ried. True, the cities of Nuremberg, Ulm, and Strasburg boldly declared the impossibility of executing the famous edict. But had the Roman Catholic party not felt that all the time and energies of the emperor must be devoted to the war against the Cognac League, they would probably have ordered all that his majesty required. As it was, the best that could be done was to order that each State should proceed as responsibility to God and the emperor demanded. Once more, also, measures were taken to secure the long-desired general or national council, which was to undertake the peaceable settlement of the disputes. Although nothing probably was farther from the intention of the diet, this conclusion was understood as granting the right of each territory to adjudicate in ecclesiastical matters according to its pleasure. The Protestant princes held that their responsibility to the emperor would be discharged when they had proved themselves ready to justify their cause from God's word. Aggravating as this was to the emperor and the Roman Catholics generally, they were powerless to prevent it. Indeed, everything which happened to the Roman Catholic authority, whether of good or of ill fortune, turned out for the furtherance of the Gospel. A national council the emperor would not have; a general council he could not have so long as his controversy with the pope lasted; and until his hands were free from the war with the Cognac League he could not lend the influence of his personal presence. Meantime his brother, Ferdinand. of Austria, a bitter opponent of the Reformation, was prevented by his good fortune from acting in opposition to the Evangelicals. By the death of Louis, king of Hungary and Bohemia, he became king of those territories. This would have given him a great accession of power, had he been able to wield it, against the Reformation, but his elevation brought with it the responsibility of the war with the Turks. This not only occupied his energies, but made the friendship of the Protestant princes a necessity. He who had formerly proceeded with such bitterness against the Lutherans in his own territories was now obliged for a time to tolerate them in the interest of his personal dominion. His election also secured him the ill-will of the Duke of Bavaria, thus dividing the enemies of the Reformation.' While the political situation thus favored the Protestant cause, the Lutheran princes and theologians were brought to shame and disrepute by a forgery of Otto von Pack, a chancellor of 1 1 Möller, iii, 66, 67; Gieseler, iv, 127, where see his numerous references. 15 2 Duke George of Saxony.' He pretended to know of a league between Ferdinand, the Elector of Mayence and Brandenburg, the archbishop of Salzburg, the bishops of Bamberg and Würzburg, George Duke of Saxony, and the dukes of Bavaria, for the alleged purpose of annihilating the principal Protestant States and giving them over to the government of the Roman Catholics. This information he revealed to Philip of Hesse. By the payment of a large sum of money Pack was induced to produce a copy of the agreement, said to have been signed at Breslau. His official position, while it emphasized his treachery to Duke George, at the same time lent color to the truth of the story. The well-known hatred of Ferdinand, Duke George, and others supposed to be a part of the league toward the Reformation also made it appear credible.' Pack affirmed its truth in such a manner as to convince Philip, Elector John, and Luther of its genuineness. PACK'S Melanchthon regarded it as spurious. But while Luther held John back from the aggressive war which Philip thought necessary under the circumstances, Philip armed his soldiers and appeared upon the borders of the territories of the bishops of Bamberg and Würzburg, and compelled them to pledge themselves to peace, and also to assume the cost of the war. The result of the matter was injurious to the cause of the Reformation, exhibiting an unwonted degree of suspicion in the minds of the reformers and placing them in the attitude of aggressors. That Luther, the real leader of the Reformation, was opposed to war did not quiet the antagonism which the affair aroused. The Reformation had assumed a political aspect which made it responsible for the acts of even the secular authorities. Nor was it long before a greater danger threatened the cause of the Reformation. The war with the Cognac League was won by the emperor, and now he could turn his attention once more to the religious disputes at home. To the diet convened by him at Spires, in 1529, he proposed, not indeed the unqualified enforcement of the edict of Worms, but severe measures against the farther progress of the Reformation. The diet declared the Protestant interpretation of the edicts of 1526 erroneous, and rendered the recess of that diet invalid. The edict THE DIET OF 1 Gieseler thinks it could hardly have been an invention by Pack, but was probably a project drawn up by a counselor of Ferdinand-iv, 130. 2 For an account of this affair comp. Köstlin, Martin Luther, sein Leben und seine Schriften, ii, 117–120. of Worms was to be carried out only in the Roman Catholic domains, but the Protestant territories must introduce no farther reforms, and allow the Roman Catholic form of worship to continue unmolested. The efforts of Philip to unite the reformed territories in a secret league, including the Swiss, were prevented by the unfortunate sacramentarian controversy. There were now several leagues of Protestants, but they were divided among themselves on account of the doctrinal issues, instead of uniting against the common foe. The pope and the emperor, on the other hand, had become friends, and the emperor was crowned at Bologna in December, 1529. The emperor and Francis I of France had also been reconciled. While the Protestants were thus falling apart, the Roman Catholic enemies were being brought together. At about the same time, January 21, 1530, the diet to be held at Augsburg in June of the same year had been convoked.' We confine ourselves to the political significance of this diet. The emperor proposed to have it deal first with the war against the Turks, and afterward with questions of faith. The Reformation had by this time grown to such proportions that both the emperor and pope felt it necessary to proceed in a spirit of conciliation. The emperor now began his efforts for a reunion of the divided Church. After all the reforms introduced by the Lutherans, they still claimed to belong to the Roman Catholic Church. The hopes of the emperor did not therefore seem unfounded. The Protestants succeeded in having the ecclesiastical differences considered first, and their efforts were directed toward a justification of their previous conduct. This harmonized, in spirit at least, with the purpose of the emperor to do away with the ecclesiastical schism and to unite the parties in a harmonious comprehension of Christian truth. The pugnacious disposition of Eck, who laid before the emperor a bitter attack upon the Protestants of all schools, was at this point the only visible hindrance. The emperor himself made the Apostles' Creed the test as to correctness of doctrines. Melanchthon strove earnestly to meet the emperor's conciliatory tone by carefully expurgating from the confession which he prepared all unnecessarily harsh expressions, by yielding all that he possibly could, and by omitting all mention of some of the prin 1 Luther was not permitted to enter Augsburg, and he was obliged to remain at the Coburg Castle, whence he kept up constant communication with the reformers who were at the diet. FUTILE EF- cipal articles of the Protestant faith; but in vain.' All efforts at reunion failed, since, however much the reformers yielded, the Roman Catholic theologians still demanded more. Besides, the pope's legate called the attention of Charles REUNION. to the omission of several points of Protestant belief. This the Protestants would not deny. At length the emperor himself laid a confession before the diet, in which he declared the Protestants to be refuted, and which he required them to accept. This aroused the ire and spirit of independence of the Protestant princes, and proved how foolish had been the attempt of the Protestant theologians to satisfy the Roman Catholic demands. Charles gave the Protestant princes until April 15, 1531, to decide whether they would accept the confession which he had laid before them. Until then he would wait patiently. The recess also reiterated the necessity of a council, and the Protestants were required to combine with the emperor in resistance to the Zwinglians and Anabaptists. 1 He continued his efforts so long and with so many concessions that the Romanists had good hope of winning him back to their cause. 2 CHAPTER XIV. THE SMALCALD LEAGUE. THE Elector John was displeased with the recess and declined to participate further in the actions of the diet. Philip of Hesse had left the diet in disgust much earlier in the session, and without the imperial permission. Luther, who though enforced to stay at the Castle of Coburg, watched with eagle eye every movement of his foes, was also very indignant at the requirements of the emperor. Hitherto he and the Wittenbergers generally had opposed as unlawful, not to say unchristian, any armed resistance to the emperor; but the Wittenberg jurists had recently ruled that when a judge continues a case after an appeal, or exercises judicial powers not rightfully belonging to him, he may be forcibly resisted. Such, it was claimed, had been the case with the emperor in his dealings with the Protestant States. Thus the legal difficulties in the way of armed resistance were removed.' FORMATION LEAGUE. The expressed purpose of the emperor to secure for his brother Ferdinand the Roman crown met with opposition from both Protestant and Roman Catholic princes, although the necessary number of votes was subsequently secured. The emperor also strengthened the Roman Catholic element in the high court of judicature, and ordered it to proceed against those who had confiscated church property, thus greatly displeasing the Protestant party. These two imperial acts were the immediate cause of the formation of the Smalcald League. Elector John united with the upper German cities in a protest against both of these plans of the emperor as early as December, 1530, at which time also the league was practically created. In spite of the protest Ferdinand was elected king of the Romans on January 5, 1531. This prompted the meeting which resulted in the formal conclusion of the league in February, 1531, including Saxony,, Hesse, Braunschweig-Lüneburg, Braunschweig-Grubenhagen, Wolfgang of Anhalt, two Counts of Mansfeld, and the cities of Strasburg, Ulm, Constance, Reutlingen, Memingen, Lindau, Biberach, Isny, Lübeck, Magdeburg, and 1See Gieseler, iv, 152, n.; Walch, x, 656; Erlangen ed. xxv2, 12, 113 f.; Kolde, Martin Luther, ii, 377 ff. |