Johann Eck

Johann Eck (November 13, 1486 – February 13, 1543) was a 16th century theologian and defender of Catholicism during the Protestant Reformation. It was Eck who argued that the beliefs of Martin Luther and John Huss were similar.

Papal Emissary and Inquisitor

Eck was far more highly esteemed as the dauntless champion of the true faith at Rome than in Germany. In January 1520, he visited Italy at the invitation of Pope Leo X, to whom he presented his latest work De primate Petri adversus Ludderum (Ingolstadt, 1520) for which he was rewarded with the nomination to the office of papal protonotary, although his efforts to urge the Curia to decisive action against Luther were unsuccessful for some

Related Topics:
1520 - Pope Leo X - Papal protonotary

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time.

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On June 16, however, appeared the fateful bull Exurge Domine, in which forty-one propositions of Luther were condemned as heretical or erroneous. Entrusted with the publication of the bull in Germany, Eck returned home, only to find how rapidly Luther had gained favor. At Meissen, Brandenburg, and Merseburg he succeeded in giving the papal measure due official publicity, but at Leipzig he was the object of the ridicule of the student body and was compelled to flee by night to Freiberg, where he was again prevented

Related Topics:
June 16 - Meissen - Brandenburg - Merseburg

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from proclaiming the bull. At Erfurt the students tore the instrument down and threw it into the water, while in other places the papal decree was subjected to still greater insults.

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At Vienna its publication encountered grave difficulties, and Eck had good cause to set up a votive tablet to his patron saint upon his safe return to Ingolstadt, although even there only the authority of the papal mandate made the publication of the bull possible. This last humiliation was due, in great measure, to the fact that he had availed himself of the permission to pronounce the papal censure on prominent followers of the new movement besides Luther, and had thus made his office a means of personal revenge. Eck's letter to Charles V, written in February 1521, seems to have had little effect upon the proceedings at the Diet of Worms.

Related Topics:
Charles V - Diet of Worms

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Wealth and power were included in the aspirations of Eck. He appropriated the revenues of his parish of Günzburg, while he relegated its duties to a vicar. Twice he visited Rome as a diplomatic representative of the Bavarian court to obtain sanction for the establishment of a court of inquisition against the Lutheran teachings at

Related Topics:
Günzburg - Bavaria

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Ingolstadt. The first of these journeys, late in the autumn of 1521, was fruitless on account of the death of Leo X, but his second journey in 1523 was successful. With great insight and courage he showed the Curia the true condition of affairs in Germany and pictured the general incapacity of the representatives of the Church in that country.

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Of the many heresy trials in which Eck was the prime mover during this period it is sufficient to mention here that of Leonhard Kaser, whose history was published by Luther.

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