The history of the popes, from the close of the middle ages : drawn ...

22
HISTORY OF THE POPES.
of men should be selected to speak and dispute with
him.*
Meanwhile the term set for Luther's recantation had
expired, and the Pope issued a new Bull against him on
the 3rd of January, 1521. By it the excommunication
threatened in June was now pronounced, because of the
obstinate persistence in error of himself and his followers ;
and the places in which he resided were placed under an
interdict.-j- In the middle of January there arrived news of
the successful results which Aleander had obtained from
the Emperor on the 29th of December.^ The news also
came that, by burning the Bull Exsurge and the books of
canon law, Luther had given the signal of war to the
death. § On the i8th of January, 1521, the Pope sent to
the Emperor a formal and urgent request to have the
Bull of excommunication against Luther published, and a
general edict issued for its execution throughout Germany.
Let the Emperor, so ran this Brief, the work of Sadoleto,
remember the example of earlier Emperors, who always
fought against heresy. Let him also remember how God
had blessed him, young as he was, and had confided to him
the sword of the greatest power in the world. He wore it
in vain if he did not employ it against infidels and heretics.]!
Similar letters were sent to Charles's confessor, Glapion,
and several princes of the Empire. In sending these letters
on the 28th of January, Cardinal Medici declared that the
Pope and the Sacred College were full of praise of the holy
* Letter of Manuel, Dec. 31, 1520, in Bergenroth, II., n. 314.
t Cf. Vol. VII. of this work, p. 415.
X Cf. Vol. VII. of this work, p. 426.
% Cf.'va. Appendix, No. 18, the *Report of F. Pellegrino, dated from
Rome, Jan. 15, 1521. Gonzaga Archives, Mantua.
II Sadoleti Epist., 95 seqq. ; FoRSTEMANN, Neues Urkundenbuch,
27-29 ; Balan, n. 13 ; Reichstagsakten, II., 495,
n. i.