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2 A REFORMATION LIFE already had it and had gone mad friends had died from its horrifi c symp- toms. Wilhelm knew his fate and needed an heir. Philipp was born sometime in the early morning of November 13, 1504. Philipp’s father celebrated the birth of a son. Years later, friends remembered that Wilhelm noted proudly that his son was born with three testicles, perhaps a sign of robust virility. After all, the greatest warrior of the fi fteenth century, Bartolomeo Colleoni, was a famous triorchid. Colleoni had relished his extraordinary physical attribute and even re- fashioned his coat-of-arms so that it displayed three testes. In the six- teenth century, it was widely believed that men who rubbed engravings of Colleoni’s coat-of-arms could enhance their own potency. 1 Such a sign in the infant was a hopeful portent that this boy would survive and thrive. Philipp did survive and went on to have a long and remarkable (and virile—he fathered nineteen children) life. Over the next six de- cades, Philipp would participate in, lead, or oppose nearly every major event of the Reformation. In 1521, at the Diet of Worms, Philipp met a man who had been an unknown twenty-one-year-old college senior when Philipp was born. It was there that Martin Luther appeared before the Holy Roman Emperor. Decades later, Philipp would go to war against that same emperor in an attempt to defend the Reformation started by Luther. In what follows, Philipp’s life shall serve as a guide through the course and fl ow of the Reformation. His fortunes rose and fell over his life. He was celebrated as a great and victorious warrior, yet was most often called “the Magnanimous” because he was almost always regarded as a charitable vic- tor and a generous friend. He was also gracious in defeat and, even while a prisoner, still managed to have his will felt. In this chapter, the social and religious world into which he was born will be examined. In the next chapter, the Holy Roman Empire and the political systems that governed it will be explained. The remaining chapters will follow Philipp’s remark- able journey through the Reformation. THE SOCIAL WORLD IN 1500 In the early fi fteenth century, Dame Juliana Berners spoke for many of her contemporaries when she used the three sons of Noah (Shem, Japheth, and Ham) to explain that God had ordered human society ac- cording to three classes of people—priests, nobles, and serfs. Shem was the fi rst priest who prayed on behalf of the community and interceded with