Melanchthon's First Letter about an Ethiopian Visitor to Luther's Wittenberg

One of the little-known events of the Reformation in Wittenberg was the visit there by an Ethiopian priest and monk in 1534. The visit has recently been the subject of the doctoral work of Stanislas Paulau, who has rescued the event from obscurity and even neglect and has discovered new information about the monk and his importance for Wittenberg's understanding of Eastern Christianity.¹ The visit itself has left its traces in three letters of Melanchthon as well as reminiscences in Luther's Table Talk. The earliest of the three letters, however, has itself been the subject of some debate, as recent scholars have cast doubt upon its connection to this visit, arguing that it refers to a different but similar visitor that same year.²

On 31 May 1534, Melanchthon wrote to his colleague in the Wittenberg law faculty Benedict Pauli, also Wittenberg's lawyer, discussing the appearance of a certain "Arab" there. By interpreting this letter as a reply to Pauli's legal concerns, its connection to the Ethiopian monk and to discussions between him and the reformers on theological matters becomes clearer and helps elucidate the importance of his visit for Wittenberg. This translation of the Latin letter is based upon the critical edition of Melanchthon's correspondence, which used the original now in the University Library of Cracow.³ To make the commentary easier to access, various sections of the letter have been numbered.

Letter 1444 31 May 1534

To the excellent man, Mr. Benedict Pauli, doctor of both [Roman and Ecclesiastical] Law, his esteemed patron [Philip Melanchthon] extends greetings.

1. 1. I am amazed that at this time, when it is otherwise a time fraught with public dangers and troubles, you should be concerned about this "wandering Arab."

2. 2. He has come here without any [letter of] recommendation.

3. 3. He talked about a few things with Luther through an interpreter, a scholar [or: teacher] of ours who knows Italian. (This man says that he speaks a very corrupt Italian, and it seems that way to me, too. He hardly knows any Latin at all.) Concerning the Trinity, he only said to Luther that the position of the Eastern Church agrees with the Western Church. We could not converse satisfactorily, since he does not understand any Western language correctly—neither Latin, nor Italian, nor Greek. I asked whether he knew how to write Greek. He admitted not knowing the Greek letters but only spoken Greek—I suspect as well as he knows Italian. Still, if he could write [in Greek], we would understand him in one way or another.

4. 4. His innkeeper is Valentin Eberhart, and he has traveling money. I hear that he will be departing tomorrow.

5. 5. He seems to me to be a man of superior intellect. But if we are not able to communicate with him fully, I cannot sufficiently judge concerning what he thinks about important issues of teaching or principles. I have invited him to dine with me this evening with a translator.

6. 6. I have encountered many similar "Arabs," but they were all unlearned and knew no academic language [at all].

7. 7. I think that he is no danger to the body politic.

Farewell! Trinity Sunday [31 May] 1534. Philip

Comments

"To Benedict Pauli." Benedict Pauli (1492–1552) was an important jurist in Wittenberg.⁴ He was born in Wittenberg and received his Bachelors of Arts and Law there before the Reformation and his doctorate of law in 1529. By the 1530s, not only was he professor of both Roman and ecclesiastical law, he also (as was the case for most law professors of the time) served the Saxon government and the city of Wittenberg as legal counsel. In 1524–1525 he oversaw Wittenberg's community chest, and in 1529, 1532, and 1535 he was the city's mayor. He was also active in the Saxon church visitations and a member of the city's Consistory. When Duke Moritz took over electoral Saxony after the Smalcald War, Pauli lost his positions but remained on Wittenberg's law...