THE NEW SCIIAFF-IIERZOG
1S79. His principal work is Die Geschichten der protestantischen Scktcn im Zeitaltcr der Reformation (Hamburg, 1848). (David ERDMANNf.)
ERDMANN, CHRISTIAN FRIED RICH DAVID:
German Protestant; b. at Giistebiese, near Konigsberg. July 2S, 1S21; d. at Dresden Mar. 11, 1905. He studied in Berlin (1S43-1S47), and in 1853 became privat-docent in theology there. In 1856 he went to Konigsberg as professor of theology, and in 1S(34, to Breslau as general superintendent for Silesia, being at the same time honorary professor at the University of Breslau. He retired from active life in 1900. He wrote Lebe?i und Leiden der ersten Christen (Berlin, 1S54); Prima Joannis epistolce argumentum, nexus et consilium (1855); Die Reformation und ihre Mdrtyrer in Italien (1855); Der Brief des Jakobus erkldrt (1881); Luther und die Hohenzollern (Breslau, 1883); and Luther und seine Beziehungen zu Schlesien, insbesondere zu Breslau (Halle, 1SS7). He likewise contributed the section on the books of Samuel to J. P. Lange's Theologisch-homiletisches Bibelwerk (Bielefeld, 1873; Eng. transl. by C. H. Toy and J. A. Broadus, New York, 1S77).
ERDOSI JANOS. See Bible Versions, B,X, § 1.
EREMITE. See Hermit.
ERFURT, BISHOPRIC OF: A Thuringian bishopric established by Boniface in the summer of 741 with its seat at Erfurt. Previous to the erection of this see, Thuringia alone of the German stocks had had no bishopric of its own, being under the jurisdiction of Mainz. The first bishop of Erfurt seems to have been Dadanus, who was one of those present at the Austrasian Synod of 742, and he was apparently succeeded by Boniface himself. Whether this took place before or after Boniface became archbishop of Mainz is uncertain, but at all events it explains the later association of Thuringia and Mainz. (A. Hauck.)
From the time of Boniface till the fourteenth century, episcopal acts in the Erfurt district were performed either by the archbishops of Mainz or by visiting bishops delegated for the occasion; but from 1313 to 1807 there was a regular line of coadjutors to the archbishop with their seat at Erfurt. A papal bull of 1821 placed Erfurt under the see of Paderborn.
Bibliography: Rettberg, KD, i. 351-352; Hauck, KD i 513-514; KL, iv. 770-772.
ERIGENA, JOHN SCOTUS. See Scotus, Erigena Johannes.
ERMLAND, BISHOPRIC OF: A German bishopric established in 1243 by the papal legate William of Modena, together with the sees of Culm, Pomesania, and Samland. The cathedral was founded at Braunsberg (30 m. s.w. of Konigsberg) by Ansehn, the first bishop, in June, 1260, but twenty years later was transferred to Frauenburg (41 m. s.w. of Konigsberg) by Henry I. Among the famous bishops of this diocese was iEneas Silvius Piccolomini (1457-58), afterward Pope Pius If- (A. Hauck.)
Until 1525 the diocese was under the political
jurisdiction of the Teutonic order. Toward the end of this period it increased in importance; the attempt of the Diet of Lublin (1506) to have it established as the metropolitan see of the Prussian dioceses failed indeed, but in 1512 Julius II. released it from its nominal subordination to the archbishopric of Riga and constituted it an " exempt " bishopric. From 1525 to 1772 it was under Polish jurisdiction, and the bishops were of that nationality beginning with the celebrated Stanislaus Hosius (1551-79; see Hosius, Stanislaus), who was one of the presidents of the Council of Trent. After 1772 it was under Prussian rule. The bull De salute of 1821 united with it the diocese of Samland and five deaneries of Pomesania.
Bibliography: Monumenta hist. Warmiensis, ed. C. P. Wolky and J. N, Saage, Mainz. 185S sqq.; Hauck, K D iv. 653.
ERNEST THE CONFESSOR AND THE REFOR- MATION IN BRUNSWICK-LUENEBURG: Duke of Brunswick-Luneburg, known as "the Confessor;" b. at Uelzen (20 m. s.s.e. of Luneburg) June 26, 1497; d. at Celle Jan. 11, 1546. In 1512 he was sent to the court of his mother's brother, the elector Frederick the Wise, at Wittenberg, and received instruction there from Georg Spalatin; he remained at Wittenberg through the beginning of the Reformation. In 1520 his father, Henry, associated with himself in the government his two sons, Otto and Ernest, and abdicated the same year. By the retirement of Otto in 1527 Ernest became sole ruler. The condition of his domain was not prosperous. Political considerations doubtless furthered the introduction of the Reformation; it offered opportunity to restrict the privileges of the nobles and the clergy and to increase the revenues from church and monastery property. The forerunner of the Reformation in Luneburg was a certain Wolf Cyclop, a physician from Zwickau, who was not free from the Zwickau enthusiasm (see Zwikau Prophets). Saner men followed him, such as Gottschalk Cruse, Heinrich Bock, and Matthaus Mylow. Ernest was inclined to move slowly, but in 1525 the Peasants' War gave him occasion to call upon the monasteries for lists of their property and to require them to admit Protestant preachers; he promised the elector of Saxony to stand by the Protestant cause. After an attempt of the Roman Catholic party to reinstate his father in 1527 had failed, his course became more decided. In July, 1527, the first book of discipline was adopted, drawn up by the preachers of Celle. At a diet in August of the same year it was ordered that " God's pure word should be preached everywhere without additions made by men." Between 1527 and 1530 Lutheran preachers were introduced in most parishes, and into the monasteries, not in all cases without compulsion. Ernest went to Augsburg in 1530 and signed the Confession. He brought back Urbanus Rhegius (q.v.), who worked for the spread of the Reformation (after 1541 as superintendent) and introduced it into the city of Liirieburg. The largest and richest monastery in the land, St. Michael's in Luneburg, accepted the new order after the death of Abbot Boldewin in 1532. Rhe-