The New International Encyclopædia/Aquila, Johann Kasper

AQUILA, ä'kwḗ-lȧ, Johann Kasper (1488-1560). A German Protestant reformer. He was born in Augsburg, studied at Ulm and in Italy, and in 1515 was appointed chaplain to Franz von Sickingen. He accepted Lutheranism and was imprisoned, but was released, and while court chaplain to the Elector of Saxony at Wittenberg (1524-27), through his knowledge of Hebrew assisted Luther in translating the Bible. Against the Interim (q.v.) he wrote Christliche Bedenken auf das Interim (1548), and Das Interim illuminiert (1548), for which a price was set on his head by Charles V. In 1552 he was restored to his pastorate at Saalfeld, which Luther had procured for him in 1527, and filled that office until his death.