January 3, 1521 Pope Leo X publishes his Papal Bull Decet Romanum pontificem, condemning Martin Luther and officially excommunicating the Augustinian monk for burning Leo's previous bull Exsurge Domine. January 3, 1571 Death of Joachim II Hektor. Joachim II Hektor was the Elector of Brandenburg at the time of the Reformation. He … [Read more...]

January 2, 1729 Birth of Johann Daniel Titius (1729-1796) in Konitz, Germany (now in Poland). Titius was an early astronomer who was educated at the University of Leipzig and became a professor at the University of Wittenberg (1756). His calculations expressing the distance between the planets and the sun were confirmed by J. E. Bode in 1772 … [Read more...]

January 1, 329 Kontantinus (Konstantin's Son) becomes Caesar of the Western Roman Empire. His capital is Trier. January 1, 1076 The Holy Roman Emperor, Heinrich IV, persuades 26 bishops to refuse obedience to the Pope. January 1, 1484 Ulrich Zwingli is born in Wildhaus, Switzerland. Zwingli was the most influential church … [Read more...]

December 31, 1105 Heinrich V arrests his father Heinrich IV, forces him to abdicate and himself becomes the Holy Roman Emperor (crowned in Rome in 1111). December 31, 1747 Birth of Gottfried August Bürger in Molmerswende bei Halberstadt, Germany. The poet, Bürger was one of the leaders toward the Romantic movement in German literature. … [Read more...]

December 30, 1777 Death of Maximilian III Joseph in Munich, Germany. Maximilian was the son of the Holy Roman Emperor, Karl VII. He was the Elector (Holy Roman Empire) of Bavaria. He gained his position in Bavaria by the Peace of Fussen of April 22, 1745. He was a progressive and enlightened ruler who did much to improve the development of … [Read more...]

December 29, 1832 Death of Johann Friedrich Cotta. Cotta was a publisher who founded the journal Die Horen with the classic writer, Friedrich von Schiller in 1794. Cotta also published many of the works of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Johann Gottfried von Herder, Christoph Martin Wieland, A. W. Schlegel, Ludwig Tieck, Jean Paul, Heinrich von … [Read more...]

December 28, 1233 The Charter of Culm (Culmer Handfeste) is issued by the Teutonic Knights as a part of their efforts to colonize Prussia. The charter granted settlers civic freedoms which were quite beyond expectations of the times. Hermann Balke was the Grand Master of the Knights at this time. Among the rights granted by the charter were … [Read more...]

December 27, 1571 Birth of Johannes Kepler in Weil der Stadt, Germany, in 1571. He studied at the University of Tübingen. While a student he became convinced that Copernicus had been correct in his astronomical system. Early on he rejected the idea that the stars and planets can influence human lives. He developed the idea that the planets … [Read more...]

December 26 2. Weihnachtstag (Second Christmas Day). December 26, 1624 Death of Simon Marius (1573-1624) in Ansbach, Germany. Marius was the astronomer who named the four largest moons of Jupiter. He was one of the first astronomers to use a telescope, the first to report the spiral nebula in Andromeda and one of the first to note … [Read more...]

December 25 Christmas Day in Germany. December 25, 800 Karl der Große (Charlemagne) is crowned Emperor of the empire which would come to be called the Holy Roman Empire. December 25, 1046 Enthronment of Suidiger (Pope Clement II), the second German pope. Suidiger had been the bishop of Bamberg. He was installed as pope … [Read more...]