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Book of Concord

(Encyclopedia)Book of Concord, name under which the collected documents of the authoritative confessions of faith of the Lutheran Church were published in 1580, the 50th anniversary of the Augsburg Confession. The ...

indulgence

(Encyclopedia)indulgence, in the Roman Catholic Church, the pardon of temporal punishment due for sin. It is to be distinguished from absolution and the forgiveness of guilt. The church grants indulgences out of th...

Sickingen, Franz von

(Encyclopedia)Sickingen, Franz von fränts fən zĭˈkĭngən [key], 1481–1523, German knight. Placed under the ban of the Holy Roman Empire because of his profitable forays along the Rhine, he served King Franci...

Faber, Johannes

(Encyclopedia)Faber, Johannes yōhäˈnəs fäˈbər [key], 1478–1541, German churchman. His German surname was Heigerlin. He was a Dominican. After 1531 he was bishop of Vienna. Faber was friendly at first (unti...

Coverdale, Miles

(Encyclopedia)Coverdale, Miles, 1488–1569, b. Yorkshire. English translator of the Bible, educated at Cambridge. Coverdale was ordained (1514) and entered the house of Augustinian friars at Cambridge. After devel...

Peasants' War

(Encyclopedia)Peasants' War, 1524–26, rising of the German peasants and the poorer classes of the towns, particularly in Franconia, Swabia, and Thuringia. It was the climax of a series of local revolts that dated...

Capito, Wolfgang Fabricius

(Encyclopedia)Capito, Wolfgang Fabricius kăpˈĭtō, Ger. vôlfˈgäng fäbrēˈtsyo͝os käˈpētō [key], 1478–1541, German Protestant reformer, whose original family name was Köpfel. As a well-known humanist...

Benno, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Benno, Saint, d. 1106, German prelate. He was bishop of Meissen and an ardent supporter of Pope Gregory VII against Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV, and the emperor had him deposed. He was reinstated on G...

Marburg an der Lahn

(Encyclopedia)Marburg an der Lahn märˈbo͝ork än dĕr län [key] or Marburg, city (1994 pop. 76,582), Hesse, Germany, on the Lahn River. It is chiefly known for its Protestant university, founded in 1527 by Phil...

Eisleben

(Encyclopedia)Eisleben īsˈlābən [key], city, Saxony-Anhalt, E Germany, at the foot of the Harz Mts. It is ...