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INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed through, substandard margin*, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6" x 9" black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. A Ben A Howeii Information Company 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor. Ml 48106-1346 USA 313.761-4700 800.521-0600 RENDERING TO CAESAR: SECULAR OBEDIENCE AND CONFESSIONAL LOYALTY IN MORITZ OF SAXONY'S DIPLOMACY ON THE EVE OF THE SCMALKALDIC WAR DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By James E. McNutt, B.A., M.A., M.Div. Ohio State University 1995 Dissertation Committee Approved by James Kittelson John Rule Advisor John Guilmartin epartment of History UMI Number: 9544639 Copyright 19 9 5 by McNutt/ James Edward All rights reserved. UMI Microform 9544639 Copyright 1995, by UMI Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 Copyright by James McNutt 1995 In Memory of Helen Eva McNutt: 1924-1994 Virginia Ashby Postlethwait: 1925-1983 ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish, to thank Dr. James M* Kittelson for his guidance and support throughout my graduate studies. Many thanks to Dr. John C. Rule and Dr. John Guilmartin for their assistance while serving on my dissertation committee. I am grateful to the Center for Reformation Research in St. Louis, Missouri, particularly Ann Thomas, for accomodating my travel schedule; also Dr. Ingeborg Vogelstein and Colgate Rochester Divinity School in Rochester, New York, for granting access to their Reformation manuscript collection. I wish also to express my sincere gratitude to the members and friends of the Price Hill United Methodist Church for their patience and support, especially Mrs. Kathy Maldonado for her generous assistance. Finally, I thank Dr. Michael Peterson, who instilled a dream; Rev. Robert Woods, whose timely counsel preserved it; and my wife Cyndy, whose love nurtured it. Thanks Mike and Katie. This work is dedicated to my mother and mother-in-law, whose love and support prior to their untimely deaths became a source of eternal encouragement. iii VITA June 2, 1955.......... Born, Huntsville, Ontario Canada 1977......... *..........B.A. Roberts Wesleyan college Rochester, New York 1980-87.................Pastor, Genesee Conference, Free Methodist Church Belfast & Lockport, New York 1987.................... M.A. Theology, Colgate-Rochester Divinity School, Rochester, New York 1987-92.................Pastor, West Ohio Conference, United Methodist Church New Carlisle, Ohio 1989.................... M.Div. United Theological Seminary, Dayton, Ohio 1989-1992.............. Graduate Associate, Department of History, Ohio State University 1992-present........... Pastor, West Ohio Conference, United Methodist Church, Cincinnati, Ohio FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: History Studies in Early Modern Europe,..Dr. James Kittelson Dr. John Rule Studies in Medieval Europe Dr. Joseph Lynch Studies in Military History...... Dr. John Guilmartin TABLE 07 CONTENTS DEDICATION................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. ............ *.............. iii VITA.........................*.............. iv ABBREVIATIONS................................ vi INTRODUCTION................................. 1 CHAPTER PAGE I. HERITAGE AND HERESY, COURTS AND .... 27 CONFESSIONS: MORITZ'S HISTORICAL BACKGROUND II. THE LINE IN THE SAND: ............ 9 2 MORITZ'S ROAD TO REGENSBURG III. THE ALBERTINE PROTESTANT: 134 MORITZ AT REGENSBURG IV. CALL TO RESISTANCE: ................ 16 3 THE PAMPHLET WAR V. RENDERING TO GOD: 217 MORITZ AND THE CLERGY VI. RENDERING TO CAESAR: 271 JUSTIFICATION FOR INVASION CONCLUSION .............................. 315 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................ 325 v . ABBREVIATIONS ADB Allaemeine deutsche Bioaraphie. Leipzig, 1890-1924. CR Corpus Reformatorum. Edited by Carolus Gottleib Bretschneider and Henricus Ernestus Bindseil. 99 Bd. Halle 1834-1860. Hortleder Hortleder, Friedrich. Per Romisichen und Konialichen Maiesteten auch dess heiligen Roroischen Reichs aeistlicher und weltlicher Stande. Churfuersten. Fuersten. Graven. Herrn....Handlunaen und Ausschreiben etc, Von RechtmassjgXeit. Anfang, Fort, und endlich Ausgang dess Teutschen Krieas Kaiser Karl dess fuenfften. wider die Schmalkaldische Bunds. Obersten. Chur, und Fursten Sachsen und Hessen. Gotha: Wolfgang Endters, 1645. NDB Neue Deutsche Bioaraphie. Berlin, 1953- PKMS Politische Korrespondenz des Herzogs und Kurfuersten Moritz von Sachsen. Hrsg. Erich Brandenburg. Bd. 1: Bis Ende 1543. Leipzig, 1900. Bd. 2: 1544-1546. Leipzig, 1904. Bd. 3. 1 Januar 1547 - 25 Mai 1548. Hrsg. Johannes Herrmann und Gunther Wartenberg. Berlin, 1978. St. L. Dr. Martin Luthers Saemmtliche Schriften. Hrsg. Johann Georg Walch. St. Louis: Concordia, 1881-1910. WA D. Martin Luthers Werke. Kritische Gesamtausoabe. Weimar, 1883- WA Br D. Martin Luthers Werke. Brief- wechsel. Weimar, 1930- INTRODUCTION On the nineteenth of June, 1546, a high level councilor in the court of Moritz of Saxony reported from Regensburg to the duchess of Rochlitz of a massive influx of mercenaries in that city. Of special concern to the nervous informer was the rumor that some of the troops had, in a frenzy, drunk their blood as a vow to lay waste to the land.1 Three days later John Frederick, Elector of Saxony and co-commander of the forces of the Schmalkaldic League, informed his brother that such military preparations targeted the adherents of the Augsburg Confession, and requested that he call the churches throughout his territory to ardent prayer for divine protection.1 Throughout the spring such reports of gathering troops and threatened bloodshed had fed a growing tension and fear throughout Germany. Emperor Charles V had returned to German soil, and rumors were rampant that hoards of his Spanish troops were soon to follow. The issue, as proclaimed from pulpits and published in pamphlets, was religion. The controversies of faith 1 2 and doctrine, obedience to conscience and God, and the locus of true spiritual authority, were no longer matters simply debated by preachers, priests, and popes, but issues woven into political threats and backed by military preparation. On the social spectrum, reaching from rural dorf to imperial and papal court, matters of faith became matters of the sword, and squarely in the middle of this impending conflict stood a twenty-five year old prince, Moritz of Saxony. This young prince of the Albertine line cut a rather intriguing and dynamic figure against the backdrop of the later Reformation movement in Saxony. Two contradictory epithets mark Moritz's legacy, testifying to the sharply divided impressions made on his contemporaries. Vilified as the "Judas of Meissen," and regarded as a traitor to the Lutheran cause, he was yet honored by many after his death as the "Savior of German Protestantism." How ironic that a prince who has been classified as "Machiavellian, and interpreted almost exclusively along political lines, should bear the weight of two so emphatically religious titles. 3 This dissertation seeks to explore the political and social context of Moritz's public expression of religious loyalty on the eve of what would become known as the Schmalkaldic War of 1546-47. It is significant that a prince so hated by many of his contemporary Lutheran subjects continually professed his allegiance to the Augsburg Confession, and justified his actions during the tense summer of 154 6 on grounds fully sympathetic to the teachings and defense of that confession. As an Albertine prince, Moritz knew himself invested with certain rights and responsibilities on both the imperial and territorial level, and matters of ecclesiastical policy had a prominent place within the purview of his rule. His diplomacy cannot be adequately grasped apart from how this Albertine heritage interfaced with the Lutheran movement within his land, and close attention to his political correspondence provides insight into how he sought to justify his actions precisely within that context. No attempt will be made to explore Moritz's deeper motives, or evaluate the sincerity of his religious statements. Moritz may indeed have acted out of greed and self-interest, but, as Heiko Oberman reminds us, it is