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The Diet of Augsburg in 1530 was called on 21 January that year, in an attempt to resolve the divisive issues surrounding the growth of evangelism in Christendom. The summons was issued against the backdrop of the escalating Ottoman threat. The Ottomans under Suleiman had almost taken Vienna in 1529 and Charles V wanted Christendom to unite against the Muslims. After the 1521 Edict of Worms had condemned Lutheranism, problems of enforcement emerged during the following years, as Charles V's wars against France and threats elsewhere in the empire diluted his attention from the religious issues in Germany, indeed at the First Diet of Speyer in 1526 the anti-Lutheran laws had been relaxed to help alleviate problems. However, at the second the Diet of Speyer in 1529 the perceived concessions of 1526 were overturned and within months following that, a peace had been negotiated with France. Thus with matters concerning Francis settled – for a while anyway- Charles was in a much stronger position to impose his will on the rebellious German states. However, he met with a rebuttal in the form the Augsburg Confession, drafted by Philip Melanchthon, it became a central document of Lutheranism. |
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