The Pennsylvania State University The Graduate School DREAM CULTURE IN EARLY MODERN LUTHERANISM, 1530-1730 A Dissertation in History by Yanan Qizhi Ó 2020 Yanan Qizhi Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 2020 The dissertation of Yanan Qizhi was reviewed and approved by the following: R. Po-chia Hsia Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of History Dissertation Advisor and Committee Chair Sophie De Schaepdrijver Walter L. and Helen P. Ferree Professor of Modern European History Amanda Scott Assistant Professor of History Daniel Purdy Professor of German Studies Kate Merkel-Hess Director of Graduate Studies ii Abstract This dissertation examines how early modern Lutherans experienced, narrated and interpreted their dreams. Confessional controversies, political struggles, wars, and plagues left traces in Lutherans' dream images. Besides contemporary events, religion played central role in shaping individual’s dreaming experiences. Between the 1530s and the 1730s, dreams were categorized according to their natural, divine, and demonic causes. Dreams that delivered divine messages provided consolation and guidance in difficult times. Meanwhile, ways of dealing with dreams reflected confessionalized knowledge and Lutheran identity. Moreover, different parties within the Lutheran church polemicized dreams in controversies. Lutheran pastors, professors, theological writers and other professionals took great interest in dreams. They recorded dreams in their letters, pastoral notes, diaries, writing calendars and autobiographies. The dreaming subjects underwent generational shift, and each generation faced different realities. Except for these “collective” aspects, there were personal concerns in Lutherans' dream narratives. Some Lutherans exchanged dreams as ways of building relationships. Others considered dreams as markers of life phases and of spiritual development. iii Table of Contents List of Figures ........................................................................................................................... v List of Abbrevations ............................................................................................................... vi Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................... vii Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 1 Chapter 1: Philip Melanchthon’s Dream Life ..................................................................... 14 Chapter 2: Dreams and Identity in Confessional Era ........................................................ 75 Chapter 3: Dreams during the Thirty Year’s War ........................................................... 113 Chapter 4: Dreams and the Emergence of Pietism ........................................................... 152 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 199 Bibliography ......................................................................................................................... 205 iv List of Figures Figure 1: “The Elector’s Dream” (1617) ………………………………………………….......2 Figure 2: “Imago Somni” (1547) ……………………………………………………………49 Figure 3: images of Christ and the sheepfold (1520s) ……………………………..………..87 Figure 4: the title page of Philosophischer und Theologischer Traum Diskurß (1624) …...124 Figure 5: one page from Joachim Garcaeus’s Schreibkalender (1621) ……………………142 Figure 6: the ladder of ascend and descend (1512) ………………………………………...174 v List of Abbrevations ADB Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie CR Corpus Reformatorum MBW Melanchthons Briefwechsel NDB Neue Deutsche Biographie TRE Theologische Realenzyklopädie WA D. Martin Luthers Werke: Kritische Gesamtausgabe (Weimar Ausgabe) WAB D. Martin Luthers Werke: Kritische Gesamtausgabe: Briefe vi Acknowledgements Looking back on the journey of completing this dissertation, I’m thankful for the support from many persons and institutions. My advisor Prof. Ronnie Po-chia Hsia inspired the project with his own study. He saw to the improvement of my language skills, transcribed manuscripts, and helped with the translation of Latin and Greek sources. He also read through each chapter and gave advice on revision. Prof. Sophie De Schaepdrijver always engaged me in enlightening conversations. Prof. Daniel Purdy offered invaluable insights as an expert of German literature. Prof. Amanda Scott enriched the entire piece with her comments and suggestions. In the early stage of the project, I discussed my thoughts with Prof. David Atwill, Prof. Gregg Roeber, and Prof. Bradford Bouley from the history department and received useful feedbacks. Between 2016 and 2018, my research in Germany was supported by the German Historical Institutes (GHI) in Washington and in London, the Institute for European History in Mainz (IEG), the Research Center in Gotha (FZG) and the Herzog August Library (HAB) in Wolfenbüttel. I not only received fellowships and travel grants, but also benefited from the courses, workshops and get-togethers organized by these institutes. They gave me the chance to meet scholars who referred me to important sources. To name just a few of them: Prof. Dr. Irene Dingel and Dr. Andrea Hofmann from IEG, Dr. Gillian Bepler from HAB, Prof. Dr. Ulrike Gleixner from Berlin, Dr. Eva-Maria Dickhaut from Marburg, and Dr. Lucinda Martin from Erfurt. Lastly, I feel lucky to have friends and families who supported me throughout this journey. My father Yuefu Zhi and mother Yuping Qi made sure that I could receive good education and pursue an academic life. Xiangyun Xu took good care of me and our child so that I could concentrate on writing. Without their love, understanding and support, writing a dissertation would be an impossible task to tackle. vii Introduction In the first Jubilee of the Reformation in 1617, a pamphlet depicting Friedrich the Wise, the Elector of Saxony (1463-1525)’s dream became widely propagated in Lutheran communities.1The image delineates a threefold nightly vision experienced by the Elector on the evening of the All Saint’s Day in 1517, when Martin Luther (1483-1546) was believed to post the Ninety-five Theses at Wittenberg. Friedrich dreamed that God sent him a monk. The monk possessed a quill, with which he wrote against Pope Leo X (1475-1521), who was represented as a lion in this image, crouching over the city of Rome. In the second dream, all the estates of the Holy Roman Empire ran to the pope for help. Then followed the third dream in which a goose was put on fire. In the text attached to the image, the Elector commented that Luther’s quill came from the “old Bohemian goose who was then one hundred years old,” which referred to Jan Hus, as his name “Hus” meant “goose” in old Czech. (fig.1). The circulation of the dream was further revealed in a paragraph beneath the image, written in first- person by Antonius Musa (ca. 1485-1547), the superintendent of Rochlitz. Musa recalled how he heard about the dream from George Spalatin (1484-1545), the secretary of Friedrich the Wise. Spalatin told Musa that he was present when the Elector had a conversation with his brother about his dream. Musa’s manuscript was purportedly rediscovered by a younger pastor in Rochlitz, who gave it to the printing press.2 1 “Göttlicher Schrifftmessiger/ woldenckwürdiger Traum/ welchen der Hochlöbliche/ Gottselige Churfürst Friederich zu Sachsen ... aus sonderer Offenbarung Gottes/ gleic itzo für hundert Jahren/ nemlich die Nacht für aller Heiligen Abend/ 1517 zur Schweinitz dreymal nach einander gehabt: Als folgenden Tages D. Martin Luther seine Sprüche wider Johann Tetzels Ablaßkrämerey/ an der Schloßkirchenthür zu Wittenberg angeschlagen”, location of publication unknown, 1617. 2 The authorship of this manuscript has been indicated at the beginning of the text in the pamphlet. Towards the end of it, the process of its rediscovery is revealed: “Hoc somnium Illustrissimi Electoris Saxoniae, ego D. K. ex Autographo M. Anthonij Musae Superintendentis Rochlicensis descripsi, Anno 91, die omnium Sanctorum Cal. Novembris, cum in valle Joachimica exul viverem, quod Autographum tum temporis penes se habebat Reverendus Vir D. M. Bartholomaeus Schönbach Rochlicensis, verbi divini in valitbus minister. Affignarat autem Dominus Musa hoch Somnium ex ore vel recitatione D. Georgij Spalatini.” 1 Figure 1: woodcut from the pamphlet entitled “Göttlicher Schrifftmessiger/ woldenckwürdiger Traum/ welchen der Hochlöbliche/ Gottselige Churfürst Friederich zu Sachsen ... aus sonderer Offenbarung Gottes/ gleic itzo für hundert Jahren/ nemlich die Nacht für aller Heiligen Abend/ 1517. zur Schweinitz dreymal nach einander gehabt: Als folgenden Tages D. Martin Luther seine Sprüche wider Johann Tetzels Ablaßkrämerey/ an der Schloßkirchenthür zu Wittenberg angeschlagen”, published in 1617. The rich symbols in the “Electors’ dream” and their reference to actual persons and events in the German Reformation poses questions about dreams and Lutheranism in early modern context. Why did Lutherans take an interest in dreams? What kind of dreams were considered prophetic and worthy of interpretation? In an article published in 1970, Hans Volz meticulously argued that the “Elector’s dream” was not visualization of an actually experienced dream, but a late sixteenth-century invention. Lutheran pastors published and circulated