Johann Gramann

GRAMANN, Johann. b. Neustadt-an-der-Aisch (north-west of Nürnberg), 5 July 1487; d. Königsberg, 29 April 1541. He was educated at Leipzig, where he became rector of the Thomasschule. During the famous disputation at Leipzig in 1519 between Luther* and the Dominican Johannes Eck, Gramann was so impressed by Luther that he went to study at Wittenberg. He became a Lutheran pastor, succeeding Paul Speratus* as cathedral preacher at Würzburg in 1522. In 1525, at the suggestion of Duke Albrecht of Prussia, he moved to the Old Town Church at Königsberg, where he became renowned as a preacher and as one of the principal Prussian Lutherans of the age. Gramann was the author of two hymns in...