Aleandro were appointed as a commission to superintend its execution.
The appointment of Eck was a great tactical blunder, as it afforded
Luther and his friends an opportunity of proclaiming that the sentence
of excommunication was procured by the intrigues and
misrepresentations of their personal enemies; while the fact that the
German bishops were disregarded in the execution of the Bull as if
they were not above suspicion themselves, was looked upon by many as
a studied insult to the entire German hierarchy. Even though Luther
had entertained any thoughts of submission, the triumph of Eck would
have created very serious obstacles; but, knowing as he did, that even
at the worst he could reckon upon the support of a certain number of
the discontented nobles who had pledged themselves to put their swords
at his disposal, he had no intention of making his submission.

The reception accorded to the papal document varied according to the
views of the local authorities and the state of public feeling in the
different cities and provinces. Thus, while its publication was
welcomed in Cologne, Mainz, Halberstadt, and Freising, it was received
with very mixed feelings at Leipzig and at Erfurt. Frederick of
Saxony, to whom Leo X. had addressed a personal appeal, refused to
abandon Luther's cause unless it were proved from the Scriptures that
he was wrong. He did, indeed, suggest that Luther should write a
respectful letter to the Pope, but his suggestion passed unheeded. At
first Luther pretended that the Bull was a forgery brought forward by
Eck to discredit him, but when this line of defence proved useless, he
boldly attacked the papal pronouncement in his pamphlet, /Against the
Bull of Anti-Christ/, in which he denounced Leo X. as a heretic and
apostate, an enemy of the Holy Scriptures, a tyrant, and a
calumniator. Lest, however, the courage of his supporters might be
overcome by the terrors of excommunication, he issued an appeal from