Durham E-Theses Melanchthon's Authorizing of Luther: An Examination of the Narrative Origins of Sixteenth-Century Historical Life-Writing. ALDERSON, MICHAEL,PETER How to cite: ALDERSON, MICHAEL,PETER (2014) Melanchthon's Authorizing of Luther: An Examination of the Narrative Origins of Sixteenth-Century Historical Life-Writing., Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/10572/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Melanchthon’s Authorizing of Luther: An Examination of the Narrative Origins of Sixteenth-Century Historical Life-writing. 1 Volume Michael Peter Alderson Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of German School of Modern Languages and Cultures University of Durham 2013 Michael Peter Alderson Melanchthon’s Authorizing of Luther: An Examination of the Narrative Origins of Sixteenth-Century Historical Life-Writing. For many, the Reformation schism from the Roman Church represented a heretical act and a break from an institution with a well-established historical understanding of itself. Early Protestants developed a representation of their history in sophisticated narratives that justified their action and countered the charges of heresy levelled at them; fledgling Protestant history argued its theological orthodoxy by presenting its break from the abuses of the past as a return to the ancient Church’s purity. These narratives indicate that the self-perception of the movements was tied closely to their major proponents; as such, the histories of these few individuals became crucial to an understanding of the movements themselves, and the diverse narrative forms, adopted by sixteenth-century Protestants in numerous chronicles, biographies, hagiographies and sermons relating to Luther’s life, clearly show the quest for a suitable narrative form to make sense of the Reformation. Through an examination of a largely neglected master text of the Lutherbild, Melanchthon’s Historia de vita et actis Reverendiss. viri D. Mart. Lutheri (Erfurt: Gervasius Stürmer, 1548), this thesis identifies the nature of the narrative models used to represent Luther, and thereby recreates the historical consciousness of his first biographer. Given the ‘good’ Catholic backgrounds of the first reformers along with the need to justify the orthodoxy of the Reformation, this analysis shows how the historical consciousness present in early histories demonstrates an orthodoxy and inheritance from well- established narrative models to represent the leaders of Protestantism. Simultaneously, this analysis indicates how in adopting various aspects of the life- writing tradition and through careful selection, Melanchthon establishes an authorized and distinctly Wittenberg image of Luther that has dictated the subsequent understanding of the man and his movement, and that a clearly individual-based and biographical approach has in fact shaped the self-image and understanding of history. i Table of Contents Page Abstract i Table of Contents 2 Chapter One: Introduction 8 Chapter Two: The Broad Genre 37 Chapter Three: Childhood 71 Chapter Four: Monasticism 105 Chapter Five: The Ninety-Five Theses 134 Chapter Six: Luther after 1517 168 Chapter Seven: Conclusion 206 Bibliography 214 2 List of Illustrations Page Philipp Melanchthon 8 Lucas Cranach the Younger: 1561 © Trustees of the British Museum Martin Luther as Junker Jörg 37 Lucas Cranch the Elder: 1522 © Trustees of the British Museum Hans and Margarethe Luther 71 Lucas Cranch the Elder: 1527 © Wartburg-Stiftung, Eisenach, Germany Woodcut of Luther as Augustinian Friar 105 Lucas Cranch the Elder: 1520 © Trustees of the British Museum Engraving of Luther in Doctor’s Cap 134 Lucas Cranch the Elder: 1521 © Trustees of the British Museum Luther in Doctoral Gown 168 Lucas Cranach the Elder: 1546 © Trustees of the British Museum Luther Deceased 206 Lucas Cranach the Elder: 1546 © Niedersächsisches Landesmuseum, Hannover, Germany 3 List of Abbreviations ADB Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie ARG Archiv für Refomationsgeschichte CMG Corpus medicorum Graecorum CR Corpus Reformatorum: Philippi Melanthonis opera quae supersunt omnia CWE Collected Works of Erasmus JMH The Journal of Modern History MSA Melanchthons Werke in Auswahl [Studienausgabe] VD16 Verzeichnis der im deutschen Sprachbereich erschienen Drucke des XVI. Jahrhunderts WA Luthers Werke: Kritische Gesamtausgabe (Weimarer Ausgabe) WABr. Luthers Werke: Kritische Gesamtausgabe (Weimarer Ausgabe), Briefe WATr. Luthers Werke: Kritische Gesamtausgabe (Weimarer Ausgabe), Tischreden WUNT Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 4 DECLARATION This is to attest that no material from this thesis has been included in any work submitted for examination at this or any other university. 5 Statement of Copyright The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without the author's prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. 6 Acknowledgements No text is ever produced in isolation, and the undertaking of this thesis would not have been possible without the assistance and support of others at various stages of its production. In the first instance, I am indebted to my supervisor, Dr Peter Macardle, who first introduced me to the complexities of Luther’s image; it is a testament to his enthusiasm and knowledge that having joined his final-year course as a last-minute substitution, I have pursued questions first raised in undergraduate tutorials in both my M.A. and Ph.D. theses. Throughout the last eighteen years, he has offered constant help and guidance, as well as pedantic proof-reading skills; his expert interest and opinion have been freely given and fully appreciated. That he showed unfailing understanding of the difficulties of combining part-time research and full- time employment is witness to his patience and generosity, and I consider myself privileged to have worked with him. During early stages of research, I was helped by academics in the United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States. Their suggestions introduced me to a much wider circle of scholars working in the field and provided invaluable stimulation, and I offer my thanks to all. Through its various reincarnations and reinventions, The School of Modern Languages and Cultures at the University of Durham has waited patiently for me to complete, and I am grateful for the insight and suggestions of those who viewed my work in earlier forms; for their peceptive and helpful comments, I thank Dr Kathryn Banks, Dr Marie-Claire Barnet, Dr Andrew Beresford, Professor Lucille Cairns, Professor Carlo Caruso, Professor Jan Clarke, Professor David Cowling, Professor Mikhail Epstein, Professor Jonathan Long, Professor Andrea Noble, Dr Neil Thomas, and Dr Edward Welch. More recently, Dr Claudia Nitschke has offered much needed support and encouragement, as well as a cheerful insistence that the thesis must be submitted by the deadline. Finally, I thank my wife, Emma, for her tolerance in allowing me to embark on this project and her unstinting help during its completion. 7 Chapter One: Introduction 1. Topic For the earliest witnesses and participants in the Reformation, the schism with the Roman Church represented not only a heretical act but also a break from an institution with a well-established historical understanding of itself and its authority. Therefore, sixteenth-century Protestants developed a highly historical representation of their movements in sophisticated narratives that sought to justify their course of action and counter the charges of heresy and innovation levelled at them by the Roman Catholic Church; fledgling Protestant history argues its theological orthodoxy by presenting its break from the abuses of the past as a return to the purity of the ancient Church. These narratives often indicate that the self-perception of the various movements in this period was tied closely to their major proponents; as such the histories of these few individuals became crucial to an understanding of the various movements themselves, and the diverse narrative forms, adopted by sixteenth-century Protestants in numerous chronicles, biographies, hagiographies and sermons clearly show the quest for a suitable narrative form to make sense of the Reformation and its leading figure. 8 Within the German-speaking world, Martin Luther’s life is synonymous with the Reformation; he stands as one of the most-written-about Germans in history whose image has been repeatedly used, both positively and negatively, to support two distinct confessional arguments. From the early-modern period onwards, Luther’s life and acts have generated a vast corpus of literature including biographies, theological treatises, church histories, tour guides, recipe books, and so on. Throughout the last five