Reiff, Leonhard

REIFF, rîf (BEIER, BEYER), LEONHARD: German Reformer; b. at Munich c. 1495; d. at Küstrin (17 m. n.e. of Frankfort-on-the-Oder) shortly after 1552. He was educated at Wittenberg (15141516), and, after entering the Augustinian order, was taken by Luther to the disputation at Heidelberg to defend his teacher's doctrines in forty theses (Apr. 25, 1518). In the autumn of the same year he accompanied Luther to Augsburg, and on Oct. 7 notified Cardinal Cajetan of Luther's arrival, while, after the latter's departure, he presented the cardinal with the Reformer's appeal to the pope (Oct. 20). In 1522 Reiff was sent to Munich with the theses of the Wittenberg Augustinians, only to be placed in close confinement. Liberated at the beginning of 1525, he returned to Wittenberg, whence Luther sent him to Guben in Niederlausitz, where, as pastor, he combated libertinism and endeavored to establish order and morality. In 1531 he resigned his pastorate at Guben, and in the following year was appointed pastor and superintendent at Zwickau. Here his advocacy of the Wittenberg system involved him in many controversies, though he enjoyed the complete confidence of Luther and the elector. In 1538 he, together with Jonas and Spalatin, made a formal visitation at Freiberg, where Reiff remained some time to establish Protestantism. Four years later John Frederick, elector of Saxony, took him with him as a field chaplain in the campaign against Henry of Brunswick, and in 1544 he accompanied the same prince to the Diet of Speyer. When, in 1547, Zwickau passed into the possession of Maurice of Saxony, who made concessions to the emperor regarding the Interim, Reiff resigned and went to the court of Hans, margrave of Brandenburg, at Küstrin, being made pastor of Kottbus (1552) and perhaps superintendent of Küstrin, and during these latter years signalized himself as an opponent of the teachings of Osiander.

G. Bossert.

Bibliography: Sources to be used are the letters of Luther, ed. De Wette and Seidemann, 6 vols., Berlin, 1825–56, and other editions (see under Luther). Consult: G. Bossert, in Jahrbuch für brandenburgische Kirchengeschichte, i. 50 Sqq.; G. Buchwald, in Neue sächsische Galerie, Ephorie Zwickau, Leipsic, 1904.