1. by Margrave Joachim the Other.
2. princes and lords want to be unpunished.
3. from a princess.
4. from a lewd prince.
5. from another prince.
6. by Landgrave Ludwig, called the knight.
7. from the landgrave Philippo of Hesse.
8. another from the landgrave Philippo of Hesse.
9. by Duke Franz of Lüneburg.
10. from a count.
11. from a prince.
12. of a prince's profligacy.
13. from the duke of Bavaria.
14. by Duke George of Saxony.
15 From Duke George's death.
16. by Duke Henry of Saxony.
17. D. Luther's judgment of great princes and lords.
18. pious princes poor people.
19. about the death of princes.
20. great potentates are our Lord God's deck of cards.
21. from the Frankish nobility.
22) From King Alphonso, how great lords should love their subjects.
Why our suggestions and advices are not correct, especially those of the regents.
24. of the roman empire.
25. by Duke Wilhelm of Saxony.
26. from young gentlemen.
27. princes must be the scribes and captains servants.
The princes' work is the greatest and most dangerous.
29. from the peasants work.
30. of the kingdom of bohemia and the churfürstenthum saxony.
31. from Emperor Carl the Fifth.
32. from the Emperor Maximilian.
33. mildness of the emperor Maximilian.
34 King Solomon's Court and Order.
Why God punishes the subjects because of the Lord's sin.
Whether it is better to govern by reason and natural understanding, or by and according to the rights and laws described.
37. of the political and ecclesiastical anger.
38. by Christierno, King of Denmark.
39. of the expulsion of the king christierni.
40 Emperor Maximilian's Courtesy.
41. courtesy and kindness of Emperor Maximiliani the First.
Another history of the Emperor Maximiliano.
43. from your King Henry of England.
44 King Henry's Divorce.
45: The Papists' Secret Plot Against the Lutherans.
46 The King of England's Divorce.
Whether Thomas More was killed for the sake of the Gospel.
48. prophecy of the emperor Carolo.
49. unequal fortune of two brothers of great potentates.
The emperor kisses the pope's feet.
51. from France and England.
52. emperor Carl's virtue and discipline.
53 Duke Frederick, Elector of Saxony's Judgment of Emperor Carl the Fifth.
54 From Emperor Carl's Coronation.
55. by Emperor Carl's Demuth.
56 Emperor Carl's modesty and long-suffering.
57. of the Emperor Maximilian rhyme.
58 Emperor Carl's armor against the Turk.
59. great lords dimer at court possessed by the devil.
60. beautiful order of the roman empire.
61. from N. N. Government.
62. of the mandate of a king.
63: About the move against the Turks.
64. from Emperor Carl the Fifth.
65: From Duke Frederick, Elector of Saxony.
66. from his life.
67. duke Frederick's symbolum.
68: Duke Frederick's Household.
69. duke Frederick's wise speech.
70. by Duke John, Elector of Saxony.
Another one from the Elector John.
72. of Duke John's constancy.
73 Prince John's diligent action of the divine word.
74. Death of Duke Johannis, Elector of Saxony.
75 From Duke John, Elector of Saxony.
76 From Duke John's death.
The first of these is a book by Duke John Frederick, Elector of Saxony.
78. of Duke John Frederick's sincerity and constancy.
79 Change in the Principality of Saxony.
80. court camp at Weimar most convenient.
81. princes are equally respected to kings.
82nd Duke John Frederick, Elector of Saxony, honorary title.
83: Duke Johann Friedrich's virtues.
84 Duke Johann Friedrich's clever and sensible, polite and sharp reply.
The Duke of Saxony Coat of Arms Interpretation.
The first of these is the "Theological Museum", which is located in the city center of the city.
87, From Emperor Carl the Fifth.
88: From Duke John Frederick, Elector of Saxony.
1. from margrave Joachim the other.
(Cordatus No. 492.)
When Pope Clement was accused of being a whore, he answered that it was because Christ was also a fake. When a certain Italian told this to the young margrave, he offered me his mercy and asked me to remain steadfast.
2. princes and lords want to be unpunished.
Noblemen and burghers' children, said D. M. Luther, are well drawn, but peasants
and princes want to be unpunished. When the lion feels that his teeth and claws are growing, he no longer plays.
3. from a princess.
Des [Fürsten] von A[nhalt] 1) Wife wanted to visit her wife mother, came to Wittenberg, and desired to address D. M. Luthern, although at an inopportune time, and with impetuosity: finally she came unasked, by herself, after supper. The doctor, however, de-
1) Bindseil I, 308.
blamed himself for his weakness, and said: "Madam, I am not very righteously fresh in the year, I am weak and sick either in body or in spirit, one thing after another: I now have twenty stars in my body, as in the sky, I wanted the archbishop of Mainz to have them. Yes, she said, dear doctor, we can't all be pious either. Yes, said the doctor, you of the nobility, in high classes, should of necessity all be pious: for yours are few, and are narrowly drawn; we of low classes and common people are corrupted by the great multitude, for ours is much, therefore it is no wonder that ours are few. But from you, the great families and high classes, we are to take examples, and learn godliness, piety, respectability etc. With such words, she trotted off on her hoof the same evening.
4. from a lewd prince.
(Lauterbach, Aug. 1, 1538, p. 105.)
Luther said much that evening about the Churfürst von der Mark, who had exhausted himself by excessive whoring, so that he is said to have said: If the joy should last forever here, that he should only have to go from one whore to another and be carried to his beds, he would not desire eternal life. Oh, dear God, how great foolishness and godlessness! He should be tired, especially that old man, but he has been persuaded (as Gauricus, his physician, said) by his soothsayer, the devil's banner, that he should live another fifteen years. In short, he has lived in the greatest impiety, has had a covenant with the devil, he and his father, and has most certainly perished in the most abominable fornication. The righteous will hardly be blessed who believes the word of God and contends with the devil and the flesh. How will this one fare? May God avert it.
5. from another prince.
Since it was said that Duke W[ilhelm] of B[ayern] 1) was engaged in much fornication; said D. Martinus: From idleness comes
1) Thus Bindseil I, 313.
such fervor and nothing good. But if one does something honest that God has commanded, and does it with faithful diligence, then such fire dies and goes out. Oh, they do not wait for their profession with earnestness and in the fear of God, therefore they cannot live any other way.
6. by Landgrave Ludwig, called the knight.
Ludwig the Knight, Landgrave of Hesse and Thuringia, was an angry, fierce lord who was imprisoned by the bishop of Halle on the Gibichenstein: there he jumped out of the window, out of the castle into the Saale, down a high rock, swam through the water, and came away on his Klöpper swan and escaped. The same, since he had raged against his subjects, at last his spouse set meat before him on Good Friday, in the week of martyrdom; and since he would not eat it, she said to him: "Dear lord, you are afraid of this sin, since you commit and do much more serious and greater ones. At last she had to escape and flee, and leave her children. But before she was up at midnight, she kissed the young master, who was still lying in the cradle, blessed him, and out of motherly love she bit him on one cheek, commanded it to God, and let herself down in a strange way, together with a virgin, on a rope to Wartburg Castle through a large high rock, where her courtier was waiting for her with a carriage, and secretly drove away to Frankfurt am Main.
Finally, however, when he, Landgrave Ludwig, died, a monk's cap was put on him, he became a pious monk, who could well keep his silence, so that his courtiers laughed at his dead body and mocked, saying: "Behold, how well this monk keeps his order and silence! As such history was also thought above in the loco "of monks". 2)
7. from the landgrave Philipp zu Heffen.
(The first paragraph in Lauterbach, Dec. 6, 1538, p. 188.)
He praised the landgrave very much, because in a country that is full of forests, felsicht and
2) Cap. 30, §37.
He said that they were sitting there to keep the country clean. He said that they were sitting there to keep the country clean, so that he pursued the robbers from that time on, as his father did, who returned three thousand guilders to someone who had taken them. He destroyed the nearest castle, had the nobles beheaded and said that they were sitting there to keep the land pure. Thus the present landgrave is a man of war, indeed, an Arminius, small in person but mighty in counsel and fortune.
Item: The landgrave is, according to his age, an excellent, joyful prince, who lets him advise and say, soon gives way to good advice, gives way and follows: and if it is decided, he does not delay long and executes it with diligence; therefore he is also, for the sake of such princely virtue, feared by the adversaries. At that time, D. Martinus also remembered the day at Frankfurt, and said: "It must be hard with a serious paroxysm.
8. another from the landgrave Philipp zu Hefsen.
Doctor Luther said of His F. G. that he was a miracle man, who had a special luck and star. If he wanted to fall away from the Gospel, he should obtain from the Emperor and Pope whatever he wanted: but God has so far constantly preserved S. F. G.. The Emperor offered him that he should quietly possess the County of Katzenelnbogen. Item, Duke Georg wanted to make him heir to all his lands and people, and the Emperor would have confirmed, sealed and certified it if he had wanted to fall away from our religion. But he confessed the doctrine of the Gospel, otherwise he could have become the Emperor's and the Pope's dear son. He has a Hessian head and cannot celebrate, he must have something to do: so he does not trust and believe easily. He starts a lot of things, and it goes out to him. It was a great boldness that he wanted to overpower the bishops in 1528. And it was a greater deed that he installed the Duke of Würtemberg and chased King Ferdinand out of Würtemberg. I and Dominus Philippus Melanchthon were called to S. F. G. for this reason against Weimar, and because of his intended war for the sake of
When we were asked about our concerns and advice, we recanted to the highest authority and used our best rhetoric to do so; we asked the authorities not to upset the doctrine of the Gospel with this war, or to add a stain to our doctrine, or to break and disturb the common peace of the land in the empire. Then the F.F.G. became very red and were angry about it, since otherwise the F.F.G. have a very sincere mind.
In the Colloquio at Marburg, Anno 1529, S. F. G. walked in low clothing, so that no one would have taken him for the landgrave, and yet he walked with high and great thoughts. He asked Phil. M. for advice in a matter, and said: "Dear M. Philippe, should I also suffer that the Bishop of Mainz expels my Protestant preachers by force? Philippe answered: "If the jurisdiction of the same places belongs to the bishop of Mainz, then E. F. G. cannot defend him. The Landgrave answered: "I will let you advise, but I will not do it. 1) I (said D. Luther) said at that time to his old councilor, the one from Beimelberg: Why don't you defend your lord and his nobility? Then he answered, "Oh, dear doctor, our admonitions are of no avail; what he does, he will not let himself be taken from it. And when he was about to install the Duke of Würtemberg, His Holiness asked everyone that he would not lead the Hessian land into ruin. Then he said, "Let it go now, I don't want to ruin it for you. He also led it out and paid honestly. He fired four and a half hundred rounds into a castle and won it.
And when a day was held at Caden in Bohemia by King Ferdinando and other princes, and an answer was to be given to the landgrave from there, Duke George of Saxony said to King Ferdinando: "If he could gather a war party to resist him in two or three days, he would not advise peace; but if this could not be done, then peace should be made in all directions. And
1) Cf. Cap. 55, § 8.
Severus, Luther's table companion, then said that Mr. Hans Hoffmann had therefore opposed the king and all his councilors, and had also obtained that peace had been made with the landgrave.
At the Imperial Diet of 1530, he and the other princes of the Augsburg Confession were summoned to King Ferdinand, and he publicly said to the bishops: "Make peace, we desire it; if you do not, and I must go down, I will take one or two with me at the least. The Bishop of Salzburg had said to Bishop Albrecht of Mainz at the same Diet: "How can you be so afraid of the Landgrave of Hesse when he is only a poor prince? Then the bishop of Mainz answered: Yes, dear sir, if you lived as close to him as I do, you would probably speak differently.
And said D. M. Luther: God has thrown the landgrave into the midst of the Roman Empire: for he has four princes living around him, and the Duke of Brunswick, and yet they are all afraid of him. This means that he has the common man attached to him, so he is also a man of war. Before he installed the Duke of Würtemberg, he was in France, and the King of France lent him a lot of money for the war.
At another time, D. M. Luther said: "The introduction of the landgrave with the Duke of Würtemberg was a great annoyance, because everyone thought that the German land would lie in a heap. For it was a great thing to drive King Ferdinand, Emperor Carl's brother, out of the land of Würtemberg, since the pope and all the bishops were so foolish and foolish about it. It is a high risk. But it is he who has led it out. No wise man would have dared so boldly; but when it was begun, he handled it wisely and carefully.
9. by Duke Franz of Lüneburg.
Duke Franz of Lüneburg, even a pious prince, because he had great pains and aches in one leg, is said to have said shortly before his death: All these pains and aches are less than my sins.
deserve. Yet, my dear heavenly Father, have mercy on me and do not reject me for the sake of your dear Son.
10. from a count.
Since it was thought that Count A., 1) who had been tricked by H. M. himself in the castle of H. until the eleventh day, should be reinstated,' Doctor Martin Luther said with a sigh: Solomon has well said Proverbs 28:26: "He who relies on his heart is a fool. This count has sinned against God with his cleverness, presumption and avarice. As the Jews were ashamed when they said, "Our soul is disgusted with this food," Numbers 21:5, so this man is also disgusted with the treasure that God has given him; so that it is said, "Nitimur in vetitum, what is forbidden to us, we strive for and want. For either we desire a thing with all our heart and long for it, or^ what is present and we have all ready, that we utterly despise and are disgusted with it. Thus man's nature and manner is poisoned by original sin. This life cannot be nor exist without patience. Either we died or lived in patience, because this life is a sinful life, full of punishments, plagues, misfortune, misery and hardship, therefore faith and patience are necessary.
11. from a prince.
A prince 2) is said to have said: If I were in the emperor's place and had orders, I would lock up the very best theologians of both parts, Papists and Lutherans, in a house well kept together, and give them food and drink enough for their needs, until they had all united and compared, and decided in matters of religion. Then I wanted to ask them whether they also firmly believed their decrees and what they had decided with each other and, if necessary, wanted to confirm and testify to them with their death. And since they said yes, I wanted to set the house on fire so that they would all have to burn. Then I wanted to believe their decision.
1) Albrecht von Mansfeld, who was appointed by Duke Moritz at Hohenstein Castle etc. Bindseil I, 317.
2) The Margrave of Culmbach. Bindseil I, 316.
12. a prince's desertion.
There was talk of the tyranny of von B[raunschweig], which had now been revealed: how he had captured a doctor, 1) the legate of G[oslar], and forged him into a bathhouse, giving him raw meat to eat and water to drink. After that, he would have finally pegged him to the wall. He, said D. Martin Luther, is supposed to be the patron of the church, a bloodthirsty tyrant, and the idolatrous bishops who have secretly gathered a war party against us. Because they know that the German warriors cannot be used against our princes, neither will those in France. O Lord God, grant us peace, who have so far frustrated the plots and counsels of the heathen and the princes. Would to God that we were grateful and did not forget the works of God. For a while you looked through your fingers as if you were asleep and knew nothing about it. But now you judge rightly, as the 121st Psalm, v. 4, says: "Behold, He who preserves Israel does not sleep nor slumber."
13. from the Duke of Bavaria.
The princes of Bavaria 2) have always been proud and hopeful and fiercely hostile to the House of Austria, so that Emperor Maximilian said: If one wanted to boil the two bloods, Austria and Bavaria, in one pot, one would jump out. For they grant the emperorship to the Austrian blood, boast that they are also the wood from which emperors are made. So Duke Wilhelm said.
Under Carolo Magno and Otto, the first emperor, they have always been proud so far, said D. M. Luther. The present emperorship is now up to the fourth member; item, Franconia and Swabia have each retained the emperorship to the fourth member. The German emperors have been excellent heroes, and not such devils and hell-burners as the Roman and the French emperors.
1) Cf. Walch XVII, 1753 ff. - In Bindseil I, 314, he is called Dr. Ernbeck. Actually his name is Diligshausen.
2) Bindseil I, 314.
14. by Duke George of Saxony.
(The first paragraph Cordatus No. 464.)
H[archduke G[eorg] has written a great decree and wants to take it with him to the Imperial Diet. I wanted the emperor to elect him as pope, I think he would grant the bishops and dompffes. The bishop of Mainz would be forced to let two bishoprics go. He would give them better than Luther, because the papists would suffer me more easily as a reformer than him, and the decrees scold the bishops much more than Luther.
(The second paragraph forms the conclusion of Cap. 58, § 3, where it has been transferred. - The following paragraph in its first half is from the section in Lauterbach, July 27, 1538, p. 101 f., which we let follow here in its entirety; the second half of the paragraph was reworked by Aurifaber from Cap. 20, K10.)
The Assembly in Leipzig [Conventus Lipsiensis]. - On July 27, Duke George summoned to Leipzig a large assembly of his prelates, bishops, canons, also the nobles and the committee, and the rumor went out quite generally that Duke George would allow the teaching of the Gospel and the [right] order of the Sacrament, because he wanted to remain with the House of Saxony, his brothers and cousins. Luther replied: I do not believe it. The new newspapers are so good, but my opinion is: Since Duke George of the Papists, the Cardinals sees deceitfulness with the Concilium, which he himself wanted to reform by the decree of the Pope, he did not want his Reformation to fall with him. Therefore, he oppresses his canons, bishops and prelates with the harshest laws, because the old Duke George will come back as he was before the preaching of the Gospel, namely a real enemy of the clergy, who miraculously tormented the bishops, canons and elders. He tormented the bishops, canonists and ebbers miraculously, so that Duke Frederick was forced to step in between. Therefore the saying was spread about Duke George that he was an enemy of the clergy because he was of Bohemian blood from Gersick [i.e. George Podiebrad's grandson from Zdena]; therefore they said: He did not drink it, he sucked it, as if they wanted to say: He is by nature and descent an enemy of the clergy. But after the Pre-
When it came to the preaching of the gospel, he wanted to burn himself white. Perhaps Duke George will now reappear in his former form, for he is already so oppressive to some of the elders that our Elector must also protect them from him. 1)
(The following words at Cordatus No. 755.)
[It is said:] The priests and monks have made Duke G[eorg] full, and they will spit into his bosom as a reward.
And he complained to M. Luther about his blindness and blasphemy against Christ, and that he had resisted the recognized truth and had sinned against conscience; and he said: "When I was still in the monastery, I would never have believed that such wickedness should be in people. I wept that the world would soon accept the truth I had recognized; but I learn from the bishop of Mainz and H[archduke] G[eorg] what a herb the world is. Because it does not come from them, it is nothing. Well, I cannot be afraid of those who are so crazy in their conscience that, even if they boast the name of the church before the common man, they still think and believe much differently in their heart. They make true the prophecy of those who say: "Depart from us, we do not want your way, and with our necks erect we are proud. Such people we see before our eyes. And he that speaketh and doeth thus contrary to the word of God and his conscience must again be put to shame with his blasphemies, for he sinneth against the Holy Ghost, is presumptuous, hardened, and controverteth the known truth.
Item: H[Archduke] G[eorg's] committee had written to H. Heinrich, S. F. G. brother, that he required his son, H. Moritz, who was at the court of H. Johann Friedrich, Elector of Saxony, to come to him first, so they wanted to come and show their F. G. H. G[eorg's] will, because H. G. both sons had died that he had no heirs. Thereupon D. M. Luther said: It is a
1) Although this entire passage is also found in DeWette's collection of letters, Vol. VI, p. 205, we have included it here because we believe that we are not dealing with a letter, but with a speech by Luther, and share Seidemann's assumption that this redaction seems to have originated from it.
Common proverb: He who cannot lift a big stone, let him lie. God sees that he cannot lift the stone. For man may presume to lift it, but God has decreed otherwise. Homo proponit, et Deus disponit, that is, contrarium ponit, he does the contradiction. H.G. wanted to dry up others so that they wither, and make his trunk green and blooming: therefore he gave his oldest son, H.Hansen, the landgravial Fräulein, 2) even a beautiful Fräulein, as a husband. And to H[erzog] Friedrich he offered a Mansfeld Fräulein, 3) Count Hans Georgen's sister. But both young lords begot no children with healthy bodies and beautiful wives. That is why D. M. Luther said: "Because he sees that both his sons have died, he will willingly give himself into it, and deliver the land to his brother, and keep a good will of it, because he cannot take his land with him when he dies.
15 From Duke George's death.
In 1539, April 17, George died suddenly of the Iliaca, having been healthy and cheerful the day before in the women's room. He was buried in Meissen without all papal pomp and ceremonies. Doctor Luther used to say that it was too much that he who had held mass and vigils in such high esteem should not be able to partake of them at his last end.
That same year, on May 3, envoys of the princes of Pomerania, who had come from the day to Frankfurt, ate with D. Luther at night: they said that Duke G[eorg] had died at the right time, because the tinder and the fuse, from which a great fire might have arisen, would have been extinguished. Yes, said D. M. Luther, all the papists' thoughts, plans and intentions are directed to this end, that they would have let the church perish even before, if only they had destroyed the Lutheran boys (as they call us). Abev
2) Elisabeth, daughter of Landgrave Wilhelm II of Hesse. Bindseil I, 326.
3) Elisabeth, daughter of Count Ernst von Mansfeld. Bindseil I, 326.
God has broken their rights and destroyed their plots: for he is able to remove the mighty from their seats, and to exalt the lowly, and to scatter the nations, as the Psalm says, those who delight in war. He also knows how to put to shame trust in men and princes, as in the 146th Psalm, v. 3, 4, which declares that one "should not trust in princes, for they are men who cannot help, for a man's spirit must depart, and he must return to the earth; then all his strivings are lost. So that we may learn to trust God and follow Him.
And here one sees God's miraculous work, that He can destroy human attempts and practices. For Duke George and his allies had a war against the Lutherans on Pentecost in mind: now God comes and takes him away by death. In his will (said D. Luther) these words are said to have been written: If it could become so good for him, he wanted to give the emperor his land and the treasure, so that he could fight his enemies in the German country with it. That he thus had war in mind and pronounced against us Lutherans, whom he considered to be the emperor's enemies.
(This paragraph for the most part, up to the word: "Mines," in Lauterbach, Aug. 5, 1538, page 107 f.)
On August 5, some lawyers from Leipzig were there, who spoke of the assembly of bishops, abbots and prelates, with whom Duke George alone, without all the magistrates, had consulted and had presented the matter in the most secret manner. But the matter stood thus: Duke George wanted to reform the churches that were under his jurisdiction; since he himself was patron, the bishops [however], his protégés (as Doctor Breitenbach is said to have answered), he still wanted to know where the goods were, if he ever needed them. Luther answered: Duke George will make me pious, so that they would more easily choose my reformation than his. It does them no harm that they, who did not respect the counsel of God and trusted in men, namely in the Emperor and Duke George, are now put to shame. For the council
The suggestions of the Holy Spirit are firm; whoever does not want to believe them must experience them. Even if Duke George praises the canons of the Decretals, but if he also judged the bishops and prelates according to them, he would not be free to break into the church properties, and he would not be a patron of them, but a lowly protégé. But the jurists say that the rights are to be distinguished according to time. So does Duke George, seeking the fifth corner, seeking privilege, since our Elector has equal rights with him in ecclesiastical matters, as well as in the regalia and mines. - But there is no hope that he will cease his raging before the sea dries up. If I had first written for the pope, he would have been against the pope; but because I write against the pope, he fights for him and defends him, for he considers it his greatest wisdom to stand against others and resist them. He may not call our doctrine heresy, but he calls it a novelty.
When H. G. died and the sudden change of the principality took place, D. M. Luther said. M. Luther: "It is a punishment for those who despise the right, true God. Here one sees and grasps how foolish the wisdom of the flesh and of reason is, in those who rely on an old man and poor cripple, because he has now walked daily in the pit. If only he had been as powerful as King Pharaoh was in his kingdom of Egypt, whom the Holy Scriptures, Isa. 36:6, call a reed that breaks when you lean on it, and pierces or pierces your hands. Therefore he who trusts 1) and relies on the help of men must be deceived and disgraced.
George was once very ill, said M. Luther, when his physician D. P. came to him. P. had come to him; a crucifix had been presented to the prince, which he should look at; then he had lifted up and said: "Take that thing away, it makes the gentleman melancholy.
1) I. e. supports itself. Cf. Walch, St. Louis ed., XIII, 2616, z 4: "stähnt"; cf. also Wittenb. Ausg., VII, 358: "stönest."
16. by Duke Henry of Saxony.
Doctor M. Luther said that H. G. was an example that should be considered in this last time of the world, since a father with two beautiful, adult and great sons would have gone down in a short time. For when he was vehemently hostile to the teachings of the Gospel, and publicly wrote against him, D. Luther, and also drove many of his subjects from Leipzig and Oschatz and elsewhere into exile and expelled them, and divided his brother, H. Heinrich, nourishingly and poorly with the office of Freiberg and Wolkenstein, and only added thirteen thousand florins to it in the year, which was obtained through Prince Frederick's and H. Hansen's negotiations in Saxony. Luther had prophesied to him that George and his tribe would perish, and said: God will turn the tide, and wither the heir, and let the withered grow by his blessing. For Anno 1537 Duke George's eldest son, Duke Hans, had died. In 1539, his other son, Duke Frederick (to whom he gave a wife, a Countess of Mansseld, whom he had only four weeks, and assigned 24 councilors to him as guardians, for the regiment), also died on the 24th day of Februarii. In the same 1539th year, on the 17th day of April, the father, Duke George, followed and also departed with death, and was buried without all papal ceremonies.
On the other hand, Henry and his sons inherited the Meissen land, which he would have liked to get rid of, and kept him like a Cinderella. For he sent him to the Holy Land, thinking that he should remain outside in the same pilgrimage. After that he sent him to war in Friesland, where he was besieged and captured, and was in great danger of his life. After that he took a vow from him that he should not take a wife. Item, he did not grant the brother a piece of the regalia, so that he also did not suffer him on the coin. 1) Lastly, when his son, H. Fried-
1) This means that he did not have his image, as a co-regent, minted on the coins.
rich had died to him, he wanted to turn the principality over to the emperor and even disinherit his brother H. Heinrich. But it did not help, Duke George had to wither away, even though he had fathered nine children with his wife, the Queen of Poland, as Johannem, Friedericum, Magdalenam, Chnstianam, Christophorum, Annam, Agnetam, Margaretham, and another Christophorum. Nevertheless, the children all died before him except for one daughter, and he followed after, and is now the same as if he had never been in the world.
M. Luther also said, when H. Heinrich had received the homage in Leipzig in 1539 and he, D. Martinus, preached there on the day of Pentecost, and later with the Elector of Saxony, Duke Johann Friedrich, and H. Heinrich, on the 26th day of May, drove out of a wagon at the same time from Leipzig to Grimm, that at that time H. Heinrich had complained a lot on the wagon about H. Georg, his brother. Georg, his brother, and said that he had had no greater enemy in his life than his own brother, for he had wanted him dead, and that in the same 39th year he had also written out to him the yearly money, the 13,000 florins, 2) and had absolved the four towns, as Pirn, Hain, Weißenfels and Eckersberg, which had been assigned to the pledge for it, and punished those of Weißenfels with imprisonment, that they had kept their guarantee according to the prescription. God was still able to miraculously raise up and make great H. Heinrich, and on the other hand let H. Georg's tribe perish with the root.
(This paragraph in Cordatus No. 532,)
Duke Henry of Saxony once mockingly said to his brother, Duke George: "Brother, the world is getting strange; but I will stay with the Latin mass, since one can buy one for a penny, because the German mass costs ten villages.
17. D. M. Luther's Urtheil von großen Fürsten und Herren.
D. M. Luther once said: "Do the great heads, emperors, kings, princes, bishops
2) D. i. recited.
In so many imperial congresses we do not counsel peace, but rather strife and war; yes, well then, in the name of their God, who drives them in their fierce anger, poems, deeds, 1) counsel, practices and proposals, we will always let them go and perish.
18. pious princes poor people.
Princes and lords are poor people, especially if they are pious and God-fearing; therefore our Lord God did not command in vain to honor the authorities and to pray for them.
D. M. Luther once said: There are not poorer people on earth than the princes; and our Lord God has not commanded it so diligently through Paulum in vain: Orate pro illis, qui in sublimitatibus constituti sunt. I have not understood it so well, the orare, as in my two Electors and Lords, H[erzog] Johann and H[erzog] Johann Friedrich. They are out of the saddle, they cannot help, even if they would like to; therefore they need the prayer of the Christians.
19. princes dying.
On July 22, 1533, M. Luther said over the table to Duke John Frederick, Elector of Saxony etc.: It is a miserable thing when a prince dies, as when a peasant dies, he has no standing. A prince must be abandoned by all his friends and lords, and in the end must fight with the devil; one does not want to think of living a little more princely.
20. great potentates are our Lord God's deck of cards.
(Contained in Cap. 2, § 99.)
21st Franconian nobility.
The Franconian nobility has been punished, but if I see our nobility and the Meissen nobility punished, it will be bad.
1) i.e., to keep days, to meet.
22. From King Alphonso, how great lords should love their subjects.
When King Alphonsus of Arragon had besieged the city of Cajeta 2) and a poor defenseless group of women, children and weak people were driven out of the city, so that the others inside could wait out the siege the longer and fight back, the captains advised the king that he should make an incursion and strike the same group, so that those in the city would be induced to surrender the sooner. Then Alphonsus said: "God protect me for this, I did not want to take the whole kingdom of Neapolis and practice such tyranny and despotism: it is not so dear to me, even if it were still so delicious and good. And Duke Frederick, the laudable Elector of Saxony, is also said to have said the same thing, when some advised him to invade and besiege Erfurt; it would not cost more than five men, and they would perish. But he did not want to do it and said: "It would be too much for one man. But nowadays, great lords do not pay much attention to their subjects, just as they do not pay much attention to the men of war. As he said, "The mother of all the soldiers has not yet died. Item: A lot of soldiers are raised with a ton of buttermilk.
Why our suggestions and advices are not correct, especially those of the regents.
There is nothing praiseworthy and lovely about a prince, except that he speaks freely what his opinion is, and loves those who do the same, saying unashamedly what is in their hearts, where time and necessity require it. There is nothing more shameful in a preacher than to keep his mouth shut and not speak freely what he has in mind and what his opinion is, especially when he is supposed to speak for half an office. God makes fools of both princes and theologians, for he commands them to rule and imposes on them things that are impossible, which no one would take upon himself if he knew it in the first place; and yet he may not refrain from doing so with a clear conscience once he has been commanded to do so and has accepted it. But it is toil and trouble that we are commanded to do much, and yet little is done; it will go nowhere.
2) D. i. Ga "ta in Neapolitan.
This is what our Lord God does, so that he alone may be wise and mighty, and may keep the honor. For if it were according to our words and our plans, as we have thought and done, we would be proud and presumptuous, as if we were so wise, and were the people who could do it. For it is inborn in us by nature that we strive and stand for great wisdom, power and honor, want to accomplish much and make everything delicious.
Well, says God, you are the man who can and does; go, be wise, and do it well; be a preacher and make the people pious; be a lord and ruler and bring the people well etc. So then go quickly; yes, the crab walk; and the end of the song is called: It is all quite vain. Only God should be given wisdom and honor, we are fools and miserable bumblers with our doings and art.
24. from the roman empire.
(Contained in Cap. 76, § 27.)
25. by Duke Wilhelm zu S.
(Lauterbach, Nov. 23, 1538, p. 178.)
After that, it was said of Duke Wilhelm of Saxony, who, when he married Anna, the daughter of the King of Hungary, despised her very much and had her imprisoned, because he had with him a very beautiful woman, Catharina von Brandenstein, with whom he went to bed in public, so that the queen saw it. Finally, the queen died of heartache, and he went to the holy land and did enough for his sin. He took the whore as his wife. When one of the court ducks was supposed to imitate him in marrying his concubine, he quickly took another virgin and married her. But Duke Wilhelm, although he was an excellent, well-mannered prince, nevertheless had to pay in the end, as the Psalm (58:12) says: "God is still judge on earth.
26. young gentlemen.
(Cordatus No. 1429.)
Young gentlemen must have good days until their twentieth year, so that they do not become fainthearted. After that, God comforts them.
When they come into office, their good days are spoiled. An example of this is a tree that is planted in a pot, which is still nurtured and cared for in the open field, but when it grows up [out of the earth], how much it has to suffer! 1)
27. princes must be the scribes and captains servants.
A prince rules in peace among the scribes, in war he must be servant and servant among the soldiers and thrasons; for he must tolerate and suffer the willfulness, courtiers and tyranny of every captain, colonel and warrior, and must not rebel against them. He has as many masters as he has captains and men-of-war, to whom he must not only give enough, even superfluous, but also give thanks, worship them, carry them on his hands, greet them kindly and be a good companion with them, lying below and above; otherwise he is despised and abandoned.
This is true, especially in our time, when there is neither discipline nor restraint among such people. But if he takes a snatch, that he is exhausted, and has no more money, or is killed, then they go to another, and leave him, yes, let themselves be used against him in wars, and help to overrun him, whom they previously supported and defended. Summa Summarum, he alone bears the title, a servant of the servants of the devil: if he is not also a Christian and prays, he becomes the poorest and most miserable man, of whom one has mercy.
But a prince must have such people, and it is impossible that everything could go right as it should. But even so, this is the most pious prince, who does not want it gladly, nor does he consent to it, but only suffers such companions, yes, must suffer them well, and punishes what he knows and can, so that everything does not go freely unpunished and unbridled, but that one must nevertheless be afraid of the sword. At court, everyone begrudges the other his happiness, and would like to be the first on the board and soar upward.
1) Aurifaber in a marginal gloss places this speech wrongly in the year 1545. No speech, which is handed down by Cordatus, falls later than 1537.
28. princes work the greatest and most dangerous.
(Cordatus No. 586. 587.)
If the peasants knew the very great things and difficult cases that the princes have to deal with, they would thank God for their good and quiet position. But they, like sheep and oxen, see only the splendor and the palaces of the same, but they do not see the sorrows. Therefore, they dishonor God, are safe and snore in peace, and harm the people by despising the authorities.
Duke Frederick told the preceptor at Lichtenberg [Wolfgang Reißenbusch] step by step and in order that the life of the peasants was the happiest of all civic positions, the burghers bought with great concern and sold at a loss, the nobles had their complaints, but the princes had the greatest worries. The peasants, however, as everything would grow by itself, sell everything they can in the most expensive way, and only to them he gave the highest price [palmam] of happiness. That they give tithes and annual interest, they give for the land and the soil that belongs to the princes. Therefore, let it be true with respect to them what is said: The better the land, the poorer the people.
29th farmers work.
(Cordatus No. 588.589.)
The peasants who complain about the arduousness of their labors are lying, for all their labors are very cheerful, if only for the sake of this one cause, that they are full of the best hope, planting, tilling the field, hewing wood and everything else. Suffer not much in food, as the citizens do. Yes, a correct interpreter of the life of the same is Virgil in the Georgicis: O the all too happy peasants 1) etc.
The peasants do not realize their [happy] lot, therefore God strikes them with this evil, that their servants and maids have it better than the masters themselves, because they do not care about the domestic worries and do the same.
1) Virgil. OkorAiva II, 458: O kortuuatos nirräurn, sua si dona norint, ^Zrioolas! etc.
not feel, but only their work. My wolf has it better than me and my Käthe. For marriage brings discomfort with it and imposes it especially on the man. In short, the higher the status, the greater the danger. Optat ephippia bos piger; optat arare caballus, 2) No one is satisfied with his fate.
30 Of Kingdom of Bohemia and the Electorate of Saxony.
(Cordatus No. 1455.)
The Bohemians have in the castle at Prague the paintings of all the kings who have reigned so far, and they have a prophecy that when this line of kings is full, they will have no more king. And Ferdinand occupies the last space, so we may expect that evil augury. Also the row of the dukes of Saxony became full with Frederick [the Wise], who stood, so that there was no more room, at the door to Wittenberg [in the castle], and he [Luther] said, this means something: The cuckoo in the Bohemian Forest shall not sing here. 3)
31. by Emperor Carl the Fifth.
At the Diet of Worms, Anno 1521, Emperor Carl the Fifth had a swift mandate against my doctrine, Luther's doctrine, issued and posted; on it some learned, faithful men wrote soon in front, after the first line, near his coat of arms on the margin, namely these words: "Some have still had good hope in this Emperor Carl; but how much this tyrannical edict has scared off and turned away the hearts of many pious, honest people from him, that cannot be thought, much less said.
32. from the Emperor Maximilian.
Emperor Maximilian is said to have said at a time when he had established an alliance with the Venetians: There would have been three kings in
2) Horat. Dpist. I, 14, 42 - Wols is Luther's servant Wolfgang Sieberger, who is mentioned very often in Luther's Briesen, from 1517 to 1546. Cf. Cordatus No. 631.
3) That means: The prophecy of misfortune, which fits Bohemia, does not apply here, because the second Elector after Frederick already ruled.
He, the emperor, the king of France, and the king of England. He would be a king of kings, because if he interpreted something to his princes, if it pleased them, they would do it, if not, they would leave it. This indicates that the princes would never have obeyed him, but would have done as they wished. The king of France, however, would be a king of asses; for everything that he called his own, they would have to do, like asses, his princes would have to obey. But the king of England would be a king of the people, for what he laid out for them they would gladly do, and would love their lord as obedient subjects.
33. mildness of the emperor Maximilian.
The emperor Maximilianus had an amusing man with him, who pulled off many merry pranks, called Kunz von der Rosen. 1) He once walked behind 2) a poor priest and saw that he was carrying a book under his arm: such a book pleased the fool, so he took it from the priest. But when the priest wanted to have his book back, Kunz von der Rosen said, "Come with me, I will pay you enough for the book. When the priest went with him, the fool led the priest into the emperor's parlor. The emperor asked what the man wanted. Kunz von der Rosen answered: "Dear emperor, it is a poor priest, he has left his prayer book in the public house: now he asks for a tax so that he can get his book back. The emperor, however, soon understood Kunz von der Rosen's antics and said: "Oh, what a strange man you are! and ordered ten guilders to be given to the poor priest for worship.
34. of King Solomon's court and order.
(Lauterbach, Aug. 26, 1538, p. 121.)
On August 26, Luther said: "Solomon's kingdom was very well ordered; there was also a definite order of expenses, so that he also knew how much was consumed daily by the
1) Cf. Cap. 63, §11.
2) In the issues: before.
all the land in the twenty-four courts, as it is described 1 Kings 4:22: "And Solomon had to have daily for food thirty cores of fine flour, and sixty cores of other flour; ten fatted oxen, and twenty pastured oxen etc. So all his land was laid up." For those costs do not extend to Solomoni's farm, but to the whole territory. I consider that nowunder four imperial cities consume daily more in so large expenditure.
Why does God punish the subjects because of the Lord's sin?
D. M. Luther was asked: Why God had punished the people, since David had sinned? To this he gave this answer, saying: Israel was not pure either, as the text indicates; therefore, when God wants to punish a people, He removes the hand, so the king falls, hence the punishment follows primarily because of the people's disobedience.
Whether it is better to govern by reason and natural understanding, or by and according to the rights and laws described.
(Cordatus No. 780. 781. 782.)
The natural dialectic we draw from what we have seen and experienced, but the artificial one is learned from rules, and it is better governed by the mind than by laws of art. For the intellect is the soul of the law and the master of all laws. But where are those who have such an understanding? In one century there is hardly one.
Our Prince Frederick governed everything by reason and counsel, and since his brother John was prescribed such, he still could not attain his wisdom. Fabian Feilitzsch is said to have given more reliable answers from reason alone than any jurist. Philipp Melanchthon teaches those glorious arts, but the arts did not teach him. And I put my art into the books and do not take it from the books. One must learn from learned and clever people, but to reach them, one will leave, and theirs are not many. If our prince wanted to have such intelligence as Frederick had, he will not.
The laws belong to the people, the mind is with individuals. Therefore, those are governed and those govern by the laws. And because those who are truly wise by reason are lacking, one must use the laws that wise people have made with their reason.
37. of the political and church anger.
Domestic wrath, as father and mother, masters and wives in the house, does no great harm; but the wrath of the authorities, both in spiritual and temporal government, does real harm. For there perish woman, child, country, people, angels, God, and all welfare, even as now, when the wicked are angry with us. Domestic anger is like children playing with dolls.
38. by Christiern, King of Denmark.
D. M. Luther had a tablet on which was painted how King Christian of Denmark was expelled. He looked at this painting for a long time and finally said: "Although it is a disgrace to the king, I will gladly have it. For it is an example and teaches that God does not want to suffer pride or presumption, but overthrow; as Mary sings in the Magnificat: "He removes the mighty from the throne," Luc. 1, 52.
39. of driving out King christian.
D. M. Luther was asked whether he, the King of Denmark, had also been expelled in a lawful manner. Whether it had been right for him? He said, "They say he was a tyrant; but he did not rage as the bishops cry out against him. He was expelled more from the hatred of the bishops than from just causes. Therefore, because he now hears that the bishops lie imprisoned, he is said to have clasped his hands together, lifted them up and said: Praise be to God that I see that my adversaries have been put to shame; now I will gladly endure and suffer my imprisonment. Thus fornication has done great harm to the good Lord; for fornication corrupts and devastates the land and the people, and nothing good comes of it.
40 The Emperor Maximiliani Courtesy.
When the King of Denmark at one time sent a noble legation and embassy to Emperor Maximilian, and the same assumed great honor for itself on account of its lord being powerful, so that the envoy wanted to do the advertisement and the request sitting down: when Emperor Maximilian noticed this, he stood up and heard him standing, so that the legate also had to stand up half ashamed and do his advertisement.
Likewise, when an envoy, in the beginning of his speech and proposal, was frightened and dismayed, so that he kept silent and, as it were, fell silent, the emperor began to talk to him about another deal, giving him time to consider, until he encouraged himself again.
Item, when an insolent beggar asked him, the emperor, for a gift, and called him brother, because they were both of one father Adam origin: he was poor, but the emperor rich, who could help; he said to him, Behold, thou hast two kreuzer, and go to the other brothers also; if they give thee so much, thou art richer than I am.
41. courtesy and kindness of the Emperor Maximiliani the First.
(Cordatus No. 1603.)
Maximilian had an unfaithful counselor, who also did him much evil in other ways, and yet he wanted to be just. Once the emperor approached him and said: "What do you think he deserves who is my most trusted advisor and yet unfaithful? He answered without delay: He would be worthy of the most ignominious death. Then he struck him on the armpit and said: I must have yours more. If my duke said such things to me, I would shit in my pants.
42. another history.
Otherwise D. M. Luther had told a story about the Emperor Maximiliano, that he once sat and calculated and had a large pile of money in front of him on the table. One of his advisors had stood in front of him, had always looked him in the eye, and had seen whether the emperor wanted to look around or go away, so that he could reach into the money.
would have done. Now, the emperor notices it, and leans against the wall as if he were tired, closes his eyes and falls asleep: soon he is there, and reaches for the florins, wipes his pocket with them. The emperor is silent, and when he finally wakes up, he is standing there just as before. Then the emperor says, "My dear, I see that this money is very pleasing to you; let me see it, take it, and what you take is yours. He does so, and the emperor says, "My dear, let me see and count how much you have been able to collect at once. He counts it. Then the emperor said, "My dear, count the others that you have in your pocket. Then he had to take out what he had first taken and count it, but the emperor left him both.
43. by King Henry of England.
M. Franz Burkart, after he came back from England, rode next to M. Luther's carriage and said how zealous and angry the king was against the pope, that he soon asked him in the first address: whether it was true that the princes and theologians in Germany were divided and ambivalent in religious matters against the pope, as he had heard from truthful and credible people. Then he, M. Franz, had constantly confuted and refuted it, saying that it was impudently fabricated with untruth, and that since the royal dignity knew that it was otherwise, he wanted to be his eternal prisoner together with his fellow envoys and companions. So that he would have confirmed and strengthened the king very much, so that he would have given him free access to him at all times afterwards, and would have talked to him a lot about the Christian Augsburg Confession.
Then D. Jonas said, as Elector John of Saxony etc. said to his theologians at Augsburg in 1530: "Dear sirs, if you do not dare to preserve it, think that you do not lead the country and its people into harm. But the theologians would have answered: If you, Lord, do not want to stand with us, then let us come alone before the Imperial Majesty and answer for ourselves. Then Prince John said with great zeal and faith in Abraham: God does not want that, do you want to exclude me? I will also confess Christ with you.
44. from king Heinzen divorce.
(The first paragraph Cordatus No. 795.)
The wife of the King of England, the sister of the mother of our Emperor, was united to him in a forbidden degree, but the Pope, with cunning advice, deferred the divorce from himself to the universities, and seven had decided that the divorce should be pronounced publicly. We, however, and the University of Louvain have given a different opinion. The others cunningly seek the Emperor's disgrace by pushing back his aunt, so that they would do a favor to the King of France, whose sister they want to join to the Englishman. We advised him, however, that it would be more tolerable for him to live in the Concubinate than for him to stir up the country and its people; but at last he repudiated them. 1)
Item, Anno 1539, the 1st of May, came word from England of the Pabst's treachery 2) against the king, who had corrupted the Cardinal Polum, the king's blood relative, and bribed him with promises that he should have the king killed on Easter Day, on which the emperor would have planned and decided to take Calais and all English ports. But this secret practice was miraculously revealed by God. For he had made the secretary senseless, who was washed out of the council in his illness, as an erring delusional person, which
1) Catharine of Arragon, daughter of Ferdinand and Jsabella, aunt of Emperor Carl V, had first been married to the brother of Henry VIII of England, Arthur. The pope Clement VII protracted the matter of the divorce, especially, as he pretended, in order not to spoil things with the emperor. The universities, which had decided in Henry's favor, were almost all, but especially Paris, won by great gifts. Luther and Melanchthon, to whom D. Barnes (in Wittenberg under the name of Antonius) had been seconded, spoke in favor of the validity of the marriage. The King of France is said to have contributed a great deal to the consummation of the divorce, so that he turned the King of England away from the friendship of the Emperor altogether. Henry repudiated Catharina in July 1531, and the formal divorce was not pronounced until 1533 by Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, after Henry had already (1533) married Anna Boleyn. Cf. Luther's concerns about this marriage matter. Walch, old edition, vol. XVII, 266 (Rebenstock 1, 235 k.) and vol. XXI, 1386, the latter dated Sept. 5, 1531 (Wrampelmeyer.).
2) In the editions: Traitors.
The king took good care of the Cardinal Marcionem 1) and saw him as a traitor, and immediately occupied and fortified all ports and approaches to England in the best and strongest way, so that on Easter Day all cities were in cuirasses and went to the sacrament. There spoke D. M. Luther said: "There will be no end to it; the pope will remember and practice day and night to humiliate this king, just as he does us Germans.
The first of these is the "Theological".
There was talk about the secret practices of the papists, which they lead against us through the French and the emperor etc. Then said D. M. Luther said: "It behooves such high majesties to fight honestly and truthfully, not secretly. Oh, if the high majesties are such assassins, who want to defend this bear wolf, who is dealing with deceit, secretly, without announcement of war, then they will have no more luck, because they are assassins. The prayer of devout God-fearing Christians has been our protection and wall against them, so that their treachery and practices have been revealed and come to light. I certainly believe that God has so far protected me against their counsels and plots, as He delivered Jacob the patriarch from the Scythians, Genesis 35.
When it was said by some who had received writings from England, how the king had once again fallen away from the Gospel, had commanded, under corporal punishment, that the laity should take the Sacrament only under one form, that clerics, monks and nuns should keep their vows, and that their and the priests' marriages should be torn apart; since he had previously done the opposite in all this, but now he did otherwise, to God's displeasure and to the pope's pleasure; said D. M. Luther. M. Luther: "The papists will laugh at this, rejoice and boast, as it is also a great annoyance; but let it go, that it may go as it will, it is the same King Heinz, as I have depicted him in the first booklet, he will well find his judge: his predecessor, the priest, the priests, the priests, and the priests.
1) Maybe Marco Polo?
I never liked the fact that he wanted to kill the body of the pope but preserve the soul, that is, his false teaching.
Item, Anno 1539, den 10. Julii, D. M. Luther thanked God that he had redeemed our church from this annoying king of England, who had desired and sought our alliance with the greatest diligence, and yet had not been accepted; no doubt that God had prevented this out of special counsel, for he has always been unstable and fickle.
I am glad that we are rid of the blasphemer. He wants to be the head of the church in England without means after Christ, which title is not due to any bishop, no matter how pious and godly he may be, let alone to a king or prince. It does not suffer, Christ alone is the only bridegroom and head of his Christian church. The church is not such a small body as the pope dreams. But the devil rides this king to vex and martyr Christ. He killed Thomas Morum, who had offended against God and sinned, even though he had done nothing against the king. He remains King Heinz, but he will soon be put to shame. I am sorry and repentant that M. Philipp Melanchthon has written the most beautiful presations and prefaces to the most wicked people.
46 The King of England's Divorce.
(Lauterbach, May 29, 1538, p. 88.)
On May 29, Luther spoke about the marriage case of the King of England. When he had married his brother's wife, who was the mother-sister of the emperor, he had not been allowed to do so by the pope; but since he wanted a judicial verdict from the pope, since he was ready to keep her or to leave her, a court day was set for him in England. When Cardinal Campegius arrived there and heard both sides, he left secretly without deciding the matter. The enraged king then sought the decision of many universities, which decided the separation, because it was an evil thing.
The first of these is the question of whether Thomas Morus was killed for the sake of the Gospel.
(Lauterbach, May 29, 1538, p. 88.)
Luther was asked if Thomas More had been killed by the king for the sake of the Gospel. Not at all, he said, for he was a very great tyrant against the gospel and shed much blood of pious confessors, whom he tortured with strange tools like an executioner. First he examined them with words under a green tree, then he tortured them with questions in prisons, finally, since he was the closest to the king and behaved wantonly against the decree of the whole kingdom, he himself fell under punishment.
48. prophecy of the emperor Carl.
(Cordatus No. 641 and 1587.)
In an old book one read that Emperor Carl would subjugate all of Europe, he would reform the church and under him the mendicant orders would fall, and the western beast and the eastern lion would subjugate the whole world. This is what I understand from the Turk and Carl. After this the regions of the barbarians shall be converted. I also believe that they are called Teutons because they are brothers [germani] of the Italians, who would have the priesthood, but the Germans the rule. If this pleases you, let it please you. 1)
We have a pious emperor. He has a wedge in his heart, whoever wants to put it in him. He is quiet and pious. I think he doesn't talk as much in a year as I do in a day.
49. unequal happiness of two brothers, great potentates.
(Cordatus No. 833. 868. 869. 923. 986. 987.)
It is wonderful that two brothers have such different fortunes, like Ferdinand and the Emperor. Everyone shouts: Away from Ferdinand
1) In this section, only the interpretation of the first prophecy about the Turk and Carl, and the last sentence seem to be speeches of Luther, the rest quotes from the book.
and the emperor! The advice of the former is lost in the wind, but the advice of the latter is happy, because he is innocent and has not stained himself with blood. 2) The former lives and does according to Aristotle's choice. The former lives and does according to the choice of Aristotle, but the latter is governed by the counsel of God. The latter has imposed himself and relies on his wisdom, [but God says]: they have chosen whom I did not want, and I will disgrace their choice. Therefore, he is led there by his will, not by divine impulse.
When I pray that God may give victory to Carl against the Turk, our sins and ingratitude cry out to me against it.
The Pope called Carl to Germany that he should corrupt us, and behold, God has preserved us and corrupted the Pope. He has an imperial modesty, does not throb, and God gives happiness to his enterprise. "To govern is to see through the fingers." He who cannot see through his fingers cannot govern.
God gives everything to His own in sleep [Ps. 127, 2]. You can see that in Carl. He must have a good angel. By the way, Ferdinand does everything with wisdom, but everything is lost to him, even what he already has in his hands.
God is doing wonders at this time of ours with the two brothers Carl and Ferdinand, because he has given each of them a great dominion, and yet formed them with the most different inclinations and manners. The former is the author of war, the latter of peace. Happiness dwells with the one, misfortune with the other; everyone loves the one, everyone hates the one. 4) Ferdinand has neither money nor favor; wealth and favor flow to him.
2) Instead of multum, nuilo is to be read. After that the words "ssä äsus äioit" are missing. (Bindseil II, 322.) The words refer to Ferdinand's election as Roman king. (Wrampelmeyer.)
3) In the original: "RsZnars est älssinaulars"; qui n68oit äissirnulark, nssoit inapsrars. For the translation, see Walch, St. Louis Edition, Vol. X, 412, § 76.
4) In this sentence the pronouns "this" and "that" are confused in the original.
Spaniards defended them against the power of the Venetians, the Pope and the King of France. They are protectors, but not faithful. For there every citizen was forced to provide twenty soldiers with subsistence and wages. They play with equal dice with the Turks, and both [Spaniards and Turks] form a garrison not unlike that at Jerusalem. [They] look for the money in wells, hoe where the earth is new, there they dig in, newly whitewashed walls they tear down.
50. emperor kisses the pope's feet.
(Cordatus No. 1237.)
The kings of France and England have fallen away from the pope, and the emperor has kissed his feet again. 1) The [pope] understands the will of the emperor very well, because if the emperor kisses his feet, the pope must lick the emperor again in Ars. But those two kings are Lutheran in taking, not in giving. 2) They seek what is theirs, not what is God's.
51. from France and England.
(The first paragraph, omitted here, is contained in the previous §. The following Lauterbach, Nov. 17, 1538, p. 173.)
After that, it was said of the king of France that he was boorish and made a fool of himself by having affairs with women; the emperor was good in himself, but Spain was tyrannical. Therefore many people say: I am good imperial, but not good Spanish. For these are the cruelest tyrants. Although Bucer claimed that the emperor was a very devious man, so he used only two main rathors. They are great kings and monarchs. David and Solomon have no prestige, have not been great rulers, have a handful of people, so that the books of Chronica almost indicate the number of their court servants and country people.
1) Since Carl V met with Clement VII in Bologna in December 1532. (Wrampelmeyer.)
2) The meaning is: they are pleased with the new teaching, provided it gives them cause to seize something.
52. emperor Carl's virtue and discipline.
In 1544, shortly before the French War, when Emperor Carl the Fifth was passing through France and staying in several towns, the King of France gave him a grand banquet in a castle and had a very beautiful virgin from the nobility brought to his chamber in the evening and secretly put to bed. But when the emperor lay down and knew nothing about it, the maiden was so frightened that she trembled. Then the emperor summoned his advisors and asked diligently: Where she was from and what parents she had. And when the maiden had reported and narrated the whole affair in a fine, simple and chaste manner, the emperor sent her home to her parents unharmed and unchanged with gifts and presents, just as she had come to him, and gave her several horsemen to escort her. She, however, the virgin, thanked the emperor beforehand with weeping eyes quite humbly and humbly. When the escorts and horsemen returned, the emperor departed. But not long after that, he had the same castle razed to the ground during the war.
53 Duke Frederick, Elector of Saxony, Judgement of Emperor Carl the Fifth.
When Duke Frederick, Elector of Saxony, was seriously asked by one, "What do you think of the Roman Emperor, Carl the Fifth? M. Luther: God has given us this emperor for graces and disgraces. A good, wise and polite answer.
54 From Emperor Carl's Coronation.
The Spaniards' arrogance, presumption and tyranny do not bode well. They are plaguing Italy and intend to become masters of Germany; they would like to lift the German princes out of their regalibus so that they alone can rule and reign.
Emperor Carl was elected by the Electors at Frankfurt, anointed at Aachen and crowned by the Pope at 3) Bononia, for which he did not require any Electoral or German princes, but other Italian and Hispanic princes and lords,
3) D.i. Bologna.
next to and with him, which have presented and led him the flags, regalia and coats of arms of the Elector etc. Since I stirred it once in my booklet, they were bought up by the Elector everywhere.
55. by Emperor Carl's Demuth.
The people of Antorf 1) had a beautiful tapestry made for Emperor Carln, on which the battle before Pavia, how the King of France was captured, was depicted. But the emperor did not want to accept it, so that one did not cry, he rejoiced in other people's misfortune and misery.
56 Emperor Carl's modesty and long-suffering.
(Lauterbach, Aug. 1, 1538, p. 104.)
On August 1, there was much talk of Emperor Carl's slowness and modesty, which did more good than harm. He answered: It is very praiseworthy to keep the middle road, and this has been highly exalted at all times. But it is difficult to attain it, as Isocrates says: because it is difficult to hit the middle. Therefore it is better to do too little than too much. Maximilian was such a man, and he acted according to his proverb: Keep moderation. For when he had defeated the Dukes of the Palatinate, he tempered his victory with admirable modesty, defended their families and their territory, so that no great change would occur in their descendants. Likewise, when he was preparing for a great war against the Venetians and saw that they had an alliance with the Turks, he made a covenant with them so that he would not increase the evil. The lucky ones have kept the middle road. 2) But there are too many byways. And human nature is all too weak, for it is easily irritated on both sides.
57: The Emperor Maximilian's Rhyme.
Tene Mensuram, et respice Finem hinein, that is, keep moderation, and remember the end. This dictum is finer than Emperor Carl's: Plus Ultra.
1) D. i. Antwerp.
2) In the original: LItzäium tsuusrs psati.
58 Emperor Carl's armor against the Turk.
(Lauterbach, Oct. 23, 1538, p. 155.)
On October 23, one said of the Emperor's armament against the Turk, if only it did not also happen against Germany. Philip answered: How, if now Carl's luck was coming to an end? For ten years ago he was pursuing a stag, but when a wolf got in his way, he let the stag go and pursued it, fell off his horse and wounded his thigh so that it became inflamed, and would almost have died. What if he left the stag, the Turk, and attacked the wolf, Germany, at his peril? Luther said: The Lord grant peace and resist the bloodthirsty devil.
On this day Gabriel von Torgau wrote about Jakob: D. Jeckel remains Jeckel. Jeckel does not want to go home, he is an antinomer. Luther said: Christ is well practiced in this fight, because he says (Matth. 10, 36.): "A man's enemies will be his own household." Inward poison does more harm than outward poison to the skin.
59. great lords servant at court possessed by the devil.
They talked about how K. and F. were miserably imprisoned by their rulers, bishops and cardinals. Then said D. M. Luther said: "Therefore, the Holy Scripture exhorts us to pray for the authorities, not so much for their own sake as for the sake of their office, for their courtiers are possessed with devils. Few Joseph and Daniel are found at court.
60. beautiful order of the roman empire.
In 1539, May 16, Luther said of the fine form and order of the Holy Roman Empire: "Since the emperor was elected by the seven princes according to the bull of gold, and that he had given them the justice of the sword and the courts, they may also use it. Item, that one or two princes voice the other concerns. As Elector Frederick of Saxony did when he was elected Roman king at Frankfurt in 1519, but he would not accept anything, but wished and
He granted it to his cousin, H[archduke] Albrecht of Mecklenburg, since he lived: for no one could resist the Frenchman. After that, Carolum was chosen, not as a king of Hispania, but as a German and Archduke of Austria.
If the spiritual princes, the bishops, were temporal lords, it would be much better and more advisable. But now one prince must bear the hatred of all the others alone: and if the common man were not favorable and kind to him, as Jacob was to the Shechemites, he could not endure it. God sustains him wonderfully.
61. from N. N. Government.
In 1539, June 4, there was talk of a great lord who was raging against the gospel and was planning strange plots. M. Luther said: "He is a poor gentleman, who is a prisoner of the pope and thinks that one could not fight the Turk, if one had first eradicated Christ and his gospel. He is like King Ahaz, who, when he wanted to defeat Assyria, called on the God of the Syrians and Damascus, and the God of Israel was no good at all. And I am surprised that the papists are so bold and cheerful, yes, mad and foolish, and are allowed to execute and execute the sentence, which has not yet been pronounced nor fallen. But, praise God, we still have the advantage that no council has condemned us for heretics. Thus the right define and describe, and say: That he is a heretic who stubbornly defends his error etc. Which we have never done in our part, but freely displayed testimonies from God's Word and the Holy Scriptures, and gladly listen to the other opinion. But here is effort and work, that we do not have the pope as a judge nor can suffer, but want to make him a part.
62. same mandate.
Doctor Martin Luther was given a printed mandate by a king, in which he seriously forbade that no one should adopt the new doctrine of Luther, which would be the mother and root of all evil. etc. Then he said: This shall be the reward of this world, namely.
This king wants to drive out Christ, the King over all kings, against whom Cain, all false prophets and teachers, monarchs, emperors and kings, Julianus the Mamluk and others have been running and crushing themselves. Let him leave Christ and his kingdom alone. Let us watch and pray against him.
(The following paragraph Cordatus No. 1144.)
Ferdinand does not suffer misfortunes of a hero, which kings are wont to suffer, as Louis drowned in the water in the war, the king of France caught in the war. He suffers only peasant misfortunes. For at Augsburg he almost fell to his death; in Bohemia he almost perished in the fire; since he went over the ice on the Danube, he almost brought himself to his death. I believe that the cause of all these misfortunes is his own arrogance, in which he does everything. He has a godless heart and grieves over nothing and regrets nothing, unless he is like Esau, who did not grieve because he had offended God with his trade, but over the loss of his birthright. God is not concerned about this.
63: The Turkish invasion.
Let us do righteous penance, pray, and wait for the will of the Lord, for human help and protection is too weak for this. Five years ago (1532 in September), the emperor could have resisted the Turks, since he had gathered a very powerful army on horseback and on foot, from all over the empire, both French and Germans, but he did not want to. Unfortunately, many good people were sacrificed on the flesh bank and perished miserably. Oh dear God, what is more in this life than dying and death! Nothing more than death from youth to old age.
The extreme wickedness of the world, said D. M. Luther, will provoke God to anger, so that he will punish...
1) Louis II of Hungary lost his life in a swamp while fleeing at Mohacz in 1526. - At Augsburg, Ferdinand almost broke his neck during a tournament (Cordatus No. 1126). (Wrampelmeyer.)
We have to take hold of it by force, even against His will and unwillingly, because nothing will help anymore, we continue with our sins, ingratitude, contempt and distortion of God's word, and persecution of His faithful servants, without ceasing.
Unfortunately, I am worried that things will not go right. For the Spaniards' tyranny and courtly rule, because they cannot force the Germans nor bring them under their yoke, will hand us over to the Turks and subjugate us: So we Germans are good fellows, we drink, we eat, we break the windows, we tear down the ovens, we gamble away a hundred, or a thousand, or even more florins in one evening, and meanwhile we forget about the Turk, who can be at Wittenberg in thirty days with a bunch of light horses, he can besiege it: for he is, as the prophet says, and like a desolation before him.
Unfortunately, I am worried that we will sleep through it. The treachery is great; I am worried that the twenty thousand men and the fine artillery have been deliberately betrayed to the Turks. It is not customary to lead such large armies into the field. Maximilian kept it safe in Vienna. He looks at me as if he should say: "The gun is a gift to you, kill what cannot escape. It looks not unlike treason. For they are all still asleep, but the Turk keeps watch with all diligence, tries everything he can, both with public force and secret practices.
If he were to proclaim publicly that everyone should be free from all tribute and burden for three years, the common people would gladly surrender to him and accept him willingly for the sake of liberation. But when he gets them in his clutches, then he will exercise his tyranny and deal with them as is his custom. For he takes away the third son from each of them. He is always the father of the third child. It is indeed a great tyranny, but it concerns the princes most of all.
64. by Emperor Carl the Fifth.
In 1545, June 11, the emperor was said to be angry and hostile to the Gospel.
1) Cf. Cap. 75, § 2.
would be. Then said D. M. Luther: "I have always held the emperor suspicious, although he can feign and hide behind the mountain. For he must also do it; cannot be so free as a preacher, who is like a castor, 2) he can soon turn. A regent cannot do this with his following witness; however, in the meantime, he takes a break and takes the bishoprics, Utrecht, Liège etc. There the nobility should watch. I have tried hard that the monasteries and princely convents would not be torn apart, but that they would be preserved for the poor of the nobility, but it will not be. .
I almost despaired of him when he looked at and pursued the truth he had recognized and heard so often in the imperial congresses. The verse in the other Pfalm, v. 1. 2. will not stop: "Why do the heathen rage, and the people speak in vain? The kings of the land rebel, and the lords counsel with one another against the Lord and his anointed." David lamented it; Christ felt it; the apostles wept for it; so do we now feel it. Therefore St. Paul teaches and says 1 Cor. 1, 26: "Not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called." Let us call upon God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and pray; it is of great need.
65: From Duke Frederick, Elector of Saxony.
Doctor Martin Luther said at one time: That Duke Frederick, Elector of Saxony, birthday was St. Anthony's Day Anno 1463, on which day he used to sacrifice annually as much Rhenish gold florins as he was ev years old. Such offerings were given to U. Spalatinus, his chaplain and court preacher, for a long time. And when His Electoral Grace died, he still received an annual income of one hundred and thirty florins, that he had a salary of four hundred florins. This Elector provided well for his court preacher.
(A paragraph is omitted here. We have transferred the first half of it to Cap. 21, § 6, where it belongs; the other half is contained in the same §).
2) Who has only One horse in front of the cart.
66. from his life.
Prince Frederick has been a wise, understanding, skillful and his lord, who has been very hostile to all ostentation and hypocrisy and glitter: that is why he has not had much to do in 1) women's rooms, because he was a chaste lord. He did not have a wife.
67. duke Friedrichs, Churfürsten, symbolum.
Tantum, quantum possum. That is a rhyme prudentis principis, considerantis vires. And since his advisors and those of the nobility wanted to persuade him to take the Duchess of Jülich, he sent D. Staupitzen there to see her. He recanted her person to the Elector and said: She did not rhyme with him. So he left his free one in line. And said D. M. Luther said: Oh, dear God, great lords, kings and princes are poor captives. A citizen and a peasant may free whoever he pleases, but those may not free among themselves. Our present lord, H[archduke] Johannes Friedrich, is a pious, God-fearing and chaste husband. There is great virtue in him, he loves his spouse and is chaste. Which is a strange gift in great lords, kings and princes.
68: Duke Frederick's Household.
(The first paragraph Cordatus No. 1639.)
When a spirit of stewardship, government and heroism is united in a prince, it is indeed a great gift of God. Such a man was Frederick, who, according to the gift of grace bestowed upon him, was a statesman and a hero. According to Claus Narren's advice, he also became a steward, for he himself was a castle owner etc.
He kept sharp accounts with his bailiffs, stewards, administrators and servants. When he came to a castle, he ate, drank and fed like another guest and paid for everything. So that the officials would not have to apologize afterwards "and could say that so much had gone out and been consumed with the prince. Hence it also happened that he gave his
1) In the editions: with.
'Lande left a great treasure and stock. But now the pits and soil are unoccupied enough.
This Duke Frederick, Elector of Saxony, died Anno 1525, May 5, lived 62 years, 3 months, 9 days, and almost 4 hours.
69. duke Frederick's wise speech.
(The first paragraph contained in Cap. 46, §1, therefore omitted).
His Electoral Grace once said: "I see and experience that the property of princes is not that of those who deserve it and to whom it should be given cheaply, but to whom it is bestowed. Emperor Sigmund also said the same thing. For once he was riding through water and his horse (to speak with leave) stumbled in the water, and a servant started and said: "This horse has the nature and character of its master, the emperor, because it stumbles in the water, since there is water enough before; so the emperor also gives a blessing and a gift to those who are rich enough before. When the emperor heard this, he answered: Great lords' goods and gifts are not for those who deserve them, but for those to whom they are given; and that this is true, you shall know it as soon as we come into our court camp. As the imperial majesty dismounted from his horse in the castle, he ordered that two wooden boxes be prepared for him, one full of gold and the other full of lead of the same weight. He summoned the same old servant, who had complained in the water that his master did not give him anything, and set the two boxes before him, saying, "One is full of gold, the other full of lead; now take whichever one you want, and it shall be yours. The servant felt and tested both cans, and because they were of equal weight, he grabbed them and caught the one that was filled with lead. Then the emperor said, "You see that it is not my fault that you do not get anything from me.
Luther also said of Prince Frederick that he collected with bushels and spent with spoons; that is, he would have been exact and frugal, and would have kept house. But now the opposite is happening at the courts.
Item, H[erzog] Friedrich zu Sachsen, Churfürst, said D. M. Luther, said at the Diet of Worms, Anno 1521: I do not find a Roman church in my faith, but a common Christian church I find in it.
To the Locha near Wittenberg, Phil. Melanchthon once said to D. Luthern over the table, there was a stag in the village, which was tame and ran every year in the month of September into the forest in the stag rut, and in October come home again, and the whole year otherwise remained in the little town. He did this for many years. But in 1525, when Prince Frederick died, the stag got away and was not seen again, because he had lost his master, so he did not want to stay with a new and different master.
70. by Duke John, Elector of Saxony.
(Cordatus No. 635. 636. 637.)
Doctor Jonas said: I mean, Doctor, you insult God in the Psalm [2, 1^: "Why do the heathen rage", which I sent to Augsburg. To which I replied: What prophet has not scolded? Job was very patient in the beginning, at the end he became very impatient.
The more miserable it was in the Old Testament, the more mighty were the prophets, as in the days of Jeremiah etc., who spoke wonderful things to God.
I think my lord of Saxony would have been an Ezechias in the Old Testament, if it had come to that. For when he consulted me as to whether he should consent to the twelve articles of the peasants, and I answered that he would not consent to one either, he was gladly satisfied with this and added only this: God has made me a prince and has given me many horses. If he will not let me stay, I will gladly ride with eight or four horses. This is what he said to me.
A different one from the Elector John.
(Cordatus No. 1608. 1609 and No. 136 .)
Of the elder prince John, he said that the greatest disobedience of all his own could not move him to impatience (ge
He always said: "You will be better in time. But he had this restraint from his youth, persuaded by the monks and from their sermons, which taught him that a prince must be kind and patient, not angry, gentle and merciful, not punitive, and imposed on the prince all the duties of a private citizen. He could no more discard these habits than I can discard the whole monasticism.
When some attacked Mag. Lucas [Edenberger], the teacher of the younger prince [Johann Ernst zu Sachsen], out of hatred, he, who is now Elector [Johann Friedrichs], replied: "I like this man, and if only such a man had been granted to me, or if only Spalatin had not been taken from me! By the way, Colditius Mexius Croßner from ColdiA has not done well for me. Hereupon the older Duke Johannes said: Now the youth easily comes to a scholarship, to which we could not reach with the Casus and Tempüslehre. My son has written me a Latin epistle and pleases me well, and asks for a stag, which I sent and shot for him myself, and wants him to study. He can easily learn to hang two legs over a stallion.
When Duke John of Saxony had received letters from rebels from three parts of his territory at the same time, he said: "If God does not want me to be a prince in the future, as he has allowed me to be until now, then let his will be done. I can also be another person 1). 2)
72. from duke Johannis, Churfürsten, constancy.
(Cordatus No. 800.)
If at the Imperial Diet in Augsburg Duke John had not shown unchanging constancy, all his advisors would have let it go, for they all thought of means by which the Emperor's favor could be preserved, and mixed up the grace of God and the grace of the Emperor.
1) I.e., a private citizen. (Wrampelmeyer.) 2) Cf. § 70.
people, and he is said to have said: I would not have our scholars look at us, but speak and write what is right, and do not make umbrellas. 2) To the judgment that the emperor had proclaimed and the threats of many, he said: "There are two ways: to deny God or to deny the world. Let each one think which is best. And this was a great proof of his steadfastness, that when the emperor forbade preaching, he would rather go away than suffer this prohibition. In short, our prince stood firm against all. It is impossible to describe all things, they are too high and wide etc.
The first time, the first time, the first time, the first time, the first time.
This Elector John of Saxony always had six noble boys with him in the chamber, who waited for his body. They had to read the Bible to him for six hours every day, as he listened diligently. And even if His Lordship often fell asleep because of this, when he woke up, he still remembered and retained some beautiful saying from the Bible.
S. Electors are also accustomed to have writing tablets with them during the sermon and to rewrite the sermon with their own hand from the preacher's mouth.
(The following at Cordatus No. 1094.)
The Duke of Saxony alone resisted the election of the Roman king, because the Golden Bull stipulates that a king shall not be elected during the lifetime of the emperor. Ferdinand did not care about this, and all the gates of Cologne were immediately manned with guards; but John Frederick had left earlier. But the Emperor's restraint was so great that he did not even mention the contradiction with a single word, since he always writes something to the Prince about faith, religion, unity, and so on.
74. Death of Duke Johannis, Elector of Saxony.
(The first paragraph in Cordatus No. 753.)
The Elector John was a man without all bitterness and constant, in many ver-.
1) I.e. feints, fencing tricks.
searches. He died in peace in 1532, on August 16, at Schweinitz Castle, as I believe, hit by a blow. It seems to have been a miracle that none of his children or other relatives were present at the hour of his death. He lay in the death throes for a whole day, namely from the tenth hour of the day until the tenth hour etc. He had made his will two years before, in which he most recommended the University of Wittenberg to his son. 2)
(This paragraph in Cordatus No. 754.)
It is said that the emperor at Augsburg, after hearing our confession, said: "He would like to see this preached throughout the world. Duke George, however, said that he knew that there were many abuses in the church. If the pope changed them, he would like to suffer, which he did, but he would not accept anything from the lost monk. That is why it is said that Wolf von Hohenwerk said: "If God would let his word be preached by princes, counts and the nobility, they would all accept it. But he will not let this happen and will not let his word be sealed by them. He takes fishermen, Peter and Andrew, and shepherds like Amos, the prophet.
When Duke John, the Elector of Saxony, was buried, Luther said: "The bells ring much differently than usual when a friend dies who is dear to him. Our Scharrhansen have had desire to rule. They have it now, may see that they do it well.
In our prince there was great piety and kindness, in Duke Frederick great wisdom and understanding. If the two princes had been one person, it would have been a great miracle. Duke Frederick sat and let him deliberate, closed his eyes, had a writing tablet and recorded the deliberations of each of the councilors in turn; at last he gave his opinion, since the voices of the two princes were in agreement.
2) Although instead of this one paragraph there were more than two full columns in Aurifaber's table speeches, we had to omit them, because what was given in them was quite obviously formed from what was given here by all kinds of later additions.
3) Here we have omitted "it".
came to him and decided: So this, that etc. Council cannot exist, from this and the causes, because this and that would come from it and take place.
75 From Duke John, Elector of Saxony.
(Cordatus No. 855.)
When the Elector of Saxony [John] was hunting for the last time, no game wanted to come in or wait. Thereupon he said: Well, that should mean something, that our little animals thus flee against their habit. The virtue of this prince was great and he despised the threats of all his enemies.
76 Of death of Duke John.
Alas, said D. M. Luther, when he saw Duke Hansen, Elector of Saxony etc. die, how a great prince dies there so lonely, that not a son, cousin or friend has been with him, when he passed away! The physicians say: the spasm (cramp) has strangled him. Just as children are born without care, live without care, and die without care: so our dear prince, Duke Johannsen, will feel on the last day as if he came from the Lochish heath from the hunt, will not know what will happen to him; as Isaiah says Cap. 57, 1. 2.: "The righteous is carried away, and lies down in his chamber and in his bed of rest.
The first of these is a book by Duke John Frederick, Elector of Saxony.
Since Duke Johann Friedrich, the Elector, was remembered, who had been well plucked and plucked by the nobility and sequestrators for five years, would have had to pay an apprenticeship; D. M. Luther said: His father would have diligently warned him. M. Luther: His father had warned him diligently, he wanted to be careful and diligently guard himself, so that he would not be given to such birds and little snapping chickens nor come into the hands; and he said: Elector Hans had said to me, D. M. Luther, in Torgau in the chamber: My son does not know the people yet, but he will learn to know them. As if he wanted to say: I have learned it from experience; but because princes and lords without the help of the nobility do not know the people.
If they can rule alone, they must suffer something from them and not want to have everything so straightforwardly, especially what is not contrary to God and the conscience. A bad 1) householder without servants cannot rule his house alone, much less can a prince or king rule his principality or kingdom alone. Emperor Carl had eight chancellors at the Imperial Diet in Augsburg in 1530.
D. Gregorius Brück told me, said D. M. Luther: He had not seen a man who could forgive so heartily as H[erzog] Johann, Elector of Saxony.
78. from duke Johann Friedrichs, Churfürsten, sincerity and constancy?)
(The first paragraph of this § in Lauterbach, Oct. 7, 1538, p. 144.)
He praised the sincerity and constancy of the Elector, who hated lies exceedingly and yet until now had seen through his fingers in his office. I hope that he will now wake up. As it happened to the Elector Frederick when he was young and very poor at first. Since he then looked at the registers and order himself, he became very rich and was not allowed to borrow from the treasurers.
Duke Johann Friedrich, Elector of Saxony, is angry by nature, but he can break his anger and sense, that it is a miracle; is Germany's salvation, a God-fearing and understanding prince, he has his five senses, God keep him for a long time, amen.
Our Lord God has thus wrought the game through our present prince, that it has never been so hard as with him, because he has the reign, although all men comforted him evil. But the emperor's heart is in God's hand.
If my most gracious young lord comes into the regiment, then scribes, chancellors, scholars will count for nothing, Junker Scharrhans will be all and practice tyranny: since the good lord thinks much differently, it will go well. But such assumed ignorance will overthrow him. God make it well, the lice are even in the
1) I.e. simpler.
2) Aurifaber: This virtue was also demonstrated by the noble hero and Christian knight in his custody (imprisonment) with free confession of the right, pure doctrine at Augsburg, 1550.
Grind; not for the sake of grind, but for their sake. We writers do not understand it, but the Holy Spirit understands it. Whoever does not want to understand it now, let him take it from the wall.
79 Change in the Principality of Saxony.
Our principality," said D. M. Luther, a great misfortune will happen. You shall become aware of such a change in a short time and see that it will be called a change. There is a very great paroxysm and ghastly further present: Satan tries all his strength and power. If it is to be, I will push out the bottom of the barrel. In the time of Noah and Lot the people would not hear the voice of the pious fathers and preachers, until they heard the voice of the flood, and in the destruction of Sodom fire, brimstone and pitch.
The Elector of Saxony asked M. Luther if there was not a nun with him who wanted to become free and married; he had collected five hundred guilders from the abbess of Niemeck, with which he wanted to equip her. etc. The pious lord was so mild.
80. court camp at Weimar most convenient.
Weimar, said D. M. Luther, is the most distinguished office, where the Elector can keep house most comfortably and easily, which he also praised above others. For there he can keep his court camp with three hundred horses year and day with a daily income, which Torgau cannot do.
81. princes equal to kings.
(Cordatus No. 773.)
The reputation of the Electors is very great, because they elect the Emperors. Yes, they all write to the kings: Ew. Liebe, nicht Ew. Gnaden, because they are like kings.
82 Titulus Johannis Friderici, Electoris, Ducis Saxoniae, sub cruce militantis, ab
Ecclesia sibi inditus, 1548.
(This § is neither a table talk, nor by Luther, therefore omitted).
The first of these is a book on the history of the Duke of Saxony, John Frederick.
Verily, said D. Martinus, we have a prince, with many fine gifts of
God is gracious: he has a chaste mouth, one hears no unseemly nor dishonest and lewd word, nor cursing from him; loves God's word, likewise churches and schools; carries a great, heavy burden, and that alone; keeps faith with what he promises, and now begins to look at the yarn of those of the nobility, notices what they deal with and what they have in mind. The other day, he gave one of his advisors a leave of absence, who had to leave the court from that time on, because he had gone against the prince's orders and had given the court marshal bad, useless words. He would like to see everything well, but he cannot change everything, nor can he change it soon. He has one fault, that he likes to build and drink, although such a large body wants something more than a small one; and, as they say, before he waters the walls, I would be full. Otherwise he works like a donkey. But he has drunk all he wants, even if he has had strange guests, he always reads something before he goes to sleep, especially in the Scriptures. If we do not pray diligently for him, we would not be pious. Above other expenses, which are large and heavy, he has added a thousand guilders annually to the university and given interest. The priest has two hundred guilders annually, and sixty bushels of grain, so the prince has given him another sixty guilders allowance because of the lecture.
84 H[erzog] Joh. Friedrich's clever and sensible, polite and sharp answer.
(Cordatus No. 885.)
Since the papists say that this refers only to the priests: Drink from it all, so they say in general that this also refers to the priests: Ye are clean, but not all, that is, the priests. 2)
The Dukes of Saxony, the Electors, Coat of Arms Interpretation. 2)
The two swords mean seriousness, that one should keep strict and hard over the right; the handles in the white field indicate goodness and
1) D. i. networks.
2) In H, Cap. 19, § 32, which we have omitted, this word is really attributed to Luther. The superscription here is of course false and fictitious.
3) Cf. Walch, St. Louis edition, vol. XI, 1344, z 23.
Grace; the points against each other in the black field mean that one should first hear before one judges.
86. from H[erzog] Johann Friedrichs, Churfürsten zu Sachsen etc., diligence, schools and university to reformiren, to arrange and to promote.
(Lauterbach, Oct. 13, 1538, p. 148.)
He praised the sense of the Elector that he would be inclined to promote the studies. That is why he also came here to confirm the reformation of the university and the lecturers, so that they would give their lectures more often and with greater care. I also let myself think that he has rightly told J. S[chenk] the chapter, because he is already humiliated, although he does not yet want to appear as if he has done wrong, but wants to be disgraced with witnesses. Let us pray for our Elector that he will preserve the church and the studies. For this small little university is, as it were, the foundation of pure religion, that it may be preserved with lectures and scholarships against the ravages of the devil. And he said of Alexander the Great, who already established war scholarships for the infants, because he wanted to preserve the monarchy; after that he soon had them taught as youngsters by competitors and pugilists, so that he would then have soldiers and men of war. This is what our Elector will do, God willing. He sees well that he is not entrusted with the nobility. For it is said that the sequestrators have spent seven thousand florins in five years. He now wants to be a sequestrator himself, will now make out. May God grant him a long life. Amen.
87. by Emperor Carl the Fifth.
(Lauterbach, Aug. 14, 1538, p. 112.)
There was mention of peace and constant concord between the Emperor and the French, about which news was reported on all sides; but a letter from Padua indicated that an armistice had been concluded for ten years, on the condition that the Frenchman would keep it: Which would not keep it.
should be recited by one to the other six months earlier. Luther said with a sob: "The emperor lets himself be milked like a sissy. Since he was once very happy, he is now very unhappy. It is said: Opportunity must be grasped by the scoop, behind it is bare (Cato II, 26). He had France in his hand, the pope and the Turk before Vienna, and did not take the opportunity. God greeted him, but he could not thank him. That is why Solomon in his "Ecclesiastes" laments this vanity, that God gives man the opportunity to gain something and he does not use it. This happens to our emperor, who now has to leave Milan, Savoy and choose the duke as cardinal. This is a shameful catastrophe.
A different one from Duke John Frederick, Elector of Saxony.
On August 21, 1532, Duke John Frederick, Elector of Saxony, came to Wittenberg and sent his greetings to D. Martin Luther. Martin Luthern his gracious greeting and ask him to preach tomorrow morning at 9 in the castle. When the doctor went home again after the sermon, and had dinner with some scholars, D. Jonas asked him after dinner to admonish the Elector and ask that a new visitation be held, because the church servants, pastors and preachers were now suffering extreme hardship.
(Cordatus No. 763. 764 to end.)
Those who now do not grant the servants of the Word their bread will drive us so long that we will cheat ourselves; after that they will worship our filth. They would like to be rid of us, so we would like to be rid of them. We are to be separated well, like a ripe dirt and a far arsloch. 1)
Our Elector John Frederick now has seventy councilors from the very beginning of his reign, none of whom wants to be foolish, and they can all pretend their cause with big words. They cry out against it, even if we could do something with advice. But we will ask God to guide his heart etc.
1) Cf. Mathesius, St. Louis edition, p. 218.