THURMAYR
713
THYATIRA
become known through a series of much contro-
verted historical works called the " Rcinhardsbrunner
Annalen", was badly damaged in the Peasants War of
1525 and was turned into a hunting castle in 1543; it
now belongs to the Duke of Saxp-Coburg and Gotha.
Other important Benedictine abbeys founded by the
landgraves during the eleventh century were the
Abbeys at Heiligenstadt and Saalfeld, and during the
twelfth century those at Paulinzella, Gosek, and Bo-
sau. The Cistercian Abbeys of Volkcnroda, Pforta,
and Georgenthal were of great value in civilizing the
country, especially Eastern Thuringia.
In 1130 the Emperor Lothair aiijiointed Louis I (d. 1140), son of Louis the Sjiriiigrr id. 1123), Land- grave of Thuringia. Landgrave Louis IV of Thur- ingia (1217-27) married St. IClizabcth of Hungary (q. v.); he was succeeded by his brother Henry (d. 1247), with whom the first dynasty of Thuringian landgraves became extinct. The war of succession which now broke out raged until 12G3, when the branch of the Wettin family that ruled Saxe-Meissen as.sumed control of Thuringia. In 1440 a quarrel arose as to the possession of the country, and b)- the family compact made at Leipzig in 1485 Thuringia was assigned to the Ernestine branch of the house of Wettin. Thuringia now formed a constituent part of the Electorate of Saxony (q-. v.), where the great schism of the sixteenth century had its beginnings. As early as 1520 the Catholic Faith was abolished, priests that remained loyal were driven away and churches and monasteries were largely destroyed, especially during the Peasants War of 1.525. The Anabaptists found many adherents in Thirringia, par- ticularly at Miilhausen where the founder of the sect, Thomas Miinzer, laboured for it . Within the borders of Thuringia the Calhulic Faith was maintained only in the district called Kichsfild, which was ruled by the Archbishop of Mainz, and to a small degree in the city and vicinity of Erfurt, a result also due to the energetic measures of this archbishop. By the Capit- ulation of Wittenberg of 1547 that closed the Smal- kaldic War, John Frederick the Magnanimous lost both the electoral dignity and the country of Saxe- Wittenberg, retaining only Thuringia, which was partitioned by his sons into numerous duchies (see S.«ce-Altenbijrg ; S.^xe-Coburg and Gotha; S.\xe- Meiningen; S.\xe Weimar-Eisenach). While Thu- ringia still remained a landgravate, there were a num- ber of independent counts and nobles in the country whose possessions were finally absorbed either by the Saxon-Thuringian duchies or by Prussia. Only the principalities of Schwarzburg and the principalities of Reuss have remained independent.
Knochenhauer, Ge»chichtf ThUringens in der karolingischen u. aSchischen Zeit (Gotha. ISlj.i); Idem. Gesrhirhli: TliUringriis zur Zeif des erslen Landgrafenhaufifs (Gotha. 1871); Scobel, Thiiringen (2nd ed., Bielefeld. 1902); Thiiringen in Wort und Bitd. ed. by the Pe3talozzi Society (2 vols., Leipzig, 1900-02); Gebhardt, ThUringiache Kirchengesch. (3 vols., Gotha, 1880-82). Protestant.
Her.viann Sacher.
Thunnayr, .Iohaxnes (called Aventincs from the place of his birth), b. at Abensberg, Bavaria, 4 July, 1477; d. at Ratisbon, 9 January, 1534. He studied at the Universities of Ingolstadt, Vienna, Cracow, and Paris. In 1.507 he returned to Ingol- stadt, and in 1.509 was appointed tutor to the j^ounger brothers of D<ike William IV of Bavaria. In his zeal for learning he foimded the "Sodalitas litteraria Angilostadensis", which, however, soon cea.sed to exi.st (1.520). In 1512 he wrote the "Rudimenta graminati(;p latins". In 1517 he was appointed historiograjjher of Bavaria and was commissioned to write the history of the country. Many of the im- portant authorities which he collected for this purpose have been preserved only in his copies. He embodied a critical treatment of ihem in a complete history of Bavaria, " Annales Bojorum", down to the year 14f)0. His condensed German version of it, the "Bayerische
Chronik", is the first important hi.story in the German
language. Though he ranked as a Catholic, Thur-
mayr was in sympathy with the Humanists, inchned
to the opinions of the Reformers, rejected auricular
confession, objected to pilgrimages and indulgences,
and opposed in violent language the claims of the
hierarchy as excessive. For this reason his history
was not pubhshed at Ingolstadt until 1554, and then
only with omission of the passages hostile to the
Church. The "Bayerische Chronik" was published
at Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1566. The Bavarian
Academy issued a critical complete edition of his
works in five volumes (Munich, 1880-86).
See the biographies by Wiedmann (Freiaing, 1858) ; Dittmar (Nordlingen, 1862); Weoele (Bamberg, 1890); Dollinoer, Aventin u. seine Zeit (Munich. 1877; Nordlingen, 1888).
Patricics Schlager.
Thwing, Edward, Venerable. See Nutter, Robert, Venerable.
Thwing:, Thomas, Venerable, martyr, b. at He- worth Hall, near York, in 1635; suffered at York, 23 Oct., 1680. His father was George Thwing, Esq., of Kilton Castle and Heworth, nephew of Venerable Edward Thwing; his mother was Anne, sister of the venerable confessor Sir Thomas Gascoigne, of Barn- brow Hall. Educated at Douai, he was sent to the mission in 1664 and laboured in his native county. Until April, 1668, he was chaplain at Carlton Hall, the seat of his cousins the Stapletons. He next opened a school at Quosque, the dower-house of the Stapletons. When in 1677 the "Institute of Mary" began their foundation in the house given by Sir Thomas Gas- coigne at Dolebank, Thwing became their chaplain, three of his sisters being of the conmiunity. It was there that he was arrested in the early part of 1679. At the time of the Titus Oates scare, two servants who had been discharged from Sir Thomas Gas- coigne's employ for dishonesty, sought vengeance and reward by disclosing a pretended plot on the part of Gascoigne and others to murder the king. In their first allegation no mention was made of Thwing. Gascoigne, Thwing, and others were removed to Lon- don for trial at Newgate. All were acquitted except Thwing, who was brought back to York for trial in March, 1680. Owing to his challenging the jurors, his trial was postponed to the summer assizes, and he was brought to the bar on 29 July. He was refused an impartial jury, and was found guilty on the very same evidence upon which his relatives had been ac- quitted. Upon receiving sentence, which in consider- ation of his gentle birth was passed on him apart from the felons and murderers found guilty at the same assizes, humbly bowing his head he rephed "Innocens ego sum. " The king at first reprieved him, but owing to a remonstrance of the Commons the death-war- rant w.Ts issued on the day after the meeting of Parlia- ment. He was drawn from York Castle, past the convent where his sisters were ilwelling, to Ty- burn, where the sentence was carried out. He de- clared his innocence, protested his loyalty to the king and his charity to his neighbour; prayed for the king and royal family, and begged the prayers of all true Cathohcs. His dying words were "Sweet Jesus, re- ceive my soul". His mangled body was given to his friends, and buried in the churchyard of St. Mary, Castlegate. Relics of the martyr are now preserved at the Bar Convent, York, and at Oscott College.
Knaresboraugh MSS.: Coleridoe, St. Mary's Convent, York: Cobbett. State Trials, VII; Foley. Records S. J., V; Wauoh, QuoSQue Hall in Downside Review (July, 1909); GlLLOW in Cath. Rer. Sor., IV. IX; DoDD, Church History, III; Cballoner, Memoirs of Missionary Priests (Edinburgh, 1877).
J. L. Whitfield.
Thyatira, a titular suffragan see of Sardes in Lydia. According to Stephanus Byzantius, the name waa given to the city by Seleucus I Nicator; it is more probable that it is of Lydian origin. A Macedonian
