Cyriacus Spangenberg
Encyclopedia
Cyriacus was born in Nordhausen
Nordhausen
Nordhausen is a town at the southern edge of the Harz Mountains, in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Nordhausen...
. As a student, he was a fellow tenant of Martin Luther
Martin Luther
Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...
in Wittenberg, later became a minister in Eisleben, and in 1559 the General Dean of the Grafschaft Mansfeld.
In January 1575, he lost his place at Mansfeld because in the Flacian controversy he sided with Matthias Flacius
Matthias Flacius
Matthias Flacius Illyricus was a Lutheran reformer.He was born in Carpano, a part of Albona in Istria, son of Andrea Vlacich alias Francovich and Jacobea Luciani, daughter of a wealthy and powerful Albonian family...
. Along with Flacius, he taught that through original sin some of the substantial faculties of men were also corrupted. This contradicted the doctrine of his opponents that only accidental faculties were depraved. He served as a pastor at Schlitz, Hesse from 1580 until getting expelled in 1590. After getting expelled, he went on a short retreat to Vacha
Vacha, Germany
Vacha is a town in the Wartburgkreis district, in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated on the river Werra, 15 km west of Bad Salzungen, and 23 km east of Bad Hersfeld....
before moving to Strasburg
Strasburg, Germany
Strasburg is a town in the Vorpommern-Greifswald district of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is situated in the historic Uckermark region, about west of Pasewalk, and east of Neubrandenburg....
, where his youngest son, Wolfhart Spangenberg, a celebrated poet, lived, and where he died on February 10, 1604. Among the last pupils of Luther, Spangenberg is the most prominent.
He wrote about 150 works. As a historian he wrote Mansfeldi Chronica, Saxonian Chronica, and other publications. His Adelsspiegel is probably the most important early-modern aristocracy treatise. Also he wrote How Husbands Ought to Behave and What every Christian should make...Confession of Faith.