The Edict of Worms – What Does This Mean?

When the negotiations between the Estates of the German Nation and Luther failed to find a solution, Luther left Worms, supposedly for home, but in reality to be taken to safe keeping in the Castle Wartburg, after a staged kidnapping. To the world, it looked like someone had violated Luther’s safe conduct.

In the meantime, Emperor Charles V, announced his intent to take action against Luther and anyone who supported him. He asked for the Estates’ advice. They agreed and asked to have input into its drafting. The pope’s legate, Aleander, was given the task of drafting the document. To his distress, but likely not to his surprise, the imperial court began to make changes to the document in favor of the Emperor and at the expense of the Pope. Even though the printer had begun to set the Latin and German versions in type, the Grand Chancellor informed him it could not be published without getting the consent of the estates.

On May 21st, the Diet approved its recess, set to be on May 25th. Elector Frederick left Worms on May 23rd, complaining of gout. Before he left town, he gained the consent of the Emperor not to publish the Edict in Saxony, in effect, meaning it was not in force in his territories. After the close of the Diet, the Emperor presented the Edict to the Estates still present in Worms. Without discussion, the Elector of Brandenburg judged it approved by the Diet.

The Edict of Worms sought to enforce bull Exsurge Domine . It declared Luther an outlaw and, in effect, was an arrest warrant for him and his supporters. It authorized the seizure of their properties and forbid the printing and distribution of any of Luther’s works.

While the Edict was a powerful tool in the hands of Luther’s opponents, since it confined Luther’s movements to the territories of his supporters, it was largely worked around or ignored. It did not result in the suppression of the reformation, which continued to take root in Germany and later Scandinavia and the Baltic nations.