§ 75. THE PEASANTS’ WAR. 449
serfdom has been entirely abolished in Germany and Russia, and negro slavery in America.
The defeat of the Peasants’ War marks the end of the destructive tendencies of the Reformation, and the beginning of the construction of a new church on the ruins of the old.
CHAPTER V.
IPHE INNER DEVELOPMENT OF THE REFORMATION FROM THE PEASANTS’ WAR TO THE DIET OF AUGSBURG, A.D. 1525-1530,
§ 76. The Three Electors.
G. SPALATIN: Friedrich d. Weise, Lebensgeschichte, ed. by Neudecker and Preller, Jena, 1851. TurzscHMANN: Fr. d. W., Grimma, 1848. RANKE, vol. 11. Koupe: Friedrich der Weise und die Anfange der Reformation, Erlangen, 1881. K6OsTLIN in the Studien u. Kritiken, 1882, p. 700, (vers. Kolde). Comp. §§ 26 and 61.
SHORTLY before the close of the Peasants’ War, Frederick III., surnamed the Wise, Elector of Saxony (1486-1525), died peacefully as he had lived, in his sixty-third year, May 5, 1525. His last hours at the castle of Lochau form a striking contrast with the stormy and bloody scenes around him. He hoped that the common people would not prevail, but admitted that they had reason to complain of harsh treatment. ‘ Dear children,” he said to his servants, “if I have wronged any one of you, I beg you to forgive me for God’s sake; we princes do many naughty things to the poor people.” Shortly before his death, he partook of the holy communion in both kinds. This is the only distinet Protestant act in his life. His body was removed to Wittenberg, and buried in the castle church at which Luther had posted his Ninety-Five Theses. Melanchthon delivered a Latin oration; Luther wrote letters of condolence to his brother and nephew, who succeeded him, and praised his wisdom, his kindness to his subjects, his love of justice and hatred of falsehood. Aleander, the Pope’s legate at Worms, called him the old fox of Saxony, but in history he bears the name of the Wise.
He had charge of the German Empire after the death of
Frederick the Wise. John the Constant. John Frederick.
The Saxon Electors. FREDERICK the WISE, JoHN, and JoHN FREDERICK. From a Picture by Cranach. At Niiremberg.
452 THE GERMAN REFORMATION. A.D. 1517 To 1580.
Maximilian; he modestly declined the imperial crown; he decided the election of King Charles of Spain, and was the only Elector who did not sell his vote.
Frederick was a devout Catholic, a believer in relics and indulgences, but at the same time a lover of fair dealing, an admirer of Luther, and much concerned for his university. He saved the German Reformation by saving the Reformer, without openly breaking with the Catholic Church. He never saw Luther, except at a distance in the Diet of Worms, and communicated with him chiefly through his chaplain and secretary, Spalatin. His cautious reserve was the best policy for the time.
Frederick was succeeded by his brother, John the Steadfast or Constant (1525-1532). He was less prudent and influential in politics, but a more determined adherent of the Reformation. He was too fat to mount his horse without the aid of a machine. He went to sleep at times under Luther’s sermons, but stood by him at every cost. His motto was: “ The word of God abideth for ever,” which was placed on his ensigns and liveries.’ He was the first to sign the immortal protest of Speier in 1529, and the Confession of Augsburg in 1530.
His son and successor, John Frederick the Magnanimous (1532-1554), survived Luther. He founded the University of Jena. He suffered the disastrous defeat at Miuhlberg (April 24, 1547), and would rather lose his Electorate and half of his estates than deny the evangelical faith in which he was brought up. How different was the conduct of Elector Augustus the Strong of Saxony, who sold the Lutheran faith of his ancestors for the crown of Poland (1697), and disgraced both by his scandulous life. |
Luther has left some characteristic remarks about his three sovereigns. Of Frederick, whom he only knew from a distance, he said, “He was a wise, intelligent, able, and good
2 ἐν Ὁ. M. 1. &.” = Verbum Dei manet in eternum.