Agricola, Georgius, De re metallica, 1912/1950

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              made Burgomaster by the command of the Prince. </s>
              <s>This would be Maurice,
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              and it is all the more a tribute to the high respect with which Agricola was
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              held, for, as said before, he was a consistent Catholic, and Maurice a Protestant
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              Prince. </s>
              <s>In this same year the Schmalkalden War broke out, and Agricola
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              was called to personal attendance upon the Duke Maurice in a diplomatic
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              and advisory capacity. </s>
              <s>In 1546 also he was a member of the Diet of Freiberg,
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              and was summoned to Council in Dresden. </s>
              <s>The next year he continued, by
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              the Duke's command, Burgomaster at Chemnitz, although he seems to have
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              been away upon Ducal matters most of the time. </s>
              <s>The Duke addresses
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              the Chemnitz Council in March, 1547: “We hereby make known to you
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              that we are in urgent need of your Burgomaster, Dr. </s>
              <s>Georgius Agricola,
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              with us. </s>
              <s>It is, therefore, our will that you should yield him up and forward
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              him that he should with the utmost haste set forth to us here near Freiberg.”
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              He was sent on various missions from the Duke to the Emperor Charles, to
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              King Ferdinand of Austria, and to other Princes in matters connected with the
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              war—the fact that he was a Catholic probably entering into his appointment
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              to such missions. </s>
              <s>Chemnitz was occupied by the troops of first one side, then
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              the other, despite the great efforts of Agricola to have his own town specially
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              defended. </s>
              <s>In April, 1547, the war came to an end in the Battle of Mühlberg,
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              but Agricola was apparently not relieved of his Burgomastership until the
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              succeeding year, for he wrote his friend Wolfgang Meurer, in April, 1548,
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              that he “was now relieved.” His public duties did not end, however, for he
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              attended the Diet of Leipzig in 1547 and in 1549, and was at the Diet
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              at Torgau in 1550. In 1551 he was again installed as Burgomaster; and in
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              1553, for the fourth time, he became head of the Municipality, and during
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              this year had again to attend the Diets at Leipzig and Dresden, representing
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              his city. </s>
              <s>He apparently now had a short relief from public duties, for it is
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              not until 1555, shortly before his death, that we find him again attending a
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              Diet at Torgau.</s>
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              <s>Agricola died on November 21st, 1555. A letter
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              from his life-long friend,
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              Fabricius, to Melanchthon, announcing this event, states: “We lost, on
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              November 21st, that distinguished ornament of our Fatherland, Georgius
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              Agricola, a man of eminent intellect, of culture and of judgment. </s>
              <s>He
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              attained the age of 62. He who since the days of childhood had enjoyed
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              robust health was carried off by a four-days' fever. </s>
              <s>He had previously
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              suffered from no disease except inflammation of the eyes, which he brought
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              upon himself by untiring study and insatiable reading. . . I know that
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              you loved the soul of this man, although in many of his opinions, more
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              especially in religious and spiritual welfare, he differed in many points from
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              our own. </s>
              <s>For he despised our Churches, and would not be with us in the
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              Communion of the Blood of Christ. </s>
              <s>Therefore, after his death, at the
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              command of the Prince, which was given to the Church inspectors and
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              carried out by Tettelbach as a loyal servant, burial was refused him, and not
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              </s>
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