Luther at Wartburg castle. A reformation story of 1521.

Preface

Many of the facts recorded in this little book are familiar to readers of Reformation history, but they have never before been brought together in a continuous narrative in the English language. They have been collected from numerous books concerning Luther, and the well-authenticated facts alone have been incorporated in this volume.

John G. Morris.

Contents

Albert, count of Mansfeld, 30. Albert, archbishop of Mayence, 67. Aleander, 19.

Alphonzo Valdez, 20.

Altenstein castle, 32.

Chapter I. Wartburg Castle

THE capture of Luther by order of the elector Frederick, after the departure of the Reformer from Worms, where he had been summoned to answer for his alleged heresies, and his detention in the castle of Wartburg from May 4, 1521, to March 2, 1522, have imparted an unspeakably great historical interest to this mediaeval fortress. It is situated on a hill nearly fourteen hundred feet high, a few miles distant from the town of Eisenach, in the territory of Saxe-Weimar. It was erected in the year 1070 by Lewis the Leaper, and was for two hundred years the residence of the landgraves of Thuringia. In 1264 that country came into the possession

IO LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE.

of Henry the Illustrious, who made the Wartburg his residence until his death, and his successors continued to occupy it until 1406. After this time the castle underwent many changes. It was inhabited by various noble families, of whom history gives very unsatisfactory and unreliable information; but this much is certain — that it has been the scene of some events of great historical importance.

It was the theatre of the poetic contests of the Minnesingers in the year 1200 under Herman I., and was also rendered memorable in those early days as the residence of the holy Elizabeth, the wife of Herman, who, for her distinguished virtues, was canonized shortly after death. Various miracles are ascribed to her, and the steps leading to her tomb, in Marburg, are worn hollow by the knees of thousands of pilgrims who for nearly seven hundred years have visited her final resting-place to be healed of their various maladies by touching her magnificently-jewelled coffin.

The Wartburg was the scene of another stirring event within the present century. On October 18, 18 17, the anniversary of the battie of Leipzig was celebrated by more than five hundred students and professors from twelve of the universities of Germany. It was also announced as a commemoration of the third century of the Reformation. Social festivities and religious services were held in the Hall of the Knights, and speeches which were considered seditious and revolutionary by the government spies, were delivered. At night some indiscreet students made a bonfire of the writings of such men as Kotzebue, Schmaltz, Haller, Kamptz, and others who were suspected of being inimical to the popular rights of Germany. They also cast into the flames a corporal's staff, in imitation of the burning of the pope's bull by Luther. They performed many other objectionable acts which created great excitement throughout all Europe, and which became subject of grave consideration by several governments, who apprehended that these students aimed at introducing republicanism into Germany. The excitement culminated in the murder of Kotzebue by a student named Sand in March, 1 8 19, which created a political ferment on the whole continent.

For hundreds of years, Wartburg Castle had been suffered to fall into decay, but within the present century the grand duke of Weimar, to whom it belongs, has expended large sums in the restoration of it to its original size and imposing proportions. For many years it was nothing more than a magnificent ruin of the Middle Ages, but now the broken walls have been rebuilt, the shattered apartments have been renewed and refurnished according to the ancient pattern. The gates, corridors, archways, galleries, court, armory, bastions, chapel, towers, and all that constitutes the majesty of a fortress of that remote period, have been renovated, excepting the apartments occupied by Luther, and it is at present the ornament and the pride of the territory.

Thousands of visitors every year ascend the hill on which the castle is perched for the purpose of seeing the small and dingy apartment which is immortalized as the dwellingplace and study of Luther, during his seven months' captivity. There is no doubt that this is the veritable room in which the mighty Reformer wrote and prayed and wept.

It is a poorly-furnished room, containing .nothing more than an old earthen stove, an awkwardly-constructed table, a worm-eaten chair — which was probably not Luther's original — an antique bookcase held together by large round-headed nails and heavy hinges, a few defaced portraits and the vertebra of a whale, which is given out as Luther's footstool. A relic undoubtedly genuine, covered with a small pane of glass, is seen above the door, and it is nothing more than the word " Peter " coarsely written in chalk, which tradition tells us is the original writing of Peter the Great when he visited the Wartburg. The marks of the legend of Luther hurling his inkstand at the devil in the shape of a great fly which had annoyed him are still visible on the wall, but they are regularly freshened up for the benefit of all credulous

* The place once trodden by a righteous man Is sacred ; centuries may revolve, And still the echo of his voice and deeds Is heard. 2 visitors. It seems almost a pity to break the charm of this little story, but it is proper to state that Luther's letters — which are the rich source of information concerning all events happening to him at this period — do not mention it, and it doubtless arose from the fact that in the activity of his imagination he attributed everything unfavorable in temporal or spiritual affairs to the direct personal agency of the devil, just as he blamed the envious Satan for revealing the secret of his presence at the Wartburg.

The small glass panes of the window which looks out upon the Thuringian Forest are glazed with strips of sheet-lead, and it opens in the middle like a double door.

The occasion of Luther's sojourn at the Wartburg will appear from the following narrative.

He had been summoned from Wartburg to a meeting at Worms by the emperor Charles V. to defend himself against the charge of heresy and insubordination. His friends vehemently urged him not to appear, but he persisted, and nothing could intimidate him. The boldness he displayed was heroic to the highest degree, and the whole world has heard of these exhibitions of Christian fortitude with unspeakable admiration. " The papists," said he on observing the anxiety of his friends, " do not wish me to go to Worms, but they 'are longing for my condemnation and death. It matters not. Pray not for me, but for the triumph of the word of God. Before my blood has grown cold thousands of men in the world will have become responsible for having shed it. The most holy adversary of Christ, the father, the master, the generalissimo of murderers, insists on its being shed. So be it : let God's will be done. Christ will give me his Spirit to overcome those ministers of error. I despise them during my life ; I shall triumph over them by my death. They are very busy at Worms in devising measures which shall compel me to retract, and this shall be my retraction : I said formerly that the pope is Christ's vicar ; now I assert that he is our Lord's adversary and the devil's apostle."

Luther appeared before the august assembly,, composed of the emperor, numerous princes of the realm, many high ecclesiastical dignitaries and people of every rank and degree, the majority of whom were bitterly opposed to his doctrine and person. He valiantly maintained his cause before this distinguished assembly, and stoutly refused to recant a single point unless proved erroneous from the Scriptures. After discussing the different doctrines with the most learned theologians of the Romish Church and compelling the admiration of his worst enemies by his dexterity and fluency in debate, the profundity of his learning, the meekness of his spirit and his lion-hearted courage, he was permitted to leave Worms under the protection of " a safe-conduct " * from the emperor, although some of his enemies of high ecclesiastical and civil rank recommended several measures for ridding the Church of this pestilent heretic. This " safe-conduct," or government protection, was limited to a certain number of days, at the expiration of which the bearer could not claim any rights based upon it; but he could be seized

* That which gives a safe passage; either a convoy or guard to protect a person in an enemy's country or in a foreign country, or a writing, a pass or warrant of security given to a person to enable him to travel with safety. — Webster.

and punished like any other alleged malefactor.

Charles, instigated by some powerful enemies of Luther, issued an edict on May 26, 1 52 1, authorizing any one to seize and deliver him up after the lapse of the time, granted by the passport. A few sentences will give an idea of this edict :

"We have therefore dismissed from our presence this Luther, whom all pious and sensible men deem a madman or one possessed of the devil ; and we enjoin that on the expiration of his safe-conduct immediate recourse be had to effectual measures to check his furious rage.

" For this reason, under pain of incurring the penalty due to the crime of high treason, we forbid you to harbor the said Luther after the appointed term shall expire, to conceal him, to give him food or drink, or to furnish him, by word or by deed, publicly or secretly, with any kind of succor whatever. We enjoin you, moreover, to seize this devil Martin Luther clothed in human form and in the garb of a monk, or cause him to be seized, wherever you may find him, to bring him before 2* B us without any delay, or to keep him in safe custody until you have learned from us in what manner you are to act toward him, and have received the reward due to your labor,s in so holy a work.

"As for his adherents, you will apprehend them, confine them and confiscate their property.

"As for his writings, if the best nutriment becomes the detestation of all men as soon as one drop of poison is mingled with it, how much more ought such books, which contain a deadly poison for the soul, to be not only rejected, but destroyed ? You will therefore burn them or utterly destroy them in any other manner."

This imperial mandate sounded more like a papal bull than an act of the empire. In it Luther is execrated as an incorrigible heretic accursed of God and the pope. All his sins are painted in the blackest colors ; the contents of his books are set forth as genuine doctrines of devils. They are represented as inciting war and sedition, robbery and murder; as dissolving all the bonds of the State and of the Church and annihilating the entire

Christian system. The unheard-of insolence, as it was called, with which he rages against all the decrees of the pope and of councils, the holy sacraments, sacerdotal discipline and church order, are depicted in the most offensive language. He is represented as denying all legal and moral obligation, leading a lawless life and indulging in unbridled licentiousness. We need not be surprised at this edict when we know that it was written by the papal legate Aleander, one of Luther's most furious enemies.

One interesting fact in the history of this edict must not be overlooked. It was not promulgated until the 26th of May, at which time the Diet had been dissolved and most of the members had left Worms ; but, to give it the appearance of an act of the Diet, it was purposely dated May 8 and had not received the sanction of many members. The few men who adopted it did not meet in the hall of the imperial assembly, but the emperor convened them in his own private apartments, where the act was consummated ; and, to make it appear to have been unanimously adopted, a spurious date was attached to it.

Such was the proclamation issued by the emperor, and all men were commanded to observe it. It placed Luther and his friends in a fearful predicament. There were thousands who were ready to execute it, for they thirsted for his blood and would have made a merit of putting him to death. But the Lord preserved him from the machinations of the wicked, for Luther had not yet accomplished the work for which he was raised up. All the adherents of Rome burst into a shout of triumph. The victory was achieved. The outlawed monk could easily be apprehended, and dealt with accordingly. Others, more farseeing, entertained different views. " In my opinion," said Alphonso Valdez, a Spaniard at the court of Charles, " it is not the end, but the beginning; for I find that the minds of the Germans are much excited against the papal chair." He was right. The cause had taken such deep root in the Church and in the people that, even should Luther be put to death, the Reformation would not perish with him. Everybody was aware of the danger to which he was exposed, but still some discriminating men believed that the revolution had taken too firm a hold upon the hearts of thousands to be put back, even though the leader of it should be put out of the way. Some of the most influential states of the empire had openly expressed their disapprobation of the abominable oppressions of the pope and his allies. They spoke with reverence of the heroic Luther, and had themselves abolished some of the abuses of the Church. In many towns the people had espoused the new doctrine, and no one dared to publish the edict of Worms, " for fear of the people." At many places the Lutheran party was so strong that the Romanists were compelled to keep quiet. Even in Worms, Luther's writings were sold in the streets before the emperor had left the city.

In the condition of things then existing, it could be foreseen that the edict would not produce important results. Some of fclae states did not conceal their admiration of Luther's bearing at the Diet; to others this religious controversy was a matter of too much indifference to allow the edict to be seriously carried into effect in their territories. Besides these, for a long time the majority of the states had established it as a principle to employ every method to weaken the influence of the papal assumptions relating to German affairs. The emperor himself was at that time involved , in a war with Francis I. of France, and he had neither time nor power to execute the wishes of the Roman court. It was only in the states of Duke George of Saxony and of the elector of Brandenburg in which any unfavorable results for the Lutheran party were to be apprehended.

Frederick the Wise, elector of Saxony, the sovereign of Luther, was highly delighted with his courageous conduct at the Diet; but he knew well enough that he would incur the odium and opposition of the emperor and his party if he openly resisted the edict and in defiance of it protected the outlawed Reformer. He conceived a plan by which he could shield him from the wrath of his enemies and grant him rest for a season from his exhausting labors.

If he could secrete him for a while from public observation and let the report go forth that Luther was murdered, the excitement would subside and the general apprehension be quieted. It is said by some that even the emperor himself was privy to this scheme, but the report is not authentic. Frederick had Luther apprehended on his return from the Diet, and he was secretly conveyed to Wartburg Castle. The elector was much too conscientious to expose himself to the dilemma of knowing where Luther was concealed and thus appearing to maintain a stand of opposition to his sovereign, and hence he left the execution of the design to his court-preacher and private secretary, Spalatin. He selected the Wartburg as the most desirable asylum, and employed the bold and stalwart castellan Hans von Berlepsch to carry out the plan in its details. The latter took into his confidence a nobleman of the vicinity, Burkard von Hund, and also employed other subordinates. It was only the day before Luther left Worms that Spalatin succeeded in gaining his consent to the capture, but without informing him where it was to occur or to what place he was to be conducted. Perhaps they were afraid that his candor or want of caution or abhorrence of all duplicity might lead him to betray the secret.

Chapter II. The Capture

IT was Friday, April 26, 152 1, when Luther left Worms on his return home. After he had given his farewell benediction to his friends, many of whom had visited him on the eve of his departure, and having partaken of a frugal meal, he left the place at 10 A. m., accompanied by some who had determined to go with him all the way to Wittenberg, and by others who could proceed only a short distance. Casper Sturm, the imperial herald, in his official costume, followed him after a few hours, and overtook him at Oppenheim and acted as his protector under direct orders of the emperor. Charles was too well aware of the opinion of the princes and of the states,' as well as of the people, and, besides, he was too conscientious himself, to allow Luther to be exposed to the violence of his enemies.

Instead of yielding to the murderous importunity of those who urged him not to observe the rights of the safe-conduct to the heretic, but to treat him as Huss was treated at Constance one hundred years before, he despatched one of his own trusty henchmen to guard him against violence.

It must be recorded to the credit of the emperor that to some princes at Worms who advised him to execute Luther he replied : " No. As Luther came here under the imperial protection and safe -conduct, we will not consent that any harm shall befall him ; for if fidelity to one's promises were driven out of all the world besides, it should still be found in an emperor."

In the same vehicle which the magistracy of Wittenberg had furnished to convey Luther to Worms, and in which he now entered on his homeward journey, there were seated with him, when they started, his friends Nicolas von Amsdorf, Justus Jonas, Jerome Schurf — who was his legal adviser at the Diet — John Suaven — a Pomeranian nobleman who was a student at Wittenberg — and John Petzensteiner, a brother of some order, who, according to its rules, was obliged to accompany him to Worms. Luther's own brother Jacob joined him subsequently.

On April 28 they arrived at Frankfort, where he received many tokens of regard from his friends and patrons. From this place he wrote a letter to his friend Lucas Kranach in Wittenberg, informing him of the proceedings at Worms, in which he says : " Nothing more was done than, ' Did you write these books ?' — ' Yes.' — ' Will you recant them ?' — ' No !' — ' Then begone.' O we blind Germans ! how like children we act, and so miserably allow ourselves to be fooled by the Romanists!"

He had been informed of his intended capture, and submitted to it with hesitation ; but he remembered how the servant of the Lord, Obadiah, the chamberlain of King Ahab, took a hundred prophets and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water to protect them against the vengeance of the ungodly queen Jezebel (1 Kings xviii. 4), and how the disciples took Paul by night and let him down by the wall in a basket (Acts ix. 25), and how the wise men were warned

LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE. 2J

of God in a dream to avoid the snares laid for them by Herod (Matt. ii. 12). In the letter to Kranach he takes leave of him and alludes to his contemplated apprehension, and continues : " I bless you and commend you to God. I will consent to be concealed, but I do not know where it is to be ; and, although I would rather have suffered death from tyrants, especially from the infuriate Duke George, yet I must not disregard the counsel of good men. For a brief season we must keep silent and suffer. ' For a little while ye shall not see me, but in a little while ye shall see me.' Thus speaks Christ (John xvi. 15). I hope that may be your experience ; but God's will be done in this, as in all other things, on earth as it is in heaven."

The imperial edict against Luther was not yet publicly proclaimed, but the report of his heroic conduct at Worms had spread abroad as if by a winged messenger. His journey homeward was like a triumphal procession, for many who were certain that he would fall a sacrifice to priestly tyranny and hate now hailed him and his friends with rapture.

On the same day they arrived at Friedheim. Here they rested for a short period, during which Luther wrote a long Latin letter to the emperor, and another of similar import, in German, to those electors, princes and states of the Holy Roman Empire who were assembled in Worms. In both he vindicated his conduct at the Diet in moderate and dignified language, and promised, although he could not succeed in having his writings examined by competent judges in Worms, that he would appear before such judges anywhere and recant if his facts and arguments were refuted by the Holy Scriptures. For the security of the safe-conduct he again expressed his thanks ; he had expressed his gratitude personally to the emperor before he had left Worms. On the following day he despatched both letters by the hands of the imperial herald to Spalatin, who was still at that place, to be by him delivered to the parties addressed. The herald was thus dismissed, and this, was an important step, for he might be in the way of carrying out the design ; and, besides, his presence was no longer necessary, for they were now approaching the dominions of the landgrave Philip of Hessia, who had given Luther a safe-conduct through his territory.

It is probable that he wrote these letters at the instigation of the elector, for in an enclosed note to Spalatin he says : " Here you have the letters which you desired."

From Friedheim the journey was continued through the territory of the landgrave of Hessia, passing by Griinberg, Hersfeld and Berka, until, on the evening of May I, they reached Eisenach, near which they were met by a crowd of citizens, who escorted them into the town.

At Hersfeld, Luther was received with great respect by the abbot Krato Meilius. " The abbot," says he, " sent his chancellor and chamberlain a whole mile to meet me, and he himself received me with numerous horsemen at his castle and conducted me into the village. At the gate the magistrates awaited me ; in the monastery I was sumptuously entertained, and had a most comfortable chamber and a soft bed. They compelled me to preach next morning at five o'clock, although I resisted this appeal, for I was afraid it might be the occasion of detriment to the abbot, and 3* they would also say that I had broken my promise, as they had forbidden me to preach during my journey. Yet T did not keep silence, and did not consent that the word of the Lord should be bound. The next day the abbot furnished me with, an escort as far as the forest, and ordered his chancellor to provide another meal for us all at Berka. I also preached at Eisenach. True, the pastor of the church protested against it through a notary and witnesses, but afterward apologized by saying that he did it only from necessity and fear of his superiors."

Thus Luther reports his tour to Spalatin. In another letter from Eisenach to Count Albert of Mansfeld he says: " They enjoined it upon me not to preach or write during my journey. I said, ' I will do everything that is agreeable to His Imperial Majesty, and yet I will leave God's word unbound.' Thus I departed, and am now in Eisenach. Mark well, they will accuse me of having forfeited my safe-conduct, for I have preached at Hersfeld and Eisenach, and they interpret the prohibitory language very strictly."

At Eisenach he was received by a crowd

LUTHER AT WARTBURG CASTLE. 3 I

of the citizens, as at Hersfeld ; and, whilst he was calmly sleeping in " his own dear city," there was on the same night a tumultuous uproar of his youthful admirers, principally students, in Erfurt, occasioned by a fierce attack of the deacon of one of the churches, from the steps of the high altar, upon Dr. Johann Drach, a professor in the university, who was an adherent of the new doctrine.

At Eisenach his travelling associates, excepting Amsdorf, separated from him. Most probably he was here joined by his brother Jacob, who accompanied him, on May 3, to Mora — " the Nazareth of Germany " — the former residence of his parents, where his grandmother and his uncle Heinz Luther, and many other relatives, still lived.

He here preached under a linden tree, for the chapel was much too small to contain the crowd that streamed from all quarters to hear their distinguished relative ; so that he could justly write : " I travelled through the forest to see my relatives, who are so numerous that they occupy nearly the whole neighborhood." This linden is said to have stood before the original Luther house as late as fifty years ago, and was reckoned to be five hundred or six hundred years old.

Luther was at this time thirty-eight years old. He was of medium size, robustly built, but so reduced by cares and hard study that when he was approached near, all his bones could be counted. In his countenance, which also gave evidence of night-vigils and mental conflicts, there glowed two fiery eyes whose piercing glance it was hard to endure. At this time he still wore the cowl of the monk.

The next day he pursued his journey with his two companions to Waltershausen. The way leads near to the castle of Altenstein and passes through the Thuringian Forest. Near the castle, in a narrow defile, the vehicle was suddenly stopped by five masked and armed horsemen. One of them attacked the postilion and hurled him to the earth ; another seized Amsdorf and held him firmly. He begged for mercy, but Luther, understanding the whole affair, pacified his alarmed fellowtravellers by saying, " Confide, amici nostril" (" Be of good courage ; they are our friends.")

The other three horsemen with feigned violence dragged Luther from the carriage, threw a military cloak over him and ordered him to mount a horse, before provided.

According to another account, when Luther was violently dragged out of the wagon he uttered the words, " Hell, hast thou conquered ?" This exclamation might be interpreted as though he assumed he was apprehended by enemies in a region where the doctrines of Rome were still tenaciously held, and that he was not aware of what was to occur ; but it can be easily reconciled to his consoling words to Amsdorf, inasmuch as he knew the diabolical plans with which he was persecuted, and which rendered his concealment from the world necessary. Without these wicked and malicious spirits his concealment would not have been necessary ; and he may have meant this when he made the exclamation.

Luther's brother, Jacob, fled in alarm and concealed himself in the forest. The two who had Amsdorf and the coachman in custody now left them alone. All five leaped to their saddles and hurried away in a rapid gallop with their prisoner. The brother of the order c had fled, without so much as a parting salutation, to Waltershausen.*

The coachman, alarmed to the highest degree, soon recovered sufficient consciousness to resume his place, and, taking Amsdorf into the wagon, drove at a rapid speed to Wittenberg. All along the road, in every village and to every one they met, they reported the violent abduction of Luther, and the alarming news soon spread over all the country around. The people were astonished and indignant, and the exclamation was everywhere heard, " Luther has fallen into the hands of his enemies."

The captors of Luther in the mean time proceeded in the direction of Wartburg, where they arrived at eleven o'clock at night. The whole transaction was performed, under the direction of the elector Frederick, by the castellan of Wartburg, Hans von Berlepsch, and his friend Burkhard Hund von Wenkheim.

A short distance from Steinbach there still exists Luther's Spring, so called from the

* The accounts differ. Some have it that this was Luther's own brother Jacob, and others that the Augustinian brother was still one of the company.