Nathan Rein - The Chancery of God: Protestant Print, Polemic and Propaganda against the Empire, Magdeburg 1546–1551

First published 2008 by Ashgate Publishing

Published 2016 by Routledge
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Copyright Nathan Rein 2008

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Rein, Nathan

The chancery of God : Protestant print, polemic and propaganda against the

Empire, Magdeburg, 15461551. (St Andrews studies in Reformation history)

1. Christian literature, German Germany Magdeburg History and

criticism 2. Propaganda Germany Magdeburg History 16th century

3. Protestant literature Publishing Germany Magdeburg History 16th

century 4. Magdeburg (Germany) Religion 16th century 5. Magdeburg

(Germany) History 16th century 6. Magdeburg (Germany) History Siege,

15501551 7. Magdeburg (Germany) History Siege, 15501551 Literature

and the siege 8. Germany History Charles V, 15191556.

I. Title

274.3182206

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Rein, Nathan.

The chancery of God : Protestant print, polemic and propaganda against the

empire, Magdeburg, 15461551 / Nathan Rein.

p. cm. (St. Andrews studies in Reformation history)

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 9780754656869 (alk. paper)

1. Reformation Germany Magdeburg. 2. Christian literature Publishing

Germany Magdeburg History 16th century. 3. Magdeburg (Germany)

Church history 16th century. 4. Magdeburg (Germany) History 16th

century. 5. Germany History Charles V, 15191556.

I. Title.

BR359.M34R45 2007

274.3182206dc22

2007004738

ISBN 13: 9780754656869 (hbk)

The debts that I have accrued as I researched, wrote and rewrote this book are so numerous, and so great, as to defy enumeration in a few paragraphs. This work would never have seen the light of day without the help of many individuals and institutions on two continents. A few names require mention; my sincere apologies in advance to those I will undoubtedly have left off the list.

This work began as a doctoral dissertation at Harvard University, where my adviser and mentor, Professor Steven E. Ozment, saw me through many chapter drafts and seminar meetings. Also at Harvard, Professors Bob Scribner, Mark Edwards, Margaret Miles, Clarissa Atkinson, Lawrence Sullivan, Kevin Madigan and David Hall provided encouragement, advice and assistance.

In Gttingen, where I spent two fruitful years as a member of the Graduiertenkolleg Kirche und Gesellschaft im Heiligen Rmischen Reich Deutscher Nation im 15. u. 16. Jhdt., Professor Bernd Moeller provided vital inspiration and guidance at the time when I needed it most. His generosity and Hilfsbereitschaft in securing me institutional support were crucial to the projects completion. Other key assistance came from Professors Thomas Kaufmann, Luise Schorn-Schtte, Anja Moritz, Hartmut Lehmann, Hans-Jrgen Goertz, Helmar Junghans and Michael Beyer. Colleagues in Germany, particularly Christine Kitzlinger, Henrik Otto and Carola Redzich, gave invaluable aid in the day-to-day process of archival research and writing.

Boston Universitys Professor Carter Lindberg gave extraordinarily kind and thoughtful feedback as I wrote. Valuable advice and support came as well from Professors Tom Brady of Berkeley, H. Erik Midelfort of Virginia, Susan Karant-Nunn of Tucson and Susan Boettcher of Austin. Thanks go as well to Roger Florka, Sally Matless, Karen Derris, Anna Henchman and Matt Lundin for their feedback, as well as to Susan Zawalich and Patty Li for inspiration and ideas. My colleagues in the Philosophy and Religion Department at Ursinus College, as well as my neighbours in the Modern Languages Department and my ever-helpful Dean, Judith Levy, deserve my gratitude for their support and patience. The staffs of the Staats- und Universittsbibliothek Gttingen, the Herzog- August-Bibliothek Wolfenbttel, the Schsisches Hauptstaatsarchiv Dresden, the Landesarchiv Oranienbaum, the Stadtarchiv Regensburg, the Geheimes Staatsarchiv Preuischer Kulturbesitz in Berlin, the Landeshauptarchiv Magdeburg, the Stadtbibliothek Magdeburg, the Thringisches Hauptstaatsarchiv Weimar, the Augsburg Stadtarchiv, and the Harvard Divinity School Library, provided me with the documents that made this research possible. I also thank the Mellon Foundation, the Deutsche Akademische Austauschdienst, the Harvard Graduate Society and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft for generous financial support.

A few names bring up the rear. The inspiration and collaboration offered by my close friend David Mozina supplied much of the energy that allowed this work to come to completion. To my family my mother and father, my grandmother, my aunt and uncles, and Abe and Kristin thank you for making this all possible. To my children thanks for keeping me focused (in a manner of speaking, anyway). To my wife, Heather none of this could have happened without you. I dedicate this book to you as a meagre token of my gratitude.

Parts of first appeared as Faith and Empire: Conflicting Visions of Religion in a Late Reformation Controversy The Augsburg Interim and Its Opponents, 154850, Journal of the American Academy of Religion 71, no. 1 (2003): 4574 and are reproduced by kind permission of Oxford University Press.