A prosopographical study of the protestant clergy in German imperial cities : a short description given by putting the hand in the sample1
p. 337-362
Texte intégral
1This article will illustrate central questions of my forthcoming doctoral thesis by presenting the cases of seven preachers out of a sample of more than 1200 persons The subject of my work are the protestant clergymen of twelve imperial cities in the south of the Empire in Franconia and Suebia2. All those superintendents, parish priests, preachers and deacons3 serving in one of these cities between 13 August 1552 and 6 March 16294 belong to the sample. The twelve towns – representing a quite complete variety of types – have been chosen because their clerical staff has been included into a Pfarrerbuch, the main source of my work. I have entered the contents of the Pfarrerbücher into the computer using the KLEIO-programme.
2The Pfarrerbücher are an achievment of meticulous scholarship and contain a collection of all available information about the protestant preachers of a territory, an imperial town or a certain area5. They tell us about the whole life of the clergymen, their school and university training and their professional career ; partly we hear about particular incidents like theological quarrels leading to dismissals etc. The Pfarrerbücher list the signatures to articles of faith like the Formula of Concord ; and partly they list the writings of the preachers. What they tell us about the social history of the protestant clergy is of particular importance : We learn about their marriages, the occupations of their fathers, fathers-in-law, sons, sons-in-law etc. In addition, we learn about the complicated texture of sovereignty which existed especially in many country parishes6. These conditions deeply influenced the lives of the parish priests as one of our seven examples will reveal, and emphasize the relevance of the institutional aspect to prosopographical research7.
3In this article I will not deal with the results I gained from the Pfarrerbücher. Instead, I want to go into the information supplied by printed sources and a body of secondary literature, the vast number of works on church history and local history, which have never been utilized systematically. Unfortunately, the size of my sample – more than 1200 clergymen from the twelve free cities, a couple of towns and a lot of villages belonging to their territories – made supplementary archival research impossible8.
4To avoid the distortion of the quantitative results and to maintain a standardized basis of sources, the information I have got from secondary literature and printed sources has not been entered into the computer. Instead these materials are used in a descriptive way. A variety of aspects treated thus can be demonstrated by the example of seven clergymen, constituting not more than 0.58 % of the whole group. Naturally the choice of the seven preachers is not completely accidental as the title of the article would suggest. But indeed many of the clergymen of which I will make no further mention in this article would have served the same purpose :
5Johann Frey, for instance, the Schweinfurt superintendent, initially coming from the duchy of Württemberg, could have told us how the commitment to his princely sovereign who had given him a grant interfered with his official duties obligations to the free city of Schweinfurt. His fate could also be used to show how reluctant the authorities of an imperial town could be to comply with the demands for denominational conformity by the expulsion of nonconformists, especially if they were to drive away a popular and capable man like the Calvinist doctor Josias Simler
6The deacon Wolfgang Waldner could have been introduced as a sort of "guardian" and "second man" of his church Already during the time he spent in Nuremberg he had acted as a strictly Lutheran Streittheologe. When he came to Ratisbone he behaved as a stem guardian of his city’s denominational purity and took care of the expulsion of deviants. In this way he exerted an enormous influence without showing any ambition to get to the top of the church.
7The preacher Johann Flinner could be presented as a man belonging to a clientèle network whose leader was the wealthy merchant Jakob Herbrot. Its members supported the Zwinglian-Upper German line at Augsburg and favoured political rule by the guilds9. Flinner who owed his career to this network10 identified himself to a large extent with the family of his patron11
8Instead of treating these or other interesting figures I restrict myself to the following seven preachers : Wolfgang Ammon, deacon at Dinkelsbühl, his Weißenburg colleague Johann Albrecht, the preacher of St Lorenz in Nuremberg Hieronymus Besold, Leonhard Culmann from St Sebald, the other principal church of the city, Melchior Voltz, preacher of St Anna, the principal church of Augsburg, David Vogelmann, the parish priest of Orlach, a village belonging to the territory of Hall, and finally Peter Dietz, a parish priest of the town of Heilbronn12.
9Ammon as well as Albrecht and Culmann show – in spite of the religious character of their office – a remarkably rational attitude towards their occupation, a career consciousness hardly compatible with the antiquated ideas of the cleric’s indissoluble connection with his office13.
10Ammon asked the church authorities for leave to move to a position in another territory if they should not be able to increase his salary. The Church Council of Dinkelsbühl was not outraged, but complied with his desire to get more money14. When Albrecht applied for the parish of Weimersheim in Brandenburg-Ansbach, the chief superintendent of the margraviate doubted the seriousness of his intentions. He suspected him of only trying to increase his salary in WeiBenburg. In fact, Albrecht remained in the imperial city’s service after his income had been raised15.
11According to his biographer Matthias Wilhelm Senger, Culmann disguised his non-religious, especially pecuniary motives when he declined the offer of the parish of Crailsheim in the same margraviate giving as his reason that his Nuremberg employers wished to keep him as their preacher16. Culmann had worked at his ecclesiastical career in a very purposeful way. He started from a teaching post, a normal way of embarking on a career in the church. He stayed in education for so long, however, that he felt that he had to demonstrate his suitability for a church office as clearly as possible. This seemed all the more necessary as his sovereign, the margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, had not allowed him to study theology17. As Senger describes the case, Culmann began now to prove his competence in the theological sphere by publishing a lot of theological tracts which he dedicated to influential men in Nuremberg and in the margraviate, especially in his hometown of Crailsheim. He had kept up the connection with this town for a long time, sometimes acting as a sort of pedagogical adviser, because he knew that the parish priest of Crailsheim was critically ill and would soon vacate his post. When eventually offered the position, Culmann rejected it, however, as we already know. Nuremberg appointed him to the office of preacher at the little church of St Mary. But he did not stay long in this mediocre position. After having replaced the preacher of St Sebald, at first temporarily during an illness, Culmann was eventually appointed permanently to this most respected ecclesiastical office in the city18.
12But in spite of the keen interest he took in his career, Culmann was no careerist. Like many of his fellow clergymen he was not prepared to betray his theological convictions in order to save his position. In the Osiandrist controversy about the doctrine of justification19 Culmann insisted on his position and defended it in a sermon, vehemently attacking the council’s attitude. Not even an illustrious commission of theologians, led by Melanchthon, which later came to Nuremberg in order to mediate20 could make him change his mind. After the afore mentioned sermon, the council was forced to dismiss him in 1555, on the 30th of July21. He was nonetheless treated with amazing leniency. In view of his merits and his advanced age, one did not want him to be exposed to the cold winter weather. He was given ample time to find a new post. In the meantime, the authorities continued to pay his salary. All these concessions were made under the condition, however, that he abstained from all theological agitation. Although he did not fulfill this condition at all but went on publishing in order to justify his own behaviour in the quarrel, the council did not take harsher measures such as driving him out of the city, but was content to deny him access to the printing press. If he obeyed now, he would be allowed to stay until Candlemas 1556. After Culmann had found a new employer, he got the letter of reference he absolutely needed to get the new post. In this letter, Culmann’s part in the Osiandrist controversy was not hidden, but the church authorities also emphasized how impeccably he had done his duty in any other respect. He even received a certain sum of money in order to pay off his debts. Only his request to be allowed to stay a citizen of Nuremberg was refused22.
13With similar humanity, the small imperial city of Dinkelsbühl acted in the case of Wolfgang Ammon who could not keep his position because of his opposition to the Formula of Concord which the protestant church of the town had accepted. He was not expelled summarily, the church council went to such lenghts instead as to seek theological expert opinion from the university of Tubingen which proved Ammon’s deviation from the Lutheran doctrine of the Eucharist23. And as in the case of Culmann, Ammon’s dismissal did not take place abruptly. It had announced itself some time before and did not mean immediate expulsion ; Ammon who had been dismissed on 15 March 1579 was allowed to stay until Pentecost in May24.
14The conditions of David Vogelmann’s dismissal in 1605 on the other hand were much harsher. The parish priest of Orlach was first locked up in jail. Then the old man and father of thirteen children had to leave Hall and to give up his citizenship25. As we have seen in the case of Culmann went with citizenship his position as a municipal officer.
15Why was Vogelmann treated so harshly ? Obviously he had deeply insulted some councillors26. Furthermore, the authorities had hardly forgotten his active role in a public unrest27. When he had been dismissed from his office as a deacon at Hall eleven years before because of his involvement in various quarrels the authorities had given him a first warning and shown greater leniency. Possibly in view of his many children, he was allowed to remain in office until he had found a new employer. Moreover, Vogelmann received the indispensable letter of reference from the Stättmeister und Rat which no magistracy would dispense with because the employment of a clergymen whose way of life and theological position was not above all suspicion meant a considerable risk. In Vogelmann’s case the letter even praised his general suitability for ecclesiastical offices and explained his dismissal in a way quite advantageous for him28.
16Ammon too had to present such a letter when he successfully applied for the post of deacon in Dinkelsbühl29. Such an application on one’s own initiative was a frequent way to gain an ecclesiastical office. Albrecht, for instance, became deacon in the Nuremberg town of Altdorf in this way30. Normally only comparatively prominent persons were called upon by the authorities31 of an imperial city when they had to fill the post of the highest ranking parish priest or the superintendent.
17Very often, the recommendation of influential patrons was successful. This had, of course, been common practice in the pre-Reformation church : Peter Dietz was recommended to Heilbronn for a prebend by count Ludwig von Helfenstein and by the rector of the university of Heidelberg in 152032. The qualities they praised in their protege bear a likeness to those demanded from protestant preachers : as a student Dietz’s behaviour had been highly laudable. He has been tranquil, honourable, virtuous and hard-working33. After the Reformation patronage remained important. Ammon was lucky in that the imperial councillor Seckendorf was in town and could recommend him to the knightly parish of Marktbreit34 when he lost the office of deacon in Dinkelsbühl. Culmann, on the other hand, enjoyed the persistent support of Johannes Brenz, the Reformer of Hall and a leading man of the Württemberg church, who probably helped him to get a new parish after his dismissal in Nuremberg35
18But even the recommendation of such an important person was not always successful, especially when a still more eminent man entered the scene. When Brenz recommended his protee to the council of Rothenburg which was looking for a superintendent for the newly established protestant church of the town, another candidate, proposed by Philipp Melanchthon, was preferred36.
19Melchior Voltz too got the position of preacher of St Anna’s in Augsburg on the grounds of a recommendation. In a letter written to the political administration the Kirchenpfleger as the leading ecclesiastical authority of Augsburg reported that Voltz, holding office in Württemberg, had been strongly recommended by "theologis" and " politicis" whose recommendations were absolutely credible. The same was said of the other candidate, Johann Cementarius who, by the way, also came from Württemberg. The Kirchenpfleger and the ministry were in agreement, the letter continued, and nominated these two men. The political administration would now have to select the more suitable candidate. They, eventually, decided in favour of Voltz. Each of the candidates was praised by his advocates for the same qualities. Both were above forty which was said to be the proper age for being appointed to a responsible office Both preachers were credited with a character of extraordinary peacefulness and discretion and said to lack none of the qualities necessary for a preacher37. The characterization of Voltz as a calm and peaceful man is quite surprising in view of the excessive belligerence he displayed at Augsburg. To be sure, in a provincial town in Württemberg the peacefulness was not put to a test of similar severeness as in Augsburg, which might be described as a sort of West-Berlin of the reformation period and the denominational age Others had undergone the same experience before. Even clergymen recommended by Melanchthon himself as peaceful persons turned out to be great fighters before the Lord when they became immersed in the challenging atmosphere of the Sueabian metropolis charged as it was with cross-cutting confrontations between a catholic political elite and a protestant citizenry as well as between protestant factions.
20Voltz himself was heating up the denominational conflict by preaching sharply against the catholic procession on Good Friday whereupon the Jesuits attacked him in polemical rejoinders which sometimes went below the belt38. Thus, the Jesuit Gretser did not shrink back from publicly calling into question the virginity of the preacher’s unmarried daughters39.
21In the long run, the man from Württemberg did not feel at home in the imperial city and began to prepare his return into the service of his duchy’s church by writing letters to duke Ludwig40. The duke’s chancellery actually demanded the return of Voltz arguing that he was – like his Schweinfurt colleague Frey – committed to the duke because of a stipend he had received41 The feeling of obligation to his princely sovereign lasted for the rest of his life and proved stronger than the ties that bound him to his employers.
22The authorities of Augsburg had no real choice Political wisdom caused the council not to insist on the six months period of notice though the moment was rather inconvenient because another parish was vacant already42. But the hasty departure of Voltz must not lead to the conclusion that his commitment towards the imperial city as his employer had been lukewarm. Together with his parish priest deacon Voltz had pledged his loyalty to the council and to the whole city on 6 February 1573 and vowed to care for their welfare, to preserve them from any harm and to inform the council of everything that could endanger council or city. If he was involved in a lawsuit, he promised to take the case to court in the city and not to appeal to outside courts43 .
23This vow which follows the general pattern of a civil servant’s oath44 and is also very similar to a citizen’s oath45 shows how a catholic council endeavoured to make sure of the good behaviour of the protestant clergymen whom the councillors could not help regarding a potential danger46.
24On 13 August 1573 Ammon subscribed to the general installation of the Dinkelsbühl deacons47 which was inserted as a whole into a declaration of the deacons in which they professed to observe the church order48. In the general installation itself, the tasks of the deacon were listed and he was committed to lead an irreproachable life49. In addition, he had to swear an oath of allegiance to the council50. At the end of the general installation the Kirchenpfleger reserved for themselves the right to dismiss the deacon at any time and even before the period of one year specified in the contract in case of disorderly conduct or deviation in matters of doctrine. In this case the deacon could even be dismissed without a letter of reference51. Compared to the strong position of the church authorities spelt out in the installation the actual conditions of Ammon’s dismissal were, as we have seen52.
25According to the general installation, Ammon had been taken on for one year ; then his contract had been renewed year after year53. This meant, on the one hand, a loss of security, but it enabled Ammon also to raise his income every year54 whereas a contract for a lifetime, which was to become common in the time to come55, meant that pay rises were up to the authorities. The preachers had to beg for increases in humble letters and to describe their necessity as dramatically as possible, by referring to their numerous children and the general rise in prices.
26The Weißenburg deacon Albrecht had also to sign a declaration in which he subscribed to certain articles of faith and promised to observe the church ordinance as well as the usual ceremonies of the free city’s church56 At the same time he vowed to obey the parish priest57. Even though the addressees of this commitment were the council and the church authorities respectively and not the parish priest himself, one cannot overlook the traces of the traditional idea that the assistants are the parish priest’s private employees similar to a master’s journeymen58
27The employment of Peter Dietz as parish priest of Heilbronn in 1528 leads us back into the unreformed world, not only because he was still a Catholic, but also because he held that of the two leading ecclesiastical offices of the town which had been in particular a part of the old ecclesiastical organization : In fact, he only served as a substitute of the real incumbent, a canon from Würzburg59, whereas the preacher’s office had been created in the religious movement of the last century by the citizens themselves in order to intensify the preaching of the gospel which they found insufficiently provided within the ordinary structures60. Dietz’s contract remained nonetheless typical for the following period, as the old system of benefices as well as its integration into the agrarian economy continued to exist. The contract with the Kirchherr into which Dietz entered on 10 February 1528 stated not only the duration of employment, nine years, but included also an obligation to raise the value of the parish estates and buildings as the material substratum of the parish priesthood. Dietz had to promise, for instance, not to sell the straw but to use it for the improvement of the land61 .
28Its patriarchal character and the obligation to take care formed a central component of the relationship between the employing authority and its clerical employees. When Peter Dietz was no longer able to fill the office of a protestant preacher because of his old age he received a benefice in 1565 for the rest of his life62. Another example of paternal care is that of Hieronymus Besold in Nuremberg whom the council ordered to be nursed albeit at his own expense after he had contracted the plague63. The council also tried to help him to get over the death of his wife which had occurred in the meantime64. In addition, the council took steps to move him to another accomodation and made arrangements for his care there. All these measures should, of course, not be seen as acts of sheer solicitude. For the preacher’s house was itself needed to accommodate sick persons. Besold could, it is true, choose between different lodgings but he had no choice whether to stay in his home or not65. The other side of the medal of patriarchal care was thus always a measure of incapacitation.
29The care for Besold was nevertheless exemplary. The council inquired if he was provided with everything he needed at his new place of residence, gave him money to balance the costs which resulted from the keeping of two households and continued to take care of his nursing66. The city fathers even extended their care beyond the grave. They looked after his property until guardians had been chosen for Besold’s daughter who was still a minor67.
30There is a fundamental contradiction in the relationship between clergymen and council. On the one hand, there is the oath of Ammon strictly impressing obedience upon him ; there are the humble phrases the clergymen had to use when they wrote to the authorities, and there is the anxiety Culmann showed after he had turned down the offer to go to Ravensburg as a temporary preacher which led the councillors to assure him that they were not angry with him in order to calm him down68. A similar anxiety can also be seen in the case of the foremost preacher of Heilbronn Jakob Ratz whom Dietz had attacked fiercely on the pulpit. Dietz had questioned the regularity of the new preacher’s appointment intimating that Ratz had got his post by bribery. Moreover, he had characterized him as a man who would never have found another position in any other place69. Against these attacks and against the accusation that he tolerated catholic remains of the "Augsburg Interim" which the Emperor had forced on the free cities and other protestant lands in Southern Germany some years before70, the preacher defended himself by a refutation addressed to the council71.
31On the other hand, there is a remarkable sense of independence completely contradicting this impression of anxiety. Ammon, for instance, resolutely refused the demand of the catholic council of Dinkelsbühl to abstain from calling the pope "Antichrist" and the catholics slaves of the devil and from singing the full text of the song "Erhalt uns Herr bei Deinem Wort", equating the pope with a fiend quite like the Turkish sultan72. Culmann provoked his employers when he tried highhandedly to remove what remained of the Interim73. Vogelmann even ventured into the area of politics, resounding a typical theme of urban protest against oligarchic rule when he demanded that in the choice of councillors the common good should prevail over wealth and connections74. Voltz preached against usury and against the buying up of grain by speculators and called for its distribution75 suggesting even concrete measures for the solution of an ever present problem. After his return to Württemberg, he showed the same awareness for secular problems. As abbot of the protestant monastery of Anhausen, he complained to his lord that he was no longer in charge of the secular affairs of his abbey. This, he wrote to duke Ludwig, dealt a severe blow above all to the peasants who had now lost their only possibility to complain of oppressions by the duke’s officials76. Such candour did not please the duke. Voltz fell out of favour with him and had to try hard to win back the princely grace by writing a humble letter to Ludwig77.
32The example shows the fundamental difference between ecclesiastical service in a free city and the situation of a clergyman living in a princely territory. Whereas, at Augsburg, Voltz had been able to permit himself a certain degree of criticism, such advances were brutally stopped in Württemberg. The princes’ consciousness of their own eminence left the preachers less room than the councils of the free cities. The latter may have insisted with determination on their authonty but, as a rule, they were less prone to act arbitrarily78.
33The reader may point to the case of David Vogelmann mentioned above and raise the objection that he had been incarcerated by the free city of Hall79 But, as we have seen, Vogelmann was a man who had caused trouble several times during his term of office. Besides, he was soon released.
34The same Vogelmann had been imprisoned before. And once again, his case can be used to illustrate another more general problem. For his difficulties were due to the peculiar overlapping of secular and ecclesiastical rights so typical in this part of the country. His parish, Orlach, was subordinate to the ecclesiastical sovereignty of Hall, though the right of presentation was in the hands of Sebastian von Crailsheim who also owned the vicarage. So poor Vogelmann was bound to get into a very difficult situation in case of frictions between the two parties : in the beginning, the lord had appointed him to the displeasure of the Hall authorities who had just dismissed him as their deacon. After Vogelmann had managed to get in touch with the council of the free city, however, the nobleman withdrew his goodwill and refused to admit him to the vicarage in his possession. Vogelmann had no choice but to lodge in whatever accommodation he could find with his large family. He tned in vain to explain his desperate situation in an implonng letter to von Crailsheim. The nobleman remained unmoved and put another preacher into the house instead He even arrested Vogelmann after he had lured him into his territory. He had to stay in prison in extremely inhuman conditions until he had abjured all vengeance and taken the blame for the whole affair80.
35Unclear and contradictory conditions of service were a main characteristic of the country parson’s situation, especially in the territories of free cities which were permanently contested by their princely neighbours and partly also threatened by the Counter Reformation81. This lack of security which distinguished the experiences of many country parsons from those of their urban colleagues has so far not been given the attention it deserves, Historians have instead concentrated on the poor state of education82 or on the clergyman’s isolation in the country environment into which he did not fit because of his urban and academic background83. The main shortcoming of these views is that their conception of town and country reveals a lack of differentiation and histoneal imagination. When they speak of "towns", they tacitly imagine large cities like Augsburg or Cologne, without taking into account the rural character of most of the towns. Not only the citizens of the so called Ackerbürgerstädte but also many inhabitants of the larger towns pursued some agriculture or horticulture84. On the other side, the effects of rural trade largely neglected in the context of this discussion must not be underestimated85. The parish of Fürth, a Markt belonging to the Nuremberg territory, for instance, consisted increasingly of tradesmen and landlords whereas the farmers were a minority86.
36Thus the differences are not so clear-cut on either side as most historians would have it. Moreover, the prosopographical approach makes it clear that we cannot distinguish between of two completely different types of clergymen as Paul Drews did. The careers of a very large number of our clergymen took place both in towns and in villages. Ammon, Culmann, Voltz and Vogelmann are cases in point. Sometimes this overlapping of town and country even assumes an institutional form. The deacons of Altdorf had to look after the village of Altenthann87 while their colleagues from Windsheim had to preach in the villages of Kühlsheim, Wiebelsheim, Oberntief and Humprechtsau (88). Should they be booked under city or countryside89 ?
37The main problem someone like David Vogelmann had to cope with was not how to live in a social environment unattractive for an academically educated townsman, but the lack of security caused by the contradictory pretensions of different lords. His predicament was not over before 1597, when the sons of Sebastian von Crailsheim sold all their privileges to Hall90.
38In the course of Vogelmann’s long and hard life the aspect of quarrels with colleagues was not missing. He had argued with his superior, the preacher David Röβler when he had demanded the removal of the altars in the church of St Mary. And this had been one of the reasons for his dismissal in 159491. It was a typical theological dispute but also a conflict between leading preacher and deacon which had ended with the expulsion of the lower ranking man But there could also be circumstances in which the outcome of a quarrel was not determined by hierachy. In WeiBenburg, the deacons Johann Albrecht and his colleague Georg Preisinger had to defend themselves against the parish priest Sebastian Stieber who accused them of violating the church ordinance by dispensing with the surplice and by refusing the elevation of the host92. Moreover, he reproached them bitterly for neglecting his authority93.
39Albrecht as Stieber’s mam opponent and his combatant did not yield, though the church ordinance commanded obedience towards the parish priest as we have seen above. (Here as in the case of Dinkelsbühl we can see the influence of the old conception of the deacons being assistants of the parish priests hired and payed by their superior himself). Albrecht and Preisinger replied that Stieber violated protestant principles by sticking to the injunctions of the Interim. They even enlisted the support of Philipp Melanchthon who was staying at Nuremberg at that time94 Above all, they declared categorically that they are not the parish priest’s servants95
40In this case, one can see a theological dispute and a fundamental difference of opinion about the relationship between parish priest and deacon merge. Although the city authorities tended to prefer their leading clergymen’s hierarchical interpretation to the collegial conception of the deacons more suitable to the priesthood of all believers, it was Albrecht’s faction which prevailed96. Stieber had fought a losing battle, because defenders of the interim were no longer backed by the emperor’s power, and because he had thought of himself as an advocate of his former lord, the neighbouring margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach. For instance, he explicitly referred to the church ordinance of the margraviate which came close to claiming its validity for Weißenburg The margrave, however, who had the office of parish priest in his patronage97 was obviously not interested in questioning the ecclesiastical sovereignty of WeiBenburg98. So nobody backed Stieber. By deciding in favour of Albrecht and his colleagues, the council of Weißenburg stressed its independence vis-à-vis its powerful neighbour.
41Like Albrecht, Culmann and Dietz also quarrelled with their colleagues over the Interim, and again we find that the theological quarrel is mixed up with other issues.
42In Nuremberg the preachers of St Sebald and of three other churches had tried tacitly to reintroduce the old church order but had been found out by the Schaffer of St Sebald and St Lorenz and by several deacons99. The council thereupon instructed the Schaffer who actually performed all the duties of a parish priest at the two parish churches100 in order to relieve the preachers of a big part of their routine business and the deacons to convey a stem reproof to the preachers who were, moreover, forbidden to attack the Schaffer and the deacons on the pulpit101.
43The division of labour between the preachers entrusted with the theologically pretentious task of explaining the gospel102 and the deacons and Schaffer who had to do the less attractive everyday work was clearly a source of tension. Since the latter stood between the city authority and the ministry of their church whom they supervised and represented at the same time103 there were many possible causes for conflict with the preachers as well as with the deacons whose superiors they were.
44An opposition of status could have played a part at Heilbronn too where the administrator of the parish priest’s office and former parish priest of the town, the old Peter Dietz, fiercely attacked the new preacher Jakob Ratz on the pulpit104. As Gustav Bossert has put it, the old clergyman who had turned grey in the service of his town was embittered because the new preacher had negotiated a better salary and saw his reputation quickly increasing105. But the conflict also reflected the changing importance of the two leading ecclesiastical offices. Like in many other towns as, for instance in Hall, the parish priest had been replaced as the leading clergyman by the preacher during the Reformation. In his time as Heilbronn’s catholic parish priest Dietz – who meanwhile behaved as an ultra protestant – had fiercely attacked the preacher, the protestant reformer of the town Johann Lachmann106 who nonetheless managed to make his preaching office the most respected of the town through the weight of his personality and because preaching played a central role in the propagation of the Reformation. The fierce attacks of Dietz against him and his distant successor Ratz obviously were a revolt against this development too.
45Voltz was also discontented with his status although the office he held as preacher of St. Anna’s was the most respected ecclesiastical position in the city and although he had the rank of a senior of the protestant clergy which he shared, however, with one colleague. But as the authorities of the town did not intend to concentrate too much power in one hand he did not gain the position of a superintendent whose orders all the other preachers had to obey107. Voltz liked to see himself in this position but had finally to realize that he was wrong whereupon he decided to go back to Württemberg108.
46In the so called Augsburger Orgelstreit he had tried to push through his prerogative against the parish priests of the BarfüBerkirche (the former Franciscan church) and of Heilig Kreuz in order to forbid the playing of the organ during divine service. As this request did not only correspond to the liturgy of his native region but also to the traditions of the city still deriving from its Zwinglian past, Voltz had his way. The quarrel shows the hierarchical attitude of Voltz when he stnctly demanded that his colleagues seek the advice of the parish priest of St Anna which he saw as the capital church entitled to claim precedence over the other churches which he called "Fuβkirchen" and their preachers, the "FuBprediger’’109.
47The strong participation of the people in this quarrel, especially of the panshes of the BarfüBerkirche and of Heilig Kreuz, who unanimously pleaded for the organs they had just purchased, shows that theological and especially liturgical differences of this kind were by no means merely scholastic arguments but met with a broad response in the whole population, a fact the authonties did not enjoy. In the present case, moreover, the theological quarrel had social overtones : Whereas St Anna was the church of the wealthy living in the centre of Augsburg, the BarfüBerkirche as the most popular church of the town and Heilig Kreuz were mainly frequented by the poorer inhabitants who demonstrated their longing for an independent arrangement of their ecclesiastical affairs in this way110. Voltz himself is witness for the fact that the awareness of social differences played a role in the Orgelstreit when he declared full of disdain that the poor should not have what the rich owned but should be content with the word of the gospel111.
48Not only the reader is beginning to dislike Voltz at this moment Many of his colleagues were also repelled by his haughty conduct which had forced his deacon Georg Riederer to move to the less reputed church of St Georg112 When the church authority gave him his letter of reference on parting some of his colleagues demonstrated their aversion to him by the additional remarks they added to their signatures or by their refusal to subscribe at all (113).
Conclusion
49Let me in conclusion recapitulate some of the points made and touch upon some subjects I could not mention114 :
50Our review of the preachers’ careers has revealed their career consciousness as well as the importance of patronage while the conditions of their dismissals throw some light on the attitude of the imperial cities’ authorities towards their preachers in general. It was, as we have seen, characterized rather by mildness than by inhuman hardness115. The clergymen’s loyalty to their municipal employer was founded on the contract of employment, their oath and partly on the citizenship which they acquired through their office if they did not have it anyway. It was, however, quite possible that older loyalties perhaps to a neighbouring lord who had once helped with a grant reasserted themselves. Another topic I have mentioned is the relationship between the councils and their preachers as well as the relationship between the clergymen themselves. To a certain extent the former was characterized by anxiety and by formal humility, but also by self-confident adherence to their convictions regardless of the dangers of dismissal and expulsion116. The clergymen show even more willingness to have it out with their colleagues. The main matters in dispute were, of course, theological and liturgical But there were often ulterior motives behind the issues such as conflicts of status or differences of opinion about the ecclesiastical order. Thus, the hierarchical conception of the superintendents stood against the deacons’ model of a more cooperative church organization or the leading preachers’claim to supenonty. Sometimes the changing importance of certain offices or the desire of the parishes to participate in ecclesiastical affairs played a role. Besold’s appointment to the preacher’s pulpit of St Lorenz and the Orgelstreit at Augsburg are cases in point.
51The situation of the clergymen working in the territories of the imperial cities is of particular interest because they suffered most directly from the decline of the cities’ political power : The overlapping of the rights of the cities with those of neighbouring princes and noblemen as well as the Counter-Reformation constituted a permanent threat to their security, an aspect which has been largely neglected in historical research.
52A field of particular importance I did not enter into is education It constituted an important part of the clergymen’s careers in the course of which a clear succession of an educational and a professional phase was not inevitable at all as the Pfarrerbücher and several examples from the secondary sources have shown. The careers were not streamlined in every case. But it would be too much to speak of a lack of standardization completely contradicting the assumption of a professionalization process, especially since the reasons for such deviations were normally of a private nature and were not due to the lack of an orderly educational system The material of the Pfarrerbücher, in particular, will give more information117.
53A field that has not been mentioned at all is the social background of the clergymen, their own origins, the social strata they and their children are marrying into. While the secondary sources give only incomplete information the Pfarrerbücher provide extensive materials which make possible conclusions about the social mobility of the clergymen and their families. One central question I raise and hope to answer in this respect is whether there was a difference between the urban clergy and the parish priests of the countryside. Moreover, the information the Pfarrerbücher make available about the number of children, the frequency of marriages and about the dates of birth and death permit some insights into historical demography and the relationship between demography and career patterns. The career opportunities of my clergymen were more open than they are now when permanent posts are occupied for decades.
54A more detailed study of the preachers’ behaviour in conflicts will also be necessary in view of the permanent confrontations between clergymen and councillors and between the clergymen themselves as well as with respect to the embarassing situations caused, for instance, by the Augsburg Interim or by the Formula of Concord. By answering these and further questions I want to contribute to the debate on confessionalization which could not have taken place without the formation of a capable clergy within the three denominations. But the refractoriness which the protestant clergymen of the imperial cities display demonstrates that confessionalization was certainly not as linear and straightforward a process as has been assumed118 The authorities of the free cities may have desired more compliant preachers. For this wish to be fulfilled, however, they had to wait until the theological storms had calmed down and a new generation of clergymen less sensible with regard to their intellectual independence had taken over119
Notes de bas de page
1 Title and contents of the article are not identical with my contribution to the conference ("A Prosopographical Study About The Protestant Clergy of the "Reichsstädte" : an Interim Report about the Social Background") as I gave an interim report which is meanwhile outdated.
2 Nuremberg, Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Schweinfurt, Weifienburg i. B. and Windsheim in the Franconian, Aalen, Augsburg, Bopfingen, Dinkelsbühl, (Schwäbisch) Hall, Heilbronn and Wimpfen in the Suebian circles (Reichskreis) of the Empire.
3 Unlike other authors dealing with the elite, with the superintendents and leading preachers of the free cities – like M. HAGENMAIER, Predigt und Policey. Der gesellschaftspolitische Diskurs zwischen Kirche und Obrigkeit in Ulm 1614-1639, (Nomos Universitätsschnften Geschichte, Bd. 1), Baden-Baden, 1989 or R. VAN DÜLMEN, "Orthodoxie und Kirchenreform. Der Nümberger Prediger Johannes Saubert (1592-1646)", Zeitschrift für bayerische Landesgeschichte, 33, 1970, p. 636-786 –, with the court chaplains – like L. SCHORN-SCHÜTTE, "Prediger an protestantischen Höfen der Frühneuzeit. Zur politischen und sozialen Stellung einer neuen bürgerlichen Führungsgruppe in der höfischen Gesellschaft des 17. Jahrhunderts, dargestellt am Beispiel von Hessen-Kassel, Hessen-Darmstadt und Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel", in H. SCHILLING, H. DIEDERIKS, eds., Burgerliche Eliten in den Niederlanden und in Nordwestdeutschland, Cologne/Vienna, 1989, p. 275-336 and R von THADDEN, Die brandenburgisch-preuβischen Hofprediger im 17. und 18. Jahrhundert. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der absolutistischen Staatsgesellschaft in Brandenburg-Preuβen (Arbeiten zur Kirchengeschichte, 32), Berlin, 1959 – or with men who consecutively filled both positions – like D. WÖLFEL, Salomon Lentz 1584-1647. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des orthodoxen Luthertums im Dreiβigjährigen Krieg (EAKGB=Einzelarbeiten zur Kirchengeschichte Bayems, Bd. 65), Gunzenhausen, 1991 – I am trying to write the "biography of the average preacher" (R. W. SCRIBNER, "Practice and Principle in the German Towns : Preachers and People", in Reformation Principle and Practice. Essays in Honour of Arthur G. Dickens, London, 1980, p. 95-117, 98). Among the works about the whole clergy of a territory or a town I mention in particular B. VOGLER, Le clergé protestant rhénan au siècle de la Réforme (1555-1619), Paris, 1976 and E WEYRAUCH, "Informationen zum Sozialprofil der evangelischen Geistlichkeit Kitzingens im 16 Jahrhundert", in I. BATORI, E. WEYRAUCH, eds., Die bürgerliche Elite der Stadt Kitzingen. Studien zur Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte einer landesherrlichen Stadt im 16. Jahrhundert (Spätmittelalter und Frühe Neuzeit. Tübinger Beiträge zur Geschichtsforschung, 11), Stuttgart, 1982, p. 291-312).
SCHORN-SCHÜTTE’s postdoctoral thesis, as announced in the article just stated, tries to eludicate – inter alia – the role of the court chaplains as members of the territorial states’ elite and their relationship to other elites. Another aim of her work is to investigate the dimension of their political influence and its dwindling to the advantage of the lawyers. The court chaplains’ closeness to the rulers suggests such a perspective. But the problem is also relevant in the free cities. Perhaps the political atmosphere there was even more tense than that of the princely courts because of the contradiction between an oligarchical regime and the cooperative ideals still in the minds of many citizens ; preachers in the imperial cities had to cope with this contradiction like the court chaplains had to with the frictions between the ruler and the estates. Cf. the appeal of H. SCHILLING, "Gab es im späten Mittelalter und zu Beginn der Neuzeit in Deutschland einen städtischen "Republikanismus" ? Zur politischen Kultur des alteuropäischen Stadtbürgertums", in H. G. KOENIGSBERGER, ed, Republiken und Republikanismus im Europa der Frühen Neuzeit (Schriften des Histonschen Koilegs Kolloquien, Bd. 11), Munich, 1988, p. 101-143, 141, to pay more attention to the political traditions of the citizens of the towns. As the relationship between the citizens’ discontent with the removal of the old rule of the guilds at Augsburg by Emperor Charles V and the political discrimination of the Protestants shows – cf KALTENBRUNNER, "Der Augsburger Kalenderstreit", Mitteilungen des Instituts für österreichische Geschichtsforschung, 1, 1880, p. 497-540, 501 – there was a connection between the denominational and the political sphere.
4 The time between the Treaty of Passau and the Restitutionsedikt, representing a period of relative peacefulness ; cf. K. BRANDI, "Passauer Vertrag und Augsburger Religionsfneden", Historische Zeitschrift, 95, 1905, p. 206-264 ; R. HOKE, "Restitutionsedikt Kaiser Ferdinands II.", Handwörterbuch zur deutschen Rechtsgeschichte, IV. Bd., Berlin, 1990, col. 945-949 ; also T. TUPETZ, Der Streit um die geistlichen Güter und das Restitutionsedikt (1629), Vienna, 1883, p. 523-535, who lists the restitutions in the free cities (but not in a completely correct manner !). These demarcations do not mean that the preachers’ lifes and professional careers before and after these dates are ignored.
5 The respective Pfarrerbücher are : M SIMON, Nürnbergisches Pfarrerbuch Die evangelisch-lutherische Geistlichkeit der Reichsstadt Nürnberg und ihres Gebietes 1524- 1806 (EAKGB, 41), Nuremberg, 1965 ; W. DANNHEIMER, Verzeichnis der im Gebiete der freien Reichsstadt Rothenburg o. T. von 1544 bis 1803 wirkenden ev.-luth. Geistlichen (EAKGB, 27), Nuremberg, 1952 ; M. SIMON, ed., Pfarrerbuch der Reichsstädte Dinkelsbühl, Schweinfurt, Weiβenburg i. Bay. und IVindsheim sowie der Reichsdörfer Gochsheim und Sennfeld. Die evangelischen Geistlichen im Alten Reich (EAKGB, 39), Nuremberg, 1962 ; H. WIEDEMANN, Augsburger Pfarrerbuch. Die evangelischen Geistlichen der Reichsstadt Augsburg 1524-1806 (EAKGB, 38), Nuremberg, 1962 ; Baden-Württembergisches Pfarrerbuch, II : Pfarrerbuch Württembergisch Franken, 1 : Die Pfarreien, ed. M.-A. CRAMER, 2 : Die Kirchen und Schuldiener, ed. O. HAUG, Stuttgart, 1981-1985 (containing information about all clergymen of this area, among them the preachers of Aalen, Bopfingen and Hall and of those villages of the Rothenburg territory which today belong to the Land Baden-Württemberg) and Baden-Württembergisches Pfarrerbuch, I : Kraichgau-Odenwald, 2 : Die Pfarrer und Lehrer der höheren Schulen von der Reformation bis zum Beginn des 19. Jahrhunderts, ed. M.-A. CRAMER (Veröffentlichungen des Vereins fur Kirchengeschichte in der evangelischen Landeskirche in Baden, Bd. 37), Karlsruhe, 1988 (Heilbronn and Wimpfen).
As most of the clergymen did not spend their whole professional life within the same free city, the Pfarrerbücher of the other territories and areas had to be consulted to : cf. e g. G. BIUNDO, Die evangelischen Geistlichen der Pfalz seit der Reformation (Pfälzisches Pfarrerbuch), (Genealogie und Landesgeschichte, 15), Neustadt a. d. Aisch, 1968 and E. SCHOENER, Pfarrerbuch der Grafschaft Pappenheim, (EAKGB, 31), Nuremberg, 1956 ; to this type of source in general cf. M.-A. CRAMER, "Pfarrerbücher", Blätter für württembergische Kirchengeschichte, N.S., 91, 1991, p. 282-392 and K. THEMEL, "Grundlagen der Presbyterologie", Herold-Jahrbuch, 3, 1974, Sonderausgabe, p 74-120 ; the precursors of the Pfarrerbücher written in the 18th century had to be utilized as well : as examples see A WÜRFEL, Diptycha ecclesiae Laurentianae, Nuremberg, 1756 and J. F REIN, Das gesamte Augspurgische Evangelische Ministerium in Bildern und Schrijften, 2 vol., Augsburg, 1748.
6 The Pfarrerbücher have partly included places belonging only politically to the territory of a free city who practically were not subject to its ecclesiastical sovereignty, on the other hand they have ignored places belonging to its church, thus listing preachers who had to be left out whereas others had to be included into the sample. To make sure of the state of ecclesiastical sovereignty of the numerous parishes and of their status – if they are towns, villages or Märkte, i.e. villages containing a market – additional reference books had to be used, e g. M. SIMON, Die evangelische Kirche (Historischer Atlas von Bayern, kirchliche Organisation, 1), Munich, 1960 ; Deutsches Städtebuch. Handbuch städtischer Geschichte, III, Stuttgart-Berlin, 1939-1941, ed. E. KEYSER, III.1-IV.3., Stuttgart, 1952-1964, ed. E. KEYSER, V.1-V.2., Stuttgart, Berlin, Cologne, Mayence, 1971-1974, ed. E. KEYSER, H STOOB and F. MÜLLER, Müllers groβes deutsches Ortsbuch, 7th ed., Wuppertal, 1937
7 See below p. 308.
8 Initially I intended to deal with Ratisbone as well on the basis of records ; but as the Pfarrerbuch of Ratisbone is just a fragment and the material proved to be extensive enough to serve as the basis of a monograph exclusively dealing with the ministry of this town, I had to give up this plan. The material I have collected will serve as the basis of a special article
9 K. SIEH-BURENS, Oligarchie, Konfession und Politik im 16. Jahrhundert. Zur sozialen Verflechtung der Augsburger Bürgermeister und Stadtpfleger 1518-1618 (Schriften der philosophischen Fakultat der Universitat Augsburg. Historisch-sozialwissenschaftliche Reihe, Nr. 29), Munich, 1986, p. 137, 142, 159, 208.
10 Cf. F. ROTH, Augsburgische Reformationsgeschichte, I-IV, Munich, 1901-1911, II, p. 333sq., 454, 473, n. 123.
11 Cf. SIEH-BURENS, Oligarchic, p. Al : he is greeting the Reformator Ambrosius Blarer in the name of Herbrot’s wife and the whole house.
12 More detailed information about them can be found in the Pfarrerücher of which I only list those of the free cities : J. HOPFENGÄRTNER, "Reichsstadt Dinkelsbühl", in SIMON, Pfarrerbuch der Reichsstädte, p. 5, n° 2 (Ammon)’, F. BLENDINGER, "Reichsstadt WeiBenburg", ibidem, p. 65, n° 2 (Albrecht)’, SIMON, Nürnbergisches Pfarrerbuch, p. 8, n° 12 (Albrecht), p. 23, n° 97 (Besold), p. 41, n° 204 (Culmann), WIEDEMANN, Augsburger Pfarrerbuch, p. 43, n° 255 (Voltz)’, Baden-Württembergisches Pfarrerbuch, II.2, p. 472, no.2758 (Vogelmann), 1.2, p. 116, n° 505 (Dietz).
In the case of Ammon, Besold, Culmann and Dietz, instructive printed sources are available : the records of church visitations (G. HIRSCHMANN, ed., Die Kirchenvisitation im Landgebiet der Reichsstadt Nürnberg 1560 und 1561. Quellenedition (EAKGB, 68), Neustadt a. d. Aisch, 1991), the record-book of Heilbronn (M. v. RAUCH, ed., Urkundenbuch der Stadt Heilbronn (Württembergische Geschichtsquellen, 15, 19, 20), 2-4, Stuttgart, 1913-1922), an expert opinion of Melanchthon about the Osiandrist quarrel in Nuremberg (Philippi Melanthonis opera quae supersunt omnia ed. C. G. BRETSCHNEIDER (Corpus Reformatorum), VIII, Halle, 1841, col. 579-587, no.5848), some letters from Besold ([G.] KAWERAU, ed., "Briefe des Nümbergers Hieronymus Besold aus Wittenberg 1541 und 1542", Beiträge zur bayerischen Kirchengeschichte (BbKG), 18, 1912, p. 38-47, 81-89 and O. CLEMEN, ed, "Briefe von Veit Dietrich und Hieronymus Besold in Nümberg", Zeitschrift für bayerische Kirchengeschichte (ZbKG), 16, 1941, p. 144-151) and the autobiography of Wolfgang Ammon’s son of the same name (F. HUTTNER, ed, "Selbstbiographie des Pfarrers Wolfgang Ammon (1634) von Marktbreit", Archiv für Kulturgeschichte, 1, 1903, p. 50-98, 214-239, 284-325), where important information is given about his father’s life and career.
About each person of our little group we know a lot from the older secondary literature. Especially the older positivist works on church history display a wide range of material thoroughly analyzed only with regard to the history of theology. A good example 1 can present here is an extensive article written by K. SCHORNBAUM ("Die brandenburgischnümbergische Norma doctrinae", Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte (ARG), 19, 1922, p. 161-193, 20, 1923, p. 5-37, 102-126), where several records concerning Hieronymus Besold are printed in the footnotes though there is no connection between these records and the subject of the article, their usefulness for my purpose is indubitable. The recent work of E. VOLZ (Aus dem Leben und Wirken des Melchior Voltz. Pfarrer und Senior in Augsburg, Abt und Prälat in Maulbronn, Lingen (Enns), 1980) does me an even better service. This biography sees itself as a genealogical work without aspiring to high academic standards (VOLZ, Melchior Foltz, p. III). But the extent of records and chronical information included is enormous.
13 On the latter cf. H.-C. RUBLACK, ’"Der wohlgeplagte Priester’. Vom Selbst-verstandnis lutherischer Geistlichkeit im Zeitalter der Orthodoxie", Zeitschrift für historische Forschung (ZHF), 16, 1989, p 1-30, 21 ; on the idea of a cleric’s matrimonial relationsship with his office see D. LINDNER, Die Anstellung der Hilfspriester. Eine kirchenrechtsgeschichtliche Untersuchung (Münchener Studien zur historischen Theologie, 3), Kempten, 1924, p. 25-28.
14 A. F. PURKHAUER, Geschichte der evangelischen Kirche zu Dinkelsbuhl, Dinkelsbühl, 1831, p. 67.
15 K. SCHORNBAUM, "Philippisten und Gnesiolutheraner in Brandenburg-Ansbach", BbKG, 18, 1912, p. 97-110, 97, n.l.
16 M. W. SENGER, Leonhard Culmann. A Literary Biography and an Edition of Five Plays. As a Contribution to the Study of Drama in the Age of the Reformation, Niewkoop, 1982, p. 108.
17 SENGER, Leonhard Culmann, p. 21.
18 SENGER, Leonhard Culmann, p. 104, 109, 140, n 40.
19 Cf. B. LOHSE, "Dogma und Bekenntnis in der Reformation : Von Luther bis zum Konkordienbuch" (C. ANDRESEN, ed., Handbuch der Dogmen- und Theologiegeschichte, II, Die Lehrentwicklung im Rahmen der Konfessionalität, Göttingen, 1980, p. 125-129).
20 I. HÖSS, "Melanchthon : Wittenberg und Nümberg", ZbKG, 53, 1984, p. 19-32, 31.
21 SENGER, Leonhard Culmann, p. 128.
22 SENGER, Leonhard Culmann, p. 131sq., 137.
23 PURKHAUER, Dinkelsbuhl, p. 69-72.
24 PÜRKHAUER, Dinkelsbuhl, p. 72.
25 O. HAUG, "Ein Investiturstreit im 16. Jahrhundert. Pfarrer David Vogelmann in Orlach", Württembergisch Franken, 41, 1957, p. 130-151, 150
26 HAUG, "Investiturstreit", p. 150.
27 See below p. 307.
28 HAUG, "Investiturstreit", p. 134.
29 T. KARG, Das Präsentationsrecht der Stadt Dinkelsbuhl auf geistliche Stellen, Erlangen, 1926, p. 24.
30 H. DANNENBAUER, "Die Nümberger Landgeistlichen bis zur zweiten Kirchenvisitation", Zb KG, 2, 1927, p. 207-236, 3, 1928, p. 40-53, 65-79, 214-229, 4, 1929, p. 49-62, 107- 122, 230-240, 6, 1931, p. 27-38, 109-116, 217-234, 7, 1932, 91-102, 221-242, 8, 1933, p. 215-230, 9, 1934, p. 40-51, 25, 1956, p. 107-151, 2, 221.
31 Even the parishioners who have rarely been taken seriously as a factor in ecclesiastical matters could play a certain role. This was the case with Besold whom the parish of St Lorenz at Nuremberg wanted to replace the present incumbent Jakob Lechner who did not meet the requirements any longer. The proposal is really taken into account by the council but the matter is deliberately treated slowly in order to emphasize the independence of the authority’s decision-making power (SCHORNBAUM, "Norma doctrinae", p. 181, n.2, decree from the 29.10.1561). In the decree dated 27 June 1562 the proposal of the parish was practically accepted. But instead of mentioning it the councillors refer to Lechner’s bad health as a reason for the change and confer the office on Besold only on probation (SCHORNBAUM, "Norma doctrinae", p. 181sq, n.2).
32 RAUCH, Urkundenbuch Heilbronn, Bd. 3, p. 362, no. 1424cd.
33 "eins stillen, erbern, dugentsamen wandels und wesens, auch emsiger obligender lere gehalten". (ibidem, no. 1424d)
34 R. PLOCHMANN, Urkundliche Geschichte der Stadt Marktbreit in Unterfranken, Erlangen, 1864, p. 88.
35 SENGER, Leonhard Culmann, p. 133.
36 SENGER, Leonhard Culmann, p. 133 ; liesold too benefited from the aid of Melanchthon in whose house he had lived as a student at Wittenberg. He owed his post as a teacher at the school of St Sebald to the Reformer. (KAWERAU, "Briefe Hieronymus Besold", p. 39) The fact that he was the son-in-law of Nuremberg’s leading clergyman Andreas Osiander will have helped him as well when he started his career.
37 "Ires wesentlichen, eingezogenen und stillen, fridlichen wandels, wie auch anderer gaben, und QUALITETEN halben, so in Predigen, und sonst hierzue erfordert werden" (VOLZ, Melchior Voltz, p. 20sq). An annalist normally ill-disposed to Voltz praises him for his qualities ideally doing justice to the symbolic aspects of his office. Accordmg to him his first test sermon had already demonstrated his fine pronunciation. His appearence and quality of preaching had attracted the audience : "Ward darzue ein dapffere ansehnlich Mann. Und zogen vil zue hörer zu ihm wegen seiner stattlichen Predigt, die er that" (VOLZ, Melchior Voltz, p. 24). In his time at Augsburg four portraits were made of him, his picture could be seen at the walls of Protestant houses and was worn as a locket (VOLZ, Melchior Voltz, p. 24-26) ; on’the aspect of representation cf. D. WÖLFEL, "Von der Popularität des Predigers. Überlegungen zum Kupferstichporträt des Regensburger Superintendenten Salomon Lentz von Lucas Kilian", ZbKG, 56, 1987, p. 153-163.
38 VOLZ, Melchior Voltz, p. 28.
39 ibidem, p. 52.
40 ibidem, p. 43sq.
41 "daβ wür uβ sonderen bewegenden Ursachen unnseren obligirten Stipendiaten M. Melchior Voltz widerumb in unnserem Herzogthumb zue Kürchendiensten zue gebrauchen gemeint, deβwegen auch durch sonderbahres Schreiben Ihne gnedig abfordern laβen" (ibidem, p. 48).
42 ibidem, p. 48sq.
43 M. SIMON, ed., Bayern : Schwaben (E. SEHLING, ed., Die evangelischen Kirchenordnungen des XVI. Jahrhunderts, XII.2), Tübingen, 1963, p. 144.
44 Cf. D. WILLOWEIT, "Die Entwicklung des öffentlichen Dienstes", K.G. A. JESERICH, H. POHL, G.-C. von UNRUH, eds., Deutsche Verwaltungsgeschichte, 1, Stuttgart 1983, p. 347-360, 360.
45 Cf. the merging of official commitment and citizenship in the cases of Culmann and Vogelmann (see above p. 300sq). Obviously, dismissed clergymen lost their citizenship only if the authorities of an imperial town were finally breaking with them. When Vogelmann had been dismissed for the first time in 1594, nobody spoke of depriving him of his citizenship though the council had him look for an outside post (HAUG, "Investiturstreit", p. 134).
46 This special obligation seemed to be necessary because the council of Dinkelsbühl had given up the ecclesiastical sovereignty over the protestant church of the town which lay now in the hands of the Kirchenpfleger. The new church organization was now a sort of parishioners’ church absolutely unique in the Lutheran part of the empire ; cf. C. BURCKSTUMMER, "Die evangelische Kirchenpflege zu Dinkelsbühl Das selbständige geistliche Regiment einer reichsstädtischen evangelischen Kirche", BbKG, 28, 1922, p. 53- 62. This resulted in an emphasis on the submission of the clergymen under the political power of the council.
47 KARG, Präsentationsrecht Dinkelsbühl, p. 2 ; its title is : "Generalbestallung auf alle und jede helfer, so von den kirchenpflegern sollen angenommen werden mutatis mutandis et additis addendis" (SIMON, Schwaben, p. 134-140).
48 "Revers des heifers" (SIMON, Schwaben, p. 141) ; the making out of such a declaration and the whole procedure was generally typical to the obligation of civil servants, cf. WILLOWEIT, "Entwicklung des öffentlichen Dienstes", p. 352.
49 SIMON, Schwaben, p. 135-40
50 ib idem, p. 138sq.
51 ibidem, p. 140
52 See above p. 300sq.
53 KARG, Präsentationsrecht Dinkelsbuhl, p. 2.
54 PÜRKHAUER, Dinkelsbuhl, p. 67.
55 Cf. WILLOWEIT, "Entwicklung des öffentlichen Dienstes", p. 357, who asserts that there was a change from temporary to unlimited contracts in the course of the 16th century.
56 K. RIED, Die Durchführung der Reformation in der ehemaligen freien Reichsstadt Weiβenhurg i. 13. Auf Grund archivalischer Quellen dargestellt (Historische Forschungen und Quellen, Bd 1), Munich-Freising, 1915, p. 96 ; cf. the installation itself : M. SIMON, ed., Bayern : Branken, (E. SEHLING, ed., Die evangelischen Kirchenordnungen des XVI Jahrhunderts, XII. 1), Tübingen, 1961, p. 665-667.
57 RIED, Reformation Weiβenburg, p. 96 and SIMON, Franken, p. 667 ; the general installation Ammon had to subscribe to demanded the same behaviour (SIMON, Schwaben, n.138).
58 Cf. LINDNER, Hilfspriester, p. 38sq., 46sq., 51sq., 60sq. and H.-C. RUBLACK, Eine bürgerliche Reformation : Nordlingen (Quellen und Forschungen zur Reformationsgeschichte, 51), Heidelberg, 1982, p. 172-174 ; cf. further the general installation of Dinkelsbuhl where the deacons are called "heifer", i.e. assistants (see above n.48).
59 T. M. SCHRÖDER, Das Kirchenregiment der Reichsstadt Esslingen. Grundlagen – Geschichte – Organisation (Esslinger Studien, 8), Sigmaringen, 1987, p. 33.
60 Cf. J. RAUSCHER, "Die Prädikaturen in Württemberg vor der Reformation. Ein Beitrag zur Predigt- und Pfründengeschichte am Ausgang des Mittelalters", Württembergische Jahrbücher für Statistik und Landeskunde, 1908, p. 152-211.
61 v. RAUCH, Urkundenbuch Heilbronn, IV, p. 410sq, n° 3145.
62 BOSSERT, "Jakob Ratz", p. 9.
63 SCHORNBAUM, "Norma doctrinae", p. 182, n. 1, decree from the 15.10.1562.
64 SCHORNBAUM, "Norma doctrinae", p. 182, n. 1, decree dated 16 September 1562 : "Dieweil dem herrn Pesold (...) sein hausfrau mit tod abgegangen, soli man ine von meiner herrn wegen clagen und trösten".
65 SCHORNBAUM, "Norma doctrinae", p. 182, n. 1, decree from the 16.10.1562
66 SCHORNBAUM, "Norma doctrinae", p. 182, n. 1, decree from the 17.10.1562.
67 SCHORNBAUM, "Norma doctrinae", p. 182, n. 1, decree from the 7. 11.1562.
68 K. SCHORNBAUM, "Zur Lebensgeschichte des Nümberger Geistlichen Blasius Stöckel", BbKG, Bd 24, 1918, p. 163-180, 176sq., decree dated 12 January 1546 : "Auf Linharten Kulmanns (...) entschuldigung, warum er sich nit gen Ravenspurg wiβen laβ zugeprauchen, sol ime angezeigt werden, daβ meine herrn ine deβen erlaβen wöllen, und bedörf sich deshalben keins ungunsts besorgen."
69 BOSSERT, "Jakob Ratz", p. 4-8.
70 Cf. J. MEHLHAUSEN, "Interim", Theologische Realenzyklopädie, Bd 16, Berlin-New York, 1987, p. 230-237 and G. BOSSERT, Das Interim in Württemberg, (Schriften des Vereins fur Reformationsgeschichte (SVRG), Bd. 46/47), Halle, 1895.
71 Printed in G. BOSSERT, "Jakob Ratz", p. 12-15.
72 C. BÜRCKSTUMMER, Geschichte der Reformation und Gegenreformation in der ehemaligen freien Reichsstadt Dinkelsbuhl (1524-1648), (SVRG, Bd. 115/116, 119/120), 2 Teile, Leipzig, 1914/1915, Teil II, p. 25.
73 See below p. 311.
74 C. KOLB, "Die Schneckischen Unruhen in Schwäbisch Hall 1601-1604", Württembergische Vierteljahrshefte, 2, 1893, p. 163-216, 197sq.
75 H.-C. RUBLACK, "Augsburger Predigt im Zeitalter der lutherischen Orthodoxie", in R. SCHWARZ, ed., Die Augsburger Kirchenordnung von 1537 und ihr Umfeld (SVRG, 196), Gutersloh, 1988, p. 123-158, 151
76 VOLZ, Melchior Voltz, p. 239sq. ; the whole letter p. 233-242.
77 ib idem, p. 243-245.
78 One should consider how harshly theologians who did not share the theological conviction of the prince were dealt with from time to time ; in Saxony they were imprisoned for a long period (Cf. T. KLEIN, Der Kampf um die zweite Reformation in Kursachsen 1586- 1591 (Mitteldeutsche Forschungen, Bd. 25), Cologne, Graz, 1962, p. 96-107 and K. HEUSSI, Geschichte der theologischen Fakultät zu Jena, Weimar, 1954, p. 45-47, 100-102 and 111), in Pomerania the Osiandrist quarrel even led to the decapitation of the court chaplain (A. WURFEL, Diptycha ecclesiae S. Bartholomaei, Nuremberg, 1763, p. 206).
79 See above p. 311.
80 HAUG, "Investiturstreit", p. 130-132, 135-148.
81 Cf. K. BRAUN, Nürnb erg und die Versuche zur Wiederherstellung der alien Kirche im Zeitalter der Gegenreformation (1555-1648) (EAKGB, 1), Nuremberg, 1925, p. 15-19, 32- 36, 45-47, 54-65 and A. GABLER, "Gegenreformatorische Bestrebungen in der Umgebung von Dinkelsbühl (Dargestellt nach den Tagebüchern des Sinbronner Pfarrherm Thomas A Wirsing)", ZbKG 20, 1951, p. 26-40. Though Wirsing does not belong to the sample – the village is part of the Dinkelsbühl territory only politically whereas the ecclesiastical sovereignty actually lay in the hands of the margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach – he is a particularly good example for someone suffering from this insecurity. Permanently afraid of loosing his office he anxiously sought the backing of the margrave against the attempts of the catholic council of Dinkelsbühl and of the bishop of Augsburg to replace him by a catholic priest.
82 Following the description of P. DREWS, Der evangelische Geistliche in der deutschen Vergangenheit, 2nd ed., Jena, 1924, p. 20, 23-25, who differentiated between learned and highly regarded town-preachers and the uneducated and contempted parish priests of the countryside as the new "clerus maior" and "clerus minor” of the Reformation period
83 Cf. RUBLACK, "Der wohlgeplagte Priester", p. 6-8 whose view that the parish priests were unaware of the village’s social coordinate system is not completely convincing as this is true for every clergyman entering into a new office in a new place, no matter if it is a village or a town. It cannot be doubted, of course, that there is a particular rustic mentality which naturally had an influence on the work of the parish priests in the villages (cf. e g. D. SABEAN, "Communion and Community : The Refusal to Attend the Eucharist in Sixteenth Century Protestant Württemberg", Mentalitäten und Lebensverhältnisse : Beispiele aus der Sozialgeschichte der Neuzeit. Rudolf Vierhaus zum 60. Geburtstag, Göttingen, 1982, p. 95- 107). But this is not sufficient to classify them as a type of clergymen fundamentally different from their urban colleagues.
84 Cf. W. HELD, Zwischen Marktplatz und Anger. Stadt-Land-Beziehungen im 16. Jahrhundert in Thüringen, Weimar, 1988, p. 32, 71sq. and K. DROLLINGER, Kleine Städte Südwestdeutschlands. Studien zur Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte der Städte im rechtsrheinischen Teil des Hochstifts Speyer bis zur Mitte des 17. Jahrhunderts, (Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für geschichtliche Landeskunde in Baden-Württemberg. Reihe B : Forschungen, Bd. 48), Stuttgart, 1968, p. 23, 46-51.
85 Cf. A. SKALWEIT, Das Dorfhandwerk vor Aufhebung des Städtezwangs, (Abhandlungen des europaeischen Handwerksinstituts Frankfurt am Main, 1), Frankfort, [1942], p. 6-9 ; HELD, Marktplatz und Anger, p. 27, 127, speaks of a considerable rural trade in Thuringia already in the 16th century, the same can be said about the territory of the bishop of Spyra (DROLLINGER, Kleine Städte Südwestdeutschlands, p. 70-74), about the duchy of Württemberg (cf. H. SCHULTZ, Landhandwerk im Ubergang vom Feudalismus zum Kapitalismus. Vergleichender Überblick und Fallstudie Mecklenburg-Schwerin (Forschungen zur Wirtschaftsgeschichte, 24), Berlin 1984, p. 26) but not of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, an area typical for the east of Germany (SCHULTZ, Landhandwerk, p. 69-81).
86 Cf. H. MAUERSBERG, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft Fürths in neuerer und neuester Zeit. Eine städtegeschichtliche Studie, Göttingen, 1974, p. 24, 28-32, 52-54.
87 SIMON, Nürnbergisches Pfarrerbuch, p. 269sq.
88 W. DANNHEIMER, "Reichsstadt Windsheim", in SIMON, Pfarrerbuch der Reichsstädte, p. 112sq.
89 A special case is represented by Johann Held who is parish priest at Oberndorf in the territory of Schweinfurt. Though being a rural preacher he is living in the wealthy centre of Schweinfurt, the so called Zweite Halbe Stadt (M. MAHR, Bildungs- und Sozialstruktur der Reichsstadt Schweinfurt (Mainfränkische Studien, 20), Würzburg, 1978, p. 137). As he is a commuter the pecularities characterizing the social life of his parish may not have occupied him too much. Held’s colleague Wilhelm Zeiβ and his successors had to live in the city too because the city fathers of Schweinfurt did not have the vicarage of their village Zell-Weipoltshausen repaired before 1614 (S. SCHOEFFEL, Die Kirchenhoheit der Reichsstadt Schweinfurt (Quellen und Forschungen zur bayerischen Kirchengeschichte, 3), Leipzig, 1918, p. 419sq., n.3).
90 HAUG, "Investiturstreit", p. 148sq.
91 ibidem, p. 134sq.
92 RIED, Reformation Weiβenburg, p. 73.
93 ibidem, p. 82sq.
94 ib idem, p. 73-78.
95 ibidem, p. 82.
96 Their victory was not complete, however, as they were firmly reminded of their subordinate position in general. But this did not offset the defeat of Stieber’s theological position which made him quit the field (ibidem, p. 84).
97 BLENDINGER, "Reichsstadt WeiBenburg”, in SIMON, Pfarrerbuch der Reichsstädte, p. 61. The patronage of the deacons was controlled by the town itself.
98 RIED, Reformation Weiβenburg, p. 80sq.. The margrave observed the same restraint in the case of Albrecht’s violent theological and personal quarrel with some parish priests in his own territory. Instead of exerting pressure on the town council to have Albrecht and his colleagues reprimanded or punished the powerful margrave tried to curb his own preachers (ibidem, p. 98) just like Weißenburg did. ([W.] ALBRECHT, "Beschwerdeschrift der Weissenburger Kirchendiener wegen des Vorwurfs der Schwärmerei", BbKG, 6, 1900, p. 279
99 G. BUB, Die Politik des Nürnberger Rates während des Interims, Erlangen, 1924, p. 72sq.
100 M. SIMON, "Zur Entstehung der Kirchenbücher", ZbKG, 28, 1959, p. 129-142, 134.
101 BUB, Politik des Nürnberger Rates, p. 73sq., decree from the 6.5.1553.
102 Cf. W. BROCKELT, Reformation und Geistlichkeit in der Freien Reichsstadt Nürnb erg. Eine kirchenrechtsgeschichtliche Studie, Erlangen, 1951, p. 108, who further lists as their tasks to give expert opinions, to undertake examinations and to manage the foundations. As we can see they were not fully relieved of administrative duties.
103 BROCKELT, Reformation und Geistlichkeit, p. 109.
104 See above p. 307sq. The example shows the typical attitude of the councils : They try to maintain the peace by reconciliating the opponents (BOSSERT, "Jakob Ratz", p 8, 15), a rather surprising tactics as Dietz had accused the authorities of having accepted bribes When the Lutheran Besold is arguing about the Lord’s Supper with the Philppist preacher of St Sebald Mauritius Heling the council of Nuremberg is behaving in the same way : Two councillors are instructed to bring about the reconciliation of Besold and Heling (decree dated 29 May 1561). After it had really taken place the two preachers were praised and required to seek the council’s mediation next time (decree dated 19 July 1561) (SCHORNBAUM, "Norma doctrinae", p. 179sq). The battle of Albrecht and his colleagues with several preachers of the neighbouring margraviate is dealt with by the Weißenburg authority m a balanced way : on the one hand it admonishes its preachers to be peaceful, on the other hands it supports them by confirming their theological view and by appealmg to the margrave to calm down his preachers too (ALBRECHT, "Beschwerdeschrift", p 279-281 and RIED, Reformation Weiβenburg, p. 98)
105 BOSSERT, "Jakob Ratz", p. 4.
106 RAUCH, Urkundenbuch Heilbronn, Bd. 4, p. 365-368, no.3100
107 The senior’s office meant mainly a preeminence of honour ; cf. F. CRETER, Magister Paulus Jenisch 1602-1648, 1932, p. 68 and M. SIMON, Evangelische Kirchengeschichte Bayerns, 2nd ed., Nuremberg, 1952, p. 288.
108 In a letter he urged duke Ludwig to insist that his successor be given the real authority of a superintendent if Augsburg should recruit him from the duchy (VOLZ, Melchior Voltz, p. 45sq). Obviously, the clergyman coming from a princely territory had no feeling for a free city’s sense of independence
109 ibidem, p. 32.
110 Cf. T. WOHNHAAS, "Der Augsburger Orgelstreit von 1612/1614. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Orgel im evangelischen Gottesdienst", ZBKG, 36, 1967, p. 26-38, on the late medieval origin of this claim cf. R. KIESSLING, Bürgerliche Gesellschaft und Kirche in Augsburg im Spätmittelalter. Ein Beitrag zur Strukturanalyse der oberdeutschen Reichsstadt (Abhandlungen zur Geschichte der Stadt Augsburg, 19), Augsburg, 1971, p. 99-179.
111 VOLZ, Melchior Voltz, p. 32.
112 ibidem, p. 24.
113 ib idem, p. 49-51 ; in retrospect the question arises whether the council would not have done better to take the other candidate, Johann Cementarius whom their colleagues from Ratisbone later appointed superintendent without reaping so much trouble and discord like Augsburg did with Voltz whose haughty conduct activated the potential of smouldering antagonisms of theology and status and who added fuel to the denominational conflict On the specific suitability of preachers cf. H.-C. RUBLACK, Nördlingen, p. 176sq. and 214, who shows that characters willing to compromise – whom the traditional church history looking for the great confessors would not have praised too much – could be the ideal candidates in the different cultural environment of the imperial cities.
114 Not only several topics but also some additional information about the seven preachers has been left out. In his son’s autobiography, for instance, we learn about Ammon’s school and university career and about his social background ; Culmann’s importance as a playwright and pedagogical writer also had to be passed over. The same is true for his behaviour and that of Besold and Dietz during the Augsburg Interim etc.
115 The examples I have used did not give me an opportunity to show how much this care was restricted to the preachers themselves whereas their widows did not enjoy the same privilege. Obviously they did not participate in their husbands’ institutionalized position ; maybe in those days they were not the Pfarrerin or Pfarrfrau but just the Frau des Pfarrers, the parish priest’s wife ; to the Pfarrfrauen in general cf. L. SCHORN-SCHUTTE, "’Gefährtin’ und ’Mitregentin’. Zur Sozialgeschichte der evangelischen Pfarrfrau in der Frühen Neuzeit", in H. WUNDER, C. VANJA, ed., Wandel der Geschlechterbeziehungen zu Beginn der Neuzeit, Frankfort on the Main, 1991, p. 109-153.
116 In any case the contrariness of the free cities’ preachers presented here raises the question whether they really played the role of agents of social discipline as W. REINHARD ("Zwang zur Konfessionalisierung. Prolegomena zu einer Theorie des konfessionellen Zeitalters", ZHF, 10, 1983, p. 257-277, 276sq.) suggests. HAGENMAIER, Predigt und Policey, p. 109-317, shows that they did not shrink from this task completely but fulfilled it in a very selective way. About the concept of social discipline in general cf. now G. LOTTES, "Disziplin und Emanzipation. Das Sozialdisziplinierungskonzept und die Interpretation derneueren Geschichte", Westfälische Forschungen, 42, 1992, p 63-74, 65sq., 68, 71, who has his doubts about the whole concept.
The picture of a Lutheran orthodoxy in bondage which Ernst TROELTSCH (e.g. "Calvinismus und Luthertum. Ueberblick", in Aufsätze zur Geistesgeschichte und Religionssoziologie (Gesammelte Schriften, IV), Reprint Aalen, 1966 (Tübingen, 1925), p. 254-261, 255sq. and Die Soziallehren der christlichen Kirchen und Gruppen, Reprint Aalen, 1965 (Tübingen, 1922), p. 532-538, 550-555, 599-605) has painted has been revised long since. (Cf. M. KRUSE, Speners Kritik am landesherrlichen Kirchenregiment und ihre Vorgeschichte (Arbeiten zur Geschichte des Pietismus, 10), Witten, 1971 ; W. SCHULZE, "Zwingli, lutherisches Widerstandsdenken und monarchomachischer Widerstand", in P. BLICKLE, A. LINDT, A. SCHINDLER, ed., Zwingli und Europa, Zürich, 1984, p. 199- 216 ; W. SOMMER, Gottesfurcht und Fürstenherrschaft. Studien zum Obrigkeitsverständnis Johann Arndts und lutherischer Hofprediger zur Zeit der altprotestantischen Orthodoxie (Forschungen zur Kirchen- und Dogmengeschichte, 41), Göttingen, 1988 and Q. SKINNER, The Foundations of Modern Political Thought, 2 : The Age of Reformation, London, New York, Melbourne, 1978), but also in the political field (cf. B BAUER, "Lutherische Obrigkeitskritik in der Publizistik der Kipper- und Wipperzeit (1620-1623)", in W. BRUCKNER, P. BLICKLE, D. BREUER, ed., Literatur und Volk im 17. Jahrhundert. Probleme populärer Kultur in Deutschland, 2, Wiesbaden, 1985, p. 649-681 ; N. HAAG, Predigt und Gesellschaft. Die lutherische Orthodoxie in Dim 1640-1740 (Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für europäische Geschichte Mainz, Abt. Religionsgeschichte, 145), Mayence, 1992 ; HAGENMAIER, Predigt und Policey, W.– D. HAUSCHILD, Kirchengeschichte Lübecks. Christentum und Bürgertum in neun Jahrhunderten, Lübeck, 1981 ; RUBLACK, "Augsburger Predigt" ; H. SCHILLING, "Dortmund im 16. und 17. Jahrhundert – Reichsstädtische Gesellschaft, Reformation und Konfessionalisierung", in G. LUNTOWSKI, N. REIMANN, ed., Dortmund -1100 Jahre Stadtgeschichte. Festschrift, Dortmund, 1982, p. 151-201 ; H. SCHILLING, Konfessionskonflikt und Staatsbildung. Eine Fallstudie über das Verhältnis von religiösem und sozialem Wandel in der Frühneuzeit am Beispiel der Grafschaft Lippe (Quellen und Forschungen zur Reformationsgeschichte, 48), Gutersloh, 1981 ; SCHORN-SCHUTTE, "Prediger" ; ID., "Lutherische Konfessionalisierung ? Das Beispiel Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel (1589- 1613)", in H.-C. RUBLACK, ed., Die lutherische Konfessionalisierung in Deutschland Wissenschaftliches Symposion des Vereins für Reformationsgeschichte 1988 (SVRG, 197), Heidelberg, 1992, p. 163-194 and SCHRÖDER, Kirchenregiment Esslingen).
My own material does not confirm TROELTSCH’S opinion either. Undoubtedly a purely political commitment of the sort of Vogelmann demonstrated at Hall was extremely rare ; normally resistance was restricted to the religionb sphere which, however touched upon nearly every sphere of human life. Voltz believed to have a rightful claim to criticize the Fürkauf of grain as an offence against the "moral economy".
117 On professionalization cf. R. O’DAY, The English Clergy. The Emergence and Consolidation of a Profession 1558-1642, Leicester, 1979, p. 1, 189 ; cf. also the sociological and historical discussion, especially the anthology of T. LUCKMANN, W. M. SPRONDEL, ed., Berufssoziologie, Cologne, 1972 ; further T. PARSON, "Profession", International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, 12, 1968, p. 536-547, D. RUSCHEMEYER, "Professionalisierung. Theoretische Probleme fur die vergleichende Geschichtsforschung", Geschichte und Gesellschaft, 6, 1980, p. 311-325 and C. Mc CLELLAND, "Zur Professionalisierung der akademischen Berufe in Deutschland", in W. CONZE, J. KOCKA, ed., Bildüngsbiirgertum im 19. Jahrhundert, Teil I : Bildungsbürgertum und Professionalisierung in internationalen Vergleichen (Industrielle Welt. Schriftenreihe des Arbeitskreises für modeme Sozialgeschichte, 38), Stuttgart, 1985, p. 233-247.
118 REINHARD, "Zwang zur Konfessionalisierung", p. 263 sq., characterizes the clergymen as a sort of army guided by the authority in order to fight the denominational enemy without realizing the fundamental difference between politicians seeking internal and external peace and the theologians being absolutely uncompromising as our examples suggest ; cf. in this respect the resolution of the Protestant princes in 1558 (Frankfurter Rezeβ) to calm down theological quarrels by controlling the preachers, by censorship and by the prohibition to publish diatribes, and cf. the unwillingness of some princes to invite any theologians to their meeting at Naumburg (Naumburger Fürstentag) where they wanted to deal with factionalism within the Protestant denomination (H. HEPPE, Geschichte des deutschen Protestantismus in den Jahren 1555-1581, I, Marburg, 1852, p. 275, 374).
119 For a biography about a typical specimen of this more peaceful generation of theologians cf. G. SCHROTTEL, Johann Michael Dilherr und die vorpietistische Kirchenreform in Nürnberg (EAKGB, 34), Nuremberg, 1962.
Auteur
University of GieBen
Historisches Institut, Justus-Liebig-Uruversität GieBen, Otto-Behaghel-Str 10C, 35394 GŒSSEN, Allemagne
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