Luther received mixed reactions from his superiors after they received his 95 theses. By the end of the year, the theses had been printed in Leipzig, Nuremberg and Basel. Parts of the Roman Catholic Church completely rejected his theses calling him a heretic, while some princes and humanists eagerly approved of his ideas. The Indulgence Priest Tetzel was one of the few who completely rejected the theses. He called Luther a follow of the Jan Hus heretics and threatened to even burn him at the stake. Most of the Bishops reacted to his theses mildly, however. They did inform the Pishop of his presence, only noting that he was a "rebel within the ranks." Some Bishops kept quiet about the matter. They actually agree with Luther, even though they wouldn’t admit it publicly.

    Martin Luther felt it was necessary in 1518 to publish another letter to clarify his earlier writing. His key statements suggested that he only wanted to take care of the abuse of indulgences, and did not want to go against the Catholic Church’s papal system.

    What had started, however, was now becoming an unstoppable force. The Papal Court issued an inquisition against Luther to Rome. The inquisition was quieted for a year while the search for a successor to the deceased Maximilian continued. The minute Karl the V was elected the fight against Luther marched on.

    Luther believed strongly in his ideas and would not back down from his teachings. He began to distance himself from the Papal authority as they were beginning to formulate new inquisitions against him. These were developed, in part because of his works of literature that included: "Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation", "The Babylonian Captivity" and "The Freedom of the Christian Man."

    Martin Luther was order to recant his ideas with the Papal Bull of excommunication. He did not. Luther burned the Papal Bull and many other books that went against his teachings. On January 3^rd, 1521, Luther was excommunicated from the Catholic Church. The emperor was forced to accept Luther, however. The whole empire developed a pro-Luther mood. It would effect his political state if he were to go against Luther. He was guaranteed a safe escort to the town of Worms where he would stand trial. When he arrived there, he was greeted with excitement from the peasants. This lasted through the duration of his stay. However, after the excited peasants left, the emperor declared an imperial order stating that Luther was an outlaw. (Outlaws may be killed by anyone without the threat of punishment.) To avoid being killed, Luther arranged to be kidnapped. Soon after, rumors of his death lingered and this allowed him to disappear from the scene for a while. Luther was taken to a remote location and stayed there for a while, so the reformation could have time to stabilize.

    When Luther returned to Wittenburg in 1522, he discovered that his ideas were already beginning to be put into practice. Ideas like priests being able to marry, services being lead in German (instead of the Latin that the Roman Catholics used), and officials dressing in "normal" clothes were already put into place. Instead of trying to change the Catholic Church that was already in existence, Luther decided to become a new religious group, the Lutherans.

    During Luther’s hiatus while he developed his new church, peasants excited about Luther’s new ideas were planning a revolt. The applied his ideas to society and revolted in 1524. This is not what Luther intended, and he ordered the princes and soldiers to stop the revolt. When it was all over, 100,000 peasants were dead. Some peasants felt betrayed by Luther and rejected his leadership and authority. In the end, however, Luther’s ideas remained influential in Protestant churches throughout the century.

    Many German princes, opposing the peasants’ bitterness, supported Luther’s ideas. Some did it for independence from Charles the V and some to seize real estate of the Catholic Church. By 1529, princes who wanted to remain loyal to the pope but agree with Luther’s ideas signed a letter protesting to the Catholic Church. They became known as the Protestant princes, a term applied to non-Catholic Christians. Charles the V would not back down. He was intent on having his empire’s subjects remain Catholic. After defeating the Protestants in 1547, he still failed to make them return to the Catholic church. The two sides agreed upon a religious settlement, signed in 1555. It is known as the Peace of Augsburg. The settlement statement that each German state’s religion was to be determined by the ruler, and not the Pope.

    England’s Roman Catholic Church was coming to a halt soon as well. King Henry wanted a son more than anything, so there could be an heir to the throne when he died. Convinced his wife would not bear anymore children, he asked the Pope for an annulment. The Pope refused, so Henry took things into his own hands. In 1529, he developed a Parliament called the Reformation Parliament that ended the Pope’s power in England. He secretly married Anne Boleyn, and shortly after divorced Catherine. The deal was signed, sealed, and delivered when the Parliament approved the Act of Supremacy, making him the leader of the English Church and not the pope.