quick trip from Dresden to Austria to "pick up his bags". On 12 May he was back in Wittenberg and took up his official duties, aged only 25. Such a young man holding the highest church office in Wittenberg, before even being noticed in theological circles in Saxony, attracted much attention and some imputed his appointment to nepotism – until 8 June he was not even a professor of the theology department and until 20 November 1577 not a member of the consistory. However, Leyser's calming of the situation after the expulsion of the Crypto-Calvinists and the reorganisation of the university was so successful that his critics were soon silenced. He was best served by his rhetorical skills and by an undemanding and reliable character, increasing his popularity among his students, including Philipp Nicolai and Johann Arndt. Leyser's skills were also seen in the drafting of the Formula of Concord and the publication of the Book of Concord in 1580. He developed close links with Martin Chemnitz and Nikolaus Selnecker. Leyser and Selnecker were asked to sign up to a Commission in Saxony on the Formula, that Leyser himself had signed on 25 June 1577 as first minister. He immediately took part in the important theological meetings in Saxony, acting as their recording secretary. The inhabitants of Wittenberg always saw him as an outsider, however, and acted as a thorn in his side. To neutralise this he married a local girl in March 1580, namely Elisabeth, daughter of the painter Lucas Cranach the Younger. The marriage took place in the Wittenberger Rathaus and was overshadowed by student rioting and heavy drinking, which the town authorities had to deal with later. In 1581 Leyser was again a 'visitator' to the Saxon Electoral Circle, where he was mainly concerned with primary education and the Fürstenschule in Meissen, Schulpforta and Grimma. His publications at this time were limited to funeral sermons and disputations, above all attacking opponents of the Formula of Concord. Tilemann Hesshus was his bitterest opponent at this time in the enforcement of 'Ubiquitätslehre'. The disputes were fought at symposia, including one at 1583 in Quedlinburg, where Leyser witnessed the last speech by his mentor Chemnitz. On 9 September 1584 the superintendent of Brunswick resigned and its inhabitants wanted Leyser to take over the post, but he refused it on Selnecker's advice due to his obligations to Augustus of Saxony. Leyser