Diet of Speyer (1526)

The Diet of Speyer or the Diet of Spires (sometimes referred to as Speyer I) was an Imperial Diet of the Holy Roman Empire in 1526 in the Imperial City of Speyer in present-day Germany. The diet's ambiguous edict resulted in a temporary suspension of the Edict of Worms and aided the expansion of Protestantism. These results were repudiated in the Diet of Speyer of 1529.

As Protestantism advanced, the execution of the Edict of Worms (1521—an edict by Charles V outlawing Martin Luther and all his writings with death sentences and confiscatory penalties for anyone, such as a printer, found with them in their possession) became less and less practicable. This was made manifest at the imperial Diet of Speyer, held in the summer of 1526. Although the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, had originally intended to attend this meeting, commitments in the rest of his territories forced him to cancel his visit. Instead, the Diet was held under Archduke Ferdinand I of Austria, in the name of his older brother the Emperor. Ferdinand was instructed to bring the two sides together.

The Protestant princes dared here for the first time to profess their faith, and were greatly strengthened by the delegates of the imperial cities in which the Reformation had made great progress. The threatening invasion of the Turks and the quarrel of the Emperor with the Pope both favored the Protestant cause, and inclined the Catholic majority to forbearance.

The build-up to the Diet was also marked by the gradual emergence of various groupings of princes along the lines of religion. Most notable among these were John, Elector of Saxony, and Philip of Hesse, who formed a League at Gotha, which they then concluded at Torgau in February 1526, thus forming the League of Torgau.

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