He gave stringent and unequivocal instructions that these decrees for burning, strangling, and burying alive, should be fulfilled to the letter.

He ordered all judicial officers and magistrates "to be curious to enquire on all sides as to the execution of the placards," stating his intention that "the utmost rigor should be employed without any respect of persons," and that not only the transgressors should be proceeded against, but also the judges who should prove remiss in their prosecution of heretics.

He alluded to a false opinion which had gained currency that the edicts were only intended against anabaptists.

Correcting this error, he stated that they were to be "enforced against all sectaries, without any distinction or mercy, who might be spotted merely with the errors introduced by Luther." The King, notwithstanding the violent scenes in the assembly, took leave of the estates at another meeting with apparent cordiality.

His dissatisfaction was sufficiently manifest, but it expressed itself principally against individuals.