At the threshold of the sixteenth century, the Lutheran Reformation proposed a new articulation of powers within the Holy Roman Empire. In the lands where the Reformation was successful, immunities and privileges for the clergy were abolished, monasteries and other places of worship were closed, and many of the ecclesiastical competences were transferred to the state. Martin Luther, Philip Melanchthon, Johannes Brenz, and other theologians saw the prince as a divine authority. The prince had to care for the spiritual and material well-being of his subjects. He was legitimized to charge taxes, but if he abused of his powers, his subjects could disobey him. Luther, Melanchthon, Brenz supported the princely activity and encouraged the payment of taxes as a necessity for the maintenance of the state. However, they also voiced the interest of the poor and those who could not afford the payment of taxes.