The Front-Runner of the Catholic Dedicated to Rudolf K. Markwald The Front-Runner of the Catholic Reformation

The Life and Works of Johann von Staupitz

FRANZ POSSET First published 2003 by Ashgate Publishing Published 2016 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Posset, Franz The front-runner of the Catholic Reformation: the life and works of Johann von Staupitz. – (St Andrews studies in Reformation history) 1. Staupitz, Johann von 2. – – History – 16th century 3. Theologians – Germany – Biography 4. – Germany – Biography 5. Reformation – Germany 6. Church history – 16th century I. Title 230.2’092

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Posset, Franz. The front-runner of the Catholic Reformation : the life and works of Johann von Staupitz / Franz Posset. p. cm. – (St. Andrews studies in Reformation history) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Staupitz, Johann von, d. 1524. I. Title. II. Series.

BX4705.S813 P67 2002 230’.2’092–dc21 2002074534 ISBN 13: 978-0-754-60866-0 (hbk)

Typeset in Sabon by Laserscript, Mitcham, Surrey, Great Britain Contents

List of Plates xi Foreword by Theo Bell xiii Preface xv Abbreviations xvii Plates xix Introduction 1 1 The Augustinian Order and the Struggle for Reform in the Late Medieval Period 7 2 The Early Years: Sermonizer, Reformator, Friend of Humanists, and Concern for Pastoral Care (1460s–1512) 32 3 Prominent Preacher and Author (1512–17) 130 4 Coping with Challenges (1514–20) 201 5 ‘Standing up for the Evangelical Truth’ (1520) 249 6 Imposed as upon the at (1522–24) 286 7 The ‘Golden Treatise’: Testament and Remembrance 336 8 Conclusion 366 Staupitz’s Works (in Chronological Order) 381 Select Bibliography 383 Index of Names 393 C\ Taylor & Francis ~ Taylor & Francis Group http://taylorandfra nci s.com St Andrews Studies in Reformation History

Editorial Board: Bruce Gordon, Andrew Pettegree and John Guy, St Andrews Reformation Studies Institute, Amy Nelson Burnett, University of Nebraska at Lincoln, Euan Cameron, University of Newcastle upon Tyne and Kaspar von Greyerz, University of Basel

The Shaping of a Community: The Rise and Reformation of the English Parish c. 1400–1560 Beat Ku¨ min

Seminary or University? The Genevan Academy and Reformed Higher Education, 1560–1620 Karin Maag

Marian Protestantism: Six Studies Andrew Pettegree

Protestant History and Identity in Sixteenth-Century Europe (2 volumes) edited by Bruce Gordon

Antifraternalism and Anticlericalism in the German Reformation: Johann Eberlin von Gu¨ nzburg and the Campaign against the Friars Geoffrey Dipple

Reformations Old and New: Essays on the Socio-Economic Impact of Religious Change c. 1470–1630 edited by Beat Ku¨ min

Piety and the People: Religious Printing in French, 1511–1551 Francis M. Higman

The Reformation in Eastern and Central Europe edited by Karin Maag

John Foxe and the English Reformation edited by David Loades

The Reformation and the Book Jean-Franc¸ois Gilmont, edited and translated by Karin Maag viii ST ANDREWS STUDIES IN REFORMATION HISTORY

The Magnificent Ride: The First Reformation in Hussite Bohemia Thomas A. Fudge

Kepler’s Tu¨ bingen: Stimulus to a Theological Mathematics Charlotte Methuen

‘Practical Divinity’: The Works and Life of Revd Richard Greenham Kenneth L. Parker and Eric J. Carlson

Belief and Practice in Reformation England: A Tribute to Patrick Collinson by his Students edited by Susan Wabuda and Caroline Litzenberger

Frontiers of the Reformation: Dissidence and Orthodoxy in Sixteenth-Century Europe Auke Jelsma

The Jacobean Kirk, 1567–1625: Sovereignty, Polity and Liturgy Alan R. MacDonald

John Knox and the British edited by Roger A. Mason

The Education of a Christian Society: Humanism and the Reformation in Britain and the Netherlands edited by N. Scott Amos, Andrew Pettegree and Henk van Nierop

Tudor Histories of the English Reformations, 1530–83 Thomas Betteridge

Poor Relief and Protestantism: The Evolution of Social Welfare in Sixteenth-Century Emden Timothy G. Fehler

Radical Reformation Studies: Essays presented to James M. Stayer edited by Werner O. Packull and Geoffrey L. Dipple

Clerical Marriage and the English Reformation: Precedent Policy and Practice Helen L. Parish ST ANDREWS STUDIES IN REFORMATION HISTORY ix

Penitence in the Age of Reformations edited by Katharine Jackson Lualdi and Anne T. Thayer

The and Fortunes of France’s Huguenots, 1600–85 Philip Benedict

Christianity and Community in the West: Essays for John Bossy edited by Simon Ditchfield

Reformation, Politics and Polemics: The Growth of Protestantism in East Anglian Market Towns, 1500–1610 John Craig

The Sixteenth-Century French Religious Book edited by Andrew Pettegree, Paul Nelles and Philip Conner

Music as Propaganda in the German Reformation Rebecca Wagner Oettinger

John Foxe and his World edited by Christopher Highley and John N. King

Confessional Identity in East-Central Europe edited by Maria Cra˘ciun, Ovidiu Ghitta and Graeme Murdock

The Bible in the Renaissance: Essays on Biblical Commentary and Translation in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries edited by Richard Griffiths

Obedient Heretics: Mennonite Identities in Lutheran Hamburg and Altona during the Confessional Age Michael D. Driedger

The Construction of Martyrdom in the English Catholic Community, 1535–1603 Anne Dillon

Baptism and Spiritual Kinship in Early Modern England Will Coster x ST ANDREWS STUDIES IN REFORMATION HISTORY

Usury, Interest and the Reformation Eric Kerridge

The Correspondence of Reginald Pole: 1. A Calendar, 1518–1546: Beginnings to Legate of Viterbo Thomas F. Mayer

Self-Defence and Religious Strife in Early Modern Europe: England and Germany, 1530–1680 Robert von Friedeburg

Hatred in Print: Catholic Propaganda and Protestant Identity during the French Wars of Religion Luc Racaut

Penitence, Preaching and the Coming of the Reformation Anne T. Thayer

Huguenot Heartland: Montauban and Southern French Calvinism during the French Wars of Religion Philip Conner

Charity and Lay Piety in Reformation London, 1500–1620 Claire S. Schen

The British Union: A Critical Edition and Translation of David Hume of Godscroft’s De Unione Insulae Britannicae edited by Paul J. McGinnis and Arthur H. Williamson

Reforming the Scottish Church: John Winram (c. 1492–1582) and the Example of Fife Linda J. Dunbar

Cultures of Communication from Reformation to Enlightenment: Constructing Publics in the Early Modern German Lands edited by James Van Horn Melton

Sebastian Castellio, 1515–1563 Humanist and Defender of Religious Toleration in a Confessional Age Hans R. Guggisberg and Bruce Gordon List of Plates

1 Portrait of Johann von Staupitz as Abbot of St Peter’s at xix Salzburg. Bibliothek St Peter, Salzburg, Austria. Photo: Oskar Anrather. 2 Title-page of Staupitz’s Ein seligs newes Jar von der lieb xx gottes (‘On the Love of God’) with Martin ’s signature. Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Germany, Preußischer Kulturbesitz; Sig. 1: Libr. impr. rar. Quart 196. Photo: Oskar Anrather. 3 Staupitz’s Profession as a Benedictine Monk, Salzburg, xxi 1 August 1522. Archiv: A 62, Nr. 102. Photo: Bibliothek St Peter, Salzburg, Austria. 4 Epitaph on Staupitz’s Grave, St Mary’s Chapel at St Peter’s xxii Archabbey, Salzburg. Bibliothek St Peter, Salzburg, Austria. Photo: Oskar Anrather. C\ Taylor & Francis ~ Taylor & Francis Group http://taylorandfra nci s.com Foreword

In a letter of March 27, 1545, wrote to Elector John Frederick: ‘Doctor Staupitz is first of all my father in this doctrine and he has given birth to me in Christ.’ The conviction that Johann von Staupitz had been Luther’s spiritual father and that everything had started with him can often be found in Luther’s works, and less than a year before his death he remembers him with much gratitude. However, Luther’s own view of Staupitz’s significance for him was seldom fully appreciated. Moreover, in contrast to Luther, Staupitz was generally underexposed. The Roman Catholic Church put his writings on the index of forbidden books. The Protestants underlined the theological originality of Luther and in that view Staupitz could only be seen as a forerunner of the Reformation, who at his best has had some sort of pastoral influence on Luther. This theological biography, presented by Dr. Franz Posset, wants to put the life and work of Staupitz into a new perspective. Anyone who closely considers Catholic theology before the Council of Trent will discover much more than just variations of scholastic theology. By means of the renewal of the religious Orders, of theology and especially of preaching, some strong reform efforts became evident which made up the cradle of both the Catholic and the Protestant Reformations. In this regard, Staupitz made an important contribution as vicar general of the observant Augustinian friars. He aimed at a reform of the Christian life within the contemporary context of biblical humanism, monastic humanism, and devotional theology, all of which wanted to return to the ancient sources of the faith that is to the Bible and the Church Fathers, especially Augustine. The title of Franz Posset’s study already reveals his view of Staupitz. He does not want to see him only as a forerunner, but rather as a front- runner of the Reformation. There is no reason to play down Staupitz’s great significance for Luther for the sake of safeguarding the latter’s originality. Staupitz has to be seen as a reform theologian in his own right. He wanted to bring the Gospel closer to the ordinary people of his time and considered this task to be the mission for the Augustinian friars. Luther, in his own peculiar way, fulfilled Staupitz’s vision of reforming the Church through the reform of preaching. xiv FOREWORD

Definitely, Franz Posset also wants to pursue an ecumenical interest with his historical–theological study. He sees Staupitz’s theology and spirituality not only as ‘a genuine Catholic possibility in proximity to Augustine’ in the Reformation period but also for us today. This gives his book a special dimension. He has earned our gratitude for this rich and fascinating biography.

Theo M.M.A.C. Bell Utrecht Preface

My principal reason for writing this book is to make available to the English-speaking reader insights into the extraordinary life and work of a largely underestimated German theologian of the Reformation, an actor in the drama of the early sixteenth century, Johann von Staupitz. Most recent studies and the critical edition of Staupitz’s works are written in German. In this volume I have tried to process the research results of the past 130 years or so, starting with J.K.F. Knaake’s unfinished edition of Staupitz’s works of 1867. At the beginning of the new millenium, my intention is to provide a preliminary synthesis of the life and work of Staupitz, as it may not be possible to produce a definitive biography until all of the sources are available in critical editions. Nonetheless, one can investigate the essential traits of his life as it unfolds over the years within the context of the Catholic reform movement around 1500 and in the first decades of the sixteenth century. Staupitz is primarily remembered as the superior and admired mentor of Friar Martin Luther within the reformed branch of the Order of St Augustine in German-speaking lands, however, to date no full biography of him has been written. Staupitz displayed a remarkable openness to the various intellectual and religious challenges of his time, and for this he earned his place of honour in the history of pastoral care. It seems to me that the Reformation in Germany cannot be understood fully and properly without a thorough knowledge of Staupitz’s spirituality and pastoral/practical theology. In a sense, this biography may be read as a theological introduction to the early Reformation in Germany. Staupitz is to be appreciated here for his own decisive contribution to the Catholic Reformation, of which Luther, in his earlier phase, was a part, until he was excommunicated. This is a theological biography written by a lay theologian for other theologians and for historians. My main concern is to bring forth Staupitz’s ‘Catholic spirituality’, that is, his understanding of the relationship of man to God, of which he so often speaks in his sermons. I am grateful to Dr Bruce Gordon of the St Andrews Reformation Studies Institute in Scotland for his helpful, critical review of this study and for including it in his series of St Andrews Studies in Reformation History. For further collegial, scholarly advice and helpful hints I am xvi PREFACE indebted to my Lutheran friends in Wisconsin, Rudolf K. and Lynn Markwald, and Kenneth and Aldemar Hagen, who critiqued earlier drafts of this book. I dedicate it to Rudolf K. Markwald, translator of Staupitz’s 1520 sermons, who in 1999 celebrated his 80th birthday.

Franz Posset Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, USA Abbreviations

AAug Analecta Augustiniana. ABR The American Benedictine Review. AELK Allgemeine Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirchenzeitung. ARG Archiv fu¨ r Reformationsgeschichte. BBKL Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz (ed.), Biographisch- Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon, vols 1–2 (Hamm, 1990), vols 3–18 (Herzberg, 1992–2000), vols 19–21 (Nordhausen, 2001–2003) CR Carolus Gottlieb Bretschneider (ed.), Corpus Reformatorum, 28 vols (Halis Saxonum, 1834–60) CSQ Cistercian Studies Quarterly. Dictionnaire Marcel Viller SK et al. (eds), Dictionnaire de Spiritualite´ Asce´tique et mystique, doctrine et histoire, 17 vols (Paris, 1937–95). Jeremias, AELK Alfred Jeremias, ‘Johannes Staupitz, Luthers Vater un Schu¨ ler’, Allgemeine Evangelisch Lutherische Kirchenzeitung, 61 (1928), pp. 345–50. Kleine Schriften Otto Clemen, Kleine Schriften zur Reformationgeschichte (1897–1944), ed. Ernst Koch, 9 vols (Leipzig, 1907; reprinted 1983). Kunzelmann Adalbero Kunzelmann, Geschicte der deutschen Augustiner-Eremiten, 7 vols (Wu¨ rzburg, 1979–83). LQ Lutheran Quarterly. LW Jaroslav Pelikan and Helmut T. Lehmann (eds), Luther’s Works, 55 vols (St Louis, MO, 1955–86). NCE New Catholic Encyclopedia, prepared by editorial staff of the Catholic University of America (New York, 1967–). PL Patrologia Series Latina. RGG Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart, Handwo¨ rterbuch fu¨ r Theologie and Religionswissenschaft, 7 vols (Tu¨ bingen, 1957–65). SBOp Jean Leclereq et al. (eds), Sancti Bernardi Opera, 8 vols (Rome, 1957–77). SCJ Sixteenth Century Journal. xviii ABBREVIATIONS

Staupitz, I. Lothar Graf Zu Dohna and Richard Wetzel (eds), Johann von Staupitz: Sa¨mtliche Schriften, Abhandlungen, Predigten, Zeugnisse, Volume I, Tu¨ binger Predigten (Berlin and New York, 1987). Staupitz, II. Lothar Graf zu Dohna and Richard Wetzel (eds), Johann von Staupitz: Sa¨mtliche Schriften, Abhandlungen, Predigten, Zeugnisse, Volume II, [Advent Sermons at Nuremberg] (= Libellus de exsecutione aeternae praedestinationis) (Berlin and New York, 1979). Stupperich Robert Stupperich, Reformatorenlexikon, (Gu¨ tersloh, 1984). WA D Martin Luthers Werke: kritische Gesamtausgabe, Weimarer Ausgabe (Weimar, 1883–). References to this edition are abbreviated in line with the following example: WA 39,2. 100,3 = WA vol. 39, part 2, page 100, line 3.) WABR Weimarer Ausgabe Briefe (Letters). WATR Weimarer Ausgabe Tischreden (Table Talks). ZKG Zeitschrift fu¨ r Kirchengeschichte. 1 Portrait of Johann von Staupitz as Abbot of St Peter’s at Salzburg. Bibliothek St Peter, Salzburg, Austria. Photo: Oskar Anrather. 2 Title-page of Staupitz’s Ein seligs newes Jar von der lieb gottes (‘On the Love of God’) with Martin Luther’s signature. Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Germany, Preußischer Kulturbesitz; Sig. 1: Libr. impr. rar. Quart 196. Photo: Oskar Anrather. 3 Staupitz’s Profession as a Benedictine Monk, Salzburg, 1 August 1522. Archiv: A 62, Nr. 102. Photo: Bibliothek St Peter, Salzburg, Austria. 4 Epitaph on Staupitz’s Grave, St Mary’s Chapel at St Peter’s Archabbey, Salzburg. Bibliothek St Peter, Salzburg, Austria. Photo: Oskar Anrather. Introduction

‘I am yours, save me’ is the motto of Staupitz’s life and work. He recommended this verse, taken from Ps. 118 (119): 94, to the dying person as a final prayer – as we find in the conclusion of his booklet on this subject, his first publication from the year 1515 – and also placed it on the title-page of both the Latin and German editions of his Advent sermons of 1516 (printed in 1517), in the Vulgate version, Tuus sum ego, salvum me fac. Further, he used it in a letter to a confre`re in 1516. His life and work are permeated by the Word of God; as the epitaph on his grave at Salzburg testifies, ‘he’s held to whatever the sacred page teaches’. This biblical scholar is the key figure in the transition from the reforms of the religious Orders in the fifteenth century to the Reformation of the early sixteenth century. As the leader of the reformed (observant) Augustinian Order, he exercised enormous influence on the reform of piety through preaching and writing, a task to which this Order was committed at that time. Plate 1 shows Staupitz in his Abbot’s robes; he was Abbot of St Peter’s, Salzburg from 1522 to 1524. The significance of Staupitz is difficult to overestimate; one could even ask: is Staupitz the Reformation? Yes and no. Yes in terms of much of Reformation theology. Yes, because he is an exponent of what is usually associated with the Reformation theological principles of ‘grace alone’, ‘faith alone’, and ‘Scripture alone’. No, because he was not a proponent of nationalistic German anti-Roman politics so virulent at this time. No, also in terms of ecclesiastical reform politics; he was a ‘critical’ thinker, but he nevertheless remained loyal to the Church. Staupitz’s Reformation theology is worth investigating in the frame- work of a biography. This volume will show that he provided the decisive spiritual and theological impulses for his more famous confre`re, Martin Luther. In terms of theology, therefore, Staupitz may be called not simply a forerunner of the Reformation, but the front-runner. Luther himself indicated that through Staupitz the light of the gospel had entered his heart. This is precisely so because Staupitz’s pastoral theology was convincing as theology, rather than psychology, and not because of any pastoral counselling methods. One would do Staupitz an injustice if one belittled his thoroughly theological way of approaching 2 THE FRONT-RUNNER OF THE CATHOLIC REFORMATION pastoral care.1 Luther himself confirmed that in his own case it was Staupitz’s pastoral theology, that is, his great preaching of the gospel and of the cross, which was of decisive help. Staupitz’s life and work, his theological and spiritual insights will be presented in as chronological a sequence as is possible, and as they were made explicit in his sermons and tracts year after year, as far as these are accessible to us today. Staupitz himself did not present a systematic theology. He mainly preached to fellow friars and nuns, although also to the common people, including intellectuals, of major cities of that time. His principal medium was the ‘sermon’, augmented by booklets based on his preaching. In Chapter 1 the scene is set with a background sketch of the reform efforts of the religious Orders in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. Chapter 2 will study Staupitz’s early Latin ‘sermons’, also called a ‘book’, which he wrote in 1497/98 at Tu¨ bingen. These sermons, which are permeated by the concept of the priority of grace in human life, were probably not delivered orally to an audience, but carefully composed and written, very likely for a fraternal readership. This chapter also describes the other tasks Staupitz had to master during the first decade of the new century as the vicar general of the reformed Augustinians, including his opening up to the contemporary humanist movement: conducting business for his Order, mediating in political matters, and even becoming a matchmaker. We will meet him as professor of the ‘sacred page’. Chapter 3 is dedicated to his position as prominent preacher and author at Salzburg, Nuremberg, and , between 1512 and 1517. In Chapter 4 we will focus on the years after his resignation from his professorship at the University of Wittenberg in 1512, when around 1515 he was considered for the bishopric at Salzburg-Chiemsee, and when he had to cope with Friar Martin Luther and his determination to reform pastoral care and challenge publicly the abuses in the business. In Chapter 5, we will again find Staupitz as a preacher and curate of souls (Seelsorger) at Salzburg, at the ‘anus of the world’, as he ‘stands up for the evangelical truth’ in 1520. By now he has ended his career as vicar general of the Augustinian

1 Unfortunately, Gerhard Ebeling appears to do just that, saying that Staupitz as ‘pastor’ to Luther lacked theological thoroughness (theologische Durchbildung) and therefore pastoral effectiveness (seelsorgerliche Durchschlagskraft), in Luthers Seelsorge: Theologie in der Vielfalt der Lebenssituationen an seinen Briefen dargestellt (Tu¨ bingen, 1997), p. 477. The theological biography of Staupitz which is presented here, will demonstrate Staupitz’s pastoral effectiveness precisely because of his biblical, theological expertise, that is his seelsorgerliche Theologie. See M. Wriedt, ‘Staupitz und Luther. Zur Bedeutung der seelsorgerlichen Theologie Johannes von Staupitz fu¨ r den jungen Luther’, in J. Heubach (ed.), Luther als Seelsorger (Erlangen, 1991), pp. 67–108. INTRODUCTION 3

Reformed Congregation. Chapter 6 will deal with Staupitz as the Benedictine abbot of St Peter’s Abbey in Salzburg (1522–24), delivering his last major series of sermons. From that same time, a text is extant on the Christian faith which was published after his death by his friend, the ex-friar Wenceslaus Linck (printed at Augsburg, 1525). Also from the latter part of his life (1523), we have his expert opinion (Consultatio) about the confessions of his former confre`re Stephan Agricola who was accused of and whom Abbot Staupitz was able to save. Chapter 7 will then treat Staupitz’s theological testament and the remembrance by friends and foes of later times and, finally, all the above threads will be brought together in the concluding chapter. This theological approach to Staupitz’s life and work will show that there was no sharp division between the pre-Reformation and Reformation periods. This insight concurs with what scholars of popular piety have begun to realize, namely that the ‘newer perspectives increasingly transcend the divide between the pre-Reformation and Reformation periods’.2 The fifteenth century was a time of great reform efforts which were inspired by the biblical directive ‘reform yourselves’ as found in Rom. 12: 2 (Vulgate: reformamini).3 Studying Staupitz’s life and work will reveal these reform efforts and will prove wrong the perception of the general ‘unresponsiveness’ of the Church of that time.4 Staupitz’s reform work within the Church demonstrates the complexities of the Catholic Reformation. It would be too deceptively simplistic to try to paint a picture of the Church in accelerating decay during the fifteenth century and then to let the Protestant Reformation shine all the brighter against such a backdrop. Reformation theology and historiography no longer need the construct of a ‘deformation’ in the fifteenth-century church and society in order to explain (in a mono-causal way) the reactions of the (Protestant) ‘Reformation’ of the sixteenth century. This is so because one may actually find a continuum between the various reform efforts of the religious Orders of previous centuries and the sixteenth-century ‘Reformation’. Therefore, it is time to focus on the ‘catholicity of the

2 Bob Scribner, ‘Introduction’, in B. Scribner and T. Johnson (eds), Popular Religion in Germany and Central Europe, 1400–1800 (New York, 1996), p. 1. 3 See J. Helmrath, ‘Theorie und Praxis der Kirchenreform im Spa¨tmittelalter’, Rottenburger Jahrbuch fu¨ r Kirchengeschichte 11 (1992), pp. 41–70 (p. 48). On the history of the notion of ‘reform’, see K. Repken, ‘Reform’, in H.J. Hillerbrand (ed.), The Oxford Encyclopaedia of the Reformation (4 vols, New York, 1996), III, pp. 392–5. 4 See L.G. Duggan, ‘The Unresponsiveness of the Late Medieval Church: A Reconsideration’, SCJ, 9 (1978), pp. 3–26; F. Rapp, L’Eglise et la vie religieuse en Occident a` la fin du Moyen Age (Paris, 1971), pp. 296–331; A. Angenendt, Geschichte der Religiosita¨t im Mittelalter (Darmstadt, 1997), p. 29. 4 THE FRONT-RUNNER OF THE CATHOLIC REFORMATION

Reformation’.5 A case in point are the recent studies of Bernard of Clairvaux and his impact on theology and devotion around 1500,6 and specifically on Luther7 and Calvin.8 Another case would be the very basic concept of ‘visitations’ of cloisters with the purpose of inspecting their status of reform. Such undertakings may very well have been the matrix for the later reformers’ ‘visitations’ of the parishes in the various territories. What Staupitz accomplished by his visitations of the friaries, the later reformers tried to emulate with their pastoral visits of parishes. When in the course of this investigation we refer to ‘German lands’ (Deutsche Lande) we are aware of the historical fact that there was no ‘Germany’ at that time. There was the ‘Empire’ (Reich) which during Staupitz’s lifetime (that is, after 1492) began to be called the ‘Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation’. Even then there was no unified ‘nation’. In the Middle Ages, the province of a religious Order might include, for example, the ‘nations’ of Austria, Bavaria, Swabia, Alsace and Brabant.9 Staupitz moved within these regions (‘nations’) on his visitation journeys and was thus an ‘internationalist’ by contemporary standards. By working closely with the sources we will arrive at a new image of Staupitz as an eminent theologian, preacher and curate, more specifically as an ‘academic city preacher’ in the major urban centres in the south of the German-speaking territory. He belonged to the ‘elite of preachers’ of his time,10 not to the class of ‘pastors’ (Pfarrer, Pfarr-Herr) who at that time, were primarily ‘rectors’ of a local church building, their main concern being the co-ordination of the liturgical activities of the numerous priests, especially their celebrations of Masses at the various altars in a given church.11 In contrast, Staupitz was an outstanding

5 See C.E. Braaten and R.W. Jenson (eds), The Catholicity of the Reformation (Grand Rapids, MI, 1996). 6 See F. Posset, ‘Saint Bernard of Clairvaux in the Devotion, Theology, and Art of the Sixteenth Century’, LQ, 21 (1997), pp. 308–52. 7 See T. Bell, Divus Bernhardus: Bernhard von Clairvaux in Martin Luthers Schriften (Mainz, 1993). My own studies on Bernard and Luther, published since 1987, are gathered in my book Pater Bernhardus: Martin Luther and Bernard of Clairvaux (Kalamazoo, MI, 1999). 8 See A.N.S. Lane, Calvin and Bernard of Clairvaux (Princeton, NJ, 1996); D.E. Tamburello, Union with Christ: John Calvin and the Mysticism of St. Bernard (Louisville, KY, 1994). 9 E. Schubert, Einfu¨ hrung in die Grundprobleme der deutschen Geschichte im Spa¨tmittelalter (Darmstadt, 1992), pp. 26–32. 10 Predigerelite and akademischer Stadtprediger are designations that are applied to mendicant preachers in general by Angenendt, Geschichte der Religiosita¨t, pp. 444 and 479. 11 See Schubert, Einfu¨ hrung, p. 260. INTRODUCTION 5 curate,12 who correctly takes his place of honour in the history of pastoral care13 and preaching, and its reforms, which constitute an essential part of any definition of the Catholic Reformation.

12 See Wriedt, ‘Staupitz und Luther’ (above n. 1), and idem, ‘Seelsorgerliche Theologie am Vorabend der Reformation: Johann Staupitz als Fastenprediger in Nu¨ rnberg’, Zeitschrift fu¨ r Bayerische Kirchengeschichte, 63 (1994), pp. 1–12. 13 See M. Wriedt, ‘Johann von Staupitz’, in C. Mo¨ ller (ed.), Geschichte der Seelsorge in Einzelportra¨ts, 3 vols (Go¨ ttingen, 1994–96), II, pp. 45–64. It is curious that the chapter on Luther (II, pp. 25–44) precedes that on Staupitz, who was the older of the two and Luther’s teacher. C\ Taylor & Francis ~ Taylor & Francis Group http://taylorandfra nci s.com