Martin Luther to Balthasar Düring; Wittenberg, 7 March 1529 (Staatsarchiv Coburg, LA B 2431, Nr. 8)

From 1528, the visitors had been travelling through the Franconian estates of electoral Saxony on behalf of the Elector of Saxony with Coburg as their centre of attention. They had asked Martin Luther (1483–1546) to send a suitable pastor to Hildburghausen. Luther had not been able to react quickly, as he had explained in his letter of 1 March 1529.

A week later, on 7 March, he sent the clergyman Johann Weybringer (also: We[i]blinger) with a cover letter, the original of which has been preserved in the Gotha Research Library. Weybringer came from Landshut but had left the duchy of Bavaria for religious reasons.

While the main letter was written in Latin, Luther wrote the postscript shown here in German on a piece of paper in a much less formal style. Luther announced that Weybringer wanted to travel “quickly back in” to Wittenberg after his appointment in Hildburghausen, “since he had expenses”. He still had to arrange things in such a way that he “could bring his wife out”, i.e. to Hildburghausen.

The addressee of Luther’s letter, Balthasar Düring, was a member of the Visitation Commission active in Saxon Franconia. He came from Königsberg (Lower Franconia) and had joined the circle of Wittenberg theologians. In 1520, on Melanchthon’s recommendation, he became vicar at the parish church of Saint Maurice in Coburg and introduced the new doctrine in the city.

To the digitised copy