Durant W. The Reformation. A History of European Civilization from Wyclif to Calvin: 1300-1564

Germans, newly conscious of themselves as a people. As Huss had

stressed his Bohemian patriotism, as Henry VIII would reject not

Catholic doctrine but papal power over England, so Luther now

planted his standard of revolt not in theological deserts, but in

the rich soil of the German national spirit. Wherever Protestantism

won, nationalism carried the flag.

In September 1520, Eck and Jerome Aleander promulgated the bull of

excommunication in Germany. Luther fought back with a second

manifesto, The Babylonian Captivity of the Church (October 6).

Addressed to theologians and scholars, it reverted to Latin, but it

was soon translated, and had almost as much influence on Christian

doctrine as the Open Letter had on ecclesiastical and political

history. As the Jews had suffered a long captivity in Babylonia, so

the Church as established by Christ, and as described in the New

Testament, had undergone over a thousand years of captivity under

the papacy in Rome. During that period the religion of Christ had been

corrupted in faith, morals, and ritual. Since Christ had given his

Apostles wine as well as bread at the Last Supper, the Hussites were

right: the Eucharist should be administered in both forms wherever the

people so desired. The priest does not change the bread and wine

into the body and blood of Christ; no priest has such mystical

potency; but to the fervent communicant Christ comes spiritually and

substantially, not through any miraculous transformation by a

priest, but by His own will and power; He is present in the

Eucharist along with bread and wine, by consubstantiation, not by

transubstantiation. `061650 Luther rejected with horror the notion

that in the Mass the priest offers up Christ to His Father as a

sacrifice in atonement for man's sins- though he found nothing

horrible in the idea that God had allowed man to crucify God as a

sacrifice to God in atonement for man's sins.

To these theological subtleties he added some ethical novelties.

Marriage is not a sacrament, for Christ made no promise to infuse it

with divine grace. "The marriages of the ancients were no less

sacred than ours, nor are those of unbelievers less true." `061651

Consequently there should be no prohibition of marriage between

Christians and non-Christians. "Just as I may eat, drink, sleep,

walk... and do business with a heathen, a Jew, a Turk, or a heretic,

so also I may marry any of them. Do not give heed to the fool's law

which forbids this.... A heathen is just as much a man or a woman

created by God as St. Peter, St. Paul, or St. Lucy." `061652 A woman

married to an impotent husband should be allowed, if he consents, to

have intercourse with another man in order to have a child, and should

be permitted to pass the child off as her husband's. If the husband

refuses consent she may justly divorce him. Yet divorce is an

endless tragedy; perhaps bigamy would be better. `061653 Then,

adding defiance to heresy, Luther concluded: "I hear a rumor of new

bulls and papal maledictions sent out against me, in which I am

urged to recant.... If that is true, I desire this book to be a

portion of the recantation I shall make." `061654

Such a taunt should have deflected Miltitz from still dreaming of

a reconciliation. Nevertheless he again sought out Luther (October 11,

1520), and persuaded him to send to Pope Leo a letter disclaiming

any intent to attack him personally, and presenting temperately the

case for reform. For his part Miltitz would try to secure a revocation

of the bull. Luther, the thirty-seven-year-old "peasant, son of a

peasant" (as he proudly called himself), wrote a letter not of apology

but of almost paternal counsel to the forty-five-year-old heir of

St. Peter and the Medici. He expressed his respect for the Pope as

an individual, but condemned without compromise the corruption of

the papacy in the past, and of the papal Curia in the present:

-

Thy reputation, and the fame of thy blameless life... are too well

known and too high to be assailed.... But thy See, which is called the

Roman Curia, and of which neither thou nor any man can deny that it is

more corrupt than any Babylon or Sodom ever was, and which is, as

far as I can see, characterized by a totally depraved, hopeless, and

notorious wickedness- that See I have truly despised.... The Roman

Church has become the most licentious den of thieves, the most

shameless of all brothels, the kingdom of sin, death, and hell.... I

have always grieved, most excellent Leo, that thou hast been made pope

in these times, for thou wert worthy of better days....

Do not listen, therefore, my dear Leo, to those sirens who make thee

out to be no mere man but a demigod, so that thou mayest command...

what thou wilt.... Thou art a servant of servants, and beyond all

other men in a most pitiable and dangerous position. Be not deceived

by those who pretend that thou art lord of the world... who prate that

thou hast power over heaven, hell, and purgatory.... They err who

exalt thee above a council and above the Church universal. They err

who ascribe to thee the right of interpreting Scripture, for under

cover of thy name they seek to set up their own wickedness in the

Church, and, alas, through them Satan has already made much headway

under thy predecessors. In short, believe none who exalt thee, believe

those who humble thee. `061655

-

Along with this letter Luther sent to Leo the third of his

manifestoes. He called it A Treatise on Christian Liberty

(November 1520), and felt that "unless I am deceived, it is the

whole of Christian living in a brief form." `061656 Here he

expressed with uncongenial moderation his basic doctrine- that faith

alone, not good works, makes the true Christian and saves him from

hell. For it is faith in Christ that makes a man good; his good

works follow from that faith. "The tree bears fruit, the fruit does

not bear the tree." `061657 A man firm in his faith in the divinity

and redeeming sacrifice of Christ enjoys not freedom of will, but

the profoundest freedom of all: freedom from his own carnal nature,

from all evil powers, from damnation, even from law; for the man whose

virtue flows spontaneously from his faith needs no commands to

righteousness. `061658 Yet this free man must be servant to all men,

for he will not be happy if he fails to do all in his power to save

others as well as himself. He is united to God by faith, to his

neighbor by love. Every believing Christian is a ministering priest.

While Luther was writing these historic treatises, Eck and

Aleander were encountering the religious revolution at first hand.

In Meissen, Merseburg, and Brandenburg they were successful in

proclaiming the bull of excommunication; at Nuremberg they elicited

apologies from Pirkheimer and Spengler; at Mainz Archbishop

Albrecht, after flirting a while with the Reformation, excluded Hutten

from his court and imprisoned the printers of Hutten's books; at

Ingolstadt Luther's books were confiscated, and in Mainz, Louvain, and

Cologne they were burned. But at Leipzig, Torgau, and Dobeln the

posted bull was pelted with dirt and torn down; at Erfurt many

professors and clergymen joined in a general refusal to recognize

the bull, and students threw all available copies into the river;

finally Eck fled from the scenes of his triumphs a year

before. `061659

Luther denounced the ban in a series of bitter pamphlets, in one

of which he fully approved the doctrines of Huss. About August 31,

1520, as "a single flea daring to address the king of kings," he

appealed to the Emperor for protection; and on November 17 he

published a formal appeal from the Pope to a free council of the

Church. When he learned that the papal envoys were burning his

books, he decided to reply in kind. He issued an invitation to the

"pious and studious youths" of Wittenberg to assemble outside the

Elster gate of the city on the morning of December 10. There, with his

own hands, he cast the papal bull into a fire, along with some

canonical decretals and volumes of Scholastic theology; in one act

he symbolized his rejection of canon law, of Aquinas's philosophy, and

of any coercive authority of the Church. The students joyfully

collected other books of the kind, and with them kept the fire burning

till late afternoon.

On December 11 Luther proclaimed that no man could be saved unless

he renounced the rule of the papacy. `061660 The monk had

excommunicated the pope.

V. THE DIET OF WORMS: 1521

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A third actor now mounted the stage, and from this moment played

through thirty years a major role in the conflict of theologies and

states. In a dozen chapters he will impinge upon our narrative.

The future Emperor Charles V began with a royal but tarnished

heredity. His paternal grandparents were the Emperor Maximilian and

Mary of Burgundy, daughter of Charles the Bold; his maternal

grandparents were Ferdinand and Isabella; his father was Philip the

Handsome, King of Castile at twenty-six, dead at twenty-eight; his

mother was Juana la Loca, who went insane when Charles was six, and

survived till he was fifty-five. He was born in Ghent (February 24,

1500), was brought up in Brussels, and remained Flemish in speech

and character till his final retirement in Spain; neither Spain nor

Germany forgave him. But in time he learned to speak German,

Spanish, Italian, and French, and could be silent in five languages.

Adrian of Utrecht tried to teach him philosophy, with inconsiderable

success. From this good bishop he received a strong infusion of

religious orthodoxy, yet he probably imbibed, in middle age, a

secret skepticism from his Flemish advisers and courtiers, among

whom an Erasmian indifference to dogma was smilingly popular. Some

priests complained of the freedom allowed to religious opinion in

Charles's entourage. `061661 He made a point of piety, but studied

carefully the art of war. He read Comines, and learned almost in

childhood the tricks of diplomacy and the unmorality of states.

On his father's death (1506) he inherited Flanders, Holland,

Franche-Comte, and a claim to Burgundy. At fifteen he assumed the

government, and devoted himself to administration. At sixteen he

became Charles I, King of Spain, Sicily, Sardinia, Naples, and Spanish

America. At nineteen he aspired to be emperor. Francis I of France

sought the same honor at the same time, and the Imperial Electors were

pleased with his douceurs; but Charles spent 850,000 florins on

the contest, and won (1519). To assemble this heavy Trinkgelt he

borrowed 543,000 florins from the Fuggers; `061662 from that time

Charles was for the Fuggers and the Fuggers were for Charles. When

he dallied in repaying the loan, Jakob Fugger II sent him a sharp

reminder.

-

It is well known that your Majesty without me might not have

acquired the Imperial honor, as I can attest with the written

statements of all the delegates.... And in all this I have looked

not to my own profit.... My respectful request is that you will

graciously... order that the money which I have paid out, together

with the interest on it, shall be returned without further

delay. `061663

-

Charles met part of his obligation by giving the Fuggers a lien on

the port duties of Antwerp. `061664 When the Fuggers were almost

ruined by Turkish conquests in Hungary, he came to their rescue by

turning over to them control of Spanish mines. `061665 Henceforth

the key to much political history would be Cherchez le banquier.

The youth who at nineteen found himself titular head of all

Central and Western Europe except England, France, Portugal, and the

Papal States was already marked by the feeble health that was to

multiply his vicissitudes. Pale, short, homely, with aquiline nose and

sharp, challenging chin, feeble in voice and grave of mien, he was

kindly and affable by nature, but he soon learned that a ruler must

maintain distance and bearing, that silence is half of diplomacy,

and that an open sense of humor dims the aura of royalty. Aleander,

meeting him in 1520, reported to Leo X: "This prince seems to me

well endowed with... prudence beyond his years, and to have much

more at the back of his head than he carries on his face." `061666

He was not mentally keen, except in judging men- which is half the

battle; he barely rose to the crises that confronted him- but that was

much indeed. A conserving indolence of body and mind kept him inert

until the situation demanded decision; then he met it with sudden

resolution and resourceful pertinacity. Wisdom came to him not by

nature but by trials.

On October 23, 1520, Charles V, no older than the century, went to

Charlemagne's Aachen to be crowned. Elector Frederick started out to

attend the ceremony, but was stopped at Cologne by gout. There

Aleander presented to him another plea for the arrest of Luther.

Frederick called in Erasmus and asked his advice. Erasmus defended

Luther, pointed out that there were crying abuses in the Church, and

argued that efforts to remedy them should not be suppressed. When

Frederick asked him what were Luther's chief errors, he replied: "Two:

he attacked the pope in his crown and the monks in their

bellies." `061667 He questioned the authenticity of the papal bull; it

seemed to him irreconcilable with the known gentleness of Leo

X. `061668 Frederick informed the nuncio that Luther had lodged an

appeal, and that until its results were known, Luther should remain

free.

The Emperor gave the same answer; he had promised the electors, as a

condition of his election, that no German would be condemned without a

fair trial in Germany. However, his position made orthodoxy

imperative. He was more firmly established as King of Spain than as

Emperor in a Germany that resented centralized government; and the

clergy of Spain would not long bear with a monarch lenient to

heretics. Besides, war loomed with France; it would be fought over

Milan as the prize; there the support of the pope would be worth an

army. The Holy Roman Empire was tied to the papacy in a hundred

ways; the fall of one would profoundly injure the other; how could the

Emperor rule his scattered and diverse realm without the aid of the

Church in moral discipline and political administration? Even now

his chief ministers were clergymen. And he needed ecclesiastical funds

and influence to protect Hungary from the Turks.

It was with these varied problems in mind, rather than the

question of a refractory monk, that Charles summoned an Imperial

Diet to meet at Worms. But when the leading nobles and clergy, and

representatives of the free cities, assembled there (January 27,

1521), Luther was the chief topic of conversation. The forces that

through centuries had been preparing the Reformation came now to a

head in one of the most dramatic scenes in European history. "The

great body of the German nobles," says a Catholic historian,

"applauded and seconded Luther's attempts." `061669 Aleander himself

reported:

-

All Germany is up in arms against Rome. All the world is clamoring

for a council that shall meet on German soil. Papal bulls of

excommunication are laughed at. Numbers of people have ceased to

receive the sacrament of penance.... Martin is pictured with a halo

above his head. The people kiss these pictures. Such a quantity has

been sold that I am unable to obtain one.... I cannot go out in the

streets but the Germans put their hands to their swords and gnash

their teeth at me. I hope the Pope will give me a plenary indulgence

and look after my brothers and sisters if anything happens to

me. `061670

-

The excitement was fanned by a whirlwind of antipapal pamphlets; a

wagon, mourned Aleander, would not hold all these scurrilous tracts.

From Sickingen's castle of Ebernburg, a few miles from Worms, Hutten

issued a frantic attack on the German clergy:

-

Begone, ye unclean swine! Depart from the sanctuary, ye infamous

traffickers! Touch not the altars with your desecrated hands!... How

dare you spend the money intended for pious uses in luxury,

dissipation, and pomp, while honest men are suffering hunger? The

cup is full. See ye not that the breath of liberty is

stirring? `061671

-

So strong was the sentiment for Luther that the Emperor's confessor,

the Franciscan monk Jean Glapion, privately approached Frederick's

chaplain, Georg Spalatin, in an attempt at conciliation. He

professed considerable sympathy for Luther's early writings, but the

Babylonian Captivity had made him feel "as if he had been scourged

and pummeled from head to foot." He pointed out that no system of

religious belief could be securely based upon Scripture, for "the

Bible is like soft wax. which every man can twist and stretch

according to his pleasure." He admitted urgent need for ecclesiastical

reform; indeed, he had warned his Imperial penitent that "God will

punish him and all princes if they do not free the Church from such

overweening abuses"; and he promised that Charles would accomplish the

major reforms within five years. Even now, after those terrible

Lutheran blasts, he thought peace possible if Luther would

recant. `061672 Luther, apprised of this at Wittenberg, refused.

On March 3 Aleander presented to the Diet a proposal for the

immediate condemnation of Luther. The Diet protested that the monk

should not be condemned without a hearing. Charles thereupon invited

Luther to come to Worms and testify concerning his teaching and his

books. "You need fear no violence or molestation," he wrote, "for

you have our safe-conduct." `061673 Luther's friends begged him not to

go, and reminded him of the safe-conduct that the Emperor Sigismund

had given Huss. Adrian of Utrecht, now Cardinal of Tortosa, soon to be

pope, sent a plea to his former pupil, the Emperor, to ignore the

safe-conduct, arrest Luther, and send him to Rome. On April 2 Luther

left Wittenberg. At Erfurt a large crowd, including forty professors

from the university, hailed him as a hero. When he approached Worms

Spalatin rushed a warning to him not to enter, but rather to hurry

back to Wittenberg. Luther answered: "Though there were as many devils

in Worms as there are tiles on the roofs, I will go there." `061674

A band of knights rode out to meet him and escort him into the city

(April 16). The streets filled at news of his arrival; 2,000 people

gathered around his carriage; all the world came to see him, said

Aleander, and even Charles was cast into the shade.

On April 17 Luther, in his monastic garb, appeared before the

Diet: the Emperor, six electors, an awesome court of princes,

nobles, prelates, and burghers, and Jerome Aleander armed with papal

authority, formal documents, and forensic eloquence. On a table near

Luther stood a collection of his books. Johann Eck- not he of the

Leipzig debate but an official of the archbishop of Trier- asked him

were these his compositions, and would he retract all heresies

contained in them? For a moment, standing before the assembled dignity

of the Empire and the delegated power and majesty of the Church,

Luther's courage failed him. He replied in a low and diffident voice

that the books were his, but as to the second question he begged

time to consider. Charles granted him a day. Back in his lodging he

received a message from Hutten beseeching him to stand fast; and

several members of the Diet came privately to encourage him. Many

seemed to feel that his final answer would mark a turning point in

history.

On April 18 he faced the Diet with fuller confidence. Now the

chamber was so crowded that even the electors found it difficult to

reach their seats, and most of those present stood. Eck asked him

would he repudiate, in whole or in part, the works that he had

written. He replied that those portions that dealt with ecclesiastical

abuses were by common consent just. The Emperor interrupted him with

an explosive "No!"- but Luther went on, and hit at Charles himself:

"Should I recant at this point, I would open the door to more

tyranny and impiety, and it will be all the worse should it appear

that I had done so at the instance of the Holy Roman Empire." As to

the doctrinal passages in his books, he agreed to retract any that

should be proved contrary to Scripture. To this Eck, in Latin, made an

objection that well expressed the view of the Church:

-

Martin, your plea to be heard from Scripture is the one always

made by heretics. You do nothing but renew the errors of Wyclif and

Huss.... How can you assume that you are the only one to understand

the sense of Scripture? Would you put your judgment above that of so

many famous men and claim that you know more than all of them? You

have no right to call into question the most holy orthodox faith,

instituted by Christ the perfect Lawgiver, proclaimed throughout the

world by the Apostles, sealed by the red blood of martyrs, confirmed

by the sacred councils, and defined by the Church... and which we

are forbidden by the Pope and the Emperor to discuss, lest there be no

end to debate. I ask you, Martin- answer candidly and without

distinctions- do you or do you not repudiate your books and the errors

which they contain? `061675

-

Luther made his historic response in German:

-

Since your Majesty and your lordships desire a simple reply, I

will answer without distinctions.... Unless I am convicted by the

testimony of Sacred Scripture or by evident reason (I do not accept

the authority of popes and councils, for they have contradicted each

other), my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I

will not recant anything, for to go against my conscience is neither

right nor safe. God help me. Amen. *06040 `061676

-

Eck countered that no error could be proved in the doctrinal decrees

of the councils; Luther answered that he was prepared to prove such

errors, but the Emperor intervened peremptorily: "It is enough;

since he has denied councils, we wish to hear no more." `061678 Luther

returned to his lodging weary with the strife, but confident that he

had borne good testimony in what Carlyle was to call "the greatest

moment in the modern history of man." `061679

The Emperor was as shaken as the monk. Born to the purple, and

already accustomed to authority, he thought it self-evident that the

right of each individual to interpret Scripture, and to accept or

reject civil or ecclesiastical decrees according to private judgment

and conscience, would soon erode the very foundations of social order,

for this seemed to him based on a moral code that in turn derived

its strength from the supernatural sanctions of religious belief. On

April 19 he called the leading princes to a conference in his own

chambers, and presented to them a declaration of faith and intent,

written in French, and apparently by himself:

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Durant W. The Reformation. A History of European Civilization from Wyclif to Calvin: 1300-1564

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