of the Turks, used all his powers to prevent a division. It was agreed
that both sides should unite against the Turks, that a Council should
be called within a year to discuss the religious difficulties, and
that in the meantime individual rulers were free to enforce or
disregard the decree of Worms as they wished.

These concessions, wrung from the Catholic princes owing to the fear
of Turkish invasion, did not satisfy either party. False rumours were
spread among the Protestant princes that Duke George of Saxony and
other Catholic rulers intended to have recourse to arms, and though
the Duke was able to clear himself of the charge, the relations
between the two parties became gradually more strained. In 1526 the
Turks overcame the Hungarians and Bohemians at Mohacz, and advancing
into Austria were encamped under the very walls of Vienna. It became
necessary to summon another Diet at Speier (1529). The Catholic
princes were in the majority, and the knowledge, that the Emperor had
concluded peace with France and the Pope and was now ready to support
them, rendered them less willing to accept dictation. It was carried
by a majority that the Emperor should endeavour to have a Council
convoked within a year, that in the meantime the rulers in whose
territories the decree of Worms had been in force should continue to
enforce it, and that in the states where the new teaching had taken
root the rulers were at liberty to allow it to continue, but, in the
interval before the Council they should permit no further changes to
be introduced. Nobody should be allowed to preach against the
Sacrament of the Altar; the Mass should be celebrated if it had not
been abolished, and if abolished no one should be punished for
celebrating or attending it, and the Scripture should be expounded
according to the traditional interpretation of the Church.