Ansbach

The city of Ansbach had been the main residence of the margraves of Brandenburg-Ansbach since the middle of the fifteenth century. During the early Reformation Margrave Casimir (1481–1527, margrave 1515–1527) and his younger brother George the Pious (1484–1543, 1515–1543 margrave von Ansbach, 1515/1527–1541 margrave/regent of Kulmbach) ruled Brandenburg-Ansbach as well as Brandenburg-Kulmbach. Until 1527, however, George spent most of his time at the royal court, which is why Casimir ruled over both margraviates alone.

Margrave Casimir responded to the spread of the Lutheran doctrine at first by mediating and compromising. He wanted to prevent a further division in his territories and in the empire. However, no definitive clarification could be reached on the regional parliament of 1524. The margrave did not make any significant concessions on religious policy, but he campaigned vigorously for a reform of the ecclesiastical system.

In anticipation of an imminent national council, he initialised a provisional church order for his margraviates at the regional parliament in 1526. It contained numerous reformatory concerns, but also left orthodox ceremonies and habits, for example in the area of popular piety. Casimir, however, took action against those who were more reform-minded by arrests and dismissals from office.

With the return and the actual succession of Casimir’s brother George in 1527, the Reformation of the margraviates was pushed ahead. George was an early advocate of Lutheran teaching and was in correspondence with Martin Luther and Philip Melanchthon. With the recess of the regional parliament in 1528, the evangelical sermon was ordered and the pastors were placed under the authority of the margrave.

Following the example of Saxony, George had a church visitation carried out together with the imperial city of Nuremberg for a survey (1528/29). During the preparations for the visitation, a provisional order of worship for the margraviates and for the imperial city was created. This was issued in 1533, after disagreements with Nuremberg had been cleared away and after the political strengthening of the Protestant confession within the empire. It radiated into other territories in the empire and in the neighbourhood.