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Edict of Worms

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The Edict of Worms was issued by Holy Roman Emperor Charles V in 1521 at the close of the Diet of Worms, an imperial assembly Charles had called at the city of Worms, to which he had summoned the German monk Martin Luther to answer for his writings after Pope Leo X had condemned them in a papal bull. When Luther, questioned before the assembly, refused to recant his views, Charles responded with the edict, which declared him a notorious heretic and forbade the people of the Holy Roman Empire from spreading his teachings. Although the Protestant Reformation is usually dated to Luther's actions in 1517, the Edict of Worms is considered the first open breach within the church associated with it.

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