Christoph of Württemberg's Attempts to Unify Protestantism: 1555-1568
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70-13,974 AUSMUS, Harry Jade, 1937- CHRISTOPH OF WURTTEMBERG'S ATTEMPTS TO UNIFY PROTESTANTISM: 1555-1568 The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1969 History, modern University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan ©Copyright by Harry Jack Ausmus 1970 • THIS DISSERTATION HAS BEEN MICROFILMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED CHRISTOPH OF WURTTEMBERG'S ATTEMPTS TO UNIFY PROTESTANTISM: 1555-1568 DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Harry Jack Ausmus, B.A., B.D., M.A. ****** The Ohio State University 1969 Approved by Department of History ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The completion of a doctoral dissertation would be inconceivable without thoughtful assistance and patient guidance from others. For my wife, Linda, there is no limit to my appreciation. My colleague and long-time friend, Arthur R. Kelsey, has been of tremendous encouragement to me. Professor Harold J. Grimm, my dissertation adviser, has graciously provided me with his lucid advice and his mature guidance, and, moreover, he has given me the opportunity to learn from a distinguished scholar. Harry J. Ausmus VITA June 14, 1937 Born - Lafollette, Tennessee 1959 . B.A., East Tennessee State University Johnson City, Tennessee 1963 . B.D., Drew University, Madison, New Jersey 1963 . M.A., East Tennessee State University Johnson City, Tennessee 1966-1967 . Graduate Assistant, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1967- . Assistant Professor of History, Southern Connecticut State College, New Haven, Connecticut FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: History Renaissance and Reformation Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Europe Nineteenth Century Europe TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................... ii VITA ....................................................iii Chapter I. INTRODUCTION .................................. 1 II. CHRISTOPH, THE LUTHERAN DUKE: HIS LIFE TO 1555 ................................. 8 III. CHRISTOPH, THE FAITHFUL L U T H E R A N ............ 41 IV. CHRISTOPH'S EFFORTS: 1555-1559 77 V. THE CONTINUING STRUGGLE: 1560-1568 138 VI. C O N C L U S I O N ....................................... 165 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................ 169 iv CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION One of the major concerns of churchmen in the twentieth century has been a search for the means of healing the divisions within western Christendom, the historical roots of which are to be found in the sixteenth century with the attempt at reform of the church by Martin Luther. In general, the Reformation era has been viewed as a time of dissension and disunity which resulted in the separation of the western world into two major religious camps, the Catholics and the Protestants. Protestantism itself has frequently been considered the source of this disunity because of the multiformity of theological positions and the proliferation of various religious organizations and sects.^ That there were important and significant unitive efforts among the Protestants of the sixteenth century, however, has generally been given lesser consideration than the more obvious characteristics of As John T. McNeill maintained: "According to common opinion, the Protestant spirit is essentially one of atomic individualism." John T. McNeill, Unitive Protestantism (Richmond: John Knox Press, 1964) , p. 9. 1 2 the diversity of religious doctrine and the increasing 2 power of the territorial princes. Many of the princes of the sixteenth century understood the importance of achieving religious unity. Harmony among Protestants was considered to be not only an ideal religious goal but also a means of forming a united political front against the Catholics. One of the more important and enthusiastic advocates of religious unification in the sixteenth century was Duke Christoph of wiirttemberg. His efforts toward unity and his role in the Reformation, however, have received little attention by historians in the twentieth century. Sources on the life and thought of Christoph are significantly sparse in English. A basic reference is the multi-volume set of the New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia 2 Two sources which are important exceptions are of course McNeill's book and Stephen Charles Neil's A History of the Ecumenical Movement, 1517-1948 (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1967). 3 According to Viktor Ernst: "Keiner aber hat die Einigung der evangelischen Kirche so sehr in den Mittel- punkt seiner Lebensaufgabe gestellt, wie der eigentliche Begrunder des wurttembergischen Kirchentums, Herzog Christoph. Wo man die fruheren Vorkampfer des Einheitsgedankens aufzahlt, wird rneist auch sein Name mitgenannt; dariiber, wie er den Gedanken verwirklichen wollte, fehlt es bis jetzt an naheren Angaben,” Viktor Ernst, "Herzog Christoph von Wiirttemberg und die Einheit der evangelischen Kirche," Schwabische Kronik (No. 466, October 6, 1906), p. 9. 4 of Religious Knowledge which provides a brief biographical account of Christoph's life written by Gustave Bossert. A general description of some of the Duke's early activities can be found in the English edition of Leopold von Ranke's History of the Reformation in Germany.^ Volume seven of the English translation of Johannes Janssen's History of the German People** provides frequent references to Christoph's role in German history from 1555 to 1568. John Constable's "Johannes Brenz's Role in the Sacramentarian Controversy of the Sixteenth Century" and James Estes' "Johannes Brenz and the Problem of Church Order in the German Reformation" furnish important background material for the role of Christoph's major theological 7 adviser. No biography of the Duke of wiirttemberg has been written in the twentieth century. The most recent was the 4 Samuel Macauley Jackson (ed.), Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, 12 vols. (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1353). ^Leopold von Ranke, History of the Reformation in Germany, 2 vols. (New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Company, 1966). ^Johannes Janssen, History of the German People, 16 vols. (London, 1896-1916). 7 These two sources are unpublished Ph.D. dissertations at The Ohio State University, completed in 1967 and 1964, respectively. 4 two-volume edition by a former professor of history at the University of Tubingen, Bernhard Kugler, entitled O Herzog Christoph zu Wirtemberg and published in 1872. Based upon his research in the Staatsarchiv in Stuttgart, Kugler's work is more comprehensive and definitive than the earlier biographies by Johann Christian von Pfister and Johann Friedrich Rosslin, both having relied largely upon Christian Friedrich Sattler's five-volume Geschichte des Herzogthums WurteAberg unter der Regierung der g Herzogen, published in 1769-1772. A brief biographical sketch can also be found in the Realencyklopadie fur protestantische Theologie und Kirche, edited by Albert Hauck.10 The most important and most useful source is the collected letters of Christoph. Edited and with a valuable introduction by Viktor Ernst, the four-volume set, O Bernhard Kugler, Herzog Christoph zu Wirtemberg, 2 vols. (Stuttgart: Ebner und Seubert, 1868-1672). g Johann Friedrich Rdsslin, Leben Herzog Christoph von Wirtemberg (Stuttgart: Erhard und Loflund, 1792). Johann Christian von Pfister, Herzog Christoph von Wirtemberg (Tubingen, 1819). Christian Friedrich Sattler, Geschichte des Herzogthums Wiirtenbsrg unter der Regierung der Herzogen, 5 vols. (Tilbingen: deorg Heinrich Reiss, 1759-1772)/" ^Albert Hauck (hrsg.), Realencyklopadie fur protestantische Theologie und Kirche, 24 vols. (Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs'sche Buchhandlung, 1898). 5 which was published at the turn of the twentieth century, provides essential material on the political and religious activity of the Duke from 1550 to 1560."^ Unfortunately, the letters of Christoph during the period 1560-1568 12 have, as yet, not been published. With specific reference to Christoph's idea of Christian unity, Ernst alone has written on the subject in the Schwabische 13 Kronik in 1906. Ernst concentrates primarily upon the Duke's understanding of religious unification and upon his motivations for seeking religious reconciliation. Significantly, in this article, Ernst recommends that the details of Christoph's unification efforts ought to be 14 considered. The histories of the territory of Wurttemberg are numerous, with most of them utilizing Sattler's five- volume study. In this regard, Christoph Friedrich von Stalin's Wirtembergische Geschichte and Julius Rauscher's ■^Viktor Ernst (hrsg.), Briefwechsel des Herzogs Christoph von Wirtemberg, 4 voli"! (Stuttgart: W. Kohlnammer, IB'9'9)'.----- ---------- 12 Reliable sources have informed me that the letters do exist in the Hauptstaatsarchiv in Stuttgart, but that they have not been issued as a collection. 13 Cf. footnote number 3, above. 6 Wurttembergische Reformationsgeschichte are notable.^ In addition, Eugen Schneider's Wurttembergische Reformationsgeschichte and his four-volume Wurttembergische Geschichtsgue1len are helpful.*® The most recent work is Karl Weller's Wurttembergische Geschichte, published 17 in 1963. For extensive bibliographical listings on the history of Wurttemberg and Christoph, Karl Schottenloher's edition of the Bibliographie zur deutschen Geschichte im Zeitalter der Glaubensspaltung 1517-1585 and Wilhelm von Heyd's compilation of the Bibliographie der wurttembergischen 18 Geschichte are indispensable. 15 Christoph Friedrich von Stalin, Wirtembergische Geschichte, 4 vols. (Stuttgart: J. G. Cotta *sche