Beerwolf

Woodcutof a werewolf attack byLucas Cranach the Elder,1512

ABeerwolf(Bärwolf,Werwolf) is a German folk-tale monstercommonly known as awerewolf.

In a debate arranged byPhilip of Hesseand the Elector of Saxony in 1539, when it appeared theHoly Roman EmperorCharles Vwas readying to attack theLutherans,Martin Lutherintroduced the concept ofBeerwolfto describe thePopeand the Emperor.In the context ofresistance theory,theBeerwolf,"in contrast to a mere tyrant, not only broke the law, but overturned the entire moral order upon which it is based. All the subjects of such a ruler... had the right to resist and even to kill him and all his supporters".The point was that Luther thought the Emperor and the Pope were just such apocalyptic tyrants, and that the present situation justified all efforts to resist them. Despite this Luther continued to resist armed religious conflict against the Emperor and Pope, theSchmalkaldic Warbeginning a year after his death.

The significance of the term lies in the fact that, for most of his life, Luther held that no subject could actively resist his secular ruler, an issue of obvious significance in a time when many rulers in the German lands and their respective subjects held competing religious beliefs. The concept ofBeerwolfmarked Luther's final, and most extreme, position onresistance theory,as it relied onnatural law(specifically, in a similar manner to what would later be calledHobbes'right to self-preservation) instead of earlier and more limited rights to resistance that Luther had accepted as flowing from German constitutional law.

The 1550Magdeburg Confessionincluded aBeerwolfclause that had to be fulfilled before an evil ruler could be resisted by thelesser magistrates.

The concept of just rebellion that the termBeerwolfintroduced was subsequently developed by fellow Protestants who faced a similar situation in France, the HuguenotMonarchomachs.

See also

• Right of rebellion