From the Diet of Worms to the Augsburg Confession - James Aitken Wylie

Protestantism was the head of the house of Prussia,
then Margrave of Brandenburg.
The chiefs of the now imperial house of Prussia
were originally Burgraves of Nuremberg. They
sold, as we have already said, this dignity, and the
price they received for it enabled them to purchase
the Margraveship of Brandenburg. In 1511, Albert,
the then head of the house of Brandenburg, became
Grand Master of the Teutonic Order. This was
perhaps the most illustrious of all those numerous
orders of religious knights, or monks, which were
founded during the frenzy of the Crusades, in
defense of the Christian faith against heathens and
infidels. They wore a white cross as their badge.
Albert, the present Grand Master, while attending
the Diet at Nuremberg, had listened to the sermons
of Osiander, and had begun to doubt the soundness
of the Roman creed, and, along with that, the
lawfulness of his vow as Grand Master of the
Teutonic monks. He obtained an interview with
Luther, and asked his advice. "Renounce your
Grand-Mastership; dissolve the order," said the
Reformer; "take a wife; and erect your quasi-
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