OSIANDER, Andreas (1498-1552), German Reformer, was born at Gunzenhausen, near Nuremberg, on December 19, 1498. His German name was Heiligmann, or, according to others, Hosemann. After studying at Leipsic, Altenburg, and Ingolstadt, he was ordained in 1520 to the priesthood, when he became Hebrew tutor in the Augustinian convent at Nuremberg. Two years afterwards ho was appointed preacher in the St Lorenz Kirche, and about the same time he publicly joined the Lutheran party, taking a prominent part in the discussion which ultimately led to the adoption of the Reformation by the city. He married in 1525. As a theologian of recognized ability and influence, he was present at the Marburg conference in 1529, at the Augsburg diet in 1530, and at the signing of the Smalkald articles in 1537, and took part in other public transactions of importance in the history of the Reformation; if he had an exceptionally large number of personal enemies the circumstance can be readily explained by his vehemence, coarseness, and arrogance as a controversialist. The introduction of the Augsburg Interim in 1548 necessitated his departure from Nuremberg; he went first to Breslau, and afterwards settled at Königsberg as professor in the new university there at the call of Duke Albert of Prussia. Here in 1550 he published two disputations, the one De Lege et Evangelio and the other De Justificatione, which aroused a vehement controversy that was not brought to a close by his death in 1552 (October 17). The nature of the dispute has been indicated elsewhere (see Lutherans, vol. xv. p. 85). The party was afterwards led by Funk, Osiander’s son-in-law, but disappeared after his execution for high treason in 1566....