The Tract first appeared in print in 1540. A German translation,
published 1541, designates it as "drawn up by Mr. Philip Melanchthon and
done into German by Veit Dietrich." (_C. R._ 23 722.) In the edition of
the Smalcald Articles by Stolz and Aurifaber, 1553, the Tract is
appended with the caption: "Concerning the Power and Supremacy of the
Pope, Composed by the Scholars. Smalcald, 1537." In the Jena edition of
Luther's Works the Smalcald Articles are likewise followed by the Tract
with the title: "Concerning the Power and Supremacy of the Pope,
Composed by the Scholars in the Year 37 at Smalcald and Printed in the
Year 38." (6, 523.) This superscription gave rise to the opinion that
the German was the original text. At any rate, such seems to have been
the belief of Selneccer, since he incorporated a Latin translation,
based on the German text, into the Latin edition of his Book of Concord,
privately published 1580. Apart from other errors this Latin version
contained also the offensive misprint referred to in our article on the
Book of Concord. In the official edition of 1584 it was supplanted by
the original text of Melanchthon. The subtitle, however, remained:
"Tractatus per Theologos Smalcaldicos Congregatos Conscriptus."
To-day it is generally assumed that by 1553 it was universally forgotten
both that Melanchthon was the author of the Tract, and that it was
originally composed in Latin. However, it remains a mystery how this
should have been possible--only twelve years after Dietrich had published
the Tract under a title which clearly designates Melanchthon as its
author, and states that the German text is a translation. The evidence
for Melanchthon's authorship which thus became necessary was furnished
by J. C. Bertram in 1770. However, before him Chytraeus and Seckendorf,
in 1564, had expressly vindicated Melanchthon's authorship. Be it
mentioned as a curiosity that the Papist Lud. Jac. a St. Carolo
mentioned a certain "Articulus Alsmalcaldicus, Germanus, Lutheranus" as
the author of the Tract. In the Formula of Concord and in the Preface to
the Book of Concord the Tract is not enumerated as a separate
confessional writing, but is treated as an appendix to the Smalcald
Articles.