Bake, Reinhard

Bake, Reinhard a Protestant theologian of Germany, was born May 4, 1587. In 1616 he was appointed deacon and in 1617 pastor of the Cathedral Church at Magdeburg. When Tilly (well known in the history of the Thirty Years' War) had the cathedral church opened, in which, according to some, one thousand, according to others four thousand, people had taken refuge-this happened on May 12 Bake met him with the following slightly changed verses (see Virgil, AEn. ii, 324):

"Venit summa dies et ineluctabile fatum Magd'burgo! Fuimus Troes, fuit Ilium et ingeus Gloria Parthenopes!"

All efforts of the Jesuits who followed Tilly to convert Bake to their faith were in vain. In Tilly's secretary Bake found a friend, and thus succeeded in fleeing to Grimma, where he was made pastor and superintendent. In 1640 he returned, as first cathedral preacher, to Magdeburg, where he died, Feb. 19, 1657. See Allgemeine deutsche Biographie, s.v. (B. P.)