steadily refused to do so, unless his teachings could be shown to be inconsistent with the Bible. Although some wished to deliver the reformer to the flames, the safe-conduct of the emperor under which he had come to the Diet protected him. So Luther was allowed to depart in safety, but was followed by a decree of the assembly which pronounced him a heretic and an outlaw.
But Luther had powerful friends among the princes of Germany, one of whom was his own prince, Frederick the Wise, Elector of Saxony. Solicitous for the safety of the reformer, the prince caused him to be seized on his way from the Diet by a company of masked horsemen, who carried him to the castle of the Wartburg, where he was kept about a year, his retreat being known only to a few friends. During this period of forced retirement from the world, Luther was hard at work upon his celebrated translation of the Bible.
The Peasants' War (1524–1525).—Before quite a year had passed, Luther was called from the Wartburg by the troubles caused by a new sect that had appeared, known as the Anabaptists, whose excesses were casting great discredit upon the whole reform movement. Luther's sudden appearance at Wittenberg gave a temporary check to the agitation.
But in the course of two or three years the trouble broke out afresh, and in a more complex and aggravated form. The peasants of Suabia and Franconia, stung to madness by the oppressions of their feudal lords, stirred by the religious excitement that filled the air, and influenced by the incendiary preaching of their prophets Carlstadt and Miinzer, rose in revolt against the nobles and priests. Castles and monasteries were sacked and burned, and horrible outrages were committed. The rebellion was at length crushed, but not until one hundred thousand lives had been sacrificed, a large part of South Germany ravaged, and great reproach cast upon the reformers, whose teachings were held by their enemies to be the whole cause of the ferment.
The Reformers are called Protestants.—Notwithstanding all the efforts that were made to suppress the doctrines of Luther,
