PHILIP MELANCTHON was born on February 16th, 1497, at Bretten, in the Palatinate of the Rhine, Germany.
The family name was Schwartzerd, meaning "black earth," and his father, George Schwartzerd, was a native of Heidelberg, who had settled at Bretten, a small town now included in the Grand-Duchy of Baden. He was a skilful master-armorer, and held the office of Engineer or Commissary of Artillery, under the Palatine princes Philip and Rupert. He is described as having been a man of strict integrity and of remarkable ingenuity. Frequently, when purchasers were too poor to afford the price they offered for his wares, he would refuse to accept it, and compel them to take back their money. His habit was to leave his bed at midnight to offer fervent prayer, and if the morning came without this duty having been performed, he was dissatisfied with himself throughout the rest of the day.
His wife, Barbara, was the daughter of a respectable bailiff or magistrate, named John Reuter. She was possessed of a gentle disposition, was somewhat inclined to superstition, but in other respects was a truly estimable woman.
The house in which Philip was born was situated in the market-place of Bretten. It belonged to his parents, and for many years contained the following inscription:—
DEI PIETATE NATUS EST IN
HAC DOMO DOCTISSIMUS DN.
PHILIPPUS MELANCTHON, D.
XVI. PEER. A. M. CCCC. XCVII.
By the Grace of God, the most learned Master Philip Melancthon was born in this house, the 16th day of February, 1497.
The same year that saw the birth of Melancthon at Bretten witnessed the removal of Martin Luther, then a lad of fourteen, from the school at Mansfield to the more important seminary at Magdeburg.
Of the infancy and childhood of the young Schwartzerd we know but little. He was not quite eleven when his father died. Two days before he expired George called his son to his bedside and exhorted him to keep the fear of God constantly before his eyes. "I foresee," said the dying armorer, "that terrible tempests are about to shake the world. I have witnessed great things, but greater still are preparing. May God direct and guide thee!”
After receiving his father's blessing, Philip was sent to Spires, so that he might not be present at his parent's death. He departed weeping bitterly.
Philip and his younger brother George were after that sad event received into the house of their maternal grandfather, John Reuter, who himself had a son. This worthy man acted as a father to the two boys. He engaged John Hungarus, an excellent man, as tutor to the three lads, who overlooked nothing. He punished for every fault, but always with discretion. Speaking of him more than forty years afterward, Melancthon said: "It is thus that he made a scholar of me. He loved me as a son, I loved him as a father; and we shall meet, I hope, in heaven.”
At this early age the excellence of Philip's understanding was remarkable; as was also his facility in learning and explaining what he had learned. His tutor was charmed with his rapid progress. He could not remain idle, and was always looking for someone to discuss with him the things he had heard. It frequently happened that well-educated foreigners passed through Bretten and visited Reuter. Immediately the bailiff's grandson would go up to them, enter into conversation, and press them so hard in the discussion that the hearers were filled with admiration. To strength of genius Philip united great gentleness, and thus won the favor of all. At that time he stammered, but he so diligently set about correcting this defect, that in after life no trace of it was discernible.
The school at Pforzheim under the immediate superintendence of George Simmler, a man distinguished for his classical learning, was at this time highly celebrated. Thither, on the death of his grandfather, were sent Philip, his brother, and their young uncle John. The three lads resided with one of their relations, a sister of the renowned Hebrew scholar, Reuchlin. Eager in the pursuit of knowledge, Philip made rapid progress in learning, especially in Greek, of which he was passionately fond. Reuchlin frequently came to Pforzheim, and at his sister's house became acquainted with her young boarders. He was soon struck with Philip's replies, and presented him with a Greek Grammar and a Bible. These two books were to be the study of his life.
At the age of twelve, the young scholar wrote a Latin comedy, which he dedicated to Reuchlin, and with the aid of some of his schoolfellows performed before him. Reuchlin, charmed with the young man's talents, affectionately embraced him, called him his dear son, and sportively placed upon his head the red hat he himself had received when made doctor. Up to this time the Tad had been known as Philip Schwartzerd, but Reuchlin, in accordance with the, custom prevalent among men of letters in that age, changed the German Schwartzerd into its more sonorous Greek equivalent Melancthon. Both names signify "black earth.”
When twelve years of age Philip Melancthon went to the University of Heidelberg, where he matriculated on October 13th, 1509. This university had been founded in 1385, with an express view to breadth and comprehensiveness of training, and was highly celebrated for its various professors in the different branches of knowledge. The new pupil soon attracted attention, not only by his extraordinary progress and amiable disposition, but by his zealous efforts to excite his fellow-students to the more diligent cultivation of polite literature. Conscious of his own mental superiority, he felt no envious apprehension of their outstripping him in their studies, or, if they had, his character was so free from guile that he would have rejoiced at their success.
Such eminent talents, combined with so much application, were certain to produce good results, and. soon Melancthon was looked upon as a first-rate youth; and though but a boy was employed to compose most of the public harangues and eloquent discourses that were delivered in the university. He even wrote some things for the professors themselves. The education of the two sons of Count Leonstein was entrusted to his care, and his proficiency in Greek was so remarkable that even at this early age he composed a Rudiments of the Greek Language which was afterward published. At fourteen he took his Bachelor's degree.
In 1512 Reuchlin invited Melancthon to Tubingen, a town on the Neckar in the duchy of Wurtemberg. This university, which had been founded in 1477, was daily increasing in reputation, and was the resort of many learned men. Melancthon entered it in September, and attended by turns the lectures of the theologians, doctors, and lawyers; in fact, there was no branch of knowledge which he deemed unworthy of his study. In medicine he mastered Galen so thoroughly that he could repeat the greater part of his treatises; and although theology, as then taught, consisted of little else than scholastic subtleties, knotty questions, unintelligible jargon, and absurd superstition, yet he became much devoted to its more sober and rational part.
His genius and attractive disposition made him many friends; among them at this time was (Ecolampadius, who was his senior by several years; they used to read Hesiod together. Among the professors Henry Bibelius—distinguished for his skill in botany—John Brassicanus and John Stofflerus in the mathematical department, and Francis Stadianus—the public lecturer on Aristotle—won his highest esteem. The two latter he mentions with particular affection in his writings. Of Stofflerus, who for many years had the sole care of arranging the calendar, he says:—“Had it not been for his indefatigable application we should have known nothing of the distribution of times and the changes of the months, nor of the seasons for plowing, sowing, planting, and. other agricultural pursuits, nor of a variety of other useful and ingenious arts.”
Francis Stadianus he describes as a man of learning, who lived in such a manner as to deserve the affection of all the learned and good. On January 25th, 1514, just before he attained the age of seventeen, Melancthon was made Doctor of Philosophy or Master of Arts. He immediately began a course of private tuition, and not long afterward became a public lecturer at Tubingen. The grace and charm that he imparted to his lessons formed a most striking contrast to the insipid method pursued by the doctors and monks. He directed the attention of his scholars to the classical compositions of Virgil, Terence, Cicero, Livy, and the Greek writers; but his lectures were not exclusively devoted to the learned languages, they embraced a great variety of subjects, as rhetoric, logic, ethics, mathematics, and theology.
Such a bright star in the literary firmament, shining all the brighter because of the surrounding darkness, could not fail to attract the attention of the great men of the age. In 1515, Erasmus of Rotterdam, the greatest scholar of his time, exclaimed in admiration: "What hopes may we not conceive of Philip Melancthon, though as yet very young, and almost a boy, but equally to be admired for his proficiency in both languages! What quickness of invention! What purity of diction! What vastness of memory! What variety of reading! What a modesty and gracefulness of behavior! and what a princely mind!" Such an eulogium, by such a man, on a stripling of eighteen, is evidence of his great merit.
On another occasion he wrote: "Of Melancthon I have already the highest opinion, and cherish the most magnificent hopes; so much so that I am persuaded Christ designs this youth to excel us all: he will totally eclipse Erasmus." And in a letter written to Melancthon, he concludes: "Farewell, most learned Melancthon, use all thine energies that the splendid hopes which Germany conceives of thy genius and thy piety may not only be equaled but exceeded." Yet again in a letter to Julius Pflug, the counselor of George Duke of Saxony, the learned Dutchman gives Melancthon this character: "He not only excels in learning and eloquence, but by a certain fatality is a general favorite. Honest and candid men are very fond of him, and even his adversaries cannot hate him!”
Seckendorf, in his history of Lutheranism, states that were the various eulogies which literary men, and even religious opponents, have pronounced upon Melancthon to be collected together, they would fill a very considerable volume.
The Holy Scriptures especially engaged his attention. Those who frequented the church at Tubingen had remarked that he frequently held a book in his hands, which he was occupied in reading between the services. This unknown volume appeared to be larger than the prayer book, and a report was circulated that Melancthon used to read profane authors during these intervals. But the suspected book proved to be a copy of the Bible printed shortly before at Basle by John Frobenius. All his life he continued this study with the most unceasing application. He always carried the volume with him, even to the public assemblies to which he was invited.
Yet at this time he shared in the common errors of his age. "I shudder," he observed many years later, "when I think of the honor I paid to images while I was yet a Papist.” During his residence at Tubingen there occurred an opportunity of rendering essential service to his early friend and patron John Reuchlin, who had become involved in a disagreeable contention with certain ecclesiastics, the cause of which was as follows. There dwelt at Cologne a baptized rabbi, named Pfefferkorn, who was intimately connected with the inquisitor Hochstraten. This rabbi and the Dominicans solicited and obtained an order from the Emperor Maximilian by which all the Jews were to bring their Hebrew books, the Bible only excepted, to the town hall of the place in which each resided, for the books there to be burnt. The Jews instantly implored the emperor to suspend his order till these books had been examined by a competent committee of learned men. Maximilian consented, and invited Reuchlin to give his opinion on the Hebrew books; which was, that no books should be destroyed save such as were written expressly against Christianity. This decision the emperor approved, and restored the imperiled books to their owners.
The monks and inquisitors of Cologne were violently enraged, and accused Reuchlin of heresy and of inclining to Judaism, threatening him with the dungeons of the Inquisition. Hochstraten had a tribunal formed at Mentz against him, and his works were committed to the flames. At this critical juncture Melancthon aided his friend. Frequent conferences took place between them both at Tubingen and at Stuttgart, where Reuchlin resided, the result being, conjointly with his high reputation, the honorable acquittal of the great Hebrew scholar.
One of the earliest productions of Melancthon now extant is an oration on the liberal arts, delivered in 1517, when he was twenty years of age. In this he relates the classical story of the Seven-stringed Lyre and the Origen of the liberal arts, and as he approaches the close he exhorts his hearers in the following animated words: "Let the example of those illustrious persons who surround me inspire you. Be animated by the great and glorious expectations of your country, and apply the utmost vigor of your minds to what you know to be of pre-eminent importance—the attainment of sound learning and real virtue. Do not be seduced from this noble course by flattering pleasures or by evil examples. Let no dishonorable principle influence your minds; and that I call dishonorable which diverts you from the literary pursuits and from the sacred studies to which you are devoted.”
Shortly after this event the Elector Frederick formed the design of inviting some distinguished scholar to the University of Wittemberg as professor of the ancient languages. He applied to Reuchlin, who recommended Melancthon. Frederick foresaw the celebrity that the rising scholar would confer on the institution, and Reuchlin, charmed with the brilliant opening for his young friend, wrote to him in the words applied to Abraham: "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house: and I will make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing." And the old man added, "Yea, I hope it will be so with thee, my dear Philip, my handiwork and my consolation.”
Melancthon acknowledged this invitation as a call from God. But his departure caused deep sorrow to the University of Tubingen. He had been there about six years, and was now twenty-one years of age. He left his native place for his new sphere of labor, saying, "The will of the Lord be done." George Simmler, an eminent lawyer and contemporary, referring to Tubingen, states, "The whole city lamented his departure. No one can conceive or estimate how much the academy lost of distinction and of emolument when he departed.”
The journey to Wittemberg was performed on horse-back, in company with several Saxon merchants, whose guidance and protection he valued as he was unacquainted both with the roads and the country. He paid his respects to the elector, whom he found at Augsburg. At Leipsic the university gave a banquet in his honor, and at this city he formed an acquaintance with the learned Hellenist Mosellanus.