the diet of worms was a multi day highly legalistic affair and when it became clear that Luther would not escape without punishment he skipped out on the last day and sought asylum with local princes. the local princes and received him and smelled blood, using his safety as an excuse to begin seizing church property (the most valuable in their regions because they were well developed agricultural lands intended to be worked more or less communally)

lots of the 30 years war was less about religion and requisitioning these lands into secular authority, which was successful