Bugenhagen

Bugenhagen, JOHANN, surnamed Doctor Pomeranus or Pommer, one of Luther's chief helpers in the Reformation, was born in 1485 near Stettin, in Pomerania, studied at Greifswald, and as early as 1503 became rector of the Treptow academy. In 1520 his religious views were changed by reading Luther's little book, De Captivitate Babylonica. He now took himself to Wittenberg, where he busied himself in preaching and teaching in the university. His great talent for organisation found work to do in establishing churches in Brunswick, Hamburg, Lübeck, and Pomerania, and in reforming the ecclesiastical establishments of Denmark, whither he was called by Christian III. in 1537. He died 20th April 1558. Bugenhagen aided Luther in his translation of the Bible. Of his own works the best is his Interpretatio in Librum Psalmorum (1523). His Life has been written by Bellermann (1859), Vogt (1868), and Zitzlaff (1885).