Military Occupation under the Eyes of the Lord: Studies in Erfurt during the Thirty Years War 9783666564550, 9783525564554

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Forschungen zur Kirchen- und Dogmengeschichte Herausgegeben von Thomas Kaufmann und Volker Henning Drecoll

Band 103

Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht

Holger Berg

Military Occupation under the Eyes of the Lord Studies in Erfurt during the Thirty Years War

Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht

To Allison and Ann

Mit 13 Abbildungen Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.d-nb.de abrufbar. ISBN 978-3-525-56455-4

© 2010, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen / www.v-r.de Alle Rechte vorbehalten. Das Werk und seine Teile sind urheberrechtlich geschützt. Jede Verwertung in anderen als den gesetzlich zugelassenen Fällen bedarf der vorherigen schriftlichen Einwilligung des Verlages. Hinweis zu § 52a UrhG: Weder das Werk noch seine Teile dürfen ohne vorherige schriftliche Einwilligung des Verlages öffentlich zugänglich gemacht werden. Dies gilt auch bei einer entsprechenden Nutzung für Lehr- und Unterrichtszwecke. Printed in Germany. Satz: textformart, Daniela Weiland, Göttingen Gesamtherstellung: I Hubert & Co., Göttingen Gedruckt auf alterungsbeständigem Papier.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

7

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Community study as a method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The religious impact of the Thirty Years War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Denominational views on calamities in Latin Christianity . . . . . . . . . . . . .

9 13 15 21

2. Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sermons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Town chronicles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

27 34 41

3. The setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1618–1631. The war draws near . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1631–1635. The first Swedish occupation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The limits of religious violence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1635–1645. The destructive decade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1645–1664. The end of a war . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

49 50 53 62 66 71

4. Signs of warning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The print market . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Divine signs of warning observed locally . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Angels and prophecies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Monstrous births . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Precise prognosis or conditional prophecy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Divination during war . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The local politics of divine signs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Epilogue: the crisis in the late seventeenth century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

75 76 81 89 95 103 111 115 127 130

5. The theological debates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lutheran propitiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The spread of the Lutheran reform movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The character and office of the protagonists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The unfolding controversy, 1636–1638 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The debate during 1641 and 1642 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bartholomäus Elsner’s proposals and the subsequent reforms . . . . . . . . . .

133 134 138 144 147 152 157

6

Table of Contents

The traditionalist response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nicolaus Stenger’s alternative: sermons on conscience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chroniclers’ comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Zacharias Hogel and the decline of radical Lutheran apocalypticism . . . . A constructionist view on experience and religious change . . . . . . . . . . . .

162 169 177 181 199

6. Lay commitment during war . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Churchgoing in a culture of honour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Religious commitment and the struggle for survival . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Waging war on the pastor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pastoral adaptations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Summary: limits to the communal praxis pietatis during war . . . . . . . . . . Individual profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Prayers in ‘a diary of constant fears’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Songs of comfort and revenge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Forging a pious tradition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The search for divine judgement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Civilian resistance – sinful impatience or defence of town honour? . . . . . War in the cosmography of a seventeenth-century cook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lay readings of the Bible and the chronicles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Concluding remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

205 207 211 216 219 221 222 224 231 241 242 251 259 264 268

7. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Post-war commemoration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The contributions of the chroniclers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chronicles and other sources on lay war-time religiosity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Other cases and other calamities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Implications for further research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

273 273 276 279 281 284

List of illustrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289 Transcription, translation, and abbreviation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291 Appendix: Erfurt chronicles and journals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335 Indices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Index of Biblical books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Index of persons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Index of places and terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

379 379 381 387

Acknowledgements This thesis was written at the European University Institute from August 2004 to August 2008, with the help of a scholarship granted by the Danish government. Martin van Gelderen acted as the main supervisor. Thomas Kaufmann kindly joined as an external expert. I am grateful to both for their constructive criticism and our lively conversations. Giulia Calvi and Sebastian Olden-Jørgensen took part in the examination on November 14, 2008 endowing the board with a professional, national, and denominational plurality matching the ideals of the host institution. I have since revised the manuscript at several places. Giving thanks is integral to the two cultures that I have taken part in as a Ph.D.-researcher: the worlds of seventeenth-century believers and of modern-day scholars. I am obliged to mention several further historians per grazia ricevuta. Whilst Ulman Weiß guided me through the maze of local history, Jürgen Beyer offered support at several critical phases. Without the encouragement of Hans Medick, my supervisor in the Master’s Programme at Erfurt, I would not have written this thesis. The research was further aided by library staffs and archivists in Erfurt, Florence, Copenhagen, and the other towns mentioned in the list of abbreviations. I should especially like to thank Michael Ludscheidt and Michael Matscha for their warm and welcoming assistance. The published outcome owes much to Daniel Sander at Vandenhoeck and even more to the proof-reader and copyeditor: Margot Wylie and my mother, Allison. My family, friends, and Nina all helped me through these five long years. I am much indebted to Frank Lipschik and all the hosts who welcomed their Nils Holgersson, when he returned for another research visit. During one of our meetings, Alexander Schmidt came up with the critical reference on the swans that open this study. Østerbro, October 1, 2009

Figure One: [Anon.]: Newe Zeitung Vom Thyringischen Schwanen Zug- und Flug […]. [S.l.] 1635 Transl.: The latest news about the Thuringian passage of swans […] and a simple conjecture about what their arrival might mean […]

1. Introduction For believers living in a world where prodigies preceded calamities and omens presaged ill-fated events, unusual occurrences could often spur speculations. Did a fiery-red sky at morning warn of coming trials and tribulations? Might swarms of insects and mice signal that yet another divine plague would be sent to chastise sinners? Such signs and worries were discussed in marketplaces, churches, and taverns. During the first two centuries of book-printing in Europe, broadsides and sermons treated them with styles that ranged from the market fair attraction to the hellfire homily.1 The same spectrum of opinions is found in a German pamphlet concerning the arrival in late 1634 of swans at the small town Gebesee in the Thuringian basin. Inhabitants who paused in their daily chores and gazed skywards saw small flocks of birds, never more than six or seven, gently swooping down onto fields flooded by the nearby river. One could think of this as an idyllic pause in an otherwise worrisome winter. Several locals did, indeed, behold the landing “with pleasure and disport (Kurzweil); yet others have seen it with astonishment.”2 After all, the migratory birds were descending on their hometown in unusual numbers this winter, just like the soldiers. Would these ‘foreign birds bring more foreign guests’, as the popular proverb suggested?3 Did they announce the advent of yet more armies even more hostile than the allied Swedish and Saxon troops who had recently arrived? The Imperial General Isolani had advanced to the ridge of the hilly Thüringer Wald, some eighty kilometres away. Might he descend onto the plains and raid Gebesee? Would the swans encounter burning farmsteads and pillars of smoke, when they passed by the region on their return northwards the following spring? These questions preoccupied the minds and conversations of locals. Gloomy voices noted that wild geese, in hitherto unseen numbers, had passed through the region in early October 1632. “What came afterwards? Did there not follow the foreign, unexpected, and unusual guests, with the passage of [the Imperial General] Pappenheim […]?”4 The magpie was certainly a reputed bird of ill 1 Fagius, pp. A4v–B1r on the sunrises and celestial phenomena; on inauspicious vermin, Krusenstjern, Prodigienglaube, pp. 57, 60; Loth, Zornzeichen, pp. 230 f. 2 “[Die Schwanen sind] zu vieren/ ja offt zu sechs vnd siebenen miteinander/ vnd von etlichen mit Lust / vnd Kurtzweil: von etlichen aber mit verwunderung gesehen worden.” [Anon.], Newe Zeitung Vom Schwanen Zug, p. A3v. 3 Ibid., pp. C2r, B4r: “Frembde Schwanen / bedeuten frembde Gäste”; Taylor, Vogel, pp. 1674 f, fn. 10. 4 “[W]as folgte darauff? kamen nicht die frembden/ vnversehene vngewöhnliche Gäste/ die in dem Pappenheimischen Durchzuge / mit Plünderung grossen Schaden theten: vnd das Marck deß gantzen Thyringer Landes auff einmahl außzogen?”, [Anon.], Newe Zeitung Vom Schwanen Zug, p. C2r.

Introduction

10

fortune. According to local divinatory lore, the screeches of these “lamenters of woe” (Wehklagen) announced the arrival of foreigners, in peacetime as in war.5 Should not swans be added to the group of birds heralding disaster? A few months later, a learned man reported on the “diverse conversations” heard in the rural community. His pamphlet supported the gloomy premonitions and dismissed the scepticism expressed by some villagers as light-hearted prevarications.6 The pamphleteer was, however, also prudent enough to remain anonymous and omit an imprint. He was obviously concerned that critical readers would target on his commentary as a “heathen augury”.7 Many pastors outside Gebesee were certainly liable to remain sceptical. Why dabble with fickle auspices or astrology, when one could rely on more established prodigies? To them, celestial phenomena such as the comet that had hailed the war in late 1618 and deformed infants, like the girl born in the same village in 1621, were clearer signs of warning.8 Theological commentators often cautioned that the divinatory potential of birds and other omens were to be judged ex post.9 The local discussions about the swans in Gebesee introduce the subject and the problems examined in this study. The conviction that God intervened directly in this world through signs and visitations was widely shared by believers, but it often led to differing conclusions.10 While some presented war as the humbling of 5

Maids sent to steal hay off the fields, scuffled away when the magpie cried, fearing that the village bailiff would arrive. The pamphleteer had himself noticed how magpies warned when soldiers drew closer. “[Elster werden] mit Springen auff den Häusern von einem zum andern/ vnd mit jhrem βςεχεχεχ (bald wie die homerischen Frosche:) alle böse newe Zeitung vorhehr ankündigen: Deshalben sie an etlichen Orthen Wehklagen genennet werden. Darüber ich mich offt verwundert habe; vnd es in Warheit befunden/ daß sie/ wenn es stille gewesen/ wol in gantzen vierzehen Tagen/ still vnd vngeschryen geflogen/ bald aber/ wenn sich was wiedriges erhaben/ auff einen Tag/ so vnnachleßlich geschryen vnd gleichsam getobet/ daß sie keinen Augenblick still vnd mit Frieden gesessen.” He shared the ‘common opinion’ that magpies “gleichsam sonderliche Mercurij vnd Postträger sind: daß nicht allein die selbigen zu Friedenszeiten einem die new ankommenden Gästen vermelden/ sondern auch jetzo im Kriegswesen / die Einqvartierungen eigentlich anzeigen/ ehe noch die Qvartiermeister ankommen”. [Anon.], Newe Zeitung Vom Schwanen Zug, pp. C2r–C2v. On magpies as harbingers see Taylor, Elster, p. 797, fn.s 16 and 21 and Thomas, p. 625. 6 Some had suggested that the birds might have escaped from Erfurt, whose waters were adorned by a few swans. Their arrival in greater numbers gave the lie to this ‘common tale’, [Anon.], Newe Zeitung Vom Schwanen Zug, pp. A3v–A4r: “gemeine Sage”, “vnterschiedliche Discurs”, and p. B2v: “die gemeine Opinion” “alß solte es nichts mit der Schwanen Anzug auff sich haben”. The proverb ‘mir schwant vor’ does appear in the pamphlet, but it was apparently not as deeply rooted yet as the aforementioned beliefs and proverbs. Compare p. B4r with Röhrich. 7 [Anon.], Newe Zeitung Vom Schwanen Zug, p. B3r: “ein Abergläubisch vnd in GOttes Wort verbotenes Augurium”. Fn. 28 in Chapter Four mentions two possible authors. 8 H. Dedekind, Warhafftiger Bericht. On this pamphlet and its relatively permissive author, see Chapter Four, pp. 79, 96. 9 A summary of the commonplace critique is found in the work by the Reformed pastor Anhorn von Hartwiss, 1. Theil, Cap. 3, § 1 (von dem Vogeldeuteren), p. 144 f and § 3 (Von den Zeichendeuteren), esp. pp. 159–162. See also Walsham, Providence, pp. 179 f. 10 Overviews are found in Walsham, Providence; Greyerz, Vorsehungsglaube.

Introduction

11

sinners and portrayed armies as the rod of God, others took vindictive notes on the soldiers’ evil deaths, showing how God sided with the innocent civilians. What relevance did these variant beliefs have for the parishioners who lived through the war? Did the experience of a protracted war cause them to rethink and possibly change their religious convictions? The pamphlet from Gebesee points to one specific divergence. Preachers presented comets and calamities as examples of “special providence” in their attempt to urge sinners to mend their ways. Temporal sufferings gave a foretaste of the eternal punishments and thus underlined the need for continual repentance. This quintessentially soteriological message not only dominated sermons and devotionals, but also suffused much of the other respectable literature of the day.11 The anonymous pamphleteer paid lip service to the tenet,12 but he generally preferred the Classical to the Scriptural frame of reference, citing Ovid and Virgil at length. The metaphysical framework of Heaven and Hell was largely absent from his prognoses. His main question was whether the swans boded ill or well for Thuringia?13 The pamphlet suggests that this was also the primary concern for many of the less-learned locals in these years. They traced the flight of the birds and the coming of stormy weather to predict when soldiers might return. To country-folk, troop movements remained as incalculable as the vagaries of weather – and they were often more devastating.14 Adapting the customary divinatory practices to war-time challenges enabled civilians to work out some sort of order in the chaos that they were experiencing.15 Omens could, in specific terms, complement the early warning system organised by civilian authorities to help peasants bring themselves and their valuables to safety in the nearby fortified towns.16 Apocalyptic thought offered yet another source of comfort. During these months, in late 11

Kaufmann, Dreißigjähriger Krieg, p. 76 et passim; Ingen, Poesie. On providentia generalis, specialis, and peculiaris see [Anon.], Compendium Locorum Theologicorum (1621), pp. B5v–B6v, which is based on Hutter, Vol. 1, pp. 144 f, quoted from the translated English Vol. 2, p. 57; note Weiß, Ratsgymnasium, pp. 44 f. 12 [Anon.], Newe Zeitung Vom Schwanen Zug, pp. E4r–E4v: The situation might improve “wenn wir fromb seyn/vnd nicht so sicher / Gottloß vnd frevelhafftig in Sünden (wie bißher geschehen) hinfort bleiben/ vn[d] selbst vnsers gäntzlichenLands Verderben Vrsach seyn werden […]”. 13 With the characteristic ambiguity of a trained prognostician, the pamphleteer claimed both. The swans had certainly foretold the arrival of the Swedish army and their allies. Yet Virgil also referred to swans as a bird of fortune (p. E2r–E2v). The pamphleteer hence predicted that the ongoing peacetalks between the Emperor and the Saxon Elector would soon come to a positive conclusion. On such prognoses, Hitzigrath, pp. 8–10. 14 [Anon.], Newe Zeitung Vom Schwanen Zug, pp. A2v–A3r, C3v–D4r, C3r (quote): “[…] so gewiß/ wenn der Wünd gehet/ oder sich vngewöhnlich hören lesset / Soldaten ziehen; vnd newe Qvartier suchens: Wie fast bißher jederman dafür gehalten: So gewiß vnd noch gewisser ist es; daß die Schwanen/ alß newe vngewöhnliche Vögel in diesem Lande / auch den Thyringern newe frembde Gäste/ […] mit sich bringen.” 15 Krusenstjern, Prodigienglaube, p. 70. On these burdensome years, see Hagendorn; E. Wagner, Geschichte unserer Dörfer. 16 See Chapter Six, p. 225.

12

Introduction

1634, an official from nearby Ebeleben described a dream that presented the current evils as signs that the Second Coming of Christ was imminent.17 The crucial question, therefore, is not whether notions of divine intervention and forewarning were relevant to parishioners, but rather to which of these beliefs they were most committed. The civilians’ reluctance to blame themselves and their own sins for the war was a common complaint in sermons, yet much of this lamentation owed to the genre. Visitation protocols show that the requirement to attend weekly prayer hours could create controversies. Villagers relying on farming for basic survival and not only on prayer in response accused authorities of failing to protect them from enemy raiders.18 Presenting war as a divine punishment could clearly cause controversy, yet administrative records describing dissenters remain rare. This study poses the question to another set of sources. It examines twentyseven accounts of events in and around the Central German town of Erfurt, authored by persons who lived during the Thirty Years War. These include three Catholic clergymen and three Lutheran pastors; the remainder were Lutheran laymen, who mainly recorded events in town chronicles. Published sermons held in Erfurt are also examined. They show what lay authors heard during service. Limiting the corpus to texts from one town and the surrounding eighty villages not only makes it easier to analytically grasp a foreign and rather complex set of beliefs. It also makes it possible to study pastors and parishioners as members in a reciprocal relationship. Pastors obviously had greater authority to comment on the divine dimension in on-going events. Yet to accomplish their edifying aims and get along with their parishioners, they needed to pay attention to the attitudes of their audience.19 A classic example is the choice to present calamities as a castigation of grave sinners and as the trial of the pious few. Such distinction between trials and tribulations enabled the individual listener to construe his or her present hardships as an ennobling experience, an imitation of Christ’s suffering.20 Therefore, there are good reasons to study the tenets regarding divine intervention on both the personal and parochial levels where they became a subjective reality for most believers. The present study proceeds in the social anthropological tradition of community studies. I outline this approach in the following section. Of course, a microhistorical study inevitably faces the danger of producing rather pa17 Volkmar Happe, Chronicon Thuringiae. App. I. 16, Vol. 1, pp. 348r–349r. Happe dated the dream to the night before the Second Sunday of Advent (7.12.1634), a day devoted to sermons on apocalyptic signs. See Medick, Sondershausen, p. 184. 18 Klinger, Formen, pp. 118 f. 19 See the studies in Chapter Six, fn.13. 20 T. Wilson/Bagwell, p. Bbb 3v defines the “Triall of Faith” as “[a]fflictions which are sent of GOD, for triall and proofe of our faith” and treats the lemma “Tribulation” separately as a “temporall afflication in this life, either inward to the soule, or outward to the body […]. This sometime hapneth for triall, sometime [it] is a fore-runner of Hell.” On the understanding of ‘trials’ amongst Lutherans, see esp. Jakubowski-Tiessen, Entstehung.

Community study as a method

13

rochial results, unless the findings are seen in relation to the pertinent research debates. The second part of this chapter, therefore, discusses existing theses on, and recent approaches to, religious interpretations of the Thirty Years War. The third and final part of the chapter subsequently evaluates salient syntheses on German Lutheranism and the interpretation of calamities in contemporaneous Europe.

Community study as a method In the early 1970s, social historians examining past beliefs began to seek inspiration from anthropologists. Issues like ‘honour’ and ‘rituals’ have since then come to the fore, along with religious “patterns of perceiving and interpreting the elementary experiences of human life”.21 Historians have discussed the challenges resulting from the impossibility of engaging in ‘participant observation’ and proposed alternative ways to conduct anthropological surveys based on archival material.22 The interpretive branch of symbolic anthropology developed by Clifford Geertz posits that the in-depth ‘thick description’ of particularly significant rites is central to the understanding of foreign cultures. The recent historical-anthropological study by Peter Burschel exemplifies the potential of this approach. Hagiographical texts are analysed as cultural self-representations or “autoethnographies”.23 By applying this theoretical perspective, the author can embark on an encompassing comparative survey that tracks changes across a century and a half, from 1522 to the second half of the seventeenth century. Burschel thereby works out variant models of martyrdom in three Christian denominations. Interpretive anthropology has clearly helped to advance historical inquiry in a number of fields. The approach does, however, have drawbacks. Geertz’ highly influential essay on the betting surrounding Balinese cockfights has rightly been criticised for presenting an overly homogeneous image of Balinese culture that does not consider a number of more mundane motives. Money, status, and masculinity may ultimately have been of more interest to the men who did the betting.24 Many historical studies inspired by Geertz similarly tend to de-emphasise material interests and treat culture as if it were a separate domain, freed from the concerns of everyday life. Reading such studies, it at times seems that cultural sets of sym21 Quote from Burschel, p. 4 who there also lists the main contributions to the German debate about historical anthropology: “Wenn man Kulturanthropologie als historisch-anthropologisch ausgerichtete Kulturwissenschaft versteht, die nach Wahrnehmungs- und Deutungsmustern elementarer Erfahrungen menschlichen Lebens in den handlungs- und verhaltensleitenden kulturspezifischen Ordnungen fragt, die dieses Leben formen – dann ist das Martyrium eine kulturanthropologische Herausforderung par excellence.” 22 To mention just two of the more readable English discussions see Reddy and Burke, Historical anthropology, Chapter 2. 23 Burschel, p. 11. 24 An early lucid critique is Roseberry. Cf. Geertz.

14

Introduction

bols and rituals reproduce themselves; they are analysed as closed and fully formulated ‘texts’ rather than ‘scripts’ to be acted out and modified by agents.25 Depending on temperament, one can either refute that reification as a culturalist fallacy or, less polemically, stress the need for complementary studies. It is here that the community study becomes relevant.26 This method can help to show how members of a given society appeal to specific norms in response to immediate needs and situational constraints. Analysing religious statements within a local context, for example, makes it easier to elicit their broader political significance. The chroniclers’ notes on sudden deaths illustrate the division of tasks. It is legitimate – at the outset, indeed, necessary – to reconstruct the general significance of such brief narratives. Modern readers easily oversee the self-evident (and hence often implicit) status of the sudden ‘evil death’ as a divine judgement.27 Pointing to this is but the first step. Authors appealed to such notions in order to induce specific reactions in their intended audience. Entries about judgements were written to accuse opponents or, conversely, ward off blame during war. It makes sense to look at such references as part of the negotiation of political control and status within local communities. The present study thus does not examine the beliefs about divine intervention with a focus on the doctrinal level. Rather, it analyses them “in terms of situations and social relationships”, as Evans-Pritchard put it in his seminal 1937-study of magical beliefs in colonial Central Africa.28 The analysis ought to show how chroniclers and preachers employed available figures of thought. This requires a closer survey of the two genres. Chapter Two surveys sermons and town chronicles written in Erfurt to specify the role that divine intervention played there.29 The appendix seeks to reconstruct who wrote which chronicles, when, and to what aim. An interpretation of texts as contributions to local debates also needs to consider the audiences. How churchgoers and readers responded to the religious messages is a difficult question that is addressed at various points in the study. 25 Criticism of prior historical adaptations and suggestions for alternative approaches are found by Biernacki; Medick, Quo vadis; and esp. Algazi. 26 C. Bell/Newby remains useful. For discussions of the methodological problems peculiar to historical studies see Levi; Macfarlane, Reconstructing; Medick, Weben und Überleben, Chapter 1. 27 See fn. 57 below. The following short note about the death of an artisan is quite typical: “Anno 1644 Jm April ist der schwein schneider Vffm Rosmagt [sc.: Roßmarkt] Jnß Waßer gefallen[. Er] ist drunken g[e]Weßen Vnd er Seufft[.] man gibt im Zeigknis er seÿ ein Ver echter gottes Vnd der heiligen Sacra Menten ge Wesen.” Many accounts of evil deaths ended here. This chronicler went on to describe the deceased as a blasphemer and then drove home the moral point, with a direct reference to God’s court: “Sehe gottes Gericht.” Hans Krafft, [Erfurt Chronicle]. App. I. 19, p. 178v. 28 Evans-Pritchard, p. 540. Walz adapts the functionalist perspective on magical beliefs and witchcraft accusations to the rural segment of the society examined here. Bitzel examines the theological tenets in works addressed to lay literate Lutherans. 29 The narratives to be examined here have been thoroughly explored by ethnographers like Brückner, Volkserzählung and Schenda, Prodigiensammlungen. Further studies from the flourishing school of modern German Volkskunde are found in the standard point of reference, the Enzyklopädie des Märchens (EdM; twelve of fourteen vols. published by June 2009).

The religious impact of the Thirty Years War

15

Erfurt and its surrounding villages are well suited for such a community study. Sermons and chronicles have been preserved in considerable number, making it possible to compare different responses within the same religious tradition. The main political events in town are documented in prior research, along with the living conditions.30 Following the logic of the community study, the present contribution is subtitled ‘studies in Erfurt’ rather than ‘a study of Erfurt’. It is not written as a contribution to town history, but as a case study addressing topics of current debate in the research on the Thirty Years War and on popular beliefs in divine interventions. The major contributions to these debates are now to be outlined.

The religious impact of the Thirty Years War An influential thesis formulated by nationally minded historians in the nineteenth century presented the Thirty Years War as a catastrophe that destroyed and dismembered Germany on all levels. The war prevented their nation from attaining the unity and the grandeur, which they felt it deserved.31 Of course, not all contemporaneous political historians judged the Holy Roman Empire by the measure of a nation state. Moreover, the validity of the thesis on an economic and demographic level was soon to be questioned by other historians, leading to an extended revisionist controversy.32 The associated portrait of a ‘brutalisation of manners’ (Verrohung or Verwahrlosung der Sitten) never resulted in a comparable debate.33 Cultural history was not considered a worthy subject at German institutes of history, and the question was consequently left for ethnologists (Volkskundler) and church historians to study and elaborate. Protestant scholars from these disciplines generally agreed that the Protestant clergy responded efficiently to the moral damage done by the war. They further warned against the plaintive bias inherent to the seventeenth-century ‘accusatory literature’.34 These studies were 30

The studies are listed in Chapter Three. Poignant expressions in Treitschke (1895) and Freytag, Bilder (11859). The main overviews are K. C. Cramer, German memory and Sack. 32 See Rabb, Effects; Theibault, Demography; and most recently Asch, The Thirty Years War, pp. 185–194. 33 Freytag, Bilder: “die sittliche Verwahrlosung nahm im Landvolk furchtbar überhand” (p. 97) leading inter alia to “Genußsucht und roh[e] Liederlichkeit, Mangel an Gemeinsinn und Selbstgefühl […].Es sind die uralten Leiden eines heruntergekommenen Geschlechts” (p. 204). The English translation reads: “a moral recklessness prevailed fearfully among the country people”; “love of pleasure, and coarse sensuality, the want of common sense and independence […]. They are the ancient sufferings of a decaying race.” (pp. 83, 201), Freytag, Pictures (1862). Despite the pathos and dated terminology, his account can still be recommended as a well-written and translated introduction to the war in Central Thuringia; it is also available in French, translated by Aimé Mercier, 1901. 34 Leube, pp. 36–45 (“Die Anklagelitteratur”) – a fundamental study, though not focused on the war. 31

Introduction

16

themselves influenced by the First and Second World Wars and remained rather isolated.35 Historians interested in the history of mentalities have rarely referred to these studies in their more recent contributions. Around 1990, a number of scholars each in their own manner outlined the ‘early decline’ of beliefs which are traditionally believed to first have been challenged by deists and natural philosophers, at the end of the seventeenth century. Robin Bruce Barnes dates the decline of the apocalyptic expectations within German Lutheranism to the beginning of its ‘second century’, in the decades following 1617. In what remains a brief outlook, after a remarkable survey of debates in the second half of the sixteenth century, Barnes argues that the crude political exploitation of apocalyptic imagery helped to discredit this line of thought.36 Johannes Burkhardt turns to the related theme of temporal calamities. He observes that the Thirty Years War, by virtue of its very length, challenged the existing conception of war as a God-sent punishment. Contemporary wars normally lasted for two to three or, at most, five years.37 Burkhardt argues that the unprecedented sufferings disrupted “the entire static view of history and the world” in the afflicted society. This not only made some contemporaries question the existence of God – a disbelief which Burkhardt, in contrast to earlier church historians, does not criticise. It also resulted in a concerted act of diplomacy through which contemporaries surmounted the “disruptive event”. That, in turn, fostered a climate of constitutional longevity and constancy, endowing the German society of the seventeenth and eighteenth century with a “relatively high cooperative and defensive capability for peace”. The downside of this achievement was a “strengthened and long-lasting traditionalism of the German history”.38 35

Holl wrote a thought-provoking, if highly combative essay in Geistesgeschichte in 1917. He treats the Thirty Years War on pp. 304–347. Holl’s hypotheses influences the empirical surveys by F. Fritz, Württembergische Pfarrer (1925–1930) and Clemen (1939, 42 pages). Holl also had an impact on W. Zeller (1962), pp. XLVI–LI and the most recent study by Kaufmann, Dreißigjähriger Krieg (1998); see esp. pp. 2 f. Haude reports first findings from her study of the Nürnberg countryside. Monographs are underway from Theo Pronk (University of Amsterdam), Andreas Bähr (FU Berlin) and Thomas Kossert (University of Osnabrück). Until recently the only survey of Catholic lands were Schmidlin (1940) and Denzler (1968). Holzem, Gott und Gewalt reports results from an ongoing study of Southwestern Germany. The armies are better-explored: Gangl; T. Roper; and esp. Chaline; Brendle/Schindling, Geistliche im Krieg. 36 Barnes, Prophecy, pp. 249–253. See also Kaufmann, Dreißigjähriger Krieg, pp. 46–54, 64–73 and Tschopp passim. – Studies of early modern Europe generally use the term ‘apocalyptism’ to denote the belief in the imminent end of the temporal world; ‘eschatology’ is reserved for the posthumous judgement of each individual soul. 37 Burkhardt, Der Dreißigjährige Krieg, pp. 15–19, here p. 15, citing Wright, p. 226. 38 Burkhardt, Der Dreißigjährige Krieg, Chapter 4, pp. 233–244, quotes p. 243: “Denn es spricht viel dafür, daß gerade ein verstärkter und langanhaltender Traditionalismus der deutschen Geschichte auch als Reaktion auf diese Gefährdung des statischen geschichtlichen Selbstverständnisses zu begreifen ist.” And p. 244: “Die Überwindung des Störfalles und die traditionalistische Restitution des frühneuzeitlichen Geschichtsbildes schuf das Meinungsklima für eine auf Dauer und Konstanz gestellte

The religious impact of the Thirty Years War

17

Burkhardt’s outline of the cultural effects of the war is far removed from the cultural-pessimistic thesis advanced by nineteenth-century historians and it inverts their nationalist evaluation. Burkhardt thereby repeats a theme first struck by Theodore K. Rabb: the unparalleled destruction of the Thirty Years War inadvertently helped an entire society – be it the Empire or Europe – to overcome a longer-lasting crisis; outdated, pre-modern modes of thought were obliterated by the war. Such far-reaching syntheses have appealed to later participants in the debate, though they do remain very difficult to test.39 The best-documented observations along this line of thought are formulated by Bernd Roeck, in his encompassing 1989 study of Augsburg during the war. Though Roeck recognises religion as being able to absorb challenges, he also notes how the chaotic experience of war disrupted the belief in a “linear” course of history, one that moved towards an imminent apocalyptic end. Disappointed believers, instead, withdrew into a more individualised eschatology.40 Here, and elsewhere, Roeck diagnoses a positive disillusionment, which questioned or dispelled atavistic beliefs and assisted the overriding process of secularisation. One might summarise the stance of these authors as follows: 1648 marked more than the end of armed religious conflicts in the Holy Roman Empire. This epochal boundary also ushered in a more secular world-view, less permeated with temporal divine judgements. The conjectures on the ‘early declines’ of specific religious beliefs remain plausible, but they need to be tested on a broader empirical basis. To date, there are no thorough studies that look at the Thirty Years War from the perspective of a history of mentalities.41 Given the reigning focus on cultural change, it may be necessary to review some lessons from the methodological debate on that sub-discipline.42 The ‘early decline’-hypotheses run counter to the notion that mentalities and belief systems are characterised by their longevity and ability to incorporate awkward experiences. The persistence of strong convictions in the face of contrary evidence is probably best exemplified by the history of apocalyptic expectations. The prophesied Second Coming of Christ and the near end of the world continued to occupy minds throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.43 Many Vollendung der Institutionalisierung des Reiches, die der deutschen Nachkriegsgeschichte des 17. und 18. Jahrhunderts einen gewissen ängstlichen Immobilismus verlieh, die ihr aber in einem weiterhin kriegerischen Europa auch eine relativ hohe kooperative und defensive Friedensfähigkeit mit auf den Weg gab.” 39 Rabb, Struggle for Stability. For adaptations see Benedict; Fulda; Landwehr, pp. 70–73. An apt critique is Bähr, Furcht. 40 Roeck, Stadt, Vol 2, p. 752; cf. ibid., Vol 1, p. 43. A similar diagnosis in Roeck, Atrocities, pp. 137– 140; cf. p. 131. Earlier and more cautious remarks, Roeck, Formen. 41 On this point, one can only agree with G. Schmidt, Krieg, pp. 94 f. Additionally, he argues that the German society after 1648 soon returned to pre-war normality. 42 The discussion in Burke, Strengths and Weaknesses is important for the following. 43 Barnes, Prophecy, p. 303 briefly refers to the classic study by Festinger/Riecken/et al., When Prophecy Fails on which the following is based. See further fn. 402 in Chapter Six; Burke, Strengths and Weaknesses, pp. 172 f; H. Schneider, p. 210; Lawee, pp. 20 f.

18

Introduction

believers adamantly clung to these prophesies despite – or, perhaps, because of – the fact that they failed to materialise. Instead of admitting to mistakes and abandoning carefully nurtured hopes, the apocalyptic-minded often set about to revise prophecies and convince others to believe in them. Some researchers argue that apocalyptics sought to surpass the sceptics’ mocking of their inconsistent beliefs by gaining converts. The social psychologist Leon Festinger described this missionary behaviour as the reduction of uncomfortable ‘cognitive dissonance’.44 Festinger used a range of historical and contemporary cases to develop a general cognitive theory capable of explaining how individuals uphold strong convictions when faced with contrary evidence. His notion of cognitive dissonance and consonance is relevant to the present study. It assigns a specific meaning to the terms ‘experience’ (Erfahrung), ‘perception’ and ‘cognition’ (Wahrnehmung) that otherwise threaten to remain rather fickle. Festinger’s critics have turned to his premise that individuals are constantly trying to keep up a consistent view of the world. They question whether the assumption captures the relationship between convictions and everyday behaviour. In recent years, the research debate has begun to focus on cultures which place social harmony above personal opinion.45 German Lutherans may, on the whole, have been less individualistic than the introspective English Puritans.46 Yet the chroniclers examined here still entertained strong hopes about the beliefs in divine judgements and a just world. They too saw it as their task to write a history that served to ‘justify the ways of God to men’.47 That the chroniclers and preachers examined here each emphasised different elements within the same set of beliefs poses no principal problem. In studies of cognitive dissonance, believers are neither treated as prisoners of one way of thought, nor are they portrayed as members of a uniform society like the Empire or Christendom, grappling with the same fears.48 The primary task is, instead, to study how individuals ascribed to shared beliefs. Serial analysis of similar sources may then subsequently enable researchers to identify recurrent patterns in the individual responses. Consequently, there is a need to distinguish between related beliefs, such as the prodigious warnings, endorsed by all clergymen, and the more contested omens.49 Another important issue is whether these beliefs 44 Festinger/Riecken/et al., pp. 25–30, commenting on sixteenth-century Anabaptists and the movements surrounding Sabbatai Zevi (1626–1676) and William Miller (1782–1849), pp. 6–12. Note also Festinger, A theory of cognitive dissonance. 45 J. Cooper, Cognitive dissonance, esp. pp. 137–143. 46 Compare Sabean, Production of the Self, pp. 13–18 to Greyerz, Vorsehungsglaube, pp. 56 f. 47 See Chapter Two, fn. 96 and John Milton, Paradise Lost (1667). Book One, stanza 26. 48 As does Delumeau, Sin and fear. 49 Burke, Strengths and Weaknesses, pp. 170 f and 176–178. The intersections between temporal calamities and the apocalyptic line of thought are outlined by Leppin, Chapter 5. For further differentiations, Walsham, Providence; Greyerz, Vorsehungsglaube, esp. pp. 70 and 76 f; Lind, Interpreting; Ingen, Bußstimmung, Krisenbewusstsein und Melancholie; Olden-Jørgensen, Bußfrömmigkeit, Patriotismus und Ironie.

The religious impact of the Thirty Years War

19

compete or mutually support each other. Research on witch trials has thus explained why preachers often chose not to endorse the popular opinion that witches were the source of hailstorms and droughts. Accusations of witchcraft here ran counter to the preachers’ attempts to awaken remorse in the hearts of afflicted listeners.50 A final factor to keep in mind is the social status of a given tenet or community of believers. The line of inquiry established by Festinger’s 1956-study of failed prophecies tends to focus on nonconformist believers and communities at odds with the surrounding society, whether they are sixteenth-century Anabaptists or modern UFO-devotees.51 In contrast, most of the tenets examined in this study remained part of mainstream religiosity. Statements about the imminent end of the world were, for instance, found in fundamental works like the Augsburg Confession (1530).52 Erfurt did house dissidents that pastors deemed heretical, yet they formed a distinct circle studied in detail by a fine recent study.53 The laymen who wrote chronicles faced a different situation. Their beliefs were less challenged by negative pressure from their surroundings and more influenced by physical warrelated experiences, such as pain and starvation.54 The theory of cognitive dissonance thus provides the main conceptual inspiration for the present study. I return to an other constructionist approach after the presentation of the empirical studies. The most useful examine journals, autobiographies, and chronicles as ego-documents.55 Benigna von Krusenstjern analysed many of the pertinent religious convictions in a series of articles based on some 240 ego-documents written by members of all three denominations during, or shortly after, the Thirty Years War. She could thus reconstruct typical ways of writing and thinking about prodigies and personal affliction.56 Another of her fine studies examines ways of explaining sudden, violent death and coping with the threat.57 Krusenstjern has refrained from reducing her ethnography to one overriding thesis. Indeed, she questions the outlines of a war-induced change, which echo the Enlightened critique of the “Baroque God of anger and vengeance”. Such studies often underestimate the complexity and the coherency of established views 50

Clarke, Protestant Demonology, pp. 60–62. Hadin, p. 201. 52 “Dann besonder zu diesen letzten Zeiten nicht weniger vonnöthen, die Leute zu christlicher Zucht und guten Werken zu vermahnen und zu erinnern […]”, Konkordienformel (1577), p. 789: IV. Von guten Werken, Negativa, No. 2 (my emphasis); note also Die Augsburgische Konfession (1530), pp. 89: XXIII. Vom Ehestand der Priester, and Apologia der Confession (1531), p. 344. 53 Weiß, Lebenswelten. As regards cognitive dissonance, pp. 412 f and 426 f are of particular interest. 54 Compare Festinger, A theory of cognitive dissonance, pp. 19–21. 55 For stylistic reasons, I keep ‘ego-documents’ as the generic term to cover both the German neologism “Egodokument” and the older, more colloquial term “Selbstzeugnis” (‘self-testimony’). Recent overviews are Dekker, Ego-documents and Greyerz/Medick/et al., Europäische Selbstzeugnisse. 56 Krusenstjern, Prodigienglaube; eadem, Tränen. 57 Eadem, Seliges Sterben. 51

Introduction

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on divine punishments.58 The fact that most homilies were phrased in paternalist ‘household terms’ made them comprehensible to members of a patriarchal society. Presenting calamities as a father’s castigation of his unruly children underlined the benevolent aim. Calamities were to prevent later corruption and, ultimately, eternal damnation. ‘Spare the rod and spoil the child’ was, after all, still an unchallenged maxim.59 Pointing to child rearing, socialisation, and cultural plausibility should not diminish the tensions inherent to such appeals. The other leading proponent of the historical-anthropological approach to the war, Hans Medick, has justly emphasised the merit of parallel regional or community studies. His own survey of autobiographical accounts written by the few who survived the fires and massacres in Magdeburg (1631) shows that they wrote more about deliverance than calamity.60 Studies of communities disrupted by war and natural catastrophes have repeatedly pointed to the politics of interpreting events as God-sent calamities.61 This microhistorical focus avoids a history of mentalities that disregards political interests and material concerns. The constructionist approach adopted here is compatible to the recent research conducted at the University of Tübingen, by the research unit on war experiences in Europe (SFB 471). A section there has examined wars from the Reformation until the Napoleonic wars. The main difference to this study lies in the choice of sources. The Tübingen studies have taken a similar regional approach, but focus on administrative records of various sorts.62 This societal survey does link well to their use of concepts coined by Reinhart Koselleck: these researchers map out life conditions for different groups in the war-ridden societies. When done well, they refine the results reached by a long line of studies in economic, especially agrarian, history. Yet the choice of sources has made it difficult for some Tübingen researchers to look into individual coping and the local negotiation of experience. John Theibault’s works from the early 1990s here deserve special mention. He unites the best of both approaches, placing weekly preaching and figures of everyday thought in relation to day-to-day survival during times of war.63

58

Eadem, Gottesbild, p. 182. She refers to the rather uncritical adaptation of a polemical Enlightened dichotomy. One example is Schlögl, Glaube, p. 198: “an die Stelle des barocken Zornes- und Rachegottes sollte der seine Geschöpfe liebende, gütige Vatergott treten”. 59 Kittsteiner, pp. 357–414. 60 Medick, Historisches Ereignis, pp. 400 f; see also Krusenstjern/idem: Einleitung, p. 27. 61 Klinger, Formen; Holzem, Maria im Krieg; Mehlin; Allemeyer, Chapter 3. 62 Kleinhagebrock; Kohlmann. The same approach is taken by Plath and Rieck in dissertations recently completed at other universities. The church historian Holzem too works in Tübingen, but takes a different approach; I was not able to read the Brendle’s biography on the Archbishop of Mainz. 63 Theibault, Jeremiah; idem, Landfrauen; and the more classic monography German Villages, on the Werra-valley in Hesse.

Denominational views on calamities in Latin Christianity

21

Denominational views on calamities in Latin Christianity A problem common to all community-studies is, of course, what the local or regional case is representative of? The concluding section of this chapter discusses four syntheses on contemporaneous Lutheranism and the religious construction of calamities in Latin Christianity. Positioning the present study within these frameworks should enable readers more familiar with other areas of post-Reformation Europe to evaluate the findings. It may at first be helpful to outline the religious heritage. In early modern Europe, believers not only shared the recurrent experience of being distressed by massive material catastrophes (litanies often placed epidemics and famine next to war); they also responded to them based on a common tradition. Jewish, Moslem, and Christian clerics thus all referred to the destruction of Sodom and the prophets of Israel.64 In Latin Christianity, the key problems had already been defined and discussed by Patristic authors like Lactantius (c.250– c.320) and Augustine (354–430).65 A fair number of their answers remained relevant after the denominational divisions of the sixteenth century. The conviction that God punished post-baptismal sins (peccatum actuale) in this world is an instructive example.66 Whilst the underlying definitions of penance and justification changed fundamentally in the Lutheran and Reformed teachings, the notion of temporal punishments remained central to sermons and printed matter throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth century; many of the related popular convictions about just punishment seem to have been virtually unchanged.67 One of the more clearly defined breaks between the old and the new denominations took place in the propitiatory liturgy. Lutheran and Reformed theologians rejected or revised most, but not all, ceremonies elaborated under Papal auspices, along with the underlying notion of saintly intercession.68 The break made it necessary to develop new liturgical answers to the continuing problem of how to appease divine anger.

64

See Schreiner and esp. Rohden. On the spread of apocalyptic thought see Subrahmanyam, pp. 131–135 and the four-volume series ‘Millenarianism and messianism in early modern European culture’ edited by Richard H. Popkin in 2001. Useful references on the shared tradition are found in Noegel/Wheeler. 65 E. g. Micka. 66 Angenendt, Deus retraces medieval adaptations of Patristic traditions. He sums up his argument in the synthesis, idem, Religiosität, pp. 645 f, 652–654. 67 Walsham, Providence and Delumeau, Rassurer et protéger outline continuities. 68 On the continued use of the common prayer and litany see Chapter Five. A refutation of most other existing means of propitiation was Art. XXIV De Missa in the Confession of Augsburg (Melanchthon, Augsburgische Konfession), p. 93. A more detailed polemical clarification is Melanchthon, Apologia der Confession, Art. XXIV, esp. pp. 354–358. The Papal developments are explained by Baldovin. Fine case-studies include Christian; Calvi; and Sallmann, esp. pp. 65–95.

Introduction

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The initial outcome was quite heterogeneous. Commonly used terms such as ‘Protestantism’ or ‘Protestant’ beliefs do not do justice to the many issues that divided the Lutheran and the Reformed denominations on the European continent at the beginning of the seventeenth century.69 There is no need to deny that a peaceful exchange between these denominations was possible, yet this transfer extended to include Catholics.70 Most of the Lutheran churchmen in Erfurt kept an equal distance to both, commemorating the liberation from Papal bondage in 1517 alongside the deliverance from Calvinists in 1590.71 Contemporary plans for rapprochement were highly controversial and had limited effects.72 Studies conducted in bi-denominational towns like Erfurt may help to clarify what divided or united local denominational responses to war as a God-sent castigation. It is, however, problematic to use findings to derive general conclusions regarding the ‘Lutheran way to propitiate’ or the ‘Catholic practice of auricular confession’. Despite ongoing attempts to introduce more uniform standards, individual dioceses and territories often differed from their neighbours on liturgical points. A well-explored example is the Archbishopric of Mainz, to which the Catholic parishes in Erfurt belonged. It was notably late in implementing the reforms after the Council of Trent.73 The heterogeneity was even more marked in the Lutheran lands. There was no unified Lutheran Church in the institutional sense of the term; the Augsburg Confession remained the sole binding point of reference.74 Proceeding from this fundamental difference, Thomas Kaufmann has recently questioned the reigning assumption that Lutheran churches were growing ever more uniform in the century following 1530. Wolfgang Reinhard and Heinz Schilling outline such a process for all three major denominations in the Empire. Their theory of confessionalisation (Konfessionalisierung) stresses how Calvinists, Catholics, and Lutherans distanced themselves from each other.75 Erfurt fits well, in some ways perhaps too well, into the outlined Lutheran heterogeneity. For instance, local Lutheran pastors were divided on a number of 69

Nischan, Lutherans and Calvinists; Milton examines the peculiar English situation. See Chapter Five, fn. 88 and Lehmann, Zeitalter, p. 115. Further studies of such transfers are found by Greyerz/Lehmann/et al., Interkonfessionalität. 71 The annual anti-Calvinist thanksgiving was celebrated on the Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity, Hundorph, Encomii Erffurtini Continuatio. App. I. 18, p. D1v. The index to Stenger, Grund-Feste ranks ‘Papists’ (Pabst, Päbstisch, Päbstler, Pabstumb) next to the “wisecracking Calvinist”. E. g. p. 333: “Calvinisten, wollen unsere Brüder seyn”; p. 415: “obs unsere Brüder und Glaubensgenossen?”; and p. 1144: “Calvinische Klüglinge”. See also [Anon.], Appendix, p. C3v. 72 Apart from the controversy surrounding the theologian Georg Calixt (1586–1636), see Bärwinkel, Meyfarth; Kaufmann, Dreißigjähriger Krieg, pp. 34–46; H.-J. Müller, Irenik. 73 Reiffenberg. On the auricular confession, Myers, “Poor sinning Folk”. 74 The Formula of Concord (1577) was not introduced in the Swedish realm until 1686; DenmarkNorway never adopted it. Its position within the German territories should not be overestimated, Dingel. On Lutheran ecclesiology, see Kaufmann, Universität, pp. 23–31. His discussion is important for the following. 75 Schilling, Confessional Europe. 70

Denominational views on calamities in Latin Christianity

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issues debated throughout the German faculties of theology.76 These differences do merit the call for a revised and more nuanced picture of what is still often depicted as the ‘Age of Lutheran Orthodoxy’. Yet local peculiarities extend beyond the normal heterogeneity in Lutheran lands. The absence of a formal and legally binding recognition of the Lutheran majority in the town until 1618 forced the local Council to follow a cautious ecclesiastical policy.77 It, inter alia, abstained from issuing a church ordinance. Customs and the pastor’s personal preferences, instead, influenced the liturgical practice in a given parish.78 Ulman Weiß has pointed to a series of related curious measures in the second half of the sixteenth century. The Council introduced a curriculum without a catechism in the newlyfounded Ratsgymnasium to ensure that both Lutherans and Catholics would attend it. Affluent townsmen likewise founded a Chair of Lutheran Theology at the local Catholic university. Councillors probably tried to thus steer clear of the public controversies that destabilised other bi-denominational towns and split Lutherans amongst themselves.79 Such conscious and extraordinary abstentions make it difficult to use findings from Erfurt to support either of the outlined syntheses on the growing homogeneity or heterogeneity within German Lutheranism. Comparisons with other Lutheran territories will help to indicate where findings from Erfurt concur with general trends or, conversely, point to areas like the auricular confession where customs varied greatly and exceptions were the rule.80 The debate about the theory of confessionalisation is presently at a rather divided stage. Whatever stance one adopts, it cannot be denied that the theory has helped to establish religious phenomena as respectable topics in the field of German social history. The research debate on the role of calamities in Latin Christianity is currently in a less satisfactory state. The two major syntheses by Jean Delumeau and Hartmut Lehmann were developed in the late 1970s and have only been translated in part.81 Both treat the relationship between material distress and religion, though with quite differing emphases. Delumeau examined a long period from 1348 to approximately 1620 and gave most attention to religious fears and the persecution of scapegoats. Lehmann, by contrast, focused on consolation,

76

See Chapter Five passim; Kaufmann, Dreißigjähriger Krieg, pp. 141. C. Martens, Friedensverhandlungen. A summary of late sixteenth-century developments, Sehling (ed.), Besitzungen, pp. 361–363. 78 Nebe, Der Erfurter Landpastor. 79 Weiß, Zweikonfessionalität, pp. 254 ff; idem, Stiftungsprofessur. 80 Rublack, Beichte. Karant-Nunn gives one of the rare English overviews. 81 Part one of Jean Delumeau’s trilogy was translated into German in 1985 (Angst im Abendland, Reinbek b. Hamburg). The second volume appeared in English as: Sin and fear (New York 1990). The concluding volume adds a dimension of coping, Delumeau, Rassurer et protéger. – Rabb, Struggle for Stability does not go into depth with religion: see pp. 80–82. Walter (2008) is mainly to be recommended for bibliographical breadth. He covers recent studies in French, Italian, Spanish, English, and German. 77

Introduction

24

which he treated within the framework of the much-debated crisis of the seventeenth century.82 Lehmann’s framework is favoured by many historians doing research on German-speaking lands for a number of good reasons. Lehmann drew attention to the mass of devotionals and pamphlets about prodigies. These had, until then, mainly been studied by ethnologists and theologians.83 Lehmann linked the advent of these genres to an increase in material distress. The proposition obviously appealed to social historians. A range of studies and conferences organised in the 1990s and at the beginning of the present century helped to explore the outlined relationship between religious and social history in further detail.84 Twenty years of research has, however, also shown that the original approach needs revision. Lehmann has himself toned down the Weberian element. He originally stressed how devotionals by helping believers to cope with the crisis through ascetic deeds fostered a more modern Leistungsethik.85 Lehmann has likewise exchanged the exogenous material factors in his synthesis, shifting focus from an economic crisis, that invested the sectors of production, to a Little Ice Age. It remains questionable whether one needs to study the proposed relationship between religion and material crises within the theoretical framework of a unified crisis in seventeenth-century Europe. Studies of individual catastrophes often offer more accurate insights.86 The limitation to c.1580 poses another problem. Kaspar von Greyerz has stressed the primacy of ‘cosmological’ convictions. The belief in temporal divine judgements had, he argues, already led English believers to react in the manner outlined by Lehmann during earlier periods that were characterised by less devastating material distress.87 More significantly, experts on Lutheran church history – one of the main pillars in Lehmann’s study – have questioned his causality. They argue that emphasis on the consolatory function of devotionals overly simplifies a complex genre. Most devotionals harnessed calamities in their calls for repentance and only in a second step offered comfort. The leading German author in the field, Johann Arndt (1555–1621), focused on a spiritual and not a material crisis.88 Moreover, the proposed connection between the surge in apocalyptic expectations and the crisis of the seventeenth century fails to explain the varying trends and shifting contours of apocalyptic beliefs in different denominations.89 82

Lehmann, Zeitalter, p. 108 (dating the crisis to c.1600/1620-c.1720/1740; compare fn. 84). See fn. 29 and Wallmann, Herzensgebet, pp. 13–15. 84 Contributions flowed steadily from Lehmann, Kometenflugschriften (1985) to Behringer/Lehmann/et al., Cultural Consequences (2005). It predates the crisis to 1570/1580. A fuller list is found in the bibliography. 85 Compare Lehmann, Zeitalter (1980), pp. 161–168 with Lehmann, Säkularisierung (2004). 86 See fn. 61 and Barnes, Varieties, pp. 264 f. 87 Greyerz, Vorsehungsglaube, pp. 55 f. 88 Sträter, Meditation, pp. 16–18; Wallmann, Bemerkungen. 89 Leppin, pp. 278 f; cf. Lehmann, Zeitalter, p. 127. 83

Denominational views on calamities in Latin Christianity

25

In response to this critique, Lehmann recommends researchers to limit their studies to shorter crises.90 The debate has certainly shown the need to grant more attention to denominational peculiarities. Historians should also be wary of reading religious publications as direct outcomes of severe material distress. At the present stage, the more flexible set of theses formulated by Robert Scribner might help to advance the debate. Based on his study of popular beliefs in Reformation Germany, Scribner outlined the contours of a Protestant ‘moralised cosmos’. While keeping with the comets and calamities included in Lehmann’s synthesis, Scribner parted from the Weberian theses, in a series of articles written in the late 1980s and early 1990s.91 He supplanted its focus on the modernising impact of the Reformation with a survey of the widespread belief in ghosts, lay prophets and the like. The phenomena have often been regarded as Catholic remnants; Scribner wanted to look at their developments in the centuries before the Enlightenment. The beliefs were only explicable, he provocatively argued, if one views them as components of a Protestant world-view with a “weaker and more ill-defined form of sacrality”.92 Studies completed after Scribner’s untimely demise confirm the need to study Lutheran and Reformed world-views as characterised by new, but by no means more modern, views on divine intervention.93 The concept of a belief system in flux and in competition with an established Catholic alternative does offer a fruitful view on the development of propitiatory liturgies in Protestant lands. His insistence that pastors had to take popular beliefs and magical practices into account is apt, though in need of adjustment. If we are to understand the exchanges on a parochial level, the official tenets must receive greater attention. Scribner’s surveys on witches and hailstorms offered strikingly secular views on what he defined as ‘the supernatural’. He mainly mentioned the after-life when the dead returned to plague the living in the form of ghosts and revenants.94 Pastors, by contrast, insisted that such phenomena had to be understood with a view to sin and salvation; they preached about temporal punishment in order to help parishioners avoid eternal damnation. Whether the listeners in the pews shared these otherworldly views or had more mundane concerns is, as the case from Gebesee illustrates, in many ways still an open question. The present study should provide some answers. It is divided into four parts. The first section (Chapters Two and Three) surveys the sources used to examine the outlined problems and introduces the setting. This section also comments on the main social groups and the religious conflict in the local community. Chapter 90

Lehmann, Krisen, esp. pp. 15–17. Scribner, Reformation and ‘Disenchantment’. 92 Scribner, Reformation and Desacralisation, pp. 76 f. Scribner’s remarks on the competing attributions of guilt (p. 81) and the capability of functioning belief systems to withstand change (pp. 86, 90–92) connect well to the above observations on the history of mentalities, on p. 18. 93 See J. Beyer, Lutheran Lay Prophets; Walsham, Providence, and, most recently, eadem, Reformation and “Disenchantment”. 94 E. g. Scribner, Reformation and Desacralisation, p. 77; Scribner, Cosmic Order. 91

26

Introduction

Four examines the prodigies and omens encountered in the opening example from Gebesee. The aim here is to explore war-time divination and compare how lay chroniclers and preachers commented on divine signs. Chapter Five surveys learned responses to the challenge posed by the drawn-out war. Most preachers insisted that the war would not end before churchgoers repented and mended their ways. How could the much-needed, sincere penitence be inculcated? Local theologians came up with varying responses. Their internal debates were strongly influenced by the war. Chapter Six then reviews the diagnosed lack of piety. Chronicles, visitation records, and funeral sermons are combined to draw a more nuanced picture of lay commitment during war. They provide individualised religious profiles and make it possible to deal with some of the lesser-known obstacles to penitent suffering, namely the question of honour and the desire for revenge. The concluding chapter assesses how important the outlined interpretations of war were for local laymen. The post-war retrospectives on past experiences here receive the due attention.

2. Sources The tasks outlined in Chapter One prompt two practical questions: where and when did locals refer to divine intervention? What moral points did they thereby try to make? The present study mainly looks for religious references in the established genres of the sermon and the town chronicle. This chapter on sources has three aims. It firstly outlines the intertwined traditions of chronicle-writing and preaching in Erfurt. The second and third steps are to show how these texts contributed to local politics and were influenced by the market for prints. The mutual relationship between the two literary forms is best grasped by going back some centuries, to approximately 1200. Sermons and chronicles both gained a hitherto unseen prominence in Latin Christianity in the course of the late twelfth and the thirteenth century: it was the age of the mendicant preachers and an innovative historiography.1 In urban centres like Erfurt, the spread of the new historiographical style can often be traced in a straightforward topographical manner. The Benedictine monks of the venerable Petersberg monastery on the outskirts of the town recorded history for their brethren. True to their name, the older annals briefly listed major events of the past years.2 If scribes wrote longer edifying entries, they mostly related to Benedict’s rule of ora et labore. The new historiography appeared in Erfurt at the middle of the thirteenth century. Dominicans and Franciscans settled in the centre of the town, at the Gera River, and built their seats opposite each other. There, in the Barfüsser- and the aptly named Predigerkirche, the members of the new orders held sermons for the laity. Their art of preaching was accommodated to lay listeners. Meister Eckhart, OP (c.1260-after 1328) is without doubt the most famed, if not wholly typical exponent.3 These mendicant orders wrote history to enhance their sermons. History-writing was now no longer limited to the Petersberg. It descended from the monastic hilltop and entered into the bustling commercial centre. Aloof annals expanded into chronicles, filled with stories fit to attract the attention of lay listeners. God’s Hand was not to be limited to the Scriptures and the lives of saints. Preachers recorded the divine dimension in modern history.4 Here, a terrible shipwreck in the Baltic Sea to demonstrate divine anger and mercy; there, an angelic

1

Menzel is fundamental for the following; on Erfurt, see esp. pp. 264 f, 291–298. The most marked examples are the Annales S. Petri Erphesfurtenses antiqui (1038–1163 A. C.) and the Chronici Ekkehardi Continuatio Brevis (1125–1169). Both are edited in Holder-Egger, pp. 3–22, 68–71. 3 Steer. 4 Menzel, pp. 10–14. 2

28

Sources

vision seen by a dying margravin of Brandenburg.5 The narratives are short, but deliver the details needed for a homiletic exemplum. During the fourteenth and especially fifteenth century, history-writing then spread from the monasteries on the banks of the Gera to the Town Hall and the homes of councillors. Later on, after the Reformation, the habit of writing and reading chronicles grew popular in burgher households.6 This process modified both the content and the language. The new German chronicles exchanged the universal scope in the mendicant historiography for a narrower urban framework. The range of subjects conversely expanded beyond the religious. Chroniclers wrote for political purposes, such as commemorating an important alliance. During these centuries, the sermon also grew more important.7 After the Reformation, it advanced in Catholic parishes and became the primary element in the Lutheran Sunday service. By the seventeenth century, the sermon and the chronicle were key elements, used for moral commentary on a range of urban affairs. It is fair to describe chroniclers and preachers as moral guardians or “watchmen”, as the latter said.8 Yet, these watchmen do not appear as agents united to serve a simple top-down programme of social disciplining. Instead, preachers and townsmen controlled and corrected both each other and the ruling councillors. The form of their critical exchanges is perhaps best described by means of a concrete controversy. For the purpose of this chapter, the most instructive example is the scandal surrounding the maidservant Catharina Schneider. This prostitution affair runs through most of the sources and archives examined in this study. A compact summary of events was written by an indignant artisan named Hans Krafft. “In the year 1646, during the government of Hiob Ludolf [, I. 1583– 1651] and Johan Hallenhorst [1602–1680], there was an obscene whore, named Catharin[a], who was a prostitute to twelve honourable men. […] They were all punished for their adultery, with fines. The lid was closed so tightly on this that no one was allowed to say who they were. The whore sat more than sixteen weeks in jail.” Catharina Schneider was then placed in chains and ordered to clean alleyway ditches, before being secretively banished – too mild a punishment, the chronicler complained.9 Like most pious burghers, Krafft expected the female 5 Cronica Minor Minoritae Erphordensis, pp. 677 f (1267, 1268), ed. in Holder-Egger, pp. 486– 723. Another specimen is Liber cronicorum sive annalis Erfordensis, ed. ibid., pp. 724–781. The local Benedictine chroniclers followed heed and began to write in the same manner. E. g. p. 34 and the remarks on p. 25. Ertl, p. 339 has a contrasting evaluation of the Cronica Minor Minoritae. 6 On this change and on the following, Weiß, Städtische Chronistik. 7 On the 1454-visit of John Capistrano, OFM (1386–1456), see Kolde, pp. 18–23. Siggins, pp. 53–70 surveys preaching in this region around 1500. 8 See fn. 39 below. 9 Krafft, [Erfurt Chronicle]. App. I. 19, p. 171v: “Anno 1646, beÿ Regierung Hiobt Ludloffs Vnnd Johanni Hallenhorß, Wahr ein Vnzüchtige Hure Mit Nahmen Catharin, Welche Mit Zwolff Ehrenmännern Jre hurereÿ gedrieben[.] Mit Nahmen deotorus Franck, Jacob kreitz. steffan keÿser, Nicol stichling, Andonius der Brauw knecht, Georg Ziegler [space left open for the last six names]. Die

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culprit, and preferably also her well-positioned customers, to be publicly flogged and driven out of town. These laymen were keen to keep their town free of prostitutes.10 Krafft reminded the readers of his chronicle about this scandal sometime in the late 1640s or early 1650s, during a period of factional struggles. The woad dyer commented on both the distant and recent past to support his party in the fight for control of the Town Hall.11 Krafft therefore did more than object to the attempt by the previous councillors to ‘put a lid’ on the 1646-affair. He further recorded the names of several high-ranking customers, to ensure that these “men of honour” (Ehrenmänner) would be known to posterity.12 This eminently political dimension to chronicle-writing will be explored in final third of this chapter. At present, it is more important to note how Krafft wrote about the heads of the spiritual estate. He noted with approval that Lutheran preachers “in all pulpits” across town “strongly declaimed” this inadequate punishment. They warned that “God’s anger” would “come down upon such immorality, because the vices have gone unpunished.”13 That argument also figured prominently in the preambles of the ordinances issued by the secular authorities.14 Here preachers turned the oft-cited threat of calamities against the legislative and judicial authorities. In the case at hand, Krafft could only but praise the outspoken preachers. Yet he did not shy back from criticism when he felt need. In 1638, the Town Council ordered pastors to announce and justify the new taxes introduced to meet military demands. The chronicler literally damned the councillor behind the reforms to Hell and scolded the submissive ministers. “All pastors had to spite God and their good conscience and tell lies in the pulpit. […] On [the following] Sunday of the haben Jrens Ehebruch Alle Mit Geldt Ver strafft Vndt, ist so heimlich Jnß Wachß gedrückt Worden, dz kein Mensch darvon hat Reden dürffen, Wer sie ge Wesen seint[.] Die hur hat Vber 16 Wochen Jhne geseßen, Vndt ist Jr Straff ge Wesen, dz Sie Jnder [sic] statt in etlichen gaßen dz Waßer mit Reine ge Macht mit einem Hacken Vndt ist in eÿsen gegangen, Vnd ist Jr die Eÿsern stang Mit einer großen Pferdt schöllen angebunden Worten, dz man sie hat hören können, ist Endlichen heimlich Vß der Stadt Vor Wiesen Worden.” 10 Prostitutes who did business with soldiers were expelled from the town in 1628 and turned back at the town gates in 1633. [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 10, p. 398; [Anon.], Erffurdtische Chronica. App. I. 14, pp. 630 f. For further criticism of extra-marital sex see fn. 23 below and Krafft, [Erfurt Chronicle]. App. I. 19, pp. 71v, 76r, 105r, 166r (to name but a few); on flogging [Anon.], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 4, p. 860 and Fritz, Cronica. App. I. 24, p. 31, with an illustration. 11 See App. I. 19. 12 Krafft’s list of twelve men (cited in fn. 9) is slightly longer than the copy of Schneider’s testimony, stored in the town archives (StAE 1-1/10a-I, 21). Krafft inter alia added the patrician Georg Ziegler (Bauer, Personalschriften, pp. 516 f). 13 “Es ist Aber durch dz [Evangelische] Ministerium Vndt Predigt ambt Auf Allen Cantzeln darauf gar Sehr ge Eüfert Worden, Gottes Zorn, der Vber solcher Vnzucht gehen würde Weille das Laster nicht gestraft Worten ist.” Krafft, [Erfurt Chronicle]. App. I. 19, pp. 171v. 14 Characteristic excerpts from the local police ordinance of 1583 in: Sehling (ed.), Besitzungen, pp. 370 f, 374.

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unjust householder [Luke 16, 1–9]15 the same little song was once again sung from the pulpit: people should behave well and not speak out against the soldiers”.16 This narrative left readers with little doubt as to who had been the unjust householder in 1638: pastors had failed to fulfil their role as independent moral guardians. Secular and spiritual authorities in towns like Erfurt exercised power by merit of their office and this made incumbents vulnerable to criticism. Krafft and his fellow burghers judged office-holders based on criteria of proper housekeeping and honour.17 Let us now review the prostitution affair through the eyes of pastors. Although they in 1646 decided to speak out against the ruling Council, it was clear to them that they could hardly publish such sermons. In addition to the exercise of censorship, the councillors had also asserted their right to remove very objectionable pastors from office, following an extended conflict in the 1570s. On that occasion, councillors had furthermore placed a lay representative amidst the pastors to monitor and control their prosecution of adultery.18 Rulers in other territories sought to control their churches in similar manners, with princes acting most rigorously.19 Preachers nevertheless – or all the more – insisted that it was their prerogative to decide which sins to criticise, and in what manner. They requested that “one estate should give a hand to the other, but not interfere in the matters of the other”, like some latter-day King Saul.20 Although the distribution of competencies within the autonomous towns in the Empire differed, the conflicts regarding ecclesiastical discipline involved the same issues and protagonists. Whilst Lutheran pastors repeatedly referred to the theory of a society composed of three estates, councillors relied upon a syndic for legal expertise. During these decades, the Erfurt Council was slowly beginning to claim more competence.21 15

Luke 16, 1–9 is expounded on the Ninth Sunday after Trinity. Krafft used the pericope as calendar. “[…] Alle Pfar herrn Müsten Wieter gott Vndt Jr guht ge Wiesen Von der Cantzel lügen, [und haben gesagt:] Alß dz nuhn Mehr die früchte Auf felte Vohr Augen stünden, da Mit die Soltaten des do bquemer könnten [er]halten Werten, [… 119v …] da mit dz der Gantzen statt dero mahl einst nicht Möge nach deil bringen Vndt den All ge Meinen Frieden schluß ver hintern. Dann [an dem] Sontag Vom Vngerechten Hauß halter Wahr gleich noch einmal dz Liedlein Von der Cantzel Ab gesungen. Man solte sich doch fein dar Zu schicken Vnndt den Soltaten keine Vnnütze [Wider]Worte geben”. Krafft, [Erfurt Chronicle]. App. I. 19, pp. 119r–119v. 17 On the pastor as God’s servant and householder, see Stenger, Tausend Zeuge, p. 150. 18 The ‘Formula pacificationis’ (1580) is reprinted in Sehling (ed.), Formula, pp. 366–370. The guidelines “De causis matrionialibus” are found on pp. 363, 368 f. 19 For a comparison of towns and territories in the Empire see Schorn-Schütte, Evangelische Geistlichkeit, esp. pp. 429–439, 449–453. 20 See p. 167 f below, leading to the conclusion: “[…] Gewissenhaffte Regenten […] werden […] gedencken/ daß ein Stand zwar dem andern die Hand bieten/ doch keiner dem andern eingreiffen sol.” Stenger, Tausend Zeuge, pp. 188 f. 21 Chapter Five goes into detail. Erfurt can best be likened to the situation in Rostock, analysed by Strom, Orthodoxy, here esp. pp. 53–63 and 95–100. It is the best overview available in English. Conflicts in an Imperial town are studied by T. Schröder; see esp. pp. 169–172. I was not able to consult the 1631-dissertation by the Erfurt syndic Nörimberg, Ius Consistoriorum. 16

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The challenge posed by the dependent, yet headstrong preacher was felt in all of these towns. If preachers decided to publish sermons that had criticised local political authorities, they generally toned down the criticism and phrased it in abstract terms, without mentioning names. Consequently, the politically controversial (m)oral criticism is better documented in complaints filed by the insulted party and by chroniclers sympathetic to the pastors.22 The preachers’ selections are, again, best considered below in the separate section on sermons. The survey of sources still needs to trace the 1646-affair through the archives of the Council and the Ministry. The decision to leniently punish townsmen guilty of such “adultery” was not unprecedented: the high-ranking customers of the “whore Rebecca” had been fined similarly in 1635.23 In 1646, however, the intended anonymity was broken by a leading councillor, Henning von der Marthen (1598–1662). He carried a copy of the protocol naming Catharina’s customers from a courtroom in the Town Hall (the Zweiermannskammer) to the nearby seat of the spiritual authorities, in the former Augustinian monastery.24 This Evangelical Ministry promptly demanded that the whoremongers confess and publicly repent their sins. In the meantime they were excluded from Eucharist. The subsequent dispute about this conditional excommunication confronts us with the last of the articulate men involved in the affair: one of Catharina’s customers. Stefan Keyser refused to recognise having had any sexual relationship to the said woman. In a dispute lasting at least four years, he struggled to be relieved of the charges and regain access to the Eucharist. The conflicting claims and evidence need not be repeated in detail.25 The lesson to be drawn from such cases was formulated by a contemporary rural pastor, Nicolaus Syring (c.1590/91–1662). In a 1648-report, Syring complained to visitators that he, like most pastors in town, lacked the sanctions necessary to move sinners to repent in public. The Council only tolerated the prosecution of sins against the Sixth Commandment, and when his parishioners whored, sighed Syring, quite a few resisted his sanctions. They called upon “high-ranking persons” to intercede for them, objecting that they had 22 See Hagenmeier, pp. 121–130; Haag, Predigt, p. 210. For Erfurt, see Samuel Fritz, Cronica. App. I. 24, p. 341 (1628) and the journal kept by the councillor Michael Silberschlag in 1653, StAE 5/100-43, e. g. pp. 33–36. 23 The chronicler who noted this affair chose not to name any of her many customers. [Anon.], Erffurdtische Chronica. App. I. 14, p. 671. He instead described her sorry fate. Rebecca was whipped out of town and seems to have moved to nearby Arnstadt. According to hearsay she there married a captain, who later discovered her dishonourable past and subsequent adultery. With some satisfaction, the chronicler noted how her husband handed Rebecca over to the young camp followers, the Soldaten Jungen. They stoned her to death. 24 AEM A.II.a.1, p. 35r (2.5.1650) and the testimony from 1649, copied in StAE 1-1/Xa-I, 21. Marthen had been assessor to the Ministry since 1635. 25 Keyser consistently claimed that ill advisors had persuaded his wife to pay the fine, despite the lack of incriminating evidence. He, Keyser, had at the time been away on business outside Erfurt. StAE 1-1/Xa-I, 21 and AEM A.II.a.1, pp. 12v, 15v, 17v, 19r, 20v, 32v, 33v, 35r.

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already been fined by the secular authorities and were now being punished “with two rods”.26 Stefan Keyser’s objections and Syring’s report are some of the earliest cases in the Ministry archives. Records are very sparse until the mid-1640s.27 Urban parishes have comparable gaps. Their archives do however at times record rites like baptisms, burials, and the auricular confession.28 There is more left from the main Catholic institutions. Yet the archives of the cloisters and the archiepiscopal administration were dispersed in 1802 when the Electorate of Mainz ceased to exist; the few remaining cloisters were mostly abolished in 1828. Extant records are spread throughout a number of Bavarian and former Prussian archives. Two useful studies examine the fragmented records left in the two local collegiate archives.29 This present study analyses a journal and two chronicles located in Wernigerode, Jena, and München.30 The activity of the town council is better documented. Court records make it possible to examine censorship and the official correspondence helps to reconstruct the main events. This enables us to contextualise several chronicle narratives. Police ordinances are preserved in abundance, but the extant protocols from council meetings merely register decisions; they give no insights into internal debates.31 Villages around towns like Erfurt were, for the most part, much more exposed to military assaults and are therefore included in the study. I have, however, relied on a combination of visitation protocols and the printed sources. The unedited records from the rural church archives are not examined. Thorough surveys of neighbouring rural areas reconstruct the life conditions during war in admirable detail.32 I did find it helpful to include prints on the adjacent village of Ramsla and 26

“Wiewol ich dieselbe bey etliche schwerlich erhalten können, als welche sich derselben entzi[e]hen wollen, mit dieser entschuldigung; hetten sie es doch bey der obrigkeit verstraffet: nun würde sie nicht mit Zweyen ruthen haben. Auch durch Vorneme leute intercessiones dieselbe haben hindern wollen.” AEM A.VII.a.4.a: Bischleben 1, p. 157v; cf. the evading answer given by elders in the parish p. 176r and see p. 158v (Tit XXIII). The underlying logic of punishing twice – in worldly and ecclesiastical courts – is again based on the functional distinction between the secular and the spiritual authorities. See Schilling, “History of Crime”?. 27 The visitation protocols are stored in AEM A.VII.a.4.a-f and A.VII.a.32.b-e. The internal debate on ecclesiastical discipline 1636–1648 is documented in AEM A.VII.a.1.a-c; and StAE 1-1/XA-I, 1a. 28 See fn. 95 and Weiß, Kaufmannskirche. 29 See Schauerte and the more reliable Meisner, here esp. pp. 20 f. 30 See App. I. 1–3. 31 Most ordinances are stored in StAE 3/031; on censorship see Chapter Five, p. 191. Comparing the extant Council protocols (StAE 1-1/XXI-2, nos. 6 to 10) with the 1653-journal of the councillor Michael Silberschlag (fn. 22 above) gives an impression of the heated debates. For further notes, Wiegand, Stadtarchiv. 32 E. Wagner, Geschichte unserer Dörfer offers a plethora of reliable data on the villages surrounding Erfurt. Editors regretfully required him to leave out archival references. His findings concur with the well-researched dissertations by Bromme and Albrecht-Birkner, Reformation des Lebens. An overview of the rural communities to the north of Erfurt is found in Hagke, pp. 36–38, 157, 190, 285 f et passim.

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the small town Gebesee. For pragmatic reasons, the systematic research was otherwise limited to the boundaries of the territory ruled by the Erfurt council. The study, likewise, only considers short parts in the harsh lives of refugees who fled to Erfurt. This leaves us with the main sources of the study, namely homilies and town chronicles. The latter owe to a vibrant historiographical tradition and the painstaking efforts of nineteenth-century collectors; Appendix I remarks on both. The significant number of sermons, devotionals, and other religious writings from Erfurt were mostly published locally. Not all of the fourteen printers active in these decades were equally productive.33 Some published less than a dozen works; others, like Martin Spangenberg (d.1639) and his wife Martha, prudently began to concentrate on funeral sermons, marriage poems, and academic disputations. These occasional, prestigious prints were published for a small audience and were the bread and butter of the local trade. There was, on the other hand, room for specialisation. Tobias Fritzsch (c.1590–1656) concentrated on cheap prints, bringing forth a number of almanacs and black-letter ballads that will be examined in Chapter Four.34 The publisher Johann Birckner (1587–1658) also deserves special mention. He was by far the most affluent figure in the local print business and marketed Thuringian authors far outside the region.35 His success was partly due to the small branch office that he kept in Jena. It was truly a university town with a broader market for academic publications.36 Christoph Mechler (c.1580–1636) was privileged by the small local university and was the only printer who printed for the local Catholic minority. We return to the meagre market for Catholic prints later in this chapter. The pedlars and the issues of censorship and faked imprints are dealt with in course of the analysis.37 The two remaining sections now take a closer look at the varieties of sermons and chronicles and the audiences that they addressed. These genre-related issues influenced how divine interventions were portrayed.

33 In 1651, a by no means modest author only listed four active printing presses, Hundorph, Encomii Erffurtini Continuatio. App. I. 18, p. E1r. The same holds true for the six publishers documented in Erfurt. Fundamental for the following, Reske, pp. 210–214 and Benzing, Verleger, pp. 1099, 1101, 1167, 1175, 1251, 1263. The publisher “Marx Meyer” (ibid., p. 1218) is probably fictitious; see Chapter Five, fn. 338. Bauer, Personalschriften, pp. 612–618 gives additional biographical dates. – The electronic catalogue VD17 is not yet completed and leaves out the prints stored in BEM. When used in combination with the GBV union catalogue, it does nevertheless give a fair impression of the various printers’ activities and specialisations. 34 E. g. Chapter Four, fn.s 12, 44, 170, and Chapter Six, fn. 157. 35 Weiß, Johann Birckner; Rosseaux, p. 208 et passim. 36 Stieda, pp. 47 f, 60–62. 37 See pp. 80, 191 and fn.s 37 (Chapter Four), 382 (Chapter Five).

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Sermons Sermons and other homilies were written with a view to homiletics. They focused on salvation. Pastors were expected to make audiences realise that soteriology had immediate relevance for them. Faith in Christ would help believers to cope with their harsh lives and to overcome an inherently sinful nature, corrupted by the Fall. Erfurt pastors such as Jeremias Alberti (1592–1660) and Zacharias Hogel (1611–1676) lived up to their Christian names and preached like the prophets of the Old Testament.38 Their colleague Nicolaus Stenger (1609–1680) likened the preacher to Ezekiel, with his role as a guardian: So thou, O sonne of man, I haue set thee a watchman vnto the house of Israel (Ezek 33, 7). True, the Lord no longer called upon his prophets directly, in dreams. Instead, He instated them by official appointment and election of the parish.39 Yet the preachers’ task remained the same: “when he seeth the sword come vpon the land, hee [must] blow the trumpet and warne the people” (Ezek 33, 2). Those who failed to announce the impending judgement would themselves be punished. On Judgement Day, the unreproved sinners would cry against such preachers.40 While it is not possible to understand the preaching in this age without considering the concepts of divine wrath and judgement, it is crucial not to mistake them for the sole or central message. Pastors all sought to save souls. They often reminded audiences that God had “no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but [wants] that the wicked turne from his way & liue” (Ezek 33, 11).41 Enlightened thinkers refuted these arguments through a dichotomy that distinguished an atavistic ‘theology of wrath’ from the more comforting ‘theology of grace’.42 Modern readers who would like to understand the preachers of the day are better advised to see their harsh words as part of a process. Prophetic warnings of “the sword [that] come vpon the land” and the presentations of war as a God-sent punishment were meant to awaken a fear which could prompt feelings of remorse and thus bring sinners back on the right path. The process involved three crucial steps. Throughout his Small Catechism (1529), Luther insisted that Christians must “fear, love, and trust in God”.43 The Decalogue, therefore, not only showed mankind which sins the Lord abhorred; it further warned that He was a “iealous God, visiting the 38

Readers are advised to consult Bauer, Theologen for further data on all Erfurt pastors mentioned in this study, e. g. pp. 74–76, 195 on Jeremias Alberti, Zacharias Hogel, and their homonymous fathers; suffixes like Hogel, II and Alberti, Jr. are reserved for the index. 39 Stenger, Tausend Zeuge, pp. 117, 120 f. 40 Ibid., pp. 111, 167 f. 41 Ibid., p. 117 and Chapter Four, fn.s 1, 160. 42 See Chapter One, fn. 58 and the balanced introduction to the Enlightened debate Holzem, Vorstellungswelt, pp. 241–244. Cf. H. R. Schmidt, Ächtung, p. 67; Roeck, Formen, p. 276. 43 Esp. in the commentary to the Decalogue, e. g. “Das erst. Du sollst nicht ander Götter haben. Was ist das? Antwort. Wir sollen Gott über alle Dinge fürchten, lieben und vertrauen.” Luther, Der kleine Katechismus, p. 507.

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iniquitie of the fathers vpon the children, vnto the thirde and fourth generation of them that hate me” (Exod 20, 5). These words, as explained in Luther’s Catechism, made sinners fear God; the ensuing promise to reward “them that loue mee, and keepe my Commandements” unto one thousand generations (Exod 20, 6) should persuade the frightened to love the Lord and trust in Him.44 Pastors therefore viewed their own sermons on divine anger as a point of departure towards salvation. Stenger reasoned that the guidance along this path was best realised through a carrot-and-stick method, using both the staff called “Gentle” (Stab Sanft) and the one called “Woe” (Weh).45 A preacher must first attack all ungodly mores and “lift vp [his] voice like a trumpet” (Is 58, 1), confronting sinners with the need to mend their ways. Then he should comfort and explain why redemption was certain for all who believed in the Saviour. He was finally to teach listeners how to attain and retain the grace of God. Stenger thus echoed homiletic guides in his portrait of a preacher who “admonishes, comforts, and instructs”.46 The main challenge was to strike the right balance between these tenors and inculcate an awe or ‘filial fear’ that would later blossom into a trust in God.47 Jeremias Alberti was praised for having “known well how to soften the hardened hearts with the hammer of Law and then in turn bandage and heal the contrite and frightened with the spiritual oil of the Gospel.”48 The pastor was thus, to cite Stenger again, not only a guardian but also a physician.49 A third frequently used analogy was both pastoral and combative. As the shepherd of his flock, a pastor must instruct and bring his parishioners to graze on the Scripture. Yet a shepherd should, Stenger cautioned, also be ready to bark out against the false prophets, who tried to sneak in like wolves dressed in sheep’s clothing. Here, he turned against his local opponent, the pastor Bartholomäus Elsner (1596/1599–1662).50 Theologians of the day guarded doctrine polemically, if need be; salvation was only to be found in the pure Word.

44

Ibid., p. 510. Stenger, Tausend Zeuge, p. 127: “so wohl den Stab Sanft/ als den Stab Weh”, based on Zech 11, 7. The King James Version reads: “the one [staff] J called Beautie, and the other J called Bands”. The following quote is ibid., p. 129. 46 Stenger, Tausend Zeuge, p. 153: “ermahnet/ tröstet/ vnd vnterrichtet”. This was one of several similar sentences. Trunz, pp. 174–200 compares Meyfart’s division (“Tröstungen/ Warnungen/ Vermahnungen/ Widerlegungen/ Unterrichtungen”, p. 200) to Antique and Lutheran homiletics. Kaufmann, Universität, p. 469 lists further studies and comments on yet another variant, pp. 482–484 (teach, admonish, accuse, and console). 47 Stenger, Tausend Zeuge, p. 131. On filial fear, Marshall, pp. 159–161. 48 “[A]ls hat er auch wohl gewust die verstockten Hertzen mit dem Gesetzes Hammer zu erweichen/ und denn wiederumb die Zerknirschten und Geängsteten mit dem geistlichen Oehl des Evangelii zu verbinden und heilen”, Hertz, p. F4r. Bärwinkel, Kirchengeschichte, pp. 14 f quotes a very similar pastoral biography extensively. 49 Stenger, Tausend Zeuge, pp. 118, 136, and esp. 139. On the growing importance of the role as physician, Steiger, Medizinische Theologie, Teil II, esp. 51–53. 50 Stenger, Tausend Zeuge, pp. 128–130 (“Weiden und wehren”). 45

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The ongoing dispute to which Stenger alluded in 1642 centred on how best to inspire a true penitence (wahre Buße) in the hearts of parishioners. Chapter Five goes into detail with the related dispute. It had a direct impact on the type of texts encountered in the archives and libraries. The theological branch attacked by Stenger deemed it necessary to complement sermons with other, more pedagogical, means of instruction. They brought forth simple Socratic dialogues, illustrated children’s books, and catechism questionnaires.51 Chapter Five looks closer at the choice of media. At present, it suffices to outline the shared assumptions about the audience. Pastors knew their parishioners well enough to appreciate the impression left by accounts of drastic divine interventions. Listeners who fell asleep when the pastor preached on the Article of Justification are said to have woken and pricked up their ears when he began to recount exempla. The frequently cited remark seems to hit the mark.52 Sermons here adopted a form that was found in the best-selling prints, like the local broadside on the miserly merchant from Luzern who was swallowed up by earth53 or the tale about the haughty Papist priests who had suffered the same fate in Erfurt.54 Such dreadful demises helped preachers warn listeners to steer clear of sin and apostasy. Lutheran and Catholic pulpits were full of cases where the Devil drove individual sinners to desperation and suicide.55 Cautionary tales and providential rescues, however, were not the only accounts that impressed churchgoers. Preachers gave the most attention to calamities and prodigies such as comets and deformed children. They were all presented as ‘manifest calls for repentance’ (tätliche Bußprediger) directed at the community of believers.56 The continued relevance of the Old Testament was demonstrated by comparing recent events with the history of Israel. In 1633, for instance, Johann Matthäus Meyfart (1590–1642) mourned the death of Gustavus Adolphus (1594–1632) at Lützen. He spoke of the current German situation in a commentary on the perilous return journey from the Babylonian captivity (Ezra 8, 15–23).57 A year earlier, in 1632, on the first anniversary of the battle at Breitenfeld, Valentin Wallenberger 51

See esp. pp. 151, 155 f. Wandersleben (1640) is the most interesting for this study. “[W]enn man vom Artikel der Rechtfertigung prediget, so schläft das Volk und hustet; wenn man aber anfähet Historien und Exempel zu sagen, da reckts beide Ohren auf, ist still und höret fleißig zu.” The saying was ascribed to Luther and is included in the early editions of his ‘Table Talk’. Luther, Tischreden, Vol. 2, pp. 454 f, no. 2408b; Brückner, Exempelsammlungen, p. 605. The English parallels are well-explored. Lake/Questier lists the recent, fine studies. 53 Jacob Singe’s 1612-pamphlet is reprinted in Dorothy/Strauss, p. 593. 54 Chroniclers mostly date the well-known Sühneglöcklein-tale to the year 1204, e. g. [Limprecht], Erfurtensia, p. 36r; [Anon.], Erffurdtische Chronica. App. I. 14, pp. 10 f. 55 E. g. the tour-de-force in Stenger, Tausend Zeuge, pp. 30–41. The pastor Martin Cabuth copied a corresponding positive example, [Cabuth], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 5, p. 170v. The chronicle of the Jesuit College (App. I. 3) is a treasure trove of pro-Catholic tales; e. g. Chapter Four, fn. 187. 56 Ample examples are found by Diefenbach; Kaufmann, Dreißigjähriger Krieg, Chapter 2; and Walsham, Providence, Chapter 3. 57 Meyfart, Gedenck Predigt, esp. pp. 15–17 52

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(1582–1639) had likened the Swedish victory to the deliverance of God’s former Chosen People described in the Book of Esther. This pastor compared the scheming Papists to the plotters who had planned to slay all Jews in the realm of King Ahasuerus.58 Even events of a more local and limited impact, such as the Imperial cattle raid of 1642, prompted Scriptural comparison.59 Only one of the above three sermons focused on thanksgiving (1632). The call for collective repentance dominates the sample of Erfurt sermons. The decision to place these stern admonishments in print was an outcome of the preachers’ views on sin and salvation. The stain inflicted upon mankind by the Fall was not washed away by baptism. ‘Old Adam’ remained active. He needed to be drowned daily, held captive, and coerced “not only by the admonishments and the threat of the Law, but also through punishments and plagues”.60 This important passage in the Formula of Concord (1577) inspired many sermons. The pastoral focus on famine, war, and similar plagues owes more to this tenet on the Third Use of the Law than to any continuous series of material crises in the following century-and-a-half. The preachers’ propensity to suspect the multitude of “lying, killing, stealing and committing adultery” etc. should similarly be first and foremost considered as an element within an encompassing soteriology.61 The litany of accusations was used to stress the need for continual penitence by all individuals. Preachers sought to specify a tenet rather than to write ethnographies of their parishes. It might nonetheless be possible to read sermons paying attention to the parishioners’ actual behaviour. When doing so, one ought to refer to additional sources, such as funeral sermons or visitation protocols. In these, pastors sought to describe transgression and religious commitment with more accuracy and nuance.62 Visitation protocols also present rural clergymen from a different point of view, as spiritual advisors and co-inhabitants of war-ridden communities. The survey of sermons as a source for our study has so far sought to explicate the influence of homiletics and theology. The concluding section considers 58 Wallenberger, Purim, namely pp. B4v–E2r: “EJne zehnfache Collation vnd gegeneinander Haltung der Zeit / vnd deß Siegs deß Jsraelitischen Volcks mit der zeit / vnd dem Siege deß Evangelischen Volcks Gottes zu vnser zeit.” 59 See p. 227. 60 “[… Es] ist vonnöten, daß ihnen [sc.: den Getauften] das Gesetz des Herrn immer vorleuchte, desgleichen, daß auch der alten Adam nicht sein eigen Willen gebrauchen, sondern wider sein Willen nicht allein durch Vermahnung und Trauung des Gesetzes, sondern auch mit den Strafen und Plagen gezwungen, daß er dem Geist folge und sich gefangen gebe.” Konkordienformel (1577), Epitome IV. Vom dritten Brauch des Gesetzes. Affirmativa 3, p. 794. See BSLK, p. 704 (Martin Luther: Großer Katechismus [1529]) on the life of a Christian as a daily baptism and drowning of Adam. 61 The quoted passage runs even longer in the German original. Henning Dedekind was concerned that the immoral adornments worn by women would set off the following chain reaction of sinning in Gebesee: “lügen/ mordern/ stelen vnd Ehebrechen (sampt andern viel bösen Stücken/als: Gotteslästern / fluchen / schweren / zaubern / zancken / reuffen / huren / buben / rauben / wuchern / Ehrenschenden / vnd dergleichen)”. H. Dedekind, Warhafftiger Bericht, p. B4v. 62 Considerate analyses, appreciating the bias in these sources, include Niekus Moore, Patterned Lives and Albrecht-Birkner, Reformation des Lebens.

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the constraints imposed by the pastor’s occupational duties and the bookselling trade. Preaching was a daily event in larger Lutheran towns. In Erfurt each pastor preached at least twice a week, adding up to some twenty sermons held in nine parishes.63 The duty to preach, to catechise, and to listen to spoken confessions left a pastor scant time to study and meditate upon the Scriptures. Home visits to the ill and distressed further burdened pastors, as did baptisms, burials, and funerals – to say nothing of the weekly prayer hour, introduced in 1623.64 On Saturday evenings, many were tempted to copy a pre-formulated sermon from a postillon.65 Sunday sermons expounded on the Scriptural passages that were fixed in the socalled pericope. The pericope also specified which tenor sermons were to take. On the whole, Sunday readings struck a more equal balance between Gospel and Law than is found in printed occasional sermons.66 Preachers burdened by their duties proved their Scriptural prowess in the weekday sermons, which were delivered to an interested, but smaller audience. Jeremias Alberti, for instance, first expounded the short Books of Jonah and Ruth for two years (April 18, 1642–July 22, 1644). He then turned to his mammoth commentary on the Book of Judges given in 149 sermons held from 1644 to 1649.67 Alberti’s selection from the Scripture was not untypical. During the bellicose decades, Joel and Jeremiah were deemed at least as relevant for sermons as Proverbs and the Psalter.68 The Book of Jonah was, to cite but one local sermon, of

63 Lübeck excelled with 37 weekly sermons. On this and other Lutheran towns, Kaufmann, Universität, pp. 456–458. Sermons were held thrice a week in the hospital church and in the Andreaskirche. Hundorph, Encomii Erffurtini Continuatio. App. I. 18, p. G4r. Village pastors preached at least once a week. Frequency varied according to season and parish; see Nebe, Der Erfurter Landpastor. 64 Meyfart’s years of prolific writing at the Gymnasium in Coburg thus came to an end in Erfurt when he took on the tasks of university teaching and pastoral care, Trunz, p. 47. 65 Stenger, Tausend Zeuge, p. 132. See fn. 75 below. 66 Kaufmann, Universität, p. 572. E. g. Stenger, Von der Einwohnung Gottes (1642). 67 Hertz, p. F4v. Nine days before he died, Alberti had finished the last of his 254 sermons on the First Book of Samuel held 1652–1660. Alberti and most of his colleagues did clearly not devote every week-day sermon to their on-going commentary. 68 Preachers like Johann Quistorp (Rostock) made similar choices, Kaufmann, Universität, pp. 592– 598; Leube, pp. 133 f. An exhaustive (if chronologically inaccurate) list of preaching from c.1640 to 1651 is Hundorph, Encomii Erffurtini Continuatio. App. I. 18, p. G4r: Monday Predigerkirche: “Prophetâ Jonâ: Librô Ruth: Judicum: & Epistola Jacobi pertractatis, jam Epist. Judæ tractatur.” Tuesdays, Barfüsserkirche: “Acta Apostolorum jam explicantur.” Andreaskirche: “Dicta Biblica, jam 78 Psalmus.” Spital: “Dicta Biblica selectiora.” Wednesdays, Kaufmannskirche: “Concionibus de Conscientia: Prophetâ Joele: Confessione Augustanâ: & Formulâ Concordiæ peractis, jam Genesis”. Augustinerkirche: “Harmoniâ Evangelistarum, ( uti & diebus Dominicis, locô Exordii,) Psalteriô & Epistolis Petri, absolutis, jam Acta Apostolorum”. Thursdays, Michaeliskirche: “Propheta Jeremias”; Fridays: Andreaskirche, Thomaskirche, and Spital: “Die Fest un[d] Son[n]tagsEpisteln.” “In der Fastenzeit wird in allen Kirchen vom Leyden Christi geprediget.” Not every pastor could meet the demands. On Thursdays in the Reglerkirche “wird [der Pfarrer] verschonet mit Wochenpredigt, wg. seiner hohen alter[:] bald predigt Diakon Jh. Schade; bald Schulrektor Joh. Henr. Bremmer, bald ein Studiosus.”

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utmost importance “for our people, our town, and our land”, “the Thuringian Nineveh”.69 The last passage is, however, not quoted from one of Alberti’s forty-five unpublished sermons on Jonah. It is found in the aforementioned sermon on the late Swedish saviour which was held by the acclaimed author Meyfart. Apart from their considerations on style and genre, and before approaching censors, preachers first had to find someone to publish their work. However, publishers in Erfurt (and most other towns) published sermons to make a profit.70 Tobias Fritzsch, for instance, printed the devotionals recommended by pastors alongside the frivolous Schartecken that they abhorred.71 Hymnals and broadsides both rank among the popular and most widely read prints, along with editions of the Psalter, Jesus Sirach, and similar Biblical Books.72 While textbooks for use in local schools were also in continual demand, sermons by local preachers rarely sold well.73 The postillon by Esaias Silberschlag (1560–1606) from 1600 did see a second edition, but both were published outside Erfurt.74 Local printers instead preferred outside best-sellers. When they published local sermons, they chose those held on special occasions.75 During these three decades only two series of weekly sermons held in town were put to print. Both were delivered by Nicolaus Stenger. His cycles expounded on subjects that had seldom been treated at length from the pulpit, namely the Lutheran doctrine and matters of conscience.76 Printed homilies thus make it possible to reconstruct the theological profiles of but a few pastors of local fame. In addition to Meyfart, Elsner, and Stenger, Chapter Five examines the controversial apocalyptic calculations made by Zacharias Hogel. The extant protocols in local archives document the internal debates between these pastors and their colleagues during the late 1630s and 1640s.77 Less 69

“ISt dann nun die Buße/ dem Thüringischen Ninive in jtziger Zeit nötig? Ja sie ist vnsern Volck/ vnserer Stadt/ vnd vnsere Lande hochnötig. Einmal weil der Zorn Gottes wide[r] vns vnd die vnseren groß ist/ vnd kan noch grösser werden: Er kan durch die Missethat noch höher gezogen/ vnd durch die Buße tieffer gelassen werden […]”. Meyfart, Gedenck Predigt, p. 22. 70 Leube, p. 136 mentions the Brothers Stern (Lüneburg) and Wolfgang Endter (Nürnberg) as two pious exceptions. One can add Reyher’s court press in Gotha to the exclusive list, see Schmidt-Ewald. 71 E. g. Hans Sachs, Ein schön Fast-nacht Spiel; Büttner, Historia von Claus Narn. 72 See p. 231 and Stenger, Tausend Zeuge, p. 156, quoting Johannes Mathesius: “der Psalter vnd Catechismus sind der Leyen Biblia”. On readings in village schools and rural households, AEM A.VII.a.4.a, p. 181v (Büßleben); A.VII.a.4.e, p. 45v (Bechstedt Wagd), A.VII.a.4.d, pp. 4r, 5v (Egstedt). 73 The two first editions 1625 and 1634 seem to have been lost. See Wedmann (1737), Vorrede, p. 6v; Weiß, Stiftungsprofessur, pp. 220 f. 74 BV 011579298 (Eisleben 1600); VD17 3:310851A (Leipzig 1606). 75 See fn.s 56 and 58 above for typical specimens. On outside parallels, Breuer and Kaufmann, Lutherische Predigt. 76 Stenger, Grund-Feste der Augspurgischen Confession 1648/1649 (delivered from 15.1.1640 to 9.2.1642); Stenger, Tausend Zeuge nemlich Das Gewissen des Menschen 1646/1647 (8.6.1642– 14.6.1643). See Chapter Five, p. 170. Whilst Stenger did not bring any further cycles to print, he published a steady stream of single sermons from 1642 to the late 1670s. 77 See fn. 27 above.

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accomplished preachers such as Jeremias Alberti and Valentin Caps (d.1626) necessarily remain more colourless (or wholly absent) figures in this study. They almost exclusively published sermons delivered at upper-class funerals, where relatives covered the expenses.78 The Catholic clergy remains without a homiletic profile for the same pecuniary reasons: the purchasing power of the local Catholic community was too small for the printers to profit. Apart from hymnals, it was mainly academic disputations that were published – not sermons.79 Jesuits and mendicant preachers did draw crowds of both Catholics and Lutherans, but these spectacles are only documented briefly in chronicles.80 The preaching of the priest Lambert Heck (d.1632) is better preserved. A postillon from 1589 and cycles held in the following decades survive in manuscript.81 From 1618 to 1630, Heck noted the themes and sources for his sermons in a thorough but, unfortunately, lapidary manner.82 The Catholic point of comparison is therefore limited to the better-documented propitiatory liturgy.83 The sermons studied here also originated as notes and drafts. Some preachers carefully revised and extended these manuscripts when they prepared them for print. Other publications are based on the notes taken by attentive listeners.84 Stenger and Meyfart, the two main preachers encountered in this study, generally kept to the words that they had preached in the pulpit. Stenger stated whenever he added new passages to the published versions.85

78 The careers of all pastors, including the less prominent, are documented in Bauer, Theologen (e. g. p. 106 on Caps) and Bauer, Personalschriften. Swedish army chaplains, like Johannes Fröschl (1597–1678) and Caspar Hillebrandt (active in the 1630s and 1640s), also figure there. 79 On prints from 1629 to 1635 and the occasions that prompted them, Berg, Erläuterungen, fn.s 6, 14, and 21. On hymnals see DKL, 1622–03, 1630–04. Mechler did, tellingly enough, also plan to sell the latter 1630-hymnal in the larger Catholic exclave Eichsfeld (see his dedication, [Anon.], Catholisch GesangBuch, p. 3r). It was likewise an Eichsfeld lawyer, who commissioned Mechler with printing his translation of Justus Lipsius’ work on the Image of Mary in the Brabant town of Halle. The work was published in Erfurt, 1627 (VD17 1:649697S). 80 E. g. Chapter Four, fn. 188; compare Herzog. 81 See Weiß, Predigten and the sermons held during the epidemic in 1597, UBEDE CA. 2o 163, pp. 253r–320r. 82 BAM Hs. Erf. 4 (43 leafs) and UBEDE CA. 4o 169: Notae de sermonibus per annus 1618–1628 Erfordiae in ecclesiis Omnium sanctorum, S. Nicolai, S. Mariae habitis. 83 See fn. 29 above. 84 E. g. Hahn. On such transcripts, see Bauer, Personalschriften, pp. 66, 156 and Pfeifer, p. 22. 85 E. g. Stenger, Grund-Feste, p. 1360; Trunz, p. 112.

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Town chronicles Over the past three decades, the study of Lutheran and Catholic preaching between the Reformation and Enlightenment has grown into a separate field of research. The study of the contemporary chronicle-writing in the Holy Roman Empire remains less expounded upon and the research debate is still somewhat fragmentary.86 The number of edited chronicles from this era is over-shadowed by the late medieval predecessors. Thanks to recent contributions, the knowledge of the historiographical traditions in Erfurt has reached a comparatively advanced stage. Ulman Weiß outlines the spread of chronicle-writing from the monasteries into the Town Hall.87 Friedhelm Tromm documents the crucial historiographical shift in the course of Reformation upheavals. His edition of a late sixteenth-century-chronicle also reconstructs the spread of the much-copied ‘burgher chronicle’ from 1544.88 Further exemplary editions document how the tradition of writing chronicles was continued in the seventeenth century. Even rural pastors now began to write the history of their villages.89 Chronicles written in the decades during and after the Thirty Years War display two characteristics. Until 1660 only Lutherans wrote the history of Erfurt. These authors drew a strikingly unified picture of the old town history.90 The second remarkable characteristic is quantity. Erfurt was the only Thuringian town that could boast of a tradition that was both venerable and vibrant. The town chronicle has even been ranked as the fourth book in literate households, after the Bible, the hymnal, and the almanac.91 Erfurt burghers certainly read chronicles for many generations. Later readers were eager to extend the history of their “great and memorable town, the head of the Thuringian lands”,92 up to the present day. They 86 New approaches to chronicles are found by Rohmann; Rau; Dzeja; and most recently Studt/Rau, Geschichte Schreiben. For useful overviews of Lutheran history-writing as a whole see Pohlig; Gordon, Changing Face; and Brückner, Historien und Historie. 87 Weiß, Städtische Geschichtsschreibung. The commented inventory compiled by K. Herrmann, Bibliotheca Erfurtina (1863) remains indispensable. 88 Tromm’s edition was neither available to me as Ph.D.-thesis (2006) nor in the revised version meant to have been published in 2008. Overmann, Erfurter Chroniken, p. 32 speaks of more than thirty extant variants and continuations of the 1544-chronicle. The number of chronicles written in Erfurt is not as extraordinary as it may seem. Droste, pp. 402–446 lists 189 works on the history of Lüneburg. Nürnberg is unparalleled with at least 599 and possibly 1000 extant chronicles, Stahl, p. 205. 89 Schum (App. I. 20); Medick/Bähr/et al., Hans Krafft (App. I. 19). 90 Compare with Rau, p. 215 and the more heterogeneous situations described by Droste; Dzeja; Mauer, Das uneinheitliche Gedächtnis; P. Wolf. The plurality of local foundation myths (fn. 101 below) is an exception. 91 Weiß, Respublica Erffordiana, p. 318. Sources like local testaments have not yet been examined systematically. 92 “Erfurdt die grosse und gedechtnis Würdige Stadt, ein häupt Thüringer Landes”, [Cabuth], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 5, p. 1r.

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either transcribed older chronicles or added remarks in the margins of finished accounts.93 Many codices are thus filled with different handwriting, ranging from the steady hands of council scribes to artisans with highly idiosyncratic orthographies. The group of identifiable chroniclers spans a rather broad educational and occupational spectrum. Lutheran pastors flank the Catholic clergymen, who wrote for their diocese or monastery. The official in charge of the town guards had his say on town history together with a master craftsman and a cook.94 What are the contours of this tradition? Which intellectual pedigree, which values, and which languages characterise the nineteen chroniclers?95 The edifying anecdotes had not lost ground since the thirteenth century. Luther and Melanchton asserted, and probably strengthened, the theocentric view on history.96 The town chroniclers who orientated their works to intellectual authorities preferred Lutheran historiographers like Johannes Sleidanus (1506–1556) and Johannes Mathesius (1504–1565).97 The limited influence of the local Latin tradition is remarkable and, some might add, regrettable. For the erudite ‘late humanist’ culture did, at least in Erfurt, offer a common point of reference that allowed Catholic priests and Lutheran pastors to meet in university as scholars, and also made it easier for laymen of both denominations to work together in the Council.98 Following the turn of the seventeenth century, this inter-denominational cooperation began to crumble. Some Lutherans politicians turned to republican theories of government so as to formulate their claims for increased autonomy. These aspirations, Ulman Weiß argues, climaxed during the first Swedish occupation of Erfurt (1631–1635), the heyday of urban republicanism.99 Yet Weiß has also noted that republican terminology remained foreign to the broad populace100 – which, one might add, included most chroniclers. The school93

See p. 268 and App. I. 15. In due order, pastors: Martin Cabuth (App. I. 5); Zacharias Hogel (App. I. 9); Johann Daniel Ludwig (App. I. 20). Clergymen: Johann Arnoldi (App. I. 1); Jesuit college chronicle (App. I. 3). Anonymous town officials: App. I. 4, 11, 14. Artisans: Hans Krafft (App. I. 19) and Samuel Fritz (App. I. 23–24). – The two last entries (nos. 26–27) concern authors who were born in Erfurt, but lived elsewhere and wrote for an outside readership. 95 Continuations added to existing chronicles are here counted separately (App. I. 7; App. I. 8; App. I. 12). 96 Brückner, Historien und Historie, pp. 37–39 pointedly speaks of the Lutheran tendency to treat history as an ancilla of pastoral care. He here refers to an oft-cited preface by Luther, Historia Galeatii Capellae, p. 384: “Das macht: die Historien sind nicht anders, denn anzeigung, gedechtnis und merckmal Göttlicher werck und urteil, wie er die welt, sonderlich die Menschen, erhelt, regiert, hindert, fördert, straffet und ehret, nach dem ein jglicher verdienet, Böses oder Gutes.” 97 The school teacher Hundorph (App. I. 18) stated this on his front page: “Auß Luthero, Schleidano, Mathesio, unterschiedlichen Predigten/ Privilegirten Schrifften/ und den Relationibus, zusammen bracht.” 98 Weiß, Zweikonfessionalität, esp. 252 f. 99 “Zweifellos: die Zeit der schwedischen Besatzung ist die Zeit des stadtrepublikanischen Meistersangs”, Weiß, Respublica Erffordiana, p. 315. See Gelderen on contemporary scholarly debate. 100 Weiß, Respublica Erffordiana, p. 318. 94

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teacher Hundorph stood rather alone in his comparison between the foundation of Erfurt and the great republic of Venice in the very same year (472!). Most historiographers were content with the more traditional claim that the Frankish King Clovis I (Chlodewich) had founded the town.101 They tied the town’s liberties to local constitutions, making no allusions to learned schools of thought. The republican claims were reserved for coins, printed treatises, and similar media capable of reaching the intended outside audiences.102 When the legally trained, republican-minded officials produced manuscripts of the town chronicles, they turned to more demotic, vernacular terms, like common weal and self-interest (Gemeinnutz and Eigennutz).103 These key terms were embedded within a canon of social norms charted out in a range of excellent studies. Krafft’s appeal to the values of the household is far from unique. As Lyndal Roper has shown for Augsburg, enfranchised laymen were conscious of their own role.104 (All but one of the identifiable Lutheran chroniclers encountered in this study were married and had children by the time they wrote. Their ages range from forty-eight to seventy-seven).105 In his fine history of Erfurt from c.1400 to c.1600, Ulman Weiß traces the rise of the religious outlook amongst the lay decision makers and describes its inhabitants as the ‘devout burghers of Erfurt’.106 The phrase is fitting, though one should add that their religious convictions often seem very disagreeable to modern liberal observers. The aforementioned tirade against the permissive councillors in 1646 shows what chroniclers thought the common man should think about a ‘public woman’ like Catharina Schneider. Hans Krafft and his fellow chroniclers acted as spokesmen for an increasingly moral vision of urban society.107 These opinion-makers had also succeeded in defining the town’s historical heritage as being both autonomous and anti-Catholic. Many stories and nick-names were pointed against the ‘papists’ 101

Ibid., pp. 308 f. J. Hundorph, Encomium (1. ed. 1650), p. A2v, copied by Fritz, Cronica. App.

I. 24, p. 258 and [Hogel], Antiquitatum Erfurtensium. App. I. 9, p. 4r. Hogel also mentioned a third,

more genealogical myth. It stated that the town had been founded by a certain Erff, who was then variously described as Celtic warlord, a Thuringian king, or a local miller. The chroniclers who remained with King Clovis I (466–511) endeavoured to pre-date the foundation from 438 (!) A. C. to the year 400, 388, or 347, [Anon.], [Compilation]. App. I. 22, p. 1r; Hoffmann, Chronica Thvringiaca. App. I. 6, p. 5. 102 Johanek, Einleitung, p. XVI notes the same discrepancy in Magdeburg. 103 [Brettin], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 11, p. 71r. The well-read Stadtvogt Johan Hallenhorst may have authored the chronicle in App. I. 14. 104 L. Roper, The Holy Household passim. 105 Born in 1615, Johann Daniel Ludwig began to write in 1662 or 1663 (App. I. 20). Hiob Ludolf, Jr., born 1624, published a volume in 1702. Samuel Fritz (App. I. 24), Hans Krafft (App. I. 19), and Melchior Adam Pastorius (App. I. 26) all wrote in their early 70s. The priest Caspar Heinrich Marx was aged 31, when he began to keep his official journal (App. I. 1). – Martin Hoffmann is the odd man out: he was unmarried and aged around thirty in 1599, when he began his town chronicle. 106 Weiß, Die frommen Bürger. For an English outline see Hamm, Urban Reformation. 107 See L. Roper, Discipline and Oehmig, Bettler und Dirnen, pp. 85–189, who dates the closure of authorised brothels in Erfurt to the period between 1556 and 1583.

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(Papisten) and ‘shavelings’ (Pfaffen). A number of anonymous chroniclers can only be identified as Lutheran by means of their anti-papist attitude. Other groups in the town did exhibit more irenic or even irreligious attitudes. We shall return to them in Chapters Three and Six. Relying on pastors and chroniclers, this study is able to reconstruct dominant ways of thinking, yet it inevitably has greater difficulty determining to which extent their values were shared by less outspoken groups. It has been claimed that intolerant hard-liners were rare in Erfurt.108 Elsewhere they supposedly also represented but one overly pious fraction, whose views were not shared by the broad masses, “at the grass roots’ level”. None of the nineteen local chroniclers belong to this silent majority. Writing in a demotic rather than a humanist tradition also had a noteworthy impact on the style and topics of the narratives. When chroniclers took to rhyming, the outcome was far removed from the Latin poems and oratories recited in the local Collegium Saxonicum and Porta Coeli. Their vernacular verses most resemble the street ballads hawked on marketplaces and in taverns.109 Chroniclers did not describe war with the concepts characteristic of humanist accounts, like nemesis or fortuna. They appealed to notions of sin and Heaven-sent calamities.110 Authors hardly ever portrayed their town as a ‘Respublica Erffordiana’. It is instead presented as a ‘communitas christiana’ in miniature, accountable to God.111 Opting to write a chronicle in German furthermore limited the role of an author in Erfurt.112 Few town chroniclers wrote their own names on the title-page. Five out of the fifteen town chroniclers in Erfurt wrote anonymously; only two signed their chronicles on the title page.113 As long as their works remained in family possession, heirs knew who had authored them.114 Yet many chronicles passed through the hands of numerous collectors, or survived in fragments without the front page.115 A number of authors can still be identified via their handwriting or through notes added by later readers.116 Nevertheless, the frequent and often 108 Ulbricht, Experience, p. 99; Weiß, Zweikonfessionalität, p. 253 with reference to the late sixteenth century: “ausgenommen einige evangelische Bürger”. 109 E. g. pp. 247, 253. The Latin colleges are presented in Kleineidam, Teil 3, Chapter 3. 110 Roeck, Stadt, pp. 769 f and Schulz, pp. 264–266, 273–284. 111 Moeller, p. 15. 112 On the following differences, see the case study by Honemann. 113 Anonymous or very discreet town chroniclers: App. I. 5, 7, 8, 13, 14. Front pages with author names are found in a work that was printed (App. I. 18, by Johannes Hundorph) and one written by a printer (App. I. 6, Martin Hoffmann). Hans Krafft (no. 19) and Samuel Fritz (no. 24) both referred to themselves as authors at various places inside their chronicles. Compare Rohmann. 114 E. g. Mortimer, p. 188. Erfurt chronicles passed down in families include Fritz, Cosmographia. App. I. 23 and, probably, Krafft (App. I. 19). Hogel’s chronicle (App. I. 9) was in family possession for more than a century. It nevertheless remained accessible to interested outside readers. See K. Herrmann, Bibliotheca Erfurtina, pp. 119 f. 115 Fragments: App. I. 4, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 15. 116 E. g. App. I. 11 and 17.

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self-imposed anonymity does place limits on the questions of personal experience which can be posed to such texts. The cook Samuel Fritz (1610–1683), for instance, seemed more interested in portraying his masters than in describing his own extended travels. The works of this subaltern are, perhaps, better read as a public profession of faith. It is more of a ‘Glaubenszeugnis’ than a ‘Selbstzeugnis’ in the autobiographical sense of the term. The content of this curious town-cum-world chronicle is, admittedly, in other respects quite extraordinary.117 With regards to the author’s place in the narrative, Fritz shared the limitations with most other town chroniclers. Here, it is instructive to compare them with works written in other historiographical genres, mainly by local Catholic authors like the Carthusian prior Johannes Arnoldi (1583–1638).118 His Latin annals-cum-chronicle of his charterhouse from 1609 and 1636/1637 are the only texts which burst with biographies. Writing for a group consisting of a dozen brethren, Arnoldi was able to commemorate the res gestae of previous priors and monks. Here, annals showed a noteworthy affinity with the necrologium, a register used for the annual requiems held for deceased monks. The two texts were, indeed, at times bound within the same codex.119 By contrast, commemoration of the dead (memoria) within the local Lutheran upper class was mostly achieved through printed funeral sermon and charitable donations.120 Only one chronicler, an artisan, wrote at length about the fate of his family. Erfurt town chronicles are, in this respect, dissimilar from the patrician tradition in Nürnberg or the ricordanze written in Florence.121 In his second set of annals from 1636/1637, Arnoldi thought it necessary to go into greater detail about his own suffering. He described tribulations brought upon him by his office during the war, in order to justify his activity during the Swedish occupation, from 1631 to 1635. During the same period, similar aims prompted the priest Caspar Heinrich Marx (1600–1635) to keep an official journal, which allows readers to have glimpses into his own prayers and his consultations with a spiritual advisor.122 Most town chroniclers deemed their personal fate to be irrelevant. They remained impersonal and described the terrifying tragedies, which they had at times themselves experienced, in a lapidary manner. 117

See App. I. 23–24. App. I. 2: “NOVA COLLECTIO CHRONICÆ. […] Collecta […] A F. Ioanne Arnoldi. Ejusdem Domus Professo.” Note also App. I. 25 and 26. 119 Johannes Lotley: Chronica Cartusiae Erfordianae in Thuringia alio nomine Mons Salvatoris nuncupatae. Collectore V. P. Joannes Lotley, Priore, pp. 292–334 and the list of “Professi & Officiales post primam Domus recuperationem” (unpaginated). Manuscript stored in the Thurgaische Kantonsbibliothek Frauenfeld (Switzerland). Signature: Y 42. Copy in BAE Mikrofilm Hd 521171 (Film)/2. On the following, see G. Diehl, Exempla, pp. 281 f, 312–314. 120 Chapter Six treats funeral sermons. On donations, Weiß, Kaufmannskirche, pp. 46 f. 121 Krafft, [Erfurt Chronicle]. App. I. 19, pp. 1v–10v analysed by Jacob, Ein Erfurter Familienschicksal. An overview of the differing trajectories is Studt, Haus- und Familienbücher. Trexler probes the potential of the ricordanze as a source for religious studies. 122 Berg, Erläuterungen, esp. part 3. 118

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Sources

Passages written in the first person are very seldom and emotional passages rarely extend beyond remarks that “people in town shivered and trembled in great fear”.123 Likewise, another town chronicler at some length portrayed the “great unrest” and tense atmosphere of October 1632 without ever reflecting on his own feelings.124 Consideration of genre and intended readership thus determined how authors appeared in their texts. Town chroniclers wrote very ‘public records’ that mustered the norms shared by their fellow burghers; admitting the subjective element would run against the aim of these texts. A distinct set of “memorable” (Gedechtniswürdige) events sufficed to commemorate the past. As one title explicated, “war, tempest, fire, feud” was the stuff which many “diverse wondrous histories and stories” in the chronicles were made of. The title circumscribed the final and most political topic as events “that have taken place and occurred in the government between the lords in the Council, the citizens, and the commune.”125 The varying presentations of past constitutional conflicts and internal unrest gave the narratives an unmistakably political imprint. The impersonal subject matter might, nonetheless, be read with regard to the intentions and experiences of the authors. Inasmuch as local history was but a chapter in the universal history of salvation, the narrative should include edifying examples showing the workings of the Lord.126 While it was customary to construe a war, tempest, or town fire as a God-sent calamity, this was no inevitable conclusion. The great town fire of 1472 was, for instance, highlighted by members 123 When passages in the first person plural do appear, they often point to a considerable emotional identification with the event. This quote is taken from an unusually dramatic passage describing the endeavours to salvage wedding guests caught beneath a collapsed house in 1609. It is worth to quote it at some length. “[…] Nicht eine halbe Vie[r]tell stunde [danach] fiel die halbe seiten auch mit solchen gräwlichen geprassel herin, daß Wir, die Wir im hofe stunden[,] nicht anders meinten, es fiele Vnß allen auf den Halß, da schlug es die fraw, die zuvor die handt herauß reckte, gantz todt, In summa die leute Zitterten Vndt bebeten in der Stadt fur großer schrecken. […] Zwantzig personen blieben also bald todt. Acht Vndt dreysig seindt Vbel beschediget.” [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 10, p. 368. The passage had been copied from a letter reprinted by Willach, pp. A2r–A3r. The chronicler added a few details to the pamphlet and exchanged its use of the third person plural with the first person plural. Medick, Sondershausen, p. 182 elucidates such modes of intertextual adaptation and identification. Pamphlets were generally more prone to play on emotional registers. 124 [Anon.], Erffurdtische Chronica. App. I. 14, pp. 615 f: On October 24 panic broke out on the marketplace. “[Es] erhub sich ein geschreÿ am hellen tage[:] der feind were in die Stadt kommen, daß alle Krahmer an der Straßen ihre Laden zumachten, undt daß davon sich eine große aufruhr erhub, es hatte ein alter Weib solches geschreÿ vor den Graden unter das Volck bracht, wie der Wochenmarckt am besten war am Sonnabenden.” In the course of his 161-page account (pp. 567–728), the author only thrice wrote in the first person singular, pp. 581, 589, 601. 125 Erffurdische Cronica. Von mancherleÿ Wunder barlichen historien vnd geschichten, so sich in vnd ausserhalb der Stadt durch krieg, Gewitter, brandt feindt schafft, vnd auch im Regiment mit den herren des Raths bürgern vnd der Gemein Ver lauffen vnd Zu getragen hatt. StAE 5/100-29 (fragment on the period from Anno Mundi 324 to c.1309 A. C.). On the typical content, see App. I. 21–22. The constitutional conflicts are underlined in most recent studies of town chronicles (see fn.s 88, 89 above). 126 Johanek, Einleitung, p. XXX.

Town chronicles

47

of the Lutheran majority as a sort of papist plot, devised by a murderous monastic order.127 The choice of whether to stress divine, diabolical, or human causes often had a political character that has been documented in numerous studies. Comparing how twenty-six more or less anonymous authors presented the same set of bellicose and ‘memorable’ events to posterity makes it possible to see in detail how they devised a divine dimension. Experience and the personal processing of events did have an impact on the texts examined here. The impact can, of course, only be sensed in a very indirect manner by authors who made no attempt at writing autobiographies. On the other hand, uncomfortable personal experiences at times surface more directly in historical accounts than in stylisized autobiographies.128 Three aspects influence my analysis of personal experiences made by authors: their usage of chronicles in a religious manner; their temporal distance to the bellicose events described; and the mediated or immediate manners of experiencing military violence. The two final pages comment on these three aspects. In hard times, it might seem difficult or even impossible to make religious sense of the ongoing events. Benigna von Krusenstjern emphasises how the chaotic experience of war and epidemics challenged the religious convictions of some believers.129 She justly points out that writing chronicles was neither the only, nor the main textual way of processing these events. Singing psalms and reading devotionals were both much more widespread manners of coping and seeking consolation.130 These reading habits have left some traces in almanacs and chronicles. Chapter Six combines the above sources in order to explore how believers came to terms with their personal sufferings. The expression ‘coming to terms’ is used here in both the metaphorical and the literal sense. It will often be necessary to return to local sermons and devotionals to understand and evaluate the chroniclers’ use of a particular religious term. This analysis should show how authors uncovered evidence that God’s Hand had influenced recent events. The tensions inherent to this processing of events are best observed in the concluding sections, where chroniclers wrote about the years that they had lived through. Post-war retrospectives thereby differ notably from accounts written by townsmen who were facing an uncertain future. Journallike continuations to chronicles thus more frequently include prayers.131 To better cover these two elements, the study both includes two logbooks or official journals (Amtstagebücher) written under the more immediate impact of events as well as a 127

It figures in almost all local Lutheran chronicles, e. g. Fritz, Cronica. App. I. 24, pp. 128–131; [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 10, pp. 121–123. Kolde, pp. 25 ff has instructive notes on the earliest religious interpretations of the fire. 128 Dekker, Introduction, pp. 7–9 describes studies by Jacques Presser. On the stylisation of contemporary autobiographies in German see Jancke and the studies by Andreas Bähr, in the bibliography. 129 Krusenstjern, Gottesbild passim. 130 Eadem, Tränen, pp. 157–161 and Ulbricht, Ich-Erfahrung, pp. 125, 127. Cf. Mortimer, pp. 185 f. 131 Mortimer, pp. 15–28 notes further textual changes related to the distance in time.

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later tabular compilation with a very compact and coherent presentation of prodigies from the past war.132 The chronicles of the war not only attest to the effect of temporal distance; a safe geographical distance also made it easier to fulfil the didactic aims. Hence, it is helpful to keep in mind the difference between first- and second-hand experiences.133 Experiencing or witnessing extreme violence traumatised (and continues to traumatise) many victims of war. Those most traumatised are often incapable of retelling and visualising the violent event without reliving the intense fear and pain experienced.134 A range of less-traumatised victims or witnesses of war-time violence have left written testimonies of such events. Preliminary studies of these first-hand accounts indicate that the beliefs of some authors (notably pastors) were unshaken, or even strengthened, by the suffering.135 Others seem to have altered, lowered, or lost some religious expectations in the course of the war. Hans Medick has pointed to such changes by an official who resided in a smaller nearby town.136 This official, Volkmar Happe, grew bitterly aware of the difference between the dangers of the Thuringian countryside and life in Erfurt. In 1632 he fled to the garrisoned, well-fortified town to escape the plundering. The town of Erfurt was, as the following chapter will show, for the main part of the war a safe haven for him and most other civilians – Catholic clergymen being excepted. The majority of the authors examined here thus experienced the worst forms of wartime violence from a distance, gazing at the burning villages from the ramparts or listening to refugees like Happe. Experiencing war in this manner did in some ways facilitate the search for examples of divine justice. Townsmen had less difficulty in convincing themselves that war and military occupation truly did take place under the eyes of the Lord.

132

App. I. 1, 17, 21, 22. See Nowosadtko, pp. 48–50 on the general debate about this distinction. 134 The condition of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder is documented in modern empirical studies in war-ridden societies across the world. The main cultural variable seems to be which therapies best fit to the varying notions of shame and giving testimony, Neuner/Schauer/et al.. 135 Ulbricht, Experience, p. 124. On providential and at times miraculous rescues see Lotz-Heumann; Medick, Historisches Ereignis. 136 Medick, Sondershausen, pp. 183–185; on the following see App. I. 16. 133

3. The setting Erfurt was an affluent town and quite sizeable by the standards of the day. 3,452 taxpaying households were registered in 1620, consisting of an estimated 19,000 men, women, and children.1 The councillors, who kept count of the population, recognised the Archbishop and Elector of far-off Mainz as their nominal overlord. Still, they did enjoy considerable autonomy, collecting taxes in town and ruling directly over some eighty surrounding villages. It was said that Erfurt was not a town but a whole country.2 The country was bountiful: chroniclers praised its “wine, wheat, woad, wool, and water”.3 Erfurt is located close to the Thüringer Wald at the point where the northward-flowing Gera River spills down from the forested hills onto the plains and bread-basket named the Thüringer Becken. The climate of the early seventeenth century was warm enough to enable the large-scale cultivation of wine; villagers also raised sheep and cultivated woad, which was exported as dye.4 Poets praising the town enumerated its fairs and the astonishing number of churches in far greater detail.5 Yet a better way to familiarise ourselves with the appearance of the town in 1620 is perhaps to view it through the eyes of a visitor. “A beautiful town” with exotic Popish sights: this was the impression, which Erfurt made on Gustavus Adolphus and his entourage after their sojourn, in May 1620.6 The Swedish king was touring Protestant Germany during a pause in negotiations to arrange his marriage with a Brandenburg princess. Once in Erfurt, he did not miss the rare opportunity to personally observe Catholic religious life. Gustavus went directly to the large St. Marienkirche with its “many shrines with burning lamps, which are commonly found in all Papist churches. Otherwise”, his Swedish travel companion added laconically, “it was actually a pretty church.” He, Johan Hand, regretted that “Popery is still exercised in this church and some others”.7 Gustavus probably agreed; he had, after all, spoken of a Papist threat to 1

F. H. Schrader, Verhältnisse, p. 113. His exact deduction is 19,014 inhabitants. Weiß, Gemeinde, p. 59. 3 “Wein, Weizen, Waid, Wolle, Wasser”, [Limprecht], Wahrhaffte Denckwürdigkeiten, p. 46v, quoting a sixteenth-century chronicle. 4 On these crops, see fn.s 35 and 48. 5 J. Hundorph, Encomium (1. ed. 1650). 6 The following is based on the travel journal ed. by Styffe, Hands Dagbok, pp. 26–28 (21–22.5/ 31.5–1.6.1620), here p. 26: “Erfurtt ähr een wacker stadh.” Roberts, Vol. 1, pp. 174–181 describes the journey and its diplomatic background. 7 Styffe (ed.), Hands Dagbok, pp. 26 f: “Strax wij woro komna i herdnberg, gick H. Mtt: vthe till att besee Vnsser li[e]ben Frauen oss många heligh dommar medh brinnande lampor, som man ordinarij finner i alla papisters kyrker; eliest war dett ock i segh een wacker kyrkia.” 2

The setting

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the estates gathered at the infamous Örebro-parliament of 1617.8 Yet foreign religious communities obviously also attracted his curiosity. He thus later toured the Frankfurter Judengasse.9 Instead of visiting the former Augustinian monastery in Erfurt, where Martin Luther had been a monk, the king and Johan Hand went to see the new Jesuit college and the venerable Benedictine cloister. Clerics numbered in the hundreds and constituted a significant part of the Catholic minority. It was concentrated in the western end of the town and is estimated to have numbered one to two thousand at most.10 Gustavus Adolphus paid to see the Mass celebrated in the cloister church, marvelling at the spectacle (“a great idolatry” his companion added), and then enjoyed a tour in the Benedictine vineyards. Before they returned to their lodgings, the Swedish veterans noted how “the cloister lies high on a hill, well-situated to build a great fortress, which could command the entire town.”11 Little did they know that the king would return eleven years later and fortify that very hill.

1618–1631. The war draws near “Then we ventured forth and came to Gotha in the night, a small, pretty town”.12 In 1620 it was, generally, possible to travel in the surrounding countryside without an armed escort. Thuringians still referred to the conflict that broke out after the Defenestration of Prague (May 23, 1618) as the ‘Bohemian troubles’ and the ‘Bohemian War’.13 The first signs of the fighting to the east were scattered groups of fugitive pastors and Jesuits. Then recruitment officers appeared; they gradually accustomed the local population to the uncommon sound of the recruiter’s drum.14 Recruit8

Styffe (ed.), Gustaf II Adolfs Skrifter, pp. 139–152; Roberts, Vol. 1, pp. 105–108. Styffe (ed.), Hands Dagbok, p. 30. 10 W. J. A. v. Tettau, Topographie, pp. 214 f. The 1648 census gives an impression of the relative importance of the clergy: out of the 648 Catholics remaining in Erfurt, 150 were members of a monastery or a convent; 12 belonged to the worldly clergy. The laity made up the remainder, F. H. Schrader, Verhältnisse, p. 119. 11 Styffe (ed.), Hands Dagbok, p. 27 “H. Mtt: wille gärna see huru dee hade sigh, när dee seya messan”; p. 28: “där wij kunne ståå och see alt, huru dee procederade, män dee såge oss inthett, när dätt war ändatt med stort afguderij, huaröfwer H. Mtt: myckett förundrade sigh, ginge wij vth igeen, besågo deras wijngårdar, de hafwa. Klostrett ligger högt på ett bergh, lägligitt till att bygga een fästningh, som kunne commendera heela staden”. With equal orthodox concern, Hand noted how the king had refused to attend the Calvinist church service at the court in Berlin, ibid., p. 22. Johan Hand mistook the Benedictine monk for a Dominican. Roberts, Vol. 1, p. 175 turns him into a priest! 12 Styffe (ed.), Hands Dagbok, p. 28. 13 Hoffmann, Chronica Thvringiaca. App. I. 6, p. 363 (1619): “wegen deß Böhmischen Krieges”. 14 Ibid., p. 363 (1619), 368 (1622), 382 (1625). [Anon.], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 10, p. 361: “Anno Domini 1594 Hatt man zum Ersten mal in Erffurdt mit einer trümmel Vmbgeschlagen, Vndt so[e]ldener ahngenommen in kri[e]g Wieder den Turcken, Welches Zvwor niemals geschehen wardt.” On 9

1618–1631. The war draws near

51

ment opened opportunities for male inhabitants, but it also placed the councillors in a predicament. A number of princes from Sachsen-Weimar, bordering the town to the east, supported the Bohemian Estates and fought for the Protestant cause. Their cousin, from the much more influential Albertine branch of the Saxon House, the Elector of Sachsen, Johann Georg I (1585–1656), had instead joined the Emperor. At times, their respective recruits attacked each other in town; more often, however, they assailed villagers.15 The Council soon deemed it necessary to limit the recruitment and to sign on it own mercenaries.16 After the defeat of the Bohemian Estates at the Battle of the White Mountain (1620), forces loyal to the Palatine ‘Winter King’ continued the fight in new theatres of war. Consequently, greater numbers of mercenaries returned to Thuringia in 1622. The Saxon Elector requested material support from Erfurt and stationed his troops in the surrounding villages that summer.17 New contingents were stationed here at the turn of the year 1622–1623 by a young military enterpriser, Friedrich of Sachsen-Altenburg (1599–1625). Conflicts with the poorly paid troops mounted and led to the first local massacres.18 By the mid-1620s, villagers near Erfurt had thus learned their first bitter lessons on how to survive and handle mercenary demands. Peasants soon discovered how to bargain to protect their crops during the summer, and they gained experience in bringing their livestock into town or across the border to neighbouring principalities. Villagers knew that most soldiers beat and tortured to extort hidden stocks and valuables. This savoir-survivre kept most, if not all, inhabitants alive during the frequent forays of the Emperor’s armies after 1625.19 Reviewed in political terms, Erfurt’s situation in the decade until 1631 was determined by its proximity to Weimar and the Imperial strength. The support that the Weimar princes had given to the Emperor’s enemies had dire effects for their neighbours in Central Thuringia. Large numbers of Imperial troops were regularly stationed here from 1626 to 1631.20 The councillors in Erfurt appealed to their overlord in Mainz for help. Though their complaints did not go unheard, the Jesuit fugitives, Compendium Historiae Collegii. App. I. 3. Ed. Hupe, pp. 46 f (1618, 1622) and the Decret Wider die Jesuiten (Erfurt 1618), p. A1v. 15 A newly enlisted Weimarian soldier stabbed an Imperial recruiting officer to death on February 12, 1622, Hoffmann, Chronica Thvringiaca. App. I. 6, p. 368. On robberies, Krafft, [Erfurt Chronicle]. App. I. 19, pp. 67r, 72r, 108r. 16 See p. 251 f and Krafft, [Erfurt Chronicle]. App. I. 19, p. 99v. Anti-Imperial recruiting officers caused considerable trouble in June 1631, when Duke Tilly’s troops were stationed around the town, StAE 5/101-3, Vol. 1, pp. 237 f. Another prohibition of anti-Imperial recruitment dates to 1636, [Oraeus], Theatri Europaei Continuatio III, pp. 658 f. 17 H. Beyer, Johann Georgs Kriegszug. 18 The most accessible account is Ventzke, Kaisertreue, pp. 64 ff. See Chapter Six, p. 253. 19 An overview in E. Wagner, Geschichte unserer Dörfer, pp. 19–35. On survival strategies, Burkhardt, Katastrophenerfahrungen, pp. 13–18. 20 Huschke, Ernestiner, pp. 121–126. The main point of reference remains the series of articles by Heinrich Beyer, Merode; idem, Steffano Draghi; idem, Tilly vor Erfurt.

52

The setting

Elector’s efforts to muster the League of Catholic princes had a belated and, at best, mitigating effect.21 The Elector’s support was soon coupled to the demand that the Council restore the monasteries confiscated after 1552 to their rightful owners. Negotiations about Catholic claims were no novelty in this bi-denominational town. The Council had already agreed to return some premises in 1618; their overlord in Mainz in turn formally recognised the presence of the local Lutheran community.22 The value of this recognition was called into question in the 1620s. Reports of the forcible conversion of Lutheran towns and lands grew more frequent. As early as 1605, pastors had warned from the pulpit that Catholics planned to eradicate heretics. The warnings must now have seemed increasingly plausible.23 Aggression against local Catholics was already widespread by the summer of 1628.24 Two years later, the Edict of Restitution was posted in Erfurt. The worst Lutheran fears seemed about to come to pass. A month after the centennial of the Augsburg Confession (June 25, 1530), lightning struck a large Lutheran church. Anxious townsmen kept a lookout for possible signs of divine anger or support.25 In the meantime, members of long-gone monastic orders returned to reclaim their premises, promised to them by the Imperial Edict. Franciscans friars climbed into their former monastery in the night of April 29. On August 20 they occupied the school. “Their firm intention was to reform the Lutherans and expel them, but afterwards they were themselves expelled.”26 For “God averted this [Counter-] Reformation”, Lutherans later wrote in their chronicles.27 The Lord sent Gustavus Adolphus to their rescue.

21 The League distrusted the Emperor’s growing power and protested when his troops were stationed in their territories. Complaints forwarded by the Council in early 1628 did result in a series of exemplary executions from August and onwards, Berg, Regulating war, Chapter 2, pp. 21–57. 22 C. Martens, Friedensverhandlungen. 23 Hoffmann, Chronica Thvringiaca. App. I. 6, p. 287 (22.9.1605) and Chapter Six, fn. 298. The grave threat was besought again in 1617, albeit in less drastic terms. Pastors continued to warn at the following centennials in 1630 and 1646. See Schönstädt, pp. 72 ff; Rathey, Gaudium christianum; [Anon.], Augspurgische Seufzer (1631); Stenger, Parentatio Lutheri Secularis. 24 See fn. 82 below and the remarks in [Anon.], Historia Collegii SJ Erfurti. App. I. 3, Vol. 1, p. 112; Fritz, Cronica. App. I. 24, p. 194: “den 13.Julij [1628] Ist ein Jubelfest gehalden worden von den Cadolischen, Vnd war dass gantze lant vol keyserlich Volck da solde die Reformaton angehen, aber Gott wande es Abe.” 25 On July 24, 1630 “geschah ein heller blitz und darnach ein hartes donnerschlag welcher in das Chor der Prediger Kirchen und in Rahtshoff, aber ohne weiteren schaden einschlug.” StAE 5/101-3, p. 237. 26 “Es war ihr gans intent in dieser Zeit dahin gerichtet, die Evangelische zu Reformieren Vnd zu Vertreiben sie Aber wurde hernach selber Vertrieben.” Fritz, Cronica. App. I. 24, p. 346. Similarly [Anon.], Erffurdtische Chronica. App. I. 14, p. 566e. 27 See fn. 24.

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1631–1635. The first Swedish occupation The long-lasting popular support for Gustavus Adolphus is probably best understood against the backdrop of this perceived threat to the Lutheran faith. Locals continued to honour the Swedish king as their helper in need long after they realised that his army plundered as badly as others when wages ran short.28 “With God’s help, Gustavus Adolphus vanquished the Imperials and the Count of Tilly, the General of the Spanish [!] League, at Breitenfeld near Leipzig[. A]nd he preserved the Elector of Sachsen and his lands and also kept all Evangelical Christians and Estates by the pure faith and the Word of God. One should first and foremost thank God and His Word for this”, wrote one chronicler years later.29 The Council greeted the army that approached the town on September 19/29 with less fervour. Their envoys sought to keep the victorious forces outside the ramparts. Mercenaries were not amused that “Erfort” was “so displeased at our coming”; some saw it is an all-Catholic town, full of “Catholiques, Iesuits and Monkes”.30 After brief, intense negotiations, the gates were then opened. The hard-pressed Council accepted a garrison and swore allegiance to the Swedish king for the duration of the war.31 That Gustavus remained a cherished memory was also, at least in part, due to his charismatic conduct. During the five days spent in Erfurt, he kept close to the ‘common man’ on his tours in the town. The king addressed political representatives with rhetorical skill, stressing the need to support their common fight for the preservation of the Gospel.32 Upon his exit, Gustavus carefully staged a ‘spontaneous’ execution of a soldier who had assaulted a local Catholic.33 The townsman 28

E. Wagner, Geschichte unserer Dörfer, pp. 53 f. “[Gustav Adolf] hat zu breitenfeld beÿ Leipzig mit der hülffe Gottes den Keÿserlichen und der Spanischen Liga General Herrn Grafe von Tilli [gechlagen,] Chursachsen und seine Landschafft beÿneben allen Evangelischen Christen vnd ständen beÿ reiner Lehr vnd Gottes wort erhalten, ist zuförderst Gott vnd seinem worte dafür zudanken.” [Anon.], Erffurdtische Chronica. App. I. 14, p. 567. Similar accounts by [Anon.], Chronica Thvringiaca. App. I. 7, p. 384; Krafft, [Erfurt Chronicle]. App. I. 19, p. 64r. 30 Monro, p. 204. 31 Stievermann, Erfurt. 32 The only author who has treated the king’s charismatic conduct with due analytical distance is Stievermann, Erfurt, pp. 45 f, 52. See further [Anon.], Warhafftiger Bericht (1634) for a transcript of the speech (quoted below fn.s 77 and 95) and [Anon.], Erffurdtische Chronica. App. I. 14, p. 577: “wenn er denn so was gesehen [hat während seine Besichtigung der Stadt…] hat er ja so bald einen knaben oder sonsten einen gemeinen Man gefraget, was es seÿ, oder wie es hieße, alles sonsten andere Vornehme die ümb ihn waren, also daß ein jedweder einen wohlgefallen an Ihren Königl. Majestät hatte.” Chroniclers described the Saxon Elector’s entry into Erfurt, on 17.6.1622, in very different, adverse tones. Martin Hoffmann complained how citizens had to stand guard until nine in the evening and get up the next morning at four o’clock, to give the prince due honour. “[Die Bürger] haben sich selbst speisen und trenken müßen, ist ihnen weder Vorehrung noch sonst etwas von E. E. Raht gegeben worden” (quoted from [Anon.], Erffurdtische Chronica. App. I. 14, p. 528). 33 [Brettin], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 11, pp. 70v–71r. 29

54

The setting

Figure Two: Samuel Fritz: COSMOGRAPHIA p. 6v–7r

Samuel Fritz, who would serve Swedish masters in the coming years and considered Gustavus as the key figure of the war, dedicated a vivid drawing to his entry on October 2, 1631. Drums and standards accompany well-ordered ranks of musketeers and horsemen. Townsmen crowd together on the square or in the windows; women and children accompany them and observe the scene. Nothing in the lively drawing reveals that unruly vanguards had during the past days assaulted people on this square and broken into the adjoining church. These assaults were, unsurprisingly, emphasised by local Catholics.34 It may, at this point, be helpful to take a closer look at the setting of this scene. Fritz drew the end of the parade at the Hohe Lilie, a well-known inn, where the king might well have lodged in 1620. Eleven years later, the town looked much the same, 34 Such as Caspar Heinrich Marx and Melchior Adam Pastorius, whose father was killed by the soldiers a few days later. Pastorius, Vitae Cvrricvlvs, p. 111r; Lebenslauf, pp. 105–107 (both App. I. 26); Marx, Diarium Actorum. App. I. 1, pp. 8r–9v. Marx further noted the merciless killing of wounded Imperial soldiers in a village outside Erfurt. A staunch Lutheran chronicler justified the act by claiming that the slain were run-away POWs; “[die schwedischen Soldaten] thaten aber sonst wed[er] bürgern noch bauren etwas, sond[er]n truncken mit ihnen, u. ritten wider dannen.” [Anon.], Erffurdtische Chronica. App. I. 14, p. 579.

1631–1635. The first Swedish occupation

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with its modern patrician palaces erected during the boom from 1530 to 1620. Though their facades were still splendid, the inhabitants were losing their fortunes. Building had stopped by 1630. The grand mansion at the opposite end of town, commissioned by one of the wealthiest citizens, Hiob Stotternheim (1558–1617), stood as milestone, marking both the zenith and the end of the town’s flowering.35 Metaphors like ‘flowering’ point to the botanic basis of Erfurt’s affluence: the export of the blue dye extracted from the woad plant. The rapid wilting, after 1620, owed less to the war than to the import of indigo from the East Indies. The spread of this less expensive and much more potent dye within the Empire could not be stopped by prohibitions and protectionist policies. Hiob Stotternheim, himself a trader in dyes, had already begun to sell indigo in 1617.36 Plans to restore the woad trade presented to the Swedish king in 1632 were as futile as the schemes of prior and coming decades.37 The local business cycle does seem to support the thesis of an early economic decline outlined by Theodore Rabb.38 Yet, what in historical hindsight appears a gradual and inevitable decline was by contemporaries experienced as a sudden drop. The unparalleled currency crisis from 1621 to 1623 struck urban families hard and led to riots in Erfurt and other Central German towns.39 From 1622, traders had to travel to regional fairs with big escorts to avoid being robbed by soldiers; the plundering also affected artisans. After 1624, it was no longer safe to plant and harvest woad outside the town, as was noted by dyer Hans Krafft in his chronicle.40 Ever since he entered the trade, this master craftsman had seen the yellow woad plants gradually disappear from the fields in the region. The destructive armies now catalysed that trend; by 1629 it appears that only thirty out of once three hundred villages in Central Thuringia still cultivated woad.41 The view across the Wagweide, an old plantation near the town, was one of the sights that came to define the war for Krafft and his readers. It was “cut bare” by townsfolk and impecunious soldiers, in the famine year 1639. “[N]ot a single log of [the] apple, pear or oak [trees] remained standing, and no bushes either.”42 35

It was completed in 1612. Rach, Blütezeit, pp. 71–74. Thomas Kossert currently examines Erfurt’s role as a cultural centre during this period. 36 Rach, pp. 78 f with notes on the following. 37 Niska addressed the Elector of Sachsen and other lords in Thuringia. 38 Rabb, Effects, p. 46. Rabb rightly groups the study by Schrader to the ‘disastrous war’-school, based on the general conclusions F. H. Schrader, Verhältnisse, pp. 166–168. Schrader’s preceding analysis is much more nuanced. See also E. Wagner, Geschichte unserer Dörfer, pp. 109 f. 39 Rosseaux, pp. 66 f, 395 compares events in Erfurt with riots elsewhere; see also E. Wagner, Wipperunwesen, pp. 58–61. 40 Krafft, [Erfurt Chronicle]. App. I. 19, p. 1r. 41 In 1604, when Krafft began as an apprentice, only half the acres cultivated in 1579 were still used for woad, Zschiesche, pp. 41, 44 f. Wiegand, Waidproduktion gives the most accurate data. 42 Krafft, [Erfurt Chronicle]. App. I. 19, p. 81v. “Vndt ist Alle[s] kahl ab gehauwen dz nicht ein eÿniger stam von Apfeln birn Oder Eÿchen so Wohl der Busch Jm geringsten nicht ist stehendt bliben.” Soldiers were paid in kind to avoid mutiny.

The setting

56

Figure Three: Samuel Fritz: COSMOGRAPHIA p. 200r

In 1631, this famine was still seven years away. The well-dressed burghers in Fritz’ drawing had not changed nearly as much as had the king, whom they now beheld. In 1620, Gustavus Adolphus visited incognito, travelling with a small entourage. In 1631, he led an army outnumbering the town.43 The king had kept his interest in Popish superstition and revisited the main church of St. Marien to inspect the relics of local saints.44 Yet he now dealt differently with the Catholic clergy. No longer a paying spectator of the Mass, Gustavus entered the Benedictine monastery to demand subjection and an oath of fealty.45 The remaining days were spent negotiating with council representatives, establishing an occupational administration, and inspecting the fortifications. The king now followed up on his initial observation and decided to fortify the area around the Benedictine monastery on the Petersberg hill. The extensions of fortifications and the policy towards the Catholic minority were two topics that occupied most chroniclers who witnessed the coming four years in Erfurt. Wheelbarrows, war-taxes, and Lutheran preaching in Catholic churches all influenced their experiences of the first Swedish occupation from 1631 to 1635.46 These elements, therefore, each deserve closer attention. 43

The 1632-census counted 13,401 inhabitants, F. H. Schrader, Verhältnisse, p. 118. The size of Gustavus’ army after Breitenfeld is estimated at twenty-four thousand, Roberts, Vol. 1, p. 548. Fifteen hundred of them manned the new garrison. Hundreds, if not thousands, of prisoners of war captured after Breitenfeld were left in Erfurt; many died of their wounds or illness, [Anon.], Erffurdtische Chronica. App. I. 14, p. 578. 44 [Anon.], Erffurdtische Chronica. App. I. 14, p. 577. 45 See fn. 79 below. 46 As in similar occupied bi-denominational towns, e. g. Rieck, Frankfurt, pp. 219–229.

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Regarding fortifications, it is best to stay with the draftsman Samuel Fritz. The 1630s brought big changes to the town that he had grown up in. Old towers and abandoned churches were torn down to give way to the ramparts; entire villages were demolished to improve the town’s defences.47 Fritz included drawings of these buildings in the two chronicles that he wrote in his old age. They showed readers the town of his youth and adulthood, a town that was, in many ways, no longer the same. Gustavus Adolphus left Erfurt with both a garrison and the task of extending fortifications. After his departure in early October 1631, “the work in the trenches soon began on the Mainzer Gebint [toponym]. The burghers and country folk had to work there daily. When this [rampart] was finished they called it the great hornwork, that great pile of dirt. Before this, there had been nothing but vineyards here, and over there fine quince trees.”48 Fritz, like most other townsmen, certainly held the Swedish king in higher esteem than the works which he ordered. That they continued to distinguish between the two elements illustrates just how persistent strong convictions can be. Chroniclers, in a classic narrative move, chose to blame evil officials for their troubles rather than the good king. All hands were needed to work on the ramparts. Over the coming years, authorities expanded the labour demand to nearly all inhabitants: in addition to convicts and refugees, councillors also ordered soldiers, villagers, and the burghers to man the wheelbarrows. The burghers abhorred the work on grounds of principle. The conflict was already evident in June 1623, when the first works began. “Every day a number of houses were commanded to do soccage”, a townsman regretted in his annals. At one point the entire “upper half of town” had to toil on a particularly complicated mound.49 Such forced labour (Fron) ran counter to the citizens’ self-image as being freed from menial labour. We know that like-minded townsmen in Ulm listened with sympathy to a preacher who condemned civic soccage from the pulpit.50 47

[Anon.], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 12, p. 77v. On additional ulterior motives, E. Wagner, Daber-

stedt. 48 Fritz, Cronica. App. I. 24, p. 254: “Anno 1631. Darauff war bald zu schantzen angefangen Auff der Mein[tzi]schen gebint [bei dem Petersberg] daran die bürger und lant Volck täglicg zu Arbeiden hatten da die selbige ferdig war hieß mans daß grose horn werck den grosen hauffen dreck erstlich wahren lauder weinberg dor und schöne Quitten bäume da.” Further reminiscing on gardens destroyed by ramparts, ibid., pp. 229, 235, 268; Krafft, [Erfurt Chronicle]. App. I. 19, p. 69r. These gardens were of an economical importance to the townsmen outlined by H. Haupt. 49 “[A]lle tag [ist] ein anzahl heuser zur fröhn geboten, alle reich Vnd arm eine halten müssen, die Stadtknecht vnd Träger welche sonst freÿ, sind nicht verschont gewesen.” A new ‘cavalier’ or “Katze” was built between the Brüler and Andreastor, “darin die ober[ste] halbe stadt fröhnen müssen.” Hoffmann, Chronica Thvringiaca. App. I. 6, p. 375. On the work with fortifications, see also [Anon.], Chronica Thvringiaca. App. I. 7, pp. 384 ff; [Brettin], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 11, pp. 71r–75v; Arnoldi, Nove Collectio Chronicæ. App. I. 2, p. 54r; [Anon.], [Compilation]. App. I. 22, pp. 31r–35v. 50 Hagenmaier, pp. 129 f; note also J. Beyer, Lutheran Lay Prophets, pp. 119 f.

58

The setting

An official in command of the civic militia describes the disobedience in a telling sarcastic anecdote. In August 1633, eight platoons (Fähnlein) in Erfurt had been brought to the ramparts and ordered to dig. “Yet”, he noted in his chronicle, “their women began to wonder where their men had gone and they went looking for them. They brought food and drinks with them. Once they had begun to settle in, little work was done afterwards. More pints of beer and wine were drunk than carts of earth moved.”51 Despite such foot-dragging, the ramparts were extended considerably. Fortifications protected Erfurt from enemy forces after 1635. Inhabitants only experienced the violence that was brought on by occupation. The aforementioned chronicler in Council service gives the best overview of the clashes. His anonymous account describes life in a garrisoned town as seen by the town guards patrolling its streets at night and guarding its gates by day. The composition of the garrison offered one regular source of conflict. Erfurt was, as the royal Swedish envoy at one point put it, too small to host two garrisons under different command.52 Throughout long periods, four armed groups were present in the town. The civic militia was often strengthened by auxiliary mercenaries for shorter periods. After 1633, the Council decided to sign on their own forces and kept several hundred soldiers in pay for years on end.53 These two forces were flanked by the royal garrison which, during the early years, included both Swedish regiments and troops in the pay of the king’s regional ally, Duke Wilhelm of SachsenWeimar (1598–1662).54 Often garrisoned troops were not paid in cash, but in kind – or not at all. Most were accustomed to supplementing the irregular pay by use of force. The plundering in the chaotic months of November and December 1631 has become infamous in local history. Soldiers chased civilians out of taverns and practised extortion in the marketplace. They ruled the streets and bragged about their exploits in songs.55

51 [Anon.], Erffurdtische Chronica. App. I. 14, pp. 639 f: “Es wunderten sich aber die Weiber wo ihre Männer hinkommen weren, suchten sie und brachten mit sich eßen undt trinken, wie sie sich begunten zulagern, war hernach wenig arbeit gethan, und seindt mehr mas bier undt wein getrunken, den[n] karn vol Erden geführet worden, geschah gar schlechte arbeit, nur daß der Oberkeit Wille erfüllet wurde.” 52 “2.leÿ guarnison gleichsam [sc.: gleichzeitig] [wollen sich] nicht wohl vertragen”, [Anon.], Erffurdtische Chronica. App. I. 14, pp. 638 f (13.8.1633), quoting Alexander v. Erskein. On similar conflicts see Lorenz, Das Rad der Gewalt, pp. 250–252. 53 The troops were signed on in November 1633 ([Anon.], Erffurdtische Chronica. App. I. 14, p. 646) and disbanded in 1640 ([Anon.], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 15, pp. 31r, 36r). Excerpts from the main archival fond (StAE 1-1/XI.A, 6b) in Liebe, pp. 59–65. 54 Stievermann, Erfurt, pp. 50, 56. 55 “Sie trieben das Stehlen und Rauben ohne Scheu. Wenn diese Raub-Vögel in denen Wirths-Häusern sassen und soffen, sungen sie: Wann die Bürger schlaffen und ruhen in der Nacht, So brechen wir in die Häuser und stehlen grosse Tracht, Blanck hier Soldat, Jn unsern Parat, Frisch auf Soldat, GOtt helff und geb uns zu stehlen früh und spat.” Falckenstein, Civitatis Erfurtensis Historia, p. 707, citing [Anon.], Erffurdtische Chronica. App. I. 14, pp. 593 f. The Swedish soldiers in Count Löwenstein’s regiment plundered likewise.

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Another tax-weary townsman later summarised the swift deterioration. Gustavus Adolphus “left many troops in the town of Erfurt, in the garrison, along with Duke Wilhelm of Weimar. He was installed as a Statthalter [governor] but he turned into a Stadt Verwüster”, a destroyer of the town, “for the citizenry had to give thousands upon thousands of Taler” in taxes, lest the town be sacked.56 Gustavus’ decision to appoint Wilhelm his stadtholder left the duke with the ungrateful task of collecting taxes and allowed the king to retain the role of the ideal hero.57 Wilhelm’s plans to incorporate town and territory in his Duchy were not fancy speculation; such donations were integral to Swedish occupational policy.58 Yet in this case, Swedish rulers relied on both the Duke of Weimar and the Council in Erfurt. Over the course of 1632 and 1633, the king, and later his Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna (1583–1654), began to increasingly favour councillors, transferring the privileges of the local Catholic corporate bodies to them de jure belli.59 Of all the changes associated with the new overlords, the increasing taxes had the most immediate impact on Lutheran townsmen. The system of contributions, devised and developed during the 1620s by the Imperial commander Wallenstein, was taken over by the Swedish officials. They, too, preferred that civilian authorities collect the taxes necessary to cover the rapid rise in military expenditure. This placed the civilian authorities throughout the Empire “in the delicate role of middleman between soldiers and citizenry”.60 The customary tax on assets, the Geschoß, was collected with unaccustomed frequency throughout the 1620s, but it proved inadequate to meet military demands. Therefore, in 1628, the Council introduced a tax based on profession, the Additz. It later levied poll taxes and added excise duties on basic commodities.61 Taxation was, of course, a perennial source of popular complaint. Yet growing fiscal burdens and their unequal distribution now led even preachers to open criticism. Frustrated chroniclers also began to list the names of the hated new taxes, which, they sighed, seemed to “remain forever”. The few who did agree 56

[Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 13, pp. 94r–94v: “er hat aber viel Volcks in der Stadt Erffort in der besetzung gelaßen, Neben Hertzog Wilhelm von Weÿmar, welcher war gesetzet zum Stadt halter aber er ist worden zum Stadt Verwüster, denn die Bürgerschafft hat ihn Müßen geben Ein daußendt daler vber daß ander, sonst hat er getrauwet er wolte laßen Plündern.” 57 Stievermann, Erfurt, p. 50; Huschke, Herzog Wilhelm, p. 3. Townsmen later told nearly identical tales about a local commandant extorting tons of gold from the citizens. Compare [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 13, p. 94v with Ludwig, Gedechtnüsswürdige Erzehlunge. App. I. 20. Ed. Schum, pp. 124 f. 58 The establishment of the Duchy of Franconia and its donation to Wilhelm’s brother Bernhard is probably the best-known case. The latest in a series of studies is R. Weber, Würzburg. For general remarks Meumann, Magdeburg und Halberstadt. Duke Wilhelm did incorporate other archiepiscopal dominions to the northwest, Boblenz, Ergebnisse. 59 Stievermann, Erfurt, pp. 54–56; Marx, Diarium Actorum. App. I. 1, p. 53r et passim. 60 Friedrichs, Urban Society, p. 216. 61 F. H. Schrader, Verhältnisse, pp. 101–111; compare Winnige, Kontribution.

The setting

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that reforms were inevitable regretted the unjust levying.62 Governing councillors faced mounting pressure. In 1628, ten councillors laid down their office in protest of their colleagues’ irregular accountancy. A second round of reforms, introduced a decade later, prompted discontent taxpayers to storm the Town Hall.63 Similar clashes took place in fortified towns across the Empire for much the same reason. Here, the violence inherent to the organised military exploitation was focused on, or emanated from, the centre of taxation, the Town Hall. Erfurt councillors repeatedly ordered that “tribulier Soldaten” (vandalistic soldiers) be billeted in the homes of townsmen in arrears, as a means to force them to pay.64 At times, officers themselves stormed the homes of tax-officials, destroying furniture and wreaking havoc in an attempt to force them to finally provide their wages; a penultimate resort was to march into the Town Hall.65 The Erfurt garrison hardly ever entered in open mutiny.66 Preventing military escapades inside the ramparts was not as difficult as the above examples suggest. Most soldiers remained garrisoned in the fortress Cyriaksburg outside the town, throughout both periods of Swedish occupation (1631–1635; late 1636–1650). Urban forces controlled the gates and they could raise drawbridges if garrisoned soldiers threatened to levy taxes by force.67 The proverbial ‘sinews of war’ were less strained here than in many other Swedishoccupied towns, like Olmütz in devastated Moravia.68 Until 1635, estates in Thuringia were forced to support the garrison in Erfurt.69 During the town’s second occupation (1636–1650) Swedish cavalry roamed to Mühlhausen, Magdeburg, 62

[Anon.], Erffurdtische Chronica. App. I. 14, p. 598 looking back on the excise duties introduced at the turn of the year 1632: “hats ansehen, alß wenn es ewig wehren solte.” See also Krafft, [Erfurt Chronicle]. App. I. 19, pp. 119r–120r; Fritz, Cronica. App. I. 24, p. 341; [Anon.], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 10, p. 405; [Anon.], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 12, p. 82v. [Anon.], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 15, pp. 39r–39v, 51r–51v. Local preachers never went as far in their critique (at least not in print) as Mengering, Belialis Stratiotici; cf. Stenger, Tausend Zeuge, p. 364. 63 A vivid account of this storming is Krafft, [Erfurt Chronicle]. App. I. 19, p. 120r. 64 The levying through Exekutionen is described by Ritter, pp. 238–241 and Lorenz, Das Rad der Gewalt, pp. 192–202. The threat was at times put into practice. On December 2, 1634 the Council agreed with the representatives of the guilds and town quarters (Viertelvormünde) to billet such soldiers. Whomsoever had not yet paid the Löhnung of October 12, “dem solten tribulier Soldaten ins haus geleget werden, bis er seine 18 Lehnung richtig bezahlet. Dieser Rahtschlus gieng richtig fort, und kamen manchen triebulier Soldaten ins haus, daß man nicht vermeinet daß dieselben etwas schuldig weren.” [Anon.], Erffurdtische Chronica. App. I. 14, p. 673 (19.8 1633). 65 See Chapter Six, fn. 225; Berg, Regulating war, pp. 75 f; [Anon.], Erffurdtische Chronica. App. I. 14, pp. 609 f (17.8 1634); [Anon.], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 15, pp. 43r–43v. 66 A seemingly singular mutiny is described by [Anon.], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 15, pp. 24v–27v (14.3.1640). 67 [Anon.], Erffurdtische Chronica. App. I. 14, pp. 668, 673. 68 Asch, Military violence, pp. 301 f uses this rather extreme case to elucidate the general dynamics in civil-military conflicts. On the regional background, Dudik. 69 [Oraeus], Theatri Europaei Continuatio III, pp. 39 f.

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and even Hof, in Vogtland, to raid or levy contributions.70 The exceptionally dismal situation inside Erfurt during 1638 was apparently an outcome of the ongoing Imperial blockade of the town.71 During the first four years of Swedish rule, Erfurt and its adjacent villages were spared extensive campaigning. The waves of refugees who fled into town in late 1632, and again from 1634 to 1635, recounted the destruction wrought upon neighbouring regions. Funeral sermons describe the lives of a few fugitive noblewomen; the official Volkmar Happe continued his chronicle during his refuge in Erfurt.72 The hundreds of starving commoners, who begged from door to door, remain more anonymous. Of them, we know little more than their mainly Franconian origin and the horrific mortality rate. Townsmen were shocked at the sight of these refugees, “who lived everywhere across the town, in cellars and in the ruined homes of the shavelings. Many lay ill in alleys. Several died from poverty and lack of care.”73 The songs sung by these Franconian refugees remained known in town for decades. Chroniclers recorded other sounds that characterised their times, such as the bells that rang in the weekly prayer hour and the cannonades celebrating far-off victories. Needless to say, a salute that signalled joy to staunch Lutherans could sound terrible to a Catholic. The accomplished historiographer, Johannes Arnoldi, described these salutes in detail, making each shot reverberate in the ears of his intended Carthusian readers.74 The celebration, in St. Marien, of the first anniversary of the Swedish victory at Breitenfeld (1631) likewise divided townsmen along denominational lines. The priest Caspar Heinrich Marx recorded the forced entry into a Catholic church in his journal, describing it as an unjust intrusion. The staunch Lutheran chroniclers were all jubilant at the “glorious, grand, and very beautiful music” played on this occasion.75

70

[Taute], Schwartz Voigteybuch. App. I. 17 passim; Dietz, pp. 35 f; Wintruff; [Oraeus], THEATRI

EVROPAEI Vierdter Theil (1692), pp. 832 f. 71

B. Herrmann, Kampf. See App. I. 16 and Silberschlag, Leichpredigt [auf Maria Heintze]; Meyfart, Abschied Frawen von Selmnitz. Note also E. Reinhardt, Benjamin Schütz, p. 81. 73 See p. 239. The quote is from [Anon.], Erffurdtische Chronica. App. I. 14, p. 692: “[Sie] wohnten überall in der Stadt, in Kellern, in ruinierten Pfaffenhäuser. Viele Kranken mussten auf den Gassen liegen. Etliche verschmachteten gar, wg. armuth und mangelnder Wartung.” The staggering death rates are reconstructed by K.-H. Arndt, Stadt, pp. 35–42. 74 E. g. March 25, 1634: “post Concionem hora 11. promeridiana Victoriam de Caesarianis in Alsatio partam 66. majorum tormentorum horribili duplicius reboatu Erfordienses aggratulabundi ingenti tripudio exceperunt.” Arnoldi, Nove Collectio Chronicæ. App. I. 2, p. 74v; ibid., pp. 74v–75r, May 25, 1634: “Consveta denuò solennitate & majorum tormentorum duplici explosione victoriam de Caesarianis ab Duce Saxoniae Electore obtentam celebrarunt Erfordienses.” 75 “[Wir] haben Mit zweÿ Orgelen Instrument lauten Harffen Baucken Pfeiffen Vndt Geigen eine herliche stattliche Vber Auß schöne Musik ge halten.” Krafft, [Erfurt Chronicle]. App. I. 19, p. 66r; [Anon.], Chronica Thvringiaca. App. I. 7, p. 385. Marx, Diarium Actorum. App. I. 1, pp. 41r–42r. 72

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The limits of religious violence Reading of excited Lutheran crowds forcing doors and surging into church to celebrate a victorious battle as a God-granted deliverance evokes the spectre of religious war. Here, it is relevant to mention one passage from the 1631-treaty. There, the Council promised to remain loyal to the Swedish Crown for the duration of the ongoing “war of religion”.76 Addressing councillors and other delegates prior to their signing of the treaty, Gustavus Adolphus had spoken at length about his unselfish battle for the Evangelical cause. He encouraged listeners to contribute to the war efforts by appealing to their fears of Popery, with its “slavery of body and soul”.77 The king was a consummate rhetorician and he knew how to tailor the arguments to the audience.78 At a separate meeting with the local Catholic clergy, the king had spoken in much more conciliatory and legal terms of his rights and duties as conqueror. He promised the clergy protection and the free exercise of religion, if only they recognised him as their superior.79 The alternation between the legal and the more militant, religious argumentation was adopted by the local, Lutheran-dominated Council, and this came to characterise its policy towards the Catholic clergy in the coming years. Events in Erfurt matched the tradition within the Empire to conduct and refer to denominational conflicts in legalist terms.80 76

“Religionskrieg”; “gemeinen Evangelischen Krieg”. Rydberg/Hallendorff, Schutzbrief, pp. 531 f, commented by Stievermann, Erfurt, pp. 47–49 and quoted by Medick, Orte, p. 367. Medick’s article is important for the following section. 77 [Anon.], Warhafftiger Bericht (1634), pp. 43–55. This transcribed speech has hardly received its due attention outside town history. The following quote is characteristic, pp. 44 f: “Der liebe Gott hat mich ohnzweifentlich hierzu beruffen/ vn[d] mir bißhero muth/ krafft/ segen vnd mächtigen sieg verliehen/ daß ich durch seinen starcken arm vnd kräfftigsten beystand/ mit denen bißhero geführten siegreichen waffen es dahin bracht/daß numehr Pommern/ Mecklenburg/ die Marck/ das Churfürstenthumb Sachsen/das Ertzstifft Magdeburg vnd andere örter von den gewaltsamen feindseligen bedrengnissen guten theils erlediget/ vnd hierdurch […] das Evangelische gemeine wesen vnd die daran hangende politische freyheit auff einen bessern vnd festen fuß gesetzt […]. [p. 45] Wir müssen aber alle das Werk recht angreiffen […] Es ist jetzo mit vns Evangelischen allen/ wir seyn im hohen oder niedrigen Stande/ also beschaffen/ als wenn wir mit einander auff dem wilden meer in einem grossen schiffe füren/ das von grausamen ungestümen Winde vmbgetrieben würde/ vnd gleichsam gar versincken wolte. Da wil sichs nun nicht schicken/ daß nur nur etliche fleissig arbeiten / vnd den besorgten schiffbruch abzuwenden sich bemühen/ die andere aber dem vngewitter zusehe[n]/ die hände in den schoß legen/ in dem schiff stil sitzen vnd darbey ruhen wollen […]”. – Gustavus skillfully variated upon this theme throughout his speech, specifying how everyone could aid “den lauff deß H.[eiligen] Evangelij” “[mit] Anwendung seines sawren Ampts: vnd nasenschweisses” (ibid., p. 47) by praying, paying taxes, and helping to extend fortifications. 78 Johannesson, Gustav II Adolf. 79 Whether the Warhafftiger Bericht (anon. 1634), pp. 20, 23 f gave an accurate transcript of this conversation is more than doubtful. The basic themes are, however, the same in the independent Jesuit report [Anon.], Historia Collegii SJ Erfurti. App. I. 3, Vol. 2, pp. 10v–11r. The Swedish rulers treated monastic orders elsewhere in the Empire likewise, e. g. H.-D. Müller, Mainz, pp. 178–180 and Rieck, Frankfurt, pp. 207–213, chapter 3.3. 80 Schindling; Holzem, Gott und Gewalt, pp. 400–404. English readers should consult Brady.

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As noted, Swedish rulers began to shift favour from Duke Wilhelm to the town council in 1632 and 1633, granting it control of the surrounding Catholic rural exclaves and the Catholic corporations in town.81 It became increasingly clear to the Catholic clergy that their destiny lay in the hands of the Lutheran councillors. Councillors were in position to unleash the popular anti-popery. In August 1628, townsmen had already expressed their aggression in a violent manner. Angered by Imperial assaults and fearing a Catholic reformation, the townsmen grew “very rebellious”. An envoy from Mainz wrote of threats, “stones, and similar assaults” launched at Catholics “much more now, than before”.82 Lutheran hardliners, like the pastor Valentin Wallenberger, fanned such sentiments after 1631.83 The riots in 1521, 1525, and especially 1579 had, however, shown the Council that anti-Catholic crowds were hard to control.84 Why should the councillors rely on enraged mobs if they could move the Catholic clergy to recognise their rule by more authorised uses of force? The Council’s promise to protect loyal Catholics from harm hence went hand in hand with the imprisonment of clergymen accused of preaching rebellion or sending traitorous letters.85 The Council did not prevent angry crowds from throwing dirt and stones when the Jesuits captured in Heiligenstadt were carted into Erfurt, while at the same time, it did not tolerate any lynching.86 The only clergyman killed inside Erfurt died of wounds inflicted during the eviction from the Jesuit College.87 When, at one point, a Lutheran crowd began to destroy reliquaries in St. Severi, town guards soon intervened and put an end to the vandalism. The Council shunned riot-like violence. In this case, it preferred to let Lutheran physicians examine the relics and expose the superstition.88 81

Schauerte, Chapter 3 and the more accurate Bock. Both accounts lack bipartisan reflections. Letter from Jobst Helmdorf to the Elector of Mainz, August 16, 1628: “Sonsten, gnedige herr, befinde ich die bürgerschafft unnd Gemeinde dießes orts, wegen großer unndt fast ohnerschwinglicher Contribution, noch fast schwürig. […] Es hatt bey meiner Abwesenheit fast zuem Drittenmahll zue einem gemeinem Uffstandt sich ansehen lassen wollen […] Dahero nicht allein wegen Ubermessigen Steur sondern desmer sich einer reformation der religion ingemein befahret, ist der gemeine Pof[f]ell anietzo fast ungehalten und wirdet den Catholischen, mit bedrohung zuwürgen, steinwerffen, unndt derogleichen thätligkeiten, Anietzo fast mehr alß vor dießem zugesetzett.” StAE 1-0 A/IV, 11, p. 140v. Stievermann, Erfurt, p. 67 quotes a similar report from 1637 by an Electoral Saxon envoy. 83 See fn. 75 above. His opponent, Lambert Heck, had preached harshly against heretics in 1628, UBEDE CA. 4o 169, pp. 195–198. Note also Marx, Bedencken, p. 32r. 84 Scribner, Civic Unity and C. Beyer/Biereye, Geschichte, pp. 459–462 (Kavatensturm 1579). 85 Marx, Diarium Actorum. App. I. 1, p. 88r (the priest of St. Lorenz is arrested following an allegedly rebellious sermon, 23.5/2.6.1634). On covert correspondence, Arnoldi, Nove Collectio Chronicæ. App. I. 2, pp. 48v–50r (August 1632); Compendium Historiae Collegii. App. I. 3. Ed. Hupe, p. 53. 86 Marx, Diarium Actorum. App. I. 1, p. 30v; Opfermann, p. 160. 87 [Anon.], Historia Collegii SJ Erfurti. App. I. 3, Vol. 2, p. 11v. The two other monks from local monasteries who fell victim to fatal violence outside Erfurt are listed in Berg, Erläuterungen, fn. 46, based on the extant necrologia. 88 See Chapter Four, fn. 204. 82

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One could list further examples of the Council’s cautious and rather legalist policy towards Catholic corporations.89 What is important for this study is that physical injuries remained rare. There were hardly any killings of opponents in the name of God inside the town. The sole exception involved a student named Hans Augustin (d.1639). In 1639, he stabbed two Swedish officers to death in full daylight, shouting that God had commanded him to do so. The act and his justification qualified Augustin as the exemplar of the feared papist zealot in all but one respect – he was a Lutheran. Bewildered townsmen tried to fit this anomalous assassin within their established stereotypes.90 Religion would later fuel physical violence. From June to November 1663, in an atmosphere charged with factional strife, large groups repeatedly took to the streets in Erfurt. There they chased down and tried to lynch councillors accused of treason because they advocated that all churchgoers include the Catholic overlord from Mainz in their common prayer. The hunted ‘Betväter’ were all Lutherans, but on such occasions, rioters repeatedly took to plundering Catholic premises.91 The absence of religiously motivated killings in Erfurt during the prior decades may thus owe more to the local power constellations than to any denominational disposition towards more or less corporeal violence.92 The answers to the question of whether, or when, violence could be used to further religious interests clearly differed from person to person. The varying attitudes are perhaps most clearly illustrated by the articulate Lutheran pastors. As Chapter Five shows, their stances ranged from apocalyptic militancy to a decidedly non-violent, if verbally aggressive mission. Most of the chronicle-writing laymen ridiculed the papist clergy. Other sources, such as marriage registers, attest to more

89

The Council did allow the agitated crowd to force its way into the St. Marienkirche to celebrate the said Breitenfeld-anniversary in September 7/17, 1632. Yet it returned the keys to the church on the same day and promised to mend damages, Marx, Diarium Actorum. App. I. 1, p. 42r. The architectural changes in other Catholic churches opened for Lutheran preaching owed to Council orders, rather than any riot-like iconoclasm. E. g. the removal of the pulpit (April 1633) and altar (May 1634) in the St. Severikirche. Ibid., p. 87v; [Anon.], Erffurdtische Chronica. App. I. 14, p. 653; Arnoldi, p. 74v. An exceptional unrestricted riot took place in 1632, when a crowd demolished the former seat of the Mainzian executioner, [Brettin], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 11, p. 74r (24.6.1632); cf. Fritz, Cronica. App. I. 24, p. 184. 90 The interrogators who tortured Augustin eventually persuaded both themselves and the convict that he had been misled by the Devil. He had appeared to Augustin in the form of an angel. Other townsmen held the Saxon Elector responsible; quite a few considered Augustin insane. See [Anon.], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 15, pp. 14v–18v. Note further [Anon.], Chronica Thvringiaca. App. I. 8, p. 392; [Limprecht], Erfurtensia, pp. 189r–192v; Bauer, Personalschriften, pp. 336 f, no. 386 (Gottlob von Pietipeßky). – Fear of regicidal monks is evident in portraits drawn by Fritz, Cronica. App. I. 24, pp. 148, 315; Fritz, Cosmographia. App. I. 23, pp. 215r, 217r. 91 C. Beyer/Biereye, Geschichte, pp. 598 f, 605. W. F. v. Tettau, Unterwerfung, pp. 28–36. Many of the rioters came from the Augustinervorstadt, a poor suburban neighboorhod dubbed “das schwarze Viertel”, ibid., p. 36. 92 Cf. Davis’ classic outline of differences between Calvinists and Catholics.

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peaceful forms of co-existence. Men and women took on jobs in workshops and households led by members of the other denomination. They even married and converted, if love or economic concerns favoured it, regardless of their own preachers’ warnings.93 Councillors in Erfurt likewise tried to re-integrate the merchant Esaias Stiefel (1561–1627) for some time, after hard-line preachers had begun to decry him as a sectarian Schwärmer to be executed.94 Based on broader source material, Ulman Weiß has recently examined such conciliatory attitudes. Sermons and chronicles hardly give any insights into the extent of such coexistence; they either omitted or scandalised it. Readers schooled in modern notions of religious tolerance are easily dismayed by the stark orthodoxy. The aggressive reactions, whether violent or not, were often based on deeply felt fears. Heresy or a conversion to the false faith was considered to bring “injury to conscience and extreme danger to eternal welfare”. The “idolatrous human inventions” of the Papists, against which Gustavus had cautioned the Lutheran decision makers in 1631,95 offered the only path to Heaven in the eyes of priests like Caspar Heinrich Marx. He therefore expressed genuine concern for the laity in his journal. Who would instruct them now that Catholic teachers had fled or been expelled by the Council? How could villagers in the Catholic enclaves around Erfurt live and die in peace when unordained Lutherans distributed the sacraments?96 Marx with great care registered how the Council demanded subjection on threat of expulsion and introduced Lutheran pastors in vacant Catholic parishes. He regarded this piecemeal policy as a serious threat over the long term. In the autumn of 1635, he understandably warned that the Council in Erfurt had planned “to do in” with the Catholics.97 The latter sentence was written after that danger had passed. In late August 1635, the Council acceded to the peace-treaty signed in Prague, committing itself to restore the lands and privileges confiscated following October 1631.98 After harsh exchanges, the Council convinced Chancellor Oxenstierna to withdraw the small Swedish garrison. Gifts of jewellery helped to effect the order, as this made the local commandant drop claims to arrears. In early September, the furious,

93 Weiß, Zweikonfessionalität, p. 253. In most known cases, the brides converted; e. g. Chapter Five, fn. 72. A systematic study of local church records is lacking. 94 Weiß, Lebenswelten, Chapter 4, esp. pp. 436–444. 95 “[W]enn die gemeine sache verwahrlost/ vnd er [der Bürger]/ da Gott gnedig vor sey/ dem feinde zu theil werden / [würde] er nit allein vmb seine gantze zeitliche nahrung gebracht/ sondern man [würde] jhn auch mit verletzung seines gewissens vnd euserste gefahr seiner ewigen wolfart zu den abgöttischen menschensatzungen zwingen”. [Anon.], Warhafftiger Bericht (1634), p. 47. 96 Marx, Diarium Actorum. App. I. 1, pp. 19r, 64r, 82v; Schauerte, pp. 62 f. 97 Marx, Bedencken, p. 29v: “da man den Catholischen Ziemblich Zugesetzt, Vnd gern den garauß gemacht hette”. 98 Stievermann, Erfurt, pp. 57 f. Councillors remained reluctant to restore the Theological Faculty, Kleineidam, Teil 4, pp. 7 ff.

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ill-paid officers, along with the rank and file, were finally escorted away from the town by the Council troops. Lutheran and Catholic churchgoers could at last celebrate the end of the war.99 Yet the bells rang at least thirteen years too early. The worst destruction was yet to come.

1635–1645. The destructive decade The catastrophes that struck the town and its villages in the latter half of the 1630s owed much to new political divisions in the region.100 Erfurt bordered on four (later five) principalities of varying size and stability. The small County of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen to the south and the miniscule County of Gleichen, mainly to the west, had little impact on the town; the latter dynasty died out in 1631. Duke Wilhelm, residing in Weimar to the east, made one last attempt to gain control of Erfurt when it acceded to the Peace of Prague in 1635. He then discontinued his ambitious expansionist politics and, instead, in 1640 divided up the Ernestine lands with his brothers. The new Duchy of Sachsen-Gotha was thus created to the west of the town.101 Over the coming decade, from 1635 to 1645, the proximity of the Electorate of Sachsen to the north and northeast would be decisive. The Elector had switched sides in the Prague-treaty and now supported the Emperor once more. This pitted Swedes against Electoral Saxons. These former allies became bitter foes. The Council in Erfurt managed to steer clear of that destructive conflict for just over a year. Throughout the summer and autumn of 1636, the town refused demands from Mainz and Dresden that it receive a new garrison within its fortifications.102 When a Swedish army posed the same demand in November, the councillors resolved to uphold the armed neutrality. In contrast to 1631, the citizens now supported their Council. Local enthusiasm for the Swedes had been undermined by four years of war-taxes.103 Yet the combat readiness disappeared even faster. The frightening sight of some thirty-six red-hot cannon balls moved the Council to a conditional surrender.104

99

[Anon.], Erffurdtische Chronica. App. I. 14, pp. 698–700. Maps on the political division of the region (1620, 1640) are found online at the MDSZ-project (12.08.2009). For maps with more local details see C. Beyer/Biereye, Geschichte, p. 144 and Weiß, Die frommen Bürger. 101 Klinger, Gothaer Fürstenstaat; Huschke, Herzog Wilhelm, pp. 306–312. 102 B. Herrmann, Kampf, pp. 9–15. The Council did pledge loyalty to the Elector of Sachsen, but de-facto retained control of the forces in town. 103 Salient quotes are found in App. I. 13. 104 [Anon.], Erffurdtische Chronica. App. I. 14, pp. 720–722, noting the limited damage; B. Herrmann, Kampf, pp. 18–27, 126–130. Herrmann takes a staunchly Swedish stance. This colours his treatment of the renewed tensions between the Council and the Swedish garrison. 100

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The conditions of this surrender were very different from the subjection in 1631. The Swedish Crown abstained from the privileges of a conqueror and promised not to station regiments inside the town.105 The Council likewise made no new claims on local Catholic privileges. The Town Hall was no longer the scene of the decisive developments; they took place beyond the ramparts, out in the villages. In March 1637, the first raids targeted peasants tilling fields close to the gates. Imperial and Saxon Electoral horsemen led off the teams of horses pulling the ploughs and shot anyone who resisted.106 The limited aims of capturing livestock, levying contributions, and taking townsmen for ransom came to characterise most of the military action in this region, as in most others, during the following war years.107 Thus, the garrisoned Swedish forces and their Electoral and Imperial adversaries both sought to ‘live off enemy territory’. Their skirmishing defies the battle-by-battle accounts of traditional military history, and this exasperated a local, widely renowned expert. At his country estate in Ramsla, bordering Erfurt territory, Johann Wilhelm Neumair (1572–1641) was himself personally exposed to the raids in the region after 1635.108 War was no longer waged as he had come to know it through his travels in Italy and his translations of the ancient and modern military classics. In the last of his long series of treatises on a separate subject of war, published in 1637, Neumair stressed the importance of proper battles.109 Then he wrote his final work, a magnum opus with the Clausewitzian scope and title ‘On War’.110 Unlike Clausewitz, Neumair remained highly ambivalent towards innovations. He refused to integrate many of the most recent fiscal and logistic changes and portrayed them as impasses through appeals to Antique authors and cautionary tales. The practice of plundering enemy and neutral lands was said to bring down divine punishment on an army.111 Amidst such appeals, the reader finds acute comments on the conduct of a war meant to feed itself. Neumair noted the fate of rural communities caught between unclear 105 B. Herrmann, Kampf, p. 127, commented by Stievermann, Erfurt, pp. 59 f. The accord is reprinted in Rydberg/Hallendorff, Sverges traktater, Vol. 5/2, pp. 398 ff. In fiscally strained situations, the occupying authorities broke both agreements. [Taute], Schwartz Voigteybuch. App. I. 17, pp. 252–57, 265, 279–80, 346–48, 350–53. 106 [Anon.], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 12, pp. 76r–76v; Heubel, pp. 166 f. 107 See Chapter Six and Asch, The Thirty Years War, pp. 150–154. 108 Neumair listed ten separate occasions when he or his estate were plundered, Neumair v. Ramsla, Vom Krieg, pp. A3r, 239–245, 987–989; see also p. 140. Boblenz, Beziehungen studies the career and literary production of this ducal official. 109 Neumair v. Ramsla, Von Feldschlachten. 110 Johann Wilhelm Neumair v. Ramsla: Vom Krieg. Sonderbarer TRACTAT oder handlung […]. Jena 1641. 111 Neumair v. Ramsla, Vom Krieg, pp. 201–204; page 989 cites the inaugural speech by Scipio Africanus to the Roman army, chiding its officers for thinking like profit-minded merchants. Neumair was more impressed by the art of fortification, which he encountered during his journey to Italy. Boblenz, Beziehungen, pp. 215 f, 223 f.

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front-lines, like his own subordinates in Ramsla. He also exposed how officers in command of unemployed regiments sought to press their services on towns like Erfurt.112 Contrary to Neumair’s wishes, large battles remained rare. Salutes in Erfurt sounded to celebrate victories by Fehmarn (1644), at Jankau (1645), and other far-off battlefields. Sieges were more frequent and unfolded closer to town.113 Pro-Imperial armies twice sought to force Erfurt to surrender, in 1637 and 1641. Raiders would, in extreme phases, burn crops, rape and mutilate villagers, and then chase the victims into town to scare citizens into surrender.114 Lacking both the artillery and manpower necessary for proper sieges, armies instead blockaded Erfurt, to cut off supplies and starve out its garrison.115 For close to six years, until the surrender of Leipzig (1642), Erfurt had the dubious honour of hosting one of the major Swedish fortresses close to Electoral Saxon lands. Roads that had once made it into a hub of cross-regional commerce now served as marching routes connecting Bohemia with Franconia, Hesse, and other theatres of war in the heart of the Empire.116 The Thuringian basin lay at the centre of the axis of destruction, stretching from the northeastern to the southwestern corners of present-day Germany.117 That placement had visible impacts on the landscape. Vineyards were cut to the roots and farms were razed. Robbed of their horses, peasants had to till small plots of land by hand and leave acres upon acres fallow.118 The abundance of wheat, woad, and wool was gone. The butter pit of Thuringia, as Erfurt had been called, was being sucked dry by soldiers.119 In comparison to 1620, the number of tax-paying citizens in town had diminished by one third in 1650; a modest figure if compared to the surrounding villages,

112 Neumair v. Ramsla, Vom Krieg, pp. 205–207. Compare ibid., p. 157 with [Anon.], Erffurdtische Chronica. App. I. 14, pp. 686–692, on the colonels Hans Friedrich von Heßler (1610–1667) and Johann Berckhauer (Berghofer) (d.1636). Between March and May 1635 they both offered the Council in Erfurt to ‘protect’ peasants from danger. 113 [Taute], Schwartz Voigteybuch. App. I. 17 noted sieges at Leipzig (pp. 172 f), Magdeburg (p. 324), and Heldrungen (pp. 80–85, 93 f, 298–301; see fn. 133 below). On battlefield victories: pp. 171 f, 202, 292 f, 319 f. 114 Krafft, [Erfurt Chronicle]. App. I. 19, p. 168r. 115 B. Herrmann, Kampf, Chapter II; [Taute], Schwartz Voigteybuch. App. I. 17, pp. 53–104 (October to December, 1641). 116 Armies fighting for France, Sweden, Hessen-Kassel, and Braunschweig-Lüneburg thus rallied around Erfurt in May 1640. Gustavus Adolphus crossed by Erfurt in both 1631 and 1632 on his way between the Elbe, the Main-region, and the Pegnitz. Creveld, pp. 13–17. 117 Franz, pp. 34 f. 118 Dachwig is a typical example. In 1640 seventy-two out of five thousand acres were cultivated. Compare Ludwig, Gedechtnüsswürdige Erzehlunge. App. I. 20. Ed. Schum, pp. 120 f to Bromme, pp. 61–68 and the parallel developments documented by Theibault, German Villages, Chapter 6. 119 ‘Schmalzgrube’: a lard pit, a land of milk and honey. “Ward vor dem Kriegswesen die Thüringische Schmaltzgrube tituliret”, J. Hundorph, Encomii Erffurtini Continuatio, p. A2v.

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where depopulation by 1640 ranged from fifty to eighty percent, or more.120 Famine and epidemics certainly took a terrible toll, yet many of the absent villagers had not died; they had migrated to more peaceful regions.121 A second group survived as pedlars, pushing wheelbarrows across the war-ridden region. Some travelled hundreds of kilometres, as far as Halle or even Braunschweig, trading vegetables and furniture pilfered from ruined houses.122 The fraction that worked at home moved into the town during autumn and winter. Only when the agricultural cycle demanded their presence would peasants return to their villages to plough, sow, and harvest a few fields. This sort of seasonal migration lasted until the end of the war.123 Erfurt’s moats and mounds thus sheltered thousands of refugees in the 1630s and 1640s. Yet inhabitants in villages like Riethnordhausen, a few hours’ walk from town, looked at the ramparts with the same mixed feelings as the townsmen forced to work there. Communities located within a dozen kilometres of the fortress were reduced to rubble by enemy forces. They usually left more distant villages less disturbed. The proximity to Erfurt thus turned from being a blessing into a bane.124 Unlike citizens, villagers were accustomed to lord-like requests by councillors. These villagers probably experienced the work on the ramparts as an increase of pre-war conditions rather than as a novelty.125 Free citizens and rural subjects thus viewed the same soccage differently, based on their prior socialisation; their expectations differed. It may be useful to comment on this socialisation, in a brief disgression to the chronological account. The experiences of villagers can be distinguished in further detail, according to their economic and legal status. The rural poor, for instance, had already worked as seasonal farm labourers before the war. They probably coped with the hardships differently than the privileged peasants impoverished by raids.126 Young female villagers had traditionally moved to town to work as maids in burgher households. 120 Compare F. H. Schrader, Verhältnisse, pp. 167 f, 147–149 to App. I. 20 and Leiske, pp. 45 f. Further reliable figures in Franz, p. 35. Behringer, Von Krieg zu Krieg points to racist views and activities of Günther Franz. The studies by Ernst Wagner are also to be read with caution, e. g. E. Wagner, Geschichte unserer Dörfer (1934), p. 130, and esp. his remarks on war-time rapes, pp. 124 f: “Ein starker Zustrom fremdes Blutes hat jedenfalls auf diese Weise nicht stattgefunden, zumal ja auch die Heere zum weitaus größten Teil aus Deutschen bestanden.” 121 On this and the following, Bromme, pp. 45–52; E. Wagner, Geschichte unserer Dörfer, pp. 118–124. 122 AEM A.VII.a.4.a: Büßleben, pp. 149v, 150v; StAE 1-0 A/IV, 25 (16.1.1640); and StAE 3/031-1/ Bd. 2, no. 36 (31.1.1640). 123 AEM A.VII.a.4.a: Büßleben, p. 150v. See also Bog, pp. 126–130; Rathjen, pp. 181 f, 199–217. 124 Wandersleben, pp. 7–9 cites typical rural complaints. One gets a fair impression of the conflicts between fortified towns and the surrounding villages if one reads the studies by Bog (esp. pp. 117–120) and Friedrichs, Urban Society in combination with each other. 125 Held, Marktplatz, p. 94. 126 Ibid., pp. 57–63. See further Niska, pp. B3v–B4r; Schlögl, Bauern, pp. 97–116.

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From the early 1630s and onwards they began to marry soldiers from the garrison. For them, war opened up opportunities for social advancement.127 The impact of such social divisions is best dealt with in the course of the analysis. For now I shall only mention two characteristics common to all authors encountered here; both concern their “horizon of expectation”.128 Most inhabitants living in and around Erfurt in 1618 had never directly experienced war. A few of the very old had, when children, seen armies arrive in 1547 and 1551. Yet Erfurt and its adjacent territory had been spared from harsh, continual warfare since the late 1450s.129 Civilians listened with more interest than fear when war veterans recounted their exploits in foreign lands.130 Their accounts shaped the civilian images of war, though probably not to the same degree as pamphlets, sermons, and the school curriculum. Town chroniclers were, obviously, literate enough to both read and write. Given the religious core of the elementary schools, it is safe to assume that all were well versed in the Catechism, the Psalter, and the prayer book.131 Quite a few had attended the Ratsgymnasium where they read by Virgil about Aeneas and his wars.132 Their German presentation of past and present wars was, as mentioned, more strongly influenced by the Scriptural tradition, connecting sin to calamity and prayer to God-granted victory.

127

[Anon.], Erffurdtische Chronica. App. I. 14, p. 658; Held, Marktplatz, p. 61. For outside examples see Mortimer, p. 84 and Pleiss, Zeit der fremden Bräutigame. Chroniclers were remarkably tacit about such marital connections with local families. They only noted that higher-ranking members of the military attended burgher weddings if festivities ended in drunken fights between the two groups. The soldiers’ courtship was likewise only mentioned when it led to clashes with male civilians. Chroniclers thus tend to dramatise occupation and portray the garrison as an alien element. For outside parallels see Schulz, p. 256; Kaiser, Söldner und Bevölkerung. The said episodes are noted in [Anon.], Erffurdtische Chronica. App. I. 14, pp. 675 f (courting); [Anon.], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 15, pp. 40r, 53v–54v (marriages). 128 Koselleck inspires this and the preceding paragraph. 129 C. Beyer/Biereye, Geschichte, pp. 175–185 (on wars in the 1440s and 1450s), 379–396 (1525), and 425–431 (1547/1551). 130 Scheidt, pp. 3r–4v briefly describes his participation in the Kalmar War (1611–1613). On further talkative war veterans, see Bauer, Personalschriften, pp. 351 f, 441; Oergel, Himmelspforte, p. 18; and esp. Weiß, Lebenswelten, p. 250. 131 In 1549, separate schools for both sexes had been established in urban parishes, Brück, Mägdleinschulmeisterinnen. Until 1617, tuition fees often prevented impecunious parents from sending their children to school. The comparatively brief rural education is outlined by K. Martens, Fürsorge. Children of some affluent parents were taught by private preceptors, whilst others learned to write during their apprenticeship. Basic religious instruction does however seem to have been part of their education as well. Prass (with ample references); Ludolf, Commentarivs. App. I. 27, p. 12 (on a poor preceptor); Bauer, Personalschriften, pp. 66 f, no. 82. 132 See fn. 131 in Chapter Six! Pupils in the Jesuit Gymnasium (est. 1611) completed a, historiographically, more encompassing curriculum, including Caesar, Livy, and Sallust, alongside Thucydides, in the Greek original. Compare Dreier, pp. 25, 28 to Thiele, Gründung, pp. 26 f, 47–50; Weissenborn, pp. 44, 64, 68. In the early 1620s, a two-volume “Book of the monarchs” from the four world empires was introduced in the Ratsgymnasium (VD17 39:121281R).

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1645–1664. The end of a war In a strict diplomatic sense, hostilities in the Holy Roman Empire ended on October 14/24, 1648. Imperial, French, and Swedish plenipotentiaries gathered in the Town Hall of Münster in Westphalia to sign four sealed copies of two peace treaties. Contemporaries, from this moment, began to speak of a Thirty Years War. Yet viewed from the narrow angle of town history, October 1648 seems both too late and too early a date to mark the end of the war. The year 1645 had already witnessed the silencing of the cannons. In late January, conversations in Erfurt centred on the siege unfolding some forty kilometres away. One author described the thundering cannonades heard (!) in their town and “the great steam” that rose on the horizon near Heldrungen.133 In early February, the soldiers garrisoned in “the robbers’ castles” conditionally surrendered to Swedish besiegers. The surrender deprived the Electoral and Imperial cavalry of a stronghold “that caused this town and its rural territory almost insurmountable damage.”134 Half a year later (August 27/September 6, 1645), the Truce of Kötzschenbroda put an end to fights between the Swedish Crown and the Elector of Sachsen. Villages around Erfurt were subsequently spared large-scale raiding.135 Allied Swedish troops did continue to burden the countryside136 and the effects of war remained noticeable for years, if not decades. Most farms and many churches stood marred or ruined. Raids had thus reduced Büßleben from a village of some ninety houses to nineteen. By early 1648, most parishioners here took the time to attend the Sunday service, yet each household still kept an adult at home. She or he was to bring valuables to safety in the church in case raiders returned; a sentinel held guard in the church tower.137 Alleys were not crowded 133

“[H]eutiges tages hadt man alhiero in der Stadt gahr eigentlich starck vohr Heldrungen schiessen gehöret, auch grossen tampf aufgehen, gesehen, man weis es aber eigentlich nicht ob es in dem schlosse oder dorffe Heldrungen gewesen, Godt gebe glückliche Vorrichtung.” [Taute], Schwartz Voigteybuch. App. I. 17, p. 301. 134 Ibid., p. 302: “das raubschloss Heldrungen welches hiesiger Stadt undt dero gepiete auf dem lande fast unüberwindtlichen scheden midt raub undt stehlen, abnehmung der Pferde undt Viehes, zugefügt.” Heldrungen shifted hands twice after 1640. E. Wagner, Geschichte unserer Dörfer, pp. 33 f. 135 The only known exceptions are the Imperial raids in April and July 1646 and October 1647, E. Wagner, Geschichte unserer Dörfer, p. 35. 136 Brand, [Diary]. App. I. 25, pp. 21 f describes two tense episodes from 1647 and 1648. 137 AEM A.VII.a.4.a: Büßleben, pp. 149r–149v, 159r (quote): “so oft der Wechter auf dem thurm soldaten sehet ankommen, so schleget er an die glocken, da erschräcket iederman vnd leuffen etliche auß der kirchen, zusehen wo sie herkommen, vnd wie starck sie seynd, da muß man dann mit der predigt vnd kinderlehr inne halten, biß sie [… sich entscheiden] ob man in der kirchen bleiben oder lauffen soll. Wenn man nu gleich nach solchen tumult fortprediget, so ist das Vorige [was gepredigt wurde] albereit auß forcht Vnd schmertzen Vergessen.” On the church as a stronghold, see the reports in H. Beyer, Vogteibuch, pp. 263–265 and [Taute], Schwartz Voigteybuch. App. I. 17, pp. 162–165. Meissner documents material traces of the raids, pp. 17 ff; the gradual rebuilding of the liturgical stock of chalices, ciboriums, etc. is evident in Ludwig, Gedechtnüsswürdige Erzehlunge. App. I. 20. Ed. Schum, pp. 128–133.

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by children. Most had succumbed to the dysentery, epidemics, and famine. The small flock of survivors now returned to school. Children no longer had to work in town to ensure their family’s survival; foreign beggars had also disappeared from the village, the pastor explained.138 Yet life in the countryside remained hard. The banquets held after births and weddings sported meagre meals, characteristic of the war. Hosts invited few and served meat from the slow-moving (and hence raid-resistant) goat, mostly together with sour wine. The rare mugs of homebrewed beer promised that the village would slowly begin to resemble the pre-war period.139 The Swedish garrison remained after treaties had been signed in Westphalia. Regiments were kept in strategic towns to ensure that the agreed reparations were paid. The task of disbanding and withdrawing some 64,000 poorly-paid troops was at least as intricate as conducting a military campaign. Charles Gustavus (1622–1660), palatine count and later Swedish king, governed his army with a harsh hand, crushing a series of mutinies.140 When he entered Erfurt in mid-July 1650, he brought along fifty mutineers from yet another group of German regiments “that did not want to cross the waters” and serve in northern lands. Only the intervention of the Duke of Weimar, it seems, prevented their hanging. Six weeks later, on August 19/29 1650, the Swedish garrison left Erfurt. Only then did townsmen dare to celebrate peace.141 These celebrations were as much designed to bring about inner peace in town as to celebrate the outward peace in the Empire. A popular faction of urban representatives had for years attacked the unjust taxation and oligarchic rule of the so-called College of Seniors (Seniorenkolleg).142 Such conflicts continued for another decade-and-a-half, until 1664. Chroniclers like Hans Krafft and Zacharias Hogel looked back on the war during these turbulent years. They described more continuities than breaks: political strife marked 1648, 1650, and 1663 as much as it had influenced the years of 1638 or 1628. Conflicts catalysed by war-taxation shook many German towns and often climaxed after 1650. Christopher Friedrichs has justly stressed the need to include these “cumulative effects” in the study of 138 AEM A.VII.a.4.a: Büßleben, pp. 149r, 150v, 154r, 158v (Tit XXIV, No. 5 and 7): Many parents did still lack the money to hire farmhands and maids. They therefore took their sons out of school at a young age (“gar Zeitig”), to help them work the fields. Daughters were told to cut grass and look after younger siblings. Identical remarks in AEM A.VII.a.32.e (Kleinrettbach), pp. 9r (Tit. X, No. 21), 20r (No. 32). 139 Ibid., pp. 151r (on the absent Kirmes with its village dances), 151v, 153r, and 178v–179r. Prior to the war, townsmen had often gone to drink cheap beer in the adjacent villages. These taverns had been destroyed during the war but were now being rebuilt, ibid. 149v, 182v–183r; Nebe, Kirchliches Brauchtum, pp. 6 f. On further changes Bromme, pp. 71–73; Berg, Regulating war, pp. 74–76; F. H. Schrader, Verhältnisse, pp. 128 f, 160 f; Liebeskind, pp. 66 f. 140 Lorentzen, pp. 184–189, 202, 208–212. 141 J. Hundorph, Encomii Erffurtini Continuatio. App. I. 18, pp. R2r (“so nicht über das Wasser gewollt”). Compare Gantet, La paix; on the following, Ventzke, Das Ende. 142 Tümmler; Ventzke, Das Ende, pp. 41, 44–50, 56 f and W. F. v. Tettau, Reduction, pp. 6–13.

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how the Thirty Years War affected urban communities.143 Erfurt was far from the only town which called upon Imperial Commissions to arbitrate.144 Negotiations eventually foundered on the demand that Lutheran churchgoers include the Elector of Mainz in the common prayer. The pastors convened in the Evangelical Ministry long rejected this demand, proving themselves capable of obdurate opposition.145 The deadlocked conflict was radicalised over the course of 1663. Rioters killed local councillors and forced a show trial and execution of the leading politician; their violence culminated in the beating and humiliation of an Imperial herald. The Emperor thereupon placed the town under ban. Politically isolated, it was subjected to two sieges and surrendered in 1664. Like so many other towns that had enjoyed autonomy since the late Middle Ages, Erfurt was now “brought back” (reducta) to princely rule. Erfordia had once again become the ‘loyal daughter’ of her mother Mainz, as an authoritative history of the town announced in 1675.146 The new regime left no noteworthy liberties to celebrate in writing.147 The high time of the town chroniclers drew to a close. Historiography became a scholarly enterprise, dominated by lawyers, pastors and politicians.

143 Friedrichs, Urban Society, pp. 202, 292 and idem, German Town Revolts, p. 32 with a (too) pointed claim about the absence of major conflicts during the Thirty Years War. Recurrent unrests did mar the Imperial town Mühlhausen from 1623 to 1625, in 1630, and again between 1639 and 1642, Lau, Bürgerunruhen. The levying of war-taxes also alienated the citizenry in Leipzig and Halle from their councils. In Leipzig, this led to the formation of an independent civic committee that was active from 1643 to 1650. See Hoffmann, Klagen; Brademann. 144 Friedrichs, Urban Conflicts, pp. 122 f outlines the peculiarities of the sessions in Erfurt (1650, 1654–1655, 1660, 1662). W. F. v. Tettau, Reduction remains the standard account. On the interaction between the local factions and the outside powers, see Press, Kurmainz, Kursachsen und Kaiser. 145 For developments after 1660 see C. Beyer/Biereye, Geschichte, pp. 591 f, 597–600 and [Anon.], Gründliche Deduction (1663). 146 See the two opening poems in Gudenus: “ERFORDIA FIDELIS FILIA MOGUNTIAE EPISTOLA. Moguntia ad Erfordiam filiam cum haec se se anno 1665. Matri dederet” and “RESPONSUM ERFORDIAE AD MOGVNTIAM MATREM.” The metaphor alludes to the dictum found on the town’s seal. C. Beyer, Urkundenbuch, Table 1: “ERFORDIA. FIDELIS: EST: FILIA: MAGONTINE: SEDIS:”. Press, Soziale Folgen points to the subjection of Magdeburg (1666) and Braunschweig (1671), whose citizens had also freed themselves of episcopal rule centuries earlier. 147 Compare K. Herrmann, Bibliotheca Erfurtina to Kreter, Chapter 4.3, esp. pp. 402–410.

4. Signs of warning “True to His great mercy”, stated Nicolaus Stenger in 1654, “God does not assault people unexpectedly without warning”. On the contrary, the pastor explained, “He announces this beforehand and warns people with words and wondrous signs, so that they may convert and mend their ways and prepare to meet the LORD, their God, as the Prophet [Amos] admonishes”.1 The reference to Amos 4 was commonplace, as was the outlined series of divine warnings; sermons, prodigies, and the calamities that could follow were all meant to awaken repentance. God’s ultimate aim was to rescue sinners from eternal damnation.2 Pastors were very clear on this point, yet their sermons on prodigies often left parishioners uncertain on other issues. Was the solar eclipse of July 1654 or the comet of October 1618 comparable to the “fearefull sights and great signes” (Luke 21, 11) that had heralded the destruction of Jerusalem (70 A. C.)?3 Or were they among the “signes in the Sunne, and in the Moone, and in the Starres” (Luke 21, 25) that were said to prophesy the Second Coming of Christ and, with Him, the end of the entire world? These passages from Luke were expounded upon on two separate Sundays every year.4 The Gospel passages were, therefore, well known to parishioners. At present, little is known about their reactions to prodigies. Did lay believers favour an apocalyptic framework or speak about prodigies in terms of temporal calamities? Were they at all concerned about such issues or did they instead ignore pastors?5

1 “Es pflegets GOtt sonst also zumachen/wenn etwa eine merckliche Veränderung vorgehen/ oder ein und der ander Ort gestrafft werden soll/ daß Er nach seiner grossen Güte / die Leute nicht unversehens oder ungewarnet überfällt/sondern lessets vorher verkündigen/und die Leute warnen/mit Worten und mit Wunder Zeichen / daß sie sich bekehren und schicken mögen dem HERR ihrem Gott zu begegnen [Amos 4, 12]/ wie der Prophet vermahnet.” Nicolaus Stenger, Christliche Finsterniß-Predigt, p. C1v. 2 Ibid., pp. D2r–D4r. 3 Most sermons complemented Luke’s prophecy against Jerusalem with the comet, lay prophet, and celestial army listed in Flavius Josephus’ History of the Jewish Wars. See Graff, pp. 125 f. 4 Viz.: the Tenth Sunday after Trinity and the Second Sunday of Advent. – Stenger was unusually clear in 1654. He spoke of the solar eclipse with reference to the coming Sunday sermon on the Destruction of Jerusalem. The Second Coming could, in his view, only be signalled by a solar eclipse of the miraculous “hyperphysical” sort seen during the Ninth Plague of Egypt and the Crucifixion (Exod 10, 21–29; Luke 23, 45), Stenger, Christliche Finsterniß-Predigt, pp. B2r, C1v, D1v–D2r. 5 Apart from the pioneer studies listed below in fn.s 38 and 40, our knowledge largely remains limited to singular compilers. Pastors there rank highly. Harms, Vols. 6–7 treats the Zürich minister Johann Jacob Wick (1522–1588); on similar English and Swedish figures see Walsham, Providence, p. 1; Seaver; Sandblad, esp. pp. 211–217 on Joen Petri Klint (d.1608).

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The following chapter explores these questions by taking a closer look at entries in chronicles on some fifty-four prodigies and other potential portents. The serial analysis gives a detailed insight into the form and dynamics of local debates about prodigies. It makes sense to begin by looking at the prints on offer in Erfurt.

The print market Pastors were far from the only professional commentators.6 Astrologers, publishers, and pedlars all took part in the interpretation, and they generally promised audiences more detailed information about future events. The popularity of their divination is indirectly reflected by the fact that it was the target of sharp attacks by pastors. A treatise, written in 1624 by a pastor from nearby Herbsleben, roundly refuted all dabbling with judiciary astrology. Persons relying on nativities and other personalised prognostics were just as superstitious as those who gazed at the stars for signs of coming revolts and wars. Henning Friederich stated that such fatalist habits held a tight grip on believers; almanacs were “as soon to be found in our houses as the Holy Bible”.7 Stenger addressed this subject thirty years later, and the grievances remained much the same. His 1654-sermon portrayed the authors of almanacs as fools who tried to predict the weather and all kinds of events; he aptly described their attempts to safeguard their political prognoses through general statements.8 Here, astrologers were further blamed for diverting attention from the much-needed repentance. Stenger called upon councillors to forbid the ungodly prognostics and urged his listeners to boycott the almanac for the coming year.9 Such warnings often fell on deaf ears. Almanacs with prognostics were issued on a yearly basis in Erfurt. The ‘Peasant Practica’, a well-established augury-chapbook ascribed to Heyne von Vry, was on average printed here once every decade;10 manuals on how to read hands and interpret dreams also sold well.11 This was a 6

On pastors’ interests, see esp. Kaufmann, Deutungen and Barnes, Prophecy. Friederich, here quoted from Barnes, Astrology, p. 144 (with an ample bibliography). The head of the Erfurt clergy, Modestinus Wedmann (1562–1625), through a preface lent his authority to this sermon. Leppin, pp. 88 f describes the controversy surrounding the Erfurt-based astrologer-physician Johann Hebenstreit (d.1569). 8 Stenger, Christliche Finsterniß-Predigt, pp. C1v–C2r; see also C3v–C4r, B4v; compare the contemporary criticism in Faller. Stenger did allow for stellar impact on wars (p. C3r–C3v), but focused on penitent prayer as the only sound mode of influencing events. Barbed remarks on sidereal fatalism are found in Stenger, Grund-Feste, pp. 827 f. 9 Stenger, Christliche Finsterniß-Predigt, from pp. B4v–C2r. Local critics include Wandersleben, p. 439 and its preface, pp. 9 f. 10 VD17 currently lists six editions issued between 1602 and 1675, e. g. Vry, Bawren Practica (1637). The first ed. (Frankfurt 1565) is VD16 B 826. A bibliographical point of comparison is Matthäus. 11 See fn. 170 below and the two volumes published by Jacob Singe in 1602–1603: Creutzer, Planeten Büchlein; [Anon.], Traumbüchlein. 7

The print market

Figure Four: Wolfgang Hildebrand: Zehen Jährig Prognosticon/ vnd Astrologische nützliche Practica/ von dem 1627. Jahre an/ biß man schreiben wird 1638 […]. [S.l.] 1628. Transl.: A ten-year prognostic and useful astrological practick from […] 1627 until […] 1638 […].

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bustling, but tough business. Astrologers would attack the failed predictions of competitors and rightfully complain about the unscrupulous printers who pirated prognostics and issued them under false names.12 The cheapest of the cheap prints, broadsides, were usually sold for three or four Kreuzer – a fairly modest sum that, in good years, equalled the price of a pound of beef.13 These publications were not only affordable, many also addressed practical needs. Almanacs gave medical council, outlined business prospects for merchants, and advised farmers when to sow, etc.14 Chroniclers belonged to the intended readership of Ackerbürger and Hausväter, interested in the fertility of both farm animals and the household.15 Astrologers adapted their works to war needs. Christian Herlicius’ Practick from 1636 offered advice on the movements of armies alongside weather forecasts.16 Annual prognostics gave the same information,17 whilst the more elaborate works treated the most pressing questions of the day separately and at length: How long would the war continue? When would peace be made? Where would the armies campaign?18 Elaborate prognostics were often published in several editions. The prognostic on the decade from 1628 to 1638 by Wolfgang Hildebrand (c.1572-c.1635) was first issued with a title page adorned by a fancy copperprint. The second edition sported the cheaper woodcut reprinted above.19 Hildebrand was also the author of one of the best-selling works to appear in this corner of the Empire, the Magia Naturalis (1. ed. 1610). That compilation left much room for the last notable theme: curiosity and Kurzweil or the Horation delectare. It described plenty of practical jokes, spectacular tricks, and the like.20 12

Accusations against Tobias Fritzsch (and others) are found by M. Dedekind, Prognosticon (1634), pp. A4r, D4v; for further typical grievances see Hiebner von Schneeberg, Geursachte Apologia. 13 Rosseaux, pp. 235–263 and 426 f, inter alia based on price-regulations issued in Erfurt in 1622 and 1623. 14 See Barnes, Prophecy, p. 158; Roeck, Stadt, pp. 82 f; Thomas, pp. 333 f; Imhof, Lost worlds, pp. 148–161. 15 See Peuckert, pp. 302–306, 314 f and, more ironically, Telle, pp. 112 f. Hans Krafft thus marvelled at a mineral spring described in Döbner’s local publication; Krafft, [Erfurt Chronicle]. App. I. 19, p. 172r. 16 Herlicius, Practica Perpetua in welcher von den vier JahrsZeiten […] Mißwachs der Früchte/ Thewrung/ Hungers- und KummersNoht/ auch von Krieg und Auffruhr/ dardurch Länder zerstöret/ und die Völcker außgerottet weden/ gehandelt wird Auffs aller kürtzte und einfeltigste zusammen getragen […]. Erfurt 1636. 17 See fn. 26 and Brachtitzius, Prognosticon (1637) added to idem, Schreib Calender. 18 See Voigt/Friedlieb, Post-Reuter, pp. A3v (how long?), B1v (what peace?). Fn. 329 below notes his replies. To the fifth question, where war would be led, Voigt (in due order) warned readers in Saxony, Hesse, the Palatine, Bohemia, Silesia, Moravia, Austria, Thuringia and Meissen, along with the Hanseatic towns. He then comforted all of them that the war would be carried on outside Germany, after the year 1647. 19 Compare VD17 23:288461R to VD17 23:643424M. See p. 105 on its prognoses. 20 Telle, pp. 107 f, 112 f. On this branch see R. Zeller, Naturwunder and Daston/Park, pp. 170 f, 198 f.

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The publications on wonders and signs of warning thus included at least three strands: prints both helped readers with practical problems and, at the same time, often offered diversion from everyday life. The third set of more moral messages directed attention towards the next life. Pastors viewed this literature with ambivalence, to say the least. It is not difficult to find prints attacking anonymous publications. Nicolaus Stenger, for one, thundered against sensationalist Schartecken and the Schand- and Possenbücher with which some churchgoers seem to have passed their time during his sermons.21 Yet articulate critics all too easily divert attention from the discreet traces of mutual toleration.22 Whilst Stenger called the astrologer Israel Hiebner (1619–1668) “a notorious bragger”, the rector of the local university, Wolfgang Crusius (1621– 1658), wrote Hiebner a letter of recommendation.23 Gebesee offers a good example of recognition. Pastors exchanged written complements with other authors in this small town. Henning Dedekind (1562–1626), who himself wrote pamphlets on prodigies and calamities, composed a poem that was first added to the second local edition of Hildebrand’s Magia Naturalis (1617). In the poem, pastor Dedekind praised Hildebrand as “good astronomer” and respectable “practicer of [natural] magic” who was not to be condemned.24 Henning’s son and successor, Benjamin (1597–1640), renewed these bonds in a poem included in Hildebrand’s prognostics on 1628–1638.25 The novice astrologer Musophil Dedekind completes the picture. He sought, and gained, the approval of his close relative, Benjamin, in publications dating to the early 1630s.26 The tradition for cooperation was not limited to Gebesee. Abraham Seidel (d.1664), for example, doubled as astrologer and pastor in Nimritz, to the southeast.27 The anticipated opposition was in these and many other cases to be found outside the astrologers’ local community, amongst the articulate (though perhaps not all too numerous) group of very dogmatic opponents. This being said, con21

Stenger, Tausend Zeuge, pp. 155 f. See Barnes, Astrology, pp. 142 f, 146, whose survey is important for the following. 23 Hiebner von Schneeberg, Geursachte Apologia, appendix E, pp. 29–31. Stenger, Christliche Finsterniß-Predigt, B4v: “ein bekanter Großsprecher”. On Hiebner’s conflicts in Nürnberg, see Matthäus, columns 1153–1156. He worked in Erfurt around 1650. In 1636, Georg Schultz developed a similar, poetic defence of astrology, in a sumptious folio print, dedicated to newly inaugurated councillors. Schultz was Professor of Mathematics and Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy. 24 “Qui bonus Astronomus, licitæ cultorq;[ue] Magiæ”, Henning Dedekind, Epigramma. On Dedekind’s own publications see p. 96 below and Weiß, pp. 147 f. 25 Benjamin Dedekind: “De studio Astrologico, piè Sobrio”, in: Hildebrand, ZEhen Jährig Prognosticon (1628), p. A2r. On Henning and Benjamin Dedekind, Albrecht-Birkner, Pfarrerbuch, pp. 283 f. 26 Mutual dedications are found in his first and last known prognostics: M. Dedekind, Prognosticon (1631) (Benjamin to Musophil); M. Dedekind, Prognosticon (1634), pp. A1v, D4v (Musophil to Benjamin). In 1631, Musophil also sought the approval of the ecclesiastical Superintendent in Weissensee, Martin Schlegel. Musophil had his works printed by Benjamin’s brother in Erfurt, Friedrich Melchior Dedekind. 27 Seidel published a hopeful treatise in Erfurt 1642. Christian Herlicius studied theology and later became pastor in Ebenheim and Weingarten; see fn.s 16, 222 in this chapter. 22

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cerns with theological and political objections did prompt many authors to publish under pseudonyms and with false imprints. Thus it is difficult to establish who authored the work on the swans at Gebesee and where it was published.28 Here, we are mainly concerned with the readership. Works on constellations left readers with the rather passive role of following expert advice.29 Laymen played a more active role in celestial apparitions and the wonders that were observed on the ground. The Newe Zeittung (Latest News) about such signs was the subject of broadsides and short pamphlets. Their ballad-like rhymes were normally meant to be read aloud.30 In Erfurt, male and female pedlars both sung and sold them Vor den Graden, on the square at the foot of the stairs that lead up to the Catholic church hill. Erfurt had fallen far behind Augsburg and Nürnberg and no longer ranked as a centre for wondrous penny ballads; during these decades, Tobias Fritzsch alone continued in the footsteps of printers like Georg Baumann (active 1557–1599) and Johann Beck (c.1543–1601).31 One of his typical products is the eight-page pamphlet mentioning a terrible fire that occurred in the nearby Vogtland, in 1625. The scenery included warnings in the sky. Burning crosses and coffins had signalled that a dreadful fate was about to befall the town. The accounts and commentary were meant to move listeners and send a chill down their spines.32 There is no possible way of reconstructing precisely which pamphlets pedlars sold in Erfurt. One can only surmise the full breadth of the supply in town by reading the works of two local chroniclers who took written note of outside wonders.33 The other chroniclers limited themselves to local wonders. This limitation is one of several points in which broadsides and chronicles differ in their description of wonders. One could attribute this to a parochial threat perception. Chroniclers perhaps considered outside wonders to be irrelevant to the fate of their local community.34 A more simple explanation is that most chroniclers only wrote about their own town; another group of authors may simply not have believed such 28 Musophil Dedekind is the most likely candidate. His prognostics from 1634 (fn. 26) offered the same sort of guidance about the progress of peace treaties. The divination-through-augury would also fit well to Hildebrand. Yet, according to Utsch, p. 7, he may well have been dead by early spring 1635 when the pamphlet was concluded. 29 On following Frijhoff, Embodied belief, p. 150. 30 See Brednich, esp. pp. 285–323. 31 Tobias Fritzsch sold books from his house ‘zum Gülden Engel’ vor den Graden during the 1620s and early 1630s (e. g. the colophon on VD17 23:686873K). One of the female pedlars operating here is mentioned on page 116 below. Jacob Singe published works in this genre until 1612. On Beck, note Bauer, Personalschriften, pp. 46 f. 32 [Anon.], Warhafftige und erschröckliche Newe Zeitung (1625). A six-pager from 1621 described an imminent solar eclipse in dark colours, [Anon.], Newe Zeittung […] wegen der grossen Sonnen Finsternuß dieses Jahrs […]. Erfurt 1621. 33 Martin Hoffmann (App. I. 6) and Samuel Fritz (App. I. 23–24). For sake of completion note [Anon.], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 13, p. 79v (bloody pool in Lützen 1631). 34 This seems to be the case in the examples mentioned by Daston/Park, pp. 190 f.

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reports. Contemporaries knew that printers were prone to invent or to grossly exaggerate outside wonders.35 A typical canard is the broadside from Frankfurt am Main, dated 1627. It neither stated an author nor a printer, but described a magnificent celestial battle, which it claimed had been in March above Erfurt.36 This vision is mentioned nowhere in local sources. In fact, no Erfurt chronicler described any such extended speech, spoken from the sky by awe-inspiring figures. Their dialogues and speeches to the terrestrial spectators were mostly added by pamphleteers mindful of the oral performance of the ballad.37 Pedlars sold such accounts across the Empire and pamphleteers therefore often chose to omit hostilities between Lutherans, Calvinists, and Catholics. They rather singled out the Turk as the main religious enemy. In bi-denominational towns like Erfurt, reports about local omens and wonders were, by contrast, often used against the opposing denomination. These two examples highlight the difference between chronicles and pamphlets. They demonstrate that it is worth to take a closer look at how prodigies and omens were handled locally.

Divine signs of warning observed locally Few scholars have scaled the heaps of cheap print and compendious volumes on wonders that are found in research libraries; even fewer have ventured into the jungle of manuscript notes. The present survey follows in the path of three pioneer studies. Ottavia Niccoli has covered signs of warning from early sixteenth-century Italy in the same thorough manner as Willem Frijhoff has done for the Netherlands in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.38 Whilst Niccoli discusses the forms of prophecies and their decline, Frijhoff develops a general model with which to analyse the rise and spread of a given wonder or prophecy. He underlines the politics of giving credence to a collective perception and fixing its meaning. What he calls the “modes of production” is in this study described as the local ‘management of meaning’.39 Based on a larger sample, Krusenstjern has recently outlined typical lay responses to prodigies. The present chapter confirms many of 35 E. g. fn. 107 below and Brednich, pp. 201 f. Reports about sudden deaths seem to have been believed more readily; see p. 249 below, in Chapter Six. 36 [Anon.], Ein Erbärmliche newe Zeitung (1627). Reprinted in Dorothy/Strauss, p. 712. 37 Another such dialogue was found in the anonymous pamphlet authored by a certain Thomas Kern, from Augsburg. He had the work printed in his home town, but stated Tobias Fritzsch from Erfurt as publisher. Rosseaux, pp. 231 f. The obsolete 1625-pamphlet mentioned by Weller, p. 137, no. 682 was probably also printed outside town. The said printer, Marx Meyer, appears in neither catalogues nor local records and seems to be fictitious. 38 Niccoli; Frijhoff, Prophétie; idem, Embodied belief, Chapters Six and Eight; and esp. idem, Wegen, Part One, Chapter 7, with a case study on the Dutch town of Woerden, in 1624. A number of fine studies have gone into depth with a single phenomenon. See fn. 9 above. 39 The phrase is drawn from Cohen/Comaroff.

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her observations.40 The only study available on local prints is the essay in cultural history by Richard Loth, from 1896.41 My survey located references to fifty-four portentous signs witnessed locally during the thirty-two years of war and occupation (1618–1650). These signs are listed in Table One with notes on the date, phenomenon, and written source. Altogether, thirteen of twenty-six chroniclers and diarists mentioned such signs. The remaining authors did not consider prodigies a crucial part of their own account of this war. However, most of these authors did mention wonders and prodigies at other points in their texts; none of them explicitly refuted their significance. The only critic who broke with this belief system wrote around 1700; he is treated in the epilogue, at the end of this chapter.42 Only two authors tried to register local signs in a systematic, encompassing manner: they have numbers twenty-one and twenty-two in the appendix. These post-war compilers did not have knowledge of all the signs registered here; many remained a fleeting rumour or, at best, a short note that was not known throughout town. This ephemeral impression is strengthened by the fact that authors who were interested in prodigies and wrote during the same period often reported different signs.43 We shall take a closer look at two groups: the signs that were explicitly contested and the small number that became widely known. If chroniclers only registered some of the wonders discussed locally, an even smaller fraction ever appeared in print. Erfurt printers published fifteen sermons and pamphlets on prodigies seen locally during the decades examined here. Yet these prints only account for about a fifth of the fifty-four prodigies and omens mentioned in local sources. Four prints concerned the comet of 1618; the remainder mostly treat a single sign sighted locally.44 Chroniclers gradually concentrated on a few prodigies and began to grow more elaborate in their commentary the further removed they were from the observation. The interesting changes over time often only become apparent through a 40 Krusenstjern, Prodigienglaube. I shall also compare findings with the important studies by William Burns and Alexandra Walsham. 41 For a modern physician, he exhibits remarkable cultural empathy. Loth, Zornzeichen. Tiemeroth’s treatise from 1753 was probably the first extensive Enlightened account on local prodigies. The only copy known to me appears to have been destroyed by a fire in 2004. 42 Greyerz, Vorsehungsglaube, pp. 44 f; Krusenstjern, Prodigienglaube, pp. 54 f. One third of the 240 authors examined by Krusenstjern mentioned prodigies from the Thirty Years War. In both Krusenstjern’s and the present sample, next to no author mentioned more than ten prodigies (ibid., p. 65). The most avid observers are Fritz, Cronica. App. I. 24 (seven), [Anon.], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 13 (nine), and the post-war compilation [Anon.], [Compilation]. App. I. 22 (eight). 43 Compare the entries 1639, 3 and 1641, 7 written by the chroniclers with nos. 15 and 17 in Appendix I. 44 Exceptions are the blackletter ballad published by Fritzsch in 1625 (fn. 32) and the compilations by Kaspar Dauthendey and Christian Herlicius (fn. 222). Such compilations sought to impress readers by amassing earlier examples. If one were to include all the signs mentioned there in the above statistics, it would turn considerably in favour of the prints. – I have also excluded the two prints from Frankfurt (1627, 1) and Augsburg (1623, 1).

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serial analysis of entries on the same prodigy. Compared to broadsides, chroniclers border on the lapidary. Their entries vary between a single sentence (“a great wondrous sign was seen here in the sky, on January 25, 1630”) and one to two paragraphs, at the most.45 Chroniclers singled out the message with most significance for them. The unequal chronological distribution is evident at a first glance of the table. Prodigies were seemingly discussed more during some particular years. Table One: Signs of warning in, above, and around Erfurt No.

Date

1618, 1 23.3.1618

Phenomenon

Reported in

celestial sign (parhelion) K. Dauthendey, CONSIGNATIO Vieler […] gedenckwürdigen Historien. WElche je vn[d] je auff die Parelia Oder Neben Sonnen/ derer fünff den 23. Martij dieses 1618. Jahres […] im Land zu Braunschweig gesehen worden/ erfolget […]. Erfurt [1618] BEM Mscr.83 (App. I. 9), p. 432v

1618, 2 28.4.1618

monstrous birth

StAE 5/100–46 (App. I. 6), p. 359

1618, 3 13.10.1618

celestial sign (rainbow)

ibid., p. 360

1618, 4 Oct.-Dec. 1618 comet(s)

J. Weber, Cometen-Predigt […] Am andern Sontag des Advents […] gehalten. Erfurt 1618 StAE 5/100–46 (App. I. 6), p. 360 J. Thurnmann, STELLA COMANS Oder Gründliche vnd Warhafftige Beschreibung/ Von dem newen Comet-vnd WunderStern […]. Erfurt 1619 P. Nagel, […] Des newen Cometen vnd Wunder Sterns im October/ November vnd December 1618 erschienen/ warhafftige Deutung vnd Auslegung […]. Erfurt 1619 A. Rademann, Gründliche vnd warhafftige Beschreibung/ des grossen vnd erschrecklichen COMETEN […]. Erfurt 1619 V. Capsius, New Jahrs Predigt […]. Erfurt 1620 StAE 5/100–32 (App. I. 10), p. 374

45 “Anno 1630 den 25. Januarii ist ein gros wunderzeichen alhier am himmel gesehen worden.” [Anon.], Erffurdtische Chronica. App. I. 14, p. 566c. Erfurt chronicles conform both in length and content to the entries transcribed by Krusenstjern, Prodigienglaube, pp. 73–78.

Signs of warning

84 No.

Date

Phenomenon

Reported in ThuLB Ms.prov.Q.82 (App. I. 13), p. 79r J. Hundorph, ENCOMII ERFFURTINI Continuatio […]. Erfurt 1652, p. O3v BEM Mscr.83 (App. I. 9), p. 432v

StAE 5/100–90 (App. I. 22), p. 87r StAE 5/100–42, pp. 120 and 230 H. Ludolf, Jr., Schau-Bühne […]. Vol. 1. Frankfurt a. M. 1699 (App. I. 27), co. 697–701 1620, 1 16.2.1620

celestial sign (parhelion) StAE 5/100–90 (App. I. 22), p. 94v

1620, 2 23.2.1620

celestial sign (parhelion) ibid., p. 94v

1620, 3 1620

solar and lunar eclipse

V. Capsius, New Jahrs Predigt. […]. Erfurt 1620

1621, 1 11.5.1621

solar eclipse

N. Stenger, Christiche Finsterniß-Predigt […]. Erfurt 1654, p. D1r [Anon.], Newe Zeittung […] wegen der grossen Sonnen Finsternuß dieses Jahrs […]. Erfurt 1621

1621, 2 2.10.1621

celestial sign (rainbow)

StAE 5/100–46 (App. I. 6), p. 367

1621, 3 23.7.1621

monstrous birth

H. Dedekind, Warhafftiger Bericht/ Von einer vngestalten Mißgeburt / eines Mägdleins / so sich begeben zu Gebesee / in Tyringen […]. Erfurt 1621

1622, 1 17.3.1622

celestial sign (parhelion) StAE 5/900–36 (App. I. 4), p. 863

1622, 2 1.7.1622

omen (anti-Lutheran)

StAE 5/100–69 (App. I. 5), p. 128r

1622, 3 mid June 1622 bloody sign

ibid.

1622, 4 6.9.1622

lay prophet

ibid., p. 127r

1622, 5 end of 1622

bloody sign

J. Rehefeld, Blut-Geschichte […]. Erfurt 1636, p. 95

1624,1

monstrous birth

StAE 5/100–42 (App. I. 24), p. 333 f; StAE 5/100–43 (App. I. 23), p. 238r

1627, 1 15.3.1627

celestial sign (battle)

[Anon.], Ein Erbärmliche newe Zeitung. Von dem erschrecklichen Wunderwerck / so sich im Thüringer Lande/ vber der Hoch- vnd weitberühmbtenStatt [sic] Erffurt in Wolken begeben vnd zugetragen hat. […]. Frankfurt a. M. 1627

1630, 1 1630, may be identical to 1630, 2

celestial sign (parhelion) StAE 5/100–42 (App. I. 24), p. 118

Divine signs of warning observed locally No.

Date

1630, 2 25.1.1630

Phenomenon

Reported in

celestial sign

StAE 5/100–33 (App. I. 14), p. 566c

85

StAE 5/100–90 (App. I. 22), p. 94v 1630, 3 10/11.6.1630

solar eclipse

[Anon.], Astrologische Beschreibung vnd Erklärung/ der am 31. Maji stylo veteris, vnd 10. Junij stylo novo, jetzt scheinenden Jahres […] gewesenen grossen Sonnen Finsternüß […]. Erfurt 1630

1630, 4 29.6.1630

celestial sign (battle)

StAE 5/100–33 (App. I. 14), pp. 566d-566e

1630, 5 Cf. 1631, 3

omen (anti-Catholic)

ibid., p. 566e

1631, 1 1631

celestial sign (star)

ThULB Ms.prov.Q.82 (App. I. 13), p. 80v

1631, 2 12.4.1631

celestial sign (parhelion) ibid.

1631, 3 19.8.1631, cf. 1630, 5

omen (anti-Catholic)

StAE 5/100–90 (App. I. 22), p. 91v

ibid., p. 81r

1631, 4 Prior to bloody sign September 1631

[H. Oraeus], THEATRI EVROPAEI Vierdter Theil/ […]. 2. Ed. Frankfurt a. M. 1648, p. 612

1632, 1 11/21.4.1632

StAE 5/100–42 (App. I. 24), p. 355

omen (anti-Catholic)

LHASA, MD, A 37b I, II IX, Nr. 15 (App. I. 1), p. 26v

StAE 5/101–3 Vol. 1, p. 237 (dated to 1630), probably based on Hogel (App. I. 9) 1632, 2 October 1632

bloody sign

1632, 3 shortly after 7.11.1632

omen (after the death of StAE 5/100–42 (App. I. 24), p. 355 Gustavus Adolphus)

1634, 1 25.4.1634

celestial sign (parhelion) ThULB Ms.prov.Q.82 (App. I. 13), p. 96r

1643, 2 18/28.5.1634

omen?

LHASA, MD, A 37b I, II IX, Nr. 15 (App. I. 1), p. 88r

1634, 3 9.6.1634

lay prophet?

StAE 5/100–33 (App. I. 14), p. 658

1634, 4 late 1634/early omen 1635

J. Rehefeld, Blut-Geschichte […]. Erfurt 1636, pp. 101 f

[Anon.], Newe Zeitung Vom Thyringischen Schwanen Zug- und Flug […]. [s.l.] 1635 A. Toppius, Gebesee […]. Erfurt 1661, p. B1r

1635, 1 18.3.1635

celestial sign (parhelion) ThULB Ms.prov.Q.82 (App. I. 13), p. 97v

1636, 1 26.5.1636

celestial sign (crosses)

J. Rehefeld, Blut-Geschichte […]. Erfurt 1636, p. 2

1636, 2 27.5.1636

celestial sign (coffins)

ibid., p. 3

1636, 3 2.6.1636

bloody sign

ibid., pp. 1, 102

Signs of warning

86 No.

Date

Phenomenon

Reported in ThuLB Ms.prov.Q.82 (App. I. 13), p. 100v [H. Oraeus], THEATRI EVROPAEI […] Dritter Theil […]. 1. ed. Frankfurt a. M. 1639, p. 660 H. Ludolf, Jr., Schau-Bühne […]. Vol. 2. Frankfurt a. M. 1701 (App. I. 27), co. 537.

1636, 4 3.6.1636

bloody sign

J. Rehefeld, Blut-Geschichte […]. Erfurt 1636, pp. 102 f

1636, 5 25.6.1636

bloody sign

ibid., pp. 104 f

1636, 6 29.6.1636

bloody sign

ibid., pp. 40, 36–72

1636, 7 4.7.1636

bloody sign

ibid., p. 105

1636, 3–7

bloody signs

M. Wandersleben, Ein Christlich Gespräch […]. Erfurt 1640, p. 141

1639, 1 29.4.1639

angelic vision

HStW F164 (App. I. 15), pp. 14v–18v

1639, 2 17.7.1639

omen (death)

ibid., p. 18v

1639, 3 19–20.12.1639 celestial sign (rainbow)

ibid., p. 22r

1639, 4 Christmas 1639 written prophecy

ibid., p. 22r

1641, 1 22.3.1641

celestial sign (fiery sign) StAE 5/100–90 (App. I. 22), p. 94v

1641, 2 9.5.1641

bloody sign

ibid., p. 95v

bloody sign

HStW F164 (App. I. 15), p. 56v

23.5–9.6.1641

1641, 3 Pentecost 1641 bloody sign

ibid.

1641, 4 Pentecost 1641 bloody sign

LHASA, MD, A 37b I, II IX Nr. 32 (App. I. 17), p. 37

1641, 5 June 1641

bloody sign

[H. Oraeus], THEATRI EVROPAEI Vierdter Theil […]. Frankfurt a. M. 21648, p. 612

1641, 6 3.7.1641

bloody sign

LHASA, MD, A 37b I, II IX Nr. 32 (App. I. 17), pp. 38 f

1641, 7 29.12.1641

omen (meteor)

ibid., pp. 107–109

1642, 1 8.5.1642

celestial sign (parhelion) StAE 5/100–90 (App. I. 22), p. 94v

1643, 1 23.2.1643

omen

LHASA, MD, A 37b I, II IX Nr. 32 (App. I. 17),

p. 177 1643, 2 11.8.1643

omen

ibid., p. 194

The relative lack of entries from the mid- and the late 1620s is notable; the last twothirds of the 1640s form a complete gap. In a thirty-two-year span, sixteen passed without any record of a local prodigy. Prodigies and omens are mentioned with extraordinary frequency (more than four a year) in periods when threats loomed

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large. During 1622, the first armies arrived; in 1630 and 1631, Lutherans faced the Edict of Restitution and feared a Counter-Reformation. A third round of prodigies was sighted in 1636 when Imperial, Saxon Electoral and Swedish armies marched through the countryside.46 A final cluster was seen during the summer of 1641, when Imperial forces prepared their second blockade of Erfurt. In some cases (especially the omens in 1630–1631), the concentration owes to the retrospective focus on divine signs hailing the God-sent liberation. The qualitative analysis will point to another, more psychological than narrative aspect: the fear of impending punishments led townsmen to keep a lookout for signs of warning. Prodigies were largely absent in peaceful pauses (1623–1625; 1646–1650) and during the catastrophic years in 1637 and 1638, when war and famine had already struck with full force.47 The type of message and namely its precision48 are of importance, but the shapes of signs also merit particular attention. They range from a blue rainbow (1618, 3) to a bloody rapier (1643, 1). This broad array can be grouped into four clusters. Out of fifty-four reported signs, twenty-two were seen in the sky. Their prevalence seems to be typical. Celestial prodigies also dominate samples in several prior studies.49 The red rain and blood-coloured ponds around Erfurt belong to a slightly less frequent group, with fifteen individual reports, most dating to the summer months of 1636 and 1641.50 Next in number are the eleven strange occurrences that contemporaries often referred to as omens, a category separate from prodigies.51 The fourth and least significant group compromises the three deformed infants born in the area and the two visionary laymen, along with one 46

The same holds true for 1634. Frijhoff, Prophétie, by contrast, notes a surge in signs during the first months of the French invasion of the Netherlands, in 1672. 48 Ibid., p. 270, distinguishing four types of prophecy: prognosis, presage, premonition, and prediction. 49 Brednich, p. 199; Ewinkel, p. 21, fn. 20; Barnes, Prophecy, pp. 174 f; Krusenstjern, Prodigienglaube, p. 55; and Burns, pp. 97 f (comets). Parhelions (the apparition of three suns) were reported above Erfurt on nine different occasions. Chroniclers further mentioned three strangely coloured rainbows (Table One: 1618, 2; 1621, 2; 1639, 3), three solar eclipses (1620, 3; 1621, 1; 1630, 3). The sighting of a comet was thus comparatively rare (1618, 3). On six occasions, well-known celestial figures were seen above Erfurt: coffin and crosses (1636, 1–2) appeared along with the more non-descript “terrible fiery sign” (1641, 1), a “gros wunderzeichen am himmel” (1630, 2), and a weak star seen at daytime (1631, 1). Townsmen did note the famed battle in the sky seen across Germany in 1630 (here 1630, 4). As mentioned in fn. 37 above, two further celestial battles had been created by printers in Augsburg and Frankfurt a. M. 50 Table One: 1622, 3; 1622, 5; 1631, 5; 1632, 2, 1636, 3–7; 1641, 1–6; see also fn. 33 above. 51 Table One: 1622, 2; 1630, 5; 1631, 3; 1632, 1 and 3; 1634, 2 and 4; 1639, 2; 1641,7; 1643, 1–2. See Krusenstjern, Prodigienglaube, p. 63. – The contemporaneous usage of the concepts deserves some comment. Lay observers were aware of the difference between established signs of warning (here called prodigies) and the more questionable divinatory signs, such as auguries. Yet they rarely expressed this and the related differentiations in any consequent terminological manner. Chronicles here differ from sermons and other learned commentaries; see fn.s 4 and 229. This being said, lay observers did distance themselves from some reports by using negative terms like “Gesicht”. E. g. fn.s 68, 75. 47

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written prophecy (1639, 4). The relative rarity in numbers conforms to a qualitative boundary. When deformed infants appeared in town or when angelic visions were reported, locals often either refused to believe them or deemed them of little importance to the town as a whole.52 Only one out these five figures prompted local observers to call for repentance.53 Angelic apparitions certainly played a more prominent role in pamphlets than in the local debate in Erfurt. Townsmen apparently considered celestial prodigies witnessed by a group more relevant than reports of individual visions. Many researchers have examined contemporary notions of credible evidence, but few have dealt with the resultant hierarchy of individual signs.54 The very prominence of prodigies made contemporaries sceptical towards initial reports.55 The aim of every broadside and wondrous account was, therefore, verisimilitude. Astronomers emphasised that their “actual delineation” gave a “thorough and true description” of a comet.56 The testimony of named “honourable men” gave weight to celestial apparitions.57 Similar signs seen by women and children could, on the contrary, prompt comments on the distorting influence of imagination. The Devil could, after all, easily deceive frightened women.58 Those who claimed to have seen an angel were therefore best advised to present physical evidence of their close encounter. Records tell of angels that either beat reluctant lay visionaries or gave them objects to authenticate their account, such as bloody vines or letters from Heaven.59 Recognised proof was one crucial issue. The political acceptance of the concomitant message and the threat perception also influenced reactions, determin52

Compare to the statistics in J. Beyer, Mißgeburt, pp. 702, 705. H. Dedekind, Warhafftiger Bericht. Further ‘monsters’ were born in 1618 and 1624. For visionaries, see Table One: 1639, 1; 1622, 4. 54 Monographies often focus on one phenomenon. E. g. Genuth, Comets; J. Beyer, Lutheran Lay Prophets; Ewinkel. 55 E. g. Macfarlane, Ralph Josselin, pp. 189 f. 56 Fritz, Cronica. App. I. 24, p. 236 “Eygent licher Abriß deß Comet Sterns, welcher sich 1677. wunder jahrs hat sehen lassen.” Rademann, Gründliche Beschreibung des Cometen (1619); Thurnmann, Stella Comans Oder Gründliche vnd Warhafftige Beschreibung Von dem newen Comet-vnd WunderStern (1619). 57 Krusenstjern, Prodigienglaube, pp. 61 f; Walsham, Providence, pp. 176–183; Daston/Park, p. 191; H. Dedekind, Warhafftiger Bericht, p. A2v. 58 “Eben ein solches könte auch jemanden/ zumal bey Nächtliger Weile/ begegnen/so jhme ein præconcept von TodtenBahren vnd dergleichen schreckbildern eingebildet hette/ wenn er in der Lufft etwa seltzam scheinende vnd etlicher massen vber vnd durcheinander geschrenkete WolckenStralen ohngefehr erblickete.” Rehefeld, Blut-Geschichte, pp. 25–28, quote p. 26 with the characteristic addition: “zumal [bei] Weibsbildern”. The Danish bishop Jersin used a similar argument on pp. G7v–H4v in his treatise, to discredit the visionaries who claimed to have seen angels in the late 1620s. See also Frijhoff, Embodied belief, pp. 142 f. – The misogynist tendency did not result in any absolute refutation. In 1651, a Lutheran girl did manage to convince quite a few people in Erfurt that she had received a warning from an angel. StAE 5/100-45, Vol. 4, p. 1117. 59 J. Beyer, Lutheran Lay Prophets, pp. 98–102; Sabean, Power in the Blood, pp. 69 f; and Berg, Dreams. 53

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89

ing whether a reported wonder prompted prayers or pranks. These and further factors can be grouped into two decisive criteria: cultural convention and social negotiation. An audience could only believe in a wondrous account that fitted within their world-view. During the period examined, the proposition that God sent comets and angels to warn sinners remained plausible to both local Catholics and Lutherans. Scholars only began to systematically disbelieve such wonders in the course of the late seventeenth and eighteenth century. This readiness to believe in wonders did not imply an instant and unconditional recognition of every report. Secular and ecclesiastical authorities asserted their prerogative to jointly decide which prodigies were authentic and, subsequently, what their precise message might be. Chroniclers also contributed to discussions on a given wonder through their descriptions of it. This local ‘management of meaning’ influenced where the blame, inherent to most prodigies, would be placed. The following analysis is primarily organised in a phenomenological manner, according to the four groups outlined above. The survey will highlight the differing local reactions. Bloody wonders were susceptible to empirical study to a much higher degree than celestial apparitions. A monstrous birth was more liable to evoke curiosity than a comet. The sections devoted the individual signs each address the astrological and sensationalist alternatives to sermons presented at the outset of this chapter. It is instructive to begin with local discussions about the more infrequent reports. Angelic prophecies and monstrous births were often marginalised and, hence, exemplify why audiences accepted some signs as a divine warning and rejected others.

Angels and prophecies As far as cultural convention is concerned, prophecies posed few problems for Lutherans. Prophecy had become integral to their view of history. Until at least the second half of the seventeenth century, Lutheran identity remained tied to religious prophecy by four strong bonds. The identification of the Pope as the Antichrist of the Revelation was at the heart of Lutheran ecclesiology. Numerous studies have explored how this apocalyptic discovery determined Lutheran and Catholic attitudes towards prediction and contemporary history.60 Secondly, by consequence, Lutherans were fond of individuals, like Jan Hus (c.1369–1415), who had foretold the coming of Luther decades or centuries prior to his advent. In 1651, the local historian Johannes Hundorph (1603–1667) listed further regional prophets from the widely read catalogues “of the witnesses of the truth, who cried

60 See Leppin, pp. 279–282; Scribner, Popular Culture, pp. 307–311, 348 f; and esp. Barnes, Prophecy. Useful comparisons with Catholics by idem, Astrology, pp. 132 f and Kaufmann, Apokalyptik.

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out against the Pope before our times.”61 The Franciscan Johann Hilten (1425– 1500) was one of them. Imprisoned by his brethren in nearby Eisenach, after having criticised their immorality, he “prophesied: in more than 30 years, a man shall come, who will eradicate you monks, and you will not be able to resist him”.62 The chronicler Samuel Fritz likewise celebrated Heinrich Müller, an Augustinian from Erfurt who had supposedly been imprisoned for his support of Luther and there starved to death.63 Fritz revered other proto-Lutheran martyrs like Girolamo Savonarola, OP (1452–1498), whose life was – not only in Fritz’ account – intertwined with “Martinus Luther, the great and dear Prophet of the German lands”.64 This title as the “Prophet of the German lands” points to the third group of prophecies, announced by Luther himself and repeated by succeeding generations of preachers. These prophecies were less concerned with Antichrist in Rome and instead addressed sinners in Germany.65 Believers here continued to scoff at the Word that Luther had purified for them. Pastors admonished their flocks that unless they repented, Germans would soon share the fate of the Jews and other ungrateful peoples, who had fallen out of divine favour and lost their independence. Quite a few preachers warned that the present war could inaugurate the complete overthrow of the Gospel in Germany.66 The fourth – and for this chapter most relevant – aspect of the Lutheran propensity for prophecy evolved in the second half of the sixteenth century. Throughout Lutheran territories, from Ulm to Uppsala, lay believers announced divine

61 Flacius, Catalogus (1556) was among the first in a longer series of Lutheran martyrologies. Their role is clarified by Burschel, Chapter 2. Erfurt authors are more traditional than those cited by Pohlig, p. 338. 62 “[Er] hat geweissaget: über 30 Jahre wird ein Mann kommen / der wird euch Mönche tilgen / deme jhr nicht wiederstreben werdet. Wie auch erfolget/und es die Mönche samt den Jesuiten und Pfaffen noch erfahren müssen.” J. Hundorph, Encomii Erffurtini Continuatio. App. I. 18, p. F2v. On Hus and Hilten see Barnes, Prophecy, pp. 47, 278 and the fundamental study by Preuss, pp. 15–18, 71. See also Stenger, Grund-Feste, pp. 605 f. 63 Fritz, Cronica. App. I. 24, p. 215. The martyr is better known as Heinrich von Zütphen (c.1488– 1524). Heinrich was however burned at the stake in Northern Germany. The sufferings described by Fritz fit better to Hilten. 64 Fritz echoed Matthesius, who had reckoned that Luther (“der grose Vnd thewre Prophet Deutschß lanndeß”) was born and baptised on the very year and day “da der selige merterer, Hieronymus Savanorola, Vmb seiner Christlichen bekentnüß, zu florens ver brant ist.” On the bonfire, Savonarola spoke: “Gottes wort werdet ihr nicht dempffen, Es ist schon Ein Ander man da, den werdet ihr nicht Vmbringen, denselbige tag auff den Abent Vmb 6 Vhr, war D. Luther geboren”. Fritz, Cronica. App. I. 24, pp. 217 f (quote); Pohlig, p. 111. On such appropriations, see ibid., pp. 365–367 and Gordon, Protestant Uses. 65 Barnes, Prophecy, pp. 60–62, 68; Preuss, pp. 238–243; Scribner, Popular Culture, p. 349, fn. 100; and Leube, pp. 157–162. 66 Local examples include Caps, p. B4r and Wandersleben, pp. 12, 236–238, 257, 514 f. Further prophecies were ascribed to Luther by Toppius, Der Christenheit Schuldigkeit, p. C3v; J. Hundorph, Encomii Erffurtini Continuatio. App. I. 18, p. M3v; and [Anon.], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 15, p. 55r.

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wrath and the impending judgement.67 The watchman who addressed fellow inhabitants in 1608 conformed to an established cultural pattern. An angel had appeared to him, while he was on patrol. It had ordered him to call for repentance and warn Erfurt to abstain from vanity, adultery, and blasphemy.68 It was no coincidence that such a warning vision involved an angel. Angels had retained a fixed position in Lutheran cosmology, as guardians and messengers.69 Yet to receive recognition, lay prophets could not rely on cultural convention alone. They depended on clerical superiors for permission to preach openly about their visions. Printers had to obtain the ‘imprimatur’ before they could publish such accounts. If these requests were denied, the visions were likely to remain a note in a chronicle, a file in the church records, or, at best, a clandestine pamphlet. Archives and chronicles mention more failed or repressed prophets than are to be found in authorised prints. Pastors in Erfurt exercised considerable restraint on lay or wandering preachers.70 Only once, it seems, did the Evangelical Ministry permit an outsider to preach in town, for a week in July 1623. That blind student of theology left a lasting impression on his audience; many wept when Theodor Hentelmann read them the blessings.71 Yet the wondrous aura that listeners saw around this young preacher did not derive from any vision granted to him. On the contrary, it was his 67

The very well-documented study by J. Beyer, Lutheran Lay Prophets list some three hundred men, women, and children, in the period until c.1700. Lay prophecying was of course not limited to Lutherans. In his Chapter 2, Beyer remarks on medieval precursors and the characteristics peculiar to Lutherans. 68 “Umb diese Zeit [Oktober 1608] ist ein Soldat auf der Wacht durch einen Engel angeredet worden, die Stadt zur buße zu vermahnen, daß Sie von Hoffart, Ehebruch und Gotteslesterung abstehen solten.” Hoffmann, Chronica Thvringiaca. App. I. 6, here cited from StAE 5/100-33, p. 403. The angel that appeared to a watchman half a year later gave an even more precise lecture: “In diesem Monat [Februar 1609] soll den Wechter beÿ den Schotten [sc.: the Benedectine Scots Monastery] ein gesicht fürkommen sein, das ihm befohlen, das Volck zu warnen, von wegen Gotteslesterung, langer hare, [und] band auf den Schuhen.” Ibid., p. 410. 69 See [Anon.], Compendium Locorum Theologicorum (1621), LIBER PRIMUS, De Deo & Creaturis, V. De Angelis bonis & malis, esp. pp. C1v–C2r and Heinrici, pp. 4r–4v, arguing that this agency continued in the present. 70 E. g. the repeated warnings against unordained preachers (Winckelprediger) spoken by Nicolaus Stenger, Tausend Zeuge, pp. 121, 157; Stenger, Grund-Feste, pp. 584, 613. 71 Most of the chroniclers who heard Hentelmann preach later wrote about him. Hentelmann’s theological credentials, it seems, had been recognised by consistories in Rostock, Helmstedt, and Wittenberg. The Erfurt Ministry also granted him permission to preach, for – as the pastor Cabuth noted – the “feiner Theologus” “respontirte also, das wir Vns alle daruber Verwunderten”. Hentelmann filled the churches for a week. “Man sagte es were eine schreckliche Vnd Vber große Menge Volcks da gewesen.” More than fifty years later, Fritz recalled that the blind student had played all kinds of musical instruments. Moreover, after his “6. schöne Evangelische predigden” the student was taken to the Jesuits, “[und er] hat mit ihnen dissbudieret [und] sie dermasen angegriffen da sie Erschrocken sint, und ihm entlich keine Antwort geben können.” Krafft, [Erfurt Chronicle]. App. I. 19, p. 122r (i. a. on the weeping); [Anon.], Erffurdtische Chronica. App. I. 14, pp. 540 f (on his credentials); [Cabuth], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 5, p. 128v; Fritz, Cronica. App. I. 24, p. 332.

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blindness which impressed townsmen and his God-given talents that had enabled him to overcome this handicap.72 Moreover, the blind preacher addressed listeners in the same way as a pastor. He kept to the Sunday pericope and chose other apt passages for his weekday sermons, such as Psalm 16, 8 “I haue set the LORD alwaies before my eyes”.73 The would-be visionaries that appeared in town during war evoked a very different, negative set of reactions. The assassin Hans Augustin is an extreme and admittedly exceptional case. As noted in Chapter Three, Augustin stated that an angel had ordered him to kill Swedish officers in town. His interrogators concluded that he had been misled by the Devil, who – as Paul warned – could disguise himself as an “Angel of light” (2 Cor 11, 14).74 Very few visionaries took such actions; most merely called upon their listeners to repent. Yet even these traditional visionaries risked to be turned down as bedlamites. The chronicler Martin Hoffmann (d. c.1625) recalled a self-proclaimed prophet who had appeared in late December 1590. An angel had ordered him to warn of the terrible punishments that God would send, unless townsmen in the region repented. Hoffmann disbelieved this “crazy man” and therefore wrote about a dubious “vision” (Gesicht) rather than the apparition of an “angel”.75 Some thirty years later, Martin Cabuth took detailed note of a similar rejection. A parishioner by the name Conrad Scheube claimed that “God had talked with him personally during night-time […] and ordered him to open the eyes of the blind world”. His audience was not impressed. When they rejected his message as ramblings, Scheube lost control of himself and had to be tied down. Pastor Cabuth showed considerable concern for the apparently insane, but very religious old man and prayed for his recovery.76

72 E. g. the short biography in Fritz, Cronica. App. I. 24, p. 332, “Gott [hat ihn] so mit schönen gaben gezieret, und auss gerüstet mit weissheit und verstande das sichs zu verwundern.” 73 Hoffmann, Chronica Thvringiaca. App. I. 6, p. 128v: “that in grosser freqvens zwo herliche predigten in der kauffmans kirchen, den 5. Sontag post Trinitatis die erste aus der Sontags Epistel 1. Pet: 3. nachmittage, die folgende mittwochen, da er ausgelegt den VErß aus dem 16. Ps. [16, 8] ich habe den Herrn allezeit vor Augen, denn er ist mir zur Rechten. Hieruber sich abermals Jederman der es hörete Verwundern muste.” 74 [Limprecht], Erfurtensia, pp. 191r–192v. 75 “Den 8. Novemb. kam ein toller mensch in Erffurdt, gab für es were ihm ein gesicht erschienen, Er solte die Städte Erffurt Weÿmar Arnstadt und Jena strafen, daß sie buße theten, den[n] Gott würde greulich strafen.” Here quoted from [Anon.], Erffurdtische Chronica. App. I. 14, p. 326. Cf. the phrasing in fn. 68 above. Councillors also deemed Johann Augustin to be insane when he first entered town, [Anon.], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 15, p. 15v. On psychopathological diagnoses see MacDonald, Mystical Bedlam, esp. pp. 156 f. 76 On September 6, 1622 “Fieng Conrad Scheube an zu ins[c]eniren [?], sagte es hatte Gott persöhnlich in der vorigen mittwochens nacht selber mit ihme geredet vnd ihme befohlen der welt, weil [sie] blind [sei], die augen auf zu thun item er wehre ein […], vnd als man ihm das wiederlegte, ward er sehr vnsinnig, das man ihn dito nachmittag anlegen muste, da er vber 8. tage lang, tag und nacht hefftig schrige, bis weilen war er [ein] wenig stille, bete[te] Vleisig, weret aber nicht lange, doch hörte

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The two (possibly three) visionaries who stepped forth in Erfurt during the war were hence met with scepticism.77 Angelic apparitions could all too easily be associated with diabolical delusions. This was a heresiographic commonplace. Samuel Fritz thus presented Esaias Stiefel as a Schwärmer who had claimed that angels would come to collect his body after his death (1627).78 The chronicler further informed readers that Thomas Müntzer (1468–1525) had relied on personal “revelations and spiritual dreams”, and that Mahomet called upon the Archangel Gabriel to legitimate his polygamy and sodomy.79 Such scepticism was strengthened by newsletter reports on false “new prophets”.80

man kein fluchen schweren oder Vn züchtiges wort von ihm, den 14. dito führete man ihn zu abendt nach 7. Vhr vfs Thor he[use? probably: das Tollhaus] nur in hembde ohne schuh, strimpfe, hosen, und wammese, er hatte kleider begert man hedte ihm aber die Zeit nicht gelaßen. Man sagte als er außm hauße geschickt[?] hette er gesaget: […] Gott lob das ich an die lufft kommen, nun wil ich, wils Gott, wol wider gesund werden. Das helffe ihm Gott. Amen.” [Cabuth], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 5, p. 127r. 77 In 1634, an elderly man was arrested and jailed for spreading the rumour that a third of the town would soon be burned down to the ground. He may have warned of a divine conflagration. The only extant note can also be read as a reference to arsonists. “Den 9. Junij [1634] befand sich alhier auf den gaßen auf den Märken und im bierheusern ein Mann beÿ 60. Jahren, außagende, daß das dritte theil der Stadt Erffurt in brand gesteckt werden solte, und solte das fewer am Johannistage seinen anfang haben, dieser man ward gefänglich angehalten in der schwarzen Stueben.” [Anon.], Erffurdtische Chronica. App. I. 14, p. 658. 78 Compare Weiß, Lebenswelten, pp. 499 f to Fritz, Cronica. App. I. 24, p. 338. According to Fritz, the local Council dispatched an official to inspect Stiefel’s corpse and refute his alleged prediction. “[Dann] kam Hans Wencke der Ahn Knecht [Ratsdiener] vnd bes[a]he Stiffeln, den[n] Ein Ehrn Vhester Rath schickede ihn hin [um zu sehen] Ob er im Sarge wehre, don Er hatt zu Vohr gesaget die Engel würden kommen Vnd ihn gen himmel holen, Aber wie sie den Sarck Auff machten war er Vol ma[r]de[r]n Vnd Stanck heßlich don Er hatt Etliche tage gelegen.” [Hogel], Antiquitatum Erfurtensium. App. I. 9, p. 444v writes similarly. 79 “Es sol Machomet laudt seiner Sect genossen auß sage Als ein Prophet dem Gott zehen Anderer Propheten Kräffte Vnd Manheit Verliehen, Vier weiber habe geElicht, die Huren Aber Vnd kebß weiber, darunder Aber auch, knaben[,] Cameel Vnd Eselin waren, [waren so viele] Wie solche niemand Zelen kan, Vnd solche Monstra [sind] von ihm her[ge]kom[m]e[n], wie diese gegen werdige figur dier vor Augen stehet [picture of a hybrid human-camel], Vnd der Bösewich der Alle Sodomidische Greuel mit dem befehl, Vnd auß drucklicher Erlaubniß, daß Engels Gabrielß sich zu entschildigen Pflag.” Fritz, Cosmographia. App. I. 23, p. 180r, see also p. 103r; Fritz, Cronica. App. I. 24, p. 169: “[Thomas Müntzer] berufft sich mit seinen Anhengern Auff seine Offen barung vnd Geistliche traume, gewerdet zeichen vom him[m]el giebt eine neuwe heilikeit fuer von der Entgrübung vnd Tödung des Fleischeß”. 80 Fritz, Cronica. App. I. 24, p. 350 attacked Sabbatai Zevi as “der Juden neuwen Propheden”. Note also [Anon.], Waarhaffte Zeitung von einem Newen Propheten (1626) (an old canard in reprint) and the report from Danzig, 2/12.10.1647: “Ein armer Student/hat bey der Obrigkeit/vnd dem Lutherischen Ministerio sich angeben/daß er Visiones hette/ vnd angetrieben würde/jhnen grosse Verenderungen an diesemOrthe anzudeuten/hat auch seinen Befehl/mit vbernatürlichen Fasten bekräfftiget/ vnd dieser Tagen auff offener Gassen Wehe vber hiesige Sünde ruffen wollen / so jhme aber verwehret worden/es hat das Ansehen/daß in allem viel Künste/vnd Eitelkeit mit vnterlauffe.” Ordinari Wochentliche PostZeitungen/1647. No. 85, p. [1r]. NLHH Bibliotheksbestand Z 1, I 1.

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These cases mark the limits of lay prophecy. In order to be taken seriously, visionaries had to stress their Lutheran identity. Their message was mostly limited to the call for repentance; they definitely could not contradict the Scriptures.81 Visionaries who addressed a whole community had to act and speak like a prophet, to overcome the spontaneous scepticism.82 The most convincing argument that any lay prophet could muster was, without doubt, that his or her earlier predictions had already been fulfilled. The Lutheran Johann Werner (1599–after 1669) gained such a reputation in the late 1630s. Werner (who fittingly renamed himself ‘Warner’) was one of the few prophets who successfully claimed to receive a continual flow of visions. Their veracity was the subject of heated debates by Lutherans throughout the Empire.83 Lay visionary prophecy as such eventually became a political issue and pastoral support began to dwindle. Chapter Five examines local and long-term ramifications of this debate. Local chroniclers left out Werner; they were, on the whole, more interested in written forecasts. The ‘venerable’ status of these prophecies was partly due to their supposed antique origin.84 The Lord had already revealed the present and coming events “many hundred, yes thousand years before” they happened, one astrologer assured readers in Erfurt.85 This was commonly accepted. In 1637, Tobias Fritzsch reissued a best-selling collection of prophetic warnings, dating from as far back as the King (!) of Sheba up to the fourteenth-century astrologer Johannes Lichtenberger (d.1503).86 A spate of fulfilled written prophecies often followed in the wake of fatal events, like the fall of Magdeburg (1631).87 Local chroniclers also appreciated the other trait characteristic of these prophecies: their discovery in a sacred space. “In the Christmas holidays a Latin poem was found written in the [local] Barfüsserkiche”, a chronicler noted in 1639, “with 81

Fritz, Cronica. App. I. 24, p. 230, quoting Jeremias Alberti: the prophets of the Old Testament offered sufficient teachings. – The prediction of one’s own death was a more personal and less problematic issue. Lutherans and Catholics cherished stories of such dream visions. See the notes on Sixtus Toppler in BAE Geistliche Gericht IV C1 and the Lutheran cases by Dömler, Christliche Leichpredigt (1621), pp. E3v–E4r; Fritz, Cosmographia. App. I. 23, p. 220r; Bauer, Personalschriften, no. 965, pp. 526 f; no. 62, p. 56 and no. 869, pp. 469 f (the latter two with wake visions of angels). 82 See J. Beyer, Lutheran Lay Prophets, Chapter 4; Frijhoff, Embodied belief, p. 144; Walsham, Providence, pp. 203–218. 83 See Weiß, Traumglaube and J. Beyer, Lutheran Lay Prophets, Chapter 6: “Prolific prophets and theological debate about prophets during the Thirty Years’ War”. Two local extremes are Stenger, Grund-Feste, pp. 194, 198, 598, and 596 (preaching against the “Affter-Propheten”) and the apologetic Hogel, Antipseudirenicon, pp. 638–640. 84 Barnes, Prophecy, pp. 77 f, and J. Beyer, Prophezeiungen. 85 Voigt/Friedlieb, Post-Reuter, p. A2r: “[… Gott hat] solche durchgehende/ allgemeine vnd höchste Mutationes vnd Veränderungen/ offtermahls viel hundert / ja Tausend Jahr zuvorn/ durch seine Knechte die lieben Propheten verkündigt”. 86 Compare [Anon.], Zwölff Sibyllen (1637) with J. Beyer, Sibyllen, p. 627 and Barnes, Prophecy, pp. 81, 164 f. 87 Lotichius, Somnium Vaticinum, de Obsidione Vrbis Magdeburgensis (Erfurt 1631). On the poet and the reprints, Kaufmann, “Herrgotts Kanzlei”, pp. 14 f.

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the words: woe, woe upon the town Erfurt!”88 The village schoolmaster Johannes Dambach took note of a more elaborate prophecy, found in 1616 in the basilica of Saint Denis beneath a chair in a marble box. He copied it in his book of accounts and letters sometime between 1620 and 1623 noting that it was written in Hebrew and had been sent to Rome by a Papal nuncio.89 We shall take a further look at its apocalyptic outline of the 1620s, in the section below that deals with the appeal of precise prognoses. This section showed that the medium mattered at least as much as the message. Locals responded differently to lay prophets and printed vaticinations. They offered very similar messages, yet chroniclers seem to have been more comfortable with printed prophecies, though they predicted the demise of towns, lands, dynasties, or the entire world.90 These prophecies did not confront locals with a live visionary who demanded that they take an unequivocal stand on his or her message.

Monstrous births The birth of a severely deformed child in the local community likewise raised questions that rarely surface in printed accounts. Confronted with a monster in the flesh and blood, locals had to decide who was to blame for its appearance. There were a number of possible replies which, again, left room for local negotiation. The conviction that “morality and embryology interlocked” was common to all commentaries on such dead babies. Prints mostly placed responsibility by a community of believers.91 Broadsheets and chapbooks described monstrous births in graphic detail. A demonic child, said to have been born in Cracow around 1547, sported round, fiery eyes and a long nose. “It lived for three hours and said: wake up, your God is at the door.” Samuel Fritz depicted this monster, along with the equally notorious child born in Ravenna in 1512. It had the divine warning inscribed on its body in cryptic letters. Samuel Fritz drew such and similar cases from illustrated broadsheets; the same monsters attracted attention in learned compendia.92 88 “Jn den Christfeÿertagen Ist ein [sic] der Parfüsser Kirchen An ge schrieben funden ein Lateinischer Ferss [Verse] mit denen Worden Wehe Wehe Vber die statt Erfforde”, [Anon.], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 15, p. 22r. 89 StAE 1-1/XXI-9, 9; see fn.s 126 and 148 below. 90 On towns and dynasties, see fn.s 130 and 244 below. “Im 1554 hat man über dem Schloß Almosten in Siebenbürgen eine Schrifft mit Güldenen schönen Buchstaben gesehen wie folget[:] INRI. Vnd Vber hundert Jahr ein Ende dieseß reichs[?]. den wie man geschriben 1664 hat der Turck ganß Siben bürgen ein genom[m]en.” Fritz, Cosmographia. App. I. 23, p. 144r. 91 Walsham, Providence, p. 194 (quote). Another fine introduction is Daston/Park, Chapter 5. J. Beyer, Mißgeburt has the most thorough bibliography. 92 Both belonged to the most-commented cases in sixteenth and seventeenth century Europe. See fn. 102 below; Daston/Park, pp. 177–180, 184 f, and Ewinkel, pp. 227–237, esp. p. 231. Fritz, Cosmographia. App. I. 23, p. 212r: “Es hat drey Stunden gelebet, Vnd gesaget, wachet [auf,] ewer Gott ist fur der thür.”

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Erudite scholars and down-to-earth country folk shared an interest in the subject. Commentators across Europe were still convinced that many (if not all) monsters embodied a divine warning.93 As in the celestial apparitions, a gap separated local specimens from those depicted in broadsides. Missing limbs or deformed extremities were more commonly seen in town.94 These mundane monsters still offered observers sufficient material for moral commentary. The “misshapen little girl”, born in Gebesee in July 1621, is a typical example. The local pastor presented her as a concrete example of the special divine Providence.95 The Lord normally upheld His Creation and made sure that children were born healthy. On occasion, He interfered with the womb of a pregnant woman. The Lord had done “something unusual and unheard of with a monstrous birth of a little child”, Henning Dedekind observed. “Hence God must have something new and special in mind.”96 With the help of his Erfurt publisher, Martin Spangenberg (d.1639), the rural pastor pointed to the capital disfigurements. Dedekind wrote of the deformed head in conventional terms, as a ‘Zornspiegel’: a mirror of the current sins that angered God. The pastor found fault with a fashionable hairstyle and pointed to the fleshy knot at the back of the head. He tied the missing brain to the mindless parishioners, who had forgotten God, and he asserted that the harelip held a lesson for the ‘nosy wisecracks’ who scolded everyone and everything. The Lord intended the great, abnormal eyes for the immodest village youth, who glared straight at each other instead of lowering their eyes in obedience or looking up towards the Heaven.97 God here confronted a local community with its most heinous sins. Ever since Augustine and Isidore of Seville (c.560–636), authors had used etymology to argue that monsters ‘de-monstrated’ moral misdeeds.98 This message dominated printed homilies and determined how deformed children were described in the pulpits during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century. The lay audience was tempted to take differing points of view. It is hardly surprising that Dedekind complained of the “careless women” in the aisles who whispered, mumbled, or even jeered in opposition. After all, female vanity was at

93 The “hochgelerden Herren Doctor” of Medicine, Johann Jakob Rehefeld (1625–1673) thus lent Fritz a picture from his library, showing a grass-eating infant with donkey-ears, born in Hungary, 1550. Fritz, Cosmographia. App. I. 23, p. 207r. Daston/Park, pp. 201–214 survey the gradual change in learned attitudes. 94 See fn. 7 above. 95 See Chapter One, fn. 11. 96 H. Dedekind, Warhafftiger Bericht: “etwas vngewöhnlichs vnd vnerhörtes/ mit eines Kindleins Mißgeburt gethan/ vnd eine wunder Spectacul menniglichen für Augen gestellet” (p. A4r) “Drumb muß ja GOtt was newes vnd sonderlichs damit meinen.” (p. B1r). 97 Ibid., pp. B1r–C3v. Further notes on the exegesis of abnormalities, Ewinkel, pp. 69–77; Holländer, pp. 326–336. 98 Ewinkel, pp. 59–68. For nuances, see Soergel, pp. 288 f, 304–307.

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Figure Five: Title of Henning Dedekind: Warhafftiger Bericht […]. Erfurt 1621. Transl. True Account on a Misshapen Monstrous Birth of a Little Girl […]

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the centre of his and many other male homilies on monstrous infants.99 Moreover, the crowd that flocked to Gebesee to see the monster was certainly not driven by piety alone; many visitors viewed monsters as spectacular curiosities. The major challenge might, however, have been posed by lay moralists who spoke of monsters as signs that manifested the sins of ‘the others’, namely the parents and the Papists. A baptism in the Catholic church of St. Lorenz in April 1618 thus sparked rumours among local Lutherans. The newborn child had been baptised covered in the Christening robe. The Lutheran chronicler Martin Hoffmann informed his readers that the infant “had had the shape of a monk’s cape, for the woman had every so often visited the pater in the charterhouse, in the Heretic’s Hut.”100 Hoffmann took care to note where the mother lived, yet he did not specify what her faux pas had been. Readers will either have thought of the harmful power of female imagination during pregnancy101 or, perhaps, have assumed an extramarital affair. Whoring monks and nuns had, in any case, been among the classic progenitors of monsters in the early Reformation prints. Luther, Philipp Melanchthon, and other reformers published on recent deformed bastards to demonstrate the moral depravity of the monastic state in particular and the Papacy at large. It seems that this triumphant account all but disappeared from German Lutheran prints in the course of the second half of the sixteenth-century. Pastors now instead used monsters as occasions to castigate the sins of their local community. This call for repentance was even added to well-known accounts about anti-Catholic prodigies, like the monster from Ravenna (born c. 1507/1512).102 Despite the shift in printed commentaries, local Lutherans continued to muster monsters in their polemics against the Papists. Samuel Fritz drew a virtual cabinet that ranged from the bear-pawed baby, born by “Bapst Nicolai’s” concubine in 1274, to the Anti-Catholic monster par excellence, the Pope Ass fished 99 Ewinkel, p. 72. H. Dedekind, Warhafftiger Bericht, p. C1r: “Diese meine Erklerung/wird gewiß/ wie ich sie schon mit einander raunen vnd pispern höre/von Etlichen […] leichtfertigen Weibspersonen hönisch verlacht werden”. Important observations on the gap between learned debates and parental reactions to deformed children are found in Soergel and Lorenz, Normen. Both articles explain why mothers said to have birthed monsters could be suspected of provoked abortion or infanticide. The sources examined here do not refer to this suspicion. 100 “[D]en 28. April auff den Montag ist der frawen Zur Kronen auff dem Anger ein kind mit einem Westerhembdlein bedeckt zu S. Lorenzen getaufft worden, derweil es eine gestalt gehabt wie eine Mönchskappe, denn das weib war bißweilen in Ketzerheußlein im Carthauß beim Pater gewesen.” Hoffmann, Chronica Thvringiaca. App. I. 6, p. 359. 101 Pregnant women were warned not to look at ugly or frightening persons. E. g. H. Dedekind, Warhafftiger Bericht, p. B1r. 102 Ewinkel, pp. 43, 117 f, 233 f; Soergel, Afterlives, pp. 288–290, 308 f. On the parallel, if somewhat differing revisions of the Pope Ass (1496), see Kaufmann, “Herrgotts Kanzlei”, pp. 310–319. Schenda, Monstrum was the first to demonstrate how flexibly Catholic and Lutheran compilers (re)crafted a given account to suit their purposes. On the initial Italian interpretations, see Niccoli, pp. 35–51.

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Figure Six: Samuel Fritz: CRONICA ERPHORDIANA p. 334

out of the Tiber in 1496.103 (Indeed, Fritz continued his bigoted tirades with an entry on ‘Camelot’, a camel-like monstrosity allegedly fathered by the sodomite Mahomet).104 Local Lutherans were, in other cases, reluctant to accept their communal sins as the cause behind monstrous births. When a deformed child was born to a woman of their own faith, many instead suspected that the parents were being punished. The third, and last, known case from Erfurt must have raised such suspicions. Among the many monsters that Samuel Fritz drew, this was one of the few that he had seen with his own eyes. Fritz was eager to authenticate his drawing and therefore added a lengthy caption. It inadvertently offers a glimpse of the human misery (and the rare compas103 Fritz, Cosmographia. App. I. 23, pp. 207r, 216r. Cf. Ewinkel, pp. 39–42. Pope Nicolas III (d.1280) was born a member of the Orsini, the famous Roman family named after bears. 104 See fn. 79 above.

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sion) surrounding a deformed child. Fritz described how, as a fourteen-year-old, he had himself seen the monster. An adult female relative of our chronicler had brought food to help the “poor mother” nurture the surviving twin sister, “a perfect, beautiful child”. “I, Samuel Fritz, lay the dead child on a sheet of paper and made an etching of it, as the present figure shows.” Fritz took the corpse as an artistic challenge; when offered the opportunity, he eagerly drew such anatomical anomalies.105 Other townsmen raised more moral questions. “Quite a few considered this a terrible monster”, he noted. But this monster was ill-suited for a homily directed at the town at large; its mother was a whore.106 Onlookers were prone to blame less stigmatised parents for the birth of a deformed child. A number of popular providential accounts about the uncharitable rich revolve around the theme. There, wealthy wives give birth to children in abnormal numbers or monstrous shapes.107 Preachers had to confront such suspicions, if their admonishments were to impress the audience. Dedekind drew on a long tradition when he used the Gospel to defend the ‘honourable’ parents and scorned all “untimely judgements” (vnzeitig vrtheilen).108 The third, important response that ran counter to penitent meditation was curious amazement. Monsters offered a “noteworthy spectacle” that drew crowds. The rumour that a deformed child had been born in Gebesee around midnight 105 Following the explosion of a gunpowder mill in Frankfurt a. M. 1633, Fritz rushed to draw what remained of the miller, Fritz, Cronica. App. I. 24, p. 183. 106 Fritz, Cronica. App. I. 24, pp. 333 f: “Anno 1624. hat ein Arm mensch Eine hure Ein solch kint geboren, [n]eben Einem volkommenen Schönen kinde welcheß ein mätlein war zu Erffurt in der hundtgassen, welches ich Samuel Fritz abgerissen habe, und bin mit meiner Basen dahin gegangen welche dem Armen[ men]schen essen bracht hat. Etliche hildens vor Eine schrecklich miß geburt, Es war Aber eine halbe Frucht wie Alhier Zu sehen ist. Eß hatte keine Schamm. Ich Samuel Fritz habe daß kindt Auff einen Bogen papier geleget das Todt war Vnd Es Abgerissen wie die gegen werdige figur Auß weisst. daß kint hatte ein fein Angesichte Vnd hatte gelbe krause herlein vnd hatte eine hasen schart, Es hatte einen rechden Leib Aber wo die Ermlein sein solden, ging Auff den rechten seiden nuhr Ein hentlein Auß dem leibe, […] Es war keine gantze frucht.” A copy of the same image, with a shorter caption in Fritz, Cosmographia. App. I. 23, p. 238r. 107 Such monsters were often said to have been born to haughty, high-ranking Hollanders. The bestknown tale concerned the 364 children born to a Countess in 1276. Margaret of Henneberg (1234– 1276) had turned away a needy mother of twins and cursed her as a whore. No honest wife could bear two children at once, she scolded; at least one of the beggar’s children had to be a bastard. The insulted mother then called upon God to punish and prove her innocence, by letting the Countess bear as many children as the year had days. Fritz, Cosmographia. App. I. 23, p. 88r and a shorter variant in Krafft, [Erfurt Chronicle]. App. I. 19, p. 274r. Fritz copied a later and structurally similar version set in Amsterdam 1647. The foul-mouthed upper-class wife, in this account, was punished with a pigheaded daughter, named Elisabeth. Fritz, Cronica. App. I. 24, p. 362. For further details and specimens see Bondeson, pp. 64–119. 108 H. Dedekind, Warhafftiger Bericht, p. A4v, with reference to the locus classicus: John 9, 3. Gölitzsch, pp. A1v, A4v – pastor in Werningsleben, south of Erfurt – had used the same arguments in his sermon some sixty years before: “Des Kindes Vater ist Hans Zachrey/ seines standes/ ein frommer einfeltiger Taglöhner/ Er vnd sein Weib liebhaber Göttlichs Wort”. See Ewinkel, pp. 22, 71, 96, 318 f; Walsham, Providence, pp. 198–201; Soergel, Afterlives, pp. 297 f, 300, 304 f; Mauer, Georg Kölderer, pp. 339 f.

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spread with amazing speed. On the following morning, several hundred villagers and outsiders flocked to see the corpse.109 Fritz was clearly not alone in his anatomical interest. Pastor Dedekind suspected that “the lazy vagabonds, who carry the Latest News [newe Zeitung] through the lands and sing about them, will soon snatch this [monster] and take advantage of it”. That was, at least, Dedekind’s excuse for bringing his homily to print in Erfurt without prior permission by his superiors in the Leipzig consistory; the excuse was plausible.110 At times, travellers even put live monsters on display. One Hans Barthenhauber from Lignitz attracted a great deal of attention when he advertised such a show in Erfurt for April 1, 1627. The ensuing events capture the characteristic tension between piety and sensationalism and deserve to be related at some length. Posters across the town announced the unique opportunity to marvel at the live “wondrously strange humans and animals of inhuman [!] size”, which Hans had brought home from overseas. Illustrations showed a man without a head whose eyes, nose, and mouth were on his chest. Another figure had long ears hanging to his feet; these illustrations were all drawn from Sebastian Münster’s Cosmographia (1. ed. 1544).111 That promise caught the eyes and ears in town. Scores of Catholics abandoned the church fair (Kirmes), celebrated on the Petersberg; many Lutherans skipped the Sunday service. Some deacons even shortened their own sermons so as not to miss the spectacle. Yet neither Hans Barthenhauber nor the promised monsters appeared in the tavern specified for the show. The unsuspecting owner of the inn ‘zum güldenen Bord’ could only steer the crowd by coming up with a tale of his own, persuading them that the monstrous men were better sought in the spacious, nearby tavern ‘zum wilden Mann’. There, at last, the spectators realised that they had fallen prey to a prank and left with long noses. This anecdote adds further weight to the supposition that many Germans, like Englishmen and Italians, sought “more ghoulish amusement than moral edification” from monsters.112 Dominik Collet has stressed that this prank only worked because such shows did, in fact, tour through Thuringian towns. Colleagues of the fictive Hans from Lignitz exhibited elephants and exotic goods at fairs and in taverns. Earlier in the century, a giant six-year-old boy was placed on display in the

109 H. Dedekind, Warhafftiger Bericht, p. A2v. Gölitzsch, p. A4v claimed that more than one thousand people from the surrounding villages had rushed to witness the monster in 1563; Soergel, Afterlives, p. 297. On such displays Ewinkel, pp. 89 f. 110 H. Dedekind, Warhafftiger Bericht, pp. C4r, A3r (quote): “Es werden die müssigen Vaganten/ die durch die Länder newe Zeitung tragen/vnd davon Lieder singen/dieses auch zu ihrem Vortheil ergreiffen”. Tavernguests seem to have cared little for Dedekind’s aesthetic critique of the monstrous, “unförmiglich Lied / daß weder Hände noch Füsse/ noch einige Poetische dimension vnd Elegantz hat”. On the performance of such popular songs, see Río Parra, Chapter III. El Monstruo en la calle; Brednich, pp. 285–323; Watt, pp. 23–30; Niccoli, pp. 12–19. 111 On the following see [Anon.], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 10, pp. 399–401 and Collet, pp. 86–89. 112 Soergel, Afterlives, pp. 296–298, 309; Bondeson; and Walsham, Providence (quote p. 221). For nuances, Daston/Park, pp. 190–192.

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tavern ‘zum grünen Schild’.113 The anonymous town chronicler who recounted the event scoffed at the gullible crowd, which had skipped service for the sake of sensation. Local chroniclers could not embrace such wonders as pure entertainment, at least not in their edifying narratives. They refused to identify themselves with the “curious German Athenians, who always want to hear, talk, and read about something new”.114 Chroniclers thus present the urban world of wonder through a peculiarly pious lens. Samuel Fritz repeatedly praised and depicted strange creatures, like the walrus from the Americas, as a marvel of Creation.115 Amongst the many exotic objects displayed in local taverns, he drew feathers from the ‘bird of paradise’ (Paradiesvogel, peacock) and copied an authentic image of Christ’s Cross, brought straight from Jerusalem.116 Nevertheless, Fritz wrote in a-religious ways about many other monsters.117 They were, tellingly enough, excluded from his long compilation of apocalyptic signs, analysed in the next section. We have, by now, come to know town chroniclers as a group of authors who were more closely aligned to the preachers than to the pedlars. Yet this pious perspective did not ensure agreement between chroniclers and preachers on all events. Like the other Lutheran laymen, chroniclers too were prone to tie monstrous births to the sins of the parents, especially if the children were born to Papists. The main challenge to the call for repentance was not evidence, as in the case of the prophetic visionaries, but curiosity and the attribution of guilt. The entry on the child born in 1624 gives a glimpse of further responses; whereas Samuel looked upon the girl as a curiosity, and others spoke of a judgement, his Base (female cousin or aunt) acted in Christian charity.

113

See fn. 111 and StAE 5/100-94, p. 140r. The moral criticism of curiosity influenced the prefaces and conclusions in next to every Newe Zeitung. In the quoted passage, an anonymous pamphleteer promised: “aber wil ich moraliter vnd Ermahnungs Weise/ etwas davon handeln/ damit nicht allein vnsere Deutsche curiosische Athenienser / die jmmer etwas Newes zuhören / zusagen/ vnd zulesen Lust haben/ damit zu jhrer Genüge gesättiget/ sondern auch andere guthertzig Leute zur Besserung auffgemuntert werden mögen”, [Anon.], Newe Zeitung Vom Schwanen Zug, p. B3v. 115 “Der grose Reiche Him[m]els Gott waß er geschaffen hat speiset er alles auß seiner reichen milden handt”, Fritz, Cosmographia. App. I. 23, p. 64r. Chroniclers in Augsburg reacted similarly to the elephant brought to town in 1629, Roeck, Stadt, pp. 35 f. 116 “Anno 1634. war Ein Pristerß sohn von Jerusalem mit nahmen Simon Cosomobitz in Erffurd der hatte Einen solchen Abriß deß Creutzeß Christi Auff einem schönen Pergament Briffe, wie Alhier zusehen ist.” Fritz, Cosmographia. App. I. 23, p. 127r. Ibid., p. 175r: “[…] Ich Samuel Fritz habe disen Vogel Vnlengst im halber Mon[d] zu Erffurt in meinen henden gehabt, den eß hatte ihr ein Frempter man Also habe ich ihn Apgerissen wie Alhier vor Augen.” 117 Such monstrous humans, creatures and plants are found on pp. 212r–214r, 218r, 226r, 229r, 234r, 246r in the Cosmographia. The comment quoted above in fn. 92 is exceptionally pious. 114

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Precise prognosis or conditional prophecy The decision to believe in an angelic prophecy or to accept a monster as a communal warning did not answer all questions. It remained uncertain exactly what evil the sign foreboded. How could the town best prepare itself to the coming calamity? What steps could be taken to avert it? Above, we encountered the various experts who provided answers to such questions. Astrologers, pastors and pedlars all influenced local views on future events; inhabitants in Gebesee also used omens to plan their flights to town. The following section takes a closer look at the differences between precise prognosis and conditional prophecy. This focus makes it possible to locate chroniclers within the prognostic field, characterised by both competition and a division of tasks. The three main corners in this field were judiciary astrology, apocalyptic prognoses, and conditional prophecies. A major parameter is the aforementioned distinction between temporal and apocalyptic views on upheavals and divine signs of warning.118 The choice to either warn of a temporally limited calamity or instead point to preludes of an apocalyptic upheaval was not a choice between two mutually exclusive figures. The frames of reference intermeshed in the Lutheran sermons. Preachers could, somewhat surprisingly, argue that the current penultimate phase in history continued along a conditional trajectory. If Christians repented and mended their ways, God might postpone the Day of Judgement and grant more time to the world.119 Preachers could thus strike apocalyptic tones whilst keeping to their favoured conditional prophecy: punishments would follow unless listeners repented. The conflict between the two interpretative frameworks grew important around 1620. Robin Bruce Barnes diagnoses an increasing theological wariness towards precise apocalyptic prognoses.120 Some pastors did still endorse precise apocalyptic prognosis; Chapter Five looks closer at one ardent advocate, Zacharias Hogel. In Thuringia, learned laymen began to dominate the apocalyptic commentary.121 One example is the pamphlet on the 1618-comet written by the Leipzig physician Paul Nagel (d. after 1628). It was printed in Erfurt and several other towns in 1619 (see Table One 1618, 4). His works attracted growing interest and caused

118

Emphasised by Leppin, Chapter 5. Leppin, pp. 130 f and 165–169: Die Konditionalisierung des Weltendes. This argument inverted the better-known Scriptural promise that the Lord might, in His mercy, shorten the days before the Second Coming for the sake of the believers (Matt 24, 22). Doomsday prophecies that focused on the immense annihilation of the material world existed alongside the more joyful celebration of the parting with its corruption and the expectation of eternal rewards. 120 Barnes, Prophecy, Chapter Five. 121 The comparable works in Württemberg and Regensburg were also written by laymen, Brecht, Chiliasmus; Wölfel, Salomon Lentz, pp. 395, fn. 27. 119

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some furore. Each spiritually infused calculation brought him one step further beyond the limit of theological toleration.122 Readers in Erfurt could also buy related chronological works by Justus Stengel and the locally born chancellor Heinrich Gebhard (1578–1653).123 The best known and most disputed prognoses in town were being forwarded by the woad trader Esaias Stiefel, who had been resident in this area since 1608.124 Many of these authors were acquainted with each others’ works and exchanged letters and ideas. Stiefel was in close contact with the last of the prolific apocalyptics, Nicolaus Hartprecht (d.1635/1637). The village pastor announced his new “infallible chronology” in 1620.125 The Joachite outline was filled with thoughts that worried Hartprecht’s superiors. He was eventually suspended from his office and had to move to Erfurt. Recent research has begun to grant these authors an attention which corresponds to the one they received in their days. Chroniclers also knew and appreciated the simpler texts that grew to a spate during the 1620s. They, too, were fervent about the imminent changes, but lacked the complex chronological collations. Hartprecht’s minute calculations concluded that the final Third Age of the world had begun in the present year of 1620; by 1625, Antichrist and all unbelievers would be crushed. The Saint Denis-prophecy copied by the schoolmaster Dambach outlined a similar timeline on a single page. When in 1616 the nuncio opened the marble box, he found a set of drastic and (for him) disquieting prophecies. They stated that the Pope would cease to exist in 1622; in the year thereafter “the Wrath of God shall hover above the whole world […]. In 1626 Africa shall burn and the moon be covered with blood”. Then followed the consolation that “the infidels will come to know my divinity’s holy Trinity. In 1630 the world will pass away with its light and a shepherd shall come.” Dambach then added (or copied?) sentences that drove home the pious message: comfort would mainly be found in the next world.126 122 Nagel; Barnes, Prophecy, pp. 177–180, 238–246 et passim. Weiß, Lebenswelten comments on his unpublished correspondence, pp. 451–463 et passim. 123 Gebhardt was a prolific author of regional repute, active in the decade from 1622–1632. See Barnes, pp. 125 f and 294, fn. 65. Stengel published works in Erfurt some years earlier. A typical title is Stengel, Christlich Bedencken. Nach ergangenem Historischem Verlauff und Biblischer Anleitung/ Daß vermutlich numehr innerhalb zehen Jahren im heiligen Römischen Reich/ oder in Deutschlandt […] sich grosse Mutationes und Verenderungen zutragen werden. Dadurch menniglich zur Busse […] vermahnet wird. Erfurt 1615. 124 Weiß, Lebenswelten, pp. 200 f, 344 et passim. 125 Hartprecht, TUBA TEMPORIS. It is analysed by Barnes, Prophecy, pp. 124 f, 138 f, 222, 244 and Weiß, Dissident, pp. 364 f. 126 StAE 1-1/XXI-9, 9: “Ao [16]16 Eine prophecey in Frankreich fundenn[.] Copia einer propheceiung welche herrn Cardinal Porgest vom Bapstlichen Nuncio aus Frankreich uberschickt, und in der kirchen zu S. Dionis Alß man einen stuel ver[…] wollen, in einem Marmelstein truhlein in Hebraischer Sprache Ao. 1616 fundenn wordenn. 1620 Wirt groser Krieg in Welschland sein[. 16]22 Wirt kein Bapst seinn[. 16]23 Wird der Zorn gottes uber die Gantze Welt schwebenn. [16]24. Chri-

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The present and the imminent sufferings would, in other words, end in the near future. This message is repeated in many other cheap prints. The Frankfurt ballad on the apparitions above Erfurt (1627) also gave an apocalyptic outlook for the coming years. The Turk would soon assail Christendom, a herald announced from the skies. Angels then appeared with a bloody rod and a bloody sword signifying some unspecified evil; towards the end of the vision, the Grim Reaper materialised, shooting arrows from his bow, as if to warn of devastating epidemics. Yet the printer also struck a consolatory tone, envisioning a plentiful harvest for the coming year, 1628. He further promised that the Turk would eventually retreat and be fully vanquished. The ballad, here, mounted to a millenarian tenor: “then war shall no longer, be neither seen nor felt, near and afar good peace shall be at hand.” Renewed upheavals would be followed by even greater happiness.127 Hildebrand’s prognostic for the decade 1628–1638 followed the same pattern. The decade would begin with anni horribili, but end with peace, albeit not in the universal apocalyptic version.128 Such writings had a particular appeal during hardship. Readers could view the present military burdens as the last suffering prior to the final liberation. Volkmar Happe resorted to apocalyptic imagery in December 1634, during Advent, when Saxon and Swedish forces wrought destruction upon his region. Their plundering did not fit his denominational dichotomy of foes and friends. The apocalyptic perspective helped Happe assign a cosmic importance to the chaos that he was living through.129

stus wirdt vor wenigen erkandt werden[. 16]25 Wirt ein grosser man aufstehenn. [16]26. Africa wirdt brennen, Und der Mondt mit blut[. 16]27 Werdenn grose Erdbidem [Erdbeben] in der gantze Welt seinn[. 16]28. Africa, Asia und Europa wirdt zitternn[. 16]29. Die Ungleubigen werden die heilige drey feltigkedt meiner gottheidt erkennenn. 1630. Wirtt die weldt mit Ihrem lichtem[?] zergehen und ein Hirte werdenn. In thalamis Regina tuis hac nocte iacerem Esset si verum pauper ubiq iacet Paulus inquis 1 Timot:[hy] 4.[8] Pietas ad o[mn]ia[ utilis] est, habens promissiones [sic] presentis et futurae Vitae.” The In thalamis-distich was well-known. It is also found by Johann Michael Moscherosch: Centuria Prima Epigrammatum […]. Frankfurt a. M. 1665, p. 39. 127 [Anon.], Ein Erbärmliche newe Zeitung (1627): “[D]ann wird man keinen Krieg nit mehr / sehen noch spüren/ nach vnd ferr / gut Fried wird seyn vorhanden.” These fat years would be followed by epidemics, but then all would end well: “Alls dann wird ein herliche Zeit / widerumb auff Erden kommen / wie solches die Figur andeut / vnd [ihr] kürzlich habt vernommen / darnach wird auch das Ende der Welt / wie vns zuuor ist angemelt / kommen in schneller eyle.” 128 The solar eclipse in 1628 would bring unrest, war, a rise in prices, epidemics, “vnd solch Vnglück daß einem die Haare zu Berge stehen” (p. A3r); stellar constellations in January 1629 favoured a “newe Kipperey […] im Müntzwesen” etc. (A3v). The year 1636 would bring liberations: “so ist es doch an deme/daß hohe Potentaten/ sonderlich in Teutschlandt/ deß Kriegens/ vnd Vnfriedens/ dermal eins müde genug worden.” The Turk would attack but ultimately fail due to the Martian constellations. The “motu Syderum” thus indicated “daß vns GOTT der Allmächtige/ ein fein geruhlich/ friedsam/ vnd fruchtbar Jahr/ dermal eines bescheren wird. GOTT helffe ferner mit Gnaden” (p. C4v). See Utsch, pp. 67–70. 129 See Chapter One, fn. 17.

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Some apocalyptic hopes were thus intimately tied to material experiences; other flares of apocalyptic despair seem to have fed more on popular rumours.130 Yet most chroniclers in town kept a cautious distance from either sentiments. They only invoked the apocalyptic frame of reference to add force to their descriptions of explosions or thunderstorms. Many onlookers were said to have fallen to their knees and prayed, fearing that Judgement Day had come. This may be a figure of speech; one can also tie these reactions to the warning that the end would come “as a snare” “on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth” (Luke 21, 35).131 Samuel Fritz was one of the few chroniclers who went beyond short references to envision a detailed apocalyptic scenario. This seventy-year-old longed for the world to end. His call “come soon, Lord Jesus” was not restricted to a personalised eschatology, as one might expect of a Lutheran writing in 1681.132 In his commentary on a comet from 1677, Fritz rather longed for the “dear faithful Lord” to come and “make an end to all misery” with His Day of Judgement.133 True Christians would then receive their eternal reward, and “all tyrants and bloodhounds” would have to pay the debts that they had accumulated.134 Fritz calculated the probable end by means of the apocryphal, but widely acknowledged prophecy that the world would last for six thousand years. The world was 5881 years old in 1681; it was therefore meant to end in 1800. But, like the pastors, Fritz cautioned that the Lord might well shorten or lengthen the remaining 119 years; he urged his readers to pray and prepare for the end.135 This apocalyptic tenor also led Fritz to pay unusual attention to outside wonders. He drew and wrote on comets, eclipses, and many other kinds of prodigies 130 “Es erhub sich zwar im Martio [1619] im lande ein gemeine Sage von Erffurt, Weimar und andern ohrten, dz sie auf dem Stillfreytage solten untergehen, also dz auch die leute drüber stützig werden wolten. Aber Gott behütete diese Städte und öhrter alle, dz nichts draus ward.” [Hogel], Antiquitatum Erfurtensium. App. I. 9, p. 433r. On that specific prophecy of doom, see J. Beyer, Prolegomena, fn.s 24–29. 131 [Anon.], Erffurdtische Chronica. App. I. 14, p. 266; Leppin, pp. 102 f; and the English examples in Greyerz, Vorsehungsglaube, p. 61. 132 Cf. Korn. 133 “Es wirt der lieben [sic] from[m]en Gott […] herein brechen, Vnd Alles Jam[m]ers ein ende machen. Amen. kom balt herr Jesu Amen.” The commentaries are part of the “Eygent licher Abriß deß Comet Sterns, welcher sich 1677. wunder jahrs hat sehen lassen”, copied by Fritz, Cronica. App. I. 24, p. 236. 134 Fritz, Cosmographia. App. I. 23, p. 208r (“Alle tyrannen, Vnd Bluthunde”). 135 Fritz, Cronica. App. I. 24, p. 117: “Ver glichung diser Zeit, mit der Zeit der Sint fluht.” Fritz ascribed the six-thousand-year-prophecy to Daniel. The reception of the Elias-prophecy in Melanchthon’s Chronicon Carionis Philippicum (1532) ensured it long-lasting popularity amongst Lutherans, Barnes, Prophecy, pp. 132–136 et passim; Leppin, pp. 63 f, 130–138, and (on the following) p. 126. Fritz tried to circumvent the oft-cited cautions not to delve into precise dates. He did so by rationalising Jesus’ words (Matt 24, 36; Mark 13, 32), Cronica, p. 61: “Es ist im Rath der H. Ewi[g]keit beschlossen daß Es den Jüngern schetlich were, den[n] hette Er ihnen gesag wen der Jüngste tag kommen würde[:] ihr lieben Jünger ihr müsset 1600. jahr vnter der Erden liegen, hatten sich die Jünger mögen er gerne [ärgern], wen mann Aber sprache der Herr, Christus würste Es nicht, wehre Es Eine grose Gottes Lesterung.”

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to substantiate that all apocalyptic signa had appeared.136 Viewed in this light, the concentration on local wonders in other chronicles seems to fit into a more parochial threat perception, envisioning the temporally and/or geographically limited punishment of a town or region, as in the days of Sodom and Jerusalem. Chroniclers could be very concrete about which sins angered God. Burghers linked comets with ungodly hairstyle and wrote of angels who decried “blasphemy, long hair, and ribbons on the shoes”.137 Yet most chroniclers only gave uncertain hints about what particular calamity might come. Observers did connect crosses seen in the sky with epidemics and tied celestial battles to coming wars on earth, but such conjectures remained rare and rather feeble.138 Once again Fritz is the odd man out: he drew direct parallels between the comets of 1529 and 1680, warning that epidemics and Ottoman invasion would return.139 The one message attached to almost all signs was that they boded ill. Good omens are almost absent in chronicles; this possibility was reserved for systematic expositions.140 Most chroniclers thus preferred not to be specific about future events. They would merely note how “3 suns were seen in the sky, but what this signifies, God knows”.141 Others, like the pastor Martin Cabuth, simply added that “time will tell”.142 The prospective commentaries pointed to divine Prescience and pleaded the Lord to still His wrath. The pious chroniclers agreed with Johannes Weber (1583–1645). The preacher at the court in nearby Ohrdruff stated that it was enough to establish that the comet of 1618 was a probable divine warning. The answer to the question of “which specific punishments and plagues [this sign] signals, we leave to Him, who has sent this sign and threatens.”143 136

See App. I. 24. See fn. 312 in Chapter Six and fn. 68 in this chapter: “Gotteslesterung, langer hare, [und] band auf den Schuhen”. 138 On crosses, Rehefeld, Blut-Geschichte, pp. 33 f, 108–110; Hebenstreit, pp. E1v–E2r. On battles, Krusenstjern, Prodigienglaube, pp. 76–78; Niccoli, pp. 63 f. 139 Fritz, Cronica. App. I. 24, p. 123. Krusenstjern, Prodigienglaube points to further exceptional figures, like the Eisleben baker Steffan Neuwirdt. 140 J. Weber, Cometen-Predigt, p. B2v; Rehefeld, Blut-Geschichte, p. 85; and Stenger, Christliche Finsterniß-Predigt, p. C3r, with reference to the rainbow in Gen 9, 15. Locals only mentioned the strangely mono-coloured rainbows that could be seen as warnings. For outside parallels see Mauer, Georg Kölderer, p. 337; Krusenstjern, Prodigienglaube, p. 63. For constrasts, note Ewinkel, pp. 116 f, 53 f. 141 Table One, 1622, 1: “Ao. eod. 17. Martj Auf den Abend vmb halbweg 5. hat man 3. Son[n]en am Him[m]el gesehen, Was aber Wirt bedeuten, das Weis Gott.” [Anon.], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 4, p. 863. Similarly [Anon.], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 15, p. 22r: “Gott Weiss die beteutunge am besten”. 142 Table One, 1622, 3: “Acti 3. iulii. Sagte der Pfarrer von Ollendorf, als man allen pfarrern in meiner herren Botmessigkeit, ihnen vfm lande die Bett stunden [sc.: Betstunden] an zu stellen befohl. das zu Ottstet ohne gefehr vor 3. Wochen eine dühre hirschgeweÿ in das h[…]ichs heuße sehr blut gebluten beÿ ½ stunde danach. 1. N[…] Was bedeut giebe die Zeit.” [Cabuth], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 5, p. 128r (my emphasis). 143 J. Weber, Cometen-Predigt, p. E1r (quoted in fn. 146). See Krusenstjern, Prodigienglaube, pp. 56, 58–60, 69. 137

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This by no means led Weber to reject “the entire astrology and art of inspecting stars.”144 The size and stellar trajectory of the 1618-comet did matter to him and to the chroniclers. His Erfurt colleague Valentin Caps agreed that a sermon on solar eclipses was incomplete if it lacked astronomical calculations. Caps was quite positive towards judiciary astrology but did not believe it appropriate to make precise predictions himself. As a pastor, he was concerned with “our own” moral “eclipses, our own sins.” Only if his parishioners avoided these moral eclipses could the calamities hovering above the town be averted in the year to come.145 The preacher’s objective, Weber concluded, was to prevent rather than to predict.146 Chroniclers likewise read prognostics and (as shall be shown) at times put them to practical use. Yet they, too, had their own special task. Astrologers tried to predict future events and preachers looked to future threats in order to call for repentance in the present. Chroniclers were generally satisfied with looking back at past prodigies, to record the punishments that had followed after, and because, they had been ignored. These compilations of unheeded prodigies were, in turn, avidly used by preachers and astrologers alike.147 The division of tasks seems to have functioned rather well in the Germanspeaking Lutheran lands. Until the 1680s, one hardly finds local chroniclers who reject writings with precise prognoses.148 Comments on the comet of 1618 demonstrate how this division of tasks functioned. The numerous entries give insights into the chroniclers’ contributions. It is particularly interesting to note the change over time.149 When the first slim ray of white light rose on the horizon in the night sky, in October 1618, it was not clear whence it came. It was, admitted Johannes Weber, at times impossible for untrained eyes to discern whether a shining spot was, say, the morning star or a new comet.150 By the time he held his sermon the comet 144 M. Dedekind, Prognosticon (1634), p. A2r: “auß einem vnzeitigen Eyffer/die gantze Astrologiam vnd Sternseher Kunst/ [verwerfen] als aberglaubisch”. 145 Caps, p. C2r: “Wir können aber unsere eigenen Eklipsen, unsere eigenen Sünden, endern und abtun.” 146 J. Weber, Cometen-Predigt, p. E1r: “Daß ist einmahl gewiß/ wie auch vorhin gesagt/ das es ein Zorn vnd Straffzeichen sey/ was er aber in sonderheit für Straffen vnd Plagen andeute/ daß stellen wir dem heim/ der dieses Zeichen außgestecket hat/ vnd darmit träuwet […] wir wollen vns darum so hoch nicht bekümmern/ sondern vielmehr dahin bearbeiten/ wie wir vns für seiner Wirckung præserviren, und der künfftigen Straff entgehen mögen.” See also Wölfel, Salomon Lentz, p. 222. 147 See fn. 222 below and the catalogue in J. Weber, Cometen-Predigt, pp. B2v–D4r. 148 The schoolmaster Dambach is a noteworthy exception. He accepted apocalyptic prognoses (fn. 126) but distanced himself from the Sibyllic prophecies in circulation. The latter were, he complained, used to an unchristian end, relieving sinners from their responsibility for the current hardships. StAE 1-1/XXI-9, 9, p. 122; E. Wagner, Wipperunwesen, p. 59. 149 The following findings corroborate Krusenstjern, Prodigienglaube, pp. 57 f, 60, 72 and Gantet, La paix, pp. 68 f. 150 J. Weber, Cometen-Predigt, pp. B2r and D4r, on a comet in 1604. On conclusions derived from a comet’s form and trajectory see fn. 177 below and Genuth, pp. 51–65.

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had grown more intense. On this Second Sunday in Advent, it was seen both in the evening and in the morning; indeed, many local observers thought that two or more comets coincided.151 The comet might be connected with the turmoil in Bohemia, Weber suspected, but he confined himself to the apolitical conjecture that comets “bring about nothing good, but instead much evil”.152 The layman Martin Hoffmann hearkened to pastoral calls. At the turn of the year 1618/1619, he implored “our dear God mercifully [to] avert the punishment signalled by the star.”153 A year later, the pastor Caps warned listeners not to indulge in a false sense of security. True enough, the war had so far remained distant. But the full effect of the comet was yet to be felt in the Empire, he claimed, in reference to astrologers’ warnings.154 His prophecy was fulfilled. Within a decade, the “all-destructive fire of war” gained force. It spread and set “the whole of Germany on fire, until it finally destroyed and burned in full flame from the Baltic Sea to the Alps.”155 It grew clear to commentators that the comet had hailed in this long-lasting conflict. A townsman who wrote throughout the 1620s now felt the need to update an earlier entry. In the margin of the page covering the year 1618, he added that “a great tailed comet” had been seen in November, “which signalled much misfortune and evil times in the following years”.156 Later retrospectives described the comet with increasingly dramatic imagery and established ever-closer connections with the ensuing punishment. Chroniclers singled out details that no observers had highlighted in 1619. An author who wrote in late 1635 noted that “a comet was seen in Erfurt [i]n 1618 on the 18th of November. Thence followed great wars and dying, and it was seen for 18 days in a row, rising at six in the evening and standing until the break of dawn”. He gave prophetic significance to the number eighteen: according to his reckoning, the 151 E. g. Hoffmann, Chronica Thvringiaca. App. I. 6, p. 360. J. Weber, Cometen-Predigt, pp. B2r– B2v rejected that opinion. Modern astronomers support the observers who discerned three comets, Krusenstjern, Prodigienglaube, p. 57 fn. 25. The extraordinary amount of prints published on the 1618-comet partly owes to the fact that it was still visible on the Second Sunday of Advent, Leppin, p. 92. Compare the homilies by Fagius and Gölitzsch, p. A3v. 152 J. Weber, Cometen-Predigt, p. B2v: “[Die Kometen werden] nichts gutes/ sondern viel böses anrichten vnd zu wegen bringen […]. Was aber solche Vnglück vnd Vbel in specie seyn werde/davon kan man wol etwas errathen/ aber gantz vngewiß nichts verkündigen. Einmal ist gewiß vnd wa[h]r/ was im gemeynen Sprichwort gesaget wird: Finsternüß vnd Cometenstern/ Träwen Gotts Straffe hie vnd fern.” See also ibid., p. E1r. Cf. Rademann, p. D1r with pro-Habsburg comments. 153 “[…] unser lieber Gott wolle die Straffe durch den Stern bedeut gnediglich abwenden.” Hoffmann, Chronica Thvringiaca. App. I. 6, p. 360. 154 Caps, p. B4r. 155 [Hogel], Antiquitatum Erfurtensium. App. I. 9, p. 433r: “Worauf hernach ferner der höchstschädliche kriegsfewr vollends gantz Teutschlandt anzündete, bis es endlich von der Ostsee an bis an die Alpengebirge gleichsam in voller lohe schlag und verdarb.” 156 [Anon.], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 10, p. 374. “In diesem 1618 Jahr ist ein großer geschwantzter Comet gesehen worden den 19 Novemb. Welcher Viel Unglück Vnd bose Zeiten angedeutet die hernachfolgende Jahren Vber”.

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Figure Seven: Samuel Fritz: CRONICA ERPHORDIANA p. 120157

war had broken out eighteen years earlier, in1571617.158 Now the Peace of Prague (May 1635) had finally brought an end to hostilities – or so it appeared to the unnamed chronicler when he wrote his account. A very similar connection was established after the Peace of Westphalia (1648). Most commentators now claimed that the comet had stood in the sky for thirty days; “thence followed the 30 Years German War”.159 Looking back at the comet that he had seen six decades earlier, Fritz turned it into a full-fledged moral lesson. He drew two pictures of the comet and added a lengthy caption to each. I leave out the Biblical quotations and cite but one key phrase: “In the year 1618, this comet star stood as a broomstick. Thence followed the Bohemian Unrest, for God swept Germany a lot with the fiery broomstick of His grim Wrath. It had no end and it seemed as if God would annihilate Germany, since no true repentance followed.”160 Such references helped Fritz to assert the relevance of the most recent comet, seen above Erfurt in 1680.161 Thus, the passage of time facilitated the chronicler’s task. Post-war retrospectives granted the signs a specific, edifying meaning. I shall now add some general remarks on the lay interpretation of signs and then look into the challenges which chroniclers faced during the war, when they had 157

The caption is quoted in Chapter Six, fn. 283. [Anon.], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 13, pp. 78v, 79r: “Anno 1618 den 18 Novemb: ist zu Erffurt Ein Comet gesehen worden darauf groß Krieg vnd sterben erfolget, vnd ist 18 tage nach einander gesehen worden vnd ist auf den abendt vmb 6 Uhr auf gegangen vnd hat gestanden biß an den hellen tag.” 159 J. Hundorph, Encomium Erfurtinum […] 1650, p. O3v: “Folgendes 1618 Jahr ist ein grosser Comet und Zorn-Stern am Himmel/dreissig Tage aneinander über Teutschland gesehen worden/darauf der 30 Jährige Teutsche Krieg angangen […]”. Similar phrasing [Anon.], [Compilation]. App. I. 22, pp. 87r–87v; [Hogel], Antiquitatum Erfurtensium. App. I. 9, p. 432v. 160 “Anno 1618. Stundt dieser Comet Stern, Als ein Besen, darauff folgede die Bömische Vnruhe, den[n] Gott hat das Teutzelant [sic] mit dem feurigen Besen seineß Grimmigen Zornz, Zimlich auß gekennt[?, sc.: ausgekehrt], Vnd hat noch kein ende [gehabt], Vnd lasset sich ansehen Als Obs Gott gar auß mache wolde weil keine rechte Buse folget.” Fritz, Cronica. App. I. 24, p. 230, with further astronomical observations and references to Ezek 33, 11 and Amos 4, 7–11. 161 A drastic illustration is ibid., p. 123. On the following see Krusenstjern, Prodigienglaube, pp. 69–71. 158

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to cope with pressing threats. Viewed from a detached modern perspective, the integrity of this belief system was ensured by the unspecified character of the coming calamity and the conditional stipulation ‘unless you repent’. These two safeguards enabled chroniclers and pastors to predict all possible outcomes. If no calamity followed, then collective prayers had clearly moved God to show mercy. Commentators were thus freed of the perennial problem of judiciary astrology and precise apocalyptic prognosis: what to do when prophecy fails?162 Chroniclers could instead single out catastrophes that had followed after a sign of warning. Writing with the benefit of hindsight, locals tied the parhelion that appeared above Erfurt in 1630 to Magdeburg’s fate in the following year.163 An anonymous compiler similarly connected the comets seen above Erfurt in 1652 with the Second Northern Wars (1654–1660) and presented the comet of 1661 as a harbinger of the Turkish onslaught on Hungary in 1663.164 There was no shortage of natural and human catastrophes in the seventeenth century. Chroniclers needed only to pick out one that had occurred in the realm of Christendom within a year or two after a prodigy had appeared. This flexible framework made it very easy to achieve consonance between prophecies and recent experiences. The moral point was, of course, most powerfully made when calamities struck the very locality where the unheeded prodigies had occurred. A chronicler reviewing the bloody signs that had recently appeared near his town in the early summer of 1641 saw “no need to interpret what this signified”. Imperial armies had placed Erfurt under a blockade and were preparing to besiege it: “the punishment is already at the door and we can see it with our eyes. God have mercy.”165

Divination during war The experience of war was not unsettling over the long term, but it did lead to short-time changes. Chroniclers who wrote during the war sometimes shifted their attention to the future. The military threats made them exchange the didactic retrospective “thence followed” (darauf folgte) with hopeful prayers and notes on omens. Chapter Six examines the prayers. The present section surveys omens. Did chroniclers use them in a manner comparable to the auguries discussed in Gebesee? Did omens help townsmen to unravel and cope with the uncertain future? 162 Compare Festinger/Riecken/et al., When Prophecy Fails. On safeguards, Thomas, pp. 335–338; Macfarlane, Ralph Josselin, pp. 190 f. 163 Fritz, Cronica. App. I. 24, p. 118: “Anno 1630. Stunden nach mitage trey Sonnen zu Erffurdt vber dem Thume nach mittage vmb fünf Vhr, da Magdeburg von dem General Tillen belägert war.” For a parallel see Kreter, p. 390. 164 [Anon.], [Compilation]. App. I. 22, p. 87v. 165 “Waß solches Nuhn beteuten Wirdt [be]darff keiner Außlegunge den[n] Wir die straff schon Albereit Vor der Thur: Vndt mit Vnsern Augen sehen. Gott Sej Vnß Gnedig” [Anon.], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 15, p. 56v; see also p. 18v.

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Omens and auguries were not the only means of divination. The sections above introduced branches of judiciary astrology. Glimpses of their readership are found in chronicles. The most personal example from the group under study is found in Hans Krafft. This Lutheran woad dyer is the only chronicler who systematically recorded marriages and births. His chronicle provides unsettling reminders about the well-known realities of family life and death in pre-modern societies. Krafft’s first wife died in 1612, after “four years and four weeks” of marriage. He commended her soul to God and remarried two months later.166 Elisabeth (or “my Elsa”, as he called her) bore him six children during their fourteen-year marriage; only one died as a baby. In August 1626, during the second year of a devastating epidemic, Elisabeth died. Their oldest son had already died in July; on the following Sunday, his two daughters (aged sixteen and nine) followed them in the grave. “May the dear Lord grant us and them salvation”, Krafft prayed.167 His youngest children (aged seven, five, and two) all died during the following month of September.168 Hans Krafft had, in less than four months, lost his entire nuclear family, including his beloved daughter from the first marriage. He tried to master the grief in the same manner as most bereaved chroniclers, by praying. Yet, after he sustained this loss, he also began to take note of the stars.169 Krafft wrote down the stellar signs for each child born to his third wife. These astrological coordinates provided the vital information for the nativities described in the best-selling ‘Books of Planets’. They promised Krafft simple but reliable information about the likely fate of his new family. Strict orthodox commentators decried these forecasts as the outgrowth of a sidereal fatalism.170 Fear of war had a similar unsettling impact on quite a few townsmen. Astrological prognostics probably helped some to cope with their fears. However, the only 166

Krafft, [Erfurt Chronicle]. App. I. 19, p. 3r. Ibid., p. 3v: “dem 26. August […] ist Meine liber schatz mit schwangern leibe gestorben. […] meÿne libe Catharina & barbara seint Zu gleich dann sontag darauf. Dar [a hardly legible section. Probably: liebe Gott gebe] Vnß & Jhnen die seligkeitt.” 168 Ibid., p. 5v. The following is based on Jacob and Krusenstjern, Seliges Sterben, p. 493. Samuel Fritz suffered similar losses from this epidemic: “Es sindt im jahr Anno [16]25. u. Anno [16]26.9.26. menschen gestorben da habe ich Auch meine liebe mutter Verlohren vnd Zwo schwestern eine war 18. jahr Alt die hieß Anna die Andere war 8. jahr Alt [und] hieß Justina[,] daß war deß Vaterß liebsteß kindt.” Fritz, Cronica. App. I. 24, p. 333. 169 On this and the following, Medick, Inhaltliche Erläuterungen, fn. 10. 170 See fn. 7 above and Friederich, Widerlegung der Abergläubischen Astrologorum So auß dem Gestirn […] prognosticiren, Geneses, oder Nativiteten stellen/ vom Glück und Unglück eines Menschen propheceyen […]. Erfurt 1624. Cf. Hildebrand, Planeten-Buch (1620) and the evergreen reissued by Tobias Fritzsch in 1651: [Brenner?], Das grosse Planeten Buch sampt der Geomanci, Physiognomi vnnd Chiromanci (see VD16 G 3438-G 3457, 1544–1597). For further specimens, see Loth, Zornzeichen, pp. 207–211 and Loth, Medizinalwesen, pp. 462–464. Many pastors approved of medical astrology as a discipline distinct from predictions of large-scale changes in societies. Their funeral sermons noted how the deceased parishioners had fallen mortally ill during a ‘climactic year’. E. g. Alberti, Beschreibung (1656), p. F3r. 167

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divination documented in these chronicles concerns omens. The best source is the journal kept by the Council scribe Hermann Taute (d.1647). In late 1639, he began an official log of the ongoing occupation. Taute was provided with information on the negotiations with the Swedish garrison and was kept up to date on regional troop movements.171 Consequently, he was better informed about threats than most other townsmen. After a year, Taute began to diverge from his official assignment and take note of signs which he feared boded evil for Erfurt. His first entry concerned the bloody signs that appeared in the early summer of 1641. A blood-red colour was first found in the woods to the south; then bloody foam began to gather in the moat at the very gates of the town. “The dear Lord knows what this will signify”, he concluded. “May God grant us all penitent hearts and avert the incoming misfortune from us.”172 Taute’s plea was not fulfilled; Imperial armies arrived soon thereafter and prepared a siege. His log tracked the development of the military situation over the following months. The blockade was lifted in December 1641, yet the sense of threat persisted, so Taute kept a watchful eye for possible signs of warning. A mere ten days after thanksgiving ceremonies had celebrated the liberation, a small meteor hit the ground, to the south. A night watchman described the “great lump of fire that fell from the sky to the ground”. Taute again addressed “the Almighty”, who alone knew “what this might portent”, imploring Him to “avert all misfortune from us, for the sake of Christ the Lord.”173 Taute’s notes slowly began to extend from prodigies into the realm of less-recognised omens. In 1643, the disconcerted diarist wrote of an ominous rapier, which was smeared with blood each time it was unsheathed.174 Later that year, a gunpowder mill inside the town exploded with terrible force. As if by miracle, only

171

[Taute], Schwartz Voigteybuch. App. I. 17. Ibid., p. 37: “NB. Auf die Pfingstfeurtage Anno 1641 hadt sich im Bechstetter Vndt Werningslebischem Holtze, ein großer Strich eines arkens breidt auf den bärckenen[?]-Meyen, auf den blettern gantz roth wie bludt eraugendt [marginal addition: v.[or]funden worden], ingleichem hadt man Vmb dieselbe Zeidt, im Waßer, Vohr deme Mühler thore bludt rothen schaum funden, Was es bedeuten Wirdt ist dem lieben Gotte Wißendt, Godt gebe Vnß allerseits bußfertige hertzen, Vndt Wende das bevohrstehende Unglück Von Vnß hinweg.” 173 Ibid., pp. 107 f: “[D]en 29 xbris Anno 1641 Hadt sich diese zugetragen, als die schildtwache im löberthore, welche auf dem ausgefülletem korbe gestanden, gleich als es in der nacht 3 geschlagen, […] undt einander hinnauf gehen wollen, eigentlich gesehen das nach dem Steyger [Steigerwald] zu ein großer klumpe feur von Himmel herunter auf die Erde gefallen wehre forn gahr dick undt hinnten schmahl gewesen wie wen es einen schwantz hette es hette auch so helle geleuchtet das es im thore undt faherumb so helle gewesen, als wehre es alles voller fackeln gestanden, undt hette also balden einen großen Donnerschlag dorauf gethan also das auch die Schildtwache also erschrocken das sie nicht gewust wie sie von den Post heruntterkomen[.] Was dieses bedeuten wirdt, ist dem aller höchsten Wißendt welcher alles Unglück umb das herren Christi willen von Uns wenden wolle.” 174 Ibid., p. 177. 172

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two people were killed. This raised Taute’s hope; maybe it was a good omen. As always, he concluded that only “the dear Lord” knew.175 Taute was far from alone in his apprehensive search for possible warnings. Krusenstjern notes that the fear of war made outside chroniclers pay more attention to omens.176 The impact of such fears is most evident in authors who wrote about the recent past in view of present threats. Samuel Fritz, for instance, kept an eye on the wolves that thrived in large number in a nearby mountain range around 1681, when he wrote his chronicle. Fritz often used such omens to strengthen his call for repentance. He created a parallel between the encroaching wolves and other “rapacious animals”, namely the Turks and Tartars, who, he feared, would soon assault Christendom.177 Based on the same fears, Lutherans in other threatened regions registered the swarms of insects, mice, and other vermin. The magpies, geese, and swans at Gebesee join this flock of ominous creatures, used to predict troop movements. While chroniclers and diarists rarely wrote in such manners, they remained open to this lore. Nativities and divination-through-storms have left traces in their texts and in the correspondence of some theologians.178 They did, however, not deem their public didactic texts fit for divination. In whatever manner authors treated an omen, its potential as portent remained less certain than that of the more established prodigies. Taute, hence, described the aforementioned bloody rapier at length and cited high-ranking witnesses to convince readers that this was no hoax.179 Only authors who wrote with

175 Ibid., p. 194: “ob nuhn dieses ein guth Omen Weis der liebe Godt Vndt weil sich auch ahn anderen untterschiedenen örttern alhiero seltzame omina sich erzeuget, Wolle der allerhöchste es schicken worzu es Unß nütze Vndt guth sein mag.” 176 Krusenstjern, Prodigienglaube, p. 63: “Im Zentrum des Prodigienglaubens standen Kometen und verschiedene Himmelserscheinungen […] und Blutzeichen. Angesichts des Krieges und seiner verheerenden Begleiterscheinungen waren der Zeichenhaftigkeit jedoch keine Grenzen gesetzt, alles und jedes konnte Unheil verkünden.” 177 “Kein besser omen giebet an die hant die viel hei[t] der Auff dem hart [Harz] zubesonderen wölffe, welcheß so bei gesunder gelinde winderß Zeit, ein Vngewohnlicheß Vnd bedenklicheß ist, Gott lasse Auff solche Rauberische tierer, nicht tiere kommen Als Türcken tardern sein, welcheß doch sehr Ver mutlich Vnd mag die grose Rüstung der selbigen nicht Ver geblich sein”, Fritz, Cronica. App. I. 24, p. 361. Fritz drew comfort from an astrological commentary on a recent comet, which he copied on the same page. Since the comet pointed its tale towards the Ottoman realm, the war would probably go against the Turks. In 1676, he had looked towards the west with equal concern. A battle of birds in the sky above Alsace made him fear war and the death of a ruler in the Holy Roman Empire. Fritz, Cosmographia. App. I. 23, pp. 241r and 237r. These concerns also coloured his drawing of a recent prodigious peartree: “Anno 1675. drungen [trugen] Etliche Pirn Bäume Pirnlein […] Vnd blieheden auff solchen Pirnlein wider neuwe blüden[.] waß solchen bedeuden mag ist Gott bekandt.” Ibid., p. 213r. – Compare Fätkenheuer, pp.161 f. 178 See fn.s 4, 14 in Chapter One. Compare Table One: 1639, 2 and Brecht, Andreae und Herzog August, pp. 132, 135. 179 [Taute], Schwartz Voigteybuch. App. I. 17, p. 177: “Alss aber theils in denen gedancken gestanden es wehre ihre Excell: etwas dieses zum bossen geschehen undt bludt dorahn gestrichen worden,

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the benefit of hindsight mentioned how omens had presaged a coming death or misfortune.180 The author from Gebesee did not publish his conjectures on the swans until the early spring of 1635, when four violent armies had already arrived.

The local politics of divine signs Of the ten omens registered around Erfurt during the war, only half seem to have been used to predict events.181 The remaining five lack the disconcerting and uncertain character. These omens instead bolstered a religious conviction which their intended audience already shared.182 They were used for polemics rather than divination. These omens have more to do with politics and the management of meaning than with individuals reducing cognitive dissonance. Fritz was fond of polemical omens. One of his typical stories had circulated widely during the first Swedish occupation. “In the year 1632, the walls of the Jesuit cloister collapsed, whilst the Jesuits walked in a procession. An old carpenter came to the place and spoke: when the children of Israel walked in a procession around Jericho, the walls fell. Now that the Jesuits are in procession, their walls fall down.”183 The moral to the Lutheran anecdote was clear: God did not support the Jesuits. The turbulent, early 1630s are rich in such stories about divine support and displeasure, preserved by chroniclers for posterity. Two years earlier, an omen involving the Edict of Restitution circulated amongst anxious Lutherans. They feared that recent Catholic claims to confiscated monasteries would soon escalate into a wholesale “reformation” and a forced conversion of all Lutherans. “[T]he popish had great power and might in Erfurt, and the religion was in dire straits”. But then, “on the said day [when the Edict was published] at three o’clock in the afternoon, a wind took this poster [with the Edict] off the Customs’ House and tore it into several pieces. There was no wind in the town and the other posters […] remained intact.” The same blast of wind drove the wagon belonging ist vohr guth ahngesehen, dar derselbe reiniglich abgesondert, undt hinwiederumb in die scheide gestecket worden, hadt es sich doch hernach zu unterschiedenen mahlen befunden das er hinwiederumb blutigk worden”. 180 Mortimer, pp. 75 f and Anhorn von Hartwiss, 1. Theil, Cap. 3, § 3, pp. 159–162. The Reformed pastor here summed up a stance adopted by Lutherans as well. 181 Table One: 1634, 2 and 4; 1639, 2; 1643, 1–2. 182 Table One: 1622, 2; 1632, 3. The entries 1630, 5 and 1631, 3 are identical. 1632, 1 actually mentions two omens. 183 Fritz, Cronica. App. I. 24, p. 355: “Anno 1632. fiel die maure Ein an dem Jesuiter Closter da die Jesuiter Vmbgingen, dar zu kam Ein Alter Zimmer mann Vnd sprach da die kinder Israel umb die Stadt Jericho gingen fiel die maure darnider itzo da die Jesuiter Vmb gehen felt ihre maure darnider.” A variant dated to 1630 is StAE 5/101-3 Vol. 1, p. 237: “Am Jesuiter Collegio unterm dohn fiel ein stücke Mauer ein und der Kirchner im dohm hörete darinnen lutherische lieder singen woraus die Jesuit[er] nicht viel gutes vor sich ominirten.”

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to an Imperial colonel across the marketplace, Vor den Graden, “which everyone saw with amazement.”184 The motif is well-known. Fortuitous winds tore down posters in Civil War London and blew out candles at Augsburg.185 What is interesting about the examples from Erfurt is the dynamics visible in the sources. The Catholic clergy felt the need to ward off hostile reports. In his journal, the priest Caspar Heinrich Marx dryly noted that the collapse of the Jesuit building led to “different apprehensions, judgements, and rumours”.186 Catholic preachers seem to have crafted their own stories to assert religious superiority. Jesuits supposedly recounted an anecdote set in the same windy square Vor den Graden. On the first of July 1622, “a terrible wind rose” on the square: “It raised the carbon dust into the air, so that one could not see anything, and it took printed sheets away from a women selling books and broadsides. The wind blew them so high that one could hardly see them. The Jesuwider [derogative for Jesuits] claimed that pictures of Luther were amongst them. The Devil had taken them away, into the air.” The anecdote about these broadsides (Flugblätter in the literal sense of the word!) was noted by a Lutheran pastor. With due partisan scepticism, he cited the female vendor for having said that “she had not had any such picture for sale during the entire past year.”187 184 “[Marginal gloss: groß Wunder Werck zu Erffort] Anno 1631 den 19 August: Hat ein Keÿßerlicher Commissarij an daß Zohlhauß zu Erfurt einen Edict laßen anschlagen, den[n] die Papisten große macht vnd gewalt hatten zu Erffort, vnd sehr vbel stundt wegen der Reli[gi]on[?], aber gemel[te] tag vmb 3 Uhr auf den abendt, hat ein Windt dießen anschlag von den Zohlhauße abgerißen auf etliche stücke vnd ihn in lufften davon geführet, da es doch in der Stadt ohne windt wahr aber die andern anschläge an den Zohlhausen vnd vorsehret [sc.: unverzehrt] blieben, vnd Ein Keÿßerlicher Oberster hatte seine Heer wegen vor den graden stehen auf den döpffer Marcke welcher in den halben Mon lag, so hat der Windt welcher den Edict abgerißen zu gleich die wagen hindterwerdts uber den Marck geführet biß am die Fleißch bancke welches iederman mit Vorwunderung angesehen hat”. The next retrospective entry in the chronicle noted how Gustavus Adolphus beat General Tilly. The defeat forced the very Imperial commissary who published the Edict in Erfurt to flee town. [Anon.], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 13, p. 81r. Another chronicler dated the same story to 1630, [Anon.], Erffurdtische Chronica. App. I. 14, p. 566e, Table One (1630, 5). 185 Seaver; Mauer, Georg Kölderer, pp. 332, 341; Roeck, Stadt, p. 185 et passim. 186 [Marx], Diarium, pp. 26v (“underschiedlige apprehensiones, Judicija, et discursus”) and 83r. See Berg, Erläuterungen, fn. 76. For further (more or less marvellous) tales directed against Jesuits, see Hupe, Collegii Societatis Iesu Erfurti, pp. 32, 63 f and [Anon.], Erffurdtische Chronica. App. I. 14, p. 247. The tales about the sudden death of Andreas Gallus (1569–1627) also deserve mention. The Benectine abbot had been converted by Jesuits, as one the first Lutherans in town. Compare Fritz, Cronica. App. I. 24, p. 338 to Meisner, p. 13 and the necrologium of Johannes Kucher (BAE Hs Erf 17, p. 83v). 187 The anecdote was not entered in the Jesuit College chronicle. [Cabuth], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 5, p. 128r: “Acti 1. julii. Vmb 2. Vhr nachmittage erhub sich vor den gräden ein schrecklicher Vngestümmer wind, führete der Kohl staube in die luffte, das man Niemand sehen kunte, einer bücher vnd brieff frawen nahm er die brieffe triebt sie so hoch in die höhe das man sie kaum sehen kunte, die Jesuwider gaben für es wehren Lutheri bilder derunter gewesen, die hette der teufel in der leufft weg geführet, es berichten aber die fraw, sie hette in einem gantzen ihar keines zu verkauffen gehabt.” In 1609, Jesuits had made a moral example of the barn that collapsed during wedding celebrations (see

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The stories were part of an encompassing struggle to monopolise wonders and divine grace. Hans Medick has examined related Lutheran measures against the relics of local saints and aptly characterises them as assertions of religious superiority.188 Lutherans and Catholics employed collapsed buildings, fortuitous winds, and stories about the dreadful deaths of apostates to the same end. Jesuit chronicles tried to outdo opponents with stories of the wondrous healings of converts and the devout.189 The same dynamics are known from other denominationally divided towns, like Augsburg. Erfurt was, no doubt, replete with bigoted storytellers. Yet in this town, hateful narratives no longer had a murderous edge. By 1600, members of the two denominations had grudgingly worked out a tradition of mutual toleration – Jesuits,190 Jews, and Calvinists excluded.191 Consequently, one does not encounter any wondrous accounts escalating into corporal violence. Erfurt burghers did not engage in the apocalyptic agitation outlined by Denis Crouzet for sixteenthcentury France.192 The mendicants preaching murder during the French Wars of Religion remained foreign to this Central German town. Pastors or priests in Erfurt no longer presented such signs as warnings that the toleration of heretics brought down divine wrath on their local community. Lutheran pastors shared a “prophetic consciousness” or sense of vocation (Sendungsbewusstsein) that centred fn. 68 above and Chapter Three, fn. 123). Among the twenty victims were an apostate married couple. Most loyal Catholic wedding guests escaped without injury, the Jesuit chronicler noted. [Anon.], Historia Collegii SJ Erfurti. App. I. 3, Vol.1, p. 88. 188 See page 119 below and Medick, Orte. Contemporary expressions of disbelief thus focused on wonders announced by the opposing denomination. E. g. Pfeifer, p. 35 and Mortimer, p. 75. The following account well expresses the selective disbelief. Pastor Hogel refuted a deceitful miracle crafted by Augustinian Hermits upon their return to Erfurt in the year 1618: “Also kam diese secta Wieder in die Stadt, […] und nahmen deren etliche gemeldetes Kloster Wüste Vor dem Krempffer Thor ein, bawten hinder der Kirchen ein capell, daselbsten zu singen und Meße zu halten: inmaßen sie denn in folgende Zeit auf den Grünendonnerstag in der Fasten, sich mit etwas sonderbahres scheinheilig, und Wie sie es etwa anderstWo practicirt hatten, sehen zu laßen, und Christi leide zu repraetentiren [sic], ein grose Crucifix alda aufrichteten, aus desen nägel mahlen bluts die menge floß, deßen sie etliche fäßlein Voll durch den Schwartzfärber in der Krempffergaßen aus zurichten hatten laßen. Wiewol aber zu solchen Spectacul viel Volcks herzu lief, und sahe es: iedoch weil es diß Mönchsgeheimnis als ein trug und alfäntzereÿ verlachete, hörten sie damit auf, und lerneten sich schähmen.” [Hogel], Antiquitatum Erfurtensium. App. I. 9, p. 432r. Augustinian nuns recorded less-contested miracles about a fire in 1644. See LHSAM, Rep. Cop. Nr. 1512 h: Zinsbuch des Klosters Neuwerk mit historischen Notizen, 17. und 18. Jh, recounted in Kruspe, p. 57. I owe this reference to Friedrich Staemmler (Leipzig). 189 [Anon.], Historia Collegii SJ Erfurti. App. I. 3, Vol. 1, pp. 102 (1621), 110 (1627); Vol. 2, p. 12v (1636). 190 Meisner, pp. 12 f. 191 Suspected crypto-Calvinists were given dishonourable burials and the Archbishop’s plan to open Erfurt to Jewish traders in 1608 was warded off by the local merchants. On their anti-Judaist arguments Jaraczewsky, pp. 60 f; Bärwinkel, Kirchengeschichte. 192 Crouzet, Vol. 2, esp. chapters 11 and 12 on the signs before, during, and after the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre in Paris.

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on moral self-critique.193 Pastors who pleaded for outward aggression had to explain themselves. Even a radical like Zacharias Hogel, who urged that Rome be razed to the ground, never called upon burghers to assault the local Catholic minority.194 This overall tendency towards a less violent interpretation of divine signs did not preclude a political dimension. Politics played an obvious role in local discussions about sanguineous signs. Civil authorities intervened to control how townsmen responded to this fourth and final group of prodigies. Their management of meaning form an interesting point of comparison with the subversive use of prodigies documented outside Erfurt.195 Blood-like signs roused townsmen twice, during the early summers of 1636 and 1641. The news that ponds and trees were covered with reddish liquids attracted great attention in both years. “Blood was seen in front of the Brühler Tor, in the pool on the right hand side of the bridge. It was seen continually from May 23 to June 9, with daily changes”, one chronicler noted in 1641.196 Many people rushed to witness the wondrous water in front of the gates for themselves. Five years earlier the first accounts concerned a pond an hours’ ride east of Erfurt. “In the year 1636 during the month of June, a well in the village of Nohra […] turned into blood, which many people witnessed with amazement. The Council in Erfurt also sent a delegate to inspect it.” He faced a truly marvellous liquid: “The well began to turn into blood at five in the morning. This lasted until midday, at one or two o’clock, then it became white again. This was seen for several days in a row. It became so red that one could use it to write with a feather on paper.”197 193

Compare with Crouzet, Vol. 1, pp. 165–170, Chapter III (esp. III.2 Une conscience prophétique) and the Italian parallels in Niccoli, pp. 135 f. Walsham argues along similar lines and notes how sermons held in the decades prior to the English Civil War catalysed the political conflict, Walsham, Providence, pp. 163 f and Chapter 6. In 1529, before toleration grew customary in Erfurt, Catholic and Lutheran preachers had both presented epidemics and the siege of Vienna as God’s punishment of the heretical opponent, Weiß, Die frommen Bürger, p. 241. 194 E. g. Chapter Six, fn. 354 and Hogel, Antipseudirenicon, pp. 559 f. Chapter Five examines Hogel’s stance. 195 See fn.s 240 f, and 243 below. 196 “Auff dießes Erfolgete daß sich Vor den Brüler Thor Jm der Pfützen Auff der rechten handt Wan man Vber die Brücke hinauß gehet Blut sehen Laßen Welches Anfang den 23 Maÿ bis Vf den 9 Junj mit deglicher Ver Enderunge Continuierlich gesehen”. He added that “Auch den Pfingst tag [sind] in Etlichen Kirchen Vf den Auff gestelten Majen Bluts dro[p]ffen gefunden Worden.” [Anon.], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 15, p. 56v. 197 “Anno 1636 in den Monat Junius hat sich Ein brun in den dorfft Nuhra (zwischen Erffurt vnd Weÿmar gelegen) in blut vorwandelt, welches viel leude mit vor Wunderung haben angesehen, den der Rath zu Erffurt auch einen boten hinauß gesetzet[?] vnd es laßen besehen den des Morgenß vmb 5 hat der brun sich angefangen zu vor Wandeln in blut vnd hat gewehret biß vmb den mitag vmb 1 oder 2 Vhr so ist er Wieder Weiß Worden, vnd solch ist Etliche dage nach einna[n]der gesehen, den er so rot ist worden das man mit Einer feder auf Papier hat können schrieb[en] vnd dießer brun hat seinen Uhrsprunck auß der kirchen auß gemelten dorffe.” [Anon.], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 13, p. 100v.

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The chronicler who wrote this note was familiar with the basic facts. After rumours about the bloody pond reached Erfurt, councillors dispatched an official to inquire into the matter. Then they called in experts and asked them to establish whether the red colour had natural causes. For the remainder of this chapter, the resulting expert opinion is at the centre of discussion.198 It enlightens two crucial and intertwining relationships: the relationship between medical and theological experts and the relationship between the learned and the less literate laymen. Bloody signs were hotly debated amongst Lutherans. Reports about blood rain attracted wide interest in Central Germany during the war, as did the deep-red moats around towns like Leipzig, Magdeburg, and Merseburg.199 The affinity with Catholic wonders of the host and relics posed no principal problem. Blood was even said to have dripped from an image of Luther in 1651, in a church in Oberroßla, a day’s ride to the north of Erfurt.200 In this period, Lutherans were often more concerned with distancing themselves from the Reformed symbolic understanding of the Eucharist.201 The main challenge, rather, was that the blood-like substances, upon closer inspection, often turned out to be of strikingly mundane origin. Experts knew at least five dyestuffs capable of colouring water deep red; official inquiries elsewhere identified mildew or animal blood as the actual substance.202 There were plenty of reasons to suspect a hoax. The Council in Erfurt entrusted the professional scrutiny to the Professor of Physics and Doctor of Medicine, Johann Rehefeld (1590–1648). The civic authorities had already relied on his expertise on prior occasions. As town physician, Rehefeld had advised mayors on how to curb epidemics during the 1620s and early 1630s.203 In 1633, he helped them to handle the delicate political task of unmasking local Catholic superstition. Together with a medical colleague, David Crusius (1589–1640), he dissected statues said to contain the miraculously preserved flesh of the two local saints Adolar and Eoban (d.754). They listed the vertebrae, cranium, and other bones found inside the statue with anatomical precision, but 198

Rehefeld, Blut-Geschichte, pp. 1 f. The treatise was last mentioned by Loth, Zornzeichen, pp. 221–226 and Loth, Medizinalwesen, pp. 401–403. 199 Krusenstjern, Prodigienglaube, pp. 66, 69; Herlicius, Sanguinis Profluvium. 200 The bleeding (or sweating) Luther-portrait in Oberroßla was first mentioned in 1685 by [Pfefferkorn], p. 377. For further references, see Brückner/Gruppe, Luther, pp. 269 f, 309; Scribner, Incombustible Luther, pp. 337 f, 349. Scribner correctly notes that most of these stories were propagated by Lutheran churchmen (p. 352 f). The aforementioned chronicle from 1685 was published anonymously by the Superintendent Georg Michael Pfefferkorn. See Patze/Schlesinger, Geschichte Thüringens, pp. 28 f. 201 An example of eighteenth-century changes is noted in Chapter Six, fn. 318. 202 Sabean, Power in the Blood, pp. 83 f, 87; Mauer, Georg Kölderer, p. 342; Brecht, Andreae und Herzog August, p. 132; Rehefeld, Blut-Geschichte, pp. 13, 16, 56. Further sermons on blood are listed by Schwegler, pp. 106–122, 251–255, 293–296. She mentions a Silesian account from 1638 on very similar miscolourings, pp. 109, 324. 203 K.-H. Arndt, Stadt, pp. 28 and 34 f, with further references.

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emphasised that no fleshly remains were to be found. Catholics, concluded Rehefeld and Crusius, adored the statues with an idolatrous veneration that true believers should reserve for “the only one whose flesh and bones have seen no decay, namely our Saviour and Redeemer, Jesus Christ.”204 Rehefeld was clearly determined to remain rooted in the firm ground of the Gospel. Quite a few local churchmen questioned whether he thought this made it necessary to adhere to the Augsburg Confession. Like many other physicians, Rehefeld was open to the spiritualist thought of authors like Johann Arndt and Jakob Böhme (1575–1624). He had taken part in local, non-conformist circles in the 1620s. Orthodox-minded townsmen still harassed him for these former ties to heterodox figures, like the aforementioned Paul Nagel and Esaias Stiefel.205 All this did not disturb the Council. The affluent physician remained respected and was later appointed to the position of a leading councillor.206 Rehefeld’s opinion on the blood-like liquids resembles that of 1633. Both combine applied science with town politics. Rehefeld was meant to inform the councillors of the true causes behind the blood and enable them to find a fitting response. His inquiry from 1636 thus shows how learned theories entered in the local management of meaning. On a first reading, the treatise seems strikingly modern in its methods. Rehefeld sought to narrow down the possible sources of the discolouring through oral inquiries, on-the-spot observations, and, above all, laboratory analysis. Council envoys had already provided him with water drawn from the pond at the different stages of the daily discolouring, on June 11. Nevertheless, Rehefeld himself travelled to the village on the twentieth, together with two colleagues, to take new samples and inspect the pond. They noted the loamy grounds and, after questioning the villagers, discovered stones with cinnabar near the pond. All the same, ponds nearby, located on the same soil, had not turned red. The source of the discolouring remained obscure.207 Tests in Rehefeld’s domestic laboratory provided the decisive results. He first placed pond water in a glass to observe its optical qualities, noting how sunlight caused the slimy red mass to rise to the surface of the water. Rehefeld then sieved out the algae-like red particles to examine their smell and appearance. He finally 204

StAE 1-1/X. D.-6, Miscellen betr. des Stifts b. St. Mariae vd. 3, quoted from Medick, Orte, p. 371: “diese Ehre und Ruhm alleine demjenigen, dessen Fleisch und Beine keine Verwesung gesehen, nämlich unserm Erlöser und Seeligmacher Christo Jesus gönnen und zueignen.” David Crusius aided Rehefeld again in 1636. Rehefeld, Blut-Geschichte, pp. 1, 28, 39 (who also mentions the aid by the Dean of the Medical Faculty, Quirin Schmaltz). 205 Weiß, Lebenswelten, pp. 440 f, 453–463 et passim and the long preface to Rehefeld, Promptuarium (1637), pp. A4r–B12v, esp. pp. A8r–A9r. He published this outline of his own creeds outside town, in Schleusingen. 206 Bauer, Personalschriften, p. 110 no. 158; Bauer, Ratsherren, p. 64 no. 105; p. 110 no. 470, with notes on Crusius’ parallel career. 207 Rehefeld, Blut-Geschichte, pp. 2–7.

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cooked some of the water to extract the potter’s clay and pulverised the loam and ore found near the pond.208 A thorough comparison led to the conclusion that the red substance could neither be animal nor human blood. It had the colour and smell of coagulated blood and was just as sticky, yet its taste and remaining physical properties differed. The apparent blood was, according to Rehefeld, a mixture consisting of the white slimy mass that formed in stagnant pools during hot weather, and the sulphurous particles in the loam and ferruginous stone.209 Rehefeld described these chemical analyses at the level of detail necessary for others to verify. He ascribed to an empirical paradigm that considered experimental reproduction as the crucial argument. He, therefore, left specimens drawn from the pond in the Town Hall for independent observers to inspect; sceptics could thus test his results.210 Yet Rehefeld’s causation was not limited to the laboratory. He listed stars among the external factors that caused the blood-red slime to rise to the surface. Divinely orchestrated stellar constellations made the loam and ore release its sulphur. They formed a ‘causa efficiens’, alongside sunrays and heat.211 Rehefeld thus united elements common to modern natural science with teachings that seem occult to present-day readers. Aside from astrology, he deliberated upon Paracelsian theories. They argued that the sweat, sperm, and faeces of the stars and the sun drizzled upon Earth and there both caused the aurora colour of dawn and developed into dew and tadpoles. This would make stars the “[Causæ] essentificantes” and not only “Causæ producentes”.212 Rehefeld took such explanations serious, though he considered them unable to explain this particular instance. In earlier treatises, he had himself avowed to Paracelsian and hermetic teachings.213 Their combination with an empirical and experimental paradigm of science was, quite a few scholars now argue, common to many branches of the “new science” that grew in strength during the seventeenth century.214

208

Ibid., pp. 8–11. Ibid., pp. 12–19, here 18: “subtieler Martialischer Sulphur”. Cf. the notes on the Porphyridium cruentum (German: Blutalgen) in Schwegler, p. 119. 210 Rehefeld, Blut-Geschichte, pp. 25, 28. 211 Ibid., pp. 23 f. 212 Ibid., pp. 51–53, quote p. 53. Rehefeld also discussed whether rainclouds might have carried evaporated blood to the pond from some far-off battlefield, ibid., p. 13. 213 Rehefeld, Medicinalische Pestordinantz (1634); Weiß, Lebenswelten, p. 495. The content of his doctoral dissertation (Rehefeld, Trophaeum hermetico-hippocraticum) is summarised in Motschmann, Dritte Fortsetzung (1735), pp. 315–317 and Loth, Medizinalwesen, pp. 433–435. Paracelsian and hermetic teachings had gained a strong position in the local medical faculty, following controversies with Aristotelian-minded physicians at the turn of the seventeenth century. See ibid., pp. 428 f and Kleineidam, Teil 3, pp. 227 f. 214 Yates provided the original impetus. The subsequent debate about the place of hermetic ideas in what used to be known as the ‘Scientific Revolution’ is summarised by Copenhaver. He cautions that it is difficult to discern any coherent body of teaching behind the hermetic label. Trepp consequently calls on further studies to show how religious and hermetic convictions influenced concrete scientific inquiries. Kühlmann outlines the German amalgam between Paracelsian and hermetic teachings. 209

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Although the small medical faculty in Erfurt adhered to the new theories, they remained questionable to pastors in town. The tensions went beyond the traditional divide between the physicist’s observations (historiae) and the theologicalphilosophical causation. For the reasons stated above, Rehefeld was careful not to open himself to further dogmatic criticism. He took care to specify under which conditions astrology could provide sound and laudable explanations. He merely argued that stars influenced physical elements in the substellar circles, making no claims that the same held true for human affairs. To this, he added a lengthy disclaimer, which stressed that stellar influences followed the “hyperphysical” orders of Providence. The Lord needed only “to wave His Hand at a certain time”, for Creation remained “at His service, in the highest readiness and obedience”; He could form and change it, like a potter with his clay.215 A physician could only single out the natural or ‘proximate’ causes. Theological expertise was needed to explain why God allowed this natural wonder to take place at this very time and place. With notable reservation, Rehefeld surmised that the Lord thereby warned sinners. The treatise thus ended with the uncontroversial call for repentance. The distinction between the primary ‘causa divina’ and the secondary ‘causa naturalis’ enabled empiric-minded scholars to recognise the religious dimension in a phenomenon, despite their ability to explain its natural causes. The bloody pond in Nohra fits into the category of the ‘preternatural’: a wonder whose natural origin was hidden to all but the experts.216 Many modern critics have failed to consider such distinctions, arguing that the belief in prodigies was only able to persist as long as their mundane causes remained unknown. The underlying dichotomy of superstitious religion and modern science ignores the established distinction between primary and secondary causes.217 A contemporary expert like Rehefeld brought empirical experiments into harmony with his faith with ease, when he chose to do so.218 215 Rehefeld, Blut-Geschichte, pp. 19–22, quote p. 21 f: “wenn er [Gott] bey herzurückender bestimmeten Zeit nur wincket/ geschweige denn spricht/so ist es in höchster Bereitschaft vnd Willfahrigkeit zu seinen Diensten da” and p. 23: “(sub directorio Hyperphysicæ)”. A local pastor deliberated further upon the relationship between natural philosophy and theology in his inaugural lecture as Professor of Physics 1644, Vollbracht: An orthodoxus & conscientiosus Theologus Physica alios docere queat? 216 Daston/Park, Chapter 3 and passim. 217 This Enlightened master narrative continues to colour some academic accounts, e. g. Schwegler; D. Wilson. 218 Rehefeld chose not to accept the celestial signs reported by female villagers during the official inquiries in Nohra. They claimed to have seen a coffin and crosses in the sky prior to the first appearance of the blood (see page 125 below). Rehefeld here reasoned in a manner that (in part, at least) resembles modern explanations. Many inhabitants in Nohra had died in the epidemics over the past years. The few villagers that remained, argued Rehefeld, had reason to fear that the plague would return during the coming summer months. They also knew from earlier accounts that prodigies might signal such epidemics. Their fears and cognitive preconceptions thus made them prone to see such

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For historians exploring the intersection between science and religion, the chemical analyses and causation, without doubt, constitute the most interesting part of this treatise. Yet Rehefeld was aware that most local readers would neither understand nor be impressed by laboratory analysis. Historical examples were needed to drive home the moral conclusion. He therefore compiled historical cases that complied with the scheme of unheeded warnings. They range from the First Plague of Egypt (Exod 7, 17–22: God turns the waters of the Nile into blood), and the signs mentioned by Classical authors like Livy, to more recent years.219 “Several reliable persons recall that the moat [… around Erfurt] was coloured red in 1616. The whole world knows what followed in 1618.” In 1622, a pond near Erfurt likewise presaged the coming of Saxon mercenaries.220 This enumeration reflects a moral way of thinking about history shared by scholars, chroniclers, and less educated laymen. The historical ‘Theatre of God’s Judgements’ was a very stern magistra vitae urging believers to lead more godly lives.221 Best-selling compilations, such as the ‘Book of Wonders’, written by Job Fincel (1. ed. 1557), or Andreas Hondorff ’s ‘Promptuarium Exemplorum’ (1. ed. 1568), provided an inexhaustible arsenal of warnings. Rehefeld regretted that he had found no preceding “consultants of nature” who could aid his chemical inquiry. Scholars with access to a well-stocked pastoral library would never encounter such problems. Rehefeld advised those readers who might be unsatisfied with his mere twenty-seven pages of historical examples to consult a further list of 110 authoritative publications known to him.222 In a town faced with the double threat of siege and epidemics there was a pressing need to distinguish truly ominous warnings from chance happenings. Rehefeld worked under considerable pressure. Concerned villagers and burghers burdened him with reports of subsequent bloody wonders, while he was still signs in the night sky. Rehefeld, Blut-Geschichte, pp. 34, 26 (quoted above, in fn. 58). See also Clarke, Vanities. 219 Rehefeld, Blut-Geschichte, with Biblical plagues, pp. 73–82, here 73 f. “Hierauff ist / nach ergangenen vbrigen Plagen/ Pharao mit seiner Armee im Roten Meer vmbkommen […].” Examples from Classical Antiquity on pp. 84–86, 97. 220 The fact that the moat around Magdeburg had turned blood red in 1629 spelled out what threats now loomed above Erfurt; Magdeburg burned down to the ground following the Imperial conquest in May 1631. “Es erinnern sich etliche glaubwirdige Persohnen/ daß An. 1616 der hiesige Stadtgraben zwischen dem Johannis vnd Krempfer Thor sich Roth verferbet habe. Was hierauff sich Anno 1618. angehoben/ solches ist Weltkündig.” Rehefeld, Blut-Geschichte, pp. 94 f. 221 On the popularity of this belief in England, see Walsham, Providence Chapters 2 and 5, inter alia on the schoolmaster Thomas Beard: The theatre of God’s judgements (1597). 222 Rehefeld, Blut-Geschichte, p. 44 (“Naturæ-Consultis”) and pp. 110–114. Aside from Fincel, Rehefeld drew heavily on a compilation authored by a Thuringian astrologer in 1633, Christian Herlicius, Sanguinis Profluvium. The Erfurt publisher Johannes Birckner was ready to print two further compilations, on recent floods (Herlicius, Cataclysmologia) and the solar eclipses of the year 1634 (Herlicius, Eclipsiologia). The sermon by J. Weber, Cometen-Predigt offered a similar historical tour de force on comets, pp. B2v–D4r. For parhelions, Dauthendey. On Fincel, Hondorff, and other German handbooks for homilies see Brückner, Volkserzählung and J. Beyer, Prodigien.

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occupied with the pond in Nohra.223 On June 30, Rehefeld submitted the commissioned report. On the evening of that very day, an envoy informed him that bloody water was now seen on the outskirts of town. The Council requested him to examine the new wonder. Rehefeld and his colleagues consequently spent the following days boiling plants and sieving red water. After a week of investigation, he could conclude that the new cases differed fundamentally from the pond in Nohra. The water from the moat and the ramparts was simply coloured by clay.224 The councillors had, however, already decided to present both the pond in Nohra and the water around the town as prodigies, in a public prayer read aloud on the Fourth Sunday after Trinity, on July 3.225 Preachers shuddered at the “very terrible” bloody signs that had rained down and risen from below into the ponds. It was, they announced from the pulpit, as if “our overwhelming, great evil” caused “Heaven itself to cry bloody tears”. The Lord now warned Erfurt as He had warned the obdurate Pharaoh.226 Rehefeld indirectly distanced himself from that presentation. He, for one, would neither “name that unnatural, which is natural” nor consider “that blood, which is different” from blood. This was “in no way” meant to reduce the respect due to God or belittle the concern for communal security.227 Rehefeld tried to tailor his conclusion to suit the recent public presentation. The distinction between primary and secondary causes again allowed him to salvage a religious dimension. The “causæ propinquæ” of the colouring were, certainly, all natural, yet Rehefeld could see God’s Hand at work. “Due to the concurrence”, he argued “we are ready to stress the final, hyperphysical […] cause somewhat more than one might other223

On June 23, a peasant reported how blood had filled his well the day after it first appeared in nearby Nohra. A few days later, a townsman asked Rehefeld to inspect blood-stained leaves from his garden. Rehefeld identified potter’s clay and an acid-like dew as the likely causes, but again stressed the ‘causa divina’. Later, on July 4, a council official presented him with a basket of stones covered by a blood-like substance of inexplicable origin, Rehefeld, Blut-Geschichte, pp. 102–105. On the threats, see K.-H. Arndt, Stadt, pp. 37 f and B. Herrmann, Kampf. 224 “Ander Bericht/ Wie es mit dem verferbeten Stadgraben alhier beschaffen.” (8.7.1636), in Rehefeld, Blut-Geschichte, pp. 36–72, with the analysis, pp. 41 ff, 51–69 and conclusions on p. 43. 225 [Anon.], Offentliche Buß Verkundigung (1636). Added to: Rehefeld, Blut-Geschichte, pp. P3r– P4v. Excerpts from further ordained prayers by Loth, Zornzeichen, pp. 223 f. 226 [Anon.], Offentliche Buß Verkundigung (1636), p. P3r: “EWer Christlichen Lieb ist gnugsam bekant/ daß der Barmhertzige GOtt/ […] ohnlängst auff dem Lande / alß hernacher in etlichen Stadtgräben vnd sonsten an gewissen Orten alhier/durch Verferbung deß Wassers/ vnd im Regen sehr schreckliche / vnd sonsten an diesem Orth ohngewöhnliche BlutZeichen gethan/ männiglich vor Augen stellen / vnd gleichsam den Himmel selbst blutige Thränen vber vnsere vbermachte grosse Boßheit hat vergiessen lassen.” 227 “[Er, Rehefeld, wird] zuversichtiglich nicht vnrecht thun/ wenn in GOTTes Nahmen vnd Furcht er seine Hertzens Gedancken so gut hervor bringet/ so gut es sein wenig Talent vnd Verstand erleidet […] damit zwar/ was natürlich ist/ nicht vnnatürlich; was anders ist/ nicht Blut/ oder was Blut ist/ nicht anders geheissen vnd davor gehalten; gleichwol aber dem Grundgütigen GOTT sein intent vnd Ehre […] vnd […] die Wolfart deß Landes vnd der Einwohner […] keines weges vermindert verhindert oder abgeschnitten [wird]”, Rehefeld, Blut-Geschichte, p. 47.

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wise have done.”228 Surely, the Lord would not let all these red colours coincide with such terrifying frequency without some higher purpose? “In this respect”, it was “a prodigy or portent, which signifies some big event”. It again warned the impious who would not otherwise repent.229 Here, Rehefeld once more used a standard argument. Concurrence was crucial for the perception of prodigies. Keith Thomas reminds that the word ‘coincidence’ was not reduced to a chance happening until the latter part of the seventeenth century. In prior centuries, the fact that strange happenings co-incided had helped to convince many (both British and Continental) observers that they probably carried a portent. Erfurt chroniclers often reported signs simultaneously, as if to prove that God had truly tried to deliver a message.230 When Council officials first came to inspect the pond in Nohra, two women told them of the white crosses seen in the sky on the night of Ascension Day, the week before the blood appeared. During later questioning, a third woman added a celestial coffin to this list. And, as mentioned above, disconcerted locals presented Rehefeld with three more bloody signs in late June and early July.231 Cumulative reports recurred five years later, in the weeks and months around Pentecost in 1641. The parallel pattern offers an interesting point of comparison and a basis for some tentative conclusions about the political response to local prodigies. In 1641, the Council tried to control wonders in a more direct manner. The water in the town moat was the first to discolour, in early May. News of red leaves, sanguineous ponds, and bloodstained maypoles followed throughout June and July.232 The appearance of these signs gave rise to disconcerting conjectures. Had not blood been seen “at the same place, at the time when the Swedish king arrived [in 1631], and when General [Johan] Banér occupied the town” in late 1636? The garrison commandant Caspar Ermes (1592–1648) seems to have 228 Ibid.: “[Obgleich] diese so häuffig vnd gradatim auffeinander lauffende Ostenta […] gleich meistentheils natürlich sich begeben [haben, achtet Rehefeld] dennoch propter concurrentem Causam Hyperphysicam tum Efficientem tum Finalem etwas Hoher/ alß sonst geschehen möchte”. 229 Rehefeld again chided the townsmen, who constantly asked for supernatural miracles, and told them to pay heed to preternatural marvels. “[Man solle] zwar nicht eben dieses fragen; ob diese vnd dergleichen Dinge Miracula oder Wunderwercke weren? Denn das gestehet man vorhin gerne/ weil (1.) die causæ propinquæ hierbey naturales vnd (2.) der Modus generationis […] infra terminos Naturæ verbleibet/vnd sich nicht vber vnd wieder den Lauff der Natur erstrecket / daß diese Dinge nicht vber-Natürliche Wunderwercke seynd.” Ibid., p. 70. The correct, rhetorical question was rather “Ob es nicht [… p. 71] den Vnbußfertigen zum WarnungsZeichen / oder wenn sie sich nicht bekehren zur wolverdienten Straffe dienendem scopo ziehle”. In this respect it was “ein prodigium oder portentum, so etwas grosses bedeutet”. – The distinction between the preternatural wonders and the supernatural miracles was only employed by the erudite in town. 230 A terrible thunderstorm and white rainbow thus lent further support to the prophecy of 1639, mentioned on p. 94 f above. See Table One, 1639, 2–3 and the examples above, in fn. 175; Sabean, Power in the Blood, p. 227, fn. 26; Haag, Keil, pp. 138 f; Thomas, pp. 655 f; Trexler, pp. 358 and 73–84, esp. pp. 82 f. 231 See fn.s 58, 218, 223 above and Rehefeld, Blut-Geschichte, pp. 2 f, 26, 34, 42 f. 232 See Table One, 1641, 2–6 and fn.s 172, 196 above.

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realised the dangerous conclusions that local observers could draw. The bloody water might very well signal that the town would shift hands for the third time within a decade. Only this time, the approaching Imperial army was the likely conqueror. Ermes had the pond “scooped to the ground and placed it under guard. Nevertheless, blood was seen yet again on the next day and frequently thereafter in the presence of many people.”233 There are several interesting aspects to this note. The straightforward reference to “blood” shows that Rehefeld had laboured in vain. His complex analysis of the red water’s chemical qualities was largely lost on the townsfolk. Lay commentators described the wonders of 1636 and 1641 in drastic tones without ever questioning the actual substance of the “supposed blood”.234 Rehefeld’s appendix with the compilation of historical examples was a more familiar reading. Townsmen updated the list to explain the meaning of the signs from 1636. The bloodlike signs appeared in June and July; then the Swedish army arrived in December to lay siege upon the town. The temporal and geographical connection between a prodigy and the subsequent calamity was seen here with rare precision.235 This prodigy, together with the 1618-comet, became one of the best-known in the region. It was mentioned years later, in neighbouring areas and in publications read in other regions.236 The signs from 1641 never gained such prominence. The combined efforts of the civil and military authorities are particularly telling. Their will to control the interpretation of the signs was no different from the commissioned inquiry in 1636. However, in the summer of 1641 they wanted to assert the mundane character of the blood-like water. The Swedish commandant had the bloody puddle placed under guard and councillors took similar steps. When reports about wondrous blood in the nearby village of Alach reached the Town Hall, they swiftly dispatched an envoy to question villagers and to take samples. The envoy inspected the bloody foliage without any awe. He had the tree chopped down, cut into pieces, and “almost dissected”. Rain had probably first penetrated into the hollow crown, he concluded, and then mixed with an ants’ nest. From there, the red

233

The note is included in an account by an unnamed correspondent from Erfurt, printed in the wide-read collection of war reports, the ‘Theatrum Europeaum’. “Jm Junio hat sich zwischen der Statt Erffurdt vnd der Cyriacsburg in einem stehenden Quell-Wasser Blut sehen lassen / dergleichen zur Zeit deß Königs zu Schweden Ankunfft/ vnd als General Banner die Statt occupiret gehabt/an selbigen Orth auch gesehen worden: der damahlige Commendant liesse es biß auff denGrund [sic] außschöpffen/vnd bewachen/es wurde aber nicht desto weniger andern Tags in vieler LeuthGegenwart [sic] vnd noch öffters hernacher widerumb gesehen.” [Oraeus], THEATRI EVROPAEI Vierdter Theil (1648), p. 612. 234 Rehefeld spoke of “supposed blood” (“das vermeinte Blut”) throughout his treatise, e. g. pp. 4, 7. 235 [Anon.], [Compilation]. App. I. 22, pp. 95v, who had clearly read Rehefeld’s treatise. 236 See Table One: 1636, 3 and Happe, Chronicon Thuringiae. App. I. 16, Vol. 2, p. 36v. He wrote of water turning into blood in Erfurt, Weimar, “und andern vielen Orthen”.

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water had seeped further down through the trunk and dripped out of a hole onto the leaves.237 This authoritative account is void of Rehefeld’s distinction between the natural, proximate causes, and the final, divine cause. “Everything was found to be natural”, the Council scribe concluded. His superiors “ordered this to be registered” in the official logbook.238 Through archival entries and printed publications, they ensured that the ‘true meanings’ of the phenomena, uncovered by their envoys, remained known beyond 1636 and 1641; this was a means to manage meaning.239 The well-documented conclusions depended more on current political interest, it seems, than on the findings of the particular inquiry. However, the political control cannot always be reduced to an ulterior ‘Machiavellian’ agenda. In 1636, the councillors really do seem convinced that the sanguineous signs signalled divine wrath. Public prayers were issued to avert the impending punishment and the consultant, Rehefeld, was ordered to carefully examine each and every case. In 1641, they denied any divine dimension to the bloody water. Here we encounter their concern about the more well-known propagandistic use of prodigies.

Conclusions Seen as a belief system, prodigies functioned well in a seventeenth-century town like Erfurt. Opinion-makers were able to single out significant signs and reduce cognitive dissonance. However, a closer look at the system has also uncovered tensions beneath the surface of this overall stability, established over the long term. At first, reports about a new prodigy or omen prompted locals to pose a series of questions. Did the sign have divine meaning or not? If it were not a hoax, what might it signify? Were parents, for instance, to be blamed when a child was born deformed? Or should monstrous births be linked to the sins of others or the sins of one’s own religious community? The changing answers to such questions led believers to variously respond with triumphant, penitent, or concerned comments. Villagers used some omens to plan their flights from approaching armies and establish some order in the chaos caused by soldiers; pastors presented other signs to warn against a false sense of security. These differing messages were all acceptable to laymen, who at times also indulged in gawking at marketplace attractions. When it came to deformities, a pious chronicler like Fritz was more interested in anatomical curiosities than in calling for repentance. His response points 237 [Taute], Schwartz Voigteybuch. App. I. 17, pp. 38 f. The tree was “gleichsam anatomiret undt von einander geleget”. 238 Ibid.: “Welches aber alles natürlich befunden worden nichts desto minder ieglichen Zur nachricht Zu Registriren ahn befolhlen worden.” 239 Frijhoff, Embodied belief, p. 150.

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to a more general differentiation between the potentially portentous phenomena. The current chapter reconstructed the consequent ways of the handling prodigies and establishing their significance. The complex management of meaning documented here has been neglected in many prior accounts. Recent historical research on prodigies and related signs of warning has dealt at length with their political implications. The attention given to Hans Keil, a self-proclaimed prophet from Württemberg, was based on the proposition that his calls for repentance could be read as “a social metaphor”. Contemporaries here supposedly recognised “hints of political meaning deeper than the prophetic topoi of repentance and remorse”. Regarding the contemporaneous English debate about judiciary astrology in Gramscian terms, as a battle for cultural hegemony, likewise helped to move prognostics higher up on the historians’ agenda.240 The conclusions on the said cases remain contestable, like all analyses.241 However, their main limitation may owe to the underlying criteria. The emphasis on socio-political protest has increased our knowledge about controversial figures and the propagandistic instrumentalisation of divine signs. It is worth granting greater attention to the messages of repentance. The Erfurt Council was far from the only ruling body which called upon theologians or medical experts, like Rehefeld, when it was confronted with a prodigy or calamity. The “opacity of the divine displeasure”, as Richard Trexler puts it, also led authorities elsewhere to consult religious experts. Zürich (1571), Stockholm (1607), and Florence (1340, 1399, 1448, 1499, 1530) are but a few cases that happen to be documented in modern studies.242 We shall look more closely at such consultancy in the following chapter and examine the theologians’ proposals. Commentaries on prodigies could take eminently political forms if censors either allowed such messages to be printed, or were unable to suppress them. Contemporaneous conflicts in England were fanned by militant and seditious comments.243 A myriad of Protestant prophecies printed during the Thirty Years War likewise predicted the downfall of the Habsburg dynasty. Only one such prophecy entered into the chronicles examined here.244 The omen which criticised the 240

Curry; Sabean, Power in the Blood, Chapter 2: A prophet in the Thirty Years’ War. Penance as a social metaphor, pp. 61–93, quote from p. 62. 241 Haag, Frömmigkeit und sozialer Protest; Hill; Thornton. The debate about Late Medieval millenarians and their social critique is, in this regard, instructive. Cf. Cohn and his critic R. E. Lerner, Eschatological Mentalities. 242 The Swedish King Charles IX thus called upon a theologian to explain the portent of the comet that appeared in 1607. The expertise recommended ordained prayer days and was later put to print by Gothus, Cometoscopia. See further Sandblad, p. 235; Trexler, pp. 348 f (quote); and Scribner, Reformation and Desacralisation, p. 81 on Württemberg discussions in 1562. Note also Biel, p. 116 and esp. Behringer, Krise, on 1570–1571, and Klingebiel, p. 21 (1644). 243 Burns; Friedman; Walsham, Providence. 244 Compare Barnes, Prophecy, pp. 250–253. “Herrn Jacoben Hartmans von Thurbach [recte: Durlach] des hochgelarten Teuren Mans beschreÿbende Propheceÿung im 1538 iharr außgangenn” was

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Edict of Restitution remained singular in its explicit objection to Imperial policies. Parishioners keen on criticising rulers mostly chose other outlets. Stories about the sudden death of sinners were much easier to appropriate; these stories are examined in Chapter Six.245 This chapter has shown chroniclers to be a rather cautious group, who, for the most part, reserved barbed comments for local denominational opponents. These laymen were well aware of the tasks and limitations of their didactic writings. On the whole, they left the business of making precise predictions to the astrologers, and sought to remain within the boundaries outlined by their pastors. Their reading of prognostics and almanacs has left some traces in their texts; these traces are strongest in the entries written during or soon after the calamities. Here, war influenced the authors’ beliefs and writings. As shall be shown in Chapter Six, this led to more prayer than divination. With the passage of time, the overall picture grew more stable and uniform. The post-war chronicles were at liberty to single out prodigies which had proven to be particularly portentous. From the myriad signs (of which fifty-four are known to us today), they singled out the comet of 1618, the omens of the early 1630s, and the bloody signs appearing in 1636. These three signs dominate the post-war prints and compilations. In order to reconstruct this process of retrospective selection and stabilisation it has been useful to examine chronicles. Chronicles from other well-documented towns may give similar insights into the local management of meaning. In this way, they seem to be a useful supplement to the better-known corpora of sermons, pamphlets, and broadsides.

copied at the end of the untitled and unpaged town chronicle stored in StAE 5/100-13 during the first half of the seventeenth century. The prophecy circulated in several pamphlets in 1620–1621 and (a fictitious dating?) 1613, e. g. Neotechnos [ps.], VI. Prognostica […] sonderlich was es mit der Sacra Liga vor einen Außgang haben werde […] II. [Prognostica] Iacobi Hartmanni von Durlach/ Anno 1538 gestellet. 245 The most explicit political critique was expressed in a prophetic saying without the usual claim of direct divine inspiration. The entry was made during the turbulent month of April, 1640: “Kömpt Auch an Jtzo Alleß Waß dießer statt Vndt dem Landt Von den Lieben Ver storbenen Vor fahren ge profezeÿet Worden, Vndt sonderlich daß dießer Statt nicht Mangeln Würden, Als Holz Vndt Ge Lehrte Leute[.] Welches sich in der Wahrheit also befunden, ob sie sich gleich gahr klug Vndt Wol Weÿßen ge Lehrte Leute düncken Laßen Seindt sie doch Narren ge Weßen, In dem sie es Wie Wol bewust Ver sehen Vndt dießer Statt Vndt dem Lande Ein solches Vn Wieder bringlicheß Vng Glück [sic, Unglück] Ihren Vndt den Nach kommen Vber den Hals gebracht[.] Gott Wirds Richten.” [Anon.], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 15, p. 28v. A similar saying, concerning the inflation of 1622, is quoted in Fritz, Cronica. App. I. 24, p. 345.

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Epilogue: the crisis in the late seventeenth century The well-functioning belief system examined here is observed at its zenith, but on the horizon lurked an intellectual crisis. Chronicles written towards the end of the century bear traces to the new challenge. From the 1680s on, European scholarly debates changed the way in which regional opinion-makers spoke about prodigies, giving the local interpretive process a new dynamic. This change is best outlined separately, as an epilogue. The impetus was largely scientific: astronomers established that comets followed a fixed trajectory, allowing them to predict their periodic visits on the sky. The comet had been among the most respected signs of warning; now its divine import was being rejected.246 The intellectual criticism spawned a range of reactions from Thuringian chroniclers. I merely mention two typical spokesmen. In 1685, Superintendent Georg Michael Pfefferkorn (1646–1732) rushed to the defence of tradition. The “celestial preacher” of 1618 delivered a strong argument. “The experience” of history clearly demonstrated that the comet had “infallibly” hailed in the Thirty Years War.247 A gap separates this traditionalist churchman from Hiob Ludolf, Jr. (1624– 1704). The Erfurt-born scholar belonged to an ambitious intellectual circle and, i.a., corresponded with Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716) on both historiography and the natural sciences.248 Ludolf tried to salvage parts of the providential framework through a critical re-evalution of the known prodigies. His global history of the seventeenth-century, published in 1699 and 1701, reviewed questionable prodigies. They were subsumed under the heading “On natural Occurences”, together with floods, fires, and further catastrophes. Calamities retained their tie to divine ire, but prodigies received a distanced treatment. Ludolf rejected some as outright canards, invented by sensationalist hacks. He was particularly critical of the myths that “silly people” across the world created about the comet of 1618. It had been observed not for thirty days, but for two months, in Germany mostly from November 24 to January 22. The “old opinions” were deflated through an extensive summary of the new evidence on their periodic returns forwarded by “many knowledgable astronomers.” Comets were, at best, a recurring reminder for sinners to show more respect for the divine wonder of Creation.249 Ludolf also remembered the bloody water brought into Erfurt in 1636, when he was barely twelve. The historiographer tended to agree with Rehefeld on

246

Genuth sums up the well-known debate; see esp. pp. 104–130; 156–178. [Pfefferkorn] (1685), p. 513: “Diese 30. Jährige Unruhe verkündigte gleichsam ein himmelischer Prädicant/ nemlich der ungewöhnliche grosse Schwantz-Stern […] die Erfahrung lehrte domals daß dieser Comet diese langwirige Krieges-Calamität ohnfehlbar bedeutet habe.” 248 See Michaelis. Döring outlines the circle, here esp. pp. 235 f. 249 Ludolf, Schau-Bühne. App. I. 27, Vol. 1, 1618, columns 698–701, under the title “Von natürlichen Begebenheiten”. Quotes: “alten Meynung” (698); “albern Leute”; “viel verständige Astronomi” (699). 247

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the natural, proximate causes, but left out the causa divina; the occurence was, at most, something peculiar.250 Ludolf instead emphasised catastrophes such as the much-publicised tragedy in Erfurt, where a house had collapsed on wedding guests. Twenty-one persons died, but one infant survived in an astonishing manner. Ludolf placed this event at the very end of the annals for the year 1609, highlighting it typographically, as: “A special example of, on the one hand, divine preservation, but, on the other hand, the uncertainty of this poor, transient life, where a meal of joy must turn into a funeral feast”.251 Ludolf thus ranks among the contemporaries who revised the narrative on the providential government of this world to make it consistent with new scientific discoveries. He and Pfefferkorn exemplify two typical reactions to a paradigm shift (Thomas Kuhn). The immediate attempt (1685) was to refute the competing model. When this failed, scholars like Ludolf retreated towards calamities and dramatic events in individual lives.252 Famed outcomes of this collective endeavour include the private catalogue of ‘Nemesis Divina’ kept by Carl von Linné (1707–1778) and George Mason’s (1725–1792) public reference to the “inevitable chain of causes & effects” by which “providence punishes national sins by national calamities”.253

250 Ibid., Vol. 2, 1636, column 537: “VOn natürlichen/oder auch Wunder=Geschichten etwas weniges mit anzuführen/ so lieset man/ daß in […] No[h]ra, unweit Weimar […] sich das Wasser in Blut verwandelt. Schreiber dieses erinnert sich/daß er das Wasser/so in Gläsern nach Erfurt gebracht worden/ gesehen / welches einen rohten Grund gesetzet/un[d] anderer gestalt nicht roht worden/ als wenn man es herum gerühret. Dahero es etliche Physici für nichts übernatürliches halten wollen. Jedoch ist es etwas ungewöhnliches gewesen/ dergleichen sich die Leute des Orts vor dessen gesehen oder gehöret zu haben/ nicht erinnert.” 251 “Ein sonderbar Exempel der göttlichen Erhaltung eines theils: andern theils aber der Ungewißheit dieses elenden Lebens/da an statt eines Freudenmahls ein Trauer=begängnüs gehalten werden müssen [sic].” Ibid., Vol. 1, 1609, columns 295–296 under the title “Von sonderbaren Todesfällen”. See Chapter Two, fn. 123. 252 Walsham, Reformation and “Disenchantment” discusses recent studies on further scholars. 253 Speaking at the Federal Convention of 1787 against the import of further slaves to the United States of America: “As nations can not be rewarded or punished in the next world they must be in this. By an inevitable chain of causes & effects providence punishes national sins by national calamities.” Madison, p. 444. Linné, Nemesis Divina.

5. The theological debates Prodigies prompted different reactions, some causing more concern in observers than others. Authorities impressed by a particularly frightening sign followed the example set by the Ninevites (Jonah 3): they decreed propitiatory services to still the divine wrath and avert punishment. Comets in 1577, 1580, and 1607 thus led to extraordinary prayer days in Scandinavian kingdoms.1 The bloody signs prompted very similar measures in Erfurt in 1636 and in Courland (present-day Latvia) thirteen years earlier: preachers read admonishments aloud in the pulpit and called upon churchgoers to pray for mercy, not only in church but also at home.2 The decree issued in July 1636 contained what was but one in an already long row of ordained propitiatory prayers; a weekly prayer day had been held in Erfurt since 1623.3 Yet despite the continual prayers, the war continued. “We hoped that there would be peace”, pastors declared in Erfurt 1644, “but nothing good has come. We hoped that we would be healed; but behold: more harm is here!”4 The failure to bring an end to the long-lasting war through the traditional means of propitiation raised doubts about its efficiency. Pastors had to convince parishioners to continue to attend propitiatory services. Chapter Six looks at lay attitudes and the ensuing local debates. The current chapter is centred on three local pastors who turned the problem into an opportunity. They were part of theological movements that each sought to explain “why Germany ha[d] still not been healed”, and each proposed means to bring the calamities to an end.5 Proposals from two branches of the largely academic ‘reform movement’6 are covered in the first twothirds of the chapter. The final third examines a group that nurtured more apocalyptic hopes. Whilst the reform movement was generally strengthened by the war, the advocates of an apocalyptic policy were branded as members of a flawed, if not outright heterodox, millenarian movement.7 The war-time discussions thus led to notable changes in both ecclesiastical discipline and in the apocalyptic teach1

Sandblad, pp. 214, 222, 235; Damgaard, Bededage, pp. 108 f. Compare Zigra to [Anon.], Offentliche Buß Verkundigung (1636). 3 See fn. 23 below. 4 Public admonishment reprinted in J. Schmidt, Geweiheter Tempel, Vol. 2, no. 94, pp. 395–397, here p. 396. “Wir hoffeten es solte Friede werden/ so kömpt nichts guts. Wir hoffeten wir solten heil werden: aber siehe/so ist mehr Schadens da!” 5 See the sermon in fn. 61: “Die Frage, warumb Teutschland noch nicht geheilet worden?”. 6 Leube. 7 See p. 103 and Wallmann, Chiliasmus; note also Barnes, Prophecy, pp. 239 f, 317. 2

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ings. The different outcome was partly due to the roles the pastoral proposals had assigned to secular authorities. Another measure of success lay in the ability to define the meaning of the chaos that contemporaries experienced. The theological explanations of ongoing experiences will receive particular attention throughout this chapter. The debates spurred by the two movements had begun in the decades prior to 1618 and would reach new heights in the years following 1635. Church historians have hitherto primarily examined the debates in the first half of the seventeenth century in comparison to the later movement centred on Philipp Jakob Spener (1635–1705). This has led many to portray earlier reformist theologians as his forerunners and to search their programmes for proto-Pietist (frühpietistische) proposals. This endeavour is legitimate but problematic, since it raises the intensely debated question of what exactly distinguished Pietist reforms from earlier Lutheran ones? In recent decades, it has become consensual to no longer write about the Lutheran theology of the day as a monolith, inherently opposed to reform.8 The more controversial debate about the defining characteristics is not of great importance to this particular study, as it is not a study of Pietism. Whenever mention is made of Pietists, I adopt the narrow criteria proposed by Johannes Wallmann.9 This will, however, lead me to revise his evaluations of several theologians in the reform movement. The debates amongst Lutheran theologians in the German Empire intensified after 1635. Incidentally, the documentation on Erfurt in the second half of the war is better preserved than in the first half. It is, however, helpful to begin by placing local discussions within the broader reform movement and then introduce the main protagonists in the debate. The following three, opening sections address these aspects and specify why many during war deemed propitiation to be in crisis.

Lutheran propitiation Pastoral calls for repentance promised listeners two beneficial effects: not only would penitent prayers secure the eternal salvation of the individual believer; these prayers could, at the same time, help to avert temporal calamities. The collective prayers on special prayer days dealt most with the latter, temporal punishments. Eternal punishments were by and large left to individual confessions of sins.10 Pastors used the same German term ‘Buße’ when they spoke of the individual 8

Brecht, Aufkommen, p. 167. Compare Wallmann, Fehlstart to Lehmann, Pietismusbegriff – each with ample references to earlier and to ongoing debates. 10 See the quote on p. 229. Fn. 92 below lists studies on the one notable exception: the public confession and absolution of sins. 9

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and collective acts of repenting. In English, one can distinguish between the two through the terms ‘individual penitence’ and ‘collective repentance’.11 This avoids a rather common misunderstanding. Methods used by Lutherans to inspire a collective repentance have, at times, been portrayed as Catholic remnants; they are considered to be irreconcilable with Luther’s doctrine that believers were justified by faith alone.12 The Lutheran teaching regarding the power of faithful prayers made a distinction between eternal deliverance, which was granted unconditionally, and worldly well-being, which the Lord made conditional on sincere conversion and His hidden providential plans for salvation.13 Propitiatory prayer was thus granted next to no inherent power in itself. Lutheran institutionalised repentance was fully separated from Catholic ideas of intercession via processions and the propitiatory celebration of Mass. Instead, Lutheran theologians focused on the churchgoers. The sermons and liturgy were meant to move them to open their hearts to the Lord so that He might instil penitence in each of them through the Holy Ghost.14 This change of focus raised the question of which ascetic practices had the greatest effect on listeners? Luther had advocated fasting from an early point and he re-introduced the litany in 1529, when the Empire faced an Ottoman invasion.15 Later calamities, especially wars, led authorities in Lutheran territories to reconsider and often revise existing liturgies. In the decades after 1532, it became customary to decree propitiatory services, especially days of prayer and repentance (Buß- und Bettage).16 The body of texts read aloud on such occasions vary considerably. Prayers, sermons and admonishments attest to a Lutheran rhetoric of propitiation infused with Levitical language. It was adapted to the occasion. Some texts went into selfchastening details, listing a catalogue of sins; others gave more room to the plaintive passage. The latter could, at times, mount to lamentations launched against an overly zealous Lord who failed to fulfil His part of the Covenant. Despite their emphasis on the process of personal penitence, Lutheran pastors included prayers meant to persuade the Lord to take action.17 The choice of Scriptural 11 I have here been influenced by discussions with Jürgen Beyer. On associated terms, see Lualdi/ Thayer; K. Cooper/Gregory. 12 E. g. Roeck, Stadt, p. 981. 13 Bitzel, pp. 204–208. 14 For details on the well-known process see the typically negative reply to the question: “Kan der Mensch vor sich selbst die Sünde erkennen/ und aus eigenen Kräfften Busse thun und sich bekennen?” Elsner, Gründlicher Bericht, Art. 9 (Von der Busse), no. VI, pp. 343–345. 15 Drews/Sannemann/et al.; Luther, Der kleine Katechismus, p. 521; Melanchthon, Augsburgische Konfession, Art. XXVI, p. 106. The best introduction to Lutheran propitation is still Graff, pp. 221–236. I did not have access to the second revised edition from 1937. 16 See fn.s 23 and Ch. 6, fn. 63 on the complementary weekly prayer hour and the common prayer. 17 The latter accusatory strain is pronounced in the prayer used in Weimar “Bey dem Gottes-Dienst zur Kriegs-Zeit 1624”: “gedencke doch/ und laß deinen Bund mit uns nicht auffhören/Du bist ja der Trost Israelis und unser einiger Nothhelfer/ warumb stellestu Dich/als wärestu ein Gast im Lande/ und

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references also depended on the perceived threat. In 1636, Erfurt preachers likened the blood-like pools around their town with the First Plague of Egypt. Heavy rainfalls in 1652 prompted comparisons with the destruction of the first world in the Flood.18 These variations in phrasing can not be reduced to any consistent change over time. The diachronic development during the first century of Protestant propitiation is, instead, to be observed in the shape and especially in the frequency of the propitiatory services.19 Public days of repentance and prayer were at first ordained as an extraordinary measure. Major calamities often led to an increase in collective propitiation. The Schmalkaldic War (1546–1547), for example, moved the Council in Straßburg to institute monthly (and later weekly) prayer days.20 A young Gustavus Adolphus made the day of repentance and prayer an annual affair in his realm in 1611, during a difficult war with Denmark-Norway. In 1675, renewed war between the two realms moved one of his successors to add one more annual ordinary prayer day to the existing three.21 In this manner, the Buß- und Bettag gradually evolved into a regular holiday in most Reformed and Lutheran lands; the upward trend was present in all territories. As a consequence, by 1650, churchgoers were faced with significantly greater demands. Information on Lutherans in Erfurt is rather fragmentary for all of the sixteenth and the first two decades of the seventeenth century. One does recognise als ein Frembder /der nur über Nacht drinnen bleibt? Warumb stellestu Dich als ein Held/ der verzagt ist/ und als ein Riese/der nicht mehr helffen kan? Gedencke doch des/ daß der Feind Dich den HERRN schmähet/ und ein thöricht Volck lästert deinen Nahmen. Darumb mache Dich auff/ GOtt/ und führe aus deine Sache […]”. Quoted from J. Schmidt, Geweiheter Tempel, Vol. 3, no. 17, pp. 62–65, here p. 64. Schmidt’s compilation gives a rare overview of an ephemeral subgenre; general remarks on the terminological variations are found in his preface to Vol. 1. One encounters another characteristic plaint in the prayer used in Greifswald “during the siege” in an unknown year (ibid. no. 13, pp. 41–43): “Aber ach Hertzens-Vater/ vergieb uns unsere Sünde/ laß es doch gnug seyn mit deiner gerechten Straffe [… und sei uns gnädig] wir sind ja dennoch deine Kinder”. “Und du/ O HErr JEsu CHriste/ Du hast dich erbohten unser Bruder zu seyn [laßt uns also die brüderliche Liebe erfahren]”. A collective prayer by children was deemed to move God to a particular degree, since it was spoken by the coming generation of worshippers. [Anon.], Ein Christlich Gebeth/ Wider den Türcken (1594), pp. 4–6; Silberschlag, Allgemeine Offene Beichte vnd Absolution (1625), pp. B1v–B2r; [Anon.], Zwei Gebetlein (1636), p. P4v. For general notes see Zenger/Fabry/et al., pp. 124, 135 f. 18 [Anon.], Zwei Gebetlein (1636), p. P4r; [Anon.], Gebeht (1652), p. A2v. Marti comments on the rhetoric of contemporary prayer. The choice of the Biblical text to be expounded upon in the sermon was likewise made keeping the present situations in mind. See Stenermark; Damgaard; Kist. 19 Kohlmann, pp. 184–188, 210 f claims that the tone grew “ever more drastic”(“immer drastischer”, “immer eindringlicher”) in the prayers ordained in Württemberg during the Thirty Years War. His brief quotations do not offer sufficient evidence. Kolb, pp. 195, 198 f, 210 more convincingly points to the change in frequency in this duchy. 20 Graff, p. 222. 21 Stenermark, Datum och texter, pp. 158 and 190. Sweden is one of the territories that has been studied the most in recent years. Malmstedt outlines tendencies toward a modern outlook. A more instrumentalist analysis is the article by Forssberg (based on her Ph.D.-thesis). Ihalainen discusses the studies on how prayer days moulded collective identities and alterities in Protestant countries.

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a general increase in collective praying during the course of the Thirty Years War. The ordained prayer of 162022 was followed by a weekly prayer hour in late June 1623. This Betstunde was instituted in response to reports that Catholic forces were advancing on Erfurt. Duke Tilly’s troops steered clear of town, but the weekly prayer hour remained in use, with some interruptions, until 1651.23 The liturgy of the prayer hour was changed in late 1625 in response to Tilly’s renewed advance.24 During the Swedish occupation, the Council reserved a considerable number of days for public thanksgivings or official mourning. Most of these services also had a strong penitential content.25 The political element in these prayers was obvious, but it had not yet grown very important to the common churchgoers.26 Apart from frequency, the other main change was in form. The advent of a yet another calamity aided the churchmen, who argued that the existing means of propitiation were insufficient. This change of form is seen in most denominations. Jesuits in Erfurt thus used the 1597-epidemic to convince local Catholics to pray the rosary (which had been revived as a thanksgiving for the victory at Lepanto in 1571). The first thirteen years of the war (1618–1631) saw the rise of processions, ascetic exercises, and public prayers which were all attended by the lay confraternities.27 The prayer circles devoted to six, ten, or forty hours of continual prayer spread elsewhere in the Empire during (and under the impression of) the war.28 Parallel to this, Lutheran theologians, like Meyfart, began to advocate the triad of fasting, prayer, and donation of alms that was already part of the Reformed

22

[Anon.], Christliches Buß-Gebet (1620). Krafft, [Erfurt Chronicle]. App. I. 19, p. 49r; [Hogel], Antiquitatum Erfurtensium. App. I. 9, p. 440v. The liturgy is described by Hoffmann, Chronica Thvringiaca. App. I. 6, p. 376. The ordained prayer is transcribed in [Cabuth], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 5, p. 133v. See also p. 171v (common prayer from 1621) and Hundorph, Encomii Erffurtini Continuatio. App. I. 18, p. Q3r. 24 Silberschlag, Allgemeine Offene Beichte vnd Absolution; Silberschlag, Ordnung der Betstunde. Local chroniclers date these two ordinances to the First Sunday of Advent in 1625; e. g. fn. 26. 25 E. g. [Taute], Schwartz Voigteybuch. App. I. 17, pp. 104 f (19.12.1641); [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 15, pp. 39v–40r (12.5.1640). See Graff, pp. 236 f. 26 The common prayer came to be highly contested in the 1650s; see pp. 64 and 73. [Hogel], Antiquitatum Erfurtensium. App. I. 9, p. 444c (recto) describes the military threat in 1625 and adds that on this occasion the Council also decided to include the Archbishop of Mainz in the common prayer. It hoped that he could influence the Emperor and the League of Catholic princes. Councillors also used prayers and thanksgivings to demonstrate loyalty or independence towards the Swedish occupants. Compare the cool reply in 1635 ([Anon.], Erffurdtische Chronica. App. I. 14, p. 694) to the more loyalist responses in 1644–1645 ([Taute], Schwartz Voigteybuch. App. I. 17, pp. 292–94, 303–310, 319–320). The Catholic reluctance to pray for the success of the Swedish arms was used to question their loyalty. See [Anon.], Das Reich von Mitternacht; Scharold, pp. 103–105; and the local examples in Schauerte, p. 79. Trevor-Roper remains the best study in the instrumentalist line of research. 27 [Anon.], Historia Collegii SJ Erfurti. App. I. 3, Vol. 1, pp. 69 f, 74 (1597–1599), 97 (1618), 98 (1620), 102 (1621) and Meisner, pp. 69 f, 201–206. 28 Jürgensmeier, p. 241; note Heal, pp. 160, 197, 205 f, 243. 23

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liturgies.29 The Swedish rulers proposed fasting to those amongst their Lutheran allies in the Empire who had not yet adopted it. The Erfurt Council does not seem to have integrated this particular element. Meyfart nonetheless referred to local ‘days of prayer, fasting, and repentance’ (Bet- Fast- vnd Bußtage).30 His colleague Johann Valentin Andreae (1586–1654) shared this interest in fasting. His extensive correspondence with the reform-minded Duke August II of BraunschweigWolfenbüttel (1579–1666) contains letters on the subject. Fasting had been introduced as a part of the institutional repentance in the Lutheran Duchy of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel prior to 1618 and Andreae was keen to learn more about it.31 The development of the Lutheran day of repentance and prayer has three traits in common with the dynamics of the theological debate on moral reforms. Enduring impiety was, first of all, seen as the main cause of the extraordinary length of the war. This perception, and that is the second point, led secular authorities in a number of territories to change existing means of furthering collective repentance. Lastly, the changes were not in themselves novel; they simply strengthened prewar trends towards more frequent and extensive measures.

The spread of the Lutheran reform movement The debate on moral reform was marked by these same three elements. Controversy was caused by the demand that prayer days be supplemented by encompassing reforms of the systems of evangelical instruction and social control. The educational reforms were to enhance instruction by improving preaching and catechisms and surveying the parishioners’ knowledge of Christian teachings. Proposed sanctions against spiteful sinners ranged from a more rigorous use of excommunication to the establishment of moral courts in each parish, supported by lay informers.32

29 Meyfart, Christliche Erinnerung, pp. 344–347; see also Stenger, Grund-Feste, pp. 1196–1213, 1235 (two sermons on Art. 26: De Discrimine Ciborum); Elsner, Gründlicher Bericht Art. 9, no. XXXV– XLI, pp. 409–422 (on fasting); Art. 14 no. XXXII–XXXIV, pp. 477–484 (on alms); and Tholuck, Lebenszeugen, p. 104. Mentzer lists studies on Reformed liturgies. Durston, p. 135 describes an interesting parallel proposal from 1643. The English preacher William Spurstowe stressed that existing means of propitiation had been insufficient to bring an end to the ongoing civil war. He sought to convince members of the Parliament that the liturgy had to be extended by tears: churchgoers should cry together in church on the prayer day. 30 The process began in 1633. Kolb, p. 192. On the pre-war situation in German and Swedish territories, Graff, pp. 222 f; Stenermark, Datum och texter, p. 157. 31 Brecht, Andreae und Herzog August, pp. 178 f. Andreae wrote these letters in March and April 1643, during a particularly rough phase of the war in Württemberg (p. 101–106). For other reasons, described below in fn. 171, he ultimately voted against the introduction of fasting. 32 On the Danish ordinance of 1629 see fn. 55. Albrecht-Birkner, Reformation des Lebens, pp. 472 f mentions similar measures from Gotha 1644/1646. The preceding legislation in Württemberg 1642/ 1644 and the early introductions of such ‘censores mores’ in the 1550s and 1560s is documented by Schnabel-Schüle, Unterschied und Folgen, pp. 209–213.

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Some of these proposals seem grim to the modern mind but they all aimed at the sanctification of everyday life. Many proposals had already been formulated in the decades prior to the war. The ‘Pastoral’ (1559) by Erasmus Sarcerius (1501–1559) had a profound, though often overlooked, influence on the debate about ecclesiastical discipline.33 Church historians speak of the ‘reform movement’ amongst Lutheran theologians of the seventeenth century. Calls for a “Reformation des Lebens” grew popular in theological circles. The slogan sums up the shared concerns. Pure doctrine had already been restored by Luther and the subsequent generation of pastors. Their successors now saw themselves facing the challenge of preventing devotion from declining into a habitual and hypocritical affair. Many supposedly presumed that frequent churchgoing could justify them before the Lord. Sanctimonious parishioners went to church with cold hearts, paying but lip service to Christian teaching. “Mundchristen” and “Maulchristentum” were verdicts favoured by these reformers.34 Whilst the use of such characteristic terms helps to identify specific theologians as proponents of reforms, their complaints were not new. Arguably, it is characteristic of all religious groups where a systematised programme of salvation demands a pious life from all followers rather than a select group of religious virtuosi.35 The main defining characteristic of the seventeenth-century Lutheran reform movement was that its proponents developed comprehensive programmes. They were to ensure that pure doctrine (Lehre) be united with a strong devotion and, based on this, proper Christian conduct (Leben).36 Similar concerns prompted clergymen in the British Isles and the Netherlands to fight for related programmes; these movements are traditionally referred to as the ‘Puritan’ movement, the “nadere reformatie” (Further Reformation), and somewhat later the “reformation of manners”.37 Whilst proposals circulated amongst these like-minded movements in Protestant Europe, this intellectual transfer played a negligible role in the case of Erfurt; reformers in Straßburg had a more international outlook.38 The 33 Sarcerius; Selderhuis. On the later reception note further Schnabel-Schüle, Unterschied; Leube, pp. 41, 99; Wallmann, Spener, p. 12. Sarcerius was also a standard point of reference in the Erfurt debate. E. g. Elsner, Delineation, pp. 14, 79; Meyfart, Bedencken, p. 31r; StAE 1-1/10A-I-1a, pp. 105v, 119r, 127r; Stenger, Tausend Zeuge, p. Ttttt3r. 34 For lexicographical observations see Mahlmann, Reformation, p. 424 and Dülmen, pp. 715 f. On the local usage see fn.s 124 and 251 below. 35 M. Weber, The Sociology of Religion, esp. pp. 75–79, 162–165. 36 Leube, p. 41. 37 The first term was originally used by opponents as a pejorative. Proponents used the two latter terms to describe their own movements. Brecht, Pietismus covers all three movements in a convenient overview. English readers should consult Lieburg. 38 The absence of transnational influences is somewhat surprising. The ardent proponent of reforms, Bartholomäus Elsner, was amongst the few German theologians who had studied in England. Wallmann, Erfurt, p. 328 noted this remarkable theological education and pointed to the parallel case of Johann Schmidt from Straßburg. Yet in difference to Schmidt, it is very difficult to point out passages in Elsner’s writings that were influenced by his studies in Cambridge and Oxford. The circle of theologians from the duchies around Erfurt had a more palpable impact on Elsner.

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absence of Wolfgang Ratke (1571–1635) is also striking. The controversial pedagogue spent his last years in Erfurt, lamed by a stroke.39 In this, and all other regards, all the theological protagonists examined here intended to stay within the bounds of their denomination. Separatist or non-conformist tendencies were far from unknown in Erfurt and other Lutheran towns and territories. The theologians who sympathised with the reform movement generally kept a distance from such groups. It was not until after 1670 that a large group of Lutheran theologians began to sponsor conventicle-like meetings. They soon acquired a role that was comparable to the controversial fast- and prayer days celebrated in the British Isles earlier in the century.40 The debate in Erfurt thus remained a Lutheran and very German affair. Meyfart, Andreae, and Duke August were prominent figures from the second generation of the Lutheran reform movement. Its origins go back to the decade of 1600– 1610 and the centres were Wittenberg and Jena. Johann Arndt, who ended his career as Generalsuperintendent in Celle, is often presented as the main figure. His devotionals certainly exerted a broad, albeit controversial, influence.41 In the short term, theological circles were probably more influenced by professors like Johann Gerhard in Jena (1582–1637), and his Wittenberg colleagues, Wolfgang Franz (1564–1628), Friedrich Balduin (1575–1627), and Balthasar Meisner (1587– 1626).42 A stay at the University of Wittenberg had become almost obligatory for serious students of Lutheran theology. Thus students of these professors brought back the reform plans to their home territories, spreading the movement from Straßburg to Southern Sweden or even further north.43 As alumni, they strengthened their ties through correspondence and helped to integrate new churchmen into their circles. By the 1620s, a considerable number of theologians exchanged and debated reform plans through letters. Although this network of correspondence awaits more thorough documentation and study, its existence is well known and biographies of the main figures 39

Kordes. Compare the studies cited in fn. 277 below with Collinson, Puritanism, pp. 50–56. The major Danish proponent of reforms Holger Rosenkrantz (1574–1642) is a rare exception who actually illustrates the rule. His calls for reforms only had a broader influence as long as his aversion to denominational orthodoxy remained clandestine. In the 1630s, this non-conformist nobleman was ostracised by his opponents and former supporters in the theological faculty. See Glebe-Møller; German readers still have to consult Tholuck, Lebenszeugen, pp. 95–117. 41 The most-read titles were the four books “Of true Christianity” (“Vier Bücher vom wahren Christentum” 1606–1609) and the “The Garden of Paradise” (Paradiesgärtlein” 1612). Martin Brecht for this reason chooses to focus his survey of moral reforms around an ‘Arndtian movement for piety’ (“Arndt’sch[e] Frömmigkeitsbewegung”, p. 6 and passim). 42 The best biographical overviews are Leube, pp. 45–51 and 125 f; Tholuck, Das akademische Leben (1854), pp. 61–70; and Tholuck, Geist. 43 Wallmann, Spener, pp. 4–36 examines the Straßburg-theologian Johann Schmidt, esp. pp. 4 f and 25–31. On the Jönköping-pastor Joannes Baazius see fn. 172 below. Tholuck, Lebenszeugen, pp. 203 f mentions Meisner’s letters to Iceland. 40

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in the movement have been written.44 It is less known how successful reformers actually were in implementing their proposals and in adapting them to local, legal circumstances. The impact of the Thirty Years War likewise awaits an indepth study. These two issues will be addressed in the analysis. In order to understand the impact of the war, one has to mention another defining feature of the movement, namely its wide scope of criticism. Preachers of the day all criticised moral corruption and often viewed themselves as Scriptural voices shouting “in the wildernesse” (Mark 1, 3), surrounded by a “world of indifference”.45 What distinguished reformers from their colleagues was their answer to the question about the origins of lay indifference. Many preachers held their listeners responsible and withdrew to the somewhat complacent statement that the “world does not want to be chastised”. They comforted themselves by noting that the prophets of the Old Testament had also been rejected and troubled by God’s stubborn People.46 In contrast, reform proponents claimed that the clergy was, in part, responsible for the sorrowful state of affairs. Their long lists scolded infantile, haughty, and corrupt preachers, along with the lazy and the boring ones. One local barrage contained forty individual invectives.47 Needless to say, most of their colleagues were far from thrilled about such ‘pastor-bashers’.48 Johann Matthäus Meyfart was ostracised for this in early 1633. He had presided over and published disputations “de disciplina ecclesiastica” that were highly critical of his fellow pastors. Apparently, his own superior in Coburg even accused him of lesemajesty.49 Another strong and very common response was to portray reform plans as radical attempts to reject all established church offices. Such critics accused reformers of lending direct or indirect support to the recently revealed heresies of Valentin Weigel (1533–1588).50 Shunned by their colleagues as whistle-blowers, reform-minded theologians could rarely afford to be selective about support for their plans. Many relied on secular authorities, especially in the Lutheran realms where rulers had become ‘bishop by default’ (Notbischof). Reform programmes from the first decades following 1600 generally seem to have lacked such support. Only in the late 1620s did more rulers begin to implement reform proposals in their ordinances. The reasons for this shift vary from territory to territory. Given the lack of a synthesis on the 44 The best bibliographical overview is Brecht, Pietismus. Tholuck, Lebenszeugen remains useful for its biographies. On the epistolary network, see Brecht, Korrespondenzen. 45 Barnes, Prophecy, p. 67. 46 E. g. Stenger, Grund-Feste, p. 1321; Stenger, Tausend Zeuge, p. B3r: “Jch weis vorhin wohl/ daß die Welt will vngestrafft seyn/ die Welt will vngewarnet seyn/ ja sie will in jhren grössesten [sic] Sünden noch gelobet vnd gepreiset seyn.” A critical analysis of this attitude is Schindler. 47 Meyfart, Christliche Erinnerung, pp. 350–364. See further Meyfart, Bedencken, pp. 3v–4r; Lehmann, Deutung der Endzeitzeichen, pp. 18 f; Leube, p. 116. 48 “noster ille ministerio-mastix”. Major/Mengering, De Impedimentis Conversionis, p. C1v, referring to the anonymous critic in fn. 100 of this chapter. 49 Hallier, Meyfart, pp. 18 f. 50 See fn.s 100–101.

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reform movement during the war, a survey of well-known cases can help to place the debates in Erfurt within a broader context. A career-perspective explains a number of these shifts. As time passed, a number of the theologians who had studied with the Wittenberg professors began to reach offices where they were in a position to promote reforms. Some princes had been devoted to the outlined reforms from an early age, namely the dukes August and Ernst (1601–1675). They implemented reforms as a matter of course when they acceded to the thrones in Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel (1635) and Sachsen-Gotha (1640).51 Other early implementations call for alternative explanations. One could regard the widely known set of reforms that was introduced in the Silesian Duchy of Brieg in 1627 as part of the so-called ‘Second Reformation’. It was, after all, a Calvinist Duke who introduced the reforms in his Lutheran realm. This, however, presumes that one wants to adopt this much-debated term.52 The Silesian reforms may owe more to the imminent Catholic threat following the military defeat of 1621. The experience of military defeat was certainly the main impulse for reforms in the well-examined cases of Denmark-Norway (1627–1629) and Württemberg (1641–1644). The Danish reform proponents, Holger Rosenkrantz and Jesper Brochmand (1585–1652), had both urged reform in 1623, without success.53 The threat of Catholic occupation after the defeat at Lutter am Baremberge (1626) moved King Christian IV (ruled 1588/96–1648) to grant them greater support.54 His first step was to re-introduce the weekly prayer days celebrated during earlier wars. In 1627, the king then decreed three annual fast days and charged theological experts with proposing measures that could intensify collective repentance. The recommendations of the reform-minded commission led to the publication of an ordinance in March 1629, which, inter alia, set up the moral courts recommended by Sarcerius. The ordinance included further measures debated at large by Lutheran theologians.55 In the early 1640s, a very similar rationale prompted the duke of the war-ridden Württemberg to intensify sumptuary laws, revive the 51

These princes are very well researched. See Le Cam; Wallmann, Herzog August and the other contributions to the special issue of the journal Pietismus und Neuzeit from 1980. On Ernst, see Klinger, Gothaer Fürstenstaat and Albrecht-Birkner, Reformation des Lebens. English readers can consult the recent article by Venables, Pietist fruits, based on her unpublished dissertation from 2004. 52 Cf. Klueting. The ordinance was last analysed by Bruckner; see also Kaufmann, Dreißigjähriger Krieg, p. 97. 53 Andersen, pp. 199–205 and Damgaard, Bededage, pp. 113–117. Lockhart, pp. 16–19 gives less reliable data. A more nuanced English analysis is Lind, Interpreting a Lost War. 54 The change is also evident in the letters quoted by Tholuck, Lebenszeugen, pp. 101–103. 55 See Olden-Jørgensen, pp. 97–100 and Secher, pp. 446–477, here 450–454. One could mention the home visits by the pastor (I.31, p. 464), the Catechism teaching and examination (II.9–13), and the guidelines for the improved education of future pastors, including practical exercises in preaching (II.2–6, pp. 466–468). The authorised German translation from 1639 (VD17 12:624246B) was known to some reform-minded theologians in Germany. See Leube, pp. 77 f and the reprint in Pontoppidan, pp. 771–792.

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dormant moral courts (Rügegericht), and grant pastors greater latitude in imposing ecclesiastical sanctions.56 Military developments also influenced the surge of the Lutheran reform movement across the Empire during the 1630s. The Swedish victories were conducive, to a certain point. Territory confiscated by right of the victor was granted to Lutheran universities, including the one in Erfurt. Here, as elsewhere, the faculty of theology received particular support, and reform proponents also benefitted from this.57 They were granted special favours in the conquered Catholic territories ruled by Ernestine dukes. Churchmen like Meyfart and Sigismund Evenius (1585/89–1636) here gained their first practical experiences as heads of the educational reforms.58 There were, in other words, reason to hope for a brighter future under Gustavus Adolphus.59 The promising beginnings were somewhat halted by military setbacks and, in some cases, by the death of Gustavus Adolphus. Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna succeeded him as supreme commander and he seems to have been less supportive of educational projects when they involved encompassing Ramist reforms of scholarly affairs.60 Ultimately, in German lands, as in Denmark-Norway, military defeats proved more beneficial to the reform agenda. The consecutive blows delivered to Lutherans at Lützen (1632) and Nördlingen (1634) gave strong momentum to reform theologians. As it grew evident that the Prague Treaty (1635) failed to bring an end to the fighting, preachers flatly denied that a conclusive victory or a lasting peace could be obtained by human means alone. Influential second-generation reformers, like Johann Schmidt (1594–1658) and Johann Saubert (1592–1646), explained that an encompassing and heart-felt repentance ranked highest amongst the ‘divine peace conditions’.61 This was the interpretative point of departure for debates in Central Thuringia from the mid-1630s onwards. Meyfart intensified his calls for moral reforms whilst councillors in Erfurt and the dukes in neighbouring Weimar convened theological committees.62 Their agendas were comparable to the one debated in 56 Schnabel-Schüle, Calvinistische Kirchenzucht?. In addition to the revived Rügegericht, the ducal authorities established a functionally equivalent institution named the ‘church convent’ (Kirchenkonvent). 57 Bock, passim; Kleineidam, Teil 4. 58 See Bock; Wölfel, Salomon Lentz, pp. 199 ff; and the less accurate account by Bremer. 59 Honecker, pp. 200 f. 60 Hall documents differences within Sweden. 61 J. Schmidt, Göttliche Friedens-condition (1641); Saubert, Media Pacis (1640). Meyfart added poems to another of the aptly-titled sermons by Saubert, Die Frage, warumb Teutschland noch nicht geheilet worden? und wie ihm dann endlich zu helffen? (1642). For remarks on such sermons see Leube, pp. 99, 105; Dülmen, pp. 745–747; Haag, Predigt, pp. 44–46; Wölfel, Salomon Lentz, pp. 276– 279. Holzem, Gott und Gewalt, p. 386 notes the increase after 1635 in publications from the branch of theologia practica and outlin1es a trend towards a “Christianisierung des Kriegsverstehens”. 62 See fn.s 93 to 95 and Le Cam, pp. 468–473.

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the Danish committee ten years earlier. The harsh discussions that followed provide the material for the analysis below. Before we analyse the Erfurt debates, a final cautionary remark concerning the term ‘religious reform’ should be added. To establish a general overview, I have, up to this point, written about the ‘reform movement’ in singular. Such an outline runs the risk of reviving the antiquated dichotomy that puts dry Orthodoxy against the (proto-)Pietists. This teleological perspective tends to ignore the reforms proposed by theologians like Johannes Kromayer (1576–1643). The head of the clergy in the Duchy of Sachsen-Weimar was certainly an adversary of the reform-minded theologians supported by Duke Ernst. Yet Kromayer himself also developed and implemented comprehensive school reforms comparable in their scale to those proposed by his adversaries.63 He opposed the widespread criticism of sermons but was, at the same time, deeply concerned with intensifying devotion and improving religious instruction. The participants in the Weimar and Erfurt debates all sought to raise lay piety through accepted means. The following analysis tries to do justice to this fact by giving equal attention to the two competing modes of reform. It will thus outline two main branches in the reform movement.

The character and office of the protagonists Seventeenth-century theologians have gained a somewhat undeserved reputation for being ill-tempered and peppery preachers prone to bickering amongst themselves. Polemic was certainly allowed more room in their culture of debate.64 Yet preachers were aware that powerful emotions had to be controlled. They drew a sharp theoretical distinction between the unbridled personal affect (Privataffekt) and the official anger deemed necessary to deliver a hellfire sermon.65 Modernday biographers need to navigate through this emotionology and avoid the double pitfall of either uncritically accepting opponents’ polemics or giving too much credence to the laudatory biographies that were attached to funeral sermons. These risks are less acute in the case of Bartholomäus Elsner, who has already been portrayed from different angles. Elsner’s support of the edifying efforts undertaken by Duke Ernst made him a controversial figure amongst his colleagues.66 The local conflict did, however, later secure him an honourable 63

Mahlmann, Johannes Kromayer. The commented Bible edition known as the ‘Weimarische Biblewerk’ deserves attention. The enterprise united theologians who were otherwise deeply opposed to each other, like Evenius and Salomon Glass (1593–1656) viz. Kromayer and Nicolaus Zapf. See Koch, Bibelwerk. 64 Wallmann, Eigenart. 65 Stearns; Sträter, Meditation, pp. 87–93; Heiligensetzer, Darstellung. 66 Motschmann, Fünffte Fortsetzung (1737), pp. 683, 685 f. Motschmann often refers to material that has since been lost. This gives his biographies an added value vis-à-vis the funeral sermons.

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mention by Philipp Jakob Spener. His influential ‘True History of Pietism’ (1697) counted Elsner amongst the pioneers paving the way for the Pietist movement.67 Zacharias Hogel has likewise been mentioned in studies on Pietism, though mostly as its opponent.68 In local history, he is less known as a pastor than as a chronicler. The influential archivist Alfred Overmann (1866–1946) praised Hogel’s manuscript history of the town as the “best”, “most voluminous […], important, and valuable of all Erfurt chronicles”. He named Hogel a “fervent Erfurt patriot and combative Evangelical Christian”, who wrote “a particularly endearing account of Reformation history in Erfurt”.69 The connection between Hogel’s historiography and his apocalyptic convictions has previously passed unnoticed. Of the three participants, Hogel was, without doubt, most devoted to the polemical branch. This devotion soon made him appear antiquated. A commentary written in the early eighteenth century already spoke of his fiery style as disagreeable “to our age”.70 Nicolaus Stenger owes his place in the gallery of local historical fame to clerical activity. His popular hymnal (1. ed. 1663) brought him lasting local recognition.71 His biography appeals to the modern imagination. The impoverished, young candidate of theology accepted a position as organist in a Catholic nunnery church. There his eyes fell upon a nun, whom he married after a remarkable intervention by the Swedish commandant. Though their marriage fits modern ideals about consent and romantic love, it was certainly not the best match to boost a career.72 At a time when benefices in Erfurt began to be occupied by scions from the established pastoral dynasties, this son of a tailor nevertheless did well.73 It is worth commenting on the education and careers of our protagonists. It is no coincidence that all three had been born in Erfurt. The Council preferably recruited pastors born in the region and educated in town, for this allowed it to

67

Wallmann, Erfurt, p. 327, quoting Spener’s ‘Wahrhafftige Erzehlung’ (Straßburg-edition), pp. 136 f. See fn. 297 and Wallmann, Erfurt, pp. 334 f; see below, fn.s 335 and 403, for further references. 69 Overmann, Erfurter Chroniken, pp. 32 f. Hogel “[war] ein glühender Erfurter Patriot und ein kampfbereiter evangelischer Christ” and his chronicle “ist nicht nur die umfangreichste, sondern zweifellos auch die bedeutendste und wertvollste aller Erfurter Chroniken”; “die Geschichte der Reformation in Erfurt erfährt bei ihm eine besonders liebevolle Darstellung”. 70 Biantes, pp. 153–157, here p. 156 (my emphasis): “Man siehet aus demselben [a three-volume polemics against the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, VD17 12:111078Y] den Characterem Hogelii mercklich hervor leuchten: Denn er ist mit vielen Feuer angefüllet/ daß unser heutiges Seculum darwider wohl würde etwas einzuwenden haben; doch kan dem Autori seine Erudition, die er darinnen hat blicken lassen/ niemand disputirlich machen/ nur daß einige Gelehrte eine angenehmere Deutlichkeit/ quoad stylum gewünschet haben.” 71 A. Schröter, Stenger; further details will be found in Berg, Werdegang. 72 [Anon.], Erffurdtische Chronica. App. I. 14, pp. 597 f (5.2.1632). See Motschmann, Vierdte Sammlung (1731), pp. 569–586, who page 580 notes problems caused by the match. 73 On the process, Schorn-Schütte, Clergy. Pastoral families in Erfurt have not yet been studied in detail. My remarks are based on the prosopographical overview by Bauer, Theologen. 68

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better control their outlook and loyalty.74 Elsner was one of the very few pastors who had travelled beyond German-speaking lands, to study abroad. Many others never even went to nearby Jena or Wittenberg; Stenger and Hogel remained in Erfurt. They nevertheless wrote their texts with a view to the theological debates of the day. The three pastors each reached positions that enabled them to publish works of their own choice, in addition to funeral sermons. Zacharias Hogel II probably began with the best contacts. His father Zacharias Hogel I (1574–1635) had held the only chair of Lutheran theology that existed prior to university reforms in 1632. Hogel Senior made sure that his son obtained the master’s degree in 1629, at the age of 18. In 1636, Hogel Junior was appointed deacon in the Augustinerkirche, which had been headed by his late father. After some troubles, he advanced to the position of pastor in 1643 and became rector of the Ratsgymnasium in 1655. By merit of their qualifications, Stenger and Elsner each rose to head the local clergy. Their positions attracted the interest of Johann Dürr (c.1600–1663), the leading engraver in Central Thuringia during this period.75 Dürr drew a portrait of each pastor, which was later reproduced in an expensive copperplate print. By 1648, the year Dürr drew Elsner’s face, Elsner had already long held his Professorship of Oriental languages (1633) and become pastor to the prestigious Barfüsserkirche (1639). Elsner accepted the office as Senior of the Evangelical Ministry in early 1642.76 Stenger’s engraving was published sometime between his appointment as Professor of Hebrew at the local university in 1655 and the year 1661, when he succeeded Elsner as Senior.77 By the mid-1650s, Stenger had established himself as the best-selling minister in town. We encounter Stenger fifteen years earlier, around 1640, as a promising, but junior preacher. The copperplate prints do document individual physiognomies, yet they say more about the self-image and office. Dürr shows clergymen holding the Bible, dressed in official black robes with the ruff. The panegyric poems, authored by their friends, and added below, draw attention to their professional virtues and accomplishments. Elsner is presented as a knowledgeable professor of Oriental languages, with expert proficiency in seven modern and ancient tongues. A fellow university professor described Stenger as a teacher and celebrated his skill as a preacher, marvelling at his voice “breathing with nectar and ambrosia”. Such inevitably partisan praise is also found by the eighteenth-century biographers. Stenger here appears as an “unusually polite and affable” person, gifted with the

74

Weiß, Erfurter evangelische Theologie. Compare Riegg’s prosopographical analysis. He lived in Erfurt during the early 1640s, but returned to Weimar in 1647, Boblenz, Dürr, p. 83. 76 The copper has been added to the funeral sermon stored in HAB Stolberg-Sammlung 8518. It was last reprinted by Bauer, Personalschriften, p. 25. 77 The copper was later added to the copy in BEM of the trilogy by Stenger, Grund-Feste. A later oil painting in the Kaufmannskirche portrays Stenger standing in full figure in front of this church, where he was pastor from 1638 to 1680. It is not included in W. v. Tettau, Bau- und Kunstdenkmäler. 75

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rare ability to “bear great vexations with utmost friendliness”; Hogel and Elsner were portrayed in a less favourable manner.78 Temper and (un)compromising character did play a certain role, and is explored in the section on Zacharias Hogel. Yet the conflict between characters cannot wholly explain the course of the debates. At least as important was the widespread opinion that the pastor had to act as a watchman, protecting his herd from heresy. Since most pastors coupled this understanding of their office with the conviction that they were fighting for the indisputable truth, internal controversy remained endemic. “Si Deus pro Nobis”, the quote below Elsner’s portrait asked, “quis contra nos” (Rom 8, 31): Jf God be for vs, who can bee against vs? A theologian who chose this Scriptural passage as his motto was prone to view his critics as agents of Satan, assisting the “diabolical werewolf ” who was always “intent on preying on the lambs.”79 Other local pastors may have chosen more conciliatory mottos, and replied to their adversaries in less aggressive terms. Most of the participants in the following debates did, however, discern the Devil as acting in support of their opponents.80

The unfolding controversy, 1636–1638 The potential for conflict in such an unyielding group was well known to the local Council. Councillors required every acceding church official to subject himself first to the ‘Formula of Pacification’. Their predecessors in the Town Hall had issued the Formula in 1580 in an attempt to end a long-lasting feud in town. Pastors knew the importance of this oath. Most of the time they limited expressions of dissent to memoranda and oral contributions at closed meetings.81 The Erfurt debate on moral reforms is best divided in two phases, the first from 1636 to 1638, and the second from 1641 to 1648. Though the agendas and divisions remained much the same during both phases, each was dominated by different figures and differed in outcome. The first phase mainly served to formulate the opposing stances. Committee meetings during the 1640s led to more practical measures. The later debates are, largely for this reason, examined in more depth. 78 See fn.s 70 (on Hogel) and 163 (on Elsner). Motschmann, Vierdte Sammlung (1731), p. 576 writes of Stenger: “Nechst dem war er ungemein höfflich und leutseelig, und hatte darinne eine besondere Gabe, daß er auch die verdrüßlichsten Sachen mit gröster Freundlichkeit vertragen konnte. […] Sonderlich aber war [er …] bey denen Schwedischen Ministris und hohe Officieren überaus wohl gelitten.” This praise is partly based on Stenger’s correspondence (since lost). 79 See fn. 133; Elsner, Delineation, p. 13: “[…] wenn der hellische Beerwolf sich an die Schäflein machen wil”. Ibid., pp. 58 f, 61, 83 f; Elsner, Vorrede, p. A8v; Wandersleben, pp. 123 f. 80 E. g. StAE 1-1/10A-I-1a, p. 83r (Johann Wanschleben); Stenger, Tausend Zeuge, pp. 111 f; idem, Grund-Feste, p. 1358: “Jhr werdet sehen/spricht Lutherus ferner /daß der Teuffel wieder mengen wird/ wie denn der Pabst zuvor das geistliche Schwerd ins leiblich Schwerd auch gemenget hat.” 81 Sehling (ed.), Formula, esp. nos. 3 and 5; see also ibid., p. 371, no. II; StAE 1-1/XA-I-1a, p. 104r; Bärwinkel, Kirchengeschichte.

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It makes sense to use the most studied theologian in town, Johann Matthäus Meyfart, as the point of departure.82 In early 1633, as noted, Meyfart had caused controversy by criticising the state of ecclesiastical discipline. Shunned by his colleagues and the Duke, Meyfart gladly left Coburg later that year for a position at the University of Erfurt. His appointment to the chair in Homiletics and Church History was part of a comprehensive academic reform that reversed the denominational distribution of power. As the leading member of the strengthened Faculty of Theology, Meyfart had finally reached a position where he could begin to implement some of his far-reaching plans and publish controversial works written in Coburg, namely his condemnation of witch persecution.83 His university activity is well-documented. One most only add that Trunz depicts it in a too conciliant manner. Readers may well gain the impression that Meyfart, in Erfurt, rejected all denominational polemics of his earlier years in Coburg.84 The rare, joyful phase in Meyfart’s waves of melancholy ended in 1635; that summer, his wife died in an epidemic along with both their sons. Following the town’s accession to the Prague Treaty in the autumn, the Council returned Meyfart’s residence to the Catholic clergy and withheld half of his wages.85 The personal troubles were flanked by professional ones. His printed draft for an extensive treatise on the restoration of academic discipline was read widely, but 82

An up-to-date list of biographical studies is found by Conermann, no. 380417. The careers of Meyfart’s main biographers are no less interesting than their subject of study. The most thorough study of Meyfart’s time in Erfurt was written in 1925 by Christian Hallier (1901–1978), but first published more than fifty years later. It is regrettable that this son of a pastor discontinued his promising work on Meyfart. Hallier devoted the remainder of his scholarly life to Alsatian history. His family had been exiled from Alsace in 1919 and Hallier described the province’s ties to past German empires in a tone that often bordered on the revanchist. His own account of the Frankfurt-based institute that hosted him (Hallier, Institut der Elsaß-Lothringer) should be read against the backdrop outlined by Kettenacker and esp. Freund, Sciences et Politique en Moselle Annexee de 1940 à 1944. Hallier’s dissertation was published by the doyen of literary studies, Erich Trunz (1905–2001) in 1982, five years before his own study. Trunz had little interest in commenting on Hallier’s career in Nazi Germany, for it resembled his own; see Klee, p. 621. 83 Trunz, p. 69. 84 Ibid. pp. 55 f, 265 f. Meyfart did bar polemics from sermons, but not from academic education; his conciliatory stance mainly extended to Calvinists (Hallier, Meyfart, pp. 44 f, 85–87, 99 f). His years in Erfurt brought him into contact with a Catholic minority. Meyfart’s well-known interest in improving the practical skills of future pastors led him to demand that students practice preaching (Hallier, Meyfart, pp. 65, 80 f, 88; Trunz, pp. 58, 250). Their sermons took place in one of the main Catholic churches, St. Severi – much to the chagrin of Catholic priests. Meyfart’s own services here featured several acts that were seen as premeditated provocations. For instance, he let bells ring at the point of the church year when the Gregorian calendar demanded that solemn silence be observed, [Anon.], Erffurdtische Chronica. App. I. 14, p. 653 (“stillen [Kar-]Freitag”, sc.: Good Friday). All the same, Meyfart was far less aggresive towards Catholics than his colleagues, Großhain and Zapf. See Berg, Erläuterungen, fn.s 26, 30. A well-documented and more balanced account of relations between Meyfart and his old literary adversary, Caspar Heinrich Marx, is Medick, Religionskrieg und Fakultätskonflikt. 85 Trunz, pp. 65, 252; Hallier, Meyfart, pp. 96 f.

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received coolly. Many questioned Meyfart’s denominational sympathies.86 Mindful of this critique, Meyfart included harsh attacks on the Catholics and their soteriological fallacies in the first full version, published in early 1636.87 These attacks were meant to preclude the misreading of other passages, which praised the education of Catholic priests in general and Jesuit schooling in particular.88 Whilst Meyfart concentrated on special issues like curricula, class relegation, and the systematic humiliation of first-year students (Pennalisten), the underlying aim was wide-reaching. The argument was simple: if aspirant pastors left the university ignorant and corrupted by bullying, they would in turn corrupt their parishioners. Here, one recognises the two hallmarks of the reform theologian: a critic of the clergy (=1) who presented educational reforms (=2) as a very important way to salvage ecclesiastical discipline. The resulting increase in collective repentance would, the title emphasised, then help to avert “God’s grim anger”.89 The treatise on academic discipline includes passages on the more general issue of ecclesiastical discipline. The penultimate chapter, added as a sort of appendix, listed forty reasons why preaching was in such a bad state.90 Elsewhere, Meyfart remarked that he could list three hundred reasons for calling for improvement, but that he limited himself to propose four measures of utmost necessity, namely earnest prayer, charity, fasting, and improved preaching.91 Meyfart elaborated both diagnosis and therapy in a treatise on ecclesiastical discipline and in two shorter memoranda. The treatise and the mixed reactions which it evoked are already known. Nicolaus Hunnius (1585–1643) and Georg Calixt, both leading theologians, turned it down, noting inter alia that its harsh criticism of sinning Lutherans offered ammunition for their denominational foes.92 The 86 Hallier, Meyfart, pp. 73 f; Henke, pp. 84–89, available in English summary by Dowding, pp. 182– 188. The draft seem to have been printed twice in Leipzig by Thomas Schürer’s successors. See the Catalogus universalis of Ostern 1635, p. B4r and Michaelis 1635, p. B2v. 87 See entries like “Bapst”, “Bäpste”, “Bäpstische”, “Beichtige”, “Jesuiter”, “Johan Tetzel” in the index to Meyfart, Christliche Erinnerung; the preface is dated to January 1, 1636. 88 Trunz, pp. 246, 250 only mentions the praise of Catholics. Hallier, Meyfart, pp. 81, 85 more aptly outlines Meyfart’s principle of praising virtue amongst his foes; see also ibid., p. 79. 89 Johann Matthäus Meyfart: Christliche […] Erinnerung/ Von Erbawung und Fortsetzung Der Academischen Disciplin auff den Evangelischen Hohen Schulen in Deutschland […] wie solcher in Richtigkeit zubringen und abzuwenden? Damit dem grimmigen Zorn Gottes gestewret […] werde. Schleusingen 1636. The italicised, quoted passage was also emphasised typographically on the front page. On the content and the strong reactions to the work see Hallier, Meyfart, pp. 73–86 and Trunz, Chapter 9. 90 Hallier, Meyfart, pp. 75 f; Meyfart, Christliche Erinnerung, pp. 481–500: “Das zwölffte Capitel. Wie noch in wichtigere / vnnd weite nothwendigere / doch Christlichen Erinnerung vorhanden were […]”. 91 Meyfart, Christliche Erinnerung, pp. 340, 344: “Jch bitte der günstige Leser geruhe freundlich zuerwarten eines Büchleins/so durch Gott[e]s Gnade bald folgen sol[l].” 92 Trunz, pp. 267–269, 418 f compared Meyfart’s irenic stance to Calixt’s, yet he did not deem it necessary to mention this expertise. Cf. Hallier, Meyfart 74 f; Henke, pp. 84–89. On the general importance of outside expert opinions (Gutachten), Kaufmann, Universität, pp. 79–82. On related reviews of reform proposals see Albrecht-Birkner, Reformation des Lebens, pp. 124–131 and Wallmann, Spener, pp. 26–36.

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memoranda were circulated amongst the Erfurt clergy later in 1636.93 There, Meyfart praised the Reformed pastors for visiting parishioners in their homes (the socalled visitatio domestica) and further spoke in favour of sermons addressing sins in a more specific manner. The timing of the circulation is noteworthy. Meyfart wrote the first set of suggestions in May, a few months after he had been instated as head of the Erfurt clergy.94 Many local colleagues reacted sceptically and were not convinced by the second memorandum. It was dated September 17, the day after important deliberations began in Weimar. The Weimar meetings addressed a set of written proposals on the same subject.95 Meyfart must have known of these proposals, for he was in close contact with Sigismund Evenius and other theologians from the circle supported by the younger prince in Weimar, Duke Ernst.96 The proposals in Weimar and Erfurt share the characteristic diagnosis that current immorality was rooted in hypocrisy, ignorance, and the corruption that grew from Original Sin.97 Whilst the latter tenet was a Lutheran commonplace, the two former were not. Opponents strongly questioned whether a more pedagogic paraenesis could ever help to overcome the taint left by the Fall. Old Adam’s sin lingered on even in the most learned and pious believer. There was, they argued, a heretic fallacy at the basis of the planned reforms.98 The two lines of argumentation that competed in Weimar each exerted a strong influence in Erfurt. Meyfart was not the only local pastor who exchanged ideas with like-minded theologians out of town. The anonymous Erfurt pastor who 93 Meyfart, Bedencken is still stored in AEM. The memorandum contains twelve undated proposals. On the following see Hallier, Meyfart, pp. 92–94. As is evident from his fn. 165 (p. 92), Hallier had access to a volume entitled “Streitigkeiten mit dem Hn. Senior D. Elsner betr.”. It contained some twenty writings (Lit. A–T), copied by Nicolaus Stenger after 1641. This volume was loaned to Hallier but never seems to have been returned to the Evangelical Ministry in Erfurt. It was not found in its archive by the librarian, Michael Ludscheidt (2006), and it is also absent in Hallier’s Nachlass (Universitätsbibliothek Frankfurt, Archivzentrum). – Three memoranda written by Meyfart (1636) and Elsner (1643, 1644 in autograph) are still stored under the signatures AEM A. VII.a.1.a-c. The main source for the following is StAE 1-1/XA-I-1a, pp. 40r–148r, here p. 40r: “PROTOCOL. Der Geistlichen Commission, wie dieselbe den andern Aprilis Ao. 1641. reassumiret, vnd den 23. Septembris Ao 1642. Zum ende bracht worden.” A different hand added: “In p[unct]is der Verbeßerung der Kirchdisciplin allhier zu Erff.[urt]”. 94 Hallier, Meyfart, p. 93; AEM VII.a.1.a, pp. 13v, 20v–24v. Graff, p. 242 lists further proponents of the visitatio domestica. 95 On the lost memorandum (“Die eingerissenen Mängel, deren Ursachen und Remedia”) discussed at the meetings from September 16–27, 1636, see Albrecht-Birkner, Reformation des Lebens, pp. 117–119 and, more elaborately, Waas (1909). Le Cam, pp. 314–317 describes a similar debate in Brunswick, on September 15, 1636. 96 Meyfart dedicated the ‘Christliche Erinnerung’ to Duke Ernst and characterised his own work as part of the collective efforts to avert calamities, ibid., pp. 3v–4r. Meyfart, Bedencken, pp. 12v– 13r recommended the illustrated devotional recently published by [Evenius], Christliche/ Gottselige BilderSchule. See also Waas (1909), p. 120 and Hintzenstern. 97 Albrecht-Birkner, Reformation des Lebens, pp. 117 f; Hallier, Meyfart, p. 93; AEM VII.a.1.a, p. 6r. 98 Albrecht-Birkner, Reformation des Lebens, pp. 115 f, 118–123.

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replied to Meyfart’s May-proposals adopted the same positions as opponents in Weimar. He, too, sowed doubt about the gloomy depiction of corrupt congregations and chided Meyfart for blaming the clergy.99 Nicolaus Zapf (1600–1672) became the standard bearer of opposition in Erfurt. This professor at the Faculty of Theology was prudent enough not to directly attack his colleague, Meyfart. The ‘Ingenuous Cry of the Watchman’ from 1639 instead targeted a 1637-treatise that had urged the Lutheran clergy to open their eyes to existing problems.100 Zapf took the precaution of publishing this lengthy refutation in far-off Ulm, away from Meyfart’s influence. Meyfart’s friends were not in doubt: Zapf meant to attack their group, when he warned against “Weigelian arsonists creeping in”.101 The opposition did not go without reward; in 1643, Zapf succeeded Johannes Kromayer as court preacher and Generalsuperintendent in Weimar. It is clearly incorrect to present Zapf as an ally of Meyfart.102 Debates in Weimar escalated and came to a head in 1638, when Kromayer subjected the reformers to a humiliating exam of their orthodoxy. Zapf praised this resolute action,103 yet authorities in Erfurt preferred to solve controversies through compromise. In November 1636, Meyfart offered to withdraw his proposals and merely issue a printed admonishment directed at parishioners. This was, indeed, the main outcome of the commission convened by the Council a few months later, in April 1637. The admonishment explained the confession of sins and stressed that the Eucharist must be attended with a penitent heart. The Council had the text printed, distributed, and further strove to ensure that it was read aloud in all parishes every week.104 Another written instruction was to educate adult readers in German “about all the necessary articles” of the “solely soul-saving Evangelical Religion.” This instruction was authored by Bartholomäus Elsner and was eventually published in 1641. The work had by then not only been several years underway but had also grown in length, reaching close to one thousand pages.105 The price of the octavo and quarto volumes probably prevented the 99 Compare Albrecht-Birkner, Reformation des Lebens, p. 118 with Hallier, Meyfart, p. 93. Hallier mentions the main antitheses but, unfortunately, not the name of the author. 100 Zapf, Trewhertzige Wächterstimme/ Wegen der An manchem Ort der Stadt Gottes […] Einschleichenden/ Weigelianischen Mordbrenner […]. On pages one to thirty-one, he reprinted the treatise with slight orthographical changes. The very rare original is [Anon.], Trewhertzige Erinnerung/ An Die Evangelische Priesterschafft. It was one of several anonymous treatises that lent support to Meyfart’s Erinnerung. See Trunz, pp. 253 f; Weiß, Birckner, p. 373, fn. 88. 101 See Tholuck, Lebenszeugen, pp. 74, 216; Brecht, Andreae und Herzog August, pp. 141 f; and the preface in Zapf, p. ):(4R. 102 Cf. Wallmann, Pietas contra Pietismus, pp. 12 f, with an otherwise concise outline. 103 Zapf, preface, p. ):( ):(1V. 104 A first version was published in 1638 (VD17: 547:690153L). The second authorised edition from 1644 was consulted in this study: [Anon.], Christliche Vermahnungen (1644). The widespread rural use of the admonishments is documented in the 1648-visitation, e. g. AEM A.VII.a.4.d, p. 2v (Egstedt). 105 Elsner, Gründlicher Bericht, Vorrede, p. A5v: “ein bequemes Hand-vnnd Haußbuch”.

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work from becoming a “handy manual for use” in the homes of those lacking in learning.106 Although it missed its intended audience, the combative prefaces by Glass and Elsner later earned the book a reputation in the Pietist controversies.107 The only substantial outcome of the first round in the local debate was the formation of two opposing parties. Meyfart and his local supporters must have been dissatisfied with the lack of practical results. The admonishments issued in 1638 merely extended a systematic programme of instruction that had been used in town since 1625.108 The reform-minded argued that such announcements bore little fruit.109

The debate during 1641 and 1642 The debates of the early 1640s had more practical outcomes and there was largely one reason for this: the new proponents of the old reforms adopted an argumentation that was more accommodating to the Council. The meagre source material does make it difficult to determine what individual councillors thought about the ongoing theological debate. Despite the lack of council protocols, a number of councillors are known to have taken an interest in the subject. Hieronymus Brückner (1582–1645) has rightly been singled out as the most influential supporter. His personal interest in attaining a theological degree had been stifled by his parents, who decided that their son should become a lawyer.110 Brückner led the local politics during most of the war and he took part in meetings on educational reforms in the mid-1630s.111 As legal advisor to the neighbouring Ernestine princes, Brückner knew that princes could claim summepiscopal authority over the church, yet he and the other councillors made more modest claims.112 They legitimised the reforms towards sceptical pastors in tra106 Though it sold at least three editions. Similar problems marred the more compact manual written by Salomon Glass. Albrecht-Birkner, Reformation des Lebens, pp. 487–491 and Klinger, Gothaer Fürstenstaat, p. 226. 107 See [Löscher], Unschuldige Nachrichten, p. 623. Both prefaces presented the ongoing controversy about the Gotha reform-movement as part of the age-old persecution of the true church. The edition from 1687 (VD17 3:647379U) left out Elsner’s preface. 108 The latter half of [Anon.], Christliche Vermahnungen (1644), pp. 81 ff (1. ed. 1638) reprinted the admonishments listed above, in fn. 24. 109 [Anon.], Trewhertzige Erinnerung, pp. 8v–9r. 110 Motschmann, Zweyte Sammlung (1730), pp. 235–244, here 236 f. 111 Trunz, pp. 66, 371; Hallier, Meyfart, p. 95; and esp. Wallmann, Erfurt, pp. 329 f. – Brückner was, with due reason, accused of ruling the Council in a duumvirate, Gudenus, p. 225. He headed the Council every other year from 1618 to 1626 and continued to be elected to this position in later years, including 1641. From 1632 onwards, Brückner also held a permanent position as a sort of commissarial consultant to the Council. Bauer, Ratsherren, p. 61; Alberti, Suspirium Christianorum, p. F3r. 112 E. g. fn. 121 and Honecker, pp. 105–109. The following is based on the preface to [Anon.], Ausschreiben (1647).

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ditional terms, describing themselves as a wet-nurse (Säugamme) to the church. Ecclesiastical jurisdiction nevertheless remained an embattled issue. In late March 1641, the Council asked a group of theologians and councillors to resume the work of the 1637-commission, which had “ground to a halt” “for several reasons” left unspecified in the directive.113 Upon first glance, the commission’s tasks seem far from revolutionary. Three out of six points concern liturgical standardisation; the fourth was about improving marital counselling and conciliation.114 Liturgical standardisation was deemed important by the Council. Yet such tasks alone hardly explain the ambitious wording used to sum up the overall aim of the commission: “to consider how the Evangelical schools and churches may be brought into a flourishing welfare in these most dangerous times.”115 The Council placed the most pressing issue at the beginning of its directive: improving catechesis and the ecclesiastical discipline. A new, abridged version was to make Luther’s Small Catechism even more accessible to readers. The second task sparked intense discussions. It was, the directive stated, beyond dispute that church discipline was in a sorrowful state. Despite the pure teaching of God’s Word, many people continued to lead “unchristian and odious lives”, “wherefore it is most advisable that a remedy should be found without delay, with united aid from us [the Council] and the honourable Ministry, to avert greater evil.”116 Most members of the commission understood the phrase ‘greater evil’ as a clear reference to God-sent calamities.117 The remedy needed to curb sinning, again according to the directive, could only be devised if one fully comprehended the current shortcomings. All pastors were, therefore, first asked to list the worst breaches of ecclesiastical discipline in their own parish. They should then decide upon the necessary measures. The twofold task of identifying problems and improving discipline and instruction sounded familiar. The simple and seemingly innocuous agenda reopened the controversy about the 1636-proposals. The commission was divided and proved unable to deliver a “remedy without delay”.118 Deliberations lasted from April 2, 113

StAE 1-1/10A-I-1a, pp. 41v, 42r: “Aus etliche ursachen ins stecken gerathen”. Ibid., pp. 42v–45r. 115 Ibid., p. 41r: “[…] zu bedenken, wie die Evangelischen Schulen und Kirchen bey dieser höchstgefährlicher Zeit [zu] gedeyliche Wohlfahrt möchte gefordert werden.” Similar quotes on p. 86r and by Hallier, Meyfart, pp. 92 f. On liturgical standardisation, see W. Diehl, Geschichte, Erster Abschnitt. II. Pkt. 3. The introduction of a local Kirchenagenda had long been delayed. See K. Martens, Formula Visitationis, p. 16. A concrete complaint about the standardisation is AEM A.VII.a.4.a (Büßleben), pp. 150v–151r. 116 It is counted as the third point in the directive, StAE 1-1/10A-I-1a, pp. 43r–43v: “unChristliches und ruchloses leben”, “deswegen sehr rathsam seye, daß zu verhütung großeren unheils beyderseits, von unß und E.Ehrw. Ministerio mit gesambter Hülffe ohngeseumbt remedirung erfolge.” 117 StAE 1-1/10A-I-1a, pp. 104v, 116v, 138r, and esp. p. 119v: “Der Zweck der Jnstruction nemlich die Wegnehmung publicarum Calamitatum […]”; p. 120v: “der finis internus dieser Commission wäre hertzliche buße. Finis Externus abwendung oder linderung der straffen gottes”. 118 “[O]hngeseumbt remedirung” (see fn. 116). 114

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1641 until June 21, 1642. The results were presented on September 23, 1642, almost one-and-a-half years after the first session. Minutes kept by a secretary for the syndic document the debates in some detail. Yet there is no need to retrace the drawn-out and often repetitive exchanges at the weekly Friday meetings in their entirety.119 The committee protocols, rather, are to be read in combination with one of Elsner’s memoranda and the sermons held by Stenger. These texts deepen our understanding of the competing conceptions of moral reform and ecclesiastical jurisdiction. The outcomes put to print by the Council in the years following 1643 are also analysed. The appointment of the commission had been preceded by developments that gave the local opposition to the planned reforms reason to worry. In April 1640, the dukes Wilhelm and Ernst had divided their branch of the Ernestine principality between themselves and their third brother, Albrecht. Ernst then swiftly set about implementing reforms in his newly founded Duchy of Sachsen-Gotha. In January 1641, he initiated an extraordinarily thorough visitation to scrutinise the religious state of affairs in his war-ridden villages.120 Erfurt was now geographically caught between two opposing theological camps. Following ducal complaints, the Erfurt Council had recently, in early March 1641, made it clear to local pastors that it would not tolerate any public criticism of the Gotha reforms.121 The first commission meetings, in April 1641, indicated several shifts at the personal level. Bartholomäus Elsner soon took over control of the reform-minded faction from Meyfart, and Nicolaus Stenger replaced Nicolaus Zapf as the most articulate opponent of the planned reforms. The latter shift is easy to explain; unlike his colleagues in the theological faculty (Elsner and Meyfart), Zapf did not hold any position at a local church. He was therefore not eligible to take part in Ministry meetings. Why Elsner gained the role as the most ardent advocate of reform is not completely clear. Meyfart’s ailing health was certainly part of the reason. Meyfart was absent from several sessions and died on January 26, 1642, before a conclusion was reached.122 Regarding its other members, it suffices to note

119 The reader is advised to consult Hallier, Meyfart, p. 94; K. Martens, Fürsorge, pp. 5–8; and Motschmann, Fünffte Fortsetzung (1737), pp. 686 f. 120 See the studies in fn. 51 above. 121 The Council’s reply to complaints made by the Dukes Albrecht and Ernst included a noteworthy praise of their efforts: God had endowed the Saxon dukes with the ius episcopale to carry through such reforms. They had used this prerogative to promote Luther’s reformation. Now, “in den letzten tagen der Welt”, they used it “[um] die höchstnotige reformation zuverrichten: Uber welches heilsames werck Er [sc.: Gott] auch bishero, wieder alles grawsames wüten und toben des leidigen teüfels, und der Gottlosen welt, seiner kirchen zu mercklichen trost, mit seinem wunderbaren arm gehalten”. StAE 1-1/XXI-1A, 22, pp. 137–142 (9.3.1641), here p. 140. An identical plaint prompted the letter sent to Ernst on February 28, 1644, StAE 1-1/XXI-1A, 23, pp. 101–106. 122 Despite his illness, Meyfart had managed to work out “eine ganze tractat von der catechismuslehre in der kirche, die er künftig publicieren wollte”, StAE 1-1/10A-I-1a, p. 111r (3.9.1641). The treatise was not published.

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that the remaining three pastors all opposed Elsner; the deacons were divided, whilst lay councillors tended to support him.123 The support for Elsner within the commission dwindled during the first three, crucial months of negotiations. By July 1641, even Meyfart was against him. The break is surprising, inasmuch as their programmes matched each other.124 Like Elsner, Meyfart, in 1641, continued to maintain that one ought to consider “ignorance” and “hypocrisy” as two main causes of sinful behaviour alongside the “malice” deriving from Original Sin.125 Both resolved to explore the depth and character of the ignorance and both endeavoured to devise fitting educational measures.126 They also shared high hopes about these measures. Elsner at one point argued that proper education could make a moral man out of a child that was predisposed to vice from birth.127 The slight difference between the agendas of Meyfart and Elsner does not suffice to explain their break.128 Rather, one has to point to Elsner’s legislative proposal to implement their shared ideas and his conduct at the meetings. The debate about the catechesis illustrates his uncompromising attitude. Commission members all agreed that parishioners needed a basic knowledge of Luther’s Small Catechism.129 Elsner insisted that catechesis had to be greatly expanded to achieve this aim. The Small Catechism was not only to be taught at school; it also had to be studied at home and in church. Elsner sought to make attendance mandatory at 123 Pastor Sebastian Schröter (Michaeliskirche; 1593–1650) opposed Elsner vehemently. Johann Wanschleben (Andreaskirche; 1602–1683) was a less articulate but just as consistent critic (e. g. pp. 66r, 74r, 83r, 106r). The deacons Zacharias Hogel and especially Michael Hertz (Barfüsser; 1603–1683) favoured Elsner. Johann Christoph Alberti (Kaufmannskirche; 1608–1683) wavered in his support (76r, 84r, 107r); his cousin Jeremias Alberti (Prediger) strongly opposed Elsner. As for the councillors, Henning Kniphof (1596–1663; Obervierherr 1634, 1640, 1645) presided the commission. He was flanked by Jacob Berger (1570–1644; Obervierherr in 1637 and 1642) and the two Schlossherren, Henning von der Marthen and Heinrich Brand (1579–1655). Brand was the least supportive. 124 Wallmann, Erfurt, pp. 405 f misinterprets Meyfart’s position. 125 StAE 1-1/10A-I-1a, pp. 71v–72r, Meyfart: “ignorantia, malitia und hypochrisis” (adding a list of twenty supplementary causes leading to the current corruption). Elsner ibid., pp. 61v, 126v, and 118r: “Das leben stimmet nicht zu, mit der profession”. Elsner, Delineation, pp. 4, 20, 28, 30, 32 f, 40 f et passim; idem, Gründlicher Bericht, pp. A3r–A3v, 323, 675–682 et passim; idem: Vorrede, in: Wandersleben, pp. 39, 49. 126 Meyfart: “Man soll die causas erst angreiffen und hernach fragen nach den remedijs” (StAE 1-1/10A-I-1a, p. 72v, favouring a visitation). Elsner: “Es müste auf eine visitation in der kirchen auslauffen, Weil man die leüthe nicht kennete, entstünde daraus eine böße kirchen disciplin.” (ibid., p. 62r). See pp. 47r, 118r, and 127v: “Die Weil nun alle media wären adhibiret worden, Vnd dieselben nichts gethan hetten, müste derowegen ein ieder, mit Zuthuung des Raths[,] grundlich explorirt vnd visitirt werden, Als dann würden sich Specialissima remedia erfinden.” 127 Elsner, Vorrede, pp. B7v–B8r, referring to Socrates’ nativity. Tellingly enough, Elsner here found it necessary to concede that the stain of Original Sin continued to plague the well-educated. He insisted that schools nevertheless remained a useful tool in the daily, inner battle against ‘Old Adam’. – Further remarks in this direction in StAE 1-1/10A-I-1a, p. 121v. 128 StAE 1-1/10A-I-1a, pp. 96r–97r. 129 See the debate in first session, esp. ibid., pp. 48r–48v.

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the catechism sermons on Sunday noon, where he intended to examine all listeners, both young and adult. The competing, pragmatic proposal to improve education by granting schoolteachers a clear curriculum and regular salary fell short of his high standards.130 Elsner ultimately envisioned that each and every parishioner would be put through their catechism.131 This wide-ranging plan mirrored the Gotha visitation, but it went far beyond the directive issued by the Erfurt Council. Elsner likewise dismissed the call for an abridged version of Luther’s Small Catechism. He again favoured a thorough questionnaire that tested the knowledge of both the Small and the Large Catechism, thus explaining the “entire Christian piety” (der Gantze Christianismus).132 This uncompromising stance antagonised the debate. Elsner’s opening warning that Satan would probably stir up resistance against his plans became a self-fulfilling prophecy.133 Within a few weeks, discussions returned to the fundamental dispute about the causes of the current sinning. This inevitably reopened the controversy on the question of whether the emphasis on ignorance implied an accusation against inefficient preachers.134 As head of the clergy, Meyfart sought to mediate between the proponents and opponents of encompassing reforms. Although he himself advocated such, he once more declared himself willing to withdraw the proposal for home visits (visitatio domestica) and instead treat parishioners with greater leniency.135 Meyfart did not disregard existing differences, yet he insisted that committee members should debate them in a civil manner and treat each other with respect.136 Respectful debate was a key concern for Meyfart. He was one of the few university theologians who in the classroom placed the pastoral cares of souls on par or even above the teaching of doctrinal polemics.137 Two steps precipitated the break between Meyfart and Elsner. First Meyfart took offence at Elsner’s attempts to promote their common agenda by allying with like-minded councillors. This alliance upset the balance between the Council and the Ministry. As Senior and head of the Ministry, Meyfart had long demanded 130 Ibid., pp. 49r–51v. See K. Martens, Fürsorge; K. Martens, Dorfschulberichte. Instructive points of comparison in E. C. Schmidt, Weimars Schulverhältnisse; Albrecht-Birkner, Reformation des Lebens, pp. 523 f et passim; and Schilling/Ehrenpreis/et al., Erziehung. 131 Elsner seems to have already proposed such a visitation in the Ministry prior to first session of the commission (StAE 1-1/10A-I-1a, pp. 62v). Spener dated this proposal to the year 1640, Wallmann, Erfurt, p. 329. 132 StAE 1-1/10A-I-1a, pp. 111r–111v. The goal-oriented head of the commission, Kniphof, was not unsympathetic to the endeavour, but he rightly suspected that these questions would become “weit läuffig […], Vnd Zweymal mehr als der Catechismus selber […] Man müsse das werk auf ein paar quatern bringen”. Sträter, Meditation, p. 44 explains the usage of the term “Christianismus”. 133 “Mann würde sehen, was vor mühe darzu gehörete, der Sathan würde sich sehr sperren.” StAE 1-1/10A-I-1a, pp. 47r. 134 Ibid., pp. 62v–63r. 135 Ibid., p. 62v, in agreement with Kniphof ’s demand “man müste mit den Leuthen gelinde umbgehen.” On Meyfart’s earlier proposal, Hallier, Meyfart, p. 93. 136 StAE 1-1/10A-I-1a, p. 72v. 137 This is emphasised by Trunz and Medick, Religionskrieg und Fakultätskonflikt.

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that he be granted more autonomy and, for instance, be allowed to excommunicate sinners.138 Meyfart must also have viewed Elsner’s aggressive advocacy as a challenge to his authority. By late April, many complained that Elsner promoted the controversial visitation outside the closed committee sessions, in sermons.139 Despite reprimands, public attacks escalated in May and June, and Elsner headed them. “He calls all those who do not immediately support him ‘enemies of piety’”, one pastor complained; “me and my fellow [pastoral] brethren are accused of putting the town in danger of being burned to the ground and plundered” another joined in. Even a sympathiser like Zacharias Hogel reported that Elsner had warned about an imminent “great uproar”.140 Such public airing of theological controversies on the chancel was one of the other habits that Meyfart had sought to curb ever since he had arrived in Erfurt.141

Bartholomäus Elsner’s proposals and the subsequent reforms Meyfart saw the clearest challenge to his authority as Senior in the ‘Short Outline of the Modest Proposal Concerning the Church Visitation’. Elsner presented it to the committee in June or early July 1641.142 Writing this memorandum, however, was not controversial in and of itself. By mid-May, the councillor at the head of the commission (Henning Kniphof) had grown weary of the inconclusive debates and he consulted his superior, Hieronymus Brückner. Together with other leading councillors, Brückner and Kniphof decided that the opposing parties should state arguments pro et contra the visitation in writing. Elsner handed in his deliberation first.143 Once the committee members had read and discussed it, Meyfart wrote a refutation on their behalf.144 Whilst his refutation is no longer available, the 138

Hallier, Meyfart, p. 93. StAE 1-1/10A-I-1a, p. 73r (30.4.1641), Stenger: “denn dahin ging herr D. Elsner in allen seinen Predigten.” 140 Ibid., p. 107v, Hogel: “[Elsner habe selbst gesagt] es würde einen grosen Auffruhr geben, der Provincialis wüste schon darumb”. Wanschleben (p. 106v): “Es würden ihm vnd seinen Confratribus solche reden Zugebracht, als Wenn sie es machten, daß die Stadt wegbrennen, geplündert, die leüthe erwürget oder umb Gottes Wort gebracht werden mögten. Sie thäten das ihrige, Man solte D. Elßnern erinnern, Jn solchen lästerungen nicht fortzufahren.” Schröter (p. 104r): “[alle] die Jhn nicht stracks bey pflichtete, die nennete Er [Elsner] hostes pietatis, Vnd stümpffte auf die Jenigen, die Jhn nicht Wolten recht geben, [er] Vnter stündete sich das Werck auf der Cantzel Zu rühren […]. Würde den Papisten dardurch Frewden fewr gemachet.” 141 Trunz, pp. 266 f. 142 StAE 1-1/10A-I-1a, p. 101v (between 28.5 and 16.7.1641). Elsner, Delineation. The full title of the eighty-six-page long autograph manuscript is found in the bibliography. 143 StAE 1-1/10A-I-1a, pp. 79v, 84v–85r (14.5.1641), 93r–93v (21.5); an interim report on pp. 86r– 92v. 144 Hallier, Meyfart, p. 94 had access to this writing “sub. Lit. F.” (see fn. 93). It must have been written between July 16 and the Council’s decree of August 6, 1641. See StAE 1-1/10A-I-1a, p. 108v; Motschmann, Fünffte Fortsetzung, p. 687. 139

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protocol of the session documents the very harsh reactions within the commission. Elsner’s Modest Proposal was deemed impertinent, heterogeneous, and unfit for the purpose. Another critic maintained that it neither met logical nor theological standards. Meyfart found fault with the overly general treatment of the problem.145 Elsner had, the Senior added, clearly stepped beyond the limits set by his age, learning, and office.146 The memorandum was, indeed, one of the disorganised texts that had “grown under the hands” of its author.147 It comes as no surprise that theologians felt challenged by its sweeping claims. In order to prove the Scriptural foundation of the proposed comprehensive visitation, Elsner argued that the first visitation was that of God in the Garden of Eden. He even went on to categorise the acts of Jesus as three types of visitations.148 Yet his overall argumentation did not distress councillors. A closer reading shows that Elsner had addressed them specifically.149 Viewed from the perspective of interested lay decision makers, the Modest Proposal reads like a forceful plea for reforms. Not only had Elsner granted them a key role in the process, he also stressed that the visitation was a precondition for peace. Elsner compared the situation in Erfurt to Biblical examples and experiences. He evoked the present military threats throughout the memorandum, and he did not stand alone with his fears that a “dire need, blockade, siege, or some similar disaster” stood at the door. News of approaching Imperial armies had caused unrest in town since at least April. In May and June, the blood-like colouring of pools stirred sentiments but Elsner could see no signs of true, heartfelt repentance.150 145 StAE 1-1/10A-I-1a, p. 105v, Stenger: “logice oder theologice”; Schröter, p. 103r: “Heterogenea Vnd aliena immisciret, dienete nicht zu dem intent, sonderlich die Exempel.” Elsner addressed them as if they were novices and “Tyrunculi”. Meyfart, p. 102v: “wären generalia Vnd schlechte sachen, […] wäre nicht Von nöthen gewesen darauf Viel arbeit Zu legen.” 146 Ibid., p. 104v: “ratione aetatis, Eruditionis, authoritatis et officij wäre Ers nicht Zu thun befugt, was Er gethan.” Elsner was not present at the meeting. His sympathiser Johann Christoph Alberti conceded that it was “kein sufficiens scriptum” (p. 108r); deacon Hertz seemed coved and abstained from all comment. 147 Elsner, Delineation, p. 85: “[ist] mir vber verhoffen dieses Wercklein vnter den händen gewachsen”. 148 Ibid., pp. 37–39, arguing that Christ (1) had walked the lands (Landesvisitation), (2) visited the Jerusalem Temple and there preached against the priests (Kirchenvisitation), and (3) had also spoken to each and every believer (Hausvisitation). This passage (no. IV) presented the Trinity as the ‘causa efficiens’ in a visitation. Based on such examples, Elsner construed the First Commandment as an order to carry out visitations. 149 He addressed members of all estates interested in the common good on page 70 and later called upon both the Council and the Ministry (p. 85). 150 On events and the fears from April to June, see p. 113 and fn. 267 in this chapter. Elsner, Delineation, pp. 71 f: “Summa”, all people interested in the welfare of our town have to ask themselves, “ob Sich Vnnsere Zuhörer Vnndt ins Gemeinn alle Leutte inn dieser Stadt wegenn beuorstehender großen nott, Plocquirung, belägerung oder dergleichenn Vnheillß […] auch hertzlich bekümmernn Vnndt mitt ernstlicher buße Sölchen Vortzukommenn sich bemühen? […] Hierauff werdenn wir inn allenn Pfarrenn müßenn Nein antworttenn”.

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He likened sin to poison, and to gunpowder that could soon blow up Erfurt. “Our dear town will not persist in the long run. For lest we get to know this great sinful horror, whilst God is still gracious […] and finally change and mend our old evil sinful ways without hypocrisy, it is certain that we shall be hit so gruesomely that we will swim in our own blood.”151 Such drastic appeals gained force over the summer as military threats mounted. By the end of September 1641, councillors had begun to use some of these arguments.152 Elsner not only pointed to threats, but was careful to add promises. His suggestive selection of Scriptural passages referred to the current events around Erfurt. Elsner delved into the reigns of pious Judean kings whose visitations and measures had helped to increase collective repentance and had ultimately moved God to defeat or avert enemy forces.153 The list was, in itself, nothing new. Jehoshaphat and Josiah were commonly praised as dutiful protectors of the church, as were Hezekiah and, to some degree, Asa.154 Elsner gave a personal touch to this list by stressing how these responsible rulers had all instigated visitations or founded consistories. Efforts of clerical reformers, namely the prophets and apostles, were related with relative brevity.155 Elsner alluded to the current controversy in an unmistakable manner. He praised King Hezekiah for carrying out a much-needed visitation and for enforcing reforms in spite of the recalcitrant Levites in the temple, who were unwilling to expose themselves to the “great labour, worries, and danger”.156 Elsner drove the point home through a prayer pleading leaders to follow in the footsteps of Jehoshaphat. If only princes and lords in Germany would carry out a general visitation, inquire 151

Elsner, Delineation, pp. 26, 69 f: “[…] Weil es die Länge mitt Vnser Lieben Stadt wirdt gar nicht können einen bestandt haben, wan[n] nicht inn der gnadenn Zeitt wir sölche große Sünden grewel [erforschen und unsere Zuhörer dazu bringen, dass sie ihre Sünden nicht nur inniglich beklagen, sondern auch öfter zur Beichte und zum Abendmahl gehen und, p. 70:] Endtlich Vnser Voriges böses Sündenn Leben ohne heucheleÿ endern vndt beßern werden, So ist es gewiß wier werden eine greuliche schlappe nehmen, das wier in Vnserm eigenem blutte Schwimmen mögten”. 152 Compare ibid., pp. 6 f with Kniphof ’s statement in the session, StAE 1-1/10A-I-1a, p. 116v (24.9.1641). 153 Elsner, Delineation, pp. 22, 24, 27–29, 38, and 17–19 (quoted below fn. 188), describing how collective repentance averted the Philistine threat in Samuel’s times (1 Sam 7). Elsner repeated the argument idem, Gründlicher Bericht, p. A2v; StAE 1-1/10A-I-1a, pp. 90v–91r. He had earlier focused on the converse threat of conquest by the ungodly (preface to Wandersleben, pp. 22–45; see also pp. 507 f, 514) and outlined the measures necessary to avoid the threat (ibid., pp. 46–49). 154 Compare Elsner, Delineation, pp. 21–30 with Stenger, Grund-Feste, p. 1355; idem, Tausend Zeuge, p. 187. Elsner referred to the Judah kings again in Elsner, Gründlicher Bericht, pp. A3v–A4r. 155 Paul, Barnabas, and the Christian rulers are treated on two pages, Elsner, Delineation, pp. 31 f; Elsner did not highlight Samuel’s agency in the aforementioned example concerning the Philistines (fn. 153). 156 Ibid., p. 26: “[H]ierzu [haben] die Leviten nicht grosse lust gehabt; sondern, Weil sie leichtlich konten abnehmen, es Würde ohne grosse mühe, sorge v. gefahr nicht abgehen; So ermahnet der könig selber sie ihres Ampts, Vndt muntert sie mit diesen Wortten auf ”. Elsner then quoted 2 Chr 29, 11.

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into moral deficiencies, and reform secular and ecclesiastic courts “the Lord would […] bring an end to the chaos that destroys the lands.”157 Councillors like Hieronymus Brückner and Henning Kniphof did listen to Elsner’s unequivocal calls. Kniphof led the commission and was one of the councillors who later attended the religious meetings instituted in town by the ministers in favour of the Gotha reforms.158 Other lay members of the commission also backed Elsner.159 He himself sought to overcome the strong clerical opposition by stating that a majority of councillors favoured a comprehensive visitation.160 Elsner probably won over councillors less interested in piety than in increasing their legal prerogatives by arguing that the secular authorities had the right to carry out such visitations when acting in the capacity of a bishop by default.161 The lack of protocols from Council debates precludes certain conclusions as to who supported reforms, for which reasons. It is known that a number of councillors opposed Elsner’s plans, but the opposition remains even more anonymous.162 Over the following six years, councillors in favour of reform continued to take this political and clerical opposition into account. The outcome was a policy of compromises. In early August 1641, the Council thus followed up on Meyfart’s harsh refutation by reprimanding Elsner in a mild manner.163 In early 1642, the Council appointed Elsner as the successor to the late Meyfart, on the condition that he as Senior abstain from his controversial plans for a visitation.164 Controversies, at this point, instead converged on the Catechism exams. As outlined above, Elsner favoured an encompassing questioning. A Catechism questionnaire was finally issued in January 1643 in the rather lengthy version that Elsner favoured, albeit at first without adding the correct answers.165 Controversies on where and to whom such questions were to be posed spawned new rounds of recriminatory sermons 157

Ibid., p. 24: “O Wolte Gott, daß heüt zutage in den Deutschen Landen Fürsten vnd Herrn vnd ingesambt alle Obrigkeit, auch tretten möchten in die fues stapfen des Josaphats, erstlich præmittirten eine general visitation: darnach auff grundliche und eigentliche erkundigung der mängel, gute anstalt machen in ihren Geistlichen vnd Weltlichen Gerichten: So würde der herr auch mit dem guten seÿn [: 2 Chr 19, 11], und deß Land Verderblichen unweßens ein ende machen […]”. 158 See fn. 271 below. 159 E. g. Henning von der Marthen. See Chapter Two p. 31 and StAE 1-1/10A-I-1a, pp. 81v, 112r, 118v, 145v. 160 Ibid., p. 126v, 22.10.1641: “[Elsner] Sagte, opinionem Senatus sey in die mängel der individuorum in specie zu inq[ui]riren.” 161 Elsner, Delineation, pp. 1, 37; see also ibid., p. 6 and fn. 121 above. 162 Tholuck, Lebenszeugen, p. 216. 163 On this and the following paragraph, Motschmann, Fünffte Fortsetzung (1737), pp. 687 f. Motschmann had a rather low opinion of Elsner and therefore tended to underestimate his influence, e. g. p. 683. 164 StAE 1-1/10A-I-1a, p. 144r. 165 Ibid., p. 140v and [Anon.], Christliche Catechismusübung/ […] Durch etliche [391!] nützliche Fragen […] Auf sonderbare Anordnung E. E. vnnd Hochw. Rahts der Stadt Erffurdt: […] Gedruckt (1643). The second edition from 1654 (VD17 32:672525E) added more questions and included the answers that Elsner wanted, K. Martens, Fürsorge, p. 6; see also VD17 32:672642A.

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in 1643 and 1644.166 There was still a strong opposition against the examining of adults in churches. Elsner tried to circumvent it by having the rural refugees in town questioned in return for bread.167 For much the same reason, the controversial visitations, announced in 1647, took place in villages that were weakened by the war and less capable of resisting.168 Officials began to send in the first reports from the countryside in the spring of 1648. These examples show that the Council adopted Elsner’s agenda, but implemented key elements in a less encompassing manner. The visitations in the decade after 1648 were conducted in a more summary manner than Elsner had advocated, namely in writing, without questioning each individual parishioner. The opposition succeeded in delaying reforms for several years. The leading councillors did, however, deem it irresponsible to wait until the war had ended. Like Elsner, they argued that the visitation and a reform of catechesis were both preconditions for peace.169 The analysis of this case indicates a legislative point of general relevance to Lutheran territories. Arguments mustered in favour of, or opposition to, the proposals for moral reforms centred on three areas. The diagnosed lack of heartfelt devotion was certainly pivotal, as was the perception of a military threat or some other imminent catastrophe that could be presented as a calamity. Last, but not least important, was the role that reformers assigned to secular authorities. Here Johann Valentin Andreae adopted a well-explored and very uncooperative stance, arguing against the ‘Apap’-creature that ruled Württemberg in a caesaropapist manner.170 Meyfart was, likewise, uncooperative towards local councillors. Both theologians largely failed to have their plans implemented at home.171 Elsner is one of several lesser, or virtually unknown clergymen who took 166

Council decrees prohibiting such sermons were issued on August 11, 1643 and June 3, 1644; the latter decree is stored in AEM A.65.c. The bibliography describes the lengthy, now lost proposition by Elsner, Ohnvergreifliche […] Vorschlag, welchergestalt das […] Exercitium Catecheticum […] auf alle und iede erwachsene unwissende […] könne erstrecket werden, from early 1644. An ordinance dated July 22, 1644 tried to close the debate: [Anon.], E. E. Raths […] Verordnung Die Christliche Catechismus-Lehr belangend. 167 Hundorph, Encomii Erffurtini Continuatio. App. I. 18, p. Q4v; K. Martens, Fürsorge, pp. 6 f. Cf. the initial plans in Elsner, Delineation, pp. 82 f. 168 [Anon.], Ausschreiben (1647). The rural pastors’ written grievance is stored in AEM A.VII.a.1.f and summarised by Nebe, Der Erfurter Landpastor, pp. 101 f. 169 See the quotes in K. Martens, Fürsorge, drawn from the preface to [Anon.], E. E. Raths […] Verordnung Die Christliche Catechismus-Lehr belangend. Elsner rebuked the pragmatic and very common objection that reforms could not be implemented before the war had ended: “Drumb solten Wir Heute, heute […] fürsichtiglich Wandeln, Vndt in die Zeit schicken, Vndt nicht also im VnVerstande fortfahren.” Elsner, Delineation, pp. 24 f. Compare with Mahlmann, Johannes Kromayer, pp. 44, 48 f; Wolfrum, p. 27. 170 Mager, pp. 91, 94–98 gives a very nuanced account. I was not able to consult the most recent contribution by Martin Brecht, Andreae (2008). 171 See Schnabel-Schüle, Calvinistische Kirchenzucht? on Andreae and my fn. 138 above on Meyfart; cf. Brecht, Andreae und Herzog August, pp. 195–203. Andreae’s stance was influenced by his

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the opposite stance and relied on secular authorities to overcome their colleagues’ opposition to the controversial reforms; the Swede Joannes Baazius (1583–1649) is a further spokesman.172 The success or failure of moral reforms was, thus, dependent on the reformers’ stances in the ongoing legislative debate about the autonomy of ecclesiastical authorities vis-à-vis secular authorities. The power constellation in Erfurt is perhaps best compared to the conflict in Nürnberg. This, too, involved two theologically interested adversaries, the pastor Johann Saubert and the Melanchthon-minded consultant of the council, Georg Richter (1592– 1651). Their power bases likewise lay respectively in the urban clergy and the Council. Saubert, as his close friend Meyfart, also failed to gather Council support for his reform agenda. His successor, Johann Michael Dilherr (1604–1669), adopted a much more cooperative position towards councillors, operating in a manner comparable to Elsner. Consequently, Dilherr had more of his proposals implemented.173

The traditionalist response Opponents and proponents of the encompassing reforms deserve equal attention. Only a detailed consideration of both camps will help to further the current research. The two primary dangers of this comparison have already been stated. First, the debates regarding moral reforms are easily misunderstood as the conflict between a petrified Orthodox majority and the proto-Pietists on the fringes or “outside the Lutheran church”.174 The accusation of heresy was admittedly a favourite argument against reforms. Yet this verdict should not be uncritically accepted. Second, there is a need to appreciate the conservative and more modest measures proposed as alternatives to encompassing reforms. To fully comprehend the local disagreements, it is additionally useful to revisit the opponents’ comments on the secular rulers and their authority over ecclesiastical affairs. long-running conflict with the Statthalter Ferdinand Geizkofler. Although Andreae had earlier shown an interest in fasting, he voted against it in 1645, when Geizkofler proposed to make it part of collective repentance. See fn. 31 above and Kolb, p. 200. 172 Joannes Baazius (pastor in Jönköping 1625–1647) was the first and most staunch Swedish proponent of the reform movement; see Lundin. The force of his clerical criticism was directed against the comparatively powerful Swedish bishops. Baazius thereby sought and gained the support of the Crown. It had long been keen to achieve the same ecclesiastical influence that Lutheran princes in the Empire exercised. Baazius died soon after he was appointed bishop (1645) and was, hence, unable to implement his planned reforms. 173 Dülmen, pp. 698–715, 754 f gives a more accurate assessment than Schröttel, p. 104. 174 The otherwise perceptive study Wallmann, Erfurt und der Pietismus describes the local conflict in these terms on page 329: “Bei der Auseinandersetzung um Elsners Reformvorschläge stoßen wir erstmal auf einen Streit, den man nicht mehr in die inneren Streitigkeiten der Orthodoxie einordnen kann.” On page 334 he brands a later protagonist a “Ketzerrichter”. For similar remarks see Trunz, p. 367; Tholuck, Das akademische Leben (1854), p. 33.

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Nicolaus Stenger is arguably the most interesting figure in the opposition. He formulated the most elaborate and consistent critique in the second phase of the debate. In addition to his statements on the commission protocol, weekly sermons held between 1639 and 1645 also commented on the reforms.175 These sources give a more complete picture of the local opposition to Elsner’s plans. Stenger adopted positions held by a number of his contemporary colleagues. Like Tobias Wagner (1598–1680) from Esslingen, he defended sermons against internal critics.176 They agreed to remain with Luther’s Catechism and argued for the publication of complementary questions instead of devising a new means of instruction. Arnold Mengering (1596–1647), active in Altenburg and Halle, made the same points as Stenger and Wagner: all three also rejected “the babbling about domestic visitations”. Their proposals for moral reform focused on conscience rather than the intellect and appealed to this faculty through a traditional medium: the sermon.177 The deep division over such issues has not received its due attention in modern studies.178 The following survey of Stenger’s programme should increase awareness of this more traditionalist branch in the reform movement. Stenger voiced the concerns shared by other local opponents. A fixed catalogue of formal and pragmatic objections runs through the sessions from 1641 to 1642. Dogmatic objections to the diagnosed causes of sin form an additional, continuous theme in the commission.179 Reactionary statements thus dominate. The Council plan to abridge the Small Catechism prompted a typical reply. Stenger emphasised its quasi-sacral status, arguing that Luther had written “our Sacred and Christian Catechism” under inspiration of the Holy Ghost. Attempts to edit a text that could not be improved were not only futile: they also threatened the purity of faith.180 175

Stenger, Grund-Feste (held 1639–1642); Stenger, Tausend Zeuge (held 1642–1643). See Beutel, pp. 435–438, 441 f, 447 on this and the following. T. Schröder, p. 168 notes that Wagner tried to improve the standard of preaching through the post-vocational training of pastors in the so-called Pfarrkonventen. 177 Mengering, Informatorium, 3 Trinit., II, Q.1, pp. 570–577: “Ob ein Prediger / vermöge seines Hirten-Ampts/ allen vnd ieden zu Hause vnd Hofe nachzulauffen vnd zu nahen im Gewissen verbunden sey/ auff solche Art vnd Weise/ wie etliche Jrrgeister vorgeben?”; p. 575: “so können wir diß ihr vngereimtes Vorgehen vnd Geplerr von der Hauß-Visitation […] klärlich gnung [sic] confundiren vnd widerlegen.” 178 Tholuck, Lebenszeugen (1859), pp. 358 f offers apt, if somewhat partisan observations. 179 Schröter’s objections ranged from the dogmatic (63v, 66v: malice, not ignorance, is the cause of sinning), to the formal (63r, 94r, 103r: a visitation was nowhere mentioned in the Council instruction), and pragmatic (47v, 64r, 67r, 113r–113v, 144, 63v: “Es könte einer mehr fragen, denn Zehen antwortten”). For characteristic replies see ibid., pp. 68r–69v, 90v–91r. Cf. the criticism from fn. 92 above with ibid., pp. 124v–125r, 104r: “Würde den Papisten dardurch Frewden fewr gemachet.” 180 Stenger, Tausend Zeuge, p. 513; see pp. 546 and 279, with the quote: “Dasselbe aber ist alles/ alles/ alles verfasset in vnserm Heiligen vnd Christlichen Catechismo/ […] vnd hat solches durch Gottes sonderbare Gnade Doctor Martinus Luther seliger Gedächtniß so deutlich gegeben/daß es nicht deutlicher seyn kann.” Stenger did, however, defend the Catechism questionnaire in the compromise version issued by the Council in early 1643 (pp. 801 f). 176

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The endangered purity of faith was one of the main motives behind Stenger’s unusual choice in 1639 to embark on a commentary of the Augsburg Confession in weekday sermons.181 Zapf had published his aggressive and academic refutation of the reform proposals on New Years’ Day of that year. Stenger employed more simple and apologetic arguments. Whilst the two critics adapted their polemical styles to different audiences, they still agreed on content and were closely aligned. Zapf wrote poems for the published version of Stenger’s sermons.182 Stenger had, in turn, paid tribute to Zapf ’s attacks on the critics of the clergy. Stenger and Zapf both associated the planned reforms with Weigelian heresies and directed their attacks against the author behind the Trewhertzige Erinnerung (s.l. 1637).183 Here one sees how like-minded theologians were establishing a more solid opposition by adopting each others’ arguments. Stenger aligned himself with Zapf, who had, in turn, asked Tobias Wagner to help him to have his treatise printed.184 The analysis will lead us to Stenger’s other points of reference, namely Johann Major (1564–1654) and Arnold Mengering. Stenger gave a harsh and exaggerated account of the widespread diagnosis of a crisis of instruction. This diagnosis allegedly entailed a wholesale rejection of both pastoral office (Predigtamt) and the ecclesiastical order (Kirchenregiment).185 Stenger did not mention reform proponents by name, but his frequent and often highly detailed allusions were hard to miss for well-informed listeners.186 He, for instance, asserted that misdeeds and evil (Boßheit) were not due to the ignorance (Unwissenheit) of those who had remained deaf to the sermons. The 181 Stenger, Grund-Feste, pp. 41–43; Vorrede, p. C1r; and Stenger, Tausend Zeuge, Vorrede, p. A4r. Lindner will analyse this cycle. Chapter Two noted the general preference to Biblical exegesis in weekday-sermons. Soon after 1643, Stenger embarked on a commentary of the Formula of Concord (1577) in a total of 103 sermons. 182 Added to Stenger, Grund-Feste, pp. *1r–*1v; Stenger, Tausend Zeuge, pp. C1r–C1v, signed “Testificandi amoris gratia pangeb. Nicolaus Zapfius”. His poems were placed first in both volumes. The remaining panegyric poems were composed by other members of the local opposition like Wanschleben, Schröter, and J. Alberti (see fn. 123 above). Whilst Herz and Elsner chose not to congratulate Stenger, Zacharias Hogel and J. C. Alberti did add poems. The most prominent contributor amongst the outside churchmen was the Jena professor, Johann Major. 183 Compare Stenger, Grund-Feste, pp. 114, 589 with fn.s 100 (title), 125 and 179 above. Mengering was slightly less aggressive. He ranked the author amongst the “Semi-Weigeliani”. Major/Mengering, De Impedimentis Conversionis, theses 48 to 76. 184 Wagner fulfilled the request and contributed with an “EPIGRAMMA IN TRACTATUS SUBSEQUENTES” added to Zapf. 185 Stenger, Grund-Feste, pp. 586–590 from the first sermon on Article 14 concerning the Ecclesiastic Orders (13.1.1640). Elsner, Gründlicher Bericht (1687) defended these tenets in Art. 9 (Von der Busse), nos. VII, XVII, et al (on hellfire sermons, pp. 346–348, 365 f), XXIX (on the need to confess sins to a pastor, 397–399) and Art. 12 (Von der Heiligen Christlichen Kirchen), e. g. pp. 592–601, 674–684, 976 f et passim (Lehre and polemics). 186 The embattled increase of Catechism-teaching in the parish schools and the Gymnasium is a case in point. Compare Stenger, Tausend Zeuge, pp. 508–512 to the school ordinance from April 7, 1642, [Anon.], Ordnung Vor die PfarrSchule, esp. p. D6r. On the Gymnasium, Motschmann, Vierdte Sammlung (1731), p. 574; Stenger, Tausend Zeuge, pp. 523 f; StAE 1-1/10A-I-1a, pp. 43r, 141v–142v.

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origin of these faults was rather to be found in the Original Sin and the continual human surrender to Satan. Stenger indirectly questioned the diagnosis of Meyfart and Elsner through a critique that prima facie seemed little more than the rejection of an anonymous crypto-Weigelian treatise. Rhetorical consideration made Stenger refrain from extended polemics. He was convinced that simple believers were best served with a clear and concise repudiation of errors.187 The dual aims with his sermons were rather to outline an alternative way of moral improvement and to cancel out the arguments with which Elsner tried to persuade councillors. Stenger challenged the Council’s right to instate reforms and questioned the idea that these reforms alone would bring an end to the war. The following sections address each of these three points: the promised liberation from the present calamities, the role assigned to secular authorities, and the alternative road to moral reform. In regard to the promised liberation, Stenger sought to redefine the nature of the ongoing experience and revise the future prospects. Elsner had, in no uncertain terms, promised that reforms would relieve the town from military threat. His ‘Modest Proposal […] Concerning the Church Visitation’ used Biblical examples to argue that only a visitation could bring “lasting peace” to Germany. It was difficult to overestimate the necessity of such thorough reform.188 In differing ways, Elsner’s critics all questioned the premises of his wide-reaching promises. They raised doubts as to whether collective repentance would really avert further calamities. Sebastian Schröter and Stenger objected in unison that suffering sent by God was more than a castigation of sinners. It doubled as a trial for those who had already repented, a reminder not to relapse into sin. Therefore, the troubles in our temporal world would never cease, Stenger concluded.189 187

Stenger, Grund-Feste, p. 719; idem, Tausend Zeuge, p. 130. Stenger for the same reason deemed attacks on Catholics better fit for his listeners. They by far exceed the criticism of the 1637-pamphlet. It is limited to ibid., pp. 114 f, 140 f, 719 f; idem, Grund-Feste, pp. 206 f, 587–590, 659, 1170, 1390. A third target was the group around Esaias Stiefel; see Weiß, Lebenswelten, pp. 510 f. 188 Elsner, Delineation, pp. 18 f: “Jn welchen schönen exempel wir alß in einem Spiegel sehen, nicht allein wie der itzigen schweren straffen, welche Gott vber vnß hat ergehen laßen, wir könten lohs werden, vnd Zum beständigen friede gelangen. Wann wir auch Zu vorgedachten heilsamen mitteln wolten schreiten, sondern wie es auch mit den lieben friede würde konnen [sic] einen bestandt haben wann wir im rechten bußfertigen gebeth verharreten”. Ibid., pp. 28 f: “Aber Wer kan den großen Nutz solcher Visitation Vndt Reformation, Welche müßen beÿsammen seÿn, gnugsam exaggeriren”. Repeated in StAE 1-1/10A-I-1a, p. 91r. 189 Stenger: “Wäre Zweiffelhafftig, ob wir den Zeitlichen Straffen etwas entgegen setzen könten?” (StAE 1-1/10A-I-1a, p. 119r); “Der Scopus [sei] ut poena impendens p[er] poenitentiam avertatur vel minuatur. [… Aber] Es wäre beyweilen eine Prüfung des glaubens Vndt eine heimbsuchung: ergò würden die beschwerungen niemals aufhören, Viel Weniger die leüthe auf gute Zeit Zu Vertrösten seyn”, pp. 122v–123r. He here agreed with Wanschleben (119v); Schröter furthermore tried to equate Elsner’s promise with Rosicrucian illusions concerning a Golden Age: “Der Zweck der Jnstruction nemlich die Wegnehmung publicarum Calamitatum wäre nicht Zu hoffen[,] wir würden kein Aureum Secularum Zu gewartten haben, Stünde bey gott. Besserte man sich seynd es Väterliche Züchtigung Zum besten, Vnd keine Straffen,” ibid. 119v–120r.

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Appeals to Article Twenty-six in the Augsburg Confession helped him to establish that Christians all had to bear such crosses.190 Stenger repeatedly appealed to such tenets to sow doubts about his opponent. He contrasted Elsner’s plans with Article Eight of the Augsburg Confession, which stated that pretenders of the faith would inevitably remain part of the visible Church. Plans to rid congregations of hypocrites and ward off calamities on earth were, according to Stenger, both erroneous.191 One should instead accept worldly suffering as an experience that brought both sinners and the faithful closer to Heaven. Meditating on temporal calamity sub specie eternitatis, Stenger presented the continued war and famine as charitable blows sent from above. By his Grace, God often let the faithful starve physically in this ‘valley of tears’, yet He continued to nourish and save their souls from eternal punishment.192 Stenger maintained this strict otherworldly focus throughout the 1640s and beyond.193 Stenger argued that suffering led to salvation when Elsner promised to end the calamity of war through moral reforms. His Modest Proposal portrayed Erfurt as a Thuringian Nineveh and commented on events within the framework of what is generally known as the ‘Deuteronomistic’ view of history (Ernst Würthwein).194 Stenger favoured the stance taken in Augustine’s ‘City of God’ and cautioned that consolation was only found in Heaven. In addition to challenging Elsner’s promise for ‘peace in our time’, Stenger strove to counter the outlined precedents of royal intervention in ecclesiastical affairs. The choice to preach on the Augsburg Confession and divide his following sermon cycle on conscience according to social groups (Stände) gave Stenger ample room to comment on the relationship between secular and ecclesiastical authority.195 The well-known theory of the three orders in society served as his frame of reference. Like so many Lutheran preachers before him, Stenger pointed to the

190 The article states that Lutherans have “allzeit gelehret vom heiligen Kreuz, daß Christen zu leiden schuldig seind, und dieses ist rechte, ernstliche und nicht erdichte Kasteiung.” 191 Stenger, Grund-Feste, pp. 310–312; StAE 1-1/10A-I-1a, p. 82r “Gestünden auch die Mängel; Es fragete sich aber, wie denselben zu stewren? Könte nimmermehr dahin gebracht werden daß alle heücheley abgeschnitten würde.” Compare Albrecht-Birkner, Reformation des Lebens, pp. 118 f. 192 Stenger, Tausend Zeuge, p. 648 (“Das sind Schläge des Liebhabers”); p. B1v (“eine väterliche Züchtigung/ eine Auffmunterung zu desto mehrer Gottesfurcht/ ja eine heilsame Artzney wieder das einige Verderben”); idem, Grund-Feste, p. 1200. Elsner, Gründlicher Bericht (1687) made the same point, speaking of “bittere Pfeile aus den süssen Hand GOttes” (Art. 9, no. XXVI, p. 391). Hence, the difference between Stenger and Elsner lies in emphasis. 193 See pp. 227 ff below; Stenger, Grund-Feste, pp. 734–740; idem, Von der Einwohnung Gottes (1642), C4v–D1r; idem, Predigten Vom Ewigen Leben, pp. G2r–G2v. He elaborated upon this theme in the sixth sermon of his Easter cycle, idem, Sacra Passionalia (1669). 194 Braulik, Einleitung. 195 Stenger, Grund-Feste, first sermons on Art. 14 (Of Ecclesiastical Orders, pp. 570–590, 13.1.1640), on Art. 15 (Of Ecclesiastical Rites, pp. 616–638, 27.1.1641), and the second sermon on Art. 28 (Of Ecclesiastical Power, pp. 1348–1361, 19.1.1642). The eighth sermon in Stenger, Tausend Zeuge, pp. 173–197 (14.8.1642) treated the secular authorities.

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boundaries separating church, household, and especially the town hall.196 When it came to moral order, the heads of these distinct spheres of social life should not dominate each other, but cooperate. The many inessential or adiaphoric elements of liturgy were, for instance, only to be changed in agreement between the pastor, the elders, and the secular authorities. The ecclesiastical order (Kirchen-Regiment) could not “be administered in a political manner”. Stenger added that most rulers in the Old Testament had respected this rule.197 Later on, he flatly denied the Council’s right to change ceremonies unilaterally and warned against a domineering Senior.198 Stenger’s exposition of the Drei-Stände-Lehre continued to comment on present developments. God wanted secular and ecclesiastical authorities to co-operate in “beautiful harmony”, but this order was currently under renewed threat. The secular authorities had reacted with ingratitude to the liberation from Papal tyranny in 1517 and they were now about to go to the opposite extreme, caesaropapism.199 Politicians were “jumping into ecclesiastical affairs with boot and spurs” to become popes and bishops themselves. To strive towards this position of summus episcopus was to follow the Devil. “Everything in Christian religion must fall into ruin” if this were to happen. Stenger warned councillors to “leave the ecclesiastical office ecclesiastical and take care of their own office.”200 Like Elsner, Stenger also mustered Scriptural precedents to drive home his point. He added harmonious pairs like Moses and Aaron to the pious kings of Judah that dominated the Modest Proposal from 1641.201 Elsner’s examples of royal interventions were cancelled out by giving ample space to the sorrowful fate of the usurpers of Levitical ceremonies. Was not the fall of Saul tied to his illicit sacrifice (1 Sam 13, 13–14)? Uzziah repeated this royal infringement and was swiftly 196

Zapf, pp. 124–135 used the same model to reject the proposal that pastors visit parishioners in their homes. A recent introduction to the very long debate on the alleged obedient strain inherent to Lutheran teachings is Schorn-Schütte, Obrigkeitskritik. A succinct, English introduction is Friedeburg/Seidler, pp. 130–133. 197 “Denn das Kirchen-Regiment lesset sich nicht auff politische weise verwalten”, Stenger, GrundFeste, p. 631. See also StAE 1-1/10A-I-1a, p. 84r. 198 Stenger, Grund-Feste, pp. 1356 f (19.1.1642). Stenger here ranked the desire to change ceremonies next to attempts to determine the content of sermons and decide which songs were to be sung: “da sagen wir Nein darzu/ das gebüret ihnen nicht.” He went on to hint at Elsner’s hot temper; see also idem, Tausend Zeuge, pp. 130, 189 f. 199 Idem, Grund-Feste 1348: “Gott selbs[t hat] eine solche schöne Harmoney und zu sammenstimmung der beyden Regimenter verordnet”. He later, on p. 1358, described attempts to erect “ein Keyserlich Papstumb”: “daß ihrer [sc.: der Ratsherren] nun etliche zufahren / das Blat umbkehren/ einen Fuß auff der Cantzel/ und den andern in der Cantzley und auffm Rathhause haben / die Kirche ihres Gefallens regieren / über die Prediger herrschen / und gar scabella pedum, Fußschemmel / aus ihnen machen wollen.” 200 Ibid., pp. 1358 f: “mit Stiffeln und Sporen in Kirchen Sachen hienein [sic] springen […] denn da must alles in der Christlichen Religion zu drimmern fallen […] Dieses sage ich weltlicher Obrigkeit zur Warnung / daß sie geistlich Amt geistlich seyn lasse / und sich umb ihr Amt bekümmere.” 201 Ibid., pp. 1351 f.

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struck with leprosy (2 Chr 26, 16–21).202 Continuing his ill-concealed attacks on Elsner, Stenger then conceded that visitations had a Scriptural foundation. Here, he switched from polemics to a more pragmatic set of objections. Visitations had been useful at Luther’s time, when Papal obscurantism was still widespread. In the current state of affairs, more than a century later, it made much more sense to remain with the regular meeting of the Evangelical Ministry. Stenger then qualified it as “a weekly visitation”. He added that no ruler could question all their subjects in person.203 Councillors ought to ignore the planned domestic visitations and concentrate on their own duties. This last remark is typical of the political-cum-jurisdictive objections that made up the second strain in the argumentation against the reform proposals. Stenger first of all argued that councillors were interfering with alien concerns when they supported Elsner. They further neglected traditional duties towards both their subjects and the Church. As ‘wet nurse’ to the Church, the Council was meant to keep the places of worship tidy and ensure steady salaries, yet both were in a miserable state.204 It was up to pastors to chide sins and evil intentions. Curbing the resulting misdeeds was the prime task for the Council, as the ‘guardian of the Two Tables’ of the Decalogue.205 Stenger chided councillors for failing to fulfil their tasks in both closed meetings206 and in public. The magistrates had plenty to do, in fact, more than they could manage. There was no need to ‘fool around’ in areas of no concern to them.207 Stenger aired popular grievances in his sermons, preaching about the unjust increase in taxation. Soaring grain prices demonstrated that it was not enough to legislate against “disgraceful graft and usury”; councillors also had to ensure that laws were enforced.208 In his opinion, their indulgence had allowed cursing, whoring, and profanation of the Sabbath to grow into major, indeed the most pressing, moral problems in town. Such sins did not “arise from 202 Idem, Tausend Zeuge, pp. 188 f. Stenger recounted a similar set of largely negative examples in idem, Grund-Feste, pp. 1351 f, 1355, 1360 f. 203 Idem, Tausend Zeuge, p. 186: “eine wöchentliche Visitation”. Background information in K. Martens, Formula Visitationis passim. 204 Stenger, Grund-Feste, p. 1355. For further formulations see fn. 267 and p. 217. 205 Ibid., p. 1349. 206 Stenger: “Wenn die Obrigkeit das Jhrige thäte, [be]dürffte man keines bannes nicht, Sagt Sarcerius.” StAE 1-1/10A-I-1a, p. 119r (see fn. 33 above). Schröter elaborated upon this argument in the same session, p. 120r: “[Es] Würde das Volck mehr durch bedrohung des Raths Straffe, als durch gottes Straffe Zur furcht [ge]bracht”. 207 Stenger, Grund-Feste, p. 1359: “Es ist doch einem Jeden/ und also auch der weltlichen Obrigkeit [Sirach 3, 25:] mehr befohlen/ weder [sc.: als] sie kan ausrichten und es ist nicht von nöthen/ daß jemand einen solchen Narrenkopf aufsetze/ daß er klug und weise seyn wil/wo ers nicht seyn sol. [Stenger recounts the administrative and judicative tasks] daran haben Christliche Regenten vollauf und überflüssig zu schaffen / und können uns Predigern unser Amt und Verrichtungen auch lassen.” 208 Ibid., p. 1357 (“dem schändlichen Wucher und Schinderey”). Such plaints were clearly controversial, Dülmen, p. 756. Hogel raised the same issue in a committee meeting on November 29, 1641, StAE 1-1/10A-I-1a, p. 131v no. 17.

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ignorance”, but were spurred by the Devil, by Original Sin, and by bad examples of sinners left unpunished. This diagnosis differed fundamentally from the one that Elsner shared with Meyfart. It led Stenger to demand harsher prosecution of wilful sins by criminal law, rather than by visitations and an improved catechesis. No novel means of instruction could remove the stain found on mankind since the Fall; moral corruption was better curbed by a combination of spiritual castigation in sermons and stern laws issued by secular authorities. Shutting down beer halls during the church service would, to mention but one proposal by Stenger, greatly help to prevent townsmen from making “Sunday into a Sinday”.209

Nicolaus Stenger’s alternative: sermons on conscience The third and, in a long-term perspective, perhaps most interesting element in this criticism is the alternative route to moral reform by more traditional means. Stenger focused on the human faculty that connected sin, divine anger, and divine punishment with each other, namely conscience. Lutheran teaching maintained that the intensive pangs of bad conscience arose when a sinner sensed that his misdeeds angered God.210 Stenger spoke of conscience as a book or slate in the human heart, where all sins were inscribed with an iron pencil for closer inspection on the Day of Judgement. He compared conscience to a “domestic court, an internal Privy Court, where God holds criminal proceedings against all of man’s secret evil and hidden sins”.211 This was a powerful forum that not only accused, proved, and condemned wrongdoings. It also punished them by awakening unrest, fear, and other emotional foretastes of infernal suffering.212 The examples are taken from Stenger’s second in a cycle of thirty-four sermons on conscience, held on weekdays from June 1642 to June 1643.213 It was rather

209 StAE 1-1/10A-I-1a, pp. 89r–89v: “malitia, die nicht immediatè ex ignorantia entstünde”; “der Teüffel, der Alte Adam vnd die bößen Exempel thäten es, Wenn man diese abschaffen könte”; “die Jndulgentia Magistratus”. The same argument was advanced by Schröter, pp. 63v–64r and repeated by Stenger ibid., pp. 89v, 114v, 125v, and in his sermons, Grund-Feste, pp. 166, 219, 447, 469, 626 f, 633, 646, 1349, 1356–1359; Tausend Zeuge, pp. 138, 166, and 164: “Solcher Leute sind heutiges Tages nicht wenig/die aus dem Ruhetag einen Mühetag/ […] ja auß dem Sonntag einen Sündentag machen.” One could accuse Stenger of interfering with council affairs. Well aware of this, Stenger spoke of the above as suggestions rather than dictates, ibid., p. 191. 210 Theologians distinguished these “true terrors of conscience” from the instruments of terrors invented by Catholics. See [Anon.], Compendium Locorum Theologicorum (1621), p. L2v (“veri terrores conscientiæ”), based on Hutter, Vol. 2, p. 1014 and, ultimately, Article Five in the Augsburg Confession. 211 Stenger, Tausend Zeuge, pp. 24, 28: bad conscience resembles “ein Tribunal domesticum […]/ ein innerlich geheime Gerich[t]/ darinnen GOtt der HERR das malefitz recht hält vber alle heimliche Boßheit vnd verborgene Sünde der Menschen.” 212 Ibid., pp. 30–40; see Kittsteiner, pp. 180–182, 185 f. 213 See the forthcoming paper by Koch, Gewissenspredigten.

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unusual to devote an entire year to the subject. Conscience had certainly been an important concept for Lutherans ever since Luther’s early writings, yet this had not had great homiletic consequences. The concept was mainly part of debates on religious liberty.214 Systematic casuistry had long retained an unmistakably Catholic tinge: the diarist accompanying Gustavus Adolphus on his incognito visit to Erfurt in 1620 described it as a Jesuit speciality.215 This did not mean that Lutherans had until then altogether ignored the subject: local theologians were aware of Gregor Strigenitz’ (1558–1603) sermon cycle on matters of conscience (1596) and also knew the moral tales compiled in 1604 by Heinrich Decimator (1544–1615).216 Both preachers appear, along with other contributors on the subject, in a poem by the deacon Johann Christopher Alberti.217 It is no coincidence that Alberti placed Friedrich Balduin at the top of the list; the influential reformer and Wittenberg professor wrote the first thorough treatise on matters of conscience. It was published posthumously in 1628 and spurred a number of works aimed at German readers.218 Nicolaus Zapf placed this treatise on par with the Schola Pietatis by Johann Gerhard (1622–1623) as proof that a sound, orthodox stance was fully compatible with intense devotion.219 The sermon cycles on conscience by Arnold Mengering (published 1638) and Johann Quistorp (published 1646) were known to both Alberti and to local publishers. Around 1644, the entrepreneurial publisher Johann Birckner urged Stenger to alter his plans and publish his sermons on conscience before the preceding and more encompassing cycle on the Augsburg Confession (1639–1642).220 The calculation was not rash. Stenger’s volume seems to have seen at least three editions in the 1640s and was sold as far away as Straßburg.221 In 1648, a local com-

214

See Baylor and Kittsteiner, pp. 177–187. Styffe (ed.), Hands Dagbok, p. 27: “Wij såge och Jesuiterske Collegium, sampt ett rum där som dee disputera causas conscientie […]”. These disputations were integral to the Jesuit system of education, but had only recently been introduced in Erfurt, Hupe, pp. 46 f. 216 See VD16 ZV 23859; VD16 S 9651; and VD17 23:329761U. 217 Alberti praised his superior pastor, Nicolaus Stenger, for having published this opus: “Spartam hanc ornarunt vigili studio, atq[ue] labore Prae reliqvis, doctos juxta indoctosq[ue] docentes, Orbis Christiani lumen [Friedrich] Balduinus, & omni Laude vehi digni, [Jesper Rasmussen] Brochmand, [Arnold] Mengringius, atq. [Johann] Qvistorp [d. Ä.], [Gregor] Strignitius, [Heinrich] Decimator, [Ludwig] Dunteq[ue] solers. Qvos pede non segni seqveris, Stengere, Sionis Et decus, & Patriae non infima gloria nostrae.” Stenger, Tausend Zeuge, p. C4v. The works by these authors are all listed by Walch, Vol. 1., pp. 56 f; Vol 2., pp. 1127–1129; and Vol. 4, p. 1105. 218 The publisher emphasised the lack of works on this subject on the titlepage, Balduin, Tractatus Luculentus, Posthumus, Toti Reipublicae Christianae Utilissimus, De Materià rarissime antehac enucleatà, Casibus nimirum Conscientiae. The database VD17 currently lists three later editions (1635, 1654, c.1688). 219 Zapf, Preface, p. ):(3R. See Wallmann, Pietas contra Pietismus. 220 Stenger, Tausend Zeuge, An den Christlichen Leser, p. B4r. On sermons by Quistorp and Mengering, see Kaufmann, Universität, p. 595 and Leube, pp. 118–121. 221 Catalogus universalis, Oster 1647, p. C4v. 215

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petitor brought forth a new edition of Ludwig Dunte’s (1597–1639) recent manual on matters of conscience.222 So Stenger had chosen to preach on a subject that appealed to both readers and reformers. His own specific interest in the subject is expressed in the rather forensic definition of ‘conscience’ found in his opening sermon (June 8, 1642). The anatomic location of conscience in the heart and the use of medical and book metaphors both followed Balduin’s synthesis of classical, Biblical, and scholastic traditions.223 What gave these sermons an extraordinarily judicial strain was his consistent appeal to conscience as one of the few moral courts left to combat sin. Councillors and housefathers had both failed. “Public morality is falling to pieces […] and there is almost no other option left than to urge people to listen to their conscience.”224 The situation in Erfurt was, in Stenger’s view, a particularly pressing expression of a persistent problem. Knowing man’s weakness, God had designated conscience as a “jury in the heart of every individual”. This forum ensured that sins were met with hard sanctions prior to the irreversible sentence spoken in the highest court on Judgement Day.225 Two more figures of speech deserve attention. Stenger took care to paint out the eschatological moment of truth, when believers would be stripped bare, their sins open to the naked eye.226 He knew that many listeners thought of sin in terms of shame and dishonour rather than personal guilt. For this reason, he included passages that described otherworldly or inner witnesses who saw all sins. They were designed for such listeners, who worried most about the reaction of their surroundings.227 Secondly, it is worth to note that Stenger spoke of “witnesses” (Zeugen) testifying against sin; other preachers preferred a closely related term and 222 Dunte, Decisiones casuum conscientiae (publ. by Christian von Saher). It was first published in 1636 and went through at least three further editions until 1664. This market trend did not gather in strength until the late 1630s. Arnold Mengering thus had trouble finding a publisher for his equally encompassing manual written around the year 1630. This ‘Scrutinium Conscientiae Catecheticum’ was eventually published in 1642 and saw at least four further editions in 1651, 1686, 1687 and c.1645/1646. See Catalogus universalis, Oster 1646, p. E1v on the latter edition. 223 Kittsteiner, pp. 178–187, with a view to the Scholastic tradition and Luther’s writings on conscience. Stenger had clearly read Balduin, Tractatus. E. g. Stenger, Tausend Zeuge, pp. Ttttt2r and B4r. 224 Ibid., p. 6: “Vnd bedarff es die Welt heut zu Tage/ meines erachtens/ gar wohl/ daß jhr vom Gewissen geprediget werde/ Bevorab / weil man siehet/ daß fast alle äusserliche Zucht dahin fället/ niemand wil dem Predigambt den Rücken halten/ die weltliche Obrigkeit selbst/ so wol das Hauß Regiment / wird des Warnens vnd Straffens bey dieser bösen Welt fast müde/vnd ist nichts mehr fast vbrig/ denn daß man die Leute auffs Gewissen treibe”. See also p. 296. 225 Ibid., p. 13: “Weil vber das auch der Kirchen Gerichte schwach ist/vnd verachtet/viel Leuten wollen sich den Geist vnd das Wort Gottes nicht mehr straffen lassen/ achten nicht/ ob sie gleich gewarnet/ gestrafft/ ja wohl gar von Tauffe vnd Abendmahl abgewiesen werden/ sihe/ so hat Gott der HERR noch einen Schöppenstuel einem jeden in sein Hertz verordnet/ das ist sein eigen Gewissen/ welches den Menschen vberzeugt/ wie vnd was er gethan hat/ da sind die Gedancken/ spricht Paulus im Texte [Romans 2, 14 f]/ die sich vntereinander verklagen oder entschuldigen.” 226 Ibid., pp. 832, 879. I am here influenced by Demos, pp. 75 f. 227 E. g. Stenger, Grund-Feste, pp. 21, 463: the divine majesty attends the auricular confession.

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spoke of an “alarm-clock” (Wecker, suscitabulum).228 Theologians writing on the subject all agreed that a dormant conscience would eventually wake up in even the most headstrong sinner if he were confronted with his misdeeds. Preachers sought to bring about this therapeutical confrontation. Furthermore, Stenger aimed at reactivating the relevant local courts by educating the magistrates about their duties. After instructing civil authorities and judges, Stenger told military commanders in town that they could only keep their conscience clean by making examples of soldiers who duelled, raped, and pressed townsfolk into military service.229 There is no need to go into the details of these tradition-bound Ständepredigten. It suffices to look at the sermon that addressed the heads of households, since it clearly expressed Stenger’s twofold strategy.230 The first and explicit goal of the sermon cycle was to revive morality through a thorough treatment of pressing issues. Stenger called upon persons “in all offices” to stand together and fulfil their duties “in order to reduce the gruesome sinning in the world”.231 Whereas discussions in the committee centred on secular and ecclesiastical authorities, Stenger here addressed all major trades in town and outlined the duties of persons in all stages of life. Considering that enfranchised parents were often seen as the third pillar of society, it is not surprising that Stenger attached great hopes to their efforts. Patres et matres familias had to ensure that their children and servants attend church service, for they were obliged to concern themselves with both the material and the spiritual well-being of their subordinates. Masters should not only ask their servants about the livestock but also go through the catechism with them. The Lord would, Stenger warned, strike godless households with poverty and condemn irresponsible householders to eternal suffering.232 The demand for domestic catechism exams relates to the second and more tacit objective: this sermon cycle developed an alternative to Elsner’s plans. If householders questioned their subordinates, pastors need not do so. Another issue was moral syllogisms. Elsner had called upon laymen to alleviate overburdened preachers; they should admonish their ‘trespassing brothers’ (Mt 18, 15) in syllo228 Mengering, Suscitabulum Conscientiae Evangelicum and Quistorp, Nimmer stiller HertzensWecker. 229 Sermon fourteen in Stenger, Tausend Zeuge and idem, Grund-Feste, second sermon on Art. Sixteen (Of Civil Affairs; 3.3.1641). 230 Sermon eleven in idem, Tausend Zeuge, pp. 257–289 (14.9.1642). 231 Ibid., pp. B2r–B2v: The demand for charity (Nächstenliebe) was relevant for all, “insonderheit die Amtspersonen in allen Ständen […] welche/ damit des Grewels in der Welt wenige werde/ eifferig zusammen treten/ vnd das jhre thun müssen/ Haußväter vnd Haußmütter bey jhren Kindern vnd Gesinde: Praeceptores bey jhren Schülern: Regenten vnd Oberherren bey jhren Vnterthanen […]”. 232 Ibid., pp. 278, 280: “Wohlan/jhr Haußväter/ich habs euch gesaget/ sehet zu/ daß jhr dermahleinst mit gutem Gewissen vor GOtt stehen müget. Fragstu doch nach deinen Hünern/ Gänsen/ Pferden/ vnd anderem Viehe/warumb nicht auch nach den Seelen deiner Kinder vnd deines Gesindes? Oder meinestu/ daß kein Gott sey/der dich deßhalben zu reden setzen werde?” See also ibid., p. 309; StAE 1-1/10A-I-1a, p. 130r.

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gisms, like the following: no whoremonger can enter into Heaven (Ephesians 5, 5), you are a whoremonger, and hence you cannot enter into Heaven.233 Stenger was not opposed to the classic form of fraternal admonishment, yet he was confident that conscience would also, on its own, bring about such logical conclusions in the hearts of sinners listening to sermons.234 Even while chastising sins “in abstracto”, the pastor did thus admonish his parishioners “specialissime”.235 This removed the need for new and more personal means of instruction, such as the home visits by the pastor. In connection with his reflections on preaching, Stenger often referred to the widespread conviction that sermons not only functioned through the word of the preacher but also through the Word of God.236 The plea for divine assistance included at the outset of all sermons was no empty formula; it rather called open the Holy Ghost to touch listeners.237 Preachers like Stenger here envisioned a powerful supplement to external social control. This argument may sound technical and of little consequence to those unfamiliar with the seventeenth-century debate on the crisis in preaching. Sermons were the main pillars of moral instruction in Lutheran churches, yet a growing number of theologians questioned their usefulness.238 The educational measures proposed by Elsner were meant to accomplish what sermons had failed to bring about, namely sincere devotion and heart-felt penitence (wahre Buße). Elsner knew that the criticism of sermons was a very delicate issue. He only briefly outlined the proper way to preach, so as to avoid the objection that his proposals served as an “offence” rather than a means of moral “edification”.239 In the end, Elsner thought sermons could only convert a few sinners. Visitations were needed to reach the masses.240 In both cycles, Stenger reserved several sermons to defend this established medium, against the pessimistic diagnosis by Elsner. The prepara233

StAE 1-1/10A-I-1a, p. 127v. Stenger, Tausend Zeuge, p. 138; see also pp. B2r, 164, 171, and 644 f. The argument was drawn from Melanchthon, see Kittsteiner, p. 181. 235 StAE 1-1/10A-I-1a, p. 105r. He demanded that pastors grow more specific and personal in their preaching (Stenger, Grund-Feste, p. 224) and he himself took great pains to accomplish this, ibid., pp. 1393–1418; idem, Tausend Zeuge, pp. 857–881. 236 Idem, Tausend Zeuge, p. 722. 237 Elsner’s reply to such arguments sounded: “Wo die notitia nicht wäre, da könte der Heylige geist sein Werck nicht haben”, StAE 1-1/10A-I-1a, p. 121v. 238 Sträter, Meditation, pp. 73–85 gives a lucid overview. 239 Elsner, Delineation, p. 59: “Was die Scharffen Gesetz Predigten anlanget, wie dieselben anzustellen, auch was vor ernstliche Vermahnungen an Alle Seelsorger vorhanden in den Scriptis Lutheri, solches könte anietzo nach der lenge erwehnet werden; weil es aber würde das ahnsehen haben, als wolte man Vhrsach geben, vielmehr Zur offension, als Zur erbawung, also laßen wirs nur bewenden beÿ einer, oder andern: […]”. His rather bland comments on sermons never grew more specific than the injunction to rub salt into the wounds, ibid. p. 60. 240 Ibid., p. 60: “Es werden ja noch etliche für handen seÿn, wan[n] sie hören die [gepredigten] Vermahnung, daß sie an ihre Tauffe gedencken werden […]”; p. 61 f: “Weil es aber Vnmöglich ist, solches alles erheben [zu] wollen mit den öffentlichen Predigten […] so muß auch eine Generalis, specialis, ja specialissima exploration vnd Visitation angestellet werden […]”. See also pp. 76–78. 234

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tion for communion offered the pastor the opportunity to instruct and admonish in person, Stenger asserted. Given the existence of six further means of personal instruction it was superfluous to demand that pastors copy Calvinists and visit all parishioners at home.241 Lutherans should shun the dogmatically suspect visitatio domestica and instead revive and respect the public confession of individual sins as a solemn ceremony of apology and reconciliation.242 Stenger’s campaign for moral improvement through traditional means paid much attention to the churchgoers. He devoted long passages to the existing weekly admonishments on the proper preparation for auricular confession and the Eucharist.243 Parishioners should reserve their Saturday evening to readings of the relevant Scriptural passages along with prayers for God to open their hearts and make it receptive to the Word.244 This earnest preparation for worship was to be followed by attentive listening in church and subsequent meditation.245 Listeners were encouraged to discuss the sermon at home and apply its messages to their own lives.246 Devout churchgoers were recommended to also attend weekly services and prayer hours and extend their reading beyond the Psalter and the Catechism to include the Bible and the plethora of devotionals.247 Appeals for meditation, in the strict sense of the term, involving physical and mental exercises, are absent from the two cycles. Stenger occasionally called upon listeners to search their conscience diligently, with “Fleiß”. Like some of his colleagues, he at one point demanded that this scrutiny grow into a daily routine. Yet, most of the time, Stenger abstained from this introspective line of thought and favoured a casuist approach. He was more interested in spelling out the moral questions relevant to the different social groups.248 This section has presented us with a traditionalist reformer. Stenger’s choice to rely on the pulpit instead of the textbook or visitation committee was, in itself, a statement of principles. He thereby meant to refute the critics who claimed that the sermon was obsolete. Stenger also polemicised in a traditionalist manner, stig241 Stenger, Tausend Zeuge, pp. 137–139, 141 f; see also p. 153 and the sharp passing remark on p. 802. Stenger repeatedly refuted the “altioris indaginis” and favoured the “media ordinaria”, e. g. StAE 1-1/10A-I-1a, pp. 128r–130r. Other opponents argued similarly, e. g. pp. 106r–106v, 124r (J. Alberti). 242 He regretted that it had devolved into a ritual of shaming. Idem, Grund-Feste, pp. 225, 1322. 243 See fn. 108 above. Where no other reference is made, the following is based on the seventh sermon addressing churchgoers (Zuhörer), idem, Tausend Zeuge, pp. 161–171. 244 Such prayers are found in [Anon.], Außerlesene Gebetlein (1628), p. A2v. 245 On the preparation and subsequent meditation, see Sträter, Meditation, pp. 85–93. 246 In addition to Stenger, Tausend Zeuge, pp. 169–171, see also idem, Grund-Feste, p. 646. 247 Idem, Tausend Zeuge, pp. 155 f. 248 Ibid., pp. 649 and 599 f: “Derhalben/ so kehre ein jeder Fleiß daran/ forsche vnd suche sein Gewissen/ […]”. Stenger here referred to the Christmas holidays as an occasion for soul-searching. Mengering sought to organise this self-scrutiny according to the weekly readings of the church year (see fn. 228). The demand for daily soul-searching was found by Quistorp (fn. 220) and by [Anon.], Trewhertzige Erinnerung, p. D5r. Further differences are outlined by Sträter, Meditation, pp. 42–67 and Kittsteiner, p. 190, based on Lutheran manuals. A contrastive, denominational comparison is Sabean, Production of the Self, pp. 13–18.

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matising alternative means of moral improvement as dangerous “novelties”. Only the overambitious and the “wise-crack” would think of rejecting existing means and “ape” whatever they encountered elsewhere. Stenger drove home the point with the proverb “omnia novitas est suspecta”.249 Stenger chose to legitimate his sermon cycle in a more sophisticated move, through a slogan made popular by Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153). He was often used to argue that present-day Christians had ‘too much knowledge (Wissen) and too little conscience’ (Gewissen). “The servant mostly knows his Lord’s will by rote,” stated Stenger, “yet his conscience has shrunk.”250 Stenger turned this reformist dichotomy (Wissen vs. Gewissen) against Elsner’s own pleas for a more comprehensive instruction. Stenger adopted a number of further reformist terms and dichotomies (e. g. Lehre vs. Leben) to take the wind out of Elsner’s sails.251 Stenger thus rallied against sanctimonious sinners (Heuchler), arguing that “Christenthumb ist kein Heuchelthum. Evangelium ist kein Eigenwillium”.252 At this point, his sermons again returned to that outer audience. The hidden sins of hypocrites inflicted a damage that did more than just to ruin their inner peace. Stenger warned time and again that these sins would also manifest themselves on the deathbed and thus bring shame on the sinner.253 Proponents of the two opposing reform plans thus struggled to control the same slogans. This resulted in a terminological affinity that can divert attention from underlying divisions. Stenger and Elsner were far from the only pastors who were debating the relative importance of malice, hypocrisy, and ignorance. Divergent diagnoses led to very different proposals on how to curb the ingrained impenitence. Stenger agreed that appeals from the pulpit had, so far, often fallen on deaf ears, yet he responded to this failure by calling out even louder.254 Elsner, by contrast, was confident that the only way forward led through other, improved means of instruction. The difference between their plans is perhaps best summed up in 249 Stenger, Tausend Zeuge, pp. 114 f (“Klüglinge”; “vngenanter liechtschwender Newling”) and pp. 130 f on ambition (Ehrgeiz). Idem, Grund-Feste, p. 1328: “da wil er es flugs nach affen/und suchet ihm ein Ansehen zu machen/ als were er der Mann/ der die Kirche reformieren kan”; p. 1329: “alle Newerung ist gefährlich und verdächtig.” See also StAE 1-1/10A-I-1a, p. 73v and idem, Predigten Vom Ewigen Leben, pp. A3v–A4r. 250 Idem, Tausend Zeuge, p. 5: “Scientae multùm, Conscientiae parùm. Wissenschafft deß Rechten vnd Guten hat man vollauf/der Knecht weis seines Herrn Willen auswendig wohl/ Aber des Gewissen ist gar wenig worden. Wenig sind darauff bedacht/ wie sie ein reines vnd vnverletztes Gewissen haben vnd behalten/ oder […] wie es wieder geheilet werden mögte.” For similar contrasts between Wissen and Gewissen, see fn. 34 and Kaufmann, Universität, p. 595. 251 On Lehre and Leben see fn. 34 and Stenger, Grund-Feste, pp. 316, 459 f. Stenger’s appropriation of Duke Ernst’s visitation decree of 1640 fits into this picture, ibid., p. 587. 252 Stenger, Tausend Zeuge, p. 874. The meaning of the untranslatable pun is: “Christianity is not hypocrisy. The Gospel is not equal to individual wilfulness.” 253 The motif of moral condemnation on one’s deathbed lies at the heart of the second and twentyfourth sermons (on bad conscience and its awakening) in Stenger, Tausend Zeuge. The motif reappears on pp. 20, 614, 647, 650, 831 f. Invectives against Heuchler are found in ibid., pp. 614–619. 254 Particularly fulminant formulations in idem, Grund-Feste, p. 589.

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the roles awarded to parishioners. Whilst Elsner viewed them as simple or even ignorant believers in need of instruction,255 Stenger envisioned active listeners. This was one of the more innovative aspects of the traditionalist reformers; they insisted that one should no longer view parishioners as mere objects of pastoral instruction. Instead, churchgoers were (again) portrayed as subjects meant to take an independent role in their personal edification.256 It is worth to stress such differences between the traditionally-minded and those in favour of pedagogical innovation. We can hereby reach a more perspicacious understanding of the reform movement that was first outlined by Hans Leube.257 Johannes Wallmann has recently pointed to other important issues on which the reform-minded pastors divided, namely by the devotionals and the role assigned to instruction.258 To my knowledge, no attempt has been made to group reform projects according to their varying stances on the alleged crisis in preaching. The group of traditionalist reformers defended the sermon and rejected the more innovative means of instruction; they had a tendency to place conscience above intellect and favour Johann Gerhard and Balthasar Meisner before Johann Arndt. The gradual group-building can often be retraced in prefaces, dissertations, and the correspondence between theologians. These texts call for a separate, systematic study. This avenue for future research can only be outlined here. During the 1640s, Stenger was still a young pastor whose very parochial education placed him in the second or third row. He was tied to outside theological circles by leading figures like Zapf and the Jena professor, Johann Major.259 Through Major he came to know the writings by Arnold Mengering. At some point after 1636, Stenger helped Major to be exempted from Swedish war taxes by interceding with the officers based in Erfurt.260 Major probably drew Stenger’s attention to Mengering’s disputation for the doctoral degree that Major had presided.261

255 Elsner, Delineation, pp. 4 (“der Gemein man auch gar nichts Weist Von der Christlichen lehre, sondern lebet dahin Wie das Vieh”), 43 (“wie das tumme Vieh”), et passim. 256 Sträter, Meditation, p. 84 notes the tradition behind this (re)discovery of the listener. 257 Leube. 258 Wallmann, Pietas contra Pietismus on the reception of Johann Arndt and Johann Gerhard’s devotionals. Wallmann, Spener, pp. 29 f on Johann Schmidt and the reform plans sponsored by Duke Ernst. W. Diehl, “Predigtreform” comments on a late set of negative Gutachten (1667–1668) by otherwise reform-friendly Hessian theologians. 259 On Major see Gerhard, Sämtliche Leichenpredigten, pp. 355–359. Stenger had served as a deacon to August Kromayer (1586–1638), whose brother, Johannes, headed the Weimar opposition. 260 Motschmann, Vierdte Sammlung (1731), p. 577; see the above fn.s 78 and 182. 261 Major/Mengering, De Impedimentis Conversionis, paragraph 48, cited by Stenger, Tausend Zeuge, p. 719. Leube, p. 113 cites a Straßburg-reprint from 1697; another edition dates to Frankfurt 1676, VD17 39:130830G. Despite being of similar age and origin, Mengering and Stenger never studied at any of the same universities. Mengering attended lectures by reform-minded professors in Wittenberg and Jena (see p. 140 in this chapter). During his time in Jena (1618–1620) he developed close ties to Johann Major. Billig, pp. 2 f.

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Stenger commended the disputation and oriented his sermons towards works by Mengering.262

Chroniclers’ comments Stenger and Elsner later reconciled their differences; in the mid-1650s, Elsner even asked Stenger to hold his funeral sermon.263 Yet their controversial exchanges had led to long-lasting divisions in Erfurt. Once theologians carried debates to the pulpit, they often gained an additional, autonomous drive. Cries of heresy and diabolical activity obviously captured the attention of churchgoers. They noted the sharp accusations and in reformulating them often also exaggerated them. Such listeners took on very active roles, though not those envisioned by Stenger. Polemics thus threatened to accelerate out of the theologians’ control. In late March 1641, as the second commission began its work, debates in Erfurt and Central Thuringia had already reached this critical point. Within a matter of weeks, commission meetings were being discussed by parishioners. They apparently found fault with the “Papal sentences” in the reforms.264 The controversies became the talk of the town, and the garrison as well. The visitators sent by Duke Ernst encountered broad opposition when they arrived in February 1642 to question ducal subjects who had sought refuge in Erfurt. Townsmen and soldiers made disparaging jokes about the new Lord’s Prayer invented in Gotha.265 Telling insights into lay reactions are found in two town chronicles. In April 1641, at an early stage of the controversy, an anonymous opponent devoted a separate entry to the disconcerting “new piety” invented by Elsner’s party.266 He portrayed the “schism in teaching” taking place in the Ministry as the work of the Devil. He had misled the Saxon princes, who had once supported Luther, causing 262 See fn.s 176, 222, and Leube, pp. 120 f. Compare Mengering, Tobias Conscientiosus with the narration of Tob 2, 12–14 at the opening of sermon thirty-two in Stenger, Tausend Zeuge (p. 804 f). Mengering’s sermons on Tobit were added to the Altenburg-edition of his famed ‘War Belial’ (VD17 23:282191T). Stenger, Grund-Feste, p. 702 referred to this edition when he commented on military atrocities. 263 Stenger, Abriß und Muster trewer Lehrer, p. A3r. Stenger’s son Johann Melchior (1638–1710) studied by Elsner. 264 Pastor Wanschleben warned that parishioners had begun to note the divisions. He insisted that “[d]as Wort Pabstentzen wäre von ihm nicht gedacht worden, Beruffe sich auf sein auditorium. Elsner interloquitur: Hans Schatz hette es gesaget, und andere Sachen mehr.” StAE 1-1/10A-I-1a, p. 74r. Wanschleben again excused himself, noting on page 145v: “das wäre ihnen [sc.: ihm] wol hiebevor, als Er noch nicht in der Stadt gewesen, nach Sömmern [sc.: Sömmerda] zugetragen wordenn Wann Er selber von der buse Predigte, Sprächen die Leüthen, es krätzete gewaltig.” 265 Waas (1912/13), pp. 354–357; see also p. 371. 266 Heading: “Exercitium Pietatis: Von der Newen Gotteß Furcht”, [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 15, pp. 55v–56r. All passages quoted below are highlighted in the following footnote.

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them to introduce the superfluous “new teachings” that were now infecting Erfurt. Repentance was much needed in Germany, so the new measures were “apparently” (dem Schein nach) not to be discarded. However on closer look, the chronicler was convinced that the old teachings offered better guidelines. He was concerned that “the diabolical Anabaptists would creep in, hidden beneath this cover. May God protect us against this, Amen.”267 A later commentary written in favour of the Gotha-reforms noted the same widespread opposition. In 1643, the introduction of the supplementary Catechism questionnaire “caused great offence and disagreement” in Erfurt. The ignorant multitude decried the novelty of the pseudo-Decalogue and was unable to see the benefits of these reforms.268 The author of this note seems to have been no layman, yet the polemics mentioned by both chroniclers took the crude and simple forms that ensured their popularity. Mock verses and references to the Devil were much easier to memorise than the dispute over the relative importance of Original Sin and the gaps in education. The clerical opposition obviously shared the concern with keeping the Word pure with the literate segments in town that were writing chronicles. Samuel Fritz thus, in other connections, wrote combative apologies on Christ’s presence in the host and reproduced the long list of Papal inventions

267 Ibid., pp. 54v–56r (all emphases added by me). The prior entry concerned the proximity of Swedish and Imperial armies: “Weil Wir Vnß ni[c]ht haben daran kehren: Noch bekehren Wollen Vn[d] An gesehen daß Wir frühe Zeitig ge Nueg für dem Vnglück Welches Vber Teutschlandt kommen: durch den getrewen diener Gotteß Luthero: Auch Andern dienern gotteß ge Warnet Vndt Zu der Buße Ver Manet Worden: Aber Weder Nutz noch frucht geschaffet bej Vnß. darumb dorffen Wir Vnß [55v] Nuhn nicht Wundern daß es Vnß Also gehet […] darumb haben Wir hohe Zeit zu bethen ob der Liebe Gott noch Gnade für recht gehen Laßen: Vndt sich Vber Vnß Wieder Er barmen: Vnd Welchenn Noch Zu rethen: dem Jst Auch Zu helffen: Exercitium Pietatis: Von der Newen Gotteß Furcht: [Marginal addition: Hertzog Ernst richtet eine New Gotteß furcht An] Daß Nuhn An dem kein Zweiffel: Wir ob er Zehlet. Jst Am hellen Tage: Sondern eß be Zejget es Auch noch Vber daß: Welche grosse Ver Endterunge Zu folgen Pfleget: Wan die geistlichen: Jn dem Ministerium: sich Jn der Lehre nicht Vertragen könnte: Sondern einer hier: der Andere dort hin auß Wil: Zu dem darff man keiner Newen Lehre: So Wir Nuhr die Alte gehalten: Vndt darnach gelebet hetten: darumb gehet es Auch Also: daß Alles Zer rinnet Vndt Ver schwindet: […] [56r] […] Aber Waß hat der Teuffel Zu Thun den[n] daß er Zwie Spalt in der Lehre an Stifftet: Vndt daß Rauthen Crentzlein [a heraldic symbol for the House of Wettin], die löblichen fürsten Zu sachsen [… das] gebluehet, Zu Luthers Vndt Vnsern Zejtten: Wil [der Teufel] Nuhn Auch An dem selbigen solches Zu beschmejssen Wieder den Anfang Nehmen: ob Zwar solches [sc.: die neue Gottesfurcht] dem scheÿn Nach: nicht Zu Ver Werffen: Vndt hoch Nöthig Wehre: daß die Leute Von Jhren Loßen Leben: schweren Vndt fluchen: Ab Ließen: Wo es dahin Zu bringen nich[t] schedtlich Wehre: Aber Vndter dießen Schein: dörffte der Teufflische Wiederteuffer: mit ein schleichen: dafür Vnß Gott be Wahre Amen:” 268 “dis sind die H. Zehen Geboth [∥] die uns gab der herzog von Goth [∥] durch [the court preacher Christoph] brun[ch] horsten dem diener sein [∥] Wohl auf dem Schloß Grimmenstein”. StAE 5/101–3, Vol. 1, p. 265. Ibid: “welches großes ärgernüß Zanck und uneinigkeit [v]eruhrsachte”. This eighteenthcentury chronicler relied heavily on sections from Zacharias Hogel’s chronicle, which have since been lost; see App. I. 9.

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found in Lutheran church histories.269 Another equally devout segment of baptised Lutherans were indifferent to the delimitation of piety along denominational lines. They remain largely anonymous in the sources examined for this study.270 The issue of novelty has continued to interest later commentators on the regional reforms, albeit for the opposite reason. Historians studying the early phases of the Lutheran Pietist movement have searched for proto-Pietist proposals in the programmes of the early seventeenth century. They attach a positive value to the innovative elements. The Erfurt-controversy has here attracted attention due to the conventicle-like meetings of laymen outside the church. Johannes Wallmann has tentatively ranked them as the first lay meetings in the style of the later ‘collegia pietatis’. He bases this hypothesis on a note in a manuscript account written by a locally-born Pietist pastor: “Collegia pietatis were held in Erfurt under the auspices of this god-loving Duke [of Gotha] and they were visited by the councillors and learned men, [Rudolf] Geisler, [Johann] Hallenhorst, [Henning] Kniphof, and even some clergymen [like Michael] Hertz and [Christoph] Floccius.”271 As other early Pietist church histories, this 1694-account sought to legitimise the new religious movement by (re)constructing its venerable tradition.272 This retrospective objective did not influence the following short, independent entry on these meetings. It also notes that the house meetings in Erfurt were linked to Duke Ernst, yet it adds important details on the time, the location, and the participants. The Duke’s court preacher, Christoph Brunchorst (1604–1664), introduced such an “Exercitium Pietatis” in Gotha. The first meetings in Erfurt took place at some point in 1642 in the house zum Schweinskopf. It was begun by those who had fled from Gotha territory to Erfurt because of the war. Whilst “several members of the Ministry approved of the exercitium, the remainder rejected it and preached harshly against it.”273 269 Fritz, Cosmographia. App. I. 23, pp. 31r, 35r, at times with reference to the drastic deaths of the idolaters in the Old Testament, such as Corah (p. 0r based on Num 16) and the sons of Aaron (Lev 10, 1–3), p. 86r: “Gott der Herr wil haben seinen Gottes dienst Vnverfolget man sol nichts frembdes zu GOtte Wort thun, Man sol nichts neuweß in die Kirchen bringen, Man sol das H. Abendt Mahl halden wie es der Herr Christus eingesetzet hat.” On Papist inventions, Fritz, Cronica. App. I. 24, pp. 154, 159 f, 290 f, et passim. 270 E. g. StAE 1-1/10a-I-11, pp. 54v–55r. Countess Erdmute Juliane of Gleichen (1587–1633) thus supported exiled Catholic clerics (App. I. 2), a deposed Lutheran pastor, and the pariah Esaias Stiefel (Weiß, Lebenswelten, pp. 503 f, 464–471). 271 Wallmann, Erfurt, p. 408 transcribes the passage in Johann Melchior Stenger: Von der übern Pietisten entstandenen Kirchen-Unruhe. Ms. 1694 (SUBG Acta pietistica VII, Nr. 5) and adds prosopographical notes. The quote ends: “Aber nachdem der grössere hauffe der prediger sich da wieder geleget, ist das gute fürhaben […] wiederum liegend blieben”. 272 On this and further problems with J. M. Stenger’s account, see Venables, Pietist fruits, p. 106. 273 StAE 5/101-3, p. 252: “Das Exercitium Pietatis so Hertzog Ernestus Pius Zu Gotha durch seinen hoff-Prediger brun[c]horsten in seinen landt hatte einführen lassen, wurde in Erffurth durch die jenigen so des krieges halber dahin gewichen in dem hauße Zum Schweins Köpffen auch angefangen welches auch etliche aus dem Ministerio approbirten, die andern aber verwarffen und hefftig darwieder predigten.”

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The scarcity of sources in this particular case is due to the marginal importance of these meetings. House meetings were neither central to the Erfurt reformers nor to Duke Ernst. The admonitions published by the Duke aimed at the sanctification of the household. Each individual householder was to continue to head the collective praying, singing, and reading aloud in his home.274 The meetings of learned men and clerics outside the twin frameworks of the household and church were short-lived. Yet they need not necessarily be viewed as a conventicle-like alternative to existing fora. The term ‘exercitium pietatis’, used in the account, did not signal critical dissent. If anything, it rather asserted the orthodox character of the meetings.275 None of the participants mentioned in the 1694-account are known to have separated themselves from their parish church. Elsner thus upheld the established definition of the visible church as including sanctimonious pretenders in his ‘Thorough Account of Christianity’ (1643).276 Researchers tracing the roots of the Pietist movement in the form that Philipp Jakob Spener gave it are therefore advised to look to Brunchorst in Gotha rather than Elsner in Erfurt. It may, on the whole, be of even more use to regard the broader phenomenon of conventicle-meetings in Lutheran lands.277 This present study makes no attempt to trace the roots of Spener’s programme, yet it can still be useful to compare some of his positions with those of the preachers encountered in this chapter. This comparison helps to introduce the last of the distinct theological positions adopted in Erfurt during the 1640s, namely Zacharias Hogel’s radical apocalyptic stance. Here we have to turn from the structural differences between the territorial church and the “ecclesiola in ecclesia”278 to consider the varying expectations about temporal events to come. Spener’s consolatory “hope for better times in the church” is well known.279 Prior to this imminent improvement, Spener expected two events to come to pass: the conversion of the Jews and a further fall of Rome. The latter would send the Pope far beneath the nadir that he already fallen to in 1517.

274

Fn. 232 and StAE 1-1/X.A-I, 1a, p. 123v. On Gotha, Graff, pp. 244 f; Venables, Pietist fruits, pp. 104–107, esp. fn. 55. 275 See Wallmann, Pietas contra Pietismus, p. 8 with reference to Gerhard, Exercitium Pietatis Quotidianum (1612). Cf. the usage of the term in fn. 267 above. 276 See Art. 12 “Von der Heiligen Christlichen Kirchen […]” in Elsner, Gründlicher Bericht (1687) e. g. pp. 669 f, 705–709 and Art. 14. (Vom Gebet), no. XXIX: “Wo und an welchem Ort soll man beten?” (p. 872 f). 277 See Weiß, Lebenswelten, pp. 409–414 et passim; Bugge-Amundsen; and Strom, Early Conventicles, with further references. 278 See also Wallmann, Spener, pp. 32–36. 279 The following is based on Blaufuss, Chiliasmus, pp. 88 f and 107, with reference to Spener, Pia desideria, p. 519: “Hoffnung einer besserung in der Kirchen/ in erwartender bekehrung der Juden und grössern Fall deß Päbstlichen Roms”. Krauter-Dierolf adds many details.

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The two main protagonists in Erfurt examined so far differed from Spener and from each other in characteristic ways. Elsner’s hope for improvement was centred on the ongoing war; collective repentance would eventually relieve Germany from the ongoing war. Yet Elsner refuted the more hopeful, millenarian positions.280 He never entered into lengthy apocalyptic speculations, nor did Stenger. His diagnoses remained with the commonplace phrase that is placed on the title page of his sermon cycle on conscience. It spoke of a pressing need for moral instruction “in these final thoroughly corrupt times”.281 He delved on the events that were bound to take place on and after the Day of Judgement. There was no need to determine exactly at which point in time this Judgement would come, and what would happen prior to it. To Stenger, the Day of Judgement was close, because death was close. His eschatological exhortations to meditate on the quatuor novissimis were aimed at moving his listeners to repent.282 Zacharias Hogel struck a much more apocalyptic tone that grew uncomfortably concrete and political. His chronological calculations were not limited to church history.283 Hogel demanded that all true Christians follow God’s Will and support the imminent march on Rome to physically destroy this Spiritual Babel. The third and final section of this chapter examines the controversy which Hogel caused by such calls.

Zacharias Hogel and the decline of radical Lutheran apocalypticism Zacharias Hogel and the decline of radical Lutheran apocalypticism The Erfurt Council was, for reasons explained below, hostile to such militant millenarianism. In an attempt to win over councillors, Hogel addressed the problem of the absent peace that had been highlighted by reformers like Elsner. His letter to the Council from March 1645 established that there was a great uncertainty as to what course “the long-lasting war” might take. Pastors were obliged “to deliberate on the means necessary to help the poor, suppressed Christians out of the trouble.” Hogel had, by now, found a clear-cut answer to this question in the Scripture. God had withheld peace because His People – the Lutherans – had ignored the “divine war order”. Revelation 18, 4–6 called for them to march on 280 His opponents’ allegations that he envisioned a Rosicrucian “Golden Age” are misleading. Compare fn. 189 above to Elsner, Gründlicher Bericht, pp. 959–961, Art. 17, nos. XXIV and XXIII. Note also Albrecht-Birkner, Reformation des Lebens, pp. 81 f. 281 Stenger, Tausend Zeuge […] In vier und dreyssig Predigten/Männiglich/bey diesen letzten grundbösen Zeiten zur Besserung vorgestellet […] (my emphasis). Elsner, Gründlicher Bericht (1687), p. 422 spoke of the “letzt[e] Viertel-Stunde der Welt”. 282 See esp. Stenger, Grund-Feste, pp. 712–717. A comparable paraenetic (as opposed to a political) focus is outlined by Lehmann, Deutung der Endzeitzeichen, pp. 23 f and Sommer, pp. 183–189. See also Wölfel, Salomon Lentz, p. 308; Korn, passim. 283 Compare Pohlig, pp. 468, 476, 491–493.

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the Babylonian Rome or else “be partakers of her sinnes, and […] receiue […] her plagues”.284 The “angered Lord” could only be placated by complying with the command in the said passage.285 This resolve was the fruit of an early and lasting interest in the Revelation and anti-Papal polemics. In 1634, Hogel had rushed to defend Luther’s honour in one of his first disputations.286 Years later, he planned and allegedly received Meyfart’s permission to preach on the Revelation in a series of academic, afternoon sermons.287 By March 1645, he had already been deliberating upon the subject “for several years”.288 For some time, Hogel mostly kept these thoughts to himself. At the committee meetings in 1641/1642 he thus shared Elsner’s hope that moral sanctions could further repentance and, perhaps, bring about peace.289 It was controversial to shift calls from repentance to apocalyptical action. Hogel described a lengthy inner struggle with thoughts that had “burned themselves into his bones”.290 It might be tempting to attribute intense apocalyptical beliefs to a loss of mental equilibrium.291 One, at that point, should then high284 Cf. Revelation 18, 4–6: “And J heard another voice from heauen, saying, Come out of her, my people, that yee be not partakers of her sinnes, and that yee receiue not of her plagues: For her sinnes haue reached vnto heauen, and God hath remembred her iniquities. Reward her euen as shee rewarded you and double vnto her […]”. 285 The quotes come from Hogel’s supplication, dated March 11, 1645: Everyone knows that we live in “angstliche Zeiten”, yet no-one knows “wo es doch endlich mit dem so langwierigem kriege, davon alle lande beben, hinauslangen müge”; “den mitteln nachzudencken, Wie dem armen gepresten Christenvolck aus dem unrathe zu helfen sey”; “wie der erzürnete Gott zu Versöhnen sey”; “diese gotliche parænesis und götliches kriegsgebot”. The supplication is paginated pp. 15r–18v (quotes on 15v and 17r) in the bundle: “Bericht Wie es mit Herrn M. Zachariæ Hogels Apocalyptischen tractat, Theolaus genant, hergangen, vnd was nach dessen Publication darbey vorgangen. A.o 1645.” StAE 1-1/X. A.I, 11 (67 leafs); see also p. 26v, no. 40. The keywords on the frontpage of the said treatise are: THEOLAUS ΝΟΥΘΕΤΟΥΜΕΝΟΣ [Nuthetumenos] de Tempore suo secundùm APOCALYPSIN S. JOHANNIS. Pro PACE UNIVERSALI pie promovenda […]. 286 Großhain/Hogel, Disputatio Apologetica (1634). 287 A plan which Hogel claimed was interrupted by Meyfart’s death. StAE 1-1/X. A.I, 11, p. 54r; compare StAE 5/101-3, p. 267. 288 See fn. 290. 289 StAE 1-1/X. A.I, 11, pp. 120v, 124v–125r, and esp. 130v–132v. 290 Descriptions of inner struggles served a rhetorical objective explored by Kaufmann, Erfahrungsmuster. Hogel hereby tried to convince sceptics around him that he had acted in accordance with his conscience when he published his treatise: “Derhalben ich etliche jahre her in den gedancken gestanden, dieweil diss wort gottes Von den Evangelischen Predigern nicht wachsam satt in acht genommen worden, sie seyen nicht nur geringe ursach derer so langwierigen plagen. Doch was hab ich sollen machen? Der geringste, ainige gegen so Vielen? Und hie in Erfurt? ie länger ich mich gewehret, diss zu treiben offentlich, ie mehr hat folgende propositio major in meinem gebeinen gebrennet, Alle Prediger des Worts, so Zur Zeit der siebenden Schalen leben, sollen Gottes Volck Warnen, das es sich mit Babel nicht behänge[n], oder ihrem Reiche längere frist geben, sondern den so lang von den Theologis beschriebenen Römer Zug mit Gott thun solle.” StAE 1-1/X. A.I, 11, p. 16v. Hogel stressed that he had pleaded Christ to either confirm the orthodoxy of this proposition or free him from these thoughts, p. 17r. 291 As does Wölfel, Krankheit based on Hogel’s more documented colleague, Meyfart. Wölfel favours the medical diagnosis ‘endogenic depression’.

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light Hogel’s short lapse into ‘secret melancholy’ some years earlier.292 Explaining his apocalyptic tracts by referring to these melancholic phases nevertheless remains speculative and problematic. Contemporary Lutherans portrayed apostasy and some prophetic claims as symptoms of insanity. This judgement had not yet begun to constrain apocalyptic teachings. Retrospective pathological diagnoses of religious acts and experiences often reveal more about the standards employed by modern interpreters than about the historical individuals under study.293 Once Hogel decided to announce his insights, he was, by any account, hard to stop. He circulated theses amongst colleagues in a Latin deliberation and asked for their approval. The manuscript met mixed reactions. After some rejections outside of Erfurt, he eventually had it printed in town.294 The Council’s subsequent sanctions (described further below) did not silence Hogel: the short discussion paper from 1645 was followed by a long, acrid treatise in German, in 1646.295 Soon after the Peace of Westphalia had been announced, Hogel once more warned that it ran counter to divine will and would not last long.296 He stuck by these convictions until his death, publicly defending them in an ‘Apocalyptic Pocket Book’ that was issued in 1674.297

292 At some point after 1636, God burdened Hogel with poverty “[und liess] ihn auch in eine heimliche Melancholei fallen”, Stenger, Leich-Sermon, p. C2r. The brief note suggests that his melancholy state was a reaction to the poverty and was not caused by an imbalance in the bodily juices. On the distinction, Koch, Umgang mit Schwermut, p. 232. 293 MacDonald gives a thorough study of the shifting standards. 294 Hogel, Theolaus. The main protagonist Theolaus discusses the hypotheses presented by another fictive figure named Eretissima. Their dialogue focuses on controversies concerning Revelation exegesis. On its circulation, see StAE 1-1/X. A.I, 11, pp. 17v–18r, 21v (no. 10), and p. 61r. According to anonymous reports, the work had first been rejected by censors in towns like Jena and Nürnberg, p. 20v. 295 Many of the 708 pages are cramped with small print. The rhetorical question on the titlepage sums up the author’s argument. Hogel: ANTIPSEUDIRENICON APOCALYPTICUM. Das ist/ Der Edle Evangelische Nebucadnetzar, des Volcks Gottes/ Auff die offtgetriebene kümmerliche Frage/ Wie es doch hernach gehen werde/ Aus dem Propheten S. Daniele vnd der gantzerklärten Offenbahrung S. Johannis, […] zu Seiner nochmaligen Erinnerung/ Ob Er/bey jetziger Zeit der Siebenden Schalen des Göttlichen Zorns auff das Röm. Pabstthumb / lieber durch einige Fortsetzung der Waffen desselben weitere Dempffung/dem Evangelio zu freyem Lauff durch die Welt vnd dem geoffenbahrten Rathe Gottes nach/ glücklich befördern / oder noch auff eine Zeit vermittelst eines vnverantwortlichen Friedenschlusses/ CHristo zuwider/vnglücklich auff halten wolle/ Aus schuldiger Liebe zur bedrängten Kirchen offentlich beantwortet […]. Stettin 1646. Hogel concluded the preface on Michaelmas (29.9), p. D4v. See the variant VD17 3:316390T (published s.l.) and the reprint from 1647 (VD17 1:084100F). 296 Hogel, Gamaliel – a shorter duodecimo treatise with even worse print. The argumentation was virtually unchanged, only denser. The preface is dated Erfurt, November 10, 1648. 297 This brief treatise was also published in the duodecimo format, Hogel, Vade mecum Apocalypticum. An unpublished apocalyptic treatise with the title “Der Feuer=rothe Sudstern” from c.1673/1674 is mentioned in Spener, Briefe Vol. 1, pp. 778–783. See also the section “mit des Teutschen Cleophae seltzamer Avisen von S. Johanne” added to Hogel, Papatus Diabolicus (1659).

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Hogel in his persistent advocacy resembles Stenger and Elsner. These preachers all saw themselves as watchmen on campaign against the Devil, answering to Christ alone. Yet Hogel viewed his diabolical opponents within an apocalyptic framework and he wrote in a more hurried manner. He himself admitted to drawing up several manuscript texts “in a heated” spur.298 This phrase also characterises the railing style in his printed works. One can, on a more positive note, point to his extensive readings. The short, posthumous biography speaks of a boy gifted with remarkable memory, a “fiery spirit”, and a ravenous appetite for books. His parents often “had to trick him away from books.”299 It was books which helped Hogel “to refresh his spirit” and recover from his melancholic lapse. Judging by his writings, these readings centred on polemical and historical works.300 Whilst Elsner was a pedagogue at heart, and Stenger is best described as a musician and preacher, one can safely call Hogel a chronicler and chronologist. He devoted large amounts of his spare time to writing history and correlating historical events with the prophetic visions seen by Daniel and John. Hogel examined the history of the world in order to determine when and how it would enter its final phase. His chronological tables from 1645 and 1646 were the outcome of several months, if not years, of studies. Experts of the day will have recognised idiosyncratic imprints. One of the most telling sections is found in the final sixth and seventh pages of the “Orthodox Table of the Apocalyptic Ages” that concluded his first treatise of 1645. The sixteen columns in the tables convey the intricate nature of the correlations. Hogel delved deeply into historical tomes to organise the events from the more than fifteen hundred years since the Revelation of John (96), according to the seven seals and the seven trumpet blows described there (Rev 6–11).301 He thereby attached much importance to the reign of Constantine the Great (306–337) and identified the twelve years following the Council of Nicaea (325) as the peaceful, but short, transitory age of the seventh seal (Rev 8, 1–5). It had been interrupted by the first trumpet blow and the renewed liberation of the Antichristian dragon after Constantine’s death (337) (see the fifth and sixth column in Figure Eight). Hogel explained to his contemporaries that their epoch lay at the end of the sixth blow, 298

“[I]n calore concipirt”. Hogel here referred to his assertive supplication cited in fn.s 285 and 290. Three days later (14.3.1645), he had written aphorisms related to his hypotheses StAE 1-1/X. A.I, 11, pp. 53r–53v; they are stored on pp. 28r–34r. 299 Stenger, Leich-Sermon, p. C1v. His “treffliche Gedächtniß und Nachsinnigkeit” were already felt at a young age and his “feuriger Geist” was encouraged by an early admission to the Gymnasium. Hogel exhibited an “unersättlichen Fleiß in seinen Lectionibus”, wherefore his parents “ihn offt listiglich von Büchern weg reitzen müssen.” 300 Ibid.: “seinen Geist zu fleißigem Studiren anzufrischen.” One is reminded of Meyfart, who fought his own melancholic phases by honing his oratorical skills, Trunz, pp. 207 f. Hogel’s printed feud with Catholic authors stretches into the 1660s; a typical contribution is VD17 12:173054H. His historical studies flowed into the manuscript chronicle described in App. I. 9. 301 An elaborate and more narrative repetition of the argument is the APOCALYPSIS APPLICATA in Hogel, Antipseudirenicon, pp. 460–502.

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No. of columns 1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9–10

11–16

Figure Eight: Zacharias Hogel: THEOLAUS […]. Erfurt 1645 pp. 74 f From the “Orthodox Table of the Apocalyptic Ages” (TABULA CATHOLICA EPOCHARUM APOCALYPTICARUM, pp. 69–75) describing events from 1 A. C. to 1653 and the Day of Judgement.

which had begun in 605, when Satan had elevated the Pope as head of the Church (fourth column).302 So far, Hogel followed the chronology favoured by Lutheran exegetes. His calculations thus gave much more room to the 1260 days of persecution (Rev 11, 3) than, for example, the number 666 (13, 18). He equalled these forty-two angelic months to the period from 338 to 1597.303 Since this number of days had recently 302

Ibid., pp. 467 f, 472–475, 493; Hogel dubbed the Pope ‘The Eighth Head’ and ‘the blasphemous animal’ (e. g. p. 504). The third column counted the period elapsed since 596, when the threat posed against the Roman Empire had shifted from the northern and western pagan tribes to the eastern peoples, living across the Euphrates. Compare Pohlig, pp. 482–484. 303 Ibid., pp. 73–78 and the references in the index, p. E3v. For related adaptations see pp. 214–216 (especially on Philipp Nicolai’s calculation) and Leppin, pp. 59–76.

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passed, Hogel included the numbers 1290 and 1335 found in Daniel 12, 11–12: this ‘extended age of the Antichrist’ (sixth column) would elapse in 1672.304 The arguments that made these correlations controversial to Lutheran colleagues are found in columns eight and fifteen. In the latter column, Hogel noted that the millennial rule of the Gospel across the globe was yet to come: the Antichristian dragon would be beaten and tied down for a short period before the final apocalyptic battles would ensue. The dominant Lutheran reading claimed that the rule of the Gospel had already begun in the past. Leading theologians had recently condemned the stance adopted by Hogel as “subtle millenarianism” (chiliasmus subtilis).305 Equally controversial was the eighth column concerning the second cry (clamor, Geschrei) against Babel. It was evident to all Lutheran commentators that the Papacy had been given a major blow in 1517 (128 years prior to 1645); Luther’s Ninety-five Theses were often likened to the angelic cry of Rev 14, 8.306 It was more problematic to claim that Rev 18, 2 amounted to a second cry against Babel.307 Hogel was adamant that such a second cry existed and was as important as the first cry. The first cry had led to the spiritual slaying of Babylonian Rome. The second cry would culminate in its physical destruction. God’s People should burn Rome down to the ground like Carthage and Troy.308 This second cry had already been shouted out by a peasant from Saxony named Johann Werner (1599–after 1669). The series of angelic visions that Werner received from 1629 onwards (column eight) had been described in a set of much-read pamphlets first issued between 1638 and 1642 and reprinted in the early 1640s.309 Hogel was strongly committed to the divine inspiration of this controversial prophet. It was “just as certain” that Werner was a God-sent messenger as it was certain that God had elected Luther.310

304

Hogel, Antipseudirenicon, pp. 78–91, 111, and esp. p. 86. “Draconis ligati ad breve tempus” (column fifteen); further cross-references on page E4r in the index to Hogel, Antipseudirenicon, e. g. to page 582, where he distanced himself from a literal reading of the thousand-year reign (Rev 20, 3–7). On the symbolic reading of Christ’s reign and its marginal position, see Wallmann, Chiliasmus; Pohlig, pp. 478–480. Backus, Chapter 5 instructs English readers about early traditions. 306 When counting years after a given event, Hogel considered the year itself as Year One. Hence his second column stated that 129 years had passed between 1517 and 1645. 307 Hogel, Antipseudirenicon, 3. Einrede, pp. 379, 494, 508, 515–519, esp. p. 517. 308 Ibid., pp. 563 f. 309 The title of his initial pamphlet conveys the solemn tone. Johann Werner: Selbsteigene Beschreibung etzlicher Visionen Welche ihm sind von Gott/ wegen des Zustandes der Lutherischen Kirchen und ihrer Widerwertigen […] gezeiget worden. Auff Göttlichen Befehl […] vom Autore selbst in öffentlichen Druck gegeben. [s.l.] 1638. An analysis and documentation of his writings is found by J. Beyer, Lutheran Lay Prophets, Chapter 6 and Bibliography. 310 Nordström, p. 15 rightly noted Hogel’s support, though without specific references. See Haase, p. 73 and Hogel, Antipseudirenicon, pp. 495 f: “so mügen wir nicht anderst sprechen/ als das/ so gewiß es ist/daß GOtt das erste Geschrey durch den hocherleuchteten/wiewol ordentlicher Weise 305

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This comment on Werner’s prophecies helps us to understand how Hogel managed to present the on-going war as the crucial stage in an apocalyptic scenario. To fully grasp the scenario summed up in the table, one merely needs to add that the chronology placed this ‘second cry’ (Rev 18, 4; 1629) alongside the events at the end of Revelation 11 and 16: Hogel identified Luther and his followers as the “two witnesses” (Rev 11, 3). The Papal victories that led to the Edict of Restitution (1629) were identified as the temporary defeat described in Revelation 11, 7–11. Lutherans had been overthrown and lay half-dead in the streets for three and a half years (see the second column: “Jacent insepulti”).311 Gustavus Adolphus had revived them and initiated the earthquake of Revelation 11, 13 in a military form. The war that had shaken Germany and Europe since c.1618–1620 was the sixth vial of wrath poured down on Rome (Rev 16, 12–16). The first phase had been a prelude, assembling armies to give battle. The Papists then suffered their initial defeat at Breitenfeld (1631) and were continuously (!) being defeated in this ongoing Armageddon (Rev 16, 16).312 It now was time for the “evangelical Nebuchadnezzars” to gather their armies and march on Rome. Hogel instructed rulers of the monarchies that made up the ten horns (Dan 7; Rev 13, 1) that “these current times” were “the age of the seventh vial”.313 Apart from the exegetical problems314 inherent to Hogel’s inventive re-ordering of the Revelation, his application of the Scripture to the present-day events raised practical and political complications. The claim that the victorious march begun by Gustavus Adolphus in 1630 had continued until this day, almost without interruption, was disputable, to say the least. Hogel presented the defeat at Nördlingen (1634) as an isolated setback and was forced to comment on the death of Gustavus Adolphus. Just as Christ had enjoyed his true glory after the Ascension to Heaven, the Swedes too, Hogel claimed, celebrated their greatest triumphs after “the glorious death of the[ir] most-hallowed king”.315 Like other militant

zum Lehrampt beruffenen D. Lutherum hat erwecket in der Welt/also habe er auch das andere [Geschrei] in abgewichenen Jahren dieses Teutsch-Schwedischen Krieges angefangen ruchtbar [sic] zu machen durch Johann. Wernern gewesenen Bawren in Meissen/ vnd thue sich seiner/ als eines extraordinarie beruffenen Boten hierzu zur Ermahnung seines Volcks annoch jetzunder brauchen […]”. See also pp. 503 f and esp. 507–509, 634–655. Hogel had defended his claim about the ‘second cry against Babel’ in an equally scruff manner when questioned in 1645. One only had to look up the Scriptural passage “so da clar satt were, so man ihn nur wolte verstehen.” StAE 1-1/X. A.I, 11, p. 60r. 311 Hogel, Antipseudirenicon, pp. 485 f, 503 f and p. E4v in the index. This argument seems to have been borrowed from Alsted. See Hotson, p. 117. 312 The prior five vials had been poured down since 1517, Hogel, Antipseudirenicon, pp. 484–488. 313 Quotes from the title of Hogel, Antipseudirenicon (see fn. 295). 314 Ibid., pp. 177–182. 315 Ibid., pp. 488 f (“nach dem glorwürdigen Tode des hochseligen Königs”); see also p. 632 and p. F1r, no. 68 in the appendix with ‘Propositiones Antibabylonicae’. Christ-analogies were a common, if not unproblematic theme in the pro-Swedish propaganda. Tschopp, pp. 164–182; Kaufmann, Dreißigjähriger Krieg, p. 62.

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apocalyptics, he highlighted the considerable Swedish victories achieved over the past four years.316 The daring outline of the recent past was linked to a slightly more cautious outline of the future. Hogel provided a fixed table of events to come. The antiPapal forces would continue their advance through Germany and Italy into Rome and annihilate the Papal residence. Lutheran theologians would then defeat their Catholic adversaries in disputes held at a universal meeting. The Gospel would finally be spread throughout the globe – of course in the manner explained by the Augsburg Confession.317 This outline may seem very triumphal, yet Hogel was keen to keep it congruent with the Augsburg Confession. The ensuing fifth monarchy was not to be of the secular nature that was condemned in Article Seventeen.318 It merely involved the spiritual dominance of the Gospel.319 The period would be no millenarian paradise on earth, without wars and epidemics. It only differed from the present inasmuch as the Turkish Empire would collapse, along with other rulers hostile to Christianity.320 The Fifth Monarchy would last less than a thousand years and was but a brief prelude to the Day of Judgement. Hogel was aware that this stance was shared, at best, by a minority of Lutheran theologians. Nonetheless, he insisted that it deserved to be accepted and considered orthodox.321 To achieve this recognition, Hogel had to counter the influential invectives recently launched against “subtle millenarianism” by Daniel Cramer (1568–1637) and Johann Gerhard.322 Although Reformed theologians, like Johann Heinrich Alsted (1588–1638), inspired his chronology, Hogel understandably chose not to highlight non-Lutheran sources.323 Finally, Hogel was also eager to distance his treatise from the scenarios that had been popularised by a series of mainly lay, but at times theologically well-versed, authors in the decades following 1600. The sophisticated Rosicrucian and Joachite views were as reprehensible to him as the more coarse announcements that the world would undergo radical 316 Hogel, Antipseudirenicon, pp. 489, 640 f; Voigt, Post-Reuter, p. A2r; Werner/Wahrmann [Ps.], Abermahlige Offentliche Schrifft. 317 Hogel, Antipseudirenicon, pp. 492, 494–497. Hogel, on p. 579, tried to circumvent the argument that the Gospel had already been spread across the globe by the apostles. 318 “Item, werden hie verworfen auch etlich judisch Lehren, die sich auch itzund eräugen, daß vor der Auferstehung der Toten eitel Heilige, Fromme ein weltlich Reich haben und alle Gottlosen vertilgen werden.” 319 Hogel, Antipseudirenicon, pp. 182–212, 492, 497–500, 505 f, 645, and esp. 564–582: “10. Einrede. Man hält aber diß eben vor lauter Rosencreutzerische Chilialistische Schwärme & suavia somnia fanaticorum […]”. 320 Ibid., pp. 573 f and 566 f (thesis 25). 321 See ibid., pp. 566 (thesis 6) and 574. Hogel does not seem to have known the quite similar propositions made by the Lutheran pastor Paul Egard in 1624. Compare ibid., pp. 568 f to Wallmann, Chiliasmus, pp. 116 f and Barnes, Prophecy, pp. 237 f. 322 He mainly pointed to inconsistencies in their argumentation and tried to muster authorities who supported this limited reign of the Gospel, Hogel, Antipseudirenicon, pp. 570–574. 323 See fn. 311.

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changes in the coming year, or wholly cease to exist within a decade or two. Hogel subjected one such calculation to critical scrutiny, so as to demonstrate his orthodox standards.324 Hogel was thus cautious about temporally precise prognosis. He was convinced that the seventh trumpet call would soon hail in the final age. Theolaus (published 1645) held 1654 to be the most likely year.325 When pressed on the issue a few weeks later, Hogel announced to a Council committee that Rome would be destroyed within two years, adding that he would later prove why this was so.326 He never really followed up on this promise. His long treatise of 1646 only rarely, and in a rather unspecified manner, stated that the final fall of the Papacy would take place “within a few years”.327 Though he still held 1654 to be one of the years where the Age of the Antichristian Reign might end, he now gave more credence to the year 1672, which stood at a safer distance in the future.328 Chronologically precise prognoses were ultimately not as interesting to him as they were to an astrologer. The best point of comparison is the like-minded work on the same subject re-published in the same town and in the same year as Hogel’s first treatise (Erfurt 1645) by Johann Heinrich Voigt (1613–1691). He envisioned the imminent destruction of the Papacy and the conclusion of a universal peace in the year 1654.329 Hogel was less interested in when the next stage would come to pass than in how Christians could help reach it sooner. His apocalyptic chain of events ran along a predetermined, but temporally not wholly fixed timetable. Hogel argued that human agency could defer it and was therefore resolved to enlighten rulers and subjects on their ability to advance the coming of Christ’s Kingdom. Critics here accused Hogel of encroaching on God’s government of temporal events.330 The intricate theological discussions about human agency and divine providence are better treated after we have placed this treatise within the ongoing Lutheran debate concerning apocalyptic commentaries on the current war. 324 Ibid., pp. 567, 169–173 ridiculed Stengel, Sanct Petri Geistlich Fischnetz. [Hogel], Antiquitatum Erfurtensium. App. I. 9 (passim) launched even cruder attacks on the predictions forwarded by Esaias Stiefel. On Nicolaus Hartprecht, see ibid., pp. 441r, 445r and my Chapter Four, p. 104. Hogel used the term “Chiliast” in a pejorative sense. 325 See the sixth column in Figure Eight: “Annoru[m] quotquot ex s. scripturis exacta apodixi computari possunt, ultimus incipiu[n]t fere circa illum æræ.” This was based on a calculation adding forty-five years to 1609 (being Year 1290 After the Elevation of Antichrist; see fn. 304 above). 326 “Er wils erweisen daß das excidium Romæ […] nach verlauf Zweÿer Jahre erfolgen müße, vnd daß vnter das die Evangelische armèe in Weltschland kommen werde.” StAE 1-1/X. A.I, 11, p. 22v. 327 Hogel, Antipseudirenicon, p. 507: “[…] weil wir jetzund so gar am Ende der Jahre der sechsten Trompeten vnnd Göttlicher Vrtheile über die Papisten leben/also daß/was noch zur jrdischen vnd geistlichen Auffreibung des Röm. Papstthumbs geschehen sol/ innerhalb wenig nechstfolgender Jahre alles sich begeben mag vnd wird […]”. See p. 569 for further non-compulsory calculations. 328 Ibid., pp. 86–91, 217; Hogel, Gamaliel, pp. 272 f, 301–303 argued likewise. 329 Voigt/Friedlieb, Post-Reuter (1. ed. 1643), pp. A2v, B1r. 330 As critics noted in question no. 31, StAE 1-1/X. A.I, 11, p. 25v. Compare Göransson, pp. 268 f.

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Hogel again proves to be a widely read ‘fiery spirit’ (feuriger Geist). He drew individual arguments from treatises written along very different lines, by authors from different creeds.331 Hogel was well acquainted with lay millenarian works published in his region332 and he probably copied several key slogans, like the “march on Rome” (Römerzug), from pamphlets published during the propagandistic spate in the early 1630s.333 A decade later, in the 1640s, the apocalyptic commentary on current events had spurred a debate among Lutheran theologians, on the status of latter-day prophecy in general, and Johann Werner in particular.334 By the time that Hogel began to publish, in 1645, this dispute had extended to the on-going peace talks in Westphalia. Apocalyptic-minded critics wrote about the stipulations to peace in a manner related to that of the reform-theologians: “if one wants a general peace from God, one also has to go as God wills it”. Hogel presented the destruction of Rome as a divine precondition for a true and lasting peace.335 Yet a Papal nuncio had been admitted to peace talks in Münster. Agitators argued that the Pope was, by inference, also recognised in Osnabrück. They argued that the traitorous Peace of Prague (1635) had collapsed because it ran counter to God’s will.336 Readers must not accept a ‘separate’ peace-treaty that included the Pope, but instead support the march on Rome. It alone could guarantee a ‘universal peace’.337

331 See fn.s 38, 305, 321, and Hogel, Antipseudirenicon, pp. C1v–C2r: Hogel’s bibliography thus lists the works of the Jesuit commentator Cornelius a Lapide (1567–1637) and Jewish scholars like the rabbi Menasseh ben Israel (1604–1657). The surnames listed here are best compared with the indices to Backus and Seifert. 332 Hogel cited Justus Stengel by name (see fn. 324 and VD17 23:315144A) and knew at least one of the works published anonymously or pseudonomously by Heinrich Gebhard namely his Verosimilia Historico-Prophetica, De Rebus In Novissimo Die Futuris. 333 Compare the quote in fn. 290 (“den so lang von den Theologis beschriebenen Römer Zug”) with Hutten [ps.], Der Newe Römerzug (1632), analysed by Tschopp, pp. 292–294. The terms ‘Römerzug’ and ‘Römermonat’ normally referred to the tax paid to support the Imperial army. Here, it was thus given the exact opposite meaning. 334 The fellow visionary Georg Reichard was the other main figure in the debate, J. Beyer, Lutheran Lay Prophets, pp. 163–167. 335 See fn. 61 above. StAE 1-1/X. A.I, 11, p. 17v: “Drumb Wil man einen algemeinen frieden haben von gott, so muß man auch gehen Wie gott Wil.” Similar comments on pp. 51r, 52r and Hogel, Antipseudirenicon, Index, p. F2r. The only overview of this apocalyptic opposition to the peace talks is Kaufmann, Dreißigjähriger Krieg, pp. 130–136. He incorrectly presents the young Hogel as being much influenced by Dannhauer (cf. ibid., p. 132, fn. 340). Of the Straßburg-scholars, Hogel only cited Johann Georg Dorsche. 336 References to the Peace of Prague in StAE 1-1/X. A.I, 11, pp. 51r–51v; Hogel, Antipseudirenicon, pp. 490, 603 f; and p. F3r, no. 84 in the section with Propositiones Antibabylonicae. 337 Hogel’s titles include terms like “Pro PACE UNIVERSALI” (fn. 285) and “ei[n] vnverantwortliche[r] Friedenschlus[s]” (fn. 295); see also Hogel, Antipseudirenicon, p. 599: “totalRettung der Kirchen vnd Regimenter vom Pabsthumb”. Voigt/Friedlieb, Post-Reuter, p. B1v is a variation of the theme. Voigt hoped that the Evangelical rulers would make peace amongst themselves in Westphalia and then march on Rome.

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The Antipseudirenicon (1646) and Hogel’s other treatises from the 1640s all revolved around the opposition to the Westphalian negotiations. This was also the issue that offended the Erfurt Council. Councillors were concerned that radical criticism would jeopardise their long-standing cautious policy towards outside powers, pursued since 1635, and they reacted accordingly. On March 3, 1645, nine days after the unauthorised publication of his Latin treatise, the Council placed both the printer and the publisher under arrest. On the following day, it confiscated the remaining stocks.338 The Council’s concerns reflect the delicate diplomatic situation. Councillors planned to dispatch a delegation to Osnabrück and were anxious to avoid unnecessary grievances with the overlords in Dresden and Mainz. Hogel’s sympathy with the party that decried the Saxon Elector as a traitor whoring with Babel was inopportune to say the least. Yet it was the dedication with its general attack on the peace talks that most concerned the Council.339 Envoys in Westphalia sought to ensure that Erfurt would be granted a general amnesty and have its existing privileges vis-à-vis the Elector in Mainz confirmed or even augmented to the status of Imperial town. Authors in the Electoral service tried to undermine these efforts, mainly through long historical tracts specifying the privileges and duties of the town.340 Hogel offered them yet another argument against the Council. Within a matter of weeks after the publication, Catholic officials dispatched agents to secretly take notes at his militant sermons.341 Johannes Dresanus, the local advisor to the Elector, continued to inform his superior of Hogel’s activities.342 Councillors took additional steps to anticipate such “grave prejudice” and had Hogel questioned so as to make him recant.343 They asked their legal advisors and the members of the Ministry to work out a list of objections to his theses. He was confronted with the questions at two closed hearings, held on March 14 and April 19, 1645. The juridical-political counter-arguments need not be treated at length here: they ranged from appeals to the religious peace concluded in Augsburg (1555) to details about the constitutional character of the realms which 338 StAE 1-1/X. A.I, 11, pp. 11r–11v. The officials found fifty copies. One hundred had already been handed to the author; the remaining copies had supposedly already been sent to the fair in Frankfurt a. M. However, the treatise is not mentioned in the catalogues (Catalogus universalis) of the two fairs held in that year in Frankfurt and Leipzig; it may have been sold under the counter. On Christian von Saher, see Benzing, Verleger, p. 1251. Tobias Diener was said to be the printer; he is otherwise only known as a notary public (see VD17 547:699782U). – The Council’s concerns are expressed in StAE 1-1/X. A.I, 11, p. 62r: “Zu mercklichem praejuditz [der Stadt]”. On page 26v, the Council emphasised the risk “daß hiesiger Commun hie[r]durch in Vngelegenheit gerathen, und deren bis hero behutsam geführte actiones nur bloß nach dießem scripto censiret Werden mögten”. 339 StAE 1-1/X. A.I, 11, p. 62r; see fn.s 378 and 382. 340 Weiß, Die Erfurtfrage. 341 StAE 1-1/X. A.I, 11, pp. 39r (no. 6), 54r–54v. 342 LHASA, MD, A 37b I II XV, p. 170v. I owe this reference to Ulman Weiß. 343 StAE 1-1/X. A.I, 11, pp. 20v–27r, 49r–59r, and 62r (as fn. 338).

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Hogel had identified as the ten horns (Rev 13, 1) that were meant to march on Rome.344 The theological objections are of more immediate interest to this study. Most are ad-hoc objections. Senior Elsner had let an earlier draft of the treatise pass uncensored. It was only at the express wish of the Council that he and his colleagues subjected the published version of Theolaus to a closer critical scrutiny.345 The hearings in March and April thus pitted Hogel against the two theologians, whose views have been examined above: Nicolaus Stenger and Bartholomäus Elsner.346 Their discussions were carried out in the sharp tone heard in 1641–1642, and they returned to some of the same issues, such as the influence which human agency and divine providence each had on the course of the on-going war. Hogel, Elsner, and Stenger varied in their views on apocalyptic events. These differences had an impact on their choice of Scriptural passages. In their rather rare apocalyptic comments, Elsner and Stenger preferred the signs mentioned by the Evangelists (Matt 24; Mark 13; Luke 21). As most of their Lutheran colleagues, they cited these Gospel passages in their calls for repentance. Such penitential appeals had little need to plot the recent events on an apocalyptic timetable, as Hogel did.347 This difference between paraenesis and policy-making had a concrete impact on the preachers’ phrasing. Elsner and Stenger envisioned divine wrath as being directed against the sinful Lutherans and described God as a Just Judge. Hogel much more frequently wrote of ‘Jehovah Sabaoth’ (der Herr Zebaoth).348 The ‘Lord of Hosts’ (Herr der Heerscharen) had finished chastising Lutherans and would now turn against Babel and its allies.349 Hogel had a distinct preference for the Revelation and the Book of Daniel over the Gospel passages. Works relying on the Revelation sounded suspicious to many Lutheran clergymen. Its canonicity was of fairly recent date and the book was treated neither in the Catechism, nor in the pericope, nor in any of the other German works read aloud in church. Many recalled Luther’s early warning against the “new[e] Deutelmeister” who sought to interpret their own times with this book.350 It was no coincidence that the 344

Why did Hogel omit Sweden and include Transylvania (sc.: Siebenbürgen), which was a principality and no kingdom? Ibid., p. 38v (no. 4). Hogel was caught unprepared for most of these diplomatic and constitutional objections, e. g. pp. 24v (nos. 20–25) and 52v–53r. References to the Peace of Augsburg are on pp. 58r, 60v. 345 Ibid., pp. 18r, 39r (no. 5). 346 Sebastian Schröter also attended the first hearing in March, ibid., p. 20v. 347 E. g. Stenger, Grund-Feste, p. 732; Lehmann, Deutung der Endzeitzeichen, pp. 17, 22 with references to Meyfart’s and Johann Gerhard’s position. 348 Hogel, Antipseudirenicon, pp. 496, 604, et passim. See likewise Wallenberger, Purim, p. E4v: “O der HErr/der rechte Kriegsmann lebt noch. Fragstu wer der ist? Er heist Jesu Christ/ der HErr Zebaoth/ vnd ist kein anderer Gott/das Feld muß er behalten.” 349 StAE 1-1/X. A.I, 11, p. 16r: the Lutherans had been “satt gezüchtiget worden”; “Babylon [muss jetzt] die grundtsuppe aussauffen”. 350 Hogel, Antipseudirenicon, p. 599 and objection fifteen, pp. 616–633 (vs. prognoses based solely “auff das einige/ dunckele/opiniosische allegorische Buch der Off. Joh.”), refuted in extenso pp. 141–221:

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last German work to treat the Revelation had been published in Erfurt under a pseudonym almost twenty-five years earlier, in 1621; it was based on the papers left behind by the heterodox pastor, Valentin Weigel.351 Theological differences also influenced the readings of key passages. Stenger and Elsner did both identify the Pope as the Babylonian Antichrist, for this identification was central to Lutheran ecclesiology.352 Yet most Lutheran preachers drew remarkably conservative consequences, arguing that Antichristian efforts aimed at the overthrow of the God-given order. There was, furthermore, little hope of defeating these forces prior to Judgement Day. Hogel broke with that tradition by referring to a ‘second cry’ against Babel that would be followed by a ‘further fall’ of Rome. His colleagues pressed him on this point, questioning whether human assistance was necessary to achieve the swift destruction of Rome. Might God not just as well annihilate Rome with heaven-sent fire, as He had done with Sodom and Gomorrah? Hogel excluded this possibility; God’s Chosen People had to raze the town themselves.353 Hogel repeated his ceterum censeo throughout the Antipseudirenicon like some latter-day Cato the Elder.354 Though one might think otherwise, Lutheran preachers did not always per se deem it problematic to allow for human agency within the apocalypse. Their calls for repentance quite often placed imminent apocalyptic events on a par with temporal calamities, arguing that both could, for some time, be averted through collective repentance.355 Hogel spoke similarly to his interrogators in the 1645-hearings. “Bedencken: Ob ein Prediger/wenn er bey jetzigen Läuften/ beneben andern H. Schriften […] die Offenbahrung S. Johannis […] offentlich treibet […] darvmb von jemanden zuverdencken”, e. g. p. 151 (quote), with reference to Luther’s fulminant preface to his early Zacharia-exegesis, Luther, Sacharja (1527), pp. 485–487. Hogel stressed the canonicity of the Revelation (p. 156, 621), but took care to refute the controversial Fourth Book of Ezra and the six-thousand-year prophecy. Compare Hogel, Antipseudirenicon, pp. 172 f to Chapter Four, fn. 135. – On the differing value assigned to calls for repentance vis-à-vis apocalyptic action, see Hogel, Antipseudirenicon, pp. 591–597: “13. Einrede. Man soll aber so hefftig wider die Catholischen nicht reden […] sondern sie paßiren lassen/ vnd vnsers Theils die Busse in Christo predigen” and pp. 509–512: “1. Einrede. Was wil man die Worte der Offenb. vom Thier vnnd Babel lang in die Ferne ziehen auff Rom vnd die Papisten? Bey vns Lutheranern ist ein recht Babel von Sünden […]”. 351 Theophilus [ps.], Liber Vitae aureus; see also Weiß, Lebenswelten, p. 517. One could add the commentaries by the aforementioned Thuringian apocalyptic (fn. 332), Heinrich Gebhard, Historische Außlegung/ derer Figuren […] in der heiligen Offenbahrung S. Johannis […] (1623) and his ‘Examen Cronologicum’, first published the year before (1622), s.l., under the pseudonym ‘M. Gottlieb Heylandt’ (VD17 14:082813Q). These appeals to the Revelation provoked strong reactions from many theologians. Two years earlier, Christian von Saher had brought forth Gerhard, Adnotationes In Apocalypsin D. Johannis Theologi. 352 For local examples, see StAE 1-1/X. A.I, 11, p. 21v and Stenger, Grund-Feste, pp. 1026 f. On this and the following see Kaufmann, Apokalyptik, pp. 36–39. 353 StAE 1-1/X. A.I, 11, pp. 23v–24r (nos. 13–14); pp. 57r, 60r: “Negat: müste mediatè geschehen”. 354 Hogel, Antipseudirenicon, pp. 379, 493, 542, 590, 600–608, 628. See his reply to the question whether one should persecute Catholics in all places: “Non [omnes] hæreses, sed urbem [Romam] sanguinariam fore armis delendam.” StAE 1-1/X. A.I, 11, p. 24r, no. 15. 355 See Chapter Four, fn. 119.

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Sinai remained a relevant scenario for the present: during the Exodus, God’s People had sinned and thereby deferred their entry into the Holy Land by forty years.356 Exactly when the irreversible events laid down by Providence would take place depended on human (dis)obedience. If German Lutherans, or any of the other peoples appointed as one of the ten Anti-Papal horns, refused to march on Rome, God would transfer His favour to some other realm and let the disobedient share in Babel’s fate (Rev 18, 4).357 Once more, Hogel tried to add force to his appeals by striking a theme – the divine rejection of an unfaithful people – which was often used in sermons on temporal calamities.358 He likewise highlighted Providence when it suited his anti-Babylonic aims. The victories of the French king against the Emperor were, for instance, “contra suam intentionem” bound to speed up the fall of the Pope “juxta dispositionem DEJ.”359 These casuist appeals gave force to his exposition, but at the same time made it vulnerable to any systematic criticism.360 The exchanges analysed here took place in similar forms across Lutheran lands in the late 1630s and 1640s. Johann Werner and his sympathisers used the same set of arguments to justify their demands.361 Readers and rulers in the Baltic ports seem to have debated the visions and prognoses just as hotly as the literate groups on the German mainland.362 The dispute spawned by the radical analyses and claims for divine inspiration was certainly more than a mere ‘school squabble’ (Schulgezäncke).363 It had long-term consequences on the status of apocalyptic policy-making in the Lutheran lands. To fully appreciate the outcomes of this debate, it is necessary to review the prior conjectures of the salient interpretative frameworks. Hogel’s commentaries can be characterised as the attempt to revive the triumphal atmosphere that had inspired Lutherans some fifteen years earlier. At the turn of the year 1631–1632 propagandists had raised hopes that a Swedish army could vanquish the Papist adversaries in a great, and possibly final, battle.364 Since continued victory deliv356 StAE 1-1/X. A.I, 11, pp. 24v–26r, nos. 26, 35, and 31: the divine “un Wandelbahren Rathschlus” could not be “rescindirt, sondern differirt werden.” On this and the following see also Hogel, Gamaliel, pp. 69–71, 303–306. 357 Hogel, Antipseudirenicon, p. 48 (on the Greek crown) and p. G3r, no. 108 in the closing section with the Propositiones Antibabylonicae. 358 See the reference in fn. 153, which gives a forceful historical overview of the peoples rejected by God, ranging from the Jews to the Greeks. 359 StAE 1-1/X. A.I, 11, p. 22r. 360 Hogel’s Antipseudirenicon (1646) responded at length to the objections raised against his Theolaus (1645) at the March and April hearings. Compare, for instance, question no. 38 (StAE 1-1/X.A.I, 11, p. 26r) considering a Papal retreat to a second Avignon with Hogel, Antipseudirenicon, pp. 563 f and his clarification of the ten horns (ibid., pp. 47 f) with fn. 344 above. 361 Werner warned members of the Swedish military that God would transfer His favour to another realm if they refused to pay heed to his prophecies, Werner, Schwan-Gesang, pp. C2v–C3r. 362 See the acribic reconstruction by J. Beyer, Reichard und Matthæi. 363 Hogel, Antipseudirenicon, p. 606. 364 See fn. 357 and Tschopp, pp. 42–60. A typical work is [Anon.]: Ein Einfältiges Theologisch Bedencken/ auff die Frage: Ist deß Königs in Schweden Vornehment Gottes Werck? Erfurt 1632. For

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ered these authors with the main proof of divine support, the death of Gustavus Adolphus on the battlefield in November 1632 gravely challenged their argumentation. For this, and a number of well-explored political reasons, most Lutheran preachers returned to the interpretation of war as a castigation of sins. A number of commentators openly asserted that the war was currently being fought for ‘regio’ rather than ‘religio’. Lutherans were no longer mainly being persecuted for their faith, and God was therefore no longer lending them His immediate support in the war.365 Hogel openly challenged this presentation of the war as a calamity by writing of a “war of religion” with continual Swedish advances from 1631 to 1645.366 This call for action to bring about the fifth monarchy was controversial, but by no means without precedent. The Schmalkaldic War (1546–1547) had witnessed a similar series of militant, albeit amillennial, apocalyptic commentaries directed against Emperor. The Treaty of Passau (1552) and the Peace of Augsburg (1555) signalled a temporary close of the anti-Imperial exegesis.367 Lutheran theologians in the Empire began to adopt the claim that the Fourth Monarchy would remain in place until Judgement Day.368 Hogel rejected this tenet as a “delusion” (“Wahn”).369 This commentary was therefore not the first attempt to apply the Revelation to an ongoing military conflict, yet it may well be seen as one of the last by a Lutheran theologian, at least in the seventeenth century. After 1648, radical, anti-Imperial commentaries soon fell out of favour by Lutherans and began to be openly condemned. During the hearings, opponents likened Hogel’s stance to that of Thomas Müntzer; Hogel answered back by dubbing himself “ein bonus civis regni Christi vnnd trewhertziger Patriot”.370 Whilst Hogel managed to avoid formal accusations of heresy, a colleague from nearby Eisfeld who advanced similar claims some fifteen years later (1660) was removed from office and went into exile in the Netherlands. His removal was partly justified by reference to the seditious character of such commentaries recently observed in the Cromwellian Commonwealth.371 Hogel’s notion of a millenarian ‘further fall’ of Rome was later expounded upon by Spener, in a spiritualised reading. By the 1670s, even this mild stance was hard

the following see esp. pp. B1r–B1v: “So dann Gott die Waffen reget / den Streit führet vnd glücklichen success gnädigst verleihet/ wer zweiffelt dann an diesem Werck Gottes”? 365 E. g. Wandersleben, pp. 6 f. 366 StAE 1-1/X. A.I, 11, p. 24v, no. 18; Hogel, Antipseudirenicon, p. 606: “im heutigen / fürwar nicht nur politischen/ sondern auch Religions-Kriege […]”. 367 Kaufmann, Apokalyptik, with apt remarks on the trends of apocalyptic beliefs, pp. 34–36. 368 Seifert, pp. 35 f. 369 Hogel, Antipseudirenicon, pp. 11–15, 498, 542–559 (quote from p. 545). 370 StAE 1-1/X. A.I, 11, pp. 26v, 53v, 58v; see Hogel, Antipseudirenicon, Einrede 12, pp. 584–591, 606 (quote). 371 On Georg Lorenz Seidenbecher (1623–1663), Wallmann, Chiliasmus, pp. 118–120; cf. Kaufmann, Dreißigjähriger Krieg, pp. 128 f.

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to accept for most colleagues of Spener.372 Prophecy based on angelic visions, such as those seen by Johann Werner, also gradually fell out of theological favour, for much the same reasons, it seems. By the late seventeenth century, it was rare to find Lutheran theologians willing to support lay visionaries, at least in print. Both lay prophecy and the political exegesis of the Revelation had become something of a sectarian marker, limited to rather radical Pietist groups.373 What remained was the paraenetic appeal to the Day of Judgement.374 The scope of apocalyptic commentary had narrowed notably. The gradual marginalisation of millenarian and prophetical beliefs in Lutheran lands has been well examined by recent studies, but the underlying reasons for this shift are still unclear. It is not sufficient to study theological differences, such as those debated at the 1645-hearings. As in Erfurt, political interests often had greater weight. I shall first summarise the German Lutheran debate and then look at parallel developments in neighbouring Protestant countries. The theologians seated in Electoral Sachsen played a key role in the swift rise and decline of political apocalypticism in the Lutheran pulpits. It was first and foremost the head court preacher in Dresden, Matthias Hoë von Hoënegg (1580– 1645), who helped to restore the legitimacy of the militant criticism amongst Lutheran theologians. Hoë aligned his crucial sermons with the on-going Leipziger Convention (1631) in order to support the Saxon Elector’s change towards a policy of armed neutrality that risked military confrontation with the Imperial armies.375 From 1635 onwards, these theologians played the exact opposite role. Their prince had, in Prague, returned to the Imperial camp. The Wittenberg consistory consequently refuted Werner’s prophecies in a series of consilia characterised by a growing intensity.376 Advocacy and opposition were much due to political sympathies. Those favouring the Swedish forces supported Werner and Hogel, who were, in turn, anathema in the Lutheran realms that had signed the Peace of Prague and thereby (re)joined the Imperial camp.377 At times, these divisions split towns and families: the Electress of Sachsen, Magdalena Sibylle (1586–1659), thus supported the very prophet, Johann Werner, who was reproaching her husband, Johann Georg I, for his shift in policy. Their younger sons were likewise courted by other apocalyptic antiImperialists. Hogel sought to win the favour and financial support of Duke August 372

See Krauter-Dierolf, pp. 40, 46 f. Telling examples are found by Boor; J. Beyer, Lutheran Lay Prophets, pp. 210–212; JakubowskiTiessen, Alte Welt, pp. 176 f, 184 (with a differing evaluation); H. Schneider; and the fine study by Mori. 374 Leube, pp. 152–157. 375 Kaufmann, Dreißigjähriger Krieg, pp. 37–54; for diplomatic nuances, Nischan, Brandenburg’s Reformed Räte, p. 378. 376 [Anon.], Consilia Witebergensia, pp. 803r–817r (1635, 1645) and J. Beyer, Lutheran Lay Prophets, p. 146 with further references. 377 On this and the following Nordström, pp. 8–11. 373

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(1614–1680), by dedicating his two first works to him. August resided in Halle and was known to share his mother’s political sympathies. He thus i. a. welcomed Werner’s family in town and concluded a separate armistice with Swedish commanders in 1642.378 Elsewhere, Hogel indirectly expressed his hope that August would take over government from his traitorous father.379 Hogel was, as he himself remarked, fortunate to write under the protection of the Swedish “Midnight Lion”. The Swedish commandant Ermes supported him against the local councillors.380 Yet another noteworthy patron is Jacob Fabricius (1593–1654). This former court preacher to Gustavus Adolphus had been head army chaplain in the early 1630s and was later appointed Superintendent in the Swedish-occupied Duchy of Eastern Pomerania (Hinterpommern). He was the most prominent and articulate supporter of Johann Werner.381 Fabricius wrote the sole poem added to the Antipseudirenicon and may also have permitted Hogel to print (or claim to have printed) this work in Stettin.382 At first, some colleagues joined Fabricius in his support of Werner. The court preacher in Halle, Arnold Mengering, is one example.383 Yet he and most other theologians soon began to back up the opposing party, led by Tobias Wagner and the Lübeck pastor Jakob Stolterfoth (1600–1668). Johann Werner and Fabricius lost support in Germany after 1650.384 The memoranda and expert opinions exchanged on that occasion discussed angelic visions on a principal level. The out378 Klöckner, Book II, sections H–L; Book III, section 5; on the setting, see A. Thiele, Grenzkonflikte. Klöckner’s hard-to-access study is still to be recommended at the present state of research. Its rich details are, however, not all reliable and lack references. The comments are very partisan and pseudopsychological. 379 See esp. StAE 1-1/X. A.I, 11, p. 18r. 380 Ibid., p. 18r: “dem Siegreichen Löwen Von Mitternacht”; StAE 5/101-3, p. 267. Compare Klöckner, Book IV, section 3–4 on Stettin. 381 J. Beyer, Lutheran Lay Prophets, pp. 148 f, 174–176. 382 Opponents surmised that the imprint Stettin may have been fake (fn. 342). A control of watermarks could clarify the issue. Their conjectures were, by any account, not farfetched. Censors often granted the imprimatur for such controversial prophecies on the condition that the work did not mention the (correct) printer, publisher, and/or their imprints (e. g. LVVA, Stadtarchiv Riga: fonds 749, no. 2. Ratsprotokolle, 1645–1647, pp. 71 f on the fifth volume of Georg Reichard’s prophecies). The compilation of Werner-prophecies published in Erfurt under the pseudonym ‘Christoph Wahrmann’ in 1645 (and, allegedly, 1644) also left out the imprint and the current printer’s name (see fn.s 295 and 316). The accurate prediction of the battle at Jankau (6.3.1645) in the third prophecy (p. A4v, point 3) suggests that the compilation was first published after March 1645; the third prophecy was dated “auß Erffurdt den 30. Octobris Anno 1642. Von einem vornehmen Manne.” – Hogel proposed to omit the imprint on his ‘Theolaus’ (fn. 285) in return for being allowed to keep the dedication. This offer was rejected by the Council censors, who demanded that both be removed, StAE 1-1/X. A.I, 11, pp. 18r– 18v, 56v. The arrested printer and publisher agreed to these terms, but Hogel in the end refused, p. 63r. The copies confiscated by the Council were then, it seems, burned (StAE 5/101-3, p. 267). No second, modified version has been catalogued. 383 Mengering, Informatorium (1644), p. 1128. 384 J. Beyer, Lutheran Lay Prophets, p. 175 and Klöckner, Book IV, section 6. Hogel only briefly engaged directly with these critics, e. g. Hogel, Gamaliel, pp. 362 f.

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come was outlined above: the scope of visionary prophecy and apocalyptic prognosis narrowed.385 The German debate merits further comparative study. I shall shortly point to some differences and the most prominent parallels in neighbouring Protestant countries. The most direct tie is, of course, that to Sweden. Werner was supported by most Swedish commanders-in-chief in Germany. Johan Banér (1634– 1641), Lennart Torstenson (1641–1645), and Charles Gustavus (1648–1650) all approved of his presence in their army, even though Werner publicly declaimed their atrocities and chided campaigns that failed to speed up the Further Fall of Rome.386 He received less support in Stockholm. His main supporter here, the Lord High Admiral Carl Carlsson Gyllenhielm (1574–1650), tied the prophecies to ongoing political struggles on war finance and the moral and economic corruption in Sweden.387 This was not the best way to gather support in the Royal Council. Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna may well have recalled the adverse encounters of the 1610s and 1620s. Wandering prophets had then spread a series of apocalyptic and often more millenarian messages. The Crown responded with censorship, banishments, and executions.388 Since then, the prophets who approached Swedish rulers with political messages were mainly foreigners. Charles Gustavus would in the late 1650s make propagandistic use of the now suspect apocalyptic teachings, yet he did so without the support of the domestic clergy.389 The king in Copenhagen had been less plagued by political prophets. A marked shift nevertheless took place in Denmark around 1630.390 During the Imperial occupation of Holstein, Schleswig, and Jutland (1627–1629), a number of prophets stepped forth to call for repentance. After the Peace of Lübeck had been signed (1629), the leading churchmen shifted from support to heavy criticism. Bishop Jens Dinesen Jersin (1588–1634), seated at the geographical centre of the prophetic activity, in Ripen, published a highly influential treatise against lay prophets.391 Interregnum England (1649–1660) is the best-explored case. Commanders akin to Torstenson and Charles Gustavus had gained power with the help of their New Model Army. Quite a few within its rank called for action to speed up the apocalyptic course of events. Their calls resembled the arguments advanced by 385

See fn.s 372–373 and Weiß, Traumglaube. E. g. Werner, Schwan-Gesang, pp. C2v–C3r. Carl Gustaf Wrangel (Field Marshall 1646–1648) also seems to have supported him at a later point. See J. Beyer, Lutheran Lay Prophets, p. 151. 387 On the following, Nordström, pp. 11 f, based on the untitled, undated Swedish memorandum stored in UUL E 401. 388 Sandblad, pp. 259–271 gives most attention to the 1619-éclat concerning Sigfrid Aronus Forsius (d.1624), a Finnish astrologer and part-time pastor. Oxenstierna did not mention Johann Werner in any of his edited papers. 389 Göransson, esp. pp. 173, 282 f, 287. 390 J. Beyer, Lutheran Lay Prophets, pp. 168–170 and my complementary remarks in Berg, Dreams. 391 See fn. 395 below. 386

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Hogel and other supporters of Johann Werner.392 During Oliver Cromwell’s rule, a faction known as the Fifth Monarchy Men radicalised the call for apocalyptic action. The long-term outcome of this and similar well-explored clashes was a theological rejection of the most extreme beliefs. As by Lutherans, the scope of apocalyptic exegesis narrowed in considerably in the course of the following decades.393 During the period of the Restoration (1660–1688), prodigious signs and prophecies were broadly criticised.394 The English critics thereby proceeded well beyond their Danish and German counterparts. Jersin and the Wittenberg theologians distinguished between private revelations and collective visions. Manifest signs of warning in the sky and on earth were, they argued, much more reliable. Christians should give credence to monstrous births and comets and ignore the dubious claims to angelic visions.395 Apocalyptic thought embarked on a different and more favourable course in Calvinist communities. It thus held better grounds in the Netherlands. Later in the century, around 1672–1676, one does seem to observe a similar surge of radical, unconventional teachings during war, followed by a backlash.396 The long-term decline of apocalyptic convictions and supernatural beliefs thus continued along quite different trajectories in Protestant Europe. We are only beginning to establish an overview of these trajectories and the mutual exchange of positions across the political borders. Political upheavals and wars had a notable impact on these divergences. The present chapter on Erfurt has provided some insights into the ways in which theologians defined the experience of such conflicts. The concluding section outlines methodological perspectives of use for further case studies.

A constructionist view on experience and religious change That long-lasting military conflicts, like the Thirty Years War, differed in their religious impact is a truism. In some regions, wars forced believers to convert, migrate, or change religious customs. Military conflicts could, conversely, also intensify pre-existing trends within a community of believers spared from direct 392 See the aptly-titled study by M. R. Bell, Apocalypse How? and Capp, here esp. pp. 42 and 115. – Capp’s fine prosopography includes persons who may well have transfered ideas from one army to the other. David Leslie (1601–1682) thus served as colonel in the Swedish army from 1635–1640. During these years, he was also for some time Banér’s adjutant-general and must there have encountered Werner. See the entry ID:2920 in the prosopographical database on “Scotland, Scandinavia & Northern Europe, 1580–1707”, . 393 For a direct comparison see Barnes, Images, p. 164. As by German and Swedish Lutherans, exegesis did not disappear completely. Compare fn.s 373 and 388 above to O’Banion, The Pastoral Use of the Book of Revelation. 394 Burns. 395 [Anon.], Consilia Witebergensia, p. 814r; Jersin, pp. C7r–C9v, J4v–K3v. 396 Frijhoff, Prophétie, pp. 314–322, on the layman Jean Rothe.

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persecution. The Lutheran majority in Erfurt is a case in point. Authorities here augmented propitiatory measures. Individual pastors used military threats to forward the causes of movements that first gained prominence around 1600: the reform movement that was rooted in theological faculties and the millenarian expectations that thrived in pamphlets written by laymen. The present chapter has analysed these religious appropriations of war. Here one needs to be precise about the specific period and experience of war. Whereas public Lutheran debates between 1618 and 1621 focused on whether or not to support the Protestant Cause in Bohemia, writings in the years following 1629 were dominated by the threat of forced conversion. After 1636, during the score of years examined here, one of the main questions was how to bring the seemingly endless war to a close. The three theologians examined here all offered diverging solutions to the common problem of restoring peace. Focusing on the ‘experience of war’ does make it necessary to include these basic shifts in the perceived question of the day. Yet the explanatory potential of ‘experience’ is limited if one proceeds from a simple, commonsensical understanding of this analytical category. The classic explanation that apocalyptic beliefs declined because prophecies repeatedly failed to come true is a typical example of an overly consensual understanding of experience.397 A more constructionist understanding of the term, which insists on the importance of pre-existing interpretative frameworks, can better explain how Elsner, Stenger, and Hogel came to terms with the war. All three authors bolstered their appeals to established intellectual authorities by invoking the present, “public and irrefutable experience” of war.398 They each highlighted the events that supported their argumentation and thereby increased cognitive consonance; the supplementary step was to downplay dissonant experiences. Hogel, for instance, omitted most Swedish defeats. The same theocentric interpretation of war as a God-sent calamity obviously allowed for quite different conclusions. Elsner’s memorandum crafted a Biblical mirror based on the books in the Old Testament that promised direct aid on the battlefield. Stenger, by contrast, commented on recent events with regards to the transcendental compensation, and opened a heavenly window in an Augustine-like manner. Hogel, in turn, unveiled the true significance of the ongoing war by connecting it to the apocalyptic visions seen by Daniel and John. The coexistence of such different emphases seems typical for the clergy in a larger Lutheran town.399

397 See Klingebiel, dating this decline to c.1600. The same argument is used by Meumann, Experience, pp. 157 ff, despite his preceding constructionist definition of experience. 398 See fn. 254 (Stenger: “das bezeuget die Erfahrung”) and Elsner, Delineation, p. 45 (“da es die tägliche erfahrung [ge]geben hat”). Debaters all appealed to the ‘daily’, ‘public’, or ‘manifest’ experience in the same manner. To name but a few examples, see Chapter Four, fn. 161; [Anon.], Newe Zeitung Vom Schwanen Zug, p. C3r; Fagius, p. A2v; Rademann, pp. C3v–C4r. 399 E. g. Wallmann, Eigenart, pp. 96–98.

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These pastors all stuck staunchly to their convictions and refused to recant. Faced with local opposition, Hogel appealed to the tribunal of Christ and strengthened his sermons against the Antichrist.400 His opinions were the most controversial of the three. Faced with high levels of social disagreement (to speak in Festinger’s terms) Hogel could not simply appeal to the evidence of experience; he also had to attack those who saw things differently and call them “shameless”, “blind as bat”, etc.401 Here, one must not forget his earlier, more tacit change in emphasis, away from collective repentance and towards apocalyptic action. Yet the material examined here gives little insight into such formative periods. Again one also has to keep in mind that the believers who suffered the most traumatic experiences were found outside the fortified towns.402 The Erfurt theologians, rather, show how individuals attempt to hold on to strong beliefs. When Hogel wrote his final work in 1674, he did not significantly alter his failed predictions of events in 1654 and 1672.403 As the coming chapter shows, his fellow townsman, Samuel Fritz, born one year earlier (1610) also clung to prophecies about the imminent end, in his late writings. The interesting religious changes documented in this chapter are located on a collective rather than on an individual level: educational surveys and ambitious programmes to raise piety began to evolve from theological treatises into binding legislation. The apocalyptic demands presented to the Evangelical Nebuchadnezzars were, in contrast, rejected. Participants in both debates faced the task of persuading secular authorities. Elsner was better capable of convincing councillors than both Hogel and Meyfart; the simpler and more accommodating argumentation proved to be the most efficient. To explain religious changes in Erfurt it has, in summary, been necessary to add to ‘experience’ the categories of ‘interpretative frameworks’ and the ‘political debate’. This combination of concepts can be used

400 StAE 1-1/X. A.I, 11, p. 15r: “[da] ich einsten stehen wil für den Throne JESU CHRISTI”; ibid., p. 38v, no. 2; p. 39r no. 6. Hogel had already favoured a strong and independent Ministry in 1641 (StAE 1-1/10A-I, 1a, p. 131r) and he continued to speak out against opponents in the Council. Note, for instance, the entries in Michael Silberschlag’s journal from 1653, StAE 5/100-34, pp. 33–36. 401 See Festinger, A theory of cognitive dissonance, pp. 181–183. The quotes are found by Hogel, Antipseudirenicon, p. 502 (my emphasis): The preceding application of the Revelation is based “auf warhaffte/wiewol von wegen der Enge der Zeit fast allzu sehr kurtz gefaste von keinem Evangelischen Gelahrten in Zweiffel gezogene Historien, in denen [Historien] aber/ die da jetzo noch lauffen/ auff die offentliche vnd ohnleugbare Erfahrung gründen/ dafür haltende/daß/ wie der starrblind ist/ welcher das nicht siehet/ was er erfähret/ also muß das seyn ein Zancker ohne Scham / der da der alten Scribenten Ehre vnd Glaubwürdigkeit an den Pranger zu stellen / sich liederlich vnterfänget.” For further examples see fn. 310 above; Hogel, Gamaliel, pp. 109, 119, 202, 215, 295 et passim. English apologetics refuted objections as expressions of “monstrous madness”, “nefarious temerity”, or “insolent curiosity”, Walsham, Providence, pp. 18 f. 402 See Chapter Two, p. 48. Hotson explores changes by a more versatile author (J. H. Alsted); see esp. p. 120 on ‘relative deprivations’. 403 See Hogel, Vade mecum, pp. B12v–C1r, cited in Spener, Briefe, Vol. 2, pp. 3 f.

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in future studies of parallel debates where participants struggled to define the significance and core of the chaotic bellicose experiences. As far as the Council is concerned, the findings from this chapter regarding its interventions closely resemble those of Chapter Five. Councillors refuted Hogel’s treatise based on the same political considerations that moved them to deny a divine dimension to the blood-like pool that appeared in 1641. They conversely, in the same year, sponsored Elsner’s moral proposals for much the same motive that they had issued prayers on the blood-coloured water of 1636: in order to promote repentance and avert calamity. One again needs to consider both the secular aims and the religious convictions of lay decision makers. The controversies examined in this chapter were local offshoots of debates with long-term ramifications. Further case studies are needed before it can be established how decisive the military defeats and experienced lack of peace were to the rise of the Lutheran reform movement. The sharp criticism of Lutheran rulers who ‘whored’ with Papist Babel in Prague (1635) does seem to have had an impact on the marginalisation of lay prophecy and apocalyptic policy-making.404 The latter would, due to their phenomenological appeal, spread by believers and some politicians during later wars, but these periodic flares now came from a more marginal position. Chronicles and pamphlets demonstrate that the more articulate laymen took an interest in the debated beliefs: they voiced millenarian beliefs and contributed to the heated debates on the orthodoxy of the proposed reforms. A fair number of dogmatically-minded parishioners seem to have sided with one or the other pastoral faction.405 The lives of the believers who were less interested in the purity of doctrine were affected in the long term. The pious pipe dreams of reform theologians gradually began to have an effect in parishes during and after the war, as authorities implemented individual proposals. An increasing number of villagers were, for instance, obliged to send their children to school for longer periods, to increase literacy rates and thereby raise religiosity. Snoozing churchgoers now risked being woken up with rods.406 404 I deliberately left out some of the more curious works such as Stilsovius, Uranopiptia (Erfurt 1631). The disputation does not seem to have had any greater impact outside the classroom, if one leaves aside a reprint from 1705 (J. G. Trigler: Astronomische Curiositäten […]. Frankfurt a. M.). The discussion to which Stilsovius contributed is reconstructed by Barnes, Der herabstürzende Himmel and Barnes, Prophecy. Stilsovius was not as great a sceptic as his Uranopiptia suggests. He later made a name for himself as an astrologer. Prognoses and almanacs published from the early 1640s until at least 1684 carry his name: e. g. VD17 23:264133W and 32:638035X. 405 See Stenger, Tausend Zeuge, p. 151 and Krafft, [Erfurt Chronicle]. App. I. 19, p. 67v. Krafft praised the Catechism-questionnaire from 1644. He lived in the Barfüsser parish headed by Elsner. 406 The use of rods was suggested by Erfurt pastors and implemented in Denmark-Norway in 1645. Domestic visitations (see fn. 55) were introduced in Sweden 1686. See StAE 1-1/X. A.I, 11, p. 132, no. 18; Olden-Jørgensen, p. 99; Pleijel. That implementations rarely proceed as envisioned by policymakers is, by now, common wisdom. The (ab)use of the local moral courts in Württemberg is a particularly well-examined case in point. See Popkin; Landwehr, pp. 153–165; Häussermann.

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Thus, influential interpretations of the war did alter parish life in Lutheran territories. It is less clear to which degree pastors accomplished their underlying aims of impressing listeners in exercising a more intense, penitent devotion. Did churchgoers follow Stenger’s calls to search their own conscience? Was Samuel Fritz the only chronicler who wrote along the apocalyptic lines propagated by Hogel? The following chapter turns to these questions.

6. Lay commitment during war Studies in old cultural history drew an often gloomy picture of the moral damage inflicted by the war. The frightened laity increasingly sought safety in magical customs, one observer noted in 1930, and added that they hunted witches and listened to self-proclaimed prophets.1 Gustav Freytag (1859) had already outlined how a “love of pleasure” spread amongst the German people. Its “coarse sensuality” indicated the “sufferings of a decaying race”.2 Later participants in the debate pointed to methodological problems. The older outlines mostly proceeded from modern criteria of superstition and often relied on the harsh homilies of the day for empirical support. Some researchers then went to the other extreme and argued that the religious world-view were well able to absorb the great upheavals.3 Both claims are lacking in empirical foundation. The latter runs counter to findings from studies of other calamities. These studies point to the tensions between pastoral teachings and collective behaviour during epidemics.4 The present chapter seeks to profile war-time religiosity with more precision and nuance. The first part points to the limits of lay commitment by studying conflicts between pastors and parishioners. It inspects competing norms and looks at tensions resulting from the burdens of country life during war. The second part of the chapter proceeds from these boundaries to narrow in on the convictions that were central to lay believers. It thereby shifts focus from the parish as a whole to the individual believers. Both these levels of analysis differ notably from the categories employed in the older studies mentioned above. The outlines of drastic change and the portraits of a harmonious whole both study traits of an entire epoch. They thereby stress the religious elements shared by all believers. The drastic upheavals of the Thirty Years War are hence said to have hailed the dawn of Pietism and the end of Lutheran Orthodoxy.5 It makes sense to proceed from a more parochial point of view. Looking at how believers prayed during the war helps to clarify where their religious emphasis lay: on consolation or on penitence? Were there notable individual differences? The existing syntheses differ on the former issue.6 An analysis of psalm-singing and 1

F. Fritz, Württembergische Pfarrer, Vol. 34, pp. 176–179. See Chapter One, fn.s 33 (with quote) and 34 on this and the following. 3 See the studies cited by T. Schröder, p. 168. 4 Ulbricht, Gelebter Glaube in Pestwellen. 5 A classic statement is Freytag, Pictures (1863), pp. 213 f. W. Zeller operates with similar categories to explore the crisis in piety perceived around 1600. 6 See p. 23. 2

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lay Bible-reading should add further depth to the analysis. The chapter uses the term ‘lay commitment’, rather than ‘popular religion’.7 The latter category suggests a deep division between lay and pastoral beliefs. Closer study has often shown this Enlightenment dichotomy to be irrelevant for earlier centuries.8 The crucial questions are rather where and when pastors and lay believers adhered to specific tenets in different ways. Contemporaries used various generic terms to describe devotion and measure commitment. German Lutherans most frequently spoke of “Gottseligkeit” and “Christentum(b)”; the corresponding English expressions were “piety” and being “a true Christian in deeds”.9 The practice of piety (“praxis pietatis”) was at times used as a shorthand term. The expression points to the performative element.10 Pastors called for acts of faith and spiritual exercises. Intense prayer and active charity were two markers that helped to distinguish sincere devotion from mere lip service. Although preachers did specify what the “fruits of penitence” compromised, they were wary of providing one definitive list of demands on parishioners.11 Most were anxious not to slip back into Papist and Pharisaic ritualism. They agreed to distinguish between the unrepentant, the spiritually weak, and the devout. Apart from such differentiations, churchmen had argued hotly about how high the religious standards should be set. Perceived levels of ‘cold’, ‘lukewarm’, and ‘true piety’ (wahre Buße) obviously depended on the views and theological schooling of the observer and can not be measured by thermometer. The problem of assessing lay commitment has continued to complicate later scholarly debates. The research on war-time religiosity is presently at a too early stage to evaluate lay commitment on an overall level.12 This chapter instead identifies typical conflicts and reactions during the war.

7

Hadin. Compare, for instance, the verdict by F. Fritz in fn. 1 above with J. Beyer, Lutheran Lay Prophets. Brückner, Volksfrömmigkeit outlines how the Enlightened category entered into research. A balanced plea in favour of the term is Scribner, Volksglaube. 9 For lexicographical observations see Kaufmann, Dreißigjähriger Krieg, pp. 83–88; Wallmann, Pietas contra Pietismus; Sträter, Rezeption. 10 The pastor in Büßleben thus spoke of bad examples as inhibiting the “praxis pietatis vnd lebens Wandel”, AEM A.VII.a.4.a, p. 159v. 11 Stenger, Ubung Der Gottseligkeit, p. A4v: “PROPOSITIO PRAXIS PIETATIS” (Latin gloss), “wie wir Gottselig werden” (phrase used in the sermon). 12 Comparing records on catechesis knowledge, church attendance, and the like, Gerald Strauss concluded that the Lutheran movement failed in the parishes; Kittelson contested this on empirical grounds. Parker gives a convenient summary, esp. pp. 46–50. These scholars all derive part of their methodological inspiration from the French Annales school. Vogler’s three-volume study is the most encompassing work on a German-speaking Lutheran region. 8

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Churchgoing in a culture of honour The research controversy on the state of religion in Lutheran parishes in the first century-and-a-half following the Reformation has led to one notable shift. Instead of viewing local religion exclusively as the top-down imposition of tenets, recent studies regard the pastor as an outsider, who himself had to adapt to his parish.13 Personal success or failure depended much on his ability to phrase messages in a popular form that appealed to conventional values. The same point has been made for theological movements in general.14 This adaptation could be viewed as accommodation. Indeed, some of the grievances voiced in the Lutheran reform movement are perhaps best understood as dissatisfaction with prior pastoral compromises. They point to the values that were important to the lay believers. The notions of shame and honour deserve particular attention. They arguably made up one of the primary obstacles to the call for repentance and personal conversion. The normative conflict came to the fore during certain church services and will be examined below. At first view, however, churchgoing habits mainly point to the relative character of the diagnosed crisis in lay piety. The problem that most concerned pastors around 1610 was not sparse attendance but inattentive listening and misinterpretations.15 Measured by modern standards, parishioners in Erfurt and other towns were avid churchgoers.16 In order to be considered a respectable member of the community, it was almost obligatory to attend the Sunday service regularly. The weekday sermon and the prayer hour were complements to this, rather than an alternative. The catechism service held at Sunday noon rounded off the weekly programme. In many places, an additional catechism service was held during the week.17 By the 1640s, some pastors encouraged urban parishioners to visit church four or five times a week.18 During war, disputes in Erfurt revolved around two of these weekly services: the catechism service and the prayer hour. The latter involved practical concerns more than norms, so it will be examined in a section further below. The catechism service fulfilled tasks that were later assigned to the Sunday school. A sermon was to elaborate on the lessons taught to pupils during the previous week. Diligent preachers tried to ensure adult attendance to refresh the fundamental child-

13 Goodale; Fätkenheuer, Chapter 3.3. This line of research focuses on rural parishes. The classic is Rublack, “Der Wohlgeplagte Priester”. 14 As often, the early urban reformation is best researched. Good English surveys are L. Roper, The Holy Household and Scribner, Simple folk. A fine synthesis is Hamm, Bürgertum und Glaube. 15 Sträter, Meditation, pp. 30–34, 75 f. 16 See fn. 55. 17 Rahts Trittes Decret, In der Streitige Visitations-sache, D. Barthol. Elßners, Wieder ihrer Xii, seine mitbruder. Publicirt D. 3. Junii A.o 1644. AEM A.65.c, p. 8. 18 See fn.s 90–91.

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hood lessons.19 Though many adults could recite long passages from Luther’s Small Catechism, reformers deplored that few were able to explain what these passages meant. Figures like Bartholomäus Elsner therefore proposed that adults also be questioned during the service.20 Attempts to put Elsner’s proposals into practice met with stiff resistance. Adult churchgoers either absented themselves or, if present, refused to answer the pastor. Male servants proved particularly intransigent.21 The aversion to being questioned had much to do with shame and social status. Householders successfully demanded that they themselves be treated with respect, as “honourable people” (“honorationes”). They were obviously uncomfortable about being put through the Catechism in the presence of their domestic subordinates.22 Servants equally must have seen this attempt to put them back on the school bench as an affront. In Lutheran churches, the Catechism exam was traditionally a rite of passage to adulthood. The exemption from public questioning was one of the few privileges that placed servants above children in the household. Juveniles were not allowed to take part in the Lord’s Supper until they had proved their knowledge to the pastor. The confirmation (Konfirmation) was later to take on this role.23 Examining adults in front of fellow churchgoers caused similar controversy in many regions.24 Other ceremonies raised the same issue. The importance awarded to regular attendance made churchgoing well suited to assert social status. Communion was one ceremony where more than salvation was at stake. In Württemberg, for instance, some would demonstratively abstain from the Eucharist for months or years on end, to publicly announce a conflict with other parishioners.25 In and around Erfurt, quite a few – again mostly men – refused to kneel to the pastor and insisted on receiving the Eucharist standing.26 Female churchgoers 19

See Graff, pp. 208–212 (Section 4.2.A.3). I was not able to consult the recent monography by the main expert on the subject, Heiner Kücherer. 20 Rahts Trittes Decret (as fn. 17), pp. 8–11. 21 See [Anon.], Ausschreiben (1647), with questions two, five, and seven in Tit. IV posed to the pastors and the replies stored in AEM A.VII.a.4.a, p. 150r (Büßleben), A.VII.a.4.f (Elxleben, Kühnhausen and Tiefthal, Walschleben). 22 Rahts Trittes Decret (as fn. 17), p. 12: “in ihrere [sic] kinder, gesindes oder lehrjungen gegenwarth (da es sonsten etwas ärgerlich seÿn, Vndt von der Vntergebenen mißbraucht werden dörfte)”. Parents should instead be treated “als honorationes, mit sonderbarer bescheidenheit”. The councillor Heinrich Brand had forewarned of such reactions: “die Alten würden sich sehr schewen” (StAE 1-1/10A-I, 1a, 112v; see also 118v). 23 The gradual change is outlined by Graff, pp. 313–323; Myers, Ritual notes the Catholic precursors. Lutherans in Erfurt were re-examined before they married, when they appeared as god-parents, and on the deathbed. Some pastors suggested to extend the exam to whomsoever sought to acquire guild membership. StAE 1-1/10A-I, 1a, p. 55r. 24 Steiger, Kirchenordnung, Visitation und Alltag, pp. 243 f; Albrecht-Birkner, Reformation des Lebens, pp. 456–461. 25 Sabean, Power in the Blood, Chapter 1, esp. pp. 47 f, 53 f. 26 AEM A.VII.a.4.a (Büßleben), p. 152v. Pastor Syring further complained that this bad habit had spread to his villages from town. See Kolb, p. 202 and Karant-Nunn, pp. 129 f.

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generally deemed it more appropriate to compete through their Sunday clothes. In a number of the parishes examined so far, women were also very active buyers of seats in the prestigious pews.27 Parents did, to mention one last well-known example, view baptism as an occasion to secure the fortunes of their family by selecting as influential godparents as possible.28 This social dimension to churchgoing had an impact on sermons. The abstract character of admonitions is worth particular mention. “Quite a few people tolerate when sins are criticised in a general manner”, pastors observed.29 “But we are not allowed to address anyone in person from the pulpit and say: you mayor […], you baker, you smith, Hans, Martin, Paul”.30 Church records concur. Some elders bemoaned their preacher’s harsh style, but they did not take personal offence at a hellfire sermon.31 They responded differently to pastors who mentioned specific sins “publicly in the pulpit”. This transformed rumours circulating in parishes into matters of fact and thus fixed the shame.32 The outcome was bitterness and enmity; at times, subtle hints sufficed to heat tempers.33 Pastors learned to strike a balance. One memorable anecdote towards the end of the war concerned a young rural pastor and his penitent. The pastor, Conrad Hiepe (1616–1676), had held a series of sermons on whoring. One of his Beichtkinder approached Hiepe and asked why he had preached so avidly on the subject. There was, after all, no knowledge of such sinning in the parish. The pastor replied by stressing the need for

27 C. Ulbrich; Kevorkian, p. 58. Cf. Dürr, p. 113, with further references. Church pews held the same importance in Erfurt. Weiß, Kaufmannskirche, pp. 50, 53; Nebe, Kirchliches Brauchtum, p. 6; Stenger, Tausend Zeuge, pp. 166 f. Pastor Brückner in Walschleben reported female conflicts: “Die Weiber raufen sich um die stühle” (AEM A.VII.a.4.f). 28 See Weiß, Lebenswelten, pp. 121 f. Albrecht-Birkner, Reformation des Lebens, p. 277 lists wartime changes. 29 Here Stenger, Tausend Zeuge, p. 169: “Das kann ja mancher noch leiden/ daß die Laster ins Gemein gestrafft werden.” 30 “Solches dürffen wir ja keinem auf der Cantzeln in indivituo sagen vnd sprechen: du Bürgermeister, du Zweÿermann, du schuster, du schneider, du becke[r], du schmidt, Hanß, Marten, Paul.” Elsner, Delineation, p. 76, with general reference to Straßburg preachers. See Wallmann, Spener, pp. 28–31, esp. fn. 119. 31 See Chapter Five, fn. 264; Elsner, Delineation, p. 77; Nebe, Der Erfurter Landpastor, pp. 108 f. 32 “[Ö]ffentlich auf der Cantzel” was the phrase used in question nineteen of Tit. I to parish elders, [Anon.], Ausschreiben (1647). Pastor Syring argued that it was proper to preach publicly about sins committed in public, AEM A.VII.a.4.a, p. 152v (Büßleben). 33 Stenger, Grund-Feste, p. 224: “da wirds finster”; Elsner, Delineation, p. 77: “es erwachßet mistrawen, verbitterung vnd feindschaft daraus”. For urban examples see T. Schröder, p. 169; Strom, Orthodoxy, pp. 100 f; Herzog, pp. 176–178. On villages, Wahl, pp. 43, 52; Wandersleben, pp. 249 f: “Da giengs an ein Zürnen/ Schnollen/ Schelten/ Schmehen/ vnd Fluchen; Man hieß es Geschmälet/ Gekissen/ Gelästert; Man schnaubete den Pfaffen an/ als wolte man jhn fressen/ ja mit den Augen erstechen [p. 250] Wie man denn auch offt erfahren / das man dem Prediger des Nachts auff den Dienst gewartet/ vnd im finstern weidlich abgetroschen hat.” One of Wandersleben’s predecessors had been ostracised following a sermon criticising the local magistrates. He eventually had to leave the village, Riethnorthausen. Leiske, pp. 130 f.

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prevention.34 Hiepe’s biographer cited the conversation to praise his exceptional diligence in the pulpit. His prophylactic preaching also seemed exceptional to the listeners; they were accustomed to glean allusions to the sins of their neighbours from such sermons.35 The tension stemming from this orientation to honour was not specific to churchgoing during war. The issue nevertheless deserves close consideration, for it adds an element that is missing in older studies. Ironically, the pastoral call for repentance may have been impeded more by the concern for maintaining honour than by moral depravity. The thesis on the decline of lay morals and overall brutalisation over the course of the war is, as noted, based largely upon sermons. Yet, preachers attempted to find a balance between a merely topical exposition and the risky reference to specific sins and sinners in the parish. Visitation protocols and court records give more accurate insights into changes in deviant social behaviour than the homiletic catalogues of public sins. These administrative records do not support claims about a broad moral depravation.36 The next section will take a closer look at the tangible changes in deviance during war. Meanwhile, another, more general implication to the outlined normative tension is to be addressed. Parishioners focused on public sins and viewed them in terms of shame rather than personal guilt. This focus on shame and honour extends from churchgoing habits into the chronicles. The works written by Erfurt townsmen born around 1600 are far removed from those that their grandchildren began to write. Journals and autobiographies influenced by Pietist religious ideals were prone to introspection, self-criticism, and self-control.37 Town chronicles were not written with this internal locus of control in mind; they recorded shame. The following entry is typical of many: “a Jungfrau (Maria Schmid) gave birth to a little naked daughter on September 29 […]. But there was not any father there. Johan Müller from Bindersleben is said to be held guilty.” Chroniclers thus often did what their pastors were not allowed to do: they mentioned names.38 Hans 34 Wentzel, p. E2r: “Einsten hat […] er hart gestrafft die Hurerey / da eins seiner Christlichen Beichtkinder gefragt / warumb / da doch von dieser Sünde unter ihnen mann nichts hörte/es geschehe/gab er zur Antwort/mann müsse vorbauen.” 35 Hiepe’s attitude reveals equal measures of inexperience and idealism. He had studied in Erfurt and was a devoted student of Meyfart, ibid., p. E1r. Meyfart had called for a revised and more edifying form of preaching. 36 Strom, Orthodoxy, pp. 88 f; Hagenmaier, p. 243. 37 Matthias, pp. 50–52; H.-J. Schrader, Literatur, pp. 397–400. Ulbricht, Ich-Erfahrung, p. 130 mentions an early exception. Puritan diaries display a complex mixture analysed by Demos. One does not have to adopt his psychoanalytical assumptions to appreciate Demos’ basic argument. The same applies to Kittsteiner. 38 “Ao. 1619.29.7br. hat ein Jfr (Maria Schmieden) des h. Stadt Voigts (M. [Johann] Schmidts) dochter eine kleine nackigte Tochter bekomen, Es ist aber kein Vater dobeÿ, sondern Man gibts Johan Müller von Bintersleben Schuld: Wer weis obs war ist.” [Anon.], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 4, p. 861. The paranthesised names were, interestingly enough, added by a later reader. See Bauer, Ratsherren, p. 118, no. 534; K. Herrmann, Bibliotheca Erfurtina, pp. 365 f.

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Krafft was far from the only townsman who lifted the lid off immoral affairs for later readers. Most other chroniclers exhibit an acute awareness of their role in changing a dishonourable event from Gerücht to Gedächtnis, from rumour to memory.39 Researchers must be cautious about viewing Lutheran parishioners in overly individualist terms.40

Religious commitment and the struggle for survival Preachers calling for repentance not only faced conceptual challenges, but also had to deal with the exigency of day-to-day survival. Parishioners at times had to place their struggle to survive above pastoral demands. The low turnout at propitiatory services (the prayer hour and the day of prayer and repentance) gave rise to tensions that were exacerbated by wage problems. Both of these perennial problems in Lutheran parishes grew acute during the war. Such developments are best explained by looking beyond the most dramatic conflict, between soldiers and civilians. One should instead grant more attention to the lives led in the wake of the violence. The frontispiece added to the ‘Christian Conversation’ published 1640 presents an equally detailed and nuanced panorama of the impact of war “between everyday life and catastrophe.”(See p. 212).41 The copper was clearly choreographed to cover scenes that were typical of country life during the war. Several scenes were addressed in Wandersleben’s edifying dialogue: villagers who fled to the woods or used the church as a fortified sanctuary to store valuables.42 Below we look closer at a raid that took place in the same hurried manner, from village to village. Yet the unknown artist chose not to imitate Jacques Callot (1592–1635).43 Unlike Callot, and the later series by Hans Ulrich Frank (c.1590/1595–1675), this engraving relegates military violence to the background and instead highlights their effects. When horsemen rode off with both livestock and beasts of burden, they left peasants with no other option than to pull ploughs themselves and to till small plots with hoes (centre of right margin). Growing numbers of villagers were forced to work as day labourers and to migrate from town to town. The heavily laden wheelbarrow portrayed here was emblematic of a precarious war-time profession.44 The family father seated in the foreground had been forced to feed his wife and children with meat from a horse carcass.

39

See Chapter Two, fn. 9. The chronicler listed in App. I. 15 judged culprits and mentioned names with particularly care; e. g. pp. 23r–24r. 40 Cf. Holl, p. 318; Kaufmann, Dreißigjähriger Krieg, pp. 82 f. 41 The phrase is taken from Krusenstjern/Medick, Zwischen Alltag und Katastrophe. 42 Wandersleben, pp. 145 f, 217, and 355. Characteristic quotes from the dialogue are found below, in fn.s 64, 203, 302. 43 Weiß, Birckner, pp. 374 f lists the artists employed by Birckner. 44 See p. 69.

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Figure Nine: Frontispiece to Martin Wandersleben: Ein Christlich Gespräch […]. Erfurt 1640 Transl.: A Christian Conversation between a Preacher and a Peasant […]

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The artist chose such mildly tabooed meats instead of anthropophagy.45 His panorama generally avoids extremes and focuses on the material objective in the raids. The civilian struggle to survive is thus portrayed with more dignity than drama. Some visitation protocols help to reconstruct wartime trends in deviant behaviour in a dispassionate manner. The pastor Nicolaus Syring gave a balanced assessment of public sinning in his village. Cursing and disputes were common in Büßleben, for parishioners fought bitterly over the division of soccage and war taxes.46 Yet if the war-ridden village witnessed an increase in the sins that went against the Second and (by Lutheran reckoning) Fifth Commandment, villagers had inadvertently begun to observe other precepts more strictly. In 1648, their local tavern was still in ruins; complaints of fancy dresses and lavish menus at weddings and baptisms were no longer heard. Such sins of affluence were a thing of the past, as were Spinnstuben, village dances, and other commonplaces in pre-war sermons. Büßleben was typical of the surrounding rural region.47 Pastors could thus argue that war had a “positive effect” on some areas of civilian life.48 The claim that lascivious and coarse manners grew rampant during the course of the war is not completely wrong, but it lacks precision. Soldierly habits of drinking and of smoking tobacco did spread amongst civilians.49 A growing number of civilians signed on as soldiers or survived as camp followers.50 This accustomed them to a use of force that exceeded the civilian norms; such socialisation had notable effects on the overall levels of violence.51 Yet towns and villages had not been oases of pastoral idyll before the war. Envy was widespread and found an outlet in stories about divine judgement of rivals.52 Verbal and physical attacks were 45

Compare Fulda.

46

AEM A.VII.a.4.a (Büßleben), p. 157r. Most villagers either either broke the Second Command-

ment or sinned “Wider der 5. gebot als hader Vnd Zanck etc. Welches meistentheils entstehet auß dem privat mühe[?], sonderlich bey ansetzung der extraordinar [Steuer]anlagen vnd frondiensten, da ein ieder seinen Vortheil suchet: ist aber mehrenteils nur ein fervor der meisten ausgeglichen werden kann.” The civil officials in charge of taxation and billeting were particularly hated. See E. Wagner, Geschichte unserer Dörfer, pp. 37, 39–42; Stenger, Tausend Zeuge, p. 364; and the more general notes in Wandersleben, pp. 483–491; F. Fritz, Württembergische Pfarrer, Vol. 34, p. 166. Lutherans counted verbal and corporal assaults as sins against the Fifth Commandment. Such flexible reckoning allowed pastors to present the Decalogue as an all-encompassing mirror of sins. 47 See p. 72; Wandersleben, pp. 332–358; and the replies by pastors (Tit. VIII on baptisms) and elders to questions on their neighbours’ conduct (Titulus XIII, q. 1–2, 14–39, 44, 54; Tit. VIII, q. 8, 12, 17) in AEM A.VII.a.4.a-f and A.VII.a.32.b-e. Apart from Büßleben (4.a) see Dachwig (32.b) and Kleinrettbach (32.e). Cf. E. Wagner, Geschichte unserer Dörfer, p. 129. 48 Modern commentators have used this verdict in highly problematic ways. On the “Erfreuliche Wirkungen der Kriegszeit” see Holl, passim; F. Fritz, Württembergische Pfarrer, Vol. 34, p. 180. 49 Cf. ibid., Vol. 34, pp. 168, 175, and, more precisely, Tlusty, pp. 18 f, 25 f. 50 E. Wagner, Geschichte unserer Dörfer, pp. 117 f, with notes on the following. 51 Two nuanced studies are Johannsson, Krig and Lorenz, Das Rad der Gewalt. 52 E. g. [Anon.], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 10, p. 365. For general remarks see Reddy, p. 335; Heiligensetzer, Darstellung, pp. 176–180. War-time variations are [Anon.], Erffurdtische Chronica. App. I. 14, p. 665; Wandersleben, pp. 148, 365 f, 420, et passim. See also Stenger, Christliche Predigt, p. D3r; Schulz, pp. 264–266.

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an integral part of communal conflicts.53 At the present state of research the only safe assumption is that there was increment in theft and corporal violence. Quite a few civilians now cooperated with soldiers, informing them of affluent households and hidden stocks, to harm hated neighbours. Troop contingents at times appear as a group which civilian collaborators used in a continuation of longer-running conflicts by other means.54 The sins that increased in rural communities during war were thus closely related to material struggles. The profanation of holidays is particularly interesting. It points to one of the areas where lay and pastoral expectations differed the most. Conflicts were inevitable if pastors extended complaints of Sabbath-breaking to include the low turnout at the monthly or weekly prayer hours. These weekday services were never very popular with Lutheran churchgoers and they caused particular problems in the countryside. “It is the same praise and the same complaint everywhere”, a Württemberg superintendent later explained, during peace. “Sermons held on Sunday morning and on holidays are well attended [… The turnout] is bad (gar laubecht) at the other sermons and the prayer hours.”55 Military activity heightened the tensions. In the second half of the war, whole villages took refuge in town during the winter, remaining there as long as possible. This shortened the agricultural season. In some years, raiders literally reduced once rich rural communities around Erfurt to one-horse villages. One acute observer described the resultant reversals: villagers now paid the highest prices for lame horses, knowing that soldiers passed them over.56 Surviving villagers thus often had to choose between manual labour and church prayer. Weekday services took up part of the time they needed to work the fields and to go to town to beg or work. Very few peasants fully committed themselves to the penitent line of thought. One meticulous pastor provided Gotha visitators with figures on church attendance in the early 1640s. The parishioners who diligently attended prayer hours numbered less than ten percent; more than forty percent rarely appeared.57 Almost all pastors around Erfurt admitted that the turnout 53

Pohl treats towns. For rural conflicts see Eriksson/Krug-Richter. Rathjen, pp. 226–231; Albrecht-Birkner, Reformation des Lebens, p. 242; Huth, Wasserburg. 55 “[Es sei] aller orten einerlay lob, auch einerlay klag. lob ist diß, daß an sonn- und feüertag morgens die predigten fleißig besucht werden, klag aber, daß es mit andern predig und bettstunden gar laubecht daher gehe.” Wahl, p. 53 (quoting a Dekan from Blaubeuren, 1688); Tolley, pp. 73–78, both with ample references to German-speaking lands. The following also concurs with Haude, pp. 544, 547–549. 56 Wandersleben, pp. 225–234 and 339: “Hat man [vor dem Krieg] mit schönen Pferden gepranget/ so kaufft man jetzt mit fleiß Lahme/Blinde/ vnd sonst Vntüchtige/ damit sie von Soldaten nicht genommen werden sollen. Ja/man muß jetzo Ochsen/ Esel/ Kühe/ vnd alles vor dem Pflug spannen/ daß man etwas bestellen möge.” Ludwig, Gedechtnüsswürdige Erzehlunge. App. I. 20. Ed. Schum, pp. 120 f describes the death of the last horse in Dachwig in a vivid scene. 57 Albrecht-Birkner, Reformation des Lebens, pp. 216–219 on Mühlberg. 5,5 per cent of the female viz. 8,1 per cent of male parishioners appeared diligently (“fleißig”); 7,0 (f) / 3,3 (m) % “ut plurimum” (many times); 47,4 / 43,3 % “saepe” (often); 43,8 / 42,5 % “parum” (too little); 0,0 / 0,8 % never. 54

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was poor.58 The struggle for survival even began to affect services on Sundays and major holidays.59 The numerous day labourers would often either head for town at the break of dawn, before the church bells rang, or else rush out directly after the sermon. Conciliatory pastors sought to keep them in the aisles until the service was completed, stressing the effect of the benediction.60 Less understanding colleagues challenged their “selfish” behaviour and tried to procure public mandates against Sabbath-breakers.61 The absent churchgoers replied to pastoral demands with various arguments. Many simply stated the need to survive.62 Other villagers carried discussions to a more abstract level. Some appealed to the classic division of labour which presented propitiation as the pastor’s duty: peasants paid him to pray in the pulpit.63 They argued that the common prayer, read aloud on Sundays, fully sufficed. A third response was to openly challenge the effect of prayer hours. This plaint was presented in more or less offensive forms. “Epicurean” empiricists noted that things were better before propitiation had been increased. The weekly prayer hours had either been without any effect or only worsened their troubles. Even more sceptical villagers asked how long it would take before God fulfilled their prayers?64 A few may well have accused God of acting as a tyrant, who punished in anger without moderation.65 The more assertive parishioners thus questioned the efficacy of prayers by pointing to the magnitude of the suffering and the unusual length of the war. By the mid-1620s, commentators had already begun to speak of an “endless 58 The only exception is Martin Kerst (1588–1652) who wrote of a “frequent” turnout (“von den Leuten fleißig besuchet”, AEM A.VII.a.4.d, p. 2r). Pastor Kerst portrayed Egstedt as a village inhabited entirely by “Rechtgläubige fromme leute.” (Ibid., p. 1v). No villager had ever committed a public sin in the entire twenty-four years that he had headed the parish. Opposition towards the prying central authorities inspire such statements. 59 Nebe, Der Erfurter Landpastor, p. 102 mentions a collective pastoral complaint from 1642. 60 E. g. Pastor Syring from Büßleben (AEM A.VII.a.4.a, p. 149v). His colleague Mosengeil portrayed the urban vineyards as a source of much absenteeism: “die ostertage beugezaunen schneiden, die pfingsten kefer in Weinberg ablisen”. AEM A.VII.a.4.c., p. 247. 61 See the quote below in fn. 86. Such mandates were rarely issued. Many pastors complained about this lack of support from the responsible authorities in Erfurt, AEM A.VII.a.4.f (Elxleben), reply to the third question in Titulus VI; Nebe, Der Erfurter Landpastor, p. 102. 62 E. g. Albrecht-Birkner, Reformation des Lebens, p. 217. 63 A classic argument. See Rublack, “Der Wohlgeplagte Priester”, p. 1; Wandersleben, Chapter X, section IV. 64 Wandersleben, p. 216 under the heading “Epicurische gedancken vnd reden vom Gebet”. The preacher: “Viel hattens ihren hohn/ das man so viel Betstunden anstellete/ sagten wohl; Vor diesem hielt man nicht so viel Betstunden/ vnd war bessere Zeit/ als jetzunder.” Reply by the peasant, p. 218: “Ach freylich wird vns die Zeit von Hertzen lang/ ehe vns der lieben GOtt einmahl wider erhören will. Es scheinet als sey alles Gebet vergeblich vnd vmbsonst/ ja je länger wir Betstunde halten/ je ärger wirds mit dem Kriege/ je schwere[r] wird der Hunger / vnd je länger halten die Kranckheiten an.” Similar exchanges are reported on pp. 253, 473, 478. Wandersleben let his fictive peasant state such objections in a desperate manner. 65 Krusenstjern, Gottesbild, p. 183 quotes a distant comment on such laments during an epidemic.

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war”.66 In 1633, Meyfart openly doubted whether he or any of his listeners would witness peace. It may be “that only the children shall live to see peace come to the German Israel.”67 By then, prayer hours had already been celebrated in town on a weekly basis for ten years. Yet Meyfart still insisted that penitent prayers made a difference; they could help to lower divine anger.68 Every so often, preachers referred to individuals whose prayers had helped to avert danger.69 Pleas for temporal goods were, they stressed, always conditional. If God chose not to hear prayers, He did so with good reason.70 Here pastors stated the lack of true, heartfelt penitence as one of two main reasons. Listing long catalogues of sins further helped to shift the responsibility back on the community of believers. Their immense sins dwarfed the “millions of sighs” for peace heard throughout the Empire.71 The true sign of divine mercy was indeed that the Lord had not yet fully destroyed Germany: “DJe güte des HERRN ist / das wir nicht gar aus sind / Seine barmhertzigkeit hat noch kein ende”. It is no coincidence that Lamentations 3, 22 was one of the most-cited passages in war-time homilies.72 Such sentences helped pastors to explain the absence of peace. Yet quotes alone did not convince firm opponents.

Waging war on the pastor The listeners reacted to such messages based on the ethos of the speaker. The ethos was, in turn, influenced by poverty. Many pastors struggled with parishioners who had failed to pay pastoral wages. Wage conflicts are somewhat underemphasised in the old cultural history about pastors during times of war.73 Paul Drews (1903) did discuss wages, but he gave 66

See Chapter One, p. 16; Forster (1628), p. A3v (“Der vnendliche Krieg”); [Erfurt chronicle]. App.

I. 13 (1636), p. 99r: “Ewig Krieg”; and the prayer: “Tröste Vns Gott vnser Heyland/ vnd laß ab von dei-

ner vngnade vber vns/ Wiltu denn ewiglich vber vns zürnen? vnd deiner Zorn gehen lassen jmmer für vnd für”, in Silberschlag, Allgemeine Offene Beichte vnd Absolution (1625), p. B2v. 67 Meyfart, Gedenck Predigt, p. 23: “nur die Kinder den Frieden vber das Teutsche Israel erleben.” 68 Ibid., p. 22: The wrath of God “kan[n] durch die Missethat noch höher gezogen/ vnd durch die Buße tieffer gelassen werden”, and pp. 27 f: angels counted their tears. 69 E. g. Alberti, Spruch, p. E2r (sermon for Margaretha Schneider, née Schröter). Similar remarks in Bauer, Personalschriften, no. 680a (d.1600, pp. 359 f) and no. 908 (d.1631, pp. 488 f). 70 See fn. 221 and Hogel, Antipseudirenicon, p. 599. 71 Compare the ordained prayer “so Vieler millionen Seelen inbrunstige hertzens seufzer” (transcribed in [Taute], Schwartz Voigteybuch. App. I. 17, p. 71) to Meyfart, Gedenck Predigt, pp. 28 f: “bey vns/ neben vns/ vnter vns/ an vns/ vn[d] in vns/sey fast kein Füncklein einer wahren vnd rechtschaffenen Buße zu [29] spüren.” See further Silberschlag, Allgemeine Offene Beichte vnd Absolution (1625), p. B3v (quoting Isa 1, 15); Wandersleben, p. 440. 72 Fritz, Cronica. App. I. 24., p. 366a. Johann Hundorph, Encomii Continuatio (1651), p. A2v had already used the passage in the same manner. See also Silberschlag, Ordnung der Betstunde, p. C3r. 73 Freytag, Pictures (1862), Chapter III: The Villagers and their Pastors. More nuanced remarks by J. Drews, Geistliche, pp. 72–101 and F. Fritz, Württembergische Pfarrer, esp. Vol. 32, pp. 289 f, 300–

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more weight to Gustav Freytag’s praise of the courageous shepherd. Drews and Freytag thus both outlined a redemptive suffering. The Lutheran pastor supposedly atoned for faults in prior decades by remaining with his parishioners through bad times. By caring for their souls, Drews and Freytag state, the pastor gradually learned to love and comfort his flock. Their message has influenced recent studies.74 The famed autobiography of the Franconian pastor Martin Bötzinger (1599– 1673) is often mentioned in this context. It is read for its moving and accurate description of military atrocities. Less attention has been given to the notes on the final years of the war (1641–1647), which Bötzinger spent in Nottleben near Erfurt.75 He often still had to flee from raids, but he was spared from the physical violence and he could end his six months of vagrant begging. His worst troubles now came from his own parishioners. Nottleben had “waged war” against its former pastor, and villagers continued to plague his successor. After being appointed by the church patron from Gotha in January 1641, Bötzinger was forced to defend the controversial Catechism reforms. He faced elders, who appealed to the secular authorities seated in Erfurt.76 The mixed jurisdiction made it easier for local power brokers to gain the support of one or both of the superior authorities. Pastors seated in such villages were often left in a weak position.77 The parishes around Erfurt are also generally considered to have been among the most independent in Thuringia, electing pastors of their own choice.78 Elders here and elsewhere responded to critical pastors by filing complaints or withholding their wages.79 Missing wages had also been a serious problem in peacetime, but it grew acute in the second half of the war. A series of local works published during the 1640s addressed the untenable situation. Pastors regretted that they had to “complain, bicker, and curse” just to get a part of their salary. If paid, many received the sum fixed before the inflation of the early 1620s.80 Although not quite as intense, plaints were also heard in town. Parishioners there 306 and Vol. 33, pp. 238–243. The overall theme has also been treated by Strohm, pp. 92 f; Theibault, Jeremiah; Kaufmann, Dreißigjähriger Krieg, pp. 102–112; Brendle/Schindling, Geistliche im Krieg. See Marschke on army chaplaincy in this early period. 74 J. Drews, Geistliche, pp. 72–74, based on Freytag, Pictures (1862), pp. 89 f. Drews’ assessment is refuted by F. Fritz, Württembergische Pfarrer, Vol. 33, pp. 256 f; a modified variant is found by Kaufmann, Dreißigjähriger Krieg, pp. 102–105. 75 Krauß, pp. 353, 358 (quote): “Weil aber die Notleber mit ihrem alten Pfarrer disceptirten, und 4. Wochen Aufschub hatten, ihren Krieg auszuführen […]”. An inaccurate, but useable English translation is found in Freytag, Pictures (1862), pp. 96–115, here p. 115. 76 See Krauß, p. 358, quoted in this study on p. 320. 77 See AEM A.VII.a.3 on Nottleben, Dachwig, Klein-Rettbach and Möbisburg (1557–1655); Albrecht-Birkner, Reformation des Lebens, pp. 207–260, esp. p. 237. An overview of church patronages is G. Arndt, Baulast. 78 Weiß, Gemeinde passim; Weiß, Wirren, p. 50. 79 Wandersleben, p. 250. His parish was completely under Ernestine jurisdiction. 80 Ibid., pp. 251–267, here 255 and 257: “man sich deßwegen mit den Leuten weidlich zermahnen/ zerklagen/zerhaddern vnd zerschelten müssen/ehe man etwas erlangen können.”

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seem to have collected special donations, sparing their pastors from begging doorto-door.81 Some of the humiliated and poverty-stricken colleagues in the countryside called upon superior authorities for help. Andreas Toppius (1605–1677) compiled legal and moral arguments for use in such lawsuits in a separate publication. The accusations were particularly harsh around 1640. Speaking in the words of the Apostle Paul, Toppius warned congregations that they would reap as they sowed. The Lord withdrew His blessings from their fields. War and the recent famine and epidemics were the direct outcomes of the arrears: “in God’s eyes, it is very just that this happens to you. You[, peasant,] have long deserved this and much worse”.82 Pastors using such strong words ran a high risk. Less drastic formulations had alienated audiences in times of peace.83 The pastor in Dachwig, for example, was caught in such a conflict. Young and newlywed, Johann Daniel Ludwig (1615– 1669) was at the most vulnerable point of his career. During his first few years (1639–1642), parishioners could not afford to pay wages and at times left Ludwig starving.84 Located a few kilometres north of Nottleben, parish affairs in Dachwig were marked by the same division of church patronage (Sachsen-Gotha) and the other lordly privileges (Erfurt). Conflicts concerning payments and donations to the church continued well into the 1650s. Ludwig would later (1662/1663) give his version of the feud in two chronicles. Therein, he comforted himself by noting the misdeeds and evil deaths of his adversaries. The local schoolmaster and elders had, in 1648, replied to similar complaints by criticising him for being prone to insult listeners from the pulpit.85 It comes as no surprise that Ludwig stepped up the conflict and attacked the many parishioners who skipped the weekday service “to advance their dishonourable self-interest”.86 81

[Anon.], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 15, pp. 55v–56r; Stenger, Tausend Zeuge, pp. 171 f, 492– 494. Urban pastors had increasing difficulties to save up the money necessary to secure their family’s future. The treatise published posthumously by the widow Anna Catharina Meyfart in 1645 reflects this situation in a double manner. Johann Matthäus Meyfart, Bericht von der Prediger vnd Schuldiener Besoldung. See Trunz, pp. 271 f; Wandersleben, p. 255. 82 Toppius, Der Christenheit Schuldigkeit, Daß man die Prediger vnd Schuldiener nicht sol lassen Betteln gehen […] (1641), pp. B2v–B4r, citing 1 Corinthians 9 and quoting Galathians 6, 7 on page B2v: “Jrret euch nicht/ Gott leßt sich nicht hönen; Was der Mensch seet/ das wird er erndten.” See also B4r: “für Gott geschiehet dir sehr recht/du hast diß/ ja viel Ergers la[e]ngst […] verdienet.” – and pp. C7v, D2r (on lawsuits). Toppius had in the same year (1641) lost his position as pastor of the village Wenigentennstedt. From then on, he survived by writing short works, mainly on local history. Hesse, Leben, pp. 258 f. 83 Wahl, p. 52, with general notes on the following. 84 Ludwig, Gedechtnüsswürdige Erzehlunge. App. I. 20. Ed. Schum, pp. 120–123 (1639–1642). On the following, ibid., pp. 87–91. 85 AEM A.VII.a.32.b, Tit. II, q.19. In 1648, elders in Nottleben complained that Bötzinger had allowed the vicarage to dilapidite. AEM A.VII.a.32.d, p. 10r (Tit. IX, q.1). By then, Bötzinger and Ludwig no longer resided in these parishes. 86 “Es haben aber ihrer viel das widertheil an sich sehen lassen, indem mancher umb seines schendlichen eigenutzes willen den lieben Gott zu verdries offt in 2–3 oder mehr wochen die buspredigt nicht

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Pastoral adaptations Ludwig’s term in Dachwig marks one extreme in parochial relations. A pastor like him, in conflict with his congregation, was apt to describe parishioners as impious. In turn, they tended to regard his sermons and admonishments as contributions to the ongoing conflict. Pastors with a more amicable tie to their parishes described the same war-time behaviour in different terms. They often excused the less than optimal church attendance and lowered demands to a level that the churchgoers could fulfil. Such pastors moved the prayer hour to a point in the week when villagers returned from the fields for lunch; some even suspended this service.87 Joachim Mosengeil (1597–1667) agreed with the inhabitants of (Langen)elxleben that there was little need to hold weekday sermons during the summer. He was directly dependent on their harvest; other colleagues were themselves busy working in the fields. For similar reasons, schoolmasters did not ring the church bell pro pace at noon, but waited until the evening.88 Pastors and elders were aware of the gap between official standards and the tacit compromises. Their replies to the visitation questionnaire from 1647 make up the primary source on the compromises. These texts are obviously to be read with caution. Most pastors united with elders to ward off central control and they either omitted or downplayed any existing conflicts.89 Nevertheless, the more thorough replies indicate how pastors adjusted demands in order to be able to co-exist with their parishioners in the current situation. Some urban colleagues showed equal considerations. It was fully sufficient to visit the Sunday service, stressed Nicolaus Stenger. If hard-working artisans prayed at home on a daily basis, one need not demand more.90 Meyfart, by contrast, proposed that all adults should visit weekday sermons.91 He, and other advocates of encompassing reform, had grown critical of the many compromises, and Meyfart began to address them directly in his proposals. The abstract style of preaching has already been mentioned. Reformers directed very similar charges against the reliance on public admonishments and the practice of confessing sins and receiving absolution collectively. Sins were, in both cases,

besucht”. Ludwig added this note on the reverse of a printed mandate. The mandate itself did not concern prayer hour-attendance. It only targeted Sabbath-breakers. Ludwig, Gedechtnüsswürdige Erzehlunge. App. I. 20. Ed. Schum, pp. 125 f. 87 Tuesday noon in Molschleben; Thursday noon in Büßleben. Albrecht-Birkner, Reformation des Lebens, pp. 137, 205, 274–276; AEM A.VII.a.4.a, pp. 148v–149r. 88 On Elxleben, AEM A.VII.a.4.c, p. 241v (suspended from Walpurgis to Michaelmas) and p. 246r on leasing of the vicarage lands. Weekday sermons were held in the same manner in Kühnhausen, Tiefthal, and Büßleben (AEM A.VII.a.4.f viz. A.VII.a.4.a, p. 148v). On bell-ringing, ibid., Tit. XIX, q.9. Compare Haude, p. 551 and Tolley, p. 77. 89 Nebe, Der Erfurter Landpastor, pp. 101 f; K. Martens, Fürsorge, pp. 13 f. E. g. fn.s 58 and 332. 90 Stenger, Tausend Zeuge, pp. 161 f. 91 Meyfart, Bedencken, p. 15v.

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addressed from the pulpit in harsh, but impersonal terms.92 Formulas and public mandates distinguished between the trial (Prüfung) of the devout and the penitent, on the one hand, and the castigation (Züchtigung) of grave sinners, on the other hand.93 Parishioners were prone to see themselves as part of the former flock (Häuflein) of truly devout Christians. Opponents and proponents of Meyfart here agreed that “no-one wants to apply” the harsh words said in the pulpit “to themselves”.94 Parishioners could easily maintain this belief at the auricular confession that followed. The ceremony generally took place on Saturdays, in front of the altar or at an open chair in the choir, with other parishioners lined up and waiting within visible distance. Urban parishes were particularly crammed on Saturdays.95 Many churchgoers regarded this confession as a habitual affair, involving little more than the recitation of formulas. The enclosed confessional (Beichtstuhl) was slowly spreading to some Lutheran churches during this period; it was rarely found in Erfurt.96 A critical care of souls was generally reserved for the vicarage, where conversations could took place in private. Here, the pastor admonished grave sinners, instructed the ignorant, and comforted the anguished.97 A member of the larger ‘middling’ group rarely received such personal attention until he or she fell ill and feared death. The attempts made by Elsner, and like-minded colleagues, to change these customs and to inquire more deeply during the auricular confession were soon stopped. Parishioners obviously viewed the public questioning as humiliating.98 Plans to conduct personal talks in all households met the same resistance. The proposed home visits would have expanded the pastor’s access to (and control of) 92 An example of the public absolution and retention of sins is found in Silberschlag, Allgemeine Offene Beichte vnd Absolution (1625). On this German custom, Myers, “Poor sinning Folk”; Graff, pp. 375–384. 93 E. g. Heiligensetzer, Kirchendiener, pp. 231–235. 94 Compare Zapf, pp. 309–311 to Elsner, Delineation, p. 76, speaking of sermons: “Zumahl weil keiner auff sich selber die application machen wil.” 95 See Nebe, Der Erfurter Landpastor, p. 111 and the pastors’ replies to question 8 in Tit. VIII of [Anon.], Ausschreiben (1647), e. g. AEM A.VII.a.4.a, p. 152r (Büßleben). The number of confessors in the densely populated Barfüsser parish fluctuated between twenty and a hundred parishioners each Saturday. The deacon here had to aid the pastor. Hence, one may envision hurried scenes similar to those described by Graff, pp. 379 f. The Confitentenbuch in StAE 5/940-7 is one of the few registers preserved from these decades. See further Archiv der Andreasgemeinde III. Kirchliche Amtshandlungen, f. Beichte, nos. 115–119; Archiv der Barfüßergemeinde III. C. 2–3. 96 Heidelmann/Meissner, on Franconia. On its spread from Milan to post-Tridentine Catholic episcopies see Myers, “Poor sinning Folk”. 97 See the pastors’ replies to the visitation questionnaire Tit. VIII, question 10 and Tit. XXII, q. 7–8, e. g. AEM A.VII.a.4.a, p. 158r (Büßleben). Cf. Rublack, Beichte; Karant-Nunn, pp. 99–101, who reach opposite conclusions about the role of the auricular confession. Rublack and Karant-Nunn would both have benefited from a closer consideration of the “gradus admonitionis”. 98 The official decree referred to haste, “Vbereilen”, as a reason to abstain from questioning, Rahts Trittes Decret (as fn. 17), p. 18. Myers, Ritual, pp. 141 f notes the importance of shaming.

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parishioners. This breached one un-codified, but widely known rule: pastoral moral instruction was to take place in the church, the school, and the vicarage. If pastors tried to moralise elsewhere, tough parishioners brought them up short, replying that such talk was out of place.99 Their objection presented the three-fold division of society in a straightforward manner: here, the orders of the church, the household, and the town hall were conceived as spatially separated realms.

Summary: limits to the communal praxis pietatis during war Pastors paid tribute to notions of shame and honour on other occasions. Opponents of the Gotha reforms, for instance, gathered popular support by presenting these reforms as attacks on the honour of the parish. They argued that reformers defamed parishioners and their forefathers as ignorant sinners.100 Chapter Five argued that Stenger tried to popularise his concept of conscience to listeners by placing it in relation to an outside audience.101 These examples substantiate the basic argument of the sections above: the lay unwillingness to appear as a grave sinner in public view restrained pastoral appeals for repentance. This was unsatisfactory for reformers. Appeals spoken from the pulpit either went over the heads of churchgoers, they argued – or, at best, in one ear and out the other.102 Their verdict seems somewhat exaggerated. The following section of this chapter suggests that the well-catechised, literate parishioners were responsive to messages delivered in the pulpit. The considerable conceptual obstacles were coupled with practical restraints imposed by the wartime struggle for survival. Working the fields by the sweat of their brows was no longer the primary burden placed on villagers; many also, or instead, had to push wheelbarrows and beg for food. Most chose not to go to church on weekdays and some neglected the Sunday service. A number of impoverished countryside parishes even ceased to support a pastor. Parishioners there either went to church in neighbouring villages or began to read aloud from the postillon themselves.103 99

“[D]och hats die erfahrung geben, wan[n] dz indecorum et sæpe turpe qvoddam gestraft, ist geantwortet, Jn der kirchen mag der pfaff predigen, Was hat er hier auf der hochzeit Vns vor Zu schreiben, deßen der die vppige Welt kinder wol zulachen pflegen.” Report by Pastor Mosengeil, AEM A.VII.a.4.c, p. 245v. His colleague, Syring, added an anecdote ending with the lay objection: “ich sollte mich Vmb der gemein ihre sachen, vnd was aufm Rathhausse gehört, nicht bekümmern: ich hette in meinem Ambt, vnd der Bibel ganz Zuthun.” AEM A.VII.a.4.a, p. 158v (Büßleben). 100 Mahlmann, Johannes Kromayer, pp. 48 f; StAE 1-1/10A-I, 1a, pp. 48r, 65v. 101 Chapter Five, p. 171. 102 Sträter, Meditation, pp. 75 f. For similar quotes, Collinson, Religion, pp. 201 f. 103 Two local examples are [Anon.], Notizen und Miszellen aus Thüringischen Chroniken and Toppius, Verzeichnüß, p. A4r (pastor absent from Döllstädt 1635–1641). For outside parallels see Krusenstjern, Seliges Sterben, p. 487 and F. Fritz, Württembergische Pfarrer, Vol. 33, pp. 195, 181, and esp. 164 f.

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Drawing overall conclusions about the level of religious commitment incorporates an arbitrary element. Churchmen in Sachsen-Gotha knew of the problems with the prayer hour attendance and used the turnout as one of several criteria to measure commitment. This helped them to legitimate the need for reform. Veronika Albrecht-Birkner has shown in detail just how questionable this criterion was.104 The following sections shift the focus from the collective to individuals. At the same time, we proceed from the contested limits of religious commitment to two pillars of lay piety, namely prayers and psalms. Toward the end of the chapter another section addresses a third central theme – divine judgements – and shows how it relates to communal conflicts.

Individual profiles A religion revolving around inner beliefs places obvious limitations on any analyst. It is worth to cite the ontological barriers which the village pastors highlighted in reports from 1648. Only God knew what parishioners really believed, they cautioned.105 Like them, we can neither visit every household like an angel nor can we search the hearts and try the reins (Jer 17, 10). Historians are only left with more or less direct sources of lay commitment.106 These sections of the study examine what pastors said about parishioners and what parishioners themselves wrote down. Many literate women and men wrote their own prayer books or added personal notes to printed devotionals.107 Pastors at times told the funeral audience which passages the deceased had underlined. First-hand evidence of this has rarely survived. These printed prayer books were mostly passed on in families and were gradually worn out.108 Hand-written compilations hardly ever entered archives. Lutheran pastors had a tendency to write about their flocks in a chiaroscuro manner. Sermons described the disinterested and drunken listeners, who slept, chatted, or read indecent texts in the aisles.109 This gloomy and anonymous multitude was lit up by exemplary individuals. Funeral sermons gave posthumous 104

See fn.s 57 and 87 above. The celebration of fast- and prayer days on the British Isles is exceptional in this regard. Attending unauthorized fast days soon became a way to demonstrate a Puritan conviction. Collinson, Puritanism, pp. 50–56. 105 This was part of a tactic meant to free them from the many disagreeable questions posed in the visitation questionnaire. E. g. AEM A.VII.a.4.a, pp. 158v, 174r, 176r. 106 Albrecht-Birkner, Reformation des Lebens is able to draw on the more detailed “registers of souls” (Seelenregister), tracking religious progress or decline in each household. 107 Veit, Kirchenlieder und “Privatleben”. 108 A fine study of a later period is Medick, Weben und Überleben, Chapter 6 (1748–1820). On the following note Steiger, Das Gebetbüchlein der Magdalena Meisner. 109 Stenger, Grund-Feste, pp. 155, 166 f. An entire sermon on sleepers is Fichselius (1609).

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praise to parishioners who had taken written notes of the sermon.110 Churchgoers were clearly a mixed crowd. The following section focuses on the more attentive listeners. Almanacs and chronicles can be useful supplements. A few specimens show how individuals prayed during war years.111 Some chroniclers were very brief in their prayers. Martin Hoffmann, for instance, wrote like a bookkeeper. After he completed his town chronicle, he recorded subsequent events in a series of annual retrospectives that continue from 1599 up to 1625. His meticulous annals variously gave thanks for harvests in bountiful years or concluded with pleas for improvement in leaner years. Disturbing events prompted Hoffmann to round off an entry with the letters “JC”, for Jesus Christ. His abbreviated prayers bear witness to a rather standardised processing of events.112 Insights into the more immediate religious responses to war are found in the chronicles and journals written at shorter intervals. Chroniclers often grew more elaborate in their prayers when they were personally overtaken by events. This happened to the pastor Martin Cabuth in the early 1620s, during a period of great inflation. Prices rose rapidly across the Empire, and in Erfurt everything grew unaffordable. Cabuth tried to keep track of prices and the rumours that his maid and others brought back from the marketplace – and he prayed, pleading God to “mercifully change things” for the better, “Amen.”113 Inflation also gave rise to protests that Cabuth alternately portrayed either as just grievances or as the seeds of rebellion.114 He personally must have recognised the spectre of starvation, which he had suffered as a young orphan. It is hard to overestimate the fear and hope for improvement expressed in his short, intense prayers.115

110

E. g. J. Wagner, Leich-Predigt, p. 37. Meise gives details on prayers in war-time almanacs kept by a Hessian prince, on pp. 174–178, 182–184; see also pp. 202, 145–152. 112 Entries ending with “JC” are, i. a., found on pp. 374 (violent soldiers) and 378 (town fire) in Hoffmann, Chronica Thvringiaca. App. I. 6, p. 6. On rare occasions, Hoffmann did grow more elaborate in his prayers. They were added to entries on events that either lay close in time (pp. 360, 374a v) or moved him emotionally, as the conflagration in his native Erzgebirge, p. 284: “Den 27. Aprilis ist S. Annaberg die Churf. Bergkstadt, vnd mein Vaterland, gar ausgebrand, da die handelsleute allda nach leipzig gereiset, Gott behüte alle frommen Christen für dergleichen schaden.” 113 “Acti 16. Februari Kaufft man 1. malder gemengt korn p[er] 160. fl. Schöne leuter korn, p. 30 fl. 1. Malder gersten p[er] 45. fl. 1. Malder haber p[er] 26. fl. 1 stübischen wein, vnd doch zimlichen p[er] 2 fl. […] in Summa aller ding war vberschwengliche Tewrung. Gott wende es gnedig. Amen.” [Cabuth], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 5, p. 125r. See also entries on May 1 and 26, p. 126r. 114 Ibid., pp. 126r, 127v (May 1 and December 26, 1622). 115 App. I. 5 gives biographical notes. Another typical entry is ibid., p. 126r: “Acti 6. Martii Ao 1622 Ward den Becke[r]n alhier vergunstiget […] brot p[er] 4. g. zu geben. War darbey vnter den Armuth [sc.: die Armen] groß geschreÿ vnd wehre klagen. Gott helffe. […] 1. alter Reichsthaler war Vf gewechselt für 13. fl. Ach Gott thun dich erbarmen, es gehet nur uber die Armen.” 111

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Prayers in ‘a diary of constant fears’ Two townsmen prayed in a similar manner during the late 1630s and early 1640s, when famine had become a bitter reality and Imperial conquest was a very concrete threat. Both townsmen portrayed events as seen from the Town Hall at the Fischmarkt, but each wrote independently. Here we shall take a closer look at the account of the town clerk, Hermann Taute.116 His skilful handwriting makes it possible to identify him as the anonymous author of the official journal, kept from 1639 to 1646 by order of the Council. It was mostly councillors who decided what was to be entered in this ‘Black Book of the Bailiff ’. Such entries were ‘kept for the record’ and point to the politics of documenting the civil-military relations in an occupied town.117 Yet the passages of most interest for this chapter are due to a personal ambition to record the war. Taute took note of events that he deemed important for his town: notes on prodigies, warning townsmen of threatening punishment, and notes on omens, both auspicious and disconcerting. To this he added pleas to God to spare the town. These entries were not ordered by “the governing lord councillors”.118 Taute’s asides help to retrace religious responses to the war and its changing threats. In the conclusion of the present section, this outline will then be compared to the reactions of local preachers. These prayers and religious notes are best understood within their ‘Sitz im Leben’ (Hermann Gunkel), the specific social and physical context. Taute wrote in one of the smaller chambers of the spacious Kämmerei, equipped with a stove, a desk, and some small cupboards.119 In times of peace, peasants would come here to pay taxes and register marriages. They now fled to town and recounted of atrocities, with “hot tears” flowing down their cheeks.120 War also entered his premises through the reports of troop movements in the countryside and in the shape of protesting officers, who occupied the adjoining offices in order to exact their wages from the tax officials. The reports worried Taute and led him to pray. 116

The anonymous Town Hall-chronicler is examined on p. 247 and in App. I. 15. Berg, Regulating war, pp. 67–69, 81–83. For general notes on such “black books” see Graf, “Zufällige Gedanken”. The telling, full title of the journal is transcribed in App. I. 17. 118 The standard phrase in the ordered entries was: “welches dan[n] umb mehrer nahrichts willen von den Regierenden herren Obern zu Registrieren ahnbefohlen worden.” [Taute], Schwartz Voigteybuch. App. I. 17, p. 139 (quote), et passim. Examples of the difference between an entry made on Council orders and one of Taute’s own observations are also found in Chapter Four, fn.s 172 and 238. 119 Taute added an index to help succeeding scribes. It refers to an other protocol kept “in dem Schrencklein beÿm Offen […] stehet in ein büschlein Zusammen gebunden”, [Taute], Schwartz Voigteybuch. App. I. 17, p. 424. On the recent renovation in 1622, see [Brettin], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 11, pp. 51v–52v, esp. p. 52v: “dieser gebäw costet ein ansehenlichs geldt, wirdt vom gemeinen Böfel oftmals schertz weise geredt, das die newe Cämmerey nuhmer ein Zeit her[?] wehr als zu hell Vnd Weitläuftig sein wil, wen dargegen die alte bedacht wirdt.” 120 StAE 1-0 A/IV-7, p. 174r: “Den 11. Januarij 1623. haben die Elxleben[er] mit solchem weinenden Augen, das ihnen die heißenn trehnenn übers angesicht herabgefloßen, geclagt, […]”. 117

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“May our Lord protect the beloved grain”, he wrote in June 1643, having heard that yet another Swedish army was approaching the town. “Time will tell where their march is bound for.”121 His journal contains some thirty-six short prayers.122 Taute took part in a well-organised early warning system that ranged from fortified outposts to the bailiff ’s office in the Town Hall. Reports of approaching forces would be forwarded by regional chancelleries or arrive from one of the local fortified outposts, such as the tower at Bienstädt overlooking the Thuringian plains or the castle in Schloßvippach, located on the main regional road. Officials in Erfurt would then ride out to warn authorities in the surrounding villages.123 A multitude of interlocked networks existed throughout the Empire. Scribes like Taute, seated at the centre of a local network, kept records that often read like ‘a diary of constant fears’.124 Prayers reveal which threats and foes troubled Taute. He did, on the occasion of victories against Catholic armies, still pray for God to assist the just cause and preserve the pure religion.125 Yet these prayers were dwarfed in number by the pleas for protection from the very same Swedish forces which, according to many Lutherans in the Empire, had once entered the war to salvage the Word. Locals now associated Swedish soldiers with the threat of oppressive billeting, “gruesome misdeeds” (rape), and the aforementioned destruction of the crops.126 As a loyal 121

[Taute], Schwartz Voigteybuch. App. I. 17, pp. 183 f: “den 22 Junij 1643. Jst aus dem furstl: Ambt Gotha Post einkommen, Wie das der her General Major Königsmarck midt seiner Vnter habenden Armee in Vollem March auf [184] Erffurdt begriffen & das Hauptqvartier wehre ahn itzo zu Hirschfeldt Vndt giengen die Partheÿen Starck albereit auf Eysenach Vndt Gotha[.] hetten auch den Burgern Vndt bauren Viel Pferde doherumb hinweg genohmen[.] Vnser her Godt behute das liebe getreÿdich[.] Wo der March ferner hingehen wirdt eröfnet die Zeidt.” 122 [Taute], Schwartz Voigteybuch. App. I. 17, pp. 28, 31, 37, 56, 90, 110, 137, 140, 141, 159 f, 160, 161, 161 (two separate entries), 167, 171, 172, 172, 173, 175, 175 f, 184, 185, 193, 194, 201, 207, 260, 264, 268, 294, 298, 299, 301, 340, 390, 413, 420; see also p. 423: “G.[ott] G.[ebe] G.[nade] A.[men]”. This list excludes copies of official prayers and admonishments read aloud in the pulpit, e. g. pp. 104 f, 303–310, 319, 403–406. 123 E. Wagner, Geschichte unserer Dörfer, pp. 64–67; Huth, Die Bienstedter Warte; idem, Warttürme; and App. I. 25 on David Brand, the Amtmann at Schloßvippach (present-day Markvippach). 124 Bog, pp. 142–154, 129: “Tagebuch der ewigen Angst”. A direct translation of the apt phrase would include ‘anxiety’.‘Fear’ fits better to the specific threat perceptions of such scribes. 125 [Taute], Schwartz Voigteybuch. App. I. 17, p. 140 (defeat of Croatian regiments): “Vnßer lieber Godt stehe der gerechten sache beÿ Vndt gebe Vnß dermahleinsten den lang gewünschten edelen friede Vmb des herren Christi Willen A.[men]”; p. 171 (rumours of Swedish victory): “Godt der Almächtige stehe der gerechten sache ferners beÿ, Vndt erhaltte Vnss bey diesen bösen annoch schwebenden turbis beÿ seinem allein Seligmachenden heyligen Wortte Vndt gebe Vnß allerseits ein genädiges undt Väterliches auskommen darmidt Wihr die schwere krieges Last ertragen mögen Vmb seines allerheÿligsten nahmens ehre Willen A.[men] A.[men] A.[men]”. The pleas and thanksgivings continue on p. 172; see also p. 406 on the Luther-centennial in 1646. 126 Another threatening scenario was open conflict between the townsmen and the garrisoned forces. “Godt der allerhöchste Vorhüte solches genädiglich […]”, ibid., p. 193. See pp. 260, 264: “Godt der aller höchste behüte Vnß ferner Vohr solcher einquartierung”; 31: “Godt behüte alle menschen Vohr solchen grewlichen Vnthaten”.

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servant of the Council, Taute copied the thanksgiving prayers issued by orders of the occupying authorities. His only spontaneous prayers for Swedish forces date to their victory against the Imperial army at Breitenfeld (1642) and their siege of Heldrungen, a stronghold for raiders who inflicted great damage upon the town.127 During the Swedish siege of Leipzig (1642), he sympathised with the fellow Lutherans in Leipzig rather than the besieging soldiers.128 Taute was well aware that the interests of his own town seldom matched those of the Swedish army. The continuous reports of raids, sieges, and troop movements fed Taute’s only strong desire, for “the long-desired, noble peace”.129 He would add prayers for peace when he began recording yet another year of war, or when he heard news of a destructive raid – regardless of whether it was directed from or aimed against Erfurt.130 Like most other civilian commentators, Taute seems convinced that the conflict would not be decided by military means. He genuinely identified with Drances’ plea for peace in the Aeneid, seeing no “safety in war”.131 Taute placed his hopes in the Westphalian peace talks. He described the departure of Council envoys in detail and added ardent prayers. If only the Lord would “govern the hearts of the warring rulers”, the envoys could obtain the “joyous desired result”.132 Taute’s prayers are far removed from Hogel’s call for an armed Armageddon and instead resemble positions of the pastors Elsner and Stenger outlined in Chapter 127

Ibid., pp. 298, 299, 301. Ibid., p. 172. Taute complained about the burdens which the siege imposed on Erfurt. “Godt der allerhöchste helffe es überwinden undt helffe doch den armen religionsvorwandten in Leiptzig zu einem gutem gedeÿlichem accord.” His sympathy did not extend to inhabitants of Naumburg. This Lutheran town long served as a base for Electoral raids on Erfurt; see pp. 52, 83, 161. 129 See ibid., p. 110 et passim and my fn. 125: “den lang gewünschten edelen friede”. 130 Ibid., pp. 137, 141, 201. The prayer from January 1, 1643 is on p. 175. 131 This Aeneidian addition is ibid., p. 173: “Den 20 dieses [sc.: November 1642] ist ein troupen Reuter ungefehr von 25 Pferde von hier in die Oberpfaltz commandiret worden […] 26 Nov: nuhr 22 Reutern hinwiederumb zurücke [ge]kommen[.] pro memor. [nulla salus bello,] pacem te poscimus omnes [Turne]”. Compare Vergil, The Aeneid, pp. 260 f: “There is no safety in war; for peace we ask you Turnus, one and all” (Book 11, verse 362). 132 “Godt der allerhöchste gebe eine glückliche ahnkunfft, eine fröhliche erwünschte Vorrichtung undt eine ersprießliche gute Wieder ahn heim kunfft.” [Taute], Schwartz Voigteybuch. App. I. 17, p. 420 (25.3.1646). His prior entry (21.3.1646) described the havoc that Swedish forces wreaked upon villages in the hills, west of town: “Seindt noch zwey Regimenter zu Roß eines naher Ermbstet undt eines naher Binttersleben einquartieret worden[, sie] ruiniren die Bergische dörffer totaliter es vorbleibet keine thür noch thor es gehet alles drauf.” The departure of other delegations prompted prayers on pp. 390, 413. The stereotyped phrase is here cited from the prayer ordained November 10, 1644, on occasion of the naval victory at Fehmarn. Taute’s copy is on pp. 292 f (my emphasis): “Solchem nach Wirdt E. Christliche liebe hier midt Vermahnet: Beÿ dieser offent lichen Vor samlung den Barmhertzigen Godt […] midt inbrünstiger ahndacht anzuruffen: Er als der [293] rechte Kriegsheldt, wolle beÿ diesem elendem Zustande, seine liebe Kirche gewalttig schützen […] Jngleichem der kriegenden Potentaten hertzen regieren […] damit Zu seines nahmens ehre […] ein beständiger friede geschloßen und volnzogen”. 128

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Five. The nuances are best examined by turning from the series of prayers to the pleas surrounding one event, the raid on Erfurt villages in August 1642. Following two failed Imperial attempts to blockade Erfurt in 1637–1638 and 1641, fighting in the region had reverted to destructive raids. Each regional commander struggled to secure the resources necessary to keep his forces fed and paid. The commander of Swedish forces in Thuringia, Caspar Ermes, was something of an expert in these rough and risky operations.133 Yet in August 1642, his base, Erfurt, was itself struck. Having heard that most of the garrisoned forces were committed to the northwest, a colonel from the Upper Palatinate crossed the Thüringer Wald. He arrived at the town on the twenty-fifth, at noon, and ventured within a cannonball’s distance. Taute’s description of the plundering reads like a caption to the frontispiece in Figure Nine. Horsemen rushed from village to village and torched farms to break peasant resistance before riding off with the valuables safeguarded in the fortified churches. The main prize was the great cattle herds gathered near the town; affluent hostages captured in the countryside promised additional income.134 The event was only memorable for its proximity and scale. The inhabitants of Erfurt had often seen raiders return with herds, but they themselves had rarely been hit so hard. “On this day,” Taute noted, “a terrible wailing and lamentation was heard from almost all townsmen and the peasants who had lost their horses and cattle. The town of Erfurt has not suffered so great a misfortune and loss in the entire Swedish war. […] May the dear Lord with His rich divine blessings compensate us all with other goods [ersetzen… in einem anderem], especially those who have been beggared by this, losing all their cattle and horses at once and lacking the means to buy new draught animals or cultivate the fields.”135 Taute was not the only observer who described the raid. Nicolaus Stenger devoted an entire sermon to it, held on the following Sunday, when the shock was still “a fresh memory”. His challenging task was to teach townsfolk to praise the Lord in good times as well as in bad. He urged those who had lost cattle and family members to reflect upon the event and say “that he hath done all things 133 He died of wounds received during one such raid near Hof, in Vogtland. Hillebrandt, Auxilium. A brief biography is Pleiss, Ermes. 134 Two townsmen taken hostage described the raid in great detail. Their testimonies were noted down by [Taute], Schwartz Voigteybuch. App. I. 17, p. 162–166. Taute’s first entry was transcribed in abbreviated form by H. Beyer, Vogteibuch, p. 263–265. Heubel, pp. 166 f describes an earlier raid on Erfurt by the same colonel. 135 [Taute], Schwartz Voigteybuch. App. I. 17, p. 159 f: “Dieser tag ist alhier fast Von allen Bürgern Vndt bauren welchen ihre Pferde Vndt Viehe Verlohren ein schreckliches lamentiren Vndt clagen gewesen Vndt hadt die Stadt Erffurdt Weil [sc.: während] das Schwedische Kriegswesen gewehret, ein solch Vnglück Vndt groβen Verlust nicht ausgestanden, es Will der schade Von Vielen ahn Viehe Pferden Vndt anderen mehr auf die 50 oder 60 tausent thaler geschetzet werden, der liebe Godt ersetze es Vnβ allen Vndt besonders denen Jenigen Welche gahr ahn Bettelstab doruber gerathen[,] Viehe Vndt Pferde auf einmahl verlohren [160, und] die Mittel nicht haben hinwiederumb ahnzuspannen oder den acker Wieder ahnzubawen, in einem anderem midt seine Gödtlichem segen reichlich.”

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well” (Mark 7, 37).136 Their grief must never grow into a grievance against God. It helped to take Job as an example. Parishioners who now experienced losses should join in and exclaim: “the LORD gaue, and the LORD hath taken away, blessed be the Name of the LORD” (Job 1, 21). For it was the Lord who had struck Job with raiders from “Arabia” and most recently sent Colonel Johann von Sporck (c.1601–1679) to Erfurt. Stenger here stressed the redemptive aim of castigations: the bitter taste of material losses helped to sharpen the appetite for heavenly rewards. Stenger further called upon each cattle-owner to ask himself whether he had bought cattle stolen in previous raids.137 This presentation of the raid does not add any new traits to the homiletic profile outlined in the previous chapter. Stenger’s sermon only gains particular value when read in combination with Taute’s prayers. Their commentaries show where lay and pastoral commitment overlapped and where they parted. It would certainly be inappropriate to rank Taute among the irreligious dissenters. He did not react to misfortunes by charging “God foolishly” (Job 1, 22).138 The reformist complaint about parishioners who wrote heated supplications to civilian authorities but addressed the Lord in cold prayers does not match Taute’s consistent pleas for peace. Over the years, he continued to pray for an end to the war, without ever striking plaintive tones or, let alone, accuse God of playing with mankind.139 Taute, without doubt, knew his Catechism by heart. He abided to propitiatory convention by concluding his pleas with an appeal to the Lord to grant this for His own sake, or more frequently, for the sake of Christ.140 While the phrasing and choice of tone is definitely orthodox, the scope of his pleas differs notably from Stenger’s. In passages like the one quoted above, Taute prayed that the Lord would “compensate” those left impoverished by the raid by 136

Nicolaus Stenger: Christliche Predigt/ Darinnen/ Daß Gott habe alles wohl gemacht/ aus dem Ordentlichen Evangelio am XII. Sontage nach Trinitatis deß 1642. Jahrs/ bewiesen vnd erkläret/ Alß Donnerstags zuvor/ durch eine starcke Feindes Parthey / sehr viel Viehes vor der Stad Erffurth geraubet/ auch etliche Bürger gefangen weggeführet worden […]. Erfurt 1643, pp. A4v (“in frischen Andencken”), B1r et passim. Amongst his listeners were, with all likelihood, Barbara von Utzberg (1603–1682), whose adolescent son was missing, and Johann Friedrich Förster (1614–1681), whose older brother was held captive. 137 Stenger, Christliche Predigt, pp. A3r (quote; the King James’ Version reads “Sabeans”), E1v, C3v. Most affluent conscientious soul-searchers will have answered positively. By the late 1630s, regional measures to prevent the trade with raided goods no longer functioned efficiently. Stolen cattle had become an integral part of the “tribute-barter-tribute”-circle (G. Benecke). Compare the earlier measures in 1623 (E. Wagner, Einlagerung, p. 74, 77–81) with idem, Geschichte unserer Dörfer, p. 78 f and the letters exchanged in StAE 1-1/21-1a, 22, p. 93r–97v, 102r–107v, 112r. Winnige, Wirtschaften, esp. p. 294–296 develops a general model, based on similar towns. 138 Stenger, Christliche Predigt, p. A4v. On the following, Wandersleben, pp. 50, 497 f. 139 The most entreating formulation ran: “Godt Wende doch ins künfftige alles Vnglück von Vnß hinweg Vndt gebe doch dermahleinsten den lang gewünschten edelen friede.” [Taute], Schwartz Voigteybuch. App. I. 17, p. 201. Cf. Burkhardt, Der Dreißigjährige Krieg, p. 242. 140 [Taute], Schwartz Voigteybuch. App. I. 17: “Vmb sein selbst willen” (pp. 141, 160, 176); “Vmb des herren Christi Willen” (108, 137, 140, 172, 175, 293).

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blessing them “with other goods”, meaning temporal goods.141 These pleas partly explain why Elsner, in his 1641-memorandum, chose to depict the Almighty as a protector of the town. This appeal does, ultimately, seem to have furthered an attitude which was regretted in the same memorandum. Elsner, along with most other preachers, deplored the fact that parishioners were prone to lament their losses rather than their own sins.142 The attempt to convince parishioners that the Lord “hath done well” by sending Imperial raiders143 apparently met considerable opposition, even among the well-catechised. The opposition was probably one reason why this Sunday sermon was put to print; Stenger left most others as manuscript notes. On earlier occasions, he had also found it necessary to lower lay hopes about the effects of collective repentance. Propitiatory services did not guarantee that the Lord would rescind temporal visitations, Stenger cautioned. The Lord might well continue to try the sinners after He forgave them. These explanations were added to the sermon on the more traditional subject of auricular confession. The sermon was held during the Imperial blockade in mid-November 1641.144 Addressing this pressing issue, Stenger shifted from an exegesis to a more dialogical and casuist form. “In order that the simple folk may better understand this, I consider the [possible] case that God has decided to ruin the town Erfurt with fire and sword, because of our sins. What shall we do? The Word of God says: Prepare to meete thy God (Amos 4, 12) […]”. Faithful prayer would ensure that all eternal punishment was avoided. “Yet what about the temporal punishments, you ask. Will God suddenly avert all our troubles and give us good times and grant us peace? The answer [is]: it is very easy for the Lord to do. But even if He does not do so, but continues with the temporal punishments and imposes some [punishment] on us, we have to be content, pray, and arm our souls with patience”.145 141

[Taute], Schwartz Voigteybuch. App. I. 17, pp. 176 and 340. Elsner, Delineation, pp. 21, 73; Stenger, Christliche Predigt, p. D2r; and the reference to Jer 30, 15 on the frontispiece to Wandersleben. 143 Stenger, Christliche Predigt, pp. B1r, C1r. 144 Idem, Grund-Feste, pp. 1159–1184 (sermon on Art. 25, November 10, 1641), here p. 1180–1184. 145 Ibid., p. 1183 f: “Mit der zeitlichen Straffe oder Züchtigung mag es GOTT machen wie Er wil […]. Vnd damit dieses die Einfältigen noch besser verstehen/ so setze ich den Fall und sage: GOtt hat beschlossen die Stadt Erffurt(umb unser Sünde willen) mit Feur und Schwerd zuverderben. Was sollen wir thun? Gottes Wort spricht: Schicke dich/ und begegne deinem GOTT [Amos 4, 12 … p. 1184 …]. Wie aber mit der zeitlichen Straffe/ sprichstu/ wird denn GOtt alsbald alles Widerwertige von uns abwenden/ Friede und gute Zeit geben und bescheren? Antwort/das ist Gott dem HERRN gar leicht und wohl zuthun: Ob ers aber nicht thun wolte / sondern mit der zeitlichen Straffe anhalten/und etwas über uns verhengen/so müssen wir zu frieden seyn/ Beten/und unsere Seelen mit Gedult fassen/ denn es ist gnug/ daß uns Gott die ewige Straffe erlässet / ob wir gleich zeitlich etwas leide[n] müssen/so ist doch Gott bey uns / der tröstet uns/ hilfft uns und machts also/das wirs ertrage[n] könne[n] /un[d] wer weiß/ es mag Jhn wol gerewen alles was er gedacht hat uns böses zu thun/daß ers nicht thut. Lasset uns nur in de[n] schrancke[n] der Busse/ des Gebeths/und der Gedult bleiben/einträchtig beysammen stehen/unser wohl warnehmen/es gehe wie Gott will/so sind wir selig.” – In times of need, Catholic priests also elucidated their penitential doctrines to parishioners. See the cycle of noon142

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Taute lived up to this patient paradigm in his written prayers. They further kept to the Lutheran understanding that penitence was God-granted.146 Nevertheless, the town scribe omitted or lacked the soteriological reflections so central to the pastors. The same focus on protection is found in other prayers written by laymen during such upheavals.147 The difference is one of emphasis and not a fundamental divide. Educated laymen, like Taute, likewise tried to process events until they fitted ideas about the just, providential governance of the world.148 In regard to the raid, the pious retrospective recounted the fate of the most prominent hostage, Johann Melchior Förster (1597–1673). Colonel Sporck demanded a high sum for Förster and kept him in captivity long after the other Erfurt hostages were ransomed. Förster was Taute’s superior. The scribe therefore prayed for Förster and took detailed note of the efforts to have him released. They led to months of muddled negotiations.149 Negotiations were soon forgotten by the local Lutherans, who instead focused on the liberation. Förster returned to town in mid-January 1643 after his ransom was paid. His liberation gave Stenger an exemplum to prove that divine tribulation did, as he had told churchgoers in August, go hand in hand with deliverance. He had the sermon printed and dedicated it to his friend, Förster.150 Förster struck similar tones. The Lord had tried his faith, but never put him under greater pressure than he could bear. He often told acquaintances how God had freed him from his chronic colic during the entire captivity. Four decades later, at Förster’s funeral, Stenger could add yet another story about providential preservation from the year 1663.151 sermons held in the summer of the plague year 1626 by Lambertus Heck: […] notae de sermonibus […]. UBEDE CA. 4o 169, pp. 108v, 110v, 113v (quote): “In Ecclesia S. Nicolai egi […] de operibus divina iustitia contra p[ecc]atores […] A meridie tractavi Missa sacrificium habens vim poenam temporalium tollenti et quomodo […]”. 146 [Taute], Schwartz Voigteybuch. App. I. 17, p. 37: “[…] Godt gebe Vnß allersamt[?] bußfertige hertzen, Vndt Wende das be Vohrstehende Vnglück von Vnß hinweg. A.[men] A.[men] A.[men]”. 147 See fn. 111. 148 E. g. Ulbricht, Ich-Erfahrung, pp. 129, 137. 149 [Taute], Schwartz Voigteybuch. App. I. 17, pp. 167–171, 173, 175 f. 150 Dated to Förster’s return on January 16, 1643, Stenger, Christliche Predigt, p. A2r. Johann Melchior Förster had godfathered one of Stenger’s sons. Taute dates the return to January 15, 1643. 151 The stories from 1642 and 1663 are reported in the same paragraph, Stenger, Optimum Animae nostrae Consilium (1673), p. D1r: “[Förster habe sonst] an derColica öfftermal mit grossen Schmertzen laboriret, dannoch der Höchste GOTT die gantze Zeit seiner Gefängnis dermassen über Jhm gehalten/ daß er von solche Affectu, ohnerachtet Er sich doch zum öfftern auf dieser Reyse/ und ehe Er an gewisse Orthe bracht worden/ gar elend und kümmerlich behelffen müssen / das allergeringste nicht verspüret noch vermercket. Welchen Göttlichen Beystand / auch sonderbahren Schutz und Hülffe Er An. 1663. bey damahliger Auffruhr und Plünderung ümb so vielmehr augenscheinlichen verspüren und vermercken müssen/ denn als zu selbiger Zeit […] hat doch GOtt/ die zum Bösen ausgegangene Rotte/ dermassen mit Blindheit geschlagen / daß / da ihnen gleich der seel. Herr Obrist Rathmeister/ (so auf der Seinigen vielfältiges flehentliches bitten/ und unablässiges zureden/ in eines Nachbarn Haus/ gegenüber gehen wollen ) noch bey Tage begegnet/ und einen guten Abend geboten / sie ihn doch weder an der Gestalt noch Rede erkennet / sondern seines Weges sicher fortgehen lassen / und hernachmals erst in seinem Hause gesuche und begehret.”

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Locals thus would single out events and interpret them until they corresponded with the common convictions regarding divine Providence. One can also view Förster’s liberation differently and highlight the Jesuit intercessions instead. Upon the suggestion of Lutheran councillors, the garrison commandant threatened to imprison all Jesuits until Förster was released unconditionally. Members of the local College then wrote to several Catholic princes and managed to have his ransom reduced from one thousand to four hundred Taler.152 From a cynical perspective, the release was an outcome of coercion and denominational hostility. An edifying biography often had to exclude such elements to illustrate divine benevolence.

Songs of comfort and revenge We now turn from prayers to psalms and spirituals. They exhibit the same mixture of manipulation and poignant, religious coping. The aim is again to single out differing religious replies to war and assess their role for lay believers. Here funeral sermons provide the primary material. A commented inventory lists scores of sermons held for Erfurt inhabitants who had experienced the Thirty Years War.153 The war is mentioned in many biographies, albeit often only briefly, as one of the many crosses borne by the steadfast believers. A few sermons go into detail with singing and the recitation of prayers, as ways to cope with war.154 It is perhaps best to begin by outlining the local supply of prints. Erfurt publishers offered comprehensive, yet affordable collections of psalms and spirituals. The compilation of songs by Luther “and many other pious Christians” from the 1550s was followed by at least twelve revised and expanded collections under this classic title, until 1634.155 Songbooks were the only genre printed locally for sale to the Catholic minority.156 Aware of the competition from songbook 152 See fn. 149 and [Anon.], Historia Collegii SJ Erfurti. App. I. 3, Vol. 2, p. 14r. The Catholic clergy was repeatedly threatened in this manner. E. g. Schauerte, p. 79 (1637); Krafft, [Erfurt Chronicle]. App. I. 19, p. 173v (1647); C. Beyer/Biereye, Geschichte, p. 574 (1647). On clerical mediation, Marx, Diarium Actorum. App. I. 1, pp. 46r–47r (1632); Kurt, pp. 105 f (1640s). 153 Bauer, Personalschriften lists a total of 973 funeral sermons, nuptial poems, and other prints with biographical information on persons born in Erfurt or residing there. The inventory is virtually complete as far as Erfurt libraries are concerned, and it covers several major research libraries. 154 This section should add empirical depth to the important observations on war-time singing in Veit, Musik, pp. 517 f and Kaufmann, Dreißigjähriger Krieg, pp. 100–102. 155 “Geistliche Lieder vnd Psalmen: Durch D. Mart. Luther. Vnd vieler fromen Christen/ auffs new zusamen gelesen […]” (here Erfurt 1553). The “Gesangbuchbibliographie” at the University of Mainz lists further hymnals printed in Erfurt with the same title from 1553, 1558, 1588, 1590, c.1595, 1604, 1609, 1617, 1619, 1621, 1624, 1630. (22.04.2008); note additionally DKL, no. 1634, 05. – Bibles remained much more expensive. One of the most prestigious projects to raise piety sought to provide the literate populace with a commented, easily accessible, and affordable Bible-edition. Koch, Bibelwerk. 156 See Chapter Two, fn. 79.

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centres like Leipzig, printers in Erfurt even began to publish thematic volumes specifically dealing with bad weather and spiritual afflictions.157 Standard compilations also diversified and expanded and began to include more recent songs, some written during the war. Here Caspar Cramer’s compilation (1641) deserves special mention, along with hymnal begun by Stenger in 1632 and printed in 1663.158 How did war-time readers use the works on offer? The question can best be addressed by distinguishing between the four main venues for singing spirituals. Church singing was arranged ‘de-tempore’ according to the church year and the additional repentant liturgy issued in 1625.159 Group singing also took place within the household and on the streets (Kurrende). A fourth, physically less specified sphere was individual singing. New compilations mostly catered to the individual singer, seeking to address virtually every imaginable occasion and need. The repertoire had become very comprehensive. Each compilation included hundreds of songs and the total number of spirituals ran into the thousands.160 Visitators in Gotha tried to establish which songs parishioners knew by heart. The rural repertoire on record stretched well beyond the ars moriendi.161 The visitation around Erfurt did not go into such detail and it omitted urban parishes. The advantage of the local material lies in its individual nuances. Chronicles and funeral sermons indicate how believers adapted songs to particular needs. The musical accompaniment, which played a major role in churches, is of negligible importance here.162 The biography of the widow Maria Heintze (1567–1632) describes the singing during flight from soldiers. A local pastor, with good reason, used her fate to illustrate how religiosity intensified when believers were subjected to trials (CreutzProben). If it had not been for the war, the funeral sermon would not have been delivered at Erfurt. The Saxon-born widow spent most her life in Leipzig, where her late husband had based his trade. In the late summer of 1632, she and most 157

Tobias Fritzsch was, again, the most entrepreneurial. See fn. 173 and Volckmar Leisring, Nucleus Precationum filiorum Tonitruum […] auff alle vorfallende Wetter […] zum dritten mal zum Druck vorfertiget. Erfurt 1628. 158 Stenger, GesangBuch; C. Cramer, Animae. Another specimen is the [Anon.], Groß und Vollständig Gesang-Buch printed by Tobias Fritzsch, 1648. 159 The litany was here the most-sung, Silberschlag, Ordnung der Betstunde. 160 I give the titles and stanza numbers used by Wackernagel (5 vols. 1864–1877) and Fischer/Tümpel (6 vols. 1904–1916). Whereever possible, English titles are drawn from the authorised translations commissioned by the Intersynodical Committee, The Lutheran hymnal (1941). The original German phrasing is added behind my own translations. 161 Albrecht-Birkner, Reformation des Lebens, pp. 356–365, esp. 360. 162 A series of fine studies cover the topic. On composition and performance see Weiß, Erfurter Musikkultur im Barock and the theme issue of the Sömmerdaer Heimatheft, 13 (2000). A contribution to the theoretical debates is examined in Rathey, Lieblichkeit. Introductory essays are found in Bußmann/Schilling, Vol. 2, Chapter IV.

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other inhabitants were troubled by the news that the Imperial armies were about to return to Saxony. Locals feared that enemy troops would return to their town with a vengeance. The year before, the outskirts of Leipzig had been “deformed and destroyed”.163 So Maria Heintze fled town after the Michaelmas fair, probably travelling with a convoy of merchants. They joined flocks of regional nobles and burghers who sought safety in Erfurt. She planned to reach her relatives and close friends there.164 It was a perilous journey, and Heintze did as many others: she sang and prayed for protection. Her group arrived unharmed by plundering soldiers. In front of the gates, her companions recounted, Heintze thanked the Lord for the safe passage. Unlike many, the sixty-five-year-old widow was herself little inclined to return to Leipzig. She rather longed to part in peace “from this evil world”. Her grandchild attested to this death wish, describing the songs and words in the widow’s final weeks. The Erfurt pastor substantiated this report by transcribing Heintze’s personal additions to her prayer book in his sermon (pp. H1r–H1v). The three prayers are compiled from hymnals and the Bible and point to a particularly strong wish to unite with Christ. Hertzlich thut mich verlangen/ Nach einem seligen end/ Dieweil ich bin vmbfangen Mit trübsal vnd elend: [verse 5] Jch hab lust abzuscheiden Von dieser böser Welt; Sehne mich nach ewiger frewde/ HErr kom bald/ wenn dirs gefellt Jtem. [v. 10] HErr laß deine Dienerin im friede fahren/ vnd versamlet werden zu jhren Väteren. [p. H1v] Meine augen sehen auff dich/ wenn du diesen Elend sündlichen Cörper wirft von mir/vnd die Seele zu dir nehmen. [v. 15] O lieber HErr JEsu/ du hast mich erlöst/ gib mir deinen trost Jtem. ADe du vntrewe Welt. Jch wende mich zu meinem lieben GOtt/ [v. 20] dem befehle ich meine Seele in seine Hände/ die Christus erlöst hat. Ach HErr JEsu schleuß mich in die wunden dein/ Du bist allein der einige trost vnd Helffer mein. O HERR JEsu dir lebe ich/ dir sterbe ich/ [v. 25] Dein bin ich todt vnd lebendig, O lieber HErr JEsu ich in dir vnd du in mir/ Darfür wil ich ewig dancken dir.

163

The following is based on Georg Silberschlag, Leichpredigt [auf Maria Heintze], pp. G4v–H3r, here p. H1r (my emphasis). In 1631, hostilities spread to Electoral Sachsen. “[D]ie Stadt Leipzig [wurde] mit fewr vnd Schwerdt verfolget/ deren schöne Vorstädte meistentheils in die Asche gelegt vnd wegen der beharrenden hostilitet vnd grossen sterbens solcher lustiger Ort vbel zugerichtet/ deformirt vnd verwüstet worden. Diese vnterschiedene schwere Creutz-proben/ darinn sie durchGöttliche Hülff vnd beystand jederzeit Gedultig/vnd als eine Gläubige vnd heilige Jüngerin sich erwiesen/ haben jhr Christenthum mercklich befördert/ sonderlich aber destomehr begierde vnd verlangen nach dem ohnvergänglichen / ohnbeflecktem vnd ohnverwelcklichem Erbe bey jhr erweckt.” 164 [Anon.], Erffurdtische Chronica. App. I. 14, pp. 614 f describes the commotion at the town gates. On other fugitives, see Chapter Three, p. 61. Maria Heintze stayed with friends and was visited by her brother Sebastian Neefe. Their sister Sabina also lived in town, and Maria had close contacts with local members of another Leipzig-based family, the Brückners. See Bauer, Personalschriften. He lists Maria by her maiden name, Neefe.

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For a believer like Maria Heintze, death itself was not a source of fear but of hope, a hope for improvement and “eternal joy” (verse seven). To achieve it, she had to part well-prepared from the “sorrow and misery” in the “evil” “unfaithful world” (verses four, six, and eighteen). The widow’s fear of soldiers will have revolved around the grandchild, who accompanied her, and on dying in a violent manner. Here it helps to recall the demise of the nobleman near Erfurt who was mortally wounded some five years before. He suffered thirty hours of agonising pain and vomiting, unable to sing psalms and, for long periods, without a pastor by his side to comfort and protect him from the final temptations of the Devil.165 Heintze sought to secure herself “a blissful death” (verse two) by careful preparation. The rhymes transcribed from her prayer book are all closely oriented to songs and phrases favoured in the Lutheran ars moriendi.166 The widow sang the wellknown spiritual “When my last hour is close at hand” as she packed her prayer book and other “death paraphernalia”. Before leaving Leipzig she took the Eucharist.167 Maria Heintze fell ill on the evening that she entered Erfurt and died a few days later, weakened by fears and the cold, exhausting journey. In Heintze’s prayers and in the description of her final days, war appears as a threat to the individual. The communal emphasis in many of the older spirituals is largely absent. This may in part be attributed to a long-term trend towards a more individualised form of piety.168 Yet, in this case, one also has to consider the biographical background. The military threat fostered an attitude that was expected of all believers of her age. Numerous aged men and women developed a similar “death wish” (Sterbensbegierde) without ever directly facing any military threat. Old age was considered the right time to increase pious exercises and to focus on gaining access to the heavenly realms.169 Younger believers who did not face death in the same immediate manner as Maria Heintze often favoured songs dominated 165 The Junker Georg Wilhelm von Reineck (1597–1627) was shot by a drunken Imperial soldier on November 8. The local pastor had fled with his family to pass the night in the church tower. He therefore came to hear of Reineck’s wounding very late and only arrived shortly before Reineck died. See Forster, pp. C3r–C3v, and the apt observations by Krusenstjern, Seliges Sterben, pp. 479–482. 166 Verses one to nine are an almost verbatim copy of the first stanza in the 1599 song by Christoph Knoll “Hertzlich tut mich verlangen nach einem seligen End” (Wackernagel, Vol. 5, no. 560, pp. 350 f). Scriptural quotes and allusions are found in verses nine to thirteen (Simeon’s exclamation in Luke 2, 29), verse twenty (Ps 31, 6), and twenty-six to twenty-seven (John 17, 21). 167 “Wenn mein Stündlein vorhanden ist”, Wackernagel, Vol. 3, p. 1251. On the prayer book as one of the “Todesgerätlein” (Silberschlag, Leichpredigt, p. H3r) see Niekus Moore, Praeparatio. 168 The individualist emphasis in the songs written during the war is often interpreted in this manner. See fn. 154 and Veit, Gerechter Gott, p. 291. 169 Alberti, Suspirium Christianorum, p. F3v (with quote) and Alberti, Senectutis Gemitus (sermon on Eusebius Noß), p. D1r and the tractatio. The following note on age groups is drawn from the latter sermon. This distinction may in part explain the ambiguous attitudes outlined by Krusenstjern, Seliges Sterben, pp. 495 f.

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by the collectivist focus on the ‘little flock’ (Häuflein) threatened by foes. Their hopes still centred on divine protection and military aid.170 Preachers who held sermons for deceased civilians such as Heintze had little trouble portraying their partings as matching the ideal of a blissful death. Preachers faced greater challenges when the deceased had, at first, wished to survive. The sermon held for Erfurt-born Rudolf Brandt (1584–1632) presents such a case. He also died far from his hometown, two days after Maria Heintze. Brandt was however notably younger than the widow. At forty-eight, he was still middle age, a time of life where men gave council and passed on advice to the young. The influential councillor and legal advisor had been travelling in southern Germany as a town delegate. He was returning from negotiations with the Swedish king when he fell ill. At first, Brandt hoped to recover or at least return to Erfurt and die at home. He relinquished these hopes after physicians told him that they saw no possibility of improvement. He then concentrated what little strength he had left on departing this world in a blessed manner.171 The pastor used this shift in focus from recovery to salvation as an occasion to give general guidelines for prayer. Some of these guidelines help to understand how believers like Heintze and Brandt coped with suffering during war.172 During their travels, Heintze and Brandt sang psalms known by heart or found in pocketbook hymnals. In their funeral sermons, praying is described as a regular activity in which believers engaged every morning, noon, and evening, if not more frequently.173 This daily meditation helped many to come to terms with their hardships and to suffer with patience. Heintze and Brandt likewise took care to state their pleas concerning temporal matters in conditional terms.174 These prayers remained within the prescribed limits of prayer (Schranken des Gebets) and prevented them, and many others, from reacting with disillusionment to the pleas that went unfulfilled. Prayer books anticipated other, less-than-exemplary reactions to suffering. Entire chapters or volumes were devoted to the anxious and desperate souls in need of consolation.175 This dimension was rarely awarded much space in the 170 On the co-existence of both foci, Albrecht-Birkner, Reformation des Lebens, pp. 361, 363. Psalm 46 was among the popular combative songs, e. g. Wallenberger, Purim, p. C3v. 171 V. Wallenberger: Eine Christliche Predigt […] darinn sieben nothwendige und nützliche Gebetfragen oder Regulen gezeiget werden. Bey dem ansehnlichen actu exequiale, so zum […] Ehrengedächtnis/ unsers […] verstorbenen/ […] Herrn Rudolph Brandts […] ist angestelt worden […]. Erfurt 1632, pp. E2v–E4r. 172 Ibid., Tractatio. Important for the following are Pargament and Schenda, Leidensbewältigung. 173 Special prayers for travellers are found in the duodecimo manual, [Anon.], Hand Büchlein (Erfurt, Tobias Fritzsch, 1630), pp. 233–236. See Bauer, Personalschriften, p. 496, no. 917; Veit, Hausandacht, pp. 203 f. 174 E. g. Heintze’s verse eight: “HErr kom bald/ wenn dirs gefellt”. 175 E. g. Leisring, Andächtige Sprüche un[d] Psalmen (1624), Chapter 10 (Anfechtung), 18 (Ungedult), 25 (Kleinmütigkeit); [Anon.], Außerlesene Gebetlein (1628), pp. F4v–G3r. See Koch, Umgang mit Schwermut. I was unable to consult Steiger, Melancholie.

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posthumous biographies. In the sermon held at Hieronymus Brückner’s funeral, the three pages about his pious devotion almost submerge the single subordinate clause about his doubts on the deathbed.176 Unharnessed, negative feelings are only described at length by bereaved relatives. Eusebius Noß (1570–1648) is a case in point. This councillor was truly “tried many times like Job” during the war. He lost his sister, wife, and their only daughter during epidemics in 1635 and 1640. Two of his three adult sons were killed in a raid in early 1637. Yet Eusebius supposedly “remained patient at every point” and accepted God’s Will “quiet and obedient as a child.” The preacher spoke in such inspiring terms at Eusebius’ funeral in 1648.177 The sermon held eight years earlier to honour his late daughter Anna (1611–1640) had delved on his grief. It sympathised with the bereaved father and noted his “great heartache and mourning,” his “painful sorrow and troubles.”178 Panegyric and homiletic conventions clearly influenced what could be said and what was best omitted in the funeral sermons. Nonetheless, the sermons held for war-time victims do at times indirectly address the deathbed difficulties. Succumbing to exhaustion, as Maria Heintze, and dying in an epidemic, like Rudolf Brandt, were both considered rather unproblematic ways of parting from this world. Friends or relatives had assisted the dying and secured each of them an honourable burial. It was quite a different matter to die at the hands of soldiers. The mortally wounded had to harness their anger against assailants so as not to depart with resentful hearts. In such cases the pastor’s tasks extended beyond the standard duty to console and edify those who attended the funeral.179 Pastors further tried to convince their audiences to control and channel their hatred into prayer. One example is Elxleben, where the aforementioned nobleman had been killed. Herphort Forster (d.1628) was hard-pressed to convince parishioners not to cling to worldly goods but instead look toward Heaven and endure the continued plundering by the Imperial soldiers. His colleague Johann Cruger (d.1640) asked villagers in Weira, to the south-east, who had lost their pastor Michael Köcher (1570–1633) to murderous soldiers, to calm them-

176 Alberti, Suspirium Christianorum, pp. H4v–F1r (my emphasis): “Jst also/ der [sc.: da] er eine kleine Zeit weil es seyn sollen traurig gewesen [ist] in mancherley Anfechtung / [dann] nach dem sein Glaube sich rechtschaffen vnd viel [J1r] köstlicher erfunden/ als das vergengliche Gold das durchs Fewr bewehret / […] in solche [Seligkeit …] frölich hingeschieden.” The emphasised passage is a paraphrase of 1 Pet 1, 6. Luther’s translation is milder than the King James’ Version; it speaks of “manifold temptations”. 177 Eusebius was patient during his diseases and the “von GOTT […] jhme geschicketen HaußCreutz vnd andern Trübsalen/ wodurch er denn mit dem lieben Hiob vielmalhs geprüfet vnd bewehrt worden/ [… ist er] jedesmahl recht gedultig gewesen/ dessen heiligen Willen gantz kindlich vnd gehorsamlich stille gehalten/ vnd darwieder niemals zumurren noch zustreben pflegen.” Alberti, Senectitus Gemitus, p. D1r. 178 Stenger, Christliches Ehrengedächtnis (1640), p. 88: “[er ist] in groß Hertzeleyd vnd Trawren / ja in schmerztliches Grämen vnd Kümmerniß gesetzet vnd præcipitirt worden.” 179 Compare Niekus Moore, Patterned Lives, p. 81–84.

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selves in the knowledge that God would not leave the assailants unpunished.180 Civilians should not take matters into their own hands, but instead sing psalms of revenge and launch “spiritual arrows of prayer” against their foes just as the late pastor Köcher had done. That villagers did, on occasion, act otherwise and kill smaller groups of soldiers was common knowledge.181 Victims of soldiers had to master a complex of strong emotions before they were ready to pray and act in penitent patience. This emotional control was deemed paramount for the dying and many will have striven to act accordingly. It was a greater challenge for survivors to leave revenge to God. They might sing the combative spirituals but remain deaf to the calls to suffer in patience. In other words, one should examine how singers interpreted and identified with the popular psalms and spirituals.182 That difficult question can only be partially answered here. One first has to note the broad urban repertoire. Songs sung in Lutheran and Catholic churches during the war ranged from the antiphonal plea for God to grant peace mercifully (“Da pacem domine”/“Verleih uns Frieden gnädiglich”) to songs that struck a more triumphal tone and were at times very aggressive. The “Te Deum” was almost an obligatory accompaniment to the salutes that were shot at thanksgivings for victories.183 The lines of the two songs each combine a cry for mercy with the plea to “fight for us” (“pugnet pro nobis”, Da pacem, verse three). Singers classified the songs as conciliatory or militant based on tradition and the occasions on which they were sung. 180 Forster, p. C4r tried to content listeners with a transcendental punishment: “geschichts nicht zeitlich / so wirds dermal eins[t] ewig geschehen”. Johann Cruger could point more directly to a later battle in November 1632. He suggested that the pastors’ assailants might have died there: “Vnd wer weis ob diese seine Trostseufftzer/ wieder seine Feinde zu Gott gethan/ in der siegreichen Evangelischen Feld Schlacht für Lützen/ nicht durch die Wolcken gedrungen/ vnd an seinen feindseligen Henckers Buben sind wa[h]r worden vnd erfüllet? Wo nicht / so befellen wir sie noch der gerechten Rache des eiverigen GOttes zum wolverdiente[n] Vergelten”. Cruger, Streitender Christen geistlicher Köcher voller GlaubensPfeile, p. 31. Many Thuringian villagers who suffered under Pappenheim’s troops in October 1632 seem to have seen Lützen in this manner. Compare Cruger’s sermon with the entry on Pappenheim’s plundering in a book of court protocols from nearby Wiegleben: “Aber baldt hernach hatt Gott, der kein Böses ungestrafft, die Verstörer baldt verstöret, vndt ist von ihr Königl. Mayestät aus Schweden Armee dermaßen zerstreuet vndt zerschlagen, das wir Gott im Himmel dafür zu danken schuldig sein.” Helbing/Rockstuhl, p. 41. For further notes on Köcher’s death, see R. Herrmann, Kirchengeschichte, p. 228. 181 E. Wagner, Einlagerung, pp. 53–61. A testimony by a surviving soldier is transcribed in E. Wagner, Geschichte unserer Dörfer, pp. 56 f. 182 See Rohmer. 183 Lutherans still preferred the Latin version of the Te deum. E. g. [Anon.], Erffurdtische Chronica. App. I. 14., p. 646 (10.11.1633); Marx, Diarium Actorum. App. I. 1, p. 94v (7/17.6.1635); [Taute], Schwartz Voigteybuch. App. I. 17, p. 172 (26.10.1642). Most of the singing at Catholic propitiatory processions was in Latin. However, clergymen took care to add songs in German, for the sake of the attendant parishioners. The Da pacem and Te deum were favoured here, along with litanies. See Meisner, p. 205; BAE GG IV c1 (Jubilee 1645: “sub finem Da pacem cum germanico, at Collecta per Parochum”); and the translations in the [Anon.], Catholisch GesangBuch (Erfurt 1630), pp. 546–561.

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The streets of Erfurt also witnessed both aggressive and repentant group singing. “Lord, Keep Us Steadfast in Thy Word” was one of the most classic combative songs. In Erfurt, as elsewhere, it was best known for the notorious adjoining verse: “and stave off the murderous Pope and Turk” (“und steuer des Papsts und Türken Mord”). Lutherans chanted the song in a clearly provocative, if not outright offensive manner from the early phase of the war.184 It was also an antebellum custom to manifest denominational control of embattled neighbourhoods through collective singing.185 The invigorated Catholic processions in the 1620s unmistakably announced that the clergy would hold its ground; the Jesuits also tried to regain lost territory. The accompanying songs ranged from propitiatory litanies to militant songs against heretics.186 The Lutheran Council had traditionally sought to prohibit or limit these processions. Despite promises made in 1618, the official discrimination continued.187 From 1632 to 1635, the struggle for the religious control of public space was even carried into the church naves. Councillors forced the Catholic clergy to open their churches to Lutheran preachers. In September 1632, crowds stormed the main church of St. Marien to attend the first of these sermons. Here the closing choral “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” was sung to demonstrate that Lutherans had (re)gained a foothold on the traditionally Catholic hillside overlooking the town. The significance of the event was not lost on chroniclers.188 The Peace of Westphalia 184 Hogel named the song by the second verse alone. He mentioned it to illustrate the conciliatory character of the Mainz envoy, Adam Schwindt (1574–1632): “und er sagte, wenn sich solche [Papisten] hernach über den Gesang [“]Vnd steur des Pabsts und Türken mord[”], sehr bey ihm beschwereten, es gienge nur über den Pabst, der da [the third verse:] Christum Von seinem Thron Wolte stürtzen.” [Hogel], Antiquitatum Erfurtensium. App. I. 9, p. 433r. See the outside parallels in Veit, Entre violence, résistance et affirmation. 185 Scott Dixon examines outside parallels. 186 The “ORDO PROCESSIONIS PRO SAC. Rom. Imp. summis Necessitatibus” (BAE GG IV c1) was one of several processions held in 1631. It combined the “[Deus] Misereatur Nostri” (Ps 67, 2) with appeals to victors vanquishing heresy, namely the antiphonal “Gaude Maria Virgo, quae cunctas haereses sola” and the fifth verse of the hymn “Christe Qui Lux es et Dies”: “Defensor noster aspice, Insidiantes reprime”. The local hymnal contained like-minded invocations of the saints in German. [Anon.], Catholisch GesangBuch, pp. 432–465, e. g. “Ein schöner Ruff zu S. Michael” (432–435) and the song to St. Boniface, pp. 442–447, here 447: “Vor Ketzer Tobn vnd Wüten/vor jhrer falscher Lehr/ vns alte Christen bhüten/ daß sie nicht schaden mehr.” Meisner does not mention the litanies ordained “in S. Romanum Imperium et rem catholicam promouendam” on occasion of the Convention at Mühlhausen (1627) (BAE GG IV c1). 187 The Council thus forbade the public celebration of Ignatius Loyola’s canonization in 1622. C. Martens, Friedensverhandlungen, pp. 152 f; [Anon.], Historia Collegii SJ Erfurti. App. I. 3, Vol. 1, p. 104. Meisner, pp. 105–107 retraces the varying routes of the Corpus Christi-processions from 1632 to 1644; see also pp. 124–126. 188 Pastor Wallenberger likened this entry to the return of the ark from the Philistine possession (1 Sam 6–7). Extending the celebration of centennials, he pointed out that Lutheran had already preached in the St. Marienkirche from 1525 to 1531 and envisioned a future commemoration in 1731, Wallenberger, Purim, pp. A4r–B4r. Medick, Orte, p. 375 analyses the event in detail. Briefer notes on such sermons are found in the chronicles listed in App. I. 11–14, 19.

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did eventually safeguard the denominational distribution of churches, yet conflictive street singing grew in importance until the well-known climax in 1712.189 Of all the combative songs, the one that is perhaps best-known today for its tie to the war is “O Little Flock, Fear Not the Foe” (1631). Its melody was composed by the pastor Michael Altenburg (1583/4–1640) from the nearby small town of Sömmerda, ruled by the Erfurt Council. As a prominent composer in the region, Altenburg accompanied the first stages of the long conflict with his own songs, beginning with the 1617 centennial that once more disclosed the Pope as the Antichrist. Altenburg hereby defied the Council’s conciliatory diplomacy.190 The later (not only in melodic terms) well-orchestrated song from September 1631 struck the right confident notes. It set the tone that could raise the hopes in Gustavus Adolphus. The song about the Gideon-like saviour soon became part of the stories surrounding the king’s death at Lützen. From then on, it gained a life of its own.191 Interestingly enough, these heroic associations do not seem to have played any particular role in Erfurt during the war. Townsfolk singled out a more penitent text as the epitome of the war. “Why are you troubled, O my heart” (Warum betrübst du dich mein Herz) was not devoted to battles but starvation. This was one of the older Lutheran spirituals, dating from the second, prolific round of song writing in the 1550s and 1560s. The song was first printed in Erfurt in 1609, but apparently it lacked local prominence until the 1630s.192 It was then closely associated with the recent wave of refugees. After the war, townsfolk singled out this song as the most popular in the repertoire of the street singers in the “Franconian Kurrende” (“Franken current”). The Franconian street singers demonstrate the selective commemoration of the war. Town chroniclers reduced a set of harrowing experiences to a pious core that harmonised with the message in the song. The entries are, in this regard, exemplary of a general processing of events and deserve closer analysis. The refugee problem was outlined in Chapter Three. At the turn of the year 1634–1635, civilians fled the fighting in Franconia and the Thüringer Wald and begun to flock to Erfurt.193 The situation grew critical in spring when starvation spread amongst the refugees. By May 1635, the Council found it necessary to regulate their begging. Those who were too ill to work were moved to the small poorhouse by the Krämpfertor. The more able-bodied first had to work on the ramparts in return for food. From June onwards, they were then escorted in small 189

The Liederstreiten in 1678 and 1712 have yet to be examined in-depth. The most accessible accounts are Meisner, pp. 18 f and Kießling (1767). 190 Rathey, Gaudium christianum, pp. 110–113. 191 Reconstructed by Kitzig. 192 Vulpius, no. 91, pp. 386–389. His hymnal was printed for use in Sachsen-Weimar. On the song’s swift spread in Lutheran lands, Fischer, Vol. 2, p. 323. The Erfurt-reception fits to the trend observed by Veit, Kirchenlieder und “Privatleben”, p. 598. 193 See Chapter Three, pp. 61 f and Marx, Diarium Actorum. App. I. 1, pp. 92r–92v, 93v.

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groups through the neighbourhoods singing spirituals.194 “It was very sad to see” a townsman reminisced in 1651 – without mentioning the prior complaints about the unregulated door-to-door begging.195 Andreas Limprecht (d.1684) later recounted how townsmen placed “very big pieces of bread and money” in their baskets. He did not mention the signs of lead on the baskets, distinguishing those allowed to beg from the illegal beggars. Limprecht himself either did not know or did not think it necessary for his readers to know the true extent of the misery. Chroniclers who mentioned the song sung by refugees did not write about the orphans who later crept into compost heaps to keep warm at night.196 Contemporary records and writings give further testimony of the not-so-pious reactions. Accusations were launched against the townsmen who helped too much, and thus exposed themselves to the diseases that were rampant among the poor.197 None of these conflicts were retold after the war. The keepers of the chronicles preferred to tell future generations that the refugees had sung “wondrous tunes” about wondrous salvation.198 The song “Why are you troubled, O my heart” 194 Marx (ibid., p. 94v) dates this ordinance to June 13/23. [Anon.], Erffurdtische Chronica. App. I. 14, pp. 692–695 not only downplays the scale of suffering. The chronicler further places the Council’s efforts in a positive light and questions the moral character of the refugees. The detailed Council records are summarised by C. Beyer, Geschichte des Armenwesens, pp. 160 f, 167–170. The measures described below were modelled on the customary Kurrende-singing. Weiß, Chorus musicus notes its role in Erfurt. 195 “[Damit] das beschwerliche betteln der eintzeln personen fur den thüren […] hinfüro gäntzlich aufhöhre u. Verbleibe”, StAE 1-1/Xa-I, 18, p. 2v. [Anon.], Erffurdtische Chronica. App. I. 14, p. 694: “mit geistl. liedern singend haufenweis geführet werden”. The pious remarks are found by the schoolmasters Hundorph, Encomii Erffurtini Continuatio. App. I. 18, pp. E4r, G4v and [Limprecht], Wahrhaffte Denckwürdigkeiten, p. 469v. They give variant (and in both cases inaccurate) dates (1631, 1632). In the following, I have emphasised the passage that Limprecht added to Hundorph’s list (p. G4v) of “Verordnete Prediger in den Armen Häusern. 1. Johannes Weideler, welcher ao. 1631 [Hundorph reads: 1632], als die Schwedische Armee in Frankenlande eingefallen mit den armen leuthen herein in die Stadt kam: dieße Armen verjagten leuthe aus dem Francken lande, Mann vnd Weibt, sampt Kindern vnd Gesinde, in groser Anzahl, wohl an die 300, bald mehr bald weniger, giengen eine geraume Zeit alhier zu paaren in die Stadt umbher, vnd singen die schönsten trostverhoften lieder, mit anderen dieses am öftern: Warumb betrübstu dich mein Hertz: etc. Sie hatten auch leuthe beÿ sich mit geld büchsen vnd große tragen körber, denen die Bürger sehr grose Stücken brodt vnd gelt gaben, daß Sie erhalten werden, vnd als der Krieg sich verschlief sind sie allmählich wieder heimb zu den ihrigen gezogen. dieses war die Franken current genennet, vnd sehr trawrig anzusehen.” 196 And they certainly did not mention that Council, to avoid the disgraceful scene, ordered its officials (the Bettelvögte) to ban children found there from town. Adults who slept below the butchers’ benches on the market were sent back to the poorhouse. Many shunned it as an infectious death trap. C. Beyer, Geschichte des Armenwesens, pp. 169 f; see also p. 161. 197 Wallenberger, Divitae Christianorum verae, p. E4v. Many other pastors and priests cautioned their parishioners that it was a Christian duty to show charity. E. g. C. H. Marx, Christliche Leichpredig[t]; Wölfel, Salomon Lentz, p. 307 on Regensburg; and the Straßburg-cycle by J. Schmidt, Divitum & pauperum. 198 Hundorph, Encomii Erffurtini Continuatio. App. I. 18, p. E4r: “die wunderlichen Melodeyen/so anno 1632 und 1633 von der Francken Current vielen anhängig blieben.”

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instructs the troubled believer to rely on God, rather than on “temporal goods” (stanza one). The goods needed by the refugees were not “silver, gold or money” (stanza twelve), but food and a safe shelter.199 They sang such songs to survive, and many did so in vain. Those whose bread was snatched away by the gravediggers and the stronger refugees200 were not helped by the guardian angels described in the central parts of the song (stanzas five to nine). It is, in short, questionable how many could fully identify with the tenth stanza and be content as long as God enriched their souls.

Forging a pious tradition The traditions established after the war glossed over such disconcerting experiences. Parallel stories crystallised around popular songs in other regions. Saxons thus recalled how churchgoers had softened the hearts of their Swedish oppressors by singing “When in the Hour of Utmost Need” (Paul Eber, 1560).201 One could decry this as blatant manipulation or myth-building. A less judgemental expression would be to say that chroniclers and pastors together ‘forged’ a tradition. They selected events and adjusted their meaning in a more or less creative manner, until they fitted to religious ideals. The stories about the Franconian refugees and the hostage Förster share one important trait: the religious significance grew increasingly evident in the postwar commemoration. This management of meaning was also seen in Chapter Four; the end of this chapter looks at the outcome in a chronicle written around 1680. The following two sections analyse stories about the divine judgement of soldiers and retrace the forging of a parallel theme in the pious tradition. Here one observes more tension between the pastoral and lay attitudes than was found in the previous sections and chapters. The stories pit vigilant action against patient suffering.

199

Stenger, GesangBuch reads “Zeitlich Guht” (p. 560); “Silber / Gold oder Geld” (561). The situation at the Große Hospital gave rise to recurrent complaints. Weiß, Lebenswelten, pp. 430–432, 496 f; Stenger, Tausend Zeuge, pp. 494 f. 201 Clemen, p. 14. Compilers marketed hymnals with similar arguments, e. g. C. Cramer, Animae, p. A3r: “(damit / wie ich selbst erfahren vnd gesehen/sich viel Gottselige Hertzen in höchsten KriegsGefahren getröstet vnd auffgerichtet haben)”. 200

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The search for divine judgement Pastors often called upon villagers and townsmen to refrain from violence. Instead they must repent, “suffer in patience and leave it to God to take vengeance”.202 The Lord would not allow soldiers to plague the sinful civilians endlessly, one rural pastor wrote. “[W]hen He has caned His bad children enough, He will fully break the rod [sc.: the army] and throw it into the fire.”203 It was no small task to demonstrate the truth of this consolation. In the worst years of the war, soldiers thrived at the expense of the civilians. Villages like Elxleben were plundered several times in each decade, prompting psalm-like lamentations. While the wicked and ungodly prospered, “floating like fat on the water”, the devout suffered and had to “bow and scrape”.204 This existential complaint also held true for civilians in Erfurt. Fortifications spared the town from the worst plundering, yet after 1631 garrisoned officers could exercise an arbitrary use of power. They would bully local adversaries and fulfil their monetary and material needs by violent requisitions. A number of binges ended with officers pursuing women and girls through the town and raping them. Most of these rapists remained unpunished.205 Such experiences gave rise to the desperate and bitter thoughts that ran through “lung and liver”.206

202 Elders spoke of this as one of the main messages heard in the pulpit. See their replies to questions thirteen and fourteen in Titulus II of the 1647 questionnaire, e. g. Nottleben (AEM A.VII.a.32.d, p. 6v). The quote is here taken from Kleinrettbach, 1648: the pastor “tröstet Vnß genungsam [sic] in Vnßern trangsalen [und] beschwerungen”, and he teaches us “Wie Wier gedültig leÿden sollen Vnd die rache got befehlen.” A.VII.a.32.e, p. 3r. 203 Wandersleben, pp. 451, 426 (quote): “So wird er ihnen doch keines weges schencken, sondern sie zu seiner Zeit wohl finden, vnd redlich bezahlen, es kommen gleich vber lang oder vber kurtz, es ist ihm noch keiner entlauffen. Ja, wenn er seine böse Kinder gnugsam gesteupet hat, so wird er die Rute gar zerbrechen, vnd ins Fewr werffen.” 204 “Wenn es dann heutiges Tages in der Welt noch also zugehet/ die Gottlosen haben allenthalben den Vorzug/ sie schwimmen empor wie das Fette / es gehet jhnen wie sie selber wollen; Da hergegen die Frommen sich schmiegen vnd beugen müssen/sie müssen viel leiden vnd außstehen”, Forster, p. A4v. The sermon expounded on Psalm 73, which recounts a process of rethinking, leading the believer away from an ‘Epicurean’ view of the world. 205 The assaults topped in late 1640 and early 1641. An attempted rape of a widow and a consummated rape of a less than fourteen-year-old girl are described by H. Beyer, Vogteibuch, pp. 250–254. They are also described in [Anon.], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 15, pp. 45r–48r, along with a gang rape (p. 46v). In early March 1641, two noblemen in Swedish service chased after the bride at a wedding celebration and tried to rape her. “Der junge Ochsenstirn” mentioned here is most likely Johan Axelsson Oxenstierna (1611–1657), the son of the Swedish Chancellor. His companion was a certain Count Friedrich of Hessen (probably the Landgraf of Hessen-Eschwege, 1617–1655). Count Friedrich went on to rape three Augustinian nuns in the Neuwerkskloster. He had committed the same crimes in Hildesheim. Ibid., pp. 54r–54v; Plath, pp. 519, 551 f (January 1641). 206 Forster, p. A4v, using the Psalmist Asaph as an example: “Ja es verdreust ihn/es geht jhm durch Lung vnd Leber [compare Ps 73, 21]/ er weiß nicht wie er sich drein schicken soll/ vnd macht jhm viel kummerhafftige Gedancken”.

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In response, pastors like Herphort Forster from Elxleben stated that, sooner or later, divine punishment would follow. “[I]f it does not happen in this world, then it will happen later, in eternity.”207 Posthumous judgement was beyond normal human experience and had to be made probable through appeals to visions and the Scripture. Yet pastors did not limit themselves to hellfire sermons. For reasons that will be outlined shortly, they also pointed to divine judgements in this world. The search for such judgements is highly relevant to the study of cognitive dissonance, as it involves the selection of cognitions that could support the challenged convictions.208 We first survey information channels which pastors and chroniclers used to compile such examples. The tensions inherent to such moral storytelling are studied towards the end of this chapter. “If it does not happen in this world, then it will happen later, in eternity.” The quote above left out one forum for divine punishment: the ongoing punishment in Hell. The transcendental, yet temporal punishments appear in a number of local Lutheran homilies. Meyfart meditated eloquently on the current state of Heaven and Hell in a trilogy printed between 1627 and 1632, before his arrival in Erfurt. Bartholomäus Ringwaldt (1530–1599) had written a simpler, but even more popular variant, available in a local reprint dated 1635 (1. ed. 1582).209 Both authors described scenes of Dantesque grandeur. Yet although they noted that Luther and other revered reformers were present in Heaven, they hardly ever specified who had been sent to Hell. Their hellfire homilies instead concentrated on the sins of each estate.210 Other preachers told more specific and, from a dogmatic point of view, problematic stories about soldiers. Stenger re-visited a Landsknecht who had died and been taken by the Devil. The mercenary was incessantly plagued by an evil spirit, long after the other spirits had ceased their work and made “feyerabend”. Asking his tormentor why it continued to plague him, the mercenary received the same reply that he had once given to a civilian victim to justify his robbery: someone has to do it; if I don’t, someone else will.211 Arnold Mengering presented similar

207 See fn. 203 (“es kommen gleich vber lang oder vber kurtz”) and Forster, p. C4v: “Ey so lasset vns auch nur auff das Ende vnd den Außgang der Gottlosen sehen/ vnterdeß Gedult haben/ vnnd vnsere Zuflucht alleine zu GOtt nehmen […]”; “geschichts nicht zeitlich / so wirds dermal eins[t] ewig geschehen”. 208 Festinger, A theory of cognitive dissonance, pp. 21–24, 144–149. 209 Ringwaldt; Meyfart, Von Dem Himlischen Jerusalem; idem, Hellische Sodoma. The trilogy was crowned by the Day of Judgement, idem, Das Jüngste Gericht. 210 Ringwaldt, pp. B8r ff; see Trunz, pp. 144 f et passim and Sommer, pp. 183–188. A number of lay Lutheran visionaries gave more daring details about individual souls in Hell, e. g. J. Beyer, Lutheran Lay Prophets, pp. 196–200. 211 “Dem antworttet der Teuffel vnd sprach: Weisestu nicht/wie du der armen Frawen sagtest […] es muß genommen seyn/ thätestu es nicht/ so thäte es doch ein ander. Also sage ich auch / es muß hie geplaget seyn/ plage ich dich nicht / so plaget dich doch ein ander.” Stenger, Tausend Zeuge, p. 362 (quoting Baumgarten, p. 23, First Sunday after Trinity); see also p. 353.

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warnings found in a letter sent from Hell by a German soldier.212 It was obviously difficult to resist the popular appeal inherent in such infernal accounts. Yet preachers subtly distanced themselves through their adjoining comments, which only highlighted the universally recognised dogmata about the future eschatological judgement. They thus left it up to the readers to distil the true meaning that was to be found in the fictional account. Both Mengering and Ringwaldt attributed their warning visions to Loyal Eckart, a well-known figure in popular legends.213 Going into detail about such visionary revenants and their stories about Hell was problematic for these theologians, who themselves attacked the Purgatory as a Popish invention.214 The emphasis, therefore, remained on Judgement Day and the divine judgement experienced in the present life. The latter accounts all claimed full authenticity, and focused on a drastic ‘evil death’ (böser Tod). Hermann Taute told a number of such true stories. His entry on Captain Zacharias Mundtod is the most detailed and it covers most of the salient elements. Mundtod was shot dead by a fellow officer in a drunken brawl outside a tavern, in mid-1644.215 As evil deaths go, this was nothing spectacular. The entry lacks the storms and uprooted trees that finished off blasphemous soldiers in other numinous narratives.216 Local observers had to make do with more mundane events. Any death could be presented as an evil death as long as the deceased had died suddenly and without the possibility of pastoral assistance.217 Civilian chroniclers would appeal to this belief if they resented the deceased soldier. This was certainly the case with Zacharias Mundtod. He had press-ganged apprentices into military service in Mühlhausen and had recently begun to use the controversial method in Erfurt. Civilians complained, but the garrison commandant seemingly approved of the tough recruitment and did not raise charges against him.218 As a clerk working with the garrison, Taute was familiar with such legal subversion. He therefore rejoiced at the rare punishment: “alßo kömpt endtlichen poena talionis”, the clerk noted, “thus, at last, comes the retributive punishment”. Only God knew with certainty whether the soul of a deceased Christian had ascended to rest with Abraham or descended to be plagued by devils. Taute more than hinted that the latter was the case. He further noted the captain’s lowly origins and, in a later nota bene, described his dishonourable burial. Elders refused to bury 212

Mengering, Post auß der Höllen. Constable, pp. 21–23 list studies on the letters from Heaven (well-explored) and Hell (generally less prominent). 213 See Singer. Ringwaldt spoke of his work as a parable, “Ein feine Geistliche Parabel vom Eckardt” (p. B1v). 214 See [Anon.], Compendium Locorum Theologicorum (1621), pp. O7r, N8r–N8v. Schenda, Hieronymus Rauscher, pp. 227–229. 215 [Taute], Schwartz Voigteybuch. App. I. 17, pp. 277–279 (19.7.1644). 216 Stenger, Tausend Zeuge, p. 354; compare Hondorff, p. 70r. 217 See fn. 165 above. 218 The mock investigation of one complaint is described by E. Haupt, Mühlhausen, pp. 23–25. See Stenger, Tausend Zeuge, p. 350 and Berg, Administering justice, on the collusion among officers.

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Figure Ten: [Hermann Taute]: Schwartz Voigteybuch p. 161: Poena talionis. Dieser Soldat, welcher den bauren erschoßen, ist in derselbigen Stunde als er nach Schwerstet kommen, undt Pferde ausspannen wollen, hinwiederumb erschoßen worden.

the corpse in the Kaufmannskirche and the army chaplain delivered a damning sermon at Mundtod’s funeral.219 The entry thus includes several traits that characterise the evil death: an unburied corpse and a sudden demise during drinking both evoked thoughts of judgement.220 As far as experience is concerned, the most interesting aspect is the process of compiling such information. One again encounters the difference between the chroniclers writing close to events and other accounts produced years later. Taute’s logbook marks one extreme. He wrote a few hours or days after the events unfolded. Another entry, from September 1642, described how horsemen in Swedish pay murdered a man from a nearby village. They approached Hans Listorff and demanded that he hand over his wagon for use in a siege to the east. Listorff was about to comply when one of the horsemen shot and killed him. Such brutal displays of force were not rare in the countryside. It was usually futile to prosecute soldiers on the march but, as Taute remarked, “God Almighty will not leave the perpetrator unpunished”.221 Indeed, a few days later he was able to add a note on the “retributive punishment”. “The soldier who had shot the peasant was within the very same hour himself shot dead, as he entered into Schwerstedt and wanted to steal horses.” The retributive symmetry seemed perfect. 219 Like many local officers, Mundtod had paid in advance for a costly and prestigious grave inside the church. See StAE 5/101-3 Vol. 1, p. 251 and [Taute], Schwartz Voigteybuch. App. I. 17, p. 277: “Capitain Zacharias; welcher hiebevor ein Trompeter gewesen”; pp. 278 f: “NB. […] Dieser Capitain hadt gelegen Von Sonnabendt biß Mittwochen[.] es hadt ihn kein Pfarrer begraben wollen Vndt ob[wohl] die Altaristen Zu Kaufmans kirchen gleich geldt genohmnen das er aldahr hadt sollen in die kirche gelegt werden[,] haben es doch die Eltisten Vndt andere Kirch Väter durchaus nicht gestehen Wollen [und] haben das geldt mußen wiedergeben biß endtlichen die zur Regulern [Reglerkirche] Vorwilliget Vndt denselben eingenohmen[.] die Leuch Predigt hadt der hern Obristen Vndt Commendanten feldt Prediger her[r … Caspar Hillebrandt] thun mußen[.] Weil er sie aber gethan Vndt die gantze Predigt durch den erschoßenen Capitain dem Teuffel ergeben Vndt öffendtlich Vordampt ist gantz Stadt kundigk auch allen denen die es gehöret mehr als so wohl wißendt.” 220 Compare Chapter One, fn. 27 and [Anon.], Erffurdtische Chronica. App. I. 14, pp. 603, 695. 221 [Taute], Schwartz Voigteybuch. App. I. 17, p. 161: “Godt der allerhöchste wirdt der thäter ungestraffet nicht laßen.” E. Wagner, Geschichte unserer Dörfer, pp. 51–54.

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This appeal and the addition in the margin present an exemplum in the making. Watchful chroniclers kept an eye out for proof that the Lord punished atrocities. The outcome of their efforts is seen in a number of Erfurt chronicles. Their exempla display the same geographical and temporal scope observed in commentaries on prodigies. Years after a particular army had left villages around Erfurt, chroniclers would note news about the evil death of their murderous commanders. The most prominent example was Albrecht von Wallenstein, whose troops harried the region from 1626 to 1630. He was murdered by his own in 1634, stated a chronicler. Another entry told how one of his colonels, Adam Wilhelm von Görtzenich (1594–1627), was executed in Holstein.222 In 1651, Johannes Hundorph produced the most political list, describing the demise of three Imperial generals who had all tried to conquer Erfurt.223 True to his pro-Swedish stance, Hundorph did not mention any of the clashes with the local garrisoned forces. Swedish brutalities figure prominently in the accounts written by Taute and his anonymous Town Hall-colleague in the years around 1640. They harboured a particular hatred towards the violent officers, like the Captain Johann Schäfer, and their permissive superior, Colonel Christoph Heinrich von Goltz (1599–1643), who commanded in town from 1637 to 1640. Schäfer and Goltz each damaged the urban economy in their own ways, by controlling the alcohol sales and through embezzlement.224 As was mentioned in Chapter Three, other officers invaded the Town Hall to pressure tax-officials. Taute describes the swearing and disorder which filled his workplace, and the stench of tobacco that made the premises stink “worse than a peasant inn”.225 222 According to [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 13, p. 95v, Wallenstein had feigned peacefulness so that he could massacre Electoral Saxon troops: “aber solches vornemmen ist vber seinen Eÿgenen halsch ergangen, den[n] er von seinen Eÿgenen Obersten erstochen war”. Görtzenich was executed following a much-publicised trial, [Anon.], Executions Proceß (1627). [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 10, p. 398 noted this along with his local misdeeds. 223 General von Hatzfeldt “sol[l] in Rostock von seiner vertraweten einem mit einem Beil ermordet worden seyn. Gen.[eral Johannes von] Götz [1599–1645] wolte keinen Stein auf dem andern an Erffurdt lassen/ist anno 1645 am 24 Febr. in der grossen Schlacht bey Jankau mit tod blieben / hat also seine minas nicht exeqviren können. Gen. [Peter] Melander [von Holzappel, 1589–1648] / der wolte grossen Ruhm an Erffurt erjagen / aber Gott hat es gnädig abgewendet/ ist anderthalb meil von Augsburg todt blieben.” Hundorph here (deliberately?) confused Count Melchior von Hatzfeldt (1593–1658) with his relative Heinrich Ludwig, who was indeed murdered in Rostock in 1631. Krebs, pp. 17, 201. 224 Records related to the ensuing trial are stored in Stockholm (RA, Oxenstiernska Samlingen, E 891). See Chapter Three, fn. 57. [Anon.], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 15, pp. 47r–47v describes how Schäfer battered and mortally wounded his first wife, Susanna (d.1641). In spite of his many war-time offences, he later made a career as a councillor and guild representative. Bauer, Ratsherren, p. 115; Berg, Regulating war, pp. 79–81. 225 [Anon.], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 15, pp. 43r–43v (August 1640); [Taute], Schwartz Voigteybuch. App. I. 17, p. 35, with quote: “13 Aprilis Anno 1641. Ist Capitain Badeborn, Vndt Capitain Garner, midt ihren Lieutenants, Fendrichen Vndt anderen Vetter Officirern abermals, Wie Vohr öffters geschehen, in die Cantzleÿ gelauffen, die lohnung Von den Regierenden herren Obristen zur Vngebühr, Vndt midt großer Vngestion gefordert Vndt als sie Von dem Obristern Vierherren, hern Hiob Ludloffen [sc.: Ludolf], Zur getuldt bis auf den anderen tag ermahnet worden, haben sie es im

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The Town Hall-chronicler depicts the same sit-ins in vivid rhymes that qualify him as one of the worst poets in Erfurt. Whatever one may think of his style, some passages do reach the dramatic drive found in broadsides. Take, for instance, the commentary on the starving remnants of Johan Banér’s army that retreated to town in June 1640. The chronicler juxtaposed the Swedish soldiers’ desperate cries for food with their prior complaints about wages. They used to curse the hour when they entered Erfurt and had only wanted to leave. Yet now the haughty had been humbled and pleaded to be let back into the town. “Here one sees how the dear Lord does punish great presumption, tearing many of them away through starvation”.226 Starvation and periods of extreme poverty posed as great a threat to the soldiers as the actual battles. There was hardly any war veteran who had not starved at some point in his career and it was proverbial that “an old soldier is an old beggar”.227 Yet armies were also on the move. Civilians were rarely able to rejoice as this chronicler did, gloating at the sight of impoverished soldiers from the very regiment that had once tormented him. The printed media here offered an additional source of information which reassured readers that God punished injustice, sooner or later. In the wake of major battles, broadsides mocked the vanquished. The beggared soldier of fortune228 stood next to scenes showing how triumphant mercenaries first gorged at the expense of the civilians and then later vomited after defeat. Samuel Fritz used this pamphlet theme to retrace Tilly’s shifting fortunes in 1631.229 The anonymous Town Hall-chronicler did, on occasion, record rumours from the army headquarters. One stated that a thief had relieved Goltz of much of the geringsten nicht thun, noch sich patientiren wollen: sondern die thur aufgehalten, das es alle bürger hören können, wie schändtlich sie von E. E. hochw: Rathe geredet, die hüte ahn den leuchter gehencket, sich nieder gesetzet, lichte ahn Zünden laßen, taback getruncken, Vndt einen solchen Unfladt bonâ venia in die Cantzleÿ gemacht, das es dorinnen ärger, als in einer bauren schäncke gestuncken: die diener schmeißen wollen, Vndt förderst allerhandt Vngelegenheit ahngerichtet: das es zu erbarmen gewesen”. 226 [Anon.], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 15, p. 38r: “den hunger Vndt Mangel mit gewalt ∥ Nahmen bej der Armee Jhren Vnter halt ∥ […] Vor Erffurth kamen sie mit hauffen ∥ Von der Armee da her ge Lauffen ∥ dahr er Viel be kandt so Zu Vor Stolz ∥ Ge Weßen Vndter dem obristen Goltz. ∥ Ellendiglich daher getretten ∥ Vmb Gottes Willen haben sie gebethen ∥ Sie in die statt Zu laßen ein ∥ Welcher doch nicht hat können sein ∥ Vmb [sc.: statt] daß gelt gab man i[h]n[en] hin auß Brott Brott [sic] ∥ da siehet man Wie der Liebe Gott ∥ die große Ver messenheit thut straffen ∥ durch den hunger Jhren Viel Weg zu Raffen ∥ Ver fluchten offt die statt in den grundt ∥ Als sie hier Lagen Wie Auch die stundt ∥ Als sie Wehren ge kommen her ein ∥ Meinedten in thet sehr Wehe hier sein ∥ danckten hernach dem Lieben Gott ∥ daß sie nach drauß bekommen ein stück Brott”. Banér described the misery in a letter to the Swedish Chancellor, Johann Baners bref, pp. 769 f. 227 “Ein alter Soldat/ein alter Bettler.” Neumair v. Ramsla, Vom Krieg, Chapter III, no. LXXX. 228 Paas, Vol. 5, pp. 242–247, 270. The latter “Betrübte KLage eines Tyllischen Soldates” is analysed by Huntebrinker/Lüttenberger/et al., pp. 176–179. 229 Compare Fritz, Cronica, pp. 348 f with Wang; Paas, Vol. 5, pp. 207–229. The graphic cycles by Jacques Callot and Hans Ulrich Frank made the same moral points. Choné; Knauer, pp. 39–47, 196.

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money that he had once extorted in town.230 By giving credence to this news, the chronicler appealed to a third commonplace, which asserted that stolen money brought no lasting wealth. Johann Wilhelm Neumair wrote on this theme with a zeal that again reflects a personal interest. His estates near Erfurt were plundered ten times during the war. He compiled examples on the curse that clung to stolen goods, stretching all the way from Roman times up to the 1630s, when Swedish and Croatian soldiers went on their rampages.231 The spread of such moral stories throughout the German-speaking lands was further favoured by the widening and increasingly regular exchange of news. Neumair copied modern exempla from Meßrelationen: bi- or tri-annual accounts, printed since the 1580s during major fairs in towns like Leipzig and Frankfurt a. M..232 As a supplement to this medium, more regular newspapers began to spread along the postal routes during the course of the war. Erfurt newspapers with bi-weekly reports from the Empire and Europe had been printed since 1638, perhaps even earlier.233 The four-page “Ordinari Wochentliche PostZeitungen” and the “Extraordinari einkommene Zeitungen” were sold throughout the region; several town councils and Thuringian courts subscribed to the newspaper. Most postmasters sought to provide brief and bi-partisan reporting, written directly by correspondents or copied from other newsletters. This reliance on second or thirdhand accounts favoured increasingly stereotyped reports that were at times more based on hopes than facts. Newspapers from late 1632 and 1633 thus announced that Gustavus Adolphus had survived the battle at Lützen.234 The wishful reporting also left room for moral stories. Although they never figured as prominently as in broadsides, the few exempla found in newspapers often achieved a wide circulation when pastors read them aloud in the pulpit.235 Stenger thus cited an outlandish but, he claimed, true story from this newsletter to warn against habitual cursing in the local garrison. A thieving soldier stationed in Lower Lusitia was cited to appear before his commander and answer to the charges raised against him. There, he 230 [Anon.], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 15, p. 40v: “Avisa Von der Armee”, July 1640. Curiously, chroniclers never noted his sudden death in a skirmish, 1643. Compare Fabricius, pp. 6, 12. 231 The focus on foreign plunderers was part of Ramsla’s pan-denominational patriotism. Neumair v. Ramsla, Vom Krieg, pp. 203 f; see Chapter Three, fn. 108 on plunderings, and idem, Vom Krieg, p. 247 on the resulting misfortunes, summed up in the saying “aurum habet Tolosanum” (p. 204). 232 See Bender. Neumair v. Ramsla, Vom Krieg, pp. 203 f quotes a “Relatio histor. Franci.” for news about the deaths of Colonel Orosi Paul and General Henrik Holck in 1633. A very similar broadside account of Holck’s death is Paas, Vol. 7, p. 83. See also Johannes Hundorph: Encomium Erffurtini Continuatio […] Auß Luthero, Schleidano, […]/ und den Relationibus, zusammen bracht […]. Erfurt 1651 (my emphasis). 233 See fn. 237; Bogel/Blühm, pp. 134 f; ibid., Vol. 3, pp. 88 f; Barton, pp. 101–105. The best introductions are J. Weber, Krieg und Zeitung and Behringer, Veränderung. The only known copies are stored in NLHH Bibliotheksbestand Z 1 Zeitungsstücke, I, 1. 234 J. Weber, Krieg und Zeitung, pp. 40 f. 235 Hahn, p. 67, quoting Kaspar Stieler’s famed treatise on newspapers from 1690. Stieler (1632– 1707) grew up listening to Stenger’s sermons and was married to the daughter of the first post-master in Erfurt, Georg Friedrich Breitenbach (1611–1685).

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denied having robbed civilians, swearing that the Devil should come and take him if he was lying. The Devil then entered, dressed in a red alamode-frock, and dragged the blasphemous perjurer away by the hair.236 Local chroniclers readily relied on such reports. As long as they took familiar forms it mattered little to them whether the Devil appeared in Erfurt, Gotha, or Lower Lusitia.237 They rarely rejected such prints as inferior to first-hand experience. Indeed, in these matters of faith, the second-hand experience of judgements seems to have been more gratifying. The stereotyped narratives nourished hopes that remained unfulfilled by the events unfolding in town. Outside news could compensate for the contradictory, and at times disappointing, experiences of everyday life.238 It is easy to exaggerate the secularising impact of the new media. The more regular flow of news did not raise religious doubts in the Erfurt chroniclers or cause them to abandon the Bible.239 In times of war, newsletters and pamphlets rather offered chroniclers with a source of information that could reinforce the belief in the temporal divine justice. The readiness to believe these accounts does not mean that every reported judgement stood uncontested. In regard to war, two conflicts have to be mentioned. One conflict revolved around patience, the other around honour. Late military enterprisers were almost invariably praised as honourable soldiers in the biographical texts written for their noble relatives.240 Friedrich von Sachsen-Altenburg is a typical example. He died in the battle of Seelze (1625). In a consolatory panegyric, the Torgau poet Damian Türckis portrayed him as a Hector-like hero, who fell for the fatherland. To Erfurt chroniclers, Duke Friedrich was an enemy of their town. Therefore, they described the less “chivalric” phases of his “bloody fight”. One chronicler claimed he had led Spanish troops; another (even more erroneously) noted that his corpse lay unburied for three years.241 God had, the 236 Stenger, Tausend Zeuge, pp. 355 f, quoting a lost issue of the “Ordinari Wochentliche Postzeitung 1638 Num XLVII. Niederlaußnitz den 30. Mai styl. V.” in verbatim: “so kömmt endlich der Teuffel in einem rohten Allmoderocke in des Commandanten Stube hienein getreten/ vnd als er vom Commandanten gefragt wird/ wer es sey? Vnd warumb er Vngemeldet so herein kommen dürffte? Hat er geantwortet: Er sey geruffen worden [ und hat] den Soldaten beym Kopff erwischet / vnd solchen mit sich hinweg geführet/da denn die 100 Thaler vom Soldaten weggefallen sind/ vnd ist er der Soldat des andern Tages eben an dem Orthe/ da er der Metzger angegriffen worden todt gefunden worden. [ The following is still quoted from the newspaper:] Diesen schrecklichen erbärmlichen Fall mögen alle die jenigen/ die dergleichen böse Wort immer im Munde/ auch gar sehr daran sich gewehnet haben/ vermeinende/daß es sein Caballirtsch vnd schön stehe/zu Hertzen gehen lassen/ vnd sich daran spiegeln.” 237 Fritz, Cronica, pp. 124 (Gotha); 355 f (Erfurt); 364 (Luxembourg). 238 Lake/Questier, pp. 127 f; Hohmeyer, pp. 142 f. 239 Cf. Behringer, Veränderung, pp. 77, 81 with the opposite assessment. 240 E. g. Kaufmann, Dreißigjähriger Krieg, pp. 88–90; Niekus Moore, Patterned Lives, pp. 70 f, 80 f, 195 f. 241 Hundorph, Encomii Erffurtini Continuatio. App. I. 18, p. O4v. Fritz, Cronica, pp. 327, 331: “Auch that Gott An ihm auch Ein Zeichen ∥ daß Er nach ver la[u]ffnen 4. Jahren ∥ mit Ach vnd Wehe dahin gefahren, ∥ Ein widen der [?] hunt [: Wind(ener)hund? oder: widdernder? (scil.: brünstiger) Hund]

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chronicler insinuated, hereby punished the atrocities which troops under Friedrich’s command had committed around Erfurt 1622–1623. One often encounters such adverse comments on officers killed in combat. Most sermons held to their honour therefore stressed their penitent preparations for death.242 Chaplains presented the deceased as believers who had both battled with sin as a proper miles christianus and further fought for the true religion with sword in hand.243 Zacharias Mundtod’s funeral was one of the seldom occasions where a preacher condemned the deceased for his misdeeds. This was the reason why the sermon attracted such attention in town. The army chaplain Caspar Hillebrant held more traditional sermons of praise for equally controversial figures like Reinhold Boldner (1615–1642).244 In addition to raising these questions of honour, stories on divine judgement also addressed the tense subject of vigilante action. Although the aforementioned notes seem very vengeful to modern readers, contemporaries appreciated the pacifying moral of the story. If God punished military atrocities there was no reason for victims to take matters into their own hands. They could instead “leave vengeance to the Lord”.245 A fair number of male civilians refused to follow this request. The chroniclers’ notes on divine judgement, often written years after the actual injustices, are flanked by another, more immediate sort of vengeance: the violent retribution. It posed the perhaps the gravest challenges to the calls for penitent patience.

laufft seine Zeit, ∥ Er nahm sein Ende in dem Streit, ∥ Welcheß Anno 1626. geschehen ∥ da er hat müssen zugrunde gehen. ∥ Lag unbegraben 3. jahr Vnd Anno 1629. den 12 februarij zu Alden burg begraben.” Cf. Türckis, Trostschrifft Auff […] Herrn Friederichen/ Hertzogen zu Sachsen […] Gott Seligen Todes verbleichung […]. Darinnen […] seinen Rittermessigen Blutigen Kampf […] mit kläglicher Stimm anzeiget, and E. Wagner, Einlagerung, pp. 76 f, 89 f with a fuller quote and an accurate description of the Duke’s two burials (1625, 1629). 242 Count Georg Ludwig von Löwenstein (1587–1633) was mortally wounded at Chemnitz. Compare his funeral sermon (Bauer, Personalschriften, pp. 278 f, nos. 513 f; Ludscheidt, Epicedium) with the hostile notes in [Anon.], Erffurdtische Chronica. App. I. 14, pp. 602 f, 611, 613. An identical tension exists between Happe, Chronicon Thuringiae. App. I. 16, Vol. 2, p. 261v and the sermons held for Gottlob von Pietepeßky (1602–1639) and his fellow officers, assassinated in 1639 (Bauer, Personalschriften, pp. 336 f, no. 638). The death of Friedrich’s cousin, Duke Johann Ernst of Sachsen-Weimar (1594–1626), gave rise to one of the best-researched controversies. Some portrayed the duke as a hero fighting for the Gospel, whilst others presented his fatal illness as an expression of divine wrath. Bähr, Semantik and, independent of him, Stievermann, Leichenpredigten, p. 502. 243 Stenger, Christliche LeichPredigt (1665), p. D1r; Dömler, Leichpredigt (1630), pp. 36–42, 60. 244 Hillebrant, Ehrengedächtnis, esp. pp. B2r–B4v, D1r–D3v. The late officer is probably identical to the rapist Captain “Poller” who appears in [Taute], Schwartz Voigteybuch. App. I. 17, pp. 29–31; see fn. 205 above. W. E. Schäfer analyses a sermon held in Straßburg to the regional commander, Rhinegrave Otto Ludwig (1597–1634). He overlooks the controversial relationship between the Rhinegrave and Kirsten Munk (1598–1658), the consort of the Danish king Christian IV. 245 See the quote in fn. 202.

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Civilian resistance – sinful impatience or defence of town honour? Civilian resistance – sinful impatience or defence of town honour? The decision to prohibit civilian resistance was part of a set policy. Throughout the war, the Council sought to have the troops that were stationed in its territory removed by giving gifts to the commanding officers and by filing legal complaints with their superiors.246 Taking up arms would have provided officers with a pretext to justify the plundering. Developments to the north, in the Harz Mountains, soon demonstrated the destructive dynamics of guerrilla activity.247 An even greater concern was that aggressive civilians could turn against their own authorities. The early 1620s witnessed the first atrocities and prices being driven up by depreciated coins. The military and mercantile injustice gave rise to urban unrest. In the eyes of their opponents, the ruling Council failed to fulfil its basic duty to protect civilians, bring criminals to justice, and, above all, secure fair prices. The discontent came to a head in March and April 1622, when crowds stormed houses owned by notorious mint-masters.248 Renewed riots took place eight months later, around Christmas; civilians then beat up foreign soldiers and their family members. A few days later, villagers to the west of Erfurt killed their oppressors in a series of night-time massacres.249 Pastors and chroniclers described such events with reference to competing norms. Legal and religious notions of proper authority competed with a codex of civic honour and male, military prowess. The opposing attitudes to civilian violence are perhaps best summed up by looking at an annual Walpurgis parade, held on April 30. The so-called Walperzug celebrated the legendary destruction of a castle controlled by robber barons. The armed parade followed a route from the town to the alleged castle ruins on the nearby Wagweide. Here, citizens commemorated their 1289 massacre of the robbers and then caroused for three days.250 The pageantry was as strong a celebration of civic self-defence and autonomy as was to be found anywhere in Thuringia; the summer shooting fairs (Schützenfeste) struck the same note.251 Yet military developments had superseded an urban defence based solely on citizens. The Council began to hire mercenaries and in 1620 it also re-organised the militia into a new, more hierarchical form. In this and the following year, peasants

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Berg, Regulating war. This policy is quite similar to the one described by Zeng, Mühlhausen. Boblenz, Aktionen; note Rathjen, pp. 202 f, 211–217. 248 See Chapter Three fn. 39. 249 E. Wagner, Einlagerung, pp. 51–66 reconstructs the rural uprising (December 28–29). On the preceding riots see Weiß, Lebenswelten, p. 481. Plath, pp. 420–428 outlines parallels in Hildesheim. 250 S. Wolf, Chapter VIII.3 examines this crucial year of town history. A study of the Walperzug is sorely missing. See Falckenstein, Civitatis Erfurtensis Historia, pp. 184–186 and the slightly more accessible account by Uhland, pp. 282 f. Graf, Schlachtengedenken is a fine overall survey. 251 K. Beyer, Geschichte der Erfurter Schützenkompagnie, pp. xiv-xviii. 247

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paraded in the new Council uniforms.252 The rural militiamen helped the Council to control rioting townsmen during the turbulent spring of 1622.253 In that year, the Walperzug was cancelled for fears of an uprising. The Council officially referred to the threat posed by foreign soldiers. This was received sceptically, even by the pastors who read the announcement from the pulpits.254 The parade, by all accounts, was discontinued for most of the war. It was superseded by repentant admonishments and the weekly prayer hour, introduced in 1623.255 Collective repentance would, both pastors and councillors argued, ward off evils more efficiently than armed self-defence. The calls for repentance were thus politicised right from the beginning of the war. The adjoining admonishments outlawed civilian violence and, by means of two arguments, declared vigilantes to be rebels against the Lord. Vigilantes not only disobeyed the authorities instated by God but also disregarded divine will by failing to leave vengeance in the hands of the Lord and thus suffer tribulations with patience.256 Mandates and didactic songs appealed to this theological understanding.257 Terms like impatience (Ungeduld) or vengefulness (Rachgier) helped

252 [Brettin], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 11, p. 6v on 1620: “Reüt-Röcke, von Viol blauwen Tuch u. goldfarben Porten[?] [wurden] hierzu sonderlich gemacht, wie auch graue hüte mit goldfarben federn”; 1621: “[es wurden] sonderl.[ichen] Schleppichen od[er] Umschläge d[er] damahlig[en] Manier nach gekaufft, blau gespäckt.” Liebe touches on these developments. 253 Hoffmann, Chronica Thvringiaca. App. I. 6, p. 369. In 1663, councillors again tried to call in the rural militia to control urban unrest. W. F. v. Tettau, Unterwerfung, p. 30. 254 [Cabuth], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 5, p. 126r: “Aus welcher Ursach solches verblieben könte man eigentlich nicht wissen, man p[re]tendirte und wende das Kriegswesen für.” [Hogel], Antiquitatum Erfurtensium. App. I. 9, pp. 444a r-v: “Hingegen dem Sontag Cantate die Bürgerschafft von allen Cantzeln zum Gebet wegen der großen Drangsalen der Stadt zum Vertrawen an Gott, zum Gehorsam gegen ihre Obrigkeit, und sich vor allen unbescheidenen reden, ungleichen Urtheilen und selbstthätigkeit ermahnen laßen.” Hogel probably refers to [Anon.], E. E. Raths öffentlicher Anschlag (1622), printed on April 5 and announced six days later. 255 This situation was reverted in 1652. The prayer hour was abolished in most churches in 1651, and in the following year the Walperzug was reinstated. Krafft, [Erfurt Chronicle]. App. I. 19, pp. 49r– 104r. Krafft exaggerated somewhat when he stated that the parade had not been celebrated for the past twenty-eight years. The parade did take place in 1625. Hoffmann, Chronica Thvringiaca. App. I. 6, p. 382. Hoffmann’s comment on the urban riots in December 1622 is telling. Townsmen here (mis)behaved “wie auff den Walpurgistag”. Ibid., p. 374a. 256 [Anon.], E. E. Raths öffentlicher Anschlag (1622), pp. A2r–A2v; J. Weinreich, Wolmeinende Warnung Vor Tumult vnd Auffruhr, p. 4. The traditional teaching is repeated in [Anon.], Compendium Locorum Theologicorum (1621), Lib. 3. Loc. IX. De Magistratu Politico & rebus civilibus, pp. N2v–N4v, esp. pp. N4r–N4v, prohibiting “vindicta privata” through Romans 12, 17–19, and using Romans 13, 2 to proclaim “Publica […] vindicta, qvæ sit ex officio Magistratus” an “opus DEI”. 257 E. Wagner, Geschichte unserer Dörfer, p. 63 quotes a mandate from 1626: villagers should not attack soldiers, but call for God to grant peace. Another example is the first stanza in the well-known song by Michael Altenburg: “WAs Gott thut das ist wohl gethan/ kein einige Mensch ihn tadeln kan[n]/ Jhn soll mann allzeit ehren/ ∥ Wir mach[e]n mit unser Ungedult nur immer grösser unser Schuld/daß sich die Straffen mehren.” Stenger, GesangBuch, pp. 607 f (quote), reprinted in Fischer/ Tümpel, Vol. 2, pp. 62 f, no. 57. On the authorship, note Fischer, Vol. 2, p. 329.

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to brandish the impenitent hot-heads, who would neither control their negative emotions nor comply with the social order and calamities willed by God. The stories that townsmen told about civilian assaults on soldiers are divided along the same lines.258 Some decried such retribution as the rash acts of juveniles and the urban poor; others idealised it as a sort of modern-day Walpurgis raid. Chronicles only document parts of this polarised story-telling. Generally, the Council narrative dominates. Hans Krafft, the most pronounced chronicler of civic opposition, focused on the internal conflicts during the 1630s and 1640s, when resistance to war taxes led to riots in the Town Hall.259 The contemporary clashes with garrisoned Swedish soldiers are only described in detail by an official loyal to the Council and associated with the town guards.260 The politics of commenting on civil-military clashes are more evident in entries on the 1620s. The remainder of this section looks closer at two chroniclers who reacted in opposite manners to stories that were critical of the Council. The first response was a ballad written by an anonymous Lutheran in early January 1623. He recounted the destructive conflict with a regional warlord, Duke Friedrich of Sachsen-Altenburg (1599–1625).261 Authors who lived through those six troubled weeks, from mid-December to late January, described them in chronicles that were written independently of each other. They give rare insight into the rumours and stories that circulated in town at the time. One group blamed the councillors for failing to fight the plundering soldiers. The anonymous chronicler tried to relieve the Council of such widespread objections. His apologetics appear in rhymes sung to the tune of the popular ballad, ‘das Lied vom Lindenschmidt’. Still, it seems an exaggeration to label his text a folk song or even a street ballad. The four hundred seventy strophes were more than most marketplace hawkers could memorise. They rather resemble the lengthy propagandist ballads that were found in pamphlets.262 258 Many Erfurt chroniclers wrote in the manner outlined by Pohl. They seldom described events in terms of the other, more researched debate about the right to resistance. Such arguments were considered by legal experts, like Johannes Weinreich, Warnung; see Rosseaux, pp. 159, 339–347, 438 f, 442. 259 An exception is Krafft, [Erfurt Chronicle]. App. I. 19, p. 27r. 260 [Anon.], Erffurdtische Chronica. App. I. 14. See Chapter Two. One story pitted the loyal Council servant, Peter Isserode, against Duke Wilhelm of Weimar. It focuses on the town keys, hotly contested during the first Swedish occupation (1631–1635). The story does not figure in the chronicles examined in this study, but it may have been in circulation during the war. Kruspe, p. 44, no. 35. 261 [Anon.], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 4, pp. 864–874. The modern editor of these rhymes incorrectly assumed that they were authored by a Catholic councillor. [H.] Beyer, Volkslied, pp. 34 f. A more accurate transcription is E. Wagner, Einlagerung, pp. 91–97 with most details on the events. Ventzke, Kaisertreue is a complementary and more accessible account. 262 Compare [H.] Beyer, Volkslied to Brednich, pp. 154 (das historische Volkslied), 187 f. The song is divided into five passages. The central part on “Hertzog Fritz[’] Eröberung. Etzlicher Erffordischen dörfer” (sixty-four stanzas) is preceded by a thematic prelude opened by a chronogram for 1622: “Psalm 73[, 6]. VnD Ihr freveL MVs WohL gethan heIsen”. Then follows two opening acts that lead up to the destruction: “die Soldaten, Crabaten Vnd Teuffels gesinde bereden sich” (seventy-five strophes); “Erffurtische Bauren reden Von neuen Zeitungen” (thirty-three strophes). The six concluding stanzas

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The ballad pays tribute to reigning sentiments. Burghers were first of all frightened and infuriated by the atrocities. Peasant refugees told of soldiers who ‘outheroded’ Herod.263 The song took on this theme by demonising Duke Friedrich. Lacking the means to support his mercenaries, “Lucifer” decided to leave Altenburg along with “his relatives” and plunder the villages around Erfurt.264 The diabolical description of the foe precluded penitential appeals to the listeners. Yet the rhymes did not relieve victims from all responsibility. Here, the second of the two opening acts has an important role. It reproduces a dialogue between “haughty and defiant” peasants set in the period immediately prior to the arrival of the army.265 A peasant returning from town brings fellow villagers news about the approaching soldiers. He, however, himself scoffs at them and declares them lies crafted to make villagers move surplus provisions into town. They would there have to sell provisions at low price. Councillors had fixed prices to prevent food riots, yet bakers and butchers were reluctant to obey. And peasants joined them: “I shall never sell any of this [for townsmen] to eat ∥ I would rather give it to my pigs, as feed”.266 The chronicler tried to convince urban listeners that the greedy peasants only had themselves to blame for their present situation. That incrimination did not catch on. Many townsmen continued to support the villagers and told stories sympathising with their plights. Two stories became particularly popular. The most widespread story ridiculed the penniless military enterpriser who could not even pay his soldiers in the early phase of recruitment. (One has to mention that the Altenburg duke was let down by his contractor, the Spanish Infanta.) This earned him the derisive nickname Fritz “with the empty pockets”, first given to his Habsburg namesake, Duke Friedrich (Friedl) IV of Austria (1382–1439). Samuel Fritz portrayed the Saxon duke in the very moment when he grabbed into his pockets, only to find them empty.267 (without a separate heading) denigrate the prince and invoke the eschatological judgement. The main title is: “Wahrhaftige Kurtze beschreibung Friedrichs Hertzogs zu Sachsen, Julich, Cleve Vndt Berghe Vnd Vdestedter Einfall in Duringen: Welchen er nicht, als deßen Schutzherr, sondern als der feindseligste Turck Vndt Tartar vergangenen Monat Decembr[is] nechst abgewichenen 1622 Jahrs Verubet, Vnd Volbracht, Jm Thon, Wie man den Lindenschmidt singet: Sambt einer Kurtzen Vorher gehenden Vnterredung der soldaten Vnd ihrs Feld Obristen, Wie auch etlicher Erfurtischer hoch mutigen Vnd drotzigen Bauren.” (my emphasis). 263 [Cabuth], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 5, p. 127v, January 7, 1623: “Zu Biseleben [Büßleben] halben [sic] die Soldaten einen Bauren [Michael] Keÿser genant gecreutziget mit henden, Vnd füßen angenagelt mit Meßern geritzet, Pulver in die Nasen, ohren, Vnd Augen in Pappier gethan gestecket, angezündet Vbel zerplaget, Vnd endlichen getödet, Man sagte, sie ein Herodem Vnd Pilatum Vnter sich erwehlet. Gott sey Richter. Amen.” See E. Wagner, Einlagerung, p. 39; StAE 1-0 A/IV-7, p. 87r. 264 Stanza one, strophe three: “Lucifer mit seinen Verwanten”. 265 “[H]ochmutiger und drotziger Bauern” (as fn. 262). 266 “Jch habe selber gedacht, ∥ Weil Vns der Tax ist Zv Wieder gemacht, ∥ ehe ich etwas Wolt Ver kaufen Zu eßen, ∥ es soltens eher meine schweine freßen.” Erfurtische Bauern (fn. 262), strophes thirteen to sixteen. Held, Landgebiet outlines the underlying, long-running tensions. 267 Fritz, Cronica. App. I. 24, p. 331. Ludolf, Schaubühne. App. I. 27, column 149 (1623) noted the medieval origin of the nickname.

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Figure Eleven: [Hiob Ludolf]: […] Schau-Bühne der Welt […]. Vol. 1, Frankfurt a. M. 1699, copper no. XXIII. The story is quoted page 256, based on column 149 (1622)

Another story glorified the fatal and rather uncoordinated massacres of soldiers in late December. The rural retributions were personalised and portrayed as a premeditated and unified response to just grievances. Most attention was given to events in Ermstedt. Villagers first decided to fulfil the soldiers’ endless demand for beverage and got them senseless drunk; then hosts killed all their oppressors. One peasant was praised for having killed nine soldiers in a row.268 A later variant increased this body count and transformed the peasant into a smith. Of him “it was said that he made an iron rod hot […] and killed eleven lads in his house in one night”. Hiob Ludolf, Jr. preserved this tale for a broad German readership as one of the main war events in the year 1622. He even commissioned a copperplate portrait, showing the grim avenger at work in his smithy.

268 Fritz explained the griveance to his readers: the stationed soldiers had exchanged the customary demand for salt and vinegar (Servis) with a monetary payment. “Damals hat Ein Baur zu Er[m]stadt 9. [Soldaten] Erschlagen[. Er] hat sie Erst Vol gemacht[.] die Soldaten haben nicht fressen wollen den[n] sie [sc.: die Bauern] musten Einem j[e]glichen [Soldaten] Einen thaler Vnter den Taller [sc.: Teller] legen, der nach Vber fielen sie die Bauren Vber dem dischen Vnd schlugen sie Todt, da sprachen die Soldaten[:] waß sol daß sein. da sprachen die bauren[:] thaler vnder die deller. da habt ihr thaler vnder die teller.” Fritz, Cronica. App. I. 24, p. 331.

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Die Bauren / umb sich an diesem Herrenlosen Gesind zu rächen / machten deren todt/ so viel sie konten / wie denn von einem Schmidt gesagt wird/ daß er einen Stab Eisen halb glüend gemacht/ und eilff Kerl in seinem Hauß/ die solch Eisen nicht fassen noch angreiffen konten / in einer Nacht getödtet.

These urban stories of rural retribution ran counter to the aforementioned mandates issued by the Council to outlaw all vigilantee civilians.269 The moral of the tales match the pasquinades that had called for action against the inactive councillors in mid December 1622.270 Around Christmas, townsmen took matters into their own hands, attacking groups of soldiers who were in town to sell stolen goods. The Council responded as in the spring, calling in the militia to curb the unrest. Councillors did seriously consider sending out its own mercenaries against Duke Friedrich, but they ultimately refrained due to the uncertain diplomatic situation.271 Until 1631, this non-interventionist policy was continued towards the Imperial armies that passed through the countryside. The Council therefore ordered town guards to prevent or break up fights between civilians and the soldiers who entered town to trade. Describing these clashes, chroniclers who were loyal to the Council tried to downplay the support for the peasants amongst the citizenry. It was, they claimed, fugitive peasants and smaller groups of “rash and mainly young persons” who took part in such urban “unrest”.272 Internal council records tell a different story. Scuffles often escalated to brawls as inhabitants rushed to assist people who bickered with the soldiers.273 The glorification of figures like the smith or the peasants in Ermstedt posed an additional problem. It grew particularly pressing in June 1631. Imperial troops were stationed around Erfurt and plundered the villages. Arriving straight from the ruins of Magdeburg, they paid little heed to their own officers and threatened civilians when they entered town.274 Townsmen, in response, told stories mixed with fears and hatred. The Council decided to send out informers to report on the pedlars and inhabitants who heightened the aggressive atmosphere. A mandate 269

Beyer, Tilly vor Erfurt. [Cabuth], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 5, p. 127v (15.12.1622); Hoffmann, Chronica Thvringiaca. App. I. 6, p. 374. 271 The Saxon houses of Wettin jointly exercised the Geleitrecht, the right to escort and provide for security in the adjoining countryside. 272 [Hogel], Antiquitatum Erfurtensium. App. I. 9, p. 438v (“etliche unbesonnene und mehrentheilß junge leute”); Hertzog Friedrichs Eröberung (fn. 262), stanza forty-one, strophes one to three: “Von der Burger schaft ihr nit Viel, ∥ helfen Zv diesem losen spiel, ∥ nur Bauren, Ver Zagte dropfen, ∥ […]”; and stanza forty-two, strophes three to five: “ohn der Obrigkeit Willen, ∥ Welcher durchaus nit muglich war, ∥ diesen Rvmor Zv stillen”. See also StAE 1-0 A/IV-7, pp. 47r: “Vnbändigen Vnd Vnverständigen Jungen, Vnd gemeinen Gesindle.” 273 E. g. H. Beyer, Steffano Draghi, pp. 21–24, based on StAE 1-0 A/IV-11, pp. 162r–168v (1628). See also [Anon.], Erffurdtische Chronica. App. I. 14, pp. 644 f (1634). 274 H. Beyer, Tilly vor Erfurt passim; Fritz, Cronica. App. I. 24, p. 238. 270

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Figure Twelve: Samuel Fritz: CRONICA ERPHORDIANA p. 339

ordered townsmen not to crowd around soldiers and forbade them to pass on stories that chided the Council or called for violent actions. Such “tales” (Mären) circulated in taverns, marketplaces, and apparently also in respectable homes.275 The cook Samuel Fritz was among the servants and children who had listened to these stories. During the tense second half of the 1620s, he was part of the adolescent group of violence-prone apprentices and artisans whom soldiers considered to be their greatest enemy in town.276 Decades later, around 1680, he still spoke with admiration of the rural retribution.277 His illustrated notes on urban clashes during 1628 deserve particular attention. They document more conflicting storytelling and add depth to the outlined competition between concepts of 275 Mandate dated June 3/13, 1631 and transcribed in H. Beyer, Tilly vor Erfurt, pp. 199–202. “Mährund Zeitungsträger” (201), “bei Gelagen, Zechen, und andern Zusammenkünften, öffentlich, manchmal privatim in ihren Häusern in Anhörung der Kinder, des Gesindes und anderer Leute” (200). The town council in Nördlingen took identical measures in 1639. Friedrichs, Urban Society, pp. 218 f. 276 StAE 1-0 A/IV-7, p. 174v (11.1.1623): “Die Soldaten geben auch vngeschewet vor, wenn die Erffurdischen, wie die Bohemischen Bawren fertig [sind], wolte sie alls dann mit den Schue Knechten in Erffurdt auch wol fertig werden”. For parallels see Feuerle, pp. 281–283; Lorenz, Das Rad der Gewalt, passim. 277 See fn.s 267–268. An additional scatological tale is transcribed by E. Wagner, Einlagerung, p. 84.

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collective honour and sinful impatience. Fritz lined up two town heroes who both answered military insults with use of force. The armed militiaman in the left margin was taking part in musketry practice when mounted soldiers appeared. They provocatively tore down targets placed outside the gates. The civilian marksman responded to this “dishonour” (Schimpf) by shooting one of the soldiers’ horses. In the right half of the picture, Fritz praised another well-targeted response to an insult directed at the citizenry. This insult was, in Fritz’ version of the story, spoken by Stephano Mille Draghi, the colonel in charge of the unruly Croatian regiments stationed outside the town in 1628. A townsman responded by turning the swear word “Schelm” (rogue) against the slanderous officer and slapping him in the face. The officer then backed down.278 The clashes may seem trifle, but the stories surrounding them were politically charged. The marksman musketeer was fined and temporarily discharged, and Andreas Müllenbrück, who had slapped the soldier, had to flee town to escape prosecution by the Council.279 The legal statements of the involved parties give equally partisan, but more detailed accounts on Müllenbrück’s offense. They differ from Fritz on a number of telling points. All parties agreed that the fight involved an unemployed lieutenant. An insult to the citizenry is not mentioned. The exchanges began with bickering about a horse that blocked the way for passers-by. Müllenbrück joined in the argument and then scuffled with the lieutenant.280 The re-telling of the story promoted the lieutenant into the hated Colonel Mille Draghi and transformed Müllenbrück from a fugitive from justice into a town hero. This picture presents the urban backing in the shape of three well-dressed and well-armed townsmen who carry the halberd, reserved for the civic militia.281 Militiamen connect the two scenes physically as well thematically.

278 Fritz, Cronica. App. I. 24, p. 339: “Anno 1628. den 10. Junij, sprach ein Croaden Oberster der sein Quartier zu Vipbach hatte auff den Marck[t] zu Erffurt, der Teufel hole mich die Bürger in Erffurt sint alle Schelmen[. ]der Croade hatte ein gewaltig verschamet rit kleit an, einen hut mit schönen blumschen vnd einen sebel mit einer gantzen Sülbern scheiden mit schöner aussgebrochner Arbeit gantzener gilt, da ging zu ihm ein Bürgern gar ein wacker Man, mit nahmen Andreas Müllenbrück vnd sprach wier sint Retliche leut, du bist ein Schelm vnd gab dem Oberst 4 Maul Schellen dass er sich auff den Ars setzde. Der Crabat brachte den sebel nicht auss der Scheiden. In diesem jar trug sichs zu, dass die Bürger vohr dem Löber thor nach der scheiben schossen, da kamen vier Reiter, vnd rissen die Scheibe herunder, dass vertross die Bürger vnd wolden diesen Schimpff nicht leiden, da namb ein bürger sein Rohr, der ein guter Schütze war der trat herfür, vnd sprach der mann ist mein oder das Pfert, vnd schoß den Reiter daß Pfert vnder dem Leibe todt, des wegen musten die Schützen strafe geben vnd lange nicht arbeiden.” 279 See H. Beyer, Steffano Draghi, p. 22; StAE 1-0 A/IV-11, pp. 163v, 166v–167v; StAE 1-1/XXI-1b, 28, p. 60r (15.8.1628): “Schein, so Johann N. [Küssenick] reformirten leutenant unterm Tragischen Regiment wegen etzlicher von Andrea Müllenbrücken alhier ihm zugestelten Maulschellen ertheilet worden.” The certificate refers to a conflict taking place “vor wenig tagen”. 280 The only substantial disagreement was whether Müllenbrück had slapped or severely beaten the lieutenant. 281 Liebe, pp. 51, 58.

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It is no coincidence that these stories grew popular. The well-controlled vindications were not committed by some hot-headed mob. They matched the ideals about the defence of town honour better than riot-like assaults during the same months.282 That these stories were retold by Samuel Fritz is remarkable. Fritz was otherwise in tune with the pastors. His didactic tenor echoes their call for repentance. Many sections meditate on the collective (and some personal) experiences during the war in a manner that is characteristic of a distanced observer, writing in old age. These sections are found next to passages, like the above, with echoes of more militant sentiments. The tendency to unite opposing themes makes Fritz particularly interesting. The following section explores his treatment of the Thirty Years War.

War in the cosmography of a seventeenth-century cook The entry on the comet of 1618 sums up the chronicler’s sombre view of his own era. Fritz added the comet to a long compilation of apocalyptical signs. As noted in Chapter Four, he gave the most detailed and didactic of all local comments on this prodigy. The caption is replete with visual and even audible (!) imagery, describing a sparkling “fiery broomstick […] roaring like a big log lying in the fire.” Fritz presented the accompanying illustration (Figure Seven) as an eyewitness account: “I saw it in the year 1618.”283 These accounts are those of an old man reminiscing over a childhood experience. Samuel Fritz was not more than eight years old when war broke out in Bohemia and when the comet(s) appeared above Erfurt. He was over seventy by the time he finished his opus magnum, the ‘CRONICA ERPHORDIANA’. Nominally a town chronicle, this richly illustrated volume expanded to cover the entire history of the world until “this year of 1681 after the redemptive birth of our Lord, in the 5881st year” after Creation. Convinced that the world would exist for 6000 years at the most, Fritz described it as “a mortally ill” person, lying “in his death throes.”284 This bleak diagnosis was coupled with an avid interest in pictures. Although Fritz probably had not drawn the comet in 1618, he did roam around Erfurt as a 282

E. g. StAE 1-1/XXI-1b, 28, pp. 57v–58r (1628). “Anno 1618. Stund der grose Comet Stern war Ansehens wie Ein langer feuwriger Besem, welcher sehr funckelde Vnd fielen die funcken herunder in die Lufft den[n] Es rausede wie Ein groser feuwer brant der im fewr lieget. Er blinkelde Vber Teutsch land An Zu Zeigen daß Gott mit dem dem [sic] feuwrigen besem seineß grimmigen Zorn Teutsch land wolde Auß keren […]. diesen Comet Stern habe ich Samuel Fritz Abgerissen den[n] ich habe ihn gesehen Anno. 1618.” Fritz, Cronica. App. I. 24, p. 120. 284 Fritz, Cronica, p. 117: “[…] wier leben in diesem 1681. Jahr nach der seelig machenden Geburt Vnsers Herren im 5881 Jahr der Welt […] so lieget die welt gleich einem Todt Krancken in den letzten Zügen”. 283

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fourteen-year-old, drawing anatomical deformities. Nine years later, in 1633, he worked in Frankfurt a. M. in the kitchen of the Swedish Chancellor Oxenstierna. There he drew the body parts of the victims of a gunpowder explosion and, at a later visit, items from a cabinet of curiosities.285 Most pictures are copied from copperplates and broadsides that Fritz had collected over decades. In 1676, he had already arranged his collections in a cosmography, his only other extant work. The account thus unites Biblical references with cheap pamphlets and stories told in town. Although this collage is exceptional within the local context, the underlying world-view is decidedly conventional. Fritz rambled on against Thomas Müntzer, the Anabaptists in Münster, and what to him appeared to be their local followers in Erfurt.286 In this dogmatic sense, Fritz is far removed from the Friulian miller, Domenico Scandella (1532–1599). The cosmology of the Erfurt cook rather resembles that described by the Puritan wood-turner, Nehemiah Wallington (1598–1658).287 They each offer a panorama of recurrent figures of religious thought. A number of these figures of thought are more prevalent in Fritz than in most other local chroniclers. His readiness to develop apocalyptic diagnoses is coupled with a distinct penchant for diabolical tales. Fritz presented the Rat Catcher of Hameln as the Devil in disguise and told his readers other true stories about diabolical pacts and abductions.288 This adds up to a curious catalogue of cautionary tales, the divine judgement of a local Luther-caricaturist being one of the more remarkable.289 In a number of contemporary authors and communities, the focus on diabolical agency also barred penitential introspection. The Devil appears as a Manichaean opponent of God, rather than His subordinate punisher of sinners. Here, the tensions in the commentaries on the war resemble those documented in studies of witch persecution.290 We return to this tension by other authors. For Fritz, the deeds of the Devil remained a complementary theme rather than an explicit alternative to penitence. The global call for repentance added to the comet of 1618 differs from his narrative of the war. It ties the period after 1618 to prior wars of religion that were all anchored in a diabolical framework. With great pathos and graphic detail, Fritz 285

Ibid., pp. 183, 333 f; Fritz, Cosmographia. App. I. 23, p. 177r. App. I. 23–24 goes into detail with Fritz’ life and writings. 286 Namely Esaias Stiefel and the rural rebels from 1525, Fritz, Cronica, pp. 162–170, 200–207, 337 f. 287 Ginzburg; Seaver; see also Booy. 288 Compare Fritz, Cosmographia, p. 248r with Schade, pp. 62–65. Fritz drew much on Lutheran compilators; compare e. g. Hondorff, Promptuarium exemplorum, p. 77v with the Cosmographia, pp. 194r–194v: the Devil carries a concubine maid away, along with her master, a Catholic priest. More diabolical tales are to be found on pp. 178r, 186r (Dr. Faustus), 211r, 232r, 240r–240v and in Fritz, Cronica, pp. 124 f, 171, 192, 228, 290, 292, 320, 338, 355 f, 360, 364. 289 Cronica, pp. 228. 290 Kittsteiner, pp. 49–55; Haag, Predigt, pp. 82–87; Walsham, Providence, pp. 25–27; and esp. Clarke, Protestant Demonology, pp. 69, 74 f. Nye, p. 166 describes a Catholic parallel.

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retold how Catholics had butchered Protestants at the express “command of the Antichrist in Rome”.291 An unspecified reference to “the histories and bloody registers” sufficed to authenticate the classic theme in Lutheran historiography.292 This history of the Thirty Years War shows how the persecution of his French, Dutch, and English brethren in faith reached the Empire. The initial Defenestration in Prague (1618) took place “because of the Reformation”, Fritz claimed.293 He wrote about, and illustrated, the massacres in Magdeburg (1631) in much the same manner that he depicted the atrocities committed in Antwerp (1576). The Imperial commander and Duke of Tilly here equalled his peer, Duke Alba (1507–1582), in villainy and viciousness.294 Rulers and noblemen who had fought and died for the Protestant cause were, consequently, portrayed as confessors of faith. Fritz placed French Huguenot martyrs alongside the defeated Bohemian noblemen that were executed in 1621. On the very night after their execution, soldiers saw them seated in the sky above Prague, in scenery reminiscent of the resurrection of Christ.295 Gustavus Adolphus was exalted as the modern-day martyr par excellence. Historiographers noted that crowds in Rome rejoiced at his death – just as they had celebrated the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre sixty years before.296 Fritz drove the point home through an anecdote showing how the Devil “frolicked” at the king’s death. Following the fatal battle at Lützen, the Devil materialised in Erfurt. Appearing in the shape of a “fiery red cat”, he tore down the royal crown that was stored in the chambers of the widowed Queen, Marie Eleonora (1599–1655). The fight between the Swedish Lion and the fiery red cat carried the universal struggle between good and evil to Fritz’ home town and right into his workplace.297 291

“Auff be fehl deß Antichrists zu Rom”, Cronica, pp. 320 f, with a transcript of the Papal order. Ibid: “wie die Hißtorien vnd Blut Register Auß weisen.” On Protestant martyrologies see Burschel, namely, pp. 68, 78. 293 Cronica, p. 326: “geschehe der Reformation halben”. 294 Compare ibid., pp. 321 f with 347 f. Note especially the identical remarks about women jumping into the river to escape rapist Papist soldiers. 295 Compare the testimony in Cronica, pp. 222 f with the iconography surrounding Matt 28, 1–4; see also Harms, Vol. 4, pp. 196 f, no. IV 146a. 296 And its counterparts in the Low Lands. Compare Cronica, pp. 319, 321 with Hundorph, Encomii Erffurtini Continuatio. App. I. 18, p. Q1v. Fritz returned to the life and death of the Swedish king on pp. 225 f, 351–353, 357 and in the Cosmographia, pp. 6v–7r, 141r–141v, 147r. 297 The Gustavian anecdote gained some local prominence in the nineteenth century. It has not yet been reported accurately. Fritz, Cronica, pp. 355 f: “Nach dem der könig weg zog Auß der hohe Liligen in die Schlacht welche bei Lützen gehalden war, Vnd die Königin hier bleib Zohe sie in den Schwartzen Löwen Auff den [sic] Anger, Vndt hatte der schwedische Resident sein Quardier in [dem Haus zum] weisen Lauwen bei der frauw worden Vnd wahren die hauser Zusammen gebrochen daß der Herr Resident [Alexander Erskein] kunde in der Königin Quardier kommen[,] war die königin gar sehr bedribet. Vnd wie der könig Vohr Lützen blieben ist lieget die königin Auff dem bette in der kammer Vnd weinet Vnd ist gar sehr bedriebet, nuhn ist Stube vnd kammer an Einander daß man kan Auß der Stuben kan [sic] in die kammer gehen, die kammer frauw leget sich in die Stube fur die Cammer Thuer Vnd sechtzt [sic] Ein licht bei sich in der nacht da sie nicht schlafen mag, nuhn ist Ein hantfaß in der Stuben da stehen Oben zwene löwen vnd halden eine krone, da kömpt ein feuwer Rode [p. 356] 292

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Fritz was far from the only Lutheran in town who saw the Pope and the Jesuits as the diabolical masterminds behind the wars and massacres. Related rumours revealed how oath-breaking Papists plotted to assassinate rulers and dismember the Empire.298 These conspiracy theories had tangible repercussions in towns that were occupied by Swedish forces. Monastic orders were faced with accusations of treason, demands for encompassing oaths of fealty, and, in a number of cases, also imprisonment or expulsion.299 Erfurt was, however, spared from systematic persecution of the classic scapegoat minorities. Lutheran pressure on Catholic orders mainly took legalist forms, and following the fourteenth century massacres there were no ‘Jewish usurers’ left to storm.300 Witch-trials had, moreover, all but ceased in Erfurt. When Meyfart came to town in 1633, he left the burning stakes in Coburg behind him.301 The general absence of violent persecution did not preclude hostile attitudes. Many townsmen, and especially the villagers, blamed personal misfortunes on witches and held soldiers and rulers responsible for the ruinous war. Pastors calling for repentance drew direct comparisons between the two manners of placing Feuwer rothe katze in die Stube Vnd springet Auff daß hant faß Vndt bricht die krone Ab, Vnd wirfft sie in die Stube Vnd leufft die Stube hinauß[.] die katze ist der Teuffel gewest, der darüber gefrolocket hat. Ich ha[be] solches Erfahren den[n] damahls habe ich dem herren Residenden Auff gewardet ich bin sein koch gewesen. SF.” 298 Two characteristic reports from the beginning of the war and its immediate aftermath are [Anon.]: Decret Wider die Jesuiten Auß welchen zuersehen/ Daß des Religions unnd Profanfriedens zerstörung einig unnd allein auß anstifftung dieser unruhigen unnd gifftigen Sect geflossen sey. Erfurt 1618; [Anon.]: Der Erffürdisch Cronica. ECHA Fond 192, M. A. 45, pp. [391r]-[394v]: “Sanctologische Verbündnüs Wider die Calvinisten Vnd Lutheraner”. The latter entry uncovers a sinister plan to divide the Empire between the Spanish king and the Catholic Church. The entry seems to have been copied from a pamphlet by a chronicler in the early 1650s. A possible source is Neotechnos [ps.], VI. Prognostica […] sonderlich was es mit der Sacra Liga vor einen Außgang haben werde (1621). A critical study of such fears is P. Schmidt, Universalmonarchie. 299 Marx, Diarium Actorum. App. I. 1, pp. 80v: a local Council official insisted that Catholic clergymen had to swear not to secretively support the Spanish King. The refusal to exclude the Emperor from the common prayer was likewise used against monastic orders in Erfurt and elsewhere. Compare ibid., pp. 41r, 44v and Schauerte, p. 79 with [Anon.], Das Reich von Mitternacht. Darinnen abgehandelt/ […] wirdt/ die dieser Zeit hochnötige Frage: Ob auch die […] Papisten im Reich/ sonderlich […] die titulirte Geistliche in Kirchen/ Stifften und Clöstern […] schuldig seyen/ der Königl. Mayest. in Schweden das Iuramentum Fidelitatis, den Eyd/ Trew und hold zu seyn/ zu leysten und vor Ihr Königl. Mayest. allezeit, und auch offentlich pro suggestu auff allen jhren Cantzeln zubitten. […]. [s.l] 1632. Though exaggerated, the fears were not wholly unfounded. Individual Catholic clerics did smuggle letters to Imperial commanders through regions occupied by Swedish forces. See App. I. 2–3. 300 Apt notes on this in Roeck, Formen, pp. 271 f. 301 The assessments by Füssel, pp. 48, 107–109 by and large remain valid for Erfurt. The sole exception seems to be the tanner Michael Schwartz. He gained a reputation as a sorcerer and was probably burned during the war. See esp. [Limprecht], Erfurtensia […] ad an. 1682, p. 192v and the [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 11, p. 194r; note also Krafft, [Erfurt Chronicle]. App. I. 19, p. 141r. In 1633, another reputed sorcerer and gunpowder thief escaped prison. Fritz, Cronica, p. 359; [Anon.], Erffurdtische Chronica. App. I. 14, pp. 626, 641 f.

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blame. In their view, both reactions expressed a lack of penitent patience and an illicit lust for vengeance. In 1640, Wandersleben urged his hard-tried parishioners to look beyond the immediate perpetrators and to consider “where such misery came from and arose”. Neither Papists nor belligerent rulers nor the Devil were to blame. The ultimate origin of the present sufferings was found in their own sinful lives. Long passages were needed in the attempt to make villagers view events in this manner.302 Countryside victims who wrote during the war often described their oppressors in predominantly, or even exclusively, diabolical terms.303 The agency of the Devil was of course, in theory, well compatible with the notion of a God-sent calamity. Theodicy stated that God allowed the Devil to correct sinners and try the faithful. In practice, the diabolical emphasis tended to preclude a penitential introspection.304 Both motives appear side by side in Fritz’ eclectic opus. Contemporaries who looked back on the war with the same temporal distance wrote in more strictly penitential terms. The lay commentaries written thirty or forty years after the war by those who experienced it in Erfurt read like devotionals. They seem to reflect a general rise of a more penitential view on the past hardships. The narration of personal experieces inside the family focused on the providential preservation. Family histories thereby liken the selective retrospective of Johann Melchior Förster, analysed above. 302 Wandersleben, pp. 6 and 178 f: “Deßgleichen sagten sie in guten tagen/vnd wenn sie ohne Creutz waren; Es könne jhnen ohne GOttes willen nicht ein Harr verletzet werden; So bald sie aber die geringste Kranckheit oder Beschwerung empfunden/oder sonst Schaden lidten/ so schrieben sie es flugs bösen Leuten zu der/oder die/ sagten sie/ hat mich gewiß Bezaubert/&c: Ich spreche schlecht/ es sey mir gemacht/ vnd angethan/&c:”. The fictive Socratic dialogue sums up some of the sentiments reigning in the war-torn villages and therefore deserves to be quoted at length: “Pr.[ediger] Mich dauret zwar deines Elendes von Herzen: Sintemahl ichs selber auch wohl erfahren. Du must aber drumb nicht also vngedultiger weise vber den schaden nur klagen, sondern vielmehr bedencken, woher solch elend kommen, vnd entstanden. Ba.[uer] Ey das ist leicht zuerachten, daß ichs niemand anders, als den diebischen Soldaten zu dancken habe. Der Teuffel wird sie ja auch einmal davor holen, was gilts. Ich hoffe noch wohl ein stück brot zu haben, wenn sie von den Raben gefressen werden. Pr. Ey behüt Gott, so Rachgierig mustu nicht seyn. Weistu nicht, daß ein Christ seine feinde lieben soll? Ba. Wie könte ich denn solchen Menschen günstig werden, die mich vmb all das meinige bracht, vnd noch dazu vexiret vnd geschlagen haben? Wolte ich sie doch lieber, wenns müglich were, alle auff einmal erwürgen. Pr. Meynestu, du habest rechte vrsach also zu zürnen, vnd zu fluchen? Gemahnet mich doch deiner eben wie des hundes, der in den stein beist, vnd nicht siehet, wer ihn geworffen hat: Also bistu auff die Soldaten erbittert, vnd siehest nicht dahin, wers ihnen erleubet vnd zu gelassen habe.” Ibid., p. 3 (my emphasis). 303 Good examples are found on p. 254 above; by Happe, Chronicon Thuringiae. App. I. 16, Vol. 1, pp. 33r, 42r, 327v–328r; Neumair v. Ramsla, Vom Krieg, pp. 987 f, 992; and in the ‘Lord’s Prayer spoken by Peasants against Soldiers’, an evergreen among the printed ballads. E. g. VD17 14:691779F (c.1630); 23:330803Q (1670); Rathjen, pp. 187 f. 304 This is even seen in chronicles kept by countryside pastors. Several pastors moved from a distanced, didactic call for penitence to a more aggressive and diabolical description of the enemy, once they themselves began to suffer from military violence. See Dieterich, pp. 78, 85, 95 and Emil Einert, with paraphrases of a chronicle kept by the pastor in Dornheim near Arnstadt.

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Melchior Adam Pastorius (1624–1702) is in this sense typical.305 He, too, had grown up during the war; as a seven-year-old he even lost his father at the hands of Swedish soldiers. His poetic portrait of their murder dates from the early 1690s. It is drawn in an abstract and pious style that does not focus on hatred. Pastorius presented this and other instances of military violence as the rage of Mars. He wrote his poems to inspire contempt for the world and make readers long for Heaven.306 A later autobiography, sent by letter across the Atlantic to two grandsons, returns to the murder in 1631 and gives more space to the injustices done to local Catholics. Yet Pastorius again embeds this event inside a narrative of life as pilgrimage, upheld by Providential preservation.307

Lay readings of the Bible and the chronicles The final element that influenced Fritz in his interpretation of the war was his reading of the Bible. The cook pointed to passages that presented war as a scourge. The Lord had, as prophesied, sent the Medes to overthrow Chaldea. Its capital, Babel, was but one in a long line of sinful towns destroyed by enemies and earthquakes.308 Their fates were highly relevant to Erfurt, Fritz claimed. Many of his fellow townsmen were prone to believe him. Scriptural plagues formed a past reality that remained very present in the town. The continued relevancy of Biblical history was bolstered by visible remnants. Bones of abnormal size were every so often uncovered in the clay pits around the town. Fritz depicted a bone found in 1648 and described it in conventional terms as the shinbone of an antediluvian giant (cf. Gen 6, 4).309 Despite the Scriptural promise to the contrary (Gen 8, 21–22), many homilies presented the destruction of the First World as a warning to inhabitants of the Second. Regional preachers drew direct parallels between the Flood and the heavy rainfalls in 1613. Fritz repeated the theme seventy years later, calling upon readers to repent within the one

305

The peculiarities in his religious outlook are discussed in App. I. 26. E. g. the poem which Pastorius added to the biography of his first wife, Magdalena (1607–1657): “Von Kindheit auff im Creütz und Nothstand must ich stecken, ∥ Mich thät der Kriegsschwall und manche Plünderung schrecken. ∥ […] In solcher Creützes Schuel lernt ich die Welt verachten. ∥ Und deren Eyttelkeit vonn innern Grund betrachten. ∥ Ich sprach: O spare da [on Judgement Day], mein Gott, einst doch die Peyn, ∥ O IESU an dir hangt mein gantze Lieb allein.” Pastorius, Vitae Cvrricvlvs. App. I. 26, pp. 114v–115r. 307 Idem, Lebenslauf (1699). App. I. 26, esp. pp. 105–107, examined in the appendix. 308 Cosmographia, p. 146r refers to Isaiah 13,17 and pp. 23v–24r draws on Rev 18, 10. More recently destroyed towns include Sidon (52r) and Antioch (p. 158). The sack of Rome (1527) was also portrayed as “eine grose Strafe Gottes”, Cronica, p. 171. The most recent examples (pp. 242r, 244r) were Plurs in Swiss Graubünden (1619) and towns swallowed up by the Aegean Sea in 1670 and 1673. 309 Ibid., p. 205r. 306

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hundred twenty years of respite (Gen 6, 3), before the likely end of the world in the year 1800.310 Sermons on less cataclysmic calamities preferably referred to Sodom and Gomorrah rather than the Flood. Fritz kept returning to Sodom in his works, describing its destruction more frequently than any other Biblical event, the Crucifixion apart. At the time when Fritz wrote, in the mid-1670s and in 1680–1681, he deemed his town to be in the situation described at the beginning of Genesis 19. He devoted the second in a series of three drawings about Sodom to the angels’ fatal visit to the town. The Trinity convened above the town, in the upper left corner of the picture, to decide “what to do with the Sodomites”.311 Earlier entries had warned that Erfurt likewise had also tried and exhausted the divine longsuffering, thus bringing the town to the brink of destruction. Fritz compiled prodigies to show local readers that their town would fall as Jerusalem had fallen; “their tongue and their doings are against the LORD […] they declare their sinne as Sodom, they hide it not.”312 The fear and fascination with the scale of destruction was nurtured yet further by the adventurous few who had travelled the Holy Land. The Dead Sea was a popular sight to see. Pilgrims like the soldier and Erfurt burgher Hieronymus Scheidt (1594–1651) described it as an enormous puddle of sulphur and tar. He and Fritz both paid tribute to Pliny the Elder’s famed note on the apple trees near the banks. The trees continued to bear beautiful fruit, yet once plucked, the apples would dissolve into smoking piles of ashes and dust.313 Fritz probably never read Scheidt’s best-selling travel account from 1615,314 but he certainly knew its author. He used one of the Dead Sea souvenirs brought back by the ‘Jerusalemmer’ to impress readers. The following anecdote is set in the year 1650, during important negotiations that were meant to put an end to Swedish

310 Fritz, Cronica. App. I. 24., p. 117: “Ver glichung diser Zeit, mit der Zeit der Sint fluht.” See Cosmographia, p. 98r, and Chapter Four, fn. 135. On the 1613-sermons see Venables, Shadow. Erfurt was not struck badly by the 1613-flood. 311 “Alhier Rathschlaget die H. Dreyfaldikeit, was mit den Sodomidern zu thun wehre”. Fritz, Cosmographia, p. 84r. 312 The quote was added as caption to a picture of a recent comet above Neustadt a. d. Weinstraße (28.3.1676), ibid., p. 243r: “Schreckliche Strafen sindt Vorhanden, Vnd [sie] machen solche garstige teuffelß köpffe dazu brauchen sie haar von den dieben an galgen Ziegen Haar Schaff wolle kuhe schwantzen Also daß man nicht weiß obs Menchsen oder teuffel sindt. Esaia. am 3.[8–9] den Jerusalem fellet dahin Erffurt fellet dahin, weil ihre Zunge Vnd ihre thun wider den Herren ist, […] ihr wesen hat sie kein heel Vnd ruhmen sich ihrer Sünde wie die zu Sodom, Vnd Ver bergen sie nicht.” 313 The anecdote was told thus in the caption added to the map, ibid., p. 85r. Scheidt gave a slightly less drastic account along with a “Beschreibung was jetziger Zeit das Todte Meer für ein Ansehen hat” in Scheidt, Reise nach Jerusalem, p. 62. 314 Fritz copied his map of the Dead Sea from the cartographer Jodocus Hondius (1563–1612) and elsewhere drew on accounts by the travellers Salomon Schweiger (1551–1622) and Georg Christoph von Neitschitz (c.1600–1637). Scheidt’s account was republished in 1617 and 1679; a Dutch translation was added to Bockenberch’s travel account.

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Figure Thirteen: Samuel Fritz: COSMOGRAPHIA p. 210r

occupation and the mounting political conflicts in town. The depicted kitchen lay in the home of a Catholic councillor. Fritz was present here, possibly at work, when a Catholic member of the Imperial delegation placed Scheidt’s “Sodom stone” on the stove and lit it. Fritz writes of a “hideous and odious stench” of sulphur and smoke, growing as thick as a finger and then an arm until it filled the kitchen. He meant the scenery to be as gripping as the Egyptian darkness seen on the following page. “Das Sodomidische Steinlein” almost had an equally fatal outcome: “The fire had to be forcibly extinguished; otherwise we would all have died and perished”.315

315

Cosmographia, p. 210r: “Anno 1650. Wahren die Herren Kaiserlichen in Erffurdt da hatte herr Hyeronimus Scheidt Ein Stücklein von einen [sic] Stein von Sodom Vnd Gomorra, da brachte eß der Secretarius Von Bamberg in die küche auff den hert Vnd Zindede daß mit einem licht an da fing eß an zu Rauchen so dick als ein Strohalm ganß schwartz Vnd gab gar einen heßlichen Vnd Abscheuwlicher gestanck wie licht schnuppen Vnd schweffel von sich, der Rauch war balt fingerß dicke, darauff so dick wie ein Arm, der schwartze Rauch nam die küche gar ein, daß kein Mensch bleiben kunde, Man muste

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The kitchen anecdote about “the stone from Sodom” is quite similar to the Devil’s appearance in the Queen’s chambers. Both stories were meant to convince readers that forces of cosmic proportions remained at work in their own town. Fritz not only showed readers Sodom, but he also enabled them to smell and sense its presence. His story substantiated a staple theme in homilies and it reinforced notions that continued to influence the legislation and jurisdiction in towns after the Reformation. Townsmen mindful of Sodom’s destruction shuddered at the discovery of ‘sodomite sins’ and favoured a very harsh prosecution.316 Such anecdotes show how a cook read the Bible and served it for his own audience. Fritz tried to impress readers with a menu of Scriptural relics, astronomical numbers, and delicate details. One could go into the particulars with them, yet this would not bring us closer to the readers’ reactions.317 At least one later Lutheran reader refused to believe a reported medieval wonder of the host.318 Apart from scepticism, there was also the risk that readers would treat his accounts as mere curiosities. The ethnographies and notes on anatomical deformities are particularly low on pious comments. Fritz probably sought to forestall accusations of the sinful curiositas (Neugierde) in the page that opened his cosmography. Among the prayers and Scriptural quotes that filled the frontispiece was Paul’s modest presentation of himself as a man knowing nothing “saue Jesus Christ, and him crucified” (1 Corinth 2, 2).319 Fritz here, and elsewhere, addressed his readers in a very direct manner. The words added to the picture of Jesus at Gethsemane are exemplary: “Behold, dear soul, how your Lord Christ cries blood […]. Oh do take

eß mit gewalt aus leschen, sonst hetten wier Alle missen Vmbkom[m]en Vnd Verderben, solcheß habe ich Samuel Fritz mit meinen Augen gesehen Vnd bezeuge eß mit Gott Vnd der Wahrheit, solcheß geschah in Herr Andreas Gumbrachts Hauß [Bauer, Ratsherren, p. 77, no. 196]. Die Sündflut ist kom[m]en da die welt gestanden 1 tausent 600 Vnd 56 jahr. Sodoma Vnd Gomorra Ist Verbrandt den Ersten Decembris da die welt gestanden, Ein tausen 900 Vnd 56 Jahr, Vnd hat Sem noch gelebet der mit in der Archon Noe gewesen.” One wonders whether the Bamberg delegate acted out of pure curiosity. He could, through this test, also have tried to sow doubt about the relic brought back by a Lutheran. Scheidt had, by any account, used such fiery stones himself as fuel during his sojourn at the Dead Sea, Scheidt, Reise nach Jerusalem, p. 63. [Anon.], Erffurdtische Chronica. App. I. 14, p. 714 gives further testimony to his local fame. 316 Upon the execution and burning of an adolescent Swedish soldier who had slept with a cow, Taute prayed: “Godt der allerhöchste [behüte] iegliches frommer Mutterkindt vohr solchen Vndt dergleichen Sodomitischen Sünden”. [Taute], Schwartz Voigteybuch. App. I. 17, p. 185 (26.6.1643). 317 Several entries relate to Fritz’ culinary profession, namely the notes on the Feeding of the Five Thousand at Lake Tiberias (Cosmographia, p. 35r), the jugs used at the wedding in Canaan (ibid., p. 97r), and the long entries on the rain of manna during the Exodus (ibid. pp. 90r–90v and the Cronica, p. 286). Note also Cosmographia, pp. 139r, 228r. 318 The Blutbrunnen-miracle from 1249 is described in the Cronica, pp. 278–280. “Vix credo”, added the eighteenth-century-reader Christian Reichart (1685–1775) in the margin of page 279: “I hardly believe [this]”. Fritz himself anticipated scepticism in the Cosmographia, p. 211r. 319 Fritz repeated this passage on the title page: “Jch hulde mich nicht dafür daß ich etwaß wüste vnter euch ohn Allein Jesuum Christum, den gecreutzigten. in der ersten Epistel an die Corintiher am andern C.[apitel] S[amuel ]F[ritz].” Cosmographia, pp. [0v]-1r.

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His tears, the beautiful, dear, little red rubies that flow from His eyes. Keep them and lock them up in the shrine of your heart”.320 Later owners added similar mottos to the town chronicles examined in this study. Most of these personal professions of faith were centred on Christ as the Redeemer.321 The same manuscript bookplates are found in devotionals, hymnals, and the like.322 Traces of this religious reading continue within the chronicles. A townsman, who after 1664 read an account written during the war, drew direct parallels between the past and the recent urban upheavals in his marginal notes. An older entry on the centennial in 1617 prompted him to pray for the continued preservation of the Word, now that his town had been subjected to Catholic rule.323 A few pages later, one finds further pious notes scribbled in a different handwriting with red ink. They, too, are devoted to the redemptive blood of Christ.324

Concluding remarks The survey of lay commitment thus ends on a very devout note. Quite a few contemporaries seem to have read chronicles in a venerable manner, applying reading habits that were generally used for devotionals. Chroniclers themselves presented events from a distinctly moral perspective. This trend was dominant, but not absolute; other owners approached the same volumes with less piety. Household calculations and infantile drawings are also found in the margins and on the empty pages.325 320 Ibid., p. 115r; see also p. 137r and the upper left corner of the frontispiece p. [0v]. The Gethsemane-quote is: “Liebe Se[e]le sehe zu wie dein herr Christus Blud weinet, Wie du mit deinen Sünden deinen Gott vnd Herren in Solch groß leiden gebracht hast Ach fasse doch seine trenen Auff, die Schönen köstlichen Rothen Rubinlein die ihn auß seinen Augen fliesen, Vnd hebe sie auff Vnd Schleiß sie in deineß hertzen Schrein, damit du dich täglich errinnerst [sic] deines Herren Christi Vn auß sprechlicher barnherzikeit [sic], Es ist so eine grose Vnauß sprechlige liebe, die kein Mensch auß grunden kan, Vnd auch nim[m]er mehr Ver dencken kan.” 321 The Erfurt chronicle described in App. I. 13 was owned by one “Hans dettmar” in 1668. On the first empty page in the codex, he added a long prayer, which begins as follows: “Also hatt Gott die Welt geliebet, das er seinen eingebohrenen sohn gab auff dz alle die an ihn glauhben […].” 322 See the general notes in Veit, Hausandacht, p. 205. A local example is the reverse of the jacket in the copy of the [Anon.], Christliche Vermahnungen (1644) stored in UBEDE, LA. 8° 00210 (03): “Johannes Henricus Anno Domini 1648 [… a Latin version of the following:] Daß Blut Jesu Christi des Sohns Gottes macht vnß rein von allen vnserer Sünden amen.” 323 [Anon.], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 15, pp. 9r, 34r: “der Almachtige gott erhalt Sein Wort nach [sic] ferner Amen.” The author of the Erfurt chronicle in App. I. 11 on page 357 added a transcript of the sentence passed by Pilate against Christ. 324 [Anon.], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 15, p. 35v: “das ∥ das ∥ das das ist die ∥ das das blut iesu Christi”. 325 E. g. Krafft, [Erfurt Chronicle]. App. I. 19, p. 0r. The religious readings stretched well into the eighteenth century. The town chronicle in App. I. 5 points to the break. The owner who bought it in 1728 still added a pious motto below his name, Johannes Zacharias Deichmann: “Symb: Per patienter onus, constanti pectore Spera, in coele fidei certa corona datur.” Another contemporary with a different handwriting treated the volume as a curiosity, giving it the following title: “Thüringische CHRONICA,

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Administrative records are also cause for caution against overly harmonious conclusions. They document varying levels of lay commitment. At times, notions of shame and honour constrained religious appeals.326 Several messages announced from the pulpit remained controversial throughout the war. We took a closer look at the obligation to attend prayer hours and the prohibition of vigilant action. Male villagers and young artisans objected to these requests with particular force. Parishioners thus clearly varied in their religious outlooks. The laymen who wrote chronicles mostly belong to the believers with a strong commitment to a rather conventional type of piety. Yet even they differed from their pastors. The prayers written by chroniclers during the war focused on protection rather than penitence. The penitential meditation on war was facilitated by a temporal and/ or physical distance to the violence. Here, town chroniclers helped pastors to forge a pious tradition, which grew particularly strong after the war. The analysis retraced the rise of several prominent narratives. The providential preservation of refugees and the divine judgement of soldiers were both highly modified short stories. The post-war tradition generally left little room for past controversies regarding commitment.327 The management of meaning proved as efficient as the one observed in Chapter Four. Family histories and funeral biographies concur with this pious look back on a past war. The chronicles hence over the long term shaped contemporaneous views. A more complete view of lay commitment during the war itself should include other sources. Better-preserved archives hold more information on the lay recourse to protective and harmful magic.328 The research would also benefit from a closer study of poems and archived correspondence. They both give more space to fears and lamentation.329 We return to some of these sources in the concluding chapter. The main limitation in the Erfurt material involves the irreligious or anticlerical commentators. The parishioners who stayed away from church are hardly tangible. Pastors only spoke in general terms about a grave, but rather faceless ‘practical atheism’.330 Authors elsewhere referred to an established set of provocadarinnen sonderlich viele curieuse Geschichte, so sich in der Stadt Erfurt, von Anno urbis conditae, biß ad annum 1624. zugetragen, mit Historischer Feder beschrieben worden”. 326 An indirect tension is observed by Lind, Syndens straf, esp. p. 350, 358–364. 327 Memorable exceptions are chronicles written as contributions to ongoing political struggles. Hans Krafft (App. I. 19) and Johann Daniel Ludwig (App. I. 20) described conflicts from the past to defame present opponents. Zacharias Hogel (App. I. 9) wrote in a similar vein. 328 E. g. Haude, p. 549. Erfurt pastors often complained about the consultancy of wise women and the widespread Teufelsbannereien, but they never gave details. Elsner, Delineation, pp. 62 f; Stenger, Grund-Feste, pp. 467 f; Wandersleben, pp. 96, 205–207, 210. 329 See p. 279. 330 E. g. Meyfart’s preface (dated Erfurt, August 3, 1638) to the sermon cycle by a fellow schoolmate, Liborius Thilo, Die Hand Gottes, p. A4r: “Sintemahl es nimmermehr bleibet bey den Gedancken/weil die Thoren nicht heimlich sprechen in jhrem Hertzen [see Ps 14, 1]/ sondern frey öffentlich bekennen/ mit jhren Wercken: Es ist kein GOtt.” See also Elsner, Delineation, p. 63r. On the imprecise concepts, see Wootton and Barth.

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tions stating that God either acted as a tyrant or that He did not exist (Ps 14, 1). Yet records from blasphemy trials are not preserved in the town and we therefore lack detailed information about the pre-meditated provocations. The elders and pastors questioned in 1648 variously tried to deny the presence of blasphemers in their village or to downplay the strong words as habitual cursing. Curses were, they stressed, uttered on the spur of moment, as part of the conflicts over war taxes.331 Elders likewise did admit that war burdens made some grow “fainthearted” (“kleinmütig”). Yet very few fellow villagers “had fallen into desperation” (“in Ver Zweiffelung gerathen”).332 Laymen addressed the issue with caution. Chroniclers wrote of desperation as a state of mind induced by the Devil. The ultimate outcome of these narratives was mostly suicide.333 Chroniclers thus associated religious doubts (Zweifel) with desperation about personal salvation (Verzweiflung). The outcome was a lapidary treatment that bars any nuanced insight into religious doubts and disbelief. Court records have elsewhere been used to reconstruct the processes that, during peace, led some believers to adopt an atheist point of view.334 Arthur Stögmann has contextualised related blasphemous statements as part of a local power struggle in a Lower Austrian community under Swedish occupation.335 Visitation records on Württemberg and the Nürnberg countryside seem promising; they may hold more reliable details on the character and extent of the taboo-like positions that manifested during the war.336 Participants in apologetical debates did not note any overall increase in atheism as a result of the recent war.337 The Erfurt chronicles addressed the doubts in two indirect ways. Both add a final nuance to their writings. On the one hand, the chroniclers helped to stigmatise the public expression of irreligiosity by associating it with divine judgement or

331 “Was Gottes Lästerung anbelanget, lauffet schwachheit mit Vnter, bevorab in diesen bösen leufften V. Zeiten, dar Zu den[n] das Mannigfältige geben Vnnd c[on]tribution grose Vrsach ist”. Büßleben (AEM A.VII.a.4.a), p. 182r. Note also Elxleben (A.VII.a.4.c, p. 247) and Walschleben (A.VII.a.4.f, p. 6r). 332 See the questions in Tit. XIII to the pastor, and the questions to elders in Tit. VI, 2 and Tit. XIII, 4. The quotes come from replies in Büßleben (AEM A.VII.a.4.a, pp. 181v–182r). Here elders also praised their pastor for taking care of these “betrübten Vnnd geistlich angefochtenen” (p. 176v). Local church authorities united to ward off central inquiry. 333 E. g. Krafft, [Erfurt Chronicle]. App. I. 19, p. 86r and the exceptionally thorough account in the earlier chronicle StAE 5/100-94, pp. 124v–127r (transcription of BEM Mscr. 8). Stenger tried to convince listeners that “tentatio” was as natural part of a Christian life as “oratio” and “meditatio”. He here seems to have argued in vain. Stenger, Tausend Zeuge, Sermon 33 on melancholy, p. 844. 334 Schwerhoff, pp. 213–225 and Loetz, esp. pp. 458–469. 335 Stögmann (on Großkrut). 336 Haude, pp. 552–555 and F. Fritz, Württembergische Pfarrer, Vol. 34, p. 174, with an unconvincing assessment. Bähr, Furcht puts the famed entry by a Swabian Bible-reader from Gerstetten (1647) in its textual context. 337 Barth, pp. 112 f.

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by praising the sentences passed on blasphemers.338 This helped to marginalise and limit the long-term effect of “Epicurean” stances. On the other hand, chroniclers were themselves constrained by the taboos that they upheld. The paradigm of pious patience exerted an influence beyond funeral homiletics. Chroniclers controlled themselves when they described their personal losses. “The dear Lord may do with me, as it pleases Him”, Krafft wrote in September 1626, when he lost one of his last, remaining children in an epidemic.339 Krafft here remained obedient but he also seems shocked, for he put down the pen, unable to add his usual prayers for a joyous resurrection.340 This reaction was not atypical for chroniclers. Grief and lamentation were better expressed in poems than in prose, and comfort was to be found in the prayer book. The writings of a few chroniclers outside of Erfurt do, inadvertently, reflect their struggles to convince themselves that God had acted justly. In the end, the doubtful authors came to the conclusion that divine Providence was beyond the comprehension of mankind.341 Thus, they ultimately all adopted the view expressed in the surviving fragment of Krafft’s front page: “Homo proponit & [Deus disponit]”. The sentence was inspired by Proverbs 16, 9. It reads like a motto for most chronicle accounts of war and suffering. “A mans heart deuiseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.”342

338 E. g. Chapter One, fn. 27 and Ludwig, Gedechtnüsswürdige Erzehlunge. App. I. 20. Ed. Schum, p. 164 (1665). 339 “Der libe gott schaffe es mit Mir, wie eß J[?] Jm gefelt Amen.” Krafft, [Erfurt Chronicle]. App. I. 19, p. 5v (4–5.9.1626). See Chapter Four, p. 112. 340 Krusenstjern, Seliges Sterben, p. 492. Cf. Trunz, p. 252. 341 See Krusenstjern, Tränen, pp. 166 f and Pfeifer, p. 35: “Es nimpt mich gros wunder nach mentschlicher rechnung, das Gott so ain frum mensch so erbermlich last um sein leben kumen”, a Lutheran artisan wrote. “[…] Ich will aber hiermitt Got nit gestraffet haben. Er wayst alle ding wol zumachen”. 342 Krafft, [Erfurt Chronicle]. App. I. 19, p. 0r: “All mein Tun un[d Lassen] Steht alles in G[ottes Hand] Dominica [Septuagesima] Homo proponit & [Deus disponit]”.

7. Conclusion The call for repentance dominated sermons on the war and suffused the chronicles. It was a grim message, but not a murderous one. After all, readers and listeners were not urged to hunt scapegoats or kill heretic neighbours. Rather, they were instructed to accept personal responsibility for their own sufferings. The call for repentance was the primary yet far from the only message. Other sentiments and figures of thought ran counter to penitent patience. Tensions identified in the analysis will be outlined in the first section of this chapter. This outline argues that a penitent view on the war became more accepted after the war itself ended. The second section reviews chronicles as a source to lay commitment. It discusses the limitations that have become evident in the course of the analysis and points to alternative sources. In the third section, the findings from Erfurt are compared to those of other studies on providential themes elsewhere in Latin Christianity after the reformations. This largely contrastive comparison points to factors of importance for future case studies. The fourth and final section reflects upon the benefits and drawbacks of focusing on personal experiences when examining change and continuity in religious beliefs.

Post-war commemoration It is generally agreed that the peace celebrations from 1648 to 1650 helped to shape the legacy of the war. Plays, processions, and thanksgiving sermons were held in towns and many villages throughout the Empire.1 Erfurt was one of the last towns to celebrate the peace. Local ceremonies were dominated by two, intertwined messages. Firstly, there was a great relief that the war had finally come to an end. Nowhere was the accompanying hope for a better future more evident than in the Sunday procession, which opened a week of Lutheran festivity. Children dressed in white with angel wings paraded through neighbourhoods that were adorned with flowers and green twigs: symbols that the town would blossom anew. Adult spectators were said to have cried tears of joy.2

1

G. Schmidt, Krieg, p. 119; Kaufmann, Dreißigjähriger Krieg, p. 138. The main study is Gantet, La paix. For more detailed and comparative remarks on the Erfurt celebrations see Ventzke, Das Ende, pp. 51–56. Freytag, Pictures (1862), pp. 190–193 describes a nearby rural procession. 2 Ventzke, Das Ende, pp. 53 f. Councillors here and elsewhere also called for an end to the constitutional strife. See Gantet, La paix, pp. 160 f and J. Hundorph, Encomium Erffurtinem Von newen übersehen (1651), p. A1r: “Die Einigkeit das wenig mehrt/ Zwytracht aber groß Gut verzehrt”.

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The second message was presented by the boy heading the group. He carried a standard on which a palm leaf was depicted as being handed down from the clouds. The divine hand also figured on the coin that was minted to commemorate the occasion.3 Peace was thus presented as a gift of divine mercy. Although the Lord had every reason to continue His “fiery wrath”, He instead held out the paternal, protective “hand of mercy”.4 In 1650, commentators looked forward with gratitude and, at the same time, began to look back on the war as a whole, in an attempt to make sense of it. Retrospectives focused on God’s other hand, holding the rod.5 The Heavenly Father had been forced to chastise Germany for thirty years in order to correct His sinful children. A father who spared the rod spoiled his child and put its salvation at stake.6 The rod was, to keep with the proverbs, the other side of the coin. The rod and the palm leaf both gave manifest proof of benevolent Providence. It was easier to accept such teachings now that the ordeal had been passed. Believers had been less prone to speak or write about salutary suffering during the war. The intense longing for peace had stifled the penitential meditation in some authors. By other victims, penitence had run up against the personal hatred of soldiers, preventing the former from taking hold. In theory, war figured as a homiletic aid. This ‘manifest call for repentance’ (tätige Bußprediger) should have helped preachers to convert stubborn sinners. Rural pastors and parishioners did, on certain occasions, admit that this was not always the case. The fear of soldiers frequently prevented churchgoers from concentrating on sermons and it thus ran counter to god-fearing devotion.7 Pastors remained mindful of these conflicting feelings. Sermons held after the war spoke of past losses and destruction so as to warn against a false sense of security. This reminded listeners to be grateful for peace and the providential protection during past hostilities.8 These events were commemorated so parishioners

3 The Council handed out eighteen hundred coins. See StAE 5/101-3, Vol. 1, p. 269; [Weinreich], Nachricht, pp. 240–242. 4 See the admonition read aloud in the weekly prayer hour, [Anon.], Allgemeine offentliche Beicht (1650), p. A6r: “Väterliche Schutzbare Gnadenhand” and p. A7r: “feurige Zorn”. 5 For earlier, fundamental remarks see Thilo, Die Hand Gottes, esp. p. A2v “Manus misericordiæ”, “Manus justitiæ”. 6 Stenger, Tausend Zeuge, p. 286. 7 Pastor Syring from Büßleben and the parish elders in Kleinrettbach each outlined such a contrast between the fear of soldiers and the fear of God. See the quote in Chapter Three, fn. 137 and AEM A.VII.a.32.e, p. 10v: “Wen[n] man Gottes wort gleich mit gebürend[er] an dacht an gehöret baldt kömpt ein schrecken dz man alleß Ver gisset [sic] Waß man gelernet hatt”. Chapter Six, fn. 169 explains the argumentative background which moved the authors to mention such experiences. 8 Examples from post-war sermons are found by Hahn, pp. 68–70, 74–79, 82–84 and Kaufmann, Dreißigjähriger Krieg, pp. 135 f. Funeral sermons made the same points, e. g. Niekus Moore, Patterned Lives, pp. 157–159, 201, 206. A second thanksgiving service was held ten years later in Erfurt, [Anon.], Christliche Anordnung (1660).

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would continue (or begin) to fear and confide in God. Pastors, however, were careful not to kindle hatred towards soldiers. Presenting the war as a thing of the past, a finished chapter, was in itself a statement. Claire Gantet has aptly spoken of the Lutheran peace celebrations as being marked by a “surge of religious conservatism”.9 Pastors preached against the hawks within their own ranks. At the turn of the year 1648–1649, one of these radical critics of peace, the local pastor Zacharias Hogel, made one further assault on the treaties signed in Westphalia.10 It was meant to reveal them as yet another ungodly compromise which could not last. Yet as the peace proved stable, Hogel and Johann Werner lost most of their remaining supporters. The prophesied lack of longevity ultimately came to fit his own line of thought. Its marginal position amongst German Lutherans is clear when compared to the groups where millenarian tenets held ground, like the Bohemian Brethren or the radical Calvinist circles.11 Attempts to establish militant opposition to the religious compromise failed in this part of the Empire. The fervour amongst local Lutherans remained focused on the triumphs that Gustavus Adolphus had celebrated in 1631–1632. One can likewise point to phases in the war where apocalyptic hopes gained a wide appeal.12 Yet one of the long-term outcomes was to discredit the millenarian and political brands of apocalyptic thinking. These three decades of war, instead, helped to advance teachings and customs that looked upon war as a temporal calamity. The ascendant influence of the theological reform movement is one legacy. Another is the increasingly frequent celebration of propitiatory services, like the day of prayer and repentance (Buß- und Bettag). These are all Lutheran trends. Local Catholics experienced the military occupation in a rather different manner. Here, we know most about the priests and monks. Monasteries were marked by a commemoration of war that focused on the brethren who professed faith in a martyr-like manner during heretic persecution.13 The well-known Papal opposition to the Westphalian treaties made it problematic to celebrate the peace on a large scale, particularly in the years

9

Gantet, Ambivalente Wahrnehmung, p. 368: “Der Westfälische Frieden war von einer Welle von religiösem Konservatismus begleitet”. 10 Hogel, Gamaliel (1649). 11 See Musow on the Duchy of Brieg in Silesia. 12 See Chapter Four, p. 105. 13 Notes on persecutions are found in the Benedictine necrologia (BAE Hs. Erf. 17 and 19) and the transcripts of oral tradition written down in monasteries around 1700. The Wernigerode Archives hold chronicle-like notes from the Augustinian nun convent (LHSAM, Rep. Cop. Amtsbücher Nr. 1512 h). The Ursuline sisters arrived in Erfurt in 1667. They described the war in the convent that they took over, based on accounts told by the last Magdalene nun, who died in 1685. See Bäseler and Berg, Erläuterungen, fn. 46, with titles and further notes. Falckenstein, Thüringische Chronicka, p. 1055 describes the annual Benedictine thanksgiving service in commemoration of their return to the Petersberg, 1635.

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immediately after the war.14 The peace is not named as a momentous event in official chronicles, like the Jesuit Historia Collegii.15 The extant sources on the Catholic minority offer but limited insights into lay opinions. On the whole, it has only been possible to point to a few parallel trends in, say, institutionalised propitiation. A more encompassing denominational comparison would have to refer to outside communities. Before we turn to these communities, the results obtained from the lay Lutheran chronicles are summarised.

The contributions of the chroniclers The chronicles written by Lutherans supplemented printed sermons in several ways. Sermons and chronicles both commented on the war in order to provide useful lessons for future generations. Chroniclers who wrote their entries soon after events took place sometimes limited themselves to record events. Such uncommented entries can be compared to the cannon-ball in the Barfüsserkirche; it was kept in the wall for decades to remind churchgoers of the bombardment of 1636.16 Chroniclers and churchmen likewise selected which bellicose events they thought should be remembered. Later generations relied on such textual and physical traces. The purely oral transmission does not seem to have played a separate role for much longer than half a century; histories written after 1700 are almost exclusively based on events already documented in writing.17 The next step in the management of meaning was to craft moral narratives on the basis of such recorded events. Coherent retrospectives were already written after the first peace-treaty was signed in Prague 1635. Lutherans there focused on the Popish assaults that followed the Edict of Restitution (1629) and praised the Swedish king who arrived in 1631 as a God-sent liberator.18 Catholic clergymen presented his entry in town as the beginning of their troubles, which came to a close with the Swedish retreat in 1635; these years were their period of trial and providential preservation.19 The conclusion of the second and more lasting peace in 1648 paved the way for even more coherent accounts. Chroniclers were now at liberty to bring together 14

A thorough comparison of denominational differences is Gantet, La paix. It is only mentioned there to explain local negotiations on the restitution of confiscated goods and buildings, [Anon.], Historia Collegii SJ Erfurti. App. I. 3, Vol. 2, p. 16v. 16 [Limprecht], Erfurtensia, p. 184r. 17 A rare exception (or invention?) is Chapter Six, fn. 260. For late oral transmissions, see fn. 13 (1686) and Pastorius, Lebenslauf. App. I. 27 (1699). 18 [Anon.], Erffurdtische Chronica. App. I. 14. 19 See App. I. 2 and 3. A typical passage is: [Anon.], Historia Collegii SJ Erfurti. App. I. 3, Vol. 2, p. 12r. Writing around 1644, a Jesuit there looked back on events in 1633, when his colleagues had been publicly mocked and then banned from town. “Accinctis porro itineri Patribus ita valedictu[m] à sectarijs: Jte, nihil efferte, et in æternu[m] ne redite, etc. Redierunt tamen (DEo duce) quibus vita superstes fuit, nontoto biennio post [in 1635].” 15

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all of the most edifying elements. This post-war coherency is nowhere more apparent than in the entries on prodigies. The detailed notes on the comet of 1618 and the bloody signs that appeared in 1636 make it easy to forget the much longer list of potentially portentous phenomena registered during the war.20 Post-war chroniclers filtered out signs that had proven insignificant and thus reduced the cognitive dissonance. The resultant post-war plausibility is known from outside sources.21 Authors writing in retrospective could even integrate problematic omens that had been shunned or questioned during the war. The swans in Gebesee, mentioned at the outset of the study, were now listed as a sign which had presaged Imperial armies arriving after 1636.22 Modern historians relate further long-lasting local stories concerning providential rescues.23 This present study has reconstructed the same process of information-gathering with regard to exempla of divine judgements.24 The trend is marked in the calendars and compilations written by the schoolmaster Andreas Limprecht; their formats were fit for broad consumption and use in school – he would merit a separate study.25 Family histories concur with this overall pious picture, regardless whether preachers retold them in funeral biographies or they were transmitted personally, by writers such as Krafft, Fritz, Ludolf, and Pastorius.26 In every one of these cases, authors focused on events that confirmed their own personal beliefs. They quite often spoke of manifest and common “experiences” (Erfahrungen).27 These “experiences” were presented as the proof needed to reinforce pre-existing convictions. Written reference to dream visions and inner feelings during prayer served the same objective. They turned inner religious experiences into a public experience and public fact.28 The notion that personal (religious) experience was to be placed on a different epistemological level than empirical evidence was not yet dominant.29 The authors under study did live through events which destabilised their convictions. For instance, their high hopes in the Swedish liberators who arrived in 20

See Table One on pp. 83 ff. Krusenstjern, Prodigienglaube, pp. 69–71. 22 This connection was established by a pastor, Andreas Toppius, Gebesee (1661), p. B1r. Another piece of local tradition-making is mentioned by Freytag, Pictures (1862), pp. 189 f. After 1648, the late pastor in nearby Döllstädt was presented as a prophet who had warned about the coming war. A similar tradition is noted by Trunz, pp. 44–46, 365. 23 Compare Chapter Six, p. 230 to the examples from a Württemberg diocese mentioned by Dieterich, pp. 47 f. 24 Chapter Six, p. 246. 25 See p. 240 above and App. I. 11. 26 On the latter, see App. I. 19, 23–24, 26–27. David Brand (App. I. 25) could add an idiosyncratic contrast, but his diary is only preserved in a few paraphrases. 27 See Chapter Five, p. 200; Chapter Six, fn.s 201, 227; and App. I. 27. 28 See Chapter Five, fn. 290 and the dreams described in Wölfel, Salomon Lentz, p. 223 and StAE 5/100-34, pp. 105 f (“[Michael] Silber Schlags traum”). 29 Shaw, p. 179 sums up British debates of the eighteenth century. 21

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late 1631 were soon disappointed. Although Gustavus Adolphus was held dear in most retrospectives, the combination of war-taxes, wheelbarrows, and soccage reduced local support for the Swedes.30 Yet chroniclers rarely commented on their own changes of personal opinion. Rather, they tended to omit the uncomfortable dissonant experiences. This discretion complicates the analysis of chronicles. The possible methodological responses are best dealt with after we have looked at alternative sources. Were beliefs in divine intervention then relevant to the laity? They were certainly not uncontested. Otto Ulbricht surmises that war was only viewed as a calamity by pastors and “perhaps […] the very pious” amongst the laity. “[T]here can be no doubt that for the majority of the population, the war was man-made and they knew who was to blame.”31 Ulbricht’s assessment is problematic in that it is based on a survey of texts written almost exclusively by pastors. There is evidence that some messages were profoundly unpopular. Agricultural exigencies made prayer hours very disagreeable to villagers.32 They denied the need for additional propitiation and preferred to speak of other divine interventions, such as the punishments of individual soldiers or armies. This placed God on their side and gratified those civilians who were plagued and humiliated by soldiers. The harsh reality of everyday life did have an impact on which beliefs civilians ascribed to. Yet it led very few to view events from an exclusively secular perspective. There is no obvious reason why one should limit the inquiry into divine intervention to just calamities.33 Even if they did not always appeal to beliefs in the manner preferred by their pastors, the lay chroniclers did write of interventions in a manner which suggests that they considered these beliefs to be relevant. Several observed differences between pastors and laymen may even be seen as signs of the lay adaptation of accessible and popular figures of thought. These findings from the Erfurt chronicles resemble the results of works on English broadsides and other cheap prints.34 Studies of blasphemy trials have likewise established that divine protection and judgement were topics of daily conversation.35 Lay chroniclers do, of course, otherwise differ much from those on trial for blasphemy. They can arguably be placed in Ulbricht’s category of the “very 30

Compare App. I. 7 to 8 and App. I. 12 to 13. Ulbricht, Experience, p. 121, continuing: “It is true that they were also aware of the explanation that it was a sign of “God’s wrath”, but in their everyday life such a theological explanation was much too general to be of any use – except perhaps for the very pious.” 32 On this point, I agree with Haude. 33 Ulbricht, Experience does consider the belief in providential rescue. On page 124 he portrays it as a distinctly pastoral view of the war, which led to “increased levels of orthodoxy”. This contributed to religious hostilities after the war. 34 E. g. Walsham, Providence, pp. 31 f and Watt, pp. 3 f, with revisions of earlier assessments that presented the belief in providences as an elitist creed. 35 Loetz, p. 529. 31

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pious”. Future research could assess the chroniclers’ impact on popular debates during this and other wars by looking at other sources on lay religiosity. The following section comments on some salient sources.

Chronicles and other sources on lay war-time religiosity The study showed that some laymen considered the reading and writing of chronicles as acts with a religious dimension. Many chroniclers did pay heed to Luther’s calls for an account that praised and pointed to God’s Hand in human history. Chronicles could help believers to process painful experiences and proceed from a fear of God to a love and trust in Him.36 Emotional processing is more evident in the psalms and prayers. These are preserved in prayer books and historical notes written soon after events occurred. Signs of more immediate reactions are, at times, found in the correspondence of officials plagued by soldiers. In 1622 and 1623, a rural official thus wrote numerous letters begging the Council for relief. His postscripts serve to underline his fears and worries. At one point, he tried to fortify himself with a medical drug. It, in turn, impaired his vision, making it difficult to see the paper that he was writing on.37 Chroniclers rarely chose to bring their readers so close to events and the act of writing. Plaints and lamentations are given more room in texts that make fewer claims to describing events in a strictly factual manner.38 Poets and novelists sometimes give more dialogical (though mostly very didactic)39 insights into conflicting emotions. Several authors wrote passages that criticised God for His stern or even tyrannical behaviour.40 Chroniclers lacked this poetic license. They have aptly been characterised as “advocates of the natural”, God-given “order”, who tried to

36

See p. 34 on the emotional norms. Letter to the Stadtvogt Georg Lindener, signed Sömmerda, “Gott mitt Vnß. den 11 Janu:[ar] 1623 Rudolp[h] Colman […] mpp. ∥ Es konnte nicht Schaden das sich E. E. [Rat] weg[en] dem H. Obrist. ahnerbotener Forderung Vnd erinnerung bedancket. ∥ Ich bin kraften zimblichen auff ∥ habe gestern artzneÿ gebrachten. ∥ Sehe ich nicht ∥ durch das ∥ pappier […]”, StAE 1-0 A/IV-7, p. 117v. A similar postscript is added to another letter to Lindener, dated December 10, 1623, p. 297r: “R[udolph] Colmann mpp […]∥ Ich bin Zimblich auff Vnd gehe Vber mein Vermügen den[n] Ich habe keine Ruhe für den leütten Vndt nichts mich zu getrosten, alß furcht Vndt Schrecken”. Quotes from similar letters are found by E. Wagner, Einlagerung, esp. pp. 24–28 and Holzem, Konfessionskampf. 38 See Chapter Two, fn. 130. 39 Bähr, Theodizee, pp. 12 f. 40 Clemen, pp. 34–36, analysing Zacharias Capellen: Sehnliche Trauerklage […]. Gera 1640 and Haude, p. 541 on Tobias Clausnicer: Friedens-Traum […]. Leipzig 1645. See further Schoenfeldt, Chapter 4 (on George Herbert); Trepp, pp. 51 f (on Paul Gerhardt and Johann Rist); and Breuer, Grimmelshausenhandbuch, pp. 52 f, 61 f on the Jupiter-episode in the Simplicissimus Teutsch (Third Book, Chapter 3–6). 37

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make moral sense out of the chaotic war.41 Such authors could, at the most, write about accusations against God as curses spoken by those of little faith. Irreverent speech was reported more elaborately and accurately in records on blasphemy trials.42 People who uttered such challenges risked placing themselves outside of respectable society. These curses may well have been widespread during war, but they were marginalised and thus seem to have left little traceable impact over the generations.43 Thus, writing a chronicle was only one of several ways of commenting on the war. From a statistical point of view, it was mostly a pursuit for older men. The chroniclers encountered here were either Catholic clerics or well-established, married Lutheran householders. The young and more violence-prone males were less willing to conform to patient, penitent messages.44 One should consider differences in gender along with age and class. The examined authors rarely went into depth regarding female opinions; women mainly appear as passive victims.45 There are some exceptions. Two authors did describe how a widow, humiliated in a sexual assault, brought charges against her assailant at the court-martial. The notes show a plaintiff who made use of gendered stereotypes and appealed to beliefs about God as a protector of widows and orphans. The Lord would, she warned officers, punish judges who failed to bring about justice.46 These legal records point to two further dimensions that each deserve a final note, namely the face-to-face interaction and the reactions of military authorities. A separate study would be needed to assess whether, first of all, the military authorities were prone to view war and occupation as events unfolding beneath the eyes of the Lord, when, secondly, they referred to such beliefs, and, thirdly, what practical implications this had. “Field-prophets” such as Johann Werner and his Catholic counter-parts here merit further study.47 Their presence in war camps indicates that the belief in divine intervention was important to generals and higher-ranking decision-makers, if not for the mercenary rank-and-file.48 41 Merzhäuser, Das “illiterate” Ich, passage : “Statthalter der natürlichen Ordnung”. Merzhäuser’s balanced remarks on contemporary chronicle-writing are remarkable inasmuch as he elsewhere diagnosed a major shift towards the more modern in another, more literary text. Merzhäuser, Satyrische Selbstbehauptung, esp. Chapter 3. 42 And in some visitation records; see p. 270. 43 Records on asylum patients may give similar insight into problematic reactions amongst the most traumatised. Vanja, pp. 217, 221 mentions eighteenth-century cases from Hessian hospitals. Note also Gangl, p. 400. 44 Note here H. R. Schmidt, Dorf und Religion, p. 352. 45 Note the nun chronicles analysed by Kormann and Woodford, chapters 4–5. Remarks on the very rare lay female authors are found by Mortimer, pp. 63–67 and Krusenstjern, Schreibende Frauen. 46 [Taute], Schwartz Voigteybuch. App. I. 17, pp. 23–26; [Anon.], [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 15, pp. 45v–46r. 47 Dominic of Jesus Mary, OCD (1599–1630) is one well-examined figure. See Chaline; T. Roper, and more generally, Chapter One, fn. 35. 48 On the rank and file see Kaiser/Kroll, Militär und Religiosität; Duhr, Chapter 6. The New Model Army remains rather exceptional.

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Other cases and other calamities Denis Crouzet opens his seminal study of the French wars of religion with an interesting comparison of German and French prognostics that were printed in the four decades before and after the year 1500. German publications frequently foretold the imminent end of days and the reform of the Church. Only the first of these two messages was adopted by the French translators and astrologers.49 The shared apocalyptic imagery could, in other words, embark on different paths within different settings.50 This argument has a wider relevance, beyond the particular case. Historians are only gradually beginning to reconstruct such peculiar trends in European regions and explore their ties to political conflicts.51 The study of intellectual transfer and adaptations is a major task for future research.52 Comparison between individual cases is often facilitated by typologies. The following section therefore outlines alternative causations that ran counter to a repentant view of calamities in Erfurt and elsewhere. Here it is worthwhile to look beyond the military conflicts. During the decades of war, the town was struck by further catastrophes. Starvation and epidemics each took heavy tolls; they, too, were presented as calamities. The homiletic tradition surrounding 2 Samuel 24, 13–14 tried to explain why the sinful King David opted for epidemics when given the choice between the three scourges.53 Lutherans often argued that war was the most devastating.54 The religious reactions to the three catastrophes certainly did differ. Erfurt chroniclers were prone to accept epidemics as a castigation of their sins. Townsmen neither held heretics responsible for the god-sent calamity, nor did they search for plague spreaders any longer.55 What was left was the fear of contagion. Pastors viewed it as an understandable, but ultimately impious lack of faith.56 49 Crouzet, pp. 106–110: De l’astrologie judiciaire en Allemagne et en France. Des problèmes différents. 50 Crouzet’s outline on France is refined by Racaut. 51 Niccoli treats contemporary Italian debates. A brief tour-de-force on French, English, Italian, and German trends is Daston/Park, pp. 177–190. Note also Subrahmanyam. 52 Schenda, Monstrum von Ravenna can still be recommended. See Minois on the political position of sceptics in England and France, and Walsham, Providence, pp. 70–75 on the circulation of compendia. 53 2 Sam 24, 13: “So Gad came to Dauid, and told him, and said vnto him, Shall seuen yeeres of famine come vnto thee in thy land ? or wilt thou flee three moneths before thine enemies, while they pursue thee ? or that there be three dayes pestilence in thy land ? Now aduise, and see what answere J shall returne to him that sent me.” 54 One point of reference was Luther, Tischreden, Vol. 5, p. 566, no. 6268. Liborius Thilo (1594– 1675) admitted that this was a difficult claim. He had lived through all three plagues in the 1630s and could not single out one as “die gröste vnd ärgste”. They are all “arg vnd böse gnug/ vnd [es besteht] keine grosse wahl oder kiehr vnter denselben.” Thilo, p. G3v. Demographers generally deem epidemics to have been the most deadly. 55 Compare Calvi, pp. 181–196; Naphy; and the earlier cases from Erfurt (1349, 1529) mentioned above, on p. 117. Kreter, p. 277 notes the same change in Hannover chronicles. 56 K.-H. Arndt, Stadt, pp. 22–26 (based on ordinances).

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War was second on this scale of acceptance. Local Lutherans were quite susceptible to conspiracy theories. Hatred against Jesuits and Catholic ‘shavelings’ did escalate in some years.57 However, the town generally differs from the communities examined by Crouzet. Prophets and preachers mainly called for repentance, not for murder.58 Councillors were responsive to these calls, especially when their town was threatened by epidemics or a military blockade. The commissions in 1636 and 1641 are notable. Yet the war led to none of the mass revivals known from England.59 Quite a few civilians blamed their misery on soldiers – with good reason, a modern observer might add. Their pastors viewed things differently, seeing this as yet another unrepentant search for scapegoats. The conflict between the internalisation of guilt and the aggression against those held responsible was strongest amongst those who were starving. Accusations were rampant in famine years (1638–1639) and during periods of high prices (1621–1623). “Usurer” and “grain weevil” were a few common invectives.60 It was then not a far step to the rumours described in research on Rome.61 Inhabitants there envisioned pacts between the Devil and those in power, and they rejected official references to divine trials. Villagers near Erfurt blamed droughts on witches.62 Chroniclers thus vary in their choice of either blaming themselves and sinners in general or accusing a few culprits instead. Townsmen were aware of the political dimension inherent to this allocation of guilt.63 Contemporaries openly challenged the religious references which they viewed as blatant manipulation. The fast days decreed by the Long Parliament is a classic example. Royalist opponents rejected services that depicted their defeats as willed by God.64 The few rejections documented in the research on the Thirty Years War were due to

57

See App. I. 3 on the years 1618, 1628, and 1642. Compare p. 117 to Crouzet, Volume 1, Chapters III.2, III.4. 59 E. g. Underdown on Dorset following the great fire of 1613. 60 On inflation, see Rosseaux, pp. 285–297 and esp. 304 f. On famine: [Anon.], Chronica Thvringiaca. App. I. 8, p. 393 (1639): “Dieße Thewrung ist Muthwilligk Vervrsachet worden, Von den Reichen Korn Würmer vnd Wipper”; [Anon.], Erffurdtische Chronica. App. I. 14, p. 695 (1635): “wucherer boden”; Krafft, [Erfurt Chronicle]. App. I. 19, pp. 76r–76v (1639): “sehe Waß die leütige geitz duht, Wohe Bleibet die Brüter liche lieb […] die Gantze Welt ist Voller Diebe”. On the provisions in Erfurt, see Gaenschalz, esp. pp. 22–27, 35–38 and Oehmig, Getreide- und Brotversorgung, pp. 219–223. The advantages described by Oehmig were fully lost during the blockade in 1637–1638. The Council had already been forced to sell its entire grain stocks in 1625. Popular grievances were centred on the local grain traders and their profiteering. 61 Delumeau, Vie économique, pp. 613 ff; V. Reinhardt, Überleben, pp. 41 f, 50–53, 59–61; see also Behringer, Krise, p. 142. 62 Albrecht-Birkner, Reformation des Lebens, pp. 393–395. See also ibid., pp. 236, 250 and the important nuances in Füssel, Hexenverfolgungen, p. 222. 63 E. g. Roeck, Stadt, pp. 455–460, 763, and esp. 625. 64 Durston, p. 139. H. R. Schmidt, Dorf, pp. 259 f outlines a similar alienation in the wake of the Swiss Peasant War (1653). 58

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debates within princely and theological circles.65 This rarely resulted in a wholesale criticism. Restoration England remains rather exceptional in seventeenthcentury Europe.66 The scientific criticism of prodigies in Restoration England took on institutionalised forms. Empirical surveys mostly served to delegitimise religious opposition. This was not the case with the comparable inquiries in and around Erfurt. The otherwise heterodox physician Rehefeld stepped in to support the call for repentance in 1636. He had acted in the same manner in 1625–1626 and 1634–1635 during epidemics. The contemporaneous Tuscan tensions between the Church and the Health Magistracy were foreign to Erfurt. Here, Faith and Reason did not clash as they did in Montelupo.67 The only wider, institutionalised criticism during the Thirty Years War came from Lutheran consistories and it focused on lay prophets. Religious interpretations were thus challenged for political reasons; not because they were, per se, vulnerable to empirical tests. The differing responses to the bloody prodigies in 1636 and 1641 are a classic example of the ad-hoc causation. In the bi-denominational town of Erfurt, the greatest challenge to a repentant presentation of prodigies lay in curiosity and the search for individual culprits. A child born with monstrous deformities could either be viewed as an outcome of parental sins or be treated as an attraction at a market fair. That other prodigies were not trivialised to the same degree may be due to the rather provincial character of the publishing scene. The Capital of Thuringia (Haubt des Thüringer Landes) did house a few publishers who sought to strike a profit from prodigies, but their cheap prints do not amount to a grub street-milieu; moreover, the town lacked set stages. Erfurt was not home to the sort of publishers and playwrights who, in metropolises like London, appropriated pious motifs at a breath-taking speed.68 Even England does not seem to qualify as a case of rapid decline in the overall perception of divine interventions. The public criticism of providential argumentation in the first decades after 1660 was followed by striking resurgences. After 1688, Anglican authors united with non-conformists to restore the respect towards calamities and prodigies.69 As for long-term trends, it is important to 65 Weber, Gepeckh reports exchanges between the prince-bishop of Freising and the duke of Bavaria, pp. 125 f (1633) and esp. p. 294 (1649). 66 See Burns on this and the following. 67 According to Cipolla; compare p. 122 in this study. 68 Lake/Questier outline such exchanges between preachers, playwrights, and pamphleteers. In Erfurt, Jesuit pupils staged a couple of plays every decades; puppeteers and wandering troupes would, at rare intervals, sojourn in town. They performed pieces on apocalyptic themes like the Destruction of Jerusalem (1590) or the Parable of the Ten Virgins (1644). Brück, Erfurter Theatertradition, p. 6; Overmann, Aus Erfurts alter Zeit, p. 80; Königshof, passim; and esp. [Anon.], Historia Collegii SJ Erfurti. App. I. 3, Vol. 1, pp. 92 f (1612), 109 (1627), 113 (1628); Vol. 2, pp. 13v (1640), 15r–15v (1646), 28v–29r (1653). 69 Shaw, pp. 125 ff; Williamson outlines further stages in the see-saw process.

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distinguish between the different forms of divine intervention. Ludolf, Jr. kept calamities, but did away with prodigies.70 ‘Decline’ often means that a belief in one particular type of divine intervention was no longer endorsed by authorised experts in the religious mainstream. This made the belief in this intervention a sectarian marker or a sign of the difference between popular piety and a more enlightened clergy.71 It is therefore problematic to present the Thirty Years War as the “major turning point” towards an irreversibly more secular age.72 Seventeenth-century believers plagued by war did “search for order” (Rabb), yet this did not bring most of them to break with established teachings. Traditional messages provided a framework which gave a sense of meaning to the upheavals. Significant parts of this tradition had, after all, been developed to explain why God had allowed enemy troops to plunder the religious centres, Jerusalem (586 B. C.) and Rome (410 A. C.).73 During the later half of the century, apocalyptic comments retained their grip on believers during wars, despite the increasing political wariness. They were used a ‘light in the darkness’ that gave a coherence to chaos by depicting it as the last painful stage to a universal liberation.74 The phenomenological appeal explains why a number of intellectually or politically controversial beliefs regained in popularity during modern wars.75

Implications for further research This shifts the burden of evidence on those who argue for broad changes on a cultural level. It may well be necessary to abandon the earlier attempts to tie the Thirty Years to classic themes in the history of ideas. It is difficult to see how it contributed to the rise of individualism, atheism, and sensuality.76 Yet it would be equally mistaken to take the opposite extreme and argue that nothing 70 See the epilogue to Chapter Four. The trial-by-ordeal had, after all, already been subjected to criticism at the Lateran Council of 1215. Ziegler, with nuances on p. 171. Some Medievalists argue that the presentation of catastrophes as calamities first rose to societal prominence after the thirteenth century onwards. Both Rohr and Schwerhoff, pp. 153 f note a surge in the German-speaking lands during the fourteenth and esp. fifteenth centuries. 71 Gestrich is one of many studies on Catholic lands during the Enlightened reforms. 72 Rabb, Struggle for Stability, p. 119. 73 Braulik, Deuteronomium, esp. pp. 135 f. A good commentary on De civitate Dei (413–426) and its contexts is Brown, Chapters 25 to 27, esp. pp. 288 f, 304. 74 Compare page 105 above to the apocalyptic outlook added to Krafft, [Erfurt chronicle]. App. I. 15, pp. 193r–195r in the late seventeenth century by an anonymous reader. Göransson, pp. 268 f is one of many comments on Comenius’ Lux in Tenebris (1657). 75 Ample references are found in the review essay by Holzem, Krieg und Christentum, pp. 22–30. For the late nineteenth and the early twentieth century see also Narskij; Kröhn, pp. 291–296. 76 Cf. Holl, pp. 314 f. For signs of continuity see Leube, pp. 148, 155 f; Clemen, p. 23; and Roeck, Stadt, p. 779.

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changed. This study uncovered numerous tensions caused mainly by the practical consequences derived from the teachings. Prayer hour attendance was one such problem; ‘impatient’ vigilantism another. These issues led to considerable shortterm pressure and debates about a lack of commitment. Conducting a study at a local level, made it possible to show how commentators responded to the discontent. Chroniclers and preachers helped each other to marginalise sharp critics. They together forged a pious tradition about the war that was in harmony with the reigning beliefs. This case study has employed some methods that could be fruitful for future research. Studying a series of chronicles from the same community has helped to outline how acceptance of individual tenets varied and mostly grew over the course of time. Post-war retrospectives circumvented many earlier tensions. This serial analysis may help to look at beliefs in a more dynamic manner, as part of individual lifecycles rather than as signs of an epoch. Towards the end of their lives, most believers were ready to see war-time sufferings, if not as a castigation of their sins then at least as a trial of faith. This made it possible for them to endow a series of painful experiences with positive value.77 It would, in practical terms, therefore be useful to include three factors when assessing how believers wrote about perceived divine intervention. One should note when a given statement was written: during or after the war? A second issue is the environment. Authors who wrote with a temporal or a physical distance to the military violence were better able to reflect upon it in a more detached, penitential manner. Chroniclers in most villages and in towns less fortified than Erfurt suffered more during the war. Some Lutheran authors, including quite a few pastors, shifted from a penitential tenor to an entreating or aggressive tone once they themselves began to suffer direct violence. They then wrote about soldiers exclusively as devils and not as agents effecting a well-deserved correction.78 The third element is the status of a given tenet. A number of apocalyptic motifs were more controversial than household terms like castigation (Züchtigung) and calamity (Landstrafe). Figures like Zacharias Hogel and Esaias Stiefel each came under mounting pressure to recant. They were subjected to a greater social disagreement. Their responses each give insights into the process that enables individuals to uphold strong convictions.79 The cognitive dissonance theory offers one way to analyse this interplay between individuals and their surroundings. It allows us to study an often unspectacular result – namely the continuity of strong beliefs – as the outcome of a dynamic process. This dynamic element is often lacking in studies that operate with overly

77 78 79

Compare Festinger, A theory of cognitive dissonance, Chapter 4–5. See p. 263. See Chapter One, fn. 53 and Chapter Five, pp. 200 f. Compare Göransson, p. 268 f on Comenius.

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homogenous categories and either treat beliefs in terms of one integral mentality or as a dichotomy between elite and popular beliefs. Researchers examining attitude change often have to reflect on their own opinions about the subject under study. It is legitimate to take a critical stance towards the beliefs that seem grim to the modern Western mind. This stance can help to gain the necessary analytical distance.80 This stance becomes problematic once it is coupled with sympathy towards the authors under study. It is then easy to overestimate an authors’ modernity and inadvertently make them seem more like us. Some researchers have thus presented sceptical remarks about specific wonders or individual refusals to take on blame as signs of an overall departure from the underlying tenets.81 It is paramount to distinguish between situational scepticism and fundamental rejection. The analysis of chronicles must also keep the selective mention of experiences in mind. Chronicles neither give direct, unmediated insights into the horrors of war, nor do they fully show how their authors experienced them. The experiences mentioned by chroniclers had been thought through and processed so as to match conventions and often also bolster an argument. Studies examining such texts as ego-documents would benefit from closer consideration of the underlying normative notions. Andreas Bähr explores the norms linking fear to faith. Recent studies on the graphic series by masters like Callot may also be of use.82 The element of experience does deserve a place in a history of beliefs and strong convictions, yet it probably can not claim supremacy. The main changes observed in this study – the rise of the reform movement and the decline of apocalyptic policy-making – are due to debates that can be examined with the same methods used to study political and intellectual history. Participants in these debates all appealed to current experiences, but in highly differing manners. Cognition and material experiences were moulded so as to fit convictions, not vice-versa. Chroniclers and diarists thus tried to impress readers through their tenacity. In 1680, we find the seventy-year-old chronicler Samuel Fritz engaging in apocalyptic calculations and writing of comets as prodigies well after both areas had been challenged by trend-setting intellectuals. Fritz defended lessons he had learnt in his childhood and adolescence. The steadfast impression is both moving and somewhat misleading. Townsmen who included autobiographical elements mostly omitted their own moments of doubt, converts excluded.83 They wanted to be remembered as devout believers. The more anonymous chroniclers sought to

80 A perceptive, if one-sided study of modern trends is M. J. Lerner, The belief in a just world. Belzen rightly warns against treating beliefs in pathological terms. 81 Pfeifer, p. 35; Mortimer, pp. 75 f; and the detailed study by L. Weber, Gepeckh, pp. 380–384, 522, 601–603. 82 Choné and Knauer, esp. pp. 9–11, 30. 83 Melchior Adam Pastorius reframed his conversion (1649/1650) as the outcome of a long and earnest, organic process; see App. I. 26.

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instruct readers. Thus, all Erfurt authors wove religious messages into their texts on the war. They appear as Christians who struggled but ultimately managed to uphold their beliefs during troubling times. It may be easier to respect their common undertaking if we remain mindful of the cultural distance, which separates these authors from our own views. We can then remember them not only for the bigotry but also for this endeavour to hold on to their beliefs.

List of illustrations Where no other mention is made, the illustration is found on the front page. Figure One. [Anon.]: Newe Zeitung Vom Thyringischen Schwanen Zug- und Flug […]. [S.l] 1635. Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel: 243.7 Quod. (19) Figure Two. Samuel Fritz: COSMOGRAPHIA p. 6v–7r. Stadtarchiv Erfurt: 5/100–43 Figure Three. Samuel Fritz: COSMOGRAPHIA p. 200r Figure Four. Wolfgang Hildebrand: Zehen Jährig Prognosticon […]. [S.l.] 1628. HAB: Ne Kapsel 2 (13) Figure Five. Henning Dedekind: Warhafftiger Bericht/ Von einer […] Mißgeburt […]. Erfurt 1621. Forschungsbibliothek Gotha, Hist 8° 01279–1282 (19) Figure Six. Samuel Fritz: CRONICA ERPHORDIANA p. 334. StAE 5/100–42 Figure Seven. Samuel Fritz: CRONICA ERPHORDIANA p. 120 Figure Eight. Zacharias Hogel: […] THEOLAUS ΝΟΥΘΕΤΟΥΜΕΝΟΣ […]. Erfurt 1645 pp. 74 f. HAB: 190.9 Theol. (2) Figure Nine. Martin Wandersleben: Ein Christlich Gespräch […]. [Erfurt] 1640. FB Gotha, Theol 8° 00708/02 Figure Ten. [Hermann Taute]: Schwartz Voigteybuch […] fol. 161. Landeshauptarchiv Sachsen-Anhalt, Abteilung Magdeburg, A 37b I Kurmainzische Regierung (Hofrat) zu Mainz, Akten betr. Stadt und Gebiet Erfurt, Grafschaft Gleichen und Herrschaft Kranichfeld, II IX Nr. 32 Figure Eleven. [Hiob Ludolf]: Allgemeine Schau-Bühne der Welt […]. Vol. 1, Frankfurt a. M. 1699, copper no. XXIII, unpaginated. HAB: Ge 2o 4 (1) Figure Twelve. Samuel Fritz: CRONICA ERPHORDIANA p. 339 Figure Thirteen. Samuel Fritz: COSMOGRAPHIA p. 210r

Transcription, translation, and abbreviation Transcription: I have decided not to standardise the orthography. Line changes are only indicated in poems and songs. The contemporaneous diacritics used to form the umlaut are used in the titles of prints unknown to the research. Translations: I have likewise striven to be faithful to the contemporary usage of religious terms. Biblical quotes are therefore given in the 1545-edition of Luther’s translation. The original 1611-edition of the King James’ Version is used outside the footnotes. Special notice is made when the two translations differ significantly. The persons under study used very polemic terms. I try to make this clear through corresponding English terms. Terms such as shavelings, Papist, and Mahomet, of course, do not reflect my own opinion. Toponyms: Names of regions are written in English. Principalities, towns and villages with a major past or present German-speaking community are named in the present German version. For instance, Strasbourg appears as Straßburg. Again, this does not reflect any personal political opinion; it is only meant to make it easier for German readers to consult the study. The saint-prefix indicates the state of a given local church, like the Catholic St. Lorenzkirche and the Lutheran Thomaskirche. Dates: Lutherans were reluctant to accept the calendar reform of Pope Gregory XIII. They mostly continued to date events according to the Julian calendar. I have not altered their usage. I have added the date of the new, Gregorian calendar to a few key events; the Julian date is added to entries written by local Catholics. Abbreviations: The general point of reference is the second revised edition of Siegfried M. Schwertner: International glossary of abbreviations for theology and related subjects. Berlin, New York, 1992. Biblical books are abbreviated according to the Journal of biblical literature (1971; see Schwertner, p. XXXI). Additional abbreviations are: AAGPS AEM BAE BEM BV CEHi ECHA FBG GBV HAB JVHAV

Allgemeines Archiv für die Geschichtskunde des Preußischen Staates Archiv des Evangelischen Ministeriums Bistumsarchiv Erfurt Bibliothek des Evangelischen Ministeriums Bibliotheksverbund Bayern, Verbundkatalog Central European History Estonian Cultural History Archives, Dorpat (Tartu) Forschungsbibliothek Gotha Gemeinsamer Bibliotheksverbund. Common Library Network GBV. The Union Catalogue is available at Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel Jahrbuch des Vereins für Heimatkunde im Amtsbezirk Vieselbach

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LHASA, MD Landeshauptarchiv Sachsen-Anhalt, Abteilung Magdeburg. (Most of the material used here is located in Wernigerode) LVVA Latvijas Valsts vēstures arhīvs, Riga (Latvia State Historical Archives) MVGAE Mitteilungen des Vereins für die Geschichte und Altertumskunde von Erfurt NLHH Niedersächsisches Landesarchiv, Hauptstaatsarchiv Hannover RA Riksarkivet, Stockholm (Royal Archives) SLUB Sächsische Landesbibliothek – Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden SRBE Stadt- und Regionalbibliothek Erfurt StAE Stadtarchiv Erfurt SUBG Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen ThHStAW Thüringisches Hauptstaatsarchiv Weimar ThULB Thüringer Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek, Jena UBEDE Universitätsbibliothek Erfurt. Dep. Erf. UUB Uppsala Universitetsbibliotek VD16 Verzeichnis des deutschsprachigen Schrifftums des 16. Jahrhunderts. Catalogue available at: VD17 Verzeichnis des deutschsprachigen Schrifftums des 17. Jahrhunderts. Catalogue available at: VSFG.BS Veröffentlichungen der Schwäbischen Forschungsgemeinschaft, Reihe 1, Studien zur Geschichte des bayerischen Schwaben

Appendix: Erfurt chronicles and journals This appendix describes works written by men who experienced the Thirty Years War in Erfurt. Some of the following works have not been commented on before. Others are included in the inventories by Karl Herrmann (1863) and Friedhelm Tromm (2006). I have chosen not to describe the codices in an exhaustive manner. The entries merely serve to identify what sections a given author wrote, at which point in time. The commentary first develops these points in the necessary detail. It then notes the most salient features in the description of the war. The present study examines the impact of experience on religious beliefs. The two main inclusion criteria are consequently that authors experienced at least a part of the war in Erfurt or its surrounding countryside, and that they wrote about the war in a historical form, with a focus on this region. This excludes authors like the pastor Adolar Erich (1560–1634), whose opus magnum ended with the year 1600 (Herrmann pp. 119 f and 486, nos. 66, 293). Researchers interested in a full picture of the local historiography during these decades must consult additional works such as the sixteenth-century chronicle copied in 1625 (Herrmann pp. 485 f, no. 284). I also excluded Andreas Limprecht (d.1684), who lived through the latter part of the war. His works (listed in the bibliography) described the war based exclusively on earlier chronicles and archival records. Chapter Two explained why the two official journals (App. I. 1 and 17) are included in the study. Michael Heubel could have been granted a separate entry; I chose to describe his journal along with the very similar author, Volkmar Happe (App. I. 16). The interest in the impact of experience also influences the organisation of the appendix. The authors who wrote and concluded their accounts in the early phase of the war are placed first. The concluding section (nos. 18–27) thus deals with post-war accounts. There are again a few exceptions. The loss of long sections or entire volumes made it difficult to date some manuscripts. Zacharias Hogel (App. I. 9) and David Brand (App. I. 25) could have been placed at other points in the appendix. I also deviate from the chronological principle in the first three entries. They deal with Catholic authors, who in many ways constitute a distinct group, with a more limited audience in mind.

App. I.1 AUTHOR: Caspar Heinrich Marx, Jr. BIOGRAPHICAL DATA: February 1/11, 1600 (Erfurt) – December 8/18, 1635 (Erfurt). Catholic priest, professor, and doctor of theology TITLE: Diarium Actorum a tempore cæsi Exercitus Cæsariani 17./7. Septembris Ao 1631 [Tagebuch der Ereignisse (Begebenheiten) von der Zeit der Niederlage des kaiserlichen Heeres am 17./7. September im Jahr 1631 an. Journal of the acts following the defeat of the Imperial army on September 17/7, in the year 1631] ARCHIVAL SIGNATURE: LHASA, MD, A 37b I, II IX Nr. 15 CODEX FORMAT: Quarto, 1r–110v. Primarily written in German, with some Latin

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EXTENT WITHIN CODEX: 8r–110v PERIOD DESCRIBED BY THIS AUTHOR: September 27/October 7, 1631–September 24/October 4, 1635 YEAR OF WRITING: late 1631–1635 EDITIONS: Holger Berg/Hans Medick/Norbert Winnige, in cooperation with Thomas Rokahr/Bernd Warlich: “Diarium Actorum a tempore cæsi Exercitus Cæsariani 17./ 7. Septembris Ao 1631 …” (November 2008) REFERENCES: Berg, Inhaltliche Erläuterungen. Bock. Kleineidam, Teil 3, p. 181. Further writings: Caspar Heinrich Marx: Ohnvorgreifliches Bedencken, die Theologische Facultät betreffendt. Ms. stored in LHASA, MD, A 37b I, II XVI Nr. 12. Available at the above-mentioned link COMMENTARY: The appendix begins with a text that could well have been omitted. The priest and Dean of Theology, Caspar Heinrich Marx, had no ambition of writing a historical account. He kept a diarium in the strict, official sense of the term. In this journal he noted events with legal repercussions which he considered important to the Catholic clergy. His focus lay on the university and the collegiate churches of St. Marien and St. Severi. Later readers within the Marienstift used his notes in the intended manner, during negotiations about the property and privileges confiscated by the town council during the first Swedish occupation, 1631–1635. Only later, in the nineteenth century, was the journal read as a historical, chronicle-like account. Marx mainly attracts interest because of the scarcity of local Catholic accounts. In an introduction to the digital edition of the text, I have elaborated upon the content and political background of the journal (Berg, Erläuterungen, with references for the following). A short summary should suffice here. Marx began to write in late 1631 and continued to do so at irregular intervals until he fell ill in late 1635. Some pages hold daily notes; other entries are separated by entire months. Following the Swedish retreat in September 1635, Marx began to make use of his journal and, inter alia, used it to write a retrospective account on the Lutheran reform of the university (Marx, Bedencken). He died in an epidemic in late 1635, before he could see the full fruits of his labour. The Jesuit padres posthumously praised him as a “vir optimus” and the main defender of the Catholic cause during the years (1633–1635) when they had been expelled from town (App. I. 3.2, pp. 12r–12v). The following entry on Johannes Arnoldi shows that Marx was not the only clergyman who found it necessary to document his acts during the Swedish occupation. Marx and Arnoldi both had to justify compromises and guard themselves against internal critics, like the syndic Johannes Dresanus. Yet Marx was, on the whole, exposed to less internal criticism than Arnoldi. His account grants more space to defending his faith and colleagues against Lutheran criticism. Refutations of their legal claims stand next to short entries on fictitious prodigies and a planned, but unfinished apologetic account of local relics. Otherwise – and here is another difference from Arnoldi – Marx made little reference to Providence. His short opening reference to the defeat at Breitenfeld as an outcome “of divine will [Verhengnus Gottes] and our sins” (p. 8r) did not set the tone for the journal. Marx rightly assumed that his intended readers were more interested in the ensuing legal struggle.

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App. I.2 AUTHOR: Johannes Arnoldi OCart BIOGRAPHICAL DATA: February 11, 1583 (Villingen in Further Austria) – April 9, 1638 (Erfurt). Entered the Carthusian order in Würzburg 1601. Moved to Erfurt 1602 and led the monastery there from 1620 to 1638 (Kurt, pp. 102 f) TITLE: NOVA COLLECTIO CHRONICÆ. Clarissimæ olim CARTUSIÆ Montis S. Salvatoris prope Erfordiam celeberrimam totius Turingiæ metropolia Collecta M DC X A F. Ioanne Arnoldi. Ejusdem Domus Professo. [Neue Sammlung der Chronik des HülfensbergKartauses bei Erfurt, der weitberühmten Hauptstadt von ganz Thüringen. A new collection for the chronicle of the charterhouse to the Hülfensberg near Erfurt, the famed capital of entire Thuringia] ARCHIVAL SIGNATURE: ThULB Bud.Ms. f.143 CODEX FORMAT: 1r–128v, [3]. Primarily written in Latin, some German PERIOD DESCRIBED BY THIS AUTHOR: 1370–February 11, 1637 YEAR OF WRITING: 1636/1637 EDITIONS: Falckenstein, Thüringische Chronicka, pp. 1084–1107 (paraphrases and translated excerpts). – Thüringisches Staatsarchiv Rudolstadt: A VIII 3b Nr. 20 (manuscript copy from the nineteenth century). – Earlier variants. Johannes Arnoldi: Nova Collectio Chronicae clarissimæ olim Cartusiæ Montis Sancti Saluatoris propè Erfordia celeberrimam totius Thuringiæ Metropolim[.] Collecta Anno 1610 studio et labore F. Ioannis Arnoldi eiusde[m] Domus professi. Original in: LHASA, MD, Rep. Cop. Amtsbücher, Nr. 1489a. Copy on microfilm in BAE Hd 521171 (Film)/1 REFERENCES: Johannes Arnoldi: De officio duplici. UBEDE CE 8o 22a. The manuscript was written in 1635 and instructs Carthusian novices on how to pray the breviary. Herrmann, Bibliotheca, p. 261 no. 45, p. 468 no. 76, p. 476 no. 192 (with an erroneous title and dating), p. 479 no. 226. Hesse, Beiträge, pp. 133–138 (on the books robbed from the Carthusian library). Hesse, Kartäusermönche, pp. 1–7 (Arnoldi’s preface and biographical notes on the lives of illustrious monks). Kurt, pp. 102–107. Schauerte, pp. 60 f. See also Hogg. Notes on the convent’s situation during the years from 1637 to 1650 on pages 292–336 in the chronicle by Johannes Lotley, OCart: Chronica Cartusiae Erfordianae in Thuringia alio nomine Mons Salvatoris nuncupatae. Collectore V. P. Joannes Lotley, Priore. Thurgaische Kantonsbibliothek Frauenfeld, Schweiz. Signature: Y 42. Copy on microfilm in: BAE Hd 521171 (Film)/2. Lotley did not arrive in Erfurt until 1653 COMMENTARY: Arnoldi was an adept annalist who penned down two histories of his charterhouse. Arnoldi wrote the first annals in 1610, when he was still a monk. He kept them up to date until the year 1613 (p. 61v). Later users of the chronicle, which is archived in Magdeburg, added notes on the lives and deaths of monks from the 1620s to the 1650s (pp. 77v–79r). Arnoldi later copied most of this chronicle and added an account of his priorate during the war (1620–1637, pp. 36v–87v). This second chronicle is stored in Jena. It was written in late 1636 or early 1637, as indicated by the final entries: “Ipsis Calendis Januarij, Anni 1637. stylo novo” (p. 87r); “Post haec 1. Februarij 1637” (p. 87v). The Swedish occupation comprises the largest section in his chronicle. It breaks with the annalist description, and more resembles a journal, as Arnoldi himself remarked: “Seqvitur succinta & qvasi diaria de scriptio eorum, qvæ post, & immediatè ante Regis adventum circa nos contigerunt.” (p. 43r)

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Arnoldi wrote to justify his activities during the occupation of Erfurt, 1631–1635. Arnoldi had been accused of treachery by both sides. Lutherans claimed that he knowingly housed foreign clerics who carried letters for the Imperial enemy; many Catholics viewed his oath sworn to the local town council as a somewhat suspect compromise. Arnoldi had already explained himself to his superiors in a letter from December 29, 1635, copied on pages 121r to 125r. In this sense, Arnoldi’s description is very similar to Marx’ official journal. Like Marx, Arnoldi also addresses the reader of his chronicle, asking him to understand why the convent decided to sign the second oath of fealty: “Sed hic ne mireris amice Lector, qvod pauciores subscripserimus […]” (p. 71v; cf. ibid., p. 54v and Schauerte, pp. 60 f). Compared to Marx, Arnoldi gave a more detailed and personalised description of his own sufferings as a prior, to evoke sympathy. His troubles began in 1623, when he was assaulted by soldiers outside of town (see the passage transcribed below). He was plagued by these wounds (e. g. 84r) and fell victim to an accident (40v, 1625) and yet another armed robbery in 1631 (41v–42r). Superiors turned down his applications to be relieved of the demanding office (42r). A number of the below events have been described in more detail by Joachim Kurt and Johann Heinrich von Falckenstein (1677–1760). Neither of them commented on Arnoldi’s self-stylisation and his religious phrasing. The following notes and an excerpt are to illustrate these two traits in the text. As a loyal member of the order, Arnoldi remained after Erfurt surrendered to the Swedes. The discovery of secret letters carried by an outside Carthusian led to charges of treason being raised against the entire charterhouse. Arnoldi was placed in house arrest. His chronicle delves on personal fears for the destiny of his brethrens (50r–51v). When some of them began to collaborate with the Council (42v; 60r, 70r), Arnoldi sought to bring the prodigal sons back into the fold. Philip Hunckel caused much trouble (75v–76r, 78r–78v, 81v) as did Leonhard Ebert, whom Arnoldi described as insane (69r–69v, 80v, 86r). Carthusians were expulsed from their monastery in early 1633. Arnoldi sought to keep up customs, and inter alia completed a Psalter and hymnal (45v) in the local exile. Locals offered him and fellow Carthusians aid and shelter during these months; Arnoldi later included them in a list of benefactors (94r–108r). The thanksgivings extend to Erdmute Juliane, Countess of Gleichen (see 69v–70v, 94r and Chapter Five, fn. 270). Despite such aid it remained difficult to survive on alms alone, let alone fulfil the Carthusian Statutes centred on a reclusive liturgy (Arnoldi, De officio duplici). Arnoldi eventually felt forced to give in to the local Council, pledge loyalty, and accept its Lutheran inspector. The monastic confinement was, nonetheless, not respected. Arnoldi gives particular attention to female intrusions, which climax with the Lutheran woman who gave birth in their cellar (Schauerte, p. 61 based on Arnoldi, p. 76v; further examples pp. 52v, 54r, 75r). After the departure of the Swedish troops, Arnoldi reclaimed books and valuables taken away from their library during the occupation (85v–87r). He thereby listed what had been confiscated, by whom, and on which date (88r–90v; transcribed by Hesse, Beiträge). Another list covered the furniture, decorations, and lands remaining in possession of the charterhouse (109r–120r). The prior had almost finished his well-rounded account, when Swedes returned to Erfurt in December 1636 and laid siege to the town (see App. I. 13). There was only one leaf (87r–87v) left to describe the events, which led to the town’s surrender and the return of the Swedish soldiers on the ramparts, next to the cloister.

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The following excerpt (39r–40r) gives an impression of Arnoldi’s personalised entries. “Hactenus prosperè satis omnia: Seqventur futurorum certaminu[m] qvasi praeviae velitationes. Hoc n. anno 1623 in autumno revertentem ex Ilmenauw cum curru onusto piscibus Carpionum in saltu proximo civitati, decem inter aurigas medium, qvinq[ue] adversarij milites haeretici invaserunt. Atq[ue] post frustratos fistularum pectori admotarum terrores, contemptosq[ue]: ad verbera conversi, gladiis evaginatis baculisq[ue] nodosis capite totum lividum sauciumq[ue], ex eqvo violentur exturbarunt, levatumq[ue] utraq[ue] manu hinc & hinc à duobus eqvis in [40r] sidentibus sursum extensum, nudo cultro vestes eius interiores etiam qvaqvaversus rimantes resolventesq[ue]: eqvo, pecuniis & alijs exspoliatum tandem reliqverunt. Putasses fabros consulto ad tundendum ferrum levigandumq[ue] convenisse; sic qvasi ad modulos scilè verberum ictus ingeminabant, & intersonantibus crebris convitiorum maledictionumq[ue] encomijs, melos dabant auribus. Domum ergò pedes aegrè & sero reversus, industria Chirurgi brevi restitus est, attamen fistularum inflicta in capite symbola & cicatrices qvoad vixit retinuit, & doloribus inde capitis & freqventibus catarrhis & memoriæ defectu laboravit.”

App. I.3 AUTHORS. Anonymous BIOGRAPHICAL DATA: Jesuit padres TITLE: HJSTORJA Collegij Societatis Jesv Erffurti Fusior Vsq ad Annum i629 (II 22) (History of the Jesuit College in Erfurt until the year 1629) Pars I HISTORIAE Societatis IESV Erffurti, à primo nostrorum in hanc Vrbem aduentu, cumconsuetâ rerum Societatis in eâ progressione (II 23) (Part I of the History of the Jesuit College in Erfurt, from our first arrival in this town and the advancement of Society matters in town) ARCHIVAL SIGNATURES: Archiv der Deutschen Provinz der Jesuiten II 22–23 CODEX FORMAT: Both in Latin. II 22: big quarto, [6 p. ], 1–115, [6 unpaginated pages, with only one short entry]. – II 23: big quarto, [1 p. ], 1r–231v, [2], [1 unpaginated page without any entry] EXTENT WITHIN CODEX: II 22: 97–115. II 23: 7v–17r PERIOD DESCRIBED BY THIS AUTHOR: II 22: Notes on the foundation of Erfurt and the mission by Saint Boniface; 1576–1624, 1627–1629. – II 23: 1515–1769 YEAR OF WRITING: II 22: Annual entries begun 1600 and continued until 1629, with a gap in 1625 and 1626. – II 23: Begun in 1644, with annual updates until 1768 EDITIONS: [Anon.]: Compendium Historiae Collegii Societatis Iesu Erfurti ab anno 1577 usque ad annum conscriptum 1768, et continuatum. BAE Hs. Erf. 7 (excerpts), edited anew by Werner Hupe S. J.: Compendium Historiae Collegii Societatis Iesu Erfurti. Aus der Handschrift übertragen, übersetzt, eingeleitet sowie mit Anmerkungen und Erläuterungen versehen. Dresden 1985. Lizentiatsarbeit. Philosophisch-theologisches Studium Erfurt. Typoscript. Available in: UB Erfurt. Mag: 96138 REFERENCES: On the events: Duhr, Vol. 1, pp. 405 f. Meisner, esp. pp. 35–64, 183–185. Schauerte. On the genre and manuscripts: Hupe, pp. XXVIII–XXXIII. On the archive: Geschichte des Archivs (consulted July 22, 2008) COMMENTARY: Compared to the justificatory writings in App. I. 1–2, the History of the Jesuit College in Erfurt is a more formal and regular account. Its annual entries con-

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tinue until 1773 and follow the “Methodus historiae collegiorum conscribendae” from 1603 (Hupe, p. XXX; copied in part in Vol. 1, pp. [3]–[5]). Each Jesuit college had to provide the head of their province with two annual accounts. The Litterae Annuae circulated in outside colleges while the second, more historical account addressed future members of the local college. The provincial head either approved or, if necessary, corrected the account and then sent it back to the college. It would then be entered in the local manuscript. The padres in Erfurt generally followed these guidelines loyally. Their entries in the Historia Collegii continue year by year, often in different handwritings. The only gaps are found in 1611 and during the plague years of 1625 and 1626. By 1629, the first volume had almost been filled and a second volume was needed. The first continuation may well have been lost during the Swedish occupation of 1631–1635. Jesuits were then expelled from their college (1633) and robbed of their library. The current replacement (Vol. 2) dates to 1644. A padre, writing in a fine hand, copied the entries of the missing years (1630– 1633 and 1635–1644) and added an abridged account of the period from 1576 to 1629, based on the first volume (now including 1625–1626). Entries on decades after 1645 are written in the typical succession of different handwriting. These volumes later followed a path that mirrors the unsteady history of the order. A volume with excerpts from 1768 entered the collegiate archives in Erfurt (Compendium). The present volumes recently (2000) arrived to the united Provincial Archives in München, after an odyssey through Dutch and German towns, including Köln (Geschichte). The front pages show that these two volumes have at one point been owned by a certain Ivo Carl Würschmitt. Many members of the Würschmitt-family served in the collegiate administration in Erfurt. The said guidelines from 1603 also influenced the content. College Histories were to record the lives and deaths of the members and commemorate their struggle and progress. Mutio Vitelleschi (1563–1645), General of the order during the war, further decreed that each college in the Empire should describe tribulations with particular care (Hupe, p. XXX). The padres dutifully wrote of colleagues who sought refuge in Erfurt during the early Bohemian phase of the war (Vol. 1, pp. 97 f, 103). The misery brought down on Germany and the local college by the “Swedish war” (“bello Suecico”, Hupe, p. 22) was described with due drama. Of particular interest is the speech held by Gustavus Adolphus. The Jesuit chronicler focused on the mild king’s promise of protection (Vol. 2, pp. 10v–11r). He then – rightly – accused the regional ally, Duke Wilhelm of Weimar, of breaking the promise. After but a few weeks of occupation, the Jesuits were – with some reason – accused of secretly keeping up contact with outside colleges, by dispatching members in civilian clothes (October 21, 1631). The Imperial approach in June 1632 caused the garrison commander to clear the college and place the padres under house arrest. On this occasion, one Jesuit was beaten and mortally wounded (Vol. 2, p. 11v). After refusing to pledge loyalty to the local Council, the remaining Jesuits were expelled from town, at the turn of the year 1633. Later historical accounts by Catholic clergymen have further dramatised the harsh conditions from 1631 to 1633. Franz Schauerte thus incorrectly added Johannes Bettingen, S. J. (1585–1632) to the list of Jesuits who fell victim to Swedish maltreatment (Schauerte, p. 30); Bettingen actually died of dropsy (Vol. 2, p. 11r). The standard account by Bernhard Duhr, S. J. takes on Schauerte’s encompassing and detailed, but often inaccurate renditions. The second Swedish occupation (1636–1650) was not as harsh for Catholics. Jesuits deflected most threats by calling upon local protectors (Vol. 2, pp. 12v–15v). Their protectors range from a French envoy passing through (1645) and Catholic generals held for ransom (1640–1644), to the high-ranking members of the Swedish army Caspar Ermes and Peter Brandt (1644), along with Elisabeth Juliane of Erbach (1600–1640), then wife of Gen-

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eral Banér. Banér and Swedish officers even sent their children to attend the Jesuit Gymnasium for some time (13v, 15r). The padres describe attempts to influence Lutheran decision makers through poems and theatre plays held in their honour (1647); donating barrels of wine generally had more effect. Jesuit histories do, in summary, give nuanced insights into the religious tensions. Many Lutherans did keep up a hostile attitude towards the order, yet the situation only seems to have escalated in certain years. The Historiae report particular hostility during four periods: (1) upon the arrival of refugee padres in 1618, 1619, and 1622, (2) during the processions of 1628 (Vol. 1, p. 112), (3) in the period from 1631 to 1633, and (4) during the year following the raid in autumn 1642 (Vol. 2, pp. 14r–14v; see Chapter Six, p. 231). Readers of Werner Hupe’s fine, unpublished edition will benefit from his careful commentary and accurate translations. The Erfurt volume with excerpts does convey the style and content of the München originals. Yet, as Hupe notes (p. XXXI), the eighteenthcentury padre glossed over numerous passages. This padre focused on the institutional history of the college. He omitted many edifying entries, especially those on healings and penitential exercises.

App. I.4 AUTHOR: Anonymous BIOGRAPHICAL DATA: Lutheran TITLE: [Erfurt chronicle] ARCHIVAL SIGNATURE: StAE 5/900-36 CODEX FORMAT: Folio, 1–989. Mostly German EXTENT WITHIN CODEX: 519–874 PERIOD DESCRIBED BY THIS AUTHOR: 1307–1589; 1619–1622/1623 YEAR OF WRITING: Kept up to date from 1619 until late 1622 EDITIONS: Georg Balthasar von Milwitz/G[eorg] M[elchior von] C[lemens]: Verschiedene historische Nachrichten von der Stadt Erfurt und zugehörigen Territorium, auch alten Familien, Rechten und Gewohnheiten p. p. Zusammen getragen von F[rei]h[er]r Georg Balthasar von Milwitz[.] Stückweis gefunden im Milwitzschen Haus zum Steinsee und in diesen Band befördert von G[eorg] M[elchior von] C[lemens] Ao 1738. StAE 5/ 900–36. These excerpts were in part transcribed twice, by Beyer, Volkslied and – with more accuracy – Wagner, Einlagerung, pp. 91–97 REFERENCES: Bauer, Ratsherren, p. 100, no. 385 (on Milwitz). Beyer, Volkslied, pp. 34 f; Herrmann, Bibliotheca, pp. 365 f COMMENTARY: Fragments of the present chronicle are preserved in a volume that itself contains copies of a lost collection of excerpts. This indirect, third-hand preservation has led to some confusion. An earlier commentator read the ballad-like conclusion of the chronicle as a separate work and ascribed it to a Catholic author (Beyer). A closer inspection shows that the ballad is part of a chronicle, authored by an anonymous Lutheran townsman. He opens the long line of Lutheran chroniclers listed in the remainder of this appendix. The extant volume is based on material compiled by Georg Balthasar von Milwitz (1641–1683). This Catholic patrician died in the 1683-epidemic. Some fifty-five years later, another Catholic patrician (von Clemens) copied Milwitz’ excerpts into this volume. Its further contents are described by Karl Herrmann; much of it is of genealogical character.

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The joint work is typical in two senses. It not only points to the research behind the writing of most chronicles (see App. I. 11, 15); the two patricians also reflect the rise of a bidenominational historiography. Milwitz was one of several Catholics who began to write on town history in second half of the seventeenth century; others are Robert Balthasar von Wegmann (1661) and Johann Moritz von Gudenus (1675) (Herrmann, pp. 125 f, no. 73; pp. 156 f, no. 32). They had to work with a tradition dominated by Lutheran chroniclers, like the present avowedly anti-Catholic author (e. g. pp. 852, 855). The chronicle was not copied in full. Milwitz left out the period before 1307, from 1590 to 1618, and, possibly, also after 1622. The preserved entries show that the chronicler wrote soon after events, from 1619 to late 1622 (e. g. p. 860: “Dieses jtzlaufende 1619. Jahr”). This period takes up ten pages. The author was very keen to fix shameful episode and otherwise wrote in favour of “our lords” in the Council (p. 862: “Unser Herrn”). He commended their efforts to control the inflation. This apologetic tone also runs through his poetic account of the troubles in December 1622. The rhymes spread over ten more pages (pp. 864–874; see Chapter Six, pp. 253 f).

App. I.5 AUTHOR: Martin Cabuth BIOGRAPHICAL DATA: 1558/1559 (Erfurt) – August 12, 1624 (Erfurt). Pastor in the Thomaskirche, Erfurt, 1597–1624 TITLE: [Erfurt chronicle] PRIOR TITLES: Thüringische CHRONICA, darinnen sonderlich viele curieuse Geschichte, so sich in der Stadt Erfurt, von Anno urbis conditae, biß ad annum 1624. zugetragen, mit Historischer Feder beschrieben worden ARCHIVAL SIGNATURE: StAE 5/100-69 CODEX FORMAT: [2], 1r–234v. Quarto. Various writings in Greek, Latin, and German EXTENT WITHIN CODEX: 123r–129a recto; 130r–134r; 170v–172v PERIOD DESCRIBED BY THIS AUTHOR: 1605–1624 TOTAL PERIOD COVERED IN CHRONICLE: 438–1624 YEAR OF WRITING: Kept up to date after January 1617 REFERENCES: Bauer, Theologen, p. 103. Bauer, Personalschriften, pp. 103 f, no. 139. Wallenberger, Christliche Leichpredigt (1624) COMMENTARY: The historical accounts found in this volume were written by two authors who both made the most of the space left to them. The first anonymous chronicler brought the history of his home town, Erfurt, from 342 until 1582 (pp. 1r–123r) into an existing text. The historical narrative is interrupted by notes in Latin and Greek on fables, proverbs, and various other subjects (e. g. pp. 85v ff, 125r “Vera invocatio Die”). A treatise on marriage fills most of the concluding section (pp. 135r–170r). Later readers of the town chronicle added brief notes in the margin (e. g. p. 99r) and seem to have appreciated the strong polemics. Readers underlined anti-Catholic accounts, like the tale of the female Pope Joan said to reign 855–857 (pp. 3v–4r). Martin Cabuth, the third and last author, crammed entries unto the remaining twentyfive pages, without any strict thematic or chronological order. Some entries relate to his pastoral occupation: they range from school ordinances and accounts for the poor relief (130r–133v) to a cautionary tale for use in a sermon (pp. 170v–171r). Consolatory

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sentences are found at the end of the codex (172r–172v) alongside ordained prayers announced from the pulpit (pp. 171v, 130v, 133v). Cabuth also addressed more traditional subjects like crime, the changing weather, and wine harvests. From January 1617 and onwards, he recorded recent events (pp. 134r) with irregular intervals. The entries grew in frequency during the rapid inflation in 1621. Beginning with the month of October, Cabuth wrote on a weekly basis, noting current prices. As pastor with a set wage, he was among the groups struck hard by the rise in prices. The religious reactions are outlined above, in Chapter Six. I shall here comment on a few autobiographical traits of this almost forgotten pastor. The extensive notes on the poor relief acquire an additional dimension when one considers his own biography. Cabuth was orphaned at a young age. In the sermon held at his funeral a colleague explained that Cabuth had had to walk the streets in foreign communities, singing and begging “for bread for God’s sake” (Wallenberger, pp. C4r: “panem propter Deum singen müssen”). Cabuth’s prodigious rise from beggar to pastor was portrayed as the fulfilment of the divine promise to take care of the weak (referring to Psalm 113 on p. C4v). Cabuth himself sought to ensure that future orphans would not have to depend on providential protection alone; they were instead to rely on the charity of their Christian brothers and an organised poor relief. Cabuth was keen on implementing the Currentordnung (1617) issued by the Council to regulate begging and provide education for the poor. Valentin Wallenberger praised his avid inspection of the parish school: “[er liess] fast keinen Tag hingehen/ da er nicht auffs wenigste ein oder zwey mal in die Schule gangen”. Yet Wallenberger remained more sceptical of the poor who had scurried around the late pastor “als die Bettler vmb den [St.] Martinum”. “[Vor dem Currentordnung lagen] alle Gassen vnd Strassen/ Ziegelhütten vnd Brawhäuser/ voller Cappeiner [Capeuner, sc.: fahrende Leute, besonders Schüler] […] deren gewiß etliche am Galgen/ auff dem Rabstein dem Hencker hetten müssen vnter den Händen sterben/ wo nicht diese Auffsicht gemacht: jetzund [werden sie] angetrieben […] zur Schuel/ zum Handtwerck” (C4r). Cabuth’s chronicle is void of such scepticism toward vagrants. Whilst Wallenberger held a position in the affluent Barfüsser parish, Cabuth served in the poor suburban Thomasgemeinde. For all we know from his notes, Cabuth was convinced that these alms served “to the glory of God and the improvement of the poor lads”. He gladly handed out “a coat to Nicolaus Götze and a suit and socks to Henricus Krebs” (p. 130r, from the Current account: “Nicolaus Götze ein Mandel; Henricus Keibs ein gantz Kleid vnd Strumpf […]”, and p. 132v, from a prayer ordained in 1617: “Zu Gottes ehren Vnd dem armen Knaben Zu besten”). The identification of Martin Cabuth as the author of this section in the codex owes to one of the miscellaneous entries on page 130 recto. Cabuth there tried to calculate his own age, based on information gathered from an aged acquaintance. He had proposed to Cabuth’s widowed mother, when Cabuth was still an infant. “Adolarius Tilo ein Buchbinder und kirchman Am Regulern sagte mir Martino Kabothen, das er Vmb meine mutter gefreÿet Ao 1562. vnd ich were etwa ein 2 ½ jhar alt gewesen. Muste ich also Ao 1559. geboren seÿn. Vnd also dieses 1622 ihares. 63. ihar alt.” (Wallenberger dated his birth to 1558). His name was underscored by the attentive reader, Johann Klein. He had bought the chronicle in 1694 for nineteen Thaler (p. 130r). The fifth owner of the chronicle added his name, pious motto, and the date of acquisition (“Ohrdravü [Ohrdruff], die VIII Martij, Ao. MDCCXXVIII”), on a separate paper, with another watermark (see Chapter Six,

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fn. 325). Johann Zacharias Deichmann may have been the one who had the codex bound in its present cover. An unknown owner bestowed the present title. The “Thüringische CHRONICA” was donated to the Town Archives in Erfurt by the Carl-Alexander-Bibliothek in Eisenach, on April 10, 1957.

App. I.6 AUTHOR: Martin Hoffmann BIOGRAPHICAL DATA: ? (Annaberg or, less likely, Freiberg i. S.) – c.1625 (Erfurt?) TITLE: CHRONICA THVRINGIACA; Das Ist: Die fürnembste Geschicht, so sich fürnemlich inn Thüringen vnnd sonderlich in der heuptstadt desselbigen Landes, welche ERFFVRDT genandt, zugetragen, von der Zeit an, da die Thüringer von den Sachssen aus Saxonica in Düringen getrieben, biß auff das Jhar Christi, etc. aus vielen Exemplaribus, Manuscriptis, trewlich zusammne gezogen. Geschrieben vnd vollendet im Jhar nach der Geburt Vnsers einigen heÿlandes Vnd Seligmachers Jhesu Christi: M. D. XCIX 1.5.9.9 PRIOR TITLES: Hoffmann added two alternative titles ERPHORDISCHE CHRONICA. Die fürnembste Geschicht, so sich in Düringen vnd sonderlich fürnemblich in der heuptstadt desselbigen landes, ERFFVRDT genant, zugetragen, von der Zeit an, da die Thüringer […] aus Saxonica in Düringen getrieben. biß auffs Jhar Christi etc. (p. 3) ERFFURDISCHE CRONICA. Verzeichnis etliche vornemer vnd wünderliche Geschichte, so sich in Düringer lande vnd in den benachbarten grenzen, vnd sonderlich im vnd mit der stadt ERFFVRDT, welche eine Heuptstad deß Düringerlandes, begeben, Auch von iren feinden, auffrühren, vnd wie dieselben sind gestillet vnd vertragen worden (p. 5) ARCHIVAL SIGNATURE: StAE 5/100-46 CODEX FORMAT: Big quarto. 1–501, [190]. Bound. Predominantly German EXTENT WITHIN CODEX: Hoffmann wrote on pages 1–384, 481–501 and the 190 unpaginated that followed. Other townsmen wrote on pages 385–392 during the 1630s and 1660s (see the following two entries). Christian Reichart (1685–1775) wrote on pages 393–481 and filled out the final twelve pages PERIOD DESCRIBED BY THIS AUTHOR: The Flood/388–1625 TOTAL PERIOD COVERED IN CHRONICLE: 388–1737 YEAR OF WRITING: 1599. Updated on an annual basis, until 1624 EDITIONS: Extensive manuscript copy in StAE 5/100–33, pp. 1–565 REFERENCES: Herrmann, Bibliotheca, pp. 114–116, no. 62. Traubuch and Taufbuch, Kaufmannskirche, BEM. Weiß, Lebenswelten, p. 435 COMMENTARY: Research on town chronicles often categorises works as ‘ratsnah’ when they were written in terms favourable to a town council. A number of local chronicles can be characterised as such (esp. App. I. 4, 11, and 14), yet the category does not always specify the authors’ precise relations to the urban decisionsmakers. Were the authors themselves councillors or council servants (e. g. Rohmann)? Or did the chronicler approach the council to gain its favour or monetary aid? Martin Hoffmann may fit into the latter group of relative outsiders. Hoffmann was not native to Erfurt. He called Annaberg his fatherland (p. 284) and added sections on this and nearby mining towns at the end of the chronicle (see Herrmann). His family was based in the Erzgebirge and plied their trade as printers and pub-

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lishers. His relative (possibly father) Georg Hoffmann (c.1555–1630) had printed books in Freiberg since 1578. Georg’s son, Melchior (d.1620), worked there as bookseller from 1607 to 1619 (Benzing, Drucker, pp. 146 f, no. 2). Martin Hoffmann sought his fortunes in Erfurt. He was listed as book printer in the tax registers (Weiß, p. 435) though he never had his name mentioned on any prints. This owes to his junior position. He married Dorothea Wittel from a well-established family of printers (Traubuch, July 9, 1605). She bore him children until 1625 (Taufbuch). Martin’s entries in his chronicle cease in the same year. Though his burial is nowhere recorded, one may assume that he died in the great epidemic in 1625–1626, along with his brother-inlaw, Philipp Wittel (d.1626. Compare Benzing, Drucker p. 113, no. 29 to Bauer, Personalschriften, p. 618). Martin Hoffmann thus gained less prominence as a printer than his relatives in Freiberg and in-laws in Erfurt. Yet through his chronicle, he managed to inscribe himself into his new town. The front page bears witness to Hoffmann’s occupation. It is the only local chronicle adorned with a book-like frontispiece, complete with putti and the town’s coat of arms. A frontispiece decorated with equal care is found in the long (115 pp. ) copy of urban statutes that begins on page 481. It updated a compilation from 1509 and thereby increases the volume’s value as a reference work. Hoffmann’s writing attests to an author familiar with the book-trade. His list of prodigies included reports from outside pamphlets (e. g. p. 283) and he added a printed Meßrelation on page 374. The manner of keeping the account up to date is also distinct. Hoffmann stuck strictly to the annalist principle, writing his notes on the past year on every December after 1599. This gave him greater distance to the recorded events than chroniclers who wrote like Martin Cabuth (see Chapter Six pp. 223 f and App. I. 6). Hoffmann thus produced a neatly written chronicle that proved highly influential.

App. I.7 AUTHOR: Anonymous BIOGRAPHICAL DATA: Lutheran TITLE: [Erfurt chronicle] ARCHIVAL SIGNATURE: StAE 5/100-46 [continuation of App. I. 6] EXTENT WITHIN CODEX: 384–388 PERIOD DESCRIBED BY THIS AUTHOR: 1631–July 11, 1633 YEAR OF WRITING: Presumably March–July 1633 COMMENTARY: Martin Hoffman ranked among the chroniclers most read by his contemporaries. One townsman transcribed his account in 1636 (App. I. 14). The codex begun by Hoffmann was continued by five other hands during the 1630s (pp. 384–393) and the 1660s (pp. 393–395). Christian Reichart, a local lawyer known for his works on horticulture, also possessed the chronicle. He continued it from page 396 onwards and added notes on prior pages. The first of the many continuations was begun in early 1633. It covered the two years following Gustavus Adolphus’ entry into town, in September 1631. The chronicler described the entry at some length, and copied the title page of Valentin Wallenberger’s thanksgiving sermon from 1632, celebrating the Swedish victory at Breitenfeld (see bibliography). Otherwise, the notes on the years 1631 and 1632 are few, short, and imprecise.

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Entries grew more frequent and accurate after March 1633 (pp. 386–388). The chronicler dwelt on the extension of the fortifications and the Lutheran preaching in Catholic cloisters and churches. The jubilant entry on page 386 is typical: “Den 28 huius [April 1633] ist zum erstenmal allhier zu Erffurdt auf den Petersberge […] Evangelisch gepredigt worden, welches von Ewigkeit her nicht geschehen.” The notes on these months were written soon after the events. The chronicler thus first described how a village near Gotha caught fire on the May 6, 1633 in the following words: “Wie es aber zu gangen hatt man noch zu Zeit nicht wißen konnen”. He then later added: “seindt 5 heüser (aber nicht gantz) abgebrandt.”

App. I.8 AUTHOR: Anonymous BIOGRAPHICAL DATA: Inhabitant in Erfurt TITLE: [Erfurt chronicle] ARCHIVAL SIGNATURE: StAE 5/100-46 [continuation of the chronicle in App. I. 6] EXTENT WITHIN CODEX: pp. 389–393 PERIOD DESCRIBED BY THIS AUTHOR: 1635–June 22, 1639 YEAR OF WRITING: 1639 COMMENTARY: The second continuation of Hoffman’s chronicle was written in 1639, six years after the first continuation. It conveyed a rather different message. The author began with the Peace of Prague, which he dated to Easter 1635 “ohngefehr”. Then followed the outrages committed in the Electorate of Sachsen by the Swedish troops in the autumn of 1635 and 1636. The same troops laid siege to Erfurt and oppressed the town following its surrender in December 1636. Dates grow more precise and entries more frequent in April 1639. The account ends with a longer entry on the execution of the assassin Hans Augustin, on June 22, 1639. This author incriminates the Swedish occupiers rather than praising them. The optimistic tone that had been struck by Lutherans in 1633 was now rarely heard in town (see App. I. 12 and 13). The famine in 1639 led the chronicler to pray for peace and launch bitter accusations against the rich: “Dieße Thewrung ist Muthwilligk Vervrsachet worden, Von den Reichen Korn Würmen Vndt Wipper: So Ihr getrydich auf dem Bod so theur gehalten, Vndt nichts Von frembden haben In die Stadt Eingelaßen. Gott Erbarme sich d[er] Armen Vndt Nothleidenen.” (p. 393). A related prayer closed his description of the siege in 1636 on page 390: “Auf dem Lande I[m] Töpffen [Toponym] hatt man [Anfang 1637] viel todte Menschen funden, So Mehrstheils hungers gestorben: Das [sic] Getrewe gott gebe hinführo be[s]sere Zeitten, Wende alles Vngluck Abe, Undt Verleihe endtlich Unß gnaden u[nd] frieden, Vmb seines Sohns, Vnsers Erlößers. J:[esu] C.[hristi] Willen, Amen.”

App. I.9 AUTHOR: [Zacharias Hogel, II.] BIOGRAPHICAL DATA: November 2, 1611 (Erfurt) – October 25, 1676 (Erfurt). Pastor of the Augustiner parish, 1643–1676 and rector of the Ratsgymnasium, 1655–1675 TITLE: ANTIQUITATUM ERFURTENSIUM oder Der Chronicken von Der Stadt Erffurt

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PRIOR TITLES: Chronica Von Thüringen und der Stadt Erfurth Insonderheit von Jahr 320 bis 1628 Geschrieben von M. Zachar. Hogel II. Waÿl. Pastor. S. Joannis ARCHIVAL SIGNATURE: BEM Mscr. 83 CODEX FORMAT: Folio, 1–446. Rough draft, in autograph. Later bound in a decorated leather cover (1854). Mostly German, some Latin. PERIOD DESCRIBED BY THIS AUTHOR: 320–1628. A lost section continued unto at least 1663 YEAR OF WRITING: After 1650 EDITIONS: A[nton] E[manuel] Hogel transcribed the original stored in BEM. He modernised the orthography and changed the title to: Die Chroniken von der Stadt Erffurth (StAE 5/100–31). An abridged copy in a different eighteenth-century handwriting is: Antiqvitates Erfurtensis oder Chronica von der Stadt Erffurth (StAE 5/100–3, until 1503). Excerpts are found by Sigismund Friese: Antiquitates Erfurtenses oder Chronika der Stadt Erfurt. Band 4. StAE 5/100–45, passim, until p. 1153 (1663); by Heinrich v. Gerstenberger: Novantiqua Erfordiensia miscellanea, Nr. 4. BEM Mscr. 38a, pp. 153r– 157r (excerpts 1647 ff); in the Thüringisches Staatsarchiv Rudolstadt: A VIII 3b Nr. 21, pp. I–XIII, 1–756 (nineteenth century); and, finally, by Szamatólski (transcription) REFERENCES: Bauer, Personalschriften, pp. 210 f, no. 382. Bauer, Evangelische Theologen, p. 195. Henning. Herrmann, Bibliotheca, pp. 123–125, no. 70. Alfred Overmann, Erfurter Chroniken, pp. 32–34. Weiß, Lebenswelten. Wolf, Regensburger Stadtchroniken, on Christoph Siegmund Donauer (1593–1655) COMMENTARY: Chapter Five presented Hogel as an apocalyptic-minded pastor with historical interests. He there used chronology to convince Lutheran princes in the Empire to adopt an anti-Papist policy. The present chronicle pursued similarly political aims on a local level. Hogel partly wrote to give his version of town history and the civic unrest in the 1650s and early 1660s. This political character can still be surmised in the original manuscript, in short remarks that look forward to the 1650s (e. g. page 444c verso). The full force is only felt in the excerpts dating to the mid-eighteenth century (esp. Gerstenberger). They are full of personal attacks on politicians like Volkmar Limprecht (executed 1663). In the second half of the eighteenth century, a reader removed the most controversial passages on the decades following 1629, the year of the Imperial Edict of Restitution (Overmann pp. 33, 36). It was not difficult to remove entire sections from the manuscript. Hogel’s chronicle remained a draft filled with crossed-out passages and notes added on separate slips. The extant prospective references to events during the 1650s show that Hogel wrote after 1648; this is also evident in his commentary on the 1618-comet (p. 432v; see Chapter Four pp. 113 f). The chronicle long remained a family heirloom. Hogel’s homonymous son (Z. Hogel, III., 1637–1714) shared the historical interests and probably used the chronicle for his own historical works (e. g. Herrmann, p. 129). The grandson Anton Emanuel/Immanuel (b.1714) transcribed the chronicle and donated the original to the public library BEM in 1792 (p. 0r; Herrmann, p. 123). It is quite likely that he, on this occasion, removed the controversial concluding section. Erfurt was at the time still ruled from Mainz and Anton Emanuel was in town service, as a scribe. His copy written for the Town Archives is one of several transcripts from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Readers appreciated Zacharias Hogel’s thorough research. His chronicle is, for instance, known outside Erfurt for its copy of an early, since lost account on Dr. Faustus’ stay in Erfurt (Szamatólski; Henning). Yet it is not correct to praise Hogel as

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an author who fulfilled the modern ideals of objectivity. Hogel was ready to write in a very selective and imaginative manner, when it suited his purposes. This is evident in entries on the heterodox figure, Esaias Stiefel (Weiß passim). Hogel studied archives and earlier chronicles to support his cause, which he saw as the true and undisputable cause. Such pastoral zeal can at times be hard for modern readers to bear (compare Wolf, pp. 33–35, 293–295). Its political implications certainly discomforted some of Hogel’s descendants.

App. I.10 AUTHOR: Anonymous BIOGRAPHICAL DATA: Lutheran TITLE: [Erfurt chronicle] PRIOR TITLES: Bruchstücke einer Chronik von Erfurt etwa 1472–1628 (archival inventory) ARCHIVAL SIGNATURE: StAE 5/100–32 CODEX FORMAT: Quarto, in fragment. German, written in clean hand. Nineteenth-century cover EXTENT WITHIN CODEX: 121–158, 181–204, 282–354, 355–356 (fragment), 357–376, 397– 410. All other pages are lost PERIOD DESCRIBED BY THIS AUTHOR: 1472–1509, 1512–1621, 1627–1628 YEAR OF WRITING: 1627, at the latest. Since then updated irregularly REFERENCES: No prior comments COMMENTARY: Town chronicles have had many different owners before they entered into archives and public libraries. Most were for centuries passed down in families and traded amongst collectors. A number of chronicles have, indeed, remained – or re-entered – in private ownership until the present day (e. g. App. I. 19, 21, and 25). Unappreciative owners destroyed other codices in part (App. I. 9) or in total. The present specimen belongs to the group of fragmentary town chronicles. On the reverse of the cover, a connoisseur and collector of local manuscripts described his peculiar purchase from 1846. Heinrich Kruspe (1821–1893) had bought the partly shredded chronicle from a certain merchant Decken, “der sie zu Kaffeetüten verarbeiten wollte und leider schon viele blätter und der Einband gerissen hatte”. Most of this chronicle thus ended up in the kitchens of Biedermeier homes. It is written in an even hand by an unknown chronicler. He later added his own notes in the margins, bringing older entries up to date (e. g. Chapter Four p. 313). The entries grow longer and more frequent during the years 1627 and 1628, so at this time the chronicler was apparently writing about events soon after they occurred. A later reader added captions in the margins with a different ink. Heinrich Kruspe wrote further notes in pencil. The surviving pages give testimony to an accomplished storyteller. His lively accounts of recent events are often situated in taverns. One such story from 1627 is recounted in Chapter Four, pages 101 f. The chronicler told another story from the same year, set in the establishment ‘zum halben Mond’. There, the Devil appeared in the shape of a goat to carry an artisan from Arnstadt away through the night sky (pp. 401 f). A moral but humorous story from 1628 is set in the ‘Großer Christoffel’. It pits two monks serving as Imperial army chaplains against each other. A good Franciscan bickers and brawls with a coarse Augustinian found guilty of sexual escapades (p. 408). A number of earlier entries are also set in the same inn (pp. 398, 406, 407).

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Most of the entries on the years 1627 and 1628 concern war taxes and the misdeeds committed by Imperial troops. The harsh administration of military justice in August 1628 is described at some length, along with the civilian reactions to it. The author expressed unmistakably anti-Catholic convictions in entries about the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre in Paris, 1572 (352 ff). He likewise praised the Lutheran centennial in 1617 (373).

App. I.11 AUTHOR: Anonymous (possibly Johann Balthasar von Brettin, Jr.) BIOGRAPHICAL DATA: Lutheran. Brettin was a syndic; February 14, 1588 (Erfurt) – July 25, 1635 (Erfurt) TITLE: [Erfurt chronicle] PRIOR TITLES: Tagebuch eines Erfurters von c. 1604–1664 (archival inventory) ARCHIVAL SIGNATURE: StAE 1-1/XIa-10a CODEX FORMAT: Fragmentary compilation of several quarto manuscripts. German. 1r–88v, 193r–210v EXTENT WITHIN CODEX: 10r–17v, 24r–25v, 35r–88v PERIOD DESCRIBED BY THIS AUTHOR: 1602–1632 TOTAL PERIOD COVERED IN CHRONICLE: 1602–1664 YEAR OF WRITING: Sometime during the 1630s REFERENCES: The bibliography lists several works by the compiler Andreas Limprecht. See further Bauer, Personalschriften, pp. 82 f, no. 107. Bauer, Ratsherren, pp. 59 f and 94, and Andreas Limprecht: Diarium Meteorologico Astrologicum oder Alter und neuer historischer Schreib-Calender […]. Erfurt [1666] (VD17 32:637016N). Limprecht published similar almanacs and calendars during the 1660s, 1670s, and 1680s. The existence of most of these calendars are, at the present, only documented from Limprecht’s crossreferences in his manuscripts. No other copies were found in the libraries, archives, and public catalogues consulted for this study (August 2008) COMMENTARY: Though it is difficult to establish the identity of the original author with precision, the prior description of this text has to be rejected. It is not “a diary kept by an Erfurter from c.1604–1664”, as the archival inventory would have it. The core consists of notes for a chronicle covering the years 1602–1643. Its present form owes most to Andreas Limprecht (d.1684), a notary and mathematician, who in 1660 headed the Barfüsser parish school. Limprecht consulted local chronicles for historical notes. He used these to fill the almanacs and calendars, which he published from the 1660s until his death. Limprecht penned his excerpts from this chronicle on separate sheets added at the beginning and at the end of the codex (pp. 1r–9v, 1604–1628; pp. 193r–210r, 1636–1664). The excerpts added on pages 193r to 210r are based on additional sources. He later copied these notes verbatim on pages 182v to 198v of a separate volume entitled “Erfurtensia ad an. 1682”. A third group of notes cover the years 1607–1614. They have been removed from a different chronicle, where they had been paged with ink as pages 764–807. Archivists later paginated them with pencil as pages 18r–23r and 26r–34v, in accordance with their present placement. It is not possible to establish who added them to the codex: Limprecht, the original owner, or a third person? The collection does, in any case, point to the custom of writing chronicles by compilation (see App. I. 4 and Brückner, Historien und Historie).

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An earlier owner, possibly the author of the original chronicle, can be identified through Limprecht’s excerpts. He noted that they were drawn “ex Mscr. Brettin”, from Brettin’s manuscript. The Brettin family ranked among the newly-arrived, but well-connected families in town. Several members took on high positions in the Council (cf. Bauer, Personalschriften; Bauer, Ratsherren). The chronicler writing on the years 1602–1643 took a particular interest in military jurisdiction (64r–66r, 70v–71r, 72r, 75r) and he sympathised with the Lutheran preaching in Catholic churches (73r–73v). He certainly had access to arcane knowledge and could thus describe how the Council drew up an inventory of the documents in the archiepiscopal court building (72v). The account favours the Council throughout. It describes and justifies public construction beginning with the costly renovation of Town Hall in 1622 (p. 52v). Certain councillors had been appointed as commissaries in charge of the ongoing extension of fortifications and they conducted their task with equity: “die es wol ohne eigen nutz In acht gehabt” (71r). These war commissaries had exercised considerable power since 1632 and were often accused of governing as oligarchs in a very self-interested (eigennützige) manner. Hans Krafft, for instance, damned the commissary Johann Balthasar Brettin, Jr. to Hell, for his new system of taxation (see Chapter Two, fn. 16). Brettin may well have authored the chronicle himself. A comparison of handwriting could test the hypothesis, but it has not yet been possible to locate any autograph by Brettin. The text can at any rate be read as an attempt to defend the war commissaries against popular criticism. This historiographical undertaking remained incomplete, ending in 1632. The notes were to be continued five years later, in late 1636, in a different handwriting.

App. I.12 AUTHOR: Anonymous BIOGRAPHICAL DATA: Lutheran TITLE: [Continuation of App. I. 11] ARCHIVAL SIGNATURE: StAE 1-1/XIa-10a EXTENT WITHIN CODEX: 76r–88v PERIOD DESCRIBED BY THIS AUTHOR: 1637–1639, 1641, 1643 COMMENTARY: The fragmentary character of the compilation is also seen in this continuation. The past chronicler (App. I. 11) had on page 75v described events in December 1632. The next page (76r) jumps to the year 1637. The new account continued up to 1639. Two additional gaps separate this account (1637–1639) from a note on 1641 (87v) and two pages with detailed entries on the summer of 1643 (88r–88v). This chronicler focused on crimes, material difficulties, and the Swedish army. He variously praised heroic Swedish commanders and lamented about the burdens of war. Other chroniclers writing during these years limited themselves to lamentation and some openly turned against the Swedes (App. I. 8, 13).

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App. I.13 AUTHOR: Anonymous BIOGRAPHICAL DATA: Lutheran TITLE: [Erfurt chronicle] ARCHIVAL SIGNATURE: ThULB Ms.prov. Q 82 CODEX FORMAT: Octavo, in German. [1], 1r–100v, [1]; a section of unknown length between pages 94v and 95r has been lost EXTENT WITHIN CODEX: 1r–100v PERIOD DESCRIBED BY THIS AUTHOR: 438–1631, 1634–1636 TOTAL PERIOD COVERED IN CHRONICLE: 438–1668 YEAR OF WRITING: 1635; kept up to date until June 1636 REFERENCES: Bentzinger/Döring COMMENTARY: This account was in all probability written after the withdrawal of the Swedish garrison in September 1635. A range of circumstantial evidence indicates that the author relied on his memory alone. Entries grow more frequent after 1631 (80r) and earlier events are dated inaccurately. The chronicler did recall at what time of the church year (in Advent) Duke Friedrich of Sachsen-Altenburg arrived by Erfurt with his ‘Imperial’ soldiers. Yet he dated this destructive event to 1620 (p. 79r), rather than 1622. He was likewise obviously in doubt about exactly when the Defenestration in Prague had taken place. He crossed out his initial entry, 1618, and predated this event to 1617 (p. 78v). This correction helped him to match the duration of the war to his commentary on the comet of 1618. It was, he emphasised, seen in the sky for eighteen days and had thus presaged the eighteen years of war that followed after 1617 (79r; see Chapter Four, p. 109). By the time of writing, the Peace of Prague had finally brought an end to the “eternal war” (“Ewig[er] Krieg”, p. 99r). The town’s accession to the treaty was celebrated on September 6, “dießes Jahrs”, 1635. The townsman concluded with an unmistakably Lutheran note: “Die Papisten haben ihre Klöster wiedergekriegt […] der Gericht und die gerechtigkeiten wurden auch überandtwortet [… so dass] Erffurt seinen alten Hern hat Müßen an nehmen” (99v). The status quo ante had been almost fully re-established, the account seemed rounded. Yet like the annalist Arnoldi (App. I. 2), this town chronicler was then overtaken by events. The hated Swedes soon returned to plunder Electoral Saxon lands. Now writing with different ink, the chronicler entered as many of the following events as could be placed on the remaining two and a half pages in octavo (99v–100v). His account ended in June 1636, with the ominous discolouring of the pond in Nohra, near Erfurt (Chapter Four, pp. 123 ff). The last page, 101r, had once been at the beginning of the booklet. The anonymous, original owner had written five prayers here and further noted that the sheets were bound together in “Anno Dominius [sic] 1607”. The third known owner of the book likewise entered prayers and his name “Hans dettmar Anno Domini 1668” on the unpaginated page prior to p. 1r. After 1663, Hans Dettmar, or some other reader, added a few notes in the margins and at the bottom of pages (e. g. p. 100v). Another reader used an empty page (p. 0r) for household calculations. The main account is among the most simple and straightforward of all the town chronicles. Many entries are devoted to harvests, storms, and prodigies. The latter are often linked to bad weather rather than political events (page 96 verso; Chapter Four, Table One: 1631, 1–3; 1634, 1; 1635, 1; 1636, 3). The chronicler wrote in a syntax and grammar

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that is irregular, even by the liberal standards of his day. He may have orientated orthography towards dialectal pronunciation (See Bentzinger/Döring; e. g. p. 79v: “gedreÿdich”; 80r: “und in diesem Jahre [1629, recte: 1628] hat man zu Erffort 7 Crabaten nach ein nander an den gag gehenget”). The simple style is coupled with a clear, political stance. The staunchly Lutheran chronicler rejoiced at the pure preaching of the Word in Catholic churches (p. 95r) and regretted that the Council had had to relinquish its dominion over monasteries (p. 99v). He hence also feared the arrival of the Spaniards (p. 95v) and was certainly no friend of the “old lord” in Mainz, whom the town “had to take on” (p. 99v: “hat Müßen an nehmen”). By 1635, however, the chronicler preferred the Catholic Elector to the Swedes. They are described as foreign gluttons who were reluctant to leave Erfurt and the German lands: “[Sie sind] vngerne auß der Stadt vnd von deu[t]schen boden zogen, den[n] man große Mühe hat mit den Schweden[,] den[n] sie begerten so groß gelt daß es schier vnmüglich zu geben war, den[n] sie [hätten] lieber gewolt es were Ewig Krieg in deu[t]schlandt [ge]blieben” (p. 99r). The chronicler opposed all princely warmongers, including the Lutheran princes who united against the Emperor at the Leipziger Convention in 1631 (p. 80v). This fitted the policy of armed neutrality pursued by the Council in the year after the autumn of 1635. His main aversion was Wilhelm, duke of neighbouring Weimar. He had been appointed Statthalter of Erfurt, yet he soon turned into a “Stadt Verwüster” (pp. 94r–94v). The chronicler voiced similar, bitter complaints about the Imperial colonels who collected contributions throughout the late 1620s: “darnach ein keyserlicher oberster nach den andern eine Suma geldes auß der Stadt geholet hat vnd die Stadt Erffurt gar auß gesogen haben [sic]” (pp. 79r–79v). If the tax-weary chronicler was in tune with his fellow townsmen, sentiments in Erfurt had shifted from a pan-Protestant militancy (1631–1633) to a patriotism centred on the Emperor as the guarantor of peace.

App. I.14 AUTHOR: Anonymous BIOGRAPHICAL DATA: Lutheran, affiliated to the town guards TITLE: Erffurdtische Chronica ARCHIVAL SIGNATURE: StAE 5/100-33 CODEX FORMAT: Big quarto. German, clean hand. 1–565, [7], 567–728, [9] EXTENT WITHIN CODEX: 1–565 (copy), 567–728 (own description) PERIOD DESCRIBED BY THIS AUTHOR: 388–1625 (copy of App. I. 6), 1631–1637 TOTAL PERIOD COVERED IN CHRONICLE: 388–1637 YEAR OF WRITING: after February 4, 1636 (see p. 643) EDITIONS: Falckenstein, Civitatis Erfurtensis Historia, pp. 703–725 (extensive quotes) REFERENCES: K. Herrmann, Bibliotheca, p. 117, no. 64R. B. Herrmann, Kampf um Erfurt (1880) COMMENTARY: Most local historiographers of the eighteenth century consulted this account and with good reason. The anonymous chronicler gave an equally thorough and vivid account of the first Swedish occupation of Erfurt. The years from 1631 to 1635 are described as seen by council officials and town guards patrolling the ramparts and guarding the town gates. The 161 pages trace in their footsteps across markets plagued by racketeering soldiers, noting the songs and scams of the “Yellow Rock” and other military ne’er-

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do-wells in great detail (591–596). Entire paragraphs recount the civilian commissaries’ struggle to billet self-willed officers in a somewhat orderly manner (587 f). Still other sections follow patrols that vied with burglarious soldiers for the control of the streets (591, 647). Readers do, in other words, encounter a cross-section of the day and night life in an occupied town, replete with refugees (614, 694, et al.), prostitutes (630), and the ghosts that frightened and beat up militiamen on the ramparts (614, 657). The productive diplomat Falckenstein quoted this chronicler at length in his town history (1739–1740). The councillor Sigismund Friese (1673–1754) added a register at the end of the manuscript for easier reference. The first part of the chronicle is itself a nearly complete and more legible copy of Martin Hoffmann’s chronicle (App. I. 6). Unlike Hoffmann, this chronicler gave no attention to prodigies. He left a few pages after 1625 empty and moved six years ahead to the Swedish occupation. (The months between December 1625 and September 1631 were later filled in with a different handwriting). The title of his opening “Short report how Gustavus Adolphus […] arrived to the town Erfurt for the first time on September 22 in the year 1631 […]” indicates that the chronicler wrote after Gustavus’ second and last public visit in 1632 (p. 566, my emphasis: “Kurtze Anzeige, wie Gustavus Adolphus […] am 22. September ao 1631 zum ersten mahl in der Stadt Erfurt angelanget […]”). Entries on events during the years 1632 and 1633 often look ahead to the two next years (e. g. 577, 598, 609, 646). An entry on page 643 (September 22, 1633) anticipated events on February 4, 1636, making this the terminus post quem. By the time that this chronicle was begun, the first Swedish occupation was already a finished chapter in town history. Like most other Lutherans, the town chronicler held the late Swedish king in much higher esteem than his local representatives. Their insatiable appetite for war-taxes is made evident in the list on page 589: “Königs geschoß, Viertelgeschoß, Schutzgeld, Assistentzgeldt[,] baw[-] und Monatsgeldt. etc.” The focus on gates and guards makes it quite likely that is was written by an official in command of the town guards or with close contacts to them. The author was certainly well acquainted, or perhaps identical, with Johann Hallenhorst, a Stadtvogt, who later rose to become an influential councillor. The chronicle describes his tense negotiations with Swedish officers during their siege of the town in December 1636 in unusual detail (pp. 723–725; quoted by Falckenstein, pp. 724 f). The description of the bombardment and negotiations bears likeness to the justificatory accounts published after the conditional surrender of a besieged town (B. Herrmann; K. Herrmann, pp. 166 f, nos. 81–84). It is well possible that the chronicler wrote for readers in the Council, as Martin Hoffmann. Karl Herrmann counts both among the manuscripts kept in the Magistratsbibliothek, the successor to the Council library.

App. I.15 AUTHOR: Anonymous BIOGRAPHICAL DATA: Lutheran, with close ties to the town hall TITLE: [Erfurt chronicle] ARCHIVAL SIGNATURE: ThHStAW F164 CODEX FORMAT: Fragmentary compilation of four quarto manuscripts, all written in German. 1r–72v EXTENT WITHIN CODEX: 13r–57v PERIOD DESCRIBED BY THIS CHRONICLER: 1546–1623, 1639–1640

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TOTAL PERIOD COVERED IN CHRONICLE: 1064–1663 YEAR OF WRITING: Kept up to date on an irregular basis in 1639 and 1640 REFERENCES: Herrmann, Bibliotheca, p. 486, no. 286. Paul Mitzschke, Repertorium F, ThHStAW. Last used extensively by Kirchhoff, Erfurt und Gustav Adolf COMMENTARY: This is another complex compilation of fragments. Its four sections were written by at least three chroniclers. At some unknown point in the seventeenth century a collector united all four layers and paginated them with ink. The volume then included at least 241 pages (see p. 71v). The fragments that survive today were later paginated by an archivist, in pencil. I quote from this pagination. Only one of the three or four authors is of relevance to this study. He authored the third section. The first section describes a dozen of years from 1581 to 1595 (pp. 1r–6v). A second section in a new handwriting covers the period from 1064 to 1497 (pp. 7r–12v). The fourth section (pp. 58r–72v) contains notes on the years 1204–1613. It seems to have been written independently of the second section. This author knew the fourth section and excerpted events on the period from the Schmalkaldic War to 1623 (32r–34v). His later entries are more detailed (pp. 7v–31r; 36r–57v). The surviving fragment covers the period from March 16, 1639 to June 29, 1640. Some sections have been lost, e. g. the two ink-paginated sections 170r–174v and 212r– 226v (placed after p. 57v in the pencil pagination). The author updated his account on a roughly monthly basis. The last entry is presently paginated as page 35 verso. The author there addressed readers: “Ich habe mir lassen sehr getrieben ∥ Vndt diese dinge Alle auf geschrieben ∥ Wer dießes Buch nach mir hat Nuhn ∥ der Wolle auch daß gleichen Thun”. A later owner paid heed to this prompt. He added prayers (34r), extended existing entries (32r), and wrote brief notes in the margin or at the bottom of pages, describing events in 1645 (35v) and 1663 (9r). The chronicler of interest here commented on events in 1639 and 1640. His Lutheran affiliation is evident in the entry on the theological reform debate (Chapter Five, fn. 267) and the many notes on the Prediger- and Barfüsserkirche. The author seems to have worked next to these churches, in the town hall. He described events here in detail and sympathised with the fates of councillors and syndics, like Ernst Gottfried Nörinberger (d.1640, p. 44v). The chronicler was critical of other councillors. He accused those who governed in late 1640 and early 1641 of incompetence and injustice (51r–52r). Earlier entries launch more unspecific attacks against those who had brought the town into misery (pp. 23v, 28v). The work at the town hall also acquainted the author with high-ranking members of the garrison. He notes both high and lows in the civil-military relationship. Banquets and other forms of socialising between the Council and the commanding officers (pp. 36r, 40r, 42r) appear alongside military attempts to effect salaries by use of force. One of several poems gives a first-hand account of the officers’ sit-in at the Town Hall (pp. 43r–43v).

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App. I.16 AUTHOR: Volkmar Happe BIOGRAPHICAL DATA: November 15, 1587 (Greußen) – probably before 1659. Lutheran; court counsellor (Hofrat) in Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, 1623–1641 TITLE: Chronicon Thuringiae ARCHIVAL SIGNATURES: ThULB Ms. Bud. q. 17–18 CODEX FORMAT: 20,5 × 16,5 × c.7 cm. Vol. 1: [1], 1–463. Vol. 2: 1–458, [1]. Clean copy, mostly in German PERIOD DESCRIBED BY THIS AUTHOR: 1568–1642 YEAR OF WRITING: Possibly early 1642, based on earlier personal annals and administrative notes EDITIONS: Hans Medick/Norbert Winnige/Andreas Bähr, in cooperation with Joachim Ott/ Thomas Rokahr/Bernd Warlich: “Chronicon Thuringiae”. In: (published November 2008) REFERENCES: Andreas Bähr, Inhaltliche Erläuterungen. Joachim Ott, Zur Text- und Manuskriptgestalt. Hans Medick, Sondershausen. These three studies are all found at the link above. Note additionally Krusenstjern, Verzeichnis, pp. 111 f, no. 83 and the account by Michael Heubel, edited by Hans Medick, Bernd Warlich, et al.. COMMENTARY: This appendix includes three authors with a rather distanced relationship to the Erfurt. Volkmar Happe, Melchior Adam Pastorius, and Hiob Ludolf, Jr. (nos. 26– 27) both spent part of the war in town, yet they described these periods in accounts aimed at outside readers. What makes Happe interesting for this study is the change in his view of the town, before and after 1635. In the course of the 1630s, Erfurt transformed from a refuge to a source of troubles. Happe was at a privileged position to write about military burdens. He served in the residences Ebeleben and, after 1638, Sondershausen. These were small towns exposed to raids. As a court counsellor, Happe had access to the administrative writings on the destruction. His volumes on the war years amount to a cadastral of military crimes (Medick, esp. pp. 183 f on the following). Erfurt long remained a safe haven in Happe’s cadastral. He went to town on official business in the first years of the war (e. g. Vol. 1, pp. 166v–167r), and he sought refuge here in the autumn of 1632, when Imperial forces plundered Thuringia (Vol. 1, pp. 282r–291r). Two years later, the oppression came from the Swedish and Saxon forces, which were nominally still allied with each other and with the counts of Schwarzburg. After the Prague Treaty, Swedish troops became one of Happe’s main enemies. He first escorted his wife and children to Erfurt, then still a neutral town, to bring them into safety from Johan Banér’s forces (Vol. 2, pp. 74r–74v). From 1639 on, raids and demands for contributions mostly came from the new Swedish garrison in Erfurt. Happe now entered town to negotiate war-taxes and was placed under arrest there (Vol. 2, pp. 282r, 286r–288v). He soon began to praise the Imperial and Electoral officers who beat back Swedish raiders (Vol. 2, pp. 295r–300v, 345v–349v, et passim). Happe was not the only person who was led to revise his political loyalties by war-time experiences. They also split other Lutherans in Thuringia, who had once been united by their opposition to Catholics. The civilian commissary Michael Heubel went through the same process as Happe, for the same reason. His county was also exploited by the Erfurt garrison. During the same years, in the late 1630s, Erfurt citizens themselves began to write

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about Heldrungen as a base for Electoral Saxon robbers. None mentioned that their own town was just as hated in the region. Happe and Heubel here add a much-needed outside view on Erfurt. Happe’s account is preserved in an eighteenth-century transcript. It seems to be quite faithful to the lost original, which was itself a revision of earlier records. From early 1623 onwards, Happe had written in a monthly or possibly annual frequency (Krusenstjern). In, or shortly after, 1642, he revised some sections in his annals and added a genealogy of his family. This editorial effort may well owe to his fall from grace at court, after a dynastic change in early 1642 (see esp. Vol. 1, p. 14v–15r). Happe tried to document his loyal service as an official, working under hard conditions (Bähr). Self-justification was not an uncommon motive for writing (compare App. I. 1–2, 11, 14).

App. I.17 AUTHOR: [Herrmann Taute] BIOGRAPHICAL DATA: ?–1647 (Erfurt). Lutheran council scribe TITLE: Schwartz Voigteybuch Auf sonderbaren der Herren Oberen gegebenen Ernsten befehlich vorfertigt. Worein Allerhand sachen welche sich auf dem Lande Erffurtischen Gebieths zwischen den Unterthanen unnd Soldaten begeben eingetragen werden sollen angefangen den 9. Decembris Ao 1639 [later addition:] bis d. 11. April 1646 ARCHIVAL SIGNATURE: LHASA, MD, A 37b I, II IX Nr. 32 CODEX FORMAT: Big quarto, bound in black leather. 1–433. Mostly German, some Latin PERIOD DESCRIBED BY THIS AUTHOR: 1639–1646 YEAR OF WRITING: 1639–1646 EDITIONS: Heinrich Beyer: Das schwarze Vogteibuch des Raths zu Erfurt. In: Allgemeines Archiv für die Geschichtskunde des Preußischen Staates. 15. 1835, pp. 240–269 (excerpts) REFERENCES: Berg, Regulating War. Feuerle. Graf. Sterberegister der Barfüßerkirche zu Erfurt 1592–1683, pp. 285 (death of his wife in 1642), 300 (his own death). Trauregister Barfüßergemeinde 1591–1771 (remarried with Jungfrau Maria Kellner on the Twentythird Sunday after Trinity, 1644); Taufregister Barfüßergemeinde (pp. 352, 357: baptism of their two daughters in 1645 and 1646). BEM holds all the above three registers COMMENTARY: This official journal resembles the diarium described above, in App. I. 1. Whilst Marx kept track of events during first Swedish garrison (1631–1635), Taute wrote on the second, stationed by the gates of the town from 1636 to 1650. The title is fitting. The “Black Book of the Bailiff ” is bound in black leather (Beyer, p. 240) and contains a sort of criminal records. Like other black books (Graf), it registered persons who had defied the law, regardless whether they had been sentenced. The Erfurt Council hereby tried to control the citizens and the rural subjects who had signed on at the garrison to escape the council jurisdiction (Berg, pp. 67–69, 81–83; Feuerle, pp. 246–248). The register soon expanded into a logbook on legal relations between the Council and the garrison. Compared to Marx, Taute was an even more discrete diarist. He did not mention his own name at any point. The archivist Christian Heinrich Beyer (1806–1886) later identified the council scribe as the author based on Taute’s handwriting. Beyer also edited parts of the journal in an abridged form, with modernised orthography. Beyer was interested in town history and therefore omitted most prayers.

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The pious entries relevant to this study are perhaps best called semi-official. Taute here resembled the pastors who entered memorable events in church books. Raids and war-taxes there stand next to the official entries on baptisms, funerals, and marriages. Taute’s notes on prodigies and sudden deaths likewise lay beyond the official scope. Yet these entries were – in his view – useful for the local community. The semi-official criterion imposed some limits. For instance, Taute clearly felt obliged to write about, and pray for, his superior, Johann Melchior Förster, when he was taken hostage (Chapter Six, p. 230). Taute nowhere wrote about his own family’s turbulent life. The death of his wife (1642), his remarriage (1644), and his newborn daughters (1645, 1646) are events documented in church records alone. The self-imposed limitation does not allow us to look at Taute as a family man, but his notes do give modern readers insights into his religious coping (Chapter Four, pp. 113–114 and Chapter Six, pp. 224–230). Another potential lies in the comparison with fellow townsmen who portrayed the same events from a different perspective; his colleague at the town hall (App. I. 15) is of particular interest.

App. I.18 AUTHOR: Johannes Hundorph BIOGRAPHICAL DATA: 1603–1667. Lutheran school teacher in the Augustinerpfarrei (1626– 1667) and university beadle (1652–1667) TITLE: ENCOMII ERFFURT INI Continuatio Oder Fernere Beschreibung der Stadt ERFFVRT / Darinnen die Namen der Prediger / so von Anno 1521. als dem Anfange der heilsamen Reformation in den Evangelischen Kirchen alhier / biß auff gegenwärtige Zeit / das Amt verrichtet […] Mit einer Vorrede / von der Evangelischen Lehr/ wie die auch alhier bald erst mit reformiret, und bißher gnädig erhalten worden. Dann eine Chronologische Erzehlung etlicher Gelehrten Leute […] item Lutheri Lebens-Lauff: und was sonsten/ der Religion halben Denckwürdiges hie und da / vor/mit/in/und nach der Reformation biß auf den Teutschen Friedenschluß / sonderlich bey währender Schwed. Gvarnison alhier/ fürgangen: […] Auß Luthero, Schleidano, Mathesio, unterschiedlichen Predigten/ Privilegirten Schrifften/ und den Relationibus, zusammen bracht Von JOHANNE HUNDORPHIO Erffurt. Scholæ P. ad S. Joh. C. Anno reparatæ salutis M°.DC°. LI°. instauratæ Pacis III° […] The title of the relevant section (p. H1v) is: Kurtze Chronolog- und Historische Erzehlungen/ Erstlich: Wie Gott sein Wort von Anfang der Welt in so mancherley Verfolgund Anfechtungen bis auf diese Zeit gnädig erhalten […] Fürs andere: Weil diß Wercklein sonderlich auf Erffurt gerichtet / der Denckwürdigsten Geschichte/so sich von Anfang der Stadt her unterschiedlich zugetragen: Dann etlicher fürtrefflicher Gelehrten und der eingeschlichenen Papistischen Mißbräuche Reformatoren […] Vnd endlichen: Was bey währendem 30 Jährigen Teutschen Kriege hie und da: und bey der 18 Jährigen Schwedischen Gvarnison alhier in der Stadt/biß zum allgemeinen Friedenschluß:und folgends ins 1652 Jahr denckwürdiges fürgangen CODEX FORMAT: [68] leafs, quarto, printed. Mostly German PERIOD DESCRIBED BY THIS AUTHOR: Genesis–1652 A. C. YEAR OF WRITING: Concluded January 28, 1652 (p. H2v); predated to 1651 by the printer REFERENCES: Herrmann, Bibliotheca, pp. 167 f, nos. 89–90. Motschmann, Sechste Sammlung, pp. 925–927 (with further references)

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A knowledge of predecessors deepens the understanding of this work: Johannes Hundorph: ENCOMIUM ERFFURTINUM, Dem […] CAROLO GUSTAVO, Pfaltz Grafen bey Rhein […] über dero Königl. Majt. vnd Reiche Schweden […] Siegreiche Arméen vnd Krieges Estaat in Teutschland GENERALISSIMO Zur/ […] glücklichen Wiederkunfft vom […] Nürnbergischen geendetenFriedens-Execution-Convent […]. Erfurt 1650 Johannes Hundorph: […] Redivivæ Germaniæ ut & S. P. Q. E. reparatæ & instauratæ PACIS STATU MEMORALIS Pariterq; […] DEMONSTRATIO & DESCRIPTIO Evacuationis, und Abführung der Königl. Schwedischen Gvarnison alhier zu Erffurdt: und deren zwischen dem Rath und Bürgern entstandenen Mißhelligkeiten güt- und glücklichen Ableg- und Vergleichung: und wie derentwegen das […] angestellte Bet- Lob- Ehr- […] Fried- und Frewden-Fest […] hochfey[e]rlich celebriret/ gehalten / und geendiget worden […]. Erfurt 1650 Johannes Hundorph: ENCOMIUM ERFFURTINUM, Oder Beschreibung Aller Denckwürdigen Stücke der Stadt ERFFVRT. Von newen übersehen/ verbessert/ und mit einem Catalogo Sequiseculari der RathsMeister und Vier-Herren/ nemlich von Anno 1500. an biß 1650. […] auffgesetzet […]. [Erfurt] 1651 Works cited in the following: Arnold, Städtelob und Stadtbeschreibung. Gordon, Changing Face. Christine Mundhenk. COMMENTARY: Hundorph’s historical notes had a considerable impact on local historiography. The copies stored in StAE and SLUB (Hist.Sax.H.200.z, misc.1) contain numerous manuscript additions; BEM holds a manuscript continuation from the eighteenth century (Herrmann, pp. 168 f, no. 91). The lengthy passage on the Swedish garrisons (H1v–R3v) was probably the most-read of all accounts on this period. His presentation of the war differs from the town chronicles described up to now, in three ways. It was written in a separate genre, as part of a praise of Erfurt. This laus urbis was, secondly, the first published work with a lengthier history of the town (Motschmann mentions precursors). Thirdly, and for this study most importantly, Hundorph wrote the first post-war account. The town praise is admittedly far removed from its masterful thirteenth-century predecessor, the Occultus Erfordensis (Mundhenk). The Encomium Erffurtinum and its Continuatio reflect a general decline. The genre had lost its poetic dimension and was reduced to a rather artless topography (Arnold, p. 249). Hundorph did not excel in panegyrics but he knew how to have his works published. Bringing four works to print within a year and a half was no mean feat for an impecunious school teacher with no past (and, one might add, future) publishing record. The works may well have earned him the position as university beadle, in 1652. The apt choice of topic and patrons deserve special mention. Hundorph dedicated his short Encomium Erffurtinum (July 1650) to the Swedish commander-in-chief, and later king, Charles Gustavus. A second piece centred on the departure of the Swedish garrison in September 1650. This Pacis Statua Memoralis praised the grand celebrations organised on this occasion by the Council and his employees, the elders in the Augustiner parish. In return, the elders financed the publication of his eight-page-long documentation. A second, revised edition of the Encomium extended the original four leafs to eighteen. Then came a sequel volume of sixty-eight leafs, the Encomii Erffurtini Continuatio. Concluded in early 1652 (p. H2v), the Continuatio was dedicated to a number of pastors and other local notabilities, including the publisher Johann Birckner (p. H2r–v). Birckner printed the work.

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Hundorph contributed to ongoing urban conflicts in all of his works. Three conflicts have left a particular imprint on the account of the war years. His paper statue to peace, the Pacis Statua Memoralis, commented on the strife between councillors and civic representatives. It expressed the hope that external peace in the Empire would be followed by internal peace in town. The Encomium (p. A2v) and the historical part of the Continuatio (p. L1r) strongly warned against popular uprising and praised prior harmony between the Council and the Emperor (p. C1v). In years dominated by accusations of oligarchy, Hundorph’s list of councillors in the second edition of the Encomium was politically highly relevant. The list of pastors in the Continuatio was likewise more than a collective biography. Hundorph commemorated figures that had fought against Papal obscurantism in order to nurture an exclusive, denominational identity. Such works on local or regional church history appeared in legion in Lutheran lands (Gordon; Pohlig). Religious intransigency permeates the outline of the urban and universal history. The narrative framework was drawn from accounts of the persecution of the True Church found by Johannes Sleidan and Ludwig Rabus (1523–1592). It here ranged from Cain’s murder of Abel to Papist massacres at Magdeburg (1631). Hundorph attempted to calculate the total number of victims in the war with the same accuracy that he counts bells and mills in town. He ultimately kept to the 325,000 who fell in battles. This body count was meant to illustrate the teaching on the Church’s continual sufferings (p. R3v): “Sangvine fundata est Ecclesia, sangvine crevit, Sangvine succrevit, sangvine finis erit.” This was, Hundorph argued, the main lesson learned from (and repeated in) the Thirty Years War. Anno 1652, it required an extensive list of evidence to present the war in such a black-and-white scheme. The list is selective. Hundorph presented the Swedish garrison in the same rosy light as he had described its departure in 1650, and thus systematically omitted past civil-military conflicts. The departure of the first garrison in 1635 supposedly took place “in good order” (Q2v, “in guter Ordre”); no mention was made of the poorlypaid officers who threatened arson and mutiny (cf. App. I. 14, pp. 697–701). The same discrepancy is observed when one compares the complaints in App. I. 15 and 17 to the claim that a tight discipline was kept among both soldiers and officers (pp. R2r–2v). Contemporaries could easily see how political sympathies coloured this account. Later readers were not in this position. Even those who rejected Hundorph’s strong opinions still used his publication as a source of reliable and readily available facts about the occupation. Andreas Limprecht is as good an example as any. His historical excerpts (see the bibliography) drew heavily on the Continuatio. Yet since he wrote after the return of the rulers from Mainz, Limprecht inverted many of its evaluations. He thus described the evacuation of the Swedish garrison as a liberation (Limprecht, Erfurtensia p. 194r): the occupiers left town “mit pack vnd sack”. Hundorph had, in other words, forged a strong praise for the Swedish occupation. He had opened, but by no means concluded, the struggle to define the important events and lessons to be drawn from the war.

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App. I.19 AUTHOR: Hans Krafft BIOGRAPHICAL DATA: October/November 1579/1589 (Erfurt) – 1665 (Erfurt). Master craftsman TITLE: [Erfurt chronicle] ARCHIVAL SIGNATURE: UBEDE CU 1 CODEX FORMAT: 16,5 × 19,5 × 4,0 cm. German, 1r–236v PERIOD DESCRIBED BY THIS AUTHOR: 447–1662 TOTAL PERIOD COVERED IN CHRONICLE: 447–1694 YEARS OF WRITING: 1610–1654 (on relatives); 1650s–1662 (on Erfurt) EDITIONS: Hans Medick/Andreas Bähr/Jörg Schmidt, eds.: Hans Krafft (1584–1665). Ein Erfurter Chronik aus der Zeit des Dreißigjährigen Krieges. In: (1. ed, published 2003; no longer accessible January 28, 2009). The second edition is edited by Hans Medick/ Norbert Winninge in cooperation with Andreas Bähr/Thomas Rokahr/Bernd Warlich/Jörg Schmidt: Hans Krafft (1589–1665). “Chronik aus dem Dreißigjährigen Krieg.” (published November 2008) REFERENCES: Jacob, Chronik. Jacob, Familienschicksal. Krusenstjern, Verzeichnis, pp. 144 f, no. 119 (with references to all articles from the 1930s). Eva Locher: Anmerkungen zur Überlieferungsgeschichte der “Krafft-Chronik”. Hans Medick: Inhaltliche Erläuterungen zur Chronik des Hans Krafft. Hans Medick: Beschreibung der Handschrift. The three above articles are found in < http://www.mdsz.thulb.uni-jena.de/krafft/quelle.php> (January 28, 2008). J. Schmidt, Erfurter Chronik. Tettau, Reduction COMMENTARY: The destinies of this chronicle has, in accordance with Terentianus, depended on its readers. Hans Krafft wrote to contribute to political debates of the 1650s, but his work soon slipped into oblivion. In the twentieth century, it was then twice rediscovered and has since received more commentary than most other local chronicles. Hugo Jacob, Jörg Schmidt, and Hans Medick have each highlighted different aspects in the woad dyer’s portrait of his family and his town. I recapitulate some of their findings, and comment on the dating of the work and its place within the local chronicle-writing. Krafft wrote in several stages. The first section (pp. 1–10v) contains a family chronicle kept up to date in a straightforward manner from 1604 to 1654 (Jacob, Familienschicksal); Krafft inter alia corrected an early entry on his own date of birth (p. 1v; compare p. 301 above). The town chronicle (pp. 11r–235r) is more carefully organised. Entries seem to be based on notes accumulated over the years. In the early 1650s, Krafft probably reorganised them thematically, entered them in this codex, and added notes until 1662 (pp. 30v, 37r–37v, 48v, 162r). The catalogue of common prayers on page 49v is exemplary. The first two entries on the years 1615 and 1653 are written with the same handwriting and include the telling phrase: “now in the year 1653” (“Anietzo a[nn]o 1653”). In 1660, Krafft then commented on a new, controversial prayer at the bottom of the page. Krafft is one of the few who added an (incomplete) index to his own chronicle. Such efforts were taken to bring across a political message. Krafft here resembles Hogel (App. I. 9) and Hundorph (App. I. 18). Though Krafft strongly opposed that Lutherans should pray for the Archbishop of Mainz, he sympathised with the controversial councillor Elias Balthasar von Brettin (1590–1676) (pp. 35r–35v, 37r–37v, 49v). This dual stance characterised the populist faction of the early 1650s (Tettau). Krafft sought to bolster the

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legitimacy of this party by emphasising its popular support. He appealed to groups like the “citizenry” and “community” and wrote of them as one collective united “as an armour” (p. 74v: “die gemeine bürgür schafft”; 34v: “GeMeine”; 37v: “wie ein bantzer”). The common man here fought for the “common weal” (p. 76v: “Gemeine Nutz”) and disclosed the machinations of the rich (esp. p. 100v). Such slogans are flanked by historical notes from the recent and more distant past. Medick has rightly pointed to the praise of Emperor Rudolf I (1219–1291), for supporting the citizenry against seditious oligarchs (pp. 11v–12r, 1289). Krafft defamed the oligarchs of his own days as unjust and god-forsaken, keeping a careful record of their taxes, sudden deaths (pp. 35r–35v, 119r–120r) and prostitution affairs (p. 171v). This political leaning seems to have been lost upon many later readers. The pages left empty by Krafft were soon filled with household calculations and a few infantile drawings (on the following: Medick, Beschreibung). The most reverent reader added apocalyptic excerpts (pp. 193r–195r). Sometime in the eighteenth century, a later owner had the codex bound. Hugo Jacob surmised that the chronicle long remained within the family. It was certainly neither mentioned by the town historians in the eighteenth century nor by local collectors in the nineteenth. None of the owners deemed it necessary to complete the index. At the turn of the twentieth century, the chronicle was owned by two regional pastors and then entered antiquaries in Jena and Erfurt (on the following, Locher; compare App. I. 25). Hugo Jacob acquired it around 1930 and wrote two articles with a genealogical focus in 1938. One of Krafft’s direct descendants bought it from Jacob’s heirs in 1991 and decided to make it available for public research. The chronicle was donated to the research library in Erfurt in 2003 and published in an on-line edition in the same year.

App. I.20 AUTHOR: Johann Daniel Ludwig BIOGRAPHICAL DATA: December 6, 1615 (Gotha) – October 5, 1669 (Bischleben). Pastor in Dachwig 1639–1648, 1652–1669. All the three places lie within thirty kilometres of Erfurt TITLE: Gedechtnüsswürdige Erzehlunge ezlicher Sachen von Dachwig ARCHIVAL SIGNATURE: Pfarrarchiv Dachwig CODEX FORMAT: Mainly German PERIOD DESCRIBED BY THIS AUTHOR: 632–1669 YEAR OF WRITING: 1662 or 1663. Updated on an irregular basis until 1669 EDITIONS: Wilhelm Schum, ed.: Chronik des Erfurtischen Dorfes Dachwig aus dem XVII. Jahrhundert. In: Mitteilungen des Vereins für die Geschichte und Altertumskunde von Erfurt. 4. 1869, pp. 83–189 REFERENCES: Albrecht-Birkner, Reformation des Lebens, pp. 397–399, 541 (census 1641). Bauer, Personalschriften, p. 413, no. 771; Bauer, Theologen, pp. 219 f. Schum, pp. 82–110, 188 f. Zahn, Leich-Predigt (1656) Further texts written by Ludwig: (1) [Nachrichten über Pfarrei und Schule]. Manuscript. Pfarrarchiv Dachwig. (2) Disputatio Logica De Syllogismo Infinito in secunda figura […] Respondente Johan-Daniele Ludowig Goth. Thuringo […]. Erfurt 1636. (3) Breviarii Metaphysici, Publicis hactenus disputationibus per publicas subinde praelectiones praedestinati, Agōnisma […] De Metaphysices Praecognito Usiologico […] Subiturus est Johan-Daniel Ludowig Gotha-Thurin. Respondens. Erfurt 1638

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COMMENTARY: Ludwig began to write in 1662 or 1663 at the time when Krafft put down the pen (App. I. 19). These years mark the height of internal urban conflict. Ludwig commented on the turmoil as seen from a village, to the northwest. His account is as controversial and biased as that written by Krafft, yet Ludwig focused on struggles in Dachwig. They are best understood by reviewing his career. Johann Daniel Ludwig received his first calling in February 1639 at the age of twentythree. It is difficult to imagine a worse career start for a pastor. Dachwig was at the time regularly raided by the enemy, and the population was decreasing at an alarming rate. In 1635, 513 parishioners survived; by late 1642, almost half of them had either left or died, leaving but 286 behind in the village (Schum, pp. 118, 123). In the following year, 1643, there were no more than 109 souls to take care of (p. 124). Ludwig had been reluctant to leave the security of Erfurt, yet family finances left him little choice: “Das dorf und kriegsleben ware mir zwart unbewusst, gleichwohl waren meine lieben eltern wegen der bösen zeit sehr unvermügend worden, das ich also gerne die beförderunge annahme” (p. 120). His troubles were to continue long after the raids ended, for Dachwig was one of many parishes in Erfurt territory with a dual jurisdiction. When he came into conflict with the elders (Kirchenväter), Ludwig generally aligned with the Duke of Sachsen-Gotha, who held the church patronage. In turn, the parish council called upon authorities in Erfurt (Schum, pp. 101–103). Martin Bötzinger (1599–1673), then pastor in Nottleben (1641–1647), located but a few kilometres to the south, described the same constellation in an exasperated passage of his famed autobiography: “Jch hab aber zu Notleben nicht allein wegen Unsicherheit, da man täglich auf die Flucht denken mußte, sondern auch wegen Strittigk der Bauren [gelitten], die in Kirch- und Schul-Sachen das Maul immer nach Erfurt hängeten, und [da] alle Fürstl. Ordnungen wegen des Catechismi bey ihnen odios waren, muste ich Pfarrer bey dem Rath und Bauren es ziemlich entgelten [… also] suchte ich unterthänig an um eine translocation.” (Krauß, p. 358). Ludwig had similar grievances and managed to be transferred one year after Bötzinger, in 1648. In 1652, he then reluctantly returned to the village and was to remain there for further seventeen years. Ludwig thus harboured very mixed feelings about Dachwig when he began to write the parish history in 1662 or 1663. Readers offended by his personal assaults later crossed out the names of criticised persons (p. 133). Entries on the recent decades range from notes on the sudden deaths of wilful parishioners (e. g. pp. 123 f) to passages pitying their – and hence also his – miseries during war. The description of the decade of war that Ludwig experienced in the village is rather brief (pp. 84–88). The section should impress coming generations with the immense sufferings of their forefathers in the parish (Schum, pp. 105 f). Ludwig here repeatedly thanked God for bringing him safely through the war (pp. 120 f, 123, 127) and – as if to demonstrate his erudition – included some pious chronodisticha written during the war (p. 123: 1642, p. 128: 1650). The accomplished philologist Wilhelm Schum (1846–1892) edited the chronicle in 1869. He outlined Ludwig’s sources (pp. 106–108), which probably included diary notes written in town, in 1636. Schum convincingly argues that the main part of chronicle was written 1662 or 1663, at the latest. Ludwig then began to enter events in a journal-like manner, at irregular intervals (Schum, pp. 103 f), with notable effects on the content. Weekly newspaper reports about the war against the Turks now prompted Ludwig to pray (pp. 150, 152 f), and he would continue to do so during the latter half of 1660s, when prodigies fed his fears of a Catholic Counterreformation (pp. 97, 153, 158, 161, 168, 183). The entries presenting sudden deaths as divine punishment are likewise more common during the 1660s (pp. 99 f).

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Ludwig has left a series of additional records behind, beginning with disputations held in Erfurt in 1636 and 1637. He dutifully handed in sermons to the committee that inspected parishes in Sachsen-Gotha during the 1640s (Albrecht-Birkner, pp. 397–399). In 1664, he wrote a separate memorandum on the village school and his conflicts with its schoolmaster (Schum, pp. 86, 89–92). Extant records do in rare cases inform us about the lives of the chroniclers’ wives. The sermon held at burial of Ludwig’s first wife, Magdalena (1618–1656) first recounts the humble lessons that she drew from her harsh life during the war. It then describes her struggle to cope religiously with her final two years of chronic illness.

App. I.21 AUTHOR: Anonymous TITLE: [Compilation] PRIOR TITLES: Auszüge aus Erfurter Chroniken und Notizen über Erfurter Ereignissen, gute Erntejahre und vor allem über gute Weinjahre mit Angabe der gewonnenen Leiten Wein, sodann über Unwetter, Finsternisse, Himmelserscheinungen, Feuersbrünste, Überschwemmungen, Seuchen etc. Bauten. Nach sachlichen Gesichtspunkten geordnet 400–1660 (entry in library inventory, BEM) ARCHIVAL SIGNATURE: BEM Mscr. 22 (now lost) CODEX FORMAT: Octavo, German. 102 leafs: I–X, 1–27, 74–138. The pagination according to Arab numbers was old PERIOD DESCRIBED BY THIS AUTHOR: 400–1660 YEAR OF WRITING: Unknown COMMENTARY: This compilation has probably been stolen in or before 1972. It was, like many other volumes in the BEM, then reported missing. Judging by the bibliographical description it was very similar to the compilation in StAE 5/100–90 (App. I. 22) in both content and the time of writing.

App. I.22 AUTHOR: Anonymous BIOGRAPHICAL DATA: Lutheran TITLE: [Compilation] PRIOR TITLES: Chronik von Erfurt (title written on the cover by a later owner) ARCHIVAL SIGNATURE: StAE 5/100-90 CODEX FORMAT: [7], 1r–140v. German, octavo. The first seven and the last two leafs are unwritten PERIOD DESCRIBED BY THIS AUTHOR: 347–1683 (see pages 125r–127v) YEAR OF WRITING: c.1665, with later additions COMMENTARY: At some point in the early 1660s, a townsman set about to compile all prodigies and calamities that had affected the town of Erfurt. The aim was to write a local version of the well-known works by authors like Job Fincel – no mean task. Numerous compilers had already grouped such phenomena in a universal manner, at times based on thematic

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criteria, but very few had imposed a local delimitation (App. I. 21). The compiler was forced to work his way through the town chronicles. The outcome gives interesting insights into the retrospective selection of significant signs (Chapter Four, pp. 108 ff). It furthermore offers a panorama of the themes that most interested local chroniclers. The short chapters cover a total of twenty categories. The author placed construction works and sieges (p. 1r) at the front and could thus begin in the accustomed manner, with the foundation of the town. Then follows “Brandt Schaden von der Stadt Erffurdt” (39r) and further calamities like “Theüren Zeiten vnd Groß hungersnoth.” (56r) and “Hewschrecken die umb Erfurt und in Thüringen Schaden gethan” (63r). God also punished through the weather. “Hitzige Sommer” (64r) stand next to “Grosse Gewitter und Einschlege von Wetter in Erffurd” (68r). The sky held many warnings. “Cometen” (83), “Fünsternus der Sonnen” (89r), and “Mond Finsterniß” (92r) were but the beginning, pursued by entries “von Himmels und feüer Zeichen” (93r) and the occasions when “Blut in Erffurt geregnet [hat]” (95r). The compilation concluded with the further natural events. The list of adverse events – “Naße Jahr” (96r); “Erdbeben in Erffurt” (97v); “Grosse Winde” (98r) “Grosser Schnee” (102r); “Kalter Winter” (109r); and epidemics (117r: “Groß Sterben”) – runs longer than the positive: “Warm Winter” (99r), “Wohl feile Zeiten” (129r) and bountiful wine harvests (133r: “Vorzeichnis der Weinjahren”). In most categories, the last entries lie between 1659 and 1665, making the latter a likely year of writing. The two entries on the epidemic in 1682 and 1683 (123v–127v) were probably added afterwards; the same applies to the town fires added from the 1660s until 1680 (54v–55v). The author did not give his compilation any title and remained anonymous. He was most likely Lutheran. On page 52r, he wrote that a house owned by Popish priests (“ein Pfaffen hauß”) burned down in 1637; the six hundred Catholic victims of the 1597epidemic are disparagingly termed “Bapisten” (123r).

App. I. 23 AUTHOR: Samuel Fritz BIOGRAPHICAL DATA: May 1, 1610 (Erfurt) – July 1, 1683 (Erfurt). A Lutheran cook (Garkoch), often in the service of high-ranking officials TITLE: COSMOGRAPHIA ARCHIVAL SIGNATURE: StAE 5/100-43 CODEX FORMAT: [1], 1r–248v, [4]. Folio, written in a clean hand. Mainly in German, with some Latin. Richly illustrated, without a thematic or chronological order EXTENT WITHIN CODEX: [1], 1r–248r, [4] PERIOD DESCRIBED BY THIS AUTHOR: Genesis (31r) – 1676 (143r)/Judgement Day (208r) YEAR OF WRITING: Probably begun at some point between 1665 and 1675; concluded around June 1676 EDITIONS: Reprints of individual illustrations from the cosmography and the subsequent chronicle (App. I. 24) are found in numerous works on local history, e. g. Overmann, Erfurt in zwölf Jahrhunderten, pp. 237, 250, 257 f REFERENCES: Genealogical and biographical notes by Bauer, Theologen, p. 141. Herrmann, Bibliotheca, pp. 121–123, nos. 67, 69. Overmann, Erfurter Chroniken, p. 32. Christian Reichart in App. I. 24, p. 0r. Rosseaux, pp. 445–447. Biographical references: Taufregister der Barfüßergemeinde Erfurt 1592–1684. Register zu den Taufbüchern der Prediger-

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gemeinde zu Erfurt 1624–1802. Register zu den Sterbebüchern der Evang. Predigergemeinde zu Erfurt 1673–1802 (all in BEM) PRIOR OWNERS: Two owners entered their names on page 0r: “Dieses buch habe ich Anna Margretha Löbnitzen [May 24, 1692–December 3, 1766] gebohrne Lambinußin von meinen [sic] Seel[i]gen Vater Herrmann Lambinuth [recte: La(m)binius, d. May 24, 1738] ererbet vnd ist der Verfertiger dieses Buchs gewesen Samuel Fritz, Meiner Seel. Mutters Vater. 1738.” – Hence, Samuel’s daughter, Anna Margretha Fritz (December 7, 1658–November 26, 1711), passed it on to her husband, who left it to their daughter, Anna Margretha Löbnitz, née Labinius. She probably passed on the Cosmographia to her son Thomas Rudolph (February 4, 1715–March 13, 1803), born in her first marriage. This does, at least, fit to the next entry: “Dieses Buch ist mir zum Andencken von meiner [sic] Herrn Schwäger vater Thomas Rudolph Schatz verehret worden d. 7. Febr. 1807. J.[ohann] H[einrich]. D.[avid] Bauer”. – Johann Heinrich David Bauer (died October 21, 1836) had in 1786 married a daughter of T. R. Schatz, Anna Elisabeth (April 24, 1744–April 27, 1793). In 1863, the Cosmographia was owned by a certain Ms. Henriette Bauer (Herrmann). It was not yet possible to reconstruct her family relations to J. H. D. Bauer. COMMENTARY: Samuel Fritz is probably best characterised as an avid compiler and draftsman. Throughout his life, he depicted locations and objects that he either saw during travels and in his home town, or encountered in print. In his mid-sixties and early seventies, Fritz copied these drawings in two volumes, which he himself referred to as a cosmography (App. I. 23) and a town chronicle (App. I. 24). The few pictures reprinted in the present study clearly shows that his skills lay far behind those of his great idol, Albrecht Dürer (praised in I. 24, pp. 193 f, 209). Erfurt was no centre of graphic art in the seventeenth century. Engravers were, at best, temporary residents and Fritz could hence earn himself a name in town as an accomplished maker of wax portraits. A later reader noted that it was Fritz who traced the antique coins in the first full printed history of Erfurt from 1675, by the Electoral historiographer Gudenus (I. 24, p. 0r; see I. 23, p. 236r). Fritz was also said to have presented the Electoral envoy Adam Schwindt (1574–1632) with an encyclopaedic compendium that depicted fauna found in all four elements (fish; birds; worms; quadrupeds, “und andere Curiosa”, I. 24, p. 0r). In return for such artistic services, members of the urban upper class in Erfurt and elsewhere granted Fritz access to their libraries and expensive coppers (e. g. Holland I. 23, pp. 19v–20r and Kreuznach p. 70r, I. 24, p. 322; Chapter Four, fn. 93). They were an important source for Fritz, who also retraced cheaper broadsheets. The richly illustrated volumes have retained the interest of local readers up to the present day. In the eighteenth century, at the time when Christian Reichart added his continuation to the town chronicle, it was in the possession of a “distinguished gentleman”, “ein vornehmer H.[err], welcher es aus gewisser Ursachen bekommen hat” (I. 24, p. 0r). The cosmography, by contrast, seems to have been passed down from descendant to descendant, as cherished family heirloom until 1863 when Karl Herrmann (1797–1874) described it (see the entries in I. 23, p. 0r quoted above). Herrmann later added the cosmography to his large collection of chronicles and bequeathed it to the Town Archives, along with the town chronicle by Fritz (I. 24). The drawings of historical events and lost buildings in Erfurt have since made both volumes a favoured source of illustrations for modern studies on town history. Photographical reproductions made Samuel Fritz known to a broader local audience. Still, comments on the content of the volumes and the life of its author are few, very brief, and at times erroneous (Herrmann; Overmann; Rosseaux).

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Church records show that Samuel Fritz was born in 1610 as the third of six children born to the cook (Garkoch) Valten Fritz (d. September 7, 1638) by his wife Maria. The epidemic in 1625–1626 apparently robbed Samuel of his mother and both his oldest and his youngest sister, Anna (b.1608) and Judith (b.1618), or “Justina” as her father called her, “daß war deß Vaterß liebsteß kindt” (I. 24, p. 333). Samuel survived this plague and began to serve the Mainz envoy Schwindt (ibid., p. 238) as a cook. In the course of 1631 and the following year, the town took on a Swedish garrison, Adam Schwindt died, and Samuel Fritz gained a position in the kitchen of Alexander von Erskein (1598–1656), representative of the Swedish Crown (ibid., p. 356). The position as cook thus brought Fritz close to high-ranking decision makers. Several of the anecdotes retold in his volumes concern these employees ‘upstairs’ (see ibid. and Chapter Six, pp. 261, 266 f). Fritz took pride in his services to great men and wrote as a devoted subaltern. Although he signed both his drawings and his personal Biblical exegeses and declarations of faith with phrases like “Samuel FRITZ COQU[U]S. fecit” (I. 23, pp. 7r, 37r) and “SF Scripsit” (ibid., p. 35r), he did not otherwise deem it proper to mention his own exploits or family life. To reconstruct the path that Fritz embarked on in the decade after 1632 one therefore has to turn to his drawings and portraits of his masters. At some point in 1633, he entered into the service of the Swedish Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna, where he remained for a year. (Fritz’ portrait of the Chancellor is found on page 226 in I. 24. Page 183 recounts an explosion in Frankfurt a. M.). Fritz seems to have lived outside Erfurt for a large part of the following decade, at times following the Swedish army. Notes are, however, scant until 1640: one can only surmise that he spent some time in Erfurt in 1634 (ibid., p. 127r). In 1638 he encountered the Electoral Saxon Colonel Andreas Masslehner (a.k.a. Unger) (I. 23, p. 68r). In the same year, he appears in town records as master cook (Bauer, p. 141); he may have settled his father’s inheritance. In 1640, we find Fritz travelling through Central and Southern Germany, visiting a cabinet of curiosities in Frankfurt a. M. (I. 23, p. 177r) and drawing pictures of both Bingen and Breisach (ibid., pp. 224r and 4v, based on a broadsheet). Fritz served in this important stronghold on the Rhine for some time, taking part in the bloody capture of the nearby garrison in Oberkirch, in February 1641. Yet he drew a tranquil picture of the fortress and merely noted in lapidary style that “100 Imperial horsemen were slain” during the storm; “Ich Samuel Fritz bin mit der bei gewesen, Vnd [habe] solcheß [sc.: die Festung hier] Abgerissen” (I. 23, p. 221r: “100. keiserliche reider [sic] lagen darinne die wurden nidergemacht”). A more extensive description of the fighting is found in the biography of Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen (1622–1676), who served in a nearby, pro-Imperial fortress (Könnecke, p. 345). Fritz recorded the siege of Freiberg in Saxony in an equally impersonal manner, copying a broadsheet of the siege as it was unfolding on January 1, 1644 (I. 24, p. 361). He copied a further broadside with a map of the front by the river Saale, in the autumn of that same year. (ibid. pp. 1 f; see also Stieler). The siege at Bremen-Verden in 1647 was the last theatre of war visited and (re)traced by Fritz (I. 23, p. 223r). By that year, Fritz had already founded a family in Erfurt. The extant baptismal books in his new parish (Predigergemeinde) register him as a cook by trade and father to four sons and three daughters, born from 1645 to 1658. At some point during the latter half of the Thirty Years War, Fritz served the Swedish High War Commissary Peter Brandt for three years (I. 24, p. 240). Brandt frequently stayed in Erfurt from the early 1640s until his death (1646/1648?).

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During the last three decades of his life, Fritz lived and paid taxes in Erfurt; he died during the epidemic of 1683. Fritz depicted key events during the turbulent period 1663–1664 (e. g. I. 24 pp. 329–330: Limprecht’s execution; 366a-366b: second siege of the town), but his accompanying descriptions are not nearly as interesting as those given by contemporaries like Zacharias Hogel (App. I. 9; see Tettau pp. 3 f). Fritz neither offers an accurate description nor any autobiographically coloured view on recent town history. His main attraction is the unusual variety of subjects. The town chronicle (I. 24) unites the history of his town with the history of the world, from Genesis to Judgement Day (see Chapter Six). The cosmography (I. 23) adds a geographical element with a particular fondness for objects connected to the Bible and the overseas. Nowhere else is the local interest in the exotic more evident than in this work. The cosmography was written and drawn according to a strict layout. One or two pictures are spread out across two pages that face each other, with a caption added below. The reverse of a page with drawings is generally kept free of any entry. Fritz kept to this layout through most of the cosmography, but he soon abandoned attempts to organise entries according to themes or a coherent narrative. The strayed historical entries instead favour maps, pictures of momentous events, and, especially, portraits of outstanding persons, ranging from Dr. Faustus (186r) to Gustavus Adolphus (6v–7r; 141r–141v, 147r), and Judas Iscariot (173r). The most frequently mentioned figure is Jesus Christ. Explorers like Amerigo Vespucci also people this gallery of fame (187r), for all things foreign fascinated Fritz. Entries range in latitude from the West to the East Indies and beyond, to China and Japan; in longitude, they run from Madagascar and the Tierra del Fuego (153r, 155r) to Iceland and Novaya Zemlya (151r–152r, 131r–131v, et passim). Curiosity and fascination is throughout mixed with religious contempt or pity for the heathens misled by the Devil (e. g., pp. 124r, 159r, 189r). Fritz awards most space to the Holy Land and the locations mentioned in the Scriptures. The notes about the flora, fauna, and precious objects depicted throughout the Cosmographia likewise contain equal measures of religious gravity and a craving for the exotic (Chapter Four). The spear of Longinus (99r); the nails and the Cross (ibid., 127r); and further relics related to the deeds and Passion of Christ are favoured subjects. The Christological criterion even allows Fritz to mention the wondrous image of Mary in a vein of iron ore (21v–22r) and retell a local, pre-Reformation wonder of the host, without any of his usual attacks on Papist idolatry (I. 24, p. 279). His Lutheran appropriation of religious objects extends to relics in Catholic possession such as the nativity crib on display in Santa Maria Maggiore (I. 23, p. 105r), the nail and seamless robe stored in Trier (99r, 107r), and the true image of the Cross presented by a man who passed through Erfurt in 1634 and claimed to come straight from Jerusalem (127r; see also 108r and the somewhat more distanced entry on page 97r). Other travellers brought a unicorn horn to Erfurt (230r) and exhibited a peacock in a local tavern (175r). Fritz gave credence to most of these objects and was ready to believe reports about a six-legged horse, a mermaid, and a merman (234r, 196r; I. 24 pp. 254 f). Most of these objects were described based on travels accounts and illustrated catalogues on cabinets of curiosities in Florence (45r, 68r) and Vienna. The pictures copied from a 1675-publication on gems and jewellery (72r) help us to date the compilation. At first sight, these pictures seem to have been scattered throughout the volume (25v–30r; 55r; 68r–73r) in a manner even more disorderly than the rest of the compilation. At one point, Fritz broke with his normal layout and added a drawing on the reverse side (29r) of a page that he had already painted on (28v). He excused himself for this inconsistency, explaining to readers that he had run out of room on the prior page.

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This meta-comment suggests that Fritz compiled his cosmography in several stages. He seems to have originally made a thematical plan and left space in the codex for future entries on a given subject. Later, as he gradually ran out space, he began to enter pictures as he came across them, on pages where they did not fit thematically. It is difficult to establish when Fritz wrote his first entries. The pictures found at the beginning of the volume make the year 1664 a probable date post quem. Fritz there included a number of drawings comparing the urban fortifications before (12v–15r) and after (8v–9r) the conquest of the town in the year 1664 (for similar pictures see pp. 200r, 206r). This conquest led to a reduction in political liberties and an extension of fortifications. While the attempt to date the earliest stages of the work remains speculative, entries clearly show that Fritz concluded his work on the cosmography during the years 1675 and 1676. He not only informed readers that he added pictures from books that came into his hands in 1675 (93r, 116r). He also began to depict recent omens (213r) and prodigies from “this year, 1676” (“dieses 1676 Jahreß”, 246r). These prodigies clearly unsettled Fritz, prompting him to warn the blind, sinful world (243r) and pray to God to spare them from the pending judgement (241r, 247r). He added a final picture of a solar eclipse above Erfurt in June 1676 in the space at the bottom of page 143 recto, wondering whether this eclipse might signal the Day of Judgement? This apocalyptical conviction was to intensify and receive even more attention when Fritz concluded his town chronicle, five years later.

App. I.24 AUTHOR: Samuel Fritz BIOGRAPHICAL DATA: As App. I. 23 TITLE: CRONICA ERPHORDIANA PRIOR TITLES: Fritz entitled his chronicle “CRONICA ERPHORDIANA” on page 9r. Later owners entered variant titles on pages 0r (“Erfurtische Chronica und ander[e] Historien”; “Chronica scripta Thuringica”) and Ir (“Antiqvitates, quædam Erfurthenses.”) ARCHIVAL SIGNATURE: StAE 5/100–42 CODEX FORMAT: As App. I. 23 EXTENT WITHIN CODEX: [2], 1–367 written by Fritz. Christian Reichart wrote the section beginning page 367 and the unpaginated leafs inserted between pages 110–111 and 330–331. Reichart also added some notes in the margins of Fritz’ account and wrote an index. It is not clear whether Fritz added the notes on the years 1682 (124, 193) and March 1683 (292, with a different ink) PERIOD DESCRIBED BY THIS AUTHOR: Genesis–1681 or 1683 TOTAL PERIOD COVERED IN CHRONICLE: Genesis–1757 YEAR OF WRITING: Until 1681 REFERENCES: See App. I. 23. Additional studies cited below: Falckenstein, Civitatis Erfurtensis Historia. Hondorff. Johann Rödinger, Erffurtische Chronik oder Historische Beschreibung Düring:[ischer] Geschichte […] zusammengetragen von Johann Rödinger, Pfarrer zu Bischleben ohnweit Erfurt. Anno 1590. (Manuscript preserved in several copies listed by Herrmann, Bibliotheca, pp. 113 f, no. 60). Tromm COMMENTARY: Samuel Fritz wrote two volumes that were meant to belong to the distinct genres of cosmography and historiography. The town chronicle does, however, resemble the

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earlier cosmography (I. 23) and indeed includes many of the same pictures. The chronicle further resembles the cosmography, with its rich illustrations, its sweeping breadth, and its disorganised structure. Fritz clearly conceived his final work as a town chronicle, with the title ‘CRONICA ERPHORDIANA’. A later reader gave it the more fitting title of a “Chronicle of Erfurt with other histories” (p. 0r). A short prelude (p. Ir–7) includes various narratives and a halfhearted attempt to open in a traditional manner, with a Thuringian topography (p. 6). Fritz then decided to begin with Creation instead. He summed up world history until the birth of Christ on the following fifty-two pages (8–60), focusing on the people of Israel, the heathen Germans, and the Classical empires in Athens and Rome. These peoples formed the historical heritage for present Thuringians, according to Fritz. A more coherent passage recounts the life of Jesus and the destruction of Jerusalem (60 f, 64, 74 f) and then goes through the list of Roman Emperors, from Julius Caesar (56) right until the most recent ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, Leopold I. (109) (ruled 1658– 1705). Then followed a prospective “Comparison of our times with the times of the Flood” (117: “Ver glichung diser Zeit, mit der Zeit der Sint fluht.”) Assuming that the world would last but six thousand years, Fritz reckoned that “we live in this year of 1681 after the redemptive birth of our Lord, in the 5881st year” after the Creation. One could consequently expect history to end in the year 1800 (117) or before (see quote in Chapter Six, fn. 284). The specific deadline makes the apocalyptic scenario in the town chronicle more pressing than the diagnoses scattered in the cosmography (I. 23 98r, 143r, 208r, 244r). It is also more coherent. Fritz sought to substantiate the chronological calculation by showing that the signs said to precede the Second Coming of Christ had already appeared. To this end, he compiled comets, parhelions, and other celestial phenomena from broadsheets (118–123). In the absence of sources, it would be speculative to link Fritz’ references to a dying world to his own state of health. The sombre tone was influenced by the tense atmosphere at the time when Fritz concluded his chronicle. Fears of epidemics marked Erfurt in 1680 and 1681 (Falckenstein, pp. 1042–1044). These fears prompted him to add a propitiatory prayer at the end of an entry describing the great epidemic in 1529 (194). The sighting of a comet in 1680 helped Fritz to raise the spectre of a new Ottoman invasion (123). Both threats actually did materialise in the following years, 1682 and 1683. Fritz had then probably already put down the pen. His final entry in the chronicle concerned the siege and capture of the Lutheran town Straßburg by royal French forces, in September 1681 (367). While it is possible to single out several, continuous strands in Fritz’ universal history, his notes on town history seem little but chaotic. On page 135, for instance, Fritz noted the mythical foundation of the Erfurt in 438 by the Frankish King Clovis (466–511). His sequel note (138) on the foundation of the Benedictine monastery in 706 by a later Frankish king also matches the local tradition of chronicle-writing. Yet Fritz subsequently described the troubles of French kings during the Wars of Religion (145–149) and used the regicidal monks as an occasion to write about anti-Catholic riots and crimes in sixteenth-century Erfurt (150–151). A similar line of thought led Fritz to connect floods later in the century (151–156) with the contemporaneous Counterreformation (154–161) and a passage on the Peasant War, the Sack of Rome, and other events in the year 1525 (162–177). Only three sections narrate a somewhat coherent history of the town (258–282; 291–312; 329–359). One can, with some good will, read these two hundred and thirty pages (135–367) as an attempt to organise historical knowledge according to loci communes. This flexible framework might have suited a compiler like Samuel Fritz. As it was noted above in App. I. 23, Fritz gathered his sources from the collections and libraries of the affluent in and outside

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Erfurt. His step-by-step manner of piecing together a chronicle differed from most others in town. They relied on an existing chronicle to which they merely added notes and a continuation, based on the material and knowledge at hand (Tromm). More ambitious authors would remove traces of their compilatory method in the finished version. It would have required a methodological author to keep a clear structure in such a piecemeal compilation. As it stands, this chronicle poses a serious challenge to readers in search of overall thematic and narrative coherency. Viewed from a more positive angle, its bricolage of local and outside events gives an insight into the figures of thought available to local chroniclers. Reading Fritz it becomes clear that entries about villages in the region destroyed by ‘fire from the sky’ were readily connected to classic and oft-told tales about the destruction of Sodom and Antioch (271 f “Feuwer vom himmel”; Fritz there drew on Hondorff, p. 114v). Latter-day epidemics and famine are likewise, as a matter of course, connected to Biblical calamities (182–184; 195 f explaining events in 1529 through Isa 65, 12–14) and Lutheran confessors are likened to the prophets of the Old Testament (218 and 228, with local examples). Aggressive passages decrying modern Jews (314, 360) as blasphemers and deriding Moslems (I. 23, pp. 103r–104r, 180r) and Anabaptists (200–207) as polygamous sectarians help to understand why the local non-conformist thinker Esaias Stiefel provoked such strong reactions (here 337 f). Fritz’ unusually broad scope thus makes it easier for modern readers to single out the themes that moved the imagination of the most articulate and historically interested men in town. The idiosyncratic manner of writing town history also had an impact on the treatment of the recent decades. While Fritz did use prints concerning historical events like the Bohemian phase in the war (326 f) and the crucial year of 1631 (347–349), he seems to have been ignorant of the manuscripts described in this appendix. Among the “Historici” (6) who had written on Erfurt, Fritz mentioned the Thuringian chronicle by Zacharias Rivander (1. ed. 1581) and Johann Rödinger’s less-known manuscript (1587). He elsewhere (280) referred to the venerable “Chronicon Montis Petris Erfurdiæ” (see Herrmann, p. 57). The description of urban events during and after the Thirty Years War is mainly based on his personal notes and recollections. Fritz thus dates many events during the decade from 1623 to 1633 accurately and includes stories and details which are not found in any other chronicles (e. g. 338, 340 and the bottom of p. 331). Fritz probably used records from his parish for notes on church officials and the death rates during plague years (e. g. 333, 340, 338: June 10, 1627). Fritz may well already have taken written note of these events as an adolescent. We do, after all, encounter him as curious fourteen-year-old, drawing anatomical deformities (Chapter Four). The sudden loss of information after November 1633 (359) offers further, indirect evidence. After this date, entries on Erfurt become short, sparse, and imprecise. While the years from 1627 to 1629 are described on ten pages (337–347), the chronicle merely mentions three local events from 1634 to 1648, on less than one page (358 f: 1639 and, very briefly, 1637 and 1640). This fits to the assumption that Fritz was away from town for a large part of the decade after 1634.

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App. I.25 AUTHOR: David Brand BIOGRAPHICAL DATA: March 1, 1615 (Erfurt) – died after 1677 (Frankenhausen?), following a respectable career in Council service: 1642 Unterkämmerer, 1643 Unterbauherr. Appointed bailiff (Amtmann) in Markvippach 1646; forced to resign 1650. 1648 Brückenherr, 1652 Amtmann. Kämmerer 1665, 1668, and 1671. Ratsmeister 1674 and 1677. Brand then moved to Frankenhausen TITLE: [Personal diary or autobiography] ARCHIVAL SIGNATURE: Last mentioned as owned by [Arthur] Frahm (1926) PERIOD DESCRIBED BY THIS AUTHOR: 1646–1648 TOTAL PERIOD COVERED: Unknown YEAR OF WRITING: Unknown EDITIONS: Huth, Das feste Schloß, pp. 20–24 (paraphrased excerpts) REFERENCES: Bauer, Ratsherren, pp. 57 f. On his close relatives and father, Heinrich Brand, see also Bauer, Personalschriften, pp. 66–72, nos. 81–90. The entry ibid., no. 960 (pp. 522 f) describes a funeral sermon held for his first wife Judith Ziegler (1607–1674; married 1641). Note also the 1649-poem written by his cousin David Heinrich Brandt, as quartermaster in a Bavarian regiment. It is added to VD17 39:121184H COMMENTARY: This account must currently be counted among the lost texts. The diarylike work of unknown length was mentioned for the first and last time by the local historian Robert Huth. He included it in one of his many articles on fortifications in the area around Erfurt. A large part of the castle at (Mark)vippach, where David Brand served, has since been destroyed (1946) and the Tagebuch (as Huth called it) has also sunk back into oblivion. It was not located in any of the archives consulted in this study. Brand served as Amtmann at Markvippach from 1646 to 1650. His occupational situation was comparable to that faced by his cousin David Heinrich and pastor Ludwig in nearby Dachwig (App. I. 20). Recently married, though not quite as poor as Ludwig, David Brand was persuaded by relatives to take on the position as bailiff. A predecessor had been taken capture here 1634 and held hostage for weeks; in the same year, his relative Conrad Wilhelm resigned from the position in nearby Vargula (Bauer, p. 68). David’s own wife, Judith, refused to follow him out in the countryside. Brand describes the ensuing conflicts with his wife, the Swedish soldiers, and his own superiors in vivid scenes, retold by Huth. The narrative style extends beyond most official diaries and borders on the burlesque. The absence of this source leaves a gap in the present study of personal experiences. I here translate one of the episodes summarised in Huth’s rather inaccessible article (there pp. 20 f). All notes and brackets are added by me. “David Brand had much trouble with his wife[, Judith]. She was wilful and fearful and could not be persuaded to move with him to Schloßvippach.1 Brand therefore had to keep two households. Whilst his wife lived with his children at her parents, his house in Schloßvippach was kept by Bertha Münch, who had been born there. To put an end to this pitiable situation, Brand once conceived a heinous plan. He knew that their youngest child2 was very dear to his wife. At one point, he rode to Erfurt to visit [p. 21] his 1 Schloßvippach and Markvippach are today two separate municipalities. The castle is located in Markvippach. 2 Until 1652, Judith and David only had one child: Juditha Brand, born January 6, 1647.

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family. He had secretly paid a woman with a pannier and a man with a wheelbarrow; they waited by the Krämpfertor. Brand’s wife was going on errands and had been standing by the wife of the Barfüsser-cantor for some time. At this point, the father [Brand] grabbed his youngest child, took some laundry, mounted his horse, and rode off to the Krämpfertor. The child was placed in the pannier, the laundry was stuck in the wheelbarrow, and off they went to Schloßvippach. There was great commotion when Brand’s wife returned. She wanted the servants beaten etc. In the end, the angry wife rushed up to the Cyriaksburg, to the Commandant Ermisch [sc.: Caspar Ermes]. She asked for two musketeers, whom she was granted. They saddled the horses and embarked on their punitive expedition to Vippach: a maid, the cantor’s wife from the Barfüsser, two musketeers, and Mrs. Brand. David greeted the newly-arrived with jokes and jests, but his wife carried on with her scolding [Gezeter]. She could not be silenced until the Schloßhauptmann [Brand] fetched his bass fiddle and played it unremittingly, for two hours. Mrs. Brand then at least stayed there for some time. Yet she could not find pleasure in the country life. Every time she heard the sound of a war trumpet from afar she grew very agitated. A mere eight weeks on, she moved back and was not calm until she could rest behind the protective walls of the fortress Erfurt. Nothing helped, not even that the Council addressed its writings ‘To the Commander of the Castle, Frau Brand’.”

The clash points to marital relations that were far removed from the blessed harmony noted in Judith’s funeral sermon. Huth goes on to describe Brand’s rough encounters with Swedish troops and notes a more courageous intervention by his housekeeper, Bertha Münch. The antiquary Arthur Frahm is the only known owner of the text. He worked in Carl Villaret’s publishing house and also seems to have owned Hans Krafft’s chronicle (App. I. 19). One can only hope that Brand’s diary might some day re-emerge from private ownership and be made accessible to the public research.

App. I.26 AUTHOR: Melchior Adam Pastorius BIOGRAPHICAL DATA: September 22, 1624 (Erfurt) – February 4, 1702 (Nürnberg). Lawyer and later mayor in Franconia. Converted from the Catholic to the Lutheran faith at the turn of the year 1649–1650 TITLE: MELCHIORIS ADAMI PASTORII ERFVRTENSIS ITINERARIVM ET VITAE CURRICVLVS das ist seine völlige Reis-Beschreibunge und gantzer Lebenslauff, sampt einigen merckwürdigen Begebenheitten und Anzaigungen derer iedes orths befindlichen Raritäten. A supplementary Lebens-Lauf was published by Franz Daniel Pastorius: Umständige Geographische Beschreibung Der […] Provintz Pensylvaniae […]. Frankfurt a. M./Leipzig 1700, pp. 101–120. It is here quoted as Lebenslauf (1699), based on the edition by F. Kapp (1884), pp. 101–120 ARCHIVAL SIGNATURE: University of Pennsylvania, Ms. Codex 1150 CODEX FORMAT: 246 leafs. The extensive description in the electronic catalogue is based on Norman P. Zacour/Rudolf Hirsch: Catalogue of Manuscripts in the Libraries of the University of Pennsylvania to 1800. Philadelphia, PA 1965, pp. 90 f EXTENT WITHIN CODEX: Sections relevant to Erfurt: Itinerarivm, 2r–5r (town history until 1589); 111r; 114r–116r. Lebenslauf (1699), 104–108 PERIOD DESCRIBED BY THIS AUTHOR: c.400–1687

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YEAR OF WRITING: 1694–1698; the Lebenslauf was written between April 1699 and 1700 EDITIONS: Albert R. Schmitt, ed.: Des Melchior Adam Pastorius, von 1670 bis 1696 Bürgermeisters der Reichsstadt Windsheim Leben und Reisebeschreibungen. Von ihm selbst erzählt und nebst dessen lyrischen Gedichten als Beitrag zum deutschen Barock herausgegeben und kommentiert. München 1968 (excerpts). Friedrich Kapp, ed.: Franz Daniel Pastorius’ Beschreibung von Pennsylvanien. Nachbildung der in Frankfurt a./M. im Jahre 1700 erschienen Original-Ausgabe. Krefeld 1884 REFERENCES: Benz, Katholische Geschichtsschreibung. Benz, Modelle. Krusenstjern, Verzeichnis pp. 178 f, no. 157A–157B. There are two thorough biographies by Schnabel (with further references) and Weaver, pp. 405–440. Recent German studies are Estermann and Blaufuss, Pastorius COMMENTARY: Melchior Adam Pastorius grew up as part of the Catholic community in Erfurt. He spent his childhood and adolescence here during a harsh phase for the exclave. Yet he wrote very little about this until he reached a high age. The reason for this long silence is worth comment. Whereas Samuel Fritz’s works (App. I. 23–24) are characterised by a harmony between childhood beliefs and the late writings, Pastorius’ pen points to biographical breaks. Such breaks led a number of authors to reinterpret, transform, or suppress war-time experiences in their retrospectives accounts. The authorship and biography are both enlightened by a summary of his family background. Pastorius was born into an educated and cosmopolitan family whose fortune was tied to princes. His father had entered in the service of the Archbishop of Mainz as a lawyer and two of his brothers reached Rome and Vienna; they worked as a lawyer and a court historiographer respectively (Benz, Katholische Geschichtsschreibung, pp. 352 ff). Melchior Adam was meant for a clerical career. He left the Jesuit Gymnasium in Erfurt for the Catholic stronghold Würzburg in 1643 and then soon travelled on to the Jesuit Collegium Germanicum in Rome. After some months there, he opted for a career as lawyer. To gain a position at the court of a Lutheran prince, he later converted and settled in Franconia, where he eventually became mayor in the small town of Windsheim. The family claim to historical fame owes to one of Melchior’s sons, Franz Daniel. He founded Germantown in Pennsylvania and wrote a widely-read account of the region (Pastorius 1700). Melchior’s first account of his life and travels – the Itinerarium et Vitae Curriculus (p. 1r–49r) – culminates with his conversion at the turn of the year 1649–1650. The conversion was controversial and could easily be presented as a step in his plans to make career at the Lutheran court in Sommershausen. The Curriculus therefore presents the conversion as the outcome of an organic process. The travel-account gives particular attention to his confrontations with Catholic superstition. A visit to the Thuringian place of pilgrimage Hülfensberg (see App. I. 2) and the stays in the Babylonian Rome (1644– 1645, 1647–1648) supposedly all strengthened his doubts about Catholicism. His religious urge was then intensified by dangerous experiences in France, during the Fronde. The Lebenslauf (pp. 113 f) refers to an autograph volume, where Pastorius searched his own conscience (an exercise, one must add, that was part of the Jesuit teaching: Erfurt students were encouraged to engage in a full confession of sins on a regular basis; see App. I. 3). The Curriculus might originally have been written in 1650 to justify this conversion. It certainly does not describe the persecution of Catholics in Erfurt. Pastorius’ later historiographical endeavours would also focus on his new home in Franconia (Schnabel, pp. 125, 129 f, 133; Benz, Modelle, p. 182; compare App. I. 6!).

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The second part of the volume (p. 49v–238v) is dominated by religious poems, which are in turn tied to Pastorius’ second, inner conversion in the early 1680s. Influenced by the pastor Johann Heinrich Horb (1645–1695), Melchior Adam became part of the early Pietist circles (Blaufuss; Schnabel, pp. 119 f). He with growing strength began to write and publish poems meant to inspire readers with contempt for the world. The genealogical part of this poetic section – the “FAMILIAE PASTORIUM DESCRIPTIO” (p. 111r–140r) – likewise sought to edify his descendants. This was also the case with the updated vita which Melchior Adam wrote for his two grandsons, a few years later. The Thirty Years War thus had a set place within the family tradition. It is worth to look closer at each. Three short poetic portraits in the genealogy meditate on the war in varying, but always pious, ways. Melchior thus let his first wife Magdalena (1607–1657) look back on the brigand soldiers as a trial imposed on her by God (see Chapter Six pp. 282 f). The anagrammatic poems that portray his parents (111r) shift to physical violence. In 1631, Swedish soldiers entered Erfurt and evicted the family from its home. His father, Martin (1576– 1631), then left for Mainz, but he was captured near the town by Swedish soldiers who wounded him mortally; he died a few weeks later (Lebenslauf, p. 7). The children bewail their dead father in a separate short poem. They lament his unfortunate decision to leave town and curse at the man-slaughtering robber (latro). The Latin pagan phrasing here adds strength to the military violations: the Swedish soldiers who robbed the home literally violated the sanctity of the home by depriving it of its house gods, the Penates. The dying father answers the cries of his children in a separate poem. He first shares in their anger and lamentation. Yet in his conclusion, he reframes the event within a transcendental context: “[…] vos vivite Terris ∥ Donec vos ad me ducat ad Astra Deus.” – “You must live on Earth until God leads you to me in the stars.” The violent event was thus portrayed in a genealogic and pious perspective that lacks (or is freed of) a denominational dimension. If this violence traumatised the seven-year-old, he later learned to cope with the event. Melchior Adam was both able to treat it in an edifying and a more pointed manner. He chose to write in the latter vein in 1699, in a letter to his two grandsons. They had written to him from Pennsylvania, asking about their family history and German relatives (pp. 101 f). The reply gave much space to a childhood dominated by “many strange strokes of fate and misfortune” (pp. 104–107, here p. 104: “so vielen seltzamen Fatis und UnglücksFällen”). This was a stage in life that two schoolboys were well able to identify with, across the Atlantic. Melchior Adam focused on the fall of his family in 1629. He outlined the political background to stress the injustice done to Catholics in town, especially their lay spokesman Adam Schwind and his own father, Martin. Otherwise, the tone is similar to the edifying poems. Providence guided Melchior Adam on his path and preserved him in many life-threatening situations (p. 104), especially on his dangerous travels abroad in 1648/49 (pp. 108–114). The Lebens-Lauf is summed up as a long pilgrimage to Heaven. The grandfather’s message, learnt “from daily experience” (p. 119: “ex quotidiana experientia”), echoed the Small Catechism: “Lebet derowegen in der Forcht deß HERRN […] liebet und ehret seine Allmacht / und trauet festiglich an seine […] Verheissung […] so werdet ihr seelig; und ich werde euch in der ewigen Himmels-Freude sehen ohne ENDE.” (p. 120). The grandsons were to fear, love, and trust in the Lord; the reward was eternal salvation. Pastorius, in summary, mastered the art of piecing together autobiographies. He here, as in other writings (Schnabel, pp. 118, 131 f), left out discomforting events – not because the war experiences continued to trouble him, but because he deemed part of them unfit for the aim of a given text. His first two autobiographical pieces hence omit the persecu-

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tion of Catholics in Erfurt during the Swedish occupation of Erfurt. The persecution better suited the purpose of his third text, aimed at grandchildren in a far-off country. None of the three writings reveal how his widowed mother and Jesuit teachers (App. I. 3) had originally taught the seven-year-old boy to view the loss of his father and destruction of his home.

App. I. 27 AUTHOR: Hiob Ludolf, Jr. BIOGRAPHICAL DATA: June 24, 1624 (Erfurt)–April 8, 1704 (Frankfurt a. M.) TITLE: Vol. 1. [Hiob Ludolf]: Allgemeine Schau-Bühne der Welt/ Oder: Beschreibung der vornehmsten Welt-Geschichte / So sich vom Anfang dieses Siebenzehenden Jahr-Hunderts Biß zum Ende desselben/ Jn allen Theilen des Erd-Kreisses/ zumahlen in der Christenheit/ Sonderlich in unserm Vatterland Dem Römischen Reiche/ Nach und nach begeben; Zu deß Lesers besserm Unterricht Mit verschiedenen Politischen Anmerckungen erläutert; ingleichem Mit vielen schönen Kupffer-Figuren/auch grosser Potentaten und Herren Bildnüssen gezieret; Nicht weniger mit gnugsamen Summarien/ Marginalien/ und einem vollständigen Register versehen; Von einem Mit-Glied des COLLEGII IMPERIALIS HISTORICI. […]. Frankfurt a. M. 1699 Vol. 2.: [Hiob Ludolf]: Allgemeine Schau-Bühne der Welt/ Oder: Beschreibung der vornehmsten Welt-Geschichte/ Des Siebenzehenden Jahr-Hunderts/ Zweÿter Theil; Jn sich begreiffend Die Geschichte die sich in allen Theilen des Erdkreises/ Sonderlich im Römischen Reich/ Vom Jahr 1631. An/biß zu dem vollzogenen Friedens-Schluß des 1650. Jahrs begeben und zugetragen […]. Frankfurt a. M. 1701 Ludolf ’s autobiography (here named “Vita”) was edited, translated, and published by his former associate and successor in the Schau-Bühne-endeavour, Christian Juncker: COMMENTARIVS IN VITA SCRIPTISQVE AC MERITIS ILLVSTRIS VIRI IOBI LVDOLFI

[…]. Leipzig/Frankfurt a. M. 1710, pp. 5–187 CODEX FORMAT: Vol. 1.: [10] pp., 808 columns, 1 p., columns 2–609, [23] pp., XXIV pp. Vol. 2: [5] pp., 1744 columns, [15] pp. Both folio, printed, illustrated with coppers, and mostly written in a purist German. – Vita: quarto, printed, in Latin, [15] pp., 228 pp., [19] pp. EXTENT WITHIN CODEX: References to Erfurt are found Vol. 1: Copper No. XXIII, located (in most copies) between the end of the Summary on p. )(4v and the beginning of the year 1601; 1609, column 296, no. 121; 1623: column 149, no. 57. – Vol. 2: columns 36, 43, 417, 486 f, 537, 554 f, 623, 1311, 1520. – Vita, pp. 3–24, 66 f PERIOD DESCRIBED BY THIS AUTHOR: Vols. 1 and 2: 1601–1650. On Erfurt: 1609, 1623, 1631–1632, 1635–1638, 1647–1650. Vita: 1624–1704. On Erfurt: 1624–1645, 1651 YEAR OF WRITING: Plans for a history of the seventeenth century are mentioned as early as 1694. Vol. 1. was concluded 1699; Vol. 2 appeared in 1701. The edited correspondence of Leibniz documents part of the compilation process; e. g. Leibniz, Vol. 10, p. 607. It is not known when Ludolf penned his vita; Lindqvist p. 607 describes the translation and edition of the text EDITIONS: Vol. 1: . Vol. 2: (both 22.9.2009). Fleming sums up content of the Vita (1710) REFERENCES: The most thorough list of Ludolf ’s works is the entry by Tubach; its list of studies on Ludolf is far from complete. Modern scholars have addressed individual

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(mostly linguistic) facets of the polyhistor. This entry only mention the more recent studies. The following list covers those salient for Ludolf ’s historiography and his adolescence in Erfurt. Döring, pp. 235 f; Fleming; Lindqvist (often overseen), esp. pp. 606– 608 on the available biographical sources; Strauch, pp. 143–149; Wegele, esp. pp. 957 ff COMMENTARY: In comparison with the other authors in this appendix, Ludolf played in an entirely different intellectual league. He corresponded with figures like Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and held positions at courts in Stockholm and Gotha, ending his life as an active scholar in Frankfurt a. M.. Ludolf does, in some points, resemble Pastorius (App.I. 26). Both occasionally reminisce on a childhood and youth spent in Erfurt, during the war. Ludolf had little affection for his home town. The autobiography describes a young student struggling to break beyond the boundaries of a parochial university (Vita, pp. 12, 15 f). His peregrinatio academica included typical stations like Rome and Paris; Pastorius visited the same stations, in same years. Yet Ludolf also stayed in Leiden and Stockholm (Lindqvist). He would venture even further in his scholarship: Ethiopia and the Far East were areas of recurring interest (Utermöhlen; Scholz; Collet). Ludolf is mostly known to modern research as philologer and specialist on Ethopia. He also brought forth several historiographical works on other subjects. His Theatre of the World is of interest to this study. In size and length, the folio, five-volume Schau-Bühne der Welt (1699–1731) outdoes all other works in this appendix. Its production or reception have hardly received any attention in the history of historiography. There, it is overshadowed by its phantom predecessor. From 1687 on, Ludolf worked on establishing an Imperial College of History, spanning the recognised Christian denominations. The Holy Roman Empire was to be tied closer together by a common history, in the form of Latin annals. Each member of the College was to cover at least one century. Wegele’s essay from 1881 remains the authoritative (if rather judgemental) account of this grand patriotic project. Ludolf had been elected president of the College. During the 1690s, he grew frustrated and increasingly embarrased by the meagre outcome. He abandoned the Imperial framework and began writing a world history of his own century, in German. The first volume appeared in 1699 and covered almost two decades; its sequel reached the year 1650. The erudite author ran short of material for some years, even in the European regions. Every so often, he supplemented written sources on German history with his own experiences in Erfurt and hearsay from the surroundings. Wonders from around the world are thus spiced up with the bloody water from Nohra (see p. 130 above), and a martial smith from another nearby village (p. 256) appears as a key figure of the early 1620s, standing next to a king and the pope (coppers no. XXI and XXII). The secretary on the Schau-Bühne-project, Christian Juncker (1668–1714), took over after Ludolf ’s death and issued another volume (1713), along with Ludolf ’s autobiography (Lindqvist, p. 606). It mainly outlines the author’s erudite achievements, though Ludolf does praise Providence for preserving him from the epidemics in 1626 (Vita, p. 8). Other authors completed the Schaubühne, with two final volumes in 1718 and 1731.

Bibliography Anonymously authored works are listed under the first word in the title. VD17-signatures are only given if two editions from the same year and town were known in August 2008. Archival signatures are used to identify hitherto unknown titles. Some unknown editions were found in the annual catalogues listing new books sold at the fairs in Leipzig and Frankfurt. The Catalogus universalis are identified by year and season (Easter and Michaelmas); the name and place often indicate the publisher, rather than the printer. Alberti, Jeremias: Der Spruch Sancti Pauli […] Jch habe Lust abzuschneiden etc. Bey der Leichbestattung vnd dem letzten Ehrengedechtnis Der weiland/Erbarn/Tugendsamen vnd Christlichen Matron, Fraw MARGARETÆ Des Ehrenvesten / vnd Vorachtbarn Hern Johann Schneiders […] vornehmen HandelsMans alhier zu Erffurdt gewesenen Lieben vnd Getrewen Ehelichen Haußfrawen. Ein vnd angeführet […]. Erfurt [1642] –: SUSPIRIUM CHRISTIANORUM […] Bey […] Leichbestattung Des […] Herrn HIERONYMI Brückners […]. [Erfurt] 1645 –: SENECTUTIS GEMITUS[.] Frommer alter Leute Seufftzerlein […] Bey dem Begräbniß […] Des […] Herrn EUSEBII NOSSEN […]. Erfurt 1648 –: CHRISTIANI VITA ET CORONA[.] Beschreibung des Lebens und Crone eines waren Christen […] Bey der […] Sepultur […] Des […] Joachimi Gerstenbergers […]. Erfurt 1656 Albrecht-Birkner, Veronika: Reformation des Lebens. Die Reformen Herzog Ernst des Frommen von Sachsen-Gotha und ihre Auswirkungen auf Frömmigkeit, Schule und Alltag im ländlichen Raum (1640–1675). Leipzig 2000 (Leucorea-Studien zur Geschichte der Reformation und der Lutherischen Orthodoxie 1) –, ed.: Pfarrerbuch der Kirchenprovinz Sachsen. Vol. 2. Leipzig 2004 Algazi, Gadi: Kulturkult und die Rekonstruktion von Handlungsrepertoires. In: L’homme. Zeitschrift für feministische Geschichtswissenschaft, 11. 2000, pp. 105–119 Allemeyer, Marie Luisa: “Kein Land ohne Deich…!”. Lebenswelten einer Küstengesellschaft in der Frühen Neuzeit. Göttingen 2006 (VMPIG 222) Andersen, J. Oskar: Holger Rosenkrantz den Lærde. En biografisk skildring med bidrag til belysning af danske kirke- og studieforhold i det syttende aarhundredes første halvdel. Kopenhagen 1896 Angenendt, Arnold: Deus, qui nullum peccatum impunitum dimittit. Ein “Grundsatz” der mittelalterliche Bußgeschichte. In: Und dennoch ist von Gott zu reden. Festschrift Herbert Vorgrimler. Ed. by Matthias Lutz-Bachmann. Freiburg i. Br. 1994, pp. 142–156 –: Geschichte der Religiosität im Mittelalter. Darmstadt 42009 Anhorn von Hartwiss, Bartholomaeus: MAGIOLOGIA. Christliche Warnung für dem Aberglauben un[d] Zauberey […]. Basel 1674 [Anon.]: APPENDIX Das ist: Vnpaßionirtes Bedencken Vber Herrn Johann. Matth. Meyfarten […] dieses Jahr außgangenes Buch. Vmb Abschaffung der eingerissenen vielfeltigen Mißbreuchen bey etlichen Evangelischen hohen Schulen in Teutschland […]. Erfurt 1636 Arndt, Georg: Die kirchliche Baulast in dem ehemaligen Erfurtischen Gebiete, 2. Teil. In: MVGAE. 1919, pp. 1–86 Arndt, Karl-Hans: Stadt und Universität Erfurt im Kampf gegen die Pest während des dreissigjährigen Krieges. In: Beiträge zur Geschichte der Universität Erfurt (1392–1816), 12. 1965/1966, pp. 11–49 Arnold, Klaus: Städtelob und Stadtbeschreibung im späteren Mittelalter und in der frühen Neuzeit. In: Städtische Geschichtsschreibung. Ed. by Johanek, pp. 247–268

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Indices Index of Biblical books The list includes books considered as apocryphal and deuterocanonical by contemporaneous theologians.

Genesis 38, 315, 322, 325 f – 6, 3–4 264 f – 8, 21–22 264 – 9, 15 107 – 19 265 Exodus – 7, 17–22 123 – 10, 21–29 75 – 16 194, 267 – 20, 5 f 35 Leviticus – 10, 1–3 179 Numbers – 16 179 Deuteronomy 166

Jeremiah 38 – 17, 10 222 – 30, 15 229 Ezekiel – 33, 2–7 34 – 33, 11 34, 110 Joel 38 Amos – 4, 7–11 110 – 4, 12 75, 229 Jonah 38 – 3 133 – See also: Nineveh Zechariah – 11, 7 35

Judges 38

2 Samuel – 24, 13 f 281

Psalms 38 f, 70, 174, 296 – 14, 1 269 f – 16, 8 92 – 31, 6 234 – 67, 2 238 – 73, 21 242 – 78 38 – 113 301

1 Kings – 10, 1–13 94

Proverbs 38 – 16, 9 271

Isaiah – 1, 15 216 – 3, 8 f 265 – 13, 7 264 – 65, 12–14 328

Job – 1, 21 f 228

1 Samuel 38 – 6–7 238 – 7 159 – 13, 13 f 167

Ruth 38

380 Lamentations – 3, 22 216 Esther 37 Daniel 192, 200 – 7 187 – 12, 11 f 186 Ezra – 8, 15–23 36 2 Chronicles – 19, 11 160 – 26, 16–21 168 – 29, 11 159 4 Ezra 193 Sirach 39 – 3, 25 168 Tobit – 2, 12–14 177

Indices Acts of the Apostles 38 Romans – 2, 14 f 171 – 12, 17–19 252 – 13, 2 252 1 Corinthians – 2, 2 267 – 9 214 2 Corinthians – 11, 14 92 Galatians – 6, 7 218 Ephesians – 5, 5 173 1 Timothy – 4, 8 105 James 38

Matthew – 18, 15 172 – 24 192 – 24, 22 103 – 24, 36 106 – 28, 1–4 261

1 Peter 38 – 1, 6 236

Mark – 1, 3 141 – 7, 37 227 f – 13 192 – 13, 32 106

Revelation 182, 192 f, 195 f – 6–11 184 – 8, 1–5 184 – 11, 3 185, 187 – 11, 7–13 187 – 13, 1 187, 192 – 13, 8 185 – 14, 8 186 – 16, 12–16 187 – 18, 2 186 – 18, 4 181, 187, 194 – 18, 10 264 – 20, 3–7 186 – See also: apocalyptic thought

Luke – 2, 29 234 – 16, 1–9 30 – 21 192 – 21, 11–25 75 – 21, 35 106 – 23, 45 75

2 Peter 38 Jude 38

Index of persons

381

Index of persons Noblemen are listed by their first name, unless they are generally known by the title. Adolar, Saint (d.754) 119 Ahasuerus (fictitious, though traditionally identified as Xerxes I, ruler of Persia from 486 to 465) 37 Alba, Fernando Álvarez de Toledo y Pimentel, third Duke of (1507–1582) 261 Alberti, Jeremias, Jr. (1592–1660) 34 f, 38, 40, 94, 155, 164 Alberti, Johann Christoph (1608–1683) 155, 158, 164, 170 Albrecht-Birkner, Veronika 222 Albrecht, Duke of Sachsen-Eisenach (1599–1644) 154 Alsted, Johann Heinrich (1588–1638) 187 f, 201 Altenburg, Michael (1583/4–1640) 239, 252 Andreae, Johann Valentin (1586–1654) 138, 140, 161 f Arndt, Johann (1555–1621) 24, 120, 140, 176 Arnoldi, Johannes, OCart (1583–1638) 45, 179, 295–297 Asa (Biblical) 159 Asaph (Biblical) 242 August, Duke of Sachsen (1614–1680) 196 f August II, Duke of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel (1579–1666) 138, 140, 142 Augustine of Hippo, Saint (354–430) 21, 96, 200, 284 Augustin, Hans (d.1639) 64, 92, 250, 304 Baazius, Joannes (the elder) (1583–1649) 162 Badeborn (Paderborn?), ? (captain in the Swedish army) 246 Balduin, Friedrich (1575–1627) 140, 170 f Banér, Johan (1596–1641) 125, 198, 247, 298 f Barnes, Robin Bruce (b.1951) 16, 103 Barthenhauber, Hans (fictitious) 101 Bauer, Anna Elisabeth (née Schatz) (1754–1829) 323 Bauer, Henriette 323 Bauer, Johann Heinrich David (d.1836) 323 Baumann, Georg 80 Beck, Johann (c.1543–1601) 80 Berckhauer (Berghofer), Johann (d.1636) 68 Berger, Jacob (1577–1644) 155 Bernhard, Duke of Sachsen-Weimar and Franconia (1604–1639) 59 Bettingen, Johannes, SJ (1585–1632) 298

Beyer, (Christian) Heinrich (1806–1886) 314 Birckner, Johann (1587–1658) 33, 123, 170, 316 Böhme, Jakob (1575–1624) 120 Boldner, Reinholt (1615–1642) 250 Boniface, Saint Winfried (672/675–754) 238, 297 Bötzinger, Martin (1599–1673) 217 f, 320 Brand, Conrad Wilhelm (1602–1637) 329 Brand, David (1615–1677) 225, 277, 329 f Brand, David Heinrich (d. after 1660) 329 Brand, Heinrich, II (1579–1655) 155, 208, 329 Brand, Judith (née Ziegler) (1607–1674) 329 f Brand, Judith(a) (b.1647) 329 Brandt, Peter (d. before 1649) 298, 324 Brandt, Rudolf (1584–1632) 235 Breitenbach, Georg Friedrich (1611–1685) 248 Brettin, Elias Balthasar von (1590–1676) 318 Brettin, Johann Balthasar von, Jr. (1588–1635) 224, 307 f Brochmand, Jesper (1585–1652) 142, 170 Brückner, Hieronymus (1582–1645) 152, 157, 160, 236 Brunchorst, Christoph (1604–1664) 178–180 Burkhardt, Johannes (b.1943) 16 f Burschel, Peter (b.1963) 13 Cabuth, Martin (1558/9–1624) 36, 91 f, 107, 116, 223, 252, 254, 300–302 Calixt, Georg (1586–1636) 22, 149 Callot, Jacques (1592–1635) 211, 247, 286 Capistrano, John, OFM (1386–1456) 28 Caps, Valentin (d.1626) 40, 108 f Charles IX, King of Sweden (1550–1610) 128 Christian IV, King of Denmark-Norway (1577–1648) 142, 198, 250 Clemens, Georg Melchior von 299 Clovis I, King of the Franks (466–511) 43, 327 Collet, Dominik 101 Colman, Rudolph 279 Constantine I (the Great), Emperor of Rome (272/285–337) 184 Cosomobitz, Simon 102 Cramer, Caspar 232 Cramer, Daniel (1568–1637) 188 Cromwell, Oliver (1599–1658) 199 Crouzet, Denis (b.1953) 117, 281 f Cruger, Johann (d.1640) 236

382

Indices

Crusius, David (1589–1640) 119 Crusius, Wolfgang (1621–1658) 79 Dannhauer, Johann Konrad (1603–1666) 190 David (Biblical) 281 Decimator, Heinrich (1544–1615) 170 Decken, ? (merchant) 306 Dedekind, Benjamin (1597–1640) 79 Dedekind, Friedrich Melchior (c.1600–1669) 79 Dedekind, Henning (1562–1626) 10, 79, 96–98, 100 f Dedekind, Musophil 79 Deichmann(?), Johannes Zacharias 268 Delumeau, Jean (b.1923) 23 f Dettmar, Hans 268, 309 Diener, Tobias 191 Dilherr, Johann Michael (1604–1669) 162 Dominic of Jesus Mary, OCD (1599–1630) 280 Dorsche, Johann Georg (1597–1638) 190 Drago, Stephan see: Mille Draghi, Stefano Dresanus, Johannes, Sr. 294 Drews, Paul (1858–1912) 216 Dunte, Ludwig (1597–1639) 171 Dürer, Albrecht (1471–1528) 323 Dürr, Johann (c.1600–1663) 146 Eber, Paul (1511–1569) 241 Ebert, Leonhard, OCart (d.1636) 296 Eckart, Loyal (mythical) 244 Egard, Paul (1578/1579–1655) 188 Elias (Biblical) – his six-thousand-year prophecy 106, 193, 327 Elijah (Biblical) see: Elias Elisabeth Juliane, Countess of Erbach (1600–1640) 298 Elsner, Bartholomäus (1596/1599–1662) 35, 139, 144–147, 151–169, 172 f, 175–177, 180 f, 184, 192 f, 200–202, 208, 220, 229 Erdmute Juliane, Countess of Gleichen (1587–1633) 179, 296 Erich, Adolar (1560–1634) 293 Ermes, Caspar (1592–1648) 125 f, 197, 227, 244, 298, 330 Ernst (the Pious), Duke Sachsen-Gotha of (1601–1675) 142–144, 150, 154, 175–180 Erskein, Alexander von (1598–1656) 58, 261, 324 Evans-Pritchard, Edward (1902–1973) 14 Evenius, Sigismund (1585/89–1636) 143 f, 150

Fabricius, Jacob (1593–1654) 197 f Falckenstein, Johann Heinrich von (1677–1760) 296, 311 Festinger, Leon (1919–1989) 17–19 Fincel, Job (d.1582) 123, 321 Floccius, Christoph (d.1681) 179 Forsius, Sigfrid Aronus (d.1624) 198 Forster (Förster), Herphort (Herbord) (d.1628) 236, 243 Förster, Johann Friedrich (1614–1681) 228 Förster, Johann Melchior (1597–1673) 230 f, 315 Frahm, Arthur 330 Frank, Hans Ulrich (c.1590/1595–1675) 211, 247 Franz, Wolfgang (1564–1628) 140 Freytag, Gustav (1816–1895) 15, 205, 217 Friedrich IV, Duke of Austria; Count of Tirol (1382–1439) 254 Friedrich, Duke of Sachsen-Altenburg (1599–1625) 51, 249 f, 253–256, 309 Friedrich V, Elector Palatine and King of Bohemia (1596–1632) 51 Friedrich, Landgrave of Hessen-Eschwege (1617–1655) 242 Friese, Sigismund (1673–1754) 311 Frijhoff, Willem (b.1942) 81 Fritz, Anna (1608–1626) 324 Fritz, Judith (1618–1626) 324 Fritz, Maria (née Sickel) (d.1626) 324 Fritz, Samuel (1610–1683) 45, 52–57, 64, 82, 90–95, 98–102, 106 f, 110, 112, 114 f, 127 f, 178 f, 201, 247, 249 f, 255–268, 286, 322–329 Fritz, Valten 324 Fritzsch, Tobias (c.1590–1656) 33, 39, 78, 80–82, 94, 112, 232 Fröschl, Johannes (1597–1678) 40 Gallus OSB (i. e. Hahn, a.k.a. Bet), Andreas (1569–1627) 116 Gantet, Claire 275 Garner, ? (captain in the Swedish army) 246 Gebhard (Wesener), Heinrich, II (1578–1653) 104, 190, 193 Geertz, Clifford (1926–2006) 13 f Geisler, Rudolf (d.1653) 179 Geizkofler, Ferdinand (1593–1652) 162 Gepeckh, Veit Adam, Prince-Bishop of Freising (1584–1651) 283 Gerhard, Johann (1582–1637) 140, 170, 176, 188 Glass, Salomon (1593–1656) 144, 152

Index of persons Goltz, Christoph Heinrich von (der) (1599–1643) 59, 246 f Görtzenich, Adam Wilhelm von (1594–1627) 246 Götz, Count Johannes von (1599–1645) 246 Gramsci, Antonio (1891–1937) 128 Greyerz, Kaspar von (b.1947) 24 Gudenus, Johann Moritz von (1639–1688) 73, 300, 323 Gunkel, Hermann (1862–1932) 224 Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden (1594–1632) 36, 49–56, 59, 62, 65, 68, 136, 143, 187, 194 f, 239, 248, 261, 275–278, 298, 303, 311, 325 Gyllenhielm, Carl Carlsson (1574–1650) 198 Hallenhorst, Johann (1602–1673) 28, 43, 179, 311 Hallier, Christian (1901–1978) 148, 150 Hameln, the Rat Catcher of 260 Hand, Johan (d. before 1656) 49 f, 170 Happe, Volkmar (b.1587) 12, 48, 61, 105, 250, 263, 313 f Hartprecht, Nicolaus (d.1635/1637) 104, 189 Hatzfeld, Count Heinrich Ludwig von (d.1631) 246 Hatzfeldt, Count Melchior von (1593–1658) 246 Hebenstreit, Johann (d.1569) 76 Heck, Lambert (d.1632) 40, 63, 230 Heintze, Maria (née Neefe) (1567–1632) 232–235 Henricus, Johannes 268 Hentelmann, Theodor 91 f Herlicius, Christian 123 Herrmann, Karl (1797–1874) 41, 293, 299 Hertz, Michael (1603–1683) 155, 158, 179 Heßler, Hans Friedrich von (1610–1667) 68 Heubel, Michael (1605–1684) 313 Hezekiah (Biblical) 159 Hiebner, Israel (1619–1668) 79 Hiepe, Conrad (1616–1676) 209 Hildebrand, Wolfgang (c.1572–c.1635) 78 Hillebrandt, Caspar 40 Hilten, Johann (1425–1500) 90 Hoënegg, Matthias Hoë von (1580–1645) 196 Hoffmann, Georg (c.1555–1630) 303 Hoffmann, Martin (d. c.1625) 43, 53, 91 f, 98, 109, 223, 252, 302 f Hoffmann, Melchior (d.1620) 303 Hogel, Anton Emanuel (Immanuel) (b.1714) 305

383

Hogel, Zacharias, I (1574–1635) 146 Hogel, Zacharias, II (1611–1676) 145–147 – as chronicler 43 f, 72, 109, 117, 137, 178, 238, 252, 256, 269, 304–306 – as theologian 39, 103, 118, 155, 157, 164, 168, 180–202, 275, 285, Hogel, Zacharias, III (1637–1714) 305 Holck, Henrik, Count of Eskildstrup, Egholm and Ravnholt (1599–1633) 248 Hondius, Jodocus (1563–1612) 265 Hondorff, Andreas (c.1530–1572) 123, 260 Horb, Johann Heinrich (1645–1695) 332 Hunckel, Philip, OCart 296 Hundorph, Johannes (1603–1667) 42 f, 89 f, 240, 246, 248, 250, 315–317 Hunnius, Nicolaus (1585–1643) 149 Hupe, Werner, SJ 299 Hus, Jan (c.1369–1415) 89 Huth, Robert 329 Ignatius of Loyola, Saint (1491–1556) 238 Isidore of Seville, Saint (c.560–636) 96 Isolani, Count Goan Lodovico Hector of (1586–1640) 9 Israel, Rabbi Menasseh ben (1604–1657) 190 Isserode, Peter 253 Jacob, Hugo 318 f Jehoshaphat (Biblical) 159 f Jersin, Jens Dinesen (1588–1634) 88, 198 f Jesus of Nazareth (d. between 26–36 A. C.) see: Jesus Christ in the index of terms Joan (Johanna) (fictive female pope) (reigned 855–857) 301 Johann Ernst, Duke of Sachsen-Weimar (1594–1626) 250 Johann Georg I, Elector of Sachsen (1585–1656) 51, 53, 64, 66, 191, 196 f Josiah (Biblical) 159 Judas, Iscariot 325 Kaufmann, Thomas (b.1962) 22 Kerst, Martin (1588–1652) 215 Keyser, Michael (d.1623) 254 Keyser, Stefan 31 f Klein, Johann 301 Klint, Joen Petri (d.1608) 75 Kniphof, Henning (1596–1663) 155 f, 160, 179 Knoll, Christoph (1563–1621) 234 Köcher, Michael (1570–1633) 236 f Königsmarck, Hans Christoffer von, Count of Westerwyk and Stegholm (1600–1663) 225

384

Indices

Krafft, Hans (1579/1589–1665) 14, 28–30, 42–45, 55, 60 f, 72, 78, 91, 112, 202, 211, 252 f, 271, 308, 318 f Kromayer, August (1586–1638) 176 Kromayer, Johannes (1576–1643) 144, 151 Krusenstjern, Benigna von 19 f, 47, 81, 114, 314 Kruspe, Heinrich (1821–1893) 306 Kurt, Joachim 296 Küssenick, Johann 257 f Lactantius, Lucius Cae[ci]lius Firmianus (c.250–c.320) 21 Lapide, Cornelius a (1567–1637) 190 Lehmann, Hartmut (b.1936) 23–25 Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor (1640–1705) 327 Leslie, David (1601–1682) 199 Leube, (Erich) Hans (1896–1947) 176 Lichtenberger, Johannes (d.1503) 94 Limprecht, Andreas (d.1684) 240, 293, 307 f, 317 Limprecht, Volkmar (1615–1663) 73, 305, 325 Lindener, Georg (d. before 1639) 279 Linné, Carl von (1707–1778) 131 Listorff, Hans (d.1642) 245 Livy (Titus Livius) (57 B. C.–17 A. C.) 70, 123 Löbnitz, Anna Margretha (née Lambinus) (d.1766) 323 Loth, Richard (1850–1910) 82 Lotley, Johannes, OCart (d.1686) 295 Löwenstein, Count Ludwig of (1587–1633) 58, 250 Ludolf, Hiob, I (1583–1651) 28, 246 f Ludolf, Hiob, Jr. (1624–1704) 70, 130 f, 254–256, 284, 333 f Ludwig, Johann Daniel (1615–1669) 214, 218 f, 269, 319–321, 329 Ludwig, Magdalena (née Schröter) (1618–1656) 321 Luther, Martin (1483–1546) 36, 42, 50, 89 f, 135, 163, 182, 192, 231, 243, 315 – pictures of 116, 119, 260 – See also: Catechism, Luther’s Small (1529); centennials, Lutheran celebrations of; prophets, Luther as Magdalena Sibylle, Electress of Sachsen (1586–1659) 196 Major, Johan (1564–1654) 164, 176 f Margaret, Countess of Henneberg (1234–1276) 100

Marie Eleonora, Queen of Sweden (1599–1655) 49, 261 Marthen, Henning von der (1598–1662) 31, 155, 160 Marx, Caspar Heinrich, Jr. (1600–1635) 45, 54, 61, 65, 116, 148, 240, 293 f, 296 Mary (the virgin) 40, 137, 145, 238, 325 Mason, George (1725–1792) 131 Masslehner (a. k. a. Unger), Andreas (Friedrich?) 324 Mathesius, Johannes (1504–1565) 39, 42 Mechler, Christoph (c.1580–1636) 33, 40 Medick, Hans (b.1939) 20, 48, 117, 318 Meisner, Balthasar (1587–1626) 140, 176 Meister Eckhart, OP (c.1260–after 1328) 27 Melanchthon, Philipp (1497–1560) 98, 106, 162 – See also: Augsburg Confession (1530) Melander, Peter, Count of Holzappel (1589–1648) 246 Mengering, Arnold (1596–1647) 60, 163 f, 170–174, 176 f, 197, 243 f Menocchio see: Scandella, Domenico Meyer, Marx (pseudonym) 33, 81 Meyfart, Anna Catharina (née Erich) (1611–1670) 218 Meyfart, Johann Matthäus (1590–1642) 36–40, 137–141, 143, 148, 151–162, 182, 184, 192, 201, 210, 216, 219 f, 243, 262, 269 Mille Draghi, Stephano 258 Miller, William (1782–1849) 18 Milwitz, Georg Balthasar von (1641–1683) 299 f Mosengeil, Joachim (1597–1667) 215, 219, 221 Moses and Aaron 167 Müllenbrück, Andreas 257 f Müller, Johan 210 Münch, Bertha 329 f Mundtod (pseudonym?), Zacharias (d. 1644) 244 f, 250 Munk, Kirsten, Countess of Schleswig and Holstein (1598–1658) 250 Münster, Sebastian (1488–1552) 101 Müntzer, Thomas (1468–1525) 93, 195, 260 Nagel, Paul (d. after 1628) 103 f, 120 Neefe (Naevius), Sabina (1570–1635) 233 Neefe, Sebastian (c.1563–1643) 233 Neitschitz, Georg Christoph von (c.1600–1637) 265 Neuwirdt, Steffan 107

Index of persons Niccoli, Ottavia (b.1943) 81 Nicolas III, Pope (né Giovanni Gaetano Orsini) (d.1280) 98 Nörinberger, Ernst Gottfried (d.1640) 312 Noß, Anna (1611–1640) 236 Noß, Eusebius (1570–1648) 236 Otto Ludwig, Rhinegrave of Salm-Kyrburg (1597–1634) 250 Overmann, Alfred (1866–1946) 145 Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) (43 B. C.–17/18 A. C.) 11 Oxenstierna of Södermöre, Count Axel (1583–1654) 59, 65, 143, 198, 260, 324 Oxenstierna of Södermöre, Count Johan Axelsson (1611–1657) 242 Pappenheim, Count Gottfried Heinrich of (1594–1632) 9, 237 Pastorius, Franz Daniel (1651–1719) 331 Pastorius, Magdalena (1607–1657) 264, 332 Pastorius, Melchior Adam (1624–1702) 54, 264, 277, 286, 330–333 Pastorius, Martin (d.1632) 54, 264, 331–333 Paul, Orosi (d.1633) 248 Pfefferkorn, Georg Michael (1646–1732) 119, 130 f Pietepeßky, Gottlob von (1602–1639) 250 Pilate (Pontius Pilatus) 268 Pliny (Gaius Plinius Secundus Maior) (c.23–79) 265 Quistorp, Johann (the elder) (1584–1648) 38, 170 Rabus, Ludwig (1523–1592) 317 Ramsla, Johann Wilhelm Neumair von (1572–1641) 67 f, 248, 263 Rebecca (maid convicted of prostitution) 31 Rehefeld, Johann (1590–1648) 88, 119–128, 283 Rehefeld, Johann Jakob (1625–1673) 96 Reichard, Georg 190 Reichart, Christian (1685–1775) 267, 302 f, 322 f, 326 Reineck, Georg Wilhelm von (1597–1627) 234, 236 Reinhard, Wolfgang (b.1937) 22 Richter, Georg (1592–1651) 162 Ringwaldt, Bartholomäus (1530–1599) 243 f Rivander, Zacharias (1554–1594) 328 Rödinger (Rhodius), Johann (d.1592) 328 Roeck, Bernd (b.1953) 17

385

Rosenkrantz of Rosenholm, Holger (1574–1642) 140, 142 Rothe, Jean 199 Rudolf I, Holy Roman Emperor (1219–1291) 319 Saher, Christian von 171, 191, 193 Sarcerius, Erasmus (1501–1559) 139, 142, 168 Saubert, Johann (1592–1646) 143, 162 Saul, King of Judah and Israel 30, 167 Savonarola, Girolamo, OP (1452–1498) 90 Scandella, Domenico (1532–1599) 260 Schäfer, Johann 246 Schäfer, Susanna (d.1641) 246 Schatz, Hans 177 Schatz, Peter Georg 323 Schatz, Thomas Rudolph (1715–1803) 323 Schauerte, Franz (1848–1910) 298 Scheidt, Hieronymus (1594–1651) 70, 265 f Scheube, Conrad 92 Schilling, Heinz (b.1942) 22 Schlegel, Martin (1581–1640) 79 Schmaltz, Quirinus 120 Schmid, Maria 210 Schmidt, Johann (1594–1658) 139, 143 Schmidt, Johann (Stadtvogt in Erfurt) 210 Schmidt, Jörg 318 Schneider, Catharina 28–32 Schröter, Sebastian (1593–1650) 155, 158, 163–165, 168 f, 192 Schum, Wilhelm (1846–1892) 320 Schwartz, Michael (d. c.1641) 262 Schweiger, Salomon (1551–1622) 265 Schwindt, Adam (1574–1632) 238, 323 f Scribner, Robert William (1941–1998) 25 Seidel, Abraham 79 Seidenbecher, Georg Lorenz (1623–1663) 195 Silberschlag, Esaias (1560–1606) 39 Silberschlag, Georg (the younger) (1563–1635) 232 f Silberschlag, Michael (d.1665) 31, 201 Singe, Jacob 80 Sleidanus, Johannes (1506–1556) 42, 317 Spangenberg, Martha 33 Spangenberg, Martin (d.1639) 33, 96 Spener, Philipp Jakob (1635–1705) 134, 145, 180 f, 195 f Sporck, Johann von (c.1601–1679) 227–231 Spurstowe, William (c.1605–1666) 138 Stengel, Justus 104, 189 f Stenger, Johann Melchior (1638–1710) 177, 179, 230

386

Indices

Stenger, Nicolaus (1609–1680) 22, 30, 34–36, 39 f, 60, 75 f, 79, 91, 141, 145–147, 150, 154, 163–181, 184, 192 f, 200, 219, 221, 227–230, 232, 243, 248 f, 270 Stiefel, Esaias (1561–1627) 65, 104, 120, 179, 189 – criticism of 19, 93, 165, 260, 285, 306, 328 Stieler, Kaspar (1632–1707) 248 Stilsovius, Johannes 202 Stögmann, Arthur 270 Stolterfoth, Jakob (1600–1668) 197 f Stotternheim, Hiob (1558–1617) 55 Strigenitz, Gregor (1558–1603) 170 Syring, Nicolaus (c.1590/91–1662) 31 f, 206, 208 f, 213, 215, 221, 274 Taute, Hermann (d. 1647) 113 f, 126 f, 224–231, 244–246, 267, 314 f Thilo, Adolarius (d. after 1621) 301 Thilo, Liborius (1594–1675) 281 Tilly, Count Johann Tserclaes of (1559–1632) 53, 137, 247, 261 Toppius, Andreas (1605–1677) 218, 277 Torstenson, Lennart, Count of Ortala (1603–1651) 198 Trexler, Richard (b.1932) 128 Tromm, Friedhelm 41, 293 Türckis, Damian 249 f Utzberg, Barbara von (née Brand) (1603–1682) 228 Vespucci, Amerigo (1454–1512) 325 Villaret, Carl 330 Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro) (70–19 B. C.) 11, 70, 226 Vitelleschi, Mutio, SJ (1563–1645), 298 Voigt, Johann Heinrich (1613–1691) 189 f Vry, Heyne von (fictitious) 76 Wagner, Ernst 69

Wagner, Tobias (1598–1680) 163 f, 197 Wallenberger, Valentin (1582–1639) 36 f, 63, 192, 235, 238, 240, 300 f, 303 Wallenstein, Albrecht Wenzel Eusebius von, Duke of Friedland (1583–1634) 59, 246 Wallington, Nehemiah (1598–1658) 260 Wallmann, Johannes H. (b.1952) 134, 176, 179 Wandersleben, Martin (1608–1668) 209, 211–218, 263 Wanschleben, Johann (1602–1683) 147, 155, 157, 164 f, 177 Weber, Johannes (1583–1645) 107–109 Wedmann, Modestinus (1562–1625) 39, 76 Wegmann (Wechmar), Robert Balthasar von 300 Weideler, Johannes 240 Weigel, Valentin (1533–1588) 141, 192 f – See also: Weigelians, attacks on Weinreich, Johannes 253 Weiß, Ulman (b.1949) 23, 41–43, 65 Wencke, Hans 93 Werner, Johann (1599–after 1669) 94, 186–190, 194–199, 275, 280 Wick, Johann Jacob (1522–1588) 75 Wilhelm, Duke of Sachsen-Weimar (1598–1662) 58 f, 66, 72, 143 f, 154, 253, 298, 310 – See also: Sachsen-Weimar, Duchy of “Winter King” see: Friedrich V, Elector Palatine Wittel, Dorothea 303 Wittel, Philipp (c.1588–1626) 303 Wrangel, Carl Gustaf, Count of Sarmis (1613–1676) 198 Würschmitt, Ivo Carl 298 Würthwein, Ernst (1909–1996) 166 Zapf, Nicolaus (1600–1672) 144, 148, 151, 154, 164, 167, 170, 176 Zevi, Rabbi Sabbatai (1626–1676) 18, 93 Zütphen, Heinrich von, OSA (c.1488–1524) 90

Index of places and terms

387

Index of places and terms Quotation marks are sometimes used to distinguish terms used in the period (double marks) from terms used in modern research (single marks). Aegean Sea 264 Alach 126 alcohol – beer-brewing 72, 246 – drinking 58, 70, 169, 213, 222, 234, 244 f, 301 – viniculture 49 f, 215, 299, 321 f Altenburg 254 Anabaptists 178, 328 angels 216, 222, 265, 273 – Gabriel 93 – as guardians 91, 241 – as messengers, see: prophets, lay Lutheran – Michael 238 Annaberg 223, 302 anthropology, historical 20 Antioch, destruction of 264, 328 apocalyptic thought 16–19, 103–107, 117, 180–203, 275, 281, 326 – Antichrist 89, 104, 184, 186, 193, 239, 260 f – chronological calculations and prognoses 103–106, 184–201, 259, 264 f, 319, 326 – as consolation 11 f, 24, 104–106, 180, 275, 284 – decline of 16–19, 133 f, 195–202, 275, 284–286 – Fifth Monarchy Men 199 – the Further Fall of Rome 180–182, 186–195, 198 – millenarianism 105, 128, 188–198 – “subtle millenarianism” (chiliasmus subtilis) 186–189 – (signs of the) Second Coming of Christ 11 f, 17 f, 75, 103–107, 327 – See also: divine judgements, temporal; eschatology; Hogel, Zacharias, II Arnstadt 31, 92 astrology 121, 202 – and horoscopes 76, 112, 114 – judiciary 76–80, 105, 108 f, 114, 122, 128, 189, 202, 281, 307 – medical 78, 112 – See also: Dedekind, Musophil; Forsius, Sigfrid Aronus; Herlicius, Christian; Hiebner, Israel; Hildebrand, Wolfgang; Stilsovius, Johannes

Augsburg 17, 80, 102, 117, 246 Augsburg Confession (1530) 19, 22, 120, 164, 166, 188 – See also: centennials, Lutheran, 1630 Augsburg, Peace of (1555) 191 f Augustinian Hermits 117, 306 Augustinian Nuns (Chorfrauen) 117, 242 Babel 264 Bamberg 267 battles 67 f, 317 – Breitenfeld (1631) 36 f, 53, 61, 116, 187, 247, 293 f, 303 – See also: Tilly, Duke of – Breitenfeld (1642) 226 – Jankau (1645) 68, 197, 246 – Lutter am Baremberge (1626) 142 – Lützen (1632) 36, 195, 237, 239, 248, 261 – See also: Gustavus Adolphus – Nördlingen (1634) 143, 187 – Seelze (1625) 249 f Bechstedt Wagd 39, 113 Benedictine Monks 116 – as historiographers 27 f, 328 – See also: Erfurt, town of, Petersberg (Benedictine monastery); -, Schottenkirche Bible – lay readings of the 233 f, 264–268 – presence in lay households 41, 144, 231 Bienstädt 225 Bindersleben 210, 226 Bingen 324 birds of ill fortune 114 – magpies 10 – swans 8–11, 80, 115, 277 Bischleben 319 blasphemy 91, 107, 244, 248 f, 269–271, 278 f, 284, 328 Bohemian Brethren 275 Braunschweig 69 Breisach 324 Breitenfeld see: battles, Breitenfeld Bremen-Verden 324 Brieg, Duchy of 142, 275 brutalisation of civilians during war 15 f, 205 f, 210, 213 f

388

Indices

Büßleben 71 f, 213 f, 219, 254 calamities see: divine judgements, temporal Calvinism 22, 50, 81, 117, 119, 136–138, 142, 148, 174, 188, 199, 275 Carthusians see: Arnoldi, Johannes; Erfurt, town of, Carthusian charterhouse catechesis 70, 142, 151–156, 164 – in sermons 38, 155 f, 207 f Catechism, Luther’s Small (1529) 23, 34 f, 37, 39, 70, 153–156, 163, 174, 207 f, 332 – questionnaires and exams on 36, 156, 160 f, 172 f, 178, 202, 217, 320 Catholic minority in Erfurt 275 f, 293–300 – coexistence with Lutherans 42, 65, 148 – demography 50 – oaths of fealty to Lutherans 56, 62, 262, 296, 298 – oppression of 54, 62–65, 231, 238, 275 f, 294–299, 327, 331–333 – See also: Augustinian Hermits; Augustinian Nuns; Benedictine Monks; Franciscan Friars; Jesuits; preaching, Lutheran in Catholic churches; saints, relics of censorship 30–33, 91, 149 f, 183, 191 f, 198 – evasion of 10, 79 f, 197 centennials, Lutheran celebrations of – 1617 52, 239, 268, 307 – 1630 52 – 1631/1731 238 – 1646 52, 225 charity 100, 102, 149, 172, 206, 240, 301 – See also: poor relief cheap prints 33, 39, 278, 283 – almanacs 11, 41, 76–78 – broadsides 116, 247, 323 – newsletters 93, 101 f, 248 f, 303, 320 – See also: Fritzsch, Tobias Chemnitz 250 chronicles – as a commodity 44, 298, 301 f, 306, 319, 330 – compiling material for 82, 108, 123, 245, 276–278, 299 f, 307 f, 312, 321–328, 333 – Erfurt traditions 41–49 – as heirlooms 305, 319, 323 churchgoing 207–210, 221 – and Sabbath-breaking 168, 214–216, 218 f Coburg 38, 141, 148, 262 cognitive con- and dissonance 17–19, 111, 200 f, 243, 277, 285 coincidence, interpretation of 124 f

“collegia pietatis” 179 f common prayers 137, 215 – and legal submission 64, 73, 137, 262, 318 communion see: Eucharist community studies 13–15, 20 confessionalisation, theory of 22 f confession of sins, collective 219 f confession of sins, individual 38, 134 f, 171, 229 – Catholic customs 22 – in confessionals 220 – in public 31, 220 – See also: ecclesiastical discipline, measures of, excommunication conscience 169–176, 182 conversion – between Christian denominations 36, 117, 145, 183, 200, 260, 286, 331 – of Jews to Christianity 180 – See also: fears, of forced conversion Council, Erfurt Town 301–303, 330 – control of wonders 118–120, 123–127, 202 – control of theologians 145, 147, 156–158, 161 f, 167–169, 181, 191 f, 217 – inner urban conflicts 46, 63 f, 72 f, 231, 238–240, 251–259, 273, 294–296, 298, 300, 308, 310–312, 314, 317 – overlords 49, 51–53, 59, 62–64, 73, 191 f, 238–240, 300, 310, 317 – responses to calamities 123, 137, 152–154, 158–161, 202, 273, 282 – records 32, 152, 224, 314 f – See also: Erfurt, town of, town hall Council of Nicaea (325) 184 Council of Trent (1545–1563) 22 Courland 133 court-martials 53, 172, 246, 280, 307 f, 314 “Croatians”, German criticism of 248, 253–258 – See also: Isolani, Count Goan; Mille Draghi, Stephano; Paul, Orosi; troops, Imperial curiosity 50, 78 f, 100–102, 127, 267, 283, 300, 323–325 – cabinets of curiosities 260, 324 f currency crisis (Kipper- und Wipperzeit) 55, 223, 251 f, 301 Dachwig 68, 213 f, 217 f, 319–321 Danzig 93 days of repentance and prayer see: prayer days and hours; propitiation Dead Sea 265

Index of places and terms Denmark-Norway 136, 142, 198, 202 Devil – tempts and punishes 36, 165, 169, 234, 243–245, 248 f, 260, 263, 270, 306 – Manichaean opponent of God 116, 147, 154, 156, 167, 184 f, 254, 260–263, 282 – misleads 64, 88, 92, 177 f, 325 – See also: apocalyptic thought, Antichrist devotionals 24, 33, 39, 47, 140, 143, 150–152, 174, 176, 222 f, 231 f, 234, 267 f divination see: astrology; cheap prints, almanacs; signs of warning divine deliverances 20–22, 37, 48, 52 f, 62, 117, 230, 241, 274–278, 299, 301 – See also: Providence, Preservation divine judgements, temporal 21, 23–26, 130–134, 157–161, 172, 228–230, 274, 278–284, 294, 322 – Babylonian captivity 36 f – as castigation 12, 165 f, 220, 228 f, 242, 263, 274, 285 – Israel’s forty years in the wilderness 193 f – the Flood 136, 264 f, 302, 327 – of rulers 30, 167 f, 187 f, 194 f, 249 f – Ten Plagues of Egypt 75, 123 f, 266 – as a trial of faith 12, 165, 220, 232, 264, 276, 285, 332 – as vengeance 213, 218, 242 f, 249 f – and wrath 29, 34–37, 104–107, 110, 149, 169, 181 f, 187, 192, 274 – See also: apocalyptic thought; Council, Erfurt Town, responses to calamities; Jerusalem, Destruction of; Purgatory; sudden deaths Döllstädt 277 Dominican Friars 27 Dornheim 263 Dorset 282 dreams – divine visions in 11 f, 34, 94, 277 – interpretation of 76 duels 172, 244 Ebeleben 11 f, 313 f ecclesiastical discipline, measures of 142, 149, 153, 172 f, 202 f – excommunication 31 f, 138, 156 f, 174 – moral courts 138, 142 f, 202 ecclesiastical jurisdiction 141, 147 f, 153–162 – and the Drei-Stände-Lehre 30, 166–169, 171 f ecclesiastical visitations see: visitations, ecclesiastical

389

Edict of Restitution (1629) 52, 87, 115 f, 128 f, 187, 276, 305 ego-documents 45–47, 286 Egstedt 215 Eisenach 225, 302 Eisfeld 195 elders (Kirchenväter) 32, 167, 209, 217–219, 242, 270, 316, 320 Elxleben a.d. Gera 219, 224, 234, 236, 242 f England 128, 139, 195, 198 f, 222, 282–284 Enlightenment criticism – of grim theology 34 – of popular superstition 82, 205 f, 284 epidemics 47, 105, 107, 119, 281, 328 – in 1529 107, 118, 327 – in 1597 40, 137, 322 – in 1625–1626 112, 119, 229 f, 271, 283, 298, 303, 324 – in the 1630s 72, 119, 122 f, 148, 218, 235 f, 240, 283, 294 – in 1682–1683 107, 265, 299, 322, 325, 327 Erfurt, the countryside around 32, 68, 161, 263 – assaults on civilians in 12, 51 f, 67–69, 71, 211–214, 217, 224–231, 236 f, 245, 253 f, 256, 297–299, 313–315, 320, 329 f – demography 69 – size 49 – See also: Alach; Bienstädt; Bindersleben; Bischleben; Büßleben; Dachwig; Döllstädt; Egstedt; Elxleben a.d. Gera; Ermstedt; Herbsleben; Kleinrettbach; Kühnhausen; Markvippach; Mühlberg; Nohra; Nottleben; Ollendorf; Riethnordhausen; Schwerstedt; Sömmerda; Tiefthal; Töpfen; Tülstedt; Udestedt; Vargula; Wagweide; Walschleben; Werningsleben; Wiegleben Erfurt, town of – Augustinerkirche 38, 146, 315 f – Augustinervorstadt 64 – Augustinerkloster (secularised) 31, 50 – new Augustinian Hermit-monastery by the Krämpfertor 117 – Barfüsserkirche 27, 38, 52, 94 f, 146, 202, 220, 276, 301, 307, 330 – Barfüsserschule 312 – besieged 68, 73, 111, 113, 123–126, 158 f, 224, 229, 246, 296, 304, 311, 325 – Brühlertor 118 – Carthusian charterhouse 45, 98, 295–297 – Cyriaksburg 60, 330 – demography 49, 68 f – economic developments 54 f, 68, 246

390

Indices

– executioner’s house 64 – fortifications 50, 56–58, 69, 213, 233, 239 f, 296, 304, 308, 310, 326 – Großes Hospital 241 – Johannistor 123 – Kaufmannskirche 91, 146, 244 f – Krämpfergasse 123 – Krämpfertor 117, 330 – Löbertor 113, 258 – Mainzer Gebint 57 – Mühlentor 113 – Neuwerkskloster (Augustinian Nuns) 117, 242 – Petersberg, Benedictine monastery on the 27, 50, 55 f, 101, 275, 304, 327 – poorhouse by the Krämpfertor 239 f – Predigerkirche 27, 38, 52, 312, 324 – Ratsgymnasium 23, 70, 146 – Reglerkloster, with Jesuit college 50, 63, 115 f, 297–299 – Schottenkirche, Benedictine convent church of St. Nicolaus and Jacobus 91 – St. Lorenzkirche 63, 98 – St. Marien, collegiate church of 49, 54 f, 61, 238, 294 – St. Nikolaikirche 230 – St. Severi, collegiate church of 63, 148, 294 – Thomaskirche 300 f – Town Council see: Council, Erfurt Town – town hall 28, 31, 60, 121, 224 f, 246 f, 253, 308, 312, 315 – university 23, 33, 42, 146–149, 294 f, 315 f, 321, 334 – vor den Graden (square) 46, 80, 115 f – zum Greiffenstein (house) 46, 116 f, 131 – zum großen Christoffel (tavern) 306 – zum grünen Schild (tavern) 101 f – zum güldenen Bord (tavern) 101 – zum halben Mond (tavern) 116, 306 – zur hohen Lilie (inn) 54 f, 261 – zur Kronen auf dem Anger (house) 98 – zum schwarzen Löwen auf dem Anger (house) 261 – zum Schweinskopf (house) 179 – zum Steinsee (house) 299 – zum weißen Löwen auf dem Anger (house) 261 – zum wilden Mann (tavern) 101 Ermstedt 226, 255 eschatology 16 f, 181, 243 – Heaven 166, 172 f, 236, 243, 264, 332 – Hell 12, 20, 29, 169, 243 f, 308

– Judgement Day 34, 103, 106, 169, 171, 185, 188, 196, 244, 254, 264, 322, 325 f Eucharist 119, 151, 174, 208, 234 – wonders of the host 117, 267, 325 – See also: ecclesiastical discipline, measures of, excommunication Evangelical Ministry 31 f, 73, 91, 146, 150, 153–158, 168, 177, 179, 191 f, 201 exempla 27 f, 36, 230, 247–249, 277 – See also: sudden deaths “experience”, contemporaneous usage of the term 130, 200, 332, 277 extra-marital sex 98–100, 168, 172 f, 260 – and abortions 98 – adultery 28–32, 91, 209 f – prostitution 29, 43, 100, 311, 319 – sodomy 93, 98 f, 267 – war-time rapes 68 f, 172, 225, 242, 250, 280 famine see: starvation fasting 93, 135, 137 f, 140, 142, 162 Faustus-tales 305, 325 fears 10, 223, 234–236, 265–267, 269, 295 f – and bad conscience 169 – and cognition 88, 98, 125 – as an epochal characteristic 18, 23 f – of epidemics 88, 122 f, 281, 327 – of forced conversion 52, 62, 65, 115, 239, 268, 320 – of God (“filial fear”) 34 f, 274 f, 279 – of Popish plots 64, 262, 282, 327 – and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder 48, 332 – of war 9 f, 46, 71, 112–114, 158 f, 205, 225 f, 232 f, 239, 254, 256, 274 f, 279, 310, 327, 329 f Fehmarn, naval battle at 226 Florence 45, 128, 325 Formula of Concord (1577) 37, 164 foundation myths, urban 42 f, 297, 322, 327 Franciscan Friars 27, 52, 90, 306 Franconia 61, 68, 239, 331 Franconia, Duchy of 59, 143 “Franconian Kurrende” 61, 239–241 Frankenhausen, Bad 329 Frankfurt a. M. 50, 81, 100, 248, 324 Freiberg i. S. 303, 324 Gebesee 9 f, 79, 96–98, 100 f, 103 – See also: birds of ill fortune, swans Germantown, PA 331

Index of places and terms Gerstetten 270 ghosts 25, 311 Gleichen, County of 66 – See also: Erdmute Juliane, Countess of Gleichen Gotha 50, 177, 179 f, 225, 249, 304 grain prices, complaints about 168, 223, 251, 254, 282, 304 Großkrut (Lower Austria) 270 guilt, allocation of 18 f, 95–100, 102, 210 f, 219–221, 228 f, 254, 278, 281–283 – by scapegoats 23, 260–263, 273, 281 f Halle i. S. 69, 197 Hannover 281 Harz Mountains, guerilla movement in the 251 Heldrungen 68, 71, 226, 313 f Hell see: eschatology, Hell Helmstedt 91 Herbsleben 76 Hildesheim 242, 251 Hof 60 f Holy Ghost 135, 163, 173 Holy Land 194, 265, 325 – See also: Jerusalem; Sodom hostages see: ransomage household, ideals about the 30, 43, 172, 180, 208 – See also: divine judgements, temporal, as castigation Hülfensberg 295, 331 hymnals 40 f, 145, 231–235, 268 Iceland 140, 325 Ilmenau 297 individualism 18, 210 f, 234, 284 insanity, religion and 64, 92, 182 f, 270 f, 296 Jena 33, 92, 140, 146, 176, 183 Jerusalem 102, 158 – Destruction of (586 B. C.) 284 – Destruction of (70 A. C.) 75, 107, 265 Jesuits 40, 49–51, 62 f, 116 f, 137, 231, 238, 276, 294, 297–299 – educational system 70, 149, 170, 283, 297–299, 331, 333 – Lutheran criticism of 90 f, 115 f, 149, 262, 282, 297–299 Jesus Christ 38, 102, 106, 113, 117, 120, 158, 178 f, 182, 184, 187, 201, 228, 233, 238, 267 f, 325–327

391

– See also: apocalyptic thought, Second Coming of Christ Jewish people after Jesus Christ 90, 117, 194, 262, 328 Judah, Biblical kings of 159 f, 167 Judgement Day see: eschatology, Judgement Day Kipper- und Wipperzeit see: currency crisis Kleinrettbach 242, 274 Köln 298 Kötzschenbroda, Truce of (1645) 71 Kreuznach 323 Kühnhausen 219 (Langen)elxleben see: Elxleben a. d. Gera Lateran Council (1215) 284 lay religious commitment 12, 205 f, 211, 222, 228–230, 268 f, 274 f, 278–287 Leipzig 68, 73, 119, 223, 226, 232, 248 Leipziger Convention (1631) 196, 310 literacy 41 f, 47, 70, 202, 267 f, 309 f liturgical reforms 22, 135–138, 153, 167 London 283 Lower Lusitia 248 Lübeck 38 – Peace of (1629) 198 Lüneburg 41 Lützen see: battles, Lützen Magdeburg 60, 68, 119, 295 – Destruction of (1631) 20, 94, 111, 123, 256, 317 – See also: Tilly, Duke of magic – Azande beliefs in 14 – lay use of 205, 269 – natural magic 79 – See also: witch persecution Mainz 332 Mainz, Archbishop(ric) and Elector(ate) of 20, 22, 32 – relations to Erfurt 49, 51 f, 64, 66, 73, 137, 191, 305, 309 f, 317 f, 331 Markvippach 225, 258, 329 f martyrs 13, 89 f, 261, 298, 317 meditation 174 mentalities, history of 16–20, 285 f Merseburg 119 Milan 220 militia, civic 58, 251–253, 256–258, 310 f Montelupo 283

392

Indices

Moslems 21, 328 – See also: prophets, Lutheran attacks on Mahomet as a false prophet Mühlberg 214 Mühlhausen i. Th. 60, 73, 244 – Convention at (1627) 238 München 298 Münster 71, 190, 260 “nadere reformatie” (Further Reformation) 139 Naumburg 226 Nazi Germany, historians in 69, 148 Neustadt a.d. Weinstraße 265 Nineveh 38 f, 133, 166 Nohra 118–126, 309 Nördlingen 257 – See also: battles, Nördlingen (1634) Nottleben 217 f, 320 Nürnberg 16, 41, 45, 79 f, 162, 183, 270, 330 Oberkirch 324 Oberroßla 119 Ollendorf 107 Olmütz 60 orthodoxy – as an epochal characteristic (‘Age of Lutheran Orthodoxy’) 23, 134, 144, 162, 205 – expressions of 65, 79, 119–122, 150 f, 170, 174–180, 188 f, 202 – See also: polemics, reflections on theological Osnabrück 190 f Prague, Defenestration of (1618) 50, 261, 309 Palatinate, Upper 226 f Papacy, liberation from (1517) 22, 167, 180, 186 – See also: centennials, Lutheran celebrations of, 1617 Paracelsian and hermetic teachings 121 f pastors – adapt to their parishes 36, 38, 96–98, 207, 219–221 – as physicians 35–37, 202, 220 – as shepherds 35, 217 – as watchmen 34, 147, 184 – wages 216–218 – See also: preaching; prophets, pastors patience, calls for 229–231, 233, 235, 263, 271 – politicised 236 f, 242, 250–259, 275, 282 f patriotism, German 248, 310, 334 peace celebrations 66, 72, 273–276, 316

pedlars 69, 80 f, 101, 116, 256 – See also: cheap prints; songs, street ballads penitence, individual 37, 134 f, 206, 216, 230, 250, 260, 263, 269, 274 f, 285 – scope of 135, 229 – See also: confession of sins, individual; repentance, collective pericope 11 f, 30, 75, 92, 109, 192 – and postillons 38–40, 221 Pietism, Lutheran 134, 152, 162, 179 f, 195 f, 205, 210, 332 pilgrimage see: Holy Land; Hülfensberg Plurs 264 poetry 33, 44, 73, 94 f, 247, 264, 269, 271, 279 f, 312, 316, 320, 332 – dedicatory 79, 143, 146 f, 164, 197, 249, 299 – See also: songs polemics, reflections on theological 35, 144 f, 148, 156, 164 f, 177, 182, 184, 291 poor relief 239 f, 282, 300 f ‘popular piety’ – See: Enlightenment criticism, of popular superstition; lay religious commitment Prague 261 – Peace of (1635) 11, 65, 109 f, 143, 148, 190, 196, 202, 276, 304, 309, 313 prayer days and hours 12, 133–138, 142, 214–216, 218 f, 222, 237, 252, 278 – See also: churchgoing, and Sabbath-breaking; propitiation prayers, individual 45, 47, 92, 106, 109, 112 f, 159 f, 174, 223–230, 233–237, 268 f, 271, 280, 304, 309, 320, 326 f – and prayer books 70, 222 f, 235, 271, 295, 300 f – their potency 135, 215 f, 237 preaching – and audiences 36, 79, 95, 175–177, 209 f, 221–223 – crisis of 173 f – Lutheran, in Catholic churches 61 f, 148, 238, 304, 308, 310 printers 33, 302 f – See also: Birckner, Johann; Fritzsch, Tobias; Meyer, Marx; Saher, Christian von; Spangenberg, Martin and Martha prodigies see: signs of warning prophecies, written 94 f, 104 f, 108, 128 f, 262 – See also: apocalyptic thought; astrology prophets 89 f – Lutheran lay prophets 25, 88, 90–95, 196–199, 202, 205, 283

Index of places and terms – Luther as a prophet 90, 178 – Mahomet (Muhammad ibn, ‘Abdullāh) (c.570–632), Lutheran attacks on the false prophet 93, 99, 291 – pastors and Old Testament prophets 34, 141 – pastors as prophets 277 – Sibyls 94, 108 – See also: Werner, Johann; Zevi, Sabbatai propitiation 21, 111, 134–138 – Catholic customs 135, 137, 229 f, 237, 299 – through public prayers 124, 225, 301 – See also: prayer days and hours prostitutes see: extra-marital sex, prostitution ‘Protestantism’ 22 – See also: Calvinism Providence – doctrine on 10, 14, 96, 271, 274 – Predestination 103, 193 f – Prescience 107, 114, 135 – Preservation 122, 131, 227–230 – supernatural interventions 75, 122 – See also: divine judgements, temporal, as castigation Purgatory 244 ‘Puritanism’, English 18, 139 f, 222 – See also: Wallington, Nehemiah Ramsla 67 f ransomage 67, 227–231, 315 rapes see: extra-marital sex, war-time rapes reform movements, theological 133 f, 138–144, 147–180, 200–202, 207, 219–222, 275, 286 refugees 48, 50 f, 61, 69, 72, 161, 212–214, 232 f, 239–241, 254–256, 296, 299, 311, 320 repentance, collective 138, 149, 158 f, 178 – calls for 24, 37, 91, 94, 98, 128, 193 f, 252, 260 f, 273, 282 – scope of 134 f, 143, 153, 159 f, 165 f, 181 f, 229 – See also: penitence, individual republican thought 42 f Riethnordhausen 69, 209 riots, urban 63, 256, 317 – sixteenth-century 63, 327 – in early 1620s 55, 223, 251–256 – in 1638 60, 253 – in 1663 73, 230 – in 1712 239 Ripen 198 Rome 98 f, 261, 264, 282, 284, 327, 331 – Santa Maria Maggiore (church) 325

393

– See also: apocalyptic thought, the Further Fall of Rome Rosicrucians 165, 188 Rostock 30, 91, 246 Saale (river) 324 Sachsen, Electorate of 66 f, 71, 196 f, 233, 241, 304, 309 – See also: troops, Electoral Saxon; Johann Georg I, Elector; Magdalena Sibylle, Electress Sachsen-Gotha, Duchy of 66, 142, 154, 218, 222 – See also: Ernst, Duke Sachsen-Weimar, Duchy of 51, 143 f, 239 – See also: Wilhelm, Duke Saint Denis (basilica) 95 saints – and intercession 21, 238 – relics of 56, 63, 117, 119 f, 294 – See also: Loyola, Ignatius Schloßvippach 329 Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, County of 313 Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, County of 66, 313 f Schwerstedt 245 ‘Scientific Revolution’, “new science” 121 f, 130 f, 283 ‘Second Reformation’ 142 secularisation 17, 24 f, 249, 284 f – See also: apocalyptic thought, decline of; prophets, lay Lutheran; signs of warning, decline of the belief in sermons, printed or specific 27–40, 75 f, 82, 91 f, 96–98, 108 f, 157, 160 f, 163–176, 182, 196, 209, 227–230, 238, 242 f, 265, 270 – by Catholic preachers 40, 63, 229 f – funeral 33, 39 f, 45, 61, 112, 144–146, 177, 190 f, 216, 222 f, 231–237, 244 f, 250, 274, 301, 329 f – and homiletics 34 f, 148 – the market for 39 f, 170 f – See also: preaching shame and honour 29 f, 48, 171, 175, 207–211, 219–221, 244 f, 249 f, 257–259, 269 Sidon 264 Siebenbürgen, Principality of 95, 192 signs of warning 9 f, 24, 52, 75–131, 277, 294, 309, 315, 320–329 – bloody signs 87, 107, 111, 113, 118–127, 129–131, 158, 283, 309, 322, 334 – celestial apparitions (espec. battles and crosses) 80 f, 105, 107, 125, 322

394

Indices

– comets 10, 87, 106–111, 128–133, 199, 259, 265, 309, 327 – contemporaneous usage of terms 87, 122 – decline of the belief in 130 f, 199, 283 f, 286 – meteors 113 – monstrous births 10, 88, 95–102, 199, 283 – omens 9–11, 87, 111, 113–117, 129 – parhelions 107, 111 – rainbows 87, 107 – solar and lunar eclipses 75 f, 87, 108, 322, 326 – See also: apocalyptic thought, signs of the Second Coming; birds of ill fortune; divination sins and sinning – causes of 141, 150–156, 163–165, 169, 178 – effect of war on 205, 213 f – magnitude 216 – Original Sin 34, 37, 150, 155, 164 f, 169 – post-baptismal sins and their punishment 21 Sodom 21, 107, 193, 265–267, 328 Sömmerda 177, 239, 279 Sommershausen 331 Sondershausen 313 songs – propaganda ballads (historische Volkslieder) 253 f – religious 231–241, 252 – by soldiers 58, 310 – street ballads 44, 80 f, 101, 105, 253 Spanish rulers 254, 262 starvation 68 f, 166, 211–213, 218, 223, 239–241, 247, 281 f, 304, 322 – See also: grain prices St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre (1572) 117, 261, 307 Stettin 197 Stockholm 128, 198 Straßburg 136, 139 f, 190, 209, 327 sudden deaths as divine judgements 14, 19, 36, 131, 179, 271, 319 f – of soldiers 244–250, 315 – See also: fears, of sudden deaths suicides 36, 270 Sweden 136, 140, 198, 202 taxes, war-time 29 f, 56–61, 65–68, 72 f, 168, 176, 213, 253 f, 270, 278, 307 f, 310–315, 319 theatre plays 273, 283, 299 Tiefthal 219 Töpfen 304

Trier 325 troops 123, 212, 214, 224, 243 f, 248 f, 251, 262 f, 280, 284, 297, 309 – Electoral Saxon 9, 51, 66–69, 105, 212, 226, 313 f – in pay of the Erfurt Council 51, 58, 251, 256 – Imperial and of the Catholic League 9, 51, 54, 56, 67 f, 113, 116, 137, 158, 225–230, 232–234, 236 f, 246–249, 256 f, 262, 277, 296, 298, 306, 307, 309 f, 313, 324 – intermarriage with local women 70 – in the New Model Army 198, 280 – Philistine 159 – recruitment of 50 f, 172, 213, 244 – in Spanish pay 249 – in Swedish pay 9, 53–61, 64–66, 68, 71 f, 105, 113, 115, 147, 172, 194 f, 197–199, 224–227, 240–242, 244–249, 264, 267, 277 f, 298 f, 304, 308–317, 324, 330, 332 f – See also: court-martials; “Croatians”; extramarital sex, war-time rapes; militia, civic Tülstedt 221 Turks, as enemies of Christianity 81, 95, 105, 107, 111, 114, 188, 254, 320, 327 Udestedt 254 Ulm 151 Ursulines Sisters 275 Vargula 329 Vienna 325, 331 Villingen 295 visions 243 – See also: dreams; prophets; signs of warning, celestial apparitions visitatio domestica 142, 156, 158, 163, 167, 173 f, 202, 220 visitation protocols 37, 219 visitations, ecclesiastical 154–161, 165, 168, 173, 321 Wagweide 55, 251 Walperzug 251–253 Walschleben 209 wars – Bohemian-Palatine phase of the Thirty Years War (1618–1623) 50 f, 109 f, 200, 261, 298, 328 – English Civil War (1642–1646) 118, 128, 138, 282 – French Wars of Religion 117, 260 f, 327

Index of places and terms – – – – – –

Fronde (1648–1653) 331 Kalmar War (1611–1613) 70, 136 Peasant War (1524–1525) 327 Saxon Brother War (1446–1451) 70 Scanian War (1675–1679) 136 Schmalkaldic War (1546–1547) 70, 136, 195 – Swiss Peasant War (1653) 282 – See also: St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre Weigelians, attacks on 141, 151, 164 f – See also: Weigel, Valentin Weimar 106, 126, 135, 143 f, 146, 150 f Weira 236 Werningsleben 100, 113

395

Westphalia, Peace of (1648) 16, 71, 110, 226, 238 f, 273–277, 315 – as epochal boundary 17, 72 f, 284 – opposition to 183–192, 196 f, 275 Wiegleben 237 Windsheim 331 witch persecution 19, 148, 205, 260, 262, 282 Wittenberg 91, 140, 146, 196, 199 woad 49, 55, 104, 112 Württemberg 103, 136, 138, 142, 150, 161, 202, 208, 270, 277 Würzburg 295, 331 Zürich 128