Diet of Worms

Today is he anniversary of the start of the Diet of Worms. This was actually a formal deliberative body in Worms, Germany assembled in 1521 to discuss Martin Luther. To most people unfamiliar with history or steeped in religious theology Diet of Worms sounds more like the title of a Stephen King short story.

It is one of the most important dates in the history of Western Civilization but one of the least known. It is important because it is the formal beginning of the schism between the Catholic Church and what was later to be known as Protestantism.