_1524,--March._ _An imperial edict_ states that, notwithstanding the previous edicts forbidding the sale of heretical books, certain printers are again bringing before the public reprints of these with the excuse that they do not bear the name of Luther but are issued under such titles as _Evangelium_ or _Summa Theologiae_. Specially forbidden are an edition of the _Gospel of St. Matthew_ with notes by Johann Pelt, and a treatise by the same author called _The Sum of Godliness_. _1526._ _An imperial edict_ orders to be confiscated and burned all copies of writings of Luther, Pomeranus, Carolostadius, Melanchthon, Oecolampadius, Lambertus, and Jonas, and of versions in the vernacular of the Gospels and Epistles and all books which support the Lutheran doctrine. _1529._ It was ordered that, while all books required a permit from the Crown, those dealing with matters of faith must also be approved by the bishop. Whoever prints an heretical book is to be exposed on a scaffold and then branded by a hot iron with the mark of the cross, or he is to lose either an eye or a hand.[62] _1529._ _An imperial edict_ prohibits the printing, distribution, possession, etc., of the writings of Luther, Wyclif, Huss, Marsilius, Oecolampadius, Zwingli, Melanchthon, Lambert, Pomeranus, Brunfels, Jonas, and all other “sectarians”; also the Testaments as printed by de Berghes, von Redmonde, Zell, and others, which had been condemned as heretical by the faculty of Louvain, all books printed during the past ten years which did not bear the name of author and name and address of the printer, and finally all pictures tending to bring dishonour upon the Virgin or the Saints. _1540._ _An imperial edict_ prohibits a much longer series of books, the list including, in addition to the Lutheran writers, histories of Germany, and editions of certain books of Aristotle, and a number of issues of the Scriptures. The lists in these earlier prohibitions were evidently utilised later in the Indexes of Louvain, as some of the misprints of names are repeated. Reusch mentions that the city of Antwerp secured as a privilege from the emperor an order forbidding the arrest within its walls of any printer or bookseller. In cases in which the regulations had been disobeyed, the delinquents were safe from arrest unless they could be enticed outside the city.[63] _1546._ It is ordered that the record of the permit must be printed in each copy of the book, and before copies can be offered for sale the printed text must be compared with that of the manuscript as approved.