Collected Works of Martin Luther

by Martin Luther

  130 The breve is a papal decree, of equal authority with the bull, but differing from it in form, and usually dealing with matters of smaller importance.

  131 Cf. Luther’s earlier statement to the same effect in A Discussion of Confession, Vol. I, pp. 96 f.

  132 See above, p. 99.

  133 The Fifth Lateran Council (1512-17).

  134 See above, p. 90, note 1.

  135 In the canon law, Decretal. Greg. lib. i, tit. 6, cap. 4. The decretal forbids the bestowing of the pallium (see above, p. 89, note 3) on an archbishop elect, until he shall first have sworn allegiance to the Holy See.

  136 The induction of Church officials into office. The term was used particularly of the greater offices — those of bishop and abbot. These offices carried with them the enjoyment of certain incomes, and the possession of certain temporal powers. For this reason the right of investiture was a bone of contention between popes and emperors during the Middle Ages.

  137 Especially in the time of the Emperors Henry IV and V (1056-1125).

  138 The German Empire was regarded during the Middle Ages as a continuation of the Roman Empire. (See below, p. 153.) The right to crown an emperor was held to be the prerogative of the pope; until the pope bestowed the imperial crown, the emperor bore the title, “King of the Romans.”

  139 In the canon law, Decretal. Greg. lib. i, tit. 33, cap. 6.

  140 In the treatise, Resolutio Lutheriana super propositione XIII, de potestate papae (1520). Weimar Ed., II, pp. 217 ff.; Erl. Ed., op. var. arg., Ill, pp. 293 ff.

  141 See p. 70.

  142 cf. The Papacy at Rome, Vol. I, pp. 357 f.

  143 A decree of Pope Clement V of 1313, incorporated subsequently in the canon law, Clement, lib. ii, tit. 11, cap. 2.

  144 A forged document of the VIII Century, professing to come from the hand of the Emperor Constantine (306-337). The Donation conveyed to the pope title to the city of Rome (the capital had been removed to Constantinople), certain lands in Italy and “the islands of the sea.” It was used by the popes of the Middle Ages to support their claims to worldly power, and its genuineness was not disputed. In 1440, however, Laurentius Valla, an Italian humanist, published a work in which he proved that the Donation was a forgery. This work was republished in Germany by Ulrich von Hutten in 1517, and seems to have come to Luther’s attention in the early part of 1520, just before the composition of the present treatise (C. Enders II, 332). Luther subsequently (1537) issued an annotated translation of the text of the Donation (Erl. Ed., XXV, pp. 176 ff.).

  145 The papal claim to temporal sovereignty over this little kingdom, which comprised the island of Sicily and certain territories in Southern Italy, goes back to the XI Century, and was steadily asserted during the whole of the later Middle Ages. It was one of the questions at issue in the conflict between the Emperor Frederick II (1200-1260) and the popes, and played an important part in the history of the stormy times which followed the all of the Hohenstaufen. The popes claimed the right to award the kingdom to a ruler who would swear allegiance to the Holy See. The right to the kingdom was at this time contested between the royal houses of France and of Spain, of which latter house the Emperor Charles V was the head.

  146 The popes claimed temporal sovereignty over a strip of territory in Italy, beginning at Rome and stretching in a northeasterly direction across the peninsula to a point on the Adriatic south of Venice, including the cities and lands which Luther mentions. This formed the so-called “States of the Church.” The attempt to consolidate the States and make the papal sovereignty effective involved Popes Alexander VI (1492-1503) and Julius II (1503-1513) in war and entangled them in political alliances with the European powers and petty Italian states. It resulted at last in actual war between Pope Clement VII and the Emperor Charles V (1526-1527). See Cambridge Modern History, I, 104-143; 219-252, and literature cited pp. 706-713; 727 f.

  147 A free translation of the Vulgate, Nemo militans Deo.

  148 The kissing of the pope’s feet was a part of the “adoration” which he claimed as his right. See above, p. 108.

  149 The three paragraphs enclosed in brackets were added by Luther to the 2d edition; see Introduction, p. 59.

  150 The holy places of Rome had long been favorite objects of pilgrimage, and the practice had been zealously fostered by the popes through the institution of the “golden” or “jubilee years.” Cf. Vol. I, p. 18, and below, p. 114.

  151 Cf. the Italian proverb, “God is everywhere except at Rome; there He has a vicar.”

  152 Cf. Hutten’s saying in Vadiscus: “Three things there are which those who go to Rome usually bring home with them, a bad conscience, a ruined stomach and an empty purse.” (Ed. Böcking, IV, p. 169.)

  153 The “golden” or “jubilee years” were the years when special rewards were attached to worship at the shrines of Rome. The custom was instituted by Boniface VIII in 1300, and it was the intention to make every hundredth year a jubilee. In 1343 the interval between jubilees was fixed at fifty, in 1389 at thirty-three, in 1473 at twenty-five years. Cf. Vol. I, p. 18.

  154 Cf. the statements in the Treatise on Baptism and the Discussion of Confession, Vol. I, pp. 68 ff., 98.

  155 The houses, or monasteries, of the mendicant or “begging” orders — the “friars.” The members of these orders were sworn to support themselves on the alms of the faithful.

  156 The three leading mendicant orders were the Franciscan (the Minorites, or “little brothers”), founded by St. Francis of Assisi (died 1226), the Dominican (the “preaching brothers”), founded by St. Dominic (died 1221), and the Augustinian Hermits, to which Luther himself belonged, and which claimed foundation by St. Augustine (died 430).

  157 The interference of the friars in the duties of the parish clergy was a continual subject of complaint through this period.

  158 By the middle of the XV Century there were eight distinct sects within the Franciscan order alone (See Realencyk., VI, pp. 212 ff.), and Luther had himself taken part in a vigorous dispute between two parties in the Augustinian order.

  159 St. Agnes the Martyr, put to death in the beginning of the IV Century, one of the favorite saints of the Middle Ages. See Schäfer, L. als Kirchenhistoriker, p. 235.

  160 One of the most famous of the German convents, founded in 936.

  161 The celebrated Church Father (died 420). The passages referred to are in Migne, XXII, 656, and XXVI, 562.

  162 Or “community” (Gemeine). Cf. The Papacy at Rome, Vol. I. p. 345, note 4. See also Dass eine christl. Gemeine Recht und Macht habe, etc. Weimar Ed. XI, pp. 408 ff.

  163 Or “congregation.” See note 2.

  164 i. e.. At a time later than that of the Apostles.

  165 The first absolute prohibition of marriage to the clergy is contained in a decree of Pope Siricius and dated 385. See H. C. Lea, History of Sacerdotal Celibacy, 3d ed. (1907), I, pp. 59 ff.

  166 The priests of the Greek Church are required to marry, and the controversy over celibacy was involved in the division between the Greek and Roman Churches.

  167 Cf. Hutten’s Vadiscus (Böcking, IV, 199).

  168 i. e., Lie in Roman appointment.

  169 i. e., The ministry in the congregation. See above, p. 119.

  170 Quantum ragilitas humana permittit. A qualification of the vow.

  171 i. e., Celibacy. Non promitto castitatem.

  172 Fragilitas humana non permittit caste vivere.

  173 Angelica fortitudo at coelestis virtus.

  174 The court-jester was allowed unusual freedom of speech. See Prefatory Letter above, p. 62.

  175 The laws governing marriage were entirely the laws of the Church. The canon law prohibited marriage of blood-relatives as far as the seventh degree of consanguinity. In 1204 the prohibition was restricted to the first our degrees; lawful marriage within these degrees was possible only by dispensation, which was not all too difficult to secure, especially by those who were willing to pay for it (see above, p. 96). The relation of
god-parents to god-children was also held to establish a “spiritual consanguinity” which might serve as a bar to lawful marriage. See Benrath, p. 103, note 74, and in the Babylonian Captivity, below, p. 265.

  176 This Luther actually did. When he burned the papal bull of excommunication (Dec. 10, 1520) a copy of the canon law was also given to the flames.

  177 i. e., The marriage of the clergy.

  178 On this sort of reserved cases see Discussion of Confession, Vol. I, pp. 96 ff.

  179 “Irregularity” is the condition of any member of a monastic order who has violated the prescriptions of the order and been deprived, in consequence, of the benefits enjoyed by those who live under the regula, viz., the rule of the order.

  180 The three kinds of masses are really but one thing, viz., masses for the dead, celebrated on certain fixed days in each year, in consideration of the enjoyment of certain incomes, received either out of bequeathed endowments or from the heirs of the supposed beneficiaries.

  181 i. e., Even when the mass is decently said.

  182 See above, p. 72, note 1.

  183 See above, p. 104.

  184 Das geistliche Unrecht.

  185 The Treatise concerning the Ban, above, pp. 33 ff.

  186 i. e., To those who teach and enforce the canon law.

  187 Luther means the saint’s-days and minor religious holidays. See also the Discourse on Good Works, Vol. I, pp. 240 f.

  188 Or “congregation.”

  189 i. e., City-council.

  190 Kirchweihen, i. e., the anniversary celebration of the consecration of a church. These days had become feast days for the parish, and were observed in anything but a spiritual fashion.

  191 i. e., Occasions for drunkenness, gain and gambling.

  192 See above, pp. 96 f.

  193 See above, p. 98, note 2.

  194 Letters entitling their holder to the benefits of the masses founded by the sodalities or confraternities. See Benrath, p. 103.

  195 See above, p. 98, and Vol. I, p. 22.

  196 The pun is untranslatable, — Netz, Gesetz solt ich sagen.

  197 What the pope sold was release from the “snares” and “nets,” viz., dispensation.

  198 i. e., Even into the law of the church.

  199 Die wilden Kapellen und Feldkirchen, i. e., churches which are built in the country, where there are no congregations.

  200 A little town in East Prussia, where was displayed a sacramental wafer, said to have been miraculously preserved from a fire which destroyed the church in 1383. It was alleged that at certain times this wafer exuded drops of blood, reverenced as the blood of Christ, and many miracles were said to have been performed by it. Wilsnack early became a favorite resort for pilgrims. In 1412 the archbishop of Prague, at the instigation of John Hus, forbade the Bohemians to go there. Despite the protests of the Universities of Leipzig and Erfurt, Pope Eugenius IV in 1446 granted special indulgences for this pilgrimage, and the popularity of the shrine was undiminished until the time of the Reformation. Cf. Realencyk, xxi, pp. 347 ff.

  201 In Mecklenburg, where another relic of “the Holy Blood” was displayed after 1491. C. Benrath, pp. 104 f.

  202 The “Holy Coat of Trier” was believed by the credulous to be the seamless coat of Christ, which the soldiers did not rend. It was first exhibited in 1512, but was said to have been presented to the cathedral church of Trier by the Empress Helena, mother of Constantine the Great.

  203 Pilgrimage to the Grimmenthal in Meiningen began in 1499. An image of the Virgin, declared to have been miraculously created, was displayed there, and was alleged to work wonderful cures, especially of syphilis.

  204 The “Fair Virgin (die schöne Maria) of Regensburg” was an image of the Virgin similar to that exhibited in the Grimmenthal. The shrine was opened March 25, 1519, and within a month 50,000 pilgrims are said to have worshipped there. (Weimar Ed., VI, 447, note 1). For another explanation see Benrath, p. 105.

  205 The pilgrimages were a source of large revenue, derived from the sale of medals which were worn as amulets, the fees for masses at the shrines, and the free-will offerings of the pilgrims. A large part of this revenue accrued to the bishop of the diocese, though the popes never overlooked the profits which the sale of indulgences or worship at these shrines could produce. In the Gravamina of 1521 complaint is made that the bishops demand at least 25 to 33 per cent, of the offerings made at shrines of pilgrimage (Wrede, op. cit., II, 687).

  206 i. e., Every bishop.

  207 The possession of a saint gave a church a certain reputation and distinction, which was sufficiently coveted to make local Church authorities willing to pay roundly for the canonisation of a departed bishop or other local dignitary. Cf. Hutten’s Vadiscus (Böcking, IV, 232).

  208 Archbishop of Florence (died 1450). He was canonised, May 31, 1523, by Pope Hadrian VI. When Luther wrote this the process of canonisation had already begun.

  209 Indulta, i. e., grants of special privilege.

  210 “Lead,” the leaden seal attached to the bull; “hide”, the parchment on which it is written; “the string,” the ribbon or silken cord from which the seals depend; “wax,” the seal holding the cord to the parchment.

  211 Franciscans, Dominicans, Augustinians, Carmelites and Servites.

  212 Botschaten, interpreted by Benrath (p. 105), Clemen (I, 406, note) and Weimar Ed. (VI, 406, note 1) as a reference to the stationarii. They were wandering beggars who, for an alms, would enroll the contributor in the list of beneficiaries of their patron saint, an alleged insurance against disease, accident, etc. They were classified according to the names of their patron saints, St. Anthony, St. Hubert, St. Valentine, etc. Protests against their operations were raised at the Diets of Worms (1521) and Nürnberg (1523). Included in these protests are the terminarii, i.e., the collectors of alms sent out by the mendicant orders. See Wrede, op. cit., II, 678, 688, III, 651, and Benrath, loc. cit.

  213 Wallbrüder, the professional pilgrims who spent their lives in wandering from one place of pilgrimage to another and subsisted on the alms of the faithful.

  214 i. e., If the plan above proposed were adopted.

  215 See above, p. 129, note 1.

  216 See Treatise on the New Testament, Vol. I, pp. 308 ff.

  217 In the Babylonian Captivity (below, pp. 291 f.) Luther definitely excludes penance from the number of sacraments, but see also p. 177.

  218 The sodalities (“fraternities,” “confraternities”), still an important institution in the Roman Church, flourished especially in the XVI Century. They are associations for devotional purposes. The members of the sodalities are obligated to the recitation of certain prayers and the attendance upon certain masses at stipulated times. By virtue of membership in the association each member is believed to participate in the benefits accruing from these “good works” of all the members. In the case of most of the sodalities membership entitled the member to the enjoyment of certain indulgences. In 1520 Wittenberg boasted of 20 such fraternities, Cologne of 80, Hamburg of more than 100 (Realencyk., Ill, 437). In 1519 Degenhard Peffinger, of Wittenberg, was a member of 8 such fraternities in his home city, and of 27 in other places. For Luther’s view of the sodalities see above, pp. 8, 26 ff. On the whole subject see Benrath, pp. 106 f.; Kolde in Realencyk., III, pp. 434 ff.; Lea, Hist. of Conf. and Indulg, III, pp. 470 ff.

  219 See above, p. 98, note 2.

  220 See above, p. 128, note 5.

  221 The excesses committed at the feasts of the religious societies were often a public scandal. See Lea, Hist, of Conf. and Indulg, III, pp. 437 ff.

  222 “Faculties” were extraordinary powers, usually for the granting of indulgences and of absolution in “reserved cases” (see above, p. 105, note 3). They were bestowed by the pope and could be revoked by him at any time. Sometimes they were given to local Church officials, but were usually held by the legates or commissaries sent from Rome. Complaints were made at the Diets of Worms (1520) and Nürnberg (1523) that the pap
al commissaries and legates interfered with the ordinary methods of ecclesiastical jurisdiction and appointment. See Weede, op. cit., II, 673, III, 653.

  223 Wladislav I forced the Sultan to sue for peace in 1443. At the instigation of the papal legate, Cardinal Caesarini, who represented that the treaty had not been approved by the pope, and absolved the king from the fulfilment of its conditions, he renewed the war in 1444. At the battle of Varna, Nov. 10th, 1444, the Hungarians were decisively defeated, and Wladislav and Caesarini both killed. See Creighton, Hist. of the Papacy, III, 67.

  224 John Hus and Jerome of Prague were convicted of heresy by the Council of Constance and burned at the stake, the former July 6th, 1415, the latter May 30th, 1416. Hus had come to Constance under the safe-conduct of the Emperor Sigismund. Luther is in error when he assumes that Jerome had a similar safe-conduct. In September, 1415, the Council passed a decree which asserted that “neither by natural, divine or human law was any promise to be observed to the prejudice of the catholic faith.” On the whole matter of the safe-conduct and its violation see Lea, Hist. of the Inquisition in the M.A., II, pp. 453 ff.

  225 The League of Cambray, negotiated in 1508 for war against Venice. In 1510 Venice made terms with the pope and detached him from the alliance, and the result was war between the pope and the King of France. See Cambridge Modern History, I, pp. 130 ii., and literature there cited.

  226 i. e. The Hussites. After the martyrdom of Hus his followers maintained for a time a strong organisation in Bohemia, and resisted with arms all attempts to force them into conformity with the Roman Church. The Council of Basel succeeded (1434) in reconciling the more moderate party among the Bohemians (the Calixtines) by allowing the administration of the cup to the laity. The more extreme party, however, refused to subscribe the Compactata of Basel. Though they soon ceased to be a actor in the political situation, they remained outside the Church and perpetuated the teachings of Hus in sectarian organisations. The most important of these, the so-called Bohemian Brethren, had extended into Poland and Prussia before Luther’s time. See Realencyk., Ill, 465-467.