Protestation at Speyer

On April 19, 1529, six princes and representatives of 14 Imperial Free Cities petitioned the Imperial Diet at Speyer against an imperial ban against Martin Luther, as well as the proscription of his works and teachings, and called for the unhindered spread of the evangelical faith (i.e. Lutheranism).

Eight years earlier Martin Luther had been banned by the Holy Roman Empire at the Diet of Worms of 1521. Emperor Charles V had wanted to end the religious unrest between the Catholic majority and the evangelical minority at the Second Diet of Speyer. The "Lutheran Heresy" and the resulting religious strife did not figure in his political plans.

The Edict of Worms had been suspended in 1526, when the Diet of Speyer decided that every prince should hold whichever religious beliefs he could justify before his King and God.

Three years after the Diet of 1526, on the 1 March 1529 Charles V announced the second Diet of Speyer. He again let himself be represented by his brother Ferdinand, as he could not personally appear due to the war with France.

In his opening address Ferdinand gave the decision of the Emperor: the annulment of the Diet's decision in 1526, recognition of "great mistakes and misunderstanding" and the threat of Imperial Ban against "seduction by false beliefs". Until clarification from another council all further new developments would remain forbidden. He also made further declarations:

"Those that until now have followed the Edict of Worms should continue to do so. In the areas where this has been deviated from, there shall be no further new developments and no-one shall be refused Mass. Finally, the sects which contradict the sacrament of the true body and blood, shall absolutely not be tolerated, no more than the Anabaptists."

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