Explain why Luther's protest spreads so quickly in Germany in the years up to 1521.

        At this time, Germany didn’t have one monarch who ruled over the whole country – instead it was part of the Holy Roman Empire which was divided into 365 states, each with its own powers. The Holy Roman Emperor, who ruled over the Holy Roman Empire, was elected by seven electors who were, in fact, more powerful than the Emperor himself. Machiavelli is quoted as saying that the Emperor had “no power to enforce his will”. At this time, Maximilian I was the Holy Roman Emperor and was not particularly successful as he lacked skill and persistence. The estates liked this because it meant that he seldom interfered with their affairs, but this lack of a strong central power left the country weak politically. The electors didn’t really aid the Emperor much unless the impending problem concerned them directly. For example, when the Emperor was faced with the problem of an invasion by the Turks he had little support from the powers of Germany as they didn’t see it as an affair which concerned them to a great extent. This is important because when Luther began to speak out against the Church, no-one saw it as an affair which ‘directly concerned them’ and so there was little opposition to him at first.

        This lack of central government also explains why the German people resented the payment of the Tithe. To them, the Pope was a foreigner who extorted money from them that he didn’t demand from any other countries. The Pope saw Germany as an easy target for papal taxes and for other means of making money as it was a rich country with no strong power to oppose him. Ironically the lack of central power that enabled Luther to become so dominant also allowed the papacy to extend their powers in Germany.

        Many historians argue that Luther would never have become so powerful if he hadn’t had the support of many powerful men in Germany such as Frederick of Saxony. Frederick was, arguably, the most powerful man in Germany. He was a very powerful elector, so nobody wanted to displease him. The Holy Roman Emperor, Maximilian’s grandson Charles V, wanted his support as he had only been in power for a few years and therefore didn’t want to anger his most important supporter by opposing Luther. Pope Leo X wanted Frederick’s support as if Frederick turned against him, he could have voted Luther as the next Holy Roman Emperor which would be disastrous in the eyes of the Church. Therefore Leo X tried to force Luther to recant rather than take direct action as it wouldn’t look like he was deliberately taking a stand against Luther. Frederick of Saxony’s influence was undoubtedly very important in Luther’s campaign as without this support Luther may well have been excommunicated, or even executed, long before 1521 as were many other humanists who opposed the practices of the church such as Jan Hus (who Luther was later compared to by Johannes Eck, showing that they had many similarities and therefore their punishments should be equally similar). As it was, Luther was never executed by the Church and only excommunicated after at least four years of campaigning. At first Frederick only supported Luther as a matter of principle: he wanted to protect the reputation of the University of Wittenburg where Luther was a lecturer and he wanted to minimise intervention from Charles V. But as time went on, Frederick began to understand Luther’s point of view and began to accept some of his doctrines. The Church however had backed Luther into a corner and was never prepared to even consider Luther’s ideas. This was frustrating for Luther and only made him more determined to make people understand his ideas.

        In 1520, after his meeting with Johannes Eck, Luther felt that he had nothing to lose. He knew that it was only a matter of time before he was to be excommunicated, or even executed, so he concentrated on spreading his ideas. He wrote a series of pamphlets which focussed on his beliefs so that his ideas would be spread to the German laity. These were printed in great numbers thanks to the invention of the printing press. In Germany and Switzerland there were more than seventy printing presses by 1500 and although the papacy had granted Cologne university and the archbishop of Mainz the power to censor ‘undesirable’ publications, the absence of central authority in Germany meant that any of these publications, such as Luther’s pamphlets, could be printed outside the jurisdiction of these powers. In 1515 Jakob Wimpfeling praised ‘the noble art of printing which makes it possible to propagate the correct doctrines of faith and morals throughout the world and in all languages’. Although less than 10% of the population were literate at this time, the word spread quickly. The pamphlets were read by the literate to the illiterate and even though many people didn’t necessarily understand Luther’s doctrines, they agreed with the sentiments of German nationalism and anti-clericalism, so they supported Luther.

        As public support grew for Luther, he became somewhat of a ‘hero’. For several generations before 1520 a ‘holy man’ had been prophesised who would begin the reform of the Church. People believed that he had arrived when they saw pictures of Luther in woodcuts dressed in his monks’ robes with a halo above his head attacking the practices of the church and this created a rapid and dramatic response. The people saw him as an alternative route to salvation and Luther’s route was cheaper and purer than the corrupt one offered to them by the Church. After the Diet at Worms, Luther was a condemned heretic around whom a popular movement was beginning to form. People respected his willingness to stand up for what he believed in and they had great support for him. Even peasants supported him – at the Diet at Worms there was a popular clamour in support of him; people agreed with his anti-clerical ideas which they had previously fought for when Hans Böhm led a revolt in 1476. The rise in population in the early 16th century meant that there was pressure on the peasants to increase their yields on the farms while they also had to cope with inflation. They were in distress and looking for someone to turn to, and they found Luther.