Page:Luther's correspondence and other contemporary letters 1507-1521.djvu/503

 cnburg. Present were the Elector of Trier, the Bishops of Bamberg, Strassburg,* Hildesheim,* Augsburg and Branden- burg. The talk was of Luther's affair and the opinion was that there would be no danger that the Estates would not do what the Emperor conmianded. What happens I shall tcU your Lordship later.

In Frankfort I hear that many citizens have forbidden their wives and families to confess their secret sins to the priests. The Bishop of Augsburg, an able man, much prized and consulted by the Diet, assures us that in his city many owners of Luther's books refuse to give them up to their confessors, and occasionally make them grant absolution hy force.

426. JOHN MANUEL, IMPERIAL AMBASSADOR AT ROME. TO

CHARLES V.

Bergenroth, ii. p. 341. (English translation of Spanish originaL)

Rome, March 20, 1521.

The Pope urges me to remind your Majesty in every let- ter I write, that you should not treat the affairs concerning Martin Luther lightly. Some of the cardinals complained in consistory that your Majesty had ordered Martin Luther into your presence, saying that you had thereby arrogated to your- self a jurisdiction belonging to the Holy See. I exculpated you. The Pope said that he had been informed that your Majesty was ill advised when you decided to see Martin Luther, "who would not be well received even in hell." His Holiness begs your Majesty not to forget your obligations towards God, the Church and himself.

��427. LUTHER TO NICHOLAS HAUSMANN AT SCHNEEBERa

Enders, iii. 115. Wittenberg, March 22, 1521.

Hausmann (1479-October 17, 1538), born at Freiberg in Saxony, was one of Luther's warmest friends, more than a hundred letters of the Reformer to him having survived. In 1521 he became pastor at Zwickau, from which he was driven by a quarrel with his congre-

^William III. ron Honstein, Btahop of StraMbnrg 1506-1541. 'John IV., Bishop of Hildeaheim i504-i527.

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