The Correspondence of Wolfgang Capito. Vol. 3: 1532–1536 by Erika Rummel (review)

Of all the first-generation reformers, Wolfgang Capito’s journey toward adherence to the evangelical cause was one of the most difficult and painful. As professor of theology at Basel, he was a friend of both Desiderius Erasmus and the printer Johann Froben. It was Capito who suggested to Froben the collected edition of Martin Luther’s early works that did so much to spread Luther’s teaching beyond Germany. In 1520 he became an adviser to Cardinal Albrecht von Brandenburg, archbishop of Mainz; even when, after much agonizing, he resigned his positions in the old church, these bonds remained strong. Here, in the third volume of this excellent edition of Capito’s correspondence, a storm erupts when Capito decided to publish a German translation of Erasmus’s De Concordia. This was already a risky venture, despite a preface that distanced the translator from the contents, and Capito only compounded the offense by adding a fulsome dedication to his old patron the archbishop. The judgment of fellow reformers was severe. An Augsburg friend reported that when the work was read aloud in the office of a local pharmacist (a charming and significant detail), “Some people were almost moved to fury because of the inconstancy shown by the preachers. Such things make many people exclaim, ‘By God and by the faith of men! The theologians barter with our souls, and play an atrocious tragedy!’” (Letter 522).

This incident illustrates the undoubted truth that academics do not always have the necessary skillset to negotiate a complex political environment—in Capito’s case, the intricacies of church building and interconfessional rivalries. By 1532, when this volume opens, Capito is a diminished figure, worn down by illness and playing second fiddle to Martin Bucer in Strasbourg. Many of the letters in this volume are institutional rather than personal, addressed collectively by the Strasbourg ministers or drafted by Bucer for their joint signature. This is the everyday life of a senior member of the ministerial team in one of Germany’s leading Protestant cities: offering advice to other churches, attempting to find suitable ministers for insufficiently staffed churches, and giving formal written guidance to the city council. Capito shows himself to be a good team player, but his personal feelings do not often shine through. He seldom unburdens himself to friends; indeed, much of the more personal correspondence in this volume consists of incoming letters from friends elsewhere. These letters demonstrate that Capito was a man who still commanded respect and affection but was not the figure of towering influence that might have been expected when he first adhered to the Reformation. The seasoned team of Erika Rummel and Milton Kooistra have done their usual excellent job of presenting smooth and lucid translations; the footnotes are concise and learned. Where letters are published elsewhere (in the correspondence of Heinrich Bullinger, John Calvin, Martin Bucer, Joachim Vadian, or Bonifacius Amerbach), they are summarized here. There is one further volume to be published to complete this excellent project.