BRUECK, brük (PONTANUS, real name HEINSE,
HENISCH, HEINCZ), GREGORIUS: German jurist;
b. at Brück (22 m. n. of Wittenberg) c. 1484;
d. at Jena Feb. 15, 1557. He studied at Wittenberg
and Frankfort-on-the Oder, and became so famous
as the secretary and representative of the jurist
Hennig Göde that princes and critics sought his
advice. Frederick the Wise invited him to his
court, and after the death of the electoral councilor
Degenhard Pfeffinger (1519), Brück seems to have
taken his place. He was soon interested in Luther,
and it was not without significance that he accompanied
the elector to Cologne and Worms. Having
returned to Wittenberg, Brück received the degree
of doctor of law, and soon afterward was appointed
chancellor. His tact and ability greatly helped
the cause of the Reformation, and the development
of the Evangelical Church. He was instrumental
in bringing about the Torgau-Magdeburg
confederations; he advised the elector at the diets
held at Speyer in 1526 and 1529, and it was due to
him, next to Luther, that the Pack-disturbances
did not lead to a general war. But his greatest
services were rendered at the Diet of Augsburg
in 1530. He not only gave the first impulse to the
composition of the Augsburg Confession, but he
took part in the preparation of its details, wrote
the introduction to it, caused it to be read in public,
and gave to the emperor the Latin copy in the
name of the Evangelical estates. He would not
be intimidated, but, on the contrary, encouraged
the timid, and acted as spokesman in all public
debates, so that his eloquence and ability were
even recognized by his opponents. Cochlus,
well aware of the importance of Brück, vainly tried
to induce him to abandon the Lutherans by an
"Admonition to Peace and Unity." Brück's reply
is unknown, for at the time he was engaged
in writing a true account of events at the Diet
of Augsburg, 1530, which was first printed in
Förstemann's
Archiv für die Geschichte der kirchlichen
Reformation (Halle, 1831). Brück attended
all diets held during his lifetime, and he
also strove for the consolidation of the Church,
finally succeeding in 1542 in forming a permanent
consistory. For a time he resided at Wittenberg,
but after the disastrous end of the Schmalkald
War, which he had consistently opposed, he followed
the sons of the Elector to Weimar, remaining
a loyal friend of the imprisoned Frederick. Still
later Brück retired to Jena, where he died.
(T. KOLDE.)
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
CR, xii. 351 contains the Oratio de Gregorio
Pontano (by Melanchthon); J. A. Wimmer, Vita Gregorii
Pontani, Altenburg, 1730; T. Kolde, in ZHT, 1874, pp.
34 sqq.
