spent at Grünberg; and thence went on to Hersfeld, where he was received with great hospitality, both by the Benedictine Abbot and the council of the city. At five o'clock next morning he preached, in defiance, indeed, of the terms of the safe-conduct, yet unwilling that the Word of God should be bound. The Abbot, himself a Prince of the Empire, escorted him some distance on his way, and ordered a farewell meal to be prepared for the party at Berka. Thence a few miles brought him to Eisenach, where he was in the midst of kinsfolk and friends, many of whom came out to welcome him.1 At Eisenach he preached once more; the priest of the church endeavouring to protect himself by a notarial protest. Here all his companions left him, except Amsdorf, and the Augustinian brother, John Petzensteiner. These accompanied him to Möhra, the cradle of his race, where his grandmother was still living, and Luthers were in almost every farmstead. Here again, he preached, tradition says under a great linden tree, and on the afternoon of Saturday, May 4th, took his way in the direction of Gotha. But while traversing a wood, behind Schloss Altenstein, not far from a little stream called the Glasbach, the carriage was suddenly attacked by a number of armed horsemen, Brother John, who was not in the secret, as well as Amsdorf, who was, saved themselves as they could ; the driver, with a crossbow held to his breast, was bidden to stand still; Luther was carried into the wood by his captors. These proved to be Hans von Berlepsch, the commander of the Wartburg, and the Knight Burkhard Hund, to whom Schloss Altenstein belonged, both of them devoted servants of the Elector. They put Luther on horseback, and by devious ways brought him to the Wartburg, an Electoral residence, half palace, half fortress, which overhangs the town of Eisenach, and is all but visible from its streets.2 In days like these, when the communication of news is so rapid and so certain, it is difficult to understand how well the secret of Luther's hiding-place was kept. That he had disappeared, every one knew; whither, no one. Some of his friends, as, for instance, Albert Dürer, lamented him as dead.3 Ortmann, Möhra, pp. 150 seq., 183 1 Spalatin's Annales, p. 50; De Wette, vol. ii. p. 6. 2 De Wette, vol. ii. pp. 6, 7; IX LUTHER HIDDEN IN THE WARTBURG 457 Duke John of Saxony wrote to his brother, that he had heard a report that Luther was hidden in a castle of Sickingen's, not far from the French frontier; but the Elector is prudent, and in reply professes complete ignorance. But besides the few to whom the secret was entrusted there were others who guessed the truth. On the 31st of May Crotus Rubianus wrote from Erfurt to John Hess, "Be of good comfort; not foes but friends have carried him off." Aleander soon suspected what had taken place, though the Elector, he says in a letter of May 15th, swore by every oath that he knew nothing about it. By the beginning of July, however, this suspicion had ripened into certainty; he had heard that Luther, under pretence of being captured by his enemies, had been hidden by the contrivance of "the Saxon fox." Luther himself, no doubt at the instance of those who have him in charge, is cautious. On the 12th of May he writes three letters-one to Melanchthon, one to Amsdorf, and one to Agricola, assuring them. of his safety; but they are dated "in regione avium," "in regione volucrum." Presently it came to be "ex Eremo," or "in meiner Pathmos." 1 Meanwhile Aleander was happily convinced that his work was done. He had, indeed, an uncomfortable time when the news of Luther's disappearance came to Worms; he was told, and repeats the story with the gusto of a timid man who has successfully encountered a danger, of conspiracies that had been made and oaths that had been taken against him, "so that he would not be safe, even in the lap of Caesar." But this danger, as many similar ones had already done, passed away. The comforting news came from Paris that the theological faculty of the University had, on the 15th of April, solemnly condemned Luther's books. And presently, when Aleander followed Charles down the Rhine into the well-affected Burgundian lands, there were burnings of books which were as incense in his nostrils. The Parliament of Paris ordered a like conflagration throughout France; a similar auto da fe actually took place in London, when Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, preached a sermon to 30,000 hearers. At the same time, there were clearer eyes than Aleander's, to which the cause of 1 Kolde, Friedr. d. Weise, p. 47; Förstemann, pp. 17-19; Krafft, Briefe und Documente, p. 28; Brieger, pp. 209-213, 244; De Wette, vol. ii. p. 1 seq. the Papacy in Germany did not present itself in so favourable a light. About the middle of July 1521 the Archbishop of Mainz wrote to the Pope: "Day by day, in spite of the endeavours of all good men, of the Bull of your Blessedness, and the Edict of the Emperor against Martin and his accomplices, the forces of the Lutherans increase; not only are there but very few laymen who are candidly and simply well-affected to Churchmen, but a large portion of the priesthood takes part with Luther, and most are ashamed to stand on the side of the Roman Church, so hated is the name of curtisani and the decrees, which with great scorn both the Wittenbergers and others reject." What, then, had the Diet of Worms done for the Church in Germany? And whither had vanished Aleander's victory? 1 1 Brieger, pp. 188, 211, 257; R. Pace to Leo X, Balan, p. 255; Ibid. p. 268. INDEX ACCOLTI, Cardinal Peter, 356 Adelmann, Bernard, 336, 364, 377 Adelmann, Conrad, 336 Adrian of Utrecht, Bishop of Tortosa Eneas Sylvius (Pius II), 66, 69 Albert II (Emperor), 19, 40 Albert of Bavaria, Bishop of Strassburg, 52 Albert of Brandenburg, Archbishop of Albert, Count of Mansfeld, 239 Armstorff, 431 Auer, Dr. John, 245 Augsburg, the centre of German finance, Augsburg, Diet of (1518), 33, 241 sqq. Augustinian Order, its foundation and Aurogallus, Matthew, 259 Austria, House of, its increasing power, Austria, Ferdinand of, 311, 354, 409, 435 Austria, Philip of, 241, 309 Ave Maria, its prominent place in wor- BARBARUS, Hermolaus, 85, 262 Albert of Saxony (Albertine line), 168, Berlepsch, Hans von, Aleander, Hieronymus, birth and career, 359; mission to Germany, 359; at the Alexander VI (Pope), 8, 30, 172, 183, Alveld (Augustine of Alfeld), 352 222, 293, 360, 428, 446, 455, 456, 457 Anne of Brittany, 19, 310 Anshelm, Thomas, 263 Aquinas, Thomas, 31, 68 456 Berlichingen, Götz von, 16 Berthold, Archbishop of Mainz, 20, 21, Besler, Nicholas, 181 Beyer, Leonard, 227, 240, 252 Bible, circulation of in Germany before Bibra, Lorenz von, Bishop of Wurzburg, Biel, Gabriel, 140 Billican, Theobald, 228 Bock, Hans, 445 Bodenstein, Andrew v. Carlstadt Böheim, Hans, his preaching at Niklas Boleyn, Sir Thomas, 310 Boniface, 11, 123 Boniface VIII (Pope), 31, 42, 208, 237 Böschenstein, John, 259 Bracciolini, Poggio, 68 Calvinism, a Protestant scholasticism, 3 Capito, 328, 336, 355 Caracciolo or Caraccioli, Martin, 331, 356, Catharinus, Ambrosius, 427 Celtes, Conrad, 67, 74, 76, 81, 262 Charles V (Emperor), birth, education, Charles VII (of France), 42 Charles VIII (of France), 19, 310 Charles Martel, 11 Charles the Bold, 22, 310 Chièvres, Seigneur de, 311, 312, 411, Christian, King of Denmark, 243 Clement VII (Pope), 30 Cochlaeus, 54, 179, 336, 446 Coelius, Pastor, 124 Common Life, Brethren of the, 38, 42, Conrad, Professor at Heidelberg, 262 Crotus Rubianus (Johann Jäger), his re- DALBERG, Johannes von, 71, 85, 262 Decretals, the pseudo-Isidorian, 8, 31 |