He was born at
Augsburg, and educated there, at
Ulm (1502), in
Italy (he met
Erasmus in
Rome), at
Bern (1508), and studied theology in
Leipzig (1510) and
Wittenberg (1513). According to his son, he entered the ministry in August 1514, while at Bern. He was for some time a military chaplain. In 1516, he became pastor of
Jengen, near Augsburg, where he introduced ideas of the Reformation. Openly proclaiming his adhesion to
Martin Luther's doctrine, he was imprisoned for half a year (1520 or 1522) at
Dillingen, by order of the
bishop of Augsburg; a death sentence was commuted to banishment through the influence of
Isabella, wife of
Christian II of Denmark and sister of
Charles V. Returning to Wittenberg, he met Luther, and acted as tutor to the sons of
Franz von Sickingen at
Ebernburg castle. After the siege of the Ebernburg by
Richard Greiffenklau, the
archbishop of Trier, on 6 June 1523, he returned to Wittenberg to teach
Hebrew, and aided Luther in his version of the
Old Testament. The dates and particulars of his career are uncertain until 1527, when he became pastor at Saalfeld, an office which Luther procured for him. In 1528, he was superintendent. He wrote
Christliche Bedenken auf das Interim (Christian thoughts on the Interim, 1548), and
Das Interim illuminiert (The Interim illuminated, 1548) in vehement opposition to the
Augsburg Interim, and a warrant was put on his head by Charles V. This led him to take temporary shelter at
Rudolstadt with
Catherine, countess of Schwarzburg. In 1550, he was appointed dean of the Collegiatstift in
Schmalkalden. Here he had a controversy with
Andreas Osiander. Restored to Saalfeld after the
peace of Passau, not without opposition, in 1552, he remained there, still engaged in controversy, until his death at
Saalfeld. He was twice married, and left four sons. ==Works==