RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Muenster Muenzer
to the north of the Lippe, extending down to the mouth of the Ems. (A. Hauck.)
For the first two centuries after the foundation of the see, the population of Westphalia was scanty and exclusively agricultural. Towns grew up first around the monasteries which Liudger founded in connection with the episcopal sees, as is witnessed by the name of Munster, which supplanted the old name Mimigernseford, Mimigardevord. The high position assigned by Charlemagne to the Saxon bishoprics placed temporal jurisdiction in the bishops' hands from the beginning. In the twelfth century this was increased by rich donations, and after the death of Duke Henry the Lion in 1180 Bishop Hermann II., Count of Katzenelnbogen (1174-1203), assumed the ducal powers in his diocese. His successors exercised similar rights, recognizing only the emperor as their overlord in temporal matters. These rights were stubbornly contested in the Frisian part of the diocese, and not fully acknowledged until 1276. In the thirteenth century the chapter held the position of first estate of the diocese, the nobility taking the second, and the towns, under the leadership of Munster, the third. But the two latter strove incessantly to increase their power, even by force of arms. Otto IV., Count of Hoya (1392-1404), established firmly the power which the bishopric long enjoyed in Westphalia. The introduction of the Reformation teachings in 1524 was supported by the independent spirit of the populace, and the town became a center of Anabaptist disturbances (see Monster, Anabaptists in). But with the election of Ernest, elector of Bavaria and archbishop of Cologne (1585-1612), the conflict was decided in favor of the predominance of the Roman Catholic religion, although the extent of the diocese was notably diminished during the sixteenth century. The ecclesiastical boundaries of the diocese were enlarged by the bull De salute animarum in 1821, and it now consists of 366 parishes, with a Roman Catholic population of nearly a million. For a list of the bishops 809- 1522 cf. Hauck-Herzog, BE, xiii. 538-539. Bibliogbaphy: Sources are: R. Wilmans and F. Philippi, Kaiserurkunden der . , Westfalen, 2 vols., Munster, 1867-81; Regesta histories Westfalice, ed. H. A. Erhard, 2 vols., ib. 1847-51; Westfalisches Urkundenbuch, vol. iii., ed. R. Wilmans, ib. 1871; Die Geschichtsquellen des Bistums Milnster, ib. 1851 sqq., Rettberg, KD, ii. 424; A. Tibus, Grilndungsgeschichte der Stifter . . . des atten Bistums Munster, ib. 1867; A. Calmet, Hist, de Vabbaye de Munster, Colimar, 1882; Hauck, KD, ii. 406-407; R. Stapfer, Die alteste Agende des Bistums Munster, Munster, 1905.
MUENTER, miin'ter, FRIEDRICH CHRISTIAN KARL HEINRICH: Danish bishop; b. at Gotha, Saxe-Coburg, Germany, Oct. 14, 1761; d. at Copenhagen Apr. 9, 1830. He studied philology and theology at the University of Copenhagen, and church history at Gottingen. He was appointed professor of theology at the University of Copenhagen, 1787, in 1808 succeeding to the bishopric of Zealand. M (inter was a prolific writer, and several of his works pertaining to church history are still of value. His principal works are a handbook on the history of the doctrinal theology of the oldest Christian church (2 vols., Copenhagen,
1801-4); a history of the Danish Reformation (2 vols., 1802); an exposition of the religion of the Carthaginians (1816; 2d ed., 1821); and a church history of Denmark and Norway (3 vols., 1823-33). Of great importance were also his " Symbols and Art-Notions of the Ancient Christians " (2 vols., 1825); and Primordia ecclesim Africance (1829), which for a long time was the principal guide for students of the oldest history of the African church. As a theologian Munter was distinctly a historian, not a systematist. He had no firm theological or philosophical standpoint, but was always an ardent advocate of peace. He believed in the "divinity of Christianity," but his theology was leavened with rationalism. As a teacher he was successful only with those who shared his interest for archeology. (F. Nielsen!.)
Bibliography: J. P. Mynster, in TSK, vi (1833); B. Miinter, Familien Milnters Stamtavle, Copenhagen, 1901.
MUENZER, miint'ser, THOMAS.
Hie Youth (§ 1).
Activities at Zwickau (§2).
In Bohemia. Works upon the Liturgy (§ 3).
Revolutionary Teaching in Alstedt (§ 4).
Expulsion from Alstedt and Miihlhausen (§ 5).
Events Leading to the Peasants' War (§ 6).
Thomas Muenzer, a prominent enthusiast of the time of the Reformation and a leader in the Peasants' War (q.v.), was born at Stolberg in the Harz Mountains (50 m. s.e. of Brunswick), before 1490; beheaded at Miihlhausen in Saxony (29 m. n.w. of Erfurt) May 27, 1525. Of his youth only a few incidents are known. In 1506 he entered the
University of Leipsic, and in 1512 he i. His was a student in the University of Youth. Frankfort. In the first half of 1513
he was engaged in Halle in a league against Archbishop Ernst of Magdeburg; in 1515 he was provost in Frohse near Aschersleben, after which he seems to have led a wandering life for several years. In the beginning of 1519 he was at Leipsic, where he still lived at the time of the disputation. He seems to have made a good impression upon Luther, as the latter recommended him to Johann Silvanus of Eger (Egranus), at that time preacher in Zwickau. At the end of 1519 he was confessor of the Bernardine nuns in the monastery of Beutitz near Weissenfels. But he found it impossible to stay in one place for any length of time, and at Beutitz was soon involved in difficulties. He evidently had no serious conception of his duties, as appears from a statement of Luther to the effect that he often omitted the formula for the transformation of the elements in the administration of the Lord's Supper. It is hardly to be assumed that he ever acknowledged the authority of the Wittenberg circle, considering his independent nature; but the new movement had seized him, as appears from his study of Eusebius, Jerome, Augustine, and of the acts of the Councils of Constance and Basel. The study of the Theologia Germanica (q.v.) recommended by Luther, and of the works of Tauler and other mystics exercised a not inconsiderable influence upon him.
With the approval of Luther he followed in 1520 a call to Zwickau where Egranus had introduced
Muenzer