1521–1522

The Diet of Worms and the Wartburg

In 1521 the young Emperor Charles V summoned Luther to the Diet of Worms and demanded recantation. Luther refused, saying his conscience was bound by the Word of God.

The Diet outlawed him by the Edict of Worms, forbidding anyone to shelter him. But Frederick the Wise of Saxony secretly hid the reformer in Wartburg Castle.

There Luther began translating the New Testament into German. It was published in September 1522, and the complete Bible in 1534. Meanwhile, in Wittenberg, Karlstadt and Melanchthon introduced radical changes. The appearance of the "Zwickau prophets" and iconoclasm prompted Luther to return to the city in 1522.