AQUILA, KASPAR. - Lutheran theologian, born in 1488 at Augsburg, where his father was mayor, and died at Saalfeld in 1560. He completed his education at the university of his native city, then at Leipzig, and finally in Italy. He was among the first followers of Luther as soon as the latter rebelled against the Church, and for this reason was imprisoned by the bishop of Augsburg. Having obtained his release through the intervention of Queen Isabella of Denmark, sister of Charles V, he hastened to Wittenberg (1524) to join Luther, to whom he rendered considerable assistance in the translation of the Bible. In 1527 he took up the position of pastor and the following year that of superintendent at Saalfeld, and in 1550 he was preacher at Schmalkalden. An uncompromising Lutheran, Aquila opposed the "Interim," for which Charles V placed a bounty of 5,000 florins on his head. In memory of the sermons he had preached on the Psalms of David, Hosea, Zechariah, and John, he gave his four sons the names David, Hosea, Zechariah, and John.
