bavarikon4UMartin Luther to Lazarus Spengler; Coburg, 28 September 1530 (Kunstsammlungen der Veste Coburg, A.III,383,(1),13)
On 28 September 1530, Luther again wrote to Lazarus Spengler (1479–1534), who during the 1520s was one of the most important religious politicians at the imperial level. Spengler was from Nuremberg and attended the University of Leipzig for a short time. He left the University in 1496 without a degree and entered the service of the city of Nuremberg. From 1507 onwards, he was secretary to the council of the imperial city and head of the government chancellery.
The sermons from 1516/17 of Johann von Staupitz (around 1467/68–1524), the religious superior and teacher of Luther, had impressed Spengler. From 1517 onwards, he read Luther’s writings and, in 1519, he as the first layman composed the reformatory pamphlet “Defence and Christian Answer for Luther’s Teaching” in the German language. Spengler strongly supported the Reformation in the imperial city and, as consultant, in the Franconian-Hohenzollern principalities.
At the end of September 1530, Luther reported to Spengler that Veit Dietrich (1506–1549) had given back to him the letters to Philip Melanchthon (1497–1560) and Justus Jonas (1493–1555) which he had had sent to Spengler for transmission. Dietrich stayed with the reformer on the fortress and was his most important person of reference. He was not only Luther’s secretary and his contact person to the outside world, but also his interlocutor on theological topics.
Luther writes further: “But God be praised that our dear prince has been loosened from hell.” Hell, i.e. the Augsburg Diet, had come to an end shortly before and the Saxon Elector John (1468–1532, elector 1525–1532) was able to set off on his journey home.