Germany Rises - The Wise World Traveler: Becoming a Part of All that You Meet - page 110

In 962 CE Otto was crowned Holy Roman Emperor, presiding over an empire that
continued until 1806. (Later German rulers will call it the First Reich, or First Empire.)
The kingdoms, duchies, baronies, and cities in the empire were sufficiently powerful—and
independent of imperial authority—to justify Voltaire's celebrated remark: “The Holy Ro-
man Empire is neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire.”
In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, seventy north German cities joined in a
treaty of support and defense to deal with pirates and to assist in Baltic and North Sea trad-
ing. The Hanseatic League was formally organized in 1370. One of its merchant groups,
The Easterlings, was given trade privileges in England. Their currency was so trustworthy
that it became the standard for British money—the pound, i.e., sterling.
RELIGIOUS WARS
For where God built a church, there the Devil would also build a chapel.
— Martin Luther, Table Talk , 67
An institution is the lengthened shadow of one man.
— Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self Reliance
One of the great (some would say greatest) divisive eras in German history was the period
now known as the Protestant Reformation. The opening year was sometime after 1512; the
place was Wittenberg in Saxony. Martin Luther, a priest with a doctorate in theology, had
been studying the New Testament and came to a conclusion that would stagger Christen-
dom. He had been to Rome and was offended by the luxurious life of those high in the Ro-
man Catholic Church hierarchy. He was even more offended by the Church's view that sal-
vation could be achieved by good works, especially by giving money to the church through
the purchase of “indulgences.” Indulgences were freely sold in Germany, to the profit of
churchmen and secular bankers. By buying an indulgence, the purchaser would be forgiven
his or her sins. The indulgence could also be used to grant salvation to and ease the suffer-
ing of those already dead.
Contrary to the teachings of the Church, Luther had come to believe that Christians
are saved through the gift of God's grace, not through good works. To assert his conclusion
and condemn the sale of indulgences, in 1517 Luther nailed ninety-five theses to the Castle
Church of Wittenberg. He was excommunicated in 1521 and summoned to the emperor's
Diet (council). Commanded to recant, he refused, saying as legend has it (with some dis-
agreement from experts), “Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise. God help me. Amen.” With
this step, the Protestant Reformation had begun.