As a professor in Wittenberg, the humanist Philipp Melanchthon (1497-1560) was a colleague of Martin Luther and became his most important and closest collaborator in the introduction of the Reformation. In addition to his teaching activities at the university, he wrote numerous textbooks, commentaries on ancient writings and biblical books, scientific, historical and theological works, was active in university administration and was called upon to advise on the founding of schools and universities. The enormous scientific range of his writings and his contribution to the development of Christian-humanist education are the reason why he was referred to as the ‘Praeceptor Germaniae’, the ‘Teacher of Germany’. As an advisor to the Saxon electors and as a participant in Imperial Diets and Religious Colloquies, he played a key role in shaping the Church Reformation.
The task and aim of the Melanchthon Research Centre is the critical and annotated complete edition of Philipp Melanchthon's correspondence, which comprises around 9,750 items. This edition is one of the fundamental sources for the study of German and European history in the early modern period. It documents Melanchthon's extensive correspondence for the first time in a philological-critical manner and with an exact chronology. Melanchthon's outstanding position in Reformation theology and church history as well as the central importance of his universal humanism for the European educational history become evident.