Having been excommunicated by papal bull, Luther traveled toward the imperial city of Worms knowing he might face the fate of earlier heretics burned at the stake. His journey, and the trial that followed, became a defining moment of the Protestant Reformation, testing whether conscience could withstand imperial and papal power.
Martin Luther left Wittenberg on April 3, 1521, riding in an open cart toward the city of Worms, where Holy Roman Emperor Charles V had summoned him to answer for the pamphlets and theological writings that had set Europe ablaze with controversy. Friends warned him he faced almost certain death; the ghost of Jan Hus, burned at the stake a century earlier after being promised safe conduct to a similar hearing, hung over the journey.
Luther nonetheless pressed on, reportedly telling supporters along the way that he would go to Worms even if there were as many devils there as tiles on the roofs. Crowds gathered in towns to see the monk who had dared challenge Rome, turning his journey into something like a triumphal procession even as danger loomed.
When he arrived and stood before the Emperor and assembled princes later that month, Luther refused to recant his writings unless proven wrong by Scripture, delivering words that would echo through history: 'Here I stand.' The Diet ultimately declared him an outlaw, but Frederick the Wise spirited him away to Wartburg Castle, saving his life. The journey begun on April 3 marked the point of no return for the Reformation, a rupture that would permanently split Western Christianity.