592 THE GERMAN REFORMATION. A.D. 1517 To 1530.
involved him in a disastrous war till 1521, when an armistice for four years was concluded. He attended, as one of the princes of the empire, the Diet of Nurnberg, 1522 and 1523, and sought protection against Poland, but in vain. He diligently heard, during that time, the sermons of Andreas Osiander, and was converted to the doctrines of the Reformation. He called him his “spiritual father in Christ, through whom God first rescued him from the darkness of popery, and led him to the true divine knowledge.” Ona journey to Berlin he had a private conference with Luther and Melanchthon, and asked their advice (September, 1523). ‘Trust in God,” said Luther with the consent of Melanchthon, “rather than the empire; shake off the senseless rules of your order, and make an end to that hermaphrodite monster which is neither religious nor secular; abolish the unchaste chastity of monkery; take to thyself a wife, and found a legitimate secular sovereignty.” At the same time he recommended to him Paul Speratus as his assistant, who afterwards became bishop of Pomesania. The prince smiled, but said nothing.! He wavered between obedience to the pope and to his conscience, and his open and secret instructions to the bishop of Samland were contradictory. His brother, Margrave Georg of Brandenburg, had previously given him the same advice as Luther, and he ultimately followed it.
In the mean time the evangelical doctrines had already spread in Prussia, and facilitated the proposed political change by undermining the monastic constitution of the order.
Two bishops of Prussia, differing from their brethren in Germany, favored the movement, George von Polenz of Samland, and Erhard von Queiss of Pomesania. The former took the lead. Luther was agreeably surprised, and expressed his joy that one, at least, of the bishops dared to profess the
1 Letter to John Briesmann, July 4, 1524, in De Wette, IT. 526 sq.
§ 99. THE REFORMATION IN PRUSSIA. 593
free gospel of Christ... He dedicated to him his commentary on Deuteronomy, with a congratulatory letter full of gratitude for the rapid flight of the gospel to Prussia in the far North (1525).2, The bishop did not reply, and seems to have preserved a dignified or prudent reserve towards the person of Luther, while allowing free course to his doctrines.®
Erhard von Queiss renounced popery in a public sermon, 1524, and resigned his worldly possessions and authority to the Duke (1527), in order to attend better to the spiritual duties of an evangelical bishop.
Georg von Polenz was the chancellor and chief counselor of Albrecht (we may say his Bismarck on a small scale) in this work of transformation. He was about five years older than Luther, and survived him four years. He descended from an old noble family of Meissen in Saxony, studied law in Italy, and was for a while private secretary at the court of Pope Julius 11. Then he served as a soldier under Maximi-. lian I. He became acquainted with Margrave Albrecht at Padua, 1509, and joined the Teutonic Knights. In 1519 he was raised to the episcopal chair, and consecrated by the neighboring bishops of Ermland and Pomesania in the Dome of Konigsberg. The receipt of the Roman curia for a tax of
1 “ΑἹ last,’’ he wrote to Spalatin, Feb. 1, 1524, ‘‘ even a bishop has given the glory to the name of Christ, and proclaims the gospel in Prussia, namely the bishop of Samland, encouraged and instructed by John Briesmann, whom 1 sent, so that Prussia also begins to give farewell to the kingdom of Satan.“ De Wette, 11. 474.
2 Erl. ed., On. Lat. XIII. The dedicatory letter dated April, 1525, is printed also in De Wette, II. 647-651. In this letter occurs the notable passage (p. 649): ‘* Vide mirabilia, ad Prussiam pleno cursu plenisque telis currit Evangelion.”? Comp. the passage quoted p. 539, note 2.
ὃ Professor Tschackert, his best biographer, says (l.c., p. 187): ‘‘ The correspondence of Bishop Georg von Polentz, as far as known, contains nota syllable nor even an allusion to a letter of his to Luther. Even the name of Luther occurs after the reformatory mandate of 1524 only once, in a postscript to a letter to Paul Speratus, Aug. 22, 1585." In this letter he requested his colleague, Bishop Speratus of Pomesania, to give some noble students from Lithuania letters of introduction to Luther and Melanchthon (ἐς literis tuis Martino et Philippo commendes.”) See the letter, l.c., p. 191.