X. INTRODUCTION. 



made Burgomaster by the command of the Prince. This would be Maurice, 

 and it is all the more a tribute to the high respect with which Agricola was 

 held, for, as said before, he was a consistent Catholic, and Maurice a Protestant 

 Prince. In this same year the Schmalkalden War broke out, and Agricola 

 was called to personal attendance upon the Duke Maurice in a diplomatic 

 and advisory capacity. In 1546 also he was a member of the Diet of Freiberg, 

 and was summoned to Council in Dresden. The next year he continued, by 

 the Duke's command. Burgomaster at Chemnitz, although he seems to have 

 been away upon Ducal matters most of the time. The Duke addresses^^ 

 the Chemnitz Council in March, 1547 : " We hereby make known to you 

 " that we are in urgent need of your Burgomaster, Dr. Georgius Agricola, 

 " with us. It is, therefore, our will that you should yield him up and forward 

 " him that he should with the utmost haste set forth to us here near Freiberg." 

 He was sent on various missions from the Duke to the Emperor Charles, to 

 King Ferdinand of Austria, and to other Princes in matters connected with the 

 war — the fact that he was a Catholic probably entering into his appointment 

 to such missions. Chemnitz was occupied by the troops of first one side, then 

 the other, despite the great efforts of Agricola to have his own town specially 

 defended. In April, 1547, the war came to an end in the Battle of Miihlberg, 

 but Agricola was apparently not relieved of his Burgomastership until the 

 succeeding year, for he wrote his friend Wolfgang Meurer, in April, 1548,^* 

 that he " was now relieved." His public duties did not end, however, for he 

 attended the Diet of Leipzig in 1547 and in 1549, and was at the Diet 

 at Torgau in 1550. In 1551 he was again installed as Burgomaster ; and in 

 1553, for the fourth time, he became head of the Municipality, and during 

 this year had again to attend the Diets at Leipzig and Dresden, representing 

 his city. He apparently now had a short reUef from public duties, for it is 

 not until 1555, shortly before his death, that we find him again attending a 

 Diet at Torgau. 



Agricola died on November 21st, 1555. A letter*' from his life-long friend, 

 Fabricius, to Melanchthon, announcing this event, states : " We lost, on 

 ' November 21st, that distinguished ornament of our Fatherland, Georgius 

 ' Agricola, a man of eminent intellect, of culture and of judgment. He 

 ' attained the age of 62. He who since the days of childhood had enjoyed 

 ' robust health was carried off by a four-days' fever. He had previously 

 ' suffered from no disease except inflammation of the eyes, which he brought 

 ' upon himself by untiring study and insatiable reading. . . I know that 

 ' you loved the soul of this man, although in many of his opinions, more 

 ' especially in religious and spiritual welfare, he differed in many points from 

 ' our own. For he despised our Churches, and would not be with us in the 

 ' Communion of the Blood of Christ. Therefore, after his death, at the 

 ' command of the Prince, which was given to the Church inspectors and 

 ' carried out by Tettelbach as a loyal servant, burial was refused him, and not 



"Hofmann, Op. cit., p. 99. 



"Weber, Virorum Clarorum Saeculi XVI. ei XVII. Epistolae SeUctae, Leipzig, 1894, p. 8. 



"Baumgarten-Crusius. Op. cit., p. 139. 



