Primus Truber, Hans Ungnad, and Peter Paul Vergerio, 1550-1565
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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE The Formation of Territorial Churches in the Habsburg/Ottoman Borderlands: Primus Truber, Hans Ungnad, and Peter Paul Vergerio, 1550-1565 A Dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History by Benjamin Thomas Esswein December 2013 Dissertation Committee: Dr. Randolph Head, Chairperson Dr. Thomas Cogswell Dr. Georg Michels The Dissertation of Benjamin Thomas Esswein is approved: Committee Chairperson University of California, Riverside ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are many people who made this possible and I would like to thank all those involved in this process. A number of particular people come to mind. My advisor, Professor Randy Head, Dissertation Committee Members Professor Thomas Cogswell and Professor George Michels. Thanks to everyone at the UCR History Department and the Fulbright Program. In Austria, Professor Karl Vocelka and Professor Rudolf Leeb for making me feel at home abroad. My friends Colin Whiting and Moyses Marcos for their expertise. All my other family and friends that have kept me sane through this whole process. My Mother and Father, Susan and Paul, for their support and comments. My wife Kathryn and daughter Elizabeth for being sources of joy and inspiration. iii ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION The Formation of Territorial Churches in the Habsburg/Ottoman Borderlands: Primus Truber, Hans Ungnad, and Peter Paul Vergerio, 1550-1565 by Benjamin Thomas Esswein Doctor of Philosophy, Graduate Program in History University of California, Riverside, December 2013 Dr. Randolph Head, Chairperson My dissertation, entitled: The Formation of Territorial Churches in the Habsburg/Ottoman Borderlands: Primus Truber, Hans Ungnad, and Peter Paul Vergerio, 1550-1565, focuses on the Austrian province of Krain, along the modern Croatian/Slovenian border, which acts as a case study for the rest of the Habsburg- Ottoman borderlands. The reformers in this region were in direct contact with Johannes Brenz in Wirtemberg, and sought to implement his “territorial church” model. Additionally, the Austrian Habsburgs long supported this model as a means to expand their hegemony over the region and keep the Ottomans out. A printing press was established outside Tübingen with the purpose of spreading Slavic translations of Biblical and Evangelical texts into Krain. The Austrian Hapsburgs’ confessional allegiance to Rome remained fluid until after the Council of Trent (1563), and they had few reservations about supporting this mission as long as it included loyalty towards the Hapsburgs. I have identified three individuals who were integral in establishing this movement: the reformer and Bible translator Primus Truber, the Austrian nobleman Hans Ungnad, and the Lutheran convert and diplomat Peter Paul Vergerio. In particular, Ungnad played a central role in transmitting through his personal network of translators, publishers, and iv booksellers. All three men established networks of support, mostly Lutheran but also including notable moderate Catholics and Swiss Reformed, and relied on their networks integrally to spread their faith and to support their endeavors financially. The use of the Lutheran “territorial church” model signifies an attempt to establish a Lutheran confession and church regulation in Slovenian and Croatian lands by making them loyal to the regional reformer (Primus Truber) responsible for instilling Godly virtue and the true faith. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction....................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1.......................................................................................................... 53 Chapter 2........................................................................................................ 115 Chapter 3........................................................................................................ 162 Chapter 4........................................................................................................ 219 Conclusion...................................................................................................... 283 Bibliography................................................................................................... 289 Appendix 1..................................................................................................... 301 Appendix 2..................................................................................................... 302 vi Introduction 1. Urach Printing Press The Protestant Reformation thrived through the establishment of printing presses that spread the reformers' message to the furthest corners of Europe. Emerging from towns which eagerly embraced the new technology of moveable type, the Protestant Reformation began as a "German event", quickly disseminating to foreign lands.1 During the early production of Protestant materials the town of Urach, on the outskirts of Tübingen in Württemberg, developed into a significant center for printing projects. From among these established presses arose one early attempt at Evangelism to translate the Bible into Slovenian and Croatian for distribution along the border with the Ottoman Empire. This endeavor included a broad coalition of support with Catholic and Protestant princes as well as burghers and nobles from among many of the notable cities throughout the Holy Roman Empire (HRE) contributing to its production. In describing the political and religious atmosphere that allowed this press to operate across interfaith and international lines one word presents itself: tolerance. Tolerance and religious coexistence existed in specific circumstances throughout Central Europe during the Reformations including in parts of Switzerland, Germany and Austria.2 Austria remained the most intriguing area where tolerance flourished, since it 1 Brady, Thomas A. Jr. German Histories in the Age of Reformations, 1400-1650. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009), 291. 2 Examples of early tolerance and even cooperation can be seen in several articles including Randolph Head’s article on the Swiss using both Catholic priests and Protestant preachers to fill vacancies in parishes, preaching and delivering the sacraments to congregations, Randolph C. Head, “Fragmented Dominion, Fragmented Churches: the Institutionalization of the Landfrieden in Thurgau, 1531-1610,” in Archive for Reformation History, 95:1 (2005), 117-144; also the example of Erfurt in Thuringia, Bob Scribner, “Preconditions of Tolerance and Intolerance in Sixteenth-Century Germany,” Tolerance and Intolerance in the European Reformation, Ole Peter Grell & Bob Scribner, eds., (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), 32-47. 1 would eventually become known as a Catholic bastion. A primitive toleration of Protestants existed in Austria because of the simple fact that in many cities they formed the majority. Important cities such as Vienna and Graz developed burgeoning Protestant movements, particularly among the burghers and nobles.3 The otherwise zealous Hapsburgs reluctantly allowed the Protestants to organize into a politically viable force, which they would remain through the end of the sixteenth century. An often overlooked example of cooperation and religious coexistence between the Hapsburgs and the Protestant nobility, the printing press in Urach, was one of several printing presses in Württemberg that produced Bibles and Lutheran materials for distribution inside and on the outskirts of the HRE. However, it is the only one that developed into an inter-faith endeavor.4 The Urach printing press printed Croatian and Slovenian translations of both the New Testament and Lutheran literature particularly for distribution in the Austrian borderlands of Styria and Krain. The press went through three stages of development over an eight year period (1556-1564). The first stage was one of collecting enough funds to translate and print the materials involved. The second stage involved the actual translation of the materials as well as the preparation for distribution. The third stage saw the hurried distribution of the finished translations among the Croatian and Slovenian 3 Regina Pörtner cites sources in her study as finding only five Catholic nobles in Inner Austria during the second half of the sixteenth century, The Counter-Reformation in Central Europe: Styria 1580-1630, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2001), 35; Howard Louthan mentions that Protestants made up at least four-fifths of the population in Vienna during this era, The Quest for Compromise: Peacemakers in Counter-Reformation Vienna, (Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress, 1997), 5. 4 A brief overview of the printing projects at Württemberg show that the Lutheran princes’ support of the Urach printing press amounted to an ambitious German mission project to spread “Evangelism” (early Lutheranism) and Reformation ideals. Friedrich Christian Schnurrer, Slavischer Bucherdruck in Würtemberg im 16 Jahrhundert, München: Dr. Dr. Rudolf Trofenik, 1989), 22-71; and Zimmermann, Berhard Hans. “Die Bedeutung Weins für die Reformation und Gegenreformationen bei den Kroaten und Slowenen.” Jahrbuch der Gesellschaft für die Geschichte des Protestantismus in Österreich. 65-66 (1944-1945), 21-53. 2 nobility in the borderlands. Austrian nobleman Hans Ungnad, previously an administrator in Krain under Ferdinand I, founded and financed the press with his own money and contributions. He was joined by two priests-turned-reformers,