Page:Outlines of European History.djvu/702

 596 Outlines of European History " I am becoming ashamed of my fatherland," Hutten cried when he read the Edict of Worms. So general was the dis- approval of the edict that few were willing to pay any attention to it. Charles V immediately left Germany, and for nearly ten years was occupied outside it with the government of Spain and a succession of wars. Section 104. The Revolt against the Papacy. BEGINS IN Germany Luther be- gins a new translation of the Bible in the Wartburg Luther's Bible the first impor- tant book in modern German General dis- cussion of public ques- tions in pamphlets and satires As Luther neared Eisenach upon his way home from Worms he was kidnaped by his friends and conducted to the Wart- burg, a castle belonging to the elector of Saxony. Here he was concealed until any danger from the action of the Emperor or diet should pass by. His chief occupation during several months of hiding was to begin a new translation of the Bible into German. He had finished the New Testament before he left the Wartburg in March, 1522. Up CO this time, German editions of the Scriptures, while not uncommon,. had been poor and obscure. Luther's task was a difficult one. He was anxious above all that the Bible should be put into language that would seem perfectly clear and natural to the common folk. So he went about asking the mothers and children and the laborers questions which might draw out the expression that he was looking for. It sometimes took him two or three weeks to find the right word. But so well did he do his work that his Bible may be regarded as a great land- mark in the history of the German language. "It was the first book of any importance written in modern German, and it has furnished an imperishable standard for the language., Previous to 1 5 1 8 there had been very few books or pamphlets printed in German. The translation of the Bible into language so simple that even the unlearned might read it was only one of the signs of a general effort to awaken the minds of the common people. Luther's friends and enemies also commenced