P F A 
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30 
power of creating doflors of divinity. In 1727, he was 
nominated abbot of Laureac; and, in 1731, appointed a 
member of the Royal Academy at Berlin. Dr. Pfaff was 
not only eminent for exalted talents and acquirements, 
but alfo for his moderation and Chriftian charity. For 
when, about the year 1723, efforts were making to pro¬ 
mote an union between the Lutheran and Reformed 
churches, he joined feveral Lutheran doflors, who em¬ 
ployed their good offices, with Zealand fmcerity, in order 
to bring about that definable event. Their attempt, 
however, was fo warmly opppfed by the greater part of 
their Lutheran brethren, who poffeffed' lefs liberal and 
enlightened minds,'that it mifcarried in a (hort time. 
The reafons which Dr. Pfaff publiffied in junification of 
the part which he took upon that occafion, refledl great 
honour on the accuracy and foundnefs of his judgment, 
and are worthy of the truly ChrilHan fpirit by which he 
was actuated. We are not furnifhed with the date of his 
death. He publiffied a great number of dofirinal, prac¬ 
tical, and controverfial, treatifes, many of which are 
particularized in Moreri, and in the Gen. Biog. fee alfo 
Mqfheirn , free, xviii. 
PFAF'FENBERG, a town of Bavaria : fourteen miles 
north-well of Dingelfingen, and lixteen north of Land- 
ffiut. 
PFAF'FENDORF, a town of Bavaria, in the biffiop- 
ric of Bamberg : five miles fouth of Weifmain.—A town 
of Bavaria, in the bifhopric of Bamberg : five miles fouth- 
eaft of Lichtenfels. 
PFAF'FENDORF, a town of the duchy of Wurzburg: 
fix miles north of Ebern. 
PFAF'FENDORF, a village of Silefia, in the principa¬ 
lity of Leignitz ; one mile north of Leignitz.— A town 
of Pruffia, in the palatinate of Culm: ten miles eaft-fouth- 
eafl of Culm. 
PFAF'FENHAUSEN, a town of Bavaria, in the 
biffiopric of Auglburg, on the Mindel: three miles north 
of Miidenheim, and twenty-one fouth-weft of Auglburg. 
—A town of Bavaria : thirteen miles north-north-welt 
of Landfhut, and nine fouth-fouth-eall of Abenfperg. 
PFAF'FENHEIM, a town of France, in the depart¬ 
ment of the Upper Rhine : fix miles fouth of Colmar. 
PFAF'FENHOFEN, a town of Bavaria, on the Ilm : 
fourteen miles fouth-fouth-eall of Ingoldftadt, and twen¬ 
ty-four north of Munich. Lat. 48. 25. N. Ion. 11.28. E. 
PFAF'FENHOFEN, a town of Bavaria: thirteen 
miles fouth-weft of Amberg, and twenty-eight north- 
north-weftof Ratilbon. 
PFAF'FENHOFEN, a town of France, in the depart¬ 
ment of the Lower Rhine : nine miles weft of Haguenau. 
PFAF'FENHOFEN, a town of Germany, in the mar- 
gravate of Anfpach, on the Rednitz : two miles north of 
Roth. 
PFAF'FENKOVEN, a town of Wurtemberg: eight 
miles weft of Heilbronn, and eighteen north of Stuttgart. 
PFAF'FENREUT, a town of Germany in the princi¬ 
pality of Culmbach : five miles fouth-fouth-eaft of Won- 
fiedel. 
PFAF'FENSCHLAG, a town of Auftria : lour miles 
weft-north-weft of Bofmifch Waidoven. 
PFAF'FEYEY, a town of Swifl’erland, in the canton 
of Friburg : ten miles fouth-eall of Friburg. 
PFAFRO'DA, a town of Saxony, in the circle of 
Erzgebirg: lixteen miles Freyberg. 
PFAIDT. See Faido. 
PFAL'DORF, a town of Bavaria, in the principality of 
Aichftatt': fix miles north-eaft of Aichftatt. 
PFAL'ZEL, a town of Germany, on the Lower Rhine. 
Here was formerly a palace of the kings of the Franks, 
afterwards converted into a convent : three miles north- 
eaft of Treves, and ten fouth-eaft of Kylburg. 
PFAN'BERG, a town of the duchy of Stiria: ten 
miles north ot Gratz. 
PFAN'HEIM,a town of the duchy of Wurzburg: three 
miles eaft-north-eaft of Aut. 
PFAN'NER (Tobias), a learned German, was born at 
Auglburg in 1641. He ftudied at Altdorf, Gotha, and 
Jena; and acquired a profound knowledge of jurifpru- 
dence, philofophy, and theology. After having been 
fucceffively governor to feveral young gentlemen, the 
duke of Saxe-Gotha made him fecretary of his archives, 
and employed him to inftrudl hisfons in hiftory and po¬ 
litics. In 1686 he was nominated counfellor to all the 
Erneftine line. He was fo well verfed in public affairs, 
that he was called “the living archives of the houfe of 
Saxony.” He bore an eftimable character, but had con¬ 
tracted a melancholy difpofition from hard ftudy. This 
learned man died in 1717, at the age of 75. He was the 
author of feveral works written in Latin, of which the 
principal are, 1. A Hiftory of the Peace of Weftphalia, 
8vo. 1697. 2. A Hiftory of the Affembliesof 1652, 53, 
54. 3. A Treatife on the German Princes. 4. ATrea- 
tife on the Principle of Hiftorical Faith. 5. Theology 
of the Pagans. Moreri. 
PFAS'KIRCHEN, a town of Auftria : five miles north- 
weft: of Putzeinftorf. 
PFED'DERSHEIM, a town of the grand duchy of 
Heffe: twenty-four miles north-north-weft: of Spires, and 
twenty-three fouth of Mentz. 
PFED'ELBACH, a town of Germany, in the princi¬ 
pality of Hohenlohe : one mile fouth of Ohringen. 
PFEF'FERCORN (John), a famous converted Jew, 
originally known by the name of Jofeph. He was born 
towards the commencement of the 16th century; and 
being, after his converlion, at Cologne, he was inftiga- 
ted by fuch a furious zeal againft all Hebrew books, and 
thole who read them, that he endeavoured to perfuade 
the emperor Maximilian to caufe all fuch books to be 
burnt, the Bible alone excepted, “becaufe,” faid lie, 
“ they contain blafphemies, the principles of magic, and 
other dangerous matter.” Surprifed at fuch a declara¬ 
tion from a perfon who, he might naturally conceive, 
mull be well acquainted with the fail, tlve emperor ac¬ 
tually publiffied an edi£l, in the year 1510, which com¬ 
manded that all Hebrew books, excepting the Bible, 
ffiould be brought to the town-houfe, that fuch as con¬ 
tained any blafphemies might be committed to the flames. 
The learned John Capnio, or Reuchiin, who believed 
that the real objedt in view was to extort money from the 
Jews, ftrongly protefted againft this edict, which he 
lliowed to be of a dangerous tendency, and refuted to 
obey it. Hence arofe a conteft between thofe who ap¬ 
proved and thofe who difapproved the books of the Jews, 
which produced many fpirited writings on both tides. 
Capnio was fupported by the celebrated Ulric of Hutten, 
who then publiffied his “ Epiftolae obfeurorum Virorum,” 
in order to ridicule the monks, whofe declamations 
againft Hebrew books were peculiarly intemperate. To 
fliow their refentment againft Capnio for the part which 
he had taken, the clergy of Cologne burnt his writings 
on the fubjedl. The queftion in difpute was warmly agi¬ 
tated before the biffiops, in the public academies, and in 
the prefence of the pope. At length the caufe of Capnio 
proved triumphant, and the emperor’s edidt was not car¬ 
ried into execution. It was commonly believed that 
Pfeffercorn, mortified in the extreme at tbeiffue of this 
bufinefs, abjured Chriftianity, and returned to the pro- 
feffion of Judaifm; and that he was cruelly tortured and 
burnt alive for his crimes at Halle, in 1515. But the 
vidlirn referred to was another perfon of the fame name; 
fince the fubjedt of this article was-living in 1517. He 
was the author of, 1. Speculum Adhortationis Judaicse 
ad Chriftum. 2. Narratio de Ratione celebrandi Pafcha 
apud Judteos. 3. Hollis Judteorum. 4. De abolendis 
Judaeorem Scriptis. 5. Panegyricus, &c. Moreri. 
PFEF'FERS, an abbey of Swifferland, in the county of 
Sargans, founded in the year 720 ; and in the year 1196 
the abbot was made a prince of the empire. Near it are 
fome celebrated baths, which belong to the abbey: four 
miles fouth of Sargans. 
PFEF'FIEL. 
