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There was no such thing as Germany when Martin Luther lived, and this is critical to understand. There were over 100 separate and independent German statelets. The power and political influence of the papacy over each of these various German statelets was quite high. In order to weaken the power of the papacy, a number of German statelets seized upon the religious separatism of Martin Luther as an excuse to pursue political separation from the papacy. Most of the German statelets in the north supported Martin Luther under this guise. Most of the German statelets in the south preferred to stay in league with the Catholic Church than forsake it for Luther's heresies.

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10y ago

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