Hausmann, Nicolaus

Hausmann, Nicolaus an intimate friend of Luther, and the reformer of the city of Zwickau and the duchy of Anhalt, was born in 1479 at Freiberg. He became at first preacher at Schneeberg, subsequently at Zwickau, where he had many and severe controversies with the adherents of Thomas Münzer. In 1532 he was appointed pastor of Dessau, having been warmly recommended by Luther. In 1538 he accepted a call as superintendent to his native town Freiberg, but while preaching his first sermon (Nov. 6) he was struck with apoplexy which caused his immediate death. Luther deeply bemoaned his death, and praised him as a man of profound piety. Two opinions of Hausmann on the reformation in Zwickau have been published by Preller

(Zeitschrift für die historische Theologie, 1852). See O.G. Schmidt, Nic. Hausmann, der Freund Luthers (Lpz. 1860). (A. J. S.)