HOE VON HOENEGG, MATTHIAS:. Court preacher in electoral Saxony in the time of the Thirty Years' War; b. at Vienna Feb. 24, 1580; d. at Dresden Mar. 4, 1645. He was educated at the University of Wittenberg. At the age of twentyone he became licentiate of theology and soon afterward lectured at the university. In 1602 he was appointed third court preacher in Dresden, but in 1603 was transferred to Plauen as superintendent apparently because he lacked tact in his intercourse with his older colleagues. His activity in Plauen (1604-11) was successful and beneficent, as he was removed from the court spirit which incited his

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ambition. The elector continued to show him favor and allowed him, in 1611, to accept a call to Prague as director of the Evangelical churches and schools, with the condition that he would resign when his services were needed in Saxony. _ In 1613 John George I. called him to Dresden as first court preacher and he remained there until his death. After a five-years' struggle he succeeded in ousting his colleague, H#nichen, so that he could assert his influence without restriction. This influence he used over his well-meaning but narrow-minded ruler for the advantage of church and school. But he was not satisfied with the influence of a preacher and theologian; as a Protestant church ruler he tried to compete with the highest dignitaries of the Roman Catholic Church. He became a politician to whom all parties paid their regards on account of his influence, but by his political activity he injured the interests not only of Saxony, but of the Evangelical cause in general.

The Catholic League as well as the Protestant Union sought the favor of the elector of Saxony. As H6e tried to retain the friendship of both Roman Catholics and Protestants, the elector wavered in his decision, and after the outbreak of the war attempted to mediate between the contending parties. H6e thought he could persuade John George to accept the crown of Bohemia, and his ambition was greatly disappointed when he learned that the Calvinist count palatine had been elected. The fact that Saxony now took the part of the Roman Catholic emperor and combated the Protestants must be attributed largely to Hoe's mortified ambition and intrigues. His course incited the greatest resentment among his contemporaries, and he was accused of being responsible for the approaching disaster. The suspicions, expressed at the time, that Hde had been bribed by money from the imperial and papal party have not yet been silenced. However, his conscience was awakened by the persecution of Protestantism which was tolerated in Bohemia in contravention of all agreements, and he asked the interference of the emperor. No attention was paid to his entreaties, and his injured vanity made it easy for him to accommodate himself to the change of policy on the part of his sovereign, who by the Edict of Restitution and by the unexpected appearance of Gustavus Adolphus on German soil was forced to convene an assembly of Protestant estates in Leipsic in 1631, and to organize the Protestant league of Leipsic.

Of HSe's literary works may be mentioned his Evangelisches Handbuchlein (Leipsic, 1603; new ed., Dresden, 1871), in which he sought to show from Scripture that the Lutheran faith was truly catholic while the papal doctrine was erroneous and against the clear word of God. He also wrote a commentary on the Galatians (1605) with the special purpose of explaining the doctrine of justification in the Lutheran sense, a commentary on the Apocalypse, the result of thirty years' work, and numerous polemical treatises against the Calvinists, among them Augenscheinliche Probe, wie die Calvinisten in 99 Punkten mit den Arianernund Tiarken übereinstimmen (1621). He had a part in the Deciaio Soxoniea (1623) which settled the Christologioal controversy between the

Tübingen and Giessen theologians (see Christology).

(F. W. Dibelius.)

Bibliography: . A. Gleieh, Annals@ eceZeaiaetici, Dresden, 1730; G. L. Zeieeler, Geschichte der eadsiaclien Oberhofprediper, Leipsic, 1856; E. Otto, Die Sdu·iften des er.ten kursdchaisdten Oberhofpredipers H8e won Haenew, Dresden, 1898.