[RobbyS]

Luther would not have survived without the protection of his lord, Frederick. The Reformation in Germany was fostered by the German princes more for political than theological reasons, just as it was in England. In the end, Germany was left to his brother Ferdinand who was more accomdationist than Charles, and each prince was allowed to decide whether Lutheranism or Catholicism was to be the state religion. Individuals were left to decide whether to accept the official faith or to move to a state where theirs was professed. The most sincere, of course, moved.

[narses]

Indeed. Hence:

December 7, 1539: Concluding that bigamy was better than divorce, Martin Luther and Philipp Melanchthon gave Philip of Hesse permission to marry a second wife.

Another Day of Infamy.

[redgolum]

Indeed you are correct. The main reason that the Reformation happened the way it happened was because the princes jumped in. If they hadn’t, well Luther would have probably remain a popular professor at his university, but that would have been it.

The funny thing is that Luther was not very found of the Prince’s. As I said before, he would let himself be used by them if it could save him (Frederick is a good case), but did not like many of their political games. In fact, it has been said that Luther was the cause of both sides of the Peasant war.