Aquila Kaspar

AQUILA (ADLER) KASPAR: Lutheran; b. at Augsburg Aug. 7, 1488; d. at Saalfeld (65 m. s.w. of Leipsic), Thuringia, Nov. 12, 1560. He studied at Leipsic (1510) and, after 1513, at Wittenberg. In 1515-16 he appears to have been chaplain to Franz von Sickingen during his campaigns against Worms and Metz; from 1517 to 1521 he officiated as pastor at Jengen, near Augsburg, where, influenced by the writings of Luther, he became an adherent of the Reformation. In Jan., 1521, he went to Wittenberg to obtain his master’s degree. During the next two years (1522-23) he was again with Sickingen; then he returned to his home, and was imprisoned at Dillingen by the bishop of Augsburg (Sept., 1523). He was soon liberated, however, and went to Wittenberg, where he rendered Luther valuable aid in the translation of the Old Testament. Through Luther’s influence he became minister at Saalfeld (1527) and was present at the Diet of Augsburg in 1530. In 1548 he published a virulent attack against his former friend, Agricola, because of the latter’s support of the Interim of 1548. The emperor set a price on his head and Aquila sought refuge with the counts of Henneberg. In 1550 he became dean of the Collegiate Institute at Schmalkald but returned two years later to Saalfeld.

(G. Kawerau.)

Bibliography: His life is given by J. Avenarius, Kurze Lebenbeschreibung, Meiningen, 1718; C. Schlegel, Leben und Tod Caspari Aquilæ, Leipsic, 1737 (especially rich); F. Gensler, Vita, Jena, 1816; F. Roth, Augsburgs Reformationsgeschichte, Munich, 1901.