Luther sent a copy of his theses to Albert of Brandenburg who forwarded
them to Rome where Pope Leo X reportedly brushed the incident off as a
row between rival monastic orders. Later the Dominicans charged Luther
with heresy and formal proceedings were begun. On August 7, 1518, Luther
received notice to appear in Rome for trial within sixty days.
By no means a coward, Luther was nonetheless unwilling to be the victim
of a mock-trial in the territory of the enemy. He asked Elector
Frederick to have the trial transferred to German soil where he might at
least have the benefit of impartial judges.
On second thought the pope decided not to wait sixty days and ordered
the elector to arrest Luther at once and turn him over to Cardinal
Cajetan for delivery in Rome. Although Frederick was not sympathetic to
heresy he was determined that the man who had brought so much attention
to his university at Wittenberg should have fair play. He prevailed upon
the pope to have Cardinal Cajetan give Luther a personal hearing in
Augsburg where he would be attending a diet or parliament.
In a benign manner the cardinal offered to help Luther out of all his
difficulty if he would simply submit to the pope’s authority and retract
his errors. Luther of course refused and tried to defend his positions.
A fruitless and oft-times heated controversy ensued and at the end of
three days Cajetan told Luther to leave his presence and not return
until he was ready to recant.
The cardinal was quite upset by the Augsburg incident and wrote Elector
Frederick a letter calling upon him to turn the heretical monk over to
the Roman authorities. Frederick’s reply indicated his increasing
resistance to papal dictatorship. He asked for a free trial and a
statement of Luther’s errors in writing.
The pope’s chamberlain, Carl von Miltitz, was dispatched to Germany in
an attempt to rectify Cajetan’s blundering. He correctly estimated that
much of the populace was on Luther’s side and the time for forcibly
suppressing him was past. Resorting to diplomacy he persuaded Luther to
have his case submitted to a German bishop and to refrain from further
attack in the meantime. Luther agreed, but only on the condition that
his opponents would remain silent too.
[Illustration: (uncaptioned)]