Martin Luther at the Diet of Worms
The Diet of Worms was an Imperial Diet of the Holy Roman Empire held in the Imperial city of Worms (in what is now the Rhineland-Palatinate state of western Germany) from 28 January to 26 May 1521. At the diet, Protestant leader Martin Luther refused to recant his 95 theses, and he famously said, "Here I stand, I can do no other...God help me." Emperor Charles V of Germany responded by outlawing Lutheranism, and Luther was spirited away to Wartburg from his prison by Frederick III, Elector of Saxony, preventing the Emperor from punishing him. Cardinal Thomas Cajetan excommunicated Luther as the result of his refusal to recant his views, and Cardinal Girolamo Aleandro demanded harsh punishments against the Protestants, leading to the outlawing of Lutheranism in the empire.