Reformation in Kraichgau
The involvement of imperial knights is characteristic of the Reformation in Kraichgau . The knights associated with the Heidelberger Hof through fiefdoms or service contracts came into contact with the new apprenticeship early on. Reformation clergymen preached in their churches early on. The Lords of Gemmingen and others were in the upcoming Eucharistic controversy of theologians and in the controversy of the emerging religions strive for conciliation.
Beginnings
For the beginning of the Reformation in Kraichgau, Martin Luther's Heidelberg disputation in 1518 was of great importance. Many of the young theologians who were impressed by Luther promoted his teaching in sermons and in personal conversations. The knights in Kraichgau were therefore confronted with the new ideas early on. Soon it was the pamphlets on which they orientated themselves. Luther's pamphlet " To the Christian Nobility " 1520 found attentive readers. Knight Hans III. Landschad von Steinach (1465–1531) felt called upon to remind princes of their duty to protect. In 1520, in a letter to Elector Friedrich von Sachsen , he appealed to protect himself from the outlawed Martin Luther at the upcoming Reichstag in Worms . In 1522 he urged Elector Ludwig V , his employer, in a pamphlet to continue supporting the evangelical movement in the future. In the Kraichgau, many empire families introduced the Reformation early on in their territories : the lords of Gemmingen, the lords of Neipperg , von Helmstatt , von Sickingen , von Venningen and the Göler von Ravensburg . Their patronage rights gave them the opportunity to appoint Lutheran preachers and pastors. Dietrich , Wolf and Philipp von Gemmingen opted for Luther's Reformation, but not their brother Hans. He died in 1549 as a canon in Worms . Her brother-in-law, Dieter von Handschuhsheim , also clung to the old faith, lamenting the changes brought about by the new teaching in the church. The split in faith ran through families.
In 1521, the old Bonfeld chaplaincy in Fürfeld was raised to an independent parish . Martin Germanus from Cleebronn was their first pastor. With him the beginnings of the Reformation sermon for the year 1521 are attested. Philipp von Gemmingen had appointed the young clergyman, in 1522 he sent him to study at the university in Wittenberg .
The right to fill the pastor's position in Gemmingen lay with the cathedral chapter in Speyer , the position of preacher was assigned by Wolf von Gemmingen. The preacher Bernhard Griebler performed the parish service there in 1521. Due to difficulties with the cathedral chapter, he gave up the office in 1523 and took over the Gemminger preaching again . In 1524 the pastor, who held fast to the old faith, complained to the cathedral chapter about Griebler's Reformation sermon. In 1525 the cathedral chapter had to deal with Gemmingen again: Wolf von Gemmingen had used part of the church tithe to which the pastor was entitled to pay the preacher. There was no solution to the problem. Against the resistance of the Wolfs were ordered by the chapter pastor and the owner of the Frühmesskaplanei 1527 still in office, but appointed by the Lords of Gemmingen chaplains (see also Pleikard von Gemmingen ) had left the site. The peasants only delivered the church tithe inadequately, and the pastor received no economic support from the cathedral chapter either. At the end of 1531, Wolf von Gemmingen and Wolfgang Buss appointed a Protestant pastor after the Catholic had left Gemmingen.
The first Württemberg mandate against Luther and his followers in November 1522 brought the preacher Erhard Schnepf into distress. He had to leave Weinsberg and Dietrich von Gemmingen took him in. He performed the parish service in the castle chapel and parish church of Neckarmühlbach below Guttenberg Castle . After Schnepf, other Lutheran clergy found protection with Dietrich. Once he had over 30 displaced pastors on Guttenberg, reports the family chronicle of the barons of Gemmingen.
Last Supper Controversy
Triggered by Ulrich Zwingli in Zurich , the discussion about the correct understanding of the Lord's Supper began between the Reformation theologians in 1524 . In September 1525 clergymen met at Johannes Brenz's in Schwäbisch Hall to discuss the various points of view. Johannes Walz, who came to Neckarmühlbach as pastor in 1525, Bernhard Griebler, the preacher in Gemmingen, Martin Germanus, the pastor Philipps von Gemmingen in Fürfeld and Johann Gallus, the pastor of the Göler von Ravensburg in Sulzfeld , took part in the talks and said goodbye a syngramma .
Soon the gentlemen of Gemmingen were also occupied with theological questions; Johannes Brenz was their main advisor. After Dietrich von Gemmingen had asked Brenz to inform him about the Lord's Supper, the latter complied with his reply in October 1525. Because of the dispute over the Last Supper, Wolf von Gemmingen invited the Strasbourg preachers to a meeting with Johannes Brenz in Gemmingen in November 1525 . Wolfgang Capito and Martin Bucer thanked them for the invitation, but suggested Strasbourg as the meeting point. In December 1525, under the patronage of Dietrich, a religious talk between the two parties took place at Guttenberg Castle , in which Johannes Brenz and some friends on the Lutheran side took part. There was no convergence of the different positions.
From 1526 there were disputes between Ulrich Zwingli and Martin Luther, with the direction of Zwinglis gaining ground in southwest Germany from 1528. Martin Germanus, who had signed the Syngramma, now acknowledged the position of the Zurich reformer. Martin Germanus and Johann Walz, who had come from Neckarmühlbach to Gemmingen in 1530, tried to talk to the parties in Kraichgau. The meeting took place in Fürfeld in 1532. Franciscus Irenicus , preacher in Gemmingen since 1531, and Pastor Wurzelmann , the Neipperger pastor in Schwaigern , took part as representatives of the Lutheran side. In addition to Germanus and Walz, Melchior Ambach, pastor in Neckarsteinach , and Johann Gallus, pastor of the Göler of Ravensburg appeared as followers of Zwingli . The effort to reach an understanding failed because of Johannes Brenz's unwillingness to make concessions.
In 1532 Martin Bucer came back from Schweinfurt to Fürfeld and Gemmingen to inform his colleagues in Kraichgau about the negotiations between the Upper German cities and the Lutheran side. Zwingli's supporters from southern Germany met with the Wittenberg theologians in May 1536 . Martin Bucer and the preachers from Augsburg , Memmingen , Ulm and Esslingen came to Fürfeld on their trip to Wittenberg, where Martin Germanus joined the group. With the Wittenberg Agreement in 1536, the dispute also came to an end in Kraichgau.
literature
- Bernd Röcker: Imperial Knights and Reformation - the importance of the Lords of Gemmingen for the spread of the Reformation in Kraichgau , in: Kraichgau. Contributions to landscape and local research , volume 8, 1983, pp. 89-106.
- Klaus Gaßner: So the creutz is pretty panier. The beginnings of the Reformation in Kraichgau. Regional culture publishing house, Ubstadt-Weiher 1994. ISBN 3-929366-08-8
- Gerhard Kiesow: Of knights and preachers. The Lords of Gemmingen and the Reformation in Kraichgau . Regional culture publishing house, Ubstadt-Weiher 1997, ISBN 978-3-929366-57-0
Individual evidence
- ^ Carl Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig Stocker : Family chronicle of the barons of Gemmingen. Heidelberg 1895, p. 58 .