In 1523 it was already weakened, and became little more than a "survival" after the Reichstag held at Nuernberg in 1524.

Thus this body, which had been called into existence at the instance of the most powerful estates of the empire, was "shelved" with the practically unanimous consent of those who had been instrumental in creating it.
But if the attempt at Imperial centralization had failed, the force of circumstances tended partly for this very reason to favour State-territorial centralization.

The aim of all the territorial magnates, the higher members of the Imperial system, was to consolidate their own princely power within the territories owing them allegiance.

This desire played a not unimportant part in the establishment of the Reformation in certain parts of the country--for example, in Wuertemberg, and in the northern lands of East Prussia which were subject to the Grand Master of the Teutonic knights.

The time was at hand for the transformation of the mediaeval feudal territory, with its local jurisdictions and its ties of service, into the modern bureaucratic state, with its centralized administration and organized system of salaried functionaries subject to a central authority.
The religious movement inaugurated by Luther met and was absorbed by all these elements of change.