Arthur D. Innes, M.A.: "Cranmer and the Reformation in England," Ch. 3-L...

3. CHAPTER III--PROLOGUE: THE LUTHERAN REVOLT, 1517-1530, 23-34. Would there have been a Reformation without Luther? Or, half-measures and some adaptations, compromises and/or corrections of practical abuses, e.g., Europe as the Pope’s ATM machine? But, in 1517, Leo X needed money for St. Peter’s and indulgences were an acknowledged method of fund-raising. Luther and Erasmus. The Meaning of Luther. Luther and Tetzel. Luther and the Papal Bull. 1517-1520 was a period of tumult giving rise to Luther at the Diet of Worms and an alliance of Charles, Leo X and Henry VIII. The sword was drawn and the scabbard was tossed away. The Edict of Worms condemned Luther, but Frederick, the Elector, hustled Luther off into anonymity and safety in Wartburg Castle in Thuringia—where in solitude and safety, Luther translated the Bible into its influential German version. The heads of the Christian States in 1521 were young—Charles V a mere 21-year old, Henry a 30-year old, and Francis 1 a 27-year old. Big positions for young men. The Peasants War of 1525 release pent-up social and economic grievances alongside the religious rebellion. Leo X dies in 1521, Adrian VI in 1523, and Clement VII, a Medici, is on the papal throne. There are political consequences; just as Henry’s conscience is being unsettled in the late 1520s, Clement VII and Charles V are negotiating their own limits. The Diet of Spires in 1526 resulted in a favorable posture for German Reformers. Innes claims that the Germans sacked Rome in 1527, but we think it was Charles V? Needs review. The Schmalkaldic League is formed as Charles thinks of going after the Reformers. Zwingli is operating in Zurich during this time as well. We would add that Dr. Cranmer was watching and reading too.  The 1530 Augsburg Confession is the German confession advancing the German view, something further than whatever an Erasmian reform-movement might have envisaged.