The Edict of the Diet of Worms, May 1521

The Edict issued by the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, at the Diet of Worms on May 25, 1521 effectively declared Martin Luther to be an outlaw and a heretic and banned all of his writings. It was now made a crime for anyone in Germany to assist Luther in any way. Luther could also be hunted and killed without consequence. Frederick III, the Elector of Saxony, hid Luther in Wartburg Castle and there Luther began his German translation of the Bible. The Diet of Speyer suspended the Edict in 1526 but it was reinstated three years later.

1. We, Charles V, by God's grace Roman emperor elect, ever august, king of Germany, Spain, the two Sicilies, Jerusalem, Hungary, Dalmatia, Croatia, etc., archduke of Austria, duke of Burgundy, etc., count of Hapsburg, Flanders, and Tyrol, salute and tender our gracious good wishes to each and all of the electors, princes, — both spiritual and secular,—prelates, counts, barons, knights, nobles, captains, governors, burgomasters, councilors, judges, citizens, and communities, also rectors and officers of all universities, and all other beloved and faithful subjects of ours, or of the Empire, of whatsoever rank they may be, to whom these our imperial letters, or a credible copy certified by a spiritual prelate or a public notary, may come or be announced.

2. Most reverend, honorable, and illustrious friends and relatives, devoted and loyal: as it pertains to our office of Roman emperor, not only to enlarge the bounds of the Holy Roman Empire, which our fathers of the German nation founded for the defense of the Holy Roman and Catholic Church, subduing unbelievers by the sword, through the divine grace, with much shedding of blood, but also, adhering to the rule hitherto observed by the Holy Roman Church, to take care that no stain or suspicion of heresy should contaminate our holy faith within the Roman Empire, or, if heresy had already begun, to extirpate it with all necessary diligence, prudence, and discretion, as the case might demand;

3. Therefore we hold that if it was the duty of any of our ancestors to defend the Christian name, much greater is the obligation on us, inasmuch as the unparalleled goodness of Almighty God has, for the protection and increase of his holy faith, endowed us with more kingdoms and lands and greater power in the Empire than any of our ancestors for many years. Moreover we are also sprung from the paternal stock of the emperors and archdukes of Austria, and dukes of Burgundy, and from the maternal stock of the most faithful kings of Spain, the Sicilies, and Jerusalem, — the memory of whose illustrious deeds, wrought for the Christian faith, will never pass away.

4. Whereas, certain heresies have sprung up in the German nation within the last three years, which were formerly condemned by the holy councils and papal decrees, with the consent of the whole Church, and are now drawn anew from hell, should we permit them to become more deeply rooted, or, by our negligence, tolerate and bear with them, our conscience would be greatly burdened, and the future glory of our name would be covered by a dark cloud in the auspicious beginnings of our reign.

5. Since now without doubt it is plain to you all how far these errors and heresies depart from the Christian way, which a certain Martin Luther, of the Augustinian order, has sought violently and virulently to introduce and disseminate within the Christian religion and its established order, especially in the German nation, which is renowned as a perpetual destroyer of all unbelief and heresy; so that, unless it is speedily prevented, the whole German nation, and later all other nations, will be infected by this same disorder, and mighty dissolution and pitiable downfall of good morals, and of the peace and the Christian faith, will result.

9. And although, after the delivery of the papal bull and final condemnation of Luther, we proclaimed the bull in many places in the German nation, as well as in our Burgundian lands, and especially its execution at Cologne, Treves, Mayence, and Liege, nevertheless Martin Luther has taken no account of it, nor lessened nor revoked his errors, nor sought absolution from his Papal Holiness or grace from the holy Christian Church; but like a madman plotting the manifest destruction of the holy Church, he daily scatters abroad much worse fruit and effect of his depraved heart and mind through very numerous books, both in Latin and German, composed by himself, or at least under his name, which are full of heresies and blasphemies, not only new ones but also those formerly condemned by holy councils.

10. Therein he destroys, overturns, and abuses the number, arrangement, and use of the seven sacraments, received and held for so many centuries by the holy Church, and in astonishing ways shamefully pollutes the indissoluble bonds of holy matrimony; and says also that holy unction is a mere invention. He desires also to adapt our customs and practice in the administration of the most holy sacrament of the holy eucharist to the habit and custom of the condemned Bohemians. And he begins to attack confession, — most wholesome for the hearts that are polluted or laden with sins, —declaring that no profit or consolation can be expected from it. Finally, he threatens to write so much more fully of confession that (if it be allowed) not only will all who read his mad writings venture to say that confession is useless, but most of them declare that one should not confess at all.

11. He not only holds the priestly office and order in contempt, but also urges secular and lay persons to bathe their hands in the blood of priests; and he uses scurrilous and shameful words against the chief priest of our Christian faith, the successor of St. Peter and true vicar of Christ on earth, and pursues him with manifold and unprecedented attacks and invectives. He demonstrates also from the heathen poets that there is no free will, because all things are determined by an immutable decree.

12. And he writes that the mass confers no benefit of him for whom it is celebrated. Moreover he overthrows the custom of fasting and prayer, established by the holy Church and hitherto maintained. Especially does he impugn the authority of the holy fathers, as they are received by the Church, and would destroy obedience and authority of every kind. Indeed, he writes nothing which does not arouse and promote sedition, discord, war, murder, robbery, and arson, and tend toward the complete downfall of the Christian faith. For he teaches a loose, self-willed life, severed from all laws and wholly brutish; and he is a loose, self-willed man, who condemns and rejects all laws; for he has shown no fear or shame in burning publicly the decretals and canon law. And had he feared the secular sword no more than the ban and penalties of the pope, he would have committed much worse offenses against the civil law.

13. He does not blush to speak publicly against holy councils, and to abuse and insult them at will. Especially has he everywhere bitterly attacked the Council of Constance with his foul mouth, and calls it a synagogue of Satan, to the shame and disgrace of the whole Church and of the German nation. . . . And he has fallen into such madness of spirit as to boast that if Huss were a heretic then he is ten times a heretic.

14. But all the other innumerable wickednesses of Luther must, for brevity's sake, remain unreckoned. This fellow appears to be not so much a man as the wicked demon in the form of a man and under a monk's cowl. He has collected many heresies of the worst heretics, long since condemned and forgotten, together with some newly invented ones, in one stinking pool, under pretext of preaching faith, which he extols with so great industry in order that he may ruin the true and genuine faith, and under the name and appearance of evangelical doctrine overturn and destroy all evangelical peace and love, as well as all righteous order and the most excellent hierarchy of the Church. . . .

16. And now, particularly on account of these things, we have summoned here to Worms the electors, princes, and estates of this our Holy Empire, and carefully examined the aforesaid matters with great diligence, as evident necessity demands, and with unanimous advice and consent of all, we decree what follows.

17. Although one so condemned and persisting in his obstinate perversity, separated from the rites of the Christian Church and a manifest heretic, is denied a hearing under all laws; nevertheless, to prevent all unprofitable dispute, . . . we, through our herald, gave him a safe-conduct to come hither, in order that he might be questioned in our own presence and in that of the electors, princes, and estates of the Empire; whether he had composed the books which were then laid before his eyes. . . .

18. And as soon as these books were enumerated, he acknowledged them as his own, and moreover declared that he would never deny them. And he also says that he has made many other books, which we have not mentioned herein because we have no knowledge of them.

25. Accordingly, in view of all these considerations and the fact that Martin Luther still persists obstinately and perversely in maintaining his heretical opinions, and consequently all pious and God-fearing persons abominate and abhor him as one mad or possessed by a demon, ... we have declared and made known that the said Martin Luther shall hereafter be held and esteemed by each and all of us as a limb cut off from the Church of God, an obstinate schismatic and manifest heretic. . . .

27. And we publicly attest by these letters that we order and command each and all of you, as you owe fidelity to us and the Holy Empire, and would escape the penalties of the crime of treason, and the ban and over-ban of the Empire, and the forfeiture of all regalia, fiefs, privileges, and immunities, which up to this time you have in any way obtained from our predecessors, ourself, and the Holy Empire; — commanding, we say, in the name of the Roman and imperial majesty, we strictly order that immediately after the expiration of the appointed twenty days, terminating on the fourteenth day of May, you shall refuse to give the aforesaid Martin Luther hospitality, lodging, food, or drink; neither shall any one, by word or deed, secretly or openly, succor or assist him by counsel or help; but in whatever place you meet him, you shall proceed against him; if you have sufficient force, you shall take him prisoner and keep him in close custody; you shall deliver him, or cause him to be delivered, to us or at least let us know where he may be captured. In the meanwhile you shall keep him closely imprisoned until you receive notice from us what further to do, according to the direction of the laws. And for such holy and pious work we will indemnify you for your trouble and expense.

28. In like manner you shall proceed against his friends, adherents, patrons, maintainers, abettors, sympathizers, emulators, and followers. And the property of these, whether personal or real, you shall, in virtue of the sacred ordinances and of our imperial ban and over-ban, treat in this way; namely, you shall attack and overthrow its possessors and wrest their property from them and transfer it to your own custody and uses; and no one shall hinder or impede these measures, unless the owner shall abandon his unrighteous way and secure papal absolution.

29. Consequently we command you, each and all, under the penalities already prescribed, that henceforth no one shall dare to buy, sell, read, preserve, copy, print, or cause to be copied or printed, any books of the aforesaid Martin Luther, condemned by our holy father the pope as aforesaid, or any other writings in German or Latin hitherto composed by him, since they are foul, harmful, suspected, and published by a notorious and stiffnecked heretic. Neither shall any dare to approve his opinions, nor to proclaim, defend, or assert them, in any other way that human ingenuity can invent, notwithstanding he may have put some good in them to deceive the simple man.

38. And in order that all this may be done and credit given to this document, we have sealed it with our imperial seal, which has been affixed in our imperial city of Worms, on the eighth day of May, after the birth of Christ 1521, in the second year of our reign over the Roman Empire, and over our other lands the sixth.

By our lord the emperor's own command.

J. H. Robinson, ed., Readings in European History vol II (Boston: Ginn, 1905), pp. 83-88.

Submit your answers to the questions below as determined by your instructor.

1. According to the Edict of Worms, why was Martin Luther branded as an outlaw and heretic?

2. What were the "heresies and blasphemies" of Luther according to this Edict?