John Frederick I, Elector of Saxony

Early years[edit]

John Frederick was the eldest son of John, Elector of Saxony by his first wife, Sophie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. His mother died fourteen days after his birth, on 12 July 1503.


John Frederick received his education from George Spalatin, whom he highly esteemed during his whole life. Spalatin was Martin Luther's friend and advisor and thus, through Spalatin's schooling, John Frederick developed a devotion to the teachings of Luther. His knowledge of history was comprehensive, and his library, which extended over all sciences, was one of the largest in Germany.


He cultivated a personal relationship with Luther, beginning to correspond with him in the days when the bull of excommunication was first issued against the Reformer, and showing himself a convinced adherent of Luther. He carefully observed the development of the reformatory movement. He read Luther's writings, urged the printing of the first complete (Wittenberg) edition of his works, and in the latter years of his life promoted the compilation of the Jena edition. At the Elector's Schloss Hartenfels at Torgau, he constructed a chapel specifically designed to be a Lutheran place of worship and invited Martin Luther to deliver the inaugural sermon. The influence of Lutheranism at John Frederick's court is also visible in the translation by Veit Warbeck of the French romance the Magelone, made in preparation of John Frederick's marriage in 1527; Catholic elements are suppressed.^[1]


His father introduced him into the political and diplomatic affairs of the time, and he conducted the first negotiations of a treaty with Hesse in Kreuzburg and Friedewald. He took an active part in the disturbances caused by the Pack affair (see John the Steadfast), and Luther was grateful to him for his exertions, in spite of his youth, for the maintenance of peace.


During the second diet of Speyer (1529) he temporarily assumed the reins of government in place of his father. The intrigues of Archduke Ferdinand induced him after the diet to draw up an imperial statute for the Evangelical estates, which shows that he was more decidedly convinced of the right and duty of defense than his father. He accompanied the latter to the Diet of Augsburg in 1530, signed with him the Augsburg Confession and was active in the proceedings. His attitude did not remain unnoticed, and won him the dislike of Emperor Charles V.