relics and 42 holy skeletons which needed to be stored. These precious treasures, known as "Hallesches Heilthum", indirectly related to the sale of indulgences which had triggered the Reformation a few years before. Then, the cardinal and the Catholic members of the town council wanted to repress the growing influence of the Reformation by holding far grander masses and services in a new church dedicated solely to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Albert's hostility towards the reformers, however, was not so extreme as that of his brother Joachim I; and he appears to have exerted himself towards peace, although he was a member of the League of Nuremberg, formed in 1538 as a counterpoise to the League of Schmalkalden. New doctrines nevertheless made considerable progress in his dominions, and he was compelled to grant religious liberty to the inhabitants of Magdeburg in return for 500,000 florins. During his later years showed more intolerance towards the Protestants, and favoured the teaching of the Jesuits in his dominions. Market Church of Our Lady The Market Church of Our Lady in Halle, which had been built to defend against the spread of Reformation sympathies, was the spot where Justus Jonas officially introduced the Reformation into Halle with his Good Friday sermon in 1541. The service must have been at least partly conducted in the open air, because at that time construction had only been finished at the eastern end of the nave. Jonas began a successful preaching crusade and attracted so many people that the church overflowed. Albert left the town permanently after the estates in the city had announced that they would take over his enormous debt at the bank of Jakob Fugger. Halle became Protestant and in 1542 Jonas was appointed as priest to St. Mary's and, in 1544, bishop over the city. Albert adorned the collegiate church at Halle and the cathedral at Mainz in sumptuous fashion, and took as his motto the words (Latin for: "Lord, I admired the adornment of your house."). A generous patron of art and learning, he counted Erasmus among his friends. Death Albert died at the Martinsburg, Mainz in 1545. Ancestry References Sources Helmut Börsch-Supan, et al. "Hohenzollern, House of." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 24 Jul. 2016. Roesgen, Manfred von. Kardinal Albrecht von Brandenburg : ein Renaissancefürst auf dem Mainzer Bischofsthron. Moers : Steiger, 1980. Schauerte, Thomas and Andreas