Editing Philip Melanchthon (section)

==Early life and education==

He was born Philipp Schwartzerdt on 16 February 1497 at [[Bretten]], where his father Georg Schwarzerdt (1459–1508) was armorer to [[Philip, Count Palatine of the Rhine]].{{sfn|Richard|1898|p=3}} His mother was Barbara Reuter (1476/77-1529). Bretten was burned in 1689 by French troops during the [[War of the Palatinate Succession]]. The town's [[Melanchthonhaus (Bretten)|Melanchthonhaus]] was built on the site of his place of birth in 1897.

In 1507 he was sent to the Latin school at [[Pforzheim]], where the rector, Georg Simler of [[Wimpfen]], introduced him to the Latin and Greek poets and to [[Aristotle]]. He was influenced by his great-uncle [[Johann Reuchlin]], a [[Renaissance humanist]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Peacham |first=Henry |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7591/j.ctv2n7n11.14. |title=Renaissance Debates on Rhetoric |chapter=Philip Melanchthon |publisher=Cornell University Press |year=2000 |location=Ithica, NY |pages=97–110|jstor=10.7591/j.ctv2n7n11.14 |isbn=978-0-8014-3008-4 }}</ref> who suggested Philipp follow a custom common among humanists of the time and change his surname from "Schwartzerdt" (literally 'black earth'), into the Greek equivalent "Melanchthon" ({{lang|grc|Μελάγχθων}}).{{sfn|Richard|1898|p=11}}

Philipp was 11 years old in 1508 when both his grandfather (d. 17 October) and father (d. 27 October) died within eleven days of each other.{{sfn|Manschreck|2011}} He and a brother were brought to [[Pforzheim]] to live with his maternal grandmother, Elizabeth Reuter, sister of Reuchlin.{{sfnm |1a1=Löffler |1y=1911 |1p=151 |2a1=Pauck |2y=1969 |2p=4}}

The next year he entered the [[University of Heidelberg]], where he studied [[philosophy]], [[rhetoric]], [[astronomy]], and [[astrology]], and became known as a scholar of Greek thought.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Wyk|first1=Van|last2=(Natie)|first2=Ignatius W. C.|year=2017|title=Philipp Melanchthon: A short introduction|journal=HTS Theological Studies|volume=73|issue=1|pages=1–8|doi=10.4102/hts.v73i1.4672|issn=0259-9422|doi-access=free|hdl=2263/62958|hdl-access=free}}</ref> In 1509, Melanchthon received his B.A. at the University of Heidelberg, and in 1512, his M.A. at Tübingen, where he would teach after obtaining his degrees. In 1518, he was called to Wittenberg at the request of his uncle to teach Greek.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rebhorn |first=Wayne A. |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7591/j.ctv2n7n11.14. |title=Renaissance Debates on Rhetoric |chapter=Philip Melanchthon |publisher=Cornell University Press |year=2000 |pages=97–110|jstor=10.7591/j.ctv2n7n11.14 |isbn=978-0-8014-3008-4 }}</ref> While there, he was also taught the technical aspects of astrology by [[Johannes Stöffler]].{{sfn|Brosseder|2005}}

After gaining a master's degree in 1512, he began to study theology at Tübingen.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wagener |first=A. Pelzer |date=1929 |title=Melanchthon: A German Humanist |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4389299 |journal=The Classical Weekly |language=en |volume=22 |issue=20 |pages=155–160 |doi=10.2307/4389299|jstor=4389299 }}</ref> Under the influence of Reuchlin, [[Erasmus]], and others, he became convinced that true Christianity was something different from the [[scholastic theology]] taught at the university. In 1519, he received a B.D. and quickly began collaborating with Martin Luther on a translation of the Bible.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rebhorn |first=Wayne A. |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7591/j.ctv2n7n11.14. |title=Renaissance Debates on Rhetoric |chapter=Philip Melanchthon |publisher=Cornell University Press |year=2000|pages=97–110 |jstor=10.7591/j.ctv2n7n11.14 |isbn=978-0-8014-3008-4 }}</ref> 

His first publications included a number of poems in a collection edited by [[Jakob Wimpfeling]] ({{circa|1511}}),{{sfn|Rupp|1996}} the preface to Reuchlin's ''{{lang|la|Epistolae clarorum virorum}}'' (1514), an edition of [[Terence]] (1516), and a book of Greek grammar (1518).