orig. Philipp Schwartzerd
born Feb. 15, 1497, Bretten, Palatinate
died April 19, 1560, probably Wittenberg, Saxony
German Protestant reformer.
His education in Germany was greatly influenced by humanist learning, and he was named professor of Greek at Wittenberg in 1518. A friend and defender of Loci communes (1521), the first systematic treatment of the principles of the {{link=Reformation">Reformation , and of the Protestant creed known as the Augsburg Confession (1530). He also reorganized the entire educational system of Germany, founding and reforming several of its universities. His willingness to compromise with Catholics on theological issues in his later years became controversial.
Philipp Melanchthon, engraving by Albrecht Dürer, 1526.
Courtesy of the Staatliche Museen Kuperstichkabinett, Berlin