bavarikon4UDescription
Martin Luther (1483-1546) replied to the query of Elector Johann I “the constant” of Saxony (r. 1525-1532), about whether he needed to have qualms of conscience in case he participated in the election of the Habsburg King Ferdinand of Hungary and Bohemia as King of the Romans (r. 1531-1564). Luther negates this, for it is no sin to vote for a Catholic, if there is no way to prevent his election. To remain away from the election would instead give the emperor a reason to rob Johann of the electoral dignity and to bestow it on the strongly anti-reformatory Duke Georg of Saxony (r. 1500-1539). Finally, Luther discusses the news that Landgrave Philip of Hesse (r. 1509-1567) had become a citizen of Zurich. This news is taken as a sign that a war might be planned for the dissemination of Huldrych Zwingli’s (1484-1531) doctrine of the Lord’s Supper. The letter is preserved in the form of a chancellor’s copy among the acts of the election of the king of the Romans in the “Kurbayerische Äußeres Archiv”.