The Venetian ambassador is exasperated by the halting progress of the Diet of Augsburg in the summer of 1518: "Incredible, these Germans!" Here, he reported to his superiors in Venice, are princes and diplomats with the public good at stake, struggling to achieve a settlement between emperor and sovereign princes, while in the corridors the rumormill confounds their best efforts, and the seeds of mistrust are sown. And all because of trivialities - a theologians' dispute over indulgences. The ambassador did not even have to rely on vague hearsay: he could name the adversaries - a monk called Luther and a certain professor from Ingolstadt, Johannes Eck. Ridiculous, to let indulgences distract one from reality! Quickly, he steered his account back to political matters.
-Heiko A. Oberman, Luther: Man Between God and The Devil
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