AGRICOLA, John, a Saxon divine, born at Eisleben in 1492. He went as chaplain to Count Mansfeld, when that nobleman attended the elector of Saxony to the diet at Spire in 1526, and that of Augsburg in 1530. He was of a restless, ambitious temper, rivalled and
1 Agricola. wrote against Melanchthon, and gave Count Mansfeld occasion to reproach him severely. He obtained a professorship at Wittemberg, where he taught particular doctrines, and became founder of the sect of Antinomians; which occasioned warm disputes between him and Luther, who had before been his very good friend. But though he was never able to recover the favour
either of the elector of Saxony or of Luther, he received some consolation from the fame he acquired at Berlin: where he became preacher at court; and was chosen in 1548, in conjunction with Julius Phlog and Michael Heldingus, to compose the famous Interim, which made so much noise in the world. He died at Berlin in 1566. 2 Agricola