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Melanchthon's Visitation Articles of 1528

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 March 2011

Carl S. Meyer
Affiliation:
Director of the Foundation for Reformation Research, St. Louis, Missouri

Extract

Historians and biographers have written at length about Philip Melanchthon, both as a humanist and reformer. Among recent studies are those by Michael Rogness, Philip Melanchthon: Reformer Without Honor (1969) and Clyde L. Manschreck, Melanchthon: The Quiet Reformer (1958). The most massive study is Wilhelm Maurer's Der junge Melanchthon zwischen Humanismus und Reformation, in two volumes. The first, published in 1967, is the thinner; it deals with Der Humanist. The second, exceeding 600 pages, published in 1969, portrays Der Theologe. Maurer did not go beyond the year 1529; he gave much attention to the Loci of 1521.

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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1972

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References

page 309 note 1 Wilhelm Hammer, Die Melanchthonforschung im Wandel der Jahrhunderte, 2 vols., Gütersloh 1967–8; Fraenkel, Peter and Gerschat, Martin, Zwanzig Jahre Melanchthonstudien: Sechs Literaturberichte (1945–1965), Geneva 1967Google Scholar. These are the best and most recent bibliographical guides to Melanchthon. The older standard bibiliography is by Hartfelder, Karl, Philipp Melanchthon als Praeceptor Germaniae, Berlin 1889 (1964 reprint), 553647Google Scholar.

page 309 note 2 The subtitle reads: Eine Untersuchung über den Wandel des Traditionsverständnisses bei Melanchthon und die damit zusammenhängenden Grundfragen seiner Theologie, Munich 1959.

page 309 note 3 Hartfelder, op. cit., 495–6.

page 309 note 4 Manschreck, op. cit., 136–43.

page 309 note 5 Der Junge Melanchthon, ii. 475–81.

page 309 note 6 Geschichte der sächsischen Kirchen- und Schul-Visitationen, Leipzig 1879Google Scholar.

page 309 note 7 Sehling, Emil, Die evangelischen Kirchenordnungen des XVI. Jahrhunderts, Leipzig 1912, 1. i. 3149Google Scholar.

page 309 note 8 Articidi de quibus egerunt per Visitatores in regione Saxoniae, Wittenberg 1527. See Hartfelder, op. cit., 586, no. 128.

page 309 note 9 Vnterricht der Visitatom an die Pfarhemym Kurfustenthum zu Sachssen, Wittenberg 1528. See Hartfelder, op. cit., 586, no. 134.

page 310 note 1 Schottenloher, Karl, Bibliographie zur deutschen Geschkhte im Zeitalter der Glaubensspaltung, 1517–1585, Leipzig 1933 ff., ii. 47, no. 15499Google Scholar.

page 310 note 2 Bretschneider, Gottlieb and Bindseil, H. E., Corpus Reformatorum: Ph. Melanchthonis opera, Halle 1834 ffGoogle Scholar. Cited as CR. See CR, xxvi, 3–27, for the 1527 version; CR, xxvi, 41–96, for the 1528 version.

page 310 note 3 In Kleine Texte für Vorlesungen und Übungen, no. 87, Bonn 1912. Cited as Lietzmann.

page 310 note 4 Sehling, 1. i. 149–74.

page 310 note 5 Melanchthons Werke in Auswahl, Gütersloh 1950, i. 215–71Google Scholar. Cited as St A, i.

page 310 note 6 D. Martin Lathers Werke: Kritische Gesamtausgabe, Weimar 1883 ff., xxvi. 195–240. Cited as WA.

page 310 note 7 Laurence, Richard, The Visitation of the Saxon Reformed Church in the Tears 1527 and 1528, Dublin 1839Google Scholar.

page 310 note 8 ‘Instructions for the Visitors of Parish Pastors in Electoral Saxony, 1528’, trans. Conrad Bergendoff, Luther's Works: Church and Ministry ii, ed. Conrad Bergendoff, Philadelphia 1958, xl. 263–320.

page 310 note 9 Renaissance Thought: the Classic, Scholastic, and Humanistic Strains, New York 1961, 323Google Scholar.

page 310 note 10 Ibid., 75.

page 310 note 11 ‘The Revival of Classical Antiquity or the First Century of Humanism: a Reappraisal’, in Renaissance Studies, New York, Evanston, and London 1963, 104. See also idem., ‘The Interpretation of Italian Humanism: the Contribution of Hans Baron’, Ibid., 113–14.

page 311 note 1 Baker, Hershel, The Image of Man: a study of the Idea of Human Dignity in Classical Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance, New York 1961, 258–9Google Scholar.

page 311 note 2 Luther's most comprehensive treatment of the distinction between Law and Gospel is in his ‘Lectures on Galatians, 1535’: Luther's Works, ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, St. Louis 1963 and 1964, xxvi and xxvii.

page 311 note 3 Lietzmann, 7/10–12; St A, i. 221/17–19. The figures after the slash (/) give the lines. All translations from the Visitation Articles are this writer's and for that reason the translation by Bergendoff is not cited.

page 311 note 4 Lietzmann, 7/7, 16, 20, 27; St A, i. 221/14, 25, 30–222/3.

page 311 note 5 Lietzmann, 7/2–8; St A, i. 221/8–15.

page 311 note 6 Melanchthon's chief theological interest was ethics. See the literature listed by Gustav Wolf, Quellenkunde der deutschen Reformationsgeschichte, 1916 reprint, ii. 291–4.

page 311 note 7 St A, i. 171–5; CR, i. 523–8.

page 311 note 8 WA, ii. 145–52; trans. Lowell J. Satre, Luther's Works, xxxi. 293–306.

page 311 note 9 Ferdinand Geldner, ‘Handschriftliche Einträge in Drucken des 15. und 16. Jahrhunderts’, Archiv für Geschichte des Buchwesens, Ixx. 25 (28 March 1969), 630–1.

page 311 note 10 Lietzmann, 8/8–15; St A, i. 222/30–8.

page 312 note 1 Matthew A. Fitzsimons, ‘Humanism Beyond the Alps’, in The Development of Historiography, ed. Matthew A. Fitzsimons, Alfred G. Pundt, and Charles E. Nowell, Harrisburg, Pa. 1954, 106: ‘As a rule history was thought to belong to the field of moral philosophy. History was “philosophy teaching by examples’“. Herbert Weisinger, ‘Ideas of History during the Renaissance’, Renaissance Essays from the Journal of the History of Ideas, ed. Paul O. Kristeller and Philip P. Wiener New York and Evanston, 1968, 74–94, failed to note this aspect of Renaissance historiography.

page 312 note 2 Lietzmann, 8/28–31; St A, i. 223/16–19.

page 312 note 3 Lietzmann, 8–9, 11–18; St A, i. 222–4, 226–35.

page 312 note 4 Lietzmann, 1–11; St A, i. 225–6.

page 312 note 5 Lietzmann, 11/9–10; St A, i. 226/18–20.

page 312 note 6 Hans Baron has amply demonstrated this in his The Crisis of the Early Italian Renaissance, Princeton 1955 and in his other writings. See Ferguson, ‘The Interpretation of Italian Humanism: the Contribution of Hans Baron’, Renaissance Studies, 111–21, and the writings of Baron cited there.

page 312 note 7 Maurer, Der junge Melanchthon, i. 31–3.

page 312 note 8 Lietzmann, 14–18; St A, i. 228–35.

page 312 note 9 St A, i. 190–214; CR, xx. 641–62.

page 312 note 10 St A, i. 194/8–13; CR, xx. 645. See also St A, i. 200/17–29; CR, xx. 650.

page 312 note 11 Luther's ‘Admonition to Peace, A Reply to the Twelve Articles of the Peasants in Swabia, 1525’, his ‘Against the Robbing and Murdering Hordes of Peasants, 1525’, and his ‘Open Letter on the Harsh Book Against the Peasants, 1525’ are found in vol. xlvi of Luther's Works. See WA, xviii.

page 313 note 1 Lietzmann, 15/16–25; St A, i. 232/1–9.

page 313 note 2 Lietzmann, 15/26–29; St A, i. 232/10–13.

page 313 note 3 Lietzmann, 16/5–6; St A, i. 232/33–5.

page 313 note 4 Lietzmann, 16/18–19; St A, i. 233/10–11.

page 313 note 5 Lietzmann, 17/5–6; St A, i. 234/4–5.

page 313 note 6 Lietzmann, 41/8–13; St A, i. 264/5–10.

page 313 note 7 Lietzmann, 17/21–22; St A, i. 234/25–7.

page 313 note 8 Lietzmann, 17/19–20; St A, i. 234/23–4.

page 313 note 9 Guido Kisch, Melanchthons Rechts- und Soziallehre Berlin 1967.

page 313 note 10 Lietzmann, 15/16, 17/11, 17/17, 17/27; St A, i. 231/15, 234/14, 234/20, 234/33. Additional references could be cited.

page 313 note 11 See Desiderius Erasmus, Against War, ed. J. W. Mackail, Boston 1907; in microopaque cards, EP-63, M 854–55, by the Erasmus Press of Lexington, Ky., 1963. Melanchthon argued that the evils of war included the ‘ravishing of maidens’, and worked to the detriment of widows and orphans, 9–12. He included a number of theological arguments against war. Among his adages Erasmus included one on ‘Dulce bellum inexpertis’ (1515). It was printed as a separate edition in 1517 by the Froben Press, called Bellum Erasmi. See Phillips, Margaret Mann, The ‘Adages’ of Erasmus: a study with translations, Cambridge 1966, 308–53Google Scholar. See also Erasmus's Querela pacts undique gentium ejecta profligateaque, Basle 1516. It was translated into German in 1521.

page 314 note 1 Maurer, Derjunge Melanchthon, i. 29–34. See also Carl S. Meyer, ‘Christian Humanism and the Reformation, Erasmus and Melanchthon: a study in Causation’, Concordia Theological Monthly, xli (1970), 637–47.

page 314 note 2 Lietzmann, 34/28–31; St A, i. 256/5–9.

page 314 note 3 Lietzmann, 35/4–5; St A, i. 256/22–3.

page 314 note 4 Lietzmann, 35/11—13; St A, i. 256/30–3.

page 314 note 5 Lietzmann, 15/35–8; St A, i. 257/21–5.

page 314 note 6 Ferguson, Renaissance Studies, 115. See also Baker, The Image of Man, 201–312.

page 314 note 7 ‘Giovanni Pico della Mirandola’, trans. Elizabeth L. Forbes, with an introduction by Paul O. Kristeller, in The Renaissance Philosophy of Man, ed. Ernst Cassirer, Paul O. Kristeller, and John H. Randall, Jr., Chicago 1948, 213–54. See also Ernst Cassirer, ‘Giovanni Pico della Mirandola’, in Renaissance Essays, 11–60.

page 314 note 8 Trans. Josephine L. Burroughs in The Renaissance Philosophy of Man, 183–212; the quotation is from 202.

page 314 note 9 Baker, op. cit., 222.

page 315 note 1 Lewis W. Spitz, ‘Man of this Isthmus’, in Luther for an Ecumenical Age, ed. Carl S. Meyer, St. Louis 1967, 25.

page 315 note 2 Maurer, Der junge Melanchthon, i. 100–3.

page 315 note 3 Lietzmann, 18/7–18; St A, i. 235/20–33.

page 315 note 4 Lietzmann, 18/19–20; St A, i. 235/34–5.

page 315 note 5 Lietzmann, 31/22—5; St A, i. 252/7–11.

page 315 note 6 Lietzmann, 32/8–12; St A, i. 252/13–15.

page 315 note 7 Lietzmann, 32/8–12; St A, i. 252/35–253/4.

page 315 note 8 St A, ii. i; Pauck, Wilhelm, Melanchthon and Bucer in the Library of Christian Classics, Philadelphia 1969Google Scholar.

page 315 note 9 De Libero Arbitrio Aduersus Melanchtonem authore fratre Alphonso a Villa sancta minorite regularis obseruationis, London 1523. B.M. press-mark C. 47. g. 2. S.T.C., no. 24728. Hammer, i. 30, no. 16a.

page 315 note 10 De libero arbitrio hominis adversus locus communes Philippi Melanchthonis, Tübingen 1525. Hammer, i. 32, no. 18.

page 315 note 11 McSorley, Harry J., Luther: Right or Wrong? An Ecumenical-Theological Study of Luther's Major Work, The Bondage of the Will, New York and Minneapolis 1969Google Scholar; WA, xviii. 551 -787; Erasmus von Rotterdam, Ausgewälte Werke, ed. Werner Welzig, Darmstadt 1969, iv.

page 315 note 12 The Book of Concord: the Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, ed. Theodore G. Tappert, Philadelphia 1959, 39–40, Article xvm.

page 316 note 1 Ibid., 224–6, Article xviii.

page 316 note 2 ‘Lorenzo Valla on Free Will to Garsia, Bishop of Lerida’, trans. Charles E. Trinkaus, Jr., in The Renaissance Philosophy of Man, 145–82. See also Charles Trinkhaus, ‘The Problem of the Will in the Renaissance and the Reformation’, Renaissance Essays, 187–98. Pomponazzi's Defato, libero arbitrio, praedestinatione, et providentia Dei libri V probably was not known to Melanchthon. The work is discussed by Cassirer, Ernst, The Individual and the Cosmos in Renaissance Philosophy, trans. Mario Domandi, New York and Evanston 1963, 8083Google Scholar.

page 316 note 3 Lietzmann, 32/26–7; St A, i. 253/21–3.

page 316 note 4 Lietzmann, 32/39; St A, i. 253/25–6.

page 316 note 5 Luther's Works: Career of the Reformer, i. ed. Harold G. Grimm, Philadelphia 1957, i 343–77.

page 316 note 6 Ibid., xxxi. 354–7.

page 316 note 7 Lietzmann, 33/1–3; St A, i. 254/1–3.

page 316 note 8 Luther's Works, xxxi. 358.

page 316 note 9 Lietzmann, 33/27–35; St A, i. 254/32–255/5.

page 316 note 10 Luther's Works, xxxi. 375.

page 316 note 11 Lietzmann, 33/30–1; St A, i. 254/36–7.

page 316 note 12 Lietzmann, 33/36–7; St A, i. 255/6–7.

page 316 note 13 Lietzmann, 34/3–8; St A, i. 255/13–19.

page 316 note 14 Lietzmann, 34/9–16; St A, i. 255/20–9.

page 317 note 1 Lietzmann, 34/17–23; St A, i. 255/30–7.

page 317 note 2 Lietzmann, 39/13–21; St A, i. 261/31–262/3.

page 317 note 3 Lietzmann, 21/7–18; St A, i. 251/25–252/3.

page 317 note 4 Lietzmann, 28/17–20; St A, i. 248/11–14.

page 317 note 5 Lietzmann, 38/36–9/9; St A, i. 261/10–28.

page 317 note 6 Lietzmann, 29/30–3; St A, i. 249/36–250/3.

page 317 note 7 Lietzmann, 30/1–5, and 38/16–19; St A, i. 250/10–15, and 260/27–30.

page 318 note 1 Lietzmann, 7/23–4; St A, i. 221/33–4.

page 318 note 2 Lietzmann, 8/2–4; St A, i. 222/23–5.

page 318 note 3 Lietzmann, 8/22–8, and 26/37–27/25; St A, i. 223/9–15, and 246/17–247/13.

page 318 note 4 Lietzmann, 10/20–1; St A, i. 225/23–5.

page 318 note 5 Lietzmann, 19/11–19; St A, i. 236/33–237/7.

page 318 note 6 Lietzmann, 19/26–7; St A, i. 237/13–14.

page 318 note 7 Lietzmann, 20/10–11; and 21/6–7; St A, i. 238/9–10, and 239/15–16.

page 318 note 8 Lietzmann, 21/10–27; St A, i. 239/19–240/2.

page 318 note 9 Lietzmann, 23/1–23; St A, i. 241/24–242/17.

page 318 note 10 Lietzmann, 37/23–5; St A, i. 259/26–9.

page 318 note 11 Lietzmann, 39/22–36; St A, i. 262/4–19.

page 318 note 12 Lietzmann, 42/25–6; St A, i. 265/30–3; ‘Book of Vistitation School Plan’, trans. Henry Barnard, in Early Protestant Educators: the Educational Writings of Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Other Leaders of Protestant Thought, by Frederick Eby, reprint in 150 copies by the Committee on Reprinting of the American Theological Library Association 1962; New York and London 1931, 180–7 for the section on schools, which will not be cited further.

page 318 note 13 Lietzmann, 42/23–4, 37–8; St A, i. 265/28–30, and 266/8–10.

page 318 note 14 ‘To the Councilmen of All Cities in Germany That they Establish and Maintain Christian Schools, 1524’, Luther's Works, xlv. 339–78; ‘A Sermon on Keeping Children in School, 1530’, Ibid., xlvi. 207–58; Early Protestant Educators, 100–51; F. V. N. Painter, Luther on Education including a Historical Introduction and a Translation of the Reformer's Two Most Important Educational Treatises, St. Louis 1928.

page 319 note 1 Lietzmann, 43/25–33; St A, i. 267/1—11.

page 319 note 2 Hartfelder, 419–31.

page 319 note 3 Heppe, Heinrich, Das Schulwesen des Mittelalters und dessen Reform in sechszehnten Jahrhundert, Marburg 1860, 58–9Google Scholar. See Early Protestant Educators, 189–206, on Bugenhagen and his educational plans. In Braunschweig Bugenhagen provided for ‘two good elementary Latin schools’, 194. He made specific reference to Melanchthon's Visitation Articles, providing for three divisions and stating that Melanchthon's curriculum was to be followed, 199. He also set up a girls’ school, 204–6.

page 319 note 4 Hartfelder, 497.

page 319 note 5 Enchiridion elementorum puerilium by Melanchthon, published in Wittenberg in 1524: CR, xx. 391–424. See Hartfelder, 584, no. 84. See also Melanchthon's Handbüchlein, wie man die kinder zu der geschrifft vnd lere halten sol, Wittenberg 1524: CR, xxiii. 107. See Hartfelder, 584, no. 84. Melanchthon's Catechesis Puerilis, idest, institutio puerorum in sacris is undated: CR, xxiii. 103–92. See Hartfelder, 620, no. 703.

page 319 note 6 Lietzmann, 43/37–8; St A, i. 267/16–18.

page 319 note 7 Lietzmann, 44/1–2; St A, i. 267/19–21. Aelius Donatus (c. A.D. 350) was a Roman Grammarian and teacher of Rhetoric. He produced an Ars grammatica which was very popular throughout the Middle Ages.

page 319 note 8 Lietzmann, 44/7–9; St A, i. 267/27–9.

page 319 note 9 Catonis disticha moralia, cum scholiis Erasmi, Cologne: 1514; Catonis praecepta moralia recogn. atque interpretata ab Erasmo, Strasborg 1518. Both were very popular and often reprinted. [Ferdinand van der Haeghen, ed.], Bibliotheca Erasmiana, reprint of 1893 edition, Nieuwkoop 1961, ii. 13–14.

page 319 note 10 Lietzmann, 44/18–19; St A, i. 268/1–3. Melanchthon's Grammatica Latina was published in 1524: CR, xx. 192–336.

page 319 note 11 Lietzmann, 44/23–24, and 45/3; St A, i. 268/7–8, 22.

page 319 note 12 Bibliotheca Erasmi, ii. 3. Twenty-two editions were printed between 1513 and 1529.

page 319 note 13 Early Protestant Educators, 515–55, excerpts from Luther's Table Talks (Capt. Bell's translation); Luther's Works, liv. 72, 210–13; WA, iii. 353–5, no. 3490; WA, iv. 126, no. 4085.

page 320 note 1 Lietzmann, 44/29–45/2; St A, i. 268/14–21. Melanchthon had a high regard for Ovid, especially the Metamorpheses: Hartfelder, 387.

page 320 note 2 Rennaissance Student Life: the Paedologia of Petrus Mosellanus, trans. Robert F. Seybold, Urbana, Illinois 1927.

page 320 note 3 The Colloquies of Erasmus, trans. Craig R. Thompson, Chicago 1965Google Scholar.

page 320 note 4 Geiger, Ludwig, ‘Mosellanus’, Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, Leipzig, 1875 ff. xxii. 359Google Scholar.

page 320 note 5 Hartfelder, 63; Th. Muther, ‘Zwei Inedita: zur Erinnerung an Philipp Melanchthon mitgetheilt’, Preussische Provinzialblatt, Third Series, v (1860), 305–7, embodying Spalatin's report to the Elector Frederick about calling Melanchthon or Mosellanus to Wittenberg—listed in Hartfelder, 575.

page 320 note 6 Hartfelder, 140–3, 321; Renaissance Student Life, xvi.

page 320 note 7 Renaissance Student Life, xvii, gives a quotation from Erasmus: ‘I admire his [Mosellanus's] scholarship, equal in Latin and Greek, his practical knowledge, his pure and unalloyed genius, his untiring care, his lively, figurative, and clear diction. Much would have been expected of him if he had not died in his youth … a great loss to letters’. The reference is to Erasmus, Ciceronianus, trans. I. Scott, New York 1908, 102. See also Hartfelder, 587, no. 136. For Luther on Erasmus's attitude toward Mosellanus see WA, iv. 581, no. 4921.

page 320 note 8 Lietzmann, 45/10–13; St A, i. 269/1–5.

page 320 note 9 Hartfelder, 579, no. 3; see also Ibid., 584, no. 96.

page 320 note 10 Hartfelder, 425–6.

page 320 note 11 Lietzmann, 45/14–16; St A, i. 269/6–8.

page 320 note 12 Fife, Robert H., The Revolt of Martin Luther, New York 1957, 75; WA, i. 44, n. 116Google Scholar.

page 321 note 1 Bauch, Gustav, Geschichte des Breslauer Schulwesens vor der Reformation, Breslau 1909, 235Google Scholar.

page 321 note 2 Bibliotheca Erasmiana, ii. 44; the edition was published in 1530.

page 321 note 3 Ibid., ii. 55; published in 1532.

page 321 note 4 Lietzmann, 45/17–30; St A, i. 269/9–24.

page 321 note 5 Lietzmann, 45/33–4; St A, i. 269/27–8. The translation in Early Protestant Educators, 184, has ‘Sunday’ for Sonnabent, thereby giving one reason for making the translation as a whole suspect.

page 321 note 6 Lietzmann, 45/35–7; St A, i. 269/29–31.

page 321 note 7 Lietzmann, 46/1–35; St A, i. 269/36–271/3. The quotation is in Lietzmann, 46/32–5; St A, i. 270/37–271/3.

page 321 note 8 Lietzmann, 45/38–9; St A, i. 269/32–3.

page 321 note 9 Lietzmann, 46/8–11; St A, i. 270/5–10.

page 321 note 10 Lietzmann, 46/12–14; St A, i. 270/11–14.

page 322 note 1 Lietzmann, 47/1–3; St A, i. 271/10–14.

page 322 note 2 Hartfelder, 583, no. 75.

page 322 note 3 Lietzmann, 47/17–20; St A, i. 271/30–4.

page 322 note 4 Fritz Blättner, Geschichte der Pädagogik, 4th ed., Heidelberg 1956, 16.

page 322 note 5 Der junge Melanchthon, ii. 480–1; idem, ‘Melanchthon als Humanist’, in Philipp Melanchthon: Forschungsbeiträge zur vierhundertsten Wiederkehr seines Todestages dargeboten in Wittenberg, 1960, ed. Walter Ellinger, Gottingen 1961, 123. See also for the relationship between Erasmus and Melanchthon, Carl S. Meyer, ‘Christian Humanism and the Reformation: Erasmus and Melanchthon’, Concordia Theological Monthly, xli (1970), 637–47.