Lazarus Spengler (13 March 1479 inNuremberg – 7 September 1534 in Nuremberg) was a prominent supporter ofMartin Luther and leader of theProtestant Reformation in Nuremberg, as well as a famoushymnwriter.[1]
Spengler was the son of Georg and Agnes Spengler, and he was the 9th of 21 children. His father was aclerk in theImperial Court of Justice. Lazarus Spengler enrolled in theUniversity of Leipzig in 1491. Upon the death of his father in 1496, Spengler returned to Nuremberg and obtained a position in the office of the Nurembergtown clerk (Raths Syndikus). In 1507, he became the town clerk.
He metMartin Luther in 1518, when Luther passed through Nuremberg. Spengler became an ardent supporter, publishingSchutzred supporting Luther in 1519. He was active in reforming the church in Nuremberg, which drew unfavorable attention from religious conservatives. Spengler was one of Luther's supporters mentioned by name inPope Leo X'sbullExsurge Domine, issued on 15 June 1520, threatening toexcommunicate Luther and his followers if they did not submit to the pope. With the support of the Nuremberg town council, Spengler refused to submit to the pope, and was subsequently excommunicated along with Luther by the pope on 3 January 1521, by the bullDecet Romanum Pontificem. In April 1521, Nuremberg sent Spengler as a delegate to theDiet of Worms.
Spengler and the Nuremberg town council continued to reform the church in Nuremberg throughout the 1520s, and in 1525, Spengler traveled toWittenberg to consult Luther andPhilipp Melanchthon about the possibility of converting theBenedictineÄgidienstift into a Protestantgymnasium. Luther and Melanchthon looked favorably on the proposal, and the gymnasium was opened by Melanchthon on 23 May 1526. In 1528, Spengler worked with the other reformers to convince theElector of Saxony,John the Steadfast to authorize acanonical visitation, an activity that had previously been conducted exclusively byRoman Catholicbishops. Spengler participated in the negotiations at theDiet of Augsburg in 1530, where he was a vocal defender of strict Lutheranism.
He was largely responsible for the design of theLuther rose, adopted by Luther at the time of the Diet of Augsburg. He is also remembered as the author of severalhymns, some of which remain inLutheran hymn books to this day. One of these, "Durch Adams Fall ist ganz verderbt" (All Mankind Fell In Adam's Fall), is quoted in theBook of Concord, the official Lutheran confession.[2]
