ALBERUS, ERASMUS (c. 150o-1553), German humanist and poet, was born at Sprendlingen, near Frankfort, and died at Neubrandenburg on May 5, '553. He was almost the only member of Luther's party who commanded an effective weapon of satire. ile ridiculed the Franciscan order in his Barfiisser Monche Eulen spiegel und Alkoran (1542, preface by Luther), and gave his views on church and state in a collection of fables entitled Buch von der Tugend und W eisheit (155o). Some of his hymns are used in the Lutheran hymnal.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.—Das Buck von der Tugend und Weisheit has been Bibliography.—Das Buck von der Tugend und Weisheit has been edited by W. Braune (1892) ; the 16 Geistliche Lieder by C. W. Stromberger (1857). Alberus's prose writings have not been reprinted in recent times. See F. Schnorr von Carolsfeld, Erasmus Alberus (1894) •