor of theology, who
had once been Charles V's tutor. The new pope, Hadrian VI, was honest
and simple, and a well-known advocate of reform without change of
belief. He believed that the German revolt was a divine judgment called
down by the wickedness of men, especially of the priests and prelates.
He freely confessed, through his legate, in a meeting of the German diet
at Nuremberg, that the popes had been perhaps the most conspicuous
sinners. "We well know that for many years the most scandalous things
have happened in this holy see [of Rome],--abuses in spiritual matters,
violations of the canons,--that, in short, everything has been just the
opposite of what it should have been. What wonder, then, if the disease
has spread from the head to the members, from the popes to the lower
clergy. We clergymen have all strayed from the right path, and for a
long time there has been no one of us righteous, no, not one."
[Sidenote: Hadrian's denunciation of Luther.]
In spite of this honest confession, Hadrian was unwilling to listen to
the grievances of the Germans until they had put down Luther and his
heresies. He was, the pope declared, a worse foe to Christendom than the
Turk. There could be nothing fouler or more disgraceful than Luther's
teachings. He sought to overthrow the very basis of religion and
morality. He was like Mohammed, but worse, for he would have the
consecrated monks and nuns marry. Nothing would be securely established
among men if every presumptuous upstart should insist that he had the
right to overturn everything which had been firmly established for
centuries and by saints and sages.
[Sidenote: The action of the diet of Nuremberg, 1522.]
The diet was much gratified by the pope's frank avowal of the sins of
his predecessors, in which it heartily concurred. It was glad that the
pope was going to begin his reform at home, but it strenuously refused
to order the enforcement of the Edict of Worms for fear of stirring up
new troubles. The Germans were too generally convinced that they were
suffering from the oppression of the Roman curia to permit Luther to be
injured. His arrest would seem an attack upon the freedom of gospel
teaching and a defence of the old system; it might even lead to civil
war. So the diet advised that a Christian council be summoned in Germany
to be made up of laymen as well as clergymen, who should be charged to
speak their opinions freely and say, not what was pleasant, but what was
true. In the meantime, only the pure gospel should be preached according
to the teaching of the Christian Church. As to the complaint of the pope
that the monks had deserted their monasteries and the priests taken
wives, these were not matters with which the civil authority had
anything to do. As the elector of Saxony observed, he paid no attention
to the monks when they ran into the monastery, and he saw no reason for
noticing when they ran out. Luther's books were, however, to be no
longer published, and learned men were to admonish the erring preachers.
Luther, himself, was to hold his peace. This doubtless gives a fair
idea of public opinion in Germany. It is noteworthy that Luther did not
seem to the diet to be a very discreet person and it showed no
particular respect for him.
[Sidenote: Accession of Pope Clement VII.]
153. Poor Hadrian speedily died, worn out with the vain effort to
correct the abuses close at home. He was followed by Clement VII, a
member of the house of Medici, less gifted but not less worldly than Leo
X. A new diet, called in 1524, adhered to the policy of its predecessor.
It was far from approving of Luther, but it placed no effective barrier
in the way of his work.
[Sidenote: The formation of a Catholic party at Regensburg.]
The papal legate, realizing the hopelessness of inducing all the members
of the diet to coöperate with him in bringing the country once more
under the pope's control, called together at Regensburg a certain number
of rulers whom he believed to be rather more favorably disposed toward
the pope than their fellows. Among these were Charles V's brother,
Ferdinand, Duke of Austria, the two dukes of Bavaria, the archbishops of
Salzburg and of Trent, and the bishops of Bamberg, Speyer, Strasburg,
etc. By means of certain concessions on the part of the pope, he induced
all these to unite in opposing the Lutheran heresy. The chief concession
was a reform decree which provided that only authorized preachers should
be tolerated, and that these should base their teaching on the works of
the four great church fathers, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, and Gregory
the Great. The clergy were to be subjected to careful discipline; there
was to be no more financial oppression and no unseemly payments demanded
for performing the church services. Abuses arising from the granting of
indulgences were to be remedied and the excessive number of holidays
reduced.
[Sidenote: Religious division of Germany.]
[Sidenote: Beginning of a reform within the Catholic Church.]
This agreement of Regensburg is of great importance, for it served to
separate Germany into two camps. Austria, Bavaria, and the great
ecclesiastical states in the south definitely took sides with the pope
against Luther, and to this day they still remain Catholic countries.
In the north, on the other hand, it became more and more apparent that
the princes proposed to secede from the Catholic Church. Moreover, the
skillful diplomacy of the papal legate was really the beginning of a
reformation of the old Church in Germany. Many of the abuses were done
away with, and the demand for reform, without revolution in doctrine and
institutions, was thereby gratified.[285] A German Bible for Catholic
readers was soon issued, and a new religious literature grew up designed
to prove the truth of the beliefs sanctioned by the Roman Catholic
Church and to spiritualize its institutions and rites.
[Sidenote: Luther's rash talk about the princes and nobles serves to
encourage the revolt of the peasants.]
154. In 1525 the conservative party, who were frankly afraid of Luther,
received a new and terrible proof, as it seemed to them, of the noxious
influence of his teachings. The peasants rose, in the name of "God's
justice," to avenge their wrongs and establish their rights. Luther was
not responsible for the civil war which ensued, but he had certainly
helped to stir up discontent. He had asserted that, owing to the habit
of foreclosing small mortgages, "any one with a hundred guldens could
gobble up a peasant a year." The German feudal lords he had declared to
be hangmen, who knew only how to swindle the poor man. "Such fellows
were formerly called rascals, but now must we call them 'Christian and
revered princes.'" Wise rulers are rare indeed: "they are usually either
great fools or the worst rogues on earth." Yet in spite of his harsh
talk about the princes, Luther really relied upon them to forward his
movement, and he justly claimed that he had greatly increased their
power by destroying the authority of the pope and subjecting the clergy
in all things to the government.
[Sidenote: The demands of the peasants in the 'Twelve Articles.']
Some of the demands of the peasants were perfectly reasonable. The most
popular expression of their needs was the dignified "Twelve
Articles."[286] In these they claimed that the Bible did not sanction
many of the dues which the lords demanded of them, and that as
Christians they should no longer be held as serfs. They were willing to
pay all the old and well-established dues, but they asked to be properly
remunerated for extra services demanded by the lord. They thought too
that each community should have the right freely to choose its own
pastor and to dismiss him if he proved negligent or inefficient.
[Sidenote: Demands of the working classes of the towns.]
Much more radical demands came from the working classes in the towns,
who in some cases joined the country people in their revolt. The
articles drawn up in the town of Heilbronn, for example, give a good
idea of the sources of discontent. The church property was to be
confiscated and used for the good of the community, except in so far as
it was necessary to support the pastors chosen by the people. The clergy
and nobility were to be deprived of all their privileges and powers, so
that they could no longer oppress the poor man.
[Sidenote: Luther urges the government to suppress the revolt.]
There were, moreover, leaders who were still more violent, who proposed
to kill the "godless" priests and nobles. Hundreds of castles and
monasteries were destroyed by the frantic peasantry, and some of the
nobility were murdered with shocking cruelty. Luther tried to induce the
peasants, with whom, as the son of a peasant, he was at first inclined
to sympathize, to remain quiet; but when his warnings proved vain, he
attacked the rebels violently. He declared that they were guilty of the
most fearful crimes, for which they deserved death of both body and soul
many times over. They had broken their allegiance, they had wantonly
plundered and robbed castles and monasteries, and lastly, they had tried
to cloak their dreadful sins with excuses from the Gospel. He therefore
urged the government to put down the insurrection. "Have no pity on the
poor folk; stab, smite, throttle, who can!"
[Sidenote: The peasant revolt put down with great cruelty.]
Luther's advice was followed with terrible literalness by the German
rulers, and the nobility took fearful revenge for the depredations of
the peasants. In the summer of 1525 the chief leader of the peasants
was defeated and killed, and it is estimated that ten thousand peasants
were put to death, many with the utmost cruelty. Few rulers or lords
introduced any reforms, and the misfortunes due to the destruction of
property and to the despair of the peasants cannot be imagined. The
people concluded that the new gospel was not for them, and talked of
Luther as "Dr. Lügner," i.e., liar. The old exactions of the lords of
the manors were in no way lightened, and the situation of the peasants
for centuries following the great revolt was worse rather than better.
[Sidenote: Catholic and Protestant unions of the German princes.]
155. The terror inspired by the peasant war led to new measures against
further attempts to change the religious beliefs of the land. The League
of Dessau was formed among some of the leading rulers of central and
northern Germany, to stamp out "the accursed Lutheran sect." The union
included Luther's arch enemy, Duke George of Saxony, the electors of
Brandenburg and Mayence, and two princes of Brunswick. The rumor that
the emperor, who had been kept busy for some years by his wars with
Francis I, was planning to come to Germany in order to root out the
growing heresy, led the few princes who openly favored Luther to unite
also. Among these the chief were the new elector of Saxony, John
Frederick, and Philip, landgrave of Hesse. These two proved themselves
the most ardent and conspicuous defenders of the Protestant faith in
Germany.
[Sidenote: The diet of Speyer gives to the individual rulers the right
to determine the religion of their subjects, 1526.]
A new war, in which Francis and the pope sided against the emperor,
prevented Charles from turning his attention to Germany, and he
accordingly gave up the idea of enforcing the Edict of Worms against the
Lutherans. Since there was no one who could decide the religious
question for all the rulers, the diet of Speyer (1526) determined that,
pending the meeting of a general council, each ruler, and each knight
and town owing immediate allegiance to the emperor, should decide
individually what particular form of religion should prevail in his
realm. Each prince was "so to live, reign, and conduct himself as he
would be willing to answer before God and His Imperial Majesty." For the
moment, then, the various German governments were left to determine the
religion of their subjects.
Yet all still hoped that one religion might ultimately be agreed upon.
Luther trusted that all Christians would sometime accept the new gospel.
He was willing that the bishops should be retained, and even that the
pope should still be regarded as a sort of presiding officer in the
Church. As for his enemies, they were equally confident that the
heretics would in time be suppressed as they had always been in the
past, and that harmony would thus be restored. Neither party was right;
for the decision of the diet of Speyer was destined to become a
permanent arrangement, and Germany remained divided between different
religious faiths.
[Sidenote: Charles V again intervenes in the religious controversy in
Germany.]
New sects opposed to the old Church had begun to appear. Zwingli, a
Swiss reformer, was gaining many followers, and the Anabaptists were
rousing Luther's apprehensions by their radical plans for doing away
with the Catholic religion. As the emperor found himself able for a
moment to attend to German affairs he bade the diet, again meeting at
Speyer in 1529, to order the enforcement of the edict against the
heretics. No one was to preach against the Mass and no one was to be
prevented from attending it freely.
[Sidenote: Origin of the term 'Protestant.']
This meant that the "Evangelical" princes would be forced to restore the
most characteristic Catholic ceremony. As they formed only a minority in
the diet, all that they could do was to draw up a _protest_, signed by
John Frederick, Philip of Hesse, and fourteen of the imperial towns
(Strasburg, Nuremberg, Ulm, etc.). In this they claimed that the
majority had no right to abrogate the edict of the former diet of Speyer
for that had passed unanimously and all had solemnly pledged themselves
to observe the agreement. They therefore appealed to the emperor and a
future council against the tyranny of the majority.[287] Those who
signed this appeal were called from their action _Protestants_. Thus
originated the name which came to be generally applied to those who do
not accept the rule and teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.
[Sidenote: Preparations for the diet of Augsburg.]
156. Since the diet at Worms the emperor had resided in Spain, busied
with a succession of wars carried on with the king of France. It will be
remembered that both Charles and Francis claimed Milan and the duchy of
Burgundy, and they sometimes drew the pope into their conflicts.[288]
But in 1530 the emperor found himself at peace for the moment and held a
brilliant diet of his German subjects at Augsburg in the hope of
settling the religious problem, which, however, he understood very
imperfectly. He ordered the Protestants to draw up a statement of
exactly what they believed, which should serve as a basis for
discussion. Melanchthon, Luther's most famous friend and colleague, who
was noted for his great learning and moderation, was intrusted with the
delicate task.
[Sidenote: The Augsburg Confession.]
The Augsburg Confession, as his declaration was called, is an historical
document of great importance for the student of the Protestant
revolt.[289] Melanchthon's gentle and conciliatory disposition led him
to make the differences between his belief and that of the old Church
seem as few and slight as possible. He showed that both parties held the
same fundamental views of Christianity. The Protestants, however,
defended their rejection of a number of the practices of the Roman
Catholics, such as the celibacy of the clergy and the observance of
fast days. There was little or nothing in the Augsburg Confession
concerning the organization of the Church.
[Sidenote: Charles V's attempt at pacification.]
Certain theologians, some of whom, like Eck, had been loud in their
denunciations of Luther, were ordered by the emperor to prepare a
refutation of the Protestant views. The statement of the Catholics
admitted that a number of Melanchthon's positions were perfectly
orthodox; but the portion of the Augsburg Confession which dealt with
the practical reforms introduced by the Protestants was rejected
altogether. Charles declared the Catholic statement to be "Christian and
judicious" and commanded the Protestants to accept it. They were to
cease troubling the Catholics and were to give back all the monasteries
and church property which they had seized. The emperor agreed to urge
the pope to call a council to meet within a year. This, he hoped, would
be able to settle all differences and reform the Church according to the
views of the Catholics.
[Sidenote: Progress of Protestantism up to the Peace of Augsburg, 1555.]
157. It is unnecessary to follow in detail the progress of Protestantism
in Germany during the quarter of a century succeeding the diet of
Augsburg. Enough has been said to show the character of the revolt and
the divergent views taken by the German princes and people. For ten
years after the emperor left Augsburg he was kept busy in southern
Europe by new wars; and in order to secure the assistance of the
Protestants, he was forced to let them go their own way. Meanwhile the
number of rulers who accepted Luther's teachings gradually increased.
Finally there was a brief war between Charles and the Protestant
princes, but the origin of the conflict was mainly political rather than
religious. It occurred to the youthful Maurice, Duke of Saxony, that by
aiding the emperor against the Protestants he might find a good excuse
for dispossessing his Protestant relative, John Frederick, of his
electorate. There was but little fighting done. Charles V brought his
Spanish soldiers into Germany and captured both John Frederick and his
ally, Philip of Hesse, the chief leaders of the Lutheran cause, whom he
kept prisoners for several years.[290]
[Sidenote: The Peace of Augsburg.]
This episode did not check the progress of Protestantism. Maurice, who
had been granted John Frederick's electorate, soon turned about and
allied himself with the Protestants. The king of France promised them
help against his enemy, the emperor, and Charles was forced to agree to
a preliminary peace with the Protestants. Three years later, in 1555,
the religious Peace of Augsburg was ratified. Its provisions are
memorable. Each German prince and each town and knight immediately under
the emperor was to be at liberty to make a choice between the beliefs of
the venerable Catholic Church and those embodied in the Augsburg
Confession. If, however, an ecclesiastical prince--an archbishop,
bishop, or abbot--declared himself a Protestant, he must surrender his
possessions to the Church. Every one was either to conform to the
religious practices of his particular state, or emigrate.
[Sidenote: The principle that the government should determine the
religion of its subjects.]
This religious peace in no way established freedom of conscience, except
for the rulers. Their power, it must be noted, was greatly increased,
inasmuch as they were given the control of religious as well as of
secular matters. This arrangement which permitted the ruler to determine
the religion of his realm was natural, and perhaps inevitable, in those
days. The Church and the civil government had been closely associated
with one another for centuries. No one as yet dreamed that every
individual, so long as he did not violate the law of the land, might
safely be left quite free to believe what he would and to practice any
religious rites which afforded him help and comfort.
[Sidenote: Weaknesses of the Peace of Augsburg.]
There were two noteworthy weaknesses in the Peace of Augsburg which were
destined to make trouble. In the first place, only one group of
Protestants was included in it. The now numerous followers of the
French reformer, Calvin, and of the Swiss reformer, Zwingli, who were
hated alike by Catholic and Lutheran, were not recognized. Every German
had to be either a Catholic or a Lutheran in order to be tolerated. In
the second place, the clause which decreed that ecclesiastical princes
converted to Protestantism should surrender their property could not be
enforced, for there was no one to see to its execution.