Life of Luther

Julius Koestlin

Informations

• Publié par: irgi
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 35
• Langue: English

Extrait

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Life of Luther, by Julius Koestlin

Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.

This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the header without written permission.

Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is important information about your specific rights and restrictions in how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.

**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**

**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**

*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****

Title: Life of Luther

Author: Julius Koestlin

Release Date: April, 2005 [EBook #7970] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on June 8, 2003] Edition: 10 Language: English

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE OF LUTHER ***

Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Tiffany Vergon, Anne Folland, Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.

[Illustration: LUTHER. (From a Portrait by Cranach in the Town Church at Weimar.)]

LIFE OF LUTHER

BY

JULIUS KOSTLIN

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS from AUTHENTIC SOURCES

TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN

AUTHOR'S DEDICATION

TO

MYDEAR WIFEPAULINE

WITH THEWORDS OFLUTHER

'God's highest gift on earth is to have a pious, cheerful, God-fearing, home-keeping wife.'

AUTHOR'S PREFACE.

No German has ever influenced so powerfully as Luther the religious life, and, through it, the whole history, of his people; none has ever reflected so faithfully, in his whole personal character and conduct, the peculiar features of that life and history, and been enabled by that very means to render us a service so effectual and so popular. If we recall to fresh life and remembrance the great men of past ages, we Germans shall always put Luther in the van: for us Protestants, the object of our love and veneration, who will not prevent, however, or prejudice the most candid historical inquiry; for others, a rock of offence, whom even slander and falsehood will never overcome.

I have already in my larger work, 'Martin Luther: his Life and Writings,' 2 vols., 1875, put together all the materials available for that subject, together with the necessary references, historical and critical, and have endeavoured to explain and illustrate at length the subject matter of his various writings. I now offer this sketch of his life to the wide circle of what are called educated German readers. For further explanations and proofs of statements herein contained I would refer them to my larger work. Further investigation has prompted me to make some alterations, but only a few, in matters of detail.

For the illustrations and illustrative documents I beg to express my warm thanks, and those of the publisher, to the friends who have kindly assisted us in the work.

J. KOSTLIN, Professor at the University of Halle-Wittenberg.

Oct. 31, 1881, the anniversary of Luther's 95 Theses.

CONTENTS.

PART I.

LUTHER'S CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH, UP TO HIS ENTERING THE CONVENT.—1483-1505.

I. Birth and Parentage

II. Childhood and School-days

III. Student-days at Erfurt and Entry into the Convent.—1501-1505

PART II.

LUTHER AS MONK AND PROFESSOR, UNTIL HIS ENTRY ON THE WAR OF REFORMATION.—1505-1517.

I. At the Convent at Erfurt, till 1508

II. Call to Wittenberg. Journey to Rome

III. Luther as Theological Teacher, to 1517

PART III.

THE BREACH WITH ROME, UP TO THE DIET OF WORMS.—1517-1521.

I. The Ninety-five Theses

II. The Controversy concerning Indulgences

III. Luther at Angsburg before Caietan. Appeal to a Council

IV. Miltitz and the Disputation at Leipzig, with its Results

V. Luther's further Work, Writings, and Inward Progress until 1520

VI. Alliance with the Humanists and Nobility

VII. Crisis of Secession: Luther's Works—to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, and on the Babylonian Captivity.

VIII. The Bull of Excommunication, and Luther's Reply

IX. The Diet of Worms

PART IV.

FROM THE DIET OF WORMS TO THE PEASANTS' WAR AND LUTHER'S MARRIAGE.

I. Luther at the Wartburg, to his Visit to Wittenberg in 1521.

II. Luther's further Sojourn at the Wartburg, and his Return to Wittenberg, 1522

III. Luther's Reappearance and fresh Labours at Wittenberg, 1522

IV. Luther and his anti-Catholic work of Reformation, up to 1525

V. The Reformer against the Fanatics and Peasants, up to 1525

VI. Luther's Marriage

PART V.

LUTHER AND THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE CHURCH, TO THE FIRST RELIGIOUS PEACE.—1525-1532.

I. Survey

II. Continued Labours and Personal Life

III. Erasmus and Henry VIII. Controversy with Zwingli and his Followers, up to 1528

IV. Church Divisions in Germany. War with the Turks. The Conference at Marburg, 1529

V. The Diet of Augsburg, and Luther at Coburg, 1530

VI. From the Diet of Augsburg to the Religious Peace of Nüremberg, 1632. Death of the Elector John

PART VI.

FROM THE RELIGIOUS PEACE OF NÜREMBERG TO THE DEATH OF LUTHER.

I. Luther under John Frederick

II. Negotiations respecting a Council and Union among the Protestants. The Legate Vergerius, 1535. The Wittenberg Concord, 1536

III. Negotiations respecting a Council and Union among the Protestants (continued). The Meeting at Schmalkald, 1537. Peace with the Swiss.

IV. Other Labours and Proceedings, 1533-39. The Archbishop Albert and Schönitz. Agricola

V. Luther and the Progress and Internal Troubles of Protestantism, 1538-41

VI. Luther and the Progress and Internal Troubles of Protestantism (continued), 1541-44

VII. Luther's Later Life; Domestic and Personal

VIII. Luther's Last Year and Death

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

LUTHER. (From a Portrait by Cranach in the Town Church at Weimar)

1. COAT OFARMS

2. HANS LUTHER

3. MARGARET LUTHER

4. LUTHER'S CELL AT ERFURT

5. STAUPITZ. (From the Portrait in St. Peter's Convent at Salzburg) FACSIMILE FROM LUTHER'S PSALTER, AT WOLFENBUTTEL

6. TITLEAND PREFACEOFPENITENTIAL PSALMS

7. SPALATIN. (From L. Cranach's Portrait)

8. ERASMUS. (From the Portrait by A. Dürer)

9. LEO X. (From his Portrait by Raphael) FACSIMILE OF PLACARD OF INDULGENCES, 1517

10. THE ABCHBISHOP ALBERT. (From Dürer's engraving)

11. TITLE-PAGE OF A PAMPHLET WRITTEN AT THE BEGINNING OF THE REFORMATION, with an Illustration showing the Sale of Indulgences

12. THE CASTLE CHURCH. (From the Wittenberg Book of Relics, 1509)

13. THE EMPEROR MAXIMILIAN. (From his Portrait by Albert Dürer)

14. DUKE GEORGE OF SAXONY. (From an old woodcut)

15. LUTHER. (From an engraving of Cranach, in 1520)

16. DR. JOHN ECK. (From an old woodcut)

17. MELANCTHON. (From a Portrait by Dürer)

18. LUCAS CRANACH. (From a Portrait by himself)

19. W. PIRKHEIMER. (From a Portrait by Albert Dürer)

20. ULRICH VON HUTTEN. (From an old woodcut)

21. FRANCIS VON SICKINGEN. (From an old engraving)

22. TITLE-PAGEOFTHESECOND EDITION OFLUTHER'S TREATISETO THECHRISTIAN NOBILITYOFTHEGERMAN NATION

23. TITLE-PAGE, slightly reduced, of the original Tract 'On the Liberty of a Christian Man'

24. CHARLES V. (From an engraving by B. Beham, in 1531)

25. LUTHER. (From an engraving by Cranach, in 1521)

26. LUTHER as "SQUIRE GEORGE." (From a woodcut by Cranach)

27. BUGENHAGEN. (From a picture by Cranach in his album, at Berlin, 1543)

28. MÜNZER. (From an old woodcut)

29. LUTHER. (From a Portrait by Cranach in 1525.) At Wittenberg.

30. CATHARINE VON BORA, LUTHER'S WIPE. (From a Portrait by Cranach about 1525.) At Berlin

31. LUTHER'S RINGFBOM CATHARINE

32. LUTHER'S DOUBLERING

33. THE SAXON ELECTORS, FREDERICK THE WISE, JOHN, AND JOHN FREDERICK. (From a Picture by Cranach.)

At Nüremberg

34. FACSIMILEOFFREDERICK'S SIGNATURE

35. PHILIP OF HESSE. (From a woodcut of Brosamer)

36. LUTHER. (From a Portrait by Cranach in 1528.) At Berlin

37. LUTHER'S WIFE. (From a Portrait by Cranach in 1528.) At Berlin

38. ZWINGLI. (From an old engraving)

39. FACSIMILEOFTHESUPERSCRIPTION AND SIGNATURETO THEMARBURGARTICLES

40. VEIT DIETRICH, as Pastor of Nüremberg. (From an old woodcut)

41. LUTHER'S SEAL. (Taken from letters written in 1517)

42. LUTHER'S COAT OF ARMS. (From old prints)

43. BUTZER. (From the old original woodcut of Beusner)

44. AGRICOLA. (From a miniature Portrait by Cranach, in the University Album at Wittenberg, 1531)

45. JONAS. (From a Portrait by Cranach, in his Album at Berlin, 1543)

46. AMSDORF. (From an old woodcut)

47. LUTHER. (From a Portrait by Cranach, in his Album, at Berlin)

48. WITTENBERG. (From an old engraving)

49. THE "LUTHER-HOUSE" (previously the Convent), before its recent restoration

50. LUTHER'S ROOM

51. LUTHER'S DAUGHTER 'LENE.' (From Cranach's Portrait)

52. DOOR OFLUTHER'S HOUSEAT WITTENBERG

53. MATHESIUS. (From an old woodcut)

54. LUTHER IN 1546. (From a woodcut of Cranach)

55. JONAS' GLASS

56. ADDRESS OFLUTHER'S LETTER OFFEBRUARY7

57. LUTHER AFTER DEATH. (From a Picture ascribed to Cranach)

58. CAST OF LUTHER AFTER DEATH. (At Halle)

FACSIMILE OF PART OF THE EDICT OF WORMS, 8 MAY (1521), being the title and conclusion, with the signature of the Emperor Charles

TITLE AND COMMENCEMENT OF THE GOSPEL OF ST. MATTHEW, IN THE FIRST EDITION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, 1522. (From the original in the Royal Public Library at Stüttgart)

FACSIMILE OF CONCLUDING PORTION OF LUTHER'S WILL, with the attestations of Melancthon, Crueiger, and Bugenhagen. (At Pesth)

FACSIMILE OF LETTER OF LUTHER TO HIS WIFE, OF FEBRUARY 7, 1546. (At Breslau)

LUTHER'S LIFE.

PART I.

LUTHER'S CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH UP TO HIS ENTERINGTHECONVENT.—1483-1505.