men." He proceeds: "Stabbing, whoring,
flesh-eating (it was in Lent) ... altogether there is an orgie worthy
of the Venusberg." He further states that many gentlemen and other
visitors had drunk themselves to death on the strong Rhenish wine.
Aleander was in danger of being murdered by the Lutheran populace,
instigated thereto by Hutten's inflammatory letters from the
neighbouring Castle of Ebernburg, in which Franz von Sickingen had
given him a refuge. The fiery Humanist wrote to Aleander himself,
saying that he would leave no stone unturned "till thou who earnest
hither full of wrath, madness, crime, and treachery shalt be carried
hence a lifeless corpse." Aleander naturally felt exceedingly
uncomfortable, and other supporters of the Papal party were not less
disturbed at the threats which seemed in a fair way of being carried
out. The Emperor himself was without adequate means of withstanding a
popular revolt should it occur. He had never been so low in cash or in
men as at that moment. On the other hand, Sickingen, to whom he owed
money, and who was the only man who could have saved the situation
under the circumstances, had matters come to blows, was almost overtly
on the side of the Lutherans; while the whole body of the impoverished
knighthood were only awaiting a favourable opportunity to overthrow
the power of the magnates, secular and ecclesiastic, with Sickingen as
a leader. Such was the state of affairs at the beginning of the year
1521.

The ban placed upon Luther by the Reichstag marks the date of the
complete rupture between the Reforming party and the old Church.
Henceforward, many Humanist and Humanistically influenced persons who
had supported him withdrew from the movement and swelled the ranks of
the Conservatives. Foremost amongst these were Pirckheimer, the
wealthy merchant and scholar of Nuernberg, and many others, who dreaded
lest the attack on ecclesiastical property and authority should, as
indeed was the case, issue in a general attack on all property and
authority. Thomas Murner, also, who was the type of the "moderate" of
the situation, while professing to disapprove of the abuses of the
Church, declared that Luther's manner of agitation could only lead to
the destruction of all order, civil no less than ecclesiastical. The
two parties were now clearly defined, and the points at issue were
plainly irreconcilable with one another or involved irreconcilable
details.

The printing-press now