CARLOSTADIO (CARLSTADT, KARLSTAD, KAROLSTADT), ANDREA. - Celebrated German reformer, born probably in 1481, and died at Basilea on 24 Dec. 1541. His true name was Andrea Rodolfo Bodenstein; but he was called C. after the city of Carlstadt, where he was born. He pursued his studies at Erfurt and Colonia. Ordained a priest, he was elected archdeacon canon of the collegiate church of Wittenberg; he was in Rome in 1515, where he obtained the doctorate in utroque iure. On his return to Wittenberg he found the city disturbed by the doctrines of Lutero, which at first he wished to oppose, but which he subsequently embraced; indeed, for some time he worked with Lutero in complete harmony.
The theses he published against the Obelisci of the professor
of the Univ. of Ingolstadt, Giovanni Eck, a vigorous defender of the Catholic Church in Germany, led him and Lutero to the celebrated disputation of Lipsia (1519), in which free will, the primacy of the Pope, Confession, Purgatory, and indulgences were to be discussed. In the question of free will, Eck’s superiority and C.’s poor memory in recalling the texts of Holy Scripture gave Eck an easy victory. Lutero, who then disputed the other points, although he attracted attention by his fiery eloquence, had to confess that he was not satisfied with the outcome of the disputation, and C. considered himself humiliated both before Eck and in comparison with Lutero. Being a presumptuous man, he wished to be first in every undertaking in which he took part; hence there arose a secret resentment against Lutero that he retained throughout his life.
He knew how to take advantage of the opportunity when, in 1521, Lutero was placed under the ban of the Empire and, protected by the Elector Federico, remained hidden in the castle of Wartburg, while Wittenberg was left at C.’s disposal. Together with the apostate G. Zwilling (also called Didimo), he suppressed the Mass, celebrated the Lord’s Supper in lay dress, distributed Communion under both species, began a veritable iconoclastic campaign against every kind of sacred image, and on 26 Dec. of that same year, 1521, publicly contracted marriage with Anna di Mochau. Meanwhile, several of the so-called “prophets of Zwickau,” or Anabaptists, had arrived in Wittenberg, among them Nicola Storch, and they began to preach the “new kingdom of Christ.” At first C. appeared hesitant, but then gradually embraced some of their doctrines, such as the uselessness of studies and learning for the ministers of the Lord.
When Lutero learned of all this, he secretly left his refuge at Wartburg on 1 March 1522, returned to Wittenberg, and through his prestige and eloquence restored order. C. reluctantly had to yield. He withdrew for a short time into the countryside, lived as a simple peasant, and entered into relations with Tommaso Münzer. In 1523, summoned by the inhabitants of Orlamunda, he went there as minister and, with renewed enthusiasm, began to propagate his doctrines, destroy sacred images, and suppress schools. This produced some disturbances among the people, and since his relations with the Anabaptists—ever more restless and troublesome to the civil authorities—were also known, the Elector of Sassonia expelled him from Sassonia in 1524.
For some time he wandered through Germany. At the outbreak of the Peasants’ War, and because of the excesses and calamities accompanying it, although he had taken no part in it, he nevertheless, owing to his relations with Münzer, fell under the suspicion of the victors, so that, in order to save him from certain death, his friends lowered him in a basket from an open window in the walls of Rottemburgo.
In the grave and dangerous circumstances in which he found himself, he found no other means of saving himself than to humble himself before Lutero, to whom he wrote asking for protection and refuge. Lutero granted it to him in 1526, keeping him hidden for some time and even baptizing his son. Since, however, he could not adapt himself to that hidden manner of life, in 1527 he fled to Strasburgo, whence he went to Zurigo, where he was well received by Zwingli. When the latter was killed at the battle of Kappel in 1531, C. became minister of Allstadt, and in 1534 he accepted the post of professor at Basilea, where he died of the plague on 24 Dec. 1541.
C. was a changeable character: from a Catholic priest he became a Lutheran, and while still a Lutheran he embraced certain Anabaptist doctrines, finally adhering to Zwingli. From Lutero he tenaciously retained the doctrine of private judgment; indeed, he used it against Lutero himself, to whom he did not wish to be subject. Contrary to Lutero’s original intention, he inveighed against the veneration of sacred images and, with genuine iconoclastic fanaticism, destroyed as many as he could; with the Anabaptists he not only condemned the Baptism of children, but professed the uselessness of secular studies, saying that the Bible alone sufficed; with the Zwinglians he defended the purely symbolic presence of Christ in the Eucharist and dared to speak “of the flesh of the idol which the priests eat.” It is therefore not surprising that Protestants themselves do not speak of him with much enthusiasm.