Luther's Fortress by James Reston

Author:James Reston [Reston, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780465057979
Publisher: Basic Books

Ten

A CLANDESTINE MISSION

IN LATE NOVEMBER LUTHER DECIDED THAT HE NEEDED TO SEE the volatile situation in Wittenberg for himself, and for good reason. In early December, a mob of students and townspeople in Erfurt interrupted a Mass in the city church, drove the priests from the altar, and seized all the missals. The next day forty students, described as “unrestrained and ignorant Martinians,” stormed the Franciscan monastery, demolished the altars, and smashed the windows of the order’s canon, as the civil authorities stood by and did nothing. Informed of this unrest, Elector Frederick took action to calm things down.

On December 5, 1521, Luther slipped out of the Wartburg and headed for Wittenberg. Accompanied only by a manservant, he traveled first to Leipzig, stayed overnight in an inn, and proceeded to Wittenberg and the home of his staunch supporter, Nicholas von Amsdorf.

Fifty-nine miles southwest of Berlin, Wittenberg at this time was the capital of the tiny Prussian duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg. The town featured narrow cobblestone streets and half-timbered houses. Its chief landmarks were the Elster Gate, where Luther had burned his excommunication document; the town church of St. Mary with its twin towers, built in 1281; and the Imperial Church or Schlosskirche, with its grand tower soaring over the town, its baptismal font by Hermann Vischer decorated with figures of the apostles, and a magnificent painting by Cranach, depicting the Lord’s Supper, baptism, and confession, over the altar. At the turn of the century Wittenberg had had a population of about 2,300 citizens, but in the previous few years, the number had doubled with the influx of students from all over Germany who wished to study at the feet of the great Reformer.

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