Love the questions about Frederick the Wise in class last week, which ask us all to solidify why we believe something, and why we argue a certain way.
In my mind Frederick is certainly a Catholic. However it seems that the movie may have created a differing perspective? This is fun. That means I get to check my own logic and find evidence for it. Movies sometimes live larger in our minds than sources. But the reason that historians privilege primary sources is that tell a more accurate tale than secondary sources because they are closer to the past. A movie is a secondary source or an interpretation.
Although they never met, Frederick protected his fellow Saxon and Wittenberg hero in his dispute with the Italian papacy. For him nationalism trumped allegiance to the Pope.
•1486, becomes Duke of Saxony, and one of 7 Electors of HRE (Holy Roman Empire)
•1493, pilgrim to Jerusalem
•1502, founds University of Wittenberg to promote humanist learning (late start for Europe, but demonstrates that timing humanism hits later in Northern Europe; University of Leipzig the most famous University in Saxony)
•hires Lucas Cranach as court painter
•1505, arranges for a large display of all of his relics; by 1509/10, Cranach has sketched every one and put them into a book which circulated through Germany. [see image attached ABOVE by Cranach]
•1516, bans Tetzel from selling indulgences in his region
•1518, Awarded the Golden Rose, a demonstration of special papal regard
•1518, pope treads lightly with Frederick, because needs to request from German princes a special tax of church property to finance crusade against the Turks
•1519, with candidates for Holy Roman Emperor being debated: Pope Leo X switches from King of France to Duke Frederick; he felt that a future Hapsburg emperor Charles would be too powerful, so supports Frederick.
•June 1519: Frederick steps down from candidacy and Charles is elected. A papal-Charles V alliance is created. **Note, this occurs while Luther's ideas spread.
•1520, refused to burn Luther's books
•1521, protects Luther by kidnapping him
•1525, dies at age 62 in Wittenberg
•buried in Schlosskirche, Wittenberg (buried with Luther and Philip Melanchthon)
•commorated in Lutheran calendar
Dr. Wolbrink,
ReplyDeleteThis may be a random question, but at the end you mention that Frederick was commemorated in the Lutheran calendar, I was wondering what the first year this happened in was? Did it happen the year of his death, earlier or decades later?