In the aftermath of the Diet of Worms, Luther had clearly broken with the church. He now had to face the vexing question of how to put his new theology into practice. Until 1521, Luther had worked primarily with abstract ideas. Now, he had firmly anchored himself to those ideas—primarily his commitment to justification by faith alone. But it remained to work out what those ideas actually meant for the average Christian. His defiance of the church had also unleashed forces that would ultimately prove impossible for him to fully control. He would find that many of his supporters would take his ideas further than he was comfortable with. The decade between 1521 and 1530 was, for Luther, a time of conflict over how to establish a truly reformed Christianity.

A Year of Exile

Luther and his companions set out from the Diet of Worms on April 26, having been ordered to return directly to Wittenberg. Before the party reached there, however, they were overtaken by a band of armed horsemen. These men grabbed Luther out of the wagon in which he was riding. They blindfolded him and dragged him off into the night. His companions did not know who had taken him or what would happen to him.

The Wartburg

Fortunately for Luther, the kidnapping had been the work of his patron, Frederick the Wise. Hoping to keep Luther safe from the imperial ban—and to prevent him from getting into any further trouble—he had arranged to have Luther kidnapped and hidden away until it was safe. Luther himself was apprised of the plan, but only in the most general terms, so he was legitimately surprised by the kidnapping. He was not happy about being taken into hiding, however. Frederick's plan had been kept remarkably secret from most everyone else. Most of Luther's friends and supporters assumed that he had been taken by forces loyal to the pope or the emperor, and that they would never see him again. Many assumed he had been killed. The painter Albrecht Durer, an admirer of Luther, wrote in his diary when he heard of Luther's disappearance: