University in Wittenberg: Back of the Front

Lyndal Roper in the new biography of Martin Luther describes Wittenberg as a sleepy, out of the way, provincial sort of university town in the early 1500's. "An obscure university in an unknown corner ... created the kind of small community in which a man like Luther could flourish, where he could develop his ideas unhindered, outside the restrictions of an older, more established institution." [p. 63] It was already the site of much construction and with Luther's fame came many more students and scholars and, through the sixteenth century, much more expansion and attention.

Roper tells us it was a fortress town when it was founded just over five-hundred years before. A colonial fortress. As the populations expanded east again in the late tenth century, Wittenberg was one of the places where the Saxons put down roots on the edge of Slavic territory. Just 10km from the point the River Elbe turned west, the town grew up on the north side of the river that it hugged.

For centuries a moat surrounded the wall around town. Remnants can be still seen of this in the Stadtgraben that runs in places. The two roads, one north to Potsdam and Berlin, the other south in the direction of Leipzig, along with the river traffic of the Elbe, kept the town informed of the happenings afar, but not close enough to be in them. Nevertheless conflicts arose within between the local Slavic Wends and the ruling Saxon class.

On one side of town was the Elector's Castle where semblance of governance resided since 1485. On the other was the Augustinian monastery where, among many others, Martin Luther took study in 1508-09 and, where he returned in 1511. Just off Collegienstraße in buildings built to house adherents, Luther moved into a very collegiate atmosphere. Considered unsophisticated to outsiders, lacking taste or fashion, the University in Wittenberg had previously been founded by Friedrich III, Elector of Saxony as late as 1502.

The previous elector had been Friedrich's father, Ernest, who had won Wittenberg in the Treaty of Leipzig of 1485. But the year after, both Friedrich's parents had died and he, at the age of twenty-three had to take on the role. Having a fascination for Christian relics, Friedrich used some of the proceeds from his silver and growing tin mines far to the south in the Ore Mountains, to invest in these items of then universal wonder. They were a big draw and money and people poured into town. Regulations on new constructions, tax exemption on current building projects spurred new growth over the prior 'low wooden houses'. [pp. 64, 66]

This Elector even kept a hand over how the school would be run, using part of both the Augustinian and Franciscan monasteries as hands to administer it and offer themselves as 'core lecturers' to students. Roper makes it explicit.

"The whole enterprise was funded out of the foundation of All Saints, which had grown rich on the money made from pilgrims who came to view Friedrich's astonishing collection of relics. These funds were topped up with money from the Elector's own treasury, yet the university's finances were still stretched and Wittenberg found it difficult to compete with the academic salaries offered by Tübingen, Leipzig, or Cologne.... More than once Luther would have to wring more money out of the Elector to help keep Melanchthon, the new professor of Greek, who became Luther's right-hand man." [p.67]

This revenue stream for Friedrich had direct competition in the sale of papal indulgences. When the university was founded the Church in Rome was in a period that found as many ways as possible to encourage these. Indulgences, according to Rome's logic, paid off the expiation of sins, which in turn cut the penitent's time in purgatory. Pilgrimages to view relics, on the other hand, could encourage the faithful to give money (or goods and services) in hopes of more immediate gratification. To simply view a relic might elicit a miracle for the beholding faithful. This was enough for many, and it wasn't Rome's answer in far off Wittenberg.

"Friedrich refused to permit indulgences to be sold in his territory, partly because he feared that the Wittenberg pilgrimage trade might be endangered if indulgences were preached in other churches in Saxony." [p.67]

It was a good trade that promoted local patriotism with so many holy relics. Artists were encouraged to build proper reliquaries, a book with illustrations of these and their items was produced in 1509 by Lucas Cranach the Elder. But all of this could occur only because of the Elector. There was no council of oligarchs, no semblance of deliberation among peers. The court here presided over wills, properties, disputes and the important ones were decided by Friedrich himself. Nothing of substance happened without a question being asked of him and him agreeing to it.

"Ultimate power was vested in the princely ruler, and closeness to the Elector, not membership of the council, was what gave an individual political influence." [pp. 70-1]

This was what a prince did in those times. Power came from above. Luther would have little experience with any other arrangement and this would inform his understanding and Roper says, effect where Lutheranism would spread.
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notes and quotes from Roper, Lyndal: Martin Luther: Renegade and Prophet; Random House, NY, 2017