bavarikon4UDocuments Relating to the Church Visitation in the Margraviate Bandenburg-Ansbach, 1528/29 (Staatsarchiv Nürnberg, Fsm. Ansbach, Religionsakten 8)
Back in 1527, Margrave George the Pious (1484–1543, 1515–1543 margrave of Ansbach, 1515/1527–1541 margrave/regent of Kulmbach) planned a church visitation for the Franconian margraviates. The procedures are documented for the principality of Ansbach in an administrative document, from which selected documents are shown here.
In a rescript to governors and councils of the principality, the margrave ordered the preparation of the visitation on 18 May 1528 (fols. 126–127). As a result, the councillors drafted question for the examination of pastors (fols. 205–206). Following the suggestion of the Nuremberg town councillor, Lazarus Spengler (1479–1534), a joint visitation with the imperial city was supposed to take place. Andreas Osiander (1498–1552) wrote 23 teaching articles for the instruction of clergymen on behalf of Nuremberg. The Ansbach government laid down the contents of the visitation in the form of an “order” (fols. 236–238, 239).
The church visitation took place separately from 3 September 1528 in Ansbach for the priests of the margraviate and in Nuremberg at Saint Giles (Aegidius) for those of the imperial city. This procedure helped against the bishop’s jurisdiction. The visitation was only partially successful since some parish priests did not appear or did not agree to being examined. Many had not yet taken root in the new faith, many cited the episcopal authority. In an essay, Lazarus Spengler (1479–1534) described the main causes of the visitation (fol. 268–277). Margrave George’s justification for the visitation is also documented (fols. 293–295).