Concordia Publishing House has just published a new biography of Frederick the Wise
, the powerful Duke of Saxony who was Luther’s protector. I was able to read an advance copy, and it is excellent. The book, by the multi-faceted biographer Sam Wellman, puts the reader in the middle of the life and times of late Medieval Saxony, with all of the intrigue and high-stakes politics that characterized the Holy Roman Empire. And Frederick emerges as a formidable figure, someone the Emperor relied on so much that he dared not arrest the Duke’s pet theologian. Also, contrary to other things I had read, Frederick was very much a “Lutheran” who appreciated above all Luther’s emphasis on the Scriptures. After the jump, a link to the book, and the endorsement I wrote for it.My endorsement for Sam Wellman, Frederick the Wise: Seen and Unseen Lives of Martin Luther’s Protector (CPH):
In a biography with the character development, twists and turns, and absorbing story-line of a novel, Sam Wellman recreates the life and times of the powerful and resourceful ruler who made the Reformation possible. Duke Frederick emerges as the adult in the room of squabbling princes and an inept Emperor. A man of peace, a vigorous patron of the arts and education, and a skillful player in the byzantine mazes of late medieval politics, Frederick was also a man of moral and theological contradictions. But Frederick was a shrewd and stalwart defender of Martin Luther, who was not above criticizing his protector. This book brings the historical context of the Reformation alive.
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