ABSTRACT
In November, Philip received a letter from Copenhagen from one John Spithovius, a former pupil of Philip Melanchthon in Wittenberg, who had stayed in Philip’s house. Melanchthon had been worried about radicals like the Anabaptists ever since the Zwickau Prophets and Munzter’s rebellion and these concerns can be traced in the structure of his various Loci. Melanchthon knew Rogers personally, and had recommended him for a pastorate in Germany. As more alarming news reached Germany, Melanchthon urged his fellow-Lutherans, now free under the provisions of the Peace of Augsburg, to do all they could to aid those being persecuted for the truth’s sake. Melanchthon took up the cause of the exiles in a letter to the civil authorities in Wesel. Animosity to the exiles ran high, however, and with Hartmann Beyer pressing for their expulsion from Frankfurt as well, Melanchthon interceded with the city authorities there.
