The Synod of Homberg consisted of the clergy, the nobility, and the representatives of cities and was held on October 20–22, 1526. The synod is remarkable for a premature scheme of democratic church government and discipline, which failed at the time. It was suggested by the disputations which had been held in Zürich for the introduction of the Zwinglian Reformation.
Before Luther's appearance, the lords of the state in Germany, no less than in France and England, had extended their prerogatives into the sphere of ecclesiastical affairs. The decision of the Diet of Speyer on August 27, 1526, allowed every sovereign authority, pending the meeting of a council, to decide matters of faith for itself and its province, recognizing its accountability to God and the emperor in limited terms; a basis for the application of territorialism in favor of the reformation.
Landgrave Philip of Hesse utilized the situation and convened an assembly of "spiritual and temporal estates" at Homberg on October 20, 1526, "to deal in the grace of the Almighty with Christian matters and disputes." The proceedings were opened in the church at Homberg on Sunday, October 21. To promote discussion, the former Franciscan François Lambert of Avignon had put forth 158 articles of debate (paradoxa), which had already been posted on the church doors.
After the opening speech by the chancellor, Johann Feige, Lambert read his theses, and proceeded to substantiate them from Scripture and to enumerate the abuses of the Church. In the afternoon, Adam Krafft of Fulda, translated Lambert's theses into German and challenged whoever found them "at variance with God's Word" to declare himself. The Franciscan prior, Nicholas Ferber, of Marburg, came forward and took the floor the following morning. He contested the landgrave's authority to hold a synod, to undertake ecclesiastical changes, and to pass any measures in the affairs of the Christian faith, since this was supposed to be the privilege of the pope, the bishops, and the Church.
When the chancellor urged the duty of the civil authorities to abolish abuses and idolatry, Ferber still contested and unsuccessfully attacked the prince's character for laying hands on the goods of the church. He did not attempt to refute the proffered articles of debate. He soon afterward left Hesse, and issued at Cologne Assertiones trecentat ac viginti adversus Fr. Lamberti paradoxa impia, and subsequently Assertiones aliœ.
On the following day (Tuesday, October 23), when the synod was on the point of closing, Master Johann Sperber, of Waldau, near Kassel, made an appearance and attempted to justify the invocation of Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, by the Angelical salutation in the first chapter of Luke.
