While Schwarzenberg was thus laboring for the cause of religion in the political field, he was also busy in the domain of literature, and published a number of works designed for the elevation of morals among the people. The earliest of his popular writings was a poem entitled Kummertrosf, which was called forth by the death of his wife in 1502. He afterwards edited a collection of minor didactic poems under the title Memorial der Tugend, and published a poem in condemnation of the practices of the robber-knights, who sought occasion for quarrel that the}' might have opportunity for plunder, as also one denouncing the drinking usages of his countrymen. Another method adopted by him to promote virtue among the people was the publication of suitable clas- sical works, freely rendered, and accompanied with per- tinent remarks from his own pen. Among such works were Cicero's De Officiis and the first book of Tusculan Questions, the De Senectufe, and the De Amicida. Him- self unacquainted with the ancient languages, he would employ scholars to translate such works into German, and afterwards would popularize them, always using the language of a master, and adding rhymes and illustra- tions to give more force to the book. The Teutsche Cicero was frequently republished during the IGth cen- tury.
Bishop George died in 1522 and was succeeded by bishop Wigand, who was at first undecided, then con- trolled by the Komish clergy, and finally (June, 1524) joined a league organized to enforce the Edict of Worms, Schwarzenberg at once took his daughter out of a con- vent in Bamberg, and frankh' justified his conduct in a letter to tlie bishop by advancing his evangelical mo- tives (published, with a preface by Andr. Osiander, Nu- remb. 1524; comp. Luther's Letter to Schwarzenberg, dated Dec. 21,' 1524, in De Wette, ii, 581), and at the age of more than sixty years resigned his position in the principalit}'. The controversy which had arisen broke out in his own family. His son Christoph issued an anonymous book aimed against the Reformed teach- ing, and designed to counteract the determinative influ- ence of Schwarzenberg with the whole of the numerous family, to which the latter replied in 1524 with the fre- quently republished Beschworiivg der alien teiiflischen Schlam/e mit dem f/oltlichen Wort, a dogmatical work, intended to demolish the false authorities on which his son had built, and to set forth the teachings of the Scriptures in their purity. Some further discussion took place iu this dispute, but without eliciting any ad- ditional work of importance.
After leaving Bamberg, Schwarzenberg was employed in the Franconian principalities of Brandenburg in a ca- pacity similar to that he had just vacated. Tiie two margraves, Casimir and George, were in sympathy with his ideas — the former tlirough liis purpose of securing a strong government, the latter through his unconditional devotion to the cause of the Reformation. Margrave (Jeorge was absent from his territories, however; and when the emperor took measures to counteract the de- crees of the Diet of Nuremberg, the administration of the principality l)ecame less decidedly partial to the Reformation. The I'casants' War, too. seemed to effect
a change in Casimir's attitude towards the new religion. In 1526, while the Diet of Spires was in session, Schwarz- enberg was at the court of duke Albert of Prussia to rep- resent his government on the occasion of the duke's marriage (see Spies, Brandenburg M iinzbelustigungen, ii. 29), and availed himself of the opportunity to plead the cause of the Reformation with king Sigismund of Poland and the bishop of Cracow. (Comp. Strobel, Joh. von Schwarzenberg, ziceen sehr merhv, Briefe [Nuremb. 1775]). Duke Albert asked permission to retain Schwarzenberg at his court, at least for a single year, but without success.
After returning to his home, Schwarzenberg demand- ed in the Territorial Diet, Oct. 1526, that organizations on the evangelical plan be formed, and offered sugges- tions towards that end. Casimir attempted to tempo- rize, but in vain, and accordingly joined the array of king Ferdinand in Hungary, where he died, Sept. 21,
1527. Margrave George now assumed the government, and at once took decided ground in favor of the Ref- ormation. In March, 1528, the first visitation of the churches ^was undertaken in connection with Nurem- berg. The objections of neighboring bishops, and the warnings of king Ferdinand were disregarded, and a pa- pal brief intended to change the margrave's attitude was returned unopened. A delegated assembly from Franconia and Nuremberg met at Schwabach .June 15, and agreed on articles to govern the exclusion of un- evangelical persons from the Church. A meeting be- tween the margrave and the elector of Saxony, having relation to ecclesiastical matters, took place in October,
1528, but Schwarzenberg was unable to be present be- cause of sickness, and on the 21st of that mouth he died at Nuremberg.
See Rossbach, Verfasser d. Bainb., Brandenh. it. d. heil, Reiehs peinl. Gerichts, Joh. Freih. v. Schwarzenberg, in Schott's Jurist. WochenU. 3d year, p. 273 sq., and Longo- lius, Nachr. von Brandenburg-Culmbach, iv, 53 sq., who among older writers furnish isolated particulars only ; Christ, De Joh. Schwai-tzenbergico (Halle, 1726), has ref- erence only to the literary activity of its subject. A v< ry inadequate sketch of the life of Schwarzenberg, wliich scarcely mentions his relation to the Reformation, appeared in Jagemann and WoWmx's Zeitschr.f. deutsch. Strafverfuhren, i, 133 sq. See also Striimer, Zween sehr merhv. Briefe, already cited ; Lith, Erldut. d. Ref. -Hist, a. d. Brandenb., in Onolzbach Archiv, 1733; Ranke, Ref Gesch. ut sup. ; and especiallj'^ E. Herrmann, Joh. Freih. zu Schwarzenberg, etc. (Leips. 1841). The edi- tions of Schwarzenberg's writings are given in Giideke's Grundriss zur Gesch. d. deutschen Dichtung, i, 214. — Her- zog, Real-EncyMop. s. v.