Did five or as other sources (eg. Wikipedia) six princes and 14 Imperial Free Cities protest the ban on Martin Luther declared by the Diet of Worms after Luther’s trial in 1521?
I have read quite a few sources from some recent well-written books, claiming it was five princes. Why the discrepancy ?
The protest was signed by the Elector John of Saxony, Margrave George of Brandenburg, Dukes Ernest and Francis of Braunschweig-Luneburg, Landgrave Philip of Hesse, Prince Wolfgang of Anhalt as well as the representatives of fourteen imperial cities, including Strassburg and St. Gall.
Perhaps some sources don’t count the Dukes as two separate voices because they were from one House.
Exactly this. At the time Braunschweig-Lüneburg was jointly ruled by brothers Otto and Ernst. Ernst represented Braunschweig-Lüneburg at Speyer along with the third brother Franz, who at 17 was too young to be co-ruler with his brothers, but who was brought along as part of his education in the family trade.
They both signed on behalf of the Duchy of Braunschweig-Lüneburg. Since there was only one Duchy, the additional signature wasn’t considered to add any great weight to the conclusions of the Diet. It might have avoided signalled that the ruling family of the Duchy were united in their support of the Protestant cause, but there wasn’t really any doubt about that anyway.