Agricola, JOHANN

Agricola, JOHANN (originally Schnitter or Schneider, called also Magister Islebius from his birthplace), born 1492, was one of the most zealous founders of Protestantism. Having studied at Wittenberg and Leipzig, he was sent in 1525 by Luther to Frankfurt, to institute the Protestant worship there. After his return, he preached in his native town of Eisleben until appointed to a chair at Wittenberg, which, however, he had to resign for his opposition to Luther and Melanchthon in the great Antinomian controversy. He retired to Berlin, where he became court preacher to the elector, and here he died in 1566. He took an active part in the drawing up of the Augsburg Interim (q.v.). He wrote many theological books, but his collection of German proverbs with their explanations (first published in Low German in 1528, in High German in 1529) has assured him a permanent place in German literary history. See Kawerau, Johann Agricola (1881).