Diet of Worms (1495)
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At the Diet of Worms in 1495, the foundation stone was laid for a comprehensive reform (Reichsreform) of the Holy Roman Empire. Even though several elements of the reforms agreed by the Imperial Diet (Reichstag) at Worms did not last, they were nevertheless highly significant in the further development of the empire. They were intended to alter its structure and constitutional ordinances in order to resolve the problems of imperial government that had become evident.
Diet of Worms, 1495 (1995 German postage stamp)
Imperial Diet (Holy Roman Empire)
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The Imperial Diet was the deliberative body of the Holy Roman Empire. It was not a legislative body in the contemporary sense; its members envisioned it more like a central forum where it was more important to negotiate than to decide.
Seating plan for an inauguration of the Imperial Diet in the Regensburg Town Hall from a 1675 engraving: Emperor and prince-electors at the head, secular princes to the left, ecclesiastical to the right, deputies of imperial cities in the foreground.
The summons for Luther to appear at the Diet of Worms, signed by Charles V. The text on the left was on the reverse side.
"Here I stand": Martin Luther at the Diet of Worms, 1521 19th-century painting by Hermann Wislicenus
The coats of arms of prince electors surround the Holy Roman Emperor's, from flags book of Jacob Köbel (1545).