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On his return from the Reichstag in Worms, Martin Luther (1483–1546) stopped in Möhra.

His grandparents lived here near Eisenach, and here he is said to have preached a sermon on the village square.

He then continued his journey to Gotha on May 4, 1521.

The kidnappers struck not far from Altenstein Castle.

The knight Burkhard Hund von Wenkheim II and his people attacked the carriage and, to the horror of his company, took Luther with them.

“When my friar sees the riders, he hurries away from the carriage without greeting.

He is said to have come to Waltershausen on foot that evening, ”an amused Luther reported to the man who organized the action: Georg Spalatin (1484–1545), secretary, librarian and confidante of the Saxon Elector Friedrich III.

the wise.

Because the kidnapping was bogus.

The imperial ban was imposed on the reformer in Worms.

With that he was released to be shot.

To save him, he was brought to safety at the Wartburg above Eisenach for almost a year.

The fellow travelers are said to have fled: Luther's kidnapping at Altenstein Castle

Source: picture alliance / akg-images

Spalatin belonged to the closest circle around Luther.

While he was busy translating the New Testament as Junker Jörg, the latter provided him with news, paper, medicines and books.

Letters testify to the trusting relationship between the two: “I exchanged my vestments for a rider's dress.

I have a beard so that you would hardly recognize me because I do not recognize myself. "

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The two men, who were almost the same age, probably got to know each other during their studies in Erfurt, where both were in the same humanistic circles. The contact became more intense when Luther took up his theological professorship in the Electoral Saxon residence Wittenberg in 1512 and Spalatin was appointed administrator of the university library there. That was just one of the many tasks that fell to the career clerk at the Court of Frederick the Wise.

Born Georg Burkhardt from a humble background in Spalt in Middle Franconia (he later adopted the name Spalatin), he got the chance to attend a school in Nuremberg and the University of Erfurt. Appointed prince educator in 1508, he rose to court chaplain in 1414, became secret scribe and confessor of Frederick III. In this position of trust he was one of the closest advisers to the powerful imperial prince.

It was probably precisely the differences that made Spalatin and Luther friends.

Here is a cautious Hofmann, eager to compensate.

There a boisterous, often rough professor who showed no consideration for himself or others.

But both talents drove the Reformation forward.

Spalatin brought order to Luther's stream of thoughts, networked him with his Europe-wide contacts and - as after the appearance in Worms - knew how to get him out of the line of fire with the knowledge of his sovereign.

Because Spalatin was one of those bourgeois specialists who no longer helped the territorial states of the early modern era to breakthrough through their class, but through their education.

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How closely Spalatin was involved in the Reformation is shown by a letter from Luther from the summer of 1517: “I do not wish that our theses come into the hands of the elector or any court official earlier than those of the opponents, so that the latter would not believe that these theses are issued either on orders or with the approval of the elector. ”“ Our theses ”?

Spalatin must therefore have been familiar with the content.

Even after the death of Frederick the Wise in 1525, Spalatin served his successors and helped build the Protestant regional church.

He died in Altenburg in 1545, a year before his friend Luther.

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