Charles V’s Ruling in the Edict of Worms

Charles V’s Edict was a meeting held in 1521 in Worms, Germany. The meeting was called by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, whose main aim was to summon Martin Luther for charges of heresy. According to Kohn et al., one of the key causes of the Diet of Worms was Luther’s claim that a Dominican Catholic leader, Friar Johann Tetzel, received large amounts of money in return for absolving future sins (81). Luther was against the action of clergies receiving cash in return for forgiving one’s sins. He believed that only faith and repentance could bring salvation. However, Luther refused to recant his views and was declared a notorious heretic by Charles V, and his opinions were banned across the Holy Roman Empire (Kohn et al. 81). While the protestant reformation had started in 1517, the Diet of Worms meeting marked the most remarkable division in the Roman Catholic Church.

Luther appeared before the Diet to respond to questions about his writings. He reassured the congregants that the books brought before the court were authored by him and refused to reject the writings openly (Kohn et al. 131). He said that he would declare those writings invalid if they were found to have errors based on meaning or reason. As such, his sense of knowing right and wrong was based on the Word of God. For example, his sentiments, “Here I stand; I can do no other. “For example, during the hearing, Luther is quoted saying, “Your Lordships, Imperial and Majesty, it is plain that they have erred and always contradicted themselves by manifest reasoning (Kohn et al. 131).

His actions evoked Emperor Charles to pass the Edict of Worms that banned Luther’s writings. The edict also declared Luther a heretic and an enemy of the State. It demanded that Luther be captured and presented to the emperor. However, attempts to put into action the Edict of Worms were largely unsuccessful. Despite the determination of Roman Catholic rulers to suppress Luther and his followers, the movement became unstoppable and, hence, too strong to reform. Despite the growing number of protestants, Martin Luther was still banned from travelling or publishing other writings. This called for the intervention of Elector Frederick 111, the Wise of Saxony, who led a majority ruling that Luther would only appear for a hearing if he were assured of protection from the emperor.

After being excommunicated by Emperor Charles V, Martin Luther found himself in great danger and, therefore, had to spend most of the time hiding. It is stated that he found shelter at Prince Frederick’s castle at Wartburg, where he hid for nine months. Initially, the protestants feared that Martin Luther’s actions would have led to his arrest and execution (Hillerbrand and Hans 240). However, Emperor Charles had committed and promised fair and impartial trials, hence Luther’s summons to Stand before the Diet of Worms. Despite being an enemy of the church and the State, Luther did not stop fighting. For example, he used Erasmus Greek New Testament to interpret scripture into German allowing local Germans to understand the Bible using their native language.

The Charles V Edict of Worms, following Martin Luther King’s denial to revoke his writings, led to the protestant reformation. This is the commonly known Western Church religious reformation of the 16th century. Martin Luther’s writings had far-reaching political, social, and economic impacts on the population and became the foundation basis of Protestantism, a branch of Christianity (Henninger and William 1522). The writings helped open up the people’s minds as they noted the political, social, and economic manipulations by the Roman Catholic Church leaders. It noted the corrupt nature of Roman Catholic leaders and their rot that caused the church’s bankruptcy as a spiritual force. These abuses, as noted by Luther, included the sale of indulgences by clergy and massive corruption.

Works Cited

Henninger Jr, Frederick William. Luther and the Empire: A study of the imperial ideal in Reformation politics, 1522–1540. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2018.

Hillerbrand, Hans J., ed. Historical Dictionary of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation. Routledge, 2013: 240-371

Kohn, Jarred Lee. Martin Luther and the Diet of Worms: Yoking Lutheranism to Secular Power. Diss. Athenaeum of Ohio, 2018: 81-13

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