ABSTRACT
In March of 1529 an Imperial Diet was convened in the city of Speyer (about 110 km south of Frankfurt). The Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, did not attend but sent his brother Ferdinand in his place. The object of the meeting was to consolidate support of the territorial princes behind Charles in order to present a united defense against the Turks who had advanced to the eastern edge of the empire. The method of Ferdinand (which probably would not have been the same as Charles’s) was to repeal the religious toleration that had been extended in 1526 whereby each prince was allowed to follow the dictates of his conscience regarding religion. The 1529 edict decreed that all territories within the Holy Roman Empire would be loyal to Roman Catholicism. In response to this, six German princes along with representatives of fourteen free cities within the empire officially protested the decision. It was
from this incident that people dissenting from Catholicism were called “Protestants.”
