Luther unavenged, and the ominous words _Bundschuh_, _Bundschuh_, _Bundschuh_ had appeared on it. The Emperor had treated the matter lightly; but the German Romanist princes had been greatly alarmed.(290) They knew, if he did not, that the union of peasants with the lower nobility had been a possible source of danger to Germany for nearly a century; they remembered that it was this combination which had made the great Bohemian rising successful. Months after the Diet had risen, Romanist partisans in Germany sent anxious communications to the Pope about the dangers of a combination of the lesser nobility with the peasants.(291) The condition of Worms had been bad enough before, and when the news of Luther’s murder reached the town the excitement passed all bounds. The whole of the Imperial Court was in an uproar. When Aleander was in the royal apartments the highest nobles in Germany pressed round him, telling him that he would be murdered even if he were “clinging to the Emperor’s bosom.” Men crowded his room to give him information of conspiracies to slay both himself and the senior Legate Caraccioli.(292) The excitement abated somewhat, but the wiser German princes recognised the abiding gravity of the situation, and how little the Emperor’s decision had done to end the Lutheran movement. The true story of Luther’s disappearance was not known until long afterwards. After the failure of the conferences, the Elector of Saxony summoned two of his councillors and his chaplain and private secretary, Spalatin, and asked them to see that Luther was safely hidden until the immediate danger was past. They were to do what they pleased and inform him of nothing. Many weeks passed before the Elector and his brother John knew that Luther was safe, living in their own castle on the Wartburg. This was his “Patmos,” where he doffed his monkish robes, let the hair grow over his tonsure, was clad as a knight, and went by the name of Junker Georg. His disappearance did not mean that he ceased to be a great leader of men; but it dates the beginning of the national opposition to Rome. § 8. The Ban. After long delay, the imperial mandate against Luther was prepared. It was presented (May 25th) to an informal meeting of some members of the Diet after the Elector of Saxony and many of Luther’s staunchest supporters had left Worms.(293) Aleander, who had a large share in drafting it, brought two copies, one in Latin and the other in German, and presented them to Charles on a Sunday (May 26th) after service. The Emperor signed them before leaving the church. “Are you contented now?” said Charles, with a smile to the Legate; and Aleander overflowed with thanks. Few State documents, won by so much struggling and scheming, have proved so futile. The uproar in Germany at the report of Luther’s death had warned the German princes to be chary of putting the edict into execution.