Wroclaw disputation
A theological debate under the direction of the theologian Johann Heß and some other representatives of the early reformation movement from Wednesday, April 20 to Saturday, April 23, 1524 in the Dorotheenkirche in Breslau is called a Breslau Disputation .
background
Since 1262, the Wroclaw community has been governed by a city council in accordance with Magdeburg law , a form of city law , which consisted of eleven lay judges ("seven lower" and "four upper lay judges") and five to eight councilors (from 1348 were it regularly eight) together. The council presidency was not led by the mayor, but by the council elder, present tense , who was also governor of the Duchy of Wroclaw . De facto, councilors or elders were at least on an equal footing with sovereign princes in terms of powers, and in some respects they could even surpass them, as the council's political influence was also borne by the city's economic capacity. A solid hierarchy developed among the council members by the 15th century . From 1515 councilors retained their office for life, which then also applied to the office of the present from 1551.
During the war against Bohemia in 1466, the city formed an alliance with the ruler of the Kingdom of Hungary Matthias Corvinus , who after eight years ruled Silesia and thus also Wroclaw as the Bohemian rival king. At that time the newly won areas received a much stricter constitution than before. After Corvinus died in 1490, the city and the principality of Wroclaw again became part of the Kingdom of Bohemia in the same year, which was ruled by the Jagiellonians from Poland-Lithuania , Vladislav II and Ludwig II . 15 years later, in 1505, the then King Vladislav II approved the establishment of a university in Wroclaw . However, this project was not implemented.
Frederick II of Liegnitz had been a supporter of the Reformation since 1523 . In 1526 he founded the first Protestant university in Liegnitz , which, however, could only exist until 1530 because of the religious turmoil caused by Kaspar Schwenckfeld . Even Charles I of Oels was the writings and the attitude of Luther sympathetic to.
But in 1521 Bishop Jakob von Salza was appointed successor to Johannes V. Thurzo . In the same year Hess was appointed preacher in Breslau by the city council, against the will of the Bishop of Salza. Two years later, the city council decreed, again in disregard of the actual episcopal law, the filling of pastoral posts, in 1523 Johannes Hess was appointed pastor at St. Magdalenen . In 1525, the city council again passed over episcopal law and appointed the lower cleric Ambrosius Moibanus as pastor to St. Elisabeth . Despite the protest and objection of the episcopal ordinariate of the bishop, both theologians had to recognize it at least as “preachers” at the two parish churches.
In 1526, King Ludwig II of Bohemia and Hungary died in the Battle of Mohács , whereupon the Habsburgs took over the Kingdom of Hungary and the countries of the Bohemian Crown and thus also Wroclaw and other hereditary lands in Silesia in accordance with the Hereditary Brotherhood Treaty .
The dispute
When Johann Hess was ordained in Breslau on June 3, 1520, his Reformation inclinations were known; after his ordination , he continued to keep in touch with his friends in Wittenberg.
After the death of his benefactor, Bishop Johannes V. Turzo zu Breslau, he went to Oels to the court of Duke Charles I of Münsterberg , until on May 19, 1523 the Wroclaw Council asked him to take up the post of pastor at the St. Mary Magdalene to take over. Despite the resistance of the Breslau bishop, Jakob von Salza , Heß was appointed preacher by the council on October 21, 1523 and, through his position, dared to take the decisive step for the implementation of the Reformation in Breslau. On October 25th, he delivered his inaugural sermon to a large number of the citizens of Wroclaw.
When Hess published his "Axiomata" on the word of God in contrast to human statutes, Christ's priesthood in contrast to the sacrifice of mass and the divine establishment of marital status in contrast to celibacy in February 1524 , the final implementation of the Reformation in Wroclaw began.
As a result of the solemn academic disputation on the "Axiomata" held in the Dorotheenkirche in Breslau from April 20-22, the council decided that the preachers in Breslau had to orient themselves in the gospel sermon to the example of Hess, only through the scriptures To present documented evidence and therefore to omit all human traditions and interpretations of the Church Fathers. In the period that followed, Hess consistently endeavored to renew the city's church and school system, while continuing to recognize the jurisdiction of the bishop who had not passed over to the Reformation.
Heß put forward 22 theses on three topics each, based in particular on the argumentation of Andreas Bodenstein , called Karlstadt and Martin Luther , according to which the Bible is the highest authority ( sola scriptura ) over everything from people and thus also from the institution, the Roman Catholic Church . An important point was that everyone could deal with the content of the Bible unhindered and that it had to be taught without interpretative additions. The subjects of the disputation were the word of God, the priesthood of Christ and the (still) sacrament of marriage. In the disputation, Hess declared the word of God to be the sole guideline of faith, which must be accessible to all people. He went on to explain that the one-time, bloody sacrifice of Christ on the cross does not need bloodless repetition in Sunday mass. Marriage should not be denied to any person, not even the clergy. Incidentally, a short time after the disputation, Hess and Moibanus entered into marriages, and all reformatory-minded pastors followed them later. German songs were sung in the service, and Holy Communion was celebrated in both forms.
During the three days, all theses were presented first in Latin and then in German and then discussed. Each session was opened in a sacralizing manner , similar to the one at the Leipzig disputation, with a sung “ Come, Holy Spirit, Lord God ” and ended with a “ God be praised and given ”. Hess himself took over the function of the disputations and helped to resolve disputed points, everything that was said was written down by two notaries. The city council was present. On the table were accessible tomes of the Hebrew Old Testament and the Greek New Testament . Two language experts were present, Antonius Niger for the Greek and Ambrosius Moibanus for the Hebrew text.
In addition to Johann Hess, Valentin Friedland was also a participant . The position of the Dominicans was weakened by the fact that a member of the cathedral clergy, shortly before the disputation, exchanged sexually with an unmarried woman . A fact that one interpreted propagandistically for the corruption of all priests and the danger for all urban virgins.
Overall, the result of the disputation was a success for Johann Heß and his followers.
On Holy Saturday , March 26, 1524, the Lord's Supper was celebrated in both forms in Liegnitz Castle and two churches there.
literature
- Ulinka Rublack: The Reformation in Europe. European history series, edited by Wolfgang Benz, Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2006, ISBN 978-3-596-60129-5 , pp. 47-49
- David Erdmann : Luther and his relations with Silesia, especially with Breslau. Halle 1887, BoD - Books on Demand, 2017
Individual evidence
- ^ Julius Köstlin : The theses of the disputation of Johann Hess of April 20, 1524 in German texts. Journal of the Association for the History and Antiquity of Silesia , Sv. 10 (1870-1871 [1871]), 369-372
- ^ Wroclaw Council. Marburg repertory on translation literature in early German humanism. [1]
- ^ Colmar Grünhagen : History of Silesia. 2. Vol., Friedrich Andreas Perthes, Gotha 1886, p. 18 f [2]
- ↑ Ulinka Rublack: The Reformation in Europe. European history series edited by Wolfgang Benz, Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2006, ISBN 978-3-596-60129-5 , p. 48
- ↑ Anneliese Bieber-Wallmann, Wolf-Dieter Hauschild (ed.): Johannes Bugenhagen: Reformatorische Schriften (1515 / 16-1524). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2013, ISBN 978-3-647-55441-9 , p. 654