Editing Georgius Agricola (section)

== Death ==
[[File:Platte-Agricola.jpg|thumb|upright|Memorial tablet for Agricola at Zeitz cathedral, installed in June 2014]]

Agricola died on November 21, 1555. His "lifelong friend," the Protestant poet and classicist [[Georg Fabricius]], wrote in a letter to the Protestant theologian [[Phillip Melanchthon]], "He who since the days of childhood had enjoyed robust health was carried off by a four-days' fever." Agricola was a fervent Catholic, who, according to Fabricius, "despised our Churches" and "would not tolerate with patience that anyone should discuss ecclesiastical matters with him". That did not stop Fabricius in the same letter from calling Agricola "that distinguished ornament of our Fatherland," whose "religious views...were compatible with reason, it is true, and were dazzling," though not "compatible with truth"; in 1551 Fabricius had already written the introductory poem to ''De re metallica'' in praise of Agricola.<ref name=farl>{{cite web |url=http://farlang.com/books/agricola-hoover-de-re-metallica |title=De Re Metallica – Agricola, Hoover, pp. xi-xii, xvi, xxi-xxiv |publisher=Farlang |author=H. Hoover, L.H. Hoover |access-date=April 5, 2019 |archive-date=March 14, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160314224926/http://farlang.com/books/agricola-hoover-de-re-metallica |url-status=dead }}</ref>

According to traditional urban customs, as a former lord mayor he was entitled to a burial in the local mother church. His religious affiliation, however, outweighed his secular prerogatives and monumental services for the city.<ref>{{cite book|title=Georgius Agricola|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZhX0BgAAQBAJ&pg=PA123|date=13 August 2013|publisher=Springer-Verlag|isbn=978-3-322-95384-1|pages=123–}}</ref> Chemnitz Protestant superintendent Tettelbach urged [[Augustus, Elector of Saxony|Prince August]] to command the refusal of a burial inside the city. The command was issued and Tettelbach immediately informed the Agricola party.<ref>{{cite book|title=Die Reformation ihre innere Entwicklung und ihre Wirkungen im Umfange deLuterischen Bekenntnisses von J. Döllinger|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_Pv_khP51teUC|year=1848|publisher=J. Manz|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_Pv_khP51teUC/page/n610 583]–}}</ref>

Upon the initiative of his childhood friend, [[Naumburg]] bishop [[Julius von Pflug]], four days later Agricola's body was carried off to [[Zeitz]], more than {{convert|50|km|mi|abbr=on}} away and interred by von Pflug in the Zeitz cathedral.<ref>[https://www.kath-zeitz.de/bild/upload/dom-2-Fuenf-Minuten-Begleiter-Seite%201.pdf Five-minute guide to the Cathedral of Sts Peter and Paul] (in German). Retrieved 28 February 2023.</ref> His wife had a memorial plate commissioned and placed inside, that was already removed during the 17th century. Its text, however has been preserved in the Zeitz annals, and reads:

<blockquote>To the physician and mayor of Chemnitz, Georgius Agricola, a man most distinguished by piety and scholarship, who had rendered outstanding services to his city, whose legacy will bestow immortal glory on his name, whose spirit Christ himself absorbed into his eternal kingdom. His mourning wife and children. He died in the 62nd year of life on November 21, 1555 and was born in Glauchau on March 24, 1494<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www-user.tu-chemnitz.de/~fna/14engewald.pdf |title= Zum 450. Todestag von GEORGIUS AGRICOLA | publisher = TU Chemnitz |author=Gisela-Ruth Engwald  |access-date= April 5, 2019  }}</ref></blockquote>