the Church would be consulted at every turn, and that he himself would act as a truly Catholic prince. The Nuncio Caracciolo, on account of illness, as I am told, was unable to attend the sitting of the German Council, to which Charles invited me the following morning. This took place under the presidency of Cardinal Matthew Lang, and was attended by the Bishop of Liege as a Prince of the Empire, by the Bishop of Trieste^ as Imperial Councillor and by many tem- poral princes. As I had long ago made it my disagreeable duty thoroughly to study all the writings of the basilisk, the old ones as well as the recent, I almost knew them by heart, so I was able to give a general review of the errors repugnant to the Catholic Church and displeasing to my hearers. Then I quoted the texts of the New Testament on which Luther announces that he chiefly relies, and also the sayings of the councils and the ancient Greek and Latin Fathers which make against him, for the dog won't listen to the works of the more recent theologians and canonists, in fact, he mocks them and rejects them all as contemptible.
When I had brought the princes to the right understanding of these texts and had won their favor, I demanded an edict and other suitable measures; they referred this demand to the Emperor, to whom the purport of our interview should be communicated, and they decided to wait for the arrival of the Archbishop of Mayence, who, as Chancellor of the Empire, holds the imperial seals.
Then I betook myself to the Emperor's privy council, and had an interview with the minister of state,^ who still held to the remarkable idea that it would be a good thing to let Luther come to the Diet. I replied that I, too, should wish it, provided he would recant, which, however, as far as I could see, he was too ambitious and proud ever to do; and if he did not recant, and on account of his safe-conduct could not be punished, the moral judgment of the world would be confused, and everyone led to the opinion that he had justified his godless doctrine. For this reason the Lu-
^Peter Bonomo, Bishop of Trieste 1502-46, a humanist and a capable officer.
- Mercurino Gattinara, whose career had begun as diplomatist at the League of
Cambrai 1509; President of the Parlement of Franche-Comte 151 1, Grand Chan- cellor of the Netherlands 1518-30.
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