Spalatin, George

Spalatin, George

(shpä`lätēn), 1484–1545, German Protestant reformer. His original name was Georg Burckhardt; he was called Spalatin after his birthplace, Spalt, near Nuremberg. An early friend of Martin LutherLuther, Martin,
1483–1546, German leader of the Protestant Reformation, b. Eisleben, Saxony, of a family of small, but free, landholders. Early Life and Spiritual Crisis

Luther was educated at the cathedral school at Eisenach and at the Univ.
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, Spalatin was devoted to the Lutheran cause, and as secretary and court preacher to Frederick IIIFrederick III
or Frederick the Wise,
1463–1525, elector of Saxony (1486–1525). At Wittenberg he founded (1502) the university where Martin Luther and Melanchthon taught.
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, elector of Saxony, he served as intermediary between Luther and Frederick—a factor important to the success of the Reformation. He wrote Annales reformationis, a record of events and rulers of the Reformation period. Many letters to him from Luther are extant.