Politische Korrespondez des Herzogs und Kurfursten Moritz von Sachsen. Vol. III: 1. Januar1547-25. Mai 1548. by Johannes Hermann; Gunther WartenbergReview by: Thomas A. Brady, Jr.The Sixteenth Century Journal, Vol. 13, No. 1 (Spring, 1982), p. 113Published by: The Sixteenth Century JournalStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2539928 .

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Book Reviews 113

Politische Korrespondenz des Herzogs und Kurfursten Moritz von Sachsen. Vol. III: 1. Januar 1547-25. Mai 1548, Edited by Johannes Hermann and Gunther Wartenberg. Abhandlungen der Sdchsischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig, philologisch-historische Klasse, Vol. 68, No. 3. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1978. 915 pp. 88, -M.

Seventy-eight years after Erich Brandenburg produced the first volume of the diplomatic correspondence of Elector Moritz of Saxony, volume three came into our hands. The long, sad story of this edition is told in the "Foreword" to this volume, the appearance of which is a monument to the tenacity and dedication of our colleagues in the German Democratic Republic. The volume contains 1107 numbered documents, with nearly as many more sum- marized in the notes. The bulk of the material comes from archives in the GDR (chiefly, of course, Dresden) and the Federal Republic of Germany, plus Brussels, Copenhagen and Vien- na. The editors made two important changes in preparing this volume. First, they decided to abandon Brandenburg's restriction of the documents to acts of foreign policy, and they took up many documents bearing on internal policy and ecclesiastical affairs in the Albertine Saxon lands. With the second change not all users will be happy: the documents are presented in sum- maries and excerpts, with occasional full texts (as No. 1095, the Interim of Augsburg).

Moritz, "the German Judas," was a living monument to the principle of raison d'etat. Hav- ing come to power in the Albertine Saxon line only because of a rash of deaths in the family of Duke George the Bearded, Moritz proceeded to join with the emperor to attack his cousin, Elector Johann Friedrich, thereby sealing the doom of the Protestant league of Smalkalden. Moritz' reward was the electorate and a good part of his cousin's lands, and the power of the Ernestine line was broken forever. In gratitude for the electorate, in 1552 Moritz led the princes' rebellion against Charles V and robbed the emperor of most of the fruits of the victory of 1547.

This volume begins in mid-war after the Danube campaign of the fall, 1546. Johann Fredrich returned to Saxony and attacked his cousin's city of Leipzig, but not very vigorously. He in fact repeated the error of the Danube campaign, when at Ingolstadt he could not bring himself to risk an attack. He shot up Liepzig for a couple of weeks and then broke off (No. 493). Then, instead of gathering his strength to meet the oncoming Habsburg army, Johann Friedrich frittered away his troops, money, and time. It is perfectly clear that Johann Friedrich was incompetent to command the troops of the Smalkaldic League or any others, but what the documents in this volume also bring out (see No. 4) is that this prince believed he was called by God to defend the gospel, and that therefore defeat was impossible. He must have been terribly surprised when some of the Wittenberg professors who had encouraged him to believe in his calling, such as Melanchthon and Bugenhagen, rushed to become loyal servants of his con- queror (Nos. 696-698). It may not be far wrong to say that the gullible incompetence of Johann Friedrich was no less responsible for the fall of the Smalkaldic League than were the ambition and greed of Moritz.

Among the other topics greatly illuminated by this volume are the settlement between the two Saxon princes (Wittenberg Capitulation, No. 584), Moritz' settlement about the war with his old and new lands (Landtag at Leipzig, July 13-23, 1547, Nos. 673-695), and Moritz' role at the Diet of Augsburg of 1547-48. There Moritz received the electorate from Charles (Nos. 998- 999, 1001). Although his chief advisors were reform-minded Catholics from the days of Duke George, not Lutherans, there was so much opposition in his own lands that Moritz did not dare accept the terms of the Interim. With the beginning of resistance to the Interim, this volume closes.

A very fine index makes the riches of this volume accessible. The "Foreword" contains the good news that we shall not have long to wait for the next two volumes. The editors deserve our heartfelt thanks.

Thomas A. Brady, Jr. University of Oregon

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