April 8, 1530

Diet of Augsburg (1530)

Scheduled—but missed—opening date of the 1530 Diet of Augsburg

The delegates were told to be in Augsburg by 8 April. The Saxon party did not arrive until 2 May — and the emperor arrived later still.

8 April 1530: the date in the summons

Charles V's summons of 21 January 1530 instructed the Imperial Diet to convene at Augsburg on 8 April, and asked the imperial estates to address Ottoman defence and religious division.

Nothing opened at Augsburg that day. Charles V had not reached the city, and Elector John of Saxony's delegation was still travelling.

Some older narratives use "convened" loosely for the date appointed in a summons. Institutional and manuscript sources distinguish it from the actual opening.

Where everyone actually was

The Saxon party had left Torgau on 3 April and reached Coburg on 15 April. Luther stayed there while the elector and the other delegates continued south, arriving in Augsburg on 2 May.

As an outlaw under the Edict of Worms, Luther contributed to the preparatory work from Coburg rather than attending. Philipp Melanchthon developed and revised the confession at Augsburg itself.

The Diet that did open

Charles V opened the Diet on 20 June.

The Lutheran estates presented the Augsburg Confession five days later, on 25 June, when the Saxon chancellor Christian Beyer read the German text before the assembled estates.

That confession was not an official imperial set of rules for Protestantism. It was a statement submitted by Lutheran princes and cities to the emperor.

Sources

Researched 24 Aug 2026 6 sources not yet audited Date disputed

How this was checked

Researched from the web into a fact sheet and rewritten from that sheet. This article has not yet had an independent model audit. How the pipeline works →

Date disputed. Sources disagree about when this happened.

What the sources leave uncertain

The date 8 April is well documented as the date specified in the summons. What is disputed is the listed claim that the Diet actually opened then.
Some older narratives use ‘convened’ loosely for the date appointed in the summons. Institutional and manuscript sources distinguish it from Charles V’s actual opening on 20 June.