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Siebenbiirgen (Ilermannstadt, 1862); Synodal-verIaandlungen der evangelischen Landeskirche in Siebenbiirgen bis 1600 (1883); and Gesehichte der siebenbiirger Sachsen (3d ed., 1899). (F. TEUTSCH).

BIBLIOGRAPHY: The memorial address by F. Teutseh was published at Hermannstadt, and contains a list of literature. Consult the biography by F. Teutsch, Hermannstadt, 1909; and ADB, vol. x=vii.

THAMER, tamer, THEOBALD: German convert to the Roman Catholic Church; b. at Oberehnheim (15 m. s.w. of Strasburg) at the beginning of the sixteenth century; d. at Freiburg May 23, 1569. He received his education at Rosheim, and at the University of Wittenberg, where he studied 1535-39. He then went to Frankfort-on-the-Oder, and in 1043 was called to Marburg by Landgrave Philip of Hesse as professor of theology and preacher at St. Elizabeth's Church. Thamer had been hardly a year in Marburg when his bristling defense of the Lutheran doctrine as to the Lord's Supper brought him into collision with his colleague, Andreas Hyperius; but the landgrave admonished the Marburg theologians, Oct. 14, 1544, to refrain from strife. At the beginning of the Schmalkald War, Thamer was appointed army chaplain by the landgrave, and thereby gained opportunity to make observations that were decisive on his subsequent life. His experiences and the unhappy issue of the war moved him to questions regarding the causes of the Reformation; and thus began his doubts touching the correctness of the Evangelical doctrine of repentance and justification. Thamer was not the man to conceal these conflicts and what stirred him became known to all Marburg and set the town in commotion. The government at Cassel interposed, and summoned Thamer, Draconitas, and Adam Kraft to Cassel. Thamer here declared that he could not hold the doctrine " by faith alone " as sound and Evangelical, but promised to abstain from further attacks on the Lutheran teaching. At Easter, 1549, however, he started the conflict anew, and was suspended, on Aug. 8, 1549, after the synods at Ziegenhain and Cassel, till the return of the landgrave. At the close of 1549 he became second preacher at St. Bartholomew's in Frankfort-on-the-Main, but because of his sharp attacks on Lutheranism, he was dismissed from this post; he then turned to Landgrave Philip, and requested a regular examination of the errors charged against him. Philip resolved on the extraordinary step of procuring him the opportunity of conferring in person with the most eminent theologians of that age. So he journeyed to Jena to meet Erhard Schnepf, then to Melanchthon at Wittenberg, next to Superintendent Daniel Gresser at Dresden, and finally to Bullinger at Zurich. But none of these theologians could pronounce in his favor. Thamer then went to Rome, and there passed over to the Roman Catholic Church, probably in 1553 or 1554. Two years later he returned to Germany and was appointed preacher in Minden. Thereafter he obtained a canonry at Mainz, where he issued his Apologia in 1561. The same year he received a theological instructorship

BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. A. W. Neander, Theobald Thamer, der Reprbsentant and Vorganger moderner Geiatesrichtung in dem Rejormationszeitalter, Berlin, 1842; Historische politische Bldtter, ed. G. Phillips and G. Gorres, x. 341-363, Munich, 1842; C. W. H. Hochhuth, De Theobaldi Thameri vita d scriptis, Marburg, 1858; idem, in ZHT, 1861, part 2, pp. 165-278; H. Schreiber, Geschichte der Albert-Ludwipa-Universittit in Freiburg im Breisgau, ii. 293-296, Freiburg, 1859; A. Ross, Die Convertiten Sect der Reformation, i. 238-297, ib. 1866.

THANKSGIVING DAY: A day specially appointed for the expression of a sense of obligation for divine favor, instituted in New England, in much the same way as Fast-day (q.v.). One was often appointed to offset the other. At first a day of thanksgiving was observed in gratitude for unusual mercies, and became regular only in the last half of the seventeenth century. There is evidence to show that the first ThanLsgiving Day of the Pilgrims was on Dec. 20, 1620, upon their first arrival, but the distinction is usually given to the thanksgiving week celebrated in company with the Indians in the autumn of 1621 after the first crops had been gathered in. The first civil Thanksgiving in the Massachusetts Bay colony was observed July 8, 1630, after all the ships of Winthrop's company had arrived; and other thanksgivings followed special providences. On Oct. 12, 1637, all New England celebrated the overthrow of the Pequots. The first Thanksgiving Day of the Connecticut river towns, appointed on account of an abundant harvest, was held Sept. 18, 1639. The northern settlements of New England naturally followed the example of Massachusetts. Rhode Island thanksgivings were private affairs of churches and individuals until Governor Andros made the observance of the day compulsory throughout New England.

The annual Thanksgiving Day in celebration of harvest became regular in Connecticut after 1649, in Massachusetts Bay about 1660, and in Plymouth in 1668. Rhode Island delayed its final adoption until the time of the Revolution. It had become a regular institution in all the New England states by the end of the eighteenth century. Thanksgiving Day has always been distinctively a home festival, but its religious character was not obscured in the days of the fathers, especially in Connecticut and Massachusetts. Until well into the eighteenth century two church services were held, sermons were read at the family hearth, and the mercies of God were recounted; but the social functions of the day in time crowded out the second church service, and the day became a feast day, with a grand dinner for the united family, and with general merrymaking as its accompaniment. This latter development became common after the Revolution.

The struggle for independence drew the colonies together, and they all joined in a general thanksgiving on Dec. 18, 1777, after the downfall of Burgoyne. Similar celebrations were observed regularly during the war, and on special occasions up to 1815, but they did not become a permanent national custom. Meantime the idea was growing