regarded an idolatrous ceremony. They also declined to obey the Emperor’s prohibition of evangelical
preaching during the Diet. Margrave George of Brandenburg declared that he would rather lose his
head than deny God. The Emperor replied: "Dear prince, not head off, not head off."^950 He imposed
silence upon the preachers of both parties, except those whom he should select. The Protestant
princes held service in private houses.
The Diet was opened on Monday, June 20, with high mass by the Cardinal Archbishop of
Mainz, and a long sermon by Archbishop Pimpinelli of Rossano, the papal nuncio at the court of
Ferdinand. He described, in elegant Latin, the tyranny of the Turks, reproved the Germans for their
sleepiness and divisions, and commended the heathen Romans and Mohammedans for their religious
unity, obedience, and devotion to the past. A few days afterwards (June 24) the papal nuncio at the
Diet, Laurentius Campegius (Campeggi) warned the Estates not to separate from the holy Catholic
church, but to follow the example of other Christian kings and powers.
The Emperor desired first to secure help against the Turks, but the Protestants insisted on
the priority of the church question. He accordingly commanded them to have their confession ready
within four days, and to hand it to him in writing. He did not wish it to be read before the Diet, but
the Protestants insisted upon this. He then granted the reading in Latin, but the Elector of Saxony
pressed the rights of the German vernacular. "We are on German soil," said he, "and therefore I
hope your Majesty will allow the German language." The Emperor yielded this point, but refused
the request to have the Confession read in the city hall where the Diet met.
On the twenty-fifth day of June—the most memorable day in the history of Lutheranism,
next to the 31st of October -the Augsburg Confession was read, with a loud and firm voice, by Dr.
Baier, vice-chancellor of Electoral Saxony, in the German language, before the Diet in the private
chapel of the episcopal palace. The reading occupied nearly two hours. The Emperor, who knew
little German and less theology, soon fell asleep.^951 But the majority listened attentively. The
Papists were surprised at the moderation of the Confession, and would have wished it more polemical
and anti-catholic. The bishop of Augsburg, Christoph von Stadion, is reported to have remarked
privately that it contained the pure truth. Duke William of Bavaria censured Eck for misrepresenting
to him the Lutheran opinions; and when the doctor said he could refute them, not with the Scriptures,
but with the fathers, he replied: "I am to understand, then, that the Lutherans are within the Scriptures,
and we Catholics on the outside?"
Dr. Brück, the Saxon chancellor who composed the preface and epilogue, handed to the
Emperor a German and a Latin copy of the Confession. The Emperor kept the former, and gave
the latter to the Elector of Mainz for safe-keeping. The Latin copy (in Melanchthon’s own
handwriting) was deposited in the archives of Brussels, and disappeared under the reign of Duke
Alba. The German original, as read before the Diet, was sent, with the acts of the Diet, to the Council
of Trent, and never returned. But unauthorized editions soon appeared in different places (six
German, one Latin) during the Diet; and Melanchthon himself issued the Confession in both
languages at Wittenberg, 1531.
(^950) "Lieber Fürst, nicht Kopf abhauen, nicht Kopf ab." Andreas Osiander understood him to say, "mehr Kopf abhauen," and so reported
to Luther, June 21, 1530; adding, "neque enim recte Germanice autLatine novit." Krafft, Briefe und Documente, 67; Janssen, III. 166.
Charles usually spoke in French; but he declared that he would sacrifice any other language, even Spanish or French, yea, one of his
states, for a better knowledge of German.
(^951) Brentius: "cum confessio legeretur, obdormivit." The Emperor was equally sleepy on the 3d of August during the reading of the
papal confutation.