Leonard Stöckel: docta pietas in the service of Lutheran reform

Abstract

Born in 1510 in the royal free city of Bartfeld (Bardejov, Bartfa) in the kingdom of Hungary, Leonard Stöckel was an influential reformer in Upper Hungary during his life. A student and confidant of Philipp Melanchthon, Stöckel aided in organizing the Lutheran movement in the five royal free cities of Upper Hungary. He wrote the first confession of faith on the territory of the modern Slovak Republic. In addition, Stöckel published the first known school play in the region and the school rules that he developed for his school in Bartfeld are the earliest known such regulations on the territory of the modern Slovak Republic. This study examines the influences of Erasmus of Rotterdam, Philipp Melanchthon and Leonard Cox on the pedagogical reform program that Stöckel initiated at the city Latin school in Bartfeld. His theological and homiletic writings are also examined and compared to similar works by Melanchthon and Luther. Stöckel's pedagogical and religious writings have the common goal of developing learned piety while placing it in the service of Lutheran religious reform. His pedagogical reforms and religious work were influential for generations after his own death in 1560.