Argula corresponded with Luther on several occasions, and even met with him at the Diet of Augsburg in 1530, when he was at the nearby castle of the Coburg. Luther once sent some of Argula’s letters to Spalatin, saying, “I am sending you the letters of Argula von Gruymbach, Christ’s disciple, that you may see how the angels rejoice over a sinful daughter of Adam, converted and made into a daughter of God.”

Argula von Stauff was born into a noble Bavarian family in 1492, the year Columbus made his first voyage of discovery to the Americas.  Taught to read early, when she was ten, Argula’s father gave her a beautiful German Bible, printed by Koberger in 1483. Argula eagerly read the Bible until some Franciscan preachers discouraged her, warning that trying to understand the Bible would confuse her. As a teenager, Argula was sent to the court of Kunigunde, the Duchess of Bavaria and sister of Emperor Maximillian. There were often spiritual discussion in Kunigunde’s household, and Argula began reading the Bible in earnest.  A frequent speaker at the court was John von Staupitz, the Augustinian mentor of Martin Luther. He stressed the importance of Christ’s merits, not ours, as bringing salvation.

Argula’s parents died of the plague when she was seventeen. She then came under the guardianship of her Uncle Hieronymus, but in 1516 Hieronymus was executed for taking the wrong side in a struggle for the Bavarian succession. The same year Argula married Friedrich von Grumbach; the couple had four children. While her husband remained a Catholic, Argula accepted justification by faith and the teachings of the Reformation. She arranged to have her children educated in Protestant schools.

Compelled by Scripture

In 1522, the Bavarian court issued a mandate against Lutheran ideas. This led the University of Ingolstadt to arrest Arsacius Seehofer, a young teacher who had been to Wittenberg, studied under Melanchthon, and came back with the Lutheran teachings. Seehofer was forced to recant the Lutheran teachings. Holding a Bible in his hands, Seehofer made his recantation in tears. Incensed by this action, Argula traveled to Nuremburg to consult with the Reformer Andreas Osiander, who was amazed at her knowledge of Scripture. After meeting with Osiander, Argula wrote a protest letter to the University of Ingolstadt. The letter was never answered by the Council, but it stirred up quite a public discussion when it was printed. Within two months the popular tract went through fourteen editions.

Though a woman and lacking in any scholarly education, Argula confidently assailed the stance taken by the University based upon Scriptures. She began her letter with a reference from John 12:

“I am the light that has come into the world, that none who believe in me should abide in darkness.”  It is my heartfelt wish that this light should dwell in all of us and shine upon all callous and blinded hearts.  Amen.[i]

Argula’s letter cited over eighty Scripture references, reinforcing her basic argument that Scripture should be the final authority. Argula felt Scripture itself compelled her to address the University, for Matthew 10 says, “Whoever confesses me before another I too will confess before my heavenly father.” Ezekiel 33 says, “If you see your brother sin, reprove him, or I will require his blood at your hands.” Argula asks,

How in God’s name can you and your university expect to prevail, when you deploy such foolish violence against the word of God; when you force someone to hold the holy Gospel in their hands for the very purpose of denying it, as you did in the case of Arascius Seehofer? When you confront him with an oath and declaration such as this, and use imprisonment and even the threat of the stake to force him to deny Christ and his word?

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