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Harvard Historical Studies • 148 Published under the auspices of the Department of History from the income of the Paul Revere Frothingham Bequest Robert Louis Stroock Fund Henry Warren Torrey Fund
Singing the Gospel Lutheran Hymns and the Success of the Reformation
Christopher Boyd Brown
Harvard University Press Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, England
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2005
Copyright © 2005 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Brown, Christopher Boyd, 1972– Singing the Gospel: Lutheran hymns and the success of the Reformation / Christopher Boyd Brown. p. cm. — (Harvard historical studies ; 148) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-674-01705-6 (alk. paper) 1. Lutheran Church—Czech Republic— Jâchymov —Hymns—History and criticism. 2. Hymns, German—Czech Republic— Jâchymov —History and criticism. 3. Reformation—Czech Republic— Jâchymov . 4. Jâchymov (Czech Republic)—Church history. I. Title. II. Harvard historical studies ; v. 148. BV480.B76 2005 264⬘.041023—dc22
2004060798
For Polly
Contents
Figures and Tables ix Acknowledgments
xi
1 Hymns, Hymnals, and the Reformation
1
2 Reformation and Music in Joachimsthal 26 3 Lutheranism, Music, and Society
43
4 Music and Lutheran Education 54 5 Lutheran Music in the Church 76 6 Lutheranism and Music at Home 105 7 Counter-Reformation in Joachimsthal
130
8 Joachimsthal’s Influence 151 Conclusion: Lutheran Hymns and the Success of the Reformation 167 Appendix 1 Printing of Nicolaus Herman, Sonntags-Evangelia, 1560–1630 175 Appendix 2 Printing of Nicolaus Herman, Historien von der Sindf lut, 1562–1607 179 Appendix 3 Contents of Nicolaus Herman, Sonntags-Evangelia 181 Appendix 4 Contents of Nicolaus Herman, Historien 189 Abbreviations 197
Notes 201
Index 279
Figures and Tables
Figures Figure 1.1. Map of German-language hymn printing, showing towns producing more than ten editions, 1500–1599. 2 Figure 2.1. Nicolaus Herman (c. 1500–1560) with Sanct Paulus die Corinthier. 28 Figure 2.2. Johann Mathesius (1504–1565) with book and miner’s pick. 29 Figure 5.1. Detail of St. Catharine altarpiece by Lucas Cranach the Elder in the Joachimsthal Spitalkirche, 1516. 87 Figure 6.1. Abendreihen (ring dance) for girls.
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Figure 7.1. Joachimsthal parish statistics and mining output, 1520–1700. 132
Tables Table 1.1. German hymn editions by confession, 1470–1599
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Table 1.2. Printing of Luther’s hymns and total German-language printing of Luther, 1521–1546 20 Table 5.1. Names of new Joachimsthal mines, 1516–1559
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Table 6.1. Price of books in the Joachimsthal library, including binding and shipping from Leipzig 127
Acknowledgments
This study began as a dissertation for the Department of History at Harvard University, which gave a grant in support of research at the Staatsbibliothek in Berlin and at the Státní Okresní Archiv in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic, during the summer of 1998. Revisions were aided by a fellowship from the Herzog August Bibilothek, Wolfenbüttel, Germany, during the summer of 2003. In Karlovy Vary, archival director Milan Augustin and Dr. Stanislav Burachovic of the Karlovarské muzeum graciously lent their aid. Steven Ozment advised and encouraged the work, above all by his example of sympathetic and humane scholarship. James Hankins and Christoph Wolff at Harvard and Robert Kolb and James Brauer of Concordia Seminary commented on chapters. Gottfried Krodel and Martin Brecht gave comments and encouragement. Gerald Strauss, reading for the press, was generous in his appreciation and gracious in expressing disagreement. I thank all of these for their help and trust that their influence has improved the work, absolving them, of course, of responsibility for my conclusions. Above all, I am grateful to my wife Polly and our children Katy and William, in whose happy domestic society—and with whose occasional musical accompaniment—this study of early Lutheran homes, churches, and schools was pondered and written.
That singing hymns is good and acceptable to God is, I think, known to every Christian; for everyone is aware not only of the example of the prophets and kings in the Old Testament who praised God with song and sound, with poetry and psaltery, but also of the common and ancient custom of the Christian church to sing Psalms. St. Paul himself instituted this in I Corinthians 14 and exhorted the Colossians to sing spiritual songs and Psalms heartily unto the Lord, so that God’s Word and Christian doctrine might be instilled and implanted in many ways. Therefore I, too, in order to make a start and to give an incentive to those who can do better, have with the help of others compiled several hymns, so that the holy Gospel which now by the grace of God has risen anew may be noised and spread abroad. —MARTIN LUTHER, PREFACE TO THE GEYSTLICHE GESANGK BUCHLEYN (WITTENBERG, 1524), LW 53:315–316.
1 Hymns, Hymnals, and the Reformation
Nearly a century after the beginning of the Reformation, the Carmelite monk Thomas à Jesu marveled at how securely Luther’s hymns had planted Lutheranism in Germany, pouring forth from Wittenberg to fill the German houses, workplaces, markets, streets, and fields. The German Jesuit Adam Contzen lamented in 1620 that—from the Jesuit point of view— Martin Luther had destroyed more souls with his hymns than with all his writing and preaching.1 The opponents of the Reformation recognized the powerful appeal of Lutheran vernacular song and struggled for a century to provide a viable Roman Catholic alternative. Even the Lutheran clergy, often the severest critics of their own efforts, recognized the wide popularity of Lutheran song among the people. The Jena theologian Johann Gerhard, a contemporary of the Roman Catholic observers, pointed to the use of Lutheran hymns among the laity as an incontestable success: [Luther] gathered the principal and most necessary points of doctrine and comfort in beautiful German psalms and hymns, so that the simple too might make continual use of them—as has manifestly (praise God) come to pass, and no one can truthfully deny.2 Such admissions by friend and foe alike of the long-term popular success of Lutheran song stand in sharp contrast to the consensus of much recent scholarship that, after a brief period of popular appeal in the 1520s, the Reformation became the concern primarily of theologians and rulers and that, in the long term, the institutional success of the Protestant movement was due rather to its willingness to support the ambitions of the German princes for tighter control over their territories and people than to any widespread hold of Evangelical religion on the hearts of ordinary people. Though all the major confessional movements of the sixteenth century—Lutheranism, Calvinism, and Tridentine Roman Catholicism—were forced to deal with the problems of popular indepen1
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K
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Lübeck Hamburg Frankfurt
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Wittenberg Eisleben Leipzig Köln Mühlhausen Görlitz Breslau Marburg Erfurt Zwickau Dresden Joachimsthal Frankfurt Neustadt ia Bohem Heidelberg Nürnberg Regensburg Strassburg
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Number of Editions
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500 150 100 75 50 25 11 Other locations mentioned in text
Figure 1.1. Map of German-language hymn printing, showing towns producing more than ten editions, 1500–1599. Source: Das deutsche Kirchenlied (DKL), WB, W 1–5.
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dence and state power, Lutheranism has been portrayed as especially vulnerable to these forces because Lutherans were neither able to assimilate elements of popular culture so readily as Roman Catholics nor inclined to adopt the stricter social controls favored in Calvinist areas.3 The reasons offered for the supposed popular failure of the Lutheran Reformation are manifold: that after seeming early to promise social reform, the Reformers betrayed the aspirations of the common man with their condemnation of the Peasants’ War;4 that after praising the spiritual prerogatives of the laity, the Lutheran clergy themselves became “new papists”;5 that Protestants “liberated” women from cloisters only to imprison them within patriarchal, authoritarian families, themselves the nucleus of the emerging totalitarian state;6 that the cultural divide separating the new, university-trained clergy from the laity prevented the effective communication of Lutheran ideas to the common people, who clung to medieval and even pre-Christian practices despite the complaints of their pastors;7 that, indeed, where Lutherans did use popular forms in their propaganda, they succeeded only in further confusing their message, creating problems of communication that were not faced by Roman Catholics (who largely continued to embrace both the forms and the content of medieval religion) or the Reformed (who rejected both medieval form and content);8 so that, although Lutheranism may have made progress as a theological movement among the clerical elite, or as a legitimation for increased social control among the princes and magistrates, it failed to impress itself upon the vast majority of sixteenth-century laity, who responded to both clergy and magistrates with defiant indifference.9 According to such interpretations, the Lutheran Reformation both betrayed its own original promise to the laity and failed to meet the spiritual and pedagogical goals of the clergy. Whatever the political successes of the Reformation, its modern critics confidently assert its failure “to create a new kind of devout Christian among the popular masses.”10 Such criticism of the Reformation has sought to demonstrate both the ineptness of the pedagogical means employed by the Lutheran clergy and the resistance or indifference of the laity. Some of the most damning witnesses invoked against the popular success of the Reformation are the official reports compiled by clergy and state officials who were responsible for evaluating the spiritual condition of the parishes under their jurisdiction. Ultimately, those scholars who depend on the visitations claim to overwhelm competing assessments by sheer numerical weight—no number of pious Lutherans discovered through pamphlets, letters, diaries, or other sources can outweigh the archives full of official reports and proto-
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cols that reveal the poor moral behavior and inadequate religious knowledge of laymen summoned to give an account of themselves and their faith before visitation committees.11 Yet the presumption that such sources provide a truly objective measure of popular religious devotion and identity has been called into serious question: the visitations may reveal more about the clergy and magistrates who wrote the scripted questions and shaped their reports to serve their own interests than they do about ordinary Lutheran laymen.12 Finally, where modern scholars have criticized the means employed to communicate the Lutheran gospel, they have tended to select their sources in ways that distort sixteenth-century reality. The reports of sixteenth-century men and women who actually recorded their own thoughts and their reactions to the events of their times, as preserved in letters, diaries, and similar sources, are too often rejected as anecdotal or unrepresentative, leaving modern historians to their own devices with nonverbal or statistical sources whose disadvantages have already been suggested. But even when dealing with “public,” printed sources, such as sermons and catechisms, modern scholars have tended to choose them in a way that does not correspond to sixteenth-century priorities. The very different prominence accorded to Luther’s printing efforts of 1529 in recent scholarship illustrates something of this bias. In that year, Luther published three books whose similar format identified them as a closely associated set: his Small Catechism, a revised edition of his Prayerbook, and the first Wittenberg hymnal intended for general use.13 All three works were reprinted and found scores of imitators. Yet of the three books, modern scholarship on the Reformation has been preoccupied with the catechism to the virtual exclusion of the prayerbook and the hymnal, an imbalance not reflected in sixteenth-century printing or in lay practice.14 It may be the modern scholars most interested in evaluating the popular reception of the Reformation who have taken clerical emphasis on the catechism to an unwarranted extreme. Even the most severe modern critics of the Reformation, however, have been obliged to make some concession to the merits of Lutheran song—without, however, fully exploring its effects or importance and without finally permitting it to modify their conclusions. Susan KarantNunn allows that congregational singing may have created brief moments of “community” otherwise lacking in Protestant life, but she regards the hymns as being ultimately only another means of social control resisted by the laity—ignoring the wide distribution of the hymns for private lay use.15 Robert Scribner has pointed out the importance of hymns as a
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bridge between written and oral culture and as a prominent means for propagating Reformation ideas; elsewhere, however, he ignores the wellknown hymn texts associated with the printed images he interprets, thus manufacturing an ambiguity not present for a sixteenth-century audience.16 Gerald Strauss finds the Lutheran hymns to be remarkably direct and unambiguous representations of the intended Evangelical message of forgiveness, hope, and joy, but he ultimately concludes that their importance as historical sources is impossible to measure—though he is far less hesitant to speculate on how Lutheran catechisms must have affected their young students.17
Hymns and Hymn Printing The study of the Lutheran hymns has been left largely to hymnologists and musicologists, who have made the historian’s task much easier through their labors in the bibliography of hymn printings18 and their critical research into texts19 and melodies.20 Together with the information in the sixteenth-century church orders,21 these catalogues provide an ample basis for evaluating the content and context of both the public and the private uses of the hymns in Lutheran worship, pedagogy, and devotion. A growing body of scholarship has sought to analyze the message of the hymns more closely, and Patrice Veit has done groundbreaking work on the social history of the hymns and their use.22 The significance of the hymns as a source for the social history of the Reformation is shown immediately by the sheer volume of sixteenthcentury hymn printing. The two principal catalogues of sixteenth-century hymn printing—the 1855 bibliography assembled by Philipp Wackernagel and the Deutsches Kirchenlied project, launched in 1975—list between them more than two thousand German hymn editions for the century.23 (See Table 1.1.) Of these, so many hymn editions survive in only one exemplar or must be inferred from evidence in later printings that it is likely that at least as many have been lost altogether.24 But even if only surviving editions are considered, at a conservative estimate of one thousand printed copies per edition, there were more than two million hymnals, songsheets, and other hymn-related materials circulating in sixteenthcentury Germany.25 The significance of this mass of hymn printing for the history of the Reformation is shown by the overwhelming preponderance of Lutheran hymnody within the printing market.26 The catalogue of Das deutsche
DKL
4 7 14 96 58 117 102 168 117 161 159 1,004
100% 100% 100% 5% 3% 1% 2% 2% 7% 9% 6% 7%
0% 0% 0% 72% 57% 85% 85% 83% 79% 68% 67% 73%
0% 0% 0% 22% 26% 11% 2% 5% 6% 8% 5% 9%
0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 1% 4% 4% 7% 12% 20% 7%
(with music) Catholic Lutheran Evangelical a Reformed 0% 0% 0% 0% 12% 2% 6% 5% 2% 2% 3% 3%
Bohemian Brethren 0% 0% 0% 1% 2% 0% 1% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0.3%
Sects
19 31 52 166 98 190 192 132 84 78 67 1,109
Wackernagel (no music)
23 38 66 262 156 307 294 300 201 240 226 2,113
Total
Source: DKL, WB, W 1–5. Editions listed in both DKL and Wackernagel are counted only with the DKL figures. Editions listed in Wackernagel are not categorized by confession, though their geographic distribution is very similar to that of editions listed in DKL. a. “Evangelical” editions are those Protestant hymnals, principally from Strassburg, early in the century and later from Frankfurt am Main, that are not readily categorized as either “Lutheran” or “Reformed.”
1470–1499 1500–1509 1510–1519 1520–1529 1530–1539 1540–1549 1550–1559 1560–1569 1570–1579 1580–1589 1590–1599 1470–1599
Period
DKL by Confession (%)
Table 1.1. German hymn editions by confession, 1470–1599
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Kirchenlied, whose editors have categorized each entry according to confession, shows that from the early years of the Reformation the Lutherans held a near-monopoly on the printing of vernacular religious music (Table 1.1). At no time after 1520 was the publication of all nonLutheran groups combined more than about a third of the total. After 1520, Roman Catholic musical publication plunged to a tiny fraction of its pre-Reformation level and continued to decline until the 1550s. Not until the 1580s did Roman Catholic hymn printing reach the level of the second decade of the century, and then, in the new religious context, it was less than ten percent of the overwhelmingly Lutheran total. Even in a biconfessional city such as Augsburg, Roman Catholic hymn printing after 1520 was less than a sixth of the Protestant output.27 Within Lutheran Germany, hymnal production was relatively well distributed. Though the printing centers of Nürnberg, Leipzig, and Strassburg—along with Wittenberg—accounted for nearly half of the sixteenth-century hymn editions catalogued by Das deutsche Kirchenlied, at least forty-seven different towns were involved to some extent in the printing of Lutheran hymn materials. In addition to the the four major centers, there were minor centers of printing serving regional or linguistic markets: Magdeburg in the north, Augsburg in the south, Königsberg and Breslau in the east, Frankfurt am Main in the west, as well as a host of towns that produced fewer than ten hymn editions during the century, some with a single hymnal or songsheet (Figure 1.1).28 By contrast, only twelve towns printed Reformed material, and only twenty printed Roman Catholic material after 1520. The editions catalogued by Wackernagel, though not classified by confession, show a similar geographic distribution, reinforcing the pattern shown by the sample from Das deutsche Kirchenlied. The production of sixteenth-century hymnals was a cooperative process involving clergy as well as laity, authors as well as printers, musicians as well as poets. The first Lutheran hymnals of 1524 were the work of enterprising printers in Erfurt and Nürnberg who assembled German hymns written by Luther and others, before Luther and the composer Johann Walther issued their own hymnal later in the year.29 Though many Lutheran hymns were indeed written by clergy—led by Luther himself, who wrote some forty hymns30—the laity also took a prominent part in composition. The most prolific lay poet was the Nürnberg shoemaker and Meistersinger Hans Sachs, whose compositions nonetheless failed, because of their difficult style, to win a permanent place in the Lutheran repertoire.31 Sachs’ fellow-burgher, the Nürnberg city clerk Lazarus Spengler,
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wrote less, but with greater enduring success: his hymn Durch Adams Fall ist ganz verderbt, first published in 1524, became a permanent part of the Lutheran repertory.32 Women were prominent in Lutheran hymnody not only as writers of hymns—Elizabeth Cruciger was first with her Herr Christ der ein’ge Gottes Sohn in 152433—but also as editors, such as Katharina Zell in Strassburg,34 and as publishers, such as Kunegund Herrgott in Nürnberg, who printed the first edition of Luther’s Ein feste Burg.35 Though few of Luther’s successors among the Lutheran clergy could equal his combination of theological and poetic gifts, Lutheran theologians throughout the sixteenth century remained deeply concerned both with formal religious doctrine and with the popular piety of the hymns. Nicolaus Selneccer (c. 1529–1592), one of the authors of the Lutheran Formula of Concord, also wrote hymns and edited hymnals for a popular market.36 Where the Reformation had been officially adopted, the hymns took their place in the institutions of Lutheran society, both public and private. Already the first Lutheran hymnals of 1524 pointed to the interpenetrating spheres within which the hymns would be used throughout the century: Luther’s 1524 Wittenberg hymnal was published especially to serve the public needs of the school and its choir and accordingly contained Walther’s four-part settings of the hymns37; the 1524 Erfurt hymnals, while acknowledging the use of the hymns in public worship, offered themselves especially for private, individual use.38 Though each sphere of musical activity—the church, the school, and the home—developed to some extent its own repertoire, one notable feature of the Lutheran hymns was their use in both public and private, learned and lay contexts.39 The distinctive lay note sounded by the 1524 preface of the Erfurt Enchiridion, with its ridicule of monastic singing and its insistence that the laity should sing and instruct their children with the hymns against the return of the buzzing swarm of clerical bees, was not silenced throughout the century.40 The Lutheran vernacular hymns were thus a prominent and distinctive feature of Lutheran churches, schools, and homes—and a major presence in the sixteenth-century press—from the 1520s onward.41 They served not only as a means of public instruction and of corporate worship, but also as the basis for the private pedagogy and devotion of individuals and households. In all these spheres, the hymns worked successfully to create a Lutheran identity among the laity—a success that was the concern or envy of Luther’s opponents.
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Public Use of the Lutheran Hymns It is the public use of the hymns in Lutheran churches and schools that has received the most attention from scholars. The German word for “hymn” used in the title of the major catalogues—“Kirchenlied”—reflects this focus, and social historians have tended to follow this emphasis rather uncritically.42 Although this concentration on the public role of the hymns is misleading if taken as a full description either of the sixteenthcentury use of the hymns or of the market for sixteenth-century hymn printing, German hymns certainly were a prominent and distinctive feature of Lutheran public worship. Luther called for the writing of vernacular hymns for public worship in his Formula Missae of 1523, and he led the way with twenty-four hymns composed by the end of 1524. In all, Luther wrote or translated some forty hymn texts,43 and where the Reformation had taken root, Luther’s hymns quickly became part of the public worship of Evangelical congregations.44 Although scholars have catalogued an extensive repertoire of preReformation German religious songs, which were used in public (though nonliturgical) and private contexts,45 it seems that the number that were actually widely known and used was relatively small.46 The introduction of vernacular hymns into the Lutheran service beginning about 1524 struck contemporary observers as a mark of religious change as notable as the marriage of clergy or the distribution of the cup to the laity.47 With the success of Protestant song, Roman Catholics tended to become suspicious even of the vernacular hymns that had been in use before the Reformation.48 Thus, although the boasts of Lutherans a century later that Luther was responsible for restoring vernacular singing to the church cannot be strictly defended, they came near enough to the truth to seem entirely plausible at the time.49 From the beginning, the Lutheran hymns proved an effective means of spreading Evangelical ideas. Perhaps more readily than any other kind of Protestant literature, the hymns spread not only in broadsheet or other printed form, but also by word of mouth and by private letter.50 In Magdeburg, for example, the first reports of Evangelical teaching were received through Luther’s early hymns, sold and sung by a peddler in the town market—a harbinger of the crucial importance of Lutheran song to the establishment of the Reformation in the north German cities over the course of the 1520s.51 Luther’s purpose in writing hymns and editing hymnals from the beginning was “to promote and popularize [zu treyben und ynn
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schwanck zu bringen] the Gospel.”52 Nor did this evangelistic purpose disappear over the course of the century. Luther’s 1545 preface to Valentin Bapst’s Leipzig hymnal emphasized that the Christian sang of Christ “so that others, too, may come and hear.”53 Even as confessional lines hardened, Lutheran hymns continued to make inroads. In the ducal chapel at Wolfenbüttel, Luther’s hymns were introduced while the duchy was still Roman Catholic, and even such a zealous opponent of Luther as Herzog Heinrich (1489–1568) rebuffed the priest’s attempts to have them suppressed.54 In 1580, the Augsburg Lutheran preacher Gregor Sunderreiter, serving in the midst of a biconfessional city, published a book of Lutheran hymns for each Sunday of the year, partly in the hope of reaching those who were still under the papacy.55 For their part, Roman Catholic authorities continued to complain about the spiritual threat posed to their lands by Lutheran hymns well into the seventeenth century.56 Where Lutheran churches were organized, the use of Luther’s hymns and those of his imitators was quickly taken up in the developing Lutheran church orders. The fixed parts of the medieval service were often replaced with German metrical translations by Luther or others, and German hymns were used in place of the variable psalmody of the Mass.57 There were also congregational hymns sung before or after the sermon, for which schedules according to the Sundays and festivals of the church year began to be published beginning in the 1540s. By the end of the century, these early lists had developed into a more or less standard series of de tempore hymns associated with the appointed gospel readings.58 Such an arrangement provided a pedagogically congenial mixture of repetition and variation from which even an illiterate layman might very reasonably be expected to learn a respectable portion of the Lutheran repertoire. It was not usual in the sixteenth century for Lutheran churches to own quantities of hymnals for congregational use during services.59 Rather, the presumption of the church orders was that the congregation would learn the hymns by following the cantor or the choir.60 In cities and other places with Latin schools, the universal exception to the rule that the students were to speak and sing only Latin was in leading and supporting the singing of the congregation. The Latin schools, which played an important musical and liturgical role in the churches to which they were attached, were thus themselves an important source of intensive training in the hymns for a relatively elite section of the population. A broader range of German youth were trained in the hymns in vernacular schools, and a still larger number through catechetical instruction.61 Luther had taken care to compose a
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complete cycle of hymns for all the parts of his Catechism, and in most Lutheran hymnals these were grouped in a section titled “Katechismuslieder” or “Der Catechismus gesangsweise.” In the rubric for his hymns on the parts of the Catechism in Joseph Klug’s hymnal of 1543, Luther wrote, “For we would have the Christian doctrine diligently set forth by all means, by preaching, reading, singing etc., and always taught to the young and simple folk, so that it may ever be preserved in its purity, and handed down to our descendants.62 In addition, there were separate printings of the Small Catechism together with the Catechism hymns.63 Many church orders prescribed that the hymn appropriate to the part of the Catechism being preached on should be sung at the afternoon Catechism service.64 Given the mnemonic properties of the hymns, it is probable that—despite the priorities of modern scholars—the lasting impression that German youth took away from catechetical training owed more to Luther’s hymns than to the pastor’s catechism sermons.65 Luther’s hymns might also be heard from the pulpit itself as the text for sermons. The most substantial example of this homiletic genre is given by Cyriacus Spangenberg, who published four volumes of sermons on all of Luther’s hymns under the title Cithara Lutheri.66 But sermons based on the hymns were widespread, constituting a distinct and significant genre of Lutheran preaching.67 By such means the Lutheran pastors not only drew attention to the words of the hymns but also encouraged the laity to reflect on their meaning.
Lutheran Hymns in Private The public use of the Lutheran hymns in the sixteenth century, in both worship and instruction, was thus primarily a matter of oral rather than printed transmission. Though the contents of sixteenth-century hymnals were related to the public use of the hymns in worship, the books themselves were for the most part not intended for such use, either by professional musicians and clergy or by the laity.68 An examination of sixteenthcentury hymn printing strongly suggests that it was directed primarily to a domestic market. The hymnals produced by sixteenth-century printers were almost all small-format editions: ninety-two percent of the Deutsches Kirchenlied sample were octavo format or smaller, and only four percent were quarto or folio editions, the remainder being broadsheets.69 Such small formats were convenient for individual lay use but not for the use of professional musicians, who complained that the vast majority of printed hymnals were ill-suited for their needs both in size
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and in arrangement.70 The few large-format hymnal printings of the sixteenth century were mainly attempts to meet the needs of this professional market, which remained dependent largely on manuscript rather than printed sources.71 The printers, printing methods, and market for hymnals were quite different from those for theoretical musical works or polyphonic art music.72 The titles and contents of the hymnals make it clear that the vast majority of the hymnal printings for the century were intended for private lay use. One sign of this is the common practice, beginning with Luther’s hymnals, of printing a prayer after each hymn—a pattern not attested for public liturgical use but well suited to personal or household devotions.73 The hymnals also contained many hymns obviously unsuited for church use, including hymns for use upon arising and going to bed.74 The Lutheran hymnal of the sixteenth century was foremost and most typically not a church book but a household book.75 Furthermore, with the exception of the small group of hymnals specifically directed to pastors and teachers, the contents of the hymnals show only a loose relation to the published church orders.76 Printers, not princes or consistories, took the initiative in the publication of Reformation hymnals, beginning with the first songbooks of 1524.77 Martin Bucer, in referring to the early Strassburg hymnals, notes without censure that they had been printed “absque nostro iussu.” 78 The rather casual connection between Lutheran hymn printing and official ecclesiastical policy continued throughout the century. The Prussian church order, for example, contained, in its list of approved texts, hymns that never found their way into the Königsberg hymnals; the hymnals contained numerous hymns not approved for public use.79 In Nürnberg, the only “official” hymnal of the sixteenth century was one issued on the eve of the Interim, when local authorities were trying to mute too-strident Lutheran voices during the Schmalkaldic War.80 As a rule, printers were left to their own devices, within the bounds of Lutheran orthodoxy, and the public was free to buy or not according to its interest. The contents of Lutheran hymnals thus showed considerable fluidity. Though the core of hymns either written by Luther or included in his hymnals (the so-called Kernlieder) was reprinted in most general-use hymnals, publishers experimented with additions to the repertoire. Many new hymns were stillborn, appearing in one or two editions, usually by the same printer, and then disappearing. Some of these new hymns, however, succeeded in making their way through different editions, establishing themselves in the hymnals long before they began to appear in lists of
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hymns approved for public worship in the church orders. For example, the 1569 hymnal published in Nürnberg by Valentin Fuhrman contained 213 hymns. Thirty-eight were by Luther; thirty-one from the hymnals of the Bohemian Brethren; thirty-six were “transient” hymns not appearing in other hymnals; the remainder were by various authors. In all, about half of the hymns were new arrivals to the Lutheran repertoire since Luther’s last hymnals of the 1540s.81 Lutheran hymnals of the latter sixteenth century thus maintained continuity with Luther while allowing for creative expansion. The size and profitability of the market for Lutheran hymnals is suggested by the active competition among printers not only in content but also in format and in the provision of additional aids such as indices, chronological tables, or large print for the nearsighted.82 Titles and prefaces boasted of the hymnals’ low cost and convenient size.83 In Nürnberg, where at least ten different printers printed their own editions of Luther’s hymnal between 1550 and the end of the century, successive title-pages sought to impress upon potential buyers the distinctive and superior features of each printer’s book. Gabriel Heyn’s 1557 hymnal advertised the addition of Luther’s 1545 Leipzig preface, now printed in Nürnberg for the first time.84 Valentin Neuber began to advertise Luther’s new preface with his hymnal of 1561,85 and in 1564 proclaimed that his hymnal editions had been “augmented with many beautiful psalms and hymns.”86 Nicholas Knorr took another tack with his claim to have copied the Frankfurt hymnal.87 Meanwhile, Valentin Fuhrman tried to keep his hymnals small, publishing a single volume in duodecimo format (Neuber’s had grown to two octavo volumes).88 Fuhrman’s edition was copied in the following years by Dietrich Gerlatz and Christoph Heußler.89 Competition continued through the rest of the century with repeated boasts of expanded contents and improved organization; in 1584, Neuber advertised the addition of “pretty illustrations” to his hymnal.90 A Nürnberg teenager studying abroad in 1576 was familiar enough with the competing Lutheran hymnal editions to express a definite preference among them when he wrote home to request that one be sent him with his mother’s next letter.91 In addition to the general hymnals based on Luther’s collections, a substantial number of hymnals appear, beginning in about 1550, that seek specifically to address the special needs of household piety. The most prominent examples of this genre are the hymnals of Nicolaus Herman, cantor at Joachimsthal, containing hymns for use in household devotions based on the lessons for the Sundays and festivals of the church year and
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other Biblical texts, as well as occasional hymns for use in prayers at table, in the morning, and in the evening. Herman’s books enjoyed widespread success, going through over fifty editions from their first publication in 1560 to the end of the century.92 Such examples show that the Lutheran hymnals were not nearly so much the creatures of official policy and precept as might be supposed. Nor did Lutheran hymnody stand frozen at Luther’s death, an “archaic” relic of the 1520s and 1530s.93 Rather, the hymnal printers were to a large extent free to print what they believed their public wanted to buy, and they had considerable room for experimentation with the publication of new texts. This means that the genre was formed not only “from above,” but also to a considerable extent “from below,” by the tastes and religious interests of the lay reading public.94 Although direct assessment of the private reception of the hymns depends on the availability of sources such as letters, diaries, and the like, which allow the historian to penetrate the inner experience of sixteenthcentury men and women—sources whose exploration must remain mostly outside the scope of the present study95—nonetheless, the sheer volume of sixteenth-century hymnal printing provides very strong indirect evidence of the popular diffusion and use of the Lutheran hymns. Both the contents and the prefaces of sixteenth-century hymnals, together with evidence from sermons and other sources, allow the historian to reconstruct the use of the hymns in the private sphere, where, apart from the direct influence or control of clergy or magistrates, the laity sought to apply the comforts of the Gospel to themselves and to pass on their faith to their children.96 The phenomenon to which which the hymn bibliographies principally bear witness is not the imposition of Lutheran order in the churches but the flourishing of Lutheran piety in the home.
Doctrine and Piety in the Hymns When Luther and his successors placed German Evangelical hymns in the hands and on the lips of the laity, they did so in the conviction that the people were thus brought into contact with the Word of God, which was to be spread and applied not only through sermons preached by pastors but through the hymns sung by the laity. In part, this could be done because the hymns were based upon the doctrine of Holy Scripture, “conformable to the pure Word of God,” as the titles of a number of early hymnal editions put it.97 But in the Lutheran conception this also meant
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that the hymns participated in the divine power that Lutherans attributed to the Word.98 The credit that Lutherans gave their hymns—and not only those of Luther—for theological purity and doctrinal reliability was manifest in the acme of Lutheran theology, the Lutheran confessions themselves. The Book of Concord cites hymns twice in support of theological points: the medieval Pentecost sequence Veni Sancte Spiritus in the Augsburg Confession; and Nürnberg layman Lazarus Spengler’s hymn Durch Adams Fall ist gantz verderbt in the Formula of Concord.99 The phenomenon of hymnbased sermons (Liedpredigten) arose out of the same conviction of the substantial identity of the hymns with the scriptural Word. In a period when hymnal printings outstripped printings of the German Bible or parts thereof, the hymns formed many a layman’s chief individual form of contact with the Word. Through the hymns, God’s Word was applied to instruct, comfort, and encourage, in the streets, in the churches and in homes, both for those who could read and for those who could not. Cyriacus Spangenberg’s list of occupations and situations in which the laity could make good use of Luther’s hymns reflects both the wide popular diffusion of the hymns noted by Roman Catholic observers and their distinctive Lutheran use: The pious Luther put these chief parts of our Christian doctrine into such altogether fine, short, beautiful, and understandable songs, that a craftsman in his workshop, a peasant, husbandman, herdsman, and shepherd in the field, a charcoal-burner and woodcutter in the woods, sailors and fishermen on the water, carters, messengers, and other travelers on the road, children and servants at home, or whoever they may be (if they wish to be pious and have learned such hymns) can easily practice their catechism at any time, and at the same time make confession of their Christian faith, to honor God, to teach others and give a good example, and to comfort and benefit themselves.100 The Lutheran hymns conveyed doctrine in a way intended to be not only understood by the laity but also actively applied by them, to impart not only information but comfort. The reasons for the popularity of Lutheran song among sixteenthcentury laity may be sought in the distinctive features that set the Lutheran hymns apart from other forms of Lutheran literature as well as from the vernacular song of other confessions. Other forms of Lutheran popu-
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lar propaganda have been criticized for their supposed inability to provoke a “conversion experience” in their audience; they were limited in their function to reinforcing the convictions of those who had already been converted or serving as an indirect propaedeutic to conversion.101 But the Lutheran hymns could not only depict a “tower experience” in the idiom of the common man but also serve as the instrument for Evangelical conversion. Certainly, Lutheran contemporaries believed that conversion could take place through the hymns. The theologian Tileman Heshusius, then superintendent in Goslar, wrote in 1555: I do not doubt that by this one song of Luther’s, Dear Christians one and all rejoice, many hundreds of Christians have been brought to faith who would otherwise have been unable to hear Luther’s name; but the noble, precious words of Luther have won their hearts, and compelled them to acknowledge the truth, so that, in my judgment, the hymns have been no small help in spreading the Gospel.102 The hymn to which Heshusius refers, Nun freut euch lieben Christen gmein, was one of Luther’s first, published in broadsheet form in 1523. It shows clearly the special genius of the hymns for presenting the Evangelical religion to a popular audience in a way that not only engaged the hearer’s understanding but also sought to evoke an appropriate affective response. Though Luther borrowed a melody and the pattern of the opening stanza from a pre-Reformation German Easter song, the contents of the hymn themselves are unambiguously Lutheran, summarizing in dramatic form Luther’s doctrine of sin and grace and of Christ’s work.103 So far from being light or superficial in its treatment of Protestant doctrine, the hymn in fact deals directly with the issues that lay at the heart of the Reformation controversies. Erasmus reproached Luther for setting Christendom in an uproar over his “paradoxes,” namely, his teaching of the complete impotence of the human will in matters of salvation. Especially scandalous to Erasmus was that Luther had set these paradoxes not merely before a scholarly audience to be debated but before the multitude—a proceeding that seemed to Erasmus to be most hazardous. And indeed, Luther had set his teaching before the common people not merely in his tracts but also in his hymns. Nun freut euch lieben Christen gmein, described in the 1529 Joseph Klug hymnal as “A fine spiritual song, showing how the sinner comes to grace,” sets forth clearly the doctrine to which Erasmus took such exception.104 The process of translation from dogmatic theology to hymn can be seen by comparing the hymn with Luther’s 1518 theses for the Heidelberg
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disputation—also the primary basis for Erasmus’ challenge to Luther. In the Heidelberg theses, Luther had argued that “although the works of man always seem attractive and good, they are nevertheless likely to be mortal sins”; that “free will, after the fall, exists in name only, and as long as it does what it is able to do, it commits a mortal sin”; and that “it is certain that man must utterly despair of himself before he is prepared to receive the grace of Christ.”105 These abstract theological propositions are given subjective and affective reference in Luther’s hymn: Dear Christians, one and all, rejoice, With exultation springing, And with united heart and voice And holy rapture singing Proclaim the wonders God has done How his right arm the victory won; Right dearly it has cost him. Fast bound in Satan’s chains I lay, Death brooded darkly o’er me Sin was my torment night and day, In sin my mother bore me; I deep and deeper fell therein My life had nothing left but sin; So firmly it possessed me My own good works availed me naught, No merit they attaining. Free will against God’s judgment fought, Dead to all good remaining. My fears increased till sheer despair Left naught but death to be my share. The pains of hell I suffered.106
Erasmus accused Luther of engaging in a kind of spiritual chiaroscuro, of making the human situation seem more bleak than it was in order to make God’s grace seem to shine more brightly.107 Luther would have denied that there was a distortion involved, but the dialectical method implied lay at the heart of the Lutheran exposition of Law and Gospel. Erasmus charged that the Lutheran preaching of human depravity and impotence would lead to despair, a thesis which has seemed attractive to modern psychologists and psychologizing historians.108 An examination of Protestant hymnody helps to explain why it
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did not. Rather than extrapolating the emotional response of sixteenthcentury people from the Protestant doctrines and modern psychological theories, we must turn to the sixteenth-century documents themselves for their witness. In the hymns the opposing doctrines of Law and Gospel, condemnation and grace, were consistently presented in a context that always implied their relation to one another. Though a long series of Lenten catechism sermons, selectively excerpted by a modern scholar, might seem to dwell relentlessly on man’s ineluctable duty to fulfill the commandments, the hymns in their smaller compass usually attempted to place the various topics of the Lutheran doctrine in their right relation to one another. Luther’s hymn begins with a chorus of joy for God’s marvelous work before it enters into its exposition of what made that work necessary. The second and third stanzas of the hymn set forth, in the very terms that made Erasmus shudder, the human predicament, not merely in general terms but in the first person. Man’s bondage to the devil and his inborn sin leave nothing good in his life. Indeed, even his good works are corrupt and profit him nothing. It is precisely his free will that hates God’s judgment and is dead to all good. His situation can only lead him to anguish, doubt, and despair, ending in death and hell. But then, Luther’s hymn continues in the fourth and fifth stanzas, God’s fatherly mercy is revealed: the Son is sent to the rescue of sinners: But God beheld my wretched state Before the world’s foundation. And, mindful of His mercies great, He planned my soul’s salvation. A father’s heart He turned to me, Sought my redemption fervently. He gave His dearest Treasure. He spoke to His beloved Son: ’Tis time to have compassion. Then go, bright Jewel of My crown, And bring to man salvation; From sin and sorrow set him free. Slay bitter death for him that he May live with Thee forever.109
The benefits of Christ’s work are received through the union of faith. Christ says to the sinner,
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Hold fast to Me, I am thy Rock and Castle; Thy ransom I Myself will be, For thee I strive and wrestle; For I am with thee, I am thine, And evermore thou shalt be mine. The foe shall not divide us.110
After a description of Christ’s victory over the Devil, the Ascension, and the sending of the Holy Spirit, the hymn ends with an exhortation to keep the teaching of the Gospel pure from human corruption. Luther’s hymn is a remarkably clear and complete summary of the Evangelical message, but in addition to summarizing the content of the doctrine, it also emphasizes the emotional contrast between anguish and doubt on the one hand and trust and comfort on the other. As the hymn is sung, the singer is drawn to identify with the “I” of the song and encouraged to appropriate Luther’s conversion experience as his own. Even for those who were able to read Luther’s theology in German or Latin prose, the hymn served to make the Augustinian monk’s experiences and insights more readily and personally accessible. Not only Luther’s words but also Luther’s music helped to spread and reinforce his theological message. Luther himself composed the original music for Nun freut euch, as well as for at least eleven other hymns.111 It is dangerous, of course, for a historian to project modern reactions to these melodies back onto a sixteenth-century listener. Sixteenthcentury music, both sacred and secular, was still modal and did not yet conform to the simple major-minor tonality expected by the modern ear. But taking that difference into account, many of the early Lutheran hymn melodies sound far more like dance tunes than dirges, with their leaps and syncopated rhythms—features that already in Bach’s time had begun to be suppressed. Though there is scant truth to the canard that Luther adopted the melodies of the tavern for his hymns, it is true that sixteenth-century lines between “high” and “popular” music, at least so far as melodies were concerned, were not so sharply drawn as we might expect. Most of the movement, however, was from Gregorian chant to popular religious song. So, for example, Nicolaus Decius’ setting of the Gloria in excelsis in lively triple time, Allein Gott in der Höh’ sei Ehr, was in fact based on an old liturgical melody, as were the settings of a number of Luther’s own hymn texts.112 Sixteenth-century writers were most preoccupied with the mnemonic properties of metrical texts joined to music,
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but they also believed that the music helped the texts not only to fix themselves in the memory but also to penetrate the heart.113 Luther’s texts and melodies also forged an enduring link between the theology of the early Reformation and later generations of Lutherans. Though joined by many new compositions, Luther’s hymns retained their pride of place within the Lutheran repertoire and played an increasingly important role in defining Protestant memory of Luther. Already by the last half-decade of Luther’s life, hymn editions accounted for more than a third of the total German output of Luther’s works. (See Table 1.2.) For the rest of the century, while most of Luther’s works were being printed only in thick folio volumes issuing from competing presses in Jena and Wittenberg, Luther’s hymns were being printed and reprinted in vast numbers of relatively inexpensive hymnal editions all over Lutheran Germany.114 In this way, a large collection of texts by Luther and his contemporaries, responsible for spreading the “original message of the Reformation” in the 1520s and 1530s, were kept before the eyes and on the lips of the Protestant laity throughout the sixteenth century and beyond.
Hymns and Confessional Identity The Lutheran identity, both doctrinal and affective, that the hymns sought to communicate quickly became evident to the adherents of other confessions. Roman Catholics were able to identify Lutherans in their midst by the songs they sang.115 Luther’s 1542 hymn Erhalt uns Herr bei deinem Wort (“Lord, keep us steadfast in thy Word”), with its denunciation of Pope and Turk alike, came to be an especially prominent mark of Table 1.2. Printing of Luther’s hymns and total German-language printing of Luther, 1521–1546
Total German Luther Editions Total Luther Hymn Editions Hymn Editions as Percent of German Luther Editions
1521– 1525
1526– 1530
1531– 1535
1536– 1540
1541– 1546
Total
1138
475
258
162
226
2259
47
47
24
39
79
236
4%
10%
9%
24%
35%
10%
Source: WA Ar 4, pp. 139–144; M. U. Edwards, Printing, Propaganda, and Martin Luther (Berkeley: University of California, 1994), pp. 24–25.
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Lutheranism. During the Interim, a number of Lutheran pastors were driven into exile because they refused to eliminate the hymn from their services.116 In the following decades, as Calvinism made inroads, the hymn was expanded to sharpen its message against new opponents.117 The Lutheran hymnal as a whole became a sure mark of Lutheran piety, assailed over the next centuries by Calvinists, Pietists, and Rationalists in their turn, often in the face of widespread popular resistance.118 The ability of Lutherans to spread their ideas and reinforce their identity was magnified by the comparative failure of Roman Catholic vernacular religious song in the century after the Reformation. The pattern of hymn printings in the second and third decades of the sixteenth century suggests that Lutheran production captured most of the existing market for vernacular religious music and created its own vastly expanded new market. In the catalogue of Das deutsche Kirchenlied, there are fourteen editions of pre-Reformation vernacular hymns in the decade between 1510 and 1520, but only five Roman Catholic editions in the decade between 1520 and 1530. Production of Roman Catholic music did not reach the pre-Reformation level again until the 1580s, and was always a tiny fraction of Lutheran hymn printing. (See Table 1.1.) The first Roman Catholic effort to counter the success of Luther’s hymnals, Michael Vehe’s 1537 Nuw Gesangbüchlin, contained only fortyseven hymns, about a third fewer than Luther’s 1535 hymnal, even though the Lutheran movement was less than two decades old, whereas Vehe presumably had centuries of vernacular Catholic song upon which to draw.119 Johann Leisentrit’s 1567 Roman Catholic hymnal contained 249 hymns, bringing it to rough parity with the average Lutheran hymnals of its time, but of that number nearly a third were adaptations of Protestant hymns. Another third of Leisentrit’s hymns appear for the first time in his hymnal and seem to be his own compositions.120 There is evidence for a substantial pre-Reformation heritage of vernacular Catholic religious song—not least in the numerous Protestant adaptations of such hymns that appear in the 1520s under the epithets “verbessert” or “Christlich corrigiert.”121 Nevertheless, the sixteenth-century Roman Catholic hymnals show that the Roman Catholics were extremely slow to employ that heritage to resist the spread of the Reformation. And, in fact, the number of widely known vernacular hymns before the Reformation may have been relatively small, as the scramble by post-Reformation Roman Catholics such as Vehe and Leisentrit to compose new texts shows. Leisentrit complains of the poverty of the Roman Catholic repertoire, which his hymnal attempted to enrich.122
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Despite these efforts, the Roman Catholic vernacular hymnals enjoyed little popular success: Vehe’s hymnal went through perhaps two printings in 1537 and then was not printed again until 1567.123 Leisentrit’s hymnal was somewhat more successful, with editions in 1567, 1573, and 1584 and abridged editions in 1575, 1576, and 1589.124 But the total Roman Catholic production of all types of vernacular hymn printings is only a drop in the sea of Lutheran editions: forty-six Roman Catholic editions to 738 Lutheran editions in the catalogue of Das deutsche Kirchenlied between 1520 and the end of the century. And the intrepid editor of a Roman Catholic hymnal could meet with even less gratitude from his fellow clergy than from the book-buying public. Leisentrit, who certainly had no love for Protestantism, came under the severe suspicion of the German clergy because of his hymnal, and only the intervention of Pope Pius V seems to have saved him from disgrace.125 Part of the clerical resistance to Roman Catholic hymnals was due to a deep ambivalence about private religious song in the wake of the Reformation.126 The very success and wide diffusion of the Protestant hymns had brought private singing under suspicion; even supporters of Roman Catholic vernacular song wanted to encourage it only in connection with public festivals and other communal displays of piety.127 Leisentrit’s hymns were intended only “in part to be sung in and in front of houses, but at the appointed [ gewöhnlichen] times . . . and in an orderly manner.”128 Their primary intended setting was nonliturgical but public devotional use in the church: just as the laity might say their own prayers while the priest was offering the Mass at the altar, so too they might sing.129 Even the evangelically minded Roman Catholic priest Andre Gigler (d. 1570), who composed his own book of weekly hymns in imitation of a Lutheran hymnal composed expressly for household use, intended his songs for use during the public service, before and after the sermon, rather than at home. Without such household devotions, and without a school choir singing hymns in the vernacular to teach the words of new hymns to the illiterate, the means of disseminating new Roman Catholic hymns were limited. Gigler recognized that only the parishioners who could read would be able to participate fully in singing his songs.130 These largely self-imposed limitations left Roman Catholic regions dangerously vulnerable to the insinuation of Lutheran song. Even moderate appeals—at least for translations and public explanations of the Latin liturgy and hymns to win back “craftsmen and peasants” from Protestantism—met with ambivalence from the Roman Catholic bishops.131 After the first years of the Reformation, Lutheran pastors had little com-
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plaint that their parishioners were singing Roman Catholic hymns; they worried almost exclusively about the popularity of unchaste secular songs.132 In contrast, Roman Catholics found the Lutheran hymns an ever-present threat in the midst of their flocks.133 Leisentrit complained: How these slanderous, abusive, and shameless little ditties have been spread everywhere in so few years, how they have become so familiar and very well known, how there have come to be nearly as many of them as there are people in these lands, it is not easy for me to say, nor for one who has not experienced it to believe or imagine.134 Leisentrit believed (perhaps too hopefully) that many pious Catholics had adopted the “unchristian” Lutheran songs only out of necessity [Notturfft], because of the lack of Catholic hymns, and promised his superiors and patrons that his own collection of hymns would readily displace Protestant songs in their jurisdiction.135 But Leisentrit’s complaints and promises are only repeated and expanded in the prefaces that accompanied the subsequent editions of his hymnal in 1573 and 1584, suggesting that his efforts had met with less success than was hoped.136 Nor were Leisentrit’s complaints about Lutheran hymns due merely to his situation in Lusatia on the borders of Saxony. Similar complaints were heard in the depths of Catholic Bavaria,137 though in that more isolated setting the Roman Catholic authorities sought rather to ban German religious singing altogether than to attempt to create a Catholic alternative.138 The importation of hymnals from Protestant lands was specially prohibited in addition to the general prohibition of other Protestant books,139 though even in Bavaria, Roman Catholic authorities still complained bitterly of the wide diffusion, not only of Lutheran hymns, but of the hymnals themselves.140 The difficulty Roman Catholics such as Leisentrit had in displacing Lutheran hymns with Roman Catholic ones had to do not only with Roman Catholic suspicion of domestic singing but also with the different purposes the two traditions of religious song were intended to serve. Although the Roman Catholic hymns, too, were (though less prominently) intended to provide religious “instruction” [Unterweisung],141 parallel to the Lutheran emphasis on “teaching” [Lehr], the main purpose of the Catholic songs was to invoke the intercession of the saints, to satisfy the debt of praise which was owed to God and his saints, and thereby to aid those who sang them in acquiring salvation.142 Absent from Roman Catholic statements of the hymns’ purpose was the category of Trost, or comfort, which was central to
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the Lutheran conception.143 The vernacular hymns of the two confessions exhibited very different tendencies: Lutheran hymns tended to present spiritual problems (sin, death, temptation) and their solution through trust in Christ’s work; Roman Catholic hymns presented examples of heroic sanctity, miracles, piety, and virtuous conduct.144 In part, the Lutheran emphasis on comfort as the special function of the hymns could be justified by Luther’s translation of Colossians 3:16 and his accompanying gloss: “Let the word of Christ dwell richly among you in all wisdom. Teach and exhort yourselves with psalms and songs of praise, and sweet spiritual songs, and sing to the Lord in your hearts.” Luther explained the word “sweet” [lieblich] in the margin as meaning “comforting, most blessed, grace-filled, etc.”145 The association of the Lutheran hymns with both teaching and comfort, however, was all-pervasive and went to the core of the Lutheran understanding of the Gospel. Hymnal after Lutheran hymnal advertised itself as being filled with both Lehr and Trost—two sides of the same Gospel coin.146 In Roman Catholic and Calvinist thought alike, religious song was primarily a human activity intended to satisfy a debt of worship, whether due to the saints or to God himself—a point not to be obscured by the strict Calvinist insistence on Biblical texts for their congregational singing. Whereas Lutherans regarded their hymns as a form of preaching or proclamation, for Calvin the sung psalms were categorized as congregational prayer.147 For Lutherans, the hymns were a form of God’s Word, through which God himself was active to strengthen and comfort his people in faith, not only through the mediation of the public ministers of the church, but also among the laity as they sang in the churches or in their own homes. The Lutheran hymnals unhesitatingly affirmed the prerogative of the laity to apply the comfort of God’s Word to themselves and their families, and not a few writers, both clergy and laymen, averred that such lay use of the hymns might well be of at least as much spiritual help as the pastor’s sermon.148 The Saxon Kapellmeister Johann Walther, in a 1564 poem in praise of Luther’s hymnal, summarized the enduring role that hymns and the hymnal played in the life of the Protestant layman: No one can adequately praise [Luther’s] sweet book of hymns. How rich in the Spirit are all his songs; They contain much comfort and doctrine, With which a Christian in every need Can comfort and refresh himself.149
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Socially, religiously and psychologically, Lutheran hymns thus sought to fulfill a unique role that helps to explain their wide appeal. The wide diffusion of the Lutheran hymns, through word of mouth, public use, and printing, suggests a popular interest in Lutheran teaching and piety at variance with the impression given by sources such as the visitation reports. Together with other evidence, the hymns suggest that the question of the popular success or failure of the Reformation is not so simple as it has been made to appear. Many of the stubborn laity whose church attendance so disappointed their pastors nonetheless practiced a distinctly Lutheran religion at home. Even the fictional prostitute Corinna, for example, held up as an extreme negative example by the Hamburg preacher Balthasar Schupp, wanted to read her book of sermons, pray, and sing—at home in her bed.150 The laity were eager purchasers and readers of sermons, hymns, and prayers written by the same Lutheran clergy to whose Sunday morning ministrations they might seem to be indifferent. The hidden depths of lay devotion might rise to the public surface only when their beliefs were publicly challenged. Strauss has conceded that Lutherans in regions like Bavaria, where they were officially censured, displayed a knowledge of and commitment to their faith that he regards as being exceptional.151 But even in areas where Lutheranism had long been the established religion, the same laymen who seemed to greet their Lutheran pastor’s efforts with indifference might suddenly reveal a strong Lutheran commitment and identity when their rulers attempted to change the land’s religion to Calvinism or Roman Catholicism.152 Lay resistance to the impositions of pastors and magistrates was in many cases only a veneer covering a deeper, self-consciously Lutheran piety. The cool Lutheran laymen of the later sixteenth century might, when scratched, bleed the hot blood of the first generation of Protestants. If not always in exact proportion to the lofty ideals of the Lutheran clergy, the Reformation did succeed in creating a new kind of devout Christian among the masses, a success of which the Lutheran hymns were both the means and the measure.
2 Reformation and Music in Joachimsthal
Though a broad survey reveals the vernacular hymns as a ubiquitous feature of public and private religious life in Lutheran Germany, many of the remarkable features of the Lutheran hymns and their use can best be assessed at a local level. In towns and villages across Germany, the hymns were transformed from the products of distant theologians into the property of the local laity, clerical and lay cultures were combined, and Lutheranism and its music were integrated into local patterns of life. The town of Joachimsthal, deeply influenced by the development of Lutheranism and its music and deeply influential on their development elsewhere, provides an opportunity to examine this interplay of cultural forces and religious ideas as it worked itself out in the lives of sixteenth-century men and women. Joachimsthal was founded by Graf Stephan Schlick (1487–1526) in 1516, the year before the first stirrings of Luther’s religious reform on the other side of the mountainous Saxon border.1 German miners flooded over the Erzgebirge to work the rich silver deposits around Joachimsthal, and the town grew so quickly that contemporaries came to regard it as a prodigy accompanying the renewed preaching of the Gospel.2 By 1520, when Joachimsthal was granted the privileges of a free royal mining town, it was home to 5,000 miners and burghers; at its peak in 1533, it held over 18,000 inhabitants.3 The silver recovered by the Joachimsthal miners was minted into the standard silver coin of sixteenth-century Germany, the Joachimsthaler or simply Thaler, whose name lives on in the modern dollar.4 The wealth of the mines and the generosity of the Schlicks and the burghers supported a range of civic institutions in the young town, including a renowned Latin school, a girls’ school, a hospital for poor relief, and by the 1530s, a large new church, the first built under Protestant auspices. 26
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The process whereby Joachimsthal became Lutheran was a gradual one in which the Schlicks and the town government, burghers and miners, clerics and laymen all took part. Over the course of the 1520s, the town was exposed to nearly every form of Christianity that Germany had to offer; followers of Luther, Erasmus, Karlstadt, Müntzer, Hubmaier, and the Pope all rubbed elbows with one another within the narrow confines of the Thal. In the end, however, Lutheranism prevailed as the version of religious reform capable of appealing to the broadest spectrum of Joachimsthal’s society. Evangelically minded clergy and laity sought to present Lutheran ideas in a variety of forms intended to commend themselves to all sorts and conditions of men. Lutheran preachers proclaimed the association of the miners’ daily work with Lutheranism through a popular annual Carnival sermon in which Biblical passages dealing with metals and mining were discussed along with their reference to Lutheran theology,5 and the Joachimsthal miners were proudly reminded that Luther, too, had been a miner’s son.6 Lutheranism was presented to the Joachimsthalers in visible form as well, in the 1540 Cranach altarpiece in the new Joachimsthal church and in the medallions bearing Evangelical mottoes which were stamped from the ore of the mines,7 and dramatically in the vernacular religious plays performed by the town’s schoolchildren.8 Perhaps the most effective means of conveying Luther’s religious message to the various levels of Joachimsthal’s society, however, was the new Lutheran music that resonated through the streets, schools, churches, and homes of the town: in the Lenten processions in which singing schoolchildren symbolically drove the Pope out of town; in the music that the choir of the Latin school sang with the help of the town councilors; in the German hymns that sustained worship in church and home alike; in the lullabies that mothers sang to their fretful children; or in the songs that the girls of Joachimsthal sang at play. It is no coincidence that Luther’s most consistent supporter in Joachimsthal during the first decade of the Reformation and for some thirty years thereafter was the cantor of the church and Latin school, Nicolaus Herman (c.1500–1561).9 (See Figure 2.1.) A native of Altdorf, near Nürnberg, Herman came to Joachimsthal about 1520 and soon became an active supporter of Luther’s religious and pedagogical reforms. He used his position as cantor to introduce Lutheran music into the services of the Joachimsthal church and the curricula of the Latin school and the girls’ school. At times during the 1520s, Herman was isolated in his
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Lutheran convictions as a succession of Protestant radicals and Catholic conservatives passed through Joachimsthal as preachers or rectors of the school, but in 1532 he was joined by another convinced Lutheran, the Wittenberg graduate Johann Mathesius (1504–1565).10 (See Figure 2.2.) First as rector of the Latin school from 1532 to 1540 and then, after further theological study at Wittenberg, as a preacher from 1542 to 1545, and finally as senior pastor from 1545 until his death, Mathesius helped to integrate Lutheranism into the culture of the town. Mathesius encouraged and defended the use of music in the church and school and wrote a handful of vernacular hymns of his own, but his most important contribution to Lutheran music in Joachimsthal and beyond was his encouragement of Herman’s work.11 In the last years of his life, Herman collected and expanded the German hymns he had written for the children of Joachimsthal, finally gathering more than 200 hymns into two volumes that were published with the help of Mathesius and the Wittenberg superintendent Paul Eber. Intended to be sung by children and their parents in household devotions, the hymns of the Sonntags Evangelia (1560)12 and the Historien von der Sindflut, Joseph,
Figure 2.1. Nicolaus Herman (c. 1500–1560) with Sanct Paulus die Corinthier. Source: Property of the Museen der Stadt Nürnberg, Painting and sculpture collection. Reproduced by permission.
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Mose, Helia, Elisa, und der Susanna (1562)13 were Joachimsthal’s most enduring musical legacy to the rest of Lutheran Germany, reprinted in more than fifty editions before the end of the century.14 Altogether, hymn material originating in Joachimsthal—both Herman’s collections and hymns by Herman and Mathesius published with Mathesius’ sermons— makes up eight percent of the Deutsche Kirchenlied catalogue for the entire sixteenth century.15 Herman and Mathesius together helped shape a flourishing, distinctively Lutheran musical culture in the church, schools, and homes of Joachimsthal. Their hymns, in their public and private uses, are especially important evidence of the penetration of Evangelical music and belief into Joachimsthal and into the lives of its inhabitants. The hymns bear witness to a religious culture that, though it was approved of and shaped by the clergy, was eagerly embraced by the laity as their own peculiar religious domain. By means of the hymns, the laity—whether men, women, or children; burghers, craftsmen, or miners—were able, even in the absence of Lutheran clergy, to appropriate the Lutheran understanding of the Bible for themselves, to comfort themselves and others in time of
Figure 2.2. Johann Mathesius (1504–1565) with book and miner’s pick. Source: Jean Jacques Boissard, Icones quinquaginta virorum illustrium doctrina et eruditione praestantium 3 (Frankfort am Main, 1598). Reproduced from Georg Loesche, Johannes Mathesius: Ein Lebens- und SittenBild aus der Reformationszeit (Gotha: F. A. Perthes, 1895), frontispiece to vol. 1.
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need, to instruct their children, and to sustain their Evangelical faith and identity in the face of opposition and persecution. Having become Lutheran over the course of the 1520s, Joachimsthal remained Lutheran even as it passed gradually into the hands of the Roman Catholic emperor, who took over first the minting rights in 1528 and then the mines and the town itself in 1545. For seventy-five years, the Joachimsthalers maintained their religion under the grudging tolerance of their Hapsburg rulers, a tolerance that became more and more uncertain as the output of the mines and their economic importance to the emperor declined. Finally, even after the Lutheran clergy had been expelled in 1623 and the institutional supports of Lutheranism crumbled under the crushing pressure of the Thirty Years War and Hapsburg confessionalization, Lutheranism and its music survived and flourished in the homes of the burghers and miners of Joachimsthal for another generation until the Joachimsthalers emigrated over the Saxon border en masse in 1653 rather than endure the increasingly severe harassment of soldiers and Jesuits. The history of the Reformation in Joachimsthal illustrates well the success of the Lutherans in using music to spread their religious message throughout sixteenth-century society, reaching beyond the church and school deep into the public and domestic life of the community. From the first years of Lutheranism in Joachimsthal to the last, Lutheran music held a prominent place in the public and private religious life of the Joachimsthalers, preserving Luther’s religious message in the hearts and homes of Joachimsthal from the 1520s down to the 1650s. Lutheran music formed a vital link between public worship and private religious life and between the religion of clergy and laity; it provided substance and encouragement to the Protestant laity as they went about instructing their children and applying the comforts of the Evangelical religion to themselves and their families. The peculiar virtues of the Lutheran hymns were also central to the success of the Reformation in Joachimsthal. They presented the Lutheran religious message to the laity in an appealing form that was easy to learn, and most importantly they allowed the laity to take a large measure of independence and responsibility in applying that message to themselves and to one another.
Becoming Lutheran: Reformation and Music 1516–1545 Despite Joachimsthal’s youth, and despite Mathesius’ boast that the town had sprung up along with the Lutheran gospel,16 Joachimsthal in its early
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days was not a religious tabula rasa ready to be filled with Lutheran ideas. It is true that the young town lacked many of the institutions that supported medieval Christianity elsewhere. The town had only one small church and none of the religious foundations that dominated the religious lives of other German cities; construction of a Dominican monastery, begun in 1517, was broken off in 1521 and the wood appropriated to build a public mill.17 Nonetheless, the first inhabitants of Joachimsthal brought a medieval piety to the town along with whatever new religious ideas they might have acquired. Mathesius recalled the traditional piety of the first miners, who came daily to early Mass in the belief that no ill could then befall them that day.18 The oldest church held an altarpiece of St. Catharine and the Virgin from Cranach’s workshop, donated by the Schlicks’ Hauptmann Heinrich von Könneritz in 1519 (see Figure 5.1), along with a painting of St. Christopher by the same hand—traditional images of medieval devotion.19 A silver bust of St. Joachim, gilded and encrusted with precious stones, honored the town’s patron and ensured the success of the mines.20 The most expressive testimony to the traditional piety of early Joachimsthal, however, is found in the vernacular religious music that the first miners and burghers also brought with them. As Herman later complained, this music exemplified to the Lutheran point of view the worst failings of the traditional religion, in which a wrathful God and the intercession of the saints overshadowed the mercy of Christ the Savior: I will speak only of the songs, from which the state of the religion may readily be understood. These were for the most part intended for the invocation of the highly-praised Virgin Mary and the dead saints. No one knew how to sing or speak about the Lord Christ. He was regarded and set forth only as a strict judge, from whom no grace could be expected, but only wrath and punishment. Therefore it was necessary to have the Virgin Mary and the dear saints as intercessors. The elderly will still remember some of the songs: “O Mary mild, maid undefiled”; “Thee, Queen of Heaven, I invoke”; “Saint Christopher, most holy man”; “Dear Lord St. Nicholas, be our stay,” etc., and similar songs, which were then very popular in the German language.21 On the other hand, there were already at an early date indications of movement away from medieval practices and institutions. From the beginning, the Joachimsthalers took advantage of their location in the
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Kingdom of Bohemia and exercised the right conceded to the Bohemians by the Compact of Basel to distribute the cup as well as the host to the laity in the Mass22; medallions struck in Joachimsthal commemorated the martyrdom of Jan Hus.23 Many prominent members of the mining administration had relatives at Wittenberg, including the mining captain Heinrich von Könneritz, whose three sons were students there, and the Bergmeister Wolfgang Sturtz, whose brother was studying for a doctorate.24 The town’s noble founders, the Schlicks, also had close ties to Wittenberg and the new Lutheran movement.25 Christoph Schlick, a cousin of Joachimsthal’s founder Stephan, was rector of the university at Wittenberg in 1520–1521.26 To Wolfgang Schlick, Christoph’s brother, both Karlstadt and, later, Luther dedicated tracts27; Luther’s 1522 response to Henry VIII of England was dedicated to the “most Christian layman” Sebastian Schlick,28 who had already in 1521 introduced a new Evangelical church ordinance—notable as the first Lutheran church order—in his ancestral lands around Elbogen.29 In Joachimsthal, however, Graf Stephan Schlick did not take such a direct role in introducing the Reformation; instead, he gave the new town government the power to enact religious reform. In 1520, the Schlicks purchased the right of nomination to the town church from the archpriest of Falkenau and assigned the choice of pastor to the town council and miners’ guild.30 The selection of suitable clergy remained a problem, however, and differing opinions on religious reform within the town government were at first only driven farther apart by the proliferation of reforming clergy whose ideas of reform might not resemble Luther’s. The first years of the Reformation in Joachimsthal brought a bewildering variety of preachers to the town, and different versions of reform competed with the traditional religion for the allegiance of the Joachimsthalers.
Reform 1520–1525: Karlstadt, Egranus, and the Peasants’ War At the beginning of the 1520s, the Wittenberg personality who had the most direct contact with Joachimsthal was Andreas Bodenstein von Karlstadt. In January 1520, Karlstadt visited Joachimsthal and was well received by the administrators of the mines and the town government, whose support and generosity Karlstadt acknowledged in a series of tracts dedicated to Joachimsthalers beginning in August of the same year.31 Among his supporters, Karlstadt counted the mine captain Heinrich von Könneritz, the mining superintendent Wolfgang Sturtz, the mining clerk
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Christoph Quinque and his subordinate Wolfgang Gürteler, and the paymaster Gregor Losen; within the town government, Karlstadt acknowledged the mayor Lucas Schüpgen, the town clerk Bartel Bach, and the judge Sebastian Schreyner, along with other citizens and the preacher Wolfgang Kuch.32 Karlstadt noted especially the interest of the Joachimsthalers in the Bible; among his early works dedicated to Joachimsthalers were Latin and German versions of his book On the Canonical Scriptures. In all, Karlstadt dedicated at least nine tracts to Joachimsthalers between 1520 and 1524. By the end of the period, however, it is clear that Karlstadt’s former supporters in the town had cooled toward him considerably. The town clerk Bartel Bach, to whom Karlstadt dedicated three tracts, found himself being scolded in 1524 for advocating a moderate course of reform with respect to religious images. Karlstadt’s popularity in Joachimsthal seems to have declined as his break with Luther became apparent. Karlstadt’s iconoclasm left little mark on Joachimsthal; the altarpiece donated by his onetime patron Heinrich von Könneritz remained in its place in the Spitalkirche. At the same time that Karlstadt was attempting to draw the Joachimsthalers along with him on the path to a radical reformation of religious practice, the town’s new pastor was trying to keep his restless flock within the bounds of the traditional religion. After the brief term of Wolfgang Kuch as preacher, which came to an end with his departure, under Karlstadt’s influence, for the University of Wittenberg,33 Johann Sylvius Egranus was called to Joachimsthal in 1521, weary from his battles with Thomas Müntzer as a preacher in Zwickau.34 Though Egranus was closely identified with Luther, having been condemned along with him in the bull of 1520, and still on friendly terms with him when he took up the post of preacher in Joachimsthal, it was the humanist Erasmus whom Egranus most closely resembled. Though capable of defending quite radical theological views, Egranus regarded peace and the unity of the Church as being paramount.35 Thus, although Egranus criticized the Pope, indulgences, and the adoration of the saints, at least in principle, he was reluctant to change established practices, even criticizing the Bohemian privilege of receiving both kinds in the Sacrament that was being exercised in Joachimsthal as a threat to the unity of Christendom.36 The laity of Joachimsthal, however, were sharp critics of Egranus’ middle-of-theroad theological position. In his sermons, Egranus sought to pacify his congregation by appealing to Luther’s authority even as he complained that he was neither Lutheran nor Papist but Evangelical and Christian.37
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Finally, in 1523, after a brief but tumultuous tenure, Egranus took his leave of Joachimsthal to undertake further study in Basel.38 In 1523 the council and miners called Stephan Schönbach, a preacher who had been expelled from Leipzig for his Lutheran views.39 Schönbach abolished a number of traditional religious practices that Egranus had tolerated, including masses for the dead. During his pastorate, the town council, too, made some decisive breaks with the past—abolishing the mine-shares formerly apportioned “to the saints” and assigning the income to the support of the poorhouse [Spital] 40—but eventually decided to slow the pace of reform, calling the Dominican Johann Bindmann to Joachimsthal as Schönbach’s replacement. Bindmann’s religious and political conservatism failed in turn to endear him to the Joachimsthal masses [Herr Omnes],41 and the authorities attempted to compromise by installing a recent Wittenberg graduate, Johannes Schlaginhaufen, as his colleague and Evangelical counterbalance.42 This mismatched pair thus occupied the pulpit in Joachimsthal in 1525 as the Peasants’ War broke out in Germany. As unrest spread to the miners on either side of the Erzgebirge, the Dominican and the Lutheran cooperated to try to dissuade the miners from rebellion.43 Nonetheless, the miners finally took advantage of the absence of the Schlicks and their troops at Mülhausen and rose up in May 1525, looting the town hall and castle.44 In the absence of the Schlicks, order was restored by the neighboring Graf Alexander von Leißnig, and a commission of representatives from the Schlicks, the miners, and the town council met to resolve the dispute. The settlement recognized many of the miners’ demands, and in the end, the Schlicks executed only two men, Saxons who had crossed the border to take part in the revolt. Most important for the Reformation in Joachimsthal, however, was a new concession giving the miners the right to elect their own elders, who along with the town council controlled the right of nomination to the pastorate.45 Other changes in the government of Joachimsthal followed soon after: in 1526, Graf Stephan Schlick was killed fighting against the Turks in the battle of Mohacs, and his brothers Hieronymus and Lorenz Schlick, who seem to have enjoyed somewhat closer relations with Luther, took over the lordship of the Joachimsthal mines.46 In the wake of the miner’s revolt, Luther’s reform made better progress in Joachimsthal, perhaps in part because of the new influence of the miners on the election of pastors. From 1526 on, with only a single brief interruption in 1533, the Joachimsthal pulpit was thereafter occupied by Luther’s
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supporters until the coming of the Counter-Reformation in 1624. Bindmann and Schlaginhaufen departed soon after the uprising47; they were succeeded by the solidly Lutheran pastor Sebastian Steude. On one point, however, Steude proved to be more advanced in his Lutheranism than were many of his parishioners, and after two years he departed Joachimsthal to get married—a state the Joachimsthalers were not yet ready to accept in their clergy.48 After a brief interim, the authorities called Christoff Ering (1485–1554) from Annaberg in 1529.49 During Ering’s pastorate, the Reformation further consolidated its institutional influence in Joachimsthal. Ering began to keep orderly church records,50 presided over the construction of a new building for the poorhouse next to the church, and prepared a new order for poor relief.51 He preached vigorously and eloquently in defense of Luther’s doctrine and against Anabaptist and Roman Catholic teaching.52 He maintained a correspondence with Luther over the condition of the Joachimsthal church, and at his behest, Luther wrote to Hieronymus and Lorenz Schlick in 1532, urging them not to tolerate “any scandalous abuses, whether papist or sectarian,” in Joachimsthal.53 Accordingly, the Schlicks issued a public mandate against the Anabaptist sects and religious disputes.54 Its real purpose, however, as Luther’s letter suggests, seems to have been to suppress remaining Roman Catholic practices in Joachimsthal,55 and after Ering’s departure in 1532 and the brief tenure of Moritz Maier, a deacon of the church, as pastor,56 conservatives on the city council took advantage of the continuing reluctance of the town to accept a married pastor to call Egranus back to Joachimsthal in 1533.57 With the advance of the Reformation among the population of Joachimsthal, however, Egranus proved even less suitable as a pastor than he had a decade before, and after serving barely forty weeks, he was dismissed by common agreement of the town council, miners’ guild, and mining officials.58
Music and Reformation The conflicts over religious reform that shook Joachimsthal during the 1520s were also disputes about the role of music in the church. During his first pastorate in Joachimsthal, Egranus was only mildly critical of the use of music,59 but Karlstadt was nearly as sharp in his criticism of traditional church music as in his attack on religious images. Karlstadt was opposed to singing in an incomprehensible language (Latin) or in musical styles (melismatic chant or polyphony) that in his judgment obscured the
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words of the text and their sense. Elaborating on a suspicion of sensuous music going back to Augustine, Karlstadt alleged that Gregorian chant “draws the mind away from God”; chant and organ music were “noise and nothing more” that should be banned from the church as “the most dangerous impediment to devotion” and relegated to the theater and princes’ courts. “If you insist that there should be singing in church,” Karlstadt wrote, “you should have only monophony, that there may be one God, one baptism, one faith, one song [cantus].” 60 Into the midst of such disputes came Nicolaus Herman as cantor of the Latin school in the first years of the 1520s.61 Charged with overseeing the music used in the public services of the church, Herman had at his disposal the choir of boys from the Latin school, who chanted the traditional Latin liturgy, psalms, and hymns, supplemented by the music of an organ that had been installed in 1520.62 As with the medieval vernacular hymns, Herman found much to criticize in the traditional Latin church music, which he also charged with being predominantly devoted to the Virgin Mary and the saints. Nonetheless, he credited the oldest parts of the traditional music, the Psalter and the most ancient Latin hymns, as being one of the chief means whereby some knowledge of God’s Word was preserved under the papacy.63 Herman was a relatively early supporter of Luther’s religious reform. Though the exact date and mode of his first contacts with Luther are unknown, Herman’s 1524 entry into the field of Reformation pamphleteering and his correspondence with Luther from that year suggest that he had already been an adherent of Luther for some time, and the following years saw Herman publish a translation of Erasmus’ book De libero arbitrio, extensively annotated with passages from Luther’s De servo arbitrio and his German New Testament—a clever means of publishing Luther in ducal Saxony—and an exhortation to Christian parents.64 Within Joachimsthal, Herman’s support of the Reformation was expressed primarily through his work with the Latin school, where he presumably made his selection of church music in accord with a Lutheran judgment of its relative worth. His vision of a church music that exploited the resources of the musical art—polyphony and instruments as well as traditional chant—while supporting Evangelical teaching was not, however, shared by the rector of the Latin school, Philipp Eberbach (d. 1529). Eberbach, who served as rector of the Latin school from 1522 to 1525, was a firm supporter of Karlstadt and the recipient of the exiled reformer’s last work dedicated to a Joachimsthaler.65 In 1522, Eberbach
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had found even the Lutheran Schönbach too conservative and began to hold his own sermons in the school shortly after the new preacher’s arrival.66 For his excessive zeal and attacks on the clergy, he was rebuked by Melanchthon, but Eberbach’s continuing sympathy with Karlstadt’s views of church music made Herman’s situation as cantor a difficult one.67 Faced with Eberbach’s agitation on the one hand and the town’s dismissal of the Lutheran preacher Schönbach in favor of the Dominican Bindmann on the other, Herman began to doubt the future of Luther’s reform in Joachimsthal. The same party in the town that had wanted Schönbach removed apparently had its eye turned to Herman as well, and in the summer of 1524, Herman sent word of his concerns to Luther by way of the departing Schönbach and asked Luther’s counsel whether he should depart to seek regions more favorable to the Gospel.68 In response, Luther encouraged Herman to be patient and remain at his post and assured him that he had used his personal influence with the mining captain Heinrich von Konneritz and his wife in Herman’s support. “Who knows,” Luther wrote to the Joachimsthal cantor, “what God may plan to accomplish through you.”69 Luther’s own work soon suggested new musical directions for the Joachimsthal cantor. The year 1524 saw the first collected publication of Luther’s hymns, both in the popular editions of Nürnberg and Erfurt and in the school version issued by Luther and Walther in Wittenberg. Luther’s music helped distinguish his version of reform and easily surpassed the musical offerings of his competitors. Although Karlstadt and Müntzer had insisted on religious services in the vernacular, and Müntzer in fact published his Deutsches Kirchenampt in 1524, two years before Luther finally published his own German service in 1526, Müntzer’s German hymns were wooden renderings of Latin originals.70 Luther’s hymns, in comparison, included not only translations from the Latin, but also new hymns based on psalms, adaptations of medieval vernacular hymns, and free compositions, musically adapted to the demands of the German language and with texts intended to convey the central themes of the Gospel.71 For all the religious radicalism of Karlstadt and Münzer, Luther’s reform of vernacular religious music was the more innovative. Contemporaries regarded the spread of Luther’s hymns as a mark of religious change no less significant than the emptying of the convents or attacks on images, and his hymns found a ready audience in Joachimsthal, where they were spread both in print and by word of mouth.72
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In the wake of the miners’ uprising and Eberbach’s departure from the school, Herman began in earnest the task of reshaping the music of the Joachimsthal church. In 1525, Herman introduced Luther’s hymns into public use in the school and church, apparently using Johann Walther’s 1524 Geystliche Gsangbüchlin, a collection of German and Latin hymns by Luther and others, arranged for four voices and published especially for use in the schools.73 For the next decade, under Herman’s guidance, vernacular music predominated in the services of the Joachimsthal church, permitting even those who could not read to learn both the words and the melodies of Luther’s hymns from the school choir.74 By the beginning of the 1530s, Lutheran music and doctrine were firmly rooted in Joachimsthal. Among Egranus’ numerous missteps during his brief second term as preacher—he attacked Luther’s Catechism and Melanchthon’s Loci and taught an anti-Lutheran doctrine of justification, which he bitterly sought to defend in print after his dismissal—he also denounced church music, arguing that the early church had made no use of music at all.75 Egranus’ failure as pastor seems to have exhausted any effective antiLutheran resistance in Joachimsthal, and the years following his departure saw the definitive consolidation of Lutheranism in the institutions of the town. Johann Mathesius had arrived as rector of the Latin school in 1532, just before Egranus’ call, and under his rectorate both the Lutheran and the humanist emphases of the curriculum were strengthened: Luther’s Catechism was introduced as the basis of religious instruction, and the students began public performances of classical dramas, first in Latin and later also in Greek.76 Egranus’ successor as pastor, Erhard Elling (1488– post 1550), was a Lutheran who successfully demanded further reforms from the town council before taking up his office.77 With his wedding in 1537, Elling became the first married pastor in Joachimsthal, finally overcoming one of the most persistent scruples of the medieval religion.78 During his tenure, the Joachimsthalers also built a new church, the first designed specifically around the requirements of Lutheran worship, with a single altar and an expansive nave with a prominent pulpit; it was ready for use in 1537, having been built “without outside help,” as the Joachimsthal chronicle boasts.79 During Elling’s pastorate, the musical life of the Joachimsthal church was also reorganized along new lines. During the previous decade, German music had held the chief place in the public worship of the church. In 1535, however, the use of Latin chant and polyphony in the services was reintroduced, reflecting the increasing prestige of Joachimsthal’s
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Latin school under Mathesius and the growing prominence of music in its curriculum.80 Under Lutheran auspices, even the new Latin music did not exclude the laity, and the school choir was joined in its singing by “members of the town council and honorable burghers.”81 German hymns continued to be sung in the services as well, but the reintroduction of Latin music necessarily resulted in a proportional reduction in the amount of vernacular hymnody that was sung on a weekly basis. To compensate for this lack, the hour before the Sunday service itself began was now set aside for the singing of vernacular hymns in the church.82 This institution proved very popular, especially with the middle and lower classes of Joachimsthal society, and in the first decade of the seventeenth century, when the church organ was removed for repairs, a committee of miners and craftsmen was formed to ensure that it might continue.83 Elling took his leave in 1540 after a popular tenure,84 and Sebastian Steude was called back to serve as Joachimsthal’s pastor, his marriage no longer proving a stumbling block. Under Steude, the institutional life of Lutheranism in Joachimsthal assumed the basic form that it maintained for the next three-quarters century. A consistory was established to hear cases of ecclesiastical discipline,85 and Steude reintroduced private confession and instituted weekly Sunday Catechism sermons for the youth.86 In 1542, at the request of the Schlicks, Steude again began to wear clerical vestments during the Communion service—the surplice and chasuble, which he had put aside at the beginning of his pastorate.87 Finally, the use of Latin in the church was further expanded so that on festivals even the Scripture readings and prayers were chanted in Latin before they were read in German.88 To support the new arrangements in the church, Herman assembled manuscript collections of traditional chants to which he added his own newly composed Latin sequences based on the Gospel readings for each Sunday and festival.89 Herman also began in the mid-1540s to compose German hymns for the use of the people of Joachimsthal—some for use on special occasions in the public life of the church, some in the style of the traditional miners’ songs (Bergreihen), but most for the children of the town and especially for the students in the girls’ school.90 Lutheran music in Joachimsthal thus addressed all levels of society: the German hymns of Luther and Herman provided a common religious and musical link among all the laity of the town even as the educated burghers sang along with the choir of the Latin school and the miners sang their Lutheran Bergreihen. Lutheran music also found a central place in each of the most
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important pedagogical institutions of Joachimsthal: the church, the schools, and above all the home. In each of these spheres, Lutheran music was intended to inculcate Lutheran doctrine and to equip the laity at every level of society with a knowledge of Scripture sufficient to allow them to minister to their own religious needs.
Lutheranism and Music in Joachimsthal at Midcentury In 1542, Mathesius was called back to Joachimsthal as a junior preacher in the church after two years of theological study in Wittenberg, where he had been Melanchthon’s student and a regular companion at Luther’s table.91 Unfortunately, his return to the town was swiftly followed by crisis. The broad consensus in support of Lutheranism, which Lutheran hymns and Evangelical preaching had helped establish, was put to the test in 1545, with the sudden transformation of Joachimsthal’s constitution. Ferdinand, the king of Bohemia and Hungary and, as “King of the Romans,” designated successor to Emperor Charles V, punished the Schlicks both for purported mismanagement of the mines and for their Lutheranism by stripping them of most of their rights over the city of Joachimsthal and the mines. Two years later, after the Schlicks had supported the Evangelical estates against the emperor in the Schmalkaldic War, their rights in Joachimsthal were abolished altogether.92 Pastor Steude resigned at the change in civic government, perhaps fearing for the future of the Evangelical church in the new imperial city, whose freedom was now restricted under the oversight of an imperial captain. Indeed, if there had been any strong sentiment in Joachimsthal for restoring the old religion, it could have been expected to surface in 1545, when it would have been assured of the support of the city’s new lord. But instead of nominating as pastor in Steude’s place a traditional candidate who might have pleased the emperor, the city council and miners called the ardent Lutheran Mathesius.93 Even when Mathesius almost immediately ran afoul of the emperor because of his preaching against the Schmalkaldic War and was summoned to Prague to defend himself, the Joachimsthal council continued to support him.94 Joachimsthal’s bold assertion of its Lutheran identity even when the political winds boded ill for the Evangelical cause suggests that by 1545 the Reformation was so firmly established in Joachimsthal that its reversal from within could no longer be seriously contemplated. For the time being, the emperor was
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obliged by considerations of the imperial purse to tolerate Joachimsthal’s stubborn Lutheranism.95 The selection of Mathesius as pastor clearly affirmed Joachimsthal’s commitment to both Lutheran doctrine and Lutheran music. Mathesius was not only a devoted student of Luther but also a man thoroughly immersed in the Lutheran musical culture of the time. The son of a family of moderate wealth from the mining town of Rochlitz, in Saxony, Mathesius received practical training in music as a schoolboy in Nürnberg, where he supported himself after the death of his father by singing in the choir and in the streets.96 As a student in Wittenberg from 1529 to 1530 and then again from 1540 to 1542, he participated in the musical life of the Wittenberg church and sang as a guest at Luther’s own table.97 His sermons reveal a wide acquaintance with contemporary composers and their music98; he was a personal friend of the Bavarian court composer Ludwig Senfl99 and the Wittenberg music publisher Georg Rhau.100 As rector of Joachimsthal’s Latin school, Mathesius had encouraged the choir’s adoption of Latin polyphony in the church services,101 and as pastor he vigorously defended the use of polyphonic music and instruments in church against those who opposed them.102 He also encouraged the use of German hymns by his congregation and wrote several himself, many of which served as a kind of summary of his collections of sermons.103 Although the essential patterns of Joachimsthal’s religious and musical life had been established before Mathesius’ return to Joachimsthal, Mathesius’ work as pastor from 1545 to 1565 ensured that the Lutheran music that had successfully planted the Reformation in the town would continue to sustain it over the decades to come.104 The records of Mathesius’ twenty years of pastoral work, especially his more than 1,500 printed sermons, provide a vivid description of the musical life that flourished in the schools, church, and homes of Joachimsthal at the middle of the sixteenth century. Of particular interest is Mathesius’ so-called church order—not in fact a prescriptive church ordinance but a comprehensive epistolary description of the life of the Joachimsthal church “as it can be seen and experienced (praise God) in daily practice,” addressed to a “good friend” and appended to later editions of Mathesius’ Gospel postil.105 These sources represent, to be sure, Mathesius’ own point of view from the pulpit. But given Mathesius’ obvious deep involvement in the life of the town, the range of rhetorical modes in which his remarks about his congregation are expressed, and the availability of archival and other sources against which his observations can often be
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checked, his writings, used carefully, are a vivid firsthand source for the life of a Lutheran community at the middle of the sixteenth century. Joachimsthal’s Lutherans regarded the transformation of religious music in the town—not only the music of the schools and church, but also the music sung on the streets and in homes—as one of their signal accomplishments. By midcentury, the old pre-Reformation hymns invoking the saints had vanished from the memory of all but the aged.106 When the Lutheran clergy criticized the musical tastes of their congregation, they complained about scandalous secular ditties, not surviving Roman Catholic songs.107 Instead, the Lutheran laity of Joachimsthal sang the new Lutheran hymns in the church and in their homes with an alacrity that surprised even their pastors. The success of the Reformation in Joachimsthal was due in no small part to the success of the town’s Lutheran reformers, both laity and clergy, in addressing their religious message to the varied population of the town through music. The distinctively Lutheran musical culture that the clergy and laity of Joachimsthal formed and cultivated over the course of the sixteenth century was both evidence and instrument of the diffusion of the Lutheran religion not only through the public institutions but also into the homes and hearts of the people of Joachimsthal.
3 Lutheranism, Music, and Society
By the middle of the sixteenth century, Joachimsthal enjoyed a reputation in Lutheran Germany not only for its steadfast Evangelical allegiance and its exemplary church order, but also for its music.1 With the encouragement of the town government and of the Lutheran clergy, music flourished at all levels of Joachimsthal’s society, in the sophisticated counterpoint sung by the educated burghers and the Latin school choir as well as in the popular secular songs and German hymns that delighted miners and burghers alike.2 Music was cultivated in both public and private life by burghers who were not only generous patrons of music but also accomplished amateur musicians themselves. There was music in Joachimsthal, to be sure, before the Reformation, but the town’s Lutherans were remarkably successful in adapting and developing contemporary musical culture as a tool well suited for spreading their religious message throughout the community, through the town’s public institutions and in the homes of its inhabitants. The Lutheran church and school became the focus of the musical patronage of the town government and officials as these religious institutions took a leading role in shaping and encouraging the musical interests and activities of the burghers, a partnership that proved both artistically and religiously fruitful through Joachimsthal’s Lutheran period.
Amateur Musicians The ubiquity of music throughout Joachimsthal’s society was a characteristic that the town’s religious reformers sought both to exploit and to imitate. At the popular level, Joachimsthal was the subject and source of numerous miners’ songs (Bergreihen) celebrating the growth, fortune, and prodigious drinking habits of the town.3 The popularity of these 43
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songs spread far beyond the miners and their towns, and they were widely printed for the burghers of Germany.4 Some of these were purely secular, such as the song written for the 1521 festival celebrating Joachimsthal’s elevation to the status of a free mining town; others, such as Herman’s Ich preis’ den werten Jochimsthal, included religious elements.5 The miners and burghers of Joachimsthal also enjoyed songs about the deeds of German and classical heroes,6 along with love songs, though often not with the discrimination the pastors desired between decent and immoral songs.7 Herman sought to provide a more edifying alternative with his hymns recounting the deeds of Old Testament heroes.8 In addition to the music that was an expected part of almost all festivities, whether public or private, students sang to refresh themselves amid their studies, laborers and craftsmen sang as they went about their work,9 and children had their own songs that told stories or provided accompaniment for a dance.10 All of these forms were adapted by Joachimsthal’s Lutherans as means for conveying their religious message. Music was a particularly effective medium not only because of the important place of music in sixteenth-century society, but also because so many of the laity were amateur musicians themselves. The musical activities of the lower classes of Joachimsthal’s society are harder to trace in the sources, though there is ample evidence that amateur musicianship was well diffused among the miners, workers, and craftsmen of the town, sometimes at a relatively high artistic level. The miners, for example, sang their Bergreihen in two-part harmony, sometimes improvised on the spot by the singer.11 Mathesius mentions more than a score of different instruments in contemporary use for various purposes among different classes of society, from wealthy burghers to peasants.12 Burgher society in particular had high expectations for the musical ability of its members.13 Mathesius declared as an established principle that when one had a guest to entertain, the host needed two things at hand: good music and good wine, his musical ability as important to the success of the evening as the quality of his wine cellar.14 “A good song adds a great deal to a feast, along with wine and good company.”15 The lute, viol, and harp, either accompanying the voice or on their own, were considered especially appropriate for use in domestic gatherings.16 The wealthier citizens of Joachimsthal could afford to collect larger and more exotic instruments as well, which they imported from as far away as Italy.17 The abilities of Joachimsthal’s amateur musicians helped to bring the public music of the church, the dance floor, and the streets into the
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homes of the town as well. Even household music, however, was not a strictly private matter and was subject to public regulation. A 1541 statute held fathers responsible for preventing the singing of “unchaste” songs within their households, under penalty of a day’s imprisonment.18 In 1566, 1594, and again in 1596, the town council prohibited the playing of cheerful music either in public or in private, as a mark of communal penitence in the face of renewed threat from the Turks.19 Private conduct, on the other hand, could be reflected in public music or the lack thereof: one of the penalties imposed on couples discovered to have been unchaste before their marriage was a prohibition against music at their wedding.20 In happier times, however, the church, homes, and public squares of Joachimsthal were regularly filled with the music of voice and instruments. The influence of Lutheranism on the musical activities and patronage of Joachimsthal’s citizens is evident, whether they appear in the sources as accomplished amateur musicians, as patrons of music in the church and school, or as collectors and copyists of musical manuscripts. Among the burghers who assisted regularly in the singing of the school choir in the church services21 were a number of town fathers who were particularly distinguished for their musical ability. Johann Hauschildt (d. 1561), for example, who served as town judge eight times between 1536 and 1559,22 was eulogized by Nicolaus Herman as a “faithful friend of the school and lover of music” and a fine tenor, now singing in the heavenly choir: And for this too he was renowned: He was the best musician found In all the country far and wide, In artful song he took delight . . .23
Matthes Enderlein (d. 1556), Bergmeister in Joachimsthal after 1537 and imperial administrator [Amtsverwalter] after 1551, had been the cantor in Schneeberg before coming to seek his fortune in Joachimsthal; he was eulogized by Herman as well.24 The imperial councilor [Rat] Florian Griesbeck helped to arrange for the support of Nicolaus Herman and his family after illness had forced him to resign as cantor,25 and Herman dedicated the Sonntags-Evangelia to Griesbeck along with his fellow councilor Christof von Gentdorf.26 The collection of musical manuscripts was also a passion among Joachimsthal’s rulers. The royal commissioner and imperial Oberhauptmann Boleslaw Felix von Hassenstein possessed a particularly extensive collection,
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including Hussite compositions from the fifteenth century that he allowed Mathesius to examine.27 The remarkable activity of many other Joachimsthalers in this field is attested by the Wittenberg printer Georg Rhau’s 1542 Sacrorum Hymnorum Liber Primus, a collection of polyphonic settings of Latin hymns whose preface, dedicated to the mayor and council of Joachimsthal, credits Mathesius as having proposed and encouraged the work and thanks several citizens of Joachimsthal for having provided Rhau with copies of the works.28 Though Rhau does not name any of his other contacts, there must have been many like the city councilor Johann Wey (d. 1568), who completed in his own hand a liturgical manuscript that the aging Herman’s gout had left him unable to complete.29 The musical education of Joachimsthal’s citizens took place primarily within the household itself and in the ambitious musical program of the Latin school, but the town council encouraged other forms of musical training as well. For the craftsmen of Joachimsthal, the council authorized in 1559 the establishment of a Singschule under two Meistersinger, guildsmen—such as the Nürnberg shoemaker Hans Sachs—who cultivated a highly artificial style of vocal music.30 In 1558, the council requested that the cantor establish a musical society (convivium musicum), primarily for lay citizens, though the clergy were also specially encouraged to participate.31 This institution brought together burghers, generally from the upper classes of urban society, for a festive meal and several hours of music making under the direction of the cantor. The practice spread to numerous German cities, especially where Lutheranism held sway, but the Joachimsthal convivium was among the earliest such institutions (the earliest otherwise documented, the Worms Singergesellschaft, appears in 1561).32 The composition of the Joachimsthal convivium musicum, established under the direction of the church cantor, reveals both the deep interest of the laity in music and their close musical association with the Lutheran church, an association that typifies the musical culture of Joachimsthal’s Lutheran burghers.
Professional Musicians For all the esteem in which Joachimsthal’s burghers held amateur musicianship, professional musicians and public performance in general were regarded with some suspicion by burgher society. The profusion of musicians who played at Joachimsthal’s weddings and dances were clearly of a lower social class than that to which the burghers aspired, and their activ-
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ities were subject to regulation by a wary town government.33 Mathesius gave expression to burgher sentiment when he warned, “It is better that one should learn to have others perform for him, than that he should learn to perform for others,” quoting a proverb that professional singers rarely attain honors.34 Professional musicians were regarded as being particularly exposed to Satan’s temptations and prone to immorality 35; Mathesius cited with approval the ancient church’s practice of excluding certain kinds of professional musicians from communion.36 Respectable musicianship for the burghers of Joachimsthal was directed to one’s own enjoyment and to the domestic circle.37 The participation of women in the musical life of the town was remarkably widespread, though especially subject to the strictures that governed respectable musical exercise among the burghers. Mathesius mentions— sometimes critically—female lutenists and players of the lyre as well as female singers among the professional musicians of his day.38 He is especially careful to warn women against the possible impropriety of public performance but goes on to cite counterexamples, both contemporary and Biblical.39 Miriam was the preeminent exemplar of a woman who had made honorable public use of music, her example cited several times in Mathesius’ sermons.40 The one exception to the restrictions that burgher mores placed on public musical performance was the church. For men and women alike, the Lutheran church and its music provided a uniquely respectable public outlet for the musical talents of the laity. Mathesius’ criticism of those who performed for others certainly did not apply to the town fathers and the clergy themselves who sang with the Latin school choir in the church services; among the women Miriam’s example found a contemporary parallel in the Joachimsthal schoolmistress who led the schoolgirls in singing.41 For professional musicians, Mathesius made clear that, despite the temptations to which they were exposed, music could nonetheless be an honorable profession—especially if they served the church as organists or cantors!42 A number of prominent Joachimsthal families followed Mathesius’ advice and had their sons trained as church musicians. Johann Seltenreich, a scion of one of the town’s most prominent families, was cantor from 1566 to about 1586.43 Jacob Schedlich (c. 1587–1669), the son of the bürgermeister Andreas Schedlich (d. 1616), studied organ under Hans Leo Haßler in Nürnberg before returning as Joachimsthal’s last Lutheran organist; with the coming of the Counter-Reformation, he was elected bürgermeister himself and led the town’s quiet resistance to Hapsburg
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religious policy. His younger brother David (1607–1687) continued the family’s Lutheran musical activities as an organist in Nürnberg.44 Respectable musicians were of course supplied by less politically prominent burgher families as well, and Joachimsthal could boast of many accomplished musicians who served the town in one way or another over the course of the century. In addition to Nicolaus Herman himself, the composer Thomas Popel and the hymn-writers and pedagogues Christoph Fischer (1524–1600)45 and Johannes Gigas (1514–1581)46 worked in Joachimsthal; in addition to the Schedlichs, the organists and organ builders Paulus Koch (d. 1546),47 the cantor and composer David Köler (c. 1532–1565, cantor 1556–1557),48 Nicolaus Haldek (organist 1546– 1576), and Andreas Haldek (organist 1576–1607) served the town as musicians. Isaak Haßler (c. 1530–1591)—the father of Hans Leo Haßler—was born and educated in Joachimsthal before moving to Nürnberg in 1554; even Joachimsthal could not compete with that metropolis of Lutheranism and its music.49 Joachimsthal’s Latin school also produced several cantors for the surrounding Lutheran towns of Bohemia and Saxony.50 The town government supported music through its support of the Latin school and its choristers, but also by supporting a staff of professional musicians who helped to supply the musical needs of the church and the town: cantors, organists, and town pipers [Stadtpfeifer], all classed as “respectable” musicians according to the standards of the burghers, more or less in proportion to their connection to the church. The political career of the organist Jacob Schedlich and the calls of several Joachimsthal cantors to pastorates elsewhere illustrate the close association between these positions and the political and educated elites.51 The town continued to support the school choir and the town’s professional musicians even when its fortunes were at low ebb; a recurring subject of discussion in the council meetings during the first decades of the seventeenth century was how to maintain enough students for the choir,52 town pipers were retained until at least 1612, and the last Evangelical organist and cantor resigned when a Roman Catholic priest arrived in 1625.53 The duties of the town’s professional musicians were in many cases a mixture of musical and other duties: the organist was responsible for maintaining the clockwork in the church tower as well as for playing in church services; the town piper and his colleagues oversaw the watch as well as playing in church, for civic events, and at public festivities.54 The town musicians found their extramusical duties burdensome and occa-
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sionally petitioned the town council to be excused from them, to no avail.55 But the town council took seriously its responsibility to supply the town and church with capable musicians. The council’s oversight was exercised with particular severity in 1602, when, after repeated warnings from the town council, the organist Andreas Haldek was finally punished with imprisonment for negligence in his musical duties.56 The enduring pride that Joachimsthal’s citizens and government took in the musical culture of the town was at its apogee during Mathesius’ pastorate. On a few occasions Mathesius had to remind his congregation that neither the success of the mines nor the quality of the school choir but only faith in God’s Word could assure them of God’s favor57; those who scorned Noah’s preaching and were destroyed in the flood, according to Mathesius, were not saved by their ability to play their instruments and sing in four-part harmony.58 God was pleased not by the noise of music, but by the faith of the heart that believed what it sang.59
Music and the Clergy Such cautions from a Lutheran pastor should not, however, obscure the generally close and supportive relation of Joachimsthal’s Lutheran clergy to the musical culture of the town. Mathesius was particularly at home in the musical culture of his time, introducing into his sermons at several points theological treatments of the art of music as well as learned discussions of contemporary music and composers.60 He declared his undying gratitude for his own musical training and pledged to remain the faithful friend and patron of music.61 Just as Mathesius sought to convey Evangelical religious truths to the miners through his sermons on mining, so too the musical culture that he shared with his parishioners reinforced their common identity as well as serving as a vehicle for the communication of religious ideas. Burgher musical culture also served as an important point of contact between the citizens of Joachimsthal and Luther himself. Luther, too, was an accomplished amateur musician and lover of music. In Mathesius’ sermons on Luther’s life, Luther is portrayed as an exemplar of domestic musical culture, a man who sang and played the lute at table with his guests,62 singing not only hymns but also secular songs (for example, a motet setting of Dido’s last words from the Aeneid).63 When the Joachimsthalers called Mathesius back to the mining town as a preacher, the Joachimsthal delegation sent to Wittenberg sang at Luther’s table to satisfy the reformer’s curiosity over what sort of musicians Joachimsthal produced.64
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Mathesius’ own theology of music shows close affinity with Luther’s own practice and scattered pronouncements on the subject.65 Following Luther’s example, Mathesius praised music as “divine and heavenly thing,” a “glorious gift of God” given to men to be used not only “to honor God” but also “for enjoyment [zu Frewde].”66 Citing a long list of Biblical musicians, he argues that God’s prophets have always “cultivated music along with their theology.”67 It belonged not only in the church, but also in other honorable gatherings in public or at home, for the delight and refreshment of rulers, students, craftsmen, and laborers alike.68 Music exercised a divinely given power over the human heart that was not confined to its religious use. It could stir man and beast for battle or unite men in “unity, concord, and natural compassion.” 69 The religious and social effects of music’s affective power were both affirmed and were closely linked together: having cited the examples of Saul, calmed by David’s lyre, and Elisha, spurred to prophesy by the playing of a minstrel, Mathesius then concludes the paragraph of his sermon that begins with the declaration that music is “a divine and heavenly thing” with the affirmation that “a good song adds much to a feast, together with wine and good company.” 70 “Lovely, merry, and quiet music,” Mathesius continues, “sung at a feast with a restrained voice, is a lovely adornment, and gives joy, refreshes the heart, produces good spirits, drives away confusion, and calms wrath and anger.” 71 The flourishing of secular music in Joachimsthal was, in general, praised and encouraged by the Lutheran clergy. Their criticism was in the main limited to two concerns. In the first place, they condemned “wanton” music: lascivious love songs and scandalous ditties.72 In the second place, they warned against the use of secular music to the exclusion of hymns based on the Scriptures, since tales of the exploits of secular heroes were of doubtful truth and could provide their listeners with no spiritual comfort.73 Nonetheless, in Mathesius’ view, “Christian, honorable, and praiseworthy music” for use at home included not only hymns but also songs about great men, honorable deeds, and the praise of women; as examples, Mathesius cited not only David’s psalms but also the Odes of Horace, along with the Bergreihen and Meistergesänge.74 Here Lutherans showed their distance from Calvin, who not only desired a distinctive, dignified, majestic style of sacred music for the church, but also wanted to do away altogether with secular songs among Christians.75 Although Mathesius condemned the use of secular melodies in church because they called to mind distracting texts and thus disturbed the devo-
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tion of those present,76 the use of styles and material drawn from secular music was acceptable in religious songs intended for domestic use.77 A number of Herman’s songs draw on the tradition of the Bergreihen; Mathesius regarded Herman’s compositions as a kind of spiritual Meistergesänge like those of the Nürnberg shoemaker-poet Hans Sachs.78 On the other hand, the popularity of the vernacular Lutheran hymns is demonstrated by the influence that these in their turn had on secular song. The authors and printers of secular songs did not hesitate to recommend hymn tunes as the melodies for their verses, on the assumption that these melodies would already be well known to singers; on the other hand, secular melodies that had been adopted for religious songs frequently became better known, even in secular contexts, under their new, religious names.79 The coexistence of secular and religious music in the homes and streets of Joachimsthal was accepted by Lutheran clergy and laity alike and was exploited by Herman in turning various secular genres to religious use in his children’s hymns.80 If men such as Mathesius and Herman did not reject secular music, they nonetheless believed that the principal (though not exclusive) use of the divine gift of music was in praise of God, and they sought to apply all the resources of their musical heritage in support of the Gospel.81 Against a broad array of critics—including not only Karlstadt and the Swiss Reformers but also Erasmus and conservative Roman Catholics82—Mathesius defended the use of both instrumental music and polyphony in the church. Indeed, he regarded the development of polyphony, like the invention of printing, as a providential development that God intended for the spread of his Gospel in the last days of the world.83 The Joachimsthal church thus employed both traditional Gregorian chant and the new Renaissance polyphony in its services, along with the new German hymns, providing a link between the music of the church and the music of the home at all levels of society.
Music and the Word Though Mathesius insisted on the role of music in worship, defending both instrumental and vocal music, he was also careful to make clear that “it is not as if God takes special pleasure and delight in the sound itself . . . but that we sing in our hearts with faith.”84 The full religious potential of music was realized only when words and melody were united: We must give instruments their honor and praise, when they are used for honorable enjoyment and to stir up the hearts of the listeners
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in churches and honorable assemblies. But the human voice is above them all, especially when the song and the singer are equal to one another in art, and most agreeably draw their fellow Christians along with them; the text is the soul of a melody.85 The close association of music and text was the cornerstone of the Lutheran use of music. Applied negatively, it was the basis for Mathesius’ opposition to the use of secular melodies in church, since they called to mind inappropriate texts. But the combination of music with a religious text was recognized as an especially powerful pedagogical and spiritual force.86 According to Herman and Mathesius, human beings, and especially children, were inclined by nature to love music and song, and it was considered axiomatic that the use of music and rhymed metrical texts made the contents not only more appealing but also easier to learn, remember, and use.87 But though the words of Scripture were the ultimate locus of spiritual truth and transformative power, music added even to a Scriptural text a force beyond that of the words alone: The texts of holy Scripture are indeed of themselves the most beautiful music, which gives comfort and life amidst the pangs of death, and creates true gladness in the heart. But when a sweet and heartfelt tune is added, since a good melody is also the fair creation and gift of God, then the song acquires a new force and enters more deeply into the heart.88 Mathesius’ repeated comparisons between the power of Scripture and the affective power of music are a testament both to the overriding importance of the Biblical Word to Lutherans and to the esteem in which they held music. Within the terms of this comparison, Scripture itself could be regarded as the music par excellence: “In this world, there neither is nor can there be any better court musician or entertainer [Hofierer und Freudenmacher] than the Word of God.” 89 At the same time, music itself could have a salutary effect on those who heard it, by helping to drive away gloomy thoughts and restore good spirits. The combination of Scriptural words and music was an especially powerful spiritual remedy: “Those who are troubled should seek out music, and often sing and write [singen und dichten] hymns and songs of praise.” 90 Just as burgher society expected its members to be competent amateur musicians, so too the Lutheran clergy expected their parishioners to be competent amateur theologians, able to apply God’s Word to themselves
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and to their families in time of need. These two ideals were united in the institutions of Lutheran Joachimsthal. In all of the town’s pedagogical institutions—the schools, the church, and especially the home—the Lutherans of Joachimsthal sought to take full advantage of the power of music to inculcate their religious message and to equip the laity of Joachimsthal with a knowledge of Lutheran doctrine sufficient to enable them to make confession of their faith and to comfort themselves and others in time of need. The layman in his home was both his own pastor and his own choir: One finds old people who still love to sing and pay careful attention to the notes and diligently study the text. For a good text without music or instruments gives more comfort than a thousand tunes played on the viol, pipe, or fiddle, and is better than all loud and foolish or wanton songs. I myself have tried and tested this and found it to be so. Therefore, let him who needs joy, comfort, and life hold fast to the text and learn it well, and sing it to a good Gregorian melody so that he may have and be his own choir. 91
4 Music and Lutheran Education
The pedagogical ideals of musical and religious self-sufficiency, embraced by both clergy and laity, were taught and practiced in the schools of Joachimsthal. There, music was used to convey Lutheran teaching to the students and, in turn, the students supported the public musical life of the town through their performance in church services and other public rites of the town, both civil and religious. Thus equipped, the boys and girls of Joachimsthal would, it was hoped, grow up not only into cultured amateur musicians, but also into mature Christians who both understood Biblical doctrine and were able to apply its comfort to themselves and to their households. The practice of music in the Joachimsthal schools and the content of the music itself illuminate the broader goals of Lutheran education in the town: to produce Christian citizens who could not only “usefully serve other people” in the government, church, and society at large but also stand for themselves in both secular and religious matters and avoid being deceived by others.1 For Joachimsthal students in the second half of the sixteenth century, as for the first Protestants of the 1520s, Lutheranism was a liberating doctrine—primarily one of religious liberation, but also one that brought social liberation, if not of the kind that the peasants of 1525 had imagined. Lutheran pastors and teachers indeed taught the virtue of obedience to magistrates and parents but were also careful to set forth the limits within which God’s Word bounded the legitimate demands of magistrates, parents, and the clergy themselves. Lutherans sought to inculcate a deep but qualified respect for political and religious authorities, while protecting the individual conscience from absolute obedience to anything but the Word of God itself. 2 The Lutheran education that began in the school and continued in the public teaching of the church was intended to plant seeds whose ultimate 54
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fruit was borne within the home, where the laity practiced their religion and taught their children away from the control of clergy or magistrates, and within the individual, who was fortified with Biblical truth against spiritual despair and deception and was ready to hold fast to his belief even when the state and the clergy themselves might become deceivers.
Lutheran Pedagogy in Joachimsthal The sense of accomplishment that the citizens and teachers of Joachimsthal felt in their establishment of Lutheran schools was given vivid expression in Herman’s preface to the Historien, written in 1560. Herman declared that the Lutheran schoolboys of Joachimsthal had much for which to thank God, if only they could have seen the schools of Herman’s youth in the first decades of the century.3 Besides the fact that the teachers were ignorant and the Latin barbarous in the pre-Reformation schools, the students were obliged to sing—or rather freeze—through interminable church services and to beg from house to house to support themselves. Worst of all, according to Herman, the doctrine taught in the schools was corrupt, so that the boys were scarcely acquainted with God’s Word and Christ the Savior; only through the singing of the Psalter and the ancient Christian hymns was any knowledge of these preserved. But after the Reformation, Herman continues, the schools were “purified and reformed,” supplied with learned and godly teachers who instructed the boys in the Catechism, the languages, and the liberal arts. Whereas formerly the schoolboys had labored for twenty years and scarcely learned to read or speak Latin, now they were able to learn both Latin and Greek in a short time. The discipline in the schools, too, had been moderated and restrained, “so that (praise God), intelligent teachers now use other means and methods to teach instead of excessive blows and beatings, as was formerly the practice with those drunken wolves and executioners.” Finally, the town authorities now supported the poor students, providing them with clothing, housing, and books.4 Although Herman’s comparison of Joachimsthal’s school in 1560 with those of his youth is colored both by the passage of time and by his own Lutheran convictions, it nonetheless clearly indicates what the Joachimsthalers regarded as their most significant accomplishments in the reform of pedagogy: the establishment of schools in which the Gospel was taught along with the languages and liberal arts, in which music held an important role in religious instruction, whose students were supported by the city and
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treated in what the Joachimsthalers regarded as a gentle and humane manner. Herman’s verse encomium of Joachimsthal expressed widely held sentiments of pride in the town’s Lutheran schools: And this too must be highly praised: How the children here are raised. The boys and girls are taught God’s Word, Correct and pure, The pride of all our city.5
Latin School The cynosure of Joachimsthal’s educational system was the Latin school, where the sons of the town’s burghers were educated according to humanist and Lutheran ideals and given a musical training that sought, not without some tension, to combine those two influences.6 The school and its choristers enjoyed the generous support of the town, whose citizens took considerable pride in its academic and musical accomplishments. The Latin school had been established in the earliest years of the town and grew rapidly, flourishing especially under Mathesius’ rectorate and thereafter in the 1530s and 1540s, under the oversight of the town council and the clergy.7 During the 1530s, the building that housed the school had to be expanded or exchanged for a larger facility three times,8 and in 1540, the town endowed a library to serve the needs of the Latin school, church, and town.9 The academic program of the Joachimsthal school was firmly based on humanist models, especially as these had been adapted for Lutheran use by Philipp Melanchthon. Instruction in both Latin and Greek took its place alongside logic and the other liberal arts, often using Melanchthon’s textbooks.10 In 1552, the Praeceptor Germaniae himself presided over graduation festivities in Joachimsthal during one of his several visits to the town.11 Following Melanchthon’s lead, the Lutherans of Joachimsthal sought to fill the humanist forms of the school with Evangelical substance. In 1532, at the beginning of his rectorate, Mathesius introduced Luther’s Catechism into the school, where it remained the center of religious instruction,12 supplemented by more advanced theological texts from Wittenberg such as the catechism of Joachim Camerarius and the Examen Theologicum.13 As rector and later as pastor, Mathesius was fond of quoting the dictum “Si Christum nescis, nihil est si cetera discis”: Without knowledge of Christ, all other learning is of no avail. The teachers and
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clergy of Joachimsthal were well satisfied with the effectiveness of their religious pedagogy, boasting of the success of the school and of the gratitude of its alumni.14 Music was a daily and important part of the Latin school curriculum. Each day began with the singing of a hymn15 and included extensive formal instruction in music as well, both theoretical and practical, as part of the curriculum at all levels of the school.16 The student musicians were also exercised beyond the school proper, serving as the mainstay of the church choir and providing music for a variety of public processions; it was in their role as public musicians that the Latin school students were most visible to the rest of the town. Even as the production of the mines began to dwindle, the Joachimsthal school remained relatively large, attracting students from a wide surrounding area as well as from the town itself; every respectable burgher was expected to send his sons to a Latin school.17 At midcentury, the Joachimsthal school was attended by as many as 700 boys,18 so many that the town council was obliged to impose strict standards for admission in order to stem the influx of students from other towns.19 The alumni of the Joachimsthal school went on, in turn, to matriculate in numbers at the German universities, especially at Wittenberg and Leipzig20; many went on to prominent careers in church, state, and school.21 By 1560, the town was able to staff the school entirely with native sons, as Mathesius’ chronicle boasts.22 Eventually, however, the waning fortunes of the town affected the school as well; by 1578, the town council was forced to reduce the staff of the school to only four teachers. The council consoled itself with the observation that the school was still as well staffed as those of much wealthier towns.23 In the decades before the Thirty Years War, the town council worked to maintain the school and its choir in the face of diminishing income and decreasing enrollment24; what the town coffers could not afford was supplied by private generosity, which had always favored the school and its students.25 In this way, the Latin school continued to function, teaching music, humanist culture, and Lutheran doctrine, until it was ordered closed by the Hapsburg Counter-Reform commissioners in 1625.26
Girls’ School Joachimsthal also supported a public girls’ school, whose curriculum, though it confined itself to instruction in the vernacular, shared with the
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Latin school an emphasis on religion and music. The girls’ school was nearly coeval with the Latin school, having existed since at least 1529.27 Although the girls’ school appears less frequently in the town records than does the Latin school, it too received the active support of the town government.28 The town’s interest in encouraging Joachimsthal’s girls to attend the school is especially notable; in 1600, for example, the council not only urged parents to send their daughters to school rather than to keep them at home making lace—a craft that was increasing in economic importance to the town as the production of the mines decreased—but also voted to provide full scholarships for those girls whose parents were unable to pay the tuition.29 In the girls’ school, German reading and writing were taught along with arithmetic and the catechism; they were examined on the catechism along with the boys, expected to possess a knowledge of Biblical doctrine equal to that of their brothers.30 The girls also were taught to sing, and though Herman’s official duties as cantor concerned primarily the Latin school and the church, much of his musical composition—the majority of his vernacular songs—was first intended for the girls’ school.31 Though the public musical activities of the schoolgirls were more limited than those of the Latin school choir, the girls took the German hymns they had learned back into their homes, where the women of Joachimsthal preserved Lutheranism and its music for a generation after Lutheran preachers and choristers had fallen silent.
German Schools In addition to the public Latin school and girls’ school, there were also private German schools in Joachimsthal that taught vernacular literacy and practical mathematics; their existence was subject to the approval and regulation of the town council.32 Such approval was not impossible to obtain, however, and there is periodic evidence of the activity of individual schoolmasters who taught vernacular literacy and arithmetic.33 Although the Latin school was the pride of the town fathers and the boast of the town’s pedagogues who extolled its virtues over those of the vernacular schools, even Mathesius recognized the important place of the German schools in training the town’s young.34 The neighboring villages that were under the jurisdiction of the Joachimsthal church maintained their own public German schools; these were supported by their communities and inspected yearly by the Joachimsthal clergy.35 Although the precise curricula followed in these schools doubtless varied with the individual teacher, among
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the requirements imposed by the town were that the German schoolteachers should bring their students to catechism and observe daily prayer and singing.36 For all Joachimsthal’s children, religion and song were united in a weekly Sunday afternoon catechism service, and especially on Wednesdays during the summer, when the children were given less formal individual instruction before gathering for prayer and the singing of Christian songs.37
Lutheranism, Humanism, and Music in the Latin School The widespread use of music in Joachimsthal’s schools both reflected and supported the broader academic, religious, and disciplinary goals of the town’s pedagogues, who used music to teach Latin, to convey the religious truths of the Lutheran gospel, and to present their lessons to their students in as painless and memorable a way as possible. The union of humanist pedagogy with religious music that flourished in Joachimsthal’s Latin school was not, however, an inevitable one.38 Humanists were not universally friendly to church music: Erasmus and his disciple Egranus had expressed reservations, especially about polyphony, and these humanistic concerns, combined with conservative monastic criticism of the new music, nearly resulted in the prohibition of ecclesiastical polyphony within the Roman Church at the Council of Trent.39 In schools based on strictly humanist principles, as at Strassburg under the Erasmian Johann Sturm, religious music might play a very minor role.40 Moreover, so far as the Latin texts used in the church were concerned, there were inevitably conflicts between the classical Latin cultivated by the humanists and the language and predominantly nonclassical meters of medieval compositions, a conflict that was resolved within the Roman Church with the revision of the breviary under Urban VIII (r. 1623–1644), in which the traditional Latin hymnody was rewritten—often quite extensively—to bring it into conformity with humanist standards of Latinity, meter, and taste.41 Within the Lutheran Church, however, the fate of music as such was never seriously called into question. Luther’s example and influence helped to ensure not only the place of vernacular hymns, but also the preservation of much traditional church music along with the new polyphony; wherever there were Latin schools, Luther desired that the traditional music should be maintained.42 Though Luther and his followers eliminated some elements of the medieval liturgy for theological reasons—especially the canon
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of the Mass—Lutherans retained not only the structure and texts of the liturgy but also a great many of the associated hymns and music. A work such as Lucas Lossius’ 1553 Psalmodia Sacra, containing numerous Latin hymns from the patristic and medieval periods, attests the affection of the Lutherans for the ancient church music.43 Lutheran theologians composed new Latin hymns as well, often in classicizing meters and styles, but generally preserved the ancient hymns as they were, so that many of the traditional hymns and liturgical texts were preserved in their original form in the Lutheran Church even after the Roman Church had replaced them with humanist revisions, or eliminated them entirely, as with the troped Kyries and the sequences that were abolished by the Council of Trent.44 In part, Lutheran humanists felt the conflict with classical Latinity less sharply because the hymns retained in the Lutheran Church were predominantly the older hymns, which also represented a more nearly classical Latinity, especially those by Ambrose, Prudentius, and Sedulius. Latin music as practiced by Lutherans could thus serve as a vehicle for training in the pure Latinity of which Herman boasted.45 The relative conservatism of Lutheran liturgical practice, however, which especially in its Latin use preserved as much pre-Reformation material as it eliminated, presented certain problems for the Lutheran musical pedagogy of the Joachimsthal Latin school. Although neo-Latin hymns by Lutheran authors were part of the musical repertoire of the school, the majority of Latin hymns had texts that, if they were not doctrinally objectionable, had certainly not been composed to serve specifically Lutheran purposes. Within the school, the use of Latin hymnody thus presented difficulties to which the new Lutheran vernacular hymnody, composed or adapted specifically to express Evangelical doctrine, was not subject. Joachimsthal’s Lutheran pedagogues responded to this situation with considerable creativity, placing the old texts in new contexts that clarified their meaning in a Lutheran sense and adapting traditional liturgical forms to serve new religious and pedagogical ends. The ancient hymns themselves were taught in the Latin school along with a careful explanation of the text, its scriptural basis, and the relation of these “testimonies of the church” to the whole confession of faith, a practice that exemplified and encouraged the sort of careful reflection on the words of the hymns that Lutherans were eager to recommend.46 The other elements of the traditional liturgy that were preserved in Joachimsthal were also adapted to serve the Lutheran emphasis on the
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Biblical Word and its Evangelical interpretation. Herman’s most ambitious surviving musical project for the Latin school was the compilation of two large manuscript volumes, one containing the supplementary musical material for the prayer services (antiphons and responsories for matins and vespers) and the other containing the variable psalmody for the Communion service.47 Though these volumes and their Latin texts were used by the choir in public services, the Latin schoolboys were inevitably the primary audience for their message. On one hand, these books exemplify the conservatism of Lutheran liturgical practice: they are essentially medieval antiphonaries, identical in liturgical purpose, their chief incongruity with that medieval type being, at first glance, the round humanist hand in which Herman wrote. Such affinities to medieval liturgy, though real, nonetheless belie the innovative use that Herman made of the traditional forms in order to convey Lutheran truths. The traditional psalmody for the Mass consisted of an introit psalm verse with antiphon, sung at the very beginning of the public service; a gradual psalm, sung after the reading of the Epistle; and a verse with alleluia that immediately preceded the announcement of the Gospel. On several feast days, the medieval church had added after the alleluia a more or less extended free composition, called a sequence or (because they were written without regard for classical Latin rules of quantitative meter) a prose; the most famous of these were the Dies irae of the requiem mass and the Veni sancte Spiritus appointed for Whitmonday. Luther regarded the traditional psalmody for ordinary Sundays and the dominical feasts as being worthy of preservation but sharply condemned most of the sequences with the exception of those for Christmas and Pentecost; the Council of Trent later, on different grounds, eliminated most of the sequences from the liturgy of the Roman Church along with other late-medieval liturgical interpolations.48 In his liturgical arrangement of these elements for the use of the Joachimsthal church, Herman retained the traditional forms but exercised considerable creativity and independence in adapting them for Lutheran use. He retained the traditional lectionary but extensively revised the appointed psalmody. One defect that could be imputed to the liturgical system inherited from the medieval church was that many of the elements of the liturgy had developed with little relation to one another. In particular, the cycle of readings had developed independent of the psalmody, so that the introit and gradual for a given Sunday, especially on days that were not festivals, might have little to do with the content of the Gospel
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and Epistle readings for the same day. Herman set about to rectify this difficulty by choosing new Biblical texts for the introit and verse, texts chosen to reflect or reinforce the Gospel reading. Herman’s most radical liturgical innovation, however, was to replace the gradual psalmody for each ordinary Sunday with a sequence based on the Gospel reading for the day. The overall effect of these changes was to focus attention on the reading of the Gospel as the center of the service, and on the sermon, which was also based on the Gospel reading. Herman’s Latin versifications of the Gospel readings were themselves written to emphasize the Lutheran interpretation of the text in question. The setting of the Gospel parable of the Pharisee and the publican, for example, concludes with a striking statement of Lutheran doctrine drawn from other passages of Scripture: If indeed we have fulfilled Everything that we owe, We are unprofitable servants And guilty before God. Therefore let us humble ourselves Beneath the mighty hand of the Lord, Neither puffed up nor proud But humble and reverent. For our righteousness Is unclean as a filthy rag, And set before the wrath of God It vanishes like a wisp of smoke. Our merits are no help; Faith alone in Christ Gives peace to the conscience. To him be praise and glory!49
Equally striking, however, is the overall effect that Herman is able to achieve through the interplay of introit, verse, Gospel reading, and prose in order to make clear the proper interpretation of disputed texts—a liturgical application of the Lutheran principle that Scripture best interprets Scripture. For example, the Gospel lesson appointed for the second Sunday after Epiphany was John 2:1–11, the story of Christ’s attendance with Mary and his disciples at the wedding at Cana. The traditional psalmody for that Sunday, however, had little to do with the Gospel lesson, which
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could, in any event, be treated with various emphases: as Christ’s first miracle and manifestation of his divinity (as in Sedulius’ hymn Hostis Herodes impie); as a Mariological statement, either positive (emphasizing Mary’s intercession with Jesus) or negative (emphasizing Jesus’ rebuke); or as a divine blessing on the estate of marriage. It was this last interpretation that sixteenth-century Lutherans generally emphasized, following Luther’s own treatment of the text, which Mathesius also adopted in his sermons.50 Herman’s new arrangement of the Latin propers for the Sunday served to emphasize this Lutheran interpretation of the text. In place of the traditional psalmody, Herman set verses celebrating marriage. Herman’s introit is made of verses taken from the first chapters of Genesis: “It is not good that the man should be alone . . .” and “Be fruitful and multiply.”51 The verse introducing the Gospel, likewise one pronouncing God’s blessing on marriage, is from Psalm 128: “Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house . . .” Finally, Herman’s prose sequence for the Sunday frames its retelling of the Gospel story with affirmations of God’s original creation and continued benediction of the married estate: The creator of heaven and earth Commanded the human race to increase That it might worship him And sing his praises. Therefore the creator of mankind Established marriage And united man and woman In the marital bond, Not wishing that there should be Errant lusts among mankind. Marriage, an honorable estate, Has the Lord as its founder; God the Father sanctified it And Jesus the Son honored it. ... Praise and honor be to thee, O Lord, Who takest delight in holy weddings. But restrain thou the devil, Who attacks marriage, So that Christian man and wife May sing thy praises eternally,
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Enjoying with their dear children The joys of heaven.52
The Latin liturgy that Herman prepared for the boys of the Latin school exemplifies the Lutheran pedagogy of Joachimsthal and its linguistic, pedagogical, and religious goals. Though the rhythmic form itself of the prose sequence is medieval, Herman introduces classicizing touches: the rich man in the story of Lazarus (Luke, chapter 16), for example, is identified as Apicius, the Roman gourmand and cookbook author!53 The rhymed couplets of the Gospel settings helped to commend the Gospel stories to the boys’ memory while Herman’s commentary and the juxtaposed texts from elsewhere in the Bible helped to fix the Lutheran interpretation of the Gospels equally firmly in their minds.54 Alongside such neo-Latin Lutheran texts, the Psalter and the ancient Latin hymns also continued to impress their Biblical truths on Lutheran schoolboys.55 But though the musical and linguistic accomplishments of the Latin schoolboys were the pride of the town fathers, the participation of the boys of the Latin school in the public services did expose an underlying tension between the humanist cultural commitments of the Latin school and the broader goals of Lutheran religious pedagogy. Whatever the virtues of Latin readings, hymns, and psalmody may have been for the instruction of the boys of the Latin school in correct Latin and pure doctrine, Latin was of course a poor instrument for communicating anything to the German-speaking masses. A great deal of Latin was retained in the Joachimsthal services, as attested by Herman’s liturgical books and Mathesius’ description of the church order.56 There were, however, numerous attempts to bridge the cultural and linguistic gap between the Latin school and the German congregation. Joachimsthal’s teachers were aware of Luther’s stern judgment on preachers who mixed Latin in their sermons when preaching to the German laity,57 and they prescribed for their students practice in making German translations of the Greek and Latin readings “so that the children may become accustomed to good, colloquial German words.”58 So too the Latin school teachers did not hesitate to have the choir sing German hymns, not only in the services, but also in public processions and on other special occasions. Mathesius exhorted the schoolboys to explain the Latin texts to their parents at home.59 The linguistic difficulties attending the public performance of the Latin schoolboys did not, of course, affect the girls of the school who also seem to have taken a public musical role in Joachimsthal. Although their musical
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activities escaped the notice of the church order, Mathesius elsewhere makes clear that the Joachimsthalers were used to a girls’ school choir. The existence of such girls’ choirs is attested elsewhere in Lutheran Germany, though rarely.60 In Hof, for instance, the choir of the girls’ school participated in most of the weekly services, singing antiphonally with the Latin school choir, often responding with a vernacular equivalent of the verse or stanza just sung in Latin. The girls of Joachimsthal may have played a similarly prominent role in the church music of their town: similar musical and textual arrangements are found in Herman’s liturgical books.61 Mathesius, at any event, was extravagant in his praise of the girls’ choir. Miriam, leading the daughters of Israel on the banks of the Red Sea, is compared to a schoolmistress leading her girls in song; her example should serve as a comfort to all schoolmistresses who “present the Bible and the Catechism to the girls entrusted to them and sing with them in their houses and in the church choirs,” and both the schoolmistress and her singing charges stand in a “blessed vocation” of service to their neighbors.62
Music and Lutheran Pedagogy In all of Joachimsthal’s schools, music was used to convey the Evangelical message in a way that Lutheran teachers believed would not only appeal to their young charges but also—as their own experience proved—stay with them throughout life more effectively than perhaps any other means of instruction. Herman summarized these pedagogical thoughts, which he shared with Mathesius and Eber, in a verse encomium of music at the end of his Sonntags-Evangelia: For Music has the special grace That whatso in her power is placed Is sooner learned than what is read Or what in church or school is said. Like a schoolmistress sweet and kind, She calls her lessons back to mind, And what she teaches, without pain, Is e’er remembered and retained.63
The gentle pedagogy exemplified by Lutheran music was central to the practice of the Joachimsthal schools and reflects the humane treatment of students of which Herman boasts in his preface to the Historien. Herman’s pedagogical instructions (expressed, appropriately enough, in hymnic form)
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permit us to see not only the demands for obedience with which sixteenthcentury children were presented, but also the limitations that were placed on the arbitrary authority of teachers, parents, and magistrates. Herman declares that patience is the virtue most necessary for a teacher64; a teacher who always rebukes and ridicules his students will do more harm than good.65 In his Haustafel, a series of hymns describing the duties of each estate in society, Herman urges teachers not to be quick to punish and reminds them that mildness and gentleness are necessary in dealing with children and accomplish much more than constant scolding and chastisement.66 Many children, Herman says, are of a good and mild nature and neither need nor can bear more than a word of correction; they should be spoken to in a friendly way and taught with forbearance. The rod must be used with those who are stubbornly bad, but this must be done with moderation and not in anger. Those children who are frequently beaten rarely turn out well; there are some whom no earthly punishment can help: Be not too quick to beat a child: He who is gentle, kind, and mild Will bear with children’s failings. He does by far much better than The violent and angry man Who constantly is railing. Many a boy, of nature mild, Who cannot bear a beating wild, Heeds when a word reproves him. Who speaks gently to such a child And teaches him in friendly style Best teaches and improves him. Yet there are many (as one finds), Stubborn, naughty, and unkind, Who will not heed a warning, With them the rod must find its use, In measure, though, without abuse, Their wildness restraining. But seldom do those well succeed Who constantly such beatings need; They run astray despite them, And once upon the wayward course
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They cannot be returned by force; No earthly rod can right them.67
Herman’s pedagogical ideals were enforced by the town authorities, who stipulated that teachers should deal gently with the children under their charge68 and rebuked teachers who beat their students. “Good discipline” was the product not of beatings (which the town council denounced as “tortures,” Carnificia) but of proper diligence on the part of the teacher.69 Rather than use the rod to beat lessons into children, the Lutheran teacher sought to present his lessons in as attractive and painless a form as possible. “Like a young olive shoot,” said Mathesius, “the tender youth must be disciplined with gentleness and moderation”; the goal of the teacher was to “attract and excite” his students to learning so that the rod was unnecessary.70 Mathesius forbade Joachimsthal’s teachers from overtaxing their students with excessively long or numerous lessons,71 and instead they endeavored to introduce variety into the curriculum, including work in both German and classical languages, a list of readings that included Aesop and Terence along with Cicero and the Catechism, exercise in writing both prose and poetry, and performance of dramas in Latin, Greek, and German.72 Among such pedagogical devices, however, music had pride of place. And though the music of the Joachimsthal school was used to convey a variety of lessons, from correct Latin grammar and diction to exhortations to proper behavior, the ultimate goal of such musical pedagogy was religious: to instill the schoolchildren with a lasting knowledge of Biblical truth—and specifically the Lutheran Gospel of salvation by faith alone— that they would take with them from the school into the home and from their youth into their adult life.73 The union of music with God’s word provided an especially effective instrument for the work of the Holy Spirit in sustaining and strengthening faith and supplying comfort to the believer—an instrument, moreover, that the laity could apply to themselves without clerical intervention: Among the manifold ways of applying and using God’s Word, this is not the least: that God’s Word is put into rhyme and songs and set before the young laity . . . with the result that the youth . . . not only are excited and stirred to devotion in the public assembly in the church, but also retain the Word along with the songs, and take it home with them; and when they are alone, occupied with other work,
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they sing them, and thus think more deeply about God’s Word, and every day meditate better upon the Word. And without doubt, God is active through his Holy Spirit in the hearts of many who make diligent use of such Christian songs, so that good thoughts are awakened in their hearts whereby they are led to thanksgiving, to prayer, to patience, obedience, steadfastness in faith, and to confession, and are comforted amid temptation and discouragement.74
Music, Education, and Civil Society The same ideals that animated the pedagogy of the Latin school flourished in the girls’ school as well, where, though the girls were not taught Latin, they were taught the Bible and the Catechism just as their brothers were. Herman’s Latin sequences had their vernacular counterpart in the German versifications of the Gospels that he composed for the girls’ school, eventually published in the Sonntags-Evangelia.75 Indeed, the German hymns for the girls’ school are, if anything, more emphatic than the Latin sequences in articulating not only the central religious points of Lutheran doctrine but also Lutheran social and political teaching. The girls of Joachimsthal were taught to regard the Biblical doctrine and its preservation with great seriousness. In a hymn interpreting the Passover meal, the unleavened bread is explained as an allegory of pure doctrine: In Scripture by unleavened bread The doctrine pure is figurèd, From all corrupting leaven free That life and teaching pure may be. False doctrine leavened bread is called: Who eats of it, shall be expelled.76
False teaching was identified with idolatry, which robbed God of his honor and desecrated his name.77 Thus the prayers for the welfare of the town include petitions for the preservation of pure doctrine in the church and among its pastors.78 But the maintenance of the pure doctrine of Scripture was presented in the hymns as the concern not solely of the clergy, but also of every Christian. Some of the hymns most clearly shaped by their juvenile, female audience—songs in the form of folkdances for girls, for example—most strongly emphasize the importance of fidelity to the pure doctrine.79 The
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individual Christian is urged not only to pray for faithful pastors but also to shun false teaching and to be prepared to confess the truth in the face of falsehood and oppression: Lord, give us strong hearts, undeterred, That to our highest good, thy Word, We may stand fast and keep firm hold, In trial make confession bold.80
This duty is urged and illustrated in the hymns for the girls’ school with a frequency that suggests its central importance to the Lutheran religious identity.81 The Lutheran clergy sought to equip the laity with a religious knowledge sufficient to enable them to account for themselves in spiritual matters, not merely in the confessional, but in the face of public opposition as well. Furthermore, where matters of conscience and God’s Word were at stake, Herman made clear to the children of Joachimsthal that even the claims of the clergy and of the state had to yield to God’s truth. Luther had taught that subjects were obligated before God to obey their secular rulers, even when they acted unjustly, in everything that concerned body and possessions. But Luther also insisted that secular rulers had no authority to command in matters concerning the soul and that the subjects of rulers who tried to compel conscience in religious matters were obliged to disobey.82 Modern critics have argued that in actual Lutheran teaching and practice, the first side of Luther’s doctrine, requiring subjects to obey their rulers, was emphasized to the exclusion of the second side, which in any event allowed only ineffective passive resistance.83 But Herman’s songs make a carefully balanced presentation of Luther’s doctrine and shed light on the behavior of the Joachimsthalers in the face of Hapsburg Catholicization in the seventeenth century. In the first place, the hymns place clear limits on the authority of the church and its ministers. In his hymn on the Gospel for the feast of St. James, on the text of Matthew, chapter 20, Herman reproaches the sons of Zebedee—“They wanted in this world to reign/From which all preachers must abstain”—and places the following speech in the mouth of Christ, reminding the servants of the church that there are strict limits to their authority: O my disciples dear, You must not be the rulers here. Another way God has revealed:
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The powers that be here in this world: Princes and lords, who are ordained Peace and good order to maintain. ... But your estate is otherwise: Might in this world you must not seize. Whoever of you great would be Must serve the whole community.84
In the second place, the girls’ hymns include petitions on behalf of the government and reminders of the Christian’s duty to be obedient.85 But Herman shares Luther’s skepticism about the prospect for truly benevolent human government.86 More frequent than admonitions to obedience are prayers asking God to ward off tyranny and setting definite limits to the Christian’s obedience to the secular government.87 The hymns not only contain frequent warnings to the secular rulers that those who oppress God’s church and oppose his Word will be judged, but also justify individual disobedience to human authorities in the name of conscience and God’s Word:88 Help us, God, to authority In weal and woe obedient be, In what concerns body and goods As thou commandest that we should. But keep our consciences unstained; Let thy Word rule there unrestrained, So that we may obey thee more Than men and their doctrine impure.84
Lutheran political doctrine as conveyed by Herman’s hymns is no formula for political revolution, but neither is it a prescription for unconditional submission to the powers that be. Reinforced by Mathesius’ preaching in the church, the cultivation of Lutheran identity in the schools, and the resources of Lutheran piety in their homes, the people of Joachimsthal were prepared to put that doctrine into practice during the period of Hapsburg Catholicization from 1620 to 1650, when the laity of Joachimsthal held firm to their Lutheranism in defiance of imperial commands, and, having been taught especially to the girls of Joachimsthal, Luther’s doctrine as taught by Herman bore some of its most notable fruit among the women of the town.
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Schools and Public Music in Joachimsthal The musical activities of Joachimsthal’s schoolchildren were not confined to the school and church but spilled out into the streets of the town, filling the ears of the townspeople and miners with Lutheran music. The church, of course, remained an important center of the public musical activities of the schoolchildren: the boys of the Latin school were of course the backbone of the choir for the Sunday services of the church as well as singing in weekday services devoted primarily to prayer rather than to preaching. The schoolboys were most visible to the town in their musical role, and it is usually as choristers as well as students that they appear in the public records as the town government sought to secure the welfare of the school—sometimes, it seemed, as much for the sake of its musical activities as for any other reason. Besides the singing of the schoolboys and girls in the church services, among the most important of the religious activities of the children of Joachimsthal was their public prayer for the welfare of the city, mines, and school. Herman wrote several hymns to support such prayer.90 The Joachimsthalers believed that the prayers of children might be regarded with special favor by God; as Herman wrote, “God has given us Christian schools in which many hundred babes lift up their innocent hands and pray daily for the higher and lower authority, for the prosperity and increase of the mines, for the welfare of the city, and other needs. God will surely not fail to hear them.” 91 Their prayers and song were sought especially on New Year’s Day, when the newly elected town government took office.92 The academic career of Joachimsthal’s singing students began, appropriately enough, with another procession accompanied with song. Each year on the traditional feast day of St. Gregory, the teachers and older students marched through the streets, summoning the new pupils in the words of a hymn written by Herman for the occasion.93 The hymn began with a summons sung by the older students and concluded with the teachers’ invitation and promise, throughout emphasizing the importance of God’s Word and Christ’s love for children: Come with us, dear children, And become pious students We shall lead you to our school Where you will study God’s Word. ... God takes delight in your youth,
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For it is well suited for study, And what is taught you now You will learn and remember well. Christ wills that he be ever praised Through the mouth of babes, And that they, in the blush of youth, Should learn of his grace and goodness. He loves the children, holds them dear, For he was once a little child, And so he sends his angels To watch and keep them. ... Therefore we will instruct you With fatherly affection; So come, you dear children, And become pious students.94
The hymn thus provided a fitting musical introduction to the system of Lutheran pedagogy and music in Joachimsthal. Next to their activities in the church services, however, the most frequent public appearance of singing students was their twice-weekly circuit through the streets of the town. The Joachimsthalers were proud that their schoolboys did not have to go begging from door to door to support themselves, singing in exchange for alms, as Luther, Mathesius, and Herman all had done.95 Instead, however, loath to dispense with the singing schoolchildren altogether, the Joachimsthalers institutionalized the custom, appointing one of the teachers to lead the children and to collect the contributions of the townspeople.96 Schoolchildren elsewhere sang Herman’s songs from door to door, and it is likely that the Joachimsthal children sang them as well, in addition to Luther’s German hymns and perhaps some of the Latin music from the school.97 The regular singing of the schoolchildren in the streets also served to bring the hymns—not only their words, but also the spiritual comfort that they conveyed—into the midst of the people. Mathesius told the story of a woman who had been in labor all day and had begun to despair of the birth. In the evening, she heard a schoolboy passing by singing Luther’s hymn Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir: And though it tarry till the night And till the morning waken,
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My heart shall never doubt God’s might, Nor count itself forsaken.98
Hearing the words of the song, the woman took heart, and giving thanks to God for sending “his baptized schoolboy to remind us of David’s comforting words,” she gave birth to a healthy son.99 Mathesius himself, suffering from a long depression, was finally restored to good spirits and confidence in God’s mercy by the song of the schoolchildren passing under his window in the St. Gregory’s day procession.100 Perhaps most important to the town of all the students’ activities, however, was the participation of the school choir in funerals. The body was carried from the parish church at one end of the town to the Spitalkirche next to the graveyard at the other end, accompanied by the school choir, singing “old Latin and German hymns from the prophet Job, the psalter, and Prudentius”—a fair description of the contents of Luther’s 1542 Christlich Geseng Lateinisch und Deudsch/zum Begrebnis, which was used in Joachimsthal along with several of Herman’s compositions.101 Especially prominent was Herman’s hymn Sanct Paulus die Corinthier, based on 1 Corinthians, chapter 15; it was one of his earliest German compositions, already published in 1551, and appears in his hand in his 1560 portrait (see Figure 2.1).102 The singing of the student choir at funerals was an expression of the relation of the community to the deceased person, their presence a sign of reconciliation with God and man that was of great importance to the Joachimsthalers. In 1568, a year in which 900 people in the parish died of the plague, the council passed a special resolution to ensure that even those who died amid such trying circumstances should be accompanied to the grave by the school choir.103 Those who died while separated from the church because of some unrepented public sin were denied a full choir at their funeral.104 On the other hand, the 1596 chronicle entry reports on a weaver who had shunned the church for years but converted before his end; as a sign of his reconciliation, he was accompanied to his grave by a choir of twelve students.105 In the last decades of official Lutheranism in Joachimsthal, the town council’s concern over the state of the school and the number of its students was prompted in no small measure by the prospect that there might soon be too few students to sing at the funerals.106 Of all the public musical processions in which the Joachimsthal students took part, the most striking was an annual procession that took place at mid-Lent, in which the children of Joachimsthal sang as they
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marched through the streets, symbolically driving the Pope out of the town: Now far away the Pope we chase From Christ’s church and God’s holy place, Wherein he wickedly has ruled And many of salvation fooled.107
Mathesius reported this Joachimsthal custom to Luther during his last visit to Wittenberg in 1545, comparing it to the ancient Roman practice of casting images into the Tiber and the medieval processions of driving death out of the parish.108 Luther was so pleased with the hymn, perhaps composed by Mathesius during his tenure as schoolmaster, that he had it printed under his own auspices along with a four-part setting probably supplied by Herman.109 The hymn is a vigorous attack on the papacy, yet not without theological precision in defining the Evangelical Church in opposition to the papacy. The Pope is identified as the “whore of Babylon,” the “Abomination and Antichrist,” and the “Roman idol,” whose lies and malice deceive and cheat the world. The song indulges in mildly scatological wordplay, proclaiming that the Pope’s indulgences and decrees are now cast into the privy. The Evangelical Church embraces “the true Pope,” Jesus Christ, who (instead of Peter) is the Rock on whom the Church is built. As the merciful high priest, he offered himself on the cross (not repeatedly in the Mass), and from his wounds there flows true indulgence and forgiveness. In contrast to the Pope, Christ rules the Church by his Word, the true Head of Christendom. The hymn ends with an appeal to Christ to protect his church from Pope and Turk alike. Away with you, perdition’s son! You scarlet whore of Babylon! The blasphemer and Antichrist, All full of foul deceit and lies. Your bulls, indulgence, and decrees Are sealed up now in privies; Though by that theft your coffers grew, And thus Christ’s blood you shed anew. The Roman idol must give place; The one true Pope we now embrace: He is the Son of God, the Christ,
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The Rock on whom his Church is placed. He is our good high priest alone, Who on the Cross for all atoned And shed his blood to heal our woes; Indulgence true from his wounds flows. By Word he rules his Church alone, Whom God the Father has enthroned As Head of all his Christendom: Eternal praise be unto him. The barren winter now has ceased; Preserve thy Church, O Christ, in peace. If thou guard us this coming year The Pope and Turk we shall not fear.110
This militantly Lutheran hymn, like Herman’s Latin liturgies, demonstrates the success of Joachimsthal’s Lutherans in adapting medieval customs to decidedly Evangelical purposes through the use of music. The defiant spirit of early Protestantism was not extinguished when Lutheranism was translated into institutional forms; rather the Lutherans tried to create institutions that would preserve and protect the spiritual freedom that they had won against false clergy and political tyrants alike. In a passage from a hymn praying God to protect and uphold the school, Herman compares the students to bees, feeding at the flowers of God’s Word, and concludes with the petition And kindle from their wax a flame Which no pope can put out again.111
That flame remained burning in Joachimsthal in the seventeenth century, despite the best efforts of the Catholic emperor and clergy to put it out: in the schoolboys who first drove the Pope’s representative out of the church, and in their fathers and mothers who continued to hold to their Lutheran faith in the face of official condemnation. Even when the Lutheran schools, which had been the pride of Joachimsthal’s Protestants, were closed, the lessons that they had taught continued to bear fruit in the hearts of self-consciously Lutheran laity who resisted the demands of government and clergy alike, intrepidly exercising their right of conscience to obey God’s Word alone.112
5 Lutheran Music in the Church
Within the public services of the Joachimsthal church, the various cultural and social voices of the town were brought together into remarkably harmonious consort. Unlike the Latin school, whose curriculum was securely under clerical direction, or the homes of Joachimsthal, where the laity were in control, the church was the main ground upon which the clergy and laity of Joachimsthal interacted. In public services, in catechetical instruction, and in private confession, clergy and laity learned to accommodate one another in the interest of the Lutheran religion they shared. To an extent far greater than has been generally recognized, the Lutheran clergy respected and defended the spiritual prerogatives of the laity, and the laity embraced the Lutheran religious message which the clergy proclaimed. Nowhere was this shared religious culture better expressed than in the vernacular Lutheran music, which, though it had been created mostly in clerical circles, quickly became the special religious possession of the laity. The German hymns of Luther, Herman, and their imitators served as a bridge between clerical and lay religion, between the church and the home. In the music of the church, the Evangelical message was communicated not only to the schoolboys and those who had attended the schools, but to all the laity of every social and cultural level. The hymns sung in church could be readily learned and remembered even by those who could not read, and from the church, the hymns passed into the homes of the laity, where they served as the basis of family devotion and religious instruction. Although Lutheranism in the hands of the clergy and the Lutheranism practiced by the laity differed somewhat in form and emphasis, the Lutheran hymns reveal an underlying harmony of content, conveyed by a religious culture that was the shared creation of Lutheran clergy and laity alike.1 76
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Clergy and Laity in Joachimsthal At first glance, the cultural gulf between sixteenth-century Lutheran laity and clergy would seem to have been a broad one. Trained at Wittenberg according to the methods developed by Melanchthon, Joachimsthal’s Lutheran clergy had been immersed not only in Lutheran theology but also in the humanist culture of the time. The Lutheran clergy were thus exposed to a level of culture that was largely foreign to many of the town’s laity, the cultural distance exaggerated by the linguistic barrier between Latin and German. However, even this gulf was not so wide as it might appear. The Joachimsthal estate inventories reveal that interest in humanist culture had spread beyond the elite circles in which it had originated and was widely diffused among the literate of Joachimsthal, even if many of the burghers preferred to read their classics in German translation. More significant, however, is the nearly universal theological interest that the inventories manifest, suggesting that, at least among the literate, the interests of clergy and laity were not so distant as might be supposed.2 The burghers of Joachimsthal themselves insisted on an educated clergy, expressing their preference through support of the Latin school and through scholarships and literary patronage of those who went on to further study at Wittenberg and other Lutheran universities.3 In addition to learning, however, the town insisted on pastoral ability among its clergy. Joachimsthal’s clergy were required not only to have been regularly chosen, called, and ordained but also to present evidence of diligent study, experience teaching catechism, and an upright life, so that they might fulfill the range of duties required of the Lutheran clergy: not only to administer the sacraments and hear confession, but also to instruct and teach the people, to visit, encourage, and comfort the sick, and also to be able to preach from memory a correct and Christian sermon.4 The commitment of Joachimsthal’s Lutheran clergy to present Lutheran teaching to their congregation at a popular level of culture, even as they continued to cultivate humanist learning in the Latin school, was manifest not only in Mathesius’ miners’ sermons but especially in the German hymns written by Mathesius, Franck, and Herman. The laity in Joachimsthal sought to ensure that their clergy were not ascetic outsiders or spiritual overlords but an integral part of the life and society of the town. Unlike the medieval clergy, who lived in the midst of urban society without being legally part of it, the Lutheran clergy were part of the civil society that surrounded them, subject to the same laws
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and bound by the same civil allegiances. This new relation was reinforced in Joachimsthal by the very structure of the church in its relation to the town. The secular authorities—the town council and the elders of the miners’ guild—were responsible for calling the senior pastor [Pfarrer], and with his consent, the town council called a junior clergyman preacher [Prediger]; together these clergy and the town council were entrusted with the choice of clerical assistants or deacons.5 The town council sought to strengthen the ties of the clergy to the town still further by giving strong preference to pastors and teachers who were themselves children of Joachimsthal. After the 1578 death of Mathesius’ successor, Caspar Franck, for example, the town council passed over Mathesius’ son-in-law, the deacon Felix Zimmerman, a nonnative despite his long years of service to the Joachimsthal church, and called the Stadtkind Theophilus Beck as pastor.6 When the town authorities were unable to find a native son to fill a post in the church or school, this was noted with regret.7 One result of this system was that Joachimsthal’s clergy were at home both in the “high” humanist and theological culture of the university and in the local popular culture under which they had been born and raised and within which they were expected to minister. Although Lutherans insisted on an educated clergy more rigorously than had the medieval church—thus in one way widening the cultural divide between clergy and laity—they were also insistent that their pastors, unlike the medieval clergy, be thoroughly integrated into the secular world around them.8 The example of Joachimsthal shows that this was not merely a legal but also a cultural arrangement. In accordance with this ideal, growing out of Lutheran ideas both of the universal priesthood of the baptized and of the equality of secular and ecclesiastical vocations, church life in Lutheran Joachimsthal was the joint creation and enterprise of the clergy and the laity. The secular authorities held authority over the number and schedule of church services and arranged these as it was “suited to the time, the community, and the hearers.”9 Religious activity was accorded an important place, but in Lutheran Joachimsthal it was sometimes accommodated to secular pursuits: beginning in 1547, for example, festivals falling on a Saturday were moved to Sunday so as not to interfere with the weekly market day.10 Neither the town government nor the clergy wished to be seen as “new papists,” imposing arbitrary demands upon the community. In
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defending the practices of the Joachimsthal church, Mathesius insists that the church ceremonies have neither been imposed upon the church by the secular authorities (as happened throughout Lutheran Germany during the Interims of 1547–1548) nor foisted on the laity by an authoritarian clergy.11 Rather, the ceremonies in Joachimsthal had been introduced “without offense, coercion, [or] burdening of conscience, with mature consideration and the knowledge and approval of the secular authorities, by common consent, and not imposed [eingedrungen] by the clergy as if they were a necessary part of the church’s worship.”12 In Joachimsthal, the secular, lay government thus supported the church and its preaching, and the Lutheran clergy acknowledged and defended the value of secular society. For example, the town authorities punished those caught drinking in a tavern during church services;13 the clergy, on the other hand, gladly agreed to move the Sunday afternoon service an hour earlier so that, in addition to freeing time for weddings, baptisms, and the churching of women, “the children might run . . . girls might go dancing . . . and be joyful with a clear conscience.”14 In other matters of secular life, the Lutheran clergy were equally moderate in their views. Not only did they proclaim the spiritual value of secular vocations such as mining work or trade, but they also found something to defend in many secular activities at which more puritanical souls might have looked askance. Just as Mathesius limited his criticism of secular music to songs whose contents were immoral but otherwise praised the secular uses of music, so too his attitudes toward such activities as dancing and drinking sought to restrain abuses while defending a legitimate use, not because the clergy chose to avoid fights they could not win, but in large measure because, in accordance with Luther’s own theology, they affirmed the values of the secular world within their sphere and in their proper place.15 Even within the realm of popular religious practices surviving from the Middle Ages, the Lutheran clergy showed a remarkable discrimination. To be sure, the Lutheran clergy condemned medieval religious practices that they regarded as superstitious, but where there was no manifest abuse involved, Mathesius and his colleagues could be surprisingly accommodating: Neither do the preachers object when the sexton and other children place the infant Jesus on the altar at Christmas, and when they sing lullabies to the child with the organ, with good pure songs; or when
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they make pictures in the pews [stüle] and set up trees and scatter grass on Ascension day; or when the students sing on New Year’s Day, or the children sing around the fire on St. John’s Day. For we allow such innocent and harmless childlike customs to remain for what they are worth.16 Such old customs remained in place in Lutheran Joachimsthal, their Evangelical associations secured by the “good pure songs” with which they were accompanied. Between the spheres of the clergy and the laity, the German hymns thus occupied a unique mediating position. They had been written, for the most part, by the clergy—first Luther and his circle, then others—though laymen such as the Nürnbergers Hans Sachs and Lazarus Spengler and in Joachimsthal, of course, Nicolaus Herman himself were also substantial contributors to the body of Lutheran hymnody. Though Mathesius’ musical interests were perhaps unusually strong, all Joachimsthal’s Lutheran clergy had received a practical training in music along with their theological and humanist education, in accordance with Luther’s dictum that no one should be allowed to become a pastor or teacher if he could not sing.17 Mathesius’ successors followed him in composing hymns of their own and in encouraging the music of the Joachimsthal church.18 But, whatever their origins, clerical or lay, the German Lutheran hymns were definitely regarded as a part of lay culture. The hymns stood midway between the Latin liturgical music of the clergy and the schoolboys on the one hand, and the baby-Jesus dolls and midsummer fires of popular custom on the other. Significantly this is the position they occupy in Mathesius’ description of the Joachimsthal church, where after describing the (substantially Latin) formal liturgy, Mathesius continues, “alongside this, the laity sing their German hymns,” and concludes, “Nor do the preachers object when the sexton and the children place the infant Jesus on the altar at Christmas . . .” 19 The unique place of the German hymns enabled them to bridge the gap between high and popular culture and to provide the most apt common expression of the Evangelical religion that Joachimsthal’s Lutheran laity and clergy shared.
Services in the Joachimsthal Church All three of these cultural levels—the Latin culture of the school, remnants of medieval popular religion, and the mediating culture represented
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by the Lutheran hymns—could be found within the public services of the Joachimsthal church. The role of the Latin school and its choir in the services was always large, but alongside them it was not only the educated burghers who sang with the choir but also the common people who participated in the service, their chief means of participation the German hymns. At first glance, the culture of the Latin school seems to predominate, both because of the large number of services that were oriented primarily to the requirements of the school and because of the extensive role of the school choir in virtually all the services. The daily morning and evening services, adapted from the medieval matins and vespers, were sung primarily in Latin by the school choir. Even in the communion services, held on Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings, the Latin school choir held a prominent role in the liturgy, especially on festivals, when even the prayers and Bible readings were sung in Latin.20 But the common people also sang.21 Most likely, the school choir and the congregation sang the liturgy in alternation between Latin and German. Herman gives a stanza-by-stanza bilingual alternatim arrangement of the Latin hymn Laus tibi Christe in one of his liturgical manuscripts, and the practice seems to have been applied to the liturgy in general.22 Mathesius, for example, reports that the Nicene Creed was sung in Latin in the Joachimsthal church according to the traditional melody; in one of his sermons, on the other hand, he says that his congregation sang Luther’s German versification of the Creed in the service.23 Probably the choir sang the Creed in Latin, and then the congregation sang Luther’s hymn in German, a common practice in Lutheran Germany.24 When the choir sang a Latin hymn, the congregation often seems to have responded with a German equivalent, either one from Luther’s hymnal or a local composition. So, for example, the school choir sang the Ambrosian Veni redemptor gentium and the congregation Luther’s Nun komm der Heiden Heiland,25 and Mathesius’ Passion hymn O Christen leut, vergesset nicht was sung by the congregation in parallel with the choir’s singing of a Latin motet from Hosea 12 by Josquin des Près.26 Such a practice both helped to provide consistency through the repetition of some of the same hymns each year and also helped to connect the singing of the congregation with the Latin sung by the choir. The other point in the service at which congregational singing is specially indicated was during the distribution of the Lord’s Supper, when both Latin and German hymns were sung by the choir and the congregation.27 In this way both the choir and the con-
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gregation were full participants in the liturgy, each at its own level of culture. Local hymns took their place alongside the “new and most common” hymns from the German hymnals, with which Mathesius assumed his congregation would be familiar, and to which he made frequent reference in his sermons.28 Hymn-singing in Joachimsthal thus helped to form a Lutheran identity that transcended political borders even as a proud local tradition of Lutheran music flourished. The zeal of the Joachimsthal congregation for the Lutheran hymns could not, however, be contained within the liturgical service itself. On Sundays and other festivals, therefore, especially in warm weather, the laity gathered in number [vil volcks] in the church before the morning service to sing German hymns for an hour.29 This activity, as described by Mathesius, seems to have been at the initiative and under the direction of the laity, though probably with the assistance of the town organist, since the dismantling of the organ for repairs in 1610–1612 was the apparent occasion for organizing a committee of craftsmen and miners to help lead the singing.30
Christmas in Joachimsthal On no occasion was the mediating role of the Lutheran hymns more apparent than on the religious festivals of Lutheran Joachimsthal. The town celebrated according to a religious calendar from which all the extra-Biblical saints had been removed and the Marian festivals restricted to the Purification and the Annunciation, a reduction in total of at least one-third from the calendar of the medieval church.31 The remaining festivals, however, especially those of Christ himself, received proportionately greater attention. The religious celebration involved every level of the town’s culture, from high to low: the Latin liturgy and its attendant music were employed to the fullest extent; the laity celebrated with their popular customs; and the Lutheran hymns served to bind the whole together and to reinforce the Evangelical significance of the festival. The celebration of Christmas in Joachimsthal serves as an example. In honor of the festival, the clergy and the school choir sang the liturgy in Latin, with special emphasis on the singing of the “old readings [Historien] and chants.” 32 Alongside these liturgical exercises, the laity, especially the children, added their folk observances: placing a doll representing Jesus before the altar and singing songs to the infant Lord.
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It was the Lutheran hymns with which Christmas was richly supplied that gave the celebration its Evangelical character and united high culture and popular piety around the Lutheran Gospel. There were German pieces inserted into the festival liturgy: the choir sang the Latin Christmas sequence Grates nunc omnes, and the congregation responded with the German Danksagen wir alle: Let us all give thanks to the Lord God, who by his birth has delivered us from the power of the devil. To him we should ever sing with the angels, “Glory to God on high.” 33
But it was especially the popular devotions that were supplied with Lutheran songs. The children in Joachimsthal sang Luther’s own Von Himmel hoch and other hymns after placing the baby Jesus on the altar; in a sermon addressed to the children, Mathesius used language from the hymns to point out that such singing took place rightly when the infant Jesus had been “wrapped in the swaddling clothes of faith and laid in the cradle of our hearts.” 34 Herman supplied the Joachimsthal children with eight additional Christmas hymns written in popular style: two settings of the Christmas Gospels, and six others for the children to sing in public, written in simple language and emphasizing God’s fatherly love and grace manifest in the Christ child:35 Christian folk, rejoice with joy, For today is born a boy! Born as Mary’s child is he, God’s Son from eternity, Now our brother is become. He, more glorious than the sun, In the manger rude is born. ... Therefore let us joyful be, Sing to the Christ child with glee, Peace with God he has restored, And has opened heaven’s doors, From sin and hell sets us free; All he has, he gives to me! Why should I not joyful be?36
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The melodies of Herman’s Christmas songs are a mixture of Gregorian melodies and his own compositions in the style of popular song, though the line between these two categories is by no means so easy to draw as might be supposed. Herman’s Lobt Gott ihr Christen allzugleich was clearly, to judge by the arrangement of the stanzas, in the form of a folk dance (Abendreihen). But the melody behind Herman’s tune was in fact a Gregorian antiphon for the Christmas mass, 37 demonstrating the interpenetration of different cultural levels within the church music of Joachimsthal and their combined contribution in service of the Gospel. In its text, Herman’s hymn is a masterful adaptation of Biblical images and Lutheran theology for presentation to children, bringing the matter of university theology lectures into the popular sphere: Praise God, ye Christians, one and all, Before his highest throne; Today he opens heaven’s hall And gives us his own Son. He leaves his Father in the skies, And naked, poor, and cold he lies, Is born an infant small Here in the humble stall. He puts aside his majesty, A servant’s form to take, And dwells in low humility, Who heaven and earth did make. He lies upon his mother’s breast; Her milk is food for him, Whom all the joyous angels bless, For he is David’s stem. ’Tis he who in these latter days From David’s line should come By whom the Father would upraise The Church, his Christendom. With us a great exchange he makes, Takes on our flesh and blood, That we in heaven may partake The righteousness of God.
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He serves that I a lord may be, A great exchange indeed! O Jesus, ever dear to me, My truest friend in need. He opens up again the door To Paradise today; The cherub guards the gate no more, To God our thanks we pay.38
The doctrine of the fröhliche Wechsel, or joyous exchange, was one of Luther’s frequent and most profound means of describing the justification of the sinner through faith in Christ, who conferred his own righteousness and took for himself the sinner’s sin.39 Taken up in Herman’s Christmas hymn, Luther’s doctrine is clad in clear, simple language for the children who sang it before the altar. The most popular elements of Joachimsthal’s Christmas celebration were not the least Evangelical. Similar coordination of popular customs with Lutheran emphases are also evident in Herman’s Easter song for Joachimsthal’s girls, its melody based on a miners’ dance,40 or in the girls’ dance for St. John the Baptist’s day.41 Through the German hymns, the laity of Joachimsthal were effectively drawn into the public services, and they were shaped in a distinctively Lutheran piety that transformed the medieval forms under which it was sometimes concealed. The Lutheran hymns established themselves at the center of public lay piety in Joachimsthal. It is perhaps not a coincidence that the two aspects of church life to which Mathesius explicitly ascribes a large popular attendance were also those in which the Lutheran hymns played the largest role: the festival days and the hour of German song before services.42
Art, Music, and Sanctity The popular success of the Lutheran hymns allowed them to serve as Evangelical interpreters of other areas of culture as well. Along with the Latin liturgy and folk customs that Joachimsthal’s Lutherans preserved and transformed through the hymns, they also inherited a tradition of religious art that—unlike many other Protestant groups—they did not reject outright, though the elements of medieval art as of medieval piety often required radical alteration or reinterpretation within their new
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Lutheran context. While Lutherans’ relative artistic tolerance gave them more ready access to popular culture, it also meant that they had to be on guard lest the new Evangelical message be swallowed up in the preexisting associations of its medium.43 No single element of Lutheran culture, however, existed on its own. Each was received by its sixteenth-century audience within a broader context that included oral as well as written, verbal as well as visual forms. The Lutheran vernacular hymns, part of the oral culture of the unlettered laity as much as of the written culture of the clergy and educated, were an important part of the context in which the other elements of Lutheran religious culture—whether sermons, catechisms, broadsheets, or paintings—must be understood. The interrelation of visual art and music in Joachimsthal demonstrates well the ways in which Lutherans succeeded in using the verbal message of the vernacular hymns both to reinterpret the remaining symbols of medieval piety and to establish a new theological and symbolic context for Lutheran believers. Having been founded only a few years before the Reformation, Joachimsthal bore fewer reminders of medieval piety in its local monuments than did most places in sixteenth-century Germany. While there was some pre-Reformation art in the town, much of the public art in Joachimsthal had been designed to serve the interests of Lutheran religion. However, for both the pre-Reformation art and the Lutheran art as well, the hymns that were sung in the churches around them provided the essential context for their interpretation. The original church in Joachimsthal, located next to the cemetery and the hospital, had been built before the Reformation, in 1516, and its altarpiece, by Cranach, depicted the very un-Lutheran scene of the engagement of St. Catharine to the Christ child.44 (See Figure 5.1.) In the central panel, the infant Christ, seated on Mary’s lap, places a ring on St. Catharine’s finger, symbolizing her entrance into the ascetic life and monastic “marriage” to Christ. This altarpiece, with its images drawn from the traditional piety of the late Middle Ages, nonetheless remained in place throughout the century of religious reform in Joachimsthal. But although the image remained in place, its iconography was given a radically new interpretation in Lutheran Joachimsthal, as appears from Herman’s song A Dialogue between Two Christian Maidens, on the Benefit and Power of Holy Baptism, in the style and melody of a folk dance (Abendreien).45 Herman’s song interprets the giving of the ring as a symbol of
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baptism, the new relation with Christ that it establishes, and its benefits. The maidens sing: Though all be silent, yet my tongue shall sing, For I am loved by heaven’s all-glorious King, Who in my Baptism has espousèd me That I his own belovèd bride might be. Question: What bridal pledge from him do you then hold?
Answer: Set with a sapphire bright, this ring of gold. Q: What signifies the shining sapphire gem? A: The Holy Spirit, given me by him. And next to it, a stone of ruby bright For by his blood I am made holy quite. Q: And is the ring of gold most pure and clear? A: Indeed, because I am to him most dear.46
Figure 5.1. Detail of St. Catharine altarpiece by Lucas Cranach the Elder in the Joachimsthal Spitalkirche, c. 1516. Source: Photograph by the author
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The following stanzas further interpret details of the ring and baptismal dress—following Cranach’s painting quite closely—as symbols of the effects of Baptism and conclude with a prayer for the imminent coming of the bridegroom Christ at the last day: [Q:] Tell us then, when your promised groom shall come? [A:] On the last day, when he shall take me home. ... Lord Christ, my dearest Bridegroom, quickly come! And from this vale of sadness bring us home!47 In the judgment of the Lutherans, one of the most offensive aspects of the medieval doctrine concerning monastic life was the assertion that the taking of monastic vows was of equal spiritual power and significance to baptism, a doctrine affirmed by no less an authority than Thomas Aquinas.48 Herman’s transposition of the image of St. Catharine’s entry into the monastic life to baptism was therefore a pointed rejection of the Roman Catholic teaching. Moreover, while the image of marriage to Christ had played an important role in the ceremonies for the entrance of women into a convent, it was also one of Luther’s most daring images for portraying the relation between Christ and the believing, baptized Christian, an illustration of the “joyous exchange” of human sin and divine righteousness.49 Through Herman’s song, the altarpiece was transformed from an image of the special relation of the ascetic saint with Christ into a Lutheran depiction of the union of every believing, baptized Christian with the Savior. The Joachimsthal hymns give abundant further evidence of the transformation of the role of the saints in Lutheran piety. The number of saints’ days celebrated in Joachimsthal after the Reformation was restricted to the New Testament saints.50 But even these saints were treated very differently than they had been in medieval piety; Herman’s song for the feast of St. James makes it seem that the saints were remembered as much for their faults as for their virtues: The Holy Scripture clearly paints The faults and failings of the saints: The places they have stumbled in, And oft committed grievous sin.51
The saints are no longer intercessors with God, a role that the hymns frequently emphasize belongs to Christ alone.52 Instead, the Biblical
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saints are properly honored by believing and following their doctrine, which points to Christ, as the hymn on St. John the Baptist makes clear: Help, God, that we to dear Saint John True reverence may do: Help us to keep his teaching pure As his own students true. And trust, Lord Jesus Christ, in thee, In every troubled spot, For John came but to point to thee. So help us, dear Lord God.53
The saints are still sometimes presented as models of virtue, but it is now a distinctly Lutheran set of virtues that is emphasized. The Baptist and other saints are presented as models for bold and steadfast confession of God’s Word;54 two hymns are dedicated to the Magdalene as a model of repentance and faith, whose works of love are the manifestation rather than the price of her forgiveness.55 Finally, at least in the private devotions that Herman’s songbooks were intended to guide if not in the public calendar of the church, the Historien present a selection of Old Testament saints as models: Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Elijah, and Elisha. But these were intended by Herman to compete not with the songs about the medieval saints, which had by 1560 been all but forgotten in Joachimsthal, but with popular secular songs about the exploits of such heroes as Hildebrand, Ris Sigenot, Alexander, and others.56 One measure of the decline of the fortunes of the medieval saints in Lutheran Joachimsthal can be derived from the names given to the mines surrounding Joachimsthal. Mathesius’ chronicle gives a list of all of the excavations opened between 1516 and 1560.57 After 1530, the proportion of mines named after post-Biblical saints drops sharply, save for a brief period immediately after the transfer of the mines to imperial authority; instead the mines are given secular names, and names of the Old Testament figures prominent in Herman’s hymns and Mathesius’ preaching, including Elijah, begin to appear. (See Table 5.1.) The success of the Reformation in transforming the deeply rooted medieval tradition of devotion to the saints is persuasive evidence of the larger transformation of piety that took place in Joachimsthal with the establishment of Lutheranism. Through preaching and instruction, but especially through the hymns, medieval religious culture was selec-
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tively reshaped and transformed: those elements incompatible with Lutheran devotion were set aside or reinterpreted, and those elements compatible with the new piety were emphasized and brought to the fore.58 But the Lutheran vernacular hymns were no less important in establishing and reinforcing the message of works of art completed after the Reformation. The main Joachimsthal church was constructed in 1534–1537, one of the first in Europe to be newly built under Protestant auspices, and both its design and the works of art with which it was adorned were created to illustrate and embody Lutheran teaching.59 The recorded donations of art began in the 1540s, soon after the completion of work on the church, and continued well after the town had fallen on less prosperous times. These works were centered on Biblical themes: embroidered hangings for the altar and font depicting scenes from the Gospels;60 paintings of the deposition, burial, and resurrection of Christ attributed to Albrecht Dürer;61 series of paintings of Biblical scenes around the upper walls and the galleries.62 More Biblical figures—Job, Lazarus, and others—appeared in the funeral monuments that appeared around the walls of the church.63 Cast in full figure were the large scene of the crucifixion placed in the cemetery wall and the processional crucifix used at funerals.64 The jewel of Lutheran art in Joachimsthal, however, was an altarpiece from Cranach’s workshop in the town church, commissioned by HieroTable 5.1. Names of new Joachimsthal mines, 1516–1559
1516–1520 1521–1525 1526–1530 1531–1535 1536–1540 1541–1545 1546–1550 1551–1555 1556–1559
Medieval a
Religious b
59.2% 59.1% 73.3% 20.6% 21.0% 11.9% 48.1% 16.0% 7.7%
6.1% 11.4% 0.0% 5.9% 8.1% 7.1% 7.4% 8.0% 15.4%
New Old Testament Testament Secular 14.3% 9.1% 0.0% 17.6% 12.9% 11.9% 11.1% 16.0% 15.4%
0.0% 0.0% 3.3% 5.9% 6.5% 9.5% 7.4% 4.0% 15.4%
20.4% 20.5% 23.3% 50.0% 51.6% 59.5% 25.9% 56.0% 46.2%
Total 49 44 30 34 62 42 27 25 13
Source: Johann Mathesius, Sarepta Oder Bergpostill Sampt der Jochimßthalischen kurtzen Chronicken (Nürnberg: U. Neuber & J. vom Bergs Erben, 1559), ff. Oo2r–Pp5v a. The various Marian titles are included, for the present purpose, in the Medieval category. b. “Religious” names include such relatively neutral theological epithets as “Trinity,” which could not be readily characterized either as Biblical or as Medieval.
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nymus and Lorenz Schlick in 1545 in memory of their brother Stephan. Destroyed by fire in 1873, its contents can be reconstructed from Mathesius’ own description and those of nineteenth-century observers.65 The altarpiece depicted the Lutheran distinction between Law and Gospel in allegorical form, above a predella that represented the disciples at the Last Supper with the faces of Luther, Cranach, and other Reformation figures. However, by itself even such a thoroughly Lutheran image could be misunderstood or reinterpreted—later Roman Catholic interpreters understood the contrast depicted between Moses and Christ to be representative of the difference between the “law of fear” and the “law of love”66—though the panels of the altarpiece may well have been moved around in later centuries to discourage a Lutheran interpretation.67 But even an originally Lutheran piece could contain potentially incongruous bits of iconography: the uppermost panel of the Joachimsthal altarpiece, for example, depicted Michael with his scale at the last judgment, an image that Mathesius perhaps tried to explain in an Evangelical way in his sermon Vom Wage Gottes.68 For all the power of the visual image, only within the original context of Lutheran preaching, teaching, and singing could the Evangelical message of Lutheran art be safely preserved.
Hymns and the Catechism Among the various means of conveying Lutheran doctrine to the laity— including preaching and catechism as well as visual art—the clergy recognized the special value and effectiveness of the Lutheran hymns.69 Not only in the formal worship of the church but also in catechetical instruction, the hymns were used to present the Lutheran doctrine to the laity in the manner the clergy believed would best penetrate the hearts and minds of the people. Mathesius’ own catechism sermons make frequent reference to Luther’s catechism hymns to illustrate a point or to make an application.70 More importantly, his use of the hymns clearly presumes that his young audience was already familiar with them and knew their contents. Thus, even where the hymns are not explicitly mentioned in the sermon text, they were certainly part of the frame of reference through which the hearers understood the sermon. They provided a theological reference that helped the laity to interpret for themselves the message conveyed from the pulpit. Any attempt to reconstruct the effect of Lutheran sermons,
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catechisms, or art on their original audience must take into account the complementary presentation of Lutheranism in the hymns with which the laity were most familiar. In Joachimsthal, catechetical instruction took place in two parts: every Sunday afternoon the Joachimsthal clergy preached on the Catechism; and during the summers, they held less formal instruction on Wednesdays, examining the children individually before a service including informal exposition of the Catechism, prayer, and hymns: In the summer, the youth are gathered together on Wednesday so that the pastor and his colleagues may examine each child individually to see whether he can say his prayers, and what he can remember from the sermon. Then the Ten Commandments, the articles of the Creed, and the Lord’s Prayer are explained to them in an altogether childlike, straightforward, and simple manner, and they are reminded of their holy Baptism. . . . And when they have been exhorted to decency, faithfulness, and truthfulness by means of good examples from Scripture, and have said together a heartfelt prayer for all the necessities and cares of Christendom, and for the increase and success of the mines, then they thank God with Christian songs.71 Though Mathesius does not here specify which hymns were sung along with catechetical instruction, his catechism sermons make clear that the Lutheran catechism hymns held an important place in religious instruction in Joachimsthal. All but one of Luther’s catechism hymns appear interspersed with references to other hymns.72
Law and Gospel in the Hymns At the heart of the doctrine contained in the Lutheran hymns was the Gospel of justification through faith alone, which was also the heart of Scripture according to its Lutheran interpreters. It is at precisely this point, however, that some of the most vigorous critics of Reformation pedagogy have found Lutheran instruction to be defective and confusing. Lutheran catechism sermons are charged with teaching good works as the means of salvation in their zeal to impose discipline and correct behavior.73 The Joachimsthal hymns, however, paint a different picture of Lutheran doctrine and pedagogy. In their extensive treatment of the relation between the faith that justifies before God and the good works that serve the neighbor, they are consistent with Luther’s own teaching.
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It is true that sixteenth-century Lutherans described human sin and corruption in terms that have made some modern interpreters uncomfortable. In its original context, however, the somber tones of human impotence and depravity were intended to sound a liberating note to sixteenth-century ears. The opposite theme—that human beings were basically good, endowed with free choice and the ability to improve themselves, which may sound so humane and liberal to modern ears—was in fact perceived by many late medieval Christians as a terrible burden. In the light of Luther’s teaching of the radical bondage of the human will, they came to perceive it moreover as an unscriptural imposition, the device of moralizing clergy to provoke anxiety in the laity and prod them to religious works.74 Recognizing man’s inability to fulfill the law was the first step away from religious bondage toward Evangelical freedom. Thus, although Lutheran theologians acknowledged the role of the law as a curb in civil life and as a guide for the Christian as he went about his vocation in the world, the chief purpose of the law in Lutheran catechesis was to reveal man’s inability to fulfill it.75 This was the strong emphasis of the Lutheran hymns in their treatment of sin and the law. Luther’s hymn on the Ten Commandments, for example, ends with the warning that the commandments are not intended as a path to salvation: These statutes all are given thee That thou, o son of man, mayst see How great thy sin is, and perceive How before God man should live. Kyrieleis. Lord Jesus, in our desperate need, Help us, and for us intercede. Our works cannot our doom dispel; They deserve but wrath and hell. Kyrieleis.76
Within Mathesius’ catechism sermons on the commandments, these two stanzas are cited more frequently than any others from the hymn.77 They serve to curb the temptation to moralizing encouraged by the number of sermons on the commandments (almost guaranteed to be ten by virtue of the division, as opposed to three on the Creed and seven or eight on the Lord’s Prayer) and turn attention from the law that condemns man and toward the Gospel, which offers free salvation.78
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One of the greatest virtues of the hymns was that, whereas a sermon taken in isolation (especially in the midst of the series on the Ten Commandments) might seem excessive in its emphasis on the law, the Lutheran hymns within their relatively small compass usually succeeded presenting both law and Gospel, using the contrast that Lutheran theology posited between these two doctrines to great dramatic and psychological effect. Luther’s hymn Nun freut euch lieben Christen gmein was perhaps the most experientially oriented of the Lutheran hymns, but even in the more heavily doctrinal pieces, such as Paul Speratus’ 1524 Es ist das Heil uns kommen her—which is also cited in Mathesius’ catechism sermons as being sung in the Joachimsthal church—both doctrine and piety find their place.79 Speratus begins by setting forth the contrast between grace and the law, which is the theme of the hymn: Salvation unto us has come By God’s pure grace and favor; Good works cannot avert our doom They help and save us never. Faith looks to Jesus Christ alone: For all our sins he has atoned; He is our mediator. What God did in his Law demand And none to him could render Brought wrath and woe on every hand To man, the vile offender. The flesh has not those pure desires The spirit of the Law requires And lost is our condition. It was a false, misleading dream That God his Law had given As if we might ourselves redeem And by our works gain heaven. The Law is but a mirror bright To bring the inborn sin to light That lurks within our nature.80
The opening stanzas state clearly man’s inability to fulfill the law but contrast this from the beginning with Christian faith, which looks to Christ rather than to works. The Law cannot be fulfilled by human
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power, nor was it given so that man might earn salvation, but so that men might recognize their sin as in a mirror. Only Jesus Christ, the hymn continues, has fulfilled the law, and reconciled men to God: He all the Law for us fulfilled And all the Father’s anger stilled Which over us impended.81
Since Christ himself has fulfilled the Law, the Christian can rejoice: I fear no more, for now to me Thy death shall my salvation be, For thou hast paid my ransom. Trusting in thee, I doubt no more; Thy Word cannot be broken No man can shake thy promise sure, No falsehood hast thou spoken: He who believes and is baptized Shall dwell at last beyond the skies He shall not perish ever.82
But if the works of a Christian do not serve to win his salvation, what, then, is the place of good works in the Christian life? Speratus’ answer is that good works are the fruit of faith in love; they are directed not toward serving or satisfying God but toward serving the neighbor: The Christian does good works indeed, Else were he unbelieving; Good works from faith alone proceed, From faith their worth receiving. But faith alone can justify; Works serve the neighbor and supply The sign that faith is present.83
Rather than being a torment to a conscience weighing its works in an attempt to determine the genuineness of its faith, the relation between faith and good works is here presented as a source of confidence. The possibility of “false” faith that had no interest in works is presented as counter-factual; in fact, the Christian’s interest in good works is, from the side of the Gospel, a mark of his faith. These good works are those that serve the neighbor, rather than trying to establish one’s own righteous-
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ness before God. The hymn closes with a doxology following the pattern of the Lord’s Prayer, promising that God will graciously fulfill what he has begun in believers for his own name’s sake. Speratus’ hymn sets forth the kernel of Luther’s teaching on the Christian life in a simple and memorable way. It expresses the basic Lutheran contrast between law and Gospel not only in theological but also in psychological terms. Lutheran piety as well as Lutheran theology had definite places for both law and Gospel, and the tension between these two poles, often exploited for rhetorical effect, was seldom left unresolved or in doubt. The Gospel, in piety as in doctrine, had the last word. It was hymns such as Speratus’ that provided laymen with the means of interpreting images such as Cranach’s Joachimsthal altarpiece or their pastor’s own sermons. To such treatments of the basic themes of Lutheran theology, known in Joachimsthal as in the rest of Germany through Luther’s hymnals, Herman and Mathesius added several hymns of their own in which the contrast between law and Gospel is the main subject.85 These Joachimsthal hymns show the basic continuity between the teaching of the hymns of the 1520s and the Lutheran pedagogy of the 1550s in the continuing efforts of Lutheran teachers to reject moralism and to emphasize God’s grace offered in Jesus Christ, while depicting the Christian life as one of good works in service of the neighbor. Herman makes clear first of all that it is faith in Christ alone, as revealed in his Word, that makes a Christian acceptable to God: Who would stand righteous before God As his own child and servant true, Let him not trust his piety Nor in the justice of the Law. ... No man can satisfy the law Save Christ alone, true Son of God Who by his work and bitter death The law fulfilled, God reconciled. And earned for us a righteousness Which in God’s mercy sure consists, This he announces in his Word: It is forgiveness of all sin.
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This treasure faith alone can grasp, Whereby the heart is cleansed of sin By trusting in God’s mercy sure, Proclaimed in Christ to all the world.85
The Joachimsthal hymns make a clear distinction, moreover, between the faith that justifies before God and the works that serve the neighbor and demonstrate the presence of a living faith to other men. The doctrine that the purpose of a Christian’s works is not to placate God but to serve the neighbor is very frequently repeated in the Joachimsthal hymns: Confirm our faith in thee, O Lord, Grant that in love to our neighbor Its fruits be ever manifest.86
The relation between faith and the purpose of works is most fully summarized by Herman in the hymn from the Historien titled “On unfeigned Christian love for the neighbor”: A true faith quiets all God’s wrath, And thence a lovely stream flows forth: As love of brother it is known, By which a Christian’s faith is shown. Our Lord himself this sign described By which disciples are espied. Man’s heart is known to God alone His works his faith to men make known. ... Love from the neighbor takes its call, The helper and servant of all, Obliges ever, never spares To teach, admonish, give, and forbear.87
Mathesius summarizes the whole doctrine briefly in a hymn on Abraham as the model of justification by faith, sung publicly in the Joachimsthal church: In faith alone by God we stand; Our works we owe our fellow man. By them we praise God and maintain That we believe with faith unfeigned.88
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But though the Joachimsthal hymns encourage works of love in service of the neighbor as the testimony of a living faith, they also acknowledge that neither the faith nor the works of the Christian are perfect in this life. They contain numerous petitions for strengthening of faith, while frankly acknowledging the presence of doubt and moral failings in the Christian’s life:89 Alas, dear God, how weak my faith! How bold and impudent my flesh! It will not keep the Spirit’s path But rushes headlong toward death. How often doubts dismay my heart; The Law therein works many a smart: Commands and orders without cease— First this, then that—and gives no peace. My native powers are far too weak To do the good I ought to seek. In deep corruption I was born; To wickedness my heart is prone. ... My sins I now confess to thee; Dear Father, do not punish me: There stands before thy judge’s face Jesus my Savior, in my place.90
By presenting such spiritual difficulties along with their remedy in God’s promises of mercy, Herman sought to fortify his audience against despair. To be sure, the hymns did not encourage doubt and sin. But by teaching that moral failings and doubts were an expected part of Christian experience, to be overcome with God’s forgiveness and help and providing models for dealing with these failings, they prevented young Lutherans from imagining that sin and doubt were unforgivable, unmentionable faults, directing them always to the free mercy of Christ. The essential feature of the hymns, like that of the Lutheran teaching they were intended to convey, was “comfort” [Tröst].91
Confession and Absolution The priority of the Lutheran concern to provide consolation for troubled consciences was manifest not only in the hymns themselves but also in the practices of pastoral care that the hymns reflected. Private confession in
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Joachimsthal is a case in point. In 1540, pastor Sebastian Steude reintroduced private confession into the Joachimsthal church.92 Those who wished to commune were first required to attend private confession with the pastor.93 But the content of private confession in Lutheran Joachimsthal was very different from what it had been under Roman Catholicism, as is evident from the Joachimsthal sources: Mathesius’ description of the church order, a pamphlet on confession that he prepared for the children of Joachimsthal, and Herman’s hymns. In the first place, it was strictly forbidden for the pastor to require an enumeration of all sins or to inquire after particular sins.94 Neither were penances imposed. Rather, absolution was given by the pastor upon the penitent’s general confession that he was a sinner and sought forgiveness for Christ’s sake: Q: Must one also therefore recount all his sins along with their circumstances? A: That is nowhere commanded and is moreover impossible, Ps. 19. Therefore it is sufficient when one confesses himself in general to be a sinner, and is sorry for his sins, and wants not to repeat them, and asks forgiveness of his sins in the name of Christ through the power of the Keys.95 Free confession of particular sins was permitted, though never required, according to Mathesius, but is not even mentioned in his pamphlet for children.96 Indeed, the role of the pastor in the Joachimsthal confessional was on the whole quite passive. Herman emphasizes that the pastor is merely Christ’s instrument for pronouncing God’s forgiveness, and not a judge in his own right.97 In the hymns, the term used to refer to the institution of private confession is not confession [Beicht] but absolution. In their treatment of the “Office of the Keys” [Schlüsselampt], the church’s power to bind and loose sins, the Joachimsthal hymns place an overwhelming emphasis on the power to forgive.98 The power of binding the sins of impenitent sinners is associated not with the confessional, but with preaching: The keys of heaven I give to thee A church to gather here for me What through thy preaching shall be bound In heaven likewise shall be found; And what on earth you shall set free Is freed in heaven eternally.99
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The most complete treatment of the doctrine and practice of private absolution among the Joachimsthal hymns is Nicolaus Herman’s hymn So wahr ich leb, spricht Gott der Herr, printed in the Sonntags-Evangelia and also in Mathesius’ pamphlet on confession under the title “A Spiritual Song on the Office of the Keys and the Power of Holy Absolution, for the Children in Joachimsthal.”100 The hymn begins by proclaiming God’s good will toward sinners and the power of Christ, given to all Christians [die Christenheit], to pronounce forgiveness through his ministers: Yea, as I live, the Lord God saith, I would not have the sinner’s death But that he should converted be, Repent, and live eternally. ... For when the priest lays on his hands, Christ himself frees us from sin’s bands, Absolves us through his precious blood; He who believes receives this good. Such is the power of the Keys, They bind, and then again set free; The Church keeps them close by her hand, The Housemother, all Christians.101
The next stanza points out those for whom absolution is intended, encouraging those who are troubled by conscience to make use of the remedy that Christ provides in private absolution: Let him whom conscience gnaws and bites, And to despair his sin affrights, Betake him to the mercy seat: The Word of Absolution sweet.102
The institution of private confession in Lutheran Joachimsthal illustrates that an external appearance similar to medieval religious practice could conceal an institution very different from the old Seelmarter of the medieval confessional.103 The laity were now free to choose what to confess or indeed whether to confess any particular sins at all, and received absolution from a pastor who was prohibited from prying into the faults of the penitent. Private confession was intended to provide comfort to troubled laity, who retained a remarkable degree of control over
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the process. Both in public worship and in private confession, Joachimsthal’s Lutheran laity maintained their status as at least equal partners with the clergy, a role that the Lutheran clergy not only conceded but defended.104
Hymns and the Laity Although the prominent role of the Lutheran hymns in the musical and pedagogical practices of the Joachimsthal church does not provide direct evidence of the success of Lutheran music in communicating the Evangelical message, there are nonetheless some hints of the special effectiveness of the hymns among the laity. Perhaps the deepest insight into the role that the Lutheran hymns played in the religious life of Joachimsthal’s church and homes is provided by Mathesius’ sermons. The profusion of references to the hymns in the sermons demonstrates both their authority as sources and interpreters of Lutheran theology and their importance as elements of popular religion. Mathesius’ use of the German hymns in his sermons is spread across the range of his preaching, though references to the hymns are clustered most thickly in those homiletical fields to which the hymns were particularly congenial: preaching on particular festivals or seasons of the church year; preaching on texts from which particular hymns were drawn; and especially in the Catechism sermons, reflecting the importance of the hymns in Lutheran pedagogy. The majority of these hymn references are passing citations to support a theological point, but Mathesius engages in several extended discussions of hymns, in which the high regard in which the hymns were held becomes particularly apparent. In a sermon on Psalm 46 in his Diluvium, Mathesius explains the psalm verse by verse using Luther’s hymn Ein feste Burg, “in order that you may prize your German psalm Ein feste Burg all the more.”105 Here the hymn and the Biblical text are used to explain and amplify one another: Luther’s hymn serves as a gloss on the Psalm, and the two together serve as the basis for the evangelical proclamation of the text.106 The hymn is treated with a respect only a little less than that accorded to the psalm itself. At times, indeed, a hymn text could provide a relatively independent textual basis for a sermon, especially one on a festival or one dealing with a particular doctrinal topic.107 Mathesius particularly emphasized the close association between the Biblical text and the hymns in his exposition of Psalm 130:
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Therefore, dear friends . . . listen in earnest to this instructive psalm, and cry in the name of Jesus Christ to the heavenly Father, by whose Spirit King David wrote down this psalm for our comfort, and compare with it your Christian hymn Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir, in which great men have set forth the meaning of this psalm with a rich spirit, and explained and expounded it very clearly. So will you discover in truth how the God of all comfort has preserved for you both the Holy Scripture and this comforting psalm, so that you may gain from them patience, comfort, and a blessed hope.108 Mathesius stops just short of equating the composition of the hymn with the inspiration of the sacred text. But both the Bible and the hymns have the same effect and benefit, producing “patience, comfort, and a blessed hope” in the hearts of Christians. Though Mathesius assumes a close familiarity with the text of the Bible itself on the part of at least some of his hearers—he is careful to defend himself when departing even a little from Luther’s translation109—it is clearly the German hymns that provide the approach to the Biblical text and teaching for many in his congregation. Mathesius is aware of the different levels of culture within the congregation, but is determined to use each as a vehicle for communicating the Gospel. A revealing parallel to Mathesius’ use of the German hymns is supplied when, having discussed Luther’s hymn version of Psalm 130, Mathesius then goes on to discuss the Latin and Greek translations for the benefit of the Latin school students.110 In contrast to these detailed parallel expositions of hymn and text, sometimes the hymn is not even expressly mentioned. Only a few key words serve to tie Mathesius’ sermon to the hymn that lies behind it.111 Especially in combination with other evidence for the popular reception of the hymns, such references suggest that the words of the hymns had passed into the hearts not only of the pastor but also of his congregation. As striking as the content of these references is, however, equally significant is the form in which these references appear. There are clear, though perhaps unconscious, patterns in the way in which Mathesius habitually refers to the various kinds of hymns that the Joachimsthal Lutherans used. When Mathesius refers to an ancient Latin hymn, he uses the formula “as the Church sings,” a tag which he uses with German hymns almost exclusively when they are part of the pre-Reformation musical inheritance of the Lutheran church.112 Nearly as consistent are his references to the German hymns of the Reformation. Overwhelm-
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ingly, Mathesius refers to them in the second person, identifying them as the property of his congregation: “your German hymn”; “as you sing”; even using colloquial tags such as “your Mighty fortress [ewer Festenburg].” 113 Such phrases reflected the close association of the German hymns with the religious life of the laity, and the close familiarity with the hymns that Joachimsthal’s preachers were able to assume. This familiarity was cultivated within the public services themselves, in the hour of lay-organized hymn singing that took place early Sunday mornings, but above all within the homes of the laity. The most important function of Mathesius’ homiletical references to the hymns was to tie his expositions from the pulpit with the private devotions that went on in the homes of Joachimsthal: So you may now sing your hymn Aus tiefer Not, and think carefully about the words, and compare the words of the hymn with David’s psalm, and imitate them [trachtet den nach], and talk about them in your houses with your families.114 Mathesius’ successors in the Joachimsthal pulpit continued his attempt to use the hymns to link the public religious life of the church with the private religion of Joachimsthal’s homes. The sermons that conclude Mathesius’ exposition of the book of Ecclesiasticus, delivered by another preacher (presumably Caspar Franck) after his death, consistently end by connecting the sermon’s message with a Lutheran hymn that is suggested as the basis for that week’s household devotions.115 By tying his words to the words of one of the beloved hymns, the preacher might hope that some recollection of his sermon, too, would find a place alongside the hymns in the hearts of his congregation. The distinct yet complementary roles of Lutheran clergy and laity and their hymnody in Joachimsthal were revealed in an incident of the year 1559, reported in broadsheet across Lutheran Germany. In Lent of that year, in the nearby village of Platten, whose church was under the supervision of Joachimsthal’s clergy, a smith’s daughter named Anna was possessed by a devil and fell ill. After Easter, the evil spirit began to speak through the girl and to send her into fits. The local Lutheran clergy were unable to accomplish anything, as was the pastor from neighboring Schlaggenwald; finally the clergy from Joachimsthal were sent to assist, but the devil only mocked the pastors’ efforts. Finally the girl was brought into the church before the whole congregation, and “the common man”
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sang hymns over her and prayed for her along with the clergy, and the evil spirit was at last driven out and the girl restored.116 Although the use of the Lutheran hymns was rarely so dramatic or sensational as in the Platten incident, it shows admirably that sixteenthcentury Lutherans conceived of their religion as the joint enterprise of clergy and laity, neither of which was independent of the other. Unlike a Roman Catholic exorcism, which emphasized the authority of the Church and its clerical servants, the Lutheran version showed clergy and laity working in concert against the devil, united by the hymns that they sang.
6 Lutheranism and Music at Home
For all the public importance of the school and church in the religious life of Joachimsthal, the Lutherans of the town recognized that the success or failure of Lutheranism there ultimately depended on its fate within the household. The sermons preached in the church recognized and encouraged the efforts of Joachimsthal’s families to pass the Evangelical religion on to the next generation: Mathesius called the Lutheran Hausvater “a bishop over his household, and a house-pastor,” responsible for the religious welfare of his family.1 The flourishing of domestic religion in Joachimsthal is one of the clearest manifestations of Lutheranism’s popular success within the town. Family devotion, though it was clearly connected to the public religion of the clergy and the church, thrived under the direct control of the Lutheran laity. The household was also the center of the religious life and activity of Lutheran women—activity that also extended outside the home, where women taught school, provided spiritual counsel to their neighbors, and were prepared, if need be, to confess their Lutheran faith in public in time of persecution. The Lutheran hymns, which served to link the public religion of the church with the private religion of the home, provide the historian with a window into the domestic religious life of Joachimsthal’s Lutherans. Evidence from sermons and the contents of hymnals intended for family use is confirmed by inventories of private libraries from Joachimsthal, which show the widespread and deep interest of the Lutheran laity in hymnals, postils, and prayer books to support their family devotions.2 The whole pattern of familial religion in Joachimsthal clearly illustrates the enduring goal of Lutheran pedagogy in general: to equip the laity with the religious knowledge needed for spiritual self-sufficiency, so that they might attend to their own spiritual needs and those of their family and neighbors, without necessary dependence on the clergy. 105
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Domestic Religious Life in Joachimsthal In part, the emphasis that Joachimsthal’s Lutherans placed on household religion arose from their keen awareness that the public survival of their religion in the town depended on the uncertain favor of the Roman Catholic emperor, who might—especially as the production of the mines waned—as easily choose to suppress Lutheranism in Joachimsthal as to tolerate it.3 Accordingly, Mathesius warned his congregation that they should keep the Evangelical faith alive in their “houses and hearts” so that when the word of God could no longer be preached in public they might nonetheless be able to comfort one another with the promises of the Gospel.4 But the family gathered around its table or hearth for reading, singing, and prayer was also an important and enduring manifestation of fundamental Lutheran ideas of the prerogatives of the family, as the foundation of society, one of the three estates [Stände] ordained by God, and also of the spiritual dignity and rights of the laity.5 Within the Lutheran household, the Hausvater and Hausmutter ruled, their authority buttressed by the fourth commandment and its prominence in Lutheran catechetical and pedagogical literature. Nonetheless, parents were expected to teach and discipline their children with gentleness and restraint. Herman’s Haustafel urges parents to deal with their children with moderation, being gracious to them so that they do not become timid; parents are warned that they will regret their harshness if they do not act with mildness. Children are brought up to the glory of God through forbearance and encouragement; the rod is only to be used with those who are obstinate and cannot be reasoned with.6 Likewise, the Hausvater is reminded not to deal harshly with his servants, for they too are Christians and before God there is no distinction between master and servant.7 A father who always blusters and roars around his house accomplishes little; a friendly word will secure the goodwill of wife, children, and servants.8 Domestic religion sought to reflect these pedagogical ideals with material intended to be both enjoyable and understandable to children, even as it drew the generations of the household together. In carrying out their efforts to instruct their households, Joachimsthal’s parents drew upon the materials offered by the clergy—postils, catechisms, prayer books, and, above all, the vernacular hymns. Mathesius’ repeated references in his sermons to “your German hymns” suggest their popularity and close association with the laity, as well as the preacher’s confidence that his listeners were already well acquainted with the hymns,
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so that the singing of the hymns would help to carry the message of the sermon back home with his congregation.9 Even the hymns of the Sonntags-Evangelia, though most were intended solely for private use, were based on the Gospel texts read in the Sunday services and thus helped to connect the public reading and preaching with the household devotions of parents and their children. Nonetheless, while the hymns linked public religion with private devotion, their use within the household brought them within a sphere that was out of the direct control of the clergy or the magistrates. That the laity continued to make use of the Lutheran hymns within their homes suggests that they were appreciative of the religious message of the Lutheran clergy; on the other hand, the clergy’s encouragement of such private devotions, often with the explicit acknowledgment that the layman could apply God’s word to himself and his own as effectively as could his pastor, clearly shows a respect for the spiritual prerogatives of the laity, which had not been drowned out by the voices of Protestant “new papists.” Mathesius made it clear that God’s power and presence were not confined to the public ministrations of the clergy, but attended the Biblical word wherever it was read, heard, or sung. “We are certain that God is with us . . . for we have God’s word in our church; many fathers [Hausväter] have it in their houses and hearts, and talk and sing about it with their children; for where God’s word is, there Christ is present with his Spirit and angels.”10 Descriptions of such household devotions appear in Mathesius’ sermons as well as in Herman’s songbooks, which were published precisely to help meet the devotional needs of parents and their children. Though the precise content of the devotions outlined in these sources varies, the essential elements were reading, singing, and prayer in which both parents and children participated. Herman’s prefaces indicate that he published his hymns to please “the many honorable housefathers and craftsmen” who were accustomed to reading and singing hymns at home with their children and household on Sundays and other occasions.11 Herman describes such a family devotion in the verse dedication “to Christian Housefathers” at the end of the Sonntags-Evangelia: A Christian is not satisfied To see his larder well supplied; Instead it is his foremost thought How his children may be taught
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To know aright their God and Lord And keep before their eyes his Word. Therefore for them he spares no pains, But ever teaches and explains. And on Sunday especially, When all from daily work are free, He sits with them, and they repeat What they have learned at school that week; He has them say their Catechism In answer to the questions given, And listens to them as they tell What of the sermon they recall, And then he sings a thankful hymn To Christ the Lord, to honor him, And thus he ends the day of rest; Who does likewise, keeps Sunday best.12
Herman’s program of devotion is typical in its emphasis on the importance of interaction between the Christian father and his children, but it is unusually ambitious in its thoroughgoing connection of the religious instruction provided in the church and schools (sermons and catechism) with that of the home. Other writers (and presumably parents as well) embraced a less formal household pedagogy. Paul Eber’s preface to the Sonntags-Evangelia placed primary emphasis on the role of the Lutheran hymns in family devotion. According to Eber, parents [Hausväter und Hausmütter] should not only teach the hymns and sing them with their children but also on occasion go through the hymns stanza by stanza and explain their meaning—a form of “household sermon” that Eber believed was a more effective means of religious instruction than were the public sermons of the clergy.13 Such expositions also exemplify the balance between rote learning and spontaneous response that Lutheran pedagogy sought to attain: children (and their parents) were expected not only to remember the catechism, sermons, and hymns, but also to be able to explain them in their own words. Mathesius’ exhortations on family devotions, though less specific, also emphasized the important role of the hymns. He encouraged parents to sing hymns with their children at home on Sunday mornings,14 and specifically to help prepare their families to receive the Lord’s Supper by talking and singing about the Sacrament and
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Christ’s death at the family table the evening and morning before Communion.15 In addition to these weekly devotions, Herman’s books also provided brief hymns for daily use in the morning and evening and before and after meals, based on the daily prayers in Luther’s Small Catechism,16 and Mathesius composed a prayer book for household use.17 Though parents took the leading role in household devotion, the other members of the household had their parts to play as well. The boys of the Latin school were supposed to explain the Latin music sung in the church to their parents, and the girls of the congregation were encouraged to read the Bible to their parents at home.18 Eber also urged the children of Joachimsthal’s households to take the initiative in sharing Herman’s songs with their brothers, sisters, and other members of the household, either by sharing the songbook itself or by singing the hymns for those who could not read.19 Though the simple, direct language of Herman’s hymns and Luther’s Catechism was especially well suited for children,20 and the contents of the hymns included much that was intended to be easily grasped by children, they were also intended to reward the more mature consideration of the parents, servants, and other members of the household who participated in family devotions as well, so that the Lutheran hymns and the devotions that surrounded them helped to integrate the household religiously not only across generations but also across social lines. In Mathesius’ view, the Biblical prophecy that “your sons and your daughters shall prophesy” was fulfilled by the family gathered for prayer, hymns, and catechism around its table.21 The Lutheran family at prayer included also those members who were away for travel, study, or training; Mathesius’ selection of household prayers included prayers that children might say for their father as he traveled or for their brothers and sisters who had gone away for an apprenticeship or for school.22 Concern for children who had gone abroad to learn a trade or for further education was not unfounded. Often, the Lutheran children of Joachimsthal had to be sent into Roman Catholic or Calvinist areas for their apprenticeships, where they were surrounded by foreign and perhaps seductive religious influences.23 Young Lutherans in such circumstances were supported in their faith not only by the prayers of their families but also by the hymns that they had learned at home and by the Evangelical literature that they took with them for their own devotional use. That such books were actually used with some enthusiasm is suggested by the letters of Nürnberg teenager Paul Behaim, who not only wrote to his mother from Italy asking to be sent a copy of Luther’s hymnal,
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but also knew precisely which publisher and edition he wanted.24 During Joachimsthal’s Counter-Reformation period in the seventeenth century, on the other hand, sending children away to Lutheran areas for apprenticeships became a means of preserving the Evangelical religion, one that the Roman Catholic authorities were anxious to suppress. The patterns of devotion established within the home were passed on to a succeeding generation that continued to practice Lutheran domestic piety as members left the household in which they had been raised and eventually established households of their own. The family of the Joachimsthal councilman Jacob Geuß provides an example. Writing in 1570, Geuß recalled the household devotions of his youth, conducted with the aid of an incunabular German Bible that he donated to the Joachimsthal library so that future generations might the better appreciate and give thanks to God for Luther’s translation.25 Two generations later, in 1627, Geuß’s descendant was charged before Joachimsthal’s new Roman Catholic authorities for holding private Lutheran services in his home, a layman who, even as the external supports of Lutheranism in the town were taken away, held fast to the tradition of Lutheran domestic piety that had been passed down through the generations in his family.26 Such domestic piety served both to tie the family together and to equip each of the members of the household for spiritual independence. As Eber insisted, the hymns allowed the laity to “comfort, instruct and greatly encourage themselves and others in time of need, without a clergyman.” 27 Such self-sufficiency was needed by Lutheran apprentices traveling abroad, but also in the ordinary circumstances of life when a Christian might find himself best placed to speak a comforting word to his wife, neighbor, or himself. Then, too, the threat of Hapsburg persecution and the removal of Joachimsthal’s Lutheran clergy always loomed on the horizon. But the essential moment at which every Christian might anticipate having to be able to comfort himself was the hour of death. Luther warned, “The summons of death comes to us all, and no one can die for another. Every one must prepare his weapons and armor to fight his own battle with death and the devil by himself, alone.” 28
Death and Dying in the Hymns To the already high mortality of sixteenth-century Europe, Joachimsthal added the perils of life in the mines, so that death separated the families of Joachimsthal with alarming frequency. Years of plague or famine swelled
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the toll and must have seriously challenged the abilities of the Joachimsthal clergy to attend the dying. (See Figure 7.1.) Yet within the medieval system, it was the deathbed where the presence of a priest to serve as confessor was most essential. Here the contrast between Protestantism and medieval religion was at its greatest.29 Equipped by a lifetime of family devotions including the hymns and associated passages of Scripture, the Lutheran layman might be such a capable theologian that even when a Lutheran pastor was present, he found his ministrations superfluous. Eber’s preface to the Sonntags-Evangelia tells of “many virtuous matrons here who at their last end were able to comfort themselves very effectively by means of the German hymns . . . and to explain them word by word and employ them with such a rich spirit that it was a cause of great wonder to the pastors and other learned men present.” 30 Mathesius’ son-in-law, the Joachimsthal preacher Felix Zimmerman, reported the same ability among Joachimsthal’s laity a generation later.31 Most of the Lutheran hymns, with their emphasis on sin and grace, might find their place at a Lutheran deathbed. But some were composed expressly for such a setting. Herman’s most frequently reprinted hymn was his deathbed song Wenn mein Stündlein: When my last hour is close at hand And from this life must take me, Beside me then, O Savior, stand; With comfort ne’er forsake me. Into thy hands I will commend My soul at this my earthly end, And thou wilt keep it safely. My sins, dear Lord, disturb me sore, My conscience cannot slumber; But though as sands upon the shore My sins may be in number, I will not quail, but think on thee: Thy wounds, thy death, all borne for me, Thy passion shall uphold me. Since of thy body I am part, I thence the comfort borrow That thou canst ne’er from me depart ’Mid death’s dread pain and sorrow;
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And when I die, I die to thee; Thy precious death hath won for me The life that never endeth. Since thou the power of death didst rend, In death thou wilt not leave me; Since thou didst into heaven ascend, No fear of death shall grieve me. For where thou art, there I will be, That I may ever live with thee. This is my hope when dying.32
Excluded from the Lutheran deathbed is any thought of reconciling oneself to God by a final act of perfect penitence. Only Christ is the basis for the Christian’s confidence of eternal life. Nonetheless, death and its anguish are not simply denied. The Lutheran notes his sins and his troubled conscience but does not dwell on them; they simply fade before the reality of Christ’s work and the union of the Christian with him. Not penitence but confidence is the last note of the Lutheran’s song. Yet, though each Christian, according to Luther, even if he were attended by family and clergy at his deathbed, must ultimately die alone, it is a testimony to the importance of the family in Lutheran piety that even after death the structures of the family were assigned an important place. The harsh realities of sixteenth-century life, harsher still in a mining town, did not make the Joachimsthalers indifferent to those members of their families who had been taken from them. Though Lutherans rejected the elaborate and often expensive piety that united the living and the dead in late medieval Christianity as Totenfresserei, a ploy of the clergy to exploit the living and the dead for profit,33 Lutherans were nonetheless far from unmindful of departed children or parents, and the hymns, prayers, sermons, and monuments of the Joachimsthalers sought to comfort the living with the promise of heavenly reunion with their loved ones. The extended family of parents and children both living and dead was of course not visible at the family table. But in the family portraits in the monuments of the Spitalkirche, family members living and dead were brought together again in prayer: the 1563 epitaph for Ruprecht Pullacher, depicting Pullacher and his family gathered in prayer; the 1604 monument for Paul Beer, depicting his wife and children, living and dead, in prayer around the cross; the 1610 epitaph for the son of Centurio Lengenfelder, which shows Lengenfelder and his wife praying in mourning
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clothes on one side of the cross while their son, clad in white, prays on the other side.34 Beneath the image, poems in Latin and German assure the living that the dead son is alive in Christ, having been baptized in his blood, and will be reunited with his parents in heaven. The devotions held by the living family also expressed in words the confidence depicted in the art of the Spitalkirche. Although it is likely that few families divided by death undertook so ambitious a program of remembrance as did Mathesius after the death of his wife Sibylla in 1555—he later published the extensive series of discourses he had held with his children at table over the Christian virtues of their mother and the Gospel’s promise of reunion with her in heaven35—the laity too reminded their families of the prospect of reunion with the dead in the world to come. Herman’s songs promised both children and parents that they would see one another again.36 Mathesius described the joyous reunion of parents and children in heaven as the fulfillment of Christian parenthood: It will be no small part of our joy that in our [eternal] fatherland, where we shall dwell forever, we shall be united with our dear father, mother, friends and comrades, with our wife and the children whom we have brought up in God’s word. It will be a heavenly delight to see our wife and children, immortal, for all eternity, with our own eyes . . . Then shall the paternal heart, the unbreakable bond with which God has joined together parents and children, know the true and enduring joy of fatherhood and motherhood for the first time.37 Mathesius’ own final sermon, delivered only a few hours before his death, also concentrated on the prospect of recognizing one’s beloved wife, children, and friends in heaven at the last day.38 The gathering of the family around its table in prayer and song was thus an assembly that the Lutherans of Joachimsthal confidently expected would be convened again in the world to come.
Women and Lutheranism in Joachimsthal Although both the Hausvater and the Hausmutter had important roles to play within the Lutheran household in instructing their children and handing down the Evangelical faith to the next generation, women enjoyed a place of special prominence within the religious life of the
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household.39 Eber’s preface to the Sonntags-Evangelia (addressed “to all virtuous, godly matrons and maidens in the Christian and God-beloved congregation in Joachimsthal”) specially emphasizes the religious role of mothers and daughters within the household.40 Both fathers and mothers are encouraged to lead their children in singing hymns and to explain their meaning in “household sermons.” But it is the mothers and girls of Joachimsthal whom Eber especially urges to share the printed hymnal with those of their children, brothers, sisters, and domestic servants who are able to read, and to sing the hymns for those who cannot.41 The prominent role accorded to Lutheran women within the family even in the presence of the Hausvater was enhanced even further in the many Joachimsthal households headed by women—one-third to two-fifths of the total.42 Other evidence from Joachimsthal also reflects the special leadership of women in household religion. In Mathesius’ funeral sermon for Margaretha von Hassenstein, wife of the Hauptmann, he commends her as a “mirror and example of all womanly virtue,” inasmuch as she led daily devotions with prayer, reading, and singing for the female members of her household and liked to talk about God’s Word.43 The Joachimsthal widow Anna Biener, for example, owned the full range of books to assist in such household devotions: a Bible, postil, prayer book, and Herman’s Sonntags-Evangelia.44 The religious activities of Joachimsthal’s women began at a young age. Mathesius’ epitaph for Anna vom End, who died at age ten, reports that she had been sent to Catechism at age six and not only went to church but also daily read from her Psalter and other good books, sang hymns, and read the Bible out loud to her family.45 A woman’s circle of religious influence could also extend beyond the household itself to include friends and neighbors: the 1613 epitaph for Maria Heinz in the main Joachimsthal church notes that she not only was diligent in hearing God’s Word daily but also gave spiritual counsel to those who sought it.46 Mathesius put forward his own wife, Sibylla, as a model of piety in the household sermons he composed for his children after her death. Mathesius praised her for her habit of reading the Bible out loud at the family table, her faithful attendance at sermons and interest in discussing them afterward, and her love for the Lutheran hymnal.47 She also transcribed several series of Mathesius’ sermons for the use of their children.48 Most importantly, however, Sibylla served as a “housepastor” to her husband. It was she who ministered to Joachimsthal’s pastor in his spiritual difficulties,
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comforting and encouraging him with God’s Word.49 Spiritual passivity was clearly not regarded as a virtue for the women of Lutheran Joachimsthal, who not only took an active interest in the public forms of their religion but also played a central role in teaching and preserving it at home.50 The religious interests of Joachimsthal’s women were specially addressed in the sermons and hymns of the town. A number of Mathesius’ sermons identify women as their primary audience.51 But it is especially the Joachimsthal hymns that address themselves to women, providing them with both material and examples for their devotional life. Herman originally wrote the songs of the Sonntags-Evangelia for the Joachimsthal girls’ school, and his hymns are evidence of Lutheran effort to tie the Evangelical religion to the play, imagination, and work of sixteenth-century girls.52 Two of the hymns, one about St. John the Baptist and the other about Christ, are set in the form of ring dances for girls (see Figure 6.1).53 The hymn Will niemand singen makes daring use of the language of courtly love poetry to depict the relation between Christ and the baptized Christian girl.54 Mathesius even wrote two lullabies for “pious nurses and other Christian persons who watch the dear children.”55 Herman’s hymns themselves present numerous models for active female participation in religion, defying the description of Lutheran literature for girls as “rather predictable” in its inculcation of traditional feminine virtues.56 Excluding the most extreme examples of feminine piety or wickedness (hymns referring to the Virgin Mary on the one hand, mostly Christmas hymns whose presence in the collections is unremarkable, and the hymn that tells of Jezebel’s persecution of Elijah on the other), six of the hymns in the Sonntags-Evangelia and five in the Historien treat of prominent female characters; the presence of these women is especially notable in the songs of the Historien, where the choice of Biblical texts and historical subjects to be treated was not imposed by the Sunday lectionary but rather was the product of the interests of the author and his audience.57 These hymns depict women taking an active role in learning, teaching, and confessing the Christian faith. The apocryphal heroine Susanna, whose story is told in the Historien, attends to the teaching of her parents, and, when she becomes a mother herself, she teaches her own children: With care and to God’s glory She brought her children up And gave them sound instruction: She ruled her household well.58
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In the hymn on the martyrdom of St. Dorothy, which Herman wrote for his daughter of that name, Dorothy is praised for having learned God’s Word and the Catechism and for having attended sermons regularly as a child. Accordingly, when she is brought before the chancellor Theophilus and urged to turn to idolatry, she is able boldly to confess her faith in Christ even in the face of death.59 By learning and meditating on the hymns, Lutheran women were able to apply to themselves the comforts of the Evangelical religion with a facility that astonished even the clergy. It was the ability of Lutheran matrons, in particular, to remember and apply the hymns on their deathbed that Eber found so remarkable.60 But Mathesius reminded the women of Joachimsthal that they did not learn God’s word through the hymns or in other forms simply for their own comfort and benefit:
Figure 6.1. Abendreihen (ring dance) for girls. Source: Nicolaus Herman, Die Hystorien von der Sindflut . . . (Nürnberg: V. Geyßler, 1563), f. Q1r. Reproduced by permission of the Staatsbibliothek, Berlin, courtesy of Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz/Art Resource, NY.
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Now honorable matrons should note this and hold it fast, so that they do not learn how to understand God’s word for themselves alone, but also so that they may teach their servants and children, be able to comfort their neighbors (both men and women) in sickness, childbirth, and otherwise—that is truly a fine thing.61 In commenting on St. Paul’s admonition that “the women should keep silent in the churches,”62 Mathesius takes great pains to point out the exceptions to the rule. Women should not hesitate to imitate exemplars like St. Dorothy in confessing their faith in public if they are asked to do so. The Christian’s duty to be prepared to give public testimony of her faith is one of the prominent themes in Herman’s songs for the girls’ school,63 and Mathesius is explicit in encouraging Joachimsthal’s women not to hesitate to make public confession of their faith: [W]hen she is asked, let her give a judicious and discreet answer. For she too should give account of her faith, not only at home, in secret, but also publicly before the congregation, as many holy women martyrs have done. . . . There are many holy martyrs whose example can and should be followed by an honorable matron, even in public, if she is asked to do so. For women should also be confessors.64 The fidelity of Joachimsthal’s Lutheran women to this ideal was demonstrated repeatedly during the Counter-Reformation period, as they resisted conversion to Roman Catholicism far more consistently than did their husbands.65 The religious activities of women outside the household were not necessarily confined to such extraordinary circumstances. Though few of Joachimsthal’s women were so well placed to support the church as was Margaretha von Hassenstein, who served as the church’s Evangelical advocate with her Roman Catholic husband, the imperial captain, and gave generously to the Joachimsthal church and school,66 many of the town’s tradeswomen were successful and devout enough to be a notable source of support for the church and its clergy.67 Mathesius calls the notion that women ought not to engage in business a doctrine of “Satan and the wicked world”: “God also dwells among virtuous businesswomen who support themselves by buying and selling, in faith, and also read their hymnal and catechism when they are not engaged in business or other work.”68 Women could indeed serve as teachers, not only within their households, but also in the girls’ school, a role on which Mathesius showered
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lavish praise.69 The women of Joachimsthal were also encouraged to write on religious themes. Mathesius gives thanks for the many letters of spiritual comfort that he received from the women of Joachimsthal during his spiritual difficulties, as well as for the prayers that they had offered for him in their homes and chambers [Frauenzimmer].70 Composing religious songs and verse was especially commended to women on the basis of Biblical, historical, and contemporary examples71; the only contemporary hymn-writer besides Luther and Herman whom Mathesius mentions by name in his sermons is Elizabeth Cruciger, wife of the Wittenberg theologian Caspar Cruciger and author of the hymn Herr Christ der einig Gotts Sohn.72 Although no direct evidence survives of female hymn-writers in Joachimsthal itself, the Cham schoolmistress Magdalena Heymair was inspired by Joachimsthal’s example to write two volumes of hymns modeled on Herman’s.73 The success of Lutheranism among Joachimsthal’s women was essential to its success in the town as a whole, and the Lutheran reformers of the town actively sought to appeal to women in their sermons and hymns. Although sixteenth-century Lutherans held firmly to the Biblical prescriptions on the public and domestic roles of women, which have become hard sayings to modern ears, they also believed that both men and women should learn the central doctrines of the Bible. Religion, especially in its domestic form, was a powerful leveling force across lines of gender, social class, and age, as the various members of the household all read the same lessons and prayers and sang the same hymns; the ease with which most of Herman’s songs for the girls’ school could be published without change as devotional material appropriate for the entire household further demonstrates that the central lessons and values of the Lutheran faith were the same for men and women, young and old, master and servant alike. Ultimately, religious duties, such as that of confessing the faith publicly in time of persecution or that of providing spiritual counsel to a fellow Christian in distress—even one who was superior in the ordinary hierarchy of things, such as a husband or a pastor—took precedence over the normal, natural ordering of social and domestic life. The women of Joachimsthal not only heard, read, and sang God’s Word and applied its comforts to themselves, but also taught it to their children, both at home and in the school, and used it to comfort and encourage others— friends and neighbors, both women and men, and even their despondent pastor. The Lutheran girls and women of the town were not—and were
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not encouraged to be—passive in religious matters, but were encouraged to hear, read, and learn God’s Word, to teach it to those under their charge, and to be steadfast and bold in confessing the truth of the Lutheran Gospel even when it had been abandoned by the clergy, the temporal authorities, and their own husbands.74
Printing and Private Book Ownership in Joachimsthal Though Lutherans were not altogether dependent on printing to spread their ideas, as the hymns in particular show, the foregoing account of household religion in Joachimsthal does give the Lutheran religious book—the hymnal, postil, prayer book, or Bible—a place at the center of domestic religious life. Crucial to the question of the success of Lutheranism in Joachimsthal, then, is whether the laity of the town were interested in purchasing Lutheran religious literature and whether they were able to do so. A variety of evidence suggests that the laity of Joachimsthal were eager and able to buy religious books for the use of their families. From the earliest years of the town, Reformation literature found its way across the mountains from Saxony to Joachimsthal. Karlstadt and Luther were only the most prominent writers whose tracts competed in the 1520s with a bewildering array of literature of every stripe presented for the reading of the Joachimsthalers.75 As Mathesius later recalled of those early years, “there was no new doctrine with which you were not familiar, and no book so wicked but you had to buy it.”76 The sheer volume of early Reformation printing has challenged scholars to revise older, more pessimistic estimates of vernacular literacy in Reformation Germany; the spread of schools over the course of the century following the Reformation expanded reading ability still further.77 Although the religious turmoil of the 1520s gave way to relative tranquility in the succeeding decades, the Joachimsthalers retained their appetite for books and other printed matter. As with music, so too with books, the laity of Joachimsthal sometimes pursued their tastes without the discrimination desired by their pastors. “Do not buy every filthy scrap of paper and chapbook!” Mathesius warned in one of his catechism sermons.78 The presence of the girls’ school may have brought women’s vernacular literacy nearly to a par with that of men; in the sermons, both boys and girls were warned against the dangers of abusing the literacy that they were assumed to possess by reading shameful books, writing unchaste letters, or keeping scandalous journals [Stammbücher].79
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More positively, Mathesius also offered his congregation advice on what books they might profitably read. In the first place, of course, was the Bible. The Joachimsthal congregation had a sufficiently great familiarity with the German Bible that Mathesius thought it necessary to justify himself when adopting for his sermon a translation that differed from Luther’s.80 The complete Bible, however, was a book of considerable cost, and though Mathesius always recommended it to his congregation, he recognized that it was impractical reading for many of his flock.81 For the simple, he recommended above all the hymnal (the “Holy Spirit’s little Bible”) and the Catechism (the “children’s Bible”).82 But Mathesius also commended a surprisingly extensive list of other theological works to his hearers: Luther’s postils and German Biblical commentaries; the Augsburg Confession and its Apology; the Loci Communes and other works by Melanchthon; the Oeconomia of Justus Menius;83 and Mathesius’ own miners’ sermons (the Sarepta).84 Armed with such knowledge, the laity might judge correctly concerning other books and even their own pastor’s teaching. Mathesius’ recommendations for lay reading are reflected with remarkable fidelity in surviving inventories of the actual libraries of Joachimsthal’s laity.85 Though only a relatively few such inventories survive—contained in the court records of the disposition of contested estates—they permit the historian to make a tentative appraisal of the reading interests of Joachimsthal’s laity. Naturally, their libraries did not confine themselves to the religious books listed by Mathesius any more than did those of the clergy themselves.86 Nevertheless, more than half of all the books listed in the twelve lay inventories from the years 1538 to 1631 were religious books of some description: 90 out of 167. Virtually every lay library contained at least some religious books, from the single Lutheran tract owned by the mayor Stephan Jhan to the several collections consisting of a single Bible or postil to the thirty-seven religious books in mayor Georg Heidler’s collection.87 The most prevalent types of religious books were Bibles (and portions thereof) and postils, each appearing in 75% of the collections.88 Next in frequency of appearance among the lay collections were miscellaneous religious works (appearing in 58% of the collections), hymnals (42%), and prayer books (25%).89 About three-quarters of the inventories contained at least one work by Martin Luther, especially his postils, prayer book, and hymnals, but also a remarkable range of his other works—almost one-fifth of all the lay books inventoried were by Luther. Georg Heidler owned at least sixteen books
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by Luther, including nine volumes of his collected works.90 Joachim Langer owned, along with two postils and a prayer book by Luther, his 1543 treatise On the Jews and Their Lies.91 Joachimsthal’s local religious tradition was also well represented, with twelve volumes of Mathesius’ sermons and Herman’s songbooks appearing scattered among the lay inventories.92 Of other religious authors, Melanchthon was most prominent, with his Loci Communes, Corpus Doctrinae, and exegetical works,93 but a number of other Lutheran theologians were also represented. Brenz, Bugenhagen, Huberinus, Jonas, Major, and Regius supplied the laity of Joachimsthal with a mix of exegetical and devotional works.94 The secular interests of the Joachimsthal laity naturally varied from person to person. The majority of Stephan Jhan’s recorded library consisted of law books; a third of Michael Hummelberger’s books were on medical topics. Books on mining law and mineralogy, including a German edition of former Joachimsthal town physician Georg Agricola’s revolutionary treatise on mining, supported the economic life of the town.95 Particularly widespread, however, was lay interest in history, especially in works that put the Reformation in a longer historical context. Thus contemporary histories by Johannes Sleidanus and Sebastian Franck took their place by older religious histories by Josephus and Eusebius and others on the same shelves as classical historians such as Livy.96 Latin literacy was in evidence in perhaps six of the twelve cases, though with evident limitations. Stephan Jhan, for example, although he owned two books on Latin composition, preferred to read a German translation of Cicero’s Rhetorica,97 and Michael Hummelberger, though he owned a Latin-German dictionary and some Latin medical works, read his Ovid in German rhymes and owned two humanistic compendia by Boccaccio in German translation.98 Conrad In Land’s widow owned a Latin chronicle; whether she was able to read it or merely kept it for its monetary value is impossible to determine.99 The lay libraries that most closely resembled Mathesius’ recommendations were those of Georg Heidler and Joachim Langer, but even the most secular of the extensive lay libraries—that of Michael Hummelberger, including only 17% religious books—showed the strong influence of Lutheranism, with a Bible, Luther’s Hauspostil, three volumes of Biblical commentaries, and a devotional book on Christ’s passion. Also striking are the broad similarities between the one clerical library listed in the inventories, belonging to the deacon Johann Salater, and the lay libraries. Although Salater’s library was predominantly religious (69%), it was less
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heavily so than half of the lay libraries.100 Salater owned, in addition to a relatively extensive collection of classical and humanistic literature, books on history, law, and medicine similar to those found in the lay libraries.101 Mathesius’ interest in the secular life of his congregation, exemplified in the mining sermons of the Sarepta (of which Salater owned a copy), was continued by his successors in the Joachimsthal church. Just as the lay inventories show the strong interest of Joachimsthal’s laity in the religious world shaped by clergy, so too the clerical library bears witness to the interests of the Lutheran clergy in the secular world. The special role played by women in the religious life of the household was also reflected in their book ownership and patterns of inheritance as revealed in the estate inventories. When the paternal estate was divided, daughters received a share of the books roughly equal to that of sons. Thus, Urban Schopper’s six books were divided equally between his children Asmus and Katharina.102 When Joachim Langer’s estate was divided, his three sons received five books each, predominantly religious in content but also including some law and history; his daughter Cristina Langer received four volumes: the Biblical book of Proverbs, a hymnal, Luther’s Hauspostil, and Luther’s treatise On the Jews and Their Lies.103 Of the laity who left books behind in their own right, one-third (three of the lay inventories) were women. Anna Fock’s book inventory was extremely small, including only a German Old Testament, but the other two were of quite respectable size. Unfortunately, the great majority of the library of Conrad In Land’s widow was unbound and hence not valuable enough to be listed by name, but the recorded library of Anna Biener (d. 1582) gives a remarkable glimpse into the Frauenzimmer of a Joachimsthal burgher. About a quarter of the library consists of secular material: from fiction (the emperor Maximilian’s Teuerdank) to scientific literature (a “Distilir buchlein” and a “Buchlein Die philosophia zuerkennen”) to a German translation of Erasmus’ Praise of Folly. The majority of Biener’s library, however, was composed of Lutheran devotional literature, including a complete German Bible as well as a New Testament, Luther’s Hauspostil and Small Catechism, two prayer books including a “Weiblisch gebet Puchlein” by Brenz, Bugenhagen’s Passion history, and Herman’s Sonntags-Evangelia. In addition, Biener owned a copy of Mathesius’ Trostpredigt,104 a book of Luther’s sayings, and a book of proverbs explained by Melanchthon. Biener’s religious library, rather comprehensive within its sphere, had clearly been accumulated over her lifetime in answer to the requirements of household devotion.105
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In general, the Joachimsthal estate inventories support the image presented in Mathesius’ sermons and elsewhere of a literate, religiously informed laity who assigned religious devotion an important place in their lives alongside their secular interests, reading, studying, and accepting the doctrines taught by the clergy even as the laity embraced especially those forms of piety that were under the control of the household. As remarkable as the clear organization of the religious libraries of Joachimsthal’s laity around the requirements of household devotion is the nearly complete absence of non-Lutheran or religiously suspect materials from the lay libraries. Only the presence of the spiritualist Sebastian Franck’s Chronica raises any question in this regard, and in the light of the extensive historical interests of the Joachimsthal laity, this work was probably owned because of its historical content rather than because of the theological views of its author.106 The laity may have preferred to conduct their religious devotions at home, away from the direct control of the clergy, but they had little interest in inventing their own religion. Lay religion was distinguished from clerical religion primarily in form and not in content. The evidence of these inventories must of course be taken as anecdotal rather than statistical support for the role of books in Joachimsthal; even so, it is clear that, if anything, the estate inventories give a falsely low impression of the level of book ownership in Joachimsthal, especially where less-expensive reading material is concerned. Most of the surviving book inventories are from the second Joachimsthal estate book, which covers the years 1551–1593, during which there were in total about ten thousand deaths in Joachimsthal.107 The estate book, however, contains only 482 entries from this period. Nor do the estate book entries represent, at a ratio of about 1:20, the proportion of wealthy burghers out of each year’s mortality, since the names of many prominent Joachimsthalers known to have died during this period are missing from the estate books. Instead, the entries in the estate books seem to have been made because specific disputes or difficulties had arisen in the division of the estate in question; furthermore, only so much of each estate was recorded as had come into dispute in each case. Thus, most entries deal only with liquid and real assets and ignore the contents of the household altogether. When inventories of household goods do appear, they are concerned primarily with listing items of value so that an equitable division of the estate could be made among the heirs. Of the 482 Joachimsthal entries from the second half of the sixteenth century, only fifty-eight contain household inventories of any kind, and even these are obviously selective.
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The folly of using the inventories to describe the limits of book ownership across sixteenth-century society is made clear by attempting to draw similar conclusions about any other class of commodity that appears in the inventories. Valten Enderlein (d. c. 1578), for example, must have been rather chilly during the cold mountain winters, since the only clothes listed in his estate inventory are “two pairs of pants.” 108 Even worse clad was Dietrich Procknedel (d. c. 1575), whose voluminous household inventory lists eighty-seven items, including tin utensils, linen, cutlery, bedclothes, kitchen utensils, and household furnishings, but no clothes.109 In fact, more than two-fifths of the Joachimsthal inventories make no mention of clothing whatsoever, and even those that do contain a list of clothing do not necessarily list a full suit of clothes. All this makes it clear that, although the inventories are of course excellent positive evidence for what they do contain, they are worthless as negative evidence against the ownership of books or anything else, unless the historian is ready to declare that many of Joachimsthal’s burghers did not own a full suit of clothes or a pot in which to cook their dinners. The existence of many other substantial private libraries in Joachimsthal is strongly suggested by the remains of the town library. Nearly three-quarters of the surviving books from the Joachimsthal library can be identified as donations from citizens and others, even though none of the donors appears in the estate inventories. The donors to the library were mostly members of the town council and other prominent citizens, but among them appears one “Caspar Diepman, butcher,” who gave a copy of Plutarch’s Ethica.110 Within the estate books themselves, occasional references in passing to otherwise invisible private collections of books serve to remind the historian how much must have gone unnoted altogether. For example, the 1578 estate division of Christoff Wölner notes that the deceased left his brother Wolff “four books that will be of use to him in his house,” apparently to be chosen by the heir, and willed “one legal text from among his books” to Georg Richter; the contents of Wölner’s library are otherwise unrecorded.111 In addition to the particular legal and familial circumstances surrounding the division of each estate that helped determine what would be entered into the record, the interests of the town clerk who assembled the inventories may also have influenced what was included and what was not. Ten out of the thirteen notices of private book collections in the Joachimsthal estate and court books come from the term of former Latin schoolteacher Johann Seltenreich as town clerk,112 raising the possibility
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that, all other things being equal, he may simply have been more attentive to the presence and value of books in the homes of the Joachimsthalers than were his predecessors or successors in office. In the portion of the estate book from Seltenreich’s tenure, nearly half of the inventories (eight of eighteen) include books. Books were listed in the inventories primarily because of their value as physical objects. The value of the binding was usually more important in such a connection than the printed material contained within. Inexpensive books, especially unbound books, were listed only summarily or likely very often not listed at all. The inventories are sometimes explicit about this bias. Michael Hummelberger’s 1577 inventory lists only “books bound in leather.” 113 The 1582 inventory of books in Anna Biener’s estate makes summary mention of “all sorts of tattered old material, unbound,” and concludes with reference to “some old unbound books.” 114 When inexpensive volumes such as hymnals do appear, it is often with special reference to the value of their binding, such as the “hymnal bound in red leather . . . and also a hymnal by Nicolaus Herman bound in red parchment” owned by Georg Heidler.115 In general, however, such cheap popular material must have been regarded as of little significance for the value of the estate and hence beneath the notice of the town clerk. A vivid idea of the disparity in value between large-format, bound books and smaller, unbound material is provided by the 1588 tax assessment on the property of Conrad In Land’s widow. Out of property worth a total of 463 gulden, she owned four large bound books worth together 10 gulden 5 weißgroschen, and “28 small books, bound together and unbound,” assessed at only 2 weißgroschen each for a total of 2 gulden 9 weißgroschen.116 Of this respectable small library of thirty-two volumes, only the first four would have shown up in the estate inventories. The interests of the courts that drew up the estate inventories also help to explain why there are no recorded private libraries consisting only of inexpensive materials; in fact, in each case where only one book is mentioned in an inventory, it is a large, expensive, often multivolume work such as a Bible or a postil.117 Thus, while the inventories are of course valuable evidence for what they contain, any attempt to use them to define the limits of book possession either by individuals or across the population of a town must severely understate the extent of book ownership and skew our impression of the contents of private libraries toward more expensive materials and away from more inexpensive popular
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material. Especially in the case of hymnals, which were constantly being published in expanded editions with new material, it would often have made little sense to go to the expense of having the volume bound, in which case it would most likely escape the pen of the notary even if it did not disintegrate under use. Book ownership in Joachimsthal was therefore likely far more extensive than the inventories indicate, and even those libraries that happened to be noted in the estate books probably held much more unbound vernacular material than is recorded. The surviving inventories do serve, however, to give us a rough outline of the interests, religious and secular, of the laity of Joachimsthal and, in combination with evidence from Mathesius’ sermons, give a strong impression of the important role that books played in the religious and cultural life of Joachimsthal. The importance of books in Joachimsthal is all the more remarkable since throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the town was never home to a printing press. Nonetheless, books reached Joachimsthal from publishers all over Europe: the town library had books from Paris, Lyons, Venice, and Basel as well as from presses all over Germany.118 Joachimsthal’s clergy and wealthy citizens could arrange with Leipzig booksellers to acquire and ship classical and humanistic works from the Frankfurt book fair.119 But more ordinary books also reached Joachimsthal. Mathesius’ complaint about chapbooks [Buttenbücher] attests that peddlers reached Joachimsthal with cheap, small-format vernacular literature.120 Elsewhere, however, he praised the work of merchants who provided the town with literature—we cannot all, he says, travel to Wittenberg to buy good books!121 The town’s inhabitants supported at least one bookseller, who seems to have specialized in popular rather than scholarly works, and more than one bookbinder.122 The presence of the latter in the town further suggests that the Joachimsthalers quite sensibly had their books shipped unbound to cut costs and, if they wished to have them bound, did so locally.123 Even for bound books, the costs of shipping to Joachimsthal were relatively low. The front leaves of three books from the Joachimsthal library contain detailed invoices for their purchase from the Leipzig bookseller Thomas Schurer in 1613 (see Table 6.1). Two single bound quarto volumes of Brodaeus and Plautus were each sent at a rate of about one weißgroschen for every thirty-five to forty folio pages; the three bound folio volumes of Jacob Zwinger’s Theatrum humanae vitae were shipped for even less per page. The cost of shipping an average 240-page octavo hymnal or similar book from Leipzig at the
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end of the sixteenth century would thus have added about one weißgroschen to an unbound price of about five weißgroschen, giving the book a total cost of perhaps a quarter or third of a Joachimsthal miner’s weekly wage—a high but not prohibitive price, and comparable to the cost of a new suit of work clothes.124 In sum, there is ample evidence that many of the laity of Joachimsthal were both eager and able to follow Mathesius’ encouragement to read Lutheran books. Although the Schlicks, while they held the lordship over Joachimsthal, had made some efforts to prohibit the sale of non-Lutheran books in the town, the Lutheran clergy recognized that in the long term the best defense against false doctrine was a laity that was firmly grounded in Evangelical truth. According to Mathesius, a layman who was diligent in reading his Bible, catechism, and hymnal was equipped to judge whether or not his pastor or others taught correctly and need have no fear “lest he be deceived by a poisonous book.” 125 If Lutheran pastors regarded the laity in their congregations as sheep, the Lutheran layman of the 1560s was still very much the canny sheep depicted in the 1520s—a sheep who had the right to read for himself and to judge his shepherd’s teaching according to the Bible.126
Lay Religion in Joachimsthal Household religion in Joachimsthal and the book culture that supported it were at the center of a Lutheran religious pedagogy that sought to equip lay men and women to fend for themselves and to help others in spiritual matters. The Lutheran layman was not isolated or alone; he was surrounded by expanding circles of family and church that could help
Table 6.1. Price of books in the Joachimsthal library, including binding and shipping from Leipzig Sturm Volumes No. & Format 45 251 352
1 6° 1 4° 3 2°
Total
Folio Pages
fl
94 116 1103
3 4 28
Binding
wgr wpf 12
4
22
2
fl
wgr 18 22
7
wpf
Shipping fl wgr wpf 2 3 12
4
Source: Heribert Sturm, Die Bücherei der Lateinschule zu St. Joachimsthal (Joachimsthal: Stadtmuseum, 1929).
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supply him religious comfort and counsel. But neither were the laity intended to be spiritually dependent on their pastor or family. In one of his sermons addressed to the women of Joachimsthal, Mathesius clearly delimits the different roles of church, family, and the individual in the spiritual life of a Lutheran laywoman: It is good and right that a Christian woman should not bear her trouble and affliction alone, but that she should publicly go to the sermon, absolution, and Sacrament, or that at home she should have her children read her some good passage, and talk, sing, and pray with them, and discuss baptism and absolution with her husband in the evening. But Christians should also not forget that each is her own preacher, and should speak with her own broken heart, tortured conscience, and downcast soul, and comfort them out of God’s word.127 Mathesius’ laywoman knew how to make use of the various spiritual aids available to her. She might go to her pastor to hear a sermon and receive absolution and the Sacrament, or—Mathesius’ use of the disjunctive is remarkable—she might just as helpfully have her children read to her and sing and pray with them, and talk about the comforts of the Gospel with her husband. But she was not ultimately dependent on husband, family, or pastor for spiritual help and comfort. The Christian woman is “her own preacher,” able to comfort herself with God’s Word, which she has learned in the church, from the hymns, and through her own reading. The Lutheran laity of Joachimsthal were keenly aware of their spiritual rights and responsibilities to one another. Sometimes they exercised their independence in ways that the clergy regarded as questionable, as when a husband privately administered Communion to his sick wife and himself— an interesting confluence of Lutheran ideas about the priesthood of the laity with medieval ideas about the role of the Sacrament at the deathbed. Mathesius refused either to condone or entirely to condemn such actions on the part of the laity.128 But such collisions between lay and clerical religion were rare. Though there were doubtless variation and shortcomings in actual practice, the family gathered about its table, praying together and singing the hymns of Luther and Herman, in the expectation of being reunited in heaven, was the ideal of laity and clergy alike. Joachimsthal’s Lutheran reformers were aided in their effort to establish the Evangelical religion in the town by their success in turning the music that was already an important feature of burgher culture into an
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effective vehicle for Lutheranism in the church, school, and home. With the aid of hymns such as those in Herman’s songbooks, written to appeal to children and their parents, Lutheranism and its music found their way into the inner circle of family life where they helped form a laity whose faith and devotion were definitely Lutheran and yet independent from the public institutions of Lutheranism in the town. Because of its success in the family, Lutheranism was able to survive in Joachimsthal for a generation after the public institutions of the town and the “big stick” of coercive authority had been appropriated by Roman Catholics with imperial support.
7 Counter-Reformation in Joachimsthal
The first years of the seventeenth century failed to bring with them the hoped-for renewal of the fortunes of the Joachimsthal mines, and the population of the town continued its long, slow decline. In the face of static material prosperity, however, Lutheranism flourished in Joachimsthal unabated. Even as the population of the town decreased, the numbers of communicants in the Joachimsthal church remained constant or even increased somewhat over the last decades of the sixteenth century and the first years of the seventeenth (see Figure 7.1). Since the Lutherans of Joachimsthal did not administer the Sacrament except to those who had been privately absolved and examined on their knowledge of the Catechism, a high proportion of the town’s population was evidently not only interested in the consolations that Lutheran religion offered but able to make some satisfactory articulation of Lutheran doctrine as well.1 The doctrinal battles within Lutheranism during the second half of the sixteenth century had left Joachimsthal relatively untouched. Although Mathesius’ writings had come under some suspicion after his death, his reputation and that of the Joachimsthal church were thoroughly restored with the publication of several volumes of his sermons in Leipzig during the 1580s under the auspices of Nicolaus Selneccer (1530–1592), one of the authors of the orthodox Lutheran Formula of Concord.2 Within Bohemia, Joachimsthal took seriously the role of Evangelical religious leadership to which its history, if not its present prominence, entitled it: in 1612 and 1613, the town council sent generous contributions to Prague to support the construction of Lutheran churches there.3 The most serious problems facing the Joachimsthal congregation at the beginning of the seventeenth century were quarrels over seating in the church, especially remarkable since the church had been built at a time when the town’s population was as much as five times greater.4 130
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Within the Joachimsthal church, the pattern of Lutheran music established by Herman was maintained in the face of the declining material fortunes of the town. In 1609, the town council asked the cantor Michael Keiner to rebind Herman’s Latin liturgical compositions for continuing use in the church and school,5 and in 1611, while the organ was disassembled for repairs, a committee of craftsmen and miners was formed to lead the singing of German hymns before Sunday services; in the event, the committee continued even after the restoration of the organ.6 Although the town council was concerned about the dwindling enrollment in the Joachimsthal Latin school—in no small part because of fears that there would soon be too few students to sing in funeral processions or to meet the needs of the choir—the school still enjoyed the generous financial support of the council and the townspeople.7 The students attending the school continued to serve the town with their singing and with the presentation of religious dramas, presenting two in the last year before the end of established Lutheranism in Joachimsthal.8 Mathesius had boasted that his congregation “abides with Christian steadfastness in the doctrine of Dr. Martin and the Augsburg Confession, and intends to stand firm thereupon,” and the subsequent history of Joachimsthal bore out his confidence in the devotion of his flock.9 Nonetheless, the leaders of Joachimsthal were aware of their tenuous religious status within the Kingdom of Bohemia. Despite the promises of religious freedom that the Bohemian estates had extracted from Emperor Rudolph II in 1609, and repeated renewals of Joachimsthal’s privileges as a free imperial mining town, the townspeople knew that they were vulnerable to their Roman Catholic overlords.10 The centennial of the Reformation in 1617 was celebrated in Joachimsthal with thanksgiving but also with discretion, in order to avoid giving offense to the imperial authorities.11 Although Joachimsthal does not seem to have been directly involved in the revolution of the Bohemian estates in 1619, several descendants of its old noble patrons, the Schlicks, were taken captive or fell in the Battle of the White Mountain, and Graf Joachim Andreas Schlick was executed along with twenty-six other leaders of the rebellious estates in 1621.12 Soon thereafter, the effects of the newly aggressive Hapsburg religious policy began to be felt in Joachimsthal. The town’s allegiance had been called into question during the reign of the Winter King, as the council had been forced first to swear a new oath to Friedrich and then to renew its oath to Ferdinand as the fortunes of the estates turned.13 As in the Schmalkaldic War, the imperial authorities were dubious of the loyalty of
0
100
200
300
400
500
a
Baptisms Marriages Deaths Communicants (÷10) Mining Output
1675
Baptisms/Marriages/Deaths/Communicants(÷10)
600
0
40
80
120
160
200
240
Mining Output (1000 Thaler)
1700
1650
1625
1600
1575
1550
1525
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a Lutheran town to a Catholic monarch, and in addition to the town council’s oath, the imperial captain required the clergy and teachers of Joachimsthal to do homage to the emperor and, in the first sure sign of things to come, demanded that the town observe the Marian festivals.14 In an attempt to forestall suspicions about the town’s political allegiance, the town council ordered the Lutheran clergy to hold a service of thanksgiving upon Ferdinand’s return from the Reichstag at Regensburg in April 1623, but to no avail. The summer of 1623 brought first the expulsion of the Jews15 and then on 26 June the imperial order that all non-Catholic pastors should immediately be dismissed and their worship services banned. By the end of August, the Joachimsthal church had been closed and its Lutheran clergy deposed.16 With the exception of a brief period of Saxon occupation in 1631 and 1632, Lutheranism in Joachimsthal was thereafter deprived of public sanction and the support of the laws.17 Despite Joachimsthal’s decline in both population and economic importance from its heyday in the 1530s, it was still of sufficient importance to receive close attention from the Hapsburg Counter-Reformers. Although many places in Bohemia were for a long time not supplied with Roman Catholic clergy because of the conditions of the war and a severe shortage of qualified clergy, Joachimsthal was supplied with a Roman Catholic priest almost without interruption from the year 1626 forward, and imperial reform commissioners visited annually, bringing soldiers and Jesuits with them to enforce the new religious mandates.18 Yet the Lutheran religion continued to claim the devotion of virtually all Joachimsthal’s inhabitants for another quarter century. Even in the absence of clerical influence and magisterial coercion in its favor, Lutheranism remained enshrined in the hearts and homes of the Joachimsthalers, who for more than twenty-five years resisted the attempts of Hapsburg authorities and Roman Catholic clergy to impose Roman Catholicism on them.
Figure 7.1. Joachimsthal parish statistics and mining output, 1520–1700. Source: Data from Chronica (1520–1617); AM Jáchymov, Kronika mČsta 2 (1618–1700); Hans Lorenz, Bilder aus Alt-Joachimsthal: Umrisse einer Kulturgeschichte einer erzgebirgischen Bergstadt im sechzehnten Jahrhundert (Joachimsthal: H. Meyer, 1925), pp. 46f. a. In the plague year 1568, there were 1,352 deaths in Joachimsthal.
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The town council was able to maintain open resistance to the Catholicization of the town for only a few months; thereafter the main springs of resistance were found among private individuals. The members of the council were officially forced to comply with the mandates of the imperial Counter-Reform authorities, although the council offered only desultory assistance to the Roman Catholic clergy and mitigated the punishments inflicted on those who were caught violating the new religious laws. Individual Joachimsthalers, on the other hand, continued to resist by boycotting Roman Catholic services, by sheltering Evangelical clergy, by holding services and preaching in their own homes, and above all by reading and singing with their children and household. When persecution became intolerable in 1652, the people of Joachimsthal emigrated over the border into Saxony en masse rather than forsake the Lutheran religion in which they had been born and raised. Just as the establishment of the Reformation had been a movement as much “from below” as “from above,” so too resistance to the CounterReformation in Joachimsthal took firmest root at the popular level, in a population that was far more stubborn in its refusal to accommodate itself to Roman Catholicism than were the political leaders of the town. The Evangelical religion maintained itself in the homes of the Joachimsthalers, where men like Mathesius and Herman had sought to plant it, and where it was able to survive and flourish even without the cultivation of magistrates and clergy.
Counter-Reformation in Joachimsthal, 1623–1633 Although the Lutheran clergy of Joachimsthal were removed from office by imperial authorities in 1623, the town council still retained its right of nomination to the church, and it delayed as long as it could in selecting Catholic replacements—a hazardous policy that eventually resulted in the council’s effective loss of its right. The deposed Lutheran clergy were first supported from a free-will offering and then for a time even paid a salary again by the still-Lutheran town council.19 Meanwhile, the schoolteacher Elias Pistorius had been delegated by the town council to hold simple public services consisting of Bible and postil reading, prayer, and song.20 With the consent of the exiled Lutheran clergy, the council also commissioned Pistorius to perform baptisms in order to further delay having to nominate a Roman Catholic cleric to the town church.21 The deposed Lutheran clergy, a pastor and two deacons, remained in the town in open
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secret for some years, protected by the laity (laywomen especially are mentioned), and continued to perform some of their duties, at least privately, until at least 1626, much to the dismay of the Roman Catholic authorities and clergy, who met with little cooperation from the town council in driving the Lutheran preachers out of the town.22 In the face of the council’s delay in nominating a Roman Catholic priest to the town parish, the Archbishop of Prague sent Dr. Georg Landherr, a Dominican, to investigate conditions in Joachimsthal and to make a report. After some further stalling on the part of the council, Landherr was given the keys to the Joachimsthal church, which he consecrated for Roman Catholic use on 9 September 1624. His first and last Mass in the Joachimsthal church was attended only by a crowd of boys who called out abuse at the priest, calling him “Satan” and “a devilish monk,” and drove him out of the church under a hail of pebbles. The singing children of Joachimsthal, who were accustomed to driving the Pope out of town ceremonially each year, evidently found it only natural to pay his representative the same courtesy.23 Landherr, not comforted by the town council’s assurances that it disapproved of the incident and that there would be an inquiry into the matter, fled Joachimsthal the next day, recommending to the Archbishop that the town could best be converted by sending a few hundred soldiers.24 Under pressure from the imperial captain and the threat of military occupation, the Joachimsthal council was obliged to investigate the disturbance attending Landherr’s visit and to press charges. Strong sentiment against the archbishop’s commissioner had not been confined to Joachimsthal’s children, and on 12 September four adults from varied levels of Joachimsthal’s society were singled out for their involvement in the unrest: a member of the town council, another citizen, a lace-maker, and the wife of the church sexton.25 The four were accused not only of having insulted and threatened Landherr, calling him a “priestling” [Pfaffen] and worse, and of having spoken ill of the mayor and town council, but also of having slandered the town’s district wardens [Viertelmeister] by calling them “Catholics”!26 On 3 November, the council sentenced the three accused men to exile, but they were given time to liquidate their property and were sent away “without any prejudice or harm to their honor, good name, and craft.”27 The sexton’s wife went unpunished; the authorities seem to have been reluctant to impose severe penalties or exile on a woman whose husband was innocent—a reluctance that, as the Counter-Reformers came to recognize, severely compromised attempts to extirpate Lutheranism among
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the people.28 The importance of Joachimsthal’s women in preserving Lutheranism in the town was magnified by the proportion of households that were headed by women: in 1628, out of 585 households in Joachimsthal, one-third (191 homes) were headed by widows.29 The women and children of Joachimsthal, who enjoyed limited rights but also more limited liabilities under seventeenth-century law and custom, were thus able to turn their ambiguous status to their advantage in preserving the Evangelical religion under persecution.30 In April 1625, a Roman Catholic priest, Balthasar Reich, was finally assigned to Joachimsthal by the Archbishop of Prague, in disregard of the town’s traditional rights of patronage. The town council decided that it had done what it could to resist and resigned itself to the arrival of a Roman Catholic priest in the town church, concluding that “in external things and ceremonies one must be a hypocrite.”31 Caught between a populace that was ready to “kill the mayor and the priest together” rather than become Roman Catholic32 and imperial authorities who were ready to send in soldiers and Jesuits to enforce their will, the town council continued to do what it could to preserve Joachimsthal’s religious identity while rendering at least nominal obedience to the directives of the imperial captain and avoiding the wrath of the reform commissioners who periodically visited the town. Some of the Joachimsthal council’s reluctance to cooperate fully with the imperial authorities was due no doubt to strong sentiment favoring local autonomy over increasingly intrusive Hapsburg domination. Nonetheless, the town council’s actions indicate that even for the town council, religious commitment often took precedence even over loyalty to the town’s institutions. During the late 1620s, the council withdrew or reduced its patronage of civic institutions of which it had always been a faithful supporter, such as the school and the music of the church, as these came under Roman Catholic control. The town council was interested not merely in music or education, but in Lutheran music and Lutheran education. In 1628, the council refused to compensate the town physician Dr. Wenzel Hillinger for his work as organist and schoolmaster,33 and after permitting the Thuringian Nicholas Wilsovius to open a German school in the town, the council revoked that permission a few months later when it learned of Wilsovius’ aggressively Catholic tendencies.34 Sometimes the council was able to plead impotence in response to imperial demands for more rigorous enforcement of religious conformity. When the captain warned that more persecution would follow if the
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Roman Catholic services were not better attended, the council replied that it could do nothing more than to remind and encourage the populace.35 When the council was obliged to take some punitive action, as in the trial after Landherr’s expulsion from the town, punishments were often mitigated: fines were usually imposed instead of more severe punishments, and those who had to be exiled were treated as leniently as possible. Although the members of the council had reconciled themselves to “hypocrisy” in external religious matters more readily than the general populace, and the town councilors were accordingly relatively frequent in making—and later breaking—promises to confess, commune, or receive instruction in the Roman Catholic faith,36 their own inner convictions remained definitely Lutheran—a fact concerning which the reports of the Roman Catholic reform commissioners leave little doubt.37 Some of those who did conform to the new religious demands suffered crises of conscience and made public acts of repentance for their acts.38 A number of councilmen were imprisoned at least briefly for their recalcitrance,39 and lesser officials were periodically expelled from office for their refusal to convert.40 The exiled Lutheran clergy wrote from Saxony to their old congregation, urging them to remain steadfast in the Evangelical faith even as they rendered obedience to the authorities in civil matters, forswearing rebellion, and asking God’s forgiveness if they had been led astray into participating in the Mass.41 In theory, the Joachimsthalers had long been taught through sermons and Herman’s hymns to apply Luther’s dialectic of the two kingdoms.42 In practice, the line that Joachimsthal’s elected officials tried to walk was often razor-thin, as they sought to preserve both external obedience to established (imperial) authority and internal freedom of conscience in obedience to God’s Word. The town council’s temporizing posture did enable it to win repeated grants of respite from the emperor for several years, the Joachimsthal council’s pledges of fidelity to the emperor being reinforced with wellplaced gifts and—depending on the course of the war—the intercession of the Saxon elector. A three-year indult was granted in 1625 and renewed, after a brief persecution, in 1629.43 In 1636 a new grant of five years was made with the condition (unenforceable in the event) that all public officials should henceforth be Catholics.44 Nevertheless, active persecution of Lutheranism in Joachimsthal continued throughout the war, the periods of respite being punctuated by threats, imprisonments, and the quartering of imperial soldiers among the townspeople.45 It is likely
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that any open rebellion against the religious program of the imperial authorities on the part of the Joachimsthal council would have brought only more brutal reprisal, and the council was successful for a time in maintaining an environment in which open persecution was kept in check and the population of the town was able the more easily to maintain its Lutheranism in private long after it had been expelled from Joachimsthal’s public institutions. Nonetheless, the council’s chosen policy placed strict limits on its ability to resist the efforts of Roman Catholic clergy and authorities. The main resistance to the Catholicization of Joachimsthal after 1625, therefore, came from among the less prominent inhabitants of the town. Although the uprising against Landherr was the most dramatic expression of public sentiment, the population of the town also found many other means of resistance less confrontational but much more effective in the long term. The main form of public resistance to the Catholicization of the town was passive: the Joachimsthalers simply refused to attend Roman Catholic services or to send their children to the priest or schoolmaster for instruction in the Roman Catholic catechism.46 Those who did attend Catholic services seem to have done so mostly in order to make noise and disrupt the sermon, or even, perhaps consciously imitating Luther, to post written attacks on the Catholic church.47 Even those public rites that Joachimsthal’s Lutherans had inherited and preserved with little change from the medieval church, such as the rite of the churching of women, were forsaken by the people of the town once the town church had come under Roman Catholic control.48 And although the people of Joachimsthal had been attending Lutheran private confession for nearly a century, they shunned the Roman Catholic confessional: clearly, the differences between Lutheran and Roman Catholic versions of confession were of more than academic significance for Joachimsthal’s laity.49 Especially problematic for Lutherans in Joachimsthal during the Counter-Reformation, however, were such essential ceremonies as baptisms, weddings, and funerals, without which life in the town could scarcely continue. Nonetheless, Joachimsthal’s citizens went to considerable lengths to avoid having to receive these rites from the Roman Catholic clergy. Many citizens risked punishment to travel across the border to Saxony in order to have their children baptized by a Lutheran pastor, or smuggled Evangelical clergy into Joachimsthal.50 There was a flurry of marriages during the brief periods of Saxon occupation, while Lutheran pastors were again publicly available51; at other times, Lutheran clergy
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were also smuggled into Joachimsthal to perform marriage services including preaching and hymn singing.52 Though the Joachimsthalers did what they could to protect the Lutheran clergy and were glad to avail themselves of their services when they could, the presence of clergy was nevertheless not essential for the survival of Lutheranism in Joachimsthal. As the Lutheran clergy of the previous century had hoped, the laity of Joachimsthal were able to sustain their Lutheran faith and identity on their own—reading the Bible, singing hymns, and even preaching in their own homes. Those Joachimsthalers whose household services attracted large numbers of participants also ran the risk of attracting the attention of the authorities, and several prominent citizens were punished as a warning to the others. Johann Schedlich, a member of one of Joachimsthal’s most prominent political families, was fined by the council for “holding secret conventicles, reading, and preaching” in private homes; when he continued despite that warning, the imperial captain banished him from Joachimsthal.53 Jacob Geuß, whose family had been inhabitants of Joachimsthal and ardent Lutherans since the first years of the town’s existence, was also fined for preaching in his house; the town council declined to accept his excuse that he had been preaching only for his own benefit and should not be held responsible if others decided to attend!54 In taking it upon himself to preach the Gospel at home, Geuß was continuing the long family tradition of domestic religion that his ancestor of the same name (1500–1574) had attested with his gift of an incunabular German Bible to the Joachimsthal library.55 The prosecutions of a few prominent citizens failed to dissuade the majority of Joachimsthalers from continuing to practice their Lutheranism in their homes and to teach it to their children.56 Only one inventory of a Joachimsthal private library survives from the Counter-Reformation period, but it suggests the resources available to the townspeople for maintaining Lutheran devotion within their households even during a time of persecution: postils, hymnals, prayer books, Bibles, and portions thereof.57 The homes of Joachimsthal thus remained strongholds of Lutheranism long after it had been suppressed in the town’s public institutions, presenting the Counter-Reformers with a nearly insoluble problem. The Roman Catholic officials and clergy who were charged with turning the Joachimsthalers to Roman Catholicism were quick to identify and eliminate most of the principal sources of Lutheran strength in the town. The school was attacked from the outset of the Counter-Reformation: the
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Lutheran schoolmaster, cantor, and organist refused to accept the Roman Catholic catechism that the new Roman Catholic priest sought to introduce,58 and the captain responded with an order of 21 July 1625 ordering the confiscation of all weapons from the townspeople and the closing of the school.59 The keys of the town library were confiscated and given to the Roman Catholic priest.60 The relics of Joachimsthal’s proud history of Lutheranism were also suppressed: in 1628, Mathesius’ tombstone, with its reference to the Lutheran pastor’s fight against the “mendacia dogmata papae,” was removed from the city church.61 These attacks on their public institutions the Joachimsthalers were willing to suffer, but when in 1629 the captain ordered that all books privately owned by the town’s inhabitants should be turned over to the Jesuits for inspection and approval, the Joachimsthalers rose up in riot, unwilling to suffer this intrusion into their domestic lives and libraries, where Lutheranism continued to thrive, supported by Bibles, postils, and hymnals.62 Although the Roman Catholic clergy were unable for the time to uproot Lutheranism and its music from the homes of the Joachimsthalers, they were quick to recognize the important role of music in the public religious life of the town. Already in 1626 the first Catholic priest Balthasar Reich had applied to Prague for special permission to allow the singing of German hymns before and after the sermons.63 When in 1630 the new priest Dr. Franciscus Albanus urged the council to impose Draconian penalties on those who secretly attended Lutheran services, he tried to sweeten the pill by announcing that he would allow the cantor to introduce German hymns into the Catholic services, “in order that the people may come to church the more willingly and with better devotion.”64 Although the German songs approved by the Catholic clergy were mostly expurgated versions of Lutheran hymns, the attempt to imitate Lutheran practice was nonetheless unsuccessful in attracting the Joachimsthalers back to the reconsecrated church.65
Franciscus Albanus If anyone could have been expected to succeed in winning the stubbornly Lutheran Joachimsthalers to the Roman Catholic religion, Dr. Franciscus Albanus (1592–1637) was well prepared to do so.66 A native of Worms, Albanus first undertook studies at Mainz under the Jesuit professor and controversialist Martin Becanus (1561–1624)67 but departed for Rome in 1618 to learn the latest and most effective methods for the conversion of
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German Protestants. There he was trained at the Collegium Germanicum, one of the foremost institutions of Counter-Reformation Roman Catholicism, where the Jesuits trained men, not necessarily Jesuits themselves, for missionary work in the Protestant regions of Germany and Hungary.68 Albanus showed great promise and was one of only one in twenty matriculants at the Collegium who went on to complete his studies with the doctorate in theology.69 The Collegium Germanicum, moreover, was a center not only for theological studies but also for Counter-Reformation church music, and Albanus was immersed in some of the best and latest music of the Catholic reform.70 With credentials that surpassed those of any of his Lutheran or Catholic predecessors in the Joachimsthal church, Albanus was equipped to become a Catholic Mathesius, using his theological erudition and musical training to win his reluctant congregation for the Roman Church. Albanus was sent to Joachimsthal in 162971 and entered with great zeal upon the task of converting the Joachimsthalers to Roman Catholicism, demanding that the town authorities enforce Catholicization and attempting to mold the town’s pedagogical and musical institutions into effective instruments of the Counter-Reformation. He began by strictly denying any religious rite—baptism, marriage, or burial—to those who were not declared Roman Catholics, but he quickly moved to more aggressive tactics.72 In July 1630, he asked the town council to monitor those who were suspected of attending Lutheran services in Saxony and to punish them severely as an example for others.73 Some of those who had not yet made confession and communed in the Catholic manner were stripped of minor town offices that they held—this despite the fact that the town council itself was still Lutheran!74 The Joachimsthal schools and the instruction of the children were the special objects of Albanus’ concern. He demanded that either the instructress of the girls’ school should begin using the Roman Catholic catechism, or the girls’ school be closed altogether.75 He began holding catechetical lessons of his own in the church and urged the town council to impose penalties on parents who refused to send their children.76 The cantor was admonished to be more diligent in instructing the schoolchildren, and his salary was raised.77 In order to see that these reforms were carried out, Albanus reinstituted regular school inspections by the pastor and members of the council.78 Finally, Albanus ordered the cantor to sing approved German hymns in the church, in order to lure the populace back.79
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Despite Albanus’ vigorous efforts to draw or drive the Joachimsthalers back to the old church, the townspeople and the council were resistant. The people of Joachimsthal remained stubbornly Lutheran, and Albanus found them to be so well acquainted with Lutheran theology and so articulate in defense of their beliefs that Albanus was forced to begin reading through the Lutheran theological volumes stored in the Joachimsthal library in order that he might be able to “strike the people with their own sword, and convince them out of their own writings.” 80 Albanus’ own aggressive demands for strict enforcement of religious reform served to alienate the town council, which had initially showed at least some willingness to cooperate. In December 1630, the council accused him of stirring up political unrest by complaining to the imperial captain and in the pulpit of the failure of town authorities to cooperate with the new reforms and charged Albanus with having abandoned his parish (he had been on four weeks’ leave).81 Finally, the town council denied the Roman Catholic cantor’s request to be authorized to perform emergency baptisms in Joachimsthal, accepting the testimony of a Lutheran midwife that the cantor was despised by the people and moreover “could not perform the baptism correctly”—that is, in the Lutheran manner.82 Albanus’ efforts were interrupted in 1631 when the Saxons invaded Bohemia and occupied Joachimsthal and the surrounding towns. Albanus fled, and the town council called back Lutheran clergy and teachers, including the deposed deacon Gregor Richter and the rector Elias Pistorius. As it turned out, the Saxon occupation was brief; by June 1633 Joachimsthal was back under imperial control, and Albanus presently returned to his post as Roman Catholic pastor there. The Albanus who returned to Joachimsthal in 1633, however, was a man much changed from the brash reformer of 1630. His reading of Lutheran books in the Joachimsthal library had made a strong impression on him, and while he struggled to reconcile his tentative new understanding of the Evangelical religion with his duties as a priest, he abandoned his attempts to blot out Lutheranism in the town, even acquiescing in an agreement between the town council and the captain to allow the Lutheran teachers to remain at their posts after the withdrawal of the Saxons.83 By the following year, Albanus was resolved to flee to Saxony, and when the Saxons passed through Joachimsthal again in 1634, Albanus was taken not unwillingly as a hostage back to Dresden, where he announced to the consistory his intention to embrace Lutheranism. Under the circumstances, however, the consistory was suspicious of Albanus’
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motives and ordered him back to Joachimsthal, where he awaited a new opportunity to escape to Lutheran Saxony. Such an opportunity was afforded by the peace concluded between the emperor and the Saxon elector at Prague in May 1635, and on 8 July 1635, Albanus preached his last sermon in Joachimsthal, announcing his conversion to Lutheranism, and left for Saxony the next day.84 This time, the Dresden consistory sent Albanus to the University of Wittenberg, where on 2 August 1635 he preached a sermon in the city church in which he publicly renounced the Roman Catholic Church and confessed his Evangelical faith.85 As a Lutheran, Albanus became a prolific writer, publishing in the next two years in addition to his Revocation und Confessionspredigt the imposing Päbstische Anatomia (1636), a survey of the divisions and contradictions that he had found within the papal church,86 and a picaresque satire based loosely on his own life as a Roman Catholic, titled Einfältiger Römisch Catholischer Münchs-Esel (1637).87 Albanus married and was called to be the Lutheran pastor of the Saxon town of Geithan, near Mathesius’ birthplace of Rochlitz. He died on 16 August 1637, having fallen ill in Leipzig while traveling to take up his new office. Albanus’ Lutheran polemical writings furnish, in addition to details of his own biography and service in Joachimsthal, a retrospective evaluation of the weaknesses that he perceived in the program of Catholic reform and of the strengths of Lutheranism under persecution.88 Albanus was obviously impressed by the intellectual culture that Lutheranism had produced not only on the shelves of the Joachimsthal library but also in the minds of the Evangelical laity, whom Albanus was hard-pressed to win to the Roman Catholic Church even with all the persuasive and coercive means that an exemplary education and Hapsburg power had placed at his disposal. Especially remarkable to Albanus, however, were the religious knowledge and tenacity displayed by the Lutheran women of Joachimsthal. In Albanus’ Münchs-Esel, a Roman Catholic count—based, apparently, on Graf Georg von Michna, the imperial commissioner who oversaw the Counter-Reformation in Joachimsthal—complains that the Lutheran women are “so blind, stubborn, and stiff-necked, that it is easier to win a hundred men to the Catholic religion than one single woman.” Indeed, he reports, the Lutheran women boast that they are preserving the Lutheran religion and that through their agency it will one day be restored.89 Albanus’ count knows of Lutheran stubbornness firsthand: his own wife is a Lutheran, and she proceeds to defend her right to disagree with her
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husband in religious matters in favor of the clear teaching of Scripture, which she insists that women and the laity are able to read and understand without the help of the Pope or the clergy.90 Against the countess, Albanus’ Jesuit interlocutor complains that women’s hands “are suited for spindles and dresses, not for the Bible” and insists that they should listen to their husbands, who will tell them what to believe and not to believe, and especially to their spiritual “husbands” [Männer], the priests, monks, and Jesuits.91 The satire leaves little question of which religion held more appeal for women. Although the countess is a fictional character, she reflects Albanus’ experience with the devoted and articulate Lutheran women of Joachimsthal, and the reports of Joachimsthal’s Counter-Reformers bear out almost mathematically her fictional husband’s pessimism about the conversion of Lutheran women to the Roman Church.92 Clearly, Albanus continued to find in the Lutheranism of the 1630s many of the same qualities that had commended it to the laity a century before, especially the right of the laity to read the Bible for themselves and the relatively greater religious autonomy accorded to women— qualities that were praised by second-generation Lutheran reformers such as Mathesius and Eber as well. A century of “confessionalization” had not eliminated Lutheranism’s distinctive appeal to the laity or its ability to win thoughtful new converts from the Roman Church. The success of Lutheranism was implicitly acknowledged by those Counter-Reformers who tried, where possible, to imitate Lutheranism’s appeal. Albanus places a description of his own policy of allowing German hymns in the Joachimsthal church on the lips of a Capuchin friar, who complains that otherwise the laity are even more reluctant to attend Roman Catholic services.93 The Lutheran Albanus concedes that it was indeed better for the laity to sing hymns to God than to stand and gape at insensible ceremonies; nonetheless, he charges that the German hymns permitted by the Roman Catholics are “counterfeits” [verfälchet], from which the “strength and savor” [Saft und Kraft] of the doctrine of justification, the power of faith, the mercy of God, and the confidence that each Christian should have in his Lord have been removed94—an analysis that, despite its confessional point of view, supports the conclusion that the German hymns being introduced into the Joachimsthal church in the late 1620s and the 1630s were expurgated versions of Lutheran hymns rather than new Roman Catholic compositions. Despite his exemplary training in the best music of the Counter-Reformation, Albanus’ efforts
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as a Counter-Reformer were hampered not only by the stubbornness of the Protestant laity, but also by the relative poverty, even after more than a century of religious competition, of Roman Catholic music that could compete effectively with the music of the Reformation at a popular level.
Lutheran Resistance, 1635–1648 Albanus’ spectacular failure in Joachimsthal—in 1636, there were only three declared Roman Catholics in the entire town—and his dramatic conversion had the effect of further strengthening the resolve of Joachimsthal’s Lutherans to maintain their religion.95 The town council now became more active in resisting the Catholicization of the town’s institutions, and the imperial captain seems to have been more willing to look the other way in order to maintain peace in the town. When Albanus’ replacement, Virgil Sebastian, arrived, the council refused to give him an inventory of the property belonging to the parish church until he had agreed to let the Protestant schoolmaster Paul Teubner remain in office for another year.96 When that term had expired, the council gave the priest several ducats as an “honorarium” in exchange for six months of continued toleration and succeeded in bringing the Joachimsthal library back under the control of the council and in making the priest responsible for any damage or loss to the Lutheran art in the town church.97 With Sebastian’s departure in October 1636, the council asked Teubner to stay on, and the new priest who arrived in 1637 was not informed of the schoolmaster’s Lutheranism or of the previous agreements between the town priest and the council.98 Joachimsthal was thus able to keep a Lutheran schoolmaster until at least 1646, the date of the last mention of Teubner in the surviving Joachimsthal records.99 During the Saxon occupation, the town council had renewed its support of music in the Joachimsthal church, restoring an honorarium of firewood and flour for the committee of laymen who led the singing of Lutheran hymns before Sunday services—a practice that they may have continued until as late as 1666.100 The renewed presence of Lutheran music at the periphery of Joachimsthal’s public life was also ensured by the continuing presence of the schoolmaster Teubner, formerly the cantor in Platten, whose singing of Lutheran songs with the students was tolerated by the imperial administrator so long as it did not get out of hand.101 A more relaxed attitude on the part of the imperial authorities and the council was also manifest in the council’s refusal either to prohibit or explicitly
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to permit Lutheran preaching and the singing of hymns in private homes; each citizen might do as he saw fit on his own responsibility.102 Much of the guidance for the Joachimsthal council’s new activity in the wake of Albanus’ conversion and departure came from Jacob Schedlich, the town’s mayor since 1633.103 His father, Andreas Schedlich (d. 1616),104 had served as Joachimsthal’s judge in 1604 and as mayor in 1609 and 1610,105 setting a familial precedent for his son’s entry into politics as a member of the town council from 1621 to 1626 and then for an unprecedented thirty-three-year term as mayor, from 1633 until 1669.106 As a young man, however, Schedlich had been trained as an organist, studying in Nürnberg with the noted Lutheran musician Hans Leo Hassler, whose father had lived in Joachimsthal for a time himself.107 In 1607, Schedlich was called back to Joachimsthal to serve as organist there, a post that he occupied with distinction until he resigned it in 1625 upon the arrival of a Roman Catholic priest.108 Schedlich enjoyed a substantial regional reputation as an organ-builder; he not only was able to make necessary repairs to the Joachimsthal organ109 but also was called upon to evaluate the work done on the organ in Eger110 and to construct the new organ for the church in St. Annaberg.111 As mayor, although Schedlich recognized the necessity of obedience to imperial commands, his stubbornness exasperated not only the captain but also Schedlich’s fellow councilors.112 He steadfastly refused to become Roman Catholic but nevertheless managed to retain his office, despite the imperial mandate requiring all town officials to be Catholics.113 Even his work as an organbuilder bore a Lutheran stamp, as he designed organs in opposition to the early Baroque style favored by the Jesuits.114 The absence of Joachimsthal council records between 1637 and 1659 precludes a detailed reconstruction of Schedlich’s official activities,115 but it is clear that the former organist was successful in directing the town’s public affairs in such a way as to satisfy the Roman Catholic imperial authorities while permitting the inhabitants of the town to retain their Lutheranism in private. In 1650, after twenty-five years of Roman Catholic effort, Schedlich and virtually all of his fellow citizens were still Lutheran; only nine Roman Catholic citizens could be found, not even enough to fill the council or to force Schedlich from his post.116 The 1638 epitaph that Schedlich composed for his wife Susanna, the daughter of the Lutheran deacon Bartholomäus Schönbach, reflects the survival of Lutheranism in private even as it was forced out of the public sphere. Now that the town and its churches were officially Roman Catholic,
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it was no longer possible to use the ebulliently Evangelical mottoes that characterized earlier inscriptions in the Joachimsthal church; instead, Susanna Schedlich’s epitaph strikes a tone of muted confidence: “Entered into blessed rest in true knowledge of Christ . . . God grant her a peaceful and joyous resurrection.” 117 Most expressive of the ambiguity of Lutheran life in Counter-Reformation Joachimsthal, however, is the brief musical setting at the end of Susanna Schedlich’s epitaph. The text is a pagan motto taken from Horace: “Mors ultima linea rerum” [Death is the final bound].118 The sense of the verse is contradicted, however, by its musical setting: “Fuga perpetua Canon â 5,” 119 a never-ending contrapuntal repetition of the theme in canon. The music thus suggests a confidence in eternal life that belies the pessimism of the text, even as Lutheranism itself survived in Joachimsthal, despite outward appearances, sustained by its music.
The End of the Reformation in Joachimsthal The end of the war in 1648 and the final departure of foreign soldiers in 1650, observed elsewhere in Lutheran parts of the empire with public processions and hymns of thanksgiving, passed without recorded public observance in Joachimsthal. The provisions of the Peace of Westphalia that guaranteed the rights of religious minorities in much of the empire did not apply in most of the Hapsburg lands, where Protestantism had already been suppressed in law, if not in fact, by the key date of 1 January 1624, and the Counter-Reformation in Joachimsthal continued with increased vigor absent the distraction of the war. The one gain that the peace brought Joachimsthal’s Lutherans was recognition of their right of emigration, of which some eighty of the burghers, including several town officers, availed themselves between 1648 and 1650.120 The local authorities were instructed to use moderation and discretion in pursuing the work of religious reform—the better to commend Roman Catholicism to Joachimsthal’s inhabitants—but by 1650, the Roman Catholics had altogether only nine converts to their credit among the citizenry.121 The adoption of harsher methods and threats of confiscation brought more success by the beginning of the following year: the reform commissioner reported a total of 122 Catholics in the town. The women of Joachimsthal, however, proved especially resistant to conversion. Of these women, whose great-great-grandmothers had been the special objects of Mathesius’ concern and whose mothers had still sung Herman’s songs in the girls’ school, only nine could be convinced to adopt the Roman Catholic
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religion.122 The vast majority of them preferred to disobey the imperial authorities and their own husbands rather than to abandon the faith that they had learned with the Bible and Luther’s hymns at their mothers’ knee. In 1652, the Jesuits arrived in Joachimsthal, backed by further threats of punishment for those who resisted conversion. The weary Lutheran population of the town, recognizing that there was no further hope for them there, emigrated en masse to Saxony, where elector Johann Georg founded a new town bearing his name for Protestant refugees from the Bohemian mining towns.123 In all, 854 citizens and miners from Joachimsthal took refuge in Saxony, at least half of the remaining population of the town.124 Those who remained in Joachimsthal reconciled themselves to being called Roman Catholic but failed to impress the clergy or the imperial authorities with their devotion to the religion. The imperial administrator complained to the council in 1652 that the greater part of those who remained in the town, including most of the town council itself, was converted in name only and neglected the Mass and the laws of the church,125 a complaint echoed in 1666, when the priest complained that the members of the council were not setting a good example for “cold Catholics” in such matters.126 The half-converted state of the town was confirmed further by repeated orders to confess and commune in the Catholic manner at Easter and that the townspeople should bring their children to Mass and to religious instruction.127 The lack of popular devotion to the new religion was also manifest in the slow adoption of the usual public expressions of Roman Catholicism. The first Corpus Christi procession in the town, for example, was not held until 1662, and not until 1678 did it receive special support from the town council.128 In 1677 the town council was still giving evasive answers to official inquiries about the continuing presence of Lutherans in the town,129 though it claimed the following year that all the inhabitants had made the obligatory annual Catholic confession and communion at Easter.130 The last public official in Joachimsthal to be identified as a Lutheran was the executioner [Scharfrichter], a man whose occupation made him a pariah in Roman Catholic society but whose role Luther had defended as a necessary and Christian occupation.131 In 1677 he too was threatened with removal from office and punishment if he failed to convert.132 The fading public presence of Lutheranism in Joachimsthal and the eventual predominance of Roman Catholicism in the culture of the town can be traced in the epitaphs and memorials of the Spitalkirche. The earliest surviving monuments to Counter-Reformation devotion in Joachimsthal
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are the ornaments and statues of saints that were added to the altarpiece in the Spitalkirche in 1681 with the decisively Roman Catholic inscription, “It is good and salutary to offer sacrifice for the dead. 2 Macc. 12” 133—the first addition of any kind to the decoration of the church since the middle of the century. The inscriptions before the gap become increasingly terse, moving from bold Biblical mottoes to the guarded statements of Susanna Schedlich’s 1638 musical epitaph to the simple “God grant him a peaceful rest” of the 1665 epitaph of her son Johann Jacob Schedlich.134 One of the last memorials before the end of Lutheranism in Joachimsthal, however, is a painting of the Resurrection bearing as its motto the first line of a Lutheran hymn based on Philippians 1:21: “Christus der ist mein Leben, Sterben ist mein Gewin”135—a suitable final testimony to the Evangelical faith of the Joachimsthalers and to the music that helped sustain it. For those inhabitants of Joachimsthal who retained Lutheran sympathies after 1652, there remained still a few means of preserving their Evangelical faith. Roman Catholicism was not successfully imposed on the nearby villages of Abertham and Gottesgab until 1676, and Lutheran clergy smuggled across the border were available there at least on occasion.136 Despite the town council’s denial to concerned imperial authorities, some parents evidently continued to take their children to Saxony to be baptized or sent them as apprentices to Lutheran towns where they might learn the Evangelical religion as well as a trade.137 But above all, there remained the family gathered about its own hearth, away from the direct control of magistrates or clergy, where even after prayer books and postils and hymnals had crumbled or been confiscated, the simple melodies and rhymes of Evangelical hymns might be passed on to another generation. Although the “flame” of Evangelical faith that, Nicolaus Herman had boasted, God had kindled in Joachimsthal was fading into darkness,138 its last embers were slow to die completely. Among the last, lingering traces of Joachimsthal’s period of Lutheranism were Herman’s wedding songs, which were still being sung in the Bohemian Erzgebirge in the nineteenth century.139
Music in Roman Catholic Joachimsthal The end of Lutheranism in Joachimsthal was not, of course, the end of the musical life of the town. For a time, a few relics of Lutheran music survived; the Latin liturgical books prepared by Herman seem to have
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continued in use with only slight modification, perhaps until as late as the mid-1660s, when the priest Michael Adalbert Paternus (active in Joachimsthal 1664–1679) introduced a new Roman Catholic agenda.140 Paternus may also finally have done away with the singing of Lutheran hymns by the laity before the early Sunday service by ordering in 1666 that they be provided with a new book of songs of his choice.141 Moreover, with the departure of the Lutheran schoolmaster Teubner after 1646, the Roman Catholic teachers and clergy began to succeed in introducing Roman Catholic music into the school, making it a mandatory part of the curriculum in 1661.142 By 1678, the school choir was supporting the Corpus Christi procession and other religious processions in the town.143 However, the music of the church was now the creature of the clergy and the dwindling staff of the school. No longer did the members of the council and other citizens sing with the school choir; in 1663, the town priest was unable to dismiss a schoolmaster whose knowledge of Latin was rudimentary, because his departure would have deprived the choir of its only tenor!144 The long failure of the Counter-Reformation to win the heartfelt allegiance of Joachimsthal’s population at any social level stands in sharp contrast to the relatively quick and widespread success of the Reformation in the town a century earlier. The contrasting strategies of the two movements are visible especially in their use of vernacular religious music.145 The failure of Joachimsthal’s Counter-Reformers to plant a distinctively Catholic vernacular music in the town only widened the divide between the townspeople and their new, foreign, distinctively clad clergy.146 As the social, religious, and artistic life of the town began to revive in the last decades of the seventeenth century, it developed along new lines emphasizing the distinction between clergy and laity. The final success of the Counter-Reformation severed the musical link that the Lutherans had forged between clergy and laity, church and home, public and private life in Joachimsthal.
8 Joachimsthal’s Influence
The cultural and religious achievements of Joachimsthal’s Lutherans, significant enough in their own right, were magnified through the wide influence Joachimsthal exercised throughout Lutheran Germany. In part, Joachimsthal’s example spread through personal contact: in addition to Mathesius’ own wide correspondence with Lutheran clergy, laymen, and women, many of the hundreds of students who passed through the Joachimsthal Latin school went on to serve as pastors, cantors, and teachers throughout Lutheran Bohemia and Germany.1 Joachimsthal’s influence on Lutheran pedagogy, music, and piety spread most widely, however, through printing. Mathesius’ fifty-six catalogued works, mostly collections of his sermons, appeared in nearly two hundred known sixteenth-century editions.2 Though his own hymns were printed only once as a collection, assembled and edited by his son-in-law Felix Zimmerman in 1580,3 the sermon printings themselves emphasized the close relation between music and preaching that obtained in the Joachimsthal church. Most of Mathesius’ sermons were printed along with hymns by Mathesius, Herman, or Luther that echoed the substance of the sermons or—especially in the case of Luther’s hymns—provided the basis for the exposition.4 But for all the extent of Mathesius’ oeuvre, none of his works on its own attained the wide popularity enjoyed by Herman’s publications. Herman’s earliest Evangelical work, the 1524 Mandat Jesu Christi, appeared in at least twenty-seven sixteenth-century German editions; decades later, his two children’s hymnals together ran to at least fiftyseven editions between 1560 and 1630, in addition to some forty-three sixteenth-century broadsheet editions of individual hymns.5 Though Herman had entered the field of Evangelical publication early with the Mandat, and had labored as cantor in Joachimsthal since the beginning of the 1520s, his musical compositions first appeared in print 151
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over the course of the 1550s. Herman’s first surviving musical publication dates from 1551, when his hymn on 1 Corinthians, chapter 15, Sanct Paulus die Corinthier, appeared both as part of the Nürnberg collection of Bergkreyen and as a broadsheet on its own.6 The hymn had been composed the previous year to accompany Mathesius’ sermons on the chapter.7 The following years saw a flurry of composition and publication, with perhaps eight more German hymns published in broadsheet form.8 Herman also consolidated the work he had done in the Latin school, preparing the two manuscript volumes of Latin service music (dated 1553 and 1558) that are preserved in the Karlsbad museum.9 Meanwhile, afflicted by gout, Herman was obliged to retire from regular service as cantor in 155610 and devoted his remaining years entirely to vernacular composition.11
Editions of the Sonntags-Evangelia and the Historien The great fruit of Herman’s labors was the Sonntags-Evangelia, which were complete in manuscript by 1559 at the latest. Herman maintained a modest view of his own work, judging most of his German hymns to be fit only for private use [Kinder und Hauslieder].12 But he allowed them to be distributed in manuscript, even sending a copy of his hymns on the Gospels to Wittenberg superintendent Paul Eber for use in his household.13 Eber liked the hymns so well that he prevailed upon Herman to allow them to be published, and by the end of 1559, Eber and Mathesius had made arrangements to have the Sonntags-Evangelia published in Wittenberg by the press of noted music publisher Georg Rhau.14 In the spring of 1560, the book was sent out to meet its fate in the world.15 Its immediate success justified a revised second edition of the SonntagsEvangelia, which appeared from the Rhau press in 1561.16 Not only were many errors of the first edition corrected and the order of the festival hymns was changed somewhat, but devotional closing stanzas (labeled “Prayer”) were also added to most of the Sunday hymns. These additional stanzas show strong similarities to the Latin sequences Herman had written for the Latin school, and so there is no reason to doubt that Herman himself prepared the revised edition before his death. The following year, further additions were made in the Wittenberg edition, perhaps at Mathesius’ suggestion: two epitaphs written by Herman for the Joachimsthal imperial administrator Matthias Enderlein, dated 1556.17
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The Historien first appeared in print only in 1562, the year after Herman’s death; Mathesius, who supplied the preface to the volume, and Eber in Wittenberg likely saw it through the press. Though the hymns were assembled for publication nearly nine months before Herman’s death,18 illness had evidently prevented him from completing the plan announced at the end of the Sonntags-Evangelia, which promised to treat the stories of “Samson, David, and Josiah” as well as Noah, Joseph, Moses, and Elijah and other Gospel stories not in the lectionary.19 Both the Sonntags-Evangelia and the Historien were offered for the use of “Christian housefathers and their children,” an audience that provided a ready market for Herman’s hymnbooks. Printers competed to produce editions that would appeal to the reading public. Georg Rhau’s 1560 Wittenberg edition of the Sonntags-Evangelia was quickly copied by Valentin Geyßler in Nürnberg with the addition of more woodcut illustrations20; back at Wittenberg, Anton Schön produced an economy edition that omitted the musical notation.21 By 1565 the Sonntags-Evangelia were being printed by Jacob Berwald in Leipzig as well. The 1562 Wittenberg edition of the Historien was copied in both Leipzig and Nürnberg the following year.22 After the editions of the Rhau press and Anton Schön in the 1560s, Wittenberg seems to have supported only one printer’s efforts at a time: Johann Schwertel issued three editions in 1570 and Matthäus Welack’s widow printed one in 1596. Elsewhere, however, local competition could be quite vigorous; 1564, for example, saw as many as four Nürnberg editions of the Sonntags-Evangelia. In Nürnberg, Valentin Geyßler and Nicolaus Knorr published competing editions of Herman’s hymnals during the 1560s; in the 1570s and 1580s Valentin Neuber and the Gerlach press competed, and Valentin Fuhrmann produced editions of the Sonntags-Evangelia through the 1590s until 1604. At Leipzig, Jacob Berwald and his successors printed Herman’s songbooks until 1607; they were challenged by editions from the press of Johann Beyer from 1564 to 1595 and by forays from Hans Steinman and Abraham Lamberg.23 Although most of the printing of Herman’s songbooks took place in the centers of Wittenberg, Nürnberg, and Leipzig, printers in Eisleben and Tübingen issued individual editions as well.24 The vast majority of the copies of Herman’s songbooks printed were almost certainly purchased for private use by individuals or households. Although in some regions Herman’s songbooks were added to the list of books that school cantors were required to own,25 all of the editions of
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the Sonntags-Evangelia and the Historien were very small octavo or duodecimo format, best suited for individual use.26 Competing printers sought to promote the features of their editions that might appeal to such a market. The title page of the hymnals always appealed to “Christian housefathers and their children,” but printers added features (or claimed to have added them) intended to make their editions stand out as most serviceable. The 1561 Wittenberg edition of the Sonntags-Evangelia boasted that it had been “diligently corrected, improved, and expanded”27; not until 1564 at the earliest had the Nürnberg editions caught up to the text and title of the second Wittenberg edition.28 At Nürnberg in the 1570s, Valentin Neuber was evidently still printing editions based on the first edition29; Dietrich Gerlach and his widow Katharina were quick to change the title page of their own editions to point out their superiority, with the improved text and “an orderly index at the end of this book, never before printed thus.”30 The Gerlachs also dropped the title page advertisement of Paul Eber’s preface; with his death in 1569 and the increasing animus against those considered to be followers of Melanchthon, Eber’s name was apparently no longer a help in selling books.31 But by 1586, Neuber had also updated his edition to include an index and added the boast that his version was supplemented “with many beautiful illustrations”— eighty-three in Neuber’s 1586 edition as opposed to only sixty-four in the Gerlach edition of the preceding year.32 Neuber’s edition, thus presented, proved more successful, and after his death in 1590, Valentin Fuhrmann continued to reprint it.33 Such extensive and competitive printing activity suggests that Herman’s songbooks found a wide audience among sixteenth-century Lutherans. Most editions of Herman’s hymnals were illustrated, though illustrations for the Sonntags-Evangelia, which could be reused for postils and other works arranged around the Gospel lectionary, were easier to come by than illustrations for the Historien, with its Old Testament stories and New Testament texts from outside the lectionary. The 1562 Wittenberg edition of the Sonntags-Evangelia, for example, contained eighty woodcuts; the 1562 edition of the Historien contained only nine.34 Though none of the woodcuts used in editions of Herman’s songbooks seem to have been prepared especially with Herman’s hymns in mind—so that they serve rather to illustrate the Bible story under consideration than to reinforce the specific interpretation advanced by the hymn—they do express a distinctly Protestant point of view.35 Pharisees are depicted in
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the garb of cardinals and bishops,36 Caiaphas is depicted as the Pope, and the devil wears a monk’s cowl; in the parable of the Pharisee and the publican, the Pharisee is portrayed as a tonsured monk and the publican as a layman.37 In other places, typical medieval motifs are noticeably absent. In the pericope of the wedding at Cana, for example, Mary is depicted at the side, often without a halo, while the bride and groom are placed at the center of the picture.38 At Pentecost, Mary—the central figure among the apostles in medieval iconography—is either omitted or placed to the side.39 But even where no such definite Protestant intention can be discerned, such illustrations must have added to the book’s power to hold the interest of children when it was used at home as well as serving as a further mnemonic aid for remembering the Gospel stories with which they were associated. But it was probably not only because of its more numerous illustrations that the Sonntags-Evangelia remained the more popular of Herman’s hymnals, even though several of his most popular hymns (to judge from their separate appearance in print) were found in the Historien. The public seems to have preferred the devotional structure provided by the Sonntags-Evangelia as well as the link to the public worship of the church that its adherence to the Gospel lectionary supplied.
Marginalia in Herman’s Hymnals Direct evidence of the household use of Herman’s hymnals is provided by the surviving copies themselves. The margins and flyleaves of the songbooks, where these have not been lost to rebinding, preserve evidence of the way in which his books were used by generations of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century parents and children.40 A 1589 copy of the Historien bears evidence of prolonged use, with alphabet practice on the back leaves and numerous owners’ marks and dates mostly in children’s handwriting: 1628, 1631, 1653, 1664, and one sixteenth-century date whose last two digits are illegible.41 Occasional corrections for meter or notations of alternate melodies in several copies show that the owners were singing the hymns.42 The owner of a 1563 Leipzig printing of the Historien, living in Roman Catholic Cologne, may have been using Herman’s songs to nourish Evangelical faith at home where its public expression was impossible.43 In some cases, a more detailed history of a book’s use can be reconstructed. A 1562 copy of the Sonntags-Evangelia suggests that the book
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was used by parents and children much as Herman had intended.44 A zealous father carefully read and annotated Eber’s preface before turning the book over to his wife.45 He was impressed with Eber’s recommendations for household use of the hymns, and beside Eber’s encouragement to teach the German hymns to the whole household, he left a note for his wife: “Martha, Martha, take heed and do it often and with devotion.”46 He also appreciated the religious purpose of the hymns, marking Eber’s promise that “many an unlearned man in the midst of distress and temptation is better able to remember and comfort himself with such a hymn than with a long and well-worded sermon.”47 The same book passed into the hands of a young child, who proudly marked it “das Buech Ist mein.”48 Later the book seems to have traveled to the Strassburg academy with its owner, and the back leaves were filled with Latin maxims from teachers, classical authors, and the Bible.49 A reader’s mark from 1703 suggests that the book may still have been in use at the beginning of the eighteenth century.50 Certainly the German laymen who continued to demand Herman’s hymnals to use at home with their children throughout the second half of the sixteenth century found that the hymns of “the old Herman” still satisfied their spiritual and pedagogical needs.
Herman’s Hymns Outside the Sonntags-Evangelia and Historien Even after the publication of the two collections of Herman’s songs, many of the individual hymns continued to appear in pamphlet form or were taken up into other collections of hymns. At least sixty-seven of the hymns were printed at least once outside of his collections during the sixteenth century,51 and several of Herman’s songs have survived in Lutheran hymnals to the present day.52 Herman’s songs quickly spread from Wittenberg, Nürnberg, and Leipzig to Strassburg, Basel, and north Germany.53 The frequency with which particular hymns were reprinted gives some idea of the tastes and interests of the sixteenth-century reading public. With a few exceptions, the hymns based on extended passages of Scripture, whether the Sunday Gospels or the Old Testament stories of the Historien, did not travel well separately, despite the success of the collections in which they were originally published. Much more successful on their own were Herman’s songs for the major festivals of the Christian year, especially those for Christmas and Easter,54 along with hymns sup-
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porting the basic structures of domestic piety: songs for before and after meals and for morning and evening.55 Also relatively popular, perhaps because it was unique in addressing its particular concern, was Herman’s prayer for favorable weather.56 But the most commonly printed hymns are those concerned with death, forgiveness, and faith. The most frequently reprinted of all the songs from the Sonntags-Evangelia was his treatment of 1 Corinthians, chapter 15, Sanct Paulus die Corinthier.57 This hymn proved remarkably flexible in both private and public contexts: it was variously presented as an Easter hymn, a funeral hymn, and a comforting private meditation on the Resurrection. Also standing out among reprints of Herman’s songs from the Sonntags-Evangelia was So wahr ich leb, spricht Gott der Herr, a treatment of the Lutheran doctrine and practice of private confession and absolution.58 This hymn was printed in collections for both domestic and public use, as for example in Nürnberg printer Johann Koler’s 1570 collection of two hundred Christliche Hausgesenge and in the 1584 Frankfurt am Main folio collection of hymns “especially for clergymen and teachers who must lead their churches in singing.”59 The frequent reprinting of this hymn attests both the active interest of the Lutheran laity in the consolation of absolution and also the influence of Herman’s presentation of it. Among the hymns from the Historien, by far the most commonly reprinted was Wenn mein Stündlein vorhanden ist.60 This confident meditation on the comfort of death in Christ was quickly taken into Strassburg and Nürnberg hymnals of 1568 and 1569 and into Koler’s domestic collection in 1570. The hymn even found its way into pamphlets and hymnals of the Swiss Reformed churches, suggesting that, when faced with death, even a Calvinist liked to consider something more comforting than the inscrutable decrees of the divine majesty.61 A series of editions of the Bonn hymnal in Frankfurt am Main specially advertised the addition of Herman’s Wenn mein Stundlein vorhanden ist with prominent notices on the title page.62 After Wenn mein Stundlein and Herman’s setting of Job’s complaint, Der Mensch wird von eim Weib geborn, the next most popular songs from the Historien after Wenn mein Stundlein were two hymns that dealt with the relation between faith and good works: Ein warer Glaub Gottes Zorn stillt and Wer durch den Glauben ist gerecht.63 Not only Herman’s narrowly devotional hymns but also those with a more didactic theological character thus passed into general use.
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Those songs of Herman’s that seem to have been most popular with the sixteenth-century public were not necessarily those whose formal characteristics might have been supposed to endear them to a popular audience—such as those hymns written in the style of folk songs. Instead, the sixteenth-century laity whose tastes helped to form the hymnals they bought seem to have favored those songs that addressed the devotional needs of the family (prayer at morning and evening, before meals, in special circumstances of need) and religious needs—confidence in the face of death, the assurance of forgiveness, the relation between Evangelical faith that justified before God and the good works that served the neighbor. Whether published in his own collections of hymns or taken up into others, Herman’s songs thus served to help the laity to apply the comforts of Lutheran teaching to themselves and to their households.
Oral Distribution of Herman’s Hymns The oral diffusion of Herman’s songs is of course much more difficult to trace, but some evidence does suggest that they spread widely by word of mouth as well as in print. Leipzig superintendent Nicolaus Selneccer reported that in 1587 Leipzig schoolboys were still singing Herman’s songs in the streets.64 Some of Herman’s hymns became folk songs—both in the surrounding Erzgebirge and as far away as Hungary—and they were still sung as late as the nineteenth century.65 There are, moreover, some variants in the early printed editions, especially the broadsheets, which are probably the result of oral transmission. For example, Johann Leisentrit seems to have been dependent on an oral source for his version of Wenn mein Stündlein vorhanden ist: there are no other hymns from the Historien contained in his hymnal, and more than half the lines in Leisentrit’s text contain minor variations, of no particular doctrinal or linguistic significance, from Herman’s original.66 Elsewhere in the broadsheet printings, lines seem to have been reconstructed from a half-remembered sense or, where recollection failed altogether, made up to fill the meter and rhyme. Print culture and oral culture continued to influence one another. An expanded version of Wenn mein Stündlein appeared in the Frankfurt am Main hymnal of 1575; it too was quickly reshaped through oral transmission, such altered versions eventually appearing in broadsheet printings themselves. Such evidence suggests that, like the Lutheran hymns of the 1520s, Herman’s songs spread both in print and by word of mouth.
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Herman’s Imitators The popularity of Herman’s songbooks and the wide appeal of the household devotions that they were intended to aid are further attested by the number of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century imitators that Herman’s work found. Both pastors and other laymen were inspired by Herman’s example to compose their own versifications of Scripture and to publish them for household use. Though none of Herman’s sixteenth-century imitators achieved great popular success in his own right, their number demonstrates the influence both of Herman’s own songs and of the model of domestic piety that they set forth. Some authors and publishers took over Herman’s songbook and attempted to tailor it to suit the tastes of the reading and singing public as they understood them. The Frankfurt am Main printer Johann Feyerabend supplemented Herman’s Sonntags-Evangelia hymns with prayers and brief commentaries on the Gospel lessons by the Nürnberg preacher Veit Dietrich, providing Evangelical Christians with complete materials for their household devotions in one book, the better to equip them to comfort one another: How beneficial such consoling books have ever been to many devout Christians, and what comfort and reassurance they give and impart amid temptations and troubles of conscience, it is unnecessary to describe, since it is known to all Christians.67 Less felicitously, the Augsburg preacher Gregor Sunderreiter sought to adapt the Sonntags-Evangelia to the melodies of the standard Lutheran hymn repertoire, a procedure that required padding Herman’s verses and changing rhymes to fill out a longer stanza. Though Sunderreiter acknowledged Herman as the “true author of this songbook” and as a “Christian, pious, zealous, intelligent, and artful man, who has made a good and useful book, as learned men testify and experience proves,” he hoped that his changes would make the collection “even clearer and more fruitful, useful and appealing to more people, and easier to learn.”68 Herman’s hymns, thus adapted, were interspersed with Sunderreiter’s own compositions and printed in Laugingen in 158069; despite the editor’s good intentions, the demand for his work did not justify a second edition. Others, not directly employing material from Herman, sought to follow him in composing hymn versions of Biblical stories. Cycles of hymns on the Sunday Gospels were most common: Samuel Hebel, the Lutheran
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preacher in Schwednitz,70 Georg Barth in Lübeck,71 and Adam Hoppe in Teppliwoda72 all composed their own imitations of Herman’s SonntagsEvangelia. The Cham schoolmistress Magdalena Heymair wrote her own hymns on the Sunday Epistle lessons and several Old Testament books,73 and pastor Joachim Liest of Wittstock wrote his own set of hymns on the Flood and other Old Testament stories drawing on the Historien.74 Perhaps the most poetically successful of Herman’s imitators was the Langenfeld pastor Bartholomäus Ringwaldt; the two editions of his Evangelia were hardly a match for the publishing success of Herman’s volumes,75 but his Gospel hymns gained wider distribution when many of them were taken up into Johann Crüger’s 1640 hymnal, widely printed from 1647 on under the title Praxis Pietatis Melica.76 Adherents of other confessions also attempted to follow Herman’s example. The Evangelically minded Roman Catholic pastor of Graz, Andreas Gigler, wrote his own Gesang Postill in imitation of Herman’s,77 as did the Reformed physician Johann Posthius.78 Posthius’ hymns, like Herman’s, were intended for domestic use: he composed them for his son over the winter of 1596 when illness made it impossible for him to attend church. But Gigler, despite the close dependence on Herman’s pedagogical thought demonstrated in his preface, did not envision domestic singing and devotion in the Lutheran style. Instead, his hymns were intended for individual devotional use in church during the Mass, a recommendation that was typical of sixteenth-century Roman Catholic apprehensions about singing hymns at home.79 On the Reformed side, the strict limitation of religious music to versification of the Psalms was increasingly applied within German Reformed circles, and neither Gigler nor Posthius inspired imitators within their respective confessions.80 Among Lutherans, however, Herman’s influence extended well into the seventeenth century, to generations that had been brought up on his songbooks. The Austrian Lutheran pastor Moritz Moltzer published his own version of the Sunday Gospels and Epistles in 1619, recalling fondly his own exposure to Herman’s songs as a child: Since from my youth . . . I have had a special affection for the songbook of Herr Nicolaus Herman, of blessed memory, the former cantor in Joachimsthal, in which book he set forth the Sunday Gospels in pretty and artful rhyme, I have with good intention tried my own hand at such a work, and according to my own simplicity composed this little work, and now upon the advice of other Christian hearts I have had it published for the use of the simple laity.81
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Herman’s two hymnals continued to be republished in their entirety until 1630. By the middle of the seventeenth century, however, German prosody had undergone a transformation under the influence of Martin Opitz and his followers. Luther’s hymns survived (and were even cited as examples for) the change in poetical standards,82 but much of the sixteenthcentury German verse came to sound rough to seventeenth-century ears. Though Moltzer had insisted that he had no desire to supplant Herman’s songbooks,83 by the middle of the century even those who loved Herman’s songs admitted that, as a collection, they no longer suited a public taste formed on French-inspired models: The old Herman, formerly the cantor in Joachimsthal, and Bartholomäus Ringwald, pastor in Langfeld, are my predecessors in such composition. But already they may not please some people who because of their ignorance of pure German poetry will not be pleased with any German verse, even though to other hearts that love and praise Christ these hymns are so pleasing that they are sung publicly in many evangelical churches.84 The public interest in suitable material for household devotions, however, was undiminished, and by midcentury Herman’s books had found a worthy replacement in the hymnals of the Silesian pastor Johann Heermann,85 whose 1636 Sonntags- und Fest-Evangelia emulated Herman’s Sonntags-Evangelia in the new poetic idiom.86 Heermann’s work—most of it intended for use by the Hauskirche—showed the influence not only of Herman’s songs but also of the musical theology and pedagogy expressed by Herman and Mathesius in their prefaces to Herman’s hymnals.87 At the same time, Heermann reflects the changes in Lutheran piety that took place in the seventeenth century. In his 1630 Devoti Musica Cordis: Haus- und Hertz- Musica,88 for example, though the context of household devotion remains the same, in the songs themselves it is the individual ich or du who is most prominent, and there is a greater emphasis on subjective religious experience. Thus, for example, Heermann’s So wahr ich lebe, spricht dein Gott, with its emphasis on timely and heartfelt repentance addressed to the sinner in the second person, stands in contrast to its model, Herman’s So wahr ich leb’ spricht Gott der Herr, whose third-person description emphasizes the effectiveness of the external spoken word of absolution.89 Even in the altered poetic and religious circumstances of the seventeenth century, however, the appeal of the model of domestic Lutheranism provided by Joachimsthal and its hymns was undiminished.
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Magdalena Heymair The most remarkable of Herman’s imitators, however, was also one of the earliest: the schoolmistress Magdalena Heymair.90 Having grown up a Roman Catholic, Heymair was a private tutor in Straubing, where she was hired to teach the daughters of Katharina von Degenwerg, wife of the city’s chief judge. Heymair thus became a participant in the Degenwerg Frauenzimmer, where Katharina discussed the Bible and Evangelical ideas with her female friends, including councilman’s wife Brigitta Weinzierl.91 Through their reading and mutual conversation, the women gradually became Protestant. Heymair described their meetings in a 1568 preface dedicated to Frau Weinzierl: Her Grace [Katharina von Degenwerg] was also a Christian instrument through which I came to know God’s Word, even though in the beginning she herself did not understand it. But she liked to hear it read, and gave me time to read it, and spoke with me at length about the Word of the Lord, and often asked me about it, etc. Through her many deep questions, the aforementioned lady and I became more knowledgeable about many things . . . . Eternal praise be to God, for I diligently considered her thought-provoking questions, and the Spirit of God often came to aid my contemplation, and led me into the truth.92 For a short time after they had forsaken the Mass, the Frauenzimmer served the women in lieu of a Lutheran church, with reading and singing based on Lutheran postils and hymnals, if not Herman’s own SonntagsEvangelia then something similar: She [Katharina von Degenwerg] also maintained this practice after she ceased to attend the papist church: she had a girl read her something from the postil on Sundays, and before reading, they sang a psalm; after the reading, they sang the Gospel.93 Soon, however, the women were forced to leave Straubing because of their new Evangelical convictions. Brigitta Weinzierl and her husband fled to Nürnberg, and Magdalena Heymair and her husband moved to Cham where she was mistress of the girls’ school.94 Heymair’s account does not indicate how her own husband or those of the other women came to Evangelical faith. Certainly the women came to Lutheranism on their own as they met together to read, discuss, and sing. It seems most likely
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that they then brought Lutheranism out of the Frauenzimmer to their Roman Catholic husbands. It was as a schoolmistress in Cham that Heymair first read a copy of Herman’s newly published Sonntags-Evangelia in 1560. She was delighted to discover in Herman’s preface that he had written the songs for the use of the Joachimsthal schoolmistress, and Herman’s example inspired her to undertake the composition of her own versifications of the weekly Epistle lessons: When I read this, it made me glad, and I thought, “O God, would that I had grace from thee to set the Sunday epistles in songs, for thy praise.”95 Heymair’s version of the Epistles was completed in manuscript in 1561, and it was followed by versifications of the book of Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) in 1572, the Acts of the Apostles in 1573, and Tobit and Ruth in 1586. With the help of various Lutheran pastors, these songbooks appeared in print in the 1570s and 1580s, and though none of them enjoyed the success of Herman’s books, several of them ran to multiple editions.96 Heymair was no musician, and her songs, unlike Herman’s, were set exclusively to the melodies of existing hymns or secular songs. But although her verse lacks the fluidity of Herman’s compositions,97 Heymair’s hymns demonstrate her firm grasp on the Lutheran piety and doctrine that she had imbibed from the Bible, Lutheran postils, and Herman’s songs:98 To thee I cry, God, be thou nigh, When I must die. Let me hold sure Thy doctrine pure, And call me not into the dock; My sins cannot withstand The judgment of thy righteous hand. Turn not away, be thou my stay, Jesus, alway. Cover my sin, give peace within, Succor my need, and for me plead. My foe do thou restrain That I the victory may gain.
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O Spirit true, thine aid I sue, In all I do. O give to me thy certainty. Thy strength impart unto my heart That heart and lips may be Bold ever in confessing thee.99
Whatever the weaknesses of her prosody, Heymair gave clear expression to themes that were also central to Herman’s work: the importance of the Word and pure doctrine, and above all the Lutheran dialectic between Law and Gospel, sin and forgiveness. Yet another theme prominent in the Joachimsthal hymns—faithfulness to the true Evangelical doctrine even in the face of opposition from secular authorities—was also present in Heymair’s songs and tested in her life.100 Despite her recent conversion from Roman Catholicism, Heymair held fast to a definitely Lutheran identity, and when Friedrich III began to introduce Calvinism in the Palatinate, the right to hold school in Cham that had been assigned her was given to a Calvinist schoolteacher.101 Having written to seek the help of the Lutheran superintendent Nicolaus Gallus, Heymair moved with her husband to Regensburg in 1570, where she was again able to teach school. She later served as a tutor to a Lutheran noble family in lower Austria and then retired to one of their estates in Hungary.102 Heymair’s itinerant career is a remarkable testament not only to the ability of a married sixteenth-century woman to pursue a career as a professional educator and to enjoy and bestow literary patronage—all of the benefactors and patrons named in Heymair’s dedications are women themselves—but also to her steadfast Evangelical faith, itself a product of the domestic culture that Herman’s songs and her own verses were intended to serve.103 The Lutheran clergy who wrote prefaces to Heymair’s hymnals—the Regensburg superintendent Joshua Opitz (1542–1585) and the Cham city preacher Wilibald Ramsbeck—spoke highly of Heymair and her songs.104 Ramsbeck was particularly extravagant in his praise. He asked his readers, Has God sent you for your profit, service, instruction, doctrine, comfort, exhortation, and honor only the highly-enlightened heavenly Aaron, the honorable father Herr Doctor Martin Luther, Herr Philipp Melanchthon, and other outstanding clergymen? Has he not also raised up for you the prophetess Miriam, that is, many holy,
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spirit-filled, and virtuous matrons, who also have proclaimed [gerhümbt] Christ with their own printed writings, psalms, and apt sayings, yes, and with their very blood, and have made Christ known to the world? . . . In the number of holy Christian matrons, or God’s prophetesses, who to be sure were also sinful and frail human beings . . . but cleansed by the blood of Christ and sanctified by the Holy Spirit, I not unjustly reckon the honorable, virtuous, and spirit-filled Frau Magdalena Heymair . . . who has recently, at the impulse and stirring of the Holy Spirit, arranged the Sunday epistles for the whole year in songs for the Christian use of the tender youth, against the blasphemous, unchaste, whoring devil who slinks about with nothing but love songs [Bühllieder].105 Nor was the high regard in which Heymair was held limited to her immediate circle of clerical supporters; in 1587 Nicolaus Selneccer mentioned her in a short list of estimable Lutheran hymn-writers.106 Heymair makes no such extravagant claims for herself, but rather in good Lutheran form, she considered her hymn-writing both as an act of service to her neighbor—the “women, maidens, and children” for whom she was writing—and as an act of thanksgiving to God: Since our faithful God has led me out of the papacy by his Holy Spirit and his Word, and brought me to the true church, I consider myself obliged to fall upon my knees and adore him, and to honor him with song.107 Above all, however, Heymair justifies her writing as an exercise of the priestly office that belongs to every believing Christian. In the preface to her Buch der Apostolischen Geschichten, she argues that since every Christian has the right in an emergency even to pronounce absolution and to administer the sacraments, how much more is she justified in publishing her songs for the benefit of others.108 Heymair herself had been converted to Lutheran faith through the “mutual conversation and consolation of [Christian] brethren” that Luther praises in the Schmalkald Articles, and she knew the power of the Biblical Gospel as it was applied not only by the clergy in the church but also by one Christian to another within the domestic circle.109 The dedications of the hymnals penned by Herman’s imitators suggest the prominent place of women in domestic religion. Not only Heymair’s songbooks, but also those of Feyerabend,110 Moltzer,111 and Heermann112 were dedicated to female patrons and addressed themselves specifically to
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the devotional needs of the Frauenzimmer. Though the number of lay Lutherans who followed Herman and Heymair in exercising their priestly office as baptized Christians by writing and publishing hymns was relatively small, the wide appeal of their hymnals and those of their imitators reveals that many more lay men and women were eager to use the hymns of others to practice their office of mutual consolation at home. This pattern of lay religion—practiced within the home though often following the patterns of public worship and the church year; the domain of the laity even as it faithfully appropriated the theology of Lutheran pastors and theologians; Lutheranism that could be perpetuated by parents and children at home even as the public structures of the church were crumbling—was the enduring legacy of Joachimsthal to German Lutheranism.
Conclusion: Lutheran Hymns and the Success of the Reformation
The question of the success of the Reformation in Joachimsthal—as elsewhere—is particularly vexing if the standard for judgment is the reports of the participants and contemporary observers themselves.1 Paul Eber laments in his preface to the Sonntags-Evangelia that the Lutheran hymns are not being used enough at home; Herman, in his preface to the same volume, praises the fact that they are being used both in church and at home.2 In the concluding poem of the Sonntags-Evangelia, Herman complains that there are few fathers who conduct devotions at home with their children; in his preface to the Historien, he says that there are many.3 Herman can both complain of how few benefactors the schools and their students have, and elsewhere boast about the generosity of the Joachimsthalers in supporting the students.4 Mathesius in one place exhorts the parents of Joachimsthal to pray and sing at home with their children and in another boasts of the many parents who already do so.5 Likewise, Mathesius could—depending on his purpose—complain about the lukewarm religious devotion of his parishioners or speak favorably of their piety and generosity.6 In all, it is hardly surprising that while the Reformation failed to fulfill the highest hopes of its most devoted advocates, it nevertheless succeeded in producing results from which they could derive considerable, if more rarely expressed, satisfaction. The problem is not that the disappointment expressed by the Lutheran pastors of the sixteenth century was not serious, but rather that it was meant altogether too seriously to be taken at face value by the historian, whose standards for measuring religious and social change cannot be so exacting. When Eber complains, for example, that the German hymns have fallen out of use, his standard is that in “houses, workshops, and on the streets” more secular songs than hymns are heard.7 While a pastor might well desire religious song to predominate 167
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even on the streets, no one else would be much surprised by the existing state of affairs. Indeed, the Lutheran clergy themselves, in more typical moods, were happy to see the coexistence of secular and religious music.8 Where Mathesius’ own complaints can be checked against more objective records, the ambiguous value of his criticism of himself and his congregation is clear. For example, from the records of the number of Joachimsthal communicants each year, Mathesius’ complaints of low attendance at the Lord’s Supper can be justified from the point of view of a zealous pastor—perhaps two-thirds of Joachimsthal’s adult population communed in an ordinary year—but must be qualified from the more sanguine point of view of a modern historian.9 Indeed, the Lutheran clergy may have been disposed, in most rhetorical contexts, to dwell on faults and failures and to pass over successes in silence. In a remarkable passage in the preface to his Joachimsthal Chronica, Mathesius explains that not until the last day will he be able to praise his congregation as it deserves: In preaching, we clergymen have the general commission to rebuke public sins and to warn our congregation against danger, so that God may not require their blood at our hands on the last day. We are to comfort the pious, and to give thanks for their good deeds by name often before God, and to pray faithfully for them. But to praise them in public would be burdensome both to good folk and to the clergy. For we cannot praise anyone, but must rather scold many, so that we do not entangle good people in the envy and hatred of the wicked, or bring ourselves under suspicion, since the world cannot bear that anyone should reproach the wicked or praise the good. We will, therefore, save our praise until we have come to the truth. Then, no envy can injure, and no honor will be dangerous or burdensome, and all praise will arise from upright hearts. Only there will worthy praise commence, when it is offered by praiseworthy men, in truth, before the laudable assembly of all saints and angels.10 In the unusual context of the preface to his town chronicle, however, Mathesius is able—if only in praeteritio—to hint at the great good will he and the Joachimsthal congregation bore toward each other:11 Here too I hold back my praises. For after these thirty years, during which our school, church, and I myself have experienced much good, I have, in truth, good reason to boast of the many honorable
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officials, citizens, and miners who have shown me nothing but good. This, God willing, I will faithfully do, with good reason and in truth, along with my dear colleagues and all pious Christians, when God calls us together—may it be soon—on the green meadow by his rainbow in honor and joy.12 Elsewhere, especially when speaking from the pulpit, Mathesius conceals his pride in his congregation under expressions that sound curiously reserved or even dismissive to the modern ear. His highest homiletic praise of Joachimsthal’s Lutherans is couched in language that sounds more like a grudging concession: “If I compare my parishioners with others, I know of none more pious.” 13 The sixteenth-century editor of Mathesius’ sermons, however, recognized the statement for what it was, and labeled it in the margin, “Laus Ioachimicae Ecclesiae.” Such guarded remarks by Lutheran pastors allow us to overhear the soft tones of a lay piety often drowned out in the historical sources by the more critical judgments of the Lutheran clergy, whose high standards and rhetorical purposes were calculated to produce expressions of disappointment, or by the interrogations of laymen before visitation committees who had their own ends to serve in writing their reports.14 These sources by their nature emphasize and exaggerate the disharmony between sixteenth-century Lutheran clergy and laity. To be sure, the relation between clergy and laity was not without dissonance or without complaint from either side. There were certainly domineering pastors and indifferent laymen. Yet a litany of complaints gleaned from sermons and visitations is scarcely an adequate basis for assessing the religious or social life of the age. A fair hearing must take into account not only moments of shrill conflict but also the underlying harmony of religious interest existing between Lutheran laymen and their pastors. The Lutheran music of Joachimsthal sounds forth Lutheran success both in transforming the institutions of sixteenth-century society and in shaping the piety of ordinary sixteenth-century men and women. Lutheranism and its music penetrated the life of the town at all levels of society, from the patricians who listened to and helped to sing the Latin motets sung by the school choir to the miners and craftsmen who organized and attended the singing of German hymns before Sunday services. Lutheran music sounded not only in the church but in the streets and the homes of Joachimsthal as well, a fixture not only of public religious and civic life but also of private piety and domestic devotion.
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Lutheran appropriation of sixteenth-century musical culture at all levels, from plainchant to polyphony to folksong, was, to be sure, only a part of broader Lutheran engagement with sixteenth-century culture in all its forms. The Lutheran appraisal of human culture demanded the application of all the instruments that culture could provide in order to convey the Evangelical message to people at every level of society. In Mathesius’ vision, for example, both the rebirth of classical learning and the invention of printing had their providential roles in preparing for the renewal of Christianity.15 Not only sermons but also plays and songs; not only pastors but also “painters, sculptors, goldsmiths, and those who strike medallions [Schawgroschen]” could help bear witness to God and his Word in the last days.16 In particular, however, Mathesius regarded the wide distribution of the Lutheran vernacular hymns, bringing the pure Gospel to the learned and simple alike, as a sign of the special place that the Reformation and its doctrine held in the history of the world.17 Indeed, among the many cultural forms Lutherans employed in the service of the Gospel, they produced a tradition of religious music second to none,18 within which traditional chant and the new polyphony were preserved alongside popular forms rooted in vernacular culture. Lutherans thus sought to claim all levels of culture as their own, sometimes in parallel—as when they maintained Latin liturgies for the sake of the schoolboys alongside German preaching and song—but often in forms that effectively bridged the gap between clerical and lay culture. Herman’s use of Gregorian materials to compose melodies in popular style and the use of Herman’s hymns based on miners’ songs in the ambitious church music of succeeding generations show that there was no insurmountable barrier between high and low musical culture as they were used by sixteenth-century Lutherans.19 Lutheran hymns—whether in Latin or in German—found secure places in the schools, churches, and homes of Germany, where they conveyed Evangelical teaching in memorable form to succeeding generations. In Joachimsthal, Herman’s Latin sequences filled medieval forms with Lutheran doctrine for the boys of the Latin school even as his German hymns equipped the schoolgirls to make confession of their faith. The hymns were expressions of a Lutheran pedagogy that sought to use humane and attractive means to equip the young laity not for mindless conformity but for understanding and independence. In the public services of the church, as well as outside them, the hymns by Luther and his contemporaries that had conveyed the Evangelical message to
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the first Protestants of the 1520s were still sung by their great-grandchildren at the end of the century. The Reformation of the pamphleteers thus lived on in the Lutheran hymns. Both in their public and in their private use, the German hymns remained the recognized domain of the laity, a primary means whereby they exercised their universal priesthood, proclaiming and applying the Word to encourage and comfort themselves and one another as effectively as a pastor might. And yet the hymns themselves were largely of clerical authorship, demonstrating the fundamental unity of Lutheran piety as it was practiced by both clergy and laity. The wide lay use of the hymns reveals the fundamental respect that each side had for the other: the clergy recognized and encouraged the independent religious activity of the laity even as the laity embraced the religious message conveyed by the hymns. The most telling measure of the Reformation’s success, however, was the use of the Lutheran hymns within the home. Perhaps in part because of their own success in reshaping the institutions of sixteenth-century society, Lutheran clergy were keenly aware that political and ecclesiastical structures could shift their allegiance all too quickly. In their own theological and cultural idiom, sixteenth-century Lutherans recognized that the family was the “great survivor”20 among the institutions of society, and that if their religious movement were to survive, it could do so only by succeeding within the home. The Mansfeld pastor Cyriacus Spangenberg, for example, cited Luther in his support as he urged the laity to keep the Gospel pure within their homes through their private use of the hymns even if the state and church should turn against it: Thus it is to be feared that Luther’s own prophecy (in the preface to Daniel) will be come to pass—and has already come to pass in many lands—that there will be no pure public preaching, and the Gospel will be preserved only in the houses, by pious Christian fathers. These will find the hymns of Luther to be of great service and benefit . . . God grant his blessing and grace, that they may use them well for admonition, instruction, and comfort.21 The Lutheran clergy thus regarded the family not merely as a “farm team” for the state and the institutional church, but ultimately as a bulwark against them.22 Princes could become tyrants and pastors wolves. Only a Lutheran piety deeply rooted in the home could survive the changing whims of princes and the rabies theologorum. It was, accordingly, to the home that the Lutheran pastors and pedagogues of Joachimsthal and
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elsewhere especially addressed themselves, equipping Lutheran mothers and fathers to teach their own children, encouraging the members of the family to minister to one another’s spiritual needs, and fortifying them to obey the demands of conscience over even the dictates of the clergy or the commands of the state.23 The wide success of Lutheran hymns in the presses of sixteenth-century Germany—not least those hymns originating with Herman’s labors in Joachimsthal—confirms the judgments of Lutheran clergymen and their Roman Catholic opponents alike that the hymns occupied a special place in the hearts of the laity, and attests the success of Lutheranism in the homes of Germany at large. In Joachimsthal itself, however, that success was severely tested during the Thirty Years War. As Lutheranism passed suddenly from establishment as the religion of the town to disestablishment and persecution under Hapsburg Catholicization, as the Lutheran clergy disappeared and official support vanished, only the Lutheranism of Joachimsthal’s households remained. That Lutheran piety and identity survived for a generation even under such circumstances is a testament both to the tenacity of Joachimsthal’s lay men and women and to the foresight of the Lutheran pastors and schoolteachers who had been preparing them for generations to hold fast to God’s Word and to minister it to one another. The example of Lutheran Joachimsthal and its music shows that the success of the Reformation lay not only in its effect on the public institutions or educated elite of sixteenth-century Germany but in its hold in the homes and on the hearts of its people.
Appendices Abbreviations Notes Index
Appendix 1: Printing of Nicolaus Herman, SonntagsEvangelia, 1560–1630
1560 1561 1561 1562 1562 1563 1564
1564 1564 1564 1564 1565 1565(?) 1566 1567 1570 1570 1570 1572 1574 1575 1576 1581 1581
Wittenberg (G. Rhau Erben, 192 pp. 8°). Edition SE1a. [DKL 1560 08] Nürnberg (V. Geyßler, 171 pp. 8°). Edition SE1a. [DKL 1561 03] Wittenberg (G. Rhau Erben, 192 pp. 12°). Edition SE2c. [DKL 1561 08] Nürnberg (V. Geyßler, 171 pp. 12°). Edition SE1a. [DKL 1562 05] Wittenberg (G. Rhau Erben, 192 pp. 8°). Edition SE2d. [DKL 1562 04] Nürnberg (V. Geyßler, 170 pp. 8°). Edition SE?a*. [DKL 1563 08] Nürnberg (N. Knorr, 8°). Edition SE1. [Rudolf Wolkan, Böhmens Antheil an der deutschen Litteratur des XVI. Jahrhunderts, vol. 3 (Prague: Hasse, 1894), p. 507 n60 §3c] Nürnberg (V. Geyßler, 171 pp. 8°). Edition SE1a* [DKL 1564 06] Nürnberg (V. Geyßler, 160 pp. 8°). [Wolkan, Böhmens Antheil, vol. 1 (Prague: Hasse, 1890), no. 124] Nürnberg (8°). Edition SE2. [VD16 H2417] Wittenberg (G. Rhau Erben, 192 pp. 8°). Edition SE2d. [DKL 1564 07] Leipzig (J. Berwald, 200 pp. 8°). Edition SE2d*. [DKL 1565 14] Wittenberg (A. Schön, 164 pp. 8°). Edition SE2f. [VD16 H2419; W1 120; cf. WB 790] Wittenberg (G. Rhau Erben, 192 pp. 8°). Edition SE2d. [DKL 1566 07] Nürnberg (N. Knorr, 160 pp. 8°). Edition SE2c. [DKL 1567 03] Nürnberg (N. Knorr, 160 pp. 12°). Edition SE2c. [DKL 1570 07] Wittenberg (J. Schwertel, 192 pp. 12°). Edition SE2c. [DKL 1570 08] Wittenberg (J. Schwertel, 152 pp. 8°). Edition SE2c. [DKL 1570 16] Leipzig (H. Steinman, 167 pp. 8°). Edition SE2. [DKL 1572 03] Leipzig (J. Beyer, 168 pp. 8°). Edition SE2. [DKL 1574 04] Nürnberg (D. Gerlach, 160 pp. 8°). Edition SE3. [DKL 1575 05] Nürnberg (V. Neuber, 168 pp. 8°). Edition SE4. [DKL 1576 02] Leipzig (J. Beyer, 168 pp. 8°). Edition SE2. [DKL 1581 04] Nürnberg (V. Neuber, 164 pp. 12°). Edition SE2. [DKL 1581 05] 175
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1585 1586 1586 1588 1592 1592 1595 1597 1598 1603 1604 1607
Nürnberg (K. Gerlach, 160 pp. 8°). Edition SE4. [DKL 1585 04] Leipzig (J. Beyer). Edition SE3e. [WB 966] Nürnberg (V. Neuber, 164 pp. 8°). [DKL 1586 03] Leipzig (Z. Berwald, 165 pp. 8°). Edition SE5e. [DKL 1588 04] Leipzig (A. Lamberg, 167 pp. 8°). Edition SE2f. [DKL 1592 09] Nürnberg (V. Fuhrmann, 163 pp. 8°). Edition SE2. [DKL 1592 08] Leipzig (Z. Berwald, 167 pp. 8°). Edition SE5. [DKL 1595 05] Nürnberg (V. Fuhrmann, 163 pp. 8°). Edition SE2. [DKL 1597 08] Leipzig (Z. Berwald, 176 pp. 8°). Edition SE5e. [DKL 1598 09] Leipzig (Z. Berwald, 176 pp. 8°). Edition SE2f. [DKL 1603 04] Nürnberg (V. Fuhrmann, 163 pp. 8°). Edition SE2. [DKL 1604 04] Leipzig (J. Popporeich/ Berwald[in], 144 pp. 8°). Edition SE5e. [DKL 1607 05] Tübingen (J. C. Geyßler, 152 pp. 8°). Edition SE2. [DKL 1630 07]
1630
Editions Titles SE1:
SE2:
SE3:
SE4:
Die Sontags Euangelia vber das gantze Jar/Jn Gesenge verfasset/Für die Kinder vnd Christlichen Haußveter/Durch Nicolaum Herman im Jochimsthal. Ein Bericht/vff was thon vnd Melodey ein jedes mag gesungen werden. Mit einer Vorrede D. Pauli Eberi Pfarrhers der Kirchen zu Witteberg. Die Sontags Euangelia/vnd von den fürnemsten Festen vber das gantze Jar/Jn Gesenge gefasset fur Christliche Haussueter vnd jre Kinder/Mit vleis corrigiert/gebessert vnd gemehret/durch Nicolaum Herman im Jochimsthal. Ein Bericht/vff was thon vnd Melodey ein jedes mag gesungen werden. Mit einer Vorrede D. Pauli Eberi Pfarrhers der Kirchen zu Witteberg. Der Sontagen vnd fürnembsten Feste Euangelia/vber das gantze Jar/Jnn Gesenge gefasset/Für Christliche Haußuätter vnnd jhre Kinder/Mit fleiß corrigiert/gebessert vnnd gemehrt/Durch Nicolaum Herman in Jochimßthal. Ein bericht/auff was Melodey ein jedes mag gesungen werden. Sampt einem ordenlichen Register/zu end dises Büchleins/vor niemals also gedruckt. Sontags Euangelia/vber das gantz Jar Jn Gesenge verfasset/Für die Kinder vnd Christlichen Haußväter/Durch: Nicolaum Herman/Jm Jochimßthal. Auch ein bericht auff was Thon/vnd Melodey/ein jedes mag gesungen werden. Mit einer Vorrede D. Pauli Eberi/Pfarherr der Kirchen zu Wittenberg.
Appendix 1 SE5:
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Der Sontagen vnd fürnembsten Feste Euangelia/über das gantze Jar/inn Gesenge gefasset/für Christliche Haußväter vnd jhre Kinder/Mit fleyß corrigiert/gebessert vnd gemehret/Durch Nicolaum Herman im Joachimsthal. Ein Bericht/auff was Melodey ein jedes mag gesungen werden. Sampt vielen schönen Figuren/vnd einem ordenlichen Register/ zu end dises Büchleins/vor niemals also gedruckt.
Contents (see Appendix 3) a
c d e f
1–6, 13–33, 38–48, 50–80, 7–12, 81–85, 34–36, 86, 49, 87–103. Most of the final stanzas labeled “Gebet” in DKL 1561 08 and later editions are not so labeled or are lacking in this group. a* lacks the melody to hymn 44. These editions correspond to a44a in DKL 3. 1–103. These editions correspond to a44c in DKL 3. 1–102, 104–105, 103. These editions correspond to a44d in DKL 3. d* lacks the melody to hymn 44. 1–79, 81–95, 80, 96–101, 104–105, 102–103. 1–101, 104–105, 102–103. No melody for hymn 44.
Appendix 2: Printing of Nicolaus Herman, Historien von der Sindflut, 1562–1607 1562 1563 1563 1563 1563 1564 1565 1566 1568 1569 1570 1571 1579 1580 1584 1589 1593 1595 1596 1603 1607
Wittenberg (G. Rhau Erben, 144 pp. 12°). Edition HS1A. [DKL 1562 03] Leipzig (J. Berwald, 191 pp. 8°). Edition HS1A. [DKL 1563 04] Nürnberg (V. Geyßler, 144 pp. 12°). Edition HS1A. [DKL 1563 05] Nürnberg (N. Knorr, 144 pp. 8°). Edition HS1A. [DKL 1563 06] Wittenberg (G. Rhau Erben, 144 pp. 8°). Edition HS1A. [DKL 1563 07] Nürnberg (N. Knorr, 144 pp. 8°). Edition HS1B. [DKL 1564 05] Leipzig (J. Berwald, 191 pp. 8°). Edition HS1A. [DKL 1565 05] Wittenberg (G. Rhau Erben, 144 pp. 12°). Edition HS1A. [DKL 1566 06] Nürnberg (N. Knorr, 144 pp. 8°). Edition HS1B. [DKL 1568 05] Leipzig (J. Berwald, 176 pp. 8°). Edition HS1A. [DKL 1569 09] Wittenberg (J. Schwertel, 143 pp. 12°). Edition HS1A. [DKL 1570 06] Nürnberg (V. Neuber, 144 pp. 8°). Edition HS?. [DKL 1571 06] Leipzig (J. Berwald Erben, 144 pp. 8°). Edition HS2. [DKL 1579 09] Nürnberg (V. Neuber, 144 pp. 8°). Edition HS1. [DKL 1580 07] Leipzig (J. Berwald Erben, 144 pp. 8°). Edition HS1. [DKL 1584 04] Eisleben (U. Gaubisch, 144 pp. 8°). Edition HS1B. [DKL 1589 06] Leipzig (Z. Berwald, 144 pp. 8°). Edition HS1B. [DKL 1593 06] Leipzig (J. Beyer, 144 pp. 8°). Edition HS1. [DKL 1595 04] Wittenberg (M. Welacks Witwen, 135 pp. 8°). Edition HS1. [DKL 1596 04] Leipzig (Berwald/J. Popporeich, 144 pp. 8°). Edition HS1B. [DKL 1603 03] Leipzig (J. Popporeich/Berwald[in], 167 pp. 8°). Edition HS1. [DKL 1607 04]
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Editions Titles HS1:
HS2:
Die Historien von der Sindfludt/Joseph/Mose/Helia/Elisa/vnd der Susanna/sampt etlichen historien aus den Euangelisten/Auch etliche Psalmen vnd geistliche Lieder/zu lesen vnd zu singen in Reyme gefasset/Fur Christliche Hausveter vnd jre Kinder/Durch Nicolaum Herman im Jochimsthal. Mit einer Vorrede M. Johannis Mathesij/ Pharherrns in S. Jochimsthal. Die Historien von der sündflut/Joseph/Mose/Helia/Elisa/vnd der Susanna/sampt etlichen Historien aus den far [!] Evangelisten/Auch etliche Psalmen vnd Geistliche Lieder/zu lesen vnd zu singen/in Reime gefasset/Für Christliche Haußväter vnd jre Kinder/Durch Nicolaum Herman im Jochimßthal. Mit einer Vorrede M. Johannis Matthesij/Pfarherrns in S. Jochimßthal.
Content (see Appendix 4) A B
HS 1–79 1–65, 67–68, 70, 74–77, 79. The contents of the HS editions in group B that were inspected seem to be the same as those listed under a46 in DKL 3, and these have been so listed.
Appendix 3: Contents of Nicolaus Herman, SonntagsEvangelia Page numbers according to Rudolf Wolkan, ed., Die Sonntags-Evangelia von Nicolaus Herman, Bibliothek Deutscher Schriftsteller aus Böhmen 2 (Vienna: Tempsky, 1895). 1
2 3 4 5
5b 6 7
8
9
Advent 1. Matthew 21. (p. 15) Gott Vater Schöpfer aller ding (W3 1351) Do Christus wolt ein lose gelt (W3 1352, 1388.1) Melody: DKL 3:A300, for the Gospels in Advent and Lent. Advent 2. Luke 21. (p. 17) Christus uns trewlich warnen thut (W3 1388.2) Advent 3. Matthew 11. (p. 19) Als Sanct Johan wust das er solt (W3 1388.3) Advent 4. John 1. (p. 21) Da S. Johannes am Jordan (W3 1388.4) Christmas. Luke 2. (p. 22) Keiser Augustus leget an (W3 1353) Melody: DKL 3:A301, or Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her (DKL 3:Ec30), or Von Himmel kam der Engel schar: DKL 3:Ei1. All the Gospels with four verses may be sung to this melody, or Sanct Paulus die Corinthier (DKL 3:B62), or So war ich leb (DKL 3:A306), or DKL 3:A51. Grates nunc omnes (p. 26) Dancket dem Herrn Christo John 1. (p. 26) Das Wort die Göttliche weisheit Three spiritual songs for Christmas, about the newborn child Jesus, for the children in Joachimsthal. N.H. (p. 28) Lobt Gott ir Christen alle gleich (W3 1365) Melody: DKL 3:B60 Second Christmas song. (p. 29) Nun frewt euch ir Christen leut (W3 1366) Melody: In natali Domini (DKL 3:Eg100B) The third song, in which the child Jesus exhorts the children to pray and study diligently, that he may grant them their prayer. (p. 31) Hort, ir liebsten Kinderlein (W3 1367) 181
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Appendix 3 Melody: As previous. Nunc Angelorum Gloria (p. 32) Heut sein die lieben Engelein (W3 1368) Omnis mundus iocundetur (p. 34) Seid frölich und jubilieret (W3 1369) A Christmas song about the infant Jesus, Genesis 3, for the children in Joachimsthal. (p. 34) Geborn ist uns der heilige Christ (W3 1370) Melody: Nobis est natus hodie, de pura virgine (DKL 3:Eg12B) Sunday after Christmas. Luke 2. (p. 36) Marie zeit verhanden ward New Year’s Day. Luke 2. (p. 37) Da Jhesus nach Jüdischer art (W3 1388.5) Epiphany, called Three Kings’ Day. Matthew 2. (p. 38) Die Weisen zu Herodes zeit Holy Innocents (p. 40) Als nu Herodes wurd gewar Epiphany 1. Luke 2. (p. 42) Zum Oster fest alle die Jar Epiphany 2. John 2. (p. 44) Zu Cana in Galilea Epiphany 3. Matthew 8. (p. 46) Da Christ der Herr vom berg hrab trat (W3 1388.6) Epiphany 4. Matthew 8. (p. 48) Christ der Herr in ein schifflein trat (W3 1388.7) Epiphany 5. Matthew 13. (p. 49) Ein gleichnis gab der Herre Christ Septuagesima. Matthew 20. (p. 50) Es ist einem Hausvater gleich (W3 1388.9) Sexagesima. Luke 8. (p. 52) Do bey dem Herrn versamelt war (W3 1388.8) Quinquagesima. Luke 18. (p. 54) Wir gehn nu gen Jerusalem (W3 1388.10) Lent 1. Matthew 4. (p. 56) Bald do Jhesus getauffet wurd (W3 1388.11) Lent 2. Matthew 15. (p. 58) Nicht weit von Tyro und Sydon (W3 1388.12) Lent 3. Luke 11. (p. 60) Jhesus durch sein Göttliche krafft (W3 1388.13) Lent 4. John 6. (p. 62) Als Jhesus schieffet uber Meer (W3 1388.14) Lent 5. John 8. (p. 64) Die Jüden rühmten hefftig sehr (W3 1388.15) On the foot washing on Maundy Thursday. John 13. (p. 68) Do Christ sein Jünger hat gespeisst (W3 1388.16) The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ (p. 68)
Appendix 3
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Da der Herr Christ zu tische saß (W3 1388.17) Melody: Kommt her zu mir spricht Gottes Sohn (DKL 3:B37), or Ich hab mein Sach zu Gott gestellt (DKL 3:A313) On Good Friday, the Sabbath, and Easter Day. (p. 75) Am Freitag mus ein jeder Christ (W3 1354) Easter. Mark 16. (p. 76) Am Sabbath frü Marien drey (W3 1355, 1388.18) Melody: DKL 3:A302. All the Gospels until Pentecost may be sung to this tune. A new spiritual song about the joyous resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ, for the maidens in the girls’ school in Joachimsthal. N.H. (p. 78) Erschienen ist der herrliche tag (W3 1374) Melody: DKL 3:A302 A spiritual song on the resurrection of the dead and eternal life, from 1 Corinthians 15. (p. 81) Sanct Paulus die Corinthier (W3 1375, 1388.55) Melody: DKL 3:A300 For Easter, the Victimae Paschali (p. 85) Christo dem Osterlemmelein (W3 1376) Melody: Erschienen ist der herrliche tag (DKL 3:A302), or Christ ist erstanden (DKL 3:Ea8) Easter Monday. Luke 24. (p. 88) Do Christ der rechte David hat Easter 2. John 20. (p. 91) Als die Jünger beysammen warn (W3 1388.19) Easter 3. John 10. (p. 93) Ich bin ein guter Hirt allein (W3 1388.20) Easter 4. John 16. (p. 95) Uber ein kleins der Herre spricht (W3 1388.21) Easter 5. John 16. (p. 96) Ich gehe zu dem der mich gesandt (W3 1388.22) Easter 6. John 16. (p. 98) Warlich warlich sprach Christ der Herr (W3 1388.23) Ascension. Mark 16. (p. 99) Do die eilff Jünger beysamen warn (W3 1388.24) Festum Nunc Celebre (p. 100) Mein hertz fur freud auffspringt (W3 1356) Melody: DKL 3:B13 Hymn on the Ascension of Christ. (p. 103) Als viertzig tag nach Ostern warn (W3 1357) Melody: DKL 3:A302 Christ fuhr gen Himel, improved. (p. 106) Christ fuhr gen Himmele (W3 1358) Easter 7. John 15–16. (p. 107) Christus sprach der getrewe Hirt (W3 1388.25) Pentecost. John 14. (p. 108)
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Appendix 3 Wer mich lieb hat mein wort der helt (W3 1388.26) Pentecost (p. 110) Als nu erfüllet was die zeit (W3 1388.57) Melody: Spiritus sancti gratia (DKL 3:A242), or Erschienen ist der herliche tag (DKL 3:A302) Whitmonday. John 3. (p. 112) Also hat Gott geliebt die Welt (W3 1388.27) Trinity Sunday. John 3. (p. 113) Ein fürnembster Phariseer Trinity 1. Gospel about the rich man. Luke 16. (p. 115) Es was ein mal ein reicher Man (W3 1388.28) Melody: DKL 3:A303. For the Gospels with four verses. Trinity 2. Luke 14. (p. 119) Ein mensch macht ein gros abendmal (W3 1388.29) Trinity 3. Luke 15. (p. 121) Zun Sündern sich der Herr geselt (W3 1388.30) Trinity 4. Luke 16. (p. 123) Seid barmhertzig spricht Jhesus Christ (W3 1388.31) Trinity 5. Luke 5. (p. 125) Viel Volck am See Genezareth (W3 1388.32) Trinity 6. Matthew 5. (p. 126) Da Christus sah die gleisnerey (W3 1388.33) Trinity 7. Matthew 5. (p. 128) Do eins viel volcks beim Herren war (W3 1388.34) Trinity 8. Matthew 6. (p. 130) Nembt der falschen Propheten war (W3 1388.35) Trinity 9, on the unfaithful steward. Luke 16 (p. 131) Es was ein mal ein reicher Man (W3 1388.36) Trinity 10. Luke 19. (p. 134) Do Christ der Herr nu kam gar naht (W3 1388.37) Trinity 11. Luke 18 (p. 135) Etliche die vermassen sich (W3 1388.38) Trinity 12. Mark 7. (p. 137) Es wandert Christus Gottes Son (W3 1388.39) Trinity 13. Luke 10. (p. 139) Selig seid ir sprach Christ der Herr (W3 1388.40) Trinity 14, on the ten lepers. Luke 17. (p. 142) Jhesus zoch gen Jerusalem Trinity 15. Matthew 6. (p. 144) Jhesus zu seinen Jüngern sprach (W3 1388.41) Trinity 16. Luke 7. (p. 146) Ein Witfraw hatt ein einigen Son (W3 1360, 1388.42) Trinity 17. Luke 14. (p. 148) An eim Sabbath aß Christ der Herr (W3 1388.43) Trinity 18. Matthew 22. (p. 150) Christ der Herr wie Mattheus schreibt (W3 1388.44)
Appendix 3 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77
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Trinity 19. Matthew 9. (p. 152) Aus dem schiff uff das land raus trat (W3 1361, 1388.45) Trinity 20. Matthew 22. (p. 154) Christus lert das sein Himmelreich (W3 1388.46) Trinity 21. John 4. (p. 156) Eins Königs Amptman het ein Son (W3 1388.47) Trinity 22. Matthew 18. (p. 158) Petrus beim Herrn ein frag legt ein Trinity 23. Matthew 22. (p. 160) Da Jhesus mit dem Hochzeit kleidt (W3 1388.48) Trinity 24. Matthew 9. (p. 161) Ein Schulmeister hies Jairus (W3 1388.49) Trinity 25. Matthew 24. (p. 164) Daniel geweissaget hat (W3 1388.50) Trinity 26, on the Last Judgment. Matthew 25. (p. 166) Weil in der argen bösen Welt (W3 1362) Melody: DKL 3:A304, or Vater unser im Himmelreich (DKL 3:Eb35). Trinity 27. Matthew 5. (p. 170) Christus stieg uff ein berg hinauff (W3 1363, 1388.51) Some use another text for the last Sunday after Trinity, from Matthew 25, on the ten virgins. (p. 173) Do Christ sein Jünger warnen thet (W3 1388.52) A spiritual song for the children, in which they pray for the welfare of the whole town and the improvement of the mines. (p. 175) Herr segen unser Kirch und Schul (W3 1364) Melody: Erhalt uns Herr (DKL 3:Ee21) Conversion of Paul. Acts 9. (p. 177) Saulus umbs gsetz eivert gar sehr Purification of Mary. Luke 2. (p. 180) Do Maria im Kindelbett (W3 1371, 1388.53) A song about St. Dorothy, which is an instruction for a Christian maiden . . . Made for his daughter Dorothy. (p. 183) Es was ein Gottfürchtiges (W3 1372) Melody: In Dorotheae festo congaudete (DKL 3:A253) Matthias. Matthew 11 (p. 187) Als Johannes zu Christo sand (W3 1388.54) Annunciation. Luke 1. (p. 189) Da komen solt der welt Heilandt (W3 1373) Philip and James. John 14. (p. 191) Do Jhesus jetzt inn Todt gehn solt (W3 1388.56) St. John the Baptist (p. 194) Wir wollen singen ein lobgesang A Christian Abendreien on the life and work [Ampt] of John the Baptist, for chaste [züchtige] Christian maidens. (p. 195) Kompt her ir liebsten Schwesterlein (W3 1377) Melody: DKL 3:B60
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Appendix 3 Peter and Paul. Matthew 16. (p. 204) Christ der Herr seine Jünger fragt Mary Magdalene. Luke 7. (p. 206) Do Jhesus Schöpffer aller ding (W3 1388.58) The same Gospel on Mary Magdalene, rendered a second time. (p. 208) Unser Heiland der Herre Christ James. Matthew 20. (p. 211) Die schrifft zeigt uns an klar und hell (W3 1388.59) St. Lawrence. (p. 213) Jhesus zu seinen Jüngern sprach:/So mir (W3 1378) Melody: From St. Michael’s Day (DKL 3:A305), or Kommt her zu mir spricht Gottes Sohn (DKL 3:B37). Matthew. Matthew 9. (p. 216) Jhesum Christum, der welt Heiland (W3 1388.60) Michael, on the dear angels. (p. 219) Heut singt die liebe Christenheit (W3 1379) Melody: DKL 3:A305 A hymn on true faith, which alone saves and is active through love. Against the hypocrites and mouth-Christians, composed in Joachimsthal by N.H. (p. 223) Wer hie fur Gott wil sein gerecht (W3 1380) Melody: DKL 3:Eg97A, or Wo Gott zum Haus (DKL 3:Ee10), or Erhalt uns Herr (DKL 3:Ee21). A hymn on the Office of the Keys and the power of holy absolution, for the children in Joachimsthal. (p. 227) So war ich leb spricht Gott der Herr (W3 1381) Melody: DKL 3:A306 Prayer and thanksgiving before and after meals. (p. 229) Alle die augen warten Herr auf dich (W3 1382) Melody: DKL 3:A307 The Gratias (p. 231) Dancket dem Herren heut und allezeit (W3 1383) The morning blessing. (p. 232) Die helle Sonn leucht jtzt herfür (W3 1384) Melody: Wo Gott zum Haus (DKL 3:Ee10) The evening blessing. (p. 233) Hienunter ist der Sonnen schein (W3 1385) Melody: See previous. A hymn from Psalm 56 or 104, praying for good weather, or a favorable rain and the fruit in the fields, etc. For the church in Joachimsthal. (p. 234) Gott Vater der du deine Sonn (W3 1386) Melody: DKL 3:A308 Afterword to Christian housefathers. (p. 236) Ein Christlicher Haussvater soll Afterword to the children. (p. 239) Ir allerliebsten Kinderlein (W3 1387)
Appendix 3 104
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Epitaph of the honorable Matthes Enderlein, imperial administrator in Joachimsthal, my dear lord, friend, and patron. Mit müh hab ich mein tag bracht zu Another. Ich schlaff allhie in guter rhu
Note: Wackernagel prints the concluding prayer stanzas of sixty of Herman’s hymns from the SE under W3 1388.
Appendix 4: Contents of Nicolaus Herman, Historien
Page numbers according to Die Historien von der Sindflut . . . (Leipzig: J. Berwald, 1569). 1
2
3 4
5
5b 6
7
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A miners’ song [Berglied] composed in honor of Joachimsthal. N.H. (f. B7r) Ich preis den werden Jochimsthal (W3 1391) Melody: GGGddedc (not in DKL 3) On the Flood (f. C1r) Ich nam mir für in meinem mut (W3 1392) Melody: DKL 3:A309 Second part: how things went after the Flood. (f. C4r) Als die Erd wider trocken war (W3 1393) The fair history of Joseph. Genesis 37. (f. C7r) Von Joseph dem züchtigen Heldt Melody: DKL 3:A305, or Kommt her zu mir spricht Gottes Sohn (DKL 3:B37) Second part: how Joseph’s brothers came to Egypt and he made himself known to them. (f. D4v) Joseph die sieben fruchtbar Jar Interpretation of Joseph’s history. (f. E2v) Joseph ein rechtes fürbild ist (W3 1394) Two new miners’ songs. The first against the boastful Thrasones and vengeful people who judge and condemn everyone. The second on discretion and gentleness [Bescheidenheit und Sanftmut] for rulers and teachers against the boastful and willful heads. (f. E3v) Drey R. gebüren Gott alein (W3 1395) Melody: DKL 3:A310 (in two parts) Another miners’ song on discretion and gentleness. (f. E6r) Wer schnurt und purt allzeit im Haus (W3 1396) Melody: DKL 3:A311 (in two parts) The history of Moses, how God miraculously saved him in his childhood and he afterward led the people of Israel out of Egypt. Rendered in verse and song. (f. F1r) Des aller höchsten Gottes macht 189
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Appendix 4 Melody: DKL 3:A304, or Vater unser im Himmelreich (DKL 3:Eb35) How Moses slew an Egyptian and fled and came to Midian, where the Lord appeared to him in a fiery bush. (f. F3v) Da Moses zu sein Jaren kam How Moses returned to Egypt and appeared before Pharaoh with his brother Aaron. (f. F6r) Moses zog in Egyptenlandt Here follow the great and miraculous signs and ten plagues that God wrought in Egypt through Moses and Aaron before Pharaoh. (f. F8v) Itzund wölln wir nun heben an On the institution of the Passover lamb, and how all the firstborn in Egypt were destroyed and Israel came forth. (f. G4r) Da Gott Egypten schlagen wolt (W3 1397) Interpretation of the Passover lamb. (f. G8v) Durchs Osterlamb bedeutet ist On the Prophet Elijah. (f. H1r) Keins Menschen zung aussprechen kan Melody: DKL 3:A300 How Elijah punished King Ahab and the people of Israel and slew the prophets of Baal. (f. H3r) Als nu drey jar für über warn (W3 1398) How Elijah had to flee from Jezebel, and how the Lord appeared to him. (f. H5r) Als nu Helias der Prophet How Ahab sinned and took the vineyard from Naboth, and Jezebel had Naboth stoned. (f. H6v) Achab erzürnet weiter Gott How Elijah denied King Ahaziah his life and called down fire from heaven that consumed a hundred men. (f. H7v) Ahasia nachs Vatern tod How Elijah ascended to heaven in a fiery chariot (f. I1v) Da nu Helias seinen lauff Here follows the fair history of the prophet Elisha from 2 Kings 2. (f. I2v) Von Elisa dem thewren Man (W3 1399) Melody: See the previous. How Elisha restored and made healthful the bitter and unhealthful water at Jericho. (f. I4r) Die Bürgerschafft zu Jericho How Elisha was mocked by wicked knaves, and two bears came and tore to pieces forty-two boys. (f. I4v) Und da er gieng gen Bethel hnauff How King Joram went to war against the king of the Moabites, and his army came into extremity for lack of water, and the prophet helped him and punished him for his idolatry. 2 Kings 3. (f. I5v)
Appendix 4
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Joram der König Israel On the poor widow whom Elisha helped so that she could pay her creditors. 2 Kings 4. (f. I7r). Ein Widfraw wurd sehr hart getriebn Apostrophe & Consolatio ad uxorem suam (f. I8r) Drumb sey getrost mein liebes Weib (W3 1400) On the Shunamite, who gave Elisha lodging, and how he prayed God for a son for her and raised the same from death. (f. I8v) Ein Christlichs Weib zu Sunem was How Elisha in time of famine took in poor students and fed them. (f. K3r) Darnach fiel ein ein schwinde zeit On Naaman, the leprous commander from Syria, and how Elisha made him whole. 2 Kings 5. (f. K4v) Es was ein berhümbter Heuptman (W3 1401) How Elisha made the axe that had fallen into the water float to the surface. 2 Kings 6. (f. K8v) Elisa mit sein Jüngern gieng How Elisha revealed the secret attack of the Syrian king, and the king would have seized him, but he led the whole host into the hands of their enemies in Samaria. (f. L1r) Der Syrer anschleg Elisa On the siege of the city of Samaria and the great famine that took place in Samaria. (f. L3r) Darnach uber ein lange zeit A history of a famine in Samaria that lasted seven years, and concerning the widow whose son Elisha raised from death. 2 Kings 8. (f. L6r) Elisa redet mit dem Weib How Elisha anointed Jehu king, and he slew Jezebel and the whole family of Ahab and drove out all the prophets of Baal. 2 Kings 9. (f. L7r) Als nu fürhanden war die zeit On the death of Elisha, from 2 Kings 13.(f. L8v) Da Elisa bald sterben solt Si bona suscepimus, the song of long-suffering Job. (f. M2r) Als Job der Gottfürchtige Man (W3 1402) Melody: DKL 3:A303 On Susanna. (f. M3v) Von wünderlichen dingen (W3 1403) Melody: In Dorothaeo festo, DKL 3:A253C, or Lobt Gott ir fromen Christen, DKL 3:B55. The First Psalm of David (f. N2r) Wer zum Gottlosen sich nit gselt Psalm 2. (f. N2v) Wie sind die Heiden doch so toll (W3 1404) Melody: Es ist das Heil uns kommen her (DKL 3:Ea2)
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Appendix 4 Psalm 3. (f. N4r) Ach Gott wie viel sind meiner Feind (W3 1405) Psalm 91. (f. N5r) Wer auff Gott setzt sein zuversicht (W3 1406) Psalm 91, rendered a second time. (f. N6r) Wer sein vertrawn und zuversicht (W3 1407) Psalm 91, which David sang after God had preserved him in the great plague in which seventy thousand men perished in Israel within three days . . . N.H. (f. N7v) Wer bey Gott schutz und hülffe sucht (W3 1408) Melody: Ach Gott vom Himmel sieh darein (DKL 3:Ea5), or Nun freut euch lieben Christen (DKL 3:B15) Psalm 103. (f. O1v) Nu lob mein Seel den Herrn und Gott (W3 1409) For the third Sunday after the new year [Epiphany 3]. Matthew 8. (f. O3v) Da Christus warer Mensch und Gott (W3 1410) Easter Monday. Luke 24. (f. O6r) Da Christ der rechte David hat (W3 1411; also SE 37) On the Lost Son. Luke 15. (f. O8r) Es war ein ungeratnes Kind (W3 1412) Second part. (f. P2r) Am abend da vom feld heim kam (W3 1413) A hymn, which is a prayer for a blessed last hour, from the saying of Augustine, Turbabor, sed non perturbabor, quia vulnerum Christi recordabor. (f. P4r) Wenn mein Stündlein fürhanden ist (W3 1413) Melody: As on the Flood (DKL 3:A309), or Es ist das Heil uns kommen her (DKL 3:Ea2). On Lazarus, whom the Lord raised from the dead. John 11. (f. P4v) Lazarus zu Bethania (W3 1414) Christ addresses death, from Hosea 12. Ero mors tua ò mors, Mors tuus ero inferne. (f. P7r) O Todt ich wil dir sein ein Gifft (W3 1416) The blessed conversation of our Lord Christ with the Samaritan woman. John 4. (f. P7r) Da Jhesus durch Samariam History of the sick man who had lain thirty-eight years by the pool of Bethesda, and the Lord Christ healed him. John 5. (f. Q2r) Gott Vater in seim höchsten Rath (W3 1417) Melody: As on the Flood (DKL 3:A309), or Ach Gott von Himmel (DKL 3:Ea5), or Es ist das Heil uns kommen her (DKL 3:Ea2), and the like. History of the beggar born blind whom the Lord Christ healed. John 9. (f. Q5r) Am weg ein Blinder Betler sass
Appendix 4
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Melody: As the previous, or Aus tiefer Not (DKL 3:Ea6), or Nun freut euch (DKL 3:B15), etc. On the Transfiguration of our Lord Christ on Mt. Tabor. Matthew 17. (f. R5r) Unser Herr Christ die Herrligkeit On the Last Day. (f. R5r) Freud euch ir Christen alle gleich (W3 1418) Melody: DKL 3:Eg97A On unfeigned Christian love of the neighbor. (f. R5r) Ein warer Glaub Gottes zorn stillt (W3 1420) Melody: See previous. A spiritual song on the wretchedness of the human race, on death and how it has been overcome in Christ and therefore should not be feared. Comforting to sing in time of plague. N.H. (f. R7v) Der Mensch wird von eim Weib geborn (W3 1421) Melody: DKL 3:B67 Psalm 15 (f. S2r) Wer wird bey Gott im höchsten Thron (W3 1422) Melody: Wo Gott zum Haus (DKL 3:Ee10) On the inchoate obedience and new life, from the previous Psalm 15. (f. S4r) Wer durch den Glauben ist gerecht (W3 1423) A song of comfort, against worry about house and stomach, from the Gospel and Psalms. (f. S5v) Ah Gott wie gehts doch imer zu (W3 1424) Melody: Wo Gott der Herr nicht bei uns (DKL 3:Ea18), or Nun freut euch (DKL 3:B15) The verse “Abraham believed, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” set in a song. Genesis 15. (f. S7v) Von Abraham geschrieben ist (W3 1425) Melody: DKL 3:A312. A spiritual song from Romans 12. (f. T1r) Paulus der Heiden Prediger (W3 1426) Melody: As the previous, or Sanct Paulus die Corinthier (DKL 3:A300) A Christian song, to strengthen faith amid temptation [Anfechtung] (f. T3r) Meim lieben Gott ergeb ich mich (W3 1427) A spiritual song against carelessness [Sicherheit], and on the guile and cunning of the devil. (f.T4v ) Wer steht der schaw das er nicht fall (W3 1428) Melody: DKL 3:A313, or Kommt her zu mir spricht Gottes Son (DKL 3:B37), or Ich hab mein Sach zu Gott gestellt (DKL 3:A313), or as with the history of Joseph (DKL 3:A305) On Peter’s fall and his presumption (f.T6r) Was Menschen krafft was fleisch und Blut (W3 1429)
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Appendix 4 On the sending of the Apostles, and the preaching office. Matt. 10. (f. T7r) Wie holdselig sind doch die Füß (W3 1430) An Abendreihen on the Lord Christ, for Christian maidens to perform (vorzusingen). (f. V1v) Ir Schwesterlein, Ir Schwesterlein (W3 1431) Melody: DKL 3:A314 A dialogue between two Christian maidens on the benefit and power of holy baptism, set in an Abendreihen and arranged in questions and answers. (f. V3v) Wil niemand singen so wil singen ich (W3 1432) Melody: DKL 3:A315 The fourth petition [of the Lord’s Prayer], for daily bread. (f. V5r) Bescher uns Herr das teglich Brot (W3 1433) Crux fidelis (f. V6r) O Heilgs Creutz daran Christus starb (W3 1434) Melody: Just as it is sung in Latin (DKL 3:A262). A spiritual song for Christian travelers [Wanderleut]. (f. V8v) In Gottes Namen fahren wir (W3 1435) A song, when the young students are brought to the school on Gregory’s Day. (f. X1r) Kompt mit uns lieben Kinderlein (W3 1436) Melody: DKL 3:A316 A song, containing a prayer that God would uphold Christian schools and teachers. (f. X3v) Herr Christe der du selbs bestelst (W3 1441) Melody: DKL 3:A317 A wedding song. (f. X5r) Gott schuf Adam grecht from und weis (W3 1442) Melody: DKL 3:A318 Another wedding song, from the Gospel of the wedding at Cana in Galilee. (f. X6v) Da auff Erden gieng Christ der Herr (W3 1443) A wedding song, in honor of the noble Graf and Lord, Herr Andreas Schlick . . . (f. X7v) Graff Andres Schlick der Edle Herr (W3 1444) Melody: DKL 3:B60 How one should serenade a bride when she is brought home [beyleget]. (f. X8v) Hieher hieher für eines fromen Breutgams thür (W3 1445) Melody: DKL 3:A319 Ad Imaginem Mortis. The image of death speaks. (f. Y2r) O Mensch mit vleis anschawe mich (W3 1446) A meditation [Betrachtung] on death. (f. Y2v) Mit Todesgdancken gehe ich umb (W3 1448)
Appendix 4 76
77 78
79
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On the Last Judgment. From the Gospel for the second Sunday in Advent. Luke 21. (f. Y3v) Christus wird komen zu Gericht The churchyard [Gottsacker]. (f. Y4r) Gottsacker heisst der weite platz Epitaph of Johann Hausschild, of blessed memory, the honorable and faithful friend of the school and lover of music. (f. Y5r) Hie leit Hans Hawenschild begraben Beschlusrede (f. Y6v) Dis Büchlein hie sein end sol han
Abbreviations
ADB AM Jáchymov ARG BekS Chronica
CR
DKL
EuA HAB HCL HDS HS
JbLH JGPÖ
Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie Karlovy Vary (Czech Republic), Státní okresní archiv, Archiv mesto Jáchymov. Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte Bekenntnisschriften der evangelisch-lutherischen Kirche, 12th ed. (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1998). Johann Mathesius et al., Die Joachimsthaler Chronik von 1516–1617, ed. Karl Siegl (Schlackenwerth: Schöniger, 1923). Corpus Reformatorum: Philippi Melanthonis Opera quae supersunt omnia, ed. Karl Gottlieb Bretschneider, 28 vols. (Halle a.S.: Schwetschke, 1834–1860). Das deutsche Kirchenlied: Kritische Gesamtausgabe der Melodien, ed. Konrad Ameln et al., Band I: Verzeichnis der Drucke. Répertoire international des sources musicales B/ VIII/1–2, 2 vols. (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1975/1980). Part 3, Die Melodien aus gedruckten Quellen bis 1680, Band 1: Die Melodien bis 1570, ed. Joachim Stalmann, three vols. in six (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1993–1998). Erbe und Auftrage der Reformation in den böhmischen Ländern Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel (Germany) Harvard College Library Harvard Divinity School Library Nicolaus Herman, Die Historien von der Sindflut, Joseph, Mose, Helia, Elisa, und der Susanna, sampt etlichen Historien aus den Evangelisten, Auch etliche Psalmen und Geistliche Lieder zu lesen und zu singen in Reime gefasset, Für Christliche Hausveter und ire Kinder (Wittenberg: Rhau, 1562). Cited from the edition Leipzig: Berwald, 1569, by number. See Appendix 4. Jahrbuch für Liturgik und Hymnologie Jahrbuch der Gesellschaft für die Geschichte des Protestantismus in Österreich 197
198
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Abbreviations
Loesche, Johannes Mathesius Mathesius, Ausgewählte Werke Mathesius, Bekenntnis
Mathesius, “Bericht”
Mathesius, Catechismus Mathesius, Corinthier
Mathesius, Diluvium Mathesius, Postilla Mathesius, Prophetica Mathesius, Sarepta
MVGDB MGG
NG 2
Johannes Mathesius: Ein Lebens- und Sitten-Bild aus der Reformationszeit, two vols. (Gotha: Perthes, 1895; repr. Nieuwkoop: De Graaf, 1971). Johannes Mathesius, Ausgewählte Werke, ed. Georg Loesche, four vols., Bibliothek Deutscher Schriftsteller aus Böhmen 4, 6, 9, 14 (Prague: Calve et al., 1897–1908). Johann Mathesius, Bekantnuß Vom Heyligen Abendmahl unsers lieben Herren Jesu Christi, jetzt in dieser gefehrlichen zeit, allen frommen Christen zur lehr unnd trost (Nürnberg: D. Gerlatz/J. von Berg, 1567). Johann Mathesius, “Ein kurtzer bericht von der Lehr und Ceremonien der Christlichen Kirchen in S. Joachimsthal,” in Postilla, das ist, Außlegung der Sontags und fürnemsten Fest Euangelien, uber das gantze jar (Nürnberg: J. von Bergs Erben, 1567). Cited from G. Loesche, ed., “Die evangelischen Kirchenordnungen Oesterreichs: Die Kirchenordnung von Joachimsthal in Böhmen, 1551,” JGPÖ 15 (1894):1–57. Johann Mathesius, Catechismus, Das ist, Trostreiche und Nützliche Auslegung uber die Fünff Heubtstück der Christlichen Lehre, two vols. (Leipzig: Beyer, 1586). Johann Mathesius, Homiliae Mathesii. Das ist: Außlegung und gründliche Erklerung der Ersten und Andern Episteln des heiligen Apostels Pauli an die Corinthier, two vols. (Leipzig: Beyer, 1590). Johann Mathesius, Diluvium Mathesij, das ist Auslegung und Erklerung der schrecklichen und hinwider gantz tröstlichen historien von der Sündfluth (Leipzig: Beyer, 1587). Johann Mathesius, Postilla/Oder außlegung der Sontags Euangelien uber das gantze jar (Nürnberg: U. Neuber & J. vom Bergs Erben, 1565). Johann Mathesius, Postilla Prophetica, Oder/Spruchpostill des Alten Testaments, two vols (Leipzig: Beyer, 1589). Johann Mathesius, Sarepta oder Bergpostill Sampt der Jochimßthalischen kurtzen Chronicken (Nürnberg: U. Newber & J. vom Bergs Erben, 1564; repr. two vols. Prague: Národní technické muzeum, 1975). Mitteilungen des Vereines für Geschichte der Deutschen in Böhmen Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart: allgemeine Enzyklopadie der Musik, 1st ed., ed. Friedrich Blume, seventeen vols. (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1949–1986); 2nd ed., ed. Ludwig Finscher (Kassel: Bärenreiter/Stuttgart: Metzler, 1994–). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie, 2nd electronic ed. (London: Macmillan, 2001).
Abbreviations NDB
RGG 3 SBB SE
TLH
VD16
WA WA Ar WA Br WA DB WA TR WB
W
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199
Neue deutsche Biographie, ed. Historische Kommission bei der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 19+ vols. (Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 1953–). Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart, 3rd ed. (Tübingen: Mohr, 1959). Staatsbibliothek, Berlin (Germany) Nicolaus Herman, Die Sontags Evangelia, und von den fürnemsten Festen uber das gantze Jar, In Gesenge gefasset fur Christliche Haussveter und ire Kinder (Wittenberg: G. Rhau Erben, 1561); cited from Die Sonntags-Evangelia von Nicolaus Herman, ed. Rudolf Wolkan, Bibliothek Deutscher Schriftsteller aus Böhmen 2 (Vienna: Tempsky, 1895), by number. See Appendix 3. The Lutheran Hymnal, ed. Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference of North America (Saint Louis: Concordia, 1941). Verzeichnis der im deutschen Sprachbereich erscheinenen Drucke des 16. Jahrhunderts, twenty-five vols. (Stuttgart: Anton Hiersemann, 1983–2000). D. Martin Luthers Werke: Kritische Gesamtausgabe, four series: 89 vols. in 108 (Weimar: H. Böhlau, 1883–). Archiv zur Weimarer Ausgabe Weimarer Ausgabe: Briefwechsel Weimarer Ausgabe: Deutsche Bibel Weimarer Ausgabe: Tischreden Philipp Wackernagel, Bibliographie zur Geschichte des deutschen Kirchenliedes im XVI. Jahrhundert (Frankfurt: Heyder & Zimmer, 1855; repr. Hildesheim: Olms, 1987). Philipp Wackernagel, Das deutsche Kirchenlied von der ältesten Zeit bis zu Anfang des XVII. Jahrhunderts, five vols. (Leipzig: Teubner, 1864–1867; repr. Hildesheim: Olms, 1990).
Notes
1. Hymns, Hymnals, and the Reformation 1. Thomas à Jesu, De procuranda salute omnium gentium, Schismaticorum, Haereticorum, Iudaeorum, Sarracenorum, caeterorumque Infidelium Libri XII. (Antwerp: p. Bellerus, 1613), p. 514 [HAB]; Adam Contzen, Politicorum libri decem in quibus de perfectae reipublicae forma, virtutibus, et vitiis, Institutione civium, Legibus, Magistratu Ecclesiastico, civili, potentia Reipublicae; itemque Seditione et bello, ad usum vitamque communem accomodatè tractatur (Mainz: 1620), p. 100 [HAB]. See discussions of these views in Eduard Emil Koch, Geschichte des Kirchenlieds und Kirchengesangs der christlichen, inbesondere der deutschen evangelischen, Kirche, 3rd ed., vol. 1 (Stuttgart: C. Belser, 1866; repr. Hildesheim: Olms, 1973), p. 244; DietzRüdiger Moser, Verkündigung durch Volksgesang: Studien zur Liedpropaganda und -katechese der Gegenreformation (Berlin: E. Schmidt, 1981), p. 16. 2. Johann Gerhard, preface to Mauritius Moltzer, Christlich Gesangbuch Uber alle Son- und Feyer-Tägliche heilige Evangelia und Episteln (Jena: J. Weidner, 1619), f. )?( 7r [SBB]. 3. See Ronald Po-Chia Hsia, Social Discipline in the Reformation: Central Europe 1550–1570 (London: Routledge, 1989), p. 154; Gerald Strauss, Luther’s House of Learning: Indoctrination of the Young in the Lutheran Reformation (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1978), p. 301. 4. See the discussion of Peter Blickle’s views in Steven Ozment, Protestants: The Birth of a Revolution (New York: Doubleday, 1992), pp. 120–121. 5. See in particular Strauss’s argument that the Reformers quickly abandoned their early faith in household religion and turned instead to the coercive arms of the early modern state: Luther’s House of Learning, for example, pp. 3–10. In contrast, on the capability of developed Protestant institutions to preserve lay prerogatives, see Steven Ozment, The Reformation in the Cities: The Appeal of Protestantism in Sixteenth-Century Germany and Switzerland (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1975), pp. 164–166. 6. See Lyndal Roper, The Holy Household: Religion, Morals, and Order in Reformation Europe (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989), and the discussion in Steven Ozment, Ancestors: The Loving Family in Old Europe (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2001), p. 31. 201
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7. See Strauss, Luther’s House of Learning, pp. 302–305. 8. See, for example, Robert Scribner, For the Sake of Simple Folk: Popular Propaganda for the German Reformation, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Clarendon, 1994), pp. 248f. 9. See, for example, Strauss, Luther’s House of Learning, pp. 303, 307, and passim. 10. Scribner, For the Sake of Simple Folk, p. 249; Strauss, Luther’s House of Learning, p. 299. 11. Strauss, Luther’s House of Learning, p. 267. 12. See James Kittelson, “Visitations and Popular Religious Culture: Further Reports from Strasbourg,” in Pietas et Societas: New Trends in Reformation Social History: Essays in Memory of Harold J. Grimm, ed. Kyle Sessions and Phillip Bebb, Sixteenth Century Essays and Studies 4 (Kirksville, Mo.: Sixteenth Century Journal, 1985), pp. 89–101; Kittelson, “Successes and Failures in the German Reformation,” ARG 73 (1982):153–174. See also Ozment, Protestants, pp. 170f. 13. See Markus Jenny, “Kirchenlied, Gesangbuch, und Kirchenmusik,” in Martin Luther und die Reformation in Deutschland (Frankfurt: Insel, 1983), p. 312. 14. The Verzeichnis der im deutschen Sprachbereich erschienenen Drucke des XVI. Jahrhunderts (Stuttgart: Anton Hiersemann, 1983–2000), cited as VD16, lists 330 sixteenth-century editions of the Small Catechism (L5020–L5349) and 45 editions of Luther’s Gebetbuchlein (L4081–L4125). In comparison, there were 83 editions of Luther’s Hauspostil (L4831–L4913) and 76 of the Kirchenpostil (L5591–L5666); there were 189 editions of Luther’s complete German Bible (B2673–B2863), 86 Old Testaments (B2889–B2974), 254 New Testaments (B4311–4313, B4317–B4497, B4499–B4568), 12 Apocrypha, and 597 editions of individual Biblical or Apocryphal books and groups of books (B2980–B4004 passim; B4682–B5281 passim). 15. Susan Karant-Nunn, The Reformation of Ritual: An Interpretation of Early Modern Germany (London: Routledge, 1997), pp. 136, 196. 16. Robert Scribner, “Flugblatt und Analphabetentum,” in Flugschriften als Massenmedium der Reformationszeit (Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 1981), pp. 69f. However, in For the Sake of Simple Folk, p. 222, Scribner discusses an illustrated broadsheet with the text of Luther’s hymn “Erhalt uns Herr” without recognizing it as one of the most widely-sung hymns of the period—something with which the original viewers of the woodcut would almost certainly have been familiar already. (Scribner also overlooks the overt Trinitarian structure of both the hymn and the image.) The interpretation of many supposedly ambiguous Lutheran images must have been greatly facilitated for sixteenth-century laity by the theological context provided by the hymns. See the section “Art, Music, and Sanctity” in Chapter 5. 17. Strauss, Luther’s House of Learning, pp. 231–236. Strauss charges that it is impossible to know how or whether the hymns affected their sixteenth-century
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audience. For Strauss’s speculation on the effects of the catechisms, see ibid., pp. 209–222. For a more positive appraisal of the role of the Lutheran hymns and hymnals, see Miriam Usher Chrisman, Lay Culture, Learned Culture: Books and Social Change in Strasbourg, 1480–1599 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1982), pp. 155, 165f. 18. The major bibliographic sources are Karl Ameln and Markus Jenny, eds., Das deutsche Kirchenlied: kritische Gesamtausgabe der Melodien 1, Repertoire international des sources musicales 8.1–2 (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1975), cited as DKL by catalogue number, or by volume and page; Philipp Wackernagel, Bibliographie zur Geschichte des deutschen Kirchenliedes im XVI. Jahrhundert (Frankfurt: Heyder and Zimmer, 1855; reprint, Hildesheim: Olms, 1987), cited as WB with catalogue number and preface number [pref.], or by page, with additional bibliographic entries in the volumes of his 1864–1867 collection of hymn texts (see note 19). 19. Philipp Wackernagel, ed. Das deutsche Kirchenlied von der ältesten Zeit bis zu Anfang des XVII. Jahrhunderts, 5 vols. (Leipzig: Teubner, 1864–1867; reprint, Hildesheim: Olms, 1990), cited as W1–W5 by hymn number or by bibliographic number [bib.] and preface-number [pref.]; for the seventeenth century, Albert Fischer and Wilhelm Tümpel, eds., Das deutsche evangelische Kirchenlied des 17. Jahrhunderts, 6 vols. (Gütersloh: C. Bertelsmann, 1904–1916; reprint, Hildesheim: Olms, 1964). 20. Das deutsche Kirchenlied: Kritische Gesamtausgabe der Melodien, Abteilung III: Die Melodien aus gedruckten Quellen bis 1680 (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1993– present), cited as DKL 3; Johannes Zahn, Die Melodien der deutschen evangelischen Kirchenlieder, 6 vols. (Gütersloh, 1889–1893; reprint, Hildesheim: Olms, 1963); Wilhelm Bäumker, Das katholische deutsche Kirchenlied in seinen Singweisen, 4 vols. (Freiburg im Breisgau: Herder, 1886–1911; reprint Hildesheim: Olms, 1997). 21. Emil Sehling, ed., Die evangelischen Kirchenordnungen des XVI. Jahrhunderts, 15+ vols. (Leipzig: Reisland, 1902–present). 22. Gerhard Hahn, Evangelium als literarische Anweisung: zu Luthers Stellung in der Geschichte des deutschen kirchlichen Liedes, Münchener Texte und Untersuchungen zur deutschen Literatur des Mittelalters 73 (München: Artemis, 1981); Waldtraut Ingeborg Sauer-Geppert, Sprache und Frömmigkeit im deutschen Kirchenlied: Vorüberlegungen zu einer Darstellung seiner Geschichte (Kassel: J. Stauda, 1984); Patrice Veit, Das Kirchenlied in der Reformation Martin Luthers: Eine thematische und semantische Untersuchung, Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für Europaische Geschichte Mainz 120 (Stuttgart: F. Steiner, 1986); Veit, “Gottes Bild und Bild des Menschen in den Liedern Luthers,” in Das protestantische Kirchenlied im 16. und 17. Jahrhundert, ed. Alfred Dürr and Walther Killy, Wolfenbüttler Forschungen 31 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1986), pp. 9–24; Veit, “Das Gesangbuch als Quelle lutherischer Frömmigkeit,” Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte 79 (1988):206–229; Veit, “Piété, chant, et lecture: les pratiques religieuses dans l’Allemagne prot-
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estante à l’époque moderne,” Revue d’histoire moderne et contemporaine 37 (1990):624–641. 23. Taking into account the editions listed in both catalogues, I count 1000 DKL-listed editions from 1500–1599, and 1090 listed only in WB for the same period. 24. See DKL 1.2, p. 19. 25. On estimating edition sizes and total production, see Mark U. Edwards, Printing, Propaganda, and Martin Luther (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994), p. 39. 26. The doctrinal content of the hymns was thus relatively consistent, and their primary distribution was concentrated in Lutheran areas—about half of a sixteenth-century German population that reached a peak of about twenty million. On population, see Lewis Spitz, The Protestant Reformation 1517–1559 (New York: Harper & Row, 1985), pp. 11–12. 27. In the DKL sample, Roman Catholic hymn printing in Augsburg was, in fact, all the work of one printer, J. Wörli, between 1580 and 1590. Anabaptist hymn production is treated in Rudolf Wolkan, Die Lieder der Wiedertäufer: Ein Beitrag zur deutschen und niederländischen Litteratur- und Kirchengeschichte (Berlin: B. Behr, 1903; reprint Nieuwkoop: B. de Graaf, 1965). Though the DKL catalogue underrepresents Anabaptist hymn printing because of its restriction to sources containing music, Wolkan’s citations make clear that Anabaptist hymns were an extremely minor presence in the sixteenth-century press, circulating among the relatively small number of adherents primarily by manuscript or word of mouth. 28. The concentration of hymnal printing in Nürnberg (21 percent of the total output for the century) tends to undermine the assumption that sixteenthcentury printing served an almost exclusively local audience. (See, for example, Edwards, Printing, Propaganda, and Martin Luther, p. 8.) 29. These were the so-called “Achtliederbuch,” appearing in Nürnberg (DKL 1524 12–14) and then in Augsburg (DKL 1524 07); the Erfurt Enchiridion (DKL 1524 03–05/WB 157–159); Luther and Walther’s Geystliche gesangk Buchleyn (DKL 1524 18/WB 163). On dating, see Markus Jenny, Luthers geistliche Lieder und Kirchengesänge: Vollständige Neuedition in Erganzung zu Band 35 der Weimarer Ausgabe, Archiv zur Weimarer Ausgabe der Werke Martin Luthers 4 (Cologne: Böhlau, 1985), pp. 19–24 (cited as WA Ar 4). 30. The number cited varies, depending not only on questions of Luther’s authorship but also on which of Luther’s liturgical compositions are considered to be “hymns.” See the latest edition, ed. Jenny, WA Ar 4. 31. On Sachs, see Eckhard Bernstein, Hans Sachs: Mit Selbstzeugnissen und Bilddokumenten (Reinbeck bei Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1993). For his songs, see W 2 1403–1410, pp. 1136–1143 (pre-Reformation); W3 80–106, pp. 55–74. 32. W3 71, p. 48. See also the section “Doctrine and Piety in the Hymns” in this chapter.
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33. On Elizabeth Cruciger, see Mary Jane Haemig, “Elizabeth Cruciger (1500?– 1535): The Case of the Disappearing Hymn Writer,” Sixteenth Century Journal 22 (2001):21–44; Robin Leaver, Elizabeth Creutziger, the Magdeburg Enchiridion 1536, and Reformation Theology, 1994 Kessler Reformation Lecture (Atlanta: Emory University, 1995); Hans Volz, “Woher stammt die Kirchenlied-Dichterin Elizabeth Cruciger,” JbLH 11 (1966), pp. 163–165. Editions of her hymn in W3 67–69. On other sixteenth-century women writing hymns, see the section “Magdalena Heymair” in Chapter 8. 34. DKL 1534 02; WB 329, pref. 22, p. 553f. On Zell’s hymnal, see Elsie Ann McKee, Reforming Popular Piety in Sixteenth-Century Strasbourg: Katharina Schutz Zell and her Hymnbook, Studies in Reformed Theology and History 2.4 (Princeton: Princeton Theological Seminary, 1994); on Zell’s career with an edition of her writings, see McKee, Katharina Schutz Zell, 2 vols., Studies in Medieval and Reformation Thought 69 (Leiden: Brill, 1999). 35. DKL 1529 09. On Lutheran women active in the printing of Lutheran hymns, see Susan Jackson, “Who is Katherine? The Women of the Berg & Neuber—Gerlach—Kaufmann Printing Dynasty,” in Music Fragments and Manuscripts in the Low Countries / Alta Capella / Music Printing in Antwerp and Europe in the 16th Century, Yearbook of the Alamire Foundation 2 (Leyden: Alamire, 1997). On women printers in general, see Heide Wunder, He Is the Sun, She Is the Moon: Women in Early Modern Germany, tr. Thomas Dunlap (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1998), pp. 92f.; originally published as “Er ist die Sonn’, sie ist der Mond”: Frauen in der Frühen Neuzeit (Munich: Beck, 1992). 36. DKL 1587 10 (WB 996, pref. 93, pp. 661–668); WB 1040, pref. 97, p. 675; W4, pp. 211–334. See Inge Mager, “Nikolaus Selneckers Katechismusbereimung,” JbLH 34 (1992–1993):57–67. On the complementary relation of orthodox Lutheran theology and hymnic piety in the later sixteenth century in general, see Robert D. Hawkins, The Liturgical Expression of Sanctification: The Hymnic Complement to the Lutheran Concordia (Ph.D. diss., Notre Dame University, 1988). 37. DKL 1524 18 (WB 163, pref. 8, p. 543; WA 35, pp. 474f.). 38. DKL 1524 03–04 (WB 157–158); DKL 1524 05 (WB 159); preface in WB, pref. 6, pp. 542f. See Markus Jenny, Geschichte des deutschschweizerischen evangelischen Gesangbuches im 16. Jahrhundert (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1962), pp. 131f. 39. Patrice Veit has shown the use of Lutheran hymns and hymnals in the private piety of seventeenth-century Lutheranism (“Piété, chant, et lecture”), but the phenomenon explored there goes back to the sixteenth-century beginnings of the Reformation. 40. WB 163, pref. 8, p. 543. See also the boasts about lay religious knowledge because of the hymns in WB 164 (Königsberg 1569), pref. 11, p. 842. On the enduring role of the hymnal in lay piety, see Veit, “Piété, chant, et lecture.”
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41. On the special role of hymns in the Lutheran Reformation, see Veit, Das Kirchenlied in der Reformation Martin Luthers; Kyle Sessions, Luther’s Hymns in the Spread of the Reformation (Ph.D. diss., The Ohio State University, 1963); Sessions, “Luther in Music and Verse,” in Pietas et Societas: New Trends in Reformation Social History: Essays in Memory of Harold J. Grimm, ed. Kyle Sessions and Phillip Bebb, Sixteenth Century Essays and Studies 4 (Kirksville, Mo: Sixteenth Century Journal, 1985), pp. 123–140. 42. Neither Strauss, Luther’s House of Learning, nor Karant-Nunn, Reformation of Ritual, touches on the private use of the hymns even to discount it. 43. See Jenny, WA Ar 4; on Luther’s melodies, p. 16. 44. Joseph Herl, Congregational Singing in the German Lutheran Church 1523– 1780 (Ph.D. diss., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2000), gives a broad review of the evidence from the church orders and other sources for congregational singing in the early Lutheran church. However, his conclusion—that sixteenth-century congregations sang very little—unfortunately follows Strauss’s lead in relying rather uncritically on the evidence of the visitation reports. Herl has responded in his Worship Wars in Early Lutheranism: Choir, Congregation, and Three Centuries of Conflict (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), pp. 83–86, that his thesis asserts that congregational singing was “poor” rather than that “congregations sang very little.” Whatever the merit of that distinction, Herl still persists in regarding the visitation reports as objective—“direct observation by people present”—rather than as the rhetorical constructions of visitors seeking to advance their own agendas with the civic or princely regimes to which they were reporting. Much of the best evidence for the character and extent of congregational singing comes not from a survey of formal church orders or visitation reports but from careful reading of allusions to the conditions of parish life in hundreds of local sermons. These are, of course, rhetorical texts as well, but it is generally much easier to evaluate the rhetorical context of a statement in a sermon than that of an observation in a visitation report. Herl, in any event, makes no attempt to place the visitations he cites into a local context of ongoing relations between pastors and authorities, or to correlate them with sermons or other local records, a failure that severely compromises his ability to draw persuasive conclusions even about local conditions, to say nothing of making negative generalizations about congregational singing in Germany as a whole. 45. See Johannes Janota, Studien zu Funktion und Typus des deutschen geistlichen Liedes im Mittelalter, Münchener Texte und Untersuchungen zur deutschen Literatur des Mittelalters 23 (Munich: Beck, 1968). 46. See the section “Hymns and Confessional Identity” in this chapter. 47. The chronicle of Valten Hanffstengel (1499–1582) for the Saxon town of Annaberg in the years 1496–1536 vividly reflects the effect and importance of Luther’s hymns in introducing the Reformation: “1524. This year there arose great strife with the monks and nuns, who ran from the cloister, the priests took women in marriage, and then Mass was held in German. The sac-
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rament was also distributed in both kinds, and German hymns were sung. Then the destruction of the holy images with violence began, through Dr. Luther’s writing, which the territorial lord strongly opposed and held firmly to the papacy. Nonetheless the people were emboldened and held up Luther’s doctrine as the pure religion, published psalters and hymnals.” Helmut Unger, ed., Kritische Ausgabe der Chronik des Valentin Hanffstengel “Wie das Bergwerck auffn Schreckenberg ist auffkommen und darnach die Stadt Annaberg gebauet worden” (Annaberg-Buchholz: Geißler & Huhn, 1996), p. 9. 48. See Ernst W. Zeeden, “Literarische und ‘unliterarische’ Texte als Quellen zur Geschichte des Zeitalters der Gegenreformation,” in Gegenreformation und Literatur, ed. Jean-Marie Valentin, Beihefte zum Daphnis 3 (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1979), p. 33. 49. For example, Gerhard, preface to Moltzer, Christlich Gesangbuch, f. )?(8r: “The glorious, salutary, and useful practice of exercising oneself with German psalms and pious songs, and spreading the praise of God, had completely collapsed, until (as aforesaid) it was reestablished in the church of God by the faithful service of the sainted Luther.” 50. A substantial catalogue of examples is given by Scribner, “Flugblatt und Analphabetentum,” pp. 69f. These tend to support the claims made at some years’ distance by Cornelius Becker in the 1602 preface to his Psalter Davids Gesangweis, WB 1060 (Leipzig, 1602), pref. 100, p. 680: “That God’s Word so rapidly spread forth from Saxony to other places in Germany, unhindered by the awful tyranny of the papacy, and succeeded so well, was promoted above all by Luther’s psalms and other hymns, since these could not be so easily interdicted as his other books and writings, as the hymns were spread in letters and in the minds and memory of pious Christians, and communicated to people in foreign places.” 51. WB 133, p. 51. See the detailed account by Inge Mager, “Lied und Reformation: Beobachtungen zur reformatorischen Singbewegung in norddeutsche Städten,” in Das protestantische Kirchenlied im 16. und 17. Jahrhunderte, ed. Alfred Dürr and Walther Killy (Wiesbaden: O. Harassowitz, 1986), pp. 25f. 52. Luther’s 1524 hymnal preface, WA 35, p. 474 (WB, pref. 8, p. 543; LW 53, p. 316). 53. WA 35, p. 477 (WB, p. 583; LW 53, p. 333). 54. Nicolaus Selneccer reports the story in the preface to his Kirchengesenge (Leipzig, 1587), WB 996, pref. 93, pp. 665f. 55. Gregor Sunderreiter, Sontägliche Evangelia durch das gantze Jar / sampt den fürnembsten Festen / inn gesangweiß (Laugingen: L. Reinmichel, 1580), f. b5v [SBB]. See WB 962. 56. See the section “Hymns and Confessional Identity” in this chapter. 57. For a concise summary of the role of vernacular hymns in the various Lutheran church orders, see Rochus von Liliencron, Liturgisch-musikalische Geschichte der evangelischen Gottesdienste von 1523 bis 1700 (Schleswig: Bergas, 1893; reprint Hildesheim: Olms, 1970). See also Herl, Congregational Singing.
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58. Liliencron, Liturgisch-musikalische Geschichte, pp. 45–83; Walter Reindell, Das de tempore-Lied des ersten Halbjahrhunderts der reformatorischen Kirche, Musik und Schrifttum 1 (Würzburg: Triltsch, 1942). 59. See Jenny, “Kirchenlied, Gesangbuch, und Kirchenmusik,” p. 311. 60. See also Veit, “Das Gesangbuch als Quelle lutherischer Frömmigkeit,” p. 216. 61. See the section “Hymns and the Catechism” in Chapter 5. 62. See Christhard Mahrenholz, “Auswahl und Einordnung der Katechismuslieder in den Wittenberger Gesangbüchern seit 1529,” Gestalt und Glaube: Festschrift für Oskar Söhngen (Wittenberg: Luther-Verlag, 1960), p. 124f. Robin Leaver provides a survey in “Luther’s Catechism Hymns,” Lutheran Quarterly 11 (1997):397–421, vol. 12 (1998): 79–98, 161–180, 303–323. 63. For example, DKL 1558 11, 1560 16, 1562 15, 1566 13, 1566 14, 1570 14, 1581 15; W 1 bib. 74. 64. On the use of the hymns in catechism instruction, see Martin Rössler, Die Liedpredigt: Geschichte einer Predigtgattung, Veröffentlichungen der Evangelischen Gesellschaft für Liturgieforschung 20 (Göttingen: Vandenhoek & Ruprecht, 1976), pp. 131–144. 65. See Cornelius Becker’s preface to his Psalter Davids Gesangweis, WB 1060 (Leipzig, 1602), pref. 100, p. 680: “It is certain and true that from these hymns, many thousands have rightly learned the Catechism, and especially the article concerning the justification of the poor sinner before God, concerning which many would otherwise have been ignorant, since they can neither write nor read.” Strauss insists that the comforting effect of the hymns was obliterated by the moralizing equivocations of catechism sermons: Luther’s House of Learning, p. 235. 66. WB 963 (Erfurt, 1581), pref. 92, pp. 653–657. 67. See Rössler, Die Liedpredigt. 68. Jenny, “Kirchenlied, Gesangbuch, und Kirchenmusik,” p. 311. 69. Of the 1000 editions in the DKL catalogue from 1500–1599, 581 were 8°, 312 were 12°, 25 were 4°, 20 were 16°, and 12 were 2°. 33 were printed as single sheets, and 17 of the entries were of unknown or uncertain format. 70. Lilienkron, Liturgisch-musikalische Geschichte, p. 51, citing C. Pezel’s preface to J. Keuchenthal, Kirchen-Gesenge (Wittenberg, 1573) (DKL 1573 11/WB 934). 71. See Wolfram Steude, Untersuchungen zur mitteldeutschen Musiküberlieferung und Musikpflege im 16. Jahrhundert (Frankfurt am Main: Peters, 1978). The DKL catalogue lists 37 folio and quarto editions, almost all for a professional market. Examples are the 2° Strassburg hymnals “Für Christliche Stett vnnd Dorff Kirchen / Latinische vnd Deudsche Schülen” (DKL 1541 06, 1560 12, 1572 05), the Frankfurt hymnals of 1569 “Fürnemlich den Pfarherrn / Schulmeistern vnd Cantoribus / so sich mit jren Kirchen zu der Christlichen Augspurgischen Confession bekennen / vnd bey denselben den Chor mit singen / regieren vnd versorgen müssen” (DKL 1569 04, 1569 05, 1569 06, 1584 11), church orders (DKL 1557 07, 1560 04, 1560 05, 1560 06, 1570
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12), or Latin works such as Spangenberg’s Latin and German Kirchengesenge (DKL 1545 14, 1545 15, 1545 16, 1545 17), Lossius’ Cantica Sacra (DKL 1553 10) or the Wittenberg Latin missal of 1589 (DKL 1589 17). 72. See Stanley Boorman, “Early Music Printing: Working for a Specialized Market,” Print and Culture in the Renaissance: Essays on the Advent of Printing in Europe, ed. Gerald p. Tyson and Sylvia S. Wagonheil (Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1986), p. 223. 73. See Jenny, “Kirchenlied, Gesangbuch, und Kirchenmusik,” p. 305; Veit, “Das Gesangbuch als Quelle lutherischer Frömmigkeit,” pp. 206f. The 1568 Strassburg hymnal acknowledges that this practice is intended as an aid to private lay devotion (WB 897, pref. 78, p. 636). 74. See Jenny, Geschichte des deutschschweizerischen evangelischen Gesangbuches, p. 131; Robin A. Leaver, ‘Ghoostly psalmes and spirituall songes’: English and Dutch Metrical Psalms from Coverdale to Utenhove, 1535–1566 (Oxford: Clarendon, 1991), pp. 15f. 75. The judgments on the use and distribution of the hymnals expressed in the older musicological works—such as Friedrich Blume et al., Protestant Church Music: A History (New York: W. W. Norton, 1974), p. 65, or Hans Joachim Moser, Die evangelische Kirchenmusik in Deutschland (Berlin: C. Merseburger, 1954), p. 49, or Paul Nettl, Luther and Music, tr. Frida Best and Ralph Wood (New York: Russell and Russell, 1967), p. 82—must be revised: see the references here to the works of M. Jenny and R. Leaver and the evidence of the hymnals and their prefaces themselves. 76. Strauss rather perversely attempts to turn the loose relation between the printed hymns and their public use into an argument against the popular influence of Lutheran hymnody: Luther’s House of Learning, p. 234 n. 42. The hymns not used in public worship were printed because they were sung at home—a far more significant indication of their popularity and effect. 77. See Jenny, WA Ar 4, pp. 19–24. 78. Jenny, WA Ar 4, p. 24. 79. Ruth Fuehrer, Die Gesangbücher der Stadt Königsberg: von der Reformation bis zur Einfuhrung des Einheitsgesangbuches fur Ost- und Westpreussen (Königsberg: Rautenberg, 1927), pp. 42, 48, and tables of hymns from the hymnals and church orders on pp. 215–226. 80. Dieter Wölffel, Nürnberger Gesangbuchgeschichte (1524–1791), Nürnberger Werkstücke zur Stadt- und Landesgeschichte 5 (Nürnberg: Stadtarchiv, 1971), pp. 29–31. The volume is described in Zahn, Melodien 6, p. 95. 81. WB 902 (Leipzig, 1569), pp. 354–356. 82. W 1 bib. 237 (Leipzig, 1582 in 4°), pref. 21, p. 858: “I have set this hymnal in more distinct and larger type, so that it may be most serviceable to older people whose sight is failing, or who are less skilled in reading.” 83. For example, WB 480 (Rostock, 1537), pref. 49, p. 585: “so that each and every one, young and old, may buy these books cheaply and make good use of it, we have printed them in two different formats and sizes, both as a com-
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mon handbook and also smaller”; WB 361 (Strassburg, 1545), pref. 27, p. 559: “Thus, dear reader, as you see, / A little coin will purchase me, / And I shall help you in your need, / As you will notice when you read.”WB 897 (Strassburg, 1568), pref. 78, p. 636: “So that the hymnal itself may not be too long, and the common man also may purchase it.” 84. DKL 1557 06. 85. DKL 1561 14. 86. DKL 1564 10. 87. DKL 1566 10. 88. DKL 1569 13. Neuber responded with a one-volume edition of his own in a slightly larger format: DKL 1569 14. 89. DKL 1571 08, 1571 09. 90. DKL 1584 08. For further detailed study of competition among hymnalprinters, see the section “Editions of the Sonntags-Evangelia and the Historien” in Chapter 8. 91. Paul Behaim asks his mother to send “Dr. Luther’s hymnal, bound or unbound, very small, as Neuber prints it,” in Wilhelm Loose, “Deutsches Studentenleben in Padua 1575 bis 1578,” Beilage zur Schul- und Universitätsgeschichte (Meissen, 1879), p. 22; see Ozment, Protestants, p. 205. 92. See Appendices 1 and 2. 93. Contra Moser, Verkündigung durch Volksgesang, p. 17. 94. On the use of printing statistics as a source for measuring public interest, see Edwards, Printing, Propaganda, and Martin Luther, p. 8. 95. Veit, “Piété, chant, et lecture,” p. 640, mentions the frequent echoes of Lutheran hymns in seventeenth-century private correspondence and also gives attention to the role of Lutheran hymns as depicted in the Leichenpredigten, another valuable source. 96. See Chrisman, Lay Culture, Learned Culture, p. 155. 97. See, for example, DKL 1524 12, 1524 13, 1524 14. 98. See the section “Music and the Word” in Chapter 3 and the section “Music and Lutheran Pedagogy” in Chapter 4. 99. Augsburg Confession 20.40, in Die Bekenntnisschriften der evangelischlutherischen Kirche, 12th ed. (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1998), p. 81, cited as BekS; Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration 1.23 (BekS, p. 851). 100. Cyriacus Spangenberg, Cithara Lutheri, WB 963 (Erfurt, 1581), pref. 92, p. 656. 101. Scribner, For the Sake of Simple Folk, p. 245. 102. Koch, Geschichte des Kirchenliedes 1, p. 244. 103. Discussion of the origins of the hymn in WA Ar 4, pp. 56–58; its text ibid., pp. 154–159. 104. WA Ar 4, p. 155 (the earliest surviving edition of the Klug hymnal is from 1533).
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105. WA 1, p. 354 (LW 31, p. 40), theses 13 and 18. 106. WA Ar 4, pp. 154f.; English translation from The Lutheran Hymnal, ed. Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference of North America (St. Louis: Concordia, 1941), cited as TLH, no. 387; compare LW 53, pp. 219f.). 107. Desiderius Erasmus, De libero arbitrio diatrib» sive collatio, tr. Peter Macardle, Collected Works of Erasmus 76, ed. Charles Trinkaus (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999), p. 84. 108. See Strauss, Luther’s House of Learning, p. 221, referring to Erikson. 109. WA Ar 4, p. 156 (English translation from TLH, no. 387). 110. WA Ar 4, p. 157 (English translation from TLH, no. 387). 111. Jenny, WA Ar 4, p. 16. 112. See Leaver, Goostly Psalmes, pp. 8–10. 113. See the section “Music and the Word” in Chapter 3. 114. For the various channels through which Luther’s influence continued to flow in the later sixteenth century, see Robert Kolb, Martin Luther as Prophet, Teacher, and Hero: Images of the Reformer, 1520–1620 (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1999), though his brief treatment of the influence of Luther’s hymns (pp. 163–165) likely gives a rather minimal impression of Luther’s enduring popular influence through this medium. 115. Moser, Verkündigung durch Volksgesang, pp. 15f. 116. Friedrich Bente, Historical Introductions to the Symbolical Books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (St. Louis: Concordia, 1965), p. 99. In many places authorities tried to change or suppress the hymn: see, for example, WB 559 (Nürnberg, [1548]) with a revised text from Nürnberg, and Wölfel, Nürnberger Gesangbuchsgeschichte, pp. 30f. 117. See WB 879, pref. 75, p. 628; W1 bib. 541, p. 788. On the Lutheran hymn as a polemical tool, see Rebecca Wagner Oettinger, Music as Propaganda in the German Reformation (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2001). 118. See Veit, “Piété, chant, et lecture,” p. 640f. For examples of Lutherans identified by their hymns, see Moser, Verkündigung durch Volksgesang, pp. 15f.; Hsia, Social Discipline, p. 107. 119. DKL 1537 06 (WB 359, pref. 26, p. 558f). On Vehe (c. 1480–1539), see ADB 39, pp. 529f.; Bäumker, Das katholische deutsche Kirchenlied 1, pp. 124–129. 120. DKL 1567 05; WB 892, pref. 76, pp. 629–631. The 1567 edition of Leisentrit’s hymnal has been reprinted in facimile: Johann Leisentrit: Gesangbuch von 1567, ed. Walther Lipphardt (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1966). On the hymnal, see Erika Heitmeyer, Das Gesangbuch von Johann Leisentrit 1567: Adaptation als Merkmal von Struktur und Genese früher deutscher Gesangbücher, Pietatis Liturgica Studia 5 (St. Ottilien, Eos, 1988); Walther Lipphardt, Johann Leisentrits Gesangbuch von 1567, Studien zur Katholischen Bistums- und Klostergeschichte 5 (Leipzig: St. Benno, 1963). 121. See Blume, Protestant Church Music, p. 19ff; Oettinger, Music as Propaganda, on “contrafacta.”
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122. Leisentrit, 1584 dedication to Martin, Archbishop of Prague, in Lipphardt, Johann Leisentrits Gesangbuch, p. 33: “our heretics proudly and maliciously intone [cantillant] certain German rhymes and melodies, breathing hatred and sedition, which they have spread abroad and which now seem to be taking root even among our own people because of the poverty of Catholic songs”; Leisentrit, 1567 dedication to Kaiser Maximilian II, in Lipphardt, Johann Leisentrits Gesangbuch, p. 19. 123. DKL 1537 06 (WB 359); DKL 1567 09 (WB 888). 124. DKL 1567 05; DKL 1573 02; DKL 1584 05. The abridged version of Leisentrit’s hymnal: DKL 1575 04; DKL 1576 01; DKL 1589 02. 125. See Lipphardt, Johann Leisentrits Gesangbuch, pp. 80f. 126. Though there was some encouragement of domestic vernacular religious song before the Reformation—for example, Stephan Lanzkrana, Hymel straß (Augsburg, 1484), cited in Wolfgang Suppan, “Das geistliche Lied in der Landessprache,” in Geschichte der katholischen Kirchenmusik 1, ed. Karl Gustav Fellerer (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1972), p. 358—the post-Reformation Roman Catholic hymnals are far more reticent. 127. Compare John Bossy’s judgment that the great weakness of Tridentine Roman Catholicism was its deep suspicion of the family: “The Counter-Reformation and the People of Catholic Europe,” Past and Present 47 (1970):68–70. 128. Leisentrit’s title ran, “Spiritual Songs and Psalms of the Old, Apostolic, Orthodox, and True Church, Which May Be Sung before and after the Sermon, during the Holy Communion, and Otherwise in the House of God, in Part in and before the Houses, but at the Accustomed Times Throughout the Year, in an Orderly Manner.” See Lipphardt, Johann Leisentrits Gesangbuch, p. 7. 129. See W1 bib. 228 (1581), pref. 20, p. 857. 130. See Karl Amon, “Der Grazer Stadtpfarrer Andre Gigler und seine Gesangpostille,” JbLH 15 (1970):19. DKL 1569 08; Andreas Gigler, Gesang Postill / Das ist: Evangelia auff all und jede Sontag und fürnemste Feste durchs gantze Jar / in Gesang verfast / vor oder nach der Predigt zu singen / Sampt einem Christlichen Gebet (Graz: A. Franck, 1574), reprinted as Andreas Gigler Gesangpostille von 1569 und 1574 mit Noten-Beiband (Graz: Steiermarkische Landesbibliothek/Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, 1950). 131. See, for example, Georg Witzel, preface to Psaltes Ecclesiasticus (Köln, 1550), WB 586, pref. 53, pp. 591–592. For other Roman Catholic complaints about Lutheran song, see WB 944 (Tegernsee, 1574), pref. 89, p. 649; WB 954 (Tegernsee, 1577), pref 90, p. 653; W1 bib. 267 (München, 1586), pref. 25, pp. 860–861; W1 bib. 457 (Grätz, 1602), pref. 34, pp. 868–869. On prohibitions against translating the liturgy into the vernacular, see Josef Jungmann, The Mass of the Roman Rite: Its Origins and Development (Missarum Sollemnia) tr. Francis A. Brunner (New York: Benzinger, 1951; reprint Westminster, Maryland: Christian Classics, 1986), vol. 1., pp. 143–148. 132. See, for example, WB 163 (1524), pref. 8, p. 543; WB 324 (1534), pref. 19, pp. 550–551; WB 897 (1568), pref. 78, p. 637; WB 923 (1571), pref. 85,
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p. 644; WB 693 (1581), pref. 92-II, p. 658; W1 bib. 544 (1575), pref. 13, p. 844; W1 bib. 218 (1579), pref. 17, p. 854; W1 bib. 220 (1580), pref. 18, p. 855. I have found only two vague references in the Lutheran hymnal prefaces to “idolatrous” songs where the singing of the Lutheran laity might be in view: WB 907 (1569), pref. 81, p. 640; WB 996 (1587), pref. 93, p. 666. When Lutherans complain about idolatrous song, it is almost always in reference to the singing of the Roman Catholic clergy, not that of their own laity: WB 157 (1524), pref. 6, pp. 542–543; WB 898 (1569), pref. 79, p. 637; W 1 bib. 342 (1596), pref. 29, p. 864—charges that prompted some apologetic efforts from the Roman Catholic side: WB 586 (1550), pref. 53, pp. 591–593; WB 700 (1555), pref. 57, p. 598. 133. See, for example, WB 586 (1550), pref. 53, p. 591; WB 944 (1574), pref. 89, p. 649; WB 954 (1577), pref. 90, p. 653; W1 bib. 267 (1586), pref. 25, p. 861; W1 bib. 457 (1602), pref. 34, p. 869, as well as the citations from Leisentrit’s work. 134. Leisentrit, 1584 dedication to Martin, Archbishop of Prague, in Lipphardt, Johann Leisentrits Gesangbuch, p. 33. 135. See Leisentrit, 1567 dedication to Kaiser Maximilian II, in Lipphardt, Johann Leisentrits Gesangbuch, p. 19; 1567 prefatory letter to Christoph Hecyrus, p. 23; 1573 preface to Albrecht, Duke of Bavaria, p. 24: “That in these our most perilous times, certain heretical, highly offensive, and inflammatory songs and hymns may hereby be curbed [gestewert] and removed from Catholic hands.” 136. Leisentrit, 1584 dedication to the papal nuncio J. F. Bonhomius, in Lipphardt, Johann Leisentrits Gesangbuch, p. 30: “as they saw how greatly the church was harmed because the mob, both in church and at home, made such familiar use of the German ditties of the adversaries, full of poison, hatred, and malice, taking delight in them if only because of the vernacular language . . . so they hope that it will come to pass, that the substitution of our own Catholic German songs will easily drive the others—rather scurrilous than devout—from common use, as has happened hitherto”; 1584 dedication to Archbishop Martin of Prague, ibid., p. 33: “so that in these perilous times, when our heretics, who promote their fantasies as pure oracles, proudly and maliciously intone certain German rhymes and melodies, breathing hatred and sedition, manifesting scurrility rather than genuine piety, which they have spread abroad and which now seem to be taking root even among our own people because of the poverty of Catholic songs, our Lusatia might be purged of this uncleanness and the insinuating and heretical hymn-books removed from the hands of good men, our own being substituted without peril or fear of sedition.” 137. Strauss, Luther’s House of Learning, pp. 233f., esp. n. 41. 138. Strauss, Luther’s House of Learning, p. 233 n. 37. 139. See Hsia, Social Discipline, p. 91.
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140. W1 bib. 267 (München, 1586), pref. 25, p. 861: “all manner of false sectarian hymnals, which have been covertly brought into noble Catholic Bavaria by our adversaries, and by which the simple are deceived.” 141. Lipphardt, Johann Leisentrits Gesangbuch, p. 19. 142. Leisentrit, in Lipphardt, Johann Leisentrits Gesangbuch, p. 26: “by which [songs] we laud, honor, and praise God and Mary his blessed mother, and also all the dear saints, for our own salvation and the continued memorial of the dear saints and martyrs of Christ, whom we should follow and request the benefit of their intercession before God”; ibid., p. 34: “Hymns . . . most suited for rendering due praise to God and his mother Mary, and all the saints and martyrs, and for obtaining the salvation of souls.” 143. The only exception I have found on the Roman Catholic side is Georg Witzel (himself a former Lutheran), whose 1550 preface to the Psaltes Ecclesiasticus, WB 586, pref. 53, p. 592, urges the Roman Catholic laity, after confessing their sins, doing penance, and imploring the intercession of the saints, to find comfort in the sermon “along with the singing.” 144. See Moser’s classification of Catholic hymns as “Legendenlieder,” “Mirakellieder,” and “Exempellieder,” Verkündigung durch Volksgesang, pp. 42–46. It is difficult to see the justification for his notion (ibid., p. 18) that “with few exceptions, they [the Lutheran hymns] do not deal with the timeless problems of life, with basic, common human situations and conflicts.” 145. According to the 1545 edition of Luther’s German Bible (WA DB 7, p. 235). Luther’s text and gloss are cited by Cornelius Becker in the 1602 preface to his Psalter Davids Gesangweis, WB 1060 (Leipzig, 1602), pref. 100, p. 680. 146. See Martin Rössler, “Lob—Lehre—Labsal: Theologie im Spiegel von Musik, Kirchenlied und Gesangbuch,” JbLH 35 (1994–1995):118–120. 147. Charles Garside, The Origins of Calvin’s Theology of Music, Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 69.4 (1979), p. 17; Calvin’s 1543 preface in WB 448, pref. 39, pp. 575f.; English translation in Garside, pp. 31–33. 148. WB 324 (n.p., 1534), pref. 19, p. 551: “He [Johann Bugenhagen] regards no one as a true Christian, unless he is always prepared to comfort himself with psalms”; WB 1094 (Lübeck, 1549), pref. 51, p. 589: “Men should thank and praise God through Christ, both in the common assembly of Christians, and also every pious housefather with his children and household should give thanks to God in his house with psalms and songs of praise, to comfort and strengthen himself in faith”; WB 745 , pref. 63, p. 602; WB 896 (Eisleben, 1568), pref. 77, p. 632; WB 897 (Strassburg, 1568), pref. 78, p. 636; WB 947 (Strassburg, 1576), pref. 89a, p. 649ff; WB 963 (Erfurt, 1581), pref. 92, p. 653ff; WB 996 (Leipzig, 1587), pref. 93, p. 665. On the special virtues of the hymns as used by the laity, see also WB 1052 (Hamburg, 1598), pref. 98, pp. 676–677; W1 bib. 164 (Königsberg, 1569), pref. 11, p. 842: “I have diligently gathered these songs as a treasure with which a Christian can and may comfort himself in the midst of care and trouble . . . for the preaching of the holy Gospel is always (as Paul says) a divine power to
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save all those who believe in it”; WB 907 (Tübingen, 1569), pref. 81 (by B. Bidenbach and L. Osiander), p. 639: “God’s word should not only be fully treated and presented with sermons, and careful exposition of holy Scripture from the pulpit, but also with Christian hymns and sweet spiritual songs, among the people of God in the assembly, but also among Christian housefathers and the members of their households . . . And without doubt this practice will never fail to bear fruit among the elect, whether God’s Word is read, preached, or sung in Christian psalms. For it is and remains God’s Word, whether it is read or sung”; W1 bib. 218 (Leipzig, 1579), pref. 17, p. 854: “Through the same divine Word that sounds forth richly in the public ministry of preaching, the almighty and merciful God also wills to work mightily in homes among the children and household.” 149. W3 no. 221.39, p. 195: “Sein lieblich Gesangbüchelein / kan kein Mensch gnugsam loben, / Wie Geistreich seine Lieder all; / viel Trosts und Lehre haben, / daraus ein Christ in jedem fall / sich trösten kan und laben.” 150. Examples given by Hans-Christoph Rublack, “Success and Failure of the Reformation: Popular ‘Apologies’ from the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries,” Germania Illustrata: Essays on Early Modern Germany Presented to Gerald Strauss, ed. Andrew C. Fix and Susan Karant-Nunn, Sixteenth Century Essays and Studies 18 (Kirksville, Mo.: Sixteenth Century Journal Publishers, 1992), pp. 162f. Rublack, however, uses them to demonstrate lay resistance. 151. Strauss, Luther’s House of Learning, p. 306. 152. See Hsia, Social Discipline, pp. 36f., 107.
2. Reformation and Music in Joachimsthal 1. Narrative treatments of Joachimsthal’s history can be found in Hans Lorenz, Bilder aus Alt-Joachimsthal: Umrisse einer Kulturgeschichte einer erzgebirgischen Bergstadt im sechzehnten Jahrhundert (Joachimsthal: H. Meyer, 1925); Karl Knopf, Die Wunderstadt St. Joachimsthal, vol. 1 (Weipert: Sonnenwirbel, [1909?]); Kaspar Sternberg, Umrisse einer geschichte der böhmischen Bergwerke (Prague: A. Sterly, 1836; reprint Prague: Národní Technické Muzeum, 1981) 1:312–428. The documentary sources for the earliest history of Joachimsthal were for the most part destroyed in the miners’ uprising of 1525 or by fire in 1538. Johann Mathesius’ Sarepta oder Bergpostill Sampt der Jochimßthalischen kurtzen Chronicken (Nürnberg: U. Neuber and J. vom Bergs Erben, 1564; reprint in 2 vols. Prague: Národní technické muzeum, 1975), cited as Sarepta, includes extended treatments of the town’s history, especially in the twelfth sermon. Together with the appended chronicle of the town, continued in later editions by Mathesius’ successors in the Joachimsthal pastorate (cited as Chronica by year), Mathesius’ sermons are thus the principal sources for the earliest period. The complete Joachimsthal chronicle through 1617 was edited by Karl Siegl, Die Joachimsthaler Chronik von
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1516–1617 (Joachimsthal/Schlackenwerth: D. R. Schöniger, 1923). The surviving Joachimsthal archival materials are in the possession of the Statní okresní archiv in Karlovy Vary (Karlsbad), Czech Republic. Extensive excerpts from the archival sources as they existed in better order at the beginning of the twentieth century were assembled in 1913 by Gregor Lindner under the title Erinnerungen aus der Geschichte der k. k. freien Bergstadt Sankt Joachimsthal (vom Jahre 1515 bis zum Jahre 1800) and his four-volume manuscript is held by the Karlovy Vary archive, AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta I–IV. Lindner published additional archival materials assembled by Anton Böhm in a series in the Joachimsthal parish newspaper beginning in 1903: “Kurze Mitteilungen aus der Geschichte von Sct. Joachimsthal,” Pfarramtliche Nachrichten 1 (Joachimsthal, 1903) sqq., also held by the archive in Karlovy Vary. 2. The proverbial cry of these early years was “Ins Thal, Ins Thal, mit Mutter, mit All’!” (Mathesius, Sarepta, f. a8v). Luther remarks on the prodigious growth of Joachimsthal in connection with Isaiah 54:3 (WA 312, p. 443). Mathesius referred to “this new town, which began along with the Gospel” and encoded the year of Joachimsthal’s foundation (1516) in the motto “eCCe fLorent VaLLes CVM eVangeLIo” (see Sarepta, ff. 317r, 318v). 3. Lorenz, Bilder, pp. 35, 46. 4. See Karl Siegl, “Zur Geschichte der ‘Thalergroschen’: Ein Beitrag zur Historiographie des St. Joachimstaler Bergwerks und Münzwesens,” MVGDB 50 (1911/12):198–228. 5. See Chronica 1543. A collection of these sermons by Mathesius was printed in the Sarepta. 6. Johann Mathesius, Ausgewählte Werke, ed. Georg Loesche, vol. 3, Bibliothek Deutscher Schriftsteller aus Böhmen 9 (Prague: J. G. Calve, 1906), p. 427: “take it as no small honor to your mines and church in the Thal, that the man, through whom God has expelled the abominable doctrine of the monks from many hearts and churches, was a miner’s son.” 7. See Viktor Katz, Die erzgebirgische Prägemedaille des XVI. Jahrhunderts (Prague: Schulz, 1931). 8. Specific performances are mentioned in Chronica 1568: “die Historien von Adams fall”; AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 327r (24 Feb. 1604): “zweier Commödien ‘de Joanne Baptista’ und ‘Königin Esther’”; AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 527v (9 Mar. 1623). The Joachimsthaler Johann Krüginger and the town physician Balthasar Klein wrote plays based on the stories of Lazarus and Jonah that were also performed in Joachimsthal. See Lorenz, Bilder, pp. 182–186; Rudolf Wolkan, Böhmens Antheil an der deutschen Litteratur des XVI. Jahrhunderts, vol. 3 (Prague: Hasse, 1894; reprint Hildesheim: Olms, 2003), pp. 386–388, 407–416. 9. The date of Herman’s birth is often given as c. 1480 in older reference works, but Siegfried Fornaçon has shown that Herman must have been born in 1499 or 1500, since the 1560 portrait now in the Nürnberg city museums refers to him as a sexagenarius: “Nikolaus Hermans Geburtsjahr,”
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JbLH 4 (1958/9):109–111. (See Figure 2.1.) On Herman, see Walter Blankenburg, “Herman, Nikolaus,” MGG 6: 219–221 (also NG 2 s.v. “Herman, Nicolaus”); Hermann Trötschel, “Nikolaus Herman, Kantor in St. Joachimsthal,” EuA 3/4 (1967–1968):47–51. 10. The most recent full biography of Mathesius is still Georg Loesche, Johannes Mathesius: Ein Lebens- und Sitten-Bild aus der Reformationszeit, 2 vols. (Gotha: Perthes, 1895; reprint Nieuwkoop: De Graaf, 1971). See also Karl Amelung, M. Johannes Mathesius, ein lutherischen Pfarrherr des 16. Jahrhunderts (Gütersloh: Bertelsmann, 1894); Karl Friedrich Ledderhose, Das Leben des M. Johann Mathesius, des alten Bergpredigers im St. Joachimsthal (Heidelberg: Winter, 1849); and Johann Balthasar Mathesius, Hrn. M. Joh. Mathesii weyl. berühmten und frommen Pfarrers im Joachimsthal Lebens-Beschreibung (Dresden: Zimmermann, 1705) [HAB]. 11. Mathesius’ hymns in W3 1330–1350, pp. 1150–1161. 12. Nicolaus Herman, Die Sontags Evangelia, und von den fürnemsten Festen uber das gantze Jar, In Gesenge gefasset fur Christliche Haussveter und ire Kinder, Mit vleis corrigiert, gebessert und gemehret (Wittenberg: Georg Rhau Erben, 1560; 2nd ed. 1561). Reprinted as Die Sonntags-Evangelia von Nicolaus Herman, ed. Rudolf Wolkan, Bibliothek Deutscher Schriftsteller aus Böhmen 2 (Vienna: Tempsky, 1895). Cited as SE according to number and page in Wolkan’s edition (see Appendix 3). 13. Nicolaus Herman, Die Historien von der Sindflut, Joseph, Mose, Helia, Elisa, und der Susanna, sampt etlichen Historien aus den Evangelisten, Auch etliche Psalmen und Geistliche Lieder zu lesen und zu singen in Reime gefasset, Für Christliche Hausveter und ire Kinder (Wittenberg: G. Rhau Erben, 1562). Cited as HS from the 1569 Leipzig edition of J. Berwald [HAB/LB] according to the numbering of the hymns given in Appendix 4. 14. See Chapter 8 and Appendices 1 and 2. 15. All those DKL entries whose RISM coding attributes them to either Mathesius (Math) or Herman (Herm), as well as DKL 1580 13—Felix Zimmermann’s edition of Mathesius’ hymns—a total of 81 editions. 16. Mathesius, Sarepta, ff. 1r, 189v; f. 318v. 17. Böhm, “Kurze Mitteilungen,” Pfarramtliche Nachrichten 1 (July 1903), 1519. 18. Johann Mathesius, Bekantnuß Vom Heyligen Abendmahl unsers lieben Herren Jesu Christi, jetzt in dieser gefehrlichen zeit, allen frommen Christen zur lehr unnd trost, in sechtzehn Predigt getheylet (Nürnberg: D. Gerlatz/J. von Berg, 1567), f. 180v (cited as Bekenntnis) [HAB/LB]. 19. See Richard Schmidt, Topographie der historischen und kunst-Denkmale: Der Politische Bezirk Skt. Joachimsthal, Topographie der historischen und KunstDenkmale im Königreiche Böhmen 40 (Prague: Wiesner, 1913), pp. 68f., 73. For similar Cranach altarpieces of about the same date, see Herbert von Hintzenstern, Lucas Cranach d. Ä: Altarbilder aus der Reformationszeit (Berlin: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 1972), pp. 52f. (1516 altarpiece in Dessau), and
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the works catalogued by Eduard Flechsig, Tafelbilder Lucas Cranachs d. Ä. und seiner Werckstatt (Leipzig: Seemann, 1900), nos. 4 (1504), 6 (1507–1508), 9 (1508), and especially 29 (1516) and 35 (1518). 20. Loesche, Johannes Mathesius 1:72f. 21. HS, f. B2r–v (WB, p. 615). Compare Luther, WA TR 5, p. 274: “Mary, the dear mother of God, had much prettier and more numerous songs than did her child Jesus.” 22. Mathesius, Sarepta, f. 189v. 23. Kurt Oberdorffer, “Die Reformation in Böhmen und das späte Hussitentum,” Bohemia 6 (1965):142. 24. Karl Eduard Förstemann, et al., ed., Album Academiae Vitebergensis: Ältere Reihe 1 (Leipzig, 1841; reprint Aalen: Scientia, 1976), p. 93 (1520). See Alejandro Zorzin, Karlstadt als Flugschriftenautor, Göttinger theologische Arbeiten 48 (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1990), pp. 141, 143. 25. At the time of the founding of Joachimsthal, the Schlicks were divided into three lines centered on Falkenau (Wolfgang Schlick and his brother Christoph), Elbogen (Sebastian Schlick), and Schlackenwert (Stephan Schlick and his brothers Hieronymus and Lorenz). See Siegl, “Zur Geschichte der ‘Thalergroschen,’” table after p. 220. 26. Förstemann, ed., Album Academiae Vitebergensis: Ältere Reihe 1, p. 99; Christoph Schlick first appears in the Wittenberg Album in 1519 (p. 84). See Hermann Barge, Andreas Bodenstein von Karlstadt, 2nd ed. (Nieuwkoop, B. de Graaf, 1968), 1:202 n. 60. 27. Karlstadt, Von Abtuung der Bilder (1522): see Zorzin, Karlstadt als Flugschriftenautor, pp. 150f., “Verzeichnis” (p. 290) no. 48; Luther, Wider die Sabbather (1538), WA 50, pp. 309–310 (dedicated to Wolfgang Schlick under the epithet of “a good friend”); see also WA 53, pp. 412–414. 28. WA 102, pp. 180–182; see Loesche, Johannes Mathesius 1:71f. 29. See Alfred Eckert, “Fünf evangelische (vor allem lutherische) Kirchenordnungen in Böhmen zwischen 1522 und 1609,” Bohemia 18 (1977):35–37. 30. Mathesius, Sarepta, f. 189v. 31. On the date of Karlstadt’s visit to Joachimsthal, see Zorzin, Karlstadt als Flugschriftenautor, p. 113 n.16. 32. See Rudolf Wolkan, “Die Anfänge der Reformation in Joachimsthal,” MVGDB 32 (1894):291; Zorzin, Karlstadt als Flugschriftenautor, p. 142. Christoph Quinque appears in the Wittenberg Album, ed. Förstemann, in 1521 (vol. 1, p. 107), and a Mattheus and a Nicolaus Schüpgen, likely relatives of Lucas Schüpgen, appear in 1519 and 1520 respectively (vol. 1, pp. 90, 99). 33. Kuch was addressed by Karlstadt as “philosopho et Theologo, et Contionatori in Oppidio Vallis S. Ioachimi” in the 18 August 1520 preface to his De canonicis scripturis; on 24 October 1520, Kuch matriculated at Wittenberg, where he supplied the preface to Karlstadt’s 1522 Sermon vom Stand der christgläubigen Seelen. Zorzin, Karlstadt als Flugschriftenautor, p. 142 n. 48.
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34. On Egranus’ career in Joachimsthal, see Alfred Eckert, “Leben und Lehre des Johann Wildenauer (Sylvius Egranus),” EuA 13/14 (1974/5):19–36; Wolkan, “Anf änge der Reformation in Joachimsthal,” pp. 274–287; ADB 5, pp. 692f.; NDB 4, pp. 341f. In the German dedication to his treatise Von der Freiheit eines Christenmenschen, Luther identifies Egranus as his contact in Zwickau: WA 7, p. 20 (LW 31, p. 333). WA Br 2, pp. 344–346 preserves a letter written by Egranus to Luther shortly after his arrival in Joachimsthal. Egranus and Luther fell out shortly thereafter. 35. See Eckert, “Leben und Lehre des Johann Wildenauer,” pp. 23–26 (“Propositiones probi viri d. Egrani”); Wolkan, “Anfänge der Reformation,” p. 284. 36. See Eckert, “Leben und Lehre des Johann Wildenauer,” pp. 29–33. 37. See especially Egranus’ Holy Thursday sermon of 1522, in which he responds at length to lay criticism of his sermon of the previous Sunday (dealing with the Eucharist). Ungedruckte Predigten des Johann Sylvius Egranus, ed. Georg Buchwald, Quellen und Darstellungen aus der Geschichte des Reformationsjahrhunderts 18 (Leipzig: Heinsius, 1911), pp. 93–98, especially pp. 93f., 96. 38. Mathesius, Sarepta, f. 190r; Wolkan, “Anfänge der Reformation,” p. 280. 39. See WA Br 3, p. 370n2; Siegfried Sieber, “Geistige Beziehungen zwischen Böhmen und Sachsen zur Zeit der Reformation,” Bohemia 6 (1965):152f. As the Sarepta and Chronica indicate, Schönbach’s pastorate belongs in 1523, and not in 1533, after Egranus’ brief second term as pastor. 40. Erich Matthes, ed., Personenverzeichnis zu das erste Bergbuch 1518–1520 von St. Joachimsthal, Die Fundgrube 33 (Regensburg: Korb’sche Sippenarchiv, 1965), p. 14. 41. So Mathesius, Sarepta, f. 190r. The Chronica, however, does not mention Bindmann’s installation as preacher. 42. Mathesius, Sarepta, f. 190r; ADB 31, p. 329. Schlaginhaufen appears in the Wittenberg matriculation book in 1520: Förstemann, ed., Album Academiae Vitebergensis: Ältere Reihe 1, p. 94. See also WA 9, p. 309. 43. Mathesius, Sarepta, f. 190r. 44. Similar if less dramatic uprisings had occurred in Joachimsthal twice before, making it unlikely that Reformation preaching understood or misunderstood by the miners was the primary basis for such disturbance. Chronica, 1517, 1523. 45. See Gustav Laube, “Aus Joachimsthals Vergangenheit,” MVGDB 11 (1873):80f. Peter Blickle notes the demand for the right to call and dismiss pastors as evidence of the radical religious character of the miners’ revolt and of its similarity to the revolutionary activities of the peasants: The Revolution of 1525: The German Peasants’ War from a New Perspective, tr. Thomas A. Brady, Jr. and H. C. Erik Midelfort (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1981), p. 122. Within the existing constitution of Joachimsthal, however, this was not a particularly radical demand, since the miners’ guild
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[Knappschaft] already exercised that right through its elders [seniores] along with the town council. Susan Karant-Nunn, “Between Two Worlds: The Social Position of the Silver Miners of the Erzgebirge, c. 1560–1575,” Social History 14 (1989):307–322, also rejects Blickle’s assessment of the religious character of the miners’ uprising and denies its similarity to that of the peasants; she does not, however, recognize the concessions that miners won from the Schlicks in response to their demands. The miners’ demands are summarized by Siegfried Sieber, “Die Teilnahme erzgebirgischer Bergleute am Bauernkrieg 1525,” in Bergbau und Bergleute, Freiberger Forschungshefte D11 (Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1955), pp. 100–104. See also Ingrid Mittenzwei, Der Joachimsthaler Aufstand 1525: Seine Ursachen und Folgen, Deutsche Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin: Schriften des Instituts für Geschichte, Reihe 3: Vorträge, Tagungen und Abhandlungen des Instituts für Geschichte, vol. 6 (Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1968). 46. Chronica 1526; Siegl, “Zur Geschichte der ‘Thalergroschen,’” p. 208. 47. Mathesius, Sarepta, f. 190r; Chronica 1524 (in error for 1525) records that “Johann Bintman, a monk [ordensman], died in the Spital; he left his books to the church.” It is unnecessary to suppose that Bindman died in 1530, when a new building for the Spital was constructed (so Loesche, Johannes Mathesius 1:76 n. 5), since a donated house had been in service since 1519 (Chronica). 48. Chronica 1526; Mathesius, Sarepta, f. 190. 49. For a half year in 1528, the church was served by Simon Behem: see Alfred Eckert, Die deutsche evangelischen Pfarrer der Reformationszeit in Westböhmen, Biographisches Handbuch zur böhmischen Reformationsgeschichte 2/1 (Kirnbach über Wolfach: Johannes-Mathesius-Verlag, 1974–1976), p. 30. See also Chronica 1528, 1529; Mathesius, Sarepta, f. 190r; Eckert, Deutsche evangelische Pfarrer, p. 44. 50. Chronica 1530. The register started by Ering, the oldest such surviving in the Czech Republic, is preserved in the Czech regional archive in Pilsen. 51. Chronica 1530, 1531; Mathesius, Sarepta, f. 190r. 52. Mathesius, Sarepta, f. 190r: “This man was an eloquent and prudent preacher . . . he warned earnestly against the doctrine of the Anabaptists.” 53. WA Br 6, pp. 372–375: “For I would gladly see, since the multitude in the Thal is great, and what is taught and held there is echoed far and wide, that the Word of God be proclaimed in purity and power, and all scandalous abuses, whether papistic or sectarian, be abolished, such as the daily masses and the false chastity of the priests.” 54. Chronica 1531 (the date is in error); Mathesius, Sarepta, f. 190v. 55. In any event, the threat of the Anabaptists in Joachimsthal was probably more perceived than real. The Chronica records the first (and only?) punishment of an Anabaptist in Joachimsthal in 1535, three years after the publication of the Schlicks’ mandate. In general, see Steven Ozment, The Age of Reform 1250–
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1550: An Intellectual and Religious History of Late Medieval and Reformation Europe (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1980), p. 348. 56. The supposition that Maier was regarded as the first Evangelical pastor in Joachimsthal (see Lorenz, Bilder, p. 237), based on the notation in the Chronica for 1532, “Moritz Maier, erster Pfarrherr den 19. May,” is unwarranted. The head pastor of the Joachimsthal church is elsewhere referred to in Latin as pastor primarius (see Christian Adolph Pescheck, Geschichte der Gegenreformation in Böhmen, 2nd ed. [Leipzig: Arnold, 1850], vol. 2, p. 232), a term for which “erster Pfarrherr” would serve as a literal translation. Moreover, the Chronica suggests that the Joachimsthal church had been reorganized in the previous year, with the activities of Christoff Ering (Chronica 1531). The new church order apparently allowed for a senior pastor to be assisted by preachers, hence the need for a distinction between the pastor primarius or “erster Pfarrherr” and the concionatores or “Predigern.” 57. Chronica 1532, 1533; Mathesius, Sarepta, f. 190v. 58. Mathesius, Sarepta, f. 190v. There is a letter from Luther to the Joachimsthal burgher Wolfgang Wiebel criticizing Egranus’ 1532 preaching in Joachimsthal: WA Br 6, p. 376. 59. Egranus, Ungedruckte Predigten, p. 61, where “singing Rorate [the introit for the fourth Sunday in Advent], organ-playing, lighting candles, and the like” are criticized as merely external means of preparing for Christ’s coming. 60. Karlstadt’s fifty-three theses for disputation “De cantu Gregoriano” are printed in Barge, Karlstadt 1:491–493. Mathesius later accused Karlstadt of violating musical propriety by wanting to bring drums [Paucken] into the study: Mathesius, Syrach Mathesii. Das ist / Christliche, Lehrhaffte / Trostreiche und lustige Erklerung und Außlegung des schönen Haußbuchs / so der weyse Mann Syrach zusammen gebracht und geschrieben (Leipzig: J. Beyer, 1586) [HAB/ LB] (cited as Syrach), vol. 3, f. 24v; compare Mathesius, Homiliae Mathesii. Das ist: Außlegung und gründliche Erklerung der Ersten und Andern Episteln des heiligen Apostels Pauli an die Corinthier (Leipzig: J. Beyer, 1590) [HAB/ LB] (cited as Corinthier), vol. 1, f. 306r. I have not been able to identify the basis for Mathesius’ criticism in Karlstadt’s writings, however. Compare Charles Garside, Zwingli and the Arts (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1966), pp. 28–32. 61. The exact date of Herman’s arrival in Joachimsthal is uncertain. 62. Chronica 1520. 63. Herman, HS, f. B2v (WB, p. 820): “I will pass over the Latin songs, which at that time were innumerable, and all dealt solely with the virgin Mary and the saints. If it had not been for the dear seasonal hymns [Choral de tempore] and the Psalter, our Lord God would have been forgotten altogether, and no one would have sung or sounded anything about him, until nothing but pure Salve Regina, Requiem, and similar songs were left in the church. But almighty God, of his particular grace, preserved this praiseworthy and Christian choral singing in the church, along with the Psalter, through which many
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boys came to a knowledge of God’s Word, and doubtless retained it to the end.” 64. Eyn Mandat Jhesu Christi, an alle seyne getrewen Christen (Wittenberg: N. Schirlentz, 1524); Eyn Vergleychung oder zusamenhaltung der spruche Vom freyen wyllen, Erasmi von Roterodam, durch Nicolaum Herman von Altdorff yns teutsch gebracht. (Leipzig: Jacob Thanner, 1525); Eyn gestreng Urtheyl Gottes vber die vngehorsamen kinder vnd yhre Eltern / Getzogen aus dem Alten vnd Newen Testament (1526). A modern edition of the earlier pamphlet with a catalog of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century editions is given in Nikolaus Herman, Ein Mandat Jesu Christi, ed. Georg Loesche, Flugschriften aus den ersten Jahren der Reformation 2–2 (Halle a. S., 1907). VD16 lists twenty-two editions of the Mandat (H2390–H2411) and three of the Urteil (H2374– H2377). 65. Ursachen derhalben Andreas Karlstadt aus den Landen zu Sachse vertrieben (Strassburg 1524), with a dedicatory epistle to Eberbach dated 6 Nov. 1524. See Zorzin, Karlstadt als Flugschriftenautor, p. [297] no. 72. 66. Chronica 1522. 67. Philipp Melanchthon, Philippi Melanthonis Opera quae supersunt omnia, ed. Karl Gottlieb Bretschneider, Corpus Reformatorum 1 (Halle a. S.: Schwetschke, 1834) (cited as CR), p. 698 (no. 307, anno 1524). After leaving Joachimsthal, Eberbach took up a teaching position at Coburg, where Melanchthon continued to admonish him to attend to his academic duties rather than to involve himself in religious disputes, especially over the Lord’s Supper, until Eberbach’s death in 1529 (see CR 1, 822f., 830, 908f., 1037, 1042f., 1061). 68. The “Magister Stephanus” who carried Herman’s concerns to Luther is identified as Stephan Schönbach by the WA editors. That Herman faced external opposition in the town as well as his own inner frustration is manifest from Luther’s reply to him. 69. WA Br 3, no. 790, pp. 369–370. 70. DKL 1524 01, 1526 16. On musical and poetic differences between Luther and Müntzer’s church music, see Karl Ameln, Über die Sprachmelodie in den geistlichen Gesängen Martin Luthers,” in Quaestiones in Musica: Festschrift für Franz Krautwurst zum 65. Geburtstag (Tutzing: Schneider, 1989), especially p. 25 n. 7. 71. On Luther and Müntzer, see Jenny, WA Ar 4, pp. 12f.; Patrice Veit, Das Kirchenlied in der Reformation Martin Luthers: Eine thematische und semantische Untersuchung, Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für Europaische Geschichte Mainz 120 (Stuttgart: F. Steiner, 1986), pp. 37–40. 72. See Helmut Unger, ed., Kritische Ausgabe der Chronik des Valentin Hanffstengel “Wie das Bergwerck auffn Schreckenberg ist auffkommen und darnach die Stadt Annaberg gebauet worden” (Annaberg-Buchholz: Geißler & Huhn, 1996), p. 9, cited in full in note 47 of Chapter 1, in the section “Public Use of the Lutheran Hymns.”
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73. Chronica 1525: “Zum ersten Figural gesungen in der Kirchen.” DKL 1524 18; DKL 1525 22. 74. The predominance of German music during this period is inferred from the Chronica 1535 entry, which implies that in the period immediately before 1535 there was no singing of Latin in the church services: “Latin singing, choral and figural, reestablished in the church.” Naturally services would have been sung in Latin in the very first years of the town. If the 1525 Chronica entry had referred to Latin polyphony, both the wording of the 1535 entry and the pride that the town took in the achievements of the Latin school would lead one to expect that this would have been specified. These considerations, as well as the proximity of the 1525 date to the publication of Walther’s songbook, suggest that what was introduced into the Joachimsthal church in 1525 was the singing of Luther’s German hymns by the school choir in four-part harmony. 75. Mathesius mentions Egranus’ attacks during his brief second term in Joachimsthal in Syrach 2, ff. 64v–65r, and Corinthier 1, f. 305v. Egranus defended his teaching on justification in his 1534 work Ein christlicher Unterricht von der Gerechtigkeit des glaubens und von guten Wercken (Leipzig: M. Blum), dedicated to Hieronymus and Lorenz Schlick. There, Egranus complains of the opprobrium that both the learned and the laity of Joachimsthal had brought on him for his teaching. See Wolkan, “Anfänge der Reformation,” pp. 285f. 76. Chronica 1532, 1533; see also Mathesius, Sarepta, f. 191v. 77. Chronica 1534; Sieber, “Geistige Beziehungen,” pp. 151–152; Eckert, ed., Deutsche evangelischen Pfarrer, p. 43; Mathesius, Sarepta, f. 190v. 78. Chronica 1537. 79. Chronica 1534, 1537. See Richard Schmidt, “Der Kirchenbau zu St. Joachimsthal (1534–1540),” MVGDB 51 (1913):444–458; Schmidt, Topographie, pp. 46–60. Schmidt’s argument that the design of the Joachimsthal church was not specially influenced by the Reformation (“Kirchenbau,” pp. 454f., 457) is based primarily on the erroneous assumption that Lutheranism was not well established in Joachimsthal until the pastorate of Johann Mathesius (1545–1565), though it is true that the basic architectural type exemplified by the Joachimsthal church (the Saalkirche or hall church) had been employed in pre-Reformation churches. The other Lutheran churches sometimes mentioned as the first Protestant constructions (Neuberg a. d. Donau, 1543, or Torgau, dedicated by Luther in 1544) are both later than the Joachimsthal church. See Klaus Raschzok and Reiner Sörries, ed., Geschichte des protestantischen Kirchenbaues (Erlangen: Junge & Sohn, 1994), p. 29; W. Hager, “Kirchenbau IV. Im 16.–19. Jh.,” in RGG 3 3:1386f. The Joachimsthal church is recognized as the first, though of limited importance as an exemplar, by Andrew Spicer, “Architecture,” in Andrew Pettegree, ed., The Reformation World (London: Routledge, 2000), p. 509.
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80. Chronica 1535. The use of Latin in the service was in accord with general Lutheran practice at the time, and Luther’s own wishes for places where there was a Latin school, so that students might be the better exercised in the use of the language. See also Mathesius, Ausgewählte Werke 3:296 (quoting Luther): “In Latin schools, one should sing in Latin; in German churches, one should preach in German; that is the proper way.” 81. Johann Mathesius, “Ein kurtzer bericht von der Lehr und Ceremonien der Christlichen Kirchen in S. Joachimsthal,” in Postilla das ist, Außlegung der Sontags und fürnemsten Fest Euangelien, uber das gantze jar (Nürnberg: J. vom Bergs Erben, 1567), ed. Georg Loesche, “Die evangelischen Kirchenordnungen Oesterreichs: Die Kirchenordnung von Joachimsthal in Böhmen, 1551,” JGPÖ 15 (1894):50 (cited from Loesche’s edition as Mathesius, “Bericht”). For evidence of Latin literacy among the burghers of Joachimsthal, see the section “Printing and Private Book-Ownership” in Chapter 6. 82. Mathesius, “Bericht,” p. 50. 83. Chronica 1611. 84. Mathesius, Sarepta, f. 190v. 85. Mathesius, Sarepta, f. 190v. Marriage cases, however [strittige Ehesachen], came under the jurisdiction of the civil authority; see ibid., f. 191v. 86. Chronica 1545 gives the impression that Mathesius introduced the Catechism sermons, but Mathesius, Sarepta, f. 190v makes it clear that they were introduced by Steude and that Mathesius simply moved them from late afternoon to noon. 87. Chronica 1542. 88. Mathesius, Sarepta, f. 190v; Mathesius, “Bericht,” p. 50. 89. In his 1560 preface to the HS, Herman writes that he had restored the use of Latin chant in the Joachimsthal church “some twenty years ago,” probably referring to his labors between 1535 and 1540. See the section on “Lutheranism, Humanism, and Music” in Chapter 4. 90. See Chapter 8 for dates of Herman’s compositions. 91. Mathesius, Sarepta, f. 190v; Chronica 1541. See Loesche, Johannes Mathesius 1:92–106. 92. The minting rights had been assumed by the crown in 1528: Chronica 1528. See Lorenz, Bilder, pp. 15–17. 93. Mathesius’ letter to Paul Eber of 1 Dec. 1545 makes clear that he was called to the Joachimsthal pastorate, despite the danger of offending the emperor, in order to ensure that an Evangelical pastor would continue to serve the town. Ausgewählte Werke 4:496. 94. See Loesche, Johannes Mathesius 1:138–172, 2:372–377. 95. Letter of Ferdinand I to Erzherzog Ferdinand, 19 Dec. 1554, in Antonin Gindely, ed., Monumenta Historiae Bohemica 5.2 (Prague: I. L. Kober, 1869), p. 177: “As to the fact that we suffer and tolerate unordained pastors from Wittenberg in our own holdings in Joachimsthal, your grace will surely
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recall the urgent reasons of our income and mature consideration which have prevented us from removing such priests for the time being.” 96. Loesche, Johannes Mathesius 1:21; Lorenz, Bilder, p. 165. 97. Mathesius, Ausgewählte Werke 3:300. Mathesius was also one of the collectors of Luther’s “table talk”; see WA TR 4, pp. XXVII–XLV, 557–705; WA TR 5, pp. 1–64. 98. Loesche, Johannes Mathesius 2:121f.; Lorenz, Bilder, p. 203. 99. Wolfram Steude, Untersuchungen zur mitteldeutschen Musiküberlieferung und Musikpflege im 16. Jahrhundert (Frankfurt: Peters, 1978), p. 104. Mathesius, Ausgewählte Werke 3:210, refers to “my good friend Senfl.” They had met while Mathesius was attending school in Munich. Senfl, though remaining a Roman Catholic, was also a personal friend of Luther. 100. Steude, Untersuchungen, p. 101. 101. Chronica 1535. The practice had apparently fallen into desuetude after its introduction in 1525 (q.v.). 102. Loesche, Johannes Mathesius 1:121. 103. See W3 1330–1343, pp. 1150–1158. 104. Mathesius boasted in 1564 that he had made virtually no changes in the ceremonies or practices of the Joachimsthal church as he had inherited them in 1541: Sarepta, f. 191f. 105. Mathesius, “Bericht,” pp. 1f. 106. HS f. B2r-v (WB, p. 615). 107. See Lorenz, Bilder, p. 191, and Eber, SE, p. 6, where Eber complains of the popularity of love songs (“Buhllieder”) at the expense of hymns. See the section “Music and the Clergy” in Chapter 3.
3. Lutheranism, Music, and Society 1. Paul Eber refers in a letter of 5 October 1545 to the “supremely wellconstituted church in Joachimsthal”: Gustav Bossert et al., “Vallensia: Joachimsthaler Reliquien,” JGPÖ 34 (1913):47. Mathesius, Corinthier 1, ff. 304v–305r: “For this valley enjoys honor and good reputation on account of music as well, since outstanding musicians are trained here.” 2. Mathesius, Corinthier 1, f. 305v: “Therefore our [town] government is altogether right in holding music dear.” 3. Rudolf Wolkan, Böhmens Antheil an der deutschen Litteratur des XVI. Jahrhunderts, vol. 3 (Prague: Hasse, 1894), pp. 311–318; several of these songs found wide distribution through the publication of Etliche hubsche bergkreie / geistlich vnd weltlich zu samen gebracht (Zwickau: W. Meyerpeck, 1531), ed. Gerhard Heilfurth, Erich Seemann, Heinrich Siuts, and Herbert Wolf as Bergreihen: Eine Liedersammlung des 16. Jahrhunderts mit drei Folgen, Mitteldeutsche Forschungen 16 (Tübingen: Max Niemeyer, 1959), pp. 210–213, 222–225. See also Heribert Sturm, “Das Volks-und Bergmannslied in Joachimsthal,” in Skizzen zur Geschichte des Obererzgebirges im 16. Jahrhun-
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dert, Forschungen zur Geschichte und Landeskunde der Sudetenländer 5 (Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer, 1965), pp. 48–60. 4. See Heilfurth et al., ed., Bergreihen; Werner Kaden, “Frühe bergmännische Musikkultur,” Beiträge zur Musikwissenschaft 31 (1989):59–62. 5. For secular material, see Heilfurth et al., ed., Bergreihen, pp. 210–213; A. Bernt, “Zum Liede des Hans Lutz auf das Joachimsthaler Schützenfest vom J. 1521,” MVGDB 42 (1904):107f.; Josef Pohl, “Zu dem Festgedicht auf das große Joachimsthaler Schießen im Jahre 1521,” MVGDB 49 (1911):370–373. Herman’s song in praise of Joachimsthal is HS 1. Mathesius presumes that many of the Bergreihen are suitable for devotional use: Catechismus, Das ist, Trostreiche und Nützliche Auslegung uber die Fünff Heubtstück der Christlichen Lehre (Leipzig: J. Beyer, 1586) (cited as Catechismus), vol. 1, pp. 62f.: “Therefore, dear friends, sing at home on Sunday mornings with your children, especially a good psalm or miners’ song.” 6. Herman, HS, f. B6r: “the youth and honorable people have always delighted to read and sing of the virtues of great heroes.” Such books appear in the Joachimsthal estate inventories, e.g., “Das Helden Puch,” in Michael Hummelberger’s collection: AM Jáchymov 8, f. 385v. 7. Mathesius, HS, f. A7r (WB, p. 614); Herman, HS, B5v–B6r (WB, p. 617); Loesche, Johannes Mathesius 2:122f.; Hans Lorenz, Bilder aus Alt-Joachimsthal: Umrisse einer Kulturgeschichte einer erzgebirgischen Bergstadt im sechzehnten Jahrhundert (Joachimsthal: H. Meyer, 1925), pp. 206f. See the section “Music and the Clergy” in Chapter 3. 8. Hence most of the songs in HS, e.g., HS 4, “Von Joseph dem züchtigen Heldt . . .” 9. Mathesius, Syrach 2, f. 51r; Chronica 1548; Mathesius, Corinthier 1, f. 306r. 10. Some of Herman’s songs are religious adaptations of such children’s music; see Hans-Bruno Ernst, Zur Geschichte des Kinderlieds: Das einstimmige deutsche geistliche Kinderlied im 16. Jahrhundert, Regensburger Beiträge zur Musikwissenschaft 8 (Regensburg: G. Bosse, 1985), pp. 106ff., esp. pp. 132–137. Mathesius also refers to Christian children’s songs in Syrach 2, f. 51r. 11. On the harmonies of the Bergreihen, see Mathesius, Corinthier 1, f. 305r. Examples from Herman’s work can be found in HS 6 and 7. 12. Mathesius, Corinthier 1, f. 305v. 13. For an extended treatment of burghers and their music in contemporary Nürnberg, see Susan Gattuso, “16th-Century Nuremberg,” in Man and Music: The Renaissance, ed. Iain Fenlon (Engelwood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1989), pp. 286–303. 14. Mathesius, Syrach 3, f. 26r. 15. Mathesius, Syrach 2, f. 51r. 16. Mathesius, Corinthier 1, f. 305v. On the social ranking of instruments and musicians, with reference to Mathesius’ treatment here, see Walter Salmen, “Die Musik in der hierarchisch geordneten Standegesellschaft 1650–1750,” Musikerziehung (Austria) 30/2 (1976): 51–55.
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17. Rudolf Quoika, “St. Joachimsthal,” MGG 7:65. 18. Sturm, “Das Volks-und Bergmannslied,” p. 52. 19. Lorenz, Bilder, p. 207; see Anton Böhm, “Kurze Mitteilungen aus der Geschichte von Sct. Joachimsthal,” Pfarramtliche Nachrichten 4 (Oct. 1906), 1566; ibid. 7 (Nov. 1909), 1594; ibid. 8 (Mar. 1910), 1596. The 1596 statute also provided for the daily singing of a hymn or litany as a “Türckengebet.” For parallels elsewhere, see W1 bib. 344 (Erfurt 1595); W1 bib. 348 (Erfurt 1597), pref. 31, p. 866. 20. Mathesius, “Bericht,” p. 12. 21. Mathesius, “Bericht,” p. 50. 22. Chronica 1533, 1536, 1538, 1540, 1542, 1544, 1548, 1555, 1557, 1559. 23. HS 78, f. V5v. 24. Chronica 1537, 1551; see Wolfram Steude, Untersuchungen zur mitteldeutschen Musiküberlieferung und Musikpflege im 16. Jahrhundert (Frankfurt: Peters, 1978), p. 102. Enderlein’s epitaphs are printed in editions of the SE after 1562. See the section on Editions of the Sonntags-Evangelia and Historien in Chapter 8. 25. HS 79, ff. V6v–V7r. 26. SE, p. 9 (WB, p. 610). See also Chronica 1545. 27. Chronica 1545, 1547; Steude, Untersuchungen, p. 105. Hassenstein’s wife purchased the works of Luther for the Joachimsthal library: Loesche, Johannes Mathesius 1:170f. 28. Georg Rhau, Sacrorum Hymnorum Liber Primus, ed. Rudolf Gerber, Reichsdenkmale Deutscher Musik 21, Abteilung Motetten und Messen 3 (Leipzig: Kistner & Siegel 1942); see Steude, Untersuchungen, p. 101. 29. Georg Loesche, “Zur Agende von Joachimsthal in Böhmen,” Siona 17 (1892):164; see Chronica 1564, 1567, 1568. 30. Sturm, “Das Volks- und Bergmannslied,” p. 53. On the cultivation of the Meistersänger tradition in the towns of Bohemia, see Peter Brömse, Musikgeschichte der Deutschen in den Böhmischen Ländern, Die Musik der Deutschen im Osten Mitteleuropas 2 (Dülmen: Laumann, 1988), pp. 55–57. On Sachs, see the section “Hymns and Hymn-Printing” in Chapter 1. 31. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 1, f. 85v (21 April 1558). The Joachimsthal convivium appears again in the town records in 1574, when the stipend for the “cantoribus vom Convivio” was reduced: Böhm, “Kurze Mitteilungen,” Pfarramtliche Nachrichten 5 (Aug. 1907), 1574. 32. See Emil Platen, “Convivium musicum,” MGG2 Sachteil 3:1004–1006. 33. The 1543 Joachimsthal Tanzordnung, for example, specified not only how much a musician was to be paid but also where the musicians should be placed so as not to distract “servants and young people” who might pass by. See Gregor Lindner, ed., “Aus Joachimsthal: Aktenstücke,” MVGDB 53 (1915):364. 34. Mathesius, Corinthier 1, f. 305. See also Mathesius, Syrach 2, f. 51v, where the margin gives the Latin form of the proverb: “Publici cantores raro ad
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honores perveniunt.” Herman reverses the saying in his epitaph for Hans Hauschild (HS 78, f. V6r): “Denn werden seins gleich Cantores / Auch unquam komm ad honores / Und solche feine Musici / Gleich sein wie recht Archangeli.” Compare the advice given to the young Hermann Weinsberg by his father that he should strive to be “among those for whom others play music”: Steven Ozment, When Fathers Ruled: Family Life in Reformation Europe (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1983), p. 157. 35. Mathesius, Corinthier 1, f. 306r–v. In 1601, the assistant organist and two of his colleagues were punished and dismissed from their posts after being caught with shameful writings and pictures: AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 308v. 36. Mathesius, Corinthier 1, f. 305v. 37. Mathesius counseled (Syrach 2, f. 51v), “The boys should practice music, but only so far that they may sing for themselves.” 38. Mathesius can mention these female musicians critically, as in Syrach 2, f. 51r (on the indecent songs sung by female lutenists) or in a neutral sense, as Corinthier 1. f. 306r (on the choirs of male and female singers in royal courts). On the ambiguities attending professional musicianship among women in sixteenth-century society, see Anthony Newcomb, “Courtesans, Muses, or Musicians? Professional Women Musicians in Sixteenth-Century Italy,” in Women Making Music: The Western Art Tradition, 1150–1950 (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1986), pp. 90–115; Heide Wunder, He Is the Sun, She Is the Moon: Women in Early Modern Germany, tr. Thomas Dunlap (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1998), pp. 106f. 39. Mathesius, Syrach 2, f. 51v, citing “Steidens Schwester” and Miriam. 40. In addition to Mathesius, Syrach 2, f. 51v, see also Mathesius, Corinthier 1, f. 305r (bis); Johann Mathesius, Diluvium Mathesii, das ist Auslegung und Erklerung der schrecklichen und hinwider gantz tröstlichen historien von der Sündfluth (Leipzig: Beyer, 1587) (cited as Diluvium), f. 229r [HDS]. 41. Mathesius, Ausgewählte Werke 4:449. 42. Mathesius, Syrach 2, f. 51v; Diluvium, f. 229r; Corinthier 1, f. 306v. 43. Andreas Seltenreich held various offices between 1546 and 1569; David Seltenreich 1577–1589; Johann Seltenreich was town clerk 1574–1594. See Lorenz, Bilder, pp. 233–235. 44. On the Schedlichs, see MGG 11:1612–1615 (also NG 2, s.v. “Schedlich, David”), and the section “Lutheran Resistance, 1635–1648” in Chapter 7. On Hans Leo Haßler, see MGG 5:1801–1811 (also NG2, s.v. “Hassler”). 45. Also spelled “Vischer”: ADB 7, pp. 51f.; ADB 40, p. 30. For his hymns, see W5 375–377, pp. 248f. 46. Gigas’ German name was Heune: ADB 9, p. 167. For his hymns, see W4 257–261, pp. 179–181. 47. W. Huttel, s.v. “Koch,” NG2. 48. Walter Blankenburg, s.v. “Köler, David,” NG2. 49. On Isaak Haßler, see MGG 5:1798–1800 (also NG2, s.v. “Hassler”).
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50. See Quoika, “Joachimsthal,” MGG 7:64–66; Steude, Untersuchungen, pp. 101f.; Lorenz, Bilder, pp. 207f.; Loesche, Johannes Mathesius 2:121. 51. Cantor Blasius Schenk was called away to become a pastor in 1564 (AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 1, f. 231r [20 Sept. 1564]); in 1594, cantor Gregor Richter was called as pastor to Abertham (AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 1, f. 179r [27 May 1594]). 52. See AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 339r (11 June 1605); ibid., f. 528r (23 Mar. 1623). 53. Despite R. Quoika’s statement in “St. Joachimsthal,” MGG 7:66, that the last of Joachimsthal’s Stadtpfeiffer left in 1603, they are last mentioned in archival sources in 1612 (AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 395v (21 June 1612). On Stadtpfeiffer in general, see Arno Werner, Vier Jahrhunderte im Dienste der Kirchenmusik: Geschichte des Amtes und Standes der evangelischen Kantoren, Organisten und Stadtpfeifer seit der Reformation (Leipzig: C. Merseburger, 1933), pp. 199ff.; MGG2 Sachteil 8:1719–1732. On the events of 1625, see AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 557r–v and Chapter 7. 54. In Joachimsthal, however, the town musicians were not given the exclusive right to play at weddings and dances that was awarded to the Stadtpfeiffer of many other cities (MGG2 Sachteil 8:1722). The town’s refusal to do so led to the departure of at least one of its professional musicians. See AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 1, f. 275r (9 Jan. 1586). 55. On the efforts of the Stadtpfeiffer, see AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 1, f. 163v (18 May 1589); ibid., 2, f. 395v (21 June 1612), f. 398r (22 Nov. 1612). On the organist’s efforts to evade responsibility for the clock, see ibid., f. 256r (20 Jan. 1579). 56. Böhm, “Kurze Mitteilungen,” Pfarramtliche Nachrichten 8 (Nov. 1910), 1602. 57. Mathesius, Corinthier 2, f. 101r. 58. Mathesius, Diluvium, f. 223v. 59. Mathesius, Corinthier 1, f. 306r. 60. See Loesche, Johannes Mathesius 2:120–125. Mathesius’ extended discussions of music are found in Corinthier 1, ff. 304v–306v (“Von der Musica oder Singekunst,” a sermon on 1 Cor. 14:7–8) and in Syrach 2, ff. 50v–51r (on Ecclus. 32:3–6) and Syrach 3, ff. 24r–25r (on Ecclus. 40:20). See also Mathesius, Postilla Prophetica, Oder / Spruchpostill des Alten Testaments (Leipzig: J. Beyer, 1589), vol. 1, ff. 113v–117r (cited as Prophetica). 61. Mathesius, Syrach 3, f. 24v. 62. Mathesius, Ausgewählte Werke 3:300. 63. Mathesius, Ausgewählte Werke 3:324. See also WA 35, pp. 538–542. 64. Mathesius, Ausgewählte Werke 3:434. 65. Close parallels to (and likely influences on) Mathesius’ own thoughts on music are provided by two Nürnberg sources, showing the confluence of clerical and lay thinking on the subject: bookseller Johann Ott’s preface to his 1544 Hundert und fünfftzehen guter newer Liedlein (WB 469, pref. 42, pp. 577f.)
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and school administrator Erasmus Rothenbucher’s preface to the 1551 Nürnberg Bergreihen (WB 637, pref. 55, pp. 594–596). On Luther’s theology of music, see the discussion and references (and pertinent caveats) in Joyce Irwin, Neither Voice Nor Heart Alone: German Lutheran Theology of Music in the Age of the Baroque, American University Studies Series 7: Theology and Religion Vol. 132 (New York: Peter Lang, 1993), pp. 1–7; Patrice Veit, Das Kirchenlied in der Reformation Martin Luthers: Eine thematische und semantische Untersuchung, Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für Europaische Geschichte Mainz 120 (Stuttgart: F. Steiner, 1986), pp. 8–35; also Carl. F. Schalk, Luther on Music: Paradigms of Praise (St. Louis: Concordia, 1988); Paul Nettl, Luther and Music, tr. Frida Best and Ralph Wood (New York: Russell & Russell, 1967); Walter E. Buszin, “Luther on Music,” Musical Quarterly 22 (1946), pp. 80–97. 66. Mathesius, Corinthier 1, f. 304v–305r; Syrach 2, f. 51r; Syrach 3, f. 24v. See also Mathesius, HS, f. A6v (WB, p. 614). 67. Mathesius, Corinthier 1, f. 306r, f. 305v. 68. Mathesius, Syrach 2, f. 51r; Corinthier 1, f. 306r. 69. Mathesius, Corinthier 1, f. 306r; Syrach 3, f. 24v. 70. 1 Samuel 16:14–23; 2 Kings 3:14–15. Mathesius, Syrach 2, f. 51r. Elsewhere, Mathesius is careful to point out the close association of the music in such examples with the Word (Syrach 3, f. 24v). Luther assumes that the songs David played were hymns (“geistliche Lieder”): WA TR 1, p. 86 n. 194. 71. Mathesius, Syrach 2, f. 51r. 72. Mathesius, Corinthier 1, f. 305v. 73. Mathesius, HS, f. A7r (WB, p. 614); Herman, HS, ff. B5v–B6r (WB, p. 617). 74. Mathesius, Corinthier 1, f. 305v; Syrach 2, f. 51r. See also Mathesius, HS, f. A7r (WB, p. 614). 75. See Charles Garside, The Origins of Calvin’s Theology of Music: 1536–1543, Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 69.4 (1979), pp. 19, 25. Calvin’s view was shared by at least some Anabaptists as well: W1 bib. 176 (1570), pref. 12, p. 843. 76. Mathesius, “Bericht,” p. 50; Corinthier 1, f. 305v; Syrach 2, f. 51v. 77. The conviction that secular tunes were at least problematic for church use was widely shared by clergy and laity alike. See, for example, WB 897 (Strassburg 1568), pref. 78, p. 636; WB 908 (Nürnberg 1569), pref. 82, p. 641; an exception was the Silesian pastor Valentin Triller: WB 702 (1555), pref. 58, p. 600. For collections of religious texts set to secular melodies, see, for example, WB 908 (1569); WB 910 (1570); WB 922 (1571); WB 923 (1571); W1 bib. 289 (1589). 78. Mathesius, HS, f. A5r (WB, p. 613); see Herman, HS, f. B4r (WB, p. 616). 79. See the list of suggested melodies from sixteenth-century German broadsheets from Bohemia in Josef Pohl, “Deutschböhmische Zeitungen aus dem 16. Jahrhundert,” MVGDB 57 (1913):418. Several of the melodies that he lists under religious titles began life as secular songs.
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80. H. Sturm’s statement, in “Das Volks- und Das Bergmannslied in Joachimsthal,” p. 52, that Mathesius and Herman were engaged in “a self-conscious battle against popular song [das Volkslied] in general,” is a distortion of clerical attitudes toward secular music. 81. Mathesius, Corinthier 1, f. 306r; Herman, SE, p. 10 (WB, p. 610). 82. See Charles Garside, Zwingli and the Arts (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1966), pp. 32f.; Karl Weinmann, Das Konzil von Trient und die Kirchenmusik (Leipzig: Breitkopk & Härtel, 1919), p. 5. Among Roman Catholics, the most extreme were the Carthusians, whose rule prohibited both instrumental music and polyphony: MGG2 Sachteil 4:1805; see also NG2, s.v. “Carthusian monks.” 83. On polyphony and instrumental music, see Mathesius, Corinthier 1, f. 305r– 305v, e.g., “I recount this in order to speak a good word on behalf of music in the church and among pious and God-fearing Christians, against the monks who scorned polyphony and instruments and murmured as though their tonsured skulls were full of beetles”; on printing, see Mathesius, HS, f. A4r (WB, p. 613). Within the Roman Catholic Church, the propriety of using polyphonic music in the service was a matter under debate until the question was decided at the Council of Trent. See Iain Fenlon, “Music and Society,” in The Renaissance: From the 1470s to the End of the 16th Century (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1989), pp. 54ff. 84. Mathesius, Corinthier 1, f. 306r; compare Mathesius, Prophetica 1, f. 7v. 85. Mathesius, HS, f. A6v (WB, p. 614). 86. See the discussion of Lutheran views in Irwin, Neither Voice Nor Heart Alone, pp. 29ff. The elements of Lutheran theology of music that she traces back to Selneccer are in fact all present in Mathesius (not mentioned in her study), with whose work Selneccer was quite familiar, and earlier examples of views balancing the psychological effect of music as such with the spiritual effect of the Word joined with it can be found in Johann Ott (WB 469, pref. 42, pp. 577f.) and Erasmus Rothenbucher (WB 637, pref. 55, pp. 594–596), cited in note 65. See also Luther, WA TR 4, p. 32 no. 3955, citing Virgil, Eclogues 5.2: “Music is the best refreshment for a troubled man, even if he merely sings something [aliqua]. As someone has said, ‘Tu calamos inflare leves, ego dicere versus’: you sing the notes; I myself will sing the text.” 87. Eber, SE, p. 5 (WB, p. 608): “. . . the youth (who in any case by nature are attracted to and delight in songs, and sooner learn and longer retain them that what is otherwise presented to them in speech or writing”; Herman, SE, p. 12 (WB, p. 611): “For young people are by nature disposed to sing”; SE, p. 10 (WB, p. 610): “Our dear God has created music and instilled it in human nature, in particular because he would be praised and honored thereby. And moreover it is also incontrovertibly true, as daily experience attests, that whatever is put in song is more easily learned and better retained than what is read or heard otherwise.”
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88. Mathesius, HS, f. A6r–A6v (WB, pp. 613f.); compare Mathesius, Syrach 3, f. 24v: “A quiet, restrained [linde, seuberliche] music, which carries the words along with it—good words, honorable words, holy words—penetrates the heart, for the text is the soul of the notes”; compare Luther, WA TR 2, p. 518 n. 2545b: “the notes make the text live”; WA 54, p. 33 (LW 15, pp. 273f.): “To such hearts the Book of Psalms is a sweet, [comforting,] and delightful song because it sings of and proclaims the Messiah even when a person does not sing the notes but merely recites and pronounces the words. And yet the music, or the notes, which are a wonderful creation and gift of God, help materially in this.” 89. Mathesius, Syrach 3, f. 25r. 90. Mathesius, Syrach 3, f. 24v. See Luther, WA TR 4, p. 32 no. 3955, cited in note 86. 91. Mathesius, Syrach 3, f. 25r. The reference to “einen guten Choral . . . aus Gregorio” may mean little more than a plain melody without harmony; many of the Lutheran hymns used melodies adapted from Gregorian chant.
4. Music and Lutheran Education 1. Mathesius, “Bericht,” p. 53; Herman, HS, f. B3r–B3v (WB, p. 616) “das sie sich zur not damit behelffen können, und wie man sagt, sie niemand verrhaten kan.” 2. Contra Gerald Strauss, Luther’s House of Learning: Indoctrination of the Young in the Lutheran Reformation (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1978), who sees the primary goal of Lutheran pedagogy as that of forming docile, dutiful, submissive subjects, e.g., pp. 178, 169, 240. 3. Herman, HS, f. B1r–B1v (WB, p. 614). 4. Herman, HS, ff. B1r–B3r (WB, pp. 614–616). 5. HS 1.4 (“Ein Bercklied zu ehren dem Joachimsthal gemacht”); see also HS 69 (“Ein Gesang, darin man bitt, das Gott Christliche Schulen und Lerer erhalten wölle”). 6. On the Latin school, see Mathesius, “Bericht,” pp. 52–55; Loesche, Johannes Mathesius 1:311–322; Josef Florian Vogel, “Die alte Lateinschule in Joachimsthal,” MVGDB 9 (1871):162–173; Alfred Eckert, “Evangelische Schulordnungen und ‘Lehrverträge’: Einzelheiten aus dem Schulleben der deutschen Reformation sowie pädagogische Folgerungen der Gegenreformation in Böhmen,” Bohemia 21 (1980):25–27. 7. The school was inspected by two members of the town council and the pastor. Loesche, Johannes Mathesius 1:311. 8. Chronica 1516, 1518, 1533, 1535, 1540. 9. Josef Florian Vogl, “Die Liberey von Joachimsthal,” MVGDB 10 (1872):215–222; Georg Loesche, “Die Bibliothek der Lateinschule zu Joachimsthal in Böhmen,” Mitteilungen der Gesellschaft für deutsche Erziehungs-
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und Schulgeschichte 2 (1892):207–246; Heribert Sturm, Die Bücherei der Lateinschule zu St. Joachimsthal, Nordwestböhmische Heimatbücher 2 (Joachimsthal: Stadtmuseum, 1929). 10. The diploma of vocation for teachers and schoolmasters in Joachimsthal instructed them to teach Luther’s Catechism and other “pious works of the pure confession,” along with the “writings of Philipp [Melanchthon],” dialectic and rhetoric, and other liberal arts, as well as Greek and Latin: Vogel, “Lateinschule,” pp. 166f. See also Mathesius, “Bericht,” pp. 50f. Through translation exercises, the students were also trained in good German. 11. Chronica 1552. 12. Chronica 1532; Mathesius, “Bericht,” p. 52: “There [in the school] the Catechism is taught above all.” 13. Mathesius, “Bericht,” pp. 52f. 14. Herman, HS, f. B3v (WB, p. 616); Mathesius, Corinthier, f. 132v. 15. Alfred Eckert, “Fünf evangelische (vor allem lutherische) Kirchenordnungen in Böhmen zwischen 1522 und 1609,” Bohemia 18 (1977):41; Mathesius, “Bericht,” p. 52. 16. Mathesius, “Bericht,” p. 53, referring to “both kinds of music” [beide Musiken]. Mathesius sometimes uses the expression to refer to instrumental and vocal music: see Corinthier 1, f. 305r. In the context of the discussion of the liberal arts in the school order, however, I am inclined to interpret Mathesius here as referring to theoretical and practical music. 17. Loesche, Johannes Mathesius 1:312. 18. No exact figures for the number of students attending the school survive; in 1560, however, Nicolaus Herman mentioned that there were “many hundreds” of students in Joachimsthal: HS, f. B5v (WB, p. 617). Based on the enrollments of nearby schools with similar numbers of teachers, given by Hans Lorenz, Bilder aus Alt-Joachimsthal: Umrisse einer Kulturgeschichte einer erzgebirgischen Bergstadt im sechzehnten Jahrhundert (Joachimsthal: H. Meyer, 1925), p. 111n, there may have been between 400 and 700 students at the Joachimsthal Latin school in the 1560s. 19. Chronica 1546. 20. Lorenz, Bilder, pp. 115–119. 21. Herman, HS, f. B3r–B3v (WB, p. 616). 22. Chronica 1560. Mathesius observed that the practice helped to promote harmony and goodwill among the school, church, and town government. Mathesius, “Bericht,” p. 54. 23. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 1, ff. 128v–129r (23 Sept. 1578). 24. See AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, ff. 450r (28 Oct. 1617), 476v (14 Jan. 1620), 528r (23 Mar. 1623). 25. Both Herman and Mathesius boasted of the generosity and goodwill of the Joachimsthalers toward the school: Herman, HS, f. B3r (WB, p. 616); Mathesius, quoted in Lorenz, Bilder, p. 64. 26. Vogel, “Lateinschule,” p. 172.
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27. In the 1559 preface to his Sonntags-Evangelia, Nicolaus Herman mentions that the girls’ school in Joachimsthal had been under the charge of Catharina Held for thirty years, meaning that the school had been in operation since at least 1529 and probably—like the Latin school—since shortly after the founding of the town. SE, p. 11 (WB, p. 611). 28. In addition to Catharina Held, the Joachimsthal records mention David Hiller as girls’ schoolteacher in 1581, Agnes Prager in 1584, and a Frau Schlagenhaufen in 1630 when the new Roman Catholic priest demanded the use of a Catholic catechism. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 4, f. 272v (1581); ibid., 1, f. 150v (30 Jan. 1584); ibid., 2, f. 597r (23 Jul. 1630). See also Lorenz, Bilder, p. 114. 29. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 202v (23 Feb. 1600). See also Lorenz, Bilder, p. 32. 30. Eckert, “Evangelische Schulordnungen,” p. 25; Eckert, “Evangelische Kirchenordnungen,” p. 39. 31. Herman, SE, p. 11, refers the genesis of the Sonntags-Evangelia to the needs of the girls’ school and its teacher, Catharina Held. 32. Mathesius, “Bericht,” pp. 54f., mentions the prohibition of unauthorized schools [Winckelschule] and the provision for official authorization. 33. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 4, f. 272r–272v, lists Christoph Wildvogel as “Deutscher Schulmeister” in 1559 and Johann Pfeil in 1579; Lorenz, Bilder, p. 114, describes the activity of Tobias Kalb. There must have been more continuous vernacular school activity in Joachimsthal than the surviving council records attest, as Mathesius’ praise of German schools (Diluvium, f. 228v) and the titles of some of his published works suggest, e.g., Einfeltige Unnd kurtze Erklärung des kleinen Catechismi . . . für die Jugend in Lateinischer und Teutscher Schulen in S. Joachimsthal (Nürnberg: D. Gerlach, 1574): Loesche, Johannes Mathesius 2:422; Johann Michael Reu, Quellen zur Geschichte des kirchlichen Unterrichts in der evangelischen Kirche Deutschlands zwischen 1530 und 1600, two parts in four divisions in nine volumes (Gütersloh: Bertelsmann, 1904–1935; reprint Hildesheim: Olms, 1976), 1.2.1, pp. 331f., 1.2.2, pp. 689–709, and 2, pp. XC–XCI, 511–542. 34. Despite Herman’s complaint in HS, f. B3v (WB, p. 616) about the stubbornness [Mutwill] of German school students being merely strengthened or indulged, Mathesius had favorable words to say about German schools and their teachers and students in Diluvium f. 228r–228v: “Therefore a schoolmaster, a teacher [Baccalaureus], professor, doctor, a cantor . . . also German school teachers, men and women, are in a blessed estate, provided that they faithfully teach their Catechism and the liberal arts. So too every boy or girl who goes to the German or Latin schools is in a blessed calling, and may be of service to many people under God’s blessing, and save themselves and others, as Paul says, if they are pious.”
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35. Mathesius, “Bericht,” p. 51. According to Mathesius, Sarepta, f. 192r–192v, the towns inspected by Joachimsthal’s clergy included Abertham, Platten, and Gottesgab. 36. Mathesius, “Bericht,” pp. 9–10, 55. 37. Mathesius, “Bericht,” pp. 9–10. Some of the materials used, printed in several Nürnberg editions beginning in 1574, are reproduced in Reu, Quellen 1.2.1, pp. 331f., 1.2.2, pp. 689–709, and 2, pp. XC–XCI, 511–542. These included explanations of the parts of Luther’s Small Catechism, Bible verses for memorization, and hymns on the parts of the Catechism by Luther and Herman. See the section “Hymns and the Catechism” in Chapter 5. 38. On humanism and music in the German schools, see Édith Weber, “L’influence de l’Humanisme sur les formes musicales en Allemagne au XVIe siècle,” in Musique et Humanisme à la Renaissance, Cahiers V.L Saulnier 10 (Paris: École Normale Supérieure, 1993), pp. 119–136; Nan Cooke Carpenter, Music in the Medieval and Renaissance Universities (Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1958), pp. 362–367. 39. See the section “Music and the Clergy” in Chapter 3. 40. Though there was some instruction in music at the Strassburg academy, it was apparently restricted to Friday afternoons. See Lewis Spitz and Barbara Sher Tinsley, eds., Johann Sturm on Education: The Reformation and Humanist Learning (Saint Louis: Concordia, 1995), pp. 304f., p. 104. In his plan for the Laugingen school, Sturm limits religious singing to monophonic unison chanting of the psalms, a practice very much in accord with Erasmus’ recommendations: ibid., p. 243. 41. See Gustav Reese, Music in the Renaissance (New York: W. W. Norton, 1954), pp. 448–451. 42. WA 19, pp. 73f. (LW 53, pp. 62–63). 43. DKL 1553 10, etc. See Friedrich Blume et al., Protestant Church Music: A History (New York: W. W. Norton, 1974), p. 50. 44. See Josef Jungmann, The Mass of the Roman Rite: Its Origins and Development (Missarum Sollemnia), tr. Francis A. Brunner (New York: Benzinger, 1951; reprint Westminster, Maryland: Christian Classics, 1986), vol. 1, pp. 344f., 436f. For a brief summary of the complicated history of sixteenthand seventeenth-century efforts to revise the breviary, see M. Huglo, “Breviary,” NG2 4, p. 334. 45. See Blume, Protestant Church Music, pp. 49–51, 113–123. 46. Mathesius, “Bericht,” p. 53. 47. Two folio volumes of traditional chants and Herman’s Latin compositions, written mostly in Herman’s own hand, survive in the remains of the Joachimsthal library (now in the possession of the Karlovy Vary museum); see Heribert Sturm, Die Bücherei der Lateinschule zu St. Joachimsthal, Nordwestböhmische Heimatbücher 2 (Joachimsthal: Stadtmuseum, 1929), pp. 61f. One volume, dated 1553, is titled simply Cantica Sacra and contains, according to the de-
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scription on f. 91v, “Responsoria et Antiphonae de tempore et festis sanctorum, quibus additae sund generales aliquot Antiphonae et Responsoria.” The other volume is titled Cantica sacra Euangelia Dominicalia in prosarum formam redacta complectentia in usum Ecclesiae Vallensis conscripta Anno Domini MDLViii. Acceserunt Introitus XXV et responsoria. Item Hymni & Germanicae Cantiones de Passione Domini; Item Officium de Transfiguratione Domini. de conversione Pauli. De S. Joanne Baptista & alia quaedam; its textual contents are partly reprinted in Georg Loesche, “Zur Agende von Joachimsthal,” Siona 17 (1892):163–170, 183–192, and Loesche, “Prosarium Vallense,” Blätter für Hymnologie (1894):7–9, 19–21, 38, 56, 72–73, sqq.; a microfilm of Herman’s manuscripts is held by the Deutsches musikgeschichtliches Archiv in Kassel. These manuscripts were prepared by Herman in his retirement; their contents were presumably composed or arranged over the previous decades, as his comment in the preface to the HS indicates. 48. See Jungmann, Mass of the Roman Rite 1:436–440. 49. Nicolaus Herman, Cantica Sacra Evangelia . . . , ff. 81v–82r; Georg Loesche, “Zur Agende von Joachimsthal in Böhmen,” Siona 17 (1892):184; Loesche, “Prosarium Vallense,” Blätter für Hymnologie (1894):126. I have corrected typographical errors in Loesche’s edition from the film of the ms. held by the Deutsches Musikgeschichtliches Archiv, Kassel: “Omnia quae debuimus / Facto si adimplevimus, / Servi / sumus inutiles / Et coram Deo nocentes. / Sub manu ergo potenti / Humiliemur Domini / Non inflati non elati / Sed humiles et timidi. / Nostra nempe justitia / Polluta est ut menstrua; / Irae Dei opposita / Abit ut fumi virgula. / Nil juvant nostra merita, / Sola Christi fidutia / Pacatur conscientia. / Huic sit laus et gloria!” 50. Luther, WA 172, pp. 60–71; WA 37, pp. 9–12; WA 52, pp. 110–116; Johann Mathesius, Postilla / Oder außlegung der Sontags Euangelien uber das gantze jar (Nürnberg: U. Neuber & J. vom Berg Erben, 1565) [HAB/LB] (cited as Postilla), ff. 53v–58r. 51. Genesis 2:18, 1:28. 52. Loesche, “Prosarium Vallense,” pp. 19–20: “Coeli creator et terrae / Humanum genus crescere / Jussit, ut ipsum coleret / Suasque laudes caneret. / Ob eam rem conjugium / Condidit factor hominum / Conjugalique foedere / Marem conjunxit foeminae / Nolens, ut inter homines / Essent vagae libidines. / Honestas res conjugium / Autorem habet Dominum / Quod parens Deus sanciit / Hoc Jesus natus coluit. / . . . / Laus, honor tibi, Domine, / Cui placent sanctae nuptiae. / At, reprime diabolum, / Qui infestat conjugium / Quo tibi pii conjuges / Perpetuas canant laudes / Cum suis caris liberis / Coeli fruentes gaudiis.” 53. Loesche, “Prosarium Vallense,” p. 72. 54. For a local parallel to the accentual meter and rhymed couplets of Herman’s sequences, see Mathesius’ Latin Oeconomia: Ausgewählte Werke 2:378–382. 55. Herman, HS, f. B2v. Compare Mathesius’ defense of the Latin texts retained from the medieval church in Prophetica 1, f. 6v.
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56. Mathesius, “Bericht,” p. 50. On at least some occasions, even the Biblical lessons were read first in Latin: see Loesche, Johannes Mathesius 1:300. 57. Reported in Mathesius, Ausgewählte Werke 3:322–323. 58. Mathesius, “Bericht,” p. 53. 59. For example, Mathesius, Prophetica 1, f. 7v. 60. Heinrich Kätzel, Muzikpflege und Musikerziehung im Reformationsjahrhundert dargestellt am Beispiel der Stadt Hof (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1957), pp. 89f., knows only of the examples of Hof and Naumburg. 61. See, for example, Herman’s settings of the Latin hymn Laus tibi Christe, found in the Cantica sacra Evangelia . . . and reprinted in Walther Lipphardt, “‘Laus tibi Christe’—‘Ach du armer Judas: Untersuchungen zum ältesten deutschen Passionslied,’” JbLH 6 (1961):74–76. 62. Mathesius, Ausgewählte Werke 4:449. 63. Herman, SE, p. 238. See also Eber, SE, p. 5 (WB, p. 608); Herman, SE, pp. 10, 12 (WB, p. 610), translated at Chapter 3, note 87. 64. HS 22.6: “Ah wer nur künd haben gedult, / Der Kinder trewlich leret.” 65. HS 7.3. 66. Strauss, after reviewing evidence, similarly concludes that corporal punishment was used sparingly in sixteenth-century schools. Luther’s House of Learning, pp. 180f. See also Steven Ozment, When Fathers Ruled: Family Life in Reformation Europe (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1983), pp. 144–150. 67. Nicolaus Herman, Die Haustafel, darinn eim jeden angezeigt wird, wie er sich in seinem stand verhalten sol (Wittenberg: G. Rhau Erben, 1562), ff. A8r–A8v [Danish Royal Library]. 68. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 4, f. 202; Vogel, “Lateinschule,” p. 166. 69. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 598r–598v (6 Aug. 1630). 70. Mathesius, Ausgewählte Werke 4:48. 71. Mathesius, “Bericht,” p. 52. 72. Chronica 1533, 1549, 1563. 73. Herman makes it clear that the role of the school and the teacher in instilling proper behavior is subordinate to their role in teaching the faith. While the teacher must teach his students the fear of God, obedience, and discipline, most important is that they learn to know that Jesus Christ is their Lord and Savior (Haustafel, f. A7v): “Erstlich soltu jn bilden ein / Gotts furcht / und das sie ghorsam sein / und züchtig in der jugent / Vnd lehr sie kennen Jhesum Christ / Das er jr Herr und heiland ist / Das ist die beste tugent.” 74. Eber, SE, p. 5 (WB, pp. 608f.). 75. Despite Loesche’s statement that Herman’s Latin sequences in the Cantica Sacra Evangelia have nothing to do with the Sonntags-Evangelia (“Zur Agende von Joachimsthal in Böhmen,” p. 166), an examination of the two works shows that, though the Sonntags-Evangelia are certainly not merely a translation of the earlier Latin work, they are very close to one another especially in the closing stanzas of the German, which tend to give a summary or
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application of the versified text. See also the section “Editions of the Sonntags-Evangelia and the Historien” in Chapter 8. 76. HS 13.3. 77. HS 15.12; SE 44.7; SE 31.29; see Luther on the second petition of the Lord’s Prayer in the Small Catechism, BekS, p. 512. 78. SE 80.8 (“Ein Geistlich Lied fur die kinder, darin sie bitten fur die wol fart gemeiner Stadt, und auffnemung des Berckwercks”); see also SE 21.8, SE 29.9, SE 59.9. 79. SE 88.40; HS 63.10. 80. SE 49.9; see also SE 3.8, SE 47.9, SE 78.15, SE 83.5 (on St. Dorothy; see the section “Women and Lutheranism in Joachimsthal” in Chapter 6). 81. See also SE 3.8, SE 47.9, SE 78.15, SE 83.5. 82. See Luther, Von weltlicher Oberkeit (1523), WA 11, pp. 245–280 (LW 45, pp. 51–74). 83. See the discussion of views critical of Luther in Steven Ozment, Protestants: The Birth of a Revolution (New York: Doubleday, 1992), pp. 119–122. 84. Herman, SE 92.3, SE 92.9–92.10. 85. SE 80.1; SE 88.41; HS 1.11; HS 63.14. See also Mathesius’ hymn in W3 1335, p. 1154. 86. Compare Luther, Von weltlicher Oberkeit, WA 11, pp. 267–268 (LW 45, p. 113): “You must know that since the beginning of the world a wise prince is a mighty rare bird, and an pious prince even rarer . . . For they are God’s executioners and hangmen . . . and he desires that everyone shall copiously accord them riches, honor, and fear in abundance. It please his divine will that we call his hangmen gracious lords . . .”; see also SE 92.11. 87. SE 49.10; SE 74.9–74.10; SE 78.15; HS 63.10. 88. The fates of Biblical tyrants are taken as pointed examples of what awaits modern-day oppressors. SE 16.10 (on Herod): “So shall it go with all of those / Who God and His own Word oppose”; HS 12.24–12.25 (on Pharaoh): “Let Pharaoh’s fate now terrify / Each prince and king, however high, / Who sets God and His Word at naught / And persecutes His little flock. HS 17.7 (on Ahab): So came the godless to his end; / Ye kings should this consider, / Who foreign deities defend / And worship at Baal’s altar, / Who persecute the righteous side / With tyranny and bloody pride, / For God will not endure it.” 89. SE 74.9–74.10, p. 161. 90. SE 80; HS 1; HS 69; W3 1335, p. 1154. 91. HS, f. B5v (WB, p. 617). 92. See Chronica 1548. 93. Chronica 1557. 94. HS 68.1, 68.3–68.5, 68.15. 95. Herman, HS, f. B1v (WB, p. 615). On Mathesius, see Loesche, Johannes Mathesius 1:21; on Luther, see Mathesius, Ausgewählte Werke 3:16f. 96. Mathesius, “Bericht,” p. 54.
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97. Nicolaus Selneccer, in the preface to his Christliche Psalmen, Lieder, und Kirchengesenge (Leipzig: Johan Beyer, 1587), reports that Leipzig schoolboys sang Herman’s songs in the streets: WB 996, pref. 93, p. 668. 98. WA Ar 4, p. 192 (translation by Catharine Winkworth, from TLH, no. 329). 99. Johann Mathesius, Das tröstliche De profundis, welches ist der CXXX. Psalm Davids. Sampt Predigten von der Rechtfertigung warer anrüffung der Wag Gottes und seliger sterbkunst des alten Simeonis Luce 2. . . . Mit einer Vorrede von Gottseligkeyt zucht ehr und Iob Christlicher und andechtiger Matronen (Nürnberg: U. Neuber & D. Gerlatz, 1565) [HDS] (cited as De profundis), vol. 1, ff. T1v–T2v. 100. Mathesius, De profundis, cited in Koch, Geschichte des Kirchenliedes 1:385. 101. Mathesius, “Bericht,” p. 50; DKL 1542 15 (Wittenberg: J. Klug, 1542). Of Herman’s hymns, the following deal primarily with the subject of death: SE 32; SE 35; HS 45; HS 46; HS 53; HS 74; HS 75; HS 77. 102. SE 35. For the earliest pamphlet edition: DKL 1551 04 (W1 bib. 98; VD16 H2372). 103. Chronica 1568; see also Chronica 1520, 1582, 1585, 1598, 1599, 1607, 1613, and Figure 7.1. 104. Loesche, Johannes Mathesius 1:291. 105. Chronica 1596. 106. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 528r (23 Mar. 1623). 107. W3 52.1 (see WA 35, pp. 569–570): “Nun treiben wir den Babst heraus, / aus Christus Kirch unnd Gottes haus, / Darin er mördlich hat regirt, / unzelich viel Seelen verfürt.” See also Rebecca Wagner Oettinger, Music as Propaganda in the German Reformation (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2001), pp. 192–201. 108. Mathesius, Ausgewählte Werke 3:351: “This year I visited Dr. Luther for the last time and brought him the song with which our children drive out the Antichrist at mid-Lent, just as one used to drive out death, or as the ancient Romans did with their images and Argei which they cast in the water. He [Luther] put this song into print and composed the appended verse himself, Ex montibus & vallibus, ex sylvis & campestribus.” On the Joachimsthal hymn and its medieval precedents, see Konrad Ameln, “Das Lied vom Papstaustreiben,” Jahrbuch für Volksliedforschung 33 (1988), pp. 11–18. The medieval practice is discussed briefly, with references, in Steven Ozment, Ancestors: The Loving Family in Old Europe (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2001), p. 72. 109. DKL 1545 08 (WB 430). The text and the melody served a few years later as the model for a song against the Interims: Ein new Liedt von einem Berckman gemacht vom Interim . . . im ton, Nun treiben wir den Babst heraus (WB 558). Mathesius alludes to the hymn in Passionale Mathesii, Das ist / Christliche unnd andechtige Erklerung und Außlegung des Zwey und Zwantzigsten Psalms / und Drey und Funfftzigsten Capitels des Propheten Esaiae (Leipzig: J. Beyer, 1587), f. 75v.
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110. W3 52.2–52.7: “Troll dich aus, du verdampter Sohn, / du rodte Braut von Babilon, / Du bist der grewl und Antichrist, / voll Lügen, Mords und arger list. / Dein Ablaß brieff, Bull und Decret / leit nun versiegelt im Secret, / Domit stalst du der Welt ihr gut / und schendst dadurch auch Christus blut. / Der Römisch Götz ist ausgethan, / den rechten Babst wir nemen an, / Das ist Gotts Son, der Fels und Christ, / auff den sein Kirch erbawet ist. / Er ist der höchste Priester zart, / am Creutz er auffgeopffert ward, / Sein Blut vor unser Sünd vergoss, / recht ablaß aus sein wunden floss. / Sein Kirch er durch sein Wort regirt, / Gott Vater selbs ihn innestirt, / Er ist das haupt der Christenheit, / dem sey lob, preis inn ewigkeit. / Es gehet ein frischer Sommer herzu, / vorleih uns Christus fried und rhu, / Bescher uns, HERR, ein seligs Jhar, / vorm Babst und Türcken uns bewar.” 111. HS 69.10. The image of the students as bees is also found in Mathesius’ sermon for the school festival on St. Gregory’s day (Mathesius, Ausgewählte Werke 4:460). 112. Compare Ozment, When Fathers Ruled, p. 176: “Protestant catechisms, so carefully designed to teach the child to obey, were at the same time programming him to defy. Heroism as well as subservience filled these catechisms. In every type of literary source and official record we can find reformers, educators and magistrates urging parents to imbue their children with a sense of religious worth and the self-confidence necessary to manage the world and please God.”
5. Lutheran Music in the Church 1. Contra Friedrich Blume et al., Protestant Church Music: A History (New York: W. W. Norton, 1974), p. 122, who sees the “competition” of Latin art music and German hymns as an “uprooting of Luther’s basic idea of the priesthood of all believers” and a force dividing the congregation. 2. See the section “Printing and Private Book –Ownership in Joachimsthal” in Chapter 6. 3. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 1, ff. 275r (1586), 289v (1591), 293v (1593), 294v (1594); AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, ff. 399r (1612), 416v (1614), 429r (1615), 440r (1616), 443r (1617). 4. Mathesius, “Bericht,” p. 13. 5. See Loesche, Johannes Mathesius 1:291–293; compare Mathesius, Sarepta, p. 191. After 1574, the church was served by only two junior clergy in addition to the pastor: Chronica 1574. 6. Chronica 1578; AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 1, f. 127v (1578). 7. E.g., Anton Böhm, “Kurze Mitteilungen aus der Geschichte von Sct. Joachimsthal,” Pfarramtliche Nachrichten 8 (July 1910), 1599, where Johann Rebentrost is called as a teacher “for lack of a native son of the town.”
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8. See Steven Ozment, The Reformation in the Cities: The Appeal of Protestantism in Sixteenth-Century Germany and Switzerland (New Haven: Yale, 1975), pp. 84–89. 9. Mathesius, “Bericht,” p. 51. 10. Chronica 1547; see AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, p. 396r (1612); also Loesche, Johannes Mathesius 1:297 n. 4. 11. Mathesius is careful to point out that the use of traditional vestments in Joachimsthal was not imposed upon the church, but was taken up before the Interim, in 1542, “upon the gracious and amicable [glimpflich] request of Graf Hieronymus Schlick.” Sarepta, p. 190; Chronica 1542. 12. Mathesius, “Bericht,” p. 51. 13. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 1, f. 33r (25 Aug. 1538); see also Böhm, “Kurze Mitteilungen,” Pfarramtliche Nachrichten 7 (Sept. 1909), 1592, giving evidence that the regulation was still in effect. 14. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 1, f. 115r–115v (29 Sept. 1574). 15. See the section “Music and the Clergy” in Chapter 3. On drinking, see Mathesius, Diluvium f. 232v: “Wine has been given for the use of mankind, not only for the sake of health or as a medicine, but also for gladness, which is indeed a good part of health.” On wedding festivities, see Mathesius, Prophetica 1, f. 280v, and Hans Lorenz, Bilder aus Alt-Joachimsthal: Umrisse einer Kulturgeschichte einer erzgebirgischen Bergstadt im sechzehnten Jahrhundert (Joachimsthal: H. Meyer, 1925), pp. 76–79. 16. Mathesius, “Bericht,” p. 50f. 17. WA TR 5, p. 557, no. 6248. On musical education at Wittenberg, see Nan Cooke Carpenter, Music in the Medieval and Renaissance Universities (Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1958), pp. 260–271. 18. Caspar Franck’s hymns in W3 1328–1329, pp. 1158–1150. 19. Mathesius, “Bericht,” p. 50. 20. Mathesius, “Bericht,” p. 50. The Latin texts and music for the daily services are preserved in Herman’s manuscript Cantica sacra; Latin texts and music for the communion services in the Cantica sacra Evangelia Dominicalia . . . complectentia. See Sturm, Bücherei, pp. 61–62. 21. Mathesius, “Bericht,” p. 50: “Along with this [Darneben] the laity sing their German hymns [Deutsche und Christliche gesenge].” “Darneben” most likely refers to the whole description of Latin liturgy that precedes, and indicates that the laity also sang during the services, alongside the music of the choir. 22. Walter Lipphardt, “‘Laus tibi Christe—‘Ach du armer Judas: Untersuchungen zum ältesten deutschen Passionslied,’” JbLH 6 (1961):74–76; see Georg Loesche, “Zur Agende von Joachimsthal in Böhmen,” Siona 17 (1892):187–189. 23. Mathesius, “Bericht,” p. 50; Mathesius, Catechismus 2, p. 12; WA Ar 4, p. 238. 24. See Blume, Protestant Church Music, p. 106.
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25. Mathesius, Prophetica 1, ff. 6v–7r, 10v. In vol. 2, ff. 29v–30r, Mathesius discusses the Christmas sequence Grates nunc omnes, sung alongside its German version Danksagen wir alle. 26. W3 1341; Mathesius, Prophetica 1, ff. 114r–117r. Mathesius’ hymn on Isaiah 53 (W3 1330) was also sung by the congregation in parallel to the Latin choir: Prophetica 2, f. 56v; Mathesius, Passionale Mathesii, Das ist / Christliche und andechtige Erklerung und Außlegung des Zwey und Zwantzigsten Psalms / und Drey und Funfftzigsten Capitels des Propheten Esaiae (Leipzig: J. Beyer, 1587), f. 35r. When Mathesius does refer to a Latin hymn in isolation, it is usually one that has a German counterpart. Martin Rössler, Die Liedpredigt: Geschichte einer Predigtgattung, Veröffentlichungen der Evangelischen Gesellschaft für Liturgieforschung 20 (Göttingen: Vandenhoek & Ruprecht, 1976) p. 304 n.45, cites Postilla Symbolica, f. 110 (Christe qui lux = Christe der du bist tag und licht); f. 189v (Veni creator Spiritus = Komm Gott Schöpfer). 27. Mathesius, “Bericht,” p. 8; Mathesius, Bekenntnis, f. 163v: “Along with this [hieneben, i.e., during the communion] the choir sings in Latin and German along with the church.” 28. Mathesius, Prophetica 2, f. 59v. Loesche, Johannes Mathesius 1:304 n.6 gives a list of hymn references in Mathesius’ sermons, which I have expanded with some additional references here. 29. Mathesius, “Bericht,” p. 50; see Alfred Eckert, “Fünf evangelische (vor allem lutherische) Kirchenordnungen in Böhmen zwischen 1522 und 1609,” Bohemia 18 (1977):39f. 30. Chronica 1611; see AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, ff. 376r–390v. The repair of the organ was assigned to Raphael Rosenstein from Schlaggenwald in August 1610 (f. 376r–v); he died before completing repairs, so that the organ was not restored until November 1611 (f. 390v). The committee of singers was formed in January 1611 (f. 379r–v). 31. See Mathesius, “Bericht,” p. 49 and the annotated list in Loesche, Johannes Mathesius 1:297 n.4, which lists twenty-one festivals not falling on Sunday. Compare Ozment, Reformation in the Cities, p. 157, where the number of pre-Reformation festivals is given as thirty-three. 32. Mathesius, “Bericht,” p. 50. 33. See Mathesius, Prophetica 2, f. 29v–31v; Rössler, Liedpredigt, p. 106f. A German version is given by Herman, SE 5b. 34. Mathesius, Corinthier 2, f. 104r; WA Ar 4, pp. 60, 165–167; Mathesius, Prophetica 1, f. 41v. 35. SE 5–12. 36. SE 8.1, 8.5: “Nu frewt euch, jr Christen leut, / Denn uns hat geboren heut / Maria ein Kindelein, / Gottes einigs Sönelein. / Das wird unser Brüderlein, / Leuchtet wie der Sonnen schein / Dort in seinem Krippelein. / . . . / Drümb last uns heut frölich sein / Und preisen das Kindelein, / Das versünt den Vater sein / Und fürt uns in Himel hinein, / Erlöst uns
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von schuld und pein. / Alls was sein ist, das ist mein, / Solt ich denn nicht frölich sein?” 37. See Walter Blankenburg, “Der Ursprung von Nikolaus Hermans Weise ‘Lobt Gott, ihr Christen alle gleich,” Musik und Kirche 18 (1948):139–141. 38. SE 7 (translation based on August Crull in TLH, no. 105): “Lobt Gott jr Christen alle gleich, / In seinem höchsten thron, / der heut schleust auff sein Himelreich, / und schenckt uns seinen Son. / Er kömpt aus seines Vaters schos / Und wird ein Kindlein klein, / Er leit dort elend, nackt und blos / In einem Krippelein. / Er eussert sich all seiner gewalt, / Wird nidrig und gering / Und nimpt an sich eins knechts gestalt, / Der Schöpffer aller ding. / Er leit an seiner Mutter brust, / Jr milch, die ist sein speis, / An dem die Engel sehn jrn lust, / Denn er ist Davids reis. / Das aus sein stamm entspreissen solt / In dieser letzen zeit, / Durch welchen Gott auffrichten wolt / Sein Reich, die Christenheit. / Er wechselt mit uns wunderlich, / Fleisch und Blut nimpt er an / Und gibt uns inn seins Vatern reich, / Die klare Gottheit dran. / Er wird ein Knecht und ich ein Herr, / Das mag ein Wechsel sein, / Wie könd er doch sein freundlicher, / Das hertze Jhesulein. / Heut schleust er wider auff die thür / Zum schönen Paradeis, / Der Cherub steht nicht mehr darfür, / Gott sey lob, ehr und preis.” 39. See Paul Althaus, The Theology of Martin Luther, tr. Robert C. Schultz (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1966), p. 213. 40. SE 34; see DKL 3.1.1 (Textband), pp. 125–127 and Notenband pp. 221–226, arguing against Heinrich Siewers, “Das Osterlied ‘Erschienen ist der herrlich Tag’ und seine Gregorianische Vorlage,” Musik und Kirche 7 (1935):73–78. 41. SE 88; see the section “Art, Music, and Sanctity” in this chapter. 42. Mathesius, “Bericht,” p. 49f. 43. Robert Scribner, For the Sake of Simple Folk: Popular Propaganda for the German Reformation, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Clarendon, 1994), p. 248f. 44. See the section “Becoming Lutheran” in Chapter 2. 45. See Cornelia Niekus Moore, The Maiden’s Mirror: Reading Material for German Girls in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, Wolfenbüttler Forschungen 36 (Wiesbaden: O. Harrassowitz, 1987), p. 67f. 46. HS 64.1–64.6: “Wil niemand singen, so wil singen ich, / der König aller Ehren freit umb mich. / Denn in der Tauff hat er mich im vertrawt, / auff das ich sey sein allerliebste Braut / Frag. / Was hat er denn zum Malschatz geben dir? / Antwort. / Ein güldens Fingerlein mit eim Saphir / Frag. / Was bedeut im Fingerlein der Saphir? / Antwort. / Es ist der heilge Geist den schenckt er mir. / Auch leucht im Ringle ein heller Rubin / Denn ich mit seinem Blut besprenget bin / Frag. / Ist denn das Fingerlein pur lauter Gold? / Antwort. / Ja / drumb bin ich jm von hertzen hold.” 47. HS 64.15, 64.22: “Sag uns doch auch / wenn wird die heimfart sein? / Am Jüngsten tag. wenn kompt der Breutgam mein. / . . . / HErr Christ mein lieber Breutgam kom schier / Hol uns aus dem Jammerthal heim zu dir.”
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48. Augsburg Confession 27.11 (BekS p. 110f); Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica 2–2, q. 189, a. 3 ad 3. 49. See Luther, Von der Freiheit eines Christenmenschen, WA 7, pp. 25–6, 54–55 (LW 31, p. 351 f. 2); also Althaus, Theology of Martin Luther, p. 213. 50. See Loesche, Johannes Mathesius 1:297 n. 4. In addition to the feasts mentioned there, the SE attest the observation (likely not as a public festival on which secular business was suspended) of the feasts of Mary Magdalene and St. Laurence. The song about St. Dorothy contained in the SE was written for Herman’s daughter of that name, and likely not because the Joachimsthal church celebrated a public festival in her honor. 51. SE 92.1. 52. See SE 14.5; HS 5b.44; HS 50.14. 53. SE 88.38–88.39; see also SE 81.19 (on St. Paul). 54. SE 3.8; SE 83.5. 55. SE 90; SE 91. 56. See HS f. B2r–B2v (WB, p. 615), quoted in the section “Becoming Lutheran” in Chapter 2, HS f. A7r (WB, p. 614); HS f. B6r (WB, p. 617). 57. Mathesius, Sarepta, f. Oo2r ff. According to the Bergkordnung des freyen koniglichen Bergkwercks Sanct Joachimsthal (Zwickau: W. Meyerbeck, 1548), f. C4r, the Bergschreiber was responsible for recording every mine in the Bergbuch upon the application and payment of the mine’s owner. 58. On Lutheran treatment of the saints in general, see Robert Kolb, For All the Saints: Changing Perceptions of Martyrdom and Sainthood in the Lutheran Reformation (Macon, Georgia: Mercer University Press, 1987). 59. See Chapter 2, note 79. 60. Chronica 1544; Mathesius, “Bericht,” p. 49. 61. Chronica 1567; Chronica 1559, 1560; see Lorenz, Bilder, p. 216. 62. Chronica 1572. See also Lorenz, Bilder, p. 216. 63. Some of these (mostly from the early seventeenth century) are described in AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 4, ff. 284r–285r. The Spitalkirche, adjacent to the cemetery, was also filled with memorials: see Richard Schmidt, Topographie der historischen und kunst-Denkmale: Der Politische Bezirk Skt. Joachimsthal, Topographie der historischen und Kunst-Denkmale im Königreiche Böhmen 40 (Prague: Wiesner, 1913), p. 69ff. 64. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 1, f. 206v (1544); Schmidt, Topographie, pp. 85–88; AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 1, f. 156r–156v (1588). 65. Chronica 1545; the altar is described in Mathesius, Bekenntnis f. 163r; Loesche, Johannes Mathesius 1:107f; Schmidt, Topographie p. 59, and can be compared with similar Cranach altarpieces which have survived. See Loesche, Johannes Mathesius 1:108 on the Cranach altar at Schneeberg; Lorenz, Bilder, p. 216 on the 1577 Elbogen altarpiece apparently copied from Joachimsthal. Oskar Thulin, Cranach-Altäre der Reformation (Berlin: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 1955), discusses the Schneeberg altarpiece, with plates. 66. Schmidt, Topographie, p. 59.
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67. One possible explanation for some of the differences between the descriptions of Mathesius, Loesche, and Schmidt would be such a rearrangement of the panels, probably when the altarpiece was moved to the side in the eighteenth century. 68. Mathesius, De Profundis 2 f. P3r ff; see especially f. R4r. 69. Eber, SE, p. 5, translated in the section “Music and Lutheran Pedagogy” in Chapter 4. 70. See the section “Public Use of the Lutheran Hymns” in Chapter 1. 71. Mathesius, “Bericht,” p. 10. 72. Dies sind die heilgen zehn Gebot: Mathesius, Catechismus 1, pp. 9, 18–19, 33, 56, 162–3, ibid. 2, p. 268ff. Wir glauben all an einen Gott: Catechismus 2, p. 12. Vater Unser in Himmelsreich: Catechismus 1, p. 60, ibid. 2, pp. 92, 93, 101. Jesus Christus unser Heiland: Catechismus 2, p. 142. The only catechism hymn missing from this list, Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam, is referred to elsewhere in Mathesius’ sermons: Diluvium f. 55r; Ausgewählte Werke 4:125, 168; Prophetica f. 204v. Among other hymns: Aus tiefer Not: Mathesius, Catechismus 2, p. 97. Erbarm dich mein: Catechismus 2, p. 97. Es ist das Heil: Catechismus 1, p. 18. Komm Gott Schöpfer: Catechismus 2, p. 46. The printed editions of the Joachimsthal Catechism explanations used at these Wednesday sessions included Luther’s Catechism hymns as well as Herman’s So wahr ich leb’, spricht Gott der Herr (SE 97) for Absolution. See Johann Michael Reu, Quellen zur Geschichte des kirchlichen Unterrichts in der evangelischen Kirche Deutschlands zwischen 1530 und 1600 (Gütersloh: Bertelsmann, 1904–1935; reprint Hildesheim: Olms, 1976), 1.2.1, p. 331f, and 1.2.2, pp. 689–709. See also Mathesius, Prophetica 1, f. 184v–205v. 73. See Gerald Strauss, Luther’s House of Learning: Indoctrination of the Young in the Lutheran Reformation (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1978), pp. 214–221. 74. See the discussion of Lazarus Spengler in Ozment, Reformation in the Cities, p. 77f. 75. E.g., Luther, Schmalkald Articles 3.2.4 (BekS, p. 436). 76. WA Ar 4, p. 152: “Die gepot all uns geben synd, / das du dein sundt, o menschen kynd, / erkennen solt und lernen wol, / wie man fur Gott leben soll. / kyrioleys. / Das helff uns der herr Jhesu Christ, / der unnser midler worden yst. / Es ist mit unserm thun verlorn, / verdienen doch eytel zorn. / kyrioleys.” 77. Mathesius, Catechismus 1, pp. 18–19, 56 bis; see also De Profundis 1, f. K4v; Corinthier 2, f. 9v. 78. Compare Johann Bugenhagen’s use of Luther’s hymn on the Ten Commandments already in a catechism sermon of 1525 (cited in Rössler, Liedpredigt, p. 133f): “In the hymn, ‘Kyrieleis’ is sung in each verse, and we stand in need of these words whenever we speak of the law, i.e., so that we may pray for mercy and grace, when we speak of the law . . . Thus our works can never put our consciences to rest, but ‘kyrieleis’—that avails.”
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79. Mathesius refers to Speratus’ hymn in Catechismus 1, p. 18. On Nun freut euch, see the section “Doctrine and Piety in the Hymns” in Chapter 1. 80. W3 55.1–55.3 (translation based on TLH, no. 377). 81. W3 55.5 (translation based on TLH, no. 377). 82. W3 55.6–55.7 (translation based on TLH, no. 377). 83. W3 55.10 (translation based on TLH, no. 377). 84. Mathesius, “Ein Christlich Lied von der Rechtfertigung,” W3 1336, p. 1154f; Herman, “Ein Lied vom waren Glauben, der allein selig macht und thetig ist durch die liebe,” SE 96; “Der spruch, Abraham gleubet, das ist im zur Gerechtigkeit gerechnet worden,” HS 57; see also HS 55; HS 58; HS 59. 85. SE 96.1,3–5: “Wer hie fur Gott wil sein gerecht, / Sein Kind und angenemer knecht, / Der trotz nicht uff sein frömmigkeit, / noch uffs Gsetzes gerechtigkeit. / . . . / Niemand dem Gsetz genug kan thun, / Denn Christ allein, war Gottes Son: / Mit seim ghorsam und bittern tod / Erfült ers Gsetz, versönet Gott, / Und erwirbt uns ein Grechtigkeit / Die steht in Gotts barmhertzigkeit, / Dieselb er uns im wort verkünd, / Die ist vergebung aller Sünd. / Den schatz ergreifft der glaub allein, / Und macht das hertz von sünden rein, / Traut nur uff Gotts barmherzigkeit, / In Christo aller Welt erzeigt.” See also HS 57.4. 86. HS 39.10; see also SE 30.5; SE 57.10; SE 64.15; HS 52; HS 54.12; HS 58.1– 58.2. 87. HS 52 (“Von ungeferbter Christlicher liebe des Nehesten.”): “Ein warer Glaub Gottes zorn stillt, / Daraus ein schönes Brünlein quillt, / Die Brüderliche lieb genant, / Dabey ein Christ recht wird erkandt. / Christus sie selbs das Zeichen nent, / Darbey man seine Jünger erkent / In niemands hertz man sehen kan, / An wercken wird erkand ein Man. / . . . / Die Lieb nimpt sich des Nehesten an, / Sie hilfft und dienet jederman, / Gutwillig ist sie allezeit, / Sie lert, sie strafft, sie gibt und leit.” 88. Mathesius, “Ein Christlich Lied von der Rechtfertigung,” W3.1336.7, p. 1155: “Der Glaub allein macht fromm und grecht, / Die schulding werk sinds nechsten Knecht, / Sie preisen Gott und zeygen an / Das wir den rechten glauben han.” The hymn appears in Herman’s manuscript Cantica Sacra: see Loesche, “Zur Agende von Joachimsthal in Böhmen,” p. 192. 89. For example, SE 72.11; SE 19.11; SE 28.7; SE 38.12; SE 72.11; HS 41.18; HS 56.13; HS 59. 90. HS 59.3–59.5, 59.7 (“Ein Christlichs Lied, Zu stercken den Glauben in anfechtung”): “Ach Gott wie ist mein Glaub so schwach, / So wil das Fleisch auch nicht hernach, / Dem Geist wils nicht sein unterthan, / Es wil nur schlechts den holtzweg ghan. / Zweiveln betrübt mir offt mein Hertz, / Das Gsetz erregt inn mir viel schmertz, / Es treibt und mahnt on unterlas, / Itzt foderts dis, bald foderts das / Nu sind mein krefft gar viel zu schwach, / Dem guten willn zu setzen nach, / Ich bin leider so sehr verterbt, / Die bösen lüst hab ich ererbt. / . . . / Herr Gott mein schuld bekenn ich dir / Vater, ins
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gricht geh nit mit mir / Ich wil dir setzen ein Vorstandt, / Jhesus dein Son, meinen Heylandt.” 91. Contrast Strauss, Luther’s House of Learning, p. 221: “The child growing to maturity with the aid of the Lutheran catechism is therefore not likely to have found comfort in the pledges given him of God’s love and solicitude. His birthright of sin told too heavily against him to allow him to cultivate an attitude of trust in which to face his maker with a serene and confident spirit.” 92. Chronica 1540. 93. Loesche, Johannes Mathesius 1:272. 94. Loesche, Johannes Mathesius 1:272f. 95. Johann Mathesius, Etliche Fragstück von der Beicht (Nürnberg: D. Gerlatz, 1568), f. A2v–A3r [HAB/LB]. A sample confession is given on ff. A6r–A7r. 96. Mathesius, “Bericht,” p. 7. 97. SE 97.6: “Wenn uns der Priester absolvirt, / sein ampt der Herr Christ durch jn fürt, / Und spricht uns selbs von sünden rein, / sein werckzeug ist der Diener allein.” 98. SE 70.10–11: “Wir dancken dir das du die macht / Der Kirchen gibst und schlüssel krafft, / Das sie von Sünden sprechen los / Darff all arme Sünder gros. / Des so sich trösten jederman, / Dem sein Gwissen kein ruh wil lan, / Und gehn zur Absolution, / Die eingesetzt hat Gottes Son.” 99. SE 89.9–10: “Des himels Schlüssel geb ich dir, / Dadurch ein Kirche samle mir, / Was du bindst durch die predigt dein, / Sol im himel gebunden sein. / Was du uff erd löst, so dergleich / Sein auffgelöst im Himelreich.” 100. “Ein lied, vom Ampt der Schlüssel, und krafft der heiligen Absolution, für die kinder im Jochimstal”: SE 97; Mathesius, Etliche Fragstück von der Beicht, f. B5v–B6r. 101. SE 97.1,8–9: “So war ich leb, spricht Gott der Herr, / Des Sünders todt ich nicht beger, / Sondern das er kebere sich, / Thu bus und leb auch ewiglich / . . . / Wem der Priester aufflegt sein hand, / Dem löst Christ auff der sünden band / Und absolviert jn durch sein blut. / Wers gleubt, aus gnad hat solches gut. / Das ist der heilgen Schlüssel krafft, / Sie bind und wider ledig macht. / Die Kirch tregt sie an jrer seit, / Die Hausmutter die Christenheit.” Surely the image of the Church as “die Hausmutter,” while here intended primarily to make the institution of confession more approachable for children, speaks favorably of the authority of the actual Hausmutter, with her keys by her side. 102. SE 97.10: “Wen nu sein gwissen beist und nagt, / Die sünd quelt, das er schir verzagt, / Der helt sich zu dem gnaden thron, / Zum Wort der Absolution.” See also SE 70.10–11. 103. Mathesius, Etliche Fragstücke, f. A4r. 104. See also Ozment, Reformation in the Cities, pp. 155f. On the controversy over absolution in Nürnberg, where Mathesius’ pamphlet was printed in 1568, see Ronald Rittgers, The Reformation of the Keys: Confession, Con-
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science, and Authority in Sixteenth-Century Germany (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2004). 105. Mathesius, Diluvium, ff. 90v–96v. 106. Mathesius uses Luther’s hymn Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin in a similar way in a sermon on Luke 2:29–2:32 (the Nunc Dimittis) in De Profundis 2, f. S1r. See especially De Profundis 2, ff. Z4r, aa3v. 107. So Mathesius’ Christmas children’s sermon on the hymn Danksagen wir alle, Prophetica 2, ff. 29r–31r (see Rössler, Liedpredigt, p. 106f), an extended treatment of Herman’s So wahr ich leb spricht Gott der Herr, Prophetica 2, ff. 184v–204r, and a sermons on the Lord’s Supper based on Gott sei gelobet in Bekenntnis, ff. 68v–73r. 108. Mathesius, De Profundis 1, f. A2r–A2v. 109. Mathesius, Diluvium, f. 143r; Mathesius, Prophetica 1, f. 115v. 110. Mathesius, De Profundis, f. P2r. 111. Mathesius seems especially fond of the phrase “ein rote Flut mit Christi Blut gef ärbet” from Luther’s hymn Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam, WA Ar 4, p. 301. See Diluvium, f. 51r; Ausgewählte Werke 1:125, 168. For allusions to other hymns see Bekenntnis f. 73v (Gott sei gelobet); Corinthier 1, f. 116r (Herman’s Drei R gebuhren Gott allein, HS 6); Corinthier 2, f. 9v (Dies sind die heil’gen zehn Gebot); Ausgewählte Werke 1:168 (Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin). 112. For “as the Church sings” with Latin hymns, see, e.g., Mathesius, Diluvium f. 140r (Laus tibi Christe); Catechismus 2 p. 142 (Lauda Sion Salvatorem); Postilla 1 f. 97 (Haec est dies); Ausgewählte Werke 4:452 (Da pacem, Domine); ibid., p. 469 (Exsultet). With pre-Reformation German hymns, see Bekenntnis f. 77v (Gott sei gelobet); Catechismus 2 p. 142 (Jesus Christus unser Heiland); Postilla 2 f. 5v (Christ ist erstanden); Mathesius, Ausgewählte Werke 4:20 (Also heilig ist der Tag). The formula seems to have been a stock expression: see Luther, WA 54, p. 34 (LW 15, p. 274); Augsburg Confession 20.40 (BekS, p. 81). By the late sixteenth century, however, the formula could be applied to the Reformation hymns as well: see Formula of Concord, Epitome 1.8 (BekS, p. 772). Interestingly, the one exception in Mathesius’ use seems to be a citation of Elizabeth Cruciger’s Herr Christ der ein’ge Gottes Sohn in Prophetica 1, f. 73r with “as the Christian church sings.” 113. Mathesius, Diluvium f. 92r–92v. See also Diluvium, ff. 87r, 90v, 92r; De Profundis 1, ff. A2r–A2v, B2r, B3r, K4r, K4v, P1r; Catechismus 1, pp. 9, 18 (bis), 33, 56, 162f; Catechismus 2, pp. 92, 93, 101; Corinthier 1, ff. 327v, 341r, 355v, Corinthier 2, f. 73v; Postilla 1, f. 32v; Postilla 2, f. 42r; Prophetica 1, ff. 6v, 10v, 117r, 184v, 194r, 204v; Prophetica 2, ff. 30v, 31v, 32r. 114. Mathesius, De Profundis 1, f. B2r–B2v; compare Mathesius, Prophetica 1, f. 10v, vol. 2, f. 30r. 115. See Mathesius, Syrach 3, ff. 79v–119r (1598). Georg Lysthenius’ 1586 preface indicates that the sermons on Sirach were composed by Mathesius “with the help of his colleagues”; the marginal note at the end of Mathesius’ last
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sermon of 7 October 1565 states that the rest of the sermons were written “by a good-hearted minister of the divine Word” (Syrach 3, f. 72r). 116. The text of the pamphlet is reprinted in full in Josef Pohl, “Deutschböhmische Zeitungen aus dem 16. Jahrhundert,” MVGDB 51 (1913):430–436. The prose account of the incident was worked into German verse and published to be sung to a hymn melody: see ibid., pp. 439–443. Compare Luther, WA 54, p. 33f (LW 15, p. 274): “And yet the music, or the notes, which are a wonderful creation and gift of God, help materially in this, especially when the people sing along and reverently participate . . . David, too, often drove out the evil spirit from Saul or restrained and subdued it with his lyre . . . For the evil spirit is ill at ease wherever God’s Word is sung or preached in true faith.”
6. Lutheranism and Music at Home 1. Mathesius, Catechismus 2, p. 164. Similarly Mathesius closes a 1557 letter to the Joachimsthal physician Balthasar Klein with “Farewell with your family and little church [ecclesiola]” and addresses Klein as “household pastor of a church [pastor domesticus Ecclesiae]”: Gustav Bossert et al., “Vallensia: Joachimsthaler Reliquien,” JGPÖ 34 (1913):45. 2. See the section “Printing and Private Book Ownership” in this chapter. 3. See the section “Lutheranism and Music in Joachimsthal at Midcentury” in Chapter 2. 4. Mathesius, Postilla 1, f. 65r: “And though it may one day come to pass (as is to be feared) that the light of the holy Gospel will be extinguished, so that there is no more public preaching in the whole land, as it says in the preface to Daniel, then take heed that each one preserve this true light for himself in his heart. Therefore, should it come about—may God yet preserve us from it—that the holy Gospel and good books should be taken from us, then preserve this light meanwhile in your houses and hearts and comfort yourselves thereby.” The reference is to Luther’s preface to Daniel: WA DB 112, p. 123. See also Caspar Franck’s exhortation, Vom Obadia dem trewen Knecht Gottes und Propheten Vatter / Königs Ahabs Hoffmeyster (Nürnberg: U. Neuber & D. Gerlatz, [1567]), f. C2v [HAB]: “When God distributes his Word lavishly in a city or land and feeds the people with his Gospel, then good people should store up the loaves and learn it, so that they may have a supply in reserve when a famine of the Gospel comes, so that they may comfort their children and household in evil times.” 5. See Steven Ozment, When Fathers Ruled: Family Life in Reformation Europe (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1983), pp. 8f. See also Robert Kolb, “Parents Should Explain the Sermon: Nikolaus Von Amsdorf on the Role of the Christian Parent,” Lutheran Quarterly 5 (1973):231–240. 6. Nicolaus Herman, Die Haustafel, darinn eim jeden angezeigt wird, wie er sich in seinem stand verhalten sol (Wittenberg: G. Rhau Erben, 1562),
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ff. A6v–A7r: “Dear parents, make use of good sense / To raise children with confidence: / So treat them well with kindness, / Lest they with terror faint away / And for your harshness you one day / Must sore regret your blindness. / But gentleness should be the road / To teach them how to honor God / And to all good incite them. / But should they obdurate remain / And gentle words you speak in vain, /Then use the rod to right them.” 7. Nicolaus Herman, Die Haustafel, darinn eim jeden angezeigt wird, wie er sich in seinem stand verhalten sol (Wittenberg: G. Rhau Erben, 1562), f. B2r: “Ye masters, be not harsh and wild / In judging servant, maid, or child. / . . . / Remember, God does not regard / A servant, or a mighty lord; / Nor heeds their worldly story. / But after death, in Heaven’s land, / All equal in God’s honor stand: / Each has his crown of glory.” 8. HS 7.1, f. E6v. 9. For example, Mathesius, De Profundis 1, f. B2r. On Mathesius’ references to the hymns, see the section “Hymns and the Laity” in Chapter 5. 10. Mathesius, Postilla 1, ff. 93v–94r. 11. Herman, SE, p. 12 (WB, p. 611); id., HS, f. B4r (WB, p. 616). 12. SE 102, p. 237. 13. Eber, SE, p. 6 (WB, p. 609): “Such household sermons [Hauspredigten] are without doubt of great benefit, so that many a simple, uneducated man can often remember and comfort himself better from such a hymn than from a long and well-ordered sermon.” 14. Mathesius, Catechismus 1, pp. 62–63. 15. Mathesius, Bekenntnis, f. 134v–135r. 16. SE 98a, 98b, 99, 100. On sung prayer at meals, see Guido Fuchs, “Das Tischlied als Tischgebet und Beitrag zur häuslichen Liturgie,” Jahrbuch für Volkskunde n.s. 16 (1993):7–26. Compare Robin A. Leaver, ‘Ghoostly psalmes and spirituall songes’: English and Dutch Metrical Psalms from Coverdale to Utenhove, 1535–1566 (Oxford: Clarendon, 1991), pp. 15f. 17. Mathesius, Catechismus 2, pp. 193–219: “Kurtze Hauss Gebetlein M. Johannis Mathesij.” 18. Loesche, Johannes Mathesius 1:300; Mathesius, Prophetica 1, f. 7v. 19. Eber, SE, p. 7 (WB, p. 609). On such household learning, in which both parents and children could serve as teachers in turn, see Marilyn J. Harran, Martin Luther: Learning for Life (Saint Louis: Concordia, 1997), p. 220. 20. SE, p. 239 (“Beschluß zu den Kindern”): “Dearest children, unto you / This little book of songs is due. / Quite simple and quite plain is it / And therefore for you children fit.” 21. Mathesius, Prophetica 1, f. 165v. 22. Mathesius, Catechismus 2, p. 209: “Ein Gebet für fromme Kinder wie sie für jhren Vater beten sollen / der uber Land reiset”; ibid., p. 210: “Ein Ander Kinder Gebet umb Glückselige Reise für jhren lieben Vater zu bitten”; ibid., p. 212: “Ein Kinder Gebetlein / für jhre Brüder und Schwester / so in der frembde sein.”
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23. See Mathesius, Bekenntnis f. 30v: “We pray thee, Lord Jesus, thou wouldest preserve us and our children, who must for a time travel in foreign lands where men speak and treat treacherously of thine ordinance, steadfast in thy sure Word and the salutary use of this thy Supper.” See also Steven Ozment, “The Private Life of an Early Modern Teenager: A Nuremberg Lutheran visits Catholic Louvain (1577),” Journal of Family History 21 (1996):22–43; and Ozment, Flesh and Spirit: Private Life in Early Modern Germany (New York: Viking, 1999), pp. 192–216. 24. Paul Behaim, in Wilhelm Loose, “Deutsches Studentenleben in Padua 1575 bis 1578,” Beilage zur Schul- und Universitätsgeschichte (Meissen, 1879), p. 22. 25. Heribert Sturm, Die Bücherei der Lateinschule zu St. Joachimsthal, Nordwestböhmische Heimatbücher 2 (Joachimsthal: Stadtmuseum, 1929), no. 35, p. 73. 26. See the section “Counter-Reformation in Joachimsthal, 1623–1633” in Chapter 7. 27. Eber, SE, p. 7 (WB, p. 609). 28. WA 103, p. 1 (LW 51, p. 70). 29. See the discussion of Roman Catholic and Protestant models for death in Steven Ozment, The Reformation in the Cities: The Appeal of Protestantism in Sixteenth-Century Germany and Switzerland (New Haven: Yale, 1975), pp. 55f. 30. Eber, SE, p. 5 (WB, p. 609). 31. W1 bib. 220 (Nürnberg 1580), preface 18, p. 855. 32. HS 45 (translation by Catherine Winkworth, altered from TLH, no. 594): “Wenn mein stündlein fürhanden ist / Und sol hinfarn mein strasse / So gleit du mich Herr Jhesu Christ / Mit hülff mich nicht verlasse / Mein Seel an meinem letzten end / Befehl ich dir in deine Hend / Du wolst sie mir bewaren. / Mein Sünd mich werden krencken sehr / Mein Gwissen wird mich nagen / Denn jr sein viel wie sand am Meer / Doch wil ich nicht verzagen / Gedencken wil ich an dein todt / HErr Jhesu / und dein Wunden rot / Sie werden mich erhalten. / Ich bin ein Glied an deinem Leib / Des tröst ich mich von hertzen / Von dir ich ungescheiden bleib / In Todes nöten und schmertzen / Wenn ich gleich sterb / so sterb ich dir / Ein ewigs Leben hastu mir / Mit deinem Tod erworben. / Weil du vom Tod erstanden bist / Werd ich im Grab nicht bleiben / Mein höchster trost dein Auffart ist / Todsfurcht kan sie vertreiben / Denn wo du bist da kom ich hin / Das ich stets bey dir leb und bin / Drumb fahr ich hin mit freuden.” 33. See Ozment, Reformation in the Cities, pp. 111–116. 34. Richard Schmidt, Topographie der historischen und kunst-Denkmale: Der Politische Bezirk Skt. Joachimsthal, Topographie der historischen und Kunst-Denkmale im Königreiche Böhmen 40 (Prague: Wiesner, 1913), pp. 77–81.
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35. Johann Mathesius, Leychpredigten Johannis Matthesii. Daheym seinen Kindern gethan. Der Dritte Theyl (Nürnberg, 1559), in Mathesius, Ausgewählte Werke 1:72–238. 36. HS 53.16–53.17. 37. Mathesius, Postilla 1, f. 69v. 38. Karl Amelung, Johannes Mathesius, ein lutherischen Pfarrherr des 16. Jahrhunderts: sein Leben und Wirken (Gutersloh: Bertelsmann, 1894), pp. 261f. The sermon was printed as Johann Mathesius, Eine Trostpredigt / das die im Herren entschlaffen / mit freuden wider zusammen kommen / unnd eines das ander nach der aufferstehung kennen wird (Nürnberg: U. Newber & D. Gerlatz, 1565). 39. See Heide Wunder, He Is the Sun, She Is the Moon: Women in Early Modern Germany, tr. Thomas Dunlap (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1998), p. 82. 40. Within the Sonntags-Evangelia, the emphasis of Eber’s preface on the role of mothers (addressed to “Allen Tugentsamen Gottliebenden Matronen unnd Jungfrawen der Christlichen und von Gott geliebten Gemein im Jochims Thal,” SE p. 3) is balanced by Herman’s emphasis on the role of the Hausvater in his own preface and conclusion (“Beschluss zu den Christlichen Hausvetern,” SE pp. 236–239). 41. Eber, SE, p. 7 (WB, p. 609). 42. In 1594, there were 294 households headed by men and 191 by women: Hans Lorenz, Bilder aus Alt-Joachimsthal: Umrisse einer Kulturgeschichte einer erzgebirgischen Bergstadt im sechzehnten Jahrhundert (Joachimsthal: H. Meyer, 1925), pp. 31f.; in 1613, there were 313 households headed by men and 152 by women: Anton Böhm, “Kurze Mitteilungen aus der Geschichte von Sct. Joachimsthal,” Pfarramtliche Nachrichten 10 (Apr. 1912), 1613. 43. Mathesius, Ausgewählte Werke 1:39. The language (“hat beten, lesen, und singen lassen”) implies that she not only prayed, read, and sang on her own, but also led devotions with the other women in her Frauenzimmer. Elsewhere, Mathesius puts forward Sibylle, wife of Johann Friedrich of Saxony, as an exemplary leader of such women’s devotions: Ausgewählte Werke 4:485. 44. Heribert Sturm, “Joachimsthal Privatbüchereien aus dem 16. Jahrhundert,” MVGDB 68 (1930):6. 45. Johann Mathesius, Schöne Geistliche Lieder / Sampt Etlichen Sprüchen und Gebetlein / mit kurtzer außlegung, ed. Felix Zimmermann (Nürnberg: K. Gerlachin & J. vom Bergs Erben, 1580) [HAB], ff. G3v–G6r., esp. G4r–v: “Zu Gottes furcht und kinder lahr / So bald sie gieng ins sechste jar / Gwenten jr Eltern dises Kind / Man hielt jm auch Gottselig gsind. / . . . / Jr Psälmlein sie all morgen sprach / Nach guten Büchern war jr gach / An Gottes wort jr hertz stets hieng / Endlich sie gern zu Kirchen gieng. / Geistlich lieder sie offtmals sang / Nach ehr und tugend allzeit rang. / Die heilig Bibel sie außlaß / Ein gehorsam sittlich kind es was.”
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46. Schmidt, Topographie, p. 58, gives the partially effaced inscription. For a further example of women’s devotions and religious conversation, see the section “Magdalena Heymairin” in Chapter 8. 47. Mathesius, Ausgewählte Werke 1:67, 95. 48. Mathesius, Ausgewählte Werke 1:95. 49. Mathesius, Ausgewählte Werke 1:96. 50. The particularly active participation of Joachimsthal’s women in the public religion of the church is suggested by many of the examples cited previously, as well as by the repeated shortages of pews for women in the church: see AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, ff. 320r–v (1603), 420v–421v (1615). 51. Mathesius, De Profundis 1, preface “von Gottseligkeyt, zucht, ehr, und lob, Christlicher und andechtiger Matronen” (Ausgewählte Werke 4:437–488), also De Profundis 2, f. I3r–P1v: “Ein Trostschrifft für eine betrübte Matron”; Mathesius, Syrach 1, f. 1r. 52. SE 34 (Erschienen ist der herrliche tag); SE 83 (Es was ein Gottfürchtiges); SE 88 (Kompt her ir liebsten Schwesterlein); HS 33 (Von wünderlichen dingen); HS 63 (Ir Schwesterlein, Ir Schwesterlein); HS 64 (Wil niemand singen). On Herman’s role as a writer for young women, see Cornelia Niekus Moore, The Maiden’s Mirror: Reading Material for German Girls in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, Wolfenbüttler Forschungen 36 (Wiesbaden: O. Harrassowitz, 1987), pp. 67f., 73, 90f., 98. 53. SE 88: “Ein Christlicher Abendreien, vom leben und Ampt Johannis des Teuffers, fur Christliche, züchtige Jungfrewlein”; HS 63: “Ein Abendreien / vom Herrn Christo / Für Christlich Jungfrewlein / Vorzusingen.” See HansBruno Ernst, Zur Geschichte des Kinderlieds: Das einstimmige deutsche geistliche Kinderlied im 16. Jahrhundert, Regensburger Beiträge zur Musikwissenschaft 8 (Regensburg: G. Bosse, 1985), pp. 133ff. 54. See the section “Art, Music, and Sanctity” in Chapter 5. 55. W3 1332, 1333: “Ein Wiegenlied für gotselige Kindermeidlein und andere Christliche personen, so der lieben Kindlein warten, damit sie zu schweigen oder ein zu wiegen”; “Ein Kinder Joseph, nicht in der Kirchen sonder im Hause zu singen, die Christen Kinder mit zu schweigen oder ein zu wiegen.” These two lullabies were printed together in a Nürnberg pamphlet (Friderich Gutknecht, n.d.) and were taken up in the Wittenberg hymnal of 1562 (see notes in W 3 ad loc.). Compare Katharina Zell’s 1534 preface: WB 329, preface 22, p. 554. 56. Ronald Po-Chia Hsia’s summary of the conclusions of recent scholarship in Social Discipline in the Reformation: Central Europe 1550–1570 (London: Routledge, 1989), p. 111. 57. From SE: Am Sabbath frü Marien drey (SE 33), Ein Witfraw hatt ein einigen Son (SE 67), Ein Schulmeister hies Jairus (SE 75), Es was ein Gottfürchtiges (SE 83), Do Jhesus Schöpffer aller ding (SE 90), Unser Heiland der Herre Christ (SE 91). From HS: Ein Widfraw wurd sehr hart getriebn (HS 22), Ein Chris-
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tlichs Weib zu Sunem was (HS 23), Elisa redet mit dem Weib (HS 29), Von wünderlichen dingen (HS 33), Da Jhesus durch Samariam (HS 47). 58. HS 33.2–33.3, f. M4r–M4v. 59. SE 83, pp. 183ff. When this hymn was adapted for Roman Catholic vernacular hymnals, the verses describing St. Dorothy’s childhood instruction and attendance at sermons were changed (see W3, p. 1174). In the Catholic version, Dorothy “inquires after God’s will” rather than learning “God’s Word and Catechism,” and regularly attends “church” (not “preaching” as in the Lutheran version). See also Moore, The Maiden’s Mirror, p. 98. 60. Eber, SE, p. 5 (WB, p. 609). 61. Mathesius, Corinthier 1, f. 322v. 62. 1 Corinthians 14:34. 63. See the section “Music, Education, and Civil Society” in Chapter 4. 64. Mathesius, Corinthier 1, ff. 322v–323r. 65. See Chapter 7, especially sections on “Franciscus Albanus” and the “End of the Reformation in Joachimsthal.” 66. Mathesius, Ausgewählte Werke 4:463: “There shall my Shunamite [2 Kings 4], this bright and precious pearl, the noble and Christian lady vom Hassenstein and Litzko, be remembered in heavenly glory, who in honor of the Lord’s Supper had a beautiful chalice worth 100 gulden made for the distribution of the blood of Christ in our church, and purchased the works of Luther for our library, and made many benefactions to the Spital, and like a pious Esther put in many a good word with her husband on behalf of this church, and had a handsome study built in this parsonage.” 67. Mathesius addresses the women of Joachimsthal as “meinen lieben und Gotseligen Gevattern und Freundin”: Ausgewählte Werke 4:437. Mention of the support that Mathesius received from Joachimsthal’s women is scattered throughout the preface to his sermons on the De Profundis. 68. Mathesius, Ausgewählte Werke 4:477–479. 69. Mathesius regards the education of women as being so valuable that he is even willing to say a kind word about the medieval convents for their role in teaching women—a remarkable concession from the Lutheran preacher. The Lutheran schoolmistresses are praised several times: Corinthier 1, f. 323v; Diluvium f. 228v; Ausgewählte Werke 4:449, 483. The recruitment of female schoolteachers was a Lutheran innovation, carried out despite the opposition of Erasmus and others; see Ozment, When Fathers Ruled, pp. 153f. 70. Mathesius, Ausgewählte Werke 4:437. 71. Mathesius, Ausgewählte Werke 4:483. 72. Mathesius, Diluvium f. 145r; Prophetica 1, f. 73v. On Elizabeth Cruciger, see the section “Hymns and Hymn Printing” in Chapter 1. 73. See Chapter 8. 74. The roles that the women of Joachimsthal took—and were encouraged to take—in the religious, social, and economic life of the town challenge the conclusions presented by Susan Karant-Nunn, “Kinder, Küche, Kirche: Social
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Ideology in the Sermons of Johannes Mathesius,” Germania Illustrata, Sixteenth Century Essays & Studies 18 (1992), pp. 121–140, based primarily on a reading of Mathesius’ wedding sermons. See also Karant-Nunn, “‘Fragrant Wedding Roses’: Lutheran Wedding Sermons and Gender Definition in Early Modern Germany,” German History 17 (1999):25–40. 75. On Karlstadt: Lorenz, Bilder, p. 124; Rudolf Wolkan, “Die Anfänge der Reformation in Joachimsthal,” MVGDB 32 (1894):287-299. See the section “Karlstadt, Egranus, and the Peasants’ War” in Chapter 2. On Luther, see Mathesius, Ausgewählte Werke 3:439: “[Luther’s] doctrine and books came into this valley.” 76. Mathesius, Corinthier, cited in Lorenz, Bilder, pp. 70f. See also Mathesius, Sarepta 2, f. 190v: “many dangerous and useless books were brought here, and provoked many rash disputations.” 77. Mark U. Edwards, Printing, Propaganda, and Martin Luther (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994), p. 39. Gerald Strauss, “Lutheranism and Literacy: A Reassessment,” in Religion and Society in Early Modern Europe, 1500–1800, ed. Kaspar von Greyerz (London: Allen & Unwin, 1984), pp. 109–123, noting the expansion of sixteenth-century literacy, argues that it received at best ambiguous encouragement from the magisterial Reformation. 78. Mathesius, Catechismus, cited in Lorenz, Bilder, p. 124. 79. Loesche, Johannes Mathesius 1:316f. Mathesius especially associates “Stammbücher und unzüchtige Briefe” with the young women of his congregation: Corinthier 2, f. 153r; Diluvium, f. 100v. See Moore, The Maiden’s Mirror, pp. 116f. 80. Mathesius, Diluvium, f. 143r. 81. Strauss, “Lutheranism and Literacy,” pp. 116f., believes that Lutherans came to mistrust lay Bible reading after the turmoil of the 1520s. Such a view finds no explicit support in Mathesius’ preaching to his congregation. 82. Mathesius, Corinthier 1, f. 226v. The term Psälterlein could refer either to a prose translation of the psalms or to a hymnal; in the diminutive, Mathesius seems to use it of Luther’s hymnal. 83. VD16 M4538ff. 84. Mathesius, Catechismus 2, p. 177. Syrach 2, f. 142r, recommends a still more extensive list of theological works for lay reading: Luther’s exposition of Genesis, his On the Jews and Their Lies, the Last Words of David, his Great Confession, his expositions of the Psalms and Prophets, and his commentary on Galatians as well as his postils and Catechism; Melanchthon’s Loci Communes and Examen, his exposition of Romans and the Prophets, as well as his disputations and letters; Georg von Anhalt’s works; Brenz on Isaiah, Luke, and John; Cruciger on John; Menius’ Oeconomia; Bugenhagen on Jeremiah and St. Paul; and the Church Fathers in epitomes and summaries. Mathesius also warns against the works of Calvin, Bucer, Fagius, and the “rabbis.”
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85. Book ownership in Joachimsthal was studied by Heribert Sturm in “Joachimsthaler Privatbüchereien aus dem 16. Jahrhundert,” MVGDB 68 (1930):3–9, on the basis of five inventories from 1576–1582. Lorenz, Bilder, p. 125, discusses two more Joachimsthal inventories. The following discussion is based on my own work with inventories from the Erbteilbücher and Gerichtsbücher in the Joachimsthal archive. Studies of lay book inventories elsewhere in the German-speaking lands have been published by Miriam Usher Chrisman, Lay Culture, Learned Culture: Books and Social Change in Strasbourg, 1480–1599 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1982), pp. 59– 75), by Rolf Engelsing, Der Bürger als Leser: Lesergeschichte in Deutschland 1500–1800 (Stuttgart: Metzler, 1974), pp. 46–55 (for Bremen), and most extensively for Braunschweig and Kitzingen by Erdmann Weyrauch, “Die Illiteraten und ihre Literatur,” Literatur und Volk im 17. Jahrhundert: Probleme populärerer Kultur in Deutschland 2, ed. Wolfgang Brückner et al., Wolfenbüttler Arbeiten zur Barockforschung 13 (Wiesbaden: Otto Harassowitz, 1985), pp. 465–474. 86. The Joachimsthal deacon Johann Salater, the only cleric whose estate inventory appears in the records, owned 106 named books, of which seventyfour (70%) were religious in content; the remainder included books on law, medicine, and rhetoric and works by classical authors. AM Jáchymov 8, ff.370–371. 87. The only lay inventory that does not mention religious books is that of Christoff Wölner (AM Jáchymov 8, ff. 417v, 418v), which contains only a few casual references to books out of an obviously considerably larger collection, e.g., to his brother “four books that will be useful to him in his house.” 88. Altogether, 83% of the collections contained either a Bible or a postil; the latter could serve to some extent as a surrogate Bible, since postils often contained the full text of the Biblical pericopes that were the subject of the sermons. 89. Similar weighting of religious subjects has been found in other studies of sixteenth-century libraries: see the summary in Hsia, Social Discipline, p. 111, and Weyrauch, “Die Illiteraten und ihre Literatur,” pp. 470ff. 90. AM Jáchymov 8, f. 351r (nine vols. of Luther’s works), f. 352r (first part of Luther’s commentary on the Epistles), f. 352v (exposition of the Epistles and Gospels, House Postil, Luther’s Catechism in German, Psalter with Luther’s summaries, Luther’s prayer book with calendar and passional). 91. AM Jáchymov 8, ff. 401r–402r (Luther’s exposition of the Gospels, prayer book, On the Jews and their Lies, House Postil). 92. Mathesius’ works: AM Jáchymov 8, f. 352v (Georg Heidler: Sarepta, Historia Christi, Postilla, Vita Lutheri, Leichenpredigt, Bekenntnis, Trostpredigt, and volumes of miners’ and Lenten sermons); AM Jáchymov 8, f. 458r (Anna Hans Bienerin: Trostpredigt); AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 624r (David Enderlein: Postilla, Sarepta). Herman’s works: AM Jáchymov 8, f. 352v
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(Georg Heidler, “a hymnal of Nicolaus Herman”); AM Jáchymov 8, f. 458r (Anna Hans Bienerin: Sonntags-Evangelia). 93. AM Jáchymov 8, f. 352v (Georg Heidler: Corpus doctrinae, Loci communes in German), f. 401r–v (Joachim Langer: exposition of Daniel, “on the doctrine of the old and new church,” Loci communes), f. 458r (Anna Hans Bienerin: “exposition of certain passages”). 94. AM Jáchymov 8, f. 352v (Georg Heidler: Bugenhagen’s passion history, Jonas on Daniel 7, Jonas’ translation of Melanchthon’s Loci, Regius on Luke 24, G. Major’s Drei güldene Kleinod); AM Jáchymov 8, f. 385v (Michael Hummelberger: Huberinus on Sirach, Brentz on Acts); AM Jáchymov 8, f. 457v (Anna Hans Bienerin: Bugenhagen’s passion history [two copies], Brenz’s prayer book for women). 95. AM Jáchymov 8, f. 385r (Michael Hummelberger). 96. AM Jáchymov 5, f. 1r (Steffan Jhan: Franck’s Chronica); AM Jáchymov 8, f. 385v (Michael Hummelberger: Franck’s Chronica, Josephus in German, Sleidanus); AM Jáchymov 8, f. 442v (Hans Staudigel: Eusebius); AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 624r (David Enderlein: Livy). 97. AM Jáchymov 5, f. 1r. 98. AM Jáchymov 8, f. 385r–v. 99. AM Jáchymov 4, f. 134r, lists “a large Latin chronicle” valued at five gulden. 100. The following lay inventories had higher percentages of religious works than did the deacon Salater’s: Georg Heidler (AM Jáchymov 8, ff. 351r–352v: 86%), Joachim Langer (AM Jáchymov 8, f. 401r–401v: 74%), Anna Hans Fockin (AM Jáchymov 8, f. 425v: 100%), Philipp Lehrknecht (AM Jáchymov 8, f. 428v: 100%), Anna Biener (AM Jáchymov 8, ff. 457r–458r: 72%), David Enderlein (AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 624r: 69%). 101. See AM Jáchymov 8, ff. 370–371, including, for example, a Processus Juris, Linacre, and a book de conservanda valetudine. 102. AM Jáchymov 8, ff. 26r–27v. 103. AM Jáchymov 8, ff. 401r–402r. 104. See VD 16 M1568ff.; Loesche, Johannes Mathesius 2:410. 105. AM Jáchymov 8, ff. 457r–458r. The books listed in this inventory are probably those that Anna herself used rather than simply the remaining library of her dead husband, whose books would likely have been divided upon his death, as in the inventories of Urban Schopper (AM Jáchymov 8, ff. 26r–27v) and Joachim Langer (AM Jáchymov 8, ff. 401r–402r). 106. On Franck, see Steven Ozment, Mysticism and Dissent: Religious Ideology and Social Protest in the Sixteenth Century (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1973), pp. 137–167. 107. 8,815 is the sum of all annual figures for Joachimsthal deaths found in the Chronica between 1558 (the first year for which the figure is available) and 1593. Using the average mortality rate for the recorded period to fill in the years 1551–1557 would give a total of 10,578 deaths for the period 1551–1593.
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108. AM Jáchymov 8, f. 390v. 109. AM Jáchymov 8, ff. 356v–358v. 110. Sturm, Bücherei, no. 255, p. 146. 111. AM Jáchymov 8, ff. 417v, 418v. 112. Seltenreich was clerk from 1574 to 1594. The estate and court books themselves extend from 1538 to 1609. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 4, f. 272r lists him as having been taken on as “Schulkollege” in 1560. 113. AM Jáchymov 8, f. 385r. 114. AM Jáchymov 8, ff. 457v, 458r. 115. AM Jáchymov 8, f. 352v. 116. AM Jáchymov 4, f. 134r. 117. AM Jáchymov 8, ff. 425v, 428v. Compare Chrisman, Lay Culture, Learned Culture, pp. 70ff. 118. See Sturm, Bücherei, pp. 179–184 (“Druckorteverzeichnis”). 119. See Sturm, Bücherei, no. 352, p. 175. 120. Lorenz, Bilder, p. 124. 121. Mathesius, Diluvium, f. 226r. 122. Heribert Sturm, Skizzen zur Geschichte des Obererzgebirges im 16. Jahrhundert, Forschungen zur Geschichte und Landeskunde der Sudetenländer 5 (Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer, 1965), p. 39, cites a 1621 census that includes “a shopkeeper [Krämer] who was also a book dealer, as well as another bookbinder.” The popular commerce of the bookseller may be inferred from the absence of any reference to Joachimsthal booksellers in the receipts entered in the front leaves of the books in the town library. Further references to bookbinders in Joachimsthal amid lists of occupations in the town can be found in Anton Böhm, “Kurze Mitteilungen aus der Geschichte von Sct. Joachimsthal,” Pfarramtliche Nachrichten 7 (Sept. 1909), 5 May 1593; ibid., 10 (Mar. 1912), 1613. 123. Although the descriptions of sale in several volumes of the Joachimsthal library indicate that the book was in fact bound in Leipzig or elsewhere and then shipped to Joachimsthal, the Karlovy Vary museum notes that many of the volumes in the remains of the library are bound using paper with a Joachimsthal watermark, showing that they were bound locally. 124. The price of the unbound book is estimated at 4 pf. (not wpf.) per folio sheet, at least double the estimated price per sheet in the 1520s: see Mark U. Edwards, Printing, Propaganda, and Martin Luther (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994), p. 16. This takes into account inflation while also recognizing that the cost of paper had fallen considerably over the century: a ream of ordinary paper cost 1 fl. in 1522 but only 3/4 fl. (18 wg) in the inflated currency of 1604. Compare Walter Krieg, Materialen zu einer Entwicklungsgeschichte der Bücher-Preise (Vienna: Stubenrauch, 1953), p. 20, with AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 337r (1604). The 1518 Joachimsthal Bergordnung set the wage of a miner (Häuer) at 12 wg per week (Lorenz, Bilder, p. 60). A list of regulated prices for clothing is given in Lorenz, Bilder,
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p. 55. 1 gulden (fl) = 24 (weiß)groschen; 1 (weiß)groschen = 24 pfennige or 7 weißpfennige. 125. Mathesius, Catechismus 2, p. 177. 126. See Luther, Daß ein christliche Versammlung oder Gemeine Recht und Macht habe, alle Lehre zu urtheilen, WA 11, p. 409 (LW 39, p. 307): “it is the sheep who are to judge whether they [bishops, popes, scholars, etc.] teach the voice of Christ or the voice of strangers.” 127. Mathesius, De Profundis 1, f. Ii3r. 128. Mathesius, cited in Loesche, Johannes Mathesius 1:412. Mathesius may have been more concerned that the husband had administered the Sacrament to himself (a practice smacking of Roman Catholic private masses) than that he had administered the Lord’s Supper to his wife.
7. Counter-Reformation in Joachimsthal 1. See Loesche, Johannes Mathesius 1:411f. 2. See Rudolf Wolkan, Böhmens Antheil an der deutschen Litteratur des XVI. Jahrhunderts, vol. 1 (Prague: Hasse, 1890), p. 101 (and ff.); Loesche, Johannes Mathesius 2:423–434. Selneccer apparently conceived of the project and wrote a 1586 preface to the first Leipzig volume. The mayor of Leipzig sent copies of several of the newly printed volumes to the Joachimsthal council as a gift; the council expressed its thanks, along with some annoyance that Mathesius’ descendants in Joachimsthal had not been consulted on the project: AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 1, f. 281r (1588). There was some animosity between Mathesius’ editors in Nürnberg and Leipzig: see Wolkan, Böhmens Antheil 1, pp. 106–110. Among the methods the Leipzig editors used to emphasize Mathesius’ orthodoxy (or to guard against “Philippist” misreadings of his sermons) was to cite pertinent verses from the corpus of Lutheran hymns in the margins: e.g., Diluvium ff. 30r (note f), 39v, 86r; Prophetica 1, f. 199v, vol. 2, f. 33v. 3. Anton Böhm, “Kurze Mitteilungen aus der Geschichte von Sct. Joachimsthal,” Pfarramtliche Nachrichten 10 (Jan., Feb. 1912), 16 Feb. 1612, 8 July 1613. 4. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, ff. 320r–320v (1603), 420v–421v (1615); Chronica 1615. Especially mentioned is the lack of sufficient seating for Joachimsthal’s women. 5. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 370r–370v (1609), 374r (1610). 6. Chronica 1611; AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 379r–379v (1611), 376r– 376v (1610), 390v (1611). The organist’s duties had evidently been curtailed; in 1607, Jacob Schedlich was called as organist at a salary of only 7¾ weißgroschen per week, less than half of what the organist had been paid six decades before. See Böhm, “Kurze Mitteilungen,” Pfarramtliche Nachrichten 9 (July 1911), 1607; 2 (July 1904), 1543. 7. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 528r–528v (23 March 1623).
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8. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 527v (9 March 1623). 9. Mathesius, Ausgewählte Werke 3:12. 10. The Maiestätsbrief is mentioned in the Joachimsthal Chronica 1609; see Chronica 1579, 1615. 11. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 450r (1617). The council decided that “it is right that we should daily give thanks to God for the beautiful jewel, the divine Word, which began to shine forth a hundred years ago; this is left to the discretion of the pastor, but should take place without special festivities and ceremonies.” 12. Böhm, “Kurze Mitteilungen,” Pfarramtliche Nachrichten 11 (July, Sept. 1913), 1620, 1621. 13. Böhm, “Kurze Mitteilungen,” Pfarramtliche Nachrichten 11 (Aug. 1913), 4 July, 20 Dec. 1620. 14. Böhm, “Kurze Mitteilungen,” Pfarramtliche Nachrichten 11 (Dec. 1913), 17 July 1621. 15. Böhm, “Kurze Mitteilungen,” Pfarramtliche Nachrichten 12 (1914), 23 June 1623. 16. Thomas Bilek, “Die Gegenreformation in den Bergstädten des Erzgebirges 1623–1678,” MVGDB 23 (1885):209f.; Christian Adolph Pescheck, Geschichte der Gegenreformation in Böhmen 2, 2nd. ed. (Leipzig: Arnold, 1850), p. 232; AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 526r–v (19/22 Aug. 1623), where the references to 1623 have been changed (in another hand?) to 1624, as in Böhm, “Kurze Mitteilungen,” Pfarramtliche Nachrichten 12 (June 1914), 1624. The sequence of dates given by Bilek and Pescheck, placing the order for the expulsion of the Evangelical clergy in 1623, seems more probable and I have followed it in my narrative. 17. See AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 609r–v (1631). 18. See Geoffrey Parker, The Thirty Years War, 2nd. ed. (London: Routledge, 1997), p. 82. 19. Bilek, “Gegenreformation,” p. 210 (18 Nov. 1623); AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 553r (9 Sept. 1624). 20. Pescheck, Geschichte der Gegenreformation 2, p. 232, where the date of Pistorius’ appointment is given as 19 Nov. 1623. See also AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 553v (12 Sept. 1624), where the continuing temporary duties of the schoolmaster include “reading, prayer, and song”; Bilek, “Gegenreformation,” pp. 210f. 21. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 557r (1624). 22. See AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 564r (20 Jan. 1626), f. 567r (24 Aug. 1626), where “Frau Rebecca Hütterin” is identified as sheltering two Lutheran preachers in her home. The town council legislated somewhat equivocally against the sheltering of foreign preachers, and when the new Roman Catholic priest complained about the continuing presence of Lutheran clergy in Joachimsthal, the council refused to give him the inventory of properties designated for the support of the parish church.
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23. See the section “Schools and Public Music in Joachimsthal” in Chapter 4. 24. Pescheck, Geschichte der Gegenreformation 2, pp. 254ff., where the text of Landherr’s reports to the Hauptmann and the archbishop is given; Bilek, “Gegenreformation,” p. 210. Pescheck is inconsistent as to whether Landherr’s expulsion from the church took place on 4 or 9 September. 25. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 553v. Councilman Leonhard Durr’s children are identified as having thrown rocks at Landherr. 26. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, ff. 553v–554r (12 Sept. 1624). The same session of the council secured schoolmaster Pistorius’ assurance that he would continue to conduct Lutheran services in the absence of a pastor or priest. 27. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 554r–554v (3 Nov. 1624). 28. Franciscus Albanus, Einfältiger Römisch Catholischer Münchs-Esel (Wittenberg: Johann Christoph Siegel/S. Seelfisch Erben, 1637), p. 166 [HCL]. 29. Böhm, “Kurze Mitteilungen,” Pfarramtliche Nachrichten 13 (Mar., Apr. 1915), 1628. 30. See Heide Wunder, He Is the Sun, She Is the Moon: Women in Early Modern Germany, tr. Thomas Dunlap (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1998), p. 175. 31. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 557r (24 April 1625). 32. The sentiment of Georg Dillrich and of Christof Schenken’s wife, as revealed in the investigation into Landherr’s ill-treatment: AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 554r. 33. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 585r–585v (11 July 1628). 34. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 586r (17 Jan., 9 Dec. 1628). The documents there contradict Böhm’s portrayal of Wilsovius as a Lutheran who had been present since 1625: Böhm, “Kurze Mitteilungen,” Pfarramtliche Nachrichten 13 (Mar. 1915), 9 Dec. 1628. 35. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 564v (1626). 36. See Bilek, “Gegenreformation,” pp. 213 (Jan. 1630), 216 (20 June 1663); Pescheck, Geschichte der Gegenreformation 2, pp. 239–240 (1626–1629). 37. See AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 570v (1627), 588r (1629); Bilek, “Gegenreformation,” p. 218 (1650). 38. Pescheck, Geschichte der Gegenreformation 2, p. 239. 39. Pescheck, Geschichte der Gegenreformation 2, p. 239; Bilek, “Gegenreformation,” p. 215. 40. See AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, ff. 597v–598r (23/30 July 1630); Bilek, “Gegenreformation,” p. 217 (17 July 1637). 41. Pescheck, Geschichte der Gegenreformation 2, p. 238 (Letter of Gregor Richter to the Joachimsthal Stadtrichter Georg Seling, 27 Jun. 1625). 42. See the section “Music, Education, and Civil Society” in Chapter 4. On Mathesius’ sermons, see Alfred Eckert, “Eine ‘theologia constantiae’ aus dem reformatorischen Erbe der böhmischen Lutheraner deutscher Zunge,” “Horizonte und Perspektiven”: Festschrift zum 60. Geburtstag von Erik Turnwald, EuA 19/22 (1979):137–148, with reference especially to Johann
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Mathesius, Ein Christlicher Unterricht / Wes sich Gottselige Unterthanen verhalten können / zu der zeit der verfolgung / und da jnen das reine wort Gottes / unnd die heylige Sacrament nach Christi einsetzung / von jrer Obrigkeit nit zugelassen werden (Nürnberg: U. Neuber & D. Gerlatz, 1567) [HAB]. 43. Pescheck, Geschichte der Gegenreformation 2, p. 211; Böhm, “Kurze Mitteilungen,” Pfarramtliche Nachrichten 13 (Apr. 1915), 23 Oct. 1629. 44. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 658r–658v (1636); Bilek, “Gegenreformation,” pp. 216–217. In 1636 the town council debated again whether or not to petition the Saxon elector to intercede on behalf of the Joachimsthalers’ religious rights; only one councilman spoke against the proposal: AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, ff. 659v–660r. 45. A substantial body of soldiers was brought to Joachimsthal in support of the Counter-Reformation for the first time in 1629: Bilek, “Gegenreformation,” p. 212 (14 July 1629). 46. See AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 597v (23 July 1630), f. 718r (23 Oct. 1652), 788r (1666), 818v (1675). 47. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 566r (18 July 1626); Böhm, “Kurze Mitteilungen,” Pfarramtliche Nachrichten 11 (Dec. 1913), 1 June 1627. 48. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 567r (1626). 49. See the section “Confession and Absolution” in Chapter 5. 50. See AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 570v (1627), 582v–583r (1628), 597v (23 Jul. 1630). 51. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 644r (1634). 52. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 662r (1636). 53. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 561r (9 Dec 1625), 566r (July 1626). In addition to service on the town council and in other offices, the Schedlichs had supplied Joachimsthal with its mayor in 1609 and 1610 and would do so for more than thirty years from 1633 to 1669. Jacob Schedlich, who was mayor from 1633 on, had been organist of the Joachimsthal church from 1607 to 1625. 54. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 575r (1 June 1627). Geuß had served as one of the Viertelmeister in 1608: Böhm, “Kurze Mitteilungen,” Pfarramtliche Nachrichten 9 (Sept. 1911), 1608. 55. Heribert Sturm, Die Bücherei der Lateinschule zu St. Joachimsthal, Nordwestböhmische Heimatbücher 2 (Joachimsthal: Stadtmuseum, 1929), pp. 72f.; see the section “Domestic Religious Life in Joachimsthal” in Chapter 6. 56. See AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 570v (1627). 57. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 623r–624v gives a 13 Oct. 1631 estate inventory for David Enderlein, which includes a postil and the Sarepta by Mathesius, Luther’s Warnung an die Deutschen, a postil by Dr. Moller (see ADB 22, p. 128), and Luther’s hymnal. 58. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 557r–557v (5 June and 17 June 1625). The Roman Catholic catechism is identified as that of Canisius. 59. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 559r (21 July 1625).
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60. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 559r (5 July 1625). 61. Pescheck, Geschichte der Gegenreformation 2, p. 232; see W3, no. 1344. 62. Bilek, “Gegenreformation,” p. 213; AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 589v (16 Nov. 1629). Compare Luther, Von weltlicher Oberkeit, WA 11, pp. 246, 267. 63. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 566r (18 July 1626). 64. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 597v (23 July 1630), 598v (6 August 1630). 65. An example of such expurgation can be seen in the second line of Herman’s version of Luther’s hymn Erhalt uns Herr, whose reference to the Pope was changed in the Joachimsthal manuscript by a later hand to “Und steur der Ketzer und Türken Mord.” See Loesche, “Zur Agende von Joachimsthal in Böhmen,” Siona 17 (1892):188; Walther Lipphardt, “‘Laus tibi Christe’— ‘Ach du arme Judas’: Untersuchungen zum ältesten deutschen Passionslied,” JbLH 6 (1961):75. 66. On Albanus (his name is given in some sources as “Albani”), see Deutsches Biographisches Archiv, ed. Bernhard Fabian (München: Saur, 1982–1987), fiche 11.46–11.48 [Jöcher (1750), vol. 1; Jöcher/Adelung (1784), vol. 1; Moriz Bermann, Österreichisches biographisches Lexikon (1851)]. See also Johann Albani, “Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Gegenreformation in St. Joachimsthal,” JGPÖ 27 (1906):151–153. Albanus’ place of origin is indicated by the genitive “Vangionis,” which is most likely Worms (so Orbis Latinus) but could be Wangen in der Nieder-Pfalz. 67. Franciscus Albanus, Einfältiger Römisch Catholischer Münchs-Esel (Wittenberg: Johann Christoph Siegel/S. Seelfisch Erben, 1637), f. a2r. 68. Albanus, Revocation und Confessions Predigt (Wittenberg: S. Seelfisch Erben/G. Müller Erben, 1635), p. 11 [HAB]; see J. Albani, “Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Gegenreformation,” p. 151. Albanus is not listed, however, in Peter Schmidt, Das Collegium Germanicum in Rom und die Germaniker: Zur Funktion eines römischen Ausländerseminars (Tübingen: Max Niemeyer, 1984), pp. 216–321. On the Collegium Germanicum, see also Thomas Culley, Jesuits and Music I: A Study of the Musicians Connected with the German College in Rome during the 17th Century and of their Activities in Northern Europe, Sources and Studies for the History of the Jesuits 2 (Rome: Jesuit Historical Institute, 1970). 69. Schmidt, Collegium Germanicum, p. 100. 70. Culley, Jesuits and Music I, p. 130. Although only the best singers were selected for the choir in the church of San Apollinare, all students at the Collegium were trained in music and required to sing. 71. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 592r (1629). 72. J. Albani, “Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Gegenreformation,” p. 152. 73. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 597v (1630). 74. Hans Zink, who was in charge of the hospital books, was removed from his office for refusing to confess and commune. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, ff. 597v–598r (1630).
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75. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 597r (1630). The Latin school had been required to adopt the Roman Catholic catechism already in 1625: AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 557r (1625). As late as 1659, the Roman Catholic authorities were still concerned that the girls’ school was not providing reliable instruction in Roman Catholicism: AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 747r–747v (9 Dec. 1659). 76. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 597v (1630). 77. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 598r (1630). 78. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 598r (6 Aug. 1630). 79. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 598v (6 Aug. 1630). These hymns seem to have included at least the German Creed and Lord’s Prayer (in expurgated versions of Luther’s own settings?), among others; see Albanus, Münchs-Esel, p. 139. 80. J. Albani, “Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Gegenreformation,” p. 152. 81. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 608r (22 Dec. 1630). 82. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 602v (3 Oct. 1630). The council sought the opinion of the midwife Glaser, who strongly recommended that the cantor be forbidden to baptize “because the people despise him, and moreover he cannot baptize correctly.” On the status of midwives, see Wunder, He Is the Sun, She Is the Moon, pp. 100–102. 83. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 639r (29 Nov. 1633). 84. Franciscus Albanus, Päbstische Anatomia, Darinnen Nach Ordnung der Eusserlichen Glieder des Pabsts, das Römische Wesen, wie es heutiges tages damit eine beschaffenheit hat, beschrieben wird (Wittenberg: Johann Christoph Siegel/S. Seelfisch Erben, 1636), f. A1 [HAB]. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 653r, reports that Albanus passed through Joachimsthal again on 17 July. 85. F. Albanus, Revocation und Confessionspredigt; see J. Albani, “Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Gegenreformation,” pp. 151–153. 86. A Swedish translation of Albanus’ Päbstische Anatomia appeared in 1663: Påfweske Anatomia (Trycki i Westerås: Euchario Lauringer). 87. The publication of a promised second volume of the satire (Albanus, MünchsEsel, p. 200) was prevented by Albanus’ untimely death. 88. In addition to Albanus’ Revocation und Confessionspredigt, the prefaces and dedications to his works provide biographical information beyond what is contained in the Joachimsthal archival sources. Especially interesting for the history of the Counter-Reformation in Joachimsthal, however, is his Einfältiger Römisch Catholischer Münchs-Esel—a work that must, however, be used with caution. The Münchs-Esel is a satire, not (despite its first-person narrative) an autobiography, despite the fact that the narrator usually represents Albanus’ views, sometimes in disregard of the presuppositions of the narrative (e.g., p. 166, where the narrator, supposedly a Roman Catholic monk, refers to the Lutheran church as the “true church”). Nonetheless, the description of the Counter-Reformation in Bohemia contained in the book is clearly based on Albanus’ experience in Joachimsthal—the narrator
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claims to tell what has happened “in a famous mining town of the Kingdom of Bohemia” (p. 141)—and, in conjunction with the Joachimsthal sources, provides valuable additional information on Albanus’ work as a CounterReformer there. 89. F. Albanus, Münchs-Esel, p. 166. 90. F. Albanus, Münchs-Esel, pp. 169–172. 91. F. Albanus, Münchs-Esel, p. 167. 92. See section “End of the Reformation in Joachimsthal” in Chapter 8. 93. F. Albanus, Münchs-Esel, p. 139. 94. F. Albanus, Münchs-Esel, p. 158. 95. Bilek, “Gegenreformation,” p. 216. 96. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 655v (1635). 97. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 659r (1636). 98. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 663r (16 Oct. 1636). 99. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 698r (1646). No other schoolmaster is mentioned until Andreas Pul appears in 1655 (f. 725v). 100. Böhm, “Kurze Mitteilungen,” Pfarramtliche Nachrichten 13 (Nov. 1915), 15 Jan. 1632; AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 789r (1666). 101. Böhm, “Kurze Mitteilungen,” Pfarramtliche Nachrichten 13 (Aug. 1915), 23 May 1631; AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 639r–639v (29 Nov. 1633). 102. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 662r (1636). 103. See MGG 11:1612–1615. But AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 672v (10 Jul. 1638), gives the date of the death of Schedlich’s first wife as 1638 (not 1636), and AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 680r (1640), indicates that Andreas Schedlich, who became organist in 1640, was Jacob Schedlich’s brother (not his son). 104. Böhm, “Kurze Mitteilungen,” Pfarramtliche Nachrichten 10 (Nov. 1912), Fri. bef. Judica 1616. 105. See the list of public officials in AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 4, ff. 257r– 261v. 106. Böhm, “Kurze Mitteilungen,” Pfarramtliche Nachrichten 11–12 (Dec. 1913, Mar., May, July, Oct., Nov. 1914), 1621–1626; AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 525v (1622), 552v (mentioned in council deliberations of 13 Aug. 1624). Jacob Schedlich was elected mayor upon the death of Laurenz Herold in the middle of 1633 (f. 637r) and died in the midst of his term in 1669 (f. 789v [29 Dec. 1669]). 107. See MGG 11:1612–1615. 108. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 355r (8 Oct. 1607), f. 557r (5 June 1625). 109. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 395r (5 June 1612). 110. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 432r (22 Aug. 1615). 111. “Herrlichkeit des Annaberger Tempels,” Annaberger Wochenblatt 1833.37, pp. 273ff. The Annaberg organ was a substantial work, valued at 1,350 thaler. I owe the reference to Gert Süß of Annaberg.
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112. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 552r (13 Aug. 1624). 113. Such insistences were made in 1636 and 1637: Bilek, “Gegenreformation,” pp. 216f. 114. MGG 11:1615. 115. See AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 667v. 116. Bilek, “Gegenreformation,” pp. 217f. (5 Oct. 1650). 117. Richard Schmidt, Topographie der historischen und kunst-Denkmale: Der Politische Bezirk Skt. Joachimsthal, Topographie der historischen und KunstDenkmale im Königreiche Böhmen 40 (Prague: Wiesner, 1913), p. 81. 118. Horace, Epistulae 1.16.79. 119. The epitaph is described in Schmidt, Topographie, p. 81. The musical setting and further information on Susanna Schedlich are given in AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 672v (1638). 120. Bilek, “Gegenreformation,” pp. 220–221. See also AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 715r (1651), 720r (1650 [sic]). 121. Bilek, “Gegenreformation,” p. 218. 122. Bilek, “Gegenreformation,” p. 221 (16 Jan. 1651). 123. Bilek, “Gegenreformation,” pp. 221–222. The exiles came from a broad spectrum of Joachimsthal’s society: in addition to the more prominent citizens, a 1653 catalog of 39 emigrant families from Joachimsthal and Platten lists “15 Bergleute, 8 Köhler, 2 Glasmacher, 6 Fuhrleute, 4 Handelsleute, 4 Handwerker”: Siegfried Sieber, Um Aue, Schwarzenberg, und Johanngeorgenstadt, Werte unserer Heimat 20 (Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1972), p. 170. 124. The number 854 is given by Bilek, “Gegenreformation,” p. 222. The population of Joachimsthal on the eve of the Thirty Years War must have been between three and four thousand people, based on an annual number of communicants ranging as high as 2,649 and averaging about 2,000 in the decade before 1618. By the end of the war, the population was perhaps half of its former number. Further confirmation of the rough proportion of emigrants is given by the number of marriages recorded in Joachimsthal before and after 1651. From 1641 to 1650, there were an average of 37.7 marriages celebrated each year; from 1651 to 1660, there were on average only 14.6. See Figure 7.1. 125. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 718r (23 Oct. 1652). 126. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 788r (1666). 127. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 726r (1656), 818v (1675). 128. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 766r (1662), 839v (June/July 1678). 129. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 831v (12 Apr. 1677). 130. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 839v (14 July 1678). 131. See Luther, Von weltlicher Oberkeit, WA 11, pp. 254f., 260f. (LW 45, pp. 95f., 103f.). 132. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 831v (6 Apr. 1677). 133. Schmidt, Topographie, p. 66. 134. Schmidt, Topographie, p. 81.
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135. Schmidt, Topographie, p. 73. For the hymn, see W5 665, p. 436 (printed in Jena, 1609); a version exactly corresponding to the Joachimsthal inscription was printed in Hamburg in 1612: see W5 666, p. 436, and W5 668, p. 437 (an acrostic version using the inscription text as a refrain). 136. Bilek, “Gegenreformation,” pp. 223f. Platten also resisted Catholicization until at least 1659: AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 748r (1659). 137. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 840r (22 Sept. 1678). 138. HS 69.10. 139. See Hans Lorenz, Bilder aus Alt-Joachimsthal: Umrisse einer Kulturgeschichte einer erzgebirgischen Bergstadt im sechzehnten Jahrhundert (Joachimsthal: H. Meyer, 1925), p. 181. The long resistance of Joachimsthal’s Lutherans to Catholicization was not unparalleled. Compare Ludwig Weiss, “Reformation und Gegenreformation in Bergrheinfeld,” Würzburger Diözesangeschichtsblätter 43 (1981):283–341. 140. Sturm, Bücherei, p. 141. Sturm no. 141 is a Pastorale with the inscription “Agenda ecclesiae Joachimsthalensis praescriptione propria facta. Coll. F. Michaelis Viennensis cler. Reg. Sancti Pauli.” 141. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 789r (1666). 142. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 759r (1661). 143. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 839v (1678). 144. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 2, f. 769v (1662), 771r (1663). 145. On the development of Counter-Reformation church music in Bohemia, see Rudolf Quoika, “Geistliches Lied und Kirchenmusik bei den Deutschen in den böhmischen Ländern,” Archiv für Kirchengeschichte von BöhmenMähren-Schlesien 2 (1971):62–76. 146. On efforts to distinguish Catholic clerics from the laity in Counter-Reformation Joachimsthal, see Pescheck, Geschichte der Gegenreformation 2, p. 257.
8. Joachimsthal’s Influence 1. See Siegfried Sieber, “Geistige Beziehungen zwischen Böhmen und Sachsen zur Zeit der Reformation,” Bohemia 6 (1965):150–155; Hans Lorenz, Bilder aus Alt-Joachimsthal: Umrisse einer Kulturgeschichte einer erzgebirgischen Bergstadt im sechzehnten Jahrhundert (Joachimsthal: H. Meyer, 1925), pp. 159–163. Particularly influential among the Joachimsthal graduates was Christoph Fischer (Vischer), who went on to serve as superintendent in Schmalkald, Menningen, and Braunschweig and who was a minor hymnwriter. See ADB 7, pp. 50–52; ADB 40, pp. 30–31; W5, pp. 248f. 2. Loesche, Johannes Mathesius 2:378–435 catalogues fifty-six works and lists editions through the nineteenth century; see the additions and corrections in Herbert Wolff, “Beiträge zur Mathesius-Bibliographie,” Bohemia 5 (1964):96–104. See also VD16 M1410–M1600. According to Loesche’s catalogue, Mathesius’ most popular works in the sixteenth-century press were his Oeconomia in Herman’s German translation (sixteen editions), Mathesius’ Evangelien-
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Postille (eleven editions), his biography of Luther (ten editions), his Hochzeitspredigten (nine editions), and his Sarepta (eight editions). Of Mathesius’ fifty-six works catalogued by Loesche, twenty appeared in only one edition and ten in only two. 3. DKL 1580 18 (W1 bib. 220, preface 18, pp. 854–856; Loesche, Johannes Mathesius 2:423. 4. See the section “Hymns and the Laity” in Chapter 5. 5. See Appendix 1, Appendix 2. 6. WB 637; DKL 1551 04. 7. Mathesius, Ausgewählte Werke 4:534 (17 Aug. 1550), says that Herman has “set the fifteenth chapter of Corinthians into German verse, and furnished it with a melody, so that the chapter which I am now expounding to our congregation may be the more familiar to all the hearers.” The hymn was later incorporated as SE 35. 8. SE 7, 8, and 9: DKL 1550 01; Rudolf Wolkan, Böhmens Antheil an der deutschen Litteratur des XVI. Jahrhunderts, vol. 1 (Prague: Hasse, 1890), no. 70. SE 88: DKL 1554 04. HS 53: DKL 1555 09. SE 12: Wolkan, Böhmens Antheil 1, no. 66 (1555/1556). HS 73: DKL 1556 07. 9. Heribert Sturm, Die Bücherei der Lateinschule zu St. Joachimsthal, Nordwestböhmische Heimatbücher 2 (Joachimsthal: Stadtmuseum, 1929), pp. 61f. 10. AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 4, f. 272r, lists Johann Lieben as cantor in 1540, David Kohler as cantor in 1556, and Blasius Schenk as cantor in 1559. Lieben must have been an assistant during the flourishing period of the school, since Mathesius refers to Herman as the present cantor in a letter of 17 August 1550 (Ausgewählte Werke 4:534). On the other hand, Mathesius refers to Herman’s retirement in a letter of 6 June 1559 (Ausgewählte Werke 4:573). However, Schenk’s predecessor did not resign his position until 12 October 1559 (AM Jáchymov Kronika mČsta 1, f. 223v). It is most probable, therefore, that Herman retired in 1556 and that Kohler was called as his replacement. See also Walter Blankenburg, s.v. “Köhler, David,” NG2. 11. Herman, HS, f. B6r (WB, p. 617). 12. Herman, SE, p. 12 (WB, p. 611). 13. Eber, SE, pp. 6–7 (WB, p. 609). 14. Mathesius, Ausgewählte Werke 4:574 (letter of 25 Dec. 1559), thanks Eber and Rhau for a printed copy of Herman’s hymnal. 15. Eber’s preface is dated 10 March 1560: SE, p. 8 (WB, p. 610). 16. DKL 1561 08. 17. SE 104–105, first appearing in DKL 1562 04. Both are subscribed N.H. 18. Herman’s preface is dated 24 Aug. 1560: HS, f. B6v (WB, p. 618). 19. SE, p. 238. 20. DKL 1561 03, described WB 789, p. 306. 21. The date of Schön’s edition (perhaps two editions) of the SE (WB 790, W1 120, pp. 448–449) is difficult to fix. The complete copy listed as W1 120
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bears no date, and the copy listed in WB 790 (now in the Berlin Staatsbibliothek [SBB], sig. Eh 2660R) is missing the printed title page (the rearrangement of the prefatory material as now bound is likely not original, as the signatures of the first quire show). Schön’s edition must in any event be dated to 1561 or later, as its contents reflect the second Rhau edition. VD16 H2419 suggests a date of 1565. On Schön, see Josef Benzing, Die Buchdrucker des 16. und 17. Jahrhunderts im Deutschen Sprachgebiet, 2nd ed., Beiträge zum Buch- und Bibliothekswesen 12 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1982), p. 500. 22. DKL 1562 03; DKL 1563 04; DKL 1563 05; DKL 1563 06. 23. DKL 1572 03; DKL 1592 09. 24. DKL 1589 06; DKL 1630 07. 25. See Hans-Bruno Ernst, Zur Geschichte des Kinderlieds: Das einstimmige deutsche geistliche Kinderlied im 16. Jahrhundert, Regensburger Beiträge zur Musikwissenschaft 8 (Regensburg: G. Bosse, 1985), p. 61. 26. Because DKL categorizes the format of printings strictly on the basis of page size, many editions listed as 12° in DKL are actually foliated in 8°. However, in 1570, the Wittenberg printer J. Schwertel seems to have printed separate 8° and 12° editions in the same year: DKL 1570 08; DKL 1570 16. 27. DKL 1561 08: “Mit vleis corrigiert / gebessert und gemehret.” 28. This would be the edition listed as VD16 H2417, if the title as given there (for a copy that has been lost) is correct; otherwise, the first Nürnberg edition based on the second Wittenberg edition would be DKL 1567 03. 29. DKL 1576 02; DKL 1581 05. 30. The 1585 edition (DKL 1585 04), consulted in SBB, sig. Eh 2669R, seems not in fact to have included an index, despite the claim on the title page. 31. DKL 1575 05; DKL 1585 04. 32. DKL 1586 03. Neuber’s 1586 edition actually contains an index beginning on f. X1r. With this edition, Neuber also dropped the mention of Eber from his title page. 33. Katharina Gerlach seems to have ceased to issue editions of Herman after 1585, even though her press continued to operate until 1594. See Benzing, Buchdrucker, pp. 361f. 34. None of the SE editions that I have been able to examine lacks illustrations. J. Berwald’s Leipzig editions of the HS (DKL 1563 04, 1569 09) and those of his brother-in-law U. Gaubisch of Eisleben (DKL 1589 06) are unillustrated. Printers in Nürnberg and Leipzig did better at supplying the HS with illustrations: the 1563 Nürnberg edition (DKL 1563 05) had forty-five woodcuts; the 1593 Leipzig edition (DKL 1593 06) had eighteen. 35. Contra Martin Hoberg, Gesangbuchillustrationen des 16. Jahrhunderts: Ein Beitrag zum Problem Reformation und Kunst, Studien zur deutschen Kunstgeschichte 296 (Strassburg: J. Heitz, 1933), who argues that Protestant hymnal illustrations merely continued medieval patterns and failed to convey any distinctively Protestant message.
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36. DKL 1572 03, f. T8v. 37. For example, DKL 1572 03, ff. M3r, K2v, T8v; f. F1r; f. M7r. 38. For example, DKL 1563 05, f. R5r; DKL 1572 03, f. D8v; DKL 1597 08, f. D7r; DKL 1604 04, f. D7v. 39. DKL 1561 08, f. 78v; DKL 1562 04, f. M6v. 40. The Sammlung Wernigerode in the Deutsche Staatsbibliothek [SBB], Musikabteilung, Berlin, is a particularly rich source of hymnal copies still in their original bindings. 41. SBB, Sammlung Wernigerode Hb440s: see front leaf, back leaf, ff. A6r–A7r, S5v–S6r. 42. SBB, sign. Eh 2664R; Eh 2680R; also Sammlung Wernigerode Hb 794. 43. SBB, sign. Eh 2680 R: “Daniel Suderman. Zu Cöln 1575”—perhaps, however, the Daniel Sudermann who later came under the influence of Schwenkfeld and wrote his own hymns in a spiritualistic vein; see Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon 9:166–169. 44. SE (Nürnberg: V. Geyßler, 1562): SBB, Sammlung Wernigerode Hb495. 45. SBB, Sammlung Wernigerode Hb495. Notes in the margin beside Eber’s claim that children naturally love music (f. A4v marg.); by the reference to Luther’s hymns (f. A5v marg.); by the encouragement to fathers and mothers to teach the hymns to their children (f. A5v marg.). 46. SBB, Sammlung Wernigerode Hb495, f. A5v marg.: “Martha, Martha, da merck auff und thus offt und mit andacht.” 47. SBB, Sammlung Wernigerode Hb495, f. A6r. 48. SBB, Sammlung Wernigerode Hb495, f. Y3r: “das Buech Ist mein,” in a very large, rough hand. 49. SBB, Sammlung Wernigerode Hb495, f. Y3r–Y3v. Study in Strassburg is probably indicated by a Latin definition attributed to [Johann] Marbach (1521–1581), president of the Strassburg Company of Pastors [Kirchenkonvent]. See NDB 16, pp. 102–103. 50. SBB, Sammlung Wernigerode Hb495, f. Y3r: “Perlegi d. 7. Mart. 1703.” 51. Thirty-six hymns were reprinted at least twice, twenty-seven three times or more. Ten hymns were printed nine or more times before the end of the century. R. Wolkan, SE, pp. 249–253, gives a survey of reprinting of hymns from the Sonntags-Evangelia in other sixteenth- and seventeenth-century hymnals. I have used his listings up to 1599, supplemented with my own research especially in the Berlin Staatsbibliothek (SBB), for the following tabulation. 52. In the Evangelisches Kirchengesangbuch (EKG): EKG 20 (SE 10), EKG 21 (SE 7), EKG 80 (SE 34), EKG 84.1 (SE 33.7), EKG 114 (SE 87), EKG 116 (SE 95), EKG 207, EKG 246 (HS 52), EKG 313 (HS 45), EKG 339 (SE 99), EKG 355 (SE 100), EKG 376 (HS 65), EKG 388 (HS 67). See Handbuch zum Evangelischen Kirchengesangbuch, vol. 3, Liederkunde, ed. Eberhard Weisman et al. (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1970), under the indicated numbers. In The Lutheran Hymnal (TLH, 1941) and Lutheran Worship (Saint Louis: Concordia, 1981): TLH 105/Lutheran Worship 44 (SE 7),
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TLH 331 (SE 97), TLH 547 (SE 99), TLH 563 (SE 100), TLH 594/Lutheran Worship 235 (HS 45). 53. Many of Herman’s songs were also taken into the Roman Catholic hymnal prepared by Johann Leisentrit and its successive editions. See the section “Hymns and Confessional Identity” in Chapter 1. 54. For Christmas: Lobt Gott ihr Christen alle gleich (SE 7), printed twelve times (DKL 1550 01; Wolkan, Böhmens Antheil 1, no. 67; DKL 1576 06; DKL 1583 04; DKL 1586 07; WB 1000; W1 272; DKL 1593 02 03 04; DKL 1597 06 07); Geborn ist uns der heilige Christ (SE 12), printed ten times (Wolkan, Böhmens Antheil 1, no. 66; DKL 1576 06; DKL 1583 04; DKL 1585 07; DKL 1593 02 03 04; DKL 1597 06 07; Wolkan, Böhmens Antheil 1, no. 67). For Easter: Christo dem Osterlämmelein (SE 36), printed eleven times (DKL 1567 05; DKL 1569 13; DKL 1573 02; DKL 1575 04; DKL 1576 01; DKL 1575 08; DKL 1576 06; DKL 1584 05; W1 290; DKL 1597 06 07); Am Sabbath fruh Marien drei (SE 33), printed eight times (DKL 1567 05; DKL 1569 13; DKL 1573 02; DKL 1575 04; DKL 1576 01; DKL 1584 05; DKL 1586 10; DKL 1599 05); Erschienen ist der herrliche Tag (SE 34), printed seven times (DKL 1576 06; DKL 1585 07; W1 272; W1 290; DKL 1593 02 03 04). For Ascension: Als viertzig Tag nach Ostern warn (SE 45), printed nine times (DKL 1572 02; DKL 1573 11; DKL 1576 06; DKL 1577 04; DKL 1583 04; DKL 1584 11; DKL 1584 07; W1 290; DKL 1597 03); Christ fuhr gen Himmel (SE 46), printed eight times (Wolkan, Böhmens Antheil 1, no. 57; DKL 1568 04; DKL 1575 08; DKL 1576 06; DKL 1577 04; DKL 1583 04; W1 272; W1 290). 55. Before meals, Alle die Augen warten, Herr, auf dich (SE 98a), printed eight times (Wolkan, Böhmens Antheil 1, no. 209; DKL 1583 04; DKL 1584 07; DKL 1585 07; W1 290; DKL 1593 02 03 04); after meals, Danket dem Herren heut und allezeit (SE 98b), printed seventeen times (Wolkan, Böhmens Antheil 1, nos. 96, 181, 209; WB 801; DKL 1567 05; VD16 H2370; VD16 H2370; DKL 1573 02; VD16 H2371; DKL 1576 06; DKL 1583 04; DKL 1584 05; DKL 1586 07; W1 290; DKL 1594 09; DKL 1595 08; DKL 1597 04). Morning (SE 99), printed ten times (WB 910; DKL 1576 06; DKL 1583 04; DKL 1585 07; W1 290; DKL 1593 02 03 04; DKL 1597 06 07); evening (SE 100), printed six times (WB 910; DKL 1576 06; DKL 1583 04; DKL 1585 07; DKL 1597 06 07). 56. SE 101, reprinted twelve times (WB 584; WB 797; WB 910; DKL 1576 06; DKL 1583 04; DKL 1585 07; DKL 1593 02 03 04; DKL 1597 06 07; Wolkan, Böhmens Antheil 1, no. 93). 57. SE 35, reprinted twenty-four times (WB 637; DKL 1551 04; WB 791; DKL 1562 08; DKL 1568 09; DKL 1569 17; DKL 1569 04 05 06; DKL 1572 06; VD16 H2371; DKL 1576 06; DKL 1581 03; DKL 1583 04; DKL 1584 11; DKL 1585 07; DKL 1589 03; DKL 1593 02 03 04; DKL 1597 06 07; Wolkan, Böhmens Antheil 3, p. 506 n.60§1; SBB Hymn 3247).
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58. SE 97, reprinted fifteen times (DKL 1568 09; DKL 1569 17; DKL 1569 13; DKL 1569 04 05 06; WB 910; DKL 1575 08; DKL 1581 03; DKL 1584 11; W1 281; W1 290; DKL 1589 03; DKL 1592 10; SBB Hymn 3238). 59. WB 910 911 912; DKL 1584 11/WB 979. 60. HS 45, reprinted twenty-one times (Wolkan, Böhmens Antheil 1, no. 116; WB 852; DKL 1567 05; DKL 1568 09; DKL 1569 17; DKL 1569 13; VD16 H2429; WB 908, 909; VD16 H2429; DKL 1573 02; DKL 1576 07; DKL 1577 04; DKL 1581 02; DKL 1584 11; DKL 1584 07; DKL 1584 05; SBB Hymn 3277; SBB Hymn 3286; Wolkan, Böhmens Antheil 1, no. 92; SBB Hymn 3290; SBB Hymn 3128). The reprinting data presented for the hymns from the Historien cannot be directly compared with those from the Sonntags-Evangelia, since Wolkan, SE, pp. 249–253, gives information on reprinting of hymns from the Sonntags-Evangelia in a number of hymnals whose contents could not be otherwise consulted to determine which hymns from the Historien they may also have contained. 61. VD16 H2429; DKL 1581 02 (WB 968). 62. DKL 1575 03, 1577 01, 1579 02, 1582 02. The version of the hymn printed here was in fact a conflation of Wenn mein Stundlein vorhanden ist with stanzas from Herman’s hymn on the assumption of Elijah (HS 19). See W3, p. 1212. Herman’s adaptation of the pilgrim song In Gottes Namen fahren wir (HS 67) was printed in the 1569 edition of the Bonn hymnal, and Bescher uns Herr das täglich Brot (HS 65) with Wenn mein Stündlein in the 1578 hymnal and its many reprintings to 1630. Herman’s Als vierzig Tag nach Ostern warn (SE 45) was added in 1624. See Walter Hollweg, Geschichte der evangelischen Gesangbucher vom Niederrhein im 16.–18. Jahrhundert, 2nd ed. (Hildesheim, Olms, 1971), pp. 305–313. 63. HS 53, reprinted eight times (DKL 1555 09; WB 735; DKL 1569 17; DKL 1584 11; Wolkan, Böhmens Antheil 3, p. 506 n. 60§2; SBB Hymn 3221; Wolkan, Böhmens Antheil 1, no. 69; SBB Hymn 3227); HS 52, reprinted five times (DKL 1568 09; DKL 1569 17; DKL 1569 13; DKL 1581 02; DKL 1584 11); HS 55, reprinted four times (DKL 1568 09; DKL 1569 17; DKL 1569 13; DKL 1584 11). See the discussion of these hymns in the section “Law and Gospel in the Hymns” in Chapter 5. 64. Nicolaus Selneccer, Christliche Psalmen, Lieder, und Kirchengesenge (Leipzig: Johan Beyer, 1587), preface. Reprinted in WB 996, pref. 93, p. 668. 65. Dietz-Rüdiger Moser, Verkündigung durch Volksgesang: Studien zur Liedpropaganda und -katechese der Gegenreformation (Berlin: E. Schmidt, 1981), p. 17; Remigius Sztachovics, Braut-Sprüche und Braut-Lieder auf dem Heideboden in Ungern (Vienna: Braumüller, 1867), catalogues German hymns in private manuscripts from Hungary between 1668 and 1812, including seventeen by Herman (as well as two by Magdalena Heymair; see the section later in this chapter).
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66. Compare Johann Leisentrit, Geistliche Lieder und Psalmen (1567), reprint as Johann Leisentrit: Gesangbuch von 1567, ed. Walther Lipphardt (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1966), ff. 323r–324v. 67. DKL 1580 06: Johann Feyerabend, preface to Veit Dietrich and Nicolaus Herman, Summaria und gesäng (Frankfurt am Main: J. Feyerabend, 1580), f. )(5v [SBB]. Dietrich had published his own hymns on the Sunday gospels in 1548: see Eduard Emil Koch, Geschichte des Kirchenlieds und Kirchengesangs der christlichen, inbesondere der deutschen evangelischen, Kirche, 3rd ed., vol. 1 (Stuttgart: C. Belser, 1866; repr. Hildesheim: Olms, 1973), p. 332. 68. WB 962: Gregor Sunderreiter, Sontägliche Evangelia durch das gantze Jar / sampt den fürnembsten Festen / inn gesangweiß (Laugingen: L. Reinmichel, 1580), ff. b1v–b2v. 69. On Sunderreiter’s adaptation of Herman’s hymns, see Rudolf Wolkan, Böhmens Antheil an der deutschen Litteratur des XVI. Jahrhunderts, vol. 3 (Prague: Hasse, 1894; reprint Hildesheim: Olms, 2003), pp. 273–278. 70. DKL 1571 05/WB 920: Samuel Hebel, Die Sonntags Evangelia / uber das gantze Jahr in Gesenge verfasset / für Christliche haußVeter und jre Kinder / in der Keyserlichen Stad Schweidnitz in Schleisen (Görlitz: A. Fritsch, 1571). 71. VD16 B491–B492: Georg Barth, Ein schön Geistlick Psalmbock der Evangelischen Historien (Lübeck: A. Kröger, 1575); id., Dat Sommerdel / der Christliken unde Evangelischen Psalmen (Lübeck: A. Kröger, 1578). See Wolkan, Böhmens Antheil 3, pp. 284–285. A selection of Barth’s hymns is printed in W4, nos. 1316–1330. 72. DKL 1584 01/WB 983/VD16 H4828: Adam Hoppe, Die Sontags und der fürnemsten Fest Evangelia / durchs gantze Jahr / Jn gewisse und dem Volck bekandte Melodien und Gesente / auffs kürtzte und einfeltigste gefasset und gestellet (Görlitz: A. Fritsch, n.d. [post 1583]). 73. See the section on Magdalena Heymair in this chapter. 74. WB 995/VD16 L1727: Joachim Liest, Historien Der Figuren unsers Heiligen Catechismi / Der Christlichen jugent und gemeinem Manne zur lere / erinnerung / trost und vermanung aus der Schrifft / auff die Melodeyen der gebreuchlichsten deudschen Psalmen mit Summarischer erklerung / gesangsweise / Sampt den Historien der Sündflut / des unterganges Sodomae und Gomorrae / und den fünff grossen Wunderwercken Gottes / zwischen Ostern und Pfingsten / in der Wüsten den Kindern Israel erzeigt (Wittenberg: Z. Lehman, 1586). 75. Bartholomäus Ringwaldt, Die Evangelia Auff alle Sontag und Fest (Frankfurt an der Oder: Johann Eichorn, 1581), catalogued in VD16 R2648– R2649, editions of 1581 and 1582. An extensive selection of hymns from this collection is printed in W4, nos. 1347–1459. On Ringwaldt, see ADB 28, pp. 640–644. 76. For example, DKL 1640 04, 1653 04, 1656 06, 1657 08, 1661 11. On Ringwaldt, see Wolkan, Böhmens Antheil 3, p. 509. On Crüger’s book as an
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instrument of domestic piety, see Christian Bunners, “Singende Frömmigkeit: Johann Crügers Widmungsvorreden zur ‘Praxis Pietatis Melica,’” Jahrbuch für Berlin-Brandenburgische Kirchengeschichte 52 (1980):9–24. 77. DKL 1569 08; DKL 1574 02/WB 940. On Gigler, see Karl Amon, “Der Grazer Stadtpfarrer Andre Gigler und seine Gesangpostille,” JbLH 15 (1970):1–31. Gigler fit all his Gospel hymns into a procrustean scheme of ten seven-line stanzas for each Gospel pericope, regardless of the length of the original text. 78. On Posthius, see ADB 26, pp. 473–477, and Klaus Karrer, Johannes Posthius: Verzeichnis der Briefe und Werke mit Regesten und Posthius-Biographie (Wiesbaden: Harassowitz, 1993). Posthius’ Sontags-Evangelia gesangsweise (DKL 1608 11) is catalogued in W1 bib. 396, p. 645, with one of the prefatory poems at W1, p. 864. 79. See Amon, “Der Grazer Stadtpfarrer Andre Gigler,” pp. 19–20, and the section “Hymns and Confessional Identity” in Chapter 1. 80. See Martin Doerne, “Geschichte des christlichen Kirchenliedes,” in RGG3 3:1459–1463. 81. Mauritius Moltzer, Christlich Gesangbuch Uber alle Son- und Feyer- Tägliche heilige Evangelia und Episteln (Jena: J. Weidner, 1619), f. )?( 2v [Molzer’s preface]. 82. See Martin Opitz, Buch von der Deutschen Poeterey (1624), ed. Richard Alewyn after Wilhelm Braune (Tübingen: M. Niemeyer, 1963), p. 38, where Luther’s hymns Erhalt uns Herr bei deinem Wort and Mitten wir in leben sind are cited as examples of good iambic and trochaic verse. 83. Moltzer, Christlich Gesangbuch, f. )?(3r. 84. Johann Heermann, Sonntags- und Fest-Evangelia / Durchs gantze Jahr / Auff bekannte Weisen gesetzt / und mit Fleiß auffs new überlesen (Leipzig/Breslau: Caspar Klossman, 1644), f. )(7v [SBB]. 85. A selection of Heermann’s hymns and hymnal prefaces is reprinted in Philipp Wackernagel, Johann Heermanns geistliche Lieder (Stuttgart: S. G. Liesching, 1856). 86. Heermann, Sonntags- und Fest-Evangelia, editions in 1636, 1644, 1650, 1654 (see Koch, Geschichte des Kirchenliedes 3, p. 34). 87. See, for example, Heermann, Sonntags- und Fest-Evangelia, ff. )(2v, )(7v; Johann Heermann, Devoti Musica Cordis Haus- und Hertz-Musica (Leipzig/ Breslau: C. Klossmann, 1644), f. A12r–B1r [SBB], taken almost word for word from Herman. 88. Editions of 1630, 1634, 1636, c. 1640, 1644 (bis), 1650, 1663. See Koch, Geschichte des Kirchenliedes 3, pp. 31–34. 89. Wackernagel, Johann Heermanns geistliche Lieder (Stuttgart: S. G. Liesching, 1856), pp. 3–5; compare SE 97. Koch, Geschichte des Kirchenliedes 3, p. 293, describes the hymnody of the period 1648–1680 as “Devotional hymns with the primary characteristic of subjectivity”; the tendency to which he refers began to appear decades earlier.
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90. On Magdalena Heymair[in], see Maximiliane Mayr, “Magdalena Heymair, eine Kirchenlied-Dichterin aus dem Jahrhundert der Reformation,” JbLH 14 (1969):133–140; Cornelia Niekus Moore, “Biblische Weisheiten für die Jugend: Die Schulmeisterin Magdalena Heymair,” in Gisela Brinker-Gabler, ed., Deutsche Literatur von Frauen 1 (Munich: Beck, 1988), pp. 172–184 [485–487, 524–525]; Moore, in Katharina M. Wilson, ed., Continental Women Writers (New York: Garland, 1991), pp. 557–562; Moore, The Maiden’s Mirror: Reading Material for German Girls in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, Wolfenbüttler Forschungen 36 (Wiesbaden: O. Harrassowitz, 1987), pp. 50, 73–75. See also Wolkan, Böhmens Antheil 3, pp. 280–281. Only one of Heymair’s hymns (in a version adapted by Gregor Sunderreiter) appears in Wackernagel: W5, no. 3, pp. 5–7. 91. Wife of Anton Weinzierl, a member of the Straubing council. See Mayr, “Magdalena Heymair,” p. 134 n. 4. 92. Magdalena Heymair, Die Sonteglichen Episteln / uber das gantze Jar / inn gesangweyß gestellt (Augsburg, 1578), f. A5v [SBB]; see Mayr, “Magdalena Heymair,” p. 136. 93. Heymair, Die Sonteglichen Episteln, f. A5v. 94. See Mayr, “Magdalena Heymair,” pp. 134 n. 4, 137. 95. Heymair, Die Sonteglichen Episteln, ff. A5v–A6r. See Mayr, “Magdalena Heymair,” p. 134. 96. Moore, “Biblische Weisheiten,” gives a list of editions. Several editions of Heymair’s songs were edited by the enterprising Augsburg preacher Gregor Sunderreiter, who also prepared adaptations of Herman’s works. 97. Wolkan, Böhmens Antheil 3, pp. 280f., is particularly severe in his criticism of Heymair’s virtues as a poet. See also Moore, The Maiden’s Mirror, p. 75. 98. Heymair’s hymns show wide familiarity with the Lutheran hymn repertoire. See Wolkan, Böhmens Antheil 3, p. 508 n. 71. 99. Magdalena Heymair, Das Buch Tobiae Jnn Christliche Reimen / Vnnd Gesangweise gefast und gestellet / Gott / dem lieben Ehestand / allen frommen Christliebenden Eheleuten / und Jungfrewlichen Kinderschulen / zu ehren / erinnerung und Trost (n.p., 1586), part 2 (“Sechtzig und etliche andere Christliche und Geistliche Liedlein”), pp. 67f. [SBB]. See Mayr, “Magdalena Heymair,” p. 138: “Ach trewer Gott hilff mir inn nott / Auch inn dem todt / Erhalt mich Herr bey reiner Lehr / Gehe mit mir nicht inn das Gericht / Dann ich kan nicht bestehn / Vor der Sünden die ich gethan. / Weich nit zur frist Herr Jesu Christ / Du Mitler bist / Mein Sünd deck zu / so hab ich rhu / Steh du mir bey / Mein fürsprech sey. / Mein Feind das unterlig / Das ich mög erlangen den Sig. / Gott heilger Geist / ich bitt am meist / Dein hilff mir leist / Zu aller frist / mach mich vergwist / Du ewigs gut gib starcken mut / Auff das mein hertz und mund / Dich frisch bekenn zu aller stund.” 100. See the stanzas from the Sonteglichen Episteln, printed in Mayr, “Magdalena Heymair,” p. 139; the “Sechtzig und etliche andere Christliche und Geistliche
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Liedlein” appended to Heymair’s versification of Tobit return over and over again to complaints about the opposition of false teachers and her own suffering at their hands—fifteen of the hymns, for example, are labeled “a complaint” [Klag]. 101. See Mayr, “Magdalena Heymair,” pp. 137, 139f. 102. The 1586 dedication of Heymair’s Das Buch Tobiae identifies her as “Weiland Rueberisches Frawen-Zimmers Hoffmeisterin.” The dedication names a Judith Rueber, widow of Johann Rueber, who was “Freiherr zu Pixendorf und Judenau, Generaloberster der Krone Ungarns.” The dedication is dated from Kaschau (present Košice , Yugoslavia), where the Rueber family held land. See Mayr, “Magdalena Heymair,” pp. 135 n. 6, 137. 103. Heymair’s independent career as a teacher and writer (even as a married woman), encouraged and supported by the Lutheran clergy, urges historians to reevaluate their assessment of the limits placed on the activity of early modern women. See, for example, Heide Wunder, He Is the Sun, She Is the Moon: Women in Early Modern Germany, tr. Thomas Dunlap (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1998), pp. 98–99, 110–111. 104. On Opitz, see ADB 24, p. 369; on Ramsbeck (Ramsbach), see Deutsches Biographisches Archiv 997.348 (Jöcher 6, 1819). Ramsbeck had studied with Melanchthon at Wittenberg in the late 1540s and became preacher in Cham in 1567, where he resisted Friedrich III’s efforts to introduce Calvinism into the Upper Palatinate. He died after 1580. 105. Willibald Ramsbeck, preface to Heymair, Die Sonteglichen Episteln, ff. A2v–A3r. 106. Nicolaus Selneccer, Kirchengesenge (Leipzig, 1587), WB 996, pref. 93, p. 666. 107. Magdalena Heymair, Das Büchlein Jesu Syrach (cited from edition in the SBB, Sign. Eh2796R, whose title page is missing; probably Regensburg: Johann Burger, 1573 = VD16 H3342), f. A5v. See also Mayr, “Magdalena Heymair,” p. 136. 108. See Mayr, “Magdalena Heymair,” p. 136. 109. Luther, Schmalkald Articles 3.4 (BekS, p. 449). 110. Dietrich et al., Summaria und Gesäng, f. )( 2r. 111. Moltzer, Christlich Gesangbuch, f. )?( 2v. 112. Heermann, Sonntags- und Fest-Evangelia, f. )( 2r; id., Devoti Musica Cordis, f. A3r.
Conclusion: Lutheran Hymns and the Success of the Reformation 1. Gerald Strauss, Luther’s House of Learning: Indoctrination of the Young in the Lutheran Reformation (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1978), echoing an old Roman Catholic polemical tradition, is a particularly rich re-
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pository of the negative judgments of sixteenth-century Lutheran clergy on their own work. 2. Eber, SE, p. 6 (WB, p. 609); Herman, SE, p. 11 (WB, p. 611). 3. SE 102, p. 237; Herman, HS f. B4r (WB, p. 616). 4. HS 24.7; HS f. B3r (WB, p. 616): “here in Joachimsthal the poor students are clothed, and God-fearing, pious people provide them with books, and house, shelter, and support them, and give them all encouragement, help, and patronage.” 5. Mathesius, Catechismus 1, p. 63; id., Postilla 1, f. 93v–94r. 6. See, for example, Mathesius’ unfavorable comparison of Evangelical piety in Joachismthal with pre-Reformation piety in Bekenntnis, ff. 180v–181r, as opposed to his positive statements on the generosity of the Joachimsthalers— Hans Lorenz, Bilder aus Alt-Joachimsthal: Umrisse einer Kulturgeschichte einer erzgebirgischen Bergstadt im sechzehnten Jahrhundert (Joachimsthal: H. Meyer, 1925), p. 64—or their piety (Mathesius, Corinthier 1, f. 131r). 7. Eber, SE, p. 6 (WB, p. 609). 8. See Chapter 3. 9. Mathesius, Bekenntnis ff. 180v–181r; Mathesius., Ausgewählte Werke 4:410. For numbers of communicants, see Figure 7.1. 10. Mathesius, Sarepta, f. 319r. 11. The relation of town and clergy in Joachimsthal defies the general characterization of Strauss, Luther’s House of Learning, p. 266. 12. Mathesius, Sarepta, f. 320r. 13. Mathesius, Corinthier 1, f. 131r. 14. See Chapter 1. 15. Mathesius, HS f. A4r (WB, p. 613). 16. Mathesius, HS, f. A4v (WB, p. 613). 17. Mathesius, HS, ff. A4v, A8r (WB, pp. 613, 614). 18. See the appraisal of Ronald Po-Chia Hsia, Social Discipline in the Reformation: Central Europe 1550–1570 (London: Routledge, 1989), p. 107. 19. For later works based on Herman’s hymn melodies, see D. DeWitt Wasson, ed., Hymntune Index and Related Hymn Materials, 3 vols (Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow, 1998, nos. 00999 (SE 5), 08043 (SE 34), 10571 (SE 101), 12476 (SE 95), 14191 (SE 96), 16446 (HS 53), 17812 (SE 7), 28937 (a modification of HS 70?), 33055 (a melody attributed to Herman in the 1551 Nürnberg Bergreihen, not appearing in SE or HS), 33056 (HS 70). 20. Steven Ozment, Ancestors: The Loving Family in Old Europe (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2001), p. 112. 21. Cyriacus Spangenberg, Cithara Lutheri (Erfurt, 1581), WB 963, preface 92, p. 654. Compare Spangenberg, WB 896 (1568), preface 77, p. 635; Mathesius, Postilla 1, f. 65r (cited in full above, Chapter 6, note 4). Mathesius cites Luther’s preface to the book of Daniel, WA DB 112, p. 123: “the world will become so Epicurean that there will be no more
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public preaching in all the world, and nothing but Epicurean abomination will be spoken of, and the Gospel will be preserved only by housefathers in their homes.” 22. See Steven Ozment, Flesh and Spirit: Private Life in Early Modern Germany (New York: Viking, 1999), p. 266f. 23. Contra Strauss, Luther’s House of Learning, pp. 5–10, 123–131.
Index
Abendreihen (folk dances), 84, 86, 116 Abertham, 149, 235 absolution. See also penance Lutheran confession and, 39, 76, 77, 98–101, 128, 130, 157, 161, 165 Achtliederbuch, 7, 37 Aesop, 67 Agricola, Georg, 121 Albanus, Franciscus conversion to Lutheranism, 142–143, 146 as Counter-Reformer in Joachismthal, 141–142, 145 education of, 140–141 Einfältiger Römisch -Catholischer Münchs-Esel, 143–144 alternatim singing, 65, 81, 83 Ambrose of Milan, hymns of, 60, 81 Ameln, Karl, 203, 222, 239 Amelung, Karl, 217, 252 Anabaptists hymns of, 204 in Joachimsthal, 27, 35 on music, 230 Anhalt, Georg von, 255 Annaberg, 35, 146, 206–207, 222 apocalyptic expectations, 51, 106, 170–171, 249. See also Last Judgment Resurrection apprenticeships, 109, 149 architecture. See Joachimsthal, church, first Lutheran art, visual. See also Cranach, Lucas; iconoclasm; Joachimsthal, church, art in in Counter-Reformation, 147 Lutheran, 4–5, 27, 85–86, 149, 170
funerary, 90, 112–113 and hymns, 90–92, 96 pre-Reformation, 31, 85–86 Augsburg, 7, 10, 159 Augsburg Confession, 15, 120, 131, 244, 248 Augustine of Hippo, on music, 36 Austria, 160, 164 Bach, Bartel, 33 Bach, Johann Sebastian, 19 Baptism, 36, 73, 113, 128. See also priesthood of all Christians in absence of clergy, 134, 138, 149, 165, by midwives, 142 in Counter-Reformation, 141 in Joachimsthal, 79, statistics, 132 in Lutheran hymns, 86–88, 95, 115, 245, 248 in Lutheran pedagogy, 92 Barth, Georg, 160 Basel, 34, 126, 156 Basel, Compact of, 32–33 Bavaria, 23, 25, 41, 213 Becanus, Martinus, 140 Beck, Theophilus, 78 Becker, Cornelius, 207, 208, 214 Behaim, Paul, 13, 109–110 Behem, Simon, 220 Benzing, Josef, 269 Bergreihen (miners’ songs), 39, 43–44, 50–51, 85, 152, 170 Berlin, Staatsbibliothek, 270 Berwald, Jacob, 153, 269 Beyer, Johann, 153 Bible in art, 90, 154 in Counter-Reformation, 139
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Bible (continued) and hymns, 13–15, 50, 52, 60–64, 84, 101–102, 115, 156, 159, 163 (see also hymns, as Word of God) Calvinist, 24 lay knowledge of, 29, 33, 40, 54–55, 58, 65, 67, 68, 109, 111, 119, 120, 127, 144, 148, 162–3 lay ownership of, 15, 110, 114, 119, 120–121, 125, 139, 140 Luther’s translation of, 102, 110, 120 printing of, 15, 120 public reading of, 39, 81, 134 saints of, 44, 88–89 (see also saints; names of individual figures) Biener, Anna, 114, 122, 125 Bilek, Thomas, 260 Bindmann, Johann, 34–35, 37 Blickle, Peter, 201, 219–220 Blume, Friedrich, 209, 211, 235, 240, 241 Boccaccio, 121 Bohemia, 32, 48, 130, 131, 142, 149, 151 Counter-Reformation in, 133, 148 (see also Hapsburgs, religious policy; Joachimsthal, CounterReformation) Bohemian Brethren, 6, 13 Böhm, Anton, 216 books. See also hymnals; Bible; catechism; prayerbook; Joachimsthal, library; students, support of binding of, 125–127 censorship of, 12–14, 127 clerical ownership of, 121–122 confiscation of, 140 heterodox, 123, 127, 255 lay ownership of, 114, 120–126, 140, by women, 122 and lay piety, 105, 114, 119 recommended to laity by clergy, 120, 127 religious, 4, 120–121, in CounterReformation, 139–140 secular clerical critique of, 119, 126 clerical interest in, 121–122 transport of, 119, 126–127 restrictions on, 23 value and price of, 125–126 Bossy, John, 212 Brenz, Johannes, 121–122, 255
Breslau, 7 breviary, 60–61, 235 Brodaeus, Johannes, 126 Bucer, Martin, 12, 255 Bugenhagen, Johann, 121–122, 214, 245 burghers, attitudes toward music, 44–46, 52 Buszin, Walter, 230 Calvin, 255 on music, 50 on singing psalms, 24 Calvinism, 1, 109, 157 attitudes toward popular culture, 3 expansion of, 21, 25, 164 production of hymnals, 6–7 psalm-singing in, 24, 160 social discipline in, 3 Camerarius, Joachim, 56 Canisius, Peter, 262 cantors, 45, 47, 48, 131, 145. See also Herman, Nicolaus Lutheran, 10, 46, 48, 140, 151, 153 Roman Catholic, 140, 141–142 Carthusians, 231 catechism. See also Luther, Small Catechism Camerarius, Joachim, of, 56 Canisius, Peter (Roman Catholic), of, 138, 140, 141, 234 examination on, 58, 92, 130 as historical sources, 4 hymns on, 10–11, 15, 91–94, 101 instruction in, 11, 38, 55, 56, 58–59, 65, 67, 68, 91, 114, 116 by clergy, 77 by parents, 108 lay use of, 15, 106, 108–109, 117, 120, 122, 127 printing of, 4 psychological effects of, 5, 92, 208, 212 in relation to other contemporary genres, 4, 11, 18, 86, 91–92, 94, 106, 120 sermons on, 11, 18, 39, 91–94, 101, 119 treatment of sin in, 18, 93–95, 208 censorship, 12–14, 127. See also books, transport of, restrictions on; books, confiscation of Cham, 118, 160, 162–164 Charles V (emperor), 30, 40
Index childbirth, 72–73, 117 children. See also schools; parents; household; apprenticeships discipline of, 66–67, 106 hymns for, 15, 28, 29, 39, 44, 51, 83, 84, 100, 108, 114, 129, 134, 151, 153–154 (see also Herman, Nicolaus) instruction of by parents, 8, 14, 30, 55, 106–108, 113, 115, 117–118, 139, 155, 156, 166, 167, 172 as instructors of parents, 128, 250 language adapted for, 92, 109, 120 love for music, 52 love of Jesus for, 71–72 mortality of, 112–113 ownership of books by, 156 parental affection for, 64, 112–113 play of, 79 (see also dances, for children) prayer by, 71, 109 religious activity of, 79–80, 82, 85 in resistance to Counter-Reformation, 135–136, 141, 148 choirs. See also cantors in Catholic Reformation, 150 civic support of, 48–49, 57, 141 in funerals, 73, 141 of girls’ schools, 47, 58, 65 of Latin schools, 36, 41, 57, 65, 71, 81, 82–83 as means of support for students, 41 music for, 8, 10–12, 61, 73 participation of burghers in, 27, 39, 43, 45, 47, 150, 169 participation of clergy in, 47 in processions, 71–75 teaching of German hymns to congregation by, 10, 22, 38, 64 Chrisman, Miriam Usher, 203, 210, 256, 258 Christmas hymns, 83–85, 115, 156, 248 liturgy, 61, 82, 242 popular piety at, 79–80, 82–83 church orders [Kirchenordnungen], 32, 208. See also Joachimsthal, church order on catechism hymns, 11 on congregational singing, 10, 12–13 and contents of hymnals, 12–13
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as historical source, 5, 206 Cicero, 67, 121 clergy. See also pedagogy, Lutheran as authors of hymns, 7–8, 25, 80, 171 on catechism, 4 complaints by, 1, 3–4, 167–168 conflict with laity, 3, 169 criticism of, by laity, 8, 37, 93, 112 at deathbed, 111–112 duties of, 77 education and culture of, 3, 77–78 musical, 80 on family, 171–172 and humanism, 77, 78, 80, 122 hymns as mediator between clergy and laity, 30, 42, 76, 80, 104, 150, 170 ideals of, 25, 169 lay independence from, 8, 14, 29, 53, 55, 105, 107, 123, 133, 144, 149 criticized by clergy, 128 encouraged by clergy, 14, 24, 54, 76, 101, 107–108, 127, 139, 171 and lay religion, 123 on lay use of hymns, 24, 67, 91 limitations on , 69–70, 77–78 as literary patrons, 164–165 Lutheran, expulsion of in CounterReformation, 30, 110, 133–134, 172 as market for books, 11, 126, 157 marriage of, 9, 35, 38–39, 143 on music, 49–51 as “new papists,” 3, 78–79 not necessary to persecuted Lutheranism, 134, 139 ownership of books, 120–122 and political power, 69–70 on popular culture, 79 and private confession, 99–101 qualifications of, 77 reception of religious message by laity, 25, 29, 76, 105–107, 123 relationship with laity, 3, 52–53 religion of, 166 rhetoric of praise and blame, 167–169 Roman Catholic in Counter-Reformation, 133, 139–140, 148, 150 hostility to vernacular hymns, 22 secular interests of, 120–122 on secular music, 42, 50–51, 168
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clergy (continued) and secular society, 78–79 selection of, 32, 77–78 shared religious culture with laity, 26, 76, 80, 86, 103–104, 128, 169, 171 singing by, 46, 47, 82 success of, 57, 168–169, 172 support of by laity, 117, 134, 138–139, 149, 168 support of music, 43, 49 vestments, 39, 241 warnings against deceptive, 54–55, 75, 171–172 Collegium Germanicum, 141 comfort (Tröst) absent from secular songs, 50 and absolution in private confession, 100 and catechism, 247 and doctrine in hymns, 1, 15, 24 as function of Lutheran hymns, 14, 15, 19, 24, 29, 30, 53, 54, 67, 68, 72, 73, 98, 102, 110, 111, 116, 156–159, 166, 171, 208 and music, 52, 53 as role of clergy, 77, 128, 164, 168 as role of laity, 106, 110, 115, 117, 118, 128 and Roman Catholic hymns, 23 Concord, Book of, 15 Concord, Formula of, 8, 15, 130, 248 confession of faith in confessional, 69, 130 by laity, 4, 15, 53, 68, 69, 89, 105, 115– 119, 164, 170 confession of sins. See absolution; penance confessions. See Augsburg Confession; Concord, Book of; Concord, Formula of; Schmalkald Articles confessions, different, and confessionalization, 1, 2, 7, 10, 15, 20, 144, 160 conscience individual, as ground for resistance, 54, 69–70, 75, 79, 137, 172 troubled, 62, 79, 95, 98, 100, 111, 112, 128, 137, 159, 245 (see also comfort) contrafacta, 21 Contzen, Adam, 1
conversion of Franciscus Albanus, 143, 145, 146 to Lutheranism, 162, 164, 165, through hymns, 9–10, 16 of Martin Luther, 19 to Roman Catholicism, 117, 135, 137, 140–141, 144, 147–148 Convivium musicum, 46 Corpus Christi festival, 148, 150 Counter-Reformation. See also Albanus, Franciscus; Hapsburgs, religious policy of; hymns, Roman Catholic; Jesuits; Joachimsthal, Counter-Reformation in; Trent, Council of music in, 141, 144–145, 150 role of family, 212 vernacular hymns, 21–24 Cranach, Lucas, the Elder Law and Gospel altarpiece in Joachimsthal, 27, 90–91, 96, St. Catharine altarpiece in Joachimsthal, 31, 86–88 Creed. See also catechism; Luther: Small Catechism; Luther: hymns of, by title, Wir glauben all’ an einen Gott Apostles’, 92, 93 Nicene, 81 Cruciger, Caspar, Sr., 118, 255 Cruciger, Elizabeth, 8, 118 Crüger, Johann, 160 culture clerical (see humanism) clerical and lay, 26, 77, 80, 83, 86, 170 Lutheran attitude toward, 170 Lutheran use of, 27, 28, 43, 51, 77, 82, 85, 102, 170 musical, 29, 41, 42, 46, 49, 128, 170 popular, 3, 77, 78, 80, 86 religious, shared by clergy and laity, 26, 42, 76, 80, 86, 103–104, 128, 169, 171 secular, participation of clergy in, 50–51, 78–79, 122 dances, 46, 229. See also Abendreihen; Bergreihen Danksagen wir alle, 83, 248 for children, 44, 68, 85, 86, 79, 115–116
Index death, 110. See also Joachimsthal, mortality in and family, 112–113 hymns as comfort against, 52, 111 and laity, 111, 116 in Lutheran hymns, 17, 18, 24 in medieval piety, 111 presence of clergy, 111–112 Degenwerg, Katharina von, 162 des Près, Josquin, 81 devotions, household. See household Diepman, Caspar, 124 Dies irae, 61 Dietrich, Veit, 159, 276 Dillrich, Georg, 261 discipline, in Lutheran pedagogy, 55, 65–67, 92, 106 doctrine [Lehr]. See also comfort emphasis on pure, 8, 68–69, 89, 163–164, 170 false, 55, 70, 119, 127 in hymns, 1, 11, 14–19, 24, 40, 60, 64, 68, 91–100 (see also hymns, as Word of God) lay knowledge of, 25, 40, 53, 54, 58, 68, 118, 119, 127, 130, 163 Dorothy, Saint, 116–117, 238, 244 doubt, dealt with in hymns, 98 Dresden, 142–143 Easter, 103, 148 hymns for, 16, 85, 156, 157, Eber, Paul correspondence with Mathesius, 224, 225 on hymns and family devotion, 108–110, 156, 167 on hymns and lay independence, 110, 111 on hymns as Word of God, 67–68 on pedagogical value of music, 65, 231, 91 and printing of Nicolaus Herman’s hymnals, 28, 152–153, 154 on secular music, 225 on women, 111, 114, 116, 144 Eberbach, Philipp, 36–38 Eckert, Alfred, 218, 219, 220, 232, 261 Edwards, Mark U., 20, 204, 210, 255, 258 Eger, 146
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Egranus, Johann Sylvius, 33–34, 35 on church music, 35, 38, 59 Eisleben, 153, 269 Elbogen, 32, 244 Elling, Erhardt, 38–39 Vom End, Anna, 114 Enderlein, David, 256–257, 262 Enderlein, Matthias, 45, 152 Enderlein, Valten, 124 Erasmus, Desiderius, 27, 33 Encomium Moriae, 122 De Libero Arbitrio, 16–18 translated by Nicolaus Herman, 36 on music, 51, 59 Erfurt, 7, 8, 37 Ering, Christoff, 35 Ernst, Hans-Bruno, 226, 253, 269 estate inventories in Joachimsthal, 77, 120–123 limitations of, 123–126 estates (Stände) of society, 63, 66, 106, 234 Eusebius, 121 excommunication by Joachimsthal consistory, 39 of musicians, 47 exorcism, 103–104 faith, 18, 49, 51, 62, 67, 83, 85, 89, 92, 94, 96–97, 144, 157. See also doctrine; doubt; justification confession of (see confession of faith) strengthened through hymns, 24, 67–68, 109, 155 faith and works, 92, 92–97, 157–158. See also works, good family. See also children; estates; fathers; household; mothers; parents death and, 112–113, 128 as locus of resistance, 55, 134, 139, 149, 171–172 prayer for absent members of, 109 role of in Lutheran thought, 106, 112, 171–172 spiritual interdependence and independence among members of, 52, 54, 105, 110, 127–128, 165 suspicion of in Counter-Reformation, 212 fathers. See also children; mothers; parents advice on behavior for, 106 affection for children, 113
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fathers (continued) prayers for by children, 109 religious role of in household, 105–108, 113, 114, 153–154, 156, 167, 171, 172 responsible for behavior of household, 45 Ferdinand I (king of Bohemia and emperor), 40–41 Ferdinand II (emperor), 131, 133, 137, 143 festivals. See also Christmas; Easter; Pentecost; saints Lutheran observance of, 10, 13, 39, 78, 81, 82–85, 101, 156 Marian, 133 for opening of school year, 71–73 Roman Catholic observance of, 22 secular, 44 Feyerabend, Johann, 159, 165 Fischer, Christoph, 48, 267 Fock, Anna, 122 Franck, Caspar, Sr., 77, 78, 103, 249 Franck, Sebastian, 121, 123 Frankfurt am Main, 6, 7, 13, 126, 157, 158, 159, 208 Frauenzimmer (women’s chamber), 118, 122, 162–163, 166, 252 Friedrich III (elector Palatine), 164, 276 Friedrich V (elector Palatine), 131 Fuehrer, Ruth, 209 Fuhrmann, Valentin, 13, 153, 154 funerals, 73, 90, 114, 131, 138, 157. See also art, funerary; death requiem mass, 61 Gallus, Nicolaus, 164 Garside, Charles, 214, 221, 230, 231 Geithan, 143 Gentdorf, Christoph von, 45 Georg von Anhalt, 255 Gerhard, Johann, 1, 207 Gerlach (Gerlatz), Dietrich, 13, 153–154 Gerlach, Katharina, 154, 205 Geuß, Jacob, 110, 139 Geyßler, Valentin, 153 Gigas, Johannes, 48 Gigler, Andreas (Andre), 22, 160 girls. See schools, girls’ dances for, 44, 68, 79, 85, 86, 115–116
(see also Abendreihen) hymns for, 27, 39, 58, 68, 86, 115 lacemaking by, 58 literacy of, 109, 114, 119 musical role of, 47, 58, 65, 71 religious education of, 54, 56, 58 compared with boys’, 58, 68, 118 and resistance, 68–70, 118–119, 170 role in teaching other members of household, 109, 114 Gottesgab, 149, 235 government. See also Luther, “Two Kingdoms” doctrine; resistance; state obedience to, 70 prayers for, 70–71 service of Christian in, 54 Grates nunc omnes, 83, 242. See also Danksagen wir alle Graz, 160 Griesbeck, Florian, 45 Gürteler, Wolfgang, 33 Hahn, Gerhard, 203 Haldek, Andreas, 48–49 Haldek, Nicolaus, 48 Hanffstengel, Valten, 206–207, 222 Hapsburgs, religious policy, 30, 131, 133, 137, 147 Harran, Marilyn, 250 Hassenstein, Boleslaw Felix von, 45–46, 117 Hassenstein, Margaretha von, 114, 117 Hassler, Hans Leo, 47–48, 146 Hassler, Isaac, 48 Hauschildt, Johann, 45, 228 Hausmutter. See mothers Hausvater. See fathers Hebel, Samuel, 159–160 Heermann, Johann, 161, 165 Heidler, Georg, 120–121, 125 Heinrich (Herzog of BraunschweigWolfenbüttel), 10 Heinz, Maria, 114 Herl, Joseph, 206, 207 Herman, Dorothea, 244 Herman, Nicolaus, 13–14, 118, 134 advocacy of polyphony by, 36 as cantor in Joachimsthal, 27–28, 58, 151
Index on children and music, 52, 65 complaints and praise by, 167 composition of German hymns, 39, 58 composition of Latin sequences, 39, 61–64, 170 correspondence with Martin Luther, 36–37 date of birth, 216–217 daughter (see Herman, Dorothea) death, 152 and early Reformation in Joachimsthal, 27–30, 36–39 education of, 27 family, 45 Vom freyen wyllen (translation of Erasmus’ De servo arbitrio), 36 friendship with Johann Mathesius, 28 Ein gestreng Urteil Gottes, 36 on household devotions, 107–108 hymnals of, 13–14 editions of, 152–154 Historien von der Sindflut, 13–14, 28–29, 44, 89, 153, 160 illustrations in, 153–155 in lay ownership, 114, 121–122, 125 marginal notes in, 155–156 for parents and children, 107, 118, 129, 153–154 Paul Eber’s help in publishing, 152 Sonntags-Evangelia, 13–14, 28, 107, 122, 152, 159, 162–163 use by cantors, 153 hymns of, 71, 76, 77, 80, 128, 172 on absolution, 99–100 on Baptism, 86 based on Mathesius’ sermons, 41, 142 for Christmas, 83–85 for daily prayer, 13, 109 for deathbed, 111–112 on faith and works, 96–98 for girls, 68, 85, 86–88, 115, 147, 170 imitators of, 159–161, 163 language of, 85, 109 on Luther’s fröhliche Wechsel, 85, 88 on Luther’s “Two Kingdoms” doctrine, 69–70, 137 oral distribution of, 158 printed with Mathesius’ sermons, 29, 151 published in broadsheet, 152
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on saints, 88–89 separate publication of, 156–158 survival as folk songs, 149, 158 on true doctrine, 68–69 for weddings, 149 about women, 115–116 quoted in text: Christ der Herr seine Jünger fragt, 99; Als nu erfüllet was die zeit, 69; Durchs Osterlamb bedeutet ist, 68; Ein wahrer Glaub Gottes Zorn stilt, 97, 157; Herr Christe der du selbs bestelst, 75, 149; Ich Preis den werden Jochimsthal 56; Ihr Schwesterlein, 116; Kompt her ir liebsten Schwesterlein, 89; Kompt mit uns lieben Kinderlein, 71–72; Lobt Gott ihr Christen allzugleich, 84–85; Meim lieben Gott ergeb ich mich, 98; Der Mensch wird von eim Weib geborn, 157; Nun freut euch ir Christen leut, 83; Sanct Paulus die Corinthier, 73, 152, 157; Die schrifft zeigt uns an klar und hell, 69–70, 88; So wahr ich leb, 100, 157, 161; Von wünderlichen dingen, 115; Wenn mein Stündlein, 111, 158, 157; Wer bey Gott schutz und hülffe sucht, 97; Wer durch den Glauben, 157; Wer hie fur Gott wil sein gerecht, 96–97; Wil niemand singen, 86–88, 116 and Joachimsthal Latin school, 36 and Joachimsthal girls’ school, 58, 68–70 Latin and German compositions compared, 68 liturgical manuscripts, 39, 46, 131, 149–150, 152–153 Mandat Jesu Christi, 36, 151 on medieval Latin hymns, 36 musical composition, 74, 84 use of Abendreihen and Bergreihen, 51, 84–85, 152, 170 use of Gregorian melodies, 84, 170 on pedagogy, 55, 65–67, 106 on pre-Reformation schools, 55 on pre-Reformation vernacular hymns, 31 relation with patrons, 45 retirement, 152
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Herman, Nicolaus (continued ) use of Latin church music, 36, 38–39, alternatim arrangements, 81 use of Luther’s hymns, 38 Herrgott, Kunegund, 7 Heshusius, Tileman, 16 Heußler, Christoph, 13 Heymair, Magdalena, 118, 160, 162–166 Heyn, Gabriel, 13 Hillinger, Wenzel, 136 history, lay interest in, 121–123 Hoberg, Martin, 269–270 Hof, girls’ school choir in, 65 home. See family; household Hoppe, Adam, 160 Horace, 50, 147 household. See also children; fathers; Frauenzimmer; mothers; parents; servants books in, 105, 114, 119–123, 139–140 devotions in, and public religion, 11–12, 76, 103, 105–108, 150, 155 hymnals for use in, 11–14, 28, 152–154, 159–161, 165–166 hymns used in, 1, 8, 11–12, 14, 15, 24, 25, 53, 76, 103, 105–111, 113–114, 128–129, 139, 155–156, 158, 162, 167, 169, 171–172, lack of, in CounterReformation, 22 as little church, 161, 105, 249 members of, 109 music in, 44–45, Luther’s example, 49 Hsia, Ronald Po-Chia, 201, 211, 213, 215, 253, 256, 277 Huberinus, Caspar, 121 Hubmaier, Balthasar, 27 humanism. See also Erasmus, Desiderius; Latin; Melanchthon, Philipp attitudes toward music, 59 and clergy, 77, 78, 80, 122 and laity, 77, 121 in Lutheran schools, 38, 55–57, 59–60, 64 and Reformation, 170 and revision of the breviary, 60 Hummelberger, Michael, 121, 125, 226 Hungary, 141, 158, 164 Hus, Jan, 32
Hussites, music of, 46. See also Bohemian Brethren Hütter, Rebecca, 260 hymnals. See also Herman, Nicolaus: hymnals of and catechism, 11 for children, 151(see also Herman, Nicolaus) and church orders, 12 compared with other contemporary genres, 4, and Bible, 15 confessional identity and, 6–8, 21 contents of, 12, 14 in Counter-Reformation, 139 distribution of, 14, 126–127, restriction on, 23 doctrine and comfort in, 24 features advertised in, 13, 154 features of, 154 first Lutheran, 7–8 format of, 11–12, 13 as historical source, 4, 14 for household use, 11–12, 13–14, 105, 114, 117, 139, 140, 153–154, 162, 166, 167 (see also household) illustrations in, 13, 154–155 for laity, 8, 24, 120 lay familiarity with, 13, 82, 109 in lay possession, 114, 117, 120–122, 125–126 marginalia in, 155–156 market for, 13 not for professional use, 11–12 not owned by churches, 10 prefaces, 14 price of, 13, 20, 125–127 printers (see also individual printers’ names) competition among, 13, 153 role of, 7, 12 printing of, 5–8 catalogues of, 7 geographic distribution of, 2, 7 (see also place names) volume of, 5–7 production of clergy and laity in, 7, 159–165 printers’ initiative in, 12, 14 women and, 8, 162–165 Roman Catholic, 7, 21–24, 158, Lutheran hymns in, 21, 158
Index shaped by lay demand, 12, 14, 156–158 hymns affective power of, 16–20 associated with the laity, 8, 15, 29–30, 43, 80, 101–104, 106–7 authors of clergy, 7 laity, 7–8, 52, 166 women, 8, 118, 163–166 (see also Luther) based on Biblical texts, 107, 152–153, 159–161, 163 Calvinist insistence on, 24, 160 based on sermons, 41, 152 Calvinist, 7, 24, 160 and catechism, 10–11, 15, 91–94, 101 for children, 15, 28, 29, 39, 44, 51, 83, 84, 100, 108, 114, 129, 134, 151, 153–154 in church orders, 10, 12 and confessional identity, 8, 20–25 at deathbed, 110–112 doctrine in, 14–19, 23–24, 85, 92–98 (see also hymns, as Word of God; names of particular doctrines) in early Reformation, 9–10, 37 for girls, 68, 85–88, 115, 147, 170 as historical sources, 4–5, 14 and interpretation of art, 5, 86–88, 91 and interpretation of Bible, 101–102 introduction of new, 12, 82 Latin Lutheran use of, 58, 60, 81, 170 pre-Reformation, 36 references to in sermons, 102 in schools, 60 law and gospel in, 17–18, 92–98, 164 and lay independence, 110, 111 by Luther, 1, 7, 9, 12, 15–20, 37–38, 83, 91, 101, 151 compared with other publications, 20 as element of continuity in Reformation, 13, 20, 96, 170–171 Lutheran comfort in, 15, 24, 53, 98 distinctive features of, 23–25 (see also comfort; doctrine) first, 7–8 (see also Luther) preponderance of, 5–7
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Roman Catholic complaints about, 1, 9, 22–23 as mediator between clergy and laity, 30, 42, 76, 80, 104, 150, 170 melodies of, 19–20 and Gregorian chant, 19, 84, 170, 232 and secular tunes, 19, 50–51, 85 oral transmission of, 5, 9–10, 22, 38, 76, 158, 208 pedagogical value of, 19–20, 67–68 popularity of specific, 158 pre-Reformation vernacular, 9, 21, 31, 42 printed with sermons, 29, 151 printing of, broadsheets, 5, 9, 151–152, 158 (see also hymnals) Roman Catholic, 1, 21–24 adaptations of Lutheran hymns, 21, 140, 144 comfort in, 23–24 in Counter-Reformation, 140, 144–145 individual use during Mass, 22, 160 lack of, 1, 7, 9 Lutheran complaints about, 42 not sung at home, 160 private use, 22 religious instruction, 23 saints in, 23 saints in, 23, 88–90, 115–116 (see also hymns, pre-Reformation venacular) sermon references to, 91, 101–103 sermons based on, 11, 15, 151 in household, 108, 114 as sign of last days, 170 spread of, among hymnals, 156–158 in spread of Reformation, 9–10, 16, 20, 27, 44 in style of folk songs, 51, 84, 170 and success of Reformation, 1, 25, 172 sung before services, 39, 82, 131 sung by choir, 8, 10, 22, 38, 64, 73 sung by Lutherans during CounterReformation, 134, 139, 146, 149 sung in household, 1, 8, 11–14, 15, 24–25, 53, 76, 103, 105–111, 113–114, 128–129, 139, 155–156, 158, 162, 167, 169, 171–172
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hymns, sung in households (continued) relation to public worship, 11–12, 76, 103, 105–108, 150, 155 Roman Catholic suspicion of, 22 sung in public worship, 9–11, 76, 80–82, 134 at Christmas, 82–85 de tempore cycle, 10 sung in schools, 8, 38, 145 girls’, 58, 68–70 vernacular, 59 sung in streets, 1, 15, 27, 42, 51, 71–75, 167 texts of, 5 women in, 115–116 as word of God, 14–15, 24, 52–53, 67–68, 101–102, 107, 171, 172 hypocrisy, as strategy against CounterReformation, 136–137 iconoclasm, 33, 35, 37, 85–86 images. See art; iconoclasm In Land, Conrad, 121–122, 125 instruments, musical. See also organs debates over religious use of, 36, 41, 51–53 in Joachimsthal Latin school, 233 use by burghers, 44–45, 49 use of different in various social contexts, 44 Interims, 12, 21, 79, 239, 241 Irwin, Joyce, 230, 231 Janota, Johannes, 206 Jenny, Markus, 202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 208, 209, 211, 222 Jesuits as Counter-Reformers, 30, 133, 136, 140, 148 as educators, 140–141 on Lutheran hymns, 1 and organ-building, 146 on women, 144 Jews expulsion from Bohemia, 132 Luther’s On the Jews and Their Lies, 121–122 Jezebel, 115 Jhan, Stephan, 120–121 Joachimsthal
art in in Counter-Reformation, 145, 148–149 funerary art, 90, 112–113 Law and Gospel altarpiece, 27, 90–91, 96 St. Catharine altarpiece, 31, 86–88 books in, 119–127 binding, 126–127 burghers musical culture of, 44–46 participation in choir, 27, 39, 43, 45, 47, 150, 169 carnival sermons in, 27 catechism in, 38–39, 55–56, 58–59, 67–68, 91–2, 130 in Counter-Reformation, 138, 140–141 Christmas in, 82–85 church festivals in, 82–85 first Lutheran built, 38, 223 Latin music in, 38–39, 60–64, 81 seating in, 130 services in, 80–82 vernacular music in, 38–39, 81–82, 131, 145, 150, 169 vestments in, 39 church order, 43, 64–65, 99, 221 description of, 41 church records, 35 clergy in, 77–78 preference for native, 78, 130, 132–133 communicants, 130, 168 Counter-Reformation in, 30, 110, 131–150, 172 (See also Albanus, Franciscus) emigration from, 134, 147–148 girls’ school in, 141 Latin school in, 139–140, 142, 145 Lutheran clergy, removal of, 133 resistance by laity, 134, 138 resistance by town council, 134–138, 145–146, 148 women in, 117, 143–144, 147–148 early Reformation in, 27, 30–40 founding of, 26 funerals in, 73, 90, 114, 131, 138 growth of, 26
Index Hapsburg control of, 30, 40–41, 106 (see also Joachimsthal, CounterReformation in) Herman, Nicolaus, as cantor in (see Herman, Nicolaus) influence of, 130, 166 Karlstadt and, 27, 32–33, 119 library, 56, 110, 124, 126–127, 139, 140, 142–143, 145 Luther and, 35, 49, 119, 216 Mathesius, Johann, and (see Mathesius, Johann) miners in, 26–27, 34–35 music of, 43–44 (see also Bergreihen) preaching for, 27, 49, 77, 120, 122 pre-Reformation piety of, 31 role in selection of pastor, 32, 34, 35, 40, 78 and singing of hymns, 39, 82, 131, 169 support for Reformation, 34, 169 uprising of, 34, 38 wages of, 127 mines, 26, 49, 57–58, 71, 110, 130 names of, 89–90 minting in, 26, 27 mortality in, 110–112, 123, 132 musicians in, 46–49 music in regulated by town council, 45 supported by town council, 46, 48, 136 organ, 36, 39, 79, 82, 109, 131 organists, 47–49, 82, 136, 140, 146 Peasants’ War and, 34, poorhouse [Spital], 26, 34, 35, 254 population, 26, 130, 148, 168 pre-Reformation piety in, 30–31, 89–90, 92, 106 religious life, regulation of, 79 role of, in Bohemia, 130 Schlicks and (see Schlicks) in Schmalkaldic War, 40 schools discipline in, 55, 65–67 pedagogy in, 55–56 support of, 56 schools, German, 26, 58–59 schools, girls’, 26, 39, 57–58 choir, 47, 58, 65 in Counter-Reformation, 141
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hymns for, 68–70 music in, 58, 64–65 support of, 58 schools, Latin, 26, 36, 56–57 choir, 36, 41, 57, 65, 71, 81, 82–83 after Counter-Reformation, 150 in Counter-Reformation, 139–140, 142, 145 curriculum, 38 enrollment in, 57 German in, 64 humanism in, 64 influence of, 151 Latin hymnody and psalmody in, 60–64 music in, 57 suppport of, 57, 131 teachers, 57 Spitalkirche, 31, 33, 86 funerary art, 112–113 sources for history of, 215–216 students dramatic performance by, 27, 67, 131 prayer by, 59, 68, 71, 109 public singing of, 41, 71–75 support of, 55, 167 ties to Wittenberg, 32, 57 women in, 113–119 as heads of household in, 114, 136 Johann Georg (Elector of Saxony), 137, 143, 148 Jonas, Justus, 121, 257 Josephus, 121 Jülich-Cleve-Berg, Sibylle von, 252 justification. See also Law and Gospel; Luther, fröhliche Wechsel; sin Lutheran doctrine attacked by Egranus, 38 in Lutheran hymns, 62, 85, 92, 95, 97, 144, 158, 208 Karant-Nunn, Susan, 4, 202, 206, 215, 220, 254–255 Karlstadt, Andreas Bodenstein von on church music, 35–36, 37, 51 and Joachimsthal, 27, 32–33, 119 Keiner, Michael, 131 Keys, office of [Schlüsselamt], 99–100 Kittelson, James, 202 Klein, Balthasar, 216, 249
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Klug, Joseph, 11, 16 Knorr, Nicolaus, 13, 153 Koch, Eduard Emil, 201, 210, 239, 273, 274 Koch, Paulus, 48 Kolb, Robert, 211, 244, 249 Koler, Johann, 157 Köler (Köhler, Kohler), David, 48, 268 Königsberg, 7, 12 Könneritz, Heinrich von, 31–33, 37 Krüginger, Johann, 216 Kuch, Wolfgang, 33 laity. See also family; household; priesthood of all Christians as authors of hymns, 7–8, 52, 166 Bible, knowledge of, 29, 33, 40, 54–55, 58, 65, 67, 68, 109, 111, 119, 120, 127, 144, 148, 162–163 books for, recommended, 120, 127 books, ownership of, 114, 120–126, 140 and clergy clerical and lay culture, 26, 77, 80, 83, 86, 170 conflict with, 3, 169 criticism of, 8, 37, 93, 112 hymns as mediator between, 30, 42, 76, 80, 104, 150, 170 reception of religious message of, 25, 29, 76, 105–107, 123 shared religious culture of, 26, 76, 80, 86, 103–104, 128, 169, 171 support of, 117, 134, 138–139, 149, 168 as confessors of the faith, 4, 15, 53, 68, 69, 89, 105, 115–119, 164, 170 and humanism, 77, 121 hymnals for, 8, 24, 120 hymns associated with, 8, 15, 24, 29–30, 43, 67, 80, 91, 101–104, 106–107 independence of, 8, 14, 29, 53, 55, 105, 107, 110–111, 123, 127–128, 133, 144, 149, 170 encouraged by clergy, 14, 24, 54, 76, 101, 107–108, 127, 139, 171 and hymns, 53, 54–55, 102–103, 106–107 as judges of doctrine, 120, 127 knowledge of doctrine, 25, 40, 53, 54,
58, 68, 118, 119, 127, 130, 142, 163 literacy, 121 in Lutheran confessional, 99–101 and production of hymnals, 7, 159–165 resistance to Counter-Reformation, 134, 138 resistance to Reformation, 3, 4, 25 singing of hymns by in services, 10, 81–82 Lamberg, Abraham, 153 Landherr, Georg, 135, 137, 138 Langenfeld (Langfeld), 160, 161 Langer, Joachim, 121–122 Last Judgment, 88, 91, 113, 168. See also apocalyptic expectations Latin. See also humanism; hymns, Latin dramatic performance in, 38, 67 lay literacy in, 39, 77, 121 in Lutheran services, 38–39, 41, 46, 60–64, 73, 80–83, 85, 109, 169–170 Luther’s criticism of use in German preaching, 64 medieval, criticism of, 55, 59 in Roman Catholic liturgy, 22, 36, 37 Karlstadt’s criticism of, 35 in schools, 10, 56, 64, 68, 150 (see also schools, Latin) taught through hymns, 59–60, 67 Laugingen, 159, 235 Laus tibi Christe, 81, 237 Law and Gospel in Lutheran art, 91 in Lutheran hymns, 17–18, 92–98, 164 Leaver, Robin, 205, 208, 209, 211, 250 lectionary, 10, 39, 61–62, 115, 153–155 Ledderhose, Karl Friedrich, 217 Leißnig, Alexander von, 34 Leipzig, 34, 130, 143, 158. See also Selneccer, Nicolaus book trade, 126, 127 hymn-printing in, 7, 10, 13, 153, 155, 156 Johann Mathesius’ works printed in, 130 university of, 57 Leisentrit, Johann, 21–23, 158, 271 Lieben, Johann, 268 Liest, Joachim, 160 Liliencron, Rochus von, 207, 208 Lindner, Gregor, 216, 227
Index literacy, 76, 77 within household, 109, 114, 128 and hymns, 9–10, 15, 19, 22, 38, 76, 144, 208 Latin, 19 among laity, 121 instruction in, (see Latin, in schools) vernacular instruction in, 58 among laity, 25, 119–120, 123, 127 among women, 109, 114, 117, 119, 162 liturgy Lutheran pedagogical use of, 60–64 translation into German hymns, 10, 37 use of Latin in, 38–39, 41, 46, 60–64, 73, 80–83, 85, 109, 169–170 Medieval adapted by Lutherans, 37, 59–64, 81 adapted by Müntzer, 37 criticized by Karlstadt, 35 Roman Catholic, 36, 37, 61 translations of, rejected, 22 Livy, 121 Loesche, Georg, 217, 222, 224, 227, 232, 236, Lord’s Supper. See Sacrament Lorenz, Hans, 215 Lübeck, 160 lullabies, Lutheran, 27, 79, 115 Lusatia, 23 Luther, Martin as amateur musician, 49 on Anabaptists, 35 as author of hymns, 1, 7, 9, 10–11, 80, 102, 118, 164 Biblical commentaries, 255–256 Biblical translation, 15, 24, 102, 110, 202 on bondage of the will, 16–18, 93 Daß ein christliche Versammlung . . . Recht und Macht habe, alle Lehre zu urtheilen, 259 on clergy, singing of, 80 on comfort and hymns, 24 on Daniel, 171, 249, 277 on death, 110, 112 dedication of Torgau castle church, 223 depicted by Cranach at Last Supper, 91
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and Egranus Johann Sylvius, 33, 221 Erasmus, debate with, 16–17 and Ering, Christoff, 35 on evangelistic role of hymns, 9–10 on executioners, 148 Formula Missae, 9 Von der Freiheit eines Christenmenschen, 219, 244 fröhliche Wechsel, 85, 88 Galatians commentary, 255 Genesis commentary, 255 on good works, 92 on government, 69–70 Great Confession, 255 Hauspostil, 121–122, 202 Heidelberg Disputation, 16–17 and Heinrich, von Könneritz, 37 and Henry VIII, 32 and Herman, Nicolaus, 27, 36–37 on household, 171, 249, 277 hymnals of, 96, 109 with Bapst, Valentin, 10, 13 Christlich Geseng . . . zum Begrebnis, 73 comfort and doctrine in, 24 with Klug, Joseph, 4, 11, 16 prayers in, 12 Roman Catholic response to, 21 reprinted, 13 with Walther, Johann, 7, 37–38, 207 on hymns as word of God, 14–15 hymns of affective power, 17–19 on catechism, 10–11, 15, 91–92, 235 and confessional identity, 20 and conversion, 16 doctrinal authority of, 15 doctrinal content of, 16–19 in first Lutheran hymnals, 7, 8 Heshusius, Tileman on, 16 influence of, 1, 20 use by laity, 15, 171 Law and Gospel in, 17–18 melodies of, 16, 19–20 and Müntzer’s hymns, compared, 37 Opitz, Martin on, 161 printed with sermons by Mathesius, 151 printing compared with Luther’s other works, 20
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Luther, Martin, hymns of (continued) in public worship, 9–10 reprinted in later hymnals, 12–13, 161 in Roman Catholic areas, 10 Roman Catholic criticism of, 1 schoolboys sing in streets, 72–73 in schools, 8, 37–38 sermons based on, 11, 101–102, 151 sources of, 16, 37 Spangenberg, Cyriacus on, 11, 15, 171 in spread of Reformation, 9, 16, 37 as translation of liturgy, 10 use by later Lutherans, 13, 20, 170 Walther, Johann on, 24 by title: Aus Tiefer Not, 72–73, 102–103, 245; Christ ist erstanden, 248; Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam, 245, 248; Erbarm dich mein, 245; Erhalt uns Herr, 20, 202, 263, 274; Ein feste Burg, 8, 101, 103; Gott sei gelobet, 248; Jesus Christus unser Heiland, 245, 248; Komm Gott Schöpfer, 245; Mit Fried’ und Freud’ ich fahr dahin, 248; Mitten wir in Leben sind, 274; Nun komm der Heiden Heiland, 81; Nun freut euch, 16–19, 94; Dies sind die heiligen zehn Gebot, 93, 245, 248; Vater unser in Himmelsreich, 245; Von Himmel Hoch, 83; Wir glauben all’, 81, 245 hymn-writing encouraged by, 9 and Joachimsthal, 35, 49, 119, 216 and Karlstadt, 33 on Latin in church music, 59, 224 on Latin in sermons, 64 on Law and Gospel, 96 Von den letzen Worten Davids, 255 on marriage, 63 and Mathesius, Johann, 40, 41, 50, 74 on medieval liturgy, 59–61, 218 as miner’s son, 27 on music, 49–50, 230–232, 249 On the Jews and Their Lies, 121–122, 255 Prayerbook [Gebetbüchlein], 4, 202 as restorer of vernacular hymnody, 9 and Schlicks, 32, 34–35 Schmalkald Articles, 165, 245
as schoolboy, 72 on secular culture, 79 De Servo Arbitrio, 16, 36 Small Catechism, 4, 11, 56, 38, 67, 56, 109, 122, 233, 235, 238 Table Talk, 122, 225 Theses, posting of imitated by laity, 138 “Two Kingdoms” doctrine, 69–70, 137 Warnung an die Deutschen, 262 Von weltlicher Oberkeit, 238, 263, 266 Wider die Sabbather, 218 works of in Joachimsthal library, 227, 254 in lay ownership, 120–122, 262 recommended to laity, 120 Lutheranism. See also hymns, Lutheran; Luther, Martin; pedagogy, Lutheran difficulties faced by, 3 disputes within, 130 Lyons, 126 Lysthenius, Georg, 248–249 Magdeburg, 7, 9 Mager, Inge, 205, 207 Mahrenholz, Christhard, 208 Maier, Moritz, 35 Major, Georg, 121 Mansfeld, 171 manuscripts, musical, 12, 39, 45–46, 61, 81, 152, 204, 272 Marbach, Johann, 270 marriage. See also weddings to Christ, 86–88 effect on Magdalena Heymair’s teaching career, 164 of Lutheran clergy, 9, 35, 38–39, 143 in Lutheran teaching and hymns, 62–64 regulation of, in Joachimsthal, 224 Mary, 62 in Lutheran hymns and piety, 82, 83, 115, 155 in medieval and Roman Catholic piety, 31, 36, 63, 86, 90, 133, 155 Mary Magdalene, 89, 244 Mathesius, Johann, 30, 31, 134 on absolution, 99–100 on art, 91, 170 on books, 119–121, 123, 126–127 chronicle of Joachimsthal, 57, 89, 90 on church ceremonies, 79
Index church order, description of Joachimsthal, 41, 64, 80, 82, 85 correspondence, 151 death, 113 defense before emperor, 40 education, 41, 143 encouragement of Nicolaus Herman, 28, 152–153, 161 on the family, 105–109, 113, 128 hymns by, 41, 77, 96 lullabies, 79, 115 quoted in text: Abram gleubt dem verheissnen Christ, 97; O Christenleut, vergesset nicht, 81 on lay independence, 127–128 and Luther, 41, 49–50, 63, 74, on music, 41, 49–51 defense of, 28, 41, 51 instruments, 51–52 polyphony, 41 religious use of, 51–52 musical culture, participation in, 41, 46, 47, 49, 80 on musicians, 47 as pastor in Joachimsthal, 28, 40 on pedagogy, 67 on popular culture, 79–80 posthumous reputation, 130 prayers, 109 as preacher in Joachimsthal, 28, 40, 49 as rector of Joachimsthal Latin school, 28, 38–39, 41, 56, 74 on secular culture, 50–51, 79, 121, 170 sermons, 70, 107 as basis for hymns, 41, 142, 152 on catechism, 91–94 funeral, 113–114 hymns in, 82, 101–103, 106 on Luther, 27, 49 for miners (Sarepta), 77, 120, 122 praise and blame in, 131, 167–169 printed with hymns, 29, 151 as sources for history of Joachimsthal, 41–42 spiritual difficulties, 73, 114–115 tombstone, 140 and wife (Sibylla), 113–114 on women, 72, 115, 114–118, 128, 144, 147 in business, 117 as musicians, 47
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as public confessors, 117 as teachers, 65, 117–118 works in lay ownership, 121–122 publication of, 151 Mathesius, Johann Balthasar, 217 Mathesius, Sibylla, 113–115 Maximilian I, Teuerdank, 122 Maximilian II, 212–213 medieval piety. See piety Meistersinger, 7, 46, 50–51 Melanchthon, Phillip, 164, 276 attacked by Egranus, 38 influence on Lutheran pedagogy, 56, 77 involvement in Joachimsthal, 37, 56 and Johann Mathesius, 40 later animus against, 154 works of, in possession of the laity, 120–122 Menius, Justus, Oeconomia, 120 Michna, Georg von, 143 midwives, baptism by, 142 miners. See also Joachimsthal, miners Luther as son of, 27 miners’ songs. See Bergreihen Miriam, as model for Lutheran women, 47, 65, 164 Mohacs, battle of, 34 Moltzer, Moritz, 160–161, 165, 201, 207 monasticism, 8, 31, 59, 86, 88, 254. See also Jesuits Moore, Cornelia Niekus, 243, 253, 254, 255, 275, Moser, Dietz-Rüdiger, 201, 210, 211, 214, 272 Moser, Hans Joachim, 209 mothers. See also women religious role of, 105, 108, 113–115, 247 Müntzer, Thomas, 27, 33 Deutsches Kirchenamt, 37 music Anabaptists on, 230 Augustine on, 36 burgher attitudes toward, 44–46, 52 children and, 52, 65 clerical opinions on, 49–51 clerical support for, 43, 49 in clerical education, 80 Erasmus on, 51, 59 in household, 44–45
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music (continued) humanist attitudes toward, 59 for hymns (see hymns, melodies of) in Lutheran church, 59–60 in Lutheran pedagogy, 5, 52, 57, 59–60, 65, 67–68, 101 Luther on, 49–50, 230–232, 249 Mathesius on, 28, 41, 49–52 pedagogical effects of, 52, 65–66, 91, 231 psychological effect of, 50, 52–53 public regulation of, 45, 47 relationship to text, 51–52 in Roman Catholic church secular (see also instruments, musical; polyphony) attitudes of clergy toward, 50–51, 168, 179 criticism of, 42, 50–51 use in church, 50–51 musicians amateur, 43–46, 52, 54 collectors of manuscripts, 45–46 Luther as, 49 at dances, 46 professional (see also cantors; organists) attitudes toward, 47 in church, 47–48 duties of, 48–49 regulation of, 46–47, 49 social origins of, 46–48, 146 town pipers [Stadtpfeifer], 48–49 use of hymnals and manuscripts, 11–12 role in hymnal production, 7 women as, 47 Naumburg, girls’ school choir in, 237 neighbor, service of, 65, 92, 95–98, 158 in giving religious counsel and comfort, 105, 110, 114, 117–119, 165 Nettl, Paul, 209, 230 Neuber, Valentin, 13, 153, 154 Nürnberg hymnal printing in, 7, 8, 12, 13, 152, 153, 154, 156, 157 musical life in, 48 persons in or from, 7, 15, 27, 37, 41, 46, 47, 48, 51, 80, 109, 146, 159, 159 Oettinger, Rebecca Wagner, 211, 239
Opitz, Joshua, 164 Opitz, Martin, 161 oral culture, 5, 86, 158 organists role of, 82, 136, 140 status of, 47–49, 146 organs, 36, 39, 79, 82, 131 church use of criticized, 36, 221 in Counter-Reformation, 146 Osiander, Lucas, 215 Ott, Johann, 229, 231 Ovid, 121 Ozment, Steven, 201, 202, 210, 220, 228, 237, 238, 239, 240, 241, 242, 245, 248, 249, 251, 254, 257, 277, 278 Palatinate, 164 parents. See also fathers; mothers; children affection for children, 113 as teachers, 172 Paris, 126 parodies. See contrafacta Paternus, Michael Adelbert, 150 peasants and Lutheran hymns, 15 Roman Catholic efforts to win, 22 use of musical instruments by, 44 Peasants’ War, 3, 34, 54 pedagogy Lutheran, 27 criticized, 3, 92 goals of, 3, 40, 53, 54, 55–56, 59, 64, 96, 108; lay self-sufficiency, 53, 54, 40, 67–68, 105, 170 and humanist pedagogy, 59, 64 influence of Joachimsthal on151, 156, 160, 161 methods of, at home, 105–106; in schools, 65–66, 68 use of music in, 5, 52, 57, 59–60, 65, 67–68, 101 pre-Reformation, criticized by Lutherans, 55 Penance, 99–100, 111, 137, 138, 141, 148 Pescheck, Christian Adolf, 260 Pezel, Christoph, 208 piety, Lutheran, 3, 25. See also family; household; hymns, Lutheran piety, medieval, 3
Index at deathbed, 111 institutions of, 31 vernacular hymns and, 9, 21, 31, 42 Lutheran adaptation of, 37, 74–75, 79–80, 85 Pistorius, Elias, 134, 142 Pius V (pope), 22 Platten, 103–104, 145, 235, 266, 267 Plautus, 126 Plutarch, 124 polyphony and Council of Trent, 59 criticism of, 35, 51, 59 Lutheran use and defense of, 36, 38, 41, 51, 59, 170 pope, 27, 33, 144. See also under individual names attacked in Lutheran hymns, 20, 74–75, 263 in Lutheran art, 155 symbolically driven out of Joachimsthal, 27, 73–75, 135 Popel, Thomas, 48 Posthius, Johann, 160 postils, 41, 154, 162, 163 in lay possession, 25, 105–106, 114, 119, 120–122, 125, 149 printed with Biblical texts, 256 use of during Counter-Reformation, 134, 139–140 prayer, 68. See also catechism by children, 59, 68, 71, 109 for church and state, 68–71 by clergy for congregation, 168 by family, 106, 107, 109, 112–113, 118, 128, 158, 167 for favorable weather, 157 in Frauenzimmer, 114 in hymnals, 12 added to the Sonntags-Evangelia, 152, 159 during Mass, by laity, 22 at meals, 14, 109, 157, 158 at morning and evening, 109, 157, 158 psalms as, Calvin on, 24 public, 39, 59, 71, 81, 92, 134 against tyrants, 70 by women, 118 prayer books, 4, 105 in lay use, 25, 105, 106, 114, 119, 120–122, 139, 149
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preaching. See sermons priesthood of all Christians, 78, 128, 165–166, 171, 240 printing, and Reformation, 51, 116, 170. See also books; hymnals; Bible; names of towns and printers private devotion. See household; family Procknedel, Dietrich, 124 Prudentius, 60, 73 psalms. See also hymns German hymns used as substitute for, 10 Lutheran hymns based on, 37, 101–102 in Lutheran worship, 61–64 in medieval church, 36 metrical, in Calvinist worship, 24, 160 psalter, as term for hymnal, 255 Pul, Andreas, 265 purgatory, Lutheran rejection of, 112 Quinque, Christoph, 33 Quoika, Rudolf, 227, 267 Ramsbeck, Willibald, 164 Rebentrost, Johann, 240 Reese, Gustav, 235 Reformation Catholic (see Trent, Council of; CounterReformation) centennial of, 131 lay resistance to, 3, 4, 25 success or failure of, 3, 25, 42, 89–90, 172 Reformed Church. See Calvinism; Zwingli, Ulrich Regensburg, 133, 164 Regius, Urbanus, 121 Reich, Balthasar, 136, 140 Reindell, Walter, 208 resistance, to state, 54–55, 69–70, 75, 171–172. See also conscience; Joachimsthal, CounterReformation in; Luther, “Two Kingdoms” doctrine Resurrection, 90, 113, 128, 147, 149, 157 Reu, Johann Michael, 234 Rhau, Georg, 41, 46, 152, 153 Richter, Georg, 124 Richter, Gregor, 142 Ringwaldt (Ringwald), Bartholomeus, 160–161 Rittgers, Ronald, 247
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Rochlitz, 41, 143 Roman Catholicism. See CounterReformation; hymns, Roman Catholic; Leisentrit, Johann; Trent, Council of Roper, Lyndal, 201 Rössler, Martin, 209, 214 Rothenbucher, Erasmus, 230, 231 Rublack, Hans-Christoph, 215 Rudolph II (emperor), Maiestätsbrief, 131 Sachs, Hans, 7, 46, 51, 80 Sacrament (Lord’s Supper), 128. See also catechism; Compact of Basel; excommunication and absolution, 99, 130 administered by clergy, 77 administered by laity in emergency, 165 at deathbed, 128 hymns during administration of, 81 number of communicants in Joachimsthal, 132, 168 preparation for receiving, 99, 108-109, 130 private administration of, 259 saints in Counter-Reformation piety, 149 in Lutheran calendar, 82, 88 in Lutheran piety, 88–90 in pre-Reformation piety, 31, 33, 36 in Roman Catholic piety, 23–24 shifts in role of, 34, 42, 88, 89 Salater, Johann, 121–122, 256–257 Sauer-Geppert, Waldtraut Ingeborg, 203 Schalk, Carl, 230 Schedlich, Andreas, 47, 146 Schedlich, David, 48 Schedlich, Jacob, 47, 146, 259 Schedlich, Johann, 139 Schedlich, Johann Jacob, 149 Schedlich, Susanna, née Schönbach, 146–147, 149 Schenk, Blasius, 229, 268 Schenken, Christof, 261 Schlaggenwald, 103 Schlaginhaufen, Johann, 34–35 Schlicks (Grafs), 27, 34, 39, 127, 131 description of branches of family, 218 loss of rights in Joachimsthal, 40 Schlick, Christoph, 32
Schlick, Hieronymus, 34, 35, 90–91, 223, 241 Schlick, Joachim Andreas, in battle of White Mountain, 131 Schlick, Lorenz, 34, 35, 90–91, 223 Schlick, Sebastian, 32 Schlick, Stephan, 26, 32, 34 Schlick, Wolfgang, 32 Schmalkald, 267 Schmalkald Articles, 165, 245 Schmalkaldic War, 12, 40, 131 Schmidt, Richard, 217, 223 Schneeberg, 45, 244 Schön, Anton, 153 Schönbach, Stephan, 34, 37, 222 schools. See also discipline; Joachimsthal, schools; pedagogy; students German, 10 in Joachimsthal, 58–59 girls’ in Cham, 162–3 choirs, 47, 58, 65 hymns for, 68–70 in Joachimsthal, 57–58 women as teachers in, 47, 65, 105, 117–118, 163–164, 234, 254 humanism in, 38, 55–57, 59–60, 64 hymns sung in, 8, 38, 145 Jesuit, 140–141 Latin, 10 choirs, 36, 41, 57, 65, 71, 81, 82–83 in Joachimsthal, 56–57 pre-Reformation, 55 Schopper, Urban, 122, 257 Schreyner, Sebastian, 33 Schüpgen, Lucas, 33 Schupp, Balthasar, 25 Schurer, Thomas, 126 Schwednitz, 160 Schwertel, Johann, 153 Scribner, Robert, 4–5, 202, 207, 210, 243 Sebastian, Virgil, 145 Sedulius, 60, 63 Selneccer, Nicholaus, 8, 130, 158, 165, 207, 231, 239 Seltenreich, Andreas, 228 Seltenreich, David, 228 Seltenreich, Johann, 47, 124–125 Senfl, Ludwig, 41 sequences (liturgical compositions), 15, 60, 61
Index Latin, in Lutheran liturgy, 39, 62–64, 68, 83, 152, 170 sermons. See also postils based on hymns [Liedpredigten], 11, 15, 151 on catechism, 11, 18, 39, 91–94, 101, 119, 208 as historical source, 4, 14, 41–42, 206, 215 within household during the Counter-Reformation, 139 by parents, 108, 114 hymns based on, 41, 152 references to hymns in, 82, 91, 101–103 in relation to other contemporary genres, 4, 11, 86, 91–92, 96, 108, 170, 215 rhetoric of praise and blame in, 167–169 women, addressed to, 115, 118, 128 servants participation in household devotions, 109, 114, 117, 118 religious activities of, 15 treatment of, 106 Sessions, Kyle, 206 Sibylle von Jülich-Cleve-Berg, 252 Sieber, Siegfried, 219, 220, 266 Siegl, Karl, 215–216 sin. See also absolution critique of Lutheran treatment of, 247 discipline for public, 73 at Lutheran deathbed, 111–112 in Lutheran hymns, 16–18, 24, 83, 85, 88, 93–95, 96–98, 163–164 Sleidanus, Johannes, 121 songs, secular, 43–44, 165 criticism of by clergy, 22–23, 42, 89, 165 Spangenberg, Cyriacus, 11, 15, 171 Spengler, Lazarus, 7–8, 80 Durch Adams Fall ist ganz verderbt, 15 Speratus, Paul, Es ist das Heil uns kommen her, 94–96 Spitz, Lewis, 204, 235 Stadtpfeifer, 48–49 state, and Reformation, 3. See also convessions; estates; government; resistance Steinman, Hans, 153 Sternberg, Kaspar, 215 Steude, Sebastian, 35, 39, 40, 99 Steude, Wolfram, 208, 225, 227, 229
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Strassburg, 6, 7, 8, 12, 156, 157, 202, 208, 209 Academy, 59, 156 Straubing, 162 Strauss, Gerald, 5, 25, 201, 202–203, 206, 208, 209, 211, 213, 215, 232, 237, 245, 247, 255, 276, 277, 278 students. See also Joachimsthal, schools; Joachimsthal, students; schools singing in streets, 41, 72–73, 158 support of, 55 Sturm, Heribert, 127, 225, 233, 252, 258 Sturm, Johann, 59 success or failure of Reformation. See Reformation Sunderreiter, Gregor, 10, 159, 275 Susanna, 115 Teppliwoda, 160 Terence, 67 Teubner, Paul, 145, 150 Thirty Years’ War, 30, 57, 131, 133, 172. See also Joachimsthal, CounterReformation end of, 147 Thomas à Jesu, 1 Thomas Aquinas, on entrance into monastic life, 88 Trent, Council of, 1, 59–61, 212, 231 Triller, Valentin, 230 Turks, 20, 34, 45, 74–75 Tübingen, 153 tyranny, 70, 75, 171 Urban VIII (pope), 59 Vehe, Michael, 21–22 Veit, Patrice, 5, 203, 205, 206, 208, 209, 210, 211, 222, 230 Venice, 126 Veni Sancte Spiritus, 15, 61, 242 vestments, 39, Virgil, 49, 231 Vischer, Christoph. See Fischer, Christoph visitations, 3–4, 25 169 Vom End, Anna, 114 Wackernagel, Philipp, 5–7 Walther, Johann, 24 Geistliche Gesangbüchlein, 7–8, 37–38, 223
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weather effect on church attendance, 82 prayer for, 157 Weber, Édith, 235 weddings, 79. See also marriage during Counter-Reformation, 138–139, 141 in Joachimsthal, statistics, 132, 266 music at, 46 prohibited as penalty for fornication, 45 Nicolaus Herman’s songs for, 149 sermons for, 255 Weinzierl, Brigitta, 162 Weiss, Ludwig, 267 Welack, Matthäus, 153 Westphalia, Peace of, 147 Weyrauch, Erdmann, 256 White Mountain, Battle of, 131 Wilsovius, Nicolaus, 136 Wittenberg, 1, 4, 7, 8, 20, 28, 37, 41, 46, 49, 56, 74, 126, 152-154, 156, 224 Wittenberg, university of, 28, 32, 33, 34, 40, 41, 57, 77, 118, 143 Wittstock, 160 Witzel, Georg, 212, 214 Wolfenbüttel, 10 Wölffel, Dieter, 209 Wolkan, Rudolf, 204, 216, 217, 218, Wölner, Christoff, 124 women. See also girls addressed in sermons, 115 as authors, 8, 118, 163–166 attitudes of clergy toward, 164–165 and Bible, 118, 144, 162 book ownership by, 114, 122 chambers of [Frauenzimmer], 114, 118, 122, 162, 166 and childbirth, 72–73, 117 churching of, 79, 138 as confessors, 105, 116, 117–119, 165, 170 economic activities of, 58, 117 effect of Reformation on, 3 hymns about, 115–116 and hymns at deathbed, 111, 116 literacy of, 119 as literary patrons, 164–165 as midwives, 142 models for, 114–116 (see also Miriam)
in monastic life, 88, 254 as mothers, 27, 106, 113–115, 247 as musicians, 47 pews for, 253, 259 religious independence of, 128, 143–144 religious role of, 105, 128 in comforting others, 105, 114, 116– 118 in household, 108, 113–115, 165 (see also women, as mothers; women, as wives) reluctance of authorities to punish, 135–136 resistance to Counter-Reformation, 58, 70, 135, 143–144, 147–148 restrictions on role of, 117–118 role in marriage, 63-64 role in production of hymnals, 8, 153–154, 163–166 Roman Catholic attitudes toward, 144 as schoolteachers, 47, 65, 105, 117–118, 163–164, 234, 254 secular songs about, 50 and support of clergy, 117, 135, 227 as wives, 37, 106, 110, 112–114, 118, 128, 143–144, 156, 162–163, 252 as widows, 114, 121–122, 125, 153, 154, 276 as heads of households, 114, 136 works, good, 17–18, 92–98, 157–158 worship. See also Joachimsthal, church; liturgy public, 166 hymns sung in, 9–11, 76, 80–82, 134 relation to private devotion, 11–12, 76, 103, 105–108, 150, 155 Wunder, Heide, 205, 228, 252, 261, 264, 276 Zahn, Johannes, 203, 209 Zeeden, Ernst W., 207 Zell, Katharina, 8, 253 Zimmerman, Felix, 78, 111, 151, 217 Zink, Hans, 264 Zorzin, Alejandro, 218 Zwinger, Jacob, 126 Zwingli, Ulrich, 51, 221