Christian History Home > Issue 34 > Luther's Political Allies
Luther's Political Allies
Paul Thigpen, a professional writer, is a doctoral candidate at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. | posted 4/01/1992 12:00AM
Frederick III “The Wise” (1463–1525)
Pious medieval prince
Frederick III, Elector of Saxony, was both an avid collector of relics and a supporter of modern scholarship.
He was educated at an Augustinian monastery and made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. He collected religious relics—19,013 of them, in fact, by the year 1520—with the wish that Wittenberg, as a depository of sacred items, would become the Rome of Germany. He had such rarities (it was claimed) as four hairs from the Virgin Mary, a strand of Jesus’ beard, and a piece of the bread eaten at the Last Supper.
The pious Frederick also founded the University of Wittenberg. After inviting Luther (and later Melanchthon) to teach there, he found himself having to protect the troublesome professor of Bible.
When in 1518 Luther was summoned to Rome for a hearing, Frederick intervened and arranged for the meeting to take place on safer German soil. He also refused to execute the 1520 bull, Exsurge Domine, which condemned Luther. And after the ... To view this item, you must be a member of ChristianHistory.net.
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