ALBER (Alberus), ERASMUS. — German theologian and poet, born at Bruchenbrücken (Wetterau) around 1500, died at Neubramburg on 5 May 1553. A disciple of Luther at Wittenberg, he regarded his master’s thought as the criterion of truth.
He composed popular hymns, some of which are still in use today. In his works (about twenty published, others in manuscript), the satirical spirit predominates. Famous is the atrocious pamphlet, honored with a preface by Luther himself, against the Franciscans: Der Barfüser Münche Eulenspiegel und Alcoran (Wittenberg 1542), a parody of Bartolomeo de’ Rinonico da Pisa’s Liber conformitatum vitae b. Francisci cum vita Iesu Christi, as though the Franciscans regarded this book as Muslims regard their Qur’an. Translated into Latin, the pamphlet was published the following year under the title: Alcoranus Francisconorum, ideat blasphemiarum et «ugarum terna de stigmatisato idolo, quod Franciscum vocant, ex » Libro conformitatum»; it was also called Alcoranus Nudipedum, and, in Badius’s French version (Geneva 1560), Alcoran des Cordeliers.
He handled Aesopic fable with skill and, together with Waldis, created through it a classical form of fable poetry in the service of Protestantism. His collection of 41 fables, entitled « Book of Virtue and Wisdom » (Buch von der Tugend und Weisheit, Frankfurt 1550), is famous for this reason. The ass, for example, which dresses itself in the lion’s skin, becomes for him the image of the Pope, who has deceived the world for centuries with his illegitimate lordship, until Doctor Luther pulls out his ass’s ears and tears off his proud skin.
A faithful « servant of Luther », he never missed an opportunity—as professor of theology, preacher, writer, and general inspector of the Lutheran Church—to deride monasticism, the cult of the Saints, relics, and indulgences.
His « Spiritual Songs » (Geistliche Lieder) were reprinted by H. W. Stromberger in 1857, and his fables by W. Braune in 1892.