There was nothing left for the pope but to excommunicate the heretic, as was done in the bull _Decet Pontificem Romanum_ drawn up at Rome in January, [Sidenote: 1521] and published at Worms on May 6.
In the meantime Charles had come to Germany.

For more than a year after his election he remained in Spain, where his position was very insecure on account of the revolt against his Burgundian officers.
Arriving in the Netherlands in the summer of 1520 Charles was met by the special nuncios of the pope, Caracciolo and Aleander.

After he was crowned emperor at Aix-la-Chapelle, he opened his first Diet, at Worms.
[Sidenote: October 23, 1520 January 27, 1521 The Diet of Worms] Before this august assembly came three questions of highest import.
The first related to the dynastic {79} policy of the Hapsburgs.

For the chronic war with France an army of 24,000 men and a tax of 128,000 gulden was voted.

The disposition of Wuerttemberg caused some trouble.
Duke Ulrich had been deposed for rebellion in 1518, and his land taken from him by the Swabian League and sold to the emperor in 1520.
Together with the Austrian lands, which Charles secretly handed over to his young brother Ferdinand, this territory made the nucleus of Hapsburg power in Germany.
The Diet then took up the question of constitutional reform.