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C o b u r g i n t h e L u t h e r d e C a d e
Luther in Coburg
Coburg and the Reformation
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Dear Coburger and visitors,Dear friends of the Reformation Decade
On Good Friday, 15 April 1530, 70 nobles, 7 knights, 120 travellers and soldiers ride through the Spitaltor in Coburg. Among them Martin Luther, the theologians Philipp Melanchthon and Justus Jonas as well as the influential electoral councillor Georg Spalatin. The travelling party takes up lodgings in Coburg. Luther cannot travel on to Augsburg with his companions because he is under the Imperial Ban.
Consequently, Luther stays in Coburg for almost six months.
A word of welcome…
Georg Konrad Rothbart Portrait of Martin Luther in the Reformer Chamber, 1844
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Walking up the hill to the castle, Veste Coburg, he summed up his first impression in these words: “It is a perfectly charming place and suitable for studying”. In the Veste Co-burg, he composed numerous confessions and pamphlets and devoted himself to translating. His literary activity in Coburg was very extensive. In 172 days he wrote more than 120 letters to his friends in Augsburg, as well as to his family in Wittenberg. There are highly imaginative descriptions of his abode: “Of the empire of the birds”; of
“the castle full of demons”, “solitude” – he was disturbed by the squawking jackdaws and crows, and much more.
The town of Coburg feels close links to the Theologian and Reformer Martin Luther and expresses that closeness in the context of the Reformation Decade. We hope you enjoy discovering more about Martin Luther and his time in Coburg.
Best regards
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Dr. Birgit Weber 2nd Mayor of Coburg
Norbert Tessmer Lord Mayor of Coburg
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Luther in Coburg
This brochure is appearing at the right time. We are on the threshold of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. In 1517, Luther published his
95 theses. They were widely debated and were the initial impulse for the Reformation.
When I am in Wittenberg, I encounter large groups of Americans, Brazilians and many other nationalities. They visit Wittenberg as Luther’s domicile to learn more about the Reformer. In the last few years, hotels, restaurants, and many other businesses have flourished there thanks to tourists’ interest in Luther. The churches are well-frequent-ed too.
And Coburg? It is far too little known – both world-wide and within Bavaria – that the most significant Luther site in Bavaria, and the most beautiful in Germany, is in
Coburg. Luther lived in the Veste for six months. Luther’s importance in combi-nation with the magnificence of the Veste Coburg – this is something Coburg can only be congratulated on. Much more can develop from this to benefit the town than has done so far. May history inspire the present and may faith inspire culture. That is what I sincerely wish all citizens of the town and all visitors.
Dr. Dorothea Greiner Regional bishop of the Lutheran-Prot-estant Church District in bayreuth
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The region of Coburg – Region of the Reformation
During the Reformation, developments, which had already begun in the late Middle Ages, came to a head. Due to a favourable conjuncture of, for ex-
ample, new achievements in technology and the emergence and interaction of significant individuals, the Reformation was able to break out and unfold correspondingly in the first decades of the 16th century. In this way, the Reforma-tion set a new epochal course in the humanities, theology, political and church organisation, the consequences of which continue to have an effect up to the present.
That particularly applies to the region of Coburg. It became Protestant through Martin Luther, closely linked to and committed to the biblical gospel of the merciful God solely through Jesus Christ. At that time a Protestant church structure arose which, from then on, assumed the priesthood of all believers, which could appoint clergy and possibly dismiss them again.
In doing so, they rediscovered their obligation towards their neighbours, not for their own sakes, but rather out of their own direct experience of divine love. Furthermore, in the course of the Reformation, parishes, almost all of which have survived up to the present, were confirmed, reorganised or founded. Ultimately a school system devel-oped in the town and the region which can still be perceived today, despite several later additions and reorganisations. RAineR AXMAnn
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Martin Luther and the region of Coburg
The Coburg region, which was known as ‘Sächsische Ortlande zu Franken’, or ‘Pflege Coburg’, meaning ‘territory of Coburg in Franconia’ during the time
of the Reformation, belongs to Franconia in terms of both geography and language. However, historically (from 1513 to 1518) and culturally it belonged to the Wettin territory, and from 1485 to its Ernestine territory. It was the most southerly situated region of the former electorate of Saxony.
If we follow the ‘Romweg’ map by the Nuremberg master Erhard Etzlaub from 1500, showing the path that Martin Luther took on his journey to and from Rome, and which he undertook on the authority of his monas-tic order in autumn 1310 and spring 1311, it then leads through Coburg. Mid-April 1518, Luther came through Coburg once again – this time because he was on the way to Heidel berg to the local chapter gathering of the Augustinian Reformation congregation. In October 1518 the Reformer passed through Coburg both on the journey to Augsburg as well as on the way home from an interrogation by the nuncio Cardinal Cajetan.
On 14 April 1530, Luther finally came to Neustadt near Coburg with his lord, Elector John the Constant. On Good Friday, he preached in the St. George’s church. Afterwards, the party of travellers made their way to Coburg. As the Reformer had been excommunicated and was under the Imperial Ban, he had to stay in the safe shelter of the Veste Coburg, which he moved into on 24 April. From Coburg, Luther not only took an intense interest in the events of the Imperial Diet in Augsburg but also composed numerous works (“sermons” or “epistles”), translated texts from the Old Testament as well as Aesop’s Fables. The 5 ½ months in Co-burg, are the best documented period in the Reformer’s life.
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After the Elector had returned to Coburg with his retinue on 1 October, Luther left the town with him on 4 October. He never returned to the region of Coburg, although, he still kept in touch with some people and, together with his trusted friend Melanchthon, had various matters to settle concering the church and the school system in Coburg. RAineR AXMAnn
Veste Coburg stair tower of the residential building with a Luther relief V
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The history of Veste Coburg – from a Saxon castle to Luther Veste
S ince the last third of the 11th century, a priory of Benedictine monks from the monastery in Saal-feld existed where the Veste Coburg of the Staufer
period was built, one and a half centuries later. It reached its height as a castle of the Electors of Saxony at the end of the 15th century. It was the southern-most point of their territory which is why the Veste was frequently used by Frederick the Wise and John the Constant on their way to Nuremberg or Augsburg on Electorate business. In Luther’s time, the castle had a permanent garrison of 30 men; it was surrounded by two rings of walls, which had been secured with semi-circular towers during the Hussite attacks a century before. In the ‘Hohes Haus’, there was the armoury, the residential rooms were situated in the royal building and the banquet hall, the ‘Große Hofstube’, was in the living quarters. Later the Veste served as a fortress and garrison for centuries, while slowly falling into decay.
In the second quarter of the 19th century, Duke Ernest I of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha initiated the restau-ration in honour of Luther’s stay at the Veste. Ever since that time, the construction of a Luther monument has been discussed. When the last reigning Duke Carl Eduard took power in 1905, his subjects made him the gift of the
Veste Coburg Art collections
Veste Coburg 96450 Coburg Phone +49 9561 879-0 Fax +49 9561 879-66 www.kunstsammlungen-coburg.de [email protected]
an audio-visual presentation describes Luther’s stay in Coburg and its reli-gious-historical importance (in german and in english)
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restauration of the castle chapel, which from then on was to bear the name ‘Lutherkapelle’. The Berlin architect and castle researcher Bodo Ebhardt carried out the fundamen-tal refurbishment. The intention to construct a Luther monument in 1917 was thwarted by the World War I, but the Duke had one of the contributions to the competition, the sculpture ‘Licht und Kraft’, ‘Light and Strength’, set up close to the royal building. On the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the Augsburg Confession, a Luther relief was mounted on the stair tower of the residential quarters in 1930. KLAus WesCHenFeLDeR
Lutherkapelle
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Luther Chamber Martin Luther (1483 –1546) lived and worked in the two rooms opposite the ‘große Hofstube’ during his 6-month stay at the Veste in 1530.
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Lucas Cranach the Elder Portrait of Martin Luther around 1540. Cranach’s Luther portraits used striking, re-curring imagery with typical characteristics such as the forelock or the hands folded around the book.
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Martin Luther and the Veste Coburg
The Veste Coburg is one of the most significant Luther sites in Germany, on the one hand because of Luther’s six-month stay in the shelter of the
castle from the middle of April to the beginning of October 1530 during the Imperial Diet of Augsburg, on the other hand due to the methodical dynastical commemoration of Luther in the Veste Coburg by the house of Saxe-Coburg, which reached its height especially in the 19th and the early 20th century.
Luther accompanied his lord, Elector John the Con-stant, on the way to Augsburg where the Augsburg Confession, the articles of faith of the Reformation, were to be read to the Emperor. However, the Elector left Luther behind in the Veste Coburg, as the fur-ther journey outside the Saxon territory would have significantly endangered the Reformer who was under the Imperial Ban and had been excommunicated. Luther only reluctantly remained in the “Realm of the Jackdaws”, as he called his refuge due to the numerous ravens around the castle’s walls. Especially since he had to remain incognito and was not allowed to leave the Veste.
The two rooms then inhabited by Luther are still preserved today; portraits of the Reformer, his wife and his com-
Lucas Cranach the Elder Portrait of Katharina von bora, 1528. V
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panions painted by Lucas Cranach are displayed there, as well as paintings, engravings, coins and medals that illus-trate the events of those months which were so incredibly important for religious history. The Coburg Hedwig glass is the central exhibition piece.
The commemoration of Luther in CoburgShortly after Luther’s death, visitors already gathered at the Veste to see Luther’s abode, during the Imperial Diet in Augsburg. There they found the psalm verses which the
Georg Konrad Rothbart according to specifications from Carl Alexander von Heideloff: the Reformer Chamber at the Veste Coburg, 1846, coloured engraving. During the neo-gothic refurbishment of the Veste, Duke ernest i of saxe-Coburg and gotha furnished the Reformer Chamber with images of and sayings from most representatives of the Reformation.
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Reformer had written on the walls of his study room, just after his arrival at the Veste. There is also said to have been an ink stain, a trace of a fight with the devil, which, how-ever, could no longer be verified by around 1700. During the 19th century, the commemoration of the Reformer’s stay gained more and more importance for the House of Saxe-Coburg, part of the Ernestin Wettin Dynasty, and how they saw themselves. The Coburg dukes were proud to commemorate Luther’s stay which helped to underline their own historical significance.
Since 1830, there have been efforts to construct a Luther monument in the Veste, in 1844, in the course of the historicizing refurbishment of the Veste, a richly deco-rated Reformer Chamber was created, a unique testimony to the vivid memory of the Reformer’s time there. Nowadays, numerous exhibi-tion pieces from the anniversary years of the reformatory events of 1617 and from 1630 up to the 19th century are presented in place of the Reformer Chamber, only fragments of which had been preserved. Glass goblets, faience mugs and commemorative lockets. Small sculptures from the wood of the ‘Luther beech’, the very tree where the Reformer was abducted in 1521 to be brought to the Wartburg, are among the curiosities.
Walzenkrug, flagon, to commemorate Martin Luther’s placarding of the theses, 1717
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A precious glass from among Luther‘s possessions“He brought to the table a crystal glass that had supposedly be-longed to the Saint Elisabeth; he filled it up himself and passed the drink around”, one of Luther’s guests reports from a lunch in Wittenberg in 1541. The glass mentioned had once been a part of the famous ‘Heiltumsschatz’, the collec-tion of holy relics that the Elector Frederick the Wise had gathered in the castle church in Wittenberg. It originally belonged to Saint Elisabeth of Thuringia (1207–1231), who was also greatly respected by the Reformer for her benevolence. Saint Elisabeth, in turn, had probably received the precious glass, of which only a dozen still survive, as a gift from the imperial court. Elisabeth’s aunt, Saint Hedwig of Silesia, owned three glasses of this type. The rare glasses are named ‘Hedwig glasses’ after her. Legend says that once water turned to wine in her glass, which is why drinking from it was supposed to fortify expectant mothers and aid an easy delivery.
The origin of the ‘Hedwig glasses’ is not very clear. It is safe to say that, at that time, the craftsmanship necessary to produce and decorate clear glass was only known in the Islamic culture of the Near East. The glasses are likely to originate from the Fatimid Caliphate. From there they were presumably taken to the courts in Germany by looting crusaders shortly after they were made. This glass, which is evidence of the most refined craftsmanship from the late 12th century, and was once in the possession of saints and electors, is now a first rate Luther relic. KLAus WesCHenFeLDeR
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The Hedwig glass is an almost immaculately preserved high-relief decoration glass from a group of glasses of the same kind, probably crafted around the 12th century in the Middle east. it is one of the most precious exhibits of the art collection of the Veste Coburg. it is proven that Luther possessed the glass in 1541.
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Veste Coburg
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Architectural History of the Morizkirche
In the 14th century, the citizens of Coburg started to construct a parish church in the then new Gothic style. The eastern choir was constructed first. After the
completion of the western choir with its new towers, the construction of the nave was begun in 1520. When Luther preached in the ‘Morizkirche’ (Church of Saint Moriz) in 1530, the three-naved hall was almost completed. However, the church with the ‘Fürstenstand’, the duke’s gallery, and the north tower was not finally completed until towards the end of the 16th century. The construction of the southern tower (‘Rabenturm’ or Raven’s tower) was cut short. From 1740, a profound refurbishment of the interior of the church was carried out in the style of the early rococo. To this day, it characterises the interior aspect of the church, which is in intense contrast to the gothic exterior aspect, with the clear windows, the integration of two galleries, the stucco moulding, the design and the colour scheme.
The church was the burial site for the ducal house until 1860. The church is dominated by the epitaph for John Frederick II (1529–1595) in the choir. Duke John Casimir had it built from 1595 to 1598 in honour of his father who died in exile in Austria; it was made out of alabaster from
Heldburg by the sculptor Nikolaus Bergner from Poeßneck in Thuringia. This special example of art shaped by Luther’s influence dispenses with saints and their legends. It refers only to the stories and figures in the Bible.
The splendid organ, which was recon-structed in 1989 inside the housing from 1740 (Schuke, Berlin), is opposite on the second gallery. The rich church music in
Protestant Parish
St. Moriz Coburg
Pfarramt St. Moriz Pfarrgasse 7 96450 Coburg Phone +49 9561 871424 Fax +49 9561 871426 www.morizkirche-coburg.de [email protected]
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St Moriz is in keeping with the tradition of the Protestant church music. The Reformation also transformed ecclesi-astical music. Singing means being involved in the service: there are no Protestant services without a (singing) parish. To this day, a lot of lyrics, but also the great works of Bach and other masters move us deeply and personally with their language of faith. CHRistoPH Liebst
Epitaph in St. Moriz
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Luther in the Morizkirche
When Martin Luther repeatedly passed through Coburg in 1510/11 and 1518, he still found the late Romanesque nave of the ‘Moriz-
kirche’, Church of Saint Moriz, which had already been furnished with a new Gothic long choir in 1380/1400. Then the foundation for a new late Gothic nave was laid in 1520. The reconstruction was by no means finished in 1530. At least, from 1529 it probably had a pulpit in the southern nave close to one of today’s pillars which have been covered since the 1740s. In 1530 on Holy Saturday, during the feast of Easter and altogether seven times during the Holy Week, Martin Luther was said to have preached from it in front of the Elector, his retinue and the people of Coburg; six of his sermons have survived as transcripts. The Reformer delivered three more sermons at the Veste, among them one in presence of Electoral Prince John Frederick (1503–1554) on 15 September. Luther preached for the last time after the return of the Elector from Augsburg, probably in the Morizkirche again, where-by he summed up the Diet of Augsburg on 2 October:
“Therefore we should [...] especially thank and praise God that the Holy Word alone remained and we remained with it alone. That is so much at once that it is sufficient and is more than ten Turkish kings can achieve.”
Luther had addressed the still topical subjects ‘cor-ruption’ and ‘abuse of authority’ in his sermon on Ash Wednesday: “Everyone should think about how to appropri-ately fill their position. Are you a counsellor or trustee, so work industriously that no ratting or treachery evolves. [...] Each person thinks: into my sack, into my sack! OK, then may the devil help you to fill it up. Dearest, if we act justly, then we still can become rich.” RAineR AXMAnn
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A bust by the eminent saxon sculptor ernst Rietschel (1804–1861) commemorates Luther in the Morizkirche.
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Luther and musicMartin Luther practically sings the praises of music: “Music is a sovereign master of all movements within the heart. Nothing on earth is stronger than music which can make the sad happy, the happy sad and the despairing courageous. [...] I wish with all my heart, that everyone would glorify and praise God for the godly and splendid gift of music. I am so overwhelmed by the multitude and splendour of her good quali-ties that I can find neither beginning nor end nor measure for my thoughts.”
Schuke Organ in St Moriz
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For Luther, music stands in the service of theology: music is proclamation! Bach and Handel, Mendelssohn and Brahms – how might they have composed without the Reformation movement? However, music is also essential in education: Luther demands that every ‘schoolmaster’ had to be able to sing and the prospective pastor should also be equipped with theoretical and practical musical skills. Luther emphasises the educational value of music which he calls upon the ruling class to preserve and promote.
“Children have to [...] sing and learn the whole mathematics of music.” PeteR stengLein
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The Coburg Landesbibliothek
Regional State Library Coburg
Schlossplatz 1 (ehrenburg Palace) 96450 Coburg Phone +49 9561 8538-0 Fax +49 9561 8538-201 www.landesbibliothek-coburg.de [email protected]
C oburg is the only town in Bavaria which has a ‘Landesbibliothek’, a regional state library. The name is contractually guaranteed. It expresses that
it was the central library of the independent Coburg State until 1920. The inventory comes from the diverse collecting activities by Coburg’s Dukes and their ancestors from the electoral and ducal Saxon House (Ernestine Wettins) back to Luther’s lifetime.
In Ehrenburg Palace, where the library is accommo-dated to this day, there have always been books. Duke John Ernest of Saxe-Coburg (1521–1553) was the constructor of the town residence and the library’s founder. He is the younger son of Elector John of Saxony (the Constant) who had accommodated Martin Luther securely at the most southerly castle in his land, the Veste Coburg, during the Diet of Augsburg in 1530.
Being one of Luther’s protectors or – after Luther’s death – an advocate of the real Lutheranism had a last-ing effect on the political commitment and the dynastic self-perception of all Ernestines. Coburg with the Veste and Ehrenburg Palace remained one of their most im-
Luther Bible from 1550 /1; Front Page, coloured woodcut illustration
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portant strongholds (besides Weimar and Gotha) in the period directly after Luther’s death, during the period of denominational tensions. Under the rule of Duke John Casimir (1564 –1633), who is descended directly from the Ernestine Electoral House in Saxony – Electoral Prince John Frederick I (the Magnanimous), who had visited Luther at the Veste, was his grandfather – an independent principality developed in Coburg.
John Casimir consciously built on his important an-cestors. Scholarship, education and science and thus book collections had an extremely high significance for everyone. The regional state library is indebted to Johann Casimir, one hand for the ‘Bibliotheca Casimirana’, about 15,000 titles which he donated to the Casimirianum when it was established as the predecessor of an upper school. On the other hand, there was also a castle library in the Ehrenburg Palace in his day. From the Reformation period and the period up to the Thirty Years War, the present regional state library has over 50,000 volumes, of which at least some date directly back to the Ernestine collection of the 15th to the 17th century.
Luther’s works in the regional library in CoburgIn the 16th century, Coburg was the southerly outpost of the land of the Reformation. There were constant links to the centre around Wittenberg. Extremely valuable and unique books from this time are among the outstanding treasures of the regional state library in Coburg. The library owns more than 600 prints of Luther’s texts includ-ing the earliest printed copies of his Bible translation into German which were published in Luther’s lifetime. The treasures in the library include the September Testament (Cas A 1142), a copy of the original Wittenberg Bible (P I 3,2), a copy of the first complete Bible of 1534 (Lu Ia 1534,6) as well as around 20 additional editions of the Bible from the first half of the 16th century.
These Luther Bibles are furnished with renowned illustrations from Cranach’s workshop about which we
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now know that Luther himself influenced the artistic design. Both the 1541 (P I 1/10) and the 1550/1 (Lu Ib 114) edi-tions printed by Hans Lufft in Wittenberg especially stand out among the works with coloured woodcut illustrations. Further-more, the two-volume interpre-tation of the epistles and gospels (P I 2,29 and 30) printed by Melchior Lotter in Wittenberg is also splendidly illustrated.
Coburg owes most of its prints of Luther’s works to a later descendant of the dynasty, Prince Albert of Saxe-Co-burg and Gotha (1819–1861), who became better-known as Queen Victoria’s consort, and who had great influence during her reign. He provided the impulse for an extensive collection of Luther’s works which had been published in the lifetime of the Reformer. In 1950 the collection, which was originally intended to be a commemorative exhibition for the Veste Coburg, was given to the regional state library in Coburg for conservation reasons and superbly comple-ments the already existing collection of historical Reforma-tion texts. siLViA PFisteR
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Original Wittenberg Bible from 1523, Front Page Part i
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There was no telephone and no text messages. In Luther’s times ‘telecommunications’ required messengers. In this way, from the Veste the Re-
former was in touch with the whole of what was then the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation: messengers with letters to and from Martin Luther were constantly on the road. Thus, he wrote over 120 letters, including those which were lost, in almost six months: 68 were sent to Augsburg, among them 37 to Philipp Melanchthon, 14 to Justus Jonas, eight to Georg Spalatin and four to Elector John the Constant, 17 to Nuremberg, amongst others to Lazarus Spengler, 17 to Wittenberg, among them nine to his wife Kaethe, seven to Zwickau in Saxony, two to Bremen, one to Torgau and one to Munich to the court conductor there, Ludwig Senfl. In turn, Luther received let-ters from Augsburg, 27 letters from Melanchthon, 16 from Jonas and eight from the Elector, from Wittenberg Luther also received numerous letters from Kaethe, but none of them have been preserved.
The bearers were messengers in the service of the sovereign and on their way from Augsburg to Wittenberg and back. One was called Wolf Hornung. Luther had to cut some letters short because the messenger had to hurry onwards to Augsburg, whereas at other times the Reformer simply gave notice there would be a another letter. Occasionally he rebuked his friends in Augsburg for not informing him enough if messengers came by without letters, while the Wittenbergers wrote three times as much. Mounted messengers were the “postmen”, who changed their horses several times at stations along their way. It took them two days from Coburg to Augsburg. Moreover,
Luther network in the German Empire
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he sometimes used messengers hired by friends. Even pri-vate messengers, each hired by their sender, delivered post; Melanchthon and Luther made use of them. The mes-sengers were persons of trust and were sworn to secrecy, for example when a copy of the ‘Confessio Augustana’, or Augsburg Confession, which was not allowed to be printed on the command of Emperor Charles V, was sent from Augsburg to Coburg on 25 June. RAineR AXMAnn
Sebastian Brant Representation of a messenger from the ‘narrenschiff’, the ship of Fools, 1494C
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Architectural History of Callenberg Castle
Callenberg Castle was probably built around 1100. The first documented record of Callenberg is from 1231, when Ulrich III, Knight of Callenberg, sold
the castle to the Bishopric of Wurzburg. In the further course of history, the Earls of Henneberg owned the whole of Callenberg. 1317 the Knights of Sternberg received Callenberg Castle as feudal tenure. Hans of Sternberg was governor of Coburg and was in close contact with the Reformer Martin Luther, who was ‘in hiding’ at the Veste Coburg from April to October in 1530. Here Sternberg discussed his experience during his pilgrimage to Jerusalem with Luther. In August 1530 Luther dedicated his inter-pretation of psalm 117 to his friend Hans of Sternberg on Callenberg. Coburg’s important Renaissance Prince, Duke John Casimir of Saxe-Coburg, who owned Callenberg from 1588, had the first sacral chamber built according to Protestant standards erected in Callenberg. Thus setting up the second oldest pulpit altar in a German-speaking
Callenberg Castle
Callenberg 1 96450 Coburg Phone +49 9561 5515-0 Fax +49 9561 5515-55 www.schloss-callenberg.de [email protected]
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country. The family of the duke has owned Callenberg Cas-tle since then. The Castle has been accessible as a museum since 1997 and presents itself today with three sections; the history of the widely-branched family of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, with their direct family links to five European Royal Families which still reign today; the German Shoot-ing Museum; and changing exhibitions of contemporary art. uDo FeiLeR
Callenberg Castle Aerial photo 2008
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Epitaph for Hans von sternberg zu schenkenau (d 1576), a nephew of the knight Hans von sternberg; Laurentiuskirche Meeder
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Knight Hans von Sternberg at Callenberg in the service of the Ernestine Elector Hans von Sternberg on Callenberg was known a “statesman and co-supporter of the Reformation” with good reason. He was already in the service of Elector Frederick III, the Wise (1463–1525) and was especially to make decisions on legal matters at the end of the first decade of the 16th century. He was also entrusted with various functions by Wurzburg’s Prince Bishop Konrad of Thuengen (1466 –1540). Probably born at Callenberg in the 1470s (he was already in office at the end of the 15th century), he completed an almost one-year long pilgrimage over land and sea together with his cousin, the famous humanist, Sebastian of Rotenhan, in 1514. He is likely to have been knighted in Jerusalem.
Only a few years later, we find him in the vicinity of Georg Spalatin (1484–1545), the privy secretary, coun-sellor and court chaplain of Elector Frederick the Wise. Spalatin dedicated one of Luther’s sermons about double justice rendered into German to Hans of Sternberg and, at his request, sent him a copy of the first edition of Martin Luther’s September Testament in autumn 1522.
The organisation of the first major church visitation 1528/29 in the territory of Coburg was to become Stern-berg’s most important function under Elector John the Constant (1468–1532). He contributed decisively to the consolidation of the Reformation. In 1531, he was entrusted with the sequestration, the acquisition of spiritual goods, in particular from the abandoned monasteries. He was not able to complete the task. He died at the end of 1531/at the beginning of 1532. At the end of February 1532, his legacy had already been divided between his relatives. Hans von Sternberg was the most significant example of a layman committed to implementing the Reformation movement in the Coburg area. RAineR AXMAnn
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1st english edition, september 2016
translation: students of AsCo Coburg Leonie ehrhardt, Lydia günzler, tiffany Möller, Matheo odubeko, Josefin schmidt, Alex sintschenko, nadine strobel, Alisa Wohlrath; Project management: Valerie Kögler
Design: Aaron Rößner, Co3 office for Design
