The Reformation in Germany appealed to many classes. To
patriotic Germans it seemed a revolt against a foreign power—the Italian
Papacy. To men of pious mind it offered the attractions of a simple faith which
took the Bible as the rule of life. Worldly-minded princes saw in it an
opportunity to despoil the Church of lands and revenues. For these reasons
Luther's teachings found ready acceptance. Priests married, Luther himself
setting the example, monks left their monasteries, and the "Reformed
Religion" took the place of Roman Catholicism in most parts of northern
and central Germany. South Germany, however, did not fall away from the pope
and has remained Roman Catholic to the present time.
THE PROTESTANTS, 1529 A.D.
Though Germany had now divided into two religious parties,
the legal position of Lutheranism remained for a long time in doubt. A Diet
held in 1526 A.D. tried to shelve the question by allowing each German state to
conduct its religious affairs as it saw fit. But at the next Diet, three years
later, a majority of the assembled princes decided that the Edict of Worms
against Luther and his followers should be enforced. The Lutheran princes at
once issued a vigorous protest against such action. Because of this protest
those who separated from the Roman Church came to be called Protestants.
