Discuss the reasons for the successful spread of Lutheran ideas in Germany.

The question requires that candidates offer a considered and balanced review of the reasons for the successful spread of Lutheran ideas in Germany. Reasons may predate the timeframe but they must be clearly linked to the issue raised in the question. Candidates may discuss the nature of critiques and the strong following and support offered by the German princes. Candidates may refer to the printing press as central to the scale and scope of the spreading of Luther’s religious ideas. The number of pamphlets, their use of the vernacular and the excoriating woodcuts that often accompanied them contributed to the appeal of Luther’s message. Further frustrations were felt among several sections of society and these frustrations—whether they were political or economic—found in Lutheranism a vehicle for discontent to be expressed. Political factors that may be addressed include antagonism toward Church authority in Germany and the power of the Holy Roman Empire. Economic grievances may include discontent with the papacy using Germany as a source of heavy taxation.