1. of the presumption of the noblemen.
2. noblemen despisers of good arts.
3. glim, glam, gloriam.
4. be conceited.
5. of the noblemen riding together.
6. honest ones from the nobility keep themselves noble.
7th Grand Men's Study.
8. those of the nobility cannot rule.
9. the rights of the princes from the nobility.
10. one of the nobility's mocking speeches against Luther.
11. the nobility is not good to the citizens.
1. of the presumption of the noblemen.
(Cordatus No. 671.)
If I live another year, then my poor little room must go, from which I have stormed the papacy, for which it would be worthy of eternal remembrance. But the great main chairs, main ramparts, main princes will eat it away from me, so they will persuade the prince. They want us so badly from the bottom of their hearts that out of hatred for us they have tried to turn the younger prince away from the study of the arts, saying: Most gracious lord, what may he of great cleverness, will you draw a scribe out of him? He must become a ruling prince; namely, they fear that if he were learned, he would be able to see their deceits from reading the histories. Duke Frederick could not have been moved by these boastful words. They are possessed with all seven deadly sins twofold. They have wickedness above all wickedness in them, as [the] lord is of Schöneberg, who trades in every way; is that also noble? So they do all wickedness; but is that Christian?
2. noblemen despisers of good arts.
The noblemen now become disgraceful loutish despisers of good arts, D. Martinus learned his Grammatica only after he had become Doctor.
3. glim, glam, gloriam.
One of the nobility, a canon, read in a lection Glam for Gloriam; therefore the ancients sang: Glim, Glam, Gloriam, the sow that has a choir skirt on.
4. be conceited.
The nobility think they are wise, therefore they despise the priests. Well, God will despise them again. They are hostile to a great man, who is hostile to them again, and sat high enough.
A nobleman makes himself believe that he understands the gospel better than St. Paul.
5. noblemen riding together.
Doctor Luther said of the nobility's riding up and down, that one visited the other daily and came together, feasting and stewing, eating and drinking, being good companions and banking without ceasing. Thus one corrupted the other. As Cornelius Tacitus, the historian, shows of the Germans, how they go together, help each other consume what they have; then they go from one to the other.
When he, M. Luther, was once at Grunau with the nobleman, he was received very kindly. The host asked him to sit down with his housewife, to rest and to be satisfied; Luther wondered at the beautiful, lovely and friendly child's mouth and said with a sigh: "Dear God, every class has its crosses and ills: those of the nobility must also often remain without marriage and unfreed, for the sake of the children, if there are many of them.
6. honest ones from the nobility keep themselves noble.
H. M., said D. M. Luther, is a great Thraso, glorious Scharrhans, who with highly-.
1) Inserted by us, because otherwise the sentence would have no subject.
But great, righteous men of nobility, noble captains and heroes think much differently, keep silent, do not boast, and prove it by deed: like Mr. Bernhard of Mila, who is a noble man, has many lions in his heart, and yet is chaste and shamefaced with words.
7th Grand Men's Study.
(Cordatus No. 684.)
It has happened in Germany around a good world regiment. The dukes already know nothing but to buy beautiful stallions and spurs, and in the meantime, while they worry about it, the nobles rule and lead the princes into all troubles, ruin and death, as it happened to our duke before Meiningen. 1) when they put him before the guns with his whole army and then ordered him to flee. Matthias [Corvinus of Hungary] was a very good ruler, who pressed on with cutting off heads.
(The following Lauterbach, July 21, 1538, p. 100.)
On this day Eustachius von Schlieben 2) was there, whom D. Jonas praised because of his wisdom and godliness and that he had spoken evil of the Roman court. Although he had been in Italy for five years, he had remained in Rome only a few weeks because of the great wickedness of the Roman court, where there was so much contempt for God, perjury, etc., that false oaths were taken every day for the sake of money, and he had been offered twenty ducats to swear falsely. When he rejected this, he would have been ridiculed: That beast will not take an oath for twenty ducats. Luther said: "Whoever has seen through the nature of the Roman court only to some extent will recognize that it is the realm of the devil. That is why the bishop of Mainz is a limb unfit for this body, who no longer has a conscience and, accustomed to acts of murder and robbery, dares to do anything. He not only strangled Hans Schantzen, but also took all his property from his heirs. Now his chamberlain has also been lost 2).
1) In the Peasants' War of 1525.
2) To Stülze and Baruch. (Seidemann.)
3) This last sentence, which is so in the original, is incomprehensible to us. Perhaps: "missed"?
8. those of the nobility cannot rule.
Those of the nobility presume and want to rule, but they cannot yet understand it. The pope, however, not only knows, but can also govern by deed. A bad pope can rule better than a hundred of the nobility at our court.
9. princes' rights from nobility. 4)
The wickedness of the world is so great that when a prince learns and studies the Latin language, the nobility and the councilors fear that he will be too learned and too clever for them, and say: "Damn it! etc. What? does E. F. Gn. want to become a scribe? He must become a ruling prince, must learn worldly affairs, and what belongs to cavalry and war, so that country and people are protected and preserved, etc. that is, remain a fool, whom we may lead around with the nose like a bear.
But Duke Frederick, Elector of Saxony, once said: "We certainly hear what our advisors advise, but we do not always follow them, except in what we ourselves recognize as right and good. But what kind of faithful advisors these are, who keep the princes from studying and discourage them, everyone may well assume and think.
10. one of the nobility ungodly and mocking speech against D. M. Luthern.
(Cordatus No. 1629.)
One of nobility, who was an enemy to me, once said, "Are you the holy man? Dear, when you go to [the] heaven, you will not dust my eyes. To whom I replied, "My dear nobleman, it may well happen that I would like to stupefy you, and I would not be able to reach you.
11. the nobility is not good to the citizens.
Citizens and peasants are separated by the wall. Cities are only of those of the nobility latrocinia, plucking and robbing. Therefore, those of the nobility are not good to the urban.
4) This § seems to be only another version of § 1 of this Cap.
5) Thus, Stangwald; with Aurifaber "rights."