MYCONIUS, FRIEDRICH

One of the leading Protestant reformers in central Germany; b. Lichtenfels am Main, Dec. 25, 1490; d. Gotha, April 7, 1546. While attending Latin school in Annaberg, Myconius (also called Mecum) encountered Johann tetzel, the indulgence preacher, and was offended by him. Myconius joined the Franciscan Order, but he failed to find assurance of God's grace in the monastic way of life. In 1524 he fled to Electoral Saxony. He was active as an evangelical preacher in Zwickau and Buchholz and in August 1524 went to Gotha. He reformed the church order, participated in the official church and school visitations in Thuringia in 1527 and 1533, attended the Marburg Colloquy in 1529, contributed to the Nuremberg Concord of 1536, and helped in the negotiations at Schmalkalden in 1537, Frankfurt and Nuremberg in 1539, and Hagenau in 1540. In Melanchthon's place he made a trip to England in 1538 for union efforts with the English Church. He helped to introduce the Reformation in Annaberg and Leipzig in 1539 upon the death of Duke George.

Bibliography: f. myconius, Geschichte der Reformation, ed. o. clemen (Leipzig 1914); Der Briefwechsel des Friedrich Mykonius, 1524–1546, ed. h. u. delius (Tübingen 1960). p. scherffig, Friedrich Mekum von Lichtenfels: Ein Lebensbild aus dem Reformationszeitalter (Leipzig 1909). r. jauernig, Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart, 6 v. (Tübingen 1957–63) 4:1229–1230.

[l. w. spitz]