Alexander Hamilton Window

Medallion 1:The New Earth

Location: Left lancet, top

Description:

On the deck of a caravel at sea, the navigator takes the elevation of the sun using an astrolabe,  while, in the background, the helmsman steers his course by the compass.

Background:

In the late 15th century, the European use of the compass and the astrolabe for sea navigation ushered in the Age of Exploration and the discovery of the New World. For the Washington Memorial Chapel’s founder, the Reverend W. Herbert Burk, the discovery and settlement of the New World was a crucial step in the realization of Christ’s promise of the Abundant Life.

In the 3rd century BC Eratosthenes, a Greek mathematician, used information from Egyptian surveyors to calculate the circumference of the Earth to within 1% accuracy. His work, and others, would culminate in Ptolemy’s Geography, compiled in the middle of the 2nd century AD, an exhaustive category of that quarter of the globe that comprised the oikumene,[1] the “known world,” for Europeans. For the following millennium, the peoples of the known world largely stayed within its bounds; Viking bands picked their way along the icebound North Atlantic to Vinland, but their presence in the New World was limited to a few small settlements, only rediscovered within the last century. 

Although the Crusades failed to secure the Holy Land for Christianity, they brought a tremendous increase in commerce, manufacturing, and knowledge, through travel and contact with distant friends and enemies. The rediscovery of fragments of Ptolemy’s Geography in distant monasteries and in Arabic translations fired human curiosity, and the maps of medieval manuscripts that divided the world into three parts, Europe, Africa, and Asia, quickly gave way to charts of the known world. But, until tools were found to enable mariners to ascertain their position far at sea, the oceans would remain uncrossed and the Americas undiscovered.

A breakthrough came with the rediscovery of the astrolabe, which had been developed in late antiquity and was primarily used in the Islamic world to determine the location of Mecca and the times of prayer. Suspended so that one of its bars was horizontal, the arm of the astrolabe was sighted at a celestial body, and the angle between them gave the elevation in degrees. As one of Prince Henry’s navigators, Diego Gomez, wrote in 1460, “I had a quadrant (astrolabe) with me and wrote on the table of it the altitude of the arctic pole, and I found it better than the chart; for though you see your course of sailing on the chart well enough, yet if once you get wrong it is hard by map alone to work back to the right course.” The astrolabe would be used until the eighteenth century, when the reflecting quadrant was separately devised by John Hadley of London and Thomas Godfrey of Philadelphia.

The titles of both this medallion, “The New Earth” and medallion 2, “The New Heavens”, are references to the Book of Revelation, Chapter 21 verses 1-2: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away . . .“  This is a promise in the Bible of “Eden restored.”  Burk’s theme in the Chapel’s windows reflected the belief that he shared with many of the Founding Fathers that the foundation of the United States was part of God’s plan for the world. Man’s discovery of new lands and his new understanding of the universe were important steps in the realization of this plan, the restoration of man’s perfect relationship with God.

[1] From the Greek, also the root of “ecumenism” referring to the entirety of the Christian Church.

Intermedallion [Preceding New Earth]

• Astrolabe: The astrolabe, an early device used to determine latitude by measuring the altitude of the sun and heavenly bodies, was used by Christopher Columbus during his journey to the New World.

• Fire: Center lozenge: a fire fueled by wood. Representing both illumination and purification, fire serves as a timeless symbol for the light emanating from Truth.

• Compass Rose: Compass roses, drawn on maps and charts, were used to indicate the cardinal wind directions. This is the 8-pointed rose, more common on Mediterranean charts.

Medallion 2: The New Heavens

Location: Right lancet, top

Description:

Galileo Galilei, mathematician, astronomer , and exponent of the scientific method, is showing his 20X power telescope to a group of interested observers.  The telescope is pointed skyward and Galileo appears to be explaining to a group of onlookers his astronomical observations that led to his proof of the heliocentric theory.

Background:

Galileo’s astronomical observations of the planet Jupiter and its moons would lead to an entirely new understanding of the universe and Earth’s place in it. Galileo’s observations confirmed Copernicus’s earlier theories and led to the refutation of geocentric astronomy. His discoveries led to the Age of Reason, the Enlightenment, and the Scientific Revolution.

Galileo Galilei was born in Pisa in 1564, the son of a well known musician, and would go on to become a renowned philosopher, mathematician, astronomer, and exponent and practitioner of the scientific method. Eschewing his father’s choice of a career in medicine as his profession, he struck out on his own to study mathematics and teach Aristotelian philosophy and math. 

Galileo’s writings about gravity garnered the attention of powerful academicians and aristocrats and helped propel him to the post of chair of mathematics at the University of Pisa in 1589. While there, he conducted his now famous experiments on gravity from the leaning tower of Pisa, showing that all objects, regardless of weight, fell at a uniform speed, contrary to the precepts of Aristotle. Due to his contradictions of Aristotle’s doctrines, he fell out of favor with his colleagues in Pisa and was forced to seek a new academic posting.

Luckily for Galileo, aristocratic patrons, including the Medici family, assisted him and he accepted the position of chair of mathematics at the University of Padua in 1592.  Using the scientific method, Galileo further showed the trajectory of a  projectile was defined by a parabola and that the distance traveled by a falling object was proportional to the square of the elapsed duration of the fall. It was at this time that Galileo’s research interests suddenly turned to telescopes and astronomy. Galileo, being an autodidact, created a telescope powerful enough to study the stars, planets and moons in the heavens and set about studying Jupiter and her moons in 1609.

At the time of Galileo’s work with the telescope, two competing theories about  the organization of the planets, sun, and moon dominated scientific and religious thought. The dominant one was that  of Aristotle and the Greek geographer Ptolemy which posited a geocentric, or earth centered, view of the heavens. The second, newer theory resulted from the work of Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473 - 1543). Based on his own astronomical observations and mathematical calculations, Copernicus posited a heliocentric, or sun centered, organization of the planets and published his theories in 1543, the year of his death. His theory was not widely accepted, in part because it was in conflict with the classical philosophers whom Renaissance thinkers considered the definitive source of all learning, in part because proof of the theory depended on observation by the telescope which was not invented until the early 17th century,  and in part because some Protestant and Roman Catholic theologians believed it was in conflict with the Bible.

By observing that Earth’s moon was rough and not smooth, that the sky held many more stars than could be observed with the naked eye, and that four moons orbited around the planet Jupiter, Galileo challenged the orthodoxy related to the structure of the heavens themselves. These observations were collated and published years later in 1630 as, “ Dialogo sopra i due massimi sistemi del mondo, tolemaico e copernicano “( Dialogue concerning the two chief world systems, Ptolemaic & Copernican.).  While initially encouraged by Pope Urban VIII, Galileo was later condemned for the contents of this book which the church deemed as heretical in nature. Galileo was sentenced to live in absentia outside of Florence until his death in 1642.

During his lifetime, Gallileo had helped usher in the Scientific Revolution and presaged the Enlightenment, while advancing the fields of astronomy, physics and mathematics. 

DRS

Intermedallion [Preceding New Heavens]

• Sunburst: This sunburst is another reference to Christ, with Old Testament Messianic prophecies about the dawn of the “Sun of Righteousness” finding their fulfillment in the New Testament “Light of the World.” The Bible is filled with imagery of light dispelling darkness as symbolic of the triumph of truth and goodness.

• Star, Planets: Center lozenge: The stars and planets were traditionally viewed as the link between the spiritual and physical worlds. New scientific discoveries in this area were conceived of by astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) as “thinking God’s thoughts after Him.”

• Shooting Star: The “shooting star” (meteor) was seen as an omen of disaster and significant change, with Christians understanding it as a call to repentance—an apt symbol for the Reformation era.

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Medallion 3:The Fall of Constantinople

Location: Left lancet, second from the top

Description:

Greek scholars flee the burning city of Constantinople in 1453 as it falls to the Ottomans. The figure in the center is holding a Greek New Testament and is looking back over his shoulder at the burning city. The figure on the left is  holding scrolls and manuscripts and the figure on the far right is holding books. Flames from the burning city are at their feet. Above in the background are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet - Alpha and Omega - a reference to the New Testament Book of Revelation, Chapter 22 verse 13, “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.”

Background:
The fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453 triggered the great Age of Exploration  and brought the New Testament in its original Greek to Western Europe. The event is considered a turning point in Western European history.

Constantinople, originally named Byzantium and now Istanbul in modern day Turkey, was first settled in the seventh century B.C. under the Greeks and later the Romans.  The city became a thriving port thanks to its prime location between Europe and Asia and its natural harbor. The Roman Emperor, Constantine I in 330 A.D., chose  it as the new capital of  the Roman Empire and renamed it Constantinople.  With the fall of Rome and the Western Roman Empire  in 476 A.D., Constantinople became the capital of what was known as the Byzantine Empire.  It was also the seat of the Eastern Orthodox Church.

On April 2, 1453, Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II laid siege to Constantinople with an army that historians estimate at eighty thousand men. The city, once grand, was now underpopulated and dilapidated, defended by only around seven thousand men. By April 5th Ottoman forces surrounded its walls cutting off all supplies and escape routes.  On May 29th Mehmed launched the final assault which included hand-to-hand combat as the city walls were breached. The fall of Constantinople marked the end of the Byzantine Empire.

The fall of Constantinople disrupted traditional trade routes between Europe and Asia, severely limiting European access to Asian goods by land. This occurred just as demand for these goods was increasing due to greater European prosperity.  European countries, led by Portugal and Spain, began to seek alternative trade routes to Asia by sea, spurring the Age of Exploration. Christopher Columbus’s 1492 voyage, the result of this effort, led to the European discovery and settlement of the Americas.

The fall of Constantinople also drove many Greek scholars to flee to western Europe. They  brought  with them Greek manuscripts, ancient art, and knowledge. This influx  reinforced the Renaissance that had already begun in the late 14th century in Italy and encouraged the study of Greek in several universities and institutions in Western Europe. This in turn led to an increased interest in translating the New Testament from the original Greek texts rather than the Latin Vulgate. Scholars such as Erasmus translated the Greek New Testament, challenging the Latin Vulgate and significantly improving the accuracy of translations.

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Intermedallion [Preceding The Fall of Constantinople]

• Rose: Center lozenge: a red rose within a cross-like pattern. The red rose was often employed in Renaissance art as an emblem of Divine love through the sacrifice of Christ. By extension, it also became associated with Christian martyrdom.

• Alpha-Omega Scrolls: The symbols of Christ, and of the beginning and the end, here are displayed on scrolls, evoking the fall of Constantinople, and by extension, of the last vestiges of the Roman Empire.

JRW

Medallion 4:Type Founding and Printing

Location: Right lancet, second from the top

Description:

In this medallion we see a depiction of what Martin Luther called, “the ultimate gift of God,

and the greatest one.”  The medallion depicts the central image of the Dutchman, Laurens Janszoon Coster, also known as Laurens Jansz Koster, creating type for his printing press. It shows the printing press and Coster’s assistants inking the type and turning the screw of the press. 

Background:

The invention of printing via movable type made the Bible as well as the knowledge and literature of the Greeks and Romans available to every literate person in Europe. 

The 14th and 15th centuries in Italy witnessed the reintroduction to Western Europe of the literary works of the ancient Greeks and Romans.  Political leaders, scholars, and men of means of Italian city-states such as Rome, Siena, Venice and Florence sought, acquired, and copied in often beautifully illuminated manuscripts, the texts of the classic works of Plato, Aristotle, Caesar, Cicero, Seneca, and others.  The production of these manuscripts was an important industry involving parchment makers, commercial scribes, painters, goldbeaters, carpenters, and blacksmiths. Producing a single manuscript could be a months-long process.  The demand for the product was great, though the cost and time involved limited the market.

Manuscript production reached its height in the 1450s. The invention and rapid adoption of the technology of the printing press beginning in the 1450s revolutionized  the dissemination of knowledge and rendered the manuscript obsolete. It also spurred an increase in literacy. Now that “books” and pamphlets were widely available, an increasing number of people wanted to be able to read them.The printing press gave humanity a network for sharing news and knowledge around the globe and made German religious reformer Martin Luther the first “best-selling author.”  The general public gained the ability to form their own opinions on matters of the day. The printing press resulted in an early example of technology’s unintended consequence of replacing a large number of laborers with machines.

The Reverend W. Herbert Burk chose the image of Laurens Janszoon Coster, also known as Laurens Jansz Koster, as the inventor of moveable type. Hadrianus Junius, also known as Adriaen de Jonghe, in his 1588 book, Batavia, wrote the story of Coster’s invention. It was repeated by several other authors of the time.  Junius reported that in Haarlem, Netherlands during the early 1420s, Coster entertained his grandchildren in the Haarlemmerhout, the oldest public park of the Netherlands, by carving letters from bark which left impressions on the sand. Coster transformed his early letter carvings into moveable wooden text blocks and invented a non-running ink to start a primitive moveable type printing company.  Junius reported that Coster printed several books including  Speculum Humanae Salvationis (usually thought of as anonymously authored) though there are no known works in existence printed by Coster. Coster probably perished in the Haarlem plague of 1439-1440. At the time of Coster’s death, Junius reported that one of his assistants stole Coster’s presses and movable type and relocated them in Mainz, Germany to start his own printing company.

In the final analysis, whether it was Coster or Gutenberg who first invented printing with moveable metal type, the result was indisputable.  Printing changed the world. As the Burk said, “The books which poured forth from the presses all over Europe opened to men a new world of thought, the world thrilled with the Freedom of Truth,” the overarching theme of the Alexander Hamilton Window.

DCS

Intermedallion [Preceding New Heavens]

• Printer’s Mark: Center lozenge: a double-barred cross–on-orb monogrammed with “II,” of unknown origin. It is possible that this design was created by the window maker to represent L.J. Coster (see Type Founding and Printing below), a printer whose career predated the use of printer’s marks. The influential Venetian Society of Printers popularized the double-barred cross–on-orb format seen here, with the printer’s initials inside the orb to establish copyright. The cross-on-orb (globus cruciger) represents Christ’s victory over the world, while the double-barred cross was associated with zeal in defense of the Faith. The letters “II” here could be a stylized “L.J.”

• Dolphin Wrapped around Anchor: Printer’s mark of  the innovative Venetian printer Aldus Manutius (c. 1450-1515). The combination of the swift-swimming dolphin with the restraining anchor symbolized his motto: Festina lente (Make haste slowly). His contributions ranged from the production of convenient libelli portatiles (portable small books) to pioneering semicolon usage.

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Medallion 5:  Dante, Poet of the People

Location: Left lancet, third from the top

Description: 

Dante Alighieri, the Italian Renaissance poet, reading one of his poems, is the central figure. Seated at the left is Giotto di Bondone, the painter and architect, and standing next to Dante is Arnolfo di Cambio, sculptor and architect.  In the foreground, on the right side of the medallion, stands a young girl with what appears to be a basket of flowers. A young man kneels next to her with a basket of fruit. Both are listening to the poet. The Bargello, the first public palace of Florence, symbolized by the red arches, is in the background.

Background:

This medallion exemplifies, in the Rev. W. Herbert Burk’s words, “The More Abundant Life and its quickening effects as seen in the Renaissance.”  The central figure, the great Florentine poet, Dante (1265-1321), is reading one of his poems, possibly The Divine Comedy, believed to have been composed between 1308 and 1320. He wrote it, not in Latin, the language of scholars and the Church, but in the language of the people, an Italian recognizable today.

Several themes run through this medallion.  With Dante, literature, the purpose of which is to express eternal truths, became accessible to the common man because it was in the people’s language. For Burk, this represents the overall theme of the Alexander Hamilton Window, Freedom Through Truth. Burk saw Freedom as the freedom of  the people, brought about through the common bond of a shared language, literacy, and the rise of national identity.

Dante, Giotto (1267-1337), and Arnolfo di Cambio (1240-1310?) together represent painting, poetry, sculpture, and architecture.  Giotto and Dante were born in the Italian city-state of Florence, and all three practiced their art in Florence.   They are meant to symbolize the “quickening effects” of "The More Abundant Life” in the early flowering of the Renaissance, in which Florence played a significant, indeed primary role.

Dante also represented for Burk the ideas that led to the  emergence of democratic government.  Burk believed that a sense of national identity among the people was a critical step away from feudalism and toward the power of the people.  This is why the Bargello appears in the medallion. The Bargello represents the initial flourishing of self-government in Western Europe.  It was built as the residence of the “Captain of the People,” and was the seat of government for Florence following a revolt in 1250 by the Florentine merchants and shopkeepers against noble/feudal rulers.  Dante himself was a member of the political faction, the Guelphs, that overthrew the noble faction, the Ghibellines. The Guelphs successfully agitated for the establishment of a Florentine city constitution in 1292 and subsequently sought to establish a Guelph commonwealth.     

GPP

Intermedallion [Preceding Dante, The Poet of the People]

• Florentine Coat of Arms: Center lozenge: Argent, an iris gules. This was initially borne by the Guelphs, factions supporting the Pope in the Investiture Controversy, a series of late-9th century disputes concerning the selections of bishops and abbots. The Ghibellines, who supported the Holy Roman Emperor’s authority, wore the same emblem with the colors reversed. After the Guelphs consolidated their control in the City of Florence, they further fragmented into the Black and White Guelphs, based respectively on whether they supported or opposed further Papal control of Florentine affairs. Dante, a member of the latter faction, was part of a deputation to Rome during the Sack of Florence in 1301 by the Black Guelphs, and was thereafter sent into exile, during which time he began to compose the Divine Comedy.

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Medallion 6:The Morning Star of the Reformation

Location: Right lancet, third from top

Description: John Wycliffe, clad in his scholar’s robe, stands in his library at the rectory of St. Mary’s Church in Lutterworth, England. In his left hand he holds a scroll, while pointing with his right hand to a large Bible on a carved oak lectern which has a lit candle next to it. He is surrounded by four of his “poor priests,” itinerant lay preachers whom he has trained and is sending throughout England with English-language Gospel scrolls.

Background: For his emphasis on Church reform, the centrality of the Scriptures, their accessibility to the common people in English, and his opposition to the involvement of the Church in secular politics, John Wycliffe (c.1328-1384) has been called “The Morning Star of the Reformation.” Despite accusations of heresy, Wycliffe refused to recant his controversial views. “I believe,” he said, “that in the end the truth will conquer.”

More than one hundred and fifty years before Martin Luther’s 95 Theses, John Wycliffe became an outspoken critic of what he saw as corruption within the Church.  He urged the Church to give up its properties and return to evangelical poverty and proposed that the state, i.e. the King and Parliament, should effect this “disendowment.”  [1] He also believed in limits on government, however, writing that those rulers who transgress God’s law as revealed in Scripture would lose their authority.

In the last six years of his life, Wycliffe attacked many of the Church’s beliefs and practices, earning him the enmity of the entire Church hierarchy, including the Pope, as well as accusations of heresy.   The basis for his criticisms was a strict interpretation of the Bible, and he opposed anything that he saw as a challenge to the supreme authority of Holy Scripture. He argued that the Bible contained all the guidance necessary to understand the law of God and that this guidance should be available to everyone.

Wycliffe’s emphasis on the Bible’s message led him to support two separate translations of the Bible into the spoken English of the day, though he himself did not do the translating. To preach and spread the Word to the common people, he taught lay preachers and sent them out with portions of these Bible translations.

His advocacy of a strict interpretation of the Bible and the plain truth contained therein and his belief that the Bible should be available to everyone were Wycliffe’s key contributions to what would become, a century and a half later, the Protestant Reformation.  The Rev. W. Herbert Burk develops the theme of the translation of the Bible into English and its contribution to what would become the American Revolution in the Benjamin Franklin Window, “Freedom through the Word.” 

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Intermedallion [Preceding The Morning Star of Reformation]

• English Coat of Arms: Center lozenge: lions passant guardant Or (England), fleurs de lys Or (France). The English coat of arms is here inserted to identify the nationality of John Wycliffe (see Morning Star of the Reformation below). The gold lion symbol was first adopted by King Henry I (r. 1100-1135), who later became known as “The Lion of Justice” for writing and instituting the Charter of Liberties. King Edward III subsequently quartered this design with the fleurs-de-lis to make known his claim to the French throne as the closest living relative to the previous French king.

• Oxford Coat of Arms: Ox Gules passing over Ford Azure. This is an example of heraldic “canting”—a visual pun that illustrates a name—as it shows an ox standing at the ford of a river to represent the City of Oxford. This is in honor of both Wycliffe—theological master at Oxford University—and the Oxford Reformers.

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Medallion 7:The Oxford Reformers

Location: Left lancet, fourth from top

Description: At Oxford University, the Rev. Dr. John Colet (center) and Thomas More (right) pore over the brand-new first Latin translation of the Greek New Testament. The translator, the Rev. Dr. Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam, looks on from the left.

Background:

The Rev. W. Herbert Burk wrote that he intended the windows to tell the story of the Abundant Life and its quickening effects as seen in the Renaissance.  This scene represents a major  philosophical movement that emerged from the Renaissance that believes that both reason and faith in God and scriptures provide the basis for guiding human behavior and morality.

Two significant events are shown here, collapsed into a single moment: 1) the meeting of three great minds—Erasmus, Colet, and More—around 1499 in Oxford University, and 2) publication of the first Latin translation of the Greek New Testament in 1516. This artistic depiction of the trio’s long-distance collaboration over two decades encapsulates Frederic Seebohm’s book The Oxford Reformers (1867), from which Rev. Burk borrowed the medallion’s title.

John Colet (1467-1519) was inspired by the “New Learning” and moral reformation movements during his studies in Florence and under Italian-trained professors at Oxford University. The New Learning was a revival of classical studies, i.e., studying both Latin and Greek languages to learn from past writings directly rather than learn from others’ interpretation of them, and emphasizing critical analysis rather than rote memorization. While Colet was studying in Florence, he learned from the fiery Dominican Friar Girolamo Savonarola, an activist preacher who taught that “the more you are elevated in Christ, the more you will have knowledge of truth” and that personal moral renewal across a whole population was the essential step towards political reform.[1]

Colet brought both classicism and Christ-centered moralism back to Oxford, where he taught for the rest of his life.  He lectured on the epistles of Paul in a natural, commonsense way that attracted students to his lectures. Most importantly, he founded a boys school at St. Paul’s Church in London that combined the New Learning, new forms of grammar, and increased knowledge and worship of Jesus Christ.  St. Paul’s served as a model grammar school in England and many new schools were begun in the fifteenth century, changing middle class education.

Thomas More (1478-1535) studied at Oxford for two years and then transferred to law school in London on his path into politics. Although he was a dozen years younger than Colet, they were briefly classmates and stayed in touch.[2] Colet saw More as England’s “one genius.”  For his part, More wrote of Colet that “for generations, we have not had amongst us any one man more learned or holy!”[3]

Erasmus also advocated Christian thought with classical traditions and belief in education and self-improvement.  Colet and More met the Dutchman Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1466-1536) during his 1498-1502 trip to England. All three remained lifelong mutual friends, maintaining contact through letters. Erasmus wrote: “When I listen to Colet it seems to me that I am listening to Plato himself. …Whenever did nature mold a character more gentle, endearing, and happy than Thomas More’s?”[4]

Like Colet, More championed a revival of classical learning and promoted moral reform. More’s famous 1516 book Utopia (“Nowhere”)fictionally outlines a communistic ideal society, one in which the societal institutions such as law, education, legislation, and religious tolerance are designed to benefit everyone in the community-at-large.

Erasmus’s treatise The Education of a Christian Prince is a clearer window into the political priorities of the Christian Humanists.  In it he provides concepts and values that should guide the behavior of rulers with the prevailing premise that “nations and governments exist for the good of whole people and not for individuals or classes.”

Consistent with the belief that everyone should be able to read the classical writings, Erasmus translated the New Testament in Greek along with a new Latin translation.  When Erasmus published his groundbreaking translation, he sent copies to More and Colet, who shared his desire for everyone to encounter the Scriptures for themselves.  No doubt reflecting on Erasmus, Colet’s founding of the first “grammar” school referred to above focused on curriculum from “the authors that wrote their wisdom with clean and chaste Latin” for the purpose of increasing  “knowledge and worshipping of God and our lord Christ Jesus and good Christian life and manners.”[5]

The Reverend W. Herbert Burk chose Colet, Erasmus, and More for the “Window of Truth” in the firm belief that they greatly influenced education, worship, and moral reform in the fifteenth century, with “quickening” (stepping up”) effects on the intellectual and social life in the people of the world.

[1]Girolamo Savonarola, Selected Writings of Girolamo Savonarola: Religion and Politics, 1490-1498, trans. and ed. Anne Borelli and Maria Pastore Passaro(New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006), 27, 168.

[2]Frederic Seebohm, The Oxford Reformers: John Colet, Erasmus, and Thomas More, 3rd ed. (1887, repr.; London: Longmans, Green, & Co., 1896), 25-6.

[3]Seebohm, Oxford Reformers, 504.

[4] William Barker, Erasmus of Rotterdam: The Spirit of a Scholar (London: Reaktion Books, 2021), 57; Seebohm, Oxford Reformers, 116.

[5] Quote edited to today’s spelling standard. J. A. R.  Marriott, The Life of John Colet (London: Methuen, 1933), 134.

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Intermedallion [Preceding Oxford Reformers]

• Rose: Center lozenge: a red rose within a cross-like pattern. The red rose was often employed in Renaissance art as an emblem of Divine love through the sacrifice of Christ. By extension, it also became associated with Christian martyrdom.

JRW

Medallion 8:  Luther Before the Diet of Worms

Location:  Right lancet, bottom position

Description:  On the left with one hand pointing toward heaven and the other placed on a pile of books representing his writings, Martin Luther stands before the Emperor, Charles V, who is seated with Archduke Ferdinand by his side. The scene is meant to depict the moment when Luther, when asked if he would recant, is reported to have said, “I cannot and will not retract anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. Here I  stand. I cannot do otherwise, God help me. Amen.”

Background:

How would Martin Luther, a German priest and theologian,  become prominently influential in catalyzing the Protestant reformation?

An Augustinian monk who was ordained in 1507 and earned a Doctor of Theology at Wittenberg University, Luther was appointed to the theological faculty at the university in 1512. In 1517 he wrote Ninety-Five Theses, a treatise in which he protested against the sale of indulgences–the sale of forgiveness of sins by agents of the Pope– and challenged the power of the Pope.  When he refused to recant his statements when called before church authorities at Augsburg in 1518,  Pope Leo X excommunicated Luther from the church in January 1521.  For final punishment, Luther was called before a general assembly of secular authorities, The Diet at Worms, a town on the Rhine.  Standing before Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and given a last chance to recant and avoid punishment, Luther is alleged to have said:  “I cannot and will not recant anything….Here I stand: I cannot do otherwise.  God help me. Amen.”

Although Charles V declared Luther an outlaw, banned his writings, and ordered his arrest, Prince Frederick III, Elector of Saxony,  arranged for Luther’s safe passage from Worms.  Residing in the security of Warburg Castle at Eisenach, Luther remained one of the most significant figures in the Reformation, continuing in his writings to question the practices of the  Church and the Pope, translating the Bible into German, designing Protestant catechism and worship services, and composing hymns.

The Reverend W. Herbert Burk chose Luther and his refusal to recant as emblematic of the overarching theme of the Alexander Hamilton Window, “Freedom through Truth.”  In his description of the significance of this medallion, Burk referred to Luther’s earlier testimony at Augsburg in which he said, “I will not become a heretic by denying the truth by which I became a Christian . . . .” He also noted that Luther went to the Diet at Worms, “. . . with confidence in the belief that it was the call of God to give testimony to the truth.” And finally, Burk wrote, “Those who came to America to settle the New World brought with them . . . the Word of God in their own tongue . . . and that splendid consciousness of spiritual freedom through truth, that made them more than conquerors of a wilderness.”

KRD

Intermedallion [Preceding Luther Before the Diet of Worms]

• Rose: Center lozenge: a red rose within a cross-like pattern. The red rose was often employed in Renaissance art as an emblem of Divine love through the sacrifice of Christ. By extension, it also became associated with Christian martyrdom.

• French Coat of Arms: Azure, three fleurs-de-lis Or. The royal Coat of Arms of France was composed of a generic pattern of lilies until 1376, when King Charles the Wise reduced it to three. His stated purpose was to honor the Holy Trinity. Although speculative, it is possible that the French Coat of Arms is included to show that Martin Luther’s influence spread rapidly to France. French Protestants, such as John Calvin (Jehan Cauvin) were already under threat of persecution in the early 1530s.

• Holy Roman Emperor Charles V Coat of Arms: Castles Or, lions rampant, pomegranate seeded Gules, cross saltire, cross potent, eagles Sable, fleurs-de-lis Or. By including mini-shields of all their European holdings, the Holy Roman Emperors created the most complicated coats of arms known to heraldry. The Hapsburg dynasty, to which Charles V belonged, had been successfully consolidating vast territories through well-calculated marriages for over a century before he took the imperial throne. The dizzying assemblage includes a castle (Castile), purple lion (León), pomegranate (Granada), red stripes (Aragon), gold chains (Navarre), cross potent (Jerusalem), black eagle (Sicily), gold lion (Brabant), red eagle (Tyrol), and many other realms. It was before this extremely powerful ruler that Martin Luther refused to recant.

NKH

JRW