Fatal Discord

by Michael Massing

  “Was [Christ] scurrilous”: Luther’s Correspondence, vol. 1, no. 228, to George Spalatin, [between February 12 and 18] 1520, 286–289.

  “God so carries me on”: Ibid.

  to send Spalatin a formal denial: Luther’s Works, vol. 48, January 14, 1520, 143–148.

  A copy of De Ecclesia arrived: Luther’s Correspondence, vol. 1, 219–220.

  “In short we are all Hussites”: Luther’s Works, vol. 48, no. 52, February 14, 1520, 151–153.

  “I have at hand”: Luther’s Correspondence, vol. 1, no. 230, February 24, 1520, 290–291.

  the same “doctrinal asses”: Ibid., vol. 1, 315.

  In a blistering counterattack: Fife, Revolt of Martin Luther, 474–475.

  Treatise on Good Works: Luther’s Works, vol. 44, 17–114; “Apart from faith,” 113; a heathen, 25; Just as a husband, 26–27; a great jumble of opinions, 55, 76, 89.

  a new emperor: See Friedenthal, Luther, 194–195; Rice and Grafton, The Foundations of Early Modern Europe, 124–132; Luther’s Works, vol. 48, introduction to no. 63, 175–176.

  an astonishing 543,000 florins: Hajo Holborn, History of Modern Germany, vol. 1, 74–75.

  such royal bloodlines: Rice and Grafton, Foundations of Modern Europe, 125.

  “Sire,” his chancellor Mercurino Gattinara wrote: Quoted in Karl Brandi, The Emperor Charles V: The Growth and Destiny of a Man and of a World-Empire, 112.

  Hutten in his Roman Trinity: Quoted in Bainton, Here I Stand, 101.

  “I have the intention”: Luther’s Correspondence, vol. 1, no. 266 [before June 8, 1520], 329.

  He had no army: Friedenthal, Luther, 214.

  To the Christian Nobility: Luther’s Works, vol. 44, 123–217. “The time for silence,” 123; building three walls, 126–127; The first wall, 127; “all Christians are truly of the spiritual estate,” 127; “Because we are all,” 129; “yet they are all alike,” 130; It was “intolerable,” 132.

  world-altering concept: Brecht, in Martin Luther (371), writes that Luther “was demolishing the stratification of the society of the medieval church, an action of enormous emancipatory significance.”

  The second wall: Luther’s Works, vol. 44, 133; “Since these Romanists,” 133–134; “that only the pope,” 134; “why should we not,” 135; Balaam’s ass, 136.

  The final wall: Ibid., 136; If a fire breaks out, 137; “Let us awake,” 139.

  “worldly and ostentatious style”: Ibid., 139; “almost a wilderness,” 141; “drunken Germans,” 141; “How is it,” 142; “Today, however,” 143.

  the many insidious devices: Ibid., 143–153.

  the Datary: Ibid., 153–154.

  twenty-seven-point reform program: Ibid., 156ff; “think that eating butter,” 184; “must be leveled,” 185; must admit that Jan Hus, 195; Heretics should be overcome, 196; Priests should not be compelled, 178.

  “It grieves me to the quick”: Ibid., 201; the Bible should be taught, 204ff; “a bad reputation,” 214.

  “We have paid”: Ibid., 209; “from his intolerable taxing,” 211.

  the most devastating attack: Friedenthal, Luther, 214–215.

  “I would rather have the wrath”: Luther’s Works, vol. 44, 217.

  a print run of four thousand copies: Ibid., vol. 44, 119. See also Pettegree, Brand Luther, 127.

  “Good heavens!”: Luther’s Correspondence, vol. 1, no. 299, September 19, 1520, 358.

  “I have never read”: Ibid., vol. 1, no. 317, to Boniface (Bonifacius) Amerbach [October 22, 1520], 378–379.

  Then Johann Eck arrived: See his letter, ibid., vol. 1, no. 253, May 3, 1520, 315–316; Boehmer, Road to Reformation, 350; Friedenthal, Luther, 240.

  “Let them lick”: Luther’s Correspondence, vol. 1, no. 365, to Spalatin, June 7, 1520, 328.

  The Italians found Eck’s boasting: Fife, Revolt of Martin Luther, 495–497.

  this body drew up a bull: On the drafting of the bull, its presentation to the pope, and the subsequent discussion at the Vatican, see Pastor, History of the Popes, vol. 7, 394–403; Brecht, Martin Luther, 390–395; Friedenthal, Luther, 241–248; Bainton, Here I Stand, 111–114; Boehmer, Road to Reformation, 350–353; Todd, Luther, 177–178. For the contents of the bull, see Hillerbrand, Reformation, 80–84.

  draft to Magliana: On this retreat, see Pastor, History of the Popes, vol. 8, 164–166.

  were burned in the Piazza Navona: Bainton, Here I Stand, 121; Fife, Revolt of Martin Luther, 497.

  designated Jerome Aleander: Brecht, Martin Luther, 395; Friedenthal, Luther, 254–257. Aleander’s name in Italian is Girolamo Aleandro.

  CHAPTER 23: BONFIRES

  Charles had grown up: On his background, see Brandi, Emperor Charles V; Royall Tyler, The Emperor Charles the Fifth; W. L. McElwee, The Reign of Charles V, 1516 to 1558; Wim Blockmans, Emperor Charles V, 1500–1558; Friedenthal, Luther, 262–266; Rice and Grafton, Foundations of Early Modern Europe, 124–132.

  Erasmus in 1516 had dedicated: Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 3, no. 393 [about March 1516], 247–250.

  Charles’s court included: Tyler, Emperor Charles the Fifth, 84–85.

  had been seen as a foreign occupier: Ibid., 43–47; The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15th ed., vol. 3, “Charles,” and vol. 28, “Spain,” 41–42.

  went with his court to La Coruña: Scarisbrick, Henry VIII, 76.

  received an invitation: Ibid., 74–75; Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 7, introductory note to no. 1106, 288–290.

  From Wolsey’s standpoint: Scarisbrick, Henry VIII, 71–75; Brandi, Emperor Charles V, 117–118.

  signed a peace treaty: J. J. Scarisbrick, Henry VIII, 71–74.

  Charles and his fleet: Brandi, Emperor Charles V, 117–118; Scarisbrick, Henry VIII, 76.

  Erasmus had received a note: Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 7, 289–290.

  Field of Cloth of Gold: Scarisbrick, Henry VIII, 76–78. For a fuller treatment, see Joycelyne G. Russell, The Field of Cloth of Gold: Men and Manners in 1520.

  Erasmus was present: Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 7, 288–290. Erasmus describes his meeting with Henry in a letter to Luther, vol. 8, no. 1127A, August 1 [1520], 21.

  Erasmus (it is believed) accompanied: Ibid., vol. 7, 290.

  Charles still seemed: Friedenthal, Luther, 262–266.

  the most powerful man in the world: Rice and Grafton, Foundations of Early Modern Europe, 124–132.

  hobbled by gout: MacCulloch, Reformation, 265–266; McElwee, Reign of Charles V, 211–214.

  “The potbellies”: Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 8, 135.

  “a second Lee”: Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 8, 23, and endnote on page 360; Rummel, Erasmus and His Catholic Critics, vol. 1, 145–177; “Diego López Zúñiga,” in Contemporaries of Erasmus.

  Wearily acknowledging the Spaniard’s: For Erasmus’s early impressions of Diego López Zúñiga (Stunica), see Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 8, no. 1216, to Pierre Barbier, June 26, 1521, 250–252.

  to send the Augustinian friar another letter: Ibid., vol. 8, no. 1127A, August 1 [1520], 19–23.

  he described its gist: Luther’s Correspondence, vol. 1, no. 337, November 17, 1520, 395–396.

  The two were well acquainted: “Aleandro, Girolamo,” in Contemporaries of Erasmus; Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 71, xxxix–xl; Fife, Revolt of Martin Luther, 566–568.

  arrived in Cologne: On his movements at this time, see Smith, Life and Letters of Martin Luther, 98.

  he had an audience: Todd, Luther, 188; Fife, Revolt of Martin Luther, 568; Luther’s Correspondence, vol. 1, no. 318, Jerome Aleander to Pope Leo X (October 23, 1520), 379.

  Aleander accompanied him: Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 8, 83, 376; Bainton, Here I Stand, 122–123.

  Louvain thus became the site: Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 8, 83, and vol. 71, xl–xli; Fife, Revolt of Martin Luther, 568; Brecht, Martin Luther, 416; Bainton, Here I Stand, 122–123.

  immediately felt the impact: This episode is described in C
ollected Works of Erasmus, vol. 8, no. 1153, to Godschalk Rosemondt, October 18, 1520, 68–74.

  protested Baechem’s remarks: Ibid., vol. 8, no. 1162, to Thomas More [November] 1520, 91–98.

  Acts of the University of Louvain Against Luther: The document is in Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 71, 101–105; the introduction on pages 98–100 contains useful background information, as does the endnote on page 385 in vol. 8.

  this bit of scurrility: Pastor, in History of the Popes (vol. 7, 423), writes that “every method, even the most reprehensible, seemed permissible to Erasmus, if only it would enable him to sweep from the face of the earth this Bull, which was so dangerous to his plans.”

  Charles entered the town: Brandi, Emperor Charles V, 122.

  Erasmus was in Cologne: Erasmus’s activities in Cologne are described in Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 8, note at 77–78.

  Consilium: See ibid., vol. 71, 108–112, for this document.

  “neither overwhelmed”: Ibid., vol. 8, 82.

  He, too, was in Cologne: Smith, Life and Letters of Martin Luther, 100; Schwiebert, Luther, 494. As Brecht notes in Martin Luther (416), we know of Charles’s comment to Frederick about Luther and the diet only from Erasmus.

  Aleander, too, wanted to meet: Smith, Erasmus, 235; Smith, Life and Letters of Martin Luther, 100; Brandi, Emperor Charles V, 127; Brecht, Martin Luther, 416–417.

  invited him to his quarters: Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 8, 78; Smith, Erasmus, 235–236; Brecht, Martin Luther, 417–418; Augustijn, Erasmus, 124.

  twenty-two axioms: Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 71, 106–107. See also Friedenthal, Luther, 260–261.

  Frederick rejected the nuncios’ request: Brecht, Martin Luther, 418.

  agreed to meet: Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 8, 387.

  “In short”: Luther’s Correspondence, vol. 1, no. 384, to Cardinal de’ Medici [February 8], 1521, 458.

  They were set ablaze: Fife, Revolt of Martin Luther, 572–573.

  “Even in the hills”: Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 8, no. 1169, to Agostino Scarpinelli, December 13, 1520, 123.

  his books were piled high: Luther’s Correspondence, vol. 1, no. 374, Beatus Rhenanus to Boniface (Bonifacius) Amerbach, January 7, 1521, 438–449; Fife, Revolt of Martin Luther, 573; Bainton, Here I Stand, 123.

  “Lament over the Lutheran Conflagration”: Quoted in Bainton, Here I Stand, 123–124.

  as Erasmus discovered: Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 8, no. 1164, to Godschalk Rosemondt [December 1520], 99–101; no. 1165, to Wolfgang Faber Capito, December 6, 1520, 101–105.

  prepared a long, emotional defense: Ibid., vol. 8, no. 1167, December 6, 1520, 108–121.

  CHAPTER 24: FAITH AND FURY

  began protesting: Brecht, Martin Luther, 295–296; Fife, Revolt of Martin Luther, 520.

  Luther was furious: Luther’s Correspondence, vol. 1, no. 277, to Spalatin, July 14, 1520, 339; no. 278, to Spalatin, July 17, 1520, 339–341.

  “I almost wish”: Quoted in Brecht, Martin Luther, 348.

  “You can if you will”: Quoted in Bainton, Here I Stand, 111.

  “great and silent grief”: Luther’s Correspondence, vol. 1, no. 275, to George Spalatin, July 9, 1520, 336.

  “The world presses me down”: Ibid., vol. 1, no. 325, to Jerome Dungersheim [June 1520], 327.

  “Almost all condemn”: Luther’s Works, vol. 48, no. 60, to Wenceslas Link, August 19, 1520, 170.

  “another little song”: Ibid., vol. 44, 217.

  The Babylonian Captivity of the Church: Ibid., vol. 36, 11–126; “into mere merchandise,” 35–36; “a good work and a sacrifice,” 35; divine promise of forgiveness, 38; only if it was performed, 52; “as if they were too sacred,” 41; “in a loud clear voice,” 54; “Rise up then,” 24; “to set up a seed bed,” 112; “does not belong to the priests,” 27; “We are all equally priests,” 116.

  Luther similarly dismissed: Ibid., vol. 36, confirmation, 91; extreme unction, 117; marriage, 92–106; Erasmus’s observation, 93–94; “filthy lucre,” 96; “The Romanists of our day,” 97.

  “Vulvas and penises”: Vulvas et veretra in Latin. The translation in Luther’s Works gives this as “vulvas and genitals,” but The Annotated Luther, vol. 3, Church and Sacraments, translates it more precisely (101).

  the only circumstances: Luther’s Works, vol. 36, 102–104.

  He considered it so repellent: Ibid., 105; to warn parents, 80.

  its true value: Ibid., 59–61; “unmask the tyranny,” 81; a workshop “of greed and power,” 85; “torture poor consciences,” 89–90.

  “Neither pope nor bishop”: Ibid., 70, 72.

  all had gone smoothly: Brecht, Martin Luther, 400–401.

  Eck reached Leipzig: Ibid., 401; Luther’s Correspondence, vol. 1, 360–363.

  headed for Erfurt: Luther’s Correspondence, vol. 1, 381, 387–388.

  “At last that Roman bull”: Luther’s Correspondence, vol. 1, no. 304, October [11], 1520, 365–366.

  Luther had drafted an appeal: Luther’s Works, vol. 48, no. 63, to Emperor Charles V, August 30, 1520, 175–179.

  In their meeting: Luther’s Correspondence, vol. 1, 366–367; Brecht, Martin Luther, 404–405.

  Matthaeus Adrianus: Luther’s Correspondence, vol. 1, 387.

  The Freedom of a Christian: Luther’s Works, vol. 31, 343–377; “A Christian is a perfectly,” 344; The one thing on which a Christian life, 345; “Every Christian is by faith,” 354; “unbearable bondage,” 356; “I answer,” 358; took an image from Aristotle, 361; the obligations a faithful Christian, 364; The truly Christian life, 365; A Christian should not distinguish, 367; By that standard, 370.

  his letter to Leo X: Ibid., vol. 31, 334–343.

  “No one’s books”: Luther’s Correspondence, vol. 1, no. 324, November 1, 1520, 383.

  “I care nothing”: Ibid., vol. 1, no. 315, to Michael Mäurer, October 20, 1520, 376–377.

  “to preach, lecture”: Luther’s Works, vol. 48, no. 65, to Duke John Frederick, October 30, 1520, 181–182.

  to abandon the canonical hours: Roper, Martin Luther, 134.

  “pious and zealous youth”: Smith, Life and Letters of Martin Luther, 100–101. On the events of this day, see Friedenthal, Luther, 251–253; Brecht, Martin Luther, 423–426; Schwiebert, Luther and His Times, 490–492; Hillerbrand, Reformation, 85–86.

  Luther wrote a note: Luther’s Correspondence, vol. 1, no. 355, December 10, 1520, 414–415.

  was even more daring: Brecht, Martin Luther, 424.

  he admonished the students: Hillerbrand, Reformation, 86.

  “Everything is tending”: Luther’s Correspondence, vol. 1, no. 349, December 4, 1520, 405–408.

  Why the Books of the Pope: Luther’s Works, vol. 31, 383–395; “If they are allowed,” 394. See also Friedenthal, Luther, 252–253; Brecht, Martin Luther, 425–426.

  Decet Romanum Pontificem: Brecht, Martin Luther, 427.

  CHAPTER 25: WILL HE COME?

  In the weeks prior to its start: Fife, Revolt of Martin Luther, 614–615; Thomas M. Lindsay, A History of the Reformation, vol. 1, The Reformation in Germany from Its Beginning to the Religious Peace of Augsburg, 3rd ed., 267–270.

  had to share a room: Friedenthal, Luther, 272.

  simmered with discontent: Lindsay, History of the Reformation, vol. 1, 268–269.

  “The people buy these pictures”: Luther’s Correspondence, vol. 1, no. 363, Aleander to Cardinal de’ Medici [December 18, 1520], 429.

  the papal nuncio was struck: Ibid., vol. 1, no. 359, to Cardinal de’ Medici [middle of December] 1520, 420–423; “I feel less safe”: 423.

  the Ebernburg: Todd, Luther, 195.

  “Do you think”: Quoted in Bainton, Here I Stand, 130.

  the nuncio had reserved rooms: Luther’s Correspondence, vol. 1, no. 359, Aleander to Cardinal de’ Medici [middle of December] 1520, 423.

  “The Emperor is a man”: Ibid., 420.

  had sent a friendly letter: Ib
id., vol. 1, no. 342, November 28, 1520, 398–399.

  only one of his many preoccupations: Friedenthal, Luther, 269–271.

  Suleiman I the Magnificent: Blockmans, Emperor Charles V, 40–41.

  wanted their own concerns addressed: Brecht, Martin Luther, 433; McElwee, Reign of Charles V, 59–60; Brandi, Emperor Charles V, 128–129.

  The delegates were divided: Lindsay, History of the Reformation, vol. 1, 270.

  a “heretic a thousand times worse”: Luther’s Correspondence, vol. 1, 417, 423.

  In his speech: Aleander’s speech is summarized at ibid., vol. 1, no. 362, Aleander to Cardinal Pucci [December 17], 1520, 425–428.

  sent Frederick a letter: Ibid., vol. 1, no. 361, December 17, 1520, 424–425.

  Frederick and his advisers arrived: Brecht, Martin Luther, 434; Lindsay, History of the Reformation, vol. 1, 274.

  The streets swarmed: Lindsay, History of the Reformation, vol. 1, 269.

  The major items: Brandi, Emperor Charles V, 128.

  latest list of German grievances: Hans J. Hillerbrand, ed., The Protestant Reformation, rev. ed., 3–13.

  The Reichstag consisted of three estates: Thomas A. Brady, German Histories in the Age of Reformations, 1400–1650, 153.

  “has twenty thousand comrades”: Luther’s Correspondence, vol. 1, no. 369, Andrew Rosso to a friend, December 30, 1520, 434.

  Luther as the German Hercules: Brecht, Martin Luther, 431.

  found his position undermined: Luther’s Correspondence, vol. 1, no. 363, Aleander to Cardinal de’ Medici [December 18, 1520], 429; no. 394 [February 8], 1521, 457–459.

  “the greatest corner-stone”: Ibid., vol. 1, 459.

  Aleander circulated an epigram: Friedenthal, Luther, 257.

  “Luther is pestilential”: Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 8, 190.

  Die göttliche Mühle: Ibid., vol. 8, 208, which shows the drawing.

  “His De captivitate Babylonica”: Ibid., vol. 8, no. 1186, to Nicolaas Everaerts, February 25, 1521, 157.

  “a maniac”: Ibid., vol. 8, no. 1188, to Nicolaas Everaerts [March 1521], 160.

  “Never was the time”: Ibid., vol. 8, no. 1180, from Leo X, January 15, 1521, 145.

  “I would rather be”: Ibid., vol. 8, no. 1155, November 8, 1520, 78.

  He instead wrote a series of letters: Ibid., vol. 8, note, 194–195; Smith, Erasmus, 245–246.