RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Philip the Arabian Philip of Hesse
tradition was that the evangelist died as bishop at Tralles; that the apostle died and was buried in Ephesus. F. Sieffeet.
Bibliography: Because of the confusion noted in the text, the literature named under Philip the Apostle covers in large part the subject of this article. Consult the commentaries on Acts (e.g., G. T. Stokes, in Expositor's Bible, vol. i., chaps, xvii., xx., London and New York, 1891), and the works on the apostolic age (e.g., A. C. McGiffert, pp. 73-74, 95, 340, 424, New York, 1897); T. Zahn, in Forschungen zur Geschichte des neutestamentlichen Kanons, vi (1900), 158 sqq.; DB, iii. 836-837; Vigouroux, Dictionnaire, part xxxi., cols. 270-272; ASB for June 6; Harnack, Litteratur, ii. 1, pp. 357-358, 368, 669.
PHILIP OF GORTYNA: Christian apologist; flourished in the last half of the second century. He is mentioned with praise in the letter of Dionysius of Corinth to the Christian community at Gortyna (Eusebius, Hist, eccl., IV., xxiii. 5; Eng. transl., NPNF, 2 ser., i. 201); and wrote in the time of Marcus Aurelius a reply to Marcion (mentioned only by Eusebius, IV., xxv., NPNF, ut sup., p. 203). Jerome (De vir. ill., xxx.) is dependent upon Eusebius. (G. Krcger.)
Bibliography: The sources are indicated in the text. Consult further: Harnack, Litteratur, i. 237; DCB, iv. 355; C. A. Bernoulli, Der Schriftstellerkatalog des Hieronymus, p. 334 et passim, Freiburg, 1895.
PHILIP OF HESSE.
Early Life and Embracing of Protestantism (§ 1). Introduction of the Reformation in Hesse (§2). Suspected of Zwinglianism (§ 3). Leader of the Schmalkald League (§ 4). Bigamous Marriage (§ 5). Overtures to the Emperor (§6). Resumption of Hostility to Charles (§ 7). Imprisonment of Philip and Interim in Hesse (§ 8). Closing Years (§ 9).
Philip of Hesse, or Philip the Magnanimous, landgrave of Hesse from 1509 to 1567 and one of the most powerful promoters of the Protestant Reformation, was born at Marburg Nov. 13, 1504; d. at Cassel Mar. 31, 1567. His father died when Philip was five years old, and in 1514 his mother, Anna of Mecklenburg, after a series of struggles with the estates of Hesse, succeeded in becoming regent for him. The controversies still contin-
i. Early ued, however, so that, to put an end
Life and to them, Philip was declared to have Embracing attained his majority in 1518, his of Protes- actual assumption of power beginning
tantism. in the following year. The power of the estates had been broken by his mother, but he owed her little else. His education had been very imperfect, and his moral and religious training had been neglected. Despite all this, he developed rapidly as a statesman, and soon began to take steps to increase his personal authority as a ruler.
The first meeting of Philip of Hesse with Luther was in 1521 at the Diet of Worms, where he was attracted by the Reformer's personality, though he had at first little interest in the religious elements of the situation. It was only after his marriage with Christina, the daughter of George of Saxony, early in 1524, that he began to take an active part in forwarding the cause of the Reformation. The impulse to this activity came from his reading Luther's translation of the Bible, and his nascent
Protestantism was fostered by meeting Melanchthon in the spring of 1527. As early as 1524 he had encouraged the spread of the new doctrines in his territories and he now professed open adherence to the tenets of Luther, refusing to follow the counsel of the clergy, his mother, or his father-in-law, all of whom urged him to repress the spread of the new teaching by force. He openly approved of Luther's position in the Peasant War, declaring that it was not the result of the Protestant movement; he refused to be drawn into the anti-Lutheran league of George of Saxony in 1525; and by his alliance with the Elector John of Saxony, concluded at Gotha Feb. 27, 1526, showed that he was already taking steps to organize a protective alliance of all Protestant princes and powers. At the same time he united political motives with his religious policy, aiming, as early as the spring of 1526, to prevent the election of Archduke Ferdinand as emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. At the Diet of Speyer (1526) Philip openly championed the Protestant cause, rendering it possible for Protestant preachers to propagate their views while the Diet was in session, and, like his followers, openly disregarding ordinary Roman Catholic ecclesiastical usages.
Although there was no strong popular movement for reforming Hesse, Philip determined to organize the church there according to Protes- 2. Introduc- tant principles. In this he was aided tion of the not only by his chancellor, the human- Reforma- istic Feige (Ficinus) of Lichtenau, and tion in his chaplain, Adam Krafft (q.v.), but Hesse. also by the ex-Franciscan Francois Lambert (q.v.), a fanatical enemy of the faith he had left. While the violent policy of Lambert, embodied, at least in part, in the Homberg church order (see Homberg Synod and Church Order of 1526) was abandoned, and an essentially Lutheran type of organization was adopted, the monasteries and religious foundations were dissolved; their property was applied to charitable and scholastic purposes; and the University of Marburg was founded in the summer of 1527 to be, like Wittenberg, a school for Protestant theologians. Philip's father-in-law and the bishops of Wurzburg and Mainz were active in agitating against the growth of the new heresy, and the combination of several circumstances, including rumors of war, convinced Philip of the existence of a secret league among the Roman Catholic princes. His suspicions were confirmed to his own satisfaction by a forgery given him by an adventurer who had been employed in important missions by George of Saxony, one Otto von Pack; and after meeting with the Elector John of Saxony at Weimar Mar. 9, 1528, it was agreed that the Protestant princes should take the offensive in order to protect their territory from invasion and capture. Both Luther and the elector's chancellor, Bruck, though convinced of the existence of the conspiracy, counseled strongly against acting on the offensive. The imperial authorities at Speyer now forbade all breach of the peace, and, after long negotiations, Philip succeeded in extorting the expenses for his armament from the dioceses of Wurzburg, Bamberg,
Philip of Hesse