LUTHER

NIHIL OBSTAT

Sti. Ludovici, die 26 Jan., 1913.

F. Gr. HOLWECK,

Censor.

IMPRIMATUR

Sti. Ludovici, die 30 Jan., 1913.

JOHANNES J. GLENNON,

Arcliicpiscopus Sti. Ludovici.

,UTHER

BY

HARTMANN GRISAR, SJ.

PROFESSOR AT THE UNIVERSITY OF INNSBRUCK

AUTHORISED TRANSLATION FROM THE GERMAN BY

E. M. LAMOND

EDITED BY

LUIGI CAPPADELTA

VOLUME I

LONDON KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO., LTD.

BROADWAY HOUSE, 68-74 CARTER LANE, E.G. 19*3

BY THE SAME AUTHOR In Three Volumes. Royal 8vo, each 153. net.

HISTORY OF ROME AND THE POPES IN THE MIDDLE AGES

Authorised English Translation, edited by LUIGI CAPPADELTA. Profusely Illustrated. With maps, plans, and photographs of basilicas, mosaics, coins, and other memorials.

"The present work might be described as a history of the mediaeval Popes, with the history of the City of Rome and of its civilization as a background, the author's design being so to com bine the two stories as to produce a true picture of what Rome was in the Middle Ages."— Author's Preface.

The three volumes now issued represent Volume I in the bulky German original. This portion of Father Grisar's great enterprise is self-contained, and the history is brought down to the epoch of St. Gregory I.

"A valuable and interesting book, well translated . . . will, we are sure, be welcomed by all students and lovers of Rome, whether Catholic or not."— The Tablet.

" Dr. Grisar's splendid history has long been the treasured possession of students of mediaeval art and church history. We welcome its appearance in an English translation, which has been executed with scrupulous care and with every advantage of type, paper, and illustration." — The Guardian.

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EMENDATIONS AND ADDITIONS

P. 9, line 12 ff. On the habit, cp. Paulus, " Joh. Hoffmeister," 1891, p. 4.

P. 13, note, read " Oergel."

P. 14, line 4 from below. For " Augustinian," read " colleague at the University of Wittenberg."

P. 27, line 2 from below to p. 28, line 1. Elsewhere he does so quite clearly, cp. " Tischreden " (Veit Dietrich), Weim. ed., 1, p. 61.

P. 29, line 7 from below. It was not actually a papal Bull, but a docu ment in the Pope's name drawn up by Carvajal, the legate.

P. 30, line 12. Read : " Cochlaeus, who knew something of the matter " ; line 2 from below, after " told us " add : " In point of fact it is clear that Luther's journey failed in its purpose, and that the dispute was finally settled only in May, 1512, at the Cologne Chapter" ; note 1, last line, omit "his " and add after date " p. 97."

P. 33, line 11. The account of the incident at the Scala Santa must be corrected in the light of new information. See vol. vi. , xlii., 2.

P. 38, line 2 from below. Read : " October 18."

P. 39, line 21. For " He himself admits, etc.," read : «* Yet he seems to have looked on his removal to Wittenberg as a ' come down.' " See below, p. 127.

P. 59, line 9 f. For "amazed replies" read "silly letters" ("litteras stupidas^).

P. 72, line 18. Read : " captiosi et contentiosi."

P. 148, note 1, line 3. For " Luther " read " Lang."

P. 169, note 2, line 8. Read " longissime."

P. 178, note 3, line 3. For " 1826 " read " 1864."

P. 184, line 14. For " Vogel" read " Vopel."

P. 199, last paragraph. Correct according to vol. vi., xlii., 4.

P. 219, note 5. Add : " That, in the Commentary on Romans Justifi cation is produced by humility, is admitted by Wilh. Braun ('Evang. Kirchenzeitung,' 1911, No. 32, col. 506)."

P. 297, note 1, line 6. After " conventualiter " add " per omnia."

P. 312, line 20. For " 97 " read " 99."

P. 315, line 1. For " April 25 " read " April 26."

P. 332, note 1, line 1. For " February 13" read " May 22."

P. 337, note 1. For " May " read " September."

P. 396. See the various texts in greater detail in vol. vi., xlii., 6.

CONTENTS

BIBLIOGRAPHY ....... pages xv-xxv

INTRODUCTION" ....... pages xxvii-xxxix

CHAPTER I. COURSE OF STUDIES AND FIRST YEARS

IN THE MONASTERY . . pages 3-60

1. LUTHER'S NOVITIATE AND EARLY LIFE.

The new postulant at the gate of the Erfurt priory. Luther's youth ; his parents ; early education ; stay at Eisenach. Enters the University of Erfurt. Humanist friends. His novitiate. Troubles of conscience quieted by Staupitz, the Vicar of the Saxon Congregation of Augus- tinian Hermits. Luther's professors . .. . pages 3-12

2. FIDELITY TO His NEW CALLING ; His TEMPTATIONS.

Luther's theological course. Lectures and lecturers ; Bible-study ; first Mass. His father on his vocation ; his father's character. Luther's inward troubles ; falls into a fit in choir ; Melanchthon on Luther's attacks of fear. St. Bernard on certainty of salvation. Luther's " own way " with his difficulties. He is sent to Wittenberg and back to Erfurt. Learned occupations. Luther's assurance manifest in his earliest notes, the glosses on Peter Lombard ; his glosses on Augustine ; his fame ; his virulent temper ; his acquaintance with Hus. Oldecop, Dungersheim and Emser on his moral character in early days. Humanistic influences. Luther is chosen by the Observantines to represent them in Rome ........ pages 12-29

3. THE JOURNEY TO ROME.

Dissensions within the Congregation. Staupitz opposed by seven Observantine priories, on whose behalf Luther proceeds to Rome. The visit's evil effect on the monk. His opinion of the Curia and the moral state of Rome. An episode at the Scala Santa. Luther's belief in the Primacy not shaken by what he saw. On the Holy Mass ; his petition to be secularised ; perils of an Italian journey. Luther returns to Wittenberg and forsakes the cause of the Observantines.

pages 29-38

4. THE LITTLE WORLD OF WITTENBERG AND THE GREAT WORLD

IN CHURCH AND STATE.

Luther takes the doctorate ; his first lectures ; his sur roundings at the University of Wittenberg ; the professors ; Humanism ; schemes for reform ; Mutian, Spalatin, Reuch- lin, the " Letters of Obscure Men," Erasmus. Luther's road not that of his Humanist friends. Currents of thought in the age of discovery and awakened learning ; decay of

BR

viii CONTENTS

Church life ; attempts at reform ; abasement of clergy ; abuses rampant everywhere ; sad state of the Curia. Signs of the coming storm. Luther's way prepared by the course of events. A curious academic dispute . . . pages 38-60

CHAPTER II. HARBINGERS OF CHANGE . pages 61-103

1. SOURCES OLD AND NEW.

Peculiar difficulties of the problem. Process of Luther's inward estrangement from the Church. The sources, par ticularly those recently brought to light. The marginal notes in Luther's books now at Zwickau. His letters ; earliest scriptural notes, i.e. the glosses and scholia ; lectures on Scripture ; sermons, 1515-1516 ; earliest printed works ; his Disputations. Two stages of his development, the first till 1517, the second till the end of 1518 . . . pages 61-67

2. LUTHER'S COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS (1513-15). DISPUTE

WITH THE OBSERVANTINES AND THE "SELF-RIGHTEOUS." His passionate opposition to the Observantines in his Order, and to " righteousness by works," a presage of the coming change. He vents his ire on the " Little Saints " of the Order in his discourse at Gotha. On righteousness by grace and righteousness by works ; on the force of con cupiscence and original sin. No essential divergence from the Church's belief and tradition to be found in the Com mentary on the Psalms ; reminiscences of Augustine ; mystical trend ; defects of Luther's early work . pages 67-78

3. EXCERPTS FROM THE OLDEST SERMONS. His ADVERSARIES.

The sermons and their testimony to Luther's scorn for the Observantines. Echoes of the controversy proceeding within the Order. The Leitzkau discourse and its mysticism

pages 78-84

4. PRELIMINARY REMARKS ON YOUNG LUTHER'S RELATIONS TO

SCHOLASTICISM AND MYSTICISM.

His early prejudice against Scholasticism, its psychological reason ; his poor opinion of Aristotle and the Schoolmen. Martin Pollich's misgivings. Luther's leaning to mysticism, its cause. Esteem for Tauler and the " Theologia Deutsch." His letter to G. Leiffer pages 84-88

5. EXCERPTS FROM THE EARLIEST LETTERS.

Signs of a change in Luther's letter to G. Spenlein ; self- despair and trust in Christ. To Johann Lang on a wTork wrongly ascribed to St. Augustine and on his difficulties with his colleagues at Wittenberg. To Spalatin on Erasmus ; his dislike of everything savouring of Pelagianism . pages 88-93

6. THE THEOLOGICAL GOAL.

The first shaping of Luther's heretical views, in the Com mentary on Romans. Imputation of Christ's righteousness ; uncertainty of justification ; original sin remains after baptism, being identical with concupiscence ; impossibility of fulfilling the law without justification ; absence of all human freedom for good ; sinful character of natural virtue ; all " venial " sins really mortal ; no such thing as merit ; predestination ....... pages 93-103

CONTENTS ix

CHAPTER III. THE STARTING-POINT . . pages 104-129

1. FORMER INACCURATE VIEWS.

The starting-point not simply the desire to reform the Church ; nor mere antipathy to the Dominicans. Hus's influence merely secondary. Luther's own account of his search for a " merciful God " not to be trusted any more than his later descriptions of his life as a monk . . pages 104-110

2. WHETHER EVIL CONCUPISCENCE is IRRESISTIBLE ?

Luther's belief in its irresistibility not to be alleged as a proof of his moral perversity. Traces of the belief early noticeable in him ; he demands that people should neverthe less strive against concupiscence with the weapons of the spirit ; concupiscence ineradicable, identical with original sin, and actually sinful. Luther not a determinist from the beginning. His pseudo-mysticism scarcely reconcilable with his supposed moral perversity . . . pages 1 1 0-1 1 7

3. THE REAL STARTING-POINT AND THE CO-OPERATING FACTORS.

Luther's new opinions grounded on his antipathy to good works ; hence his belief in the incapacity of man for good. Other factors ; his character, his self-confidence and com- bativeness ; his anger with the formalism prevalent in his day ; his fear of eternal reprobation ; his inadequate knowledge of the real doctrine of the Church ; his hasty promotion pages 1 1 7-1 29 CHAPTER IV. " I AM OF OCCAM'S PARTY " pages 130-165

1. A CLOSER EXAMINATION OF LUTHER'S THEOLOGICAL TRAINING.

Not trained in the best school of Scholasticism. His Occamist education. Positive and negative influence of Occamism on Luther .. . . . pages 130-133

2. NEGATIVE INFLUENCE OF THE OCCAMIST SCHOOL ON LUTHER.

Luther's criticism of Occam ; he abandons certain views of the Occamists and flies to the opposite extreme ; offended by their neglect of Scripture and by the subtlety of their philosophy ; hence he comes to oppose Aristotelianism and the Scholastics generally. Occamistic exaggeration of man's powers leads him ex opposite to underrate the same. Negative influence of Occamism on Luther's teaching regarding original sin. Gabriel Biel on original sin ; the keeping of the commandments ; the love of God ; whether man can merit grace ; Gregory of Rimini ; the principle : " Facienti quod est in se Deus non denegat gratiam " ; the deficiencies of the Occamists laid at the door of Scholasticism. Three answers to the question how Luther failed to perceive that he was for saking the Church's doctrine. His denial of natural righteous ness, and his ignorance of the true scholastic teaching on the point ; misunderstands his own masters. His interpretation of the words, " Without me ye can do nothing." His re jection of actual grace ..... pages 133-154

3. POSITIVE INFLUENCE OF OCCAMISM.

Occamist " acceptation " and Lutheran " imputation." Luther assails the habit of supernatural grace and replaces the doctrine of an essential order of things by the arbitrary pactum Dei. Divorce of faith and reason. Feeling and religious experience. Predestination ; tran substantiation. Luther's anti-Thomism, his combativeness and loquacity. Other alleged influences, viz. Gallicanism, ultra-realism, Wiclifism, and Neo-Platonism .... pages 155-165

x CONTENTS

CHAPTER V. THE ROCKS OF FALSE MYSTICISM

pages 166-183

1. TATTLER AND LUTHER.

Tauler's orthodox doctrine distorted by Luther to serve his purpose. Passivity in the hands of God explained as the absence of all effort. Luther's application of Tauler's teaching to his own states of anxiety. His knowledge of Tauler ; annotations to Tauler's sermons ; the German mystics ; a " return to nothingness " the supreme aim of the Christian . ...... pages 166-174

2. EFFECT OF MYSTICISM ON LUTHER.

Advantages of its study outweighed by disadvantage. Why Luther failed to become a true mystic. Specimens of his mystic utterances. His edition of the " Theologia Deutsch " ; attitude to pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, St. Bernard and Gerson ; an excerpt from his " Operationes in psalmos "

pages 175-183

CHAPTER VI. THE CHANGE OF 1515 IN THE LIGHT OF

THE COMMENTARY ON ROMANS (1515-16) pages 184-261

1. THE NEW PUBLICATIONS.

Denine the first to utilise the Commentary on Romans. Ficker's recent edition of the original. General remarks on the Commentary. Aim of St. Paul according to Luther pages 184-187

2. GLOOMY VIEWS REGARDING GOD AND PREDESTINATION.

Luther's " more profound theology " and unconditional predestination to hell ; God's will that the wicked be damned. God to be approached in fear and despair, not with works and in the hope of reward. The mystic on resignation to^hell. Man's will and his salvation entirely in God's hands. Ob jections : Is it not God's will that all be saved ? Why impose commandments which the will is not free to perform ? Un- perceived inconsistencies .... pages 187-197

3. THE FIGHT AGAINST "HOLINESS-BY-WORKS" AND THE OB-

SERVANTINES IN THE COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

Luther's aversion to works and observances. His rude description of the " Observants " and " Justiciaries." The very word " righteousness " a cause of vexation pages 197-202

4. ATTACK ON PREDISPOSITION TO GOOD AND ON FREE WILL.

Human nature entirely spoiled by original sin. Being unable to fulfil the command "Non concupisces," we are ever sinning mortally. Uncertainty of salvation ; the will not free for good. Interpretation of Rom. viii. 2 f . Against Scholasticism. In penance and confession no removal (ablatio) of sin pages 202-209

5. LUTHER RUDELY SETS ASIDE THE OLDER DOCTRINE OF VIRTUE

AND SlN.

The habit of sanctifying grace ; " cursed be the word ' formatum charitale ' " ; sin coexistent with grace in the good man ; Augustine on concupiscence. " Nothing is of its own nature good or bad " ; the Occamist acceptation- theory against the " Aristotelian " definition of virtue and the scholastic doctrine that virtues and vices are qualities of the soul " . pages 209-213

CONTENTS xi

6. PREPARATION FOR JUSTIFICATION.

Christ's grace does all, and yet man disposes himself for justification. Man's self-culture. Inconsistencies explained by reminiscences of his early Catholic training . pages 213-214

7. APPROPRIATION OF THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST BY

HUMILITY — NEITHER "FAITH ONLY" NOR ASSURANCE OF SALVATION.

Imputation applied to justification. Another's righteous ness is imputed to us and becomes ours ; sin remains, but is no longer accounted ; our inability to know whether Christ's righteousness has been imputed to us. Advantage of fear. " He who renounces his own self and willingly faces death and damnation " is truly humble, and in such humility is safety. Faith not yet substituted for humility. Passivity again emphasised ...... pages 214-222

8. SUBJECTIVISM AND CHURCH AUTHORITY. STORM AND STRESS.

The back place already taken in Luther's mind by the Church and her teaching-office ; his preference for a theology of his own invention. Our duty of not judging Luther by the later Tridentine decrees. His Catholic sentiments on the hierarchy ; denounces abuses whilst respecting the rights of the Roman Church ; desiderates a reduction of festivals ; re proves Bishops for insisting on their rights instead of rejoicing to see them infringed. On listening to the inner voice pages 223-230

9. THE MYSTIC IN THE COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

Luther's misapprehension of Tauler and other mystics clearly proved in the Commentary. Quietism. The " Spark in the Soul." The " Theology of the Cross." The " Night of the Soul." Readiness for hell the joy of the truly wise ; Christ and Paul the Apostle, two instances of such readiness

pages 230-240

10. THE COMMENTARY ON ROMANS AS A WORK OF RELIGION AND

LEARNING.

Its witness to the unsettled state of the writer's mind. Texts and commentaries utilised ; neglect of Aquinas's Commentary ; the author's style ; obscenity and paradox ; a tilt at the philosophers ; the character of the work rather spoilt by unnecessary polemics. Appeal to Augustine. Misuse of theological terms. " The word of God is every word which proceeds from the mouth of a good man." Con tradiction a criterion of truth. All the prophets against observances. Unconscious self-contradiction on the subject of freedom. Whether any progress is apparent in the course of the Commentary. Comparison of Luther's public utter ances with those in the Commentary. Some excerpts from the Commentary on Hebrews . . . . pages 241-261

xii CONTENTS

CHAPTER VII. SOME PARTICULARS WITH REGARD TO THE OUTWARD CIRCUMSTANCES AND INWARD LIFE OF LUTHER AT THE TIME OF THE CRISIS f . pages 262-302

1. LUTHER AS SUPERIOR OF ELEVEN AUGUSTINIAN HOUSES.

His election as Rural Vicar, 1516 ; his discourse on the Little Saints delivered at the Chapter ; influence of his administration ; extracts from his correspondence ; his quick despatch of business .... pages 262-268

2. THE MONK OF LIBERAL VIEWS AND INDEPENDENT ACTION.

His ideal of humility. On vows. Prejudice against observ ances. Blames formalism prevalent in the Church generally and in the monasteries. Paltz and Tauler on this subject. Overwork leads Luther to neglect his spiritual duties ; Mass and Divine Office ; his final abandonment of the Breviary. His outward appearance ; his quarrelsomeness . pages 268-280

3. LUTHER'S ULTRA-SPIRITUALISM AND CALLS FOR REFORM.

Is SELF-IMPROVEMENT POSSIBLE ? PENANCE.

His pessimism ; the whole world sunk in corruption. Opinion of theologians. Justifiable criticism. On the clergy ; proposes placing the administration of all temporali ties in the hands of the Princes. On Indulgences. His familiarity with the Elector of Saxony. On the dreadful state of Rome. The prevalence of Pelagianism ; three deadly vices ; on his own temptations ; how people fall and rise again ; on diabolical terrors ; on making the best of things and reconciling ourselves to remaining in sin ; his inability to understand the nature of contrition ; denial that perfect contrition exists ; his mysticism averse to the motive of fear or of heavenly recompense ; misrepresentation of the Church's doctrine concerning attrition. Ascribes his view of penance to Staupitz ; the part of Staupitz in the downfall of the Congregation. Mohler and Neander on Luther's resemblance to Marcion the Gnostic. Paradoxical character of the monk . . . . . pages 280-302

CHAPTER VIII. THE COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. FIRST DISPUTATIONS AND FIRST TRIUMPHS . . . pages 303-326

1. " THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE GOSPEL BUSINESS." EXPOSI

TION OF THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS (1516-17).

Melanchthon and Mathesius on the birth of the " Evangel." Luther's first disciples, Carlstadt, Amsdorf, etc. His appeals to St. Augustine. The Commentary on Galatians begins in 1516. Luther's progress in the light of this and the longer Commentary published later .... pages 303-310

2. DISPUTATIONS ON MAN'S POWERS AND AGAINST SCHOLASTICISM

(1516-17).

Bernhardi's Disputation in 1516 presided over by Luther ; " Man sins in spite of every effort." Luther to Lang on the scandal of the " Gabrielists." Gimther's Disputation in 1517 ; specimens of the theses defended; Luther circulates them widely . . . ... . . pages 310-314

CONTENTS xiii

3. DISPUTATION AT HEIDELBERG ON FAITH AND GRACE. OTHER

PUBLIC UTTERANCES.

The Heidelberg Chapter. Leonard Beyer defends Luther's theses in the presence of Bucer and other future adherents of the cause. The theses and their demonstration ; Grace not to be obtained by works ; the motive of fear ; free will a mere name. A Wittenberg Disputation in 1518, " For the Quieting of Anxious Consciences." The three great Disputations described by Luther as " Initium negocii evangelici" Luther to Trutfetter on his aims .... pages 315-321

4. ATTITUDE TO THE CHURCH.

Luther continues to acknowledge the doctrinal office of the Church. The principle of private interpretation of Scripture not yet enunciated. Explanation of Luther's inconsistency in conduct ; on obedience to the Church ; traces all heresies back to pride ; his correct description of Indulgences in 1516, his regret at their abuse .... pages 321-326

CHAPTER IX. THE INDULGENCE-THESES OF 1517

AND THEIR AFTER-EFFECTS . . pages 327-373

1. TETZEL'S PREACHING OF THE INDULGENCE ; THE 95 THESES.

The St. Peter's Indulgence and its preaching ; Luther's information regarding it ; his sermon before the Elector. The 95 theses nailed to the door of the Castle Church ; their contents ; the excitement caused ; Augustinians refrain from any measure against the author ; the Heidelberg Chapter ; the " Resolutions " ; Dominicans take up the challenge. Fables regarding Luther and Tetzel ; Tetzel's private life ; charges brought against him by Luther and Miltitz ; the real Tetzel ; Luther's statement that he did not know " what an Indulgence was." Luther's letter to Tetzel on his death-bed . — T~- r . . . pages 327-347

2. THE COLLECTION FOR ST. PETER'S IN HISTORY AND LEGEND.

The Indulgence granted on behalf of the building fund ; new sources of information ; Albert of Brandenburg obtains the See of Mayence ; his payments to Rome ; the Indulgence granted him for his indemnification ; arrangements made for its preaching ; the pecuniary result a failure . pages 347-355

3. THE TRIAL AT AUGSBURG (1518).

The summons. Luther before Cardinal Cajetan at Augs burg ; Letters written from Augsburg ; refuses to recant ; his flight ; his appeal to a General Council. Popular works on the Penitential Psalms, the Our Father, and the Ten Com mandments ....... pages 355-362

4. THE DISPUTATION AT LEIPZIG, 1519. MILTITZ. QUESTIONABLE

REPORTS.

Circumstances of the Disputation. Luther's dissatisfaction with the result. Unfortunate attempts of Miltitz to smooth things down. Luther's justification of his polemics. Stories of his doings and sayings at Dresden ; his sermon before the Court ; Eraser's reports of certain utterances . pages 362-373

xiv CONTENTS

CHAPTER X. LUTHER'S PROGRESS IN THE NEW

TEACHING ... . pages 374-404

1. THE SECOND STAGE OF His DEVELOPMENT : ASSURANCE OF

SALVATION.

In the first stage assurance of salvation through faith alone was yet unknown to him. The Catholic doctrine on this subject. How Luther reached his doctrine by the path of despair ; the several steps of his progress from 1516 onwards ; the Resolutions ; the " pangs of Hell " ; the interview with Cajetan ; first clear trace of the doctrine in his works written in 1519 . ~. pages 374-388

2. THE DISCOVERY IN THE MONASTERY TOWER, 1518-19.

The information contained in Luther's later Prcefatio to be trusted in the main ; other testimonies ; his state at the time one of great anxiety ; his terror of God's justice. The Gate of Paradise suddenly opened by the text : " The just man liveth by faith " ; where this revelation was vouchsafed : In the " cloaca " on the tower ; the revelation referred by Luther to the Holy Ghost ; its importance and connection with Luther's mysticism . . . . pages 388-400

3. LEGENDS. STORM-SIGNALS.

Luther's faulty recollection in later life responsible for the rise of legends regarding his discovery. His statement that he was the first to interpret Romans i. 17 as speaking of the justice by which God makes us just. His " discovery " confirms him in his attitude towards Rome ; the Pope a more -dangerous foe of the German nation than the Turk. The legend that the German knights and Humanists were responsible for Luther's opposition to Rome . pages 400-404

BIBLIOGRAPHY

NOTE. — The following is an alphabetical list of the books, etc., referred to in an abbreviated form in the course of our work, the title under which they are quoted in each case figuring first.

For the Bibliography of Luther generally, we may refer to the following : E. G. Vogel, " Bibliographia Lutheri," Halle, 1851 ; I. A. Fabricius, " Centifolium Lutheranum," 2 parts, Hamburg, 1728-1730 ; Wm. Maurenbrecher, " Studien und Skizzen," Leipzig, 1874, p. 205 ff. (a good list of the studies on Luther and his work). The articles on Luther in the " Deutsche Biographie," in. the Catholic " Kirchenlexikon " (2nd ed.), and the Protestant " Realenzyklopadie fur Theologie," etc., also provide more or less detailed bibliographies. So also do W. Moller, " Lehrbuch der Kirchengeschichte," vol. 3, ed. by Kawerau (3rd ed., particularly p. 4 ff.) ; Hergenrother, " Lehr buch der Kirchengeschichte," vol. 3, 3rd ed., by J. P. Kirsch (particularly p. 4 ff.) ; Janssen- Pastor, " Geschichte des deutschen Volkes," etc. (in the lists at the commencement of each vol., particularly vols. ii. and iii.). The bibliographical data added by various writers in the prefaces to the various works of Luther in the new Weimar complete edition are not only copious but also often quite reliable, for instance, those on the German Bible.

" Analecta Lutherana, Brief e und Aktenstiicke zur Geschichte Luthers, Zugleich ein Supplement zu den bisherigen Sammlungen seines Brief wechsels," ed. by Th. Kolde, Gotha, 1883.

" Analecta Lutherana et Melanchthoniana," see Mathesius, " Aufzeichnungen."

" Archiv fur Reformationsgeschichte. Texte und Untersuch- ungen. In Verbindung mit dem Verein fur Reformations geschichte," ed. W. Friedensburg. Berlin, later Leipzig, 1903-1904 ff.

Balan, P., " Monumenta reformationis Lutherana} ex tabulariis S. Sedis secretis, 1521-1525," Ratisbonse, 1883, 1884.

Barge, H., " Andreas Bodenstein von Karlstadt," 2 vols., Leipzig, 1905.

Beatus Rhenanus, see Correspondence.

xvi BIBLIOGRAPHY

Berger, A., " Martin Luther in kulturgeschichtlicher Darstellung."

2 vols., Berlin, 1895-1898.

Bezold, F. von, " Geschichte der deutschen Reformation," Berlin, 1890.

" Bibliothek des Kgl. Preussischen Historischen Instituts in Rom," Rome, 1905 ff.

Blaurer, see Correspondence.

Bohmer, H., " Luther im Lichte der neueren Forschung " (from " Natur und Geisteswelt," No. 113), Leipzig, 1906, 2nd ed., 1910.

Brandenburg, E., " Luthers Anschauung von Staat und Gesell- schaft " (Schriften des Vereins fur Reformationsgeschichte), Hft. 70, Halle, 1901.

Braun, W., " Die Bedeutung der Concupiscenz in Luthers Leben und Lehre," Berlin, 1908.

" Brief e," see Letters.

" Brief wechsel," see Correspondence.

Brieger, Th., " Aleander und Luther. Die vervollstandigten Aleander-Depeschen nebst Untersuchungen iiber den Worm- ser Reichstag," I, Gotha, 1884.

Burkhardt, C. A., " Geschichte der sachsischen Kirchen- und Schulvisitationen von 1524-1545," Leipzig, 1879.

Calvini, I., " Opera quse supersunt omnia, ediderunt G. Braun, E. Cunitz, E. Reuss," 59 vol. (29-87 in the " Corpus Reformatorum"), Brunsvigae, 1863-1900.

Cardauns, L., " Zur Geschichte der kirchlichen Unions- und Reformbestrebungen von 1538-1542 " (" Bibliothek des Kgl. Preuss. Historischen Instituts in Rom," vol. 5), Rome, 1910.

— see " Nuntiaturberichte."

Cochlaeus, I., " Commentaria de actis et scrip tis M. Lutheri . . . ab a. 1517 usque ad a. 1537 conscripta," Moguntise, 1549.

(" Colloquia," ed. Bindseil), Bindseil, H. E., " D. Martini Lutheri Colloquia, Meditationes, Consolationes, ludicia, Sententise, Narrationes, Responsa, Facetiae e codice ms. Bibliothecse Orphanotrophei Halensis cum perpetua collatione editionis Rebenstockianaa edita et prolegomenis indicibusque in- structa," 3 voll., Lemgoviee et Detmoldse, 1863-1866.

(" Commentarius in Epist. ad Galat."), "M. Lutheri Com- mentarius in Epistolam ad Galatas," ed. I. A. Irmischer,

3 voll., Erlangae, 1843 sq.

BIBLIOGRAPHY xvii

(Cordatus, "Tagebuch"), Wrampelmeyer, H., " Tagebuch iiber Dr. Martin Luther, gefiihrt von Dr. Conrad Cordatus, 1537," 1st ed., Halle, 1885.

" Corpus Reformatorum," ed. Bretschneider, Halis Saxoniae, 1834, sqq. voll. 1-28, " Melanchthonis opera " ; voll. 29-87, " Calvini opera " ; voll. 88-89, " Zwinglii opera."

Correspondence : " Dr. Martin Luthers Brief wechsel," edited with annotations by L. Enders, 11 vols., Frankfurt a/M., also Calw and Stuttgart, 1884-1907, 12 vols., ed. G. Kawerau, Leipzig, 1910 ; see also Letters.

— " Brief wechsel Luthers, niit vielen unbekannten Brief en und unter Beriicksichtigung der De Wetteschen Ausgabe," ed. C. A. Burkhardt, Leipzig, 1SG6.

— " Brief wechsel des Beatus Rhenanus," etc., ed. A. Horawitz

and K. Hartf elder, Leipzig, 1886.

— " Brief wechsel der Briider Ambrosius und Thomas Blaurer,

1509-1548," ed. Tr. Schiess, 1 vol., Freiburg i /Breisgau, 1908.

— " Briefwechsel des Justus Jonas," etc., ed. G. Kawerau, 2 vols.,

Halle, 1884.

— " Briefwechsel Landgraf Philipps des Grossmiitigen von

Hessen mit Bucer," ed. by M. Lenz (" Publikationen aus deni Kgl. Preuss. Staatsarchiv,"), 3 vols., Leipzig, 1880-1891.

Denifle, H., O.P., " Luther und Luthertum in der ersten Ent- wickelung quell enmassig dargestellt," 1 vol., Mayence, 1904 ; 2nded., 1st part,* 1904 ; 2nd part, ed. A. M. Weiss, O.P., 1906. Quellenbelege zu I2, 1-2, " Die Abendlandische Schriftaus- legung bis Luther iiber lustitia Dei (Rom. i. 17) und lusti- ficatio. Beitrag zur Geschichte der Exegese, der Literatur und des Dogmas im Mittelalter," 1905, 2nd vol. of the main work, ed. A. M. Weiss, O.P., 1909.

- " Luther in rationalistischer und christlicher Beleuchtung, Prinzipielle Auseinandersetzung mit A. Harnack und R. Seeberg," Mayence, 1904.

" Deutsch-evangelische Blatter. Zeitschrift fiir den gesamten Bereich des deutschen Protestantismus," Halle, 1891, sq.

(" Disputationen," ed. Drews), Drews, P., " Disputationen Dr. Martin Luthers, in den Jahren, 1535-1545 an der Universitat Wittenberg gehalten," 1st ed., Gottingen, 1895.

("Disputationen," ed. Stange), Stange, C., "Die altesten ethischen Disputationen Dr. Martin Luthers " (" Quel- lenschriften zur Geschichte des Protestantismus," 1), Leipzig, 1904.

xviii BIBLIOGRAPHY

Dollmger, J. I. von, " Luther, eine Skizze," Freiburg i/B., 1890 (also in Wetzer and Welte's Kirchenlexikon, 1st and 2nd ed., Art. " Luther ").

— " Die Reformation, ihre innere Entwickelung und ihre Wirk- ungen im Umfange des lutherischen Bekenntnisses," 3 vols., Ratisbon, 1846-1848 (I2, 1851).

Ehses St., " Geschichte der Packschen Handel. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der deutschen Reformation," Freiburg i/B., 1881.

Ellinger, G., " Philipp Melanchthon. Ein Lebensbild," Berlin, 1902.

" Erasmi D. Roterodami Opera omnia emendatiora et auctiora," ed. Clericus, 10 torn., Lugd. Batavorum, 1702-1706.

" Erlauterungen und Erganzungen zu Janssens Geschichte des deutschen Volkes," ed. L. von Pastor, Freiburg i/B., 1898, sq.

Evers, G., " Martin Luther. Lebens- und Charakterbild, vonihm selbst gezeichnet in seinen eigenen Schriften und Korres- pondenzen," Hft. 1-14, Mayence, 1883-1894.

Falk, F., "Die Bibel am Ausgang des Mittelalters," Mayence, 1905,

— " Die Ehe am Ausgang des Mittelalters " (" Erlauterungen und Erganzungen zu Janssens Geschichte des deutschen Volkes," Vol. 6, Hft. 4), Freiburg i/B., 1908.

" Flugschriften aus den ersten Jahren der Reformation," ed. O. Clemen, Leipzig and New York, 1907 ff.

Forstemann, C. E., " Neues Urkundenbuch zur Gesch. der evangelischen Kirchenreform " (one only vol. published), Hamburg, 1842.

Harnack, A., " Lehrbuch der Dogmengeschichte," 3 vols. : " Die Entwickelung des kirchlichen Dogmas " ; ii, iii, 4th ed., Tubingen, 1910.

Hausrath, A., " Luthers Leben," 2 vols., Berlin, 1904 (2nd re- impression with amended preface).

Hergenrother, Card. J., " Handbuch der allgemeinen Kirchen- geschichte," 4th ed., ed. J. P. Kirsch, 3 vols., Freiburg i/B, 1909.

" Historisches Jahrbuch," ed. the Gorres-Gesellschaft, Minister, later Munich, 1880 ff.

" Historisch-politische Blatter fiir das katholische Deutschland," Munich, 1838 ff.

" Hutteni Ulr, Opera," 5 vol., ed. Booking, Lipsise, 1859-1862.

BIBLIOGRAPHY xix

(Janssen- Pastor) Janssen, J., " Geschichte des deutschen Volkes seit dem Ausgang des Mittelalters," 17—18 ed. by L. von Pastor, vol. 1-2, Freiburg i/B., 1897 ; vol. 3, 1899. English Trans., " History of the German People at the Close of the Middle Ages," 1-22, 1905 ; 3-41, 1900 ; 5-61, 1903 (see also " Erlauterungen und Erganzungen ").

— " An meine Kritiker. Nebst Erganzungen und Erlauterungen

zu den drei ersten Banden meiner Geschichte des deutschen Volkes," Freiburg i/B., 1882.

— " Ein zweites Wort an meine Kritiker. Nebst Erganzungen

und Erlauterungen zu den drei ersten Banden meiner Geschichte des deutschen Volkes," Freiburg i/B., 1883.

Kahnis, C. F. A., "Die deutsche Reformation," vol. 1, Leipzig, 1872 (no others published).

Kalkoff, P., " Forschungen zu Luthers romischem Prozess " (" Bibliothek des Kgl. Preuss. Histor. Instituts in Rom," vol. 2), Rome, 1905.

" Kirchenordnungen, Die evangelischen des 16 Jahrhunderts," ed. E. Sehling : 1, " Die Ordnungen Luthers fiir die ernestinischen und albertinischen Gebiete," Leipzig, 1902 ; 2, " Die vier geistlichen Gebiete," etc., 1904 ; 3, " Die Mark Brandenburg," 1909.

Kohler, W., " Katholizismus und Reformation. Kritisches Referat iiber die wissenschaftlichen Leistungen der neueren katholischen Theologie auf dem Gebiete der Reformations- geschichte," Giessen, 1905.

— " Luther und die Kirchengeschichte," 1, vol. 1, Erlangen, 1900.

Kostlin, J., " Luthers Theologie in ihrer geschichtlichen Ent- wickelung und in ihrem Zusammenhang dargestellt," 2nd ed., 2 vols., Stuttgart, 1901.

( Kostlin- Kaweran), Kostlin, J., " Martin Luther. Sein Leben und seine Schriften," 5th ed., continued after the death of the author by G. Kawerau, 2 vols., Berlin, 1903.

Kolde, Th., see " Analecta Lutherana."

— " Die deutsche Augustinerkongregation und Johann von

Staupitz. Ein Beitrag zur Ordens- und Reformations- geschichte nach meistens ungedruckten Quellen," Gotha, 1879.

— " Martin Luther, Eine Biographie," 2 vols., Gotha, 1884-

1893.

Lsemmer, H., " Monumenta Vaticana historiam ecclesiasticam sseculi XVI, illustrantia," Friburgi Brisgoviae, 1861.

xx BIBLIOGRAPHY

(Lauterbach, " Tagebuch "), Seidemann, J. K., " A. Lauterbachs Tagebuch auf das Jahr 1538. Die Hauptquelle der Tischreden Luthers," Dresden, 1872.

Letters, " M. Luthers Briefe, Sendschreiben und Bedenken," ed. M. De Wette, 5 parts, Berlin, 1825-1828 ; 6th part, ed. J. K. Seidemann, Berlin, 1856.

Loesche, G., see Mathesius, " Aufzeichnungen " ; Mathesius, " Historien."

Loscher, V. E., " Vollstandige Reformationsacta und Doku- menta," 3 vols., Leipzig, 1720-1729.

Loofs, F., " Leitfaden zum Studium der Dogmengeschichte," 4th ed., Halle a/S., 1906.

Luthardt, C. E., " Die Ethik Luthers in ihren Grundziigen," 2nd ed., Leipzig, 1875.

Luther's Works : 1, Complete editions of his works, see " Werke," "Opera Lat. var.," "Opera Lat. exeg.," " Commentarius in Epist. ad Galatas," Romerbriefkommentar ; 2, Corre spondence, see Letters, Correspondence, and "Analecta"; 3, Table-Talk, see " Tischreden," ed. Aurifaber, ed. Forste- mann, also " Werke," Erl. ed. vol. 57-62, " Werke," Halle, ed., vol. 22, " Colloquia," Cordatus, Lauterbach, Mathesius, ** Aufzeichnungen," Mathesius, " Tischreden," Schlagin- haufen ; 4, on other matters see " Analecta," " Disputa- tionen," " Symbolische Biicher."

(Mathesius, "Aufzeichnungen"), Loesche, G., "Analecta Lutherana et Melanchthoniana, Tischreden Luthers und Ausspriiche Melanchthons hauptsachlich nach den Auf zeichnungen des Johannes Mathesius, aus der Niirnberger Handschrift im Germanischen Museum mit Beniitzung von Seidemanns Vorarbeiten," Gotha, 1892.

Mathesius, J., " Historien von des ehrwiircligen in Gott seligen thewren Manns Gottes Doctoris Martini Luther Anfang Lehr, Leben und Sterben," Niirnberg, 1566, ed. G. Loesche, Prague, 1898 and 1906 (" Bibliothek deutscher Schriftsteller aus Bohmen," vol. 9). Our quotations are from the Nurem berg ed.

(Mathesius, " Tischreden "), Kroker, E., " Luthers Tischreden in der Mathesischen Sammlung. Aus einer Handschrift der Leipziger Stadtbibliothek," ed. Leipzig, 1903.

Maurenbrecher, W., " Studien und Skizzen zur Geschichte der Reformationszeit," Leipzig, 1874.

- " Geschichte der katholischen Reformation," 1 vol., Nord- lingen, 1880.

Melanchthon, see " Analecta," by Loescho. Melanchthon, see " Vita Lutherj,"

BIBLIOGRAPHY xxi

" Melanchthonis opera omnia," ed. Bretschneider (in " Corpus Reformatorum," vol. 1-28), Halis Saxonise, 1834-1863.

Mohler, J. A., " Lehrbuch der Kirchengeschichte," ed. Pius Gams, 3 vols., Ratisbon, 1868.

— " Symbolik oder Darstellung der dogmatischen Gegensatze der

Katholiken und Protestanten nach ihren offentlichen Bekenntnisschriften," 1st ed., Ratisbon, 1832 ; 10th ed., with additions, by J. M. Raich, Mayence, 1889.

Holier, W., " Lehrbuch der Kirchengeschichte," 3 vols., " Re formation und Gegenreformation," ed. G. Kawerau, 3rd ed., Tubingen, 1907.

Miiller, K., " Luther und Karlstadt. Stiicke aus ihrem gegen- seitigen Verhaltnis untersucht," Tubingen, 1909.

— " Kirche Gemeinde und Obrigkeit nach Luther," Tubingen,

1910.

Miinzer, Th., " Hochverursachte Schutzrede und Antwort wider das geistlose sanftlebende Fleisch zu Wittenberg," ed. Enders (" Neudrucke deutscher Literaturwerke," No. 118), Halle, 1893.

" Neudrucke deutscher Literaturwerke des 16 und 17 Jahr- hunderts," Halle, 1876 ff.

" Nuntiaturberichte aus Deutschland nebst erganzenden Aktenstiicken : 1, 1533-1559, ed. Kgl. Preuss. Institut in Rom, & Kgl. Preuss. Archivverwaltung ; vols. 5-6, " Nuntiaturen Morones und Poggios," " Legationen Farneses und Cervinis, 1539-1540," ed. L. Cardauns ; " Gesandtschaft Campeggios," " Nuntiaturen Morones und Poggios, 1540- 1541," ed. L. Cardauns, Berlin, 1909.

(" Opp. Lat. exeg."), " M. Lutheri Exegetica opera latina," cur. C. Elsperger, 28 voll., Erlangae, 1829 sqq. (also published apart), " D. M. Lutheri Commentarius in Epistolam ad Galatas," ed. I. A. Irmischer, 3 voll., Erlangse, 1843, sq.

("Opp. Lat. var."), " M. Lutheri Opera latina varii argument! ad reformationis historian! imprimis pertinentia," cur. H. Schmidt, voll. 1-7, Francofurti, 1865 sqq. (part of the Erlangen ed. of Luther's works).

Oergel, G., " Vom jungen Luther. Beitrage zur Lutherforschung," Erfurt, 1899.

Pastor, L. von, " Geschichte der Papste seit dem Ausgang des Mittelalters. Mit Benutzung des papstlichen Geheimarchivs und vieler anderer Archive bearbeitet," vols. 1-3 in 3rd-4th ed., Freiburg i/B., 1901, 1904, 1899 ; vol. 4 first half 1906, second half 1907 ; vol. 5 1909. English Trans., " History of the Popes from the close of the Middle Ages," 1-23, 1906 ; 3-42, 1900 ; 5-62, 1901 ; 7-81, 1908.

xxii BIBLIOGRAPHY

Paulsen, F., " Geschichte des gelehrten Unterrichts auf den deutschen Schulen und Universitaten vom Ausgang des Mittelalters bis zur Gegenwart. Mit besonderer Rucksicht auf den klassischen Unterricht," Leipzig, 1885, 2nd ed., 2 vols. 1896-1897.

Paulus, N., " Die deutschen Dominikaner im Kampfe gegen Luther, 1518-1563" (" Erlauterungen und Erganzungen zu Janssens Geschichte des deutschen Volkes," vol. 4, 1-2). Freiburg i/B., 1903.

— " Hexenwahn und Hexenprozess vornehmlich im 16 Jahr-

hundert," Freiburg i/B., 1910.

— " Luther und die Gewissensfreiheit " (" Glaube und Wissen,"

Hft. 4), Munich, 1905.

— " Luthers Lebensende. Eine kritische Untersuchung " (" Erl

auterungen und Erganzungen zu Janssens Geschichte des deutschen Volkes," vol. 1, P. 1), Freiburg i/B., 1898.

— " Kaspar Schatzgeyer, ein Vorkampfer der katholischen

Kirche gegen Luther in Siiddeutschland " (" Strassburger theologische Studien," vol. 3, 1), Freiburg i/B., 1898.

- " Johann Tetzel, der Ablassprediger," Mayence, 1899.

— " Bartholomaus Arnoldi von Usingen " (" Strassburger theo

logische Studien," vol. 1, 3), Freiburg i/B., 1893.

" Quellen und Forschungen aus dem Gebiete der Geschichte in Verbindung mit ihrem historischen Institut zu Rom," ed. the Gorres-Gesellschaft, Paderborn, 1892 ff.

" — aus den italienischen Archiven und Bibliotheken," ed. Kgl. Preuss. Histor. Institut in Rom, Rome, 1897 ff.

" Quellenschriften zur Geschichte des Protestantismus zum Gebrauch in akademischen IJbungen," in Verbindung mit anderen Fachgenossen ed. J. Kunze and C. Stange, Leipzig, 1904, ff.

(Oldecop), " Joh. Oldecops Chronik," ed. K. Euling (" Bibl. des literarischen Vereins von Stuttgart," vol. 190), Tubingen, 1891.

(Ratzeberger), " Ratzeberger M., Handschriftliche Geschichte uber Luther und seine Zeit," ed. Ch. G. Neudecker, Jena, 1850.

" Raynaldi Annales ecclesiastici. Accedunt notae chronologicse," etc., auct. J. D. Mansi, Tom. 12-14, Lucte, 1755.

" Reformationsgeschichtliche Studien und Texte," ed. J. Greving, Munster i/W., 1906 ff.

BIBLIOGRAPHY xxiii

" Reichstagsakten, Deutsche," N.S., 2 vols. : "Deutsche Reichstagsakten unter Karl V," ed. Adolf Wrede. At the command of H.M. the King of Bavaria, ed. by the Historical Commission of the Kgl. Akademie der Wissenschaften, Gotha, 1806.

Riffel, K., " Christliche Kirchengeschichte der neuesten Zeit, von dem Anfange der grossen Glaubens- und Kirchenspaltung des 16 Jahrhunderts," 3 vols. (vol. 1, 2nded.), Mayenee, 1842- 1846.

Ritschl, A., " Rechtfertigung und Versohnung," 3 vols., 2nd ed., Bonn, 1882 f.

— O., " Dogmengeschichte des Protestantismus," vol. 1, Leipzig, 1908.

Romans, Commentary on, Ficker, J., " Luthers Vorlesung iiber den Romerbrief 1515-1516," Glossen, 2, Scholien ("Anfange, reformatorischer Bibelauslegung," ed. J. Ficker, vol. 1), Leipzig, 1908.

" Sammlung gemeinverstandlicher Vortrage und Schriften aus dem Gebiete der Theologie und Religionsgeschichte." Tii- bingen and Leipzig, 1896 ff.

Scheel, O., " Luthers Stellung zur Heiligen Schrift " (" Sammlung gemeinverstandlicher Vortrage und Schriften aus dem Gebiete der Theologie," No. 29), Tubingen, 1902.

(Schlaginhaufen, " Aufzeichnungen "), " Tischreden Luthers aus den Jahren 1531 und 1532 nach den Aufzeichnungen von Johann Schlaginhaufen aus einer Miinchener Handschrift," ed. W. Preger, Leipzig, 1888.

" Scholia Rom," see Romans, Commentary on.

" Schriften des Vereins fiir Reformationsgeschichte," Halle,

1883 ff. Seckendorf, V. L. a, " Commentarius historicus et apologeticus

de Lutheranismo sive de reformatione religionis ductu D.

Martini Lutheri . . . recepta et stabilita," Lipsise, 1694.

Spahn, M., " Johann Cochlaus. Ein Lebensbild aus der Zeit der Kirchenspaltung," Berlin, 1898.

" Studien und Darstellungen aus dem Gebiete der Geschichte. Im Auftrage der Gorres-Gesellschaft und in Verbindung mit der Redaktion des Historischen Jahrbuches," ed. H. Grauert, Freiburg i/B., 1900 ff.

" Studien und Kritiken, Theologische. Zeitschrift fiir das gesamte Gebiet der Theologie," Hamburg, later, Gotha, 1835 ff.

(" Symbolische Biicher "), Miiller H. T., "Die symbolischen Biicher der evangelisch-lutherischen Kirche deutsch und lateinisch. Mit einer neuen historischen Einleitung von Th. Kolde," 10th ed., Gutersloh, 1907.

xxiv BIBLIOGRAPHY

" Table-Talk," see " Tischreden."

" Tischreden oder Colloquia M. Luthers," ed. Aurifaber, 2 vols., Eisleben, 1564-1565.

(Tischreden ed. Forstemann), Forstemann, K. E., " Dr. Martin Luthers Tischreden oder Colloquia. Nach Aurifabers erster Ausgabe niit sorgfaltiger Vergleichung sowohl der Stangwald- ischen als der Selneccerschen Redaktion," 4 vols. (4th vol. ed. with assistance of H. E. Bindseil), Leipzig, 1844-1848.

Ulenberg, C., " Historia de Vita . . . Lutheri, Melanchthonis, Matth. Flacii Illyrici, G. Maioris et Andr. Osiandri," 2 voll., Colonise, 1622.

("Vita Lutheri"), "Melanchthonis Philippi Vita Lutheri," in " Vitse, quatuor reformatorum," Berolini, 1841. Also in " Corp. Ref." 6, p. 155 sq. and previously as Preface to the 2nd vol. of the Wittenberg Latin edition of Luther's works.

Walther, W., " Fur Luther, Wider Rom. Handbuch der Apolo- getik Luthers und der Reformation den romischen Anklagen gegeniiber," Halle a/S., 1906.

Weiss, A. M., O.P., " Lutherpsychologie als Schltissel zur Luther- legende. Denifles Untersuchungen kritisch nachgepriift," Mayence, 1906 ; 2nd ed., 1906.

— " Luther und Luthertum," 2, see Denifle.

(" Werke," Erl. ed.), " M. Luthers samtliche W^erke," 67 vols., ed. J. G. Plochmann and J. A. Irmischer, Erlangen, 1826-1868, vols. 1-20 and 24-26, 2nd ed., ed. L. Enders, Frankfurt a/M., 1862 ff. To the Erl. ed. belong also the Latin " Opp. Lat. exeg.," the " Commentar. in Epist. ad. Galat.," the " Opp. Lat. var.," and the Correspondence ( Brief wechsel) ed. by Enders (see under these four titles).

— Weim. ed., " Dr. Martin Luthers Werke. Kritische Gesamt-

ausgabe," Weimar, 1883 ff., ed. J. Knaake, G. Kawerau, P. Pietsch, N. Miiller, K. Drescher and W. Walther. So far (Jan., 1911) there have appeared vols. 1-9: 10, 1, 2, 3; 11-16 ; 17, 1 ; 18-20 ; 23-29 ; 30, 2 ; 3 ; 32 ; 33 ; 34, 1, 2 ; 36; 37. "Deutsche Bibel (1522-1541)," 2 vols. with introductions.

— Altenburg ed., 1661-1664, 10 vols. (German) ; reprinted

Leipzig, 1729-1740, 22 vols.

- Eisleben ed. (" Supplement zur Wlttenberger und Jenaer Ausg."), ed. J. Aurifaber, 2 vols., 1564-1565.

BIBLIOGRAPHY xxv

" Werke," Halle ed., ed. J. G. Walch, 24vols., 1740-1753 (German), "Neue Ausgabe im Auftrage des Ministeriums der deutschen evangelisch-lutherischen Synode von Missouri, Ohio und andern Staaten," St. Louis, Mo., Zwickau, Schriftenverein, 22 vols., 1880-1904, 23 (index), 1910.

— Jena ed., 8 vols. of German and 4 vols. of Latin writings, 1555-

1558 ; re-edited later.

-Wittenberg ed., 12 vols. of German (1539-1559) and 7 vols. of Latin writings (1545-1558).

— " Auswahl," ed. Buchwald, Kawerau, Kostlin, etc., 8 vols.,

3rd ed., Brunswick and Berlin, 1905 ff. ; also 2 supple mentary vols.

Wiedemann, Th., " Johann Eck, Professor der Theologie an der Universitat Ingolstadt," Ratisbon, 1865.

Works (Luther's), see " Werke."

" Zeitschrift fiir katholische Theologie," Innsbruck, 1877 ff. " — fiir Kirchengeschichte," ed. Th. Brieger, Gotha, 1877 ff. " — fiir Theologie und Kirche," Tubingen, 1890 ff.

" Zwinglii H. Opera. Completa editio prima cur. M. Schulero et H. Schulthessio," 8 voll. (voll. 7 et 8 " epistolso "), Turici, 1828-1842. In "Corpus Reformatorum " (2 vols.), voll. 88-89, Berlin and Leipzig, 1905-1908.

INTRODUCTION

(PREFACE TO THE FIRST AND SECOND GERMAN EDITIONS)

THE author's purpose in the present work l has been to give an exact historical and psychological picture of Luther's personality, which still remains an enigma from so many points of view. He would fain present an accurate delinea tion of Luther's character as seen both from within and from outside throughout the history of his life and work from his earliest years till his death. He has, however, placed his hero's interior life, his spiritual development and his psychic history well in the foreground of his sketch.

The external history of the originator of the great German schism has indeed been dealt with fully enough before this. Special historical studies on the various points of his career and times exist in great number and are being daily added to. Whenever necessary, the author has made use of such existing material, although these works are only rarely quoted, in order not to overload the book.

Everyone knows with what animation Luther's life has recently been discussed, how his doctrines have been probed, and how they have been compared and contrasted with the theology of the Middle Ages. The Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, a work of Luther's youth, which was first made use of by Denifle and which now exists in a printed form, has supplied very important new material for the study of the rise of his opinions. With the assistance of this work it has become possible to give an entirely new explanation of how the breach with Rome came about. With regard to the actual questions of dogma, it has been my endeavour to bestow upon them the attention necessary for a right comprehension of history ; at the same time the theological element can only be considered as secondary, our intention being to supply an exact portrait of Luther as a whole, which should emphasise various aspects of his

1 Luther, von HARTMANN GRISAR, S. J. (Herdersche Verlagshandlung, Freiburg im Breisgau, 1911-12).

xxviii INTRODUCTION

mind and character, and not to write a history of dogma, much less a controversial or theological tract. The investiga tion of his mind, of his intellectual and moral springs of action, and of the spiritual reaction which he himself experienced from his life's work, is indispensably neces sary if we wish to do justice to the man who so powerfully influenced the development of Europe, and to form a correct idea of the human sides, good as well as bad, of his character.

We have preferred, when sketching the psychological picture, to do so in Luther's own words. This method was, however, the most suitable one, in spite of its apparent clumsiness ; indeed it is the only one which does not merely put the truth before the eyes of the reader, but likewise the proofs that it is the truth, while at the same time giving an absolutely life-like picture. It has frequently been necessary to allow Luther to speak in his own words in order that in matters \vhich have been diversely interpreted, or on which he was somewhat uncertain, he may be free to bring forward the pros and cons himself ; we have thus given him the fullest opportunity to defend or accuse himself. If, for this reason, he is quoted more often than some readers may like, yet the originality of his mode of expression, which is always vivid, often drastic, and not infrequently eloquent, should suffice to prevent any impression of tiresomeness.

Luther's personality with all its well-known outspokenness has, as a matter of course, been introduced, unvarnished and unexpurgated, just as it betrays itself in the printed pamphlets, which as a rule give so vivid a picture of the writer, in the confidential letters, and in the chatty talk with his friends and table-companions. In a book which, needless to say, is not destined for the edification of the young, but to describe, as an historical work should, the conditions of things as they really were, the author has not thought it permissible to suppress certain offensive passages, or to tone down expressions which, from the standpoint of modern taste, are often too outspoken. With regard to the Table-Talk it may at once be stated that, by preference, we have gone to the actual sources from whence it was taken, so far as these sources are known, i.e. to the first Notes made by Luther's own pupils and recently edited from the actual MSS. by Protestant scholars such as Preger, Wrampelmeyer, Loesche, Kroker5 and others.

INTRODUCTION xxix

In order to preserve the character of the old-time language, the original words and phrases employed by Luther, and also by his friends, have been, as far as possible, adhered to, though not the actual mode of spelling. A certain un- equalness was, however, unavoidable owing to the fact that 3ome of Luther's Latin expressions which have been trans lated into modern German appear side by side with texts in old German, and that in the first written notes of the Table- Talk frequently only half the sentence is in German, the other half, owing to the use of Latin stenography, or because the speakers intermingled Latin and German haphazard, being given in Latin. Some difficulties presented by the German of that day have been made plain to the reader by words introduced in brackets.

In selecting and sifting the material, a watchful eye has been kept not only on Luther's mental history, but also on the Luther-Legends, whether emanating from advocates of the Wittenberg Doctor or from his Catholic opponents. It is a remarkable phenomenon only to be explained by the ardent interest taken in the struggle which Luther called forth, how quickly and to what an extent legendary matter accumulated, and with what tenacity it was adhered to. The inventions which we already find flourishing luxuriantly in the earliest panegyrics on the Reformer and in the oldest controversial works written to confute him (we express no opinion on the good faith of either side), are many of them not yet exploded, but continue a sort of tradition, even to the present day. Much that was false in the tales dating from the outset, whether in Luther's favour or to his dis advantage, is still quoted to-day, in favour of or against him. In the light of a dispassionate examination the cloud-banks of panegyrics and embellishments tend, however, to vanish into thin air, though, on the other hand, a number of dark spots which still clung to the memory of the man — owing to hasty acceptance of the statements of older anti- Lutheran writers, have also disappeared.

The Protestant historian, Wilhelm Maurenbrecher, de clared in 1874 in his " Studien und Skizzen zur Geschichte der Reformationszeit " (p. 239), that a good life of Luther could not soon be written owing to the old misrepresenta tions having given birth to a fable convenue ; " the rubbish and filth with which the current theological view of the

xxx INTRODUCTION

Reformation period has been choked up, intentionally or unintentionally, is too great, and the utter nonsense which it has been the custom to present and to accept with readiness as Luther's history, is still too strong." Mauren- brecher, speaking of the Protestant tradition, felt himself justified in alluding to " a touching affection for stories which have become dear." During the forty years or so which have elapsed since then, things have, however, im proved considerably. Protestant scholars have taken on themselves the honourable task of clearing away the rubbish. Nevertheless, looking at the accounts in vogue of Luther's development, one of the most recent historians of dogma, writing from Luther's own camp, at the very commencement of a work dealing with the Reformer's development, declares : " We still possess no reliable biography of Luther." So says Wilhelm Braun in his work, " Die Bedeutung der Con- cupiscenz in Luthers Leben und Lehre " (Berlin, 1908).

The excrescences on the Catholic side have also been blamed by conscientious Catholic historians. I am not here speaking of the insulting treatment of Luther customary with some of the older polemical writers, with regard to which Erasmus said : "Si scribit adversus Lutherum, qui subinde vocat ilium asinum, stipitem, bestiam, cacodcemonem, anti- christum, nihil eratfacilius quam in ilium scribere" (" Opp.," ed. Lugd., 3, col. 658) ; I am speaking rather of the great number of fables and false interpretations which have been accepted, mostly without verification. Concerning these Joseph Schmidl'in says in his article, " Der Weg zum historischen Verstandnis des Luthertums " (III., " Vereins- schrift der Gorresgesellschaft fur 1909," p. 32 f.) : " The Luther-problem has not yet found a solution. . . . To what an extent the apologetico-dogmatic method, as employed by Catholics, can deviate from historical truth is proved down to the present day by the numerous contro versial pamphlets merely intended to serve the purposes of the moment. . . . The historical point of view, on the contrary, is splendidly adapted to bring into evidence the common ground on which Catholic and Protestant scholars can, to a certain extent, join hands."

While confronting the fables which have grown up on either side with the simple facts as they are known, I was, naturally, unwilling to be constantly denouncing the

INTRODUCTION xxxi

authors who were responsible for their invention or who have since made them their own, and accordingly, on principle, I have avoided mentioning the names of those whose accounts I have rectified, and confined myself to the facts alone ; in this wise I hope to have avoided giving offence or any reason for superfluous personal discussions. I trust that it is clear from the very form of the book, which deals with Luther and with him alone, that the history of the Wittenberg Doctor is my only concern and that I have no wish to quarrel with any writer of olden or more recent times. I have been able to profit by the liberty thus attained, to attack the various fables without the slightest scruple.

With regard to the other details of the work ; my inten tion being to write a psychology of Luther based on his history, it necessarily followed that some parts which were of special importance for this purpose had to be treated at greater length, whereas others, more particularly historical events which had already been repeatedly described, could be passed over very lightly.

Owing to the psychological point of view adopted in this work the author has also been obliged to follow certain rules in the division and grouping. Some sections had to be devoted to the consideration of special points in Luther's character and in the direction of his mind, manifestations of which frequently belong to entirely different periods of his life. Certain pervading tendencies of his life could be treated of only in the third volume, and then only by going back to elements already portrayed, but absolutely essential for a right comprehension of the subject. Without some such arrangement it seemed impossible to explain satis factorily his development, and to produce a convincing picture of the man as a whole.

Although a complete and lengthy description has been devoted to Luther's idea of his higher mission (vol. iii., ch. xvi.) — a subject rightly considered of the greatest interest • — yet the growth of this idea, its justification, and its various phases, is really being dealt with throughout the work. The thoughtful reader will probably be able to arrive at a decision as to whether the idea was well founded or not, from the historical materials furnished by Luther himself. He will see that the result which shines out from

xxxii INTRODUCTION

the pages of this book is one gained purely by means of history, and that the mere scientific process is sufficient to smooth the way for a solution of the question ; to discuss it from a sectarian standpoint never entered into my mind.

The writer's unalterable principle on this point has been, that in historical studies the religious convictions of the author must never induce him to set aside the stubborn facts of the past, to refuse their full importance to the sources, or pusillanimously to deny the rightful deductions from history. This, however, does not mean that he has imposed on himself any denial of his religious convictions. Just as the convinced Protestant, when judging of historical facts, cannot avoid showing his personal standpoint, and just as the freethinking historian applies his own standard everywhere in criticising events both profane and religious, so the Catholic too must be free to express his opinion from the point of view of his own principles as soon as the facts have been established. The unreasonableness and im possibility of writing a history from which personal con victions are entirely absent has been recognised by all competent authorities, and, in a subject like that here treated, this is as plain as day. Such an artificial and unreal history of Luther would surely be dreary and dull enough to frighten anyone, apart from the fact that Luther himself, wrhose fiery nature certainly admitted nothing of indifference, would be the first to protest against it, if he could.

Is it really impossible for a Catholic historian to depict Luther as he really was without offending Protestant feelings in any way ? Without any exaggerated optimism, I believe it to be quite possible, because honesty and historical justice must always be able to find a place some where under the sun and wherever light can be thrown, even in the most delicate historical questions. In the extracts from my studies on Luther (cp. for instance the article "Der 'gute Trunk' in den Lutheranklagen, eine Revision" in the " Historisches Jahrbuch," 1905, pp. 479-507), Protestants themselves admitted that the matter was treated " with entire objectivity " and acknowledged the " moderate tone " which prevailed throughout. Such admissions were to me a source of real pleasure. Other critics, highly pre judiced in favour of Luther, actually went so far as to declare, that this impartiality and moderation was " all on

INTRODUCTION xxxiii

the surface " and a mere " ingenious make-believe," employed only in order the better to de.ceive the reader. They took it upon themselves to declare it impossible that certain charges made against Luther should have been minimised by me in real earnest, and various good aspects of his character admitted frankly and with conviction. Such discoveries, as far-fetched as they are wanting in courtesy, may be left to take care of themselves, though I shall not be surprised to be again made the object of similar personal insults on the appearance of this book.

I may, however, assure Protestant readers in general, whose esteem for Luther is great and who may be dis agreeably affected by certain passages in this book which are new to them, that the idea of offending them by a single word was very far from my intention. I am well aware, and the many years I have passed at home in a country of which the population is partly Catholic and partly Protestant have made it still clearer to me, how Protestants carry out in all good faith and according to their lights the practice of their religion. Merely in view of these, and quite apart from the gravity of the subject itself, everything that could be looked on as a challenge or an insult should surely be avoided as a stupid blunder. I would therefore ask that the book be judged impartially, and without allowing feelings, in them selves quite natural, to interfere unduly ; let the reader ask himself simply whether each assertion is, or is not, proved by the facts and witnesses. As regards the author, however, he would ask his readers to remember that we Catholics (to quote the words of a Swiss writer) " are not prevented by the view we hold of the Church, from rejoicing over all that our separated brethren throughout the world have preserved of the inheritance of Christ, and display in their lives, that, on the contrary, our best and sincerest esteem is for the bona fides of those who think otherwise than we " (" Schwci- zerische Kirchenzeitung," 1910, No. 52, December 29).

With regard to " inconvenient facts," Friedrich Paulsen wrote in his " Geschichte des gelehrten Unterrichts " (I2, 1896, p. 196) : " If Protestant historians had not yielded so much to the inclination to slur over inconvenient facts, Janssen's ' History of the German People ' [English trans., 1901-1909] would not have made the impression it did— surely an ' inconvenient fact ' for many Protestants." The

xxxiv INTRODUCTION

same respected Protestant scholar also has a word to say to those who were scandalised at some disagreeable historical home- truths which he had published, " as though it were my .fault that facts occurred in the history of the Reformation which a friendly biographer of Luther must regret."

Even in the Protestant world of the present day there is a very general demand for a plain, unvarnished picture of Luther. " Amicus Lutherus magis arnica veritas," as Chr. Rogge said when voicing this demand ; the same writer also admitted that there was " much to be learnt from the Catho lics, even though they emphasised Luther's less favourable qualities " ; that, " we could not indeed expect them to look at Luther with our eyes, but nevertheless we have not lost all hope of again finding among them men who will fight the Monk of Wittenberg with weapons worthy of him." And further, " the scholar given up to historical research can and ought to strive to bring the really essential element of these struggles to the knowledge and appreciation of his oppo nents, for, if anywhere, then surely in the two principal camps of Christendom, large-minded polemics should be possible" (" Zum Kampfe um Luther" in the " Turmer,'a January, 1906, p. 490).

I have not only avoided theological polemics with Protestants, but have carefully refrained from considering Protestantism at all, whether that of to-day or of the two previous centuries. To show the effects of Luther's work upon the history of the world was not my business. The object of my studies has not been Lutheranism, but Luther himself considered apart from later Protestantism, so far as this was possible ; of course, we cannot separate Luther from the effects he produced, he foresaw the results of his work, and the acceptance of this responsibility was quite characteristic of him. I will only say, that the task I set myself in this work closes with the first struggles over his grave. I may remark further, that the Luther of theology, even in Protestant circles, is being considered more and more as an isolated fact. Are there not even many Protes tant theologians who at the present day allow him no place whatever in the theological and philosophical doctrines which they hold ? Indeed, is it not an understood thing with many of our Protestant contemporaries, to reject entirely or in part the doctrines most peculiar and most dear

INTRODUCTION xxxv

to Luther. Two years ago the cry was raised for " a further development of religion," for " a return from Trinitarian to Unitarian Christianity, from the dogmatie to the historic Christ," and at the same time the Allgemeine Evangelisch- Lutherische Konferenz at Hanover received a broad hint that, instead of wasting time in working for the Lutheran tenets, they would be better employed in devising a Chris tianity which should suit the needs of the day and unite all Protestants in one body. In these and similar symptoms we cannot fail to see a real renunciation of Luther as the founder of Protestant belief, for there are many who refuse to hold fast even to that rudimentary Christianity which he, in agreement with all preceding ages, continued to advocate. Only on account of his revolt against external authority in religious questions and his bitter opposition to the Papacy, is he still looked up to as a leader. There is therefore all the less reason for the historian, who subjects Luther to his scrutiny, to fear any reproach of having unwarrantably assailed the Protestantism of to-day.

As in these pages my only object has been to examine Luther's person, his interior experiences and his opinions from the point of view of pure history, I think I have the right to refuse beforehand to be drawn into any religious controversy. On the other hand, historical criticism of facts will always be welcomed by me, whether it comes from the Catholic or from the Protestant camp, and will be par ticularly appreciated wherever it assists in elucidating those questions which still remain unsolved and to which I shall refer when occasion arises.

Finally, an historical reminiscence, which carries us back to the religious contradictions as they existed in Germany a hundred years ago, may not be out of place. At that time Gottlieb Jakob Planck of Wurttemberg, Professor of Theology at Gottingen, after the lengthy and unprofitable polemics of earlier ages, made a first attempt to pave the way for a more just treatment by the Protestant party of Luther's history and theology. In his principal work, i.e. in the six volumes of his " Geschichte der Entstehung, der Vcranderung und der Bildung unseres protestantischen Lehrbegriffs " (finished in 1800), he ventured, with all the honesty of a scholar and the frankness natural to a Swabian, to break through the time-honoured custom according to

xxxvi INTRODUCTION

which, as he says, all " those who dared even to touch on the mistakes of our reformers were stigmatised as blasphemers." '' While engaged on this work," he declares, " I never made any attempt to forget I was a Protestant, but I hope that my personal convictions have never led me to misrepresent other people's doctrines, or to commit any injustice or even to pass an unkind judgment. Calm impartiality is all that can be demanded." I should like, mutatis mutandis, to make his words my own, and to declare that, while I, too, have never forgotten that I am a Catholic, I stand in no fear of my impartiality being impugned.

1 wrould likewise wish to appropriate the following words taken from Planck, substituting the word " Protestants " for " Catholics " : " The justice which I have thought it neces sary to do to Catholics may perhaps excite some surprise, because some people can never understand one's treating opponents with fairness." But " I am convinced that, if my readers are scandalised, this will merely be on account of the novelty of the method. I really could not bring myself to sacrifice truth and justice to any fear of giving offence." Planck admits, elsewhere, speaking of Lutheran history, that compliance with the demands of impartiality in respect of certain persons and events which he had to describe, was sometimes " incredibly hard," and he proceeds : " There are circumstances where every investigator is apt to get annoyed unless indeed disinterestedness is to him a natural virtue. ... It is exasperating [the present writer can vouch for this] to have to waste time and patience on certain things." So speaks a theologian renowned among Protestants for his earnestness and kindliness.

With the best of intentions Planck spent part of his time and strength in the chimerical task of bringing about a " reunion of the principal Christian bodies." He wrote a work, " Ueber die Trennung und Wiedervereinigung," etc. (on Schism and Reunion, 1803), and another entitled " Worte des Friedens an die katholische Kirche " (WTords of Peace to the Catholic Church, 1809). It was his desire " to seek out the good which surely exists everywhere." The ideas he put forwrard were, it is true, unsuited for the realisation of his great plan. He was too unfamiliar with the organisation of the Catholic Church, and the limitations of his earlier education disqualified him for the undertaking

INTRODUCTION xxxvii

he had in view. What really shattered the hopes of reunion held by many during that period of triumphant Rationalism was, not merely the shallowness of the views prevailing, but above all the spirit of animosity let loose among all fervent Lutherans by the celebration, in 1817, of the third centenary of the Reformation. Catholics soon perceived that reunion was unfortunately still very far distant, and that, in the interests of the public peace, all that could be expected was the retention of mutual esteem and Christian charity between the two great denominations.

It is also my most ardent desire that esteem and charity should increase, and this growth of appreciation between Catholics and Protestants will certainly not be hindered by the free and untrammelled discussion of matters of history.

On the contrary, as a Protestant critic of Walter Kohler's " Katholizismus und Reformation " says, " it is to be hoped that historical investigation may lessen the contradictions, and if in this way it is possible to come closer together, not indeed perhaps to understand each other completely, yet at least to make some attempt to do so, then something deeper and more lasting will have been gained than at the time when Rationalism prevailed. The attempt then made to bring the parties together was the result of a levelling down of religious beliefs, now the same object is sought by penetrating more profoundly into the essentials of the different creeds " (" Theologische Literaturzeitung," 1907, p. 250).

The quotations from Luther's writings have been taken from the most recent Weimar edition so far as it at present reaches. What is not contained in the Weimar edition has been taken from the previous Erlangen edition (method of quotation : Weim. ed., Erl. ed.) ; the latter is, however, often quoted as well as the Weimar edition because it is more widely known and more readily available for reference.

Luther's letters have been taken from the new edition of the " Brief wechsel " by Enders, which is also not yet quite complete. The epistles of Luther's later years, which are still wanting in Enders' work, and also some of earlier date, are given as in volumes lii.-liv. of the Erlangen edition, where a great number of German letters are collected, or else as in the old edition of " Brief e, Sendschreiben und Bedenken " by De Wette-Seidemann. (See above, p. xvii. ff., " Correspondence," " Letters," " Works.")

With regard to the other sources of information we need only state, that until the whole of the " Tischreden " (Table-Talk) have been edited by Ernst Kroker in the Weimar series, we are com-

xxxviii INTRODUCTION

pelled to have recourse to the older German and Latin collections of the same, together with the original notes mentioned above (p. xx.). Of the German collection, in addition to the work of Aurifaber, the " Tischreden " of Forstemann-Bindseil and of the Erlangen edition (vols. Ivii.-lxii.) have been used, and, for the Latin collection, Bindseil's careful edition (see p. xvi. f.).

From among the large number of lives of Luther which have been consulted I shall mention only the two latest, one by a Catholic, Denifle, and the other by two Protestants, Kostlin and Kawerau.

It is hardly necessary to say, that I brought to the study of the two last-mentioned works an absolutely independent judgment. The information — universally acknowledged as extremely valuable- — supplied by Denifle's ponderous volumes on the relation between Luther's theology and that of the Middle Ages, was of considerable service to me. To Kostlin's biography of Luther, continued by Kawerau, I am indebted for some useful data with regard to the history and chronology of Luther's writings.

This most detailed of the Protestant biographies, and the most frequently quoted by me, offers this further advantage that in its judgment of Luther, his life's work, and his personal qualities, it occupies a middle line between two Protestant extremes. Kostlin having belonged to the so- called intermediary school of theology, the author, in his delineation of Luther, avoids alike certain excesses of the conservatives and the caustic, subtilising criticism of the rationalists. There is no such thing as a simple " Protestant opinion" on Luther; and Kostlin's intermediary treatment is the one least likely to lead a Catholic to commit an in justice against either of the extreme parties in Protestantism.

Does a Catholic opinion exist with regard to Luther's personal qualities and his fate ? Does the much-discussed work of Denifle represent the " Catholic feeling " ? That it does has frequently been asserted by those most strongly opposed to Denifle. Yet Denifle's manner of regarding Luther was, on the whole, by no means simply " Catholic," but largely biassed by his individual opinion, as indeed has ever been the appreciation by Catholic authors of the different points of Luther's character. Only on those points could Denifle's opinion strictly be styled " Catholic " where he makes the direct acknowledgment of dogmas and the essential organisation of the Church the standard for

INTRODUCTION xxxix

Luther's views and reforms ; and in this he certainly had on his side the repudiation of Luther by all Catholics. A " Catholic opinion," in any other sense than the above, is the sheerest nonsense, and the learned Dominican would certainly have been the last to make such a claim on his own behalf. The present writer protests beforehand against any such interpretation being placed on his work. The following statements, whether they differ from or agree with those of Denifle, must be looked on as a mere attempt to express what appears to the author to be clearly contained in the sources whence his information comes. In all purely historical questions, in questions of fact and their inferences, the Catholic investigator is entirely free, and decides purely and simply to the best of his knowledge and conscience.

A list of Luther's writings with the volumes in which they occur in the last two editions, as well as a detailed index of subjects and names at the end of the sixth volume, will facilitate the use of this work.

The author would like to take this opportunity of ex pressing his most cordial thanks to the Royal Bavarian Library of Munich, and also to the University Library in that city, for the friendly assistance rendered him. These rich sources of information have afforded him, during his frequent and lengthy visits to the Bavarian capital, what the libraries of Rome, which he had been in the habit of consulting for his History of Rome and the Popes of the Middle Ages (Eng. trans., 3 vols., 1911-12), could not supply on the subject here treated. The author will now return to the exploitation of the treasures of Rome and to the task he originally undertook and hopes to bring out, in the near future, a further volume of the History of Rome.

THE AUTHOR.

MUNICH, January 1, 1911.

VOL. I LUTHER THE MONK

.— B

LUTHEK

CHAPTER 1

COURSE OF STUDIES AND FIRST YEARS IN THE MONASTERY

1. Luther's Novitiate and Early Life

ON July 16, 1505, Martin Luther, then a student at the University of Erfurt, invited his friends and acquaintances to a farewell supper. He wished to see them about him for the last time before his approaching retirement to the cloister. " The bright, cheerful young fellow," as his later pupil, Mathcsius,1 calls him, was a favourite in his own circle. Those assembled to bid him farewell, amongst whom were also " honest, virtuous maidens and women,"2 were doubt less somewhat taken aback at their friend's sudden deter mination to leave the world ; but Luther was outwardly " beyond measure cheerful " and showed himself so light of heart that he played the lute while the wine-cup circled round.3

On the following morning— it was the feast of St. Alexius, as Luther remembered when an old man 4 — some of his fellow-students accompanied him to the gate of the Augus- tinian monastery and then, with tears in their eyes, saw the doors close upon him. The Prior, who was already apprised of the matter, greeted the timid new-comer, em braced him, and then, in accordance with the Rule, con fided him to the Master of Novices to be initiated into the customs of the community.

In the quiet monastic cell and amid the strange new surroundings the student was probably able little by little

1 " Historien," Bl. 3'.

2 Account from the mouth of Luther's friend, Justus Jonas (anno 1538), made public by P. Tschackert in " Theolog. Studien und Kritiken," Jahrg., 1897, p. 578.

3 Ibid. * " Colloquia," ed. Bindseil, 3, p. 187.

4 LUTHER THE MONK

to master the excitement which, though hidden from out siders, raged within his breast ; for the determination to become a monk had been arrived at under strange, soul- stirring circumstances. He was on his way back to Erfurt, after a visit to his parents' house, when, near Stottcrnheim, he was overtaken by a thunderstorm, and as a flash of lightning close beside him threatened him " like a heavenly vision," he made the sudden vow : " Save me, dear St. Anne, and I will become a monk."1 He appears also at that very time to have been reduced to a state of great grief and alarm by the sudden death of a dear comrade, also a student, who had been stabbed, cither in a quarrel or in a duel. Thus the thoughts which had perhaps for long been attract ing his serious temperament towards the cloister ripened with overwhelming rapidity. Could we but take a much later assertion of his as correct, the reason of his resolve was to be found in a certain vexation with himself : because he " despaired " of himself, he once says, therefore did he retire into the monastery.2

It was his earnest resolution to renounce the freedom of his academic years and to seek peace of soul and reconciliation with God in the bosom of the pious community. He per sisted in keeping the vow made in haste and terror in spite of dissuading voices which made themselves heard both within himself and around him, and the determined opposi tion of his father to his embracing the religious state. Some were full of admiration for the energetic transformation of the new postulant. Thus the respected Augustinian of Erfurt, Johann Nathin, compared the suddenness and decision of his step to the one-time conversion of Saul into the Apostle Paul.3 Crotus Rubeanus, the Humanist, then

1 " Colloqnia," ed. Bindseil, 3, p. 187.

2 Bei K. Jin-gens, " Luther von seiner Geburt bis zum Ablassstreite," 1 Bd. Leipzig, 1846, p. 522, from the unpublished Cod. chart, bibl. due. Goth, 1G8, p. 26. According to Loesche (" Analecta Lutherana," p. 24, n. 8) this MS. (B. 168) was written in 1553, and may be described as a collection of Luther's opinions on various persons and things. On page 26 it contains a list entitled " Studia Lutheri." We shall have occasion to deal with Luther's entrance into religion in volume vi., chapter xxxvii., 2.

3 Hier. Dungersheim von Ochsenfurt, Professor of Theology in Leipzig, in a tract published in 1531 in " Aliqua opuscula magistri Hieronymi Dungersheym . . . contra M. Lutherum edita," written in 1530, " Dadelung des . . . Bekeiitnus oder untuchtigen Luther- ischen Testaments," Bl. 14a. (Miinchener Universitatsbibliothek, Theol., 3099, n. 552.)

EARLY LIFE 5

stopping at Erfurt, in a later letter to Luther, expressed himself no less forcibly with regard to the heavenly flash which had made him a monk.1 The brothers of the " Ger man Congregation of the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine " • — such was the full title of the Order — on their part re joiced at the acquisition of the highly gifted and promising youth, who had already taken his degree as Master of Philosophy at the University of Erfurt.

If the novice, after gradually regaining peace of mind within the silent walls, permitted his thoughts to recur to his former way of life, this must have presented itself to him as full of trouble and care and very deficient in the homely joys of family life. Luther's early career differed hardly at all from that of the poorest students of that time. He was born on November 10, 1483, in Eislcben in Saxony ; his parents were Hans Luther, a miner of peasant extraction (he signed himself Luder) and Margaret Luther. They had originally settled in the town of Mansfeld, but had gone first to Mohra and then to Eisleben. Their gifted son spent his childhood in Mansfeld and first attended school there. His father was a stern, harsh man. His mother, too, though she meant well by him, once beat him till the blood came, all on account of a nut.2 The boy was also intimi dated by the stupid brutality of his teachers, and it does not appear that the customary religious teaching he received, raised his spirits or led to a freer, more hopeful develop ment of his spiritual life. He was one day, as he relates later, " beaten fifteen times in succession during one morn ing " at school, to the best of his knowledge without any fault of his own, though, probably, not without having brought the punishment upon himself by insubordination and obstinacy. After that, in his fourteenth year, he received instruction in Magdeburg from the " Pious Brethren of the Common Life," and begged his bread by singing from door to door. A year later he went to Eisenach, where his mother had some poor relatives, to continue his Latin studies. In this town he still pursued the same hard mode of earning his living, until a charitable woman, Ursula, the wife of Kunz (Konrad) Cotta, received him into her well-to-do and

1 " Hutteni Opp.," ed. Booking, 1, p. 309.

2 " Tischreden," ed. Forstemann, 4, p. 129; Mathesius, " Auf- zeichnungen," p. 235.

6 LUTHER THE MONK

comfortable household, furnishing him with food and lodging. Luther, in his old age, recalled with great gratitude the memory of his noble benefactress.1

As a boy he had experienced but little of life's pleasures and received small kindness from the world ; but now life's horizon brightened somewhat for the growing youth.

Full of enthusiasm for the career mapped out for him by his father, that, namely, of the Law, he went in the summer of 1501 to the University of Erfurt. His parents' financial circumstances had meanwhile somewhat improved as the result of his father's industry in the mines at Mansfeld. The assiduous student was therefore no longer dependent on the help of strangers. According to some writers he took up his abode in St. George's Hostel.2 He was entered in the Matriculation Register of the Erfurt High School as " Mar- tinus Ludher ex Mansfelt," and for some considerable time after he continued to spell his family name as Luder, a form which is also to be found up to the beginning of the seven teenth century in the case of others (Llidcr, Luider, Leudcr). From 1512 he began, however, to sign himself " Lutherus " or " Luther."3 The lectures on philosophy, understood in the widest sense of the term, which he first attended were delivered at the University of Erfurt by comparatively capable teachers, some of whom belonged to the Augustinian Order. The Catholic spirit of the Middle Ages still per meated the teaching and the whole life of the little republic of learning. As yet, learning was still cast in the mould of the traditional scholastic method, and the men, equally devoted to the Church and to their profession, who were Luther's principal teachers, Jodocus Trutfetter of Eisenach and Bartholomew Arnoldi of Usingen,4 later an Augustinian, were well versed in the scholastic spirit of the day.

Alongside the traditional teaching of the schools there already existed in Erfurt and the neighbourhood another, viz. that of the Humanists, or so-called poets, which, though largely at variance with Scholasticism, was cultivated by many of the best minds of the day. Luther, with his vivacity of thought and feeling, could not long remain a stranger to

1 Mathesius, " Historien," Bl. 3.

2 Kostlin-Kawerau, 1, p. 744, n. 1, p. 31.

3 Ibid., 1, p. 754, n. 2, p. 166.

4 N. Paulus, " Bartholomaus Arnoldi von Usingen," Freiburg im Breisgau, 1893.

HUMANIST FRIENDS 7

them. With their spiritual head Mutianus at Gotha, close by, they formed one of the more prominent groups of Ger man Humanists, although, so far, they had not produced any work of great consequence. The contrast between Humanism and Scholasticism, which was to come out so strongly at a later period, was as yet hardly noticeable in the Erfurt schools. Crotus Rubcanus, at that time a University friend of Luther's, became at a later date, however, the principal author of the " Epistolsc Obscurorum Virorum," a clever and biting libel on monks and Scholastics, written from a Humanist standpoint. Crotus boasted subsequently of his intimate intercourse (" summa familiaritas ") with Luther.1

Another Humanist friend whose spiritual relationship with him dates from that time, was Johann Lang, afterwards an Augustinian monk, with whom Luther stood in active inter change of thought during the most critical time of his development, as may be seen from the letters quoted below, and who, caught up by the Lutheran movement, left his Order 2 to become the first preacher of the new faith in Erfurt. The third name which we find in connection with Luther is that of Kaspar Schalbc, a cousin, or possibly a brother of the lady already mentioned, Mistress Ursula Cotta of Eisenach. Schalbc did not turn out any better than the others. A few years later, on being charged before the Elector of Saxony with a crime against morality, he was glad to avail himself of Luther's mediation with the Ruler of the land.3 Einally, we also know that a later patron and supporter of Luther, the Humanist Spalatinus, was then carrying on his studies in Erfurt. George Burckhardt of Spalt — whence his name Spalatinus — was a student there from 1498 to 1502, and, from 1505 to 1508, was engaged as

1 " Hutteni Opp.," eel. Docking, 1, p. 309. Cp. 1, p. 307, ep. 1, " Martino Luthero, amico suo antiquissimo."

2 Th. Kolde, " Die deutsche Augustinerkongregation und Johann von Staupitz," Gotha, 1879, p. 380.

3 Luther to Spalatinus, July 3, 1526 (see " Brief wechsel," 5, p. 366). To the Elector Johann of Saxony, November 15, 1526 : Luther's "Werke," Erl. ed. 54, p. 50 (" Brief wechsel," 5, p. 403). Johann of Saxony to Luther, November 26, 1526; " Brief wechsel," 5, p. 409. Luther to the same, March 1, 1527 : " Werke," Erl. ed. 53, p. 398 ("Brief wechsel," 6, p. 27). On the three friends mentioned in the text, see A. Hausrath, "Luthers Bekehrung" (" Neue Heidelberger Jahrbucher," 6, 1896, pp. 163-66 ff. and idem. "Luthers Leben," 1, 1904, p. 14 ff.).

8 LUTHER THE MONK

a clerical preceptor in the immediate vicinity of the town. Luther and Spalatinus always looked on themselves later as early friends whom fate had brought together.

As a student, Luther devoted himself with great zest to the various branches of philosophy, and, carried away by the spirit of the Humanists, in his private time he studied the Latin classics, more particularly Cicero, Virgil, Livy, Ovid, also Terence, Juvenal, Horace and Plautus. At a later date he was able to make skilful use of quotations from these authors when occasion demanded. Amongst others, he attended the lectures of Hieronymus Emser, a subsequent opponent well worth his metal. Of his life during those years, which, owing to the laxity of morals prevailing in the town, must have been full of danger for him, we learn little, owing to the silence of our sources. Luther himself in his later years coarsely described the town as a " beer house " and a " nest of immorality."

Unlike his frivolous comrades, he was often beset with heavy thoughts, no doubt largely due to the after effects of his gloomy youth. Among his chums he was known as " Musicus," on account of his learning to play the lute, and as the " Philosopher," owing to his frequent fits of moodiness.

In the monastery, where the reader left him, he no doubt remained subject to such fits of depression, especially at the beginning when dwelling on his change of life. It is difficult to say how far the feeling of self-despair, which he mentions, had mastered him before his entry into conventual life. In later years, apart from the vow and the mysterious " heavenly terror," he also says that in leaving the world he was seeking to escape the severity of his parents. His statements, however, do not always agree. As for the pre cipitate vow to enter a monastery, he must have been well aware that, even if valid when originally made, it was no longer binding on him from the day when, after conscientious self-examination, he became aware that, owing to his natural disposition, he had no vocation for a religious life. Not every character is fitted for carrying out the evangelical counsels, and to force oneself into a mould, however good, for which one is manifestly unsuited is certainly not in accordance with the will of a wise and beneficent Providence.

Luther, agreeably with the statutes of the Order, during

THE NOVITIATE 9

the whole period of his novitiate and until the hour of his profession had arrived, was perfectly free to return to his fellow-students, the religious tie never having been intended to bring him misery in place of the happiness which it promises. Immediately after coming to the monastery, i.e. before his clothing, he was, according to the Rule, given considerable time in which to weigh earnestly, under the direction of an experienced brother of the Order, whether, as stated in the statutes of the Augustinians, " the spirit which was leading him was of God." Only after this did he receive the habit of the Order, apparently, however, in the same year, 1505. The habit consisted of a white woollen tunic, a scapular, also white, falling over the breast and back, and a black mantle with a hood and wide sleeves to be worn over all.

After the clothing began the novitiate, which lasted a whole year. During this period the candidate had not only to undertake a series of exercises consisting in prayer, manual labour and penitential works, but had also to dis charge certain humiliating offices, which might help him to acquire the virtue of humility as practised in the Order. Out of consideration for the University and his academic dignity Luther was, however, speedily exempted from some of the latter duties. It appears that during his noviceship he was attentive to the rules, and that the superiors treated him with fatherly kindness. Although some members of the community may have observed the Rule from routine, while others, as is often the case in large communities, may not have been conspicuous for their charity- — Luther refers to something of this kind in his Table- Talk- — yet the spirit of the Erfurt monastery was, like that of most of the other houses of the Congregation, on the whole quite blameless. The novice himself, as yet full of goodwill, was not only satisfied with his calling, but even looked on the state he had chosen as a " heavenly life."1

From the very first, however, as he himself complains later, he was constantly " worried and depressed "2 by thoughts connected with religion. He was sorely troubled by the fear of God's judgment, by gloomy thoughts on pre destination, and by the recollection of his own sins. Al-

1 Cp. below, p. 16. Kostlin-Kawerau, 1, p. 73.

2 To Hier. Wellor (July ?), 1530, " Brief wechsel," 8, p. 159

10 LUTHER THE MONK

though he made a general confession in the monastery and renewed it again later, his confessions never gave him any satisfaction, so that his director laid on him the obligation not to hark back to things which caused him sadness of spirit nor to dwell on the details of his sins. " You are a fool," he once said to him ; " God is not angry with you, but it is you who arc angry with Him."

Those versed in the ways of the spiritual life are well aware that many a one aiming at perfection is exposed to the purifying fire of trials such as these. Traditional Catholic teaching and the experience of those skilled in the direction of conventual inmates had laid down the remedies most effectual for such a condition. What Luther himself relates later with regard to the encouragement he received from his superiors and brothers in the monastery, shows clearly that suitable direction, enlightenment and encourage ment were not wanting to him either then or in the following years. He himself praises his " Prscceptor " and " monastic pedagogue," i.e. the Novice-Master, as " a dear old man,"1 who " under the damned frock was without doubt a true Christian."2 It was probably he who said to him in an hour of trial that he should always recall the article of the Creed " I believe in the forgiveness of sins."3 " What are you doing, my son ? " he said to him on another occasion ; " do you not know that the Lord has Himself commanded us to hope? "4 words which made a great and unforgettable im pression on him. Later, in the year 1516, he pointed out another brother, Master Bartholomew (Usingen), as the " best paraclete and comforter "5 in the Erfurt monastery, as he could testify from his own experience. The monks knew well and impressed it upon his troubled mind that,

1 Letter to the Elector (April or June ?, 1540), ed. Seidemann, " Lauterbachs Tagebuch," p. 197.

2 In the Preface to Bugenhagen's (Pomeranus) edition of " Athan- asius contra idolatriam," etc., Wittenbergse, 1532. He there recalls having read the Dialogue of Athanasius and Arius " with zeal and a glow of faith," " primo anno monachatus mei, cum Erfordice pcedagogus meus monaslicus vir sane optimus et absque dubio sub damnato cucullo verus chrislianus mihi eum sua manu descriptum dedisset legcndutn " (Cp. "Opp. Lat. excg.," 19, p. 100).

3 Ph. Melanchthonis Vita Lutheri (" Vitse quattuor reformatorum," Berolini, 1841), p. 5.

4 " Opp. Lat. exeg.," 19, p. 100.

5 To George Leiffer, April 15, 1516, " Brief wechsel," 1, p. 31. " Opp. Lat. exeg.," ibid.

INWARD UNREST 11

through the merits of the Redeemer, and after earnest preparation of the soul, true forgiveness may be obtained, and that through the cross of Christ, and through it alone, we can do all things necessary, even in the midst of the bitterest assaults.

Luther, however, too often responded to such admonitions only by cherishing his own views the more. He continued morbidly to torment himself. This self-torture, at any rate during the first enthusiastic days of his religious life, may have assumed the form of pious scruples, but later it gradu ally took on another character under the influence of bodily affections. He did not, like other scrupulous persons, regain his peace of mind, because, led away by his distorted and excited fancy, he liked, as he himself admits, to dwell on the doubts as to whether the counsels he received were not illusion and deception. Sad experience taught him into what devious paths and to " what a state of inward unrest, self-will and self-sufficiency are capable of leading a man."1

The Superior or Vicar-General of the Saxon or German Augustinian Congregation to which Luther belonged was at that time Johann Staupitz, a man highly esteemed in the world of learning and culture.

He frequently visited Erfurt and had thus the opportunity of talking to the new brother whom the University had given him, and who may well have attracted his attention by his careworn look, his restless manner and his peculiar, bright, deep-set eyes. Staupitz soon began to have a great esteem for him. He had great influence over Luther, though unable to free him from the strange spirit, already too deeply rooted. To the sad doubts concerning his own salva tion which Brother Martin laid before him, Staupitz replied by exhorting him as follows in the spirit of the Catholic Church : " Why torment yourself with such thoughts and broodings ? Look at the wounds of Christ and His Blood shed for you. There you will see your predestination to heaven shining forth to your comfort."2 Quite rightly he impressed upon him, in the matter of confession and penance, that the principal thing was to arouse in himself the will to love God and righteousness, and that he must not pause before unhealthy imaginations of sin. The lines of thought,

1 To Leiffer, ibid.

2 "Lutheri Opp. Lat. exeg.," 6, p. 296.

12 LUTHER THE MONK

however, which the imaginative and emotional young man laid bare to him, were probably at times somewhat strange, and it is Luther himself who relates that Staupitz once said to him : " Master Martin, I fail to understand that."

In spite of his inward fears Luther persevered, which goes to prove the strength of will which was always one of his characteristics. As the Order was satisfied with him, he was admitted at the end of the year of novitiate to pro fession by the taking of the three Vows of the Order. He received on this occasion the name of Augustine, but always preferred to it his baptismal name of Martin. The text of the Vows which he read aloud solemnly before the altar, according to custom, in the presence of the Prior Winand of Dicdenhofen and all the brothers, was as follows : "I, Brother Augustine Luder, make profession and vow obedi ence to Almighty God, Blessed Mary ever Virgin and to thee Father Prior, in the name of, and as representing the Superior- General of the Hermits of St. Augustine, and his successors, likewise to live without property and in chastity until death, according to the Rule of our Holy Father Augustine." The young monk, voluntarily and after due consideration, had thus taken upon himself the threefold yoke of Christ by the three Vows, i.e. by the most solemn and sacred promise which it is possible to make on earth. He had bound himself by a sacred oath to God to prepare himself for heaven by treading a path of life in which per fection is sought in the carrying out of the evangelical counsels of our Saviour, and throughout his life to combat the temptations of the world with the weapons of poverty, chastity and obedience.

Such was the solemn Vow, which, later on, he declared to have been absolutely worthless.

2. Fidelity to his new calling ; his temptations

After making his profession the young religious was set by his Erfurt superiors to study theology, which was taught privately in the monastery.

The theological fare served up by the teachers of the Order was not very inviting, consisting as it largely did of the mere verbalism of a Scholasticism in decay. With the exception of the Sentences of Peter Lombard, the students at the Erfurt monastery did not study the theological works of the

LUTHER'S PROFESSORS 13

great masters of the thirteenth century ; neither Thomas of Aquin, the prince of scholastic theology and philosophy, nor his true successors, not even ^Egidius Romanus, himself a Hermit of St. Augustine, were well known to them. The whole of their time at Erfurt, as elsewhere also, was de voted to the study of the last of the schoolmen who, indeed, stood nearer in point of time, but who were far from teaching the true doctrine with the fulness and richness of the earlier doctors. They were too much given to speculation and logical word-play. The older schoolmen were no longer appreciated and nominalistic errors, such as were fostered in the school of William of Occam, held the field. One of the better schoolmen of the day was Gabriel Biel. His works, which have a certain value, together with some of the writings of the Fathers of the Church, formed the principal arsenal from which Luther drew his theological knowledge, and upon which he exercised his dialectics. In addition to this, he also studied the theological tractates of John Gerson and Cardinal Peter d'Ailly, works which, apart from other theological defects, contain various errors concerning the authority of the Church and her Head ; that these particular errors had any deeper influence on the direction of Luther's mind cannot, however, be proved. What we do find is that the one-sidedness of this school, with its tendency to hair splitting, had a negative effect upon him. At an early date he was repelled by the scholastic subtleties, for which, according to him, Aristotle alone was responsible, and pre ferred to turn to the reading and study of the Bible. He nevertheless made the prevalent school methods so much his own as to apply them often, in a quite surprising fashion, in his earliest sermons and writings.

The man who exercised the greatest influence on the theological study in the Erfurt monastery was the learned Augustinian, Johann Paltz, who was teaching there when Luther entered. He was a good Churchman and a fair scholar, and was also much esteemed as a preacher. By his side worked Johann Nathin, who has already been mentioned, likewise one of the respected theologians of the Order.1 Luther's teachers, full of veneration for the Holy

1 On Luther's teachers and studies, see Oertel, " Vom jungen Luther," p. 105 f. ; for Paltz, see N. Paulus in the Innsbruck "Zeitschrift f. kath. Theologie," 23, 1899, p. 48.

14 LUTHER THE MONK

Scriptures as the revealed Word of God, were not at all displeased to see their pupil having frequent recourse to the Bible, in order to seek in the well of the Divine Word instruction and enlightenment, by which to supplement the teachings of the schoolmen and the Fathers.

Luther had, moreover, already become acquainted with the Bible in the library of the Erfurt University, whilst still engaged in studying philosophy. He had, however, not prosecuted his reading of the Bible, though the same library would doubtless have supplied him with numerous well- thumbed commentaries on Holy Writ. In the monastery a copy of the Bible was given him at the beginning of his theological course. It was, as we learn from him incidentally, a Latin translation bound in red leather, and remained in his hands until he left Erfurt. The statutes of the Order enjoined on all its members " assiduous reading, devout hearing and industrious study of the Holy Scriptures."

The young monk immersed himself more and more in the study of his beloved Bible when Staupitz, the Vicar, advised him to select the same as his special subject in order to render himself a capable " localis and textualis " in the Holy Scriptures.

The Superior seems to have had even then the intention of making use later of Luther as a public professor of biblical lore. So ardently was the Vicar's advice followed by Luther that, in his preference for reading the Bible and studying its interpretation, he neglected the rest of his theological education, and his teacher Usingen was obliged to protest against his one-sided study of the sacred text. So full was Luther of the most sacred of books, that he was able (at least this is what he says later) to show the wondering brothers the exact spot in his ponderous red volume where every subject, nay even every quotation, was to be found. It was with great regret that, on leaving this community, he found himself prohibited by the Rule from taking the copy away with him. Later, as an opponent of the religious life, he states that no one but himself read the Bible in the monastery at Erfurt, whilst of his foe Carlstadt, a former Augustinian, he bluntly says that he had never seen a Bible until he was promoted to the dignity of Doctor. Of course, neither assertion can be taken literally.

When the day drew nigh for him to celebrate his first Mass

HIS FIRST MASS 15

as newly ordained priest, he invited not only his father but several other guests to be present at a ceremony which meant so much both to him and to his friends. Thus, in a letter of invitation to Johann Braun, Vicar in Eisenach, who had shown him much kindness and help during his early years in that town, lie says that : " God had chosen him, an unworthy sinner, for the unspeakable dignity of His service at the altar," and begged his fatherly friend to come, and by his prayers to assist him " so that his sacrifice might be pleasing in the sight of God." He also expressed to him his great indebtedness to Schalbe's College at Eisenach, which he would also have gladly seen represented at the ceremony. This is the first letter of Luther's which has been preserved and with which the critical edition of his " Correspondence," now being published, commences.1 The first Mass took place en Cantate Sunday, May 2, 1507. Luther relates later, with regard to his state of mind during the sacred ceremony, that he could hardly contain himself for excitement and fear. The words " Te igitur clementis- sime Pater," at the commencement of the Canon of the Mass, and " Off era tibi Deo meo vivo et vero," at the oblation, brought so vividly to his mind the Awful, Eternal Majesty, that he was hardly able to go on (" totus stupebam et co- horrescebam ") ; he would have rushed down from the altar had he not been held back ; the fear of making some mis take in the ceremonies and so committing a mortal sin, so he says, quite bewildered him.2 Yet he must have known, with regard to the ceremonies, that any unintentional in fringement of them was no sin, and least of all a mortal sin, although he attributes the contrary opinion to the " Papists " after his apostasy.

His father Hans assisted at the celebration. His presence in the church r.nd in the refectory was the first sign of his acquiescence in his son's vocation. But when the latter, during dinner, praised the religious calling and the monastic life as something high and great,3 and went on to recall the vow he had made at the time of the thunderstorm,

1 April 22, 1507, " Brief wechsel," 1, p. 1.

2 "Opp. Lat. oxeg.," 6, p 158. (Cp. " Colloq." ed. Bindseil, 3, p. 169 : " ita horrui, ut jngissem de altari," etc.) Also Mathesius, " Tischreden," p. 405.

3 " Lutheri Opp. Lat. var.," 6, p. 239 ; " Werke," Weim. ed. 8 p. 574.

16 LUTHER THE MONK

asserting that he had been called by " terrors from Heaven " (" de ccelo ten ores "), this was too much for his level-headed father, who, to the astonishment of the guests, sharply inter posed with the words : " Oh, that it may not have been a delusion and a diabolical vision." He could not overcome his dislike for his son's resolve. "I sit here and eat and drink," he cried, "and would much rather be far away." Luther retorted he had better be content, and that " to be a monk was a peaceful and heavenly life."1 The statement with regard to the elder Luther agrees with the character of the man and with the severity which he had displayed long before to Martin.

Here an assertion must be mentioned made by George Wiccl, a well-informed contemporary ; once a Lutheran, he was, from 1533-8, Catholic priest at Eisleben. Two or three times he repeats in print, that Hans Luther had once slain a man in a fit of anger at his home at Mohra. Luther and his friends never denied this public statement. In recent years attempts have been made to support the same by local tradition, and the fact of the father changing his abode from Mohra to Mansfeld has thus been accounted for.2 According to Karl Scidemann, an expert on Luther (1859), the testimony of Wicel may be taken as settling definitively the constantly recurring dispute on the subject.3

The following facts which have been handed down throw some light on the inward state of the young man at this time and shortly after.

At a procession of the Blessed Sacrament he had to accompany Staupitz, the Vicar, as his deacon. Such was the terror which suddenly seized him that he almost fled. On speaking afterwards of this to his superior, wrho was also his friend, he received the following instructive reply : " This fear is not from Christ ; Christ does not affright, He com forts."4

One day that Luther was present at High Mass in the monks' choir, he had a fit during the Gospel, which, as it

1 From Bavarus's Collection of Table-Talk ; the information is received from a sermon of Luther's preached in 1544. Oertel, " Vom jungen Luther," p. 93.

* F. Falk, " Alte Zeugnisse iiber Luthers Vater und Mutter und die Mohraer," in " Histor-polit. Blatter," 120, 1897, pp. 415-25.

3 " Lutherbriefe," Dresden, 1859, p. 11, n.

4 " Colloq.," ed. Bindseil, 2, p. 292. " Tischreden," ed. Forstemann, 2, p. 164.

MORBID FEARS 17

happened, told the story of the man possessed. He fell to the ground and in his paroxysms behaved like one mad. At the same time he cried out, as his brother monks affirmed : " It is not I, it is not I," meaning that he was not the man possessed.1 It might seem to have been an epileptic fit, but there is no other instance of Luther having such attacks, though he did suffer from ordinary fits of fainting. Strange to say, some of his companions in the monastery had an idea that he had dealings with the devil, while others, mainly on account of the above-mentioned attack, actually declared him an epileptic. We learn both these facts from his opponent and contemporary, Johann Cochlacus, who was on gocd terms with Luther's former associates. He asserts positively that a " certain singularity of manner " had been remarked upon by his fellows in the monastery.2 Later on his brother monk, Johann Nathin, w^cnt so far as to assert that " an apostate spirit had mastered him," i.e. that he stood under the influence of the devil.3

Melanchthon was afterwards to hear from Luther's own lips something of the dark states of terror from which he had suffered since his youth. When he speaks of them at the commencement of his biographical eulcgy en his late friend4 he connects Luther's strange excitement in the days before his entrance into religion with a certain event in his later history at a time when he was engaged in public con troversy. "As he himself related, and as many are aware," says Melanchthon, " when considering attentively examples of Gcd's anger, or any notable accounts of His punishments, such terror possessed him (' tanti terrores concutiebant"1) as almost to cause him to give up the ghost." He describes how, as a full-grcwn man, when such fears overcame him, he would actually writhe en his bed. He suffered from these terrors (terrores) either for the first time, or most severely, in the year in which he lest his friend by death in an accident, i.e. before his admission to the monastery. " It was not poverty," Melanchthcn continues, " but his love of piety

1 Dungersheim, " Erzeigung der Falschheit des unchristlichen lutherischen Comments usw.," in " Aliqua opuscula," p. 15, cited above on p. 4.

2 Job. Cochlseus, " Commentaria de actis et scriptis M. Lutheri," Mogunt., 1549, p. ].

3 Dungersheim, ul supra.

4 " Vita Lutheri," p. 5 (see above, p. 10, n. 3.)-

18 LUTHER THE MONK

which led him to choose the religious life, and, while pur suing his theological and scholastic studies, he drank with glowing fervour from the springs of heavenly doctrine, namely, the writings of the prophets and apostles (i.e. the Old and New Testament) in order to instruct his spirit in the Divine Will and to nourish fear and love with strong testi mony. Overwhelmed with these pains and terrors (' dolor es et pavores'), he plunged only the more zealously into the study of the Bible."

According to Melanchthon's account, the same old Augustinian who cnce had directed Luther's attention in an attack of faint-heartedness to the Christian's duty of recalling the article of the forgiveness of sins, also quoted him a saying of St. Bernard : " Only believe that thy sins are forgiven thee through Christ. That is the testimony which the Holy Ghost gives in thy heart : 4 Thy sins are forgiven.' Such is the teaching of the apostle, that man is justified by faith."1

Such words of Catholic faith and joyful trust in God might well have sufficed to reassure an obedient and humble spirit. Luther began to read more and more the mystic writings of the saint of Clairvaux, but as to how far they served to bring him peace of conscience no one can now say ; certain it is that, at a later date, he placed a foreign inter pretation upon the above-mentioned text and upon many other similar sayings of St. Bernard, which, taken in a Catholic sense, might have been of comfort to him, in order to render them favourable to the methods by which he proposed to make his new teaching a source of consolation. He accustomed himself more and more to follow " his own way," as he calls it, in mind and sentiment. Though in later times he speaks often and at length of his spiritual trials in the monastery, we never hear of his humbling him self before God with childlike, trustful prayer in order to find a way out of his difficulties.

If we consider the temptations of which he speaks, we might be tempted to think that he, with his promising disposition and pronencss to extremes, had been singled out in a quite special manner by the tempter. During the term of novitiate, writes Luther when more advanced in years, the evil spirit of darkness, so he has learned, does not 1 Kostlin-Kawerau, 1, p. 71.

HIS TEMPTATIONS 19

usually assail so bitterly the monk who is striving after per fection. Satan generally tempts him but slightly, and, more especially as regards temptations of the flesh, the novice is left in comparative peace, " indeed, nothing appears to him more agreeable than chastity."1 But, after that time, so he tells us, he himself had to bewail not only fears and doubts, but also numberless temptations which " his age brought along with it."2 He felt himself at the same time troubled with doubts as to his vocation and by " violent movements of hatred, envy, quarrelsomeness and pride." 3

" I was unable to rid myself of the weight ; horrible and terrifying thoughts (' horrendcc et terrificce cogitationes '), stormed in upon me."4 Temptations to despair of his salva tion and to blaspheme God tormented him more especially.

He had often wondered, he says on one occasion to his father Hans, whether he was the only man whom the devil thus attacked and persecuted,5 and later he comforted one who was in great anxiety with the words : " When beset with the greatest temptations I could scarcely retain my bodily powers, hardly keep my breath, and no one was able to comfort me. All those to whom I complained answered ' I know nothing about it,' so that I used to sigh ' Is it I alone who am plagued with the spirit of sorrow ! ' "6

He thinks that he learned the nature of these temptations from the Psalms, and that he had by experience made close acquaintance with the verse of the Bible : " Every night I will wash my bed : I will water my couch with my tears " (Ps. vi. 7). Satan with his temptations was the murderer of mankind ; but, notwithstanding, one must not despair. Luther here speaks of visions granted him, and of angels who after ten years brought him consolation in hisjsolitude ; these statements we shall examine later.

Elsewhere he again recounts how Staupitz encouraged him and the manner in which he interpreted his advice reveals a singular self-esteem. Staupitz had pointed out to him the interior trials endured by holy men, who had been purified by temptation, and, after having been humbled,

1 " Opp. Lat. var.," G, p. 364 ; " Werke," Weim. ed., 8, p. 660.

2 "Opp. Lat. exeg.," p. 19, 100.

3 Ibid.

4 To Hier. Weller (July ?), 1530, " Brief wechsel," 8, p. 160.

5 " Opp. Lat. var.," 6, pp. 240 ; " Werke," Weim. ed., 8, p. 574.

6 " Coll.," ed. Bindseil, 2, p. 295, on Hieronymus Weller.

20 LUTHER THE MONK

had risen to be powerful instruments in God's hand. Perhaps, said Staupitz, God has great designs also for you, for the greater good of His Church. This well-meant encouragement remained vividly impressed upon Luther's memory, not least because it seemed to predict a great future for him. " And so it has actually come to pass," he himself says later, " I have become a great doctor though in the time of my temptations I could never have believed it."1 Speaking later of a reference made by Staupitz to the temptations which humbled St. Paul, he says : " I accepted the words which St. Paul uses : ' A sting of my flesh was given me lest the greatness of the revelation should exalt me ' (2 Cor. xii. 7), wherefore I receive it as the word and voice of the Holy Spirit." Such reflections as these, to which Luther gave himself up, certainly did not tend to help him to rid himself completely of the temptations, and to vanquish his melancholy thoughts of predestination. As a result of following " his own way " and cultivating his morbid fears, he never succeeded in shaking himself free from the thought of predestination. This will appear quite clearly in his recently published Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, written in 1515-16. In fact, the whole of the theology which he set up against that of the Catholic Church was in some sense dominated by his ideas on predestination.

We must, however, pay him this tribute, that during the whole of his stay in the Erfurt monastery he strove to live as a true monk and to keep the Rule. Such was the testimony borne by an old brother monk, as Flacius lllyricus relates, who had lived with him at Erfurt and who always remained true to the Church.

Though such may well have been the case, we cannot all the same accept as reliable the accounts, exaggerated and distorted as they clearly arc, which, long after his falling away, he gives of his extraordinary holiness when in the monastery. He there attributes to himself, from controversial motives, a piety far above the ordinary, and speaks of the tremendous labours and penances which he imposed upon himself in his blindness. Led away by his imagination and by party animus, he exalts his one-time " holiness by works," as he terms it, to be the better able to assure his hearers —ostensibly from his own experience and from the bitter 1 To Hier. Weller, see p. 19, n. 4.

HIS FIRST LECTURES 21

disappointment he says he underwent — that all works of the Papists, even those of the most pious, holy and mortified, were absolutely worthless for procuring true peace for the soul thirsting after salvation, and that the Catholic Church was quite unable by her teaching to reconcile a soul with God. History merely tells us that he was an observant monk who kept the Rule, and, for that reason, enjoyed the confidence of his superiors.1

Relying upon his ability and his achievements, Staupitz, the Vicar, summoned him in the autumn of 1508, to Witten berg, in order that he might there continue his studies and at the same time commence his work as a teacher on a humble scale.

As Master of Philosophy Luther gave lectures on the Ethics of Aristotle and probably also on Dialectics, though, as he himself says, he would have preferred to mount the chair of Theology, for which he already esteemed himself fitted, and which, with its higher tasks, attracted him much more than philosophy. In March, 1509, he was already the recipient of a theological degree and entered the Faculty as a " Baccalaureus Biblicus." This authorised him to deliver lectures on the Holy Scriptures at the University.

In the same year, however, probably in the late autumn, Luther's career at Wittenberg was interrupted for a time by his being sent back to Erfurt. With regard to the reasons for this nothing is known with certainty, but a movement which was going forward in the Congregation may have been the cause. In the question of the stricter observance which had recently been raised among the Augustinians, and which will be treated of below, Luther had not sided with the Wittenberg monastery but with his older friends at Erfurt. He was opposed to certain administrative regulations pro moted by Staupitz, which, in the opinion of many, threat ened the future discipline of the Order. At any rate, he had to return to Erfurt just as he was about to become " Sen- tentiarius," i.e. to be promoted to the office of lecturing on the "Magister Sententiarium." For these lectures, too, he had already qualified himself. His second stay at Erfurt and the part— so important for the understanding of his later life — which he played in the disputes of the Order,

1 See below, volume vi., cap. xxxvii., where these questions are treated more fully.

22 LUTHER THE MONK

are new data in his history which have as yet received little attention.

He was made very welcome by his brothers at Erfurt, at once took up his work as " Sententiarius " and, for about a year and a half, held forth on that celebrated textbook of theology, the Book of Sentences.

He was also employed in important business for the monas tery and accompanied Dr. Nathin on a mission in connec tion with the question of the statutes of the Congregation and the above-mentioned dispute. Both went to Halle to Adolf of Anhalt, Provost of Magdeburg Cathedral, for the purpose of defending the " observance in the vicariate." The monk made an excellent impression on the Provost of the Cathedral.1 The esteem which Luther enjoyed while he was at Erfurt exposes the futility of those old fables, once widely circulated and generally believed, that whilst there he had entered into a liaison with a girl and had declared that he intended to go as far as he could until the times permitted of his marrying in due form.2

Of Luther's lectures at that time some traces are to be found in a book in the Ratsschul-Library at Zwickau, these being the oldest specimens of his handwriting which we possess. They were made public in 1893 in volume ix. of the " Kritische Gesamtausgabe " of Luther's works now appearing, and consist of detailed marginal notes to the Sentences of the Lombard of which the book in question is a printed copy.3 The notes consist chiefly of subtle dialectic explanations or corrections of Peter Lom bard and are quite in the theological style of the day. The vanity and audacity of the language used is frequently sur prising; for instance, when the young master takes upon himself to speak of the " buffoonery " of contemporary theologians and philosophers, or of an ostensibly " almost heretical opinion " which he discovers in Venerable Duns Scotus ; still more is this the case when he expresses his dislike of the traditional scholastic speculation and logic, alluding to the " rancid rules of the logicians," to " those grubs, the philosophers," to the " dregs of philosophy " and to that " putrid philosopher Aristotle."

1 The reference in Dungersheim, "Dadelung," p. 14 (see above, p. 4, n. 3 ) has been discussed by N. Paulus in the ' ' Histor. Jahrbuch, ' ' 1 903, p. 73.

2 See volume iii., chapter xvii., 6. %

3 "Werke," Weim. ed., 9, pp. 28-94

HIS FIRST LECTURES 23

It is worthy of note in connection with his mental growth that, on the very cover of the book, he, most independently, declares war on the "Sophists," though we do not mean to imply that such a war was not justifiable from many points of view. As a torch, however, for the illuminating of theo logical truth he is not unwilling to use philosophy. Very strong, nay emphatic, is his appeal to the Word of God on a trivial and purely speculative question relating to the inner life of the Trinity. He says : " Though many highly esteemed teachers assert this, yet the fact remains that on their side they have not Holy Scripture, but merely human reasons : but I say that on my side I have the Written Word that the soul is the image of God, and therefore I say with the Apostle ' Though an angel from Heaven, i.e. a Doctor of the Church, preach to you otherwise, let him be anathema.' '

In these glosses we may, however, seek in vain for any trace, even the faintest, of Luther's future teaching. The young theologian still maintains the Church's standpoint, particularly with regard to the doctrines which he was afterwards to call into question.

He still speaks correctly of " faith which works through charity and by which we are justified." Equally blameless are his statements regarding concupiscence in fallen man and the exercise of free will in the choice of good under the influence of Divine Grace. Once, it is true, he casually speaks of Christ as " our righteousness and sanctincation," but, in spite of the weight which has been laid on this ex pression, it is in no wise remarkable, and merely voices the Catholic view of St. Augustine, or better still, of St. Paul. To Romans i. 16 f., to which he was later to attach so much importance in his new system, he refers once, inter preting it correctly and agreeably with the Glossa ordinaria ; clearly enough it had not yet begun to interest him and his harmless words afford 110 proof of the statement which has been made, that already at the time he wrote " the birth-hour of the reformation had rung."

That Luther also studied at that time some of the writings of St. Augustine we see from three old volumes of the works of this Father in the Zwickau Library, which contain notes made in Luther's handwriting on the De Trinitate, on the De Civitate Dei, and other similar writings. These notes, made about the same time, are correct in their doctrine.

24 LUTHER THE MONK

According to Melanchthon, already at Erfurt he had begun a " very thorough study " of the African Father of the Church.

In the latter notes, which were also published in the Weimar edition of Luther's works,1 he once flies into a violent fit of indignation with the celebrated Wimpfeling, who was mixed up in a literary dispute with the Augustinian Order. He calls the worthy man " a garrulous barker and an envious critic of the fame of the Augustinians, who had lost his reason through obstinacy and hate, and who re quires a cut of the knife to open his mole's eyes " ; he, " with his brazen front, should be ashamed of himself."2 Glibness of tongue, combined with intelligence and fancy, and, in addition to unusual talents, great perseverance in study, these were the qualities which many admired in the new teacher. Whoever had to dispute with so sharp and fiery an oppcnent, was sure to get the worst of the encounter. The fame of the new teacher socn spread throughout the Augustinian province, but his originality and want of restraint naturally raised him up some enemies.

Alongside of his readiness in controversy which some admired, many remarked in him quarrelsomeness and dis- putatiousness. He never learnt how to live " at peace " with his brothers,3 as some of the old monks afterwards told the Humanist Cochlrcus. His Catholic pupil Johann Oldecop, says of his leaving Erfurt for Wittenberg, that the separation was not altogether displeasing to the Augustinians of Erfurt, because Luther was always desirous of coming off victor in differences of opinion, and liked to stir up strife.4 Hieronymus Dungersheim, a subsequent Catholic opponent who watched him very narrowly, writes that he " had always been a quarrelsome man in his ways and habits," and that he had acquired that reputation even before ever he came to the monastery.5 Dungersheim questioned those who had known him as a secular student at Erfurt. The above statements come, it is true, from the

1 Ibid., pp. 2-14. 2 Ibid., p. 12.

3 " Audivi crebrius, nunquam satis pad/ice vixisse cum." So Cochlaeus (see above, p. 17, n. 2) in 1524.

4 J. Oldecop, " Chronik," ed. K. Euling, 1891, p. 17.

5 Dungersheim, " Wore Widerlegung des falschen Buchleins M. Lutheri von beyder Gestald des hochwiirdigsten Sacraments " (see above, p. 4, n. 3), p. 31'.

CONTACT WITH HITS 25

camp of his adversaries, but they are not only uncontra- dicted by any further testimony, but entirely agree with other data regarding his character.

Luther, in his own account of himself which he gave later, tells us that he was then and during the first part of his career as a monk, so full of zeal for the truth handed down by the Church that he would have given over to death any denier of the same, and have been ready to carry the wood for burning him at the stake. He also says in his queer, exaggerated fashion, that in those days he wor shipped the Pope. At the same time he announces that his study of the Bible at Erfurt had already shown him many errors in the Papist Church, but that he had sought to soothe his conscience with the question : " Art thou the only wise man? " though by so doing he had retarded his understanding of the Holy Scriptures.1 He also asserts later that his father's words spoken at the banquet which followed his first Mass, viz. that his religious vocation was probably a delusion, had pierced ever deeper into his mind and appeared to him more and more true. Yet he likewise tells us elsewhere of his persevering zeal in his profession, and of his excessive fastings and disciplines.

It is hard to find the real clue in this tangle of later state ments, all of them influenced by polemical considerations.

He says quite seriously, and this may very well be true, that what he was wont to hear at times outside the monastery from unbelieving " grammarians," i.e. humanists, regarding the great difference between the teaching of Holy Scripture and that of the existing Church, made a deep impression on him.2 He had, however, calmed himself, so he says, with the thought that this was other people's business. In the monastic library he once came across some sermons of John Hus. Their contents appeared to him excellent, nevertheless, so he writes, from aversion for the author's name, he laid aside the book without reading any further, though not without surprise that such a man should have written in many ways so well and so correctly. .Johann Grefenstein, his master at Erfurt, had once let fall the

1 Kostlin-Kawerau, 1, p. 77.

2 Ericeus, " Sylvula sententiarum," p. 142. Cp. J. K. Seidemann, " Luthers alteste Vorlesuiigen iiber die Psalmen," 1, Dresden, 1876, p. xvii. " Ego adolescens audivi doctos viros et bonos grammaficos," etc.

26 LUTHER THE MONK

remark in his presence that Hus had been put to death without any previous attempt being made to instruct or convert him.

At that time, Hus failed to make any impression on him. Doubts, however, assaulted him in the shape of temptations. Those he repulsed, well aware of the danger. In June, 1521, writing at the Wartburg, he says that more than ten years before, much that was taught by Popes, Councils and Universities had appeared to him absurd and in contradiction with Christ, but that he had put a bridle on his thoughts in accordance with the Proverb of Solomon : " Lean not upon thy own prudence."1 Certain it is that his clear mind must early have perceived that the Church of that day fell far short of the ideal, and it is possible that even in those early years, such a perception may have awakened in him doubts and discontent and have led him to take a too gloomy view of the state of the Church.

In any case, Luther's own testimony as given above leads us to suspect the presence in his mind at an early date of a deep-seated dissatisfaction which foreboded ill to the monk's future fidelity to the Church.2

A strong moral foundation would have been necessary to save a mind so singularly constituted from wavering, and if we may believe the statement of his contemporary, Hierony- mus Dungersheim of Leipzig, this was just what Luther had always lacked. Dungersheim, in a pamphlet against Luther the heretic, harks back to the years he spent at Erfurt as a secular student and accuses him of evil habits, probably contracted then, but the after effects of which made them selves felt when he had entered into religion and caused him to rebel against his profession. If Luther, so he says, was now persuaded that no religious could keep the vow of chastity, in his case the inability could only be due to a certain " former bad habit," of which stories were told, and to his neglect of prayer.3 In another writing the same

1 In the tract " Rationis Latomianae confutatio," " Opp. Lat. var.," 5, p. 400 ; Weim. ed., 8, p. 45.

2 The above description of Luther's life in the monastery, starting from the strange circumstances of his entrance, has intentionally been left incomplete. Below, in volume vi., chapter xxxvii., the whole development of his character and disposition as it appears more clearly in the course of his history, and at the same time his own later views and his manner of depicting his life in religion, are reverted to in detail.

3 " Erzeigung der Falschheit," p. 6.

"THE SINS OF MY YOUTH " 27

opponent accuses him openly of having indulged in the grossest vice during his academic years, and mentions as his informant one of the comrades who had, later on, accompanied Luther to the gates of the monastery.1 He says nothing, perhaps, indeed, he knew nothing more definite, and with regard to Luther's life in religion, he is unable to adduce anything to his discredit.

But yet another of Luther's later adversaries has strong words for our hero's early life. His testimony, which has not so far been dealt with, must be treated of here because such charges, if well founded, doubtless contribute much to the psychological explanation of the processes going for ward in Luther. This testimony is given by Hieronymus Emser of Dresden, who, it is true, was himself by no means spotless, and wrho, on that account, was roundly reprimanded by the man he had attacked. In his rejoinder to Luther, a pamphlet published in 1520, and the only one preserved, he says : " Was it necessary on account of my letter that you should hold up to public execration my former deviations which are indeed, for the most part, mere inventions ? What do you think has come to my ears concerning your own criminal deeds (' ftagitia ') ? " He will be silent about them, he says, because he does not wish to return evil for evil, but he continues : " That you also fell, I must attribute to the same cause which brought about my own fall, namely, the want of public discipline in our days, so that young men live as they please without fear of punishment and do just what they like."2 We must remember that at Erfurt Emser and Luther had stood in the relation of teacher and disciple. His words, like those of Dungersheim written from Leipzig, voice the opinion on Luther later on current in the hostile University circles of Erfurt.

When Luther in his later years speaks of the " sins of his youth," this, in his grotesquely anti-catholic vocabulary, means the good works of his monastic life, even the celebra tion of Holy Mass. Once, however, at the end of his tract on the Last Supper (1528), 3 speaking of the sins of his youth,

1 " Dadelung des Bekenntnus," p. 15', 1C.

2 " A venatione Luteriana ^Egocerotis assertio," s.l.e.a.E, 5'.

3 " Werke," Erl. eel., 30, p. 372 : " Although I have been a great, grievous, shameful sinner and have wasted and spent my youth damnably," yet his greatest sins were that he had been a monk and had said Mass.

28 LUTHER THE MONK

he seems to distinguish between the Catholic works above referred to and other faults of which he accuses himself in the same general terms.

In the young Augustinian's Erfurt days he was pre vented by the Rule from cultivating any intimate and dis tracting friendship with persons in the world. We only know that he, and likewise his brother monk Johann Lang, had some friendly intercourse with the Humanist Petreius (Peter Eberbach), who not long after, in a letter dated May 8, 1512, greets Lang- — then already with Luther at Wittenberg— in these words : " S ancle Lange et S ancle Marline or ale pro me." Mutianus, the Gotha canon and chief of the Humanists, who was very unorthodox in his views, in a letter to Lang of the beginning of May, 1515, seems to remember Luther, for he sends greetings to the " pious Dr. Martin."

His intercourse with the Humanists led Luther to make use of philology in the interpretation of the Holy Scriptures. He thus entered upon a useful, we may even say indispens able, course, in which he might have done great service. At Erfurt he continued constantly to study his copy of the Bible, which had become an inseparable companion. " As no one in the monastery read the Bible " (at any rate not with his zeal) he was able to flatter himself with being first in the house in the matter of biblical knowledge ; indeed in this field he was probably the greatest expert in the whole Congregation.

In addition to this, he began to turn his busy mind to the study of Hebrew, and contrived to provide himself with a dictionary, which at that time was considered a treasure. Lang, with his humanistic culture, was able to assist him with the Greek.

Meanwhile the dispute in the Order with regard to the observance had reached a point when it seemed right to the party to which Luther belonged to seek the intervention of Rome in their favour, or to anticipate an appeal on the part of their opponents. The choice of seven houses " of the observance " resulted in Luther being chosen as the delegate to represent them in Rome. So little opposed to the Church was Luther's theology and Bible interpretation in his Erfurt days, and so considerable was the number of brethren, even in other Observantine houses who held him

THE AUGUSTINIANS 29

to be a faithful monk, that they deemed him best suited for so difficult a mission. What Ccchlrcus, according to in formation drawn from Augustinian sources, relates later sounds, however, quite reasonable, viz. that he was selected on account of his " cleverness and his forceful spirit of con tradiction," which promised a complete victory over the other faction.1

Luther's journey to Rome, according to Oldecop, was undertaken from Erfurt.

3. The Journey to Rome

The Saxon, or more correctly German, Congregation of Augustinians, at the time of Luther's journey to Rome, had reached a crisis in its history.

Founded en the old Order of Hermits of St. Augustine, by the pious and zcalcus Andreas Proles (1503), and pro vided by him with excellent statutes intended to promote a reform of discipline, the Congregation had, since its founda- ticn, been withdrawn frcm the control of the Provincial of the unreformcd Augustinian Province of Saxony in order the better to preserve its stricter observance.2 It stood directly under the General of the Order at Rome, whose German representative was a Vicar-General- — in Luther's time, Staupitz. He was simply styled Vicar, or sometimes Provincial. The mcnasteries under him numbered about thirty, and were distributed throughout several so-called districts, each headed by a Rural Vicar.

Staupitz's aim was to bring about a reunion of the German Congregation with the numerous non-observant monasteries in Germany, an amalgamation which would probably have led indirectly to his becoming the head of all these com munities. He had already, September 30, 1510, after sounding the Pope, published a papal Bull approving such a unicn, and, by virtue of the same, begun to style himself Provincial of Thuringia and Saxony. His efforts were, however, met by decided oppositicn within the Congregation. Certain houses which were in favour of the old state of things and feared that union would lead to a relaxation of discipline, vehemently opposed Staupitz and his plans. To

1 " Commentaria," etc., p. 1. "Acer ingenio et ad contradicendum audax et vehemens."

2 Kolde, " Die deutsche Augustinerkongregation," p. 96 f.

30 LUTHER THE MONK

this party belonged also the Erfurt monastery, and Luther himself took an active part in the position assumed by his house. The object of his visit to Halle with Dr. Nathin to see Prince Adolf of Anhalt, the Cathedral Provost, had been to obtain a " petition " in favour of the " observance." The opposition became acute when the Bull above referred to was published by Staupitz, and we may consider the protest of the seven Observantine monasteries against the Bull as the direct cause of Luther's despatch to Rome.

The monk, then seven-and-twenty years of age, with his written authority to act as procurator in the case (" litis procurator " is what Cochlrcus, who was well informed on these matters, styles him), set out forthwith on his journey. It was in the autumn 1510,1 and Luther was then lecturing on the third book of the Sentences. His absence lasted four or five months, i.e. until the spring 1511, when we again find him at Erfurt. Luther, and those who felt with him, found no difficulty in reconciling their efforts for the preservation of the observance against the will of Staupitz, with due submission to him as their Superior.

Another monk of the Order accompanied Luther to the capital of Christendom as the Rule enjoined in the case of journeys. The joy at such an opportunity of seeing the Eternal City, of quenching his ardent thirst for knowledge by the acquisition of new experiences and of gaining the graces attached to so holy a pilgrimage, may well have hurried his steps during the wearisome journey, which in those days had to be undertaken on foot. He had even, according to a later statement, made the resolution to cleanse his conscience- — so frequently tortured by fears- — by a general confession, indeed he once says that this was his main object, passing over the real reason.

With regard to the effect of the journey on the question concerning the Order, according to Cochlfcus a certain com promise was reached, the details of which arc, however, not told us. At any rate Staupitz was unable to carry out his plan and eventually gave it up. The dispute between

1 For the date and cause, see N. Paulus in the " Histor. Jahrbuch," 1891, 68 f., 314 f. ; 1901, 110 ff. ; 1903, 72 ff. Also " Histor. -polit. Blatter," 142, 1908, 738-52. The year 1510-11, as against that given by Kostlin-Kawerau, viz. 1511-12, is now accepted by Kroker in his edition of the "Tischreden der Mathesischen Sammlung," p. 417, and by Kawerau in his " Lutherkalender," 1910.

OBSEEVANTINES AND CONVENTUALS 31

"Observants" and "non-Observants" thus started, as we may gather from statements made by Luther to which we refer later, far from being at an end became more and more acute. It appears to have done untold harm to the Con gregation and to have largely contributed to its fall.

What effect had the visit to Italy and Rome upon the development of the young monk ?

Thousands have been cheered in spirit by the visit to the tombs of the Apostles ; prayer at the holy places of Rome, the immediate proximity of the Vicar of Christ and of the world-embracing government of the Church made them feel what they had never felt before, the pulse-beat of the heart of Christendom, and they returned full of enthusiasm, strengthened and inspirited, and with the desire of working for souls in accordance with the mind of the Church.

With Luther this was not the case.

He was much less impressed by the Rome of the Saints than by the corruption then rampant in ecclesiastical circles.

On first perceiving Rome from the heights of Monte Mario, he devoutly greeted the city, as all pilgrims were wont to do, overjoyed at having reached the goal of their long pilgrimage.1 After that, he untiringly occupied him self, so far as his chief business permitted, in seeing all that Rome had to show. He assures us that he believed everything that was told him of the real or legendary reminiscences of the holy places both above and under ground. He does not, however, appear to have been very careful in his choice of guides and acquaintances, for the anecdotes concerning the condition of things at Rome which he brought back with him to his own country were, if not untrue, at least exceedingly spiteful. The Augustinians whom he there met had not the spirit of the reform inaugurated by Proles. Their southern freedom and lack of restraint found all too strong an echo in Luther's character. The general confession he had projected was probably never made,2 for, as he asserts later, he had not found among the clergy a single suitable, worthy man. During his distracting stay in the Eternal City he said Mass, so he tells us, perhaps once, perhaps ten times, i.e. occasionally, not regularly.3 He was greatly

1 "Werke," Erl. ed. 62, p. 438. "Coll.," ed. Bindscil, 1, 165; " Tischreden," ed. Forstemann, 4, 687.

2 "Coll.," ed. Bindseil, 3, p. 169, and n. 33.

3 "Werke," Erl. ed. 40, p. 284.

32 LUTHER THE MONK

scandalised at much he heard and saw, partly owing to his looking at things with the critical eye of a northerner, partly owing to the really existing moral disorders.

The Rome of that day was the Rome of Julius II, the then Pope, and of his predecessor Alexander VI ; it was the Rome of the Popes of the height of the Renaissance, glorified by art, but inwardly deeply debased. The capital of Christendom, under the influence of the frivolity which had seized the occupants of the Papal throne and invaded the ranks of the higher clergy, had proved false to her dignity and forgetful of the fact that the eyes of the Faithful who visited Rome from every quarter of the globe were jealously fixed upon her in their anxiety lest the godless spirit of the world should poison the very heart of the Church.

Instead of being edified by the gocd which he undoubtedly encountered and by the great ideal of the Church which no shadow can ever darken, Luther, with his critically disposed mind, proved all too receptive to the contrary impressions and allowed himself to be unduly influenced by the dark side of things, i.e. the corruption of morals. Subsequently, in his public controversies and private Table- Talk, he tells quite a number of disreputable tales,1 which, whether based en fact or net, were all too favourable to his anti-Roman tendencies. He was in the habit of saying, in his usual tone, that whoever looked about him a little in Rome, would find abominations compared* to which those of Scdcm wrere mere child's play. He declares that he heard from the mouth of Papal courtiers the statement : "It cannot go on much longer, it must break up." In the com pany in which he mixed he heard these wrords let fall : " If there be a Hell, then Rome is built over it." He says that he had heard it said of one, who expressed his grief at such a state of things, that he was a " buon cristiano" which meant much the same as a good-natured simpleton. In his prone- ness to accept evil talcs he believed, at least so he asserts later, the statement made in his presence, that many priests were in the habit of repeating jokes at Mass in place of the words of consecration. He relates that he even questioned wrhether the bishops and priests at Rome, the prelates of the Curia, aye, the Pope himself, had any Christian belief 1 Kostlin-Kawerau, 1, p. 99 f.

THE ROME JOURNEY 33

Ictt. It is not worth while to go into the details of the scandals he records, because, as Hausrath justly remarks, "it is questionable how much weight is due to statements which, in part, date from the later years of his life, when he had so completely altered."1

In his accounts the share which he himself actually took in the pious pilgrim-exercises of the time is kept very much in the background.

He came to the so-called Scala Santa at the Lateran, and saw the Faithful, from motives of penance, ascending the holy steps on their knees. He turned away from this touch ing popular veneration of the sufferings of the Redeemer, and preferred not to follow the example of the other pilgrims. An account given by his son Paul in 1582 says that he then quoted the Bible verse : " The just man liveth by faith." If it be a fact that he made use of these words which were to assume so great importance and to be so sadly misinterpreted in his subsequent theology, it was certainly not in their later sense. In reality we have here in all probability an instance of a later opinion being gratuitously anticipated, for Luther himself declares that he discovered his gospel only after he had taken his Doctor's degree, and this we shall show abundantly further on. Older Protestant writers have frequently represented the scene at the steps of the Lateran in unhistorical colours owing to their desire to furnish a graphic historical beginning of the change in Luther's mind. Mylius of Jena was one of the first to do this.2 Mylius, in 1595, quite falsely asserts that Luther had already commented on the Epistle to the Romans previous to his journey to Rome, and adds that he had already then noted the later interpretation of the Bible text in question. It is true that, his son Paul, where he speaks of Luther's exclamation as having been com municated to him by his father, expressly states that " he had then, through the spirit of Jesus, come to the knowledge of the truth of the holy gospel." But Kostlin's Biography of Luther rightly denies this, and describes it as an " ex aggeration "3- — " error " would have been better — for the

1 " Luthers Romfahrt," p. 79.

2 Georgius Mylius, "In Epistolam divi Pauli ad Romanes," etc., lenae, 1595. " Prrefatio," fol. 2'. Cp. Theod. Elze, "Luthers Reise nach Rom," Berlin, 1899, pp. 3, 45, 80.

3 Kostlin-Kawerau, 1, p. 749 f.

i,— P

34 LUTHER THE MONK

assumption to which Luther's friends still cling with such affection, namely, that from the very commencement of his journey to Rome he had been " haunted by the Bible text concerning justification by faith," at a time " when he still was striving to serve God by his own works," must be struck out of history as a mere fiction.1

At Rome Luther's conviction of the authority of the Holy See was in no wise shaken, in spite of what some people have thought. All the scandals had not been able to achieve this. As late as 1516 he was still preaching in entire accord ance with the traditional doctrine of the Church on the power of the Papacy, and it is worth while to quote his words in order to show the Catholic thoughts which engaged him while wandering through the streets of Rome. " If Christ had not entrusted all power to one man, the Church would not have been perfect because there would have been no order and each one would have been able to say he was led by the Holy Spirit. This is what the heretics did, each one setting up his own principle. In this way as many Churches arose as there were heads. Christ therefore wills, in order that all may be assembled in one unity, that His Power be exercised by one man to whom also He commits it. He has, however, made this Power so strong that He looses all the powers of Hell (without injury) against it. He says : ' The gates of Hell shall not prevail against it,' as though He said : ' They will fight against it but never overcome it,' so that in this way it is made manifest that this power is in reality from God and not from man. Where fore whoever breaks away from this unity and order of the Power, let him not boast of great enlightenment and won derful works, as our Picards and other heretics do, ' for much better is obedience than the victims of fools who know not

1 On his own account Paul was only a boy of eleven when he heard this statement from his father ; it is therefore very doubtful whether he understood and remembered it correctly. Luther would surely have returned to the subject more frequently had it really played so great a part in his development, especially as he speaks so often of his journey to Rome. O. Scheel in his recent thesis on the development of Luther down to the time of the conclusion of the lectures on the Epistle to the Romans (" Schriften des Vereins fur Reformationsgesch, Nr. 100, Jubilaumsschrift," 1910, pp. 61-230), quite correctly says: "It is possible that his son, knowing of what importance Romans i. 17 had become for Luther, may at a later date have combined these words with the Roman incident." In any case, the objections with regard to this incident are so great that little can be made out of it.

THE ROME JOURNEY 35

what evil they do ' (Eccles. iv. 17)."1 That, when in Rome, he was still full of reverence for the Pope, Luther shows in his Table-Talk, though his language on this occasion can only be described as filthy.2

His ideas with regard to the Church's means of Grace, the Mass, Indulgences and Prayer had not, at the time of his return to Germany, undergone any theoretical change, though it is highly probable that his practical observance of the Church's law suffered considerably. The fact is, his character was not yet sufficiently formed when he started on his journey ; he was, as Oldecop says, " a wild young fellow."3

Luther later on relates it as a joke, that, when at Rome, he had been so zealous in gaining Indulgences that he had wished his parents were already dead so that he might apply to their souls the great Indulgences obtainable there.4 Of the Masses which he celebrated in the Holy City he assures us- — again more by way of a joke than as an exact statement of fact— that he said them so piously and slowly that three, or even six, Italian priests or monks had finished all their Masses in succession before he had come to the end of one. He even declares that in Rome Mass is said so rapidly that ten, one after another, occupied only one hour, and that he himself had been urged on with the cry : " Hurry up, Brother, hurry up." Whoever is familiar with the older Luther's manner of speech, will be on his guard against taking such jests seriously or as proof of scrupulosity ; he is, in reality, merely laying stress on the blatant contrast between his own habit and the precipitation of the Italians.

In 1519, i.e. not yet ten years after Luther's visit, his pupil Oldecop came to Rome and set to work to make diligent enquiries concerning the stay there of his already famous master, with whose teaching, however, he did not agree. As he says in his " Chronik," published not long since, he learned that Luther had taken lessons in Hebrew from a Jew called Jakob, who gave himself out to be a physician. He sought out the Jew, probably a German, and heard from him that " Martinus had begged the Pope

1 Sermo in Vincula S. Petri, hence on August 1. " Werke " Weim. ed., 1 (1883), p. CO.

2 " Tischreden," ed. Forstemann, 4, p. 687.

3 " Chronik," p. 30.

4 "Werke," Erl. ed., 40, p. 284,

36 LUTHER THE MONK

to be allowed to study in Italy for ten years in secular dress," but that, owing to the absence of any authorisation from his Superiors, his request had been refused, and Martinus, instead of being privileged to dress as a secular priest, had been obliged to retain his " cowl," i.e. the habit of his Order. Oldccop then betook himself to the official who, as he learnt, had drafted the monk's petition, and who fully confirmed the Jew's statement. There is no reason for doubting these new tales,1 notwithstanding the fact that in some of the other statements made by Oldecop, especially those in which he had no personal concern, some unintentional errors occur. According to the character given him by his editor Carl Euling, he was " an educated and honourable man, with good judgment."2 Notice deserves to be taken of a minor detail of the incident which confirms the truth of this account, namely, that the official, affrighted at the mention of Luther's name, was at first unwilling to speak, and then begged that the fact of his having had dealings with him should not be betrayed. The man, who is here portrayed to the life, after he became more loquacious, also expressed the opinion that had Luther been allowed to take off the cowl he would never have put it on again ; a view, of course, merely based on the later course of events. Luther's desire for learning was so great, and his impulsive character so marked, that it is quite possible that he cherished such a project. Nor was there anything so very singular in the plan, for about that time other monks had been secularised at their own request. In a Brief dated January 26, 1517, Erasmus, who was an Augustinian canon, received permission to wear the dress of a secular priest, a fact to which Luther, on occasion, makes allusion. As such a privilege, even though restricted as to duration, would without doubt have appealed to the freedom of thought which at that time Luther was beginning to culti vate, the fact that it was refused owing to the lack of authorisation by his German Superiors assuredly cannot have sweetened his recollection of the Roman Curia ; its only effect was probably to wound his vanity. He himself never speaks of this petition ; he had no cause to do so, and

1 This remark only applies to the statement in the text. When Oldecop says he was told in Rome that Luther had come to Rome without the authorisation of his Superiors, this was untrue.

2 Preface to Oldecop's " Chronik."

OPINION OF ROMANS 37

indeed it ill agreed with the legend which, with advancing years, he began to weave about his life in the monastery. On the other hand, we have probably a distorted version of the incident in an assertion, circulated later by his opponents, viz. that during his stay at Rome he had sought secularisa tion in order to be able to marry.1

Regarding the morals of the Italians and not the Romans only, he makes many unfavourable and even unfair state ments in his later reminiscences of his wanderings through their country. The only things which found favour in his eyes were, in fact, their charity and benevolence as displayed in some of the hospitals, particularly in Florence, the sobriety of the people and, at Rome, the careful carrying out of ecclesiastical business. An evil breath of moral laxity was passing over the whole country, more especially, however, over the rich and opulent towns and the higher classes, in fected as they were with the indifferentism of the Humanists. Those travelling alone found themselves exposed in the inns to the worst moral dangers. We must also call to mind that, in those very years the Neapolitan, or French disease, as syphilis was then called, infested a wide area of this other wise delightful country, having been introduced by the troops who came to southern Italy. The places where strangers from other lands were obliged to spend the night on their travels were hotbeds of infection for both body and soul.

Luther returned to Germany towards the month of February, 1511, though he was no longer the same man as when he set out. He said, after his apostasy : " I, like a fool, carried onions to Italy and brought garlic (i.e. worse stuff) back with me." As a controversialist he declared that he would not take 100,000 gulden to have missed seeing Rome, as otherwise he would feel that he was doing the Papacy an injustice ; he only wished that everyone who was about to become a priest would visit Rome.

1 Cp. George, Duke of Saxony, in the pamphlet published under Arnoldi's name : " Auf das Schmahbuchlein Luthers wider den Meuchler von Dresden," 1531 (" Werke," Erl. ed., 25, p. 147), where he thus addresses Luther: " You are hostile to the Pope because, among other reasons, he would not free you from the frock and give you a whore for your wife." The mention of the frock points to a reminiscence of what actually had taken place. Possibly the Jew is the same Jakob who, in 1520, accepted Luther's doctrine in Germany and was baptised. Cp. Luther's " Brief wechsel," 4, pp. 97, 147.

38 LUTHER THE MONK

A notable result of his stay in Italy was, that Luther, after his return to the monastery, immediately changed his standpoint regarding the " observance." Sent to Rome for the defence of the " observance," he now unexpectedly veered round and became its opponent. " He deserted to Staupitz " as Coehlteus puts it, evidently using the very words of the Observantines, and soon Luther was seen passionately assailing the Observantines, whose spokesman he had been shortly before. In all likelihood his changed view stood in some connection with a change in his domicile. No sooner had he returned to the Observantine monastery of Erfurt, than he left it for Wittenberg, where he was to take his degree of Doctor of Divinity and then ascend the professorial chair. Doubtless under Staupitz's influence the fulfilment of those great hopes which he had formerly cherished now arose on the horizon of his mind. To continue to withstand Staupitz in the matter of the observance could but prove a hindrance to his advance, especially as the Wittenberg community was for the most part opposed to the observance. Nothing further is, however, known with regard to this strange change of front. It was of the greatest importance for his future development, as will appear in the sequel ; the history of his warfare against the Observantines, to which as yet little attention has been paid, may also be considered as a new and determining factor in his mental career.

4. The Little World of Wittenberg and the Great World in Church and State

Since the spring 1511, Luther had been qualifying, by diligent study in his cell in the great Augustinian monastery at Wittenberg, to take his degree of Doctor in Divinity in the University of that city.

In his later statements he says that he had small hopes of success in his new career on account of his weak health ; that he had in vain opposed Staupitz's invitation to take his doctorate, and that he had been compelled by obedience to comply with his Superior's orders. After passing bril liantly the requisite tests, the University bestowed upon him the theological degree on October 1, 1512. Luther at once commenced his lectures on Holy Scripture, the subject

WITTENBERG 39

of this, his first course, being the Psalms (1513-16). His audience consisted mainly of young Augustinians, to whom a correct understanding of the Psalms was a practical need for their services in choir.

He displayed already in these early lectures, no less than in those of the later period, the whole force of his fancy and eloquence, his great ability in the choice of quotations from the Bible, his extraordinary subjectivity, and, however out of place in such a quarter, the vehemence of his passion ; in our own day the sustained rhetorical tone of his lectures would scarcely appeal to the hearer.

The fiery and stimulating teacher was in his true element at Wittenberg. The animation that pervaded students and teachers, the distinction which he enjoyed amongst his friends, his unlimited influence over the numerous young men gathered there, more especially over the students of his own Order, no less than the favour of the Elector of Saxony for the University, the Order, and, subsequently, for his own person, all this, in spite of his alleged unwilling ness to embrace the profession, made his stay at Wittenberg, and his work there, very agreeable to him. He himself admits that his Superiors had done well in placing him there. Wittenberg became in the sequel the citadel of his teaching. There he remained until the evening of his days as Professor of Holy Scripture, and quitted the town only when forced by urgent reasons to do so.

As with all men of great gifts, who make a deep impression on their day, but are, all the same, children of their time, so was it with Luther. In his case, however, the influence from without was all the deeper because his lively and receptive temperament lent itself to a stronger external stimulus, and also because the position of so young a man in a professorial chair in the very heart of Germany did much to foster such influences.

Martin Pollich of Mellerstadt, formerly Professor at Leipzig, a physician, a jurist and a man of humanistic tendencies who had helped Staupitz to organise the new University, enjoyed a great reputation in the Wittenberg schools. Alongside him were the theologians Amsdorf, Carlstadt, Link, Lang and Staupitz. Nicholas von Amsdorf, who was subsequently said to be " more Luther than Luther himself," had been since 1511 licentiate of theology, and

40 LUTHER THE MONK

had at the same time filled, as a secular priest, the office of Canon at the Castle Church. Andreas Bodenstein von Carlstadt, usually known as Carlstadt, occupied a position amongst the Augustinians engaged in teaching. He had taken his degree at Wittenberg in 1510, and was at the outset a zealous representative of Scholasticism, though he speedily attached himself to Luther's new teaching. He was the first to proclaim the solubility of religious vows. Wenceslaus Link worked at the University from 1509 to about 1516, eventually succeeding Staupitz as Augustinian Vicar-General, and, later, by his marriage in 1523, gave the last Augustinians of the unfortunate Congregation the signal for forsaking the Order. Another Augustinian, Johann Lang, who had been Luther's friend since the days of his first studies at Erfurt, had come to Wittenberg about 1512 as teacher at the " Studium " of the Order, though he socn left it to return to Erfurt. Johann Staupitz, the Superior of the Congregation, resigned in 1512 his Pro fessorship of Holy Scripture at Wittenberg, being unable to attend to it sufTicicntly owing to his frequent absence, and made over the post to Luther, whom, as he says in his eulogistic speech to the Elector of Saxony, he had been at pains to form into a " very special Doctor of Holy Scripture."

The teaching in the University at that time was, of course, from the religious standpoint, Catholic. Its scholarship was, however, infected with the humanistic views of the Italian naturalism, and this new school had already stamped some of the professors with its freethinking spirit.1

The influence of Humanism on Luther's development must be admitted, though it is frequently overrated, the subsequent open alliance of the German Humanists with the new gospel being set back, without due cause, to Luther's early days. As a student he had plunged into the study of

1 A proof of this may, e.g. , be found in certain statements on marriage made by the jurist Christoph Scheurl, borrowed from his professor Codro Urceo of Bologna, and brought forward in a speech held at Wittenberg, November 16, 1508. A Latin dialogue which the Witten berg professor Andreas Meinhardi published in 1508 also betrays the influence of those humanistic groups. J. Haussleitner (" Die Uni- versitat Wittenberg vor dem Eintritt Luthers," 1903, pp. 46 f., 84 ff.) attributes the manner of expression and the views of both to the ecclesiasticism of the Middle Ages. Cp. on the other side N. Paulus in the " Wissenschaftl. Beilage " to " Germania," 1904, No. 10.

HUMANIST FRIENDS 41

the ancient classics which he loved, but there was a great, difference between this and the being in complete intellectual communion with the later Humanists, wrhose aims were in many respects opposed to the Church's. Thanks to the practical turn of his mind, the study of the classics, which he occasionally continued later, never engaged his attention or fascinated him to the extent it did certain Humanists of the Renaissance, wrho saw in the revival of classic Paganism the salvation of mankind. As a young professor at the University he was not, however, able to escape entirely the influence of the liberalism of the age, with its one-sided and ill-considered opposition to so many of the older elements of culture, an opposition which might easily prove as detrimental as a blind and biassed defence of the older order.

It is not necessary to demonstrate here how dangerous a spirit of change and libertinism was being imported in the books of the Italian Humanists, or by the German students who had attended their lectures.

With regard to Luther personally, we know that he not only had some connection with Mutian, the leader of a movement which at that time was still chiefly literary, but also that Johann Lang at once forwarded to Mutian a lecture against the morals of the " little Saints " of his Order delivered by Luther at Gotha in 1515. l Luther also excused himself in a very respectful letter to this leader of the Humanists for not having called on him when passing through Gotha in 1516. 2 Luther's most intimate friend, Lang, through whom he seems to have entered into a cer tain exchange of ideas with Humanism, was an enthusiastic Humanist and possessed of great literary connections. Lang, for his part, speaks highly to Mutian of the assistance rendered him in his studies by Luther.3 There can therefore be no doubt that Luther was no stranger to the efforts of the Humanists, to their bold and incisive criticism of the traditional methods, to their new idealism and their spirit of independence. Many of the ideas which filled the air in those days had doubtless an attraction for and exerted

1 Kolde, " Die deutsche Augustinerkongregution," p. 203 ; " Brief - wechsel," 1, p. 36, 11. 5.

2 Letter of May 29, 1516, " Brief wechsel," 1, p. 35.

3 Lang to Mutian, May 2, 1515, " Brief wechsel." 1, p. 36, ri. 5.

42 LUTHER THE MONK

an influence on the open-hearted, receptive disposition of the talented monk.

Luther's friendship with Spalatin, which dated from his Erfurt days, must also be taken into account in this regard. For Spalatin, who came as tutor and preacher in 1508 to the Court of the Elector of Saxony, was very closely allied in spirit with the Humanists of Erfurt and Gotha. It was he who asked Luther for his opinion respecting the famous dispute of the Cologne Faculty with the Humanist Reuchlin, a quarrel which engaged the sympathy of scholars and men of education throughout the length and breadth of Germany. Luther, in his reply, which dates from January or February, 1514, had at that time no hesitation in emphatically taking the side of Reuchlin, who, he declared, possessed his love and esteem. God, he says, would carry on His work in spite of the determined opposition of one thousand times one thousand Cologne burghers, and he adds meaningly that there were much more important matters with the Church which needed reform ; they were " straining at gnats and swallowing camels."1 The conservative attitude of the authorities at Cologne was at that time not at all to his taste. Not long after Luther writes very strongly to Spalatin, again in favour of Reuchlin, against Ortwin de Gracs of Cologne, and says among other things that he had hitherto thought the latter an ass, but that he must now call him a dog, a wolf and a crocodile, in spite of his wanting to play the lion,2 expressions which are quite characteristic of Luther's style.

On the appearance of the " Letters of Obscure Men," and a similar satirical writing which followed them, and which also found its way into Luther's hands, the young Wittenberg professor, instead of taking the field against the evil tendency of these attacks of the Humanist party on the " bigots of Scholasticism and the cloister " as such diatribes deserved, and as he in his character of monk and theologian should have done, sought to take a middle course : he approved of the purpose of the attacks, but not of the satire itself, which mended nothing and contained too much invective. Both productions, he says, must have come out of the same pot ; they had as their author, if not

1 " Briefwechsel," 1, p. 14.

2 Letter of August 5, 1514, " Briefwechsel," 1, p. 20.

ERASMUS 43

the same, at least a very similar comedian. It is now known that the real author of the letters which caused: such an uproar was his former University friend, Crotus Rubeanus. l

On what terms did Luther stand with respect to Erasmus, the leader of the Humanists, before their great and final estrangement ? As he speaks of Erasmus in a letter of 1517 to Lang as " our Erasmus," we may infer that until then he was, to a certain extent, favourably disposed towards him. He rejoiced on reading his humanistic writings to find that " he belaboured the monks and clergy so manfully and so learnedly and had torn the veil off their out-of-date rubbish." 2 Yet, on the same occasion, he confesses that his liking for Erasmus is becoming weaker. It was not the attitude of Erasmus to the Church in general which even then separated Luther from him, but his new teaching on Grace, the origin of which will be treated of later. It is true Luther conveyed to him through Spalatin his good wishes for his renown and progress, but in the same message he admonished him not to follow the example of nearly every commentator in interpreting certain passages where Paul condemns " righteousness by works " as referring only to the Mosaic ceremonial law, and not rather to all the works of the Decalogue. If such are performed " outside the Faith in Christ," then though they should make of a man a Fabricius, a llegulus, or a paragon of perfection, yet they have as little in common with righteousness as black berries have with figs " ; it is not the works which justify a man, but rather our righteousness which sanctifies the works. Abel was more pleasing to God than his works.3 The exclusive sense in which Luther interprets these words, according to which he does not even admit that works of righteousness are of any value for the increase of righteous ness, is a consequence of his new standpoint, to which he is anxious to convert Erasmus and all the Humanists.

He had the Humanists in his mind when he wrote as follows to Johann Lang : " The times are perilous, and a man may be a great Greek, or Hebrew [scholar] without being a wise Christian. . . . He who makes concessions to human

1 To Johann Lang, October 5, 1516, and to Spalatin about the same time, " Brief wechsel," 1, pp. 59, 62.

2 Letter of March 1, 1517, " Brief wechsel," 1, p. 88.

3 To Spalatin, October 19, 1516, " Brief wechsel," 1, p. 64.

44 LUTHER THE MONK

free-will judges differently from him who knows nothing save Grace alone."1 But this is to forestall a development of his error, which will be described later. At the time that his new doctrine originated he was far more in sympathy with the theories of certain groups of late mediaeval mystics than with the views of the Humanists, because, as will appear later, he found in them the expression of that annihilation of the human by means of Grace, of which the idea was floating before his mind, and because he also discovered in them an " inwardness " which agreed with his own feelings at that time.

From Erasmus and his compeers he undoubtedly borrowed, in addition to a spirit of justifiable criticism, an exaggerated sentiment of independence towards ecclesiastical antiquity. The contact with their humanistic views assuredly strength ened in him the modern tendency to individualism. Not long after a change in the nature of his friendship necessarily took place. His antagonism to Erasmus in the matter of his doctrine of Grace led to a bitter dispute between the two, to which Luther's contribution was his work on " The Servitude of the Will " (De servo arbitrio) ; at the same time his alliance with the Humanists remained of value to him in the subversive movement which he had inaugurated.

Mighty indeed were the forces, heralds of a spiritual upheaval, which, since the fifteenth century, had streamed through the Western world in closer or more distant con nection with the great revival of the study of classical antiquity. They proclaimed the advent of a new cycle in the history of mankind. This excited world could not fail to impart its impulse to the youthful Luther.

The recently discovered art of printing had, as it were at one blow, created a world-wide community of intellectual productions and literary ideas such as the Middle Ages had never dreamed of. The nations were drawn closer together at that period by the interchange of the most varied and far-reaching discoveries. The spirit of worldly enter prise awroke as from a long slumber as a result of the astonish ing discovery of great and wealthy countries overseas.

With the greater facilities for intellectual intercourse and the increase of means of study, criticism set to work on all branches of learning with greater results than ever before. 1 Letter of March 1, 1517, " Briefwechsel," 1, p. 88.

ECCLESIASTICAL ABUSES 45

The greater States now did what they had been willing but unable to do before ; they freed themselves more and more from the former tutelage of the Church ; they aimed at securing freedom and shaking off that priestly influence to which, in part at least, they owed their stability and their growth ; nor was this movement confined to the greater States, for, in Germany, at any rate, the wealthy cities, the great landed proprietors and princes were all alike intent on ridding themselves of the oppression under which they had hitherto laboured and on securing for themselves an increase of power. In brief, everywhere the old restraints were breaking down, everywhere a forward movement of individualism was in progress at the expense of the common weal and the traditional order of the Middle Ages ; but, above all, at the expense of the Church's religious authority, which, alone till then, had kept individualism in check to the profit of humanity.

It would indeed have been well had at least the Catholic Church at that critical period been free from weakness and abuse. Her Divine power of blessing the nations, it is true, still survived, her preaching of the truth, her treasure of the Sacraments, in short, her soul, was unchanged ; but, because she was suffering from many lamentable imper fections, the disruptive forces were able to come into play with fatal results. The complaints of eloquent men full of zeal for souls, both at that time and during the preceding decades, particularly in Germany, over the decline of religious life among the Faithful and the corruption in the clergy, were only too well founded, and deserved to have met with a much more effectual reception than they did. What the monk of Wittenberg, with unbridled passion and glaring exaggeration, was about to thunder forth over the world in his mighty call for reform, had already for the most part been urged by others, yea, by great Saints of the Church who attacked the abuses with the high-minded zeal of ripe experience. Strict, earnest and experienced men had set to work on a Catholic reform in many parts of the Church, not excepting Germany, in the only profitable way, viz. not by doctrinal innovation, but by raising the standard of morality among both people and clergy. But progress was slow, very slow, for reasons which cannot be dealt with here. The life-work of the pious founder of his own Con-

46 LUTHER THE MONK

gregation might well have served Luther as an admirable example of moral regeneration and efficiency ; for the aim of Andreas Proles was, as a Protestant writer remarks : " A strong and mighty Reformation " ; he lived in hopes that God would shortly raise up a hero capable of bringing it about with strength and determination, though the Reformation he had in his mind, as our historian allows, could only have been a Reformation in the Catholic sense.1 Another attractive example of reforming zeal was also given under Luther's very eyes by the Windesheim Congregation of the Brethren of the Common Life, with whom he had been in friendly intercourse from his boyish days.

The disorders in Germany had an all too powerful strong hold in the higher ranks of ecclesiastical authority. Not until after the Council of Trent did it become apparent how much the breaking down of this bulwark of corruption would cost. The bishops were for the most part incapable or worldly. Abbots, provosts, wealthy canons and digni taries vied with and even excelled the episcopate in their neglect of the duties of their clerical state. In the filling of Church offices worldly influence was paramount, and in its wake followed forced nominations, selfishness, incom petence and a general retrograde movement ; the moral disorders among the clergy and the people accumulated under lazy and incompetent superiors. The system of indulgences, pilgrimages, sodalities and numerous practices connected with the veneration of the Saints, as well as many other details of worship, showed lamentable excesses.

Of the above-mentioned evils within the German Church, two will be examined more closely : the interference of the Government and the worldly-minded nobility in Church matters, and the evil ways of the higher and lower grades of the clergy.

Not merely were the clerical dues frequently seized by the princes and lesser authorities, but positions in the Cathedral chapters and episcopal sees were, in many cases, handed over arbitrarily to members of the nobility or ruling houses, so that in many places the most important posts were held by men without a vocation and utterly unworthy of the office. " When the ecclesiastical storm broke out at

1 Kolde, "Die deutsche Augustinerkongregation," p. 163; cp. p. 9G fL and Kolde, " Martin Luther," 1, pp. 47, 50, 59 f.

EPISCOPAL PLURALISTS 47

the end of the second decade of the sixteenth century the following archbishoprics and bishoprics were filled by the sons of princes : Bremen, Freising, Halberstadt, Hildesheim, Magdeburg, Mayence, Merseburg, Metz, Minden, Miinster, Naumburg, Osnabrtick, Paderborn, Passau, Ratisbon, Spires, Verden and Verdun."1 The bishops drawn from the princely houses were, as a rule, involved in worldly business or in Court intrigues, even where, as was the case, for instance, with the powerful Archbishop of Mayence, Albrecht of Brandenburg, their early education had not been entirely anti-ecclesiastical.

Another evil was the uniting of several important bishop rics in the hands of one individual. " The Archbishop of Bremen was at the same time Bishop of Verden, the Bishop of Osnabriick also Bishop of Paderborn, the Archbishop of Mayence also Archbishop of Magdeburg and Bishop of Halberstadt. George, Palsgrave of the Rhine and Duke of Bavaria, had already in his thirteenth year been made Cathedral Provost of Mayence and afterwards became a Canon of Cologne and Trevcs, Provost of St. Donation's at Bruges, patron of the livings of Hochheim and Lorch on the Rhine and finally, in 1513, Bishop of Spires. By special privilege of Pope Leo X, granted June 22, 1513, he, an other wise earnest and pious man, was permitted to hold all these benefices in addition to his bishopric of Spires."2 A con temporary, reviewing the condition of the worldly-minded bishops, complains " that the higher clergy are chiefly to blame for the careless way in which the cure of souls is exercised. They place unsuitable shepherds over the people, while they themselves draw the tithes. Many seek to unite in their grasp the greatest possible number of livings without fulfilling the duties they entail and waste the revenues of the Church in luxury, on servants, pages, dogs and horses. One seeks to outvie the other in ostentation and luxury."3 One of the most important explanations of the fact, that, at the very outset of the religious innovation, the falling away from the Church took place with such astonishing celerity, is to be found in the corruption and apathy of the episcopate.4

1 Janssen-Pastor, " Gesch. des deutschen Volkos," I18, p. 703; Knglish translation, " Hist, of the German People," ii., p. 297. See also Pastor, " Hist, of the Popes " (Engl. trans.), vol. vii., p. 290 ff.

2 Ibid. 3 Ibid., p. 700. 4 Ibid., p. 703.

48 LUTHER THE MONK

Bertold Pirstinger, Bishop of Chiemsec and author of the lament " Onus ecclesice" wrote sadly in 1519 : " Where does the choice fall upon a good, capable and learned bishop, where on one who is not inexperienced, sensual and ignorant of spiritual things ? . . . I know of some bishops who prefer to wear a sword and armour rather than their clerical garb. It has come to this, that the episcopate is now given up to worldly possessions, sordid cares, stormy wars, worldly sovereignty. . . . The prescribed provincial and diocesan synods are not held. Hence many Church matters which ought to be reformed are neglected. Besides this, the bishops do not visit their parishes at fixed times, and yet they exact from them heavy taxes. Thus the lives of the clergy and laity have sunk to a low level and the churches are unadorned and falling to pieces." The zealous bishop closes his gloomy description, in which perhaps he is too inclined to generalise, with a touching prayer to God for a true reformation from within : " Therefore grant that the Church may be reformed, which has been redeemed by Thy Blood and is now, through our fault, near to destruc tion."1 He considers, however, that a reform of the Church undertaken from within and preserving her faith and in stitutions is what is needed. The deterioration was in his eyes, and in those of the best men of the day, undoubtedly very great, but not irreparable.

A glance at the work of many excellent men, such as Trithemius, Wimpf cling, Geilcr of Kayscrsberg and others, may serve as a warning against an excessive generalisation with regard to the deterioration in the ranks of the higher and lower clergy. Weaknesses, disorders and morbid growths are far more apparent to the eyes of contemporaries than goodness, which usually fails to attract attention. Even Johann Nider, the Dominican, who, as a rule, is un sparing in lashing the weaknesses of the clergy of his day, is compelled to speak a word of warning : " Take heed never to pass a universal judgment when speaking only of many, otherwise you will never, or hardly ever, escape passing an unjust one."2

That there was, however, the most pressing need of a reform in the lives of both higher and lower clergy is proved by a glance at the state of the priesthood. The position

1 Janssen-Pastor, ibid., p. 701. 2 Ibid., p. 721.

THE LOWER CLERGY 49

of the lower clergy, in comparison with that of their betters " who rolled in riches and luxury," was one not in keeping with the dignity of their state. " Apart from the often very precarious tithes and stole-fees they had no stipend, so that their poverty, and sometimes also their avarice, obliged them to turn to other means of livelihood, which . . . necessarily exposed them to the contempt of the people. There can be no doubt that ' a very large portion of the lower clergy had fallen so far from the ideal of their calling, that one may speak of the priestly proletariat of that day, using the word in both its ordinary and its literal sense.' This clerical proletariat was ready to join any movement which promised to promote its own low aims."1

The number of clergy, largely owing to the excessive multiplication of small foundations without any cure of souls, had increased to such an extent that among so many there must necessarily have been a very large number who had no real vocation, while their lack of employment must have spelt a real danger to their morals. Attached to two churches at Breslau at the end of the fifteenth century were 236 clerics, all of them mere Mass-priests, i.e. ordained simply to say Mass in the chantry chapels founded with very small endowments. Besides the daily celebration, these Mass-priests had as their only obligation the recital of the Breviary. In the Cathedral at Meissen there were, in 1480, besides 14 canons, 14 Mass-priests and 60 curates. In Strasburg the Cathedral foundation comprised 36 canon- ries, that of St. Thomas 20, Old St. Peter's 17, New St. Peter's 15 and All Saints' 12. In addition to these were also numerous deputies who were prepared to officiate at High Mass in place of the actual beneficiaries. Of such deputies there were no fewer than 63 attached to the Cathe dral, where there were also 38 chaplaincies. In Cologne Johann Agricola gives the number of " priests and monks " (though he adds "so it is said ") as 5000 ; on another occasion he estimates the number of monks and nuns only, at 5000. What is certain is that the " German Rome " on the Rhine numbered at that time 11 collegiate foun-

1 Janssen-Pastor, ibid., pp. 703, 704. The words in single inverted commas are from J. E. Jorg, " Deutschland in der Revolutions- periode 1522-2G," Freiburg, 1851, p. 191.

50 LUTHER THE MONK

dations, 19 parish churches, over 100 chapels, 22 monasteries, 12 hospitals and 76 religious houses.1

The above-mentioned Bishop of Chiemsee attributes the corruption of the priesthood principally to the misuse by clergy and laity of their right of patronage both in nomina tions and by arbitrary interference. Geiler of Kaysersbcrg is of the same opinion ; he attributes to the laity, more particularly to the patrons among the nobility, the sad condition of the parishes. Uneducated, bad, immoral men were now presented, he says, not the good and virtuous.2 Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa, who did so much service to Germany, had declared quite openly the cause of the deformation of the clerical system to be the admission to Holy Orders of unworthy candidates, the concubinage of the clergy, plurality of benefices, and simony. Towards the end of the fifteenth century the complaints increased, more especially with regard to the immorality of the clergy. 44 The numerous regulations of bishops and synods leave no doubt about the fact that a large portion of the German clergy transgressed the law of celibacy in the most flagrant manner."3 A statement which was presented to the Dukes of Bavaria in 1477 declared that in the opinion of many friends and advocates of a healthy reform, an improvement in the morals of the clergy, where the real cause of all the Church's evils lay, must be taken in hand. It is true there were districts where a blameless and praiseworthy clergy worked, as, for example, the Rhine-Lands, Schlcswig- Holstein and the Algau. On the other hand, in Saxony, Luther's home, and in Franconia and Bavaria great dis orders were reported in this respect. The " De ruina ecclesice" an earlier work, attributed to Nicholas of Clemangcs, tells us of bishops in the commencement of the fifteenth century who, in consideration of a money pay ment, permitted concubinage to their clergy, and Hcfele's " History of the Councils " gives numerous synodical decrees of that date forbidding the bishops to accept

1 Janssen-Pastor, ibid., p. 705 f. See below (vol. ii., ch. xiv. 5) what we say regarding the clergy and monasteries at Erfurt.

2 Ibid., p. 712.

3 Ibid., p. 709. On the Synods, see Hcfele-Hergenrothcr, " Kon- zilirngesch.," vol. viii. Cp. Janssen-Pastor, as above, p. (580 f., and H. Grisar, " Bin Bild aus dem deutscheii Synodallcben im Jahrhun- dert vor der Glaubeiisspaltung " (" Hist. Jahrb.," 1, 1880, pp. 603-40).

CLERGY VERSUS LAITY 51

money or presents in return for permitting or conniving at concubinage.1

Along with concubinage many of the higher clergy dis played a luxury and a spirit of haughty pride which repelled the people, especially the more independent burghers. Members of the less fortunate clergy gave themselves up to striving after gain by pressing for their tithes and fees and rents, a tendency which was encouraged both in high and low by the excessive demands made by Rome. Worth less so-called courtisans, i.e. clerks furnished with briefs from the Papal Court (corte), seized upon the best benefices and gave an infectious example of greed, while at the same time their action helped to add fuel to the prejudice and hatred already existing for the Curia.2

Innumerable were the causes of friction in the domain of worldly interests which gave rise to strife and enmity between laity and clergy. Laymen saw with displeasure how the most influential and laborious posts were filled, not by the beneficiaries themselves, but by incapable representatives, while the actual incumbents resided else where in comfortable ease and leisure at the expense of the old foundations endowed by the laity. On the other hand, the churches and monasteries complained of the rights appropriated or misused by the princes and nobility, an abuse which often led to the monasteries serving as homes for worn-out officials, or to the vexatious seizure and retention of the estates of deceased priests or abbots. It is clear that such a self-seeking policy on the part of the powerful naturally resulted in the most serious evils and abuses in Church matters, quite apart from the bad feeling thus aroused between the clerical and lay elements of the State.

The richer monasteries in particular had to submit to becoming the preserves of the nobles, who made it their practice to provide in this way for the younger scions of

1 Nicolaus do Clcmangiis, " De ruina ecclesicc," c. 22, in Herm. von dor Hardt, " Magnum cecumcnicum Constanticnsc, Concilium" Helmestad., 1700, 1, 3 col., 23 sq. ; Hefole, as above, 7, pp. 385, 416, 422, 594 ; 8, p. 97. loh. do Segovia, " Hist. syn. Basil.", Vindob., 1873, 2, p. 774 : " Quia in quibusdam rcyionibus nonnulli iurisdic- tioncm ecclesiastic am habentes pecuniarios qnestus a concubinariis percipere non erubescunt, paticndo cos in tali fceditatc sordcscere"

2 Cp. on the " courtisans," Janssen- Pastor, ibid., pp. 715-18.

52 LUTHER THE MONK

their family, and for that reason sought to prevent members of the middle classes being admitted to profession. The efforts to reform lax monasteries, which are often met with about the close of the Middle Ages, were frequently stifled by these and similar worldly influences.

In the disintegration of ecclesiastical order, the power and influence of the rulers of the land with regard to Church matters was, as might be expected, constantly on the increase.

Many German princes, influenced by the ideas with re gard to the dignity of the State which came into such vogue in the fifteenth century, and dissatisfied with the concessions already made to them by the Church, arrogated still further privileges, for example, the taxation of Church lands, the restriction of ecclesiastical jurisdiction, the so-called Govern ment Placet and an oppressive right of visiting and super vising the parishes within their territories. There had thus grown up in many districts a system of secular inter ference in Church matters long before the religious apostasy of the sixteenth century resulted in the total submission of the Church to the Protestant princes of the land. The Catholic ruler recognised in principle the doctrines and rights of the Church. What, however, was to happen if rulers, equipped with such twofold authority, altered their attitude to the Church on the outbreak of the schism ? Their fidelity was in many cases already put to a severe test by the disorders of the clergy, which were doing harm to their country and which Rome .made no attempt to suppress. The ecclesiastico-political complaints of the princes (the famous Gravamina) against Rome are proofs of their annoyance ; for these charges, as Dr. Eck pointed out, were for the most part well founded ; Eck's opinion was shared by other authorities, such as Bertold von Henne- berg, Wimpfeling, Duke George of Saxony, and Aleander the Papal Nuncio, who all express themselves in the same manner regarding the financial grievances against Rome, which were felt in Germany throughout all ranks and classes down to the meanest individual.1

" On account of these and other causes the irritation and opposition to the Holy See had, on the eve of the great German schism, reached boiling point ; this vexation is 1 Cp. Janssen-Pastor, ibid., p. 743.

REAL ABUSES 53

explained, as the ' Gravamina nationis Germanicce ' clearly prove, by the disorders of the Curia, and still more by its unceasing demands." " That the smouldering dis content broke into open flame was the doing of those scoffers without faith or conscience, such as the Humanists, who persisted in pouring on the fire the oil of their sophis tries."1 The Catholic historian from whom these words are borrowed rightly draws attention to the " mistaken policy " entered on by Luther's followers when they attacked the hierarchical order on account of the disorders rampant in the life and administration of the Church. The success of their " mistaken policy " was a " speaking proof of the coarseness, blindness and passion of the German people at that time," but in its practical results their policy helped to bring about an ever-to-be-regretted alteration and to open a yawning chasm which still exists to-day. " That the vexation was not altogether without cause no honest historian can deny, whatever his enthusiasm for the Catholic Church," for " the action of Churchmen, whether belonging to the hierarchy or to the regular or secular clergy, cannot be misunderstood. Throughout the whole of Christendom, and particularly in Germany, the general state of things was deplorable. . . . Even though the evils of the waning Middle Ages may have been, and still continue to be, grossly exaggerated by Protestants, and though in the fifteenth century we see many cheering examples and some partially successful attempts at reform, yet there still remains enough foulness to account psychologically for the falling away."2

And yet the disorders in matters ecclesiastical in Germany would not have entailed the sad consequences they did had they not been accompanied by a great number of social

1 Jos. Schmidlin, "Das Lutherturn als historische Erscheinung " ('* Wissenschaftl. Beilago " to " Germania," 1909, Nos. 13-15), p. 99 f. Cp. Albert Weiss, "Luther und Luthertum " (in Denifle's 2nd vol.), p. 34 ff.

2 Schmidlin, as above. Also Albert Weiss, as above, p. 108, allows : " The conditions of things at the commencement of the sixteenth century were such that their continuance was clearly impossible, and it was easy to predict a catastrophe. . . . The abuses were great and had become in some cases intolerable, so that we can understand how many lost courage, patience and confidence. ... It is true that everything was not corrupt, but the good there was was too feeble to struggle with success against the evil." Nevertheless, in the genesis of the movement which led to the falling away from the Church, in

54 LUTHER THE MONK

evils, especially the intense discontent of the lower classes with their position and a hostile jealousy of the laity against the privileges and possessions of the clergy. Savage out breaks of rebellion against the old traditional order of things were of frequent occurrence. In many localities the peasants were in arms against their princes and masters for the improvement of their conditions ; the knights and the nobility, to say nothing of the cities, gave themselves up to the spirit of aggrandisement referred to above. It was just this spirit of unrest and discontent of which the coming mighty movement of intellectual and religious reform was to avail itself.

If we look more closely at Italy and Rome we find that in Italy, which comprised \vithin its limits the seat of the supreme authority in the Church and of which the influence on civilisation everywhere was so important, complete religious indifference had taken root among many of the most highly cultured. The Renaissance, the famed classic regeneration, had undergone a change for the worse, and, in the name of education, was promoting the most question able tendencies. After having been welcomed and en couraged by the Papacy with over-great confidence it dis appointed both the Popes and the Church with its poisonous fruits.

At the time that the Holy See was lavishing princely gifts on art and learning, the pernicious system of Church taxation so often complained of by the nations was be coming more and more firmly established. This taxation, which had started at the time of the residence of the Popes at Avignon in consequence of the real state of need in which the central government of the Church then stood, became more and more an oppressive burden, especially in Germany. It was exploited by Luther in one of his earliest contro versial writings where, voicing the popular discontent in that spiteful language of which he was a master, he joined his protest to that of the German Estates of the realm.

spite of the more favourable view of the conditions which Weiss else where takes, the real abuses in the Church, even in his own account, play a prominent part. That Luther's work was not " necessary in view of the moral corruption" (p. 6), and that it "did not follow as an in evitable result " of the same (p. 37), but, on the contrary, was merely facilitated by circumstances, will be granted him by all who review the period with an unprejudiced mindt

PAPAL EXACTIONS 55

Combining truth and fancy, the administration of the Papal finances became in his hands a popular and terribly effective weapon. It has frequently been pointed out how much the authority of the Holy See suffered in the preceding age, not only on account of the Western Schism when three rival claimants simultaneously strove for the tiara, but also through the so-called reforming councils and their opposition to the constitution of the Church, through the political mistakes of the Popes since they established their headquarters in France, through the struggle they waged to assert their power in Italy, that apple of discord of rising nations, and also, in the case of the Avignon Popes, through their lack, or, at any rate, suspected lack, of independence. To this we must add the shocking behaviour of the Curial officials and of several of the cardinals in the Eternal City, especially at the turn of the fifteenth and sixteenth cen turies, also the disgraceful example of Alexander VI and the Borgia family, the bearing of his successor Julius II, more befitting a soldier than an ecclesiastic, and the very worldly spirit of Leo X and his Court. Ostentation and the abuse of worldly possessions and Church revenues which Alvarez Pclayo, the Spanish Franciscan, had already bewailed in his " De planctu ecclesice " had risen to still greater heights at Rome. The work of this severe critic, who, in spite of his fault-finding, was nevertheless well disposed to the Curia, was in general circulation just previous to Luther's appear ance on the field ; it was several times reprinted, for in stance, at Ulm in 1474, and again at Lyons in 1517, with a dedication to the later Pope Hadrian VI. It is there we find the indignant assertion, that those who bear the dignity of the primacy are God's worst persecutors.1 In the work " De squaloribus Romance curice " various well-founded complaints were adduced, together with much that was incorrect and exaggerated. The book " De ruina ecclesice" (see above, p. 50) contained accusations against the Popes and the government of the Church couched in rude and violent language, and these too gained new and stronger significance at the end of the fifteenth and commencement of the sixteenth century. We actually read therein that

1 Lib. 1, c. 67, od. Vonet., 1560, fol. 90', col. 1 : " Heu, Domine Deus, quia ipsi sunt in tua persecutions primi, qui videntur in ecclcsia tua primatum diligere et regere principatum."

56 LUTHER THE MONK

the number of the righteous in the Church is diminutive compared with that of the wicked.1

There is no doubt that the state of things, so far as it was known from the above-mentioned books, or from observa tion or rumour, was busily and impatiently discussed in the company frequented by Luther at the University of Witten berg. What Luther had himself seen at Rome must have still further contributed to increase the bitterness among his friends.

When the Monk of Wittenberg openly commenced his attacks on the Papacy, it became apparent how far the disorders just alluded to had prepared the way for his plans. It was clear that all the currents adverse to the Papacy were, so to speak, waiting for the coming of one man, who should unchain them with his powerful hand. Amongst those who hitherto had been faithful adherents of the Church, Luther found combustible material — social, moral and political- heaped up so high that a stunning result was not surprising. Had there arisen a saint like St. Bernard, on whose words the world of the Middle Ages had hung, with the Divine gift of teaching and writing as the times demanded, who can say what course events would have taken ? But Luther arrived on the scene with his terrible, mighty voice, pressed all the elements of the storm into his service, and, launching a defiance of which the world had never before heard the like, succeeded in winning an immense success for the standard he had raised.2

1 Cap. 39 sq. in Herm. von der Hardt, " Magnum cecum. Constant. Condi.,'''' 1, 3, col. 41 sq.

2 The author has thought it necessary to keep within limits in treating of the state of those times in order not to be led too far from Luther's own personality. In the course of the work, the circum stances of the time and the prevailing social conditions, so far as they had a determining influence on Luther, will be considered in their own place. Such a separate treatment may, at the same time, acquaint one better with the facts than if a long and exhaustive review of the public conditions were to be given here. With regard to the history of the preliminaries of the schism there already exist many works dealing either generally with those times or with various subjects and districts ; these wrorks, however, vary much in merit. While mentioning these we would merely in passing utter a warning against generalisations and a priori constructions ; especially must we be on our guard against either looking at things in so dark a light as to make Luther's intervention appear absolutely necessary, or judging too favourably of the conditions previous to the religious struggle. In the latter case we come into collision on the one hand with numerous

LUTHER ON BISHOPS 57

Luther from the very outset of his career was too liberal in his blame of the customs and conditions in the Church which happened to meet with his disapproval.

Scarcely had he finished his course of studies as a learner than he already began to wax eloquent against various abuses. In his characteristic love of exaggeration of language he did not fear to use the sharpest epithets, nor to magnify the evil, whether in his academic lectures or in the pulpit, or in his letters and writings. He wrote, for instance, to Spalatin in 1516 to dissuade the Elector of Saxony, Frederick the Wise, from promoting Staupitz to a bishopric : he who becomes a bishop in these days falls into the most evil of company, all the wickedness of Greece, Rome and Sodom were to be found in the bishops ; Spalatin should compare the carryings-on of the present bishops with those of the bishops of Christian antiquity ; now a pastor of souls was considered quite exemplary if he merely pursued his worldly business and built up for himself with his riches an insatiable hell.1

In his first lectures at Wittenberg he complains that " neither monasteries nor colleges, nor Cathedral churches will in any sort accept discipline." 2 The clergy, he says, in another place, generalising after the fashion common among

data which reveal with absolute certainty the existence of great cor ruption in the Church, and, on the other hand, we lose sight of the causes which alone offer a satisfactory historical explanation of the great spread of the schism. Luther himself — and it was this which decided us to abbreviate our survey — before the public dispute commenced, was far from possessing, in his quiet cloister, so clear a view of the condi tions of the time as a learned historian is now able to obtain. The great world of Germany and Europe did not, as we know, reveal itself so clearly to the Monk and Professor as the little world of Wittenberg, and his few months of travel did not make him a judge of the \vorld and of men. The dark and bright elements of ecclesiastical and popular life were seen by him only superficially and partially. In laying more stress on some traits than on others, he allowed himself