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Xerox University Microfilms 300 North Zoeb Road Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 There was a surge of interest in Bugenhagen in the nineteenth century v;ith such men as Hermann Hering and C. A. T. Vogt undertaking extensive biographical work as well as editing original tracts and other writings. This waned, however, and only recently, since the four- hundredth anniversary of his death in 1958, has there been any attempt to reassert Bugenhagen1s position as a central figure in the events of the sixteenth century. A collection of essays edited by Werner Rautenberg and sketches of the man and his organizational ideas by Ernst Wolfe constituted an important element of this modern interest. Bugenhagen tended to be a very practical man. It was, therefore, difficult for the historians of ideas to write about or create interest in him. With recent trends toward social and economic history, Bugenhagen has become a mandatory subject of investigation if the social phenomena of the Reformation are to be understood. The purpose of the following study is three-fold. The first is to present the man himself in his historical perspec­ tive. Because so few biographical sources are available, there has been a perhaps unusually long biographical study included in this work. Secondly, there is an 93 divine nature with them.^4^ Bugenhagen took this as an indication that Albert had rejected the Augsburg Confes­ sion. His answer to Albert was sharp and clear, asking what good it did to use eloquent words about Christ while attacking his real glory.-*-4^ Albert answered in a friendly letter but their correspondence ended. In 1556 Bugenhagen published his Vermanung an alle Pastoren und Predicanten des Evangelii im Churfurstenthumb zu Sachssen.-*-^7 v/as a giOOIT1y tract concerned with the impending end of the world through war and the Turkish danger. The sad and gloomy apocalyptic tone of the tract came, most probably, frbm the sadness and rejection he himself had experienced. Not only was disaster predicted for the world but Bugenhagen repeatedly talked about his own impending death.-*-4® He continued his domestic responsibilities as well as what public duties he could still manage. His loyalty to Luther showed in his concern for Luther's widow. 145Xbid., p. 516 146Ibid., p. 524. 14^Geisenhof, p. 444. 148Ernst Wolf, Gestalten der Reformation, p. 64. 94 He had written to King Christian asking money for Luther's widow. "She wouldn't be poor if she knew how to take care of what she has, but she doesn't."149 In 1556 he asked Christian to turn his pension over to his wife 1 C r t Walpurga after his death. "A large number of theologians had rejected him as they had Melanchthon for their roles in the Interim. Old friends deserted him and he no longer exercised great influence. The young generation no longer cared to hear 1 Cl what he had to say." In 1557 he gave up preaching but went to church daily, spending long hours in prayer. He had gone blind in onfe eye and had never fully recovered from his fall in 1547. By April of 1558 he no longer could leave his bed and he died during the night of April 19—20. He was buried in the parish church at Wittenberg where he had worked for thirty-five years. His passing was quiet and his funeral small. Melanchthon preserved his memory t a g Bugenhagen, Briefwechsel, p. 480. 150Ibid., p. 565. 191Robert Stupperich, "Dr. Pomer, Zum 400 Todestag des Reformators Johannes Bugenhagen," Luther; Mitteilun- gen der Luthergesellschift (Berlin: Lutherisches Verlaghaus, 1958), pp. 59-60. 95 in his De Vita Bucrenhagii but he was soon all but for­ gotten.^^2 l52ibid. I CHAPTER III THE PROBLEM OF 'SIXTEENTH CENTURY POOR RELIEF There is considerable discussion today about the origins of the social institutions and social ethics of the Reformation. Central among the social institutions are the various systems of poor relief established throughout Europe in the early years of the sixteenth century. These systems were devised and implemented by city councils, humanist scholars, clerics, and even the emperor. During the nineteenth century there were great debates concerning the Catholic, evangelical, or humanist origins of these systems. The Jesuit cardinal, Franz Ehrle, strove to show that prudent municipal charity was established by Catholic cities and was in the best tra­ dition of Roman Catholicism. His principal theses was set forth in 1888 in his discussion of the poor relief orders of N&rnberg (1522) and Ypres (1525).'*' Ehrle went •*-Franz Ehrle, S. J., Beltracre zur Geschichte und Reform der Armenpflege, "Stimmen aus Maria-Laach" (Frei­ burg im Breisgau: Herder'sche Verlaghandlung, 1881). 96 so far as to claim that the entire idea of justice and charity for the poor was an exclusive invention of Chris­ tianity and of the Catholic Church as the truest embodiment of that tradition. He, rather pompously, proclaimed; The teaching of doing good for our neighbor, as the saints taught, the Apostles proclaimed, as is set down in the New Testament was not only not known to pagans but even to the Jews . It was a specifically Christian teaching. Saint Ignatius, without fearing contradiction, could announce in his letter to the faithful in Smyrna that, 'Outside Christianity there is no love, no concern for the orphans and widows, no help for the downtrodden, no solace for the prisoners."2 Apparently Cardinal. Ehrle had never encountered the Old Testament fulminations of the prophet Amos against the oppression of the poor in Israel or the constant gener­ osity and reverence toward the "anawim," the poor of Israel, expressed also in the Old Testament. At any rate, according to Otto Winckelmann, Ehrle did not have authen­ tic texts and had based his analysis on documents quite different from the original poor relief orders of Ypres and Numberg.^ 2Ibid., pp. 7-8. •^Otto Winckelmann, "Uber die altesten Armenordnung der Reformationszeit (1522-1525)," Historische Viertel- jahrschrift, XVII (1914), p. 216. 9 8 Georg Ratzinger, whose purpose was similar to Ehrle's and who was Ehrle*s contemporary, came under similar attack by Winckelmann. Not only did Winckelmann deny the authenticity of Ratzinger's sources, he even questioned the responsible use of these unauthentic docu­ ments. winckelmann was quite convinced that both Ypres and Nurnberg were clearly Protestant creations. In his enthusiasm, he claimed that the Reformation was the first declaration of obligatory care for the community and the first time the poor had a real claim to public assis­ tance.^ This claim was made despite an overwhelming number of medieval canonical decretals and writings of the Fathers which clearly state that the poor are the true and legal owners of church property and are, in justice, entitled to assistance and support. To have withheld assistance would have been grievously sinful.'* St. Basil the Great particularly emphasized that all wealth was merely a stewardship and not an ownership. There should 4 Wilhelm Liese, Geschichte der Caritas (Freiburg im Breisgau: Caritasverlag, 1922), I, 250. 5 Brian ‘Tierney, Medieval Poor Law; A Sketch of Canonical Theory and Its Application in England (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1959), p. 70. 99- be no rich or poor but a community of e q u a l s . ^ Ludwig Feuchtv/anger saw the trends in poor relief as one of secularization. He felt that after the property concessions made by Eugene IV to the secular princes during the Council of Basle, the trend in all adminis­ trative affairs was toward secular control. He stated that, "The community of citizens became the leading instrument of church administration."*^ There must be a great deal of caution used in claiming secularization because the term seems to imply a clear distinction between a secular and an ecclesiastical community.