THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
and Melanchthon, and, after acting in an ecclesiastical capacity in Dinkelsbuhl and being deacon at Crailsheim (1534), was pastor at Neckarbischofsheim (until 1540), Neuenstadt-on-the-Linde (until 1552), Pforzheim, and probably in the Palatinate (until 1556 or 1557), resigning shortly after the accession of Frederick III. In May, 1559, he was called to Heilbronn to succeed Menrad Molther (q.v.) as pastor, a position which he retained until his death. He was able and gifted, but violent and somewhat inconsiderate. His writings treat of several interesting problems of early Protestant dogma and ethics, as when he opposed Melchior Ambach in his vindication of dancing and other amusements. Among his works mention may also be made of his disquisition on fasting (1553) and of his T 'on der Hdlen (Nuremberg, 1545).
G. Bossert.
Bibliography: A sketch of the life and works of Ratz by G. Bossert is in Blatter fur wiirttembergische Kirchengeschichte, 1893, pp. 33 sqq., 1907, pp. 1 sqq.
RATZEBERGER, rat'se-barH-er (RATZENBER- GER), MATTHJSUS: German physician and lay theologian; b. at Wangen (5 m. e. of Stuttgart) 1501; d. at Erfurt Jan. 3, 1559. He was educated at Wittenberg, and early made the acquaintance of Luther, for whom he cherished a lifelong veneration. He left Wittenberg in 1525 to become city physician at Brandenburg, and there met the electress, whom he is said to have induced to study the writings of Luther. When, however, she fled to Saxony, Ratzeberger's career at Brandenburg was at an end, and he then became physician to Count Albrecht of Mansfeld, while in 1538 he entered the service of John Frederick, elector of Saxony, in the same capacity. He was a medical adviser of Luther, with whom he was apparently connected by marriage, and after the Reformer's death was one of the guardians of his children. Such was Ratzeberger's reputation for theological learning that in 1546 Friedrich Myconius (q.v.) proposed him as one of the speakers at the Conference of Regensburg (see Regensburg, Conference of). His meddlesome and officious nature [or, perhaps, his conscientious performance of duty], however, brought about his enforced retirement from attendance on John Frederick, whereupon he settled at Nordhausen as a practitioner. In 1550 he removed to Erfurt, where he watched with increasing dissatisfaction the growth of Philippism.
The chief literary production of Ratzeberger was his Historia Lutheri (first edited completely by C. G. Neudecker, Die handschriftliche Geschichte Ratzeberger s uber Luther und seine Zeit, Jena, 1850). The first part of this work contains a biography of Luther, but its meager and anecdotic character is disappointing, considering that it was written by one who had associated so long and so closely with the Reformer. The second portion is devoted to the Schmalkald War and similar matters. The rancor displayed toward the advisers of the elector, and toward the Wittenberg theologians, especially Melanchthon, renders Ratzeberger's work valueless as history, although it is important for its data on the Onesio-Lutherans, and, despite its partizanship, for the controversies of the Interim. (T. Kolde.)
Bibliography: A. Poach, Vom christlichen Abschied des . M. Ratzebergers, Jena, 1559; G. T. Strobel Matthai Razebergera Geschichtt, Altdorf, 1775.
RATZEBURG, rut'se-bura", BISHOPRIC OF: A German diocese founded by Archbishop Adalbert of Hamburg, who consecrated as its first bishop a Greek named Aristo (between 1062 and 1066). The uprising of the Wends, however, put an end to Christianity in their territory, and it was not until they had been subdued by Henry the Lion that the diocese could be reestablished. The first bishop of the revived see was Evermod, who had formerly been prior of St. Mary in Magdeburg, and as he was a Premonstratensian, the chapter of the diocese was filled with members from that order. The bishopric was bounded on the north by the Baltic, on the south by the Elbe, on the east by the Elde, and on the west by the Bille. In 1167 the diocese was somewhat diminished by the annexation of Schwerin to Mecklenburg. [The diocese came to an end in 1554, when the bishop, Christoph von dem Schulenburg, resigned and became a Lutheran.] (A. Hauck.)
Bibliography: Sources are: Meklenburgisches Urkundenbuch, 12 vols., Schwerin, 1863 sqq.; Schleswig-Holstein- Lauenburgische Regesten und Urkunden, ed. P. Hasse, 3 vols., Hamburg, 1886 sqq. Consult: C. F. L. Amdt, Dot Zehntenregister des Bistums Ratzebwg, Schonberg, 1833; G. M. C. Masch, Geschichte des Bistums Ratzeburg, Liibeck, 1835; G. Dehio, Geschichte des Erzbistums Hamburg-Bremen, 2 vols., Berlin, 1878; M. Schmidt, Beschreibung und Chronik der Stadt Ratzeburg, Ratzeburg, 1882; A. Rudloff, Geschichte Mecklenburgs, Berlin, 1901; Gams, Series episcoporum, p. 304; Hauck, KD, vols., iii.-iv.
RAUCH, rauH, FREDERICK AUGUSTUS: German Reformed educator; b. at Kirchbracht, Hesse- Darmstadt, July 27, 1806; d. at Mercersburg, Pa., Mar. 2, 1841. He entered the University of Marburg in 1824, and studied philosophy and theology at Giessen and Heidelberg; was extraordinary professor of philosophy at Giessen one year and was appointed ordinary professor at Heidelberg; but on account of some political utterance which evoked the displeasure of the government he fled to America in 1831. He obtained a livelihood for a while by giving lessons on the pianoforte at Easton, Pa. ; but was soon made professor of German in Lafayette College. In 1832 he assumed charge of a classical academy established by the German Reformed Church at York, Pa., and a few months later was ordained and appointed professor of Biblical literature in the theological seminary, while retaining charge of the academy, which in 1835 was transferred to Mercersburg and in 1836 transformed to Mercersburg College, of which he was the first president, 1836-41. Rauch was an eminent scholar in classical literature, mental and moral science, and esthetics; and it was his ambition to organize upon American soil an Anglo-German system of thought. He published only Psychology, or a View of the Human Soul, including Anthropology (New York, 1840; 3d ed., 1844) ; his Inner Life of the Christian appeared posthumously (ed. E. V Gerhart, Philadelphia, 1856).
Bibliography: A eulogy by J. W. Nevin is in MenerAurg Review, xi (1859), 456 sqq. Consult also J. H. Dubbs-in American Church History Series, viii. 355, 367 sqq., 364- 368, New York, 1895.