Melanchthon, PHILIP, Luther's fellow-labourer in the Reformation, was born, February 16, 1497, at Bretten, in the Palatinate of the Rhine, now in the grand-duchy of Baden. His name was originally Schwarzerd ('black earth'), of which Melanchthon is a Greek translation. He was educated at the university of Heidelberg, where he took the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy in 1512. In the same year he went to Tübingen, studied theology, took the degree of Doctor, and in 1514 gave lectures on the Aristotelian philosophy and the classics. About this time he published a Greek grammar. On his relative Reuchlin's recommendation he was appointed in 1518 professor of Greek in Wittenberg. Brought into contact with Luther in that town, he at once became his fellow-worker in the great religious revolution with which Luther's name is identified. Melanchthon brought to his aid an extent of learning that made him to be regarded as another Erasmus, and a gift of lucid exposition and purity of Latin style unrivalled among his contemporaries. The natural sweetness of his temper and the habitual moderation of his views also advantageously tempered Luther's vehemence. In 1521 he published his Loci Communes Rerum Theologicarum, the first great Protestant work on dogmatic theology. It passed through more than fifty editions in the course of the author's life. In 1530 he made a most important contribution to the cause of Protestantism, in the Augsburg Confession (q.v.). In 1541 he went to Worms, and soon after to Ratisbon, to conduct the cause of the Protestants in the conferences there. But the influence of the papal legate counteracted all his efforts for a peaceful accommodation, and his own party were much dissatisfied on account of the concessions which he made. After Luther's death, Melanchthon lost in some measure the confidence of some of the Protestants by those concessions to the Catholics which his anxiety for peace led him to make; whilst the zealous Lutherans were no less displeased because of his approximation to the doctrine of Calvin on the Lord's Supper. His consent, conditionally given, to the introduction of the Augsburg Interim (q.v.) in Saxony, in 1549, led to painful controversies, which filled the latter years of his life with disquietude. He died at Wittenberg, 19th April 1560. By his calm wisdom and the reputation of his genius, Melanchthon did much to save the Reformation from those excesses that would have made its progress impossible. In the performance of this task he incurred much opposition from Luther himself, and still more from the enthusiasts who came to the front after Luther's death; but the subsequent religious history of Germany is conclusive proof of the wisdom of his action. By his labours as a scholar and public teacher, Melanchthon ranks with the very highest names in the history of learning and education. Alike by his temper and intellectual interests, he is to be regarded as blending in the happiest proportion the humanist and the reformer. The most complete edition of his works (which comprise a Greek and Latin Grammar, editions of and commentaries on several classics and the Septuagint, biblical commentaries, doctrinal and ethical works, official documents, declarations, dissertations, responses, and a very extensive correspondence with friends and the leading men of the age) is that by Bretschneider and Bindseil in their Corpus Reformatorum (28 vols. 1834-60).
See Lives of Melanchthon by his friend Camerarius (1566); by Cox, Matthes (Altenb. 1841), Nitzsch, Schmidt (Elberf. 1861), Meurer (2d ed. Leip. 1869), Schaff (Lond. 1887), Hartfelder (Berlin, 1889), Bailey Saunders (1897), George Wilson (1898), and A. Harnack (1898).