^j^fWmicB^ A ^OLOGICM SE1A\^ CONVERSATIONS WITH LUTHER PORTRAIT of MARTIN LUTHER By Cranach. Original in Milan. CONVERSATIONS WITH ""LUTHER Selections from recently published sources of the TABLE TALK Translated and edited by PRESERVED 'smith, Ph.D. Author of "The Life and Letters of Martin Luther," etc., editor of " Luther's Correspondence and other contemporary Letters," etc. AND HERBERT PERCIVAL GALLINGER, Ph.D. Associate Professor of History at Amherst College THE PILGRIM PRESS BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO Copyright 1915 By preserved SMITH and HERBERT PERCIVAL GALLINGER T«re PILGRIM PRESS BOSTON CONTENTS rAGE Introduction ix 1. Luther's Childhood 1 2. At Erfurt University, 1501-1505, and the Erfurt Friary, 1505-1508, 1509-1511. 5 3. The Journey to Rome, December, 1510 . 16 4. Teaching at Wittenberg, 1508-1509, and 1511-46 20 5. The Theses on Indulgences, 1517 .... 24 6. The Interview with Cardinal Cajetan AT Augsburg, October, 1518 25 7. Luther's Return from Augsburg, 1518. 29 8. Charles von Miltitz Fails to Arrest the Heretic, 1519 31 9. The Diet OF Worms, April, 1521 33 10. The Controversy with Carlstadt, 1523 . 38 11. Marriage and Family Life 41 12. How the Table Talk WAS Collected. 66 13. Contemporary Politics 70 14. War and Turbulence 88 15. The Peasants 90 16. Schools 96 17. Music 98 18. Astronomy and Astrology 101 19. The Humanists 105 20. Human Reason and the Philosophy of THE Pagans )14 21. Justification 126 22. Predestination 135 (t1 CONTENTS vAce 23. The Papacy 138 24. Monks and Monasticism 151 25. The Devil 156 26. The World Prefers Satan to the Gospel. 165 27. God and His Gifts 168 28. The Bible 175 29. Preachers and Preaching 187 30. Wyclif and Huss 197 31. Philip Melanchthon 200 32. Heretics 205 33. Concerning Lies 208 34. Temptations 210 35. Questions 212 36. Miscellaneous 226 Bibliographical Note 252 Index ... : 255 [vil ILLUSTRATIONS PAGB Portrait of Martin Luther Frontispiece In Luther's House at Wittenburg 20 Luther's Room at the Wartburg 36 Luther and His Wife and Children 42 Catherine Luther 60 ITUI INTRODUCTION. If the title " The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World " be taken in its full meaning, to assert a certain philosophy of history, one might combat it by alleging the decisive character of fifteen events of a different kind, for example, " The Fifteen Decisive Love- Affairs of the World." The second title has as much plausibility as the first. Did not Antony lose half a world for Cleopatra's voluptuous charms.^ Was not the Con- queror born of the chance meeting of Robert the Devil and a bare-foot girl? In how far was the poet Gray right in saying that the Reformation in England was due to " the gospel light that dawned in Boleyn's eyes ".'* Perhaps the cleanest, and surely the most momentous, of historic love-affairs was that of Friar Martin and Sister Catharine, who, convinced that their vows of celibacy were wrong and void, married each other on June 13, 1525. The act, symbolizing and crown- ing the whole revolt from Rome, created an immense sensation throughout Europe. The rage of the Catholics at " the monk Priapus and the nun Venus '' was, for the most part, expressed in language not fit to INTRODUCTION be repeated. Henry VIII, from the vantage- ground of his own superior domestic life, had the bridal couple put into a scurillous comedy, and his chancellor, Sir Thomas More, could not miss the opportunity of mocking at " Friar Luther and Cate Callate, his nun, lusking together in lechery." Surely, said men. Antichrist must now come, — for was it not prophesied that he should be born of the union of a monk and a nun.^ Erasmus expressed the shrewd suspicion that Anti- christ need not have waited so long to appear, and affected to take the thing lightly. Hitherto, said he, we have considered the Reformation a tragedy, but now, as it ends in a wedding, we know it to be a comedy. Even Luther's followers were not all pleased. Poor, timid Melanchthon shook his head over it in the most lugubrious way. Truly, as the bridegroom remarked of his marriage, ** the angels laughed, and the devils wept thereat." Undisturbed by the general storm, the newly married couple settled down to twenty years of quiet, domestic happiness. Their love for each other was of the deepest, best kind. Luther confessed in letters to friends, that, when he kissed his wife, he thanked God " for this best little creature of his/' INTRODUCTION During the first year of marriage, " Katie," as her husband always called her, would sit by him at his work, trying to think up questions to ask. But soon her leisure was taken up with the cares of a large house and family. Six children came to her in time, — Hans, a good, honest fellow; Elizabeth whose early death left her father " wonderfully sick at heart and almost womanish"; Magdalene, a lovely little girl who died in her fourteenth year; Martin, a rather sickly boy, for a time his father's " dearest treasure "; Paul, the brilliant member of the family; and Alargaret. After his marriage, as before, Luther con- tinued to live in the large and handsome brick building which had once been the Augustinian cloister. The general exodus of its inmates, following the Reformer's proclamation of monastic emancipation, had left it nearly empty. At first assigned to him as a temporary residence, it was, in 1532, deeded by the government to him and his wife jointly. As professor in the uni- versity the Reformer received a sufficient salary, about the equivalent, in purchasing power, to that now paid to teachers in the larger institutions of learning. The great Ixil INTRODUCTION thrift of Frau Luther, and the bounty of princes, enabled her to accumulate a con- siderable property, notwithstanding her hus- band's unbounded liberality and hospitality. For the great house was always full to the brim. Besides keeping a number of his own and Katie's poor relatives, the Reformer entertained many distinguished guests from abroad, and a constant quota of poor stu- dents. The latter paid for their board in services, usually clerical, but sometimes menial. The janitor, indeed, Wolfgang Sie- berger, had come to Wittenberg as a student of theology, but, unable to keep up with the very modest requirements of the class-room, adapted himself to a humbler ministry. Regarding the master with unlimited veneration, it was quite natural that these men should keep a record of all that he said, not only of his formal utterances in pulpit and lecture-room, but also of his lightest words at meals and by the evening fireside. The first to conceive this idea, according to his own account, was Conrad Cordatus, a grizzled Austrian, older than his host. Con- verted to Protestantism and ordained to the ministry, he was unfortunately able to keep neither his temper nor the various positions secured for him. The long intervals while [ xii I INTRODUCTION he was out of work he spent at Wittenberg, and it was during one of these, in 1531, that, notwithstanding some qualms of deli- cacy, he began to write in a note-book all that he heard his host say at table. He was not on the best of terms with his hostess, and his importunity occasionally got him a snub from Luther himself. His example was promptly followed by others. The first of these was Veit (Guy) Dietrich, a lad who acted as Luther's private secretary during the years 1529-1534, in which capacity he accompanied his master to Feste Coburg during the summer of 1530. While at Wittenberg he fell in love with Luther's niece and prot^g^e, Magdalene Kaufmann. On Veit asking for her hand, her uncle replied: " I know that my niece would be well cared for by you, but I am not sure that you would be well cared for by her. She must be better brought up. If she does not behave better I will give her to a black smelter, and not cheat a pious, learned man with her." This refusal damped the ardor of the young people, each of whom shortly found consolation elsewhere. Dietrich took a number of private pupils, and it was his attempt to introduce them all into the Black Cloister (as the Luther house was called) [ xiii 1 INTRODUCTION that led to a vigorous protest from Katie, and his own subsequent withdrawal. As pastor at Nuremberg for many years after, he gave satisfaction. A third reporter was John Schlaginhaufen, a pale youth so obsessed with remorse for his sins that he occasionally fell into fits, from which he was recalled by the ghostly advice and comfort of his revered master. In later life he recovered sufficiently to fill a small pastorate creditably. Katie was not always pleased to see the students get so much instruction gratis. In advising her husband to charge them for it, she noted, almost with jealousy, that Anthony Lauterbach got the most and the best. As his voluminous manuscripts testify, this true-hearted young fellow did indeed evince an almost superhuman diligence in letting absolutely no gem of wisdom escape him. Not content with what he heard him- self, during two long visits in 1533 and again from 1536 to 1539, he copied all the notes he could collect from others, and spent a considerable portion of his existence in arranging and rearranging the separate say- ings in topical order. His friend Jerome Weller, who spent nine years (1527-1536) of study at Wittenberg Ixlv] INTRODUCTION as a guest of the Black Cloister, also took copious notes.