Paul Speratus

Paul Speratus (13 December 1484 – 12 August 1551) was a Swabian Catholic priest who became a Protestant preacher, reformer and hymn-writer.

[1] Paul Speratus was born in Rötlen (a village now part of present-day Ellwangen) in Swabia, on or about 13 December 1484, probably to a wealthy family.

[3] On 31 October 1517, Martin Luther wrote to his bishop, Albert of Mainz, protesting the sale of indulgences and enclosing a copy of his 95 Theses, which his friends had translated from Latin to German by January 1518.

[2][3] It was while imprisoned that Speratus wrote his most famous hymn, Es ist das Heil uns kommen her.

[3] He was active there in defending the tenets of faith advanced by Luther, and in attacking such rival sects as the followers of Caspar Schwenckfeldt and Andreas Osiander.

Ellwangen 1549
Title page of the Achtliederbuch
"Es ist das heyl vns kommen her," 1524