IV. Special points. H. Virk: Melanchthon’s Politische Stellung auf dem Reichstag zu Augsburg,
in Brieger’s "Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte," 1887, pp. 67 and 293 sqq.
The situation of Protestantism in 1530 was critical. The Diet of Speier had forbidden the further
progress of the Reformation: the Edict of Worms was in full legal force; the Emperor had made
peace with the Pope, and received from him the imperial crown at Bologna; the Protestants were
divided among themselves, and the Conference at Marburg had failed to unite them against the
common foe. At the same time the whole empire was menaced by a foreign power. The Turks under
Suleiman "the Magnificent," who called himself, Lord of all rulers, Dispenser of crowns to the
monarchs of the earth, the Shadow of God over the world," had reached the summit of their military
power, and approached the gates of Vienna in September, 1529. They swore by the beard of
Mohammed not to rest till the prayers of the prophet of Mecca should be heard from the tower of
St. Stephen. They were indeed forced to retire with a loss of eighty thousand men, but threatened
a second attempt, and in the mean time laid waste a great part of Hungary.
Under these circumstances the Diet of Augsburg convened, April 8, 1530. Its object was
to settle the religious question, and to prepare for war against the Turks. The invitation dated Jan.
21, 1530, from Bologna, carefully avoids, all irritating allusions, sets forth in strong language the
danger of foreign invasion, and expresses the hope that all would co-operate for the restoration of
the unity of the holy empire of the German nation in the one true Christian religion and church.
But there was little prospect for such co-operation. The Roman majority meant war against
the Protestants and the Turks as enemies of church and state; the Protestant minority meant defense
against the Papists and the Turks as the enemies of the gospel. In the eyes of the former, Luther
was worse than Mohammed; in the eyes of the Lutherans, the Pope was at least as bad as Mohammed.
Their motto was, —
Erhalt uns Herr bei Deinem Wort
Und steur’ des Papsts und Türken Mord."
The Emperor stood by the Pope and the Edict of Worms, but was more moderate than his
fanatical surroundings, and treated the Lutherans during the Diet with courteous consideration,
while he refused to give the Zwinglians even a hearing. The Lutherans on their part praised him
beyond his merits, and were deceived into false hopes; while they would have nothing to do with
the Swiss and Strassburgers, although they agreed with them in fourteen out of fifteen articles of
faith.^949
The Saxon Elector, as soon as he received the summons to the Diet, ordered the Wittenberg
theologians, at the advice of Chancellor Brück, to draw up a confession of faith for possible use at
Augsburg, and to meet him at Torgau. He started on the 3d of April with his son, several noblemen,
Luther, Melanchthon, Jonas, Spalatin, and Agricola, stopped a few days at Coburg on the Saxon
frontier, where Luther was left behind, and entered Augsburg on the 2d of May.
The Emperor was delayed on the journey through the Tyrol, and did not arrive till the 15th
of June. On the following day he took a devout part in the celebration of the Corpus Christi festival.
He walked in solemn procession under the most scorching heat, with uncovered head, heavy purple
cloak, and a burning wax-candle. The Protestant princes absented themselves from what they
(^949) Luther wrote to Hausmann, July 6, 1530: "Mirum est quam omnes ardeant amore et favore Caesaris." In De Wette-Seidemann, VI.
- Melanchthon praised the virtues of the Emperor extravagantly, even after the Diet. "Corp. Ref." II. 430 sq., 361; Virck, l.c., 338sq.