Worms, Diet of, 1521, most famous of the imperial diets held at Worms, Germany. It was opened in Jan., 1521, by Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. After disposing of other business, notably the question of the Reichsregiment, the diet took up the question of the recalcitrant behavior of Martin Luther. Charles was induced to summon Luther, who arrived at Worms under a safe-conduct on Apr. 16. At the diet Luther was asked if he would retract his teachings condemned by the pope. After a day's meditation he refused. For a week various theologians argued with him, but he would not retire from his ground. According to tradition Luther ended his defense on Apr. 18 with the words, "Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise. God help me. Amen." Finally, on Apr. 26, the emperor, seeing that the dispute was fruitless, ordered Luther to leave the city. He was formally declared an outlaw in the Edict of Worms (May 25); the lines of the Reformation were thereby hardened.

Worms, Concordat of, 1122, agreement reached by Pope Calixtus II and Holy Roman Emperor Henry V to put an end to the struggle over investiture. By its terms the emperor guaranteed free election of bishops and abbots and renounced the right to invest them with ring and staff, the symbols of their spiritual duties. The pope granted Henry the right, in Germany, to be present at elections and to invest those elected with their lay rights and obligations before their consecration. In Burgundy and Italy his right was confined to investiture with those rights and obligations after consecration. The compromise between spiritual and temporal power that this concordat achieved remained the basis of subsequent relations between Holy Roman Emperors and the Pope.

Worms, city (1994 pop. 79,155), Rhineland-Palatinate, SW Germany, on the Rhine River. It is an industrial city and a leading wine trade center. Manufactures include leather goods, textiles, electrical appliances, paints, ceramics, chemicals, and machinery. One of the most venerable historic centers of Europe, Worms was originally a Celtic settlement called Borbetomagus. It was captured and fortified by the Romans under Drusus in 14 B.C. and was known as Civitas Vangionum. It became the capital of the first kingdom of Burgundy in the 5th cent.; much of the Nibelungenlied is set in Worms at the Burgundian court. The city was an early episcopal see, and its bishops ruled some territory on the right bank of the Rhine as princes of the Holy Roman Empire until 1803, when the bishopric was secularized and passed to Hesse-Darmstadt. The city itself, however, early escaped episcopal control; in 1156, it was created a free imperial city. Numerous important meetings, including about 100 imperial diets, were held there. The best known of these meetings were the episcopal synod of 1076, which declared Pope Gregory VII deposed; the conference that led in 1122 to the Concordat of Worms; the diet of 1495 (see Maximilian I, emperor); and the diet of 1521 (see Worms, Diet of). The City suffered heavy damage in the Thirty Years War (1618-48). It was annexed by France in 1797 and passed to Hesse-Darmstadt at the Congress of Vienna (1814-15). Worms was occupied (1918-30) by French troops after World War I. The city was more than half destroyed in World War II, but was reconstructed after 1945. Worms had one of the oldest Jewish settlements in Germany. Its Romanesque-Gothic synagogue, founded in 1034, was destroyed by the Nazis in 1938 but was rebuilt after the war and reopened in 1961. Of note is the city's Romanesque cathedral (11th-12th cent.). Near Worms is the Liebfrauenkirche (13th-15th cent.), a church surrounded by vineyards, which gave its name to the area's noted white wine, Liebfraumilch.

(1122) Compromise between Pope Calixtus II and Emperor Henry V (r. 1106–25) to settle the Investiture Controversy, reached at Worms, Germany. It marked the end of the first phase of conflict between Rome and what was becoming the Holy Roman Empire and made a clear distinction between the spiritual side of a prelate's office and his position as a landed magnate and vassal of the crown. Bishops and abbots were to be chosen by the clergy, but the emperor was to decide contested elections. Those selected were to be invested first with the powers and privileges of their office as vassal (granted by the emperor) and then with their ecclesiastical powers and lands (granted by church authority).

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(1122) Compromise between Pope Calixtus II and Emperor Henry V (r. 1106–25) to settle the Investiture Controversy, reached at Worms, Germany. It marked the end of the first phase of conflict between Rome and what was becoming the Holy Roman Empire and made a clear distinction between the spiritual side of a prelate's office and his position as a landed magnate and vassal of the crown. Bishops and abbots were to be chosen by the clergy, but the emperor was to decide contested elections. Those selected were to be invested first with the powers and privileges of their office as vassal (granted by the emperor) and then with their ecclesiastical powers and lands (granted by church authority).

Learn more about Worms, Concordat of with a free trial on Britannica.com.