Poliander, Johannes

POLIANDER, JOHANNES (JOHANN GRAMANN, GRAUMANN): German Reformer; b. at Neustadt on-the-Main (42 m. s.e. of Frankfort) July 5, 1487; d. at Königsberg Apr. 29, 1541. Educated at the University of Leipsic (B.A., 1506; M.A., 1516), he was first teacher and then rector at the Thomasschule in the same city. In 1519 he acted as amanuensis of Eck at his disputation with Luther and Carlstadt, and in consequence of Luther's argument he went to the University of Wittenberg in the autumn of the same year, where he was intimately associated with Luther and Melanchthon. Returning to Leipsic in the following year, he lectured on the Bible on the Wittenberg model. His success as a scholar and teacher brought Conrad, bishop of Würzburg, to cause his appointment as cathedral preacher at Würzburg in 1522, where he came into conflict, in 1524, with the monastic preachers because of his views on the veneration of the saints with the result that he was relieved of his position. He was then preacher to the Poor Clares (see Clare, Saint, and the Poor Clares) at Nuremberg and preacher at Mansfeld. In 1525 he accepted the call of Duke Albrecht of Prussia to Königsberg, where he became pastor of the Altstadt, and together with his friends Paul Speratus and Johann Briesmann (qq.v.), the two other "evangelists of the Prussians," he established Protestant foundations in Prussia. Besides preaching he lectured publicly on the Bible. He also composed "Nun lob mein Seel den Herren" and probably the "Frölich muss ich singen," thus being one of the first Protestant hymn-writers. It is probable that he took part in compiling the first two collections of Protestant hymns for Königsberg (1527). In consequence of his pedagogical experience, Albrecht entrusted him with the organization of the new Protestant schools; and in 1531 he was one of 112the general ecclesiastical visitors who divided the country into parishes, regulated the income of the ministers and the new ecclesiastical conditions. At the same time he was active in combating the sectaries brought from Silesia by Schwenckfeld. At the colloquy of Rastenburg in 1531 Poliander was the decisive factor in the victory over the Anabaptists. Until his death he stood in intimate relations of counselor and friend with Albrecht.

(David Erdmann†.)

Bibliography. For sources consult: T. Kolde, in Beiträge zur bayerischen Kirchengeschichte, vol. vi., parts 2 and 5, Erlangen, 1899; P. Tschackert, Publikationen aus den königl. preuss. Saatsarchiven, vols. xliii.–xlv., Leipsic, 1890–91. Consult farther: F. W. E. Rost, Memoria Poliandri, Leipsic, 1808; idem, Was hat die Leipsiger Thomasschule für die Reformation gethan? ib. 1817; J. C. Cosack, P. Speratus Leben and Lieder, pp. 77 sqq., Brunswick, 1881.