Collected Works of Martin Luther

by Martin Luther

  51 The papal court or curia consisted of all the officials of various sorts who were employed in the transaction of papal business, including those who were in immediate attendance upon the person of the pope, the so-called “papal family.” On the number of such officials in the XVI Century, see Benrath, p. 88, note 18, where reference is made to 949 offices, exclusive of those which had to do with the administration of the city of Rome and of the States of the Church, and not including the members of the pope’s “family.” The Gravamina of 1521 complain that the increase of these offices in recent years has added greatly to the financial burdens of the German Church (Wrede, Deutsche Reichstagsakten unter Kaiser Karl V, II, 675).

  52 On the annates, see Vol. I, p. 383, note 1. Early in their history, which dates from the beginning of the XIV. Century, the annates (fructus medii temporis) had become a fixed tax on all Church offices which fell vacant, and the complaint of extortion in their appraisement and collection was frequently raised. The Council of Constance restricted the obligation to bishoprics and abbacies, and such other benefices as had a yearly income of more than 24 gulden. The Council of Basel (1430) resolved to abolish them entirely, but the resolution of the Council was inoperative, and in the Concordat of Vienna (1448) the German nation agreed to abide by the decision of Constance. On the use of the term “annates” to include other payments to the curia, especially the servitia, see Catholic Encyclopedia, I, pp. 537 f.

  Luther here alleges that the annates are not applied to their ostensible purpose, viz., the Crusade. This charge is repeated in the Gravamina of the German Nation presented to the Diet of Worms (1521), with the additional allegation that the amount demanded in the way of annates has materially increased (A. Wrede, Deutsche Reichstagsakten unter Kaiser Karl V., II, pp. 675 f.). Similar complaints had been made at the Diet of Augsburg (1518), and were repeated at the Diet of Nürnberg (Wrede, op. cit., III, 660). Hutten calls the annates “a good at robbery” (Ed. Böcking, IV, 207). In England the annates were abolished by Act of Parliament (April 10, 1532)

  53 On the crusading-indulgences, see Vol. I, p. 18.

  54 i. e., As was done by the Council of Basel. See above, p. 84, note i.

  55 The canons are the clergy attached to a cathedral church who constituted the “chapter” of that cathedral, and to whom the right to elect the bishop normally belonged.

  56 This whole section deals with the abuse of the “right of reservation,” i. e., the alleged right of the pope to appoint directly to vacant church positions. According to papal theory the right of appointment belonged absolutely to the pope, who graciously yielded the right to others under certain circumstances, reserving it to himself in other cases. The practice of reserving the appointments seems to date from the XII Century, and was originally an arbitrary exercise of papal authority. The rules which came to govern the reservation of appointments were regarded as limitations upon the authority of the pope, The rule of the “papal months,” as it obtained in Germany in Luther’s time, is found in the Concordat of Vienna of 1448 (Mirbt, Quellen, 2d ed., No. 261, pp. 167 f.). It provides that livings, with the exception of the higher dignities in the cathedrals and the chief posts in the monasteries, which all vacant in the months of February, April, June, August, October and December, shall be filled by the ordinary method — election, presentation, appointment by the bishop, etc. — but that vacancies occurring in the other months shall be filled by appointment of the pope.

  57 i. e., Church offices which carried with them certain rights of jurisdiction and gave their possessors a certain honorary precedence over other officials of the Church. See Meyer in Realencyk., IV, 658.

  58 Charles V, though elected emperor, was not crowned until October 22d.

  59 i. e., A living which has not hitherto been filled by papal appointment.

  60 This rule, like that of the “papal months,” is found in the Concordat of Vienna. Luther’s complaint is reiterated in the Gravamina of 1521. (Wrede, Deutsche Reichstagsakten, etc., II, 673.)

  61 Des Papstes und der Cardinale Gesinde, i. e., all those who were counted members of the “family” or “household” (called Dienstverwandte in the Gravamina of 1521) of the pope or of any of the cardinals. The term included those who were in immediate attendance upon the pope or the cardinals, and all those to whom, by virtue of any special connection with the curia, the name “papal servant” could be made to apply. These are the “courtesans” to whom Luther afterwards refers.

  62 In 1513 Albrecht of Brandenburg was made Archbishop of Magdeburg and later in the same year Administrator of Halberstadt; in 1514 he became Archbishop of Mainz as well. In 1518 he was made cardinal.

  63 This rule, like the others mentioned above, is contained in the Concordat of Vienna.

  64 Cf. The Gravamina of 1521, No. 20, Von anfechtung der cordissanen (see above, p. 88, note 3), where the name cordissei is applied to the practice of attacking titles to benefices. (Wrede, op. cit., II, pp. 677 f.)

  65 The pallium is a woolen shoulder-cape which is the emblem of the archbishop’s office, and which must be secured from Rome. The bestowal of the pallium by the pope is a very ancient custom. Gregory I (590-604) mentions it as prisca consuetudo (Dist., C.c. 3). The canon law prescribes (Dist. C. c. I) that the archbishop-elect must secure the pallium from Rome within three months of his election; otherwise he is forbidden to discharge any of the duties of his office. It is regarded as the necessary complement of his election and consecration, conferring the “plenitude of the pontifical office,” and the name of archbishop. Luther’s charge that it had to be purchased “with a great sum of money” is substantiated by similar complaints from the XII Century on, though the language of the canon law makes it evident that Luther’s other contention is also correct, viz., that the pallium was originally bestowed gratis. The sum required from the different archbishops varied with the wealth of their sees, and was a fixed sum in each case. The Gravamina of 1521 complain that the price has been raised: “Although according to ancient ordinance the bishoprics of Mainz, Cologne, Salzburg, etc., were bound to pay or the pallium about 10,000 gulden and no more, they can now scarcely get a pallium from Rome for 20 or 24 thousand gulden.” (Wrede, op. cit., II, 675.)

  66 The oath of allegiance to the pope was required before the pallium could be bestowed (Dist. C, c. I). The canon law describes this oath as one “of allegiance, obedience and unity” (X, I, 6, c. 4).

  67 See above, p. 86, note 2.

  68 cf. Luther to Spalatin, June 25, 1520 (Enders, II, 424; Smith, No. 271).

  69 i. e., The benefices are treated as though they were vacant.

  70 In the case of certain endowed benefices the right to nominate the incumbent was vested in individuals, usually of the nobility, and was hereditary in their family, This is the so-called jus patronum, or “right of patronage.” The complaint that this right is disregarded is frequent in the Gravamina of 1521.

  71 Commendation was one of the practices by which the pope evaded the provision of the canon law which prescribed that the same man should not hold two livings with the cure of souls. The man who received an office in commendam was not required to fulfil the duties attached to the position and when a living or an abbacy was granted in this way during the incumbency of another, the recipient received its entire income during a subsequent vacancy. The practice was most common in the case of abbacies. At the Diet of Worms (1521), Duke George of Saxony, an outspoken opponent of Luther, was as emphatic in his protest against this practice as Luther himself (Wrede, op. cit., II, 665); his protest was incorporated in the Gravamina (ibid., 672), and reappears in the Appendix (ibid., 708).

  72 A monk who deserted his monastery was known as an “apostate.”

  73 i. e., Offices which cannot be united in the hands of one man. See e. g., note 3, p. 91.

  74 A gloss is a note explanatory of a word or passage of doubtful meaning. The glosses are the earliest form of commentary on the Bible. The glosses of the canon law are the more or less authorita
tive comments of the teachers, and date from the time when the study of the canon law became a part of the theological curriculum. Their aim is chiefly to show how the law applies to practical cases which may arise. The so-called glossa ordinaria had in Luther’s time an authority almost equal to that of the corpus juris itself. Cf. Cath. Encyc., VI, pp. 588 f.

  75 The thing which was bought was, of course, the dispensation, or permission to avail oneself of the gloss.

  76 Dataria is the name for that department of the curia which had to deal with the granting of dispensations and the disposal of benefices. Datarius is the title of the official who presided over this department.

  77 See above, p. 88, note 2. For a catalogue of papal appointments bestowed upon two “courtesans,” Johannes Zink und Johannes Ingenwinkel, see Schulte, Die Fugger in Rom, I, pp. 282, 291 ff. Between 1513 and 1521, Zink received 56 appointments, and Ingenwinkel received, between 1496 and 1521, no fewer than 106.

  78 See above, p. 87, note 1.

  79 So Albrecht of Mainz bore the title of “administrator” of Halberstadt.

  80 The name of this practice was “regression” (regressus).

  81 The complaint was made at Worms (1521) that it was impossible for a German to secure a clear title to a benefice at Rome unless he applied for it in the name of an Italian, to whom he was obliged to pay a percentage of the income, a yearly pension, for a fixed sum of money for the use of his name (Wrede, op. cit., II, 712).

  82 Simony — the sin of Simon Magus (Acts 8:18-20) — the sin committed by the sale or the purchase of an office or position which is normally conferred by a ritual act of the Church. In the ancient and earlier mediæval Church the use of money to secure preferment was held to invalidate the title of the guilty party to the position thus secured, and the acceptance of money for such a purpose was an offence punishable by deposition and degradation. The “heresy of Simon” was conceived to be the greatest of all heresies. The traffic in Church offices, which became a flagrant abuse from the time of John XXII (1316-1334), would have been regarded in earlier days as the most atrocious simony.

  83 The reservatio mentalis or in pectore is the natural consequence of the papal theory that the right of appointment to all Church offices of every grade belongs to the pope (see above, p. 86, note 3). According to the theory of the canonists (Lancelotti, Institutiones juris canonici. Lib. I, Tit. XXVII) this right is exercised either per petitionem alterius, i. e., by confirmation of the election, appointment, etc., of others, or proprio motu, i. e., “on his own motion.” In ordinary cases the exercise of the appointing power was limited by rules, which though bitterly complained of (see above, pp. 86 ff, and notes), were generally understood, but the theory allowed any given case to be made an exception to the rules. Of such a case it was said that it was “reserved in the heart of the Pope,” and the appointment was then made “on his own motion.” Hutten says of this reservatio in pectore that “it is an easy, agile and slippery thing, and bears no comparison to any other form of cheating” (Ed. Booking, IV, 215).

  84 For a similar instance quoted at Worms (1521), see Wrede, op. cit., II, 710.

  85 The three chief centers of foreign commerce in the XV and the early XVI Century. The annual fairs (Jahrmarkt), held at stated times in various cities, brought great numbers of merchants together from widely distant points, and were the times when the greater part of the wholesale business for the year was done.;

  86 Built by Innocent VIII (1454-1490).

  87 See above, p. 93, note 2.

  88 The Church law forbade the taking of interest on loans of money.

  89 During the Middle Ages all questions touching marriage and divorce, including, therefore, the question of the legitimacy of children, were governed by the laws of the Church, on the theory that marriage was a sacrament.

  90 i. e., By buying dispensations.

  91 The sums paid or special dispensations were so called.

  92 The toll which the “robber-barons” of the Rhine levied upon merchants passing through their domains.

  93 Ja wend das blat umb szo indistu es — The translators have adopted the interpretation of O. Clemen, L’s. Werke, I, 383.

  94 The Fuggers of Augsburg were the greatest of the German capitalists in the XVI Century. They were international bankers, “the Rothschilds of the XVI Century.” Their control of large capital enabled them to advance large sums of money to the territorial rulers, who were in a chronic state of need. In return for these favors they received monopolistic concessions by which their capital was further increased. The spiritual, as well as the temporal lords, availed themselves regularly of the services of this accommodating firm. They were the pope’s financial representatives in Germany. On their connection with the indulgence against which Luther protested, see Vol. I, p. 21; on their relations with the papacy, see Schulte, Die Fugger in Rom, 2 Vols., Leipzig, 1904.

  95 Certificates entitling the holder to choose his own confessor and authorizing the confessor to absolve him from certain classes of “reserved” sins; referred to in the XCV Theses as confessionalia. Cf. Vol. I, p. 22.

  96 Certificates granting their possessor permission to eat milk, eggs, butter and cheese on fast days.

  97 The word is used here in the broad sense, and means dispensations of all sorts, including those just mentioned, relating to penance.

  98 Equivalent to “carrying coals to Newcastle.”

  99 The Campo di Fiore, a Roman market-place, restored and adorned at great expense by Eugenius IV (1431-1447), and his successors.

  100 A part of the Vatican palace notorious as the banqueting-hall of Alexander VI (1402-1503), turned by Julius II (1503-1513) into a museum for the housing of his wonderful and expensive collection of ancient works of art. Luther is hinting that the indulgence money has been spent on these objects rather than on the maintenance of the Church. Cf. Clemen, I, 384, note 15.

  101 i. e., The offices and positions in Rome which were for sale. See Benrath, p. 88, note 18; p. 95, note 36.

  102 See above, p. 84, note 1.

  103 The passage is chapter 31, Filiis vel nepotibus. It provides that in case the income of endowments bequeathed to the Church is misused, and appeals to the bishop and archbishop fail to correct the misuse, the heirs of the testator may appeal to the royal courts. Luther wishes this principle applied to the annates.

  104 See above, pp. 91 f.

  105 See above, p. 91.

  106 See above, p. 94.

  107 i. e.. Promises to bestow on certain persons livings not yet vacant. Complaint of the evils arising out of the practice was continually heard from the year 1416. For the complaints made at Worms (1521), see Wrede, op. cit., II, 710.

  108 See above, pp. 86 f.

  109 See above, pp. 92 f.

  110 See above, p. 93.

  111 See above, p. 89.

  112 Rules for the transaction of papal business, including such matters as appointments and the like. At Worms (1521) the Estates complain that these rules are made to the advantage of the “courtesans” and the disadvantage of the Germans. (Wrede, op. cit., II, pp. 675 f.)

  113 The local Church authorities, here equivalent to “the bishops.” On use of term see Realencyk., XIV, 424.

  114 The sign of the episcopal office; as regards archbishops, the pallium; see above, p. 8q, and note.

  115 See above, p. 87, note 1.

  116 The first of the ecumenical councils (A. D. 325). The decree to which Luther here refers is canon IV of that Council. Cf. Köhler, L. und die Kg., pp. 139 ff.

  117 The primate is the ranking archbishop of a country.

  118 “Exemption” was the practice by which monastic houses were withdrawn from the jurisdiction of the bishops and made directly subject to the pope. The practice seems to have originated in the X Century with the famous monastery of Cluny (918), but it was almost universal in the case of the houses of the mendicant orders. The bishops made it a constant subject of complaint, and the Lateran Council (Dec. 19, 1516) passe
d a decree abolishing all monastic exemptions, though the decree does not seem to have been effective. See Creighton, History of the Papacy, V, 266.

  119 i. e., Antichrist. See above, p. 73, note 2.

  120 The papal interference in the conduct of the local Church courts was as flagrant as in the appointments, of which Luther has heretofore spoken. At Worms (1521) it was complained that cases were cited to Rome as a court of first instance, and the demand was made that a regular course of appeals should be re-established. Wrede, op. cit., II, 672, 718.

  121 The reference is Canon V of the Council of Sardica (A. D. 343), incorporated in the canon law as a canon of Nicaea (Pt. II, qu. 6, c. 5). See Köhler, L. und die Kg., 151.

  122 i. e., Appealed to Rome for decision. This is the subject of the first of the 102 Gravamina of 1521 (Wrede, op. cit., II, 672).

  123 The judges in the bishops’ courts. The complaint is that they interfere with the administration of justice by citing into their courts cases which properly belong in the lay courts, and enforce their verdicts (usually fines) by means of ecclesiastical censures. The charges against these courts are specified in the Gravamina of 1521, Nos. 73-100 (Wrede, op. cit., II, 694-703).

  124 The signatura gratiae and the signatura justitiae were the bureaus through which the pope regulated those matters of administration which belonged to his own special prerogative.

  125 See above, pp. 88 f.

  126 See above, p. 88, note 3.

  127 See above, p. 94.

  128 i. e., The cases in which a priest was forbidden to give absolution. The reference here is to cases in which only the pope could absolve. Cf. The XCV Theses, Vol. I, p. 30.

  129 A papal bull published annually at Rome on Holy Thursday. It was directed against heretics, but to the condemnation of the heretics and their heresies was added a list of offences which could receive absolution only from the pope, or by his authorisation. In 1522 Luther translated this bull into German as a New Year present for the pope (Weimar Ed., VIII, 691). On Luther’s earlier utterances concerning it, see Kohler, L. u. die Kg., pp. 59 2.