§ 94, THE REFORMATION IN NURNBERG. 563
were intolerant Lutherans, and suppressed Crypto-Calvinism and every other creed. Frederick Augustus I. (1694-1733) sold the faith of his ancestors for the crown of Poland. Since that time the rulers of Saxony have been Roman Catholics, while the people remained Lutheran, but gradually grew more liberal than their ancestors. Freedom of worship was granted to the Roman Church in 1807, to the German Reformed in 1818, and more recently (since 1866) to - other communions.
§ 94. The Reformation in Mirnberg.
PRIEM: Geschichte von Niirnberg, 1874. F. Rotu: Die Einfiihrung der Reformation in Niirnberg, 1517-28, Wirzburg, 1885 (pp. 271).
The imperial cities (Retchsstddte) of the old German Empire, such as Niirnberg, Augsburg, Frankfurt, Strassburg, enjoyed a larger measure of liberty than other cities. They had the sovereignty over their territory, with a constitutional government, and seat and vote in the Diet (eichstag). They were the centres of intelligence, wealth, and influence. For this reason the Reformation made from the beginning rapid progress in them, though not without commotion and opposition.
Niirnberg (Nuremberg), the most picturesque medieval city of Germany, was at that time the metropolis of German commerce, politics, letters, and art, and of an unusual constellation of distinguished men, most of whom sympathized with Erasmus and Luther. Pirkheimer, the Mecenas of Nurnberg (1475-1530), prepared the way, although he afterwards withdrew, like his friend Erasmus and other humanists! Albrecht Diirer, the famous painter (1471-1528), admired the heroic stand of Luther at Worms, and lamented his supposed death when removed out of sight; but during the eucharistic controversy he inclined to the view of Zwingli. Hans Sachs (1494-1576), the “ Mastersinger ” and
1 See § 74, p. 484 sqq.
570 THE GERMAN REFORMATION. A.D. 1517 ro 1530.
shoemaker-poet, saluted the “Nightingale” of Wittenberg (1523). Wenzeslaus Link, an Augustinian monk and intimate friend and correspondent of Luther, was sent by Staupitz from Wittenberg to the Augustinian convent at Niirnberg in 1518, and promoted the cause by his popular evangelical sermons. The preachers of the two splendid churches of St. Sebaldus and St. Lorenz followed the movement. The mass was abolished in 1524. The most effective promoters of the Reformation besides Link were Spengler, a layman, and Osiander, the preacher of St. Lorenz.
Lazarus Spengler (1479-1534), secretary of the magistrate, _ an admirer of Staupitz, wrote an apology of Luther, 1519, and a popular hymn on justification by faith (“* Durch Adam’s Fall ist ganz verderbt”), helped to found an evangelical college, and left a confession of faith in his testamen,t which Luther published with a preface, 1535. Joachim Camerarius, on the recommendation of Melanchthon, was called to the new college in 1526, as professor of history and Greek literature, and remained there till 1535, when he was called to the University of Tubingen, and afterwards (1541) to Leipzig.
Andreas Osiander (1498-1552), an able and learned, but opinionated and quarrelsome theologian, preached in St. Lorenz against the Roman Antichrist after 1522, fought as violently against Zwinglianism, married in 1525, attended the colloquy at Marburg, 1529, and the convent at Smalcald, 15387. He published a mechanical Gospel Harmony (15387), at the request of Archbishop Cranmer, who had married his niece (1532). He left Niirnberg in 1549, and became professor of theology at the newly founded university of Koénigsberg. There he stirred up a bitter theological controversy with the Wittenberg divines by his mystical doctrine of an effective and progressive justification by the indwelling of Christ (1551).
At Niirnberg several Diets were held during the Reformation period, and a temporary peace was concluded between Protestants and Roman Catholics in 15382.
§ 95. THE REFORMATION IN STRASSBURG. 571
§ 95. The Reformation in Strassburg. Martin Bucer.
Jou. W. BAum: Capito und Butzer, Elberfeld, 1860 (partly from MSS. See a complete chronological list of Bucer’s works, pp. 577-611). W. KRAFFT: art. ‘‘ Butzer’’ in Herzog’s Encykl.?, vol. III. 35-46 (abridged in Schaff-Herzog). Tim. W. ROuRICH: Gesch. der Reformation in Elsass und besonders in Strassburg, Strassb. 1830-32, 3 vols. A. ERICHSON: L’ Eglise francaise de Strasbourg au seizieme siecle d’ apres des monuments inédits. Strasb. 1885. Max Lenz: Briefwechsel Landgraf Philipps mit Bucer, Leipzig, 1880 and 1887, 2 vols. Ap. BAUM: Magistrat und Reformation in Strassburg. Strassb. 1887 (212 pages).
Strassburg, the capital of the Alsace, celebrated for its Gothic cathedral, university, and libraries, had been long before the Reformation the scene of the mystic revival preacher Tauler and the Friends of God. It was a thoroughly German city before Louis XIV. incorporated it with France (1681), and was re-conquered by Germany in 1870.
The Reformation began there in 1523. Zell, Bucer, Capito (Képfel), Hedio (Heil), and for a few years Calvin also (1538 to 1541), labored there with great success. The magistrate abolished the mass, 1528, and favored the Protestant. cause under the lead of Jacob Sturm, an enlightened patriot, who represented the city in all important transactions at home, in the Diet, and in conferences with the Romanists, till his death (1553). He urged the establishment of a Christian college, where classical learning and evangelical piety should be cultivated. His namesake, Johann Sturm, an eminent pedagogue, was called from Paris to preside over this college (1537), which grew into an academy, and ultimately into a university. Both were moderate men, and agreed with Capito and Bucer.1 The church of Strassburg was much disturbed by the Peasants’ War, the Anabaptists, and still more by the unfortunate sacramental controversies.
1 On Jacob Sturm see the monograph of H. Baumgarten, Strassburg, 1876. Of John Sturm (who died 1589, in his eighty-second year), there are
several biographies, by C. Schmidt (in French, 1855), Rieth (1864), Kiickelhahn (1872), and Zaar (1872).