Life of the Famous Antonius Corvinus

yet at least they would never have reached their full greatness, if GOD had not raised up Your Excellency’s original: "Excellenz"; a formal title of address for high-ranking nobility or officials. magnanimous and charitable ancestors, who—through a generosity inherent to this noble lineage—drew out the exceptional gifts and skill of this man Referring to the subject of the biography, Antonius Corvinus (1501–1553), a key Lutheran reformer in Lower Saxony. from their obscurity, and placed them into that light in which he, in his time, became useful to so many lands and people.

Would I not make myself guilty of ingratitude if I were to neglect to present to Your Excellency that which has attained its reality and brilliance through the providence of Your Noble House? I need not even mention that Your particular testimonies of favor provide me with a new motivation to present these few pages as a token of my particular desire to show gratitude to... The text ends mid-word here; the catchword "chen" on the next page completes the word "überreichen," meaning "to present" or "to hand over."