Kaspar Glatz

Glatz came from Rieden in the Augsburg diocese, but it is unclear precisely which place this indicates. He arrived in Wittenberg in 1523, at which point it is said that he was “not a young man.” (As he lived another 28 years, as he was a potential suitor of the mid-twenties Katharina von Bora, and as he is known to have later married and fathered children, he must not have been extremely old.) That same year he received his doctorate and became a lecturer.

In 1524 he went to Orlamünde, which was under the archdeaconate of Wittenberg, to become its pastor. Complicating matters was the presence of a current pastor, Andreas Karlstadt. In the face of Martin Luther’s opposition to his more radical tendencies, Karlstadt retreated from Wittenberg to Orlamünde in 1523 and there continued his particular version of reform. In September 1524, Luther succeeded in getting Karlstadt removed from the church in Orlamünde and exiled from the region. At this point, after a letter from Luther, Glatz was made the pastor.^[2]

Around the same time, Luther, as part of his continuing work to assist former nuns to find husbands, encouraged Katharina von Bora to marry Glatz.^[3] It is unclear as to whether Glatz himself actively courted Katharina. She refused and in June 1525 married Luther instead.

While at Orlamünde, Glatz was a source of information to Luther on Karlstadt's activities. One letter from Glatz survives, dated January 18, 1525, to which Luther refers in his letter to Spalatin.^[4]

In 1536, Glatz was removed as pastor of Orlamünde. According to historians, he was removed either because he had alienated the congregation and town officials^[5] or over tribute payments to the Wittenberg Archdiaconate.^[6] His replacement was Liborius Magdeburg, who had come into Luther’s good graces during his time in Wittenberg. Glatz complained that Magdeburg had undermined him and caused his removal.^[7]

Magdeburg was appointed pastor of Orlamünde in late 1537 and did not actually arrive until February 13, 1538. There was some trouble between Glatz and Magdeburg. One historian claims that Glatz verbally attacked Magdeburg and demanded payments from the pastoral endowment.^[8] Luther had received a letter from Magdeburg, complaining that Glatz was causing him trouble. Luther forwarded the letter with a note asking Francis Burchart to have the elector attend to it.^[9]

In early April 1539, Magdeburg died and Glatz was restored to the pastorate. That same month, Glatz wrote a letter to Stephan Roth (with whom matriculated at Wittenberg in 1523). Roth was the Zwickau city clerk and school inspector, though his influence extended far beyond his titles.^[10] Magdeburg had married Roth’s sister Magdalene in 1532, so Roth had an interest in the well-being of the late pastor’s widow.^[11] Glatz assured Roth that he had been ministering to her over the loss of her husband and the illness of their child.^[12]

The following month Glatz again wrote to Roth, informing him that he had forgiven the widow a debt that her late husband owed him over the purchase of a horse. Further he allowed her to keep some linens that had been property of the church for her use.^[13] He reminded Roth that he was under no obligation to help her, as Magdeburg had caused Glatz and his family a great deal of harm. We learn from this letter that Glatz did marry and produced children.