Philipp Melanchthon

Melanchthon is a forwarding to this article. Further meanings are listed under Melanchthon (disambiguation) .

Portrait of Philipp Melanchthon after an oil painting on wood by Lucas Cranach the Elder. Ä. Dimensions approx. 21 × 16 cm, dated 1543

Philipp Melanchthon (from ancient Greek μέλᾱς dark, black and ancient Greek χθών earth, soil , actually Philipp Schwartzerdt * 16th February 1497 in Bretten , † 19th April 1560 in Wittenberg ) was a German classical scholar , philosopher , astrologer, Humanist , Lutheran theologian , Textbook author and neo-Latin poet . As a reformer, alongside Martin Luther, he was a driving force behind the German and European ecclesiastical reformation and was also called “Praeceptor Germaniae”, Germany's teacher.

biography

Parental home and childhood

Market square in Bretten with Melanchthon House , which was built as a memorial on the site of Philipp Melanchthon's birthplace

Philipp Melanchthon's father Georg Schwartzerdt (around 1459–1508) came from Heidelberg and was entrusted with the office of elector armorer and armorer (head of the princely armory). His mother Barbara Reuter (1476 / 1477–1529) was the daughter of the cloth and wine merchant, mayor and mayor of Bretten Johann (Hans) Reuter († 1508) and his wife Elisabeth born. Reuchlin († 1518), who was possibly the sister of the humanist Johannes Reuchlin .

Four years after the marriage in 1493, on February 16, 1497, the young family of the ancestor Philipp was born in the house of his grandparents in the Palatinate city of Bretten. It got its name in honor of the Elector Philip the Sincere of the Palatinate . Philipp had four siblings: Anna (* 1499), Georg (* 1500/1501), Margarete (* 1506) and Barbara (* 1508). From his sister Anna Grünbach geb. The doctor Robert Mayer is descended from Schwarzerdt .

Melanchthon grew up in Brettheim, as Bretten was called at the time. His grandfather took care of a thorough upbringing, mainly through instruction in Latin from Johannes Unger from Pforzheim . So he came into contact with passing scholars at an early stage and was able to discuss with them.

In the Landshut War of Succession against the Hessians, his father was entrusted with looking after the guns, from which he returned home as a sick man because he had drunk from a poisoned well in Monheim in 1504 . Melanchthon was impressed by the deep religiosity of his father during his long infirmity. When his grandfather died on October 17th and his father on October 27th 1508, Melanchthon was brought to Pforzheim with his brother Georg at the age of eleven; he lived there with his relative Elisabeth (Els) Reuter, Johannes Reuchlin's sister. This move is often interpreted as the end of his childhood.

Educational path

A dedication by Reuchlin with the coat of arms of the Reuchlin family in Melanchthon's Greek grammar is now in the incunabula collection of Uppsala University Library

Latin School Pforzheim (1508–1509)

In Pforzheim he attended the Latin school from 1508 , which was highly regarded and popular with the rector Georg Simler from Wimpfen and Johannes Hiltebrant from Schwetzingen , who also taught Greek. A large number of the students who emerged from this school, such as Simon Grynaeus and Kaspar Hedio , made a name for themselves in later life - especially as reformers. The most talented, however, is said to have been Melanchthon, who, thanks to the knowledge he had already acquired in Bretten, was able to easily cope with the demands of the school.

Due to his Latin poetry and his progress in Greek grammar, he was noticed by Johannes Reuchlin, who lived in Stuttgart and was one of the highest judges of the Swabian Confederation in Tübingen . As a connoisseur of ancient Greek , Reuchlin promoted knowledge of Greek in Germany through his texts and translations. As a result, he would become Melanchthon's greatest patron. The teaching of the Greek language was then only given to particularly gifted students. Reuchlin gave Melanchthon a copy of Konstantinos Laskaris' Greek grammar and wrote a dedication into it, which translates into German:

"Johannes Reuchlin from Pforzheim, doctor of law, gave this Greek grammar a gift to Philipp Melanchthon from Bretten, in 1509 on the Ides of March ."

On March 15, 1509, Reuchlin gave Philipp Schwartzerdt the humanist name Melanchthon , a Graecization of the birth name  components Schwartz- - μέλας / μέλαινα / μέλαν ( melas / melaina / melan ) - and -erdt  - χθών ( chthon ).

University of Heidelberg (1509–1512) and Tübingen (1512–1514)

After almost a year, Melanchthon was twelve years old and was able to move into Heidelberg University on October 14, 1509 . In Heidelberg he found accommodation in the house of the theology professor Pallas Spangel , where Jakob Wimpheling occasionally stayed. In Pforzheim he had already received knowledge of his writings on the reform of teaching and teaching methods and made him familiar with the writings of Erasmus of Rotterdam . In 1510 Melanchthon published his first Latin poems in Wimpheling's books. Due to his thorough training, Melanchthon managed to study in Heidelberg without any problems and acquired the lowest academic degree of a baccalaureus artium at the earliest possible point in time on June 10, 1511 .

After Spangel's death, Melanchthon moved to the University of Tübingen in September 1512 . There he studied arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy ( Quadrivium ). He also studied Greek, Hebrew and Latin. He read ancient authors as well as humanistic poets and made acquaintance with new teaching methods. In this way he also got to know Rudolf Agricola's writings on logic and derived a new understanding of dialectics from them . Together with Franciscus Irenicus , he was one of the Neckar comrades there .

When Reuchlin was involved in a process through an opinion on the Hebrew literature (Judenbücherstreit), Melanchthon campaigned for his sponsor. From this it is concluded that he did not always participate in the anti-Judaism of his time. On January 25, 1514 he completed his studies at the artist faculty with a master's degree . In Tübingen he had already worked as a tutor for two count's sons and had worked as a Greek teacher. Thus the transition from learner to teacher at Melanchthon was smooth. Melanchthon's own first publications also fell during the time in Tübingen, for example an edition by the Roman comedy writer Terenz with an introduction to the history of ancient comedy in 1516 , and a Greek grammar in 1518, which had nineteen editions by 1544. And finally, he worked on a rhetoric that was published in Wittenberg in 1519.

After Martin Luther had published his 95 theses in 1517 , a Heidelberg disputation took place on April 26, 1518 at the university on the basis of his demands, which made a decisive impression on Melanchthon. He therefore went to Wittenberg with his fellow students in order to have Luther's views explained in more detail. From then on, Melanchthon was open to Reformation ideas.

The University of Wittenberg (1518)

The castle church of Lutherstadt Wittenberg

In 1518, Elector Friedrich the Wise founded a chair for the Greek language at his University of Wittenberg, which was founded in 1502 and reformed several times . At first, attempts were made to win over the then best-known Graecist Johannes Reuchlin for the newly established chair . However, he declined for reasons of age and recommended his pupil Melanchthon for the position. Since Melanchthon had already drawn attention to himself during his time in Tübingen, Reuchlin's recommendation was accepted and Melanchthon was given the task. He said goodbye to his previous places of activity and reached Wittenberg on August 25, 1518. Its narrow and small outer shape of 1.50 meters, combined with a small speech impediment, initially did not impress the Wittenbergers. However, when Melanchthon gave his elaborate and fiery inaugural address (title: “De corrigendis adolescentiae studiis”, on the redesign of the study of young people ) on Saturday, August 28th, in the castle church of Wittenberg, the first impression turned completely.

Portrait of Philipp Melanchthon, after an engraving by Albrecht Dürer , from 1526

Melanchthon spoke about university reform and initially painted a gloomy picture of the education of past centuries. He pursued the guiding principle that the reading of ancient writers from the original sources could become the source of new life and thought through humanistic studies. He hit the pulse of the times in what was then Wittenberg, and Martin Luther was immediately fascinated by the little "Graeculus" (little Greek). This fascination was mutual and subsequently became one of the most important collaborations of the Reformation , which only ended with Luther's death.

The students also quickly recognized the potential that Melanchthon had; he was therefore an extremely popular university teacher. He taught Greek grammar, read about ancient authors, explained biblical books and combined this with knowledge building in numerous fields. He often had up to 400 listeners, who particularly appreciated his precise language, the abundance of examples and the clear structure of his remarks.

Philipp Melanchthon in a stained glass

Due to Luther's influence, Melanchthon acquired the academic degree of baccalaureus biblicus on September 19, 1519. This enabled him to give lectures at the theological faculty. Although Melanchthon made use of it all his life, he preferred philosophical education, which was understood as a prerequisite for theological education. When a particularly well-endowed professorship was created for him in 1525, which freed him from faculty constraints, the preceptor's attitude did not change here either . There is no lack of interest in the Church in this. Rather, Melanchthon did not feel called to priest because of his physical weakness and his speech defects, which also explains the fact that Melanchthon never passed the Christian sacraments. Rather, the intellectual potential of theology was important to him, and so, with his participation, the University of Wittenberg rose to become the most important university in Europe alongside Luther.

family

Melanchthon House in Wittenberg

Melanchthonstube in the Melanchthonhaus

Melanchthon's letter to the Pomeranian superintendent Jakob Runge , written on April 14, 1560, five days before his death

After arriving in Wittenberg, Melanchthon rented a simple house, which he often referred to as a booth. There he lived with his assistant. However, Luther feared for Melanchthon's health, which was obviously impaired by the men's economy. In order to improve Melanchthon's living conditions, but also to keep him in Wittenberg, Luther looked for a wife for Melanchthon in 1520. However, Melanchthon was not very enthusiastic about this idea. The young, hard-working professor feared that his studies would continue. However, Luther succeeded in finally marrying Katharina (* October 1497; † 11 October 1557) on November 27, 1520 , the daughter of the cloth merchant and mayor of Wittenberg Hans Krapp († 1515) and his wife Katharina (née Münzer; † May 3, 1548). Luther, who himself entered into an actually unwanted marriage, knew about the effect of living together, and so it happened that with Melanchthon and his wife, through gradually getting to know each other, a community formed in which the two learned to appreciate each other.

Although his wife came from a well-respected family and Melanchthon earned well as a professor at the university, there was never greater prosperity in the Melanchthon family. Constant visits by university members who gathered at table meetings in Melanchthon's house, young students whom Melanchthon taught and cared for in his "schola domestica" as a personal mentor , reduced the budget of the household.

At the age of 43, Melanchthon lived in this house in Schmalkalden for 6 weeks

Melanchthon soon gained such a high reputation through his work in Wittenberg that offers from other universities in Germany and Europe were made to him. Johann Friedrich I (Saxony) , however, wanted to keep the respected professor in Wittenberg and in 1536 built a house in keeping with his status on the property of his booth, which is known today as the Melanchthon House in Wittenberg. When the family moved into this house in 1537, the couple already had the children Anna (* August 24, 1522 - February 27, 1547), Philipp (* February 21, 1525 - October 3, 1605 in Wittenberg), Georg (* November 25, 1527 in Wittenberg; † 1529) and Magdalena (* July 19, 1531; † September 12, 1576). As head of the family, he devoted himself to his beloved children and caring for the children welded the Melanchthons together. As a father he suffered from sleepless nights when his second son Georg died after two years and when his first-born daughter Anna , whom he educated himself on all sides, entered into an unhappy marriage with Melanchthon's former pupil Georg Sabinus , the founding rector of the University of Königsberg . However, living with Melanchthon was not always easy. That way he could get quite irascible when things went against the grain. His son Philipp also felt this when he secretly got engaged to Margaretha Kuffner from Leipzig, which the father did not allow to end in marriage.

Melanchthon, who always felt responsibility for other people, was burdened and worried by his duties as a householder and husband. In addition to his unbroken confidence in God's caring and mercy, his caring wife helped him. When she died on October 11, 1557 and the long-time family friend Joachim Camerarius the Elder announced this to Melanchthon, who was in Worms for the last major religious discussion, on October 27, he felt great loss and longed to be able to follow her soon.

Diseases and death

The grave of Philipp Melanchthon in the castle church in Wittenberg with his life dates in Roman numerals

Melanchthon was of a delicate stature and with his low voice always gave the impression of being in great danger. In stark contrast was his hard work and tenacity in negotiations. The constant overload was not without consequences. From a young age he suffered from insomnia and was also dependent on a balanced diet.

In the early summer of 1540 he fell seriously ill on the trip to the Hagenau Religious Discussion in Weimar. Luther hurried to Melanchthon to give consolation and found him passed out, with a sunken face and broken eyes. However, Melanchthon was able to recover from this weakness and continued his work. On a trip to Regensburg in March 1541, his traveling car overturned and he suffered serious injuries that prevented him from writing for a while and delayed the appearance of his files on the negotiations at the Regensburg Reichstag.

From a trip to Leipzig in 1560 he came back on April 4th with a cold. During the night of April 7th to 8th, he developed a fever that kept recurring with short interruptions. Despite the care of his daughter Magdalena and his son-in-law, the physician Caspar Peucer , his strength continued to decline. On April 11 and 12, 1560, he last gave lectures and speeches. On April 14th he wanted to give another lecture, but it was canceled without his intervention. On April 19, daughter and son-in-law gathered around Melanchthon in his house with their house friend Joachim Camerarius to give him their last escort. In front of the house, students prayed for their professor. By 7:00 p.m., his hands and feet went cold and his pulse stopped.

After a memorial speech by the medicine professor Veit Winsheim , he found his final resting place at the side of his former comrade Martin Luther in the Wittenberg Castle Church .

Melanchthon's autographs are kept in the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Library in Hanover , among others .

Work and influence

Head of the Melanchton statue at the Lessing-Gymnasium in Frankfurt / M

The teacher of Germany

When Melanchthon gave his inaugural address to the assembled audience at Wittenberg University in 1518, he was already speaking out on a study reform that subsequently eliminated the old teaching system. His main pedagogical concerns were the individual support of the first-year students by preceptors and the training of the linguistic expression. As rector of the University of Wittenberg, Melanchthon took care of new study regulations in 1523/24, initially for the Philosophical Faculty. He made it clear that classical humanistic education was essential for Protestant theologians.

Melanchthon was a passionate teacher. His vast knowledge enabled him to give lectures in many fields. He was able to fall back on a rich spectrum of background knowledge and clearly illustrate connections. Melanchthon wrote grammars for teaching Greek and Latin that were used in numerous schools, including abroad. In addition to commenting on ancient authors, he also wrote important textbooks on subjects such as rhetoric, ethics, physics, history, geography, and astrology . In many schools of the 16th century his books were prescribed as subject matter, so that he was praised as "Praeceptor Germaniae" (teacher of Germany) even during his lifetime. As a teacher at the Wittenberg University, he attached great importance to knowing the exact meaning of words and using clear language. Above all, he took the view that one could not do theology on the basis of the Bible without mastering the three ancient languages , everything else was gossip.

Melanchthon not only took care of the future teachers, but also participated in the establishment of schools (1524 in Magdeburg, 1525 in Eisleben and 1526 in Nuremberg) and drafted their school regulations. He outlined the principles that schools should heed:

Melanchthon teaching the visitors

• The language of instruction is Latin.
• The students should not be burdened with too much learning material. Thoroughness and repetition are important.
• The pupils are divided into three classes according to age and knowledge, only after reaching a learning goal do they move on to the next higher class.

Furthermore, he was on the road for his elector and visited churches and schools. He checked the school situation and responded to grievances with suggestions for improvement.

With the Upper School St. Egidien in Nuremberg , Melanchthon even founded a new type of school that was to become the archetype of the German grammar school . In his Latin speech for the inauguration of the school on May 23, 1526, he demonstrated the value of science for all of state and church art. This first grammar school still exists today under the name Melanchthon grammar school , albeit in a different location. And Latin is still a compulsory subject from year 5 onwards.

The reformer

Melanchthon got to know Luther in 1518 at the Heidelberg disputation. Luther, who had begun to reform the church as early as 1517 with his publication of the 95 theses , found in Melanchthon, as a reformer of the educational system, a complementary personality for the renewal of the church. From Luther, said Melanchthon himself, he learned the gospel. However, both were very different. While Luther was strong, corpulent, often rumbling and close to the people, Melanchthon appeared sensitive, easily vulnerable and tender. Luther was sometimes annoyed by the cautiousness of his comrade, 14 years his junior, whereas Melanchthon occasionally suffered from Luther's coarse and aggressive manner. Despite all of this, both of them valued each other very much and knew about each other's strengths and strengths. This can also be traced back to Luther's translation of the New Testament in autumn 1521 at the Wartburg , when Melanchthon carried out the review and linguistic correction. The translation of the Old Testament soon followed, and in 1534 the entire Luther Bible appeared .

Melanchthon accompanied Luther to the Leipzig disputation as early as 1519 . In 1521 he published the first systematic presentation of Reformation theology ( Loci communes rerum theologicarum ). Thus the main points of Reformation ideas were formulated and the first influential dogmatics of the Protestant Church was written, which was revised and adapted in the years 1535, 1543 and 1559.

Philipp Melanchthon in old age, painting by Lucas Cranach the Elder J. from 1559

In 1529 Melanchthon took over the role of negotiator of the Reformation at the Reichstag in Speyer because Luther, as an outlaw, could not take part in the negotiations. He also took part in the Marburg Religious Discussion , where he and Luther met the Swiss reformer Ulrich Zwingli in October 1529 . While agreement was established in many areas, for example in baptism or confession, the understanding of the Lord's Supper , i.e. the question of whether Christ is real or symbolically present in wine and bread, remained open. It was mainly because of this point of contention that Reformed and Lutheran churches developed later.

Later Melanchthon was involved in the Worms and Regensburg religious discussions, but where no understanding could be reached with the Old Believers. His concern was always to implement the reforms while consciously renouncing violence (although he later spoke out in favor of the death penalty for Anabaptists ) and to preserve the unity of the church. This corresponded to his accommodating attitude at the Augsburg Reichstag and later towards the Catholics in the Leipzig articles . He demonstrated his diplomatic nature and skill in the drafting of the Torgau Articles , the Confessio Augustana , the Apology of the Confessio Augustana and the Tractatus de potestate et primatu Papae (treatise on the violence and primacy of the Pope), which are among the fundamental evangelical confessions and contributed to the success of the Reformation . Together with Martin Bucer he wrote two Reformation pamphlets in 1543 ( Einfaltigs Bedencken , also called Cologne Reformation ) for the Cologne Archbishop Hermann V. von Wied . Efforts were unsuccessful and tensions between the parties grew stronger. In 1546/47 the Schmalkaldic War broke out between the Catholic Emperor Charles V and the Protestant princes.

Melanchthon also rejected the theological demands of the Reformation Anabaptist movement , although in his earlier years in Wittenberg he himself still had doubts about infant baptism. When in 1530 the Gotha reformer Friedrich Myconius wrote to Melanchthon with his concerns about the persecution of the Anabaptists, Melanchthon justified the ongoing persecution. In the same year Melanchthon also wrote the Confessio Augustana , in which the Anabaptists were condemned as heretics. A year later, at the request of the Elector of Saxony, Melanchthon formulated a detailed report on the use of the death penalty against the Anabaptists. In the winter of 1535/36 he was involved in a trial in Jena against a group of Anabaptists, including the Thuringian Anabaptist leader Hans Peißker . Peißker and two others were eventually tortured and beheaded on January 26, 1536 .

Friedrich Hagenauer 1543

Melanchthon had to fight other disputes with his own students, who accused him of betraying Luther's true teaching after Luther's death and his willingness to compromise towards the Augsburg Interim in 1548: Melanchthon had made concessions, for example that a Protestant pastor could wear a choir skirt. Melanchthon considered such questions to be Adiaphora ; H. for external and incidental. But his inner-Protestant opponents considered any compromise a betrayal and a return to the papacy. In addition to the "adiaphoristic" quarrel , Melanchthon had to fight out other quarrels with the Gnesiolutherans in the last years of his life, which led him increasingly to inner disappointment and bitterness. After Adolf von Harnack's judgment, however, he had to ascribe this to himself, as he had increasingly distanced himself from Luther's position with regard to the doctrine of the Lord's Supper (consecration) and was even prepared to take a public stand against it shortly before his death. B. by standing up for Albert Hardenberg's position in the Lord's Supper dispute in Bremen .

Works

Title page of the Loci praecipui theologici from 1552

• Institutiones Graecae grammaticae 1518
• Loci communes rerum theologicarum 1521
• Instruction by the visitors to the pastors in the Electorate of Saxony in 1527
• Confessio Augustana 1530
• Apology of the Confessio Augustana 1531
• Liber Johannis de Sacro Busto, de sphaera. Addita est praefatio in eundem librum Philippi Mel. Ad Simonem Gryneum (Imprint Vitebergae: per Iosephum Clug, 1531)
• De miseriis paedagogorum 1533
• Tractatus de potestate et primatu Papae ( Treatise on the violence and primacy of the Pope ) 1537
• From the Kierchen and old Kierchenleren. That the princes are owed from God's rejection and command ; Aries the unclean Bape Celibat and forbade the priesthood , 1540 ( digitized version )
• Tetrabiblos 1553 (editor of Claudius Ptolemy 's four-volume work on astrology, written around AD 150) ISBN 978-3-925100-17-8
• Haydn article Christian Lere. Melanchthon's German version of his Loci theologici , based on the autograph and the original print from 1553, ISBN 978-3-374-01950-2
• Examen eorum, qui audiuntur ante ritum publicae ordinationis, qua commendatur eis ministerium EVANGELII: Traditum Vuitebergae, Anno 1554 , Wittenberg 1570
• Initia doctrinae physicae , 1556
• Process as it should be kept with the rescuers Worms 1557 ( digitized )

Helmut Claus' bibliography (see below) provides a general overview of his works.

Memorials, honors, memorial days

Memorials and honors

Melanchthon statue at the “bridal portal” of the Margaret Church in Gotha

Melanchthon monument on the market square of Lutherstadt Wittenberg

Melanchthon bust at the Philipp-Melanchthon-Gymnasium in Herzberg

• Melanchthon House in Bretten , was built in 1897 on the site of the Reformer's birthplace, which burned down in 1689
• House where he lived and died in Lutherstadt Wittenberg
• Statue in sandstone of Nuremberg , design Jacob Daniel Burgschmiet 1826
• Statue on the market square of Lutherstadt Wittenberg, designed by Friedrich Drake in 1865
• Statue in front of the collegiate church in Bretten
• Statue in front of the Johann-Peter-Hebel-School in Bretten
• Bust of Melanchthon in the auditorium of the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg 1930 by Gerhard Marcks and the Melanchthonianum building of the University of Halle
• Memorial plaque on the south side of the Burse (Tübingen)
• Baldachin figure on the "Brautprotal" of the Margarethenkirche in Gotha by Christian Behrens (around 1900)
• Melanchthonplatz in Berlin-Spandau
• A Melanchthon oak was planted in front of the Johanneskirche (Eltville-Erbach) on February 16, 1884, 387 years after Melanchthon's birth. Next to it is a Luther linden tree planted in 1883. Wooden signs indicate this.
• In Herzberg's city park there is a replica of a miracle stone that students from Wittenberg University are said to have placed in 1506 when it was partially relocated to Herzberg due to the plague.
• On the facade of the Friedrich Schiller School in Ronneburg, there is a relief on the head of Philipp Melanchthon as a so-called “silent observer” alongside other personalities.
• In honor of her great son, Melanchthon's birthplace awards the city ​​of Bretten's Melanchthon Prize every three years .
• In 1998 the asteroid (7906) Melanchton was named after him.
• the Melanchton pear, which he loved very much, is a well-known double name of the Roman lard pear .
• Names of high schools, etc. a. in Bretten, see Melanchthon-Gymnasium
• Melanchthon's birthplace Bretten describes itself in self-marketing as "MelanchthonStadt Bretten"

Memorial days

• Evangelical Church in Germany : The day of his death, April 19th
• Evangelical Lutheran Church in America : Simultaneously with the commemoration day of the transfer of the Augsburg Confession, June 25th
• Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod : His birthday, February 16

Editions and translations

• Michael Beyer, Stefan Rhein, Günther Wartenberg (eds.): Melanchthon German. 4 volumes. Leipzig, Evangelische Verlagsanstalt 1997–2012
• Walter Ludwig : Philipp Melanchthon: Initia Doctrinae Physicae, Dictata in Academia Vuitebergensi. The beginnings of physical education, presented at the University of Wittenberg. Leidorf, Rahden 2008, ISBN 978-3-86757-183-8
• Heinz Scheible , Christine Mundhenk (ed.): Melanchthon's correspondence. Critical and annotated complete edition. Frommann-Holzboog, Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt 1977 ff., ISBN 978-3-7728-0631-5
• Volkhard Wels (Ed.): Elementa Rhetorices. Basic concepts of rhetoric (= library of rare texts. Vol. 7). 2nd edition, Weidler, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89693-185-7 , urn : nbn: de: kobv: 517-opus-51446 (Latin text with translation and commentary)
• Peter Litwan, Sven Grosse (eds.): Loci praecipui theologici nunc denuo cura et diligentia Summa recogniti multisque in locis copiose illustrati 1559, study edition Latin-German, Leipzig, Evangelische Verlagsanstalt 2018, ISBN 978-3-374-05296-7 .

literature

• Uwe Birnstein : The humanist. What Philipp Melanchthon taught Europe. Wichern, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-88981-282-7 .
• Uwe Birnstein (Ed.): Melanchthon klug & wise. His best quotes. Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Leipzig 2010, ISBN 978-3-374-02753-8 .
• Helmut Claus: Melanchthon Bibliography 1510–1560 , 4 volumes. Gütersloher Verlagshaus, 2014. ISBN 978-3-579-05378-3 .
• Günter Frank, Sebastian Lalla (ed.): Fragmenta Melanchthoniana. 3 volumes. Verlag Regionalkultur, Ubstadt-Weiher 2003, ISBN 3-89735-228-1 , ISBN 3-89735-240-0 , ISBN 3-89735-456-X (series of lectures on the person and historical context of Melanchthon).
• Martin Greschat : Philipp Melanchthon, theologian, educator and humanist. Gütersloher Verlagshaus, 2010, ISBN 978-3-579-08091-8 .
• Horst Jesse: Life and work of Philipp Melanchthon. Dr. Martin Luther's theological companion. Herbert Utz, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-8316-1205-6 .
• Martin H. Jung : Philipp Melanchthon and his time. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2010, ISBN 978-3-525-55006-9 ( review ).
• Albrecht Liess: The inscriptions on the tombstones of Martin Luther and Philipp Melanchthon in the castle church in Wittenberg. In: Archivalische Zeitschrift 95 (2017), pp. 391–396.
• Sönke Lorenz, Reinhold Rieger, Ernst Seidl, Karlheinz Wiegmann (eds.): From student of Burse to “Germany's teacher”. Tübingen 2010, ISBN 978-3-941818-00-2 .
• Seminary of Lutherstadt Wittenberg (Ed.): “We know so little about him”. Philipp Melanchthon, a person between fear and confidence. 2nd Edition. Drei-Kastanien-Verlag, Wittenberg 2004, ISBN 3-9804492-9-7 .
• Stefan Rhein: Philipp Melanchthon. Drei-Kastanien-Verlag, Wittenberg 1997, ISBN 3-9804492-5-4 .
• Horst F. Rupp: Profiles of Educators: Philipp Melanchthon (1497-1560). In: Prospects: Quarterly Review of Education. Unesco Publishing. International Bureau of Education. Volume XXVI / 1996, No. 3, pp. 611-621 (English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Russian, Chinese).
• Heinz Scheible: Melanchthon. Mediator of the Reformation. Beck, Munich 2016, ISBN 978-3-406-68673-3 .
• Heinz Scheible: Philipp Melanchthon. Life and work in pictures (German, French, English). Landesbildstelle Baden, Karlsruhe 1998, ISBN 3-89116-040-2 .
• Heinz Scheible: Melanchthon's educational program. In: Hartmut Boockmann, Bernd Moeller , Karl Stackmann (eds.): Life lessons and world designs in the transition from the Middle Ages to the modern age. Politics - Education - Natural History - Theology. Report on colloquia of the commission to research the culture of the late Middle Ages 1983 to 1987 (= treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen: philological-historical class. Volume III, No. 179). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1989, ISBN 3-525-82463-7 , pp. 233-248.
• Günther R. Schmidt: Philippus Melanchthon (1497-1560). In: Henning Schröer , Dietrich Zilleßen (Hrsg.): Classics of religious education. Frankfurt am Main 1989, ISBN 3-425-07711-2 , p. 23ff.
• Günther R. Schmidt (Ed.): Philipp Melanchthon. Belief and education. Reclam, Stuttgart 1989, ISBN 3-15-008609-4 .
• Hans-Rüdiger Schwab: Philipp Melanchthon. The teacher of Germany. A biographical reader. DTV, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-423-02415-1 .
• Friedrich Schweitzer, Sönke Lorenz, Ernst Seidl (eds.): Philipp Melanchthon. Its importance for church and theology, education and science. Neukirchener, Neukirchen-Vluyn 2010, ISBN 978-3-7887-2464-1
• Gerhard Schwinge: Melanchthon in printmaking. A selection from the 17th to 19th centuries. Edited by Günter Frank. Regional culture publishing house, Ubstadt-Weiher 2000, ISBN 3-89735-131-5 .
• Hermann-Adolf stamp:  Melanchthon. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 5, Bautz, Herzberg 1993, ISBN 3-88309-043-3 , Sp. 1184-1188.
• Robert Stupperich:  Melanchthon, Philipp. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 16, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-428-00197-4 , pp. 741-745 ( digitized version ).
• Robert Stupperich : Philipp Melanchthon. Scholar and politician. Muster-Schmidt, Göttingen 1996, ISBN 3-7881-0147-4 .

Web links

Wikisource: Philipp Melanchthon  - Sources and full texts

Wikiquote: Philipp Melanchthon  - Quotes

Commons : Philipp Melanchthon  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Philipp Melanchthon in the catalog of the German National Library
• Works by and about Philipp Melanchthon  in the German Digital Library
• Publications by and about Philipp Melanchthon in VD 16 .
• Publications by and about Philipp Melanchthon in VD 17 .
• Works by Philipp Melanchthon in Project Gutenberg ( currently not usually available to users from Germany )
• Works by Philipp Melanchthon in the Gutenberg-DE project
• Philipp Melanchthon in the Internet Archive
• Correspondence from Phillipp Melanchton Camerarius Collection, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek
• Regesten Melanchthon's correspondence (database query)
• Melanchthon House Lutherstadt Wittenberg - Luther Memorials Foundation in Saxony-Anhalt
• Melanchthon House in Bretten
• Melanchthon Research Center of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences
• Jubilee page 1997: Melanchthon's work and his time (including further links)
• Heinz Scheible's Melanchthon biography
• Melanchthon-Gymnasium Nuremberg. Philipp Melanchthon founded the grammar school of the same name in Nuremberg.
• Series about Philipp Melanchthon in the show Tag für Tag des Deutschlandfunk by Rüdiger Achenbach Part 1 (5.7 MB), Part 2 (5.6 MB), Part 3 (5.4 MB), Part 4 (5.2 MB) , Part 5 (5.7 MB), (MP3, about 12–13 minutes each)
• Philipp Melanchthon's autographs in the digital collections of the Badische Landesbibliothek
• http://www.melanchthon.de Philipp Melanchthon, humanist and reformer
• SWR2 knowledge: The reformer Philipp Melanchthon

Individual evidence

1. ^ Konrad Fischer: Philipp Melanchthon. Association for Genealogy in North Württemberg eV, September 9, 2010, archived from the original on May 4, 2012 ; accessed on August 27, 2018 . 
2. ^ Robert Stupperich : Melanchthon, Philipp. In: Deutsche Biographie 16. 1990, pp. 741–745 , accessed on June 23, 2018 . 
3. ↑ Heinz Scheible denies the claim, which can be read in "every newer Melanchthon biography" but is nowhere made at the time, that Elisabeth Reuter was Melanchthon's grandmother. Rather, he assumes a marriage between her deceased husband - so that Melanchthon would not be related by blood to her and Reuchlin: Melanchthon's Pforzheim school: Studies on the humanistic educated elite . In: Heinz Scheible: Contributions to the church history of Southwest Germany . Stuttgart 2012, pp. 223–268, here: pp. 237–243.
4. ↑ Achim Detmers: Martin Bucer and Philipp Melanchthon and their relationship to Judaism. Reformed Protestantism and Judaism in Europe in the 16th and 17th Centuries, 2005, accessed February 23, 2019 . 
5. ↑ Hartmut Ellrich: Women of the Reformers . Imhof, Petersberg, 2012, ISBN 978-3-86568-757-9 .
   Stefan Rhein: Katharina Melanchthon, née Krapp - A woman's fate during the Reformation . In: Stefan Rhein, Johannes Weiß (Ed.): Melanchthon rediscovered. Quell, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 978-3-7918-1720-0 , pp. 164-189.
   Stefan Rhein: Katharina Melanchthon: A woman's fate during the Reformation. In: 500 years of the Reformation: Designed by women / women-und-reformation.de. Evangelical women in Germany , accessed on August 28, 2018 . 
6. ↑ Martin H. Jung: Philipp Melanchthon and his time . Göttingen 2010, ISBN 978-3-525-55006-9 , pp. 78 .
7. ^ Nicole Kuropka: Philipp Melanchthon: Science and Society. A scholar in the service of the Church . Tübingen 2002, p. 116 .
8. ↑ Martin H. Jung: Philipp Melanchthon and his time . Göttingen 2010, ISBN 978-3-525-55006-9 , pp. 80 .
9. ↑ Martin H. Jung: Philipp Melanchthon and his time . Göttingen 2010, ISBN 978-3-525-55006-9 , pp. 81 . Heinz Scheible: Melanchthon. A biography. Beck, Munich 1997, p. 83 f.
   
10. ^ Brian G. Marsden, Gareth V. Williams: (7906) Melanchton = 3081 PL. (PDF, 2.7 MB) In: The Minor Planet Circulars / Minor Planets and Comets 32790. Minor Planet Center, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory , October 5, 1998, p. 230 , accessed on August 27, 2018 . 
11. ↑ Joachim Schäfer: Philipp Melanchthon. In: Ecumenical Lexicon of Saints . August 22, 2018. Retrieved August 27, 2018 . 

This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on September 1, 2006 .