Luther in film: Empires: Martin Luther (2002) How well is Frederick the Wise portrayed?

The film introduces Frederick the Wise just past its halfway point. The narrator accurately enough states Frederick the Wise began “to quietly protect this loudmouthed theologian that lay under his rule”. Left unsaid was the special prestige Frederick the Wise (in 1518 in the 32nd year of his 39-year reign) enjoyed with all the powers of Europe (including the popes). Frederick was without doubt the most highly respected of all the electoral princes of the Holy Roman Empire.

 Heiko Oberman

Esteemed historian Heiko Oberman summed up Frederick this way:

Historians of every stripe have found only one statesman thoroughly praiseworthy: Frederick the Wise. A German and a man of integrity, he is considered to have been a staunch representative of the interests of the empire in a sea of corruptibility and national betrayal. [Heiko A. Oberman, Luther: Man between God and the Devil, 1990, 32, translation of Luther, Mensch zwischen Gott und Teufel, 1982),]

Frederick had a history of being fair and just - long before the arrival of Luther. He was also a virtual pacifist. When told by his advisors a foe could be taken with the loss of only five men, he replied, “One is too many.” He believed ‘it is easy to take a life but impossible to restore it’.

Yet, one of the well qualified scholars in this film insists that the motives of Frederick the Wise are a mystery. After acknowledging Frederick protected Martin Luther, Dr. Euan Cameron states timidly “The motives of Frederick the Wise are something of a mystery.” Cameron continues, “Partly, I think there is a sort of pride…over Luther…his learned, famous theologian.”

Frederick II (the Gentle) of Saxony [1411-1464]
Frederick the Wise’s grandfather was not gentle in resisting the influence of Rome

Dr. Susan Karant-Nunn states correctly that Frederick and his antecedents (the Wettin electoral dynasty) had often opposed Rome and tried to reduce its power in their territory. Perhaps too cynically however (as well as anachronistically) she suggests Frederick seized on Luther’s ideas for a high-principled reason to oppose the influence of Rome rather his own greedy, political reasons. That jaded opinion is through the lens of a modern; it is incompatible with the beliefs of a medieval dynastic prince whose first allegiance was to his territory. Surprising. Dr. Karant-Nunn herself later (in a 2005 journal) warned that there is a "chasm separating the prevailing value system of Luther’s day and that of our own".

In a similar vein Karant-Nunn states Frederick “perceived the usefulness of Martin Luther” and “wants to go on using him as a kind of weapon against the papacy and the church”. The 'church’ was in the mind of the believer (or nonbeliever). Frederick fully believed he as sovereign was responsible for Saxon subjects in Saxon churches. Frederick was as devout as the professor claims Charles V was. She does admit however Frederick was attracted to Luther’s teachings and genuinely wanted him to continue his work.

German scholars are more sure-handed with Frederick the Wise. Dr. Ingetraut Ludolphy, who wrote the best biography to date of Frederick in 1984, explored in depth his motives. His motives sprang from the duties of a Christian sovereign. Many admiring scholars of Frederick preceded professor Ludolphy and many like Luther expert Martin Brecht will follow. Frederick was devout in the medieval sense but he was no choir boy. As sovereign he was a slippery operator among the nobility in an age of very slippery operators. After all, the Italian trickster Machiavelli (1459-1527) was a contemporary. Few were slippier than another contemporary, Frederick's friend Emperor Maximilian (1459-1519). Yet even Maximilian recognized Frederick was special.

Emperor Maximilian by Dürer

George Spalatin, Frederick’s private secretary, wrote of Frederick’s magnetism:

Thus I Spalatin at the Reichstag in Augsburg in 1518 have seen my miracle, how his imperial Majesty [Emperor Maximilian] resplendent in walking and standing before all electors, princes and estates, recognized him [Frederick the Wise] more then all other electors and princes. Such waving, such hand gestures, such behavior from his Majesty if he [Frederick] stood too far from his Majesty causing delay, that certainly, if the waving did not help, his imperial Majesty stepped from his throne and drew this elector closer to him. [Georg Spalatin, Friedrichs des Weisen Leben und Zeitgeschichte von Georg Spalatin (Georg Spalatins historischer Nachlaß und Briefe 1), ed. Christian Gotthold Neudecker and Ludwig Preller (Jena: 1851), 32. Quotes translated from German by this blogger.]

Q. Has the larger-than-life appeal of the Luther saga blurred the enormous influence Frederick the Wise enjoyed throughout the empire?