Melanchthon and Johannes Brenz, with some other German Lutherans, actually started in 1552 on the journey to Trent.

A former pupil of an eminent German scholar and educationist Valentin Friedland, Martin Helwig went on to study at the University of Wittenberg where as a student of Martin Luther and Philip Melanchthon he earned the academic degree of Magister, in 1552 he became Rector of St. Maria Magdalena School in Breslau ( now Wrocław, in Poland ).

Leonard Cox's The Art or Crafte of Rhetoryke ( c. 1524-1530 ; second edition published in 1532 ) is considered to be the earliest text on rhetorics in English ; it was, for the most part, a translation of the work of Philipp Melanchthon.

He was born Philipp Schwartzerdt ( of which " Melanchthon " is a Greek translation ) on 16 February 1497, at Bretten, near Karlsruhe, where his father Georg Schwarzerdt was armorer to Philip, Count Palatine of the Rhine.

Johann Eck having attacked his views, Melanchthon replied based on the authority of Scripture in his Defensio contra Johannem Eckium ( Wittenberg, 1519 ).

Melanchthon continued to lecture on the classics.

While the confession was based on Luther's Marburg and Schwabach articles, it was mainly the work of Melanchthon.

He repulsed the attack of Cordatus in a letter to Luther and his other colleagues by stating that he had never departed from their common teachings on this subject, and in the Antinomian Controversy of 1537 Melanchthon was in harmony with Luther.

In his controversy on justification with Andreas Osiander Melanchthon satisfied all parties.

In lecturing on the Librorum de judiciis astrologicis of Ptolemy in 1535 – 6, Melanchthon expressed to students his interest in Greek mathematics, astronomy and astrology.

On the other hand, Luther wrote of Melanchthon, in the preface to Melanchthon's Commentary on the Galatians ( 1529 ), " I had to fight with rabble and devils, for which reason my books are very warlike.

" However, it can not be denied that Luther was the more magnanimous, for however much he was at times dissatisfied with Melanchthon's actions, he never uttered a word against his private character ; but Melanchthon, on the other hand, sometimes evinced a lack of confidence in Luther.

In 1549 Languet went to Wittenberg, where he was kindly received by Melanchthon as a guest, frequently accompanying him on his travels and being on intimate terms with his friends.

In 1559 Languet, on the recommendation of Melanchthon, entered the service of the elector of Saxony as diplomatic agent, which position he held until 1577.

The Allies agreed not to bomb Wittenberg, though there was fighting in the city, with bullet pock-marks visible on the statues of Luther and Melanchthon at the market square, or so the popular version of the city's history goes.

He concentrated on the lectures of Philipp Melanchthon, who was an expert in Greek, the original language of the New Testament.

Later, Bucer sought agreement on common articles of faith such as the Tetrapolitan Confession and the Wittenberg Concord, working closely with Philipp Melanchthon on the latter.

This prompted Melanchthon to call a meeting with Bucer and after lengthy discussions they agreed on nine theses, which they sent to Luther and to Strasbourg.

Philipp Melanchthon worked closely with Bucer on many theological documents to advance the reformed cause.

Charles created a small committee, consisting of Johannes Eck, Gropper, and Julius Pflug on the Catholic side and Melanchthon, Bucer, and Johannes Pistorius on the Protestant side.

Rogers matriculated at the University of Wittenberg on 25 November 1540, where he remained for three years, becoming a close friend of Philipp Melanchthon and other leading figures of the early Protestant Reformation.

It is true, Melanchthon rejected the Augsburg Interim, which the emperor tried to force upon the defeated Protestants ; but in the negotiations concerning the so-called Leipzig Interim he made concessions which many feel can in no way be justified, even if one considers his difficult position, opposed as he was to the elector and the emperor.

As it was agreed upon to send a confession to Trent, Melanchthon drew up the Confessio Saxonica which is a repetition of the Augsburg Confession, discussing, however, in greater detail, but with moderation, the points of controversy with Rome.

There, he studied philosophy under Vitus Müller and theology under Jacob Heerbrand ( a student of Philipp Melanchthon at Wittenberg ), who also taught Michael Maestlin while he was a student, until he became Chancellor at Tübingen in 1590.

Luther, along with his colleague Philipp Melanchthon, emphasized this point in his plea for the Reformation at the Reichstag in 1529 amid charges of heresy.

But while Luther was absent at Wartburg Castle, during the disturbances caused by the Zwickau prophets, Melanchthon wavered.

Indeed, some would criticize Melanchthon's conduct at the Diet as unbecoming of the principle he promoted, implying that faith in the truth of his cause would logically have inspired Melanchthon to a more firm and dignified posture.

" In spite of the strained relations between them in the last years of Luther's life, Melanchthon exclaimed at Luther's death, " Dead is the horseman and chariot of Israel who ruled the Church in this last age of the world!

" It is remarkable that Luther, who vehemently attacked men like Erasmus and Bucer, when he thought that truth was at stake, never spoke directly against Melanchthon, and even during his melancholy last years conquered his temper.

The Philipp Melanchthon window attributed to the Quaker City Stained Glass Company of Philadelphia, PA at St. Matthew's German Evangelical Lutheran Church in Charleston, South Carolina

As a friend of Melanchthon he opposed the growing party of strict Lutherans ; but still he did everything in his power to reconcile the opposing parties, even trying to effect the recognition of the French Huguenots at the diet of Frankfurt in 1562, but without success.

With Melanchthon and other theologians then assembled at the Colloquy of Worms, Beza proposed a union of all Protestant Christians, but the proposal was decidedly denied by Zurich and Bern.

Luther returned Eck's assaults with more than equal vehemence and about this time Philipp Melanchthon wrote Œcolampadius that at Leipzig he had first become distinctly aware of the difference between what he considered to be true Christian theology and the scholasticism of the Aristotelian doctors.

He also was involved in the fruitless negotiations with the Protestant theologians, including Philipp Melanchthon, that took place at Augsburg ; Eck with Wimpina and Cochlæus met the Lutherans in August.

In January 1541 he renewed these efforts and succeeded in impressing Melanchthon as being prepared to give his assent to the main principles of the reformers, e. g. Justification by faith ; but at the diet of Regensburg in the spring and summer of 1541 his old violence reasserted itself in opposing all efforts at reconciliation and persuading the Catholic princes to reject the " Regensburg Interim " proposed.

He lived long enough to experience the first over throw of Crypto-Calvinism in the Electorate of Saxony, and Paul Crell, his son-in-law, signed for him at Torgau in May 1574 the articles which repudiated Calvinism and acknowledged the unity of Luther and Melanchthon.

* Text of Bucer's De Regno Christi, in the form of the Google preview ( starting at that latter half ) of the book, Melanchthon and Bucer.

In June 1553 he backed the Privy Council's invitation of Philip Melanchthon to become Regius Professor of Divinity at Cambridge University.

Oecolampadius was considered to be a brilliant Protestant theologian, who conversed with Johannes Eck, Philipp Melanchthon and was Professor of theology at the University of Basel.

In 1518 he was appointed professor of Hebrew and Greek at Wittenberg, but instead sent his nephew Melanchthon.

Charles's ally during the Schmalkaldic War, Maurice of Saxony, along with Melanchthon and his supporters, worked out within Maurice's estates a compromise known as the Leipzig Interim.