DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.48092#0036
durer’s literary remains.
[chap.
so pursued a less violent course there than in most other
German cities. It was accompanied by few acts of injustice and
little interference with vested interests1. Public opinion began
to show itself pretty definitely formed about the year 1520,
and Luther’s books commanded a large sale, notwithstanding
the fact that some attempt was made to put a stop to it.
Presently we find two prominent citizens singled out by the
Pope for excommunication in company with Martin Luther.
The nocturnal flight of brick-bats through church windows
indicated the tendency of opinion amongst the lower orders.
The town Council wisely confined its interference to the exercise
of a moderating influence. It issued the decrees which the
Emperor commanded but it did not enforce their sanctions, and
so matters advanced with the least possible friction. In 1521
Melchior Pfinzing, Provost of S. Sebald’s, is found petitioning
the Council to permit the administration of the Communion in
both kinds. One ceremony and Saint’s day fell into disuse
after another. The relics of S. Sebald were no more carried
through the town in procession. Masses for the dead were
neglected. Holy-water vessels ran dry. The Salve Regina was
omitted. At last on Green Thursday, 1524, the deciding step
was taken. Mass was said in German instead of Latin at the
Augustinian Convent, and the Communion was administered
in both kinds to thousands who flocked in from all the country
round. The Council censured the Prior for this innovation;
but, no further harm coming of it, other priests followed his
example, amongst them the Provosts of S. Sebald’s and S.
Lawrence’s. The Council, though ordered by the Emperor to
interfere, refused to do so; and thus, in the year 1524, the
Reformation was practically effected in Niirnberg. The clerical
body were not unanimous in the struggle. Indeed they were
fairly divided. The Dominicans, Franciscans, and Carmelites
were conservative; the Augustinians, Carthusians, and Bene-
dictines were for reform. The Augustinians went so far as to
lay aside their distinctive habit and to assume the ordinary
dress of the secular clergy. In March of the following year,
1525, a religious controversy took place in the Rathhaus, by
1 For the History of Niirnberg up to the year 1600 see Johann Milliner’s
Chronicle.
[chap.
so pursued a less violent course there than in most other
German cities. It was accompanied by few acts of injustice and
little interference with vested interests1. Public opinion began
to show itself pretty definitely formed about the year 1520,
and Luther’s books commanded a large sale, notwithstanding
the fact that some attempt was made to put a stop to it.
Presently we find two prominent citizens singled out by the
Pope for excommunication in company with Martin Luther.
The nocturnal flight of brick-bats through church windows
indicated the tendency of opinion amongst the lower orders.
The town Council wisely confined its interference to the exercise
of a moderating influence. It issued the decrees which the
Emperor commanded but it did not enforce their sanctions, and
so matters advanced with the least possible friction. In 1521
Melchior Pfinzing, Provost of S. Sebald’s, is found petitioning
the Council to permit the administration of the Communion in
both kinds. One ceremony and Saint’s day fell into disuse
after another. The relics of S. Sebald were no more carried
through the town in procession. Masses for the dead were
neglected. Holy-water vessels ran dry. The Salve Regina was
omitted. At last on Green Thursday, 1524, the deciding step
was taken. Mass was said in German instead of Latin at the
Augustinian Convent, and the Communion was administered
in both kinds to thousands who flocked in from all the country
round. The Council censured the Prior for this innovation;
but, no further harm coming of it, other priests followed his
example, amongst them the Provosts of S. Sebald’s and S.
Lawrence’s. The Council, though ordered by the Emperor to
interfere, refused to do so; and thus, in the year 1524, the
Reformation was practically effected in Niirnberg. The clerical
body were not unanimous in the struggle. Indeed they were
fairly divided. The Dominicans, Franciscans, and Carmelites
were conservative; the Augustinians, Carthusians, and Bene-
dictines were for reform. The Augustinians went so far as to
lay aside their distinctive habit and to assume the ordinary
dress of the secular clergy. In March of the following year,
1525, a religious controversy took place in the Rathhaus, by
1 For the History of Niirnberg up to the year 1600 see Johann Milliner’s
Chronicle.