CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924031036472 
 
Cornell University Library 
 BR332.L6 S6 1913 
 
 V.I 
 
 Correspondence and other contemporary le 
 
 olin 
 
 1924 031 036 472 
 
LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 AND OTHER 
 
 CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 
 
 Translated and Edited by 
 PRESERVED SMITH, Ph. D. 
 
 Fellow of Amherst College 
 
 VOLUME I 
 
 I 507-1 52 I 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, PA. 
 
 THE LUTHERAN PUBLICATION SOCIETY 
 
 1913 
 
COPTRIGHT, 1913, BY 
 
 THE LUTHERAN PUBLICATION SOCIETY 
 
DgDICATfiD 
 TO 
 
 HERBERT PERCIVAL GALLINGER 
 
 "nos tui nondecet immemoresetingratos 
 esse per quem primum coepit rationis 
 eux de tenebris speendescere 
 in cordibus nostris." 
 
PREFACE 
 
 History is now read more than ever before from the 
 original sources. Contemporary documents give both the most 
 vivid, and in the deepest sense, the most veracious narrative. 
 Even when they are mistaken in point of fact, or intentionally 
 falsified, they reveal important truths, showing what the author 
 believed, or wanted to be believed. If they distort fact they can 
 never belie the spirit of the times. But even objective error 
 is far less common than might be supposed. If a man has 
 authentic information to give, the strongest bias on his part 
 is a matter of secondary importance. He may color facts, 
 impute wrong motives, shade here and lighten there, but the 
 free invention, or even suppression of important facts by 
 strictly contemporary witnesses is almost unknown. Minor 
 misstatements can easily be corrected; the total impression 
 is more true to life, and therefore both more veracious and 
 more graphic, than that which can be given by any secondary 
 narrative, no matter how great its erudition and art. 
 
 By the great Ranke and his school the sources of history 
 most esteemed were public documents — the treaty, the legisla- 
 tive act, the contract, the charter, the edict. There is now a 
 reaction from this method. The memoir, the journal, the 
 private letter are coming into favor again, if only as the neces- 
 sary interpreters of the public act. But beyond this they are 
 seen to convey a deeper psychological and personal meaning. 
 The epistle, in particular, enjoys the double advantage of being 
 written, like the public document, on the spot, and of revealing, 
 like the memoir, the real inward attitude of an actor in the 
 drama. 
 
 The present work aims to set before the public the history, 
 as told by the participants and eye-witnesses themselves in 
 all the unreserve of private correspondence, of the most 
 momentous crisis in the annals of Europe. It is impossible 
 
 (5) 
 
6 PREFACE 
 
 here to appreciate the importance of the Reformation ; I have 
 done it, partially, elsewhere, and hope to return to it in future. 
 Suffice it to say that the revolution which goes by this name 
 wrought an upheaval in the political, social and relig- 
 ious structure of Europe and prepared the ground for our 
 modern civilization. Every element of the movement is re- 
 flected in these letters: the return to the Bible, the revolt 
 from ecclesiastical abuse and from papal authority, the eco- 
 nomic and social reform, the growing nationalism and awaken- 
 ing subjectivism. The launching of the Ninety- five Theses is 
 described and their working on the minds of men portrayed; 
 the summons of Luther before his ecclesiastical superiors first 
 at Heidelberg and then at Augsburg, the great debate with 
 Eck at Leipsic, the trumpet call to spiritual emancipation in 
 the pamphlets of 1520, the preparation of the bull of excom- 
 munication and the burning of the same, and finally, as a fitting 
 climax, the memorable appearance of Luther before the Em- 
 peror and Diet at Worms, are all set before our eyes. 
 
 In order to present faithfully all sides of the movement I 
 have given not only the correspondence of Luther, but the most 
 important letters relating to him by his contemporaries. Among 
 the writers are the Popes Leo X. and Adrian VI., the Emperors 
 Maximilian and Charles V., and many of the Princes, Spiritual 
 and Temporal, of Germany. Humanists and artists are among 
 the writers: Erasmus, Hutten and Diirer. The great reform- 
 ers are represented by Capito and Bucer, CEcolampadius, 
 Zwingli and Melanchthon. Nor are the least interesting letters 
 those of the Catholic champions, Aleander and Eck. 
 
 But the dominating personality in this work, as in the age, is 
 Martin Luther. To many the chief value of the book will be 
 the revelation of his inward life. His early spiritual struggles, 
 the things by which he profited and grew, his faith, his devo- 
 tion to conscience and to truth as he saw it, and his indomitable 
 will, stand out in his unconscious autobiography. No man 
 in history has more thoroughly represented and more com- 
 pletely dominated his time. And these earliest years were the 
 most beautiful in his life ; a desperate battle and a momentous 
 victory for progress and for the right. There have been more 
 faultless men than Luther, but there have been none who have 
 
PREFACE 1 
 
 fought harder for the good cause. Ours is an age that trusts 
 hfe; that scorns a cloistered virtue, idle if stainless, but loves 
 the warrior who rushes into the thick of the forces of evil to 
 overthrow them, even if he is at times mistaken and now and 
 then wrong. And in Luther we have the most active brain, 
 the most intrepid will and the most passionate heart of his 
 century. 
 
 It remains to say a few words about my own part in the 
 present work. I have not included all of Luther's extant 
 letters, but have omitted a few which were either unimportant 
 or repetitious or which were already translated in my "Life 
 and Letters of Martin Luther" (1911). The original of the 
 greater part of the epistles is Latin, and may be understood to 
 be so when not otherwise stated. Other letters from the Ger- 
 man, English, Greek, Italian and Spanish have been included, 
 the original language being duly stated in every case. I have 
 not translated directly from the Italian and Spanish, but have 
 used either the English version offered by Bergenroth and 
 Brown in the "Calendars of State Papers," where available, 
 or else have retranslated from the German of Kalkoff 
 despatches relating to Luther written from the Diet of Worms. 
 When convenient, I have, however, compared my transla- 
 tion with the original. Adopting Luther's own wise principle 
 (see below, ep. no. 344), I have not tried to give a slavishly 
 literal rendering; I trust that I have never altered the sense 
 or the spirit of my original, but the means employed have 
 been such as were, in my judgment and according to my 
 powers, the best adapted to reproduce in our idiom the liter- 
 ary quality, flavor and effect of the document in question. 
 The fact that in some cases, particularly in Bucer's letters, 
 the text is uncertain and the phrasing at times ungrammatical, 
 has given me the more justification for rather drastic treat- 
 ment. 
 
 In the notes I have endeavored to give all necessary light 
 for the comprehension of the text: explanation of allusions, 
 corrections of mistakes, and short biographical notices of per- 
 sons mentioned. The basis of my work on Luther's letters has, 
 of course, been the edition of Enders, but with the results of 
 thirty years' scholarship since the first volume of this was 
 
8 PREFACE 
 
 published, at my command, I have naturally been able to sup- 
 plement and improve upon the work of the German editor. I 
 have even been able to add several letters by and to Luther 
 which escaped him. 
 
 I am proud to acknowledge the personal assistance of several 
 distinguished scholars. The Rev. Professor Gustav Kawerau 
 (Oberkonsistorialrat and Probst), of Berlin, has obligingly 
 answered several questions I have put to him. Professor Gil- 
 bert Murray, LL. D., of Oxford, and Professor H. DeForrest 
 Smith, of Amherst, have aided me in the restoration and con- 
 struction of a Greek letter of Melanchthon. Professor Stan- 
 ley L. Galpin, of Amherst, has interpreted for me one Spanish 
 letter. Professor Clarence W. Eastman, of Amherst, has 
 occasionally given me the benefit of his studies in early new 
 high German. My wife and Miss Helen Alice Hocheimer 
 have read large portions of the proof. In thanking these 
 friends for such specific services, I am but expressing my obli- 
 gations for the least part of what I owe them. 
 
 P. S. 
 Amherst, Massachusetts, March 4, 1913. 
 
LIST OF CORRESPONDENTS AND OF 
 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 
 
 The name of Martin Luther is omitted. All other writers 
 and receivers of letters are listed with the number of these 
 letters opposite their names. In addition to this, the number of 
 a letter in which a man is first mentioned is given in paren- 
 theses. On the first appearance of a man I have given a short 
 biographical note, save in a few cases where nothing is known 
 of him, or in cases of persons sufficiently famous not to 
 require it. 
 
 Accolti, P. (253). 
 Adelmann, B. (88). 
 Adelmann, C, 88. 
 Adrian of Antwerp (37). 
 Adrian VI., Pope, 202, 443. 
 Adrian, M. (230). 
 Agricola, J. (150). 
 Agricola, R., 395- 
 Agrippa, H. C, iS3- 
 
 Aleander, J., 318, 319, 330, 338, 359, 362, 363, 394, 396, 397, 401, 407, 
 416, 424, 42s, 432, 437, 444, 447, 452, 453, 454, 464, 468, 473, 474, 475, 476. 
 Alexander, Secretary of Nassau, 423. 
 Alfeld, A. (254). 
 Alvarez, J. (192). 
 Amman, J. J. (338). 
 Amerbach, Basil, 316, 339, 384. 
 
 Amerbach, Boniface, 179. 316, 317. 332, 339, 371, 374, 384. 
 Amsdorf, N. v. (27), 169. 
 Anhalt, M. v., 193. 
 Anselm, T. (239). 
 Aquensis, P. (254). 
 Arcimboldi, J. A. (393)- 
 Armstorf, P. v. (441 )• 
 Auer, J. (99). 
 
 Augsburg, Qiristopher v. Stadion, Bishop of (83). 
 Aurogallus, M. (400). 
 Baden, Philip, Margrave of (464). 
 Bamberg, George, Bishop of (328). 
 
 (9) 
 
10 UST OF CORRESPONDENTS 
 
 Bannissius, J. (393)- 
 
 Basle, Christopher v. Uttenheim, Bishop of (127). 
 
 Bavaria, William, Duke of (459). 
 
 Bayer, C, 248. 
 
 Beatus Rhenanus, 57, 168, 332, 371, 374, 421, 428, 438. 
 
 Beckman, O. (27), 131. 
 
 Benedict, M. (240). 
 
 Berauld, N., 399. 
 
 Berghes, M. de (187). 
 
 Bernhardi, B. (20). 
 
 Beroald, P. (135). 
 
 Bessler, N. (372). 
 
 Beymann, P. (219). 
 
 Biel, G. (20). 
 
 Bild, G., 8ia, 103a, 247a. 
 
 Blaurer, A., 373. 
 
 Blaurer, T., 373, 398. 
 
 Bock, J. (471). 
 
 Bosschenstein, J. (103a). 
 
 Bossenstain, J. (89). 
 
 Botzheim, J. v., 398. 
 
 Bragadin, L., 238. 
 
 Brandenburg, Jerome Scultetus, Bishop of (50), 63. 
 
 Brandenburg, Joachim I., Elector of (378). 
 
 Braun, J., i, 2. 
 
 Breisgau, John of (205). 
 
 Breitenbach, G. v. (198). 
 
 Breslau, J. v. Thurzo, Bishop of (249). 
 
 Briard, J. (245). 
 
 Briselot (187). 
 
 Bronner, J. (220). 
 
 Briick, G. (397), 434- 
 
 Brunswick-Liineburg, Margaret v., 184. 
 
 Bucer, M., 57, 168, 219, 299, 340, 438, 441. 
 
 Biinau, G. v., 300. 
 
 Biinau, H. v., 262. 
 
 Burckhardt, P., 160. 
 
 Burckhart, P. ("164). 
 
 Busch, H. v., 472. 
 
 Csesar, J. (207). 
 
 Cajetan, Thomas de Vio, Cardinal, 73. 
 
 Calvus, F. (125). 
 
 Camerarius, J., 442. 
 
 Campeggio, L. (253), 351. 
 
 Cantiuncula, C, 153. 
 
 Capito, W. (49), 78, 94, 127, 349, 352, 375, App. III. 
 
 Caracciolo, M. (319), 464- 
 
LIST OF CORRESPONDENTS 11 
 
 Carmelite, Prior at Augsburg (247a). 
 
 Carlstadt, A. (20), 64, 66, 85, 123, 159, 172. 
 
 Carondelet, J. de (362). 
 
 Carvajal, B. (253). 
 
 Catharinus, A. (414). 
 
 Collarius, J. (150). 
 
 Charles V., Emperor, 255, 342, 361, 364, 368, 381, 412, 413, 426, 430, 435, 
 
 443. 46s. 
 Chievres, W., 341, 357, 367. 
 Chiregatto, R, 298. 
 
 Christian II., King of Denmark (414), 460. 
 Cistein, see Ende. 
 Claude, Queen of France (447). 
 Cleen, D. v (471). 
 Clivanus, R., 338. 
 Cochlaeus, J. (464), 474. 
 
 Cologne, Hermann v. Wied, Archbishop Elector of (23). 
 Contarini, G., 459, 463, 466. 
 Cornaro, F., 456, 466. 
 Cowper, G., 235. 
 Cowper, T., 235. 
 Crafft, A. (259). 
 Cranach, L. (414). 
 Crautwald, V. (265). 
 Creutzer, M. (414). 
 Crotus Rubeanus, 186, 190, 251, 350. 
 Croy, W. de. Archbishop of Toledo (383). 
 Croy, W., see Chievres. 
 Dandolo, M., 463. 
 Demuth, N. (247). 
 Diercx, V. (312), 314. 
 Dolz, J. (254). 
 Dolzig, J. V. (4). 
 Doring, C. (31). 
 Dorp, M. (241). 
 Draco, J. (281). 
 Dressel, M., 17. 
 Driedo, J. (312), 345. 
 Diingersheim, J. (52), 201, 264. 
 Diirer, A., 221. 
 
 Ebner, J. (41). | 
 
 Eck, John, of Ingolstadt, 29, 61, 64, 66, 96, loi, no, 113, 129, 139, 160, 
 
 164, 165, 19s, 253, 401. 
 Eck, John, of Trier (452). 
 Egmond, N. (187). 
 Egranus, J. S., $2, 124. 
 Eichstadt, Gabriel, Bishop of (loi). 
 
12 LIST OF CORRESPONDENTS 
 
 Einsiedel, H. v., 310, 389. 
 
 Emser, J. (117). 
 
 Ende zum Stein, N. v. (394). 
 
 Eobanus, Hessus, H. (87), 189. 
 
 Erasmus, D. (9), 22, 87, 141, 142, 145, 149, 155, 156, 187, 188, 192. 212, 
 245, 257, 258, 273, 281, 28s, 294, 297, 298, 311. 312, 313, 314, 331. 336, 
 345. 346, 351. 352, 356, 38s, 399, 422, 429, 439, 477. App. III. 
 
 Erfurt, Augustinian Convent of, 3, 7. 
 
 Erfurt, University of, 211. 
 
 Eschaus, T. (240). 
 
 Faber, J., Dominican Prior of Augsburg (333). 
 
 Faber, J., Bishop of Vienna, 253, 25Sa. 
 
 Fach, B. F. (200). 
 
 Feige, J., 462. 
 
 Feilitzsch, F. v. (302), 306, 310, 347. 
 
 Feilitzsch, P. v. (103). 
 
 Fisher, J., i88. 
 
 Fleck, J., App. II, I. 
 
 Fontinus, P. (178). 
 
 Franck, A. (140). 
 
 Freisingen, Philip, Bishop of (120). 
 
 Froben, J., 125. 
 
 Frosch, J. (95). 
 
 Fuchs, A. V. (186). 
 
 Fuchs, J. V. (186). 
 
 Fuchs, T. V. (186), 208. 
 
 Fug, J. (272). 
 
 Fiihrer, J. (178). 
 
 Gambara, C. de (393). 
 
 Gattinara, M. (358), 469, 476. 
 
 Geroldseck, D. v. (127). 
 
 Geyling, J. (301). 
 
 Ghinucci, J. (73). 
 
 Giglis, S. de. Bishop of Worcester, 261. 
 
 Glapion, J. (359). 
 
 Glarean, H., 324. 
 
 Glaser, M., 154. 
 
 Code, H. (228), App. II, 2. 
 
 Gonzaga, F. de (416), 448, 455. 
 
 Gradenigo, A., 260, 268, 423. 
 
 Gramaye, T., 334. 
 
 Greffendorf, J., 321. 
 
 Grunenberg, J. {24). 
 
 Guldennappen, W. v. (16). 
 
 Giinther, F. (284). 
 
 Hauen, G., 160. 
 
 Hausmann, N., 427. 
 
I,IST OF CORRESPONDENTS 13 
 
 Hecker, G., 75. 
 
 Medio, C, 308, 365. 
 
 Hegendorfinus, C, 356. 
 
 Heilingen, see Geyling. 
 
 Kelt, C. (103). 
 
 Hennigk, J. (iis). 
 
 Hennigk, M. (115). 
 
 Henriquez, F., 443. 
 
 Herholt, J. (151). 
 
 Herkmann, J., 433. 
 
 Hermannsgriin, L. v. (436). 
 
 Hess, John (of Breslau), (186), 197, 249, 250, 265, 267, 282, 402. 
 
 Hess, John (of Wittenberg), (200). 
 
 Hesse, Philip Landgrave of, 461. 
 
 Hildesheim, John, Bishop of (425). 
 
 Himmel, A. (39). 
 
 Hirschfeld, B. v. (449). 
 
 Hispanus, see Johannes. 
 
 Hochstraten, J., 165. 
 
 Hugwald, M. (432). 
 
 Hugwald, U. (432). 
 
 Hummelberg, M., 214, 415, 433. 
 
 Hump, H., 236. 
 
 Hutten, U. v., 189, 218, 232, 285, 291, 296, 336, 340, 354, 379, 403, 430, 450, 
 
 451, 457. 470, 472- 
 Hutter, C. (i). 
 Isolani, I., 199. 
 Jacobacci, D. (253). 
 James, an organist (161). 
 Jessen, F. v. (359). 
 Jessen, S. v. (359). 
 Joachim of Flora (83). 
 Johannes, a Spanish Augustinian (253). 
 Jonas, J. (140), 245, 4SI, 477. 
 Kammerer, J. (183). 
 Kirschberg, H. v. (404). 
 Konig, C. (230). 
 Kotter, J., 317. 
 Kunzelt, G., 270. 
 Lang, J., 5, 9, 10, 14, 16, 18, 20, 30, 37,39, 43, 49, SI, 81, 87, 140, 156, 157, 158. 
 
 166, 170, 175, 197, 207, 220, 240, 2S9, 272, 286, 343, 411, 417, 431. 
 Langenmantel, C. (85), 99. 
 Lantschad, J., 320. 
 Latomus, J. (213), 370. 
 Lefevre d'fitaples, J. (21). 
 Lehnin, Valentine, Abbot of (50). 
 Leiffer, G. (3), 12. 
 
14 LIST OF CORRESPONDENTS 
 
 Leipsic, Theological Faculty of the University of, 105, 109. 
 
 Leipsic, University of, 118, 121, 126, 129. 
 
 Leo X, Pope, 70, yz, 74, 90, 91, 92, 137, 274, 297, 318, 319, 323, 33°, 381. 
 
 Liege, Bishop of, see Marck. 
 
 Lindenau, A. v. (449). 
 
 Link, W. (3), 62, 69, 279, 372, ZTj, 390, 410. 
 
 Lipsius, M., 187, 212. 
 
 Lohr, A., 3, 7. 
 
 Lonicer, J. (254). 
 
 Lotther, M. (175). 
 
 Louvain, Theological Faculty of, 202. 
 
 Lupinus, P., 123. 
 
 Luther, J. (i). 
 
 Luther's sisters (344). 
 
 Mansfeld, Albert, Count of (69), 471. 
 
 Mantuan, B. (11). 
 
 Manuel, J., 255, 426, 435. 
 
 Marck, E. de la. Bishop of Liege (155). 
 
 Marck, R. de la (424). 
 
 Marlian, A., Bishop of Tui (359), 429, 439. 
 
 Martens, T. (345). 
 
 Martin, a bookseller (24). 
 
 Mascov, G., 25, 26, 36. 
 
 Maurer, M., 315. 
 
 Maximilian, Emperor, 70. 
 
 Mayence, Albert, Archbishop Elector of (42), 44, 192, 222, 231, 323, 
 
 412, 413. 
 Mayence, University of, 44. 
 Mayr, G. (372). 
 
 Mecklenburg, Albert, Duke of (378). 
 Medici, Jerome de', 448, 455. 
 Medici, Julius de', 358, 359, 363, 393, 394, 396, 397, 407, 416, 424, 425, 
 
 432, 437, 444, 447, 452, 453, 454, 464, 468, 473, 47S. 
 Medici, R. de', 393. 
 Melanchthon, P., 82, 84, 97, 102, iii, 122, 136, 138, 142, 150, 163, 167, 
 
 170, 174, 218, 232, 246, 250, 258, 267, 282, 286, 310, 329, 392, 402. 
 Merseburg, Adolph von Anhalt, Bishop of (64), 115. 
 Miltitz, C. V. (90), 112, 148, 289, 302, 307. 
 Minio, M., 79, 223, 224, 226. 
 Miritzsch, J. (117). 
 Moibanus (249). 
 Monckedamis, R. v., 370. 
 More, T. (49), 313. 
 Mosellanus, P., 157, 204. 
 Miihlpfort, H., 327. 
 Mtinzer, T. (262). 
 Murnar, T. (349), 366. 
 
LIST OF CORRESPONDENTS 15 
 
 Mutian, C, lO, 13, 205, 259, 272. 
 
 Myconius, O., 244, 325, 338. 
 
 Narr, Claus (108). 
 
 Nassau, H., 341, 357. 
 
 Nathin, J. (7). 
 
 Nesen, W., 213. 
 
 Neustadt, Augustinian Convent of, 17. 
 
 Noviomagus, G., 294. 
 
 Oecolampadius, J., 163, 257. 
 
 Pace, R. (49), 446. 
 
 Palatinate, Frederic, Count of the Rhenish (441). 
 
 Palatinate, Wolfgang, Count of the Rhenish, 58. 
 
 Palencia, P. R. de la Mota, Bishop of (407). 
 
 Paltz, J. V. (7). 
 
 Pappenheim, J. v. (467). 
 
 Pappenheim, U. v. (449). 
 
 Paris, University of, 180, 334. 
 
 Pascha, Dr. (242). 
 
 Pelican, C. (254), 408. 
 
 Pelligrini, F. de, 404. 
 
 Peter (441). 
 
 Petri, A. (432). 
 
 Petzensteiner, J. (447). 
 
 Peutinger, C. (85), 333. 
 
 Pfeffinger, D. (4). 
 
 Pflug, C. v., 114. 
 
 Pflug, J. v., 204. 
 
 Philip, M., 405. 
 
 Phrygio, P. (394). 
 
 Pinder, U. (40). 
 
 Pirckheimer, W., 215, 309, 470. 
 
 Platz, L., 281. 
 
 Pomerania, Barnim, Duke of (160). 
 
 Pomerania, Bogislav, Duke of (391). 
 
 Prierias, S., 68, 72. 
 
 Probst, J. (293). 
 
 Pucci, L. (253), 362. 
 
 Rab, H., 112. 
 
 Reifenstein, W. (241). 
 
 Reinecke, J. (241). 
 
 Reinhard, M. (414), 460. 
 
 Reissenbusch, W. (304), 306. 
 
 Renee de France, Duchess of Ferrara (447). 
 
 Reuchlin, J. (5), 104, 214, 331, 403. 
 
 Renter, K. (33)- 
 
 Rhadinus, T. (316). 
 
 Riario, R., 276. 
 
16 LIST OF CORRESPONDENTS 
 
 Riccius, P. (150). 
 
 Rosemund, G., 311, 312. 
 
 Rosso, A., 369. 
 
 Roth, S., 405. 
 
 Rovere, Leonard Grosso della (253). 
 
 Rozdalowsky, W., 161. 
 
 Rubeus, J. (182). 
 
 Riihel, J. (103). 
 
 Ruthall, Thomas, Bishop of Durham (446). 
 
 Sadoleto, J. (73). 
 
 Salmonius, B. (125). 
 
 Salzburg, Matthew Lang, Archbishop of (80). 
 
 Sander, M. (444). 
 
 Sasseta, A. della, 404. 
 
 Saum, C., 301. 
 
 Saxony (Albertine), George, Duke of, go, loi, 105, 108, 109, no, 114, 
 
 115, 118, 119, 121, 126, 128, 132, 143, 144, 147, 152, 159, 180, 209, 210,211. 
 Saxony (Albertine), Henry, Duke of (414). 
 Saxony (Ernestine), Frederic, Elector of (22), 58, 74, 76, 86, gi, 98, 108, 
 
 120, 134, 141, 145, 146, 164, 172, 177, igs, 209, 210, 274, 276, 288, 292,296, 
 
 302, 307, 320, 322, 341, 342, 348, 3S7, 361, 364, 367, 368, 380, 386, 387, 
 
 388, 409, 420, 436, 440, 445, 458. 
 Saxony (Ernestine), John, Duke of, 243, 288, 380, 386, 436, 449, 458. 
 Saxony (Ernestine), John Frederic, Duke of (378), 419. 
 Schart, M. (191). 
 Schaumburg, A. v. (256). 
 Schaumburg, S. v. (256), 269. 
 
 Scheurl, C., 27, 28, 29, 32, 33, 40, 41, 67, 82, 8g, 107, 116, 122, 130. 
 Schinner, Matthew, Cardinal Bishop of Sion (393), 469. 
 Schleinitz, H. v. (198). 
 Schleinitz, John, Bishop of (117). 
 Schleupner, D. (230). 
 Schleusingen, G. (14). 
 Schmiedberg, H. (335). 
 Schneidpeck, J. (464). 
 
 Schonberg, Nicholas, Archbishop of Capua (394) 
 Schott, J. (233). 
 Schurff, J. (464). 
 Schwartzenburg, C. v. (474). 
 Schwertfager, J. (97). 
 Seligmann, M., 183, 241. 
 Serralonga, U. de (83). 
 Sickingen, F. v. (218), 326. 
 Sieberger, W. (33)- 
 Solms, P. V. (218). 
 
 Spain, Governors and Grandees of, 443. 
 Spalatin, G., 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 15, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 31, 33, 34, 38, 42, 45, 46, 
 
LIST OF CORRESPONDENTS 17 
 
 47, 48, S0> S3. 55, 56, 60, 71, ^6, 83, 88, 89, 92, 93, 95, 100, 103, 103, 103a, 
 106, 117, 131, 133, 135, 136, 150, 151. 162, 167, 169, 171, 173, 181, 182, 
 185, 191, 194, 198, 200, 203, 206, 216, 217, 221, 225, 227, 228, 229, 230, 
 233, 234, 239, 242, 246, 247, 248, 252, 254, 256, 263, 266, 271, 273, 275, 277, 
 278, 283, 284, 287, 290, 293, 295, 299, 303, 304, 30s, 322, 328, 329, 335, 
 344, 348, 353, 355, 360, 378, 379, 382, 387, 388, 391, 392, 400, 406, 414, 
 417, 421, 428, 434, 440, 441, 445, 467. 
 
 Spengler, G. (303). 
 
 Spengler, L. (303), 337- 
 
 Spenlein, G., 11. 
 
 Standish, H. (258). 
 
 Staupitz, J. V. (3), 54, 65, ^^, 80, 86, 178, 237, 372, 376, 410. 
 
 Stehelin, W. (230). 
 
 Stolberg, L. v. (414). 
 
 Stolberg, W. v. (414). 
 
 Strassburg, William, Bishop of (425). 
 
 Stromer, H. (160), 162, 309. 
 
 Sturm, C. (431). 
 
 Sturz, G., 442. 
 
 Swaven, P. v. (447). 
 
 Symler, J. (60). 
 
 Tapper, R. (213). 
 
 Tartaretus, P. (57). 
 
 Taubenheim, J. v. (263), 310. 
 
 Tauler, J. (20). 
 
 Tetzel, J. (IDS), App. II, 3. 
 
 Teutleben, V. v., 292. 
 
 Tiepolo, N., 459. 
 
 Tischer, W. (14). 
 
 Trier, Richard v. Greiffenklau, Archbishop Elector of (120). 
 
 Trieste, Peter Bonomo, Bishop of (358). 
 
 Trutfetter, J. (30), 59. 
 
 Tucher, J. (89). 
 
 Tunstall, C., 383. 
 
 Turnhout, see Driedo. 
 
 Ulrich, J. (253). 
 
 Ulscenius, F., 375. 
 
 Urries, H. de (434) . 
 
 Usingen, B. A. (12). 
 
 Vadian, J., 25Sa, 395, 415, App. II, 3. 
 
 Valentine (438). 
 
 Vehus, J. (464). 
 
 Velenus, W. (391). 
 
 Venatorius, T., 215. 
 
 Venice, Signory of, 79, 223, 224, 226, 260, 268, 423, 456, 466. 
 
 Vogt, James (23). 
 
 Vogt, John (16). 
 
18 LIST OF CORRESPONDENTS 
 
 Volckmar, C. (ii6). 
 
 Volta, Gabriel della, 75, 237, 238. 
 
 Wagelin, G. (205). 
 
 Warbeck, G. (97), 449. 
 
 Warham, William (257), 418. 
 
 Watzdorf, R. v. (471). 
 
 Weissestadt (117). 
 
 Weller, A. (339)- 
 
 Werthern, D. v., iig. 
 
 Wick, J. V. (278). 
 
 Wimpina, C. (31). 
 
 Wimpfeling, J. (57). 
 
 Wittenberg, University of (2), 98. 
 
 Wittiger, M. (265), 280. 
 
 Wolsey, T., 149, 261, 383, 418, 446. 
 
 Wtirzburg, Lawrence von Bibra, Bishop of (56). 
 
 Zasius, U. (150), 179, 196, 205. 
 
 Zeschau, W. (i66). 
 
 Ziegler, N., 412, 413. 
 
 Zwingli, U., 196, 213, 244, 308, 324, 32s. 365. 
 
ABBREVIATIONS 
 
 The following abbreviations are used : 
 
 Allen — P. S. Allen: Opus Epistolarum Erasmi. Oxford. 
 i9o6ff. Vols, I, 2, 3. 
 
 Bergenroth — Calendar of letters, despatches, and state 
 papers, relating to the negotiations between England and 
 Spain . . . edited by G. A. Bergenroth, P. de Gayangos and 
 M. A. S. Hume. London. i862ff. 
 
 Booking — Epistolae Ulrichi Hutteni, ed. E. Bocking. Lipsiae. 
 1859. 2. V. 
 
 Brown — Calendar of state papers preserved in the archives 
 of Venice, ed. R. Brown. London. i867fif. 
 
 Burckhardt-Biedermann — Bonifacius Amerbach und die 
 Reformation, von Th. Burckhardt-Biedermann. Basel. 1894. 
 
 Corpus Reformatorum — Volumes i-io contain P. Melan- 
 thonis epistolae, ed. C. G. Bretschneider, Halis. 1834-42. 
 Volumes g4.fi contain Zwinglis Briefwechsel, ed. E. Egli, 
 G. Finsler, W. Kohler. Leipzig. 191 iff. 
 
 De Jongh — L'ancienne faculte de theologie de Louvain, par 
 H. de Jongh. Louvain. 191 1. 
 
 De Wette — Luthers Briefe, ed. W. M. L. de Wette. Berlin. 
 1825-8. 5 V. 
 
 De Wette-Seidemann — Luthers Briefe, Band vi., ed. W. M. 
 L. de Wette und J. K. Seidemann. Berlin. 1856. 
 
 Enders — Luther's Briefwechsel, bearbeitet von E. L. Enders. 
 Vols. 1-14. i884fif. (Volumes 1 2flf continued by G. Kawerau.) 
 
 Erlangen — Luthers Samtliche Werke. Erlangen edition. 
 German works 68 volumes. Latin works 33 volumes, and, 
 separately numbered, Opera latina varii argnmenti, 7 volumes. 
 
 Gess — Akten und Briefe zur Kirchenpolitik Herzog Georgs 
 von Sachsen. Hg. von F. Gess. Band L Leipzig. 1905. 
 
 Grisar — Luther, von Hartmann Grisar. Freiburg in Breis- 
 gau. 191 1-2. 3 V. 
 
 (19) 
 
20 ABBREVIATIONS 
 
 Kalkoff: Aleander — Die Depeschen des Nuntius Aleander 
 von Wormser Reichstage 1521. Uebersetzt und erlautert von 
 P. Kalkoff. 2d ed. Halle. 1898. 
 
 Kalkoff: Brief e — Depeschen und Berichte iiber Luther 
 vom Wormser Reichstage 1521. Uebersetzt und erlautert von 
 P. Kalkoff. Halle. 1898. 
 
 Kostlin-Kawerau — Martin Luther, von Julius Kostlin. 
 Fiinfte neubearbeitete Auflage, fortgesezt von G. Kawerau. 
 Berlin. 1903. 2 v. 
 
 Krause — Der Briefwechsel des Mutianus Rufus, bearbeitet 
 von C. Krause. Kassel. 1885. 
 
 Lutheri opera varii argument!, see Erlangen. 
 
 Realencyclopadie — Realencyclopadie fiir protestantische 
 Theologie und Kirche. 3d edition. Leipzig. 1896-1909. 
 22 vols. 
 
 Reichstagsakten — Deutsche Reichstagsakten unter Karl V. 
 Hg. von. A. Kluckhohn und A. Wrede. Munchen. i893ff. 
 (Volume ii. only referred to.) 
 
 Smith — The Life and Letters of Martin Luther. By Pre- 
 served Smith. Boston, New York and London. 191 1. 
 
 Walch — Luthers sammtliche Schriften, herausgegeben von 
 J. G. Walch. Halle. i744ff. (Volume 15, containing supple- 
 mentary documents is chiefly referred to.) 
 
 Walch- — The same, 2d much improved edition, published by 
 the Concordia PubHshing House, St. Louis, MissourL The 
 letters, all in German translation, by A. F. Hoppe, are in vol. 
 xxi, pubHshed in two parts at St. Louis, Missouri, U. S. A. 
 1903-4. 
 
 Weimar — Luthers Werke. Kritische Gesammtausgabe. 
 Weimar. 1883ft'. ^^ yet have appeared volumes i-ix, x, part i, 
 half i and parts ii and iii, ix-xvi, xvii part i, xviii-xx, xxiii- 
 XXX, xxxii-xxxiv, xxxvi-xxxviii, xl part i, xli-xliii, xlv-xlvii, 
 and Deutsche Bibel, volumes i-iii, and Tischreden, volume i. 
 
LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 AND 
 
 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 
 
 I. LUTHER TO JOHN BRAUN, VICAR IN EISENACH.' 
 
 E. L. Enders: Dr. Martin Luther's Brief- 
 wechsel (Frankfurt am Main. 1884- ) i. i. Erfurt, April 22, 1507. 
 
 Martin Luther was born at Eisleben, November 10, 1483. Soon 
 afterwards his father moved to Mansfeld. 1497-8 Martin attended 
 the school of the Brethren of the Common Life at Magdeburg. 1498- 
 1501 he attended the school of St. George at Eisenach. 1501-5 he was 
 at the university of Erfurt. July 17, 1505, he entered the monastery 
 of the Augustinian Hermits at Erfurt. See Preserved Smith : Life and 
 Letters of Martin Luther (Boston, 1911), chap. i. and ii. 
 
 Of John Braun nothing is known, except that he was priest of the 
 Church of the Virgin at Eisenach, and that he was still living in 1516. 
 Enders, i. 48. Luther had made his acquaintance during the years at 
 Eisenach. 
 
 Greeting in Christ Jesus our Lord. I should fear, most 
 gentle friend, to trouble your kindness by an importunate let- 
 ter, did I not consider your heartfelt afifection for me proved 
 by the many benefits you have conferred upon me. Where- 
 fore, relying on our mutual friendship, I do not hesitate to 
 send this letter, which I am sure will find you attentive and 
 affable. 
 
 God, glorious and holy in all his works, has deigned to ex- 
 alt me, wretched and unworthy sinner, and to call me into 
 his sublime ministry, only for his mercy's sake. I ought to be 
 thankful for the glory of such divine goodness (as much as 
 dust may be) and to fulfil the duty laid upon me. 
 
 1 Enders begins the letter with the word "Jhesus,*' which, according to Hoppe, 
 is not found in the earlier editions. Dr. Martin Luther's Sammtliche Schriften. 
 . . . Band XXI. Die Briefe (St. Louis, 1903), p. i. 
 
 (21) 
 
22 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let., i 
 
 Wherefore the fathers have set aside the Sunday Cantate 
 [May 2] for my first mass/ God wiUing. That day I shall 
 celebrate mass before God for the first time, the day being 
 chosen for the convenience of my father.^ To this I made bold to 
 invite you, kind friend, but certainly not as though I were domg 
 you any favor deserving the trouble of such a journey, nor 
 that I think my poor and humble self worthy of your commg 
 to me, but because I learned your benevolence and willingness 
 to oblige me when I was recently with you, as I have also at 
 other times. Dearest father, as you are in age and in care 
 for me, master in merit and brother in religion, if private busi- 
 ness will permit you, deign to come and help me with your 
 gracious presence and prayers, that my sacrifice may be ac- 
 ceptable in God's sight. You shall have my kinsman Conrad,^ 
 sacristan of the St. Nicholas Church, or any one else you wish 
 to accompany you on the way, if you are free from business 
 yourself. 
 
 Finally I ask that you come right to the monastery and stay 
 with us a little while (for I do not fear you will settle down 
 here), and do not go to the inn at the cross-roads. For you 
 ought to be a cellerer, that is, the inhabitant of a cell. Fare- 
 well in Christ Jesus our Lord. 
 
 Brother Martin Luther of Mansfeld. 
 
 P. S. — Those excellent men of the Schalbe* Foundation cer- 
 
 iPrimitz: Luther had been ordained priest not long before, the exact date 
 being unknown. 
 
 ^John (Hans) Luther, originally of Mohra, a hamlet about fifteen miles south 
 of Eisenach. As a young man he married Margaret Ziegler, of Eisenach, and 
 moved to the County of Mansfeld, first to the town of Mansfeld and then to 
 Eisleben. Here he found employment in the then recently started profession of 
 mining (c/. Cambridge Modern History, i. 506), in which he gradually won a 
 small property, and attained a respected position in the town. He was bitterly 
 opposed to Martin's entering the monastery, for on this son (his second) he re- 
 lied to make a brilliant career. By this time he seems to have become reconciled, 
 and apparently became a convinced Lutheran in later life. He died May 29, 1530. 
 
 The story first circulated by Luther's contemporary Witzel that Hans was obliged 
 to leave Eisenach because he had committed a murder, though still repeated in some 
 quarters, is almost certainly false. It has recently become known that there was 
 at this time another Hans Luther at Mansfeld, a rough character to whom the 
 anecdote may have applied. Buchwald: Lutherkalendar, 1910. 
 
 3 Conrad Hutter, a relative by marriage of his mother, who came from Eisenach. 
 O. Clemen; Beitrage sur Reformationsgeschichte, ii. 1. 
 
 *This was a little Franciscan convent at the foot of the Wartburg, probably 
 near the present Barfusserstrasse. Frau Cotta, Luther's hostess while he at- 
 
Let. 2 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 23 
 
 tainly deserve well of me, but I dare not burden them with 
 much asking, for I am persuaded that it would not be suitable 
 to their order and rank for me to invite them to my humble 
 affair, and molest them with the wishes of a monk now dead 
 to the world. Nevertheless I am in doubt whether they would 
 be pleased or annoyed by an invitation. Wherefore kindly 
 do not mention it, but when occasion offers, tell them how 
 grateful I am to them. 
 
 2. LUTHER TO JOHN BRAUN IN EISENACH. 
 
 Enders, i. 4. Wittenberg, March 17, 1509. 
 
 Luther was called to the university of Wittenberg (founded 1502) 
 to teach Aristotle's Ethics and Dialectic at the beginning of the winter 
 term (circa November l), 1508, and remained there about a year. 
 
 Brother Martin Luther sends you greeting and wishes you 
 salvation and the Saviour himself, Jesus Christ. 
 
 Cease, master and father, even more loved than revered, 
 cease, I pray, to wonder, as you have been doing, that I left 
 you secretly and silently, or at least would have so left you, 
 were there) not still a tie between us, or as if the power of 
 ingratitude, like a north wind, had chilled our love and wiped 
 the memory of your kindness from my heart. Indeed, no! 
 I have not acted thus, or rather I meant not to act thus, al- 
 though I may have been forced to act so as unintentionally to 
 give you occasion to think evil of me. 
 
 I went, I confess, and yet I did not go, but left my greater 
 and better part with you still. I can only persuade you that 
 this is so by your own faith in me. As you conceived it of 
 your own kindness and favor only, I hope you will never suffer 
 it to be slain or diminished without my fault, as you have never 
 done before. So I have gone farther from you in body but 
 come nearer to you in mind, provided you are not unwilling, 
 which I hope you are not at all. 
 
 To come to the point, that I be not longer compelled to sus- 
 pect that your friendship doubts my constancy (would that 
 the suspicion were false!) behold how hard I have tried to 
 
 tended school at Eisenach, was a Schalbe by birth, and it may have been through 
 her that he met the monks. 
 
24 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 3 
 
 Steal this time from my many and various affairs to write you, 
 especially as messengers are scarce, and were they plentiful, 
 could rarely be used on account of their ignorance and care- 
 lessness. My only purpose in writing is to commend myself 
 to you, and to express my hope that you will continue to thmk 
 of me as you would wish to have me think of you. Although 
 I cannot be, and do not think I am, equal to you in any good 
 thing, nevertheless I have a great affection for you which I 
 cannot g^ve you now as I have so often given it to you in the 
 past. I know that your generous spirit expects nothing from 
 me save the things of the spirit, that is, to have the same 
 knowledge of the Lord, and one heart and soul as we have one 
 faith in him. 
 
 /Wonder not that I departed without saying farewell. For 
 my departure was so sudden that it was almost unknown to 
 my fellow monks. I wished to write you but had time and 
 leisure for nothing except to regret that I had to break away 
 without saying good-bye. 
 
 Now I am at Wittenberg, by God's command or permission. 
 If you wish to know my condition, I am well, thank God, ex- 
 cept that my studies are very severe, especially philosophy, 
 which from the first I would willingly have changed for theo- 
 logy ; I mean that theology which searches out the meat of the 
 nut, and the kernel of the grain and the marrow of the bones. 
 But God is God; man often, if not always, is at fault in his 
 I judgment. He is our God, he will sweetly govern us forever. 
 Please deign to accept this, which has been set down in haste 
 and extemporally, and if you can get any messengers to me 
 let me have a share of your letters. I shall try to do the same 
 for you in return. Farewell in the beginning and the end, 
 and believe me such as you wish me. Again farewell. 
 
 Brother Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 3. LUTHER TO THE PRIOR ANDREW LOHR AND THE CON- 
 VENT OF AUGUSTINIANS AT ERFURT. 
 
 Enders, i. 7. Wittenberg, September 22, 15 12. 
 
 Luther returned to Erfurt in the late autumn 1509, where he re- 
 mained three semesters lecturing on the Sentences of Peter Lombard. 
 He made a journey to Rome in the winter of 1510-11, returning to 
 
Let. 3 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 25 
 
 Wittenberg to lecture on the Bible in the same year. Smith, chap. IV. 
 The occasion of the present letter is to invite his brothers to the cere- 
 mony of taking the degree of doctor of divinity, on October i8, 1512. 
 
 Greeting in the Lord. Reverend, venerable and dear 
 Fathers ! Behold the day of St. Luke is at hand, on which, in 
 obedience to you and to our reverend Vicar Staupitz,' I shall 
 take my examination in theology in the hall of the university, 
 as I believe you already know from the letter of our Witten- 
 berg Prior Link.^ I do not now accuse myself of unworthiness, 
 lest I should seek praise and honor by my humility ; God and 
 my conscience know how worthy and how grateful I am for 
 this public honor. 
 
 First of all I beg you for Christ's sake to commend me to 
 God in your common prayers, for you know you are my 
 debtors for this by the law of charity, that his well pleasing 
 and merciful will may be with me. Then I beg that you will 
 deign to come and be present at the celebration, if convenient, 
 for the glory and honor of religion and especially of our chap- 
 ter. I should not dare to ask you to undertake the trouble 
 and expense of such a Journey, except that the very reverend 
 father vicar has done it, and because it would seem indecorous, 
 unworthy and scandalous for you not to be with me on such 
 an occasion of honor, as though you were ignorant of it or 
 uninvited. 
 
 ijohn von Staupitz matriculated at Leipsic in 1485; in 1497 he is found as 
 reader in theology and M. A. at the Augustinian convent at Tiibingen. In 1503 
 he was elected Vicar of the German Province of Augustinian Hermits, and in 
 the same year was called by Frederic the Wise to be dean of the theological 
 faculty of the new university of Wittenberg, where he took his doctorate in 
 divinity in 1510. Luther's relations with him were very close, and it is to him 
 that the young monk owed his two calls to Wittenberg. Staupitz was unable to 
 follow him in the revolt from Rome, and on August 28, 1520, laid down the 
 office of Vicar and retired to Salzburg, securing dispensation to leave the Augus- 
 tinian for the Benedictine order. Here he lived till his death by apoplexy on 
 December 28, 1524. Cf, Th. Kolde: Die dcutsche Augustiner-Congregation und 
 J. V. Staupitz (Gotha. 1879), and in Realencyclopddie. 
 
 aWenzel Link (January 8, 1483-March 12, 1547), of Colditz, matriculated at 
 I,eipsic 1498, and at Wittenberg 1503, where he was called to teach philosophy 
 in 1508, and became D. D. in 1511. In 1516 he left Wittenberg for Munich. As 
 an Augustinian he attended the general chapter at Heidelberg, April, 1518, where 
 he was elected District Vicar to succeed Luther. In August, 1520, he was 
 elected Vicar of the German Province to succeed Staupitz, but under the influence 
 of the evangelic faith resigned the vicariate, became pastm; of ^a^xeformed church ^ 
 at Altenburg and -.JSL-arried- 1523. Two years later he was called to Nuremberg, 
 where he spent the rest of his life in useful service and in frequent communication 
 with Luther. Cf. W. Reindell: W. Link von Coldits Band I, 1483-1522. (Mar- 
 burg, 1892.") Also Realencyclopddie^ 
 
26 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let 4 
 
 Moreover if the venerable reader. Father George Leiffer,' 
 is able and willing to come it would please me ; but if not, the 
 Lord's will be done. Please, dear fathers, show yourself m 
 this equal to the high opinion I justly hold you in. I shall 
 remember and be grateful for your attention. Farewell in 
 the Lord, my brothers, each and all of you; to him we com- 
 mend ourselves in prayer. 
 
 Brother Martin Luther, Augustinian 
 
 4. LUTHER'S RECEIPT. 
 
 Enders, i. g. (Lbipsic), October 9, 1512. 
 
 Luther was called to Wittenberg a second time apparently in the 
 summer of 1511, in order to take the chair of Biblical exegesis hith- 
 erto occupied by Staupitz. To fit himself for this he took, on October 
 18, 1512, the degree of Doctor of Divinity. The cost of the promo- 
 tion was borne by the elector. Luther was obliged to walk to Leipsic 
 (which, strange to say, was not in the elector's territory) to get the 
 money from the government's Events, Dolzig and PfeiEnger. In the 
 Weimar archives there is a list of the expenses of these gentlemen at 
 the "Michaelismarkt" (fair held on St. Michael's day), October 5-16, 
 1512. Among the expenses is fifty gulden for Staupitz, "which Martin, 
 Augustinian friar at Wittenberg, received against his own written 
 receipt. These fifty gulden our most gracious Lord kindly commanded 
 to be given to the said friar for his doctorate, which he will receive 
 at Wittenberg shortly after this fair, in return for which Dr. [Stau- 
 pitz] has undertaken that the said Martin shall during his life-time 
 lecture on the subject assigned him at Wittenberg." H. Steinlein: 
 Luthers Doktorat, Leipsic, 1912. Sonderabdruck aus der Neuen Kirch- 
 lichen Zeitung. Page of Errata preceding p. 1. In general on the 
 doctorate, see this work. 
 
 I, Martin, friar of the Order of Hermits at Wittenberg, 
 acknowledge with this my own hand that I have received 
 on account of the Prior at Wittenberg, from the honorable 
 and trusty Degenhart Pfeffinger^ and John von Dolzig,^ cham- 
 
 i:Noth;ng is known of LeifFer save that he was an Augustinian at Erfurt, who 
 held the position of reader at meals. Luther wrote him on April 13, 1516 (.infra 
 no. 12), and mentioned him incidentally in a letter of October 15, 1516. 
 
 'The chamberlain, treasurer and influential councillor of Frederic the Wise. 
 He died July 3, 1519. He is frequently spoken of by Luther as a somewhat close- 
 fisted individual. Enders, i. 87. 
 
 •A treasurer and receiver of taxes (not chamberlain) who had been in Fred- 
 eric's service probably before 1500. In 1517-8 he made a pilgrimage to Palestine. 
 In 1519 he became marshal of the court. He was at Augsburg in 1530. He 
 undertook a mission to England in 1539. Made governor of Saalfeld 1545. Died 
 
I.et. s OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 27 
 
 berlains of my most gracious Lord, fifty gulden,^ on the Satur- 
 day after St. Francis' day, anno domini 15 12. 
 
 5. GEORGE SPALATIN TO JOHN LANG AT WITTENBERG. 
 Enders, i. II. (End of 1513.)* 
 
 George Burkhardt, of Spalt ( 1484- January 16, 1545), always known 
 as Spalatin, one of Luther's best friends, to whom more of his letters 
 are addressed than to any other person, had studied at Erfurt, 1498- 
 1502, when he went to Wittenberg. Here he first learned to know 
 Luther. About 1513 he was made chaplain to Frederic the Wise, 
 whose trusted confidant he was until the elector's death in 1525. In 
 this year Spalatin married, and was appointed pastor of a church at 
 Altenburg, where he lived the rest of his life. Cf. Realencyclop'ddie, 
 Berbig; Spalatin und sent Verhdltnis cu Luther. 
 
 John Lang, another good friend, matriculated at Erfurt, 1500, en- 
 tered the Augustinian convent 1506, was forced to leave Erfurt on ac- 
 count of the quarrel of that convent with Staupitz, and so went to teach 
 at Wittenberg 1511-16, when he returned to Erfurt, became prior of 
 the monastery 1516, and District Vicar 1518. Left the monastery 1522, 
 and became pastor of a church at Erfurt, where he remained till his 
 death, 1548. He married twice, in 1522 and 1524. N. Paulus: 
 Usingen 36. Forstemann & Giinther: Brief e an Erasmus (1904), p. 
 378. Realencyclop'ddie. 
 
 The subject of the following letters is the Reuchlin trial. Pfeffer- 
 korn, a converted Jew, proposed to destroy all Hebrew books save 
 the Old Testament (1509). This proposition was submitted to Reuch- 
 lin, a noted Hebrew scholar, who replied in a memorial, mentioned 
 below, October 6, 1510, advising against this. This memorial was 
 made the basis of a charge of heresy brought by the Dominicans of 
 Cologne. The case was appealed to Rome, and was argued with 
 heat in a host of pamphlets on both sides in Germany. The most 
 famous of these, one of the world's great satires, was the Epistolce 
 Obscurorum Virorum, ridiculing the monks. The first series appeared 
 in the autumn of 1515, and was by Crotus Rubeanus; this was fol- 
 lowed by an enlarged edition in 1516, the additional letters being by 
 Ulrich von Hutten, and by a new series from Hutten's pen in 1517. 
 The best account of the affair in English is F. G. Stokes : Epistolce 
 Obscurorum Virorum. London, 1909, with Latin text, translation and 
 full introduction. 
 
 . . . Moreover I would like to know from you whether 
 
 April 8, 1551. He was a good friend of I^uther, to whose marriage he was in- 
 vited. Archiv fiir Reformationsgeschichte, vi. 404. 
 
 ^A gulden was worth iifty cents or two shillings intrinsically, but the purchas- 
 ing power of money was about twenty times then what it is now. 
 
 20n the date see Enders, i. 12-13, and Kostlin-Kawerau, i. 752, note i to p. 132, 
 
28 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 6 
 
 Dr. Martin has seen the memorial of our Dr. Reuchlin^ on 
 destroying the books of the Jews. If he has not read it, I 
 beg nothing more at present than that he shall read it and give 
 me his opinion on it. Although I doubt not that we all know 
 how good and learned is Reuchlin, yet it is profitable to be on 
 guard. . . . 
 
 6. LUTHER TO GEORGE SPALATIN. 
 Enders, i. 14. Wittenberg (January or February, 1514)- 
 
 Peace be with you. Reverend Spalatin ! Brother John Lang 
 has just asked me what I think of the innocent and learned 
 John Reuchlin and his prosecutors at Cologne, and whether he 
 is in danger of heresy. You know that I greatly esteem and 
 like the man, and perchance my judgment will be suspected, 
 because, as I say, I am not free and neutral; nevertheless as 
 you wish it I will give my opinion, namely that in all his writ- 
 ings there appears to me absolutely nothing dangerous. 
 
 I much wonder at the men of Cologne ferreting out such 
 an obscure perplexity, worse tangled than the Gordian knot 
 as they say, in a case as plain as day. Reuchlin himself has 
 often protested his innocence, and solemnly asserts he is 
 only proposing questions for debate, not laying down articles 
 of faith, which alone, in my opinion, absolves him, so that had 
 he the dregs of all known heresies in his memorial, I should 
 believe him sound and pure of faith. For if such protests and 
 expressions of opinion are not free from danger, we must 
 needs fear that these inquisitors, who strain at gnats though 
 they swallow camels, should at their own pleasure pronounce 
 
 ^Luther probably did not know Reuchlin personally, but knew his works, and 
 especially had used bis De Rudimentis Hebraecis (1506) a grammar and dictionary 
 in one. He mentions this in his marginal notes on Lombard's Sentences (1509), 
 Werke, Weimar, ix. 32. 
 
 John Reuchlin (Feb. 22, 1435-June 30, 1522) of Pfortzheim, matriculated at 
 Freiburg 1470, went soon to Paris, then, 1474, to Basle, where he took his B. A. 
 1475 and M. A. 1477, then returned to Paris, studied law, took LL. B. at Orleans 
 1479, became licentiate at Poitiers 1481, and doctor at Tubingen same year. 
 1482-90 he spent in Italy under patronage of Eberhard of Wiirtemberg. Made a 
 noble 1492. About the same time began to study Hebrew; went to Heidelberg 
 1496, and under patronage of Philip Count Palatine to Rome 1498. He returned 
 to Stuttgart 1499, where he spent twenty years, serving as Triumvir of the 
 Swabian League 1502-13. He retired before the armies of the League to Ingol- 
 stadt, where he spent is 19-21 with Eck, after which he returned to Stuttgart. See 
 his life by Geiger, Realencyclopadie and Stokes, op. cit. introduction. 
 
Let. 6 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 29 
 
 the orthodox heretics, no matter how much the accused pro- 
 tested their innocence. 
 
 What shall I say ? that they are trying to cast out Beelzebub 
 but not by the finger of God. I often regret and deplore that 
 we Christians have begun to be wise abroad and fools at home. 
 A hundred times worse blasphemies than this exist in the very 
 streets of Jerusalem, and the high places are filled with spiritual 
 idols. We ought to show our excessive zeal in removing these 
 offences which are our real, intestine enemies. Instead of 
 which we abandon all that is really urgent and turn to foreign 
 and external affairs, under the inspiration of the devil who 
 intends that we should neglect our own business without help- 
 ing that of others. 
 
 Pray can anything be imagined more foolish and imprudent 
 than such zeal? Has unhappy Cologne no waste places nor 
 turbulence in her own church, to which she could devote her 
 knowledge, zeal and charity, that she must needs search out 
 such cases as this in remote parts ? 
 
 But what am I doing? My heart is fuller of these thoughts 
 than my tongue can tell. I have come to the conclusion that 
 the Jews will always curse and blaspheme God and his King 
 Christ, as all the prophets have predicted. He who neither 
 reads nor understands this, as yet knows no theology, in my 
 opinion. And so I presume the men of Cologne cannot under- 
 stand the Scripture, because it is necessary that such things take 
 place to fulfill prophecy. If they are trying to stop the Jews 
 blaspheming, they are working to prove the Bible and God 
 liars. 
 
 But trust God to be true, even if a million men of Cologne 
 sweat to make him false. Conversion of the Jews will be the 
 work of God alone operating from within, and not of man 
 working — or rather playing — from without. If these offences 
 be taken away, worse will follow. For they are thus given 
 over by the wrath of God to reprobation, that they may become 
 incorrigible, as Ecclesiastes says, for every one who is incor- 
 rigible is rendered worse rather than better by correction. 
 
 Farewell in the Lord ; pardon my words, and pray the Lord 
 for my sinning soul. Your brother, 
 
 Martin Luther. 
 
30 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 7 
 
 7. LUTHER TO PRIOR ANDREW LOHR AND THE ELDERS 
 
 OF THE AUGUSTINIAN CLOISTER AT ERFURT. 
 Enders, i. i6. Wittenberg, June i6, 1514- 
 
 In the early days of universities a degree meant no more than a 
 license to teach, and for some centuries it was expected that a man 
 should teach, for a time at any rate, at the institution where he had 
 taken his degree, or had prepared for it. An oath to this effect was 
 exacted at Paris until 1452 (H. Rashdall: Universities of Europe, 
 '• 4S5f)- The practice had fallen into disuse, but was appar- 
 ently revived at Erfurt, which was extremely jealous of the sud- 
 den growth of Wittenberg. When Luther left Erfurt for Witten- 
 berg and took his doctorate there, his enemies at Erfurt represented 
 it as a breach of oath. This is his answer. Cf. Kostlin-Kawerau, i. 
 13s, and Hartmann Grisar: Luther (Freiburg im Breisgau, 1911), i. 
 28fl. Harvard Theological Review, October, 1913. 
 
 Greeting in the Lord. Reverend Fathers, I have heard and 
 read much evil spoken by some of you about us and especially 
 about me, recently from the letter of Dr. John Nathin^ as 
 though writing for all of you, and I was so much moved by his 
 trenchant lies and bitter, false provocations that I almost imi- 
 tated the example of Dr. Paltz,' and poured out on him and 
 the whole convent a vial of wrath and indignation. For which 
 reason I sent two stupid letters to you (I know not whether 
 they reached you) and would soon have sent a key to their 
 meaning had not the mouth of the reviler been first stopped by 
 the general chapter. Therefore I am obliged to consider many, 
 or rather most of you excused. Wherefore I beg you, if any 
 were offended or mentioned in my letters, to forgive it, and 
 impute my action to the furious writings of Dr. Nathin. For 
 my emotion though excessive had a just cause. 
 
 But now I hear worse: that he proclaims me perjured and 
 infamous, I know not for what reason. Wherefore I pray if, 
 as I fear, you are unable to stop his mouth, you at least pay 
 
 'Of Neukirchen, matriculated at Tubingen 1483, began lecturing on theology 
 14S4, D. D. i486 at Tubingen or 1493 at Erfurt, or both. Taking the same 
 degree (t. e., license to teach) at more than one university was and still is 
 irregular in Germany; Nathin, therefore, was guilty of doing what he accused 
 Luther of. He remained conservative, and when the cloister at Erfurt was dis- 
 solved in 1523, he seceded. Kolde: Augustiner-Congregation, 137, 391. 
 
 2John Zenser (Jenser, Genser) von Paltz, Prior of Neustadt 1475, D. D. at 
 Erfurt 1483, superintendent of the monks' studies at Erfurt 1493. 1503, 1505-6. 
 He died March 13, isit. Kolde, op. cit., index and 174-197; RealencydopSdic. 
 His writings enjoyed much reputation. Luther's reference to him here is obscure. 
 He was a strong defender of indulgences. 
 
Let. 8 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 31 
 
 no attention to him and teach others to do the same. For I 
 am not perjured because I took my degree elsewhere. For 
 both universities and all of you know that I never lectured on 
 the Bible at Erfurt, on which occasion it is customary to take 
 an oath, nor am I aware that I ever took an oath in the whole 
 course of my academic career. I did lecture on the Sentences 
 at Erfurt, but I believe no one will affirm that I took an oath 
 at that time. ... I write this, excellent fathers, lest the Erfurt 
 doctors of theology should consider me a despiser of the uni- 
 versity to whom, as to a mother, I owe everything. . . . 
 
 But whatever men have done I am peacefully disposed to- 
 wards you all, however much I may have been offended. Foi 
 God has blessed me richly, unworthy as I am, and I have no 
 cause to do ought but rejoice and love and bless even those 
 who have deserved the contrary from me, just as I have 
 deserved the contrary to what I receive from the Lord. Where- 
 fore please be content, and lay aside all bitterness, if there is 
 any, and let not my removal to Wittenberg provoke you, for 
 thus the Lord, who is not to be resisted, willed. Farewell in 
 the Lord. 
 
 Brother M. Luder. 
 
 8. LUTHER TO SPALATIN. 
 Enders, ii. 287. (1514?)^ 
 
 Greeting. I would most willingly comply with your wish, 
 which is also mine, good Spalatin, but that you ask something 
 which is beyond the mediocrity of my powers. I frankly con- 
 fess my ignorance, for I do not know the meaning of those 
 refrains^ nor can I even conjecture it. 
 
 I am sure that the psalms, Ixxx. and Ixvii. which you 
 
 ^This letter has no date in the original, and was put, for an unknown reason, 
 by the first editor in 1519. All successors have followed him, although De Wette, 
 Enders and the St. Louis editor all think that it properly belongs to an earlier 
 date. The main proof of this is the signature "Luder," a form found nowhere 
 else after September 11, 151 7. Moreover a parallel passage has been found to the 
 Dictata super Psalterium given by Luther 1513-6. Werke, Weimar ed. iii. 606; 
 Enders, ii. 289. (There is a supplement to the Dictata, Weimar ix. T18, but no 
 further parallel.) Spalatin frequently turned to Luther for exegesis of the Bible, 
 which he had read through in 1508. On general dating cf. Kostlin-Kawerau, i. 754, 
 note 2 to p. 166, and Theologische Studien und Kritiken 18B8, p. 385. 
 
 Luther was thinking of the "Selah" which occurs in Psalm LXVII and else- 
 where. This was not printed in the Vulgate, but was in the original and so in 
 the edition of Lefevre d'Etaples which he used. 
 
32 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let 9 
 
 note, are the most heart-felt' prayers of the faithful congre- 
 gation for the coming of Christ in the flesh. But you, who 
 excel me in acumen of judgment and in wealth of learning, 
 consider whether the author did not wish those refrains to 
 point out that the psalms were choral,' like that eclogue of 
 Virgil" which says, I forget how many times : 
 
 Ducite ab urbe domum, mea carmina, ducite Daphnim. . . . 
 You now know as much as I do. Farewell and pray for me. 
 From the monastery. 
 
 Brother Martin Luder, Augustinian. 
 
 9. GEORGE SPALATIN TO JOHN LANG AT ERFURT. 
 K. Krause: Epistolae aliquot (Einladungsschrift . Zerbst), 1883, 
 p. 3- March 3 (iSiS)-* 
 
 . . . Please commend me to Dr. Martin. For I think so 
 much of him as a most learned and upright man, and, what 
 is extremely rare, one of such acumen in judging that I wish 
 to be entirely his friend as well as yours and of all learned 
 men. Farewell, excellent brother, and remember me in your 
 prayers, and also remember our Reuchlin laboring against 
 the hatred and intolerable malignity of evil men, or rather of 
 cacodemons." Farewell again. I read your letter hastily. Our 
 Erasmus* has returned as amiable as one stuffed with plenty. 
 
 ^"Suspiriosissimas"; Luther certainly means something like the translation 
 given, although the word he uses, both in classical and medieval Latin, properly 
 means "asthmatic," "sighing." 
 
 * The word that Luther uses here, and two other places in the letter, "interstallares" 
 is found neither in Harper's classical nor in Du Cange's medieval Latin dictionary. 
 Whether he was thinking of the word "intercalares," as the first editor suggests, 
 or not, the meaning is perfectly clear from the context. 
 
 SThe eighth. 
 
 *This letter is dated by Krause and Enders (i. 13) 1514, but the true date is 
 given by the sentence "Erasmus noster rediit quam amabilis ut qui stipatus ista 
 copia." Erasmus returned from a five-year sojourn in England in July, 1514, and 
 in the following December Schurer published at Strassburg a new edition of his 
 De Copia, to which Erasmus prefaced a most amiable letter (c/. P. S. Allen: Opus 
 Epistolarum Erasmi, i. p. xvii, ii. pp. 7, 17). Spalatin makes a punning reference 
 to this work, which he doubtless sent with the letter (ista). 
 
 SGreek. 
 
 *Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam (October 28, 1466- July i:;. 1536), the most 
 noted scholar of the day, attended school at Deventer 1475-84, at Hertogenbusch 
 1484-6, entered the monastery of Augustinian Canons at Stein i486, professed 
 1488, studied at Paris 1495-9, visited England 1499-1500, 1505-1506 and 1509-14; 
 Italy 1506-9; lived at Louvain 1514-21, Basle 1521-8, Freiburg in Breisgau 1528-35, 
 
Let. II OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 33 
 
 For why should he not have the horn of Amaltheiaf 
 
 Yours. 
 
 Spalatin. 
 
 10. JOHN LANG TO CONRAD MUTIANUS RUFUS. 
 
 Hekel : Manipulus primus epistolaruni. 
 
 1698, p. 104. Enders, i. 36. (May 2, 1515.) 
 
 On May i, 1515, Luther was elected District Vicar of his order at 
 the Chapter held at Gotha. On that occasion he delivered a rousing 
 sermon against the vices of the monks, the sermon probably being that 
 printed Weimar, i. 44, against backbiting. Cf. Kostlin-Kawerau, i. 
 122. The sermon attracted the attention of Mutian, and the next day 
 Lang sent it to him with the following letter. 
 
 Conrad Muth, usually known as Mutianus Rufus (October 15, 1471- 
 March 30, 1526), after attending school at Deventer matriculated 
 at Erfurt, i486, taking the degree of M. A. in 1492. From 1495-1502 
 he was in Italy. He took the degree of LL.D. at Bologna. In 1503 
 he received a canonry at Gotha, where he spent the rest of his life 
 in learned leisure, exercising great influence on the younger human- 
 ists and teaching that all religions are essentially the same. His let- 
 ters, published by K. , Krause and K. Gilbert, life in Realencyclo- 
 pddie, and cf. P. S. Allen, op. cit., ii. 416. He did not join the Refor- 
 mation and Luther considered his death, reported to be a suicide, as 
 a judgment of God. Cf. Wrampelmeyer : Cordatus' Tagebuch, no. 
 932. 
 
 You ask about that sharp orator who yesterday inveighed 
 against the morals of those brothers who pass for little saints. 
 He is Dr. Martin, with whom I have lived intimately at Erfurt, 
 and who formerly helped me not a little in good studies. Our 
 Spalatin venerates and consults him like Apollo. . . . 
 
 II. LUTHER TO GEORGE SPENLEIN AT MEMMINGEN. 
 
 Enders, i. 28. Wittenberg, April 8, 1516. 
 
 Spenlein was an Augustinian brother, who later became evangelical 
 pastor at Arnstadt, in which capacity Luther wrote him a letter, June 
 17, 1544. De Wette, v. 665. 
 
 Grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord 
 
 when he returned to Basle. His principal works are: Enchiridion MUitis Chris- 
 tiani (1503), EncoiUum Moriae (1511), Adagia (1500), an edition of the Greek 
 New Testament (March, 1516). Lives of him by A. J. Froude (1895) and, 
 E. Emerton (1899). His influence on Luther was immense. Cf. especially; 
 A. Meyer; Etude critique des relations d'&rasme et de Luther. Paris, 1909. 
 iGreek. 
 
34 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. n 
 
 Jesus Christ. Dear Brother George : — I want you to know that 
 I sold some of your things for two and a half gulden,^ i. e., 
 one gulden for the coat of Brussels, half a gulden for the 
 larger Eisenach work, and one gulden for the cowl and some 
 other things. Some things are left, as the Eclogues of Bap- 
 tista Mantuan^ and your collections, which you must consider 
 a loss, as hitherto we have not been able to dispose of them. 
 We gave the two and a half gulden you owe to the reverend 
 father vicar^ in your name; for the other half gulden you 
 must either try to pay it or get him to remit the debt. For I 
 felt that the reverend father was so well inclined to you that 
 he would not object to doing so. 
 fNovf I would like to know whether your soul, tired of her 
 ( own righteousness, would learn to breathe and confide in the 
 righteousness of Christ. For in our age the temptation to 
 presumption besets many, especially those who try to be just 
 and good before all men, not knowing the righteousness of 
 God, which is most bountifully and freely given us in Christ. 
 Thus they long seek to do right by themselves, that they may 
 have courage to stand before God as ' though fortified with 
 their own virtues and merits, which is impossible. You your- 
 self were of this opinion, or rather error, and so was I, who 
 still fight against the error and have not yet conquered it. 
 
 Therefore, my sweet brother, learn Christ and him crucified ; 
 learn to pray to him despairing of yourself, saying: Thou, 
 Lord Jesus, art my righteousness, but I am thy sin ; thou hast 
 taken on thyself what thou wast not, and hast given to me 
 what I was not. Beware of aspiring to such purity that you 
 will not wish to seem to yourself, or to be, a sinner. For 
 Christ only dwells in sinners. For that reason he descended 
 from heaven, where he dwelt among the righteous, that he 
 might dwell among sinners. Consider that kindness of his, 
 and you will see his sweetest consolation. . . . 
 
 If you firmly believe this (and he is accursed who does not 
 believe it) then take up your untaught and erring brothers, 
 patiently uphold them, make their sins yours, and, if you have 
 
 '"Semitres,"' an unclassical translation of the German "halbdrei." 
 'A late poet (1448-1516) whose eclogues were great favorites at this time. They 
 have recently been reedited by W. P. Mustard. Johns Hopkins' Press, 191 1. 
 "Staupitz. 
 
Let. 12 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 36 
 
 any goodness, let it be theirs. Thus the apostle teaches: 
 Receive one another even as Christ received you, for the 
 glory of God,^ and again: Have this mind in you which v^ras 
 also in Christ Jesus, who, when he was in the form of God,» 
 humbled himself, &c.^ Thus do you, if you seem pretty good 
 to yourself, not count it as booty, as though it were yours 
 alone, but humble yourself, forget what you are, and be as 
 one of them that you may carry them. . . . Do this, my brother, 
 and the Lord be with you. Farewell in the Lord. 
 Your brother, 
 
 Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 12. LUTHER TO GEORGE LEIFFER AT ERFURT. 
 Enders, i. 31. Wittenberg, April 13, 1516. 
 
 Greeting in the Lord and in his Comforter. Excellent father 
 and sweet brother in the Lord, I hear that you are tempted, 
 shaken by the whirlwinds and disquieted by the various floods, 
 but blessed is God the Father of mercy and God of all conso- 
 lation, who has provided for you a comforter and consoler as 
 good as any man may be, the Rev. Dr. Usingen.^ Only let it 
 be your care to throw away your own ideas and thoughts and 
 make place for his words in your thoughts. I am certain from 
 my own experience and yours, or rather from the experience 
 of all whom I ever saw perturbed, that prudence alone is the 
 cause of our emotion and the root of all our unquiet. For our 
 eye is very evil, and, to speak of myself, alas! how much 
 misery has it caused me and does it cause me yet. 
 
 The cross of Christ is distributed through the whole world, 
 to every one certainly comes his portion. Do you therefore 
 not cast it aside, but rather take it up as a holy relic, kept not 
 in a golden or silver case, but in a golden, that is, gentle and 
 
 ^Romans, xv. 7, 
 
 -Philippjans, ii. 5, 6. 
 
 'Bartholomew Arnoldi of Usingcn, born between 1462 and 1465, entered Erfurt 
 1484 and took his M. A. 1491. He taught philosophy at the University, being a 
 follower of Aristotle in all things. He entered the Augustinian cloister about 
 1512, apparently under Luther's influence, and took his D. D. in 1514. He did 
 not, however, follow Luther in the revolt, although, notwithstanding a debate in 
 May, J518, they remained on friendly terms until 1522 when Usingen came out 
 strongly against the Reformation. He was obliged to leave Erfurt in 1526, going 
 to Wurzburg, where he died September 9, 1532. He was at the Diet of Augsburg, 
 1530. Life by N. Paulus, 1893. 
 
36 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 14 
 
 loving heart. . . . Farewell, sweet father and brother, and 
 pray for me. 
 
 Brother Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 13. LUTHER TO CONRAD MUTIANUS RUFUS AT GOTHA. 
 Enclers, i. 34. Gotha, May 29, 1S16. 
 
 Luther was now on a journey through the various cloisters of his 
 district. While at Gotha, he thought best to excuse himself for not 
 calling on Mutian, whose opinion of his sermon the year before he had 
 heard from Lang, who seems, moreover, to have introduced them. 
 
 Greeting in the Lord. The reasons, most learned and kindest 
 Mutian, why I have neither visited you nor invited you to visit 
 me, are first the hurry of my trip and the pressure of my 
 business, and secondly the great opinion and true reverence I 
 have for you. For our mutual friendship is too recent for me 
 to dare to bring down to my mediocrity your excellence as it 
 is in my eyes and in fact. 
 
 But now I would not leave you unsaluted, for I felt it my 
 duty to do so, even though I feel shame for my ignorance and 
 unrhetoric, if I may use the word. Aflfection for you conquered 
 and this rustic Corydon, this barbarian Martin accustomed only 
 to cry out among geese, salutes you, a man of the deepest and 
 most exquisite learning. But I know, I am sure or at least I 
 assume, that Mutian prefers the heart to the tongue and the 
 pen, and my heart is sufficiently learned in only being your 
 friend. Farewell, farewell, excellent father in the Lord Jesus, 
 and be mindful of me. 
 
 Brother Martin Luther, Vicar. 
 
 P. S. — I would like you to know that Father John Lang, 
 whom you know as a Grecian and Latinist, and, what is more, 
 a man of sincere heart, has recently been instituted by me as 
 prior of the convent of Erfurt. Favor him before men and 
 pray for him to God. Farewell, in haste, as you see. 
 
 14. LUTHER TO JOHN LANG AT ERFURT. 
 
 Enders, i. 44. Wittenberg, June 30, 1516. 
 
 Greeting in the Lord. I wrote you from Sangershausen, 
 
 excellent father, that if you have any brother of undisciplined 
 
 mind you should send him there for punishment. I am writ- 
 
Let. 15 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS :J7 
 
 ing again "not to command but to request you not to deliver 
 over, but to yield to Eisleben George Schleusingen and William 
 Tischer until the reverend father [Staupitz] returns. For 
 thus necessity demands ; and you should say to that brother and 
 to all that this is not done by me from violence, but because all 
 of us, and I especially, are bound to uphold the honor of the 
 vicariate, and especially of the reverend father Vicar. . . . 
 
 Brother Martin, District Vicar. 
 
 P. S. . . . A thunderstorm at Dresden so cut down the 
 vineyards of our convent that the loss is estimated at two or 
 three hundred gulden, besides other damage. This is my news. 
 
 15. LUTHER TO SPALATIN AT WITTENBERG. 
 Enders, i. 46. Wittenberg, August 24, 1516. 
 
 Greeting. I am going to beg a service of love and faith 
 from you, sweetest Spalatin, that is, that you either send me a 
 copy of Jerome's epistles^ at once, or that, as much as you can 
 in a short time, that you copy for me from the book of Famous 
 Men (which I greatly desire) what that saint says about St. 
 Bartholomew the apostle, so that I may have it before noon, 
 for I am going to preach to the people.^ I am much offended 
 with the foolish lies of the Catalogue and the Golden Legend.' 
 
 Farewell, excellent brother. 
 
 Brother Martin Luder, Augustinian. 
 
 P. S. — Don't be surprised that a theologian like myself should 
 not have Jerome. For I am waiting for the edition* of Eras- 
 
 ^I have looked through Jerome's epistles without finding anything on St. Bar- 
 tholomew. Luther quotes one of them, Weimar, iv. 523. 
 
 ^This sermon, in which Luther seriously criticizes the legend of St. Bartholomew, 
 is printed in Weimar i. 79. For a severe opinion of the legends of the saints, 
 in the year 1544, cf. Kroker: Lnthers Tischreden in der Matthesischen Sammlung. 
 Leipsic, 1903, no. 661. 
 
 ^The books referred to are: Petri de Natalibus: Catalogits sanctorum (which 
 was edited at Lyons, 1508) which Luther alludes to in his lectures on Romans, 
 ed. Ficker, Schotien, p. 212, and lacobi a Voragine, Legenda aurea, from which 
 Luther quotes in his lectures on Psalms, Weimar, iv. 384. 
 
 *The edition in nine volumes which was published by Froben throughout the 
 year 1516. Erasmus edited the first four volumes, containing the epistles; the 
 Amerbachs, Rhenanus and others were responsible for the other works. The 
 dedication to the whole, by Erasmus to Warham, is dated April i, 1516. Further 
 information is to be found in P. S. Allen: Opus epistolarum Erasmi (Oxonii, 
 1906- ) ii. 210. 
 
38 I^UTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. i6 
 
 mus and that which I use in common with others has been 
 taken away by John Lang/ 
 
 i6. LUTHER TO JOHN LANG AT ERFURT. 
 Enders, i. 48. Wittenberg, August 30 (1516). 
 
 Greeting. Venerable father, I am sending you the oration 
 which I delivered at our chapter at Gotha^ and I trust you to 
 fulfill my promise, namely, to send it as quickly as possible to 
 John Braun, priest of the Holy Virgin at Eisenach, or to 
 Wigand of Guldennappen," priest at Walterhausen. For I 
 promised it to them, and I also promised to let George 
 Leiffer, the reader, see it, and show it to his friends. Not that 
 I think it worth reading, but I must yield to the wishes of 
 others rather than my own. 
 
 You are certainly too much moved against John Vogt. I 
 know nothing, nor have I heard any secrets, but I heard the 
 prior of Magdeburg* complaining about it, and just the same 
 as he was at Eisleben, that is, desperate about sustaining the 
 school, and several of the older brothers agreed with him. . . . 
 Now it is your duty to receive this blow on your right cheek 
 
 Jerome was one of the favorite authors of this period, as the numerous editions 
 and even translations of his letters show. If we may trust an inscription in a book 
 in the Boston Public Library, which has been identified as Luther's hand, the 
 reformer later owned the edition which came out at Lyons, 1518. This identifi- 
 cation however is very doubtful. See Preserved Smith, Life and Letters of 
 Martin Luther, p. 475. 
 
 IThe text, after a lacuna, adds "and sold." 
 
 2The sermon held at Gotha, May i, 1515; cf. supra, no. 10. 
 
 SA former teacher of Luther at Eisenach. Luther later interceded for him with 
 John Frederic, May 14, 1526. 
 
 *John Vogt. An interesting notice of him from the old chronicler Berkmann of 
 Pomerania, put by him in the year 1518, probably a mistake for 1516, is 
 quoted by De Wette-Seidemann, vi. 530, note 3. "He invited Dr. Martin 
 Luther, whom the Magdeburgians escorted with eighteen horsemen, and he came 
 on July 26, at the solicitation of Dr. Vogt, with Thonamen, an old man in the 
 Augustinian cloister, who had chosen Dr. Martin as his son. And when he could 
 not give counsel against the wrong doctrine he was accustomed to say; *I will 
 complain of it to my son Martin,' for he knew what was in him. For they were 
 both from Eisleben. Then Martin preached there about a week, and while he 
 was there nothing was done with indulgences." Several sermons of 1516 are against 
 indulgences, «. g., Weimar i. 6s, July 27, 1516, and Weimar i. 94, October 31, 1516. 
 Vogt later became evangelical pastor at Magdeburg. Kol<'e: Augustiner-Congrega- 
 tion, 393. His devotion to the cause is thus amusingly portrayed in the table-talk: 
 "When a certain Dr. Vogt wrote to him, 'My Luther, I will go with you up to 
 the fire — but not quite into it. Only advance bravely!' he answered, 'Such 
 martyrs Christ leads up to heaven — but not quite into it." " Tischreden, Weimar i. 
 no. 242. 
 
I,et 17 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 39 
 
 and also to turn the other. For this will not be your 
 greatest nor last temptation, but God's wisdom is preparing 
 you for serious war, if you live. . . . 
 
 Brother Martin Luther. 
 
 17. LUTHER TO MICHAEL DRESSEL AND THE AUGUSTIN- 
 lAN CHAPTER AT NEUSTADT. 
 
 Enders, i. 50. Wittenberg, September 25, 1516. 
 
 Greeting in the Lord. I hear with sorrow, as I ought to 
 hear, excellent fathers and brothers, that you live without 
 peace and unity, and that in one house you are not of one 
 mind, nor according to the rule do you have one heart and one 
 soul in the Lord. This miserable and useless manner of life 
 comes from the infirmity of your humility, — for where is 
 humility there is peace— or from my negligence, or certainly 
 from the fault of both of us, that we do not weep before 
 the Lord who made us, nor pray that he would direct our 
 ways in his sight and lead us in his justice. He errs, he errs, 
 he errs, who would g^ide himself, not to say others, by his 
 own counsel. . . . 
 
 Therefore I am forced to do absent what I would not like 
 to do present, though I greatly wish I could now be present, 
 but I am not able. Therefore receive my command in salu- 
 tary obedience, if perchance the Lord will deign to work his 
 peace in us. For the whole of your strife, or rather its root, 
 is your discord with your head, the prior, which is more harm- 
 ful than a quarrel between brothers. Wherefore, by the 
 authority of my office, I command you. Brother Michael Dres- 
 sel, to resign your office and seal; and by the same authority 
 I absolve you from the duties of the priorate, in the name of 
 the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, Amen. 
 And these letters shall have the same force as if I were present. 
 
 I would not have you complain that I have judged you 
 unheard, nor would I receive your excuses. I willingly 
 believe that you have done all with the best intentions in the 
 world, nor can I imagine that you have purposely and 
 maliciously fomented discord; you have done what you had 
 grace to do. For this I thank you, and if your brothers do 
 
40 I.UTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 19 
 
 not thank you they will greatly displease me. . . . [Instruc- 
 tions for electing a new prior.] . . . 
 
 I beg that you will be diligent and faithful in the instruc- 
 tion of youth, as in that which is the first and main business 
 of the convent. Farewell and pray for me and for all of 
 us. . . . Brother Martin Luther, 
 
 District Vicar of the Augustinians. 
 
 18. LUTHER TO JOHN LANG. 
 Enders, i. 59. Kemberg, October 5, 1516. 
 
 ... It is quite clear that that nonsense you sent me about a 
 supplication^ to the pope against theologs has been cooked up 
 by some rash person, for it smells of the same oven as the 
 Epistolae Obscurorum Virorum. I imparted it opportunely to 
 the faculty, which had met to license two physicians, and they 
 were all of the same opinion in regard to it. . . . 
 
 You have rightly sought the reverend father Vicar^ at 
 Munich. He wrote me on September loth from there. I do 
 not know whether he will come to us, but I hope so. He wrote 
 me that he was forced to remain there on account of poverty. 
 . . . Brother Martin Luther. 
 
 19. LUTHER TO GEORGE SPALATIN AT ALTENBURG. 
 Enders, i. 61. (Wittenberg, circa October 5, 1516.) 
 
 Greeting. Yesterday I received your letter and the gulden 
 you sent me. Let it be as it must. 
 
 John Lang, prior at Erfurt, has sent me Supplication against 
 Theologs. As it contains no manifest truth, it must be by the 
 author of the Epistolae Obscurorum Virorum or someone who 
 apes him. I approve his intention, not his method, because 
 he does not forbear from reviling and contumely. In short, 
 he was laughed to scorn by all when I recently exposed him. 
 Take the book and read it with your accustomed moderation. 
 Farewell. 
 
 ^Tenor supplicationis PasquiUianac. in Pasquillus Marranus exul (1520), reprinted 
 in Bocking: Hutteni opera, supplementum, i. 505. Further details on it in 
 O. Clemen: Beitrage zur Reformationsgeschichte (1900), i, laff. He holds that 
 the author of the Tenor was one of the Erfurt humanists. 
 
 "Staupitz. 
 
Let. 20 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 41 
 
 20. LUTHER TO JOHN LANG AT ERFURT. 
 
 Enders, i. 54. (Middle of October, 1516.)^ 
 
 . . . Therefore, take care, as your Tauler^ commands, to 
 
 persevere, keeping yourself apart and yet accessible to all men, 
 
 as is befitting the son of the same God and the same church. 
 
 There is nothing for your schoolmen^ to marvel at in my 
 propositions,^ or rather those of Bartholomew Bernhardi,^ 
 although my own schoolmen have expressed wonder at them. 
 And the propositions were not composed by me, but by Bern- 
 hardi, moved thereto by the chatter of the detractors of my 
 lectures. He did it so that, by a public discussion held, excep- 
 tionally, under my presidency, the mouths of the chatterers 
 might be stopped or the opinions of others be heard. I 
 offended all very much by denying that the book on true and 
 false penitence was Augustine's.^ It is bungling and inept, 
 nothing if not different from Augustine's opinions and learn- 
 ing. I knew, indeed, that Gratian^ and the Master of the 
 Sentences^ had taken a good deal from it, which was not 
 medicine, but poison for consciences. But I offended them 
 implacably, especially Dr. Carlstadt,^ because, knowing this, 
 
 ^This letter, without date, is placed by Enders in September, but the date here 
 given is more likely. Cf. Weimar, i. 143, and St. Louis, xxi, no. 44. 
 
 ^Tfais is the first allusion to Tauler, the German mystic (ti36i) who influenced 
 him so much. I believe, however, that echoes of Tauler can be found in the 
 letters of May i, and June 22, and perhaps April 8 of this year. According to 
 the present notice it was Lang who introduced him to this writer. Towards the 
 end of 1516 Luther edited an anonymous tract of this school, to which he gave 
 the name "A German Theology." Cf. Smith, p. 27. Kostlin-Kawerau, i. 11 1. 
 
 *Gabrielistae, followers of Gabriel Biel, the last of the great schoolmen, among 
 whose doctrines that of the free will was prominent. 
 
 *These theses, defended by Bernhardi on September 25, 1516, under Luther's 
 presidency, deny the possibility of a man's fulfilling God's commands by his free 
 will without grace. Weimar, i. 142. Kostlin-Kawerau, i. 129-30. 
 
 "Of Feldkirchen in Swabia (1487-1551), student at Wittenberg and after 1518 
 pastor of Kemberg. 
 
 ^Luther was quite right in denying its authenticity. He had a keen sense of 
 style, and was also correct in exposing another work wrongly attributed to 
 Augustine. 
 
 ■^The Decretum of Master Gratian, composed in the twelfth century at Bologna 
 from the decrees of councils and popes, became the foundation of the Canon Law. 
 
 sPeter Lombard, on whose Sentences, the chief text book of medieval theology, 
 also a twelfth century work, Luther had lectured 1 509-11. For references to 
 their quotatiotis from Lombard, Enders, i. 58. 
 
 ^Andrew Bodenstein of Carlstadt (c. 1480-1541) studied at Erfurt 1499-1503, at 
 Cologne 1S03-4, when he went to Wittenberg where he took the doctorate of 
 
42 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 21 
 
 I dared to deny the authenticity of the book. Therefore, tell 
 these wondering, or rather wonderful theologians, that they 
 need not dispute with me what Gabriel said, or what Raphael 
 said, or what Michael said. I know what Gabriel Biel says, 
 and it is all very good except when he speaks of grace, charity, 
 hope, faith and virtue; I have not time to tell in these letters 
 how much, with his Scotus, he is a Pelagian.^ 
 
 [Here follows a defence of one of the propositions, with 
 some details of business.] . . . 
 
 21. LUTHER TO SPALATIN. 
 Enders, i. (y2. Wittenberg, October 19, 1516. 
 
 Greeting. What displeases me in Erasmus, though a learned 
 man, is that in interpreting the apostle'' on the righteousness 
 of works, or of the law, or our own righteousness, as the 
 apostle calls it, he understands only those ceremonial and 
 figurative observances. Moreover, he will not have the apostle 
 speak of original sin, in Romans, chapter V, though he admits 
 that there is such a thing. If he read Augustine's books against 
 the Pelagians, especially the one on the Spirit and the Letter, 
 also the one on the Deserts and the Remission of Sins, also 
 the one against the two epistles of the Pelagians and like- 
 wise the one against Julian, almost all of which are contained 
 in the eighth volume of his works,' he will see how little he 
 
 divinity 1510, became teacher and canon. 1515 visited Rome. September 1516 at 
 Wittenberg published 151 theses attacking Aristotle and the scholastics, and 
 asserting the doctrine of determinism. In 15 18 answered Eck's attack on Luther 
 and July, 1519, debated with Eck at Leipsic as did Luther. He was excommuni- 
 cated with Luther by the bull Exsurge Domine of 1520. During Luther's year 
 at the Wartburg 1521-2, Carlstadt led a series of revolutionary innovations. On 
 the reformer's return he was discredited, withdrew to Orlamiinde 1523 and was 
 obliged to leave Saxony in 1524. After a wandering life, in which he published 
 much on the sacrament against Luther, he was called to Easle in 1534 and lived 
 there as professor until his death. His life in two volumes byH. Barge, 1905. 
 Cf, Miiller: Luther und Carlstadt, 1907. 
 
 iThe Pelagians were the opponents of Augustine who maintained absolute free 
 will against his determinism. 
 
 ^Luther is referring to Erasmus' notes on the New Testament, which appeared 
 with the Greek edition about March, 1516. Luther obtained the work soon 
 after it was out, as may be seen by his lectures on Romans (Ficker: Luthers 
 Vorlesung iiber den Romerbrief, 1908). These lasted from the summer of 1515 
 to the autumn of 15 16, Luther's notices of Erasmus begin with the ninth chapter. 
 
 ^Edition of Basle, 1506. The De spiritu et litera enjoyed a great reputation at 
 Wittenberg, being edited by Carlstadt Cf. A. Humbert: Origines de la thiologie 
 moderne. (Paris, 1911), p. 252fF. 
 
Let. 21 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 43 
 
 follows not only Augustine's opinion, but that of Cyprian, "^ 
 Nazianzen,' Rheticius,^ Irenseus,* Hilary,^ Olympius,'' Inno- 
 cent,' and Ambrose.* Perchance then he will not only under- 
 stand the apostle aright, but will think Augustine deserving 
 a higher opinion than he now does. 
 
 I have no hesitation in disagreeing with Erasmus, because 
 in interpreting the Scriptures I consider Jerome as much 
 inferior to Augustine as Erasmus thinks he is superior.'' I 
 am not betrayed into approving Augustine because I am an 
 Augustinian, for before I read his books he had no weight 
 with me whatever, but because I see that Jerome, as though 
 on purpose, saw nothing but the historical sense of the Scrip- 
 tures, and, strange to say, interpreted them better in his 
 obiter dicta, as in his epistles, than when he set about to do it 
 in his works. 
 
 By no means, therefore, is the righteousness of the law or 
 of works to be understood only of ceremonies, but rather 
 of the whole decalogue. For whatever good is done outside 
 the faith of Christ, even if it makes Fabricii and Reguli, men 
 who were righteous before men, yet it no more savors of 
 justification than do apples of figs.'" For we are not, as Aris- 
 totle thinks, made righteous by doing right, except in appear- 
 ance, but (if I may so express it) when we are righteous in 
 essence we do right. It is necessary that the character be 
 changed before the deeds; Abel pleased before his gifts. But 
 of this elsewhere. 
 
 I beg you to do the office of a friend and a Christian and 
 inform Erasmus of this,^^for as I hope his authority may be 
 
 't^sS. His words were edited at Rome 1471, at Venice 1471, and at Paris 1512. 
 
 'Gregory of Nazianz, ts^g- 
 
 "Lived at the time of Constantine. None of his writings are extant; Luther 
 knew him only from citations by Augustine. 
 
 *Of Lyons, ti90. 
 
 "Of Poitiers, tsS;. 
 
 "Spanish Bishop of time of Constantine, known only from Augustine's citations. 
 
 'Pope Innocent I (402-17) of whose Epistota ad Concilium Carthaginense Luther 
 is thinking. 
 
 'Bishop of Milan, t397. 
 
 'On Luther's opposition of Jerome and Augustine, Humbert, op. cit. p. 26oif. 
 WThis is a reminiscence of Augustine. Cf. Harnack: History of Dogma. The 
 well-known saying "that the virtues of the heathen were but splendid vices," 
 often attributed to Augustine, really first occurs in Descartes' Theodicee. Cf. 
 Denifle: Luther ««d Lutherthum. 
 UC/. infra, no. 22. 
 
44 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 22 
 
 great and famous, so I fear lest through it some will be led to 
 defend the literal, that is the killing, sense of Scripture of 
 which Lyra and almost all the commentators after Augustine 
 are full. For even Lefevre d'fitaples' a man otherwise, 
 Heaven knows, spiritual and sincere, lacks this proper under- 
 standing of the Scriptures when he interprets them, although 
 he has it abundantly in his own life and in exhorting others. 
 
 You would say that I am rash to bring such men under 
 the rod of Aristarchus f did you not know that I do it for the 
 sake of theology and the salvation of my brothers. Farewell, 
 my Spalatin, and pray for me. In haste, from a corner of our 
 monastery, on the day after St. Luke's feast, 15 16. 
 
 Brother Martin Luder, Augustinian. 
 
 22. SPALATIN TO ERASMUS AT BRUSSELS. 
 P. S. Allen : Opus epistolarum 
 
 Brasmi (Oxford, 1906- ), ii. 415. Lochau,' December 11, 1516. 
 
 On the occasion of this letter, cf. supra, no. 21. Erasmus received, 
 but did not answer it, and Spalatin wrote again, in November, com- 
 plaining of his silence, but received no immediate answer to this, 
 either. Cf. Allen, loc. cit. 
 
 ... I have recently been asked by an Augustinian priest, 
 not less famous for the sanctity of his life than for his the- 
 ological erudition, and at the same time a sincere admirer of 
 yours, to salute you, and I thought I would do wrong not to 
 seize the present occasion and write to you, busy as I am, the 
 more so because we hope that the business which now* com- 
 pells me to write will be of public interest both to contempo- 
 raries and to posterity. Therefore, although the Augustinian 
 monk, a man, believe me, of the most candid mind and the 
 
 'James Lefevre, of Etaples in Picardy, "the little Luther," as Michelet called 
 him (c. 1455-1536), after studying in Italy, Germany and Paris, settled in 1507 
 at St. Germain-des-Pres (a church now on the Boulevard St. Germain in Paris) 
 and devoted himself to Biblical studies. In 1509 he published a Qitintuphx 
 Psalterium, or Psalter in five languages, of which Luther owned and annotated a 
 copy (his notes in Weimar, iv. 463) in 1513-16. He published the first complete trans- 
 lation of the Bible in French 1530. In 1521 and 1523 he was attacked by the 
 Sorbonne for Lutheranism, and during Francis I's captivity in 1525 fled to 
 Strassburg, but later returned and finished his life at Paris. On his doctrine of 
 justification by faith, cf. Humbert, op. cit., 283, and Harvard Theological Review, 
 October, 191 3. 
 
 2 A proverbially captious critic of the second century B. C. 
 
 3 A castle fifteen miles southeast of Wittenberg. 
 
 *7rt praesentiarum, as in text, is ungrammatical ; I suggest: in praesentarium. 
 
Let. 22 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 45 
 
 most faithful heart, has, as they say, put a saddle upon an ox,' 
 yet moved by his kindness for me, I preferred, if need be, to 
 expose my rusticity rather than to deny a favor to my friend. 
 And if you have the goodness and wisdom to understand my 
 letter in the spirit in which it is written, I hope that you will not 
 only take me into the number of your clients and admirers, 
 but that since the matter is of some importance, you will 
 thereby greatly profit all students of the Scriptures and of that 
 ancient, pure, uncontaminated theology, not only of our own, 
 but of all future ages. 
 
 Having prefaced thus much, I beg you for Christ's sake 
 to take my letter in good part, which, God is witness, I have 
 written for no other purpose than that which I have explained 
 to you, namely, to satisfy the wish of a very pious friend, to 
 profit posterity and to become known to a most learned man. 
 Far from there being any malice in my letter, all of us who 
 have devoted ourselves to letters are your warm friends. The 
 monuments of your genius are so highly esteemed by us that 
 nothing is sought more eagerly in the bookstores, nor bought 
 more quickly, nor read more diligently. My most clement 
 prince, Duke Frederic, of Saxony,' Elector of the Holy Roman 
 Empire, who is not less distinguished for wisdom and piety 
 and learning than for fortune, has all of your books that we 
 could find in his ducal library^ and intends to buy whatever 
 
 ^A classical proverb for assigning a task to one who is not fitted to perform it. 
 Cicero, epp. ad Atticum, v. 15. 
 
 ^Elector Frederic the Wise of Ernestine Saxony (1463-May 5, 1525). Became 
 elector in i486, and made his dominion the most powerful in the Empire. He 
 played an important part in the election of Charles V, June, 1519. He was a 
 patron of the arts, and founded the University of Wittenberg 1502. He was 
 very pious, belonging to many brotherhoods and making a large collection of 
 relics. He was the main support of Luther for eight years, 1517-25, though he 
 never saw him except at Worms. Luther speaks of him in high terms in his lec- 
 tures on Romans. Scholia, p. 272 (circa June, 1516). 
 
 ^This was at Wittenberg. There is extant a list of books bought for it by 
 Spalatin. Among those of the year 1512, are the following: Opera Erasmi 
 (probably the Lucubratiunculae, published at Antwerp 1503, 1509 and at Tiibingen 
 1512, is meant. Bibliotheca Erasmiana, i. 119), VzWa's Elegantiae And Annotationes 
 in Novum Testamentum (both edited by Erasmus), the Psaltery of Faber Stapulensis, 
 the works of Augustine, Plutarch, Cicero, Nazianzen, Jerome, Ambrose, Hilary, 
 Bonaventura, Chrisostom, Anselm, and Gerson. In 15 13 were bought a Biblia 
 cum glossa ordinaria, Homer's Odyssey, and Erasmus' Enconium Moriae. Archiv 
 fur Geschichte des deutschen Buchhandels, xviii. Leipsic, 1896. Luther had 
 access to these books; there is one which probably belonged to Frederic annotated 
 by Luther. It is the Psalterium Fabri Stapulensis, cf. Weimar, iv. 464. 
 
46 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 23 
 
 else you may publish. He recently saw with admiration the 
 works of St. Jerome so restored by your editorial care that we 
 may say that prior to that we seemed to have nothing less 
 than the works of Jerome.' 
 
 But why all this? So that, most kind sir, you may believe 
 that I am writing to you with good intentions. My friend 
 writes me that in interpreting the apostle on the righteous- 
 ness of works . . . [Here follows an almost word for word 
 quotation from Luther's letter, supra, no. 21, to . . .] that 
 some will take occasion by your example to defend the killing, 
 that is the literal sense of Scripture, of which almost all since 
 Augustine are full. 
 
 This, most learned sir, is what my friend thought ought 
 to be referred to you as to the Pythian Apollo. Pray hear 
 him, if not for my sake, for that of the whole republic of 
 letters. Wherefore you will do what is most pleasing to us, 
 and also most worthy of your piety, if you kindly deign to 
 answer my good friend and me, however briefly. You will 
 thus gratify my love for you, as my illustrious prince's zeal 
 and reverence for you and Reuchlin and all learned men. I 
 will never be the last in loving and revering you. Farewell, 
 most learned man. . . . 
 
 23. LUTHER TO SPALATIN. 
 Enders, i. 72. Wittenberg, December 14, 1516. 
 
 ... I have written twice to the venerable Franciscan 
 Father James Vogt,^ the elector's confessor, first that he might 
 give my thanks to the elector for the gift of a gown, which 
 is of better cloth than befits a cowl had it not been a prince's 
 gift; and, secondly, that he might make sure the affair of 
 the sacred relics, which he commissioned our most reverend 
 Father Vicar [Staupitz] to get in the regions of the Rhine;' 
 but I know not whether my letters have arrived or will arrive. 
 
 lOn this edition, cf. supra, no. 15, Frederic could read little Latin, his admira- 
 tion was probably vicarious. 
 
 ^Mentioned twice or thrice in these letters; he died April 15, 1522. 
 
 'Frederic was a great collector of relics, of which he had by this time more 
 than 5000, housed in the Castle Church at Wittenberg. Cf. Kolde: Augus- 
 iinercongregaiion, 268, 4o8£f; P. Kalkoff: Ablass und Reliquienverehrung in der 
 Schhsskirche zu Wittenberg. Gotha, 1907. Luther had come to dislike them. 
 Cf. letter to Spalatin, June 8, 1516, translated, Smith, 33f. 
 
Let 23 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 47 
 
 Wherefore will you please find out about it. The reverend 
 Father Vicar asked for relics for the elector from the Arch- 
 bishop of Cologne/ and the business of procuring these relics 
 from the commissary of the archbishop was entrusted to the 
 sub-prior of our monastery at Cologne. But after the departure 
 of Staupitz, when the chief nun of St. Ursula' was required 
 to hand over the relics, she alleged a prohibition of the Pope 
 and said that she could not conscientiously comply without 
 his mandate or permission. And though a writ of the licenser 
 was shown her, yet because she doubted its authority and 
 signature she has not yet complied. If you wish, you may 
 tell the prince either to send thither a licenser of approved 
 authority or else to excuse Staupitz. 
 
 As to what you write about the most illustrious prince 
 speaking of me frequently and praising me, it does not please 
 me at all, yet I pray that the Lord God may give glory to 
 his humility. For I am not worthy that any man should 
 speak of me, still less that a prince should do so and least of 
 all that such a prince should do so. I daily see and experi- - 
 ence that those profit me most who speak of me worst. Yet 
 I pray you permit me to thank our prince for his favor and 
 kindness, though I would not be praised by you or by any 
 man, for the praise of man is vain and that of God only is 
 true, as it is written, "not in man, but in the Lord shall my 
 soul make her boast,'" and again, "glory not in your own 
 name, but in his.'"' Not that they who praise us are to be 
 reprehended, but that they praise man rather than God, to 
 whom alone is laud, honor and glory. Amen. 
 
 You ask me for my opinion of your plan for translating 
 some little works into German,^ but it is beyond my power 
 
 ^Hermann von Wied, archbishop 1505 to 1546, when the Pope deposed him for 
 favoring the Reformation, in which he had sought the aid of Bucer and Melauch- 
 thon. Kostlin-Kawerau, ii. 561, 581. 
 
 2The famous church and convent at Cologne where are exhibited the bones of 
 the eleven thousand virgins. 
 
 SPsalm xxxiv, 3. 
 
 *'PsaIm cv. 3. 
 
 ^Spalatin, who later translated Melanchthon's Loci communes and several of 
 Luther's things, was at this time thinking of translating some of the shorter works 
 of Erasmus. The first thing he did translate from this author was a letter to 
 Antony of Bergen on peace, dated March 14, 1514, under the title: Herre Erasmus 
 Roterodamus Epistel zu Herr Antony von Berg, Apt zu Sant Bertin, von den 
 
48 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 24 
 
 to give it. Who am I to judge what should either please or 
 profit the public, since it lies entirely within God's grace that 
 anything should do either? Or do you not know that some- 
 times the more wholesome a thing is the less it pleases ? What 
 is more wholesome than the gospel and Christ? And yet to 
 most they seem poor and are an odor of death unto death, to 
 very few an odor of life unto life. Perhaps you will say that you 
 at least hope to please those who like good things. Here you 
 have no need of my judgment; the sheep hear every call of 
 the shepherd, and flee only from the voice of a stranger. 
 Be assured, therefore, that whatever you do, if it is only 
 good and the voice of Christ, will please and profit, though 
 only a few, for sheep are few in this land of wolves. 
 
 ... Do not follow your own wishes, however good and 
 pious (for the common monk and priest err often and badly), 
 but ask permission, or rather wait for a command to do this 
 or anything unless you wish your work to be straw. I will 
 add a piece of advice. If you delight in reading pure, sound 
 theology, like that of the earliest age, and in German, read 
 the sermons of John Tauler, the Dominican, of which I send 
 you, as it were, the quintessence.^ I have never read either in 
 Latin or in our own tongue theology more wholesome or 
 more agreeable to the gospel. Taste and see, therefore, how 
 sweet is the Lord, as you have first tasted and seen how 
 bitter is everything in us. Farewell, and pray for me. 
 
 Brother Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 24. LUTHER TO SPALATIN. 
 
 Enders, i. 26. Wittenberg, December 26, 1516.' 
 
 manigfdltigen schdden des Kriegs und was iibeht nachteyls und unwesens uss den 
 Kriegen erwechsst. Printed in quarto without place, date or name of printer. 
 Mr. P. S. Allen (Opus epistolarum Erasmi, i. 551) puts this translation in 1514. 
 but the fact that the letter would hardly circulate so briskly and the passage in 
 the letter here translated, would indicate 1516 or 1517 as a more probable date. 
 There is evidence in a letter from Luther to Spalatin, December 21, 1518, to 
 show that he knew this translation. 
 
 'On Tauler see above no. 20. Luther owned a copy of his sermons in the 
 edition of Augsburg 1508 and his marginal notes are printed Weimar ix. 95. 
 The "quintessence" is the German Theology, a tract by one of Tauler's school, 
 which Luther perhaps attributed to Tauler, and which he first edited in this year. 
 His preface, Weimar, i. 152. 
 
 2This letter is put by Enders in 1515 on the ground that Luther and the 
 Germans of his time dated the new year from Christmas. The same statement is 
 made by Knaake (Weimar, i. 19) and by Bretschneider of Melanchthon. (.Corpus 
 
Let. 24 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 49 
 
 Greeting. Returning yesterday/ excellent Spalatin, I found 
 your letters somewhat late in the day. Please answer the 
 bookseller, Martin, 2 on my behalf, that he cannot expect to 
 have my lectures on the Psalms. Though I would rather not 
 have them printed at all, I am forced to. I have not yet been 
 able to obey the command, but now, having finished lecturing 
 
 Refortnatorum, i. 514.) I have compared all those letters of Luther, to 1541, in 
 which the date is decided by the contents beyond doubt, and find that of 16, 13 
 assume that the New Year begins on Christmas, and 3 (1519, 1527, 1538) that 
 it begins on January i or later. Luther further explains his practice in a sermon 
 on January i, 1531, of which the beginning is reported in the two following forms: 
 (Weimar, xxxiv, part i. i) "Man heist hodiernum diem das Newenjarstage, quan- 
 quam nos Christiani nostrum newen Jarstag anfangen, sicut etiam scribitur 'Anno 
 nativitatis,* doch woUen wir diesen newen jarstag hinwegwerffen, quanquam inceptus 
 a Romanis et hie mos mansit apud nos, sub tempore Romano sumus, Et alia multa ut 
 Juristerei und Babstum ein gros stuck. Item secundum Romanorum horologium 
 et dierum appelationes.'' And : "Man heyst diss tag des Newen j bars tag, in 
 qua circumcisio Christi agatur. Wiewol wyr Christen begehen unsern newjars tag 
 am Cbristtag, tamen ilium non reiiciemus, qui a more Romano hue venit. Solden 
 wyr all das weg werffen das von heyden her kummet, totum jus civile et Papatus 
 reiicienda essent." However these texts have been corrupted it is plain from them 
 that Luther knew of the beginning of the year on January 1, though at the time 
 he speaks he thought it more Christian to begin on December 25. This would 
 lead us to expect some variation in his practice, just as we have found to be 
 the case. I therefore think that though the presumption is that the new year was 
 begun on the latter date, yet the weight of evidence from the context of the 
 letter should be decisive. The reasons why I put this letter in 1516 are the fol- 
 lowing: I. Luther speaks of having been ordered (by whom it is not known, prob- 
 ably by Staupitz or possibly the elector) to print his Dictata super Psalterium. 
 These lectures were not finished until 1516. In the letter to Lang of October 26, 
 1516, Luther says he is "collector Psalterii" (Enders, i. 67), and In this letter that 
 the lectures *'non ita collecta sunt." Luther's revision would be more likely to 
 occupy two months than ten. j. Luther never published the Dictata which first 
 appeared in 1876, but in the spring of 1517 he did publish a commentary on the 
 Seven Penitential Psalms. Kostlin-Kawerau, i. 116. I believe this was a sub- 
 stitute for the publication of the whole, for the time agrees exactly with what is 
 said in this letter about being ready to publish by Lent. 3. Luther speaks of having 
 finished lecturing on Paul, He is thinking of his lectures on Romans which 
 probably were finished by the beginning of the winter term 1516, certainly not 
 before, as the numerous quotations from Erasmus' Greek Testament (published 
 March, 1516) prove. Cf. Ficker: Luthers Vorlesung iiber den Romerbrieft 1908. 
 It is true that in the letter to Lang of October 26 he says that he expects to 
 begin lecturing on Galatians on the following day, but this, though a difficulty, 
 is not so great as would be the alternative of placing the letter in 1515. He may 
 not have begun lecturing as soon as he expected, or it may be a simple slip. 
 
 ^The explanation of this given in Lincke: Luthers Reisegeschichte (1796), 
 p. 26, that Luther had been called to Erfurt to settle the difficulties with the 
 faculty there mentioned in the letters of 15 14, would be improbable in any 
 circumstances, doubly so if this letter is in 1516. Luther made a good many trips 
 on business of his order. 
 
 2"Martino mercatori," the second word taken by De Wette as a proper name, 
 perhaps "Kaufmann." No such bookseller is known. There was a Martin 
 Herbipolensis at Leipsic, and T. Martens, "the Aldus of the Netherlands," who 
 printed at Louvain, 1512-29. Staupitz had frequent dealings with the Netherlands. 
 
 4 
 
50 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 26 
 
 on Paul, I can give myself to this work alone. But even 
 when it is finished, it will not be in such a form that it can be 
 printed away from me. Moreover, the professors here wish 
 that it should be published by our printer.' This cannot be 
 done before Lent. This also pleases me (if it must be pub- 
 lished at all), because it will thus come out in poor style; 
 for those things which are worked up with good types and 
 by careful and able printers do not seem to me to be worthy, 
 but are for the most part trifles deserving the sponge. Fare- 
 well. Hastily," from the monastery, the day after Christmas, 
 noon, 1516. Brother Martin Luder, Augustinian. 
 
 25. LUTHER TO GEORGE MASCOV, PROVOST IN LEITZKAU. 
 Enders, i. 76. Wittenberg (last months of 1516). 
 
 Mascov, who later became evangelical pastor at Leitzkau, was not 
 an Augustinian, but a Praemonstratensian whom Luther had perhaps 
 come to know through his business relations with the town. Cf. letter 
 to Lang, October 26, 1516, translated. Smith, 32f. 
 
 The date of this letter seems to be fixed by the allusion to the 
 plague which raged in Saxony during the autumn of 1516. 
 
 Be strong in Christ, nor be troubled because hearts and 
 bodies die. For these are signs of grace rather than of wrath. 
 For God is most angry when he least shows it, as he says 
 through Ezekiel, "I will be no more angry and my jealousy 
 shall depart from thee."^ This is to be most feared, for it is 
 only spoken to the reprobate. At the end of my letter I beg 
 you to pray the Lord for me, for I confess to you that my 
 life daily approaches nearer hell, for I become worse and 
 more miserable all the time. Farewell. 
 
 An exiled son of Adam, 
 
 Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 26. LUTHER TO GEORGE MASCOV, PROVOST AT LEITZKAU. 
 Enders, i. 77. (1S16?) 
 
 Greeting. Like your order, I believe all orders are run- 
 
 1 Probably John Grunenberg, who printed the Seven Penitential Psalms. Luther 
 speaks of him elsewhere, as a poor, slow printer, but as a God-fearing man. 
 
 SThe fact that the letter was written hastily makes it more probable that, 
 supposing he had meant to date it 1517, he should have dated it 1516, just as 
 we often put the date of the past year on the first days of January. 
 
 Sxlii. 16. 
 
Let. 27 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 51 
 
 ning down hill and acting slothfully so that those who are 
 placed as their guardians may act vigilantly. If, therefore, 
 you are not able to accomplish anything by peace and good- 
 ness, I do not advise you to fight obstinately with all your 
 might against the majority of your monks. Give place to 
 wrath and let the tares come up with the wheat; it is better 
 to save the moderate in peace than to disturb all on account 
 of many. It is better to tolerate many on account of a few 
 than to ruin a few on account of many. 
 
 Brother Martin Luther. 
 
 27. CHRISTOPHER SCHEURL TO LUTHER. 
 
 Enders, i. 79. Nuremberg, January 2, 1517. 
 
 Scheurl (1481-1542), of Nuremberg, visited Italy 1500; LL. D., 
 1504; lectured on jurisprudence at Wittenberg 1507-11. Then he re- 
 turned to Nuremberg and filled various high offices, e. g., being sent 
 to represent the cities before the Emperor in Spain, 1523. He was a 
 warm friend both of the Reformers and some of their opponents, 
 especially John Eck, until about 1523, when he returned to the 
 Catholic Church. In 1533 he passed through Wittenbery without see- 
 ing Luther. Allgemeine Deutsche Biographic. 
 
 Honored Sir,^ and reverend Father, the Augustinian pro- 
 fession, your splendid virtue and great fame have so made 
 me your subject that I greatly desire to be your friend, and 
 to be inscribed in the catalogue of your intimates. With our 
 common parent and vicar I conversed as much as the busi- 
 ness of each of us permitted, and during several days and 
 a part of the night the subject of our talk was frequently 
 your excellence, goodness and learning. Besides Martin, we 
 especially desired Otto Beckmann^ and Amsdorf.' [The rest 
 of the letter is chiefly concerned with Staupitz's sermon* on 
 predestination.] 
 
 'Obsequia parata. ' 
 
 2 Of Warburg, near Paderborn, studied at Deventer, matriculated at Leipsic 1506; 
 B. A. 1502; entered Wittenberg 1507; M. A. 1508. He received a canonry and 
 taught here until 1 517, when he spent some weeks at Erfurt, matriculating free 
 of cost. In 1524, having remained Catholic, he became priest at Warburg, and in 
 1527 was made provost of St. Giles (Aegidius) at Miinster, from which city he 
 was sent in 1530 as delegate to the Diet of Augsburg. He died in 1556. He 
 was the author of several books. Archiv fur Reformationsgeschichte, vii. igsff. 
 
 SNicholas von Amsdorf (December 3, 1483-May 14, 1565), Luther's most devoted 
 follower, born at Torgau, matriculated at Leipsic 1500 and at Wittenberg 1502, 
 
52 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 28 
 
 28. LUTHER TO CHRISTOPHER SCHEURL AT NUREMBERG. 
 Enders, i. 81. Wittenberg, January 27, 1517. 
 
 Greeting. Learned and kind Christopher, I received your 
 letter, which to me was both very pleasant and very sad. 
 Why do you frown? For what could you write more agree- 
 able than the well merited praises of the reverend father, or 
 rather of Christ in his vessel, our vicar? Nothing can please 
 me more than to hear that Christ is preached, heard and 
 received, or rather lived, felt and understood. Again, what 
 could you write more bitter than that you desire my friend- 
 ship, and than the many empty titles with which you load me ? 
 • I do not wish you to be my friend, for my friendship will 
 bring you not glory, but danger, if, at least, that proverb is 
 true that friends have all things in common. Wherefore, if 
 you partake of what I have by this friendship, you will find 
 yourself richer in nothing but sin, folly and ignominy. Such 
 are the qualities in me, which, as I have said, you called by 
 such contrary epithets. But I know that you savor of Christ 
 and you will say : I admire not you, but Christ in you. To 
 which I answer: How can Christ, true righteousness, dwell 
 with sin and folly? Nay, it is the height of arrogance to 
 presume that you are the habitation of Christ, except that 
 this boast is easily permitted to the apostles. Therefore I 
 congratulate your happiness in becoming the familiar friend 
 of our father, Staupitz, but I pray you spare your honor and 
 do not degenerate into my friendship, even though the rev- 
 erend father himself, not without peril to me, boasts of me 
 everywhere and says : "I preach not you, but Christ in you," 
 and I must believe it. But it is hard to believe. For this is the 
 unhappiness of this wretched life, that the more numerous and 
 
 becoming M. A. in 1504 and licentiate in theology 151 1. To him Luther dedicated 
 the Address to the German Nobility, 1520 (Smith, 79). In 1521 he accompanied 
 Luther to Worms. In 1524 he was called to Magdeburg. In 1534 he took a 
 prominent part in Luther's quarrel with Erasmus, which brought him into trouble 
 with Melanchthon and Bucer. In 1542 Luther consecrated him Evangelical Bishop 
 of Naumburg, which position he was obliged to vacate in consequence of the 
 Schmalkaldic war (1547). In 1552 he obtained a position at Eisenach. His last 
 years were disturbed by quarrels with other Lutherans. Realencyclop'ddie. 
 
 ^De Executione aeternae predestinationis, which Scheurl translated into German. 
 On this work see: T. Kolde: Attgiistiner-Congregation, 280, and Humbert: 
 Origines de la theologie moderne. It shows marked influence of Luther's ideas 
 on his former teacher. Kolde, op. cit., p. 296. 
 
Let. 29 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 53 
 
 unanimous are the voices of our friends praising us, the 
 more hurtful they are, as it is written:^ "a man's enemies 
 are those of his own household," and again, "those who 
 praised me conspired against me."^ For God's favor recedes 
 as man's advances. For God will be your only friend, or will 
 not be your friend at all. . . . 
 
 I do not write this, excellent Christopher, in scorn of your 
 upright and kind intentions, but because I fear for myself. 
 You do the office of a pious Christian, who ought to despise 
 none but himself, but I must also try to be a Christian like 
 you (if our future friendship is to be solid), that is, to despise 
 myself. For he is not a Christian who receives a man on 
 account of his learning, virtue, sanctity and fame (for thus 
 the gentiles do and the little poets,'' as they call themselves, 
 of our age), but he who cherishes the destitute, the poor, 
 the foolish, the sinner and the wretched. . . . 
 
 Behold your verbose friend ; do you as a friend be a patient 
 reader. 
 
 Brother Martin Luder, 
 One of the Hermits of the Sect of St. Augustine. 
 
 29. CHRISTOPHER SCHEURL TO JOHN ECK AT 
 INGOLSTADT. 
 
 Christoph Scheurls Briefbuch, hg. von Soden und Knaake, 2 v. Pots- 
 dam, 1867-72, ii. 2. Nuremberg, January 14, 1517. 
 
 John Maier of Eck (November 13, 1486-February 10, 1543) in 
 Swabia, matriculated at Heidelberg in 1498, at Tiibingen in 1499, tak- 
 ing the degree of B. A. there in the same year, and M. A. in 1501. 
 From 1502-10 he was at the university of Freiburg in Breisgau, be- 
 coming D. D. in the last named year. He published several things, 
 among them the Chryssopassus ( ! cf. Revelations, xxi. 20). From 
 1510 till his death he was professor at Ingolstadt. In 1514, at the 
 request of the banking house of Fugger in Augsburg, he maintained 
 the justice of taking interest at 5 per cent., and debated the subject 
 in 1515 at Bologna, and in 1517 at Vienna. He was anxious to dis- 
 tinguish himself, and early in 1518 attacked Erasmus for saying that 
 the Greek of the New Testament was not as good as that of Demos- 
 thenes. About the same time Scheurl sent him Luther's Theses, 
 which he answered in a work called Obelisks. A debate between him 
 
 ^Matthew x. z^. 
 
 2Psalm cii. 9. 
 
 ^The humanists frequently called themselves poets. 
 
54 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 30 
 
 on one side and Luther and Carlstadt on the other was arranged at 
 Leipsic, June and July, 1519. In March, 1520, he was at Rome, where 
 he was largely instrumental in drawing up the bull Exsurge Domine 
 against Luther. He was entrusted with the publication of it in Ger- 
 many in the autumn of the same year. In 1530 he was the Catholic 
 protagonist at the Diet of Augsburg, and after that in several religious 
 conferences, notably that of Ratisbon, 1541. Cf. Realencyclopadie; 
 Graving: Reformationgeschichtliche Studien und Texte, Hefte i., iv., 
 v.; H. E. Jacobs, in Papers of American Soc. of Ch. History, 2d 
 Series, ii., 1910. 
 
 . . . Among the theologians [at Wittenberg] the most 
 eminent are Martin Luther, the Augustinian, who expounds 
 the epistles of the Tarsan with marvellous genius, Carlstadt, 
 Amsdorff, Feltkirchen [Bernhardi], and others. If you wish 
 to make the acquaintance of any of them, find out if we can 
 do anything for you. 
 
 30. LUTHER TO JOHN LANG AT ERFURT. 
 Enders, i. 87. Wittenberg, March i, 1517. 
 
 ... If the Psalms^ translated and explained by me in 
 German please no one, yet they please me exceeding well.^ 
 John Griinenberg, the printer, is waiting for you to finish 
 those I sent you. 
 
 I am reading our Erasmus, and my opinion of him becomes 
 daily worse. He pleases me, indeed, for boldly and learnedly 
 convicting and condemning monks and priests of inveterate 
 ignorance, but I fear that he does not sufficiently advance 
 the cause of Christ and God's grace, in which he is much 
 more ignorant than Lefevre d'fitaples, for human considera- 
 tions weigh with him more than divine. I judge him with 
 reluctance, and only to warn you not to read all his works, 
 or rather not to accept all without scrutiny. For our times 
 are very perilous and everyone who knows Greek and Hebrew 
 
 Wie sieben Busspsalmen, Wittenberg, 1517. This was Luther's first publication 
 written by himself (the very first having been the German Theology), printed April. 
 Luther is perhaps sending them to Lang for revision by that friend who knew 
 Hebrew. Reprinted, Weimar, i. 154ft- 
 
 ^Luther probably means that they please him because they will please no one 
 else, for he considered this the surest sign of divine favor. Cf. the letter of 
 December 26, 1516, where he says he prefers to have them come out in poor 
 form. Knaake (Weimar, i. 154) seems to miss this meaning when he says: "Luther 
 hatte seine herzliche Freude an ihnen." 
 
Let. 31 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 55 
 
 is not for that reason a wise Christian, seeing that Jerome, 
 with his five languages, did not equal Augustine with his one, 
 although Erasmus thinks him so superior. But the opinion 
 of him who attributes something to man's will is far different 
 from the opinion of him who knows nothing but grace.^ I 
 much prefer to conceal this opinion for fear of confirming 
 the enemies of Erasmus; the Lord will perchance give him 
 understanding in his own time. Farewell and salute the pro- 
 fessors and Leifler, and inquire whether Trutfetter^ has 
 deigned to answer anything.^ 
 
 Brother Martin Luther, Aitgustinian Vicar. 
 
 31. LUTHER TO SPALATIN. 
 Enders, i. 89. (Wittenberg, Spring of 1517.) 
 
 Greeting. As you wish, excellent Sir, I am sending you 
 the Latin tract on predestination,* and if you wish it in 
 German, I send you also Scheurl's translation, which is more 
 ornate than the original. Of all the books, I have kept only 
 The Imitation of Christ's Death^ for myself, the others I have 
 given away. Therefore use my copy and I will see if I can 
 get some more. The third book,° the little Adam, is unlike 
 
 ^It is interesting to see that the subject of the great debate between Erasmus 
 and Luther, 1524-5, was thus early clearly defined. 
 
 ^Jodocus Trutfetter (c. 1460-c. December i, 15 19) of Eisenach, matriculated at 
 Erfurt 1476, became M. A. 1484, bachelor of divinity 1489 and D. D. 1504. He 
 taught logic on which he published a number of books of the "modern," i. e., 
 Occamist school. In 1507 he was called to teach at Wittenberg, where he was 
 elected Rector at once, and on May i, 1508, Dean of the theological faculty. 
 After a violent quarrel with some of his colleagues, he returned to Erfurt in the 
 summer of 1510, where he remained as professor the rest of his life. Life by 
 G. Plitt, 1876. 
 
 *This refers to a letter of Luther to Lang, February 8 (translated Smith, 26) 
 in which the writer enclosed some propositions criticizing the prevalent logic and 
 especially Aristotle, which he desired to have communicated to Trutfetter and 
 Usingen. 
 
 *This is tbe sermon of Staupitz, Libellus de executione aeternac praedestinationis, 
 mentioned by Scheurl, January 2, 1517. Scheurl translated it, and edited both 
 the German, January 20, and the Latin, February 6. Cf. Humbert, op. cit., 3i8ff. 
 
 ^Staupitz' Ein buchlin von der nachfolgung des willigen sterbens Christi. 
 Leipzig, 1515. 
 
 *Luther means his edition of the German Theology of 1516, of which the title 
 was: Eyn geystlich edles Buchleynn, von rechter underscheyd und vorstand. Was 
 der alt unn new mensche sey. Was Adams und was gottis kind sey. Unn wie 
 Adam ynn uns sterben unnd ChPystus ersteen sail, Cf. Weimar, i. 153. 
 
56 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let- 3' 
 
 anything that has ever come into my hands (I lie not) 
 and most theological. I send it, but I shall be sorry I have 
 done so if you read it carelessly. Behold most learned 
 Erasmus and Jerome so much praised by him! I do not 
 know whether they could compose such a book, but I know 
 they have not done so. 
 
 I no longer have the Psalms, but the printer.* Truly, I am 
 sorry that you want them so much, for they are not published 
 for choice minds, but for the simplest, of whom I have to 
 bear with many. Therefore they are not provided with 
 learned apparatus and are without parallel passages in Scrip- 
 ture, and, though very verbose, strange to say, insufiSciently 
 explained. For their subject is foreign to men, or rather they 
 are incapable of understanding it. So it is not for your mind 
 to eat predigested food like this. You already have enough 
 in the works just mentioned, or if they are not enough, I beg 
 you trust yourself to me this once, and with all your power 
 lay hold on the book of Tauler's sermons, of which I spoke 
 to you before. You can easily get it from Christian Doring," 
 a most theological man. From this book you will see how 
 the learning of our age is iron, or rather earthen, be it Greek, 
 Latin or Hebrew, compared to the learning of this true piety. 
 Farewell. 
 
 My opinion of Wimpina's book on predestination' is the 
 same as Carlstadt's, namely, that he has labored in vain as 
 far as the subject goes. You can easily form an opinion of 
 the labored elegance of his style. Even if the theses he tries 
 to prove were true, he should not draw the conclusions which 
 he does from it. 
 
 ^The Seven Penitential Psalms. 
 
 'A goldsmith who was also a printer and bookseller, mentioned often by Luther 
 as a friend. He died circa 1534. 
 
 '■De divina providentia. Frankfort a. O. March », 1516. Conrad Koch, known 
 as Wimpina (c. 1460-May 17, 1531), matriculated at Leipzig 1479, B. A. 1481, 
 M. A. i486, doctor theol. 1503. At this time, or perhaps earlier, he visited 
 Rome. He was involved in a quarrel with Pollich, first rector of Wittenberg. 
 In 1506 he was called by the elector of Brandenburg to be dean of the new 
 university of Frankfort-on-the-Odor, where he spent the rest of his life. In 1 5 17 
 he had a controversy with Egranus which will be noticed below. On January 20, 
 1518, John Tetzel, the indulgence preacher, took Luther's Theses to Frankfort and 
 with Wimpina's help composed a reply. In 1523 he wrote the Anacephalaeosis 
 (printed 1528) against Luther and in 1530 was at the Diet of Augsburg, Life by 
 J. Negwer, 1909. 
 
Let. 34 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 57 
 
 32. CHRISTOPHER SCHEURL TO LUTHER. 
 Enders, i. 92. Nuremberg, April I, 1517. 
 
 Honored Sir: — I told my friend, John Eck,^ about your 
 virtue, which makes him desirous of knowing you. He does 
 not write, but sends you the book of his disputation.^ I 
 doubt not that you will answer him and discharge my obliga- 
 tion, as you think it base to be conquered in love or over- 
 come in kindness. Please write him cordially, for I think 
 him worthy of your friendship. The reverend father" speaks 
 of you often and hopes you are well. I desire to commend 
 myself to your prayers. Beckmann will explain what the 
 Emperor* is doing. Farewell. 
 
 Dr. C. S. 
 
 33. LUTHER TO SPALATIN. 
 
 Enders, i. 94. Wittenberg, April 3, 1317. 
 
 Good men have told me, excellent Sir, that you were the 
 trustee for the estate of the late Dr. Reuter,^ to distribute 
 clothing to the poor. I have, therefore, been requested to ask 
 you for something for this youth Wolfgang,^ whom we are 
 maintaining here from charity ; he is an honest and promising 
 boy. . . . 
 
 34. LUTHER TO SPALATIN. 
 
 Enders, i. 95. (Wittenberg, April 9, 1S17.) 
 
 Greeting. I thank you, dear Spalatin, for your splendid 
 inclination towards me. For I look at the mind only, which 
 is to be preferred to all gifts. You ask me to tell you what 
 you ought to read these days; I advise Augustine on the 
 grace of the New Testament to Honoratus, in which he also 
 
 ^Cf. supra, no. 29. 
 
 ^Dispntatio Joan. Eckii Theologi Viennae Pannoniae habita. Augsburg Feb- 
 ruary I, 1517. On taking interest. 
 
 "Stanpitz. 
 
 *This refers to the endeavors of Maximilian to get his grandson Charles elected 
 king of the Romans. 
 
 ^Kilian Renter of Mellerstadt, M. A. of Cologne, matriculated at Wittenberg 
 1S05, died 1516. 
 
 B-AVolfgang Sieberger of Munich, matriculated 1513, in 1517 was taken into the 
 Black Cloister where he became a sort of a servant. After all the monks had left 
 but Luther, he remained as his faithful servant for many years. See Kroker: 
 Catkarina von Bora (Leipzig, 1906), p. 186. 
 
58 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let 35 
 
 treats Psalm, xxii., so suitable for this season, or else Hilary's 
 Explanation of the Psalms, or else Cyprian's not inept ser- 
 mons, or Augustine on John, beginning with chapter xiii., 
 which narrates the events of Easter week. I shall try, if I am 
 able, to-morrow to teach how Christ may be seen in every 
 man.^ Farewell. 
 
 Martin Luther. 
 
 35. LUTHER TO CHRISTOPHER SCHEURL AT NUREMBERG. 
 Enders, i. 96. Wittenberg, May 6, 1517. 
 
 Greeting. Dear Sir, I thank you for your gifts of Staupitz's 
 works, but I am sorry that the reverend father distributed 
 my foolish trifles^ among you. For they were not written for 
 Nurembergers, that is, for dehcate, discerning souls, but for 
 Saxons, rude people as you know, who need their Christian 
 doctrine chewed and predigested for them with all possible 
 care. But even if I wished it, I would not be able to write 
 anything tolerable to Latin ears, less than ever now that I 
 have chosen to devote myself to the service of the dull crowd. 
 Wherefore I pray you keep my book from the inspection of 
 the learned as much as you can. 
 
 I have written a friendly and careful letter to our Eck as 
 you asked me, but I do not know whether it has reached 
 him. 
 
 I am sending you these declarations, which they call Theses, 
 and through you to Father Wenzel Link, and to any others 
 who may care for this sort of tidbit. If I mistake not, you 
 have here not the Paradoxes of Cicero,' but those of our 
 Carlstadt,' or rather of St. Augustine, which are as much 
 more wonderful and worthy than those of Cicero, as Augus- 
 tine or rather Christ is more worthy than Cicero. For these 
 Paradoxes convict of carelessness or ignorance all those to 
 whom they seem more paradox than orthodox, not to say 
 those who, having not read, or not understood, Paul and 
 Augustine, rashly judge them heterodox,' blinding themselves 
 
 *Two sermons De passione Chrisii, Weimar, i. 335. 
 
 27. e-., the Seven Penitential Psalms. 
 
 SCiceronis Paradoxa ad M. Brutum. 
 
 'Oa Carlstadt's Theses, cf. supra, p. 42, note. 
 
 ^Cacodoxa. 
 
Let. 36 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 59 
 
 and others. They are paradoxes to men of mediocre abihty, 
 who had not thought of them, but they are good doctrine and 
 fair doctrine to the wise, and to me the best of doctrine.' 
 Blessed be God who again commands light to shine in the 
 darkness. . . . 
 
 Brother Martin Luder, Augustinian. 
 
 36. LUTHER TO GEORGE MASCOV, PROVOST IN LEITZKAU. 
 Enders, i. 98. Wittenberg^ May 17, 1517. 
 
 Greeting. I sympathize, Reverend Father; I pity the fall 
 of your brother and ours ; he yesterday, we to-day, or rather 
 he yesterday, we yesterday, to-day and always are sons of 
 Adam and, therefore, do the works of Adam. Yet we must 
 not despair of God's powerful hand. It is difficult for me 
 to judge and counsel you what to do with him, especially as 
 I do not know your rules. If they do not punish such a 
 transgression with death or life-long imprisonment, it seems 
 to me that he should be made to suffer the full penalty. For 
 it is not you who punish him thus, but justice and the law 
 of which you are not the judge, but the officer. Let not the 
 thought that you are an equal or greater sinner move you. 
 It is enough to confess this to God. It is edifying to think 
 that we must almost always correct those who are better than 
 ourselves, teach those who are more learned, help the worthier, 
 that the saying of the Lord^ may be established, that the 
 princes of the nations rule over them as their inferiors, but 
 the princes of the faithful serve them as their superiors ; for, 
 he says, whosoever is greatest amongst you let him be your 
 servant. Therefore keep your heart humble and gentle to 
 this man, but show the power of a strong hand, since the 
 power is not yours, but God's, but the humility ought not 
 to be God's, but yours. Who knows whether he was per- 
 mitted to make the stench of his sin public because he could 
 not cure it in secret, but only by public shame. God is 
 wonderful in all his ways above the sons of men. He cures 
 many of sin by sin, as poison is counteracted by poison. Where- 
 
 *"Sunt igitur paradoxa modestis, et qui non ea cognoverint, sed eudoxa et 
 calodoxa scientibus, mihi vero aristodoxa." 
 *Luke xxii. 25. 
 
60 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 39 
 
 fore be not afraid; it is the Lord who does this. Praise 
 and love him and pray him for this poor man and for me 
 more devoutly. Farewell. 
 
 Brother Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 37- LUTHER TO JOHN LANG AT ERFURT. 
 Enders, i. loi. Wittenberg, July 16, 1517. 
 
 I am preparing six or seven candidates for the master's 
 examination, of whom one, Adrian,^ is preparing theses to 
 shame Aristotle, for whom I want to make as many enemies 
 and as quickly as I can. . . . 
 
 38. LUTHER TO SPALATIN AT WITTENBERG. 
 Enders, i. 105. (Wittenberg, end of August, 1517.) 
 
 Greeting. Do you and the confessor,'' with his friend, come 
 about nine o'clock.' If Christopher Scheurl, as ambassador,' 
 is with you, let him come, too ; otherwise, I have asked Beck- 
 mann to invite him. Farewell. Try to get some wine for us, 
 for you know you are coming from the castle to the cloister, 
 not from the cloister to the castle. 
 
 Brother Martin Luther. 
 
 39. LUTHER TO JOHN LANG AT ERFURT. 
 Enders, i. 106. Wittenberg, September 4, 1517. 
 
 Greeting. I have sent to you by Beckmann' my Theses 
 against Scholastic Theology/^ and my sermons on the Ten 
 Commandments,' but I did not have time to write then, as 
 his departure was announced to me suddenly. But I am 
 
 ^Adrian of Antwerp, mentioned in the letter of October, 1516, who died a martyr 
 to the evangelic faith in 1531. On the theses cf. infra, no. 39. 
 
 2James Vogt. He and Spalatin were both attending the elector at the castle. 
 
 8Ten in the morning was the usual hour for the principal meal, supper being 
 about five p. ra. It must be remembered Luther and his contemporaries rose at 
 four or five in the morning. 
 
 *It is not known what Scheurl's business At Wittenberg was. He had previously 
 taught jurisprudence there. 
 
 5\\'ho was now going to study at Erfurt 
 
 'This was the disputation under Luthei's presidency by Francis Gunther of 
 Nordhausen on his promotion to the first theoVigical degree (baccalaureus ad Biblia), 
 held on the very day this letter was writter.. Printed, Weimar, i. 221. 
 
 'The Decern Praecepta Wiltenbergensi praelHcata populo, sermons delivered from 
 the summer of 1516 to Lent 1517. but not printed until 1518. Weimar, i. 394. 
 
Let. 40 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 61 
 
 waiting with the greatest eagerness and anxiety to know what 
 you think of these paradoxes. Truly I fear that they will 
 seem not only paradox, but heterodox, to your teachers, which 
 can be only orthodox to us. Please let me know this as soon 
 as possible, and assure my truly reverend masters in the the- 
 ological faculty and in the other departments, that I am most 
 ready to come and defend the theses publicly, either in the 
 university or in the monastery, so that they may not think I 
 am whispering in a corner, if, indeed, they esteem our 
 university so meanly as to think it a corner. 
 
 I am sending you the Ten Commandments in both Latin 
 and German,' so that if you wish you may preach them to 
 the people, for it is that I did according to the gospel precept 
 as I understand it. . . . Farewell. 
 
 Brother Martin Luder. 
 
 P. S. — Please send back as soon as possible my lectures 
 on Galatians," for the copy belongs to Brother Augustine 
 Himmel,' of Cologne. 
 
 40. LUTHER TO CHRISTOPHER SCHEURL AT NUREMBERG. 
 Enders, i. 108. Wittenberg, September 11, 1517. 
 
 Greeting. Sweet Christopher, even if this letter has no 
 occasion worthy of a man so great as you, yet I thought I 
 had sufficient reason to write only in our friendship, not 
 regarding the titles with which you are worthily adorned, but 
 only your pure, upright, kind and recent affection for me. 
 For, if ever silence is a fault, it is silence between friends, 
 for a little nonsense now and then fosters and even perfects 
 friendship as much as gravity does. . . . Wherefore I pre- 
 ferred to write nonsense, rather than not to write at all. And 
 
 ^Luther's text is known only in Latin; when a German version appeared at Basle 
 in 1 520 it was made by Sebastian Miinster. 
 
 ^These were the lectures on Galatians begun October 27, 1516 {cf. supra, p. 49), 
 but not printed until 1519, and then in a revised form. A copy of the original 
 lectures by an unknown student is still in existence. Kostlin-Kawerau, i. 107, 
 note 2, According to this the lectures were finished March 17, 1517. 
 
 SEorn at Emmerich am Rhein, matriculated at Wittenberg 1516, returned 1521 
 to Cologne, where his lectures were forbidden, then to Wittenberg again. He was 
 at Luther's recommendation made pastor first of Neustadt-am-Odor and then of 
 Colditz 1529. He succeeded Spalatin (1545) at Altenburg and died there 1553. 
 Enders, vi. 142. 
 
62 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 41 
 
 how, ye gods, could that Brother Martin, falsely called a 
 theologian, write anything but nonsense, since he has been 
 reared amidst the hissing and frying of syllogisms, and has 
 had no time to cultivate his pen ? . . . 
 
 Of the valuable' books of Staupitz, which you sent me by 
 Ulrich Finder,^ I sold part; part I gave to good friends 
 of the reverend author, and as you bade, I devoted the money 
 to the poor; that is, I spent it on my brothers and myself, 
 for I know none poorer. Please send me, if possible, some 
 more books with the same command, worth a gulden, which 
 I will repay you. For some persons still want the books. 
 
 I am sending my propositions,' which will seem paradoxes, 
 if not heterodox, to many, which you may show to our learned 
 and ingenious Eck, so that I may hear and see what he has 
 to say about them. . . . 
 
 Brother Martin Luder, 
 Augustinian of Wittenberg. 
 
 41. CHRISTOPHER SCHEURL TO LUTHER. 
 Enders, i. iii. Nuremberg, September 30, 1517. 
 
 Greeting in Jesus Christ. You have certainly done well, 
 reverend and learned Father, to write and excuse your silence, 
 for it is known to many that I am an Augustinian who think 
 it base to be conquered in love. Our special friend, Wenzel 
 Link, a good and learned man, bears witness to this. . . . 
 Among others, the most conspicuous for learning and sanctity 
 is Jerome Ebner, the honey and darling of Nuremberg, a 
 duumvir,* and of all men the kindest and most upright. He 
 is most devoted to your eminence, at table he hears and speaks 
 of you, he has, reads and admires your Decalogue, Proposi- 
 tions^ and other publications.^ ... I will send you fifteen 
 
 ^"Ferme pro 2 aureis," worth about two gulden, or one dollar, the purchasing 
 power of money at that time being nearly twenty times what it is now. 
 
 ^Of Nuremberg, matriculated at Wittenberg 1511, studied law, and became 
 professor of it in 1525. The next year he was sent on an embassy by the elector 
 to the Emperor in Spain. 
 
 ^On scholastic philosophy, cf. last letter. 
 
 ♦Nuremberg, a free city, was ruled by two officers called in German "Losunper." 
 Ebner (January 5, 1477-August 26, 1532), became second Losunger 1515, first 
 Losunger and judge of the Empire 1524. 
 
 6See last letter. 
 
 •The German Theology or the Sei'en Penitential Psalms. 
 
Let 42 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 63 
 
 copies of Staupitz's tract as soon as I can and for a gift. I 
 will send your Propositions on Scholastic Theology to Eck, 
 and would like to send them to the theologians of Cologne 
 and Heidelberg, for I know several of them. Farewell. 
 
 42. LUTHER TO SPALATIN. 
 Enders, i. 121. (Early in November, I5i7-) 
 
 Greeting. I have determined, dear Spalatin, never to com- 
 municate the Dialogue^ to anyone. My only reason is that it 
 is so merry, so learned, so ingenious (that is, so Erasmian), 
 that it makes the reader laugh and joke at the vices and 
 miseries of Christ's church, for which rather every Christian 
 ought to pray and weep. But as you ask for it, here it is, 
 read it and use it and then return it. 
 
 I do not wish my Theses^ to come into the hands of the 
 illustrious elector or of any of the courtiers before they are 
 received by those who beHeve that they are branded by them, 
 lest perchance it be thought that I had published them at the 
 instigation of the elector^ against the Bishop of Magdeburg,* 
 
 ^F. A. F. Poetae Regii libellus de obitu Julii P. M. 1513. Reprinted in Booking: 
 Hutteni opera (1859-66), iv. 421, and in Jortin's Life of Erasmus (1758-60), ii. 
 600-622. Translated in Froude's Erasmus. The authorship is much disputed. 
 Knaake (Weimar vi. 393) and Pastor: History of the Popes, English translation 
 by Antrobus, vi. 438, note, attribute it to Faustus Andrelinus Forliviensis ; 
 Jortin, loc. cii., and Nichols: Epistles of Erasmus (1901-4), ii. 446-g, give it to 
 Erasmus, on the ground of a letter from More to Erasmus; so does Allen: Opus 
 epistolarum Erasmi, Ep. 502. But cf. More's statement, Jortin ii. 686. Luther 
 at one time thought of translating the dialogue, but gave it up fearing he could 
 not do it justice. Kroker: Lutkers Tischreden (1903) no. 45. Cf. infra, 
 February 20, 1519, no. 130. 
 
 *The famous Ninety-five Theses on Indulgences. Reprinted Weimar, i. 233, and 
 in Luthers Werke in Auswahl, ed. O. Clemen, 1912, i. i. They were first printed 
 in October and sent around to various Church dignitaries, including Albert of 
 Mayence. On October 31 Luther posted them on the door of the Castle Church. 
 Cf. Smith, op. cit., 4off. 
 
 ^Albert was a rival of Frederic in other matters besides collecting relics, of 
 which Luther speaks in his lectures on Romans, Scholia, 305. Luther several 
 times defends himself against the charge here mentioned, e. g., in his Wider 
 Hans IVurst, 1542. 
 
 ^Albert (June 20, 1490-September 24, 1545), was the second son of the Elector 
 John Cicero of Brandenburg and Margaret, a daughter of William of Saxony. 
 Destined to the Church, his family influence early secured him advancement. 
 In 1513 he became Archbishop of Magdeburg and Administrator of Halberstadt, 
 and on March 9, 1514, was elected Archbishop and Elector of Mayence and 
 Primate of Germany. For papal confirmation in these illegal pluralities he had 
 to pay enormous sums, for raising which Pope Leo X, in August, 1515, granted 
 an indulgence sale for eight years. Luther, who had already preached against 
 indulgences several times, on October 31, 1517, posted the famous Ninety-five 
 
64 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 43 
 
 as I already hear some persons dream. But now, we can 
 even swear that they were published without the knowledge of 
 Frederic. More at another time, for now I am very busy. 
 Farewell. Brother Martin Eleutherius/ 
 
 Augustinian of Wittenberg. 
 
 P. S. — You wrote me that the elector had promised me a 
 gown ; I would like to know to whom he gave the commission. 
 
 43. LUTHER TO JOHN LANG AT ERFURT. 
 Enders, i. 124. Wittenberg, November 11, 1517. 
 
 Greeting in Christ. Behold I am sending you some more 
 paradoxes/ reverend Father in Christ. Even if your theolo- 
 gians are offended, and say, as they all continually do, that I 
 am rash, proud and hasty in condemning the opinions of 
 others, I answer through you by this letter. I am much 
 pleased with their ripe moderation and long-suffering sobriety, 
 if only they would show it now instead of blaming me for 
 levity and hasty rashness. But I am surprised that they do not 
 look at their Aristotle with the same eyes, or if they look at 
 him, how it is that they do not see that Aristotle in every 
 sentence and clause is nothing but Momus, the very Momus 
 of Momuses." If that heathen, in spite of his cutting bold- 
 
 Theses against them (Weimar, i. 229) and sent them with a letter to Albert (cf. 
 Smith, p. 4off}. The prelate did not answer the letter, but began a process against 
 Luther which was soon dropped in view of the process at Rome. In 1518 Albert 
 was made cardinal. At this time he posed as a patron of art and learning, and, 
 from entirely worldly motives, took a mediating stand in the Lutheram affair 
 throughout 1520 and at the Diet of Worms, 1521. In 1525 he had thoughts of 
 becoming Lutheran in order to turn his bishoprics into temporal estates, as his 
 cousin Albert of Prussia had done, but he decided against this course. In 1530, 
 at Augsburg, he again mediated between the hostile parties. The Reformation 
 gradually encroached on his dominions and he became more consistently opposed 
 to it. See Realencyclopddie, Boehmer: Luther im Lichte der neueren Forschung 
 (Leipzig, 2d ed., 1910), p. 66ff, and Preserved Smith, chap. v. 
 
 ^From the Greek sXsijdepOQ meaning free. The custom of turning their names 
 into Latin or Greek was very prevalent among the humanists. It has often been 
 noticed that Luther adopted this name immediately after publishing his Theses on 
 Indulgences, though he later dropped it. Hutten adopted a similar name in his 
 Eleutherii Byseni in sequent enconium triumphanti Capnioni decantatum . . . 
 Praefatio. (Capnio was Reuchiin. Erasmus also wrote an apotheosis of Reuchlin, 
 1522.) This is put by Bocking (Hutteni opera, i. 236) in 1518. So Hess writes 
 to Lang (ibid. 240, 151S?), "Huttenus noster factus est Eleutherius." 
 
 2The Ninety-five Theses. 
 
 ^According to Erasmus' adage, which Luther well knew, Momus was the god of 
 fault-finding, born of Night and Sleep. 
 
Let. 44 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 65 
 
 ness, so pleases them and is so much read and cited, why 
 should I a Christian so displease them by giving them a taste 
 of something like their gentle Aristotle? Does a drop of vice 
 displease in me, when a whole sea of it pleases in Aristotle? 
 
 Then I wonder that they do not hate and condemn them- 
 selves. For what are those schoolmen of yours except critics, 
 Aristarchuses' and dumb Momuses? They may judge the 
 opinions of all, only to me is it forbidden. Finally I ask, if 
 my judgment displeases them and they so praise moderation, 
 why do they still judge me and exercise moderation in waiting 
 for the end? . . . 
 
 Thus you see that I do not esteem those ghosts of Momuses 
 more than the ghosts they are, nor am I moved by what they 
 think or do not think. ... I only beg from you and your 
 theologians, that, apart from the faults of the author, you 
 would let me know what you really think of my theses, and 
 show me whatever errors may be in them. . . . 
 
 I do not wish that they should expect from me the same 
 humility — that is hypocrisy — that they once thought I ought to 
 show towards their advice and decrees, for I do not wish that 
 what I produce should be by the operation and advice of man, 
 but by that of God. For if the work is of God who will 
 forbid it? If it is not of God who will bring it to pass? . . . 
 
 Brother Martin Eleutheecus, 
 or rather the servant and captive, Augustinian of Wittenberg. 
 
 44. RECTOR AND COUNCILLORS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF 
 MAYENCE TO ALBERT, ARCHBISHOP AND ELECTOR 
 OF MAYENCE. 
 
 Ed. Herrmann, Zeitschrift fur 
 
 Kirchengeschichte, xxiiii. 266. Mayence, December 17, 1517. 
 
 Albert on December i sent Luther's Ninety-five Theses to the Uni- 
 versity of Mayence with a request for an opinion, and received the 
 following answer: 
 
 Most reverend Father in Christ, most illustrious and gra- 
 cious Prince and Lord ! We promise our devoted obedience. 
 We have received with due humility the theses posted at the 
 famous university of Wittenberg by a professor of the order 
 
 ^Another proverbially severe critic. 
 
 s 
 
66 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 46 
 
 of St. Augustine, which were sent us by your Reverence. We 
 have read them and among other things we find that they 
 limit and restrict the power of the Pope and the Apostolic See, 
 in which they contradict the general opinions of many blessed 
 and venerable doctors. Wherefore we offer your Reverence 
 the following humble opinion: [Here follows a restatement 
 of the same objection with citations from the Canon Law to 
 prove it.] . . . 
 
 45. LUTHER TO SPALATIN. 
 
 Enders, i. 131. Wittenberg, December 20, 1517. 
 
 [Luther answers a question about the women who visited 
 Christ's grave.] . . . 
 
 I hear that Conrad Wimpina is doing something or other 
 against the preacher of Zwickau' on the same question, for- 
 sooth he confutes the history of St. Anna and restores those 
 three Marys. He seems to me to have been hardly able to 
 confute him, though I would not take the legend away con- 
 tentiously on account of the people, but rather let it cool down 
 and cease, especially since an error like that, born of piety, is 
 not to be so severely condemned as that which leads men to 
 worship the saints for money. Farewell. 
 
 Brother Martin Eleutherius, Augustinian. 
 
 46. LUTHER TO SPALATIN. 
 
 Enders, i. 135. Wittenberg, December 31, 1517. 
 
 Greeting. You ask me, excellent Spalatin, what I would 
 think of publishing some theses asserting that the worship of 
 the saints for temporal goods is superstitious. It was never 
 my idea, Spalatin, to call the veneration of the saints super- 
 stitious, even when they are invoked for the most worldly 
 causes. For this is what our neighbors the Beghards' of 
 Bohemia think. At least it is better to pray God through his 
 saints for anything whatever, seeing that every gift is of God, 
 than to seek it, as some do, from the devil through magicians 
 
 ^John Sylvius Egranus wrote against the legend that St. Anna, the mother of 
 the Virgin, bad married three husbands, Joachim, Cleophas and Salome [I^ and bad 
 borne a daughter named Mary to each of them. Wimpina answered this attack, 
 defending the legend. Cf. Kawerau, article Wimpina in Realencyclopadit. On 
 Egranus, cf. infra, no. 52. 
 
 3The extreme Hussites. 
 
Let. 46 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 67 
 
 and wizards. But I would say that it is superstitious, or 
 rather impious and perverse, to pray God and the saints for 
 temporal goods exclusively, and not rather for the goods of 
 the soul and salvation and the will of God, as though forgetful 
 or doubtful of his words : "Seek ye first the kingdom of God 
 and all these things shall be added unto you." Indeed Christ^ 
 teaches us to despise our vile bodies and their needs. If it is 
 lawful to seek such things, it is only permitted to those who 
 are of imperfect faith and live rather under Moses than under 
 Christ. Wherefore such worship of the saints is a thing to be 
 tolerated only on account of the weak, not to be extolled as a 
 thing worthy of a Christian life. Think a moment, whether 
 any saint is famous among the people for giving chastity, 
 patience, humility, faith, hope, charity and other spiritual 
 goods. These things are not sought, nor have we any saints 
 who, for the sake of such things, have crowds of worshippers, 
 churches and special services. St. Lawrence is worshipped for 
 fire, Sebastian for the plague, Martin and even that unknown 
 St. Roch on account of poverty, St. Anna with her son-in-law 
 and the blessed Virgin for many things, St. Valentine for 
 epilepsy, Job for the French itch ; and thus Scholastica, Bar- 
 bara, Catharine, Apollonia, in short, all famous saints are 
 famous for some temporal goods, and so famous that they are 
 preferred to the apostles, though they would be little esteemed 
 if no one needed temporal goods nor cared for them.^ Why 
 should we not invoke St. Paul to bring our minds out of the 
 ignorance of Christ, just as we do St. Christopher, for I know 
 not what nocturnal folly? Such worshippers I say, if they are 
 weak, are to be tolerated, and gradually instructed to know 
 better, condemn corporal and seek spiritual blessings, so that 
 we may not always be children under Moses, but may at last 
 
 *This whole passage is clearly an echo of Erasmus' Enchiridion militis Chris- 
 iiani, published first 1503, and often. Reprinted, Erasmi opera (Lugduno Batavorum, 
 1703)) V. 26. There are several passages in Luther's sermons parallel to it, e. g., 
 Weimar, i. 130-1 (February 2, 1517): iv. 639-41 (December 4, 1517?); and strongest 
 of all, i. 420. In this passage Luther says that the worship of the saints has 
 gone so far that it would be better that their names were not known and their 
 feasts abolished. The sermons of which this is one were first given from the 
 summer of 1516 to Lent 1517, but were not published until July, 1518, when they 
 were more or less retouched. I am inclined to agree with Barge (Historischer 
 Zeitschrift, ic. 271) that passages like the one just quoted were probably put in 
 at the later date. 
 
68 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 47 
 
 lay hold on Christ a little. If the worshippers are of better 
 faith they are to be convinced that they seek unworthy things. 
 It is a mistake to foster the worship of the saints by the fears 
 of evil and desire for temporal goods. < But this is not to be 
 taught to all at all times, but only to the little ones and to the 
 weak; the other should be taught to ask for just the contrary, 
 things, punishments, diseases, scourges, crosses and divers 
 torments, as he says:^ "Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; 
 try my reins and my heart." . . . Thus the Lord's prayer 
 teaches us to seek for spiritual gifts in the first three petitions, 
 and for the things of God,' and afterward for our own. . . . 
 Brother Martin Eleutherius, Augustinian. 
 
 47. LUTHER TO SPALATIN AT WITTENBERG.' 
 Enders, i. 140. Wittenberg, January i8, 1518. 
 
 Greeting. Hitherto, excellent Spalatin, you have asked me 
 things that were within my power or at least within my daring, 
 to answer, but now that you ask to be directed in those studies 
 which pertain to knowledge of the Scriptures you demand 
 something beyond my abilities, especially as I have hitherto 
 been able to find no guide for myself in this matter. Different 
 men think differently, even the most learned and most gifted. 
 You have Erasmus who plainly asserts that Jerome is the 
 great, almost the only, theologian in the Church." If I oppose 
 Augustine to him I will seem an unjust and partial judge, 
 partly because I am an Augustinian and pardy on account of 
 the long established judgment of Erasmus, since he has said 
 that it is most impudent to compare Augustine and Jerome. 
 Other men think differently. Among such judges of such 
 things I feel unable to decide anything on account of the 
 mediocrity of my learning and talents. But among those who 
 
 iPsalm xxvi. 2. 
 
 'Luther says he answers Spalatin's letter on the day it was written, which 
 would imply that Spalatin must at least be very near Wittenberg. 
 
 ^Luther expressed similar thoughts in his letter of October 19, 1516. The 
 expressions in the present letter seem to indicate that he had read the introduc- 
 tions to the edition of Jerome which appeared in 15 16 (P. S. Allen, epp. 326, 396). 
 Cf. Luther to Spalatin, August 24, 1516. It is noticeable that the direct comparison 
 of Augustine and Jerome, which I have not found elsewhere in Erasmus, was 
 clearly defined in the letter of the humanist to Eck, May 15, 1518 (Allen, ep. 
 844), first published in August, 1518. There is a good deal about Jerome and 
 Augustine in the Apology mentioned below. 
 
Let. 47 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 69 
 
 either hate or slothfuUy neglect good letters (that is, among all 
 men) I always praise and defend Erasmus as much as I can, 
 and am very careful not to ventilate my disagreement with 
 him, lest perchance I should thus confirm them in their hatred 
 of him. Yet there are many things in Erasmus which seem to 
 me far from the knowledge of Christ, if I may speak as a 
 theologian rather than a grammarian; otherwise there is no 
 man more learned or ingenious than he, not even Jerome whom 
 he so much extolls. But if you communicate this opinion to 
 others you will violate the laws of friendship. I warn you in 
 prudence. There are many, you know, who search out every 
 occasion of defending sound learning. What I tell you is 
 therefore a secret. Indeed you should not believe it until you 
 have proved it by reading. If you extort from me the result 
 of my studies I will conceal nothing from you, as my dearest 
 friend, but only on condition that you will not follow me except 
 in using your own judgment. 
 
 In the first place it is most certain that the Bible cannot 
 be mastered by study or talent. Therefore you should first 
 begin by praying that not for your glory, but for his, the 
 Lord may be mercifully pleased to give you some comprehen- 
 sion of his words. . . . You must completely despair of your 
 own industry and ability and rely solely on the influx of the 
 Spirit. Experto crede. Then having achieved this humble 
 despair, read the Bible from the beginning to the end, that first 
 you may get the simple story in your mind (as I believe you 
 have already done) in which Jerome's epistles and commen- 
 taries will be of great help. But for the understanding of 
 Christ and the grace of God, this is for the hidden knowledge 
 of the spirit, Augustine and Ambrose seem to me far better 
 guides, especially as Jerome seems to Origenize, that is, alle- 
 gorize, too much. This I say saving Erasmus' judgment, as 
 you asked for my opinion, not for his. 
 
 You may begin, if you like my course of study, reading 
 Augustine's The Spirit and the Letter, which now our Carl- 
 stadt, a man of incomparable zeal, has edited and thoroughly 
 well annotated. . . . Finally I am sending you the Apology^ of 
 
 ^Apologia contra Fabrum Stapulensem, Antwerp, Martens (1517). Lefevre 
 d*£taple8, in his edition of Hebrews (1512) tad proposed reading "Thou hast 
 
70 I^UTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 48 
 
 Erasmus, but I am very sorry that such a war should have 
 arisen between two such princes of letters. Erasmus, indeed, 
 conquers and speaks the better, even if a Httle bitterly, though 
 in some things he acts as if he wished to keep his friendship 
 with Lefevre. Farewell, dear Spalatin. 
 
 Brother Martin Eleutherius. 
 
 48. LUTHER TO GEORGE SPALATIN. 
 Enders, i. 152. Wittenberg, February IS, 1518. 
 
 Greeting. What you request, or rather command, excellent 
 Spalatin, I now do, namely, send through you my thanks to 
 the most illustrious elector for the splendid and princely gift 
 of game donated by him to our students newly promoted to 
 the degree of master. I told them all it was from the elector. 
 And personally I am wonderfully pleased by the kindness of 
 the clement and generous prince, for even a man loveth a 
 cheerful giver. 
 
 You again subjoin two little questions. First, as to what 
 should be the attitude of mind of one who is about to sacrifice^ 
 or to do other pious works. I answer briefly : You should be 
 at once despairing and confident in doing any work, despairing 
 on account of yourself and your work, confident as regards 
 God and his mercy. ... To speak plainly, whenever you 
 would sacrifice or do a good work, know positively and firmly 
 believe that this work of yours will not please God at all, no 
 matter how good, great and difficult, but that it will be worthy 
 of reprobation. Wherefore judge yourself first, accuse your- 
 self and your work and confess before God. . . . Therefore 
 when you are thus desperate, and have humbly confessed be- 
 fore God, you must without hesitation assume that he will be 
 merciful. For he sins no less who doubts God's mercy than he 
 who trusts in his own efforts. . . . 
 
 Secondly, you ask me how much indulgences are worth. The 
 
 made him a little lower than God" instead of "than the angels." Erasmus by 
 rejecting this interpretation in his New Testament, had drawn down the animad- 
 versions of the French scholar in the second edition of Paul's Epistles, Paris, 1517, 
 and it is to this that his Apology is directed. Luther got the work very promptly, 
 as it only appeared late in 1517. Cf. Bibliotheca Erasmiana, Admonitio, etc. 
 (Gand, 1900), p. Sgff. 
 
 ^The Roman Catholics regard the mass as a sacrifice offered by the priest to 
 God, and as a good work. 
 
Let. 49 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 71 
 
 matter is still in doubt, and my Theses overwhelmed with abuse. 
 Yet I may say two things, the first to you and my friends 
 only, until the matter shall be decided publicly. Indulgences 
 now seem to me to be nothing but a snare for souls, and are 
 worth absolutely nothing except to those who slumber and idle 
 in the way of Christ. Even if our Carlstadt does not share this 
 opinion, yet I am certain that there is nothing in them. For 
 the sake of exposing this fraud, for the love of truth I entered 
 this dangerous labyrinth of disputation, and aroused against 
 myself six hundred Minotaurs, not to say Radamanthotaurs 
 and Aeacotaurs.^ 
 
 Secondly I may say, what is not in doubt and what even my 
 adversaries and the whole Church are forced to confess, that 
 alms and helping our neighbor is incomparably better than 
 buying indulgences. Therefore take heed to buy no indul- 
 gences as long as you find paupers and needy neighbors to 
 whom you may give what you may wish to spend for pardons. 
 . God willing, you will see more of this when I publish the 
 proofs of my Theses. For I am compelled to do this by those 
 men more ignorant than ignorance itself, who proclaim me a 
 heretic in all their speeches, and are so furious that they even 
 try to make the University of Wittenberg infamous and hereti- 
 cal on account of me. I labor much more to restrain myself, 
 and not to despise them, though by thus doing I sin against 
 Christ, than to triumph over them. ... I am particularly 
 sorry to have to inform you that those brawlers and others 
 with them have constructed another engine against me, by 
 spreading the rumor that all that I do is at the hest of our 
 prince on account of his hatred to the Archbishop of Magde- 
 burg.'' . . Tl 
 
 49. LUTHER TO JOHN LANG AT ERFURT. 
 Enders, i. 157. Wittenberg, February 19 (1518). 
 
 Greeting. Wolfgang Capito' writes, reverend Father, that 
 
 'Theseus slew the Bull of Minos (Minotaur) in the Labyrinth of Crete. Mino3, 
 Radamanthus and Aeacus were the three judges of the infernal regions; Luther 
 means that he had excited all the monsters of hell against himself. 
 
 */. e., Albert of Mayence. Luther mentions this charge elsewhere. 
 
 'Wolfgang Fabritius Kopfel of Hagenau (i478?-i54i), studied at Freiburg and 
 Ingolstadt, where he took his doctorate in divinity by 1512, In 1513 he went to 
 Basle, where he became cathedral preacher and professor of theology in the 
 
72 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 50 
 
 Erasmus's Adages^ are being reprinted in an enlarged edition, 
 besides the Querela Pacts' The Dialogues of Lucian,' the 
 Utopia' of More' (mentioned by Richard Pace),«More's Epi- 
 grams, the Institutiones Hebraicae'' of Capito himself, and that 
 work on account of which I am now writing, Erasmus's 
 Apology against Lefevre d'&taples.^ I mention these books 
 that you may know what to recommend to your book-dealers 
 who are going to set out to the Frankfort Fair. I much desire 
 More's Utopia and Capito's Hebraic Institutions, but especially 
 the Apology, unless it is the same * that we have had here for 
 some time. . . . 
 
 50. LUTHER TO GEORGE SPALATIN. 
 Enders, i. 177. (Wittenberg, middle of March, 1518.) 
 
 The dating of this letter is a puzzle. Enders dates "end of March 
 or beginning of April," and this is defended by O. Clemen: Luthers 
 Werke in Auswahl, 1912, i. p. lo, because the letter assumes that the 
 Sermon on Indulgence and Grace had already been published; as this 
 
 University. In 1520 he entered the service of Archbishop Albert of Mayence. 
 Three years later he declared for the Reformation and went to Strassburg, at 
 which place, in company with Bucer, he occupied a leading position for the rest 
 of his life, taking part in the Synod of Bern in 1532, and in the Wittenberg 
 Concord of 1536. His religious views were already advanced in 1512, from which 
 time on for several years he was an ardent admirer of Erasmus. Cf. Baum: 
 Capito und Butser (i860), P. Kalkoff: Capito im Dienste Albrechts von Mains 
 (1907) and Realencyclopddie, This letter to Luther is lost; Luther answered it, 
 cf, infra, September 4, 1518, no. 78. 
 
 IThe Adagia, first printed in 1500, were repeatedly revised and enlarged; the 
 edition here referred to being that of Froben, 1518. Bibliotheca Erasmiana, i. 2. 
 
 ^First issued 1516, reprinted by Froben, December, 1517; op, cit., 166. 
 
 ^Luciani Saturnalia et complures dialogi Erasmo interprete, printed at the end 
 of the Querela Pads of 1517. 
 
 *This famous work, first published at Louvain, 151 6, was reprinted with More's 
 Epigrams by Froben in March, 1518. 
 
 ^Thomas More (1477-1535), later Chancellor of Henry VIII. He was con- 
 sistently opposed to the Reformation, taking an active part in the controversy 
 between his king and Luther. Lives by Brigett and Hutten and by Sidney Lee in 
 Dictionary of National Biography. 
 
 ePace (i482?-i536), studied in Italy, where he met Erasmus (1507-8), and then 
 entered the diplomatic service. He was sent on a mission to Switzerland in 
 October, 1515. While at Constance he composed his De Fructu qui e.v doctrina 
 percipitur, Basle, Froben, October, 1517. Leaving Constance in October, 1517, he 
 is found in England in January, 1518 {Letters and Papers of Henry VIII, ii. 
 index), on the trip very probably passing through Erfurt (Enders, loc, cit.). 
 His reference to More's Utopia may have been at this time orally or in his 
 De Fructu, He was employed by Henry VIII to negotiate for the imperial elec- 
 tion in 1519, and bv Wolsey in the endeavor to get the papacy in 1521 and 1523. 
 Dictionary of National Biography. 
 
 'Basle, Froben, 1518. 
 
 ^Apologia adv. Fabrum Stapulensem, Antwerp, 1517; Basle, 1518. 
 
 ^It was the same; cf, supra, no. 47. 
 
Let. so OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 73 
 
 sermon contains allusions to the theses of Tetzel-Wimpina, defended 
 at Frankfort on the Oder on January 20th, which Clemen thinks ar- 
 rived in Wittenberg not earlier than March 17th, the sermon and con- 
 sequently the letter must be some time after that date. I think it 
 possible, however, that the Tetzel-Wimpina theses may have come 
 to Luther's hands before they were oflfered for sale at Wittenberg 
 and seized by the students, on which see next letter. 
 
 P. Kalkoflf, on the other hand, puts the letter early in March be- 
 cause he believes that the visit of the Abbot of Lehnin, which Luther 
 says took place "'yesterday,'' came soon after March 5. Zeitschrift 
 fur Kirchengeschichte, xxxii. 411, note. As Kalkoff, however, ad- 
 mits that the Sermon on Indulgence and Grace was published during 
 the last week in March, he must interpret the passage referring to 
 that sermon dififerently from my understanding of it. The matter is 
 further complicated by a letter to Spalatin, March 2Sth {infra, no. 53), 
 assuming that the visit here recorded has already been made. Per- 
 haps "middle of March," making the sermon as early and the visit 
 of the abbot as late as possible, best satisfies all requirements. 
 
 Greeting. Having received power of remission and absolu- 
 tion in all cases save a few, you should be thankful to him who 
 gave you this power.^ I am glad about the power of judging 
 cases, but as to the remission of penalties, that is indulgences, 
 you know what I think of them, though even here I say nothing 
 positively. My opinion is the same about the weekly fasts' in 
 the city of Rome, since they are nothing but indulgences. For 
 I think the prayers said or works done to acquire indulgences 
 worth more than the pardons themselves. . . . 
 
 Yesterday the Lord Abbot of Lehnin' was with me on behalf 
 of the reverend Bishop of Brandenburg,* from whom he 
 brought me a letter. He also expressed to me the hope and 
 request of the said bishop that I should defer for a little while 
 the publication of my Resolutions' and of all other lucubra- 
 
 llt is well known that certain sins were reserved for absolution by the Pope, 
 who occasionally delegated this power to others. 
 
 '"Stationes." Cf. RealencyclopSdie,' v. 771. 
 
 SThe Abbot Valentine, whose family name is unknown, of Lehnin, about fifteen 
 miles northeast of Wittenberg, was made abbot 1509, and died 1542. He took 
 considerable part against the Reformation, in the employ of Elector Joachim I of 
 Brandenburg. Zeitschrift fiir Kirchengeschichte, xxxii. 410, note. 
 
 *Jerome Scultetus, son of a village judge (Schultheis, hence his name) of 
 Gramschitz in the duchy of Glogau, was made Bishop of Brandenburg in 1507, and 
 of Havelberg also in 1520. He died 1522. 
 
 ^Resolutiones disputationum, a defence of the Theses, Weimar, i. 525. As 
 Wittenberg was in the diocese of Brandenberg, Luther submitted this work to his 
 spiritual superior before publishing it. 
 
74 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 51 
 
 tions I might have on hand. Moreover he was very sorry that 
 I had published a Sermon on Indulgences^ in the vernacular, 
 and he begged that no more copies be printed or sold. I was 
 overcome with confusion to think that so great a bishop had 
 sent so great an abbot so humbly to me for the sake of this 
 only ; I replied : "I am satisfied ; I prefer to obey rather than 
 to work miracles even if I could," and other things to excuse 
 my zeal. For although the bishop thought there was no error 
 in my work, but that all my propositions were catholic, and 
 although he himself would condemn the "indiscreet" proclama- 
 tions of indulgences, yet for fear of scandal, he judged it better 
 to be silent and patient a little while. Farewell in the Lord. 
 Brother Martin Eleutherius, Augustinian. 
 
 SI. LUTHER TO JOHN LANG AT ERFURT. 
 Enders, i. 168. Wittenberg, March 21, 1518. 
 
 Greeting. Reverend Father, I sent you some sheets of 
 Carlstadt's edition of Augustine's The Spirit and the Letter, 
 as I did to some others, but I forget to whom I sent which 
 ones. . . . 
 
 The false preachers of indulgences are thundering against 
 me in wonderful style from the pulpit, and as they cannot 
 think of enough monsters with which to compare me, they add 
 threats, and one man promises the people that I shall certainly 
 be ■ burned within a fortnight and another within a month. 
 They publish Theses against me, so that I fear that some day 
 they will burst with the greatness of their wrath. Everybody 
 advises me not to go to Heidelberg' lest perchance what they 
 cannot accomplish against me by force they will do by guile. 
 But I shall fulfill my vow of obedience and go thither on foot, 
 and I shall pass through Erfurt, but do not wait for me as I 
 can hardly leave here before April 13.' Our elector, with 
 great kindness, as he is inclined to favor our theology, unasked 
 
 V. e., the Sermon von Ablass und Gnade, which Luther had expressed the 
 intention of publishing in a letter to Scheurl of March 5, translated in my 
 Luther, p. 43f. The "Sermon" was really a series of German theses on indul- 
 gences. Weimar, i. 243. 
 
 2A general chapter of the Saxon Province of Augustinians was to be held at 
 Heidelberg in April and May. Gabriel della Volta, General of the order, had 
 instructed Staupitz to force Luther to recant at this meeting. Smith, p. 46. 
 
 *In fact Luther left on Sunday, April 11. 
 
Let. 52 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 75 
 
 took me and Carlstadt completely in his protection, and will 
 not suffer them to drag me to Rome, which greatly vexes my 
 enemies who know it. 
 
 If rumor has perhaps told you anything about the burning 
 of Tetzel's Theses'^ lest anyone should add anything to the 
 truth, as is usually the case, let me tell you the whole story. 
 The students are remarkably tired of sophistical and anti- 
 quated studies and are truly desirous of the Holy Bible ; for 
 this reason, and perchance also because they favored my opin- 
 ion, when they heard of the arrival of a man sent from Halle 
 by Tetzel, the author of the Theses, they threatened the man 
 for daring to bring such things here ; then some students bought 
 copies of the Theses and some simply seized them, and, having 
 given notice to all who wished to be present at the spectacle 
 to come to the market place at two o'clock, they burned them 
 without the knowledge of the elector, the town council, or the 
 rector of the university or of any of us. Certainly we were 
 all displeased by this g^ave injury done to the man by our 
 students. I am not guilty, but I fear that the whole thing 
 will be imputed to me. They make a great story out of it, 
 and are not unjustly indignant. I know not what will come 
 of it except that my position will be made still more perilous. 
 Everyone says that Dr. Conrad Wimpina is the author of 
 'hose Theses, and I think it is certainly so. I send one rescued 
 From the flames to show you how mad they have become 
 igainst me. . . . 
 
 52. LUTHER TO JOHN SYLVIUS EGRANUS AT ZWICKAU. 
 
 Enders, i. 172. Wittenberg, March 24, 1518. 
 
 John Wildenhauer (Sylvius) of Eger in Bohemia (-j-June 11, 1535) 
 matriculated at Leipsic 1500, B. A. 1501, M. A. 1507. He was preacher 
 at Zwickau 1516-1521, when a quarrel with Thomas Miinzer forced 
 him to leave. For two years he preached at Joachimsthal, and then 
 resumed a wandering life. At first a warm friend of Luther he 
 afterwards became alienated. Allen, iii. 409. Allgemeine deutsche 
 
 'Luther*s Theses cut into Tetzel's profits and forced him to stop selling indul- 
 gences. Hoping to combat them on their own ground, he went to the University of 
 Frankfort-on-the-Oder, and with the help of Conrad Wimpina composed a set 
 of counter theses, recently reprinted by W. Kohler: Luthers 95 Thesen samt 
 seineM Resolutionen, sowie die Gegenschriften von Wimpina-Teteelf Eck und 
 PrieriaSf und die Antuiorten Luthers darauf. Leipzig, 1903. 
 
76 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 52 
 
 Biographic. Life by O. Clemen in Mitteilungen des Altertumsvereins 
 fiir Zwickau, vi., vii. (1899, 1902). Cf. also G. Buchwald: Unge- 
 drucktc Prcdigten des J. S. Egranus (at Zwickau 1519-22). Leipsic, 
 191 1. Cf. supra, no. 46. 
 
 Greeting. I have seen the theses of Dr. Diingersheim of 
 Ochsenfurt,^ apparently directed against you, though without 
 mentioning your name. Be strong and constant, dear Egranus, 
 as you ought. If these things were of the world, the world 
 would love its own. Whatever is in the world must neces- 
 sarily perish in the world, that the spirit be glorified. If you 
 are wise, congratulate me, as I do you. 
 
 A man of signal and talented learning and of learned talent, 
 has recently written a book called Obelisks against my Theses. 
 I mean John Eck, doctor of theology |. chancellor of the Uni- 
 versity of Ingolstadt, canon of Eichstatt, and now, at length, 
 preacher at Augsburg, a man already famous and widely 
 known by his books. What cuts me most is that we had 
 recently formed a great friendship. Did I not already know 
 the machinations of Satan, I should be astonished at the fury 
 with which Eck has broken that sweet amity without warning 
 and with no letter to bid me farewell. 
 
 In his Obelisks he calls me a fanatic Hussite, heretical, 
 seditious, insolent and rash, not to speak of such slight abuse 
 as that I am dreaming, clumsy, unlearned, and that I despise 
 the Pope. In short, the book is nothing but the foulest abuse, 
 expressly mentioning my name and directed against my Theses. 
 It is nothing less than the malice and envy of a maniac. I 
 would have swallowed this sop for Cerberus," but my friends 
 compelled me to answer it. Blessed be the Lord Jesus, and 
 may he alone be glorified while we are confounded for our 
 
 ^Jerome Diingersheim (1465-1540), of Ochsenfurt on the Main, matriculated at 
 Leipsic 1484, was B. A. in 1485, M. A. 1489. Ordained priest 1495, and took a 
 degree in theology at Cologne in 1496, after which he lectured at Leipsic. 1501 he 
 became priest at Zwickau, in 1504 went to Italy. 1505 returned to lecture at 
 Leipsic. He wrote several works. Wrote to Erasmus about his New Testament, 
 March 18, 1517 (Allen, op. cit., ep. 554). Life in the Allgemeine Deutsche 
 Biographic. The theses referred to here were directed against some propositions 
 made by Egranus in the Zwickau pulpit. Egranus answered them in an article 
 published within two weeks after this letter was written, for which Luther wrote 
 an introduction. Weimar, i. 315. On Diingersheim's relations with Luther, 
 infra, 192. 
 
 2As Burke would have said: "This honeyed opiate compounded of treason and 
 murder." 
 
Let. S3 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 77 
 
 sins. Rejoice, brother, rejoice, and be not terrified by these 
 whirling leaves, nor stop teaching as you have begun, but rather 
 be like the palm tree which grows better when weights are 
 hung on it. 
 
 —The more they rage, the more cause I give them. I leave 
 the doctrine they barked at yesterday for one they will bark at 
 more fiercely to-morrow. ... I wrote to Dr. Diingersheim of 
 Ochsenfurt that your assertions did not seem to me errors, but 
 truths, and that his propositions appeared to me for the most 
 part erroneous, and I dared say with confidence that you would 
 defend both your "errors" and mine. But if he offered argu- 
 ments from the schoolmen, I said that he knew he would only 
 waste his words. 
 
 I vow there is hardly any theologian or scholastic, especially 
 at Leipsic, who understands one chapter of the Bible, or even 
 one chapter of Aristotle's philosophy, which I hope to prove 
 triumphantly if they give me a chance. Conning over the 
 words of the Gospel is not understanding it. Wherefore flee 
 not before the face of ignorance, and forget this clamor of 
 doctors, universities and professors, for they are specters, not 
 men, but apparitions, which you would not fear if you could 
 see them clearly. The Lord teach and comfort you. Farewell 
 in him. 
 
 Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 53. LUTHER TO SPALATIN. 
 
 Enders, i. 179. (Wittenberg, c. March 25, 1518.) 
 
 This letter is placed by Enders "shortly before Easter, April 4, 
 1518." The more exact date given by Kalkoff, in Zeitschrift fur 
 Kirchengenschichte, xxxii. 411. 
 
 Greeting. Briefly, I will do all you write. For the reverend 
 lord bishop^ has answered and freed me from my promise. 
 Only I do not know whether I can preach on these three 
 following days, but I will see ; if not, my colleague Amsdorf 
 will supply my place. 
 
 Brother Martin Eleutherius. 
 
 'J. e., of Brandenburg. This refers to his prohibition to Luther to print his 
 Resolutions, on which cf. supra, no. 50. Luther apparently sent them to the press 
 at once; cf. O. Clemen, in his edition of Lathers Werke, i. 15. 
 
78 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 54 
 
 54. LUTHER TO JOHN STAUPITZ. 
 Enders, i. 175. Wittenberg, March 31, 1518. 
 
 Greeting. Dear Father in the Lord, I am so busy that I 
 must write briefly. First, I know perfectly well that my name 
 is in bad odor with many, so much have even good men found 
 fault with me for condemning rosaries, tonsures, chanting 
 psalms and other prayers, in short, all "good works." St. Paul 
 had the same experience with those who said that he said: 
 "Let us do evil that good may come."^ Truly I have followed 
 the theology of Tauler and of that book^ which you recently 
 gave to Christian Doring to print; I teach that men should 
 trust in nothing save in Jesus Christ only, not in their own 
 prayers, or merits, or works, for we are not saved by our own 
 exertions, but by the mercy of God. From these words my 
 opponents suck the poison which you see they scatter around. 
 But as I did not begin for the sake of fame, I shall not stop 
 for infamy. God will see to it. My adversaries excite hatred 
 against me from the scholastic doctors, because I prefer the 
 Fathers and the Bible to them; they are almost insane with 
 their zeal. I read the scholastics with judgment, not, as they 
 do, with closed eyes. Thus the apostle commanded: "Prove 
 all things; hold to that which is good."' I neither reject all 
 that they say nor approve all. Thus those babblers make the 
 whole of a part, a fire of a spark and an elephant of a fly. But 
 with God's help I care nothing for their scarecrows. They are 
 .words; they will remain words. Jf Duns Scotus, Gabriel Biel 
 and others had the right to dissent from Aquinas, and if the 
 Thomists have the right to contradict everybody, so that there 
 are as many sects among the schoolmen as there are heads, or 
 as hairs on each head, why should they not allow me the same 
 right against them as they use against each other? If God is 
 operating, no one can stop him. If he withholds his aid, no 
 one can help the cause. Farewell and pray for me and for the 
 truth of God wherever it may be. 
 
 Brother Martin Eleutherius, Augustinian. 
 
 ^Romans iii. 8. 
 
 "Namely, Staupitz's own book, "Von der Liebe Gottes." 
 
 'i Thessalonians, v. 12. 
 
Let. s6 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 79 
 
 55. LUTHER TO GEORGE SPALATIN. 
 
 Enders, i. 183. Coburg, April 15, 1518. 
 
 On April nth, Luther set out to attend the General Chapter of the 
 Augustinians at Heidelberg, whither he had been summoned by Stau- 
 pitz at the request of the General Volta, in hopes of making him 
 recant. He did not do so, but resigned his office of District Vicar, to 
 which his friend Lang was elected. Cf. supra, no. 51, and Smith, p. 46. 
 
 Greeting. Dear Spalatin, I expect you have heard from 
 our friend Pfeffinger^ all that we said to each other when I 
 met him at Judenpach. Among other things I was glad to 
 have a chance to make a rich man a little poorer. For you 
 know, how pleased I am, whenever I can do it conveniently, 
 to be a burden to the rich, especially when they are my friends. 
 I took care that he should provide supper even for my two 
 strange companions, which cost him ten grosschen apiece. 
 Even now, if possible, I would make the elector's steward'' 
 at Coburg pay for us; if he will not do so, still we shall live 
 at the elector's expense. I have not yet seen the man, nor 
 do I know whether I am to see him. For when we arrived 
 in the evening very tired, we sent him the letters by a mes- 
 senger. But he went late to the castle nor has he returned 
 yet. I do not know why he did it; perhaps he is too busy to 
 take care of us. Urban himself, our messenger, remembers 
 perfectly that he was ordered to go to Wiirzburg with us. 
 But whether he comes or not with God's favor we shall 
 continue our journey to-morrow. 
 
 Everything else is all right, by God's grace, except that I 
 confess that I sinned in coming on foot. Since my contrition 
 for this sin is perfect, and full penance has been imposed 
 for it, I do not need an indulgence for it. I am terribly 
 fatigued, but can find no vehicles free, and thus I am abund- 
 antly, much, greatly and sufficiently contrite and penitent. . . . 
 
 Brother Martin Eleutherius. 
 
 56. LUTHER TO GEORGE SPALATIN. 
 
 Enders, i. 185. Wurzeurg, April 19, 15 18. 
 
 Greeting. We arrived finally at Wiirzburg yesterday [Sun- 
 
 ^He was probably sent by the elector to make sure that Luther would be 
 perfectly safe in going to Heidelberg. 
 
 ^Perhaps Paul Bader whom Luther learned to know when in 1530 he spent six 
 months at the castle of Feste Coburg. 
 
80 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 57 
 
 day], dear Spalatin, and the same evening presented the 
 letters of our illustrious elector. . . . The reverend lord 
 bishop himself,^ when he had received the letters, summoned 
 me, and having talked with me face to face, expressed the 
 wish to send a messenger at his own expense to accompany 
 me to Heidelberg, but as I found several of my order here, 
 especially our Erfurt Prior John Lang, I thanked the clement 
 bishop, but said I thought it was not necessary to send the 
 messenger for my sake. I wish we could all get conveyances, 
 since I am very tired walking. I only asked that he would 
 deign to provide me with a letter as a passport (as it is called). 
 I have just received this, and will set out in a wagon. . . . 
 Farewell. From our monastery at Wiirzburg. 
 
 Brother Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 57. MARTIN BUCER TO BEATUS RHENANUS AT BASLE. 
 
 Briefwechsel des Beatus Rhenanus, gesammelt und herausgegehen von 
 A. Horawitz und K. Hartfelder, Leipzig, i886, p. io6ff. 
 
 Heidelberg, May i, 1518. 
 Martin Bucer was born at Schlettstadt, 1491, and entered the Domini- 
 can order there in 1506. After his transfer to Heidelberg, he took 
 much interest in the humanists, and especially Erasmus. He met 
 Luther at the time this letter was written, and from then on was his 
 devoted follower. In 1521 he left the cloister and became chaplain 
 to the Elector Palatine, at Landstuhl, coming into close relations with 
 Hutten and Sickingen at the time of the Diet of Worms. From 1523-49 
 he was the leading Reformer of Strassburg, making it his particular 
 aim to reconcile the Lutheran and Zwinglian branches of the Protestant 
 Church, in which he attained partial success in the Wittenberg Con- 
 cord, 1536. In IS49 he was called to England, where he taught a year 
 at Cambridge, dying in 1551. See J. W. Baum: Capita und Butzer, 
 Eberf eld, i860 ; Harvey : Bucer in England, 1907. Many of Bucer's 
 letters have been published in M. Lenz : Briefwechsel des Landgrafen 
 Philipp von Hessen mil Butzer, i88off, 3 vols., and in T. Schiess: 
 Briefwechsel der Blaurer, igoSff. 
 
 Beatus Bild, of Rheinau (i48s-May 20, 1547), matriculated at Paris, 
 1503, B. A. 1504, M. A. 1505. He then began working as proofreader 
 for Henry Estienne; in 1507 returned to Schlettstadt, and in 1508 
 to Strassburg. From 151 1 to 1526 he worked at Basle, publishing and 
 editing books for Froben. From 1526 to his death he lived at Schlett- 
 
 'Lawrence von Bibra, Bishop 1495-February 6, 1519, was a warm admirer of 
 Luther. On one occasion, shortly before his death, he advised the elector not 
 to let Luther be taken away from Wittenberg. 
 
Let. 57 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 81 
 
 stadt. His historical work was large and good (E. Fueter: Geschichte 
 der neueren Historiographie (1911) 190-2), and he was also a friend 
 and assistant of Erasmus, whose religious views he shared. His letters 
 published, op cit. supra, with life by his friend John Sturm. Cf. P. S. 
 Allen, Opus epistolarum Erasmi, ii. 60. 
 
 I have read your attack on our theologians, and I should 
 have been sorry had it been vain. Wherefore, lest you should 
 seem to yourself to have triumphed, after we Heidelbergers 
 had deserted the cause (for it fared otherwise with our elder 
 Wimpfeling,^ although he defended us nobly), I will oppose 
 to you a certain theologian, not, indeed, one of our number, 
 but one who has been heard by us in the last few days,^ one 
 who has got so far away" from the bonds of the sophists 
 and the trifling of Aristotle, one who is so devoted to the 
 Bible, and is so suspicious of antiquated theologians of our 
 school (for their eloquence forces us to call them theologians 
 and rhetoricians, too), that he appears to be diametrically 
 opposed to our teachers. Jerome, Augustine and authors of 
 that stamp are as familiar to him as Scotus* or Tartaretus' 
 could be to us. He is Martin Luther, that abuser of indul- 
 gences, on which we have hitherto relied too much. At the 
 general chapter of his order celebrated here, according to the 
 custom, he presided over a debate, and propounded some 
 paradoxes, which not only went farther than most could 
 follow him, but appeared to some heretical. But, good 
 
 ijames Wimpfeling of Schlettstadt (i4So-November 15, 1538), matriculated at 
 Freiburg, 1464. B. A. 1466, then to Erfurt. In 1469 he went to Heidelberg, where 
 he studied and taught philosophy, becoming Rector in 1481. From 1484-98 he wa3 
 at Spires, while there writing in favor of the Immaculate Conception. The next 
 three years he spent at Strassburg, where he wrote a history of Germany. Then 
 he taught at Freiburg and Heidelberg until 1510, when he returned to Strassburg 
 for five years. From 1515 till his death he lived at Schlettstadt, taking some part 
 in opposing Luther. Life by J. Knepper. 
 
 ^The Disputation took place April 25. 
 
 'I frankly confess I am unable to restore the certainly corrupt text of this 
 passage, of which I believe I am giving the sense. For "volvere iussit" I have 
 thought of putting "vulgatis sit," but this would hardly do. Bucer's hand is 
 extremely difficult to read, which causes some of the text of his letters to be 
 uncertain. No help towards reconstructing this passage is given by the extremely 
 free translation of the letter from the MS. in Baum's Capito und Butzer, p. 96. 
 
 *Duns Scotus, the famous opponent of Aquinas (1274-1308). 
 
 *Peter Tartaretus (Tataretus) one of the most eminent of the later Scotists, 
 taught at Paris 1490. Edited commentaries on Aristotle 1494, Expositio in Sum- 
 mulas Petri Hispani, first ed. without date, then 1501 and 1303, commentary on 
 Scotus* Quodlibetica 1519, and on Scotus' commentary on the Sentences 1520. 
 Wetzer und Weltes: Kirchenlexicon, j. v. 
 
 6 
 
82 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 57 
 
 Heavens! what real authentic theologian would these men 
 approve, whose touchstone in approving or condemning doc- 
 trines is Aristotle, or rather the pestilent poison disseminated 
 by his corrupters? Why should I not say this frankly of 
 the foolish trifling with which they drench and foul the divine 
 food of our minds, the holy oracles and their most holy 
 interpreters, and thus make men forget the noble artificer of 
 celestial splendor? But I repress my most just wrath against 
 them lest they should make too much of sportive begin- 
 nings. 
 
 To return to Martin Luther: although our chief men 
 refuted him with all their might, their wiles were not able 
 to make him move an inch from his propositions. His sweet- 
 ness in answering is remarkable, his patience in listening is 
 incomparable, in his explanations you would recognize the 
 acumen of Paul, not of Scotus ; his answers, so brief, so wise, 
 and drawn from the Holy Scriptures, easily made all his 
 hearers his admirers. 
 
 '" On the next day I had a familiar and friendly conference 
 with the man alone, and a supper rich with doctrine rather 
 than with dainties. He lucidly explained whatever I might 
 ask.' He agrees with Erasmus in all things, but with this 
 difference in his favor, that what Erasmus only insinuates 
 he teaches openly and freelyr-^Would that I had time to write 
 you more of this. He has brought it about that at Wittenberg 
 the ordinary textbooks have all been abolished, while the 
 Greeks, and Jerome, Augustine and Paul are publicly taught. 
 
 But you see there is no room to write more. I enclose his 
 paradoxes and their explanations, as far as I was able to take 
 them down during the disputation or was taught them by 
 him afterwards. I expect you will be much pleased to see 
 them; if not, take them in the spirit in which they were 
 sent. . . . 
 
 [Among the Theses for the Heidelberg Disputation enclosed 
 by Bucer, are the following:] 
 
 I. The law of God, that most wholesome instruction unto 
 life, is not able to justify a man, but rather hinders this. 
 
 HI. It is probable that the works of men which seem to be 
 specious and good are really mortal sins. 
 
Let. 59 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 83 
 
 XIII. Since the fall, free will is a mere name; when the 
 will does what is in its power it sins mortally. 
 
 58. WOLFGANG, COUNT PALATINE OF THE RHINE, TO 
 FREDERIC, ELECTOR OF SAXONY. 
 
 Luthers Sdmtlkhe Schriften, hg. von J. G. Walch, Halle, 174S, xv., 517, 
 
 German. Heidelberg, May i, 1518. 
 
 Wolfgang (1494-1558), brother of the Elector Palatine Lewis V, 
 
 educated for the Church, matriculated at Wittenberg in March, 1515, 
 
 and in the following summer was made Rector of the University. 
 
 My kind service and love to you, highborn Prince, kind, 
 dear Lord and Cousin : We have received and carefully 
 read your Grace's letter requesting us to help according to our 
 power Dr. Martin Luther, Augustinian, lecturer at Witten- 
 berg, in case he should need it. We give your Grace kindly 
 to know that we, as a member of the said university, at your 
 Grace's request, are anxious to help the said doctor in all 
 that is in our power, should he desire anything, but that he 
 has shown us nothing in which he needed our help, as you 
 will doubtless learn from himself. He has acquitted himself 
 so well here with his disputation, that he has won no small 
 praise for your Grace's university, and was greatly lauded by 
 many learned persons. This we would not withhold from 
 your Grace, for we are always ready to serve you. 
 
 Wolfgang, 
 
 hy God's grace Count Palatine of the Rhine and Duke of 
 Bavaria. 
 
 591 LUTHER TO JODOCUS TRUTFETTER AT ERFURT. 
 
 Enders, i. 187. Erfuet, May 9, 1518. 
 
 On the return journey from Heidelberg, Luther passed through 
 Erfurt, where he tried to see his old professors, who were now his 
 opponents, Usingen and Trutfetter. His first attempt was unsuccessful, 
 whereupon he wrote this letter to Trutfetter, fully explaining his posi- 
 tion in regard to indulgences and other matters; later he got an 
 interview, but effected only a temporary reconciliation. The most 
 interesting passage in the letter, showing how far he had already 
 progressed in his programme for a general reformation of the Church, 
 is the following: 
 
 To explain myself further, I simply believe that it is impos- 
 
84 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 60 
 
 sible to reform the Church unless the Canon Law, scholastic 
 theology, philosophy and logic, as they are now taught, are 
 thoroughly rooted out and other studies put in their stead. 
 I am so fixed in this opinion that I daily ask the Lord, as far 
 as now may be, that the pure study of the Bible and the 
 Fathers may be restored. You think I am no logician ; perhaps 
 I am not, but I know that I fear no one's logic when I defend 
 this opinion. . . . 
 
 60. LUTHER TO GEORGE SPALATIN. 
 Enders, i. 191. Wittenberg, May 18, 1518. 
 
 Greeting. Dear Spalatin, with Christ's favor I have 
 returned home, arriving at Wittenberg on Saturday, May 15th. 
 1, who had gone out on foot, returned in a wagon, for my 
 superiors forced me to ride with the Nurembergers almost to 
 Wiirzburg, thence with the brothers of Erfurt and from 
 Erfurt with those of Eisleben, who took me at their own 
 expense with their own horses to Wittenberg. I was well all 
 the way. The food and drink agreed with me remarkably, 
 so that some think I look stronger and fatter now. 
 
 [At Heidelberg] the most illustrious Count Palatine Wolf- 
 gang and James Symler^ and Hazius,^ Master of the court, 
 received me. The count invited us, i. e., Staupitz, our Lang, 
 now District Vicar, and myself to a meal, at which we had a 
 very pleasant conversation. We saw the ornaments of the 
 castle chapel, and then wandered around that royal and noble 
 castle, surveying the armor and almost everything it contains. 
 Symler could not sufficiently commend the letter given by the 
 Elector of Saxony in my behalf, saying, in his dialect: "By 
 God, you have a fine passport."^ We lacked nothing which 
 kindness could supply. 
 
 The doctors heard my disputation gladly, and answered me 
 with such moderation that I was much obliged to them. For, 
 although my theology seemed strange to them, yet they 
 skirmished with it subtly and politely, except one, who was 
 
 'A friend of Wimpfeling, who had b«en tutor to Count Wolfgang and had also 
 accompanied him to Wittenberg, 
 
 "Otherwise unknown. 
 
 ■Dicena sua Neccharena lingua: ihr habt by Godd einen kystlichte Credenz. 
 (Heidelberg is on the Neckar.) 
 
Let. 6i OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 85 
 
 the fifth and younger doctor, who moved the laughter of 
 the whole audience by saying: "If the peasants heard this 
 they would stone you to death." 
 
 To Erfurt my theology is poison;^ Dr. Trutfetter especially 
 condemns all my propositions; he wrote me a letter accusing 
 me of ignorance even of dialectic, to say nothing of theology. 
 I would have disputed publicly with them had not the festival 
 of the cross prevented. I had a conference with Trutfetter 
 face to face and at least made him understand that he could 
 not prove his own position nor refute mine; rather that their 
 opinion was like that beast which is said to eat itself. But in 
 vain is a story told to a deaf man; they obstinately stuck to 
 their own little ideas, though they confess that these ideas 
 are supported by no other authority than natural reason, 
 which we consider the same as dark chaos, for we preach 
 no other light than Christ Jesus, the true and only light. I 
 talked with Dr. Usingen, who was my companion in 
 the wagon, more than with all the others, trying to persuade 
 him, but I know not what success I had, for I left him pensive 
 and dazed. This is what comes of growing old in wrong 
 opinions. But the minds of all the youths are tremendously 
 different from theirs, and I have great hope that, as Christ 
 rejected by the Jews went over to the Gentiles, so this true 
 theology of his, rejected by those opinionated old men, will 
 pass over to the younger generation. . . . 
 
 Brother Martin Eleutherius, Augustinian. 
 
 6i. LUTHER TO JOHN ECK AT INGOLSTADT. 
 Enders, v. i. Wittenberg, May 19, 1518. 
 
 Certain Obelisks^ have come to me by which you have tried 
 to refute my Theses on indulgences; this is a witness of the 
 friendship which you offered me unasked, and also of your 
 spirit of evangelic charity according to which we are bidden 
 to warn a brother before we accuse him. How could I, a 
 
 ^Here and elsewhere in the letter Luther uses a proverb which he found in 
 Erasmus' Adages; as these are the first quotations from that work I have noticed 
 in his letters it is probable that he had recently bought the new edition which he 
 had spoken of in his letter to Lang in February, supra, no. 49. 
 
 'Eck gave this name (literally small daggers with which notes are marked) to 
 his attack on Luther's Theses. Luther received it from his friend Link not long 
 before March 24. Cf. Preserved Smith, sSf, 
 
86 IvUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 6t 
 
 simple man, believe or suspect that you who were so smooth- 
 tongued before my face would attack me behind my back? 
 Thus you have fulfilled the saying of Scripture: "Which 
 speak peace to their neighbors, but mischief is in their hearts.'" 
 I know that you will not admit that you have done this, but 
 you did what you could;'' see what your conscience tells you. 
 I am astonished that you have the effrontery alone to judge 
 my opinions before you know and understand them. This 
 rashness of yours is sufficient proof that you think yourself 
 the only theologian alive, and so unique that not only do you 
 prefer your own opinion to all others, but even think that 
 what you condemn, though you do not understand it, is to be 
 condemned because it does not please Eck. Pray let God 
 live and reign over us. 
 
 But to cut the matter short, as you are so furious against 
 me, I have sent some Asterisks against your Obelisks, that 
 you may see and recognize your ignorance and rashness; I 
 consult your reputation by not publishing them, but by send- 
 ing them to you privately so as not to render evil for evil 
 as you did to me. I wrote them only for him from whom I 
 received your Obelisks, and sent them to him to give you. 
 Had I wished to publish anything against you I should have 
 written more carefully and calmly, though also more strongly. 
 If your confidence in your foolish Obelisks is still unshaken, 
 pray write me; I will meet you with equal confidence. Per- 
 chance it will then happen that I shall not spare you, although 
 God knows that I should prefer to convert you; if anything 
 in me displeases you, write me privately about it, as you 
 ought to know a theologian is bound to do. For what harlot, 
 if provoked, could not have vomited forth the same curses 
 and reviling against me that you have done, and yet so far 
 from repenting you boast of it and think that you have done 
 right. You have your choice; I will remain your friend if 
 you wish, or I will gladly meet your attack, for as far as I 
 can see, you know nothing in theology except the husks of 
 scholasticism. You will find out how much you can do against 
 
 iPsalm xxviii. 3. 
 
 ^According to Enders the writing of the only extant copy of this letter is very 
 hard to read; I therefore venture to alter the reading of this sentence to the 
 following: "Scio te nolle id a te fieri, sed fecisti ut potuisti." 
 
Let. 63 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 87 
 
 me when you begin to prefer war to peace and fury to 
 friendship. 
 
 May the Lord give to you and to me good sense and may 
 he vouchsafe what is good to both of us. Behold, though 
 attacked, I lay aside my arms, not because I fear you, but 
 God; after this it will not be my fault if I am compelled to 
 defend myself publicly. But enough. Farewell. 
 
 62. LUTHER TO WENZEL LINK AT NUREMBERG. 
 
 Enders, i. 215. (Wittenberg, May 19, 1518.) 
 
 This letter, the preface to Luther's Asterisks, is dated in Enders, 
 August 10, 1518. This is a late guess, as the Asterisks were not printed 
 until 154s, when the date was added. Knaake (Weimar, i. 2yg{) dates 
 this letter March 23, 1518, and this is followed by the St. Louis Watch 
 edition. Clemen, in Zeitschrift fiir Kirchengeschichte, xxvii. 100, 
 argues for an intermediate date. In my judgment, the true date is 
 given by comparing this letter with that of Luther to Eck, of the 
 same date, no. 61. 
 
 It seemed good to me to go over the Obelisks concocted by 
 our friend Eck against my Theses, which you sent me, one 
 by one, and to add Asterisks to those of my propositions, 
 which are a little obscure. If you wish, you may commu- 
 nicate them to Eck,^ clear as they now are, that he also may 
 understand how rash it was to attack others' work, especially 
 when he did not understand it, and particularly how treacher- 
 ous and unjust it was to provoke so bitterly an unsuspecting 
 friend, and one who assumes that everything will be taken 
 for the best by his friend. But the Scripture is true: "All 
 men are liars. "^ We are men and will remain men. . 
 
 63. LUTHER TO JEROME SCULTETUS, BISHOP OF 
 BRANDENBURG. 
 
 Enders, i. 147. Wittenberg, May 22, 1518. 
 
 After writing his Resolutions in defence of his Theses, Luther sub- 
 mitted them to his superior, the Bishop of Brandenburg. Cf. supra, 
 no. 50. On the assumption that he sent this letter with them, the 
 date affixed to the letter has been disregarded, and the missive put 
 
 'Link showed the Asterisks to Pirckheimer, but begged him not to show them 
 to anyone else. W. Eeindell: W. Linck, p. 257. 
 *Psalm cxvi. II. 
 
88 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let- 63 
 
 back to February 13th by Enders, and to February 6th by Knaake in 
 the Weimar edition, i. 523, and Kostlin-Kawerau, 169. Kalkoff has 
 shown, however (Zeitschrift fiir Kirchengeschichte, xxxii, 411), that 
 the first letter sent with the Resolutions has been lost and that the 
 one here translated is a second letter, intended by the author as an intro- 
 duction to that work, which he was now at liberty to publish. Cf. supra, 
 no. 53. He later changed this plan and substituted dedications to 
 Staupitz and Leo X. 
 
 Luther speaks in his Tischreden, ed. Forstemann und Bindseil, ii. 367 
 and iii. 315, of the reception accorded his epistle as follows : "The 
 Bishop of Brandenburg answered my letter, saying that I should not 
 go on with the thing, for if I once began I would get plenty to do, as 
 the matter touched the Church. There spoke the devil incarnate in 
 this bishop !" Kalkoff, loc. cit., 409, note, thinks this answer was given 
 when the bishop visited Wittenberg, in February, 1519. 
 
 Recently, excellent Bishop, new and unheard of dogmas 
 about indulgences have begun to be proclaimed throughout 
 our regions so that many learned as well as unlearned men 
 are both surprised and moved. Thus it happened that I was 
 asked by many strangers as well as by many friends, both by 
 letters and orally, what I thought of their novel, not to say 
 licentious, doctrines. I put them off for a while, but finally 
 their complaints became so bitter as to endanger the reverence 
 for the Pope. 
 
 What was I to do? I had no power to decide anything, 
 and I feared to cross the indulgence sellers, for I only wished 
 that they might seem to preach the truth, and yet their oppo- 
 nents proved so clearly that they only taught false, vain 
 doctrines, that I confess they completely convinced me. That, 
 therefore, I might satisfy both, the best plan seemed to be 
 neither to approve nor to disapprove, but to hold a debate 
 on the subject until the Holy Church should decide what to 
 believe. Thus I posted topics for debate, and invited the 
 public, and urged my learned friends privately, to give me 
 their written opinions on the subject, for it seemed to me 
 that my propositions were contradicted by neither the Bible 
 nor the Fathers nor the Canon Law, but only by a few 
 canonists who spoke without authority, and by a few scho- 
 lastics, who expressed their opinions without giving proof. 
 For it seemed to me most absurd that things should be preached 
 in the Church for which we could not give a reason to heretics 
 
Let. 63 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 89 
 
 who might ask it, and thus we would make Christ and his 
 Church a scorn and a mockery. 
 
 Moreover, it is estabhshed that we owe no allegiance to 
 the scholastics and canonists, when they only give their own 
 opinions, for if it is commonly said to be base for a lawyer 
 to speak without authority, it is surely baser for a theologian 
 to do so, and by authority I mean not Aristotle (for they 
 give his authority far too readily), but the Bible, the Canons 
 and the Fathers. Furthermore, I thought that it became my 
 profession and office to call in question such matters which 
 are both very doubtful and if false very dangerous, for during 
 centuries no Christian has doubted that the schools have the 
 right to debate even the most sacred and awful matters. . . . 
 
 Since, therefore, no one has responded to my universal 
 challenge, and since I see that my propositions for debate 
 have flown farther than I would have wished, and were 
 accepted everywhere not as inquiries, but as assertions, I 
 have been compelled against my hope and intention to expose 
 my lack of eloquence and my ignorance, and to publish my 
 propositions with their proofs, thinking it better to jeopard 
 my reputation than to let the propositions fly about in a form 
 which might lead people to think they were positive asser- 
 tions. For I doubt some of them, am ignorant about others 
 and deny some, while not positively asserting any, but 
 submitting all to the Holy Church. 
 
 And since, reverend Prelate, you are by Christ's mercy 
 the bishop of this place, and since you not only warmly love 
 good and learned men, as many are said to do, but even 
 venerate and cherish them to such a degree that you almost 
 risk your pontifical dignity (far be this from flattery, for I 
 praise not you, but Christ's gifts in you!) — it was most right 
 that I should offer my work especially to you, whose duty 
 it is to inspect and judge what is done here, and to lay at your 
 feet whatever I do. 
 
 Wherefore deign, most clement Bishop, to take these foolish 
 trifles of mine, that all may know that I assert nothing rashly, 
 and that I not only allow, but even beg your Reverence to 
 strike out whatever you wish, or even to burn the whole; it 
 is of no consequence to me. . . . 
 
90 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let 64 
 
 64. JOHN ECK TO ANDREW CARLSTADT. 
 
 J. G. Olearius : Scrinium Antiquarium, 
 Halle, 1671, p. 30. Ingolstadt, May 28, 1518. 
 
 Most famous Carlstadt, I have heard that you and your 
 Wittenbergers are moved against Eck, because I wrote some- 
 thing privately for my bishop' against the opinion of our 
 common friend Martin Luther, thinking that this trifling 
 effort of mine would never be subjected to the criticism of 
 learned men. I suspect, though I do not know, how it slipped 
 out of the hands of my bishop and was laid before you. 
 Had I known this would have happened, I should not have 
 written ex tempore without consulting any books, just as my 
 thought suggested, nor should I have composed it in so hasty 
 and careless style. But as you know, we are all freer in 
 writing private letters than when publishing. Wherefore I 
 am much surprised that you are so incensed against your most 
 devoted Eck. They say that you charge Eck with fawning 
 on the bishop. You do not know how incapable is Eck of 
 such a thing. All who know Eck freely confess that he is a 
 man who cannot be insincere. Nor, could I have flattered, 
 would I have done so, especially that bishop with whom, I 
 believe, from some accidental cause, indulgences have very 
 little weight. People also say that you are planning a single 
 combat with Eck. I can hardly believe that. If it is true, I 
 wonder why you do not gird yourself against your neighbors 
 of Frankfort on the Odor, and against the inquisitor, who 
 intimates that Luther has erred a hundred times, or rather 
 that he is wild, mad and insane, and have expressed this 
 opinion in published writings. Truly, if I may presume upon 
 my recently formed friendship, I shall consider it a friendly 
 act if you will let whatever you meditate against innocent 
 Eck fall into oblivion. For it was not my intention to hurt 
 Luther. If you think meanly of Eck's friendship, and 
 propose to disregard it, I neither can nor desire to impose 
 a rule on you ; but you will do better to inform Eck as soon as 
 possible if you wish to publish anything. When I learn that 
 
 'Adolph of Anhalt, Bishop of Merseburg 1514-26. He was a brother of Ernest 
 of Anhalt (.infra, November 4, 1519, no. 193) and of Louis of Anhalt, the begging 
 prince whom Luther saw at Magdeburg in 1497. Smith, p. 4. 
 
Let. 6s OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 91 
 
 I have erred I will willingly confess my error without shame. 
 But if I see you excited and bitter against me, I will try, 
 with the counsel of good teachers and of friends, to defend 
 myself, as much as truth urges, in those studies which are 
 most regarded throughout Christendom. But I prefer to 
 avoid this business. It will be yours to consider this, and 
 after due consideration to advance. Farewell, Carlstadt, 
 whom I truly wish to fare well. 
 
 6s. LUTHER TO JOHN STAUPITZ. 
 
 Enders, i. 196. Wittenberg, May 30, 1518. 
 
 This letter is one preface to Luther's Resolutions, a defence of the 
 Theses, reprinted Weimar, i. 522. Another prefatory letter was to 
 Leo X., translated, Smith, pp. 44ff. 
 
 I remember, reverend Father, among those happy and 
 wholesome stories of yours, by which the Lord used 
 wonderfully to console me, that you often mentioned the 
 word "penitence,"^ whereupon, distressed by our consciences 
 and by those torturers who with endless and intolerable pre- 
 cept taught nothing but what they called a method of con- 
 fession, we received you as a messenger from Heaven, for 
 penitence is not genuine save when it begins from the love 
 of justice and of God, and this which they consider the end 
 and consummation of repentance is rather its commencement. 
 
 Your words on this subject pierced me like the sharp 
 arrows of the mighty,^ so that I began to see what the 
 Scriptures had to say about penitence, and behold the happy 
 result: the texts all supported and favored your doctrine, in 
 so much that, while there had formerly been no word in almost 
 all the Bible more bitter to me than "penitence" (although I 
 zealously simulated it before God and tried to express an 
 assumed and forced love), now no word sounds sweeter or 
 more pleasant to me than that. For thus do the commands 
 of God become sweet when we understand that they are not 
 to be read in books only, but in the wounds of the sweetest 
 Saviour. 
 
 ^"Poenitentia" means both "penance" and "repentance,** it was apparently taken 
 in the former sense by the "torturers'* and in the latter by Staupitz. Preserved 
 Smith, op. cit., p. 40. 
 
 2Psalra cxx. 4. 
 
92 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 65 
 
 After this^ it happened by the favor of the learned men 
 who taught me Hebrew and Greek that I learned that the 
 Greek word is jj-erdvoia from /terd and xoDv, i. e., from 
 "afterwards" and "mind," so that penitence or tuTdvoia is 
 "coming to one's right mind, afterwards,"^ that is, compre- 
 hension of your own evil, after you had accepted loss and 
 found out your error. This is impossible without a change 
 in your affections. All this agrees so well with Paul's the- 
 ology, that, in my opinion, at least, nothing is more character- 
 istically Pauline. 
 
 Then I progressed and saw that fterdi/oia meant not only 
 "afterwards" and "mind," but also "change" and "mind,'' so 
 that fisTdvota means change of mind and affection. . . . 
 
 Sticking fast to this conclusion, I dared to think that they 
 were wrong who attributed so much to works of repentance 
 that they have left us nothing of it but formal penances 
 and elaborate confession. They were seduced by the Latin, 
 for "poenitentiam agere'" means rather a work than a change 
 of affection and in no wise agrees with the Greek. 
 
 When I was glowing with this thought, behold indulgences 
 and remissions of sins began to be trumpeted abroad with 
 tremendous clangor, but these trumpets animated no one to 
 real struggle. In short, the doctrine of true repentance was 
 neglected, and only the cheapest part of it, that called penance, 
 was magnified. ... As I was not able to oppose the fury 
 of these preachers, I determined modestly to take issue with 
 them and to call their theories in doubt, relying as I did on 
 the opinion of all the doctors and of the whole Church, who 
 all say that it is better to perform the penance than to buy it, 
 that is an indulgence. . . . This is the reason why I, reverend 
 
 >Luther has just been speaking of his first acquaintance with Staupitz during 
 the dark years in the Erfurt cloister, 1505-10; it was at this time that he began 
 to study Hebrew, on which perhaps he got some help from a Jew while he was at 
 Rome, December, 1510, cf. Smith, op. cit., p. 26f. Grisar: Luther, i. 27. Greek 
 he first began to learn from his friend Lang during the years 1513-16, but he is 
 apparently referring to the study of the New Testament in Greek edited by 
 Erasmus in March, 1516. In this letter he follows Erasmus' note to Matthew iii. 2. 
 '"Resipiscentia," Erasmus translates uzTavoe'iTE "Resipiscite." 
 'These words in the Vulgate might mean either "Repent ye" or "Do penance," 
 and were usually taken in the latter sense by Luther's contemporaries. E. g., see 
 Thomas More, Confutation of Tyndale (T532) in Works (1557), p. 418. Cf. 
 supra, note i. 
 
I,et. 66 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 93 
 
 Father, who always love retirement, have unhappily been 
 forced into the public view. . . . 
 
 I ask, therefore, that you will receive this poor book of 
 mine, and forward it with what expedition you can to the 
 excellent Pope Leo X. I ask this not to involve you in my 
 danger (for I prefer to take all the risk myself), but that I 
 may have at Rome if not a champion, at least an answer to all 
 my opponents. 
 
 66. ANDREW CARLSTADT TO JOHN ECK AT INGOLSTADT. 
 J. G. Olearius : Scrinium antiquarium. Halle. 1671, p. 32. 
 
 Wittenberg^ June 11, 1518. 
 
 Greeting. Most learned Eck, I am in receipt of your elegant 
 letter. I answer briefly to let you know that I am greatly 
 displeased with the taunts with which you have assailed my 
 most learned friend, Martin Luther. For you have accused 
 the man of the worst and greatest crimes. Use majeste, heresy 
 and schism. You have publicly called him a seditious Huss- 
 ite. You deny that you published this opinion? Well, your 
 own Scotus says that whatever is written is ipso facto pub- 
 lished, and you certainly wrote it. You not only gave us a 
 chance to reply, but you forced us to do so. Wherefore it 
 happened that I published a challenge, or rather an apology, 
 against some of your conclusions. This was printed and is 
 sold here at Wittenberg. I weep for the wound your human- 
 ity received in forcing on us the necessity of fighting you. If 
 things done could be undone, I should prefer to conquer your 
 accusations with patience rather than with battle. The reason 
 why I chose you particularly for an adversary, instead of 
 that unlearned inquisitor or someone like him, was not envy 
 or anger, but was your elegance, industry and acumen, and 
 especially your own salvation and that of the people. For I 
 hope that you will come over to our opinion; I believe that 
 from Saul you will be made Paul. For I would not have a 
 wild ass or a balking ass, but a noble lion [Leo] or an 
 eloquent Mark. I thought it would not hurt me to strive by 
 imitating your arts to become more elegant. Please pardon 
 me if I have hurt you. But consider whether you ought to 
 
94 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let 67 
 
 hurt me already wounded; think whether you will thereby 
 become the hostile disturber of a man or of the Holy Word. 
 I have determined rather to endure war and tyrannical siege 
 than a perverse peace at the price of disparaging the divine 
 writings and of my own perdition. I will stick to this, what- 
 ever may happen to myself. But if you let me I should 
 prefer to enjoy your friendship. Indeed, I love you heartily. 
 May I perish if I desire you to perish or any evil to befall 
 you. It is my particular study by what means God's Word, 
 unfortunately for our unhappy skulking in a comer, may 
 daily become sweeter and better known, that is, as well known 
 as possible. Long live our Luther who gives us a chance to 
 extract the kernel of the law of God. Long live Eck, as his 
 friend. But if he be an enemy, let him at least be a sincere 
 lover of the truth. This is all I have leisure to write at this 
 time. . . . 
 
 67. LUTHER TO CHRISTOPHER SCHEURL AT 
 
 NUREMBERG. 
 
 Enders, i. 208. Wittenberg, June 15, 1518. 
 
 Greeting. What you ask in behalf of our Eck, dearest 
 Christopher, would have been superfluous from such a friend, 
 had there been nothing to complicate the situation and had he 
 himself written before you did. But my suspicion that Exk's 
 mind is alienated from me is confirmed by the fact that after 
 he called me such dreadful names, even though only in 
 private, he wrote me no letter and sent me no message. And 
 now, since our Carlstadt's theses^ have been published, though 
 without my knowledge or consent, I am not quite sure what 
 both of us ought to do. I know that we love the man's nature 
 and admire his learning; I am, moreover, certain and bear 
 witness to it, that what I did, at least, was done rather in 
 sorrow than in anger or envy. As for myself, I have written 
 him the enclosed letter,^ which you see is friendly and full 
 of good will towards him. I am quite reconciled to him, not 
 
 'While Luther was at Heidelberg Carlstadt published some theses on free will 
 and the authority of Scripture directed against Eck, who replied with some 
 counter-theses. On this, and on the "dreadful names" Eck called Luther, see 
 Smith, op. cil., sSf. 
 
 'Luther probably meant a letter, now lost, sent with that of Carlstadt, no. 66. 
 
Let. 68 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 95 
 
 only for your sake, but because of his own candid confession 
 that it would displease him, if not me, to have anything 
 [untoward] happen by reason of someone else's guilt or 
 malice. Therefore you have my authority to do what you 
 want in this matter, and so does Eck. I only charge your 
 kindness to see that he does not reply too sharply to our 
 Carlstadt, considering, as he ought, that the first fault was his 
 in stirring up a quarrel with friends. Since I sent my 
 Asterisks to him privately, I believe he will be under no neces- 
 sity of answering them unless he wants to. But if he prefers 
 to answer, I am ready for him, though I should prefer peace. 
 Act therefore so that we may know that you grieve with us 
 that this temptation has been sent by the devil, and also that 
 you rejoice with us that with Christ's aid it has been overcome 
 and quieted. Farewell. I wrote you before, but I see you 
 have not yet received the letter. 
 
 Brother Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 68. SILVESTER PRIERIAS TO LUTHER. 
 Enders, i. 163. (Rome, June, 1518.) 
 
 This letter is dated by Enders "Erste Monate, 1518," but as the 
 Dialogue, to which it is the preface, appeared in June (F. Lauchert: 
 Die Italienischen lit. Gegner Luthers, 9), it may be dated in that month, 
 and is dated by the St. Louis edition, xxi. no. 81, "Zweite Halfte 
 Juni, 1518." 
 
 Silvester Mazzolini, of Prierio, in Piedmont (1456-1523), entered 
 the Dominican order at the age of 15, and was made priest eight 
 years later. He taught at Bologna and Padua. In 1508, he was 
 elected Vicar of the Lombard Province of his Order, and for the 
 three following years was a member of the inquisition at Brescia. 
 He wrote a good deal on scholastic topics. In 1514, he was called 
 by Leo X. to teach at Rome, and in the following year was made 
 Master of the Sacred Palace; or official theological adviser to the 
 Pope, in which capacity he took an active part against Reuchlin. 
 Luther's Theses were sent to the Pope by Albert of Mayence, reach- 
 ing Rome before the end of 1517. Prierias was asked to give an 
 opinion on them, which he did with great thoroughness, and which 
 he published, of his own accord, under the title of Dialogus de 
 postestate Papae, in June, 1518. Luther answered, and the controversy 
 continued. Life of Prierias, by F. Michalski, 1892. Cf. Lauchert, 
 op. cit., 7ff, and Realencyclopadie. 
 
 It has been long, Martin, since I have ceased writing, chiefly 
 
96 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let 69 
 
 because my powers are exhausted by old age, but the challenge 
 you vociferate to all athletes, as though you were another 
 Dares,^ has impelled me again to approach the wrestling 
 ring to defend the truth and the Apostolic See. 
 
 Since I could not see the grounds of the notice which, it 
 is said, you have published, and although you have brought 
 no proof to your propositions, and some of them may bear 
 both a true and a false sense, I did not wish at first to contend 
 with you save by supporting and defending the opposite 
 sense of your false propositions, so that you may tell us on 
 what grounds you rely. Wherefore, having run through and 
 balanced your opinions, I have prepared the way for our 
 future contest by a Dialogue, in which we, who are to con- 
 tend, are the interlocutors. Let us invoke God's blessing! 
 Farewell and learn better ! 
 
 69. LUTHER TO WENZEL LINK AT NUREMBERG. 
 
 Enders, i. 210. Wittenberg, July 10, 1518. 
 
 The date of this letter is a puzzle. It is not known in MS. ; the 
 earliest edition by Aurifaber, followed by De Wette, dates "die 12 
 Fratrum," which would be September i. Enders believes that 
 "XII" was put by mistake for "VII" and dates accordingly "day of 
 the seven brothers," i. e., July 10. As Luther always used Arabic 
 numerals this mistake could hardly have been made by him, but 
 may have been introduced by Aurifaber. But the letter speaks of 
 Luther's leaving Wittenberg; if this refers to the projected trip to 
 Augsburg, as Enders thinks, the letter could hardly have been written 
 before September i, as Luther certainly did not know he was 
 summoned thither until that date. Smith, op. cit., p. 47. If it refers 
 to the summons to Rome, the letter could not have been written as 
 early as July 10, for Luther first received the summons to Rome in 
 August. Smith, loc. cit., and Enders, i. 2i4ff. But I believe the 
 reference is to a projected journey to Dresden, which Luther actually 
 undertook late in July, cf. infra, no. 117, and about which the Count of 
 Mansfeld would be more likely to be informed than aborit the citation to 
 Rome. For the earlier date also speak two facts : first, that the 
 Resolutions were not yet very far along in the press, although they 
 were finished on August 28 (infra, no. 76), and that the "recent" 
 sermon on the ban was one of the causes of the citation to Augsburg, 
 which was determined upon on August 23. 
 
 Greeting. I would have sent my Resolutions, reverend 
 
 Wirgil : Aeneid, v. 3695. 
 
Let. 69 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 97 
 
 Father, but for the slowness of our printer. I myself am 
 much put out at this delay. Only eighteen of the Resolutions 
 are as yet printed, which I now try to send. That trifle which 
 I lately published against my Timon* has been recently 
 republished. I was unwilling to republish it myself, in which 
 I followed the advice of my friends, although even so I did 
 not satisfy them. Others attribute it to my impatience, 
 although I meant it rather in sport than in anger. . . . 
 
 Our vicar, John Lang, who was here to-day, says that 
 Count Albert,^ of Mansfeld, has written him a letter warning 
 him by no means to let me leave Wittenberg. Snares have 
 been laid by I know not what great men,' either to kill me or 
 to baptize me unto death. I am simply, as Jeremiah says,' 
 that man of strife and contention who daily irritate the 
 Pharisees with what they consider new doctrines. But as 
 I am certain that I teach only the purest doctrine, I have 
 long foreseen that it would be a stumbling block to the most 
 holy Jews and foolishness to the wisest Greeks." But I 
 know that I am a debtor to Jesus Christ, who, perhaps, is 
 saying to me: "I will show him how much he must suffer 
 for my name's sake."* For if he does not say this why does 
 he make me so bold in defending his Word, or why does he 
 not teach me to say something else? His holy will be done.' 
 The more they threaten the bolder I am; my wife and chil- 
 dren are provided for, my fields, houses and whole substance 
 are in order, my name and fame are torn to bits; all that is 
 left me is my weak and broken body, of which if they deprive 
 me they will shorten my life by an hour or two, but truly 
 
 ^The Athenian cynic to whom Luther compares Tetzel. The "trifle" was Bin 
 Freiheit des Sermons, 
 
 2Born 1480, younger son of Ernst I. See Grossler: Graf Albrecht VII von 
 Mansfeld. Zeitschrift des Harz-Vereins, xviii. 365. As a native of his dominions 
 Luther felt particularly loyal to him. From 1521 to 1543 he wrote him a number 
 of letters, and it was at his request that in 1545 and 1546 he journeyed to the 
 county of Mansfeld to settle a dispute between Albert and his brother Gebhard. 
 Smith, op. cit., 417S. 
 
 ^On Luther's unpleasant experiences at Dresden, whither he was planning to go, 
 and whither he soon went, cf. infra, no. 1:7. Duke George had already begun to 
 be unfriendly to him, though he could not have meant to put him to death. 
 
 *Jeremiah, xv. 10. 
 
 ^i Corinthians, i. 23. 
 
 6Acts of the Apostles, ix. 16. 
 
 ^Reading "fiat" for "fuit." Cf. Enders, ii. 536. 
 
 7 
 
98 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 70 
 
 will not take away my soul. I sing with John Reuchlin: 
 Who is poor fears nothing, for he has nothing to lose, but he 
 sits in hope, for he hopes to get something. . . . 
 
 I recently delivered a sermon on the ban,^ in which, inci- 
 dentally, I taxed the tyranny and ignorance of the common 
 herd of sordid officials, commissaries and vicars. All my 
 hearers exclaimed in surprise they had never heard such a 
 sermon before. Then, in addition to whatever evil is await- 
 ing me, we expect that a new fire has been kindled, but this 
 is the sign that the word of truth is being opposed. I wanted 
 to have a public debate on the matter, but rumor anticipated 
 it and stirred up some officials, so that they induced my Bishop 
 of Brandenburg to send a messenger to put off such a debate, 
 which I have done and still do, especially as my friends advise 
 it. See what a monster I am, since even my attempts are 
 intolerable. 
 
 Dr. Trutfetter has sent me a letter full of zeal (for by 
 this name we must dignify the man's fierce passion), a letter 
 much more bitter than the one you heard read in my presence 
 at the Chapter," and one which says just what he said to me 
 at Erfurt. These men are goaded to madness, because they 
 are told to be fools in Christ, and because they are judged to 
 have erred by the whole world and the authority of so many 
 ages. I don't care a fig for those fools and their threats, 
 provided only that Christ be a propitious God to me, to whom 
 I am prepared to yield the defence of the Word. I have 
 written at length because I like to chat with you. Farewell. 
 
 Brother Martin Luther. 
 
 70. THE EMPEROR MAXI^MILIAN TO POPE LEO X AT ROME. 
 
 M. Lutheri Opera latina varii argumenti, ed. H. Schmidt. Erlangen, 
 
 1865, ii. 349. Augsburg, August 5, 1518. 
 
 Most blessed Father and most revered Lord! We have 
 recently heard that a certain Augustinian Friar, Martin 
 Luther by name, has published certain theses on indulgences 
 
 ^Sermo de virtute excommunicationis (Weimar i, 634^), printed by Luther in 
 August. According to Kostlin-Kawerau, i. 194, Luther delivered the sermon on 
 May i6th, but this seems too early. 
 
 27. e., at the General Chapter at Heidelberg, April and May. On Luther*8 
 interview with Trutfetter at Erfurt on the way home, cf, supra, no. 59 and 60. 
 
Let. 70 OTHER CONTEMPORARY I.ETTERS 99 
 
 to be discussed in the scholastic way, and that in these theses 
 he has taught much on this subject and concerning the power 
 of papal excommunication, part of which appears injurious 
 and heretical, as has been noted by the Master of your sacred 
 palace. This has displeased us the more because, as we are 
 informed, the said friar obstinately adheres to his doctrine, 
 and is said to have found several defenders of his errors 
 among the great. 
 
 And as suspicious assertions and dangerous dogmas can 
 be judged by no one better, more rightly and more truly than 
 by your Holiness, who alone is able and ought to silence the 
 authors of vain questions, sophisms and wordy quarrels, than 
 which nothing more pestilent can happen to Christianity, for 
 these men consider only how to magnify what they have 
 taught, so your Holiness can maintain the sincere and solid 
 doctrine approved by the consensus of the more learned 
 opinion of the present age and of those who formerly died 
 piously in Christ. 
 
 There is an ancient decree of the Pontifical College on the 
 licensing of teachers, in which there is no provision whatever 
 against sophistry, save in case the decretals are called in ques- 
 tion, and whether it is right to teach that, the study of which 
 has been disapproved by many and great authors. 
 
 Since, therefore, the authority of the Popes is disregarded, 
 and doubtful, or rather erroneous opinions are alone received, 
 it is bound to occur that those little fanciful and blind teachers 
 should be led astray. And it is due to them that not only are 
 many of the more solid doctors of the Church not only 
 neglected, but even corrupted and mutilated. 
 
 We do not mention that these authors hatch many more 
 heresies than were ever condemned. We do not mention that 
 both Reuchlin's trial and the present most dangerous dispute 
 about indulgences and papal censures have been brought forth 
 by these pernicious authors. If the authority of your Holi- 
 ness and of the most reverend fathers does not put an end 
 to such doctrines, soon their authors will not only impose on 
 the unlearned multitude, but will win the favor of princes,^ 
 
 ^Perhaps a special allusion to the Elector Frederic of whom Maximilian was 
 jealous. He was 'now holding the Imperial Diet at Augsburg. He probably 
 
100 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 71 
 
 to their mutual destruction. If we shut our eyes and leave 
 them the field open and free, it will happen, as they chiefly 
 desire, that the whole world will be forced to look on their 
 follies instead of on the best and most holy doctors. 
 
 Of our singular reverence for the Apostolic See, we have 
 signified this to your Holiness, so that simple Christianity 
 may not be injured and scandalized by these rash disputes 
 and captious arguments. Whatever may be righteously 
 decided upon in this our Empire, we will make all our sub- 
 jects obey for the praise and honor of God Almighty and the 
 salvation of Christians. 
 
 71. LUTHER TO SPALATIN AT AUGSBURG.' 
 Enders, i. 213. Wittenberg, August 8, 1518. 
 
 Greeting. I now need your help more than ever, dear 
 Spalatin, or rather the honor of our whole university needs 
 it. I mean that I want you to use your influence with the 
 elector and Pfefiinger to get the elector and his Imperial 
 Majesty^ to request the Pope to allow my case to be tried in 
 Germany,^ as I have written the elector. For you see how 
 subtly and maliciously those murderous Dominicans* are acting 
 for my destruction. I would have written on the same account 
 to Pfeffinger, to request his influence in obtaining this favor 
 for me from Emperor and elector, but I had to write in 
 great haste. They have given me but a short time, as you see 
 by the Citation, that Lernaean swamp full of hydras and 
 other monsters. Therefore be diligent, if you love me and 
 
 wrote this letter at the instigation of the Papal Legate, Cajetan. Luther's enemies 
 had taken notes of his Sermon on the Ban (cf. supra, no. 69), which they had 
 reduced to a series of propositions, and sent to Cajetan. Cf. Smith, 47f. 
 
 ^The Emperor Maximilian held an Imperial Diet at Augsburg in the summer of 
 1518. Spalatin was present in attendance on the Elector Frederic. 
 
 ^Maximilian I, (Emperor from 1493 till his death, January 12, 1519), in this 
 case acted as Luther wished, getting the case transferred to Augsburg, not 
 from the desire to help the Saxon, but apparently because he felt he could deal 
 with him more summarily so. Smith, op. cit., p. 48. Supra, no. 70. 
 
 ^Finding that Luther had not recanted at Heidelberg, the Curia summoned him 
 to Rome to recant within sixty days, which summons, together with Prierias' 
 Dialogue (supra, no. 68), Luther had just received. Smith, p. 47. 
 
 *"Praedicatores." It would be possible to translate this "preachers of indul- 
 gences," but it is more likely that Luther meant the "order of preachers," as the 
 Dominicans were called, for they had, indeed, been particularly active against 
 him, Tetzel, Eck and Prierias were all Dominicans. Smith, ibid. 
 
I^et. 73 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 101 
 
 hate iniquity, to get the advice and aid of the elector at once, 
 and when you have got it, communicate it to me, and still 
 more to our reverend father vicar Staupitz, who is per- 
 chance now with you at Augsburg, or soon will be. For he 
 is in Salzburg, having promised to be at Nuremberg on 
 August 15. Finally, I pray you, be not moved or sad for 
 me ; with the trial the Lord will also make a way of escape. 
 I am answering the sylvan and wild Dialogue of Sylvester 
 Prierias,^ all of which you will have as soon as it is ready. 
 The same sweet man is both my enemy and my judge, as 
 you will see by the Citation. Farewell. As I have much to 
 write I cannot say more to you now. 
 
 Brother Martin Eleutherius, Augustinian. 
 
 72. LUTHER TO SYLVESTER PRIERIAS AT ROME. 
 Enders, i. 216. (Wittenberg, about August 10, 1518.) 
 
 That supercilious Dialogue of yours, very reverend Father, 
 written in the usual style of an Italian and a Thomist, has 
 reached me. You boast in it that you, an old man, done with 
 fighting, are impelled anew by my words to the combat, but 
 nevertheless, you say you will get the victory over me in the 
 unequal contest, as Entellus did over Dares," but by this alone 
 you show that you are vainglorious Dares rather than Entellus, 
 because you boast before you are safe and ask for praise 
 before victory." Pray do what you can; the Lord's will be 
 done. . . . 
 
 Behold, reverend Father, I am sending your treatise back 
 quickly, because your refutation seems trifling; therefore, I 
 have answered it ex tempore with whatever came uppermost 
 in my mind. If, after that, you wish to hit back, be careful 
 to bring your Aquinas better armed into the arena, lest per- 
 chance you be not treated as gently again as you are in this 
 encounter. I have forborne to render evil for evil. 
 
 Farewell ! 
 
 73. POPE LEO X TO CARDINAL CAJETAN AT AUGSBURG. 
 
 Luthers Werke (Weimar), ii. 23. Rome, August 23, 1518. 
 
 By this breve the Pope transfers jurisdiction in Luther's case to 
 'On him and the Dialogue, cf. supra, no. 68, and infra, no. 72. 
 2Virgil: Aeneid, v. 369!!?. SErasmus: Adages. 
 
102 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. ^l 
 
 Cajetan. A copy of it was secured by the Elector Frederic's agents 
 at Augsburg and forwarded to Luther, whom it reached at Nurem- 
 berg late in October. Infra, no. 93, October 31. Luther incorporated 
 it in his Acta Augustana, and thus it has reached posterity. 
 Ranke and others have doubted its genuineness, but on insufficient 
 grounds. Cf. Weimar, loc. cit, p. 22, and Realencyclopadie, s. v. 
 Sadoleto. 
 
 Giacomo de Vio, of Gaeta (thence known as Cajetan and usually 
 as Thomas, the name he assumed on becoming a monk; February 
 20, 1469-9 or 10 August, 1534), became a Dominican 1484, studied 
 at Naples, Bologna and Padua; 1500 called to Rome as Procurator 
 of his Order; 1507 began to teach at the University, and the next 
 year was elected General of his Order. He was active against the 
 schismatics at the Council of Pisa 1511-2. Made Cardinal by Leo, 
 July I, 1517, and Bishop of Palermo 1518. In December, 1517, he 
 published a work on indulgences, which seems to refer to Luther's 
 Theses {Zeitschrift filr Kirchengeschichte, xxxii., 201). In 1518 he 
 was sent as legate to the Diet of Augsburg, and here saw Luther, 
 Infra, no. 85. In 1519 he was made Bishop of Gaeta, and in 1523 
 legate to Hungary. From 1524, to the sack of Rome, 1527, he lived 
 in that city as councillor of Clement VII, and again from 1530-4. 
 Life, by A. Cossio (1902), Realencyclopadie, Lauchert, op. cit., I33ff; 
 Zeitschrift fiir Kirchengeschichte, xxiii. 240!?. 
 
 Beloved Son, greeting and the apostolic blessing! After 
 it had come to our ears that a certain Martin Luther, repro- 
 bate Augustinian, had asserted some heresies and some things 
 different from those held by the Roman Church, and in addi- 
 tion to this, of his own rashness and obstinacy, forgetting 
 the duty of obedience and not consulting the mistress of the 
 faith, the Roman Church, had dared to publish some slander- 
 ous books in divers parts of Germany, we, desirous of 
 paternally correcting his rashness, ordered our venerable 
 brother Jerome,^ Bishop of Ascoli, General Auditor of the 
 Curia, to cite the said Martin to appear personally before 
 him to be examined under certain penalties and to answer for 
 his faith. The said Auditor Jerome, as we have heard, issued 
 this citation to the said Martin. 
 
 But recently it has come to our notice that the said Martin, 
 abusing our clemency and become bolder thereby, adding 
 
 ^Jerome Ghinucci, of Siena, secretary of Julius II., by whom he was made 
 Bishop of Ascoli. By Leo X. he was made Auditor, i. e.. Supreme Justice of the 
 Papal Curia, and sent at one time as nuncio to England. In 153S he was made 
 cardinal, and died July 3, 1541. Disionario de Erudisione (Venice, 1844), s- a. 
 
I.et. 73 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 103 
 
 evil to evil and obstinately persisting in his heresy, has pub- 
 lished some other propositions and slanderous books, contain- 
 ing other heresies and errors. This disturbed our mind 
 not a httle. Wherefore, agreeably to our pastoral duty, desir- 
 ing to prevent such a pest from growing strong and infecting 
 the minds of the simple, we, by these presents, direct you 
 (in whose circumspection we confide much in the Lord, on 
 account of your singular learning, your experience and your 
 sincere devotion to this holy see of which you are an honor- 
 able member) not to delay on receipt of this letter, but, since 
 the affair has become notorious and inexcusable and has lasted 
 long, to force and compel the said Martin, now declared to 
 be a heretic by the said auditor, to appear personally before 
 you. To accomplish this, call on the assistance of our most 
 beloved son in Christ, Maximilian, Emperor Elect of the 
 Romans, and of the other German princes, cities, corpora- 
 tions and powers, both ecclesiastical and secular; and when 
 you have Martin in your power, keep him under a safe guard 
 until you hear further from us, as shall be determined by us 
 and the apostolic see. 
 
 If he shall come to you of his own accord, craving pardon 
 for his rashness, and showing signs of hearty repentance, we 
 give you power of kindly receiving him into the communion 
 of holy mother Church, who never closes her bosom to him 
 who returns. But if, indeed, persevering in his contumacy, 
 and despising the secular arm, he will not come into your 
 power, then in like manner we give you power of declaring 
 in a public edict like those which were formerly written on 
 the praetor's bill-board,"- to be posted in all parts of Germany, 
 that he and his adherents and followers are heretics, excom- 
 municated, anathematized and cursed, and are to be avoided 
 by all the faithful as such. And in order that this plague 
 may be the more quickly and easily exterminated, you may 
 admonish and require, by our authority and under pain of 
 excommunication and other penalties mentioned below, all and 
 singular prelates and other ecclesiastical persons, as well sec- 
 
 ^The Album praetorium was the place where the praetor used to publish his 
 edicts. Bucange, a. v. The phrase simply means, therefore, notices to be posted 
 up in public. 
 
104 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 73' 
 
 ular as regular of all orders, including the mendicants, and 
 all dukes, marquises, counts, barons, cities, corporations and 
 magistrates (except the aforesaid Maximilian Emperor Elect) 
 that, as they desire to be considered Christians, they should 
 seize all his adherents and followers and give them into your 
 charge. 
 
 And if (which we deprecate and cannot believe) the said 
 princes, cities, corporations and magistrates, or any of them, 
 should receive Martin or his adherents and followers in any 
 way, or should give the said Martin aid, counsel or favor, 
 openly or secretly, directly or indirectly, for any cause what- 
 ever, we subject the cities, towns and domains of these princes, 
 communities, corporations and magistrates to the interdict^ 
 as well as all the cities, towns and places to which the said 
 Martin may happen to come, as. long as he remains there and 
 for three days afterwards. And we also command all and 
 singular princes, cities, corporations and magistrates aforesaid, 
 to obey all your requisitions and commands, without excep- 
 tion, contradiction or reply, and that they abstain from giving 
 counsel, aid, favor and comfort to the aforesaid. The penalty 
 of disobedience, in addition to that mentioned above, shall be 
 for the clergy deprivation of their churches, monasteries and 
 feudal benefices forever, and for laymen, except the aforesaid 
 Emperor, the penalties of infamy, inability to do any legitimate 
 act, deprivation of religious burial and forfeiture of the fiefs 
 held from us or from the apostolic see, together with what- 
 ever secular penalties may be hereby incurred. And by these 
 presents we give you power of rewarding the obedient with 
 a plenary indulgence or grace according to your judgment, 
 notwithstanding previous privileges granted and confirmed by 
 the apostolic authority to churches, monasteries and persons, 
 even if it be expressly provided therein that they cannot be 
 excommunicated. . . . 
 
 Given at Rome, at St. Peter's, under the fisherman's ring, 
 in the sixth year of our pontificate. 
 
 J. Sadoletus.' 
 
 V. e., prohibition of all religious rites except baptism and extreme unction. 
 This threat, aimed chiefly at the Elector Frederic, was not carried out for political 
 reasons. 
 
 sjacopo Sadoleto, 1477-1547, was a well-trained theologian, employed as papal 
 
Let. 74 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 105 
 
 74- POPE LEO X. TO THE ELECTOR FREDERIC OF SAXONY. 
 Lutheri Opera varii argumenti (Erlangen, 1865), ii. 352. 
 
 Rome, August 23, 1518. 
 
 Beloved Son, greeting and the apostolic blessing! ... It 
 has come to our ears from all quarters that a certain son of 
 iniquity, Friar Martin Luther, of the German Congregation 
 of Augustinian Hermits, forgetting his cloth and profession, 
 which consists in humility and obedience, sinfully vaunts him- 
 self in the Church of God, and, as though relying on your 
 protection, fears the authority or rebuke of no one. Although 
 we know this is false, yet we thought good to write to your 
 Lordship, exhorting you in the Lord, that for the name and 
 fame of a good Catholic Prince such as you are, you should 
 retain the splendor of your glory and race unsoiled by these 
 calumnies. Not only that we wish you to avoid doing wrong, 
 as you do, for as yet we judge that you have done none, but 
 we desire you to escape the suspicion of doing wrong, in 
 which Luther's rashness would involve you. 
 
 As we are certain from the report of most learned and 
 religious men, and especially of our beloved son, the Master 
 of our Sacred Palace, that Luther has dared to assert and 
 publicly to affirm many impious and heretical things, we have 
 ordered him to be summoned to make answer, and we have 
 charged our beloved son. Cardinal Cajetan, Legate of the Holy 
 See, a man versed in all theology and philosophy, to do with 
 Luther as seems best. 
 
 As this affair concerns the purity of the faith of God and 
 the Catholic Church, and as it is the proper office of the Apos- 
 tolic See, the mistress of faith, to take cognizance who think 
 rightly and who wrongly, we again exhort your Lordship, for 
 the sake of God's honor and ours and your own, please to 
 
 secretary on account of his elegant Latinity. He was born in Modena, studied 
 at Ferrara, went to Rome 1502, where he took orders and entered the service 
 of Cardinal Oliviero Caraf¥a. Leo X. immediately on his accession to the 
 papal throne named Sadoleto and Bembo secretaries of breves. He was 
 made Bishop of Carpentras 1517, where he lived during the pontificate of 
 Adrian VI., and again after the sack 'of Rome, 1527. In 1536 he was made car- 
 dinal and member of the Commission for Reform appointed by Paul III. He 
 wrote commentaries on the Bible and other works, including some against Luther. 
 F. Lauchert; Die Italienischen Gegner Luthers, jSsff. I have not seen; S. 
 Ritter: Un umanista ieotogo, Jacopo Sadoleto, Roma, 1912. 
 
106 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 75 
 
 give help that this Martin Luther may be dehvered into the 
 power and judgment of the Holy See, as the said legate will 
 request of you. . . . 
 
 Given at St. Peter's, under the fisherman's ring, in the sixth 
 year of our pontificate. 
 
 James Sadoletus. 
 
 75. GABRIEL DELLA VOLTA, GENERAL OF THE AUGUS- 
 TINIAN HERMITS, TO GERARD HECKER, PROVINCIAL 
 OF SAXONY. 
 
 Zeitschrift fiir Kirchengeschichte, ii. 476. 
 
 CoRi (near Rome), August 25, 1518. 
 
 Gabriel della Volta of Venice (Venetus) was nominated General 
 of the Augustinians by Leo X. at the beginning of 1518. He at first 
 declined, but was persuaded by a letter of February 3, 1518 (P. Bembi 
 Epistolarum libri, xvi. Lugduni, 1538, no. 18), chiefly because Leo 
 thought him the best man to deal with Luther. In this letter the 
 Pope begged him to "quiet that man, for newly kindled flames are 
 easily quenched, but a great fire is hard to put out.'' Accordingly, at 
 the General Chapter at Venice, in June, 1519, Gabriel was elected 
 General. He had already endeavored to get Staupitz to deal with 
 Luther (Smith, p. 46) and failing in this turned to Hecker. Kolde; 
 Augustiner-C ongregation, index. 
 
 Hecker, since 1480 Augustinian at Lippstadt, lecturer at Bologna, 
 1488. In 1502 he came to Erfurt, where he was Luther's teacher. 
 He was thrice Provincial of Thuringia and Saxony. In 1521 he 
 came out for the Reformation, going to Osnabriick, where he lived 
 until his death, in 1536. Kolde, loc. cit., 474; Enders, vii. 83. 
 
 You can hardly estimate into what a mass of evils a certain 
 Brother Martin Luther of our order and of the Congregation^ 
 of the Vicar, has brought us and our profession.'' Thinking 
 himself wise, he has become the most foolish of all who were 
 ever in our order. We had previously heard from the Rev- 
 erend Auditor- of the Apostolic Chamber, and as has now 
 been communicated to us by our Supreme Lord Leo X., Luther 
 has come to such a degree not only of noxiousness, but also 
 of most damnable heresy, that he has not feared to lecture 
 and dispute openly against the Holy Roman Church and the 
 
 'The German Augustinians were divided into two bodies, the Congregation of 
 Observants, of which Staupitz was vicar, and the Conventuals, under Hecker. 
 -"Religio" in the usual monastic sense. 
 ^Jerome Ghinucci. 
 
Let. 75 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 107 
 
 Supreme Most Blessed Pontiff, and publicly to preach his 
 false doctrine and many other propositions suitable not to a 
 monk and a Christian as he is, but to a schismatic heretic and 
 to one whose name, perhaps, has been erased from the book 
 of Hfe. Now we have warned this rebel to his profession and 
 this enemy of the cross of Christ to desist from his cursed 
 doings, and we have cited him to Rome, either to correct or 
 to show reason for all that he has said against Our Supreme 
 Lord^ and the Holy Roman Church. But as he was blind 
 enough in his heresy to dare to lift up his face against heaven, 
 and to rage and rebel against Our Supreme Lord, thus he did 
 not fear to show his rebellious contumacy against his vow 
 and us. Now his iniquity has multiplied and his sin has grown 
 to such a degree that by the command of the Supreme Pontiff 
 Our Lord, we ought to apply opportune remedies to this conta- 
 gious pestilence, and, lest he should infect and ruin others, to 
 proceed against him as a rebel to his vow and a heretic towards 
 the Holy Roman Church. And as we cannot be everywhere, 
 we rely on your well-tried virtue, moderation and probity. 
 Therefore we command you under pain of losing all your 
 promotions, dignities and offices, when you receive this letter, 
 to proceed to capture the said Brother Martin Luther, have 
 him bound in chains, fetters and handcuffs, and detained under 
 strict guard in prison at the instance of our Supreme Lord 
 Leo X. And as he belongs to that Congregation which thinks 
 itself free from your^ government, that he may have no way of 
 escape, we give you in this matter all our authority, and we 
 inform you that our Supreme Lord, the Pope, has delegated 
 to you plenary apostolic authority to imprison, bind and detain 
 this man, notwithstanding anything done to the contrary, all 
 of which, in as far as concerns this business, his Holiness 
 expressly waives. Furthermore, he grants you power of putting 
 the interdict on all places, and of excommunicating all persons 
 by the apostolic authority, as you will see further in the 
 apostolic breve, and of doing all things which seem to you 
 needful for imprisoning this scoundrel ; all of this in the name 
 
 'Usual designation of the Pope. 
 
 ^Reading "vestra" for "nostra." Tlle Observants never denied the supremacy 
 of the General, but they did refuse obedience to the Conventuals headed by 
 Hecker. 
 
108 I^UTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 76 
 
 of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. 
 We command all those under us, of whatever Province, Con- 
 gregation, title, dignity or office,' to help and advise you in 
 this matter, and not only this, but on their duty of obedience 
 and under pain of excommunication, for which, though 
 unwillingly, in this letter we give such persons the triple warn- 
 ing commanded by the Canon Law, that they should obey and 
 serve you as they would ourself. Know that in this matter 
 you will not only do a great favor to us and to our profession, 
 but will also put under a great obligation our Supreme Lord 
 Leo X., who of his own accord offers to pay you amply for it. 
 Know also that if you accomplish this, no one in the order 
 will in future be dearer to us than you; by this one service 
 you will win for yourself more benefits, honors and dignities 
 than you could in all the rest of your life. Proceed, therefore ; 
 look to God, the inspirer of holy works, that men may recog- 
 nize in you a man whose mind and heart are fit to do great 
 deeds. The whole order will praise you for this, and we 
 shall always be in your debt. Hereafter, our profession will 
 always consider you as the renewer of the honor of our order 
 and the zealous supporter of the Holy Roman Church. The 
 thing is too important to admit delay; therefore we command 
 you to spare no labor, to refuse no expense to get this heretic 
 into the hands of the Supreme Pontiff. We also command 
 you to write to us as often and as fully and as quickly as 
 possible, whenever you have any news in this business. You 
 will be paid to the uttermost farthing. Farewell. 
 
 ■7(>. LUTHER TO SPALATIN AT AUGSBURG. 
 
 Enders, i. 218. Wittenberg, August 28, 1518. 
 
 This letter, dated ''sabbatho octavae Assumptionis D. Mariae," or 
 "Saturday week after the Assumption of Mary'' (August 15), is put 
 by Enders on August 21. The wording is doubtful, but the letter 
 seems, from other reasons, to have been written a week later, i. e., 
 August 28. C/. Zeitschrift fiir Kirchengeschichte, xvii. 167, note 2, 
 and Luthers Werke, ed. Oemen, i. 15. 
 
 Greeting. The messenger I sent to the Illustrious Elector 
 
 IThifl was intended particularly for Staupitz, who sympathized with Luther, 
 and had failed to make him recant at the General Chapter held at Heidelberg in 
 May, although he bad been instructed to do so by Volta. 
 
Let. J7 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 109 
 
 Frederic has not returned, therefore I am still waiting to 
 know what the Lord will do in my cause through you. But I 
 have heard that the Very Reverend Cardinal Cajetan has 
 been particularly commanded by the Pope to do everything 
 possible to alienate the minds of the Emperor and princes 
 from me. So much does conscience make such popes cowards, 
 or rather so intolerable is the power of truth to works which 
 are done in darkness ! 
 
 But as you know, Spalatin, I fear nothing. For even if 
 their sycophancy and power should succeed in making me 
 hateful unto all, yet my heart and conscience would tell me 
 that all things which I have and which they attack, I have from 
 God, to whom willingly and of my own accord I refer them 
 and to whom I offer them. If he takes them away, let them 
 be taken away, if he preserves them, let them be preserved, 
 and may his name be holy and blessed forever. Amen. 
 
 I do not see in what way I can escape all their censures 
 unless the elector helps me. On the other hand, I would 
 much prefer to be always under their censures than to make 
 the elector incur odium for my sake. Therefore, as I formerly 
 offered myself, believe that I am still ready to be offered up, 
 and convince of this any other whom you may think fit. I 
 will never be a heretic; I may err in debate, but I wish to 
 decide nothing. Yet I would not be captive to the doctrines 
 of men. . . . 
 
 I send my Resolutions, very badly printed on account of my 
 rather long absence.^ Prierias' Dialogue^ with my answer are 
 being printed at Leipsic. . . . 
 
 Brother Martin Eleutherius, Augustinian. 
 
 77. LUTHER TO JOHN STAUPITZ. 
 Enders, i. 222. (Wittenberg), September i, 1518. 
 
 Greeting. Doubt not, reverend Father, that in future I 
 shall be free in examining and treating the Word of God. 
 For neither does that citation to Rome, nor do their threats 
 
 ^Luther had recently been to Dresden, on which, cf. infra, no. 117, having 
 preached there on July 25. But he is here probably referring to his trip to 
 Heidelberg, April ii-May 15. 
 
 ^Luther himself printed Prierias* Dialogue, with his answer. Reprinted Weimar, 
 i. 644. Cf. supra, nos. 68, 72. 
 
110 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 78 
 
 move me ; you know that I suffer things infinitely worse/ which 
 would make me consider these temporal and passing thunder- 
 bolts trifles, were it not that I sincerely desire to cherish the 
 power of the Church. If I am excommunicated by men my 
 only fear is of offending you, whose judgment in these matters 
 I think is right, faithful and given with God's authority. . . . 
 My opponents strive, I see, to prevent Christ's kingdom of 
 truth coming, and do all in their power to prevent truth being 
 heard and preached in their own kingdom. I desire to be a 
 part of this kingdom, at least with a veracious tongue and a 
 pure heart confessing the truth, even if my life does not 
 correspond. And I learn that the people are sighing for the 
 voice of their shepherd Christ, and that the youth burns with 
 great zeal towards the Holy Scriptures. . . . 
 
 Brother Martin Luther. 
 
 78. WOLFGANG FABRICIUS CAPITO TO LUTHER. 
 Enders, i. 228. Basle, September 4, 1518. 
 
 Greeting. Your last kind letter" I answered from Strass- 
 burg, telling you of Erasmus' opinion of you, that is, how 
 honorably and frankly he admires your Theses^ Since then I 
 have seen your Sermon on Penitence and that on Indulgences 
 and Grace, each of which declares open war against the cus- 
 toms of this age. I was seized with anxiety for the safety of 
 my friend, who exposes a naked side to dense throngs of 
 enemies, though, indeed, he seems well armed with the weapons 
 of truth. But I much fear that you will be attacked by far 
 different weapons, and that there is danger lest force be 
 resorted to. Wherefore, if you will give ear to a faithful 
 counsellor, I warn you, as one who knows, that you will play 
 the part of Sertorius.'' Believe me, you will accomplish more 
 obliquely than by a direct assault in full force. You see they 
 occupy a fortress defended at all points. They sleep, as it 
 were, on their arms, sheltered behind a triple rampart, the 
 authority of the Pope, that is, of the universal Church, the 
 
 ^Luther refers to his spiritual temptations. 
 2C/. supra, no. 49. 
 SC/. infra, no. 87. 
 
 *Sertorius was a Spanish rebel who maintained himself for a time, but was 
 finally assassinated. 
 
Let. 78 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS m 
 
 power of kings, and the obstinate agreement of the uni- 
 versities. Forsooth you will hardly ever easily break this thick 
 and triple cord of the cacodemon. There is need of an Alex- 
 ander, to cut it, like the Gordian knot, with his sword; to 
 loose it by genius or reason is hard. Simple but pious men 
 stand at the beck and call of the fictitious Church. The wiser 
 heads fear her tyranny. And especially we theologians, who 
 sell the greatest of all things, the holy knowledge of Christ, 
 give up Christ for our pride, and, inveighing against all the 
 stains on religion, under the pretext of piety take care to lose 
 nothing by it. Wherefore, lest your splendid attempt should 
 turn out vain, I pray you use a little artifice, by which you may 
 fix your hook in the reader before he suspects that a hook has 
 been baited for him. 
 
 Thus the apostles urged nothing suddenly, nothing openly, 
 but always preserved decorum and courtesy. With what 
 strategy does Paul approach in the Epistle to the Romans ! 
 What does he not do to keep their favor? He simulates 
 one thing and dissimulates another, he winds in and out, he 
 displays his rich burden from afar, again he conceals it, in 
 short, he weighs his words so that he may never arouse 
 hatred or disgust. 
 
 The Acts of the Apostles are full of examples of his method. 
 Thus in a tumult St. Paul answers like a turncoat: he does 
 not say, "I do not speak against the law," but "Of the resur- 
 rection I am called in question,"^ thus with wonderful pru- 
 dence diverting attention from the observance of the law. Thus 
 great things are safely accomplished by oblique methods. 
 Thus I wish that you might always keep some window open 
 by which you might escape when you are harassed in debate. 
 
 Recently I received Prierias' foolish pamphlet against your 
 Theses. If you answer him I hope it will be prudently and 
 according to the true example of Christ in the gospel. Speak 
 expressly of religion in its inception and growth, of the cus- 
 toms of the ancients, the reason of old error, and the various 
 decrees of the popes and councils, so that your argument 
 gain credence as though drawn from the fountain of truth. 
 You can more frequently discredit single abuses by ridicule 
 
 ^Acts, xxiii. 6. 
 
112 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 79 
 
 than by attacking them seriously. Carefully abstain from 
 abusing the Pope, but rather give all the blame to Prierias, 
 as an impudent flatterer who only for the sake of his belly 
 places an unworthy burden on the pontifical dignity. . . . 
 
 But behold how my friendship has made me forget myself 
 in telling you what to do. Pray forgive my solicitude. You 
 have more than one champion, Carlstadt, Spalatin, Egranus 
 and Melanchthon, a wonderful aggregation of genius. If 
 you rely on their counsels, you will never publish anything 
 weak or ridiculous. . . . 
 
 Erasmus greatly approves of Egranus' book,^ with its nerv- 
 ous, rapid and clear argument. He wished that it might be 
 republished at Basle," although he would have been angry had 
 it been printed here first. John Eck has written against Carl- 
 stadt. Do what you can you will not debate before an impar- 
 tial tribunal, but at least consider us safe. I am writing a 
 free answer to Eck, in a private letter. . . . Farewell. 
 
 Yours, whom you know. 
 
 79. MARCO MINIO TO THE SIGNORY OF VENICE. 
 
 R. Brown : Calendar of State Papers . . in . . . Venice. London, 
 
 1869, ii. 1069. Rome, September 4, 1518. 
 
 Minio was the agent of the Venetian Government at Rome, 1518-9. 
 His letter, as given by me after Mr. Brown, is abbreviated. 
 
 To-day in the consistory the Pope announced his intention 
 of sending the Rose' to the Elector of Saxony, as that prince 
 was a good Christian and one of the chief princes of Germany. 
 The Pope did this to try, through the medium of the Elector 
 of Saxony, to allay the heresy, as they style it, of a certain 
 Dominican [ f] friar, who was preaching in those parts against 
 the apostolic see, condemning the forms observed by the 
 Church of Rome, alleging moreover that the indulgences daily 
 conceded were of no value, and many other doctrines. 
 
 'His Apologetica Responsio, for which Luther wrote a preface. Cf, Endera, i. 
 181. Weimar, i. 316. 
 
 2A3 was done, Enders, ihid. 
 
 SThe anointed golden rose, a much prized token sent by the Pope to faithful 
 princes. Cf. Smith, op. cit., 54. Rodocanachi: Rome au temps de Jules II, et de 
 Lion X., p. 294f. 
 
Let. 8i OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 113 
 
 80. STAUPITZ TO LUTHER. 
 Enders, i. 234. Salzburg, September 14, 1518. 
 
 Possess your soul in patience for salvation. I have enough 
 to write to fill a book, but will express myself briefly. It 
 seems to me that the world is exasperated against truth; with 
 so great hatred was Christ once crucified, and to-day I see 
 nothing waiting for you but the cross. Unless I mistake, the 
 opinion prevails that no one should examine the Scripture 
 without leave of the Pope in order to find for himself, which 
 Christ certainly commands us to do. You have few defenders, 
 and would that they were not hiding for fear of enemies. I 
 should like you to leave Wittenberg and come to me, that we 
 may live and die together. This would also please the arch- 
 bishop.^ Here I finish. It is expedient thus to be, that 
 abandoned we may follow abandoned Christ. Farewell, and 
 a good journey to you. Your brother, 
 
 John Staupitz. 
 
 81. LUTHER TO JOHN LANG AT ERFURT. 
 Enders, i. 236. (Wittenberg), September 16, 1518. 
 
 . . . The most learned and perfect Grecian Philip Melanch- 
 thon'' is teaching Greek here. He is a mere boy in years, but 
 one of us in various knowledge, including that of almost all 
 books. He is not only master of Greek and Latin, but of all 
 the learning to which they are the keys, and he also knows 
 some Hebrew. 
 
 The most illustrious elector has written me that he has 
 brought it about that the Legate Cajetan has written to Rome 
 to ask that my case be referred to a German tribunal' and that 
 I may expect that it will be. So I hope that I will not be 
 censured. But I displease many, most, almost all. . . 
 
 ^Matthew Lang (1468-1540), of Augsburg, who had become a trusted councillor 
 of Maximilian, became Bishop of Gurk 1505, Cardinal 1511, Coadjutor of Salzburg 
 1514 and Archbishop of that see 1519, Bishop of Albano 1535. He was a warm 
 friend of Staupitz. To his judgment it was at one time proposed to refer the 
 Lutheran affair. Smith, op. cit., pp. 55, 107. He was, however, always a bitter 
 opponent of the Reformation, persecuting its adherents, including Erasmus, and 
 distinguishing himself by his cruelty in suppressing the Peasants' Revolt of 1 52s. 
 Belford Bax: Peasants' War, p. i87ff. In general Realencyclopadie. 
 
 30n him see letter no. 82. 
 
 8C/. supra, no. 76, and infra, no. 83. 
 
 8 
 
114 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 8ia 
 
 8ia. GUY BILD TO LUTHER. 
 Zeitschrift des historischen Vereins fiir Schwaben und Neuburg. 1893. 
 Vol. XX, p. 219. Augsburg, September 21, 1518. 
 
 Bild was born at Hochstadt 1481, studied at Ingolstadt, came to 
 Augsburg 1500, where he took a position as parish clerk at St. Ulrich. 
 In 1503 in consequence of a severe illness he became a monk at that 
 convent. He died in the last half of 1529. A sketch of his life and 
 some of his letters, op. cit. supra, lysfi. In 1518 Bernard Adelmann 
 gave Bild some of Luther's works. At the Diet of Augsburg in the 
 same year, he had an interview with Spalatin on the subject of 
 Luther. When the Wittenberger came to Augsburg in October, 
 however, Bild did not go to see him. 
 
 Reverend Father in Christ [I wish you] Jesus the protector 
 of the just.^ A few days ago I received the theses inscribed 
 with your name, and have now been able to acquire a fuller 
 knowledge of the author. For it happened that that noble man, 
 George Spalatin, who is not only imbued with the rudiments 
 of all sciences, but is decked with a garland of all the virtues, 
 and is a dear and faithful friend of yours, having some busi- 
 ness with me on behalf of his elector,^ told me during the 
 conversation, at my request, what he could of your worth, 
 person and piety. As he knew my favorable opinion of your 
 Reverence, he talked freely about you; indeed, you were the 
 alpha and omega of his discourse. Also the Reverend Father 
 Prior of the Convent of Ramsau,° once your disciple as he said, 
 fairly made me dance with joy,* by instructing me more fully 
 about your exemplary life (I speak without base adulation) 
 and thus he so inflamed my mind that I am no less bound to 
 your Reverence than was Jonathan to his faithful David. 
 Our common friend George Spalatin will more clearly reveal 
 to you what I think of your Reverence's doctrines, learning, 
 instruction and defence. Wherefore, reverend Father, I 
 humbly beg and deserve pardon of you for wishing to approach 
 your Reverence with my inelegantly written letter. For I 
 was assured of your mercy not only by words, but because I 
 
 ^Instead of the usual greeting: "Salutem," meaning: "(I wish you) health." 
 
 ^This was to order twelve sundials from Bild, who was an expert in making 
 them. 
 
 ^Martin Glaser, on whom, cf. infra, no. 154. He had been introduced to Bild 
 by Spalatin in a letter dated September is. 
 
 ^"Accumulavit gaudiis tripudia"; one may suspect a corrupt text. 
 
I,et. 82 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 115 
 
 was not ignorant that you constantly, by good deeds, preached 
 the kingdom of God and salvation of souls. Wherefore I 
 decided, relying on the offices of a friend, to send you this 
 note in order that (though I ask it foolishly) I may be 
 inscribed in the register of your friends, even as the least of 
 them, so that aided by your prayers before God Almighty I 
 may rejoice to have merited the kind friendship of such a 
 man. Farewell, and be commended to God and to all the 
 saints. 
 
 Guy Bild of Hochstadt. 
 
 82. PHILIP MELANCHTHON TO CHRISTOPHER SCHEURL 
 AT NUREMBERG. 
 
 Corpus Reformatorum, i. 48. Wittenberg, September 24, 1518. 
 
 Philip Melanchthon (Schwartzerd) (1497-1560), Luther's ablest 
 lieutenant, a grand-nephew of Reuchlin, born at Bretten near Pforz- 
 heim. He matriculated at Heidelberg 1509, and was B.A. in 1511. 
 Thence he went to Tiibingen, where he took his M.A. in 1514. By 1516 
 he had already attracted the attention of Erasmus, and at the recom- 
 mendation of Reuchlin was called in 1518 to Wittenberg. His inaugu- 
 ral address, De corrigendis studiis, was warmly received. From this 
 time on he became Luther's warmest friend and chief aid. After 
 Luther's death his position approached more nearly the Catholic than 
 many Protestants liked, and he thus caused a schism in the evangeHc 
 fold. Lives of him by G. Ellinger and in Realencyclopddie, and in 
 English by Richard (1898). His v/orks in Corpus Reformatorum, vols. 
 1-28, to which several supplements have been added. 
 
 ... I have begun to teach Greek and Hebrew to the Saxons, 
 which undertaking I hope God will favor. I have also deter- 
 mined to publish as soon as possible some sacred writings 
 of the Greeks, Hebrews and Romans with commentaries. 
 Wherefore I pray you either for the love of these studies, 
 or for the honor of the Elector Frederic or of our uni- 
 versity to order at my expense, from the booksellers of 
 Coburg, a Greek Bible, for we have the Hebrew Bible extremely 
 well printed here. You will understand how much this will 
 redound to the credit of the elector, the university and your 
 own name, and I would be the first to declare it, did you not 
 already have a witness in Luther, that honored, good and 
 learned leader of true Christian piety. . . . 
 
116 I,UTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 83 
 
 83. LUTHER TO GEORGE SPALATIN. 
 Enders, i. 239. Early morning, Augsburg, October 10, 1518. 
 
 Greeting. Dear Spalatin, I arrived at Augsburg^ on Octo- 
 ber 7. I arrived tired, for having contracted some grave 
 stomach trouble, I almost fainted by the wayside, but I have 
 recovered. This is the third day since I arrived, nor have I 
 yet seen the very reverend lord legate, though on the very 
 first day I sent Dr. Wenzel Link and another to announce me. 
 Meantime a safe-conduct is being secured for me by my 
 friends from the imperial councillors. They are all very 
 cordial to me for the sake of the illustrious elector. But 
 although the very reverend cardinal legate himself promises 
 to treat me with all clemency, yet my friends will not allow 
 me to rely on his word alone, so prudent and careful are 
 they. For they know that he is inwardly enraged at me, no 
 matter what he may outwardly pretend, and I myself clearly 
 learned this elsewhere. 
 
 But to-day, at any rate, I shall approach him, and seek to 
 see him and to have my first interview, though whether it will 
 so turn out I do not know. Some think my cause will be 
 affected by the absence of the Cardinal of Gurk,^ some say 
 the same of the absence of the Emperor, who is not far away, 
 but is daily expected to return. The Bishop of Augsburg' is 
 also absent from the city. Yesterday, I dined with Conrad 
 Peutinger,' a doctor [of law], a citizen and a man, as you 
 know well, extremely zealous in my cause; nor are the other 
 councillors behind. I know not whether the most reverend 
 legate fears me or whether he is preparing some treachery. 
 
 Yesterday he sent to me the ambassador of Montferrat," 
 
 'Luther's summons to Rome was changed to one to appear at Augsburg before 
 Cardinal Cajetan. This was in accordance with his own wishes, and with the 
 policy of Cajetan. Smith, op. cit., 48-54, supra, nos. 76 and 81. 
 ^' •'Matthew Lang. 
 
 ^Christopher von Stadion (Bishop 1517-43), later a great friend of Erasmus. 
 
 y *Peutinger (1465-1547), of Augsburg, studied in Italy, in 1497, was appointed 
 
 "" town clerk of his native city, in the service of which he discharged various 
 
 missions, and was made imperial councillor by Maximilian. His passion was the 
 
 study of antiquities, on which he produced several works. He was a friend of 
 
 Erasmus and of the Reformation. Allgemeine Deutsche Biographic. 
 
 SUrban da Serralonga, who had been ambassador at the elector's court from 
 Count William IX, of Montferrat, attached himself to Cajetan after William's 
 death in 1517. On his interview with Luther, Smith, op. cit., 4Sf. 
 
Let. 83 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 117 
 
 to sound me on my position before the interview with himself. 
 All think that the man came to me suborned and instructed 
 by the legate, for he plead with me long, advancing arguments 
 for sanity (as he called it), saying that I should simply agree 
 •with the legate, return to the Church, recant what I had said 
 ill. He gave me the example of the Abbot Joachim of Flora' 
 who, by acting as he [Serralonga] advised me to do, deserved 
 to be considered no heretic, although he had uttered heresy. 
 Then the suave gentleman dissuaded me from defending my 
 opinions, asking if I wished to make it a tournament. In 
 short, he is an Italian and an Italian he will remain. I said 
 that if I could be shown that I had said anything contrary 
 to the doctrine of the Holy Roman Church, I would soon be 
 my own judge and recant. Our chief difficulty was that he 
 cherished the opinions of Aquinas beyond what he can find 
 authority for in the decrees of the Church. I will not yield to 
 him on this point until the Church repeals her former decree 
 on which I rely. "Dear, dear," said he, "so you wish to have 
 a tournament?" Then he went on to make some insane 
 propositions, as, for example, he openly confessed that it was 
 right to preach lies, if they were profitable and filled the chest. 
 He denied that the power of the Pope should be treated in 
 debate, but that it should be so exalted that the Pope might by 
 his sole authority abrogate everything, including articles of 
 faith, and especially that point we were now disputing on. 
 He also made other propositions which I will tell you when I 
 see you. But I dismissed this Sinon,"" who too openly showed 
 his Greek art, and he went away. Thus I hang between hope 
 and fear, for this clumsy go-between did not give me the least 
 confidence. . . . 
 
 The very reverend Vicar John Staupitz writes thafr-ihe will 
 certainly come when he hears that I have arrived. . .' . 
 
 We know that the Pope has sent the Rose^ to our most 
 illustrious elector, a favor they give to great men with lively 
 
 IJoachim of Flora ^1145-1202) started an eschatological movement in Italy 
 which made a great commotion when his works were published by some of his 
 followers after his death under the name of "The Eternal Gospel" (1254). 
 
 2The Greek who persuaded the Trojans to admit the wooden horse into their 
 city. Virgil, Aeneid, ii. 79ii. 
 
 ^Cf. supra, no. 79. 
 
118 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 85 
 
 hope of reward, and that he promises him all good will. In 
 short, the Roman Church, if I may say so, is insatiable for 
 gold, and increases her appetite by eating. Farewell forever, 
 and thank the elector for me and commend me to him. 
 
 Brother Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 84. LUTHER TO PHILIP MELANCHTHON AT WITTENBERG. 
 Enders, i. 244. Aucsburg, October 11, 1518. 
 
 . . . Play the man, as you do, and teach the youth the 
 things that are right. If it please the Lord I am going to be 
 sacrificed for you and for them. I prefer to perish, and, 
 what is my greatest sorrow, to lose your sweetest society for- 
 ever rather than to recant what has been well said, and thus 
 became the occasion for the ruin of the noblest studies. 
 
 With these enemies of literature and of learning, men as 
 foolish as they are bitter, Italy is cast into the palpable dark- 
 ness of Egypt.^ They are completely ignorant of Christ and 
 of the things which are Christ's, yet we have them as lords 
 and masters of our faith and morals. Thus is the wrath of 
 God fulfilled against us, as he says :- "I will give children to be 
 their princes and effeminate men shall rule over them." Fare- 
 well, my Philip, and avert the wrath of God with pure 
 prayers. Brother Martin Luther. 
 
 8s. LUTHER TO ANDREW CARLSTADT AT WITTENBERG. 
 Enders, i. 249. De Wette, i. 159. German.* 
 
 Augsburg, October 14, 1518. 
 I wish you happiness and salvation. Honored Doctor. I 
 must write briefly for time and business press me. At an- 
 other ^pie I will write you and other people more. For 
 three days my affair has been in a hard case, so hard, in- 
 deed, that I had no hope of coming to you again and saw 
 nothing ahead of me more certain than excommunication. 
 
 ^"Tenebras palpabiles*' from Exodus, x. 21, "tenebrae tain densae ut palpafi 
 queant," in our version, "darkness which may be felt." I have kept Luther's 
 phrase exactly, as it is found in Milton, Paradise Lost, xii. 188. 
 
 ^Isaiah, iii. 4, following the Vulgate translation. 
 
 8This letter was originally written in Latin, but only the German translation 
 has survived. 
 
Let. 8s OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS H9 
 
 For all the while the legate would not allow me to debate 
 publicly nor privately with him alone, meantime boasting that 
 he will not be my judge, but will act as a father towards me 
 in everything. None the less, he will hear nothing from me 
 except, "I recant, I revoke, I confess that I erred," which 
 I would not say. 
 
 Our chief difficulty was over two articles, i. That I said 
 indulgence was not the treasury of the merits of our Lord 
 and Saviour Christ. 2. That a man going to the sacrament 
 must believe, etc.^ 
 
 Against these propositions the Legate brought forward the 
 decretal Unigenitus,' relying on which he became extremely 
 presumptuous as though I were wholly refuted and wished 
 thereupon to force me to a recantation. He alleged for his 
 side the common, though insane, opinion of the schoolmen on 
 the power and effect of the sacrament, and also the uncer- 
 tainty of the recipient of the sacrament.' 
 
 Since the legate wished to act by force alone, I have to- 
 day, through the intercession of several persons, obtained 
 permission to send in my answer in writing, in which the 
 aforesaid decretal Unigenitits is dealt with and turned against 
 the legate and his purpose, as I hope, by divine counsel. It 
 shamed the legate, who let all else go and during my ab- 
 sence desired to speak alone with the reverend father vicar 
 Dr. Staupitz. When the vicar came to him he was right 
 friendly. But we don't trust the Italian further than we can 
 see, for, perhaps, he is acting treacherously. 
 
 But I have drawn up an appeal, as well drafted and 
 grounded as possible, and suited to the occasion. It is also 
 my intention, if the legate tries to use force against me, to 
 publish my answer on the aforesaid two points, so that the 
 whole world may see his foolishness. For truly from his 
 opinion various senseless and heretical positions may be de- 
 
 17. e.j Luther asserted that the efficacy of the sacrament was dependent on the 
 faith of the recipient, whereas the Catholic doctrine was that it acted automatically, 
 "ex opere operato." 
 
 ^Canon Law, lib. 5, tit. 9, cap. 6. Reprinted in B. J. Kidd: Documents of the 
 Continental Reformation, p. 1. 
 
 87. e., Cajetan said that according to Luther's doctrine a man would never 
 know whether he had sufficient faith and therefore whether the sacrament did 
 him any good or not. 
 
120 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 86 
 
 rived. Perchance he is a fine Thomist, but a puzzle-headed, 
 obscure, senseless theologian and Christian, as well fitted to 
 deal with and judge this business as an ass to play the harp. 
 
 Therefore my cause stands in so much the more danger, be- 
 cause it has such judges who are not only bitter enemies, but 
 are unable to understand it. But the Lord lives and rules 
 here as elsewhere, to whom I commend myself and all mine, 
 and I doubt not that some God-fearing people will help me 
 with their prayers, for it seems to me that prayer is said 
 for me. 
 
 But whether I come to you again safe and sound, or 
 whether under the ban I go to another place, be brave and 
 hold fast to Christ and exalt him. 
 
 Christopher LangenmanteU is so faithful to me that I am 
 ashamed of his great care for me. I have the favor and 
 support of all men except the crowd who hold with the 
 cardinal, although the cardinal himself always calls me his 
 dear son, and said to Staupitz that I had no better friend 
 than he. But, as I said above, I think he does it for the 
 sake of honor. I know that I would be the most agreeable 
 and dearest of all, if only I would say this one word: "Rev- 
 oco," that is, "I recant." But I won't make myself a heretic 
 by contradicting the opinion which made me a Christian. I 
 will die first by fire, or be exiled and cursed. 
 
 Be of good cheer, dear sir, and show this letter to our 
 theologians, Amsdorf, Melanchthon, Otto Beckmann and the 
 rest, so that you may all pray for me as I do for you. For 
 your business is being done here, namely, the faith of the 
 Lord Christ and the grace of God. 
 
 86. JOHN VON STAUPITZ TO THE ELECTOR FREDERIC OF 
 
 SAXONY. 
 
 Zeitschrift fiir historische Theologie. Leipsic. 1837. VII. Jahrgang. 
 Heft II., p. 122. German. T. Kolde : Die Augustiner-Congrega- 
 tion, 443. Augsburg, October 15, 1518. 
 
 Serene, highborn Prince, my most gracious Lord! . . . 
 The legate from Rome acts as (alas!) they all do there: he 
 
 ^A canon of Freising and an Imperial Councillor, who had matriculated at 
 Ingolstadt :5oo, at Tubingen 1506. About 1510 he became treasurer of Cardinal 
 Matthew Lang. 
 
Let. 87 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 121 
 
 gives fair words, but all empty and vain. For his whole soul 
 is intent on making Luther recant, not considering that Luther 
 offers to stay still and debate publicly at Augsburg, and to 
 give an answer and reason for this debate; yes, for every 
 word in it. But the unjust judge does not want him to de- 
 bate, but to recant. Nevertheless, Dr. Luther has in writing 
 so answered his fundamental argument, that the cardinal 
 is straightened therein, and no longer trusts his own argu- 
 ment, but seeks here and there, this and that, how he may 
 extirpate innocent blood and force recantation. God will 
 be the just judge and protector of the truth. 
 
 He says also that there is in the land a letter^ of the Gen- 
 eral against Luther. Dr. Peutinger has heard that it is also 
 against me, with the purpose of throwing us in prison and 
 using force against us. God be our guard! Finally I fear 
 our professor must appeal and expect force. God help him! 
 His enemies have become his judges; and those who sue him 
 give judgment against him. Herewith I commend myself to 
 your Grace and your Grace to the eternal God. I know 
 nothing as yet certain to write. But if the affair shall take 
 a more favorable turn I will write in haste to your Grace. 
 
 Your Grace's humble, obedient chaplain. 
 
 Dr. John von Staupitz. 
 
 87. ERASMUS TO JOHN LANG AT ERFURT. 
 Allen, jii. 408. Louvain, October 17 (1518). 
 
 Please believe, most candid of theologians, that if you van- 
 quish me in writing letters, I at least do not yield to you in 
 love. For Hess," that man of all accomplishments, stumbled 
 upon me first ill and then very busy. I love Staupitz,' the 
 
 ^Supra, no. 75. 
 
 'Helius Eobanus Hessus (i488-October 4, 1540), properly Koch, matriculated at 
 Erfurt in 1504 and the next years published poems on the plague and on a 
 student brawl, of which extracts are reprinted by Preserved Smith, op. cit., 442ff. 
 Although a hard drinker, in 1517 he became professor of Latin at Erfurt. Late 
 in 1518 he went to Louvain to see Erasmus, of which he published an account in 
 his H. Eobani Hessi a profectione ad D. Erasmum hodoeporicon . . Erfurt, 1519, 
 a rare book, of which a copy is at Harvard. He took with him letters from 
 Lang and others, one of which Erasmus is here answering. In 1526 he went to 
 teach at Nuremberg, in 1533 returned to Erfurt, and in 1536 was called to the 
 University of Marburg, where he spent his remaining years. Allgemeine deutsche 
 Biographie. 
 
 SThis is Erasmus* first allusion to Staupitz. It is possible that he met him at 
 
122 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 88 
 
 truly great, and for long I have despised those little syco- 
 phants. What else should I do? Ought I give them an 
 account of my conscience? It is sufficient for me that 
 all the most prominent and best bishops like me; if I 
 saw any way of life which would please Christ better I would 
 forthwith adopt it. For love neither of fame nor of money 
 nor of pleasure nor of life rules my mind. I will put your 
 little gift among my treasures,^ and among the more precious 
 ones. Egranus has learnedly answered concerning Cleopas.^ 
 I hear that Eleutherius is approved by all good men, but it 
 is said that his writings are unequal. I think his Theses^ 
 will please all, except a few about purgatory, which they 
 don't want taken from them, seeing that they make their 
 living from it} I have seen Prierias's bungling answer." I 
 see that the monarchy of the Roman high priest^ (as that see 
 now is) is the plague of Christendom, though it is praised 
 through thick and thin by shameless preachers. Yet I hardly 
 know whether it is expedient to touch this open sore, for 
 that is the duty of princes. But I fear they conspire with the 
 pontifif for part of the spoils. I wonder what has come over 
 Eck'' to begin a battle against Eleutherius. / But what, cursed 
 love of fame, wilt thou not force mortal breasts to do?' I 
 have inscribed my Suetonius to the illustrious elector* who 
 sent me a medal. Farewell, excellent sir, and commend me 
 ,to Christ in all your prayers. Erasmus of Rotterdam. 
 
 88. CONRAD ADELMANN, CANON OF AUGSBURG TO 
 
 SPALATIN. 
 
 Walch, XV. 732. German. Augsburg, October i8, 1518 
 
 Conrad Adelmann (1462-1547), studied at Heidelberg 1475, Basle 
 
 Bologna in 1507-8, but more likely that Mutian or some commoa friend had made 
 them acquainted since Erasmus' return to Germany in 1514. 
 
 ^These words in italics are Greek in the original. 
 
 ^On this, sttprOt no. 45. 
 
 ^Erasmus first spoke of them on March 5, 1518. Allen, iii. 239, 241. Cf. supra, 
 no. 78. 
 
 ^Greek. Cf. Adagia, iii. 6, 31. 
 
 °It was sent by Luther to Lang (Enders, i. 236), and by him presumably to 
 Erasmus. 
 
 "Greek. 
 
 ^On the battle of Eck and Luther, supra, nos. 61 and 62. 
 
 SVirgil: Aeneid, iii. 56-7. 
 
 'Cf. Allen, op. cit., ii. 578ff. 
 
Let. 88 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 123 
 
 1476, Ferrar 1471 and Tubingen 1476. In 1502 he was made Canon 
 of Augsburg. He was at first strongly for Luther, then returned to 
 the Catholic Church. His brother Bernhard (1457-1523) studied at 
 Heidelberg, Ferrara and Tubingen. He was made canon of the 
 cathedrals at both Eichstatt and Augsburg, between which he divided 
 his time. He was a bitter personal enemy of Eck, and sided with 
 Luther against him. For this Eck had him excommunicated in 1520. 
 Bernhard submitted and was absolved, but still favored Luther until 
 his death. Life by F. X. Thurnhofer. 1900. 
 
 My dear Spalatin ! Your letter was welcome to my 
 brother and myself, as coming from a good friend, but far 
 more welcome to us was the opportunity of seeing and speak- 
 ing to dear Dr. Martin Luther, so well endowed with both 
 virtue and learning. We often visited him, as one we heartily 
 love, and showed him our good will. 
 
 You will pardon me for saying that he was not yell guarded 
 when he left you, and was not provided with what he most 
 needed. But among others the imperial counpllors gave 
 him safe-conduct, of which you should have thought first. 
 When he had obtained the safe-conduct he appeared with 
 more courage and confidence before the legate. You will 
 learn from Luther himself, when, please God, he arrives 
 home, what happened before the legate, so I won't bother 
 you with it, for it would be a long song to sing here. But I 
 will not conceal from you that Dr. Luther acquitted himself 
 before the legate as beseems a Christian man. First he of- 
 fered to leave everything to our Holy Father the Pope, to 
 support what pleased his Holiness and to root out what did 
 not. Secondly, he said that he had debated questions before 
 the universities, according to their custom, and if they de- 
 sired he would debate further. And if any one came with 
 good reasons and arguments from Scripture he would abandon 
 his opinion and embrace a better one. Further, that if the 
 Christian Church desired to take exception to a single saying 
 of his he would at once submit to her. It was not his in- 
 tention and never had been to write or say anything against 
 the holy see or against the honor or dignity of the Pope. 
 
 If, dear Spalatin, this seems to you to be Luther's opinion, 
 it will become you to use your influence with our most Gra- 
 cious Lord Elector Frederic, to get him to write or send an 
 
124 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. go 
 
 embassy to his Holiness, requesting him to receive this sheep 
 commended to him, gently and favorably according to the 
 example of our Redeemer, and that he wfould let Luther ful- 
 fill his offers. For Pope Leo, as I have heard from several 
 people, is gentle and merciful when he is not influenced by 
 his courtiers; wherefore I think he might well take Dr. Mar- 
 tin into favor again. . . . 
 
 89. CHRISTOPHER SCHEURL TO SPALATIN. 
 
 Christoph Scheurls Briefbuch, hg. von F. von Soden und J. K. F. 
 Knaake. Potsdam, 1872, ii. 53. Nuremberg, October 21, 1518. 
 
 Hail, Spalatin. I excuse myself for not going on with our 
 Luther^ on account of my duties to the town council, and be- 
 cause your instructions were doubtful on this point. You 
 will learn from Luther's own letters what was done about 
 him. The favor of all for him is wonderful. When he ap- 
 plies to us we will do all in our power to restore him safe to 
 Saxon soil, and will omit no service we can do him. To-day 
 Vicar Staupitz arrives, whom I consult, for yesterday Wen- 
 zel Link returned. I will write you what we may decide to 
 do about Luther's affair after we have taken counsel. In 
 the meantime, at your order in the presence and with the 
 consent of John Bossenstain,'' the Augustinian prior, I paid 
 Luther four gold gulden ; lest it should embarrass him, I took 
 care to have some coins struck with the image of the elector. 
 Farewell, and with your holy fame pray for me and take 
 care of my son, John Tucher.^ Again, farewell. 
 
 C. S., Dr. 
 
 90. POPE LEO X TO DUKE GEORGE OF SAXONY. 
 
 F. Gess: Akten und Brief e zur Kirchenpolitik Herzog Georgs von 
 Sachsen, Leipsic, 1905, i. p. 45. Civitavecchia, October 24, 1518. 
 
 George the Bearded, son of Albert the Brave of Saxony, born 1471, 
 well educated, especially in theology. Duke of Albertine Saxony 
 iSOO-April 17, 1539. From the time when he heard the Leipsic debate 
 
 ^Luther left Augsburg October 20, arriving at Nuremberg apparently on the 
 2 1 St. Here he was entertained by Pirckheimer. 
 
 ^On whom I can find nothing else. He was not the Hebrew professor John 
 Boschenstein mentioned occasionally by Luther. 
 
 'Otherwise unknown. 
 
Let. 91 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 125 
 
 (1519) to his death, he was Luther's most determined opponent. Life 
 in Realencyclopddie, and cf. Smith, op. cit., index. 
 
 Beloved Son, salutation and the apostolic blessing! Not 
 without pain we have learned from many letters and from 
 rumor what has been done among the faithful people of your 
 part of Germany, which was always considered a Catholic 
 province, and one most devoted and obedient to the apostolic 
 see. We have heard that Martin Luther, a son of perdition, 
 at the suggestion of that cruel enemy of our salvation, the 
 devil, has not blushed to say evil of us and of the said see, 
 in preaching, or rather in cursing. Now as this not only savors 
 of heresy, but is worthy of severe punishment, and should 
 not longer be borne by your devotion and obedience to us, 
 desiring to extirpate this tare and coccle from the fertile 
 field of the Lord by your aid, fearing lest, should we wink 
 at it, it would put forth deeper roots among the too credulous 
 people, we have charged Charles von Miltitz,^ our notary, 
 secret chamberlain and nuncio in the Lord, and a cleric of 
 the Church of Meissen, to do so. For the wickedness of 
 the thing demands it, and we hope it can be rightly and 
 swiftly done. We have enjoined the said Charles to expound 
 to you our paternal love, hoping that he can rely on the help 
 of your highness; and we charge you for the sake of all 
 the faithful and of the Catholic Church, and the unity and 
 dignity of our see, that, considering the gravity of the present 
 scandal and the rash and damnable error and boldness of the 
 said Martin, you should favor the said Charles and help him 
 to execute his commission. You will thus please God, whose 
 cause you defend, and will also win praise from us and the 
 said see. 
 
 91. POPE LEO X. TO ELECTOR FREDERIC OF SAXONY. 
 Walch, XV. 812. (Spalatin's German translation of the Latin original.) 
 
 Civitavecchia, October 24, 1518. 
 
 Beloved Son, noble Sir. Greeting, etc. We are the more 
 willing to send you, through our beloved son, our notary and 
 chamberlain, Charles von Miltitz, your Grace's loyal subject, 
 
 ^A Saxon noble (i4go-November 20, 1529), matriculated at Cologne as jurist 
 1508, at Bologna 1510, in Rome 1513-8. Made chamberlain to the Pope 1514. 
 In 1518 he was sent to negotiate with Luther, but without success. Later he 
 
126 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 91 
 
 the holy golden Rose, blessed with our hands, and nobly con- 
 secrated on the fourth Sunday of last Lent, our noblest gift, a 
 thing of secret meaning and a splendid decoration for the 
 noble House of Saxony this year. The said Charles will 
 show your Grace what we have commanded him to undertake 
 against the dire foes of the Christian man and against the 
 crime and presumptuous error of a friar Martin Luther. 
 Noble Sir and beloved Son. It seems to us more necessary 
 every day to take thought for a crusade against the Turk's 
 unholy wrath. . . . But while we were considering how to 
 bring this to pass, and were bending all our forces to this 
 end, Satan reveals this son of perdition or of damnation, 
 Martin Luther, of the order of St. Augustine, who has dared 
 in your territories to preach to the Christian flock against us 
 and the holy Roman see. This not only savors of open 
 heresy, but merits heavy punishment, of which, as it is well 
 known both to us and to you, we shall say nothing more. It 
 becomes us not to tolerate this any longer, both because of 
 our honor and that of the papal see, and because the credu- 
 lous people may be hereby led to evil doctrine with great 
 scandal. In order, therefore, that this infected, scrofulous 
 sheep may not grow strong in the healthy sheepfold of the Lord, 
 and in order that the boldness of this wicked Martin may 
 stop, and not send his root too deep and firm to be rooted out 
 of the field of the Lord given to our charge, and as we know 
 and have no doubt that this troubles your conscience not a 
 little, for the reputation and honor of yourself and of your 
 famous ancestors, who were always the hottest opponents of 
 heresy, we have commanded the said Charles, our nuncio and 
 chamberlain, in another letter and breve, to take cognizance of 
 this affair and to act against the said Martin and against his 
 followers, who support his scandalous opinions. This is fur- 
 ther explained in our letter of credence. We remind your 
 Lordship, and admonish you paternally, to act according to 
 your reason and the virtue of a Christian prince, on which not 
 a little depends, for the sake of your noble reputation, to 
 
 became canon of Mayence and Meissen. L. von Pastor: History of the Popes 
 (English translation), vol. viii. H. A. Creutzberg: Karl von Miltits, 1907. 
 P. KalkofF; Die Miltitsiade, 191 1. 
 
Let. 92 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 127 
 
 favor and support the said Charles in whatever he may ask 
 of you in our name not less than you would ourself. . . . 
 
 g2. POPE LEO X. TO GEORGE SPALATIN. 
 
 Lutheri opera latina varii argumenti, ed. H. Schmidt. Erlangen, 1865, 
 ii. 448. Civitavecchia, October 24, 1518. 
 
 Here this letter is dated January i, 1519, but according to Walch, 
 XV. 106, the true date is October 24, and this is so probable that I 
 have followed it. Similar letters were sent to Degenhardt Pfeffinger 
 and other powerful men, and to the Wittenberg Town Council. 
 
 Beloved Son, greeting and the apostolic blessing! Con- 
 sidering the merits of the beloved and noble Frederic Elector 
 of Saxony, and the favor which, following the custom of his 
 famous ancestors, he has shown to us and the apostolic see, 
 and which he may show in greater measure hereafter, we 
 have decided, with much affection and paternal love, to send 
 him the most sacred golden rose, annually consecrated with 
 mysterious rites on the fourth Sunday of Lent, and sent to 
 some powerful Christian king or prince. We send it by our 
 beloved son, Charles von Miltitz, our chamberlain and servant. 
 We want you to know some things which concern the dig- 
 nity and authority of us and of the aforesaid see. 
 
 For we know how much favor, and deservedly, you have 
 with the said elector, and how highly he considers your 
 wholesome and prudent counsel. Wherefore we exhort you 
 in the Lord, and paternally charge you on your duty and 
 devotion to us and to the said see, that you consider how 
 great an honor and gift we are sending the said elector, and 
 that you also consider how detestable is the overbearing bold- 
 ness of that only son of Satan, Friar Martin Luther. Con- 
 sider also that he savors of notorious heresy, and can blacken 
 the name and fame of the great elector and his ancestors. 
 Take counsel then with our nuncio Miltitz, and try to per- 
 suade the said elector to consult our dignity and that of our 
 see, and his own honor. Let him crush the rashness of the 
 said Luther, for his erroneous doctrines, now, alas! widely 
 sown among the credulous people, can only be extirpated 
 by your aid and counsel. Your devotion to God, our Saviour, 
 whose cause is now at stake, will be a special favor to us, 
 
128 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 93 
 
 whose chief care is to weed out the tares and coccle from 
 the field of the Lord. You will always find us grateful and 
 propitious to you, as you will learn more fully from Miltitz. 
 Given under the fisherman's ring, in the seventh year of 
 our pontificate. Evangelista.^ 
 
 93. LUTHER TO GEORGE SPALATIN. 
 Enders, i. 272. Wittenberg, October 31, 1518. 
 
 Greeting. Dear Spalatin, I have come to-day to Witten- 
 berg safe, by God's grace, but know not how long I shall re- 
 main so, for my case is in such a state that I both fear and 
 hope. I appealed from the Pope badly informed to the Pope 
 to be better informed, and thus I departed, having left be- 
 hind a brother to present the appeal to the cardinal in the 
 presence of a notary and witnesses. Meantime' I shall pre- 
 pare another appeal to a future council, following the pre- 
 cedent of the Parisians^ in case the Pope from the plentitude 
 of his power, or rather tyranny, refuses my first appeal. I 
 am so full of joy and peace that I wonder that many strong 
 men regard my trial as severe. 
 
 Certainly the cardinal legate showed great benevolence 
 and clemency to me, as he promised the illustrious elector, 
 but we did not understand him. He offered to do all 
 paternally, most paternally, and doubtless would have acted 
 accordingly, had I only wished to recant. For our whole 
 difficulty was that I would not, and he would, nor do I think 
 he had instructions to do anything but condemn me; there- 
 fore, I was obliged to appeal. 
 
 I shall publish my answer" to his arguments, together with 
 my Appeal and a theological commentary on the Apostolic — 
 or diabolic — Breve,' of which you often wrote me formerly, 
 and of which you recently sent a copy, delivered to me, with 
 other letters of instruction, at Nuremberg on my return 
 
 ^One of the papal secretaries, not certainly to be identified, perhaps Evangelista 
 Maddaleni de Capodiferro, a poet and historian, and (1514) a municipal officer of 
 Rome. Cf. E. Rodocanachi: Rome au temps de Jules II et de Leon X. Paris, 
 1912, pp. 228, 283, 323. 
 
 20n March 27, 1518, the University of Paris had appealed to a future council. 
 Luther followed their form of appeal to protect himself. 
 
 3The Acta Augustana, Weimar, ii. 6ff. Smith, 53. 
 
 *The''papal Breve to Cajetan of August 23, 1518, supra, no. 73. 
 
Ut. 94 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 129 
 
 journey. It is incredible that such a monster should come 
 from a pope, especially from Leo X. Therefore, whoever 
 the rascal was who, under the name of Leo X., proposed to 
 terrify me with this decretal, shall know that I also recognize 
 folly when I see it. But if it did come from the curia I will 
 teach them their impudent rashness and wicked ignorance. 
 
 Personally, the cardinal greatly pleased me. I suspect the 
 Romans begin to be afraid and to distrust their own strength, 
 and thus cunningly seek a way out. I will tell you more 
 another time, I hope, face to face. Commend me to the elec- 
 tor and give him my thanks. . . . 
 
 94. WOLFGANG CAPITO TO CANDID THEOLOGIANS. 
 
 Herminjard: Correspondance des Reformateurs des pays de la langue 
 frangaise. (i866ff), i. 61. (Basle, October, 1518). 
 
 This is the Preface to the first edition of Luther's Works, printed at 
 Basle, October, 1518, by Froben. The anonymous preface was written 
 by Capito. See Baum: Capita tend Butser, p. 32. It is reprinted by 
 Herminjard from the subsequent edition, sine loco, 1520, and conjectu- 
 rally dated by him "Wittenberg?, March, 1520." 
 
 Here you have the theological works of the Reverend 
 Father Martin Luther, whom many consider a Daniel sent 
 at length in mercy by Christ to correct abuses and restore 
 the evangelic and Pauline divinity to theologians who have 
 forgotten the ancient commentaries and occupy themselves 
 with the merest logical and verbal trifles. And would that 
 he might arouse all theologians from their lethargy, and get 
 them to leave their somnolent summaries^ of divinity and 
 choose the gospel rather than Aristotle, Paul rather than 
 Scotus, or even Jerome, Augustine, Ambrose, Cyprian, Ath- 
 anasius, Hilary, Basil, Chrysostom, Theophylact rather than 
 Lyra, Aquinas, Scotus and the rest of the schoolmen. May they 
 no longer drag Christ to the earth, as Thomas Aquinas al- 
 ways does, but may they instruct the earth in the doctrine of 
 Christ. May they cease saying one thing in their farcical uni- 
 versities, another at home, another before the people and 
 something else to their friends; and may they cease calling 
 
 ^A pun, "omissis somaiis, summis dictum oportuit." 
 
130 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let 96 
 
 good men who refuse to fool with them heretics as they now 
 do for small cause or for no cause at all. . . . 
 
 95. LUTHER TO GEORGE SPALATIN AT ALTENBURG. 
 Enders, i. 279. (Wittenberg), November 13, 1518. 
 
 Greeting. Dear Spalatin, we tried to get some citizen to 
 offer Father John Frosch^ his doctor's banquet,^ but we fear 
 our efforts are vain. And so, not to turn away a worthy 
 man without honor, we have turned to our monastery, where, 
 depending on the elector's promise, we will, at our own in- 
 convenience, give him his banquet. For, indeed, we are 
 poor, and there are many of us, so that we cannot do it by 
 ourselves. Wherefore I beg you to ask the elector to pro- 
 vide us with game for November 18, or rather the 17th. If 
 this cannot be, make it next week, Monday [November 22]. 
 And send me an answer by this messenger as quickly as 
 possible what is to be done, so that we may not make vain 
 preparations. Farewell in Christ. 
 
 Brother Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 96. LUTHER TO JOHN ECK AT INGOLSTADT. 
 Enders, i. 280. C Wittenberg), November 15, 1518. 
 
 On the debate planned with Eck, cf. supra, no. 61, and Smith, op. cit., 
 pp. 58ff. 
 
 Greeting. My dear John Eck, Dr. Carlstadt is pleased with 
 what we agreed at Augsburg, namely, that you should meet 
 at Leipsic or Erfurt and debate honorably for the discovery 
 of the truth, that there may be an end of contention and of 
 writing books. He begs, therefore, that you will fix the day 
 for the meeting, and the place, one of the two mentioned. He 
 would have fixed them himself, but thought he ought to 
 defer to you because you live farther away and are perhaps 
 busier than he. Therefore act so that I may not have per- 
 
 'Of Bamberg, had studied at Erfurt 1504, taken his baccalaureate of theologie il 
 at Toulouse and his licentiate at Wittenberg 15 16. He was with Luther at 
 Augsburg, from which he returned to obtain the doctorate as here related. Later 
 he became evangelical preacher at Augsburg, keeping up a desultory corre- 
 Bpondence with Luther. Enders, i. 275, v. 401. 
 
 ^The taking of the doctorate was always the occasion of » festive meal known 
 as the Doktorschmaus. Luther's diploma to him, dated November 22, 1518, printed 
 in Theologuche Studien und Kritiken, 1913, p. 120. 
 
Let. 98 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 131 
 
 suaded Carlstadt in vain, or rather so that our adversaries 
 may vainly hope that theologians will alvirays fight among 
 themselves and never agree. Farewell. Hastily amidst divers 
 occupations. Yours, Martin Luther. 
 
 <jT. LUTHER TO PHILIP MELANCHTHON AT WITTENBERG. 
 Enders, i. 301. (Wittenberg, November 22, 1518.) 
 
 To Philip Melanchthon Schwarzerd, Grecian, Latin, He- 
 brew, German, never Barbarian, Greeting. May the Muse 
 and Apollo forgive you for despising me and the new doctor^ 
 to-day. Now, though it is not particularly my affair, I have 
 forgiven it, but unless you instantly appear before Dr. Carl- 
 stadt and Licentiate Amsdorf, and especially the Rector,'' not 
 even your Greek will excuse you, not to mention "that little 
 brother Martin," as Cajetan calls me. The new doctor be- 
 lieves (as he says in joke) that he is despised as a Barbarian 
 by a Greek. Take care what you do, for I have most cer- 
 tainly promised that you would come at once. You will do 
 me a favor if you come alone, yet I greatly wish that you 
 would also bring with you Guy Warbeck^ and John Schwert- 
 fager.* For this evening I shall be the host to my most in- 
 timate and dearest friends. Induce them to come by your 
 advice, and by my command, if "that little brother" can com- 
 mand. Farewell. Your little brother, 
 
 Martin Eleutherius.^ 
 
 98. THE RECTOR,« PROFESSORS AND DOCTORS OF THE 
 UNIVERSITY OF WITTENBERG TO THE ELECTOR 
 FREDERIC OF SAXONY. 
 Lutheri opera varii argumenti (Erlangen, 1865), ii. 426. 
 
 Wittenberg, November 23, 1518. 
 Most illustrious and clement Prince, that venerable man, 
 
 'John Frosch. The diploma, dated November 22, given him by Luther, reprinted 
 Theologische Studien und Kritiketij 1913, p. 120. 
 
 ^Bartholomew Bernhardi, of Feldkirchen. 
 
 'Matriculated at Wittenberg in 1514, five years later became canon of St. 
 George's Church at Altenburg, and in the same year accompanied the Elector 
 to the Imperial Election at Frankfort, where he made himself useful by his 
 knowledge of French. He died in 1534. His daughter married Luther's son Paul. 
 
 *0f Meissen, matriculated at Wittenberg 1507, in 1521 became professor of 
 law, died 1524. 
 
 ^This word written in Greek letters. 6John Frosch. 
 
132 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let- 99- 
 
 Brother Martin Luther, M. A., D. D., a noble and most famous 
 member of our university, has related to us what the Very 
 Reverend Legate Cardinal Cajetan has written to your High- 
 ness; namely, that he urges you to send the said Luther to 
 Rome or to exile him from your territories, on account of 
 certain propositions debated by him and long ago offered to 
 the Supreme Pontiff. Luther adds that he offered to debate 
 publicly or to give a private answer in writing, and that he 
 prayed that his errors might be pointed out to him in writ- 
 ing, with the reasons and authorities from the Scripture and 
 the holy Fathers added, so that by their light he might per- 
 ceive his errors, but that none of these requests was granted, 
 but he was simply ordered to retract what he had said 
 wrongly. Nor was the care of the faithful shepherd shown 
 to him, for the shepherd is bound to give a reason to every- 
 one asking it, and is even commanded to teach willing and 
 unwilling alike, in season and out of season. 
 
 Therefore Luther has asked and obtained that we should 
 intercede with your Highness, and should beg that your most 
 illustrious Highness should deign to write to the legate or 
 even to the Pope and graciously to intervene, requesting that 
 the articles and points of his errors should be shown him in 
 writing, and that reasons and authorities should be given, so 
 that he may know that he has erred and thus recant, not be- 
 ing forced to condemn opinions before he knows whether 
 they should be condemned. It was the ancient custom of the 
 Church, as the examples of the Fathers show, to urge the 
 correction of error by reason and authority and not to con- 
 demn by mere assertion the sayings of anyone. . . . 
 
 99. LUTHER TO CHRISTOPHER LANGENMANTEL AT 
 AUGSBURG. 
 
 Enders, i. 305. Wittenberg, November 25, 1518. 
 
 Greeting. Excellent Christopher, I arrived safely and hap- 
 pily at home by God's grace. The offices of extraordinary 
 humanity and kindness with which you overwhelmed my 
 unworthy self, have made your name and fame a pleasant 
 and sweet savor to us. For I commended your fidelity and 
 
i.et. 99 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 133 
 
 that of Dr. Auer^ as it deserved, not for the purpose of 
 glorifying you, but of giving an example of such fidelity to 
 others. Moreover, the Lord Jesus, who made you think of, 
 will and do such things, will recognize and approve his own 
 works in you. Truly pure faith and sincere friendship is a rare 
 bird. 
 
 Recently the lord legate wrote^ our elector accusing me of 
 leaving by fraud, and complaining that I had armed myself 
 with a safe-conduct and had appealed. He condemns every- 
 thing I did, especially that I did not recant my cursed propo- 
 sitions, particularly those on indulgences, and blaming me 
 for not sparing the Pope's Holiness, in saying that he abused 
 the Scripture. Finally he advises the elector to send me to 
 Rome, or to banish me, lest he should stain his glory for 
 the sake of "one little brother." Thus also did the Jews act 
 against Christ before Pilate, wishing him to believe them 
 before they brought forward definite charges. Thus does 
 Cajetan shout: "May your most illustrious lordship be- 
 lieve me; I speak from certain knowledge, not from mere 
 opinion. I will preserve the rule of Jesus Christ, which I 
 know is being violated thus, for Luther seeks nothing but 
 to violate the truth." That golden rose which rumor said 
 was being sent to the elector is nowhere, nor has the elector 
 heard anything of it. I see that the Romans are determined 
 to condemn me. I, on the other hand, am determined not 
 to yield. So I await their censures. The Lord will be my 
 counsellor and helper. If they kill me they will cease pur- 
 suing a dead flea." I answered the letter of the lord legate 
 of which the elector sent me a copy, and I desired him to 
 enclose my answer in his reply to the legate. My Acta Au- 
 gustana' is now being edited, for the elector dissuaded me 
 from publishing it before. You will learn the rest from the 
 recently promoted Father Prior John Frosch. You will rec- 
 ognize the signs agreed upon.° I hope my faithful protector, 
 
 ^John Auer, an Augsburg Councillor, who helped Luther draw up his Appeal. 
 
 ^His letter, October 25, 1518, Enders, i. 268. The elector sent it to Luther, 
 who drew up a reply on November 19, 1518, Enders, i. 283, which the elector 
 sent to Cajetan with a note of his own, December 8, 1518, Enders, i. 310. 
 
 ^Cf. 1 Samuel xxiv. 14. 
 
 *The account of the doings at Aur:=burg, Weimar, ii. 6ff. 
 
 ^Signa svpersunt cognoscenda. An obscure sentence, apparently referring to 
 
134 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. loo 
 
 Doctor John Auer, is strong in the Lord, and I desire to be 
 remembered to him. Dr. Carlstadt, Amsdorf, Otto Beckmann 
 and all your friends heartily salute you. 
 
 Farewell in the Lord, may he keep you in eternity as he does 
 in this world. Greet from me the truly noble John Schenk. 
 Brother ^^Jartin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 loo. LUTHER TO GEORGE SPALATIN AT ALTENBURG. 
 Enders, i. 307. Wittenberg, December 2, 1518. 
 
 Greeting. Had not your letters come yesterday, dear Spala- 
 tin, I should already have left,^ and I am yet prepared 
 for either alternative. The solicitude of our friends for me 
 is remarkable, and greater than I myself can bear. Some urge 
 me to give myself into the elector's custody, for him to keep 
 somewhere, in which case he could write the legate that I was 
 being kept bound in a safe place pending my examination. I 
 leave this plan to your wisdom, I am in the hands of God and 
 of my friends. 
 
 One may surely believe that the elector favors me and the 
 university, as I recently heard from one who I know would 
 not lie to me. In the court of the Bishop of Brandenburg they 
 lately discussed what favor and whose support I had. Some- 
 one said: "Erasmus, Capito and other learned men favor 
 him." "No," replied the bishop, "these men are nothing to 
 the Pope; it is the University of Wittenberg and the Elector 
 of Saxony that really count." So I know it is commonly 
 believed that the elector is with me, which displeases them. 
 I only wish they were as much afraid of the university. 
 Truly the suspicion cast upon the elector will compel me to 
 withdraw, if necessary, although the elector may excuse him- 
 self in his writings by saying that as a layman he is unable 
 to judge of such matters, especially as he sees that a university 
 approved by the Church does not contradict me. But these are 
 incidentals. If I stay here I shall not have much freedom of 
 
 some message sent in cipher. Hoppe translates: "Es bleibt noch ubrig, die Aufs- 
 zeichnungen kennen zu lernen" which he confesses is "etwas dunkel." Luthers 
 IVerke, St. Louis, xxi. A, i igf. 
 
 ^After Cajetan's request to the elector to give Luther up or to banish him, 
 there was some talk of doing so, and also of hiding him in a castle, as was 
 done later (1531-z) in the Wartburg. Cf. Smith, op. cit.^ p. 53. 
 
Let. 102 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 135 
 
 writing and speaking; if I go I will pour out everything and 
 offer my life for Christ. Farewell. 
 
 Brother Martin Luther. 
 
 loi. JOHN ECK TO DUKE GEORGE OF SAXONY. 
 Gess, i. 47. Ingolstadt, December 4, 1518. 
 
 Your Grace doubtless knows that recently Dr. Martin 
 Luther, of Wittenberg, published some theses on papal indul- 
 gences and other main articles of the Christian faith. And 
 when they came into my hands, at the request of my gracious 
 Lo rd Gabri el, Bis hop of E ichstadt^ and Chancellor of the Uni-' 
 versity of Ingolstadt, I wrote out an opinion explaining why I 
 did not consider some of them Christian. But when my writ- 
 ing came into the hands of the said Dr. Luther, Dr. Andrew 
 Bodenstein, of Carlstadt, at Wittenberg, attacked me in writ- 
 ing and undertook to defend Luther's propositions and doc- 
 trine. It then became necessary for me to defend my doctrine 
 according to the truth and the holy faith, and I did so with 
 more moderation than the said Carlstadt deserved of me. But 
 I made the express proviso that, should he abide by his error 
 (as I consider it), I would challenge him to a debate before 
 the Pope, or the learned men of the university of Rome or 
 Paris or Cologne, hoping humbly and kindly that thereby 
 .all offence and hatred that might have come from our 
 polemics be avoided. And when the said Carlstadt, to my 
 surprise, refused to debate at any of these places, I offered 
 to meet him at some other university, and he proposed Erfurt 
 or Leipsic. Wherefore, as I do not fear to debate before any 
 learned men, I beg your Grace for permission to debate at 
 Leipsic. . . . 
 
 102. MELANCHTHON TO GEORGE SPALATIN. 
 Corpus Reformat orum, i. 56. Bocking, Supp. ii. 789. 
 
 Wittenberg (Early in December, 1518).' 
 
 ... I enclose Luther's Appeal to a General Council, nor 
 
 'Bishop, I496-I535- 
 
 *The date is given by the reference to Luther's Appeal to a Council, which he 
 drew up on November 28, and which was printed by December 11. Kostlia- 
 Kawerau, i. 218. 
 
136 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 103 
 
 is there any reason why you should fear much from the rage 
 of the Romanists. This sort of people think that they are not 
 ruling unless they are acting like tyrants, although Heaven 
 knows that ruling in a Christian people ought to mean no more 
 than doing as the father of a household would/ But ambi- 
 tion and avarice bring forth all things. Luther clears himself 
 so entirely that they cannot pretend that he is guilty of a new 
 crime. For what he does has been done before and not blamed 
 by the Romanists. May God Almighty preserve his people. 
 Farewell. Your Philip. 
 
 103. LUTHER TO GEORGE SPALATIN. 
 Enders, i. 313. (Wittenberg), December 9, 1518. 
 
 Greeting. What your letter, Spalatin, forbade me to do, is 
 already done. My Acta Augustana is already published, writ- 
 ten with the freedom of much truth, albeit not with the whole 
 truth, for I see that in this as in all things I am obliged to 
 hurry. 
 
 I heard yesterday from Nuremberg that Charles von Miltitz 
 is on the way, having three papal breves. They write me that 
 a trustworthy man has seen the breves and that they order 
 him to capture me and deliver me to the Pope. That doctor 
 of Eisleben,' who, with Philip von Feilitzsch' stood by me 
 before the legate at Augsburg, has warned me through our 
 prior* to take care; he said that on a journey he bad heard a 
 certain courtier asserting that he had promised to deliver me 
 to the Pope. I hear other things also, and whether they are 
 true or are invented to frighten me I do not think they are 
 to be despised; Therefore, lest they should kill me unex- 
 
 'Quid debebat in christiano populo non esse aliud imperare quam rb o'lmvouelv. 
 
 2John Ruhel, a fellow-townsman of Luther, who became councillor and then 
 chancellor of Maiisfeld. Luther became quite intimate with him in 1525, during 
 which year he wrote him several letters, as well as some in subsequent years as 
 late as 1539. 
 
 30ne of the elector's councillors, who appears in Luther's letters last in 
 December, 1522. 
 
 4Conrad Helt of Nuremberg, in which city he joined the Augustinians at an 
 early age. Matriculated at Wittenberg 1512, became B. A. 1514 and M. A. 1516. 
 In 1 518 he was elected prior, in which position he was rather lax. He followed 
 Luther until February, 1522, when he left Wittenberg. After short stays at 
 Nuremberg and Nordhausen, he became prior of the Augustinian convent at 
 Heidelberg, which position he held until his death, August 24, 1548. Archiv fur 
 Reformatiofisgeschichte, vii. 264fF. 
 
Let. 103a OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 137 
 
 pectedly or crush me with their censures, I am waiting in all 
 readiness for the plan of God. I have even appealed to a 
 future council. The more they rage and seek my life the less 
 am I afraid. Sometime I shall be freer against these Roman 
 hydras. What you have heard about my saying farewell to 
 the people of Wittenberg is false; I said this: "I am an 
 uncertain and unsettled preacher, as you have found out. How 
 often have I left you suddenly without bidding you good-bye ? 
 If the same thing should ever happen again, in case I do not 
 come back, I wish to say farewell to you." Then I warned 
 them not to be afraid of the furious papal censures against 
 me, and that they should not blame the Pope or any mortal 
 for them, or wish anyone evil, but should commit the affair 
 to God, and the like. I lecture and teach as before. Farewell. 
 
 Brother Martin Eleutherius. 
 
 103a. GEORGE SPALATIN TO GUY BILD AT AUGSBURG. 
 
 Zeitschrift des historischen Vereins fiir Schwaben und Neuburg. 1893. 
 XX. 220. Altenburg, December 10, 1518. 
 
 ... I am sorry you did not see our Dr. Martin Luther 
 when he appeared before the very reverend legate at Augs- 
 burg, for as far as I can guess you did not meet him. If you 
 ask how he is, for all I know he is well, and, as I who write 
 have found out, of too lofty and strong a mind to be turned 
 by any blast of furious fortune from doing what he has pro- 
 posed and from the path he has set for himself. For the sake 
 of Christ and the truth he shuns no misfortune, he flees no 
 calamity, he fears no evil. His mind seems strengthened to 
 a perpetual pursuit of the gospel truth, or rather to propa- 
 gate the word of the Lord before so many Pharaohs. Now 
 farewell and pray for Dr. Luther and me, for we favor you. 
 In haste, George Spalatin. 
 
 ^P. S. — That most holy, true and German theology, not 
 fouled by the dregs of metaphysics and dialectics, not polluted 
 by human traditions, not burdened with old wives' tales, but 
 
 ^As this is printed it is not quite certain whether this is a postscript to the 
 above letter, or an extract from another letter. At any rate, it must have been 
 ■written near the same time. 
 
138 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 104 
 
 such as the primitive theologians knew, praised and extolled 
 to heaven, this theology, I say, is taught (praise be to God!) 
 in the university of my elector at Wittenberg with such suc- 
 cess that those learned doctors of theology, Martin Luther 
 and Carlstadt have full lecture-rooms and disciples not only 
 eager to learn, but already proficient, who do not fear even 
 the greatest of the sophists. Philip Melanchthon teaches Greek 
 there to about four hundred pupils. There are also not a few 
 scholars of Dr. John Bosschenstein,^ who teaches Hebrew. In 
 short, the best studies are so successfully taught at Wittenberg 
 that you would call it another Athens. 
 
 104. LUTHER TO JOHN REUCHLIN. 
 Enders, i. 320. Wittenberg, December 14, 1518. 
 
 The Lord be with you, valiant man ! Most learned humanist, 
 I thank God that by his mercy you have at length stopped the 
 mouth of those speaking iniquity. For you were indeed the 
 instrument of divine wisdom, although unconscious of it your- 
 self, yet most welcome to all lovers of sound theology. How 
 differently has God shaped your course from what you 
 thought! I am one of those who longed to be with you, but 
 had no opportunity. Yet was I always with you in prayer 
 and fervent hope. But what was then denied to me as your 
 ally, has been granted to me as your successor [in persecu- 
 tion]. For the teeth of these behemoth lay hold on me, if 
 by any means they can avenge on me the shame that they 
 have received from you. I, too, fight them, though with far 
 inferior resources of genius and learning than you displayed 
 in both fighting and overcoming them, yet with a no less 
 steadfast mind. They avoid meeting my arguments, they 
 refuse to reply to me, but attack me murderously by mere 
 force and violence. Truly Christ lives, and I, who have noth- 
 ing, can lose nothing. For by your valor the horns of these 
 bulls have been broken in pieces. The Lord worked through 
 you, that the king of the sophists may learn to be more slow 
 and cautious in opposing sound theology, and Germany may 
 
 ^Bosschenstein (1472-1532) came from Ingolstadt to Wittenberg as the first 
 professor of Hebrew. He left early in 1519 under unpleasant circumstances. 
 Enders, i. 243, ii. isf. 
 
Let. los OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 139 
 
 breathe again after so many hundred years during which the 
 teaching of the Scriptures lay dormant or rather extinct. 
 
 But am I not bold to speak to you so familiarly without 
 any laudatory preface? My hearty love for you has impelled 
 me to write, for I feel [although I have not met you] familiar 
 with you, partly because I think so much of you, and partly 
 by meditation on your books. Another reason for writing is 
 that our admirable Philip Melanchthon, who has almost every ; 
 virtue known to man, and is my dear, intimate friend, has 
 urged me to write boldly, assuring me that you would not 
 take my awkwardness ill, but would thank me. But do not 
 blame him, if you must blame anyone, as I wish you to regard 
 this letter solely as a witness to my affection for you, which 
 is nothing if not frank. 
 
 Farewell and rejoice in the Lord, my truly venerable teacher ! 
 
 los. THE DEAN AND DOCTORS OF THE THEOLOGICAL 
 FACULTY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF LEIPSIC TO DUKE 
 GEORGE. 
 
 Gess, i. 49. Leipsic, December 16, 1518. 
 
 We send your Grace certain letters of Dr. Eck. We sur- 
 mise that he is trying to get from your Grace that which he 
 spoke about in his letters to our faculty. And that your Grace 
 may briefly comprehend the affair we give yoiir Grace to 
 understand what happened last summer about the day of St. 
 John [June 24], when there was a dispute about papal graces 
 and indulgences between the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther, 
 of Wittenberg, and John Tetzel,^ then of Frankfort [on the 
 Oder], as your Grace doubtless remembers. Then Lord 
 
 'John Tetzel, born about 1465 at Pirna, studied at Leipsic, where he took his 
 B. A. in 1487, shortly after which he became a Dominican. Visited Rome in 
 1497. As a member of the convent at Glogau he was made inquisitor for Poland 
 1509. In 1 5 16 he was preacher of indulgences for Arcimboldi, and the following 
 year for Albert of Mayence. It was his preaching that was attacked by Luther 
 in the Ninety-five Theses. Tetzel defended himself by drawing up counter 
 Theses with the help of Conrad Wimpina, which he defended at Frankfort on 
 the Oder, January 20, 1518. But his business was ruined and his character 
 assailed. In 1518 he withdrew to Leipsic, where he lived until his death of 
 chagrin in August, 15 19. In his last days Luther wrote him a letter, now lost, 
 "not to be troubled, for the affair did not begin with him, but the child had 
 another father." N. Paulus: Die Deutschen Dominikaner im Kampfe gegen 
 Luther, 1903, iff. 
 
140 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. io6 
 
 Albert, Archbishop and Cardinal of Magdeburg and Mayence, 
 sent an honorable embassy to us to inquire which side in this 
 dispute was nearer the truth and what our opinion on the said 
 difference was. But considering that certain imperial counsel- 
 lors at that time refused to give an opinion we did the same, 
 and sent his electoral grace our memorial testifying our good 
 will and to the following effect: Whereas both sides have 
 brought much scandal among the people and we fear that 
 more will arise, and as each side is convinced that it is in the 
 right, our opinion would not make them lay aside theirs, but 
 would only impel them to assail each other with injury and 
 scandal. Moreover, as the affair concerns the Holy Father 
 at Rome, it is not fitting that we should meddle with it. But 
 we advised that his electoral grace should assemble a synod 
 and have the thing heard and decided by them. Otherwise, we 
 feared an increase in scandal. In the meantime John Eck, as 
 he informs us, gave his opinion on the same question to the 
 bishop of Eichstatt and thereby fell into a dispute with Dr. 
 Carlstadt, of Wittenberg. And when he offered to dispute at 
 Rome, Paris or Cologne, Dr. Carlstadt declined. And though 
 we were long ago requested by Dr. Luther in behalf of Dr. 
 Carlstadt, as well as by Dr. Eck, to interfere in this affair, 
 we have thought it best for sundry reasons to refuse both 
 parties. For we feared that others, even laymen, might be 
 drawn into the quarrel and that the Elector Frederic might 
 lay it up against this university and that thereby there might 
 arise a quarrel between him and your Grace. Wherefore we 
 recommend Eck to commit the chief points of Dr. Martin 
 Luther's propositions to some bishops for decision, or to a 
 select board drawn from certain universities, for thus, by a 
 written or oral disputation between select commissioners the 
 thing might be ended. . . . 
 
 io6. LUTHER TO GEORGE SPALATIN. 
 Enders, i. 332. (Wittenberg), December 21, 1518. 
 
 Greeting. Dear Spalatin, if I rightly understand you, you 
 ask whether an expedition against the Turks can be defended 
 and commanded by me on Biblical grounds. Even supposing 
 the war should be undertaken for pious reasons rather than 
 
Let. io6 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 141 
 
 for gain, I confess that I cannot promise what you ask, but 
 rather the opposite. Recently at the request of a friend I 
 published a sermon on this subject, which has fallen into the 
 hands of the heroes of Brandenburg, on whose account I sus- 
 pected the request was made to me. In this I argued that 
 no such war should be undertaken.^ I am still of the same 
 opinion until I shall be refuted with better reasons. Erasmus 
 expresses the same opinion in many places, as you know 
 better than I.^ It seems to me if we must have any Turkish 
 war we ought to begin with ourselves. In vain we wage carnal 
 wars without, while at home we are conquered by spiritual 
 battles. 
 
 Moreover, neither in the Old nor in the New Testament 
 was any war ever waged by human might, save with an 
 unhappy and disgraceful issue; if it were successful it was 
 because of aid from heaven as I could amply substantiate. 
 Now that the Roman curia is more tyrannical than any Turk, 
 fighting with such portentous deeds against Christ and against 
 his Church, and now that the clergy is sunk in the depths of 
 avarice, ambition and luxury, and now that the face of the 
 Church is everywhere most wretched, there is no hope of a 
 successful war or of victory. As far as I can see; God fights 
 against us ; first, we must conquer him with tears, pure prayers, 
 holy life and pure faith. But of this elsewhere. 
 
 I remain at Wittenberg, awaiting without doubt the proof 
 of Roman wretchedness, although I hope the very fear of 
 conscience will prevent them acting with precipitate fury. I 
 will consult lawyers about drawing up my Appeal.^ 
 
 Except for one scrap, I have completely forgotten the 
 sermon I gave at Weimar,' for which you ask. I am only 
 sure that I preached the gospel against hypocrites and self- 
 righteous men, as I always do. I know there is one such in 
 that court, whom you will know even if I do not name him. 
 
 ^Luther later changed his opinion on this subject, writing in favor of the 
 Turkish war in 1527. Cf. Smith, op. cit., z26i. 
 
 ^Spalatin had translated Erasmus' letter on peace to Antony of Bergen, March 
 14, 1514. Cf. supra, December 14, 1516, no. 23, and Allen: Opus Epistolarum 
 Erasmi, i. 551. 
 
 37, e., to the Council. Luther consulted Sc^eurl about the proper form of the 
 appeal; Scheurl wrote him at length on the subject, December 20. Enders, i. 325. 
 
 40n the journey to Augsburg Luther preached at Weimar, September 29. 
 
142 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 107 
 
 Nothing is more harmful to magistrates and nobles than that 
 sort of men, who, though they never learned anything, teach 
 all things, even the religion of the angels. I wish to do my 
 best to oppose their ideas. . . . 
 
 Brother Martin Lxjther, Augustinian. 
 
 107. CHRISTOPHER SCHEURL TO LUTHER. 
 Enders, i. 335. (Nuremberg, December 22, 1518.) 
 
 My friend Charles says that he has been soliciting the 
 rose' for three years, and demanded this province of right, 
 and that he is not a legate, but a simple commissioner, with 
 instructions to act on the legate's' advice. At Augsburg he 
 dispatched more than forty breves to the powers of Germany, 
 1 in which he asks aid against a helpless man. Those who give 
 assistance are blessed, those who resist are damned forever. 
 He says that he will not use these powers, but will do what 
 he can to please the elector, and that he comes as a private 
 man; not a judge, but a friend, only to find out what the 
 elector decides, what Martin thinks and to win the favor of 
 all. He says he will inform the legate and the Pope that the 
 apostolic see has never had a harder, more anxious or more 
 delicate afifair than this. He says you must do something, at 
 the very least correct the violence of your letter to the 
 cardinal, for he took your departure and that of Staupitz 
 very hard, since you did not say good-bye to him, as though 
 wishing to mock him. I excused you, and he confessed that 
 you could not have returned to him except in good will. He 
 denies that the cardinal is staying in Germany for the sake 
 of this afifair, but says that he is waiting for the assembly of 
 the princes next Easter, at Worms or Frankfort. The Em- 
 peror has promised to come to Augsburg on January 6, and in 
 my opinion the legate will also follow from Lintz. Mil- 
 titz says that you ought to come, too,' and if you do, everything 
 will be discussed kindly and that you will have nothing to 
 fear. In these circumstances we must not fear the [papal] 
 
 17. e., the anointed golden rose sent by the Pope to the Elector Frederic. 
 2Cajetan. 
 
 3A meeting between Miltitz, Spalatin and Luther was arranged at Altenburg, 
 January 4-5 (or 5-6), on which cf. Smith, p. 54(1. 
 
Let. 109 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 143 
 
 thunders, nor rashly beHeve everything, but must act with 
 great moderation, and strive hard that you get a hearing in 
 Germany, and that your university and town councillors 
 should recommend you, and promise that you will be a true 
 son of the Church, and will do whatever you ought and can 
 with God's approval. I do not despair, for God will give his 
 grace, which is never lacking to those who fear him. Again 
 farewell. 
 
 108. ELECTOR FREDERIC TO DUKE GEORGE OF SAXONY. 
 Gess, i. 51. Altenburc, December 29, 1518. 
 
 ... I have with me a papal ambassador, Charles von Mil- 
 titz, who is not satisfied with Dr. Luther and has great power* 
 to proceed against him. And it well might happen that he 
 would refuse to give me the golden rose unless I banished the 
 monk and said that he was a heretic. But I fancy I can do as 
 Clauss Narr^ says, go on drinking my wine and being a heretic 
 all my days. . . . 
 
 109. DUKE GEORGE TO THE DEAN AND DOCTORS OF THE 
 THEOLOGICAL FACULTY OF LEIPSIC. 
 
 De Wette-Seidemann, vi. 658. Gess, i. 52. December 30, 1518. 
 
 Honorable, learned, dear and trusty Gentlemen ! We have 
 received your letter and one from our dear and trusty Dr. John 
 Eck of Ingolstadt, in which he begged that he might hold a 
 public debate with Dr. Andrew Carlstadt of Wittenberg, 
 before you. And we have read the reasons why you refused 
 this, and we consider that if instead you would do all you 
 could to further it, and would give these doctors of other 
 universities a place to debate in, you would win no little 
 fame, praise and honor thereby. And if you did this you 
 would not therefore be compelled to give any assent or recog- 
 nition to the debate, but at -need could recommend the decision 
 to the papal commissaries or other proper authorities who 
 stand ready to take the responsibility. Moreover you should 
 
 ^The court fool. "Drinking wine" was proverbial for not letting anything 
 trouble one. So Luther, in one of the Eight Sermons in Lent, "The Word, 
 while I slept and drank beer with Melanchthon and Amsdorf, has broken the 
 Papacy more than any king or emperor ever did." Weimar xiii. p. i8f. 
 
144 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. iii 
 
 not be anxious lest any uproar or unpleasantness might arise 
 from the propositions, but when and if it should arise we can 
 then deal with it. . . . 
 
 no. DUKE GEORGE OF SAXONY TO JOHN ECK. 
 De Wette-Seidemann, vi. 658. Gess, i. 53. December 31, 1518. 
 
 Dear and trusty Sir! We have received your request to 
 hold your debate with Dr. Carlstadt at Leipsic, and have 
 graciously noted the same, being pleased that you have chosen 
 our university. We trust to you that this debate may not be 
 dangerous, but only for the sake of elucidating the truth. 
 We have therefore given order to our university to grant your 
 request. . . . 
 
 III. PHILIP MELANCHTHON TO LUTHER. 
 
 Enders, i. 336. Greek. (Wittenberg), January, 1519. 
 
 This poem, in iambic trimeter, was the dedication of Melanchthon's 
 Elegantissima quaedam opuscula, Haganau, January, 1519, and, like 
 most dedications, was probably written shortly before the work went 
 to press. As printed the text is so corrupt — some of the words being 
 impossible and some of the lines not scanning — as to have puzzled 
 not only myself, but such distinguished Greek scholars as Prof. Harry 
 de Forrest Smith, of Amherst, U. S. A., and Prof. Gilbert Murray, 
 of Oxford, England. With the obliging help of these gentlemen, I 
 have radically restored and construed the text according to its apparent 
 meaning. I think the poem is worth giving as testimony to the 
 reverence, almost idolatry, in which Luther was thus early held by his 
 followers. 
 
 Holy Nazarite of Israel, offerer of peace-making sacrifices,^ 
 elect servant of uncorrupted truth, protector of souls, ruler of 
 pious desires, divinely inspired messenger of wisdom and of 
 motherless justice, happy priest of the divine word and of the 
 life-giving spirit, spreading abroad the sweet smelling balsam 
 of the anointed Church,^ faithful and sleepless shepherd of 
 the temple of all-merciful God, driving out the Arabian wolf 
 and the sophist Belial, thou champion of truth, smite with the 
 wonder-working staff of Moses the doting brains of the enemies 
 of the Word, even the superstitious magicians; cauterize the 
 
 ^7. e.t as priest offering the sacrifice of the mass. 
 ^Or, "of the eucharist of the Church." 
 
Let. 112 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 145 
 
 unclean tongvies with the juniper coals of the Word;' fight 
 steadfastly and unceasingly follow light-bearing Jesus; guard 
 the blessed lot of the faithful. 
 
 112. HERMANN RAB TO CHARLES VON MILTITZ. 
 
 Tentzel-Cyprian : Historischer Bericht vom. Anfang und vom ersten 
 Fortgang der Reformation Lutheri (Leipsic, 1718), ii. 106. Quoted 
 by N. Paulus : Die deutschen Dominikaner im Kampfe gegen Luther 
 (Freiburg i. B., 1903), p. 10." Walch, xv. 863. 
 
 Leipsic, January 3, 1519. 
 
 Hermann Rab, of Bamberg, matriculated at Leipsic i486, soon after 
 which he joined the Dominican order there, where he knew Tetzel. 
 In 1511 he became Vicar and in 1516 a member of the theological 
 faculty. He visited Rome in 1518 and again in 1519. He took a fairly 
 active part against Luther. He died in 1534. Cf. Paulus, op. cit., pp. 
 9ff. 
 
 May the Lord forgive Martin Luther, who was and is very 
 anxious to involve us who are innocent in his affair, in order 
 to draw his own head out of the noose. Everyone who has 
 read or heard the Appeal and other writings of the said 
 Martin, knows how he attacks and has attacked the Reverend 
 Father John Tetzel, although the latter has defended and does 
 not cease to defend the authority of the Pope, even to his own 
 disadvantage, as his sermons prove and as all who have heard 
 him bear witness. In fact, I cannot find anyone who has done 
 and suffered so much for the glory of the apostolic see. If 
 only our Holy Father knew this ! I doubt not that he would 
 fittingly recognize his services. All the street corners echo 
 with the slanders and lies brought together to crush him. 
 Wherefore I recommend him to your Grace, as a true friend 
 and lord, and to the protection of the papal see, for which he 
 fights and suffers danger of imprisonment. Had your Grace 
 only heard the sermon which he preached on January i,* you 
 would know how he felt and feels towards the papal see. 
 Wherefore, I recommend him again to your Lordship. 
 
 IC/. Isaiah vi. 5-7. 
 
 21 know this only in the quotations of Paulus and Walch which are in German; 
 the original was presumably Latin. 
 
 ^Supra, no. 102. 
 
 <Tetzel, who had been made extremely unpopular by Luther's attack on indul- 
 gences, had now taken refuge in the Dominican cloister at Leipsic. Paulus, 
 
146 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 113 
 
 113. LUTHER TO JOHN ECK AT INGOLSTADT. 
 
 Enders, v. 4. Leipsic, January 7, 1519. 
 
 After the meeting with Miltitz at Altenburg (on which cf. supra, 
 no. 107), Luther and Melanchthon went to Leipsic for a few days to 
 • see friends and make arrangements for the coming debate with Eck. 
 
 My dear Eck, we did our best to get the Leipsic faculty to 
 grant us the favor of which you write,^ but they simply 
 ' refused, alleging that it was none of their business to get mixed 
 up in this affair, but that jurisdiction belonged to the bishops. 
 The dean of the faculty of theology answered my letter in 
 such a way that I fear our debate will come to nothing unless 
 you have some other plan. 
 
 I am, however, waiting with great eagerness to see you 
 show, as you promise, that in my Resolutions not even the 
 foundations are valid. You wonder that I have preferred 
 Tauler alone ("I know not who he is," you say) to Aquinas, 
 'Bonaventura and Alexander of Hales. It seems ridiculous 
 to you that, when I have rejected so many men, I should 
 demand that this one should be received by you, although he 
 is unknown to the Church. Before you make an end of this 
 dreamer, please deign to read him through, lest you, trained 
 in habits of inveterate trifling, should prove to be one of those 
 tremendously wise men who call the Church the Pope, the 
 bishops and the teachers of the universities, and should say 
 'that whatever they do not know is unknown to the Church. 
 Yet I wonder who told you that Tauler was unknown to the 
 Church. I suppose you are the Church and know all things. 
 Be careful not to take immaturely considered premises for 
 granted, nor to judge from them. Wherefore if you wish 
 to admonish me, pray avoid bitterness and pay careful atten- 
 tion to the individual propositions. Consider that I was not 
 ignorant that he was unknown to your Church when I said 
 that he was not to be had in the universities and did not write 
 in Latin. Then I gave my reason for preferring him to the 
 
 op. cit., p. 5. Very likely Rab wrote at his instigation, but the intervention did 
 no good as Miltitz came to Leipsic in the middle of January and, according to 
 the tradition, censured him so severely that he died of chagrin on the following 
 August II. 
 
 ^I. €., privilege of debating. Cf. supra, no. 109 and no. 
 
Ivet. IIS OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 147 
 
 schoolmen, namely, that I learned more from him alone than 
 from all the others. Very prudent of you to pass over these 
 words of mine ! I am at a loss to know why you should 
 threaten so dire a castigation for my ignorance, accusing me 
 of never having read nor understood what you wrote, when 
 
 ^lyou say of my authority: "I know not who he is." Beware 
 of this ignorance; first, read the man, lest you should be 
 found a foolish judge, condemning what you do not know. 
 And not to demand what is beyond your power, I do not desire 
 that you should gather together all your schoolmen in order 
 
 'to find one sermon like one of his; I do not exact this, for I 
 know that you could not do it. I only urge you to strain 
 every nerve of your mind and scholastic learning to see whether 
 
 'you can rightly understand a single one of his sermons. After 
 that we will believe you, that he is a dreamer, and you alone 
 wide awake or at least sleeping with open eyes. I write thus, 
 Eck, to spare you the trouble of admonishing me vainly, in 
 hopes that you will put up something which I shall not be able 
 to tear down and which will not need to be changed, something, 
 that is, worthy of your genius and study, so that neither of 
 us may lose our time. Farewell in the Lord, my dear Eck. 
 
 114. CAESAR PFLUG^ TO DUKE GEORGE OF SAXONY. 
 Gess, i. S3. Leipsic^ January 10, 1S19. 
 
 . . . The theologians at Leipsic are extremely sorry to allow 
 the disputation between Martin Luther and the professor of 
 Ingolstadt, and beg that your Grace will be present at it in 
 person. . . . 
 
 IIS. ADOLPH, BISHOP OF MERSEBURG, TO GEORGE, DUKE 
 
 OF SAXONY. 
 Gess, i. 34- Meeseburg, January 11, ISIQ. 
 
 We doubt not that your Grace well knows that many scan- 
 dalous writings and sayings about indulgences have recently 
 gone about, causing much offence among the common people 
 and much danger to souls. Also, we have recently heard from 
 
 *A trusted councillor of Duke George, and father of the celebrated bishop of 
 Naumberg, Julius Pfiug. According to a saying in the table talk (Bindseil: 
 Colloquia, i. 151) he cared little for religion. 
 
148 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. ii6 
 
 his Holiness at Rome that he will not suffer such matters to 
 be disputed, inasmuch as they are not doubtful or disputable.^ 
 But we are informed by the worthy and learned dean of 
 Meissen and his brother' that Dr. John Eck, of Ingolstadt, has 
 begged of the University of Leipsic the opportunity to dispute 
 on indulgences, as your Grace doubtless knows. But we 
 think, as the Pope expressly forbids the same, that we are 
 straightly bound by our oath to hinder in our diocese all that 
 might offend or disparage the honor of the Roman see. 
 Wherefore we have written and warned the dean of the 
 university. . . . 
 
 ii6. LUTHER TO CHRISTOPHER SCHEURL AT NUREMBERG. 
 Enders, i. 348. (Wittenberg), January 13, 1519. 
 
 Greeting. Though I steal this hour from myself and my 
 business, yet I write so that I may not seem ungrateful for all 
 your letters and never to answer them. Wherefore I thank 
 you heartily for your sincere and friendly advice and trouble. 
 I would willingly make an end of. this disturbance if only my 
 adversaries would do the same. For as far as I see, they 
 propose to end the affair not with gentleness, but with mere 
 force and clamor. So it happens that they arouse ever greater 
 trouble and labor in vain. For I know well that nothing is 
 ever quieted by force. I know the affair will find its end in 
 goodness. 
 
 It seemed highly unworthy in me to answer Prierias' trifles, 
 if indeed they are his, for they are childish and womanish 
 complaints of his own pain, nothing less. 
 
 I had a most friendly interview with Miltitz and agreed: 
 first, that silence should be imposed on both sides, and secondly, 
 that the Pope should delegate some German bishop to pick out 
 the errors which I should recant. But unless God intervenes, 
 nothing will come of this agreement, especially if they press 
 me with that new decretal,' which I have not seen as yet, but 
 
 •This refers to the bull on indulgences of November 9, 1518. Kidd, 
 o/>. cil., p. 39. 
 
 2John Hennigk was dean of Meissen from 1506-27. His brother Matthew was a 
 professor of theology at Leipsic in 1521. 
 
 »7. e., the bull Cum postquam, November 9, 1518. Kidd, op. cit., p. 39. Cf. 
 last letter. 
 
Let. 117 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 149 
 
 which I have heard rests only on the plenary power [of the 
 Pope], without the authority of the Bible or the Canon Law, 
 which certainly I would not allow even to the oldest decretal. 
 Who knows what God proposes to bring forth from these 
 monsters. As much as in me is I neither fear nor desire to 
 protract the affair. There are many things which may move 
 this Roman slough, things which I will press home if they 
 will let me. But if God does not wish them to let me, his will 
 be done. I heartily desire to have the Ebners^ as patrons, 
 and I thank them for the box^ they sent me. I hope that 
 your Nurembergers^ will answer to your hopes, since they 
 are under the best teachers and attend the choicest lectures. 
 Farewell in the Lord, and throw your care and mine on him, 
 lest you be too anxious for me. 
 
 Brother Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 117. LUTHER TO GEORGE SPALATIN AT ALTENBURG. 
 Enders, i. 349. (Wittenberg), January 14 (1519). 
 
 Greeting. Dear Spalatin, do not be surprised that some 
 people say I was conquered at a banquet in Dresden,* for they 
 have long been saying just what they pleased. While there 
 with our John Lang and our Dresden prior,^ I was compelled 
 rather than invited by Jerome Emser^ to attend an evening 
 
 ^Jerome Ebner and his family. 
 
 ^What the box was I do not know. The word "casula" usually means "hut," 
 but can hardly do so in this context. 
 
 '/. e., two Nuremberg boys studying at Wittenberg, by name Conrad Volckmar 
 and John Tucher. 
 
 *Luther went to Dresden in July, isi8, preaching there before Duke George 
 of Saxony on July 25. The fullest account of this trip is in Grisar: Luther, i. ' 
 30ofI. 
 
 'Melchior Miritsch of Dresden matriculated at Wittenberg 1507. Prior at 
 Cologne I5J2, later Prior at Dresden and for a short time in the Netherlands. 
 In 1522 he was Prior of Magdeburg, and is spoken of occasionally in Luther's 
 letters as a follower of his until 1532. Enders, ii. 473. 
 
 6Jerome Emser (1477 or 1478-November 8, 1527) matriculated at Tiibingen 
 1493, but migrated to Basle, where he took his B. A. 1498 and M. A. 1499. He 
 was then for some time in the service of Cardinal Raimond Peraudi. In 1504 
 he lectured at Erfurt, Luther being one of his students, but moved to Leipsic, 
 where, in 1505, he was made lecturer in theology, and was later employed on 
 various commissions by Duke George. From 1519 to 1527 he had a bitter con- 
 troversy with Luther, and in 1524 with Zwingli. In 1527 he produced ri German 
 translation of the Bible to correct the errors of Luther's. See biographies by 
 P. Mosen (1890) and G. Kawerau (1898). Corpus Reformatorum, xc. 230!!. 
 Zwingliana, 191 1, col. 428. His controversial works with Luther of 1521, pub- 
 lished by L. Enders, -: vols., 1890, 1892. 
 
150 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 117 
 
 drinking party. Thinking at first that I was among friends, 
 I soon found out that I was in a trap. There was present 
 one httle Leipsic professor/ a Httle Thgmist, who thought 
 he knew everything. Though full of hatred he spoke kindly, 
 but later when a dispute arose inveighed against me bitterly 
 and loudly. All the while there stood outside, without my 
 knowing it, a Dominican preacher,^ listening to all I said. 
 Later I heard that he said he was so much annoyed by what 
 I said that he could hardly restrain himself from coming in 
 and spitting in my face and calling me foul names. It tortured 
 the man to hear me refute Aquinas for that little professor. 
 He is the man who boasts even to-day that I was on that occa- 
 sion so confused that I could not answer either in German or 
 in Latin. For because we argued as usual in mixed German 
 and Latin," he confidently asserted that I did not know the 
 learned tongue. For the rest, our dispute was on the silly 
 trifles of Aristotle and Aquinas; I showed him that neither 
 Aquinas nor any of his followers understood one chapter of 
 Aristotle. At last, when he got boastful, I asked him to gather 
 together all the forces of his Thomistic erudition and explain 
 to me what it was to fulfil the commands of God, "for," said 
 I, "I know that no Thomist knows that." This man of the 
 primary school,* conscious of his ignorance, cried: "Give him 
 some food, for that is the payment for schoolmasters." What 
 else could he say, since he did not know the answer? We all 
 laughed at his silly reply, and left the table. 
 
 Afterwards the Dresden prior wrote me how they boasted 
 and how in Duke George's court they called me unlearned, 
 proud, and I know not how many other bad names, also how 
 
 iHis name was Weissestadt. Cf. Bindseil: Colloquia, i. 152. Zeitschrift fiir 
 Kirchengeschichte, xxxiii. 36. 
 
 "Terminarius, i. e., a brother who was appointed to preach in the district 
 assigned to the convent in which to collect alms. Du Cange, o. v. Kalkoff's 
 translation "Almosensammler" (Zeitschrift fiir Kirchengeschichte, xxxiii. 37) is a 
 little vague. This person collected what Luther said, together with other things 
 he had uttered in his sermon and some things from his writings, and sent them 
 promptly to Rome, where they produced a great effect. Indeed, this probably had 
 great weight in inducing Leo to change Luther's summons to Rome to a citation 
 to Augsburg, where it was thought he could be more expeditiously dealt with. 
 KalkofE, loc. cit. 
 
 'The table talk shows that this was indeed Luther's usual custom. Cf. Pre- 
 served Smith: Luther's Table Talk (1907), p. goff. 
 
 'Homo ex trivio, Enders would translate "man of the street," following the 
 
Let. 117 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 151 
 
 they twisted my sermon given in the castle. I treated the 
 pious history of the three virgins, and later they said in the 
 court that I had traduced the virgins. In short, I found them 
 a generation of vipers, wishing to do everything and able to 
 do nothing, and considering it a spot on their glory if they leave 
 a single word of mine unblamed. Despising these scare-crows, 
 I wrote back to the prior to keep quiet and let me have my 
 Cain and Judas. But Emser earnestly excused himself at 
 the time, and lately, also, meeting me at Leipsic,' he swore 
 that he had not set any ambush for me; I told him I scorned 
 such futile fury. If they are so learned, they have ink and 
 paper, let them publish something to show the splendor of 
 their magnificent erudition. My sermon was on July 25, the 
 day of St. James the Greater, on the text :" "Ye know not 
 what ye ask." I animadverted on men's foolish prayers to 
 God, and taught what a Christian ought to ask for. 
 
 I wonder what has happened to the Bishop of Meissen.^ I 
 suspect that he is finding out the truth of the proverb in 
 Ecclesiasticus : "Honors change the character,'" to which we 
 commonly add "rarely for the better." I never saw him, but 
 I know he was formerly a great friend of Staupitz. Do not 
 be surprised, Spalatin, to hear evil said of me. I rejoice to 
 hear it; were I not cursed by men I would not believe that 
 what I did was of God. Christ must be a sign^ of contradic- 
 tion, set up for the fall of many, not of the gentiles, but of 
 Israel and of the elect. . . . 
 
 I confidently despise that man of little scruples who thinks 
 I have become anathema. For as I do not fear those decretals, 
 mere traditions of men (which my opponents fear, though 
 they despise God without end), I shall boldly make war against 
 them sometime. The wrath of the decretals does not bind nor 
 hurt when the mercy of Christ protects. Would that this were 
 
 rare classical usage. I believe the reference here is to the medieval "trivium" 
 or primary course of studies. 
 
 17. e., January 7, or thereabouts, cf. last letter. 
 
 ^Matthew, XX. 20ft. 
 
 SJohn VII. of Schleinitz, bishop since October 16, 1518. Letters and docu- 
 ments about his visitation in Electoral Saxony 1521-22 are published by K. Pallas 
 in Archiv fiir Reformationsgeschichte, v. 2i7ff. 
 
 4"Honores mutant mores — raro in meliores." 
 
 SLuke, ii. 34. 
 
152 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 119 
 
 the greatest and only occasion for him who does God's work 
 to fear. . . . Martin Eleutherius. 
 
 P. S. — I do not think it worth while to answer Prierias, for 
 we are agreed that one of the Obscure Men^ has impersonated 
 him, mocking the man by putting folly in his mouth to tempt 
 me to answer him. 
 
 118. RECTOR' AND DOCTORS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF 
 LEIPSIC TO DUKE GEORGE. 
 
 Gess, i. SS. Leipsic, January 15, 1519. 
 
 We would have your Grace know that Dr. John Eck has 
 asked for a convenient time and place to hold his debate with 
 Dr. Carlstadt. . . . Wherefore we forward his prayer to your 
 Grace and ask that you will write us what you think on the 
 matter. We will labor diligently in this for the profit 
 of the university, not considering the earnest and written 
 protest of Lord Adolph, Bishop of Merseburg. . . . 
 
 119. GEORGE, DUKE OF SAXONY, TO DIETRICH VON WER- 
 THERN, FOR REPRESENTATION TO ADOLPH, BISHOP 
 OF MERSEBURG. 
 
 Gess, i. 58. (Before January 17, 1519). 
 
 A letter from Duke George to Adolph, much to the same purpose 
 as this, dated January 17, is given in translation in B. J. Kidd: 
 Documents of the Continental Reformation, p. 46. (Wrongly dated 
 there June 17; cf. ibid., p. viii.) 
 
 Dietrich von Werthern (1468-September 4, 1536) studied at Erfurt 
 1479, and at Bologna i486, where he got his doctorate in law in 1495. 
 In 1498 he went to Prussia, where he became Chancellor of the 
 Teutonic Order. Later he entered the service of Duke George, whose 
 trusted councillor he was until his death. He was a strong Catholic 
 and particularly bitter against Luther. Allgemeine deutsche Biographie. 
 
 Dr. Eck has desired of us that he might debate after the 
 scholastic manner before the theological faculty of Leipsic 
 with Dr. Carlstadt, and has prayed that we should arrange 
 with the said faculty for a time and place, and that we should 
 
 *J. e., one of the authors of that great satire against the theologians, the 
 Epistolae Obscurorum Virorum, 
 
 iThe Rector for the winter semester was John Lange of Lowenburg. G. Erier: 
 Die Matriket der Universit'dt Leipsic, 1895. 
 
Let. 120 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 163 
 
 be present in person to hear the debate. We have no objec- . 
 tion to the same, thinking that it will redound to the honor 
 and glory of the university to have such able men dispute 
 before it. And we represented to the said faculty that they 
 should not object to the same, considering that they were in 
 no wise committed to the subject of the debate, but could take 
 what stand they chose in it, and moreover, as they were 
 doctors and teachers of the Holy Scripture, that it was their 
 duty to bring to light what is true and what is false. But the 
 dean of Meissen has informed me that it is not considered 
 well that the disputation should take place, which I think he 
 did at the instigation of the faculty. For they are so small 
 minded that they fear they will get into trouble through this 
 debate, or perchance, as they themselves confess, they are not 
 able to converse with such learned men. . . . But we think 
 that they should earn their bread by discharging the duty of 
 theologians, namely, bringing the truth to light. . . . For 
 otherwise I should have to tell the truth to Dr. Eck, namely, 
 that I found my theologians so unlearned that they were 
 afraid to dispute with such learned men. . . . 
 
 120. LUTHER TO THE ELECTOR FREDERIC OF SAXONY. 
 Enders, i. 368. De Wette, i. 575. German. 
 
 Wittenberg (circa January 19, 1519). 
 
 Serene, high-born Prince, gracious Lord ! Humbly to serve 
 your Grace I hereby give you my opinion, the articles and 
 means^ pointed out by your Grace to settle the hard business 
 between myself and the papal indulgence. 
 
 First, I am ready in all humility to honor the Roman Church, 
 and to prefer nothing to her, either in heaven or on earth, save 
 God alone and his Word; wherefore, I will willingly recant 
 any article proved to me to be erroneous. For it is impossible 
 to recant everything indiscriminately. 
 
 Secondly, I am not only willing, but eager, never to preach 
 or teach again. For I have neither pleasure nor love in doing 
 so, and get neither wealth nor honor by doing it. For I also 
 know well that the treatment of God's Word is intolerable 
 
 ^These were articles proposed by Miltitz to the elector. 
 
154 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let 120 
 
 to the world. But I have been and still am submissive to 
 God's command and will in this matter. 
 
 Thirdly, to have an impartial judge in the matter is all my 
 desire, and in my favor. And as such a judge, I would name 
 the reverend father in God, the Archbishop of Trier,' or 
 the Archbishop of Salzburg,'' or the serene Lord Bishop Philip 
 of Freisingen and Naumburg.' 
 
 Fourthly, it has long moved me to think that in Pope Julius' 
 time, nine cardinals with all their followers were unable to 
 accomplish anything, and that also the Emperor and kings 
 were often humiliated by him ;* on the other hand, I have been 
 strengthened, because I am absolutely positive that the Roman 
 Church will not and may not suffer the inept and noxious 
 preaching which I pointed out in my Theses; she cannot bear it 
 nor uphold it, nor allow the poor people of Christ to be 
 deceived by the specious indulgence. 
 
 It is small wonder that in these last, bad times, one or two 
 men should be crushed, when we consider that in the time of 
 the heretic Arius, when the Church was new and pure, all 
 bishops were driven from their churches, and the heretics, 
 with the support of the Empire throughout all the world, 
 persecuted the solitary St. Athanasius. So, if God in those 
 blessed times so tried the Church, I shall not be much sur- 
 prised if a poor man Uke myself be suppressed. But the truth 
 remains and will remain forever. 
 
 Fifthly, the new decretal^ just issued at Rome on indul- 
 gences, seems to me very extraordinary. In the first place, 
 it says nothing new. Secondly, it repeats in a dark and diffi- 
 cult form what the other decretals said. Thirdly, it does not 
 repeal the other papal laws on which I founded my argument, 
 and thus leaves the matter in contradiction. Fourthly (and 
 
 iRichard von Greiflfenklau, Archbishop Elector, 1511-1531, who played an 
 important part at Worms. Cf. infra, April and May, 1521. 
 
 ^Matthew Lang. 
 
 SPhiUp, Count Palatine of the Rhine, Bishop 1517-1541. 
 
 *Miltitz had written the elector to tell Luther to consider that in the time 
 of the late Pope Julius II., "nine cardinals, the Emperor, the kings of France, 
 England, Scotland, Burgundy, and the whole of Italy were against the Pope, and 
 began a council, notwithstanding which the Pope has deposed the said cardinals 
 and burned their statues, and that the Holy Church had thus always triumphed." 
 Enders, i. 369. 
 
 ^Cnm postquam, November g, 15 18. Kidd, op. cit., 39. 
 
Let. 123 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 155 
 
 this is the most important point), it does not, as all other 
 decretals do, cite any word of the Bible, the Fathers or the 
 Canon Law, or give any reason, but consists of mere words, 
 which have nothing to do with my request to be heard. 
 
 And as the Church is under obligation to give a reason for 
 her doctrine, as St. Peter commands,^ and as it is frequently 
 forbidden to receive anything not proved, as St. Paul says,- 
 I cannot recognize the said decretal as an established and 
 sufficient doctrine of the Church, and must rather hearken to 
 God's commands and prohibitions. But though I will not 
 adore this decretal, yet I will not wholly reject it. . . . 
 Your Grace's humble servant. Dr. Martin Luther. 
 
 121. DUKE GEORGE OF SAXONY TO THE UNIVERSITY OF 
 
 LEIPSIC. 
 Gess, i. 63. Dresden, January 19, 1519. 
 
 We have read your letter [January 15] and as Dr. Eck has 
 made the same request to us, we consider that honor, glory 
 and profit will come to the university and to all of you from 
 this debate. And as our uncle and friend, the Bishop of 
 Merseburg, objects to this debate, we have written him a 
 letter, which we hope will make him change his opinion, and 
 we are glad to hear that you are all united in favor of the 
 debate now. . . . 
 
 122. MELANCHTHON TO CHRISTOPHER SCHEURL AT 
 NUREMBERG. 
 Corpus reformatorum, i. 60. (Wittenberg), January 20, 1519. 
 
 . . . Our Martin, thank God, is yet alive. Do not desert 
 the man, for he is sure that those men are the scourges, rather 
 than the rulers of the Church,' and mighty only to oppose 
 justice.* 
 
 123. LUTHER TO PETER LUPINUS AND ANDREW 
 CARLSTADT. 
 Enders, ii. 136. De Wette, i. 329. Weimar, ii. 445. 
 
 (WiTTENBEKG, January (?), 1519.) 
 Peter Wolf (Lupinus), of Radhem, matriculated at Wittenberg in 
 
 »l Peter, iii. 15. 
 
 ^i Thessalonian8, v. 21. 
 
 3Ho8 Ecclesiae Oi/coTrAiyrftf, desierunt enim oiKOv6flot esse. 
 
 *A Hebrew word interpreted in the note. 
 
156 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let 123 
 
 1502, and later became professor of philosophy and theology there. 
 He was a friend and follower of Luther until his death, May i, 1521. 
 This letter is the preface to Luther's Commentary on Galatians, 
 which appeared in print early in September, 1519. This letter, how- 
 ever, was certainly composed considerably earlier. Luther speaks of 
 Erasmus' Paraphrase to Galatians, published August, 1319, as not yet 
 out. Moreover, the absence of all allusion to the debate with Eck, 
 which began to play a considerable part in his thoughts as early as 
 February, leads us to place this letter about January. The Commentary 
 is reprinted Weimar, ii. 476ff. 
 
 Most learned Sirs, I have recently been chatting about 
 indulgences, trifling words, as I thought, about trifling matters, 
 but now, as I have found out, serious words about the most 
 serious of all matters. For, foolish and erring, I measured 
 sins and errors by the divine commands and the holy gospel 
 of Christ, but those friends of mine, in their glorious wisdom, 
 measured every kind of work by the power of the Pope and 
 the privileges of the Roman Church. This is the reason why 
 we think so differently, and why I have raised such a storm 
 against myself among those most Christian and religious pro- 
 fessors of theology. What I always feared has happened to 
 me, namely, that I should be variously judged; to some I seem 
 impious, to others quarrelsome, to others vainglorious, to 
 every man something different. This is the common lot of 
 men who (as is commonly said) build in public and write for 
 the public. I have found almost as many teachers as readers, 
 and that gratis, under whose auspicious guidance I had to 
 learn, under penalty of becoming an obstinate heretic, that 
 no man could sin more gravely than he who doubts the opinions 
 of men and opposes their zeal for disputing, even if by not 
 doing so he meantime denies Christ and Christ's faith and 
 childish matters of that sort. 
 
 When I was at Augsburg I had, as you know, a paternal 
 and kind instructor in this matter. And the most illustrious 
 rule of these most illustrious men has brought it to pass that 
 there now obtains a new and admirable Christian liberty, by 
 which men may do what they like with impunity, provided 
 they do not sin against the only law that is left, namely, the 
 power of the Pope and the privileges of the Roman Church. 
 Hence, it is holy to connive at and consent unto all the crimes 
 
Let. 123 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 157 
 
 and corruptions which now, under the innocent and sacred 
 name of Pope and Church, flood every land without end ; it is 
 even pious to praise them for the highest virtues, but it is 
 sacrilegious to murmur against them. So great is the wrath 
 of Almighty God, and so much has our impious ingratitude 
 deserved that the tyranny of hell has been borne so 
 long. We see that it has long made men groan in vain, and 
 has made the holy and terrible name of Christ, in which we 
 are justified, glorified and sanctified, become a cloak for foul, 
 dirty, horrible monsters of avarice, tyranny, lust and impiety. 
 It has forced the name of Christ into the service of vice, and, 
 what is the last of evils, has crushed the name of Christ by 
 itself, has laid waste the Church in the name of the Church, 
 and has altogether mocked, deceived and damned us by the very 
 instruments of salvation. 
 
 Wherefore, while they are occupied with these great mat- 
 ters, while they bite, while they cut themselves with knives* 
 before their Baal, while they sacrifice to the Lindian god," 
 while they boast of their Extravangantes' and of those faithful 
 witnesses of Roman learning, their declaratory decretals, I 
 determined to betake myself to the least of things, that is, to 
 the sacred writings, and among them to those of Paul the 
 Apostle, who, by his own testimony, was the least of writers. 
 For he was not yet the chief of the apostles, or pontifex 
 maximus, but he proclaims himself the least' of the apostles, 
 not worthy to be called an apostle. So far is he from boast- 
 ing that he is most holy of all; he even says that he was of 
 the tribe of Benjamin,' the son of Joseph,* who was called 
 the least of all his brethren, and that everything might be 
 "least," he judges'' that he knows nothing save Christ, and 
 him crucified, that is, the least and last of all things. For he 
 was well aware that it was not for an ignorant, unlearned 
 
 'i Kings, xviii. 28. 
 
 2According to Erasmus' Adages, s. v., this proverb is used of those who begin 
 a holy cause with a bad omen. Hercules stole two oxen from a peasant of Lindus, 
 and the latter cursed him with so little effect that it only made Hercules laugh. 
 
 spart of the Canon Law. Luther has especially in mind the decretal Cum 
 postqwam of November 9, 1518. 
 
 't Corinthians, xv. g. 
 
 BPhilippians, iii. 5. 
 
 CGenesis, xlii. 34. 
 
 'i Corinthians, ii. ij. 
 
158 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 123 
 
 apostle, but only for thrice great theologians, to treat of those 
 greatest and chief of all things, the power of the Roman 
 Church and her decretals. 
 
 I hope that this work of mine will have better fortune, be- 
 cause it treats affairs of no consequence, the power of Christ, 
 by which he is strong in us even against the gates of hell, 
 and the privileges of the celestial Church, which knows neither 
 mighty Rome nor holy Jerusalem, nor any other place, nor 
 seeks Christ here or there, but worships the Father in spirit 
 and in truth.^ Why should these great men be moved or 
 irritated by these trifles, since they are outside of their 
 province? Wherefore I appear before the public the more 
 safely because I abstain from speaking of what irritates them, 
 and treat little matters suitable to my mediocrity. But if any- 
 thing is left of that old commotion over important matters, I 
 leave it to them, because I am one poor, weak man, and 
 while they stand idle all the day, I am very busy. Wherefore, 
 it is unnecessary for both parties to this quarrel to be hurt by 
 it, it is sufficient evil that one party grieve and be sad. 
 
 Speaking seriously, excellent sirs, I honor the Roman Pontiff 
 and his decrees. None is above him, without exception, save 
 the prince of this vicar of Christ, namely, Jesus himself, Lord 
 of us and of all men. I prefer his word to the words of his 
 vicar, and have no doubt that we should judge all the words 
 and deeds of the vicar by his word. For I desire him to be 
 subject to this universal rule of the apostle: "Prove all 
 things, hold to that which is good."^ I will suffer none to 
 withdraw his neck from this yoke, whether in the name of 
 the mother or of the mistress of all churches. I have the 
 more reason for this position as in our time we see some 
 councils rejected and others accepted,' theology treated as a 
 matter of mere opinion, the sense of law depend on the arbi- 
 trary opinion of one man, and in short, everything so con- 
 founded that almost nothing certain is left to us. But it is 
 
 ^John, iv. 2off. 
 
 ^1 Thessalonians, v. 21. 
 
 SThe authority of the Council of Basle was formally repudiated by the Lateran 
 Council of 1512, a measure later confirmed by Leo X.'s bull Pastor aeternus, in 
 Septim. Decret. lb. 3, tit. 7, c. 1. Luther had quoted this already in the Acta 
 Augustana (October, 1518), and in a letter of November 19, 1518. Enders, i. 283. 
 
Let. 124 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 159 
 
 clearer than day that many decretals are repugnant to the 
 gospel, so that we are simply forced to fly for refuge to that 
 solid rock of Scripture, and not to believe anything, no mat- 
 ter what, that speaks, commands or does anything without this 
 authority. . . . 
 
 But to return to myself and to you, excellent Sirs; I refer 
 to you, or, to use Paul's word,' I lay before you this study of 
 mine on Paul's epistle, a small thing, not so much a com- 
 mentary as a witness of my faith in Christ, unless, perhaps, I 
 shall have run in vain^ and not have seized Paul's meaning. 
 In this point, because it is a mighty matter from God, I desire 
 to learn even from a boy. Certainly I should have preferred 
 to have waited for the commentaries long since promised us 
 by Erasmus,' that theologian too great even to envy. But 
 while he procrastinates (may God grant it be not forever), 
 this fate which you see, compels me to publish. I know I am 
 a child and unlearned, but yet, if I dare say it, zealous for 
 piety and Christian learning, and in this more learned than 
 those who have made the divine commands simply ridiculous 
 by the impious addition of human laws. I have only aimed 
 to make Paul clearer to those who read my work, so that they 
 may surpass me. If I have failed, I shall have willingly lost 
 my labor, for at least I shall have tried to incite others to 
 study Pauline theology, for which no good man will blame me. 
 Farewell. 
 
 124. LUTHER TO JOHN SYLVIUS EGRANUS AT ZWICKAU. 
 Enders, i. 407. (Wittenberg), February 2, 1519. 
 
 Greeting. Learn briefly, Egranus, my present situation. 
 Charles von Miltitz was sent to our elector armed with more 
 than seventy papal breves, all drawn up with the purpose of 
 having me sent alive and bound to that murderous Jerusalem,* 
 Rome. But on the way he was smitten to the earth by the 
 Lord, that is, he was frightened by the numbers of those who 
 favor me, for everywhere he carefully inquired what men 
 
 iGalatians, ii. z. 
 ^1 Corinthians, ix. 26. 
 
 ^Erasmus' Paraphrase to Galatians, published by Froben, Basle, August, 1519. 
 Bihliotheca Erasmiana, i. 143. 
 ♦"Jerusalem that killest the prophets," Matthew, xxiii. 37. 
 
160 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let 124 
 
 thought of me and changed his violence into an easily assumed 
 benevolence, pleading with me at great length to recant for 
 the honor of the Roman Church. I answered him' to this 
 intent : Let the method of recantation be prescribed, and the 
 reason of my error given, and let it be such a reason as to 
 appeal both to the learned and to the people, lest a recantation 
 on suspicious grounds should excite more hatred against Rome. 
 
 We finally agreed to leave the matter to the arbitration of 
 either the Bishop of Salzburg or the Bishop of Trier, and 
 thus we separated amicably, with a kiss (a Judas kiss!) and 
 tears — I pretended that I did not know they were crocodile 
 tears. Thus far we got; I know not what they will do at 
 Rome. 
 
 Miltitz says that no afifair has arisen for a hundred years 
 that has caused more trouble to that most idle crowd of 
 cardinals and of Romanizing Romanists, and that they would 
 rather give ten thousand ducats'" than let the thing go on as it 
 has begun. I rejoice and commend everything to God. 
 
 I wrote you before, advising you not to leave Zwickau, for 
 you can get plenty of leisure and books to study Greek there. 
 You owe more to God, that is, to the people of God, than to 
 yourself and culture. I desire to know what you dislike in the 
 doctrine of faith which seems so plain and open to me. For I 
 do not separate justifying faith from love; rather we believe 
 on him who pleases us, and he in whom we believe is loved. 
 Grace makes the Word pleasant to us, and makes us believe 
 it, which is the same as loving it. All the propositions recently 
 put forward about faith, hope and charity do not please me, 
 for those who discuss them seem to me to understand none of 
 them. 
 
 I saw our friend Eck at Augsburg and tried to get him to 
 meet our Carlstadt at Leipsic to decide their dispute, and 
 after some demur he agreed. What does the man do then? 
 He takes my Theses, rips them up, and says not a word about 
 him with whom he is disputing. You might think it a carnival 
 mask.' I am forced to engage the man at close quarters to 
 
 IQn the meeting with Miltitz at Altenburg early in January, Smith, 54ff. 
 
 2A ducat was $2.50 or ten shillings. 
 
 8At carnival time in Germany (just before Lent, i. k., about the time Luther 
 
Let. I2S OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 161 
 
 defend my opinions of indulgences. The boastful little beast 
 is most unfortunate. He promises a fight after Easter. Some 
 say he is suborned by the Dominicans. The Lord's will be 
 done. I would have sent a copy of his paper, but I only have 
 one sent me from Nuremberg. I send Carlstadt's booklet on 
 the Justification of the Wicked^ and the conclusion of his 
 edition of Augustine's De spiritu et litera' hoping that you 
 have the first part. Farewell in Christ and pray for me. 
 
 Martin Luther. 
 
 I2S. JOHN FROBEN TO MARTIN LUTHER. 
 Enders, i. 420. Basle, February 14, 1519. 
 
 John Froben (c. 1460-1527), of Hammelburg in Franconia, studied 
 at Basle, where he printed his first book, a Bible, 1491. In 1500 he 
 made a partnership with John Amorbach. In 1514 he formed a con- 
 nection with Erasmus for the purpose of bringing out the Greek 
 Testament and Jerome's works, both of which appeared in 1516. 
 After this his relations with Erasmus were close until his death. Life 
 in Allgemeine deutsche Biographie. This letter, which is of great 
 interest as showing how early Luther's books attained an international 
 ', reputation, arrived at Wittenberg on March 12th. 
 
 Blasius Salmonius/ a printer of Leipsic, gave me some of 
 your books, which he had bought at the last Frankfort Fair,* 
 which, as they were approved by all the learned, I immediately 
 reprinted." We have sent six hundred copies to France^ and 
 Spain ;^ they are sold at Paris, and are even read and ap- 
 
 was writing this) masks or pantomimes were played by mummers. They are 
 known as "Fastnachtspiele." 
 
 ^Epitome A. Carolstadii De impii justificatione . Leipsic, 1519. 
 
 2C/. supra, no. 51 and A. Humbert: Les Origines de la thcologie moderne, 
 ?■ 329- 
 
 8 Otherwise unknown. 
 
 4The great book-mart of Germany. Cf. J. W. Thompson: The Frankfort Book 
 Fair: the Francofordiense Emporium of Henri Estienne. Chicago. Caxton Club, 
 1911. 
 
 5In the days before copyright books were free for all. In this case the learned 
 did not include Erasmus, who protested earnestly against the publication of 
 Luther's works. Cf. infra, no. 149. Froben's volume contained The Ninety-five 
 Theses, the Resolutions, the Answer to Prierias, and the sermons on Penitence 
 and on the Eucharist. Also Carlstadt's Theses of May, 1518. De Jongh: 
 L'ancienne Faculte de Theologie a Louvain, p. 206. Cf. supra, no. 94. 
 
 6S0 Glarean writes to Zwingli on November i, 1520, from Paris, that no books 
 are bought more quickly than Luther's. Corpus Reformatorum, xciv. 362, Thus 
 also Lefevre d'Etaples learned to know Luther, to whom he sent a greeting on 
 April 9, 1519. Herminjard: Correspondance des rcformaieurs, i. 45 
 
 'An early indication of the spread of Lutheranism and probably of Lutheran 
 
162 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 126 
 
 proved by the doctors of the Sorbonne/ as certain of our 
 friends have assured us; for some of the most learned say 
 that they have hitherto missed among those who treat Scrip- 
 ture the same freedom that you show. 
 
 Francis Calvus/ also a bookseller of Pavia, a most learned 
 man, one devoted to the Muses, has taken a good part of 
 your books to Italy to distribute them among all the cities. 
 Nor does he do it so much for gain as to aid piety. He has 
 promised to send epigrams written in your honor by all the 
 learned in Italy, so much does he like your constancy and 
 skill. . . . 
 
 We have exported your books to Brabant and England.' 
 We only printed three hundred copies of your Reply to 
 Prierias. . . . We have sold out all your books except ten 
 copies, and never remember to have sold any more 
 quickly. We expect to bring out the second edition of Eras- 
 mus' New Testament much enlarged, within ten days. Fare- 
 well, reverend Father 
 
 126. RECTOR, PROFESSORS AND DOCTORS OF THE UNI- 
 VERSITY OF LEIPSIC, TO DUKE GEORGE OF SAXONY. 
 
 Cess, i. 69. Leipsic, February 15, 1519. 
 
 At your Grace's written command, we have granted permis- 
 sion to the honorable and learned doctors, John Eck and 
 Andrew Carlstadt, to debate. Thereupon the said Dr. Eck 
 reduced to writing his conclusions on Dr. Martin Luther's 
 propositions concerning grace, in order to give public notice 
 of the debate with Dr. Carlstadt at your Grace's university. 
 
 books in Spanish dominions is the condemnation of a Lutheran at Majorca in 1523. 
 H. C. Lea: History of the Spanish Inquisition (1907), iiL 413. Cf. infra, 
 April, 1521, no. 443. 
 
 IC/. Tschudi to Rhenanus, May 17, 1519. Herminjard, i. 47. On April 15, 
 1521, Luther's works were formally condemned by the Sorbonne. Cf. Smith, 
 op. cit., 453. 
 
 ^Calvus is often mentioned in Erasmus' letters. On the sale of Luther's works 
 in Venice, Pavia, and Bologna, cf. Pastor, History of the Popes (English trans- 
 lation by Kerr), j.. 306. Also Benrath: Reformation in Venedig, p. 2, where 
 for 1518 read 1519. Also Realencyclopddie, ix. 524. On Calvus, Forstemann- 
 Gunther, s. v. 
 
 >Cf, Oxford Historical Collectanea, i. 81 ff. Daybook of John Dome, book- 
 seller of Oxford, for 1520. Among Luther's works the following were then sold: 
 Opera, 2 copies; Leipsic Debate, i; Commentary on Galatians, i; De potestate 
 Papae, 6 or 7; Resolutions (for Leipsic debate), i; Response to Prierias i. 
 
Let. 127 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 163 
 
 Straightway Dr. Luther,^ compelled by this to mix in the 
 debate, thinking to defend and uphold Dr. Carlstadt, publishes 
 a letter in which he announces, contrary to your Grace'sj 
 written command and the decision of the whole honorable] 
 university, that the said debate is at an end, and, nevertheless, 
 without greeting your Grace or the university, he publicly 
 and in writing announces that he will debate at your Grace's 
 university. And as the said Dr. Martin touches the legal 
 rights of the Pope's Holiness, the said debate would be thereby 
 hindered, and everyone would be deceived by having the 
 truth thus abandoned. Wherefore we beg that your Grace 
 will see to it that Dr. Luther should not announce debates 
 without your Grace's or the university's consent. 
 
 127. WOLFGANG FABRICIUS CAPITO TO LUTHER. 
 Enders, i. 424. Basle, February 18, 1519. 
 
 Switzerland and the Rhine country as far as the ocean, is 
 solid for Luther, and his friends in these regions are both 
 powerful and learned. Recently, when it was rumored that 
 you were in danger,^ Cardinal Matthew Schinner, the Count 
 of Geroldseck,' and a certain learned and much honored 
 bishop,* and not a few of our other friends,'^ promised you 
 not only financial support, but a refuge, in which you might 
 either hide or live openly. When it was noised abroad that 
 you were laboring in greart difficulty, some men tried to send 
 you a large sum of money through me and they certainly 
 would have done so. But this evening we received golden 
 news, that Luther lives and will live always. Then we saw a 
 copy of the letter of the illustrious and truly princely elector 
 to Cardinal Cajetan, by which we know that you do not need 
 our aid.* But if we can do anything we certainly will. We 
 
 'On this cf. Smith, op. cit., p. 59. 
 
 2J. c, of being sent to Rome, when Luther was thinking of leaving Wittenberg, 
 supra, no. 100. 
 
 ^Diebolt III von Geroldseck of Swabia, administrator of the cloister of Einsie- 
 dcln, a dear friend of Zwingli, with whom he died at the battle of Kappel, 
 October 11, 1531- 
 
 'Christopher von Uttenheim, Bishop of Basle 1 502-1 526, when he resigned, 
 dying the next year. 
 
 "Including Zwingli, thinks KalkoiT. Corpus Reformatorum, xciv. 403, note i. 
 But Zwingli had as yet shown small interest in Luther. 
 
 "December 8, 1518, refusing to give Luther up. Enders, i. 310. 
 
164 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 128 
 
 have printed your collected works, as you will learn from 
 Froben's gift, and within six weeks after the Frankfort Fair 
 sent them to Italy, France, Spain and England, in this con- 
 sulting the public welfare, which we think is advanced by 
 having the truth spread abroad as widely as possible. Nature 
 by means of truth allures even an enemy to love her. For- 
 give me for recently telling you of Erasmus' opinion,^ which 
 was bringing owls to Athens.^ 
 
 128. LUTHER TO DUKE GEORGE OF SAXONY. 
 Enders, i. 428. De Wette-Seidemann, vi. 10. German. 
 
 Wittenberg, February 19, 1519. 
 
 My humble poor prayers and lowly service to your Grace. 
 Serene, high-born Prince, gracious Lord ! The worthy Dr. 
 Eck writes that he has applied to your Grace to permit and 
 graciously to favor a debate against the worthy Dr. Carlstadt 
 in your Grace's university at Leipsic. But although Dr. Eck 
 proclaims that he will debate against Dr. Carlstadt, yet he 
 hardly notices his articles, but falls with all his might on my 
 position. Therefore, it would become me to meet this pre- 
 sumptuous giant' and defend my position or let myself be 
 better instructed. Wherefore it is my humble petition to 
 your Grace, for the love of the truth kindly to allow such a 
 debate. For now the worthy gentlemen of the university 
 have written that what I formerly heard they had promised 
 to Dr. Eck has been refused by them, for they lay it up 
 against me that I let my propositions for debate be published 
 before I asked permission of your Grace; this was because I 
 had confidence that your Grace would not forbid me, but 
 would be ready, as Dr. Eck has boasted you promised him. 
 I pray you graciously forgive me, and may God mercifully 
 spare and uphold you. Amen. 
 
 Your Grace's obedient chaplain. 
 Dr. Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 ^Cf. supra, no. 78. 
 
 2/. e., "coals to Newcastle." 
 
 3'*Denn uniiorwarntenn ryssen. zcu empfaeu " I follow Hoppe*s modernization: 
 "Den unverwarnten Riesen zu empfahen" (St. Louis Walch, xxi. A. p. 148). I 
 have also thought that "ryssen" might stand for "Reise," t. t:., "undertake this 
 unexpected journey." 
 
Let. 130 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS IM 
 
 129. JOHN ECK TO THE UNIVERSITY OF LEIPSIC. 
 Gess, i. 73. Ingolstadt, February 19, 1519. 
 
 I was somewhat troubled when I heard that you did not 
 care to bear the burden of hearing, and judging us, although 
 I received your letter late, that is on February 4. But now I' 
 am made more cheerful, since I have learned that you have' 
 changed your opinions, for which I render you immortal! 
 thanks. Concerning the time of the debate I should like it to\ 
 begin on June 27, for reasons given in another letter to your 
 university, for I shall be obliged for urgent reasons to be 
 away from our University of Ingolstadt then anyway. . . . 
 I am writing to Luther to be present, for there is just as much, 
 reason for his presence as for that of Carlstadt, for in my 
 poor opinion, both of them are equally in error. We shall 
 find out by this debate. . . . 
 
 130. LUTHER TO CHRISTOPHER SCHEURL AT NUREMBERG. 
 Enders, i. 432. Wittenberg, February 20, 1519. 
 
 Greeting. I blame myself, excellent doctor, for so rarely 
 writing in answer to your numerous greetings. But again I 
 excuse myself in that I am laboring with such a monstrous 
 mass of business. That learned Dialogue of Julius and Peter^ 
 pleased me much, for it contains much fruit if read carefully. 
 I regret that it is not known at Rome. I almost dared to 
 translate it;" not that the author is the first to reveal the 
 horrors of the Roman curia, but he confirms what has, alas ! 
 long been known. Would that the Roman prelates might be 
 warned of their tyranny and impious rashness even by trifles 
 of this sort, which they see are spread abroad through the 
 world. 
 
 Eck, who has hitherto fairly dissimulated his rage against I 
 me, now reveals it. See what sort of man he is. But the [ 
 God of gods knows what catastrophe he is planning for this I 
 tragedy. In this neither will Eck act for his own ends, nor 1 1 
 
 ^Cf. supraj no. 42. 
 
 ^According to the table talk Luther tried to do so but gave it up fearing 
 he could not do the style justice. In the same saying he attributes the authorship 
 rightly to Erasmus. E. Kroker; Luther s Tischreden in der Matthesischen 
 Sammlung, 1903, no. 45. 
 
166 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 132 
 
 I for mine, for I think God's counsel is directing it all. I have 
 (often said that what I have hitherto done has been mere play, 
 I but that now I will act in earnest against the Pope and Roman 
 larrogance. . . . 
 
 Brother Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 131. OTTO BECKMANN TO SPALATIN. 
 Kolde: Analecta, 6. (Erfurt?), February 24, 1519. 
 
 ... I hardly know what to promise about our Eleutherius. 
 I wrote you before that almost everyone here approves what 
 should not be approved for the sake of seeming Lutheran, 
 even when they least agree with Luther, as, for example, on 
 the power of the Pope, which can neither be assailed nor 
 diminished by our barking. The common crowd like to hear 
 evil of ecclesiastics, especially in our time when, for our sins, 
 the clergy has become a byword in society. It is said that 
 recently while preaching in the church of St. Peter, he raved 
 I know not what folly about the throne of the Pope and the 
 power of the keys, all of which was diligently written down 
 by enemies. You would do well to write to Amsdorf to 
 admonish Martin not to speak so angrily without cause in 
 public about the Pope and the other prelates. Some portent 
 is brewing; but may Christ grant that it come not among 
 us. We must go another road. The Church cannot be re- 
 formed by our contrivance, if it has to be reformed at all. 
 I write from my heart, knowing that you cherish the honor 
 of the university. Yours, 
 
 Otto Beckmann. 
 
 Note. — At this point Enders (i. 442) inserts a letter from Luther to 
 Leo X., dated "(Altenburg), March 3, 1519," and it is taken into the 
 St. Louis edition (xxi. no. 15s), dated February. It was really com- 
 posed in January, at Luther's interview with Miltitz, but as it did not 
 satisfy the latter it was never sent, and is therefore not included in my 
 translation. Kostlin-Kawerau, i. 224. 
 
 132. DUKE GEORGE OF SAXONY TO LUTHER AT 
 
 WITTENBERG. 
 
 Enders, i. 445. Dresden, March 4, 1519. 
 
 Worthy, learned, dear and pious Sir ! We have received 
 
Let. 133 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 167 
 
 your letter^ about the debate allowed by us to be held at our 
 University of Leipsic, between Drs. Eck and Carlstadt, and 
 containing your excuses, all of which we have noted. Since 
 Dr. Eck wrote us that he had agreed on the debate with Dr. 
 Carlstadt and prayed for permission to hold it at Leipsic, 
 we did not wish to refuse him. If now you agree among 
 yourselves to debate, and then make a further request to us, 
 we will then, as beseems us, consider your petition and give 
 you a prudent and gracious answer. This in answer to your 
 letter. 
 
 133. LUTHER TO GEORGE SPALATIN AT ALTENBURG. 
 Enders, i. 446. (Wittenberg), March 5, 1519. 
 
 Greeting. Dear Spalatin, you have twice urged me to 
 make mention of faith and works and of obedience to the 
 Roman Church in my German apology .° I think that I have 
 done so, although it was published before your warnings 
 came. It was never my intention to secede from the apostolic 
 Roman see; indeed, I am content that the Pope should be 
 called, or even should be, the lord of all. What business is 
 it of mine? For I know that w^e must honor and tolerate 
 even the Turk because of his power, and because I know, 
 as Peter says,° that there is no power save what is ordained 
 of God. But I act for my faith in Christ, that they may 
 not treat his Word as they please, and contaminate it. Let 
 the Roman decretals leave me the pure gospel and take away 
 all else, I will not move a hair. What more can I or ought 
 I do? Moreover, most willingly shall I abide by the agree- 
 ment,* for I hope this debate will be a debate for the learned 
 only, and my instruction will be sufficient for the laity. 
 Farewell. 
 
 You desire to know who were the men who requested the 
 elector to change the course of studies." They were the 
 
 ^February 19, supra, no. 128. 
 
 ^Unterricht auf etliche Artikel, Weimar, ii. 66. This was a paper drawn up at 
 the request of Miltitz, cf. Smith, 56f. Perhaps Spalatin had been influenced by 
 the letter of Beckmann, supra, no. 131. 
 
 ^Cf. I Peter, ii. 13, though Luther probably meant Paul's Epistle to the 
 Romans, xiii. i. 
 
 *2. K., with Miltitz to keep silence, cf. Smith, ssf. 
 
 5For some time Luther and his friends had been desirous of reforminj; the 
 curriculum by curtailing the lectures on Aristotle's Physics and on Aquinas's 
 
168 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 134 
 
 rector/ Carlstadt, Armsdorf and I. The protest does not 
 please many, though they have poor reason for objecting to 
 it, for they consider not the profit of the students, but the 
 salaries of the professors. Conversing with one of them 
 recently, I said if the salaries were given for the sake of sup- 
 porting the professors, the university was changed into an 
 eleemosynary institution. Let the needy be supported in some 
 other way ; here we must consider proper studies alone. They 
 are blind and without judgment. I hope the most illustrious 
 elector will take good counsel in this matter. 
 
 Brother Martin Luther. 
 
 134. LUTHER TO THE ELECTOR FREDERIC OF SAXONY. 
 Enders, i. 448. De Wette, i. 236. German. 
 
 Wittenberg, March 13, 1519. 
 
 My poor, humble prayer is ever for your Grace! Most 
 serene, high-born Prince, most gracious Lord! Your Grace's 
 chaplain, Spalatin, has sent to me certain points concerning 
 me, forwarded to your Grace by the Honorable Charles von 
 Miltitz, commissary of the Pope's Holiness, demanding, 
 namely, that I should henceforth keep silence and not begin 
 anything new, as we agreed at Altenburg. Now God knows 
 that I am anxious and would be happy to have the game end 
 thus, as far as in me lies; and I have kept myself so strictly 
 to the agreement that I have let Silvester Prierias' Answer' 
 go, although it gave me much cause to reply, and has given 
 my opponents much reason to mock me; yet have I kept 
 silence contrary to the advice of my friends. However, 
 Miltitz knows well that our agreement was that I should keep 
 silence on condition that my enemies did the same. But now 
 Dr. Eck has without warning attacked me, in such manner 
 that he seems to seek not my shame only, but the dishonor 
 also of your Grace's University of Wittenberg. Many re- 
 spectable people think that he was bribed to do so. It did not 
 become me to pass over his fickle, treacherous attack and 
 
 (Aristotle's?) Logic, devoting the salaries paid for these courses partly to 
 increasing Melanchthon's pay and partly to hiring a professor to lecture on 
 Ovid's Metamorphoses. Cf. Be Wette-Seidemann, vi. 13. 
 
 ^Bartholomew Bernhardi of Feldkirch. 
 
 ^Replica F. Sylvestri Prieriatis, 1518, on which cf. I.auchert, op. cit., l8ff. 
 
Let. 135 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 169 
 
 leave the truth to be mocked. Thus they would gag me, and 
 open everyone else's mouth ; thus your Grace can imagine that 
 in this case any man, who otherwise perhaps would not dare 
 to look at me, might fall upon me. Now with all my heart I 
 am disposed obediently to follow your Grace's true counsel, 
 and always keep still, provided they will do the same, for I 
 have much to do, and do not seek my own pleasure. But if 
 they won't keep silence, I humbly pray your Grace not to 
 take it ill that my conscience will not suffer me to abandon 
 the truth. And although my position touches the Pope's Holi- 
 ness, yet was I obliged, in the course of the debate, to take the 
 opposite side [to Dr. Eck's], always reserving my humble 
 obedience to the Holy Roman See. God grant your Grace 
 salvation. Amen. 
 
 Your Grace's humble chaplain. 
 
 Dr. Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 135. LUTHER TO GEORGE SPALATIN. 
 Enders, i. 448. Wittenberg, March 13, 1519. 
 
 It will be beyond Melanchthon's power, dear Spalatin, to 
 give so many extra lectures, when he already has more than 
 enough to do. Even if you think he should lecture alternate 
 days, yet he will have none the less anxiety. Moreover, 
 Aristotle's Physicis are completely useless to every age; the 
 whole book is an argument about nothing, and, moreover, a 
 begging of the question. His Rhetoric is of no use either, 
 unless one wishes to become an expert in rhetoric, which is 
 much as though one exercised his mind studying dung or 
 other stuff. God's wrath has decreed that for so many ages 
 the human race should occupy itself with these follies, and 
 without even understanding them. I know the book inside 
 out, for I twice have expounded it to my brothers, having 
 rejected the usual commentaries.^ In short, we have decided 
 to allow these lectures to continue only for a short time, since 
 even an oration of Beroald^ would be more profitable, as 
 
 ^Luther lectu;-ed on Aristotle's Ethics and Physics during his first year at 
 Wittenberg, 1508-9. His dislike of the Stagirite began about this time. Cf. note 
 to Augustine, Weimar, ix. 27. 
 
 "Philip Beroald, 1453-1S05, lectured on eloquence at Parma, Milan and Paris. 
 
170 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 135 
 
 Aristotle has not even an understanding of natural phenomena. 
 Of like quality are his books on Metaphysics and the Soul. 
 It is unworthy of the mind to wallow in such a slough of 
 folly; if he must be read to fulfil the requirements, he had 
 better be read without comprehension than with. 
 
 I send the letter^ of Eck, as boastful as if he were victor at 
 the Olympian games. 
 
 John Froben sent me my works printed by him. If you 
 wish to see them I will send them.^ 
 
 I am too busy to translate my Exposition of the Lord's 
 Prayer^ into Latin. I daily expound to children and the 
 simple the Ten Commandments' and the Lord's Prayer, besides 
 which I preach and am now getting out Paul's Epistle to the 
 Galatians.^ Moreover, there are orations and lectures to be 
 ^iven on special occasions, so I have not time enough, much 
 less, time to spare. I am planning a sermon on the Medita- 
 tion of Christ's Holy Passion,''' but know not whether I shall 
 have leisure to write it, but I will try. 
 
 I am studying the decrees of the Popes^ for my debate, 
 and (I speak it in your ear), I know not whether the Pope is 
 Antichrist* himself or his apostle, so terribly is Christ, that is, 
 the truth, corrupted and crucified by him in the decretals. I 
 am terribly distressed that the people of Christ should be 
 thus deceived by the semblance of laws and of the Christian 
 name. Sometime I will make you a copy of my notes on the 
 Canon Law, that you too may see what it is to make laws 
 regardless of Scripture, simply from ambition and tyranny, 
 
 ^0£ February 19, Enders, i. 428. 
 
 'Supra, no. 125. 
 
 ^Auslegung deutsch des Vaterunsers fur die einfdltigen Laien, Weimar, ii. 74. 
 
 ^Decern Praecepta populo Wittembergensi praedicata. This was the beginning of 
 Luther's Catechism (1529), Cf. Weimar, xxx. part i, introduction. 
 
 ^Commentary on Galatians, published by Luther at this time, Weimar, ii. 436. 
 
 ^Sermon von der Betrachtung des heiligen Leidens Christi, Weimar, ii. 131. 
 
 ^7. e., the Canon Law, for the Leipsic Debate. Cf. Smith, op. cit., 60S. 
 
 8The idea of Antichrist, taken from the Apocalypse, had become quite common 
 by this time, and had been applied to the Pope at least since John Huss's 
 De Ecclesia (circa 1400). Luther did not know this work till <a year later, but 
 he probably did know a Buck von des Endtechrists Leben und Regierung, 
 Erfurt, 1 516. He later worked the idea out in detail in his Responsio ad Am- 
 brosium Caiharinum, Weimar, vii. 777f. (1521). Cf. H. Preuss: Die V orstellungen 
 vom Antichrist im spateren Mittelalter, bei Luther und im konfessionelten Polemik, 
 Leipsic, 1906. H. Grisar, op. cit., ii. ii3ff. 
 
Let. 136 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 171 
 
 not to mention the other works of the Roman curia, which 
 are like those of Antichrist. Daily there arises in me a 
 greater and greater aid and defence for the sacred books. 
 
 Our Erasmus has pubHshed a work on the method' of 
 studying the Bible, which Froben sent me. Please return 
 the letters of Froben, Eck and the others. . . . 
 
 Brother Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 [P. S.]° — I send a letter to the most illustrious elector on 
 the matter' which you wrote about, and I ask you to thank 
 him for me for his most kind care. I am very sorry and 
 unwilling that his Grace should be troubled by his anxiety 
 for me. I have answered Eck nothing except three words, 
 namely, that it was his fault, not mine, that he is branded 
 as a sophist throughout the world. I do not wish to treat with 
 the man at length; he is wholly faithless, and has openly 
 broken the laws of friendship. 
 
 136. MELANCHTHON TO SPALATIN. 
 Corpus Refonnatorum, i. 74. Wittenberg, March 13, 1519. 
 
 Hail, most learned George. Luther has promised to send 
 the letter of Eck* when he had finished Paul,^ in which he is 
 
 ^Ratio sen compendium verae theologiae per Erasmum Roterodamum. Basle, 
 Froben, 1519. 
 
 2This postscript Enders, ii. 221, as the second postscript to a letter of Luther 
 to Spalatin dated by Enders early in November, 1519 (the correct date is October, 
 cf. infra, no. 185). Enders informs us, however, that this postscript is on a separate 
 sheet, and may not belong to this letter at all. That it cannot belong to the 
 letter is shown by the words about Eck. Luther says that he has answered him 
 only three words, which would not apply to the eleven-page letter of October, 1519 
 (Enders, ii. 214, De Wette, i. 353), and adds "he has openly broken the laws of 
 friendship," a phrase he would certainly not use of the avowed enmity of the 
 Leipsic debate. That the postscript may belong to this letter of March 13, is 
 shown by the fact that the originals of both are in the Anhalt Ges.-Archiv, and 
 that extant MS. copies of both are found in the same codex. That the postscript 
 must belong to this letter of March 13, is shown by comparing the passage on 
 Eck, "Eccio nihil respondi, nisi tria verba, scilicet eum sophistam per orbem non 
 mea, sed sua culpa famari . . . totus infidus est, et aperte rupit amicitiae jura," 
 with Luther's letter to Eck of February 18, 15 19 (Enders, v. 6): "Doleo, mi 
 Ecci, inveniri tandem simulatam tuam in me amicitiam tarn manifestis argu- 
 mentis. . . . Proinde quod nugator et sophista nunc per orbem vocitaris, tuae 
 intemeritati imputabis, non miht." These words are absolutely inapplicable to 
 the letter of October, 1519, to Eck. Also note the allusion to the letter to the 
 elector. 
 
 3C/. last letter. 
 
 *February 19, 1519. Enders, i. 429. 
 
 6/n epistolam Pauli ad Galatas M. Lutheri commeniarius, Leipsic, Lotther, 1519. 
 Weimar, ii. 436ff. 
 
172 LUTHER'S CORRESPOXDEXCE AND Let. 137 
 
 now wholly occupied. He intends to write a meditation on 
 the passion of the Lord.' Yesterday we received letters and 
 books from Basle." Every good man thinks well of our 
 cause. Froben has sent a little book of Erasmus, the Method 
 of Theology' in which that celebrated man seems to touch on 
 many things, which have been touched by Luther, and he 
 seems to be freer in his treatment of them because he has a 
 companion in this sacred and true knowledge. . . . 
 
 137. POPE LEO X. TO LUTHER AT WITTENBERG. 
 Enders, i. 491. Villa Magliana/ March 29, 1519. 
 
 Beloved Son, greeting and the apostolic blessing! We were 
 highly pleased to learn from the letter" written by our beloved 
 son and nuncio, Charles von Miltitz, to our beloved son, the 
 noble Frederic, Elector of Saxony, that what had been incor- 
 rectly written or said by you, was not done with the plan and 
 purpose of attacking us or the apostolic see or the Holy 
 Roman Church, but because you were provoked by a certain 
 monk commissioned by our beloved son Albert, Cardinal Arch- 
 bishop of Mayence, to publish certain indulgences. We learn 
 that it was while attacking him that you went further than 
 you would have wished, and exceeded the bounds of decorum 
 and truth, and that when you had sufficiently considered what 
 you had said, you were heartily grieved, and were prepared 
 to revoke everything in writing, and to notify the princes and 
 others to whom your works had come, of your error, and in 
 future to abstain from similar expressions. We also learn 
 that you would have re\oked everything before our legate, 
 had you not feared that he would have favored the monk 
 whom you consider the cause of your error, and have too 
 severely reprimanded you. 
 
 We, therefore, considering that the spirit indeed is willing, 
 but the flesh weak, and that many things are said in the heat 
 of anger which must later be corrected by saner counsel, 
 
 ^Reprinted, Weimar, ji. I3iff. 
 
 2/, e., from Froben. Cf. his letter to Luther, February 14, 1519. 
 ^Ratio sen compendium verie theologiae. Basle, Froben, January, 1519. 
 ^Leo's hunting lodge on the Tiber, ten miles from Rome. 
 
 SThis letter is lost. Evidently Miltitz had written over-sanguinely of his success 
 with Luther. Smith, op. cit., 56. 
 
Let 138 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 173 
 
 thank Almighty God who has deigned to enlighten your 
 heart and to vouchsafe that Christians who rely on your 
 authority and learning may not be led into grave and pernicious 
 errors in those things which concern the salvation of their 
 souls. Wherefore we, who are the vicegerent on earth of 
 him who desireth not the death of a sinner, but that he shall 
 turn from his wickedness and live,'^ with paternal love accept 
 your excuses, and because of the benevolence with which we 
 regard all learned men, especially those learned in divinity, 
 desire to hear and see you personally, so that you may be 
 able safely and freely to make before us, the vicar of Christ, 
 that recantation which you feared to make before our legate. 
 Wherefore on receipt of this letter prepare for a journey 
 and come straight to us. We hope, moreover, that you will 
 lay aside hatred and reconcile your mind to us, that you will 
 be filled with no passion, but with the Holy Spirit alone, and 
 armed with charity, so that you will care for those things 
 which make for the glory of Almighty God, that we may thus 
 rejoice in you as an obedient child and that you may be happy 
 to find in us a kind and merciful father. 
 
 Given under the fisherman's ring, in the seventh year of our 
 pontificate. J. Sadoleto. 
 
 138. MELANCHTHON TO STUDENTS OF THEOLOGY. 
 Preface to Luther's Operationes in Psalmos.' Corpus Reformatorum, 
 i. 70. Wittenberg, March, 1519. 
 
 [He congratulates them on the brilliant scholarship of the 
 day, adorned by the names of Erasmus, Reuchlin, Capito, 
 Oecolampadius and Carlstadt.] . . . Martin Luther has illus- 
 trated the sacred songs with a commentary, which we desire 
 especially to commend to the student, because, while many 
 things have been written on David, few have grasped his real 
 character. But how much this commentary excels may be 
 proved by anyone who will diligently compare it with the 
 very best of the old ones. Meanwhile, readers, it is your part 
 to make the most of Luther's faithful labor and to strive to 
 bring pure minds to the study of it, having laid aside all 
 
 ^Ezekiel, xxxiii. ii. 2Reprinted, Weimar, vol. v. 
 
174 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 140 
 
 human prejudices ; in short, to read Christ's book under 
 Christ's guidance. Farewell. 
 
 139. LUTHER TO JOHN ECK AT INGOLSTADT. 
 Enders, v. 7. Wittenberg, April 5, 1519. 
 
 I am writing again, Eck, for this reason. The most illustri- 
 ous Duke George of Saxony has answered^ me that he would 
 like to reply to my petition to debate with you at Leipsic, 
 provided only that he were certain that you and I agreed on 
 this point, for your letters to him had spoken of Carlstadt, 
 but not of me. Since Carlstadt is properly disgusted with 
 your wily tricks, so that perchance he will not deign to meet 
 you, and because you also having learned to dread the man's 
 power, have yet deceived the duke, declining battle with one 
 and challenging another, it is your duty to inform either the 
 duke or me what you want to do, so that we may not let 
 him longer be in suspense. Therefore, take care to send me 
 a letter^ as quickly as possible, that I may seek full permis- 
 sion to debate, for I already have the consent of the Uni- 
 versity in writing. Farewell, and try to be a theologian 
 instead of a sophist. 
 
 140. LUTHER TO JOHN LANG AT ERFURT. 
 Enders, ii. 9. Wittenberg, April 13, 15x9. 
 
 Greeting. I rejoice and congratulate you, reverend 
 Father, on being one of those who bear the cross of Christ. 
 Be a brave man ; thus do we go, or rather thus are we 
 carried to the skies." We thank you for your gifts. You 
 know why I did not come to your ceremony.* You should 
 not condemn my silence so much as the condition of the road, 
 which is such that we rarely or never have anyone going from 
 hence to Erfurt. . . . 
 
 Eck has signified that our debate will take place on June 
 27; it will take place between him and me as you see by the 
 enclosed paper. For Carlstadt will not debate with him on 
 
 ^Supra^ no 132. 
 
 2Eck apparently did not answer this letter. Cf, infra^ no. 143. 
 8Sic itur, imo vehitur ad astra. Cf. Ovid, Metam,, ix., 372, xv. 846. 
 *A promotion of doctors at Erfurt on February 24. 
 
Let. 140 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 175 
 
 these points, partly because they are mine, partly because 
 that wily sophist drags in the Pope. This would either put 
 Carlstadt in danger of offending the Pope (intolerable to 
 one who holds a prebend),' or else by scaring him in this 
 way would crush him without a real fight or a real victory. 
 But they will debate on other things, not on the power of 
 the Pope or on indulgences. For these impious men, who 
 themselves foully transgress the commandments of God, con- 
 sider such things as the papal power and indulgences the 
 only thing against which a Christian man can sin. All fear 
 that I shall be worsted on my twelfth proposition.^ But 
 although I do not expect to catch that crafty, loud-mouthed, 
 arrogant sophist, yet with Christ's help I will defend my own 
 position. For this will give me a chance to expose publicly 
 the folly of these clumsy, impious Decretals' by which we 
 Christians have been terrified in vain, for, stuffed with lies 
 as they are, they are recommended by the name of the Roman 
 Church. Christ will expose these bugbears, and as Job says : 
 "He will pull aside the covering of his countenance, and will 
 enter into the midst of his mouth.'" 
 
 The Leipsic theologians and the Bishop of Merseburg have 
 done their best, and are still trying to prevent the debate. ' 
 They would almost have moved their duke, but finally, 
 strengthened by a word from our elector, he acted authorita- 
 tively. My university has answered and consented. The 
 duke writes that he will let us debate as soon as I convince 
 him that Eck wantsjo debate with me, and I am now taking 
 measures to do so. For the duke_thinks only Carlstadt^ has 
 ajlisgute^ith Eck. 
 
 Meantime, the theologians are reviling me, especially that 
 bull, ox and ass,^ not the ox that knoweth his owner, but 
 
 ICarlstadt held a benefice of the Pope. Cf. Smith, op. cit., p. 59. 
 
 2Asserting that the su prema cy of. the^Roman Church dated only four centuries 
 hack. Cf. Smith, p. 59. 
 
 *The Canon Law, which already excited Luther's indignation to a high degree. 
 Cf. Smith, 6if. 
 
 *Job, xli. 4, according to the Vulgate translation, which dififers entirely from 
 ours. In our version the verse is no. 13. 
 
 SThis allusion is referred by Enders to Jerome^Jiujlgersheim von Ochsenfurt, 
 who wrote Luther several letters, the first of which is dated by Enders January 18, 
 I5i9> i- 355- ^'^ reality this letter should be dated October 7, 1519 (Knaake in 
 Theologische Studien und Kritiken, igoo, p. 269). Luther is evidently speaking 
 
176 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 140 
 
 one which eats chaff. They shout at the people of Leipsic 
 not to adhere to new heresies. Thus perhaps they will arouse 
 the people by hatred of us and fear of the Pope to exclude 
 us. It is said that when Tetzel heard that the debate was 
 going to come off, he said: "That's the devil."i . . . 
 
 Cajetan has again written about me to our elector, such 
 folly or insanity that I am glad his Italian ignorance will be 
 exposed to the laity. . . . 
 
 I am sending Carlstadt's Wagon,' by which he depicts the 
 folly' of theologians, and against which they are raging at 
 Leipsic. Andrew Franck^ writes me that one man publicly in 
 the pulpit tears his hands, and another inquires of youths in 
 confession whether they laugh at the Wagon or have Luther's 
 works, and that they fine those who confess to these faults. 
 See their darkness, their insanity, and they are theologians! 
 
 I expect that you have received the first of my lectures 
 on the Psalms.' I send another copy by which you can 
 correct yours. . . . 
 
 I am publishing my commentary on Galatians at Leipsic' 
 If two of my sermons, a Latin one on Double Justice^ and a 
 German one on marriage,* come into your hands, please help 
 me. They were published without my knowledge, both taken 
 down and printed, to my shame, with great inaccuracy. I 
 also send my exposition of the Lord's prayer.' Melanchthon 
 tells you the rest. I believe you have seen Erasmus' new 
 
 of some one who is inciting the people against him, perhaps Tetzel (cf. supra, 
 no. 112) or Emser, cf. supra, no. 117. 
 
 i"Das wait der Teufel," a usual German oath. 
 
 T^n 1 517, at Augsburg, John von Leonrodt published a woodcut representing 
 two wagons, one carrying people to heaven, the other to hell, Carlstadt repub- 
 lished it in 1 519 with an explanation that the second wagon was full of schoolmen. 
 
 ^"Moria," perhaps in allusion to Erasmus' famous Enconium Moriae, of which, 
 however, Luther does not speak elsewhere until many years later. 
 
 ^Andrew Franck, of Camenz, professor of Leipsic, at this time favorable to 
 the reformers, against whom he turned about 1520, He died 1546. 
 
 ^The Operationes in Psahnos, \\'eimar, vol. V. Melanchthon had sent Lang a 
 copy on April 3. Corpus Reformatorum, i. 76. 
 
 'Weimar, ii. 436. The first edition was by Melchior Lotther of Leipsic. 
 
 "^Sermo de duplici jusHtia, Weimar, 143. First published in February or March, 
 1519, by Stockel of Leipsic. 
 
 ^Ein Sermon von dent ehelichen Stand, Weimar, ii, 162. Published by Stockel 
 from a sermon delivered January 16, 1519. 
 
 *Auslegung deutsch des Vaterunsers, Weimar, ii. 74. 
 
Let. 141 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 177 
 
 Method of Theology; I am sorry it came to an end so 
 soon.' . . . 
 
 Melancthon and I have written to Erasmus.^ 
 Now I have told you all you wanted to know. The rever- 
 end father Vicar Staupitz has forgotten me, for he writes 
 nothing. . . . 
 
 In closing let me admonish you again about Hebrew, m 
 the study of which let us assist the best youths, and those 
 who are the best theologians and the ones who are most eager 
 for sound learning. Farewell with your cross," if Christ 
 will. Brother Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 P. S. — Especially remember me to our Jonas,' and tell him 
 I like him. . . . 
 
 141. DESIDERIUS ERASMUS TO THE ELECTOR FREDERIC 
 
 OF SAXONY. 
 Allen, iii. 527. Antwerp, April 14, 1519. 
 
 Most illustrious Prince, although I never happened to see 
 or speak to your illustrious Highness face to face, which I 
 count not the least of my misfortunes, yet moved by the 
 report of all, who with one accord acclaim your splendid 
 talents as worthy even of supreme rule° and moved by the 
 praises of those who say that your mind is bent on promoting 
 the cause of sound learning, and is especially propitious to 
 me, I ventured to dedicate to you my edition of the Lives of 
 the Caesars,^ desiring and seeking nothing else from your 
 
 ^Cf. supra^ no. 136. What Luther means by the last phrase is not certain, 
 whether the book was soon out of print, or too short. 
 
 2Luther's letter, Enders, i. 488, March 28. Smith, 200. 
 
 'For "crus" I read "crux," see beginning of letter. Otherwise the sense would 
 be, "Farewell, and may your leg get better." 
 
 «Jodocus Koch (1493-1SS5). at Erfurt 1506, M. A. 1510, priest 1514 or 1515, 
 LL. D. 1518. In 1519 he went to Louvain to see Erasmus. In April, 1521, he 
 followed Luther from Erfurt to Worms, receiving there a call to teach at 
 Wittenberg, where he spent the next twenty-one years, talcing a prominent part 
 in the Reformation. In 1542 he went to Halle. He was with Luther at Eisleben 
 at Luther's death in February, 1546. After the Schmalkaldic war (1547), he was 
 forced to leave Halle, and wandered around to various places. He was three 
 times married. Letters published by G. Kawerau. Life in Realencyclopadie. 
 Always known as Justus Jonas. 
 
 'After the death of the Emperor Maximilian (January 12, 151c)), Frederic was 
 a prominent candidate for the position. 
 
 • Erasmus dedicated his edition of the Historiae Augustae Scriptores to the 
 Elector Frederic and Duke George of Saxony, It was first printed by Froben in 
 13 
 
178 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let 141 
 
 Highness than to make the study of the best disciplines more 
 pleasing to you, and to show that I could repay the free 
 favor of so great a prince with mutual love. 
 
 The reason why I did not send you the volume from Basle, 
 where it was printed, was the long distance, for you were 
 then at Wittenberg, and the lack of a safe messenger. Later 
 it seemed superfluous to send a book which was published 
 everywhere.* In the meantime, I may be permitted to send 
 this letter to inquire, as it were, whether my zeal were pleas- 
 ing or otherwise. If my boldness chanced to be unfortunate, 
 I will take care that whatever mistake has been perpetrated 
 here shall be mended elsewhere. Nor do I doubt that your 
 singular and well-known clemency will easily pardon that 
 fault in one whose mind was certainly zealous and anxious 
 to please, and who, however much he may have lacked judg- 
 ment, certainly had the desire to please your Highness. 
 
 But if what we dared to do was fortunate, we ask no 
 other reward than that you should continue to favor the 
 cultivation of good literature, which has now begun to flourish 
 everywhere throughout our Germany, and to defend this part 
 of your fame, which, perhaps, will bring no less glory to our 
 country or to her princes than war has hitherto done. This 
 felicity will come to us if benignant princes shall cherish the 
 best writers and the most promising youths, and if their 
 authority shall continue by force of arms to protect us against 
 those enemies of the Muses and that tyranny of inveterate 
 ignorance. For what do the adversaries of sound learning 
 not attempt? What wiles, what spies, what fraud will they 
 not use? What traps will they not set? What engines will 
 they not set up? What poisoned darts will they not shoot at 
 us? What a conspiracy, what an alliance they have formed 
 to confound learning! Not having learned as boys, they are 
 ashamed to do so as old men, and yet they could learn with 
 less pains than they take to destroy learning. How well agreed 
 are they who never agree save to destroy ! How much genius 
 they show for this who are too stupid to learn anything 
 
 June, 1518, but Erasmus' dedication is dated a year earlier, June 5, 1517. Allen: 
 Opus epistolarum Erasmi, n. p. 578. 
 ^According to the Bibliothcca Erasmiana, ii. 31, it was tirst republished in 1521. 
 
Let. 141 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 1"9 
 
 better! How vigilant they are in this respect, though they 
 sleep over all else! 
 
 Recently some works by Martin Luther have been pub- 
 lished, and at the same time rumor says that the man was 
 beyond measure oppressed by the authority of the very rev- 
 erend Cardinal Cajetan, who is now legate of the Roman 
 Pontiff in Swabia. "How glad were these men, how did they 
 exult and rejoice when they thought that this gave them the 
 desired opportunity of hurting learning! For the Greek prov- 
 erb has it, that the wicked lack nothing but opportunity, for 
 this gives them the chance to do the evil they always desire. 
 Immediately their sermons to the people, their universities, 
 their councils, their repasts, rang with the words "heresy" 
 and "antichrist." And to make their course of action more 
 odious, these crafty men, especially when addressing women 
 or the unlearned, would speak of Greek and Hebrew, of 
 eloquence and polite literature, as though Luther relied on 
 them for protection, or as though from these fountains flowed 
 heresies. This more than brazen impudence displeased all 
 good men, especially as it furnished an excuse for war to 
 some men who consider themselves the champions of theology 
 and the pillars of Christianity. Behold how purposely and 
 blindly indulgent we are to our own vices ; we think it an 
 atrocious slander, a crime near to heresy, if anyone calls a 
 pettifogging theologian (of whom there are not a few) a vain 
 babbler. But we forgive ourselves when before a numerous 
 assembly we call any man we are angry with a heretic and an 
 antichrist ! _^- 
 
 As Luther is absolutely unknown to me, no one will sus- 
 pect me of favoring him as a friend. It is not mine to defend 
 his works, nor to disapprove them, for I have not read them, 
 save a bit here and there. No one who knows the man does 
 not approve his life, since he is as far as possible from sus- 
 picion of avarice or ambition, and blameless morals even among 
 heathen find favor. It is not becoming to the gentle char- 
 acter of theologians, immediately without reading a book, to 
 rage so savagely against the name and fame of a good man, 
 and that in the presence of the unlearned multitude, espe- 
 cially as he only proposes his opinions for debate and sub- 
 
180 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 141 
 
 mits them to the judgment of all, whether fitted to judge or 
 not. No one has admonished him, no one has taught him, 
 no one has refuted him ; yet they bawl out that he is a heretic, 
 and with tumultuous clamors incite the people to stone him. 
 You would say that they thirsted for human blood rather 
 than for the salvation of souls. The more hateful to Christian 
 ears is the name of heresy, the less rashly ought we to charge 
 anyone with it. Every error is not heresy, nor is he forthwith 
 a heretic who may displease this man or that. Nor are those 
 who make such splendid pretences always acting in the inter- 
 est of the faith. Rather the greater number are acting in 
 their own interests, and for their own gain or power, when 
 with a hasty wish to wound they condemn in another what 
 they condone in themselves. 
 
 In short, since there are so many old and new writers, in 
 the books of none of whom there is not some ■ dangerous 
 error, why should we quietly and placidly read most of them, 
 and fiercely rage against one or two? If we defend the truth 
 alone, should we not be equally offended by what is untrue 
 wherever it is found? It is a most holy thing to defend the 
 purity of religious faith, but it is a most rascally thing under 
 color of defending the faith to serve our own passions. If 
 they desire all that is received in the universities to be held 
 as an oracle, why are there such differences between this school 
 and that ? Why do the scholastic doctors fight and fence with 
 each other? Nay, why in the Sorbonne itself does one doctor 
 differ from another? You will find very few who agree, 
 unless in conspiracy. Moreover, these men will often be 
 found condemning in recent books what they do not con- 
 demn in Augustine or Gefson, as though truth depended on 
 the author. They read what they like so that they find 
 some excuse, however far-fetched, for everything; they 
 slander everything in what they don't like. 
 
 The best part of Christianity is a life worthy of Christ. 
 When this is found we ought not easily to suspect heresy. 
 But now they invent what they call new criteria ; i. e., they lay 
 down new laws by which they teach that what they don't like 
 is heresy. Whoever accuses another of heresy, ought himself 
 to show a character worthy of a Christian, charity in admon- 
 
Let. 142 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 181 
 
 ishing, gentleness in correcting, fairness in judging, mercy in 
 condemning. As none of us is free from error, why should 
 we be so hard on other men's slips? Why should we prefer 
 rather to conquer a man than to heal him, to crush him rather 
 than to teach him? Even he who alone is free from all error 
 does not break the bruised reed nor quench the smoking flax.'- 
 Augustine did not wish the Donatists, who were worse than 
 heretics, to be compelled, but to be taught, and he protected 
 from the sword of the magistrate the necks of those who 
 sought to assassinate him. But we, whose special business it 
 is to instruct, prefer to use force, for it is easier. 
 
 I write this more freely, most illustrious Duke, because I 
 have no concern in Luther's cause. As it is your Highness's 
 duty to protect Christianity, you should exercise caution not 
 to let an innocent man, under the protection of your justice, 
 be sacrificed to the impiety of others on the pretext of piety. 
 Pope Leo desires the same, for he has nothing more at heart 
 than that innocence may be safe. He loves to be called father, 
 nor does he love those who under his name act tyrannically. 
 Nor does anyone better obey Leo's wishes than he who follows 
 justice. What they think of Luther at Rome I know not. Cer- 1 
 tainly I see that here his books arfi_eager4y- r-ead by the best men, \ 
 though I have not yet had time to peruse them. Farewell. 
 May Christ, most good and great, long keep your Highness for 
 us safe and prosperous. 
 
 Your Highness's most devoted 
 
 Erasmus. 
 
 142. ERASMUS TO MELANCHTHON AT WITTENBERG. 
 Allen, iii. 539. Corpus reformatorum, i. 77. Louvain, April 22, 1519. 
 
 . . . Everyone here approves Luther's life; there are vari- , 
 ous opinions of his doctrine. I myself have not yet read his j 
 books. Some of his criticisms and proposals are certainly I 
 right, but would that he expressed them with as much f elicityj' 
 as freedom. I have written about him to the illustrious' 
 Elector Frederic,^ at the same time taking occasion to ask 
 him how he liked my dedication to him of the Lives of the 
 Caesars. . . . 
 
 ^Isaiah, xlii. 3. 
 ^Supra, no. 141. 
 
182 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 145 
 
 143. LUTHER TO DUKE GEORGE OF SAXONY. 
 Enders, ii. 17. De Wette-Seidemann, vi. 15. German. 
 
 Wittenberg^ April 28, 1519. 
 My poor prayer and endeavor be always at your Grace's 
 humble service. High-born, serene Prince, gracious Lord! 
 I have received your Grace's letter and kind answrer, and have 
 communicated your Grace's opinion to Dr. Eck, and have 
 hitherto awaited his reply. Inasmuch as the said Dr. Eck 
 has published a paper in which he not only challenges both 
 of us, Carlstadt and me, but taunts us bitterly and perhaps 
 already sings a song of triumph over us, which, as I perceive, 
 concerns your Grace, therefore, it is now as formerly my 
 humble prayer to your Grace, kindly to permit us to hold 
 our debate. And as the affair has brought me danger to my 
 life and much enmity, I pray your Grace for God's sake to 
 give me a safe-conduct. For I must not venture to tempt God 
 by despising human help, for which I requite your Grace 
 with my humble prayer before God. 
 Your Grace's humble chaplain, 
 
 Martin Luther, Augustinian at Wittenberg. 
 
 144. DUKE GEORGE OF SAXONY TO MARTIN LUTHER. 
 Enders, ii. 27. German. Dresden, May 7, 1519. 
 
 Worthy, learned, dear and pious Sir! We have received 
 your second letter and noted the contents. Considering that 
 if you wish to debate with Dr. Eck, you must have his con- 
 sent thereto, we previously announced to you that you should 
 agree with him, and that when you and he together request a 
 place for the said debate, we would give you a definite answer. 
 We still remain of this opinion, but did not wish to let your 
 letter lie unanswered. 
 
 145. THE ELECTOR FREDERIC OF SAXONY TO ERASMUS. 
 
 Lutheri Opera latina varii argumenti. Erlangen. ii. 460. 
 
 Allen, iii. 577. Grimma, May 14, 1519. 
 
 Although we did not doubt, most learned Erasmus, that 
 you would ascertain from our letter recently sent to you by 
 Justus Jonas, that we were always most grateful for your 
 affection for us, and especially for the dedication of Suetonius 
 
Let. 146 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 183 
 
 and the other histories, yet we have decided to answer your 
 letter written to us from Antwerp April 14. It was a most 
 learned and elegant letter, and put in a stronger light what 
 we knew before of your theological erudition and your pious 
 love. There is, as you write, a strange conspiracy of the 
 haters of sound learning who are fit for nothing but to 
 injure the good, pious and well instructed. 
 
 We rejoice that the Lutheran cause is not condemned by 
 the learned, and that Dr. Luther's works are eagerly read 
 by the best men, especially as the majority of good and 
 learned men, as well in our dominions as elsewhere, with one 
 accord praise the man's life and character as much as his \ 
 learning. That we have allowed him to stay in our Saxony, / 
 is not so much on account of the man as of the cause, for ' 
 we have no intention of allowing punishment to fall on those \ 
 worthy of rewards. Nor, with the help of God Almighty, 
 shall we ever suffer by our fault any innocent man to be ; 
 given a prey to those who seek their own ends. -^ 
 
 Moreover, with God's help, we shall henceforth cherish good 
 letters and right studies as well as their cultivators, no less 
 than in the past. Our special gratitude to you has impelled 
 us to write this to you. Farewell, most learned Erasmus. 
 
 146. LUTHER TO THE ELECTOR FREDERIC OF SAXONY. 
 Enders, ii. 35. De Wette, i. 283. German. (Wittenberg, May, 1519.) 
 
 Most serene Prince, most gracious Lord ! We are obliged 
 to build a room,^ and have humbly requested permission of 
 the town council of Wittenberg to allow us to build out of 
 the walls on the graves, but they give us no answer. Where- 
 fore we pray your Grace kindly to give us leave for this 
 necessary addition, and expect a gracious answer, as, before 
 God, we deserve. 
 
 Also I pray your Grace to buy me at this Leipsic fair a 
 white and a black cowl. Your Grace owes me the black cowl, 
 and I humbly beg the white one. For two or three years 
 
 ^The Black Cloister was built right against the city wall, outside of which was 
 the monks' cemetery. Enders and Grisar (Luther, i. 323f.) conjecture that this 
 "room" was a privy, for they were usually built on the walls to carry the sewage 
 outside the city. 
 
184 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 147 
 
 ago your Grace promised me one which I never got.' For 
 although Pfeffinger spoke me fair, yet either because of busi- 
 ness or because, as people say of him, he is slow to spend 
 money, he put off getting it. So I was obliged to get myself 
 another, which has lasted to the present and thus saved your 
 Grace's promise. In this need I humbly pray your Grace if 
 the Psalter'' deserves a black cowl, to let the Apostle' earn a 
 white one, and pray do not let Pfeffinger neglect it. 
 Your Grace's humble, obedient chaplain. 
 
 Dr. Martin, Augustinian at Wittenberg. 
 
 147. LUTHER TO DUKE GEORGE OF SAXONY. 
 
 Enders, ii. 52. De Wette-Seidemann, vi. 16. German. 
 
 Wittenberg, May 16, 1519. 
 
 My poor humble prayers for your Grace. Gracious, high- 
 born Prince and Lord ! I humbly pray your Grace for God's 
 sake not to take it ill that I write to your Grace again. Your 
 Grace's last letter compels me to write, for it greatly troubles 
 and horrifies me. For I fear that I have done something to 
 displease your Grace, and to deserve your displeasure. This 
 was unintentional and I greatly regret it. 
 
 For your Grace granted permission to Dr. Eck to debate 
 with Carlstadt on the simple request, or agreement, of the 
 latter, but you will not grant the same permission to me on 
 Dr. Eck's public letter in which he openly challenges me to 
 debate, and this in a printed paper, which clearly proves that 
 he forces me to debate with him at Leipsic as I previously 
 wrote your Grace. And as, according to your Grace's first 
 letter, I wrote Dr. Eck to request your permission I do not 
 know what more to do, and can only think that I am in dis- 
 grace. Now, my gracious Lord, I know that the world stood 
 before me and will stand after me, whether I debate or not. 
 I have not forced it on Dr. Eck, but he on me. Wherefore I 
 pray your Grace for God's sake to signify to me what I ought 
 to do. For I am perfectly willing t"o give it up. For I can- 
 
 iLuther wrote to the elector on this subject in November, 1517. Letter trans- 
 lated in Smith, op. cit., p. 34. 
 
 ^The Operationes in Psalmos, dedicated to the elector, March 27, 1519. Weimar, 
 vol. V. 
 
 ^The Commentary on Galatians. 
 
Let. 148 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 185 
 
 not compel Dr. Eck to write to your Grace on my behalf. 
 But I will write him again and request him to do so. Will 
 your Grace please forgive me, and may God protect you. 
 Your Grace's humble chaplain, 
 
 Dr. Martin Luther, Augustinian of Wittenberg. 
 
 148. LUTHER TO CHARLES VON MILTITZ AT COBLENZ. 
 Enders, i. 53. Wittenberg, May 17, 1519. 
 
 Greeting. Dear Sir, I received your Excellency's letter^ 
 advising me that it would be to my advantage forthwith to 
 repair to Coblenz. Please listen to me patiently. In the first 
 place, when we came together at Altenburg, my presence did 
 not seem to myself necessary; for as my books, in which I 
 most clearly opened my mind to all, were published, I thought 
 it sufficient if, after weighing my opinions, articles should 
 be determined on for me to revoke, and reasons should be 
 assigned for the recantation, so that it might appear efficacious 
 and praiseworthy, for otherwise men would say that it had 
 been extorted from me by force and the last state should be 
 worse than the first. I am of this opinion still. 
 
 But even if I ought to come, you yourself can see how 
 foolish those who have charge of this affair think me, since 
 you write that the mandate has not yet come from Rome, and 
 that the archbishop^ does not summon me in virtue of such 
 a mandate. I am not sure that the mandate will arrive, espe- 
 cially in this crisis in the Empire,'' nor am I sure, should it 
 come, that the archbishop would receive it. How can I, 
 therefore, trust myself to such a doubtful and perilous situa- 
 tion, or how can so poor a man as I get the necessary money? 
 I have already spent so much in this matter that I have wearied 
 my patrons and am ashamed to ask for more, not to mention 
 the fact that during the interregnum no one can give a safe- 
 conduct, particularly to a man with as many enemies as I 
 have. 
 
 Furthermore, the great debate, which the most reverend 
 
 ^Dated Coblenz, May 3. Enders, ii. 18. Luther wrote Spalatin, May 16, that 
 he considered Miltitz's proposals ridiculous. Enders, ii. 46. 
 
 ^7. tr., the Archbishop of Trier, in whose jitrisdiction Coblenz was. On referring 
 Luther's cause to him cf. supra, no. 120. 
 
 ^The Emperor Maximilian had died on January 12, and a new election was 
 about to be held. 
 
186 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 148 
 
 lord cardinal^ refused to allow me to hold at Augsburg, is 
 coming off at Leipsic. For I am challenged by John Eck, and 
 should I decline, in so just a cause, to meet him, with how 
 much shame should I brand not only myself and all my 
 friends, but our most illustrious elector and our whole 
 order and my university. In this debate the whole case will 
 be examined by many learned men impartially, with good 
 arguments on both sides, which could not be the case before 
 either the archbishop or the cardinal. So that it is better that 
 your proposal should wait on the debate than that the debate 
 be hindered. . . . 
 
 But come! Even if all these difficulties were met, yet 
 would I not wish to have the cause tried by the cardinal. 
 I do not want him present, for he is not worthy of it. He 
 tried to harass me from the Christian faith at Augsburg, 
 wherefore I doubt whether he is a Catholic Christian him- 
 self. If I had time I would write to the Pope and cardinals 
 and expose him, unless he should retract all his rank errors. 
 I regret that the legates of the Apostolic See are men who 
 try to destroy Christ. 
 
 Thus, Sir, I think that I have justly excused myself from 
 coming. I might add that a certain spy, armed with many 
 letters, has been here, seeking first you and then me, and he 
 excited a lively suspicion that he was preparing some violence 
 against me;° finally he was obliged to flee, lest he should be 
 ducked in the Elbe, as he almost was and would have been 
 had not we prevented it, for men thought that he was your 
 agent, especially after we heard that you were lingering in 
 Germany, though you promised us to go straight to Rome. So 
 it happened that although I exonerated you from this charge, 
 yet I saw that there were snares all around for me to fear. . . . 
 
 If what you write is true about having to come after me 
 with papal letters, may God grant that you come safely. I 
 am very busy, serving many men, and am not able to lose time 
 and wander abroad without causing loss to many. Farewell, 
 
 Brother Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 ^Cajetan, of course, is meant. 
 
 2This was probably the man of whom Luther spoke as coming to visit him with 
 sinister intent. Cf. Smith, p. 68. 
 
Let. 149 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 187 
 
 149- ERASMUS TO THOMAS WOLSEY, CARDINAL 
 ARCHBISHOP OF YORK. 
 
 Allen, hi. 587. Antwerp, May 18 (iSi9)- 
 
 Thomas Wolsey (1471-1530), the famous statesman and cardinal. 
 His life by M. Creighton. On the part he took against Luther, cf. 
 Preserved Smith : "Luther and Henry VIII." English Historical 
 Review, no. c. Erasmus had known him for a long while. Cf. Allen, 
 op. cit., i. p. 284, etc. 
 
 . . . They accuse me of writing every hateful book that 
 comes out. You might say that it was the very essence of 
 calumny to confound, as they do, the cause of sound learning I 
 with that of ReuchKn and Luther, when really they have/ 
 nothing -to do with each other. . ). . Luther is absolutely un- 
 known to me, nor have I had time to read more than a page or 
 two of his books, not because I have not wanted to, but because 
 my other occupations have not given me leisure. And yet 
 they say that he has been helped by me ! If he has written 
 well I deserve no credit, if otherwise no blame, since of his 
 writings not a jot is mine. (Anyone who wishes to investigate 
 the matter will find this absolutely true.) The man's life is 
 approved by the unanimous consent of all, and the fact that 
 his character is so upright that even enemies find nothing to 
 slander in it, must considerably prejudice us in his favor. 
 So that even if I had abundant leisure to read the writings 
 of such a man, I would not have the presumption to judge 
 them, although even boys nowadays rashly pronounce this 
 erroneous and that heretical. Moreover, I have sometimes 
 been opposed to Luther for fear that he might make hate- 
 ful the cause of sound learning, which I am unwilling to 
 have more burdened than it is;) nor has it escaped me that it 
 would be an invidious task to tear down that from which 
 priests and monks reap their best harvest. 
 
 First there appeared quite a number of theses on indul- 
 gences ; two pamphlets, on confession and on penitence, fol- 
 lowed hard upon them; when I heard that some printers^ 
 
 Troben; Erasmus repeats several times that he tried to prevent him printing 
 Luther's works. He did not succeed however, for Froben brought out a volume 
 of Luther's works in October, 1518. This included one of the pamphlets men- 
 tioned above, Sermo de penitentia (Weimar, i. 317), but not, I think, the other, 
 Instructio pro confessione peccatorum (Weimar, i. 257). Cf. supra, no. 125. 
 
188 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 150 
 
 were going to publish them, I tried hard to dissuade them lest 
 they miglit thereby hurt sound learning. Even those who 
 wish Luther well will agree to this. Then followed a whole 
 swarm of tracts; no one ever saw me reading them or even 
 heard me express an opinion, favorable or otherwise, about 
 them. For I am not so rash as to approve what I have not 
 read, nor such a sycophant as to condemn what I do not know, 
 even if this is now the regular custom of those who are least 
 fitted of all to pronounce judgment. . . . 
 
 ISO. MELANCHTHON TO GEORGE SPALATIN. 
 Corpus Reformatorum, i. 80. Wittenberg, May 21, 1519. 
 
 Hail, Spalatin, my dearest friend in the Lord. I fear lest 
 you will not have time to read my trifles. You will greatly 
 thank a man careful not to speak a little too much. We are 
 reading Erasmus' letter.^ Glory be to God who has given 
 the elector such a herald for his virtues, and Luther such a 
 rare, and, as the lawyers say, eloquent supporter.'' It will 
 be your duty to commend us to Erasmus. 
 
 Yesterday there was with us a certain Hebrew scholar,' 
 moderately learned, who studied the grammar at Heidelberg 
 and taught it afterwards and now expects to lecture at Leipsic, 
 but will come to us if the excellent elector wishes. I con- 
 ferred with Luther about him and we both thought him 
 moderately good and likely to improve with practice. . . . 
 
 Riccius* has attacked Eck, who blandly boasts that he has 
 fought against Zasius" the lawyer, Luther the theologian and 
 Riccius the philosopher, so that he may seem to be a Hercules, 
 
 'I. e., to tlie Elector Frederic, cf. supra, no. 141. 
 
 ""SufEragatorem pedarium"; the pedarii were senators who could speak but 
 not vote. 
 
 ^John Cellarius, of Kunstadt, a supporter of Eck, who later turned Zwinglian, 
 and still later Lutheran. Died at Frankfort a. M., 1542, Enders, ii. 58. 
 
 *Paul Riccius, who wrote in April, 1519, I^aturalia et prophetica de anima coeli 
 adversus Eckium, He is spoken of in the Tischreden (Weimar, i. no. 205) as 
 having been at the Diet of Ratisbon, 1532. 
 
 SUlrich Ziisi of Constance (1461-November 24, 1535), matriculated at Tubingen 
 1481, after some years returned as bishop's notary to Constance, in 1491 went 
 to Freiburg in Breisgau as town clerk. He studied law, taking his doctorate in 
 1500, lectured on poetry till 1506, when he obtained the professorship of juris- 
 prudence, which he held till the end of his life. His writings on the subject are 
 numerous. Allen, op. cit., ii. 9. He was at first favorable to Luther, then drew 
 back. His epistles said to have been published by Riegger, 1774. 
 
Let. 151 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 189 
 
 equal not to two, but to three other men. Behold, this Chris- 
 tian moderation and how the popes, theologians, princes and 
 people stand silently gaping at it! This is the fury of the 
 Lord. I am wretched whenever I think of it. I beseech you, 
 Spalatin, for aid. Luther, the soldier of the Lord, has brought 
 this on himself. Stand fast and watch with us. I write this 
 earnestly and in sadness thinking over the crimes of the the- 
 ologians. . . . Agricola^ and I have begun to take down 
 Luther's lectures for you, and I hope we shall all have a good 
 book from them, for the subject now begins to glow. All 
 your friends salute you. 
 
 Your Philip. 
 
 I hoped that the printer would have finished the sermon on 
 marriage,^ but his laziness is too much for me. 
 
 iSi. LUTHER TO GEORGE SPALATIN. 
 Enders, ii. 56. (Wittenberg), May 22, 1519. 
 
 Greeting. Erasmus' letter" greatly pleased me and my 
 friends. Only I should have preferred not to have my praises 
 sung by so great a man. I know myself, at least this side of 
 myself. 
 
 Before you leave,* please tell us what the elector proposes 
 to do about the professor of Hebrew. . . .^ The number of 
 students is growing^ and their quality is good. One of the 
 last to come was a Nuremberg licentiate in theology, a man 
 of mature age, preacher in the church of St. Sebald." Our 
 
 ijohn Agricola of Eisleben (1494-1566), at Wittenberg 1516, M. A. 1518, in 
 which year he published from his own notes Luther's homilies on the Lord's 
 prayer. He married 1520, and taught at Wittenberg and Eisleben. He was 
 present at the Diets of 1526, 1529, 1530. He had a violent quarrel with Luther 
 and Melanchthon, on account of which he moved to Berlin about 1540. He took 
 an important part in the Interim, 1548. Life by G. Kawerau, 18S1. Cf. Smith, 
 
 282ff. 
 
 ^Luther's Sermon von dent ehelichen Stand, preached January 16, 1519. 
 Weimar, ii. 162. 
 
 3To the Elector Frederic. Supra, no. 141. It was published in 1519 by Melchior 
 Lotther of Leipsic. As this printer did some of Luther's work at this time, we 
 may conjecture that Erasmus' epistle was published by Luther's friends. 
 
 *For Frankfort on the Main, where the elector was going to take part in the 
 imperial election. 
 
 60n this cf. last letter. 
 
 «The number rose from 232 in 1517 to 458 in 1519 and 579 in 1520. 
 
 TJohn Herholt, who matriculated May 26, 1519. Luther had met him at 
 Nuremberg in the autumn of 1518. Enders, i. 317. 
 
190 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 153 
 
 city is almost giving out of lodging houses. More at another 
 time. Farewell. 
 
 Brother Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 152. DUKE GEORGE OF SAXONY TO LUTHER. 
 Enders, i. 59. German. Dresden, May 23, 15 19. 
 
 Worthy, dear and pious Sir ! We have received your letter, 
 in which you speak again of the debate, and noted the con- 
 tents. We are not aware of having conceived any displeasure 
 for you, though indeed it is true that all sorts of things have 
 come to our ears, on which we should not be sorry to speak 
 to you, but we will let them wait until some time when you come 
 to us.^ 
 
 We are much surprised that, after you had heard that no 
 good would come of a debate on these matters, and that the 
 doctors of the theological faculty of Leipsic had refused to 
 allow it, you should be so determined to hold the debate. 
 It is true that Dr. Carlstadt did not ask us for permission, 
 but we were informed by Dr. Eck that he had agreed to debate 
 with Carlstadt. If the same happens in this case, and if you 
 agree with one another, and if you then write us how you 
 stand, we will, as stated in our last letter, then give you a 
 definite answer. This in reply to your letter. 
 
 153. CLAUDIUS CANTIUNCULA TO HENRY CORNELIUS 
 AGRIPPA OF NETTISHEIM. 
 H. C. Agrippae ab N ettesheym. . . . Operum Pars Posterior. Lugduni. 
 Per Beringos Fratres, .s. a., p. 748. (Basle), May 23, 1519. 
 
 Cantiuncula (Chansonette), of Metz, a distinguished lawyer, met 
 Agrippa at this city in 1518 while he was still very young. In 1517 
 he went to Basle to study, becoming Dr. juris and professor there in 
 1519. Later (1533), he became one of Ferdinand's financial officers, 
 a position he held until his death in 1549. Cf. Claude Chansonette et 
 ses lettres inedits. Bruxelles. 1878. Forstemann-Giinther : Brief e an 
 Erasmus, p. 318. A. Prost: Corneille Agrippa, Paris, 1881, pp. 307, 
 316, 34S, 3S4f. Corpus Reformatorum, xciv. 363. 
 
 Henry Cornelius Agrippa, of Nettesheim (1486-1535), born at 
 Cologne, studied at Paris, was in Italy 1511-18, in Metz 1518-20, then 
 at Cologne, Geneva, Freiburg, Lyons and Paris, and the Netherlands. 
 
 'When Luther came to Leipsic in July the duke had a private interview with 
 him, on which cf. Smith, p. C";. 
 
Let. 154 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 191 
 
 He was chiefly noted for his skill in the occult arts, but wrote a work 
 De Vanitate Scientium, showing an enlightened skepticism. At this 
 time (1519), he sympathized strongly with Luther (Prost, op. cit., 
 '■ 393). later became an Erasmian. Life by Prost. 
 
 Agrippa, in a letter from Metz, apparently written early in May 
 (Opera, p. 744), had asked for Luther's works. 
 
 . . . Believe me, dear Agrippa, I have scoured the whole 
 of Basle without finding Luther's works, as they were all 
 sold long ago. They say they will soon be printed again at 
 Strassburg. Neither could I find the legal work you asked 
 for. But I am giving you Erasmus' Method of Theology, a 
 work, unless, Henry, I mistake, likely to please you. I also 
 send Luther's and Eck's Theses to be debated this year, and 
 some trifles about the Emperor. 
 
 154. LUTHER TO MARTIN GLASER, AUGUSTINIAN PRIOR 
 
 AT RAMSAU. 
 Enders, ii. 62. (Wittenberg), May 30, 1519. 
 
 Martin Glaser, of Nuremberg, matriculated at Wittenberg 1506. Then 
 he became prior of the Augustinian Convent at Ramsau in the 
 Bishopric of Freisingen, near Munich. Later he joined the Augustinian 
 cloister at Nuremberg, but at its dissolution in 1524, he became 
 evangelical pastor at Kraftshof, nearby, and married. In 1530 he 
 was transferred to Hilpoltstein. Enders, vii. 14S, viii. 273. Cf. supra, 
 8ia. 
 
 Venerable Father, you are quite rightly surprised and even 
 indignant that I have hitherto written you nothing. Though 
 I have plenty of excuses, yet I prefer to confess my fault. I 
 hope you will be indulgent to a poor man like me in the affair 
 of your horse,^ on account of the intercession of the Vener- 
 able Father Staupitz. Doubtless you gave it to God, not to 
 me. I hope we may see you here again, as I am glad to learn 
 from Staupitz is likely to be the case. I believe that you 
 know about my coming debate at Leipsic and all my other 
 doings. I am lecturing on the Psalter again, and the students 
 are enthusiastic. The town is full of students. Rome burns 
 to destroy me, but I coolly laugh at her. I am told that a 
 paper Luther was publicly burned and cursed on the Campo 
 
 ^Perhaps a horse borrowed by Luther on leaving Augsburg for Manheim, 
 October 20, 1518. 
 
192 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 155 
 
 di Fiore/ I am ready for their rage. My commentary on 
 Galatians is being printed; you will soon see it. 
 
 I am well and calm, and less poor than formerly. Our 
 friend Helt" is a fine ruler and organizer — of the kitchen, for 
 he cares chiefly for the belly; perhaps he will care more for 
 his head later. 
 
 I read what you wrote about that Franciscan babbler, but 
 I am used to such hatred. The whole world is reeling, body 
 and mind alike. God knows the future. We prophesy death 
 and war. God have mercy on us. Farewell in him and pray 
 for poor me. Brother Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 ISS. DESIDERIUS ERASMUS TO LUTHER AT WITTENBERG. 
 Enders, ii. 64. Allen, iii. 605. Louvain, May 30, 1519. 
 
 This letter was published at Leipsic in June, 1519, and at Augsburg. 
 It almost immediately got Erasmus into trouble. In the iirst place the 
 Bishop of Liege was indignant at the reference to himself as a 
 favorer of Luther, a matter at once inquired into by the theolo- 
 gians of Louvain. {Infra, no. 370. P. Kalkoff: Die depeschen des 
 Nuntius Aleander, p. 220). The rumor even stimulated the process 
 against Luther at Rome. (L. v. Pastor: History of the Popes, Eng- 
 lish translation, v. 398.) Accordingly, when Erasmus himself pub- 
 lished the letter in the Farrago of 1519 for "episcopus Leodiensis," 
 he substituted "eximius quidam," which he claimed was what he 
 originally wrote {Bibliotheca Erasmiana. Colloquia, i. 65). But this 
 did not end the author's troubles. The letter was found by Hochstraten, 
 the inquisitor, and made by him the base of an accusation of favoring 
 heresy. (Infra, nos. 187, 188.) To clear himself, Erasmus wrote to 
 the Archbishop of Mayence. Infra, no. 192. 
 
 Dearest brother in Christ, your epistle," showing the keen- 
 ness of your mind and breathing a Christian spirit, was most 
 pleasant to me. 
 
 I cannot tell you what a commotion your books are raising' 
 here. Nor can these men by any means be disabused of the 
 
 'We know nothing of Luther's beinj burned in efRgy at Rome; his writings 
 were publicly burned there on the Piazza Navona about June 7, 1521. Enders 
 places this in 1520, as does Rodocanachi: Rome au temps de Jules II, et de 
 Leon X., igiz, p. 162. On the true date cf. L. Pastor: History of the Popes, 
 English translation by R. Kerr, viii. 37. 
 
 2He was at this time prior at Wittenberg. 
 
 3March 28, 1519. Translated, Smith, op. cit., 2oof. 
 
 *This is the true translation of "trasoedias excitare," though as J. H. Lupton 
 remarks, with demure sarcasm, "it has become the fashion" to translate these 
 words, "make a tragedy." 
 
Ut. 156 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 193 
 
 suspicion that your works are written with my aid, and that 
 I am, as they call it, the standard-bearer of your party. They 
 think they thus have a good chance to suppress sound learn- 
 ing, which they hate mortally as if it offended the majesty of 
 theology. ... I have testified that you are entirely unknown 
 to me, that I have not read your books and neither approve 
 nor disapprove anything. I only warned them not to vocif- 
 erate against your books without reading them, and not to 
 excite the hatred of the people against them, but to refer them 
 to the judgment of those whose opinion would have most 
 weight. . . . 
 
 In England there are men who think well of your writings, 
 and they the very greatest. So do some here, among them the 
 Bishop of Liege.^ I try to keep neutral, so as to help the re- 
 vival of learning as much as I can. And it seems to me that 
 more is accomplished by this civil modesty than by impetuosity. 
 Thus Christ brought the world under his sway. ... It is 
 more expedient to attack those who abuse the authority of the 
 Pope than the Pope himself; and similarly of kings. . . . 
 Wherefore, we must take care not to speak arrogantly or 
 factiot.sly. ... I have looked over your Commentaries on the 
 Psalms' which pleased me very much. 
 
 156. ERASMUS TO JOHN LANG AT ERFURT. , ■ i / 
 Allen, iii. 609. Louvain, May 30 (1519). 
 
 Reverend Father, do not judge my affection for you by 
 the paucity of the letters I write, for I am so overwhelmed 
 with letters that I hardly have time to read them. I greatly 
 like your Christian soul, inflexible for Christian truth. I hope 
 that Christ will favor your plans, and those of men like you. 
 Here hitherto the papists, united to do their utmost, have 
 
 ^Eberhard de la Marck, Prince Bishop of Liege 1506-1538, a member of one 
 of the most powerful families in Europe. He was made cardinal in August, 1521, 
 Notwithstanding Erasmus* information, he always appears to have been hostile 
 to the new movement. Luther called him in 1535 "a most pestilent organ of 
 the devil." Enders, x. 203. 
 
 ^Operationes in Psalmos, 1519-1521. The first five Psalms published separately, 
 March 27^ 1519. Weimar, v.; Kostlin-Kawerau : Martin Luther (Berlin, 1903), 
 i. p. 27s. In October, 1518, Froben had published a volume of Luther's pamphlets 
 which he sent to Erasmus. Enders, i. pp. 420-22. Hollonius to Erasmus, 
 December 5, 1518. Allen, iii. 445. 
 
 13 
 
194 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 158 
 
 raged furiously, but some are milder and I hope that the 
 others will sometime be ashamed of their madness. ! AH good 
 men love Luther's boldness. I doubt not that his prudence 
 will prevent faction and discord. I think we should mainly 
 try to instill Christ into men's minds, rather than fight with 
 professing Christians, from whom no glory or victory will be 
 obtained until the tyranny of the Roman See and that of its 
 satellites, Dominicans, Carmelites and Franciscans, I mean 
 only the bad ones, is abolished. I do not see how that can 
 be tried without serious disturbance. / Farewell, excellent 
 Father, to whose kindness I am aware that I owe much. 
 
 Erasmus of Rotterdam. 
 
 157. MOSELLANUS TO JOHN LANG AT ERFURT. 
 
 Kolde: Analecta, 8. Leipsic, May 30, 1519. 
 
 Peter Schad, or Schade (c. 1493-April 19, 1524) of Bruttig on the 
 Moselle (hence Mosellanus), matriculated at Cologne 1512, taught at 
 Freiburg 1513-4, in April, 151S, settled at Leipsic, and became professor 
 at the University in 1517. Cf. Allen, op cit., ii. 517. Mosellanus was 
 a supporter of Luther at the Leipsic debate, at which he presided. 
 
 Our Martin' has been again cited to Coblenz by Charles 
 von Miltitz without the authority of our bishop and to the great 
 indignation of Frederic. May Luther make it turn out badly 
 for the sophists. But their plans are vain, for the elector will 
 not expose an innocent man to this ambush, but will have the 
 whole thing judged by the Elector of Trier, and in his own time 
 will avenge this rascal deserter from his native Germany. You 
 will soon see the letter of Erasmus commending innocent 
 Martin to the hero Frederic. It cannot be had now. As far 
 as I see, the debate will not be affected by the guile of these 
 men, for I have hitherto heard nothing about moving it. . . . 
 
 158. LUTHER TO JOHN LANG AT ERFURT. 
 Enders, ii. 69. Wittenberg, June 6, 1519. 
 
 Greeting. We have heard of the death of Dr. Trutfetter." 
 May God receive his soul, and forgive him all his sins and 
 us all ours. I send what you see, not having anything else. 
 
 'On this, Smith, op. cit., 95. 
 
 2A premature rumor; Trutfetter was ill and died about December i. 
 
Let. i6o OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 195 
 
 I am now publishing my proof of my thirteenth proposi- 
 tion/ on account of the hatred which is trying to prevent my 
 appearance at Leipsic to defend it. Although I wrote three 
 letters, I could get no certain answer from Duke George. 
 Rab of Leipsic has again gone to Rome for my sake, taking 
 more lies there and bringing more rash folly back. Yet will I 
 go to Leipsic to offer to debate. It is all settled about Carlstadt. 
 
 Another trial, greater than these, has come to me, by all 
 of which the Lord teaches me what a thing is man, although 
 I thought I knew it pretty well before. If you come I will 
 tell you more about it. . . . Farewell and pray for me, a great 
 sinner. I need absolutely nothing but God's mercy. Thus 
 their hatred is frustrated, for they know I do not need other 
 things. 
 
 Greet the Fathers Nathin and Usingen for me and all the 
 others. You will soon see my proof of my thirteenth propo- 
 sition about the primacy of the Pope, which I hope is irrefut- 
 able. Brother Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 159. DUKE GEORGE'S SAFE-CONDUCT FOR CARLSTADT 
 
 AND HIS COMPANIONS. 
 
 Gess, i. 86. Weissenfels, June 10, 1519. 
 
 At the desire of Dr. Carlstadt, we, George, Duke of 
 Saxony, grant to him and to those" whom he may bring with 
 him, for the debate to take place at Leipsic with Dr. Eck, as 
 long as he may be with us and until he returns to his own 
 home, free and safe conduct. 
 
 160. JOHN ECK TO GEORGE HAUEN AND FRANCIS 
 BURCKHARDT AT INGOLSTADT. 
 
 Walch, XV. 1456. German translation of Latin original. 
 
 Leipsic, July i, 1519. 
 Hauen (1484-August 23, 1536), a priest, taught Latin at Passau 1513, 
 then went to Ingolstadt, where he became professor of Canon Law, 
 and in 1519 Prorector and in 1523 Rector. 
 
 ^Resolutio Lutheriana super propositione decima tertia de potestate papae. 
 Weimar, ii. i8o. This was the proposition stating that the papal power arose but 
 four centuries previously, quoted as the twelfth proposition above, the number 
 having been changed by the interpolation of one thesis. Cf., no. 140. Smith, 
 61, 66. 
 
 2Luther's name was omitted as a snub to him. In accordance with this per- 
 mission, Carlstadt, Luther, Melanchthon and other Wittenbergers set out for 
 
196 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. i6o 
 
 Burckhardt is otherwise unknown to me, save that he was also a 
 professor of law at Ingolstadt, and possibly a relative of Peter 
 Burckhardt, on whom cf. no. 164. 
 
 Greeting. Our friendship demands that I should give you 
 news of myself. At first the strong, heating beer was bad 
 for me. From Pfreimd to Gera I didn't have a single good 
 drink. At Leipsic also the beer was bad for me, so I stopped 
 drinking it for six days, and feel better. . . . 
 
 Luther and Carlstadt entered in great state, with two hun- 
 dred Wittenberg students, four doctors, three licentiates, many 
 professors and many Lutherans, Lang of Erfurt the Vicar, 
 impudent Egranus, the preacher of Gorlitz,^ the pastor of 
 Annaberg, Bohemians and Hussites sent from Prague, and 
 many heretics who give out that Luther is an able defender 
 of the truth, not inferior to John Huss. . . . 
 
 So far of Carlstadt, now of the other monster, Luther. 
 [On the margin Eck wrote: "I have done Luther a good 
 mischief, of which I will tell you orally."] At his arrival I 
 heard that he did not want to debate, and I moved everything 
 to get him to. We met in the presence of the ducal commis- 
 sioners and of the university; I left everything to them; they 
 wanted Luther to debate on the same conditions as Carlstadt, 
 but he said much about instructions from his prince. I said 
 to him I did not want the elector as judge, though I did not 
 exclude him; that he might choose a university and if Ger- 
 many were too small, he might take one abroad, in France 
 or Spain. But he would not have any judge, and was there- 
 fore not admitted to debate, for, according to the ducal in- 
 structions, no one should debate who did not allow a judge. 
 I desired at that time that the commissioners and university 
 should give me a testimony of this, although many of them are 
 Lutherans. Dr. Auerbach,'' the physician of the Archbishop of 
 
 Leipsic, where they arrived June 24. Carlstadt and Eclc debated June 27-July 3. 
 and again July 15 and 16. Luther and Eck debated July 4-14. The best account 
 of the sojourn at Leipsic and the debate there is found in ^ letter of Luther to 
 Spalatin, dated (Wittenberg), July 20, 15 19, translated in Smith, op. cit., pp. 
 64-68. Other accounts are given below. 
 
 *The Reformation was started at Gorlitz in 1522 by the pastor Francis Roth- 
 bart; I cannot say whether he is the one here meant. 
 
 2H. Stromer von Auerbach (1482-November 26, 1542), famous as the first host 
 of "Auerbach's Keller" celebrated in Faust, matriculated at Leipsic 1497, M. A. 
 1502, taught philosophy. Rector of the University 1508. Then he studied medicine, 
 
I.et. i6i OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 197 
 
 Mayence and the doctor of the Counts of Mansfeld and many 
 others urged Luther on, as he would lose everyone's favor 
 if he would not allow any judge in the world. . . . Finally, 
 we agreed to decide on a judge at the end of the debate, and' 
 in the meantime that it should [not] be allowed to have thcj 
 debate printed. . . . The Wittenbergers are full of gall, rage 
 and poison, and arouse odium against me. The Town 
 Council received so many threats from them, though none of 
 them were definite, that on the same night they put a guard 
 of thirty-four armed men in the next houses, so that if there 
 was any disturbance its authors might get what they deserved. 
 People still put their hopes on Luther, but none whatever 
 on Carlstadt. Luther was not allowed to preach at Leipsic, 
 but the Duke of Pomerania,' who is Rector of Wittenberg, 
 at the suggestion of the monk, got him to preach on the gospel 
 for the day in the castle, which he did. The whole sermon, 
 delivered on June 29, was Bohemian. On the next morning,- 
 Sunday, at the desire of citizens and doctors, I preached and 
 rebutted his hair-splitting errors. . . . 
 
 161. WENZEL ROZD'ALOWSKY TO LUTHER. 
 Enders, ii. 78. Prague, July 17, 1519. 
 
 On July 16, John Poduska, a Hussite priest, who had already era- 
 braced Luther's doctrine, wrote him a letter of encouragement. On 
 the following day his assistant, Rozd'alowsky, provost of the Emperor 
 Charles's Collegium at Prague, wrote the letter here translated. Both 
 Poduska and Rozd'alowsky died of the plague in 1520. The letters 
 reached Luther on October 3, after having been apparently opened 
 and read by some Catholics, who reported the contents to Eraser, who 
 on August 13 forwarded this information to Zack, a Catholic official 
 at Prague. Luther later carae into close touch with the Bohemian 
 Brethren, many of whom followed him. 
 
 Dear Martin Luther, I have read your works through and 
 
 becoming M. D. in 1511, and in 1516 was made professor of pathology. In 1519 
 he married and in 1524 became dean of the medical faculty. He was a friend 
 of Erasmus and Reuchlin, and special physician to Albert of Mayence. G. Wust- 
 mann; Der Wirt von Auerbachs Keller, 1902. O. Clemen in Neues Archiv filr 
 sachsische Geschichte, x:iiv. 1903. 
 
 IDuke Barnim XI. of Pomerania (1501-1573), began to reign in conjunction 
 with his elder brother George in October, 1523. He studied at Wittenberg in 
 1 51 5, soon after which he was made honorary Rector of the institution. He was 
 a warm friend of the Reformation, which was organized in bis dominions by 
 Eugenhagen in 1534. AUgemeine deutsche Biographic. 
 
198 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. i6i 
 
 through, and daily discuss with my friends who you are, what 
 you are doing, what you are trying to do, or rather what 
 Christ's spirit is doing through you in the Church. And 
 behold, while we were talking of these things, a certain 
 organist named James, who loves you much, came upon us and 
 told us all that is now being done between you and Eck and 
 your other enemies. I cannot tell you, Father, how pleased, 
 happy and delighted we were when he told us of the glorious 
 victory you had won over your adversaries and especially 
 over Eck's scholastic and Aristotelian rather than Christian 
 theology. His narrative gave much praise both to you and 
 to the most illustrious Elector Frederic, to you, because you 
 proved yourself worthy of admiration, to him because he 
 appreciates those virtues of which you seem daily to give the 
 greatest proofs, and by which your enemies are cast down 
 and your friends rejoiced. For are they not better than gold? 
 Wherefore I congratulate your Reverence, and I thank the 
 God of heaven, who has deigned not only to keep you safe 
 amidst so many perils and so many enemies, but also to give 
 you a glorious victory in your just battle. Moreover this 
 same James told us that you greatly desired the books of 
 John Huss,^ the apostle of the Bohemians, that you might learn 
 what sort of man he was and how great, not from rumor 
 nor from the ill-advised Council of Constance, but from the 
 true mirror of his mind, that is, his books. So I am sending 
 your Reverence his book on the Church,^ and I am sending 
 it the more boldly because I have read certain propositions 
 which you are now defending against old and new errors at 
 Leipsic, which are also proved in this book. It is a small 
 gift and one which might at first seem ridiculous, but, per- 
 haps, it will not be wholly unacceptable to you, especially if 
 it comes in answer to your wishes and prayers, and also 
 because this was the one book on account of which the author, 
 
 'Almost as Rozdalowsky was writing this Luther was declaring in his debate at 
 Leipsic that "among the articles of John Huss there are many which are most 
 Christian and evangelic, which the universal Church is not able to condemn." 
 O. Seitz: Leipsiger Disputation, p. 87. 
 
 2As Enders could find no edition of this from a Hussite press prior to this 
 time he concludes that the book was in manuscript. It was printed by Hutten 
 in Germany in August, 15:30. It made a tremendous impression on Luther. 
 Cj. infra, no. 239, and Smith, 7 if. 
 
Let. 162 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 199 
 
 during his life-time, was exposed to the contumely of all 
 the higher clergy, and for which he was hated, mocked, cursed 
 and called a heretic by them, and for which, in short, he was 
 at last, though an innocent man and a splendid preacher of 
 the divine word, burned so unjustly by the Council of Con- 
 stance. 
 
 But enough of him now. If necessary and if you order it, I 
 will gladly send you the record of his trial with other things. 
 I will only add that I am sure that what John Huss formerly 
 was in Bohemia, that are you, Martin Luther, in Saxony. 
 What then do you need? Watch and be strong in the Lord, 
 and beware of men. Do not quail if you hear yourself called 
 a heretic and excommunicated, remembering what Christ and 
 the apostles suffered and what all men who wish to live piously 
 in Christ suffer even to-day. 
 
 Farewell, Martin, and love me though unknown to you, 
 for be sure that you are loved by me. 
 
 162. HENRY STROMER OF AUERBACH TO GEORGE 
 SPALATIN. 
 G. Wustmann : Der Wirt von Auerbachs Keller. Dr. H. Stromer von 
 Auerbach. Leipsic, 1902, p. 90. Leipsic, July 19, 1519. 
 
 ... At Leipsic in the castle I attended the theological 
 debate of Eck, Carlstadt and Luther. Eck, the loud the- 
 ologian, and Carlstadt disputed on free will. Martin Luther, 
 a man famous for eloquence, divinity and holiness of life, ' 
 disputed with Eck on the power of the Pope, on purgatory, 
 indulgences and the power of priests to loose and to bind, 
 whether they all have it or not, and on some other obscure ' 
 theological points. It is extraordinary how much holy the- 
 ological learning was modestly distilled by Martin. He seems 
 to me a man worthy of immortality. He uttered nothing 
 but what was sound and wholesome, omitting all heathen 
 learning and content only with the majestic gospel and writ-, 
 ings of the apostles. Some, infected either with unbecoming! 
 legality or with malice, reviled him; he was like a harmless] 
 sheep among wolves, and the more hostile they were to him 
 the greater and more holy was his learning. Did I not know 
 that you were already favorable to him, I would write you to 
 
200 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 163 
 
 commend him to the elector, but there is no need of spurring 
 one running of his own accord. . . . 
 
 163. MELANCHTHON TO JOHN OECOLAMPADIUS AT 
 AUGSBURG. 
 Corpus Reformatorum, i. 87. Wittenberg^ July 21, 1519. 
 
 John Hussgen (Hausschein-Oecolampadius; 1482-1531), a friend of 
 Zwingli and leader in the Swiss Reformation. He studied at Heilbronn 
 and Bologna, and in 1499 took up theology at Heidelberg, winning 
 his M.A. in 1503. In 1513 he matriculated at Tiibingen, where he 
 studied Greek with Melanchthon. 1515-8 he was at Basle helping 
 Erasmus edit the New Testament. From 1518 to 1520 he was at Augs- 
 burg; in 1520 he entered a monastery to escape the religious contro- 
 versy, but in 1522 emerged and became the Evangelical pastor of 
 Basle. He took a prominent part in the Marburg Colloquy of 1529. 
 Realencyclopadie. 
 
 . . . And to begin at the beginning, Eck last year pub- 
 lished some notes called Obelisks on Luther's Theses on In- 
 dulgences, and he wrote too bitterly for me to quote anything 
 from them. Carlstadt picked out some of Eck's propositions 
 in his Theses, which are published. Eck answered in an 
 Apology, which was somewhat milder than the Obelisks. 
 Carlstadt confuted the Apology in a pamphlet; it was a tedi- 
 ous accusation expressed at length. Omitting details, it was 
 determined to dispute on the chief point. The day was set. 
 lEck, Carlstadt and Luther came together at Leipsic. The 
 'subject of the debate was digested in a few propositions to 
 make it more definite. I think you will agree that it is proper 
 in a debate to have notaries take down the speeches and to 
 have their reports published so that each may judge the 
 merits of the debaters. But Eck first told the judges ap- 
 pointed by Duke George of Saxony, that Maecenas of humane 
 letters, that he did not agree to this plan, for he thought that 
 the nature of the debate precluded its being reported, for 
 that the force of the debaters was increased by speaking 
 ex tempore and would be decreased by the delay of writing, 
 that while minds' were stimulated by rapidity they would be 
 enervated by delay. But it seems to me that this is just 
 what is to be desired. . . . You know how Nazianzen ad- 
 vises this, and how Erasmus does. [Follows a description of 
 the debate between Carlstadt and Eck on free will.] 
 
Let. 163 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 201 
 
 Then Martin descended into the arena, for up to this time 
 it was uncertain whether he would debate, because he was not 
 able to appoint judges in such a delicate matter saving his 
 right to appeal. However when this was settled he began to 
 debate on the power of the Pope and on whether it could 
 be considered as existing jure divino. For he frankly con- 
 fessed its existence de facto, and only disputed the divine 
 right. As the dispute waxed somewhat sharp, five days were 
 spent on this point. Eck spoke bitterly and discourteously 
 and tried every means to excite odium against Luther among 
 the people. Eck's first argument was that the Church could 
 not be without a head, since it was a corporate body, and 
 therefore that the Pope was, jure divino, head of the Church. 
 Then Martin said that Christ was the head of the Church, 
 which, being spiritual, needed no other, as is said in Colos- 
 sians, i. [verse 18]. Eck replied by citing several passages 
 from Jerome and Cyprian, which he thought proved the 
 divine right. But now certain passages in those writers whom 
 he cited as sure supporters, were quoted as showing that they 
 were doubtful. He boasted the authority of Bernard's epistle 
 to Eugenius, as if it were Achilles in his magic armour, 
 although there are certain things in that very book which 
 support Luther's position. Moreover, who is so stupid as 
 not to see what small authority Bernard could have had in 
 this matter? From the gospel Eck quoted the text, "Thou 
 art Peter, and upon this rock I will found my Church." 
 Luther interpreted that as a confession of faith; said that 
 Peter represented the Church and that the rock on which 
 Christ founded the Church was himself; and he proved this 
 by the order of the words. Again that text: "Feed my 
 sheep," was said to Peter, alone and privately, as Luther 
 alleged, after the like authority had been given to all the 
 apostles, in the words, "Receive the Holy Spirit, and whose 
 sins ye loose on earth shall be loosed unto them in heaven, 
 etc." With these words, he said, Christ showed what it was 
 to feed the sheep and what sort of man he wished the shep- 
 herd to be. Against this Eck urged the authority of the 
 Council of Constance, where Luther's proposition had been 
 condemned as one of Huss's articles and where it was said 
 
202 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 164 
 
 that it was necessary to salvation to believe the Roman pontiff 
 was universal. He advanced several reasons to show that a 
 council could not err. Luther prudently replied that all the 
 condemned articles should not be considered heretical, and 
 he added more on the authority of a council, which it would 
 be tiresome to report here. Plainly, however, a council can- 
 not found articles of faith. The audience did not care for 
 this proposition, because it seemed as if Luther were resisting 
 the power of councils, whereas he really desires nothing 
 more devoutly than their authority. He was therefore ac- 
 cused of heresy, Hussite opinions and crimes of that nature. 
 Eck conceded that the authority of all apostles was equal, 
 but that it did not follow that all bishops were equal. . . . 
 
 After this they debated on the power of the Pope over 
 souls in purgatory, and Eck took a new tack and began to 
 prove from the text in Maccabees that purgatory^ existed. 
 Luther, following Jerome, denied that Maccabees was authori- 
 tative. . . . 
 
 In Luther, now long familiarly known to me, I admire a 
 lively talent, learning and eloquence, and cannot help loving 
 his sincere and entirely Christian mind. Greet our common 
 friends. You know the Greek proverb, that there is much 
 vain boasting in war. Wherefore do not believe all that is 
 told you about the result of this debate. Farewell. 
 
 164. JOHN ECK TO ELECTOR FREDERIC OF SAXONY. 
 Enders, ii. 90. German. Leipsic, July 22, 1519. 
 
 Serene, high-born Elector! My humble, ready service to 
 your Grace, together with my poor prayers to God for you. 
 Most gracious Lord! I humbly pray your Grace not to take 
 it ill nor with displeasure that I have allowed myself to 
 debate with your Grace's professors from Wittenberg, for 
 I did not do it to hurt your Grace's university, but, on the 
 contrary, am much inclined to serve your Grace, as one who 
 
 •Maccabees xii. 43-6, reads in the Vulgate: "Et facta coUatione, duodecim 
 millia drachmas argenti misit Jerosolymam offerri pro peccatis mortuorum sacri- 
 ficium, bene et religiose de resurrectione cogitans, (nisi enim eos, qui ceciderant, 
 resurrecturos sperarct, superfluum videretur, et vanum orare pro mortuis,) et quia 
 considerabat, quod hi, qui cum pietate dormitionem acceperant, optimam haberent 
 repositam gratiam. Sancta ergo, et salubris est cogitatio pro defunctis exorare, 
 ut A peccatis solvantur." On Luther's opinion of Maccabees, infra, no. 194. 
 
Let. 164 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 203 
 
 is renowned before other princes of the Empire for cherish- 
 ing letters and learned men} But only for the sake of the 
 truth of the holy faith have I debated, and because Dr. Carl- 
 stadt compelled me to by printing and publishing certain Con- 
 clusions with many words of contempt and reviling against 
 me, although he had no cause to insult people thus. As to 
 Dr. Luther, whom I pity because of the singular excesses^ 
 into which his fair genius^ has fallen in taking up this matter, 
 I was compelled to answer him because of his publication of 
 a great deal of stuff from which, in my poor opinion, much 
 error and scandal will arise. Your Grace may judge that he 
 does not to this day in the least moderate his views, in that 
 on a certain matter he denies and repudiates the opinion of 
 the holy fathers Augustine, Ambrose, Jerome, Gregory, Leo, 
 Cyprian, Chrysostom and Bernard. It sounds evil for a 
 Christian to presume to say that of his own wisdom he under- 
 stands the sense of Holy Scripture better than the holy 
 Fathers. It is also hard to hear him say, as he did in the 
 debate, that many articles of John Huss and the Bohemians, 
 condemned by the holy Council of Constance, are most Chris- 
 tian and evangelic^ It is easy to imagine what joy the heretics 
 conceive on hearing such things. He also says that St. Peter 
 did not have the primacy^ over the other apostles from Christ, 
 and many other things. As a Christian prince your Grace 
 may judge whether these and similar things may be allowed 
 in Christianity. In my poor opinion they cannot be; where- 
 fore, solely for the sake of the truth, I will withstand them 
 where I can. 
 
 Neither Dr. Luther nor anyone else can say that he has 
 received a pennyworth of his doctrine from our Holy Father, 
 the Pope, or from the great heads of the Church. Yet I, 
 although a poor parson, came here at my own expense to 
 meet your Grace's professors, and am still ready, if Dr. 
 Luther thinks he has not yet debated enough, to go with him 
 to Cologne, Louvain or Paris. For I know just what they 
 will do. For when they proposed to me the University of 
 Leipsic, they would have had it thought that they had refused 
 to debate there, but that I compassed it with the prince and 
 
 ^The words in italics are Latin. 
 
204 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 164 
 
 the university. Most gracious Lord, I do not mean to re- 
 proach Dr. Luther with all this, nor do I write to injure him, 
 but only to excuse myself to your Grace, who would other- 
 wise hear untruths to my dishonor; and I also give your 
 Grace occasion' to consider what you owe to Christ, the Chris- 
 tian religion, the land and the people. Long ago I desired 
 to excuse myself to your Grace, and came to your Grace's 
 court at Augsburg' six times, and I know not for what reason 
 I was not allowed to come before your Grace. 
 
 Although your Grace's professors departed with sundry 
 threats to write much, I debated in such wise that it would 
 be unnecessary to write anything. For we made an agree- 
 ment to keep stiir until judgment shall have been given by the 
 universities selected as umpires. Wherefore I left them free 
 choice of all the universities which are in good repute in the 
 whole of Christendom, to take which ones they liked. Well, let 
 them write ; I don't care much, only I wish they wrote with the 
 seriousness demanded by the subject, and not so frivolously, 
 impertinently and abusively, especially as I am sure your 
 Grace has no pleasure in such words. What is written by 
 theologians should be in such language that anyone who reads 
 it may understand that a theologian has written it with the 
 purpose of seeking the truth, and not like a groom who is 
 only able to revile people. . . . 
 
 Your Grace's obedient chaplain, 
 Dr. John von Eck. 
 
 P. S. — Most gracious Lord, it has just occurred to me that 
 in debating with Dr. Luther on the power of the Pope,^ I took 
 away the whole foundation of his argument. For his posi- 
 tion is not novel, many mistaken persons have held it before. 
 But if from mere suspicion he has conceived the opinion that 
 some of your Grace's subjects have given me his recently 
 printed book' (as they have told Caesar Pflug that they think 
 Dr. Peter Burckhart" has done so), let me say that it is false 
 
 iLatin. 
 
 2During the Diet of 1518; Luther saw Eck at Augsburg in October. Cf. 
 supra, no. 96. 
 
 •^Before the debate all parties agreed not to publish the arguments until the 
 judges had decided. Enders, ii. 71. 
 
 *Rcsolutio . . de Potestate Papae, Weimar, ii. 180. 
 
 6Since September, 1518, professor of medicine at Wittenberg. In the sum- 
 
Let. i6s OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 205 
 
 and that they do Dr. Burckhart and the others wrong, for 
 he has never mentioned the matter to me and I have not yet 
 seen the book, unless, as I thought, he read from it at the 
 debate. But I knowr well enough from similar writings what 
 it contains. Your Grace would do a praiseworthy act to burn 
 it on a bonfire. 
 
 163. JOHN ECK TO JAMES HOCHSTRATEN AT COLOGNE. 
 Lutheri Opera varii argumenti (Erlangen, 1866), iii. 476. 
 
 Leipsic, July 24, 1519. 
 James Hochstraten (Hoogstraaten) studied at Lou vain, where he 
 took his M. A. in 1485. He became a Dominican, was made prior 
 and eventually chief inquisitor for many years. He was the leading 
 prosecutor of Reuchlin for heresy. He took an active part against 
 Erasmus {infra, no. 187) and Luther, who wrote against him, very 
 briefly, in 1519. Weimar, ii. 384. He wrote against Luther Epitome 
 de Fide et Operibus in 1525. He died in 1527. N. Paulus : Die 
 deutschen Dominikaner, p. 87ff. 
 
 I would not have you ignorant, Reverend Father, how I 
 have hitherto withstood those rash men of Wittenberg who 
 despise all the doctors of the last four hundred years, no 
 matter how holy and wise, and who disseminate many false 
 and erroneous ideas among the people, seducing and infecting 
 them chiefly by means of works printed in German. 
 
 Recently we disputed at Leipsic, before an audience of 
 learned men, who had come together from all parts, where 
 (praise, honor and glory be to God), their reputation, even^ 
 with the vulgar, was much diminished, and was completely 
 destroyed with most learned men. You should have heard 
 their rash assertions, how bhnd they were and bold to commit' 
 crimes. 
 
 Luther denies that Peter was the prince of the apostles; he* 
 denies that obedience is owed to the Church by divine law, 
 but only by human agreement, that is, by agreement of the 
 Emperor. He denies that the Church was built on Peter.^ 
 When I cited on this point Augustine, Jerome, Ambrose, Greg- 
 
 mer of 1521 he went to Ingolstadt, where he died in the spring of 1526. He 
 became a strong opponent of Luther. He had studied medicine at Ferrara, 
 and taught it at Ingolstadt after 1497. Zeitschrift fiir Kirchengeschichte, xviii. 
 77- 
 
 ^Matthew xvi. 18. 
 
206 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 165 
 
 ory, Cyprian, Chrysostom, Leo, Bernard and Theophilus, he 
 repudiated them all without blushing, and said that he alone 
 would oppose all of them, relying only on the text that Christ 
 was the foundation of the Church, and that other foundation 
 no man can lay.' I did away with this by citing Revelation 
 xii.° about the twelve foundations. Luther also defended 
 the Greeks and schismatics, saying that they would be saved 
 even if they are not under the obedience of the Pope. 
 
 Of the articles of the Bohemians, he says that some of those 
 condemned by the Council of Constance are most Christian 
 and evangelic; by which rash error he frightened many, and 
 alienated those who had previously supported him. 
 
 Among other things I said to him; If the primacy of the 
 Pope is merely a matter of human law and of the agreement 
 of the faithful, where does he (Luther) get the dress he 
 wears? where does he get the power of preaching and of 
 hearing the confessions of his parishioners, etc.? He answered 
 that he wished there were no mendicant orders, and many 
 other scandalous and absurd things, as that a council, con- 
 sisting of men, could err, and that purgatory was not proved 
 by the Bible, as you may see by reading our debate, which 
 was taken down by faithful notaries. . . . 
 
 There were many of them; besides the two doctors, there 
 was their Vicar Lang, two licentiates in theology,' a nephew' 
 of Reuchlin who assumes a good deal, three doctors of law, 
 several professors, who aided him privately and publicly even 
 in the course of the debate. But I alone, with nothing but 
 right on my side, withstood them. 
 
 To brothers of your order I committed the care of copy- 
 ing the debate and sending it to you as soon as possible. 
 Wherefore I pray you by him whom I serve, zealously to 
 defend the faith as you long ago undertook to do. I do not 
 wish you to involve yourself or make either your person or 
 your order odious, but please aid me with your advice and 
 learning. The Wittenbergers hesitated to debate ; in fact, they 
 
 ii Corinthians, tii. ii. 
 2Rather, xxi. 14. 
 
 SA number of professors and two hundred students accompanied Luther to 
 Leipsic; cf. supra, no. 160. 
 *Melanchthon. 
 
Let. i66 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 207 
 
 sought excuses. Luther was at first unwilling to take 
 as judge any university in the world. The most Christian 
 Duke George of Saxony would not allow any dispute on articles 
 of faith unless it should be referred for judgment to the masters 
 of our faith. Luther was therefore forced and spurred on 
 by his followers, for had he not debated and admitted some 
 judge, they would all have receded from him. When I then 
 offered him his choice of all the universities, he chose Paris 
 and Erfurt. 
 
 As I know that your university has close relations with 
 Paris, I beg you earnestly, for the sake of Christ's faith, to 
 write to your friends there, or even, if it seem good, to the 
 whole university, that when the excellent Duke George shall 
 write them and send the debate with a request for judgment 
 they may not decline, but should undertake it like champions, 
 as we have both agreed to them as judges, and I think the^ 
 matter is so plain that it will not need long discussion. . . . 
 
 On the day of St. Peter,^ in the absence of the duke, Luther, 
 delivered at court a sermon full of Hussite errors. Straight- 
 way on the day^ of the Visitation of the Virgin and the day 
 after, I preached against his errors to a larger audience than 
 I have ever had, and I stirred up in the people disgust for 
 Lutheran errors, and I will do the same to-morrow when I 
 bid Leipsic good-bye. . . . 
 
 i66. LUTHER TO JOHN LANG AT ERFURT. 
 Enders, ii. 97. (Wittenberg), July 26, 1519. 
 
 Greeting. Reverend Father, I found the Vicar General" 
 at Grimma, together with Wenzel Link, making a round of 
 visits to the convents under their charge. You did well to 
 abstain from visiting them. For he said it was his business 
 now. I fear that the prior* there will give up his place. We 
 are daily expecting the advent of his reverence' from Dres- 
 
 ijune 29. On this cf. Smitli, op. cit., 67. 
 
 'July 2. 
 
 ^Staupitz. Luther met him as he was returning from the Leipsic debate. Luther 
 apparently left Leipsic while Carlstadt was still debating, on July 15 or 16. He 
 was at Wittenberg on July 20. He does not now describe the debate more fully 
 as Lang was present. 
 
 *Wolfgang Zeschau, spoken of by Luther, November s, 1518. Enders, i. 276, 
 later Master of the Hospice of St. John at Grimma. 
 
208 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. i68 
 
 den or Herzberg. He told me to notify you and all others 
 that I could of his arrival; please do the same. Eck is sing- 
 ing a song of triumph everywhere. He has been taken by 
 Duke George' to Annaberg, perhaps to resuscitate indulgences 
 there. More presently. Farewell. 
 
 Brother Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 167. MELANCHTHON TO SPALATIN. 
 Corpus Reformatorum, i. 103. July 29, 1519. 
 
 . . . Here you have Luther's Resolution' written, as you 
 think, bitterly, but as I think, prudently. You see how he 
 repels hatred and transfers it all into this fire-brand and 
 author of the whole war. But I hope he will write more on 
 the other propositions and dedicate it to you. . . . 
 
 168. MARTIN BUCER TO BEATUS RHENANUS. 
 
 A. Horawitz & K. Hartf elder: Briefwechsel des Beatus Rhenanus. 
 1886, p. 165. Heidelberg, July 30, 1519. 
 
 . . . Behold, dear Beatus, how vigilant are these wicked 
 men, and how they conspire to murder, not Luther or others, 
 but Truth herself. I have read Erasmus' epistle' to Elector 
 Frederic of Saxony, deploring this. It was written from 
 Antwerp, and made me suspect that he was so sick of the 
 quarrels with the professors of Louvain that he had left that 
 university. Certainly they are unworthy of so divine a genius. 
 Smitten with grief on this account, I wished to write it to 
 you, my only defence, hoping that you might have something 
 happier to write back. We have little hope left here. One 
 day when I was presiding at some stupid debates (for there 
 is a great dearth of learned men here), I made some proposi- 
 tions differing from their rules, and barely escaped stoning. 
 My chief offence was that I defended the proposition that 
 charity was commanded to our neighbor. Next to that was a 
 proposition on divorce, which was debated fiercely. 
 
 iDuke George went to Annaberg to the consecratioa of a church on July 24, 
 Eck following him next day. An indulgence was proclaimed on this occasion. 
 
 ^Resolutio Lutheriana super Propositione sua Tertia dccima de Potestate Papae. 
 IvCipsic, 1 5 19. Weimar, ii. 180. 
 
 'Supra, no. 141. 
 
Let. 169 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 209 
 
 Not only Louvain' and Cologne, but Oxford" and Cambridge 
 have declared war on Luther, their purpose being to ruin 
 Christian philosophy' and crush polite learning. The leaders 
 are said to be Cajetan and Adrian, both cardinals.* For the 
 delegates of Louvain and Cologne agreed with Cajetan at 
 Coblenz that he should keep the sale of indulgences as his 
 department and leave the rest to them. They were going to 
 cavil at this, but he, much more courteous than they, yielded 
 to them, for it was his opinion that it would be sufficient to 
 brand as error that which they attacked as the crime of heresy. 
 For I have learned from a trustworthy friend, in whom Caje- 
 tan confided, that there was almost no page in a book of 
 Luther's on which they had not written "heresy, heresy," 
 several times. They showed the book thus disfigured to the 
 cardinal, led perhaps by their own prejudice to hope that 
 he would endorse their judgment at once. But when he 
 had examined the book and their dirty notes, he said : "We 
 must not strike out too much. There is a very slight differ- 
 ence between some things which you have called heresies and 
 the orthodox view. They are errors, not heresies. Let 
 James^ be an example to you." . . . 
 
 169. NICHOLAS VON AMSDORF TO SPALATIN. 
 Walch, XV. 1404. German. Wittenberg, August i, 1519. 
 
 Greeting. It would be long and prolix to relate the order 
 and procedure of the Leipsic debate; much more prolix and 
 tedious to describe the same. For as often as I think of the 
 said debate, I am moved and kindled, not, as God knows, for 
 the love I bear Dr. Luther but for that I bear the truth. I 
 doubt not that truth is certain, unchangeable and eternal, 
 though hated by all gross fellows. Even before this time I 
 
 IC/. de Jongh: L'ancienne Faculie de theologie a Louvain, p. 2o6ff. Luther's 
 works arrived in the Netherlands at latest early in 15 19, and their sale was 
 immediately forbidden by the University of Louvain, which, at the same time, 
 despatched a messenger to get the opinion of the University of Cologne on Luther. 
 The condemnation of him by Cologne followed on August 30. 
 
 21 can find no other reference so early as this to any action of the English 
 universities against Luther. It was abundantly true later. 
 
 3"Philosophia Christi" was the name adopted by Erasmus for his system. 
 
 *Paliatus; this is evidently the meaning, though not given in Du Cange. 
 
 ■^Probably Hochstraten, or James, iii. i, iv. 11, v. 20. On this whole affair, cf. 
 De Jongh, op, cit, 
 
 14 
 
210 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 169 
 
 knew that what Eck and his supporters brought forth was 
 falsehood. 
 
 1 This is not remarkable, for Eck is entirely unversed in the 
 Holy Scriptures. And, what is more, he does not even know 
 as much sophistry^ as a man who wants to be thought so 
 great a debater ought, for he boasts and claims to be a father 
 and patron of sophistry. For I have smelled about a little, 
 and understand the affair rightly (although I have neither 
 reason nor discrimination), namely, that Eck speaks all that 
 is in his mind and memory without reason, judgment or dis- 
 crimination, although he can utter the words he has learned 
 with great pomp and proper gesture. He does not seek the 
 
 ■truth, but only to show off his memory and to defend the 
 teachers of his school. . . 
 
 That you may believe that what I say is true, hear a text 
 of the Bible which, with the counsel of the inept and un- 
 learned sophists of Leipsic, Eck cited and brought forward 
 to defend papal indulgence. It stands in Isaiah Ixi. i : "The 
 spirit of the Lord is upon me ; therefore the Lord has anointed 
 me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to 
 bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim to the captives indul- 
 gence,"^ that is, forgiveness of sins. See, my dear Spalatin, 
 this one word (indulgence), which these famous sophists of 
 Leipsic found in the large Concordance to the Bible, wrote 
 for Eck with chalk upon a blackboard and sent to him the 
 following day to support papal indulgences which have 
 recently been invented for the sake of gain. For the prophet* 
 does not speak of the forgiveness of sins by indulgence, but 
 of our Lord and Saviour becoming a man. Just look at the 
 unhappy, stupid sophists. But I am not surprised, for they 
 know nothing. But I am surprised that Eck took the said 
 text into the debate and uttered it before so remarkable an 
 assembly, and dictated it to the notaries. 
 
 It is true, however, that Eck surpassed Dr. Carlstadt by far 
 in memory and delivery, so that I was sorry that the thing had 
 been begun, not because Eck won the victory, but because, had 
 
 'Amsdorf means scholastic learning, but the efifect is comic. 
 ''"Indulgentiam" in the Vulgate; "liberty" in our authorized version, 
 ^After all, which was the more unhistorical error, that of Eck or that of 
 Amsdorf? 
 
Let. 171 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 211 
 
 the speeches not been taken down in writing, our champions 
 would have come off with great shame. For Eck argues and 
 turns around in the ItaHan manner with nine or ten argu- 
 ments by which he does not seek to establish the truth, but 
 only his own honor, just as all sophists, that is, all schoolmen, 
 do. . . . But the audience consider him the victor who shouts 
 the loudest and has the last word, and for these reasons the 
 men of Leipsic honor Eck as the victor. . . . 
 
 I do not consider Eck equal to Luther either in doctrine or 
 art, either in delivery or in memory; I would as soon com-j 
 pare stones or mere filth to the purest gold. . . . 
 
 170. MELANCHTHON TO JOHN LANG AT ERFURT. 
 Corpus Reformatorum, i. 106. Wittenberg^ August 11, 1519. 
 
 . . . Eck reviled us with fierce and uncivil calumnies, either 
 to indulge his own temper or because he thought himself in- 
 sulted and thus revenged himself. . . After our departure 
 he disseminated a large number of false slanders about Luther 
 among the princes. What can you do to him? I love and 
 cling to the pious zeal and learning of Luther as much as I 
 do to any human thing. . . . 
 
 171. LUTHER TO GEORGE SPALATIN. 
 Enders, ii. 124. (Wittenbekg, before August 18, 1519.) 
 
 Greeting. Please let me know, Spalatin, if possible, what 
 you wanted done about the foundation for commemorating 
 the Passion.^ I am not much in favor of binding a man to 
 certain stated services, unless it is a man who is profited by 
 such a rule. 
 
 We all beg you to send us a copy^ of the Leipsic debate by 
 this messenger. We have a reason for wanting it, which you 
 will learn in due time. As we ask you we have no doubt that 
 you will comply. Farewell and pray for me, a very busy 
 
 ^The Elector, at the suggestion of his confessor, James Vogt, in 1519, endowed 
 a foundation for two priests and eight acolites to sing Psalms on certain days 
 in the Wittenberg Castle Church. 
 
 ^This was a manuscript copy of the minutes of the debate, which had been 
 sent by Melanchthon to Spalatin on August 11. 
 
212 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 172 
 
 sinner. May the Lord preserve our elector' for us. Amen. 
 Brother Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 172. LUTHER AND CARLSTADT TO THE ELECTOR 
 FREDERIC. 
 
 Enders, ii. 126. De Wette, i. 307. German. 
 
 Wittenberg, August 18, 1519. 
 
 Most serene, high-born Prince, most gracious Lord! Our 
 humble, obedient service and prayers for your Grace. Most 
 gracious Prince and Lord ! We have received your Grace's 
 , note with Dr. Eck's letter'' and noted the contents. Dr. Eck 
 says he does not intend to slander us before your Grace, and 
 yet labors with his sophistry and habitual loose talk to get 
 your Grace, only on the strength of his letter and hasty judg- 
 ment, to drive us out of the land. We are not surprised that 
 he considers your Grace such a person as he dares address 
 such a letter to. For we learn every day more clearly that 
 Dr. Eck is and remains Dr. Eck, do what he will. 
 
 May your Grace not take it ill that we have not given you 
 an account of this debate before. For we esteem it an unfor- 
 tunate affair, carried on with mere hate and envy, wherefore 
 we did not wish to be the first of whom people could say (as 
 Dr. Eck unnecessarily fears that they will) that we desired 
 with our glory to shame others. But as we are forced by Dr. 
 Eck's letter, we pray that your Grace will hear the affair 
 with kindly patience, although we are sorry to inflict so long 
 and unprofitable a story on your Grace. But the affair will 
 speak for itself, and show whether Dr. Eck, with all his boast- 
 ' ing and protestation, is inclined to serve or to hurt your Grace's 
 university. 
 
 In the first place, Dr. Eck complains that I, Andrew Carl- 
 stadt, published certain theses against him, with sarcasms and 
 contemptuous words, although he does not think that I have 
 any right to insult people. I reply: Dr. Eck can esteem me 
 as he likes, but it would have mightily become him, had he, 
 along with his complaint, told how he attacked Dr. Luther, 
 
 iThe elector was ill in 1519. To console him Luther wrote the Tesseradecas. 
 Smith, op. cit., p. 78. 
 ^Supra, no. 164. 
 
Let. 172 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 213 
 
 to revile and shame us and your Grace's university. His - 
 words would have been too much even for a bad woman, for 
 in his poisonous Obelisks, he reviled him as a Hussite, a heretic,, 
 a rebel, a shameless brawler, a new prophet,^ and everything 
 else he pleased, more than twenty times as much as I, who 
 was too moderate against his misconduct, ever called him for 
 the vindication of our honor. 
 
 For I think Dr. Eck has much less right, not only to revile 
 such a man, but to slander all of us, to the shame of your 
 Grace's university, and so criminally to libel us without any 
 ground or reason. And if the goad pricks Dr. Eck too hard, 
 the said Obelisks are at hand, and we will publish them, which 
 hitherto, to spare his honor, we have refrained from doing. 
 We have deserved his great ingratitude by not paying him 
 back in kind. And if necessary, we will also collect on paper 
 all the ugly, sharp, disagreeable words and gestures with which 
 he made the debate a simple obstacle to the truth. . . . 
 
 May God reward him for pitying me, Martin Luther. I 
 would only like to hear what are the "singular excesses," for 
 which he so mercifully punishes me. But I can have nothing to 
 do with him on articles of faith, except perhaps in that of 
 penitence ; as for my opinion on indulgences, purgatory and the 
 power of the Pope, I confess that, "according to his poor 
 opinion" (as he truly says), I have made mvich scandal and 
 offence, not for the common people, but for the Pharisees and 
 scribes, for whom also Christ and all the apostles made offence. 
 Truly, I cannot stop doing this even now, whether it wins the 
 "good opinion" of Dr. Eck or not. 
 
 He blames me shamelessly for denying the authority of all 
 the holy fathers at once, Augustine, Ambrose, Jerome, Greg-| 
 ory, Leo, Chrysostom, etc., and for arrogating to myself alone 
 the understanding of Scripture. Thus it is fitting that a! 
 doctor of divinity should speak out roundly and forcibly! 
 before a prince. Your Grace may note how much inclined 
 Dr. Eck is to serve us, in daring cheerfully to write such things 
 about us. Had he said that -I had contradicted some fathers, 
 he would have had a show of reason, but his own clear con- 
 
 *Here and elsewhere in this letter the words printed in italics are Latin in 
 the original. 
 
214 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 173 
 
 science knows that it is not true that I contradicted them all. 
 Let me tell your Grace the exact truth : I did, indeed, set 
 one doctor, with the text of the Bible, against another, whom 
 Dr. Eck cited alone, naked and without the Bible, and I will 
 not cease doing this my life long. That is what Dr. Eck calls 
 contradicting all the holy Fathers, and says that it sounds 
 badly in the new Eckian Christianity. . . . 
 
 For I have said that when I had a clear text I would stand 
 by it even if the exegesis of the teachers was contrary to the^ 
 sense. St. Augustine often does this and teaches us to do it. 
 For, as the lawyers say, we should put more faith in one man / 
 who has the Bible for him, than in the Pope and a whole 
 council without the Bible. From this, my dear friends. Dr. 
 Eck and the men of Leipsic conclude roundly that I have 
 repudiated all teachers. What can one do with such false 
 tongues and hearts? In like manner he has thrown up at me 
 the Council of Constance, and accuses me of contradicting it. 
 I will answer this charge in due time, and show his false 
 heart to the world. . . . 
 
 [The rest of this letter is a long argument of ten pages on 
 the power of the Pope and other points which came up in 
 the debate with Eck.] 
 
 173. LUTHER TO SPALATIN. 
 Enders, ii. 129. Wittenberg, August 18, 1519. 
 
 Greeting. Behold, Spalatin, we are sending letters to the 
 illustrious elector, our patron, in answer to the calumnies 
 of Eck. We should be pleased if the illustrious elector will 
 deign to send them to Eck; but if not, God's will be done. 
 For the reverend Vicar Staupitz has made us doubtful 
 whether the elector would have wished us to answer Eck in 
 this style, and not rather with the Latin propositions^ on 
 which we are now working; wherefore we are sending both. 
 But if the German letter is to be sent, we desire that anything 
 in it be changed, which either the elector or you think 
 should be changed. I have looked for Eck's letter among 
 my papers without finding it; I will seek more diligently. 
 
 ^Resotutioncs Lutherianae super propositionibus suis, Weimar, ii. 391. Cf. 
 Enders. ii. 102. 
 
Let. 173 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 215 
 
 Eck (whom now, without sin, we may juage and accuse) 
 is ever playing the part of neither a good man nor a gentle- 
 man. He gave the Bishop of Brandenburg a memorial on the 
 articles which the brothers of Jiiterbogk have falsely cooked 
 up against me.' The man is impudent and shameless, ready 
 to assert or deny anything for a little puff of glory. His only 
 aim is by right or wrong to hurt Wittenberg. I am opposing' 
 him, and with God's help will expose the sycophant and his lies 
 to the public. 
 
 Meantime the Bishop of Brandenburg, without hearing 
 the other side, is spreading abroad Eck's falsehoods, and by 
 his name giving them, in the eyes of many, authority, thus 
 hurting me, and showing fairly the animus he has always' 
 had towards me. I fear that I can hardly do anything with- 
 out involving him, and betraying how like his ignorance and 
 rashness is to that of Eck. The Franciscans are working with 
 them; we are the only ones whose press is too slow to publish 
 our answer quickly. 
 
 According to your wish I have begun publicly to apply 
 myself to the foundation for commemorating Christ's Pas- 
 sion,' and the more I think of it the less I find to please me. 
 The Church is already overburdened with ceremonies, so 
 that almost all the serious concerns of Christian piety have 
 degenerated into superstition. This means to have an easy 
 faith in external works and complacently to leave out the real 
 spiritual essence. Wherefore I am not yet prepared to say 
 how I can make this foundation at once seemly without and 
 fruitful within. It is difficult to combine both, since the gospel 
 has placed the most excellent piety in fraternal love and 
 mutual good-will. I will write more later. Farewell, and 
 commend me to my patron the elector. 
 
 Martin Luther, Angustinian. 
 
 ^Francis Gunther became preacher at Jiiterbogk and in Passion Week, 15 19, 
 delivered a series of sermons containing various propositions considered heretical 
 by the Franciscans of that village. These friars published a broadside entitled 
 Articuli per Fratres Minores de observantia propositi . . . Episcopo Branden- 
 burgensi contra Lutheranos, which came into Luther's hands in May and was 
 answered by him on May 15. Enders, ii. 36. When the Elector Joachim of 
 Brandenburg visited Leipsic in the summer of 1519, he requested Eck's opinion 
 on these charges, which was given in a memorial handed to the Bishop of 
 Brandenburg. 
 
 2C/. supra, no. 171. 
 
216 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 175 
 
 174. PHILIP MELANCHTHON TO THE READER. 
 Corpus Reformatorum, i. 120. Wittenberg (c. August), 1519. 
 
 This is one of the prefaces, written under the pseudonym of Otho 
 Germanus, to Luther's Commentary on Galatians, which appeared 
 early in September. 
 
 ... It seems, therefore, that we have very little true the- 
 ology left. But if any one calls attention to this he is dubbed 
 a heretic and schismatic for his pains. Thus it happened to 
 Luther, a man respected for his manner of life and uncom- 
 monly learned in sacred letters. When he was forced to 
 propose certain theses for scholastic debate in order to resist 
 those who, under the pretext of religion abused the Scrip- 
 ture for their own desires, and when in doing so he had 
 differed from theologians of indulgences and of Aristotle, 
 
 ' first he was cited to Rome under the grave suspicion of heresy. 
 
 ! Then, on account of the difficulty of the journey and moved 
 by the prayers of friends, he was allowed to go to Augsburg 
 instead; but when he had gone there he was tried by various 
 arts and sent away so that he does not yet know \vhy he 
 went there. But, at least, it is certain that a man who deserved 
 well of Christendom on account of his serious and fruitful 
 treatment of the Scriptures (as his numerous auditors can 
 bear witness), was treated as a madman by certain coxcombs. 
 If he speaks of this and complains of it in the following 
 epistle,^ it may not be pleasant, but it will be necessary. More- 
 over, while he was thus defamed and his life imperilled, he 
 composed, among other profitable works, this commentary on 
 the epistle of Paul to the Galatians. And being unable to 
 polish it on account of his preoccupations with his enemies, 
 he disdained to call it a regular commentary, and it was 
 published by his friends against his will." . . . 
 
 175. LUTHER TO JOHN LANG AT ERFURT. 
 Enders, ii. 138. (Wittenberg), September 3, 1519. 
 
 Greeting. Reverend Father, I wonder why your Erfurt 
 
 ^Luther's dedicatory epistle to Lupinus and Carlstadt, January, 15 19, is meant. 
 Supra, no. 123. 
 
 ^The Commentary on Galatians is, in fact, the most polished of Luther's com- 
 mentaries, the style having been probably revised by Melanchthon. Cf. ElUnger: 
 Philip Melanchthon, 100. 
 
Let. 175 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 217 
 
 professors are so slow.^ I await their judgment, although I' 
 expect that they will be too prudent to mix in these foreign 
 and hateful causes. Meanwhile, we have anticipated their 
 sentence; we judge each other and are judged by each other ;^ 
 ignorant and learned alike, we all write poems.' 
 
 Eck impetuously scatters letters* around and distributes 
 triumphal crowns. Leipsic alone brings forth simple Herodoti, 
 critics, Aristarchi,'' Momi/ and that kind of frogs without 
 number. Leipsic, who was always dumb, has only on account 
 of the debate begun to bark louder than many Scyllas. She 
 is driven by wretched envy to try to establish the victory of 
 our opponents by mere clamor. Truth will conquer. 
 
 I would send my little lectures on the Psaltery, but because 
 you do not write whether you want them, or how many of 
 them you have, I suppose you do not care for them. This 
 man^ sells my last Resolutions against Eck. Lotther,' at 
 Leipsic, is printing for me an apology' against him, in which I 
 refute the thirteen articles charged against me by the Fran- 
 ciscans of Jiiterbok, and hatefully proved by Eck to be hereti- 
 cal; on my part I charge them with twenty-four articles, and 
 the quarrel is getting warm. 
 
 They tell me my Commentary on Galatians is finished to-day. 
 
 Our illustrious elector is tempted by Miltitz with the golden 
 rose.'" Miltitz boasted in Dresden, "Dr. Luther is in my 
 
 ^J. c, in giving judgment on the Leipsic debate. 
 
 ^This refers to Melanchthon's letter to Oecolampadius of July 21 (supra, 163), 
 and to ^ck',s reply. 
 
 ^Scribimus indocti doctique poemata passim, cf. Juvenal, vii. 53. 
 
 *Cf, supra, Eck to Elector Frederic, no. 164. 
 
 •A proverbially bitter critic. 
 
 ^According to Erasmus' Adages, j. v., Momus was the child of Night and Sleep, 
 who did nothing but find fault. 
 
 '7. e., the bearer of the letter. 
 
 80f Aue in Saxony, first found at Leipsic about 1500, as a printer. From 
 1 518 he printed a number of Luther's things, and toward the end of 1519, with 
 types bought of Froben, and with his younger brother Michael (for Melchior 
 and Michael Lotther were apparently not old Melchior's sons, as Enders thinks, 
 ii. 29), he started a press at Wittenberg. In 1525, on account of slanders about 
 him, he returned to Leipsic, where he died in 1542. Enders, loc. cit., and v. 24. 
 
 ^Contra malignum Bccii judicium, Weimar, ii. 621. 
 
 lOOn the golden rose cf. supra, January i, 1519. Miltitz got the rose from 
 the Fuggers at Augsburg and took it to Altenburg, where, in the absence of the 
 elector, who lay sick at Lochau, he gave it, on September 25, to one of his 
 officers. 
 
218 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 176 
 
 hands,'" but by God's grace he accompHshes nothing. Fare- 
 well and pray for me, a very busy brother. 
 
 Brother Martin Luther. 
 
 176. LUTHER TO GEORGE SPALATIN. 
 Enders, ii. 156. Wittenberg, September 22, 1519. 
 
 Greeting. At length, Spalatin, my Tesseradecas' is coming 
 to you, late, indeed, but even thus hardly having weathered 
 the storms of all my other occupations. If you care to, you 
 may translate it and offer it to our most illustrious elector 
 with a prefatory letter. For I have begun to consider it too 
 minute a thing for a double epistolary dedication to the 
 elector, like a two-handed loving-cup." 
 
 I am also sending my "foolish Galatians,"* preserved in the 
 brine of wit.° Lotther, of Leipsic, sent them to be given to 
 you, as you see. My work against Buck Emser is not yet 
 done." . . . 
 
 The bearer of this letter begs me to write to the elector 
 for him for license to exercise the baker's craft at Wittenberg. 
 For I hear that the bakers have forbidden him to do so because 
 he is son of a man who was once a bathman ; so exclusive is 
 the nobility of tradesmen. Lest I should annoy the elector, 
 I ask you to make this petition to him, in my name if you 
 wish. 
 
 But, dear me, I almost forgot to say that I would like to see 
 my copy of the Tesseradecas again after it has served its time. 
 For I am wont to console myself with these trifles, nor do I 
 always have before me the considerations which I there set 
 down, if only for the reason that by thinking of them they 
 become ever richer. Farewell and commend me to the elector. 
 
 Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 iMiltitz's words in German. 
 
 ^Weimar, vi. 99. Cf, Smith, op. cit., 78. 
 
 '^A pun; "ampulla'' means both a cup with two handles and bombast. 
 
 *C/. Galatians, iii. 1. 
 
 5"Multo sale conditos"; t use "wit" in the old-fashioned sense of general intel- 
 lectual keenness. From the stylistic standpoint, the Galatians was the most 
 carefully prepared of all Luther's commentaries. 
 
 ^Contra Aegocerotem Emserum, one of the sequels of the Leipsic debate. 
 Weimar, ii. 655. 
 
Let. 178 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 219 
 
 177- LUTHER TO THE ELECTOR FREDERIC OF SAXONY. 
 Enders, ii. 181. De Wette, i. 339. German. 
 
 Wittenberg^ October i, 1519- 
 
 Most serene, high-born Prince, most gracious Lord ! I 
 humbly give your Grace to know that Charles von Miltitz has 
 written me to appoint a day to meet him at Liebenwerda, as 
 your Grace may see by his enclosed letter. As I am better 
 aware of Miltitz's pretence than perhaps he thinks, I did not 
 wish to do this without your Grace's knowledge, but have 
 appointed him Sunday week, October 9, not having been 
 able to find an earlier date. I humbly beg, if it please your 
 Grace, to send him my letter with your Grace's messenger. 
 I commend myself obediently to your Grace. May God long 
 and blessedly maintain you. Amen. 
 
 Your Grace's obedient chaplain. 
 
 Dr. Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 178. LUTHER TO JOHN STAUPITZ. 
 Enders, ii. 182. (Wittenberg), October 3, 1519. 
 
 Greeting. I send two copies of "foolish Galatians,"^ rev- 
 erend Father. I do not care for what I have written, as I 
 see the epistle could have been expounded so much more fully 
 and clearly; but who can do all things at once or many things 
 at the same time? I trust the work may prove clearer than 
 previous ones written by others, even if it does not satisfy me. 
 My commentary on the Psalms is in press, but is delayed by 
 the slow printer. 
 
 Our elector, now restored to health, remains at Lochau. 
 Charles von Miltitz has appointed next Sunday to meet me at 
 Liebenwerda ; he has the consent of the elector and his letter 
 was honeyed, but I know him for a fox. I know not what will 
 happen at this interview. He has at length brought the golden 
 rose to Altenburg, having tried to bring it to Wittenberg with 
 great pomp. The elector was absent when he arrived. . . . 
 
 I have just received letters^ from two utraquist priests of 
 
 ^Cf. Galatians, Hi. i. 
 
 ^Supra, no, i6l. The Hussites had gathered at the Leipsic debate. Luther 
 read the book of Huss early in 1520, it was the De Ecclesia. For its great influ- 
 ence on him, cf. Smith, op. cit., 7 if. 
 
220 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 178 
 
 Prague, learned in the Scriptures, together with a book of 
 John Huss, which I have not yet read. They exhort me to 
 constancy and patience and say that I teach pure theology. 
 The letters were Erasmian in both contents and style. They 
 came to me through the court, having been forwarded by 
 Spalatin. Everyone knows of them. 
 
 You have seen Melanchthon's Theses,^ somewhat bold, to 
 be sure, but most true. His answers are miracles. If Christ 
 deign, Melanchthon will make many Luthers and a most 
 powerful enemy of scholastic theology, for he knows both 
 their folly and Christ's rock; therefore shall he be mighty. 
 Amen. 
 
 Letters have come from France reporting that Erasmus 
 said: "I fear Luther will perish for his righteousness," and 
 of Eck that his name lacks one letter and he should be called 
 "Jeck," which is the Dutch for fool.- Thus Christ beats down 
 vainglory, so that him whom Leipsic adores as Eck, all learned 
 men (they say) simply detest as "Jeck." 
 
 My Bishop of Brandenburg has brought forth a monster; 
 a fine fellow he is, like Moab, boasting more than he can do. 
 It is reported that he said he would not lie down in peace, 
 until he had burned Luther, "just like this stick," at the same 
 time throwing one on the fire. Thus have Eck's windy words 
 inflated this poor bladder. 
 
 So much for others, now about myself. What will you? 
 You are leaving me. I have been sad for you to-day, as a 
 weaned child for his mother. I pray you praise the Lord 
 even in a sinner like me. I hate my wretched life ; I fear death ; 
 I am empty of faith and full of qualities which, Christ knows, 
 I should much prefer to do without, were it not to serve him 
 thereby. 
 
 The Franciscans are holding a chapter here and having 
 such a merry dispute about the stigmata of St. Francis and 
 the glory of his order, that we, who formerly respected both, 
 
 ^Denying transubstantiation, ed. K. and W. KrafFt: Brief e und Documents, p. 6. 
 
 ^The same pun was made by Glarean writing from Paris to Zwingli, November, 
 IS20. Zwingtis Werkc (i904ff), vii. 362. Also by Zwingli, 1524, ibid, iii. 81. 
 Jeck is the same as the rare English word, geek (fool) used by Shakespeare: 
 Cymbeline, act t., scene iv., line 67. Cf. alao O. Schade; Satircn und Pasquille 
 (1S58), i. 48. 
 
Let. 179 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 221 
 
 now begin to doubt both. For they bring up points which 
 seem more false than true, and the same fate overtakes them 
 in their excessive praise of their founder as has happened to 
 the Dominicans who too greatly lauded St. Thomas Aquinas. 
 Hatred of this fellow Luther leads them into this dispute, 
 and they disseminate rumors that I have preached against 
 the stigmata. Thinking that this gives them a weapon ready 
 to their hand they hope soon to take action against me. I am 
 happy to see that they all love to attack me so that they even 
 invent doctrines and attribute them to me in order to overthrow 
 them, but I regret that they needlessly bring ridicule upon 
 their whole order. It was a man of Erfurt who started this 
 debate, indeed, a colleague of our friend Lang in the university. 
 To-morrow Peter Fontinus' will debate, who intends to stab 
 me and all our little dabblers and sciolists by the theory that 
 we ought to have the same insane day-dreams as the ancient 
 fathers. We shall see great feats from these little Franciscan 
 prestidigitators. What needless tragedies such ignoramuses 
 start! I say "needless," because their baccalaureate James,^ 
 who to-day spoke for the whole company, excelled them all 
 and both of pur professors, too, because he was moderate 
 and stated his theses in good form. He is of Zwickau, edu- 
 cated at Wittenberg, equally good and talented. Christ 
 humbles the proud and exalts the lowly. 
 
 Last night I had a dream about you ; I dreamed that you 
 were leaving me while I wept bitterly, but you waved to me 
 and told me to cease weeping, for you would come back to 
 me, which, indeed, has happened this very day. But now 
 farewell, and pray for me in my wretchedness. 
 
 Brother Martin Luther. 
 
 179. BONIFACE AMERBACH TO ULRICH ZASIUS AT 
 FREIBURG. 
 T. Burckhardt-Biedermann: Bonifacius Amerbach und die Reforma- 
 tion. Basle, 1894, p. 137. Basle, October 3 (1519). 
 Boniface Amerbach (October 11, i49S-April 5, 1562), son of the 
 
 ^Of Borna, hostile to the Reformation until 1525, when he married and became a 
 pastor at Wohlau. 
 
 "James Fiihrer of Zwickau, took his bachelor's degree at Wittenberg October 2, 
 1518. 
 
222 I^UTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. i8o 
 
 Basle printer, matriculated there 1509, M. A. 1513. He then studied 
 law with Zasius at Freiburg, and with Alciati at Avignon May, 1520- 
 1524, with an interval of May, iS2i-May, 1522, at Basle. He took 
 his doctor's degree at Avignon 1525, after which he spent his life 
 teaching and practising law at Basle. He was one of Erasmus' best 
 friends, and his executor. Allen, op. cit., ii. 237. 
 
 . . . Martin edits commentaries on Galatians at Witten- 
 berg. It is said that he will soon publish commentaries on 
 the Psalter. We already have in our native tongue his com- 
 mentary on the Seven Penitential Psalms and his sermon on 
 confession. The speeches of the Leipsic debate are being 
 printed at Leipsic so that Eck, who as an unconquered 
 Thraso, boasts of I know not what triumph, may no longer 
 be able to claim the victory as he does. Indeed, he had the 
 egregious folly to tell Capito he found Martin's lungs full of 
 heresy. How sweet it is to live, especially now, when all 
 sciences and especially theology, on which our salvation de- 
 pends, have left trifling and are brought back to their sister, 
 light. I send you Luther's pamphlet on the power of the 
 Pope. You will enjoy reading it, I know, for it is Christian 
 and cannot be assailed by the Pope's flatterers with reason, 
 but only with scurrility, for this stiff-necked throng does what 
 cannot be done by reason by reviling and papal thunder. . . . 
 
 180. DUKE GEORGE OF SAXONY TO THE UNIVERSITY OF 
 
 PARIS. 
 Gess, i. 100. Dresden, October 4, 1519. 
 
 Greeting. The Rector and Professors of our University of 
 Leipsic are sending you the acute debate of John Eck of In- 
 golstadt and Martin Luther of Wittenberg, professors of 
 theology, which was held on some matters of theology and the 
 Bible a few days ago with our permission at the University 
 of Leipsic, and which was taken down from the mouths of 
 the debaters by notaries public. Both sides agreed to refer 
 judgment to the canonists and theologians of your ancient 
 university, excluding the Augustinians and Dominicans, and 
 we also desire this for the sake of the public peace and the 
 pure doctrine. . . . 
 
Let. 182 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 223 
 
 181. LUTHER TO SPALATIN. 
 Enders, ii. 187. 
 
 (LiEBENWERDA, October 9, or Wittenberg, October 10, 1519.) 
 
 First, he^ bade me give his greetings to our most illustrious 
 elector. Secondly, he told me to give his greeting to you. 
 Thirdly, he asked whether I would stand by the agreement 
 we made at Altenburg to have the Archbishop of Trier as 
 judge. I said I would. This was the last act of our farce. 
 At the end he said that by this conversation he had executed 
 the papal commission, and that, as he was soon going to Rome, 
 he did not wish to leave without having spoken with me about 
 his commission. 
 
 Martin Luther. 
 
 P. S. — Instead of a chorus^ we had a comic dialogue on the 
 power of the Pope, in which we agreed that the Pope did 
 not have by divine right that power which he certainly did 
 have, but that yet he had a sort of commission from the other 
 apostles ; and when I asked what other kind of power there 
 could be for the other apostles, he said that it was the same, 
 save that the world had been given to Peter in a different sense. 
 "Ah, we shall soon agree on this matter,"^ he concluded. 
 
 182. LUTHER TO GEORGE SPALATIN. 
 Enders, ii. 192. (Wittenberg), October 13, 1519. 
 
 Greeting. I never said a word, dear Spalatin, nor even 
 thought of going with Miltitz to Trier. I am surprised at the 
 man's impudence or forgetfulness. When I was hardly 
 brought to come to him at Liebenwerda, is it likely that I 
 should promise to make so much longer a journey in his 
 company? ... I believe that because he has been frustrated 
 in his hope he thus trifles without conscience, or else that 
 he simply romances according to his custom. A certain doctor, 
 a provost of Kollerburg in Pomerania, who dined here yester- 
 day, told us that Miltitz was such a man. The doctor, who 
 had just come from Rome, went with us to dinner with our 
 
 V. t., Miltitz, with whom Luther had a meeting at Liebenwerda on October 9, 
 supra, no. 177. 
 
 ^Luther evidently thought of the chorus as a sort of entr'acte. 
 ^Miltitz*s words in German. 
 
224 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 182 
 
 Rector, the Duke of Pomerania, and told us that in Rome 
 people thought very little of Miltitz. They say he so boasted 
 of his relationship by marriage with the Dukes of Saxony, 
 that he was always called by the Italians after his relative, the 
 Duke of Saxony. The provost told other vain, ridiculous 
 things about Miltitz, concluding that the man was to be pitied, 
 for as he always had been mocked he always would be. . . . 
 
 Please excuse my sudden departure. I did it because I 
 know the name of monks is in bad repute in courts,' and also 
 because I did not wish to offend that man of whom I spoke 
 to you, who, I thought, regarded me as an uncongenial guest 
 at table. You know that for the sake of one man we ought 
 to refrain even from lawful acts.^ You also see how sharply 
 the men of Leipsic observe me. If that man had secretly 
 written to his friends at Leipsic that I had been gay and 
 frivolous, and had played at dice with our baker, would not 
 they have seized this chance to compare my life with the 
 Word, which my teaching makes odious to them, and would 
 not they have thus caused me to become a hindrance to the 
 gospel of Christ?'' What would they not write, who through 
 Rubeus* have blabbed that at Leipsic I carried in my hand a 
 bunch of flowers," for the sake of their odor and beauty? 
 Had they dared they would have said that I wore the flowers 
 on my head. I neither can nor wish to prevent all such 
 stories; I will give place, as far as I can, to weakness and 
 envy. Wherefore I did not hurry away in scorn, but for 
 fear of offending. 
 
 A cruel pestilence is raging in Switzerland, having taken 
 off sixteen thousand men, not counting women and children. 
 The provost above mentioned told us this. . . . Vicar Stau- 
 pitz came safe and sound to Nuremberg on September 24, and 
 thence went to Munich. 
 
 ^"Propter aulas et ollas/' literally "by courts and pots/' a derogatory way of 
 speaking of courts chiefly recommended by the pun. 
 
 2C/. I Corinthians, viii. 13. 
 
 ^Cf, I Corinthians, ix. 12. 
 
 *John Rubeus, a Franconian studying at Leipsic, had published an account of 
 the debate favorable to Eck. For the title of his work, and Montanus's answer 
 to it, cf. Enders, ii. 157. 
 
 ^Luther was very fond of flowers, and is usually said to have carried a bouquet 
 of them at the Leipsic debate. Cf. Smith, p. 365. But does he not seem to deny 
 this in the passage here translated? 
 
Let. 183 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 225 
 
 Now I begin to wish and to ask that our answer to the 
 elector be sent to Eck.^ He has written to the Pope, glorify- 
 ing himself, and telling how he left us two conquered and 
 prostrate at Leipsic. The man is boasting, boastful, boastified 
 and boastiferous. He even dared to ask the Pope to reim- 
 burse him for his expense in this matter. The above men- 
 tioned provost told us this. Farewell, in great haste. 
 
 Brother Martin Luther. 
 
 183. LUTHER TO MARTIN SELIGMANN AT 
 THALMANSFELD. 
 Enders, ii. 195. Wittenberg, October 14, 15191 
 
 Seligmann born at Heilbronn, sympathized with the Reformation, 
 and for a while was a follower of Miinzer. He died in 1548. He 
 was in 1519 in a little village near Mansfeld, and wrote to ask 
 Luther if it were permissible to flee from a plague-stricken town. 
 
 Greeting. I have received your letter with the questions, 
 excellent Sir, and I greatly approve what you say about 
 fraternal charity and bearing the scourge of God strongly. 
 Would that all Christians were such as those you here describe. 
 But what shall we do if they are not all equal to all things?" 
 Ought we not to bear with and support the weak, as Romans 
 XV. teaches?' What you say about the duty of bearing one 
 another's burdens* seems to me rather to pertain to those 
 against whom you quoted it. For those who flee death 
 are weak, rather than those who await it. Moreover, famine 
 and war are doubtless plagues sent by God as much as is 
 pestilence, as is said frequently by the Prophets. . . . 
 
 Wherefore, in my opinion, all men should be exhorted to 
 bear the hand of the Lord with fortitude, but they should 
 not be forced to do so, or called sinners if they do not, or, if 
 they are called sinners, yet they ought to be borne as weaker 
 brethren. Did not Christ bear with the apostles when, fear- 
 ing death, they woke him up,° and did he not bear with the 
 infirmity of Peter,^ although he reproached him for fearing 
 
 ^Supra, no. 172. It had already been sent to Eck on October 12. Enders ii. 191. 
 
 ^Adapted from Virgil's "non omnia possumus omnes." 
 
 ^Romans, xv. i and xiv. 1. 
 
 <Galatian3, vi. 1. 
 
 ^Matthew, viii. 2 5f. 
 
 ^Matthew, xiv. 21. 
 
 IS 
 
226 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 183 
 
 to walk on the sea? If the pestilence and all other scourges 
 of God are to be borne passively, it follows that we have no 
 right to pray the saints of God for bodily health. Then let 
 us remove all physicians and apothecaries, since we are not 
 allowed to seek through them an escape from or remedy of 
 the scourge of God, although even infirmity is a scourge of 
 God. But the divine goodness provides such things for the 
 weak in faith. 
 
 But the perfect, who spontaneously seek death, have no 
 need of these things. For when the Church prays to be de- 
 livered from the plague, lightning and tempest, she does not 
 pray, as it were, for the weak, in trying to avert the scourges 
 of wrath. It would be an evil prayer, were it not allowable 
 to flee from, repel and shun, as far as possible, the scourge 
 of God. But when a man, of fraternal love, perseveres in 
 these as in other ills, his virtue is perfect and very praise- 
 worthy, and when necessary, is even commanded, as love 
 to one's neighbor. And it is necessary when there is no 
 one else to go to those who are dying of the pestilence, or to 
 serve the sick. For I am sure that the priest who has the 
 cure of souls may not flee or appoint a substitute. 
 
 On this matter read the learned epistle of Augustine to 
 Honoratus, which is found in the eleventh part of his legend 
 written by Possidonius, towards the end.^ He teaches that 
 the shepherd must be with the sheep of Christ, and lay down 
 his life for them,^ as one whom it behooves to be perfect. 
 Wherefore let us who are strong bear the infirmities of the 
 weak,' and let us give them permission to flee and save their 
 bodies, even if we do not praise them for it. Take it in good 
 part that I write briefly. Commend me to Jonas Kammerer,' 
 and please all pray for me, a sinner. I also desire to be well 
 in body," and I despise the barkings of my enemies. Farewell 
 in Christ. Brother Martin Luther. 
 
 ^Possidonius, De vita Augustini, chap, xxx. 
 
 ^John, A. 12. 
 
 ^Romans, xv. i. 
 
 *Pastor of the Church of St. George at Tbalmansfeld. 
 
 BEnders refers the words "carnem meam quoque valere cupio*' to Luther's 
 family, who lived at Eisleben, not a great distance from Tbalmansfeld, but it is 
 eurely far more natural to refer them to the bodily health of which Luther has 
 just been speaking at length in this letter. 
 
Let. 184 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 227 
 
 184. LUTHER TO MARGARET, DUCHESS OF BRUNSWICK. 
 
 Enders, ii. 217. De Wette, i. 386. German. 
 
 (Wittenberg, middle of October, 1519.) 
 
 Margaret, a daughter of Count Conrad of Rietberg, married on 
 November 16, 1483, Duke Frederic of Brunswick-Liineburg, who died 
 March 5, 1495. Luther had never seen her. Infra, no. 185. 
 
 In dating this letter, the dedication to Luther's Sermons on the 
 Sacraments, which in Enders is assigned simply to October, with a 
 question mark, I follow the St. Louis edition, vol. xxi., no. 226. The 
 first sermons appeared early in November, and the dedication must 
 have been written earlier. See further Luthers Werke, ed. Clemen, i. 
 174. 
 
 High-born Princess, gracious Lady, certain of my friends,* 
 priests and gentlemen, have besought me to dedicate some 
 spiritual and Christian writing to your Grace, as a grateful 
 recognition of your gracious favor and pleasure in my un- 
 worthy self, and to show my humble service. My own sense 
 of obligation often urged me to do the same, but the diffi- 
 culty was that I had very little material ready with which I 
 might satisfy my desire and discharge my debt, especially as 
 I am certain that Christ, the master of all of us, has long 
 since anticipated me. But finally I have allowed myself 
 for the sake of your Grace's pious love of the Scripture, 
 which has often been told me, to publish certain sermons'' dedi- 
 cated to your Grace, on the holy, precious and comfortable 
 sacraments of penance, baptism and of Christ's body. For I 
 considered that many consciences are troubled and pained, 
 and I have found people here who do not know the holy and 
 full grace of the sacraments nor how to use them; but 
 alas! presume to seek peace rather in their own works than 
 in the holy sacrament of God's grace. For doctrines of men 
 have hidden and taken from us the holy sacraments. I pray 
 that your Grace will recognize my small service and not take 
 my presumption ill. For I am always humbly ready to serve 
 your Grace, whom I now and then commend to God. Amen. 
 
 ^Particularly Otto Beckmann, infra, no. 185. 
 
 ^Sermone von der Busse der Taube, und dem Leichnam Christi. Weimar, ii. 
 7i3ff. On IvUther*s sacramental system. Smith, op. cit., Spf., infra, no. 206. 
 
228 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 185 
 
 18s. LUTHER TO SPALATIN. 
 Enders, ii. 220. Wittenberg (middle of October), 1519. 
 
 On the second postscript to this letter, which belongs to Luther's 
 letter to Spalatin, March 13, 1519, cf. supra, no. 135. 
 
 Enders dates this letter as late as early in November, 1519, because 
 of the second postscript, without which, he says, the date might be 
 the end of October. But the postscript not belonging to this letter, 
 the allusions to Miltitz and the dedicatioli to the Duchess of Bruns- 
 wick, indicate the middle of October. The St. Louis edition dates 
 October 15. Vol. xxi., no. 225. 
 
 Greeting. Dear George, I have been asked by several people 
 for nothing more often or more earnestly, than for that which 
 you write the most illustrious elector asks of me.^ Of all 
 that I do there is nothing I would do more willingly than 
 that, because by this means alone I believe I could succor the 
 priests and monks, so that they might cut off and reject those 
 dirty fables of sermon-writers, which rather proscribe than 
 describe Christ, and that they might have something by which 
 they might publish the pure theology of Christ among the 
 people, and expel those errors which flood the land like a 
 deluge. Would that the great prelates would care for this 
 matter, for it is their duty. 
 
 The more I wish to succeed in this matter the less I fear I 
 shall do so, for I am too busy to attend to this, or if I do it I 
 shall have to limit my public lecturing and preaching, which 
 will be difficult. But I will try and arrange it; if it please 
 God, it will proceed, and I only desire to serve him in this. 
 Farewell and commend me to the elector. Stromer's excellent 
 advice pleases me. 
 
 I think no answer should be sent to Charles von Miltitz. 
 The thing was done as I wrote and said, and I cannot speak 
 otherwise unless I wish to lie. If he played the riddler with 
 me, who attended only to his plain meaning, it was not my 
 fault. Brother Martix Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 P. S. — You will be surprised that I may dedicate my 
 sermons to the duchess ; I am surprised, too, for I never saw 
 her, but I have been besieged by the prayers of our Otto 
 Beckmann to gratify so highly praised a woman. 
 
 ^/. e., to write Posiilla, or homilies on the gospel and epistle for Sundays and 
 feast days. 
 
Ut. 186 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS- 229 
 
 186. CROTUS RUBEANUS TO LUTHER. 
 Enders, ii. 204. Bologna, October 16, 1519. 
 
 John Jager of Dornheim (Crotus Rubeanus, 1480-c. 1539), matricu- 
 lated at Erfurt, 1498, B. A. 1500, M. A. 1507. In 1510 he went with 
 Hutten to Fulda. In 1515 he published the first series of the Epistolae 
 Obscurorum Virorum. From 1517-20 he was at Bologna, 1524-31 with 
 Albert of Brandenburg (Duke of Prussia) at Konigsberg, from that 
 time on a canon at Halle. Until 1531 he was an enthusiastic 
 admirer of Luther, more from patriotic than religious reasons, but 
 after this he broke with the Reformer. Life in Allgemeine deutsche 
 Biographie and cf. G. Stokes : Epistolae Obscurorum Virorum, Intro- 
 duction, pp. Ix.ff, and W. Reindell: Luther, Crotus und Hutten. 
 Marburg, 1890. The bearer of the letter was John Hess of Nurem- 
 berg. Luther received it early in December. 
 
 Greeting. Two things, reverend and beloved Martin, have 
 kept my love for you strong: first, our intimacy while in 
 youth we were studying at Erfurt, an intimacy which time 
 and similarity of character made the foundation of a close 
 friendship ; and secondly, because we have in you a splendid 
 defender of true piety, which you protect with the shield of 
 Scripture while others, in the main, try to destroy it. Where- 
 fore it has come to pass that I who have been so long absent 
 chat witli you, clasp your hand and dream of you more often 
 than those whom you have near you. I make our friend 
 Hess'^ witness of this, who is my ambassador to you as well 
 as his own. 
 
 Martin, I am moved by your controversy with the Domin- 
 icans, who, with many others, conspire against your life. 
 And had you not been sent by Heaven to this corrupt age, 
 and had not a celestial hand guarded you as a teacher of 
 Christian doctrine, we should long ago have delivered your 
 funeral oration, so great is the fury of those who prefer their 
 doctrine to that of Christ;" so great is Roman avarice that it 
 would find a thousand ways of poison and treason, if there 
 
 ^John Hess of Nuremberg (1490-January 5, 1547), studied at Leipsic 1506-10, 
 then at Wittenberg till 1513. He then became secretary of John Turzo, Bishop of 
 Breslau. In 1517 he was in Italy, in 1519 back at Wittenberg. Then he went 
 to Breslau, which he reformed. He had a good deal to do with Caspar 
 Schwenckfeld. In 1522 he went to Oels, in 1523 to Nuremberg, and then back to 
 Breslau, where he remained the rest of his life. Biography by Kostlin in 
 Zeitschrift fiir Geschichte und Altertum Schlesiens, vi. 97ff, i8iff, xii. 4ioff. 
 
 2Greek. 
 
230 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 186 
 
 were any gain therein. While I was still in Germany/ your 
 Punic war was not yet heard of; a year afterwards, when 
 James Fuchs," a sincere admirer of yours, came to St. Peter's 
 on a vow, he brought us the first news of the captured arms. 
 The first thing from the literary battle which came into our 
 hands was the Dialogue of Prierias, that acute theologian, 
 whose scurrilous wit was so felicitous that it might even have 
 broken your "iron nose."^ After that, Andrew Fuchs,' dean 
 of Bamberg, sent us your Resolutions and your Acta Augus- 
 tana. We read them eagerly and passed them on to many 
 learned men at Rome in order to suppress the false rumors 
 about you circulated by evil men. We had to do this secretly, 
 that they might come into the hands of the readers without 
 our names being mentioned, lest we should prepare for our- 
 selves in those places where the power of the priests is formid- 
 able, a misfortune by our imprudence, for at Rome those 
 who have your books are esteemed heretics, and those who 
 import the books do it at the peril of their lives. Rome is 
 intolerant, proud and always fearful lest the truth should free 
 some of those over whom she tyrannizes. When your cause 
 was known the most prudent theologians discussed it with 
 their heart for you, but dissenting from you with their lips, 
 not so much because they feared the power of the Pope as 
 because they feared that detracting from his authority would 
 disturb the peace of Christendom. Let them answer for 
 the righteousness of this opinion; for my part I believe that 
 Christianity does not need fraud, and that he who says what 
 he does not believe in his heart is not the disciple of Christ 
 who taught us that our words should be Yea, yea, and Nay, 
 nay." And if the more recent theologians, who are as firm 
 as brass walls for Aristotle's decrees, had not acted on this 
 principle, we should not have come to the present state of 
 aflfairs, when we are forced to obey rather the will of the 
 Pope than the commands of Christ, nor would you, in this 
 
 ICrotus was last in Germany in 1517. 
 
 2Jame6 von Fuchs, a nobleman and canon at Bamberg and Wurzburg. After 
 1523 he renounced his priestly character and married, dying in 1539. 
 8A quotation from the Dialogue. 
 *A brother of the former, also canon of Bamberg 
 6Matthew, v. 37. 
 
Let. i85 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 231 
 
 controversy, have been so harassed by the Pope's authority, 
 nor would Rome have yet changed the Catholic faith into 
 another. For now the head of that faith, though a mere man, 
 allows divine honors to be paid to him, despising the example 
 of him, who, though he was God, emptied himself, taking 
 on the form of a servant.' It is commonly said at Rome, even 
 by those who seem to have sense, that it is impossible that 
 anything which pleases the Pope should not be most Christian, 
 even if it goes counter to a hundred Pauls and the whole 
 Bible. For they say he is Christ's vicar and is guided by the 
 Holy Spirit, and they bandy about some texts of Scripture 
 badly understood, by which they try to stop the mouths of 
 their opponents at the beginning of the argfument. 
 
 What good, therefore, will your controversy do us? What 
 fruit will the Scriptures bear us, when we disregard all other 
 authority? None, forsooth, unless princes and bishops deem 
 it more holy to defend the Word of God than to pour out a 
 mighty quantity of gold for all their pallia, indulgences, bulls, 
 trifles and nonsense, to enable the holy fathers to support 
 their harlots and male prostitutes. As, in conversation with 
 a certain Dominican master, I was once blaming the immoder- 
 ate license of Rome, by which the people of Christendom were 
 oppressed and their morals polluted, he replied that it was 
 all done by divine Providence, and that we should not question 
 the will of God. I answered: "If crimes can be defended 
 under the plea of Providence, it would be much more holy 
 to cut them down by the authority of Scripture, the sword 
 of the spirit, which is the Word of God.' For we know the 
 will of God only from the testimony of Scripture, which has 
 issued from the mouth of the Most High."" 
 
 I tell you this, Martin, that you may understand how little 
 it avails at Rome to say, "Thy testimonies, Lord, are wonder- 
 ful, therefore doth my soul keep them.'" For they have got 
 to such a degree of impiety that the words "good Christian" 
 
 iphilippians, ii. 6f. 
 
 ^Ephesians, vi. I7- 
 
 SC/. Calvin's saying that the Bible flowed "ex ipsissimo Dei ore." The "Protes- 
 tant principle" of the supreme authority of the Bible was thus early gaining 
 ground. 
 
 *PsaIm, cxix. 129. 
 
232 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let i86 
 
 or "theologian" are epithets of extreme contempt, but it is 
 esteemed great good fortune to obtain the title of chamberlain 
 or butler to the Pope. The Pope holds the first place of 
 honor, Christ the last. When the High Priest goes forth, 
 as many cardinals, protonotaries, bishops, legates, provosts 
 and attornies follow him as hungry birds gather around car- 
 rion. But Christ's eucharist follows on an ass in the last 
 company made up of unchaste women and prostituted boys. 
 I was recently at Rome with our Hess; saw the ancient 
 monuments and the seat of pestilence; I was glad I saw it, 
 and yet sorry. There certain persons, who thought them- 
 selves clever, attacked me on the subject of indulgences and 
 the power of the Pope, as though I either could ,or wished 
 to dispute about them, especially at Rome. . . . 
 
 Wherefore, Martin, you do not conquer — although armed 
 with the armor of Scripture and with the sword of the Holy 
 Spirit you seek the Hfe of the enemy — for the judgment of 
 victory is with the Roman See, not with the Scripture, for, 
 witness your friend Prierias, the very Bible gets its authority 
 from the Pope. But your appeal to a general council saves 
 you from this difficulty. The appeal itself is drawn up so 
 carefully, according to divine and human laws, that it de- 
 serves praise even from enemies. Yet it excites extraordinary 
 anger from the Florentine faction,^ which fears, if it loses 
 the power of giving indulgences for the dead, that afterwards 
 similar arguments may deprive it of the power of issuing 
 pallia, reservations, bulls, privileges, and of its wide juris- 
 diction and other things to which have been given the name 
 of ecclesiastical liberty, though they are really but nets for 
 catching the money of poor wretches. Germany will be blind 
 as long as she remains in her error, and as long as scholars 
 do not declaim and write against the bad morals with which 
 Rome infects us. Let them admonish the simple people of 
 the Roman guile, and that we, who have so often been de- 
 spoiled under the guise of religion for pallia, for confirma- 
 tions, for fighting the Turk, now suffer a greater wrong in 
 
 '/. c, the papal faction, Leo X. being a Florentine. It excited all the more 
 wrath because there was even among Catholics a large party which maintained 
 that a council was superior to the Pope. Cf. Smith, /cc. cit., p. 97. 
 
Let. 186 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 233 
 
 being forced to receive cardinals in the midst of Germany; 
 for the event will soon show what this new step of the 
 Florentines means. 
 
 Whenever you, Martin, are mentioned, I am wont to call 
 you the pater patriae, worthy of a golden statue and of annual 
 feasts, for having first dared to deliver the people of the Lord 
 from noxious opinions and to assert true piety. Go on as 
 you have begun, leave an example to posterity; for what you 
 do is not without the inspiration of the gods. Divine Provi- 
 dence intended this when, as you were returning from your 
 parents, a thunderbolt from heaven prostrated you like an- 
 other Paul on the ground before the town of Erfurt and 
 forced you from our company, sad at your departure, into 
 the walls of the Augustinian fold.^ After this time, even 
 though I rarely saw you, yet my mind was always with you, 
 as you may have learned from the letter I sent you last year 
 at Augsburg, if you got it,^ at which time I earnestly com- 
 mended you to Thomas Fuchs," a knight esteemed by the Em- 
 peror. You are now weary and have suffered much in body 
 and reputation, but arduous deeds are not done without hard 
 labor, and when your evil days come to an end, you will 
 remember them with pleasure and will say: "I went through 
 fire and through water and am saved."* Then Germany will 
 turn her face towards you, and will hear with admiration 
 the Word of God from you. But by your kindness I pray 
 you, do not hereafter descend into the arena of public debate, 
 especially against rash men. Do you not know what boys 
 say: "Strive not with words against the wordy man"? De- 
 bate within your monastery, with the pen, quietly; that argu- 
 ment is held most exact, which is set down on paper, but 
 
 ^This passage is most interesting as being the earliest distinct account of the 
 storm and "vision" which, on July 2, 1505, decided Luther to enter the monas- 
 tery. Cf. the accounts by Jonas, 1538, in Scheel: Documente su Ltithers 
 Entwickelung, p. 30, and by Luther, 1539, in H. E. Bindseil: Lutheri Colloquia, 
 iii. 187. Also Smith, op. cii., p. 9. American Journal of Psychology, xxiv. 
 (1913). 36ofE. 
 
 ^Not extant, spoken of by Luther in a letter of November 25, 1518. 
 
 3A brother of James and Andrew, a knight of Schneeberg, Imperial captain 
 at Ratisbon, an office obtained after a controversy between that city and the 
 Emperor Maximilian in 1512. Cf. infra, no. 208. After 1523 Fuchs took a 
 neutral attitude towards the Reformation. 
 
 *Psalm Ivi. 12. 
 
234 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. i£7 
 
 that which is bandied to and fro orally lacks judgment and 
 often leads the mind of the debater from the truth, not to 
 mention that it is base for a theologian to descend to strife. 
 When we first heard of your debate we were sorry for it, for 
 Bologna and Vienna well know Eck's character.' But the 
 epistles of Lang and Melanchthon inform us that the debate 
 resulted favorably to us. 
 
 Farewell and love me. I will not cease to love you. As 
 much as I safely can I will defend your honor here. Pardon 
 my haste; I preferred to write you at length and without 
 care, rather than to compose a short letter with elegance. I 
 have hardly had a chance to reread it. 
 
 Crotus Rubeanus. 
 
 187. ERASMUS TO MARTIN LIPSIUS OF BRUSSELS. 
 Sitsungsherichte der phil.-hist. Classe der kaiserlichen Akademie der 
 
 Wissenschaften. Wien. 1882, c. 689. 
 
 (LouvAix, middle of October, 1519.) 
 
 Horawitz, who published this letter, dated it 1520, but the true date 
 is given by comparison with that of October 17 to Fisher (no. 188), 
 in a part of which not translated Erasmus speaks of Hochstraten's 
 visit, and still more definitely by the minutes of the theological faculty 
 of Louvain (printed by de Jongh, op. cit., p. 43), in which it is stated 
 that Hochstraten on October 12 handed to Louvain the condemnation 
 of Luther by Cologne. 
 
 Martin Lipsius, born at Brussels, spent his life as an .\ugustinian 
 canon at Louvain. He died 1555. He was a great-uncle of the more 
 famous Justus Lipsius. His correspondence has been published by 
 Horawitz, loc. cit. Life in Biographie Nationale de Belgique. 
 
 Hochstraten is at Louvain. He found my epistle' to Luther, 
 and thinks it sufficient to convict me of favoring Luther, though 
 I myself am publishing" it to show how little Luther and I 
 have in common. If I favor him, what is there monstrous 
 in that? Hochstraten influenced the courtiers, especially the 
 Lord' of Bergen, but there were some who rightly under- 
 
 lEck had previously debated at both Bologna and Vienna. 
 
 2N'o. 155. 
 
 3In the Farrago nova of October, 1519. 
 
 ^Maximilian des Berghes, Lord of Zevenberghen, one of the numerous grand- 
 sons of John Labeo, the warrior of Philip the Good. He becomes prominent as a 
 diplomat at the time of the election of Charles. Scant notices of him in 
 A. Walther: Die Anfange Karls V., 19 11. 
 
Let. 189 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 235 
 
 stood the affair. Yet I suspect that Briselot' the sufifragan 
 bishop of Cambray and Hochstratten have conspired with Eg- 
 mond/ not so much against me as against Luther. . . . 
 
 188. ERASMUS TO JOHN FISHER, BISHOP OF ROCHESTER. 
 Erasmi opera (1703), iii. 511. Louvain, October 17, 1519. 
 
 John Fisher (i459?-i53S), made Bishop of Rochester 1504. For 
 many years connected with Cambridge University. In May, 1520, he 
 preached against Luther, and in 1523 wrote two books against him. 
 Cf. English Historical Review, c. 657, 659. Fisher was put to death by 
 Henry for refusing to recognize the king as head of the Church. 
 Life by Bridgett, and in Dictionary of National Biography. 
 
 . . . [The first part of this letter is on various enemies of 
 Erasmus, and on the death of Colet.] . . . The Elector 
 Frederic of Saxony has written to me twice' in answer to 
 my one epistle. Luther is protected by him alone. He writes 
 that he has given himself to the cause rather than to the 
 person of Luther, and that he does not propose that in his 
 dominions innocence should be oppressed by the malice of 
 those who seek their own profit and not that of Jesus Christ. 
 . . . [Follows a high eulogy of Frederic for declining the 
 imperial crown which he might have had.] 
 
 189. ULRICH VON HUTTEN TO EOBAN HESS AT ERFURT. 
 E. Bocking: Hutteni opera (Leipsic, 1859-66), i. 313. 
 
 Steckelberg, October 26, 1519. 
 
 Ulrich von Hutten (April 21, 1488-August or September, 1523), 
 had been forced by his father to enter the Benedictine monastery 
 of Fulda in 1499, but escaped six years later, and wandered to various 
 universities in wretched health and dire poverty for eight years. In 
 1513 his brilliant defence of his cousin, John von Hutten, who had 
 been murdered by Duke Ulrich of Wiirtemberg, made him prominent. 
 He visited Italy 1515-7. In 1516 he published the second series of the 
 Epistolae Obscurorum Virorum in defence of Reuchlin. He embraced 
 Luther's cause with fervor, chiefly for patriotic reasons. His plan 
 
 ^John Briselot (tSeptember ii, 1520), studied at Paris, D. D. 1502. He was a 
 Carmelite, Suffragan Bishop of Cambray, and in his last years confessor of Prince 
 Charles of Spain. Allen, iii. 4. 
 
 2Nichola3 Baechem of Egmond in Holland, studied at Louvain, then taught. 
 Doctor of theology 1505, became a Carmelite in 1507 at Malines. In 1510 he 
 returned to Louvain, where, except for the year 15 17 at Brussels, he spent the 
 rest of his life until his death on August 24, 1526. He was dean of the faculty 
 1520 and 1524, and inquisitor from 1521-6. He was the most decided enemy of 
 Erasmus and Luther. De Jongh, iS2ff. 
 
 ^No. 145. The second letter is not extant. For Erasmus* letter, c/, supra, no. 141. 
 
236 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 190 
 
 was discredited by the fall of Sickingen, in May, 1523; and he died 
 a lonely and broken exile. Life by David Friedrich Strauss, 4th ed., 
 189s (English translation). 
 
 Some days ago, when I told you what I was writing, I 
 asked to be informed what you were doing and whether you 
 dared aught for the glory of the fatherland and the freedom 
 of this nation to be redeemed from the Roman tyrants. 
 Pray try something, and meantime let me know what it is, 
 that I may refresh myself with hope. I dare not admit 
 Luther as an ally in this attempt, on account of Elector 
 Albert, who is persuaded rashly that the affair pertains to 
 him, though I think otherwise and regret that this chance of 
 signally avenging the fatherland has been taken from me. 
 Even if I do nothing else meanwhile, I will do that, and per- 
 chance more directly because by my own motion. Besides, 
 Luther has in Melanchthon an author able to polish his 
 works. . . . 
 
 190. CROTUS RUBEANUS TO LUTHER. 
 Enders, ii. 211. Bologna, October 31, 1519. 
 
 Greeting. At Rome Eck is celebrated as the victor of 
 Leipsic. So much is one's own testimony worth, when peo- 
 ple are already prejudiced in one's favor. I told them not to 
 be too hasty with their judgment, lest Rome should again 
 suffer that which she lately suffered with shame, when she 
 av.arded the Empire with certainty to the French King, al- 
 though our princes elected Oiarles.^ But let her have her 
 own opinion as long as it is clear that all her decrees are not 
 just. But it is folly both to decree the victory and to be in 
 doubt about it. Eck sent a letter^ to Rome, seen by very few 
 besides the Pope and tv.o theologians. While it was being 
 secretly read, a certain physician who is my friend overheard 
 it, and what he was able to retain in memory he communicated 
 to me with fraternal faith. I report it to you, Martin, in 
 the same confidential manner, asking you not to give it out 
 lest it harm the physician. The epistle was divided into many 
 headings, explaining the order of the debate at Leipsic, and 
 telling the Pope what he ought to do. The bishops for 
 
 '^On June 2?, 1 5 19, the electors chose Charles of Spain Emperor, the defeated 
 candidate being Francis I. of France, supported by Leo X. 
 ^ost. 
 
Let. 191 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 237 
 
 drawing up your condemnation are appointed, with a certain 
 number of other persons necessary for giving judgment; the 
 method in which those whose opinions go counter to the 
 Church are treated is shown, and some precedents are given. 
 You are held up to hatred first on account of the Bohemian 
 heresy and your approval of Hussite dogmas ; then poets 
 and cultivators of polite literature are accused, my friend 
 Hutten being mentioned by name, some of whose songs on 
 Florentine fraud are cited.' As an additional proof of the 
 immediate peril of the Church, the new and daily increasing 
 study of Latin and Greek is cited. Then the Pope is diligently ' 
 admonished in this dangerous state of affairs to lose no time, 
 but to force the University of Paris and ours at Erfurt to pro- 
 nounce sentence; for if he delays, it is said that he will soon lose 
 Thuringia, Meissen and the Mark," and soon after that, other 
 regions in which the people are embracing with all their heart 
 your "heresy" as Eck calls it. The physician did not remem- 
 ber the rest, and I can't tell you what I don't know, but you 
 can guess that it was something like what went before. As 
 it is no small matter, keep it deep in your mind, but keep it 
 quiet so as not to endanger me and the physician. When next 
 spring I come again into Germany, I can show my contempt 
 for the false apostles who devour us and smite us on the face ; 
 but here I must dissemble. As a reward for his debate, Eck 
 asked to be appointed chief inquisitor over three dioceses, 
 but now he has changed his mind and asks for the parish of 
 Ingolstadt, and in the aforementioned letter he takes the Pope 
 severely to task for not quashing someone else's claim on the 
 parish in favor of himself who has sufifered so much for the 
 Church. Salute Carlstadt. In haste. . . . 
 
 191. LUTHER TO SPALATIN. 
 Enders, ii. 218. (Wittenberg), November i, 1519. 
 
 Greeting. Please thank Mark Schart,' dear Spalatin, for 
 
 ^Epigrammata Hutteni ad Crot. Rub. de statu Romano ex urbe missa, Hutteni 
 Opera, ed. Bocking, iii. 278. 
 
 2The Duchy of Meissen, around the city of that name, was the core of Duke 
 George's dominion of Albertine Saxony; the Mark is Brandenburg. These 
 districts remained Catholic for twenty and sixteen years respectively after the 
 date of this letter. 
 
 3A noble retainer of Frederic the Wise, who granted him fiefs in 1496 in 
 
238 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 192 
 
 the ten gulden, and send him some of these books/ Truly on 
 the same day on which I became rich, the need of certain 
 men to whom I was obliged to lend something made me poorer 
 than ever. 
 
 I am ashamed that among the people of Christ there is so 
 little charity left that those who have less than twenty gulden 
 are obliged to succor each other. I think that the money was 
 given to me because the Lord wished to help them through 
 me, but it was not enough. Wherefore, after consulting you, 
 I will even apply to the clement elector to relieve poverty. 
 By God's grace I ask nothing for myself. 
 
 Furious Eck has published a defence against my letter to 
 you.° I am answering him, having this week completed six 
 sheets and given them to the press. It is remarkable how the 
 man rages, stuffed with lies as he is. When he attacks me 
 hardest and most cleverly he imprudently forgets his hypoc- 
 risy, on which account alone, passing over other things, I 
 have laid hold on him to force him still further to betray 
 himself and his Leipsic supporters. I will soon send a copy 
 of my book. . . . 
 
 Farewell in the Lord. Martin Luther. 
 
 192. ERASMUS TO ALBERT, CARDINAL ARCHBISHOP 
 
 ELECTOR OF MAYENCE. 
 
 Erasmi opera, iii. 513. Louvain, November i, 1519. 
 
 ... In the first place, I must preface that I never had 
 
 anything to do with the cause either of Reuchlin or of Luther. 
 
 <^I never cared for the Cabala and Talmud, whatever they may 
 
 be. I v/as highly displeased by the violent collisions between 
 
 Reuchlin and the party of James Hochstraten] Luther is as 
 
 unknown to me as any one can be, nor have I yet had time 
 
 to read his works, except that I have glanced at them hastily. 
 
 If he has written well I deserve no praise; if otherwise, there 
 
 return for services. Later he became the tutor of Frederic's natural sons, 
 Frederic and Sebastian von Je?sen, with whom he lived in Jessen until his 
 death on March 21, 1529. Archiv f&r Reformationsgeschichte, vi. p. 66, and viii. 
 p. 33- Schart several times gave Luther money, cf. Enders, iii. 74. 
 
 'There is extant a copy of Luther's Sermon on Preparation for Death, with 
 his own inscription, "To my dear friend Mark Schart." 
 
 ^On August 15 Luther dedicated to Spalatin his Resolutiones super proposi- 
 tionibus suis, Enders, ii. 102. Eck replied on September 2. Luther's answer, 
 De Wette, i. 353. Enders, ii. 214. 
 
Let. 192 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 239 
 
 is no reason to charge it to me. But I, see that good men are 
 little offended with his writings jfnot, I think, that they approve 
 everything, but that they read him in the same way that we 
 read Cyprian, Jerome and even Peter Lombard, winking at 
 many things.^ I was sorry that Luther's books were published^ 
 and when some of them began to come out I did my best to\ 
 prevent it, principally because I feared they might cause a 
 tumult. {^Luther has written me a right Christian letter, at- 
 least to my way of thinking, and I answered, incidentally 
 warning him not to write anything seditious nor insolent to 
 the Roman pontiff, nor anything too proud or angry, but to 
 preach the evangelic doctrine with sincere mind and all gen- 
 tleness. I did it courteously so as to have more effect. I 
 added that this was the way in which he could best conciliate 
 the opinion of men; which some have interpreted to mean 
 that I favor him, although none of them ever warned him, 
 but only L/ I am neither the accuser, nor the defender nor 
 the judge of Luther; I dare not judge his spirit, for that is 
 most difficult, especially to give an 'unfavorable judgment.^ 
 
 UBut if I did favor him as a good man, as all, even his enemies, 
 confess that he is, or as a prisoner on trial, which even sworn 
 judges are allowed to do, or as one oppressed, as humanity 
 would dictate, or as one overwhelmed by those who use 
 him as a pretext to crush sound learning, why should I be 
 loaded with so much odium? At least I do not .interfere with 
 the cause^ Finally I think it is Christian 'so to favor Luther 
 that if he is innocent he may not be condemned by wicked 
 
 i faction, and if he is in error he may be rather cured than 
 destroyed. /This is most agreeable to the example of Christ, 
 who, according to the prophet, does not quench the smoking 
 flax nor break the bruised reed.y I should prefer that that 
 heart which seems to strike forth some splendid sparks ot 
 gospel truth should not be crushed, but corrected and called 
 back to preach the glory of Christ. ^ Now the theologians 
 whom I know neither warn nor teach Luther, but only traduce 
 him with wild clamors before the people, or attack him with 
 violent abuse, having nothing at their tongue's end but the 
 
 '"Praesertim in partem pejorem," or, "especially the worst side of a man." 
 ^Isaiah, xlii. 3. 
 
240 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 192 
 
 words heresy, heretics, heresiarchs, schism and antichrist. 
 It cannot be denied that these epithets are odiously appUed to 
 him before the people by those who have not read his books. 
 It has been found that some have expressly condemned what 
 they have not understood. One of their charges is this: 
 Luther has written that we are not bound to confess mortal 
 sins, except those which are known,' meaning those which are 
 known to us when we confess. But someone interpreted his 
 meaning to be that we need not confess any sins except what 
 were publicly known, and he made a tremendous ado about 
 this thing he did not understand. 
 
 It has been found that things are condemned in Luther's 
 books as heretical which are considered orthodox and edify- 
 ing in Bernard and Augustine. I warned them from the be- 
 ginning to keep from clamor and to treat the affair in writ- 
 ings and discussions. First, I said, that should not be publicly 
 condemned, which has not been read, weighed, and, if I may 
 say it, understood. Secondly, it was unbecoming for theologi- 
 ans to do anything by clamor, for their judgment ought to be 
 mature; thirdly, they should take heed how they ran wild 
 against a man whose life was approved by all. Finally, I said, 
 perhaps it was not safe to ventilate these matters before a 
 promiscuous multitude, among whom there were many who 
 did not like to confess their sins at all. If they should 
 hear that there were theologians who considered it unneces- 
 sary they might easily get a wrong idea. Although I only 
 told them what every decent man must think, they immedi- 
 ately conceived the suspicion that Luther's books were largely 
 mine, written by me at Louvain, although I never wrote a 
 tittle of them, nor were they published with my knowledge or 
 consent. Yet, on account of this false suspicion, without 
 the least warning they stir up commotions here which are the 
 fiercest I have ever seen in my life. Moreover, though it is 
 becoming for theologians to teach, I now see many who try 
 
 lln the Sermo de Poenitentia (1518, Weimar, i. 322), Luther says: "Do not 
 take upon yourself to confess aU daily sins, nor even all mortal sins, for no one 
 can know all mortal sins, and formerly men only confessed public and known 
 mortal sins." This was condemned by the bull Exsurge Domine, article 8, in 
 1520. When Erasmus wrote, it was on the point of being condemned also by 
 the theologians of Louvain. (November 7.) 
 
Let. 192 OTHER CONTEMPORARY I^ETTERS 241 
 
 to do nothing but compel, destroy and crush, although Augus- 
 tine, even against the Donatists, who were not only heretics, but 
 savage robbers, does not approve those who only compel with- 
 out teaching. The men who should be the gentlest of all seem 
 to thirst for nothing but human blood ; they only pant for 
 Luther's capture and death. But this is to be hangmen rather 
 than theologians. If they wish to prove that they are great 
 divines, let them convert the Jews, or those hostile to Christ; 
 let them amend the morals of Christians, than which nothing is 
 more corrupt even among the Turks. 
 
 How can it be right that he should be haled to punishment 
 who first proposed questions for debate, theses which have 
 always been debated in theological schools? Why should he 
 be chastized who wishes to be instructed, who submits him- 
 self to the judgment of the Roman see and to that of the 
 universities? It should not seem strange that he does not 
 care to entrust himself to the hands of those who would rather 
 see him dead than right. Let us examine the origin of this 
 evil. The world is loaded down with human laws, with the 
 opinions and dogmas of the schools, with the tyranny of the 
 mendicant friars, who, though they are the retinue of the 
 I Roman see, have become so powerful and numerous that they 
 /are formidable even to the Pope and to kings. When the 
 Pope does what they want he is more than God; when he 
 acts against them he has no more authority than a dream. 
 I do not condemn all, but there are some of this order who 
 snare the consciences of men for their own profit and tyranny. 
 And with brazen forehead they have now begun to omit 
 Christ from their discourses and to preach nothing but their 
 own new and impudent dogmas. They speak of indulgences 
 so that even laymen cannot bear their words. By such means 
 the vigor of the gospel is gradually vanishing, and it will come 
 to pass that if tilings keep on going from bad to worse, 
 finally even that spark of Christianity from which charity , 
 might be kindled will be extinguished, and the whole of'i 
 religion will be reduced to more than Jewish ceremonialism. ' 
 Good men, even theologians who are not monks, deplore this, 
 and even monks confess it in their private conversations. 
 These things, I believe, have moved Luther to dare to oppose 
 i6 
 
242 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 192 
 
 their intolerable impudence. For what else can be the motive 
 of one who desires neither advancement nor money? I do 
 not now discuss the articles with which they have charged 
 Luther, I only speak of the cause of his action. Luther dared 
 to doubt indulgences, but others had too impudently asserted 
 their power. He dared to speak imprudently of the power 
 of the Pope, but others before him had written too immoder- 
 ately about it on the other side, especially these three Domin- 
 icans, Alvarus,' Prierias and Cardinal Cajetan. Luther dared 
 to despise the laws of Aquinas, but the Dominicans almost 
 preferred them to the gospel. He dared to raise some scruples 
 about confession, but the monks had long abused it to snare 
 the consciences of men. He dared partly to neglect the scho- 
 lastic canons, but they had honored them too much, and, 
 moreover, dififered about them among themselves, and these 
 canons moreover, they were continually changing, repealing old 
 laws and passing new ones. It tortured pious minds to hear 
 in the universities not a word of the gospel, and to learn that 
 the ancient and approved Fathers of the Church were con- 
 sidered superseded, and that even in divine service not a 
 word of Christ was spoken, but a great deal of the power of 
 the Pope and of the opinions of modern doctors. Their whole 
 speech was nothing but open avarice, ambition, flattery and 
 guile. I think it is their fault if Luther has written too 
 intemperately. 
 
 Whoever loves the gospel loves the Pope, who is the first 
 preacher of the gospel, just as the other bishops are. All 
 bishops are vicegerents of Christ, but he the chief. We should 
 believe that he cares for nothing more than the glory of Christ, 
 whose minister he is. Those who in adulation attribute 
 more to him than he himself recognizes or than is expedient 
 for the Christian flock, deserve ill of him. And yet some of 
 the authors of these tragedies are not zealous for the power 
 of the Pope, but use it only for their own gain and arbitrary 
 
 *John Alvarez (1488-1557), a Dominican, taught at Salamanca. Nominated 
 bishop by Charles V., but declined. Forced by Adrian VI. to take the See of 
 Cordova, Created Cardinal 1538. Zealous against heresy. Disinario di Erudizione, 
 ed. G. Moroni, Venice, 1840(1. What he wrote against Luther I cannot find. He is 
 mentioned as a despicable theologian by Crotus Rubeanus in a letter to Hutten, 
 Home, July i, 1519. Hutleni opera, i. 277. 
 
Let. 192 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 243 
 
 power. We have, I believe, a pious Pope, but one who does 
 not know all that is going on behind these tumults, and even 
 if he knew it could not prevent it all, as Virgil says: "The 
 charioteer is carried along by the horses, nor does the car obey 
 the reins." His piety will be helped by those who exhort him 
 to do what is worthy of Christ. It is no secret that they incite 
 his Holiness against Luther, or rather against all who dare to 
 mutter against their doctrines. But great princes should 
 rather consider what is the permanent will of the Pope than 
 the duty they owe to a command wrongly extorted from 
 him. . . . 
 
 They take it very ill that sound learning and the tongues 
 should flourish, and the old, worm-eaten, dust-covered authors 
 should revive to recall the world to its former state. Thepe 
 men fear for their own failings; they cannot bear to seem 
 ignorant of anything, and they are afraid that something may 
 wound their dignity. They kept the sore spot covered for 
 a while, but at last pain has conquered their pretence and they 
 have had to show it. They, especially the Dominicans and 
 Carmelites, whom I prefer to consider fools rather than 
 knaves, did their best even before Luther's books appeared. 
 But when Luther did begin to publish they took his works! 
 as a convenient excuse to attack Greek and sound learning,! 
 Reuchlin, Luther and even me, confounding us all and not 
 separating the good from the bad. In the first place, what 
 on earth has the degree of a man's learning to do with his 
 piety? And then what have I to do with Reuchlin and Luther? 
 But they mixed all things together so as to render all culti- 
 vators of sound learning invidious alike. One can see how 
 little candor they displayed when they themselves confessed 
 that there was no author, ancient or modern, in whom some 
 errors were not found. But they don't notice the many errors 
 of Alvarus, or Cajetan, or Prierias, because they are Domin- 
 icans. They only clamor against Reuchlin because he knows 
 Hebrew and Greek, and against Luther because they think 
 him more learned than themselves. But Luther wrote much 
 rather imprudent than impious. . . . 
 
 Formerly a heretic was one who erred from the gospel 
 truth. . . . now whoever displeases them is a heretic. It is 
 
244 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 193 
 
 heresy to know Greek, to write a polished style, to do what- 
 ever they do not. . . .^ 
 
 193. LUTHER TO THE PRINCESS MARGARET OF ANHALT. 
 
 Mitteilungen des Vereins fiir AnhalHsche Geschichte und Altertums- 
 kunde, X. 137 (1904). Wittenberg, November 4, 1519. 
 
 Margaret of Anhalt-Dessau, nee Duchess of Miinsterberg, married 
 Ernest of Anhalt in 1494. He died in 1516. She is not to be con- 
 founded with Margaret of Anhalt-Cothen, nee von Schvirarzburg 
 (Enders, xi. 327), or Margaret, vi^ife of John of Anhalt, by birth of 
 the house of Brandenburg (Enders, xi. 256). She was a friend of 
 Wenzel Link, who early in 1514 dedicated to her a tract on marriage, 
 and on January 22, 1515, wrote asking her to send him some venison 
 for a banquet he was to give. Dessau, where she lived, was only 
 twenty-five miles from Wittenberg, and Luther must often have 
 passed through it on the road to Erfurt. W. Reindell : W. Linck aus 
 Colditz, 1892, p. 253. She was the mother of Luther's friends, George, 
 Joachim and John. Witty and pious, she was at first inclined to the 
 Reformation, but turned away before her death on June 28, 1530. 
 F. Westphal : Furst Georg von Anhalt, 1907. 
 
 My humble prayers for your Grace. High-born, gracious 
 Princess ! It is long since I have been with your Grace, and 
 although I could give good reason and excuse for this, yet 
 will I not do so, for my heart and mind have never been away 
 from your Grace, and I have always been inclined to come 
 to you. For the same reason I have not written to you nor 
 conferred with you. It is the fault of my pride that I do not 
 willingly blame myself to anyone. But that your Grace may 
 see my humble devotion, I have charged this relative of mine 
 to offer your Grace my humble prayers and give you these 
 sermons.' I am sorry that I have nothing better; also 
 they are so many who give me a bad name, that I hardly 
 dare publish my own stuff, but must let them burst forth 
 and hold myself in, and endure it as well as I can. But if I 
 get a little peace and time I will return again, hoping to do 
 your Grace's pleasure thereby. God keep your Grace. But 
 
 ^This letter was entrusted for delivery to Ulrtch von Hutten. Cf, infra, 
 January 26, 1520, no. 220. 
 
 -These sermons may have been that on Preparation for Death, Weimar, ii. 685, 
 and the one on Penance dedicated to Margaret of Brunswick, middle of October, 
 supra, no. 184. 
 
Let. 194 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 245 
 
 if on account of my bad name my presence would displease 
 your Grace or any of your court, please do not conceal it 
 from me, for I know well that my wind will not blow from 
 Leipsic or Merseburg. Herewith I commend myself to your 
 Grace. Your Grace's chaplain. 
 
 Dr. Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 194. LUTHER TO SPALATIN. 
 Enders, ii. 224. Wittenberg, November 7, 1519. 
 
 Greeting. I am girt up for the labor of explaining the 
 Epistles and Gospels,^ and am very busy, dear Spalatin. But 
 I send what I can. . . . 
 
 I know nothing nor have I ever heard anything of the au- 
 thority of Ecclesiastes'' on purgatory. But the farthing men- 
 tioned in Matthew,' with which Eck attacked me at Leipsic, 
 is as applicable to purgatory as to anything else. What will not 
 anything signify to those who take it apart from its context 
 rather than rightly consider it? But even by the text itself 
 Eck is evidently refuted by the adverb "till," which in biblical 
 use does not signify a definite time, as they think, as, for 
 example, in Matthew, ii.' "and knew her not till she had 
 brought forth a son." See Erasmus' and Jerome. Secondly, 
 because Christ speaks of a man who would not agree with 
 his adversary, that is, who did not obey Christ's command, 
 and thus, as they themselves confess, sinned mortally. 
 Wherefore that prison is hell, from which no one is freed, 
 for even Eck and his friends send only into purgatory those 
 who have done all and have agreed with their adversary. 
 Therefore the text is only valid against them, unless they 
 agree that those who die in hatred, wrath and dissension with 
 their enemies only go to purgatory, which I hope even they 
 
 ^The so-called Church Postilla, or sermons on the Gospel and Epistle for 
 Sundays and feast days, which first appeared in March, 1521. Cf. supra, no. 185. 
 
 2Ecclesiastes, iv. 14, cited by Eclc; supra, no. 163. 
 
 SJIatthew, v. 26, cited by Eclc, "Thou shalt by no means come out thence, 
 till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing." 
 
 *Rather Matthew, i. 25. Luther always cites by chapters alone, because the 
 division into verses was not made until after his time. 
 
 6C/. Erasmus' note on the New Testament (Opera, 1703, vi. p. 11). William 
 Tyndale, in his translation of the New Testament, says that the words did not 
 imply that "St. Joseph knew Our Lady" even after she had borne Jesus. 
 
246 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND, Let. 195 
 
 will not have the brazen impudence to assert. Any boy can 
 see that Christ speaks of such men. The passage of the 
 apostle to the Corinthians^ was taken from Eck, as it were 
 by force, though he babbled about its being very clear for 
 him. Paul's words clearly mean that the day of the Lord 
 shall prove everyone's works, which day, he says, shall be 
 revealed by fire. Whence even an insane person can see that 
 Paul's words speak of the last judgment, in which the world 
 will be dissolved by heat; and that only by force or a figure 
 of speech (for which there is no evidence) can they be 
 applied to purgatory. Christ's words in John,^ about purg- 
 ing the Branch, have been applied to purgatory by a certain 
 Vincent,^ than whom no one ever twists the sense of Scrip- 
 ture more. If the word "purge" always connotes the idea 
 of purgatory, why don't they apply it to the text of Luke, ii.* 
 "When the days of her purification [purgationis] were ful- 
 filled." What can they understand who consider Vincent's 
 words articles of faith? The text in Maccabees" is left, and 
 is quite plain. But that book does not make articles of faith, 
 nor do the Fathers consider it an authority; the second book 
 especially is several times rejected by Jerome. In short, 
 although I know that our Church believes in purgatory, I do 
 not know that all Christians do. It is certain that no one 
 is a heretic for not believing in purgatory, nor is it an article 
 of faith, since the Greeks who do not believe it are never 
 considered heretics, except by these new abnormally keen 
 heresy hunters. And at the council of Basle the Greeks gave 
 a splendid account of their faith. Farewell and pray for me. 
 
 Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 19s. JOHN ECK TO THE ELECTOR FREDERIC OF SAXONY. 
 
 Enders, ii. 226. German. Ingolst.^dt, November 8, 1519. 
 
 This prolix letter of nearly thirty pages is mainly a detailed the- 
 ological argument in answer to Luther's letter, supra, no. 172. I 
 
 ^i Corinthians, iii. 15, "If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer 
 loss;' but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire." 
 =^John, XV. 2. 
 
 ^Vincent of Beauvais, died 1264, treats of purgatory in his Speculum morale. 
 *Luke, ii. 22. 
 62 Maccabees, xii. 46, quoted supra, no. 163. 
 
Let. 195 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 247 
 
 translate only two passages, the first, Enders, lines 122-137, express- 
 ing the Catholic doctrine of the interpretation of Scripture and the 
 second, lines 710-729, containing some personalities. 
 
 And as every Christian knows that the Holy Scripture is 
 prized and honored before all else, I have written that no 
 one should interpret Scripture according to his own reason, 
 but should follow the doctrine of the Fathers. Then here 
 comes Luther and calls it my own prating and sets up this 
 as his goal, "that if he has a clear text he will abide by if 
 even if the exegesis of the doctors is against it." May your 
 Grace note the impertinence that is concealed in his cowl! 
 That is the same principle which led all heretics astray, 
 namely, their own self-conceit, so that they won't follow 
 anyone else, but think that they understand better than all 
 the holy doctors. If the text is clear he will abide by it. Is 
 the text clear then? How, pray, did the sainted doctors 
 not understand it? How is it then, if one thinks he has a 
 clear text and yet errs as did the heretic Arius? I trust 
 much more in the dear saints than in my own blunt reason. 
 
 I know not whether Luther had a devil in his box or under '^ 
 his cowl; but no one at Leipsic ever heard me say anything, 
 about it. It is true that he had something on a chain, and a 
 silver ring on one finger which caused much talk. If Dr. 
 Luther thinks I am a slanderer and abuser of your Grace, 
 he does me as much wrong in this as in other matters. For I 
 was always desirous of serving your Grace, as much as I could, 
 as an honored and famous German prince, and I offered to 
 do so. 
 
 It is certain that the heretics rejoiced in his doctrine, for 
 they publicly prayed for him,^ and certain of them were 
 secretly at the debate.'' But now he throws up against me 
 this argument, and I lay it before your Grace to ask if you 
 consider it good: The heretics in Bohemia rejoice in Luther's 
 doctrine and turn it against the Christians, but contrariwise 
 the pious Christians in Bohemia have conceived displeasure 
 against his doctrine, and are wroth with it and against it. 
 
 *Eck learned this from Poduska's letter to Luther, cf. supra, no. i6i. 
 ^This was true; cf. Smith, op. cit., p. 67. 
 
248 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. ig6 
 
 Can't anybody see from this that his doctrine is obnoxious 
 to the suspicion of heresy? ... 
 
 196. ULRICH ZAZIUS TO ULRICH ZWINGLI AT ZURICH. 
 Corpus Reforrnatorum, xciv. 218. 
 
 Fkeibukg in Breisgau, November 13, 1519. 
 
 Ulrich Zwingli, the Reformer (January i, 1484-October 11, 1531). 
 was born on the Toggenburg, studied at Basle, Berne, Vienna and 
 again at Basle, where he took the degree of M. A. in 1506. Then he be- 
 came parish priest at Glarus. After some years here, and a short stay at 
 Einsiedeln, he moved to Zurich in 1519, where he remained as leader 
 of the Reformation till his death. He began his reforms at once by 
 an attack on indulgences, as had Luther, though his movement was 
 quite independent at the start. Luther crossed his horizon soon 
 after the posting of the 95 Theses. The present letter is in answer 
 to one from Zwingli, lost, asking for information about Luther. It is 
 doubly interesting for this reason and as showing the cultivated, 
 conservative opinion of Luther at this stage in his career. An excellent 
 life of Zwingli in English has been written by Prof. Samuel M. Jack- 
 son. A new edition of his works is being published by Drs. E. Egli, 
 G. Finsler and W. Kohler, in the Corpus Reforrnatorum, vols. 
 Ixxxviii.ff. 
 
 ... I should like to say much to you about Martin Luther, 
 if the brevity of a letter could hold it all. Much in him you 
 would praise and defend; but again there are some things 
 which seem a bit too strong. He has rightly taught that all 
 our good works are to be attributed to God and that nothing 
 but evil is to be credited to our own will. He proves this 
 from many authorities, and especially cites the book of Psalms 
 in every possible place. The Church doctors teach the same: 
 Chrysostom in several places in his commentary on Matthew, 
 Gregory most openly in his sermons, and others whom I 
 have consulted and brought together with the purpose of 
 pleading the cause of this most upright man on this point, 
 if the Lord permit.^ But as to indulgences, I have my opinion, 
 but I have nothing to say. For I have no wish to attack 
 dangerous men.'' For it is an old complaint, and a doubtful 
 question, as the commentator says.' But the subject of peni- 
 
 ^Zazius never did so publicly, but other references in his works show that he 
 was really reading the Fathers here mentioned at this time. 
 
 ^I/iterally "men who have their horns bound in hay," a figure taken from 
 cattle whose horns had to be wrapped up. Horace, Satires, i. 4, 34, 
 
 ^Decretal, Gregor., ix. lib. v. tit. xxxviii., De poenitentiis. 
 
Let. 196 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 249 
 
 tence and remission of sins needs the decision of a council, 
 not being of private interpretation. Our Luther has tried to 
 loose the Gordian knot with more boldness than success ; 
 yet many think that what that learned man has written is 
 gospel truth. Imagine the rest! What Luther has written 
 on penitence and faith I think quite salutary. For the whole 
 purpose of our life is that it may cast off vices and grow 
 in virtues, and we must strive always to be armed against 
 our immortal enemy, to take up the cross, to buffet our body 
 and thus to improve, for this is the true business of a Chris- 
 tian. Who flees from it flees from salvation; who resists 
 it commits suicide. For'^ this end nothing is more apt than 
 penitence. Who has dared to deny that faith is most potent 
 in the sacraments? But as it is not my profession to discuss 
 these things, I appeal to the theologians, I mean those who 
 love the truth. 
 
 In the aforesaid matter I follow and admire Luther, and, 
 as much as my legal studies enable me, I am prepared to 
 defend him on them. But there are blemishes in the Lutheran 
 doctrines which I dislike. His proposition that we sin even 
 when we do good, unless properly understood, is a strange 
 assertion. For in a certain sense we can tolerate this propo- 
 sition, considering the doer of good not in the particular 
 good act, but in his general character, so that even a righteous 
 man sins, being imperfect and at fault in many things.^ Thus 
 far I understand Luther; I agree with his opinion and even 
 embrace it, for it takes away pride, cultivates humility, ex- 
 cites love and reverence for God, and is founded in the Holy 
 Scripture. But I see the Theses^ of the Wittenbergers seem 
 to understand the aforesaid proposition in a complicated sense, 
 even of the very good act, as though he who did a good deed 
 sinned even in doing it. I do not see how this can be so, or 
 else I do not understand their meaning. It seems to be mere 
 nonsense with what it implies, as I explain more fully else- 
 
 ^Reading "ad" for "at," p, 220, line 6. 
 
 ^This is a complete misunderstanding of Ltither's position, which was that any 
 "natural" good act, uninspired by God's grace, is insufficient to merit his favor, 
 and thus cannot be considered above the usual level of our sinful nature. Cf. 
 Smith, op. cit., p. 66. 
 
 H. E., the Theses for the Leipsic debate. 
 
250 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 196 
 
 where. It would be better to refrain from such deceptive 
 propositions which lead to sophistical fallacies, and to strive 
 after those doctrines which give wisdom to the simple. More- 
 over Carlstadt, a learned and upright man, as I think, unless 
 led astray by self-love, asserts in his Theses^ that that cannot 
 by called the literal sense of Scripture which is gathered sim- 
 ply by examining it, nor even that given by the meaning of 
 the words; in short, that that is not expressly stated which 
 appears from the intention of the speaker; and other propo- 
 sitions of that sort. . . . 
 
 Finally, in his last book^ Luther treats some fundamental 
 positions in which he thinks he proves that the Pope is not 
 by divine right the universal bishop. I can hardly say how 
 much this displeases me. In the first place, that is repugnant 
 to the decrees of St. Leo' and other Popes, which Luther 
 makes light of and almost spits on, as "vain," although he 
 has no right nor ground for doing so. In short, supposing 
 that what he says were true, which I do not concede (for I 
 intend to confute him on this point, thinking that it is one 
 in which a layman is competent to do so), yet what does he 
 gain by wearing himself out in these arguments, which are 
 fruitless and poisonous as well? We see how wretched is 
 the condition of man, how easily he falls and declines who 
 thinks he stands and can stand easily. Luther's case shows 
 us how much danger lurks in a bitter controversy. How much 
 harm will the determination to win at all costs bring? The 
 Wittenbergers try to refute Eck even where he is right, and 
 thus they have hurt themselves almost as much as him. How 
 safe it is to be humble, not to think loftily, not to strive 
 obstinately, but rather to yield where you can conquer than 
 to try to annihilate your foe! On whom does the spirit of 
 the Lord rest, if not on the lowly and the peaceable? Would 
 
 'Carlstadt'a Theses on the authority of Scripture, Loscher: Vollstandige 
 Reformations Acta und Documenta. Leipsic, i72ofF., iii, 8i. Barge, Karlstadt, 
 i. 117. Zasius seems slightly to have misunderstood Carlstadt, the essence of 
 whose position was that the literal meaning of Scripture was not the important 
 meaning. 
 
 '^Resolutio Lutheriana super propositione sua tercia decima de potestate papae^ 
 Weimar, ii. i8i. 
 
 ^In the work just cited. Luther examines the decrees of Pope Leo I. and others 
 to show "how weakly they prove their point." 
 
Let. 198 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 251 
 
 that some upright man would urge Luther not to go so far, 
 but to keep the moderation he is always praising, and not to 
 mix dross with his gold! Then we shall name him Elijah,' 
 and whatever else is greater than that. . . . 
 Yours, 
 
 Ulrich Zasius, Litt. D., Professor at Freiburg. 
 
 197. JOHN HESS TO JOHN LANG AT ERFURT. 
 Kolde : Analecta, 9. Nuremberg, November 19, 1519. 
 
 I returned to Bologna (for I had been at Rome and would 
 have gone on to Naples had not the robbers prevented it), 
 and there, dear Father, I found your letter, for which. Heaven 
 knows, I was thankful. I showed the account of the Leipsic 
 debate to the lovers of Martin, of which there are a great 
 number in Italy, and they read it with pleasure, their joy 
 being proportionately greater inasmuch as the Roman indul- 
 gence sellers, those evil speakers and spoilers' as the poor 
 Greeks of our age call them, had previously triumphed, hav- 
 ing heard from Eck's letters that he had won. But I will tell 
 you more when I see you, which I hope will be soon. I left 
 Italy a few days ago, for two reasons : first, on account of my 
 health, and, secondly, to hear Martin. For that upright and 
 learned scholar, Crotus Rubeanus, and I, have both recently 
 become theologians. Therefore, I am now going to Witten- 
 berg, though all my patrons believe I am still deep in Italy. 
 
 198. LUTHER TO SPALATIN. 
 Enders, ii. 263. (Wittenberg), November 20, 1519. 
 
 Greeting. I am sending you the work for one Sunday,* as 
 a sample, dear Spalatin, so that you, who are more skilled in 
 polite letters, may more easily and happily point out places in 
 the others of my collection. I am too busy to do it myself, 
 but I might get Melanchthon to do the work, by which he 
 would at least show his devotion to the elector. 
 
 ^Here Zasius employs a terra from Zwingli's letter he is answering, for ZwingH 
 uses the phrase in a letter of January 4, 1530. Corpus Reformatorum, xciv. 250. 
 
 3The words in italics are in Greek. 
 
 37. e., the Postilla, cf. supra, no. 194. Luther wanted Spalatin to correct them 
 all according to the sample he gives in this one. 
 
252 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 199 
 
 Dr. Breitenbach' and Dr. Henry von Schleinitz° honored 
 me by an invitation to dinner. They were very civil to me; 
 I never knew^ them before. We talked of nothing but of the 
 Leipsic theologians, of whom Breitenbach does not seem to 
 think much. From him I learned one apothegm: "If any- 
 one," said he, "sees theologians of that sort, he sees the seven 
 deadly sins." See what reputation we carnal sophists have 
 given our profession of theology before the people. For, 
 except our belly, our purse and our pomp, is there anything 
 notable in us who are of this sort? For what good is it to 
 count envy, wrath, lust and sour laziness? May God have 
 mercy on us. 
 
 Emser pours out his fury," but in such a manner that he 
 confirms my letter. I regret that such coarse, stupid, gross 
 bullies interfere in this business. If respect for my name, or 
 rather the fear of Christ, did not prevent me, I have not 
 found anyone who has given me a better reason for writing. 
 What mockery I could heap on this mole, and perhaps also 
 on the men of Leipsic! Truly I will keep silence and wait 
 for Eck, so that, if necessary, I can answer the lies and 
 curses of both at once.* 
 
 I send some letters received to-day from high quarters, so 
 that you can see what is being done there. Please return 
 after reading. Farewell, and please attend, as you promised, 
 to my petition for Melanchthon, though I made it against 
 his will. Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 199. ISIDORE DE' ISOLANI TO LUTHER. 
 Enders, ii. 527. Cremona, November 22 (1519). 
 
 In Enders this letter is superscribed "Fr. I. Italus to Luther," the 
 person being unknown to the editor, and the date is given "November 
 20, 1520," with a question mark. The "November 20" is a simple 
 misprint, for the epistle is dated on the day of St. Cecilia, which is 
 
 ^George von Breitenbach, a Leipsic jurist, in 1525 professor at the university. 
 Later turned against Luther, who called him a "devilish lawyer." In 1539, 
 however, at the accession of the Protestant Henry the Pious (c/. Smith, op. cit., 
 p. 302), he made friends with the Reformer again. In 1540 he entered the service 
 of Joachim of Brandenberg. He died soon after. 
 
 2The Head Marshal of Duke George. 
 
 3Emser*s answer to Luther's Additio, entitled A venatione Aegocerotis assertio. 
 
 ^Eck's Pro Hier. Emscr, dedicated to the Bishop of Meissen and dated October 
 28, 1519. 
 
Ut. 200 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 253 
 
 November 22. The "1520" is found in the first edition of the epistle, 
 entitled "Revocatio Martini Lutheri ad Sanctam Sedem," but it is 
 certainly a misprint here, as shown by allusions Luther and others 
 make to it as early as August, 1520. Luther mentions it in the begin- 
 ning of his Babylonian Captivity (Weimar, vi. 498; Werke, ed. 
 Clemen, i. 427). 
 
 The author of the work was simultaneously identified by Kalkoff 
 (Zeitschrift fiir Kirchengeschichte, xxxii. 49!?), and by F. Lauchert : 
 Die Italienischen Gegner Luthers, 20off. Isidore Isolani of Milan en- 
 tered the Dominican cloister in that city, taught theology 1513 at 
 Pavia, 1515 at Verona, 1517 at Milan, 1519 apparently at Cremona, 
 and 1521 again at Pavia. In this year he also took his doctorate at 
 Bologna. He died between April 22 and July 9, 1528, at Milan. He 
 published various things, the first the Immortality of the Soul in 1505. 
 He attacked Luther again in his Disputationes Catholicae, 1522. 
 
 Amiable brother, I am greatly astonished that a man of 
 such excellent parts as you, one who has penetrated the deep 
 mysteries of divine writings, and who has been initiated into 
 the family of the holy mendicant order, should be so obstinate 
 and so bound by the chains of a mind wandering out of the 
 paths of salvation, and that, although publicly anathematized, 
 you should not amend, but should rely on the uncer- 
 tain protection of a future oecumenical council. Unlearned 
 wise man, endowed with noble mind, do you really do this and 
 worse? Do you try to execute so mad a plan, O man of 
 candid mind and clear eloquence ? Alas ! alas ! why, more 
 savage than any wild beast, do you turn your hand and sword 
 against your own bowels? Why do you hold down the truth 
 of God in unrighteousness?^ When you know God, why do 
 you not glorify him, instead of using up your powers in your 
 vain thoughts?^ Your foolish heart is weeping and mourning 
 and quenched in hell. . . . 
 
 There is little light in your two letters to the very reverend 
 legate.^ Walk while you have the light, that the darkness 
 overtake you not.* . . . 
 
 200. LUTHER TO SPALATIN. 
 Enders, ii. 265. (Wittenberg, before November 29, 1519.) 
 
 Greeting. First, if you cared at all for my opinion, you 
 
 ^Romans, i. l8. ^Romans, i. 21. 
 
 *The two letters of October 14 and 18, 1518, had been published in the Acta 
 Augustana, 1518. 'John, xii. 35. 
 
254 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 201 
 
 would see that it is beyond the power of one master alone 
 to administer the school.^ Secondly, if both Quintilian and 
 Aristotle cannot be read on natural history, it is better to 
 omit Aristotle, especially as Pliny will easily supply his place. 
 Quintilian is the only author who will make the best youths, 
 or rather men. But above all I beg that whether Fach^ or 
 Hess^ is made teacher of this subject, at least they should 
 have the same method. For myself, I prefer Quintilian 
 to almost all authors, because, while instructing, he also 
 teaches eloquence; that is, he teaches the subject and style 
 most happily. Everything else is all right. Farewell. 
 
 Brother Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 201. LUTHER TO JEROME DUNGERSHEIM AT LEIPSIC. 
 Enden^,' i. 437. (Wittenberg, near December i, 1519.) 
 
 In the years 1519-20, Dungersheim engaged in a long-winded private 
 controversy with Luther, which he himself printed in 1531. The first 
 letter is placed by Enders (i. 355) on January 18, 1519, but should 
 rather be dated 'October 7, 1519. See Knaake in Theologische Studien 
 und Kritiken, igoo, p. 269; Kostlin-Kawerau, i. 258. Luther's reply 
 came soon after this, Enders. i. 365. Dungersheim wrote again, late 
 in November, Enders, i. 373 (placed in January, 1519), and Luther 
 replied with the letter part of which is here translated. 
 
 Greeting. Behold, excellent Sir, I have received your sec- 
 ond letter, in which you write again about the papacy, and 
 among other things again review the case of Athanasius and 
 the statutes of the Nicene Council. Pray take a brief reply, 
 for I am still waiting for Eck's answer,' which, having again 
 poured forth insane words, he bombastically promises. Pray, 
 what ought I to confess more than I have done? For I al- 
 low that the Roman Pontiff is superior to all in dignity, and 
 is to be reverenced, from which it follows that he is con- 
 sulted in crises, although I do not know how I can defend 
 even this opinion against the Greeks. Nor have you showed 
 
 ^This doubtless refers to the boys' school connected with the monastery, of 
 which Luther was at one time master. 
 
 ^Balthasar Fabricius von Fach, matriculated at Wittenberg 1502. Rector of the 
 University 1517 and 1522, Dean 1528. Married in 1530, died July 4, IS41. Cf. 
 Enders, xiv. 28ff. 
 
 *John Hess, also called Montanus, of Wittenberg, was Rector of the University 
 1521. He died, in the position of Chancellor of the University of Marburg, in 
 1558. Enders, ii. 424. 
 
 ^Supra, no. 198, note; Luther received it on December 3. 
 
Let. 20I OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 255 
 
 me how to do so. It does not follow that he must be con-' 
 suited, or that no bishop has any power without him in any 
 place, nor that nothing can be done in the Church except by 
 his command. . . . 
 
 In this manner, therefore, I desire that the superiority of 
 the Roman see be maintained, if necessary, altl^ugh, as I 
 said, neither at Leipsic was I able to demonstrate this, nor am 
 I able to-day, nor to show any text of Scripture to those who 
 oppose it. For thus I have no fear, lest, in case a war arises 
 with heretics, we be exposed to mockery for having relied on 
 our commentaries and for having spoken without the authority 
 of Scripture. For the devil does not fear the reed of Egypt, 
 but the sword of the spirit. In this matter you and all others 
 would greatly please me by examining the words of the 
 Fathers in the light of Scripture, as we read in Acts^iilpat even 
 Paul's words were received by men who examined the Script- 
 ures to see whether these things were so. You and Eck are 
 accustomed to accommodate the words of the Bible to the 
 words of the Fathers, as though they did not desire to draw 
 us to the Bible, rather than to themselves. But contrariwise 
 it is my custom, following the example of Augustine, but 
 reverently, rather to follow up the streams to the source, as 
 Bernard boasts that he did. 
 
 As to the second place, in Philippians, ii.,' which you think 
 that I, following Erasmus, have misunderstood, it is really 
 you, who have cited not the text, but the opinions of the 
 Fathers. . . . 
 
 It is necessary to defend theologians against Satan by the 
 one simple, sole sense of Scripture. This is my desire and 
 the essence of my controversy with Eck, who defends a 
 multiplicity of senses, which does not please me. Finally, I 
 am glad that out of our debate has arisen the zeal for inquiry, 
 but I am sorry that this inquiry is directed not to the neces- 
 sary things, but to this one point which is not necessary, in 
 which I give up a good deal more than I am able to justify 
 by argument. But I see quite well what many people seek in 
 this debate. But God lives. Farewell in him, excellent Sir. 
 
 ^Acts, xvii. 1 1 . 
 
 ^Philippians, ii. sff. Dungersheim's argument. Enders, i. 392. 
 
256 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 20a 
 
 202. ADRIAN OF UTRECHT, CARDINAL OF TORTOSA, TO 
 THE DEAN AND FACULTY OF THEOLOGY AT LOUVAIN. 
 
 Lutheri opera varii argumenii, iv. 176. P. Fredericq: Corpus inquisi- 
 tionis Neerlandicae, iv. (1900), p. 17. 
 
 ^ Pampeluna (Spain), December 4, 1519. 
 
 Adrian of Utrecht ( i4S9-September 14, 1523;, matriculated at 
 Louvain 1476, in 1493 became professor of theology. In 1507 he 
 was appointed tutor to Prince Charles. In 1516 he was made Bishop 
 of Tortosa, Cardinal June i, 1517, and Pope January 9, 1522. As 
 Pope he tried both to reform the Church and suppress Lutheranism. 
 L. Pastor: History of the Popes, English translation, vol. ix., 1910. 
 P. S. Allen, op. cit., i. 380. 
 
 Famous and learned Professors, and dearest Friends! 
 Your ^jber of November 7 was delivered to me on the 26th 
 of the same month. In it you show plainly what affection 
 you have for Christ and what zeal for his most holy faith. 
 I saw the errcjt wUda you copied from the divers writings 
 and tracts of Lmher and sent to me; they are such crude 
 and palpable heresies on their face that not even a pupil in 
 theology of the first grade ought to have been caught by 
 them, y 
 
 He proves Wimself a heretic most of all by saying that he 
 is ready to undergo the stake and death for his opinions, and 
 that anyone who thinks the contrary is a heretic. I pass 
 over the reasons which might be adduced to show the heresy 
 of his single articles, so that I may avoid prolixity in matters 
 not ambiguous or requiring it. I am greatly surprised that 
 one who errs so manifestly and obstinately and who scatters 
 his opinions broadcast, is allowed' to err with impunity and 
 with impunity to draw others into his pernicious errors. 
 
 You certainly deserve praise for having resisted, as much 
 as you could, the pestiferous dogmas of the man, opposing 
 to them a doctrinal condemnation so that his errors should 
 not involve you, and that you should not be held guilty before 
 the Lord of souls, which perish by reason of Luther's perverse 
 doctrine. This would have happened had not you proved 
 the falsity and perniciousness of his doctrine by your cen- 
 sure and by showing the plain truth, as the Saviour said: 
 
Let. 204 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 257 
 
 Whoso is not with me is against me, and who gathereth not 
 with me scattereth.^ . . . 
 
 203. LUTHER TO SPALATIN. 
 Enders, ii. 271. (Wittenberg), December 7, 1519. 
 
 Greeting. I see, Spalatin, that the plan which we heard 
 from rumor and hoped was true, namely, that the whole 
 court was coming here, has been changed. But I see that 
 princes must first make and then see their works, for they 
 also are gods." For what is said and expected before it 
 happens usually fails. I had much to talk of [with you and 
 the elector], especially about our curriculum. For I hear 
 that the course on Aristotle is not as successful as we hoped. 
 
 Dr. John Hess has brought from Italy a mystic Aristotelian 
 theology," recently, as they write, found in Syria, that is, as 
 I suppose, concocted by some rascal in order to dress up against 
 Christ more speciously this enemy of Christ. Hess also 
 brought letters of learned men." 
 
 I know not yet whether to publish my Tesseradecas, es- 
 pecially in Latin, as that sort of work, which savors of 
 Christ, is very hateful to the sophists. . . . 
 
 Brother Martin Luther. 
 
 204. PETER MOSELLANUS TO JULIUS PFLUG. 
 J. Jortin: Life of Erasmus, ii. (1760), 3S3ff. 
 
 Meissen, December 7, 1519. 
 Julius von Pflug (1499-September 3, 1564), pupil of Mosellanus at 
 Leipsic, a moderate Catholic who took a prominent part in the 
 religious controversies of the day. In 1541 he was elected Bishop of. 
 Naumburg, but was prevented from taking possession of the see by- 
 John Frederic, who installed Amsdorf. After the Schmalkaldic war, 
 in 1547, Amsdorf was removed and Pflug given the position. 
 
 I see that you are desirous of learning the history of the 
 cause of Martin the theologian, which has been brought to 
 the point at which it now is by the emulation of the sophists. 
 
 'Matthew, xii. 30; Luke, xi. 23. 
 
 zpsalm Ixxxii. 6, "I said, Ye are gods . nevertheless ye shall die like men, 
 
 and fall like one of the princes.'* Luther always applied this verse to princes, 
 as terrestrial deities. On "first making, and then seeing their works," cf. 
 Genesis, i. 31. 
 
 ^Sapientissimi Philosophi Aristotelis Staqiritae Theologia. Rome, 1519, June i. 
 It was, of course, as Luther judged, apocryphal, 
 
 *1, e., of Crotus Rubeanus, supra, no. 186, igo. 
 
 17 
 
258 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 204 
 
 Although my opinion of it is such as would be unsafe to 
 commit to any letter, no matter how carefully sealed, yet, 
 not to seem to neglect my Julius, I will briefly and in good 
 faith set forth the whole tragedy. But alas, beware how you 
 let anyone see this letter. Also remember that I was present 
 [at the Leipsic debate] by chance. 
 
 In the first place, it is too well known to need my repeating 
 it, how much hatred Martin has won from all who do 
 not know the impiety of the Romanists, from those who are 
 seduced by their vices, and from those who spend their whole 
 lives in trumpery sophisms. It is also known how both sides 
 fought by publishing theses throughout Germany, Luther ex- 
 ploding from the theater of the theologians Aristotle's philoso- 
 phy to which they hold without understanding it, and they 
 defending it like their mistress, with what arms they could, 
 force and fraud, all fair in war. Not only did our Leipsic 
 professors oppose Martin's theses with their own, but Eck 
 also, the Bavarian theologian, walking on air and like Socrates 
 despising even God from his basket,^ moved by the novelty 
 of Luther's propositions, he drew up certain deductions 
 against him and showed them to the Bishop of Eichstadt. 
 When Luther heard of this from his friends, he sent Carl- 
 stadt. Archdeacon of Wittenberg, against Eck, thinking to 
 force the man to retract. Eck answered once and again, but 
 in my judgment too coldly to win the confidence of any wise 
 reader. For Eck's pen is not as able as his tongue is prompt: 
 a terrible talker, but a weak speaker. Wherefore, despairing 
 of victory in a combat of reason, like a horse let loose in a 
 meadow,^ he challenged them to a public debate. The Wit- 
 tenbergers did not refuse. So they got permission to debate 
 in the thinking-shop^ rightly so called, of our theologians, 
 beginning on June 27. Both sides arrived promptly. Eck 
 came with only a single personal servant, and with letters 
 of introduction to our duke from the Fuggers.' Luther and 
 
 ^In this letter all words in italics are Greek in the original. In Aristophanes* 
 Clouds, Socrates was drawn up into the air in a basket. 
 
 2Greek proverb for extreme eagerness. 
 
 3The comic word applied by Aristophanes in The Clouds to Socrates' school. 
 
 «The great bankers of Augsburg, for whom Eck had debated on the right of 
 taking interest on money. 
 
Let. 204 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 259 
 
 Carlstadt brought with them the greater part of their uni- , 
 varsity, among their companions being Barnim, Duke of 
 Pomerania, a modest youth loving letters and particularly 
 gracious to me. Men of every estate gathered to see the 
 debate, abbots, counts and knights, learned and unlearned, 
 so that this large university had no hall big enough to accom- 
 modate such an audience. The duke showed his foresight 
 in providing a capacious hall in the castle for this event. , 
 And as the Bishop of Merseburg, instigated by our theologians, 
 was unwilling to allow this debate, the duke took the whole 
 responsibility on himself. He charged the town council to 
 provide lodgings, and he had an armed force ready lest a 
 .tumult should arise. All things were done rightly, especially 
 as your father [Caesar Pflug], at the duke's command, was , 
 not only present at all the events, but presided over them. 
 
 When the day set dawned, there was at six o'clock at St. 
 Thomas's a magnificent mass for the success of the affair. 
 Then in a splendid procession all hurried to the castle. To 
 prevent a tumult armed guards were stationed at the doors. 
 When all had come in and taken their assigned seats, I, poor 
 man, in a fever, came in through the back door and ascended 
 the platform, to speak, in the name of the duke, to the 
 expectant audience. I confess that at first I was fright- 
 ened by so great a concourse of prominent men, all expectant, 
 and before so great a prince, whom I feared I would represent 
 unworthily. Yet I spoke, if not with great applause, at least 
 so that the duke and other grandees approved of it. When 
 I came to the peroration, and all were anxiously expecting 
 me to finish (for I spoke almost twice as long as usual ),^ some 
 musicians, prepared at my suggestion, were introduced 
 through the same back door and started the hymn Veni sancte 
 Spiritus, which they sang sweetly while the audience reverently 
 kneeled. The time until noon having been consumed with 
 these preparations, we went to lunch. A trumpet announced 
 when to come back. All returned expectant. 
 
 Carlstadt and Eck, each asking the usual indulgence for 
 himself, descended into the arena. They debated on free 
 will, i. e., what it has to do with the work of salvation. For 
 
 ^Effluxerunt enim duae pene clepsydrae. 
 
260 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 204 
 
 Carlstadt sought to prove that whatever was meritorious in 
 the words or deeds of a man was due wholly to God, and 
 that man, of his own accord, could will nothing good, unless 
 he received an influx of divine grace; in short, that God was 
 the smith and our will the hammer with which he forged our 
 salvation. Eck rebutted this opinion, which, if I understand 
 aught in these matters, is by no means absurd. For almost 
 three days he argued that merit was due partly to grace, 
 . partly to man's will. It finally came to this, that Eck con- 
 ceded the whole good work was from God, but not wholly.* 
 This fine distinction Carlstadt not only confuted on the spot, 
 but afterwards, in a long public letter, exposed as an invalid 
 fiction. 
 
 Luther followed Carlstadt to sustain the thesis that it was 
 only by recent decretals that the Roman Church was proved 
 to be superior to other Churches, against which stood the 
 authority of Scripture and the Nicene Council. Eck left 
 no stone unturned to overthrow this opinion; he summoned 
 all the forces at his command, spending eight days on it and 
 doing his best especially to make his opponent invidious by 
 dragging in some Hussite articles. Luther at once under- 
 stood the snare, and raged as though inspired by some spirit 
 at being thus insidiously betrayed on a side issue. With great 
 indignation he rejected some of the dogmas imputed to him, 
 while embracing some of them as Christian, relying every- 
 where either on well weighed testimonies of Scripture, or on 
 the decrees of ancient councils. In short, his main effort was 
 to remove far from himself the suspicion of favoring the 
 Bohemian schism. Eck also bent his whole energy on im- 
 pressing the audience with this opinion of Luther, no matter 
 how much the latter rejected it. In like manner they debated 
 on other things, the state of souls in purgatory, fear as the 
 root of penitence, and indulgences, consuming nearly twenty 
 days in all. 
 
 When they had finished each side claimed the victory. 
 Eck triumphs in the opinion of all who like asses playing the 
 harp do not understand the subject at all, men who from 
 
 'Totum sed not totaliter. O. Seitz: Der authentische Text der leipniger Dis- 
 putation, p. 54. 
 
Let. 204 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 261 
 
 boyhood have been brought up on Peter Hispanus,^ or who 
 have some reason for wishing the Wittenbergers ill. The 
 victory of Luther and Carlstadt is less acclaimed, because 
 learned and judicious men are fewer and less confident in 
 proclaiming their own opinions. 
 
 You have the story for which you asked, told briefly and 
 in desultory manner, for I left out much not to the point. 
 What.' Don't you applaud? Perhaps I seem clumsy or 
 artificial to you, or else you want more. I will fill you to 
 repletion with these banquets, and I will give you portraits 
 of the leaders in this war. Martin is of middle height with" 
 slender body worn out both by study and care, so that you 
 can almost count his bones. He is in the vigor of manhood; 
 his voice is sharp and clear. He is so wonderfully learned 
 in the Bible that he has almost all the texts in memory. He 
 has learned enough Greek and Hebrew to form a judgment 
 of the translations. He has no lack of matter in speaking, 
 for an immense stock of ideas and words are at his command. 
 Perhaps you might miss in him judgment and method in 
 using his stores. In daily life and manners he is cultivated 
 and affable, having nothing of the stoic and nothing supercili- 
 ous about him; rather he plays the man at all seasons. He 
 is a joker in society, vivacious and sure, always with a happy 
 face no matter how hard his enemies press him. You would 
 hardly believe that he was the man to do such great things 
 unless inspired by the gods. But what most men blame in 
 him is that in answering he is more imprudent and cutting 
 than is safe for a reformer of the Church, or than is decorous 
 for a theologian. I know not whether this vice is not also 
 common to the pedants. 
 
 Carlstadt is like Luther, but smaller. He is shorter, his 
 face dark and burned, his voice thick and unpleasant, his 
 memory is weaker and his anger more prompt. 
 
 Eck has a tall stature, a solid, square body, a full, German 
 voice, strong lungs as of a tragedian or cryer, but emitting 
 a rough rather than clear sound. So far is he from having 
 that native sweetness of the Latin tongue, praised by Fabius 
 
 'The author of a work called Summulae. Long identified, but without certain 
 grounds, with John XXI., Pope 1276-7. 
 
262 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 205 
 
 ' and Cicero ! His mouth and eyes, or rather his whole face, 
 would make you think him a butcher or Carian soldier rather 
 than a theologian. He has a fine memory; were his under- 
 standing only equal to it he would possess all nature's gifts. 
 The man cannot grasp a thing quickly nor judge it acutely, 
 so that his other talents are vain. This is the reason why in 
 debate he brings together all his arguments and texts of 
 Scripture and quotations from authors without any selection, 
 not considering that many of them are inept and impertinent 
 to the subject, and that some are apocryphal or mere sophistry. 
 He only tries to discharge a copious mass of matter, thus 
 deceiving his audience, most of whom are stupid, and from 
 whom he thus wins the opinion that he is victor. Add to 
 this incredible audacity covered by admirable craft. If he 
 thinks he is falling into the snares of his adversary, he turns 
 the debate into another channel, sometimes embracing his 
 opponent's opinion, clothed in other words, as his own, and, 
 with equal guile, imputing his own absurdities to his 
 antagonist. . . . 
 
 205. ULRICH ZAZIUS TO CONRAD MUTIAN AT GOTHA. 
 Krause, 647. Freiburg, December 13, 1519. 
 
 ... I should like to know your opinion of Luther, O most 
 candid of all men, for I know that you cannot judge good 
 men amiss. There is among our Germans a marvellous vari- 
 ety of opinions about this man, whom I might well call a 
 hero. All those instructed in the pure doctrine follow Luther 
 without reserve. But the monks and scholastic theologians, 
 except a few good men, condemn him. Two of the best 
 approved and most learned theologians of our university, 
 John of Breisgau and George Wagelin [Achaeus] receive, 
 bless and favor Luther and compare him to the ancient and 
 true theologians. The whole of Switzerland, Constance, Augs- 
 burg, and a good part of Italy adhere to Luther. If we dis- 
 agree with some ecclesiastical lawyers and some litigious 
 slaves of business, we have to fight for the man now in this 
 way, now in that. I accept Luther with reservations. For I 
 do not approve his calling the decretals "vain,'' by which he 
 intends to overthrow Leo's claims. And it is not necessary 
 
Let. 206 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 263 
 
 for human salvation, for which the good man so constantly 
 labors, to outdo himself in paradoxes and thus give occasion 
 to his enemies to slander him by saying that he is not very 
 different from a wicked Hussite. So, though I consider 
 Luther the best of men, by whose doctrine I have learned to 
 follow Christ more truly, yet I cannot agree with what he 
 says of the primacy of the pope, which can be easily con- 
 futed. But I will not write against him, and would consider 
 it a sin to wound him. Yet I pity the condition of humanity, 
 that we are so fragile and so little that even those who are 
 most perfect deviate from the right way when they seem 
 to conquer and become powerful. . . . 
 
 206. LUTHER TO SPALATIN. 
 Enders, ii. 277. Wittenberg, December 18, 1519. 
 
 Greeting. There is a rumor that Charles Miltitz yester- 
 day passed through here. I am surprised at it, but let it 
 pass. I have read what you write of his mocking me by my 
 picture. 
 
 I do not know whether I can write sermons on the Gospels 
 and Epistles for Lent, as you urge me, for I have much 
 to do and am very busy. Don't you believe it? My lectures 
 on the psalter require a whole man ; my sermons to the people 
 on the gospel and Genesis need another whole man; a third 
 is required by the little prayers and regulations of my order ; a 
 fourth might do this work you ask, not to mention my corre- 
 spondence and my occupation with the affairs of others, in- 
 cluding my meetings with my friends, which steals so much 
 of my time that I almost think it wasted. I am one man; 
 certainly I prepare for work, but if what you ask is to be 
 accomplished, all else must be omitted. Would that I could 
 give myself quietly to this alone. I should consider it a 
 great pleasure, so far am I from not wanting to do it. 
 
 But there is no reason why you or any man should expect 
 from me any sermon on the other sacraments,^ until I learn 
 
 ^Luther had already preached on baptism, the eucharist and penance, dedicating 
 his sermons to Margaret of Brunswick, supra, no. 184, middle of October. The 
 Catholic Church also recognized as sacraments, confirmation, orders, extreme 
 unction and matrimony. Luther's views were expanded in his work. On the 
 Babylonian Captivity of the Church. (1520.) Cf. Smith, op, cit., Sgf. 
 
264 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 207 
 
 by what text I can prove that they are sacraments. I esteem 
 none of the others a sacrament, for that is not a sacrament, 
 save what is expressly given by a divine promise exercising 
 our faith. We can have no intercourse with God save by the 
 word of him promising, and by the faith of man receiving the 
 promise. At another time you will hear more about their 
 fables of the seven sacraments. . . . 
 
 207. LUTHER TO JOHN LANG AT ERFURT. 
 Enders, ii. 280. Wittenberg, December 18, 1519. 
 
 Greeting. Reverend Father, the money of Brother Caesar^ 
 shall be treated as you suggest. Caesar was not at home when 
 your letter came. You shall decide whether to leave him 
 here. Formerly you wrote for him to stay here until he 
 could return to you as lecturer. He gives lectures on the- 
 ology, and his work is not bad, except that I am sorry I can- 
 not send all the brothers to Melanchthon's lectures on Mat- 
 ■ thew at six o'clock in the morning. This little Greek beats 
 me even in theology. 
 
 I do not know whether you have received both commentaries 
 on the Psalms, mine^ and Melanchthon's. I expect that my 
 other trifles reach you without my sending them. I have re- 
 called my sermon on usury^ after sending it to the press, as 
 the pure doctrine of Christ offends many. I send everything 
 else. Please let us have the report of the debate as soon as 
 it is printed.* 
 
 Eck threatens something dreadful to me and Melanchthon 
 and Carlstadt and our whole university, not to say the elector. 
 He vomited up a chaotic German letter" to the elector; you 
 would have thought him God Almighty talking. It is lucky 
 that such a sophist has met such a prince. 
 ' Your Erfurt faculty are pleased to delay judgment. For 
 the debate is now vain, and it is vain to expect the judgment 
 of the Parisians, which, by God's favor, will give an opening 
 
 'John Caesar, an Augustinian, who matriculated at Wittenberg in May, 1518. 
 ^The Operationes in Psalmos. 
 'The little sermon on usury. Weimar, vi. i. 
 
 *The notes of the Leipsic debate were submitted to the Erfurt faculty for 
 judgment, and printed there, probably under Lang's care. 
 ^Supra, no. 195. 
 
Let. 208 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 265 
 
 for speaking against the Roman Antichrist. A tract by a 
 certain Bohemian, as is thought, is being circulated here. It 
 is written, in both German and Latin, with great theological 
 learning against the tyranny of the Roman curia. 
 
 I did not quite understand your meaning when you wrote 
 Greek, that it was due to your efforts that the debate was 
 sent back to Duke George, and why you and your theologians 
 and doctors were so smitten.^ 
 
 I shall not answer Emser in a separate book, for the man 
 is so clumsy that he affirms and admits what I charge him 
 with, and he doesn't speak to the point at all, but only reviles. 
 When Eck's promised attack comes out I shall answer him 
 and Emser together. 
 
 Charles Miltitz is doing his best, now at Torgau, now at 
 Lochau, to get me to go to Trier with him. My enemies are 
 frightened and while plotting against me rage to think that 
 my destruction is yet unaccomplished. The bishops write to 
 Rome against me. I do not yet know what will happen. 
 Perhaps, under safe-conduct, and if summoned by the arch- 
 bishop, I shall go to Trier. 
 
 Our reverend father Vicar Staupitz is well and honored 
 at Salzburg. He writes that Eck is everywhere courting 
 the favor of prominent men, but that his "moderation" 
 displeases Cardinal Lang. 
 
 Lotther of Leipsic is founding a printing establishment, 
 with Greek, Latin and German types, at Wittenberg. 
 
 Study goes on apace, especially in theology. Leipsic is 
 Leipsic, according to her custom. I am very busy. Farewell 
 and pray for me. . . . 
 
 Brother Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 208. LUTHER TO THOMAS FUCHS AT RATISBON. 
 Enders, ii. 283. De Wette, i. 381. German. 
 
 Wittenberg, December 23, 1519. 
 On December 12, 1519, Fuchs wrote Luther asking his advice, on 
 behalf of the Ratisbon Town Council, as to a strife with the local 
 bishop. Enders, ii. 276. The present letter is his answer. 
 
 My poor prayers and good wishes for you. Noble, honor- 
 
 ■IGreek. 
 
266 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 209 
 
 able, dear Sir and Friend: I have received and carefully 
 read your letter and question. Now I know that I am bound 
 to serve your Honor, as I found you so true to me at Augs- 
 burg, and, therefore I should like to answer this letter clearly 
 and rightly. But the gospel prevents me, for in all such 
 matters Christ gives a short judgment, saying: And if any 
 man would go to law with thee, and take away thy coat, let 
 him have thy cloak also.^ Therefore, it becomes me as a 
 theologian and is on my conscience not to give other advice 
 herein. No party among you will satisfy the gospel unless it 
 lets the other do what it will. The bishop should let the 
 council do what it wishes, and contrariwise. The bishop is 
 not helped by his spiritual right, nor the council by its use 
 and custom, for the gospel supersedes everything. It is, in- 
 deed, true that the Pope has decreed that the third part of 
 such an offering should go to the bishop,^ but I leave it to him 
 to answer for his power to make such a law. It makes no 
 difference to selfishness. For we are obliged to suffer violence 
 and even wrong. Wherefore it would be my advice and 
 prayer, that the bishop and council agree in friendly wise 
 without insistence on their rights; perhaps the bishop may be 
 prevailed upon to give in. But if not, they have no right to 
 reserve the case for the judgment of Rome. Take this opinion 
 kindly and in friendship from me as from a theologian, whom 
 it does not become to advise strife and lawsuits, but peace 
 and patience. I am always ready to serve your Honor. 
 Brother Martin Luther, Augustinian at Wittenberg. 
 
 209. DUKE GEORGE OF SAXONY TO THE ELECTOR 
 FREDERIC OF SAXONY. 
 Gess, i. no. Dresden, December 27, 1519. 
 
 Highborn Prince, dear Cousin. On Christmas eve I re- 
 ceived a book containing a sermon' published by Dr. Luther 
 on the body of our Lord. When I had looked through it 
 I found that it was very Bohemian and had much heresy 
 and scandal in it, especially as it is in German, and seems 
 
 ^Matthew, v. 40. 
 
 ^In the Canon Law, Decret. P. 11, caus. 10, qu. i, c. 7. 
 
 sWeimar, ii. 738. On this complaint and Luther's answer, which was more 
 radical than the original sermon, cf. Smith, op, cit., 78. 
 
Let. 210 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 267 
 
 to me likely rather to break down than to build up simple 
 folk. As I know well that your. Grace would not willingly 
 have strangers damage our holy faith, so was I sure that you 
 would be still more unwilling for your subjects to do it. Es- 
 pecially as Dr. Luther is a famous man at your university of 
 Wittenberg, he will doubtless bring great notoriety to your 
 Grace and the land of Saxony, and do something contrary 
 to the Christian religion and favorable to the Bohemian here- 
 tics. For many already have thought that the Scripture com- 
 mands that the sacrament be taken in both kinds, and hold 
 many other articles which are unchristian. 
 
 210. ELECTOR FREDERIC OF ERNESTINE SAXONY TO DUKE 
 
 GEORGE OF ALBERTINE SAXONY. 
 Gess, i. 112. LoCHAU, December 29, 1519. 
 
 Highborn Prince, dear Cousin. I have received your 
 Grace's letter about a printed pamphlet published by Dr. 
 Martin Luther, which contains a sermon on the venerable 
 sacrament of the true body of our Lord Jesus Christ. I have 
 also received your Grace's notice and opinion of the same, 
 and in friendship to your Grace will not conceal from you 
 that I have never undertaken to defend or champion Dr. 
 Luther's sermons or disputations, and do not do so now, but 
 keep aloof from such matters as I told the papal cardinal 
 legate, and the nuncio Charles von Miltitz both by letters 
 and orally. Although T cannot know how the said book will 
 be esteemed, yet I hear that hitherto Dr. Luther's doctrine 
 has been by many learned and wise men considered Chris- 
 tian. However I leave it to its merits and him to his reckon- 
 ing, for your Grace knows that Dr. Luther's affair and dis- 
 putation is awaiting judgment, for which he also offered him- 
 self to the papal nuncio, who commanded him to come forth 
 in the proper manner. Now, however this comes out, I will 
 act, God willing, so that no one can rightly blame me, for it 
 would be a heartfelt sorrow to me to have some error in the 
 holy faith appear in the lands of my brother,^ your Gra,ce and 
 myself, or in any other place, and still more would it wound 
 me to have it protected by me, from which may God guard 
 me. . . . 
 
 ^Duke John. 
 
268 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 213 
 
 211. RECTOR, PROFESSORS AND DOCTORS OF THE UNI- 
 VERSITY OF ERFURT TO DUKE GEORGE OF SAXONY. 
 Gess, i. 113. (Erfurt), December 29, 1519. 
 
 We have received your Grace's letter recently sent us, con- 
 cerning certain articles and points which Dr. Eck, Dr. Luther 
 and Dr. Carlstadt publicly debated at your Grace's University 
 of Leipsic, and stating your Grace's desire and the said uni- 
 versity's friendly request that we should diligently examine 
 the said disputation and give you our opinion and judgment 
 on the same. In this as in all other matters we desire to 
 serve your Grace with all our power, but, after repeated con- 
 sultation, we find that in this case it is not fitting for us to 
 decide and judge the contentions which were brought for- 
 ward between the aforesaid doctors in this debate, inasmuch 
 as the disputants did not agree to ask our opinion, either in 
 letters or otherwise. Moreover we are credibly informed 
 that they are not of one mind and accord on this matter. 
 Furthermore it is not agreeable to us to exclude from the 
 decision the learned doctors of the two orders, Dominicans 
 and Augustinians in our university, as your Grace requests. 
 Wherefore, we humbly pray your Grace to excuse us. . . . 
 
 212. ERASMUS TO MARTIN LIPSIUS OF BRUSSELS. 
 Erasmi opera (1703), iii. 534. Louvain/ (Late), 1519. 
 
 . . . They are starting a foolish and pernicious tragedy 
 against Luther. They will later know that I favor not Luther, 
 but the peace of Christendom. However Luther may have 
 written, this tumult does not please any wise man. . . . 
 
 213. WILLIAM NESEN TO ULRICH ZWINGLI AT BASLE. 
 Corpus Reformatorum, xciv. 378. (Louvain, end of 1519-) 
 
 William Nesen (1493-1524), of Nastatten, matriculated at Basle 
 1511, M. A. 1515. About this time he became proofreader for Froben 
 and met Erasmus. Early in 1517 he went to Paris as tutor to the 
 sons of Nicholas Stalberger, remaining with them til! 1519 when, at 
 Erasmus' invitation, he came to Louvain. His lectures were pro- 
 hibited by the university, so he undertook to teach a Latin school at 
 Frankfort 1520-3. He then visited Luther at Wittenberg, the Re- 
 former dedicating to him his Adversus armatum Virum Cochlaeum, 
 *Ex museo nostro. 
 
Let. 213 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 269 
 
 February, 1523 (Enders, iv. 82, Weimar, xi. 292). He carried Luther's 
 letter of April 15, 1524 (Enders, iv. 319), to Erasmus, and shortly- 
 after his return, July 5-6, was drowned while boating for pleasure 
 on the Elbe. Life by Steitz in Archiv f. Frankfurts Gesch. N. F. vi. 
 1877. Allen, ii. 65. 
 
 This letter was written about the end of 1519, after the University 
 of Louvain had condemned Luther (November 7), and before the 
 death of Briard, January 8, 1520. It was expanded to the length of a 
 pamphlet and published about a year later. Cf. Kalkoff, in Corpus 
 Ref., loc. cit., 419, no. S. I translate only the principal passage about 
 Luther, pp. 384-7. 
 
 When Luther's works came out he [Egmond] terribly 
 feared for his gains, mindful of how much he had made from 
 papal pardons. He had not yet read one page, and he was 
 so stupid that he would have read in vain, but over his cups 
 he heard from his gossips that there were things in those 
 writings which would injure that trade. So he lept into the 
 pulpit and confounded everything with his insane cries, call- 
 ing Lutherans heretics, seducers and antichrists, and pro- 
 claiming that the world would fall unless he propped it up 
 with his shoulders. I am not the man, my dear Zwingli, to un- 
 derstand the deep points in Luther's books, nor do I mix in 
 his cause, especially as he has no need of patrons like me. Yet 
 I am not so dull as to admire Egmond's stupidity. Here is 
 one example from which you may learn how well that ass 
 understands Luther's dogmas. More than a hundred times 
 he shouted to the people that Luther taught that it was not 
 necessary to confess mortal sins except those which were 
 known. ^ Luther meant, known to us, that is, which we judge 
 to be mortal, which is certainly, in my opinion, not in every- 
 one's power. But this beast thinks that he means known pub- 
 licly. What would you do with such silly brothers? He con- 
 stantly bawls against Luther, and only brings it to pass that 
 people all buy Luther's books thinking that there must be 
 some good in them if they so displease this cheese-eater.- 
 Then they complain that some buy Luther's books, when they 
 not only stimulate the appetite for them by their vociferations, 
 but also disturb the peace of the Church with a dangerous 
 quarrel. This monk thinks he is very holy if he does not 
 
 ^Cf. supra, no. 192. 
 
 ^A common term of contempt for the monks as hunters of delicacies. 
 
270 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 213 
 
 eat meat Wednesdays, but fills himself up to the point of 
 vomiting with eggs and fish, and yet he does not think it a 
 sin to attack the reputation of a good man with manifest lies 
 and wicked calumnies, and to infect the minds and ears 
 of his hearers with such sycophancy, Latomus^ shouts, Eg- 
 mond shouts, Ruard^ stammers against Luther as a heretic, 
 and an unlearned and stupid one, and no one admonishes 
 Luther, no one teaches him, no one refutes him, although he 
 himself asks to be taught, and desires to be heard and to 
 hear. I do not know what kind of man Luther is, except 
 that the books which he has hitherto published testify that 
 he is well versed in the writings of theologians, not so much 
 the ancient as the recent; moreover they show that his mind 
 is sane and his heart graced with many and various Christian 
 gifts. But I know these others to be such men that if there 
 were no other Christians beside them, so love me God, I 
 would not want to be one, so much are they given to am- 
 bition and avarice. They help none, and wish well to none 
 except themselves; they hurt many and wish to be feared un- 
 der the pretext of religion. Luther does not offend them by 
 treating the Pope's majesty too severely, of which they them- 
 selves do not think very highly, nor because he attacks in- 
 dulgences, which they themselves do not approve when they 
 are frank with each other. But they call Luther a heretic 
 because he despises Aquinas, whom the Dominicans take as 
 a fifth evangelist, because he rebukes the professors whose 
 authority they want held sacred, because he does not keep 
 before his eyes the scholastic dogmas, to which, putting it 
 mildly, the world owes so many monks' quarrels, so many 
 ceremonies, and, if not the extinction, at least the corruption 
 
 ^Cf. De Jongh, p. 173. James Masson (Latomus) of Cambron, b. circ, 1475, 
 studied at the College of Montaigu at Paris, moved to Louvain 1500, where he began 
 to teach about 1510, and received the D. D. in 1519. He died March 29, 1544. 
 He was the ablest of the opponents of Luther and Erasmus in the Netherlands. 
 Luther's answer to his defence of the Condemnation by Cologne and Louvain, 
 1521, reprinted, Weimar, viii. 36if. In 1525 Latomus wrote on the power of the 
 pope against Luther, and later attacked W. Tyndale and Melanchthon. Real- 
 encyclopadie. 
 
 -Cf. De Jongh, p. 180. Ruard Tapper of Holland, B. A. at Louvain 1507, 
 studied under Adrian of Utrecht, D. D. 1519. He took an active part against 
 the Reformers, particularly in their condemnation by his university 1544 (Smith, 
 p. 400), and took part in the Council of Trent. He was also inquisitor for a time. 
 He died March ^, 1559, at the age of seventy. 
 
Let. 214 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 271 
 
 of the Christian religion. To these also the world owes the 
 existence of unlearned theologians, and the neglect of good 
 authors, and on these dogmas Professor Latomus promised 
 a third book, but when he saw his first two received by all 
 the learned with a loud laugh, he thought it better to suppress 
 it, rather than to disgrace the scholastic doctors by coming 
 on the stage again. . . . 
 
 Now hear how mad they are. Listen ! They expect Luther's 
 capture. What is this but to thirst for human blood? They 
 are unable to teach him, yet they want to destroy him. Is 
 this the role of hangmen or of theologians ? How great will be 
 the indignation of posterity if they read that Luther was a 
 good man, of a life miraculously pure, brilliant, learned, can- 
 did, a good Christian, and a German patriot, and yet that 
 when he first, in this age of perverse theologians and de- 
 testable monkish tyranny, dared to warn them and to vindi- 
 cate Christ, whose worship had been stained and almost wiped 
 out by human doctrines, he was crushed not by arguments or 
 texts of Holy Scripture, with which he always invincibly de- 
 fended his own innocence, but by a fraudulent and tyrannical 
 conspiracy of scoundrels? . . . 
 
 214. JOHN REUCHLIN TO MICHAEL HUMMELBERG AT 
 RATISBON. 
 
 Sitzungsberichte der phil.-hist. Classe der Akamedie der IVissen- 
 schaften. Wien., Ixxxv. (1887), 175. Ingolstadt, January 3, 1520. 
 
 Hummelberg of Ratisbon (1487-1527), studied at Paris 1504-11, 
 and at Rome 1514-17, his specialty being Greek. Shortly after his 
 return to Ratisbon he became a teacher, and as such enjoyed much 
 reputation with the humanists. Some of his letters published in J. 
 Paquier's edition of Aleander's correspondence. Allen, op. cit., i. 515. 
 Allgemeine deutsche Biographic. 
 
 ... I am holding Melanchthon back lest he should be 
 blamed for being such a faithful Achates to his Luther. But 
 youths have no prudence. Perhaps he is sorry for so learned 
 and so upright a theologian and takes it ill that Luther has 
 suffered so much reproach for the love of the orthodox 
 Church.^ . . . 
 
 'Reuchlin, Melanchthon's uncle, was trying at this time to get him to Ingol- 
 stadt to withdraw him from Luther's influence. Eck also took part in this plan. 
 
272 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 216 
 
 21S. THOMAS VENATORIUS TO WILIBALD PIRCKHEIMER. 
 Pirckheimeri opera, ed. Goldast (1610), p. 332. 
 
 Epstett, January 8, 1520. 
 
 Venatorius (Gechauf) b. 1488, at Nuremberg, Dominican in Ba- 
 varia, called to Nuremberg through Pirckheimer's influence 1520, 
 1523 the first Lutheran pastor at the New Hospice church, 1544 for a 
 while at Rothenburg, died at Nuremberg 1551. Enders, vii. 301. 
 
 Pirckheimer (1470-1530), born at Eichstadt, studied in Italy 1490-7. 
 After his return to Nuremberg became a councillor, and, having in- 
 herited wealth, a patron of the arts (Diirer) and learning, and himself 
 translated a good deal from the Greek. Allgemeine deutsche Biog- 
 raphic. He was at first an enthusiastic Lutheran, was accused of 
 writing a satire on Eck (Der ahgehobelte Eck), and was excom- 
 municated by the bull Exsurge Domine, afterwards making submission 
 to the Pope and receiving absolution. See a sketch by F. Roth in 
 Schriften des Vereins fur Reformationsgeschichte, no. 21. 
 
 . . . Do not let what you wrote about that false theologiaa 
 Eck bother you, for he is impious and seeks occasion to quar- 
 rel with all learned men, which is easy for him to do. For 
 Reuchlin and the best part of the University of Ingolstadt 
 disagree with him. Recently, when a bookseller had im- 
 ported some tracts of Martin Luther, Eck, together with 
 the university, decreed that they should all be burned. But 
 when he did this I cannot say how much laughter he awak- 
 ened against himself, and how he departed alone covered with 
 blushes. His only triumphs are those of calumny. . . . 
 
 216. LUTHER TO SPALATIN AT ZERBST. 
 Enders, ii. 290. Wittenberg, January 10, 1520. 
 
 Greeting. I send you, Spalatin, a letter^ with some news, 
 by which you will see how unhappy is the hatred of Leipsic, 
 and how malignantly they abuse the simplicity of Duke 
 George, not fearing to allege that it is a great error and heresy 
 to communicate in both kinds. ^ And yet, although Christ's 
 gospel ordained this, I would not command it to be done ex- 
 cept by the authority of a council. By this example alone 
 you can easily learn what they say in other matters. Please 
 
 ^On this, Smith, p. 78, and supra, no. 209. 
 
 ^Luther's Sermon had on the title-page two monstrances, which Duke George 
 considered a symbol of communion in both kinds. 
 
Let. 217 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 273 
 
 read the rest about the mysterious meaning of the mon- 
 strances, and about my birth, education and family. I hope 
 they will soon pretend that I have a wife and children in 
 Bohemia.' 
 
 I do not wish to send Eck's slanders published by him in 
 reply to my articles.^ If you desire you shall see it when you 
 are here. You have read The Unlearned Canons^ I think, 
 eloquently and loftily attacking the sophist. Farewell in 
 Christ, and may the Lord be propitious in this affair of the 
 princes.' Amen. 
 
 Brother Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 217. LUTHER TO SPALATIN. 
 Enders, ii. 292. (Wittenberg), January 14, 1520. 
 
 Greeting. I am very glad and thank God, dear Spalatin, 
 that my cause has gone so far that, other charges being dis- 
 missed, I am now accused of taking the eucharist in both 
 kinds" and with my family. I hope by the signal mercy of 
 Christ shown to my unworthy self that I shall not lose on 
 account of any worthy opinion which has real weight, such 
 as my doctrine of free will, of grace or of the keys of the 
 Church. For now my enemies seem to despair of doing 
 anything against them, since they seek out such ridiculous 
 accusations. For just as Christ was crucified for the words 
 "king of the Jews," so am I on account of taking the sacra- 
 ment in both kinds, which I never either commanded nor 
 forbade, just like the schoolmen who treat of it. 
 
 On my family no one can speak more certainly than the 
 Counts of Mansfeld. I believe these heroes at least have so 
 much reputation and authority in the Empire, that they de- 
 serve to be credited on this subject. I believe that this fic- 
 
 iLuther means the rumors circulated by his enemies that he was of Bohemian 
 origin, of which, however, there is nothing in Duke George's letter. Spalatin 
 speaks of the first in his Annates, ap. Menck, ii, 599. Another rumor is found 
 about 1531 in a writing of Peter Sylvius (Grisar, ii. 675), and in Cochlaeus' 
 Commentaria, quoted here by Enders. According to this, Luther was begotten 
 by an Incubus. 
 
 2Eck*s often-mentioned Pro Hier, Bmser. 
 
 3A satire against Eck by Oecolampadius. 
 
 iA meeting of the German princes at Zerbst (see superscription of this letter) 
 to stop the war between Brunswick and Luneburg. 
 
 ^Cf, supra, no. 216. 
 18 
 
274 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 217 
 
 tion was cooked up by the Leipsic theologian Ochsenfart,' a 
 man who represented that Eck was crushed, for the sake of 
 spying on us, a man who cannot stand peace either for him- 
 self or anyone else, always ready to hurt, wretched and yet 
 impotent. 
 
 I was born at Eisleben, and baptized in the church of St. 
 Peter there. I do not remember this, but I believe my par- 
 ents and compatriots. My parents had migrated thither from 
 Eisenach hard by. Eisenach has almost all my relatives, and 
 there I am to-day recognized and known to most of them, 
 since I studied there four years,' nor does any city know me 
 better. I hope they would not be so foolish, that one should 
 call the son of Luther nephew, another uncle, another cousin 
 (of whom I have many there), if they knew that my father 
 and mother were Bohemians and other than natives of their 
 town. The rest of my life I spent at the university and 
 monastery of Erfurt until I came to Wittenberg, except one 
 year, my fourteenth, when I was at Magdeburg. 
 
 You have the story of my life and family. I should pre- 
 fer, as Christ did before Herod and Annas, to keep silence 
 on this matter, so these furious men could imagine anything 
 worthy of themselves about it until they blushed. For it is 
 a generation moved neither by song nor by mourning, in whom 
 we vainly seek a profitable man. 
 
 This same hour I have received your letter about Charles 
 von Miltitz, who, you say, swore that he had not seen me. 
 Why then did he confess to Andrew the barber, who ac- 
 companied him to Pretzsch' (as the latter openly boasts here) 
 that he both saw me and did I know not what terrible things 
 against me? But let them lie, invent and be as wise as they 
 please. Everything is against me, and would that something 
 would happen quickly to free me from the duty of lecturing 
 and teaching. For I desire nothing so much, as far as in me 
 lies. But if I must continue teaching, I do not understand 
 
 'Ochsenfart had just written to Luther again, Enders, i. 451, placed in March, 
 1519, but should be in January, 1520. Supra, no. 201. In this letter, however, 
 there is nothing about Luther's family. 
 
 21497-1501. Smith, op. cit., p. 4ff. These facts about Luther's early life are 
 well known and amply attested, but this account is interesting, being, as far as I 
 know, the earliest extant. 
 
 *A little village on the Elbe near Wittenberg. 
 
Ut. 2i8 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 275 
 
 your council, Spalatin, and that of your friends, that I might 
 teach sacred theology without offending the prelates. Script- 
 ure is especially hard on the abuse of sacred things, and 
 that is what the prelates cannot bear. 
 
 I gave and offered myself in the name of the Lord, whose 
 will be done. Who asked him to make me a doctor? If he 
 has made me one, let him keep me for himself, or else, if he 
 repents, let him destroy me. But my trouble does not so 
 wear me out as fill the sails of my heart with an incredible 
 wind, so that I now feel in myself why devils are in Scripture 
 likened to winds,^ which empty themselves by their fury, but 
 fill what they blow upon with the intent of hurting it. My 
 only care is that the Lord may be propitious to me in the 
 private affairs between him and me. Pray deign to help 
 me, as you can, in this. 
 
 Let us in faithful prayer commit this human cause to 
 God, and let us be at peace. What can they do ? Kill ? Can 
 they raise up to kill again ? Will they brand me as a heretic ? 
 Christ was condemned with the wicked, seducers and cursed 
 men; whenever I consider his passion, I burn to think that 
 this trial of mine should not only seem to be something, but 
 should even be considered great by many strong men, when 
 in truth it is nothing, unless we would altogether do away 
 with suffering and evil, that is, with the Christian life. 
 
 Let them do as they please; the more powerful they are 
 the more securely I laugh at them. I have determined in 
 this to fear nothing, but to despise all things. Did I not fear 
 to involve the elector, I would publish an apology full of 
 confidence in order to provoke those furies more, and to mock 
 their silly rage against me. . . . 
 
 Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 218. ULRICH VON HUTTEN TO PHILIP MELANCHTHON AT 
 
 WITTENBERG. 
 Corpus Reformatorum, i. 131. Mayence, January 20, 1520. 
 
 Perhaps you have already noticed how Francis von Sickin- 
 gen^ by his own power, but at my instigation, has freed 
 
 ^Hebrews, i. 7. Luther regarded the devils as evil angels. 
 
 '^Sickingen (1481-May 7, 1523), of the Ebernburg near Kreuznach, a knight 
 
276 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 219 
 
 Reuchlin for us from those barbarous scoundrels; toSickin- 
 gen they gave him and will be obliged even to pay the costs. 
 Now the same hero bids me write to Luther, that if he sufifers 
 any mischance in the present affair and has no better alter- 
 native, he should come to him and that he will do what he 
 can. Doubtless he can do as much as he did for Reuchlin. 
 I have not done as he asked for many reasons, but I write 
 to you in his name, to tell Luther what a protector he has, 
 who with such kindness offers his assistance, and that he 
 should write to Sickingen. Believe me, there is no better 
 chance of safety anywhere. Would that you had seen what 
 he wrote to the monks. I left him four days ago at Neustall, 
 where he now is. I will also take care of Erasmus' business, 
 for he writes me tragic letters about his rivals. First, we 
 must conciliate Ferdinand,' of whom Sickingen deserves well. 
 After that it will be easy to frustrate the wicked. Sickingen 
 loves Luther partly because he seems good to him and to 
 others, and is therefore hateful to those men, and partly be- 
 cause one of the counts of Solms^ commended him in a letter. 
 Tell him at once where his hope and safety lies, and farewell. 
 
 219. MARTIN BUCER TO LUTHER. 
 Enders, ii. 298. Heidelberg, January 23, 1520. 
 
 Hail, reverend Father, sincerest of theologians and strong- 
 est of Christians. When, in your debate here a year and a 
 half ago," you illuminated our university with your Chris- 
 tian rather than quaint learning, I, smitten by great love for 
 you, as though wounded by the sharp arrows of your words, 
 or rather of God the Mighty, dared to have a conference 
 with you. If it was impudent to seek it, the result was as- 
 suredly happy. For received at dinner by you and your pious 
 superior, John St?upitz, I was wonderfully and bountifully 
 
 who succeeded his father in 1505 to large domains. He had a feud in 1513 about 
 Worms, and one with Hesse. On October 25, 1519, he was made Imperial 
 Councillor and Chamberlain. He was interested by Hutten in the cause of 
 Reuchlin and Luther. In 1521 he was made general of the army against France, 
 but failed to accomplish much, chiefly through lack of funds. In 1522 he attacked 
 Trier with the purpose of leading an insurrection, but was defeated and killed st 
 Landstuhl. Life by H. Ulmann, 1872, and in Allge. Deutsche Biographie. 
 
 'The Emperor's brother (1503-64), elected King of the Romans 1531, Em- 
 peror, 1558. 
 ■^Perhaps Philip, count of Solms, a courtier of Albert of Mayence. 
 
 80n this, cf. supra, no. 57. 
 
Let. 219 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 277 
 
 refreshed, not only by the excellent delicacies of the table, 
 but by the exquisite and sweet meat of the Scriptures, for 
 which, indeed, I came more hungry than for the bodily food. 
 Among the other excellent gifts of your mind, the genuine 
 humility of our Lord Jesus' manifested itself with special 
 brilliance; your face, words, gesture and whole body testified 
 to it. This is the reason why I now dare to approach you, 
 so great a priest of eternal wisdom, who perpetually sacrifice 
 to wisdom from the field of your genius richer and more 
 fertile than any Arabia, sweet incense, and to write you a 
 letter, not only in poor Latin, but inept and most unseasonable. 
 I am sure that you will condone this sin. 
 
 The occasion of my writing now for the first time is my 
 immense desire for your Commentary on the Epistle of Paul 
 to the Galatians. For I only had a chance to see it, when a 
 certain man brought it here from Nuremberg. By various 
 wiles I extorted it from him and sent it to Beautus Rhenanus,'' 
 so that, if no one gets ahead of us, it can be reprinted by Laz- 
 arus Schiirer." For each of them is now at Schlettstadt, our 
 common birthplace. And having no little need of the com- 
 mentary, which seemed to me a treasury full of the dogmas 
 of pure theology, I ordered someone else to procure me your 
 works. Then, by chance, a certain messenger was starting 
 out hence from our prince to yours. But your Peter,* sec- 
 retary of Wolfgang Count Palatine, relieved him of this bur- 
 den, and transferred it to Spalatin,^ a man who deserves well 
 on account of his learning and piety. 
 
 Peter also urged me to write,'' although unknown to him 
 and inexperienced in all polite literature. I had previously 
 given myself altogether to him, nor could I return to 
 my former state. Moreover I could not trifle with your 
 dogmas, or rather with the pure doctrine of Christ. I ap- 
 
 IThe words in italics are Greek. 
 
 2With a letter dated Spires, January 15, 1520. Briefwechsel des Beatus 
 Rhenantis, p, 203. 
 
 SThis hope was probably not fulfilled. Weimar, ii. 439. Schiirer was a printer 
 of Schlettstadt. 
 
 ^Perhaps Peter Beymann, a client of Wolfgang, matriculated at Wittenberg 1515. 
 
 SFrom whom Bucer received a copy by March 19. Cf. Briefwechsel des Beatus 
 RhenanuSj p. 216. 
 
 6Bucer's letter to Spalatin, January 23, printed in Kolde: Analecta Liitkerana, 
 p. 437, and Stahelin: Brief e aus dcr Refcrmationseit, p. 6, 
 
278 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 219 
 
 prove all your teachings without exception, but I am es- 
 pecially pleased at what you say about charity, rightly exe- 
 crating that always present curse of a Christian, the sayings: 
 Charity begins at home, and. Be your own neighbor. . . . 
 [Bucer tells of a debate on this point held under his presi- 
 dency at Heidelberg.] . . . 
 
 You have here not a few disciples, though on account of 
 the Pharisees they have not yet dared to come out openly. 
 I pray your charity, most learned Father, to forgive what I 
 have said amiss in expounding this charity, and please deign 
 to write me to lead me back into the right path. For next 
 to the canonical Scriptures, I hold nothing more sacred than 
 your opinion or that of Erasmus. You know what others 
 think of you, but your opponents need a physician no cleverer 
 than themselves. I hope, or rather I know, that Christ, whose 
 cause you are so strongly advancing, will never desert you. 
 
 Tell all who love learning, and first of all your Philip Mel- 
 anchthon, that Francis von Sickingen, a most noble knight, 
 by declaring war on our order, at length compelled our pro- 
 vincial vicar to make a treaty with that Phoenix, our Reuch- 
 lin. For, as he promised, the vicar sent to Reuchlin at In- 
 golstadt two professors,' who are most hostile to Hochstrat- 
 ten as far as this quarrel is concerned, to make peace with 
 him. If they do not succeed, the thirteenth of March is set 
 to have the matter decided by arbitration at Worms. Hoch- 
 stratten's perverse zeal grieves almost everyone, but none of 
 us dared to offend the majesty of the inquisitor. Thanks be 
 to God, who has at length forced better councils to prevail 
 by arms. This is the fifteenth day since the legates departed, 
 and we hope they will soon return, and return with peace 
 made. For we offer to write even to the Pope, to ask that if 
 he will do nothing else the provincial may at least end the 
 quarrel by imposing perpetual silence and keep Hochstratten 
 from reviling. I know that this will please Philip, and no! 
 him alone, but all good students. 
 
 lA fuller account of this business, which happened in December, is given to 
 Bucer's letter to Rhenanus of January 15. The professors were the head of the 
 theological school at Heidelberg and the prior of Esslingen. They left on 
 January 8, arriving at Ingolstadt just ten days later, so Reuchlin wrote Pirck- 
 heimer. Opera Pirckheimeri^ p. 261. 
 
Let. 220 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 279 
 
 Farewell in Jesus our Lord, and may you always be superior 
 to your enemies. . . . 
 
 Martin Bucer of Schlettstadt, 
 Your Reverence's son in Christ. . . . 
 
 220. LUTHER TO JOHN LANG AT ERFURT. 
 Enders, ii. 304. (Wittenberg), January 26, 1520. 
 
 Greeting. We have no news, reverend Father. For you 
 have seen The Unlearned Canons. We shall print the Nurem- 
 berg German Apology^ if we have time. I send an explana- 
 tion of my sermon on the eucharist against the men of Leip- 
 sic, who have scattered the rumor that I am a born Bohemian 
 with such confidence that they have persuaded even the courts 
 of princes. They have captured Duke George and made him 
 most hostile to me, for he warned- the Dresden brothers of 
 my expulsion, as they call it. . . . 
 
 Some people have in their possession a noble epistle" of. 
 Erasmus to the Cardinal of Mayence. Perhaps it will be( 
 printed sometime. Erasmus, who is very anxious about me, i 
 nobly defends me, and yet in such a manner that he seems to I 
 do nothing less than to defend me, so great is his habitual f 
 dexterity. 
 
 The Spanish ambassador* is with our elector. PhiHp and 
 I were invited to dinner with him and handsomely enter- 
 tained. You will soon see Melanchthon's oration delivered 
 yesterday printed. Farewell and pray for me. Greet from 
 me the reverend Father Bartholomew Usingen, and Nathin 
 and all. 
 
 Brother Martin Luther. 
 
 ^Lazarus Spengler's Schutsrede, cf. infra, no. 221. 
 
 t-This letter is quoted by Enders. The Dresden cloister apparently kept 
 favorable to Luther notwithstanding. 
 ^This letter, supra, no. 192. It had been entrusted for delivery to Ulrich von 
 Hutten, who was doubtless responsible for opening it and showing it around, and 
 also for having it printed, as was done at once. Bibliotheca Erasmiana, i. 93. 
 Erasmus naturally took this very ill, blaming Hutten for his "more than punic 
 perfidy" (Erasmi epistolae, Londini, 1642, xiii. 42), and especially the liberty 
 taken, as he avows, with the text in changing "Luther" to "our Luther." Ibid. 
 xvii. 19. It was reprinted at Wittenberg in 1520 (according to Corpus Reforma- 
 torum, i. 157), as well as at a number of other places. Bibliotheca Erasmiana, 
 he. cit. Cf. also Smith, op. cit., p. 201. 
 'Jerome Bronner, Secretary and Councillor of the Emperor elect, Charles V. 
 
280 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 221 
 
 221. ALBERT DURER TO GEORGE SPALATIN. 
 
 E. Heidrich: Albrecht Diirers schriftUche Nachlass. (Berlin, 1908), 
 p. 180. German. (Nuremberg, about February, 1520.) 
 
 Diirer, the celebrated artist of Nuremberg (1471-1528) had sent 
 Luther some of his engravings early in 1518, from which time till his 
 death he was an enthusiastic Lutheran. His artistic works reproduced 
 in Klassiker der Kunst, iv., Miinchen, 1908. His literary works edited 
 by Heidrich, op. cit. Life by Thausing with English translation 
 by Eaton. Cf. also Heidrich : Albrecht Diirer und die Reformation, 
 1 910. 
 
 Honored and dear Sir: — I have already thanked you in 
 my note for what you sent me, but had then only read the 
 little slip with the address. Your letter, being inside the 
 book, was overlooked, and I have just found it and learn 
 that my gracious Lord Frederic is sending me some of Luth- 
 er's pamphlets. Wherefore I beg your Honor to express my 
 highest thanks to his Grace, and humbly to commend to him 
 the excellent Dr. Martin Luther, on account of Christian 
 truth which concerns us more than riches and power of this 
 world, for temporal things pass away, but truth lives forever. 
 H God help me I will go to Dr. Martin Luther and make 
 his likeness in copper^ for a lasting memorial of the Chris- 
 tian man who has helped me out of great anguish. I beg 
 your Honor if Dr. Luther writes anything more in German, 
 please to send it to me at my expense. 
 
 You wrote about Luther's Defence,- but there are no more 
 copies to be had; a second edition is being printed at Augs- 
 burg, and when it is ready I will send you one. This pam- 
 phlet written here is called heretical in the pulpits, and it is 
 said they will burn it, and they vilify it for being published 
 anonymously. They say Dr. Eck will burn it publicly at 
 Ingolstadt, as happened to Dr. Reuchlin's books. 
 
 I am sending my most gracious lord three copies of my 
 engraving of the Cardinal of Mayence. I sent the plate with 
 two hundred copies to the cardinal for which his grace 
 
 ^Unfortunately Diirer never carried out this plan. 
 
 2Lazarus Spengler's Schutzrede und Christliche Antwort, mentioned by Luther 
 in a letter to Spalatin, si'.pra, no. 220. This probably caused Spalatin to write to 
 Diirer about it, from which we get the approximate date of this letter. 
 
Ut 222 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 281 
 
 kindly gave me two hundred gulden in gold and twenty ells 
 of damask for a coat. This I receive with pleasure, especially 
 as I am needy at this time. For his Imperial Majesty of ex- 
 cellent memory, who departed this life prematurely, had given 
 me a pension of one hundred gulden^ which my masters will 
 not pay me now. So I must want in my old days and lose 
 the reward of my work done for his Imperial Majesty. For 
 my eyesight and freedom of hand is going, and I cannot work 
 much longer. This I cannot conceal from you, my trusted 
 and kind friend. 
 
 If my gracious lord wishes to have something handsome 
 made out of the stag's antlers I can make a pair of candle- 
 sticks out of them. . . . Recommend me to my gracious lord, 
 the elector. Your devoted, 
 
 Albert Durer. 
 
 222. LUTHER TO ALBERT, ARCHBISHOP AND ELECTOR 
 
 OF MAYENCE. 
 Enders, ii. 307. Wittenberg, February 4, 1520. 
 
 I commend myself in the Lord with all subjection and rev- 
 erence. Most reverend Father in Christ and most illustrious 
 Prince, I, a man of the lowest condition, would never dare 
 to address your Grandeur, even in a letter, to which more is 
 allowed than modesty permits saying orally, were I not com- 
 pelled to do so for a great cause, namely, the profession of 
 Christian faith and truth, and our common care for the sal- 
 vation of all in Christ. If I brought danger on these I would 
 be most impious to keep still. Moreover I have been credibly 
 informed that men who perchance praise and defend me 
 elsewhere, in your" presence, most reverend Father in Christ, 
 excite hatred and envy against me. . . . 
 
 If the things with which I am accused are right and true, 
 will the grace of my Lord allow me to utter a complaint? 
 Why do they not teach me better? Why do they not show 
 me my error? Why do they condemn me in the presence of 
 
 ^A previous letter speaks of two hundred gulden. Probably the hundred gulden had 
 been granted before, and this was raised to two hundred at the Diet of Augs- 
 burg, 151 8, but the increase was not received by Diirer owing to Maximilian's 
 death in January, 1519. 
 
282 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 222 
 
 the great before they convict me, especially as I so often 
 promise to listen to instruction, and as I am prepared to 
 yield on my opinion, or rather I greatly desire to be relieved 
 of the burden of teaching and to hide in a corner? 
 
 I am compelled to teach what I have learned and read in 
 Holy Scripture, and I am blamed for teaching what they 
 either will not or cannot blame. Would that my most gra- 
 cious Lord had leisure to read or hear read my works; your 
 Reverence would doubtless then learn how foreign to me 
 are the charges brought against me. I have not yet heard 
 that my writings have been condemned by any except by 
 those who had not read or heard them, except by a few who 
 are moved by envy to pervert whatever they read, and pre- 
 tend that I said what I never thought of. Such are those 
 accusations about taking the eucharist in both kinds and 
 about the power of the Pope, in which, if they confess the 
 truth, they really think as I do, though they pretend other- 
 wise, as anyone can easily see who reads my writings. 
 
 Wherefore I humbly pray your Reverence by your cele- 
 brated loving kindness towards sound learning and men of 
 letters, that your Lordship will deign to hear me more kindly 
 than those spies demand, not so much for my sake as for 
 that of your own salvation and the salvation of many others, 
 and for the sake of Christian truth, which must needs be 
 wounded if I am unjustly either condemned after hearing, or 
 before I am instructed and heard. 
 
 Jesus Christ, the judge of all, is witness to my soul that 
 I am conscious of having taught nothing save Christ and 
 the commandments of God, and, again, that I am not so ob- 
 stinate, but that I desire to be instructed, and when I see 
 my error, to change my opinion. Would that I might owe 
 that favor to your Reverence. For hitherto I have been at- 
 tacked by many lies, and yet after the truth was revealed 
 shown to be innocent. Therefore I am obliged to suspect 
 that those who attack me in other ways do not act sincerely, 
 especially as they will not teach one ready to be taught, but 
 only criminate him. . . . 
 
 Your Reverence's most devoted son, 
 
 Martin Luther. 
 
Let. 224 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 283 
 
 223. MARCO MINIO TO THE SIGNORY OF VENICE. 
 Marino Sanuto: Diarii (Extracts on Luther, edited by G. M. Thomas 
 
 under the title : M. Luther und die Reformationsbewegung. . . 
 
 in Ausziigen aus Marino Sanuto's Diarien. Ansbach, 1883), xxviii. 
 
 136, Itahan. R. Brown : Calendar of State Papers . . . In Venice. 
 
 London, 1869, iii. 11. EngUsh. Rome, February 4, 152O. 
 
 Minio was Venetian ambassador at Rome 1516-19. 
 
 In Germany, an Austin friar, called Friar Matthew [ !] 
 Luther, had written works against the Pope and the Church, 
 and had preached publicly at Nuremberg to that effect, which 
 facts having come to the knowledge of the Pope, he had 
 appointed a commission of learned Observant friars, and 
 had appointed two cardinals as their chiefs, namely, the 
 Bishop of Ancona and Cajetan, who were very learned, that 
 they might suppress this opposition in the Church. 
 
 224. MARCO MINIO TO THE SIGNORY OF VENICE. 
 Sanuto, xxviii. 141. Italian. Brown, iii. 12. English. 
 
 Rome, February 4, 1520. 
 
 Three days ago a commission of all the Generals of the 
 Mendicant orders was held, and such as were not present at 
 Rome were represented by the Procurators of such orders, 
 the chiefs of this commission being the Cardinals of Ancona 
 and Cajetan. 
 
 This Commission was appointed in order to condemn cer- 
 tain propositions of Friar Martin Luther, who had preached 
 in Germany against the authority and power of the Pope, 
 and has a considerable party and is much favored by the 
 Elector of Saxony. An attempt is thus being made to de- 
 prive Luther of the protection he enjoys, and of his adherents, 
 and the bull is being drawn up ; but the course taken by the 
 Commission was injudicious for the said friar's propositions 
 were read and the votes on them demanded without any 
 deliberation. 
 
 This friar Martin founds his arguments chiefly on the 
 gospels ; he acknowledges the doctors of the Church, such 
 as St. Augustine, but not the other doctors, and he scoffs at 
 St. Thomas Aquinas, Scotus and the like. It is a very 
 scandalous affair. 
 
284 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 226 
 
 225. LUTHER TO SPALATIN. 
 Enders, ii. 315. (Wittenberg), February 5, 1520. 
 
 Greeting. At length I send my letters^ to the bishops; you 
 find out whether it is best to send them, especially after, in 
 the manner of the Leipsic party, the Bishop of Meissen has 
 posted up an inhibition- against ray sermon on the sacrament, 
 with whom they hope many others will agree. But I will 
 publish a contradictory notice, and with God's help will show 
 up these silly carnival masks. 
 
 Insane Eck foully attacks Carlstadt and me in a new 
 pamphlet." Carlstadt is preparing to answer him, and in 
 such heat that he has given his reply the title: Against the 
 blockish ass and pretended doctor, etc. If possible, persuade 
 him either to abstain from cursing back, or not to answer at 
 all ; for in his book that wretched sophist has made himself 
 sufficiently contemptible and disgusting, so that no one could 
 make him more so by upbraiding him, and would only make 
 a cover for his baseness, by which it would seem less base. 
 For I have begun to despise the man as I never before de- 
 spised anyone. Carlstadt will not suffer my advice in this 
 matter, nor would it be safe for you to let him think I had 
 spoken to you about it, for the man is very suspicious. . . . 
 
 I remember that I wished that Melanchthon had a wife 
 suited to his character, nor am I sorry for this wish. For I 
 fear the fate which pursues great geniuses will overtake him, 
 especially as he is very careless about domestic matters and 
 his health. But I do not see that he is yet inclined to 
 matrimony. 
 
 225. MARCO MINIO TO THE SIGNORY OF VENICE. 
 Sanuto, xxviii. 143, tergo. Italian. Brown, iii. 16. English. 
 
 Rome, February 11, 1520. 
 
 The Commission of Franciscan Observants appointed by 
 
 the Pope against that Friar Martin Luther in Germany, had 
 
 1 Letter to Albert of Mayence, supra, no. 222, and one of the same date and 
 similar purport to Adolph, Bishop of Merseburg. Enders, ii. 311. The letters 
 were sent on by Spalatin. 
 
 ^Dated Stolpen, January 24. Printed, Krlangen Kdition, Opera I'an'i argiuncnti, 
 iv. 139. 
 
 ^Cofitra Martini Liidderi obtusum propugnatorem Andream, etc. Dedication 
 dated Ingolstadt, December 3, 1519. 
 
Let. 227 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 285 
 
 intended to draw up a bull against him, but they subsequently 
 made the Pope determine to discuss the matter more fully 
 by making another Commission of other eminent men. 
 
 227. LUTHER TO SPALATIN. 
 Enders, ii. 322. (Wittenberg), February 12, 1520. 
 
 Greeting. Here is the letter^ of Bucer, a young brother 
 who almost alone in his order gives some promise. At Heidel- 
 berg he received me eagerly and simply, and conversed with 
 me showing himself worthy of love and trust, and also of 
 hope. 
 
 Your admonitions came late. All that in one lost day, 
 under the auspices of Melanchthon, I conceived, I am now 
 bearing, with the presses as midwives.- Suppose there is to 
 be a new and great conflagration, who can resist the plan of 
 God? They are raging so without cause from God or fault 
 from me ; and unless God humbles me I will despise them, for 
 you yourself see how easily I can bear their learning and 
 malice. Who knows whether they are predestined to be the 
 cause of revealing the truth, and whether they are not pre- 
 paring for themselves the punishment of the hatred they have 
 so long nourished against us, namely, the shame which the 
 enemies of the truth ought to win. I have honored the 
 bishop, but if they go on I won't let a bubble like him stop 
 my fighting for Christ's truth. 
 
 When his Inhibition was posted up at Oschatz, some 
 brothers of Waldheim who came hither yesterday, told me 
 that someone had written on it: "Behold the bishops of this 
 age post up their ignorance even on Church doors ! Alas, 
 Bishop, reread the gospel!" And more. Pray let the matter 
 go its own way ; God only is guiding it. We are carried along, 
 as I think, and are passive rather than active. Farewell and 
 pray for me. 
 
 Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 ^ Supra, no. 2ig. 
 
 ^The Reply to the Bishop of Meissen's Placard, supra, no. 223. It was taken 
 at once to the Bishop at Stolpen by the secretary of Mayence, Michael Reysch, 
 and read by him to the bishop and the "OfScial" (Christopher Beczschicz). They 
 were displeased, but the more the Official cursed the more Reysch laughed. 
 
286 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 228 
 
 228. LUTHER TO SPALATIN. 
 
 Enders, ii. 327. Wittenberg (between February 12 and 18), 1520, 
 
 Enders dates this "soon after February 18," but internal evidence 
 seems to me to make it more probable that the letter was written 
 after that of February 12, but before that of February 18. In this 
 dating I follow Hoppe in the St. Louis Walch edition, vol. xxi., no. 
 263. 
 
 Greeting. Good Heavens ! Spalatin, how excited you are ! 
 More than I or anyone else. I wrote you before not to as- 
 sume that this affair was begun or is carried on by your 
 judgment or mine or that of any man. If it is of God, it 
 will be completed contrary to, outside of, above and below, 
 your or my understanding. 
 
 But let me tell you again that I would not have the least 
 part of this cause decided by your fate or by mine, and that 
 my only fear has always been that I should be left to myself 
 and thus write what would please human wisdom. You must 
 beware of being too wise and I of being too foolish. Too 
 much folly, I confess, displeases men, but too much wisdom 
 still more displeases God, who has chosen the foolish things 
 of the world to confound the wise.^ 
 
 You do not see that my long suffering in not answering 
 five or six wagonloads of Emser's and Eck's curses was the 
 sole cause why those bloated makers of placards' dared to 
 revile me with their ridiculous folly. 
 
 Secondly, I know that I do not care that at Leipsic my 
 sermon" was forbidden and suppressed in a public edict, for 
 I despise their suspicion, reproaches, injuries and mahce. 
 Forsooth must we allow these bold men to add to their other 
 furious acts the publication of libels, stuffed not only with 
 lies, but with blasphemy against the gospel truth? Do you 
 forbid us even to bark against these wolves? 
 
 The Lord is my witness, how much I have restrained my- 
 self for the sake of the bishop's name, not to treat this 
 
 'i Corinthians, i. 27. Luther is answering Spalatin's objections to the too 
 great violence of his answer to the Bishop of Meissen. Cf. supra, no. 227, 
 2"Schedularii," referring to the "Schedula" of the Bishop of Meissen. 
 ^Sermon on the Sacrament of the Body and Blood. Weimar, ii. 738. 
 
Let. 228 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 287 
 
 cursed and impotent edict irreverently. I shall say elsewhere 
 what their brains ought to hear, when they acknowledge that 
 they have published the edict and begin to defend themselves. 
 I consider them unpeaceable and in a future tract shall not 
 abstain from treating them as violators of law, gospel and 
 common sense, so that they may know how much I have 
 hitherto spared their ignorance and malice. 
 
 I see that you have not read the edict with sufficient care. 
 If they were not more ignorant than any asses, they would 
 know that nothing was ever written against me, or rather 
 against God's word, more venomous, pestilent, malignant and 
 mendacious. On this account should we exult, or change 
 our manner of writing, or suffer more? You know how I 
 despise that inconvenience. 
 
 If you think properly of the gospel, please do not imagine 
 that its cause can be advanced without tumult, offence and 
 sedition. You will not make a pen from a sword, nor peace 
 of war. The Word of God is a sword, it is war and ruin 
 and offence and perdition and poison, and, as Amos says,' it 
 met the sons of Ephraim as a bear in the way and as a lioness 
 in the wood. I wrote much more vehemently against Emser, 
 Eck and Tetzel, and you never complained. What if even 
 the official^ or the bishop himself does not acknowledge pub- 
 lishing the edict? 
 
 They write in greater danger than I do, for they have so 
 forgotten all gospel, laws, reason and common sense, that 
 they care for nothing but to condemn me unheard, unwarned 
 and untaught. They do to me what I have never done to 
 them, at least never to the bishop and the official. 
 
 Let them go on as they please. If they have forgotten the 
 dignity of the episcopal office, or even that of his subordinate, 
 doubt not that I will soon remind them of it by citing texts 
 of the Bible. God so carries me on that I cannot fear their 
 rash and untaught hatred. Let God see to it, for he acts 
 through me, since I am certain that none of these things have 
 been sought by me, but that they were drawn from me, one 
 and all, by a fury not my own. 
 
 iRather Hosea, xiii. y{. Cf. Amos, iii. 8. 
 ^Supra, no. 227, note 1- 
 
288 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 228 
 
 Be of good cheer, and do not brood over the apparent 
 facts. Faith is the proof of things not seen;' why, then, do 
 you judge according to what is seen? What is done, Spalatin, 
 and what is seen in this affair are different. I seek nothing; 
 there is one that seeketh." Let it stand or fall, I neither gain 
 nor lose anything. You have my opinion. 
 
 Our friends are not as much displeased as are you and as 
 you wrote. The provost" thinks that I have treated these brawl- 
 ers rightly. If everything which comes forth under the name 
 of bishops is to be received, what tyranny will reign! I am 
 sure that the Bishop of Meissen is not the author of this 
 edict, and I firmly hope that he will not recognize it. Even 
 if he does this I assume that my warning will make him act 
 more prudently and wisely in future. 
 
 Yet I cannot deny that I have been more vehement than I 
 should; but as they knew that I would be, they should not 
 have irritated the dog. You know yourself how hard it is to 
 moderate an angry pen. This is the reason why I am sorry 
 to be in the public eye ; and the more I am involved in such 
 business, contrary to my monastic vow, the more sorry I am. 
 But they act against me and God's Word so criminally and 
 fiercely, that were I not moved to write warmly, even a mind 
 of stone might be moved to war by indignation. Far from 
 having such a mind, however, I am naturally warm, and have 
 a pen which is not at all blunt. So I am carried beyond the 
 bounds of moderation by these monsters. 
 
 Moreover I wonder whence this new scrupulousness is 
 born, which calls all that is said against an opponent scurillity. 
 What do you think of Christ? Was he scurrilous when he 
 called the Jews a perverse and adulterous generation, off- 
 spring of vipers, hypocrites and children of the devil? Paul 
 speaks of dogs, vain babblers, seducers, unlearned, and in 
 Acts xiii. so rages against a false prophet that he might seem 
 insane, saying: "O full of all guile and all villainy, thou son 
 
 IHebrews, xi. i. 
 
 2John, viii. 50. 
 
 3Dr. Henning Code, professor at Erfurt till 1509, when he went to Witten- 
 berg as professor of canon law and provost of the City Church. In 15 16 he 
 returned to Erfurt for two years, when he came back to Wittenberg. He died 
 January, 1521. He was against the Reformation. 
 
Let. 229 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 289 
 
 of the devil, thou enemy of all truth. "^ Why did not Paul 
 rather flatter him to convert him than thus thunder? The 
 consciousness of truth cannot be patient against the obstinate 
 and unconquered enemies of the truth. 
 
 But enough of this trifling now. I see that all demand 
 moderation from me, even my enemies who least practice it. 
 If I am immoderate, at least I am simple and open, in which 
 I think I am better than they who invent stories full of guile. 
 Farewell and fear not. Brother Martin Luther. 
 
 P. S. — You write among other things that your advice was 
 scorned, and don't remember that I wrote you that your 
 advice came late when the books were almost printed. 
 
 229. LUTHER TO SPALATIN. 
 Enders, ii. 324. (Wittenberg), February 18, 1520. 
 
 Greeting. Dear George, by God's grace I have courage 
 enough against the conflagration of Meissen," and you will 
 see me obeying your advice to answer as gently as possible. 
 Indeed, I will let you and your friends see a copy of my 
 Latin answer before it is printed, which I should also have 
 done with the German answer, had it not been printed before 
 your letter came. But neither in this latter have I touched the 
 ulcer of this edict on account of my reverence for the bishop, 
 although truly the edict is blasphemous and more furious 
 against Christ's gospel than any heresy. I shall point this 
 out in future, and unless they beware I shall treat them as 
 they deserve in exposing their ignorance. I will not suffer 
 a condemned error to be assumed in God's gospel even by 
 all the angels of heaven, much less by the idols of one 
 terrestrial church. 
 
 If it seem good to you, let us do our enemies this favor. 
 Write them, if there are any there who will listen to you, 
 warning and begging them to act against Luther as prudently 
 and cautiously as they can, for he took great care to spare 
 them in this pamphlet. If they begin to shun the frost, per- 
 haps they will be buried in snow. For unless God has de- 
 
 ^Acts, xiii. 10. 
 
 27. e., the affair of the edict published by the Bishop of Meissen at Stolpen, 
 against which Luther was publishing two answers, Latin and German. 
 
 19 
 
290 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 230 
 
 prived me of all sense (which he may do in his excellent 
 will), it will happen that the more they stir up this dung (so 
 to speak), the more it will stink. I would not threaten so 
 great and so many men, save that I grieve for and pity their 
 shame, which they have irrevocably fixed on themselves by 
 this edict, and because I desire to offer them the same terms 
 in this matter that I desire for myself. I would not take all 
 the wealth in the world to be found the author of such an 
 edict. . . . 
 
 230. LUTHER TO GEORGE SPALATIN. 
 Enders, ii. 331. (Wittenbekg), February 24, 1520. 
 
 Greeting. ... I believe the men of Stolpen^ will not keep 
 quiet; perchance the Lord will do something through them 
 which neither they nor I expect; in the meantime, let them 
 find an interpreter of their pamphlet how they may. I have 
 written the bishops^ and am expecting an answer. 
 
 I do not remember about my Sermon on Good Works; as I 
 have printed so much there is danger that I shall weary the 
 buying public at length. I do not know the German Apology 
 which you say is a supplement to the one printed at Nurem- 
 berg. Send it along if you have it, so that I may see it. Let 
 the Answer of the Unlearned Canons^ follow. . . . 
 
 Yesterday Matthew Adrian* sent me word by Dr. Conrad 
 Konig," the son-in-law of Dr. Wolfgang Stehelin," requesting 
 an answer. I think I have answered him, but the letter has 
 been lost. Konig also asked how much salary Adrian would 
 require to teach Hebrew here. For he thought ninety or one 
 
 ^Snpra, no. 227, note z. 
 
 20f Mayence and Merseburg; Luther wrote them, at the elector's suggestion, 
 in answer to their charges against his Sermon on the Lord's Supper. Supra, 
 no. 222. 
 
 3A work of Oecolampadius to support Luther against Eck. 
 
 *A baptized Spanish Jew, a physician. He taught Hebrew at Basle, then at 
 Heidelberg, then (1517) at the Collegium Trilingue at Louvain, then in Witten- 
 berg, where he remained about a year (to February, 1521). Fuller references, 
 Enders, ii. 223. 
 
 sQf Stuttgart, doctor of law, Dean of the faculty of arts at Wittenberg 1509, 
 and Rector 1510. 
 
 «0f Rotheburg, came to Wittenberg from Tiibingen in 1502; 1521-5 chancellor 
 of Duke Henry of Saxony at Freiberg. Later against the Reformation. Enders, 
 i. 190. 
 
Let. 230 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 291 
 
 hundred gulden would suffice, as I had already heard several 
 times from Adrian himself. Please tell us what you think 
 or hope in the matter. 
 
 I I have at hand, by the kindness of Schleupner,^ Lorenzo 
 ; Valla's proofs (edited by Hutten), that the Donation of Con- 
 stantine is a forgery. Good Heavens ! what darkness and 
 wickedness is at Rome! You wonder at the judgment of 
 God, that such unauthentic, crass, impudent lies not only 
 lived, but prevailed for so many centuries and were incor- 
 porated into the Canon Law, and (that no degree of horror 
 might be wanting), became as articles of faith. I am in such 
 a passion that I hardly doubt that the Pope is the Antichrist, 
 which the world at large expects, so closely do their lives, 
 acts, sayings and laws agree. But more of this when I see 
 you. If you have not seen the book, I shall take care that 
 you read it. 
 
 I do not know what to say about the students and the 
 painters. I fear it is a little thing artificially blown up to 
 look big. I spoke of it in a sermon, but did not satisfy all. 
 Some said I favored the students too much, and some the 
 contrary. This affair of the devil is so hard to manage that 
 it would have been better to let it cool off of itself, rather 
 than start putting it down with so much tumult and noise. 
 There are only a few actors in the tragedy, and they poor 
 ones, on account of whom the whole city and university are 
 disturbed. Indeed, it is impossible (as Antiochus said to 
 Herod) that in a great sick body an ulcer or pus or some- 
 thing like it should not occasionally break out, which, if you 
 let it take its course, will die down of itself, but if you keep 
 it in and stop it up will infect and ruin the whole body. I 
 shall do what I can. 
 
 Farewell and pray for me. Our prior Helt went to Magde- 
 burg as soon as your letters came. 
 
 Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 ^Dominic Schleupner of Breslau, matriculated at Wittenberg 15 19 and later 
 became preacher of St. Sebald in Nuremberg. Spoken of by Luther last on 
 December i, 1530. Enders, viii. 326. 
 
 ^The brilliant Italian humanist Valla (1406-57) had proved that the so-called 
 Donation of Constantine to the Pope was a forgery. Hutten published this, 1519. 
 On the influence of the work on Luther, cf. Smith, op. cit.j pp. yz^. 
 
292 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 231 
 
 231. ALBERT, ARCHBISHOP AND ELECTOR OF MAYENCE, 
 
 TO LUTHER. 
 Enders, ii. 336. Calbe, February 26, 1520. 
 
 Greeting in the Lord. Honorable and beloved in Christ, 
 we received your letter^ in which you try to free us from 
 the danger of crafty suggestion and yourself from the peril 
 of being thought hatefully hypocritical and obstinate. We 
 could not but be pleased that you promised to listen to 
 better doctrine, and, if you are taught, to give up your 
 own opinion. Although, as befitting our office, we profess 
 that all matters of Christian faith and piety are very close 
 to our heart, yet we have not hitherto had leisure given 
 us to read or even to glance at your works which are now in 
 everybody's hands. Wherefore it is not our intention to pass 
 judgment on them, but to leave that to others who are greater 
 than we, whom we reverence, and to whom we rightly yield 
 precedence, and who have already taken up the discussion of 
 these matters.^ 
 
 But we do greatly wish that you as well as all others who 
 have undertaken a spiritual life, should treat sacred things 
 reverently, piously, modestly, without tumult, hatred and con- 
 tumely, ag becoming. For not without serious pain of mind 
 and vehement displeasure we daily learn that distinguished 
 men professing to be Christians fiercely fight, as though for 
 a great, serious matter, for their own frivolous opinions and 
 notions, as, for example, whether the power of the Roman 
 pontiff is divine or human, and of free will, and many other 
 similar trifles, which do not concern true Christianity. 
 Everything is treated as a matter of vital importance, every- 
 one defends his own opinion haughtily not without re- 
 proaching and reviling his opponent. Thus, to the great peril 
 of inciting disobedience and sedition, many strange opinions 
 are scattered among the fickle crowd and the unlearned peo- 
 ple, and much is rashly suggested to the ears of the laity con- 
 trary to the long established customs of the Church of Christ, 
 
 ^Supra, 222, 
 
 -Luther resented this refusal of Albert to discuss his books, as he wrote him 
 December t, 1521: "To my second letter to your Grace, humbly asking for 
 instruction, I got a hard, improper, unepiscopal, unchristian answer, referring me 
 to higher powers for information." Smith, op. cit., p. 128. 
 
Let. 232 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 293 
 
 forsooth that the venerable sacrament of communion should 
 be indiscriminately distributed in both kinds to all assembled, 
 as well laymen as clergy. Moreover we have heard that some 
 men audaciously belittle the authority of general councils in 
 order to uphold and defend their own opinions. 
 
 We do not see why it is expedient for you or others to 
 treat such matters, nor how it can make for the majesty, 
 purity and dignity of Christianity and for the peace and 
 tranquillity of the Church. Perhaps these things could be 
 considered at a more convenient time and place by men skilled 
 in letters and to whom the duty should be assigned. This 
 method of discussion would yield more fruit and less danger, 
 without envy and incitement to disobedience and scandal to 
 the populace, and without insulting anyone. This would be 
 better than to have such matters rashly bandied about by the 
 unlearned and by the prating rabble. 
 
 Finally, we cannot disapprove your assumption to teach what 
 you read and have learned in Holy Scripture, provided only 
 that you do it piously, gently, without bitterness and without 
 inciting to disobedience to the public authority of the Church. 
 If your work be of God, it will be praiseworthy and fruitful, 
 and, as we say to you with Gamaliel, Acts v.,^ strong and 
 invincible; but if your work be of hatred, pride and ill will, 
 it is of men and can easily be overthrown. For everyone is 
 in danger of abusing the benefits of God, and of fighting 
 against the truth and against God. May he grant that we 
 and you and all other Christians may do right. Farewell in 
 Christ. 
 
 232. ULRICH VON HUTTEN TO PHILIP MELANCHTHON AT 
 WITTENBERG. 
 
 Corpus Reformatorum, i. 147. Steckelberg, February 28 (1520). 
 
 I enclose a letter^ I wrote long ago, which has been returned 
 to me, having been badly cared for by those to whom I en- 
 trusted it. Please tell Luther at once and privately what I 
 wrote about Sickingen, but so that no one shall know that I 
 have had anything to do with the affair. There is a reason 
 
 'Acts, V. 38f. 
 
 2/. tr., that of January 20, supra, no. 218. 
 
294 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 233 
 
 not mentioned in the letter. If Luther is in trouble, and can 
 get help nowhere else, here is safety. Here he can mock 
 his detractors in perfect security. Sickingen and I have 
 important reasons, which I would tell you if I saw you. I 
 fear that some evil will happen to the barbarians and to all 
 who support the Roman yoke. My dialogues, the Roman 
 Triad and the Inspicientes are being printed; they are very 
 free against the Pope and the despoilers of Germany. I 
 believe you will approve, or at least not disapprove of them. 
 Above all things warn Luther. If his business is doubtful, 
 bid him at once without delay betake himself to Sickingen. 
 He could see me on the way, but I do not know if I would 
 then be here. . . . 
 
 233. LUTHER TO GEORGE SPALATIN AT ALTENBURG. 
 Enders, ii. 342. Wittenberg, February 29, 1520. 
 
 Greeting. At length the Bishop of Merseburg has sent 
 me back my messenger with a letter, after keeping him wait- 
 ing three days. I am still waiting for the answer of the 
 Cardinal Archbishop of Mayence. I have Merseburg's com- 
 munication and it does not displease me except that he con- 
 fesses he was moved against my sermon by the letters and 
 reports of others. Perhaps he never read it himself, but 
 condemned it on vicarious testimony. Then he deprecates 
 the strife about the Pope, and very properly, as though I 
 delighted to be blown around by these whirlwinds and would 
 not prefer to live in peace as he writes that he would. Truly 
 while we are well we scorn the advice of the sick, as Terence 
 says, and yet if you would remain well you must give heed 
 to them. 
 
 It was hardly to spite me that the Archbishop of Mayence 
 forbade the monks to beg. Our Prior Held, just returned 
 from Magdeburg, is full of complaints against him. For the 
 cardinal begins to tyrannize and dare all things, even offend- 
 ing the dignitaries of his own church. Who knows for what 
 purpose he has been called to fill such a responsible position? 
 Doubt not that the Lord will use him for some future miracle. 
 As for me, I should much prefer to have this begging done 
 away completely; this is one of the opinions for which Eck 
 
Let. 236 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 295 
 
 makes me a heretic and boasts of so doing. For I hate that 
 shameful way of life and should prefer to learn a trade 
 to-day to support myself rather than live thus, and I shall 
 die in this opinion, Eck notwithstanding. 
 
 I am surprised that my former letters have not reached 
 you. 
 
 I am glad to read of the conflict of Emser and Schott.^ 
 Farewell and pray for me. 
 
 Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 234. LUTHER TO SPALATIN. 
 Enders, ii. 346. (Wittenberg), March 2, 1520. 
 
 Greeting. I send some things^ just out against Eck, dear 
 Spalatin, which please return after reading. You see how 
 Leipsic and Eck are going to be another Cologne and Hoch- 
 stratten. In my judgment the Dialogue smells of Pirckheimer, 
 for he is offended with Scheurl, and there are other indica- 
 tions. I am not pleased with this matter of raging against 
 Eck, for it is a libel, and an open attack is better than a bite 
 from under cover. Farewell and pray for me in the Lord. 
 
 235- G. COWPER TO HIS FATHER, THOMAS COWPER. 
 MSS. of the Shrewsbury and Coventry Corporations, 1899, p. 47. 
 
 English. (Shrewsbury or Coventry), March 3, 1520. 
 
 This fragment is interesting as proving the early spread of Lutheran 
 opinions in England. Thomas Cowper is mentioned quite frequently 
 in the State Papers as a tax-collector and financial agent of the 
 English government. 
 
 ... As for newes, ther ys none but of late ther was hery- 
 tykes here which did take Luters opinyons. . . . 
 
 236. HERMANN HUMPIUS PHRYSO TO LUTHER. 
 
 Enders, ii. 350 Paris, March 14 (1520). 
 
 The author of this epistle, identified as Hermann Hajo Frisius 
 
 (i. e., of Holland), is occasionally mentioned in the letters of Erasmus 
 
 and his friends. Cf. Enthoven : Brief e on Erasmus, p. 129, and De 
 
 ^John Schott of Oberlindt made a pilgrimage to Palestine 1517; was with 
 Luther at Worms 1521; later an officer at Coburg. Enders, iv. 332. I can find 
 nothing of his quarrel with Emser. 
 
 2This refers to the Eccius dedolatus (a pun on Eck, which in German means 
 "corner," the whole phrase meaning, "The planed-ofE corner"), a broadside 
 probably by Pirckheimer, though he denied the authorship of it. 
 
296 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 236 
 
 Vocht in Englische Studien, xl. 376. In 1532 he was a jurist and 
 imperial councillor. Allen, iii. 444. 
 
 Inasmuch as I could not explain to you, even at great 
 length and with much art, how much I favor your difficult 
 as well as fair and pious undertaking, I shall certainly not try 
 to do so in this short familiar epistle. How much should I 
 favor Luther, who, I see, is approved by all good men and 
 rightly extolled by the greatest, and who also is hated and 
 reviled by the wicked ! I observe both these facts with the 
 greatest, that is, with equal joy, for I consider them equal 
 praise. Recently, when I was living with Erasmus (for al- 
 though unworthy I did so about eight months) I learned well 
 how high an opinion of Luther that man of most exquisite 
 judgment held, and which he would testify to his table com- 
 panions,^ among whom, as among faithful friends, he was ac- 
 customed to lay bare his mind. William Nesen'' was of the 
 same opinion with him, for he all but adored Luther. But as 
 much as the deliberate judgment of these two pleased me, so 
 much did that precipitous condemnation^ of you by the soph- 
 ists of Cologne and Louvain disturb me. But again, when 
 I learned how unjust and unlearned their condemnation was, 
 I greatly rejoiced, and finally exulted and applauded, for I 
 saw that this would be as a branding-iron^ by which both 
 of those Kakademies'' would stamp themselves with a mark of 
 lasting infamy. And so a few days ago, when I was prepar- 
 ing to leave Louvain for Paris at the urgent request of the 
 theologians,^ there came into my hands, I hardly know from 
 where, some marginal notes oh that most beautiful book." 
 By Hermes^ they were neither foolish nor unlearned; with 
 the aid of the Muses I will see to it that they are printed 
 at my . own expense if necessary, and, if there is anything 
 
 ^Greek. 
 
 ^Supra, no. 213. 
 
 'The University of Cologne condemned Luther's doctrines on August 30, and 
 this was ratified by Louvain on November 7, 1519. 
 
 «An untranslatable pun, combining the Greek words for "bad" and for 
 "academy." 
 
 SHermann was evidently one of the younger scholars, who, like Nesen, was 
 expelled from Louvain about this time. 
 
 «This book was perhaps the volume of Luther's fVorks issued by Froben which 
 was the one condemned by Cologne and Louvain. 
 
Let. 237 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 297 
 
 lacking to them, I will supply it with my own pen. If Wolf- 
 gang Wilder, who is to carry these letters to you, were not 
 in such a hurry that he cannot conveniently wait three days, 
 your Reverence should have a copy of them; however, you 
 will shortly see copies of them everywhere. Finally, please 
 take my service for the best, and hereafter number this Dutch- 
 man, hitherto unknown to you even by name, among your 
 strongest supporters. Farewell, reverend Father in Christ, 
 and continue strongly to assert our faith. I pray that the 
 Holy Spirit may be your continual comforter and true para- 
 clete.^ Hail and farewell a thousand times. . . . 
 
 237. GABRIEL DELLA VOLTA TO JOHN VON STAUPITZ. 
 Zeitschrift fur Kirchengeschichte, ii. 478. March 15, 1520. 
 
 We were very anxious to see and speak to you at the gen- 
 eral chapter celebrated last year" at Venice. For we had 
 need of speaking with you about many things concerning the 
 honor of the Congregation, and particularly concerning Mar- 
 tin Luther's affair, for at that time the volume" which he 
 himself published on the virtue of indulgences began to ap- 
 pear, the doctrines of which, though they were a scandal to 
 small and great, would have been susceptible of easy treat- 
 ment, had we all agreed on one course. He himself con- 
 fesses in his writings that his respect* for you and his love 
 for the monastic profession is so great, that we doubt not 
 that every old disagreement would have been settled and 
 under God's leadership have been extinguished and prevented 
 from growing worse. But as we were deprived of the ad- 
 vantage of seeing you for reasons which, as we believe, were 
 honorable, we thought it necessary to write you this letter, 
 to inform you what enormous evils threaten your Congrega- 
 tion and our whole Order unless Martin ceases from speaking 
 and writing about those matters which are either disagreeable 
 to the Holy Roman Church, or scandalous to her. As to the 
 
 'Greek. 
 
 2In June, 1519. 
 
 3The Resolutiones disputationum, which first appeared in September, 1518, are 
 meant. 
 
 *In the letter to Staupitz of May 30, 1518, printed as o preface to the work 
 mentioned. Supra, no. 65. 
 
298 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 237 
 
 hurt of the Order, you know that our profession is made 
 odious in the eyes of all, and the habit and name of the 
 Augustinians is so hateful, that we are, as it were, insulted as 
 worthless by the apostolic see. We must appear to the pub- 
 lic the more slack, in that having been the only mendicant 
 order never accused nor suspected of heresy, we are now, 
 like heretics, forced to flee the face of men. The thing ought 
 to be the more intolerable to us as it seems to touch our most 
 innocent Pope Leo X., to whom our profession owes as much 
 as it could owe to any mortal. On account of the innumer- 
 able benefits he has conferred on us it is our interest not to 
 cross him, but to please him and to be humble and, if neces- 
 sary, pour out our blood and lay down our lives a hundred 
 times a day. . . . 
 
 We have heard that great men are turning their attention 
 to this affair, and that the ax is laid at the root. We have 
 been credibly informed that a bull is being drawn up against 
 a number of the writings of the said Martin, in which, how- 
 ever, our Supreme Lord, out of respect to our profession, 
 has not decreed that either the name of the Order of St. 
 Augustine or that of Martin Luther should be wiped out, 
 from which we can see how kind, gentle and benevolent to 
 the Augustinian family Pope Leo shows himself, who, though 
 he has been provoked for four years, can hardly be induced 
 to defend himself, not to mention taking vengeance. He 
 rather covers up the offence of the man, dreading our com- 
 mon confounding, and only expecting improvement. . . . 
 Wherefore we conjure you by the bond of charity for these 
 reasons to use all your power, care, industry and diligence to 
 make Martin abstain from speaking against the Holy Roman 
 Church' and indulgences, that he may not, relying on his own 
 genius, begin to move against her whom the Lord founded 
 upon a firm rock, but that he may cease from publishing 
 books and keep silence when he sees that daily more danger- 
 ous offences arise, and that he may remember those words of 
 Christ: "Woe unto that man through whom the offence 
 Cometh."^ . . . 
 
 Wherefore we write you praying by your piety and pro- 
 
 'Mattliew, xviii. 7. 
 
Let. 239 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 299 
 
 fession and love to God, if the zeal, honor, advantage and 
 health of your profession and Congregation mean aught to 
 you, that you should give all your care, study and thought to 
 this one thing, that Martin may help you and at length come 
 to himself, that with him our Order may be saved from great 
 infamy and calamity. Farewell in the Lord.' 
 
 238. GABRIEL DELLA VOLTA, GENERAL OF TE AUGUS- 
 TINIANS, TO LAWRENCE BRAGADIN, A VENETIAN 
 GRANDEE. 
 Sanuto, xxviii. 215. Italian. Brown, iii. 28. English. 
 
 Rome, March 16, 1520. 
 Bragadin was ambassador to France 1526, to Rome 1535-7. 
 
 Nothing has been done about Martin save that all the 
 theologians of Rome have debated together three times, in 
 presence of the Cardinals of Ancona and Cajetan, discussing 
 certain propositions of the said Martin, part of which were 
 considered heretical, part scandalous. 
 
 All the generals of the orders have in like manner stated in 
 writing their objections, and the reasons which cause them 
 to remonstrate. It is now said that a decretal will be drawn 
 up, reproving his said false propositions without naming him, 
 but I think he will be admonished by a private breve and in- 
 vited to retract, and should he not retract, but persevere in 
 his obstinacy, they will proceed against him as a heretic. 
 
 239. LUTHER TO SPALATIN. 
 Enders, ii. 362. Wittenberg, March 19, 1520. 
 
 ... I send you the work of the asses of Louvain and 
 Cologne, which I am now answering in print. ° 
 
 Please read John Huss' and return him. He not only 
 pleases me, but both his spirit and learning seem to me mi- 
 
 iThis letter may have decided Staupitz to lay down his office of Vicar, as he 
 did in August, 1520. Luther writes on May 5 that Staupitz expects to do so. 
 
 2The Condemnation of Luther's doctrine by Cologne (August 31, 1519), and 
 Louvain (November 7), was printed in February, 1520, with a dedicatory epistle 
 by Adrian, Cardinal of Tortosa, later Pope Adrian VI. Luther's answer appeared 
 in 1520, Weimar, vi. 170. 
 
 3Luther now read Huss's De Ecclesia, sent him by Rozd'alowsky at the time of 
 the Leipsic debate (.supra, no. 161). The effect it made on him is best painted 
 in a letter translated, Smith, op. cit., p. 72. 
 
300 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 241 
 
 raculous. Two thousand copies are being printed by Thomas 
 Anselm.' 
 
 It is said that at Vienna you saw visions in the sky/ namely 
 flames and conflagrations. I, too, would like to see them; 
 perhaps my tragedy is contained in them, as it was in the 
 former ones. Farewell and pray for me. 
 
 Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 240. LUTHER TO JOHN LANG AT ERFURT. 
 Enders, ii. 364. Wittenberg, March 21, 1520. 
 
 Greeting. I think, reverend Father, that you received my 
 letter from Brother Martin Benedict. We have no news. My 
 answer to the damning theologs is in press. My friend Eck 
 goes to Rome to arouse the forest of Lebanon." But I be- 
 lieve that even Rome is subject to Christ, the Lord of all, 
 who, if I am worthy, will act for me there also, but if I am 
 unworthy will not act for me even here. Pray the Lord for 
 me that I may sometime become good and plead his cause 
 worthily in this unworthy age. 
 
 I commend to you the wife of Dr. Thomas Eschaus,' for 
 I think the woman has either already died or will die to-day, 
 as she has no hope of life. Farewell in Christ. 
 
 Brother Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 241. LUTHER TO MARTIN SELIGMANN AT MANSFELD. 
 Enders, ii. 367. Wittenberg, March 25, 1520. 
 
 Greeting. Thanks for your gift," dear Martin. The same 
 monster was sent me before, and I am now answering it, 
 expecting my pamphlet to be published to-morrow. There are 
 many here, and even in the elector's court, who think 
 
 lA publisher who started at Strassburg, 1488, then removed to Pforzheim and 
 Tiibingen, and at this time was at Hagenau. 
 
 2These were described as occurring at Vienna, January 3-7, 1520, in a book 
 by John Virdung of Hassfurt. 
 
 ^Reference to Judges, ix. 15? On Eck's trip to Rome and its effect, Smith, p. 96. 
 
 ■*Eschaus or Esch, matriculated at Cologne 1491, came to the University of 
 Wittenberg in 1502, where he acted as notary, and took several degrees, including 
 bachelor of canon law 1504-5, and doctor of medicine September 13, 1 518. He 
 continued practising and teaching privately until his death in 1535. He frequently 
 attended Luther, who considered him the best local physician. Smith, p. 94. 
 Archiv fur Reformationsgeschichte, vii. 256. 
 
 5The Condemnation by Cologne and Louvain. 
 
Let. 242 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 301 
 
 that this was made up by one of the Obscure Men, whom 
 rivals suborned to attack me and seek an occasion. But 
 Dorp's' letter will show you that the work is genuine. You 
 will learn all from Melanchthon. Give my regards to your 
 pastor/ Jonas, John Reinecke' and William ;* also to my flesh 
 and blood. The men of Leipsic and Meissen keep cawing 
 away without getting anywhere. I hear that my sister Bar- 
 bara has died. May she rest in peace. Amen. We shall 
 all follow her. Farewell and pray the Lord for me. 
 
 Martin Luther. 
 
 242. LUTHER TO SPALATIN. 
 Enders, ii. 369. (Wittenberg), March 26, 1520. 
 
 Greeting. Dear George, I recently forgot to send you the 
 letter of Dorp, which I received with others from Antwerp. 
 Read it and see whether you can think the thing a fiction" 
 which was published there. For Dorp, as I think you know, 
 is the most learned of all the Louvanians, not only by the 
 witness of Erasmus, but by that of this, his letter, and the 
 other which Erasmus has inserted in his Farrago.^ 
 
 I thank the Lord v/ho has occupied my mind with other 
 things so that I should not read the Cardinal of Tortosa^ 
 carefully, for he writes most impiously of all that divine and 
 natural law is in the hand of the man possessed of divine 
 authority. This is such a horrible portent that I could not 
 pass over it, were my mind present. Farewell and pray the 
 Lord for me. Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 ^Martin Bartholomew van Dorp (i485-May 31, 1525), studied at Louvam, 
 where he became professor in 1504. He took his doctorate in theology 1515. 
 From 1514 till his death he was, in spite of temporary disagreements with Erasmus, 
 his warm friend and principal supporter at Louvain. He was also favorable to 
 Luther, though cautiously. This letter is lost. Cf. Allen, ii, 11, with references, 
 and de Jongh, 162 (De Jongh wrongly thinks this letter was the Acta Academtae 
 Lovantensis, which, as it was not composed until November, 1520, is impossible). 
 
 ^Kammerer. 
 
 3Reinecke was an old school friend of Luther, the son of the Mansfeld Bailiff, 
 Peter Reinecke, later iron-master at Mansfeld. Died July 15, 1538. Enders, iii. 
 402, xii. I, Smith, 25of, 
 
 4Reifenstein of a baptized Jewish family, from 1502 till his death, 1538, col- 
 lector of taxes at Stolberg. Enders, vi. 378. 
 
 ^Supra, no. 241. 
 
 6Dorp to Erasmus, July 14, 1518, in the Farrago nova epistohrum Des. Erasrrn, 
 Frobcn, October, 1519. 
 
 'Adrian, later Adrian VI., no. 202. 
 
302 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 243 
 
 243. LUTHER TO JOHN DUKE OF SAXONY. 
 
 Enders, ii. 372. De Wette, i. 434. Weimar, vi. 203. German. 
 
 Wittenberg, March 29, 1520. 
 
 This is the dedication to the treatise On Good Works, Weimar, vi. 
 196. 
 
 John the Steadfast, born 1468, elector from the death of his brother, 
 Frederic, May 5, 1525, till his own death, August 16, 1532. He was 
 a warm supporter of the Reformation from the first. Cf. Realen- 
 cyclopddie, and J. Becker : Kitrfiirst Johann von Sachsen und seine 
 Bezeihungen zu Luther. 
 
 Serene, highborn Prince, gracious Lord! Pray accept my 
 humble service and poor prayers. Gracious Prince and Lord, 
 I have long been desirous of showing my humble service and 
 duty to your Grace with some spiritual goods which are at 
 my command, but considering my ability I have always found 
 it too small to undertake to offer something worthy of your 
 Grace. But as my most gracious Lord, Lord Frederic Duke 
 of Saxony, Grand Marshal of the Holy Roman Empire, 
 Elector and Vicegerent, etc., has not disdained, but has gra- 
 ciously accepted my mediocre book^ dedicated to his Grace, 
 which has now, contrary to my expectations, been printed; 
 I have taken courage from this gracious example, and have 
 presumed to hope that, as the same princely blood runs in 
 your veins, you would have equal clemency and good will, and 
 accordingly that your Grace would not disdain my poor, hum- 
 ble offering, which I think more important than any of my 
 sermons or tracts, in that it treats of good works. For good 
 works contain more poison and deceit than any other creature, 
 and the simple man is easily led astray by them, so that our 
 Lord Christ commanded us to beware of the sheep's cloth- 
 ing under which wolves were hidden. For neither gold, sil- 
 ver, gems nor any precious thing has so much adulteration 
 and dross as have good works, which must all have one sim- 
 ple virtue without which they are mere dissembling, hypocrisy 
 and deceit. I know well and daily hear some who despise 
 my lowliness say that I do nothing but make tracts and Ger- 
 man homilies for the unlearned laity; but I do not care for 
 
 ^The Tesseradecas. 
 
Let. 243 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 803 
 
 that charge. Would to God that in my whole life with all 
 my power I had helped one layman to improve; I would be 
 satisfied with that and thank God and willingly after that 
 would let all my books die. I let others judge whether it is 
 a great art, and profitable to Christianity, to make books 
 wholesale. But I think, if I cared to make big books of their 
 sort, I might, by divine help, do it more quickly than they 
 could make a small sermon of my sort. If success were as 
 easy as failure Christ would long since have been cast again 
 from heaven and God's throne itself turned upside down. If 
 we can't all write poetry, at least we all want to judge it. I 
 am heartily willing to leave others the honor of doing great 
 things, and will not be ashamed myself to preach and write 
 German for the unlearned laity. And, though I have little 
 power in this, yet it seems to me that if we had hitherto ap- 
 plied ourselves to this and would apply ourselves to it hence- 
 forth, it would be more profit and improvement to Christian- 
 ity than all the big books and disputations of the learned in 
 the schools. 
 
 Moreover I have never compelled or asked anyone to hear 
 me, or to read my sermons. I have freely served the public 
 with that which God has given me and for which I am re- 
 sponsible; let anyone who does not care for it read and hear 
 others. Also I do not care much whether they need me or 
 not, it is enough and too much for me that some laymen, and 
 fine men, too, humble themselves to read my sermons. And 
 if nothing else impelled me, yet it would be more than enough 
 that I have learned that your Grace likes such German books, 
 and is very anxious for instruction on good works and faith. 
 It became me to do my best to serve such men. Wherefore 
 I humbly pray your Grace kindly to receive this testimony of 
 my good intentions until God gives me the time to write a 
 German exposition of faith.'^ Even in the present work I 
 desired to show how we use and need faith in all good works, 
 and consider it the principal work. If God permit, at another 
 
 ^Glaube is tlie German for both "faith" and "creed." The treatise On Good 
 Works followed the order of the Ten Commandments. It is interesting to see 
 how the exposition of these, with the Creed and the Lord's Prayer, which later 
 became the substance of the Catechism (1529, cf. Smith, 234f.) were thus early 
 the staple of Luther's preaching. 
 
304 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 245 
 
 time I will treat the creed by itself as we daily pray, or speak 
 the same. I humbly commend myself to your Grace. 
 Your Grace's humble chaplain, 
 
 Dr Martin Luther, 
 Augustinian at Wittenberg. 
 
 244. ULRICH ZWINGLI TO OSWALD MYCONIUS AT 
 LUCERNE. 
 
 Corpus Reformatorum, xciv. 292. Zurich, April 2, 1520. 
 
 Myconius (also Geisshusler and Miiller), of Lucerne, matriculated 
 at Basle 1510, B. A. 1514, then became public reader. In 1516 he 
 went to Zurich, where he was instrumental in getting Zwingli. In 
 the autumn of 1519 he returned to Lucerne to open a school, which 
 he had to give up when he joined the Reformation in 1522. After 
 a year at Einsiedeln he came early in 1524 to Zurich, where he taught 
 school until after Zwingli's death (1531), when he went to Basle as 
 successor to Oecolarapadius. He died here in 1552. 
 
 . . I would not have you ignorant, that, earnestly as 
 Zasius commended himself to us he recently wrote that he 
 was so minded that he could do no other than write against 
 Luther,^ because the latter had dared to make light of the 
 majesty of the sacred canons. Here you see the jurist dedi- 
 cated to his own profession ! I not only warned Zasius not 
 to do this, but I even politely admonished him to consider 
 this only : namely, that though, as I must admit, Luther lacked 
 moderation, yet by freely exposing and censuring the crimes 
 of the prelates, if they continued to be bad, he would finally 
 frighten them and put some sense of shame into them. Zasius 
 was pleased with this advice. . . . 
 
 245. ERASMUS TO JUSTUS JOXAS. 
 Sitzungsherichte der phil.-hist. Classe der kaiserlichen Akademie der 
 Wissenschaften. Wein, 1880, xcv. 598. Louvaix, April 9, 1520. 
 
 . . I would not like the Dominicans to know what a 
 friend^ of Luther they have made. The university has con- 
 ceived incurable madness; Atensis' has perished, but Eg- 
 
 ^Supra, no. 196, and the letter of Zasitis to Zwingli, February 16, 1520. Corpus 
 Reformatorutn, xciv, 265. 
 
 2Text, "amicum," which I think correct, believing that Erasmus refers to him- 
 self. Horawitz, loc. cit., suggests "animum," which, in my opinion, would be 
 less sensible. 
 
 3Joha Briard of Ath, thence knov/n as Athensis and Nexus iarrj being 
 
Let. 246 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 305 
 
 mond and Latomus, the one blear-eyed, the other halt, act 
 more odiously than he.' . . . Your Erasmus. 
 
 246. MELANCHTHON TO SPALATIN. 
 Corpus Reformatorum, i. 153. (Wittenberg, April 13, 1520.) 
 
 As Luther has written you about the sentence in John," 
 there is no need for my writing anything. For why, as 
 Cicero says, should I play the actor before Roscius? ... It 
 was about this very sentence that a dispute arose with the 
 French mathematician. He said that he would give in some- 
 thing to the desires of the people if he professed Luther's 
 doctrines, but that it was generally thought that even Luther 
 did not believe all his own dogmas. He meant to say that all 
 that Luther said was not true^ but thought that he could more 
 easily entice people with this circumlocution. Then I said 
 that I thought this was an evil purpose, and, what was the 
 last thing an honorable man would consent to, underhanded. 
 A good man ought to say freely and boldly what he thought. 
 Truth does not need to be adulterated with either art or 
 fraud. A suspicion of falsehood was a derogation to Luther's 
 doctrine. He whose life was different from his doctrine 
 would by that very fact raise suspicion, and nothing ought to 
 be so entirely avoided as all suspicion of falsehood. The 
 authority of one teaching by fraud was impaired. For what 
 would the people think of one who taught by lies when they 
 found them out? I added much of the same sort. Then he, 
 to guard against being thought to have made a false or 
 captious criticism, took refuge, as it were, in these words : 
 That by no means was fraud to be used, but that he would 
 consent to be taken for a liar if all that Luther said, every- 
 where, by chance, seriously or in joke, were true, for every 
 man was said to be a liar. 
 
 the Greek for noxa), began to teach at Louvain 1492; was made doctor of 
 theology 1500, Rector 1505 and 1510, the leading theologian after the departure 
 of Adrian of Utrecht. He was the most determined opponent of Erasmus, and 
 would have been of Luther, had it not been for his death on January 8, 1520. 
 De Jongh, p. i49fl. 
 
 IQn the campaign of Egmond and Latomus against Luther, supra, no. 213. 
 
 2Enders, ii. 379. The sentence was, "Ye can do nothing without me," John, 
 TV. 5. 
 
 3The words in italics are in German. 
 
306 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 247 
 
 Now you can see, dear Spalatin, how absurd and clumsy 
 he was. For what on earth have Luther's jokes with his 
 friends to do with his doctrine? Even thus it is my opinion 
 that he never jokes, but that some serious meaning lies be- 
 hind the jests. O truly ridiculous Parisian! Yet he would 
 defend this opinion with his teeth! Farewell, Spalatin. 
 
 Your Philip. 
 
 247. LUTHER TO SPALATIN AT LOCHAU. 
 Enders, ii. 382. (Wittenbejig), April 16, 1520. 
 
 Greeting. Dear Spalatin, we have agreed with Adrian* 
 that he should delay a little. He promised to wait eight days 
 in Berlin for letters from us. Now we must try to get an 
 answer from Werner of Bacharach as quickly as possible. He 
 demands a salary of a hundred gulden. In this whole af- 
 fair we must take great care not to fall between two stools 
 (as they say), by losing one, while the other is called by 
 Mayence or goes of his own accord. Many of our professors 
 strongly urge me to keep Adrian for one year at least, if 
 only, as they think, to prevent the shame of having him 
 called by eclipsed Leipsic;^ for there is a rumor that they 
 will take him to spite us. If you are not able to write briefly 
 what we should do, at least write to him at Berlin not to 
 mind this delay. I suspect that he will go as professor of 
 Hebrew to Frankfort on the Oder or to Leipsic if we turn 
 him down. Answer quickly. 
 
 There is a rumor' that the direst bull against me is about 
 to be issued. Thus the provost of Neuwerk' warns and 
 advises me, as the saying is. Moreover, certain even of my 
 enemies who pitied me have asked my friends in Halber- 
 stadt to warn me that there is a certain doctor of medicine, 
 who can make himself invisible by magic when he wants to 
 
 'This first paragraph refers to the efforts of Wittenberg to secure a Hebrew 
 professor, the candidates being Matthew Adrian and Werner, of whom nothing 
 else is known. 
 
 ^An untranslatable pun borrowed from Eccius dedolatus, on the Latin accusative 
 Lipsim (Leipsic) and eclipsin. 
 
 ^Preparations for drawing up a bull against Luther had been going on at 
 Rome ever since the beginning of the year; they were greatly stimulated by the 
 arrival in that city of Eck towards the end of March. Cf. Smith, op. cit., psff. 
 
 ^Nicolas Demuth of Neuwerk, near Halle, in the service of Albert of Mayence. 
 Enders, iv. I23f. 
 
Let. 247a OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 307 
 
 kill somebody, and who has a command to kill Luther, and 
 that he is coming hither next Sunday^ when the relics are 
 shown. This is a persistent rumor. Farewell. 
 
 247a. GUY BILD TO LUTHER. 
 Zeitschrift des historischen Vereins fur Schwaben und Neuberg. 
 
 1893, XX- 221. Augsburg, April 16, 1520. 
 
 Greeting in Christ. Some years ago, reverend Father, 
 when I was writing to my intimate friend George Spalatin, 
 I included a note to be given by him to your Reverence, in 
 which among other things I humbly sought to commend my- 
 self to your Reverence, so that by his mediation I might de- 
 serve to receive a little letter from your Reverence. But as 
 hitherto most merciful God has willed to try your Reverence 
 with various storms, that he might crown you victor with 
 the crown of righteousness, so at present all have not a little 
 hope that your Reverence will soon reach a port of quiet rest ; 
 wherefore, relying on your kindness, I was not able to omit 
 giving a letter for your Reverence to our common friend 
 George Spalatin. For I am bound by such love to your Rev- 
 erence that I do not believe any mortal could break the bond. 
 For neither by chance nor lightly (Spalatin is witness) did I 
 conceive great love for your Reverence, but it was in grati- 
 tude for a service. For your Reverence's writings so changed 
 and renovated my mind oppressed as it was by the conscious- 
 ness of the stuff over which I had formerly sweated, that 
 they instilled into my nostrils not only the sweet savor of 
 doctrine, but the splendor of it. I thank God greatly that by 
 you I desired to learn the words of Christ (which are the 
 words of life) and that I began under your guidance to weigh 
 and keep before my eyes the salvation of my soul. Your 
 friends and supporters, Bernard Adelmann, John Oecolam- 
 padius and the Prior of the Carmelites, once your host," know 
 with how much love and praise I follow you. May your Rev- 
 erence accept the greeting of a poor little monk like me and 
 if possible when you plan writing to our Bernard Adelmann, 
 
 ^Aprii 22. The elector's relics were exhibited every year on this Sunday. 
 Rumors of attempts against Luther's life were common at this time. 
 
 ^While Luther was at Augsburg in October, 15 18, he lodged at the convent of 
 the Carmelites, because there was no Augustinian chapter in that city. 
 
308 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 249 
 
 as you often do, or to Oecolampadius, be mindful of me and 
 do not disdain to write me a consolatory sheet.^ For it will 
 be a perpetual memorial both of your friendship and of your 
 kindness. Farewell and be commended to God Almighty. 
 May he deign to keep you long safe and sound for the com- 
 mon utility of his Church. Amen. 
 
 Brother Guy Bild of Hochstadt. 
 
 248. GEORGE SPALATIN TO CHRISTIAN BAYER AT 
 WITTENBERG. 
 T. Kolde: Friedrich der Weise (Eriangen, 1881), p. 41. 
 
 Wittenberg Castle, April 22, 1520. 
 Bayer of Langheim matriculated at Wittenberg 1503, B. A. 1504, 
 M. A. 1505, then became professor at the university and burgomaster. 
 About 1528 he became Chancellor of Electoral Saxony, in which 
 capacity he attended the Diet of Augsburg 1530, and there read the 
 famous Confession. He died October 21, 1535. Enders, vii. 133. 
 
 Peace. Dear Colleague, you have always been so ready to 
 please me that I have conceived the hope that nothing I ask 
 will ever be refused by you, and especially when it concerns 
 my friend Dr. Luther. Wherefore please draw up and send 
 to me to-day a memorandum as to how you think we should 
 act in case Luther is excommunicated, either singly, or (which 
 God forbid!) with most clement and Christian elector, or 
 with this university and now illustrious city. You can do 
 nothing worthier of yourself or more pleasing to good men. 
 ... G. Spalatin. 
 
 249. LUTHER TO JOHN HESS AT BRESLAU, 
 Enders, ii. 384. Wittenberg, April 27, 1520. 
 
 Greeting. Dear Hess, I will write more elsewhere; at 
 present I am very busy and must write briefly so that you 
 will at least not think that your letter to me was not delivered. 
 Moibanus^ will tell you more. I thank you for the Emperor 
 Honorius'' and more for the prayers you promise to offer up 
 for me, which, as I greatly need them, I rely on not a little. 
 
 ^Luther did write to Bild {infra, no. 254), but neither this letter nor those he 
 wrote to Adelmann have been preserved. 
 
 2Later a colleague of Hess at Breslau, where he taught Greek. He had spent a 
 short time at Wittenberg. 
 
 sProbably an old Roman coin, such as Hess collected. 
 
Let. 251 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 309 
 
 May the Lord have respect for your bishop' and keep him 
 long for us. Your colleagues will teach you what is necessary 
 for your ordination as priest/ as far as ceremonies go; my 
 German homily^ has something to say about the spirit of the 
 faith, to which will be added another sermon by me on the 
 use of the mass.* For in the mass no distinction ought to 
 be made between priest and layman ; there is one bread, one 
 faith, one communion, only the priest is the minister, the 
 layman is not. More of this elsewhere. Now farewell and 
 pray for me as you do. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 Martin Luther. 
 
 250. MELANCHTHON TO JOHN HESS AT BRESLAU. 
 Corpus Reformatorum, i. 155. April 27,° 1520. 
 
 . . . Luther is too busy at this time to write anything on 
 the prophets, but I hope, when he has finished some of his 
 work, unless God shall tear him from us, that he will be 
 moved to write a commentary on Genesis or Isaiah. Genesis 
 is more difficult than Isaiah, as I, who am now busy with 
 it, know. ... 
 
 251. CROTUS RUBEANUS TO LUTHER. 
 Enders, ii. 386. Bamberg, April 28, 1520. 
 
 Having returned safe from Italy, I have been entertained 
 here by the noble Fuchses,^ who are great admirers of yours. 
 A little later my friend Hutten came hither, although we had 
 no plan to meet, but, I am firmly persuaded, at the summons 
 of Christ, who, because he rejoices in no sacrifice as much 
 as in mutual love between men, thus unexpectedly brought 
 friends together. When then we celebrated Easter' together, 
 and sang: "This is the day which the Lord hath made; we 
 will rejoice and be glad in it,"^ our services were interrupted 
 
 IJohn VI. von Thurzo, Bishop 1506 to August 2, 1520. 
 
 2Hess was about to be ordained priest, as he was, on June z. 
 
 ^Sermon vom Jiochwurdigen Sacrament, Weimar, ii. 738. 
 
 ^Sermon von detn neuen Testament, d. i. von der heiligen Messe. Weimar, vi. 
 349. August, 1520. 
 
 5This is dated "April 17," but the 27th is the more likely date. Cf. Luthers 
 Werke, ed. O. Clemen, i. 299. 
 
 fi James and Andrew Fuchs, cf. supra, no. 186. 
 
 'April 8. 
 
 sPsalm cxviii. 24. 
 
310 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 251 
 
 by the cursed pronouncement of Louvain and Cologne, sent 
 to Hutten by Erasmus of Rotterdam. It gave us great ma- 
 terial both for laughter and for wrath; we mingled the 
 laughter with our festive and pious joy, and we modulated 
 our indignation to the harp of David, so that it should not 
 become so great as to be sin, although we do not read with- 
 out sin, if everything is sin which proceeds from a mind moved 
 by indignation. For we are not such Stoics that we can free 
 our minds from every malady, especially when we see men 
 audaciously rage to mock Germany, to hurt religion, to de- 
 stroy innocence, men, too, who ought to be the ornament of 
 Germany, the honor of religion and the last to hurt innocence. 
 In this opinion I always contained myself by a sort of happy 
 assent. If any wish to show the innocence of their life, to 
 hold burning lamps in their hands, to defend the cause of 
 truth with the sword of the Holy Spirit, to lay down their 
 lives for the salvation of their brethren, they ought to be the 
 theologians. But it is far otherwise; hardly any more mon- 
 strous tyranny rages among Christians than that of the the- 
 ologians, especially those who are commonly called monks 
 and inquisitors. Instead of light they show darkness and un- 
 happy envy, instead of the lamp of virtue they breathe from 
 their nostrils fire, as the poet^ says; the sword of the execu- 
 tioner has taken the place of the sword of Scripture, sophistry 
 the place of God's Word. For from caring for their brother's 
 salvation their mind is not a sweet savor of Christ^ redolent 
 with the ointment of charity, but one which, clad in a deadly 
 garment of foul hatred, attacks the vitals of one's neighbor. 
 
 I still remember how I heard at Cologne' a monstrous and 
 more than bloody deed done by Hochstratten in Lower Ger- 
 many, which I shudder to think of. How much more, there- 
 fore, should you beware of false brothers thirsting for blood, 
 unless perchance you have decided to follow the example of 
 Huss and increase the number of Christian martyrs. I would, 
 if I could, dissuade you from this decision, for how can you 
 be a saint unless the Pope, who alone has the power as was 
 
 ^Virgil, Aeneid, vii. 281. 
 
 ^2 Corinthians, ii. 15. 
 
 'Crotus matriculated at Cologne, November 17, 1505. 
 
Let. 251 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 311 
 
 recently decreed,' presents you with the freedom of the city 
 of the saints? And will he, whose authority you have weak- 
 ened and whose indulgences your disputation has made go 
 hungry, give it to you? It will profit you nothing to wash 
 your robe in the blood of the Lamb." For eternal life what 
 need is there of a bull of the "representative Church'" and 
 the agreement of the professors, without which you will cer- 
 tainly be non-suited before the celestial tribunal for deciding 
 the right to be called saint. O wretched Christianity! O 
 primitive faith! Thus must all divine things depend on and 
 be contaminated with human ones ? Let anyone who can, now 
 deny that the Church of God is smitten with a terrible per- 
 secutor. . . . 
 
 In the judgment of all you have been condemned not ac- 
 cording to sound doctrine, but according to Louvain. Even 
 so the Pope's thunder smites many not Christianly, but Ro- 
 manly — for new words must be coined to describe new er- 
 rors. If, indeed, they have written anything, yet they sup- 
 press it expecting the agreement of their allies, so that they 
 can all rush upon you together and so crush you. They labor 
 much to accomplish this plan both in Italy and in Germany; 
 and by delaying their refutation they win hatred for them- 
 selves for daring publicly to condemn a Christian without 
 giving their reasons for so doing. For it may come to pass 
 that their allies will change their opinion and not wish to 
 subscribe to the doctrinal condemnation, as it is now rumored 
 of our friends at Erfurt.^ Dorp, whose authority with the 
 learned is greater than all the rest of the university, has re- 
 fused to assent to the condemnation of you by Louvain. 
 Would that they would publish something less insane, so that 
 in the strength of Scripture you might break their frivolous 
 folly to shivers like the vessel of the potter," and might slay 
 their foolishness with the sword of the Holy Spirit. You 
 would not have great difficulty in doing this, but would add 
 
 Hn the Lateran Council of 1516. 
 
 '■'Revelation, vii. 14. 
 
 ^A quotation from Prierias' Dialogue. 
 
 *This probably refers to the judgment of Erfurt in the Reuchlin case; the 
 desire of the university to withdraw this is spoken of in the Bpistolae Obscurorum 
 Virorum, ii. 32. 
 
 'Revelation, ii. z-j. 
 
312 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 251 
 
 reverence to the most reverend Cardinal of Tortosa^ whom 
 those old fools have found a worthy assistant, just like them- 
 selves, a babbler, a coward and a good-for-nothing} When he 
 wished to show the majesty of the "virtual Church,"^ he 
 spoke thus, with moderation, in something he did not under- 
 stand : "I wonder much that a man entertaining such ob- 
 vious and obstinate errors in matters of faith should be per- 
 mitted to scatter his errors abroad with impunity and bring 
 others into the same pernicious opinions."* With like mod- 
 eration he said previously : "I saw Luther's errors ; and they 
 seemed to me such gross, palpable heresies, that not even a 
 student in theology who had passed the first stage ought to 
 make such slips."'^ Who will call this man most reverend in 
 Christ, or who will respect his red embroidered hat and robe 
 trailing on the ground? Who will apply spurs to those who 
 run furiously of themselves? Since in his whole letter he is 
 sordid, dirty, impudent and light, let the professors gather 
 from him flowers worthy of their nostrils, and let them pluck 
 this one from him, unless he took it from them: "In this 
 Luther proves most of all that he is a heretic, in saying that 
 he is ready to die at the stake for his opinions and to be a 
 heretic against all wise men."'' Martin, you have many com- 
 panions in that heresy, and if alone you tread the true wine- 
 press,^ I think the number of those prepared to undergo the 
 stake with you depends on the gift of Heaven. Let sharp 
 men dispute and condemn as they please, they will never make 
 me doubt that any mortal justified by faith has access to 
 God.8 . . . 
 
 Martin, most upright of theologians, guard the divine light 
 now deserted by all, and show by the virtue which we cherish 
 in you, what is the difference between a creature of the Pope 
 and a creature of God. The King hath brought thee into his 
 
 'Adrian of Utrecht, later Pope Adrian VI. 
 ^Greek, after the Iliad, i, 293. 
 'Quotation from Prierias's Dialogue. 
 
 ^Quotation from Adrian's letter of December 4, 1519, prefixed to the Condem- 
 nation of Luther by Cologne and Louvain, supra, no. 202. 
 Hhid. 
 'Ibid. 
 
 TCf. Isaiah, Ixiii. 3. 
 SRomans, v. if. 
 
Let; 251 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 813 
 
 chamber^ and hath given thee the tongue of them that are 
 taught^ to know how to refuse the evil and choose the good/ 
 You are known to me, but you daily appear greater and 
 greater. After the clouds of passion the sun is risen; we see 
 with what skill and diligence you confute the doctrinal con- 
 demnation of the Luther-scourges; we admire your learning; 
 we adore your genius ; we are tremendously pleased that you 
 temper serious matters with jokes, bitter with sweet, so that 
 when the wormwood is drunk it is not tasted before it en- 
 ters the stomach; you draw and paint everyone to the life. I 
 do not well retain the image of my Martin on account of the 
 years since I have conversed with him. You were formerly 
 in our company a musician and a learned philosopher; but 
 lately I saw the boxer Entellus fighting old Dares in the 
 arena;' then you came forth as the swift hunter of the wild 
 goat;" now you paint in lively colors the judgment of the 
 theologs; what will you be next? In what line will you win 
 the prize? I think that of the sculptor is left. Come then, 
 good Polycletes, " make us triumphal arches to commemorate 
 your vanquished enemies, and show us in living marble that 
 Jesus Christ. May he keep you from the mouth of the Lion'' 
 and the horns of the sophist unicorns forever!* 
 
 Francis von Sickingen, that great leader of the German 
 nobility, requests, as Hutten tells me, that you flee to him, and 
 he will give you peace, a theological home, a servant, food 
 and protection against enemies, with all the necessaries of 
 life in abundance. Hutten has written in full of this to Mel- 
 anchthon.' Such kindness is not to be despised. The holy 
 fathers exercise their wits to no purpose more than to alienate 
 from you the mind of the Elector Frederic, so that destitute 
 of all protection you may finally be forced to flee to the Bo- 
 hemians, which they think would be the end of your fame and 
 
 'Song of Songs, i. 4. 
 
 ^Isaiah, 1. 4. 
 
 ^Isaiah, vii. 15. 
 
 4The debate with Prierias, so designated by himself, sitpra, no. 68. 
 
 6The controversy with Emser, commonly called "the wild goat." 
 
 6A noted ancient sculptor. 
 
 'Pun: Leo X. 
 
 sPsalm xxii. 22. 
 
 ^Supra, nos. 218, 232. 
 
314 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 252 
 
 doctrine. You know with what contempt these people are 
 regarded, and how strong is an age-long opinion. Eck now 
 has his nail in your wound at Rome; wherefore we must be- 
 ware, and you should let me know your opinion of my advice 
 by letter. The favor of Sickingen should be kept, lest he 
 should think his great kindness to you scorned, he who with 
 one letter for Reuchlin more terrified the Dominicans than 
 did all the breves of Emperor and Pope.^ John Huss has 
 come to life again at Basle,- after having been so long dead 
 through the tyranny of the Thomists. What, pray, will be 
 safe hereafter, when such holy writings deserve such a judg- 
 ment? But he is not dead; he will live as long as truth lives, 
 but he wasted away and blameworthy hatred passed to his 
 ashes. Your letter" found various fortune with me; when 
 I return to Germany, that letter goes to Italy, but has not 
 gone yet Farewell. Crotus Rubeanus. 
 
 P. S. — I send a letter to Hess,* but not to trouble you. If 
 he is with you, as some say, give it to him; but if the rumor 
 is false tear it up or keep it until he comes, for he will go 
 thither where he may profit by Martin's doctrine. Hutten 
 is leaving, and asks to send his greeting, he is going to Fer- 
 dinand,^ the brother of King Charles, in whose court, we hope, 
 he will find a place which will not be without advantage to 
 you and to good studies. He showed us an epistle^ of Eras- 
 mus of Rotterdam commending you earnestly to the Arch- 
 bishop of Mayence. A copy will be sent to you; take it 
 and read the learned eulogy of this learned man. 
 
 252. LUTHER TO SPALATIN. 
 Enders, ii. 395. Wittenberg, May i, 1520. 
 
 Greeting. I send the letters of your dean with those I 
 received from Nuremberg. Matthew Adrian thinks we should 
 
 ^Cf. supra, no. 219. 
 
 ^Supra, no. 239. 
 
 ^Lost, answer to Crotus's letter of October 31, supra, no. 190. 
 
 •This letter to John Hess, April 29, printed in Krafft: Brief e und Dokumente, 
 p. 20. 
 
 "Hutten was disappointed in ^trying to win him over to the 8id£ of German 
 freedom. 
 
 'Supra, November 1, 1519, no. 192. Luther had already seen the letter. 
 
Let. 253 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 315 
 
 write to Dr. Pascha^ at Magdeburg for Hebrew books. When 
 you have done it first I will do it and quickly; please see to 
 it. I will look out for my own affairs. 
 
 The number of students increases daily, so that the little 
 city cannot receive them all, and many are forced to return. 
 We are not able to provide Adrian with a lodging suitable to 
 him, nor are we pleased that others should be turned out 
 for him, which, however, he has begun to do. If in this af- 
 fair he has written anything or done anything (for he wished 
 to see you about it personally) you know my opinion and 
 Melanchthon's : we will not second him nor consent to his 
 turning out anyone unwillingly from the house of the bailiff 
 or anyone else ; if they kindly wish to go, we shall be pleased 
 and thankful. . . . 
 
 I have received a letter from Staupitz at Nuremberg, prais- 
 ing me at last and more hopeful in my cause than he was 
 formerly wont to write. Wenzel Link writes that they have 
 received the "doctrinal asses, "^ and that he has good hope. 
 Thus my ship is tossed ; now hope, now fear is at the helm ; 
 but it is nothing to me. Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 253. JOHN ECK TO [JOHN FABER AT CONSTANCE]. 
 
 Lutheri opera varii argumenti, iv. 256. Rome, May 3, 1520. 
 
 This letter is addressed simply "To a Vicar" ; Professor G. Kawerau 
 kindly identifies him for me with John Heigerlin, called Faber (1478- 
 May 21, 1541), who studied at Tubingen, took orders and matriculated 
 at Freiburg by 1509. In 1516 he was chancellor of the Bishop of 
 Basle, in 1518 he became Vicar of the Bishop of Constance, and in 
 1521 Suffragan Bishop; 1523 minister to Ferdinand, 1528-38 Coadjutor 
 Bishop of Neustadt, Bishop of Vienna 1530. P. S. Allen, ii. 189. 
 
 Greeting. Most worthy Vicar, your John Ulrich came to 
 me on the journey, and we went to Rome happily together. 
 I took our most holy Lord [the Pope] the book on the 
 Primacy of Peter. I would rather tell you face to face than 
 write you on a dead paper, how kind the Supreme Pontiff 
 and the very reverend cardinals were and are to me. 
 
 The first draft of a bull has been made against Luther, and 
 
 ^The identity of this person is not certain; perhaps Alvesleben. 
 ^The Condemnation of Luther by Cologne and Louvain. 
 
316 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 253 
 
 will be brought before the next consistory of cardinals, if 
 the most holy one follows the advice of Eck; then all the 
 cardinals and bishops will subscribe to it. It has been a 
 good thing that I came to Rome at this time, because the 
 others did not sufficiently know the errors of Luther. At an- 
 other time you shall hear what I have done in this cause. 
 Recently the Pope, two cardinals,^ Dr. Hispanus^ and I de- 
 liberated on this matter five hours; each was asked in turn 
 to give his opinion. The form of the bull will please good 
 men, for it is compounded according to the usage of the 
 councils and popes ancient and modern, and forty-one errors 
 are expressly condemned. . . . 
 
 Yesterday I was in counsel with our most holy Lord on 
 the Lutheran business, telling him what had been done by 
 the cardinals appointed to consider it; to-morrow, again, I 
 am going to the Pope to ask on what day the consistory will 
 meet, etc. . , . 
 
 Farewell. Yours to command, Eck. 
 
 P. S. — The cardinals favorable to me are the Cardinals of 
 the Holy Cross,^ of Ancona,* of Agen,^ of the Four Saints,*' 
 Jacobacci,^ of St. Sixtus,® and Campeggio,^ etc. 
 
 'Cajetan and Accolti. Cf. Smith, 96. 
 
 ^he Spanish Augustinian Johannes, whose last name is unknown, Cf. Smith, 
 ibid., and Zeitschrift fur Kirchengeschichte, xxv. 99, Professor Kawerau refers 
 me on the letter as a whole to Uhlhorn: Urban Rhegitts, which, however, I have 
 not been able to obtain. 
 
 SBernardino Carvajal of Placentia, in Spain, Bishop of Carthagena and Ostia, 
 cardinal since 1493. He was an opponent of Julius II. at the Council of Fisa, 
 and as such declared by the Pope unworthy of the red hat which was restored 
 to him by Leo X. He died December 16, 1522. It has been conjectured that he 
 opposed the designation of Luther's appeal to a council as heretical. On him, 
 infra, no. 288, and Sipith, Luther, p. 97. 
 
 *Peter Accolti of Arezzo, Bishop of Ancona, made cardinal by Julius II. in 
 
 151 1. He was one of the commission to investigate Luther's heresy, and drafted 
 the bull Exsurge Domine, promulgated June 15, 1520. On this Smith's Luther, 96. 
 
 ^Leonard Grosso della Rovere, Bishop of Agen, made cardinal by JuUus II. 
 in 1505, and later legate, first at Viterbo and then at Perugia. 
 
 ^Lawrence Pucci, a professor of law at Pisa, papal datary under Julius II., 
 given the red hat by Leo X. in 1513. He was at the sack of Rome in 1527, 
 and under Oement VII., Grand Penitentiary. 
 
 ■^Dominic Jacobacci of Rome, a learned canonist, Bishop of Nocera det Fagani, 
 created cardinal July f, 1517. 
 
 fiCajetan. 
 
 ^Lawrence Campeggio of Milan (1474-1539). auditor rotae at Rome 1511, bishop 
 
 1512, cardinal 1517. He was legate to Germany in 1511, and again at the Diet 
 
Let. 254 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 317 
 
 254. LUTHER TO SPALATIN. 
 Enders, ii. 397. Wittenberg, May 5, 1520. 
 
 Greeting. I send a letter to Guy Bild, dear Spalatin, to- 
 gether with one of Peter Aquensis,^ as he ordered. Both of 
 us have written to Hutten, Capito,^ Pelican,^ Erasmus and 
 many others. 
 
 At last brother Augustine Alveld* has come out with his 
 stuff; truly he is too stupid for me to lose time answering 
 him. His mind, brain, nose, mouth and hair, in short, his 
 whole book, reminds me of that Leipsic ox,^ for he uses fig- 
 ures and devices here similar to those the other used in his 
 vile book against the Beghards.^ Others'" will answer him, 
 and I will give it as an exercise to my famulus^ to make 
 verses and orations against this stolid ox. 
 
 Please thank the elector for me. For you know it is not 
 easy for me to get his busy ear with my letters. Good Heav- 
 ' ens ! how much has come to us and how much more is prom- 
 ised in the letters of many men ! Farewell and pray for me. 
 
 Martin Luther. 
 
 of Nuremberg 1534. He was legate to England in the affair of Henry VIII. 'a 
 divorce from Catharine of Aragon, 1528-9. 
 
 ^Peter Aquensis (». e., of Aix-la-Chapelle), a canon of St. Martin's at Miinster. 
 
 ^By "us" (utroque nostrum) Luther probably meant himself and Melanchthon. 
 None of these letters is in print, but that to Capito is known to exist in MS. 
 
 ^Conrad Pelican (1478-1556) of Ruffach in Alsace, became a Franciscan in 
 1493, General Vicar of Alsace in 1499, studied Hebrew with Reuchlin and Matthew 
 Adrian; 1502 began to lecture on Hebrew at Basle; 1517 went to Rome, returning 
 to Basle 1519, at which time he became a follower of Luther, and after 1522, a 
 warm friend of Oecolampadius. In 1523 he began to lecture on the Old Testa- 
 ment. In 1527 he was called by Zwingli to Zurich, where he remained till his 
 death. Cf. further Forstemann-Gunther, p. 402. He wrote Luther, March 15, 
 1520. Enders, ii. 354. 
 
 *Augustine of Alveld, a Franciscan, first appears in history as reader of the 
 Bible in the cloister at Leipsic in 1520. At this time he was asked by Bishop 
 Adolph of Merseburg to defend the primacy of the Pope, which he did in the 
 book here mentioned by Luther. The Reformer's friends, Lonicer and Bernhardi 
 answered him, he rejoined and Luther surrejoined. The controversy continued for 
 some years on the sacraments. In 1529 Alveld was elected Provincial Vicar. He 
 died soon after, October, 1532. Life by L. Lemmens 1899. 
 
 SQchsenfart. 
 
 6In 1514 Ochsenfart wrote two books against the Beghards Cc^treme Hussites), 
 for titles of which cf. Enders ii. i65f. 
 
 7He was answered by Bernhardi of Feldkirchen. 
 
 SThe famulus was a student who waited on a professor in return for tutoring. 
 Luther's famulus at this time was John Lonicer, a young Augustinian, who 
 studied in Wittenberg till December, 1521, then went as teacher of Hebrew, first 
 to Strassburg then to Freiburg (cf. Engentinus to T. Blaurer, December 17, 1521), 
 
318 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 2SSa 
 
 P. S. — Please return the letter of Aquensis for me to an- 
 swer. 
 
 255. JOHN MANUEL TO THE EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 Calendar of Letters, Despatches and State Papers, relating to the 
 
 Negotiations between England and Spain, ed. G. A. Bergenroth, 
 
 London, 1866, ii., p. 305. Rome, May 12, 1520. 
 
 (English translation of Spanish original.) 
 
 Manuel was a Spanish grandee who had fallen into disfavor and 
 been imprisoned in 1513 for rendering bad services to Ferdinand. 
 Later he became Imperial Ambassador at Rome, an office which he 
 held from 1520-23, when, apparently on account of the hostility of 
 Pope Adrian, he was removed. 
 
 If your Majesty go to Germany you ought to show some 
 favor^ to a certain friar who calls himself Friar Martin, who 
 is staying with the Elector of Saxony. The Pope is exceed- 
 ingly afraid of him as he preaches openly against the au- 
 thority of Rome, and is said to be a great scholar. I think 
 he would be a good means of forcing the Pope to conclude 
 an alliance. I am, however, of the opinion that these means 
 ought to be employed only if the Pope refuses to make an 
 alliance, or if he afterwards breaks it. 
 
 2S5a. JOHN FABER TO JOACHIM VADIAN AT ST. GALL. 
 Vadianische Briefsammlung, hg. von E. Arbenz and H. Wartmann, St 
 Gallen, iSgoff, ii. 277. Constance, May 12, 1520. 
 
 Joachim von Watt, known as Vadianus (1494-1551), of St. Gall, 
 matriculated at Vienna 1502. After graduation he taught Latin and 
 Greek there. He then took the degree of M. D., and was rector of 
 the University. He was crowned Poet Laureate. In 1518 he re- 
 turned to St Gall. He wrote history and geographical studies. In 
 warm sympathy with the Protestant movement, he carried through 
 the Reform of his native town. On his lost correspondence with 
 Luther, cf. Appendix II. to this book. His life by his friend, J. 
 Kessler, published in the last edition of the latter's Sabbata, 1902, pp. 
 
 which he was obliged to leave in 1523 either for Esslingen or Strassburg, which 
 he left in 1527. In 1520 he wrote a work against Alveld. Enders, ii. 399, iv. 215. 
 ^Strange to say, Dr. Pastor: History of the Popes, viii. i7f., has exactly 
 reversed the meaning of this despatch, interpreting it "Your Majesty ought to 
 refrain from showing favor.** A more literal translation of the Spanish, kindly 
 furnished me by my friend, Prof. S. L. Galpin, of Amherst College, is: 
 "And your Majesty may come to Germany, at which they will again be greatly 
 afraid, and a little favor may secretly (be done) to a friar who calls himself 
 Friar Martin.** Both the language and the context show that Bergenroth's 
 translation is correct. 
 
Let. 2ssa OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 319 
 
 6oiff. Modern life by E. Gotzinger in Schriften des Vereins fiir 
 Reformationsgeschkhte, no. 50. 
 
 Greeting} Dear Joachim, your commendation is to me the 
 best possible commendation. For you always recommend that 
 which approves itself without any recommendation. But were 
 the object in the greatest possible need of praise, yet would 
 your recommendation have so much weight with me, 
 that it could and ought to illumine dark matters, and give 
 grace to things worn out. 
 
 You ask for Eck's works. I have none to send you save 
 those of which you already have seen too much. Either noth- 
 ing of that kind is brought to Constance, or else the author, 
 out of respect to pontifical ears, lets his indefatigable pen 
 rest a while. He brought The Primacy of Peter to the feet of 
 Leo X., expecting not a roar, but applause. May God grant 
 that this learned man may spend his time better and turn his 
 by no means effete mind to better studies. 
 
 I thank your kindness for sending me the report of Luther's 
 debate.^ I also will send you anything new that comes to me. 
 That man's writings wonderfully please me, but I regret that 
 he so rashly propagates ideas which are indeed true, but yet 
 too strong for the crude stomach of the populace to digest. 
 Take for example his tract on Confession^ which every old 
 woman on the street knows. Paul had not a few things which 
 he hid away on account of the times, giving milk to babes 
 until they grew up in Christ, that he might speak wisdom 
 among the perfect. What Luther writes is surely most true, 
 but it is not expedient to lay such hard matters before the 
 whole world. For if Paul passed over part of the doctrine 
 of the gospel, in order to win the frail and fickle multitude, 
 how much more fitting is it nowadays either to connive at 
 that which cannot be changed without a revolution, or else 
 to heal the sick world by some entirely different means, for, 
 as you know, the medicine is strong for the times. It is by 
 no means sufficient to know what drugs to apply to a sick- 
 
 'Greek. 
 
 ^Schedam disputationis Lutherianae , probably refers to the minutes of the 
 Leipsic debate published soon after it took place, and reprinted, Weimar, ii. 250. 
 It may, however, refer to the Resolutions for debate, Weimar, ii, 153. 
 
 ^Eine kurze Unteruieisutig wie man beichten soil, Weimar, ii. 57. 
 
320 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 256 
 
 ness, unless you also know when and how to administer them. 
 An ancient error cannot be thus impetuously rooted out, but 
 must be treated patiently. The axioms which you sent about 
 penitence/ may please learned men, but they are a plague to 
 unlearned ears, for they almost extinguish a good part of 
 piety among common people, who have neither the genius nor 
 the judgment to receive at once the rare paradoxes of our 
 most learned Luther. Indeed, they are often a puzzle even 
 to men who are tolerably well educated. Nor are you ig- 
 norant that even if the good man wrote in Latin for the sake 
 of eliciting the truth, and not in the language of the Rhine 
 and the Danube, yet the printers, mindful of their own gain, 
 would immediately translate everything into the vernacular 
 and publish thousands of copies, so that no one, no matter 
 how illiterate, should be ignorant of the Lutheran tumult. 
 Such men are like spider-webs, who catch whatever is perni- 
 cious in Luther's doctrine. For how many people are there, 
 Vadian, who with true judgment can weigh antecedent and 
 consequent, which, I think, is of special importance in this 
 matter? I write this not with disaffection, for I greatly wish 
 that all men were truly Lutheran, that is, learnedly pious and 
 piously learned. . . . 
 
 256. LUTHER TO SPALATIN. 
 Enders, ii. 401. (Wittenberc), May 13, 1520. 
 
 Greeting. I am very glad that I determined to answer 
 Alveld in the name of my brother.^ For the man is so far 
 beyond my capacity that I should not be able to answer his 
 folly worthily. I have never seen, heard of, nor read a book 
 so silly and stupid in every syllable; in fact, I lack language 
 with which to describe it. To-day I finished the notes to 
 give my brother for him to put into shape. The work will 
 soon be done. Likewise I hope my sermon on good works 
 will soon be done. 
 
 We will pray for the elector; only do not begin to trust in 
 our prayers, but rather in the goodness of God who promises 
 
 ^Probably the Sermo de Penitentia, Weimar, i. 317. Possibly however, both 
 this and the reference to the Scheda disputationis are to the Ninety-five Theses. 
 2Lonicerus, supra, no. 254. 
 
Let. 257 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 321 
 
 to hear those who pray. I hope the Lord will preserve him 
 for us, or rather for himself in these matters. 
 
 I am not worrying about Miltitz, the Elector of Mayence 
 and the rest. I should like to see all the tyrants at Rome 
 ill at ease that they might know that they are men who 
 have a God. 
 
 I know that Lucas Cranaclj has a cloth, but that he does 
 not know to whom he owes it, nor did I ask. I saw also 
 chamois-hair cloths, rlor does he know to whom he owes 
 these, nor were they inquired for, lest perchance there should 
 be some error, if the same thing should be sold to different 
 people. Perhaps they all have come to you to-day. 
 
 Day before yesterday I had a message from Sylvester von 
 Schaumburg,^ a Franconian noble, who has a son^ here com- 
 mended to Melanchthon. He promises me sure protection if 
 the elector should be endangered by my cause. While not 
 despising this offer I prefer to rely only on Christ as my pro- 
 tector, who perhaps has given Schaumburg this idea. Fare- 
 well in the Lord. Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 257. ERASMUS TO OECOLAMPADIUS. 
 Erosmi epistolae (Lond.), xxxiii. 21. Erasmi opera (1703), iii. 555. 
 
 LouvAiN, May 14, 1520.' 
 
 . . . The kings of England and France are preparing for 
 
 a conference at Calais about June i.* The Archbishop of 
 
 Canterbury" invites me to be present. They almost burnt 
 
 Luther's books in England, but a humble, though seasonably 
 
 ^A knight of Miinnerstadt in Franconia, born between the years 1466 and 1471. 
 He led a wild life of feud with his neighbors, for which he was thrice out- 
 lawed by the Empire. He entered the service of the Count of Henneberg 1502, 
 of the Bishop of Bamberg 151 1, later of the Teutonic Order and of the Bishop 
 of Wiirzburg in 1522. The fall of Sickingen endangered him in 1523, though he 
 was only indirectly concerned with the rising. He died 1534. Life by 
 F, Kipp, 1911. 
 
 ^Ambrose von Schaumburg, the oldest son of Sylvester, at this time probably 
 between 16 and 18 years old. In 1529 he went on a campaign against the Turks 
 in company with his father. He died about 1535. Kipp, op. cit. 
 
 ^Wrongly dated in the Opera of 1703, as June 14. 
 
 *0n this cf. Preserved Smith, in English Historical Review, t. 657. 
 
 SWilliam Warham (i45o?-August 22, 1532), won advancement by his legal 
 attainments. He was Master of the Rolls 1494-1502, Bishop of London 1501, 
 Archbishop of Canterbury 1503, Lord Chancellor of England 1504-15: Chancellor 
 of Oxford University 1506 till bis death. His attitude to the Reformation is 
 shown by one of his letters published below. 
 
322 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 258 
 
 vigilant friend prevented it. Not that I can judge Luther's 
 v^orks, but this tyranny by no means pleased me. . . . 
 
 258. ERASMUS TO MELANCHTHON AT WITTENBERG. 
 Corpus Reformatorum, i. 204. Louvain (May, 1520).' 
 
 . . . There is a variety of news about Luther. I favor the 
 man as much as I can, even though they [my enemies] al- 
 •i ways join my cause with his. It was decided that his books 
 l[ should be burned in England, but I stopped this by writing 
 I letters to Cardinal Wolsey. At my suggestion also, he im- 
 posed silence by a public proclamation on those who clamor 
 foolishly before the people, mentioning Standish" by name. 
 He favors sound learning, and is offended by nothing in 
 I Luther except by the denial that the primacy of the Pope is 
 ' of divine right. Those who favor Luther (and almost all 
 good men favor him) wish that he had written more civilly 
 and moderately. But it is too late to warn him now. '' I see 
 that there is going to be trouble, but I pray that it may be 
 I for the glory of Christ. Perhaps it is necessary that scandals 
 [should come, but I should not like to be the cause of the 
 scandal. The plan of those fellows is truly diabolic, for 
 they desire nothing else than to suppress Christ and to reign 
 in his name. Commend me to Luther and to all your friends. 
 I have written this hastily, while ill and while the messenger 
 was waiting. Your Erasmus. 
 
 P. S. — Luther's Answer' to the Condemnation of Cologne 
 and Louvain wonderfully pleased me. At length they have 
 ibegun to be ashamed of their premature pronouncement. I 
 ■ 'should have preferred that my name had not been mentioned, 
 for it simply compromises me and does not help Luther. Hut- 
 ten is here, soon to go to the court of Charles, which is now 
 
 ^This letter seems to be about the same time as that to Oecolampadius of 
 May 14, 1520, no. 257. 
 
 sHenry Standish, D. D., died 1535, a Franciscan, studied at Oxford and 
 Cambridge, preached at court various times between 1511 and 1520, when he 
 became the chief spiritual adviser of Henry VIII. He was made Bishop of 
 St. Asaph, May 28, 1518. He was a stout conservative, bitterly opposed to Colet, 
 Erasmus and the Reformers. Die, Nat. Biography, 
 
 3March, 1520. Weimar, vi. 183. Cf. Smith, op, cit., 201-2. 
 
Let. 261 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 323 
 
 occupied by the beggar tyrants.^ Farewell again, dearest 
 Philip. 
 
 259. CONRAD MUTIAN TO LANG AT ERFURT. 
 Krause, 649. (Gotha), May 15, 1520. 
 
 . . . Zasius extolls our Luther to the skies. The illustrious 
 Pirckheimer has written of him, what I have just read to my 
 dear friend Adam Crafft,^ as follows : "All ages will remem- 
 ber that the Wittenbergers were the first to see the truth, the 
 first to open their eyes after so many centuries, and to begin 
 to separate the degenerate from the Christian philosophy. 
 And who among those wise men is so eminent a preacher 
 of Christ as Luther?" . . . 
 
 260. ALVISE GRADENIGO TO THE SIGNORY OF VENICE. 
 Sanuto, xxxviii. 315, tergo. Italian. Brown, iii. 51. English. 
 
 Rome, May 22, 1520. 
 Gradenigo was Venetian Ambassador at Rome 1520-3. 
 
 A consistory has been held on the affair of Martin Luther 
 in Germany and nothing determined. The matter was post- 
 poned in order not to render the scandal greater by showing 
 that importance was attached to his errors. 
 
 261. SILVESTER DE GIGLI, BISHOP OF WORCESTER, TO 
 
 WOLSEY. 
 
 Letters and Papers of Henry VIII., ed. J. S. Brewer, London, 1867, 
 iii., no. 847. (English condensed translation of Latin original.) 
 
 Rome, May 28, 1520. 
 
 Gigli (1463- April 18, 1521), of Lucca, succeeded his uncle as Bishop 
 of Worcester and English agent at Rome in 1498. From 1504-12 he 
 was on a mission to England, when he returned as Ambassador to 
 the Pope. Dictionary of National Biography. 
 
 Some months ago the works of Friar Martin arrived. 
 Much of their contents is disapproved of by great theologians, 
 by reason of the scandals to which they might give rise, and 
 
 ^Text TTvyonvpawoi for TrruxoTvpavvoi, Erasmus* favorite name for the mendi- 
 cant orders. 
 
 2Kraft or Crato of Fulda (1493-1558), an admirer of Erasmus, later a strong 
 Lutheran, after 1527 professor at Marburg. Enders, ti. 21. This letter of Pirck- 
 heimer is not in Goldast. 
 
324 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 262 
 
 part is condemned as heretical. After long debates it has 
 been decreed by the cardinals to declare Martin a heretic, 
 and a bull is in preparation on that subject, of which I will 
 send a copy. 
 
 262. LUTHER TO HENRY VON BUNAU, ARCHDEACON 
 
 AT OSTERWICK. 
 
 Enders, ii. 404. Wittenberg, May 30, 1520. 
 
 Biinau later became pastor at Camitz, where we find him married 
 in IS3S- In this same year he was obliged to leave on this account, 
 went to Silesia and became pastor at Hayn, where he died in 1536. 
 
 Greeting. Dear Sir, I also knew that Thomas Miinzer' 
 could not be moved from his purpose; yet I am glad that all 
 have become attentive to the work of grace. I will take 
 counsel with my friends and endeavor to procure chaplains 
 for your Excellency. In the meantime let constancy be like 
 itself, that is, constant in the Lord. It is nothing new if the 
 world is now perturbed on account of the Word of God. 
 Herod and the whole of Jerusalem were disturbed only to 
 hear of Christ's birth ;^ why shall the earth not be moved 
 and the sun darkened when they hear of Christ's death?' 
 Truly to me it is a sign that our doctrine is sound, that many 
 and great and wise men are offended at it. For thus says 
 Psalm Ixxvii.* "It slew the fattest of them, and smote 
 down the chosen men of Israel." And, again : "He is set for 
 the faUing and rising up of many'"' not among the Gentiles, 
 but "in Israel," and among the elect. God always chooses 
 the foolish and weak things of the world, and those things 
 which are naught^, and it is written that the conversation of 
 
 ^Munzer (1490-May 27, 1525), matriculated 1506 at Leipsic, 1512 at Frankfort 
 an der Oder, in 15 13 went to Halle. Later he became professor at Leipsic, 
 where he probably met Luther at the time of the debate, 1519. Early in 1520 
 he went to Zwickau to take the place of Egranus, and here began an energetic 
 reform, far more radical than Luther's, which he believed should be carried 
 through by force. Expelled by the authorities in April, 1521, he went to 
 Bohemia, and in 1523 to Alstedt, where he again preached insurrection. After a 
 sharp controversy with Luther he was again expelled, 1524, and went to Muhlhausen. 
 He became a leader in the Peasants' War, was captured at Frankenhausen, May 15, 
 1525, and after being forced to recant, executed. Realencyclopddie. 
 
 ^Matthew, ii. 3. 
 
 ^Matthew, xxvii. 52; Luke, xxiii. 45. 
 
 •^Psalm Ixxviii. 31. 
 
 BLuke, ii. 34. 
 
 61 Corinthians, ii. 27. 
 
Ut. 264 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 325 
 
 wisdom is with those that walk simply/ The Lord Jesus 
 keep your Excellency. Amen. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 Martin Luther. 
 
 263. LUTHER TO SPALATIN. 
 Enders, ii. 405. Wittenberg, May 31, 1520. 
 
 Greeting. I am sending letters, Spalatin, to Hutten, Sick- 
 ingen and our Taubenheim ;'' please let it be your care to 
 forward them. Let Taubenheim, in particular, have his at 
 once, for I have put off answering him longer than I hoped. 
 
 Lonicerus will be done to-morrow. The Leipsic professors, 
 anxious to retain their scholars, boast that Erasmus is com- 
 ing to them. How busy and yet unhappy is hatred! When 
 a year ago they insulted us as vanquished they did not see 
 that this cross was waiting for them. The Lord rules, as 
 we can feel. Ochsenfart is said to be arming against Feld- 
 kirchen by whom he is traduced. I have finished something in 
 German against that ass Alveld; it will soon be printed. 
 
 Advise me whether I should write to the elector in be- 
 half of our state. Everything is very dear, and enough is 
 not brought in ; nor is anything lawfully regulated in this most 
 confused and neglected administration. Something could be 
 done at Wittenberg, if there were any order in the govern- 
 ment. There is need here of the counsel and authority of the 
 elector. Answer and farewell. 
 
 Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 264. LUTHER TO JEROME DUNGERSHEIM AT LEIPSIC. 
 
 Enders, ii. 162. (Wittenberg, June, 1520.) 
 
 This letter, placed by Enders in September, 1519, is in answer to 
 one of May, 1520, placed by Enders, ii. 141, in September, 1519- 
 Dungersheim answered it at once with a short letter and a long 
 
 ^Proverbs, iii. z^- "Cum simplicibus sermocinatio ejus." Vulgate. 
 
 2John von Taubenheim, mentioned in 1490 as a page of Frederic the Wise, 
 matriculated at Leipsic 1504, B. A. 1505. At latest in 1511 he entered the 
 official service, becoming treasurer and collector of taxes. In 1515-6 he collected 
 moneys and paid salaries (including those of the professors) at Wittenberg. In 
 1528 he was one of the Church visitors. On his warm relations with Luther 
 cf. Smith, op. cit., 369. He died 1541 or 1542. Archiv. fiir Reformationsge- 
 schichte, viii. 37ff. 
 
326 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 264 
 
 Dialogue, both printed by Enders, ii. 166S. This closed the corre- 
 spondence. For dates, cf. supra, no. 201. 
 
 Greeting. Truly, my man, you have excellent major pre- 
 mises, but very poor minors. You keep saying only "The 
 Church, the Church, heretics, heretics!" and will not allow 
 that the text "Prove all things"^ was said to one man. But 
 when we ask for the Church, you show us one man, the Pope, 
 to whom you attribute everything, though you do not offer the 
 least proof that his faith cannot fail. But we find more 
 heresies in his Decretals than in any heretical book. Thus, 
 in what alone is to be proved by you, you perpetually beg 
 the question, as though you were ignorant that the worst 
 fault of argument was petitio principii. This, I say, you must 
 prove, that you have the Church of God, and that it is no- 
 where else in the world. We wish to be judged by Scripture, 
 you wish to judge it. Please stop wearying me with such 
 words, or, as you threaten, publish what you wish. If the 
 Fathers are to be read without selection and judgment, the 
 Scripture is taken away. Of the form of God^ and of the 
 papacy I think as I thought; nor do I doubt that I will easily 
 answer whatever you publish on these subjects. Don't be 
 impertinent, my man; for a whole year you have tried to do 
 much and have not greatly succeeded. Many words do not 
 move me, but solid arguments ; nor do I therefore accuse the 
 saints of falsehood, as you are wont to deduce from my 
 words, if I say that Scripture is sometimes twisted by them. 
 Pray beware, if you do write anything, not to deduce such 
 consequences and corollaries from my words and put your 
 own construction on them. You will need sharp eyes. For 
 a good doctor should not say that one has lied who has barely 
 erred, since Augustine himself confesses that many obscure 
 texts bear a manifold sense, although we must believe that the 
 sense is simple. . . . 
 
 If you use such methods against me, you will succeed finely ; 
 there will never be an end of writing and disputing. For 
 always when I say one thing you understand another, just 
 
 ^i Thessalonians, v. 21. 
 
 ^This refers to a debate on the text, Philippians, ii. 6. 
 
Let. 264 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 327 
 
 as that ass^ of yours does. I know not whether the nature 
 of Leipsic men is such as to allow you to be such careless 
 readers, such audacious judges, and so slow in understand- 
 ing others. Believe me, I will have something to say to you. 
 Formerly you wrote against the Beghards;- you know with 
 what success ! Take a friend's advice and write not so much, 
 but more to the point. I know that victory does not depend 
 on the numbers exposed to slaughter, but on military art. 
 Vainly do you complain that you are betrayed by me. I con- 
 fess that I let some others read your letters, so as not to be 
 the sole judge in my own cause, which you are always com- 
 plaining of. If you are aggrieved herein, I allow you to re- 
 taliate, and I will not fight with you nor attack you on this 
 ground. If in matter of faith concord were easy between us, 
 no syllable would be written. Do you also consider how 
 much we have suffered and do daily suffer from your friends, 
 which could not be done without your assent? Take care lest 
 God will repay it. This affair is none of your business, and 
 hitherto you have always declined to take part. Now at last 
 you are coming in ; take care lest you become involved. I am 
 perfectly well aware, my dear Jerome, how much you tried 
 to do me behind my back, as I wrote you at Leipsic,^ which 
 I have always ignored and do still. But take care lest my 
 exhausted patience shall burst out. I am a man like you, ex- 
 cept that you secretly bite in leisure and quietly ; I, very busy, 
 am attacked by the teeth of all, and I am asked to be mod- 
 erate who alone am surrounded with so many ravenous 
 wolves. The world presses me down and gnaws me piece- 
 meal. Good God, how I am accused, and yet, if we are but 
 a little moved thereby, you cannot bear it. I write this that 
 you may know that I prefer peace and concord ; but if that is 
 impossible the Lord's will be done ! 
 
 You need not write me about the other matters, for I un- 
 derstand you. Take care to understand my propositions, for, 
 
 ^Augustine Alveld. 
 
 "Supra, no. 254. 
 
 3This letter is lost and it is difficult to ascertain when it could have been 
 written. Luther is apparently referring to the slanders about him, which he 
 attributed to Dungersheim, cf. supra, no. 217. But it is not known that he was at 
 Leipsic at this time or anywhere near it. The time of the debate would be 
 too early. 
 
328 I^UTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 266 
 
 as they cannot be overthrown by you, with Christ's aid I will 
 not suffer you to do it. Farewell and pray, not only that we 
 may have the right opinions, but that we may live and be 
 saved. 
 
 265. LUTHER TO JOHN HESS AT BRESLAU. 
 Enders, ii. 411. (Wittenberg), June 7, 1520. 
 
 Greeting. Although you salute me alone, dear Hess, I will 
 return more than you send, but briefly as my business re- 
 quires. Crotus wrote from Bamberg both to you and to me.^ 
 I wonder why his letter to you did not come. I think I would 
 have kept it fairly and faithfully, although he wrote me to 
 tear it up if you were not here. My letters went to Italy just 
 as he was leaving it, and he did not know I had written him. 
 
 Eck is enjoying his wished-for glory in Rome. Presented 
 to the Pope by the Cardinal of the Four Crowns^ he kissed 
 the blessed feet. Then, to the astonishment of all, the Pope, 
 sitting in public view on the throne of his majesty, kissed 
 him. Let them lick, lap, spit on and bite each other thus!' 
 My correspondent writes: "Luther has propitious gods at 
 Rome, but no propitious men." What do you think will come 
 of this? Perhaps the sky will fall and many pots will col- 
 lide. Sylvester Prierias has vomited up something more,* and 
 that so blasphemous that it almost kills me just to read it. 
 We will publish the infernal pamphlet with notes by Luther. 
 Meantime, do what you do, and greet Michael" and Craut- 
 wald^ and all my friends. I wish the most reverend bishop^ 
 the grace of Christ. Farewell in Christ. 
 
 Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 266. LUTHER TO SPALATIN. 
 Enders, ii. 413. Wittenberg (before June 8), 1520. 
 
 Greeting. I send letters from Nuremberg, dear Spalatin, 
 
 ^Cf. supra, no. 251. 
 
 ^Lorenzo Pucci. 
 
 ^I have slightly changed the punctuation of this to make better sense. 
 
 *EpitOfna responsionis ad LiitUerum, published by Luther in June, i 520, Weimar, 
 vi. 325. 
 
 sWittiger, a canon at Breslau. 
 
 fiValentine Crautwald, an old friend of Hess and Melancbthon, a Hebrew and 
 Greek scholar, later a Schwenkfeldian, and as such, frequently mentioned with 
 hostility by Luther in 1525-6. Enders, v. 294f, 329, 343. 
 
 'John von Thurzo. 
 
Let. 267 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 329 
 
 with Prierias' Epitome,^ which that barbarous Greek and 
 cooker of Latin^ himself calls "Epithoma." Send it right 
 back; it will be printed^ soon to the praise and glory of all 
 enemies of the truth, with my notes. / think that at Rome 
 they have all become mad, silly, raging, insane fools, stocks, 
 stones and devils of hell.* See now what we have to hope 
 from Rome who allows this infernal writing to go out against 
 the Church. These portents overwhelm me with the great- 
 ness of the folly. 
 
 While inveighing against the ass Alveld I am not forgetful 
 of the Roman Pontiff, though I will please neither of them. 
 I am forced to write thus, for at length the secrets of Anti- 
 christ must be revealed. For they press on and will not lie 
 hidden any more. 
 
 I have the intention of publishing a broadside^ to Charles 
 and the whole German nobility against the tyranny and wick- 
 edness of the Roman court. 
 
 My postilla to the Epistles and Gospels are being prepared 
 for the press.' 
 
 I am writing to the most illustrious elector in behalf of 
 the commonweal. Pray do what you can to help us. Other- 
 wise we shall soon go hungry, or buy food at too high a 
 price. Farewell and pray for me. 
 
 Brother Martin Luther. 
 
 267. MELANCHTHON TO JOHN HESS AT BRESLAU. 
 Corpus Reformatoruin, i. 201. (Wittenberg), June 8, 1520. 
 
 . . . Wittenberg is not yet under the interdict, and things 
 are said to be peaceful at Rome, except that Sylvester Prierias 
 is publishing an Index of his dialogue against Luther,^ his 
 
 ^Greek. 
 
 ^So called because of his title, as written on the heading of his Epitome, 
 ''magiri [instead of magistri] sacri Palacij." "Magirus" means "cook." This 
 is not a misprint, as Enders thinks, but a regular, though peculiar, form, mis- 
 understood by Luther. 
 
 ^Cf. supra, no. 265. 
 
 ^German. 
 
 "•This became the famous Address to the Nobility, of which the preface was 
 dated June 23, 1520. It appeared early in August. Smith, op. cit., 79ff. 
 
 6These first appeared in March, 1521. Weimar, vii. 458. 
 
 7The Epitoma responsionis ad Lutheriim, with the subtitle: Index quidem longis- 
 simtis sed brevissimum Epitoma. Cf. supra, 266. 
 
330 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 269 
 
 purpose being, if I mistake not, to terrify the man by false 
 watch-fires. You will see the book when it is printed here. 
 Francis von Sickingen, the rare glory of German knighthood, 
 of his own accord invites Luther to himself. Hutten is go- 
 ing to Ferdinand, the brother of Charles, to make way, with 
 the help of the greatest princes of the Empire, for German 
 liberty. What may we not hope? . . . 
 
 I am sending Luther's tract on Faith and Good Works, 
 which, like all his books, you will read with pleasure. 
 
 Crotus has written to you here, and also to Luther. Our 
 letters are on the way to Italy, although he is coming to Ger- 
 many. 
 
 Luther is answering your question on Paul, and what is 
 more apt than his answer? No one known to me of all the 
 Greek and Latin writers has gotten nearer Paul's spirit. . . . 
 
 268. ALVISE GRADENIGO TO THE SIGNORY OF VENICE. 
 Sanuto, xxxviii. 360. Italian. Brown, iii. 74. Rome, June 9, 1520. 
 
 Friar Martin Luther in Germany is very much followed 
 by the Elector of Saxony and other lords, who have written 
 in his defence to the Pope, telling him to send anyone he 
 pleases to dispute with Luther, who will show that what he 
 preaches and says is perfectly true and based on the words 
 of Christ. 
 
 269. SYLVESTER VON SCHAUMBERG TO LUTHER. 
 Enders, ii. 415. German. Munneestadt, June 11, 1520. 
 
 My unknown service and friendship to you, learned, ex- 
 cellent, dear Sir and Friend ! Many learned persons have 
 told me that your doctrine and opinions are grounded on the 
 holy, divine Scriptures, and that you are opposed by unfavor- 
 able, envious persons, given up to greed, which is serviceable 
 to idolatry. And though you allow your opinion to be passed 
 upon by an oecumenical Christian council, or by other im- 
 partial, wise and learned men, yet you suffer for it danger to 
 your life, and are compelled to betake yourself to a foreign 
 nation, probably to the Bohemians, who do not highly esteem 
 spiritual, arbitrary punishment. 
 
Let. 270 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 331 
 
 I beg and admonish you in God the Lord, in case the elec- 
 tor or any other government should expel you rather than dis- 
 obediently endure arbitrary spiritual punishment for you. 
 that you should not let such desertion trouble you, nor be- 
 take yourself to the Bohemians, from whom in former times 
 certain learned men obtained much contradiction and offence, 
 and thus increased the disfavor in which they were held. For 
 I, and, I believe, a hundred gentlemen whom I can bring to- 
 gether, will keep you safe and protect you against your op- 
 ponents, until your opinions have been canvassed and ex- 
 amined by a common Christian council or by impartial learned 
 judges, and you yourself better instructed; for you yourself 
 have agreed to submit in such a case. As you are one to 
 whom, though unknown, I am minded to show service and 
 friendship, I did not wish to conceal the above from you, for 
 you to comfort yourself with. 
 
 Sylvester von Schaumberg. 
 
 270. LUTHER TO GEORGE KUNZELT, PASTOR AT 
 
 EILENBURG. 
 
 Enders, ii. 418. Wittenberg, June 15, 1520. 
 
 Nothing is known of Kunzelt, except that a little later (December 
 10, 1520, Enders, iii. 19), he requested permission to go away to study 
 for eight years, on the ground that he had been so much ordered 
 about by his superiors that he deserved a little leisure. 
 
 Greeting. You inquire, venerable Father, as to my practice 
 in beginning and ending a sermon; my usage is not the com- 
 mon one. Omitting wordy prologues I briefly say : "Invoke 
 the divine grace, and say an inward Ave Maria or Paternos- 
 ter, that the word of God may be fruitful to us and God ac- 
 cept us."^ Then I read the text, without announcing the 
 topic. Then^ I explain or propound doctrines from it. At 
 the end I say : "Enough of this," or, "More another time," 
 or, "Having said this, we will pray God for his grace to en- 
 able us to do it," or thus : "God help us do it." Then most 
 briefly: "Let us commend to God the spiritual and temporal 
 estates, particularly so and so, for whom and for all, as we 
 ought, we will recite the Lord's prayer in common." After 
 
 ^The words in italics are German. 
 ^Reading "Deinde" for "Davidem." 
 
332 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 272 
 
 this as all rise: "The blessing of God the Father, etc. Amen." 
 This is my manner of preaching. Farewell in the Lord. 
 
 Brother Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 271. LUTHER TO SPALATIN. 
 Enders, ii. 423. (Wittenberg), June 25, 1520. 
 
 Greeting. Dear Spalatin, I and many others think Melanch- 
 thon should not be burdened with lecturing on Pliny on ac- 
 count of his lectures on the Apostle Paul, which are so fruit- 
 ful. The hearers ought not to be deprived of this good, since 
 what they would get from Pliny would not be enough to com- 
 pensate them. It is to be feared that some spirit who is not 
 rashly to be resisted impels him to do this, lest it should turn 
 out a device of Satan to prevent, on this excuse, the cultiva- 
 tion of good fruit. They think that if Pliny is to be given at 
 all it should be by Professor John Hess.'- I know not what 
 Melanchthon will do about marrying, especially the girl you 
 suggest.^ I want him to take a wife, but wish neither to 
 dictate nor to advise whom he shall marry, nor do I see that 
 he is particularly anxious to marry. 
 
 Although I hope Melanchthon will not go to Bavaria,' yet 
 I have always wished that he might have a larger salary, so 
 that they might lose the hope they have conceived of getting 
 him, since they see that he is paid less here than he would 
 be there.* If there is any chance, be vigilant. For when op- 
 portunity calls, it is not to be neglected, for it is God calling. 
 
 I will speak of the Strassburg tragedy" in a proper place. 
 To-morrow my Prierias and German Romanist will be fin- 
 ished." Farewell. Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 272. CONRAD MUTIAN TO JOHN LANG AT ERFURT. 
 Krause, 654. (Gotha), July i, 1520. 
 
 . . . Who is that Martin Luder who together with John 
 
 ^This was not John Hess of Breslau, but the Wittenberger. 
 
 ^Melanchthon married Catharine Krapp on November 27, 1520. 
 
 ^Ingolstadt and Reuchlin were still trying to get Melanchthon. Cf. supra, 
 no. 214. 
 
 ■*Melanchthon got the increase on his marriage. 
 
 ■This refers to an incident described in the Address to the German Nobility. 
 Bishop William of Strassburg was prevented from reforming his cathedral by 
 the Pope. 
 
 'Luther means the E/ntome of Prierias and Vom Papstlhum sm Rom wider den 
 Romanistcn cu Leipzig. Weimar, vi. 277ff. 
 
Let. 273 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 333 
 
 Fug and Wenzel Link follows John Lang and precedes John 
 Staupitz the head of your order? It is signal carelessness 
 and remarkable ignorance to put him who had the first place 
 in chapter xlii. down among the following numbers. I will 
 not call it malice, for Luder and Luther might be different 
 persons. "^ . . . 
 
 Zasius does not think ill of Martin. He knows that he is 
 quite learned in our theology both modern and ancient, he 
 knows that he is a luminary of the Augustinian order, he 
 knows that he sustains the attacks of many, in short, he knows 
 that the innocent man is wrongly bound by the curses of the 
 Pope. He is not ignorant how much hatred is brought by the 
 Hussite name, and how much odium by blessed Bohemia. 
 Perhaps he thinks that it would be more for the peace and 
 concord of the people if Luther would keep within the fold 
 of his gentle and taciturn monasticism, and leave to secular 
 priests the interpretation of the divine law. There are some 
 men neither bad nor unlearned, whose names I refrain from 
 giving, who think that it is wicked and impious for a doubly 
 consecrated priest thus to tear to pieces Leo, the head of 
 the apostolic see. I agree with no authors of dissension, con- 
 tumely and strife. Let us have fair play. If they stir up 
 sleeping dogs, and revive the dormant folly of the Bohemians, 
 or for the sake of vengeance violate the majesty of the Ro- 
 man see, rubbing the scar from the old wound, their audacity 
 is nothing to me. I am peaceful, not for fear of outward 
 foes, but for myself ; my moderation is due to gentleness 
 rather than to prudence. Finally you ask my opinion of the 
 papal decrees. I esteem the decrees of philosophers more 
 than those of priests. . . . 
 
 273. ERASMUS TO SPALATIN. 
 Erasmi opera, iii. 559. Louvain, July 6, 1520. 
 
 , . . I wrote recently to Melanchthon in such a way that 
 the letter^ was as much for Luther as for him. I pray that 
 Christ Almighty may temper the pen and mind of Luther so 
 
 'This refers to the Exegesis Cermaniae by Irenicus, which refers to (ii. 42) 
 "Martin Luther, priest of Wittenberg, a learned theologian and captain of the 
 Germans," and later enumerates John Lang, John Fug, Link, Luder and Staupitz. 
 
 2No. 258. 
 
334 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 274 
 
 that he may bring forth the greatest fruit to evangeUc piety, 
 and that Christ may give a better mind to some who seek 
 their own glory at his expense and their own profit with his 
 loss, "in the camp of Luther's opponents I see many who 
 savor more of the world than of Christ, and yet both sides 
 have sinned. ( Would that Hutten, whose genius I singularly 
 love, had tempered his peni I should prefer that Luther left 
 these tumults alone for a while, and devoted himself to the 
 gospel alone; perhaps dispassionate action would succeed a 
 little better, j Hatred of good learning is fatal to us and bar- j 
 ren to hini. There is danger lest the public corruption of 
 morals, which everyone admits needs a public remedy, may 
 gradually increase like the plague and become firmly estab- 
 lished. / Truth is not always to be advanced, and it makes 
 much difference how it is championed. Farewell, excellent 
 man, and commend me to your prince. 
 
 274. POPE LEO X. TO FREDERIC, ELECTOR OF SAXONY. 
 Lutheri opera varii argumenti, v. 10. Rome, July 8, 1520. 
 
 Beloved Son, greeting and the apostolic blessing! Grave 
 men have testified to us that your Lordship, according to your 
 surpassing wisdom and piety towards God and his orthodox 
 faith, and according to the nobility of your soul and of your 
 ancestors, who were always ready to serve the Christian state 
 and the holy see, has always been hostile to the attempts of 
 that son of iniquity Martin Luther, and has never either aided 
 or favored him. This pleases us the more in that it greatly 
 increases the opinion which we have of your splendid virtue 
 and our paternal goodwill towards you. 
 
 We cannot say whether we think you have acted more 
 wisely or more piously in this affair. For it is singular wis- 
 dom to recognize that a furious man, by no means obedient to 
 his vow of humility, moved by ambition to resuscitate the old 
 heresies of the Wyclifites, Hussites and Bohemians, already 
 condemned by the universal Church, one who manifestly 
 seeks the money of the people, one who by his interpretation 
 of Scripture gives occasion of sinning to the simple, one who 
 breaks the bonds of chastity and innocence, and by his pro- 
 fane words also confession and contrition of heart, one who 
 
Let. 274 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 335 
 
 favors the Turks and deplores the punishment of heretics, 
 one, in short, who tries to mix the highest things with the 
 lowest; it is singular wisdom, I say, to recognize that such a 
 one has not been sent by Christ, but by Satan, for the man 
 has been carried to such a height of pride and madness that 
 he has dared openly to say and write that he will have faith 
 neither in the writings of the holy doctors, nor in the decrees 
 of the Roman Pontiffs, but only in himself and his own 
 opinions, which is more than any heretic has hitherto pre- 
 sumed to do. 
 
 Therefore your Lordship has wisely spurned the company 
 of this pestilent and venomous man, who, as you can judge, 
 brings some stain on your noble house and much on the Ger- 
 man nation. It is also to the credit of your piety that you 
 never consented to any of his great errors, but rather with- 
 stood them. By you, at least, no occasion has been given for 
 turning from the old and eternal order of the orthodox faith, 
 preserved for so many ages by the Holy Spirit. . . . 
 
 Wherefore, having convoked a council of our venerable 
 brothers, and of others, including all who are expert in the 
 Canon Law and the Holy Scripture, after thorough ventila- 
 tion and discussion of the affair, at last, under the inspiration 
 of the Holy Ghost, who in such matters is never absent from 
 the holy see, we issued a decree,^ written in apostolic let- 
 ters and sealed with the leaden bull, in which, among the 
 almost countless errors of this man, we commanded to be 
 written down in order those which are partly simply heretical 
 and subversive of the right faith, and partly scandalous and 
 impious through their undoing for simple men of the bonds 
 of obedience, continence and humility. For the other nu- 
 merous errors, which in the gall of unjust hatred he vomited 
 forth against this holy see, are to be judged rather by God 
 than by us. 
 
 We send your Lordship a copy of this bull, printed in our 
 fostering city, that when by it you have learned the errors of 
 this minister of Satan, you may, as is prescribed in the bull 
 according to the apostolic mercy, first exhort and warn him 
 
 *The bull Exsurge Domine, June 15, 1530. Reprinted by B. J. Kidd: Docu- 
 ments, no. 38. 
 
336 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 275 
 
 to put away his contumacious and haughty spirit and re- 
 turn to sanity and thus experience God's clemency and ours 
 by pubUcly revoking and reprobating his opinions. But sec- 
 ondly, if he persists in his insanity, and at the end of the 
 term prescribed in the bull should be a declared heretic, then 
 you should take care and zealously try to capture him and 
 send him bound into our custody. . . . 
 
 275. LUTHER TO SPALATIN. 
 Enders, ii. 428. (Wittenberg), July 9, 1520. 
 
 Greeting. Dear Spalatin, with great and silent grief, I read 
 the letter^ from Rome, seeing such great dullness and impiety 
 in the heads of the Church. I fear that they are so con- 
 founded by the light of conscience and truth that they can 
 have no judgment or sense left. They condemn my books, 
 though they confess that they show genius and learning, and 
 yet they have neither read them, nor asked for them. The 
 Lord have mercy on all of us ! 
 
 What can I advise the excellent elector to write? There- 
 fore I rather write to you. In the first place you know that 
 I could complain in this matter much more justly than they. 
 My published books bear witness how often I confess and 
 lament that I have been drawn into this affair by no desire, 
 but have been driven by force. Then I often offered peace 
 and silence. Where do I not ask and try to extort instruction ? 
 Hitherto I have been of such a mind that I would keep 
 silence if I were allowed, that is, if they also would hold 
 their peace. 
 
 Everyone knows that Eck's sole reason for forcing me to 
 debate on the power of the Pope was to make a mock of and 
 trample on me, my name, all my works and our university. 
 Now, when they see that the man was divinely thwarted, they 
 accuse me of insane boasting. Why should a wretch like me 
 seek glory, who only ask to be allowed to live privately and 
 hidden from the public? 
 
 Anyone who wishes may have my position; anyone who 
 wishes may burn my books. What more do they want me to 
 do? At the same time I say this: If I am not allowed to lay 
 
 'The letter of Cardinal Riario to the elector, Smith, op. cit., 74. 
 
Let. 275 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 337 
 
 aside my office of teaching and preaching the Word, at any 
 rate I shall be free in the way I teach it. Loaded with enough 
 sins I will not add this unpardonable one, that, when I am 
 made a minister of the Word, I should fail in my ministry 
 and be found guilty of impious silence, of neglecting the 
 truth, and of thousands of lost souls. Let that cardinal boast 
 that his Church does not need defence; why then, does he 
 defend it? 
 
 I am entirely satisfied that the most illustrious elector 
 should keep himself apart from my cause as he has hitherto 
 done, and that he should thrust me out to be taught or con- 
 victed. But as he cannot be my instructor, let him not be 
 my judge or executioner until I have been duly sentenced. 
 He sees that he cannot punish anyone, Jew or Turk, without 
 a cause being known, which, in this case, they have not even 
 touched upon. Do the Romans wish that he should obey God 
 rather than man, and oppress one of whose guilt or innocence 
 he is not sure? He could not do so with a safe conscience, 
 nor can his conscience be prompted to such an act by any 
 divine command. 
 
 Let them punish Prierias, Eck, Cajetan and others, who for 
 their own glory causelessly started this tragedy for the Ro- 
 man Church. I am innocent. What I have done and do, I 
 am obliged to do, always ready to keep silence provided only 
 they do not bid the gospel truth to keep silence. They will 
 obtain everything from me, and I will offer everything of my 
 own accord, if they will allow the way of salvation to be free 
 to Christians. This is all I ask from them in return ; noth- 
 ing else. What could be more honest? I do not seek a car- 
 dinal's hat, nor gold, nor whatever else Rome now prizes. 
 
 If I do not obtain this request, let them deprive me of my 
 cure of souls, and let me live and die in some desert corner. 
 Miserable man that I am, I am forced to teach against my 
 will, and at the same time suffer for doing so, when others 
 teach of their own free will and are honored for it. My mind 
 is simply not able to fear threats nor to prize promises. Do 
 they want me really to be affected by fear and hope, or only 
 to pretend to be? 
 
 You have my opinion. I hope the most illustrious elector 
 
338 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 276 
 
 will write so that those Roman heads may understand that 
 Germany, by an inscrutable judgment of God, has hitherto 
 been oppressed not by her own stupidity, but by that of 
 Italians. Farewell. I send this letter sealed, as you did 
 yours. Martin Luther. 
 
 276. ELECTOR FREDERIC OF SAXONY TO CARDINAL 
 RAPHAEL RIARIO AT ROME. 
 Lutheri Opera latina varii argumenti (Erlangen, 1863), ii. 351. 
 
 LocHAU, July 10, 1520. 
 
 In the reprint here cited the date is given as "Augsburg, August S, 
 1526." On the true date cf. Enders, ii. 431. 
 
 Rafael Riario (1461-July 9, 1521), of Savona, one of the most power- 
 ful men in Rome. He had been created cardinal 1477. Cf. Pastor, 
 vols, vii., viii. He had written the elector urging him to make Luther 
 recant (c/. supra, no. 275) ; this is Frederic's answer. 
 
 Most reverend Father in Christ, and dear Lord, your kind 
 letter dated Rome, April 3, was delivered to me on July 7. . . . 
 I- already knew, my dear Sir, what you write about Dr. Mar- 
 tin Luther. Please understand that with God's help I will 
 never do nor be other, and that I never had the purpose or 
 wish of being other than an obedient son of the Holy Catholic 
 Church. 
 
 I have never hitherto undertaken to defend either the writ- 
 ings or the sermons of Dr. Martin Luther, nor do I do so 
 to-day, as I showed to his Holiness's legate Cardinal Cajetan, 
 and to the papal nuncio Charles Miltitz, both by my letters 
 and orally. 
 
 Moreover I hear that Dr. Luther has never shown himself 
 unready obediently to appear, armed with a safe-conduct, be- 
 fore just, convenient, disinterested and prudent judges to de- 
 fend his doctrine in person, and, when he has learned better 
 and more holy doctrine from Scripture, submissively to obey. 
 
 To this duty I hear the Archbishop Elector of Trier has 
 been appointed commissioner, a friend of mine, at whose sum- 
 mons I doubt not that Luther, provided with safe-conduct, 
 will appear. So no one can rightly blame me on this account. 
 It is a heartfelt sorrow to me that in my time errors in the 
 Catholic faith should arise, and this would annoy me still 
 more, that such errors should be promoted by me. . . . 
 
Let. 278 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 339 
 
 277. LUTHER TO SPALATIN. 
 
 Enders, ii. 439. (Wittenberg), July 14, 1520. 
 
 Greeting. Dear Spalatin, if you have any influence with 
 the elector, please get him to write a severe and caustic let- 
 ter to our rector.^ The man's signal folly yesterday almost 
 involved us in murder and blood. Insanely he stirred up a riot^ 
 on the part of the students against the town-council and in- 
 nocent people, he who ought to have quieted them. I was 
 present at the meeting, where they were all mad with drink; 
 nothing was said except what might inflame the fierceness of 
 the youths. This confusion in our university shames me, for 
 it will at length bring us opprobrium. Peter Lupinus spoke 
 well against the tumult, but he was so received by Dr. Thomas 
 Eschaus that I at once arose and left, seeing that Satan was 
 presiding over the meeting. It is said that the youths are al- 
 lowed to carry arms against the order of the elector. 
 
 It is better that a smaller number should study here than 
 that we should have these riots. All the good condemn this 
 madness. To-morrow, with God's help, I shall try to do what 
 I can to quiet this. Nothing was done according to the elec- 
 tor's recent decree. The old men were wilder than the young. I 
 know it is the doing of Satan, for as he cannot hurt the Word 
 of God which is now returning to us, he seeks this way to dis- 
 parage it. Truly we must strive against him with what power 
 we can lest he should prevail with these men of blood. 
 
 I think you have received my letter and this of Schaum- 
 burg.^ Please send them back to our friends when you have 
 read them. Farewell and pray for me. 
 
 Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 278. LUTHER TO SPALATIN. 
 
 Enders, ii. 441. (Wittenberg), July 17, 1520. 
 
 Greeting. Dear Spalatin, we think that Lira's dream* meant 
 
 iPeter Burkhard. 
 
 ^Cf. supra, no. 230. The students were for some reason exasperated against 
 Lucas Cranach, who, besides being a painter, drove various trades. Student riots 
 were not uncommon then, and, indeed, are not unknown now on the continent 
 of Europe. I have myself seen riots at the Sorbonne, which, but for the inter- 
 vention of the police, might have led to bloodshed. 
 
 3No. 269. 
 
 ♦Something of which apparently Spalatin had written, of which nothing else 
 is known. 
 
340 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 278 
 
 nothing else than our riot. In almost all prophecies and 
 visions a big man signifies the gross commonalty. Yesterday' 
 from the pulpit I preached against the tumult as though I 
 were partial to neither side; I simply described the evil of 
 sedition in the abstract whether it was supported by the citi- 
 zens or by the students, and I commended the power of magis- 
 trates as one instituted by God, so that seditions should not 
 lay everything waste. Good Heavens ! How much hatred I 
 won for myself !' They shouted that I was taking the part 
 of the town council. At length they thus betrayed the 
 thoughts of their hearts, so that we learned who had truly 
 imbibed our theology and who had only pretended to do so. 
 Such a sieve is needed to separate the wheat from the chaff. 
 I see Satan in this affair, who, when he saw that he could do 
 nothing at Rome and abroad against us, found this evil to 
 hurt us badly from within. 
 
 This thing was small at first, but behold, the more it is 
 treated, the more bitterly does it seize and corrupt hearts, a 
 strictly diabolic quality, for Satan augments the disease by 
 what you would think would cure it. I do not fear him, but I 
 am afraid that we offend the Lord with our ingratitude and 
 vainglory, who in his anger permits Satan thus to burst forth 
 in the midst of the sons of God. Nor does this so much move 
 me, as fear of what may happen in the future, forsooth that 
 we should become hard and filled with Satan and thus incor- 
 rigible. Thus we should fill up the measure of our wicked- 
 ness, and the wrath of God should come and smite us with 
 some great plague to our confusion, because we did not 
 receive the Word of God when it was offered to us, or did 
 not receive it worthily. 
 
 On this account I am much alarmed. Every one of the past 
 three years I have suffered some signal danger, first at Augs- 
 burg, then at Leipsic, now at Wittenberg. We need not wis- 
 dom and weapons, but humble prayer and strong faith to win 
 Christ for us ; otherwise it is up with us, if we confide in our 
 own strength. Wherefore betake yourself with me to prayer, 
 
 iRather July 15. 
 
 2A student who had come from Leipsic was heard to say that if the motik 
 spoke like that they ought to hit him on the tonsure with a stone, and another 
 that they ought to make an end of him. 
 
Let. 279 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 241 
 
 lest from this spark an evil spirit of the Lord should make a 
 conflagration. Small things are not to be despised, especially 
 when Satan is their author. 
 
 I send news from Rome. I learned more from him^ than I 
 read in this broadside. Agricola- noted this down as he 
 spoke and gave it to Melchior Lotther. When he gives it 
 to you please return it to us. Farewell and remember that 
 we must suffer for the Word. Since Sylvester von Schaum- 
 burg and Francis von Sickingen made me secure from the 
 fear of men, the fury of the devils must needs take its place. 
 It will be the last, for I shall be severe with myself. Thus is 
 the will of God. Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 279, LUTHER TO WENZEL LINK AT NUREMBERG. 
 Enders, ii. 443. Wittenberg, July 20, iS'io. 
 
 Greeting. I am sending my little essay ,^ a stumbling-block 
 to hypocrites. I think Der abgehohelte Eck has reached you. 
 They say the wild ass of Leipsic is braying against me again, 
 but we shall see. 
 
 Recently we almost experienced a schism and rebellion 
 here," but with Christ's aid Satan has been beaten down. 
 
 Sylvester von Schaumburg, a Franconian noble, has written 
 to ask me not to flee to Bohemia or elsewhere, but to him, 
 should the Roman furies wax hot. He promises the splendid 
 protection of a hundred Franconian knights. So the rage of 
 Rome is at length despised even by the Germans. Francis von 
 Sickingen has also written to the same purpose. 
 
 My enemies wrote the elector against me from Rome,° as 
 did a certain court in Germany. I have in press a book in 
 the vernacular against the Pope : To the Nobility of Germany 
 
 ^John von Wick of Miinster, who had been an attorney in Reuchlin's affair 
 at Rome. In 1528 he became Syndic at Bremen, and took part in the intro- 
 duction of the Reformation in Miinster. In 1533 he was captured by the Bishop 
 of Miinster and put to death. The information he brought Luther at this time 
 on his way back from Rome was a chief source for the Address to the German 
 Nobility. 
 
 2John Agricola. 
 
 30/ the Papacy at Rome against the Romanist of Leipsic. The Romanist was 
 "the wild ass," Augustine Alfeld. 
 
 *The student riots spoken of above, no. 277. 
 
 ^Supra, nos. 275, 276. The German court was probably that of Duke George. 
 
342 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 281 
 
 on Reforming the Christian Estate.'' It will mightily offend 
 Rome by exposing her impious arts and usurped powers. 
 Farewell and pray for me. 
 
 Brother Martin Luther. 
 
 280. LUTHER TO MICHAEL WITTIGER, CANON AT 
 
 BRESLAU. 
 
 Enders, ii. 449. Wittenberg, July 30, 1520. 
 
 Greeting. I was unwilling to write to you, excellent Sir, 
 since our common friend Schleupner could tell you every- 
 thing better by word of mouth. He knows everything about 
 us, but he desired me to put down at least a line. So I do 
 as he wishes. Various books are written against me in Ger- 
 many and Italy, but it is well. None write but most asinine 
 asses who betray themselves by their stupidity. I am quite 
 well in body and mind, except that I should prefer to sin less. 
 I sin more every day, for which I complain to you and your 
 prayers. The Dominicans have quieted down, an edict" having 
 been published forbidding them to write against me. In their 
 place have succeeded the people of Samaria, the priests of 
 Bethaven,' the Franciscan Observants. If they conquer, they 
 will do it by their excessive stupidity. I never remember to 
 have read stupider men, who never know whether they con- 
 quer or are conquered. Poor people, to be exposed to these 
 wolves! But the Lord will see to it. Farewell in him. 
 
 281. ERASMUS TO [LEWIS PLATZ] RECTOR OF ERFURT. 
 
 Erasmi epistolae (London, 1642), xii. 23. Erasmi opera (1703), iii. 
 334- LouvAiN, July 31 (1520). 
 
 In both reprints of this letter just cited the name of the rector 
 is omitted and the date is given "1518." The name of the addressee 
 and the date of the letter are given by the Akten der Erfurter Uni- 
 versitat, ed. J. C. H. Weissenborn (Halle, 1884), ii. 314, which show 
 that Platz was rector at this time, and speak of Erasmus' letter to 
 him in the following terms : "The humanities ought not to burst in 
 on a university like ravaging enemies, but to come as guests to cherish 
 culture. . . Therefore we have elected Lewis Platz, of Melsungen, 
 
 iLuther's greatest work, Weimar, vt. 497. English by Wace and Buchheim; 
 Luther's Primary Works. Cf. Smith, op. cit., chap. viii. 
 ^Nothing is known of this; perhaps a satire is meant. 
 8"The house of vanity," i. v., "of idols." Joshua, vii. z. 
 
Let. 281 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 343 
 
 rector . . . both because he is devoted to this cause and because 
 he has been exhorted thereto by a letter of the great Erasmus 
 of Rotterdam, written in the midst of his labors, in which letter he 
 shows his extreme good will to the university of this city." Platz 
 matriculated at Erfurt in 1497 (ibid, 202) and devoted himself to 
 theology. He became a well-known humanist and the master of Eoban 
 Hess (Krause: Eoben Hess, i. 26). 
 
 Dear Sir, I am not able to withhold my love for you, since 
 I have learned from Draco,' that serious youth, that you are 
 most learned and eagerly favor sound learning, and that you 
 take care that it shall flourish at Erfurt, now under your au- 
 spicious presidency. It is the special honor of your prudence 
 that you bring this about without tumult, which we see is ex- 
 cited elsewhere by the imprudence of some men. The classics 
 ought to come to a university not like enemies to spoil it, but 
 like guests to live in peace. I never liked the tumult, and either I 
 am much mistaken or more will be accomplished by modera- 
 tion than by impotent force. I think it is the part of good 
 men to desire to carry through their reforms with injury to 
 few, or, if possible, to none. Vain, controversial theology has 
 arrived at that point of inanity that she must be recalled to 
 her sources. But I should prefer to have even her corrected 
 rather than hissed oflr, and that she should be borne until a 
 more potent theological method be developed. Luther has 
 given some splendid warnings, but would that he had done it 
 more civilly. He would then have had more favorers and 
 allies, and would have reaped a richer harvest for Christ. 
 And yet it would be impious to leave him entirely undefended 
 in what he has rightly said, lest hereafter none should dare 
 to tell the truth. This is not the place, nor is mine the ability 
 to pronounce on his doctrine. Hitherto he has certainly 
 profited the world. Some men have been forced by him to 
 
 IJohn Drach (Draco, Draconites), born 1494 at Carlstadt on the Main, matricu- 
 lated at Erfurt in the summer of 1509, following the examples of Hess and Jonas 
 he made a visit to Erasmus in 1 520. (Erasmus had been in correspondence with 
 him before: e, g., there is a letter from Erasmus to Draco, October 17, 1518, 
 in the Hodoeporicon (January, 1519) of Eoban Hess.) Later Draco went to 
 Wittenberg, where he was inscribed in the summer of 1523, and shortly after- 
 wards took his doctor's degree. In the same year he became evangelic preacher 
 at Miltenberg, but was driven out by Albert of Mayence. Enders, iii. 156-7. 
 From 1534-47 lie was professor at Marburg, 1551-60 at Rostock; he then became 
 the Protestant Bishop of Pomeranna. He died 1566. Allen, iii. 406. 
 
344 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 283 
 
 turn to the writings of tlie ancient Fathers, either to defend 
 themselves or to attack Luther. . . . 
 
 282. MELANCHTHON TO JOHN HESS. 
 Corpus Reformatorum, i. 208. Wittenberg, August i (1520). 
 
 Hail, sweetest Hess! You will learn from the letters of 
 Luther and Schleupner how others bear your perpetual silence. 
 ... I beheve you must have received Luther's answer and 
 mine to your last letters which you sent by the priest. . . . 
 
 I know no news. Thank God Martin is yet alive; and do 
 you pray that he may live long, for he is the one champion 
 of divinity. A few days ago Cardinal Riario' wrote our 
 illustrious Elector Frederic urging him with prayers and 
 threats to bind Luther. The elector answered craftily; you 
 know the Ulysses of persuasion. . . . 
 
 283. LUTHER TO SPALATIN. 
 Enders, ii. 456. (Wittenberg), August 5, 1520. 
 
 Greeting. I have not written for some time, waiting for 
 the agitation which friends have put you in to die down. I 
 am not pleased with Amsdorf's excessive affection for the 
 other side. The students never suffered what the citizens 
 did, but they don't care for that, thinking only of their own 
 inconveniences. But enough of them. All speak of my abuse, 
 but none of them is right. It is nothing to me if my authority 
 declines. If every scolding is abuse, none has sinned more 
 than the prophets. But in our time we are unaccustomed to 
 hear truth distasteful to us. 
 
 Hatred is vexing Leipsic, which in the person of Alveld is 
 acting a tragedy. Even if my trumpet-blast'' will meet the 
 approval of none, yet it must meet my approval, as a neces- 
 sary attack on the tyranny of the Roman Antichrist who 
 destroys the souls of the whole world. It is very sharp and 
 vehement, so that I hope it will make even those languid little 
 evil-speakers gasp. I will not answer Alveld,' but he will be 
 
 Kf. Smith, 74£. 
 
 2This name was applied by Lang to Luther's Address to the German Nobility, 
 Smith, p. 8fi. 
 3Who had recently published i Tract on Communion; cf. Lemmens, 52. 
 
Let. 284 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 345 
 
 the occasion of publishing something by which the vipers 
 will be more irritated than ever. 
 
 If you are not successful, I will write nothing to the elector 
 about Melanchthon's salary. What I wrote formerly I did 
 so that the man might have no reason for leaving us; but if 
 nothing can come of it, the Lord's will be done. Finally I 
 tried to get him to marry for the profit of the gospel, for I 
 thought he would live longer in this state; but if nothing 
 comes of this, let it pass. I fear he will not long survive his 
 present manner of life. I try to do what I can for the Word ; 
 perhaps I am unworthy to accomplish anything. I also should 
 prefer, if God willed, to be freed from teaching and preach- 
 ing; I am almost disgusted to see how little fruit and grati- 
 tude to God comes from it. Perhaps it is all my fault. Fare- 
 well and pray for me. Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 284. LUTHER TO SPALATIN. 
 Enders, ii. 459. Wittenberg, August 14, 1520. 
 
 Greeting. We by no means believe that Eck is at Meissen ;^ 
 either they are again trying us with their fictions, or else the 
 words sent to you were written at Rome. This can be inferred 
 from the fact that he writes that he hopes the bull will be 
 moderated, which could not be done at Meissen. 
 
 You formerly wrote several times for me to recall the parish 
 priest of Lochau, and recommend him to the elector for 
 another position. Now here is Francis Giinther of Nord- 
 hausen,^ well fitted for the place, although he once seemed 
 harsher to you than you ought easily to forget. If there 
 is still doubt about the affair you can let me know. He is 
 eloquent and powerful to speak the Word before the court, 
 and altogether such a one as I would wish to have at Lochau 
 
 *The bull Exsurge Domine was signed by Leo on June 15 and entrusted to Eck 
 to post in Germany. This was done first at Meissen on September 21. 
 
 ^Supra, no. 39. On January 31, 1520 (Enders, ii. 307), Luther had sent a 
 certain James Gropp to fill ihe place. He is not the same as the Gropp (whose 
 first names were Francis Gottschalk) mentioned later in the letters o£ 1523, 
 though they are confounded by Seidemann in his index. De Wette-Seidemann, 
 vi. 665. Giinther matriculated at Wittenberg 1515, later became parish priest at 
 Jiiterbogk, in which place the Franciscans prosecuted him for Lutheranism. He 
 obtained the living of Lochau on Luther's recommendation and died there 1528. 
 Enders, ii. 36, 162. 
 
346 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 286 
 
 and near us. Steps are being taken to provide a cure for him 
 out of Saxony. Answer as soon as you can, and farewell. 
 
 Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 28s. ULRICH VON HUTTEN TO ERASMUS AT LOUVAIN. 
 Rocking, i. 367. Steckelberg, August 15, 1520. 
 
 ... I advise you to be perfectly still and to moderate your 
 pen so as to keep yourself safe for us. And listen to what I 
 have to tell you, relying on our friendship. When Reuchlin's 
 affair was all of a glow you seemed to fear those fellows 
 more than was worthy of you. And now in the affair of 
 Luther you are trying as hard as possible to persuade our 
 adversaries that you are as far as may be from defending the 
 cause of Christian truth, although they well know that your 
 sympathies are all the other way. This is not noble. I know 
 the friend to whom I am writing and that you will not take 
 umbrage at my warnings. I heard with sorrow what men said 
 and then I defended the fame of my friend, although some 
 of his acts displeased me. Now that I am in danger, I conceal 
 nothing from you. Therefore I pray you as a friend who 
 loves you and wishes to deserve well of you, not to do more 
 for me than you did for Luther and Reuchlin. You know 
 with what triumph your letters are carried about by those 
 whose hatred you seek to deprecate, though in doing so you 
 win the hatred of others. Thus you have been abusing the 
 Epistolae Obscurorum Virorum, which at first you greatly 
 approved, and thus you now damn Luther for stirring up 
 things which ought to be left alone, although you have always 
 treated the same subjects in your books. You will never get 
 them to believe that your sympathies are not with us. You 
 will offend us and not placate them; if, indeed, you do not 
 irritate them further by such open dissimulation.^ ./. . 
 
 286. MELANCHTHON TO JOHN LANG. 
 Corpus Reformatorum, i. 210. (August 18?, 1520.)° 
 
 Greeting, excellent and learned Father. At first I rather 
 
 'This letter marked the beginning of the breach between Hutten and Erasmus, 
 on which cf. E. Emerton: Erasmus (1900). chap. ix. 
 2The date is inferred from the letter of Luther to Long, Enders, ii. 460. 
 
Let. 288 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 347 
 
 did not disapprove than approved the plan for writing an epis- 
 tle to the German nobility.' For our friend was urged to do so 
 by some whose opinion wt must both respect. Moreover the 
 thing itself, being of God, I would not try to obstruct. I 
 would not rashly hinder Martin's spirit in this cause, to which 
 he seems to have been called by Providence. Besides, the 
 book is now printed and distributed and cannot be recalled. 
 
 287. LUTHER TO SPALATIN. 
 Enders, ii. 464. Wittenberg, August 23, 1520. 
 
 Greeting. ... I forwarded your letters to Nuremberg. 
 The additions to the book^ will be put in the second edition, 
 which Lotther is bringing out. The book will also be corrected. 
 I send my statement and letter to be corrected.* 
 
 The tenor of my letter to Cardinal Carvajal is as follows: 
 As his fame is great in the world, I desire to ask that, with all 
 possible zeal, he should make himself the agent for compos- 
 ing the present affair. I offer all conditions of peace, except 
 that I will not recant, suffer the stigma of heresy or be de- 
 prived of the freedom of teaching the Word. I do not fear 
 censures and force, for I can be safe in the midst of Ger- 
 many. Rather let them beware lest if they crush me they 
 should arouse many. In talent and learning I am, with God's 
 aid, equal to my enemies. 
 
 Farewell and pray for me. 
 
 Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 P. S. — I commend Giinther to you. Please give these letters 
 to the elector. 
 
 288. THE ELECTOR FREDERIC OF SAXONY TO HIS 
 BROTHER, DUKE JOHN. 
 C. E. Forstemann : Neues Urkundenbuch zur Geschichte der evan- 
 gelischen Kirchen-Reformation. Hamburg, 1842, i. 2. 
 
 LocHAU, August 25, 1520. 
 High-born Prince, kind, dear Brother and Kinsman. Here- 
 
 iLuther's pamphlet of this title is meant. 
 
 ^Several important changes and additions were made in the second impression 
 of the Address to the German Nobility. 
 
 SLuther here means his Offer and Protestation and his letter to the Emperor 
 Charles V. Smith, op. cit., gSff. 
 
348 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 290 
 
 with I send you a book^ written by Dr. Martin Luther, in 
 which you will find many wonderful things. God Almighty 
 grant that it turn out well, for truly things are coming 
 to light which many people conceal ; may God Almighty vouch- 
 safe to us poor sinners that we be improved and not made 
 worse thereby. I would not keep this from you as you asked 
 me to send you whatever Dr. Luther wrote, and I am always 
 willing to serve you. In haste. . . . 
 
 Frederic, with his own hand. 
 
 289. CHARLES VON MILTITZ TO LUTHER. 
 Enders, ii. 466. Eisleben, August 29, 1520. 
 
 Hail, most learned Martin ! I attended the chapter of your 
 Order celebrated at Eisleben, chiefly that I might see you as 
 a much loved friend. As I did not have this pleasure, I de- 
 cided to write you. In the chapter, with the authority of our 
 Most Holy Lord the Pope, I said something to the brothers 
 which will not hurt you, but prove greatly to your advantage. 
 Wherefore I exhort you not to gainsay the brothers who will 
 visit you,^ but that you should follow and obey their counsel 
 and that of the whole chapter, which I hope you will never 
 repent. I myself would come to you, save that perhaps your 
 friends who think that I am your enemy would lay snares 
 for me. Yet I believe that I shall not leave these parts before 
 conversing with you as with my special friend. Farewell. 
 Yours, 
 
 Charles von Miltitz, with his own hand. 
 
 290. LUTHER TO SPALATIN. 
 Enders, ii. 471. (Wittenberg), August 31, 1520. 
 
 Greeting. We will write again about the changes in the 
 lectures, when the bridegroom' gets used to having th-e bride. 
 I hope the new parish priest, Francis Giinther, will turn out 
 well, only try to initiate the man gently into the manners of 
 the court. We did not know the bad reputation of his sister, 
 but she will be separated. 
 
 ^Presumably the Address to the Christian Nobility, 
 
 ^On this cf. infra, no. 295. 
 
 ^Agricola. 
 
Let. 292 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 349 
 
 I send my Offer and Protest^ printed, and letters to Francis 
 von Sickingen and the Emperor Charles. Very little of my 
 work On the Captivity of the Church" is printed, but we shall 
 see. Farewell in the Lord. 
 
 Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 Agricola's wedding day is set for the Tuesday after the 
 Nativity of Mary.'' Do what you promised. 
 
 291. ULRICH VON HUTTEN TO ALL GERMANS. 
 Bocking, i. 430. (Eeernburg, August ?, 1520.)* 
 
 Behold, men of Germany, the bull of Leo X. by which he 
 tries to suppress the rising truth of Christianity, which he 
 opposes to our liberty, lest, after her long bondage she should 
 again grow strong and revive. Shall we not resist him in this 
 attempt, and take public counsel lest he should go farther and 
 before we know it accomplish something for his insatiable 
 cupidity and impudence? . . . Luther is not touched in this, 
 but all of us; nor is the sword drawn against one only, but 
 we are all threatened. They will never complain of his 
 tyranny, never uncover his fraud, never lay bare his guile nor 
 resist his fury nor impede his robbery. . . . Remember to act 
 like Germans. ... I have published this bull that when you 
 read it you may learn all from this one.° Farewell. 
 
 292. FREDERIC, ELECTOR OF SAXONY, TO VALENTINE VON 
 
 TEUTLEBEN, his agent at ROME. 
 Luther opera varii argumenti, v. 7. Torgau, (September 1?), 1520. 
 
 This letter is dated loc. cit., "Kalend. April," but this must be wrong 
 as the reference to Luther's Oblatio sive Protestatio shows. Weimar, 
 vi. 474. 
 
 You write, perhaps correctly, that this and other business 
 
 ^Supra, no. 2^7. 
 
 ^The Babylonian Captivity of the Church, Weimar, vi. 497. Smith, p. 88fE. 
 
 ^September 8; the wedding day, September 10. 
 
 *This is Hutten's preface to his edition of the bull Exsurge Domine, which he 
 printed thinking it would do more harm to the Church than to Luther. The 
 bull was signed by the Pope, June 15, 1520, and officially published in Germany 
 by Eck and Aleander towards the end of September. Smith, op. cit., p. 98. 
 Hutten's edition is placed by Bocking in November or December, but I believe it 
 to be earlier. The next letter of Erasmus shows that the bull had been published 
 before September 9, and the following epistle by Hutten shows that he knew 
 it before September 11. 
 
 ^Virgil; Aeneid, ii. 65-6. 
 
350 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 292 
 
 of ours is going very badly with his HoHness the Pope, all of 
 which, in your opinion, is to be attributed to the excesses and 
 rashness of Dr. Martin Luther, who has scattered, as you 
 express it, "I know not what" new dogmas against the Pope's 
 Holiness and the holy see and the Roman Church, and has 
 not submitted himself with due reverence and moderation to 
 the very reverend lord cardinals; and you further write 
 that general rumor affirms that he is supported, favored and 
 shown mercy by us alone. 
 
 To this we answer briefly and in good faith : We have 
 never undertaken and do not now undertake to protect and 
 defend by our patronage the doctrine and writings of Dr. 
 Martin Luther, for we do not presume to give judgment as 
 to what he has written rightly and lawfully and what contrari- 
 wise, and what he has taught piously and Christianly, and what 
 otherwise. 
 
 Yet we do not think we ought to conceal that we have heard 
 that this man's doctrine is considered and approved as pious 
 and Christian by many learned and intelligent men. On this, 
 however, we give no opinion, nor do we prejudge his doctrine, 
 for we leave to him, the author of these dogmas, their whole 
 defence, especially as the whole cause has been referred to 
 the legitimate tribunal, to which he submits. He will offer 
 himself to the examination of the commissioner chosen by the 
 Pope's Holiness on just conditions, that is, with safe-conduct. 
 To him Luther will give the justification of what he has writ- 
 ten or taught, offering all submission and obedience, so that, 
 if he is convinced of error by the Word of God and the true 
 testimony of Holy Scripture, he will of his own accord offer 
 to change his opinion and recant, as appears from the form of 
 this Offer and Protestatiofi^ drawn up by himself. . . . 
 
 Now that Germany is flourishing in geniuses and in men 
 of learning and wisdom, expert in the tongues and in all sorts 
 of learning, and since even the laity have begun to be edu- 
 cated, and are moved by the zeal of knowing the Holy Script- 
 ure ; many think that it is greatly to be feared, if the fair 
 terms offered by Luther are neglected and he himself with- 
 out due process of law simply smitten by ecclesiastical cen- 
 
 'Weimar, vi. 474. Cf. Smith, ggf. 
 
Let. 293 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 351 
 
 sures, that this controversy and strife should only be exas- 
 perated, so that it could hardly ever afterwards be quieted 
 and composed. For Luther's doctrine has now for some years 
 past taken deep root everywhere in Germany, so that, if he 
 is not refuted by reason and Scripture, but is only proceeded 
 against by the terror of the ecclesiastical power, it looks as 
 if much trouble and a horrible and fatal rebellion would take 
 place in Germany, which would be of no advantage either to 
 his Holiness the Pope nor to others. . . . 
 
 293. LUTHER TO SPALATIN. 
 Enders, ii. 472. (Wittenberg), September i, 1520. 
 
 Greeting. First of all, Spalatin, thank the most illustrious 
 elector in my name for fattening me with game, although I 
 am a monk. 
 
 The reverend Father Staupitz will come to-day and with 
 him his new successor, Wenzel Link.^ Yesterday our brothers 
 returned. Charles von Miltitz wrote me a letter, saying that 
 in the public assembly of the fathers he delivered an oration 
 in his Italian Latin seeking some plan to keep me quiet. For 
 he sees that he brought the golden rose in vain, as he obscurely 
 hinted. The fathers say they answered that they had nothing 
 in common with me, and did not know my plans. Of which 
 we shall hear more to-day. The Counts^ treated him magnifi- 
 cently. 
 
 I send a letter from Antwerp written by the prior^ of that 
 place, so that you may see what is being done about me. Our 
 friend Lang, I am surprised to say, is made prior of Dresden ;* 
 Melchior Mirisch of Ghent. I know not whether they are 
 animated by the spirit of power, so much are all things dis- 
 turbed for the new reign of the new vicar. I think that you 
 have received the letter of Father James Vogft. Farewell. 
 Brother Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 ^At the Eisleben chapter, August, 1520, Staupitz resigned as vicar and Link 
 was elected in his stead. 
 
 20f Mansfeld. 
 
 'James Probst (Propst) of Ypern, 1519 studied at Wittenberg, and again 1 521. 
 Returning in 1520 to Antwerp he was very active in the evangelic propaganda, 
 for which he was arrested and forced to recant February 9, 1522. Escaping from 
 the Netherlands he again professed Lutheranism, and in 1524 became pastor at 
 Bremen, a position he held until his death, June 30, 1562. Realencyclopddie. 
 
 ^This was a mistaken rumor. 
 
352 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 294 
 
 294. ERASMUS TO GERARD NOVIOMAGUS. 
 Erasmi opera (1703), iii. 577. Louvain, September 9, 1520. 
 
 Gerard Geldenhauer, of Nymegen (Noviomagus), (c. 1482-1542), an 
 author and the secretary of Phihp and Maximilian of Burgundy. 
 In 1525 he visited Wittenberg and went over to the Reformers, about 
 which time his friendship with Erasmus cooled. Married 1527; after 
 1532 professor at Marburg. Allen, op. cit., ii. 379. 
 
 ... I fear the worst for poor Luther, so hot is the con- 
 spiracy against him, so deeply are the princes and especially 
 Pope Leo offended in him. Would that Luther had followed 
 my advice and had abstained from that of hateful and sedi- 
 tious men. He would have had more fruit and less envy. It 
 would not satisfy his enemies to put one man to death; if 
 they succeed no one could bear their insolence. They won't 
 stop until they have subverted all study of the classics. They 
 are already attacking Reuchlin again only from hatred of 
 Luther, who, against my advice, tried to join his name to that 
 of Reuchlin, and thus hurt him while not helping himself. 
 Eck debated; Hochstraten published I know not what axioms 
 to which all had to subscribe. The professors of Louvain 
 disputed and even published. The judgment of the University 
 of Paris was expected, when lo ! the whole thing suddenly 
 seems to turn into a bull and into smoke. The terrible bull 
 is published, although the Pope forbade its publication. I 
 fear it will lead to a terrible riot. I do not judge the piety 
 of those who have advised the Pope in this matter, but cer- 
 tainly their counsel is most dangerous. The affair arose from 
 the worst sources and has hitherto been carried on in the 
 worst manner. The whole tragedy began in the hatred of 
 sound learning and the stupidity of the monks. Then it was 
 nourished to madness by reviling and malicious conspiracy. 
 There is no doubt whither the thing is tending ; namely, to the 
 extinction of sound learning and to the reign of barbarism. I 
 have nothing to do with this tragedy. I might have a 
 bishopric if I wrote against Luther, f I regret that the gospel 
 is thus oppressed, and that we are driven rather than taught, 
 and taught those things which are repugnant to the Bible and 
 common sense/l Farewell, dear Gerard, and write when you 
 can. 
 
Let. 295 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 353 
 
 295. LUTHER TO SPALATIN. 
 Enders, ii. 477. Wittenberg, September 11, 1520. 
 
 Greeting. Dear Spalatin, I received your letter from Alten- 
 burg yesterday, but the one you wrote later from Buttstadt'^ I 
 received earlier. Nothing was done about me at Eisleben,^ 
 except that Charles von Miltitz took counsel with the fathers 
 and finally induced them to send the reverend Father Stau- 
 pitz and the new Vicar Link to me, to beg me to write a 
 private letter'' to the Roman Pontiff witnessing that I had 
 never tried to do anything against him personally. Miltitz 
 hopes that this plan will turn out v^eW. 
 
 Although this plan does not appeal to me, nor to the fathers, 
 yet we will oblige Miltitz, who perhaps in asking it is grinding 
 his own ax. I shall, therefore, write the exact fact that I 
 never had the slightest cause to attack the person of the Pope. 
 What could be easier to write or truer? I must take care in 
 writing not to treat the apostolic see too ferociously, but I 
 will be a bit caustic. 
 
 Hutten sent me a letter* boiling over with great indignation 
 at the Pope, writing that now he is rushing on the priestly 
 tyranny with pen and sword, because the Pope planned to 
 assassinate him and commanded the Archbishop of Mayence 
 to send him bound to Rome.^ "Madness," he exclaims, 
 "worthy of a blind" Pope." You will see a copy when I get it 
 from Henry Stromer who asked to see it. 
 
 The worst of it is that the Archbishop of Mayence had a 
 mandate issued from the pulpit, mentioning Hutten by name 
 and forbidding his books to be read or bought under pain of 
 excommunication, and adding that the same held good of simi- 
 lar books, by which he meant a covert attack on mine. If he 
 only mentions me by name, I will join with Hutten and excuse 
 myself in such a way as will not please the Archbishop of 
 
 ^The elector was starting out to meet the new Emperor in the Netherlands. 
 Smith, p. 98. 
 
 "Supra, no. 289. 
 
 ^This letter became the introduction to Luther's tract On the Liberty of a 
 Christian Man, cf. Smith, p. 91. 
 
 *Lost. 
 
 ^The papal breve of July 12 to Albert of Mayence says nothing of this, but 
 there is other evidence to show that Hutten's story was at worst an exaggeration. 
 
 "Leo X. was very short-sighted. 
 
 23 
 
354 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 296 
 
 Mayence. Perhaps they are hastening the end of their own 
 tyranny by this plan. . . . 
 
 Take this in good part and farewell in the Lord. Be careful 
 not to let everyone have access to our elector, lest someone 
 should try to poison him. The Romanists will stop at nothing. 
 Hutten cannot warn me enough against poison. 
 
 Martin Luther. 
 
 296. ULRICH VON HUTTEN TO ELECTOR FREDERIC OF 
 SAXONY. 
 Booking, i. 383. S. Szamatolski : Ulrichs von Hutten deutsche 
 Schriften, 1891, p. 127. German. Ebernburc, September 11, 1520. 
 
 Now, at last, Prince Frederic, I see that we must rage 
 against the Roman tyranny; now, at last, our Romanist 
 brothers, after so many fraternal warnings and so many con- 
 vincing arguments, not only do not act more mildly in those 
 things which offend us, but they even act more ferociously 
 than ever before. Have you not heard that they have ordered 
 me sent bound to Rome? You will see how worthy that 
 deed was of them. And now, good Heavens ! what a violent 
 and cruel bull they have drawn up against Luther ! You would 
 call it the roar of the Lion (Leo), hearing which the miserable 
 sheep of Christ do not recognize the pious voice of a shepherd, 
 but the bloody cry of a wild robber. Is there any vestige of 
 Christian gentleness, or any indication of apostolic moderation 
 therein? He roars, he rages. But his ferocity is all the plainer 
 because often in that bull he pretends that he is other than 
 he is; he craftily simulates benevolence when he smoothly 
 invites Luther to Rome, as though we were ignorant that it 
 made no difference to him how he got us, whether Luther was 
 inveigled by a promise or I haled by force. If Luther listens 
 to me he will never go thither to certain death, and I much 
 wonder who persuaded Leo X. that I should so easily be 
 captured in the midst of Germany and taken through the 
 steep passes of the Alps to Rome. . . . 
 
 [The rest of this long letter is a prophecy of the downfall of 
 "Babylon," an account of the ancient liberties of the Germans and 
 the modern iniquity of Rome.] . . . 
 
 I see that the Pope thinks you are obedient to him in all but 
 
Let. 297 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 355 
 
 protecting helpless Luther. . . . That you do this bravely I 
 exhort you again and again, partly because you are his natural 
 protector and partly because he has little hopes of any other, 
 or at least any better. For the Saxons were always free, 
 always unconquered. . . . 
 
 297. ERASMUS TO POPE LEO X. AT ROME. 
 Erasmi opera (1703), iii. 578. Louvain, September 13, 1520. 
 
 Although I did not fear, most blessed Father, that your 
 goodness could be induced to hurt an innocent man, or that 
 your prudence would rashly believe the calumnies of the 
 wicked, yet when I see that your Holiness is flooded with so 
 much business from the whole world, and when I consider 
 the unexampled wickedness of some who conspire against 
 sound learning — never ceasing, daring all things and leaving 
 no stone unturned — I have thought it concerned me to fortify 
 your Holiness, remote and busy, with this antidote. I see 
 there are some, who, to strengthen their own faction, seek to 
 confound the cause of sound learning, of Reuchlin and of 
 
 I myself with the cause of Luther, although there is really 
 
 ■ nothing common to them. I have always said this, both orally 
 and in my published writings. I do not know Luther nor have 
 I read his books except ten or twelve pages, and those hastily. 
 From these, which I glanced at, it seemed to me that he wrote 
 well on the Scriptures, explaining them according to the man- 
 ner of the ancients, while our age is excessively addicted to 
 clever rather than to necessary questions. I therefore favored 
 
 I what was good in him, not what was bad ; or rather I favored 
 
 j Christ's glory in him. 
 
 I was almost the first to discover any danger, fearing that 
 a tumult, which I have always abominated more than any- 
 one, would arise. I therefore plead with John Froben, the 
 printer, even using threats, that he should print none of Lu- 
 ther's works. Then I wrote diligently to his friends that they 
 should admonish him to remember Christian gentleness in his 
 writings and to respect the tranquillity of the Church. And 
 when he wrote me himself two years ago, I warned him lov- 
 ingly to avoid trouble, and I only wish he had taken my advice. I 
 hear that this letter has been reported to your Holiness and 
 
356 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 297 
 
 used against me, though it really deserves the favor of your 
 Holiness. For what needful advice does it not give? True, I 
 did it civilly, by which I thought to accomplish more than by 
 severity, and I was writing to a stranger. , After I had almost 
 taken him to task, lest my freedom offend him, I added: "I 
 write this, not to tell you what to do, but to encourage you in 
 doing as you have always done," thus assuming that he would 
 do of his own accord what I wanted him to. For if his previ- 
 ous manner of writings had pleased me why should I need to 
 advise him to adopt another? I know that this passage has 
 been twisted against me by some, but that the words I added 
 "that he had many adherents," have been interpreted still 
 worse. But what I wrote was true. Many men favored what 
 was good in him just as I did. I wished him to know this, 
 not so that he might be encouraged by their support to write 
 seditiously, but that he might make their support perpetual by 
 following my advice to moderate his pen. I am surprised that 
 the name of the Bishop of Liege was put in by the men of 
 Leipsic,'^ who by some means or other published a secret letter 
 which had not been edited at Basle. It is absolutely true that 
 he never had anything to do with Luther any more than I did. 
 Even if I had mentioned his name it would only have been in 
 this sense. I wrote that letter almost two years ago, before 
 the affair had gotten to its present state of bitterness, or even 
 to be disputed. 
 
 If anyone has ever heard me, even in my cups, defending 
 Luther's dogmas, I shall not refuse to be called a Lutheran. 
 But they say I have not attacked him. But in the first place, I 
 could not refute him unless I read his books attentively once 
 and again, for which my assiduous studies did not give me 
 leisure, j Secondly, I saw that it was_ above the mediocrity of 
 my learning and talentsy Again I did not wish to deprive 
 the universities which had undertaken the task of their glory 
 in it J Finally, I feared to excite the hatred _of.4)aw£.rful njen, 
 especially as no one had commanded me to engage on this labor. 
 Wherefore, if the enemies of good letters revile me on this 
 account, I have a certain protection in your wisdom and my 
 
 ^I. e., when the letter was printed at Leipsic. Cf, supra, no. 155. The Bishop 
 of Liege was Erard de la Marck. 
 
I,et. 298 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 357 
 
 own innocence. (^ I am not so insane as to dare to do aught 
 against the chief vicar of Christ, since I am. unwilHng to cross 
 evin"^ bishop.- (l am not so ungrateful that I should not en- 
 deavor to respond to your more than paternal indulgence 
 towards me. Thus I shall save whatever little talent I may 
 have for the glory of Christ and the peace of his fold. Who- 
 ever is the enemy of this fold will also be my enemy. I did 
 not patronize Luther even when it was free for anyone to do 
 so. Only I disapproved their mode of attack, not for Luther's 
 sake, but for the dignity of the theologians. . . . 
 
 I had decided to winter at Rome to consult the library of 
 your Holiness, but the congress of kings^ has kept me here. 
 I hope to go to Rome next winter. May Christ Almighty 
 guard your Holiness. 
 
 298. ERASMUS TO FRANCIS CHIREGATTO. 
 Erasmi opera (1703), iii. 579. Louvain, September 13, 1520. 
 
 Chiregatto (fDecember 6, 1539), employed by Leo and Adrian in 
 various ways, was made Bishop of Teramo in the Abruzzi on September 
 7, 1522. Allen, iii. 61. 
 
 If I did not embrace your candid, ofHcious and affable 
 friendship, I should be more inhumane than any Thracian. 
 
 Perhaps there are few men who regret this Lutheran tumult 
 as much as I do. Would that I could have kept it off in the 
 beginning, or could compose it now. . . . When the bull came 
 out, commanding them to preach against Luther, two or three 
 of the beggar tyrants^ agreed over their potations to traduce 
 me along with Luther before the people. . . . There is a man 
 with a white pall, but a black heart, both stupid and furious 
 and so morose that the whole university dislikes him. When 
 he published the bull here he spoke more against me than 
 against Luther. In his public lectures he always joined my 
 name with those of Luther and Lefevre d'fitaples, and when 
 it was pointed out to him that we all differed, he replied that 
 heretics never agreed. ... At Bruges there was a certain 
 Franciscan, a suffragan of the Bishop of Tournay, who, full 
 
 '7. •!., meeting of Henry VIII. and Francis I. at Calais in July. 
 ''iTTUXOTvpavvot, I- e., begging monks. 
 
358 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 299 
 
 of wine, bellowed whole hours before the people against Luther 
 and Erasmus, calling us beasts, asses, geese and stocks, but 
 not refuting a single word. When he said that there was 
 heresy in my books and was asked by someone, who had been 
 instructed by the magistrate, what it was, this buffoon of a 
 bishop replied : "I have not read Erasmus's books ; I tried to 
 read the Paraphrases, but the Latin was too deep." . . . 
 
 I have no fear for myself. I have never been the teacher of 
 error nor the leader of turhult. And yet you would hardly 
 believe how strongly I am urged to mix in the Lutheran affair, 
 and had I wished to do so it would have been far different 
 from what it is. But hitherto I have preached peace and quiet, 
 hitherto I have labored for Christ. . . . 
 
 299. MARTIN BUCER TO GEORGE SPALATIN. 
 R. Stahelin : Brief c aus der Reformationsceit. Basle, 1887, p. 9. 
 
 Heidelberg, September 19, 1520. 
 
 ... I have read the pamphlet of the most Christian^ Rev- 
 erend Father Martin to our nobility. Good Heavens ! what 
 wise liberty is in it! There is no jot of it to which I can 
 oppose anything from Scripture. But rather, as I previously 
 learned to expect from his other works, I seem to myself to 
 have found a man undoubtedly acting out the spirit of Christ. 
 Capito, that finished theologian, my special patron, was at 
 first horrified by what rumor said of the book, but when he 
 read it, he acted, as he always does, as becomes a sincere 
 theologian, as an interpreter and champion of the truth neither 
 blinded nor timid. When you meet him you will learn his 
 virtues most clearly. May our breasts not hesitate to accept 
 the gifts which, as it were, the Holy Spirit shows the Church 
 in most sacred Luther and other men not a few, whose erudi- 
 tion and piety are both above suspicion. I pray Christ for 
 that. If you can steal time from your other occupations, 
 please write briefly what result I may expect from the present 
 hazard, and if most pious Luther comes to you, commend me 
 warmly to him. . . . 
 
 »Greek. 
 
Let. 300 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 359 
 
 300. LUTHER TO GUNTHER VON BUNAU, CANON OF 
 
 MERSEBURG. 
 
 Enders, ii. 481. Wittenberg, September 28, 1520. 
 
 A Giinther von Biinau, of Elsterberg, was in 1523 Church visitor in 
 
 Meissen and Voigtland. He seems to have written Luther about a 
 
 rumor which circulated about a debate held at Wittenberg. 
 
 Greeting. Excellent Sir, I read with joy and wonder the 
 letter testifying your great faith in me. What lies will that 
 poisonous old serpent not vent?"^ The debate was as fol- 
 lows : Carlstadt presided ; I argued with others in the usual 
 way. The question was whether Christ in the passion opposed 
 the will of the Father? For he prayed that the cup might be 
 taken from him, which was tantamount to not wanting it and 
 refusing it. Then the argument showed that not wishing was 
 equivalent to hating and rebelling. This was denied and not 
 proved. Nothing was asserted, but only talked over familiarly. 
 What, pray, do we not say in argument, even against orthodox 
 belief? Are we not accustomed to impugn even articles of 
 faith ? Why then do those men rave and lie about my asser- 
 tions, when I only argued for the sake of argument, asserting 
 nothing, and rather openly confessing that I did not under- 
 stand the mysteries of Christ? I know not whether we treated 
 that saying of the apostle, "he that knew no sin was made 
 to be sin,"^ and other sayings which attribute to Christ sin, a 
 curse and despair; as do Paul and the prophets. As we do 
 not grasp these things, it is right that we should assert nothing 
 about them. I never debated publicly on this matter of Christ's 
 sorrows, and I know nothing about it except what I said above. 
 If anyone says otherwise you can convict him of falsehood 
 on the testimony of our whole audience. Let these virulent 
 men cease to criminate one who argues, or else let them first 
 condemn their own Aquinas, who upsets all Christian doc- 
 trines, arguing pro and contra. Do they wish to forbid us 
 to question articles of faith simply in argument and for the 
 sake of learning? I am ashamed that even you should be 
 moved by these nonsensical fictions. Here you have the facts 
 and my opinion. 
 
 ^Revelation, xii, 9. '^2 Corinthians, v. 21. 
 
360 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 301 
 
 I know nothing of Eck,^ except that he has come with his 
 beard, his bull and his money. The Lord grant that one of 
 the condemned articles be that the bag of the Mendicant is 
 nothing. I also will laugh at this bull or bubble. I send 
 Marforius.^ The Lord keep you always. Amen. Farewell, 
 dearest Giinther. Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 301. LUTHER TO CONRAD SAUM AT BRACKENHEIM. 
 Enders, ii. 483. Wittenberg, October i, 1520. 
 
 Conrad Saum (Sam, Som), (1483-June 20, IS33), at this time priest 
 at Brackenheim in Wiirtemberg, had already embraced the Reforma- 
 tion, on account of which he was driven out, going to Ulm in 1524, 
 where he introduced a Zwinghan reform. Realencyclopadie. 
 
 Greeting. Dr. Heilingen" has commended you, Conrad, to 
 me, praising your piety and learning. He pleased me not a 
 little in bearing witness that your heart is possessed by that 
 pure and sincere doctrine of Christ, which in all possible 
 ways the sophists strenuously resist by force and g^ile. Satan 
 aids them, for who cannot see that he is the author of these 
 storms in them? For our wrestling is not against flesh and 
 blood, but against spiritual wickedness, against the authors of 
 this darkness in heavenly places.* Let us therefore be con- 
 stant, and in our turn let us hear the trumpet of our leader 
 who calls to us : "Be strong in war, fight with the old serpent' 
 and receive the eternal kingdom." For this fellow Satan 
 does not fight with us, but with Christ who fights in us, and 
 who is greater than he that is in the world.* The Lord has 
 chosen new wars, says Deborah, Judges vii.^ and we also fight 
 not our own battles, but those of the Lord. Be strong there- 
 fore and mighty; if God be for us who can be against us?* 
 
 Why this? you say. Because you will hear that the Pope 
 
 lEck arrived at Meissen, September 21, where he posted the bull. 
 
 2The nam'e of the statue of a river-god at Rome, on which satires were posted. 
 The satire Luther sent may have been Pasquilius Marranus exul . . Clemen: 
 Beiirage sur Reformationsgeschichte, i. i. 
 
 ^Probably John Geyling, later a well-known Reformer in South Germany, is 
 meant. 
 
 4Ephesians, vi. 12. 
 
 BRevelation, xii. 9. 
 
 61 John, iv. 4. 
 
 'Rather, Judges, v. 8. 
 
 SRomans, viii. 31. 
 
Let. 302 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 361 
 
 through his legate Eck has attacked Luther and his books 
 and all who adhere to and follow him, with a harsh bull. 
 This wretched instrument of Satan is now at Leipsic, trumpet- 
 ing forth his bull with great pomp and glory. I know not 
 what will happen, nor am I anxious to know, for I am sure 
 that he who sitteth in heaven takes care for all things and 
 has foreseen the rise, progress and end (which I wait for) of 
 this affair from eternity. Whichever way the lot falls it will 
 not move me, for it only falls where it falls by God's excellent 
 will, who cannot err and is thus bound to please someone. 
 Be not therefore anxious, for your Father knows what things 
 you need before you ask him;^ a leaf of a tree does not fall 
 to the ground without his will f how much more must we fall 
 only there where he wishes us to fall. 
 
 I thought best to encourage you thus myself, so that if 
 a powerful spirit come up against you, you will not abandon 
 your post, but hold fast what you have, lest another should 
 receive your crown.^ It is a small thing for us to die for 
 the Word which was incarnate* and died first for us. We 
 who perish with him and who have gone with him where he 
 has gone, will rise with him and attain to the same place that 
 he has attained to and will remain with him forever. See then 
 that you do not hold your holy calling cheap, but that you 
 gratefully persevere in it through all evil. He will come and 
 will not tarry who shall deliver us from all evil.^ Farewell in 
 the Lord Jesus Christ. May he strengthen and preserve our 
 heart and mind. Amen. Martin Luther. 
 
 302. CHARLES VON MILTITZ TO ELECTOR FREDERIC OF 
 
 SAXONY. 
 Walch, XV. 928. German. Leipsic, October 2, 1520. 
 
 Most serene, high-born Prince, most gracious Lord! My 
 humble service to your Grace. As at my departure from 
 Gotha your Grace gave me a letter to Fabian von Feilitzsch,<i 
 
 'Matthew, vi. 8. 
 
 ^Cj. Matthew, x. 29. 
 
 ^Revelation, iii. 11. 
 
 *John, i. 14. 
 
 'Hebrews, x. 37. 2 Timothy, iv. 18. 
 
 6A Councillor of Frederic, who died early in December, 1520. He was a warm 
 
362 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 302 
 
 at the very hour of my arrival at Erfurt I sent it to him by 
 my own messenger. At Erfurt, however, I was ill, and had 
 to wait there seven days. At that time the new vicar, Dr. 
 Link, came and visited me and asked whether I had received 
 Dr. Staupitz's letter about Dr. Martin. I said no, which 
 horrified his reverence, for he would have been glad to have 
 had me receive said letter while I was with your Grace, that 
 your Grace might thereby have understood Dr. Luther's atti- 
 tude and the diligence of the fathers who were sent to him; 
 for Link did not neglect to inform me what they had done and 
 decreed, and told me that Luther was perfectly willing to 
 write humbly to his Holiness, and show himself an obedient 
 son, which I heard with great joy, and thereupon arose and 
 rode to Altenburg. There I found Dr. Staupitz's letter and 
 Luther's to Spalatin, of the former of which I send your 
 Grace a copy. Then I rode back to Eisleben to the father 
 vicar to find out whether he were minded to journey with 
 me to a convenient place to meet Luther and come to a final 
 decision in this affair. I found him at home, and thereupon 
 went to Leipsic, where I found Dr. Eck making a great out- 
 cry and noise. I did not hesitate to ask him to visit me, to 
 find out what his purpose and will was. He acted hastily 
 and frivolously, and began to speak of his commands and 
 how he would teach Dr. Luther, and with sharp words he 
 said that he had posted up the papal bull at Meissen on Sep- 
 tember 21, at Merseburg on the 25th and at Brandenburg on 
 the 29th. He gave me an accredited copy of the said bull, 
 which I send your Grace. He carries his bull around in 
 procession with great pomp. His Grace Duke George wrote 
 one of his councillors to give Eck a gold-plated cup full of 
 gulden. 
 
 But not minding his commission and bull, good pious chil- 
 dren^ on September 29 posted up a notice in ten places, of 
 which I send your Grace a copy, threatening Eck so hard that 
 he had to flee into the cloister of St. Paul, and dared not 
 show himself. 
 
 supporter of Luther icf. Smith, op. cit., pp. 53, 55), and took a considerable part 
 in the negotiations with Miltitz. 
 
 ^I. e., students at the university. 
 
Let. 303 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 363 
 
 Caesar Pflug complained of this notice, and commanded 
 the rector of the university to issue a mandate against those 
 who thus plagued Eck, which was done. I send your Grace 
 a copy of it; it did no good. They have made a song about 
 him which they sing in the streets. He is much troubled; his 
 self-confidence and boasting are charged against him; people 
 daily write him hostile letters in the cloister and refuse him 
 personal or financial aid. There are more than fifty students 
 from Wittenberg here, who make it their business to annoy 
 him. To-day he published a pamphlet against Luther, of 
 which I send your Grace four copies. The grey monk has 
 also printed something against Luther. Only one quaternion 
 is finished as yet, which I also send to your Grace. 
 
 To-day I intend going to Fabian von Feilitzsch to ask him 
 to write Luther to come to Lichtenberg or Eilenberg, where 
 I hope to negotiate with him to get him to fulfill his promise. 
 I will bring him security from this bull, for it has no power 
 for twenty-one days, during which period I shall have ample 
 time to go to him and to write of it. I told Eck that he did 
 wrong to publish the bull while things were being negotiated 
 in a friendly way, and that he should properly have written 
 first to ask me what I had done. He kept silence thereupon 
 and sighed, as if he were sorry. I cannot write your Grace 
 how bitter people are against him. I fear the safe-conduct 
 will not help him, but that he will be smitten. . . . 
 
 303. LUTHER TO GEORGE SPALATIN. 
 Enders, ii. 486. (Wittenberg), October 3, 1520. 
 
 Greeting. I have received many letters from you, dear 
 Spalatin, and am surprised that the one I wrote in answer to 
 yours dated at Buttstadt has not yet reached you. That which 
 I wrote later contained the same request about sending me 
 the writings of the fathers from Eisleben, but I hope my let- 
 ters have reached you in the meantime. Miltitz has begged 
 me to write privately to the Roman Pontiff saying that I 
 never meant to twit him personally. I have not yet written,^ 
 
 'Luther later decidsd to do so, however, and this resulted in his third great 
 pamphlet of 1520, the Liberty of a Christian Man. Cf. Smith, op. cit., 88, 
 
364 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 303 
 
 and shall not do so now that Eck' has dared turn those bulls 
 — and such fierce ones ! — loose against me. What he is aim- 
 ing at is not yet known. 
 
 Many think that I should ask the elector to obtain an im- 
 perial edict in my favor, declaring that I should not be con- 
 demned nor my books prohibited except by warrant of Script- 
 ure. Please find out what is intended ; I care little either way, 
 because I rather dislike having my books so widely spread, 
 and should prefer to have them all fall into oblivion together, 
 for they are desultory and unpolished, and yet I do want the 
 matters they treat known to all. But not all can separate 
 the gold from the dross in my works, nor is it necessary 
 since better books and Bibles are easily obtainable. I would 
 much rather increase the number of living books, that is, of 
 preachers, and protect them so that they could explain the 
 state of affairs to the public. I am sending what was sent 
 me on this subject from Italy. If the elector acts as this 
 suggests I think it would be most worthy of him. The Italian 
 public could then grasp the condition of affairs and our 
 cause would be stronger. Perhaps God has raised them up 
 and will preserve our elector to us to advance the Word by 
 him. See what you can do for the cause of Christ. The man^ 
 who wrote me from Venice is a brother of Lazarus Spengler' 
 who sent the letter to me from Nuremberg. 
 
 My book on the Captivity of the Church* is coming out 
 next Saturday and will be sent to you. 
 
 Carlstadt has cast his die and takes courage against the 
 Pope. 
 
 I have just heard that Eck is not safe at Leipsic, but is de- 
 tested and is caricatured by posters stuck up everywhere and 
 that he has found a far different reception and opinion there 
 than he hoped; for he is not now what he was a year ago. 
 
 lEck published the Exsurge Domine at Mayence, Merseburg and Brandenburg 
 in the last days of September. Smith, p. gS. 
 
 ^George Spengler, originally of Nuremberg, set up as a merchant in Venice, 
 died March 21, 152c). 
 
 SLazarus Spengler (1479-September 7, 1534), studied at Leipsic 1494, became 
 town clerk at Nuremberg 1507. He warmly embraced Luther's cause, publishing 
 a Defence of it, 1519, for which he was excommunicated by the bull Exsurge 
 Domine. He visited Wittenberg in 1525, and Luther dedicated to him his work 
 on Schools, 1530. Weimar, xxx., part ii., 508. Realencyclopddie. 
 
 ^The Babylonian Captivity of the Church, Weimar, vi. 484. Cf. Smith, 88flE. 
 
Let. 304 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 365 
 
 Indeed, he has changed his lodging and has gone into a Do- 
 minican monastery, openly giving out that he can neither es- 
 cape their snares nor return to Ingolstadt. I should not wish 
 him murdered, although I see his plans will be frustrated. The 
 Lord do what is good in his eyes. 
 
 We have no news except the rumor of war with Prussia. 
 The Archbishop of Mayence commands the books of Hutten 
 to be publicly prohibited, calling down a curse on his head. 
 Hutten girds himself with great courage to try his arms and 
 genius against the Pope. 
 
 Our Adrian ^ rages against me, carried away by I know not 
 what fury, perhaps seeking an occasion of withdrawing. 
 Though I have done nothing to him he rails at my sermons, 
 ready to teach me the Gospel, though he does not understand 
 his own Old Testament. There are various possible explana- 
 tions of his madness, but let it pass, time will show what 
 it is. Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 304. LUTHER TO SPALATIN. 
 Enders, ii. 490. Wittenberg, October (11), 1520. 
 
 Greeting. At last that Roman bull brought by Eck has 
 arrived. ^ Our friends are writing to the elector about it. 
 I despise it, and am now attacking it as impious and fraudu- 
 lent, Eckian to the core. You see that Christ himself is 
 condemned in it. It says nothing to the purpose, but sum- 
 mons me not to be heard, but to recant, so that you may know 
 that they are full of fury, blindness and insanity, seeing and 
 considering nothing. I shall still act without mentioning the 
 Pope's name, as though it were a fictitious and forged bull,* 
 although I believe it is their true work. Would that Charles'* 
 were a man to grapple with these devils for Christ ! 
 
 I fear nothing for myself. God's will be done. Nor do I 
 know what the elector ought to do, except that I think it 
 
 IThe professor of Hebrew. 
 
 2Eck sent the bull with a note to Burckhart, the Rector of Wittenberg, on 
 October 3. Burckhart refused on technical grounds to post it, but forwarded it 
 to Duke John. Schubert: Luthers Berufung auf Worms, p. i8ff. 
 
 ^Cf, Luther's Von den neuen Eckischen Bullen und Lilgen, Weimar, vi. 576. 
 Erasmus also pretended to doubt the genuineness of the bull, hoping thus to make 
 it possible for the Pope to withdraw it. 
 
 4The Emperor-elect, now twenty years old. 
 
366 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 305 
 
 best for him to dissimulate. For both the bull and Eck are 
 held in utter contempt at Leipsic and everywhere else ; whence 
 I suspect that it may acquire authority by excessive care and 
 solicitude on our part, whereas, if left to itself, it will easily 
 quiet down. I send a copy of it, for you to see the Roman 
 monsters. If they rule, it is over with the faith and the 
 Church. 
 
 Yet I rejoice with my whole heart that for this best of 
 causes I suffer evil, who am not worthy of being so tried. 
 Now I am much freer; for I am certain at length that the 
 Pope is Antichrist and that the seat of Satan has been openly 
 found. God will keep his own lest they be seduced with his 
 specious impiety. Erasmus writes that the court of the Em- 
 peror is possessed by the "beggar-tyrants"^ so that there can 
 be no hope in Charles. I This is no surprise; put not your 
 trust in princes nor in tne sons of men in whom there is no 
 help.- 
 
 This hour I am going to Lichtenberg to offer myself again 
 to Charles von Miltitz as the elector commanded. The pre- 
 ceptor" is unwilling that I should go, for he fears something. 
 Farewell and pray for me. I will renew my appeal* and will 
 do what our friends think ought to be done. Although I 
 should prefer that the excommunication threatened in the bull 
 should be carried out against me, yet I must consider others. 
 
 Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 305. LUTHER TO SPALATIN. 
 Enders, ii. 494. Lichtenberg (October 12), 1520. 
 
 Greeting. Dear Spalatin, Miltitz and I have met at Lich- 
 tenberg, and, as I hear from him, have with much hope made 
 the following agreement : that I am to write a letter to the 
 Pope and publish it in Latin and German as a preface to some 
 little work in which I shall narrate my history, showing that 
 
 ^I. e., the mendicant friars. Supra, no. 258. Infra, February 27, 1521, no. 
 406. 
 
 ^Psalm cxlvi. 3. 
 
 ^Wolfgang Reissenbusch, matriculated at Wittenberg 1502, bachelor of theology 
 1503, Rector of the University 1511. Then he became teacher of a boys* school 
 at Lichtenberg, where he married, April 26, 1525. He is mentioned by Luther in 
 IS37' Cf. Enders, v. 146. Smith, I72fif, 347. 
 
 *He did it on November 17. Weimar, vii. 74. 
 
Let. 307 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 367 
 
 I would never have attacked the Pope's person, but throwing 
 the whole blame on Eck. 
 
 As this is all true, I will easily do it, and offer silence as 
 humbly as I may, provided only the others keep silence, so 
 that I may seem to omit nothing in my power to make peace. 
 I have always been ready to do this, as you know. I shall, 
 therefore, do this as soon as I can ; if it turns out as we 
 hope, it is well done, if otherwise, it will also be good, because 
 it will please the Lord. Farewell. Martin Luther, 
 
 306. WOLFGANG REISSENBUSCH TO FABIAN VON 
 FEILITZSCH. 
 
 Watch, XV. 947. German. (Lichtenberg), October 13, 1520. 
 
 Kind Sir and Patron ! Last night at ten o'clock my curate 
 of Lichtenberg wrote me that Dr. Luther came on Thursday 
 [October 11] at four in the afternoon, bringing with him 
 Philip Melanchthon, a brother of his order, a nobleman and 
 four riders. My assistant also tells me that no fewer than 
 thirty horsemen were also present. At six o'clock Miltitz en- 
 tered with four horsemen. They were cheerful and happy 
 with one another, for I had left instructions to entertain them 
 well and give them enough. Miltitz relates what they did in 
 his letter, to which I refer you. Yesterday at one o'clock 
 Luther left; Miltitz would have accompanied him but that 
 one of his horses was sick. My assistant tells me that he re- 
 mained yesterday at Lichtenberg, at which I am well pleased. 
 
 Upon my honor. Sir, I would not have taken one hundred 
 gulden to have remained at home. For I fear something 
 would have happened to me. Miltitz would gladly have 
 brought me, poor devil, into the game, so that he could have 
 revenged himself on me for what he could not do to Dr. 
 Luther. . . . 
 
 307. CHARLES VON MILTITZ TO FREDERIC, ELECTOR OF 
 
 SAXONY. 
 Enders, ii. 495. German. Eilenburg, October 14, 1520. 
 
 . . . Luther has offered to write a humble letter to the 
 Pope's Holiness, in Latin and German, to dedicate a little 
 book to his Holiness, and in the preface to write an epistle, 
 
368 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 308 
 
 showing his Holiness why he first wrote and how it came 
 about, and who started and strengthened the errors and who 
 preached so dihgently to the detriment of the Holy Church. 
 . . . The book will appear in twelve days and will have the 
 date September 6,^ just ten days after the embassy left Eisle- 
 ben. . . . This is so that no one can say that Eck and his 
 followers with the bull caused him to write this book to his 
 Holiness, for the bull was published on September 21, so that 
 this book would have been written fifteen days before anyone 
 knew anything about the bull. Luther will also give a fair 
 account of the Leipsic debate and the diligent attempt of my 
 gracious Lord of Merseburg to hinder the same, and he will 
 also praise the Pope personally. . . . Dr. Luther has also 
 written Spalatin a partial account of our negotiation and con- 
 clusion, which letter I now send to your Grace. . . . 
 
 308. CASPAR HEDIO TO ULRICH ZWIXGLI AT ZURICH. 
 Corpus Reformatorum, xciv. 355. Mayence, October 15, 1520. 
 
 Hedio, or Heyd, of Baden (1494-1552), matriculated at Freiburg 
 1513, B. A. 1514, M. A. 1516. In 1519 he was a chaplain at Basle, in 
 1520 went to Mayence. In 1523 to Strassburg, where he was one 
 of the leading Reformers until his death. Realencyclop'ddie, He had 
 written to Luther from Basle, June 23, 1520. Enders, ii. 421. 
 
 Greeting. Although I am long absent from you, dearest 
 Zwingli, yet would I be present with my letters. Capito called 
 me to Mayence, where I shall be preacher until he returns 
 from the coronation of the king,^ and perhaps afterwards, if 
 Christ will, for Capito is going to give up this office, having 
 been made councillor of the Archbishop of Mayence. You 
 will hardly believe how valuable he is in this position. Luther" 
 would long ago have been burnt in this district and Lutherans 
 excommunicated,' had he not persuaded the archbishop oth- 
 erv/ise. . . . 
 
 ^This disingenuous plan was followed, 5o that Luther's preface to The Liberty 
 of a Christian Man, actually written about this time, bore the false date Sep- 
 tember 6, or, as Miltitz says, just ten days after the embassy (Staupitz and Link) 
 had gone to Luther from the chapter at Eisleben. Supra, no. 293, For the book 
 cf. Smith, giff. 
 
 2/. e., of Charles V. at Aixla-Chapelle, October 23, 1520. 
 
 3/, e,, his books. 
 
 ^ Greek. 
 
Let. 309 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 369 
 
 The Pope has sent a bull about Luther, a real bull, I hear. 
 He urges the angels of heaven, Sts. Peter and Paul, and every 
 creature to take part against Luther and his adherents; they 
 are to be slaughtered, burned and so forth. If the bull really 
 is what they tell us it has little apostolic spirit and no Chris- 
 tian mercy. O free Germany, where is our freedom? Not 
 even our tongue is free. Hutten is hiding, for the Romanists 
 have prepared poison for him and have hired men to take 
 him bound to Rome or to kill him. He will not remain hid- 
 den long, as the monks of this province, who are furious 
 papists, think. The Elector of Saxony is very liberal towards 
 learned men; they say no prince is more upright or greater 
 than he. Luther will burst forth from personal vices' and be- 
 fore the next fair we shall have thunder. Cease not, help 
 good men and Christian piety as much as you can. The monks 
 will try everything. . . . 
 
 309. WILIBALD PIRCKHEIMER TO HENRY STROMER OF 
 AUERBACH AT LEIPSIC. 
 
 Pirckheimeri opera, ed. Goldast, 402. Neustadt, October 18, 1520. 
 
 Hail, dear Stromer. I have received Luther's book'' which 
 you sent, but what good will it do us if we are not allowed 
 to read it, and if we who are innocent are cursed so fiercely? 
 I hear that Eck has posted some bulls or other things at Meis- 
 sen and has publicly traduced my name." How just it is 
 that I who live at Nuremberg should be accused in Saxony! 
 As I presume he has left a copy of the bull at Leipsic I pray 
 you let me know the contents thereof. . . . Moreover, I hear 
 that a book called Der abgehobelte Eck is handed around and 
 that everybody says that I am the author of it, as though 
 no one but I knew how to play the fool. . . . Charles von 
 Miltitz has informed me of the contents of the bull, but he 
 sent me no copy of it, supposing, I know not why, that I al- 
 ready had one. 
 
 lAUusion to close of Luther's Address to the German Nobility. Weimar, vi. 469. 
 
 ^Presumably the Address to the German Nobility. 
 
 3When Eck was given the bull to post in Germany (Smith, gyi.), he was allowed 
 to mention by name those of Luther's followers who he thought should be 
 excommunicated with him. He named Carlstadt, Spengler and Pirckheimer, the 
 latter probably because of the satire spoken of in this letter. 
 
 24 
 
370 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 3" 
 
 310. THE COUNCILLORS OF THE ELECTOR FREDERIC TO 
 
 PHILIP MELANCHTHON. 
 Corpus reformatorum, i. 269. (October),' 1520. 
 
 Our kind service to you, learned, honorable and good 
 friend. The coadjutor^ and councillors of our gracious lord 
 the Bishop of Freising and Naumburg have written to us 
 about the Pope's bull and Dr. Eck's doings, and have asked 
 us to give their messenger letters to Wittenberg so that he 
 can get a printed or written copy of the learned Dr. Luther's 
 appeal against this bull, as you will learn further from their 
 letters. But as we have no knowledge, except what rumor 
 has brought us, of Luther's appeal against the papal bull, we 
 have replied to the said coadjutor and councillors that we 
 have sent their letter to you as to one who is well posted on 
 Luther's actions and that they should find out all about it 
 from you. Wherefore in the absence and place of our gra- 
 cious Elector Frederic we kindly beg you to give the messen- 
 ger of the said coadjutor and councillors whatever informa- 
 tion you can in order that he may announce it to them at 
 Zeitz. Our gracious lord will take this in good part, and so 
 shall we, personally. The Councillors.' 
 
 311. ERASMUS TO GODSCHALK ROSEMUND, RECTOR OF 
 THE UNIVERSITY OF LOUVAIN. 
 
 Erasmi opera (1703), iii. 585. Louvain, October 18, 1520. 
 
 Letters nos. 311-14 evidently belong close together soon after the 
 burning of Luther's works at Louvain, October 8, and the consequent 
 attack on Erasmus. The only one which cap be accurately dated is 
 no. 311. The others must, at any rate, fall between August, 1520, and 
 February, 1521, while Rosemund was rector. I believe that they all 
 come in October, before Erasmus left for Cologne, where we find 
 him in the first days of November. 
 
 Rosemund (1483-December 5, 1526) studied at Louvain, where he 
 began teaching arts in 1509 and theology in 1515. In 1518 he became 
 
 ^Tbe Corpus Reformatorum dates this November 15, but the events alluded 
 to show that it must have been earlier, perhaps "15 Kal. Novemb.," i. tr., 
 October 18. 
 ^enry Schmiedberg, on whom and this affair, cf. infra, November 13- 
 ^robably Fabian von Feilitzsch, Haugold von Einsiedel and John von Tauben- 
 heim, spoken of by Luther in the aforementioned letter of November 13. 
 
Let. 311 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 371 
 
 dean of the faculty, and rector during the winter-semester, 1520-1. In 
 November, 1524, he was made president of Adrian VI.'s College. 
 Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, and de Jongh, 165-7. 
 
 I do not think it necessary to admonish you of your duty, 
 of which a part is not only to keep from hurting others your- 
 self, but to prevent anyone doing an injury to another. The 
 many things which Nicholas Edmond, either at your command 
 or at the Pope's, said against Luther, do not, I think, pertain 
 to me; but what he did beyond all command and contrary to 
 the will of the Pope, who wishes even those who have hith- 
 erto followed Luther dealt with gently, and that none others 
 should be involved, this, I say, which he did in attacking me 
 falsely and undeservedly, pertains to your authority and juris- 
 diction. You should silence this man of peevish tongue, espe- 
 cially as he is a bad example and injurious both to the order of 
 theologians and to this university. . . . On October 9, in the 
 church of St. Peter, while preaching on charity, as I happened 
 to be present, he suddenly and ignobly turned his sermon 
 against me, and said that I favored Luther, although from the 
 beginning I have always said with perfect truth that I had nol 
 commerce with Luther except what one Christian might have! 
 with another. . . . From the taste of his works which I have 
 had, I liked his gifts, by which I conjectured he might have 
 been a chosen vessel for Christ had he wished to use his 
 gifts for Christ's glory. As there were many fierce sermons 
 against him and many false charges I preferred that, if in 
 error, he should rather be corrected than put to death; if 
 that is to favor Luther, I frankly confess that I favor him, 
 as I think the Pope does, and you all do if only you are true 
 theologians and Christians. . . . Egmond even said that I 
 defended Luther, because in my letter to the Cardinal of 
 Mayence I spoke of the Carmelite who blamed Luther for 
 saying that some mortal sins should not be confessed, al- 
 though he did not understand Luther's meaning. . . . Surely 
 if it is pious to refute Luther it is necessary to understand 
 him. . . . [Follows a long apology for this and for the letter 
 to Luther.] . . . 
 
 I do not think that you approve of those who have hitherto 
 written against Luther, of whom the first was Prierias, the 
 
372 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 312 
 
 second a certain Franciscan,^ the third'' wrote anonymously, 
 though he confessed he was a Dominican and received a sal- 
 ary from the French King. . . . 
 
 If I were devoted to your order and most hostile to Luther 
 what other advice could I have given than I did give ? ? Burn- 
 ing Luther's books may remove them from the bookstores; I 
 doubt whether they can thus be removed from the minds of 
 the people. / But this might have been done if you had fol- 
 lowed my advice. Even if my counsel did not please you, 
 yet it ought not to be thrown in my teeth as a bit of hypoc- 
 risy that I gave it honestly to the Cardinal of Mayence who 
 deserved this service from me. I gave him the advice in a 
 sealed letter, thinking nothing less than that it should be pub- 
 lished, but I hear that it was published before it was given 
 to the cardinal, and not edited as I wrote them. For when 
 they charge me with saying "our Luther" it is certain that 
 I never said it, and would not have said it even if he had 
 been mine.^ . . . 
 
 312. ERASMUS TO GODSCHALK ROSEMUND, RECTOR OF 
 THE UNIVERSITY OF LOUVAIN. 
 
 Erasmi opera (1703), iii. 536. (Louvain, October?, 1520.) 
 
 In this letter Erasmus relates the course of his quarrel with Egmond. 
 This letter is dated loc. cit., and in the London 1642 edition, xii. 18, 
 1519, but the contents show that it should rather be 1520. Moreover, 
 Rosemund was rector only between August, 1520, and February, 1521. 
 
 . . . Invoking St. Paul Egmond prayed that as Paul had 
 been changed from a persecutor of the Church into a doctor 
 of the Church, so Luther and Erasmus might be. Why do 
 they do such things? Because they desire nothing so much 
 as to annoy. They take it ill that I am not a Lutheran, as 
 truly I am not, unless it be for Christ's service. I know that 
 I am too free with my tongue, but no one has ever heard 
 me approve Luther's doctrine. I have never cared to read 
 his books except a few pages which I only glanced at. I al- 
 ways favored your debates against Luther, especially the 
 
 ^Perhaps Augustine Alveld. 
 ^I do not know who is meant, 
 
 ^Erasmus means that in publishing his letter to Albert of Mayence (no. 192) 
 they changed "Luther" into "our Luther." Smith, 201. 
 
Let. 313 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 373 
 
 writings of John Turenholt,^ who, as I hear, disputes learn- 
 edly and without passion. When Luther's books were burned' 
 no one saw me sadder. I have constantly averrfed that much 
 in him displeased me. I have written much privately and 
 said much to restrain him from his turbulent manner of writ- 
 ing, and lo, I am called a Lutheran. If your university likes 
 these jokes I can stand them, and I prefer to do so than to 
 revenge myself. But in my opinion things should be done 
 differently. Vincenf has blamed me for the tumult in Hol- 
 land, when, after an idiotic sermon, he was almost stoned by 
 the people, but I never wrote to any Hollander either good or 
 bad about Luther. Farewell in Christ, magnificent Rector. 
 
 313. ERASMUS TO THOMAS MORE AT CHELSEA. 
 Erasmi opera, iii. 607. Louvain (October?), 1520. 
 
 [Erasmus has been traduced by Nicholas Egmond, and has therefore 
 appealed to the rector of the university. A pubhc conference is 
 arranged in which Erasmus and Egmond may accuse each other and 
 defend themselves. The conversation between them on that occasion 
 was in part as follows:] 
 
 "You publicly lied about me," said I, "in asserting that I 
 favored Luther, whom I never favored in the sense you 
 meant." He replied, not with emotion, but with fury : "Rather 
 you are the author of the whole affair, an old fox switching 
 your tail over everything." He vomited rather than said 
 many similar things, until at last a word — not "raca,"' but 
 another word smelling worse than it sounds — burst forth as 
 the prelude to his intemperate speech. . . . After a long al- 
 tercation he returned to the same subject and said that he 
 would never cease talking against Luther until he had fin- 
 
 ^John Nijs of Turnhout, commonly called Driedo, taught philosophy at Lou- 
 vain 1499, then studied theology with Adrian of Utrecht; tutor of the princes of 
 Croy; D. D., 1512, Dean of the faculty of theology 1515, 1523, 1526, 1528, 1531. 
 Canon of St. Peter's (Louvain), 1520. Died August 4, 1535. De Jongh, li&fl. 
 The book against Luther, spoken of by Erasmus, was refused by the printer, 
 Thierry Martens. Driedo published other works. 
 
 ^At Louvain, October 8, 1520. Cf. Smith, 98. 
 
 ^Vincent Diercx (Theodorici) of Beverwyck-lez-Harlem, became a Dominican in 
 this city, studied at Paris, where he began to teach in the convent of St. James in 
 1514. He published various books, and on returning to Louvain in 1517 was 
 made doctor of theology. He died August 4, 1526, at the age of forty-five. He 
 was one of Erasmus' bitterest enemies, to whom is addressed letter no. 314, 
 published with the address "To his most persistent slanderer." De Jongh, I72f. 
 
 *Matthew, v. 22. 
 
374 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND I.et. 313 
 
 ished him. I replied that he might shout against Luther until 
 he burst, provided only that he said nothing against me, for 
 by doing the latter he accomplished nothing, but only made 
 himself ridiculous in the eyes of all good men, as I saw that 
 the audience were even then laughing at him. "Ya !" said he, 
 "they are your friends." . . . He charged me with writing 
 an epistle to Luther. "In which," say I, "I warn him what 
 to shun." "Rather," says he, "you teach him what to write." 
 For it seemed that the man took it ill that Luther should 
 write correctly — and so ill, that he preferred to have him 
 dead than corrected. But he could not brook it that I wrote 
 Luther : "I do not advise you what to do, but only to do 
 what you do of yourself." When I excused this as a bit of 
 rhetorical civility, according to the rule that we should deny 
 that we are giving advice even when we are, he grew hot 
 again. "You say rightly," says he, "that the rule of rhetoric 
 is to paint, pretend and lie about everything." I smiled and 
 confessed that rhetoricians sometimes lied, but added that so 
 did our professors sometimes. Again, when I said that I 
 was consulting the dignity of the theologians, he replied: 
 "Leave that to us, we'll attend to it.'' When I said that by 
 burning Luther's books they might be removed from the li- 
 braries, but not from men's minds : "Ya," says he, "you could 
 do that if you wished." . . . 
 
 After some irrelevant bickering the rector^ bade us return 
 to Luther who was the chief subject of the conference. 
 "Come," says Egmond, "you have written for Luther, now 
 write against him." Denying that I had written for him, but 
 .rather for the theologians against him, I gave many reasons 
 for not writing against him again, as lack of leisure and of 
 i skill, fear and the desire not to hit a man already down. 
 "Well, then," says he, "at least write that we knocked him 
 down." I replied that there were not wanting plenty to shout 
 this even if I kept silence, and that it would be more fitting 
 for those who won the victory to celebrate it, and finally that, 
 as their books were not yet published, it was not certain 
 whether they had beaten him or not. Turning in desperation 
 to the rector, "Did I not say," says he, "that we would ac- 
 
 ^Gcdschalk Rosemund, 
 
Let. 314 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 375 
 
 complish nothing here ? As long as he refuses to write against 
 Luther we shall consider him a Lutheran." "Then you are a 
 Lutheran yourself," say I, "for you have written nothing 
 against him and not only you, but all your friends." Then 
 bowing a farewell to the rector, but not to me, he departed. 
 
 314. ERASMUS TO HIS PERSISTENT SLANDERER [VINCENT 
 
 DIERCX]. 
 Erasmi opera, iii. 620. Louvain, (October?), 1520. 
 
 [This long letter of 12,700 words recapitulates most of the charges 
 to which Erasmus had been exposed. Towards the end he returns to 
 the quarrel with Egmond:] 
 
 So to make himself, as they say, like a dancing camel, he 
 [Egmond] invoked the epistles of Paul, saying: "Paul, once 
 a persecutor of the Church, from a wolf was made a sheep. 
 Let us pray that the same may happen to Luther and Eras- 
 mus." O Attic charms ' O slander like to blows ! Although 
 he was laughed at and hissed by all he spared me no re- 
 proach, even in his sermons. When he published the bull 
 against Luther, he chanced to see me present, and suddenly 
 changing the subject of his discourse, he spoke more against 
 Erasmus than against Luther, nor did he make any end, but 
 repeated his charges over and over. But when the audience 
 began to nod to each other and to laugh, his face witnessed 
 the impotent rage of hi? mind, and he broke off, rather than 
 ended, his slanderous discourse. When I complained of it to 
 Godschalk Rosemund, the rector of the university, he ran 
 wild against me with the same sort of accusations and lies, 
 so that one might rather think it was a clown talking to a 
 rustic than an old man to an old man, a theologian to a the- 
 ologian, a priest to a priest, and that in the presence of the 
 rector. 
 
 [Erasmus then recites the substance of the colloquy given in the 
 letter to More, supra, no. 313.] 
 
 His disciple, the prior of Antwerp, a doctor of the violet 
 hood, excused himself before the magistrates for inciting to 
 riot against Luther by saying that he had not read Luther's 
 books, but that he acted at the command of Nicholas Eg- 
 
376 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 315 
 
 mond. At the same time the chiefs of the Dominican mon- 
 astery acted in such a disgraceful way as to alienate the minds 
 of all good men. One of their number said in the hearing of 
 some laymen: "Would that I could fasten my teeth in 
 Luther's throat; I should not fear to go to the Lord's supper 
 with his blood on my mouth." . . . 
 
 315. LUTHER TO MICHAEL MAURER, CISTERCIAN AT 
 
 ALT-CELLE. 
 
 Enders, ii. 497. Wittenberg, October 20, 1520. 
 
 Maurer, a friend of Mosellanus, a learned philosopher and theologian 
 and a musician, taught for some time at Alt-Celle before his death in 
 1523. 
 
 Greeting in the Lord. Dear Michael, you would hardly be- 
 lieve how much I am pleased to see enemies rise against me 
 more than formerly. I am never prouder and bolder than 
 when I hear that I displease them. They are doctors, bish- 
 ops, princes — what then? If the Word of God were not as- 
 sailed by them it would not be the Word of God as it is writ- 
 ten : "The heathen raged and the people imagined a vain 
 thing. The kings of the earth set themselves and the princes 
 took counsel together against the Lord and against his 
 Christ."^ Lo, here you see the attitude of princes, kings 
 and bishops towards the Word of Christ; what more do you 
 want? I would greatly grieve if they praised me, for what 
 misery is greater than to please them? Let everything pass, 
 Michael ; the things of God are hidden and spiritual. . . See 
 to it that you preserve your soul in this Babylon. The judg- 
 ment of God hangs over them and works terribly, which the 
 blind men do not see. Let the blind lead the blind, says he." 
 If the Word of God had to be defended with the might and 
 eloquence and genius of man, Christ would not have called 
 fishermen to do it, nor would he have defended it with his 
 own blood. I do what I ought. Having received for noth- 
 ing, I give for nothing,' even with danger to my life, fame and 
 goods, yea even of my soul. I wrote at home, I worked sin- 
 
 'Psalm ii. if. 
 ^Matthew, xv. 14. 
 
 ^Matthew, x. 8. I give the true sense of the word translated in our Bible 
 "freely" and sometimes misunderstood. 
 
Let. 316 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 377 
 
 cerely, wishing to teach all what I myself believed. I am 
 clean from the blood of all,' at which I rejoice. In time they 
 will see whom they have repulsed and persecuted. 
 j^ I care nothing if my work On the Babylonian Captivity is 
 prohibited. What does it matter if all my books are pro- 
 hibited? I will write nothing against those who use force 
 against us. It is enough for me to have taught the truth 
 against those stupid babblers, and to have defended it against 
 the learned who alone are able to hurt. Both the style and 
 the matter of the Italian book of "Thomas Rhadinus" show 
 that it is Emser's.^ ' The Lord's will be done. I so despise 
 those devils, that were I not held here I would of my own 
 accord go to Rome in spite of Satan and all the furies. What 
 if they kill me ? I am not worthy to suffer aught in so blessed 
 a cause. ) 
 
 It malces no difference if my letters written to you are de- 
 livered to someone else. I do not fear to have them public 
 property, for I write under God's sight; if he approves, who 
 shall disapprove? I beg you, learn to despise men strongly, 
 as Christ says : "Beware of men.'"' It is a great thing to have 
 a propitious God and to trust in him. Farewell in Christ, 
 dearest Michael. 
 
 I will not write to Duke George. You, too, know what I 
 got from him with my three letters before the Leipsic de- 
 bate. If he is worthy he will hear the truth ; if he is unworthy, 
 the labor will be vain. 
 
 Your brother, 
 
 Martin Luther. 
 
 316. BONIFACE AMERBACH TO HIS BROTHER BASIL 
 
 AMERBACH AT BASLE. 
 
 Burckhardt-Biedermann, 142. Avignon, October 20, 1520. 
 
 We have some of Luther's works here. Of him there are 
 various opinions and judgments according to the various 
 thoughts of men. Those who have imbibed sophistry and the 
 
 ^2 Samuel, iii. 28. 
 
 2Thomae Rhadini Todeschi Planentini O. P. in Martinum Lutherum . 
 
 Oratio, Rome, August, 1520. Luther was mistaken in ascribing the book to Emser; 
 it was by Rhadinus, a Dominican of noble German family which had settled 
 at Piacenza. 
 
 ^Matthew a. 17. 
 
378 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 317 
 
 dregs of learning do not easily learn better, but prefer to be 
 pigs with Gryllus,^ especially in this papal state, where the 
 Pope's purse is an oracle and where it is impious to deviate 
 a hair's breadth from the constitutions of the canonists. 
 There are some Italians who, having published volumes from 
 these shades, croak to the field and swamp, but they are men 
 of mediocrity whose lucubrations are colder than the water 
 of Monacris.^ But truth herself, having laid aside her mask, 
 now shows her face in spite of them. However, the good 
 man was not a little injured by a libel of a poor impostor, 
 who, by pretending that Martin had recanted, brought back 
 even those who had entered the way of truth to their former 
 errors.^ So great is the desire of these rascals to deceive, 
 that, when they see themselves otherwise vanquished, they 
 think up some new way to crush truth for their own gain, 
 traducing the fame and doctrine of excellent Martin as 
 heretical. . . . 
 
 317. JOHN KOTTER TO BONIFACE AMERBACH IN AVIGNON. 
 Burckhardt-Biedermann, 141. 
 
 (Freiburg im Uchtland, October 22, 1520.) 
 
 Kotter, of Strassburg, was an organist and composer at Freiburg 
 until 1530, when he was banished. He then found an asylum in Bern, 
 and taught music until his death 1541. Cf. O. Clemen: Beitr'dge zur 
 Reformationsgeschichte, iii. 2off. 
 
 . . . Doctor Martin Luther has published a book To the 
 Christian Nobility of the German Nation on the Improve- 
 ment of the Christian Estate, which was printed at Basle, 
 October 13,'' and was sent me by the agent. I have never read 
 nor heard the like ; all men wonder at it ; some think the 
 devil speaks out of him, some the Holy Ghost. He shakes 
 the ground in a way that the Holy Father and the Romans 
 won't find to their taste. At the end of his book I find the 
 
 * y(ivX/.nr, "Porker." Cf. Plutarch, Moralia, pp. 985-6. 
 
 ^An Arcadian spring, proverbially cold. Pliny, Hist, nat., xxxi. 27. 
 
 ^Luther himself mentions this work in the beginning of his Babylonian Captivity 
 (November, 1520): "Scripsit quidam frater Cremonensis Italus *rcvocationem 
 Martini Lutheri ad sanctam sedem,' hoc est, qua non ego, ut verba sonant, scd 
 qua ipse me revocat: sic enim Itali hodie incipiunt latinisare." Cf. Weimar, 
 vi. 486. Cf. supra, no. 199. Luther spoke of it in August. Enders, ii. 456. 
 
 ♦ "Sambstag vor galli." It came out first at Wittenberg in August. 
 
I,et. 319 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 379 
 
 words: "I think truly that I have sung highly.'" . . . This 
 shows all the wickedness that goes on at Rome. It can't 
 stand. There must be a reformation. Charles' must begin 
 it. . . . 
 
 318. JEROME ALEANDER TO POPE LEO X. AT ROME. 
 Deutsche Reichstagsakten, ii. 454. 
 
 (Aix-la-Chapelle, October 23, 1520.) 
 Jerome Aleander (1480-1542) met Erasmus at Venice 1508, after 
 which he taught at Paris till 1513. After serving the bishops of Paris 
 and Liege, he returned to Italy in 1516 and was made Papal Librarian 
 in 1519. July, 1520, the Pope sent him as legate to Charles V. to act 
 against Luther, where he conducted himself with conspicuous success. 
 Smith, op. cit., 98-104. In 1538 he was also sent as legate to Germany. 
 His Journal published by Omont 1895 ; several works on him by J. 
 Paquier, including his Letters, 1909. Realeticyclopddie and Allen, i. 
 
 502. 
 
 I kiss your blessed feet, most holy Lord. May God Al- 
 mighty keep your Holiness for us long and happily. 
 
 That your Holiness may know all things that were done 
 here in order in the Lutheran affair, the Emperor, while 
 we were at Antwerp, signed an edict commanding that all 
 Lutheran and other seditious books, wherever found in his 
 dominions, should be burned publicly with fire. . . 
 
 We have not been able to do anything against Luther's 
 person, nor shall we be able until we can prove to the Em- 
 peror and other princes that the bull entrusted to Eck has 
 been published in Germany and the sixty days allowed by 
 the bull have elapsed. I have no doubt that Eck has already 
 done what he was commanded, but I have no certain news of 
 it yet, which I attribute to the long distance. 
 
 The Emperor' entered this town yesterday. 
 
 319. ALEANDER TO POPE LEO X. AT ROME. 
 Reichtagsahten, ii. 457. (Aix-la-Chapelle, October 25, 1520.) 
 
 . . . The other nuncio' and myself were received to-day 
 by the Archbishop of Mayence . . . and I noted that he 
 
 ILong verbal quotation from the book, to the end: "Dear Rome, what I think." 
 
 ^Charles V. Cf. Smith, gSff., zijS. 
 
 ^Charles was crowned at Aix, October 23. 
 
 *Marino Caracciolo of Naples (1469-January 28, 1538), had been sent to Rome 
 by Maximilian Sforza to represent him at the Lateran Council, 1515. He was 
 made protonotary by Leo X, and in 1518 was appointed papal nuncio to the 
 
380 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 321 
 
 was not only in words but in heart most deeply moved against 
 the Lutheran errors and against Hutten's mendacity, so that 
 he would have burned Luther's books in his dioceses long 
 ago.' . . . He expressed surprise that Eck had not visited 
 him, and had done nothing about publishing the bull in 
 Saxony. . . . 
 
 320. JOHN LANTSCHAD TO ELECTOR FREDERIC OF 
 SAXONY. 
 Archiv fur Reformationsgeschichte, ii. 394. German. 
 
 (Steinach), October 25, 1520. 
 Lantschad was a Swabian knight, who wrote in favor of the Reforma- 
 tion in 1522, and in 1525 introduced it in his estates on the Neckar. 
 He died in 1531. Loc. cit., p. 393. The letter is an interesting testi- 
 mony to the reception won by Luther's Address to the German Nobility. 
 
 Most Gracious Prince and Lord ! I have read a little book, 
 written, doubtless, at the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, by 
 the learned Dr. Martin Luther to his royal Roman Majesty 
 and the electors, princes and other estates of the Holy Em- 
 pire. In this he thoroughly and clearly shows (what is gen- 
 erally known to the greater part of Christendom) the great 
 faults, crimes and grievances at present existing in the Christian 
 Church, both in her higher and in her lower chiefs, who ought 
 to be maintainers of the faith and of divine righteousness, 
 but who, on the contrary, more and more uphold abuses to 
 the hurt of God's honor and the Christian faith and to the de- 
 struction of the Christian commonweal and particularly of the 
 German nation. . . . Wherefore I pray, warn and admonish 
 you as a Christian elector and as a member of the Holy Em- 
 pire, to help act for the common advantage of Christendom 
 ... by which you will doubtless win everlasting salvation 
 and in this world praise and honor from pious people. 
 Your Grace's humble, 
 
 John Lantschad of Steinach, Knight. 
 
 321. LUTHER TO JOHN VOX GREFFEXDORF AT WEIMAR. 
 
 Enders, ii 503. Wittenberg, October 30, 1520. 
 
 Von Greflendorf was a Chamberlain of Duke John of Saxony; in 
 
 Emperor, a position he held for a number of years. He was finally appointed by 
 Charles, Governor of Milan. Biogrephie Generate, Pastor, vii. 417, note, 
 
 IThe influence of Capito prevented Albert from burning Luther's books for 
 a while. Cf. P. RalkoS: W. Capito im Dienste Albrechts von Mainz, 1907. 
 
Let. 322 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 381 
 
 1524 his ambassador to King Louis of Hungary, in 1526 interested 
 in the Evangelical Church visitation. 
 
 Greeting. Dear John, I rejoice in the spirit you show in 
 the midst of these tumults caused by the bull. Surely Duke 
 George and the Bishop of Merseburg, transported with fury, 
 are doing their best to destroy me and my university. Eck 
 tried to post the bull at the University of Erfurt, but they con- 
 temptuously refused to allow him to do so, alleging some 
 points of law. The students also tried to get after him, but 
 could not find him. It is said that he pleaded with tears to 
 induce the authorities to let him post the bull, so that he 
 should not have to leave ingloriously without accomplishing 
 anything. The bull was printed at Erfurt and exposed for 
 sale, but the students seized the copies and threw them into 
 the river, saying, "Let the bull swim."^ When the book- 
 seller brought an action for damages against them, he was 
 non-suited, as the town council refused to notice the students' 
 act. I expect the bull will turn into a bubble, for it is noth- 
 ing more. Therefore I greatly despise it, howbeit I have 
 had a suspicion that at the instance of Duke George I may 
 be forced to depart from Wittenberg; this I leave in God's 
 hand. May his will be done. I have read the letter from 
 that see of the apostles, or rather apostates, written to Duke 
 John.^ Good Heavens ! how giddily do these men act ! Fare- 
 well, and let me commend the cause to you. 
 
 Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 322. SPALATIN TO ELECTOR FREDERIC OF SAXONY AT 
 
 COLOGNE. 
 
 Zeitschrift fur Kirchengeschichte, ii. 119 (1877). (October, 1520.) 
 
 Most gracious Lord. Doctor Martin's books are also to be 
 burned at Merseburg. They would have burned them at 
 Leipsic last week, Monday or Thursday, but they didn't, for 
 some reason unknown to me. A good friend told me that, 
 having learned it from the written order. . . . 
 
 ^Pun on the word bulla, which also means bubble. 
 
 ^A letter of the Pope to the elector, read in his absence by his brother, Duke 
 John, is meant. Enders, he. cit. 
 
382 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 323 
 
 323. ALBERT, ARCHBISHOP OF MAYENCE, TO POPE LEO X. 
 Bocking, i. 363. (Mayence? c. November 1?, 1520.)' 
 
 Most blessed Father and most clement Lord, I humbly 
 kiss your feet. On October 25 I received with becoming 
 reverence five breves from the reverend Lord Marino Carac- 
 ciolo and Lord Jerome Aleander, the nuncios of your Holi- 
 ness. The first signified how your Holiness had made Carac- 
 ciolo a nuncio to his Imperial Majesty, and at the same time 
 sent me a pleasing gift of the consecrated golden rose. The 
 second and third breves bade me aid with all diligence and 
 zeal the said lords Caracciolo and Aleander in executing the 
 bull against Luther, the fourth instructed me how to pro- 
 ceed to extinguish the Lutheran conflagration, and the fifth 
 was about silencing Hutten. In the first place, I thank your 
 Holiness for seeing fit to give me the golden rose which binds 
 me by a new bond to you, and makes me, who was always 
 most diligent, still more diligent to obey you. For hitherto, 
 although not commanded, I have remembered my duty and 
 done my best not only to keep Hutten's libellous books, which 
 were published before I had any suspicions, from the hands 
 of readers, but also I have studied to suppress the nascent 
 fury of Luther, and at the very first I warned your Holiness 
 of that movement which has now, alas, become a mighty 
 conflagration throughout almost all Germany. I left nothing 
 undone which either theologians or jurists advised me to do. 
 I published an edict against Hutten's works . . . and in the 
 same edict included the works of Luther, although I had 
 also prohibited them the year before. It would be long to 
 narrate all my negotiations with other princes, but I beg your 
 Holiness to believe that I left no stone unturned to oppose 
 the growing evil. For which reason I have been obliged to 
 bear with many unjust men, who have favored the opposing 
 faction, of whom some blandly warned me to correct I know 
 not what corrupted morals, and alleged, I hope not falsely, 
 their desire for peace. Yet I am forward to despise their 
 hatred, considering the benefits which your Holiness has 
 poured out upon me, of which the memory is always fresh 
 
 'Bockin? dates this July, but the reference to the reception of letters from Leo 
 on October 25 proves that the true date is later. Cf. no. 319, 
 
Let. 325 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 383 
 
 and would stimulate me, if I were at all slothful, to satisfy 
 every desire of your Holiness. Wherefore, most blessed 
 Father, considering not so much the words as the intent of 
 the present commands to publish the bull against Luther in 
 the dioceses of Mayence and Magdeburg and in those of my 
 reverend suffragans, I am now doing my best, with the advice 
 of the nuncios, to conciliate the favor of the secular princes 
 without which every effort of ours will be in vain. What 
 success we shall have I know not, but I have good hope. . . . 
 
 324. HENRY GLAREAN TO ULRICH ZWINGLI AT ZURICH. 
 Corpus Reformatorum, xciv. 360. Paris, November i, 1520. 
 
 Henry Loriti, of Glarus (1488-1563), matriculated at Cologne 1506, 
 M. A. 1510, matriculated at Basle 1514, where for a time he worked 
 with Froben, and became a devoted friend of Erasmus. From 1517 
 to 1522 he was at Paris teaching school, he then returned to Basle, 
 but, being unable to follow his friend Zwingli in the Reformation, 
 retired to Freiburg in 1529. He published an original work on music 
 in 1547. Life by O. F. Fritzsche, l8go; Allen, ii. 279. Glarean is 
 particularly interesting to Americans as having made the first map of 
 the New World in which the continent is called America. The MS. 
 of this, dating 1513, was sold by Sotheby in 1912. It was printed under 
 the title De Geographia, in 1527 at Basle. 
 
 . . . Now hear some news about Luther! When the de- 
 bate between Geck^ and Luther was laid before the Uni- 
 versity of Paris for judgment, although it perhaps would 
 have censured some of the articles, now, after it has heard 
 that Luther is condemned by the Pope, it refrains from giv- 
 ing judgment. No one's books are bought more eagerly. A 
 certain bookseller told me that at the last Frankfort fair,^ he 
 had sold fourteen hundred copies of Luther's works, which 
 had never before happened with any other author. Everyone 
 speaks well of Luther. Truly the monk's chain is long. . . . 
 
 325. OSWALD MYCONIUS TO ULRICH ZWINGLI AT ZURICH. 
 
 Corpus Reformatorum, xciv. 365. Lucerne, November 2, 1520. 
 
 . . You know, and much more clearly than I do, what that 
 
 Roman rascal who is with us proposed or rather commanded 
 
 H. e., Eck, cf. supra, no. 178. Duke George first sent tlie debate to Paris, 
 cf. supra, no. 180. 
 
 ^The great bookmart of Germany held every spring. Cf. Smith, 77. 
 
384 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 326 
 
 under pain of excommunication at the Swiss congress at 
 Baden, about burning Lutheran books. ^ First, we want to 
 know your opinion, whether we ought to obey or not, after 
 the command shall be published, and then, what your men 
 of Zurich decided to do. Briefly, my own opinion is that the 
 excommunication is to be disregarded, not so much because 
 I favor Luther as that I would unwillingly lose the money 
 I spent for the books, and also because I think the thing is 
 too unjust to be obeyed. When was it ever heard in the 
 Church that anyone should be condemned before he had a 
 chance to state the reasons for his opinions, especially when 
 he particularly wished to do so? It is proclaimed through the 
 whole town here that Luther and the schoolmaster^ are to be 
 burned, although I never speak of him except to my intimates, 
 and that rarely, nor have I ever brought forward a single 
 opinion from him. Yet I know why they join my name with 
 Luther's; it is because in my classes I speak the gospel truth, 
 and say what the subject demands, though no more. And be- 
 cause this agrees with what he says in several places, they 
 think that that is from Luther which is really from the gospel. 
 I could easily answer this charge if necessary. Yet I would 
 not willingly lose his books, for I have not one or two, but 
 a great many. Wherefore advise us and we will follow your 
 advice. Do quickly and briefly more than we ask. . . . 
 
 326. FRANCIS VON SICKINGEN TO LUTHER. 
 Enders, ii. 506. German. Cologne, November 3, 1520. 
 
 Honorable, learned, kind, dear Doctor, and singular, good 
 Friend! My willing service with all my body and estate is 
 heartily yours! I have received your two last letters at 
 Cologne, and have read them together with your Offer and 
 Protestation' and have heard what George Spalatin has to 
 say, and am glad to learn that you are minded to show forth 
 
 'On October 22, at Baden, the Pope's Nuncio Pucci made this proposition in 
 accordance with instructions he had received from Aleander. His speech cited 
 at length, loc. cit. 
 
 -Myconius means himself. The emphasis upon reliance on the Bible inde- 
 pendently of Luther is characteristic of the Swiss Reformation. 
 
 3C/. supra, no. 287. At Worms, later, Sickingen handed Luther's Offer and 
 Protestation and his letter to Charles V. to that monarch, who tore them to pieces 
 without reading them. He had certainly seen them previously at Cologne. 
 Crisar, i. 344f. 
 
Let. 328 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 385 
 
 the Christian truth and to abide by it, and I am inclined to 
 give you what help and favor may be in my power for this 
 end. I would not conceal this my answer to your letter, for 
 you will find me ready to do you any pleasure I can. God 
 bless you and govern your affair according to his will ! 
 
 Francis von Sickingen, with my hand. 
 
 327. LUTHER TO HERMANN MUHLPFORT, BAILIFF AT 
 ZWICKAU. 
 Enders, ii. 505. De Wette, i. 537. German. 
 
 Wittenberg (circa November 4), 1520. 
 
 Hermann (not Jerome, as Luther mistakenly called him) Miihl- 
 pfort came of an old Zwickau family. He was later burgomaster of 
 this town, where he died August 25, 1534. In his last years he had an 
 unfortunate altercation with Luther, on which cf. Smith, 281. This 
 letter is the dedication to the German translation of The Liberty of a 
 Christian Man, on which cf. Smith, piff. Muhlpfort visited Luther at 
 Wittenberg on November 4. O. Clemen, Luthers Werke, ii. i. 
 
 Prudent, wise Sir and kind Friend! The worthy John 
 Egranus, preacher to your excellent town, has often highly 
 extolled to me the love you bear the Holy Scriptures, which 
 you zealously acknowledge and do not neglect to praise be- 
 fore men. Wherefore he desired to make me known to you, 
 of which I am willing and glad. For it is a special pleasure 
 to me to hear of men who love the divine truth, since alas, 
 so many, and chiefly those who bear titles, strive against it 
 with all their might and cunning. Yet it must come to pass 
 that many should stumble, fall and rise again on Christ, who 
 is set for a stumbling-block and a sign to be spoken against.* 
 Wherefore, to start our acquaintance and friendship, I de- 
 sired to dedicate to you this little tract and sermon in Ger- 
 man, which in Latin I dedicated to the Pope, so that everyone 
 may see that my doctrine and writing about the papacy has 
 not, as I hope, a reprehensible. Herewith I commend myself 
 to you and to God's grace. Amen. 
 
 328. LUTHER TO SPALATIN. 
 Enders, ii. 508. Wittenberg, November 4, 1520. 
 
 Greeting. I, too, wonder, Spalatin, what prevents you get- 
 ting my letters. For I have written twice and I know that 
 
 'Luke, ii. 34. 
 25 
 
386 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 328 
 
 you received neither letter. I am glad that at last you see 
 how vain are the hopes of the Germans, since you say not to 
 trust in princes and you cease to regard, as you have hitherto 
 regarded, the judgment of men who either praise or condemn 
 my writings. If the gospel were such that it could be either 
 propagated or preserved by the powers of this world, God 
 would not have confided it to fishermen. Dear Spalatin, it 
 is not the part of the princes and prelates of this world to 
 defend God's Word, nor by his grace do I seek the protec- 
 tion of any of them, as they must rather set themselves 
 against the Lord and against his Christ. What I do, I do 
 rather that they may deserve well of the Word of God by 
 their service to me, and may be saved by the Word. For I 
 pity those who have heard and known. For they cannot, 
 without their own eternal destruction, deny, desert and cover 
 up the Word. It is to be feared that you, together with us 
 and many of our friends, can be found among this class; and 
 we must pray for a courageous spirit. 
 
 It is a hard thing to dissent from all prelates and princes, 
 but no other way is left of escaping hell and God's wrath. 
 So take care, lest those who are offended by my bitterness 
 should be such as hold the cause of the Word cheaply and 
 are influenced by I know not what human considerations. It 
 is no wonder that one who estimates the affair at its true 
 worth should cry out and be torn asunder. Even had you 
 not urged me to do so, I should have committed the whole 
 cause to God, and have done nothing more than I have done, 
 since I know that we must act only by his counsel and 
 co-operation. 
 
 I have published the Latin Antibull,^ which I send; it is 
 also being printed in German." Please do not let those move 
 you who take it ill that I speak so sternly against gently ex- 
 pressed commands. Those mandates of the Roman Pontiff 
 are not gentle by which Christ is suppressed and people com- 
 manded to deny the faith. I was forced to be brief by the 
 very unworthiness of the cause. That Satanic bull so tor- 
 tures me that I almost kept silence altogether. For since the 
 
 ^Adversus exsecrahilem Antichrist! Bullam, Weimar, vi. 595. 
 divider die Bnllcn des Endchrists, Weimar, vi. 613. 
 
Let. 328 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 387 
 
 beginning of the world, when did Satan ever speak so impu- 
 dently against God? What shall I say? The magnitude of 
 the horrible blasphemies of this bull overwhelms me, and yet 
 no one notices them. Many strong arguments have persuaded 
 me that the last day is at hand. The reign of Antichrist is 
 beginning to end. 
 
 Duke George rages against me with his sophists and the 
 Bishop of Merseburg. I see that this disordered bull is breed- 
 ing a rebellion, just as the Roman Curia ought to do. Emser 
 has put forth his fury against me under the name of Thomas 
 Rhadinus Todiscus;' now he publishes at Rome and now at 
 Leipsic. They all take credit for the incredible fury of their 
 insanity. 
 
 I shall not write privately to the princes, but shall publicly 
 renew my Appeal,'' thereby summoning all Germans, great 
 and small, to stand by me, and expound the villainy of the 
 affair. Then I shall lay it to the conscience of each man, 
 lest in the hour of his death he should be condemned for 
 having obeyed these impious monsters. 
 
 I will do nothing with the Archbishop of Mayence, but I 
 will approach Duke George and the Bishop of Merseburg 
 with letters and with my German Antibull when it is pub- 
 lished, not that I hope to soften those hard spirits, but that I 
 may satisfy my conscience in warning them of their danger. 
 For it is impossible for those to be saved who either favor 
 this bull or do not fight against it. The Lord and you will 
 attend to the result. 
 
 Egranus told us the same about Matthew Adrian as you 
 did. He has become my enemy, alleging as the cause that I 
 have taught that good works avail nothing, but only faith. 
 He has hardly been prevented from reviling me publicly. 
 Finally, this man, most ignorant of theology, attacked and 
 challenged me. He is useless and must soon be dismissed. 
 Perhaps he will go to Leipsic to make common cause with 
 Eck. The Lord's will be done. 
 
 The University of Erfurt, when imperiously summoned by 
 Eck, refused to receive the bull, on the ground that it was 
 
 ^Supra, no. 316. 
 
 2/. e,, the Appeal to a General Council, made November 28, 15 18. Luther 
 renewed it November 17, 1520, Weimar, vii, 74, 83. 
 
388 IvUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 330 
 
 illegally sent. The Bishop of Bamberg^ refused it on the 
 same ground. The armed youth of Erfurt surrounded Eck 
 and tearing the printed bulls into small bits, threw them into 
 the water, so that it is now a real bubble.^ The town council 
 connived at this, and the court at Mayence hears notliing 
 of it.^ I expect you know how gloriously Eck was received 
 at Leipsic, hated as he is by almost all except the duke and 
 the bishop. Do what your spirit tells you, and farewell. 
 
 Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 329. MELANCHTHON TO GEORGE SPALATIN. 
 Corpus Reformatorum, i. 267. Wittenberg, November 4, 1520. 
 
 . . . Luther has answered the bull,' charging Eck with the 
 responsibility of it, for he certainly was the author of this 
 tragedy. A few days ago he wrote a letter" to the Roman 
 Pontiff, which I think you will approve as being sufficiently 
 moderate and pious. I beg you to be watchful and not to 
 neglect any human precautions, although not relying on them, 
 but on divine providence. Martin seems to me to be driven 
 by a certain spirit. We shall bring about his success more by 
 prayers than by schemes. My friendsjiip for Luther is now 
 so firmly established that nothing sadder could happen to 
 me than to be without him. Wherefore, for my sake as well 
 as for the sake of the public, do what you can to prevent 
 this man from being crushed, for I dare to prefer him not 
 only to all living men, but to the" Augustines, Jeromes and 
 Gregory Nazianzens of all time. Farewell, dearest Spala- 
 tin. . . . 
 
 330. ALEANDER TO LEO X. AT ROME. 
 
 Reichstagsakten, ii. 460. (Cologne, November 6, 1520.) 
 
 ... I know that your Holiness is very anxious to know 
 
 what we did with the Elector of Saxony, wherefore I will 
 
 give you a brief account of a long affair. It is his nature to 
 
 ^George III., Bishop 1505-22. As Nuremberg was in his diocese, Eck sent 
 him the bull which was also directed against Pirckheimer and Spengler. 
 
 ^Pun on "bulla," meaning both "bull" and "bubble." 
 
 ^Erfurt was an enclave in Saxony under the government of Mayence. 
 
 *Fo« den neuen Eckischen BuUen vnd Liigen. Weimar, vi. 579. Luther at first 
 doubted the genuineness of the bull, and so did Erasmus. 
 
 5The preface to The Liberty of a Christian Man. 
 
Let. 332 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 389 
 
 seem good and religious and a devout frequenter of churches, 
 but all his counsellors are more Lutheran than Luther him- 
 self. Moreover, he is extremely hard to see, but we did see 
 him on November 4,"- and worked on him so that he seemed 
 to be persuaded by us and said that he had never spoken 
 twenty words with Luther. 
 
 331. ERASMUS TO JOHN REUCHLIN. 
 
 Erasmi opera (1703), iii. 589. Cologne, November 8, 1520. 
 
 . . . You see what a fatal tragedy is now being enacted, 
 
 the catastrophe of which is uncertain. Whatever it may be, I 
 
 pray that it may be for the glory of Christ and the evangelic 
 
 truth. I prefer to be a spectator rather than an actor in this 
 
 play, not because I deny the cause of Christ, but because I 
 
 |see it is beyond my littleness. Would that I were able to do 
 
 I what is best, as I wish. . . . The silent judgments of the 
 
 ' good have perpetual authority and weight even with posterity. 
 
 It has always been my endeavor to separate the cause of 
 
 Luther from yours and that of sound learning, which would 
 
 only bring odium on it and on us without helping Luther in 
 
 the least. But others have acted otherwise. They hate me 
 
 so that those conspirators against sound learning and the 
 
 gospel have almost attacked me. There is no doubt about 
 
 their actions, although they cloak them with high names and 
 
 irritate the mild Pope to his own hurt for their advantage. . . . 
 
 332. BEATUS RHENANUS TO BONIFACE AMERBACH. 
 Briefwechsel des Beatus Rhenanus, 250. Basle, November 8, 1520. 
 
 . . . Our Erasmus of Rotterdam is now officiating as 
 councillor to the Emperor; it is an honor to him, but a loss 
 for literature. For some days he has been at Cologne, after 
 the Emperor was crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle, on October 23. 
 The Pope has sent Jerome Aleander with a monstrous bull 
 to the Emperor to induce him to crush Luther. He also sent 
 Caracciolo, Cajetan and Miltitz. It is to be feared that the 
 Emperor will give his consent, as one too young to under- 
 stand these things. The whole of Germany is for Luther. 
 Hutten has fairly translated the Pope's bull which curses 
 
 *0n this interview and its results, cf. Smith, op. cit., loo. 
 
390 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 333 
 
 Luther, that is, he has explained and mocked it with witty, 
 caustic notes. In the title page of the booklet he has sur- 
 rounded the Pope's arms with this verse : "At his right hand 
 stood a bull in cloth of gold and many-colored garments." 
 You never read anything more cutting. For as you know 
 the Pope anathematized Hutten and wrote to some of the 
 princes either to kill him or send him bound to Rome. Hence 
 the bitterness of his invective. Pucci, who tried to do much 
 against Luther in Switzerland, is simply despised.^ You 
 know that hitherto Zasius favored Luther. Now he has 
 somewhat changed his opinion, because Luther wrote it would 
 be better for priests to have wives than harlots. But I am 
 abusing the patience of my Boniface to go on with trifles 
 like these. Farewell, Boniface. 
 
 P. S. — The Pope has recently condemned Reuchlin's article 
 to please the monks, whose help he now needs, and to spite 
 Luther. 
 
 333. ERASMUS TO CONRAD PEUTINGER, IMPERIAL 
 COUNCILLOR. 
 Erasmi opera (1703), iii. 590. Cologne, November 9, 1520. 
 
 I know that you have no leisure to read all sorts of letters, 
 excellent Sir, nor have I much more time to write, yet I was 
 induced to do so by John Faber,^ a Dominican theologian, 
 whom I discovered, by careful examination, to be very dif- 
 ferent from some of that brotherhood, for besides solid learn- 
 ing, integrity and affability, I found in him excellent judg- 
 ment. We have often consulted on the method of composing 
 this Lutheran tragedy without a cataclysm of the whole globe. 
 For what lover of mankind is not moved by the beginning 
 of this drama, seeing that there is imminent peril, unless 
 something is done, that it shall lead to a catastrophe danger- 
 ous to Christianity? The most horrible wars are often started 
 
 ^Cf. supra, no. 325. 
 
 20f Augsburg (1470-1530), not to be confounded with the man of the same name 
 who was Bishop of Vienna. Studied in Italy and became Dominican Prior at 
 Augsburg. He met Erasmus at Louvain, October, 1520, and with him planned a 
 peaceful solution of the Lutheran schism, composing at this time at Cologne, with 
 Erasmus* help, the Consilium cujusdam cupientis consultum esse . . which he 
 pressed on the Emperor's advisers, and at Worms offering a similar plan of 
 arbitration. He also spoke very freely at the funeral of ChiSvres, January, 1521 
 (cf. infra, no. 383). Life in N. Paulus; Die deutsche Dominicaner (1903), 
 292-313. 
 
Let. 333 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 391 
 
 by trifles. And in my opinion Cicero was right in saying that 
 an unjust peace was better than the justest war. Now this 
 drama has gone farther than I could have wished, but I think 
 the evil is curable; certainly it is more so now that if it goes 
 on increasing. I should also wish it so healed, that it may 
 not merely be suppressed for a time to become worse later, 
 as happens to patients when physicians cool their fever with 
 a potion without bleeding, or to those who scarify a wound 
 which has not been sufficiently cleansed. 
 
 Some think that severity had better be used, and Faber 
 would not disagree with them did he not fear that it would 
 hardly succeed. He says that it is not sufficient in this matter 
 to follow your inclination, but that several things must be 
 considered. First, we must consult the dignity of the Roman 
 Pontiff, whom all lovers of Christ must favor as Christ's 
 vicar, lest the gospel truth should suffer. And I doubt not 
 that Leo is of this mind, that he considers his only glory to 
 lie in the flourishing of the doctrine of his Prince. Faber 
 says we should not consider only what Luther deserves, or 
 who favor Luther, but what conduces tothe public peace. 
 It makes a great difference who lay hands on this evil and 
 with what medicines it is cured. Some mix in this affair 
 only to exasperate it with their misplaced zeal, and double 
 it, consulting not the authority of the Pope, but their own 
 advantage. Briefly, they so act that they hurt sound learn- 
 ing more than they do Luther. For it is not right that inno- 
 cent, or rather holy studies should suffer on account of Luther, 
 nor ought other men, without cause, to be involved in his 
 affair. He added that we should consider from what fount 
 the whole thing flowed, namely, from hatred of good learn- 
 ing. . . 
 
 It is not for men like me to judge the Pope's breves. But 
 there were some who missed in the bull brought by the nuncio 
 the gentleness worthy of Christ's vicar and of this peaceful 
 Leo; and they impute the bull not to him, but to his advisers. 
 
 But Faber himself will explain his plan more fully to you in 
 person, and if you approve it you can help him at the Diet of 
 Worms to carry through a plan which all will approve. . . . 
 
392 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 335 
 
 334. THOMAS GRAMAYE TO THE THEOLOGICAL FACULTY 
 
 OF PARIS. 
 Gess, i. 144. Antwerp, November 10, 1520. 
 
 Grama3'e was at this time secretary, councillor and mint-master of 
 Charles V. For many years he had been Duke George's banker and 
 general representative in the Netherlands. Earlier in this year he had 
 written to the Sorbonne on behalf of Duke George for their opinion; 
 the professors deliberated on the question on July 17, appointing 
 James Barthelemi and Noel Beda to consider the answer. The pres- 
 ent letter was apparently received and discussed on November 15. 
 The final condemnation was dated April 15, 1521. See Gess, loc. cit., 
 and Smith, op. cit., p. 453, where for "Frederic" should be read "George" 
 — both names being represented in contemporary documents simply by 
 the words "Dux Saxoniae." 
 
 Most learned Fathers and venerable Sirs ! Your kindness 
 has again made me bold to write. Recently, in behalf of the 
 most illustrious Duke of Saxony, I asked your worships, 
 for the love of truth, which doubtless occupies your minds, 
 to deign either to approve if true or to reprove if false the 
 writings of Martin Luther, which have taken hold of the 
 minds of many everywhere and are embraced as most true 
 by some. According to your habitual benevolence, you an- 
 swered that you were busy day and night reading and dis- 
 cussing them and would take no rest until you had discovered 
 the truth which Martin seems to seek, and had pronounced 
 on it. Truly, the aforesaid duke, anxious to know the truth, 
 received this letter with high honor and read it with great 
 pleasure, hoping that your worships would soon do what you 
 promised. But as this is delayed he awaits anxiously, hear- 
 ing various opinions, some saying that Luther is good, others 
 shouting that he seduces the common people. . . . Now the 
 tumult increases, and no small tragedy is excited here in the 
 sight of the world and with the connivance of our professors 
 at Louvain, while others of sounder mind weep and wail, and 
 all await your judgment. . . . 
 
 335. LUTHER TO SPALATIN. 
 Enders, ii. 323. Eilenburg, November 13, 1520. 
 
 Greeting. I have received the "Bull"^ you sent, Spalatin, 
 
 ^A pseudonymous satire which appeared about this time under the title, 
 Dialogus Bulla. 
 
Let. 335 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 393 
 
 and we daily expect your happy return' with many new things 
 to tell us and one old thing, namely, that there is no hope in 
 the court of Charles. I am glad that Hutten has come out; 
 would that he had intercepted' Caracciolo or Aleander. 
 
 We do not fear the excommunication threatened by the 
 bull, although we hear that those two bishops'" are about to 
 set forth ; I will receive them fairly and give them their proper 
 titles. Duke George, although in a rage, is said to control 
 himself externally. Our Philip Melanchthon, under the name 
 of Faventinus Didymus, is answering* Thomas Rhadinus, 
 that is, Emser. 
 
 Melanchthon's wedding will be on November 26. The 
 danger of malicious gossip forces us to hurry the day. 
 
 Henry Schmiedberg," deceased, left me one hundred gulden, 
 which pleased me particularly, as the dying just man con- 
 demns the unjust living, as the wise man says,* and those 
 who offered Eck cups full of gold' for traducing God's Word 
 may have something to make them angry, but which I never 
 sought for. By this second sign Christ now warns them. For 
 who would not consider Eck's ignominious reception at Leipsic 
 and Erfurt as one of God's wonderful works? Yet hitherto 
 hardened Pharaoh perseveres that there may be many signs. 
 But be of good cheer and despise all that curse. Christ has 
 begun this business and will complete it, whether I die or fly. 
 Called in his name by Schmiedberg, I came to Eilenburg, 
 but, in the meantime, he departed to the Lord. He is said 
 to have died most constant in the faith, and (what is a great 
 cross to my opponents) to have publicly professed and com- 
 
 iSpalatin and the elector left Cologne on November 7. 
 
 2"Intercepisset"; the meaning is somewhat doubtful, whether merely "frus- 
 trated" or "seized." 
 
 ^Probably the bishops of Merseburg and Brandenburg. The latter passed 
 through Wittenberg on his way to the Diet of Worms and tried to post the bull. 
 
 ^His answer appeared first in February, 1521, Corpus Reformatorum, i. 285. 
 
 ^Schmiedberg, of a prominent Leipsic family. Chancellor of Archbishop Philip 
 of Naumburg and Freisingen, and Administrator of Naumburg. When the bull 
 was sent to Naumburg the people stormed Schmiedberg's palace; the latter fell ill 
 with fright and went to Leipsic, where he drew up a will, remembering Luther. 
 Then he went to Eilenburg, and on growing worse had Luther summoned to him, 
 but died on November 5 before the latter arrived. Enders, ii. 526. 
 
 CBooIc of Wisdom, iv. 16. 
 
 TDuke George gave Eck a cup full of gold. 
 
394 I,UTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND I.et. 336 
 
 mended my doctrine. See the presence of Christ! The 
 Roman Antichrist presses on, and Satan through him, but 
 he who is in us shows himself greater than he who is in the 
 world.' 
 
 The bishop of Breslau died" in the same faith, the best of 
 all the bishops of this age. The Bishop of Merseburg has lost 
 much in the opinion of the public, and his pigmy holiness 
 does not suffice for the work of impiety, which bids him obey 
 the Pope rather than his God. Others will tell you the rest. 
 Farewell in the Lord. Martin Luther. 
 
 P. S. — Melanchthon, who salutes you, and I are splendidly 
 entertained by these heroes, Fabian von Feilitzsch, Haugold 
 von Einsiedel and John von Taubenheim. 
 
 336. ULRICH VON HUTTEN TO ERASMUS AT COLOGNE. 
 Bocking, i. 423. Ebernburg, November 13, 1520. 
 
 May what I have begun at this time with so much peril 
 turn out badly for me, if, excellent Erasmus, I am not more 
 solicitous for your safety than for my own success. You may 
 see plainly the state of afifairs, and I greatly wonder what you 
 are doing there where, as elsewhere, there is so much hos- 
 tility to us, and where, as I hear, the mandates of Leo X. are 
 cruelly executed. Do you even imagine that you can be safe 
 while Luther's books are burnt, and that his condemnation 
 will not prejudice your cause, or that those who condemn 
 him will spare you? Fly, fly, and keep yourself safe for us! 
 I have sufficient, even infinite peril, but my mind is used to 
 danger and to whatever fortune may bring; with you it is 
 different. Fly, excellent Erasmus, fly while you can, before 
 some disaster falls on you (a thought I detest). Then, when 
 it is no longer safe for you, you will have to say what no 
 wise man has said: "I did not think." All of those fellows 
 cry out that you are the author of this business and that 
 from you, as the fountain head, has flowed whatever now dis- 
 pleases Leo; they say that you went before us, that you 
 
 ^i John, iv, 4. 
 
 'John Thurzo, to whom Luther had written on July 30, 1520. Enders, ii. 447. 
 He died on August z. 
 
Let. 337 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 395 
 
 taught us, that you first incited the minds of men with the 
 love of liberty, and that we are all your followers. . . . For 
 by so long flattering and praising the Pope you have deserved 
 the mortal hatred of Aleander who will wish to destroy you, 
 especially when he sees his fury resisted by arms. We would 
 have done this before had not Sickingen advised first to try 
 the mind of the Emperor, hoping that he would do something 
 or at least allow us to do it. And we will do it unless that 
 wicked Slav [Aleander] subverts all things and seizes the 
 Emperor's crown, the reward of which deed Luther and I 
 demand. . . . 
 
 337. LUTHER TO LAZARUS SPENGLER AT NUREMBERG. 
 Enders, ii. 527. De Wette, i. 525. German. 
 
 Wittenberg, November 17, 1520. 
 
 My service, etc. Honorable, wise, dear Sir and Friend ! 
 I have read your letter and learned your great courage for 
 the Christian truth with especial joy; God strengthen you and 
 all of us with his grace ! I thank you heartily for your great, 
 friendly care for me and for all Wittenbergers. You must 
 certainly believe that Dr. Carlstadt and Melanchthon are en- 
 tirely at one; for a while one spoke to his classes in a different 
 way from the other, from which circumstance perhaps this 
 rumor grew. By .God's grace Philip is minded to have no 
 quarrel with him.i-Neither did it ever occur to me to harbor 
 annoyance or dislike of Erasmus. It pleased me well that 
 he desired me not to mention him.^ I wrote to him about it 
 and promised not to speak of him any more,'' (nor of any 
 other good friends if it displeased them. People have many 
 such false rumors to write about me, but don't let their gossip 
 deceive you. ) If God will, Erasmus and I will remain at one. 
 It is true that I sometimes privately discuss with Melanch- 
 thon how near or far Erasmus is from the way ; iie and every- 
 one can do the same about me with impunity and in friend- 
 ship. \ I will attack no one first ; it is sufficient to me to de- 
 fend'Tnyself when attacked. 
 
 ^Erasmus was offended by Luther's reference to him in the Answer to the 
 Condemnation of Louvain, and made this request, in a letter to Melanchthon; cf. 
 supra, no. 258. Luther's letter is lost. Cf. Smith, 2oif. 
 
396 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 338 
 
 I am having my Appeal renewed and printed in Latin and 
 German, although I thought there was no great need of it, so 
 open and shameless is the bull with its Antichristian anathe- 
 mas. We know not whether the bishops will execute the 
 bull. We hold that they have been legally answered by us. 
 Herewith I commend myself to you before God. Amen. 
 Dr. Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 338. OSWALD MYCONIUS TO RUDOLPH CLIVANUS AT 
 
 MILAN. 
 
 S. Hess: Erasmus von Roterdam (Zurich, 1790), ii. 707. 
 
 Lucerne, November 20, 1520. 
 Rudolph zum Buhl (Clivanus, 1499-1578), teacher of Greek at 
 Zurich and after 1519 a friend of Zwingli. On him. Corpus Reforma- 
 torum, xciv. 339. 
 
 . . . Would you like to hear something about Luther? You 
 have it in the letter of Ammann.' Of Erasmus? I will tell 
 you something. He is a scoundrel. Hear what he did. He 
 was summoned by the king of England to a conference." The 
 king patted him on the shoulder and said: "Erasmus, why 
 don't you defend that good Luther?" Erasmus answered:' 
 "Because I am not enough of a theologian ; now that the pro- 
 fessors of Louvain have put me down as a grammarian I 
 don't touch such things." After a long conversation the king 
 said: "You are a good man, Erasmus," and dismissed him 
 with a gift of fifty ducats. Then Erasmus went to Frankfort. 
 When his friends came to see him, he waved them away. 
 "Look out," said he, "don't touch me," and held out his hands 
 as if he feared to be hurt. When they expressed sympathy 
 and asked him what was the matter, he told them he had a 
 wound. When they asked him where, he replied: "In the 
 purse." Thus he tried to turn the bargain into a Joke. He 
 was going to Basle, but was prevented by the king of Spain 
 and is now also kept in Germany. . . . 
 
 ijohn Jacob Ammann of Zurich (died 1573), student of Myconius, on whom 
 see Zwinglis Werke, vii. 198. 
 
 2At the conference at Calais, July, 1520. It is doubtful how much Myconius 
 knew about it. Erasmus himself only says that he talked with Henry VIII. of 
 his (Erasmus's) writing against Luther, but more of ways of making peace. 
 Erasmi ot^era (1703), iii. no. 650. Cf, English Historical Review^ v.. 657. 
 
Let. 341 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 397 
 
 339. BASIL AMERBACH TO BONIFACE AMERBACH AT 
 
 AVIGNON. 
 
 Burckhardt-Biedermann, 143. Basle, November 22, 1520. 
 
 ... I have nothing to write of Luther except that Pope 
 Leo is trying to ruin him, and for that reason keeps sending 
 legates to make Charles hostile to him. Charles has not yet 
 determined what to do. A certain virulent and biting lam- 
 poon,^ which I will send by the next messenger when I have 
 a chance, has come out against Aleander, the learned Greek 
 scholar who is the Pope's legate. 
 
 340. ULRICH VON HUTTEN TO MARTIN BUCER. 
 Bocking, i. 427. Ebernburg, November 25, 1520. 
 
 . . . Luther" is burned at Cologne also. Therefore the 
 holy Muse of truth-speaking Luther will go into the flames 
 and die. ... I hear that all orders of men greatly grieved at 
 the act and only a few priests were pleased with it. I hear 
 that some of the nobles favor Luther so strongly that Sick- 
 ingen thinks that there would have been an extremely danger- 
 ous rebellion at Cologne if only Frederic of Saxony had been 
 there, for he left a short time ago. We are waiting to see 
 what will happen at Mayence, for our adversaries are trying 
 something there. I hear that Luther published something' or 
 other to-day excommunicating and anathematizing Leo X. 
 
 341. WILLIAM DE CROY, SEIGNEUR DE CHIfiVRES, AND 
 
 HENRY OF NASSAU TO ELECTOR FREDERIC OF SAXONY. 
 
 Reichstagsakten, ii. 466, note. Oppenheim, November 27, 1520. 
 
 Soon after leaving Cologne Frederic had written to Chievres and 
 Nassau a letter which has been lost. The following is the answer. 
 
 Croy (i48s-May 27, 1521), was made Stadtholder of the Nether- 
 
 'Several attacks came out on Aleander at this time, of whicli perhaps the 
 most likely in this instance is the Acta Academiae Lovaniensis, perhaps by the 
 pen of Erasmus, reprinted in Lathers Werke (Erlangen), Opera latina varii 
 argumenti, iv. 308-14. The proof of the authorship, P. Kalkoff: Die Vermitt- 
 lungspolitik des Erasmus, etc., p. 23(1. The similarity of the style to that of Eras- 
 mus was early noticed. Vadianische Briefsammhtng, ii. 346. Cf. further, P. 
 Kalkoff: Anfange der Gegenref. in den Niederlanden, ii. 35ff, and the article by 
 the same scholar in Zwinglis Werke, vii. 409. 
 
 27. e., his works, Nov. 12. 
 Adversus execrabilem Antichristi bullant. Weimar, vi. 595. 
 
398 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 342 
 
 lands 1506; in 1509 took charge of the education of Charles V., to 
 whom he became a chief adviser after 1516. He died at Worms. 
 
 Henry of Nassau (1483-September 14, 1538), an officer of Maxi- 
 milian. In 1516-7 he was in command of the siege of Arnheim; in 
 1521 fought against France. He was then made Governor of the 
 Netherlands. He visited Spain in 1522 and 1534. He was at the Diet 
 of Augsburg in 1530. Allgemeine deutsche Biographie. The following 
 anecdote of him is found in a contemporary publication, reprinted by 
 P. Fredericq: Corpus Inquisitionis Neerlandicae, iv. no. 37. "The 
 Count of Nassau said to the preachers at the Hague: 'Go and preach 
 the gospel simply like Luther, offending no one.' . . . Then the pro- 
 fessors of Louvain complained to Margaret, sister of Charles V., who 
 said: 'Who is Luther?' 'An unlearned monk,' said they. 'Then,' 
 said she, 'all you learned men write against one unlearned, and the 
 world will rather believe many learned than one unlearned.' " 
 
 We have received the letter of your Lordship on the af- 
 fair of Martin Luther, the contents of which, and especially 
 your Lordship's wishes, we carefully explained to his im- 
 perial and Catholic Majesty. Your Lordship will learn more 
 at large from his Majesty's letters what he has decided upon. 
 It seemed to us at all events that your Lordship ought, for 
 the sake of your piety and zeal for the orthodox faith, to bring 
 Luther with you to the imperial Diet, so that the affair might 
 be quieted and extinguished, for which we both promise our 
 good offices with his imperial Majesty, especially as we are 
 sure that your Lordship desires this. . . . 
 
 342. THE EMPEROR CHARLES V. TO ELECTOR FREDERIC 
 OF SAXONY. 
 
 Reichstagsakten, ii. 466. German. Oppenheim, November 28, 1520. 
 
 Highborn, dear Uncle' and Elector. We have been fre- 
 quently and urgently requested by the nuncio of the Pope's 
 Holiness, to guard against farther damage from Dr. Martin 
 Luther's books, as we did in our Lower Burgundian Hereditary 
 Possessions, and we should like to have them burned here 
 and everywhere in the Holy Empire. Now our highborn, 
 dear uncle,* William of Chievres, and our dear and trusty 
 Henry Count of Nassau, our viceroy in the Netherlands, have 
 shown us that you desire that we should not touch Luther, 
 nor do anything more against him before he is heard. And as 
 
 ^This title is not to be taken literally. 
 
Let. 344 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 399 
 
 we should like to put down this movement, from which we 
 fear much disorder and error may arise, we earnestly re- 
 quest you to bring the said Luther with you to the next Diet 
 at Worms, where we will have him sufficiently examined by 
 learned and wise persons, and have no wrong nor anything 
 illegal done to him. We beg you to prevent farther trouble 
 and to command the said Luther in the meantime not to 
 write or publish anything against his Holiness or the Roman 
 see. Thereby you will do us special pleasure which we shall 
 graciously acknowledge. 
 
 343- LUTHER TO JOHN LANG AT ERFURT. 
 Enders, ii. S32. Wittenberg, November 28, 1520. 
 
 Greeting. Reverend Father, we rejoice that the elector has 
 returned.^ I pray you to pray for us. Duke George is in- 
 sane; he is more than furious. We daily expect anathemas 
 and thunderbolts from that quarter. We think to stick to our 
 appeal. I see that the affair is verging to a great tumult; 
 may God turn it to the good ! We have read the answer^ of 
 our elector given to the papal Nuncios Aleander and Carac- 
 ciolo; it is so learned and acute that we see they got nothing 
 from him. I will send it later. The same Aleander is taxed 
 with many vices in a libellous but clever book.' The men of 
 Cologne and Louvain have burnt my books. We know not 
 what will happen. Farewell in the Lord. Our vicar* has 
 gone to Sternberg; brother John has turned to follow him. 
 
 Martin Luther. 
 
 344. LUTHER TO SPALATIN. 
 Enders, ii. 534. Wittenberg, November 29, 1520. 
 
 Greeting. Dear Spalatin, I gave a letter for you to the 
 messenger going to Grimma; now that the reverend Father 
 
 ^The elector returned to his own land on November 20. 
 
 20n November 4, at Cologne, the nuncios had interviewed Frederic and 
 demanded that Luther be punished or delivered up. After consulting Erasmus 
 on November 5, Frederic refused the requests of the legates on November 6. 
 Cf. Smith, J 00. 
 
 ^Aleander was attacked in many contemporary satires; perhaps the one meant 
 is the Acta Academiae Lovaniensis, on which cf. Smith, 98, 
 
 *Wenzel Link. 
 
400 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 345 
 
 James^ is going I will give him another, which perhaps will 
 arrive before the first. I will soon take up and defend one by- 
 one all the articles condemned by the bull, as you wrote and 
 as I understand they° wish. Unless you translate it into Ger- 
 man with more freedom than you have hitherto done,' please 
 let me do it. For absolutely no translation except a very free 
 one can reproduce figures of speech and the cogency of the 
 argumentative style. I do not mention the extreme difficulty 
 of giving the author's spirit. I doubt not that you could do 
 it, for you translate with wonderful facility, but I see that 
 you are a little too closely bound and afraid to change a 
 single sentence as is sometimes necessary. 
 
 I intend to dedicate this book to Fabian von Feilitzsch, a 
 gentleman who is greatly to my liking. Wherefore please 
 send me his full title as soon as possible in Latin and Ger- 
 man. You use the German title, but I desire to know both so 
 as to be able to judge how the Latin title is derived. Thus I 
 will go before and do you follow fast. 
 
 My parents and sisters* honored the wedding of Melanch- 
 thon as did many honorable and learned men. 
 
 Please let us have another copy of the elector's answer," 
 for they would not let us read it twice. You will learn the 
 rest from my former letter with my booklet On Christian Lib- 
 erty. Farewell and pray for me. 
 
 Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 34S. ERASMUS TO JOHN NIJS DE TURNHOUT, KNOWN AS 
 
 DRIEDO. 
 H. de Jongh: L'ancienne Faculte de theologie de Louvam, igii, 
 
 p. 158, n. 3. LouvAiN, November 30, 1520. 
 
 ... I am sorry that Theodore Martens'' refuses to print the 
 book of Professor Turnhout. In the first place, he ought not 
 
 ^Probably Vogt, the elector's confessor. 
 
 ^Luther probably means the elector. 
 
 "Spalatin translated Luther's work On Christian Liberty. Luther himself trans- 
 lated the work he is speaking of now, the Assertion of all the Articles wrongly 
 condemned, 
 
 ^Luther at this time had three sisters, married to men named Kaufmann, 
 Polner and Mackenrodt. 
 
 OJ. e., to the legates, cf. supra, no. 343. Who "they" were is uncertain, perhaps 
 some Wittenberg canons with whom Luther was not friendly. 
 
 OMartens (c. i4So-May 28, 1534), "the Aldus of the Netherlands," studied the 
 
Let. 346 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 401 
 
 thus to show his animus. Then I should Hke the work printed 
 for many reasons. The man is one of the most skilful in 
 theology; nor do I doubt that he writes as he has disputed, 
 using solid arguments and not invective. As I do not ap- 
 prove having Luther crushed by mere vociferations and con- 
 spiracies, I am all the more desirous of seeing him refuted 
 by the Bible and good reasons. Let us attribute all we pos- 
 sibly can to the Pope's bull, yet such a refutation would be 
 more convincing to the learned and to the intelligent. Do you 
 therefore persuade the man not to refuse, and I will do the 
 same as much as I can. Farewell. 
 
 346. ERASMUS TO 
 
 Erasmi opera (1703), iii. 1889. (Late in 1520.) 
 
 . . . You know what a smoke has been raised at Louvain 
 by the theologians who fathered the bull ;^ the same was done 
 at Liege with the connivance of the bishop who is ambitious 
 of the cardinal's hat; finally it was also done at Cologne in 
 an even more hateful way under the rule of Hochstraten. 
 But though Luther's writings are not approved by all, yet 
 there is none who is not displeased by this way of acting and 
 this savage tyranny. Nor would they have acted with im- 
 punity at Cologne had not the presence of the king protected 
 them. Now Luther's works are sold there as before. 
 
 Two men, Latomus and Turnhout, have here written against 
 Luther, but neither publishes his books on account of dif- 
 fidence, I think. Indeed, it is much easier to conquer him 
 with bulls and with smoke than with arguments. I have never 
 mixed in the Lutheran affair, but yet I have not approved the 
 clamors nor the pamphlets of these who have hitherto op- 
 posed Luther. They take this ill, for if I stood by Luther 
 the same engines would be directed against me; if I wrote 
 against him these men of evangelic meekness and simplicity 
 would use the hatred of the Germans thus aroused against 
 
 art of printing at Venice, set up a shop at Alost, and in 1493 moved to Antwerp, 
 in 1498 to Louvain, in 1502 back to Antwerp, in 1512 to Louvain, until 1539 
 when he retired to Alost. P. S. Allen, i. 514. 
 
 iMuch of the theological material in the bull Exsurge Domine was taken from 
 the condemnation of Luther by the University of Louvain. "The smoke" refers 
 to the burning of Luther's books, at Louvain October 8, at Liege October 17, at 
 Cologne November 12. 
 
 26 
 
402 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 346 
 
 me for my destruction. They have laid false charges against 
 me before the papal nuncio, as though I alone upheld Luther 
 and prevented his death, which, rather than his correction, is 
 what they alone desire. Francis von Sickingen related that 
 when he expostulated with the Emperor about the mandate 
 against Luther, which is being carried around, the Emperor 
 said that he had never issued such a mandate. When the 
 Elector Frederic of Saxony spoke with him about Luther he 
 received the reply that Luther should not be condemned un- 
 heard. The bishops are forced to dissimulate, only when they 
 showed the elector the breve in which he was commanded to 
 throw Luther into prison, he said that he was surprised 
 that the Pope should make such a demand of him, a layman, 
 when he was not convinced that Luther deserved such treat- 
 ment and when the afifair had been referred to the Diet of 
 Worms. The nuncios took this answer very ill. It is clear 
 that the bull was published contrary to the command of the 
 Pope. Aleander, who brought it, had no commission save 
 to confer with the universities. He is a man skilled in the 
 three languages, and if all say that he is a Jew, surely his 
 life lends color to the assertion. What he has done in Lower 
 Germany furious Eck does in Upper Germany. The Ger- 
 mans publish seditious tracts, and I wonder that no one is 
 able to quiet the tumult. Luther writes more fiercely every 
 day and seems to be aiming at rebellion against my advice. 
 He writes that he simply despises the Roman bull, but re- 
 news his old appeal at the advice of friends. A breve^ was 
 shown to Matthew Lang, Cardinal of Gurk, at Cologne, com- 
 manding him to invite Staupitz, vicar general of the Augus- 
 tinians, who favors Luther, and force him to abjure all 
 Luther's dogmas, and if he did not do this throw him into 
 prison or punish him some other way. 
 
 There are many things in Luther's books which are worthy 
 of being known; some things which had better have been 
 omitted and all things too violently, not to say seditiously, 
 written. For if he had said what was necessary more mod- 
 erately, even if he had accused the intolerable vices of the 
 Roman Curia, he would have had the support of all. 
 
 'On this, cf. Smith, op. cit,, 107. On Lang, supra, no. 80, note. 
 
Let. 347 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 403 
 
 Yet I know not how it is that all who have written against 
 him have composed nothing worth reading. If he has gone 
 mad in writing, they are madder in their answers. And 
 among those who wish Luther dead I see no good man. The 
 letters of Adrian of Utrecht are full of bitterness; he 
 favors disciples worthy of himself, vain, deceitful, ambitious 
 and revengeful. ... I have seen Hutten's letter^ complain- 
 ing that the Pope has written to have him cast into chains ; 
 he was not to be found when I was at Cologne, it was said 
 that with forty companions he lay in ambush for the Ro- 
 manists on whom he has declared war. . . . 
 
 347. LUTHER TO FABIAN VON FEILITZSCH. 
 
 Enders, iii. i. Wittenberg, December i, 1520. 
 
 This is Luther's dedication to his Assertio Omnium Articulorum, 
 Weimar, vii. 94. Feilitzsch died only a few days later, while the 
 work was in print. 
 
 You, Fabian Feilitzsch, or rather Foelix, prove what I have 
 often said, that laymen have a spirit of judgment and zeal, 
 for when my Philip and I were with you at Eilenburg^ you 
 gave a splendid example of how purely, learnedly, piously and 
 felicitously you could judge and talk of Christian affairs. 
 Nor do I doubt that in this court you have many rivals, so 
 that I simply rejoice to see the admirable plan and judgment 
 of God, who with the froward shows himself froward and 
 with the elect is elect.^ For we who are the clergy, that is 
 the chosen ones of the Lord,* who ought to be the masters of 
 the laity, turned our backs on Christ and his gospel, in so 
 much that he in like manner turns his back on us. And as 
 we provoke him with that which is not God, and with the 
 word which is not the gospel, so again he provokes us with 
 those who are not clergy and with those who are not learned, 
 by giving them pure knowledge of himself, and leaving us our 
 foolish and impious doctrines. Thou art just, O Lord, and 
 thy judgment is right." 
 
 ^Supra, no. 296. This was published. 
 'J. e., in November, supra, no. 335. 
 sPsalm xviii. 26f. 
 
 *"Nos enim, qui de clero Domini sumus," 
 ^Revelation, xvi. 7 ; xix. •^. 
 
404 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 348 
 
 Since, therefore, I have written and spoken much, not 
 knowing that there was such blindness in the shepherds of 
 Israel,' I deserved only that they should revile me instead of 
 loving me, and render evil for good," until they became so 
 senseless to their own salvation that they publicly condemned 
 and burnt my books at Cologne and Louvain. For they have 
 a zeal for God above others, but not according to knowledge." 
 I am so far from being angry at them that I greatly pity their 
 blindness and perdition, or rather their childish folly. For 
 what is easier than to burn books which you cannot refute? 
 The impious king Jehoiakim burned the books of Jeremiah 
 the prophet,* but he was not justified thereby. Truly, as I 
 said, this is due to our perversity and to the wicked mind 
 to which God has given us up," that we the clergy should 
 condemn the truth which the laity embrace, so that those 
 become priests who are not priests, and laymen who are not 
 laymen. 
 
 Wherefore I thought best to address you laymen, as a new 
 race of priests, and to bring my remarks together felicitously 
 (God grant) under your felicitous name, to assert and 
 strengthen all that those incendiaries have damned with their 
 bull so like themselves. Do you commend me in this work, 
 or rather the Christian doctrine to yourself and all your no- 
 bility. Farewell. 
 
 348. SPALATIN TO THE ELECTOR FREDERIC OF SAXONY. 
 Zeitschrift fiir Kirchengeschichte, ii. 121. 
 
 Wittenberg (December 3, 1520). 
 
 Most serene, highborn Prince, most gracious Lord. I will 
 not conceal from your Grace that I arrived here at Witten- 
 berg last evening shortly before four o'clock, and, thank God, 
 found everything right and well. . . . 
 
 I found Dr. Martin merry, who thanks your Grace humbly 
 for your greeting. He thinks the pusillanimity of the priests 
 is increasing. It has occurred to him and perhaps to some 
 others that possibly the university annoyed your Grace by 
 
 llsaiah, Ivi. lo. ''Psalm cix. 4f. 
 
 ^Romans, x. z. *Jeremiah, xxxvi. 23. 
 
 ^Romans, i. 24 
 
Let. 349 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 405 
 
 its last letter. He is entirely undaunted, and has already be- 
 gun his new book refuting the articles in the bull, and done 
 a sixth of it. He promises according to your Grace's advice 
 to write more courteously henceforth. He has also begun 
 to expound the Magnificat and to dedicate it to my young 
 lord. . . . 
 
 The provost of Liska near Zerbst, who was charged by 
 the Bishop of Brandenburg to execute the bull, has written Dr. 
 Martin that he will sooner lose his provostship than do it. 
 
 Dr. Martin has gathered the canon law and decretals to 
 burn them as soon as he hears that they have undertaken to 
 burn his books at Leipsic. He has also decided to burn the 
 bull publicly in the pulpit unless they mend their abuses. Dr. 
 Martin has so long meditated the papal rule that he says he 
 is now commanded by them to sin and do evil and forbidden 
 to do good and even to act and live honorably and Christianly. 
 On which a new allegorical picture has been painted which I 
 will bring your Grace to-morrow. 
 
 I think I will bring you thirty letters to Dr. Luther from 
 princes, lords, and learned, famous people from Swabia, Swit- 
 zerland, Pomerania, Breisgau, Bodensee, Bohemia and other 
 lands, all comfortable and Christian writings. . . . 
 
 349. WOLFGANG CAPITO TO LUTHER. 
 Enders, iii. 3. Mayence, December 4, 1520. 
 
 Greeting. I hear from friends that you are often threatened 
 and that the evil increases daily; the tumor will soon burst 
 and the whole power of its evil go elsewhere. The affair is 
 carried on with a strange sort of violence, but it is partly 
 human; no wonder that it has some human frailty about it, 
 for such will always accompany humanity. 
 
 Eck has written a triumphant epistle^ to Cologne in which 
 he boasts of the success of Christ's work at Leipsic, for thus 
 he calls his own sycophancy. I have never seen anything 
 more noxious than the barbarian sophists there, fools, atheists, 
 uncultured,^ without style, the graces or faith, relying abso- 
 
 'A letter to Hochstraten, July 24, 1519, published with the date July 24, 1520. 
 ^The words in italics are Greek. 
 
406 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 349 
 
 lutely on human intellect. You have often blown the trumpet, 
 and Hutten, who will soon try arms, shouts war for us. I 
 think you will be safe there, nor shall our chief lack an 
 asylum. Our enemies are protected by strong bulwarks, cas- 
 tles and moats, relying on money, arms and numerous de- 
 pendents. The people stand unanimously for you; not the 
 smallest part is with the Romanists. "Alas !" the latter ex- 
 claim, "what is this monstrosity, that a private man should 
 unpunished call into question the ancient decretals !" To 
 which the saner reply : "What impiety it is to extinguish 
 Christ's doctrines with human laws !" Why do I say all this ? 
 Only to show that everything is tending towards a tremendous 
 revolution, of which the outcome is uncertain. There are 
 men who fear that such a strife would obliterate all show of 
 religion. For they take your teachings in a sinister way, as 
 it were. 
 
 Someone has written a satiric dialogue^ at Cologne against 
 Hochstraten, taxing Eck and Aleander with burning the books, 
 and even casting some aspersions at me, who certainly did not 
 wish the books burned, but who did conceal my opinion about 
 it. Eck wrote back furiously to Cologne. Aleander digests 
 the insult in silence, making not very witty jokes about it; 
 therefore he has been branded with another sharp letter, and 
 with a by no means bad song, and another more learned one 
 with much gall in it. The man speaks hostilely of me, al- 
 though, as you know, I study nothing but peace and tran- 
 quillity. He burned your books with much bluster at Cologne, 
 but as I was absent the attempt was unfortunate and the issue 
 much more unfortunate. He was hissed by the people as a 
 Jew^ who under the pretext of religion would labor for the 
 glory of Moses, as though he were not a sincere Christian, 
 having been recently converted. The people are of two minds. 
 The shame of the burning terrified some, but exacerbated the 
 
 'The Hochstratus ovans, reprinted Bocking, supplement, i. 462. Cf. Archiv /S ' 
 Reformationsgeschichte, i. 58. 
 
 ^Aleander was at this time often charged with being a Jew. even by Erasmus. 
 His skill in Hebrew was at the basis of this untrue allegation, the purpose 
 of which was not solely to excite odium against him, but also to cast doubts on his 
 capacity to discharge the duties of legate from which converted Jews were legally 
 excluded. 
 
Let. 349 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 407 
 
 hatred of many against the Romanists. Thomas Murnar' has 
 published two books on the subject, sticking to the Church,^ 
 but in a very popular way, that is, with spleen against the 
 Romanists; his reputation is black, but his tongue is skilful. 
 He is wont to run much out of the road, as one who cares 
 not for the ignorant and humble people. 
 
 I see that what I always feared will come to pass, that 
 tyranny will be the head of the whole business, and that those 
 who do all things with cunning do not see that what is below 
 the requirement of the law is above the power of man born 
 of Adam. You gather what I hint at; turn your mind back 
 to former times and consider what bloody wars sprang from 
 bloody tyranny. I want Christ to be strong again; you know 
 whether he prospers by doing or by suffering violence. Re- 
 ligion was born, grew and became strong by innocent, unwar- 
 like men; by suffering wrong the unarmed struck arms from 
 furious hands. I have not noticed that any race received pure 
 religion from bloody soldiers ; although I know that the an- 
 cient Jewish religion (to which we are in many respects sim- 
 ilar) was often maintained by force. I know that we have 
 often tried to do the same, though I cannot say with much 
 pietv^or success, since our religion has rather grown weaker 
 thereby. Wherefore pray deter your followers from relying 
 on arms. I understand the reason for your plan, but with 
 me it is another reason to the contrary. For what is deep 
 rooted is not eradicated all at once; it must be gradually 
 torn down until at last it falls under the hand pushing it. 
 Now that everything is in commotion everyone who knows 
 the nature of the mob can see what a revolution and what 
 passions will result. Wherefore I see no hope of safety, un- 
 less with calm mind and free from earthly passions we come 
 together and each yield something to the other. If the evil 
 
 ^Cf. Schriften des Vereins fur Reformationsgeschichte, xxx. and xxxii., studies 
 by W. Kawerau. Murnar (1475-1537), entered the Franciscan order at Strass- 
 burg 1491, and became priest 1494. He studied at Paris 1497, and after wandering 
 returned to Strassburg 1502. In this year he had a literary feud with Wimp- 
 feling. In 1506 he became D. D., and in 1515 was crowned Poet Laureate. Of 
 his many satires his Conspiracy of Fools, 1512, is the best. He was the most 
 popular writer against Luther, particularly in his Big Lutheran Fool, 1522. In 
 1525 he was banished by the Strassburg Protestants to Oberehenheim. 
 
 2A little freedom is here necessary in treating the text. 
 
408 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 350 
 
 should have been stirred up, now I think it ought to be quieted 
 again- The Lamb^ is able to make all things new. We can 
 easily stir things up, but it does not seem within our power 
 to settle them again, but to do that we must humbly strive 
 for Christ's divine aid. He sees what we hardly think of. 
 I frankly confess to you, dearest brother, that daily I more 
 and more doubt about this business, nor do I mean this ill. 
 For practical life easily teaches us how small an impulse can 
 turn the people either to good or to evil. I do not say that 
 we should cease doing Christ's work, but that we should par- 
 don much to the coarse people. As you say, some things are 
 necessary to a Christian, and there are some things expressly 
 overlooked which will be readily understood from the former. 
 You have recent experience of this yourself, as one armed in 
 a holy war to fight daily for your positions with enemies. 
 Consider our weakness, that we need milk rather than strong 
 meat;' do not extinguish the devotion of the people by ask- 
 ing too much of them, and preach the Word of Christ not 
 from strife, but from charity.' All this foolish letter, is, as 
 you know, from Capito who desires the best for Luther, and 
 who wishes for peace and who is striving with all his might 
 for concord. I doubt not that you desire the same, but that 
 hitherto your adversaries have thwarted you. Their end shall 
 be death' whether they were born of contention or whether 
 they were begotten by guile, sycophancy and imposture. We 
 must pray for peace in our time through Jesus Christ. Fare- 
 well in him. Christian soul, dear to my heart. 
 
 Yours, r- 
 
 ' Capito. 
 
 3S0. CROTUS RUBEANUS TO LUTHER. 
 Enders, iii. 8. Erfurt, December 5, 1520. 
 
 Hearty greeting. I have not time to write much, nor have 
 you leisure to read long letters, especially idle ones. It is 
 enough for me to send a friendly salutation to our Martin, 
 the evangelist given by God's mercy at this time, although so 
 hated by little saints and chaste theologians that they would 
 
 ^Revelation, xxi. s. ^i Corinthians, iii. 2. 
 
 ^Cf. Fhilippians, i. i6f. *C/. Fhilippians, iii. 19. 
 
Let. 350 OTHER CONTEMPORARY I^ETTERS 409 
 
 willingly let the Lord's doctrine be destroyed if thereby they 
 could crush you. If that wage is paid to the soldiers of 
 Christ in these earthly tempests, we rightly venerate the 
 saints, who to defend the truth suffered mockings and scourg- 
 ings, were hewn and sawn asunder, and were slain by the 
 sword.^ Rumor constantly tells us how little you are fright- 
 ened by the threats of tyrants, how bravely you despise death, 
 how much you wish to endure a thousand dangers for Christ's 
 sake. We approve your courage and recognize the spirit of 
 the Lord, but we fear that danger will accrue to the world 
 through this holy alacrity of yours. For when Martin is 
 gone another will not soon appear so mighty in the Scriptures. 
 Make haste slowly; when the roots of holy doctrine have 
 been more deeply planted and when success seems assured 
 then say: "I desire to die and be with Christ."^ Meantime, 
 we want to hear you saying, "If God be for us, who can be 
 against us?"^ only on condition that you take care of your 
 life. How many perish in war by too great rashness, who, 
 by taking care of themselves might have saved others ! For 
 God helps us in such a way that his providence excites our 
 own care ; he wants brave but not rash followers, courageous, 
 not audacious men. Who neglects to care for himself seems 
 to me to tempt God. I suppose that I shall seem an im- 
 portunate adviser; I gladly admit the fault in which I have 
 many associates, for they think that you are incurring 
 great danger by your forwardness, which many consider 
 carelessness. 
 
 With my own ears I heard a lusty centaur, a canon, say in 
 public that it would not be hard for anyone who wished, to 
 kidnap Luther and thus deliver him into the hands of the 
 Pope. Look around you; be Argus. You know not how 
 many win wealth, while some are promised the titles of bishop 
 and cardinal with immense rewards. A great multitude is 
 inspired by hatred. If my* Colognians did not fear to bum 
 
 ^Hebrews, xi. 36. 
 
 *Philippians, i. 23. 
 
 'Romans, viii. 31. 
 
 *Crotus calls them "my" Colognians either because he studied at Cologne or 
 because he made fun of Gratius and other citizens of Cologne in his Epistolae 
 Obscurorutn Virorum. 
 
410 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 350 
 
 the gospel of Christ or rather Christ himself publicly in your 
 books, what will they not dare to do to ruin you? Much 
 money was spent for burning the books; what then? will not 
 much be spent against their author? The wrath of the stars 
 is heavy against this place, and the men subject to their in- 
 fluence go incurably mad. I remember that old tragedy of 
 reverend Reuchlin, of which I was a spectator for a whole 
 year together. Both my tongue and pen are insufficient to 
 describe the madness of the theologians, whose passions I 
 found more ticklish than the whims of little women. Would 
 that the "Obscure Men" with their art would again come 
 forth to depict these obscurant fathers according to their 
 deserts anew; the fathers desire not to be illuminated by any- 
 thing but their own light, which they receive from their own 
 sky. But I hope the obscure ones will appear. The Louvain- 
 ians have not sinned as much, since, whatever may be their 
 insanity in this condemnation, they took it from Cologne and 
 Hochstraten. That man will not rest until his miserable soul 
 shall be tortured in his lost body. The error of Louvain 
 seems to have extenuating circumstances ; Cologne sins with 
 intent. Their criminal leader would recently have perished 
 by the sword of Hutten not far from Louvain had not that 
 noble-minded youth thought the death of Hochstraten un- 
 worthy of him, so he let him go trembling and bloodless. With 
 great threats he stopped him agitating against you and Reuch- 
 lin, but he does not know where his fury will end. The 
 sc/oundrel after that laid many snares which perhaps it would 
 be tedious to relate; time will show how the rebellious father 
 will take his revenge. Hutten staid with me at Fulda five 
 days after he had met Hochstraten. I wish you could know 
 the wiles of the most holy fathers both in Italy and Ger- 
 many, since Rome has invaded also the latter country. I 
 cannot write them because there are so many ambushes all 
 around. We wrote a satire on the arm of the Lord versus 
 the secular arm, which they, who invoke all that is impious, 
 summon to their aid. But how I am wandering on, though I 
 want to be brief ! I am falling into the contrary vice. For- 
 give me, most holy Pope Martin ; my love for you makes me 
 loquacious and steals away part of my time. 
 
I.et. 351 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 411 
 
 As I wished to communicate with the most learned Mel- 
 anchthon, his most learned letter, which arrived late, chal- 
 lenged me to reply. For it sought me in Italy, as did yours, 
 and after half a year found me wandering in Germany. That 
 year I was very unsettled, now in Italy, now in Germany; 
 where I most desired to stay I was most obliged to wander. 
 Recently it happened that as I was on the road to Dornheim, 
 I stopped here at Erfurt with old friends. Two days had 
 not passed until, to my great surprise, they made me rector 
 of the university.^ I declined the honor, but was forced to 
 accept it, so that, contrary to nature, neglecting my own 
 people, I discharge the duties of paterfamilias to strangers, in 
 this republic of students which your Eck is trying to disturb. 
 Greet Melanchthon respectfully from me and ask his pardon 
 if I don't write him soon, or if I write briefly. He has mar- 
 ried a wife; may God prosper that most holy union, so that 
 the happy father may see his children round about his table. 
 For some years I have been disputing with Mutian who 
 despises marriage and praises the life of the priests, whereas 
 I prefer marriage. Wherefore let those who follow my guid- 
 ance take to themselves wives. 
 
 351- ERASMUS TO CARDINAL LAWRENCE CAMPEGGIO AT 
 
 ROME. 
 Erasmi opera (1703), iii. 594. Louvain, December 6, 1520. 
 
 I have been obliged greatly to compress this letter of nine thousand 
 words. It is an interesting contrast to the one written to Capito on 
 the same day. 
 
 [Erasmus defends himself from the charge of supporting Luther 
 with the same arguments and often in the same words as he has 
 used in previous letters. He begins by recounting the trouble he has 
 had with the monks of Louvain, who have used the Lutheran cause, 
 without the shadow of an excuse, to attack him.] 
 
 ... In the first place, one or two prefaces, in fair Latin, to 
 Luther's books, were sufficient argument that Luther had 
 been helped by me to write, although in his pamphlets there 
 is not a jot from my pen. As though Wittenberg, not to 
 speak of the rest of Germany, were lacking in men who could 
 write Latin ! 
 
 "Crotus was elected rector on October 18, 1520. 
 
412 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 353 
 
 [Erasmus then speaks of his letters to Luther and Albert of Mayence, 
 complaining of their publication and of their being shown to the Pope, 
 as he has heard from Aleander that they were. He has not read 
 Luther's books. He has heard that his life is approved even by his 
 opponents. He warned him to spare the Pope, the princes and the 
 universities — this, perhaps, in allusion to Luther's plan for reforming 
 the universities set forth in the Address to the German Nobility, pub- 
 lished August, 1520. This does not show that Erasmus favored 
 Luther, for he would have answered the Sultan as politely. He has 
 not written against Luther because it is above his powers and the 
 judgment of the University of Paris is expected. No one hurts the 
 Pope as much as the monks. Of those who have answered Luther, 
 Prierias pleased Erasmus little, Augustine ( Alveld) less ; Thomas 
 Rhadinus he cannot ■ judge, and only John Turenholt is to be com- 
 mended for using arguments rather than abuse. Erasmus closes by 
 expressing the profoundest reverence for the Roman Church.] 
 
 3S2. ERASMUS TO WOLFGANG CAPITO AT MAYENCE. 
 S. Hess; Erasmus von Roterdam (Ziirich, 1790), ii. 551. 
 
 LouvAiN, December 6, 1520. 
 . . . The theologians think Luther cannot be completely 
 vanquished except by my pen, and they tacitly implore me to 
 write against him. Far be this insanity from me! Dorp is 
 not concerned in this hateful scheme, and yet he could not be 
 more hurtful to me than he is. Farewell. 
 it The Italians seem to conspire against us to destroy the 
 j whole glory of German erudition. Aleander has this more 
 at heart than the Lutheran afifair. If he does this unpunished 
 by the Germans I will become a Frenchman. Again fare- 
 well. . . . 
 
 353. LUTHER TO SPALATIN. 
 Enders, iii. 12. Wittenberg, December 7, 1520. 
 
 Greeting. I enclose letters and I am writing to the pastor 
 of Lochau,^ Spalatin, and do you try to restrain yourself a 
 little in giving me so many commands. A man could not so 
 suddenly start such a conflagration in this little hole if he 
 gave the world nothing. I received the bone image. The 
 book dedicated to Fabian von Feilitzsch had begun to be 
 printed, so that it could not be changed; but what does it 
 matter that it is dedicated to him who now lives more than 
 
 "Francis Gunthcr. 
 
Let. 354 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 413 
 
 he did before ?' All my friends do not think that I ought to 
 dedicate the German book' to Francis von Sickingen, for 
 fear of exciting the jealousy of many, particularly of the 
 Franconian nobility. I am disputing with myself whether to 
 dedicate something to my Counts of Mansfeld/ as they have 
 long wished and as there are so many of them. We shall see 
 what we shall decide. Farewell and pray for me. 
 
 Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 354. ULRICH VON HUTTEN TO MARTIN LUTHER. 
 Enders, iii. 13. Szamatolski, 150. Ebernburg, December 9, 1520. 
 
 You would pity me if you saw my difficulties; so sHppery 
 is man's faith. As fast as I get new help the old fails me. 
 Whoever fears many things doubts many things. In the first 
 place, superstition terrifies men, planting in their minds the 
 idea that opposing the Roman pontiff, even if he is the most 
 unjust and wicked of men, is the inexpiable crime. Yet I 
 strive, nor do I yield to adversity. Francis von Sickingen, 
 the only really constant man, protects us ; yet some men have 
 almost caused him to waver by persuading him that some 
 things which you were said to have written, but which, I am 
 sure, you never did write, were monstrous. I have thought 
 it my duty to do whatever I found to do to prevent so great a 
 bulwark for us being occupied by the enemy. I accomplished 
 this by reading your writings, which he had only glanced at 
 hastily before. In the first place, I at once made him as 
 docile as I could; then this affair began to interest and please 
 him. A little later, when he saw what a fort you built and 
 on what a foundation, he said : "Who dares attack this, or if 
 any one dares, who can overthrow it?" Gradually his mind 
 has become more and more inflamed. He is now so entirely 
 devoted to us that he lets no dinner pass without hearing 
 something either of yours or of mine. He is a man of acute 
 judgment; you will find none more learned without the classic 
 
 ^Supra, December i. Feilitzsch had just died. 
 
 27. €,, the German translation of the Assertio Omnium Articuhrum, which was 
 eventually dedicated to all pious Christians. On June i Luther dedicated to 
 Sickingen a work on Confession, Enders, iii. i68. 
 
 SLater in this year Luther dedicated to Count Albert of Mansfeld part of his 
 Postilla. 
 
414 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 355 
 
 education. How eloquent he is to carry out and amplify 
 whatever he conceives ! In our affair we could not find a bet- 
 ter or more apt champion. For that reason there are many 
 who try hard to turn him against us ; but I am sure they will 
 not succeed, for I know how faithful he is. For, a few days 
 ago, when some friends and relatives tried to get him to desert 
 so doubtful a cause, he obstinately resisted them, affirming 
 that what he defended was not doubtful, but was the cause 
 of Christ and the truth and especially that it was due to 
 Germany that our admonitions should be heeded, even for 
 the sake of defending the faith. I would not have you 
 ignorant, Luther, that he is the person who has prevented me 
 doing anything by force. Relying on his advice, I contain 
 myself the longer that more favor may be shown to the cause, 
 and that our enemies may grow the more insolent, thinking 
 it has been overcome and oppressed by bearing my weight. 
 
 I send the bull of [Leo] the Tenth flouted by me^ in some 
 places, as much as I was able to in the short time given me 
 by Christ. They say that you have written something,^ which 
 I have not seen any more than I have seen other pamphlets 
 said to be hawked around. I am surprised that you do not 
 at once send me your things so that I can show them to Sick- 
 ingen. . . . 
 
 Sickingen sends kind greetings and bids you be safe, sound 
 and of good courage. Farewell, dearest and best brother. . . . 
 
 355. LUTHER TO GEORGE SPALATIN. 
 Enders, iii. 18. Wittenberg, December 10, 1520. 
 
 Greeting. In the year 1520, December 10, at nine o'clock, 
 at the eastern gate, near the Church of the Holy Cross were 
 burned all the papal books, the Decretum, the Decretals, Liber 
 Sextus, the Clementines, the Extravagantes,' and the last 
 bull of Leo X. ;" likewise the Summa Angelica, with some 
 
 ^/. e., Hutten's edition, with mocking notes, of the bull, under the title Bulla 
 Decimi Leonis contra errores Martini Lutheri et sequacium. A copy of the first 
 edition in the Bodleian Library, Quarto B 9 Th. Seld. Reprinted with Hutten's 
 notes in Lutheri opera varii argumenti, iv. 261. 
 
 ''Luther's /idversus exsecrabilem Antichrist] Bullam is meant. 
 
 ^For these parts of the Canon Law, cf. note to letter to Spalatin, February 24, 
 1519, Smith, p. 62. 
 
 *For the burning of the Exsurge Domine, cf. Smith, op, cit., loof. 
 
Let. 357 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 415 
 
 books of Eck and Emser and others which sundry persons 
 threw on. We did it to show the incendiary papists that it 
 took no great power to burn books they could not refute. 
 This is my news. . . . Farewell. Martin Luther. 
 
 3S6. ERASMUS TO CHRISTOPHER HEGENDORFINUS AT 
 
 LEIPSIC. 
 
 Erasmi opera (1703), iii. 601. Louvain, December 13, 1520. 
 
 Hegendorfinus (1500-40), a pupil of Mosellanus at Leipsic, in 1519 
 wrote a poem on the Leipsic debate. In 1525 he became professor of 
 Greek at Leipsic, 1536 was called to Frankfort, 1537 to Liineburg, 1539 
 to Rostock. Allgemeine deutsche Biographic. 
 
 . . . What Eck is doing at Leipsic others are doing with 
 greater zeal here. But I have determined to be a spectator 
 of this play, so that even if it turns out well I shall ask no 
 praise, and if otherwise I shall have no blame. But it dis- 
 pleases me to hear that Eck is mocked in posters. It is a 
 dangerous example which might be used against anyone. 
 Again, what is more foolish than to provoke those whom you 
 cannot control? Finally, what is less becoming Germans, 
 whose warlike qualities have been especially praised, than 
 to fight by means of anonymous books, by which they hurt 
 some who are innocent and help the cause of their opponents? 
 . . . Now Luther provokes men who, even if they are in the 
 wrong, which I do not determine, cannot be put down. In 
 the meantime, odium is heaped on good learning, against 
 which they send out these hornets, which could hardly be 
 borne as the last resource of the vanquished. What then 
 shall we say of the victors doing this? Either I am blind or 
 else they are aiming at someone other than Luther. They'' 
 hasten to fight with the Muses. If the event does not confirm 
 my suspicions, I shall not refuse to be taken for a fool. 
 
 357. THE ELECTOR FREDERIC OF SAXONY TO CHIfiVRES 
 
 AND NASSAU. 
 Reichstagsakten, ii. 467, note.' German. Alstet, December 14, 1520. 
 Frederic received the letter of Chievres and Nassau at Eilenburg, 
 December 7 {supra, no. 341), and answered it as follows: 
 
 'A different form of this note is given from a German original by H. von 
 Schubert; Die Vorgeschichte der Berufung Luthers auf den Reichstag su Worms. 
 (Sitsungsber. der Heidelberger Akademie, vi. 1912), p. 27. 
 
416 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 358 
 
 [The announced Imperial letter has not arrived.] . . . 
 Truly we beg you thus to treat the affair of Martin Luther 
 that he may not be crushed by force, notwithstanding his 
 frequent protests and offers. For since our departure from 
 Worms we have been told that his books have been burned 
 at Cologne, Mayence and elsewhere, for which I was totally 
 unprepared, partly because Luther has protested and to-day 
 protests and offers to do whatever he can and ought with 
 Christian honor, and partly because I myself prayed that 
 neither Martin be condemned nor his books burned without 
 trial. If, therefore, moved by the acts of his enemies, Luther 
 has done anything of the same sort, I hope that his imperial 
 Majesty will regard it clemently, and I beg that you will 
 kindly explain it to him and commend Luther and his cause 
 to him. . . . 
 
 358. ALEANDER TO THE VICE-CHANCELLOR, CARDINAL 
 JULIUS DE' MEDICL 
 
 P. Kalkoff: Die Despechen des Nuntius Aleander vom Wormser 
 Reichstage, 1521. Halle, a. S., 1897, 2d ed., p. 29.' 
 
 Worms (December 14), 1520. 
 
 Julius de' Medici, born 1478, made Archbishop of Florence and Cardi- 
 nal 1513, was elected Pope, as Clement VII., in 1523, and died 1534. At 
 this time, as Leo's chief minister, he took an active part against Luther. 
 
 I received your Lordship's letter of the third on the eleventh 
 instant, and will answer it after I have sketched the course 
 of my hard undertaking since I wrote last on November 28. 
 I then told you that on account of the brevity of the Em- 
 peror's stay' at Mayence, and on account of the Archbishop's 
 occupation with other matters, and, to speak frankly, on 
 account of the evil animus of the councillors' who were 
 trusted with the Lutheran affair, and on account of the hos- 
 tility of the citizens (who have always been worthless and 
 
 ^Kalkoff gives these despatches in German translation of the mixed Italian and 
 Latin original. The originals are found in the Reichstagsakten, also in T. Brieger: 
 Aleander und Luther, 1521, Gotha, 1884, and in P. Balan: Monumenta rejorma- 
 tionis Lutheranae, Regensburg, 1884. I translate from Kalkoff, to whom I refer 
 in future as: "Kalkoff: Aleander." 
 
 2Charles entered Mayence, on his way from Cologne, on November 23, and 
 left it for Worms via Oppenheim on the 28th. 
 
 3Specially Capito. 
 
Let. 3S8 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 417 
 
 who played me an ugly trick), it was very difficult for me to 
 execute the bull. 
 
 Now, however, I must relate that, on the very evening 
 after the despatch of my previous letter, the Cardinal [of 
 Mayence] expressed his extreme displeasure that his subjects 
 had not acted as the citizens of other cities acted, and he 
 promised to make good the fault which was excused by his 
 officers. So, on the following morning, November 29, he 
 had the condemnation of the books announced with blare of 
 trumpets in all the city, and invited the people to the public 
 burning of the same. So it happened, although the cardinal, 
 as he said, was annoyed the whole night by many importunate 
 noblemen, who advised him against the burning and wouldn't 
 let him sleep, that it all turned out happily in the end. 
 
 These rascal Lutherans in disguise pretend to act in our 
 interest in advising against burning the books, so that, as 
 they say, we may not thereby arouse more hostility, as if 
 that were possible! Nevertheless, after careful considera- 
 tion, it seems that this course is useful and wholesome. For 
 in the first place, the condemnation of such writings in Ger- 
 many and other countries is more surely made known by 
 burning than it would be by communicating the bull to the 
 bishops and their agents, although I have not neglected to 
 do this also in all quarters. Again, such an execution of 
 judgment by papal and imperial power makes on the laity 
 who are already tainted by the sermons and tracts of this 
 heretic a thousand times worse than Arius, so deep an im- 
 pression that many of them become convinced of the bad- 
 ness of the condemned writings and by a common impulse 
 give them freely to the flames. I have been completely 
 decided for the advisability of these measures by observing 
 that all those who advise us against them are found to be 
 without exception Lutherans, and that avowed Lutherans 
 also do their best to prevent the burning by fraud or force. 
 In short, there is no better method, indeed, no method what- 
 ever at all effective, if this scoundrel will not be moved to 
 recantation. . . . 
 
 Alas! for some reasons unknown to me, the sky which 
 has hitherto been so clear, seems to have become cloudy at 
 27 
 
418 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let 358 
 
 Worms, and the hitherto so fortunate journey of our little 
 boat has met with a check. 
 
 As previously related I obtained from the Emperor a man- 
 date against the writings of Luther and all others who at- 
 tacked the Pope and the Holy See, for the imperial heredi- 
 tary dominions and kingdoms. I always carry it with me. 
 At present we request urgently a mandate good for the whole 
 Empire and threatening the ban, for the imperial councillors 
 before the coronation at Aix stated that they could not at 
 that time draw up such an edict, although according to the 
 decree of the Lateran council it is desirable, indeed, indis- 
 pensable, as a weapon against Luther's person and against 
 his printers. Now, however, the imperialists are sullenly 
 crawling behind the worthless excuse that the condemnation 
 of a German unheard by them would cause grave scandal; 
 wherefore they say it is advisable to hear him and to sum- 
 mon him to the Diet. Yet they say that he shall only come 
 to recant, and therefore they have already in good faith 
 requested the elector to bring him to the Diet.^ Others 
 again advise him to demand only the recantation of the opin- 
 ions condemned by general councils and emperors. So it 
 appears that they make absolutely no mention of the present 
 Pope and his predecessors, and leave the question of the 
 papal primacy undiscussed. What rascality ! Contrariwise, 
 we represent to them that there can be no question of trial 
 or investigation of that which is only too loudly proclaimed by 
 Luther's writings; that in earlier times many heretics were 
 thus condemned by the Popes, who have sole jurisdiction in 
 such cases, whereas princes were obliged to execute the tem- 
 poral punishment at the demand of the Pope; that finally, 
 as St. Jerome teaches in his work against the Luciferians, 
 "the safety of the Church depends on the absolute and 
 supreme power of the Pope; for otherwise there would be as 
 many schisms as priests." 
 
 Finally, yesterday evening at eleven o'clock, the Bishop of 
 Liege took me to the Emperor, who heard my account of 
 the whole business with great attention and satisfaction, and 
 thereupon assured me that the honor of the Pope and of 
 
 ^Supra, no. 342. 
 
Let. 358 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 419 
 
 the Church would be consuUed at every turn, and that he 
 himself would act as a truly Catholic prince. The Nuncio 
 Caracciolo, on account of illness, as I am told, was unable to 
 attend the sitting of the German Council, to which Charles 
 invited me the following morning. This took place under 
 the presidency of Cardinal Matthew Lang, and was attended 
 by the Bishop of Liege as a Prince of the Empire, by the 
 Bishop of Trieste^ as Imperial Councillor and by many tem- 
 poral princes. As I had long ago made it my disagreeable 
 duty thoroughly to study all the writings of the basilisk, the 
 old ones as well as the recent, I almost knew them by heart, 
 so I was able to give a general review of the errors repugnant 
 to the Catholic Church and displeasing to my hearers. Then 
 I quoted the texts of the New Testament on which Luther 
 announces that he chiefly relies, and also the sayings of the 
 councils and the ancient Greek and Latin Fathers which 
 make against him, for the dog won't listen to the works of 
 the more recent theologians and canonists, in fact, he mocks 
 them and rejects them all as contemptible. 
 
 When I had brought the princes to the right understanding 
 of these texts and had won their favor, I demanded an edict 
 and other suitable measures ; they referred this demand to 
 the Emperor, to whom the purport of our interview should 
 be communicated, and they decided to wait for the arrival 
 of the Archbishop of Mayence, who, as Chancellor of the 
 Empire, holds the imperial seals. 
 
 Then I betook myself to the Emperor's privy council, and 
 had an interview with the minister of state, ^ who still held 
 to the remarkable idea that it would be a good thing to let 
 Luther come to the Diet. I replied that I, too, should wish 
 it, provided he would recant, which, however, as far as I 
 could see, he was too ambitious and proud ever to do; and 
 if he did not recant, and on account of his safe-conduct 
 could not be punished, the moral judgment of the world 
 would be confused, and everyone led to the opinion that he 
 had justified his godless doctrine. For this reason the Lu- 
 
 ^Peter Bonomo, Bishop of Trieste 1502-46, a humanist and a capable officer. 
 
 2Mercurino Gattinara, whose career had begun as diplomatist at the League of 
 Cambrai 1509: President of the Parlement of Franche-Comte 1511, Grand Chan- 
 cellor of the Netherlands 1518-30. 
 
420 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 359 
 
 therans passionately desire their Mohammed to come, and 
 preach from all the house-tops that he will come and work 
 miracles. Honored Patron, if agreeable to the Pope's in- 
 structions, and if it brings danger to no one but myself, by 
 God I wish nothing so much as to measure myself with this 
 Satan. If for that purpose I do not see him face to face, I 
 hope immediately after discharge of my present mission to 
 write against him, without appeal to the works which he 
 rejects. So much occasion have I found to refute him in 
 his last work' on which he and his followers spent all their 
 diligence. However, as already said, it is not permissi- 
 ble to discuss the primacy of the Pope and submit it to the 
 judgment of the laity, of whom many are already tainted 
 with heresy. Moreover, what judges could one have if the 
 supreme authority of the Pope be set aside? In his Protesta- 
 tion' Luther rejects as judges all theologians, philosophers 
 and doctors of both laws as insignificant, contemptible men. 
 
 359. ALEANDER TO CARDINAL DE' MEDICI AT ROME. 
 Kalkoff : Aleander, p. 37. Worms (Middle of December), 1520. 
 
 In my last letter I sketched the state of affairs ; in this one 
 I will say something about the persons involved. 
 
 The Emperor is a man of the best disposition, such as has 
 hardly appeared for a thousand years; were it not for him 
 our business would be very much complicated by private 
 passions. 
 
 The confessor' has been taught by the favors shown him 
 by the Pope to think much more favorably of Rome than he 
 previously did, and he gives us good service ; thus we see how 
 kindnesses bear fruit. 
 
 Chievres is certainly well intentioned and influential, al- 
 though he declares that as a layman he must in this affair 
 
 ^The Babylonian Captivity. 
 
 ^Oblatio sive Protestatio, cf. Smith, g^f. 
 
 8John Glapion, born in the Province of Maine, France, became a Franciscan 
 at Bruges. At the time of the election of Charles as Emperor he visited that 
 monarch in Catalonia, and in 1519 or 1520 was recommended to the position of 
 his confessor by P. de Croy, Marquis of Anscot. (Letters and Papers of Henry 
 VIII., iii. 1028.) He was then made Bishop of Toledo. He died September 15 
 or 22, 1522. Nouvelle Biographic G^nirale. Cf. Smith, 110-2. 
 
Let. 359 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 421 
 
 rely on the advice of councillors. The only thing against him 
 is that he desires by the most peaceful procedure to keep 
 the Emperor in possession of all his crowns; as the Germans 
 promise to escort the Emperor in force to be crowned at 
 Rome, he conducts this matter of Luther as they desire, 
 listens to them and tries to put off deciding, but they will 
 deceive him and not fulfil one of his wishes of their own 
 accord. . . . 
 
 The minister of state [Gattinara] is a rising man and con- 
 ducts himself well, but will not do more than Chievres wants, 
 and the latter is strongly under the influence of Marlian.^ . . . 
 
 Among the Germans the powerful Archbishop of Mayence 
 shows himself in his words entirely devoted to the Pope, the 
 Church and your Lordship, as it is both his duty and his 
 advantage to be; yet he is so good-natured and timid, and 
 according to ancient custom so considerate of the other princes 
 and knights of Germany, that truly I would have wished him 
 warmer than he has hitherto been, and I hope that he will 
 be so in future. But though we cannot doubt of his good 
 disposition and will, yet his zeal easily cools as he is not 
 superior to the influence of the surrounding company of his 
 old, respected counsellors, who are mostly Lutheran, and, 
 what is worse, declare themselves enemies of Luther but act 
 quite otherwise. . . . 
 
 The Saxon [Frederic the Wise] is certainly an able prince, 
 but is led astray by his councillors, who are all disciples of 
 Luther. He is angry at us, I hear, on account of a com- 
 mendam^ to which his natural son^ had been appointed in 
 Rome, notwithstanding which, and although in possession of 
 the certificate of appointment, he was obliged, on his return 
 to Germany, while at Bologna, at the death of the previous 
 occupant, to pay a large sum to a cardinal. The elector, 
 who in general is a close, taciturn man, who does not easily 
 betray his thoughts, cannot get over this, as one of his people 
 
 ^Aloisius Marlian of Milan, made Bishop of Tuy 1517. Early in 1521 he 
 published an oration against Luther (Clemen; Beitriige, iii. 4). He died in 
 September or October of the same year. 
 
 *J. e., a benefice to which the Pope appointed. 
 
 ^Frederic was never married, but left by Anna Weller two sons, Sebastian 
 and Frederic von Jessen, and a daughter. 
 
422 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 359 
 
 told me. His dislike of the clergy and his hatred of the Arch- 
 bishop of Mayence arose from a quarrel over the city of 
 Erfurt, which has resulted in a mortal enmity between them. 
 Nevertheless, to my great surprise, they converse with each 
 other like tender brothers; and yet people talk about Roman 
 politeness and hypocrisy! At the coming Diet, with the help 
 of the Emperor, we shall try all means to win this Saxon, 
 and I doubt not that we shall succeed. . . . 
 
 Against us are a host of poor German nobles, who have 
 banded under Hutten's leadership, and, thirsting after the 
 blood of priests, would like to fall on us at once. 
 
 The German professors of the Roman and Canon laws, and 
 priests such as those who have married, are all our opponents 
 and avowed Lutherans. Although Luther has condemned 
 their teachings and cries out that their writings should be 
 burned from A to Z,* yet the blinded scoundrels preach and 
 argue for him. The reason for this is, that although they 
 understand precious little of their subjects, yet, once they have 
 obtained their doctor's degrees, though without thorough 
 study, they are taken into the universities and as leaders 
 give the tone to public opinion. Worse than these is the 
 morose tribe of humanists and poor poets with whom Ger- 
 many swarms. They think they will pass for learned and 
 particularly for masters of Greek when they declare that 
 their opinions differ from those of the universal Church. 
 
 The followers of Reuchlin, Luther and Erasmus have pub- 
 lished dialogues against me, and posted up verses on the 
 imperial palace at Cologne, in which they call me a traitor 
 to the liberal arts, a trainbearer to courtiers, a protector of 
 sodomites, a hangman and burner of good books (Hutten's 
 and Luther's!) and give vent to a thousand other calumnies 
 over which, by Heaven, I can only laugh. I am simply out- 
 lawed by all Germans, and my former students are still more 
 embittered against me and flee from me as from an outlaw; 
 but it is nothing to me. Others want to dispute with me to 
 defend Luther. It would be easy enough to confute them, 
 but they can't be brought to confess they are wrong. 
 
 They refuse to let me have the lodgings engaged for me, 
 
 'In the Address to the German Nobility, §25; cf. Smith, p. 85. 
 
Let. 360 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 423 
 
 although I pay more than anyone. They strike my name off 
 the door, and play me a hundred other rude, bold tricks, 
 which are very extraordinary and would hardly be credible, 
 although I write of them in order to inform your Lordship 
 fully. More anxiety has been caused me by the widespread 
 rumor that Hutten and his friends have sworn to murder me. 
 Not only do my friends advise me of this, but certain imperial 
 secretaries warned me through the Bishop of Liege that I 
 had better be on my guard or I would hardly escape from 
 Germany. I feel less safe in this city than on the Campagna; 
 wherefore, with much trouble and expense, I hired myself 
 a little chamber near the court in the house of a poor man. 
 I suffer unaccustomed hardship. On the icy bank of the 
 Rhine, I, who have been accustomed to a comfortable heated 
 room from September to May, lack a fire. I can hardly keep 
 well. . . . 
 
 I cannot express s.ufficient surprise that so many clergy and 
 monks of other orders than Luther's are devoted to him to 
 the death. . . . Almost all the clergy except the parish priests 
 are deeply tainted with heresy, particularly those who have 
 been appointed from Rome are worse than the others. . . . 
 
 The book of the Arius on the Babylonian Captivity will 
 soon be known at Rome well enough. Its perfect wickedness 
 and monstrous godlessness help us, and I make the most of 
 them. Otherwise I would have sent the book to you before. 
 Moreover, the scoundrel has published some German writings 
 and other foolish stuff against the bull; I hope to burn it all 
 as soon as I can get it. . . . 
 
 360. LUTHER TO SPALATIN. 
 Enders, iii. 20. (Wittenberg), December 15, 1520. 
 
 Greeting. Dear Spalatin, behold Hutten's book^ sent to 
 me as you see by Crotus. Please give the elector his copy ; 
 I keep mine. Good heavens ! what end will there be to these 
 innovating tracts? I begin to think that the papacy, hitherto 
 invincible, will be broken beyond all hope, or else the last 
 
 ^Containing his letters to Charles, the Princes of Germany, Albert of Bran- 
 denburg and Frederic of Saxony. 
 
424 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 361 
 
 day is at hand. I expect that you have long since received 
 copies of the letters you ask for. 
 
 Bernard Adelmann writes that the Bishop of Augsburg* 
 at Eck's suggestion would have proceeded against him [Adel- 
 mann] and others, had not the Dukes of Bavaria intervened. 
 Thus that restless man rages. Adelmann also writes that he 
 has heard from credible authority that the Parisian the- 
 ologians have decreed that all the articles condemned by the 
 bull are quite Christian except two which they consider dis- 
 putable.^ We have heard the same from the Low Countries. 
 God grant that it be so ! 
 
 The Cardinal of Mayence has publicly forbidden my books 
 at Magdeburg. The citizens of Halberstadt burned them, 
 and so did the Franciscans of Cottbus. The ass Alveld writes 
 against me again,' but I despise him and do not care to read 
 him. Farewell and pray the Lord for me. 
 
 Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 361. THE EMPEROR CHARLES V. TO FREDERIC, ELECTOR 
 OF SAXONY. 
 
 Reichstagsakten, ii. 468, German. Worms, December 17, 1520. 
 
 We recently wrote you from Oppenheim. [Here follows 
 the contents of the previous letter of November 28, no. 342.] 
 But in the meantime we have received credible information 
 that the said Luther has come under the Pope's ban, and that 
 all places where he is fall under the papal interdict, and that 
 those who treat with him fall under the said hard papal ban, 
 and we have considered that if the said Luther should come 
 here with you, error might arise therefrom and foreign 
 nations might animadvert on the Holy Empire and the estates, 
 all of which, as you can see for yourself, ought to be pre- 
 vented. And in order to prevent it we earnestly beg you to 
 request the said Luther to recant all that he has written 
 against the Pope's Holiness and the See of Rome and the 
 
 ^Christopher von Stadion, Bishop of Augsburg, in October, 1520, made diffi- 
 culties about publishing the bull, but did so in December. He was a patron of 
 Erasmus. 
 
 2This was a false rumor. 
 
 3This refers (not, as Enders thinks, to the Sermon on Marriage, but) to two 
 email Sermonen uber die Bcichic (confession), published by Alverfd in 1520 against 
 Luther's Babylonian Captivity. L. Lemmens; Alveld, 60, no. 3. 
 
Let. 362 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 425 
 
 decrees of the councils and to submit himself to the judg- 
 ment of the Pope before he departs from home, and we also 
 beg you to bring him with you, not to Worms, but to Frank- 
 fort on the Main or some other place thereabouts, where he 
 shall wait for further orders. But if he will not do this let 
 him remain where he is until we have spoken to you personally 
 on the subject. 
 
 362. ALEANDER TO CARDINAL LAWRENCE PUCCI AT 
 
 ROME. 
 
 Kalkoff: Aleander, 51. Worms (December 17), 1520. 
 
 ... I answered Chievres that we by no means needed to 
 fear a meeting with Martin Luther, as though we knew that 
 we were wrong and he was right, but that we ought not to 
 allow further discussion of things which the Holy Father as 
 the true judge had condemned; and that as he was the sole 
 competent authority in the world, as history teaches, the 
 princes and estates of the Diet had no right to assume juris- 
 diction in such affairs. Finally, I said that Luther, in the 
 Protestation, in which (as I stated in my letter from Cologne) 
 he demands a debate, refuses as judges all representatives 
 of the Church, all theologians, jurists and philosophers, in 
 short, all whom he suspects, that is, the whole learned world 
 outside of Germany. It seems that the only court he will 
 allow is Hutten and his miserable crowd of German human- 
 ists. I added that if Luther agreed to recant, or if the im- 
 perialists hoped that he would, his recantation must be in 
 the form prescribed by the bull, before he could appear before 
 the Diet, or elsewhere. In this case the Pope would forgive 
 him as is usual in such cases, and receive him again as a son 
 of the Church, for the Holy Father did not wish Luther's 
 blood, but his salvation, and the good of the Church. 
 
 Chievres answered that they had planned to summon Luther 
 before the Diet only in certain expectation of his recanta- 
 tion, but that, since I had called his attention to the scandal 
 which would result if Luther refused, he would be on his 
 guard. He recommended me further to be present at the 
 session of the German council early next morning. I was 
 
426 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 362 
 
 there, and under the presidency of Cardinal Matthew Lang 
 and in the presence of many bishops and councillors gave, in 
 an oration of an hour and a half, a summary of the grossest 
 errors of this rascal, taken from all his writings, which, in 
 order to be able to give an answer to them, I have, in spite of 
 their voluminousness, read through and through so often that 
 I remember every part of them. First I touched on the 
 points which would particularly offend the laymen, the mar- 
 ried doctors in the council. Then to refute him I cited many 
 sayings of the oecumenical councils, and of the Greek and 
 Latin Fathers, without daring to take a word from the the- 
 ologians of the last seven centuries, for Luther will have 
 nothing to do with them. So I, poor man, have wasted the 
 good time which otherwise I would have devoted to the study 
 of Peter Lombard or St. Thomas Aquinas or the Nomi- 
 nalists, in testing the doctrines of this wretch. I must con- 
 sider this time as good as lost. Thus we see how baneful is 
 this assassin to everyone. 
 
 As in support of their opinions on the papal power, purga- 
 tory and invocation of saints, the Lutherans appeal to the 
 doctrines of the Greek Church, which, in their opinion, often 
 differ from those of the Roman, I laid before them many 
 citations from Greek Fathers and the bull of the Florentine 
 Council in Greek and Latin. This bull, the original of which 
 I discovered in the archives of the church at Worms, testi- 
 fies the complete union of the Eastern and Western Churches, 
 achieved through the adherence of the Emperor John Palae- 
 ologus. The German court was completely dumfounded 
 at sight of it, and felt lively satisfaction at this confutation 
 of that rascal's assertions. Not content with that, I spent 
 every day of rest looking through old libraries in German 
 cities, and thereby I found many histories of the time of 
 Charlemagne and the Ottos, in which the title "Papa Romanae 
 et Universalis Ecclesiae Pontifex" was frequently used. As 
 I held these documents from their own libraries with the 
 title in letters an inch high under their eyes, my opponents 
 became helpless and numb with fright, and my friends were 
 satisfied and strengthened in their opinions. As the whole 
 quarrel is about the authority of the Pope, I made thorough 
 
Let. 362 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 427 
 
 studies on the subject. In his new blasphemous book on 
 the Babylonian captivity, this Mohammed says that there are 
 no distinctions among Christian men; that where the Pope 
 can dispense, every simple layman has full freedom both for 
 himself and for his neighbor, and other monstrosities which 
 I fear to repeat. At the close of my address, all the members 
 of the council were for us. . . . 
 
 On the same day the Bishop of Liege gave a dinner to 
 Chievres and other princes, to which he also invited me. We 
 talked much of Luther's writings. There was present a cer- 
 tain magnate who had Luther's popular works in his head 
 and was deeply tinctured with heresy, but whose name, as 
 long as I am here, I dare not trust to paper, as little as I 
 dare to set down that of another still more powerful and still 
 worse heretic, for by so doing I might, if they found it out 
 while I was still in Germany, bring a storm about my head. 
 This gentleman, after we had risen from table and closed 
 the doors, brought up many points, which I was able to 
 answer in the hearing of all with such skill that he was com- 
 pletely won for us, though I do not know whether he will 
 remain so. Finally, Chievres and all the others were much 
 edified, and began to hope that the affair was at last getting 
 on the right track. 
 
 The whole complicated affair should not be treated in such 
 a way as to arouse the doubts of the court or the displeasure 
 of the Saxon Elector or of his friends, nor even should it be 
 guided by the wish to make them more complaisant to our 
 Lord the Pope in other matters. So I earnestly begged 
 Chievres and the other ministers not to confound the matter 
 of faith with other special interests on which the Pope and 
 Emperor were negotiating, for the latter would suffer severe 
 losses should the Lutheran doctrine spread wider. For as 
 in his last book Luther sets out to kill all obedience to the 
 spiritual authorities, so he secretly wished to do against the 
 temporal powers. I clearly proved this from his book, and 
 the proof greatly helped our side. 
 
 Yesterday morning after the consecration of the Arch- 
 bishop of Palermo,^ at which the Emperor, the court and the 
 
 ^John de Carondelet, Primate of Sicily, a Burgundian, who attained high 
 
428 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 363 
 
 cardinals were present, the Emperor of his own accord asked 
 the meaning of the text: "Whatsoever you loose on earth 
 shall be loosed in heaven.'" When he had heard the ex- 
 planation he replied with disdain : "What will this wretch 
 of a Luther reply to that?" 
 
 Those two great lords/ whose names I dare not mention, 
 always have Luther's German books in their hands and pub- 
 licly defend them. When recently one of them spoke about 
 them too freely in the Emperor's room, the Emperor said to 
 him, although he was a powerful man who for many rea- 
 sons had to be treated with consideration, that he did not care 
 for such words, and if the lord insisted on repeating them he 
 had better stay at home. This sounds even ruder in French. 
 When the lord heard it he blushed deeply and held his peace. 
 
 363. ALEANDER TO THE VICE-CHANCELLOR, CARDINAL 
 
 JULIUS DE' MEDICI. 
 Kalkoff: Aleander, 56. Worms (December 18, 1520). 
 
 . . . That basilisk, the Elector of Saxony, said to-day to 
 three electors that he knew certainly that the Pope would 
 give Luther a rich bishopric and the cardinal's hat to get him 
 to recant. He said he knew this positively. The Archbishop 
 of Trier assured me that he had heard from the Saxon that 
 the Pope had already made Luther such an offer. He asked 
 me the facts, and opined that it would cause general scandal. 
 I told him the truth and said that if any man would know of 
 such an ofifer I would be the one. Your Lordship must not 
 be surprised that Frederic is conscienceless enough to invent 
 a pack of lies, inasmuch as he does not fear to persecute the 
 Church of God. He thinks every means right to accomplish 
 his devilish end. 
 
 These scoundrels so honor Luther that some of them in a 
 public debate with a Spaniard held in the crowded market- 
 place, said that he was without sin and had never erred, and 
 
 office under Maximilian and in 1522 was made President of the Privy Council. 
 He died in 1544. 
 
 ^Matthew, xvi. 19. 
 
 2As a mere conjecture it may be suggested that one of these lords was Francis 
 von Sickingen, with whom the Emperor had some words on this subject at 
 Worms. Cf. Grisar, i. 344f. 
 
Let. 364 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 429 
 
 that he was therefore to be more highly esteemed than St. 
 Augustine, who was a sinner and both could err and had 
 erred. So, recently, they have made likenesses of him with 
 the Dove over his head and with the cross of the Lord, and 
 on another sheet with an aureole. The people buy these pic- 
 tures, kiss them and carry them even in the palace. Your 
 Lordship can see from this what people we have to deal with. 
 Not the good old Catholic Germany ! God grant that worse 
 does not come to pass! 
 
 The good Erasmus daily sends messengers with letters 
 here, in which, although no one accuses him, he protests that 
 he has had nothing to do with certain books, of which he 
 writes that Luther has denied having written them. The 
 result of his excuses is that the Emperor and many important 
 men have of their own accord come to believe that he is the 
 author of these books, as I, too, in my letters have stated, 
 although I now deny it. I am much surprised that in Rome 
 people have shown my despatches to others who, it seems, 
 have informed Erasmus about them, so that now he loudly 
 complains of me and urges his friends to attack me, which, 
 however, does not worry me much. I wish he would have 
 some consideration at least for the faith and the Church, and 
 of me as long as I am in this dangerous land. But if he con- 
 tinues to speak evil of others, he will find someone who can 
 tell much worse things about him and with more truth. . . . 
 
 364- ELECTOR FREDERIC OF SAXONY TO THE EMPEROR 
 
 CHARLES AT WORMS. 
 Reichstagsakten, ii. 470. Alstet, December 20, 1520. 
 
 Most gracious Lord. Your Imperial Majesty's letter from 
 Oppenheim on November 28 has been received becomingly 
 and humbly by me. [Here follows the contents of the letter.] 
 I humbly give your Majesty to know that I have never under- 
 taken to answer for Dr. Martin's writing or preaching, and 
 do not now, but have left him to answer for himself, as I 
 have often written to his Holiness the Pope and to his am- 
 bassadors. But I wrote to Chievres and Nassau humbly to 
 beg your Majesty to do nothing against Luther before he is 
 heard, so that the truth whether he has erred in his writings 
 
430 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 365 
 
 might be established; for the said Luther has always offered 
 on sufficient guarantee to come out and be heard by fair, 
 honorable and impartial judges, and if he is overcome by 
 the Holy Scriptures to let it be shown him, as he has explained 
 at length in his printed Offer and Protest. That and nothing 
 else induced me to make my petition to your Majesty through 
 the said gentlemen. I had hoped that Luther's opponents 
 would give the matter a rest for a while; but now that the 
 Pope's nuncio and others have thought fit to act against me, 
 forcing themselves into my business, it is necessary that I 
 should propose my plan. I am informed that since I departed 
 from your Majesty, Luther's books, without trial or proof 
 from Holy Scripture, have been burned at Cologne, Mayence 
 and elsewhere.^ This I did not expect, but rather hoped that, 
 if they had no respect for Luther, they at least might for me. 
 But as this happened against my humble prayer and against 
 the promise of the Pope's nuncio, and as I cannot discover 
 from your Majesty's letter that it was done at your command, 
 and as perhaps before this reaches your Majesty, Luther may 
 have done something in revenge, it appears to me hard, as 
 your Majesty may graciously imagine, to bring Luther with 
 me to the Diet. Wherefore I have caused all this to be shown 
 to your Majesty, and humbly beg you graciously to spare me 
 and not to insist that I bring Luther with me to Worms, and 
 not to take it ill that I omit doing so for the said reasons, for 
 otherwise I am ready humbly to obey your Majesty's wishes. 
 
 365. CASPAR HEDIO TO ZWINGLI AT ZURICH. 
 Corpus Reformatorum, xciv. 376. (Mayence), December 21, 1520. 
 
 . . . We burned Luther here in obedience to the Pope's 
 decree, but it was a ridiculous affair. Some swear that it 
 was not Luther who was burned, but Aeneas Silvius ; some that 
 it was Eck and some Prierias. But whatever books were 
 burned, it was done to hurt Luther. The people almost threw 
 Aleander into a cesspool. It has been decreed by the council 
 of princes to summon Luther to Worms to give an answer 
 for his writings. Good Heavens ! how the Roman legates 
 
 ^The elector left Cologne on November 7 ; the books seem to have been burned 
 on the 1 2th. At Mayence they were burned on November 29. 
 
Let. 366 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 431 
 
 withstand this ! They don't want a heretic to be heard. They 
 make many threats, but I think their efforts are vain. We 
 shall soon see what will happen. . . . 
 
 366. THOMAS MURNAR TO LUTHER. 
 Enders, iii. 26, German. (Steassburg, before December 24, 1520.) 
 
 All Christendom, Martin Luther, would rejoice in you as a 
 particularly learned man, if only you did not use your learn- 
 ing and clear reason to hurt the fatherland and destroy the 
 faith and the laws of the Fathers, and if you did not enjoy 
 writing with a sword as much as anyone. For this cause 
 instead of the honor which we owe your reason, we are, 
 alas ! obliged to defend ourselves against you as against a rene- 
 gade enemy, and we must change our fraternal and patriotic 
 favor to disfavor, against our heart's desire, for we would 
 rather see your praise, honor and glory as a born German and 
 an able man than your shame. But as with unwashed hands 
 you have attacked your and our Christian faith, you force 
 us to summon Emperor, kings, princes and lords to defend 
 the truth against you, although you, too, are not ashamed to 
 summon our pious Emperor and all the serene nobility of 
 Germany to protect your false, seditious, senseless and crimi- 
 nal plans. Truly you might have done them more honor than 
 to ask them to help you establish your unchristian lies, and 
 to accomplish your unreasonable, dishonorable venture. You 
 made yourself their counsellor, against the ancient proverb, 
 and though no one asked your opinion, you advised that pious 
 young scion of Austria, our Emperor, at the beginning of his 
 reign to snatch two crowns from the Pope,^ who would have 
 enough honor and too much with the third, also to abolish all 
 the cardinals but twelve,^ to destroy cloisters, to abolish and 
 make a bonfire of the Canon law, throwing away the child 
 with the bath [as the proverb is], and butchering the cow 
 with the calf. This is a warm proposition truly, fresh from 
 the bath-room,' advice hot enough to have been given to King 
 
 'This refers to various attacks on the "triple crown" of the Pope in the 
 Address to the German Nobility. Smith, 82f. 
 
 2A11 these alleged proposals have some counterparts in the Address to the 
 Nobility. Smith, ibid. 
 
 3At that time the best heated room in most German houses. 
 
432 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 366 
 
 Rehoboam by the young nobles at the beginning of his reign.' 
 These proposals are strong enough to stop the Rhine flowing; 
 stabbing, murdering, hewing and smiting which show noth- 
 ing but a squinting, near-sighted vision, which no one would 
 follow unless he wanted to destroy land and people. If you 
 had only known the nature of the Austrian princes, you 
 would not have advised our peaceful scion of Austria to such 
 warlike acts, for his race has no love for blood, but detests it. 
 You say you offer this advice as a court fool," and though a 
 clergyman, utter unseemly jests and idle words. You think, 
 when you have poured forth all your delirium, falsehood and 
 reviling that you have fastened fools' bells on everyone, just 
 like Erasmus of Rotterdam, who speaks truth in the person of 
 folly; but you have not succeeded as well as he did. As you 
 are a fool, we must answer you according to your folly, as 
 Solomon says," so that you won't think that you are a wise 
 man. We should willingly have given you your ordinary titles 
 of doctor and reverend, had you not transformed yourself 
 into a fool. Wherefore it befits us to treat you as a fool, 
 for in truth you are such an one that you call Pope Julius a 
 bloodsucker, and the present Pope with his friends thieves, 
 gluttons, rascals and all such opprobrious names. If you 
 think you have anything against him, it would be more honor- 
 able, reverend, seemly and pious to speak of him by his cus- 
 tomary names, and to present your grievance to him with 
 Christian moderation, in such wise that it might be remedied 
 and you helped. But you want to arouse our young Em- 
 peror and liege lord against the princes of hell, as you say, 
 and you call it a game, which, if it is not begun in the fear of 
 God, will drench the whole world with blood. You want to 
 move us to a great rebellion. But I see no one following 
 you with spear or halberd, nor any who wants to be as foolish 
 as you are. For truly they know that everything that you 
 pretend to reform, can be reformed without any tumult, in 
 time and with gentleness, by the prudence of our noble Em- 
 
 ii Kings, xii. 
 
 2So Luther modestly says in his introduction to the Address to the German 
 Nobility, Smith, 80. 
 sProverbs, xxvi. 5. 
 
Let. 368 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 433 
 
 peror and of our electors, and everything can thus be set in 
 order. 
 
 Wherefore we deeply resent it that you show so little 
 honor to the said princes and lords, and that with many 
 German books you try to arouse and make seditious the 
 commonalty, although you ought to know that as soon as they 
 came together they would of themselves find out what ought 
 to be done without following you. So I desire briefly to warn 
 you not to disobey the Emperor's command by disputing 
 and raising questions about our faith before the unlearned. 
 Then we will all help to get your many misdeeds and libels 
 forgiven, hoping that you will turn to Christian moderation, 
 and quietly with us praise God the Lord. Amen. 
 
 367. CHIfiVRES TO ELECTOR FREDERIC OF SAXONY. 
 Reichstagsakten, ii. 467, note. German. WormSj December 24, 1520. 
 
 Answer to Frederic's letter of December 14, supra, no. 357. 
 
 ... As to Luther's affair, I have no doubt that now your 
 illustrious Lordship has received the letter of his Imperial 
 and Catholic Majesty [November 28, no. 342] and afterwards 
 another from this city [December 17, no. 361] in which his Im- 
 perial Majesty says that Luther shall not be brought here 
 except on certain conditions. . . . And as his Imperial Ma- 
 jesty greatly desires your presence here, I beg you again and 
 again to come so that you can confer with his Majesty and 
 all can be settled by prudent counsel. 
 
 368. THE ELECTOR FREDERIC OF SAXONY TO THE EM- 
 PEROR CHARLES V. AT WORMS. 
 Reichstagsakten, ii. 473. Spanenberg, December 28, 1520. 
 
 The letter begins with recapitulating the contents of Charles' letter 
 of December 17. 
 
 . . . Your Majesty's letter of December 17 I received on 
 the 27th of the same month with due respect. ... In my let- 
 ter I humbly showed your Majesty that it appeared to me 
 hard to bring Luther with me to the Diet . . and as your 
 Majesty among other things has graciously bidden me to 
 leave Luther at home while you treat of the affair with me 
 orally I have a humble hope that your Majesty has noticed 
 my answer. . . . 
 28 
 
434 I^UTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 369 
 
 369. ANDREW ROSSO TO A FRIEND. 
 
 Marino Sanuto: Diarii. Extracts edited by G. M. Thomas in Martin 
 Luther und die Reformationsbewegung in Deutschland, 1520-32, in 
 Ausziigen aus Marino Sanutos Diarien. Ansbach, 1883, p. 5. 
 (Italian.) P. Kalkoff : Brief e, Depeschen und Berkhte iiber Luther 
 vom Wormser Reichstag e, 1521. Halle, i8g8, p. 25. (German trans- 
 lation.) R. Brown: Calendar of State Papers . . . in Venice, Lon- 
 don, 1869, iii. 147. (English translation, wrongly dated Decem- 
 ber 20.) 
 
 Worms, December 30, 1520. 
 In future I refer to the books cited above as "Sanuto," "Kalkofi: 
 
 Brief e" and "Brown." 
 
 Rosso was secretary of Francis Cornaro, who in 1520 was Venetian 
 
 ambassador with the Emperor. 
 
 Everywhere where the court goes they have not only burned 
 images of Luther and all his books, but they would have done 
 the same with him if they caught him, unless he confessed 
 his errors. This persecution is very recent. Letters to cer- 
 tain persons have been received here, in which there are many 
 monstrous utterances against ecclesiastical ordinances. How- 
 ever, if he only inveighed against the morals of the Roman 
 curia, people would wink at it. But among other things he 
 now declares that as he has learned for certain that his best 
 books have been burned in several places, he will also show 
 the Pope what he can and dares do in the place where he 
 lives, in the land of the Elector of Saxony, and so he now 
 burns books on the canon law. News of this fact has been 
 received in several ways. Truly that is a great event, and 
 the more significant because both in Saxony and the rest of 
 Germany he has a large following. Important and well-in- 
 formed men have told me that he certainly has twenty thou- 
 sand comrades of like mind. Even if the Elector of Saxony 
 wanted to drive him out of his present place of residence or 
 otherwise punish him, these Germans would not allow it. 
 Many are also sure that he stands in close relations with 
 Erasmus of Rotterdam and other Dutch savants. Truly 
 Luther is an evil plague and an incurable evil ! 
 
 The papal Nuncio [Caracciolo] and Aleander de Motta, 
 who is the special commissioner for this affair, do all that 
 they can. Aleander has been advised to be careful of his 
 
Let. 370 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 435 
 
 personal safety, so many threats have come in from different 
 quarters. 
 
 We shall see what measures will be adopted by the coming 
 Diet. 
 
 370. JAMES LATOMUS TO RUDOLPH VON MONCKEDAMIS, 
 CURATE OF GOUDA. 
 
 H. Dejongh, appendix, p. egff. Louvain, December 31, 1520. 
 
 This long letter is an apology for the action of the Louvain the- 
 ologians in condemning Luther. I only reproduce the two most 
 interesting passages, which are apparently directed against Erasmus's 
 defence of Luther. 
 
 Although it was not necessary for us to give the reason of 
 our condemnation of Luther, inasmuch as the Apostolic See 
 approved our side and rejected the side of our opponent, yet, 
 as there are still not lacking some who, as though fascinated 
 by the writings of Luther and his friends, think that Luther 
 relies on the authority of the Bible and the ancients, and 
 that we are supported only by the writings of recent authors 
 — although both ancient and modern authorities follow the 
 same path of truth — I have collected reasons and testimonies 
 only from the Scripture and the ancients, and endeavored 
 to show that the Scripture and the ancients were not inter- 
 preted by Luther in their natural sense. You will judge of 
 my success. 
 
 Let me briefly make you acquainted with the method of 
 the theological faculty. More than two years ago when 
 Luther's book^ was printed and published everywhere, it came 
 into our hands and on account of the sayings of many men 
 was strongly suspected of false doctrine; it was then dili- 
 gently and privately read by the various professors, and was 
 examined several times in a general meeting. Thus at length 
 by common counsel some articles were extracted verbatim, 
 enough, as it seemed, for our purpose, for it would have 
 taken long and have been unnecessary to collect them all. 
 But as the faculty did not wish in so great a matter to rely 
 on its own wisdom, as soon as it was rumored, though falsely, 
 as was afterwards found out, that our very reverend Bishop 
 
 •7. e., the collection of Luther's Works printed by Froben in October, 1518. 
 
436 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 371 
 
 of Liege favored this doctrine/ the faculty sent to him three 
 professors, whom he received with much kindness, to whom 
 he declared, on the word of a priest, that he had never seen 
 nor read Luther's book, and that he was so far from favoring 
 a dangerous unknown thing, that, as became a bishop, he 
 promised us his aid. When he remembered the recent suc- 
 cess that Reuchlin's cause had won (for it was then awaiting 
 judgment at Rome, although all the universities had agreed 
 to condemn it, an action in which the Apostolic See later 
 concurred) the bishop took care, before our condemnation of 
 Luther was published, to submit it to the examination of the 
 Cardinal of Tortosa, that it might come forth fortified by his 
 wisdom and authority. His letter^ printed at the head of the 
 condemnation shows what his opinion was. Hence you see 
 how ripely and with how little precipitancy this affair was 
 treated, so that it ought certainly to satisfy a reader little 
 learned or much occupied, and prevent his agreement with 
 Luther's errors. 
 
 That he is said to be a good man is nothing against us, who 
 have not said that he was bad; but whatever he is, it is cer- 
 tain that his writings are not good. We have not condemned 
 him, but his errors. . . . 
 
 We always deny the allegation that we condemn in Luther 
 what is read as pious in Augustine, Cyprian and other ortho- 
 dox teachers. . . . 
 
 371. BONIFACE AMERBACH TO BEATUS RHENAXUS. 
 Burckhardt-Biedermann, 144. (AvicxoN, end of 1520.) 
 
 I cannot sufificiently wonder at what you write of Luther. 
 Things are so bad, if the report be true, that he dare not 
 show his face in public. tempora, O mores! Where will 
 this tyranny bring us? What the devil is this madness, what 
 plague is it, that their vain-speaking greed should be pre- 
 ferred to Christian purity? Is it thus that the Christian re- 
 ligion will pack up and leave? . . . What is more blameless 
 than Luther, what more honest than Reuchlin, what more 
 constant than Hutten? I am uncommonly sorry that Eras- 
 
 ^In Erasmus's letter to Laitber, supra, no, 153. 
 ^Sttpra, 262. 
 
Let. 372 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 437 
 
 mus has become entangled with these curial toys, since for- 
 merly he thought nothing worse than their triumphs. 
 
 372. JOHN VON STAUPITZ TO WENZEL LINK. 
 Zeitschrift filr hist. Theologie, vii. (1837), 123. W. Reindell: W. 
 Linck aus Colditz, 263. Salzburg, January 4, 1521. 
 
 Greeting and kind regards. Our land is full of rumors 
 about Martin, and our eyes are in suspense, waiting to see 
 which shall conquer, power or truth. To us also has come 
 the roar of the lion [Leo] seeking whom he may devour. For 
 our very reverend Cardinal [Lang] has been instructed to 
 compel me to assert that Martin's opinions are respectively 
 heretical, erroneous and offensive to pious ears, and to reject 
 them in the presence of a notary and witnesses. But as I am 
 unable to recant and reject opinions which I never asserted 
 and which are not mine, I begged the lord cardinal to have 
 me excused.* I know not what will happen. It would be 
 sufficient to have written this concerning me to the 
 Father, and perhaps one other. I thought I was going to 
 enjoy peace at last, and now this perplexing trial comes up. 
 I am not able to fly with wings, as I am not distinguished 
 either for learning or for holy life, and yet I think it the 
 worst impiety to desert the truth. Therefore I shall take 
 the wholesome cup and invoke the name of the Lord. Rev- 
 erend Father, pray give me your counsel and aid. Martin 
 has begun a hard task and acts with great courage, divinely 
 inspired; I stammer and am a child needing milk. Farewell, 
 reverend Father, and do not desert me under this dark star 
 at the back of the world." My fellow-captives Mayr' and 
 Bessler* salute you, desiring to see the face of your Rever- 
 ence and to drink wine together, which is excellent at Salz- 
 burg. They promise to bear adversity with you calmly. 
 
 ^Staupitz had now retired to Salzburg to get peace. He signed an equivocal 
 declaration that he submitted to the Pope, For this and Luther's answer, cf. Smith, 
 I07ff. 
 
 2"Nos zum finstern Stern in culo mundi"; an inelegant expression. 
 
 ^One of Staupitz's oldest friends, who had matriculated with him at Tiibingen 
 1497; later Prior at Munich; in 1508-g went on business of the Order to Italy. 
 Kolde: Augustiner-Congregation, 213, 236, 
 
 *Also an old friend, who had succeeded Staupitz as Prior of Munich. In 1505 
 he made a trip to Italy, on business of the Order, and was detained there forcibly 
 for four years. Later Prior of Nuremberg, and after accompanying Staupitz 
 to Salzburg, Prior of Cologne, where we last hear of him in 1529. Kolde, index. 
 
438 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 374 
 
 373. THOMAS BLAURER TO AMBROSE BLAURER. 
 Kolde: Analecta, 25. T. Schiess: Briefwechsel der Blaurer, 1908, 
 
 i. 29. (Leipsic, January 4, 1521). 
 
 This letter is dated "pridie nonas Decembres, 1521," an evident mis- 
 take corrected by Kolde to December 4, 1520, and by Schiess as above. 
 
 Ambrose Blaurer (1492-1564) and his younger brother Thomas took 
 a considerable part in the Swiss Reformation, particularly at Con- 
 stance. Ambrose studied at Tiibingen, where he learned to know 
 Melanchthon. Thomas spent part of the years 1520-21 at Wittenberg 
 in study. He was now, apparently, on a visit to Leipsic. The corre- 
 spondence of the brothers, with a long biographical introduction, is 
 being published by T. Schiess, to be complete in four volumes, of 
 which three have appeared. 
 
 I recently confessed to Luther who exhorted me to take 
 the Lord's Supper which I did frequently during this holiday 
 time. Melanchthon has entirely left human learning to de- 
 vote himself to sacred ; and he exhorts us to do the same with 
 such good purpose that there is no one near Wittenberg who 
 does not carry a Bible in his hand. Luther lectures on the 
 Psalms, Melanchthon on Paul, others on other things. But 
 all have conspired against Luther and even against Melanch- 
 thon. . . . 
 
 The Elector Frederic lately bade Luther prepare himself, 
 for he will be summoned to the Diet at Worms. . . . 
 
 374. BEATUS RHENANUS TO BONIFACE AMERBACH AT 
 
 AVIGNON. 
 
 Briefwechsel des Beatus Rhenanus, 266. Basle, January 7, 1521. 
 
 As you are far from us I know that you are anxious to 
 learn what is done here, especially as the whole of Germany 
 is agitated in a way which I think never happened before. 
 Unless the Pope and the princes have the wisdom to deal 
 rightly with this affair, I fear that it will not end peacefully. 
 Luther will not be heard by the princes at Worms because 
 Aleander persuaded the Emperor that this should not be done, 
 first, because heretics are eloquent ; second, because no heretic- 
 should be listened to ; finally, because if Luther should come to 
 Worms, the city would have to be put under an interdict, 
 which would make any action of the princes illegitimate. 
 Qever reasons ! But Luther is given permission to come to 
 
Let. 375 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 439 
 
 Frankfort and there to wait for the edict of the princes. 
 Francis von Sickingen and Ulrich von Hutten, with all the 
 nobles, have undertaken to defend Luther. Aleander burned 
 Luther's books at Mayence. On the first day nothing was 
 done, for when the hangman standing on the platform asked 
 whether he whose books were to be burned had been legiti- 
 mately condemned, the whole multitude replied that he had 
 not yet been condemned. At this the hangman leapt down, 
 saying that he would execute judgment against no one save 
 against him who had been convicted by due process of law. 
 The whole thing was made a mockery and Aleander was so 
 reviled that he will wish he had never undertaken this duty. 
 He hardly escaped being stoned. They called him a Jew, a 
 traitor, a scoundrel and what not. The next day, when he 
 had made loud complaint and had said that an injury was 
 done to the Pope, whose commands were despised, he by his 
 threats forced the Cardinal of Mayence and the canons to 
 cause some books to be burned in the market-place by a grave- 
 digger, for the hangman refused to ofificiate. No spectators 
 were present save a few market-women. A bitter song was 
 published against Aleander; they say it was posted at night 
 in many places on the house where he lives. Truly he will 
 buy dearly the miter or red hat he expects as reward for 
 this service. 
 
 Now hear what Luther did at Wittenberg in revenge. He 
 burned the Pope's bull, the whole canon law and books of 
 the Sentences, and that publicly; so it is announced from the 
 Emperor's court. He has published a book on the Babylonian 
 Captivity in which he treats with freedom great matters. 
 They say that what he has hitherto written is nothing com- 
 pared with this. . . 
 
 375. FELIX ULSCENIUS TO WOLFGANG CAPITO. 
 J. W. Baum: Capita und Butzer, i860, p. 54. (German translation of 
 
 Latin original.) Wittenberg, January 13, 1521. 
 
 The man of God, Luther, mightily expounds the Scripture. 
 I often hear him ; he preaches very freely. My pupils do not 
 miss a single one of his sermons, by which they direct their 
 life, and they consider themselves superlatively fortunate to 
 
440 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 376 
 
 live in a time when they can see a man like Luther and hear 
 his evangelic doctrine. There is nothing here at Wittenberg 
 to keep anyone from studying; the place is pleasant, the peo- 
 ple well-behaved, board is good, and drunkenness, so hurtful 
 to the Muses, is here unknown. Even if my pupils desired to 
 live a dissipated life, they would, I feel safe in affirming, be 
 withheld by the example of others, both sons of the nobles 
 and of commons, so perfect is the discipline and the love of 
 the sciences at Wittenberg. 
 
 376. LUTHER TO STAUPITZ AT SALZBURG. 
 Enders, iii. 70. Wittenberg, January 14, 1521. 
 
 Greeting. When we were at Augsburg, most reverend 
 Father, while conversing of my cause you said to me : "Re- 
 member, brother, that you have begun this in the name of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ." I received this saying not as yours, 
 but as given me through you, and I have kept it in my mind 
 ever since. 
 
 Now I attack you with your own saying; remember that 
 you said it to me. All hitherto has been child's play; now it 
 begins to be serious, and, as you said, unless God accomplishes 
 it, it cannot be accomplished, for everyone can see and no one 
 can deny that it is in the hand of God. Who has planned it? 
 What have men thought? There is such a tremendous com- 
 motion that I do not think it can be quieted except by the last 
 day. So great is the determination on each side. 
 
 The papacy is not now what it was yesterday and the day 
 before. Even if it excommunicates me and burns my books 
 and if it should kill me, something portentous is at the door. 
 How happy would the Pope have been had he tried by good 
 means to make peace, rather than by force and whirlwind to 
 destroy Luther. I burned the Pope's books and bull, at first 
 trembling and in prayer, but now happier than any other deed 
 of my whole life has made me, for they are more pestilent 
 than I believed. 
 
 Emser has written against me in German^ at the best of 
 the raging Duke George, who in his court proposes to act 
 
 ^IVider das unchristliche buck Martini Luthers Augustiners, an den Tewtschen 
 Adel. . . 
 
Let. m OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 441 
 
 most impiously against me, breathing out threats and 
 slaughter. 
 
 I was summoned by a letter of the Emperor to the elector, 
 but now he has reconsidered it and has recalled the first letter 
 by a second. God knows what will happen. Our Vicar Wen- 
 zel Link has gone to Nuremberg. Teschius'^ is at Grimma; 
 he is said to have left; God keep him! All flourishes here 
 as hitherto. Hutten has arraigned the bull with witty notes 
 against the Pope, and is planning further steps in this affair. 
 
 They burned me thrice, at Louvain, Cologne and Mayence, 
 at the latter place with derision and danger to those who did 
 it. Thomas Murnar has written furiously against me, not to 
 mention that barefoot ass of Leipsic.^ Farewell, Father ; 
 pray for the Word of God and for me. I am carried hither 
 and thither in the floods. 
 
 Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 377. LUTHER TO WENZEL LINK. 
 Enders, iii. 72. Wittenberg, January 14, 1521. 
 
 Greeting. Reverend Father, I received your letter from 
 Merseburg. But how could I write when I knew not whither 
 the Spirit of God would snatch you? I was much surprised 
 at your suggestion that I should publish a book saying that 
 I had never written anything against the civil power, for all 
 my writings show that plainly. But how can I stop the 
 mouths of everyone, when many will not read my books solely 
 because they have heard that my books cannot be read with- 
 out the reader being either reproved by them or believing in 
 them? What can I do to such impudent men? 
 
 I was summoned by the Emperor, but now my summons is 
 recalled. Emser writes against me ; I will meet that beast, for 
 he acts at the command of his raging Duke George. We have 
 heard evil of Teschius. Everything with us is as formerly. 
 
 'By Teschius, otherwise unknown, is it possible that Luther meant Wolfgang 
 Zeschau, Augustinian Prior of Grimma, and later Master of the Hospice of 
 St. John at the same place? Luther speaks of him on November 5, 1518 (Enders, 
 i. 276), and on July 26, 1519, mentions him in connection with Staupitz's and 
 Link's visit to Grimma, saying that he fears Zeschau will be dismissed. Supra, 
 no. 166. 
 
 ^Alveld: the Franciscans were popularly called "barefoot monks." Alveld had 
 just published a book on marriage. Lemmens, 55. 
 
442 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 378 
 
 I received my hundred gulden/ and I rejoiced the prior'' 
 with the money and more strongly with the Lord. 
 
 Farewell and pray for the Word, seeing this tumultuous 
 tumult; perhaps this is the flood predicted for the year 1524.* 
 Melanchthon greets you. Yours, 
 
 Martin Luther. 
 
 378. LUTHER TO SPALATIN AT WORMS. 
 Enders, iii. TZ- Wittenberg, January 16, 1521. 
 
 Greeting. Dear Spalatin, I send Hutten's letter to me, with 
 the bull and other works by him, as you see, and also Bucer's 
 letters, of which one, as you see, was injured when it reached 
 me, perhaps having been rubbed by one of the messengers. 
 I sent some pages of my Latin Assertion to you before, now 
 I send the whole of it with the supplement. Do not think 
 it bitter; the German translation will be smoother and sim- 
 pler. I had to put in a little spice for Latin stomachs. Emser 
 has risen against me ; the Lord be my counsellor. 
 
 You see what Hutten wants. I would not fight for the 
 gospel' with force and slaughter. The world is overcome by 
 the Word," the Church is saved, and will even be reformed, 
 by the Word, and Antichrist also will hereafter, as formerly, 
 be restrained without violence by the Word. I send my letter 
 to the elector.® I read with grief the last letter of Charles 
 recalling his former one ; what hope can there be there, when 
 this is what they think and write? The Lord's will be done. 
 
 To-day I saw the Margrave of Brandenburg'^ and other 
 princes' for, wishing to see a man, ' they summoned me. 
 
 H, e., those left him by Schmiedberg, cf. supra, November 13, 1520, no. 335. 
 
 2HeIt. 
 
 ^The signs in the sky had caused someone to prophesy ■-* deluge for the year 
 1524. References in Enders, loc. cit. 
 
 *At about this time the word "evangelium" in Luther's writings began to take 
 on the meaning "evangelic faith" or "evangelic Church.'* 
 
 5i John, V. 4f. 
 
 ^Luther, however, did not write this letter until Jantiary 25 ; translated Smith, 
 op, cit., 106. 
 
 'Luther means the Elector Joachim I., born 1474, reigned 1499-1535, now on 
 his way from Berlin to Worms. He was a strong papist. 
 
 SAraong thera was Duke Albert VII. of Mecklenburg ('1486-1547), who began to 
 reign in conjunction with his uncle and brothers in 1503, When the land was 
 partitioned on May 7, 1520, he got the Duchy of Giistrow. In 1531 he tried 
 unsuccessfully for the Danish crown. 
 
 90r "the man." 
 
Let. 379 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 443 
 
 I received the hundred gulden left to me through Tauben- 
 heim; Schart also gave fifty, so that I begin to fear that God 
 is thus rewarding me. I protested against being thus en- 
 riched by them, saying that if they continued I would return 
 it or throw it away. What need have I of so much money? 
 I gave half to the Prior [Helt] thus making him happy. 
 
 The younger prince' wrote me graciously, telling me what 
 his uncle the elector answered about my cause. 
 
 I have sent my Postilla on the Epistles and Gospels to the 
 press. I will dedicate them to the elector unless you advise 
 otherwise. . . . Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 379. ULRICH VON HUTTEN TO GEORGE SPALATIN AT 
 
 WORMS. 
 
 Bocking, ii. 4. Ebernburg, January 16, 1521. 
 
 Although I was going to write you anyway, yet I must now 
 do so on behalf of Sickingen. He bids me ask you first of 
 all to use your elector as an intercessor with the Emperor 
 for Reuchlin, as he himself is doing by a letter to the Em- 
 peror which I translated into Latin. Then he says to warn 
 Luther to take all possible care of himself in every place, for 
 he knows certainly of ambushes which it will be difficult for 
 Luther to avoid. He fears all the more because Luther seems 
 to be quite calm and to despise danger. I myself add warn- 
 ing in this regard. Now what is the real reason, famous 
 Spalatin, that Luther does not write even a word to me? 
 Please tell me whether you and he received in Saxony the 
 books and letters I sent you, for I sent him two of my pam- 
 phlets. Does Luther not think there is any reason for writ- 
 ing to me in such a revolution? Please inform me of every- 
 thing, especially what we may hope from your elector. I 
 have written to you twice or thrice to sound his mind and 
 find out what he would do if the papists resorted to arms. 
 
 ijohn Frederic (1503-1554), son of Duke John of Saxony, whom he suc- 
 ceeded as elector in August, 1532. A pupil of Spalatin, he became an even 
 more ardent Lutheran than his father and uncle. The Schmalkaldic war between 
 the Protestants and the Emperor was disastrous to him. Defeated and captured 
 in the battle of Miihlberg April 24, 1547, he was kept a prisoner for five years, 
 his electoral vote was given to Maurice of Albertine Saxony^ together with 
 Wittenberg and the surrounding territory. His life in three volumes by G. Mentz, 
 Jena, 1903-9- 
 
444 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 381 
 
 If you have found out anything and dare to communicate it 
 to another in good faith, write in confidence. Farewell. 
 
 380. ELECTOR FREDERIC OF SAXONY TO HIS BROTHER, 
 DUKE JOHN. 
 
 Forstemann : Neues Urkundenbuch, i. 5. German. 
 
 Worms, January 16, 1521. 
 ... I am glad that the books I sent pleased you and my 
 son.^ Please tell the dear boy that I am informed that the 
 cardinals and Romanists with their followers are taking coun- 
 sel against Dr. Luther to put him under the ban of the Em- 
 pire and persecute him to the uttermost. But there are many 
 other people who wish him well. God grant graciously that 
 it be for our good. . . . 
 
 381. POPE LEO X. TO THE EMPEROR CHARLES V. AT 
 WORMS. 
 
 Forstemann : Neues Urkundenbuch, i. 27. Rome, January 18, 1521. 
 
 Most famous Son in Christ. Greeting and the apostolic 
 blessing! Elsewhere by our letters and nuncios we have sig- 
 nified to your Highness that many false and heretical errors 
 have been disseminated in your German nation by a certain 
 Martin Luther, and have been published in printed books, and 
 that some persons, seduced by the errors of Martin who seeks 
 cause for rebellion, have added unto his errors others of their 
 own. It is our proper duty to purge the vineyard of the Lord 
 from such brambles, and, as much as in us is, under the 
 divine guidance, to preserve the unity of the Church and to 
 oppose scandals, particularly when they are widespread. 
 Wherefore, after taking diligent counsel with our brothers, 
 we condemned his errors partly as false and heretical, partly 
 as alien to Christian piety and wounding good consciences, 
 and we ordered the books of the said Martin containing these 
 errors or others to be burned with fire, and we commanded 
 Martin himself to abstain from all preaching and disputation 
 and within a given time to burn his own books and retract 
 the errors contained in them, and to inform us of the re- 
 
 V. e., Frederic's nephew, Duke John Frederick. 
 
Ut 383 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 445 
 
 traction or else to come to us under our safe-conduct. He 
 contemptuously refused to obey these commands, and is ob- 
 stinate in his false opinion, when he should have preferred to 
 have followed better advice. Wherefore we have declared 
 that this abuser of our patience and his aiders and abettors 
 are contumacious heretics. . . . 
 
 Wherefore we exhort your Highness in the Lord and re- 
 quire you by the bowels of the mercy of Almighty God, ac- 
 cording to the custom of your predecessors, who in doubtful 
 and dangerous matters always assisted the Roman Pontififs, 
 to act as a Catholic prince, and to agree with us, as you ought, 
 in all things which can be done by you for the maintenance 
 of the Catholic faith, and that you will fulfil all that we have 
 spoken of by the issuance of declaratory letters. Thus it will 
 become known to all the faithful by the general edict to be 
 published by your care in all places of Germany, that the said 
 Martin and his heretical aiders and abettors are to be smit- 
 ten with those punishments which we decreed against them 
 in our letter, unless they recant. . . . 
 
 382. LUTHER TO SPALATIN AT WORMS. 
 Enders, iii. 75. Wittenberg, January 21, 1521. 
 
 Greeting. Dear Spalatin, I expect you have received or 
 soon will receive what I sent you with my Assertion by Tau- 
 benheim. Meantime, I have read your letter to Stromer. My 
 German translation of the Assertion is in press. I send a 
 specimen of it ; it is better than in Latin. . . . 
 
 They say the Bishops of Meissen and Merseburg have de- 
 cided to execute the bull; the Lord's will be done. We have 
 no other news; you have new experiences daily. Farewell in 
 Christ our Lord} Amen. 
 
 Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 383. CUTHBERT TUNSTALL TO CARDINAL WOLSEY. 
 Brewer: Reign of Henry VIII. (1884), i. 615, English. 
 
 Worms, January 21, 1521. 
 
 Tunstall (1474-1579) studied at Oxford and Cambridge and in 
 
 Italy. Returned to England by December, 1506, and in 1509 became 
 
 •Greek. 
 
446 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Ut. 383 
 
 Chancellor to Archbishop Warham of Canterbury. He was Ambas- 
 sador to Charles in 1515, 1519 and 1520-1. In 1522 made Bishop of 
 London, Bishop of Durham 1530. He remained a Catholic. His writ- 
 ings on mathematics enjoyed some reputation (Rabelais, i. chap. 23). 
 Life in Dictionary of National Biography. 
 
 The Germans are everywhere so addicted to Luther, that 
 rather than he should be oppressed by the Pope's authority 
 (who hath already condemned his opinions) the people will 
 spend a hundred thousand of their lives. They have informed 
 the Emperor that he is a good and virtuous man, besides his 
 learning. He ofifereth to make his defence and revoke those 
 opinions which he cannot defend by Scripture. 
 
 After he perceived that he should not be permitted to come 
 to the Diet hither, as once it was accorded and safe-conduct 
 granted unto him (which at the insistence of the Pope's ora- 
 tor was revoked) despairing to be heard in his defence, he did 
 openly in the town of Wittenberg gather the people of the 
 University together, and burn the decretals, etc., as books 
 erroneous, as he there declared; which his declaration he put 
 in print in the Dutch [German] tongue and sent it all about 
 the country, which declaration by some idle fellow hath been 
 translated into Latin, which I send your Grace herein en- 
 closed, to the intent ye may see it and burn it when ye have 
 done and also that your Grace may call before you the 
 printers and booksellers, and give them strait charge that 
 they bring none of his books into England nor translate them 
 into English, etc' 
 
 The matter is run so far the princes cannot appease it. 
 The original was the great sum of money that goeth yearly to 
 Rome for annates, which the country would be rid of, and 
 the benefices to be given by the Pope to such persons as do 
 serve Rome, unlearned, as cooks and horsekeepers, etc. ; so 
 the easiest I can think will be that the Pope shall lose' the 
 said annates and benefits.' 
 
 He hath written a book since his condemnation, De Captivi- 
 
 ^Wolsey issued a mandate to this effect May 14, 1521. Wilkitis: Concilia 
 Magnae Britanniae, iii. 690, On the burning of his books, cf. English Historical 
 Review, c. 657-8. 
 
 2/. tr., "give up." 
 
 ^Cf. Luther's Address to the Christian Nobility, 1. 2. 
 
Let. 383 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 447 
 
 tate Babylonica Ecdesiae^ wherein he holdeth that four of 
 the sacraments be only de jure positivo, by the Pope's ordi- 
 nance, so called, viz.: Confirmatio, Or do, Extrema Unctio 
 and Matrimonium; and that Baptismus, Eucharistia and 
 Penitentia be de jure divino et evangelii. They say there is 
 much more strange opinion in it, near to the opinions of 
 Boheme. I pray God keep that book out of England. 
 
 At the exequy of the Cardinal of Croy,^ in the presence of 
 the Electors, the Emperor, the Pope's ambassador and the 
 cardinals, a friar preacher^ made a sermon, and in the be- 
 ginning said the Pope was Vicarius Christi in spiritualibus, 
 and the cardinals and bishops were apostoli, etc. But how his 
 tongue turned in his head I cannot tell ; but after he con- 
 cluded that the Emperor, when they do amiss, should reform 
 their abuses, etiam usque ad depositionem; whereupon the 
 Pope's Nuntius, having commission against Luther, called 
 him, laying the premises to his charge ; which the said Nuntius 
 hath been openly threatened by many gentlemen not to meddle 
 with him. In his said sermon he* exhorted the Emperor 
 and all the princes to go into Italy, which is of the Empire, 
 and to reform such abuses as be there; whereunto I under- 
 stand many of the princes be inclined, because every man 
 thinketh to gain thereby. . . . 
 
 Luther offereth, if the Emperor will go to Rome to reform 
 the Church, to bring him 100,000 men, whereunto the Em- 
 peror, as a virtuous prince, will not hearken. The said Luther 
 hath many great clerks that hold with him, save in some 
 points, which the said Luther hath put forth more than he 
 can or will justify, to the intent that on the residue he might 
 not be heard, and a council called for reformation, whereof 
 the Pope will not hear, but standeth to his sentence of 
 condemnation. 
 
 lit is interesting to note that this was the book refuted by Henry VIII. in his 
 Assertion of the Seven Sacraments. Cf. English Historical Review, toe. cit. 
 
 2William de Croy, Archbishop of Toledo, made Cardinal 1517, died January 6, 
 1521. Ealkoif: Brief e, y2i. His funeral was on January 21. Brown, iii. 156. 
 
 SJohn Faber, Dominican Prior of Augsburg, on whom cf. supra, no. 333. This 
 sermon aroused the ire of Aleander ("the Pope's ambassador"). Cf. Paulus: 
 Deutsche Dominicaner, 311. 
 
 *7. e., Faber. These ideas correspond closely to those expressed in the Address 
 to the Christian Nobility. 
 
448 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 386 
 
 384. BONIFACE AMERBACH TO BASIL AMERBACH AT 
 
 BASLE. 
 
 Burckhardt-Biedermann, 145. Avignon, January 25, 1521. 
 
 I have seen the bull against Luther printed at Paris. All 
 true Christians must mourn that those whose business it was 
 to nourish truth should have conspired against his life. But 
 what will not the cursed thirst for gold and human ambition 
 bring about? Beatus has written that the bull is published 
 with notes by Hutten. Please send me this and any other 
 new and agreeable German publications when you can. I 
 mean little pamphlets, for it is sufficient to give me the titles 
 of large books. . . . 
 
 385. ERASMUS TO A POWERFUL GENTLEMAN. 
 Erasmi opera, iii. 631. Louvain, January 28, 1521. 
 
 ... I am not sorry to hear that Luther's books are, as 
 you write, in your hands, provided only that you read them 
 as I do ; gathering the good in them and skipping the bad. 
 ... I have never had anything to do with Luther, except 
 what common Christian friendship demanded. This is true 
 and I have often asserted it. I am neither the author nor 
 patron nor attorney nor judge for his books. . . Now the 
 bull has been published, which, terrible as it is, will not be 
 able to alienate the minds of men from him. . . . 
 
 You exhort me to join myself to Luther and I would easily 
 do so if I saw him on the side of the Catholic Church. Not 
 that I say that he is not, or that I am able to condemn him. . . . 
 
 386. DUKE JOHN OF SAXONY TO THE ELECTOR FREDERIC 
 
 IN WORMS. 
 
 T. Kolde: Friedrich der Weise, 42. Coburg, January 28, 1521. 
 
 . I am very sorry to hear that Luther is so persecuted, 
 but I shall trust in God, who will not abandon him. There 
 are also many respectable persons who will do their best 
 for Luther, for it always seems to me that he is in the right 
 way. . . . 
 
Let. 388 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 449 
 
 387. SPALATIN TO THE ELECTOR FREDERIC OF SAXONY. 
 Zeitschrift fiir Kirchengeschichte, ii. 120. 
 
 (Worms, c. January 29, 1521.) 
 This letter is dated by the editor 1520. It might have been written 
 at Cologne, November, 1520, when the Elector Frederic, Duke George, 
 Spalatin and Faber (the Dominican prior of Augsburg) were all 
 together and there was talk of getting a mandate against Luther. 
 It seems preferable, however, to refer this last notice to the Seques- 
 tration Mandate of March lo, which was prepared on February 2 
 (infra, no. 393), and of which there was, of course, talk previously. 
 Moreover, in a letter of C. Pflug to Kochel of January 29, 1521 (Gess, 
 under date), there is an allusion to Frederic's answer to Duke George 
 about posting the bull, which seems to fit in well with the first words of 
 this letter. 
 
 Most gracious Lord. The book which your Grace received 
 from Duke George of Saxony is nothing more than the arch- 
 papal, bare and naked bull, brought hither by Eck. . . . My 
 brother writes me that the whole council and community of 
 my home, which is in the bishopric of Eichstadt, are wonder- 
 fully well inclined to Doctor Martin. Indeed, I have no 
 rest from my brother, he keeps so constantly asking for 
 Doctor Martin's books. The prior of the Dominican cloister' 
 of Augsburg informed me to-day that some people were going 
 to get up an imperial mandate against Luther. But he doesn't 
 praise them much. God give us his grace. 
 
 Your grace's humble servant, 
 Spalatin. 
 
 388. SPALATIN TO THE ELECTOR FREDERIC OF SAXONY. 
 Zeitschrift fiir Kirchengeschichte, ii. 123. 
 
 (Worms, end of January, 1521.) 
 Most gracious Lord, I have received the following news 
 from Wittenberg. The Elector Joachim of Brandenburg and 
 the princes coming with him spoke to Dr. Martin at Witten- 
 berg, especially Duke Albert of Mecklenburg. 
 
 The hundred gulden from the late Dr. Schmiedberg have 
 been paid Dr. Martin by Taubenheim.'' Schart has also given 
 him fifty gulden. Dr. Martin writes: "I see God is paying 
 
 ^John Faber. 
 
 2This was the legacy spoken of by Luther. Cf. supra, nos. 335, 378. 
 
 29 
 
450 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 389 
 
 me here. But I have protested I shall not on that account be 
 satisfied, or that I shall throw it away soon. What should I 
 do with so much money? I have given half to my prior, 
 and made him happy with it. . . ." 
 
 Dr. Martin informs that he is writing to your Grace, so I 
 hope your Grace has received his letter. He writes that he 
 is horrified that his Imperial Majesty has written against him, 
 and he says: "What hope is there when people think and 
 write like that?" 
 
 He will not answer Murnar. He writes that Meissen and 
 Merseburg have decided to publish the bull. When the 
 Bishop of Brandenburg was with the elector at Wittenberg, 
 the cry was raised that he would post the bull there. But 
 note if it had happened thus nothing good would have come 
 from it. But it didn't happen. 
 
 Dr. Martin has written to Hutten, that he does not want 
 men to fight for the gospel with force and murder. For the 
 world is overcome by God's Word. By the Word was the 
 Christian Church upheld and sanctified, and will by the same 
 means be renewed and raised up. Yes, even as Antichrist 
 had begun to act without force, he would be overcome by the 
 Word. . . . 
 
 389. LUTHER TO HAUGOLD VON EINSIEDEL. 
 
 Enders, iii. 79. De Wette, i, 546, German. 
 
 (Wittenberg, end of January or beginning of February, 1521.) 
 
 This was the dedication to Luther's answer to Emser, entitled: 
 Auf des Bocks zu Leipzig Antwort D. M. Luther, Weimar, vii. 266flE. 
 
 Honored Sir and Friend ! I have received Emser's pam- 
 phlet Against the Bull of Wittenberg, together with your letter. 
 And although many people advised me not to answer him as a 
 public liar and libeller, yet I could not omit pointing out his 
 lies to him, lest the sow's belly grow too big. He is thick- 
 headed, for when he writes nothing reasonable, but mere 
 lies, he thinks he has the right and has won. So it did not 
 become me to keep silence while all his lies are directed 
 against my doctrine. This I would not conceal from you. 
 God bless you. 
 
Let. 391 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 451 
 
 390. LUTHER TO WENZEL LINK AT NUREMBERG. 
 Enders, iii. 79. Wittenbeeg (February 3?), 1521. 
 
 This letter is dated by Enders beginning of February or end of 
 January. A MS. has since been found bearing the date "dominica XX.," 
 probably for "dominica LX.," i. e., Sexagesima Sunday, February 3. 
 Theologische Studien und Kritiken, 1913, p. 296. 
 
 . . . Emser rages against me at Leipsic. We have no 
 other news, for I think that you have Hutten's works on this 
 affair. We daily expect news from Worms, for the princes 
 do not wish me to come, but desire only to condemn and 
 destroy me. 
 
 Spalatin writes that Aleander dared to say: "Even if you 
 Germans, who pay less than any other nation to the Pope, 
 should break the yoke of Rome, yet will we take care that, 
 consumed by mutual slaughter, you should perish in your own 
 blood." This is his news. I always said and wrote that the 
 Romans cherished this monstrous plan against us. Behold 
 how the Pope feeds Christ's sheep. Farewell. 
 
 Yours, Martin Luther. 
 
 391. LUTHER TO SPALATIN AT WORMS. 
 Enders, iii. 81. Wittenberg, February 3, 1521. 
 
 Greeting. Wonderful is the boldness of Christ, who dared 
 to kill so great a cardinal^ in the midst of the Diet, fearing 
 neither his creator^ nor the creature. Link writes that a 
 similar creature suddenly perished in like manner in Hungary. 
 
 The Pope has accused our Staupitz before the Cardinal of 
 Salzburg for holding with me. Staupitz has answered; I 
 know not whether he will be taken away. I am publishing 
 the history of that noble Florentine Council," and my articles 
 for consoling those who are about to confess," although the 
 presses are very busy. I dined with Duke Bogislav^ of 
 
 U. e., Croy, cf. supra, no. 383. A sudden death was then often regarded 
 as a divine judgment. Croy was thrown from his horse. 
 
 =7. c the Pope. 
 
 3The council of 1439, which tried to heal the schism of the Greeks and 
 Romans, Aleander had cited it against Luther, as he recounts in his letter of 
 December 17, 1520, supra, no. 362, which perhaps gave Luther the idea of 
 editing it. 
 
 ^Unterricht der B eichtkinder uber die verbotenen Bucher, Weimar, vii. 284. 
 
 SBogislav X. of Pomerania (i4S4-October 5, 1523), attended the Diet of Worms. 
 Allgemeine deutsche Biographic. 
 
452 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 393 
 
 Pomerania, who also heard my sermon at the parish church 
 to-day. 
 
 A learned youth from Bohemia has sent me his book/ try- 
 ing to prove that St. Peter was never at Rome. He advances 
 eighteen conjectural reasons for his thesis, but does not prove 
 it. They have also sent my Sermons on the Ten Command- 
 ments and on the Lord's Prayer translated into Bohemian 
 and printed in their type; they are strongly preaching the 
 Word among their people. . . . 
 
 392. MELANCHTHON TO GEORGE SPALATIN. 
 Corpus Reformatoruvi, i. 281. Wittenberg, February 3, 1521. 
 
 Hail, sweetest Spalatin. May Almighty God preserve our 
 elector, the Nestor of the Empire. Day before yesterday I 
 received your letter in which, except the death of the Cardinal 
 of Croy, you announced no news. It seems almost a miracle 
 that such furious enemies can keep quiet, but we doubt 
 not that they are doing all they can in secret. Is there any 
 hope in Charles?" We doubt not that he will confer with our 
 most illustrious elector about the cause of Martin. Emser 
 here is publishing an oration against Martin in German, which, 
 even if posterity admires it, yet is so impious and inept that 
 our women and boys could write better.' O, unexampled 
 insanity of the man to dare to contend with our Hercules, a 
 man full of the divine spirit, not considering what even the 
 impious king of Egypt saw, that what Martin does is done by 
 the finger of God. . . . 
 
 393. RAPHAEL DE' MEDICI TO CARDINAL DE' MEDICI. 
 Kalkofif: Brief e, 34. Worms, February (6 and) 7, 1521. 
 
 Raphael de' Medici, Chamberlain of Leo X., was nuncio to Charles V. 
 1516-7, and from August, 1519, to April, 1521. He died 1523. 
 
 . . Recently, in Saxony, when a priest held forth on 
 Luther, the latter's followers made as if to stone him, as 
 happened to St. Stephen. Then they went to the dwelling of 
 
 l/n hoc libello . . . probatttr Apostolum Petrum Roman nan vcnissc, Novem- 
 ber 25, 1520, by Ulrich Velenus. Answered by John Fisher and others. 
 
 2Greek. 
 
 ^Wider das unchristHche buck Martini Luthers Augustincrs, an den Teutschen 
 Adel aussgangen Verlegung Hieronymi Emser. Leipsic, January 20, 1521. 
 
Let. 393 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 453 
 
 John Eck, who had fled from it, and threw out of the windows 
 his servants and others whom they found there, thereby 
 causing the death of one.^ 
 
 The enclosed writings^ were handed to the King' yesterday 
 morning, but his Majesty, without looking at a word of them, 
 publicly and at once tore them up. 
 
 Three days ago the Cardinal of Sion* spoke with some 
 nobles about this Lutheran affair, and said that he feared after 
 the departure of the Emperor these beasts would renounce 
 obedience to Rome, and that the priests would suffer much. 
 The worthy gentleman has spoken with many of these princes 
 and has found almost all of them embittered against the 
 Roman curia, only on account of things they have seen and 
 heard, especially things done by Arcimboldi,^ who played a 
 thousand useless tricks, and with the help of the cowl-bearers 
 raked in all the money in sight. They are angry, too, at the 
 grants made by the Roman Curia in disregard of previous 
 privileges, and for many other reasons. 
 
 If a bishop seizes a priest to do justice on him, suddenly 
 these monks come to light with their privileges, which they 
 only need to make valid to take the priest from the bishop's 
 hand. There are many other causes which have brought 
 them to endure all these machinations of Martin, even though 
 they see right well that he speaks pure nonsense. The worthy 
 gentleman said that these things greatly displeased him, and 
 in fact, since the preparation of a mandate against Luther 
 has been assigned to him, to the Bishop of Trieste* and to 
 
 ^This riot happened at Leipsic on September 29, 1520. 
 
 ^Luther's Ofer and Protest is meant. 
 
 H. e.. Emperor. 
 
 •Matthew Schinner, a Swiss, made Bishop of Sitten 1499, made Cardinal 
 May 10, 1511; February, 1512, Bishop of Novara. A strong supporter of the 
 Medicis, he had great influence with Leo X. He was ambassador to Henry VIII. 
 in 1516; in 1521 he was sent to Switzerland to raise troops, with which the Pope 
 was able to drive the French from Lombardy. In March, 1522, he submitted a 
 scheme of reform to Adrian VI. He died October i, 1522. Pastor-Kerr: History 
 of the Popes, vols, vi.-ix. Cf. further, P. S. Allen, op. cit., ii. 307. 
 
 ■^John Angelo de Arcimboldi was the special commissioner for the indulgence 
 granted by Leo X. in 1514, for the ostensible purpose of building St, Peter's 
 Church. Except the dioceses of Mayence and Magdeburg, which were reserved 
 to Archbishop Albert, he was given the whole of Germany and Burgundy as the 
 territory in which to sell papal' pardons. He became Bishop of Novara J 525, 
 Archbishop of Milan 1550, and died 1555. Cf. Pastor, History of the Popes. 
 speter Bonomo, Bishop of Trieste 1502-46. 
 
454 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 394 
 
 Bannissius/ everything has gone finely. But when the Cardi- 
 nal of Gurk [Matthew Lang] ordered hirri not to consider 
 the mandate without consulting two other German councillors, 
 the Cardinal of Sion became angry, for at every session for 
 the last three days they have sent to get the others without 
 being able to find them. The Cardinal of Gurk was responsi- 
 ble for this, desiring, in order to please the Elector of Saxony, 
 to put off the mandate. The Cardinal of Sion was certain 
 that he [Cardinal Lang] had arranged that the councillors 
 should not be found at home. The Count Camillo of Gam- 
 bara told me that at the table of the Cardinal of Gurk, in 
 his presence, they had spoken evil of his Holiness, but he did 
 not tell me what they said.' 
 
 Four days ago the King held a council of state four hours 
 long on the preparation of the mandate. The councillors, 
 in giving their opinions on it, generally spoke German. When 
 they had finished the King said: "Do you believe I did not 
 understand you? You said so and so; this displeases me for 
 such and such reasons, and that for other reasons has my 
 assent." Everyone wondered at that; and thus the mandate 
 was at once drawn up in the best form and translated into 
 German. Jerome Aleander will have it printed and sent 
 everywhere. The King has acted splendidly, but many of 
 these princes say that a council must pronounce on these mat- 
 ters, and the whole people declare that this council will take 
 place and that they will not pay any more annates. . . . 
 
 394. ALEANDER TO CARDINAL DE' MEDICL 
 Kalkoff: Aleander, p. 69. Worms (February 8), 1521. 
 
 Although heaven and earth, and especially the whole of 
 Germany, seem to have conspired to frighten me from carry- 
 ing out my mission, or at any rate to cool off my zeal, yet 
 the devil will not bring me to leave my duty unaccomplished, 
 at least, as far as in me lies. I only deplore that the neces- 
 sary documents," which I asked for, will perhaps come too 
 late to be of use. I see well that the extreme energy and 
 shrewdness with which I succeeded, within three days of my 
 
 ijames Bannissius, an Imperial Councillor. 
 
 2These were certain bulls granting favors to various influential persons in 
 Germany. They had been despatched from Rome on January 28. 
 
Let. 394 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 455 
 
 arrival in Flanders, in getting an imperial mandate and forth- 
 with burning Luther's books and other libels, have rather 
 hurt the cause and myself than otherwise, for it has made my 
 lords at Rome think that the Lutheran rebellion has been 
 thereby crushed, and has given them a full sense of security 
 in thinking that the Germans are the best of Christians and 
 the truest sons of the Holy See. For otherwise I cannot 
 understand how they should so long have neglected not only 
 me, but their own honor and advantage and a question of 
 life or death for Christendom and the Papacy. 
 
 Your Lordship will be pleased to remember that from the 
 very first by God's grace I worked with such power that, 
 almost before the Emperor and his councillors knew that a 
 mandate had been issued, they saw the books consumed by 
 fire; and that at Cologne, before anyone was aware of it, a 
 similar beautiful execution took place, and that with such 
 skill that the Emperor himself observed to the Bishop of 
 Liege and many other gentlemen, that I really acted with 
 becoming decision. But now the whole of Germany is in 
 full revolt; nine-tenths raise the war-cry, "Luther," while 
 the watchword of the other tenth who are indifferent to 
 Luther, is : "Death to the Roman Curia." All of them have 
 written on their banners a demand for a council to be held 
 in Germany, even those who are favorable to us, or rather 
 to themselves. Some are moved by fear, some by hope, and 
 some by their private interests. Indeed, some sign should 
 be given at Rome to show that the danger is not underesti- 
 mated. The bull accrediting me, and giving me power to 
 name representatives, should be sent; also the breves to the 
 persons I already mentioned, and numerous letters of intro- 
 duction to princes and bishops, together with fifty copies of 
 the bull of condemnation to give to bishops and prelates, and 
 money for my expenses and for secretaries and agents. Even 
 if they are all much exasperated against us, yet a handful 
 of gold will make them dance to our pipe, though even thus 
 it is hard to win them, and impossible in any other way. If 
 we delay longer it is to be feared that the Lutherans will gain 
 such strength that the imperialists will fear to pass any edict 
 against them, for they even now hesitate, in order, as they 
 
456 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 394 
 
 say, not to irritate the people. Yet there is no other means 
 to bridle their spirits, for the Germans have lost all reverence 
 and laugh at excommunications; the monks will not or dare 
 not preach against Luther from the pulpit. A despatch was 
 laid before the Emperor in council of state, saying that at 
 Antwerp a woman came to words with a preacher in the 
 pulpit, showed him a book of Luther's and declared that she 
 would read it to spite him. Innumerable persons have stopped 
 confessing. Recently here at Worms, after the arrival of the 
 Emperor, a wise and respectable canon of St. Martin's church 
 told me of a man in high position who confessed to him a 
 breach of chastity, but would not tell him whether it was with 
 a maid, a matron or a kinswoman, and when absolution was 
 refused him, retorted that according to Luther's holy doc- 
 trine he was already absolved by God. I could tell thousands 
 of such horrors, but I won't waste paper and time. 
 
 A shower of Lutheran writings in German and Latin comes 
 out daily. There is even a press maintained here, where 
 hitherto this art has been unknown. Nothing else is bought 
 here except Luther's books even in the imperial court, for 
 the people stick together remarkably and have lots of money. 
 Until the edicts shall have been promulgated, we are helpless. 
 The Emperor in council, indeed, commanded that they should 
 be, but their completion has hitherto been delayed by the 
 Elector of Saxony's secret favor to Luther, and by the fierce 
 complaints which all the German princes make against us to 
 the Emperor, by the consultations in which, in spite of all my 
 efforts, I am completely tangled up, and, as I must repeat, 
 by the lack of money for secretaries and for the bailiffs who 
 burn the books. . . . 
 
 Another recent annoyance is that those who return from 
 Rome tell everyone that there the Lutheran affair is con- 
 sidered a joke and a matter of no importance. The councillors 
 who have this matter in charge are so exasperated over this 
 that they would be glad to see us depart from the Diet with- 
 out having accomplished our object, to teach us with our 
 importunity our place. Certainly it will go badly after the 
 departure of the Emperor unless he gets some pronuncia- 
 mento before the dissolution of the Diet. But if a month 
 
Let. 394 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 457 
 
 ago I had had those breves to the Emperor and others, I 
 could have got out of this business much more easily, and 
 have shown the imperialists that the Pope does not consider 
 this matter such a trifle as those travelers say. I know, in- 
 deed, that Rome has held back in order not to make the matter 
 appear too important, lest the imperialists should feel able 
 to set their foot on our neck. But there is a golden mean, 
 to avoid both extremes, especially as the situation is so critical 
 that the Emperor's men do not believe that he will have the 
 power to save it. Nevertheless, we must do all in our power 
 and leave the rest to God's grace. I have positive hope of a 
 good end, if Rome does not fail me, but carries out my 
 plans. . . . 
 
 From the warning which the Archbishop^ of Capua gave 
 my representative at Rome, I learn that Erasmus has com- 
 plained about me there, for blackening his character to the 
 princes, and that the Pope has expressed his lively displeasure 
 thereat. I am very sorry that the word of Erasmus, who has 
 written worse things against our faith than has Luther, should 
 be more trusted than mine, though I let myself be torn in 
 pieces for this faith. But this Erasmus knows his own ad- 
 vantage, like a faithless wife who gives her husband a sharp 
 scolding before she makes him a cuckold. I have long known 
 that Erasmus is the source of all this evil which he has scat- 
 tered around Flanders and the Rhine land, but I have re- 
 frained from saying so and have instead rather always praised 
 him and have never allowed myself to get into a quarrel or 
 an altercation with him, as the archbishop seems to hint. I 
 shared lodging and bed with him at Venice^ once for six 
 months, and he considered it not beneath his dignity to hear 
 my daily lectures on Plutarch's Ethics according to the Greek 
 text. Later, also, we stood in friendly communion, so that I 
 was greatly surprised when at Antwerp and Louvain Erasmus 
 never let me see him or came to visit me. Everybody tells 
 
 ^Nicholas von Schonberg of Meissen, who, while a student in Italy, was so 
 impressed by Savonarola's preaching, that he entered the Dominican order in 
 Florence 1497. As a learned theologian and able diplomatist he rose to favor 
 under Julius II. and Leo X., by whom he was created Archbishop in 1520. He 
 was made a cardinal by Paul III., and died 1537. Aleander's representative was 
 probably his cousin, Peter Aleander. 
 
 ^In 1508. Cf. J. Paquier: VHumanisme et la Reforme, 1900, p. 26i. 
 
458 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 394 
 
 me that he scatters far and wide doubts as to the genuineness 
 of the bull. I learned from the professors of Louvain that 
 Erasmus had convinced them all that the bull is a forgery. 
 When during the solemn burnings or in conversation, instead 
 of answering them I showed them the original, they were 
 thunderstruck and looked it over doubtfully before and behind 
 as if they were still suspicious. 
 
 But at Cologne, where he spent his evenings instilling the 
 worst opinions into the electors,^ after he heard how well our 
 campaign against Luther was going, he had an interview 
 with me. I said to him the most agreeable and honorable 
 things I could think of and remembered the days gone by. 
 When in the course of the conversation he remarked that he 
 had heard that I was blackening him to the princes, and in- 
 tended to condemn his and Reuchlin's books, I could answer 
 that I had no such intention, but rather was ready to protect 
 him against every slander, and that I could give no opinion 
 on his books as I had not read his theological works, but that 
 I did not suppose he had written anything repugnant to the 
 institutions of the Church. In short, I dissembled ably and 
 invented some obliging lies, as in the interest of the faith and 
 of my commission I could do no otherwise. But I did tell 
 him that for the sake of our friendship and his honor I was 
 sorry to find him the originator of the opinion that the bull 
 was forged or supposititious. He must give my witnesses 
 credit and recognize the fact. He excused himself by saying 
 that he was not obliged to believe in the genuineness of the 
 bull before he had seen the original. I turned this against 
 him by saying that he ought not then previously to have 
 spoken of the falsity of an unknown document; it was a much 
 worse error to throw away what one did not know; and that 
 wisdom itself should have prompted him to keep silence or 
 to speak rather good than bad. God knows that he then 
 blushed and stammered, and when I saw his embarrassment 
 I turned the matter into a joke and chatted on other things. 
 I took occasion to praise his attitude compared to Luther's, 
 and I exhorted him in his writings to labor rather for the 
 
 ^Erasmus had an interview with the Elector Frederic at Cologne on Novem- 
 ber 5, 1520, in which he thwarted Aleander. Cf. Smith, loo. 
 
Let. 394 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 459 
 
 edification of the Church than, Hke Luther, for her destruc- 
 tion. As he then expressed the wish to examine some books 
 in the papal Hbrary, I invited him to Rome and promised him 
 a hearty welcome from the Pope and your Lordship. After 
 five or six hours in company we separated in the greatest 
 friendship. 
 
 When on the two following days he heard of the prepara- 
 tions for burning Luther's books, he requested an interview 
 with me. As I was very busy I sent him word that before 
 our meeting, he must let me discharge a definite business; I 
 knew only too well that he wanted to delay me, so that the 
 short time till the Emperor's departure should be used up, 
 and then we should be frustrated. But when the books had 
 been burned, Erasmus did not let himself be seen again; the 
 court moved to Mayence, and as far as I know nothing more 
 happened. So I pray his Holiness not to trust Erasmus more 
 than me, for his position is just as I have here narrated at 
 length, so that the Pope and your Lordship may know the 
 whole course of events. By this your Lordship may convince 
 yourself of the truth of the remark I made in my last letter, 
 namely, that though Erasmus is the greatest corner-stone of 
 this heresy, yet one must pretend not to notice it. . . . 
 
 As you did not believe what I wrote about the libels and 
 insults with which these rascals persecuted me, I send for 
 proof a little pamphlet, more to show your Lordship the 
 course of the rising than to accredit my own afflictions. I 
 could send a thousand such vile buiTooneries, but I shall burden 
 the messenger with the most necessary things only, among 
 which are these Articles to be laid before the Diet. Although 
 they purport to be a grievance of the whole nation, yet they 
 were probably composed by individuals from private motives 
 of hate or self-interest. For at the Diet all cry for a council, 
 give notice that they will no longer obey Rome, and agitate 
 against the clergy. The most powerful princes favor this 
 agitation and speak of it to the Emperor, who, however, 
 remains indifferent and holds fast to the good cause. I send 
 a letter of Luther to the Emperor, which was recently handed 
 to him by the Lord of Cistein^ as Luther's representative. In 
 
 ^Sickingen or Nicholas von Ende zum Stein, the Marshal of Duke John. The 
 
460 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 394 
 
 this he prays the Emperor for a righteous judgment. The 
 Emperor tore it up and threw it on the ground, as you can 
 see by the enclosure. That was a clear indication for the 
 whole Diet of the Emperor's opinion of Luther's cause. If 
 it please your Lordship, I pray you after the Pope has seen it 
 to put it in the secret part of the papal library. 
 
 On the same day there appeared two German pamphlets' by 
 Luther and an anonymous one^ against the Pope. There also 
 appeared a right able German pamphlet" against Luther's 
 Address to the German Nobility. 
 
 A little while ago at Augsburg they were selling Luther's 
 picture' with a halo; it was offered without the halo for sale 
 here, and all the copies were disposed of in a trice before I 
 could get one. Yesterday I saw on one and the same page,' 
 Luther with a book and Hutten with a sword. Over them 
 was printed in fair letters : "To the Champions of Christian 
 Freedom, M. Luther and Ulrich von Hutten." Each was 
 praised in a tetrastich beneath; Hutten was threatening with 
 his sword, according to the poet. A nobleman showed me 
 such a picture, but I have not been able to get another. So 
 far has the world gone that the Germans in blind adoration 
 press around these two scoundrels, and adore even during 
 their lifetime the men who were bold enough to cause a 
 schism, whose words they oppose to the love of neighbor and 
 the command of the gospel in order to tear the seamless coat 
 of Christ. And I am given up to such people ! 
 
 I enclose also certain reckless articles^ on Luther's affair, 
 which are in circulation here, composed, as is said, by Eras- 
 mus, in order to keep the princes from fulfilling their counsels, 
 and to prevent our success until the Emperor shall have gone 
 away without having given judgment. But we shall find some 
 way to cross their purpose. If I sent all these shameful 
 writings I should have to load a wagon. 
 
 piece was Luther's letter to Charles V. of August 31, 1520, translated Smith, p. 99. 
 
 lOne of these was Luther's answer to Emser; the other was probably a reprint. 
 
 2A work by Paul Phrygio of Schlettstadt (died 1543). 
 
 SEither Emser's answer to this book, or Murnar's. 
 
 *See my article in Scribner's Magazine, July, 1913, pp. i4iff. 
 
 SThis picture, a woodcut, was discovered by Knaake, who describes it fully in 
 Theologische Studicn und Kritilten, 1S96, pp. I7iff. 
 
 ^Kither Erasmus's Axioms, which had been printed by this time, or the Con- 
 cilium cujusdam, composed at Erasmus* advice by Faber. Cf. Smith, 100, 103. 
 
Let. 395 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 461 
 
 I neither can nor will relate all the many and great dangers 
 to which I am hourly exposed. You won't believe me until 
 (may God prevent it!) I am stoned or torn to pieces by these 
 people, who, if they meet me on the street, always put their 
 hands to their swords or grind their teeth, and, with a Ger- 
 man curse, threaten me with death. Only yesterday the 
 Bishop of Sion^ told me that whenever I crossed the square 
 in front of his house his people adopted this attitude. Mind- 
 ful of what may happen, I now commend my soul to God's 
 mercy, and ask from his Holiness full absolution, and com- 
 mend my brothers and servants who have to suffer with me, to 
 your Lordship's grace. 
 
 Finally, I urgently request your Lordship to answer the 
 questions raised in the enclosed letter,^ which are of great 
 importance for the pacification of this rebellion. For the 
 danger is so great that if the good Emperor had only shown 
 the least indecision, not to mention the obstacles that he might 
 have put in our way, we should have lost, and the whole of 
 Germany would have fallen away from the Roman See. . . . 
 
 39S. RUDOLPH AGRICOLA TO VADIAN AT ST. GALL. 
 Vadianische Briefsammlung, ii. 338. Cracow, February 8, 1521. 
 
 Rudolph Agricola (Baumann, not to be confounded with the elder 
 Rudolph Agricola (Hausmann) of Heidelberg), of Wasserburg, went 
 to Cracow before 1500, where he studied classics and mathematics. 
 From 1515 to 1518 he was at Vienna, then he returned to Cracow, 
 where he died in 1521. 
 
 . . . Bovillus' writes me from Wittenberg how Luther 
 triumphs, how evangelic he is, how the Pope longs to have 
 Luther taken bound by the legates to Rome and all his books 
 burned, how Frederic protects the man, and how Luther in 
 the presence of a great concourse of people annihilated and 
 burned that great sea of litigious strife, the Canon Law. 
 Until I can be with you, may God grant me my prayer ! Write 
 me anything that you desire your friends to know, if I, who 
 am so devoted to you, may call myself one. Philip Melanch- 
 thon, that great master of Greek and Latin, Luther's Achates, 
 
 ^Matthew Sctinner. 
 ^February 6. 
 
 3Lewis Oechslin of SchafEhausen, mentioned several times in the Vadianische 
 Briefsammlung f otherwise unknown to me. 
 
462 I^UTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 397 
 
 wrote to me excited by the wish to know what I am doing in 
 the North. I answered briefly that I should go to Wittenberg 
 if Vadian would call. . . . 
 
 396. ALEANDER TO THE VICE-CHANCELLOR DE' MEDICI 
 
 AT ROME. 
 Kalkoff: Aleander, 82. Worms, February 12, 1521. 
 
 On the tenth of this month I received your Lordship's 
 letter with the bulP against Luther, and some breves, as well 
 as the order for 400 gulden, for which I humbly thank his 
 Holiness and your Lordship. ... In the preparation of the 
 bull I could mention many errors fatal to our cause, but time 
 presses me, for this morning the Emperor with his own mouth 
 commissioned me to speak^ of the Lutheran cause and make 
 our demand before his Majesty, the electors and Diet to- 
 morrow. The time is too short to do much, but I shall work 
 all night and pray God to strengthen me to protect his cause. 
 I am of good confidence if only my strength holds out, for 
 almost every night, or at least on many days, I suffer from 
 fever. . . . 
 
 397- ALEANDER TO THE VICE-CHANCELLOR DE' MEDICI 
 
 AT ROME. 
 Kalkoff: Aleander, 85. Worms (February 14), 1521. 
 
 As I learned to-day that the courier who should have left 
 day before yesterday is still here, I had him give back my 
 packet of letters and added this sheet, to inform your Lord- 
 ship that yesterday, on Ash Wednesday, after dinner, I de- 
 livered an oration about three hours long before a very 
 numerous assembly. Present were the Emperor, all the elec- 
 tors save the Saxon — who excused himself on the ground of 
 ill health and was represented by his chancellor" and several 
 
 'This was the bull Decet Pontificem Romanum, promulgated at Rome, Janu- 
 ary 3, and sent to Aleander with Medici's letter of January 28. Besides con- 
 demning Luther, it mentioned the names of some of his adherents, such as 
 Hutten, which Aleander judged to be unwise. He therefore sent it back for 
 revision, which was accomplished. The bull was thus first posted by him at 
 Worms on May 6. 
 
 ^This speech reprinted in Forstemann: Neues Urkundenhuch, p. 3ofF. Cf, 
 Smith, 109. 
 
 ^Gregory Bruck (1483 or 1486-1557), born near Wittenberg, where he studied 
 1502-3, then at Frankfort on the Oder, then back to Wittenberg, where he became 
 bachelor of law 1509. In 1520 he entered the elector's service, soon rising to the 
 highest position, that of chancellor. AUgemeine deutsche Biographic, 
 
Let. 397 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 463 
 
 councillors — and also all the princes, spiritual and temporal, 
 as well as the other Estates of the Empire and the imperial 
 councillors. As the emperor's command had been given 
 me only the day before, I had little time for preparation, yet 
 thanks to my continual occupation with the cursed stuff, about 
 which I had often spoken publicly as well as privately, I 
 was, thank God, so well instructed, that, although I said 
 sufficient in three hours, yet I could have talked four hours 
 more. I hear from more than one quarter that my oration 
 is considered able, apt and fortunate; but I, who can never 
 satisfy myself in such things, think it mediocre and only 
 partially successful. Even what was accomplished I do not 
 ascribe to my own talent or eloquence, of which I have little 
 or nothing, but to the grace of God, to the power of the good 
 cause and to the terrible and monstrous opinions of Luther, 
 which I cited from his books only to refute them. I pointed 
 to the disagreeable consequences which might grow from this 
 doctrine, and to the shame which threatened the nation ; I 
 reminded them that the Empire was only maintained by the 
 same policy by which it had been won, that the Empire and 
 the College of Electors had only been granted to Charlemagne 
 and Otto on account of their proved attachment to the Roman 
 See; and finally I mentioned, among many other things, the 
 Council of Constance and the Hussites. Among my audience 
 were many princes favorable to Luther, and the secretaries of 
 the Elector of Saxony, who, although from lack of time I 
 spoke very rapidly, took much of my oration down. And 
 now already, as I hear, they spread abroad the lie that I at- 
 tacked hatefully their prince. They circulated the same 
 slander at Cologne, although when I handed the breve to their 
 lord I took the Bishops of Trieste and Trent as well as Carac- 
 ciolo as witnesses. The reward for my restraint was that the 
 elector in his answer to my oration as reported by the rascal 
 who wrote it down yesterday complained to us that I had 
 attacked him. These beasts must always invent new lies to 
 give color to their evil speaking and to instigate their prince. 
 His servants, who are all arch-Lutherans, have always done 
 that. However, had he been present, I would moderately 
 and courteously have taunted him a little, for we can no more 
 
464 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 399 
 
 hope to move him by kind speech, and I should have felt safer 
 in doing this as the Emperor, Chievres and the Archbishop of 
 Mayence told Caracciolo and me that I should say fearlessly 
 all that seemed to me advisable. By God's help I did it 
 intrepidly, just as though I were lecturing schoolboys, although 
 many Lutheran princes made savage faces and had often 
 previously threatened me. But I think little of death, if I 
 die for the faith and for my patrons. 
 
 398. THOMAS BLAURER TO JOHN VON BOTZHEIM. 
 T. Schiess : Briefwechsel der Blaurer, i. 34. 
 
 Wittenberg, February 15, 1521. 
 John von Botzheim (c. 1480-ApriI, IS3S), a noble Alsatian, studied 
 under Wimpfeling, and took the degree of Doctor of Canon Law at 
 Bologna. He returned from Italy to Strassburg in 1504. In 1512 he 
 was appointed Canon of Constance. He wrote several things. A friend 
 of Erasmus, whom he met in 1520, he was at first inclined to the 
 Reformation, and then turned against it. Allgemeine Deutsche Biog- 
 taphie, and P. S. Allen, i. i. 
 
 . . . Please change your opinion about Luther writing more 
 bitterly than need be. He does it for the good of the Chris- 
 tian flock, nor can he do it without bitterness. The life of 
 wicked men must be blamed, especially when they are prom- 
 inent, the people must be called back to other examples and 
 other doctrine from that which they preach. Luther's dili- 
 gence in the Old and New Testaments, his illumination given 
 by the Holy Spirit, his life and character, the arguments he 
 uses, all prevent us from thinking that he writes wrongly or 
 thoughtlessly. If it seem otherwise to you, it is because of 
 your carnal perception which always opposes human intel- 
 lect to the spirit. The truth only shines forth when the per- 
 ception of the flesh has been beaten down. . . . 
 
 399. ERASMUS TO NICHOLAS BERAULD. 
 Erasmi opera (1703), iii. 634. Louvain, February 16, 1521. 
 
 Nicholas Berauld (Beroaldus, 1473-1SS0) was born at Orleans, 
 where he spent most of his life teaching Greek. Calvin was one of 
 his pupils. He wrote several books, including a commentary on some 
 of the Psalms. Nouvelle Biographie Universelle. 
 
 . . . Luther is bringing odium on me and on sound learn- 
 
Let. 400 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 465 
 
 ing. Everyone knows that the Church was afflicted with 
 tyranny and with ceremonies and with laws made only for 
 gain. Many either desired or planned a remedy, but ill-con- 
 sidered remedies make things worse, and it comes to pass 
 that when those who wish to break their yoke do not suc- 
 ceed they are drawn into a harder servitude. Would that 
 that man would either abstain altogether from proposing 
 remedies or would do it more gently and circumspectly. I 
 labor not for Luther, but for the glory of Christ; for I see 
 some prepared to do what, if it succeeds, will leave us nothing 
 but to write the dirge of evangelic doctrine. . . . 
 
 400. LUTHER TO SPALATIN AT WORMS. 
 Enders, iii. 86. Wittenberg, February 17, 1521. 
 
 Greeting. I hope that my letters and books have at last 
 reached you, Spalatin. I wonder what prevented your get- 
 ting them earlier, as in the meantime I received two letters 
 from you, neither of which mentioned your getting mine. 
 What wind has blown away all that I wrote to Hutten?^ I 
 know not why I should try so hard to keep writing and send- 
 ing things. I commanded some pages of my German Asser- 
 tion to fly to you, snatched wet from the press, but now I 
 see that they limped. I now send the rest, and will continue 
 to send what the press produces. 
 
 Emser is vomiting his poison at length to please Duke 
 George. I am obliged to answer the man only on account 
 of his most impure lies. I am not yet able to answer Mur- 
 nar; who can do all things? Adam Petri has printed my 
 Commentary on the Psalms at Basle, which I regret. The 
 Bishop of Merseburg, that holy servant of the Pope, has 
 burned my books. ^ 
 
 Matthew Adrian has asked leave to resign, which we im- 
 mediately gave him. Thus we are freed from that man. 
 Would that Aurogallus^ deserved to succeed him. . . . 
 
 ^Supra, no. 379. 
 
 ^On January 23. 
 
 ^Matthew Aurogallus or Goldhahn (c, i4go-November 10, 1543), of Commotaa 
 in Bohemia, is first heard of as school teacher at Schmalkalden. In 1519 he 
 came to Wittenberg, and in 1521 was appointed professor of Hebrew to succeed 
 Adrian. He was a great help to Luther in translating the Old Testament. In 
 1535 he published a Hebrew grammar, AUgemeine deutsche Biographic. 
 
 30 
 
466 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 401 
 
 At Madgeburg Emser's book was fastened to a shameful 
 place with the inscription: "The book is worthy of the 
 place." They say that a rod was also fastened up, to indicate 
 his chastisement. But he reigns at Leipsic, able and bold to 
 do much, like a man who will soon meet his end as such 
 men do. 
 
 In these days of carnival our youth carried around in 
 ludicrous and lofty pomp a mock Pope; finally in the market- 
 place making as if they would throw him in the fountain, 
 they dispersed him and his cardinals, bishops and chamber- 
 lains in the various quarters of the town, all of which was 
 very funny and clever. Christ's enemy, who mocks the great- 
 est kings and Christ himself, deserved to be thus mocked. It 
 will be written up in Latin verses. . . . 
 
 401. JEROME ALEANDER TO JOHN ECK AT INGOLSTADT. 
 Kalkoff: Brief e, 40. Worms, February 17, 1521. 
 
 Honored and learned Friend! The two letters, which, ac- 
 cording to your last note^ you sent to me, I have not received. 
 The fault is presumably with the messengers, and from lack 
 of messengers I have not written you. Moreover, you can 
 hear the rumor of my doings, as my burning of Lutheran books 
 in many places has brought me such hatred from your com- 
 patriots that it is with great danger that I stay in Germany. 
 Yet only for the sake of religion I oppose them, and no mis- 
 fortune, not even death, shall frighten me. . . . 
 
 Now, my dear Eck, I will, as you wish, tell you what is 
 going on here. You must know that here there is such a 
 crowd of Lutherans that not only men but stocks and stones 
 shout Luther's name. It is not remarkable that laymen should 
 do so, but in this campaign the priests are the leaders, not 
 so much to favor Luther, that pernicious monster, as to spout 
 forth from his mouth their long accumulated venom against 
 the city of Rome and the priesthood. They do it with such 
 fury that if the Emperor, this best and most pious of all 
 men, did not withstand them, we should soon see a disease 
 in the Church of God, which would bring perdition first of 
 all to the Germans. 
 
 'One of February 9, Reichstagsakten, no. 136. 
 
Let. 401 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 467 
 
 Recently [December 29] the Emperor decided to put 
 Luther and his books under the ban of the Empire, but be- 
 fore this decree had received the imperial seal, the malicious 
 counsel of certain men brought it about, in spite of my em- 
 phatic but vain protest, that the affair should be referred to 
 the German princes and estates at the Diet. For I could 
 easily see that nothing those enemies of the priests meddled 
 with could have a good end. But at all events it happened 
 that in obedience to the Emperor's command, given on some 
 one else's advice, I should discuss the Lutheran affair 
 before him and the princes of the Empire. I spoke on this 
 question about two hours on Ash Wednesday, v^rith close at- 
 tention from Emperor and princes. The Emperor, as before, 
 defended the faith, and I hear that all the electors save the 
 Saxon who was kept away by a fever, agreed to his decision. 
 The other princes, when asked for their judgment, asked a 
 delay of six days, as, unless I err, Simonides once did when 
 preparing his answer to Hiero. The Emperor has only given 
 them three days. This period expires to-morrow, and we 
 know not exactly what will happen, for the simple, plain af- 
 fair has been greatly confused by the opposition of opinions. 
 
 So we are waiting for the issue, which I will communicate 
 to you in due time. At Cologne I learned from your letter 
 to Hochstraten as well as from your last letter to me, what 
 you have done in this matter, and what you recommend 
 me to do. I esteem you highly, my dear Eck, because you 
 have faithfully, energetically and punctually done all that 
 was committed to you. In like manner I have sent the bull 
 against Luther and all his confederates to all bishops, and 
 have solemnly executed the mandate wherever my path has 
 led me. If I find others among the numerous attendants of 
 this Diet I will do the same, but I already see that all that 
 will help us little unless we get the Emperor's authority. For 
 how is it possible that men who care not a straw for the 
 Pope's excommunication and for the Pope himself, should 
 fear punishment by a bishop? Heretics must be punished 
 with an iron rod and with fire, if they persist in their con- 
 tumacy, either sinning themselves or leading other unhappy 
 men into their perdition, their bodies must be destroyed that 
 
468 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 402 
 
 their souls may be saved, as my patron St. Jerome, appropri- 
 ately advised should be done against Vigilantius.^ 
 
 Indeed I know not what more I could have done or the 
 Pope could have desired at the beginning, as all the enemies 
 of the faith are convinced. First of all, I procured an im- 
 perial decree^ for the execution of the papal judgment, which 
 was published and with the effectual aid of which that which I 
 have just written you was done against Luther's books. It is 
 true that in many places it was done with great difficulty on 
 account of the disturbing violence of the Lutherans, yet it 
 was done everywhere with salutary and holy intentions, not 
 from hatred or revenge, as the Lutherans do, but, so help 
 me God, only to defend our faith. . . . Wherefore I hope, and 
 surely believe, that the little boat of Peter, which has con- 
 quered the Syrtes of the Photinian^ heresy, the Nestorian 
 Charybdis and the Arian Symplegades, in short the assaults 
 of all errors, will also easily overcome the Lutheran floods, 
 and that Luther and all his aiders and abettors will soon suffer 
 the merited punishment. . . . 
 
 402. MELANCHTHON TO JOHN HESS AT BRESLAU. 
 Corpus reformatorum, i. 284. (Wittenberg), February 20, 1521. 
 
 I do not see the cause of your writing so little to us at 
 this time unless you think that you ought not on account of 
 the Pope. If this is true, Hess, where is your Christian 
 courage? Where is your old strength of soul? How can 
 you, who know that Luther stands for piety and truth, yet 
 hesitate ? Schleupner has left Leipsic in fear for a safe place ; 
 if his example has won you away from us I shall be doubly 
 angry with him. But I hardly know whether other reasons 
 invited him to Leipsic. Martin still lives and flourishes in 
 spite of the rage and roars of Leo, whom people have be- 
 lieved omnipotent hitherto. 
 
 No one here approves the bull of Eck except those who 
 
 ^On this see Jerome's polemic against Vigilantius, translated in Nicene and 
 Post-Nicene Fathers, ed. P. Schaff and H. Wace. Series ii., vol. vi., p. 417ft. 
 
 2Aleander means the one he got in the Netherlands in September, though this 
 was only good in the hereditary dominions of Charles. 
 
 ^So called from Photinus, Bishop of Sirmium, condemned for his doctrine of 
 Christ's person at Antioch, 345. 
 
Let. 403 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 469 
 
 have more regard for their bellies than for the gospel. Cer- 
 tainly it has brought us into no danger even if the bishops are 
 promulgating it and thundering. I wish that you knew how 
 frightened the bishops are in carrying out the commands of 
 the Pope, standing, as it were, between the devil and the deep 
 sea, fearing on one side the opinion of the world and on the 
 other the wrath of the Pope. The latter prevails with many 
 who prefer to be openly wicked rather than to seem too lit- 
 tle dependent on his pontifical Holiness. 
 
 Though I doubt not that you know what is done at the 
 Diet of Worms yet I will briefly relate the plans of our ene- 
 mies. The Emperor is daily asked to proscribe Luther, and 
 there is a lively altercation over this point. We shall perish 
 if the papists are able to do what their wrath suggests. They 
 regret that the furies of the Pope have accomplished so little 
 and hope that those of the Emperor will be stronger. So they 
 are trying by all legal and all illegal means to wrest such a 
 mandate from the Emperor, but I hope they will act in vain. 
 Martin fears nothing, but would willingly buy the glory and 
 profit of the gospel with his life. Perhaps you have read his 
 Assertion against the bull of Leo} It is written in German. 
 
 Martin has begun to write commentaries^ on the gospels 
 and epistles, to be read on holy days according to the custom 
 of the Church. . . . 
 
 Luther sends his greeting. Your Philip. 
 
 403. ULRICH VON HUTTEN TO JOHN REUCHLIN. 
 L. Geiger: Johann Reuchlins Briefwechsel, Tubingen, 1875, p. 327. 
 
 Ebernburg, February 22 (1521). 
 I have read your letter to the Dukes of Bavaria' in which 
 you answer to the accusation of Leo X.' Good Heavens! 
 what do I see ? You descend to that degree of fear and weak- 
 ness that you do not abstain from reviling those who have 
 wished to save you and who have even defended your repu- 
 
 ^Weimar, vii. 94. It appeared in Latin in January and in German in March. 
 'The Enarrationes Epistolarum et Bvangeliorum. Weimar, vii. 
 STfais letter is not preserved. 
 
 ^Perhaps Reuchlin's condemnation of June 23, 1 520. Reuchlin's answer is 
 perhaps his appeal. 
 
470 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 404 
 
 tation with great peril. Sickingen was as indignant as pos- 
 sible when I translated your letter to him. For what do you 
 hope to obtain from those from whom you never got any 
 good thing or any justice, by crushing Luther if you can? 
 Even if renouncing Luther could save you from your present 
 danger I cannot think it honorable of you to fight those whose 
 allies you ought to be in every honorable undertaking unless 
 you wish to seem most ungrateful. 
 
 It would have been sufficient and more than sufficient for 
 your protection had you written that you had nothing to 
 do with Luther. Erasmus also wrote this, but you add that 
 you have always disapproved of him and that you are sorry 
 that your name is found in his writings and that you have 
 tried to win us, his adherents, away from him. By this 
 base adulation you hope to touch those, whom, if you were 
 a man, you would not even salute with courtesy, so evilly have 
 they deserved of you. . . . 
 
 Luther's cause displeases you, you disapprove of him and 
 wish him dead. You do not remember your strong defender 
 Sickingen nor me, who stood by you to the last, even when it 
 was most dangerous to do so. . . . But from this time forth, 
 if you ever oppose Luther, or submit to the Pope, you will 
 have me for an adversary. 
 
 404. ANTONY DELLA SASSETA (?) TO FRANCIS DE' 
 PELLEGRINI (?). 
 
 Kalkoff : Brief e, 45. Worms, February 23, 1521. 
 
 Sasseta and Pellegrini were both papal chamberlains. On Febru- 
 ary IS the former wrote the latter of the opening of the Diet, and 
 the similarity in style of the letter here translated to that leads us to 
 infer the same authorship and addressee. 
 
 . . . On the first day of Lent [February 13] the honorable 
 Jerome Aleander at the command of his Imperial Majesty 
 spoke at a session of the council of princes before the Em- 
 peror, the electors and the magnates of Germany. He spoke 
 for two hours, although he hurried so as not to tire them. 
 He proved on many grounds that Martin Luther's doctrine 
 was directed against Christ, the apostles, the archangels, the 
 Pope, the Emperor and many other authorities. He earned 
 much praise from these barbarians, and, in fact, acquitted 
 
Let. 404 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 471 
 
 himself excellently. Then the Cardinal of Mayence caused 
 an abbot^ to read the papal breve to the Emperor, who then 
 requested electors and princes within two days to give him 
 their advice as to what answer to make to the representatives 
 of the Pope in this matter. Then they held a consultation, 
 at which, it is rumored, there was great division of opinion. 
 When the Emperor again requested their advice, he gave 
 them such an exhortation that they sent him a very long 
 written reply, in which, as I understand, they thanked him 
 for asking their advice in this matter, and gave him a touch 
 of the spur by saying that he must never decide any question 
 without their consent. Then they said they thought Martin 
 ought to be heard; if he acknowledged having written all 
 that was printed under his name, then they might proceed as 
 of right, but that many works had appeared which he said 
 he had never written; they also said he must be given safe- 
 conduct. 
 
 His Majesty answered them very wisely: "I am astonished 
 that you wish to decide this question, in which I neither will 
 nor can judge, seeing that the Pope has already decided it." 
 
 These Germans are acting with the intention of wasting 
 time and procrastinating this affair, so that it will remain 
 unsettled until the departure of the Emperor. Most of them 
 know well enough that it is a very bad matter. They find 
 much occasion to differ about it and are by no means at one ; 
 if, nevertheless, they hold together, it is to make common 
 cause against annates, mental reservations^ and other abuses. 
 In short, it is a bad, a very bad cause. Everyone here, even 
 to the shepherds, speak of nothing else. The evil that is 
 spoken of the Roman Curia, I will leave, reverend Father, to 
 your judgement, but if they go on as they are now doing, soon 
 people will stop talking about the Bohemians, for the Ger- 
 mans will be much worse heretics. 
 
 ^Hartmann von Kirchberg, who is found as doctor of law and priest of the 
 Naumburg diocese in 1494. In 1507 he became coadjutor and the abbot of 
 Fulda, from which position he was expelled in 1517 on account of his prodigal 
 rule. He was favored by Maximilian; in 1521 he received a pension in return 
 for his abbacy, and died at Mayence 1529. Kalkoff: Aleander, 47, note i. 
 
 27, e,, transfer of an appointment by the Pope, on the ground that when he 
 made it it was with a "mental reservation." On this and annates — payment of 
 half the first year's income of a living to the Pope — cf. Luther in the Address to 
 the German Nobility, apud Smith, 82. 
 
472 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 406 
 
 405. MATTHEW PHILIP TO STEPHAN ROTH AT ZWICKAU. 
 G. Buchwald: Stadtschreiber Stephan Roth in Zwickau. (Archiv f. 
 
 Geschichte d. deutschen Buchhandels, xvi. 6ff.), 1893, p. 30. 
 
 Wittenberg, February 26, 1521. 
 
 Matthew is known only as a student at Wittenberg who took his 
 bachelor's degree gratis, March 11, 1521. See Kostlin: Baccalaurei 
 und Magistri der Wittenherger Facultdt, 1518-37, p. 11. 
 
 Roth, b. 1492, studied at Leipsic 1512-17, at Wittenberg 1523, where 
 he became a Hterary help to Luther. In 1528 he became town clerk of 
 Zwickau. Luther had a quarrel with him in 1531, on which cf. Smith, 
 280. Life of Roth by G. Miiller, Beitrdge z. Sdchsischen Kirchen- 
 geschichte, i. 437. 
 
 I would not have you ignorant that some Lutheran works 
 are in the press which will be very opportune for warding off 
 the enemies of Christian truth. Luther is the man who can 
 keep two printers busy, each working two presses. Can you 
 fancy one man supplying four presses? But Luther does 
 it. . . . 
 
 406. LUTHER TO SPALATIN AT WORMS. 
 Enders, iii. 89. Wittenberg, February 27, 1521. 
 
 . . . Take care that you also do not believe those who 
 blame my too great bitterness in my writings. They do it to 
 discredit me, which they cannot do in any other way, and I 
 generally find that they are persons who have not themselves 
 read me, but follow the reports of others, and besides they 
 are not accustomed to see vices punished. I myself am not 
 conscious of any such fury as they accuse me of. But enough 
 of them. 
 
 My instruction to those about to confess did no good at 
 Merseburg and Meissen, for they burned cartloads of my 
 books. ^ Those little saints are mad. You have not yet per- 
 suaded me, Spalatin, that Rhadinus is not Emser, for we 
 have solid arguments to show that he is. It was not my own 
 idea, but the advice of my friends that made me answer him ; 
 I would have despised the beast, but they all thought I ought 
 to answer him. 
 
 I am busy expounding Mary's canticle^ for the young 
 
 *In the hrstruction Luther informs those about to confess that they need not 
 confess having his books nor give them up. 
 
 The Magnificat, Weimar, vii. 538. Cf. Smith, 107. 
 
Let. 407 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 473 
 
 prince as an answer, though a tardy one, to his recent most 
 gracious letter to me. . . . 
 
 We are no less sorry than you that Erasmus's Axiom^ 
 and the reply of our elector have been printed at Leipsic. 
 I know not where they got them, for we were much sur- 
 prised when they appeared and had no idea where they got 
 their copies, for we have ours. So there is no reason why 
 you should accuse us in this matter, for we are much an- 
 noyed at their being printed, which will make people suspect 
 us both of being afraid and of being boastful. 
 
 Erasmus wrote long ago that there was no hope in Charles, 
 surrounded as he is by sophists and papists' The Lord him- 
 self is the author and the sole protector of his Word; thus we 
 want to meet their fury by the divine plan, for all expect that 
 if their fury breaks loose there will be a rebellion like that of 
 the Hussites, directed against the clergy, even those on our 
 side. I am blameless, for I tried to induce the German no- 
 bility to bridle the Romanists not with a sword, but, as they 
 easily could, by wise decrees. For to fight against the ordi- 
 nary run of peaceful priests is the same as fighting against 
 women and children. But I fear that the fury of the Ro- 
 manists will not suffer itself to be quieted by edicts, and that 
 this obstinacy in madness will invite some evil on their own 
 heads of itself. Amsdorf is writing you something nice 
 about our helper at the door. Farewell and pray for me. 
 Remember me to the courtiers. 
 
 Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 407. ALEANDER TO THE VICE-CHANCELLOR CARDINAL DE' 
 MEDICI AT ROME. 
 
 Kalkoff: Aleander, 91. Worms, February 27, 1521. 
 
 As I previously reported to your Lordship, notwithstanding 
 our strenuous endeavor to prevent Luther's affair coming be- 
 fore the' Diet, the undisguised,- senseless partiality for Luther 
 on the part of the princes, or rather the insane, detestable 
 suggestions of Satan, which he has put into the heads of all 
 
 'Some propositions drawn up by Erasmus at his interview with the elector 
 at Cologne, November 5, 1520. Cf. Smith, 100. 
 
 ^These words underlined by Luther himself. Cf, supra, nos. 258 and 354. 
 
474 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 407 
 
 Germans, have won the Emperor for this course. This was 
 even recommended by his Privy Council, who want to please 
 both God and the world, and yet act so as to draw on them- 
 selves the displeasure of both. They allege that this con- 
 flagration will be more easily dealt with if the edicts of the 
 Emperor are promulgated with the advice and consent of the 
 princes. We pointed out the danger that the princes would 
 have an opinion different from the Emperor's, whose hands 
 would then be bound, and that it would be the safest thing 
 simply to carry out by executive power the judgment given 
 by the Pope in spiritual matters. The Emperor both could 
 and should do that in the Empire, as he had already done in 
 his hereditary lands. Burgundy and Flanders. The majority, 
 almost the whole of the German Council agreed to this, but 
 the Chancellor [Gattinara] replied that the Emperor would 
 guard the freedom of his action; his Majesty would simply, 
 when I made my proposal in the name of the Pope, announce 
 that he had already, on the mature advice of all his peoples, 
 promulgated a decree against Luther and his books, which 
 had already taken effect in his hereditary dominions and 
 kingdoms, and would do so in the Empire when promulgated 
 with the knowledge of the princes, but not by their advice and 
 consent. The chancellor and all the privy councillors de- 
 clared further that even if the princes raised obstacles the 
 Emperor would none the less proceed in this manner. It 
 has not, however, yet been done. For although on the same 
 day on which I made my demand [February 13] the Em- 
 peror announced his pleasure, and the day after at the as- 
 sembly of the princes again expressed his will by one of his 
 councillors, yet the princes debated a whole week so fiercely 
 that the Electors of Saxony and Brandenburg would almost 
 have come to blows, had not the Archbishop of Salzburg and 
 others thrown themselves between. Such a thing has never 
 happened from the beginning of the electorate till the pres- 
 ent day. It conceals the danger of severe complication in 
 itself and all are shocked at it. 
 
 The College of Electors in their own chamber were di- 
 vided, as I am informed, so that the three archbishops and 
 the Margrave of Brandenburg were of one opinion, which, 
 
Let. 407 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 475 
 
 however, did not entirely agree with ours. The Elector of 
 Saxony and the Elector Palatine, who are both extremely ob- 
 stinate, conducted themselves so senselessly that they left 
 the session under loud protest, although they are bound to 
 abide peaceably by the decision of the majority of their col- 
 leagues. 
 
 The four electors announced their opinion [on February 
 19] by the mouth of the Margrave of Brandenburg, who is 
 a master of both German and Latin. Many members of the 
 chamber of princes agreed with them, shortly after which 
 the other two electors announced that they would submit 
 to the majority of their colleagues as they were legally bound 
 to do. Because, however, of the great differences of the 
 original opinions and because of the intrigues of the Saxon, 
 the whole decision, which should have been in our favor, 
 turned so crazily out, that it agreed neither with the views 
 of the Elector of Saxony nor with previous proposals, so 
 favorable to us, of the four electors. 
 
 As far as we can learn the four articles on which the whole 
 Diet finally agreed were tendered to the Emperor in German. 
 
 First, they thanked him for not promulgating, as he well 
 might have, an edict on his own authority, but that by 
 guarding the rights of the Empire had put himself in touch 
 with them. 
 
 Secondly, they warned him by no means to issue the edict 
 we desired, as it would raise a storm of protest and give the 
 people the excuse they wanted to rebel. The Emperor had 
 showed prudence in having requested their opinion, for other- 
 wise they would have seen a great conflagration in Germany. 
 Thus they asserted their right of being consulted in this mat- 
 ter, although the chancellor, God forgive him, had promised 
 that this should not be. 
 
 Thirdly, they declared it necessary that before the promul- 
 gation of an edict Martin should be summoned under safe- 
 conduct in order to ask him whether he had written these 
 books and to demand an immediate recantation of the articles 
 touching the faith and the sacraments ; in case he refused 
 he should be considered a heretic, and proceeded against as 
 such after he had returned home from the Diet as soon as 
 
476 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 407 
 
 he could be caught. All the princes would stake life and 
 land on that. But these German princes gave the fine advice 
 that he should be heard by imperial judges in a public debate 
 on the articles concerning the power of the Pope and positive 
 laws, only after which the edict could be issued. In this 
 again can be seen the secret plans of the Saxon, who de- 
 sires to draw the matter out. Many of the other princes may 
 perhaps sincerely have held this bad decision as the best; 
 they do evil not from wickedness, but from shortsightedness. 
 At the same time they keep saying that they leave it all to 
 his Imperial Majesty, and only warn him against the great 
 indignation that the promulgation of an edict contrary to 
 their advice would excite in the Empire. 
 
 Finally they prayed the Emperor to free them from the 
 tyranny of Rome; taking this occasion to pour out all 
 their wrath against us in a worse manner than I can say. 
 
 After the Emperor had had their decision translated into 
 French, he wisely answered that the grievances against the 
 Roman Curia should not be confounded with Luther's cause, 
 that is, with a question of the faith, and that he would write 
 to the Pope in hopes that his Holiness would remedy the 
 abuses which were really as represented. 
 
 The Emperor declared that under no circumstances would 
 he allow a debate on the authority of the Pope and the Canon 
 Law, but that if Luther should come, he should only be asked 
 whether he had written the books, and, if he confessed that, 
 whether he would maintain and defend what he had written 
 contrary to the faith, the laws and the customs "which our 
 fathers have in all points observed unto the present day." If 
 Luther should recant, he, the Emperor, would take upon him- 
 self to get papal absolution for him, but if he adhered ob- 
 stinately to his heresy, as soon as he had returned under 
 safe-conduct to the point from which he had set out, he should 
 be seized and punished as a heretic. 
 
 Thereupon he summoned the councillors of all his nations 
 together, and talked with them until ten o'clock in the even- 
 ing. We awaited the announcement of their decision, but 
 they did not reach one because of the differences of opinion 
 of the councillors of whom some have secret pensions from 
 
Let. 408 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 477 
 
 the Saxon Elector. Finally the Emperor appointed a com- 
 mission of the Archbishops and Bishops of Salzburg,^ Sion,^ 
 Trieste,' Palencia,* Tuy,° the Confessor [Glapion] and three 
 doctors. They were to seek the way to satisfy God and the 
 Pope, to guard the honor and duty of the Emperor, to pacify 
 the princes and quiet the people — if they could! . . . 
 
 408. LUTHER TO CONRAD PELICAN AT BASLE. 
 Enders, iii. 92. Wittenberg (end of February), 1521. 
 
 I do not understand how it is that you so praise my writ- 
 ings; I fear you are partial. To me, at least, my Psaltery^ 
 is an object of disgust, not so much on account of the sense, 
 which I believe to be correct, as on account of its verbosity, 
 lack of order and chaotic arrangement. For it is a book which 
 I am forced to conceive, form, nourish and bring forth all 
 at once, on account of my lack of time and leisure. I have 
 long thought of recalling it. For with the living voice, the 
 hearers get much light and grace, such as this chaos of let- 
 ters neither has nor can receive. If Psalm xi. is not yet 
 printed, please strike out twelve verses at the end of page B, 
 with the three following verses on page C. For you see how 
 sadly I erred about the word a'SD. For I was then thinking 
 of other things, as I often am. I am, indeed, very busy, 
 preaching twice a day, treating the Psalter, writing Postilla 
 (as they are called), answering my enemies, attacking the 
 bull in Latin and German and defending myself, not to men- 
 tion answering my friends' letters and conversing with those 
 of my household and with accidental visitors. One other thing 
 that I forgot, please strike out what I dreamed about the 
 word yzim Psalm xiii., verse 26. I will take care to explain 
 the words of understanding, just as I did of the words of 
 virtue, Psalm xx. There are many other things, but of less 
 moment, for the book is full of typographical errors. 
 
 You do well to pray for me ; I am overwhelmed with many 
 
 ^Matthew Lang. 
 ^Matthew Schinner. 
 "Peter Bonomo. 
 
 *Peter Ruiz de la Mota, Grand Almoner of Charles V. He died 1522. 
 ''Aloisius Marlian. 
 
 6J. e., his commentary on the Psalms, of which an edition was just coming out 
 at Basle. Weimar, v. Luther's criticisms are not without foundation. 
 
478 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 409 
 
 evils, am kept from the sacred things and my life is a cross. 
 I am now on the twenty-first Psalm, "Eli, Eli." Hoping to 
 finish the Psalter, if Christ please, I am working on it with 
 all my might. But as yet not a fourth part of the Psalter 
 has been treated; I simply have to steal the time I spend on 
 it. You rightly warn me to be moderate, I myself know that 
 I am not master of myself, being carried along by I know 
 not what spirit, though I know that I consciously wish no 
 one evil. They press furiously upon me because I have not 
 paid Satan sufficient respect. So pray the Lord for me that 
 I may learn, speak and write what is worthy of him and of me, 
 not what suits them. Farewell in Christ. 
 
 409. LUTHER TO THE ELECTOR FREDERIC OF SAXONY AT 
 
 WORMS. 
 Enders, iii. 94. Wittenberg, March 3, 1521. 
 
 This is the dedication to the Latin Postilla for Advent, which ap- 
 peared at Wittenberg on March 7, 1521. Weimar, x. i. i. 
 
 Most illustrious and clement Prince, I know not to what I 
 ought to attribute it, that I have hitherto been unable to reply 
 to your Highness's good wishes, and, as one thing gave rise 
 to another, have been forced to differ it from day to day. It 
 was your excellent advice that I should put aside contentious, 
 sharp and polemic writings, in which I have now lost three 
 years, and devote myself to sacred and peaceable studies. 
 You advised that in addition to my commentary on the Psalter, 
 I should undertake homilies on the Gospels and Epistles (com- 
 monly called Postilla) for the ordinary pastor and for the 
 people, for you thought that if I were engaged with such a 
 mountain of work I should have to have peace with my 
 enemies even against their will. Thus your disposition, like 
 your name, is peaceful, so that you often show me plainly 
 how much these contentions about trifles annoy you, for I 
 also can despise those magnificent battles for ecclesiastical 
 lucre, and, with the prophet^ make Bethaven of Bethel. 
 
 I cannot easily express my aversion to being plunged in 
 these whirlpools and taken from my studies. My flesh and 
 blood will not quite allow me to treat the obstinate impudence 
 
 ^Amos, V. 5. Bethaven means "the house of vanity," Bethel "the house of God." 
 
Let. 409 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 479 
 
 of the wicked with moderation, and less sharply. As I 
 acknowledge my fault in this matter, I hope that pardon will 
 be denied me by no one who once considers what lions of 
 Moab, what Rabshakehs of the Assyrians, how many Shimeis 
 I alone have long been forced to bear with, to my own loss 
 and that of many whom I might have profited in the Word 
 of God. Thus my mind has been tossed by these whirlwinds 
 and yet has never given up hope of getting peace sometime, 
 by which I might please your Highness, through whom, we 
 may not doubt, the mercy of God has brought not a little 
 profit to Christ's gospel. 
 
 But as I see that my hope was merely human imagination, 
 and that I am daily more deeply involved in this great sea, in 
 which innumerable reptiles and great and small animals join 
 forces against me, I also see that my hope was a temptation 
 of Satan who only sought to puff me up with the vanity of 
 my own thoughts to divert me at length from my main pur- 
 pose. He wanted me to go to Babylon before I had fortified 
 and provisioned my Jerusalem. So clever is his wickedness! 
 Considering this I remembered that holy man Nehemiah, and 
 leaving idle musings to Esra, the learned scribe, I began to 
 despair of peace, and arming myself equally for peace or war, 
 I held the sword with one hand to repulse my Arabians, and 
 with the other built the wall,^ lest, should I give my whole 
 attention to either pursuit I should accomplish neither. 
 Jerome, too, says that one who does not resist enemies of 
 the Church does her as much harm as he does good by building 
 up another part. 
 
 The apostle^ also commands a bishop not only to be power- 
 ful in exhortation in sound doctrine, but also to refute those 
 who attack it. Not that I think I am a bishop, for I have 
 not the wealth and insignia of office which to-day are the 
 principal marks of a bishop, but one who ministers to the 
 Word does an episcopal office. Such must needs be an ambi- 
 dextrous Ehud with his left hand prepared to thrust a dagger 
 into fat Eglon and slay him.' So I, in the midst of the papists' 
 sword, bulls, trumpets and horns trying in vain to terrify 
 
 ^Nehemiah, iv. 17. ^Titus, i. 9. 
 
 ^Judges, iii. i6ff. 
 
480 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 409 
 
 me, by God's grace bravely despise them all, and am girt up 
 for a work of peace. Thus I offer your Highness the homilies 
 you asked for. What can I not do in him who strengthens 
 me? If I wanted to rely on my own strength, I should not 
 dare to publish even my book on the Psalter, were I seven 
 times Luther. For that book, not to mention my two ser- 
 mons daily, requires much genius, learning, diligence and 
 grace. I say nothing of my occupations outside the ministry 
 of the Word. 
 
 I fear that the work will fall short of your hopes. For as 
 there is nothing more holy in the heart of everyone than 
 knowledge of the gospel (and rightly, since its majesty is 
 inestimable and adorable), many will expect homilies worthy 
 of the gospel, whereas they will find only a mouse born of 
 the mountain's labor, and that having conceived fire I bring 
 forth straw. I say nothing about my eloquence and elegant 
 Latinity. For I am unskilled in these things, nor do I write 
 for those who are skilled in them, but for the people and for 
 men whose breath is in their nostrils as Isaiah says,' and who 
 are considered noble by God. Though they speak artlessly 
 their judgment is what I fear, especially yours, most illustri- 
 ous Prince, who not only favor sacred studies with incom- 
 parable zeal, but who are so formed that you can dispute 
 on these questions with any theologian, no matter how great. 
 This is why the Romanists are unable to impose on you with 
 their silly bulls, and cannot snare you in their impious super- 
 stitions, although with this gross nonsense they have to-day 
 sent all the bishops insane. 
 
 I shall be satisfied if I lay bare the pure and simple sense 
 of the gospel and thus meet the foolish commentaries of 
 some. Thus the people can hear instead of fables and dreams 
 the pure Word of God purged from human dross. I promise 
 nothing, but this pure and simple gospel truth, meant to 
 capture the lowly and meek. Whether I even do this others 
 must judge, but at least no one shall learn from me to dis- 
 cuss matters which have nothing to do with the subject. 
 
 Deign, therefore, most illustrious Prince, in clemency to 
 accept this my gift, and keep yourself, as you do, for the 
 
 llsaiah, ii. 22. 
 
Let 4" OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 481 
 
 gospel of Christ, Frederic, the pious, the great, the Saxon, 
 the duke and the elector. Farewell in Christ. 
 
 Martin Luther, A"ugustinian. 
 
 410. JOHN VON STAUPITZ TO WENZEL LINK. 
 Zeitschrift fiir historische Theologie, vii. (1837), p. 124. W. Reindell: 
 
 W. Linck, p. 267. Salzburg, March 5, 1521. 
 
 For greeting I send you my obedience and reverence. . . . 
 I am answering our Martin,^ who, like you, blames my pusil- 
 lanimity. As you are to me another Peter and Paul, I will- 
 ingly acknowledge my fault, although I could make a verbal 
 defence. May he who is wisdom give us wisdom and he 
 who is the virtue of God give us courage, without whom none 
 are strong or holy. We have no news. We anxiously await 
 what will happen at Worms. The very reverend Lord 
 Cardinal [Lang] has tried nothing against Martin in this 
 diocese of Salzburg, and we hope thus to live in peace until 
 we are stronger in faith and filled with the gospel, when we 
 shallplay the man. If news comes from Wittenberg, please 
 communicate it to us. We also will do what will please you. 
 
 411. LUTHER TO JOHN LANG AT NUREMBERG. 
 Enders, iii. 99. Wittenberg, March 6, 1521. 
 
 Greeting. Although very busy, I write. Father, only to 
 prevent your complaints that I write nothing to you, for I 
 have absolutely nothing else to write. I send my trifles. 
 My answer to Emser is just coming out. 
 
 Murnar has written two books against me. Two Italians 
 also are said to have written against me, but I have seen 
 neither of them as yet. The Louvain professors also have 
 an attack on me in press. Thus am I alone assailed by so 
 many hydras, and am forced to overthrow the proverb that 
 Hercules cannot fight with two, for I fight with ten. Preach- 
 ing twice a day is work enough for one man, lecturing on the 
 Psalter for three, my Postilla for as many, besides which I 
 do not speak of so many enemies, of my occasional works 
 
 ^Letter of February 9, translated Smith, io8f. 
 31 
 
482 I^UTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 412 
 
 and letters, my conversations and fraternal ministrations. 
 For I am absolved from the rules of the Order and of the 
 Pope and excommunicated by the authority of the bull, of 
 all of which I am glad, although I do not leave my cowl nor 
 my monastery. 
 
 Salute Crotus and Jonas kindly, and pray hard for the 
 Word. For Satan slays many thousands of souls by this most 
 Satanic bull. The Bishop of Meissen has brought together 
 and burned wagonloads full of my books, as also did the 
 proudly and avariciously humble Bishop of Merseburg. Fare- 
 well in Christ. Melanchthon salutes you. 
 
 Martin Luther. 
 
 P. S. — Aleander the Apostate^ Nuncio is striving with all 
 his might to have me smitten with the imperial censure, but 
 hitherto he has accomplished nothing. 
 
 412. EMPEROR CHARLES V. TO LUTHER. 
 Enders, iii. loi. German. Worms, March 6, 1521. 
 
 Charles, by God's.Roman Emperor Elect," at all times Aug- 
 mentor of the Realm,'' etc., to the Honorable, our dear and 
 pious Dr. Martin Luther, of the Augustinian Order. 
 
 Honorable, dear and pious Sir! As we, and the Estates 
 of the Holy Empire, here assembled, have undertaken and 
 decreed to obtain information about certain doctrines and 
 certain books which formerly originated with you, we have 
 given you and hereby send our and the Empire's free safe- 
 conduct to come hither and to return hence. We desire you 
 to prepare certainly to be here within twenty-one days,' rely- 
 
 ^Pun, instead of "Apostolic." 
 
 'Although he had been crowned at Aix, Charles still calls himself "elected" 
 Roman Emperor because he had not yet been crowned by the Pope, which was 
 done at Bologna in February, 1530. 
 
 'This title was assumed by the emperors to show their zeal for increasing the 
 imperial territory (Mehrer des Reichs). It was recently applied to Francis 
 Joseph on his annexation of Bosnia and Herzogovina. Cambridge Modern His- 
 tory, xii. 17s. For the same reason the title "Augustus" was assumed by Philip 
 of France, because he thought it came from "augeo" and indicated that he had 
 enlarged the kingdom. 
 
 *Reckoned from the day on which the herald handed Luther the summons, 
 March 27. On all this cf. Smith, lopiif. 
 
Let. 413 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 483 
 
 ing on our safe-conduct and not fearing any force or wrong. 
 For we will surely maintain you in this our safe-conduct, and 
 will allow you finally on it to come to us, in which you will 
 do our pleasure. 
 
 Charles. (Seal) 
 
 Signed by the command of the Emperor : Albert 
 Cardinal of Mayence, Arch-Chancellor, with 
 his own hand 
 
 Nicholas Ziegler.' 
 
 413. SAFE-CONDUCT OF CHARLES V. FOR LUTHER. 
 Enders, iii. 102. German. Worms, March 6, 1521. 
 
 We, Charles the Fifth, by God's Grace Roman Emperor 
 Elect, at all times Augmentor of the Realm, of Germany, 
 Spain, both Sicilies, Jerusalem, Hungary, Dalmatia, Croatia, 
 etc.. King, Archduke of Austria and Duke of Burgundy, 
 Count of Hapsburg, Flanders and Tyrol, etc. 
 
 Recognize: As we for good reasons have invited Martin 
 Luther of the Augustinian Order here to Worms, that there- 
 fore we have given him our and the Holy Empire's free safe- 
 conduct. We promise him by our imperial power knowingly 
 in virtue of this letter, that within one and twenty days he 
 may come to Worms to answer this our letter and to learn our 
 and the Diet's action on the same, and that he may return 
 hence to his safe place uninjured and unhindered by us and 
 by all men. By this letter we earnestly request all Electors 
 and Princes, spiritual and temporal. Prelates, Counts, Barons, 
 Knights, Captains, Provosts, Bailififs, Wardens, Lieutenants, 
 Officers, Judges, Burgomasters, Justices, Councillors, Citizens 
 and Commons, and all other our loyal subjects in whatever 
 office, station or condition they may be, to maintain this safe- 
 conduct for the said Martin Luther, to escort and have him 
 escorted on his journey hither and back, and not to injure or 
 vex him, nor let anyone else do it in any way, under pain of 
 
 IQf Nordlingen, secretary under Maximilian, who in 1518 gave him a fief and 
 used him in diplomacy. At this time he was Vice-Chancellor of Germany. He 
 helped Aleander with the Mandate of March 10, and the Edict of Worms. He 
 acted against the Reformation at Nordlingen 1525. He died 1534. P. Kalkoff: 
 Aleander gegen Luther, Zi\^. 
 
484 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 414 
 
 our and the Empire's severe displeasure and punishment. 
 This letter gives notice of our earnest purpose. 
 
 Charles. 
 
 Signed at the command of the Lord Emperor: 
 Albert Cardinal of Mayence, Arch-Chancel- 
 lor, with his own hand. 
 
 Nicholas Ziegler. 
 
 414. LUTHER TO SPALATIN AT WORMS. 
 Enders, iii. 106. Wittenberg, March 7, 1521. 
 
 Greeting. Dear Spalatin, this youth of good parts, Michael 
 Creutzer,^ wishes your support and mine in asking our most 
 clement elector for a living. I owe him nothing, but would 
 not refuse my aid, wherefore, do you try if anything can 
 be done in your name or in mine. For you rightly believe 
 that you have some influence in the court. 
 
 We have no other news except that the bull is getting more 
 despised every day. I wrote previously what happened at 
 Leipsic. It is said to have been posted up at Torgau, but 
 secretly and it was soon torn. Posted at Dobeln, it was soon 
 dirtied and torn, and these words written up: "The nest is 
 here; the birds have flown."^ 
 
 Duke Henry of Saxony' strongly denounced it at Freiberg. 
 I wrote him a letter for they said that he wanted one. The 
 King of Denmark' also opposes the papists, having given a 
 
 *A scion of a noble family of Meissen. Spalatin apparently acceeded to 
 Luther's request, and was later brought to regret it by the conduct of the youth. 
 Cf. Luther's letter to Spalatin, January 22, 1522; Enders, iii. 287. 
 
 -German. 
 
 "Henry the Pious, born 1473, a son of Albert the Brave and younger brother 
 of Duke George of Albertine Saxony. From the first he was inclined to the 
 Reformation, and when he succeeded to the ducal throne, in April, 1539, invited 
 Luther and Melanchthon to Leipsic to institute the evangelic faith. He died on 
 August 18, 1541, to be followed by his son Maurice. 
 
 *Luther writes "Rex Daciae." He means Christian II. of Denmark, who suc- 
 ceeded to the throne in 1513, but was driven out in April, 1521. In the summer 
 of 1521 he visited the Netherlands to get from Charles V. the dowry for his 
 wife, a sister of that monarch. Brown; Calendar of Venetian Papers, iii. 248. 
 Here he met Diirer, Erasmus and others sympathetic to the Reform, which he took 
 up with zeal, visiting Wittenberg in October, 1523, He was reconciled to the 
 Catholic Church in 1529. He spent the rest of his life in exile and prison until 
 his death 1559. Cambridge Modern History, ii. 608-14. 
 
Let. 4H OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 485 
 
 command to his University not to condemn my writings. Dr. 
 Martin Reinhard/ whom we sent thither, has told us of this, 
 having returned here to take his degree, after which he will 
 go back to Copenhagen. 
 
 I wrote formerly what happened to Emser's book at Magde- 
 burg. At length, Ambrose Catharinus^ has come from Nurem- 
 berg. Good Heavens ! what an inept, stupid Thomist ! He 
 almost kills us first with laughing, then with boredom. I will 
 answer him briefly and thus move the Italian beast's bile. 
 
 Two Counts of Stolberg^ have come to us to study. Fare- 
 well and pray for me. Cranach^ has asked me to sign these 
 portraits'^ and send them to you. Do you take care of them. 
 We are now preparing a comparison^ of Christ and the Pope, 
 a good book for the laity. 
 
 Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 JA priest of the diocese of Wurzburg, later pastor at Jena, from which he 
 was driven, out to Nuremberg in 1524. During the winter of 1 520-1 he was at 
 Copenhagen assisting the king in introducing the Reformation. Cf. infra, April 25, 
 1521, no. 460, and Kolde, Zeitschrift fiir Kirchengeschichte, viii. 289. Enders, iii. 
 107. 
 
 ^Lancelot de* Politi of Siena (1484-1553) studied at Siena, where he became 
 Dr. jur. utr. at 17. Later he taught here and in 1514 at Rome. In 1515 be 
 was made by Leo X. Consistorial Advocate at Florence. Under the influence of 
 Savonarola's writings he entered the Dominican cloister here in 1517. He left 
 Florence in 1521, wandering around, until in 1532 he got to Lyons, then to Paris 
 and 1540-3 again at Lyons. He took an important part in the Council of Trent 
 1546-9, spending the remaining two years of his life at Rome. He wrote a good 
 deal, chiefly against Luther, beginning with an oration to Charles V., published 
 December 20, 1520. Life by J. Schweitzer, 1910, and F. Lauchert in Die italien- 
 ischen Gegner Luthers, 19 12, pp. 30-133. 
 
 ^Wolfgang (1501-1552) and Lewis (1505-75), sons of Count Botho. They 
 matriculated in the fall of 1520. 
 
 *Lucas MuUer, of Kronach in Franconia, whence he took his name (1472-1553). 
 Nothing is known of his early life. In 1504 he produced his first and perhaps 
 greatest masterpiece, the "Flight into Egypt" (Berlin). In the same year he 
 became court painter to Frederic the Wise and settled at Wittenberg, where, 
 besides pursuing his artistic profession, he drove the trades of printer, gold- 
 smith, banker and apothecary. His first picture of Luther is dated 1520. Cf. 
 Luther's letter to him, Smith, p. 119. The relations of the two were warm for 
 many years, but in 1539 cooled temporarily as Luther suspected Cranach of 
 cornering the wheat and raising prices, and also blamed him for an indecent 
 picture. Life in Encyclopedia Britannica, and cf. E. Flechsig: Cranackstudien, 
 1900. 
 
 51 believe these to be Cranach's copper engravings of Luther, reproduced in 
 ray Luther, opposite, p, 118. This engraving bears the date "1521" and must 
 therefore have been done before Luther left Wittenberg on April 2. Enders did 
 not make this identification, but thought of some of Cranach's illustrations to 
 jbooks, but "effigies" properly means "portrait" and Luther would not sign anyone 
 else's. Spalatin probably gave some of them to his followers at Worms. 
 
 6The Passional Christi et Antichristi, reproduced Weimar, ix., appendix. 
 
486 I^UTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 416 
 
 415. MICHAEL HUMMELBERG TO VADIAN AT ST. GALL. 
 Vadianische Briefsammlung, ii. 344. Ratisbon, March 7, 1521. 
 
 . . . Your opinion of Luther greatly pleased me. I think 
 him a man of eminent genius and erudition and of singular 
 judgment. His writings for the most part breathe out 
 evangelic and apostolic doctrine and simple truth, that is, 
 Christ himself, and they do it so forcibly that no sophist 
 and impostor, no soft and effeminate man, no Pharisee and 
 self-righteous^ person, no papist and flatterer either will or 
 can bear it. . . . May God Almighty make Luther and the 
 truth triumph. . . . 
 
 416. ALEANDER TO THE VICE-CHANCELLOR CARDINAL DE' 
 
 MEDICL 
 Kalkoflf: Aleander, 114. Worms (March 8), 1521. 
 
 The Emperor, at the advice of his councillors, in order, as 
 they say, to please the princes and quiet the people, has de- 
 cided to summon Martin, and he has issued a public man- 
 date directing that all his books "be given into the Emperor's 
 hands until his further decision.'" Under these circumstances 
 I have at least exerted myself to bring the mandate into a 
 form agreeable to the intentions of the Holy See and to the 
 honor and authority of the Pope. In this effort the draftsman 
 of the German Chancery, Nicholas Ziegler, has done me good 
 service, so that, if they do not go behind us and act contrary 
 to the decree of the Diet and the wording of the mandate, I 
 hope that we shall, by it, put a limit to this rascally heresy. 
 Finally, it is much better to have had the Emperor put this 
 out on his own authority, provided that they do not disregard 
 their numerous resolutions to the contrary and act against us. 
 For although I have hitherto doubted that it could be their 
 intention to use Luther as a weapon to put pressure upon 
 the pope in other matters, I have now, alas ! been obliged to 
 convince myself of the correctness of this surmise. For 
 yesterday evening when the Emperor betook himself for 
 
 '"lustitiarius," Luther's word for people who relied for justification on their 
 own works, not on faith. 
 
 2He issued this mandate on his own responsibility, failing to get the Diet to 
 condemn the books to be burned. Printed by Forstemann: Neues Urkundenbuch, 
 p. 61. Cf, Smith, p. no. 
 
Let. 416 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 487 
 
 recreation to the city fortifications, in order to see a horse 
 given him by the Marquis of Mantua/ I determined to urge 
 the preparation of the mandate in a conversation with Chievres, 
 who, because of his affabiHty and because of our common 
 relations with the Bishop of Liege and his land, has always 
 been accessible to me. We chatted a good while. I exhorted 
 him to give us his help for the decisive suppression of this 
 horrible heresy, by which the position of his Emperor would 
 be considerably improved, and his own fame certainly aug- 
 mented, for finally all would be ascribed to him. Among 
 other things he answered : "Only take care that the Pope 
 does his duty by us and acts loyally to us, and we will satisfy 
 his Holiness in all things.'' After further remarks he con- 
 tinued: "If you could only say that your Pope didn't always 
 cross our plans, his Holiness can have all he wants of us ; but 
 otherwise we will plunge him into such embarrassments that 
 he will have difficulty in finding his way out." From these 
 and similar confidential expressions I concluded that for some 
 months, or at least since the meeting of the Emperor and 
 Elector of Saxony at Cologne, they had the intention of mak- 
 ing a political use of the Lutheran question. Moreover, some- 
 time ago, they wrote to Hutten; since then nothing more has 
 been heard from him; certainly they did not merely com- 
 mand his silence, but also bade him wait for further develop- 
 ments. I have it on good authority that many of them have 
 already thought of taking Hutten into the imperial service 
 and conferring their commissions on him. This was decided 
 in the council of state, in order, as they said, to silence him in 
 that way, for it is hard to punish a German noble and would 
 cause a big disturbance, especially if he has a large following 
 like Hutten, who has conspired with Francis von Sickingen 
 against the Church — that sounds sweeter to German ears than 
 anything else. 
 
 Yet it may be possible that they are doing all this with good 
 intentions to keep Germany quiet, and that otherwise his 
 Majesty would only make himself difficulties. So I answered 
 
 ^Frederic (1500-1540), son of Francis de Gonzaga, and his wife, Isabella 
 d'Este, became Marquis at the death of his father 15 19. He was educated at 
 Rome, where he was a favorite of Julius II., at Milan and the French court. 
 He received Charles V. at Bologna 1529-30. J. Cartwright: Isabella d'Este, 1903. 
 
488 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 416 
 
 Chievres, as seemed to me most judicious, that I did not know 
 exactly what he was alluding to with his generalizations. 
 But I could not refrain from answering boldly to his expression 
 "your Pope," that if they were Christians the Pope was just 
 as much their lord as ours, and that with all their power they 
 had better avoid the wrath of God "who takes princes in 
 their pride,"^ and that they should not, as though careless of 
 their duty, mix the affair of the faith with private and tem- 
 poral interests. He replied that they had no intention of 
 destroying the faith, that I only need note carefully what he 
 had said, and he added, smiling, that for himself he did not 
 think the suppression of the Lutheran movement would be 
 so extremely difficult. Then I said to him straight out that 
 if they were not very careful they would soon see such a con- 
 flagration throughout the world as all the water in their 
 German Ocean could not put out. 
 
 We live in evil times, when men show so little respect for 
 God and his true vicegerent, and everyone turns his con- 
 science according to his need, and if occasion comes up their 
 confessors encourage them not to fear ecclesiastical punish- 
 ment and to despise that which it is their duty to esteem highly. 
 I know what I say, for I have seen it, without wishing to, 
 for some time, but I can't tell it all in my letters. I only pray 
 his Holiness most earnestly to conduct the Roman policy with 
 the greatest circumspection, at least until we have finished 
 with this Lutheran question, so that no offence be given to 
 these people. I mean the Emperor and his court and the whole 
 German nation. 
 
 I notice that the favor for Luther shown by the princes and 
 estates at the Diet has considerably cooled off, and I see clearly 
 that, as many assure me and as I myself would hardly have 
 believed, this is the result of my oration on Ash Wednesday, 
 for these princes and nobles had only read Luther's slanderous 
 attacks on Pope and clergy, but not his expressions about the 
 sacraments and his avowal of all the doctrines of John Huss. 
 Since I pointed that out before a numerous assembly on the 
 ground of his own writings, very many of the princes abhor 
 him, and only the hatred for Rome stands in the way of en- 
 
 ^Psalm Ixxvi. 13. 
 
Let 417 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 489 
 
 tirely appeasing them. For ten days I have not observed any 
 outbreak of wrath. God grant that we shall get better results 
 every day. I count with certainty on that, if only they do not 
 from some secret reason deceive us, as they would do with 
 passionate eagerness, since they have convinced themselves 
 that they can be good Christians while opposing the Pope, 
 and that the Catholic faith can stand under those conditions. 
 What a serious error ! . . . 
 
 The German mandate commanding the sequestration of 
 the books and their surrender to the Emperor, will be printed 
 next Monday^ and sent by couriers of his Majesty to all parts 
 of Germany. I will tell you in time its effect. Your Lord- 
 ship will be convinced that we have not spared and do not 
 spare doing the utmost in our power. If the result has not 
 entirely come up to our intentions, the reason is that no other 
 road was open to us. With our evident proofs, our good 
 words and flattery, with bold freedom of speech when neces- 
 sary, we have obtained a thousand good resolutions and 
 promises just such as we wished, but their results have hitherto 
 been no other than those which I have so often veraciously 
 recounted to your Lordship. 
 
 417. SPALATIN TO JOHN LANG AT ERFURT. 
 K. Krause: Epistolae Aliquot, 3. Worms, March 8, 1521. 
 
 . . . The cause of the gospel and Luther is much agitated, 
 but it is remarkable what agreement on the man there is 
 among clergy and laity, princes and people, albeit I hear that 
 most of the clergy are passive, not wishing to resist the Pope. 
 Saturday of last week the Emperor had read a document 
 against our Luther and his followers to be published and to 
 say that he will be summoned either here or elsewhere to 
 recant the doctrines which his little professors have told him 
 are heretical; I know not what will happen. God helping us 
 we shall see ; meantime, let us pray for the safety of the whole 
 Church. I do not think our elector need be bothered to write 
 letters in Luther's behalf to the town council and people of 
 Erfurt. For Luther will be safe, even though all the enemies 
 of the gospel are unconquered. ... G. Spalatin. 
 
 ^March 1 1 . 
 
490 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 419 
 
 418. WILLIAM WARHAM, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, 
 TO THOMAS WOLSEY, CARDINAL ARCHBISHOP OF 
 YORK. 
 
 Letters and Papers of Henry VIII., iii. no. 1193. English. 
 
 Knoll, March 8, 1521. 
 
 I have received letters from Oxford, stating that the uni- 
 versity is infected with Lutheranism, and that many books 
 forbidden by you have circulation there. I regret that this 
 should have happened in a place where I was brought up and 
 of which I am now chancellor. The university desires me 
 to be a mean to your Reverence, that such order be taken for 
 the examination of the suspected, as that it incur no infamy. 
 I think it a pity that a small number of incircumspect fools 
 should endanger the whole university with the charge of Lu- 
 theranism; a thing pleasant to the Lutherans beyond sea, and 
 a great encouragement, if the two universities, one of which 
 has been void of all heresies [Oxford],^ and the other boasts 
 it has never been defiled [Cambridge], should embrace these 
 heretical tenets. It would create great slander if all now 
 suspected were brought up to London; I desire, therefore, 
 some commission may sit at Oxford, to examine, not the 
 Heads, but the novices. The university will be glad if you 
 will request the Bishops of Rochester^ and London' to draw up 
 a table* of Lutheran writers who are to be avoided, and send 
 it down to Oxford. 
 
 419. LUTHER TO JOHN FREDERIC, DUKE OF SAXONY. 
 
 Enders, iii. 109. De Wette, i. 571. German. Dedication to the Mag- 
 nificat, Weimar, vii. 538. Wittenberg, March 10, 1521. 
 
 Serene, high-born Prince, gracious Lord! My humble 
 prayer and service to your Grace. I have received your 
 
 'Oxford had, in fact, been a hotbed of heresy, following both William of 
 Occam and Wicliffe. 
 
 Wisher. 
 
 'Cuthbert Tunstall. 
 
 *Such a general decree was drawn up by Wolsey on May 14, 1521, reprinted 
 Wilkins: Concilia Magnae Britanniae, iii. 690. At Cambridge a commission con- 
 sisting of Drs. Bullock, Humfry, Watson and Ridley had been sent to London 
 to examine Luther's works in 1520. Later (1521?) his works were burnt at 
 Cambridge. Cf. Registers of Cambridge, v. 499. 
 
Let. 419 OTHER CONTEMPORARY I.ETTERS 491 
 
 Grace's kind letter* recently written me, and have read all 
 the comfortable contents with joy. As a long time ago I 
 promised your Grace to expound the Magnificat, from which 
 work the unhappy quarrels of many opponents have often 
 driven me, I have undertaken to answer your Grace with this 
 little book, thinking that further delay might make me blush, 
 and that I have no more good excuses for hindering your 
 Grace's young mind, which is inclined to love of Holy Writ, 
 and which by exercise in the same might be inflamed and 
 strengthened, for which I wish you God's grace and aid. This 
 is very needful, for many people's salvation depends on so 
 great a prince; if he himself endeavors, he will be ruled 
 graciously by God ; and on the other hand many people perish 
 if he lets himself go, and is ungraciously ruled by God. 
 
 Although all men's hearts are in the hand of God Almighty, 
 yet it was not vainly said of kings and princes alone : The 
 heart of the king is in God's hand, who can turn it where he 
 will.^ By this God puts his fear in the great lords, that they 
 may learn not to think that God does not pay particular 
 attention to them. Other men's acts bring either piety or 
 harm only to themselves or to very few ; but lords are set up 
 only to be harmful or helpful to other people, the greater 
 number according to the magnitude of their dominions. So 
 too the Bible calls pious. God-fearing princes angels' of God, 
 and even gods,* and contrariwise it calls noxious princes lions,' 
 dragons* and wild beasts, which God himself calls one of his 
 four plagues when he enumerates pestilence, famine, war and 
 wild beasts.' 
 
 And as the human heart is by nature flesh and blood, and 
 easily presumes of its own accord, therefore, when power, 
 wealth and honor are given it, it has another strong cause to 
 presumption and too sure self-confidence, so that it forgets 
 God and does not esteem its subjects, and as it has power to 
 do evil with impunity, it does it and becomes a beast and 
 does what it pleases, and is by name a lord, but in fact a 
 
 'December zo, 1520. Enders, iii. 22. 2Pr»verbs, xxi. i 
 
 "i Samuel, xxix. 9. *PsaIm Ixxxii. 6. 
 
 ^Zephaniah, v. 5. 'Jeremiah, U. 34. 
 ^zekiel, xiv. 13-19. 
 
492 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 420 
 
 monster, so that also the wise man Bias' has well said: 
 Magistratus virum ostendit, that is, Rule shows what a man 
 is. For subjects dare not transgress for fear of the govern- 
 ment. 
 
 Wherefore all rulers, who do not have to fear men, must 
 needs fear God more than do others, and know him and his 
 works well, and act with diligence, as St. PauF says : He 
 that ruleth, let him do it with diligence. 
 
 Now I know nothing in the whole Bible which serves his 
 purpose better than this holy canticle of the Blessed Mother 
 of God. All who wish to reign rightly ought to learn it. 
 Truly she here sings sweetly of the fear of God, and what 
 kind of Lord he is, and what his works are to those of 
 high and low estate. Let another listen to his wench singing a 
 worldly song ; a prince and lord may well listen to this chaste 
 Virgin singing a spiritual, pure and holy song. 
 
 It is no unsuitable custom to have this song sung in all 
 churches daily at vespers, in a special and seemly way, be- 
 fore other songs. May the same tender Mother of God give 
 me the spirit to expound this her song usefully and thoroughly, 
 that your Grace and all of us may get from it wholesome 
 knowledge and a praiseworthy life, by which we may sing 
 this Magnificat in the life eternal. God help us to do it. 
 Amen. Herewith I commend myself to your Grace, humbly 
 praying that you will take my small achievement kindly. 
 
 Your Grace's humble chaplain, 
 Dr. Martin Luther. 
 
 420. ELECTOR FREDERIC OF SAXONY TO MARTIN LUTHER 
 
 AT WITTENBERG. 
 Enders, iii. no. Worms, March 11, 1321. 
 
 In the name of God! Greeting. Honorable, reverend and 
 learned, dear and pious Sir! We graciously inform you that 
 his Imperial Majesty has requested us also to provide you 
 with a safe-conduct. We send you herewith a written safe- 
 conduct addressed to the officers, cities and other subjects of 
 our brother and ourself, directing them to provide you with 
 
 iBias of Priene, fi. 570 B. C. Erasmus in his Adages gave this saying to 
 Pittacus; Luther was probably quoting from him, but made a slip in memory. 
 ^Romans, xii. 8. 
 
Ivet. 421 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 493 
 
 sufficient escort through our dominions. His Imperial Ma- 
 jesty also sends you a safe-conduct and writes you as you will 
 have received. We would not conceal this from you, for we 
 are graciously inclined to you.^ 
 
 421. BEATUS RHENANUS TO GEORGE SPALATIN AT 
 WORMS. 
 
 Briefwechsel des Beatus Rhenanus, 269. Basle^ March 11, 1521. 
 
 I remember that some years ago I received a letter from 
 you requesting me to send the fragment of Velleius Pater- 
 culus I had recently found, to Wittenberg to be placed in 
 the library of your elector. I delayed answering your letter 
 only because it was my present intention to publish Velleius 
 and to send, not an empty letter, but the author himself to 
 Wittenberg. . . . Wherefore I have dedicated this author 
 to your elector, because I see that he alone cares for sound 
 learning and true piety. What eternal fame will be his if he 
 does not desert Martin Luther now when the latter most 
 needs protection. Nor will he desert him, if he is inspired 
 by your counsels. Wherefore stretch all the powers of your 
 mind to get him to treat this most happy cause of reviving 
 piety with the mature gravity which religion demands. I 
 know what your elector can do, and how the whole world 
 will then attribute its happiness to him. But why should I 
 urge on one who is eager himself? 
 
 . . . Hitherto our nation has suffered itself to be exhausted 
 in buying palls, livings and indulgences to give the Pope the 
 means of waging war. I think that Martin Luther has been 
 summoned by the princes for this reason, that he may help 
 them by his counsel to put a limit to the papal tyranny. 
 Some who fear violence wish he had not been summoned. 
 But I see that his citation is the only way to prevent the 
 imperial edict. He will briefly set forth the essence of Chris- 
 tianity, and will show how much our lives, and especially 
 those of the prelates, have degenerated from it. Moreover, 
 he must begin with the head [of the Church]. I cannot deny 
 
 ^Here follows a safe-conduct, dated March 12, in much the same terms as that 
 of Charles given above. There was also one from Duke George, dated March 8. 
 Enders, iii. 108. 
 
494 LUTHER'S CORREvSPONDENCE AND Let. 422 
 
 that some suspect that if the Emperor seems to favor Luther 
 the Pope will gather an army of French and Swiss to keep 
 him to his duty by threatening the kingdom of Naples. But 
 more than enough of this. Offer your most Christian elector 
 Velleius, and commend me warmly to his highness. Give 
 Luther and Melanchthon my greetings. Please do not pub- 
 lish this letter. Farewell, most distinguished Sir! . . . 
 
 422. ERASMUS TO ALEXANDER, SECRETARY OF THE 
 COUNT OF NASSAU. 
 Erasmi opera (1703), iii. 1695. Louvain, March 13, 1521. 
 
 ... I do not read Luther's books nor have anything in 
 common with him more than with any Christian. Certainly 
 I should prefer him corrected than slain. And if any poison 
 has infected the people, no one can draw it out again as well 
 as he who has put it in. But I do not object if they wish 
 Luther roasted or boiled; the loss of one man is small. And 
 yet we ought to think of the public peace. Would that the 
 crafty rather than wise agents for this affair were as prudent 
 as they seem zealous in the cause of the Pope. Certainly 
 none hurt the Pope's dignity more than those who clamor 
 hatefully against Luther; no one commends him to the people 
 more than they do. So stupidly and tumultuously is the busi- 
 ness conducted by certain monks, not one of whom is a good 
 man! The bull commands them to preach against Luther, 
 that is, to rebutt his opinions with proof from Scripture and 
 to teach better ones. But no one takes the pen to refute him, 
 i though many desire it; there is none who argues, but all 
 I revile and often lie about it. They say that he would abolish 
 confession and purgatory and that he writes blasphemy against 
 God. A certain Jacobin at Antwerp said that he had written 
 that Christ did his miracles by magic. A Carmelite preach- 
 ing before the king of France said that now the Antichrist 
 had come, and that there were four harbingers: some Fran- 
 ciscan^ or other in Italy, Lef evre d'fitaples in France, Reuchlin 
 in Germany, and Erasmus in Brabant. At Bruges a Fran- 
 ciscan, a suffragan of the Bishop of Tournai, preached in the 
 church of St. Donatian a whole hour against Luther and me 
 
 'Savonarola was a Dominican, but perhaps he is meant. 
 
Let. 424 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 493 
 
 (for the monks have agreed over their cups always to join 
 my name with Luther's, though I have nothing in common 
 with him), but instead of teaching us he only called us geese, 
 asses, beasts, stocks, Antichrists, in short, spoke so that the 
 people all thought him insane. . . . 
 
 1 Whatever Luther may deserve, it is certainly time for 
 fCharles to think of the peace of Christendom. This will be 
 done if silence is imposed on both parties, and if Luther 
 ceases to write such books, or rather takes out of those that 
 he has already written all seditious matter. Those who hunt 
 for glory in public misfortunes prefer to end the thing at 
 once by force; would that it were ended for the glory of 
 Christ! But no one would believe how deeply Luther has 
 crept into the minds of many nations, nor how widely his 
 books have been translated into every tongue and scattered 
 everywhere. People are whispering about a terrific mandate 
 of Charles ; I pray that whatever the excellent prince does 
 may be fortunate for the Christian world, but I fear that 
 things will not turn out as some think. Do you ask, dear 
 Alexander, why I write this? Only to prevent a pernicious 
 tumult which I see is threatening unless the princes prefer 
 the interests of the state to the desires of some men. I do 
 not plead Luther's cause, nor do I care how he is punished; 
 I only think of the peace of the world. . . . 
 
 423. ALVISE GRADENIGO TO THE SIGNORY OF VENICE. 
 Sanuto, XXX. 17 tergo, f. Brown, iii. 171. (Translation from Italian.) 
 
 Rome, March 15, 1521. 
 A work composed by Friar Martin Luther has been brought 
 to Rome, and the Pope makes great account of it. The Cardi- 
 nals Lawrence Pucci and Ancona consulted together about 
 this matter, about which the Pope is very anxious. Friar 
 Martin has a numerous sect in Germany. 
 
 424. ALEANDER TO CARDINAL JULIUS DE' MEDICI AT 
 
 ROME. 
 Kalkoff: Aleander, iig. Worms (March 15 and 16), 1521. 
 
 ... I now turn to what has happened since my last letter. 
 Your Lordship will know that six days ago a courier of the 
 
496 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let 424 
 
 Emperor was to have gone to Luther with a safe-conduct 
 drawn up in such a form that many conjecture Luther will 
 not come. I know not how it came about, but four days ago 
 they decided not to send an ordinary courier, but a herald, and 
 they have changed the wording of the safe-conduct. I suc- 
 ceeded in getting them to allow me to glance at the Emperor's 
 letter^ to Luther, which begins : "Honorable, dear and pious." 
 This title they give to an open heretic against God and reason 1 
 When I complained they answered that that was the regular 
 style, and if they had chosen a rough form it would simply 
 happen that he would not come. The further contents of the 
 summons plainly show that the imperialists are very desirous 
 that Luther should come. I know not how it will turn out, 
 but God grant it may be for the best. What makes them 
 want this I do not know certainly, but I guess their reason 
 without daring to write it. 
 
 But I will not conceal that on the very day on which the 
 news of Robert de la Marck's invasion^ arrived, the safe- 
 conduct was suddenly altered. What is the connection be- 
 tween this event and Luther's treatment? The imperialists 
 are accurately informed that the King of France is at the 
 bottom of these disturbances, and they fear that in the impend- 
 ing great war the Pope will give his blessing and his aid to 
 their enemy. I believe, however, that this is a totally wrong 
 surmise, and I have told them so. I got my information 
 from a private conversation which I had with them one day 
 on this movement in our principality of Liege. They do not 
 speak so freely to Caracciolo and Raphael de' Medici. . . . 
 
 In any case we will do our duty. I cannot promise my- 
 self much good from Luther's coming, although the sequestra- 
 tion mandate has a tone which suggests a result favorable 
 to us. So at least the Emperor and Chievres promise, though 
 I hardly know what to make of their fine resolutions and 
 regulations in this aflfair, contrary to which they have so 
 often acted. God alone knows whether Luther will come, 
 which some believe and some deny. That the imperialists 
 
 ^Supra, no. 412. 
 
 27. e., of a French army under this general, Robert II. Comte de la Marck, 
 Prince of Sedan, a brother of Everard, Bishop of Liege, a condottiere general 
 in the service of Francis. He died 1535. 
 
Ivct. 425 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 497 
 
 earnestly desire the appearance of this Antichrist is plain 
 from the form of their summons. The Elector of Branden- 
 burg has spoken to me of a splendid plan concerning Luther's 
 affair by himself and his brother, from which he expects 
 great results, but at present he won't say anything more about 
 it. We shall soon see what it is. I hope that God will turn 
 it all to the best. . . . 
 
 It is remarkable that some Germans who write against 
 Luther in German and Latin find no printers, and if by 
 money and good words they actually do get their books 
 printed, all the copies are immediately bought by the Lu- 
 therans, who, like the Marannos,^ have common funds, and 
 destroyed. . . . 
 
 42s. ALEANDER TO THE VICE-CHANCELLOR JULIUS DE' 
 
 MEDICI. 
 
 Kalkoff: Aleander, 139. Worms (March 19), 1521. 
 
 Yesterday morning I set out to press forward the mandate, 
 the printing of which was finished yesterday evening. But 
 those who are entrusted with its preparation exercise pressure 
 on us for its delay for no other reason, as far as I can guess, 
 or rather am almost certain, than that it should not be pub- 
 lished before Luther has started to come hither. For the 
 opinion of all these gentlemen is that if he knew of the 
 mandate he would not come, and that would be, as I have 
 already often stated, not according to the wish of the im- 
 perial council. 
 
 Further I discovered another merchant, who, returning 
 from the Frankfort Fair, brought a great mass of Lutheran 
 books, both the earlier ones and some that have appeared 
 since and are as bad as the others. People are beginning to 
 talk of Martin again. But if these imperialists don't do us an 
 injustice, we will take all these books away within forty- 
 eight hours. . . . 
 
 This noon Caracciolo and I dined with a numerous and 
 noble company as guests of the most serene Elector of Brand- 
 
 *The Spanish Jews or Moors who had been converted by force to Christianity. 
 A good many of them were at Antwerp, where they made a very clannish 
 community. 
 
 32 
 
498 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 427 
 
 enburg. Present were the Elector of Trier, the Bishops of 
 Bamberg, Strassburg,^ Hildesheim,^ Augsburg and Branden- 
 burg. The talk was of Luther's affair and the opinion was 
 that there would be no danger that the Estates would not 
 do what the Emperor commanded. What happens I shall tell 
 your Lordship later. 
 
 In Frankfort I hear that many citizens have forbidden 
 their wives and families to confess their secret sins to the 
 priests. The Bishop of Augsburg, an able man, much prized 
 and consulted by the Diet, assures us that in his city many 
 owners of Luther's books refuse to give them up to their 
 confessors, and occasionally make them grant absolution by 
 force. 
 
 426. JOHN MANUEL, IMPERIAL AMBASSADOR AT ROME, TO 
 CHARLES V. 
 
 Bergenroth, ii. p. 341. (English translation of Spanish original.) 
 
 Rome, March 20, 1521. 
 
 The Pope urges me to remind your Majesty in every let- 
 ter I write, that you should not treat the affairs concerning 
 Martin Luther lightly. Some of the cardinals complained in 
 consistory that your Majesty had ordered Martin Luther into 
 your presence, saying that you had thereby arrogated to your- 
 self a jurisdiction belonging to the Holy See. I exculpated 
 you. The Pope said that he had been informed that your 
 Majesty was ill advised when you decided to see Martin 
 Luther, "who would not be well received even in hell." His 
 Holiness begs your Majesty not to forget your obligations 
 towards God, the Church and himself. 
 
 427. LUTHER TO NICHOLAS HAUSMANN AT SCHNEEBERG. 
 
 Enders, iii. 115. Wittenberg, March 22, 1521. 
 
 Hausmann (1479-October 17, 1538), born at Freiberg in Saxony, 
 was one of Luther's warmest friends, more than a hundred letters 
 of the Reformer to him having survived. In 1521 he became pastor 
 at Zwickau, from which he was driven by a quarrel with his congre- 
 
 'William III. Ton Honstein, Bishop of Strassburg 1506-1541. 
 'John IV., Bishop of Hildesheim 1504-1527. 
 
Let. 427 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 499 
 
 gation in 1531. After spending ten months at Wittenberg, he accepted 
 a call to the court chaplaincy of the Princes of Anhalt at Dessau. 
 In 1538 he went to Freiberg. See E. Kroker: Katharina von Bora, 
 217, and my Luther, index. 
 
 Greeting. I received your letter, dearest Nicholas, telling 
 me that you had been called to preach at Zwickau, and ask- 
 ing consolation from poor little me. You know how perilous 
 are these times, and that it is simply that time for flight which 
 Christ predicted. For it is a time when sound doctrine is 
 not maintained, when wolves are made shepherds, and there is 
 no consolation for us, save to pray the Lord, by whose aid we 
 may either escape or stand fast in these evil days. I have more 
 experience daily how widely and deeply Satan reigns, so that 
 it is a horror to me to envisage the Church. Daily I am be- 
 coming more persuaded that no one can be saved unless he 
 fight against the laws and commands of the Pope and of the 
 bishops with all his might through life and death. Is this 
 surprising or novel to you? But it is so, dearest Nicholas. 
 If you do not grasp it, you are not capable of receiving any 
 consolation from me. We have found that the Pope and his 
 men are simple enemies of Christ, so that no one can preach 
 save he who takes care to subject his sheep to him, and, as 
 it were, to lead them to the wolf. You know how loudly they 
 shout against the crimes of schism and heresy to-day; but 
 what can we do? There is no other way of safety in this 
 time of perdition. 
 
 Now, Nicholas, if my advice is evil it is worst of all for 
 him who gives it, and I will let you act on your judgment 
 and at your own risk about following it. If you take the 
 pastorate make yourself the enemy of the Pope and the bish- 
 ops and fight their decrees; if you do not do this you will 
 be an enemy of Christ. Christ's faith does not stand freely 
 with their snares and fallacies. In all this I judge nothing 
 for you, but as you asked my advice I give it. You should 
 either not ask advice or you should take it kindly when 
 given. I call God to witness that I can give no other. 
 Farewell. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
500 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 429 
 
 428. GEORGE SPALATIN TO BEATUS RHENANUS AT 
 BASLE. 
 
 Briefwechsel des Beatus Rhenanus, 271. Worms, March 24, 1521. 
 
 Most learned Beatus Rhenanus! If ever a letter pleased 
 me, assuredly yours, recently delivered to me by our friend 
 John Froben, pleased me, the more as it was accompanied by 
 Velleius Paterculus, dedicated by you to our Lord Frederic, 
 most Christian Elector of Saxony. . . . 
 
 Luther seems to be summoned to recant, which he so hates 
 that I am sure he will suffer anything rather than do so. But 
 I hope he will come, for he is summoned under the safe-con- 
 duct both of the Emperor and of my elector and other princes. 
 Perhaps the wretches will prevent his coming to have a good 
 excuse for treating him as an enemy. Farewell with greeting 
 to all your good friends. In haste, 
 
 George Spalatin, Chaplain. 
 
 429. ERASMUS TO ALOISIUS MARLIAN, BISHOP OF TUL 
 
 AT WORMS. 
 
 Erasmi opera, iii. 543. Louvain, March 25 (1521). 
 
 I have learned from the letters of good friends, though I 
 know not whether they wrote in pure affection, that new 
 rumors and suspicions are spread abroad here by some secret 
 . detractors that I favor Luther, and that I know not what 
 evil books are attributed to me of which I hear that some are 
 published here, some elsewhere. I know that these days are 
 the very kingdom of calumny, and that at no time has more 
 unbridled vituperation been allowed, and yet wise, learned 
 and grave men, among whom I consider you one of tht first, 
 should not allow any place to such accusations. Your pru- 
 dence first warned me, though I was, as they say, mindful 
 of it myself, that I should not mix in the Lutheran, affair. So 
 far was I from mixing in it that I exerted all my strength 
 to keep the affair from getting to that point where I should 
 least care to see it. Only at the first before I saw where 
 Luther was tending I did not approve turbulent clamors 
 among the people. I advised that the affair be treated in 
 learned books. I preferred to have Luther corrected than 
 crushed, or, if he were to be crushed, I preferred that it 
 
Let. 429 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 501 
 
 should be done without turning the world upside down. Even 
 the Pope would have approved this advice, had he known 
 how things were done, and with what zeal several nations 
 would follow Luther. But the rumors were the fabrications 
 of certain monks, who love me no more than they do sound 
 learning, and who were determined to involve me willy nilly 
 in the Lutheran affair. 
 
 On the other hand, those who seemed to favor Luther 
 tried every way to draw me into their party. Those who 
 hated Luther tried also to precipitate me into his faction, fre- 
 quently in public sermons raging against my name more 
 odiously than they did against Luther himself. But I could be 
 moved by no arts from my own purpose. I recognize Christ, 
 I do not know Luther; I recognize the Roman Church which 
 I think is not different from the Catholic Church. Death 
 shall not make me abandon her, unless she openly is aban- 
 doned by Christ. I have always abhorred sedition; would 
 that Luther and all Germans were of the same mind. I see 
 that in many lands this side of the Alps there are men who 
 favor Luther as it were by fatality. Indeed, it is remarkable 
 that as his enemies help him most so he helps them, as if 
 they were in a conspiracy. For no one hurts Luther more 
 than he does himself with his new books, each one more 
 odious than the last. On the other hand, there are some 
 who stir up the people so unlearnedly, so foolishly and so 
 seditiously that they make themselves hateful to all, com- 
 mend Luther to the affections of men, and compromise the 
 cause of the Pope as bad patrons always compromise their 
 clients. I praise those who favor the Pope, whom every 
 pious man favors. Who would not favor him who is the 
 first imitator of Christ and who spends himself for Christian 
 salvation? But I wish he had wiser defenders. They hunger 
 for nothing but Luther, nor is it anything to me whether they 
 prefer him boiled or roasted. It is certain that they confound 
 me with an affair from which I am totally distinct, and that 
 they thus act both wrongly and foolishly, for they would 
 vanquish Luther sooner if they left me alone. Even in Ale- 
 ander, a man otherwise kind and learned, I miss the prudence 
 necessary for such an affair; if at least what is written and 
 
602 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 429 
 
 said about him is true. There was formerly a very close 
 friendship between us;^ and when he went to France I gave 
 him letters of recommendation and spoke of him very highly 
 even in my writings; I respected the man's learning, liked his 
 character, although it was peculiar, nor did it seem that we 
 got along together badly. He was commanded by all means 
 to win over those who had formerly been of the Lutheran 
 party — so far was it from the Pope's thoughts to alienate 
 those who were innocent. But though not unkind in him- 
 self he used force at the instigation of certain men. He 
 would have approached the Lutheran affair better had he 
 joined his advantages to mine. He would have had a helper 
 in a pious work, and one certainly not adverse to the power 
 of the Pope. 
 
 They bandy about an impudent lie, that Luther has taken 
 much from my books, but the very first article of the charge 
 refutes it. When have_Ijasserted that all that we do is sin ?' 
 not to mention innumerable other things, the like of which 
 is not found in any of my writings, even in the sportive ones. 
 And yet of old the heretics have drunk their poison from the 
 gospels and apostolic letters. I speak for the moment as if 
 he had really written something heretical and had taken it 
 from my books. It is said that he does not recognize cer- 
 tain of his books; perhaps he would do well to deny them 
 all; but in any case, by whomsoever the books which pass 
 under his name were written there is not in any of them a 
 syllable of mine; this I do not hesitate to swear solemnly. 
 For many years I have respected your singular prudence and 
 your candid friendship for me, and your authority is known 
 to all. Wherefore I beg you to defend my innocence against 
 such malicious calumnies. Everything is printed, even that 
 which I wrote privately to the bosom of my friends, including 
 some things which were perhaps freer, according to my nat- 
 ural inclination, than was always expedient. Even those 
 things which we are accustomed to say in our cups have 
 
 'In Venice 1508. Cf. Allen, !. 502. Supra, no. 394. 
 
 20ne of Luther's favorite propositions, condemned by the bull Exsurge Domine, 
 article 36. Cf. Smith, op. cit., p. loi. The proposition was made in general 
 terms in the Disputation on Scholastic Philosophy, and more precisely in the 
 Heidelberg Disputation (iS'S), Weimar, i. 354. Supra, p. 82. 
 
Let. 430 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 503 
 
 been printed, and yet nothing is found except that I said I 
 would prefer Luther corrected than put to death, while there 
 was yet hope that he might devote himself to better things. 
 
 [The second half of this letter is an expansion of the same thoughts 
 and a repetition of the letter to Albert of Mayence, November i, 1519.] 
 
 430. ULRICH VON HUTTEN TO EMPEROR CHARLES V. AT 
 
 WORMS. 
 Bocking, ii. 38. Ebernburg, March 27, 1521. 
 
 If, O Emperor, you determined to do some great and mem- 
 orable injury to the common good of Germany, we Germans, 
 on account of the affection we bear you, would do our best 
 to oppose you as though you were taking upon yourself some 
 great danger, for we would take it ill that you treated our 
 interests either to your own peril or to your disadvantage. 
 And should we not do this the more because, deceived by 
 error, you would, to the incomparable loss of Germany, go 
 to your own ruin ? For what else is the cause of Luther lead- 
 ing to than the suppression of our liberty, the overturning of 
 the state and the trampling under foot of your dignity? 
 Wherefore I think that we should all strive with our might to 
 recall you from the path you are treading with so much dan- 
 ger both to the state and to yourself, and that we should ex- 
 hort and pray you to take courage worthy of your race and 
 your fortune. . . . For what unjuster thing could you do 
 than that which these fellows demand, namely, that you 
 should not give Luther when he arrives a chance of explain- 
 ing his cause, and what could be more calamitous or a worse 
 example to us than that the asserter of the public liberty 
 should be punished? And yet they are striving to get you 
 to do both, and it is said they have extorted from you an 
 edict forbidding his books to be read. . . . They accuse Lu- 
 ther of heresy not considering what crimes that involves; 
 but they accuse him and shout that he should be condemned 
 unheard. . . . For supposing Luther were not the man who 
 with great zeal had brought back the evangelic truth, and had 
 preached it with infinite pains, and had defended your dignity 
 against those who despised it, and had guarded the liberty of 
 
504 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 431 
 
 Germany against most violent tyrants, yet no law ever forbade 
 a criminal to defend himself, for even parricides and the 
 worst criminals have this right. . . . Only the slothful clergy 
 would deprive him of this right, and they accuse him solely 
 because he has written and spoken against their habits, their 
 unbridled power, their scandalous luxury and depraved rites, 
 in behalf of Christianity, liberty and morality. [Here follows 
 a long tirade against the wickedness of Rome and of Alean- 
 der, and a prophecy that the Emperor will one day wish he 
 had attended to Hutten's exhortation.] . . . Finally as no one 
 doubts that all these things are connected with Luther's cause, 
 you may believe that the whole of Germany is fallen at your 
 feet, and prays you with tears to show mercy and good faith, 
 to preserve her and restore her to herself, to free her from 
 servitude and from tyranny, and that she abjures you by the 
 holy memory of those who, when the Romans conquered the 
 world, refused to be slaves, that you will not suffer us to 
 obey these bad, effeminate weaklings. Farewell and rule us 
 long. 
 
 431. LUTHER TO JOHN LANG AT ERFURT. 
 Enders, iii. 118. (Wittenberg), March 29, 1521. 
 
 Greeting. Next Thursday or Friday^ I will lodge with 
 you, reverend Father, with the imperial herald^ who sum- 
 mons me to Worms, unless it is dangerous for me to enter 
 Erfurt or some unknown chance prevents. Then I will speak 
 more fully. Otherwise you will certainly find me at Eis- 
 enach on Saturday. Thanks for the gold piece you sent me. 
 You see how I treated my ass Emser.' Farewell. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 Martin Luther. 
 
 ^April 4 or 5. In fact Luther left Wittenberg April 2 and came to Erfurt 
 April 6. 
 
 ^Caspar Sturm, on whom cf. Archiv fur Reformationsgeschichte, iv. ii7£f. 
 Born at Oppendeim c. 147s, he was educated in the humanities. In 1315 he 
 entered the service of Albert of Mayence, and on October 27, 1520, at Aix, was 
 made imperial herald for Germany. At the same time Diirer made a portrait 
 of him. He took Luther's safe-conduct to him, conducted him to the Diet 
 and back to Eisenach. He wrote an account of the affair friendly to Luther 1521. 
 After that we find him at Mayence 1522, at Nuremberg 1530, at Ratisbon 1532^ 
 at Augsburg 1547. He died 1548. He wrote several historical books. 
 
 ^Auf das iiberchristlicke . . . Buch Bock Emscrs, Weimar, vii. 6i4fF. 
 
Let. 432 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 505 
 
 432. ALEANDER TO VICE-CHANCELLOR DE' MEDICI AT 
 
 ROME. 
 Kalkoff: Aleander, 141. Worms, March 29, 1521. 
 
 . . . Luther has pubhshed at Basle a commentary^ on the 
 first thirteen Psalms of David, with, as preface, a letter of a 
 certain "von Schonberg," who according to his own words is 
 of low estate and not a noble, but who overflows with venomous 
 hatred towards Rome. In his letter he summons the whole 
 of Germany against Rome. I have only been able to read 
 a few pages of the book, as it only came to me yesterday even- 
 ing from Frankfort. As always, Luther shows himself variable 
 and full of contradictions ; in the preface he praises the Pope 
 and in another place pulls down the papacy. Almost in the 
 same breath he praises and blames. If he continues as thor- 
 oughly as he begins it will be a monstrous and strange book. 
 
 If Luther does not come we shall soon make an end of the 
 business, and if he does, we shall do our duty and take all 
 suitable measures, from which I promise myself good success, 
 if only the imperialists don't give us a shameless box on the 
 ear. 
 
 The considerations which your Lordship wrote us in your 
 last letter, which we read with pleasure and due respect, are 
 extremely impressive and have been urged by us, along with 
 other reasons, a hundred times. They are enough to melt 
 stones to pity. But here we preach to deaf ears ; they only 
 answer that they act as they must if we expect success and 
 not to have all our trouble in vain. Well, we shall see ! Al- 
 though many doubt that Luther will come, the imperialists 
 think it certain, and, to judge by their citation, they greatly 
 desire his presence. I have heard nothing new as yesterday 
 and to-day^ I have busied myself a little with God and my con- 
 science and therefore did not go to court. All the princes 
 are now taking thought for their salvation. I have not yet 
 
 ^Martini Lutheri piae et doctae in psalmos operationes, 1521. (Reprinted, 
 Weimar, v.) With a letter to Germany by Ulrich Hugwald, dated ''ex Schonen- 
 berga." Published by Adam Petri at Basle. Mutius Hugwald (1496-1571) had 
 already published Luther's Tesseradecas at Basle. He came to Wittenberg in 
 July, 1521, and later became an Anabaptist and professor at Basle. 
 
 'Holy Thursday and Good Friday. 
 
506 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 434 
 
 been able to get a copy of the Emperor's letter [to Luther], 
 the flattering style and honorable titles of which I told you 
 about. . . . 
 
 433. MICHAEL HUMMELBERG TO JOHN HERRMANN. 
 
 Sitzungsberichte der philphist. Klasse der kaiserlichen Akademie der 
 Wissenschaften zu Wien, Ixxxv. (1877), 126, note 2. (March, 1521.) 
 
 Herkmann was a monk at Salmansweiler, an intimate friend of 
 Hummelberg. Notices of his letters are given by Horawitz, loc. cit. 
 
 Alas, dear Herkmann, who fooled you by saying that I was 
 a Lutheran? Whoever thought that I should be baptized 
 anew with this name, which I abhor as seditious, was mis- 
 taken. For being a Lutheran involves one in as much al- 
 tercation as being an Eckian in malice. These are the names 
 of heresies and schisms, not of Christian charity. According 
 to the teaching of St. Paul I think not man but Christ is to 
 be regarded, and I wish to bear his name only, and to be 
 called not a Lutheran, but a Christian. . . . But I welcome 
 and cherish whatever I find good in Luther's books, not be- 
 cause it is his, but because it is God's from whom cometh 
 every good gift. Nor does it bother me if he does not please 
 those barbarian theologs, and does not agree with the mad- 
 ness of the sycophants. ... I shall, therefore, expect the 
 judgment of the universal Church convened by the Holy 
 Spirit in a council. Whatever holy and pious decrees are 
 then made, I also shall follow. . . . 
 
 434. GREGORY BRUCK, CHANCELLOR OF ELECTORAL 
 
 SAXONY, TO SPALATIN. 
 
 Reichstagsakten, ii. 534. German. Worms (early in April, 1521). 
 
 Honored and dear Sir. I hear two opinions from people 
 who are favorable to Dr. Martin. Some warn us that he 
 should by no means come hither simply on his Imperial Ma- 
 jesty's safe-conduct, because his Imperial Majesty's ban is 
 ready for the condemned heretic inasmuch as he approved and 
 sanctioned the Pope's bull. And one is not bound to keep 
 faith with heretics. So if he came hither and would not re- 
 cant, his opponents and the Romanists might find occasion to 
 persuade the Emperor that he was not bound to observe his 
 
Let. 435 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 507 
 
 safe-conduct, and could not do so with good conscience, but 
 might honorably break it. For his Majesty would have given 
 it to him in the expectation that he would recant, but if he 
 did not, his Majesty ought not to let him leave. For Luther 
 has himself recognized and should know that if he does not 
 recant no safe-conduct or other assurance would avail him. 
 And as he is minded not to recant, as his Majesty hoped in 
 giving him a safe-conduct, he had better remain at home and 
 not put himself in danger, by which his Majesty would be 
 excused. It could not then be said that the safe-conduct was 
 broken, for Luther, as a condemned heretic, has no right to 
 trust a safe-conduct. . . . But as he thinks that all that he has 
 hitherto written has been founded in the Scripture, and that 
 he cannot revoke it, unless he is convinced by sufficient rea- 
 son, let him consider that his coming hither would be in vain 
 and cause much trouble. . . . 
 
 But other friends think that he should by no means stay 
 away for this reason, for as the Emperor recognizes in the 
 recently posted mandate that he invites Martin hither at the 
 advice of the electors and princes, as indeed is the truth, that 
 therefore the electors and princes, especially the temporal 
 ones, would not allow anything contrary to the safe-conduct 
 to be done to him. Secondly, that the Emperor would not 
 break his safe-conduct. . . . On Easter day [March 31] I 
 had an interview with the secretary of Aragon^ who asked 
 what I thought of Luther's affair and whether he would come 
 hither. I replied that Luther was a reasonable and learned 
 man, and that he undoubtedly would come. That shocked 
 him. . . . 
 
 I hardly know therefore what it is advisable for Martin to 
 do, but I fear he will think there is no alternative but to come. 
 
 435. JOHN MANUEL, IMPERIAL AMBASSADOR AT ROME TO 
 
 CHARLES V. 
 Bergenroth, ii. p. 343. (English translation of Spanish original.) 
 
 Rome, April 3, 1521. 
 
 The affairs of Luther are very troublesome to the Pope. 
 
 After having heard what I communicated to him, the Holy 
 
 ^The secretary of Aragon was Hugo de tTrries, though it is possible that 
 Briick was thinking of someone else. 
 
508 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 437 
 
 Father exclaimed: "God be thanked who has sent me in 
 these times an Emperor who takes so much care of the 
 Church !" The Pope is very thankful for all'your Majesty 
 has promised, and only begs you to fulfil your promise, and 
 not to permit men who are "hearkening to the counsel of 
 the Devil" to lead you astray, as it is said they will do. These 
 are the very words his Holiness ordered me to write your 
 Majesty. 
 
 436. DUKE JOHN OF SAXONY TO ELECTOR FREDERIC AT 
 
 WORMS. 
 T. Kolde: Friedrich der Weise, p. 44. German. 
 
 CoBURG, April 4, 1521. 
 
 ... I have heard that his Imperial Majesty has sent a 
 herald to Dr. Luther, but I know not whether he has reached 
 him yet. I have credible information that during Lent just 
 past a student at Leipsic confessed to a Paulist brother, and 
 prayed him to absolve him, which the brother refused to do, 
 saying that he would not absolve him unless he promised to 
 burn all Luther's books; but the student replied that he had 
 no books written by Luther, and as the brother still refused 
 to absolve him after repeated requests, the student took him 
 by the cowl and threw him out and stamped on him and per- 
 haps hit him, too — so my physician writes from Leipsic, and 
 I do not wish to conceal it from your Grace. 
 
 Liutpold von Hermannsgriin was here two days ago and 
 said that bills had b6en posted at Worms warning people to 
 give up all books in their possession written by Luther to the 
 magistrate. Wherefore a great question has arisen whether 
 such a proclamation could be made agreeably to the safe-con- 
 duct. Doubtless your Grace knows the truth in the matter. 
 It is my kind prayer that your Grace will favorably protect 
 the pious man Luther, and also that you will request the 
 other princes from me graciously to keep the said Luther in 
 their protection. . . . 
 
 437. ALEANDER TO THE VICE-CHANCELLOR DE' MEDICI 
 
 AT ROME. 
 Kalkoff: Aleander, 145. Worms, April 5, 1521. 
 
 Since the publication of the imperial mandate which I sent 
 
Let. 437 OTHER CONTEMPORARY I^ETTERS 509 
 
 you on March 29, the tumult of the people seems to me to 
 have quieted down. But to make up for this, chance has re- 
 vealed the venomous hatred of Luther's princely patrons in its 
 full extent. They care less for the person of Luther, whom 
 they only use as a tool to win the people, than for the con- 
 fiscation- of ecclesiastical property. Such great difficulties 
 are generally anticipated from this side that help and succor 
 can only be expected from God. Indeed, had the mandate 
 ordered the immediate burning and complete destruction of 
 the Lutheran books, I believe that the Lutherans would not 
 stand on ceremony with the defenceless Emperor, but would 
 storm the city and open the battle. . . . 
 
 In short, the movement is now quite independent of Luther, 
 for, says Hutten, if Luther were put to death a thousand 
 times a hundred new Luthers would rise up. With a certain 
 jealousy Hutten seems to want to take the leading role in 
 the movement; he would do it with pleasure if he could only 
 reckon on as loyal support from the people as Luther gets. 
 He writes that even if he fell the rest of the knights would 
 not desist from the proposed undertaking, which doubtless 
 they have agreed upon for a long time and with a large num- 
 ber of conspirators. All the humanists of the Rhine are 
 coming to Hutten: on the Ebernburg, to give him, with great 
 diligence and emulation, what help they can. . . . 
 
 Of course, Luther's condemnation, following the expira- 
 tion of the set period, must be declared in a new bull. It 
 must agree in all points with that^ already sent, except that 
 it ought to name neither Hutten nor anyone else except 
 Luther. For these people mutter that they do not yet know 
 whether, after the expiration of the term, Martin is really 
 declared [a heretic], and they use that as an excuse to favor 
 him. But this is absolutely not the time to publish the bull 
 previously sent, for Hutten and all the German knights would 
 murder me in the Emperor's arms. Not that he would care 
 much for the excommunication for the sake of his salvation, 
 but he would commit that folly because of the shame done 
 him before the world. Therefore the bull should be sent as 
 soon as possible, so that I can publish it at the Diet and in- 
 
 ^Supra, no. 396. 
 
510 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 438 
 
 timidate the populace. I am resolved, however, before I 
 leave Germany to publish the excommunication of Hutten, 
 and, when I am once safe, to print it; but God prevent it 
 happening while we are in Worms, for it would not help our 
 cause, but would cost us all our lives. 
 
 At Hutten's instigation all men, high and low, are trying 
 to frighten us, but Caracciolo and I are determined to stay 
 till the end, and, if Martin comes, to do our best. If he does 
 not come we shall request a final prohibition of his books and 
 libels and will stick to it without letting ourselves be in- 
 timidated by the threats of a thousand deaths. 
 
 438. MARTIN BUCER TO BEATUS RHENANUS AT BASLE. 
 Briefwechsel des Beatus Rhenanus, 272. Ebernburg, April 6, 1521. 
 
 Greeting, most learned Beatus ! As all things are uncertain, 
 and the success of the priests against the Lord and against 
 his Christ^ is doubtful, I preferred to let others write to you 
 about them, myself waiting for a chance to tell you something 
 more certain of the content of the meditations of the wicked, 
 when, that is, the result of the battle of truth and falsehood 
 would be plainer. But when our Valentine came hither I 
 could not omit writing something of the doubtful cause of 
 the gospel. For the wicked are in labor, and with violent 
 throes have brought forth a little mandate. They bear in 
 their womb a great giant. Antichrist himself, who will not only 
 hurl mountain on mountain, but with his'' own might will 
 thrust from heaven Christ and all the gods. I know nothing 
 of Luther save that he wrote Spalatin that if he were sum- 
 moned only to recant he would not come, and that he would 
 soon write to Charles that it was just the same as if he had 
 come hither and returned to Wittenberg. For if he wished 
 he could recant there. But if the Emperor were offended at 
 these words and judged that he were an enemy of the Empire, 
 he would offer to come, were he summoned to be punished, 
 for he would by no means flee and leave the Word in the 
 battle. These were his very words. But he writes that he 
 
 ^This letter is very poorly printed, due probably to Bucer's bad hand. I 
 change the reading here, for it ia evidently an allusion to Psalm ii. 2, so trans- 
 lated in the Vulgate. 
 
 ^Reading "suo" for "tuo." The syntax is as confused as the metaphor. 
 
Let. 439 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 511 
 
 hopes no hands save those of the papists will be stained with 
 his blood/ 
 
 Of Sickingen persuade yourself that he alone unites with 
 a spirit and courage truly German, evangelic piety and un- 
 speakable humanity. If he were not ill with the gout, he 
 would doubtless assert the cause of the gospel with his sword, 
 for he desires only to die for Christ. And he is sick of serv- 
 ing the Emperor, although he gets a salary of seven thousand 
 gulden for it, only because the Emperor is obsequious to the 
 Pope. He would be willing to have his stipend reduced to 
 two thousand per annum to get the Emperor to read Luther's 
 works translated into French.^ I myself think it would be 
 worth a great deal if only the Emperor would read them in 
 the same spirit as Sickingen's, acute and learned, and agree- 
 ing perfectly with the gospel. It is known that this hero has 
 met Capito and Erasmus, to whom I think his excellent 
 talents are known. Certainly he loves all learned and studious 
 men, on whom, if possible, he would pour forth his wealth. 
 Valentine is now going. I will write again soon, or else 
 see you at a place where there are no vipers, for there are 
 plenty here as the bull has come from Rome. They are now 
 negotiating to have the affair, which the Pope committed to 
 the Bishop of Spires, ^ transferred to the suffragan of Spires. 
 
 439. ALOISIUS MARLIAN, BISHOP OF TUY, TO ERASMUS. 
 Erasmi opera (1703), iii. 636. Worms, April 7, 1521. 
 
 . . . But when we had returned from Spain and I met you 
 at Brussels, I begged you to have nothing to do with Luther. 
 For there were some men who suspected, though foolishly, 
 that you were not averse to him. But you then promised to 
 do as I asked so that I vouched for you before others as I did 
 for myself. Afterwards this fatal Lutheran calamity grew 
 stronger every day, and possessed the minds of so many 
 that there did not seem to be any number uninfected by it. 
 
 'On December 21, 1520. Translated, Smith, 105. 
 
 ^Reading "Gallicam" {sc. linguam) for "Galliam." Both here and elsewhere 
 in this letter the composition is so bad that I have had to construe with the 
 greatest freedom. French was the only language known to Charles V., who had 
 been brought up at Brussels. 
 
 ^George of the Palatinate, Bishop of Spires 1513-29. 
 
512 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 441 
 
 I think the condition of our age, in which evils are so much 
 : greater than their remedies, is to be deplored. For we can 
 neither bear the evils nor apply remedies when we see these 
 men rather captured by dreams and madness than moved by 
 sound reasons. From our Aleander, who is, I think, joined to 
 you by the same studies and mutual kindnesses, I have always 
 heard of you what he would wish to be said of himself. . . . 
 In dissuading Luther and the Germans from writing you did 
 a worthy deed. . . . Lest you should think that I had done 
 nothing I have written two orations against Luther, of which 
 one is gentle,^ the other, composed after his last books, is 
 more severe; not that I wish to condemn so much the man 
 ;as the cause, that the state and religion may be saved. I am 
 sending them to you. . . . 
 
 440. SPALATIN TO THE ELECTOR FREDERIC OF SAXONY. 
 Zeitschrift fur Kirchengeschichte, ii. 125. Bocking, ii. 806. 
 
 (Worms, April 7-9, 1521.) 
 
 Most gracious Lord. Yesterday a Strassburg printer showed 
 me a letter from Hutten written at Ebernburg, in this tenor: 
 
 "Greet Spalatin from me and say that I will write him all 
 that he wants to know. Also that an embassy to Luther has 
 been offered me, or rather pressed on me, and that I have 
 good hope. . . ." The said printer informed me that Hutten 
 would stand like a wall. Also that the Emperor's confessor 
 is entirely won over, but Hutten doesn't trust him much. Yes- 
 terday the imperial legation returned from the Ebernburg. 
 
 441. MARTIN BUCER TO (SPALATIN?). 
 
 Zeitschrift fiir Kirchengeschichte, ii. 124. Bocking, ii. 806. 
 
 (Ebernburg, April 7-9, 1521.) 
 
 Salute Peter, to whom I will write to-morrow. To-morrow 
 
 again we discuss Luther's cause, as we did yesterday with 
 
 Glapion and Paul von Armstorf." I am not able to send the 
 
 IThis waa true. A notice and some extracts from the oration in Clemen; 
 Beitrdge, iii. 4. 
 
 2An Austrian noble, once in Maximilian's service, transferred to the Nether- 
 lands 1511, at the battle of Guinegate 1513, employed in various diplomatic 
 services. When Charles came to Germany in 1520 Armstorf was made his body- 
 guard. He met his death probably on December 1, 1531, in battle against the 
 
Let. 442 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 513 
 
 letters given me, because they are single copies and are be- 
 ing revised by Hutten for the press. I now turn that over 
 to the priests. Hutten was ill on that day when we consulted 
 with Glapion on Luther. He desires only that Luther may 
 be able to defend himself, and in such a way that Luther 
 may bring the reformation of the Church into the consultation 
 without being impeded with the doubts of his enemies. But 
 keep this secret, for we have given our word to be silent. As 
 the case stands we must deceive the Romanists, who are get- 
 ting out an apparently severe mandate. When you hear the 
 cause you will agree with me. To-morrow I will write by the 
 chamberlain of my illustrious prince Frederic' Count Palatine, 
 as much as I honorably may. . . . Pray be careful not to say 
 a word about Luther coming to us, for you would thus brand 
 Hutten, who has written to you, and Francis and myself with 
 levity. . . . And now, if Luther understands his writings as 
 I interpret them, the Emperor has no reason to complain of 
 him, and I think that I am nearly of his opinion. . . . 
 
 442. GEORGE STURZ TO JOACHIM CAMERARIUS. 
 BocWng, ii. 50. Cologne, April 8, 1321. 
 
 Sturz (1490-1548) at Erfurt 1505; journeyed to Italy 1519 and 1521; 
 took the degree of M. D. at Wittenberg 1523, then went to Erfurt, 
 which he was forced to leave by the Peasants' War 1525. He then went 
 to Buchholz. In 1537 he ministered to Luther during his illness at 
 Schmallcalden. Allgemeine deutsche Biographic. 
 
 Camerarius of Bamberg (1500-74) studied at Leipsic, then after 
 1516 at Erfurt. Attained great proficiency in Greek. M. A. in 1520, 
 1521 at Wittenberg, where he formed a lasting friendship with Melanch- 
 thon. After 1525 he spent most of his life at Nuremberg, where he 
 took an important part in the Reformation. He edited Diirer's works 
 and other things, and wrote some important biographies. Realencyclo- 
 pddie. 
 
 . . . Some say that the world is turned upside down by 
 Luther. This is true, but so it was by the teaching of the 
 
 French. Aleander tried hard to win his support against the Lutherans. Cf. 
 P. Kalkoff: Aleander gegen Luther, igoS, pp. S4ff. 
 
 IFrederic II. (1483-1556) spent his early life at the court of Philip the Fair 
 cf Burgundy, after which he traveled much, to France, Spain and England, and 
 took part in wars with the Turks and other powers. This part of his life has 
 been charmingly described by Mrs. Henry Cust in Gentlemen Errant (1909), 
 241-396. In 1544 he became Elector Palatine, and in 1545 embraced the Protestant 
 faith. Allgemeine deutsche Biographie. 
 
 33 
 
514 I^UTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 443 
 
 apostles. But if this seems to be the beginning of evil, why 
 do they not nip it in the bud, lest it grow too great for them? 
 It will not be crushed by clamor and threats and cruelty, but 
 it might be appeased by confessing manifest errors and cor- 
 recting vices and leaving a place for the progress of the gos- 
 pel. I write what I hear prudent and good men say. But 
 enough of this subject. . , . 
 
 443- THE GOVERNORS AND GRANDEES OF SPAIN TO 
 CHARLES V. 
 
 Bergenroth, supplement to vols. i. and ii., p. 376ff. (English translation 
 of Spanish.) Tordesiixas, April 12, 1521. 
 
 The Cardinal of Tortosa [Adrian of Utrecht] and the Ad- 
 miral of Castile,^ governors for your Imperial Majesty in 
 these your kingdoms, together with the grandees, prelates, 
 cavaliers, and principal persons who are staying at this court 
 in the service of your Highness, and who here sign their 
 names for themselves and in the name of all other grandees, 
 prelates, cavaliers and other principal persons of your king- 
 dom of Spain, very humbly kiss the royal feet and hands of 
 your Imperial Majesty. We desire you to know that through 
 various channels has been forwarded to these your kingdoms 
 and seignories the intelligence of the discord and schism which 
 the heresiarch Martin Luther has sown in Germany amongst 
 the subjects and vassals of your Majesty, which has caused 
 and still occasions to all of us, as Catholic Christians and 
 supporters of the faith and service and honor of your Ma- 
 jesty, great pain and grief; especially because we have been 
 certified that that seducer, not content with having perverted 
 and deceived Germany, is endeavoring with his malignant 
 and diabolical cunning to pervert and contaminate these your 
 kingdoms and seignories of Spain. And to this end, at the 
 instigation and with the aid of some persons of these parts, 
 who desire to hinder and weaken the holy office of the In- 
 quisition, he has procured means for translating and putting 
 into the Castilian tongue his heresies and blasphemies, and to 
 send them to be spread and published in this Catholic nation. 
 
 'Don Fadrique Henriquez, appointed governor of Spain in conjunction with the 
 Cardinal of Tortosa and the Constable of Castile, in 1520. 
 
Let. 444 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 515 
 
 From a little spark, most Christian Lord, may spring and 
 burst forth a great fire. If your Majesty does not speedily 
 find a remedy for things which do such dishonor to God our 
 Lord and are so dangerous to the Holy Catholic faith, a great 
 scandal may the more easily be caused, and a still greater 
 flame, and one which afterwards it may not be easy to ex- 
 tinguish, be kindled, since some cities of these kingdoms are 
 in a state of disturbance. Therefore for ourselves and in the 
 name of all who are absent, very humbly and with great 
 urgency, we supplicate your Imperial Majesty, as a most 
 Christian Emperor and Catholic King our Lord, the protector 
 and defender of our holy Catholic faith and of the Roman 
 Church, our mother, that, imitating your glorious progenitors 
 of immortal memory, it would please you to adopt this cause 
 of the faith as your own, which indeed it is, and with the de- 
 votion, fervor and zeal which you owe and by which you are 
 bound, to aid, defend and favor it, and to provide in such 
 manner that those damnable and perverse subtilties may cease 
 and be extirpated, so that not only this detestable and cor- 
 rupt pestilence shall not enter into these your kingdoms and 
 seignories of Spain, but that by the hand of your Majesty 
 it may be extirpated and destroyed throughout all the world, 
 and the said arch-heretic Martin Luther be severely and effec- 
 tively punished, and that the books which contain his blas- 
 phemies and heresies be burnt. . . . 
 
 444. ALEANDER TO THE VICE-CHANCELLOR DE' MEDICI. 
 Kalkoff: Aleander, 156. Worms (April 15), 1521. 
 
 I have received your Lordship's letter and the copies of the 
 bull and the desired breves which will greatly help us. In my 
 last letter I told that the confessor and Armstorf were going 
 to betake themselves to Hutten and Sickingen. This has now 
 happened,' and in their opinion with great success, for there 
 in the castle they learned from one of the guides that the 
 resolution had already been taken to hew us and all the pre- 
 lates and priests at the Diet in pieces within the next ten 
 
 'This was the second attempt made by Glapion, the Emperor's confessor, at 
 reconciliation. The first was an interview with Spalatin, on which c/. Smith, 
 op, cit., p. 110, and Forstemann: Neues Urkundenbuch, pp. 36-54. On this 
 second interview cf. further Smith, p. 11 if, and other letters here translated. 
 
516 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 444 
 
 days. This could easily happen, for the Emperor has not so 
 much as four crippled soldiers with him, whereas Sickingen 
 is better supplied with troops than any German prince. More- 
 over, the inhabitants of Worms, who were always enemies of 
 the priests, desire nothing more than the stamping out of the 
 clergy. Hutten said that he had heard from great princes 
 that the Emperor would secretly be quite well pleased with this, 
 even though he might think it necessary to express his pub- 
 lic disapproval. In spite of their bad disposition, I do not 
 believe this would be so; at any rate Glapion and Armstorf 
 reported it to the Emperor and us. Moreover, to excuse his 
 plans to violate international law by committing these mur- 
 ders, Hutten said that he regarded it as a worthy and just 
 act, and one pleasing to the Emperor, because he knew only 
 too well that we were sneaking about in the dark to induce 
 the princes to fall away from the Emperor. Either the 
 scoundrel invented that to excuse himself, or he let himself 
 be frivolously persuaded of it by those who work for the 
 ruin of the Church. At that castle Glapion met the Dominican 
 recently mentioned by me, Martin Bucer, who alone does 
 more harm than the others, for while in questions of the 
 faith Hutten was overcome by Glapion and became as gentle 
 as a lamb — although the light wretch immediately returned to 
 his former position — the apostate monk disputed six hours, 
 partly to defend Luther's writings, and partly to give them 
 a good Catholic sense, and said that he would like to have 
 known Luther only to learn his spirit. Finally the confessor 
 proved to him that, as even the doubtful theses were inter- 
 preted, the doctrines were heretical and objectionable. Sickin- 
 gen, a reasonable man whom we must still try to win over, had 
 all Luther's German writings in his memory ; he declared that 
 Luther in his books expressed himself differently from what 
 the confessor alleged; and, in fact, he brought out German 
 books in which Luther, according to his custom of contra- 
 dicting himself, put forward other ideas than those in the 
 Latin works which Glapion had brought and which he showed 
 him. Sickingen was thereby much shaken in his previous 
 opinion ; but finally he declared that on his own account he 
 was obliged to favor a universal reformation of the Church, 
 
Let. 444 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 517 
 
 and if Luther spoke of that and of other good and Christian 
 things, he would stake his coat and his own and his children's 
 lives on defending him against all the world, but that if he 
 had spoken evil in articles of faith, he would be the first to 
 throw that into the fire. Hutten also said that in a sense 
 he had never subscribed to Luther's opinions, and did not wish 
 his cause confounded with Luther's; he only desired that 
 the priests should be chastised and forced to renounce their 
 enormous wealth, the source of their vicious life. If the 
 challenge he had sent us had drawn his Majesty's displeasure 
 on him, he would not, against his Majesty's will, go further 
 in the matter, as he had already shown the Emperor in a 
 humble and abject letter, in which, however, he savagely at- 
 tacked Caracciolo and me. The world has come to such a 
 pass that a miserable wretch and murderer, a vicious raga- 
 muffin and poor parasite like Hutten, puts on the airs of a 
 state reformer, and has the front to say and do such things 
 in the face of the Emperor. We cannot impress the imperial- 
 ists with the disgrace of letting such things please them, suf- 
 ficiently clearly to get them to take measures to prevent it. 
 They only shrug their shoulders and regret that in their 
 present position without troops, they can act no otherwise. 
 Even if they had troops, nothing would happen, for our good 
 friend who now rules [Chievres] abominates war. They are 
 convinced that Hutten, partly by his own person and partly 
 by the support of Sickingen, has the whole knighthood of 
 Germany on his side, and that they desire a general revolution. 
 Indeed, Sickingen alone is king in Germany, for he always has 
 as many followers as he wants at his disposition; the other 
 princes fold their arms on their bosoms, and the prelates 
 tremble and let themselves be swallowed like rabbits. Of the 
 lay princes the Elector of Saxony, the Counts Palatine and 
 the Bavarians are hostile to us ; Elector Joachim stands 
 bravely by us, but he does it alone. All the world swears 
 death to the clergy and mutters that the annates, which are 
 contrary to God and reason, should be devoted to the main- 
 tenance of the German imperial councillors (as I said before) 
 — not to mention their thousand other villainies. 
 
 We have news of Luther, that he is on the way and will 
 
518 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 444 
 
 be here in two days, honorably escorted by nobles and by six 
 doctors. We hear that in Erfurt he was respectfully re- 
 ceived by the professors of law and the liberal arts and that 
 he preached there. The rumors are so uncertain and various 
 that I can only vouch for one, and that is that the rascally 
 herald who escorts him in his fierce hatred for us acts madly 
 and makes of Martin's journey a triumphal progress. Had 
 we known that he, whose disposition is well known to us, had 
 been selected for this business, we would have done our best 
 to stop it, but the imperialists — who knows for what reason ? 
 — kept the person of the herald and the time of his departure 
 secret. 
 
 We are busy day and night with the Emperor, the con- 
 fessor and the members of the privy council, in order to 
 keep the authority of the Holy Father unhurt and to turn 
 Luther's coming to the good of the Church and of God. In- 
 deed, we need all our strength to counteract the secret un- 
 derhanded efforts of the Saxon Elector and the universal 
 uprising, which has already made the imperialists wish that 
 Luther had never started on his journey and has made them 
 recognize that we always represented the truth and their 
 duty. 
 
 The Emperor appears very steadfast, and says that the 
 imperial mandate shall be obeyed. To-day after midday di- 
 vine service he promised us to do more than he had yet done ; 
 at the very worst he will hold to the aforesaid mandate, which, 
 as I previously related, provided that if Martin will not recant 
 the condemned books and others repugnant to the Catholic 
 Church and the present laws and customs, they shall be 
 burned anyway, but that Martin himself, in virtue of his 
 safe-conduct, shall be allowed to return home, after which 
 he will be treated as a heretic, and the princes and people 
 summoned to crush him. If only that happens it will be all 
 the better. . . . 
 
 Four days ago the confessor told me that the herald had 
 informed the Emperor, that as he was conducting that mon- 
 ster with him he could not prevent all the world, young and 
 old, boys and girls, from flocking to him. Now we had ten 
 times prayed the Emperor, in as far as practicable, to have 
 
Let. 444 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 519' 
 
 Luther conducted hither with the greatest secrecy, and we 
 got his definite promise, but as the Emperor's servants are 
 only guided by their own selfish interests, they don't bother 
 about the promise. This is the same herald who in the Em- 
 peror's hall drew his sword against a retainer^ of the Bishop 
 of Sion, when the man defended the papal prerogative against 
 the monk John Faber of Augsburg. The last named in his 
 funeral oration for the Cardinal de Croy- reviled the Holy 
 See, unmindful of the many favors shown him by the Pope. 
 This herald is an impudent fool and clown, a bitter foe to 
 the clergy, and just the man to invent the story of some 
 miracle done by Martin on this journey, or an appearance 
 of the Holy Ghost over his head, as is already represented in 
 his pictures. And although, as a world-famous liar, the 
 herald deserves no credence, yet the whole populace is pos- 
 sessed of such a passion for Luther, that they would beheve 
 the devil himself, who by the way rules them all, if he spoke 
 good of Luther. As the imperialists obstinately concealed 
 from us the name of the herald and the time of his departure, 
 we could not hinder the choice of svtch a man. They were 
 probably afraid that we should try to bribe the herald to 
 frighten Luther from coming, which they then, as I previously 
 related, greatly desired, but which they now regret. Or else 
 they feared we might waylay Luther; but both their sus- 
 picions were absolutely false. The fact is that for a long 
 time we could not by any way learn anything on the two 
 aforementioned points. 
 
 Now that the imperialists have certain news of Luther's 
 coming, which they formerly so hotly desired, they appear 
 to be thunderstruck. After the Emperor's gracious letter we 
 never doubted for a moment that Luther would come. On 
 Saturday [April 13] they sent the confessor to confer with 
 the nuncio and me about the measures to be adopted; as we 
 had always declared that reason and propriety, honor and profit 
 alike forbade the appearance of this man, we now insisted, 
 that as they had wished him to come, at least they should do 
 
 ^A certain Michael Sander, doctor of law, who had studied at Bologna, and 
 was now secretary of Matthew Schinner, Cardinal of Sion. 
 
 "The funeral oration was held on January 21st; cf. supra, Tunstall to Wolsey, 
 January 21, no. 383. 
 
520 1<UTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 446 
 
 their duty to God and his vicar and protect the honor of the 
 Emperor. Now that Glapion desired our advice in the name 
 of the Emperor, we declared that it was necessary for the 
 Emperor to have him brought into the city as inconspicuously 
 as possible, that he should assign him lodgings in his palace 
 where no suspected person could talk with him, and, finally, 
 that, as appointed in the imperial mandate, he should simply 
 be asked whether he would recant. If they did not observe 
 this last point, the evil would be made worse than ever. This 
 counsel pleased the confessor; we all then went to the Em- 
 peror, gave him our opinion and received his promise that 
 he would act accordingly. On the next day we heard that 
 Luther would dwell in the Augustinian cloister and have a 
 guard, so that no one unapproved by the Emperor could 
 speak with him. I expect, however, that as has always hap- 
 pened before, they will do just the contrary to what they 
 say. . . . 
 
 445. SPALATIN TO THE ELECTOR FREDERIC OF SAXONY. 
 Zeitschrift fiir Kirchengeschichie, ii. 127. 
 
 (Worms, middle of April, 1521.) 
 Most gracious Lord. To-day I received secret informa- 
 tion that the Emperor's confessor^ is mortally hostile and 
 averse to Dr. Martin, let him pretend to be as friendly as 
 he likes. He is deeply shocked to hear that Dr. Martin is on 
 the way hither. Yesterday he was with Duke George. . . . 
 
 Your obedient chaplain, 
 
 Spalatin. 
 
 446. RICHARD PACE TO THOMAS WOLSEY. 
 letters and Papers of Henry VIII., iii. no. 1233. (English; partly 
 condensed, partly direct quotation.) Greenwich, April 16, 1521. 
 
 At my arrival I found the King reading a new book of 
 Luther's,'' the same as that of which you sent a copy written 
 by me. On the King's dispraising the book, I presented the 
 Pope's bull and breve," at which his Majesty was well con- 
 
 ^Glapion. Cf. Smith, of. cit., iioff. 
 
 2This was probably the Babylonian Captivity sent by Tunstall, supra, no. 383. 
 On Henry's Defence of the Seven Sacraments against Luther, cf. English His- 
 torical Review, c, 656^. 
 
 3The Exsurge Dominc, and Leo's letter to Wolsey, commanding him to burn 
 Luther's books. Rymer: Foedera (3d edition 1741), vi. 194. 
 
Let. 447 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 521 
 
 tented, showing unto me that it was very joyous to have 
 these tidings from the Pope's HoHness, at such time as he 
 had taken upon him the defence of Christ's Church with his 
 pen, afore the receipt of the said tidings; and that he will 
 make an end of his book within these few days ; desiring your 
 Grace to provide that within the same space all such as be 
 appointed to examine Luther's books may be congregated to- 
 gether for his Highness's perceiving. He is agreeable to every- 
 thing desired by you and wishes you to write to the Emperor 
 and to the electors. His book is to be sent not only to Rome, 
 but also into France and other nations as shall appear con- 
 venient. So that all the Church is more bound to this good 
 and virtuous prince, for the vehement zeal he beareth unto 
 the same, than I can express. 
 
 As touching the said breve his Grace [Henry] is singularly 
 well contented therewith, and read every word of it at his 
 second mass time, and after dinner showed it to my lords of 
 Canterbury and Durham,' with great praise and laud thereof. 
 As to the said bull, his Grace showed himself very well con- 
 tented with the coming of the same; howbeit as touching the 
 publication thereof, he said he would have it well examined 
 and diligently looked to afore it were published. 
 
 447. ALEANDER TO THE VICE-CHANCELLOR DE' MEDICL 
 Kalkoff: Aleander, 166. Worms, April 16, 1521. 
 
 I had just closed my last letter when I learned from several 
 reports and from the running of the people that the great 
 heresiarch was entering the city." I sent one of my people 
 out, who informed me that about a hundred horsemen, pre- 
 sumably Sickingen's, .escorted him to the gate. Sitting in a 
 wagon with three companions' he entered the town, surrounded 
 by about eight riders, and took up his dwelling* in the neigh- 
 borhood of the Saxon Elector. As he left the wagon a priest 
 threw his arms around him and touched his gown three times, 
 
 iWarham and Thomas Ruthall, made Bishop of Durham 1509, died Febru- 
 ary 4, 1523. 
 
 2About ID a. m. Cf. Smith, 112. 
 
 SThey were his colleague Amsdorf, the Augustinian John Petzensteiner of 
 Nuremberg, and the student Peter von Swaven, a Danish noble, later in the 
 diplomatic service. Calendars of State Papers, 
 
 4At the Hospice of St. John. 
 
522 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 448 
 
 and afterwards boasted of it as if he had had a relic of the 
 greatest saint in his hands. I expect they will soon say he 
 works miracles. As this Luther alighted, he looked around 
 with his demoniac eyes and said: "God will be with me." 
 Then he entered a room where many gentlemen visited him, 
 with ten or twelve of whom he dined ; after the meal was over 
 the whole world flocked to see him. 
 
 What will his Holiness, what will the world now say of 
 the credit and good faith, of the resolutions and promises of 
 the Emperor? God forgive those who have counselled him 
 so ill, or rather who have injured and misguided him. Your 
 Lordship would not be surprised, but amazed by these actions. 
 Yet there is nothing remarkable in the bad result of our ef- 
 forts ; while the imperialists promise miracles they take the 
 very worst measures, so that, if they do not act with evil intent, 
 we must at least consider them not only cowardly, but posi- 
 tively senseless. Already the Elector of Saxony triumphs 
 and demeans himself like an emperor or king, does what he 
 pleases against God and reason, and does so all the more since 
 the Elector of Brandenburg has announced to the Emperor 
 his intention of marrying his first-born to Lady Renee,' sister 
 of the Most Christian Queen f on this account the Saxon 
 is treated more respectfully than ever. But they ought to 
 know what I a long time ago told Chievres privately, that one 
 fine day they would find themselves betrayed by this elector 
 and other German princes. This is the present state of affairs, 
 and it will get worse daily, as it usually does at German Diets. 
 Then as the imperialists have reckoned more with men than 
 with God, the Lord of Heaven will mock them. 
 
 448. JEROME DE' MEDICI TO FREDERIC GONZAGA, 
 MARQUIS OF MANTUA. 
 
 Kalkoff: Brief e, 47. Worms, April 16, 1521. 
 
 Jerome de' Medici of Lucca, doctor of law, count palatine and 
 minister of the Marquis of Mantua, died circa 1556. Kalkoflf, loc. cit., 
 92, s. V. 
 
 To-day Martin Luther, the heretical monk, came hither. I 
 
 'Renee de France in 1528 married Ercole d'Este, Duke of Ferrara. In 1536 
 Calvin visited her court and won her sympathy for the Reform. 
 ''Claude de France, daughter of Louis XII. and wife of Francis I. 
 
Let. 450 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 523 
 
 know not whether he has appeared to recant or to prove his 
 obstinacy. As far as I can learn the whole Diet has declared 
 that in case he maintains his evil doctrines he will be struck 
 with the ban of the Empire. But in any case, as he has safe- 
 conduct, he will be allowed to go away, even if he does not 
 recant. 
 
 449- GUY WARBECK TO DUKE JOHN OF SAXONY. 
 Walch, XV. 2182. German. Worms, April 16, 1521. 
 
 To-day arrived in a Saxon cart Dr. Martin Luther in the 
 company of three men, namely, a monk, Amsdorf and a Danish 
 noble named Swaven. Before the cart rode the imperial 
 herald in his costume, with the Eagle Arms, and his squire. 
 Justus Jonas of Nordhausen with his famulus followed the 
 wagon. Many of the nobility met him; of the Saxons, Bern- 
 hard von Hirschfeld,^ John Schott, Albert of Lindenau with 
 six horsemen, and many other courtiers of the elector. At 
 ten in the morning he entered the city, accompanied by more 
 than two thousand people, as far as his lodging, which he has 
 with the Saxon councillors, Frederic Thunau and Philip 
 Feilitzsch, and also with Ulrich Pappenheim^ the imperial 
 marshal, not far from the Swan Inn, where Lewis, Elector 
 Palatine, lodges. On the journey Luther was very honorably 
 received in Saxon lands ; he preached at Erfurt, Gotlia and 
 Eisenach. The Erfurters went two [German — four English] 
 miles to meet him and received him honorably. At Leipsic 
 he was given no ovation, but only the usual cup of wine. It 
 is said the papists are not a little frightened at his advent, 
 for they hoped he would not come, which would have given 
 them the better chance to judge him more harshly. 
 
 450. ULRICH VON HUTTEN TO LUTHER. 
 Enders, iii. 123. Ebernburg, April 17,' 1521. 
 
 The Lord hear thee in the day of tribulation; the name of 
 
 ^Hirschfeld (1490-May 10, 1545), a feudal retainer of Frederic, visited the 
 Holy Land 1517-8, of which trip he has left a diary, served in various public 
 offices including that of judge at Wittenberg 1528-37. He was in thorough 
 sympathy with Luther. Archiv fur Reformationsgeschichte, viii. loff. 
 
 ^Pappenheim (died 1539) was Hereditary Marshal of the Empire. He lodged 
 with Luther at the Hospice of St. John at Worms and conducted him to and 
 from the Diet. 
 
 ^Enders misprints "April 18." 
 
524 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 45° 
 
 the God of Jacob protect thee! May he send thee help from 
 his holy place and guard thee from Zion; may he give unto 
 thee according to thy heart, and strengthen all thy council; 
 may he fulfil all thy petitions and hear thee from his holy 
 heaven in the might of his right hand.' What else ought I 
 to pray for you, my dearest Luther, my venerable father? 
 Be strong and courageous.^ You see what is staked on you, 
 what a crisis this is. You must never doubt me as long 
 as you are constant; I will cling to you to my last breath. 
 Many dogs surround you, and the council of the malignant 
 besieges you; they have opened their mouths against you like 
 raging and roaring lions;' they exult and rejoice over you, 
 seeking you.' But the Lord is careful for you° and will repay 
 the proud. He will arise with you against the malignant and 
 stand with you against those who work iniquity ; he will repay 
 the impious their iniquity and will destroy them in their evil.^ 
 Thus it will be, Luther, for God, the just and strong judge, 
 can no longer connive at such wickedness.^ Fight strenuously 
 for Christ; yield not to evil, but go the more boldly against it.« 
 Bear affliction as a good soldier of Jesus Christ,' and use 
 zealously the gift^'of God which is in you, persuaded that he 
 is able to guard that which you have committed unto him 
 against that day. Meanwhile, I, too, will strive for the same 
 thing, but my plans differ from one another, for they are 
 human ; you are more perfect and act only from holy motives. 
 Would that I could see with what eyes they look" at you ; 
 what faces they turn to you ; how they knit their eyebrows. 
 I imagine all that is most dreadful, nor do I think that I am 
 wrong, for I expect that the Lord will purge the vineyard of 
 Sabaoth,'^ which the boar of the wood doth ravage and the 
 wild beast feedeth on.'^ This I write briefly in great anxiety for 
 you. May Christ save you ! 
 
 Ulrich vox Hutten. 
 
 Kf. Psalm XX. 2-7- 2jQshua^ i. 7. 
 
 sPsalm xxii. 17, 14. iPsalm xl. 17. 
 
 sPsalm xl. 18. «Psalm xciv. 2, j6, 23. 
 
 'Psalm vii. 12. 8VirgiI : Aeneid, vi. 95. 
 
 "2 Timothy, ii. 3. 102 Timothy, i. 12. 
 
 ^^J. e., the men iti the Diet before which Luther made his first appearance on 
 this day. Smith, iilfl. 
 
 12 John, XV. 2: Isaiah, v. 7. l^pgalm Ixxx. 13. 
 
Let. 452 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 525 
 
 451. ULRICH VON HUTTEN TO JUSTUS JONAS AT WORMS. 
 Bocking, ii. 56. Ebernburg, April 17, 1521. 
 
 And so you also have followed the preacher of the gospel 
 to be in his garden!' O piety worthy of all love! Truly 
 Justus, I loved you before, but on this account I now love 
 you a hundred times more. They say that these fellows, see- 
 ing that Martin is protected by the safe-conduct of the Em- 
 peror, have turned their attention to you who share his curse. 
 O prudent council, O clever men of the world! This method 
 would empty the Diet, for I doubt not that the greater part 
 of those there agree with you. Would that I might be present 
 and start some commotion or some tumult; but it is better to 
 be quiet. May Christ thus bring it about that no violence may 
 be done to him whom we would rather keep safe alive than 
 avenge dead. Write me what is being done, and what you 
 hope and fear. ... In haste, as Bucer is departing. 
 
 452. ALEANDER TO THE VICE-CHANCELLOR CARDINAL DE' 
 
 MEDICI AT ROME. 
 
 Kalkoff: Aleander, 168. Worms (April 17), 1521. 
 
 This morning early I had a talk with the confessor in order 
 to give the necessary directions for our plan. Then in the 
 palace where they had as yet come to no decision on any ques- 
 tion, I arranged that the electors should be summoned before 
 the Emperor at about two o'clock in the afternoon, and the 
 other princes and estates at four, and that then Luther should 
 appear simply to answer the questions put him and not to be 
 heard further. I myself made the necessary arrangements, 
 without however having our names appear, for we have al- 
 ways acted according to the wording of the bull,° both because 
 there is no other way for us to act and because this is the best 
 for attaining our end. 
 
 An immense crowd greeted the appearance of the arch- 
 heretic, who was questioned before the Emperor, Princes and 
 Estates, in the name of the Emperor and Realm, as follows. 
 
 ^Jonas followed Luther from Erfurt to Worms. 
 
 2The position of the Curia was, of course, that Luther was already condemned 
 and therefore had no right to be heard. For this reason the nuncios were not 
 present at either of his appearances before the Diet. 
 
526 I<UTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 45^ 
 
 Chance entrusted the duty of questioning him to the Official' 
 of Trier, a learned and orthodox man, who is very conscien- 
 tious in carrying out the apostolic and imperial mandates. In 
 Trier he burned the heretical books so thoroughly that not 
 one was left. This truly excellent man, for whom God be 
 praised, lives in the same house with me, in the very next 
 room. 
 
 He spoke to Luther as follows: "Martin Luther, the Em- 
 peror and Realm have summoned you hither, that you may 
 say and tell them whether you have composed these books," 
 for at the Emperor's orders I had sent in twenty-five or more 
 Lutheran books, "and others which bear your name, and, 
 secondly, that you may let us know whether you propose to 
 defend and stand by these books." Then the titles of the 
 works were read one after another. 
 
 Then Luther answered first that all the books were his, 
 and that he recognized them for his own. (This was a lie, 
 for everyone knows that some of the books have other authors, 
 although they go under Martin's name.) To the second ques- 
 tion he said, that as it was the most difficult question in the 
 world, concerning the faith, he must pray for time to consider 
 his answer. Then the Emperor with his privy council went 
 apart, as did the electors in their own body, and the other 
 princes and the representatives of the cities. 
 
 After due deliberation, the said official again spoke in the 
 name of the Empire and the Realm to this effect: That as 
 Luther had previously been summoned by the Realm, and 
 the reason of his citation communicated to him, they were 
 naturally much surprised that he did not have his answer 
 ready on his arrival. Also that they were under no obliga- 
 tion to grant a respite in questions of faith, as this could only 
 be done with danger and scandal to believers. (Would to 
 God they had acted on this principle five months ago, as they 
 should have.) Nevertheless, he continued, of the pure mercy 
 
 ijxkba Eck, or von Eck or von der Ecken, not to be confounded with the debater, 
 a jurist, of old family of Trier, in which diocese he held various ecclesiastical 
 preferments. In 1515 he was entrusted with a mission to Rome, and was now 
 the leading minister of the archbishop. He was chosen to address Luther before 
 the Diet because the Archbishop of Trier, who had been previously agreed to as 
 an umpire by Luther and Miltitz, had general charge of the affair at Worms. 
 In 1523 he was married, and died in 1524, 
 
Let. 452 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 527 
 
 and grace of the Emperor a respite was granted him until 
 four o'clock to-morrow. Then^ the Emperor had the official 
 say to him that he should consider well that he had written 
 against his Holiness and the See of St. Peter, and that he 
 had sown many heresies — for they called things by their right 
 names as was good — from which such scandal had arisen that 
 unless preventive measures were immediately taken, it would 
 kindle a conflagration which neither Luther's recantation nor 
 the imperial power could quench. Therefore they admonished 
 him to change his attitude. Then he was dismissed without 
 speaking further. The fool entered smiling and, before the 
 Emperor, kept his head turning continually hither and thither ; 
 but when he left he did not seem so cheerful. Many even of 
 his supporters after they had seen him said that he was fool- 
 ish; others that he was possessed. But many others thought 
 him a pious man, full of the Holy Ghost. In any case he has 
 lost considerable reputation in the regard of all. 
 
 On these two days the Emperor has shown the constancy 
 of his character and of his religious convictions against the 
 efforts of many to confuse the issue. May God keep him thus. 
 After Martin was dismissed to-day he spoke very earnestly 
 to the Elector of Saxony. The Official of Trier communi- 
 cated to me a saying of his master about the elector, who 
 seems to have somewhat changed his position ; for he said : 
 "This reckless monk has ruined everything, and to my an- 
 noyance and disgust has gone too far in his ranting opinions." 
 Nevertheless, this prince does all the evil he can, and his people 
 do still more. 
 
 This first appearance of Luther has not turned out so ill; 
 if only he is not instigated by his followers to give an answer 
 to-morrow necessitating further delay. We will do our best 
 to meet him. This evening the Emperor commissioned the 
 confessor and the official to come to an understanding with 
 me as to what is now to be done. Delighted at their wish to 
 co-operate with us, I intend first to ascertain their opinions, 
 and then to decide what is best to do. 
 
 I pray God that these imperialists, who hitherto from 
 wickedness, cowardice, frivolity or worldly considerations 
 
 ^In Eck's own account this exhortation preceded the first questions. 
 
528 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 453 
 
 have in all matters acted against God and the laws, against 
 their own honor and the good of Christendom, now at least 
 may remember God and his vicar and their own sworn duty, 
 and do it. God grant that the appearance of this Antichrist, 
 which we have always deprecated as unreasonable, may con- 
 tribute to the peace and quiet of Christendom. 
 
 453- ALEANDER TO VICE-CHANCELLOR CARDINAL DE' 
 MEDICI AT ROME. 
 
 Kalkoff: Aleander, 173. Worms (April 18 and 19),' 1521. 
 
 Your Lordship will already have learned from the oral 
 account of Lord Raphael^ the result of Luther's first appear- 
 ance before the Emperor and Estates. From the present 
 imperial courier your Lordship learns that this afternoon 
 [April 18] at four o'clock Martin was summoned to the court, 
 but as the Emperor and princes delayed in an upper room, 
 he had to wait for his hearing more than an hour and a half 
 in a great crowd. When the Emperor, Princes and Estates 
 of the Realm had entered, the Official of Trier, who was 
 spokesman for the Emperor at the first appearance, in a neat, 
 impressive speech, asked this question : "Luther, although 
 in such a matter, the purport of which was known to all the 
 world, you really should not have had any time for considera- 
 tion allowed you, yet his Imperial Majesty, according to his 
 clemency and mercy, has given you a delay till this hour. 
 Wherefore do you now openly and honestly declare whether 
 you will recant all that you have written against the tradition 
 of our Holy Church, and against the councils, decrees, law 
 and ceremonies which our ancestors and we have held until 
 this day, and whether you will also revoke the opinions con- 
 demned by the present Pope. But see to it that your answer 
 be not ambiguous, but clear." 
 
 Martin' declared that he had written books of three sorts, 
 some against Roman abuses, and here he began venomously 
 
 •Kalkoff dates April 19, but Aleander apparently wrote the first part of the 
 letter April 18. 
 
 ^De' Medici who left Worms the previous day and was in Florence April 26. 
 
 *A fuller account of the proceedings was written down by Spalatin, who incor- 
 porated in it Luther's own notes of his speech. This, with Eck's speeches, 13 
 translated in Smith, op. cit., pp. iisff. 
 
I,et. 4S3 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 529 
 
 to revile the Holy Father and Rome, which he called the 
 flaying-place of Christendom, and as he continued to expatiate 
 too far, the Emperor told him to drop that subject and con- 
 tinue with others. The second sort of his books he said he 
 had composed against enemies, whose fault it was had he 
 spoken too sharply; under the third class of works, treating 
 the teaching of the gospel, there were some which neither the 
 bull nor his enemies declared offensive. But he would not 
 recant one word of any of these three kinds of books unless 
 he were convinced of error in a debate, and by the authority 
 of the Old or New Testament only. If he recanted on any 
 other ground, to which, however, he would never consent, he 
 would act against his own conscience and divine truth; there- 
 fore, he prayed and exhorted his Imperial Majesty not to try 
 to stop the course of his doctrine, by which not only the 
 glorious German nation, but his other dominions and kingdoms 
 might be brought to destruction. Finally he said that in any 
 case he would not deny the Christian truth, for then Christ 
 must deny him before his Heavenly Father. 
 
 The official following his instructions replied wisely : "Mar- 
 tin, if your wrong opinions and heresies were new and in- 
 vented by you, perhaps his Imperial Majesty would request 
 the Holy Father to have them examined by pious and learned 
 men, so that no wrong should be done you. But your errors 
 are those of the ancient heretics, the Waldenses, Beghards, 
 Adamites, Poor Men of Lyons, Wycliffe and Huss, and have 
 all been long ago condemned by holy councils, popes and the 
 usage of the Church, and therefore ought no more to be dis- 
 cussed and brought into question contrary to divine and hu- 
 man law." Then the official added the question, which par- 
 ticularly concerned the German nation, whether he would not 
 recant what he had written against the holy Council of Con- 
 stance,, which had been attended by all nations and was recog- 
 nized by the whole world. He refused, and would only sub- 
 mit to the decrees of the council in as far as they were 
 founded on the authority of the Bible, for, he said, councils 
 had erred and contradicted one another. The official began 
 to deny that councils did not agree in matters of faith, but 
 then the Emperor declared it was enough, he would hear 
 34 
 
530 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let 453 
 
 no more as Luther rejected councils. So Luther left, escorted 
 by all and particularly by many Saxon nobles from the retinue 
 of the elector; and as Martin left the hall he stretched forth 
 his hand as the German landsknechts do when in jousting 
 they exult over a telling blow. 
 
 As this morning [April 19] we went to the Emperor, we 
 found that the electors and many other princes had been 
 summoned to him to give their opinions as to what further 
 should be done in Luther's affair. As they desired time for 
 deliberation, the Emperor replied : "Good, I will first let you 
 know my opinion." Then he had read aloud the declaration,^ 
 a page long, which he had himself composed and written down 
 with his own hand in French, and he also had read a Ger- 
 man translation of the same. During this reading in the 
 presence of the Emperor and of the Elector of Saxony many 
 of the princes became as pale as death. The reason for this 
 your Lordship will learn from the declaration of the Em- 
 peror, which he handed to his ambassador, in order that he 
 might fittingly announce the good news to his Holiness and 
 the college of cardinals. His declaration will also be printed 
 in Latin, Italian, German, Spanish, French and Dutch, and be 
 sent to all parts of Christendom, to make known the noble 
 and strictly Catholic position of his Majesty in this so danger- 
 ous affair. He has publicly expressed his will at a time and 
 under circumstances which made everyone think that he would 
 have to act cautiously with all these princes if he wanted to 
 get their co-operation in his plans. But God strengthened 
 the piety of this most Christian and truly CathoHc prince, 
 who has always made us expect that he would act in a man- 
 ner pleasing to God and the Pope, and has now done 
 so much that we ourselves would have been satisfied with less. 
 He also declared that he had caused the matter to be pro- 
 tracted and had allowed Luther to appear, with the best inten- 
 tions, so that the German people could not complain that 
 Martin had not been heard, and pretend that wrong had been 
 done him by not having been asked whether he would recant. 
 As this is a fact, the procedure has been much better than 
 
 ^Reichstagsaken, no. 82. Translated in B. J. Kidd: Documents of the Conti- 
 nental Reformation, no. 43. Cf. Smith, op. cit., 120. 
 
Let. 4SS OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 531 
 
 if an imperial mandate had been promulgated. And although 
 during the protracted negotiations we experienced horrible 
 and almost incredible attacks, cares and dangers, yet now we 
 begin to breathe again and to comfort ourselves for our suffer- 
 ings with the saying: et haec meminisse juvabit.^ 
 
 454 ALEANDER TO VICE-CHANCELLOR CARDINAL DE' 
 MEDICI AT ROME. 
 Kalkoff: Aleander, 178. Worms (April 19), 1521. 
 
 Greeting. When I returned from the lodging of Carac- 
 ciolo, where we had composed the other letter"" together, to 
 my own residence, the Official of Trier communicated to me 
 the oral message from his master that within the hour all six 
 electors'" had answered the Emperor that they would treat 
 Martin as a heretic, and that they would hold fast to the 
 Catholic faith and the holy councils and decrees which they 
 had always observed, and would altogether walk in the way 
 of their forefathers. Now, when in virtue of the safe-con- 
 duct Martin had returned home, his Majesty would promul- 
 gate an edict to crush him, and that they would follow him 
 and do his Majesty's will, and in all things conduct them- 
 selves as Christian princes should. That is noble news, espe- 
 cially that the Elector of Saxony, who has hitherto favored 
 him, agreed with them. So in agreement with the Emperor 
 they decided to give out an edict that he should return home 
 under safe-conduct and that then they would publish the man- 
 date ordering his seizure and the execution of the bull. If 
 he flees to Bohemia, God will look to it. . . . 
 
 45S. JEROME DE' MEDICI TO FRANCIS GONZAGA, MARQUIS 
 
 OF MANTUA. 
 Kalkoff: Brief e, 47. Worms, April 19, 1521. 
 
 I have no further news except about Luther, who day before 
 
 IVirgil: Aeneid, i. 203. 
 
 "^Supra, no. 453. 
 
 3As a matter of fact, this decision was reached, on the afternoon of April 19, 
 only by the four Electors of Brandenburg, Mayence, Cologne and Trier; the 
 Electors of Saxony and the Palatinate dissenting. (It may here be mentioned 
 that the seventh Elector, the King of Bohemia, took no part in German affairs, 
 except in the election of the Emperor.) This letter was probably never sent by 
 Aleander, who corrected and supplemented it in his despatch of April 29, infra, 
 no. 46S. 
 
532 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 455 
 
 yesterday had a public hearing before the Emperor in the pres- 
 ence of the electors and other princes. He was told in his 
 Majesty's name that his Majesty had summoned him for two 
 reasons, first to ask whether the books published under his 
 name, which were shown him, were composed by him, and, 
 secondly, whether, in that case, he would improve them and 
 make them good again by recanting the errors he had promul- 
 gated. He replied that he neither could nor would deny that 
 the works were his, and in regard to the second question, that 
 he had only written what he conscientiously thought true, but 
 as it was so important and hard a thing, he begged his Majesty 
 to give him time for ripe reflection. 
 
 After the Emperor had taken counsel, according to custom, 
 with the princes, he had him answered that he had for long 
 known the cause of his summons, and might well have thought 
 out his answer, and, therefore, deserved no respite, especially 
 in so clear a matter ; none the less the Emperor in his goodness 
 was satisfied to give him until the same hour the next day, 
 and he exhorted him to repent and recant lest his contumacy 
 should thrust many souls into danger. 
 
 Yesterday at the appointed hour he again appeared before 
 the same assembly, and to the question whether he would 
 revoke what he had written against the decisions of the 
 Church, the Canon Law, the power of the Pope and oecumeni- 
 cal councils, he answered in an oration, which, as far as I can 
 find out, was right learned. He said he had only written what 
 he thought true according to the genuine evangelic doctrine; 
 if this had hitherto been corrupted and disfigured he did not 
 desire to follow the errors of others. Then he earnestly 
 begged the Emperor not to let the slanders of enemies frus- 
 trate his strenuous endeavors and well-meant works. He also 
 said that he would not recant any part of his writings until 
 he was refuted and overcome by one who understood the 
 gospel better than he did. Then a long reply was made him, 
 in which among other things it was said that it was unthink- 
 able that any living creature could convince an infidel who 
 denied the vaHdity of the Canon Law, the councils, the 
 Church Fathers, and the patron of his own order, St. Augus- 
 tine. Then he was again asked to answer categorically 
 
Let. 456 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 533 
 
 whether he would recant those errors. But he remained 
 obstinate, so his Majesty allowed him to withdraw. 
 
 This morning the Emperor asked the assembled electors 
 and princes whether they had considered what was to be done 
 about Luther's obstinacy. When they answered that they had 
 decided nothing, the Emperor, who was holding a paper in 
 his hand, said : "But I have considered and decided, as stands 
 written here; it is written in the Burgundian [French] lan- 
 guage, but I will have it read to you in German." Then he pre- 
 sented a memorandum composed by himself, for one of his 
 secretaries who was present when he wrote it down, told me 
 that it was drawn up by his Majesty without the aid of any 
 person; I have seen the original in the Emperor's hand, and 
 have heard it read by that secretary in Castilian [Spanish], 
 which I do not perfectly understand. He promised me a copy 
 of it, but I could not get it in time to enclose with this letter, 
 but as far as I can remember it the paper had the following 
 tenor :^ [here follows a fairly accurate report of the con- 
 tents.] . . . 
 
 456. FRANCIS CORNARO TO THE SIGNORY OF VENICE. 
 Sanuto, XXX. 127. Italian. Brown, iii. 191. English. 
 
 Worms, April 19, 1521. 
 
 On a summons from the Emperor, Friar Martin Luther 
 arrived at the court on the i6th, with a herald and safe-con- 
 duct, and on the morrow entered the presence of the Emperor, 
 with whom were the electors and princes. 
 
 The Emperor inquired whether the books printed in his name 
 were his, and whether he would withdraw them and recant, 
 as they had been condemned by the Pope for heresy. Luther 
 replied the books were his, and requested time for reply, which 
 was conceded with great difficulty until yesterday, when he 
 reappeared before the court. After delivering a long dis- 
 course, urging the Emperor and their lordships not to molest 
 him, he endeavored to convince them that what he had written 
 was perfectly true, and said he would persist in this proposi- 
 tion, unless the contrary were shown on the authority of Holy 
 Writ, demanding a disputation to that effect. This was denied 
 
 ICharles's declaration printed in Kidd: Documents, no. 43. Cf. Smith, 120. 
 
634 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let- 457 
 
 him, because all the articles had been already condemned by 
 the Church and councils, and therefore he was ordered to 
 declare what he meant to do. He then reasserted his opinion, 
 declaring that it could be demonstrated by true arguments 
 that unjust decrees had been made in the said councils. 
 
 On that day, the i8th, the Emperor and the electors and 
 princes dismissed Luther, and caused a writing in the Em- 
 peror's hand to be read to him, purporting that as the em- 
 perors and princes, his predecessors, had always done their 
 utmost not only to preserve the Catholic faith, but to augment 
 it, and had ever been obedient to the Apostolic See, his 
 Majesty intended to do the like; and, therefore, his firm 
 intention was that all the books of Martin, wheresoever found, 
 should be burnt, and he himself punished as a notorious 
 heretic, and likewise those who favored him in any way. To 
 effect this, the Emperor requested all the electors and princes 
 to unite with him, as they had apparently promised to do 
 when they determined to send for Luther to the court. 
 
 4S7. ULRICH VON HUTTEN TO LUTHER AT WORMS. 
 Enders, iii. 126. Ebernburg, April 20, 1521. 
 
 Who will rise with me against the malignant, and who will 
 stand with me against the workers of iniquity?^ Saviour 
 Christ, Heavenly Father and Holy Spirit/ what terrible things 
 do I hear? Fury is not fury compared to their rage. I see 
 there is need of swords and bows, of arrows and cannon to 
 resist the madness of these cacodemons.' But you, excellent 
 Father, be strong of mind and do not let yourself be bent. 
 They clamor, shout and rage, but do you show them your 
 middle finger.^ More and more I see that all good men favor 
 you. You will never lack defenders nor avengers. We need 
 not give you advice on the secret negotiations* of which you 
 write, for we doubt not that you will choose the best course and 
 persist strongly in it. Many have come to me and for their 
 
 ^Psalm xciv. i6. 
 
 'Greek. 
 
 ^As a sign of supreme contempt; the gesture was considered indecent, something 
 as applying the thumb to the nose and extending the fingers is, to-day. Cf. 
 Erasmus: Adages, and Latin dictionary. 
 
 *This letter on the negotiations is lacking, cf. Smith, ii8. 
 
Let. 459 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 535 
 
 zeal to you have said to me: "May he not faint; may he 
 answer faithfully; may he not let himself be moved by any 
 terror." I always replied that you would be Luther, nor have 
 I been disappointed, for I know that your answer leaves us 
 nothing to desire. But persevere unto the end. May Christ 
 grant that the wicked may find you what you are to their own 
 great grief ! The prudence of my friends, who feared that 
 I would dare too much, has hitherto forced me to keep quiet, 
 otherwise at those walls I would have gotten up some demon- 
 stration against that rabble. But I will do it a little later, and 
 whatever happens to me you will see that I, too, am not lack- 
 ing in that spirit which God has aroused in me. I burn to 
 see you ; my love is ardent. Let us know all that you do and 
 farewell. 
 
 We have Francis von Sickingen hereabouts, very zealous. 
 I write the rest to Spalatin. Farewell again. Would that yoii 
 could see Sickingen before you leave. He greatly desires it. 
 I know that they will soon send you away, for a certain 
 imperialist writes me this. Christ preserve you.^ 
 
 Ulrich von Hutten. 
 
 458. FREDERIC, ELECTOR OF SAXONY, TO HIS BROTHER 
 
 DUKE JOHN. 
 Forstemann: Neues Urkundenhuch, i. 15. German. 
 
 Worms, April 24, 1521. 
 . . . Were it in my power, I should be quite willing to help 
 Martin in as far as he is right. Beheve me, they are press- 
 ing him hard, even some people of whom you would be aston- 
 ished to know this. I think they will drive him out. If any- 
 one lets it be known that he wishes well to Dr. Luther, he is 
 considered a heretic. God turn it to the best, for he will 
 doubtless not abandon the right cause. I will inform you later 
 about Luther's departure. . . . 
 
 459. CASPAR CONTARINI TO NICHOLAS TIEPOLO AT 
 VENICE. 
 Sanuto, XXX. 131. Italian. Kalkoff: Brief e, S7- (German.) Brown, 
 iii. 197. (English.) . . . Worms, April 25, 1521. 
 
 Caspar Contarini (1483-1542), of a noble Venetian family, studied 
 at Padua, and then entered the service of his native state, being her 
 •This letter with the one of April 17 was printed almost at once, but the last 
 paragraph in this was left out. 
 
536 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 460 
 
 ambassador at the court of Charles V. 1521-5 ; agent of Venice at the 
 papal court 1528; made cardinal by Paul IIL on May 21, 1535, and the 
 next year was a leading member of the commission for reform which 
 drew up the Consilium delectorum Cardinalium. In 1541 as papal 
 legate he took part at the Diet and religious conference of Ratisbon. 
 He wrote a good deal against Luther. His biography by F. Dittrich, 
 1885. Cf. also F. Lauchert : Die italienischen literarischen Gegner 
 Luthers (1912), 37iff. 
 
 N. Tiepolo (died 1531), a Venetian senator, diplomatist and scholar. 
 
 I have neither seen nor spoken to Brother Martin, although 
 he remained in this city until yesterday morning. Various 
 considerations compelled me to act thus, for he has very active 
 friends and very powerful patrons, and the whole thing is 
 conducted with incredible passion. But I have heard from 
 many that among other follies he teaches that councils have 
 erred; that every layman, if he is in a state of grace, is able 
 to administer the sacrament of the altar; that marriage is 
 dissolvable and fornication no sin, and that everything hap- 
 pens according to the law of necessity. This last I only 
 learned from the Cardinal of Sion. Besides his errors I 
 learned that he is most imprudent, quite unchaste and ignorant 
 of the doctrine [of the Church]. During the last few days 
 he has been requested to recant by the princes here and in 
 the Emperor's name, but nevertheless he remains obstinate, 
 and so his Majesty with his own hand drew up the declara- 
 tion against him, of which I enclose a copy for the Signory. 
 
 It is hard to express how much support Luther has here. 
 Things are in such a state that I fear after the departure of 
 the Emperor and the dissolution of the Diet something bad 
 will happen, especially against these German prelates. Truly, 
 if this man had been wise enough to confine himself to his 
 first propositions, and had not become entangled in open er- 
 rors against the faith, he would be, not favored, but adored 
 by the whole of Germany. The Duke of Bavaria'^ and many 
 others told me this at Augsburg, and now I see it myself. 
 
 460. MARTIN REINHARD TO KING CHRISTIAN II. of 
 DENMARK. 
 Zeitschrift fiir Kirchengeschichte, viii. 289. Worms, April 25, 1521. 
 . . . [The main subject of this letter is the proposal to 
 
 ^William. 
 
Let. 462 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 537 
 
 call Carlstadt to the University of Copenhagen.] . . . Most 
 gracious King and Lord, I can write your Majesty Httle or 
 no news of the Diet. But the talk is all of Dr. Luther, whom 
 they are threatening and from whom they demand nothing but 
 that he shall recant, and that he will not do. . . . 
 
 461. PHILIP OF HESSE'S SAFE-CONDUCT FOR LUTHER'S 
 
 RETURN. 
 Enders, iii. 127. Worms, April 26, 1521. 
 
 Philip, Landgrave of Hesse, born 1504, became Landgrave 1508, de- 
 clared of age 1517, died 1567. He met Luther at Worms and wished 
 him God-speed. About 1523 he became a Lutheran and from that 
 time till his death was the leading champion of the Evangelic Church. 
 His state papers are being edited by F. Kiick: Politisches Archiv des 
 Landgraf Philip, I904ff. His correspondence with Bucer was edited 
 by M. Lenz in three volumes i88off. An interesting and highly lauda- 
 tory characterization of him is given by the Englishman, Roger Ascham, 
 who saw him in later life. Ascham's Works (1671), p. 370. 
 
 We, Philip, by God's grace Landgrave of Hesse, Count of 
 Catzenelnbogen, Dieth, Ziegenheim, Nidda, etc., give all men 
 to know by these presents : That as Dr. Martin Luther is now 
 leaving^ this Diet at Worms, we give to him and to all who 
 are with him, our free safe-conduct through all our terri- 
 tories and lands and to all our subjects. So with this letter 
 we give him safe-conduct to all places over which we rule, 
 in acknowledgment of which we sealed this letter with our 
 privy seal. 
 
 462. JOHN FEIGE TO LUTHER. 
 Smith : Life and Letters of Martin Luther, 473. 
 
 (Worms, April?, 1521.) 
 John Feige (1482-March 20, 1543) studied at Erfurt about 1503, 
 later taking the doctorate of laws. He entered the service of Philip 
 of Hesse, whose leading minister he soon became, and whom he repre- 
 sented at Augsburg in 1518, and on many later occasions. Life in 
 Allgemeine deutsche Biographic. Luther apparently sent him his 
 Postilla, just out, for which Feige thanks him in this fragment. 
 
 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all of us. Amen. 
 I received your note, most learned Martin, but truly I did not 
 receive the homilies on the holy evangelists which you say 
 
 'Luther left Worms April 26, arriving at Frankfort on the Main on April 27. 
 From here he wrote Cranach a letter translated in Smith, p. 119. 
 
538 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 463 
 
 you sent, and when I asked the messenger he repUed that he 
 did not have them. But I am not the less grateful to you, 
 although there was no need of your honoring me with these 
 lucubrations of yours, as my work keeps me too busy to 
 devote much time to sacred studies. . . . 
 
 463. CASPAR CONTARINI TO HIS BROTHER-IN-LAW, 
 
 MATTHEW DANDOLO. 
 
 Sanuto, XXX. 128. Italian and Latin mixed. Brown, iii. 199. English. 
 
 Worms, April 26, 1521. 
 
 The day before I entered Worms Luther was asked, in the 
 presence of the Emperor and electors, whether the works 
 circulated in his name were issued by him. He replied that 
 he should wish to know what works were attributed to him, 
 as some might not be his. A list of their titles then being read, 
 he admitted their authorship. He was then asked whether he 
 affirmed the truth of their contents. To this question he de- 
 clined to reply without time for consideration. The Emperor 
 objected to this demand, because Luther did not deserve its 
 grant, and because he had long known why he was summoned, 
 but, as a favor, the matter was deferred until the morrow, 
 and he was desired to return at the same hour. 
 
 Luther then departed, and when he came back at the ap- 
 pointed time, he spoke at great length before the Emperor in 
 German, against the Pope and the Court of Rome. He also 
 maintained that the Council of Constance, which condemned 
 John Huss, erred wickedly by passing sentence against him, 
 and that he (Luther) would persist in that opinion until con- 
 futed by argument or authority derived from Holy Writ. 
 The Emperor then dismissed him, and very early on the fol- 
 lowing morning sent a rescript in his own handwriting, stat- 
 ing that he was descended from Catholic Kings and most 
 Christian Emperors, and, therefore, would not degenerate 
 from his forefathers ; that with all his might he would oppose 
 the heresies of Luther, and inflict punishment on all his ad- 
 herents; and for that purpose he (the Emperor) would hazard 
 both his realms and his life. 
 
 This rescript being presented to the electors, they requested 
 time to consult and decide on the matter, and went back to 
 
Let. 464 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 539 
 
 the Emperor several times, assenting apparently to the decree, 
 but raising many objections; and as yet nothing is settled. 
 The Emperor, however, seems to be firmly opposed to Luther, 
 and not without reason, for Luther has reached such a pitch 
 of madness and fury that he rejects the decrees of the coun- 
 cils ; says that any layman can administer the sacrament of 
 the eucharist; that matrimony can be dissolved; that simple 
 fornication is no sin, and hints at that community of women, 
 treated by Plato in his Republic. 
 
 During the night after the day on which the Emperor dis- 
 missed Luther, a placard was fastened to the doors of the 
 Cathedral, whereby four hundred nobles and persons of in- 
 ferior rank threatened the opponents of Luther and defied them 
 to battle, especially mentioning the Archbishop of Mayence, 
 whom they vituperated grossly. 
 
 Had Luther conducted himself at Worms with greater 
 moderation and prudence, and not meddled so erroneously 
 with sacred matters, but abided by his original propositions, 
 he would have had all Germany on his side, such is the bias 
 towards his ravings of many of the Germans. . . . 
 
 Luther's books are sold publicly at Worms, although the 
 Pope and the Emperor, who is on the spot, have prohibited 
 them. At home many of the chief princes encourage Luther. 
 I do not know how the affair will end, but dread the result. 
 I have neither spoken to the man nor even seen him, at which 
 you perhaps will marvel ; but the question is treated so acri- 
 moniously that the nature of the times requires reserve. 
 Luther disappointed the expectations of almost everybody at 
 Worms, for he exhibits neither moral purity nor any prudence. 
 Of scholarship he is devoid; in short, he excels only in rash- 
 ness. . . . 
 
 464. MARINO CARACCIOLO AND JEROME ALEANDER TO 
 VICE-CHANCELLOR CARDINAL DE' MEDICI AT ROME. 
 
 Kalkoff: Aleander, 182. Worms (April 27), 1521. 
 
 On the nineteenth of this month we sent your Lordship an 
 account of the pious and laudable decision of the Emperor, 
 which he wrote down with his own hand and communicated 
 to the princes in the certain expectation of thereby preventing 
 
540 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 464 
 
 contrary resolutions on their part. It turned out splendidly, 
 for on the same day, as the Archbishop of Trier announced 
 to us by his official, the princes decided in all points to follow 
 the Emperor's will. But an unexpected incident brought 
 everything again into confusion. The following night, the 
 Lutherans, in fierce anger at the Emperor's expression of his 
 will, and as though with the intention of frightening the ortho- 
 dox from executing it, affixed on the door of the town hall 
 and other public places a notice, the contents of which, as can 
 be seen from the enclosed copy, will be extremely dangerous, 
 if it expresses the real facts. For the three German words^ 
 with which it is signed, which cannot be translated into Latin, 
 are the token of the peasants and signify their calling out for 
 war against the government and the nobles. Also, on the 
 same night these words were shouted out through the whole 
 city, but as no movement whatever followed, we may surmise 
 that the conspiracy does not rest on very broad foundations. 
 However, a certain prince [Albert of Mayence] who ought to 
 make common cause with us, was put into such a fright by 
 that notice, partly on account of his native discretion or cow- 
 ardice, partly on account of the advices of his Lutheran 
 retinue, whom we suspect of being the authors of that notice, 
 that before the break of day he sent to the Emperor, to the 
 other princes and to us. The Emperor only laughed and said 
 that he was a bit too timorous, and that as it was incumbent 
 on him to summon the princes to a session, he would do well 
 to get Luther off in a hurry first. Then smiling the Emperor 
 said to us that this conspiracy of four hundred nobles was 
 like that of Mucius Scaevola, who thought he had three hun- 
 dred companions with him when he stood quite alone. But 
 still that anxious friend could not keep from sending his 
 brother [the Elector Joachim] to the Emperor with a pro- 
 posal diametrically opposite to that made in writing the day 
 before by the four electors. According to the latter his Im- 
 
 ^This placard, posted up on the night of April 20, announced that four 
 hundred knights had sworn enmity to the Romanists and especially to the Arch- 
 bishop of Mayence. It was signed "Buntschuch, buntschuch, buntschuch," t. e., 
 "tied shoe," the emblem of a large peasant secret society. According to Kalkoff 
 (Archiv fiir Reformationsgeschichte, viii. 34iff, 1911), the author of this notice 
 was Hermann von der Busche. See also: T. M. Lindsay. History of the 
 Reformation, i. 296. 
 
Let. 464 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 641 
 
 perial Majesty should send Luther back in virtue of his safe- 
 conduct, and, as he so obstinately refused to recant, should 
 proceed against his person then, and against his books imme- 
 diately. But now after the appearance of this notice this 
 same man came to the Emperor, and while he and we together 
 were waiting for an audience, he explained to us that it would 
 be a good thing to question Luther again and have him ex- 
 amined by learned men in the presence of certain princes and 
 in the name of the whole realm. This, he said, was the 
 opinion of all the electors, which I can easily believe, as both 
 our opponents [the Electors of Saxony and of the Palatinate] 
 desire nothing more eagerly than to procrastinate and confuse 
 the whole matter, and the others follow them meekly. Yes, 
 even the most influential man humbles himself from fear of 
 this placard. When we replied that this procedure was un- 
 reasonable and highly dangerous, he only remarked that he 
 was charged to inform the Emperor in this sense, and begged 
 us not to cross his intention. Thus he talked to the Emperor 
 in our presence for about half an hour, yet in a yielding tone. 
 But the Emperor, this noble and pious gentleman, who alone 
 in this matter maintains his position unshaken, answered him 
 that he would not change a jot of his resolution, and that he 
 would hear nothing of a further examination of Luther in his 
 presence or in that of his councillors, and that the princes 
 would do well to follow his decision peacefully as they had 
 promised. 
 
 The electors received this declaration of his Majesty with 
 great admiration for his courage and constancy, but the in- 
 fluence and cleverness of the Saxon were so great that a 
 petition of the Estates to the Emperor was adopted setting 
 forth that for the good of the cause it seemed advisable to 
 them that Luther should once more be heard and exhorted 
 to recant; if he still refused no one could then any more 
 object to his prosecution, and they would in all points act 
 according to the imperial decision. The Emperor wrote them 
 [April 22] that he would not change his opinion in the least; 
 if they could induce Martin to recant, for which he gave them 
 three days, he would intercede with the Pope for him, but 
 he declined in person or through his councillors to take part 
 
542 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 464 
 
 in the examination. Meantime, there were so many intrigues 
 against us, and every hour revealed so much deceit and fraud, 
 that we more than once saw our whole work on the point of 
 being shattered, for the Lutherans were universally credited 
 with the purpose of inducing Luther at this examination to 
 recant certain points objectionable to the imperialists, but to 
 maintain all his charges against the Pope. Thereby public 
 opinion would be won back to Luther, for it had been much 
 alienated by his shameless repudiation of the Council of Con- 
 stance. Obedience to the will of the Emperor was left out of 
 consideration. In these annoying circumstances we were 
 comforted by the dependable stand of the Emperor, and by 
 the fact that his declaration had already been sent to the Pope, 
 so that he would be severely blamed for violating it. 
 
 But God lent us his help by another event also. On the 
 twenty-fourth of this month a meeting was held in the resi- 
 dence of the Archbishop of Trier, attended by the Elector of 
 Brandenburg in the name of all the electors, and by the 
 Bishops of Augsburg and Brandenburg in the name of the 
 clergy, and by Duke George of Saxony and the Margrave of 
 Baden in the name of the lay princes, and by some other 
 deputies from the cities. Martin Luther was introduced,^ and 
 after the Chancellor of Baden^ in the name of the Empire had 
 exhorted him for more than an hour and had pointed out to 
 him the dangerous results for him of his obstinate refusal, 
 Luther finally declared with great emphasis that he would 
 not recant one tittle of his writings, as he would thereby act 
 against his conscience. According to the report of the Arch- 
 bishop of Trier the conduct of the princes during this examina- 
 tion was splendid. It is remarkable that even Duke George, 
 who formerly on various occasions had expressed himself 
 recklessly against the clergy and had caused some scandal by 
 an opinion on confession, now did his full duty. The Chan- 
 cellor, who spoke German, acted like a wise man and a Catholic 
 
 'Between six and seven in the morning, see further Luther's own account, 
 infra. May 3, no. 471. 
 
 ^Jerome Vehus, born 1483, studied at Pforzheim, matriculated at Freiburg 1503, 
 where he was a pupil of Wimpfeling and Zasius; professor of law J510, after 15 14 
 chancellor of Margrave Philip of Baden. He was an Erasmian, opposed to the 
 Reformation. Enders, iii. I34f. 
 
Let. 464 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 543 
 
 truly devoted to the Holy See ; the princes did not admit to this 
 examination the Official of Trier^ who in the last few days has 
 come out strongly against us. Immediately after the de- 
 parture of the princes, the Archbishop of Trier invited 
 Martin to his room accompanied by two doctors,^ with- 
 out whom he will take no step and speak no word, as though 
 he were their ward. Present were the Official of Trier and 
 the Dean^ of the Church of our Lady at Frankfort, who was 
 formerly at Rome and now with the best intentions as a 
 strong Catholic theologian writes against Luther. Then in 
 a Latin oration the official admonished Martin to recant his 
 errors and recognize the councils, decrees, traditions and 
 usages of the Church. Luther answered little (for he is 
 said to have a poor memory) and only refused to subscribe 
 to the decrees of the councils, which he said were full of 
 contradictions and errors, as could be seen by the Council of 
 Constance. The official declared that in matters of faith the 
 councils neither erred nor contradicted each other. There- 
 upon Martin cited the thesis condemned at Constance, that 
 the Church consisted only of the number of those predestined 
 to salvation, and he cited against the doctrine of the council 
 the words of Christ, in the Gospel of John :" "Of those whom 
 thou has given me, I lost not one." "Save the son of perdi- 
 tion,"* interrupted the official, and with this weapon, as well 
 he might, he plied Martin so hard that the man knew not 
 what to answer. The same thing happened with two other 
 
 'They were Jerome Schurff and Nicholas von Amsdorf. SchurfiE (1481-1554) 
 of St. Gall, studied medicine at Basle, and then, in 1500 or 1501 took up jurispru- 
 dence at Tiibingen. In 1502 he began to teach and practice law at Wittenberg, 
 where he lived till 1546, after which he was driven by the Schmalkaldic war to 
 Frankfort on the Oder. He was a warm friend of Luther. Present at the Diet 
 of Worms, when Luther was asked if the books there assembled were his, SchurfE 
 had cried: "Let the titles be read," which was then done. AUgemeine deutsche 
 Biographie. 
 
 ^John Dobneck, always called Cochlaeus ( 1479- January 10, i552)> born near 
 Nuremberg, studied there and at Cologne 1504, where he took his M. A. in 1507, 
 In 1510 he returned to Nuremberg to teach school, in 1515 went as private tutor 
 to Bologna, and in 1517 took his doctorate in theology at Ferrara. In 1520 he 
 was given ecclesiastical preferment at Frankfort on the Main. He was at the 
 Diets of Worms and Nuremberg 1534. In 1528 he took Emser's place as chaplain 
 to Duke George of Saxony. He wrote much against Luther, including his life, 
 the Historia de Actis et Scriptis Martini Lutheri, 1549- AUgemeine deutsche 
 Biographie. Life by M. Spahn, 1908 (not seen by me). 
 
 sjohn, xviii. 9; cf. John, xvii. 12. 
 
 ijohn, xvii. 12. 
 
544 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 464 
 
 proof-texts, whereby he was so thoroughly refuted that the 
 archbishop hoped he would give up that position. But the 
 consequence of the informal conversation was that Luther de- 
 clared he would not recant unless he were better refuted; 
 and as the official brought forward his proof in the form of 
 syllogisms, he declared that he would have nothing to do 
 with logic, which is pure folly on his part, for he must let 
 people treat with him somehow. And yet there are persons 
 so silly that they let the obvious madness of this monster im- 
 pose on them. Then the archbishop gave him a special ex- 
 hortation, but he could not be won either by persuasion or 
 by discussion, as he recognizes no judges and unreservedly 
 repudiates the councils, and everything else except the words 
 of the Bible, all of which he expounds in his own manner, 
 mocking differing interpretations of them and rejecting them 
 as insufficient. In this he always has his Lutherans by his 
 side, who shriek applause and swear that he is right. But 
 many of his interlocutors have observed that he is neither a 
 grammarian nor a philosopher nor a theologian, but a mere 
 madman. Everyone is convinced that he did not himself com- 
 pose the greater part of his questionable books, and he him- 
 self has confidentially admitted that these bad books were writ- 
 ten by his friends, but that he must keep faith with his con- 
 federates, and so only speaks against this one or that when no 
 witnesses are present. Further he said to Cochlaeus that 
 for himself he was accustomed to preach, to lecture on the 
 Psalter and expound it in his writings, but that the books 
 which had raised the whole outcry were composed by his 
 companions, and that if he should recant, more than twenty 
 others would come forth and do worse than he had done. 
 In short, neither instruction nor exhortation nor deceit do 
 any good with him, for he sticks obstinately to the one word, 
 that he will not act against his conscience, and furthermore 
 he said once or twice that he had received a revelation, and 
 then denied it in the same breath. So all our trouble was 
 in vain. 
 
 The fact that he did not compose the questionable books 
 seems to me proved by a communication of the Official of 
 Trier, who said that every time he had questioned or warned 
 
Let. 464 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 545 
 
 Luther, he had heard from his own mouth opinions which 
 directly contradict those contained in his books. 
 
 After this third hearing the Archbishop of Trier went to 
 the session of the princes, to relate the progress of affairs; 
 likewise Chievres, the Chancellor Gattinara and the Bishops 
 of Liege and Palencia appeared to communicate the Em- 
 peror's will, to the effect that after such proofs of contumacy 
 it was time to send this dog back and faithfully execute their 
 judgment. Again the princes took council together for a time 
 and then by the said ambassadors sent a petition to the Em- 
 peror that his Majesty should allow the Archbishop of Trier 
 to exhort Martin by himself, as the prelate had expressed 
 good confidence of converting Luther. The Emperor agreed 
 to this. Meantime, we exerted ourselves to get the arch- 
 bishop to discharge this duty quickly, for if delay were al- 
 lowed it was to be feared that Luther would be induced to 
 recant partially, which would have been fatal. Also we ur- 
 gently requested the archbishop not to depart from the form 
 of recantation prescribed by us. 
 
 On the twenty-fifth of this month after the midday meal 
 Luther went to the court of the archbishop, who in a private 
 conference exhorted him to recant, and in case he refused to 
 do so only from fear of his companions, who, as is said, 
 threaten him with death, the archbishop offered him a rich 
 priory in the neighborhood of one of his castles, and said 
 that he would at once admit him to his table and to his coun- 
 cil, under his protection and that of the Emperor and in the 
 high favor of the Pope. He declined all that. Then the 
 prelate made him the four following proposals : i. That he 
 should submit to the common judgment of the Pope and of 
 the Emperor — an offer of which I cannot approve, as in these 
 matters the Pope is the sole judge and his judgment has 
 been already given. 2. That he should commit his cause to 
 the decision of the Emperor, who would use his good offices 
 with the Pope — a still worse proposition. 3. That he should 
 choose the Emperor and Estates as his judges — which is a hor- 
 rible and devilish offer. 4. Or, finally, that he should for the 
 moment recant some of his most monstrous errors, and as for 
 the others should submit to a future council. This proposal 
 35 
 
546 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 464 
 
 is also unacceptable and would be most destructive to our 
 cause, which would get no profit thereby. 
 
 Your Lordship must not think that we thought out or pre- 
 pared the way for these four startling propositions; on the 
 contrary, we protested against any recantation other than in 
 the form prescribed by us. Nevertheless, the archbishop 
 said that as he saw that Luther had refused our questions put 
 to him by the official, he had made this offer to Luther, to 
 induce him, in any possible way, to take back even a small 
 part of his errors, which would have turned the whole people 
 against him. But the archbishop remarked that it had never 
 come into his mind that his proposals would be in the least 
 binding, save in so far as the papal authority allowed them, 
 and that he would have previously given us notice of them. 
 But Luther spared him this trouble by positively refusing 
 from the very first to entertain these proposals, all of which 
 he declared suspicious. Nor need we be surprised at this, 
 for the Emperor's confessor told us this morning that ten 
 days ago he had given Luther to understand that if he would 
 recant the already condemned theses and the manifest er- 
 rors, some means would be found tacitly to allow a discus- 
 sion of the other points until the decision of a council, but 
 that Luther had sent him word that he would not trust in 
 councils, which perhaps might do something to improve Chris- 
 tian morals, but had always treated the gospel truth evilly. 
 
 As to the archbishop, when he saw such obstinacy 
 and when his official warned him that he ran the risk of 
 severe blame if Martin should have closed with one of his 
 offers, he at once hastened to the Emperor, whither we im- 
 mediately followed him, and laid down the commission he 
 had undertaken. He seemed to thank his Creator that he had 
 come out of it without any scandal. We really believe that 
 he acted with the best intentions, for he has always done his 
 duty and so has his official, and he has shown himself a true 
 servant of the Pope and the Holy See. Then the Emperor 
 commissioned his Secretary Maximilian [des Berghes], the 
 Official of Trier, and the Austrian Chancellor^ and two wit- 
 
 ^Dr. John Schneidpeck, Chancellor of the Lower Austrian government under 
 Maximilian, went to the Netherlands to lay before Charles some complaints of the 
 
Let. 465 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 547 
 
 nesses, to tell Luther that on the next morning, that is, yes- 
 terday, April 26, he must depart, and that on the twentieth 
 day thereafter his safe-conduct would expire. Moreover, 
 they forbade him to do sundry things' as you will see by the 
 notary's act sent by the imperialists to the Pope. So the hon- 
 orable scoundrel left yesterday at nine o'clock with two 
 wagons; just previously in the presence of many persons he 
 toasted many slices of bread and drank many glasses of malm- 
 sey, which he extraordinarily loves. At the gate twenty horse- 
 men received him, sent presumably by Sickingen at Hutten's 
 behest. Some think that at the expiration of his term he 
 will go to Bohemia, others that he will go to Denmark. So 
 this morning we prayed the Emperor to inform both kings, 
 and to take the final measures in our cause. He promised to 
 do both, and to unite with the Estates for the completion of 
 the necessary measures. As this scoundrel won't even accept 
 reason, may God at least keep princes and peoples on the 
 right path of the faith. We will do our best, and that with 
 the greatest possible haste, and we will give your Lordship an 
 account of all events. 
 
 465. LUTHER TO THE EMPEROR CHARLES V. AT WORMS. 
 
 Enders, iii. 129. Friedeeeg, April 28, 1521. 
 
 The original of this letter, formerly in possession of T. G. Keil at 
 Leipsic, was bought for $25,500 in May, 1911, by Mr. J. P. Morgan of 
 New York, and by him presented to the Emperor William H ; for 
 this he received the order of the Black Eagle. The original has on it 
 a note in Spalatin's hand: "This letter was never given to the 
 Emperor, because in all this host of nobles there was not one who 
 would give it to him." It was, however, soon printed. 
 
 Grace and peace with all subjection in Jesus Christ our 
 Lord. Most serene and unconquered Emperor, most clem- 
 ent Lord! When your Sacred Majesty on the public faith 
 and with free safe-conduct summoned me to Worms to in- 
 quire my mind on some books published under my name, and 
 when, obediently and humbly, I had appeared before your 
 Majesty and the whole Imperial Diet, your Majesty com- 
 
 Austrian Estates, which he printed at Worms in 1520. In 1522 we find him, with 
 the title of Baron von Schonkirchen, in the service o£ Ferdinand. 
 ILuther was forbidden to preach on the way, but did not obey. 
 
548 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 465 
 
 manded that I be asked, first, whether I would recognize the 
 aforesaid books as mine, and secondly, whether I was pre- 
 pared to revoke them, or whether I would abide by them. 
 
 When I had acknowledged that they were mine (provided 
 that nothing was added to them or changed in them by any 
 opponent or wiseacre) I reverently and submissively stated, 
 that as I had fortified my books with clear texts of Scripture, 
 it seemed to me neither right nor just that I should deny the 
 Word of God and thus revoke my books. I humbly begged 
 your Sacred Majesty not to suffer me to be forced to re- 
 cant, but that either you, or others of any estate, even the 
 least, who should be able, should go through my books and 
 deign to refute the errors said to be in them, by the gospels 
 and prophets. With Christian readiness I offered, were I 
 rebutted or convinced of error, to revoke all my books and 
 to be the first to throw them on the fire and to trample them 
 under foot. 
 
 But after I had said all this I was asked and commanded 
 to answer simply and plainly whether I was ready to recant 
 or not. I replied as humbly as I could that as my conscience 
 was bound by the Scripture I was by no means able to re- 
 cant without better instruction. 
 
 Then certain electors, princes and other Estates of the 
 Empire pleaded with me to submit my books to the knowledge 
 and judgment of your Sacred Majesty and of the Imperial 
 Estates. The Chancellor of Baden and Dr. Peutinger also 
 labored with me, and I again offered as formerly, provided 
 only that I were instructed by Scripture or plain reason. 
 
 Finally, it was agreed that I should concede and confide 
 some selected articles to the judgment of an oecumenical 
 council. But I, who was always humbly and zealously ready 
 to do and suffer all that in me lay, could not obtain this one 
 concession, this most Christian prayer, that the Word of God 
 should remain free and unbound, and that I should submit 
 my books to your Sacred Majesty and the Estates of the 
 Empire on that condition, nor even that in yielding to the 
 decree of a council I should not submit to anything contrary to 
 the gospel of God, nor should they make any such decree. 
 This was the crux of the whole controversy. 
 
Let. 465 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 549 
 
 For God the searcher of hearts is my witness that I am 
 most ready to submit to and obey your Majesty either in life 
 or in death, to glory or to shame, for gain or for loss. As I 
 have offered myself, thus I do now, excepting nothing save 
 the Word of God, in which not only (as Christ teaches in 
 Matthew iv.) does man live, but which also the angels of 
 God desire to see (i Peter, i.). As it is above all things it 
 ought to be held free and unbound in all, as Paul teaches.' 
 It ought not to depend on human judgment nor to bend to 
 the opinion of men, no matter how great, how numerous, how 
 learned and how holy they are. Thus does St. Paul in Gala- 
 tians, i., dare to exclaim with emphasis : "If we or an angel 
 from heaven teach you another gospel, let him be ana- 
 thema," and David says : "Put not your trust in princes, in 
 the sons of men, in whom is no safety."'' Nor is anyone able 
 to trust in himself, as Solomon says : "He is a fool who 
 trusts in his own heart,"' and Jeremiah, xvii. : "Cursed is 
 he who trusteth in man." 
 
 Now in temporal things, which have nothing in common 
 with the Word of God and the eternal values, we trust one 
 another, for submission in them or loss of them does not 
 prejudice our salvation. We shall have to give them all up 
 at length under any circumstances. But in his Word and 
 the eternal values God does not suffer one man to risk trust- 
 ing another. For he intends that all men and all things shall 
 be subject to him only, for he alone has the glory of the truth, 
 and is the truth itself, "for all men are liars and vain" as St. 
 Paul splendidly argues in the epistle to the Romans, chapter 
 iii. Nor is this wrong, for that trust and submission is true 
 worship and adoration of God, as St. Augustine teaches in 
 his Enchiridion, chapter i.* But we must not offer this wor- 
 ship to any creature. For St. Paul esteems neither the angels 
 nor himself, and doubtless no saint either in heaven or on 
 earth worthy of this faith, but rather curses them. Nor 
 would they suffer it, still less request it. For to trust to man 
 in matters of salvation is to give to a creature the glory due 
 to the Creator only. 
 
 '2 Timothy, ii. 9. ^Psalm cxlvi. 3. 
 
 ^Proverbs, xxviii. 26. 'Mistaken citation. 
 
550 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 465 
 
 Wherefore, as humbly as I can, I pray your Sacred Ma- 
 jesty, not to consider this opinion born of evil suspicion and 
 prejudicial to the Word of God, and not to interpret it un- 
 mercifully. For I conceived the opinion from the said Script- 
 ures, to which every creature rightly yields. For, says Au- 
 gustine, the authority of this Scripture is greater than the 
 capacity of the whole of human reason. Your Sacred Ma- 
 jesty can easily see my loyalty and trust to your Sacred Ma- 
 jesty, in that I appeared most obediently before you under 
 safe-conduct, fearing nothing, although I knew that my books 
 had been burned by my enemies and an edict against me and my 
 books publicly posted in many places under your Majesty's 
 name. These things might well have terrified this poor little 
 monk, had I not expected (as I still do) the best of God 
 Almighty, your Sacred Majesty and the Estates of the Empire. 
 
 Although I could not obtain a refutation of my books from 
 Holy Writ, and am forced to leave unconvicted . . . never- 
 theless I thank your Sacred Majesty humbly for observing 
 the safe-conduct at Worms, and for having promised to keep 
 it until I get to a safe abiding place. Again I beg your Sa- 
 cred Majesty by Christ, not to allow me to be crushed by my 
 enemies, nor to suffer violence and be condemned, since I 
 have so often offered to do what a Christian and an obedient 
 subject ought. For I am even yet prepared to stand, under 
 your Majesty's protection, before impartial and learned judges, 
 lay as well as ecclesiastical, and to submit my books and 
 doctrines most freely to all, if your Majesty or any of the 
 Estates, councils or doctors or any one else, can and will in- 
 struct me on them. I will accept their judgment, provided 
 only that the Word of God, which ought to be the judge of 
 all men, is kept open and free. 
 
 In sending this letter back, I plead not my own cause, for 
 I am nothing, but the cause of the whole Church, and I set 
 forth what reason demands. With my whole heart I wish 
 well to your Sacred Majesty, to the whole Empire and to the 
 most noble German nation, and I hope God's grace will keep 
 you all happy. Hitherto I have sought nothing but the glory 
 of God and the salvation of men, not considering my own 
 advantage nor even whether my enemies condemned me or 
 
Let. 466 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 551 
 
 not. Thus Christ my Lord prayed for his enemies on the 
 cross; how much more then should I pray for your Majesty, 
 for the whole Empire, for my illustrious superiors and my 
 native Germany? So I do pray for you with joy and faith in 
 Christ, and, relying on my aforesaid offer, expecting nothing 
 from you but the best. 
 
 Under the shadow of your wings I commend myself to your 
 Most Serene Majesty. May our Lord God happily direct and 
 guard you. Amen. 
 
 Your Most Serene Majesty's most devoted beadsman,^ 
 
 Martin Luther. 
 
 466. FRANCIS CORNARO AND CASPAR CONTARINI TO THE 
 
 DOGE OF VENICE. 
 Kalkoff: Brief e, 58. Worms, April 28, 1521. 
 
 A full summary of this letter from the original is given by Brown, 
 iii. 202. My translation is from KaikofE's German version of the 
 Italian. 
 
 In Luther's affair on which I, Francis, sent your Grace an 
 account on the 19th inst., relating all that I had heard till 
 then, what has happened since is as follows : When the Em- 
 peror requested the advice of the electors and princes in his 
 declaration against Luther, which we previously mentioned 
 and now enclose, they answered with the assent of all the 
 members of the Diet, that it was a matter of great importance, 
 and, therefore, they desired to negotiate further with Luther 
 to bring him to recant, if his Imperial Majesty wished him 
 to recant what he had taught against the decrees and decision 
 of the Council of Constance and other councils, including his 
 attacks on the papal power, which he called an abuse. It 
 was thought that this was done on purpose to exert pressure 
 upon the Pope to make him yield to the Emperor's wishes. 
 They said the Emperor might send a representative to act in 
 his name at the negotiations in connection with the persons 
 they would depute to this duty. But the Emperor would not 
 agree to this, but only that they should act in their own name, 
 for which he gave them three days. When these had ex- 
 
 ^"Orator" in the sense of ''one who prays for." In default of a twentieth 
 century equivalent I adopt this word with which letters of the sixteenth century 
 (those of Thomas More, for example), were so often signed. 
 
552 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 468 
 
 pired without any result being reached, his Majesty sent a 
 doctor with one of his secretaries to Brother Martin, and made 
 him the final declaration that if he would not recant the known 
 theses he must immediately on the next morning depart to 
 any place he wanted, and that the Emperor would keep the 
 safe-conduct for twenty days to allow him to leave Germany ; 
 otherwise, they had decided to seize and punish him as his 
 errors demanded. To which Luther replied that he would 
 not recant, but desired rather to be refuted by the Scriptures. 
 Then he left and no one knows where he will stay. But we 
 are assured that the German princes promised the Emperor 
 to agree to any measure on which he should decide for Lu- 
 ther's punishment. God grant that their resolution remain thus, 
 considering the great love for Luther and the strong support 
 which he has in these parts of Germany. 
 
 467. LUTHER TO SPALATIN AT WORMS. 
 Enders, iii. 143. Fkiedberg, April 29, 1521. 
 
 Greeting. Dear Spalatin, here you have the letters^ you 
 asked for; do you plan for the rest. We dismissed the her- 
 ald, and to-day are going to Griinberg. I have nothing else 
 to write. Greet all our friends, especially Joachim^ and Ul- 
 rich von Pappenheim, and others whom we were unable to 
 say good-bye to when we left. Amsdorf also sends greet- 
 ings. Farewell in the Lord. 
 
 Martin Luther, Augustinian. 
 
 468. ALEANDER TO THE VICE-CHANCELLOR CARDINAL DE' 
 MEDICI AT ROME. 
 
 Kalkoff: Aleander, 193. Worms (April 29), 1521. 
 
 . . . Although everything was done that law and mercy, the 
 honor of the Holy See, and the orders of the Pope and your 
 Lordship require, and although nothing else could have been 
 done, as no judges here were competent [to hear Luther], yet 
 
 ^7. t:., the one to the Emperor last translated, and one of similar tenor to the 
 princes and Estates, Enders, iii. 135. Luther composed them early in the morning 
 and sent them all back with the herald before proceeding to Grunberg in Upper 
 Hesse, eight English miles from Friedberg. 
 
 ^Joachim von Pappenheim (died 1536) was a distant cousin of Ulrich, on 
 whom cf. supra, no. 449. 
 
Let. 469 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 553 
 
 the people esteem him and justify him by the mistaken reflec- 
 tion that he was not allowed to debate. Yet it is certain, 
 if no reasons had prevented this, and if we had not had to 
 fear the endless procrastination desired by the Lutherans, and 
 had therefore allowed him a disputation, that he would never 
 have appeared in the open field. For in one of his private 
 hearings, he was, as those present tell me, convincingly re- 
 futed in more than six points by the Official of Trier, and 
 Cochlaeus, I understand, did the same when he invited Luther 
 to his room [April 24] for a debate, which Luther declined 
 in the presence of many nobles. Otherwise his appearance 
 has had the most salutary consequences, for now the Emperor 
 and almost all other persons recognize that he is a foolish, 
 immoral, crazy man. At the very first glance the Emperor 
 said : "He will never make me a heretic," and as the titles 
 of the books were read before the Diet, he said openly and 
 repeated later, that he would not believe they were all 
 composed by Luther. His drunkenness, as well as his many 
 faults in glance, mien and walk, in word and deed, have 
 robbed him of all the glory he enjoyed before the world. . . . 
 Finally, let me remind you to send the bull against Luther 
 quickly, so that it can be printed and sent all around at once. 
 It should be dated like the first on January 3, and should 
 only name Luther and his followers in general. I will tell 
 you the rest when I leave Germany. 
 
 469. MERCURINO GATTINARA TO CARDINAL MATTHEW 
 
 SCHINNER. 
 Reichstagsakten, ii. 638. (Worms, May i, 1521.) 
 
 Very reverend Sir, this morning we held a consultation 
 on Luther's affair, and it seemed best that Aleander should 
 make a draft of the edict,^ which shall then be read in council 
 and on adoption shall be translated into German and pub- 
 lished in order that there may be some execution done before 
 the Diet separates. Please, therefore, have the draft of the 
 said edict made as quickly as possible. 
 
 'J. e. the Edict of Worms, outlawing Luther. Reprinted by B. J. Kidd; 
 Documents of the Continental Reformation, no. 45. It was drawn up May 8, 
 but not signed and promulgated until May 26. On it, see further Smith, p. 120. 
 
554 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 470 
 
 470. ULRICH VON HUTTEN TO WILLIBALD PIRCKHEIMER 
 AT NUREMBERG. 
 
 Hocking, ii. 59. Ebernburg, May i, 1521. 
 
 I have heard some imperiaUsts say that Luther was sum- 
 moned to defend his cause. They lied, it was not so, for all 
 they asked him at the Diet was whether he would recant 
 what he had written. He replied most constantly that he 
 would recant whatever they convinced him was erroneous. 
 He was asked again if he would recant, for his writings had 
 been condemned long before. He prayed that they would 
 not force him to an unjust recantation, lest he should con- 
 demn against his conscience what he believed was perfectly 
 right. When they urged him a third time to recant, for 
 this is all the Emperor and princes wanted to know, he re- 
 plied that he neither could nor would deny what was sup- 
 ported by the most convincing texts of Scripture. Was this 
 enough reason utterly to condemn the man of God? Good 
 Heavens, what will be the result of this? Indeed, I think 
 that by this great tempest the princes should learn whether 
 Germany is governed by good laws. The prelates who take 
 counsel against Luther swallow every impiety and every 
 crime. His last letter to me drew tears from my eyes. He 
 told how indignant he was at certain things, among others at 
 the prohibition in the edict that he should preach the Word 
 of God. Detestable iniquity, crime deserving the pitiless wrath 
 of God to bind his Word and to stop the mouth of a teacher 
 of the gospel ! Christian princes indeed ! What will for- 
 eigners say? I have begun to be ashamed of my country. 
 
 Their spokesman was that unlearned sophist John Eck of 
 Trier. He spoke against Luther so passionately that there is 
 no doubt he was bribed by the Pope, who, it is said, has thus 
 distributed many thousand gulden. That criminal fool, Eck, 
 dared to revile the pious evangelist. . . . Some of the lawyers 
 asserted that the imperial safe-conduct neither ought to be 
 nor could be kept. . . . The wicked bishops wish to imitate 
 their ancestors who burned John Huss at Constance. . . . 
 
 Someone has posted up a notice saying that forty nobles 
 have bound themselves to protect Luther, and has signed the 
 
Let. 471 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 555 
 
 notice with the word "Bundschuh."^ These men are too 
 rash; they wish to help Luther, but they really hurt him. 
 Indeed, there are some who think that our enemies put up 
 this notice to excite odium against Luther, which seems to 
 me very likely. Rouse the minds of your fellow-citizens, for 
 I have much hope in the cities on account of your especial 
 love of liberty. We have Sickingen on our side, now not 
 only an adherent, but an ardent disciple who has absorbed 
 all that Luther has said and who hears his works read at 
 meals. ^ I have heard him swear that he will not be wanting 
 to the cause of truth no matter at what peril to himself. You 
 may know that this saying is an oracle, for he will be true 
 to his word. You may boast of him to your Nurembergers, 
 saying: "There is no greater soul in Germany.'' I wish 
 that he had never done anything for me, instead of the great 
 deal that he has done, so that no one would think my opinion 
 of him prejudiced. Indeed, this is the only reason why I do 
 not more loudly praise his heroic virtues and lofty mind. 
 May God sustain the spirit he has excited in him. Thus 
 prays Luther, and thus I pray after him. But I return to 
 him. Borne up by divine inspiration he rejects all 
 human counsel and relies solely on God. He despises death 
 as no man ever did. May Christ preserve his evangelist at 
 least until some true piety has sprung up in the minds of 
 men. My friends write me that an atrocious edict has fol- 
 lowed his departure. I greatly fear a large party of Germans 
 will protest against it, for faction is rife. I write briefly about 
 many things. Let me hear from you soon. Farewell. 
 
 471. LUTHER TO COUNT ALBERT OF MANSFELD. 
 Enders, iii. 144. De Wette, i. 601. German. 
 
 Eisenach, May 3, 1521. 
 This letter is dated "die sanctae Crucis," i. n., May 3, as in De Wette, 
 not May 9, as, probably by a misprint, in Enders. Luther traveled 
 from Friedberg to Griinberg on April 29; to Alsfeld April 30; to Hers- 
 feld, where he was entertained by the Benedictine abbot and where he 
 preached on May i ; to Berka and Eisenach May 2 ; after preaching at 
 Eisenach on the morning of May 3 he went to Mohra to visit his uncle, 
 
 ^Supra, p. 540. 
 
 ■^Luther dedicated to Sickingen on June i, 1521, his work on confession. 
 
556 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 471 
 
 Henry Luther. On the morning of May 4 he also preached here, setting 
 out in the afternoon towards Schloss Altenstein. On the way, he was 
 captured by friendly retainers of the elector and taken back to the 
 Wartburg, which he reached late at night. Cf. Festchrift fiir Philipp 
 von Hessen, Cassel, 1904, p. 89, n. 2. 
 
 This letter was published immediately in several places. I have 
 noted the textual corrections made by Enders on De Wette. 
 
 Noble, high-born and gracious Lord ! My humble prayers 
 and service to your Grace. Gracious Lord ! Lord Rudolph of 
 Watzdorf^ has bidden me by special messenger while on my 
 journey to write the history (as I may call it) of what hap- 
 pened to me at Worms. 
 
 In the first place, they did not wait for me to get to Worms, 
 but they put out a mandate against me, and condemned me in 
 spite of the imperial safe-conduct before I arrived and was 
 heard. Then to make short work of me, they summoned me 
 before his Imperial Majesty, and asked whether I would 
 stand by my books or revoke them. Then I answered as I 
 think has been announced to your Grace. Forthwith his Im- 
 perial Majesty, exasperated against me, with his own hand 
 drew up a stern edict° and demanded of the Estates what they 
 thought best to do against me, as befitted a Christian Em- 
 peror and guardian of the faith against a stiff-necked, con- 
 tumacious heretic. But he wished to keep the safe-conduct. 
 
 Then some personages of the Empire were deputed to give 
 me a gracious and kind warning to submit my books and the 
 whole affair to his Imperial Majesty and the Estates. For 
 this purpose I was summoned before the Bishop of Trier, the 
 Margrave Joachim of Brandenburg, Duke George of Saxony, 
 the Bishop' of Augsburg, the Lieutenant Master of the Teu- 
 tonic Order,* the Bishop of Brandenburg," Count George of 
 
 ^Since 14S4 the Master of Ceremonies at the Mansfeld court, and one of the 
 guardians of the young counts. Vollrad von Watzdorf, another of this old noble 
 family, had been with Luther at Worms, where he had had a warm discussion 
 with Cochlaeus. 
 
 2Reprinted in Kidd: Documents of the Continental Reformation, no. 43. Cf. 
 Smith, p. 120. 
 
 ^Christopher von Stadion. 
 
 ^"Deutscher Meister," lieutenant of the Grand Master, had the rank and vote 
 of a prince. The present occupant of the place, which he was the last to hold, 
 was Dietrich von Cleen, 1515-26. 
 
 BLuther undoubtedly means the old Bishop, Scultetus, although he had been 
 translated to the see of Havelberg, and a new Bishop, Dietrich von Hardenberg, 
 been installed in October, 1520. 
 
Let. 471 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 557 
 
 Wertheim,' and two representatives' of the Free Cities. Then 
 the Chancellor' of the Margrave of Baden arose, and gave 
 me an able, temperate admonition, so that I must confess the 
 Official of Trier can't hold a candle to him. He said it was 
 not his intention to start a debate with me, but to give me a 
 gracious, loyal and fraternal warning to consider what con- 
 fusion and sedition would follow and what offence and scandal 
 I would give. He bade me hold in honor the powers that be, 
 and pass over many things for the sake of brotherly love, and 
 put the best construction on everything. Even if the authori- 
 ties had occasionally erred their power was not lost thereby, 
 but that we were bound to obey them, and so forth. 
 
 To which I answered that I was willing to submit my books 
 not only to his Imperial Majesty, but to everyone, no matter 
 how small, provided only that nothing should be recognized or 
 decided contrary to the holy gospel. Also that I had never 
 taught that one should despise those in authority, be they 
 good or bad. Item that I did not attack the Pope nor the 
 council on account of their bad lives and deeds, but on ac- 
 count of their false doctrine. For authority and obedience 
 are abrogated by false doctrine. I pointed to the article con- 
 demned at Constance that "The one holy universal Church 
 was the aggregate of those predestined {to salvation.']'"' This 
 article I would not let be condemned, for it is one of the 
 articles of our creed, when we say: "I believe in a holy 
 Christian Church." Therefore scandalous works must be 
 winked at, but faith must remain. For God's Word always 
 scandalizes the great, wise and holy, as Christ himself was 
 made by God for a sign to he spoken againsf and for the 
 falling of many in Israel. Therefore I could yield nothing 
 more to fraternal love, for I would thereby be in so much 
 harmful to the gospel and the faith. 
 
 As they accomplished nothing thus, my Lord of Trier took 
 me apart with Dr. Schurff and Amsdorf, and graciously al- 
 
 •Count George of Wertheim reigned 1509-1530. He became a Lutheran, asking 
 to be supplied with a chaplain on September 4, 1521. Enders, iv. 2. 
 2They were Conrad Peutinger of Augsburg and John Bock of Strassburg. 
 'Jerome Vehus. 
 4Latin. 
 SLatin. Luke, ii. 34. 
 
558 I^UTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 471 
 
 lowed the ofificial with Dr. Cochlaeus the Dean of Frankfort 
 to examine me. But it was a useless debate, for they tempted 
 me with sharp sarcasm, but did not accomplish their end. I 
 said: The Pope is no judge of matters pertaining to God's 
 Word and the faith, but a Christian man must examine 
 and judge them himself, as he has to live and die by them. 
 For the Word of God and the faith is the property of every 
 man in the whole community. That I founded on St. Paul 
 (I Corinthians, xiv.)' "// a revelation be made to another sit- 
 ting by, let the first keep silence." From this saying it is clear 
 that the master should follow the pupil if the latter has the 
 better support in God's Word. And this saying stood and yet 
 stands, as they said nothing against it. Thus we parted. 
 
 Afterwards the Chancellor of Baden and Dr. Peutinger 
 were deputed to treat with me to submit my books to his 
 Imperial Majesty without any reservation, saying that I 
 should trust to them, for they would decide as Christians. 
 As they pressed me hard I put it on their consciences whether 
 they would advise me to trust so freely to his Imperial 
 Majesty and others, since they had already condemned me 
 and burned my books, and whether I did not therefore have 
 good reason to take care and make the proviso that they 
 should decide nothing contrary to the gospel, and whether 
 good reason to do so were not found in the prohibition of 
 the Scripture to trust in men, as Jeremiah xvii. says : "Cursed 
 is he that trusteth in man."^ Thus we parted. I agreed to sub- 
 mit on condition that they would decide nothing against God's 
 Word. They were not able to take away that condition. 
 
 After that my Lord of Trier gave me an audience alone, in 
 which he showed himself very kind and more than gracious, 
 and tried his best to do the right thing. He made me similar 
 representations, and I answered as before, for I knew not 
 how else to answer ; then he left me. Then immediately came 
 the official with a count and the Chancellor' of his Imperial 
 Majesty as a notary, and gave me this message from his 
 Majesty : As I would not yield in my undertaking, I should 
 
 ^Luther quotes in Latin; the verse is the 30th, which is not given by Luther 
 as the division into verses came after his day. 
 2Latin. 
 3Rather his secretary, Maximilian Transsylvanus von Zevenbergen. 
 
Let. 472 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 559 
 
 depart and have twenty days' safe-conduct ; after that his Im- 
 perial Majesty would do against me as befitted him. So I 
 thanked his Majesty and said: "As it has pleased the Lord, 
 so it has been; blessed be the name of the Lord."^ They also 
 charged me not to preach or to write on the way. I said: 
 "I will do all that pleases his Majesty, but I will leave God's 
 Word free, as St. Paul says: 'The Word of God is not 
 bound: '" 
 
 So I departed, and am now at Eisenach, and I imagine they 
 will accuse me of having broken the safe-conduct and of 
 preaching at Hersfeld and at Eisenach. For that is just what 
 they are trying to do. Herewith I commend myself humbly 
 to your Grace. In haste, Your Grace's chaplain, 
 
 Martin Luther. 
 
 472. HERMANN BUSCH TO ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 Bocking, ii. 62. Worms, May 5, 1521. 
 
 Busch of Westphalia (1468- April, 1534), educated at Deventer and 
 Heidelberg, 1486-91 traveled to Italy, Paris and Cologne; 1502 at Wit- 
 tenberg, 1503 at Leipsic, 1507 at Cologne, 1516 to Holland and England. 
 In 1526 he was called to Marburg. He may have had some part in the 
 Epistolae Obscurorum Virorum. He was an ardent Lutheran. All- 
 gemeine Deutsche Biographie. 
 
 I wish that something worse had come of your threats than 
 has been the case. The Romanists who at first greatly feared 
 for themselves now make bold to laugh and joke about you 
 even amongst us. Indeed, their boldness has increased, for 
 they say you only bark and do not bite. "It is easy," they 
 say, "to bear an enemy who hurts only by threats, and never 
 strikes. What on earth did his wild threats mean? When 
 will they end? How long will he thus stultify himself? That 
 impotent cloud spends all its force in thunder. Your Hut- 
 ten knows how to frighten, not how to wound. . . . We will 
 act more strenuously the more vainly he threatens, nor do we 
 care for the terrors of Hutten or any of the vanquished, but, 
 having damned Luther, we triumphantly and thankfully offer 
 our services to Leo, even if it means the slaughter of those 
 Germans who may be rash enough to resist us." May I die 
 
 iLatin. Cf. Job, i. 21. 2Latin. 
 
560 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 473 
 
 if they do not openly and boldly utter such words. Recently 
 a Spaniard seized a copy of Leo's bull, edited by you, and 
 trampled it in the mud. Day before yesterday a priest of 
 the Emperor's court took from a poor man a bundle of eighty 
 Babylonian Captivities, tore up some of them and would have 
 torn up the rest if a neighboring bookseller had not come up 
 and compelled the wretch and his assistants to take refuge in 
 the palace. Aleander has wormed himself into the confidence 
 of the Emperor . . . and the nuncios are of all men the most 
 hostile to liberty, to Luther and to you. If they get out of 
 Germany safe, you will greatly disappoint our expectations, 
 Hutten. ... I am waiting here for the publication of the im- 
 perial edict against Luther and the Lutherans; the Romanists 
 loudly threaten us with it, which they say will be directed not 
 only against the books, but against the persons of Lutherans. 
 Farewell. 
 
 473. ALEANDER TO VICE-CHANCELLOR CARDINAL DE' 
 MEDICI AT ROME. 
 Kalkoff: Aleander, 205. Worms (May s), 1521. 
 
 After the events sketched in my letter of the 29th ultimo, 
 the electors and princes took council together in Luther's 
 affair and resolved to support the Emperor's procedure against 
 Luther and his books. The Saxon said neither yes nor no to 
 this, but maintained an obstinate silence. I am not clear about 
 the position of the Elector Palatine, but I have learned that 
 the majority of the electors are in agreement with the Em- 
 peror. After that [probably on May i] the Emperor and 
 Privy Council charged me with the drafting of the edict, 
 which I was to justify as carefully as possible so as to quiet 
 the people, and that is all the more necessary as Luther has 
 already published in German an account of his hearing before 
 the Emperor, and has thus cleverly vindicated himself, 
 though with lies, in order to strengthen his followers and win 
 back public opinion which was largely estranged by his bad 
 morals and demeanor, his obstinacy and his bestial expres- 
 sions about councils, all of which made a deep impression on 
 the Germans. But that does not prevent a large number from 
 holding fast to him, not as though they embraced his views. 
 
Let. 473 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 561 
 
 but simply to spite Rome and to get possession of the German 
 ecclesiastical property under the excuses offered by Luther. 
 
 Although convinced of my own incapacity, for, poorly as I 
 do other things, I know absolutely nothing of the art of 
 drafting edicts, yet I would not by my refusal give them any 
 excuse against us, fearing, that, as usual in such edicts, suffi- 
 cient reverence would not be shown the Holy Father. There- 
 fore I worked hard the whole night so that notwithstanding 
 its length the edict could be laid before the Emperor and 
 Privy Council the next morning. Although it met with their 
 full approval, yet they gave it for further examination to the 
 Austrian Council, which did not please me, as some of its 
 members are Lutherans, and others are in the pay of the 
 Saxon, and all of them are bitter against the clergy and espe- 
 cially against Rome. I fear that even if they should act 
 quickly, yet they will not act according to our wishes, espe- 
 cially in executing the ban of the Empire, which would be 
 particularly deplorable. We will do our very best to have it 
 appear in the proper form and none other. This procedure 
 is the more remarkable in that when the imperialists com- 
 missioned me as draftsman they urged the greatest expedi- 
 tion, so that I thought they really wanted to have the edict 
 prepared by the Privy Council in the royal cabinet, as they 
 had decreed. This was their duty, for the Estates were 
 reconciled to executing the will of the Emperor. I cannot 
 explain this sudden and unexpected turn in their position . . . 
 for this very morning the Emperor told us that he would have 
 the edict executed, and the Chancellor that we might rest as- 
 sured that it would be drawn up in Latin, German, Dutch and 
 French. In all their acts they are too procrastinating, to their 
 own disadvantage and that of the whole world; by trying to 
 please all they get the contempt of all. Therefore even the 
 recently published sequestration-mandate, which is observed 
 punctually in other parts of Germany, does not prevent the 
 books of Luther and his infamous comrades being sold here 
 at court and their pictures exposed publicly. With all our 
 complaints we cannot induce the faint-hearted imperialists to 
 order the confiscation of these goods or the punishment of 
 one merchant. And yet that mandate was passed by the 
 36 
 
562 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 474 
 
 unanimous consent of the whole Diet. It is clear that Hutten 
 and his fellow assassins who are near here under Sickingen's 
 protection have a hand in this game. The imperialists, espe- 
 cially during their sojourn here at the Diet, fear to offend 
 them, so I believe that they will not try to execute the edict 
 until after their departure. Yesterday the Emperor with great 
 emotion, laying his hand on his heart, said to Glapion: "I 
 promise you that when the new edict is signed and published, 
 I will have the first man found with a book or picture of 
 Luther pilloried at this window," indicating the one at which 
 he was standing. Certainly he has the best intentions, but his 
 court, on account of some scruples, won't let him act accord- 
 ingly. 
 
 Luther is said to be four days' journey from here at a 
 castle where many nobles are assembled, and he is said to have 
 dismissed the herald who accompanied him, who has now 
 returned to Mayence. But Luther kept the safe-conduct. 
 Rumor here persists in saying that he will go to Denmark. 
 When we told the Emperor this he said that he would cer- 
 tainly get him then, for the king of Denmark had expressed 
 the wish of meeting him,^ the Emperor, in Flanders, when 
 he returned thither, but he asked us not to say anything more 
 about it. . . . 
 
 474. COCHLAEUS TO JEROME ALEANDER. 
 Zeitschrift fiir Kirchengeschichte, xviii. 109. 
 
 Frankfort a. M., May s, 1521. 
 Greeting. You were too true a prophet, magnificent 
 Aleander, about the lies of our Lutheran friends. What a 
 long story they have gotten up, which, though I have not yet 
 seen it, they have inscribed The Acts of Cochlaeus. In this 
 they circulate the slander that I was suborned by you, under 
 the pretext of a debate, to get Luther to give up his safe- 
 conduct. They add another false statement, that Luther of- 
 fered to undergo any risk that I would, but that I refused. 
 As witnesses to their fiction I hear that they cite six counts. 
 I will give you my advice on this, not knowing what you will 
 
 ^In fact King Christian of Denmark met Charles at Brussels in July. Cf, 
 
 Albrecht Diirers Schriftliche Nachlass, in fine. 
 
Let. 475 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 563 
 
 find. It is certain that they blushed a good deal to find that 
 when I offered to debate with Luther under judges, he refused. 
 Thus they invent the calumny about my being suborned. Why 
 don't you get his Imperial Majesty to force those counts, 
 secretly and quietly, to make depositions before a notary on 
 oath? After their testimony has been taken, if it seem true 
 and favorable to us, it can be published to the great confusion 
 of Luther, but if against us it could be suppressed. I call 
 God to witness how freely I offered to debate with him, which 
 he refused. 
 
 I do not remember the names of all the counts, but the 
 Count of Mansfeld sat on my right, and Christopher von 
 Schwartzenberg^ also. They can tell the others. . . . Let 
 them be asked : i. Whether they ever heard me refuse to de- 
 bate on equal terms. 2. Whether they heard me refuse to 
 debate unless Luther renounced his safe-conduct. 3. Whether 
 they did not hear me ask to debate before judges without peril 
 to him, which the Emperor and nobles would have allowed. 
 4. Whether they did not hear Luther say : "I do not want to 
 debate now." 5. Whether they did not hear Luther say he 
 would like the judge to be a boy of eight or nine years, or 
 one of the pages present whom he pointed out. . 
 
 Luther said among the nobles at Friedberg that the Emperor 
 had sworn on the blood of Christ that "the monk should pay 
 the penalty." The Lutherans trust only in arms. 
 
 • 475. ALEANDER TO VICE-CHANCELLOR CARDINAL DE' 
 MEDICI AT ROME. 
 
 Kalkoflf: Aleander, 214. Worms (May 8), 1521. 
 
 After I had written and sealed my last letter, I received 
 your Lordship's letter and the bulP in which Luther alone is 
 mentioned by name and his followers in general; this was 
 very welcome to me. If it had reached me somewhat sooner, 
 I would, as the bull requires, have published it here and at 
 
 'Probably Christopher Baron (Freiherr) von Schwartzenberg is meant, a son 
 of John von Schwartzenberg, who died October 21, 1528. The father became a 
 Lutheran, the son remained a Catholic, and a literary controversy between them 
 took place in 1524. On this, Enders, iv. sf. 
 
 2The bull Decet Pontificem Romanum, published in Magnum Builarium Romanum 
 (Luxemburg, 1727), i. 6i4f. Cf. Smith, loif. 
 
564 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 477 
 
 Mayence, and have mentioned it in the edict. But it is now 
 too late, as the preparation of the latter must no longer be 
 delayed, for some sudden event might come between, and 
 the Emperor threatens to leave soon, and so we fear that the 
 time will be too short for us. . . . 
 
 Luther dismissed the imperial herald, saying that he felt 
 safer without him. He had an escort of fifty horsemen. It is 
 surmised that he got rid of the herald to return to this neigh- 
 borhood, presumably to a castle of Sickingen, from which 
 vantage point he can, especially after the appearance of the 
 edict, raise a rebellion. . . . 
 
 476. ALEANDER TO GATTINARA AT WORMS. 
 Reichstagsakten, ii. 639. (Worms, May 8, 1521.) 
 
 I am sending the edict on the Lutheran affair in Latin and 
 German. May God grant that whatever is best for the peace 
 and preservation of our religion may come to pass. Certainly 
 nothing could be saner, juster or more legal than what is 
 said about Luther in the first part of the edict. For every- 
 thing has been done, as is stated in the edict, to show that his 
 Imperial Majesty has omitted nothing which might have led 
 to a peaceful solution of the problem, so that in the judgment 
 of all and even of Luther no one can be said to be more 
 clement. The second part of the edict is a prohibition to 
 print bad books, and although it is absolutely advisable and 
 conceded without debate, yet that your illustrious Lordship 
 may be able to show his Majesty that nothing is rashly done, 
 I am sending the decree drawn up by the Bishop of Trieste 
 and adopted after so much discussion, consultation and exami- 
 nation of the German Diet. May your illustrious Lordship 
 consider it and refer it to the Emperor and Diet, showing that 
 we seek nothing in it except what law and equity demand. 
 
 477. ERASMUS TO JUSTUS JONAS. 
 Erasmi opera (1703), iii. 639. Louvain, May 10, 1521. 
 
 There has been a persistent rumor here, dear Jonas, that 
 
 IThe Edict of Worms, condemning Luther, was drafted by the Privy Council 
 on May 8, and signed, without changing this date, on May 26. Cf. Smith, 120. 
 J. Paquier: Jerome Aleandre, p. 268. The edict reprinted in Kidd: Documents^ 
 no. 45. 
 
Let. 477 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 565 
 
 you were with Martin Luther at Worms ; nor do I doubt that 
 your piety has done what I would have done had I been i 
 present, to assuage the tragedy with moderate ..xctuasels, so| 
 that it would not in future burst forth with greater damage' 
 to the world. I am much surprised that such counsels were 
 not followed, since they were pleasing to all good men who 
 desired only the peace of the Church, for without concord the 
 Church loses her proper name. For what else is our religion 
 but peace in the Holy Spirit? Orthodox fathers have borne 
 witness that the net of the Church has taken both good fishes 
 and bad, and that tares have grown up with the wheat, and 
 that vices have grown up, and have deplored that the morals 
 of those who should have been the ensamples of real piety 
 have become corrupt. . . . The study of Holy Scripture had 
 decayed as much as morals, for it was perverted to serve hu- 
 man greed by imposing on the credulity of the people. Pious 
 minds, in which nothing is more deeply rooted than the glory 
 lOf Christ, groaned at this. This brought it about that at first 
 I Luther /jmjLsucli. favor from all men as I believe no mortal 
 / ever had before for centuries. And as we easily believe what 
 we vehemently desire, men thought that he was a man raised 
 up pure from all the temptations of this world, to bring a 
 remedy for such great evils. Nor did I entirely despair, except 
 that at the first taste of the books published over Luther's 
 name I feared that the affair would bring on a tumult and 
 strife throughout the world. So by letter I warned both 
 Luther and those friends who I thought would have most 
 influence with him; what counsel they gave him I know not, 
 but certainly he acted so that there is danger lest the bad 
 remedies applied should double the evils. I greatly wonder, 
 Jonas, what god inspired Luther, that with so licentious a 
 pen he should attack the Pope, all universities, philosophy and 
 the mendicant orders. For if all his censures were true, and 
 it is said that they are far from true, what other result could 
 he expect by provoking so many than that which we see? 
 I have not yet had time to read Luther's books, but from the 
 little I have glanced at and from what has been told me by 
 others, I have observed that even where his allegations were 
 above my power to judge, his method and argument by no 
 
566 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE AND Let. 477 
 
 means pleased me. For since truth of herself is a bitter thing, 
 and since it is by nature an odious task to pluck up what has 
 been received by long usage, it would have been wiser to 
 assuage the bitterness by courtesy than to add hatred to hatred. 
 For what did he gain by publishing paradoxes which offended 
 more at first sight than when closely examined? Some things 
 are made disagreeable by the affectation of obscurity. What 
 did he attain by reviling men? If he wished to cure them this 
 must be called imprudent, if he wished to bring a calamity 
 on the whole world, impious. Although a prudent man dis- 
 penses truth economically, bringing forth what is sufficient and 
 fit for the occasion, Luther poured forth everything at once 
 in a quantity of hasty books, proclaiming everything to arti- 
 sans, even that which the learned are wont to treat as mystic 
 and unspeakable i'- and generally with far more zeal to attack 
 them than the facts, in my judgment, warranted. When it would 
 have been sufficient to warn theologians that they attached 
 too much importance to the peripatetic philosophy, or to the 
 sophists, he called Aristotle's philosophy the death of the soul. 
 The evangelic spirit of Christ has his prudence and his gentle- 
 ness. Thus Christ himself tempered his doctrine to the preju- 
 dices of the Jews, speaking one thing to the crowds and 
 another to his disciples, and bearing with them a long time, 
 leading them gradually to a knowledge of the heavenly philoso- 
 phy. . . . [Similar examples of prudent forbearance are 
 taken from Peter, Paul, Augustine, Brutus and Plato.] 
 
 I do not even listen to those, Jonas, who say that Luther was 
 unable to practice Christian moderation on account of the in- 
 tolerable provocation of his antagonists. Whoever under- 
 takes to do what he undertook ought to stand fast no matter 
 how others act. He should have foreseen what would happen 
 when he got into this hole, lest he should have the same 
 fate as the goat in the fable. It is foolish even for pious 
 reasons to try to do what you cannot, especially when if you 
 do not succeed there will be much harm done. We see that 
 things have come to such a pass that there appears to be no 
 happy issue possible unless Christ should turn the rashness of 
 some men into a public good. Some men excuse Luther by 
 
 •Greek. 
 
Let. 477 OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS 567 
 
 saying that he was forced by others to write fiercely and to 
 decline the judgment of merciful Leo and the good faith of 
 the Emperor Charles, the best and gentlest of princes. But 
 why should he have followed the advice of these friends rather 
 than that of others who, being neither unlearned nor unskilful 
 in affairs, advised differently?^ . . . 
 
 ^This warning had no effect on Jonas, who returned at once to Wittenberg, where 
 he soon became Provost of the Castle Church. From this time on he was one of 
 Luther's most devoted followers. 
 
APPENDIX I. 
 
 ADDITIONAL LUTHER LETTERS, TRANSLATED IN PRESERVED' 
 smith's life and letters of MARTIN LUTHER, IQII, 
 
 1. To Andrew Lohr, September 22, 1512, p. 21. 
 
 2. To Spalatin, February, 1514, p. 29. 
 
 3. To Spalatin, August 5, 1514, p. 29. 
 
 4. To John Bercken, May i, 1516, p. 30. 
 
 5. To Spalatin, June 8, 1516, p. 33. 
 
 ■6. To Michael Dressel, June 8, 1516, p. 31. 
 
 7. To Lang, October 26, 1516, p. 32. 
 
 8. To Lang, February 8, 1517, p. 26. 
 
 9. To Albert of Mayence, October 31, 1517, p. 42. 
 
 10. To Elector Frederic, November, 1517, p. 34. 
 
 11. To C. Scheurl, March S, 1518, p. 43. 
 
 12. To Leo X., May 30?, 1518, p. 44. 
 
 13. To Spalatin, August 31, 1518, p. 70. 
 
 14. To Spalatin, October 14, 1518, p. 49. 
 
 15. To Cajetan, October 17, 1518, p. 32. 
 
 16. To Elector Frederic, January 5-6, 1519, p. 54. 
 
 17. To Elector Frederic, January (>-•], 15 19, p. 56. 
 
 18. To John Eck, February 18, 1519, p. 59. 
 
 19. To Spalatin, soon after February 24, 1519 (no. i), p. 60. 
 
 20. To Spalatin, soon after February 24, 1519 (no. 2), p. 61. 
 
 21. To Erasmus, March 28, 1519, p. 200. 
 
 22. To Spalatin, July 20, 1519, p. 64 
 
 23. To Spalatin, February, 1520, p. 72. 
 
 24. Ulrich von Hutten to Luther, June 4, 1520, p. t^. 
 
 25. To Amsdorf, June 23, 1520, p. 79. 
 
 26. To Spalatin, July 10, 1520, p. 74. 
 
 27. To Gerard Listrius, July 30, 1520, p. 77.' 
 
 28. To Lang, August 18, 1518, p. 86. 
 
 29. To Link, August 19, 1520, p. 87. 
 
 30. To Charles V., August 31, 1520, p. 99. 
 
 31. To Leo X., October, 1520, p. 91. 
 
 32. To Spalatin, December 21, 1520, p. 105.' 
 
 ^This letter \s not in Enders. The text is printed in my Luther, p. 471. 
 
 2Knaake in Theologische Studien und Kritiken, 1900, p. 273, tries to show 
 that this letter should be dated "Spannenberg, December 29," but Enders is 
 right, as bad the letter been written on December 29, Luther, who usually be- 
 gan the new year on Christmas, would have dated it "1521." 
 
 (568) 
 
APPENDIX 569 
 
 33- To Elector Frederic, January 25, 1521, p. 106. 
 
 34. To Staupitz, February 9, 1521, p. 108. 
 
 35. To Spalatin, March ig, 1521, p. no. 
 
 36. To Spalatin, April 14, 1521, p. in. 
 
 37. To Cuspinian, April 28, 1521, p. 114.^ 
 
 38. To Cranach, April 28, 1521, p. 119. 
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 SOME LOST LUTHER LETTERS 
 
 In the correspondence of Luther and his friends we often hear of 
 letters which are not now extant. It would serve no purpose to register 
 all these, but a few of which particularly interesting details are known 
 may be mentioned. 
 
 I. DR. JOHN FLECK^ TO LUTHER. 
 E. Kroker: Luthers Tischreden in der Maithesischen Sammlung, 
 no. 562. ( Steinlausig^ late in 1517.) 
 
 Of this letter Luther tells us in 1542: "I like Fleck. He is a man 
 full of comfort and his words are consolatory. He wrote me a 
 letter, a splendid one, immediately after I had published my Theses. I 
 would give ten gulden to have it now. Its purport was about as fol- 
 lows : 'Venerable Doctor, proceed ! Press forward ! These papal 
 abuses always displeased me, too, etc' The monks were also angry 
 at him, for he had said to those at Steinlausig: 'There is a man who 
 will do something.' He never said a mass, which was a good sign." 
 
 2. MARTIN LUTHER TO DR. HERMAN. 
 In the Historical Manuscripts Commission, vol. ix., part ii., p. 413, 
 London, 1884, is the following entry: "Letter of Martin Luther to 
 Dr. Herman, Latin, accompanying one of the writer's principal peti- 
 tions, in which Herman is enjoined to believe no calumnious report 
 of the writer, but to consider all things done by him as having been 
 done in good faith.'' There is no date, but it is bound in a volume of 
 manuscripts between July and November, 1519. The original is in the 
 possession of Mrs. Alfred Morrison of London. Efforts to see it while 
 I was there proved unavailing. Among the ' possible addressees are 
 Antony Hermann, Nicholas Hermann, Hermann Busch, Hermann 
 Miihlpfort and Hermann Tullich. None of these, however, was a doc- 
 tor, and none is otherwise likely. Until the original can be ex- 
 amined any conjecture must be made with reserve. It is not impossible 
 that the letter is really to Dr. Henning Code, always referred to as 
 
 iTHe text of this letter as printed in Enders is poor. The correct form is 
 given in my Luther, p. 472. 
 
 2FIeck was Prior of the Franciscans at Steinlausig. At the opening of Wit- 
 tenberg (1502) he had preached. On him, Kostlin-Kawerau, i. 80, i63f. 
 
570 APPENDIX 
 
 "Dr. Henning," which might easily be misread "Herman." If so, it 
 probably accompanied Luther's "positions" as his Theses were often 
 called. That Luther actually wrote to him may be seen by Enders, i. 57. 
 The date of such a letter as the above must fall between the posting 
 of the Theses, October 31, 1517, and Henning's death, January 23, 1521, 
 probably while Henning was at Erfurt in 1518. 
 
 3. LUTHER TO JOHN TETZEL AT LEIPSIC. 
 De Wette-Seidemann, vi. 18. (Shortly before August 11, 1519.) 
 
 Not only the reputation, but also the health of the indulgence-seller, 
 John Tetzel, was broken by the storm started in 1517. When Luther 
 heard that he was mortally ill, he wrote to comfort him, and bade 
 him "not to be troubled, for the matter did not begin on his account, 
 but the child had quite a different father." The letter is lost, but this 
 quotation is preserved in Emser's: Auff des Stieres zu Wittenberg 
 wiettende replica. 
 
 4. LUTHER TO VADIAN AT ST. GALL. 
 Vadianische Brief sammlung, ii. no. 249. (1S20 or early 1521.) 
 
 On March 18, 1521, Lawrence Merus writes to Vadian that a few 
 days ago Salandronius has handed him Luther's letter to him 
 (Vadian). He (Merus) passed it around among his friends until the 
 writing began to grow dim with being kissed, after which he locked 
 it up safely in his desk. 
 
 APPENDIX III. 
 
 139a. CAPITO TO ERASMUS AT BASLE. 
 Allen, iii. 526. (Basle), April 8, 1519. 
 
 The following letter first came to my knowledge while the present 
 work was in press. It is worth adding for the light it throws on 
 Capito's efforts to act as intermediary between Luther and Erasmus, 
 a role he reassumed during the latter part of 1521 : 
 
 "I pray you not to disparage Luther's course in public. You know 
 how much your opinion counts. I beg this from my heart. It is 
 expedient to let Luther's fame live, for thus notwithstanding his 
 shortcomings courage will be given to the rest of the youth to dare 
 something for Christ's freedom. We shall keep subservient to you 
 Germany and Saxony, where Luther's patron, a powerful prince, the 
 flourishing University of Wittenberg and many illustrious men equally 
 favor Erasmus and Luther. The enemy desires nothing more than to 
 see you angry at him. It is better to have the hostility of all theolo- 
 gians than that of Luther's champions, for there are some princes, 
 cardinals, bishops and famous ecclesiastics who have his cause at 
 heart." 
 
INDEX 
 
 Abel, 43. 
 
 Accolti, P., 283, 299, 316, 495. 
 
 Acta Augustana, 102, 119, 128, 133, 
 
 136, 230. 
 Adamites, 529. 
 
 Address to the Christian Nobility of 
 the German Nation, 329, 34if., 
 344, 347f-. 3S8, 369, 378ff., 412. 
 422, 43iff., 460, 471, 473. 
 Adelmann, B., 123, 307, 424. 
 Adelmann, C, letter, i22ff. 
 Adrian of Antwerp, 60. 
 Adrian of Utrecht (later Pope 
 Adrian VI), 6, 209, 301, 312, 
 403, 436- 
 Letters, 256f., 5141 
 Adrian, M., 29of., 306, 3i4f., 365, 
 
 387. 465- 
 Aeneas Sylvius (see Pius II). 
 Agricola, J., 189, 341, 348f. 
 Agricola, R., letter, 46if. 
 Agrippa, H. C, igof. 
 Aix la-Chapelle, 418. 
 Aleander, J., 6, 382, 389, 393, 395, 
 397fi. 402, 406, 4nf., 430, 434f., 
 438f., 446f., 451, 454, 482, 5oif., 
 504, S12. 553. 560, s62f. 
 Danger and hardships in Ger- 
 many, 422f., 430, 459, 461, 466, 
 
 sogf- 
 
 Letters, 379f., 388!., 416-23, 425-9, 
 454-64, 466ff., 473-7. 486-9, 
 49Sff-. 505f-. 5o8ff., S1S.-22, 
 525-31. 539-47. S52f-. S6off. 
 563f- 
 Oration at Worms, 463, 467, 47of., 
 488. 
 Aleander, P., 457. 
 Alexander of Hales, 146. 
 Alexander, secretary of Nassau, 
 
 494f. 
 Alsfeld, 555. 
 
 Altenburg, 219, 353, 362. 
 Altenstein, 556. 
 Alvarez, J., 242f. 
 Alveld, A., 317, 320, 32s, 327, 329, 
 
 341. 344. 372. 412. 424. 441. 
 Ambrose, 43, 69, 129, 203, 205, 213. 
 Amerbach, Basil, 377f., 448. 
 Letter, 397 
 
 Amerbach, Boniface, 378f., 389f., 
 397. 438f. 
 
 Letters, 22if., 377f., 436!, 448. 
 Ammann, J. J., 396. 
 Amsdorf, N. v., 5 if., 54, 77, 120, 
 131, 134. 166, 168, 344, 473, 
 521, 523. 543. 552. 557, 568. 
 
 Letter, 209!?. 
 Ancona (see Accolti). 
 Andrew the barber, 274. 
 Anhalt, Margaret, Princess of, 244f. 
 Anna, St., 66f. 
 Annaberg, 196, 208. 
 Anselm, T., 300. 
 Antichrist, i7of., 179, 240, 265, 269, 
 
 291. 329, 344, 366, 3861, 394, 442, 
 
 450, 494f., 497, 510, 528. 
 Antiochus, 291. 
 Antwerp, 301, 351, 379, 456f. 
 
 Jacobin of, 494. 
 
 Prior of, 375f. 
 ApoUonia, St., 67. 
 Aquensis, P., 3i7f. 
 Aquinas, T., 78, loi, 117, 129, 146, 
 
 150, 220, 242, 270, 283, 359, 426. 
 Arcimboldi, J. A. de, 453. 
 Aristotle, 23, 43, 55, 60, 64f., 77, 
 
 8if., 129, 150, i69f, 198, 216, 230, 
 
 254. 257f., 566. 
 Arius, 154, 247, 417, 423. 
 Armstorf, P. v., Si2f., 5i5f. 
 Asterisks, 86f., 95. 
 Athanasius, 129, 154, 254. 
 Auer, J., i33f. 
 
 Augsburg, 76, 102, 142, 156, 204, 
 233, 262, 280, 460, 536. 
 
 Christopher v. Stadion, Bishop of, 
 116, 424, 498, 542, 556. 
 
 Diet of (1518), loof. 
 
 Luther's trial at, 6, 96, 116-24, 
 130, I36f., 160, 185, 191, 2i6, 
 266, 307, 340, 440. 
 Augustine, St., 41-4, 55, 57f., 68f., 74, 
 
 8if., 129, i6i, i8of., 203, 205, 
 
 2i3f., 226, 24of., 25i;, 283, 326, 
 
 388, 429, 436, 532, 54gf., 566. 
 Augustinians, 25, 33, 79, losff., 222, 
 233. 268, 3(J7ff-, 333- 
 
 Chapter at Eisleben, 348, 351, 353. 
 Aurogallus, M., 465. 
 
 (571) 
 
572 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Babylonian Captivity of the Church, 
 
 349. 364. 377. 420, 423, 427, 439. 
 
 446f., 520, 560. 
 Baden, 384. 
 
 Philip, Margrave of. 542. 
 Bader, P., 79. 
 Bamberg, 230, 382. 
 
 George, Bishop of, 388, 498. 
 Ban (see Excommunication). 
 
 of the Empire (see Worms, Edict 
 of), 444. 467. 506, 523, s6i. 
 
 Sermon on the, 98. 
 Bannissius, J., 454. 
 Baptism, 447. 
 Barbara, St., 67. 
 Barthelemi, 392. 
 Bartholomew, St., 37. 
 Basil, 129. 
 
 Basle, 1 12, 172, 178, 314, 356, 378, 
 396, 465, 505. 
 
 Christopher v. Uttenheim, Bishop 
 of, 163. 
 
 Council of, 246. 
 Bavaria, 332. 
 
 Dukes of, 424, 469, 517. 
 
 William, Duke of, 536. 
 Bayer, C, 308. 
 
 Beatus Rhenanus, 8off., 2o8f., 277, 
 436f., 500, siof. 
 
 Letters, 389f., 438f., 493f. 
 Beckmann, O., 51, 60, 120, 134, 166, 
 
 227f. 
 
 Beczschicz, C, 285. 
 
 Beda, N., 392. 
 
 Begging, 294f. 
 
 Beghards (see Hussites), 66, 317, 
 
 327. 529- 
 Benedict, M., 300. 
 Berauld, N., 464f. 
 Bercken, J., 568. 
 Berghes, M. de, 234, 546, 558. 
 Berka, 555. 
 Berlin, 356. 
 
 Bernard, 201, 203, 206, 240, 235. 
 Bernhardi, B., 41, S4> '31. '68, 317, 
 
 325- 
 Beroald, P., 169. 
 Bessler, N., 437. 
 Beymann, P., 277. 
 Bias, 492. 
 
 Bible, 6, 75, 77, 8if., 84, 94, 139, 
 287, 324. 364. 384. 
 
 Free use, 113, 438, 565. 
 
 Interpretation, 43, 203, 247, 230, 
 435, 558. 
 
 Luther's lectures on, 2Sf., 31, 41, 
 49, 54, 61. I56ii., 162, 309, 355. 
 
 477- 
 Method of study, 68ff. 
 
 Supremacy, 78, 89, 149, 153, 155, 
 159, 214, 230, 255, 326, 529, 
 548ff., 554- 
 Tumult results from the study, 
 376. 
 
 Biel, G., 4if., 78. 
 
 Bild, G., 137, 317. 
 Letters, ii4f., 307f. 
 
 Black Cloister (Augustinian monas- 
 tery at Wittenberg), 22, i83f. 
 
 Blaurer, A., 438. 
 
 Blaurer, T. 
 
 Letter, 438, 464. 
 
 Bock, J., 537. 
 
 Bodensee, 405. 
 
 Bohemia, 273, 313, 33of., 341, 403, 
 452, 531. 547. 
 
 Bohemians (see Beghards and Huss- 
 ites). 
 
 Bologna, 234, 251, 421. 
 
 Bonaventura, 146. 
 
 Bosschenstein, J., 138. 
 
 Bossenstain, J., 124. 
 
 Botzheim, J. v., 464. 
 
 Brabant, 162, 494. 
 
 Bragadin, L., 299. 
 
 Brandenburg, 141, 237. 
 
 Jerome Scultetus, Bishop of, 73f., 
 77, 878., 98, 134, 215, 220, 393, 
 40s, 450, 498, 542. 556. 
 Joachim L Elector of, 215, 442, 
 449. 474f-. 497f-. 5I7. 522. 54off., 
 556. 
 
 Braun, J., 21-4, 38. 
 
 Breisgau, 405. 
 John of, 262. 
 
 Breitenbach, G. v., 252. 
 
 Breslau, 
 
 John V. Thurzo, Bishop of, 309, 
 
 394- 
 Briard, 304. 
 Briselot, 233. 
 Bronner, J., 279. 
 Bruck, G., 
 
 Letter, 3o6f. 
 Bruges, 357, 494. 
 Brunswick-Luneburg, Margaret, 
 
 Duchess of, 227f. 
 Brussels. 511, 562. 
 Brutus, 566. 
 Bucer, M,, 6, 397, 442, 316, 325. 
 
 Letters, 8off., 2o8f., 276!!., 338, 
 5iof., 3i2f. 
 
 Luther's opinion of, 283. 
 Biinau, G. v., 339f. 
 Blinau, H. v., 324f. 
 Burckhardt, F., 193. 
 Burckhart, P., 204f., 339, 365. 
 Burgundy, 474. 
 
INDEX 
 
 573 
 
 Busch, H. v., 540, 569. 
 
 Letter, ssgf. 
 Buttstadt, 353, 363. 
 
 Cabala, 238. 
 
 Caesar, John, 264. 
 
 Cajetan, Thomas de Vio, Cardinal, 
 
 100, 131-4, 142, 163, 176, 179, 
 
 209, 242f., 253, 267, 337, 338, 
 
 389, 568. 
 On commission to draw up bull 
 
 against Luther, 283, 299, 316. 
 Tries Luther at Augsburg, 101-5, 
 
 109, 113, iisff., I28f., 132, 136, 
 
 156, 172, 186. 
 Calvin, J., 464, 522. 
 Calvus, F., 162. 
 
 Cambridge, University of, 209, 490. 
 
 Camerarius, J., 5i3f. 
 
 Campeggio, L., 316, 41 if. 
 
 Canon Law, 41, 66, 84, 89, 149, 155, 
 
 157, 170, 175, 262, 291, 326, 
 335, 422, 476, 532. 
 
 Burning of, 405, 4i4f., 431, 434. 
 439. 446. 461- 
 Cantiuncula, C, letter, igof. 
 Capito, W. F., 6, 7if., 222, 317, 358, 
 
 368, 412, 416, 511. 
 -^Letters, iioff., 129, 134, i63f., 
 
 173. 405ff-. 570- 
 
 Caracciolo, M., 379, 382, 389, 393, 
 399, 419, 434, 4631, 496f., 510, 
 517. 519. 531. 560. 
 Letter, 539-47. 
 
 Carlstadt, A., 4if., 54, 56,58,69,71, 
 74f., 90, 112, ii8ff., i3of., I34f-. 
 138, 140, i43f., i52f., i55ff-, 
 i6ofE., i64f., i67f., 173-6, 181, 
 184, 190, I95ff., iggi; 203, 210, 
 237, 250, 258-62, 264, 268, 284, 
 359. 364. 395. 537- 
 Description of, 261. 
 Letters, 93, 2i2ff. 
 
 Carmelites, 194, 243, 371, 494. 
 Prior at Augsburg, 307. 
 
 Carondelet, J. de, 427f. 
 
 Carvajal, B., 316, 347. 
 
 Catharine, St., 67. 
 
 Catharinus, A., 485. 
 
 Celibacy, sacerdotal, 390, 411. 
 
 Cellarius, J., 188. 
 
 Charlemagne, 426, 463. 
 
 Charles V, Emperor, 6, 236,314,318, 
 322f., 329^-. 349. 365f-. 379f-. 
 382, 384. 393, 395-8. 402, 416, 
 4i8f., 421, 427^-. 429-33. 438, 
 44if, 444-7. 450. 452f., 455^.. 
 459, 46iff., 466f., 469fl., 473-7. 
 486, 489. 492. 494f-. 498, 503f., 
 
 5o6ff., 5iof., 513-16. 5i8fi., 
 52if., 526ff., 53if.. 536. S38ff., 
 541. 545fE., 548-52, 554. 556-64. 
 567f. 
 
 Character, 420. 
 
 Coronation, 368, 389, 418. 
 
 Letters, 398f., 424f., 482f. 
 
 Mandate against Luther for hered- 
 itary dominions, 379, 398, 402, 
 418, 455, 468, 474. 
 
 Mandate ordering sequestration of 
 Lutheran books, 449, 454, 486, 
 489, 496f., 5o8f., 518, 556, 561. 
 
 Opinion of Luther, 428, 530, 533f., 
 538, 553, 563. 
 
 Safe-conduct for Luther, 482f£., 
 493. 496, 500, 5o6f., 525, 531, 
 541, 547. 550. 552. 556. 559. 
 562f. 
 Chievres, W., 415, 42of., 425, 427, 
 429, 464, 487f., 496, 517, 522, 
 545- 
 
 Letters, 397f., 433- 
 Chiregatto, F., 35 7f. 
 Christian II, King of Denmark, 484f ., 
 
 536f., 547. 562. 
 Christopher, St., 6y. 
 Chrysostom, 129, 203, 206, 213, 248. 
 Church, 132, 154, 226. 
 
 Abuses in, 29, 50, 63, 141, 165, 
 215, 229, 255, 311, 336, 380, 
 465, 528f., 565. 
 
 Authority of, 88, no, 117, 123, 
 155, 205, 293, 425, 529. 
 
 Fathers of, 78, 84, 89, 155, 419, 
 532. 
 
 Greek, 206, 246, 426. 
 
 Nature of, 146, 201, 326, 543,557. 
 
 Reform of, 83f., 166, 379,442,447, 
 
 465. 513- 
 Roman, 102, 107, 118, 153, I56ff., 
 
 160, 167, 172, 175, 246, 260, 
 
 297f., 412, 501, 5i6f. 
 Cicero, 58. 
 Cistein (see Ende). 
 Claude, Queen of France, 522. 
 Cleen, D. v., 556. 
 Clivanus, R., 396. 
 Coblenz, 185, 194, 209. 
 Coburg, 115. 
 Cochlaeus, J., 543, 553, 556, 558. 
 
 Letter, 562f. 
 Colet, J., 235. 
 Cologne, 63, 310, 384, 397, 399, 
 
 40iff., 404, 406, 409f., 416, 422, 
 
 425, 430, 441, 455, 458, 463.467. 
 
 473- 
 Dominicans of, 27ff. 
 Hermann v. Wied, Archbishop 
 
574 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Elector of, 474f. 
 University of, 135, 140, 203, 209, 
 295!, 299f., 310, 31S, 322, 371, 
 405- 
 Confession, 240, 242, 269, 319, 451, 
 
 456, 472, 494, 498, 508. 
 Confirmation, 447. 
 Constance, 262, 319. 
 
 Council of, I98f., 20iff., 206, 214, 
 463, 529, 538, 542f-. 551. 554, 
 557- 
 Contarini, G., letters, S35f., 538f., 
 
 55if. 
 Copenhagen, 485. 
 
 University of, 485, 537. 
 Cornaro, F., 
 
 Letters, 533f., 55if. 
 Cotta, Ursula, 22f. 
 Cottbus, 424. 
 
 Council, CEcumenical, authority of, 
 202, 206, 232, 33of., 426, 447, 
 506, 529, 532, 534, 536, 539, 
 
 544ff-, 548. 557- 
 
 Luther's appeal to a, 128, i35ff., 
 141, 145, 366, 370, 387, 396.402- 
 Covifper, G., letter, 295. 
 Cowper, T., 295. 
 Crafit, A., 323. 
 Cranach, L., 321, 485, 569. 
 Crautwald, V., 328. 
 Creutzer, M., 484. 
 Crotus Rubeanus, 27, 251, 328, 330, 
 423, 482. 
 
 Letters, 229ff., 236f., 309f., 4o8ff. 
 Croy, W. de. Archbishop of Toledo, 
 
 447, 45if-. 519' 
 Croy, W. de (see Chievres). 
 Cum postquam bull, 148, 154. 
 Cuspinian, 569. 
 Cyprian, 43, 58, 129, 201, 203, 206, 
 
 239. 436. 
 
 Dandolo, M., S38f. 
 
 Decet Pontificem Romanum bull, 
 
 455, 462. 509, 553, 563f- 
 Demuth, N., 306. 
 Denmark, 547, 562. 
 Devils (see Satan), 275. 
 Dialogue on the Death of Julius II, 
 
 63. 165- 
 Diercx, V., 373, 375f. 
 Divorce, 208, 536, 539. 
 Dobeln, 484. 
 Dolzig, J. v., 26. 
 Dominicans, 27, 100, 150, 161, 194, 
 
 220, 222, 229, 231, 242f., 268, 270, 
 
 278, 304, 314. 342. 372. 376. 
 Donation of Constantine, 291. 
 Donatists, 181, 241. 
 
 Doring, C., 56, 78. 
 
 Dornheim, 411. 
 
 Dorp, M., 301, 311, 412. 
 
 Draco, J., 343. 
 
 Dresden, 207f., 217. 
 
 Augustinian Convent at, 37, 279, 
 
 SSI- 
 Luther visits, 96f., I49fl. 
 
 Dressel, M., 39f., 568. 
 
 Driedo, J., 373, 40of., 412. 
 
 Dungersheim, J., 76f., 175, 254f., 
 274. 317. 325ff- 
 
 Duns Scotus, 42, 78, 8if., 93, 129, 
 283. 
 
 Dijrer, A., 6. 
 Letter, 28of. 
 
 Ebernburg, 509, 512. 
 Ebner, J., 62, 149. 
 Ecclesiastes, 245. 
 
 Eck, John, of Ingolstadt, 62f., 112, 
 122, 130, I39f., I43f., I46ff-, 
 I52f., 155, 160, 162, 164, 167-71, 
 I74f., 182, 184, 186, 188, I90f., 
 195-207, 210-15, 217, 220, 222, 
 225, 238, 245, 250, 252, 254f., 
 258-62, 264f., 268, 272ff., 280, 
 284, 286f., 294f., 336f..352.36if-. 
 363ff-. 366, 383, 387, 393, 40Sf., 
 411, 415, 430, 453, 466ff., 506, 
 .568. 
 At Rome, 236f., 300, 3i4ff., 319, 
 
 328. 
 Description of, 26if. 
 Introduction to Luther, 53, 57f., 
 
 93ff- 
 Letters, 90, 135, 165, I95ff., 202fi., 
 
 205ff., 246ff., 3i5f. 
 Posts bull in Germany, 345, 
 36oflt., 363ff., 366, 368ff., 379ff-. 
 387^, 402, 449, 468f. 
 Obelisks, 76, 85ff., 90, 95, 135, 
 140, i6of., 200, 213, 258. 
 Eck, John, of Trier, 526fiE., 529, 531, 
 
 540, 543f., 546, 553f-, 556, 558. 
 Egmond, N., 235, 269, 304f-. 37 iff-. 
 
 374ff- 
 Egranus, J. S., 66, 75, 112, 122, 
 
 I59ff., 196, 385, 387. 
 Eichstadt, 449. 
 
 Gabriel, Bishop of, 135, 140, 258. 
 Eilenberg, 363, 393f-. 403- 
 Einsiedel, H. v., 370, 394, 430. 
 Eisleben, 22, 38, 84, 274, 353, 362f, 
 Eisenach, 22, 34, 38, 274, 504, 523, 
 
 555. 559- 
 Elbe, 186. 
 
 Emser, J., 149(1., 176, 197, 218, 252, 
 265, 286f., 295, 313, 377, 387, 393. 
 
INDEX 
 
 575 
 
 415. 44off., 450ff-, 460. 465f-. 472, 
 481, 485. 504, 570. 
 Enarrationes Epistolarum et Evan- 
 
 geliorum, 469. 
 Ende zum Stein, N. v., 459f. 
 England, 162, 164, 193, 295, 32if., 
 
 446f. 
 Eobanus Hessus, H., 121. 
 Bpistolae Obscurorum Virorum^ zy^ 
 40. 152. 346, 410, • ^ 
 
 Erasmus, D., 6, 32?., zyi 44-7^82, 
 
 1I2, I4J, iS'p, 17 J, 177L 182^., 
 
 200, 268, 2^, 2J6, 2^/., zoy, 
 
 315, 314. Z'^1,. 325, 346. 3,^, 
 
 394ff., 4^^, 43< 434, 4S6f., Jiif., 
 
 568, 570. 
 Adages, 72. 
 
 Aleander's opinion of, 4578. 
 Axioms, 460, 473. 
 Dialogues of Lucian, 72. 
 Letters, 121, ;77ff., 181, i87f, 
 
 I92ff., 234f., 238ff., 268, 304, 
 
 32if., 333f., 342f., 351, 35Sff-. 
 
 357f-. 370-6, 389ff-, 40off., 4iif-. 
 
 415, 448, 464f., 494f., 500-3, 
 
 564-7- 
 Luther's opinion of, 42, 548., 63, 
 
 68ff., 395. 
 Method of Theology, lyii., 177, 
 
 191. 
 New Testament, edition of Greek, 
 
 162, 245. 
 Opinion of Luther, no, 122, 134, 
 
 164, 220, 239, 296, 371. 
 Against publication of Luther's 
 
 works, 161, 355. 
 Cares not if Luther is roasted or 
 
 boiled, 494, 501. 
 Intercedes for Luther, I79fif., i88f., 
 
 39of. 
 Nothing to do with Luther, i87f., 
 
 355. 37iff-. 4". 429. 448, 470, 
 
 500. 
 Prefers to see Luther corrected 
 
 than slain, 239f., 371, 401, 403, 
 
 494. 500. 
 Wishes Luther had avoided tu- 
 mult, 343f., 352, 403, 411,5651 
 Querela pacis, T2. 
 Suetonis, edition of, 122, i77f., 
 
 i8if. 
 Erfurt, 74, 84, 98, 130, 174, 233, 
 
 362, 393, 411, 422, 489, 504, 
 
 518, 523. 
 Augustinian convent at, 24, 3of., 
 
 36. 
 University of, 21, 24, 3of., 64f., 
 85, 135. 207, 2i6f., 220, 229, 
 237. 264, 267, 274, 311, 342f., 
 
 381, 387^, 411, 518. 
 Eschaus, T., 339. 
 
 Wife of, 300. 
 Eucharist, 119, 266f., 272f., 279, 282, 
 
 284, 293, 376, 477, 536, 539- 
 Evangelista, 128. 
 
 Excommunication, 118, 120, 308, 366, 
 384, 393, 424, 440, 456, 509. 
 Bull of (see Decet Pontificem Ro- 
 manum). 
 Exsurge Domine, bull (see Luther, 
 process against), 240, 345, 352, 
 354. 363, 369. 386ff., 391, 393, 
 4oof., 405, 423, 425, 448, 458, 
 477. 482, 484, 494, 5o6f., 515, 
 52of., 529. 
 Burning, 6, 405, 4i4f., 439f. 
 Hutten's edition of, 349, 389f., 
 
 414, 44if., 448, 560. 
 Preparation of, 6, 298, 306, 3isf., 
 
 324. 335f- 
 Publication in Germany, 357, 360-6. 
 368ff., 375. 379ff-. 383, 387f-, 
 402, 417, 424, 445, 449f., 467ff. 
 Extreme unction, 447. 
 Ezekiel, 50. 
 
 Faber, J., Dominican Prior of Augs- 
 burg, 39of., 447, 449, 460, 519. 
 
 Faber, J., Vicar of Constance and 
 later Bishop of Vienna, 3i5f. 
 Letter, 3i8ff. 
 
 Fach, B. F., 254. 
 
 Faith (see Justification). 
 
 Feige, J., letter, S37f. 
 
 Feilitzsch, F. v., 136, 36iff., 367, 
 370, 394. 400, 403f-. 4i2f. 
 
 Feilitzsch, P. v., 523. 
 
 Ferdinand, later Emperor. 276, 314, 
 330. 
 
 Fisher, J., 235, 490. 
 
 Flanders, 455, 457, 474, 562. 
 
 Fleck, J., 569. 
 
 Florence, Council of, 426, 451. 
 
 Fontinus, P., 221. 
 
 France, 161, 164, 196, 220, 494,502, 
 521. 
 
 Francis, St., 22of. 
 
 Francis I, King of France, 236, 321, 
 357. 372. 494. 496. 
 
 Franciscans, 22f., 192, 194, 215, 217, 
 22of., 342, 424, 494. 
 
 Franck, A., 176. 
 
 Franconia, 413. 
 
 Frankfort on the Main, 142, 396, 
 425, 439, 498. 
 Book Fair at, 72, 161, 164, 383, 
 497. 505- 
 
576 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Frankfort on the Oder, 73, 90, 136, 
 
 306. 
 Freiberg in Saxony, 484. 
 Freisingen, Philip, Bishop of, 154, 
 
 170ft., 187, 370. 
 Free Will, 41, 55, 83, 94, 199, 25gi., 
 
 273, 536- 
 French mathematician, 305f. 
 Friedberg, 552, 555, 563. 
 Froben, J., 161-4, 355, 500. 
 Frosch, J., i3of., 133. 
 Fuchs, A. v., 230, 309. 
 Fuchs, J. v., 230, 309. 
 Fuchs, T. v., 233, 265f. 
 Fug, J-. 332f- 
 Fuggers, 258. 
 Fuhrer, J., 221. 
 Fulda, 410. 
 
 Galatians, Luther's Commentary on, 
 iSSff., 2i6fif., 219, 222, 277. 
 
 Gambara, C. de, 454. 
 
 Gattinara, M., 419, 421, 474, 545, 
 561, 564f. 
 Letter, 553. 
 
 Gera, 196. 
 
 German Theology, 41, 48, i%i. 
 
 Germany, 196, 233, 283, 3iof., 314, 
 318, 330, 338, 342, 347, 349f-. 354, 
 369. 379f-. 382, 389, 396. 4iof-, 
 412, 414, 417, 42if., 427, 431, 434, 
 438, 444, 451, 454f., 461, 471, 
 473ff.. 487f-. 493f-. 495. SOi, 503*-. 
 510, 514, S17, 529, S36, 539. 55off., 
 554f-. 559f-. 561. 570. 
 
 Geroldseck, D. v., 163. 
 
 Gerson, J., 180. 
 
 Geyling, J., 360. 
 
 Ghent, Augustinian Convent at, 351. 
 
 Ghinucci, J., 102, losf. 
 
 Gigli, S. de, letter, 323. 
 
 Glapion, J., 420, 477, si^f-. S'Sf-, 
 Si8ff., 525, 527, 546, 562. 
 
 Glarean, H., 161. 
 Letter, 383. 
 
 Glaser, M., 114, 191. 
 
 God, 21, 24, 29, 50, 59, 359. 
 
 Gode, H., 288, 569! 
 
 Gonzaga, F. de, 487, 522f., S3if.. 
 
 Good Works (see Justification by 
 Faith). 
 Luther's treatise on, 302fl. 
 
 Gorlitz, 196. 
 
 Gotha, 36, 38, 361, 523. 
 
 Gradenigo, A., letters, 323, 330, 495. 
 
 Gramaye, T., letter, 392. 
 
 Gratian, 41. 
 
 Greek, 54, 113, 115, 160, 179, 243f., 
 261. 
 
 Greffendorf, J., 38of. 
 
 Gregory, Pope, 203, 205f., 213, 248. 
 
 Grimma, 207, 399, 441. 
 
 Gropp, J., 345. 
 
 Griinberg, 552, 555. 
 
 Griinenberg, J., 50. 
 
 Guldennappen, W. v., 38. 
 
 Giinther, F., 215, 345, 347f., 412. 
 
 Hague, 398. 
 
 Halberstadt, 306, 424. 
 
 Halle, 75. 
 
 Hauen, G., 195. 
 
 Hausmann, N., 427f. 
 
 Hazius, 84. 
 
 Hebrew, 27f., 54, 113, 115, 177, 179, 
 
 i88f., 243, 261, 290, 306, 315. 
 Hecker, G., io6ff. 
 Hedio, C, 
 
 Letters, 368f., 43of. 
 Hegendorfinus, C, 415. 
 Heidelberg, 63. 
 
 Castle, 84. 
 
 Disputation at, 81-5, 276. 
 
 Luther's journey to, 6, 74, 79-85, 
 98, 100, 276f., 285. 
 
 University of, 188, 278. 
 Heilingen (see Geyling) . 
 Hell, 245. 
 
 Helt, C, 192, 291, 294, 442f., 450. 
 Hennigk, J., 148. 
 Hennigk, M., 148. 
 Henriquez, F., Si4f. 
 Henry VHL King of England, 321, 
 
 357. 396. 447, 52of. 
 Heresy, 28f., 76, 99, I02ff., io6f., 
 
 112, i25ff., I79ff., 209, 213, 237, 
 
 240, 244, 246ff., 256, 266f., 269f., 
 
 295. 312, 326, 335f., 347, 427.438. 
 
 444f., 467f.. 471. 475f-. 503. S06. 
 
 527. 529. 531. 533. 535- 
 Herholt, J., 189. 
 Herkmann, J., 506. 
 Herman, Dr., 569f. 
 Hermannsgriin, L. v., 508. 
 Herod, 291, 324. 
 Hersfeld, 555, 559. 
 Herzberg, 208. 
 
 Hess, John, of Breslau, 229, 232, 
 ' 257, 308f., 314, 328ff., 344, 468f. 
 
 Letter, 251. 
 Hess, John, of Wittenberg, 254, 332. 
 Hesse, 
 
 Philip, Landgrave of, 537. 
 Hilary, 43, 58, 129. 
 Hildesheim, John IV, Bishop of, 498. 
 Himmel, A., 61. 
 Hirschfeld, B. v., 523. 
 
INDEX 
 
 577 
 
 Hispanus (see Johannes and Peter). 
 Hochstraten, J., 192, 205ff., 234, 238, 
 •278, 295, 310, 352, 401, 406, 41a, 
 467. 
 Hugwald, M. 
 Hugwald, U., 505. 
 Hummelberg, M., 271. 
 
 Letters, 486, 506. 
 Hump, H., letter, agsf. 
 Hungary, 451. 
 Huss, J., ig6, ipSf., 20iff., 220, 299f., 
 
 310, 314, 488, 529, 538, 554. 
 Hussites, 76, 93, i96ff., 206, 213, 237, 
 247, 260, 262, 266f., 333f., 447, 463, 
 471. 473- 
 Hutten, U. v., 6, 27, 237, 291, 309f., 
 3i3f-. 317, 322, 325. 330, 334, 
 353f-. 365. 369, 380 382, 389f., 
 393, 410. 422f-. 42s, 436. 439, 
 44if., 448, 45of., 460, 465, 487, 
 Sogi., 5i2f., siSff-, S47. 559f-, 
 562. S68. 
 Letters, 235f., 275f., 293f., 346, 
 349. 354f-, 394f-. 397> 403. 4o6, 
 4i3f-. 443f-. 469f-. 503f., 523ff-, 
 534f., 554f. 
 Hutter, C., 22. 
 
 Indulgences, 38, Csi., yoi., yzf., 79, 
 88f., 92, 104, 112, 119, 139, 
 i53ff., 161, 172, 175, 209f., 213, 
 216, 230, 242, 248, 251, 260, 
 269, 297f., 311, 453, 493. 
 Luther's Sermon on Indulgence 
 and Grace, 72ff., no. 
 
 Ingolstadt, 237, 280, 365. 
 
 University of, 135, 165, 208, 27if., 
 332. 
 
 Innocent I, Pope, 43. 
 
 Interdict, 104, 107, 329, 424, 438. 
 
 Irenaeus, 43. 
 
 Isolani, I., 252f. 
 
 Italians, 378, 412, 481. 
 
 Italy, 162, 164, 251, 309, 311, 314, 
 328, 342, 364, 4iof., 447, 494- 
 
 Jacobacci, D., 316. 
 
 James, an organist, 198. 
 
 Jerome, St., 37!., 43f., 46, ssf., 68f., 
 
 8if., 129, 20iff., 205, 213, 239, 
 
 245f., 388, 418, 468, 479. 
 Jessen, F. v., 421. 
 Jessen, S. v., 421. 
 Jesus Christ, 34> 48. 85, 98, 359. 
 
 566- 
 Jews, 27f., 241, 407, 566. 
 Joachim of Flora, 117. 
 Job, 67. 
 
 Johannes, a Spanish Augustinian, 
 
 316. 
 John, a Gerr^B Augusjiaian^-39^j^ 
 Jonas, J., 177, 182, 304, 4S2, 523, 
 
 ^5. 564-7- 
 Joseph, St., 67. 
 Judenpach, 79. 
 Julius II, Pope, 154, 432. 
 Justification by faith only, 34, 42f., 
 
 70, 78, 82, 248ff. 
 Jiiterbogk, friars of, 215, 217. 
 
 Kammerer, J., 226, 301. 
 
 Kirshberg, H. v., 471. 
 
 Kochel, 449. 
 
 Kollerburg, provost of, 223. 
 
 Konig, C, 290. 
 
 Kotter, J., 378f. 
 
 Kunzelt, G., 33 if. 
 
 ^ " "^ V- 
 
 Lang,, J., ^7f., 32, 36^8, 4of., S4f-, 
 60, 64, 71, 74f., ^, 8'4, 97, 113, 
 149, I74f., 193-6, 2o6ff., 211, 
 2i6f., 221, 234, 251, 264f., 279, 
 300, 323, 332f., 346f., 351, 399, 
 48if., 489, S04, 568. 
 Letter, 33. 
 
 Lange, J., 152. 
 
 Langenmantel, C., 120, I32f. 
 
 Lantschad, J., letter, 380. 
 
 Latomus, J., 27of., 305, 401. 
 Letter, 435f. 
 
 Lawrence, St., 6y. 
 
 Lefevre d'Etaples, J., 31, 44, 54, 
 68il., 72, 357, 494. 
 
 Lehnin, Valentine, Abbot of, 73. 
 
 Leiffer, G., 26, 35, 55. 
 
 Leipsic, 26, 109, 135, 146, 151, 161, 
 1S3, 245, 286, 327, 356, 361, 364, 
 366, 3S1, 387, 393, 405, 41S, 
 451, 466, 468, 473, 484, 508, 523. 
 Debate at, 6, 90, 130, 135, 143-7, 
 I52f., 155. 160, 162-s, 167, 
 i74f., 182, i84ff., igof., 194, 
 207, 209-14, 217, 222, 224f., 234, 
 236, 245, 247, 251, 255, 258-62, 
 264f., 268, 319, 340, 352, 368, 
 377. 383, 405. 
 University of, yy, I43f., I46f., 
 i52f.. 155. i64f., 167, I74f., 
 188, 190, 203f., 217, 220, 222, 
 238, 252, 265, 272, 279, 29s, 
 306, 32s, 344, 362f., 405f. 
 
 Leitzkau, 50. 
 
 Leo I, Pope, 203, 206, 213, 250. 
 
 Leo X, Pope, 6, 93, gSff., io6fI., 112, 
 117, 124, 129, 132, 142, 148, 
 166, 181, 186, 225, 232, 236f., 
 243, 262, 298, 3i5f., 319, 328, 
 
578 
 
 INDEX 
 
 333> 3S3f- 355ff-. S^Sf-. 366ff-. 
 378-83, 38s, 388-91, 394, 397, 
 402f., 411, 418, 429, 432, 437, 
 451, 4S7, 459-62, 468f., 471, 
 476, 487f., 494, 498, 522, 559, 
 567f. 
 
 Brevesf, loiff., losf., 124S., I72f., 
 334ff., 444f. 
 
 Opinion of Luther, 318, 495, 498, 
 
 507- 
 Liberty of u Christian Man, 353, 
 
 363, 367f-, 385. 388, 400- 
 Liege, 401, 496. 
 
 Erard de la Marck, Bishop of, 
 I92f., 3S6, 401, 4i8f., 423, 427, 
 436, 455, 487, 545. 
 Lindenau, A. v., 523, 
 Link, W., 23, 35, 62,- 87, 96, 116, 
 
 124, 207, 31S, 333, 34if., 351, 353, 
 
 362, 399, 44if., 451, 481, 568. 
 Lintz, 142. 
 
 Lipsius, M., 234f., 268. 
 Liska, provost of, 405. 
 Listrius, S., s68. 
 Lochau, 219, 265, 345. 
 Lohr, A., 24ff., 3of., 368. 
 Lombard, P., 24, 31, 41, 239, 426, 
 
 439- 
 London, 490. 
 Lonicer, J., 317, 325. 
 Lotther, M., 2i7f., 265, 320, 341, 
 
 347- 
 Louvain, University of, I92f., 203, 
 
 2o8f., 234, 256, 268, 296, 299f., 
 
 304, 3iof., 31S, 322, 352, 371, 373, 
 
 392, 396, 399, 401, 404, 4iof., 
 
 435f-, 441, 457f-, 481. 
 Lupinus, P., iSSff-, 339- 
 Luther, B., 301. 
 Luther, H., 555f. 
 Luther, J., 22. 400. 
 Luther, Margaret, 22, 400. 
 Luther, Martin, 
 
 Characterizations of, 6f., 33, 44, 
 47, 5iff., 8if., 115, 199, 202, 
 233, 261, 277, 307, 313, 323, 388, 
 436f., 461, 464, 486, 527, 536, 
 539. S53, 555- 
 
 Childhood, 21, 274. 
 
 Conversion, 233. 
 
 Courage, 405, 409, 469. 
 
 Danger of assassination, 3o6f., 
 
 354- 
 District vicar, 33. 
 Doctorate, 25f., 3of., 275. 
 Family, 273f., 301, 400. 
 First mass, 22. 
 Health, 24, 84. 
 Latinity, 32, 36, 150, 4ri. 
 
 Letters, passim, 263, 377, 569f. 
 
 Letters to, passim, 405. 
 
 Monk, 9,2, 482. 
 
 Persecution, 97f. 
 
 Political theory, 167, 340, 427, 
 
 441, 49if. 
 Popularity, 389, 428f., 434, 446, 
 
 455f., 460, 466, 473, 488f., 495, 
 
 497. 501, 509, 519, 536, 539, 
 
 552f-, 565, 570. 
 Portraits, 460, 485, 519, 561. 
 Preaching, 33, 38, 58, 60S., 137, 
 
 141, 151, 153, 170, 189, 207,227, 
 
 244f., 263, 309, 33i£., 337, 439, 
 
 452, 481, 554, 559. 
 Priesthood, 21. 
 Process against at Rome (see E.r- 
 
 surge Domine), 237, 283!?., 
 
 298f., 323. 
 Recantation, alleged, 378. 
 Student life, 21, 229,233.274,313. 
 Teaching at Wittenberg, 23f., 138, 
 
 153, 191, 263, 337. 
 Temptations, 50, no, 195. 
 Violence of language, 286ff., 464, 
 
 472, 478f. 
 Works, 129, 161-4, 170, i87f., igi, 
 
 239, 364, 383, 427f-. 435, 456. 
 
 472, 495, 498, 506, 514, 538f., 
 
 544, 547f-, 553, S6i. 
 Burned, 368, 372f., 38if., 384, 
 394, 397, 399, 40i, 4048-. 4io, 
 4i6f., 430, 434, 439fl., 455, 
 459, 461, 465f., 468, 472, 482, 
 497, 5o8f., 511, 515, 526, 534. 
 Lutherans', 166, 196, 269, 320, 368, 
 417, 4i9ff-. 455, 466, 502, 506,509, 
 540, 542, 544, 553, 560. 
 Lyons, Poor Men of, 529. 
 Lyra N. de, 44, 129. 
 
 Maccabees, book of, 202, 246. 
 Magdeburg, 38, 274, 291, 294, 315, 
 
 383, 424, 466, 485. 
 Magnificat, Luther's work on, 405, 
 
 472f., 49off. 
 Mansfeld, 22. 
 
 Albert, Count of, 96f., 413, 555-9, 
 563- 
 
 Counts of, 196, 273, 351, 413. 
 Mantuan, B., 34. 
 Manuel, J., 6. 
 
 Letters, 318, 498, 507f. 
 Marck, Robert de la, 496. 
 Marforius, 360. 
 
 Margaret, Regent of the Nether- 
 lands, 398. 
 Marlian, A., 421, 477, 500-3. 
 
 Letter, 51 if. 
 
INDEX 
 
 579 
 
 Marriage, sacrament of, 447. 
 
 Martens, T., 400. 
 
 Martin, St., 67. 
 
 Martin, a bookseller, 49. 
 
 Mary, mother of Jesus, 66f. 
 
 Mascov, G., 50f., sgf. 
 
 Mass, 22, 309. 
 
 Maurer, M., 376f. 
 
 Maximilian, Emperor, 6, I03f., io9, 
 116, 142, 18s, 190, 281. 
 Letter, gSff. 
 
 Mayence, 383, 397, 416, 430, 439, 
 441, 459, 562. 
 Albert of Brandenburg, Cardinal 
 Archbishop Elector of, 63, 65 f., 
 71, 140, 1961, 236, 279ff., 284, 
 290, 294, 314, 321, 353.365.368, 
 37if-. 379f-. 387f-. 412, 4i6f., 
 419. 4^2, 424. 439. 464. 471. 
 474f-, 483f-, S39f-. 564. 568. 
 Character, 42 j. 
 Letters, 292f., 382f. 
 University of, 65f., 306. 
 
 Mayr, J., 437. 
 
 Mecklenburg, Albert of, 442, 449. 
 
 Medici, Jerome de', letters, 522f., 
 
 53if. 
 Medici, Julius de'. Cardinal Vice- 
 chancellor (later Pope Clement 
 VII), 416-23, 428f., 452-64, 473-7, 
 486-9, 495ff-. 5o8ff., 515-22, 525-31. 
 539-47, 552f.. 56off., s63f. 
 Medici, R. de", 528. 
 
 Letters, 452ff., 496. 
 Meissen, 345, 472. 
 John von Schleinitz, Bishop of, 
 
 151, 194, 284fE., 287ff., 445,450, 
 
 482. 
 Dean of, 153. 
 Melanchthon, P., 6, 112, 131, I76f., 
 
 181, 206, 234, 236, 25if., 27J, 
 
 275f., 278, 285, 293, 301, 315, 
 
 321. 333, 367. 370, 393ff-, 403. 
 
 411, 442, 461, 482, 494. 
 Letters, Ii5f., 135, I55. 171, I73, 
 
 i88f., 20off., 208, 211, 305,309, 
 
 329, 344, 346f-, 388, 452, 468f. 
 Luther's opinion of, 113, 118, 139, 
 
 220, 264. 
 Marriage, 284, 332, 345, 393, 400, 
 
 411. 
 Opinion of Luther, 144, 388. 
 Teaching at Wittenberg, 113, 115, 
 
 120, 138, 169, 264, 321,332,345, 
 
 438. 
 Merseburg, 245, 381, 387, 441, 472. 
 Adolph of Anhalt, Bishop of, 90, 
 
 I52f., 155, 175. 259, 279, 284, 
 
 290, 294. 368, 381, 388, 393f., 
 
 445, 450, 465, 482. 
 
 Letter, 147. 
 Merus, L., 570. 
 
 Miltitz, C. v., i25ff., 136, i42f., 145. 
 I53ff-, I59f-. 168, 172, i8sf., 194, 
 2i7f., 263, 265, 267, 274, 321, 
 338, 351. 353. 369. 389- 
 Conference with Luther at Alten- 
 burg, 142, 148, 160, 166, 168, 
 185, 223. 
 Conference with Luther at Licht- 
 
 enberg, 363, 366ff. 
 Conference with Luther at Lieben- 
 
 werda, 219, 223f. 
 Letters, 348, 36iff., 367^ 
 Minio, M., letters, 112, 2830. 
 Ministry (see Priests' orders). 
 Miritzsch, M., 149, 351. 
 Mohra, 22, sssf- 
 Moibanus, 308. 
 Monastery at Wittenberg (see Black 
 
 Cloister). 
 Monks, 206, 241, 310, 390, 412, 423, 
 
 453. 569. 
 Monckedamis, R. v., 435ff. 
 More, T., 72, 92, 373ff. 
 
 Utopia, 72. 
 Mosellanus, P., 
 
 Letters, 194, 257ff. 
 Miihlpfort, H., 385, 569. 
 Munich, 40, 224. 
 Miinzer, T., 75, 324. 
 Murnar, T., 407, 441, 450, 460, 465, 
 481. 
 Letters, 43 iff. 
 Mutian, C, 33, 36, 2621., 411. 
 
 Letters, 323, 332. 
 Myconius, O., 304. 
 Letters, 383^, 396. 
 
 Naples, 251, 494. 
 
 Narr, Claus, 143. 
 
 Nassau, H. v., 3971., 4i5f., 429. 
 
 Nathin, J., 30, 195, 279. 
 
 Nazianzen, G., 43, 200, 388. 
 
 Nesen, W., 268fl., 296. 
 
 Netherlands, 424. 
 
 Neustadt, Augustinian convent at, 
 
 38f. 
 Neustall, 276. 
 
 Nicaea, Council of, 254, 260. 
 Ninety-five Theses, 6, 63ff., 71, 85-9, 
 98f., Ill, 114, 122, 135, 154, 
 160, 187, 200, 216, 258, 569f. 
 
 Erasmus' opinion of, no. 
 Noviomagus, G., 351. 
 Nuremberg, 23, 62, loif., 128, 136, 
 
 189, 224, 277, 279, 283, 290, 3i4f,, 
 
 328, 347. 364. 369. 441. 485- 
 
 Ochsenfart (see Dungersheim). 
 
580 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Occhslin, L., 461. 
 
 Oecolampadius, J., 6, 173, 20off., 
 
 273i 290. 30if-. 32if- 
 Olympius, 43. 
 Oppenheim, 424, 429. 
 Origen, 69. 
 Oschatz, 28s. 
 
 Ottos, Emperors, 426, 463. 
 Oxford, 209, 490. 
 
 Pace, R., 72. 
 
 Letter, 5 2 of. 
 Palaeologus, Emperor John, 426. 
 Palatinate, Counts of the Rhenish, 
 
 517- 
 Frederic, Count of, 513. 
 Lewis, Elector of, 277, 475, 523, 
 
 S4I. 560. 
 Wolfgang, Count of, Sst., 277. 
 Palencia, P. R. de la Mota, Bishop 
 
 of, 477. 545- 
 Paltz, J. v., 30. 
 Pappenheim, J. v., 552. 
 Pappenheim, U. v., 523, 552. 
 Paris, 161, 448. 
 
 University of, 128, 135, 140, 162, 
 180, 203, 207, 222, 237, 264, 
 
 296, 352. 383. 391, 412. 424- 
 Pascha, Dr., 314. 
 Paul, St., 42, 50, 58, 67, 78, 82, 92, 
 
 III, 129, I56fif., 171, 184, 192, 
 
 246, 2SS, 288f., 319, 330, 332, 359. 
 
 369. 372, 375. 479. 492. S06. 549. 
 
 566. 
 Paulist monk, 508. 
 Pavia, 162. 
 Pelagians, 42. 
 Pelican, C, 317, 477f. 
 Pellegrini, F. de, 47of. 
 Penance, 9if., 447. 
 Penitence, 91 f. 
 
 Sermon on, no. 
 Peter, St., 201, 203, 205, 223, 225f., 
 
 369, 452, 566. 
 Peter Hispanus, 261. 
 Peter, 512. 
 Petri, A., 465. 
 Petzensteiner, J., 521, 523. 
 Peutinger, C, 116, 121, 390, S48, 
 
 S57f- 
 Pfefferkorn, 27. 
 Pfeffinger, D., 26, 79, 100, 184. 
 Pfiug, C. v., 204, 259, 363. 449. 
 
 Letter, 147. 
 Pfiug, J. v., 2S7ff. 
 Pfreind, 196. 
 Philip, M., letter, 472. 
 Philosophy, 24, 84. 
 Phrygio, P., 460. 
 Finder, U., 62. 
 
 Pirckheimer, W., 272, 295, 323, 
 
 554f- 
 
 Letter, 369. 
 Pius n. Pope, 430. 
 Plague, whether one may flee from 
 
 it, 225f. 
 Plato, 566. 
 Platz, L., 342f. 
 Pliny, 254, 332. 
 Poduska, 197, 2i9f. 
 Pomerania, 223, 405. 
 
 Barnim, Duke of, 197, 224, 259. 
 
 Bogislav, Duke of, 45 if. 
 Pope (see Leo X). 
 
 Luther's appeal to, 119, 128. 
 
 Power of the, 66, 76, 95f., 99, 117, 
 123, 145, 149, I56ff., 163, i66f., 
 169, 172, 175, 195, 199, 20lf., 
 
 204, 206, 208, 2I3ff., 222f., 242, 
 
 250, 254f., 282, 292, 311, 336f., 
 
 418, 42Sff., 447, 476, 489, 502, 
 
 532, 551. 5S7f. 
 Tyranny of the, 122, 141, 194, 
 
 229fif., 236, 353f., 451, 499. 
 Possidonius, 226. 
 Postilla, Luther's, 228, 245f., 251, 
 
 263, 329, 443. 477ff-. 481. 537f. 
 Prague, 196, 220. 
 Pretzsch, 274. 
 Prierias, S., 95, 148, 152, 162, 168, 
 
 232, 242f., 313, 328f., 332, 337, 
 
 371, 412, 430. 
 Dialogue, gsf., loi, 109, in, 122, 
 
 230. 
 Priests' orders, 21, 309, 447. 
 Probst, J., 351. 
 Prussia, 365. 
 Psalms, 3 if., 58, 248. 
 
 Operationes in' Psalmos, I73f., 
 
 176, 184, 191, 193, 217, 219, 222, 
 
 264, 438, 465, 477f., 480, 481, 
 
 505. 
 Seven Penitential Psalms, Luther's 
 
 commentary on, 49, 54, 56, 62, 
 
 222. 
 Pucci, L., 316, 328, 383f., 390,4255., 
 
 495- 
 Purgatory, 122, 199, 202, 206, 213, 
 245, 260, 426, 494. 
 
 Quintilian, 254. 
 
 Rab, H., 195. 
 
 Letter, 145. 
 Ratisbon, 26sf. 
 Reformation (see Church, Reform 
 
 of), 6. 
 Reifenstein, W., 301. 
 Reinecke, J., 301. 
 Reinhard, M., 485. 
 
INDEX 
 
 581 
 
 Letter, S36f. 
 Reissenbusch, W., 366. 
 
 Letter, 367. 
 Renee de France, Duchess of Fer- 
 
 rara, 522. 
 Resolutions, 71, 73, 77, 87ff., giff., 
 
 g6i., 109, 146, 230, 287. 
 Reuchlin, J., 98, i38f., 187, 238,243, 
 272, 276, 278, 280, 332, 352,355, 
 389, 422, 436, 443, 458, 469f., 
 
 494- 
 Letter, 271. 
 
 Trial of, 27fE., 32, 46, 99, 173, 
 314. 346. 390. 410. 436. 
 Reuter, K., S7- 
 Reysch, M., 285. 
 Rhadinus, T., 377, 387, 393, 412, 
 
 472. 
 Rheticius, 43. 
 
 Rhine country, 163, 457, 509. 
 Riario, R., 336fl[., 344. 
 Riccius, P., 188. 
 Roch, St., 67. 
 
 Rome, 73, 75, 195, 223, 251, 283, 
 
 341. 357> 456, 459> 461. 521.529- 
 
 Citation of Luther to, 96, 100, 102, 
 
 107, log, 173, 354, 377. 
 Corruption of, 23of., 291, 329, 342, 
 
 379, 446. 504- 
 
 Hatred of, in Germany, 466, 488, 
 505. 561. 
 
 Journey of Luther to, 24. 
 
 University of, 135, 140. 
 Rose, the Golden, sent by Leo X to 
 
 Frederic of Saxony, 112, 117, i26f., 
 
 133, I42f., 219. 
 Rosemund, G., 37off., 374f- 
 Rosso, A., letter, 434f. 
 Roth, S., 472. 
 Rothbart, F., 196. 
 
 Rovere, Leonard Grosso della, 316. 
 Rozdalowsky, W., zigi. 
 
 Letter, I97ff. 
 Rubeus, J., 224. 
 Ruhel, J., 136. 
 
 Ruthall, Thomas, Bishop of Dur- 
 ham, 521. 
 
 Sacraments (see Eucharist), 263f., 
 
 447, 488- 
 
 Luther's sermons on, 227f. 
 Sadoleto, J., I04fl., 173. 
 Saints, Legends of, 37. 
 
 Relics of, 46. 
 
 Worship of, 66ff., 426. 
 Salandronius, 570. 
 Salmonius, B., 161. 
 Salzburg, loi, 265, 437, 481. 
 
 Matthew Lang, Cardinal Arch- 
 bishop, 116, 154, 160, 265, 402, 
 
 419, 426, 437, 451, 454, 474, 
 477, 481. 
 Sander, M., 519. 
 Sangershausen, 36. 
 Sasseta, A., della, letter, 42of. 
 Satan (see Devils), 76, 339f., 360, 
 
 377, 394, 479, 482, 499. 
 Saum, C, 36of. 
 Savonarola, 494. 
 
 Saxony (Albertine), 237, 369, 452. 
 George, Duke of, I24f., 135, I39f., 
 143, 147, i52f., i6zS., 182, i84f., 
 195, 200, 203f., 207f., 258f., 
 26sfl., 272, 279, 341, 362, 377, 
 381, 387f., 392f., 399, 440f., 449, 
 465, 520, 542, 556. 
 
 Letters, i43f., I52f-, i55, 
 
 i66f., 182, 190, 195, 222, 
 
 265 f. 
 
 Henry, Duke of, 484. 
 
 Saxony (Ernestine), 183, 267, 434, 
 
 570. 
 
 Frederic, Elector of, 25!!., 45f., 
 
 63, 70. 74f-, 99, ii4fT 117, i2of., 
 
 122-7, 130-3. 140-42, I53ff-, 
 
 163, i67f., I7if., 174, I76fl., 181, 
 
 i83f., 186, i88f., 194, 196, 200, 
 
 202fi;., 208, 2I2ff., 2i7ff., 223, 
 
 225, 228, 235, 238, 246, 251, 
 
 257, 264!!., 275, 277, 279ff., 283, 
 
 302, 308, 3i7f., 321, 325, 330, 
 
 336, 339. 341, 344f-. 347, 354f-, 
 
 36iff., 3658-, 369L, 381, 397- 
 
 400, 404f., 423fl., 427, 433, 44ifE., 
 
 448ff., 452, 454, 458, 467, 473-9, 
 
 484, 487, 489, 494, 500, 508, 512, 
 
 517, 520, 527, 530f., 541, 56of., 
 
 568ft. 
 
 Care for Luther, 79, 83f., 100, 
 102, losf., io8f., iizf., 116, 
 134, i83f., 198, 235, 313, 
 330, 334-8. 350, 355. 364, 
 380, 388!., 400, 402, 416, 
 418,^ 428f., 434, 438, 456, 
 46iiiE., 492f., 518, 52if., 535, 
 556. 
 Character, 421 f. 
 Letters, 143, i82f., 266f., 338, 
 347ff-, 415L, 429f-, 433, 
 444, 492f., 535- 
 Library, 45, 493. 
 Opinion of Luther, 47, 527, 
 Relics collected by, 46. 
 John, Duke of, 267, 302ff., 347f., 
 381, 444, 492, 523, 535. 
 Letters, 448, 508. 
 John Frederic, Duke of, 405, 443f., 
 427f,, 490ff. 
 Schalbe Foundation, 22f. 
 Schart, M., 237f., 443, 449. 
 
582 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Schauraburg, A. v., 321. 
 
 Schaumburg, S. v., 321, 339, 341. 
 Letter, 33of. 
 
 Schenk, John, 134. 
 
 Scheurl, C, 52, 57f., 6off., 94f., 115, 
 148, 155, i6sf., 29s, 568. 
 Letters, 51, 53, 55, 62, 124, 142. 
 
 Schinner, Matthew, Cardinal of Sion, 
 163. 453f-, 461, 477. S19, 536,553- 
 
 Schleinitz, H. v., 252. 
 
 Schlettstadt, 277. 
 
 Schleupner, D., 291, 342, 344, 468. 
 
 Schleusingen, G., 37. 
 
 Schmiedberg, H., 370, 393f., 442f., 
 449- 
 
 Schneidpeck, J., 546. 
 
 Scholastica, St., 67. 
 
 Schonberg, Nicholas v., 457. 
 
 Schonberg, v. (see Hugwald, N.). 
 
 Schoolmen, 41, 65, 78, 8if., 89, 119, 
 129, 180, 220, 426. 
 
 Schott, J., 295, 523. 
 
 Schiirer, L., 277. 
 
 Schurff, J., 543, 557. 
 
 Schwartzenberg, C. v., 563. 
 
 Schwartzenberg, J. v., 563. 
 
 Schwertfager, J., 131. 
 
 Sebastian, St., 67. 
 
 Seligmann, M., 225f., 30of. 
 
 Sentences (see Lombard). 
 
 Serralonga, U. de, ii6f. 
 
 Sickingen, F. v., 27sf., 278, 293f., 
 
 3i3f., 325, 330, 341, 349. 39S. 
 
 397. 402. 4i3f-. 428, 439. 443. 
 
 459f., 470, 487, 511, 513, Si5ff-. 
 
 '521. 535. 547. 555. 562, 564. 
 
 Letter, 384f. 
 
 Sieberger, W., 57. 
 
 Sion, Cardinal of (see Schinner). 
 
 Solms, P. v., 276. 
 
 Spain, 161, 164, 196, 511. 
 
 Letter of the Governors and 
 Grandees of, 5i4f. 
 
 Spalatin, G., 27ff., 31, 33, 37, 40, 42, 
 48fi., 55ff., 60, 63, 66ff., 72ff., 
 77. 79f.. 84f., loof., io8f., 112, 
 ii4ff., I22ff., i27f., 130, I34ff., 
 i4Di?., I49ff., i66f., 169-72, 
 i8Bff., I99f., 208-12, 218, 220, 
 223f5., 228, 237f., 24Sf., 25iff., 
 257. 263f., 272ff., 277, 28of., 
 284-91, 294f., 299f., 301, 305ff., 
 3i4f., 317, 320f., 325, 328f., 
 332ff., 336ff., 339ff-. 344ff-. 
 347ff.. 351. 353f.. 358. 362-8, 
 384*1., 388, 392ff., 399f., 41 2f., 
 4i4f., 423f., 442ff., 445, 45if., 
 465, 472f., 484f'. 493f-. 5o6i., 
 510. 535. 547. 552, 568f. 
 Letters, 27, 32, 44, 137, 308, 381, 
 
 404f., 449f., 489, 500, 512, 520. 
 Spengler, G., 364. 
 Spengler, L., 279f., 290, 364, 39sf. 
 Spenlein, G., 33f. 
 Spires, George, Bishop of, 511. 
 Standish, H., 322. 
 Staupitz, J. v., 25f., 34, 37, 40, 46f., 
 5if-, 55. 58. 62f., 78f., 84, 91, 
 loi, 106, io8ff., 117, ii9ff., 124, 
 142, 1,51, 177, 191, 207f., 214, 
 2i9ff., 224, 265, 276, 297ff., 315, 
 333. 351. 353. 362, 402, 440f., 
 451. 569- 
 Letters, 113, 437, 481. 
 Luther's affection for, 22of. 
 Opinion of Luther, 437, 440. 
 Stehelin, W., 290. 
 Steinlausig, 569. 
 Sternberg, 399. 
 Stolberg, L. v., 485. 
 Stolberg, W. v., 485. 
 Stolpen, Bishop of, 285, 290. 
 Strassburg, no, 332. 
 A printer of, 512. 
 William III, von Honstein, Bishop 
 of, 332, 498- 
 Stromer, H., 196, 228, 353, 369,445. 
 
 Letter, 199. 
 Sturm, C, 504, 508, 5i8f.. 523, 552, 
 
 562, 564. 
 Sturz, G., letter, 5i3f. 
 Supplication against Theologs, 40. 
 Swabia, 405. 
 Swaven, P. v., 521, 523. 
 Switzerland, 163, 224, 262, 384, 390, 
 
 405- 
 Symler, J., 84. 
 
 Talmud, 238. 
 
 Tapper, R,, 270. 
 
 Tartatetus, P., 81. 
 
 Taubenheim, J. v., 325, 370, 394, 
 
 443. 445. 449- 
 Tauler, J., 41, 48, 56, 78, I46f. 
 Teschius (see Zeschau). 
 Tesseradecas, 212, 218, 257. 
 Tetzel, J., 73, 75, 97, 139, 172, 176, 
 
 287, 570. 
 Teutleben, V. v., 349. 
 Theology, 24, 84, 129, 222. 
 
 Theses against Scholastic, 60. 
 Theophilus, 206. 
 Theophylact, 129. 
 Thonamen, 38. 
 Thunau, F., 523. 
 Thuringia, 237. 
 Tiepolo, N., S3sf. 
 Tischer, W., 37. 
 Torgau, 265, 484. 
 Tournay, Bishop of, 357f. 
 
INDEX 
 
 683 
 
 Suffragan, 494f. 
 Transubstantiation, 220. 
 Trent, Bishop of, 463. 
 Trier, 265, 526. 
 
 Richard von Greiffenklau, Arch- 
 bishop Elector, 428, 474f., 498, 
 540, 542ft; 545f-. 536ff. 
 Proposed as judge for Luther, 
 X54, 160, 185, 194, 223, 26s, 
 338. 
 Trieste, Peter Bonomo, Bishop of, 
 
 419, 453. 463. 477. 564- 
 Trutfetter, J., 55, 83ff., 98, 194. 
 Tucher, J., 124, 149. 
 TuUich, H., 569. 
 Tunstall, C, 490. 
 
 Letter, 44Sff. 
 Turks, 335. 
 
 War against, 126, i4of. 
 Turnhout (see Driedo). 
 
 Ulrich, J., 315. 
 Ulscenius, F. 
 
 Letter, 439f. 
 Urban, a messenger, 79. 
 Urries, H. de, 507. 
 Ursula, St., 47. 
 Usingen, B. A., 35, 83, 85, 195, 279. 
 
 Vadian, J., 3i8f!E., 46if., 486, 570. 
 
 Valentine, St., 67. 
 
 Valentine, siof. 
 
 Valla, L., 291. 
 
 Vehus, J., 542, 548, 557f. 
 
 Venatorius, T., letter, 272. 
 
 Venice, 297, 364, 457. 
 
 Doge of, S5if- 
 
 Signory of, 112, 283ff., 323, 330, 
 495. 533f- 
 Vienna, 234, 300. 
 Vincent of Beauvais, 246. 
 Virgil, 32. 
 
 Vogt, James, 46, 60, 211, 351, 399^- 
 Vogt, John, 38. . 
 Volckmar, C, 149. 
 Volta, Gabriel della, io6ff., 121, 
 
 297ff. 
 
 Wagelin, G., 262. 
 Waldenses, 529. 
 Waldheim, 285. 
 Walterhausen, 38. 
 Warbeck, G., 131- 
 
 Letter, 523. 
 Warham, W., 321. S^i- 
 
 Letter, 490. 
 Wartburg, 556- 
 Watzdorf, R. v., 556. 
 Watzdorf, V. v., 356. 
 Weimar, 141. 
 
 Weissestadt, Prof., 150. 
 
 Weller, A., 421. 
 
 Werner, 306. 
 
 Wertheim, S. v., S56f. 
 
 Werthern, D. v., I52f. 
 
 Wick, J. v., 341. 
 
 Wilder, W., 297. 
 
 Wimpina, C, 56, 66, 73, 75. 
 
 Wimpfeling, J., 81. 
 
 Wittenberg, 84, 113, 128, 137, 141, 
 183, 2i8f., 251, 26s, 274, 308, 
 325. 329. 381, 404. 438ff., 446. 
 449f., 46if., 481, 493, siof., 567. 
 University of, 23ff., jof., 65, 71, 
 75, 82f., 100, H5, 134, 138, 140, 
 143,, 167, 171, 17s, 177, 186, 
 i88f., 202, 221, 237, 264, 267, 
 306, 308, 315, 336, 363, 370, 
 404f., 411, 440, 446, 570. 
 Letter, 13 if. 
 
 Student riot, 291, 339ff., 344. 
 Students mock the Pope, 466. 
 
 Wittiger, M., 328, 342. 
 
 Witzel, G., 22. 
 
 Wolsey, T., i87f., 322ff., 44sff., 490, 
 
 520f. 
 
 Works (see Justification by faith 
 
 only). 
 Worms, 142, 278, 416, 418, 425f., 
 508, S16, 521, S38f., 565. 
 
 Canon of St. Martin's Church at, 
 456- 
 
 Diet of, 6, 391, 398f., 402, 4i8f., 
 422, 425, 430, 433, 435, 438, 446, 
 451. 456. 459f-. 462, 467. 4^9i-< 
 473fi:., 48iff., 486, 498, 504, 
 509f., Sisf., 523ff., S26ff., S29f., 
 532ff., 536ff., 547f., 551, 553^-. 
 SS6f., 56off., 564. 
 
 Edict of, 419, 445, 531, 553, 562, 
 
 564- 
 Wiirzburg, 79, 84. 
 
 Lawrence von Bibra, Bishop of, 
 
 80. 
 Wycliffe, 529. 
 Wyclifites, 334. 
 
 Zack, 197. 
 
 Zasius, U., 188, 221, 304, 323, 333, 
 
 390. 
 Letters, 248ff., 262f. 
 Zeitz, 370. 
 Zerbst, 405. 
 
 Zeschau, W., 207, 441. 
 Ziegler, N., 483^, 486. 
 Zurich, 384. 
 Zwickau, 160, 221, 499. 
 Zwingli, U., 6, 161, 163, 248fT., 
 
 268ff., 368f., 383f., 43of. 
 Letter, 304.