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The Education of Women in the Reformation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 February 2017

Lowell Green
Lowell Green*
Affiliation:
Concordia Teachers College in River Forest, Illinois
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Extract

The importance of universal education to the emergence of today's world is obvious to anyone, but its history is often unknown. For example, the story of how large parts of modern society made the journey from widespread illiteracy to almost total literacy is a tale yet to be told. In this article a small beginning will be undertaken, based upon sources dealing with several small countries of Germany which espoused Luther's Reformation during the sixteenth century. This will uncover an unsuspected concern for the education of girls as well as of boys, and, incidentally, evidence which reveals that German history is distorted when it is studied exclusively under the aspect of the evolution of the Prussian state.

Type
Articles
Information
History of Education Quarterly , Volume 19 , Issue 1 , Spring 1979 , pp. 93 - 116
Copyright
Copyright © 1979 by History of Education Society 

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References

Notes

1 This article in its original form was read as a paper at the Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, Iowa City, Iowa, November 1, 1975. My thanks for comments and criticisms to Bainton, Roland H. Dr., chairman of that session, and to my colleagues, Carroll, Roy Dr., Petschauer, Peter Dr., and Gade, Ole Dr. Prof. Gade redrew my map on the diffusion of education in Württemberg and put it in its present form (Figure 2). Thanks are also due the reference librarians at Appalachian State University and the University Research Grants program for making scarce and valuable materials available for my studies.Google Scholar

2 The Protestant historian and philosopher, Friedrich Paulsen, in attempting to achieve a more balanced picture than his predecessors, tended to follow Janssen too closely; therefore his findings must be used with greater discrimination than some scholars have practiced in the past. See Janssen, Johannes, Geschichte des deutschen Volkes seit dem Ausgang des Mittelalters, 8 vols. + supplement, 14th ed. (Freiburg im Breisgau: Herder, 1887ff.), and Paulsen, Friedrich, Geschichte des gelehrten Unterrichts auf den deutschen Schulen und Universitäten vom Ausgang des Mittelalters bis zur Gegenwart, 2 vols. (Leipzig: Veit, 1919. 1921); Vol. I, p. 190, et passim .Google Scholar

3 Stone, Lawrence, “The Educational Revolution in England, 1560–1640,” in Past and Present, No. 28 (1964), p. 44.Google Scholar

4 The estimate of 13,000 parishes is given by Neale, J. E., Queen Elizabeth I: A Biography (Garden City, N. Y.: Doubleday Anchor Books, 1957), p. 321. The population of Old-Württemberg ca. 1500 was 250,000 according to Rauscher, Julius, Württembergische Reformationsgeschichte, in the series “Württembergische Kirchengeschichte,” Vol. III: Die Reformation 1500–1559 (Stuttgart: Calwer Verlag, 1934), p. 5. In 1534 there were 512 localities consisting of 48 administrative cities, 14 smaller cities, 50 market-towns, and 400 villages, according to Rauscher, , Württembergische Visitationsakten, Vol. I: [1534] 1536–1540, in the series “Württembergische Geschichtsquellen,” Vol. 22 (Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, W., 1932), p. xix. Old-Württemberg grew in territory and population around 1600. It had reached 400,000 to 450,000 by 1618 according to Clasen, Claus-Peter, Die Wiedertäufer im Herzogtum Württemberg und in benachbarten Herrschaften: Ausbreitung, Geisteswelt und Soziologie, in series, “Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für geschichtliche Landeskunde in Baden-Wurttemberg,” Reihe, B, Band 32 (Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, W., 1965), p. 49. The number of schools in the duchy is given in Schmid, Eugen, Geschichte des Volksschulwesens in Altwürttemberg, in series, “Veröffentlichungen der Württembergischen Kommission für Landesgeschichte” (Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, W., 1927), pp. 36. 111. Only 68 small communities were without schools by 1653, p. 111.Google Scholar

5 Regarding this point which is very often overlooked see also Spitz, Lewis W., The Religious Renaissance of the German Humanists (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1963), p. 292.Google Scholar

6 This poem by Melanchthon, , not found in his collected works in the Corpus Reformatorum or the Supplementa Melanchthoniana, was given by Michael Reu, J., Quellen zur Geschichte des kirchlichen Unterrichts in der evangelischen Kirche Deutschlands zwischen 1530 und 1600, 11 vols. (Gütersloh: Bertelsmann, 1904–1935), Vol. 3, p. 752. Because of the ambiguity in numbering the volumes, I shall cite them as follows: Vol. 3 = I. Teil, II. Band, 2. Abteilung (1911); Vol. 4 = I. Teil, III. Band, I. Abteilung, 1. Halfte (1927); Vol. 6 = I. Teil, III. Teil, I. Abteilung, 2. Halfte, 2. Lieferung (1933); Vol. 8 = I. Teil, III. Band, 2. Abteilung, 1. Halfte [in 1924 renumbered: I. Teil, III. Band, 2. Abteilung, 1. Teil] (1916); Vol. 11 = Quellen zur Geschichte des biblischen Unterrichts, II. Teil. — I have proposed this manner of citation and provided an author-index to the complete set in my article, “Introduction and Index to the Quellen of J.M. Reu,” in Bulletin of the Library, Foundation for Reformation Research, St. Louis, vol. 6 (1971), No. 2, pp. 9–11), as continued also in Nos. 3–4 and in Vol. 7, (1972), No. 1.Google Scholar

7 D. Martin Luthers Werke: Kritische Gesamtausgabe (Weimar: Hermann Böhlau und Nachfolger, 1883ff.), Vol. 6, p. 461; hereafter cited “WA.” Compare an important statement of Luther, overlooked by many historians, in the Schmalkald Articles (1537): “Das die Stifft und Kloster, vorzeiten guter meinüng gestifft, zu erzihen, gelerte Leute und zuchtige Weibsbilder, sollen widderümb zu solchem braüch geordent werden. Damit man pfarhern, Prediger und ander kirchen Diener haben muge, Auch sonst notige Personen zu Welltlichem Regiment, ynn Stedten und Lendern, Auch wolgezogene Jungfrawen zu Haus muttern und Hauschalterin etc.” WA 50, 211–212.Google Scholar

8 WA 15, 44.Google Scholar

9 WA 15, 45–46. — A valuable study of Luther's views on women and their place in society is given by Ludolphy, Ingetraut, “Die Frau in der Sicht Martin Luthers,” in Vierhundertfünfzig Jahre lutherische Reformation 1517–1967: Festschrift für Franz Lau zum 60. Geburtstag (Berlin: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 1967), pp. 204–221. See also Bainton's, Roland H. volumes, Women of the Reformation … Google Scholar

10 WA 15, 47.Google Scholar

11 Melanchthon's, “Unterricht der Visitatorn an die Pfarhern ym Kurfurstenthum zu Sachssen,” in Melanchthons Werke: 1. Band, Reformatorische Schriften, in series “Melanchthons Werke in Auswahl,” ed. Stupperich, Robert (Gütersloh: Bertelsmann, and Mohn, Gerd, 1951ff.), pp. 265–271; hereafter cited as “SA.” This work of Melanchthon has at times been wrongly attributed to Luther by the scholars, but Luther wrote only the “Vorrhede,” pp. 216–220-WA 26, 195–201.Google Scholar

12 The Braunschweig Church-Order of 1528 is in Die evangelischen Kirchenordnungen des XVI. Jahrhunderts, ed. Sehling, Emil and others (Leipzig: O. R. Reisland and Tübingen: Mohr, J. C. B., 1902ff.), Vol. 6/I/1 (1955), pp. 368–69; hereafter cited as “Sehling.” Google Scholar

13 Ibid., p. 370.Google Scholar

14 Ibid. Google Scholar

15 See the “Sunderge Ordeninge der Stadt Mollen,” in Die evangelischen Kirchenordnungen des sechszehnten Jahrhunderts: Urkunden und Regesten zur Geschichte des Rechts und der Verfassung der evangelischen Kirche in Deutschland, ed. Richter, Aemilius Ludwig, 2 vols. (Weimar: Landes-Industriecomtoir, 1846; reprint, Nieuwkoop, : De Graaf, B., 1967), Vol. I, p. 152; hereafter cited as “Richter.” Google Scholar

16 Sehling, I (1902), 705.Google Scholar

17 Ibid., 706.Google Scholar

18 The Wittenberg Church-Order states the annual income of the church and school personnel as follows. Google Scholar (Information in Sehling I, 709). Once recent writer estimates that the Rhenish gulden was worth about $40.00 in today's currency; see Dolan, John P., History of the Reformation (New York: The New American Library, 1967), p. 234. In another comparison, Janssen finds that 1 gulden in 1500 would purchase 90 to 100 pounds of beef and 100 to 120 pounds of pork. Op. cit. [note 2], Vol. I (1887), p. 25f. Janssen cites several teacher's incomes from around that time. At Weeze in Cleve the schoolmaster got 4 gulden plus tuition, a number of payments in kind and free rent; at Capellen the teacher received 9 Arnheim gulden, free rent and tuition. At Eltville the schoolmaster received 24 gulden besides tuition, at Kiderich he received from 30 to 90 gulden, and at Seligenstadt am Main free rent, wine, 36 bushels of wheat, and the tuition of the children (school-pennies).Google Scholar

19 Reu, , Quellen, Vol. 3, 751.Google Scholar

20 Ibid., p. 754.Google Scholar

21 On the history of the schools of Strassburg shortly before the Reformation of the city see Kohls, Ernst-Wilhelm, Die Schule bei Martin Bucer in ihrem Verhältnis zu Kirche und Obrigkeit (Heidelberg, : Quelle, & Meyer, , 1963), Chap. I. See also Chrisman, Miriam U., Strasbourg and the Reform: A Study in the Process of Change (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1967).Google Scholar

22 See Martin Bucers deutsche Schriften, ed. Stupperich, Robert (Gütersloh: Gerd Mohn, 1960ff.), Vol. II, p. 402; hereafter cited as “Bucer, DS.” Google Scholar

23 Ibid., p. 403.Google Scholar

24 In his “Erleütherong uber jngeleitete Supplication vff den dritten tag septembris an° 1525,” Bucer wrote: “Zum Andern, das man Sechs leerhüßer fur die knaben vnd vj fur die mägdleyn vffs wenigst aufrichte, dar zu frumme gotzförchtige, bider leuth genomen würden, doch das bey den knäblin alleyn der man, vnd bey den mägdleyn auch die frow leret. Jnn den leerhüßern solte man deutsche leren schreiben vnd leßen, vnd das furgeben zu leBen, so zur Erbarkeyt am tuchtigsten angesehen wurde.” Ibid., p. 401. In his “Christennlich Leeren, Ceremonien vnnd leben” (1531) Bucer added: “… das man die teutschen Schüllen also anrichte, daß man beide, knäblin vnnd mädlin neben dem schreiben vnnd lessen auch ain recht Christenlich leben lerre, auß wölchenn teutschen schülen man denn die geschicktesten knaben jn die lateinisch Schüle verordne, jn deren sy nit alain latteinisch sprach, sonnder auch anfang der Criechischen solen gelernt werden.” Ibid., p. 418.Google Scholar

25 Richter, I, 48–49.Google Scholar

26 Unfortunately, the epoch-making Great Church-Order of 1559 has not been published in its entirety in the collections of church-orders; therefore I shall cite this document from the 1968 facsimile reprint of the original of 1559. — Von Gottes gnaden vnser Christoffs Hertzogen zu Würtemberg vnd zu Teckh/ Grauen zu Mumpelgart/ etc. Sum̄arischer vnd einfältiger Begriff/ wie es mit der Lehre vnd Ceremonien in den Kirchen vnsers Furstenthimbs/ auch derselben Kirchen anhangenden Sachen vnd Verrichtungen/ bißher geubt vnnd gebraucht/ auch furohin mit verleihung Göttlicher gnaden gehalten vnd volzogen werden solle. Getruckt zu Tüwingen/ Im jar 1559. — The first citation in the text is from Fol. X–Xj.Google Scholar

27 Ibid., Fol Cxcijv .Google Scholar

28 Ibid. Google Scholar

29 Ibid., Fol. Xijv .Google Scholar

30 The 1569 Church- and School-Order for the duchy of Braunschweig is generally cited from the edition in Braunschweigische Schulordnungen von den ȧltesten Zeiten bis zum Jahre 1828, ed. Koldewey, Friedrich, in series “Monumenta Germaniae Paedagogica,” ed. Kehrbach, Karl, Vols. I and VIII (Berlin: Hofmann, A., 1886. 1890), Vol. VIII, pp. 25–78; abbreviated as “MGP.” This 1569 Order is given in abridged form in Richter II, 318–324.Google Scholar

31 Pointing out that the Braunschweig Order was dependent upon the Lüneburg Church-Order of 1564 (Richter II, pp. 285–287) and the Württemberg Order of 1559, Richter proceeds (pp. 318ff.) to indicate the parallels; pp. 322–324 of the Braunschweig document are mainly taken word-for-word from the Grobe Kirchen-Ordnung of 1559, with adaptations to this lower Saxon duchy.Google Scholar

32 Reu, , Quellen, Vol. 6 (1933), pp. 778–786.Google Scholar

33 Sehling, Vol. I, 130f. The 1557 church-order for Albertine Saxony required sextons to be educated (Sehling I, 326) and to teach the catechism orally; but it was first in the 1580 church-order that, following the Württemberg Order of 1559, sextons also were to teach the boys (!) “… lesen, schreiben and christliche gesenge …” (Sehling I, 452). In contrast to the Württemberg Order, teaching the girls was not mentioned here.Google Scholar

34 Richter, I, pp. 68–69; part of the Reformatio ecclesiarum Hassiae (pp. 56–69).Google Scholar

35 Agricola published in 1527 (1528?) his Hundert vnd dreissig gemeyner Fragestücke fur die iungen kinder ynn der Deudschen Meydlin Schule zu Eyßleben; see Reu, , Quellen, Vol. 4, p. 130 and Kawerau, Gustav, “Johann Agricola,” in Realen-cyklopadie fpr protestantische Theologie und Kirche , ed. Hauck, Albert, 3rd ed., 23 vols. + 2 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, J. C., 1896ff.), Vol. I, p. 252: cited hereafter as “RE.” That a more positive understanding of the talented Agricola has long been overdue is brought out by Rogge, Joachim, Johann Agricolas Lutherverständnis. Unter besonderer Berücksichtigung des Antinomismus, in series, “Theologische Arbeiten,” XIV (Berlin: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 1960), 306 pp.Google Scholar

36 See Spangenberg, J., Auslegung der Euangelien, so auff die Sontage vom Aduent bis auff Ostern jnn der Kirchen gelesen werden, fur die jungen Christen, Knaben vnnd Meidlein, inn Fragestucke verfasset, 1542 (1584) and Auslegung der Episteln. fur die jungen Christen, Knaben vnnd Meidlein inn Fragestücke verfasset (1554), from which generous samples have been published in Reu, , Quellen, Vol. 11, pp. 601–645. Spangenberg, J. was reformer and preacher at Nordhausen; like his son, Cyriakus, , he was also much interested in church-music.Google Scholar

37 Herman, Nikolaus (1480–1561), schoolmaster and cantor at Joachimsthal with the noted pastor, Johannes Mathesius, is discussed as writer of hymns for girls in RE VII, p. 707.Google Scholar

38 Jhan, Johann, who was teacher of the Girls' School at Torgau, published the following title containing school-plays or dialogues on the Catechism: Etliche Christliche Gesprech/ aus dem Catechismo/ welche jnn sich begreiffen die fürnemsten stück vnsers Christlichen glaubens…. Gehalten von den Jungen Meidlin in der Jungfrawen Schul zu Torgaw/ öffentlich für der Christlichen Gemeine. Wittemberg 1543. Reu, , Quellen, Vol. 3, pp. 499–509, gives excerpts based upon the expanded edition of 1565, edited posthumously by Groland, Jacob, successor of Jhan at Torgau.Google Scholar

39 The title of Sebastian Starcke's book is informative: Etzliche fürneme Sprüche aus dem Alten vnd Newen Testament/ welche die Kinder in der Knaben vnd Megdtlein Schulen der Stadt Mülhausen bey einem jeden Stuck des heiligen Catechismi fleissig Lernen vnd auff die Sontage vnd Mitwochen in alien Kirchen zur Kinder-Lehre mit Andacht aufsagen sollen…. Mühlhausen, 1577. Reu, , Quellen, Vol. II, pp. cxxi–cxxiv, and pp. 543–550.Google Scholar

40 An adequate investigation of Andreas Musculus has never been published. The only biography is that by Spieker, Christian Wilhelm, Lebensgeschichte des Andreas Musculus … (Frankfurt an der Oder: Trowitzsch & Sohn, 1858), 376 pp., a book written by a scholar who is too hostile toward his subject to inspire the reader's confidence. Much more impartial is the article by Gustav Kawerau in RE XIII, 577–581. Valuable information about this reformer of Brandenburg and co-author of the Formula of Concord is given in Reu, , Quellen, Vol. 4, 156–192.Google Scholar

41 Richter, II, p. 375.Google Scholar

42 Ibid. Google Scholar

43 Jungfraw Schule. Gestellet vnd Geordnet/ auff die newlichste Auffgerichten Christlichen Schulen in gehaltener Visitation der March Brandenburgk … Frankfurt an der Oder, 1574. Part of a larger volume, the Jungfrauschulordnung itself is given in full in Reu, , Quellen, Vol. 8 (1916), pp. 222–227.Google Scholar

44 Ibid., p. 223.Google Scholar

45 Reu, , Quellen, Vol. 8 (1916), p. 223. Musculus published for this purpose (1569) the following volume: Haus Bibel. Sprüche aus dem Alten vnd newen Testament für die Jugendt zusammen getragen, In den Meidlein Schulen zu lernen vnd in der Kirchen von jnen zu recitieren in bey sein der einfeltigen Leut, so selber nicht konnen lesen vnd sich der Schrifft kündig machen … Quellen, Vol. 8 (1916), pp. 210–222. The preface was excerpted earlier in Quellen, Vol. 11 (1906), p. LXXXIX, where Musculus elaborated upon his plan of having the girls teach the Scriptures in the churches. On girls' participation in church services, see also Reu, , Quellen, Vol. 4 (1927), p. 180. This is discussed by a liturgiologist in Söhngen, Oskar, “Theologische Grundlagen der Kirchenmusik,” Leiturgia: Handbuch des evangelischen Gottesdienstes (Kassel: Johannes Stauda, 1961), p. 140.Google Scholar

46 Reu, , Quellen, Vol. 4, (1927), p. 183; Sehling, III, p. 226.Google Scholar

47 Sehling, III, p. 276. 291.Google Scholar

48 Reu, , Quellen, Vol. 4 (1927), p. 179. Compare Caspar Aquila's description of how the girls assisted in the Vespers at Saalfeld: The girls sang a Psalm from memory, then they were questioned on the sermon, after this they sang the Litany, then one of the girls sang the Collect and the Collect for Peace, and then, after he had shaken their hands and wished them a good night, they recited together Ps. 79, 8–9. In Reu, , Quellen, Vol. 2 (1911), p. 53. On similar practices at Hof in Franconia, see Sehling II, p. 72.Google Scholar

49 Reu, , Quellen, Vol. 8 (1916), p. 224.Google Scholar

50 Ibid., pp. 224–225.Google Scholar

51 Ibid. Google Scholar

52 See the report of Reinhardt, Karl, “Plan für die Fortführung der Monumenta Germaniae Paedagogica,” in Mitteilungen der Gesellschaft für deutsche Erziehungs-und Schulgeschichte, Vol. XX, No. 4 (1910), p. 234.Google Scholar

53 A bibliography of published visitation-sources is given in Die Visitation im Dienst der kirchlichen Reform, ed. Zeeden, Ernst Walter and Molitor, Hansgeorg (Münster: Aschendorff, 1967); at the end, unprinted visitation-sources are provided with a list of archives.Google Scholar

54 Burkhardt, Carl August Hugo, Geschichte der sächsischen Kirchen- und Schulvisitationen von 1524 bis 1545 (Leipzig: Fr. Wilh. Grunow, 1879), pp. 30–36.Google Scholar

55 Schmid, , op. cit. [note 4], lists them on p. 3. Cf. Rauscher, , op. cit. [note 4].Google Scholar

56 See note 66.Google Scholar

57 Luther advised Philipp not to implement Lambert's church-order, WA Briefwechsel IV, pp. 157–58. Cf. Maurer, Wilhelm, “Franz Lambert von Avignon und das Verfassungsideal der Reformatio ecclesiarum Hassiae von 1526,” in Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte, Vol. 48 (1929), pp. 208–260; reprinted in Maurer, Wilhelm, Kirche und Geschichte: Gesammelte Aufsätze, Vol. I: Luther und das evangelisches Bekenntnis , ed. Kohls, Ernst-Wilhelm and Müller, Gerhard (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1970), pp. 319–364, and especially p. 363f.Google Scholar

58 Lambert's ideas for girls' education and for universal education as a whole were not included in any of the subsequent church-orders during Philipp's lifetime. Little was said about the schools in the order of 1532, Richter, I, 162–165. The short order for Katzenelnbogen (1535) held this single sentence, relating apparently to Latin schools: “Schools shall be set up for the good of the youth, and a scholarly and pious man shall be appointed for that purpose.” Richter, I, p. 261. The order for visitation of 1537 dealt only with existing schools and did not offer an energetic program for organizing new schools. Richter, I, p. 285. The noted church-order of 1539 dealt almost exclusively with confirmation and with church-discipline, and did little for the inadequate educational system of Hesse, Richter, I, pp. 290–295. The Kassel church-order of 1539 was almost entirely liturgical and did not discuss the schools, Richter, I, 295–306. In the order of 1574, schools were mentioned, but there were no new measures for expanding the system, Richer, II, p. 394.Google Scholar

59 See the introduction and sources by Diehl, Wilhelm, Die Schulordnungen des Grossherzogtums Hessen, 3 vols. in “Monumenta Germaniae Paedagogica,” Vols. 27, 28, and 33 (Berlin: Hofmann, A, 1903–05); on Hesse-Darmstadt before the Reformation, see MGP 28, pp. 5–8, on developments under Philip the Magnanimous see MGP 28, pp. 7–8, on the significance of George, I see ibid., pp. 8ff., and on his improvements see MGP 33, pp. 6–8. On confirmation and universal schooling, see ib., pp. 9–10.Google Scholar

60 Besides the excellent journals and serials, see the useful Bibliographie der Württembergischen Geschichte, founded by Heyd, Wilhelm (Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer, 1895–present).Google Scholar

61 This is stated by Paulsen, , op. cit. [note 2], Vol. I, pp. 310–312. He notes that in Württemberg in 1604 besides the university at Tübingen and the Paedagogiums there and at Stuttgart, and the four cloister schools, there were 47 Latin schools, taught by 47 praeceptors and 28 collaborators, and that the attendance of these in 1590 was ca. 2400 pupils.Google Scholar

62 Schmid, , p. 13.Google Scholar

63 A good characterisation of Christoph, Duke, together with the older literature, is the article by Bossert, Gustav, “Christoph, Herzog von Württemberg,” RE IV, pp. 57–60. For the complete bibliography see Heyd, , op. cit., note 60. Part of the correspondence of Christoph has been published; see Briefwechsel des Herzogs Christoph von Wirtemberg, 4 vols. ed. Ernst, Viktor (Stutgart: W. Kohlhammer, 1899–1907), which gives the correspondence 1550–1559.Google Scholar

64 Schmid, , p. 29.Google Scholar

65 Schmid, , p. 36.Google Scholar

66 The history of religious instruction in sixteenth-century Brandenburg is given in Reu, , Quellen, Vol. 4 (1927), pp. 109–204, with generous excerpts from the visitation reports throughout and a detailed bibliography on. 109; the sources (texts) are mostly in Vol. 8 (1916), pp. 76–237. The Brandenburg church-orders are in Sehling, , Vol. 3, and in Richter, , Vols. I and II. Valuable has been the history of cities and towns, Deutsches Städtebuch. Handbuch städtischer Geschichte, Vol. I: Nordostdeutschland, ed. Keyser, Erich (Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, W., 1939). Using this combination of materials presents us with one discrepancy: Keyser's histories of Brandenburg cities sometimes omit the sixteenth century on the one hand, and several cities are left out (Arendsee, Gardelegen, Osterburg, Salzwedel, both Altstadt and Neustadt, Seehausen, Stendal, Tangermünde, and Werben), on the other hand. Nevertheless although 52 localities must be disregarded here, either because they did not exist in the sixteenth century or because Keyser fails to supply adequate information, definite trends are unmistakable. When Keyser prepared his directory in 1939, the territory of Brandenburg numbered 145 cities; of these, 93 existed as cities, towns, or villages in the Reformation era; thus a judgment can be formed regarding the sixteenth-century school-history of these places. The 9 cities mentioned above which Keyser did not include because of subsequent boundary changes should be added. This yields 102 localities, which likely represents the more advanced of a total of 154 cities of that time.Google Scholar

67 See Reu, Johann Michael, “Der kirchliche Unterricht am Vorabend der Reformation,” Kirchliche Zeitschrift [Chicago], Vol. XXXIV (1910), pp. 403–414, 450–458, 507–524. See also my article, “The Bible in Sixteenth-Century Humanist Education,” Studies in the Renaissance, Vol. XIX (1972), especially pp. 113ff.Google Scholar

68 There are several archives and libraries in Stuttgart which should be searched for their materials pertaining to school-attendance in sixteenth-century Württemberg, including statistics on girls. One finds comprehensive parish-records for Old-Württemberg in the Landeskirchliches-Archiv, including the Kompetenzbücher which list the sources of income for the schools and their teachers, and the Synodus-Protokolle, the records of the visitations in each town and parish. These materials have been microfilmed and may be purchased for a reasonable price.Google Scholar

69 There is little recent material on Duke Ernest I, but see the following article which I published in the anniversary year of 1975. “Duke Ernest the Pious of Saxe-Gotha and his Relationship to Pietism,” in Der Pietismus in Gestalten und Wirkungen. Martin Schmidt zum 65. Geburtstag, ed. Bornkamm, Heinrich. “Arbeiten zur Geschichte des Pietismus,” No. 14 (Bielefeld: Luther-Verlag, 1975), pp. 179–191. “Duke Ernest I of Saxe-Gotha: An Assessment on the 300th Anniversary of His Death,” The Lutheran Quarterly, Vol. XXVII (1975), pp. 44–58. “Duke Ernest I of Saxe-Gotha: A Seventeenth-Century Prince of Luther's ‘Christian Nobility’,” The Cresset, Vol. XX–XVIII, No. 5 (March 1975), pp. 22–27, with portrait.Google Scholar