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

Chapter 22
Luther in the Coburg and
Melanchthon at the Diet
FROM the cathedral the princes adjourned to
the town-hall, where the sittings of the Diet were to
take place. The emperor took his seat on a throne
covered with cloth of gold. Immediately in front of
him sat his brother Ferdinand, King of Austria, On
either hand of him were ranged the electors of the
Empire. Crowding all round and filling every part
of the hall was the rest of this august assembly,
including forty-two sovereign princes, the deputies
of the cities, bishops, ambassadors–in short, the
flower not of Germany only, but of all
Christendom. This assemblage– the representative
of so much power, rank, and magnificence–had
gathered here to deliberate, to lay their plans, and
to proclaim their triumphs: so they firmly believed.
They were quite mistaken, however. They were
here to suffer check after check, to endure chagrin
and discomfiture, and to see at last that cause
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