[Image]  [Hi-Res Image]

Page 44

nand appeared with the abrupt and summary notification that an imperial collateral advice of Mar. 23 prohibited all that procedure, and called simply for the execution of the edict of Worms. Most of the estates heard this communication with aversion. Finally the princely colleges agreed to inform the imperial commissioners that, in the question of religious belief, each estate would " so abide and behave that it might render loyal account before God, his imperial majesty, and the kingdom."

A memorial tendered on Aug. 4 by the cities to the estates called attention to the alteration in the political situation since the debated instructions had

been decreed. The emperor, being now 3. Changed at war with the pope, must admit the

Embassy convene at short notice, it was advised to the that they report by despatches and en-

present state of affairs, and beseech him to suspend the edict of Worms, and to approve the national assembly that had been forbidden by the emperor. So early as Aug. 5, the estates concurred in the cities' proposal, and the instructions to be despatched with the envoys were concluded Aug. 21. The envoys were to remind the emperor that while some of the imperial estates were still of the former faith and practise, others adhered to a different ecclesiastical teaching, which in their estimation was also Christian; therefore let both parties hold their own way in behalf of the Christian truth. The emperor was entreated to come to Germany as soon as practicable, so that counsel might be devised through his presence. Furthermore, he was asked to bring it about that within a year and a half a " common free council " should be set afoot on German soil, or, at all events, a free national assembly. He was also asked to set at rest the matter of the edict of Worms. This proposition was adopted in the diet Aug. 27, and accepted by the imperial commissioners. The friends of the Reformation had cause to be content with the result of the diet. While the proviso which gave to the diet its lasting historical significance brought about no permanent peace, it was designed to aid in tiding over the momentary embarrassment by a truce that deferred the ultimate decision. But inasmuch as the regulation of the religious issue never came to pass, and as neither the council nor the national assembly, nor even the proposed embassy to the emperor, was realized, the embassy being expressly forbidden by the emperor, on May 27, 1527, the Evangelical estates of the realm held themselves to be justified by the diet's ruling to continue and complete the reforms already begun in their jurisdictions. In this way the resolutions of Speyer came to be the legal foundation for the Evangelical party's further innovations in religion. But since the Roman Catholic estates, in their suppression of the Gospel, could also appeal to the ruling of Speyer, the religious division of the German nation dates effectively from this diet.

II. Diet of :gzg: The political situation had become still more threatening for the Evangelical estates when a second imperial diet convened at

Speyer in 1529. Charles V., just then on the point of eoncluding peace with the pope, was resolved to

make an end of Lutheranism in the :. The empire. At the opening of the diet on

the emperor's disfavor on account of the "pernicious errors " abroad in Germany, seeing they had even caused tumult and riot. The emperor would connive no longer at these disorders; the council, which the pope, too, would now gladly promote, was to be convoked as soon as possible. Till then the emperor forbade, under penalty of the ban of the empire, that any one be coerced or enticed into unrighteous belief. From the former ruling of Speyer, there had ensued " great mischief and misunderstanding over against our holy faith "; wherefore the emperor did now repeal the same, and commanded the regulation prescribed in his manifesto.

In the diet, this time, the Roman Catholic party had vastly the majority. Among the eighteen members of the " great committee " that was appointed

on Mar. 18 for drafting the diet's

Prepoader- carried their motions, notwithstanding ante. the Evangelical members' resistance.

No later than Mar. 22, the committee resolved to lay before the diet the repeal of the preceding decree of Speyer. The committee's memorial was communicated to the estates on Apr. 3, and accepted by the princes Apr. 6 and 7. But when the Evangelical princes declared that they would not be forced from the former decree of Speyer, the motion was returned to the committee for modification, with the proviso, however, that the " substance " thereof should remain unchanged. The memorial, so unpalatable to the Evangelical party, was left practically unaltered, was referred to the princely estates on Apr. 10, and adopted on Apr. 12, although Elector John at once made it publicly known that he would protest against it. Shortly afterward, it was delivered to the cities for final passage. When the municipal envoys were summoned one by one to pronounce whether they accepted the decree, twenty-one cities yielded their assent on Apr. 12 and 13; others answered evasively. All the rest, however, besides the still protesting cities of Frankfort, Hall in Swabia, Goslar, and Nordhausen, had the courage to refuse compliance. On Apr. 12, the Evangelical princes caused- a writ of grievance to be read aloud, wherein they offered searching arguments for their declension of the majority resolution, and begged for its alteration. But the estates answered merely (on Apr. 13) that they had delivered their decree, together with the grievance, to the imperial commissioners. The estates being then assembled in solemn convocation do Apr. 19, the commissioners, through King Ferdinand, announced that in the name of the emperor they adopted the resolution of the estates. Touching the grievance of the Evangelical estates, they remarked that they had taken cognizance thereof, and left the same to stand or fall by its own weight, and they trusted that the estates concerned would not refuse the ruling by m.ijority duly decreed.