[1] “An die Radherrn aller Stedte deutsches Lands das sie Christl. Schulen auffrichten und halten sollen.” “Werke,” Weim. ed., 15, p. 9 ff.; Erl. ed., 22, p. 170 ff.
[2] Weim. ed., 15, pp. 30, 34, 35 f.; Erl. ed., pp. 22, 173, 178, 180 f.
[3] In such passages “beast” more often merely implies stupidity; cp. “bête” in French. Hence it would be a mistake to think that Luther is here crediting the Germans with any actual “bestiality.” Cp. below, p. 15 and above, vol. v., p. 534, n. 2.
[4] Weim. ed., 15, p. 44; Erl. ed., 22, p. 189.
[5] “De constituendis scholis,” etc.
[6] Weim. ed., 15, p. 53; Erl. ed., 22, p. 198.
[7] A schoolmaster of Zwickau remarked on the writing to the Councillors: “With this pamphlet Luther will win back the favour of many of his opponents.” Köstlin-Kawerau, 1, p. 548.
[8] Erl. ed., 14², pp. 390, 389.
[9] Weim. ed., 30, 2, p. 519 f.; Erl. ed., 17², p. 381, in “Das man Kinder,” etc. The object of furthering the Evangel which is set forth in both this and the former writing is indicated by the very title of the first writing with its reference to “Christian” schools.
[10] Ib., p. 518=379, in the writing mentioned below. See, however, below, p. 36.
[11] Ib., p. 519=380.
[12] “Predigt, das man Kinder zur Schulen halten solle.” Weim. ed., 30, 2, p. 508 ff.; Erl. ed., 17², p. 378 ff. As early as July 5, 1530, Luther wrote from the Coburg to Melanchthon that he was “meditating” this writing and adds: “Mirum, si etiam antea fui tam verbosus, ut nunc fieri mihi videor, nisi senectutis ista garrulitas sit.” It is curious to hear him already speaking of his old age. When sending the finished work to Melanchthon on Aug. 24, 1530, he wrote: “Mitto hic sermonem de scholis, plane Lutheranum et Lutheri verbositate nihil auctorem suum negans, sed plane referens. Sic sum. Idem erit libellus de clavibus” (“Briefwechsel,” 8, pp. 80, 204). The latter remark certainly applies to his long writing, “Von den Schlüsseln,” 1530 (Weim. ed., 30, 2, p. 428 ff.; Erl. ed., 31, p. 126 ff.).
[13] Weim. ed., 30, 2, p. 519; Erl. ed., 17², p. 381.
[14] P. 554=401, 402.
[15] Pp. 556, 559=403, 404.
[16] P. 586=420 f.
[17] P. 587=421.
[18] Ib., 15, p. 34=22, p. 178.
[19] “Reformation und Gegenreformation” (W. Möller, “Lehrb. der KG.”), 3³, p. 437, No. 2.
[20] Cp. Kawerau, ib.
[21] “Gesch. des gelehrten Unterrichts,” etc., 1², 1896, p. 197.
[22] See below, p. 20, n. 3.
[23] See above, vol. iii., p. 361.
[24] “Colloq.,” ed. Bindseil, 2, p. 15: “Scholæ crescentes verbi Dei sunt fructus,” says Luther, “et ecclesiarum seminaria”; if these are furthered, then, so God will, things will be in a better case (in Rebenstock: “Hæc si promoveantur, tunc Deo volente, nostrum inceptum meliorem habebit progressum”). Ib., p. 14: Although the work of the schools was performed quietly, “attamen magnum fructum exhibent, ex quibus ecclesiæ conservatio consistit.… Inde collaboratores et ludimagistri vocantur ad ministerium ecclesiæ.”—Cp. Mathesius, “Tischreden” (Kroker), p. 208: “Wretched parsonages are not the place for schoolmasters”; they deserve to be superintendents and to rule over others. Ib., p. 213 on the importance of the schools.
[25] Weim. ed., 15, p. 29 f.; Erl. ed., 22, p. 173.
[26] Ib., p. 35 f.=175.
[27] See also above, n. 1.
[28] Proofs in G. Rietschel, “Luther und die Ordination,” ², 1889. Cp. Paulsen, p. 203.
[29] Weim. ed., 15, p. 47 f.; Erl. ed., 22, p. 193.
[30] Ib., p. 40=185.
[31] Ib., p. 53=198.
[32] Ib., 30, 2, p. 588=17², p. 421 f.
[33] See above, p. 6, n. 3.
[34] Weim. ed., 30, 2, p. 582; Erl. ed., 17², p. 418.
[35] Ib., p. 584=419.
[36] P. 530=387.
[37] Weim. ed., 30, 2, p. 456; Erl. ed., 17², p. 396.
[38] P. 586=421.
[39] Ib., 15, p. 36 f.=22, p. 181 f.
[40] Cp. F. M. Schiele, in H. Delbrück, “Preuss. Jahrbücher,” 132, 1908, Art. “Luther und das Luthertum in ihrer Bedeutung für die Gesch. der Schüle und der Erziehung,” p. 381 ff. P. 386: “The principal motive with Melanchthon … is the love of learning, Luther’s motive [in the above writings] is to educate leaders for Christendom who shall deliver her from the unholy abominations of the olden days.… With this is connected the fact that for him ‘government,’ whether exercised by the sovereign, the bishop, or the father of the family, is a work of charity.” P. 384: According to Luther “the erection of schools must always remain a matter which concerns the Christian authorities.” To those historians of education, who, according to Schiele, are wont to ask: “Was not Luther the father of the national schools?” he replies: “The matter wears a different aspect when viewed in the light of history.” He roundly describes as fabulous the supposed foundation of the national schools by Luther. “Nor do we find in Luther’s schemes for the organisation of education the slightest trace of any tendency to the secularisation of the schools” (pp. 384, 381 f.). The last words are aimed at the friends of the secularised or undenominational schools of the present day.
[41] In the Introduction to the Weimar edition of the writing “An die Radherrn” (15, 1899, p. 9 ff.) we read: “It is very characteristic of the reformer’s attitude to the question of education in his day that he does not, as we might expect, give the preference to these German elementary schools in which we can see the beginnings of the national schools, but, whilst admitting their claims, insists emphatically on the need of a classic training.” “To characterise the writing in question as ‘of the utmost importance for the development of our elementary-school system’ (“Mon. Germ. Pædag.” III, iii.) is to be unfair to it.”
[42] Erl. ed., 62, p. 307.
[43] Ib., p. 306.
[44] Ib., p. 297; cp. p. 289.
[45] Weim. ed., 19, p. 445; Erl. ed., 26², p. 7: “Proposal how permanent order may be established in the Christian community.”
[46] Compare with this Luther’s letter to Johann, Elector of Saxony (Nov. 22, 1526), advocating the Visitation; Erl. ed., 53, p. 386 (“Briefe,” 5, p. 406). Of the final article of the Instructions for the Visitors (1538), which refers to the schools, Köstlin-Kawerau says, 2, p. 37: “The chief point kept in view here, as in Luther’s exhortations referred to above [in his writing to the Councillors], was the need of bringing up people sufficiently skilled to teach in the churches and to be capable also of ruling. Hence the regulations prescribed the erection of schools in which Latin should be taught.”
[47] Mathesius, “Tischreden,” p. 311, a conversation dating from 1542-3 noted down by Heydenreich.
[48] Ib., p. 332. It may be mentioned here that amongst the German universities, Erfurt, where he had received his own education, always held a high place in his memory. “The University of Erfurt,” he once said in later years, “enjoyed so high a reputation that all others in comparison were looked upon as apologies for universities—but now,” so he adds sadly, “its glory and majesty are a thing of the past, and the university seems quite dead.” He extols the pomp and festivities that accompanied the conferring of the mastership and doctorate, and wishes that such solemnities were the rule everywhere. Erl. ed., 62, p. 287.
[49] “Gesch. des gelehrten Unterrichts,” 1², p. 198.
[50] Weim. ed., 15, p. 46 f.; Erl. ed., 22, p. 192.
[51] Cp. Köstlin-Kawerau, 2, p. 37.
[52] Schiele (above, p. 13, n. 2), p. 389, where he adds: “What the children needed to fit them for household work they could as a matter of fact have learnt better from their parents or at the dame-school than in the Councillors’ schools which Luther so extols.” Cp. above, p. 7, Luther’s statement: “German books are principally intended for the common people to read at home,” etc.
[53] Weim. ed., 26, pp. 236-240.
[54] Ib., 6, p. 462; Erl. ed., 21, p. 349 f., “An den Adel.”
[55] Erl. ed., 62, p. 458 f., “Tischreden.”
[56] Ib., p. 344.
[57] Paulsen, ib., p. 204. O. Schmidt, “Luther’s Bekanntschaft mit den Klassikern,” Leipzig, 1883.
[58] “An die Radherrn,” Weim. ed., 15, p. 46; Erl. ed., 22, p. 191 f.
[59] Mathesius, “Tischreden,” p. 431. Uttered in 1537 and noted by Lauterbach and Weller.
[60] Cp. Janssen, “Hist. of the German People” (Engl. Trans.), 13, p. 166.—K. v. Raumer, “Gesch. der Pädagogik,” 1, Stuttgart, 1843, p. 272, says: “It seems to us incredible that the learning by heart and acting of plays so unchaste as those of Terence could fail to exert a bad influence on the morals of the young.… If even the reading of Terence was questionable, how much more questionable was it when the pupils acting such plays identified themselves wholly with the events and personages of the drama.”—Cp. above, vol. iii., p. 443 f., Melanchthon on the Roman condemnation of the school edition of Erasmus’s “Colloquia.” Luther condemned this book of his opponent in very strong language.
[61] “An die Radherrn,” etc., Weim. ed., 15, p. 46; Erl. ed., 22, p. 192.
[62] Ib., p. 47=192.
[63] “Martin Luthers Werke,” Stuttgart und Leipzig, 1907, p. 231.
[64] Before this Boehmer had said: “The importance of the lower schools, girl schools and national schools, was fully recognised. Luther’s concern was, however, with higher education.… It was not indeed his intention to promote classical studies as such, but he wished to see them harnessed to the service of the Gospel and to the furthering of its right understanding. Hence, though Luther had in view other classes besides the theologians, and though he advanced other motives in support of his plans, still it was the religious standpoint which was the determining one.”
[65] Weim. ed., 6, p. 461; Erl. ed., 21, p. 350, “An den Adel.”
[66] Paulsen, “Gesch. des gelehrten Unterrichts,” 1², p. 185.
[67] Weim. ed., 6, p. 462; Erl. ed., 21, pp. 347, 348, “An den Adel.”
[68] Ib., Erl. ed., 62, p. 304 f., “Tischreden.”
[69] Ib., 63, p. 281 f. (“Briefe,” 7, p. 73). Written in the middle of March, 1529, this served at the same time as a preface to the work by Justus Menius, “Œconomia christiana.”
[70] Ib., p. 280.
[71] Thus in the Introduction to Luther’s “An die Radherrn,” Weim. ed., 15, p. 9 f.
[72] See above, p. 6.
[73] Erl. ed., 63, p. 280 f.
[74] Luther expressed this in his way as follows: Of all “the wiles of Satan” this, aimed at the holy Gospel, was perhaps the worst, for it suggested to men such dangerous ideas as these: Now that there is “no longer any hope for the monks, nuns or priestlings there is no need of learned men or of much study, but we must rather strive after food and wealth,” “truly a masterpiece of diabolical art,” for creating “in the German lands a wild, hideous mob of ‘Tatters’ or Turks.” Weim. ed., 30, 2, p. 522 f.; Erl. ed., 17², p. 383, Preface to the work on the schools (1530).
[75] “Werke,” ib., 6, p. 462=21, p. 349 f., “An den Adel.”
[76] The violence of the tone in which Luther speaks of the Universities in the writings which followed his “An den Adel,” as the real strongholds of the devil on earth, has perhaps never been equalled in any attack on these institutions either before or after his day. See passages in Janssen, ib., Engl. Trans., iii., passim. Some of the preachers of the pure Gospel, who soon sprang up in great numbers, went a step further: “The Word of God alone was sufficient and in order to understand it what was required was, not learning, but the spirit.” Paulsen, “Gesch. des gelehrten Unterrichts,” 1², p. 185.
[77] “Gesch. des gelehrten Unterrichts,” 1², p. 177.
[78] Erl. ed., 62, p. 319. The Note is by Lauterbach. Copernicus is not named, but is merely alluded to as “the new astrologer”=astronomer. His work “De orbium cœlestium revolutionibus,” with its detailed proofs in support of the new theory of the heavens, appeared only in 1543, at Nuremberg.
[79] Cp. for proofs H. Stephan, “Luther in den Wandlungen seiner Kirche,” p. 35 f.
[80] Weim. ed., 15, p. 36; Erl. ed., 22, p. 180 f., “An die Radherrn.”
[81] “Didymi Faventini pro M. Luthero adversus Thomam Placentinum oratio,” “Corp. ref.,” 1, pp. 286-358, particularly p. 343. Cp. Paulsen, ib., p. 186 f.
[82] “Preuss. Jahrbücher,” 132, 1908 (see above, p. 13, n. 2), p. 381 f. The author safeguards himself by remarking that the above account contains “nothing new.” In Janssen, “Hist. of the German People,” vol. xiii., this subject is dealt with in full.
[83] P. 382. In the “Archiv für Kulturgesch.,” 7, 1909, p. 120, Schiele’s art is described as “an excellent piece of criticism.”
[84] To Eobanus Hessus, March 29, 1523, “Briefe,” 4, p. 118.
[85] Hessus had told Luther of this complaint, as is evident from the latter’s reply.
[86] For a detailed account see above, vol. ii., p. 336 ff.
[87] Janssen, Engl. Trans., xiii., p. 258.
[88] Ib.
[89] Luschin v. Ebengreuth, “Gött. Gel. Anz.,” 1892, p. 826 f., in a review of Hofmeister, “Die Matrikel der Universität Rostock,” Part II., 1891. Cp. Janssen, ib., p. 266.
[90] F. Eulenburg, “Über die Frequenz der deutschen Universitäten in früherer Zeit,” “Jahrbücher f. Nationalökonomie u. Statistik,” 3. Vol. 13, 1897, pp. 461-554, 494, 525. Janssen, ib.
[91] Weim. ed., 30, 2, p. 550; Erl. ed., 17², p. 399, “Das man Kinder zur Schulen halten solle.”
[92] N. Paulus, “Wolfgang Mayer, Ein bayerischer Zisterzienserabt des 16. Jahrh.” (“Hist. Jahrb.,” 1894, p. 575 ff.), p. 587 f. from MS. notes.
[93] Weim. ed., 15, p. 28; Erl. ed., 22, p. 171 f., “An die Radherrn.”
[94] Cp. on Wittenberg, Janssen, Engl. Trans., xiii., 286 and below, xxxix, 1.
[95] Erl. ed., 53, p. 387. See above, vol. v., pp. 582, 590.
[96] Köstlin-Kawerau, 2, p. 483.
[97] Cp. Chr. Scheurl, “Briefbuch, ein Beitrag zur Gesch. der Ref.,” ed. Soden and Knaake, 2, 1872, pp. 127, 132, 138, 177. See also Köstlin-Kawerau, 1, p. 790 (p. 653, N. 2).
[98] Cp. for the change in Humanism, above, vol. ii., p. 38 ff., etc.
[99] “Gesch. des gelehrten Unterrichts,” 1², p. 177.
[100] “Opp.,” 3, col. 777: “Lutherana factio … perdit omnia studia nostra.”
[101] Ib., col. 915: “… intolerabili degravavit invidia.”
[102] Ib., col. 1089: “Tantam ignaviam invexit hoc novum evangelium.”
[103] Ib., col. 1069: “Amant viaticum et uxorem, cetera pili non faciunt.”
[104] To Œcolampadius, June 20, 1523, “Briefe,” 4, p. 164.
[105] Weim. ed., 15, p. 29; Erl. ed., 22, p. 172, “An die Radherrn.”
[106] Work cited above, p. 29, n. 2 (p. 525).
[107] Ib., p. 260.
[108] Janssen, “Hist. of the German People” (Engl. Trans.), 1, p. 68 ff.
[109] Raynald., “Annal. eccles.,” a. 1514, n. 29.
[110] Cp. Janssen (Engl. Trans.), xiii., 9 ff.
[111] Ib., i., p. 25 ff.
[112] Weim. ed., 15, p. 33; Erl. ed., 22, p. 177, “An die Radherrn”: “When I was young there was a saying in the schools: ‘Non minus est negligere scholarem quam corrumpere virginem.’ This was said in order to frighten the schoolmasters.”
[113] “Ubicunque regnat Lutheranismus, ibi litterarum est interitus. Et tamen hoc genus hominum maxime litteris alitur. Duo tantum quærunt, censum et uxorem. Cætera præstat illis evangelium, i.e. potestatem vivendi ut volunt.” To Pirkheimer, 1528, from Basle. “Opp.,” 3, col. 1139.
[114] Schiele, ib., p. 391.
[115] C. Hagen, “Deutschlands literarische und religiöse Verhältnisse im Reformationszeitalter,” 3², 1868, p. 197. Janssen, ib., xiii., p. 100.
[116] “Opp.,” 3, col. 1363 sq.
[117] M. Töppen, “Die Gründung der Universität Königsberg,” etc., 1844, p. 78. Janssen, ib., p. 101.
[118] Janssen, ib., p. 102.
[119] Cp. Döllinger, “Die Ref.,” 1, p. 483 ff.; 2, p. 584 ff.
[120] For proofs see Janssen (Engl. Trans.), xiii., p. 71 ff.
[121] “Preuss. Jahrb.,” loc. cit., p. 392.
[122] Ib., p. 393.
[123] Janssen, ib., p. 43. Schiele, ib., p. 593.
[124] Schiele, ib., p. 390.
[125] He even says: “Academiæ nunc quidem Dei beneficio omni genere doctrinarum florent.” “Corp. ref.,” 3, p. 1068. Bishop Julius Pflug informed Pope Paul III, in a letter in which he gives him a vivid picture of the needs of the country in order to determine him to active assistance: “Scholæ Lutheranorum cum privatæ tum publicæ florent, nostræ frigent plane ac iacent.” “Epistolæ Mosellani,” etc., p. 150 sq. Kawerau, “Reformation und Gegenreformation”³, (Möller, “Lehrb. der KG.,” 3, p. 437.)
[126] G. Steinhausen, “Gesch. der deutschen Kultur,” Leipzig and Vienna, 1904, p. 515. There we read (p. 514) in the description of the education given by the Protestant Universities that it was “rendered sterile” by the new theology. “The intellectual leaders of the time became more and more Court theologians. It is noteworthy that many of the edicts and regulations begin with an improving theological preface.… What had become of the intellectual revival of the first decades of the 16th century?” Eobanus Hessus had prophesied in 1523 that the new theology would bring in its train a worse barbarism than that which had been overthrown, and already in 1524 he had been obliged to speak of the “New Obscurantists.”
[127] Döllinger, “Die Ref.,” 1², p. 509.
[128] M. Ritter, “Matthiä Flacii Illyrici Leben”², 1725, p. 105 Janssen, ib., p. 265.
[129] For proofs see Janssen, ib., p. 286 ff.
[130] Ib., p. 295.
[131] On the contrast between mediæval and Lutheran charity, see above, vol. iv., p. 477 ff., and Janssen, “Hist. of the German People” (Engl. Trans.), vol. xv., pp. 425-526.
[132] Adolf Bruder, art. “Armenpflege,” “Staatslexikon der Görresgesellschaft.”
[133] F. Ehrle, “Beiträge z. Gesch. u. Reform der Armenpflege,” 1881; do. “Die Armenordnungen von Nürnberg (1522) und von Ypern (1525),” “Hist. Jahrb.,” 9, 1888, p. 450 ff. Ratzinger, “Gesch. d. kirchl. Armenpflege”², 1884, p. 442 ff. Janssen, p. 431.
[134] L. Feuchtwanger, “Gesch. der sozialen Politik und des Armenwesens im Zeitalter der Reformation” (“Jahrb. für Gesetzgebung,” etc., ed. G. Schmoller, N.F. 32, 1908, p. 168 ff. (I), and 33, 1909, p. 191 ff. (II), I, p. 169.)
[135] “De origine, situ, moribus et institutis Norimbergæ,” cap. 12.
[136] Reprint of the Regulations of 1522 according to the oldest revision, in Ehrle, “Die Armenordnungen,” p. 459 ff. For the passage “Our salvation,” etc., see p. 467.