A History of the Reformation Volume I Part 16

On the other hand, the Germans in the Diet held stoutly to the opinion that no countryman of theirs should be placed under the ban of the Empire without being heard in his defence, and that they and not the Bishop of Rome were to be the judges in the matter.

The two months before Luther's appearance saw open opposition between the Emperor and the Diet, and abundant secret intrigue-an edict proposed against Luther,(198) which the Diet refused to accept;(199) an edict proposed to order the burning of Luther's books, which the Diet also objected to;(200) this edict revised and limited to the seizure of Luther's writings, which was also found fault with by the Diet; and, finally, the Emperor issuing this revised edict on his own authority and without the consent of the Diet.(201)

The command to appear before the Diet on April 16th, 1521, and the imperial safe conduct were entrusted to the imperial herald, Caspar Strum, who delivered them at Wittenberg on the 26th of March.(202) Luther calmly finished some literary work, and left for the Diet on April 2nd. He believed that he was going to his death. "My dear brother," he said to Melanchthon at parting, "if I do not come back, if my enemies put me to death, you will go on teaching and standing fast in the truth; if you live, my death will matter little." The journey seemed to the indignant Papists like a royal progress; crowds came to bless the man who had stood up for Germany against the Pope, and who was going to his death for his courage; they pressed into the inns where he rested, and often found him solacing himself with music. His lute was always comforting to him in times of excitement. Justus Jonas, the famous German Humanist, who had turned theologian much to Erasmus' disgust, joined him at Erfurt. The nearer he came to Worms, the sharper became the disputes there. Friends and foes feared that his presence would prove oil thrown on the flames.

The Emperor began to wish he had not sent the summons. Messengers were despatched secretly to Sickingen, and a pension promised to Hutten to see whether they could not prevent Luther's appearance.(203) Might he not take refuge in the Ebernberg, scarcely a day's journey from Worms? Was it not possible to arrange matters in a private conference with Glapion, the Emperor's confessor? Bucer was sent to persuade him. The herald significantly called his attention to the imperial edict ordering magistrates to seize his writings. But nothing daunted Luther. He would not go to the Ebernberg; he could see Glapion at Worms, if the confessor wished an interview; what he had to say would be said publicly at Worms.

Luther had reached Oppenheim, a town on the Rhine about fifteen miles north from Worms, and about twenty east from the Ebernberg, on April 14th.

There he for the last time rejected the insidious temptations of his enemies and the distracted counsels of his friends, that he should turn aside and seek shelter with Francis von Sickingen. There he penned his famous letter to Spalatin, that he would come to Worms if there were as many devils as tiles on the house roofs to prevent him, and at the same time asked where he was to lodge.(204)

The question was important. The Romanists had wished that Luther should be placed under the Emperor's charge as a prisoner of State, or else lodged in the Convent of the Augustinian Eremites, where he could be under ecclesiastical surveillance. But the Saxon n.o.bles and their Elector had resolved to trust no one with the custody of their countryman. The Elector Frederick and part of his suite had found accommodation at an inn called _The Swan_, and the rest of his following were in the House of the Knights of St. John. Both houses were full; but it was arranged that Luther was to share the room of two Saxon gentlemen, v. Hirschfeld and v. Schott, in the latter building.(205) Next morning, Justus Jonas, who had reached Worms before Luther, after consultation with Luther's friends, left the town early on Tuesday morning (April 16th) to meet the Reformer, and tell him the arrangements made. With him went the two gentlemen with whom Luther was to lodge.(206) A large number of Saxon n.o.blemen with their attendants accompanied them. When it was known that they had set out to meet Luther, a great crowd of people (nearly two thousand, says Secretary Vogler), some on horseback and some on foot, followed to welcome Luther, and did meet him about two and a half miles from the town.(207)

-- 4. Luther in Worms.

A little before eleven o'clock the watcher on tower by the Mainz Gate blew his horn to announce that the procession was in sight, and soon afterwards Luther entered the town. The people of Worms were at their _Morgenimbiss_ or _Fruhmahl_, but all rushed to the windows or out into the streets to see the arrival.(208) Caspar Sturm, the herald, rode first, accompanied by his attendant, the square yellow banner, emblazoned with the black two-headed eagle, attached to his bridle arm. Then came the cart,-a genuine Saxon _Rollwegelin_,-Luther and three companions sitting in the straw which half filled it. The waggon had been provided by the good town of Wittenberg, which had also hired Christian Goldschmidt and his three horses at three gulden a day.(209) Luther's companions were his _socius itinerarius_, Brother Petzensteiner of Nurnberg;(210) his colleague Nicholas Amsdorf; and a student of Wittenberg, a young Pomeranian n.o.ble, Peter Swaven, who had been one of the Wittenberg students who had accompanied Luther with halbert and helmet to the Leipzig Disputation (July 1519). Justus Jonas rode immediately behind the waggon, and then followed the crowd of n.o.bles and people who had gone out to meet the Reformer.

Aleander in his attic room heard the shouts and the trampling in the streets, and sent out one of his people to find out the cause, guessing that it was occasioned by Luther's arrival. The messenger reported that the procession had made its way through dense crowds of people, and that the waggon had stopped at the door of the House of the Knights of St.

John. He also informed the nuncio that Luther had got out, saying, as he looked round with his piercing eyes, _Deus erit pro me_, and that a priest had stepped forward, received him in his arms, then touched or kissed his robe thrice with as much reverence as if he were handling the relics of a saint. "They will say next," says Aleander in his wrath, "that the scoundrel works miracles."(211)

After travel-stains were removed, Luther dined with ten or twelve friends.

The early afternoon brought crowds of visitors, some of whom had come great distances to see him. Then came long discussions about how he was to act on the morrow before the Diet. The Saxon councillors v. Feilitzsch and v. Thun were in the same house with him: the Saxon Chancellor, v. Bruck, and Luther's friend Spalatin, were at _The Swan_, a few doors away. Jerome Schurf, the Professor of Law in Wittenberg, had been summoned to Worms by the Elector to act as Luther's legal adviser, and had reached the town some days before the Reformer.

How much Luther knew of the secret intrigues that had been going on at Worms about his affairs it is impossible to say. He probably was aware that the Estates had demanded that he should have a hearing, and should be confronted by impartial theologians, and that the complaints of the German nation against Rome should be taken up at the same time; also that the Emperor had refused to allow any theological discussion, or that the grievances against Rome should be part of the proceedings. All that was public property. The imperial summons and safe conduct had not treated him as a condemned heretic.(212) He had been addressed in it as _Ehrsamer_, _lieber_, _andachtiger_-terms which would not have been used to a heretic, and which were ostentatiously omitted from the safe conduct sent him by Duke George of Saxony.(213) He knew also that the Emperor had nevertheless published an edict ordering the civil authorities to seize his books, and to prevent more from being printed, published, or sold, and that such an edict threw doubts upon the value of the safe conduct.(214) But he probably did not know that this edict was a third draft issued by the Emperor without consulting the Diet. Nor is it likely that he knew how Aleander had been working day and night to prevent his appearance at the Diet from being more than a mere formality, nor how far the nuncio had prevailed with the Emperor and with his councillors. His friends could tell him all this-though even they were not aware until next morning how resolved the Emperor was that Luther should not be permitted to make a speech.(215) They knew enough, however, to be able to impress on Luther that he must restrain himself, and act in such a way as to force the hands of his opponents, and gain permission to speak at length in a second audience. The Estates wished to hear him if the Emperor and his entourage had resolved to prevent him from speaking. These consultations probably settled the tactics which Luther followed on his first appearance before the Diet.(216)

Next morning (Wednesday, April 17th), Ulrich von Pappenheim, the marshal of ceremonies, came to Luther's room before ten o'clock, and, greeting him courteously and with all respect, informed him that he was to appear before the Emperor and the Diet that day at four o'clock, when he would be informed why he had been summoned.(217) Immediately after the marshal had left, there came an urgent summons from a Saxon n.o.ble, Hans von Minkwitz, who was dying in his lodgings, that Luther would come to hear his confession and administer the sacrament to him. Luther instantly went to soothe and comfort the dying man, notwithstanding his own troubles.(218) We have no information how the hours between twelve and four were spent.

It is almost certain that there must have been another consultation.

Spalatin and Bruck had discovered that the conduct of the audience was not to be in the hands of Glapion, the confessor of the Emperor, as they had up to that time supposed, but in those of John Eck, the Orator or Official of the Archbishop of Trier.(219) This looked badly for Luther. Eck had been officiously busy in burning Luther's books at Trier; he lodged in the same house and in the room next to the papal nuncio.(220) Aleander, indeed, boasts that Eck was entirely devoted to him, and that he had been able to draft the question which Eck put to Luther during the first audience.(221)

-- 5. Luther's first Appearance before the Diet of Worms.(222)

A little before four o'clock, the marshal and Caspar Sturm, the herald, came to Luther's lodging to escort him to the audience hall. They led the Reformer into the street to conduct him to the Bishop's Palace, where the Emperor was living along with his younger brother Ferdinand, afterwards King of the Romans and Emperor, and where the Diet met.(223) The streets were thronged; faces looked down from every window; men and women had crowded the roofs to catch a glimpse of Luther as he pa.s.sed. It was difficult to force a way through the crowd, and, besides, Sturm, who was responsible for Luther's safety, feared that some Spaniard might deal the Reformer a blow with a dagger in the crowd. So the three turned into the court of the Swan Hotel; from it they got into the garden of the House of the Knights of St. John; and, as most of the courts and gardens of the houses communicated with each other, they were able to get into the court of the Bishop's Palace without again appearing on the street.(224)

The court of the Palace was full of people eager to see Luther, most of them evidently friendly. It was here that old General Frundsberg, the most ill.u.s.trious soldier in Germany, who was to be the conqueror in the famous fight at Pavia, clapped Luther kindly on the shoulder, and said words which have been variously reported. "My poor monk! my little monk! thou art on thy way to make a stand as I and many of my knights have never done in our toughest battles. If thou art sure of the justice of thy cause, then forward in the name of G.o.d, and be of good courage: G.o.d will not forsake thee." From out the crowd, "here and there and from every corner, came voices saying, 'Play the man! Fear not death; it can but slay the body: there is a life beyond.' "(225) They went up the stair and entered the audience hall, which was crammed. While the marshal and the herald forced a way for Luther, he pa.s.sed an old acquaintance, the deputy from Augsburg. "Ah, Doctor Peutinger," said Luther, "are you here too?"(226) Then he was led to where he was to stand before the Emperor; and these two lifelong opponents saw each other for the first time. "The fool entered smiling," says Aleander (perhaps the lingering of the smile with which he had just greeted Dr. Peutinger): "he looked slowly round, and his face sobered." "When he faced the Emperor," Aleander goes on to say, "he could not hold his head still, but moved it up and down and from side to side."(227) All eyes were fixed on Luther, and many an account was written describing his appearance. "A man of middle height," says an unsigned Spanish paper preserved in the British Museum, "with a strong face, a st.u.r.dy build of body, with eyes that scintillated and were never still. He was clad in the robe of the Augustinian Order, but with a belt of hide, with a large tonsure, newly shaven, and a coronal of short thick hair."(228) All noticed his gleaming eyes; and it was remarked that when his glance fell on an Italian, the man moved uneasily in his seat, as if "the evil eye was upon him." Meanwhile, in the seconds before the silence was broken, Luther was making _his_ observations. He noticed the swarthy Jewish-looking face of Aleander, with its gleam of hateful triumph. "So the Jews must have looked at Christ," he thought.(229) He saw the young Emperor, and near him the papal nuncios and the great ecclesiastics of the Empire. A wave of pity pa.s.sed through him as he looked. "He seemed to me,"

he said, "like some poor lamb among swine and hounds."(230) There was a table or bench with some books upon it. When Luther's glance fell on them, he saw that they were his own writings, and could not help wondering how they had got there.(231) He did not know that Aleander had been collecting them for some weeks, and that, at command of the Emperor, he had handed them over to John Eck, the Official of Trier, for the purposes of the audience.(232) Jerome Schurf made his way to Luther's side, and stood ready to a.s.sist in legal difficulties.

The past and the future faced each other-the young Emperor in his rich robes of State, with his pale, vacant-looking face, but "carrying more at the back of his head than his countenance showed," the descendant of long lines of kings, determined to maintain the beliefs, rites, and rules of that Mediaeval Church which his ancestors had upheld; and the monk, with his wan face seamed with the traces of spiritual conflict and victory, in the poor dress of his Order, a peasant's son, resolute to cleave a way for the new faith of evangelical freedom, the spiritual birthright of all men.

The strained silence(233) was broken by the Official of Trier, a man of lofty presence, saying, in a clear, ringing voice so that all could hear distinctly, first in Latin and then in German:

" 'Martin Luther, His Imperial Majesty, Sacred and Victorious (_sacra et invicta_), on the advice of all the Estates of the Holy Roman Empire, has ordered you to be summoned here to the throne of His Majesty, in order that you may recant and recall, according to the force, form, and meaning of the citation-mandate decreed against you by His Majesty and communicated legally to you, the books, both in Latin and in German, published by you and spread abroad, along with their contents: Wherefore I, in the name of His Imperial Majesty and of the Princes of the Empire, ask you: First, Do you confess that these books exhibited in your presence (I show him a bundle of books written in Latin and in German) and now named one by one, which have been circulated with your name on the t.i.tle-page, are yours, and do you acknowledge them to be yours?

Secondly, Do you wish to retract and recall them and their contents, or do you mean to adhere to them and to rea.s.sert them?' "(234)

The books were not named; so Jerome Schurf called out, "Let the t.i.tles be read."(235) Then the notary, Maximilian Siebenberger (called Transilva.n.u.s),(236) stepped forward and, taking up the books one by one, read their t.i.tles and briefly described their contents.(237) Then Luther, having briefly and precisely repeated the two questions put to him, said:

" 'To which I answer as shortly and correctly as I am able. I cannot deny that the books named are mine, and I will never deny any of them:(238) they are all my offspring; and I have written some others which have not been named.(239) But as to what follows, whether I shall reaffirm in the same terms all, or shall retract what I may have uttered beyond the authority of Scripture,-because the matter involves a question of faith and of the salvation of souls, and because it concerns the Word of G.o.d, which is the greatest thing in heaven and on earth, and which we all must reverence,-it would be dangerous and rash in me to make any unpremeditated declaration, because in unpremeditated speech I might say something less than the fact and something more than the truth; besides, I remember the saying of Christ when He declared, "Whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father which is in heaven, and before His angels." For these reasons I beg, with all respect, that your Imperial Majesty give me time to deliberate, that I may answer the question without injury to the Word of G.o.d and without peril to my own soul.' "(240)

Luther made his answer in a low voice-so low that the deputies from Stra.s.sburg, who were sitting not far from him, said that they could not hear him distinctly.(241) Many present inferred from the low voice that Luther's spirit was broken, and that he was beginning to be afraid. But from what followed it is evident that Luther's whole procedure on this first appearance before the Diet was intended to defeat the intrigues of Aleander, which had for their aim to prevent the Reformer addressing the Diet in a long speech; and in this he succeeded, as Bruck and Spalatin hoped he would.

The Estates then proceeded to deliberate on Luther's request. Aleander says that the Emperor called his councillors about him; that the Electors talked with each other; and that the separate Estates deliberated separately.(242) We are informed by the report of the Venetian amba.s.sadors that there was some difficulty among some of them in acceding to Luther's request. But at length the Official of Trier again addressed Luther:

" 'Martin, you were able to know from the imperial mandate why you were summoned here, and therefore you do not really require any time for further deliberation, nor is there any reason why it should be granted. Yet His Imperial Majesty, moved by his natural clemency, grants you one day for deliberation, and you will appear here tomorrow at the same hour,-but on the understanding that you do not give your answer in writing, but by word of mouth.' "(243)

The sitting, which, so far as Luther was concerned, had occupied about an hour, was then declared to be ended, and he was conducted back to his room by the herald. There he sat down and wrote to his friend Cuspinian in Vienna "from the midst of the tumult":

"This hour I have been before the Emperor and his brother, and have been asked whether I would recant my books. I have said that the books were really mine, and have asked for some delay about recantation. They have given me no longer s.p.a.ce and time than till to-morrow for deliberation. Christ helping me, I do not mean to recant one jot or t.i.ttle."(244)

-- 6. Luther's Second Appearance before the Diet.

The next day, Thursday, April 18th, did not afford much time for deliberation. Luther was besieged by visitors. Familiar friends came to see him in the morning; German n.o.bles thronged his hostel at midday; Bucer rode over from the Ebernberg in the afternoon with congratulations on the way that the first audience had been got through, and bringing letters from Ulrich von Hutten. His friends were almost astonished at his cheerfulness. "He greeted me and others," said Dr. Peutinger, who was an early caller, "quite cheerfully-'Dear Doctor,' he said, 'how is your wife and child?' I have never found or seen him other than the right good fellow he is."(245) George Vogler and others had "much pious conversation"

with him, and wrote, praising his thorough heroism.(246) The German n.o.bles greeted Luther with a bluff heartiness-"Herr Doctor, How are you? People say you are to be burnt; that will never do; that would ruin everything."(247)

The marshal and the herald came for Luther a little after four o'clock, and led him by the same private devious ways to the Bishop's Palace. The crowds on the streets were even larger than on the day before. It was said that more than five thousand people, Germans and foreigners, were crushed together in the street before the Palace. The throng was so dense that some of the delegates, like Oelhafen from Nurnberg, could not get through it.(248) It was six o'clock before the Emperor, accompanied by the Electors and princes, entered the hall. Luther and the herald had been kept waiting in the court of the Palace for more than an hour and a half, bruised by the dense moving crowd. In the hall the throng was so great that the princes had some difficulty in getting to their seats, and found themselves uncomfortably crowded when they reached them.(249) Two notable men were absent. The papal nuncios refused to be present when a heretic was permitted to speak. Such proceedings were the merest tomfoolery (_ribaldaria_), Aleander said. When Luther reached the door, he had still to wait; the princes were occupied in reaching their places, and it was not etiquette for him to appear until they were seated.(250) The day was darkening, and the gloomy hall flamed with torches.(251) Observers remarked Luther's wonderful cheerful countenance as he made his way to his place.(252)

The Emperor had intrusted the procedure to Aleander, to his confessor Glapion, and to John Eck, who had conducted the audience on the previous day.(253) The Official was again to have the conduct of matters in his hands. As soon as Luther was in his place, Eck "rushed into words"

(_prorupit in verba_)(254) He began by recapitulating what had taken place at the first audience; and in saying that Luther had asked time for consideration, he insinuated that every Christian ought to be ready at all times to give a reason for the faith that is in him, much more a learned theologian like Luther. He declared that it was now time for Luther to answer plainly whether he adhered to the contents of the books he had acknowledged to be his, or whether he was prepared to recant them. He spoke first in Latin and then in German, and it was noticed that his speech in Latin was very bitter.(255)

Then Luther delivered his famous speech before the Diet. He had freed himself from the web of intrigue that Aleander had been at such pains to weave round him to compel him to silence, and stood forth a free German to plead his cause before the most ill.u.s.trious audience the Fatherland could offer to any of its sons.

Before him was the Emperor and his brother Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria, destined to be King of the Romans and Emperor in days to come, and beside them, seated, all the Electors and the great Princes of the Empire, lay and ecclesiastical, among them four Cardinals. All round him standing, for there was no s.p.a.ce for seats, the Counts, Free n.o.bles and Knights of the Empire, and the delegates of the great cities, were closely packed together.(256) Amba.s.sadors and the political agents of almost all the countries in Europe were there to swell the crowd-ready to report the issue of this momentous day. For all believed that whatever weighty business for Germany was discussed at this Diet, the question raised by Luther was one of European importance, and affected the countries which they represented. The rumour had gone about, founded mainly on the serene appearance of Luther, that the monk was about to recant;(257) and most of the political agents earnestly hoped it might be true. That and that only would end, they believed, the symptoms of disquiet which the governments of every land were anxiously watching.

The diligence of Wrede has collected and printed in the _Reichstagsakten_(258) several papers, all of which profess to give Luther's speech; but they are mere summaries, some longer and some shorter, and give no indication of the power which thrilled the audience.

Its effect must be sought for in the descriptions of the hearers.

The specimens of his books which had been collected by Aleander were so representative that Luther could speak of all his writings. He divided them into three cla.s.ses. He had written books for edification which he could truly say had been approved by all men, friends and foes alike, and it was scarcely to be expected that he, the author, should be the only man to recant the contents of such writings as even the Papal Bull had commended. In a second cla.s.s of writings he had attacked the papal tyranny which all Germany was groaning under; to recant the contents of these books would be to make stronger and less endurable the monstrous evil he had protested against; he therefore refused to recall such writings; no loyal German could do so. He had also written against individual persons who had supported the Papacy; it was possible that he had written too strongly in some places and against some men; he was only a man and not G.o.d, and was liable to make mistakes; he remembered how Christ, who could not err, had acted when He was accused, and imitating Him, he was quite ready, if shown to be wrong, by evangelical or prophetic witnesses, to renounce his errors, and if he were convinced, he a.s.sured the Emperor and princes a.s.sembled that he would be the first to throw his books into the fire. He dwelt upon the power of the word of G.o.d which must prevail over everything, and showed that many calamities in times past had fallen upon nations who had neglected its teachings and warnings. He concluded as follows:

"I do not say that there is any need for my teaching or warning the many princes before me, but the duty I owe to _my_ Germany will not allow me to recant. With these words I commend myself to your most serene Majesty and to your princ.i.p.alities, and humbly beg that you will not permit my accusers to triumph over me causelessly. I have spoken (_Dixi_)."

Luther had spoken in Latin; he was asked to repeat what he had said in German. The Hall had been packed; the torches gave forth warmth as well as light. Luther steamed with perspiration, and looked wan and overpowered; the heat was intense. Friends thought that the further effort would be too much for his strength. The Saxon councillor, Frederick von Thun, regardless of etiquette, called out loudly, "If you cannot do it you have done enough, Herr Doctor."(259) But Luther went on and finished his address in German. His last words were. "Here I stand (_Hic bin Ich_)."

Aleander, the papal nuncio, who was not present, relates that while Luther was speaking of the books in which he had attacked the Papacy, and was proceeding "with great venom" to denounce the Pope,(260) the Emperor ordered him to pa.s.s from that subject and to proceed with his other matters. The Emperor had certainly told the Estates that he would not allow the question of Luther's orthodoxy and complaints against the Holy See to be discussed together; and that lends some support to Aleander's statement.(261) But when it is seen that not one of the dozen deputies present who write accounts of the scene mentions the interruption; when it is not found in the official report; when it is remembered that Charles could not understand either German or Latin, the story of the interruption is a very unlikely one. Aleander was not remarkable for his veracity-"a man, to say the least, not bigotedly truthful (_non superst.i.tiose verax_)"

says Erasmus;(262) and the nuncio on one occasion boasted to his masters in Rome that he could lie well when occasion required it.(263)