Johann (Popularly Known As Pomeranus Or Dr Bugenhagen. Pommer), a German reformer, born at Wollin, near Stettin, June 24, 1485, died in Wittenberg, April 20, 1558. He was principal of the Treptow school from 1503 to 1520, and founded a college in the neighboring convent of Belbuck, celebrated as a starting point of the reformation in Pomerania. Being subjected to persecution on successfully preaching the new doctrines, he joined Luther in 1521 at Wittenberg, in 1522 was appointed professor of theology, and in 1523 pastor of the principal church, where he officiated in 1525 at Luther's wedding. He became the principal coadjutor of Luther and Melanchthon; was one of the original authors of the Augsburg confession; aided Luther in the translation of the Bible; and published a Low-German version of it himself. He also prepared able commentaries on the Psalms, and was the first to propose the act of confirmation. But he chiefly distinguished himself by organizing Protestant churches and schools in Saxony, and in many other parts of Germany (1528-34), and in Denmark and Norway (1537-'42). He framed the new Danish ecclesiastical law; reorganized the university of Copenhagen, of which he was for a while rector and professor; and was esteemed by the Danes as their foremost religious reformer.

He returned to Wittenberg in 1542, and toward the close of his life lost his sight. His principal work is In-terpretatio in Librum Psalmorum (Nuremberg, 1523). Among his other works are a learned history of Pomerania (Greifswald, 1528), and Historia Christi Passi et Glorificati (1530), which passed through many editions. Among Bugenhagen's biographers are Engelken (Berlin and Stettin, 1817), Zietz (Leipsic, 1829), and Bellermann (Berlin, 1860).