Wednesday, May 27, 2026

It is the 27th of May 2026. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

 

I’ll admit- I was first drawn to this character because his name is Bernhard Adelmann von Adelmannsfeld. How we started using last names is a story in and of itself, but there was a man, born on this day in 1459, whose family felt the need to tell you that he was nobility (Adelmann means “Nobleman”) and they were from, appropriately, the Nobleman’s field- Adelmannsfeld is still a small town in southern Germany, north of Augsburg.

 

So this Bernhard had some noble blood, which his family was determined you know about. But it was his work in the late medieval church that would intersect directly with Martin Luther and help spur the Reformation.

 

Bernard was born to the Knight George III Adelmann of Adelmannsfeld, one of 14 sons who either became knights themselves or went into church work. Bernard would take the ecclesiastical route- studying theology and working in the late medieval Catholic Church- eventually heading the Cathedral school in Augsburg by 1505.

 

It would be hard to overstate the significance of Augsburg in these days (you might remember how many Reformation documents and movements have the word “Augsburg” tied to them). This was the free imperial city run by the Fugger banking family- the richest and most influential family in early modern Germany. This city attracted a kind of statesman and scholar who was generally happy to keep the status quo amidst the emerging chaos of early modern Germany (after all, if things are going that well for you, you’d like everyone to remain as chill as possible).

 

But it was Bernhard’s thirst for the new knowledge- the “humanism” of figures like Erasmus that would help spawn the Reformation. After traveling and studying in places like Heidelberg and Basel, he joined a small band of Augsburg humanists that traded texts and ideas.

 

It was these texts and ideas that would get him into trouble. One of them was the controversy regarding Johannes Reuchlin, a humanist who collected and translated Hebrew texts. He was a key figure in helping translate the Old Testament and was opposed by a group of Dominicans. Support for Reuchlin effectively barred Bernard from any upward mobility and placed him in the camp of those held in suspicion by the Catholic hierarchy (Reuchlin was the great uncle of Philip Melanchthon, the sometime right-hand man of Luther).

 

Bernard Adelmann von Adelmannsfeld would also support the work of those humanists who came to see the banking ventures of families like the Fuggers as usurious. Yes, some interest might be charged- but not the outrageous 5% that made them so wealthy. You might imagine that being on the wrong side of Augsburg’s banking elite might get him in hot water. And it was the Fugger’s bulldog, one Johannes Eck, who set out in writing to destroy Bernard’s reputation. The Eck/Bernard feud reached a fever pitch in the fateful year of 1517.

 

Remember, the 95 Thesis of Martin Luther was an attack on the indulgence system, which was put in place in its current form on account of the Archbishop, who borrowed enormous sums of money from the Fuggers and had to pay them back. And so, Bernard and Luther would be linked. Luther would send Bernard a copy of his 95 Theses, making him one of the earliest confirmed humanists to read them. When Luther was called to Augsburg in 1518 to debate Cardinal Cajetan, the two met- it is a great loss that their correspondence has been lost.

 

When the Papal Bull excommunicating Luther came out in 1520, Eck added Bernard's name to the Bull, only to have Bernard swear that he had never met Luther (he would apologize for this and Luther would write fondly of “Our Adelmann” to his colleagues.

 

Adelmann would die in 1523, having just lived amongst the early turbulent years of the Reformation. His family ties and work in Augsburg made it too difficult for him to join the Reformation movement- his life, career, and salary being so wrapped up in the church. He represents the many who found the ideas of the Reformation intriguing, but remained in that middle place (I’ll not call it Purgatory… that’s a little on the nose here). Today we remember Bernhard Adelmann von Adelmanns Field- the Catholic Humanist in Augsburg whose life intersects with Luther's and was an important figure in the early Reformation. Born on this day in 1459, he was 64 years old.

 

 

 

 

The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary and John 7- more Pentecostal adjacent readings:

37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

 

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 27th of May 2026, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by Christopher Gillespie von Gillespiesfeld.

The show is written and read by a man who notes that with “Eck” and the “Fuggers,” it really is “fun names to say day”- I’m the almost rhyming: Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.