Luther Can't Recant, Charles Can't Excuse: Diet of Worms April 18, 1521

The Diet and the Emperor agreed about authority regarding Luther. How could one monk be right and all the other authorities be wrong? It was much more likely any error was with Luther. But to him, authority didn't matter since 'Scripture was unambiguous.' For him, Scripture was the authority, not himself, not the Church or its ministers, or the young bearded Emperor. Luther after all was willing to be taught what was correct if anyone in the Church could explain it better for him to understand. But in his mind, he knew they could not. For their part, they did not want to try to argue any of these points and understood that because of their political office they did not need to try. The Diet was presided by the Emperor and he had the last authority here, while the Pope in Rome had already made his decision.

Luther Appears Before Diet of Worms: April 17, 1521

This is a post that could head a cluster of a dozen or more posts about what happened, how it happened, and what were the results. One of the biggest arguments Europe would have with itself was the one over Luther. The stories and meanings, the changes that came out of Worms led on this day with the appearance and reception of Martin Luther at the proceedings before the Diet. But there were several antecedents and this appearance, and his response tactically, put off his own execution or banishment, branded a heretic, cut off from his communities.

There's a lot here. Luther affirmed he had written the offensive books [ detailed elsewhere] but, called it a 'matter of faith' that he could not explain or deny them or recant without first having 'proper consideration'. He asked for an adjournment til later, and that was granted. Until the next day.

Luther Arrives at Worms, April 16, 1521

Martin Luther had left Wittenberg on the 2nd of April. He'd traveled with a small group across German lands, at the summons of Roman Emperor Charles V, in order to affirm or renounce his published beliefs before the Diet assembled in Worms to answer the charge of heresy as lain down by Pope Leo X the previous year.