$-Brock, Gottfried-Die ev. luth. Kirche Palatine, Neuberg 117-191 (EN, blog).docx

Pages 117-191, Gottlieb W. H. Brock, Die evangelisch-lutherische Kirche der ehemaligen Pfalzgrafschaft Neuburg, 1847, 238;DE text her; modified machine translation

Page 117

Fourth section.

Destruction of the Evangelical Church in Palatinate-Neuburg by Wolfgang Wilhelm.

As mentioned, Count Palatine Philipp Ludwig of Neuburg was married to Anna, *) Duchess of Jülich, Cleve and Berg, from which marriage four sons and three Löchter arose. The sons were: Wolfgang Wilhelm, born on October 29th, 1578, Otto Heinrich, born on October 28th, 1580 and died on December 12th. 1598, August, born October 2, 1582, to whom the Sulzbach principality later fell and who died in Windsheim on August 14, 1632 as a loyal supporter of the Protestant Church and Gustav Adolph of Sweden, and finally Johann Friedrich, born 23 Aug. 1587, died Dec. 19 1644. As a result of this marriage, Palatinate-Neuburg was able to claim

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*) She died on 6/16. October 1632 in Höchstädt, where her husband had the castle there completely rebuilt for her widow's sake, and is buried in the princely crypt in Lauingen — a pious, charitable princess who lived in the most cordial harmony with her husband.

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the rich estate of Duke Johann Wilhelm von Jülich, Cleve and Berg, Count of the Mark and Lord of Ravensberg, who died childless on March 25, 1609, as Countess Palatine Anna was Johann Wilhelm's second sister. But there were also other competent people, initially in Churbrandenburg, because the eldest sister of Johann Wilhelm and Anna, Maria Eleonora, had been married to Duke Albrecht Friedrich of Prussia and had left a daughter who became the wife of Elector Johann Sigismund of Brandenburg was. Therefore, the latter claimed to have the closest right to succession, to which Palatinate-Neuburg objected: the Duchess of Prussia was before the Jülich family was extinguished. She died in a male line and only left one daughter, while Anna von Neuburg had a living heiress and had a son. The two Saxon lines, the Albertine and Ernestine, still made claims based on older contracts from the years 1483 and 1526. Two younger sisters of the late Duke were not taken into account because imperial regulations had established the indivisibility of the Jülich lands. But what was most feared of all these hereditary pretenders was the emperor, who was very reluctant to see an increase in the power of Evangelical princes in the interests of the Roman Catholics and showed the greatest desire to keep the settled imperial fiefs himself. The emperor's first steps were at least of such a kind that they did not lead one to expect anything different, for he issued a summons to the hereditary pretenders and wanted to have the ownerless lands sequestered by an imperial commission until the outcome of the complicated dispute. Only Palatinate-Neuburg and Brandenburg quickly united in the Treaty of Dortmund (May 31, 1609) and jointly took possession of the disputed inheritance. *)

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*) To take possession, the Neuburg estates gave an advance of 200,000 fl., in the following year (1610) again 150,000 fl., in 1611 again 50,000 fl., in 1613 again 100,000 fl. and 18,000 fl. annually for 6 years. These Jülich deals cost so much for the Principality of Neuburg that it almost succumbed to the burden of these achievements, but they were happy to do anything for the prince, who brought about such great misfortune on his subjects.

The Emperor rejected the treaty at Dortmund and tried to enforce the sequestration he had ordered by force of arms; Archduke Leopold, Bishop of Passau and Strasbourg, therefore invaded Jülich with an army, took away the capital and gathered troops in Alsace. But now the Union, which Brandenburg had joined, also moved in alliance with Henry IV of France, scattered the Austrian army in Alsace, recaptured Jülich with French and Dutch auxiliary troops (September 1, 1610) and thus made the imperial sequestration an end. The contending parties no longer wanted to risk war, which could easily become a general one, but decided to resolve the dispute peacefully if possible.

Now that Palatinate-Neuburg and Chur-Brandenburg had secured their inheritance to some extent, their mutual interests had to be balanced. How could this happen better, at least in Neuburg it was thought, than if Wolfgang Wilhelm, the Palatinate heir, married the daughter of Elector Johann Sigismund, Anna Sophia of Brandenburg, and gave the Brandenburg claims to Jülich, Cleve and Berg as the bride's dowry received? In fact, Johann Sigismund was not entirely opposed to this plan and initially promised the young Count Palatine the lifelong administration of the Brandenburg share and special favor in the division of the country, but he did not want to agree to the complete transfer of the Jülich inheritance. This gave rise to friction and when the young, bold, presumptuous Count Palatine once again came forward with his demands at the table in Düsseldorf, when the heads were high with wine,

the irritable Elector gave his future son-in-law in the heat of the moment Annoyances a slap in the face - probably the most consequential in world history. (Spring 1613.) *) Wolfgang Wilhelm, then 34 years old, proud, fierce, and energetic, felt mortally insulted by such treatment. The Brandenburg marriage was of course immediately abandoned and another earlier plan was found. The always tense relations with Brandenburg, the powerful co-heir to the duchies on the Lower Rhine, the need for support against his competitor, which he could not find within the Union, and the consideration of how great use it would be if he succeeded To draw a powerful house into his interest, all of this may have given Wolfgang Wilhelm a reason to turn his attention to Munich earlier. Maximilian of Bavaria, an active prince, powerful through his domestic power and, as head of the league, on good terms with the emperor, was able to get him support from both the emperor and the neighboring Catholic princes, as well as the Spanish Netherlands, which was so close to the contested duchies the favor of the Catholic residents of

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*) The now and then doubted fact of the fateful slap in the face that the royal author of the Memoires pour servir à l'histoire de la maison de Brandenbourg Tom I. 43. 44 . certainly not just from Pufendorf (de rebus gestis Frid. Wilhelmi lib. IV. § 16 , where it says: orto acri jurgio, quidam asperiora vulgavere ) when he placed it chronologically incorrectly before the Treaty of Jüterbocker, the landgrave's correspondence confirms (Moriß von Hessen-Kassel) with Joh. Sigismund, in which one recognizes his ever-increasing bitterness over the presumptions of the Neuburger." History of the Hesse by Christoph von Rommel, Kassel 1839, VII. Volume pag. 324 and 325.

Jülich, Cleve and Berg turned to him. Already at the state parliament in 1611, the Neuburg estates were informed that a marriage of the hereditary prince was in the works. Only one thing stood in the way of a Bavarian marriage: the religious differences, which must have caused great offense to the strictly Lutheran father, in his own country and to the other Protestant states. However, this concern did not seem so important in Wolfgang Wilhelm's eyes and perhaps it could be eliminated by attracting Magdalena of Bavaria, whom the hereditary prince wanted as his wife, to the Evangelical Church. At least, in the young Count Palatine's eyes, some ecclesiastical inconveniences could not outweigh the great political advantages of such a marriage. The attempt to get closer to Bavaria seemed worth the effort and so in the spring of 1612 Wolfgang Wilhelm went to the Munich court, with which his father Philipp Ludwig was always on tolerable terms. Religion also came up there. At the time, Wolfgang Wilhelm was still far from thinking about changing his denomination, but on the contrary, he considered himself too well armed against the dialectic of the Jesuits to believe that he had to evade their attacks; But no matter how clever he was in worldly matters, his religious education was still deficient (ha studiato mediocremente [he studied mediocrely], Maximilian wrote about him to the Pope) “despite a smooth exterior, he lacked inner life and defied all his bold appearance By nature it was easy to steer as soon as you turned the right side." *) Shaken by the Jesuits and wavering in his religious convictions, he returned from Munich, which could have been all the easier for him since politics was of such decisive importance in his

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*) Häusser's history of the Rhenish Palatinate. 11. 277.

mind. The old father, who had no idea of this, must have been shown the advantages of a connection with Bavaria to be very great and his religious reservations must have been carefully removed, because he was not opposed to the plan; But people still thought of a Brandenburg marriage.

The slap he received and the resulting complete break with the Brandenburg Electoral house suddenly brought the still wavering Wolfgang Wilhelm to a decision. He left Düsseldorf and went to Munich to throw himself entirely into the arms of Maximilian. The latter's support and the hand of his sister Magdalena could only be obtained on the condition of a conversion to the Roman Church; The young Count Palatine also had to commit to publicly confessing his conversion, which had only taken place in the deepest secrecy for the time being, when the opportune moment came. Everything had been quietly prepared by the Jesuits for this step, which tore him forever away from the hearts of his parents and had the most decisive consequences for his country, and so it actually took place on July 19, 1613. Philipp Ludwig, the faithful, an old father, didn't know the least about it and innocently negotiated the marriage to Magdalena in September 1613, whereby he set some seemingly necessary conditions in favor of the unaffected religious status of his country, which were gladly approved. Wolfgang Wilhelm's marriage to Magdalena was carried out with great splendor on November 11, 1613 in Munich by the Bishop of Eichstädt.

On November 16th, the new couple moved into Neuburg, warmly welcomed by the old Count Palatine. The young, very learned and, in her own way, very pious daughter-in-law received a bar in the residence for her church service, which the Bishop of Eichstädt inaugurated and some

Catholics in the city were allowed to take part in the mass. Two Jesuits, Anton Welser and Jakob Reihing, both patrician sons of Augsburg, came with them from Munich, and we will get to know the latter in particular in more detail. On Christmas Day 1613, mass was held in Magdalena's room, with Wolfgang Wilhelm secretly ministering and communing. *) But the young couple's stay in Neuburg was too short and the secret was too well kept for Philipp Ludwig to become suspicious. Already at the end of 1613, Wolfgang Wilhelm moved with his wife to Düsseldorf, where he was received joyfully by the Catholics and very coolly by the Prince Elector of Brandenburg. Frictions soon arose here again, which could not be avoided under such circumstances and with such characters; the Catholic party, whose courage was boosted by the presence of the Neuburger, came forward more and more boldly and one of its preachers took the liberty of attacking the Evangelical church on Holy Friday 1614. Now the Jülich estates became concerned about their religious freedom and Brandenburg fueled the dispute, so that Wolfgang Wilhelm summoned 4,000 soldiers from Cologne and Jülich, but the Elector Prince of Brandenburg moved his residence to Cleve and an open military break was threatened. Then the moment had come when Wolfgang Wilhelm, in order to have the decisive support of the entire Catholic party, felt he could throw off his mask and no longer keep the secret of his conversion, even if it meant breaking his father's heart.

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*) On the same day (December 25, 1613), Elector Johann Sigismund of Brandenburg converted to the Reformed denomination in the castle church in Berlin in order to secure the support of the Reformed Dutch in the Jülich affair and so these inheritance negotiations caused two conversions, which caused no small amount of confusion in the religious situation in Germany.

On the Feast of the Trinity (May 23rd) 1614, he and his wife marched in a solemn procession to the parish and collegiate church of Our Lady in Düsseldorf, at the entrance of which the auxiliary bishop Theodor Riphän of Cologne received him in episcopal regalia with the entire clergy. The Te Deum laudamus was sung, the dean of the monastery, Wilhelm Bond, gave a sermon in which he stated the reasons that were said to have persuaded the Count Palatine to accept the Roman Catholic religion. This was followed by high mass, during which Wolfgang Wilhelm and his wife celebrated the Lord's Supper received under one form. In the afternoon at vespers he received confirmation and the Jesuit Jakob Reihing preached about the characteristics of the true church. On the following feast day, Wolfgang Wilhelm appeared at the procession with his head uncovered and holding a burning candle in his hand. The papal nuncio came to Düsseldorf with some Capuchins, gave the proselyte the papal blessing and urged him to persevere. What had happened became to the world; proclaimed and proclaimed in the book: “Copy of a missive, in which briefly and faithfully understood how and from what motives etc. Wolfgang Wilhelm etc. from the Augsburg Confession to the old Catholic churches and remained steadfast with them, departed from Düsseldorf on June 18, 1614. Permissu Superiorum. Cologne 1614." No fewer than 27 reasons are given, which form an entire polemical system, as was usual at that time, but the main motive, the interest of the state and the slap in the face, is of course avoided with deep silence. [So as to not reduce the spiritual significance] The Catechism of [Peter] Canisius was emphasized, which the Count Palatine was said to have studied for eight months. At the same time, Reihing's writing appeared [cp. Walther, DL01 p. 60 who said Reihing was “actually persuading the formerly Lutheran Count Palatine Wolfgang Wilhelm to convert to the Roman Church in 1614”]: Muri civitatis sanctae, he fundamenta XII. religionis catholicae, quibus insistens. Princeps Neoburgicus, Lutheranismo abdicato, in ecclesiam

pedem intulit. Coloniae 1614. 4 . This writing was translated [into German] by the Jesuit Conrad Vetter (the Evangelicals called him a "mocker"), who must have been happy to be able to avenge his defeat in Regensburg. His translation is entitled: "Muri civitatis sanctae, i.e. the Catholic Religion’s 12 foundations through which the Most Serene Prince and Lord Wolfgang Wilhelm moves, after careful and wise consideration, from the Augsburg Confession to the ancient, stable, united, holy, Catholic and apostolic Church, written by her Princely Highness himself in short words (?). Ingolstadt 1615. 4. One can imagine that there was no lack of Protestant responses. T. Lotter illuminated a copy of a missive: Necessary report concerning the motives for which Wolfgang Wilhelm, Grave of the Palatinate, went to the Roman Church, Tübingen 1615. 4., and against Reihing's Muri civitatis sanctae, Balthasar Meisner, professor at Wittenberg, wrote his: Muri Babylonis romanae . When Reihing replied with a book entitled: Excubiae angelicae civitatis sanctae, (“Angel Guard Around the Holy City”) (Dillingen 1617), Meisner once again served him thoroughly in the counter-writing: Excubiarum papisticarum expulsio, (“Expulsion of the Papist Guard”). We will see later that this exchange of correspondence with Reihing was at least not fruitless.

Until the public declaration of the conversion, Philipp Ludwig had no idea. He relied on what he believed to be the thorough instruction he had given to all of his children, on the God-fearing education they had received from him, on the love and gratitude of his firstborn, and as open as he himself was, he expected from him who was closest to him of all men, no falsehood. Dark rumors, which were soon confirmed by Wolf. The steps that followed Wilhelm himself after his public defection to

Düsseldorf finally shocked the old man out of his carelessness. The good old father was deeply shaken and now tried, partly through urgent paternal admonitions, to dissuade his firstborn from the path he had taken (admonitions which Wolfgang Wilhelm replied by suggesting that his parents convert to the Roman Church). for which purpose he did not hesitate to send them the catechism of Canisius!) partly, when this was in vain, to avert the consequences of the conversion of his son and successor threatening the evangelical religious status of his country. The first thing he did was to order a general prayer for God's blessing on the threatened church throughout the country. This happened in the following letter from Neuburg on June 11, 1614: “Our greetings, faithful 20. Accordingly, we have everyone and everyone ordered to superintendent of our principality, because of the imminent need and worrying terrible seduction and religious change, not just for themselves in their entrusted parish churches every Monday at noon at twelve o'clock not only to organize a special meeting of the parish children and prayer hours and to hold them with appropriate ceremonies, but also to order such a thing to happen with their subordinate pastors. As if it is our most gracious command that you and your people, citizens and entire communities, not only set good examples, do not deter them from attending such prayer hours, but rather, alongside their wives, children and servants, do as much as possible to join in and You should warmly call on the Almighty to avert such punishment and ask for help, stop and warn. If we do not want to behave with you, we will be prepared to report on your performance, and will also be inclined to give you grace." We give the exhortation to prayer and the prayer itself in an appendix. The old Count Palatine attended these prayer hours

without sitting, and when he did not Since he could no longer go to church, he allowed himself to be carried inside.

Philipp Ludwig had already made his will in 1592, a codicil was added in 1605, a declaration slip in 1607, and a treaty in 1608, which determined how his body and burial would be handled after the prince's death, as well as the government until the will was opened As one should notify all loyal, dear subjects, regardless of dignity, status or nature, the fair, rich and poor, young and old, JFG blessed farewell and constancy in the pure teaching of God's Word, they should be consistent in their consistency and diligently pray for a new one The Count Palatine was always with him, even on walks. Now it was made into his will that Wolfgang Wilhelm should be disinherited if he made even the slightest change to the Evangelical regional church; The Duke of Württemberg and the Margrave of Durlach were appointed as will executors and Wolfgang Wilhelm himself was supposed to recognize and confirm the amended paternal will with his signature. But he wisely hesitated and thus avoided signing, although on June 24, 1614 in Düsseldorf he issued reversals that he wanted to let everyone follow their religion.

A third measure by Philip Ludwig was to be taken to avert the impending disaster in the country: the old Count Palatine wanted to call together his estates, on whose love of the Gospel he could firmly rely, with whom he had only joined forces in 1607 To assert, shield and protect the Augsburg Confession at all times and under all circumstances

The estates had already been summoned on August 28, 1614, in order, in conjunction with the ruling prince, to build an insurmountable and inconquerable bulwark around the Evangelical church of the country, when - wonderful find God's ways! - an event occurred which suddenly paralyzed every defense and left the Evangelical Church of Neuburg defenseless to the Jesuits and their patron: the death of the old, pious Count Palatine Philipp Ludwig.

Philipp Ludwig's still pretty strong strength was broken after the event in Düsseldorf, which had hit him like a thunderbolt. In the last six weeks he had to be carried across the “horned” hall in the castle, as if to sermons and general prayers. He had no actual illness, although he took medicine, and on the morning of his death he was still carrying out his usual government business, so the doctors saw no danger. It was not until Friday, August 12, 1614 that more serious symptoms appeared, which is why the court preacher Dr. Jakob Heilbrunner was called. He found the Count Palatine sitting in the armchair, dressed as usual, after his lesson in the sacred. Scripture had accomplished (the 12th and 13th chapters of Matthew). Heilbrunner strengthened him with sayings from Heil. Scripture, which deals with the joyful death of the Christian, and the Count Palatine said that he wanted to receive Holy Communion. But because the prince's wife and sons attended Holy Mass with the court servants. If we wanted to take part in the celebration as usual, and the Count Palatine did not feel particularly ill, the celebration of the Lord's Supper was postponed until the next Sunday. The food was served and Philipp. Ludwig ate and drank something; suddenly in the presence of his wife, two doctors, the chamberlain and Dr. Heilbrunner, as well as the quickly summoned son August and several of the nobles,

the Duke fell asleep sitting in the armchair and, under the prayers of those present, passed away gently and quietly, 66 years, 10 months and 10 days old, in his 46th year Government. One of his last words, addressed to Heilbrunner, was: "I feel well, but you feel bad!" This expressed both his hope and his deep concern, which still occupied him in the last moments.

Philipp Ludwig was an honest man of the old, good times, who owed the characteristic character of his being and life entirely to the Bible. The first and last thing he did in every situation was the lesson of salvation. Writing from which no journey or business deterred him; Previously, until this beginning of his day's work was completed, he gave no audience, but he liked to have valets and noble boys at his devotions. In this way he read through the Bible every year and became completely at home in it. "Oh! How did he love the law and word of God above all gold and silver!" Heilbrunner exclaims in his funeral oration. He diligently attended all sermons on Sundays and weekdays, as well as vespers, sitting aside from all other business, and also read Luther's house postille on Sundays, celebrated Holy Communion three times a year after careful preparation and also encouraged his court servants to attend church services. Anyone who was not in the sermon was not allowed to eat. His symbol was: Christus meum asylum. All of that was not an empty form, but a sincere fear of God, which was demonstrated in a wealth of deeds. In government affairs, Philip Ludwig showed extraordinary diligence and strict impartiality; everything that came up every day in all offices had to be presented to him; he usually read it himself and made decisions it; he wrote an extraordinary amount with his own hand and made sure that his subjects were not unfairly oppressed by the officials. He took a keen interest in imperial affairs,

was personally at the Reichstag, which was held in 1575 and 1576, then in 1594 and 1613 in Regensburg, and in 1582 in Augsburg, visited the Chamber Court in Speier in his own person in 1586, and received many commissions commissioned by the emperor in important matters, he himself was asked to do so by many parties and was held in high esteem throughout the empire. For his part, at a time when the "drinking devil" reigned everywhere, he was extremely moderate in food and drink, averse to the splendor of clothing (cer, even at large celebrations, only appeared in ordinary black clothing without jewelry), an enemy of shameful words, but hospitable on the other hand , charitable towards the poor, (he particularly liked to support the widows and orphans of church and school servants, for whom he provided pensions in money and grain, and those who were expelled because of religion) a friend of the scholars, whom he liked to have around him, a loving one Spouse and loyal father and educator of his children, a special benefactor of the Lauingen high school and the school system. The prosperity of the said high school gave him some joy and here he usually maintained over 50 scholarship holders, at the universities over 10, which he nevertheless received when there was who served to spread the word of God, had him moved out of the country, for example to Hungary. His thrift, which was, however, far from austere, and the order introduced everywhere enabled him to pay off the debts that were still from the Bavarian war and had to pay off the heavy burdens on the countryside from his father's French campaign and to redeem the displaced lordships (the rear county of Sponheim, Weiden and Parkstein, the Luppurg district, the Heydeck lordship, Hilpoltstein and Allersberg), so that he, - there too the landscape that the empire of Ehrenfenfels had bought for him as a wedding present, the office of Velburg fell through the death of the last Lord von Wiesbeck and the offices that had been assigned to his brothers Ottheinrich

and Friedrich were in turn united with his territory, - that Principality expanded and left in a much better condition than when he had taken it over. In all this, he did not pressure his subjects with contributions and always waived the tax on them in the 7th year, until finally the Jülich inheritance matter forced him to make more use of his country's assets; But the subjects were also prepared to support their dear father to the best of their ability.

The unexpected passing of this prince, who remained in perpetual honor, left his subjects in the deepest consternation and sadness, because they were now completely exposed to all attacks that wanted to take away their most precious treasure, their purified faith. It was a sad situation because Dr. Jakob Heilbrunner, the court preacher, gave the first funeral sermon about 2nd King to the blessed prince on September 19th in Neuburg. 2, 11 and 12 and at Lauingen when the body was buried in the princely tomb on September 22nd he gave the other funeral sermon on 2 Chronicles 35, 24 and 25. Then the preacher lamented: “Of course he was the father of all of us and the entire country, pater patriae, also chariot and rider, protector, patron, shot and umbrella. He cared for us and the entire country in a fatherly manner, promoted the highest level of industry in the temporal and eternal world, and he was as good to us as many thousands of chariots and riders; for his sake our Lord God blessed the whole land in many ways; Under his Christian, princely, peaceful and highly praiseworthy government we have had our food, protection and protection, like the birds of the sky under the branches and shade of a beautiful, green tree 2c." But unfortunately it has the appearance as if we are with "To bring all happiness and salvation away from the princely corpse from this princely house and especially from this princely court church." The words

of the speaker were accompanied by thousands of tears and sighs from the listeners.

Although after Philipp Ludwig's Lode a state parliament could no longer be held to protect religious freedom, a select committee of the state estates met to discuss the path to be taken. There was no doubt that the law was entirely on the side of the subjects and the estates when they demanded the maintenance of the Evangelical faith; the sovereignty of the Principality of Neuburg from 1554, the Land Grundgesseß, confirmed and documented by all princes so far, the handover of the Principality to Wolfgang precisely to uphold the Evangelical doctrine, Wolfgang and Philipp Ludwig's wills, the sacrifices of the subjects in order to preserve the country for his princely house to receive the only prize of the gospel, they could claim all this for themselves. But there was also no doubt that Wolfgang Wilhelm, who had brought his father's gray head into the pit with heartache, would not pay attention to anything of the kind, and this all the less since he was certain of the support of Maximilian of Bavaria and Ferdinand of Austria and was constantly harassed by his Jesuits. So while deputations went back and forth to the widow of the Count Palatine, the executors of the will, and to the new prince, who evaded a definite answer, the most anxious fear of what was to come rested on everyone's minds, and many subjects bound one another with oaths that " “Pastacy” should never ever be accepted and that wealth and blood should be attached to it.

Wolfgang Wilhelm, who could not have been unaware of this mood, found himself moved to offer reassuring words. According to this, it appears to us, and we ourselves have experienced in part, that a good part of you are perplexed not only because of our Christian conversion and recent public confession and abandonment of the old

Roman faith and churches, but also by the adverse people The careful thoughts have been awakened in some of you as if, for the sake of one thing or another and conscious differences in faith, we are not protecting and handling you in your traditional church exercises and sermons, according to the recommendations, but rather against your conscience would complain and force and urge people to adopt a different faith. Because a major change could easily arise, weakening the most submissive loyalty, respect and obedience that you have previously felt towards us, especially in this dangerous situation, but this would be very unpleasant for us; So we wanted to assure you of this through this open patent and at the same time that, as before (as no other can be attributed to us so far), we will hold the reserves with faithful earnestness and zeal and those who violate them, ourselves To the utmost of our ability, we will help to put an end to what has been done against it so far, so much to us, and in all our actions, with divine assistance, we will take care of our honor, the fatherland's prosperity and the beloved Justice without respect for religious differences ; On the other hand, we provide you with the power of reserves and inherited submissive love and devotion, due respect, obedience and support, to the extent that those who want to evade this, are entitled to the benefits and privileges that come to them from their antecessors, or she acquired through noticed reserves not to enjoy; If we want to add information to each and every one of them, we will remain with them at all times with royal grace and all good things." *)

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*) Struven's detailed report on the Palatinate church history. Frankfurt 1721. P. 545.

Wolfgang Wilhelm's presence was necessary at the

Lower Rhine because war had broken out there and the Spaniards besieged and conquered Wesel for Palatinate-Neuburg. So the ancestral land was to be kept in peace for the time being by deceptive words until the prince himself could appear in person and intervene otherwise. For a while, everything in Neuburg continued as usual, and even the prayer hours that Philipp Ludwig had ordered were continued. But when the Treaty of Xanten (November 12, 1614) gave the Count Palatine a freer hand in the Rhineland and he entered Neuburg with 60 horses on February 21, 1615, one should soon see what his promises meant . The first thing that happened was that the court chapel in the castle built by Ottheinrich was withdrawn from Evangelical worship and given over to Roman worship. The evening before the court preacher Dr. With the delivery of the Bible and church regulations, Jakob Heilbrunner was told that he no longer had to preach here. The widowed Countess Palatine, who wanted to introduce her son beforehand, was asked to wait until after the first Catholic service held in the chapel and until after the seizure of possession had been completed. When the mother then referred to Philip Ludwig's will, which had not yet been opened, she received the answer: the will had not been recognized by the current regent; In any case, one must obey God more than people; The future widow was assigned to her mother in Höchstädt and she could retire there with her clergyman. The chapel was ceremoniously inaugurated by the auxiliary bishop of Augsburg on the Sunday after Ascension Day. On Holy Friday the spectacle of salvation was already here. grave could be seen.

Wolfgang Wilhelm had hardly made the first test of his Catholic zeal in Neuburg when an emissary from the three bishops: Christoph von Eichstädt, Heinrich

von Augsburg and Albrecht von Regensburg, the Eichstädt Vice Chancellor Bartholomäus Richel, came to reconfirm whether the Count Palatine might be willing to go even further and suppress the entire Evangelical regional church and, if that were the case, to agree on the details with him. He had with him a letter from the three bishops in which they explained how their jurisdiction in the Principality of Neuburg had been interrupted by the Reformation under Ottheinrich, but now that Wolfgang Wilhelm had returned to the church that provides sole salvation, they had difficulty doing so Pastoral care office was reminded again and felt obliged to use all means and means to pull the poor, seduced sheep out of their error. But they only wanted to do this with the consent of the Duke and did not want to cause him any incommodities through reformatio religionis and not make his difficult responsibilities even more difficult. One should therefore carry out the implantation of the true Catholic religion in peace and unity. attempt. At the end, the three bishops promised the duke secular assistance and all support in the event of an emergency. — Richel came to Neuburg on Palm Sunday 1615 under the pretext that he had relics to bring to the young Countess Palatine. The Jesuit Welser, now the Duke's confessor, had already received the necessary instructions from Dillingen and immediately gave the episcopal envoy an audience in the castle the day after his arrival. Nichel was brought to the prince in the deepest secrecy so that no one would become suspicious and especially the duke's brothers would not notice anything. Wolfgang Wilhelm received the envoy very kindly and said: After his conversion he had carefully considered the means by which he would bring his subjects to a uniform confession of the Catholic faith, for which he had already received the discourse and opinions of many highly intelligent men.

But there are serious obstacles, which is why he also seeks advice from the bishops. Richel already had this advice at hand. It consisted of the following: The quickest way to accomplish the difficult work would be to do it as soon as possible through general mandates. But because one could easily imagine that a lot of inconveniences and dangers could arise from this, both in Neuburg and in Jülich, and because Wolfgang Wilhelm perhaps does not yet have the means to avert such information commodities, the matter must begin somewhat lightly and the Catholic one Religion should be introduced little by little, as follows: 1) the duke should indicate to his estates and subjects that from now on they would be free to adopt the Roman Catholic religion; Those who have the opportunity to do so should not only have to expect no hindrance, but also every promotion. The princely officials and landowners should therefore be ordered not to prevent their subjects from attending Catholic services and not to put anything in the way of the Catholic priests when they are teaching and catechizing people everywhere. 2) The officials who would be a little too zealous in the Lutheran doctrine and its preservation should be completely removed and replaced, if not with Catholic, whichever is best, with modest people. 3) The preachers should be ordered, under severe punishment, to completely abstain from defiling and insulting the Catholic religion in public sermons and in private conversations and not to incite their subjects to some stubbornness and defiance against their sovereign, but rather because they They wanted to defend and defend their ill-conceived religious opinion, so that they could do so with modesty and without insulting or contempt for the Catholic religion. 4) The Duke should allow the Catholic rural residents and those who have their own court and authority or parishes

to abolish the predicates with the opportunity and to fill the parishes with Catholic priests. 5) So that the subjects would become more familiar with the Catholic church customs and ceremonies from day to day and be better prepared for the old Roman faith, the Duke should allow the cloisters and processions of the neighboring Catholics to be held through the Neuburg area, which they have so far been part of violence would have been prevented. 6) The introduction of the Gregorian calendar is all the more recommended since Wilhelm's father, Wolfsgang, himself advised Protestants to do so at the Imperial Diet in Regensburg in 1608.

Richel has now been released and was only able to receive his resolution on Wednesday. He ran this through Father Welser and Dr. Bernhard Moßmüller, Bavarian councilor and envoy, who stayed at the court of the young Count Palatine. Meanwhile, there was a second Eichstadt emissary, Dr. Roth, came to Neuburg, apparently in transit and pretending to have other business. When submitting the resolution, the Duke said: 1) he intended to leave the hours from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. to the Lutherans to practice their religion, but the rest of the time to the Catholics without naming an hour and to encourage all his subjects, even if they are not Catholic, to attend Catholic services; 2) because it was to be feared that the estates and subjects would find it difficult to submit to the ordinary spiritual (Catholic) power and its judicial compulsion, and because it was to be expected that they would want to remain with their Lutheran consistory, so Neuburger should Consistory can be temporarily left or changed. The duke therefore asked whether the bishops would like to find representatives who would lead the directorate in the Neuburg consistory; They would then have to ensure that

Nothing was done contrary to the Catholic religion and canon law. The worldly hand should give them all due assistance. If the Catholic and Lutheran consistory councils were divided, a decision should be made in accordance with equity and the Catholic religion. Furthermore, this special regulation should only be a provisional and not a just one and should only be maintained in order to achieve greater happiness until the erring subjects have taken the right path of the Catholic religion and a better approach and affection for the same spiritual shepherds and leaders and would draw obedience. 3) Because Wolfgang Wilhelm has so far been unable to reach an agreement with his brothers, the Counts Palatine August and Johann Friedrich, because of his father's will, after a long, laborious negotiation, simply because the brothers did not support the introduction of the Catholic religion and its exercises ́ wanted to allow and because it is to be feared that the two Counts Palatine mentioned or their advisors and will executors at the imperial court would want the confirmation of the father's will, or perhaps even become the property of the Neuburgische in force of the penal substitution incorporated into the will If you see the country, the three bishops at the imperial court should pursue their common interest and ask the emperor not to decide anything on the contrary, to the detriment of the Catholic religion and without Count Palatine Wolfgang Wilhelm. 4) Because one must ensure that in carrying out the planned Reformation, it will be attacked as carefully and lightly as possible, not only the subjects and estates, but also and above all the brothers of the Palatine and their followers, would cause all kinds of hindrance and rebelliousness, So that this godly work would not have the desired effect, the duke asked the bishops

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not only to show him neighborly success even in the most extreme case of need, but also to negotiate for help from other Catholic estates . 5) The deepest secret should be kept in these negotiations.

Richel was sent with these resolutions on the evening of April 15th and received a letter from Wolfgang Wilhelm of the same date to the three bishops, in which the Duke explained why he had to proceed cautiously rather than hastily in introducing the Catholic religion. He pointed to powerful Protestant neighbors, to his own subjects, to the Jülich Succession, which had not yet been discussed, to the community with Brandenburg in Jülich, to his own brothers, to the penal substitution in his father's will, which would occur when innovations were made would be introduced contrary to the regional church or other regulations. Even the danger of an uprising is mentioned. Furthermore, the Duke not only accepted all of the bishops' suggestions listed above, but also promised to do even more than they had asked for. Out of political respect, the Lutherans should be required to abstain from eating meat on Catholic fast days, and the ringing of bells in the morning, at noon and in the evening should be carried out according to Catholic custom. Wolf Wilhelm remarked that the latter was an excellent means of accustoming people to Catholic customs. The prince did not want to take over dispensations in matrimonial matters, but rather warned his subjects to beware of marriages that were too close and contrary to canon law. In addition to Lutheran sermons, Catholic church services should also be introduced in all cities, but it is still too early to completely abolish the Lutheran church. The Jesuits and other spiritual orders were supposed to carry out missions in the country.

The fear that the reform plans would be prevented by force must have been quite strong, because on April 25th

Wolf Wilhelm expressed the same concern repeatedly in his own letter to the Bishop of Augsburg, at the same time requesting that he be informed as quickly as possible if one were to do so I heard a credible report about recruiting war people.

In a new letter dated June 1, 1615, the three bishops encouraged the Duke to get to work, but approved of the greatest possible caution. They believed that the rural residents should also be commanded not to place any obstacle in the way of the free conversion of their non-direct subjects to the Roman Catholic religion, and that zealous officials and preachers should be threatened with horror. The prince should only say: such mandates are neither against God nor against good morals, but are based on reason and all equity and serve to maintain common calm and peace. The bishops advised that he should first let the emperor entrust him with the principality and regalia, make a final settlement with his brothers and accept homage from the entire country before he came forward with his plans. Then his orders would have more weight and the disobedient could be dealt with more severely. Riots could easily arise, especially if it were commanded that Lutherans attend Catholic services. The bishops particularly considered that if they were less careful, people's feelings towards the state parliament and the prince's demands on the estates could become very badly disposed. What appears to be coercion should therefore rest until after the homage has been paid and the comparison with the brothers has taken place. Since the countryside would probably press hard to secure their faith at the upcoming Diet, the Duke should make a declaration that no one should be forced to adopt the Catholic religion against their will, but those who had a tendency to do so should be shot. It would not be advisable to mention religious matters

in the state parliament; one could easily arouse suspicion. So the Duke just wants to openly declare that the Lutherans can stick to their opinions without being harassed. (Evangelical sermons and worship services are handled wisely.) Before the state parliament and the fraternal differences are over and until we know how the first means of reformation have worked, the introduction of Catholic ceremonies in all cities and towns is not advisable. The prince should only begin by allowing the wealthy imperial and state estates in the country to first introduce mass alongside the Lutheran service in the parish churches in the places where they have their own judicial and patronage rights, and then later to abolish the predicants entirely. The bishops wanted to employ capable Jesuits on the borders of the principality. Incidentally, they repeatedly promised success in the event of an emergency, pointed to Duke Maximilian of Bavaria, the director and colonel of the district, and told the Count Palatine that they had already written to the Emperor and Bishop Klefel. - Nevertheless, it emerges from later negotiations that the bishops did not yet really trust the duke.

After these negotiations, Wolfgang Wilhelm went one step further. The feast of Corpus Christi was approaching and the Duke held the usual procession among Roman Catholics, which was led by the auxiliary bishop of Eichstädt and in which all court servants had to take part. Anyone who appeared with their head uncovered had their hat knocked off according to higher orders. Young men had been brought from neighboring Catholic towns and, dressed in genies, sang the usual songs. The widowed Countess Palatine then withdrew to Höchstädt and Wolf Wilhelm's two brothers, August and Johann Friedrich, went to the parts of the country assigned to them,

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Sulzbach and Hilpoltstein. Only Dr. Jakob Heilbrunner dared to appear and preach publicly against this "nonsense", as he called the Frohn's corpse procession. What was intended for the zealous and determined preachers was first carried out on him, and all the more so because one knew that Roman Catholicism would gain little ground as long as this generally respected, learned and upright man worked in Neuburg. But prudence dictated that Dr. Heilbrunner was chosen, not precisely because of his zeal for the preservation of the Evangelical faith passed away, so another way was found to get to him.

Heilbrunner's great work: "The Uncatholic Papacy", which was written after the Regensburg Disputation at the request of Count Palatine Philipp Ludwig, has already been mentioned. With great erudition it demonstrated the agreement of the Evangelical church doctrine with the faith of the early church and with the pure doctrine of the Church Fathers, then the deviation of the later Roman teaching from early Christianity and was therefore a thorn in the side of the Jesuits. One of them, the rector of the Jesuit college in Munich, Father Jakob Keller, had written a book against it: “The Catholic Papacy ", in which he wanted to prove that the Heilbrunner in 250 was crimina falsi or distortions of the sayings of the church fathers. At the same time he wrote to Heilbrunner, admonishing him to recognize his errors and to turn to the Catholic religion, and in this case promised him that he should not lack honest entertainment of the body and all necessities! Heilbrunner did not fail to answer, refuted the Jesuit, treated him as a Calumniant and made his work known through print. Now Keller appeared with two other Jesuits in Neuburg (June 22 , 1615).

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After his arrival, he accused his opponent of the Count Palatine and asked for a public conversation so that he could disgrace his opponent. Wolfgang Wilhelm happily seized the opportunity to get rid of his inconvenient court preacher, summoned Heilbrunn and a few other preachers and ordered them to accept Keller's challenge immediately that morning. All preparation was intentionally cut off for the Protestants. In fact, the disputation began on the afternoon of June 24, 1615 in a hall of the castle. Present on the Roman Catholic side were: the Count Palatine and his learned wife, as well as the Bavarian councilors and envoys, Baron Lorenz von Wenfin, Dr. Joachim Denich, Professor of Canon Law in Ingolstadt, and Dr. Bernhard Mosmüller; on the Protestant side: the councilors of the Palatine Dr. Johann Zeschlin, then Chancellor, Ludwig Andr. Lämblin, Dr. Georg Silbermann, Dr. Georg Christmann, director of the consistory, and Dr. Alexander Hohenbuch. The two opponents were: Jakob Keller, supported by his brothers Johann Bushidius, Antonius Welser, Walther Mundprot and Jakob Reihing, — and Dr. Jakob Heilbrunner, who was assisted by the court preacher Dr. Joh. Donner, the pastor M. Stephan Wechsler zu Burkheim, M. Johann Münderlein, upper city priest, M. Ludwig Heilbrunner, lower city pastor, M. Gallus Zeämann and M. Johann Agrikola. A large crowd waited in anxious suspense for the meeting and the exit, and the Protestant theologians could not have been unaware of what their opponents intended under the protection of their own prince: to find a pretext for the destruction of the Evangelical regional church; They therefore expected at least some consideration of the religious differences. But how astonished they were when, at the beginning of the disputation, the Chancellor revealed this as the prince's will, that the only question to be dealt with was whether all the statements made by the old church fathers in

Heilbrunner's non-Catholic papacy were correct or not one wanted to hear the fathers pro and con and that everyone else, apart from Keller and Heilbrunner, would be forbidden from speaking because they would be specifically questioned. So the conversation wasn't actually supposed to be about objects of faith, but only about individual historical passages from the church fathers and about the way in which Heilbranner had cited them and how easy it was in a book as thick as Heilbrunner's non-Catholic one. Papacy is, (it contains 765 folio pages) some error in this - possible, which, properly exploited, could be used to a great triumph before the ignorant crowd. The Jesuits had acted with their usual shrewdness. The big, most important questions for every Christian about man's relationship to God and about the path to salvation, about justifying faith, good works etc. - were cleverly avoided and a syllable attack was launched which, even if the Jesuits had achieved the most complete victory in it, would have had no significance for the main issue itself. From the Holy Scripture, the gun and rifle weapon of the Protestants, which was so much feared, could now no longer be used and the discussion, if it did get into a truly religious area, was carried over into a wide and indefinite field, because of what doctrine If it is not one of the most simple basic teachings of Christianity, could not the most diverse and completely contradicting sayings be found in the writings of the church fathers? Dr. Johann Eck had already explained that he could not refute the Augsburg Confession with the Bible, but he could refute it with the Church Fathers. And even in such a poor fight, Heilbrunner's learning and intellectual strength were shied away from, because there is no other way to explain why the latter was forced into a hasty disputation without,

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any preparation. One will remember the Regensburg debriefing in which Conrad Vetter was convicted of his distortions of individual passages from Luther's writings. June 24, 1615 was the revenge of the Jesuits; but how unequal both fights were. There, in Regensburg, general fundamentals had first been discussed, the personal dispute was only a minor matter and only had the purpose of silencing a shouter, the judges were the same on both sides; Here in Neuburg, different personalities were made not just the main issue, but the only object of the dispute; the dispute obviously had the intention of destroying the Lutheran Church and the verdict was undoubtedly ready before the disputation began. Under such circumstances, when the Jesuits' cunning was clearly visible, the Evangelicals lost their desire to fight immediately after the first meeting. Although there was still some action in the Count Palatine's room to continue the conversation, a meeting was also held, but the Evangelicals did not allow themselves to be involved further because they did not want to be the pawn of Jesuit deceit. The opposing party boasted that Heilbrunner had given up the fight under the pretext of a severe headache; as if he hadn't had another and better reason! Soon after the colloquium, two Catholic reports about it appeared, one under the pseudonym of Etherus. Psendelogus, the other from Father Keller himself, to which Heilbrunner countered with his own report. The next consequence of these events was the deposition of the court preacher Jakob Heilbrunner [DL01 p. 60], which was the aim from the beginning. Heilbrunner went to Höchstädt to live with the widowed Countess Palatine and from there to Württemberg, where he first became abbot in Anhausen and then in Bebenhausen. Here he edited the book with his son-in-law Georg Zeämann: Further thorough revelation of the un-Catholic papacy, against Jakob

Keller's patchwork beggar's cloak, which he intuits the Catholic papacy. 1617 and 1621 in 2 parts.

During the summer a school with a Catholic teacher was built in Neuburg and the two Jesuits Welser and Reihing held Christian teachings in the court chapel every Sunday at 1 o'clock in the afternoon, which gradually turned into disputations about the doctrines of confessional distinction, with some of the children the Evangelicals, the other part presented, attacked and defended the Roman Catholic doctrines. You can guess which party always won. The Duke and his wife always honored these rehearsed mirror fights with his presence, gave gifts to the children and paid school fees for the poor.

In the meantime the state parliament had arrived (November 1615), on which everyone's eyes were focused with the greatest excitement. As usual, these were monetary grants, which the Duke needed all the more because the Jülich dispute consumed so large sums. What was expected happened. The state parliament had barely opened after a solemn mass and a sermon by Father Reihing on the burden of a regent and the duties of subjects, when the estates demanded that the Duke should confirm the sovereignty of the Principality of Neuburg, granted by Ottheinrich, and comply with the reserves declare that he does not want to put any obstacle in the way of practicing the Evangelical religion. The duke answered evasively: they had nothing to worry about because of religion, he would fulfill everything exactly that he had promised when he paid homage, namely that no one should be forced to act against their conscience and change their religion; Since, by the way, the question about religion does not belong to the current discussion, they would like to abstract from this and move on to discussing the

subject presented. According to Lipowsky *), the Count Palatine added: since Ottheinrich had been authorized to introduce the Augsburg Confession into his country without fail, he, as his successor, could not and should not be deprived of the sovereign right to allow his subjects to convert to Catholicism again Church, her holy, old, honorable mother. The estates, recognizing that it was not a question of tolerating the Roman Catholic religion, but of the intended suppression of the Evangelical one, were not satisfied with this explanation — what they wanted was a guarantee of public sermons and worship according to the Augsburg Confession, — and therefore decided to refuse the tax approval until the Duke had responded to their request and confirmed their most precious freedom, the freedom of conscience. At the very first session, the requested subsidies were therefore refused. Wolfgang Wilhelm now resorted to other means. He summoned the opponents to his court one by one, entertained them with wine and confectionery and addressed them in the kindest and most patronizing manner.

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*) History of the estates of Palatinate-Neuburg. Munich 1827. 116. By the way, what this historian means to write history can be seen from the following passage in the book cited, p. 114 ff.: Note that many of his subjects, especially on the borders of Bavaria, adhere to the old faith more than the new doctrines were loyal, several were still wavering and at most had a middle ground between Catholicism and Protestantism, probably glossed over here and there by Calvinism, some finally became doubtful and felt their consciences troubled, so he (Wolfgang Wilhelm) believed the best and most reliable remedy He would then himself carry out an act of generous tolerance and written love if he freely gave conscience to his subjects and did not force anyone to adhere to a religion that was positively prescribed for them, contrary to their convictions, and to profess it, even if only externally. “

That was flattering, and very few people dared to meet the prince eye to eye. Only seven remained steadfast, including Ludwig Andreas Lemblin, landscape commissioner and caretaker of Reichertshofen, and the country marshal Lorenz Wallrab von Haugendorf auf-Tagmersheim. As the Duke had first used the arts of condescension and persuasion, so now he needed the power of terror and intimidation. The Land Marshal was stripped of all his offices and dignities. Now the others also acquiesced and the subsidies were granted without the duke having guaranteed the country's Evangelical religious status. — The executors of the will, the Duke of Württemberg and the Margrave of Durlach, who had warned against the introduction of the Catholic religion in the Principality of Neuburg, were rejected with the remark: he, Wolfgang Wilhelm, was not responsible to them for his actions as regent to speak and the request made to him lies outside their sphere of influence and that of his blessed father's will.

Now, after the state parliament was over and the danger that the estates had to fear had been eliminated, the measures agreed with the bishops were put into action. On December 24, 1615 (new style [Gregorian] dating) a general mandate appeared in which Wolfgang Wilhelm informed his subjects that he had taken over the government after his father's death and that it was now his responsibility to ensure good policing and order. He then continues: “Because it is certain that a good part of the clergy, the knighthood, citizens, residents and farmers in our principality and country were still attached to the Roman Catholic religion, or at least had a good inclination towards it, a while ago both from the proper exercise of their profession of faith and from having to keep hidden the zeal they feel

so this and male should be unhindered and should be free not only to freely and publicly confess and profess the Roman Catholic religion , but also with listening to masses and sermons, employing Catholic schools and children's teachings, processions and cloisters, and, as is otherwise usual and customary for Catholics, to wait and pursue their devotion and prayers publicly inside and outside the country, and also to the extent that they do so for foreigners to perform their devotions in and through our principality and country with processions, cruises and pilgrimages and should be left unaffected. At times it also appears to us credible that some are so strongly opposed to the inspiration and effects of the Holy Spirit that they even bind themselves with vows and oaths to one another and promise that one or the other will never again convert to the Catholic Roman religion, or, if this happens, the convert should be considered a mameluk and an unfit man; Hereupon it is our earnest command, will and opinion that, just as such a covenant and obligation is not valid by law and in itself, so also the one who does not comply should not only not rebuke any dishonor or punishment upon himself, but should be subjected to the most severe punishment against the one who would reproach the other for this. At the same time, we also earnestly wish that the above-mentioned our councillors, senior and junior officials, as well as priests, landowners, burgomasters, councillors, fours and commoners do not hinder or interfere with the transportation of processions and pilgrimages, the performance of children's teachings and funerals and the like of the old Catholic Roman religion, much less with the acceptance of our Catholic faith, nor cause them the slightest affliction, insult or ridicule, but leave them unoffended with

words and works, show and prove to them all Christian love, loyalty and friendship, inasmuch as they are to be expected by the Catholics, who are herewith reminded by Ung to avoid our punishment and disgrace, as dear to them all and to each one in particular. At times, however, for the sake of both the service and the common police, it is not possible to avoid all confusion, unless a calendar is used as a constant guideline for the matter (our gracious father also once praised this for the sake of this very point). highly sensibly remembered and tried) so at the same time it is our order and opinion that from then on and from then on this publication of ours is to be expected, only the new calendar is observed, but with the payments it is kept so that whatever payment periods in the old contracts, so set up before this publication, determined that the same ten day should be counted according to the new calendar, but otherwise the future obligations followed the reformed new calendar and both the payments were different, especially the announcement and keeping of the festival and holiday were judged accordingly should be employed. And fifthly, the church custodians, custodians, churchmen and sacristans should hereby be seriously reminded that they should commemorate the holy incarnation, suffering and death of our Lord and saint-maker Jesus Christ every day morning, noon and evening according to the old Christian custom, as instructed to them should happen, ring the bell. And sixthly, let us also kindly warn the Lutheran preachers and other subjects of ours that they will be subject to the hot invectives against their Catholic parishioners, neighbors or even against ourselves, but especially the incomprehensible requirements, if they consider the Roman Catholics evil, both in writings, as well as sermons and conversations, should be contained entirely,

to the extent that we hereby remind the Catholics to have due modesty, then since something contrary to confidence would occur, serious punishment should infallibly be meted out to the transgressor. And although we have so far been dispensed with in marriage matters and legally prohibited marriages, we would like to warn you here and on the seventh that you should proceed with caution and no longer rely on our dispensation, but should completely abstain from such forbidden marriages and thereby the incumbent Avoid punishment. Finally, it is also our opinion and order that in order to prevent annoyance and inequality and so that the fishmongers and fishermen must comply with this on Fridays when bringing in and selling the fish. and Saturday, then on other occasions, since Catholics are commanded to abstain from eating meat and no meat should be eaten at public events or in inns and inns. And let us graciously take care of this and seriously want that in the future this prescribed rule, which no one has the right and reason to complain about, is lived obediently and thereby the respect and obeying that we owe as the authority predetermined by God is paid to us and, as we most graciously wished, This only applies to the obedient, including and especially with sovereigns. Recognize grace, as if those who disobeyed will have to face appropriate punishments for their disobedience."

In February 1616 negotiations took place with the bishops in Neuburg regarding further Reformation and the establishment of a Catholic marriage court and consistory for the principality. The bishops did not like to agree to this marriage court, but Wolf Withelm demanded it as a mandatory condition before the abolition of the Protestant clergy. What could the bishops refuse to a prince like Neuburg? On another occasion

the Count Palatine demanded that the newly appointed Catholic clergy go to Neuburg and receive secular enfeoffment here. As much as the clerical gentlemen "smelled of the Lutheran sour wine of the old Neuburg consistory and gave the impression that the pastors were also dependent on the secular authorities," Dr. Furtenbach, Vicar General of Augsburg, (April 1616) advised. to act in the worst possible way with the irritable Count Palatine. On March 15, the bishops expressed the certain hope that the Reformation would be carried out in peace and quiet, but repeatedly told him that the extreme case would be if he were to use force should be attacked, to support them and other Catholic princes. Wolf Wilhelm needed such assurances because he was anxious about the possible consequences of his actions. In a letter to the three bishops on April 2nd, he expressed lively concerns about the dubious condition of the Holy Empire and because of a sense of vindictiveness, "a number of non-Catholics were turned against us in many places in our principality for the sake of our conversion and planned reformation," and asked to be used for Austrian and Bavarian help.

Assured of this help through armed force, Wolfgang Wilhelm proceeded to carry out his plans ever more openly and ruthlessly. During the spring and summer of 1616, wherever there was only a pretext for it and where none was at hand, Catholic worship was introduced everywhere in the cities and markets, as well as in many villages, initially alongside the Evangelical worship. The Jesuits moved into the country in groups, those from Dillingen went to Gundelfingen, Lauingen, Höchstädt, those from Ingolstadt to Reichertshofen, Monheim 2c., those from Regensburg to Burglengenfeld, Kalmünz, Schwandorf 2c. All subjects were ordered to attend the Catholic church service,

to have their children baptized and taught by the new clergy, to have their marriages officiated by them, and in short to regard the Roman priests as their proper pastors. A time of trouble had now dawned for the Lutheran clergy, whose misery grew from day to day.*) On the one hand, they had to make every effort to restrain the people from outbursts of deep bitterness and from insulting those who urged them, since such things were done by the Catholics would not have been disliked; on the other hand, every word, every admonition to perseverance and faithfulness to the faith was intercepted by the lurking Jesuits, and if these intruders were not given complete freedom in their conversion business, they complained, like the wolf in the fable, that their office had been taken away from them complicate. By virtue of the princely manufacture orders, the bailiffs and magistrates were instructed to maintain the reputation of the Roman clergy and to support them in all things, and if these officials, who were largely Evangelical in the beginning, did not want to do well, to extend their arm to the destroyers of their church borrow, things later changed through intimidation, the dismissal of Evangelical officials and the appointment of new Catholic officials. It only took the Jesuits a word at court to remove old and loyal servants. Fines and prison sentences were now imposed on the Evangelical clergy at the slightest provocation and finally a quarterly deadline was set for them, after which they had to vacate their rectory. Even domestic edification was interfered with by banning "a lot of singing of so-called spiritual songs in the houses," because the Jesuits knew too well what forces of life lie in the Evangelical church song.

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*) A vivid description of these tortures is presented in the story: Courage of faith in turbulent times. A true story told by Fr. K. Wild. Stuttgart 1846.

At this time, as later, the city of Lauingen was the first to experience the attacks of the proselytizers. But it was also particularly hated by the Jesuits because of the high school that flourished within its walls, the breeding school of the Evangelical clergy for the country, and because of the scholars united there, who had so often fought against the Roman Church. As early as February 13, 1616, she was ordered to stop the prayer hours ordered by Philipp Ludwig for the preservation of the Gospel and, instead, to introduce Catholic services in her parish church, since there was a ducal crypt in it. The city, which, with its magistrate at its head, was zealously evangelical, objected in vain to this order, arguing that it had built the church from its own funds, that it was in possession of ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and that only Protestants were buried in the ducal tomb see. The Dowager Countess Palatine tried in vain to mediate from nearby Höchstädt, in vain did the will executors advocate for the frightened city, in vain did the cities of Lauingen, Höchstädt and Gundelfingen appeal to the Bishop of Augsburg, under whose spiritual jurisdiction the Catholic Church in Lauingen would have come to prove himself to be a good neighbor and not interfere in this urban matter. Finally, they only asked that the choir of the parish church be allowed to remain. This was how things stood when, on May 18, 1616, Vice Chancellor Mosmüller arrived at Lauingen Castle with his stable master, Captain Kaspar von Weinheim, a trumpeter and two outriders. He summoned the council and the city bailiff, reproached them for their rebelliousness in the harshest terms and threatened with execution troops if they did not immediately obey the ducal orders. The city did not want to accept such violent measures and now Mosmüller took possession of the parish church, the church accounts, the church regalia and equipment

The church was then consecrated by the Augsburg auxiliary bishop Sebastian Bräuning and received the Dr. Ludwig Bezel as a Catholic priest. On May 31st, the feast of Corpus Christi was celebrated here, namely by the students of Dillingen, which had been appointed due to the lack of Catholic residents. The people were so bitter that the magistrate had to set up guards to protect the procession. Pastor M. Stephan Wechsler was still allowed into the Evangelical city with two deacons, including Zeämann, but the simultaneous service was forced. *)

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*) Compare Dr. v. Raiser's documented history of the city of Lauingen, and Broxner's history of the city of Lauingen and the surrounding area. Dillingen 1845.

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At Pentecost, Zeämann gave a somewhat heated sermon, which is why he was immediately told that he would have to vacate the rectory within three months. In July the Catholic sacristan asked for the sacristan's house and the salary that the Evangelical sacristan had previously enjoyed; Immediately the resolution came: if the Lutheran sacristan did not yet want to submit to the Catholic priest and compare himself with him, all regulations should be carried out in proxima commissione. The Lauingers had refused to meet the needs. to pay for the Catholic service and the music there; In response to a complaint about this, the Duke only requested that an estimate of the costs be sent. The conversion business went badly because the priest reported in 1616 that only one pregnant woman had become a Catholic, who was very hated and persecuted. The reform of the high school has already been requested and decided. The Lauingers had previously exercised the right of patronage in the village of Hausen. The Bishop of Augsburg now took advantage of this in order to see a Catholic priest there. A short deadline was therefore set for the city to prove its right of patronage

and a short “unleashing” was deemed useful “so that we can better get a hold of those in Lauingen.” — M. Molitor now came to Gundelfingen as a Catholic priest.

Meanwhile, the three bishops held a meeting in Eichstädt on June 20, 1616 and decided to set up an ecclesiastical court in Neuburg. Matrimonial matters, disputes over tithes, and matters of patronage should be entrusted to this court, and the trials should be conducted by it in accordance with the statutes of the Council of Tridentine; Therefore the decrees of this council should be published in the Palatinate. The remaining spiritual matters should belong to the episcopal courts and the marriage judge in Neuburg should depend solely on the bishops. With regard to the question: “Whether and what the Count Palatine could and would like to grant to his crazy brothers for the sake of religion,” the council of the spiritual gentlemen went to the effect that “Your Princely Highness should not and could not consent to anything positive and obligatory, so perhaps it is It is best and possible to make use of prudence and not resolve anything at the moment, therefore keeping everything in suspenso on both sides until the means are better available, as half or a good part of the country is already Catholic or "For the sake of the league, a better correctness turned out to be the case. It is always believed that your princely highness should not start with the brothers, but first in their own cities, markets and towns with the introduction of the Catholic exercise." The bishops also pressed for the appointment of Catholic stewards in the villages, for strict execution of the order that the subjects must attend Catholic services and have their children baptized and taught by Catholic priests, and finally for the abolition of the school in Lauingen and for punishment of the zealous preaching Lutheran clergy.

In July 1616, Dr. Felix Gaßner, Augsburg councilor and emissary to Wolf Wilhelm, that the subjects of the border towns (e.g. Blindheim, Dampfheim, Mörslingen etc.) run to neighboring Evangelical churches and baptize their children Lutheran outside the country, and also have their marriages registered abroad. When it comes to the installation of Catholic priests, the district court clerk adds that everyone is free to have their conscience and that no one is forced to adopt the Roman Catholic faith. The Count Palatine expressed his displeasure at this, ordered the disobedience regarding the departure to be abolished and sternly referred his violation to the district court clerk.

At this time (June 27, 1616) the Margrave of Ansbach wrote to Neuburg: he had been informed by his official in Hohentrüdingen and Heidenheim that a number of pastors in the Palatinate had been dismissed and, on the other hand, other mass priests who were loyal to the papal religion had been accepted. This also happened in Floßheim, where the district judge of Monheim, at the introduction of the mass priest, ordered the entire village community to diligently attend church with unremittingly high punishment. Indeed, this priest had the schoolmaster order a margrave's subject in Floßheim, whose wife was about to give birth, not to carry the child abroad, but to have it baptized in his church. The margrave raised his complaints against this, as against a course of action that ran counter to religious peace; However, Wolf Wilhelm rejected him briefly (July 11) with the remark that he did not do anything that he was not optimally entitled to do.

In December 1616, the quarterly deadline for the Evangelical clergy to clear the rectory had expired. Now the reins could be tightened and the following rescript was sent to the officials on December 7th:

“Dear, Vester, faithful one! We are complained by both the Catholic priests and their patrons that at some time ago the office entrusted to them in their parishes was not only carried out by the appointed predicate (their approved term of a quarter in which they were allowed to occupy the rectory after their abdication , now expired,) but also by other Lutheran preachers in matters relating to their spiritual office and pastoral care and especially with marriage blessings, child baptisms and funerals, also with heated preaching and in other ways inflicted all sorts of interference, abuse and hindrance, thereby inflicting on them both their parishioners , when the parochial accidents were withdrawn and reduced, all of this was permitted by you, when such a thing would be contrary to our express orders of manufacture and escaped and would have justly caused us the most ungracious displeasure and we would not have foreseen such a thing, before you should be justly aware of it that it would not be appropriate to cause a great deal of confusion in general and, in particular, a great diminution and demolition of our rights and justice, since such a departure, especially out of the country, should be permitted in the long term, in our opinion We are also not responsible for the neglect and other interference and complaints caused to the pastors we employ. Therefore, we hereby order you once again seriously that you take better and due care of our order and letter of manufacture, which were half sent to you by the Catholic priests. take and stick to it: allow them the slightest interference, prevention, insults or interference in their pastoral care, neither with foreign church visits, consecrations, child baptisms, funerals or in various other ways, both from those on leave and from other preachers, as well as from the subjects of the like to look for other parishes and those who have previously and since every pastor

owned his parish, who go to sea elsewhere and have children baptized, should be held to ensure that they do not present themselves only to their pastors presided over by us and the Have weddings and children registered, but also compare yourself with them for the deduction of the fee, just as you thought no less of Catholic priests, if, contrary to expectations, it did not happen before, now without any delay, actually grant the rectory and the predicates after the time has elapsed , by virtue of the same precautions, you should immediately step away from it and do the due regulation, but since one or another preacher wanted to stay in the parish for a longer period of time because of his own domicile, but outside the rectory, we cannot do it in any other way than with the express modesty that he should abstain from all fellowship, conversations, instruction and incitement with our national subjects, as well as from the smallest act, such as those related to the clergy or pastoral care, ́ and also to give the Catholic priest some input if avoided Because of our serious punishment and disgrace, you must definitely refrain from judging and behaving accordingly, because since the slightest thing contrary to this should happen and be allowed by you, even as has happened so far, and left unreported, we would therefore really look at you with serious punishment and otherwise be kind to you."

The Evangelicals were still in possession of the Latin school in Neuburg, which was under the rector Michael Fend von Monheim, a 63-year-old well-deserved man, the succentor Melchior Rorbacher, the cantor Johann Suctor and the Quartus Schrem. While the prince was away so that the intended blow could be carried out in his absence, these men were ordered by the governor Adam Freiherr von Herberstorf, one of the first proselytes of that year, to enter the town hall on December 10, 1616 at 2 o'clock in the afternoon on,

to hear orders from the Duke's Privy Councilor and Vice Chancellor Bernhard Mosmüller. Here they were briefly informed of their dismissal. They had not expected anything else and had written a petition in which they asked for this measure to be averted and pointed out in particular how much after the school was abolished. church services and funerals, at which the students sang. But of course, in the eyes of the Privy Council, this was more of a reason for, rather than against, the measure. The comment about how much the Augsburg religious peace was being violated was not taken into account at all. The church councils had united with the teachers of the Latin school and in a protocol they had forcefully and decisively complained about the abolition of the school. Herberstorf, however, made the following decision: “Now the well-thought-out governor and the councilors appointed for these matters would like to grant the supplicants that their request can be granted; but in the meantime Se. princely Your Highness will therefore leave serious and measured orders and will in no way deem it appropriate to write them to the deputies, even without worrying that I. Princely. Your Highness most openly feels and feels that the church councilors have drawn others to themselves and that what they are tasked with doing in their official capacity can be made and drawn into a common being, so the deputized councilors hope that they will not be noticed in bad faith if they do that person comply with what they are obliged to do by virtue of their duties and to carry out without stopping if they are ordered to do so. But the deputized councilors, more highly eminent princely ones, offer their services. Your Serene Highness, on the occasion of your happy arrival, is to report most humbly and faithfully what is offered in animated minutes and also make sure that the church councils do not only

the Rector Fendium, as well as Succentors, Kantorn and Schrem, Quartum, today on 1 "In the afternoon for the princely chancellery, but also the decree that the school building be cleared of all residents this very day, the keys to it be handed over to the seconded deputies and the furniture, as pertaining thereto, left there until due inventory has been carried out." This was the case the act of violence was seasoned with hypocrisy, ridicule, suspicion and selected malice! In the same mocking tone and with words that expose the hypocrisy in the above words, Mosmüller reports this event to the Bishop of Augsburg: "Today at 10 o'clock in the morning they were handed over to the Lord Governor and all of our Lutheran councilors present have written a very long, sharp letter in which they complain about the planned demotion of the Lutheran Latin school to the highest and ask that they only be spared in this verse, with the appendix that in the absence of your princely. Your Serene Highness would like to give it something else. Regardless of this, we had the attached decree delivered to the church council at 12 o'clock and I then, in the name of God, in quo omnia possumus, quickly proceeded with what I had been instructed to do and at 1 o'clock I took the Fathers societatis and the Lutheran Kalmäusers into a side council chamber for requires me and the Lutheran school took me to the wolves with such simple words that they immediately cried out in their sorrow, but handed them over to the patribus with the conclusion: laqueus extritus est [“the trap was broken”]!" The reward for this letter was a gift of 50 fl., which The bishop of Augsburg gave Mosmüller instead of a barrel of wine. The most prominent Evangelical residents of the city were still involved in a presentation given to the duke for the school, but he was and remained deaf to all requests. When the senior city priest discussed this matter in the pulpit touched, he and the entire assembly

burst into loud tears. — On January 2, 1617, the now completely converted school was taken over by the Jesuit Balsterer and opened with 16 students. In addition to the Latin school, there was also a foundation of Count Palatine Wolfgang, the Präbendhaus, in which 24 young people were received as royal alumni to study. When these alumni were also to be handed over to the Jesuits, they all left the prebend house, whereupon Catholic young men were admitted to the institution. The Jesuits immediately set up a Marian Congregation for their students and by the end of the first year they had already gotten so far that they were able to perform a play in front of the Duke with the boys who had been given to them. [See Schall p. 9]

Before the year 1616 ended (December 14th), a meeting of representatives of the bishops of Augsburg, Eichstädt and Regensburg was held in Eichstädt, at which the establishment of the marriage court in Neuburg was finally put into action. Johann Ernst Neusesser, known as Leubelpacher, Canon of Freising, was employed as a marriage judge on December 14, 1616 and was allowed to appoint assessors. The letter from the MPs to Wolfgang Wilhelm dated December 17th, in which Neusesser's employment was reported, provides a glimpse into the circumstances at the time. We therefore state the following from the same: although the Catholic priests, both in public sermons and privately, have made every effort to lead the erring sheep back to the right flock of Christ, daily experience shows that that, with the exception of a few parishes in which the lords or estates themselves were Catholic, or had the execution, the great effort put in had so far borne little fruit, and the longer the subjects in such reformed parishes, the more bitter they became against the Catholic religion showed. Several

Catholic priests had their windows broken, their wells filled with rubbish, and they were publicly laughed at during their sermons. This is because the officials imagine to the subjects that it is not the will and opinion of the Duke to force the subjects to adopt the Catholic religion or to burden their conscience, but that this is solely due to spiritual instigation; The prince had a far different order from the emperor, so the subjects should not surrender and allow themselves to be frightened, then something else would soon happen. The officials excused themselves with their conscience because they could not force their subjects into the Catholic churches, nor could they use force to prevent them from leaving for neighboring Lutheran churches. As a result, the princely authority would be greatly diminished and despised and the Catholic priests would finally be forced to leave their parishes again unless something remedied. 60 people converted to the Catholic Church in Neuburg in 1616, including the aforementioned Adam von Herberstorf.

The year 1617 saw the establishment of a Jesuit college in the city of Neuburg on February 2nd. Of these main champions of the Roman hierarchy, there were so far six priests, two magistri and three lay brothers, who were responsible for the sermons, the Latin school, the religious instruction for the youth, the pastoral care and, in addition, a number of rural parishes. Uninvited, they visited the Protestants in their homes and crowded around the sick and dying beds. The income from the former Benedictine monastery in Echenbrunn, which amounted to around 1,000 florins, was transferred to the Jesuit college and the Duke added additional money and goods in kind. They were given a still-standing part of the old women's monastery to live in and a beautiful area to build a new monastery. On April 21, 1618, Wolfgang Wilhelm's firstborn, the young hereditary prince Philipp Wilhelm, laid the foundation stone for the Jesuit monastery.

the rich library of the Lauingen high school and the printing press there also had to move to Neuburg and were. handed over to the Jesuits.

Until now, the Evangelicals in Neuburg still had the parish churches of St. Peter and Heil. Spirit (least as a parish church after the collapse of the Frauenkirche in 1602) while the Catholics held their services in the castle church and in the suburbs. People had long feared a blow. Suddenly it was on the eve of the Feast of Peter and Paul, June 28, 1617, that the city priest of St. Peter, M. Johann Münderlein, was called to the town hall with his deacon Gallus Zeämann and both were met by the marriage judge Neusesser and Dr. Mosmüller made the announcement in the name of the prince: The mayor and the council and the entire citizenry would be deterred from the Catholic faith by them, this could no longer be allowed to happen and so they would be dismissed from their position with a quarterly salary and would have to leave from now on to abstain from all and every spiritual activity in the residence and in the entire principality; In any case, they would have already applied for further employment elsewhere. It was added that because they were otherwise known for their good qualities, the Prince let them remind them that they were to the Holy One. Spirits want to give space and learn to recognize the truth, in which case they should feel the fatherly affection of the prince. — The clergy had to give way to violence, but defended themselves against the accusation that they had already sought foreign service; To do such a thing (in days of danger) would not be fitting for a faithful servant of the Church, but only for hirelings; rather, they would have voluntarily missed a good opportunity. However, they warned their fellow parishioners against the Catholic faith, but only did what their conscience, the Augsburg Confession and the Book of Concord entailed

and what they dared to answer to God. They could not deviate from their teaching with a clear conscience and wished to be viewed as those who had always taught what they found to be right in their conscience and could answer before the judgment seat of Christ. — The sacristan had to hand over the key to the church and, as an old, faithful servant, was asked to convert to the Catholic religion so that he would not be rejected, an imposition which was rejected.

On the evening of the same June 28th, the magistrate received an order to gather the citizens in the town hall between 5 and 6 a.m. the next morning. They certainly wanted to eliminate all appointments and all antagonism by scheduling such a short appointment; but it was a dangerous task for the magistrate, because since time was short there was no other means than to call the entire citizenry together with the drum at such an unusual hour, it was to be feared that the citizens would want to appear with their weapons , which could have the appearance of indignation, and could actually lead to indignation. Perhaps it would not have been undesirable for the Jesuits if some disorder and violence had occurred so that they could also have better access to those in Neuburg, such as the Lauingers. The magistrate recognized the danger, carefully called only the external council members and about as many citizens as could be done without attracting attention and disturbing the peace, and on the morning of June 29th he distributed men every now and then into the streets and under the gates who would keep good supervision should prevent any suspicious gathering.

At 5 a.m. on June 29th, the pastor of the Frauenkirche, M. Heilbrunner, and his deacon, M. Agrikola, were also informed of their imminent dismissal, and at the same time in the town hall a princely decree was given to the magistrate and the assembled

citizens Opened on June 28th, the content was as follows: Instead of diligently attending the Catholic service organized at court and in the suburbs, as they were ordered, the council and citizens did this less and less the longer, hence the seed of pure doctrine little was able to take root and bear fruit; The Duke no longer wanted to tolerate this damage and this hindrance in the construction of the Catholic Church and therefore terminated the service of the Lutheran clergy and received Dr. Michael Heidelberger appointed pastor. They should recognize him as their pastor, diligently attend his sermons and Catholic services in general, baptize their children, have their marriages blessed by him and refrain from anything leaving the country.

From the town hall, the councilor had to immediately go to the residence to join the ceremonial procession that moved from the castle to St. Peter's Church. Once there, the church was handed over to the Catholic clergy, consecrated by Auxiliary Bishop Sebastian Bräuning of Augsburg and mass and a sermon by the Jesuit Reihing were immediately held in it. The magistrate had only accompanied the Duke to the church door and then returned to the town hall, where the others were still gathered in deep consternation. However, when the Duke noticed the magistrate's absence in the church, he ordered Dr. Mosmüller to bring the council immediately. The next day the remaining churches were also handed over to the Catholic clergy.

On June 29th [1617], the magistrate drafted a petition to the prince, which was handed over on July 1st. The mayor, the inner and outer council members, humbly begged and implored the Duke, for the sake of God's mercy and the Last Judgment, to allow them to practice their faith

and worship according to the Augsburg Confession, and about one Place it in the town hall or somewhere else, perhaps leave the little church in the hospital. They wanted to support a priest themselves through a tax to be collected ostiatim. May the Duke only kindly consider how difficult, hard and extremely distressing the current situation must be for the common man who has been educated and confirmed in the Augsburg Confession, which was approved and approved throughout the Roman Empire; He should particularly consider the situation of the sick, who would now have to deprive themselves of all the consolation that they had previously received from their pastors and, in the final stages, when sin, death and the devil are the most severe for people, would have no one of their faith to support them could speak from God's Word. In the end, the magistrate promised that, in the event of a merciful hearing, he would make such arrangements with the citizens that they could be and remain safely together in good peace without any annoyance.

Although the petition was flexible, it made no impression on the Duke and his advisors. On July 5th, the prince replied: He did not want to burden his subjects, but rather make them share in temporal and eternal goods, blessings and blessings, which those who would be incorporated into the bosom of the Catholic Church would infallibly expect. A sovereign was associated with this and that is why he introduced Catholic worship, but abolished the preachers of the Augsburg Confession, which would have hindered them in obtaining these goods with their teaching. Therefore he could not see why he should change his well-considered decree and throw the obstacles to their happiness anew by allowing a special retreat for the Augsburg Confession and help strengthen his subjects in their scientific errors. The religious peace

does not require an imperial prince to tolerate that Confession, but rather allows him the freedom to encourage his subjects to adhere to the doctrine and faith that he recognizes as the one that makes them blessed, which is in accordance with all reason and nothing in itself cheaper than for the prince to seek salvation for his loyal subjects. As for the sick and those in distress, no one will say. can say that there is less consolation among Catholics in their final moments against sin, death and the devil than among Evangelical preachers. Unity among the citizenry will certainly be much better established if one doctrine, one belief and one course is adhered to than if public preachers are permitted to different sects. The subjects should only initially diligently attend Catholic sermons and church services, beware of escaping and fellowship with the preachers of the Augsburg Confession and be well instructed in Christian and apostolic teaching, so that they will soon find temporal and eternal consolation.

The magistrate, seeing the futility of all further steps, answered no more and now the work of conversion continued relentlessly. First it was the turn of the sick in the leprosy and sick house. The senior Evangelical priest wanted to give them the Holy Communion before he left, but at the appointed hour a Jesuit came, so that the Evangelical priest had to leave without having accomplished anything and now the unfortunates were easily persuaded to receive the Holy Communion from the Jesuit's hand to take under one form. In the hospital the benefactors caused more trouble, but they also increasingly surrendered. There were still two Evangelical churches in the principality and near the royal seat; The Hofmarksherr Otto Erlbeck, a zealous Protestant, had known how to use his influence at court to ensure that he was allowed

to keep his excellent pastor, M. Johann Lauch, who looked after the parishes of Sinningen and Oberhausen, even longer. The citizens of Neuburg and in general flocked to this man's sermons. the evangelicals of the surrounding area gathered in large crowds to seek consolation in their distress. Understandably, this was extremely repugnant to the Jesuits. On December 2nd In 1617, the citizens had to meet in the town hall and the court servants in the castle, whereupon they were all forbidden from setting out with serious and inevitable punishment and, on the other hand, it was made compulsory for everyone to take their previous seats in the churches and for their families to diligently visit the Catholic church services should stop. At the same time, Lieutenant Müller and the mayor received. Sigmund Böhm gave the order to go to Oberhausen and Sinningen on Sundays and public holidays and to note all those who attended Evangelical services contrary to the prince's prohibition, so that they could be punished. Furthermore, on Sundays and festival days, the choirs at the fortifications were blocked and manned by soldiers, who did not let anyone through except strangers and travelers or who had special credentials.

During Wolfgang Wilhelm's trip to Jülich, people seem to have become somewhat more lenient and lenient in the implementation of this harsh measure, because soon after his return the Duke issued a decree to the mayor, council and citizens on July 6, 1618, in which he reprimanded it that, despite his serious orders, a large number, a hundred or more, had the desire to leave their ordinary parish and mother church and to go to neighboring parishes to hear the Lutheran sermon. Although it is not the Duke's intention to force anyone to adopt the Catholic faith without a previous sufficient report, knowledge and benevolent confession,

the serious order is repeated that the mayor, council and the entire citizenry should take action to avoid inevitable punishment and good, in addition to wives, children and servants, to abstain from all going to Lutheran and other non-Catholic sermons and supposed church services and, on the other hand, to stop at least all Sundays and holidays from Catholic sermons and church services without fail, whereby they should ask God that the well-meaning fatherly decree of the Sovereign princes may achieve the desired effect. Anyone who refuses to obey must now explain this privately so that further measures can be taken.

The governor and Hofrath President Adam von Herberstorf, the Chancellor Dr. Johann Zeschlin (who became Catholic in 1617), the governor Georg von Langenegg and Dr. Mosmüller had been commissioned, who had received the following instructions: they were to listen to each of the council members and the citizens about their final declaration and let everyone's scruples of conscience fade away themselves or through the priests. The obedient should be encouraged, those who wanted to accept instruction should be referred to the priests or other Catholic priests, but those who left no hope of conversion, it means that any defection should be punished with ever increasing punishment if it occurs again and that if they If they did not even intend to submit, they would be granted the opportunity to seek their welfare abroad. If they decided to emigrate, a specific date would have to be set for them to sell their goods. But everyone must be vowed to maintain the deepest secrecy about these negotiations, which does not encourage anyone else and that is why it would be useful if the council and citizens were brought into one room in the town hall and then one after the other in the

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commissioners' room called, but from there a special person would bring it to the town hall. When a good portion had now accommodated themselves, the commissioners should once again call the remaining rebellious citizens to them, try to dispel all scruples and explain to them why they wanted to be the last to refuse the special clemency offered by the prince.

This is how the interrogation, or, more correctly, the torture of conscience, took place over the next few weeks. with 476 people. A number of 30 immediately declared their conversion or had already converted, 78 allowed the Jesuits to teach them, the rest all remained steadfast and deaf to allurements and threats. It's a shame that we don't have full insight into the minutes taken on that occasion! We would perhaps also be able to prove from them that only those who actually had no higher faith in their hearts, such as those found in every church, became easy prey for such crude attempts at conversion. From the news we have received, we note the following: Hofziegler said that if Her Serene Highness ordered it, he would also become a Catholic and be even better educated; the scribe Johann Ruff: if he could be promoted again by Her Serene Highness, he would be happy to accommodate himself; Hanns Golling: be in royal service, want to obey; Melchior König: because he is in office and country, he wants to parry; the carpenter Thomas Reißner: work for your princely. Serene Highness's "house, if God enlightened him otherwise, he would follow; the bricklayer Georg Guldmann: the church, which is good enough for his master, is also so for him. But there is also no lack of uplifting evidence of faithfulness to the faith. So said the locksmith Hanns Sachs: For the two days that he still has to live, he desires to live in the faith in which he was born; if it comes to emigration, he must say to

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Job: the Lord gave it, the Lord took it. The baker Hieronymus Zettel wished that as an old man he no longer had to abandon the true faith. The writer Georg Kolb said: he intended to stay with the Evangelical faith and so he would have to look for his opportunity elsewhere. The widow Ursula Ziegler testified to their steadfastness with the words: God is a protector of widows and orphans and will preserve them. The shoemaker Paul Figler stated that he had already emigrated from Steyermark for the sake of his faith and, although he attended Catholic churches, he wanted to stick to his faith..

With a few exceptions, the court staff, which was also made up man by man, showed resolute steadfastness and several demanded their departure.

Since most of the citizens, in their distress, had at least promised to attend the Catholic church service, albeit with the reservation that they would otherwise remain true to their faith, the duke issued a decree to the mayor and council on August 6, 1618, in which he expressed his pleasure at the commitment of the citizens and the hope that they would follow him in the faith in his time. At the same time, he demanded that the children and servants of the citizens be diligently encouraged to follow the Christian teachings on Sundays at 12 noon, "so that the holiday can be properly celebrated and God's glory can be planted and spread more and more." Nothing was missed, which sensual people could attract and bribe. The new church, the construction of which was begun by Philipp Ludwig and which was now completed for the Jesuits, was equipped with all the splendor of the Catholic cult and adorned with valuable paintings by Rubens. *)

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*) Rubens provided three pictures depicting the Last Judgment, the Birth of the Lord and the 12 Apostles. For the first, Rubens received 3,000 Brabant thalers and a gold chain worth 200 thalers, for the other two 1,000 Philipps thalers at 3 ⅓ fl each. The Last Judgment stood on the high altar, but was always kept hidden by the Jesuits because of the many naked people and was described by Elector Johann Wilhelm, Wolf Wilhelm's grandson, as unsuitable for building. It came to Düsseldorf in 1691 and the other two pictures came there in 1703, from there later to Munich. Neuburger Kollektaneen sheet 1841.

Its inauguration on October 21st 1618 by the bishops of Eichstädt, Augsburg and Regensburg was extremely solemn and glorified by a great historical play written by the Jesuit Andreas Brunner. A new congregation, that of the Sorrowful Mother Mary under the Cross, was founded by Reihing and the Duke was proclaimed as its prefect with great solemnity.

From Neuburg we turn to Lauingen. In 1616, the simultaneous service in the parish church was forced and the Catholic priest received an assistant or coadjutor on January 17, 1617. But even now the conversion to the Roman Church did not make any progress. Therefore, on August 12, 1617, the Duke forbade Evangelical clergy from baptizing children and consecrating marriages. The citizens could not be in any doubt for a moment as to the purpose of this order and what it intended, and they therefore deliberated in the town hall as to whether the prince's order should be obeyed if it ran counter to their religion. The votes were all negative and the citizens therefore decided not to tolerate any interference with the sanctuary of conscience. Now the Duke, having been informed of these events, also decided to break the Lauingers' courage. In order to be nearby, he went to the neighboring Maria-Mödingen nunnery under the pretext of a hunt; 200 soldiers were in Ingolstadt and over 200 men in the neighboring Dillingen

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ready in case of need to use the force of weapons; But the governor Adam von Herberstorf, the chancellor Joh. Zeschlin and the caretaker of Lauingen, Hanns Georg von Leonrod auf Trugenhofen, the latter also, like the other two commissioners, a convert, went to Lauingen with a cover of ducal satellites. On July 20, 1618, these men called the city council to the castle and demanded that he declare his support for converting to the Roman Church. When the city council firmly rejected this request, he was locked up in a room in the castle, probably in order to be able to deal more easily with the citizens who had been deprived of their leaders. The superintendent M. Wechsler was then summoned with his deacons and was also to be arrested because he did not want to explain himself without consulting the mayor Weyhmayr. But what happened in the castle spread like wildfire throughout the entire city. The citizens and their soldiers quickly gathered in the streets and beat the drums to call on the peasants to help. The extremely irritated crowd snatched the preachers from the hands of the satellites, mistreated and wounded the latter and marched with the freed preachers and the captured satellites to the town hall and from there in front of the castle, where they demanded the release of the imprisoned magistrate and, in case of refusal, that threatened to storm the castle. The princely commission was in great danger of becoming a victim of popular rage, especially when the angry crowd made preparations to blow up the castle through the neighboring powder tower. However, the commissioners who were besieged in the castle, who knew how close help and relief were to them, kept out the danger, equipped themselves and their guards for resistance and quickly called Dillingen's team, which had been kept ready, with a trumpeter. How close was now a

bloody clash and the atrocity of the civil and religious war, which had already begun in Bohemia, [i.e. the Thirty Years War] and from now on would devastate all German regions for thirty horrific years and spread a nameless misery. The fact that things did not come to an end was only thanks to the imprisoned magistrate, who, although he had long been ill-treated and deeply offended in his most sacred matters, intervened at the crucial moment and offered to calm the turmoil. The frightened commission accepted the offer, released some of the imprisoned magistrates and the braves succeeded — the second mayor Gloßeisen and the senators Mayer and Brändel were the men of honor — with their emphatic ideas, to appease the outraged citizens and to keep them from further upheaval . The preachers came to the castle voluntarily, protested their innocence in what had happened, resigned from their offices and were released back home. Half of the magistrate was also released from custody, the other half remained in the castle as a scourge.

During the night, 300 men on foot and 50 horsemen with a wagon full of fuel entered the castle. Now the citizens had to submit if they did not want to bring about the complete ruin of their city. The commission explained to the half of the magistrate that was still in its hands that the Duke would only forgive if they wanted to submit to his sovereign orders in the future and swear a new oath of loyalty. With the beating of a drum, the magistrate and the citizens were gathered together in the castle courtyard, which was surrounded by armed men, where the Chancellor recited the oath and the crowd repeated it with raised fingers. They had only defended themselves against the pressures of conscience. Although the citizens were now released with mercy, they still received the execution troops

into their quarters, from which pests they were only freed by a deputation sent to the Duke. But the Evangelical clergy, like Deacon von Hausen, had to leave the city and the country within three days. *)

Although after these events Lauingen was deprived of all church services and all care of souls according to the Augsburg Confession since July 23, 1618, the Roman Church still had no triumph to enjoy. The residents stood firm in their faith, built themselves up in their houses with the Bible, evangelical books and songs, some carried their children to Haunsheim and Brenz for baptism and had their marriages solemnized there. The most severe oppressions were necessary in order to gradually gain greater acceptance of the Roman faith. Severe fines were imposed, men were stopped from practicing their trades, women were excluded from godfather positions if they did not comply, and those who died true to their evangelical faith were buried without song or sound and in unconsecrated earth. The immediate result of these oppressions was that a large number of citizens, among them the wealthiest and most educated, emigrated and the city thereby suffered a disadvantage in wealth and trade from which it never fully recovered. The splendor that the excellent high school had given the city was gone forever anyway. Some of the citizens expelled from Lauingen, including the Oppenrieder family, turned to Windsheim in 1620 and settled here, while others moved to various Evangelical imperial cities.

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*) The events in Lauingen were reported somewhat differently in the Neuburger Wochenblätter, but we have followed the account of v. Raiser and Broxner, which seems to us to be more correct for several reasons.

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In the years 1619 and 1620

particular attention was paid to the conversion of the Neuburg Nordgau. The Jesuit Michael Seybold moved from town to town, from village to village and had as his assistant Wolfgang Heinrich von Sauerzapf, who himself had recently joined the Roman Church and, as a princely commissioner, had to give the Jesuit's spiritual work the appropriate secular emphasis . In 1620 another Jesuit, Balsterer, a professor at the Neuburg high school, went on the tour. The places haunted by these apostles were: Pielenhofen, Hemau, Lengenfeld, Kalmünz, Schmidmühlen, Schwandorf, Velburg, Regenstauf, Laaber, Luppurg, Parsberg, Berazhausen. Everywhere the Protestant magistrates were removed and Catholics were replaced, the Evangelical clergy were expelled and the churches were given over to the Roman cult.

But while the Jesuits were celebrating their triumphs, they were dealt an unexpected blow by one of their own number, who had hitherto been the main promoter of their work and had not been absent as a pioneer in any assault on the bulwarks of the Evangelical Church. We are referring to Father Jakob Reihing, who has already been mentioned so often. Born into a patrician family in Augsburg in 1569, this remarkable man had attended the University of Ingolstadt, but had been struck down by a dangerous illness there. There he made a vow that, if he recovered, he would join the Jesuit order in thanksgiving to God and, when he actually recovered, he carried out this vow, however much his mother disliked it. He now studied so diligently and with such success that he was appointed doctor of theology after he had defended theses from the entire sum of Thomas Aquinas in public disputation. Now he was animated by the most ardent zeal for the defense of the Roman Church and for the expansion of papal power, which is why he was assigned by his order, which has always been excellent at knowing people and

selecting its tools, as particularly useful to Duke Wolfgang Wilhelm when he moved into Neuburg with the Duke’s young wife. Here he pondered night and day on nothing other than how he would remove the Augsburg Confession from the Palatinate, while introducing and strengthening the papal doctrine. He pursued his goal relentlessly in the pulpit, in teaching young people, with the pen by producing printed matter, through dialogs and theatrical performances, which he put on with the pupils of the Latin school. However, since the Evangelicals' appeal to the Holy Scriptures confronted him everywhere, he soon realized how beneficial it would be for his purposes if he could wrest from the hands of his opponents their powerful weapon of shot and blast, the testimonies of the written Word of God, and turn it against them. So he began to study the Holy Scripture with the intention of using it to justify medieval Roman church doctrine. But things turned out differently than he had expected. The longer he went on, the more he became convinced that the Evangelicals were really grounded in the Scriptures and that he could do nothing against their reasons taken from the Scriptures. We will let him speak for himself.

"O divine Majesty, how great a good deed thou hast done me, that thou hast taught me, who before had little knowledge and experience of the Scriptures in the high schools, in such a place, where I have been led, drawn and urged, as it were, by your divine hand to constant and diligent study of the Scriptures! I could not do otherwise; O a good and blessed necessity! My listeners [i.e. students], a good, large part of whom were evangelical, or had only recently been led into papacy, desired nothing more than to hear the holy divine Scriptures since they were accustomed to hearing them. My opponent, against whom I acted orally or in writing, called me out and drove me to the Scriptures. What was I to do? I had

to put myself into the Scriptures, and to stick strongly to it, lest I should infect the tender minds of my hearers, who were strongly inclined to the Scriptures, with suspicion, as if I dared not bring out and win the bargain. For this reason, I took it upon myself to the utmost to confirm the papist doctrine from Holy Scripture and to refute and overthrow the Augsburg Confession. This was the purpose and aim of all my sermons, conversations and writings. Many were of the opinion, and I myself, that I was lucky in the dispute and had victory in my hand. But God's judgment in high heaven was much different and, according to God's all-wise counsel, the dispute had a different outcome. Then, as the heavenly rays of divine truth finally shone into my dark, blind and pompous mind, I began to see more and more clearly a year ago and from day to day, through divine enlightenment, how the Holy Scriptures in all, especially the most important articles of the controversy, were clear as day on the Evangelical side against the papacy. Then, finally, in my mind, the false veneer of truth of the papal errors was removed, while the deceptive veneer of error was wiped off the evangelical truth." *) [Cp. with Walther, DL01, p. 60; Schall, p. 19]

The exchange of writings with Evangelical theologians, which followed on from his Muri civitatis sanctae [DL01, p. 60; Preus p. 168; Schall p. 10; ADB], the book announcing Wolfgang Wilhelm's change of religion, contributed greatly to this change of heart. As mentioned, Meisner wrote: Muri Babylonis Romanae, Reihing wrote in response: Excubiae angelicae civitatis and Meisner wrote: Excubiarum papisticarum expulsio. When the well-known court preacher Matthias Hoë von Hoënegg from Chursachsen also appeared in the dispute [his Ev. Handbuch], Reihing probably wrote his Enchiridium catholicum, Manuali Dr. Hoë oppositum against the latter,

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*) Laquei Pontificii contriti, the German edition prepared by Reihing himself. Tübingen 1621. pag. 13 - 15.

(Neoburgi 1617. 4. [no record of this online], also translated into German [Catholisches Handbuch wider das vermeindte evangelische Handbüchlein Matthiae Hoe, 1620; see Schall p 10-12],) and thus earned great praise and a reward of 250 florins; but the arrow had stuck in his bowels. His position in Neuburg, which was in line with his conviction gained from the Holy Scriptures, was not a success; he could no longer fight against the sting in his conscience and so he secretly left Neuburg on January 5, 1621 and fled first to the widowed Countess Palatine in Höchstädt. He revealed to her court master that he was determined to accept the Evangelical confession and that only the power of truth moved him to take this step. Of course he could not stay in Höchstädt, so he was taken to Ulm and from there to Stuttgart. Here the Württemberg theologians examined him closely for eight days before placing their trust in him in order to convince themselves of his sincerity and integrity, but Reihing knew how to prove his faith so thoroughly from the Holy Scriptures that all doubts finally disappeared. He was sent to Tübingen, where he announced his conversion to the Evangelical Church in a public sermon on January 22, 1621 and gave the reasons for it, also publishing a pamphlet about it in the same year: Laquei pontificii contriti, quibus adjuvante Domino liberatus liberatori suo publice gratias dicere voluit in academia Tubingensi 1621 in 4. and in German: Laquei pontificii contriti, i.e., the most guilty thanksgiving of Jakob Reihing, of the family of Augspurg, the doctor of Holy Scripture; that by God's help he was torn out of the snares of the bishop's errors and saved. First described in Latin, and on November 23 of the year 1621, in the presence of several princes and a large number of persons of high and low rank, held at the laudable, widely renowned Evangelical high school at Tübingen in the collegiate church there:

Now, however, for the common man's benefit, and for the instruction of all Christians who are still misguided and deceived, translated into German by the author himself and produced in Truck. First printed in Tübingen, by Johan Alexandro Cellio. In this writing, which follows Psalm 124:6-8, Reihing refutes the Roman errors in powerful, striking language and exposition, of which we have already given a sample, with a sharp mind, with great knowledge of the Scriptures and with an overflowing feeling of the heart. From now on he used his talents, his classical education and broad erudition to serve the Evangelical Church, which he had formerly, like another Saul, so fiercely persecuted (but I have written that he did so with Saul ignorantly in unbelief) and became professor of theology, preacher and director of the ducal scholarship or college in Tübingen, which offices he administered with excellent skill and dignity until the end of his life. In addition to the business of his office, he still found time to write a series of mostly polemical theological writings, such as: Sermon on the supposed Papal Sacrifice of the Mass, Tübingen 1621, 4th, a Dissertation on the true church of Christ in the earth, against the masked Jesuits of Dillingan, 1622 in 4th, and Apology for his dissertation on the church of Christ 1624, 4th, a Revocation of the Catholic Enchiridium [Widerruf des katholischen Enchiridiums], Lübingen 1623, and the polemic: The Work of Spiders which George Stengel, of Ingolstad, Simon Schaittenreisser, of Freiburg, and Laurentius Forer, of Dillingan, hung up against the pontifical snares, a dishonorable fabric, now cast down by Jac. Reihing, Tubingae 1623. One can imagine how angry his former Jesuit brothers were about Reihing's move and how they used every means at their disposal to bring him back. Father Keller, rector of the Jesuit College in Munich, made him the greatest offers at the end

and assured him that he was free to become a Jesuit again, or to accept a canonry, or even to enter the lay state, if only he wanted to profess the Roman Church again; the superiors would grant whatever he wanted. Reihing's brother, Konrad, Rector of the Jesuit College in Augsburg, the Provincial Christoph Grenzing, and even the General of the Order, Mutius Vitelleschi, left no stone unturned to win him over, and Count Palatine Wolfgang Wilhelm wrote to him himself. But when Reihing disregarded all these enticements and thereby incurred the revenge of the Jesuits, they became fiercely hostile to him and tried to weaken the moral effect of his conversion by spreading unfavorable rumors against him. They pretended that his conversion was not heartfelt and that he was not seeking pure religion and pure truth, but the impure airs and desires of the flesh. Reihing replied to the former accusation: *)

"To me my conscience is above a thousand witnesses. A good conscience does not allow itself to be troubled or disturbed by suspicion. Only the great power of truth and the strength of divine Scripture have moved, drawn and torn me from the papal confession of Trent to the evangelical Augsburg Confession. Since, by the grace of God, I am now free and unbound from all erroneous cords and bonds, I make this confession with a good, free, cheerful, steadfast and joyful heart: I reject the papal doctrine of Trent and accept the Augsburg Confession, etc."

Reihing's writings, their entire tone and the joy and fullness of faith that breathes from them, are certainly the best, inner proof of the man's sincerity for any impartial person. **)

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*) Laquei pontif. contr. pag. 41.

**) That Reihing would not have been firm in the doctrine of Holy Communion, as the Neuburger Wochenblatt once said, is not to be found in his writings. The professor of law at Tübingen, Besold, converted for quite different reasons than because Reihing had seduced him. cf. v. Ammon's Gallerie der denkwürdigsten Personen etc. Erlangen 1833. 158 ff.

With regard to the other point, a slander was spread against him and a letter accused him of having committed sexual misconduct with women, especially with one called the old cantor's daughter, and of now seeking to escape punishment for such sins. This was the state of the slander in 1621. When Reihing had meanwhile married a daughter of the family, Maria von Welser of Augsburg (daughter of Anton Felix Welser), malice naturally also took cause to speak ill of him, but Reihing thoroughly defended his innocence on all sides and in particular called any distortion of his marital relations a shameful slander. *) The persecution went so far that the Duke of Bavaria reclaimed him from the Duke of Württemberg through his own legation (Heinrich von Stein, Faber and Father Keller), but Reihing always knew how to defend himself so well that nothing could be done to him. He died in peace on May 5, 1628 in Tübingen and Professor Johann Martin Rauscher preached his funeral sermon.

From now on we have little more to report. The conversion of Reihing to the evangelical Church did not stop its complete destruction in the Palatinate, the oppressions and persecutions of those who did not want to fall away from their faith were rather methodically continued and where possible increased, and help from their co-religionists was now, in the first half of the Thirty Years' War, out of the question, since during this time the Catholic arms were victorious almost everywhere and the Evangelicals everywhere had their hands full with their own preservation.

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*) Cf. the fourth appendix. [p. 234]

The Duke [Wolfgang Wilhelm] was completely in the hands of the Jesuits and showered them with honors and benefits. In return, Father Welser brought him the mortal remains of four saints from Rome, Sulpitius, Chorilaus, Aurelia and Flavia, which were ceremoniously presented to the Jesuit or court church on November 7, 1621. To celebrate this day, the Latin pupils staged a theatrical performance in the palace hall: five genii called the new saints down from heaven to bestow a blessing on the new priests who worshiped them; the saints appeared, showed the instruments with which they would have been martyred, exhorted the faithful spectators to remain steadfast in the (Catholic) religion and promised their protection and support. Later (1626), the Duke himself brought a holy body, that of the martyr Felicianus, from Spain, of which the legend was spread that when the ship carrying the Duke's luggage and this holy body was struck by a violent storm and the sailors in distress threw the box with Felician's bones overboard among other objects, the saint was repeatedly pushed back into the ship by the waves. On April 17, 1622, there was a great celebration in honor of Ignatius of Loyola and his disciple Xaverius, who had been canonized at the request of Maximilian of Bavaria and Wolfgang Wilhelm.

The number of Evangelicals had to decrease more and more, as they found themselves without any worship and without any spiritual care and were exposed to the constant persecution of the Jesuits. Those who were able to do so emigrated, the others finally grew weary in resistance. Finally (1622) the last Evangelical church service that had survived in the vicinity of Neuburg, the one at Sinning, ceased after the six-year term granted to the lord of the Hofmark,

Otto Erlbeck, had expired and Erlbeck himself had died. On Pentecost, a princely commission dismissed the previous pastor Lauch and appointed the Jesuit Thomas Konradi as the new pastor. The inhabitants of the villages in particular still held on to the Evangelical faith as best they could. Even after six years, the peasants of one village could not be persuaded to kneel at mass, in another village a secret conspiracy had even been instigated against the parish priest and in 1622 opposition was still so stubborn everywhere that in one chapter almost all the clergy declared that they wanted to leave their parishes, which the dean and parish priest Leonhard Meyer of Neuburg was only able to prevent with difficulty. In 1625 there were still several hundred Evangelicals in Neuburg itself.

Now the heresy trials flourished. The trial of one such unfortunate man, Hanns Wohlfahrt, known as Kimighänsel, a farmer from Ebenhausen, is a good example of what happened. On January 28, 1630, he was interrogated and on January 30, he was put to death. Because he did not want to confess, he was "lenioni modo raised" after the "Drude's coat" had been put on him. He endured the torture for a quarter of an hour, then he offered to confess; but as soon as he was rid of the torture, he denied that he had anything to confess. So on February 1st he was brought up again, but after a quarter of an hour he was ready to testify to anything that was demanded. He now said that 10 years ago he had been in company with the L[utherans]. He had then killed cattle and 10 people with witches' ointments, had often traveled to Ingolstadt and Schrobenhausen on the oven fork for dances and meals, had made weather, wind and frost with powder and ointments, and had even been turned into a cat twice a year, had twice

taken our Lord (the Host) out of his mouth into a little cloth in his chair and carried it home, then stabbed it with a knife, whereupon he said it was all bloody," he was not allowed to think anything of the holy water or the images in the churches and had to call the latter idols. The files were closed on February 27th and there is no doubt about the final fate of the unfortunate man. Those accused of witchcraft were usually executed with a sword and then burned, after which their ashes were thrown into running water so that neither people nor livestock would be harmed by them. The gruesome extent to which the persecution of witches was practiced can be seen from the fact that in the small town of Reichertshofen over 50 people were once brought from life to death for this crime within a single year. In the castle there, on May 19, 1645, a fifteen-year-old boy, the student Christoph Wilhelm Bauz, son of an organist in Ellwangen, was even executed for an alliance with the evil enemy.

How Wolfgang Wilhelm also harassed the Evangelical Church in the inheritances of his brothers, in Sulzbach and Hilpoltstein, especially after the Battle of the White Mountain, is not part of our account. *)

Once again a star of hope seemed to shine for the Evangelicals in Palatinate-Neuburg. This was the time in which the great Swedish king Gustav Adolph advanced victoriously into southern Germany after the Battle of Breitenfeld, took Donauwörth (March 26, 1632) and forced the crossing of the Lech near Rain against Tilly (April 4, or April 14, new style). The majority of the inhabitants of the

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*) On this see Struve in Ausführlicher Bericht von der Pfälzischen Kirchen-Historie. 557 ff.

young Palatinate breathed a new sigh of relief from the long and heavy oppression of faith and cheered the great champion of the Evangelical Church. Gundelfingen, Lauingen and Höchstädt welcomed the Swedes with open arms. A Swedish corps under Paul Schell entered Lauingen on April 9, 1632 (new style), "only pillaged the Catholic parish priest with 100 Reichsthaler," demanded the church silver and immediately reintroduced the evangelical service in the Brethren church. Later, the Catholic pastor Galgenmüller was expelled. On April 10, Neuburg, which had a garrison of 500 Bavarian soldiers, was ordered to surrender by Duke August von Sulzbach, Wolfgang Wilhelm's brother, who was in Swedish service. The mood in the town was extremely favorable to him.

"At last" — it was said — "at last the hour has come when the just cause will gain the upper hand, the rightful regent (August von Sulzbach) appointed by Duke Philipp Ludwig in his will will take over the government, reintroduce the pure doctrine and bring back the preachers who were so unfairly and unjustly expelled. May the Swede come soon and take revenge on the papists, but especially on their clergy! We want to serve him as a leader ourselves, to break into the Jesuits' house and plunder the college. None of this company shall escape with their lives, even if they have already quietly taken possession of all the vehicles, so that when the enemy arrives they can immediately sail down the Danube with their treasures and abandon the poor city to its fate."*)

Informed of this mood of the inhabitants, the rector of the Jesuit College, Hundpis, allowed his religious staff to disperse and leave. On

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*) Neuburger Wochenblatt from the year 1820.

April 18, the first Swedes came to Neuburg after the Bavarian garrison had left the day before; however, the Swedes returned to the camp after lunch and it was not until late in the evening that a garrison arrived and was quartered. The hostile mood of the citizens against the Jesuits was now about to break out, especially on April 24, a large riot had already broken out in front of the college and the crowd was about to enter it when the Swedish commander succeeded in dispersing the rioters and preventing acts of violence. On May 1, the king [Gustav Adolph] himself came to Neuburg, accompanied by Count Palatine Augustus and other high lords. Well, the inhabitants thought, now Wolfgang Wilhelm will be deposed and the papacy eradicated. But Gustav Adolph did not intend to proceed so quickly. We will not examine what determined him to do so, whether politics or other considerations; he was removed from the scene of his deeds too early for the dispute over his intentions to ever reach a clear decision. The Swedish campaign continued on to Ingolstadt, but on October 13 the king and his wife returned to Neuburg and remained here until October 19, when he left, hurried north and soon fell on the blood-soaked field of Lützen. The Swedes did not disturb the Catholic service, but were content to preach in the sermon room, in Duke Christian's quarters and occasionally in the open street with the regiments. However, Baron von Spiring wrote to Duke Wolfgang Wilhelm around this time:

"Unfortunately, the situation here and in the whole country is such that, apart from those born Catholic, not only your Serene Highness's servants in general, but also, in particular, among a hundred or more of your subjects, there is not even one who does not make his old treachery and what it has hitherto concealed in his heart shine forth

with evil sermons and outbursts, and still make a strong enough note of it, so that we do not know where to begin.."

When Gustav Adolph was still present in Nördlingen, the local pastor M. Stephan Wechsler was recommended to him for the restoration of the evangelical church in Palatinate-Neuburg, because he was a son of the Count Palatine, formerly a field preacher of the Duke of Neuburg, then pastor in Burkheim and Mödingen, and finally superintendent in Lauingen. We have already met him. Expelled from Lauingen, he first came to Hersbruck and then to Nördlingen. Gustav Adolph accepted his proposal and appointed him, through his court preacher Dr. Fabricius, as chief pastor over Lauingen, Gundelsfingen, Höchstädt and other places belonging to the Count Palatine and gave him a written instruction according to which he was to appoint pastors in the country and in the towns. On October 26, 1632, Wechsler installed M. Jakob Rotarius as pastor in Lauingen, who, however, proved to be a worldly-minded man who had gone wild in war and, when it was discovered that he, as sub-delegated inspector over the rural parishes, had extorted gifts from the clergymen to be employed and had even abused the consistorial seal behind Wechsler's back, had to be dismissed again. M. Johann Förster took Rotarius' place and M. Kaspar Epplin from Nördlingen was assigned to him as deacon. Wechsler moved from place to place, organizing evangelical services everywhere. On November 7, 1632, a synod was held in Lauingen, at which around 40 preachers were present, including the pastors of Fämingen, Hausen and Höchstädt. Soon after this synod, a public patent appeared, according to which a Lutheran pastor was to be appointed only in those places and villages where the papal priests had fled or where the congregations otherwise

desired an Evangelical service. The latter happened in many villages and so, for example, in Dapfheim M. Joh. Schweigger, a Nuremberg man, in Mörschlingen Paul Christian Spiegel, in Steinheim Christoph Frickenwürth was appointed. Berg and Zirgesheim also received Evangelical clergymen. The old court preacher of the widowed Countess Palatine, Dr. Heilbrunner, died in Höchstädt 8 days after the above-mentioned synod. When Johann Hüber took his place on December 18, 1632, over a hundred citizens went to meet him as far as Steinheim. In the city of Höchstädt, in addition to two Evangelical clergy, there was also a Catholic priest, Georg Pistorius, in the Höchstädt hospital. The latter was expelled in December 1632 by the pastor Schweigger in Dapfheim, as royal commissioner, but was restored before New Year, but on Jan. 3, 1633, the superintendent of Lauingen came to Höchstädt, closed the Catholic church and brought 11 complaints against Pistorius. Things went back and forth like this.

In the meantime, the misery of the war continued to increase. Before the end of the year 1632, Neuburg was occupied by Altringer's dragoons, afflicted by the Hungarian disease, so that 900 people died in a few weeks, and badly affected by hunger. Everywhere pale children without age crept around and died of hunger. After the Imperial retreat on April 25, 1633, Bernhard von Weimar arrived and placed a Swedish garrison under Friedrich von Rosa in the town. During this time, Evangelical sermons were preached at Easter in the Freithof near St. Georgen, nobody wanted to go to church, exhortations from the Psalms of David were given in the gardens from time to time, especially on Fridays, and Lutheran services were also held once in the hospital church. On June 8, General Altringer attacked Neuburg with great force, but was chased back to the fortress of Ingolstadt by Field Marshal Horn. If

the Imperial forces plundered, the Swedes collected contributions; the difference was not great. Everything was full of soldiers. At the town hall in Neuburg, cooking fires with unripe apples or pears, the only food still available, could be seen everywhere. In September 1633 Altringer came again, fired on the town and stormed it so successfully that the Swedes had to surrender; but when the Imperial troops had left, the Swedes under Rosa also returned and plundered for eight days. Hunger and plague never ceased. Under such nameless misery, the few surviving people went wild and all religious practice finally became indifferent to them. Finally, the Battle of Nördlingen (Sept. 6, 1634), which was so unfortunate for the Protestant arms, destroyed the last hope for a revival of the Evangelical Church in Neuburg. The Swedes had to leave the country, and with them the Evangelical clergy; Roman worship was reintroduced everywhere (at Lauingen on Oct. 18, 1635), and the old torment about going to Lutheran churches and singing Evangelical hymns in the houses began anew. After the Peace of Westphalia treaty, the Roman Church remained in sole possession of the country, as its worship had existed in all parishes in the normal year of 1624.