The Emperor, a stranger to German thought and speech,^367 declared after the first hearing:
"This man will never make a heretic of me." He doubted the authorship of the famous books ascribed
to him.^368 At the second hearing he was horrified at the disparagement of general Councils, as if a
German monk could be wiser than the whole Catholic Church. The Spaniards and Italians were no
doubt of the same opinion; they may have been repelled also by his lowly appearance and want of
refined manners. Some of the Spaniards pursued him with hisses as he left the room. The papal
legates reported that he raised his hands after the manner of the German soldiers rejoicing over a
clever stroke, and represented him as a vulgar fellow fond of good wine.^369 They praised the Emperor
as a truly Christian and Catholic prince who assured them the next day of his determination to treat
Luther as a heretic. The Venetian ambassador, otherwise impartial, judged that Luther disappointed
expectations, and showed neither much learning, nor much prudence, nor was he blameless in
life.^370
But the German delegates received a different impression. When Luther left the Bishop’s
palace greatly exhausted, the old Duke Erik of Brunswick sent him a silver tankard of Eimbeck
beer, after having first drunk of it himself to remove suspicion. Luther said, "As Duke Erik has
remembered me to-day, may the Lord Jesus remember him in his last agony." The Duke thought
of it on his deathbed, and found comfort in the words of the gospel: "Whosoever shall give unto
one of these little ones a cup of cold water only, in the name of a disciple, he shall in no wise lose
his reward." The Elector Frederick expressed to Spalatin the same evening his delight with Luther’s
conduct: "How excellently did Father Martin speak both in Latin and German before the Emperor
and the Estates! He was bold enough, if not too much so."^371 The cautious Elector would have been
still better pleased if Luther had been more moderate, and not attacked the Councils. Persons of
distinction called on him in his lodgings till late at night, and cheered him. Among these was the
young Landgrave Philip of Hesse, who afterwards embraced the cause of the Reformation with
zeal and energy, but did it much harm by his bigamy. After a frivolous jest, which Luther smilingly
rebuked, he wished him God’s blessing.^372
(^367) The little German he knew was only the Platt-Deutsch of the Low Countries. He always communicated with his German subjects
in Latin or French, or by the mouth of his brother Ferdinand.
(^368) Aleander (l.c. p. 170): "Cesar palam dixit et sepissime postea repetiit, che mai credera che l’ habbii composto detti libri." The
mixing of Latin and Italian is characteristic of the Aleander dispatches. He was inclined to ascribe the authorship of the greater part of
Luther’s books to Melanchthon, of whom he says that he has "un belissimo, ma malignissimo ingegno (p. 172).
(^369) Aleander and Caracciolo to the Vice-Chancellor Medici, April 19, 1521 (Brieger, I. 153): "Martino uscito fuora della sala Cesarea
alzò la mano in alto more militum Germanorum, quando exultano di un bel colpo di giostra." In a letter of April 27 (l.c. p. 166), they call
Luther "il venerabile ribaldo," who before his departure drank in the presence of many persons "molte tazze di malvasia, della qual ne è
forte amoroso." The charge of intemperance is repeated in a dispatch of April 29 (p. 170): "la ebrietà, alla quale detto Luther è deditissimo."
That Luther used to drink beer and wine according to the universal custom of his age, is an undoubted fact; but that he was intemperate
in eating or drinking, is a slander of his enemies. Melanchthon, who knew him best, bears testimony to his temperance. See below, the
section on his private life.
(^370) Contarenus ad Matthaeum Dandalum, quoted by Ranke, I. 336.
(^371) Walch, XV. 2246.
(^372) The interview as related by Luther (Walch, XV. 2247; Erlangen-Frankfurt edition, LXIV. 373) is characteristic of this prince, and
foreshadows his future conduct. "Der Landgraf von Hessen kam zu Worms erstlich zu mir. Er war aber noch nicht auf meiner Seiten, und
kam in Hof geritten, ging zu mir in mein Gemach, wollte mich sehen. Er war aber noch sehr jung, sprach: Lieber Herr Doctor, wie geht’s?
Da antwortete ich: Gnädiger Herr, ich hoff, essoll gut werden. Da sagte er: Ich höre, Herr Doctor, ihr lehret, wenn ein Mann alt wird
und seiner Frauen nicht mehr Ehepflicht leisten kann, dass dann die Frau mag einen anderen Mann nehmen, und lachte, denn die Hofräthe
hatten’s ihm eingeblasen. Ich aber lachte auch und sagte: Ach nein, gnädiger Herr, Euer Fürstlich Gnad sollt nicht also reden. Aber er
ging balde wieder von mir hinweg, gab mir die Hand und sagte: Habt ihr Recht, Herr Doctor, so helfe euch Gott."