RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Stun diets Sturm.
Stadtmeister thirteen times from 1527, and soon advanced to the leadership of Strasburg statesmanship. The wise moderation of Strasburg in the Peasants' War was due to his influence. His fearless championship of the Protestant cause and his eloquence at the Diet of Speyer of 1526 (see Speyer, Diets of) secured for his city the leadership in upper Germany. In the quiet movement of the Beformation at his native city, he took the ground of liberty of conscience in church matters, recognizing neither pope nor emperor in matters of faith. Hence Strasburg became a center of toleration and freedom. He held aloof from the Eucharistic controversy, declining the communion for years; but was present at the conference at Marburg (q.v.). At the Diet of Speyer in 1529 he advocated the abolition of the mass, took sides with the protesting estates, and assisted Philip of Hesse to prevail upon these not to concur in the condemnation of the Swiss. At the Diet of Augsburg (1530) he helped in drawing up the Confessio tetrapolitana and strove, though unsuccessfully, for unity. He participated in the deliberations before the Wittenberg Concord of 1536. Simultaneously he was employed upon ecclesiastical organization at Strasburg; he was president of the synod of 1533, and took a part in the preparation of the church order which appeared in 1534. Shortly after he succeeded in founding the Strasburg gymnasium. Since 1528 he had been one of the supervisors of public instruction. During the Interim, he humbled himself, though unconquered, to the emperor, thus parting with M. Butzer, whom he had hitherto supported; yet sustaining the dignity and Protestant freedom of the city. As a strategic point on the Rhine, he took every precaution to fortify Strasburg against the French. Sturm held the respect of all parties as well as of his opponents and of the emperor; and from 1525 to 1552 represented the city of Strasburg ninety-one times at political and religious conferences. Unsurpassed as an administrator and statesman in the history of Strasburg he was a man of deep moral and religious conviction, of circumspect wisdom and highminded Christian patriotism.
(Johannes Ficker.)
Bibliography: Sources are: E. Winkelmann, Urkundenbuch der Universitat Heidelberg, i. 214 sqq., Heidelberg, 1886; the Opera of Zwingli, passim; Politische Korrespondenz der Stadt Strassburg im Zeitalter der Reformation, ed. H. Virck and O. Winckelmann, vols, i.-iii., Strasburg, 1882-97; J. Strickler, Aktensammlung der schweizischen Reformationsgeschichte, 1521-32, 5 vols., Zurich. 1878-84: and M. Lenz, Briefwechsel Landgraf Philipp des Grossmiitigen von Hessen mit Bucer, 3 vols., Leipsic, 1880- 1891. For biographical material consult: J. Sturm, Consolatio ad senatum Argentinensem de morte . Jacobi Sturmii, Strasburg, 1553; Stein, Jacob Sturm (Jena dissertation), Leipsic, 1878; H. Baumgarten, Historische und politische Aufsatze und Reden, pp. 458 sqq., Strasburg, 1894; ADB, xxxvi. 5 sqq. For light on various sides of Sturm's activities consult: A. Jung, Geschichte der Reformation der Kirche in Strassburg* vol. i., Leipsic, 1830; T. W. Rohrich, Geschichte der Reformation in Blsass und besonders in Strassburg, 3 parts, Strasburg, 1830-32, A. W. Strobel, Hist, du gymnase protestant de Strasbourg, ib. 1838; J. W. Baum, Capita und Butzer, Elberfeld, 1860; H. Baumgarten, Ueber Sleidans Leben und Briefwechsel, Strasburg, 1878, A. Baum, Magistrat und Reformation in Strassburg bis 1529, ib. 1887, C. Engel, Das Griindungs- ]ahr des protestantischen Gymnasiums zu Strassburg, pp. 113 sqq., ib. 1888; idem, L'Ecole latin et I'ancienne aca-
demic de Strasbourg (1538-1621), ib. 1900; M. Fournier and C. Engel, L'Universite de Strasbourg et les academies protestantes francaises, Paris, 1894; J. W. Richard, Philip Melanchthon, pp. 18, 176, 185, 226, 264, New York, 1898; S. M. Jackson, Huldreich Zwingli, pp. 312, 324, 330, 2d ed., ib. 1903; Cambridge Modern History, ii. 204, 258, ib. 1904; and works on the history of Strasburg.
STURM, JOHANNES: German humanist and schoolman; b. at Schleiden (60 m. s.w. of Cologne) Oct. 1, 1507; d. at Strasburg Mar. 3, 1589. He entered, in 1521 or 1522, upon his humanistic studies at the school of St. Hieronymus at Liittich and completed them at the University of Louvain, where he had a share in a printingpress and issued several Greek works. Visiting Paris in 1529 to sell his books, he was induced to teach dialectics and give lectures on Cicero and Demosthenes. Influenced by the writings of M. Butzer, he adopted the principles of the Reformation. After participating in the attempt to reconcile the Protestant and Roman Catholic parties in 1534, upon a new outbreak of persecution, he repaired to Strasburg to organize the new gymnasium. Dependent on Melanchthon, he followed the principle of training in rhetoric and eloquence, based upon Humanism and Evangelical piety, for the offices of the Reformation movement and the State.
Although a Protestant, Sturm had many Roman Catholic connections and always cherished the hope of a reunion. His oratorical talent and diplomatic aptitude qualified him for many embassies in behalf of Strasburg, the Protestant estates, and the king of France. He attended the conferences at Hagenau and Worms, 1540; of Regensburg, 1541; and went with Butzer to meet the elector of Cologne, 1542. After helping to negotiate peace between England and France, 1545, he again went to France, 1546, at the outbreak of the Schmalkald War, to procure the aid of Francis I. A personal friend of many French Protestants and especially of Calvin, Sturm preferred the Reformed teaching on the Eucharist, but, desiring a reconciliation, shared the attitude of Butzer and Melanchthon. He spared no sacrifice in behalf of liberty of conscience for France, even demanding German aid to the Huguenots. For this he incurred the suspicion of the Lutherans. After the death of Jakob Sturm (q.v.) and with the stricter enforcement of the Lutheran confession after 1555, Sturm became involved in continuous violent controversies. He upheld the broader views of Butzer, which formerly prevailed at Strasburg, being also influenced by his Biblical and humanistic tendency toward a non-dogmatic Christianity. This controversy, lasting more than thirty years, marks the division of the Strasburg church from its past. A consensus in 1563 on the basis of the Wittenberg Concord did not last long. Sturm was engaged to organize a number of schools upon the model of his own, among which was the gymnasium at Lauingen, 1564. In 1566 he secured an imperial privilege for an academy, which was dedicated 1567. But the complaint of the theologians against the Reformed tendencies of himself and some of his professors became ever louder. The intensely partizan Johann Marbach (q.v.) brought on an acrimonious strife over the school, which a referee decided in favor of
Sturm Stylites