HESS (HESSE), JOHANN: German Reformer; b. at Nuremberg Sept. 23(7), 1490; d. at Breslau Jan. 5, 1547. He studied from 1505 to 1510 at Leipsic, and then spent two years at Wittenberg, where he was on terms of friendship with Luther, and especially with Luther's friends Jobs= Lange and Spalatin. In 1513, after a short stay atNuremberg, his humanistic connections and the commendation of Steurl gained him the position of secretary to the bishop of Breslau, Johann V. Turzo, a friend of the Renaissance and admirer of Erasmus. In 1515 he became private tutor of a son of Duke Charles of Munsterberg-C)ls at Neisse, where he was appointed to a canonry in the same year. In 1517 he visited central Germany, and in 1518, Italy. On his return in 1519 he went to Wittenberg, where he lived two months in intimate association with Luther and Melanchthon. Then he went back to his bishop, who gave him additional canonries at Brieg and Breslau. At this time he was ordained priest. The prospects for an Evangelical reform were favorable, as the bishop showed no suspicion toward Hess and himself maintained relations with Luther and Melanchthon. Moreover, humanistic studies had found a ready welcome at Breslau even before the time of Hess. No* the new religious spirit entered, and some of Luther's smaller reforming writings were reprinted. But Bishop Turzo died in 1520, and his successor, Jacob von Salza, adhered strictly to the Roman Church. Thus conditions became unbearable for Hess. He sought refuge with his ducal patron, and as court preacher he proclaimed Evangelical doctrines. In 1523 we find him again at Nuremberg. During his absence the Reformation had made headway in Breslau. The Franciscans of the monastery of St. James took part in the movement, and the people had been stirred up by "Lutheran" sermons. Under these circumstances the magistrate of the city called Hess in 1523 as preacher to the Church of St. Mary Magdalene. In a disputation held in 1524 he openly declared for the Reformation. The town council ordered all preachers of the city to follow the example of Hess. The change of liturgy and the restoration of communion in both kinds seems to have been accomplished by Hess without disturbance. Hand in hand with the religious reform went the reform of the schools and charitable work. In 1525 Ambrosius Moiban, a friend of Hess, was called to the St. Elizabeth's Church, and that of the Cistercians was also placed under an Evangelical preacher.

The changes in the service were restricted to narrow limits, Hess showing himself here a man of moderation and caution. One of the chief peculiarities of the Reformation in Breslau was the connection of the new system with the old, at least in form. Hess and Moiban continued to acknowledge the bishops as their superiors, and the bishops themselves were not inclined to interfere with this state of affairs. By having the ordinations of its ministers performed elsewhere, especially at Wittenberg, the, city guarded itself against interference by the king of Bohemia, who was a strict Catholic; though in any case he was inclined to tolerate the Evangelical church of Breslau as a strong defense against the inroads of Schwenckfeldianism and Anabaptism. Hess had no sympathy with these tenets, nor with the teachings of the Swiss Reformers on the Eucharist. Besides Johann Lange, Melanchthon, and Luther, he counted Veit Dietrich, Camerarius, and Brenz among his friends, and corresponded with influential men in the Prussian Church. In 1540 he visited his native city, and again in 1541 on the occasion of his father's death. Thence he went to Regensburg, where he and Veit Dietrich attended the diet which discussed the state of religion. His only publication was a reprint of the chapter De vitanda ebrietate from Pliny's "Natural History" together with some poems (Wittenberg, 1512).

(J. Köstlin†.)

Bibliography: The best source of information is the Zeit- schrift des Vereine für Geschichte und Altertum Schleaiens,

vols. v., vi., xviii., xxvi. Consult: C. A. J. Kolde, Johann Hess, der schlesische Reformator, Breslau, 1846; Schaff, Christian Church, vi. 573 sqq.; J. Köstlin, Martin Ink, passim, 2 vols., Berlin, 1903 (quite full).