Ambrosius Blarer (sometimes Ambrosius Blaurer), (April 4, 1492 – December 6, 1564) was an influential reformer in southern Germany and north-eastern Switzerland. April 4 is the 94th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (95th in leap years). ... Events January 2 - Boabdil, the last Moorish King of Granada, surrenders his city to the army of Ferdinand and Isabella after a lengthy siege. ... December 6 is the 340th day (341st on leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Events March 8 - Naples bans kissing in public under the penalty of death June 22 - Fort Caroline, the first French attempt at colonizing the New World September 10 - The Battle of Kawanakajima Ottoman Turks invade Malta Modern pencil becomes common in England Conquistadors crossed the Pacific Spanish found a colony...

Early Life

Ambrosius Blarer was born 1492 into an leading family of Constance. He studied theology in Tubingen where he met Philip Melanchthon with whom he kept a lifelong friendship. After getting his master‘s degree, he entered the Benedictine monastery in Alpirsbach . This article needs cleanup. ... Tübingen and the other cities of the Neckar River watershed Watershed of the Rhine River Tübingen, an old university city of Baden-Württemberg, Germany, is situated 20 miles southwest of Stuttgart, on a ridge between the River Neckar and the Ammer. ... Melancthon, in a portrait engraved by Albrecht Dürer, 1526 Philipp Melanchthon (February 16, 1497 - April 19, 1560) was a German theologian and writer of the Protestant Reformation and an associate of Martin Luther. ... A Benedictine is a person who follows the Rule of Saint Benedict, whether belonging to the Roman Catholic Church, or to one of the Anglican or Protestant churches. ...

Through his correspondence with Philip Melanchthon and his brother Thomas Blarer, a student in Wittenberg between 1520 and 1523, Ambrosius Blarer was well informed about Luther‘s teachings and began spreading them himself among his brothers. This led to a conflict between him and and his superiors and in 1522 Blarer fled the convent. He found refuge in his hometown; Constance was already well on the way to becoming reformed so he did not have to fear the consequences of breaking his vows. Nevertheless, he kept wearing his habit. Martin Luther (originally Martin Luder or Martinus Luther) (November 10, 1483 – February 18, 1546) was a German theologian and an Augustinian monk whose teachings inspired the Protestant Reformation and deeply influenced the doctrines of Lutheran, Protestant and other Christian traditions (a broad movement composed of many congregations and church bodies). ... Martin Luther (originally Martin Luder or Martinus Luther) (November 10, 1483 – February 18, 1546) was a German theologian and an Augustinian monk whose teachings inspired the Protestant Reformation and deeply influenced the doctrines of Lutheran, Protestant and other Christian traditions (a broad movement composed of many congregations and church bodies). ... The Protestant Reformation was a movement which began in the 16th century as a series of attempts to reform the Roman Catholic Church, but ended in division and the establishment of new institutions, most importantly Lutheranism, Reformed churches, and Anabaptists. ... Monasticism in Catholic monks or nuns as something to do with living in a monastery, from the Churchs point of view the focus has nothing to do with living in a monastery or performing any specific activity, rather the focus is on an ideal called the religious life, also... A habit is the usual condition or state of a person or thing, either natural or acquired, regarded as something had, possessed, and firmly retained. ...

Reformation of Constance

In February 1525, Blarer started preaching in Constance and he soon became a leading figure of the local Reformation. With his cousin and co-reformer Johannes Zwick and their brothers, Konrad Zwick and Thomas Blarer respectively, who were members of the city council (Thomas later became mayor), Blarer had a spiritually as well as influentially effective team to continue the reformation. A city council is the most common style of legislative government in a city or town. ...

The Constance Reformers were very idealistic, hoping to cleanse the city of all sin and evil. In 1526, a moral law was passed which prohibited dancing, drinking, swearing, adultery, etc. Enforcing the law proved difficult at first, until a new strategy was introduced in 1531; from then on all citizens had to take turns in functioning as moral guardians, reporting every violation of the law to the council. This eliminated the danger of the people‘s anger at the rules to be directed at any one person, as well as the danger of systematically overlooking friends and family. Sin has always been a term most usually used in a religious context, and today describes any lack of conformity to the will of God; especially, any willful disregard for the norms revealed by God is a sin. ... Morality is a complex system of general principles and particular judgments based on cultural, religious, and philosophical concepts and beliefs, by which an individual determines whether his or her actions are right or wrong. ...

Another speciality of the Constance Reformation was their love for music. Ambrosius wrote many educational and religious songs which were sung as part of the liturgy. Several of his songs can still be found in the Swiss Evangelical Hymn-Book. From the Greek word λειτουργια, which can be transliterated as leitourgia, meaning the work of the people, a liturgy comprises a prescribed religious ceremony, according to the traditions of a particular religion; it may refer to, or include, an elaborate formal ritual (such as the Catholic Mass), a daily activity...

Correspondence and Influence

Like Martin Bucer of Strasbourg, Blarer‘s theology was greatly influenced by both Zwingli and Luther. He tried to find a position which was acceptable to both parties, which mainly led to his exclusion from both groups. In 1530, Constance signed the Tetrapolitan Confession, the „Zwinglian“ counterpart of the Augsburg Confession, which was neither accepted by the Lutherans nor the Zwinglians. The Tetrapolitan Confession was also signed by Strasbourg (Bucer was its author) and by Memmingen and Ulm, two cities for which Blarer was the main reformer. Martin Bucer (or Butzer) (1491 - 1551) was a German Protestant reformer. ... City motto: – City proper (commune) Région Alsace Département Bas-Rhin (67) Mayor Fabienne Keller (UMP) (since 2001) Area 78. ... Zwinglis Successor Zwinglis successor, Heinrich Bullinger, was elected on December 9, 1531, to be the pastor of the Great Minster at Zürich, a position which he held to the end of his life (1575). ... Martin Luther (originally Martin Luder or Martinus Luther) (November 10, 1483 – February 18, 1546) was a German theologian and an Augustinian monk whose teachings inspired the Protestant Reformation and deeply influenced the doctrines of Lutheran, Protestant and other Christian traditions (a broad movement composed of many congregations and church bodies). ... The Augsburg Confession, in Latin Confessio Augustana, is the central document of the Lutheran reformation, which was a reaction against the Roman Catholic Church. ... Memmingen is a town in the Bavarian administrative region Swabia in Germany. ... Ulm is a city in Germany, part of the Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg (about 100 km south-east of Stuttgart). ...

Ambrosius Blarer kept up a wide network of correspondence to many reformers. The best known among them included: Philip Melanchthon, Ulrich Zwingli, John Calvin, Martin Bucer, Heinrich Bullinger, Andreas Karlstadt and Johannes Oecolampadius. Melancthon, in a portrait engraved by Albrecht Dürer, 1526 Philipp Melanchthon (February 16, 1497 - April 19, 1560) was a German theologian and writer of the Protestant Reformation and an associate of Martin Luther. ... Zwinglis Successor Zwinglis successor, Heinrich Bullinger, was elected on December 9, 1531, to be the pastor of the Great Minster at Zürich, a position which he held to the end of his life (1575). ... John Calvin John Calvin (July 10, 1509 – May 27, 1564) was a preeminent Christian theologian during the Protestant Reformation and is the namesake of the system of Christian theology called Calvinism. ... Martin Bucer (or Butzer) (1491 - 1551) was a German Protestant reformer. ... Heinrich Bullinger Heinrich Bullinger (July 18, 1504 - September 17, 1575) was a Swiss religious reformer. ... Andreas Rudolph Bodenstein, called Andreas Karlstadt because of his background, was a Christian theologian and reformer. ... Johannes Oecolampadius or Oekolampad (1482 - November 24, 1531) was a German religious reformer, whose real name was Hussgen or Heussgen (changed to Hausschein and then into the Greek equivalent). ...

Downfall

The ambitions of the Constance Reformers were shattered in 1548. Unlike the other members of the Schmalkaldic League, Constance had refused to negotiate with Emperor Charles V unless they could obtain the right to keep the protestant faith. This ended in the battle at the city gates on August 6, 1548, which Constance won, but to prevent further losses, the council finally had to agree to the Emperor‘s conditions. Because they had refused negotiations for so long, they were not only forced to abandon their protestant faith, but also lost their title of Imperial Free City and became subject to Catholic Habsburg Austria. Events Mary I of Scotland sent to France Births Giordano Bruno, Italian philosopher, astronomer, occultist, and heretic, (burned at the stake) 1600 Cornelis Ketel, Dutch painter Carel van Mander, Dutch painter and poet (d. ... The Schmalkaldic League was a defensive league of Protestant princes in the Holy Roman Empire in the mid-16th century. ... Charles (February 24, 1500 – September 21, 1558) was Holy Roman Emperor (as Charles V) from 1519-1558; he was also King of Spain from 1516-1556, officially as Charles I of Spain, although often referred to as Charles V (Carlos Quinto or Carlos V) in Spain and Latin America. ... August 6 is the 218th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (219th in leap years), with 147 days remaining. ... Events Mary I of Scotland sent to France Births Giordano Bruno, Italian philosopher, astronomer, occultist, and heretic, (burned at the stake) 1600 Cornelis Ketel, Dutch painter Carel van Mander, Dutch painter and poet (d. ... In the Holy Roman Empire, an Imperial Free City (in German: Freie Reichsstadt) was a city formally responsible to the Emperor only — as opposed to the majority of cities in the Empire, which belonged to a territory and were thus governed by one of the many princes and dukes of... This is the history of Austria. ...

Blarer had already fled before the battle. He lived the rest of his life in exile, in Biel and Winterthur. In the Swiss Confederation he kept on preaching the gospel and advising numerous reformers who turned to him for help. He died in Winterthur December 6, 1564. Place du Ring in Biel/Bienne Biel/Bienne is a town in the Canton of Bern in Switzerland. ... Winterthur is a city in the Canton of Zurich in Switzerland. ...

Sources

1. Martin Burkhardt, Wolfgang Dobras, Wolfgang Zimmermann, "Konstanz in der frühen Neuzeit", Konstanz: Stadler Verlags Gesellschaft mbH, 1991 ISBN 379772590
2. ed. Traugott Schiess, "Briefwechsel der Brüder Ambrosius und Thomas Blaurer 1509-1567", Freiburg: Ernst Fehsenfeld, 1908
3. ed. Willi Bidermann, "Das reformatorische Meisterstück des Ambrosius Blarer"