bavarikon4UMartin Luther to Philip Melanchthon; Eisleben, 6 February 1546 (Landeskirchliches Archiv der Evangelisch-Lutherischen Kirche in Bayern, PfA Neustadt a.d.Aisch Agr 3)
Despite his age and the cold winter, Martin Luther (1483–1546) followed an invitation by the counts of Mansfeld, the territorial rulers over his hometown of Eisleben, in January 1546. He was supposed to settle a dispute between the comital lines.
After the Reformation had been finally established in the county situated between Harz and Saale, two members of the family had got into conflict over the assignment of the main position as preacher at the church of Saint Andrew in Eisleben. In addition, two priests in the county had started a fight about the Lord’s Supper and about the leftover elements of bread and wine. Luther considered a settlement the condition for the effective introduction of the Reformation to his hometown.
His letter shown here is dated to 6 February and attests to his impatience caused by the long-drawn-out negotiations in Eisleben. He asked Philip Melanchthon (1497–1560), together with the electoral Saxon privy councillor Dr Gregor Brück, to ensure his recall by the Saxon elector. Thereby, he hoped to be able to increase the pressure and to speed up the negotiations. At the end of his letter composed in Latin, he vented his anger in German. He wrote about the legal profession that if that was all there was to the lawyers’ art, there was no need to be so proud of themselves as they always seemed (“Wenn das juristen kunst ist, so were nicht not, das ein jurist so stolz sein solt, wie sie alle sind”).
Finally, Luther managed to negotiate a settlement, the so-called “Pactum Lutheri” (Luther’s pact) dated to 16 February. Two days later, he died in his room at Eisleben.