On the Life and Missions of Jacobus Andreae for the Reformation of the Lutheran Church, Part I

administered them, while Joannes Moeschius, a reasonably good man, read the Mass in the choir. Thus, through laudable perseverance, indefatigable assiduity, and finally popular arts, Jacobus achieved a state where he flourished most highly in the favor of the people and pleased the greatest men, Caspar Grætter, the Prince’s court preacher, and Joannes Brentius. For Ulricus and his court never conformed themselves to the Interimistic formula, which is why both Ulricus and Grætter were indulgent toward Jacobus in all things.

That he pleased Brentius contributed very much to fortifying his own dignity and happiness. For while he found an opportunity to flatter this man, he gained a patron who utilized Jacobus’s dexterity and prudence in every arduous cause. He first became known to Brentius at Tübingen, when he visited Leonhardus Fuchsius, who was joined to him by an old friendship, and who brought Jacobus into familiarity with Brentius. Soon, when Brentius began to know Jacobus’s character and virtues, he embraced him with singular affection, and Jacobus willingly attached himself to Brentius as a companion as he set out for Uracum to the Prince’s court.

The fame of Jacobus’s homiletic eloquence had already pervaded the entire Stuttgart and Tübingen area, such that he was called by Brentius himself to speak before the Prince. Therefore, Jacobus preached publicly in the Uracum temple before the Prince, and he pleased the Prince, who sent him back to Tübingen to perform the duties of a catechist. And even when he was finally restored as a deacon, he was still content with a moderate and frugal diet, and he sustained his life and family with difficulty—not, indeed, by the fault of Ulricus, who himself could scarcely give more, but by the fault of the ministers whose services the Prince used in administering the revenues. p It was not a light burden that seemed to be imposed upon Jacobus,

p) I do not know how, both before the times of Christophorus and after the beginnings of his rule, Hormoldus made himself most odious both to Jacobus and to almost all the pastors.