Medler, Nicolaus

MEDLER, NICOLAUS: Leader of the Reformation in Naumburg; b. at Hof (72 m. s. o_ Leipsic) 1502; d. at Bernburg (88 m. s.w. of Berlin) Aug. 24, 1551. His preliminary studies were made in his native town and at the Latin School of Freiberg, after which he attended the universities of Erfurt and Wittenberg. After a brief sojourn as teacher at Arnstadt and Hof, he became rector of the school at Eger, where he caused excitement by his Evangelical sermons, and was obliged to withdraw. Returning to Hof, he took charge of the town school, which flourished under his care from 1527 or 1528 onward, and was associated with the town pastor, Lbner, as preacher at St. Michael's. On account of their sharp sermons both were expelled from the town July 13,1531. Medler removed to Wittenberg, and continued there five years. Provided by the elector of Saxony with an annual stipend, he labored as a private tutor and as assistant preacher to Luther, who was then in poor health, and for some time was chaplain to the exiled Electresa Elizabeth of Brandenburg. On Sept. 1, 1536, he removed to Naumburg as pastor and overseer of the Church of St. Wenceslaus, an important post to which he had been nominated by Elector John Frederick on the recommendation of Luther. For the next eight years he was the reformer of the ecclesiastical and educational system of Naumburg. Starting from the existing beginnings he proceeded mainly along the Wittenberg lines. His plan for reorganizing the parish church of St. Wenceslaus was approved Oct. 21, 1537, by Luther, Jonas, and Melanchthon, and was ratified by the elector. It shows not a few distinctive elements. The school prospectus makes provision for Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, and for the mathematical branches. Medler himself gave instruction in Hebrew. In the matter of ceremonial regulation, what is especially to be remarked is the place of the Confiseor and its wording, which proved of considerable influence, and the use of Luther's German paraphrase of the Gloria in ezcelais. The five appendixes, including an order of confirmation, have unfortunately been lost.

By 1540 the victory of Protestantism at Naumburg was assured, and the cathedral alone remained as a citadel of Roman Catholicism. In July, 1541,

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however, the inhabitants of the cathedral district petitioned the elector for spiritual ministration at the hands of Medler, and John Frederick commanded him forthwith to begin Evangelical worship there, which he did on Sept. 11, 1541. Both Luther and Medler took part officially in the festivities attending the induction of Amsdorf as Evangelical bishop (Jan. 19-20, 1542). Since Amsdorf usually resided at Zeitz, Medler continued to be the leading person ality at Naumburg and prosecuted zealously the work of evangelizing the cathedral district. His life, however, became embittered by growing contentions, notably with Georg Mohr, who in 1544 had succeeded Medler's friend, Loner, as cathedral preacher at Naumburg. Even Luther censured Medler's lust of power, and his disposition to treat the new bishop as a nullity. With the council Medler's repeated requests for an increase of salary, and his independence in filling appointments caused manifold frictions. From this situation Medler was released by the elector's command to go to the Electress Elizabeth, his former patroness, who was now seriously ill. He left Naumburg about Apr. 20, 1545, and never returned. About the same time he was confirmed by the elector of Brandenburg in the position of court preacher to the Electress Elizabeth. He declined a professor ship at Frankfort-on-the-Oder, but in deference to the wishes of Luther and Melanchthon accepted the superintendency at Brunswick, of which he took charge about Michaelmas, 1545. The agitated state of the times, no less than the wilfulness of his own disposition, prevented any lasting good results. In 1551, on the advice of Melanchthon, he accepted the position of court preacher at Bernburg, but was stricken with paralysis at his first sermon, June 7. Having been conveyed, for better care, to Wittenberg, he had a second stroke, and was brought back to Bernburg to die a few weeks later. His literary works, apart from the Naumburg Kirchenordnung and writings against the Interim, are mostly schoolbooks, including revisions of Mela,nchthon's Latin grammar, rhetoric, and dialectics, and some mathematical works. Luther reckoned him, along with Veit Dietrich and Johann Spangenberg, as one of his three true disciples, because he served school and Church with equal ardor.

O. Albrecht.

Bibliography: Sources of knowledge are: The t?ratio de vita . . . N. Medleri by A. Streitberger, Jena, 1591; EPistolas Melanchthonis to Medlar, ed. Dana, Jena, 1525; Briefwechsel den J. Jonas, ed. G. Kswerau, 2 vols., Halle, 1884-85; Luthers Briefs, e d. De Wette, vols. iv.-vi.; Braunachwsipische Schulordnungen, ed. F. Koldewey, pp. hx. sqq., 85-97, Berlin, 1888. References to the earlier literature (eighteenth century) will be found in HauckHerzog, RE, xii. 492. Consult: Medal, in Zeitschrift für preuRSische Geschichte und Landeakirche, ii (188b), 85-100; Holstein, in the same, iv (1867), 271-287; 6. Braun, N4umburger Annalen, ed. KSater, Naumburg, 1892; E. Hoffmann, Naumburg im Zeitalter der Reformation, Leipsic, 1900; KSeter, in ZK(i, axii (1901), 145 sqq., 278 sqq.; O. Mertz, Schulwesen der deutschen Reformation, Heidelberg, 1902.