1. The expression is A. G. Dickens's. See A. G. Dickens, The German Nation and Martin Luther (London, 1974), 103. Dickens's overview (pp. 102-134) is one of the best in English. See also Louise Holborn, "Printing and the Growth of a Protestant Movement in Germany from 1517 to 1524," Church History 11 (1942):123-137; Elizabeth L. Eisenstein, The Printing Press as an Agent of Change: Communications and Cultural Transformations in Early-Modern Europe (Cambridge, 1979), 1:303-450; H. Gravier, Luther et l'opinion publique (Paris, 1943); and the literature cited in chapter 1. [BACK]

2. See, for example, Eisenstein, The Printing Press as an Agent of Change , 1:303-450. [BACK]

3. Bernd Moeller, "Stadt und Buch: Bemerkungen zur Struktur der Reformatorischen Bewegung in Deutschland," in Wolfgang J. Mommsen, ed., Stadtbürgertum und Adel in der Reformation: Studien zur Socialgeschichte der Reformation in England und Deutschland (Stuttgart, 1979), 25-39. This "Moellerian thesis" is on page 30. [BACK]

4. See chapter 1, note 29. [BACK]

5. See, for example, Gerald Strauss, Luther's House of Learning: Indoctrination of the Young in the German Reformation (Baltimore, 1978), esp. 247-308. [BACK]

6. For example, Bernd Moeller, Imperial Cities and the Reformation: Three Essays (Philadelphia, 1972). [BACK]

7. For example, Peter Blickle, Gemeindereformation: Die Menschen des 16 Jahrhunderts auf dem Weg zum Heil (Munich, 1985) [ Communal Reformation: The Quest for Salvation in Sixteenth-Century Germany , trans. Thomas Dunlap (London, 1992)]. For a discussion of Blickle's argument, see my review essay "Die Gemeindereformation als Bindeglied zwischen der mittel-

alterlichen und der neuzeitlichen Welt," Historische Zeitschrift 249 (1989): 95-103. [BACK]

8. For example, Steven E. Ozment, The Reformation in the Cities: The Appeal of Protestantism to Sixteenth-Century Germany and Switzerland (New Haven, 1975). [BACK]

9. For example, Hans-Jürgen Goertz, Pfaffenhaß und groß Geschrei: Die reformatorischen Bewegungen in Deutschland 1517-1529 (Munich, 1987). [BACK]

10. Moeller, "Problems of Reformation Research," in Imperial Cities , 13. [BACK]

11. For example, Moeller, Imperial Cities , and Blickle, Gemeindereformation . [BACK]

12. For example, he prefaced his 1519 Sermon on the Estate of Marriage with the observation that a sermon on this topic had already been published under his name. He was aware that he had preached on the subject, but never put it into writing. He asked his pious readers to disregard the first edition of the sermon. "Further," he continued, "if anybody wants to start writing my sermons for me, let him restrain himself, and let me have a say in the publication of my words as well." And he added a caution that today's scholars of sixteenth-century sermons should take to heart. "There is a great difference," he pointed out, ''in making public something with the living voice or dead letters" ["Es ist ein gross unterscheyt, etwas mit lebendiger stymme adder mit todter schrifft an tag zubringenn" (WA 2:166)]. [BACK]

13. See Hans-Joachim Köhler, "The Flugschriften and their Importance in Religious Debate: A Quantitative Approach," in Paola Zambelli, ed., ' Astrologi hallucinati': Stars and the End of the World in Luther's Time (New York, 1986), 153-175; and Hans-Joachim Köhler, "Erste Schritte zu einem Meinungsprofil der frühen Reformationszeit," in Volker Press and Dieter Stievermann, eds., Martin Luther: Probleme seiner Zeit (Stuttgart, 1986), 244-281. [BACK]

14. See the graph on page 23 of my Luther's Last Battles: Politics and Polemics, 1531-46 (Ithaca, 1983) and the discussion in chapter 1 as well as tables 3 and 4 of this book. [BACK]

15. Chrisman, and BenzingStr. I have generally found Chrisman to be the more accurate and conservative in its attributions.

In an important article, Hans Christoph Rublack has examined the content of Luther's early "best-sellers" published in Augsburg ("Martin Luther and the Urban Social Experience," in Helga Robinson-Hammerstein, ed., The Transmission of Ideas in the Lutheran Reformation [Dublin, 1989]). We characterize the content of Luther's treatises rather differently, demonstrating, if the point needs further demonstration, that the meaning of texts cannot be separated from the perspective of the reader. Briefly, Rublack overstresses Luther's alleged "dualism" and makes him sound like an Erasmian reformer, which he was not. See also Bernd Moeller, "Das Berühmtwerden Luthers," Zeitschrift für Historische Forschung 15 (1988):65-92, with whom I am in substantially greater agreement. [BACK]

16. New Haven, 1982. [BACK]

1. Felician Gess, ed., Akten und Briefe zur Kirchenpolitik Herzog Georgs von Sachsen (Leipzig, 1905), 1:641. [BACK]

2. According to Hans-Joachim Köhler, between 1517 and 1518 there was a 530 percent increase in pamphlet production. Although Köhler gives percentages rather than exact figures, his tables suggest that there was nearly an additional eight-fold (7.8) increase from 1518 to 1524. From these two figures I calculate an increase of more than forty-fold over the eight-year period. As Köhler points out, this rapid increase in production yielded for the years 1520 through 1526 an annual production 55 times higher than the average annual production before 1518. See Hans-Joachim Köhler, "The Flugschriften and their Importance in Religious Debate: A Quantitative Approach," in Paola Zambelli, ed., ' Astrologi hallucinati': Stars and the End of the World in Luther's Time (New York, 1986), 153-175; and "Erste Schritte zu einem Meinungsprofil der frühen Reformationszeit," in Volker Press and Dieter Stievermann, eds., Martin Luther: Probleme seiner Zeit (Stuttgart, 1986), 244-281; and the discussion below. [BACK]

3. In the period 1518 to 1520, Leipzig produced 29 percent of all the printings of Luther's works: 41 treatises by Luther in 1518, 65 treatises in 1519, 49 treatises in 1520, then 5 in 1521, and none in 1522. See table 3. [BACK]

4. For the following description, I am indebted to Hans-Joachim Köhler, "Die Flugschriften der frühen Neuzeit," in W. Arnold et al., eds., Die Erforschung der Buch- und Bibliotheksgeschichte in Deutschland (Wiesbaden, 1987), 307-345, esp. 310-314. [BACK]

5. Ibid., 312. [BACK]

6. Ibid., 325. More on the likely purchasers in the next section. [BACK]

7. Köhler, "A Quantitative Approach," 156, who cites Heiko A. Oberman, "Zwischen Agitation und Reformation: Die Flugschriften als 'Judenspiegel'," in Flugschriften als Massenmedium der Reformationszeit: Beiträge zum Tübinger Symposium 1980 , Spätmittelalter und Frühe Neuzeit, vol. 13 (Stuttgart, 1981), 269-289, esp. 287; and Johannes Schwitalla, "Deutsche Flugschriften im ersten Viertel des 16. Jahrhunderts," Freiburger Universitätsblätter 76 (1982):37-58. [BACK]

8. See John W. Bohnstedt, The Infidel Scourge of God: The Turkish Menace as Seen by German Pamphleteers of the Reformation Era , Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, vol. 58, part 9 (Philadelphia, 1968), and his bibliography. [BACK]

9. See Köhler, "A Quantitative Approach," and "Meinungsprofil," 244-281. [BACK]

10. Köhler, "A Quantitative Approach," 155. For this same material presented in greater detail, see his "Meinungsprofil." [BACK]

11. Ibid., 156. [BACK]

12. From 28 percent German and 72 percent Latin to 74 percent German and barely 26 percent Latin. In the following year the Latin proportion fell to

9.5 percent, marking a 72 percent decline in just three years (Köhler, "Die Flugschriften der frühen Neuzeit," 331). [BACK]

13. In 1518, 47 percent of the printings of Luther's works are in German. This rises to 63 percent in 1519, 85 percent in 1520, 78 percent in 1521, 95 percent in 1522, and then hovers in the high eighties and low nineties for the rest of the decade. See table 1. [BACK]

14. Zorzin, 19-83. Zorzin's work also contains a fine bibliography of the relevent literature on pamphlets and publicists during this period. [BACK]

15. For this figure I have rearranged Zorzin's statistics (Zorzin, 24). There is a discrepancy of 59 editions between my count of the German printings through 1525 (1524 editions) and Zorzin's (1465 editions). I cannot account for this discrepancy except to hypothesize that the difference may be due to the ways in which the two of us dated what were in fact undated editions. For a discussion of my methodology, see the appendix in my Luther's Last Battles: Politics and Polemics, 1531-46 (Ithaca, 1983), 209-211. [BACK]

16. Köhler, "Die Flugschriften der frühen Neuzeit," 317. [BACK]

17. We do not have a study for all Evangelical publications comparable to my study of the Catholic controversial theologians ("Catholic Controversial Literature, 1518-1555: Some Statistics," ARG [1988]:189-205). Given that we currently lack a complete bibliography of sixteenth-century imprints, this would be a difficult undertaking. Köhler's bibliography of pamphlet literature and the Munich-Wolfenbüttel bibliographies are currently in progress. When completed they may provide a basis for such a project. [BACK]

18. See figure 1 and tables 1 to 4. Parts of the following statistics were discussed from another perspective in my Luther's Last Battles , esp. 6-14, 20-23. Bernd Moeller, "Das Berühmtwerden Luthers," Zeitschrift für Historische Forschung 15 (1988):65-92, esp. 82-92, persuasively shows using publication statistics for Luther's works through 1519 that Luther had become an incredibly successful auther well before the famous treatises of late 1520. I strongly agree with Moeller's conclusions on this and other points and wish only what we had been aware of each other's research earlier on. [BACK]

19. The exact ratios are 5.94 to 1 for the period 1516 through 1525, and 3.36 to 1 for the subsequent period. [BACK]

20. For the logic of this assumption, see the discussion in the introduction. [BACK]

21. David V. N. Bagchi, Luther's Earliest Opponents: Catholic Controversialists, 1518-1525 (Minneapolis, 1991), is the authoritative source on Catholic controversialists during the period under study. Bagchi's chapters 7 and 8 deal in detail with a number of the issues raised in this section. [BACK]

22. Although we are relatively well supplied with bibliographies of publications for the initial decades of the Reformation, there can be no pretense of completeness in any statistics on Reformation printing. For my survey, I used Klaiber, supplemented and on occasion corrected by other bibliographies, especially Tü. For a critical evaluation of Klaiber, see Jean-François Gilmont, "La bibliographie de la controverse catholique au 16 ^e siècle; quelques suggestions methodologiques," Revue d'histoire ecclésiastique 74 (1979):362-371. For Cochlaeus, I used Martin Spahn, Johannes Cochläus: Ein Lebensbild (Berlin, 1898); and for Eck, J. Metzler, ed., "Verzeichnis der Schriften Ecks," in

Tres orationes funebres , Corpus Catholicorum, 16 (Münster, 1930), lxxii-cxxxii. For a discussion of the Tübingen Flugschriften project and other bibliography, see Hans-Joachim Köhler, ed., Flugschriften als Massenmedium der Reformationszeit (Stuttgart, 1981). Although I am primarily interested in Catholic vernacular publications, I included in my statistical survey all Latin and vernacular treatises published in the Holy Roman Empire. Klaiber's bibliography, and hence my survey, is restricted largely to major publicists and hence overlooks many of the small pamphlets published anonymously or by some otherwise obscure individual. Nevertheless, I believe that it represents accurately the general extent and complexion of the Catholic published response to the Reformation. In a recent article based on the Short-title Catalogue of Books Printed in the German-speaking Countries (London, 1962), Richard A. Crofts also examines the printing of Catholic and Protestant works ("Printing, Reform, and the Catholic Reformation in Germany [1521-1545]," The Sixteenth Century Journal 16 [1985]:369-381). I discuss our two pieces in my contribution to the Festschrift in honor of Miriam Chrisman ("Statistics on Sixteenth-Century Printing," in The Process of Change in Early Modern Europe: Essays in Honor of Miriam Usher Chrisman , ed. Sherrin Marshall [Athens, Ohio, 1988]). I want to thank Miriam Usher Chrisman for her assistance in thinking about the implications of these statistics. [BACK]

23. See especially Hans Becker, "Herzog Georg von Sachsen als kirchlicher und theologischer Schriftsteller," ARG 24 (1927):161-269. For additional bibliography and a discussion of several of his polemical efforts, see my Luther's Last Battles , 20-67, and Bagchi, Luther's Earliest Opponents , 230-236. [BACK]

24. See Spahn, Cochläus , esp. 166-229. [BACK]

25. A. G. Dickens, The German Nation and Martin Luther (London, 1974), 182. [BACK]

26. See esp. Peter Blickle, Gemeindereformation: Die Menschen des 16. Jahrhunderts auf dem Weg zum Heil (Munich, 1985; London, 1992), and my review of this book and the associated literature ("Die Gemeindereformation als Bindeglied zwischen der mittelalterlichen und der neuzeitlichen Welt," Historische Zeitschrift 249 [1989]:95-103). [BACK]

27. See Köhler, "A Quantitative Approach" and "Meinungsprofil." [BACK]

28. Or at least their understanding of the message. I discuss this problem of reception in subsequent chapters. [BACK]

29. For an exchange on the issue of literacy, audience, and "effectiveness" of pamphlet literature, see the articles by Moeller, Scribner, and Ozment in Wolfgang J. Mommsen, ed., Stadtbürgertum und Adel in der Reformation: Studien zur Socialgeschichte der Reformation in England und Deutschland (Stuttgart, 1979). See also the essays by Ozment, Moeller, and Scribner in Hans-Joachim Köhler, ed., Flugschriften als Massenmedium . Ozment originally laid out his position in The Reformation in the Cities: The Appeal of Protestantism to Sixteenth-Century Germany and Switzerland (New Haven, 1975). Scribner continues the discussion in "Oral Culture and the Diffusion of Reformation Ideas," History of European Ideas 5 (1984):237-256. The best work on publication statistics has been done by Hans-Joachim Köhler in "A

Quantitative Approach" and "Meinungsprofil." See also Scribner's For the Sake of Simple Folk: Popular Propaganda for the German Reformation (Cambridge, 1981). Richard Gawthrop and Gerald Strauss, "Protestantism and Literacy in Germany," Past & Present 104 (1984):31-55; Gerald Strauss, Luther's House of Learning: Indoctrination of the Young in the German Reformation (Baltimore, 1978); Gerald Strauss, "Lutheranism and Literacy: A Reassessment,'' in Kaspar von Greyerz, ed., Religion and Society in Early Modern Europe, 1500-1800 (London, 1984). On the issue of literacy in general, see, especially, Rolf Engelsing, Analphabetentum und Lektüre: Zur Sozialgeschichte des Lesens in Deutschland zwischen feudaler und industrieller Gesellschaft (Stuttgart, 1973). [BACK]

30. Köhler, "Die Flugschriften der frühen Neuzeit," 338, offers a similar analysis. [BACK]

31. See, for example, Scribner, For the Sake of Simple Folk . [BACK]

32. Otto Clemen, ed., Flugschriften aus den ersten Jahren der Reformation (Nieuwkoop, 1984) 4:88-90, 94-96. For another example from the early Strasbourg press, note the extended title to . . . mancherley büchlin vnnd tractetlin . . . that speaks of those who "read these books or have them read" to them: Martini Luthers der waren götlichen schrifft Doctors, Augustiner zu * Wittenbergk, mancherley büchlin unnd tractetlin. In wölche * ein yegklicher auch einfaltiger Lay, vil heylsamer Christlicher lere und underweysung findet, so not seindt zu * wissenn, einem yegklichen Christen menschen, der nach Christlicher ordnung (als wir alle söllen) leben will. Deren biechlin namen findest du am andern blatt, mit zale der blättern, in wölchem yegklichs eygentlich anfahet, und ein epistel zu * denen die söllich büchlin lesen, oder hören lesen von D. Martini Luther au b gangen. Item Apologia: das ist ein schirmred und antwort gegen etlicher einrede, so geschehen wider D. Martinu * Luthern und seine Ewangelische lere, mit fast schönen wollgegrünten bewerungen, das sein leere, als warhafftig, Christlich, unnd göttlich anzunemen * sey . (Strasbourg: Schürer Erben, 1520). This collection was first published by Andreas Cratander in Basel in May 1520. [BACK]

33. Matheus Zell, Christeliche Veratwortug * M. Matthes Zell von Keyser b berg pfarrherrs und predigers im Münster zu * Stra b burg, uber Artickel jm vom Bischofflichem * Fiscal daselbs entgegen gesetzt, unnd im rechten vbergeben . (Strasbourg: Köpfel, 1523), b; Tü 217/613. [BACK]

34. Köhler, "Die Flugschriften der frühen Neuzeit," 318. [BACK]

35. See my "Catholic Controversial Literature" and "Statistics on Sixteenth-Century Printing." [BACK]

36. Although the point hangs on exactly what Rublack means by "lutherischer Überzeugungen," I am inclined with Bernd Moeller to feel that the very volume of the printing and reprinting of Luther's works allows the historian to make defensible inferences about the interests and perhaps even the convictions of the reading public. See Hans-Christoph Rublack, "Martin Luther und die Städtische soziale Erfahrung," in V. Press and D. Stievermann, eds., Martin Luther: Probleme seiner Zeit (Stuttgart, 1988), 88-123: "Niemand dürfte die Quantität von Lutherdrucken für Indikatoren von Intensität und Verbreitung von Überzeugungen halten. Der Indikator Ausgabenzahl weist lediglich auf

erhöhte Bereitschaft, das von Luther Angebotene zu lesen. Man kann also nicht die Massenhaftigkeit von Druckschriften, deren Autor Luther war, zugunsten einer adaequaten Massenhaftigkeit lutherischer Überzeugungen überbuchen" (p. 105). Cited in Moeller, "Das Berühmtwerden Luthers," 86, n. 128. [BACK]

1. Martini Luthers der waren götlichen schrifft Doctors, Augustiner zu * Wittenbergk, mancherley büchlin vnnd tractetlin. In wölche * ein yegklicher auch einfaltiger Lay, vil heylsamer Christlicher lere vnd vnderweysung findet, so not seindt zu * wissenn, einem yegklichen Christen menschen, der nach Christlicher ordnung (als wir alle söllen) leben will. Deren biechlin namen findest du am andern blatt, mit zale der blättern, in wölchem yegklichs eygentlich anfahet, vnd ein epistel zu * denen de söllich büchlin lesen oder hören lesen von D. Martini Luther au b gangen. Item Apologia: das ist ein schirmred vnd antwort gegen etlicher einrede, so geschehen wider D. Martinu * Luthern vnd seine Ewangelische lere, mit fast schönen wollgegrünten bewerungen, das sein leere, als warhafftig, Christlich, vnnd göttlich anzunemen * sey . (Strasbourg: Schürer Erben, 1520). This collection was first published by Andreas Cratander in Basel in May 1520. See Laube 1:512. [BACK]

2. Laube 1:501. [BACK]

3. See also Bernd Moeller's "Das Berühmtwerden Luthers," Zeitschrift für Historische Forschung 15 (1988):65-92. My focus on the publications of Strasbourg yields many of the same conclusions that his broader survey of both German and Latin works in the period through 1519 does. [BACK]

4. I have used Georg Buchwald, Luther Calendarium (Leipzig, 1929), for the dates of publications. [BACK]

5. Although some of the sermons and treatises that I shall discuss in the following pages may have appeared at the same time as the controversial writings of late 1520, most probably preceded the major polemics of the last quarter of the year. In any case, there is sufficient repetition of themes in these works to sketch an outline of Luther's earliest message and the impression it likely conveyed. [BACK]

6. One (or three) sermon(s): (a) Ein Sermon von dem Elichen standt , (b) Ein Sermon uon der Betrachtung des heyligen leidens Christi [Benzing, but not Chrisman, who shows 2 editions in 1520], and (c) Ein Sermon von dem gebeet vnd procession yn der Creutzwochen [Chrisman, 1 edition in 1520; Benzing, 1 in 1519 attributed to a different publisher]. [BACK]

7. One sermon collection: Die syben Busz * psalme * ; one polemic: Vnderrichtung, vff etlich Artickel, die jm vo * seinen mi b günnern vffgelegt vnd zugemessen werden ; and one devotional treatise: Theologia teütsch . [BACK]

8. (a) Ein Sermon uon der Betrachtung des heyligen leidens Christi [2 Chrisman; 0 Benzing, who has 1 in 1519], (b) Ein Sermon von dem gebeet vnd procession yn der Creutzwochen [Chrisman, 1 edition in 1520; Benzing, 1 in 1519], (c) Ein Sermon von de * Hochwurdige * sacramet * des heiligen waren lychnams Christi, vnd von den Brüderschaffen , (d) Ein Sermon von dem Heiligen

hochwirdigen Sacramet * der Tauffe , (e) Ein Sermon uon dem wucher * , (f) (E)yn Sermon von de * nüwen Testament: das ist vo * der heilige * Mesz , (g) Ein Sermon von dem Sacrament der Bü b [2 editions], (h) (E)In sermo * von dem Bann Doctor Martini Luthers , and (i) Ein nützlich predig . . . wie sich ein Christenmensch . . . bereiten sol zu sterben . [BACK]

9. See note 1 above. [BACK]

10. The collection contains the following (with the appropriate number from Aland:

Aland 742: Auslegung deutsche des Vaterunsers für die einfältigen Laien . . . Nicht für die Gelehrten, 1519 . WA 2(74):80-130; LW 42(15):19-81.

Aland 557: Ein kurze Form, das Paternoster zu verstehen vnd zu beten (für die jungen Kinder im Christenglauben) , 1519. WA 6(9):11-19; W2 10:166-175.

Aland 115: Ein Sermon vom Sakrament der Bu b , 1519. WA 2(709):713-723; LW 35(3):9-22.

Aland 408: Ein Sermon von der Betrachtung des heiligen Leidens Christi , 1519. WA 2(131):136-142; LW 42(3):7-14.

Aland 209: Sermon de digna praeparatione cordis pro suscipiendo sacramento eucharistiae , 1518. In German translation. WA 1(325):329-334; W2 12:1342-1352.

Aland 556: Duo sermones de passione Christi , 1518. In German translation. WA 1(335):336-345; W2 10:1176-1193.

Aland 5: Ein Sermon von Abla b und Gnade , 1517 (1518). WA 1(239):243-246; W2 18:270-275.

Aland 738: Luthers Unterricht auf etliche Artikel, die ihm von seinen Abgönnern aufgelegt vnd zugemessen werden , 1519. WA 2(66):69-93, 759; W2 15:699-705.

Aland 177: Ein Sermon von dem ehelichen Stand (verändert und korrigiert) , 1519. WA 2(162):166-171; LW 44(3):7-14.

Aland 698: Ein Sermon von der Bereitung zum Sterben , 1519. WA 2(680):685-697, 759; LW 42(95):99-115.

Aland 779: [Gro b er] Sermon von dem Wucher , 1520. WA 6(33):36-60, 630; LW 45(231):345-410.

Aland 60: Ein Sermon von dem Bann , 1520. WA 6(61):63-75, 630; LW 39(3):7-22.

Aland 392: Ein Sermon von dem Gebet und Prozession in der Kreuzwoche , 1519. WA 2(172):175-179; LW 42(83):87-93.

Aland 714: Ein Sermon von dem heiligen hochwürdigen Sakrament der Taufe , 1519. WA 2(724):727-737; LW 35(23):29-43.

Aland 655: Ein Sermon von dem hochwürdigen Sakrament des heiligen wahren Leichnams Christi vnd von den Bruderschaften , 1519. WA 2(738):742-758; LW 35(45):49-73.

Aland 656: Verklärung D.M. Luthers etlicher Artikel in seinem Sermon von dem heiligen Sakrament , 1520. WA 6(76):78-83 (82Z.10ff. Kurzer Lebenslauf Luthers), 630; W2 19:452-459.

Aland 476: Ein Sermon gepredigt zu Leipzig auf dem Schlo b am Tage Petri und Pauli Matth . 16, 13-19, 1519. WA 2(241):244-249; LW 51(53):54-60.

Aland 615: Auslegung des 109. (110.) Psalms , 1518. WA 1(687):690-710; W2 5:888-921.

Aland 761: Von den guten Werken , 1520. WA 6(196):202-204*, 204-276 (Druck), 631; LW 44(15):21-114.

Spengler's Schutzrede is the only piece in the collection not by Luther. Published anonymously, the full title of the piece when originally published was Schutzred vnnd christeliche * antwurt ains erbern liebhabers gotlicher warhayt. der heyligen schrifft. auff etlicher vermaint widersprechen. mit anzaygug *

warumb Doctor Martini Luthers leer nit als vnchristenlich verworffen. sonder mer fur christenlich gehalten werde * sol. yetz widerumb corrigirt vn * mit ainem newen Dyalogo gebessert . [BACK]

11. (a) Theologia teütsch [1 (Benzing 2) edition, published after 1 August 1520]; (b) Ein heilsams Büchlein von Doctor Martinus Luther August. von der Beycht gemacht [German translation, in 1520]; (c) (E)In kurtze vnderwisung Wie man beichte * sol ; and (d) (E)In kurtze Form das Pater noster zu * verston, vnd zu * betten . [BACK]

12. Chrisman lists 12, Benzing 9. [BACK]

13. Von der Freyhayt Aines Christenmenschen [Chrisman 2 editions in 1520, Benzing 1 in 1520, after 16 November 1520]. [BACK]

14. Doctoris Martini Luther Appelation o ¶ berüfung an eyn Christlich frey conciliu * [2 editions, after 17 November 1520]. [BACK]

15. Von de * Bapstum zu * Rom Wider den Hochberümpten Romaniste * zu Leiptzck [after 26 June 1520, reprinted in Drey Biechlin in 1521 or 1522]. [BACK]

16. Teütscher Adel. (A)N den Christelichen * Adel teütscher Nation . [Benzing 2, Chrisman 4 editions, after 18 August 1520]. [BACK]

17. Von der Babylonischen gefengknu b der Kirchen [Benzing 3, Chrisman 2 editions, after 6 October 1520]. [BACK]

18. Doctor Martinus Luthers antwort Auf die zedel, so vn ¶ des Officials zu * Stolpe * sigel ist au b gangen [after 11 Feb 1520, date of first Wittenberg publication]. [BACK]

19. Probably came in the second half of the year, following the treatise to which it objected. [BACK]

20. In fact, two of the treatises indicate on their title pages that they were intended "For the Laity" ( Ein Sermon von dem hochwürdigen Sakrament des heiligen wahren Leichnams Christi vnd von den Bruderschaften , 1519; WA 2:739) and "For the simple laity . . . not for the learned" ( Auslegung deutsche des Vaterunsers für die einfältigen Laien . . . Nicht für die Gelehrten , 1519; WA 2:77). I owe this observation to Bernd Moeller, "Das Berühmtwerden Luthers," 72. [BACK]

21. See the listing of treatises above. [BACK]

22. See for example, the comments of Matthias Zell, discussed in the last chapter. [BACK]

23. WA 1:165. [BACK]

24. WA 1:212-213. [BACK]

25. WA 2:175. [BACK]

26. WA 2:175-176. Points two and three. [BACK]

27. WA 2:176. [BACK]

28. StA 1:264. [BACK]

29. WA 2:59. [BACK]

30. This point is also made by Hans-Christoph Rublack, "Martin Luther and the Urban Social Experience," in Helga Robinson-Hammerstein, ed., The Transmission of Ideas in the Lutheran Reformation (Dublin, 1989), 67-70. I would, however, place Rublack in the camp of those who see the Reformation's appeal more in political and social terms than in religious. [BACK]

31. To call this message anticlerical, as some scholars have, is to put a

positive program in negative terms. Certainly, the message had the effect of reducing clerical power, but that was not its goal or even its primary attraction. That attraction was in offering the laity a religious vision that dignified their status, responded to their situation as laity, and urged that they make up their own minds by reading Scripture. Anticlericalism certainly offered fuel to the later fire, but the early vernacular message was constructive rather than critical, an attempt to build a new piety, not to exploit lay resentment of clerical power and abuse. [BACK]

32. WA 2:169-170. [BACK]

33. WA 2:139. [BACK]

34. StA 1:267-268. Luther did concede that there were higher estates, such as that of a priest or bishop. But he insisted that such estates should be distinguished by greater suffering and more speedy preparation for death. [BACK]

35. StA 1:244-257. [BACK]

36. StA 1:247. [BACK]

37. StA 1:248. [BACK]

38. StA 1:249. [BACK]

39. StA 1:249. [BACK]

40. StA 1:249-250. [BACK]

41. StA 1:250. [BACK]

42. StA 1:250. [BACK]

43. StA 1:253. [BACK]

44. StA 1:253-254. [BACK]

45. StA 1:251-252, 254. [BACK]

46. StA 1:256. [BACK]

47. StA 1:256. [BACK]

48. In his treatise How One Should Confess , Luther offered advice that must have been comforting to lay Christians who dreaded the late medieval practice of confession. The Christian reader was told that before he confessed his sins to a priest, he should first confess his misdeeds and sins to God as if speaking with his closest friend (WA 2:59). Then, in confession itself, the Christian should not worry about confessing all of his deadly sins because it was impossible to remember them all and, in any case, all our good works, when judged by God in earnest rather than in mercy, are deadly and damnable sins. Luther also urged the Christian to dispense with the extensive and complicated set of distinctions in late medieval confessional practice between sins and circumstances in which the sins were committed (WA 2:60). He further insisted that the Christian should make a large distinction between sins against the commandments of God and sins against the commandments and laws of human beings. "For no one can be saved without the commandments of God," Luther explained, "but one can well be saved without the commandments of human beings" (WA 2:60). We should, Luther advised, accustom our consciences firmly to trust in God's mercy (WA 2:64). This advice, if followed, would greatly simplify the process of confession for the laity and would likely relieve some of the anxiety associated with the sacrament even as it reduced the authority of the priest. [BACK]

49. WA 6:63-75. [BACK]

50. WA 6:64. [BACK]

51. WA 6:64. Luther identifies this as the "small ban" and contrasts it with the "large ban" (WA 6:64). To those spiritual authorities that attempt to go beyond the "large ban" to coerce the banned individual with the sword, Luther remarked that the secular sword belonged to temporal rulers and not to the spiritual estate, who possessed only a spiritual sword, namely, the word and commandments of God (WA 6:64). This is obviously a point of considerable interest to laity who had fallen afoul of a clerical ban enforced by the secular authorities. Luther also censured clerics who used the ban to collect money and to redress injuries done to them (WA 6:65). [BACK]

52. WA 6:65. [BACK]

53. Some of them were, as a result, more deserving of the ban than those on whom they imposed the ban (WA 6:66-67). Some were "tyrants who seek no more than their power, fear, and profit" in the ban. In so doing they do horrible damage to themselves "because they pervert the ban and its work, and make a poison out of a medicine, and seek only to terrify fearful human beings and think nothing about their improvement. They will be held to account for this" (WA 6:68). Much of the latter half of the sermon was devoted to a detailed criticism of spiritual authorities who misused the ban or otherwise failed properly to exercise their spiritual authority. Luther concludes, however, that wicked spiritual rulers, of which the age had many, were God's punishment for the people's sins and, therefore, should not be resisted (WA 6:66-75, passim). Given the impassioned description of clerical abuses, this ultimate counsel of submission may have lacked persuasion. [BACK]

54. WA 2:742-743. Incidentally, a reply to this treatise prompted Luther to write one of the only two polemics that were published in Strasbourg during this early period, Doctor Martin Luther's Answer to the Notice That Was Published Under the Seal of the Official at Stolpen . In this brief treatise, Luther sarcastically defended his suggestion that a general council of the church decree that laity as well as clergy should commune in both kinds (WA 6:137-141). In this treatise Luther verbally attacked those who used the ban and other "underhanded" means to silence critics, including burning them. He compared his treatment with the treatment metted out to Reuchlin (WA 6:140-141. [BACK]

55. WA 6:7. [BACK]

56. For Hutten's treatises, I have used Böcking. [BACK]

57. Hutten, Clag vnd Vormanug * gege * den übermassigen * vnchristlichen gewalt des Bapstes zu * Rom, vnd der vngeislichen geistlichen. Durch herrn Vlrichen vo * Hutten, Poeten, vnd Orator der gantze * Christenheit, vnd zuruoan * dem Vatterland Teütscher Nation zu * nutz vnd gut * , Von wegen gemeiner beschwernü b , vnd auch seiner eigenen notdurfft, Jn reimens weise beschriben. Iacta est alea. Jch habs gewagt . Strasbourg: Knobloch, 1520 (late) (Chrisman P3.2.1.; Böcking 3:473-526); Ein Clagschrift des Hochberumten * vnd Eernueste * herrn Vlrichs vo * Hutten gekroneten * Poeten vn * Orator an alle stend Deüscher nation, Wie vnformlicher weise vn * gatz * geschwind, vnersucht * oder erfordert einiges rechtes * . Er mit eignem tyranische * gewalt, vo * dem Romaniste * , an leib, eer vnd gut * beschwert vn * benotiget * werde . . . Ein grosses dingk ist die

warheit, vnd starck über alle. iij. Esdre .iiij . Strasbourg: Flach, 1520 (Chrisman P3.2.3.; Böcking 1:405-419); Herr Ulrichs von Hutten anzoig * Wie allwegen sich die Romischen * Bischoff * , o ¶ Bapst * gegen den teütschen Kay b eren gehalten haben, vff dz kürtzst v b Chronicken vnd Historien gezogen, K. maiestat * fürzubringen * . Jch habs gewogt . Strasbourg: Schott, 1520 (Chrisman P3.2.5.; Böcking 5:364-384). [BACK]

58. Böcking 3:508. [BACK]

59. Böcking 5:383-384. [BACK]

60. The first treatise, A Christian and Fraternal Admonition , left the press of the Strasbourg printer, Johannes Grüninger, on 11 November 1520. It is a reply in large part to Luther's Sermon on the New Testament, That is, the Holy Mass , his To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation , and Concerning the Papacy in Rome Against the Highly Famous Romanist at Leipzig . A second edition, with some changes, appeared on 21 January 1521. The next treatise followed just fourteen days later. Concerning Doctor Martin Luther's Teaching and Preaching , published on 24 November 1520, dealt less with Luther personally and more with his influence. It also responded to Lazarus Spengler's Defense and Christian Reply of an honorable lover of the divine truth of Holy Scripture . As we shall see in a moment, Spengler's treatise had been published in Strasbourg in October 1520 in a reprinted collection of Luther's writings. Murner's third treatise, Concerning the Papacy, that is, the highest authority of Christian Faith , issued from Grüninger's press on 13 December 1520. It is a reply to Luther's Resolutiones Lutheriana de potestate Papae of 1519, his To the German Nobility , and his Concerning the Papacy in Rome Against the Highly Famous Romanist at Leipzig . This dry treatise became a special target of Karsthans . Murner's fourth and final treatise of 1520, To the Most Mighty and Enlightened Nobility of the German Nation , appeared around Christmas. The last treatise of this series appeared on 17 February 1521, when Murner issued How Doctor M. Luther, Moved by the Wrong Reasons, Has Burnt the Canon Law , attacking Luther's justification for this act of defiance. See Pfeiffer-Belli, and chapter 3 of this book. [BACK]

61. For example, in his earliest treatise he criticizes Luther's "priesthood of all believers" (e.g., Pfeiffer-Belli 6:43, 6:58-59, 6:64-65), his suggested reform of the Mass (e.g., Pfeiffer-Belli 6:51-54, 6:64-65), and his understanding of a "spiritual" church (e.g., Pfeiffer-Belli 6:75), and he specifically accuses Luther of turning too much over to the common people (Pfeiffer-Belli 6:84). We examine Murner's attack in some detail in the next chapter. [BACK]

62. Laux Gemigger, Zü lob dem Luther vnd eeren der gantzen Christenhait , Strasbourg, 1520. The title verse reads: "Wolt * yemant wissen wie der hieß / Der disen spruch außgon lies / Das hat gethon Laux student / Auß vrsach, dz man des Luthers bucher * hat verprent" (Laube 1:548-557). [BACK]

63. Chrisman identifies two 1520 editions. By way of contrast, Laube, while also identifying two Strasbourg and one Augsburg edition, dates the first edition, the Augsburg edition, as 1521, but with some uncertainty. Internal evidence suggests that the treatise was written at the earliest about the end of November 1520, and at the latest by March 1521. [BACK]

64. Laube 1:548. [BACK]

65. Laube 1:550-551. [BACK]

66. Laube 1:552-553. [BACK]

67. Laube 1:548-549. [BACK]

68. Laube 1:549-550. [BACK]

69. Laube 1:554. [BACK]

70. For example, Laube 1:554. [BACK]

71. Laube 1:557. [BACK]

72. For Spengler, see Harold Grimm, Lazarus Spengler: A Lay Leader of the Reformation (Columbus, Ohio 1978), and Bernd Hamm, "Lazarus Spengler und Martin Luthers Theologie," in V. Press and D. Stievermann, eds., Martin Luther: Probleme seiner Zeit (Stuttgart, 1986), 124-136. On the importance of this treatise as the first German defense written by a lay person, see Bernd Moeller, "Das Berühmtwerden Luthers," 80-81. [BACK]

73. Laube 1:512. The title of the revised second edition runs: Schutzred vnnd christeliche * antwurt ains erbern liebhabers gotlicher warhayt. der heyligen schrifft. auff etlicher vermaint widersprechen. mit anzaygug * warumb Doctor Martini Luthers leer nit als vnchristenlich verworffen. sonder mer fur christenlich gehalten werde * sol. yetz widerumb corrigirt vn * mit ainem newen Dyalogo gebessert . It was published in Nuremberg by Jobst Gutknecht in 1520. The Strasbourg collection reproduced the first edition. I have not been able to determine the exact title used in the Strasbourg edition. [BACK]

74. See note 1 above. [BACK]

75. Laube 1:501. [BACK]

76. Laube 1:502. [BACK]

77. Laube 1:504-505. [BACK]

78. Laube 1:505. [BACK]

79. Laube 1:507. [BACK]

80. Laube 1:507. [BACK]

81. Laube 1:509-510. [BACK]

82. Laube 1:510. [BACK]

83. Laube 1:505. [BACK]

84. Laube 1:505-506. [BACK]

85. Laube 1:506. [BACK]

86. Laube 1:506-507. [BACK]

87. Laube 1:507-508. [BACK]

88. In this I side with Bernd Moeller against a more skeptical Hans-Christoph Rublack. See chapter 1, note 36. [BACK]

89. See, among others, Lorna Jane Abbray, The People's Reformation: Magistrates, Clergy, and Commons in Strasbourg, 1500-1598 (Ithaca, 1985); René Bornert, La Réforme Protestante du Culte à Strasbourg au XVI ^e Siècle (1523-1598) (Leiden, 1981); Thomas A. Brady, Jr., Ruling Class, Regime and Reformation at Strasbourg, 1520-1555 (Leiden, 1978); Miriam Usher Chrisman, Strasbourg and the Reform: A Study in the Process of Change (New Haven, 1967); Marc Lienhard and Jakob Willer, Straßburg und die Reformation (Basel, 1982); and William S. Stafford, Domesticating the Clergy: The Inception of the Reformation in Strasbourg, 1552-1524 (Missoula, 1976). [BACK]

1. The full title read, To the Most Mighty and Enlightened Nobility of the German Nation, That they Protect the Christian Faith Against the Destroyer of the Faith of Christ, Martin Luther, a Seducer of Simple Christians . Its author, as we shall see in a moment, was Thomas Murner. [BACK]

2. Ein Christenliche vnd briederliche ermanung zu * dem hoch gelerten doctor Martino luther Augustiner order zu * Wittemburg (Das er etlichen reden von dem newen testament der heillgen messen gethon) abstande, vnd wider mit gemeiner christenheit sich vereinige (Strasbourg: Grüninger, 1520). [BACK]

3. Von Doctor Martinus luters leren vnd predigen. Das sie argwenig seint, vnd nit gentzlich glaubwirdig zu * halten . (Strasbourg: Grüninger, 1520). [BACK]

4. Martini Luthers der waren götlichen schrifft Doctors, Augustiner zu * Wittenbergk, mancherley büchlin vnnd tractetlin . . . (Strasbourg: Schürer Erben, 1520). This collection was first published by Andreas Cratander in Basel in May 1520. See Laube 1:512. The title of the revised second edition runs: Schutzred vnnd christeliche * antwurt ains erbern liebhabers gotlicher warhayt. der heyligen schrifft. auff etlicher vermaint widersprechen. mit anzaygug * warumb Doctor Martini Luthers leer nit als vnchristenlich verworffen. sonder mer fur christenlich gehalten werde * sol. yetz widerumb corrigirt vn * mit ainem newen Dyalogo gebessert . It was published in Nuremberg by Jobst Gutknecht in 1520. The Strasbourg collection reproduced the first edition. I have not been able to determine the exact title used in the Strasbourg edition. [BACK]

5. Von dem Babstenthum das ist von der höchsten oberkeyt Christlichs glauben wyder doctor Martinum Luther (Strasbourg: Grüninger, 1520). According to Pfeiffer-Belli, this treatise left Grüninger's press on 13 December 1520. The first half was a reply to Luther's Resolutiones Lutheriana de potestate Papae (1519) with a brief digression concerning Luther's To the Christian Nobility . The second half deals with Luther's invective against Alveldt, Von dem Bapstum zu Rom widder den hochberumpten Romanisten zu Leiptzk . It is the "driest" of Murner's treatises and does not go beyond glossing Luther. In the first half, Murner plays Luther's rapidly evolving position on the papacy against itself, quoting from Luther's earlier Resolutiones , in which Luther gives arguments (although Murner considers them weak and designed to enfeeble the true scriptural basis for papal authority), against Luther's later highly critical remarks about the papacy. Murner's central claim or accusation is that Luther is taking this position to promote rebellion and that there are certain matters of belief that should not be discussed because even opening the question promotes rebellion. Luther's position, according to Murner, is designed to create favorable attitudes among the common people to error and falsehood that is contrary to Christian faith. Murner particularly wants to attack the notion of communal authority (or congregational authority) within the church. [BACK]

6. An den Großmechtigsten vnd Durchlüchtigsten adel tütscher nation das sye den christlichen glauben beschirmen, wyder den zerstorer * des glaubens christi, Martinum luther einen verfierer der einfeltigen christen (Strasbourg: Grüninger, 1520). [BACK]

7. Wie doctor M. Luter vß falschen vrsachen bewegt Das geistlich recht verbrennet hat (Strasbourg: Grüninger, 1521). [BACK]

8. Eyn sermon * von dem newen Testament, das ist von der heyligen Messe D M L A [after the end of April 1520]. According to Benzing, the one Strasbourg reprint was done by Martin Flach and appeared in 1520. It was also published in Drey Biechlin , mentioned below. [BACK]

9. See the discussion in chapter 2. [BACK]

10. Von de * Bapstum zu * Rom Wider den Hochberümpten Romaniste * zu Leiptzck [after 26 June 1520, reprinted in Drey Biechlin in 1521 or 1522]. [BACK]

11. (A)N den Christelichen * Adel teütscher Nation [Benzing 2, Chrisman 4 editions, after 18 August 1520). [BACK]

12. Von der Babylonischen gefengknué der Kirchen [Benzing 3, Chrisman 2 editions, after 6 October 1520]. [BACK]

13. Sometime in the late fall there also appeared two Strasbourg printings of Doctor Martin Luther's Renewed Appeal or Petition to a Free Christian Council [Doctoris Martini Luther Appelation o ¶ berüfung an eyn Christlich frey conciliu * [2 editions, after 17 November 1520]. [BACK]

14. Drey Biechlin zuletst * von dem Hochberumbtenn * vnnd Ewangelischen Lerer Doctor Martin Luther außgangenn. Nemlich von dem Deütschen Adel. der heilige * Mess dem Babstumb zu * Rom . (Strasbourg: Schürer Erben, 1520 or 1521-1522). Chrisman has 1520, Benzing has 1521-1522. [BACK]

15. Von der Freyhayt Aines Christenmenschen [Chrisman 2 editions in 1520, Benzing 1 in 1520; after 16 November 1520]. I discuss this treatise in the next chapter. [BACK]

16. Pfeiffer-Belli 6:31. [BACK]

17. Pfeiffer-Belli 6:91. [BACK]

18. Karsthans ["Hans Hoe," Karst = hoe] was Murner's derogatory designation for the typical peasant. This name would later be taken up by Murner's opponents and turned against him, as we shall see in the next chapter. [BACK]

19. Pfeiffer-Belli 6:91; cf. Pfeiffer-Belli 6:31. [BACK]

20. Pfeiffer-Belli 6:92. [BACK]

21. Pfeiffer-Belli 6:40-41. [BACK]

22. Pfeiffer-Belli 6:113. [BACK]

23. Pfeiffer-Belli 6:114. [BACK]

24. Pfeiffer-Belli 6:114-115. [BACK]

25. Pfeiffer-Belli 6:42. [BACK]

26. See the discussion of Catholic publicists in chapter 1 and the fuller discussion in David V. N. Bagchi, Luther's Earliest Opponents: Catholic Controversialists, 1518-1525 (Minneapolis, 1991). [BACK]

27. In concluding each treatise Murner informed Luther and his readers that he had given his name to the bishop of Strasbourg so that his treatise could not be stigmatized as an anonymous libel (Pfeiffer-Belli 6:87). In the earlier treatises he also announced that he was not giving his name to show that he was not seeking fame in responding to Luther (Pfeiffer-Belli 6:31-32). He claimed, for example, that it was only the truth of the gospel that he sought to secure when he defended the papacy against Luther's attack. He neither received nor did he expect to receive payment from the papacy for such defense

nor had the papacy commanded him to answer Luther (Pfeiffer-Belli 7:53). The impression of himself that he wished to convey, it seems clear, was of one concerned only for the truth of Christianity. [BACK]

28. Ein christliche vnd briederliche ermanung zu * dem hoch gelerten doctor Martino luter Augustiner orde * zu * Wittemburg (Dz er etliche * reden von dem newe * testamet * der heillge * messen getho * abstande, vn * wi ¶ mit gemeiner christenheit sich vereinige (Strasbourg: Grüninger, 11 November 1520). A second edition, with some changes, appeared on 21 January 1521. Scholars now recognize that this treatise was a reply in large part to Luther's Sermon on the New Testament, That is, the Holy Mass , his To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation , and his Concerning the Papacy in Rome Against the Famous Romanist at Leipzig . Contemporaries would not necessarily be aware of the treatises to which this was a reply. In fact, this treatise may have provided the first orientation to the dispute. [BACK]

29. Pfeiffer-Belli 6:31-33. [BACK]

30. Pfeiffer-Belli 6:31. [BACK]

31. Pfeiffer-Belli 6:31-32. [BACK]

32. Pfeiffer-Belli 6:34-36. [BACK]

33. Pfeiffer-Belli 6:39. [BACK]

34. Pfeiffer-Belli 6:40. [BACK]

35. Pfeiffer-Belli 6:43. [BACK]

36. Pfeiffer-Belli 6:48; cf. Pfeiffer-Belli 6:49-50. [BACK]

37. Pfeiffer-Belli 6:51. [BACK]

38. Pfeiffer-Belli 6:54. [BACK]

39. Pfeiffer-Belli 6:54. [BACK]

40. Pfeiffer-Belli 6:58-59. [BACK]

41. Pfeiffer-Belli 6:64-65. [BACK]

42. Pfeiffer-Belli 6:71. [BACK]

43. Pfeiffer-Belli 6:75, 80. [BACK]

44. Luther summarized his position as follows:

There is, first, the testator who makes the testament, [namely] Christ. Second, the heirs to whom the testament is assigned, which are we Christians. Third, the testament itself, which is the words of Christ when he says, 'This is my body which is given for you. This is my blood which is shed for you, a new eternal testament,' etc. Fourth, the seal or sign of authenticity [ wartzeychen ] is the sacrament [of] the bread and wine, under which are his true body and blood. . . . Fifth, there is the assigned good that the words signify, namely, remission [ ablas ] of sins and eternal life. Sixth, the duty, remembrance, or memorial, which we should do for Christ; that is, that we should preach his love and grace, hear and contemplate it, so that we are incited and maintained in love and hope in him (WA 6:359; StA 1:294; LW 35:86-87).

45. WA 6:369; StA 1:303; LW 35:99. [BACK]

46. WA 6:370; StA 1:304; LW 35:100-101. [BACK]

47. Pfeiffer-Bell 6:59-60. [BACK]

48. WA 6:370; StA 1:304; LW 35:101. [BACK]

49. WA 6:407; StA 2:99; LW 44:127. [BACK]

50. WA 6:408; StA 2:101; LW 44:129. [BACK]

51. Pfeiffer-Belli 7:61. [BACK]

52. Pfeiffer-Belli 7:115-116. [BACK]

53. WA 6:292; W2 18:1013; LW 39:65. [BACK]

54. WA 6:296; W2 18:1017; LW 39:69. [BACK]

55. WA 6:297; W2 18:1017; LW 39:70. [BACK]

56. WA 6:296; LW 39:69-70. [BACK]

57. Pfeiffer-Belli 6:80. [BACK]

58. WA 6:288; W2 18:1007; LW 39:59. [BACK]

59. For example, WA 6:288-289; LW 39:59-61. [BACK]

60. WA 6:288; W2 18:1008; LW 39:60. [BACK]

61. WA 6:307-308, 309-313; LW 39:84, 91. [BACK]

62. WA 6:316; W2 18:1044; LW 39:95. [BACK]

63. WA 6:407; StA 2:99; LW 44:127. [BACK]

64. WA 6:411-412; StA 2:104-105; LW 44:134-135. [BACK]

65. WA 6:413; StA 2:106; LW 44:136. [BACK]

66. WA 6:414; StA 2:107; LW 44:138. [BACK]

67. WA 6:414-415; StA 2:108; LW 44:138-139. [BACK]

68. In this recitation he touched on such matters as various reforms of the papacy, cardinals, and curial officials; on reforms of the mendicant orders and monasticism, which he suggested should be abolished; on clerical celibacy, which he also opposed; on endowed masses for the dead, which should be curtailed or eliminated; on what he saw as an overly complicated system regulating marriage within prohibited degrees; on miracles and pilgrimages; on begging, brotherhoods, and indulgences; and so on. This was a potentially revolutionary set of reforms that would fatally compromise the papacy and institutional church as it currently existed. Note also his comment about the Strasbourg bishop in StA 2:115, esp. note 164. [BACK]

69. WA 6:427; StA 2:121; LW 44:156. Having achieved a head of steam on reforms of the papacy, Luther listed a veriety of abuses and appropriate reforms for the institutional church generally. Among the more drastic were suggestions that all pilgrimages be dropped, that monasticism and especially the mendicants be curbed and monastic life be made voluntary, that clerical celibacy be ended and priests allowed to marry, that endowed masses for dead be abolished, and that restrictions on marriage within prohibited degrees be relaxed. Among other things, he also made important suggestions about the reform of poor relief. [BACK]

70. Pfeiffer-Belli 6:91. [BACK]

71. Pfeiffer-Belli 6:92. [BACK]

72. Pfeiffer-Belli 7:5. [BACK]

73. Pfeiffer-Belli 6:43-44. [BACK]

74. Pfeiffer-Belli 6:83. [BACK]

75. Pfeiffer-Belli 6:40, 47, 83-87. [BACK]

76. WA 6:322; W2 1051; LW 39:102. See also his prediction that if the German princes and nobles did not do something soon about papal exploitation of Germany, Germany would be desolated (WA 6:289; LW 39:60). [BACK]

77. WA 6:404; StA 2:96; LW 44:123. [BACK]

78. WA 6:413; StA 2:106-107; LW 44:137. [BACK]

79. Pfeiffer-Belli 6:31. [BACK]

80. For Luther's change, see WA 10/2:227; Murner's admission and Stifel's accusation are reproduced in WA 6:488. I consulted several printings reproduced in the Tübingen collection. The quotations are from Tü 1679-1680/4341, which, from the evidence of the woodcut, appears to be the edition published by J. Schott. I have identified the woodcut from the list in R. W. Scribner, For the Sake of Simple Folk: Popular Propaganda for the German Reformation (Cambridge, 1981), 251-256. Both Chrisman and Benzing give the publication date as 1520, but it seems more likely that it was first printed in 1521, since Murner makes no reference to the treatise in his own 1520 publications, or at least no reference that I identified. [BACK]

81. Ibid. [BACK]

82. Babilonischen , Tü 1679-1680/4341, Div(v). [BACK]

83. Babilonischen , E. [BACK]

84. Babilonischen , E(v). [BACK]

85. Babilonischen , Fiii(v). [BACK]

86. See, for example, Vadian's Karsthans , discussed in the next chapter. [BACK]

87. The following summary is taken from Hubert Jedin, ''Die geschichtliche Bedeutung der katholischen Kontroversliteratur im Zeitalter der Glaubensspaltung," Historiches Jahrbuch 53 (1933):70-97, esp. 73-76. See also Bagchi, Luther's Earliest Opponents , chapter 8, which does a fine job of exploring the difficulties the Catholic publicists faced when seeking assistance from the Catholic establishment. [BACK]

88. Johannes von Döllinger, ed., Beiträge zur Politischen, Kirchlichen und Cultur-Geschichte der Sechs Letzten Jahrhunderte (Vienna, 1892), 3:275. [BACK]

89. Jedin, "Die geschichtliche Bedeutung," 73-74. [BACK]

90. Döllinger, Beiträge , 3:247. [BACK]

91. Jedin, "Die geschichtliche Bedeutung," 74-75. [BACK]

92. Nuntiaturberichte aus Deutschland nebst ergänzenden Aktenstücken (Gotcha, 1892-1912, 1:319. [BACK]

93. Nuntiaturberichte , 4:174, 2:178-179, 2:196. [BACK]

94. Nuntiaturberichte , 2:63. [BACK]

95. Ludwig Cardauns, ed., Zur Geschichte der Kirchlichen Unions- und Reformbestrebungen von 1538 bis 1542 (Rome, 1910), 144. Note that, as Fabri indicated, the Catholic controversialists generally had to pay to have their works printed, while the Evangelical publicists were largely printed for free because their works generally sold well. See the discussion in chapter 1. [BACK]

96. Martin Spahn, Johannes Cochläus: Ein Lebensbild (Berlin, 1898), 188-190, 258. [BACK]

97. Bachmann, Wider die Natterzungen . . . Antwort auff Constantini Donation (Dresden, 1538), Ai(v). [BACK]

98. This summary is drawn from Jedin, "Die geschichtliche Bedeutung," 73. [BACK]

99. On the replies by Catholic publicists to Pope Adrian's inquiry and the Pope's own efforts to support a Catholic counterattack, see Bagchi, Luther's Earliest Opponents , 222-227. [BACK]

100. On this point see Bagchi, Luther's Earliest Opponents , 202-207, 211-214, 221. [BACK]

101. Johannes Mensing, Von dem Opffer Christi yn der Messe (n.p., 1526), Aij(v). [BACK]

102. Bachmann, Ein sermon . . . yn auffnhemung der Reliquien Sancti Bennonis (Dresden, 1527), Ai(v). [BACK]

103. To those who reply that the Protestants do everything in German, Bachmann replies that "es ist nicht gut das mann alles in deutscher sprache handelt, zumal was die Sacrament vnd geheimnisse betrifft der heiligen Mess." In support of this view, he offered an example of shepherds who blasphemously went through a mock Mass (Paul Bachmann, Vonn Ceremonien der Kirchen . . . von Priesterlichem Celibat [Leipzig, 1537], C3). Johannes Mensing explained that "es haben auch, die heyligen tzwÖlff boten die worte, der wandelunge, heymlich haben wollen, als die dem gemeynen volcke nicht nÖttig tzuwissen gewesen. Solten auch noch pillich den heyden vnd Juden vorporgen sein. . . . Jha es were gut, das sie auch etlichen Christen, als nemlich, der vnuorstendigen, thollen vnd thummen Jugent vorporgen geblieben weren, auff das sie nicht, missbraucht wurden" (Johannes Mensing, Von dem Opfer Christi in der Messe [n.p., 1527], Dij(v)). [BACK]

104. Bachmann, Von Ceremonienn der Kirchen , C3(v)—Cv. [BACK]

1. R. W. Scribner, For the Sake of Simple Folk: Popular Propaganda for the German Reformation (Cambridge, 1981), 14-36. [BACK]

2. Ibid., 17-19. [BACK]

3. ACTA ET RES GESTAE, D. MARTINI LVTHERi, in Comitijs Principu * Vuormaciae, Anno M.D.XXI . (Strasbourg: Johann Schott, 1521). [BACK]

4. Handlung so mit doctor Martin Luther Vff dem Key b erlichen Reichs tag zu * Worms ergangen ist, vom anfang zum * end, vff das kürtzest begriffen (Strasbourg: Johann Schott, 1522). [BACK]

5. In 1521 and 1522 a number of other authors entered the fray, either to criticize the traditional faith or to support Luther or in many cases to do both. By Miriam Chrisman's count there were thirty-two such polemical writings in 1521 and twenty-five polemics in 1522. Of these, twenty were by Luther—he continued to dominate the press—but only nine by Ulrich von Hutten. Effectively half the output—another twenty-eight treatises—were published by other authors. (For tables see Miriam U. Chrisman, Lay Culture, Learned Culture: Books and Social Change in Strasbourg, 1480-1599 [New Haven, 1982], 156-158). These figures are approximate—dating pamphlets is an uncertain undertaking—but the rough proportions likely reflect the actual publication pattern of these years. It is within this growing literature of criticism of the traditional church and support for Luther that we begin to see the variety in the ways in which people understood Luther and his message. Of course, not all of this literature is relevant to our concerns; some devote their whole treatise to an attack on the papacy and on traditional practices with hardly a mention of Luther. But at least thirteen of these treatises (by ten or eleven different authors) explicitly deal with Luther and his message and can therefore further our understanding of his image in the popular press of his day. With few exceptions these publications deal largely with Luther's treatises through 1520 and neither mention explicitly nor engage with Luther's

treatises of 1521 and 1522. In other words, even as Luther flooded the market with new works, the other publicists appearing in the Strasbourg press in 1521 and 1522 were still assimilating and reacting to his earlier writings. [BACK]

6. Joachim Vadian, Karsthans (Strasbourg: Prü b , 1521); Clemen 4:83. [BACK]

7. Ain schoner * dialogus Und gesprech zwischen aim Pfarrer und aim Schulthay b , betreffend allen übel Stand der gaystlichen. Und bo b * handlung der weltlichen. Alles mit geytzigkayt belanden. etc. (Strasbourg: M. Schürer Erben, 1521). See DS 1:396-399. References to the "pious Luther" are found on pages DS 1:407, 459, and 469-470. [BACK]

8. Clemen 4:90-91. [BACK]

9. DS 1:469-470. [BACK]

10. Uerkündungs Brieff der hochberüempte * Uniuersitet Erdfürt, zu * schütz schirm vn * handhabung des Christliche * gots diener vn * lerers. D. Martin Luthers. Durch Wolffgang Ru b en * verteütschet (Strasbourg: J. Prü b , 1521); Tü 1258/3223. [BACK]

11. Uerkündungs Brieff der Uniuersitet , i(v). [BACK]

12. Uerkündungs Brieff der Uniuersitet , ii, ii(v), iii. [BACK]

13. The text is as follows:

Die worheit ligt am tag fürwor
Würt nit zerspaltet vmb ein hor.
Ist Luther den ein ketzer ye
Wer schreyb dann recht vff erden hye?
Ist dan die gschrifft falsch, vngerecht
So bstot wol irer feynd gebrecht. [ = Lärm, Geschrei]
Die schrifft ist aber wor, stat * , vest
Durch Christum selbs schon *  überglest, [ = glänzend gemacht]
So [ = Dagegen] lugen seind all menschen tand
On schrifft, vom teüfel har *  gesandt.
Schrifft, schrifft, schreyt Luther über lut
Vnd stellt ir zu *  kopff, hals vnd hut.
Wilt Luther stillen [ = zum Schweigen bringen?] fur *  jn geschrifft
Sunst ist dein leeren eytel gifft.

Von der Christformigen * , rechtgegrundten leer Doctoris Martini Luthers, ein überu b schon * kunstlich Lyed, sampt seiner neben nb legung (Strasbourg: unknown, ca. 1522) Clemen 3:342.

14. Clemen 4:85-86. [BACK]

15. Clemen 4:110. [BACK]

16. DS 1:445. [BACK]

17. Ein hübsch christenliche vnd gotliche * erinnerung vnd warnung, so Kayserlicher Maiestat vo * eynem iren Kayserlichen Maiestat armen Reüterlyn, vnd underthenigem diener beschicht (Strasbourg: Prü b , 1522); Kück, 5. [BACK]

18. Hüpsch argument red fragen vnd antwurt Dreyer personen Nemlichen ains Curtisanen aines Edelmans vn * aines Burgers Nit allain kürtzweylig Sunder vast nutzlich zu lesen vnd zu * heren Alles D.M.L. leer betreffent . (Strasbourg: Reinhart Beck, 1522); Ho 3922. [BACK]

19. For example, Hüpsch Aij(v), B(v)-Bij, Bij(v)-Biij, Cij(v)-Ciij, Ciij(v)-Civ. [BACK]

20. Hüpsch Civ. [BACK]

21. Wider Doctor Murnars falsch erdycht Lyed: von dem vndergang christlichs Glaubens. Bruoder Michael Styfels von Esszlingen v b leg vnnd Christliche glo b darüber . (Strasbourg: Prü b , 1522), Eiij(v), Ciij(v). [BACK]

22. Stifel, Wider Doctor Murnars falsch erdycht Lyed , Dij(v). [BACK]

23. Kück, 3. [BACK]

24. Ableynung des vermeinlichen unglimpffs so dem Andechtigen Hochgelerten vnd Cristenlichen vatter Doctor Martin Luther Augustiner orders. u(sw) von vielen zugelegt * , jn dem das er vnsern vatter den Babst ein Vicari des Teüfels vnd Antecrists u(sw) genant hat . (Strasbourg: Prü b , 1522); Tü 1889/4824; Kück, 18-31. [BACK]

25. Kück, 26. [BACK]

26. Zü lob dem Luther vnd eeren der gantzen Christenhait . The verse on the title page reads "Wolt * yemant wissen wie der hie b | Der disen spruch au b gon liess | Das hat gethon Laux Gemigger student | Au b vrsach, dz man des Luthers bucher * hat verprent" (Laube 1:548). The Hohenemser (Ho 4329) is identified as a Nuremberg printing done in 1522. Laube gives an uncertain date of 1521, printed in Augsburg by Erhard Öglin Erben. Chrisman dates the work to 1520 and has identified two editions printed in Strasbourg. From the internal evidence, the treatise was written earliest by the end of November 1520 and latest by March 1521. The 1520 dating is probably too early. Laube identifies two Strasbourg editions and one Augsburg edition (Laube 1:555). [BACK]

27. Laube 1:548. [BACK]

28. Passion D. Martins Luthers, oder seyn leydung durch Marcellum beschriben (Strasbourg: Prü b , 1521), a3; Ho 3908; Tü 1566/4061. [BACK]

29. Brüder Michael Stifel Augustiner von Esszlingen. Von der Christförmigen, rechtgegründten leer Doctoris Martini Luthers, ein uberuss schön kunstlich Lyed, sampt seiner neben vsslegung (Strasbourg, 1522). Reprinted twice, once shortly after 1522 and the second time before 1525. See Chrisman, Bibliography P.3.9.7; Clemen 3, no. 7. [BACK]

30. Clemen 3:282. [BACK]

31. Clemen 3:283. [BACK]

32. Clemen 3:286. [BACK]

33. For example, Marcellus, a2(v)-a3. [BACK]

34. Hüpsch , Ai(v)-Aii. [BACK]

35. Hüpsch , Cij(v)-Ciij; cf. Hüpsch , Aiij(v). [BACK]

36. Hüpsch , Aiij(v), Civ-Civ(v). [BACK]

37. Clemen 3:282. [BACK]

38. Scribner, For the Sake of Simple Folk , 21. [BACK]

39. Clemen 3:283. [BACK]

40. Even for those who did not, at least at this point, accept Luther's characterization of the papacy as the Antichrist, his opposition to the papacy was often welcomed and elicited a feeling of solidarity in a common struggle to reform the church of serious abuses. For example, our moderate, the anonymous author of A Pleasant Argument simply mentioned that Luther believed that the pope was a bishop like any other bishop ( Hüpsch , Aii(v)). Yet the anonymous author strongly supported Luther's scripturally based reforms.

The author of A Good Coarse Dialogue had one of his characters point out that, although Luther attacked the pope for abuses, he did not say that there should be no pope or papal assistants, so long as the pope did not introduce a new faith or allow heresy to grow. Yet this comment was placed within a long attack on the practice of indulgences [ Ain gutter * grober dyalogus Teüsch, zwyschen zwayen guten * gesellen, mit namen Hans Schopfer * , Peter Schabehut * , bayd von Basel die auh nit nottiger * gschafft * sunst au b zu * richten habent angericht vo * eim wirt . (Strasbourg: Beck, 1521); Ho 3904, Biij]. [BACK]

41. See note 24 above. [BACK]

42. Kück, 18. [BACK]

43. Kück, 20. [BACK]

44. Kück, 4-5. [BACK]

45. Marcellus, a2(v). [BACK]

46. Clemen 4:94-95. [BACK]

47. DS 1:418-419. [BACK]

48. DS 1:441. In the pamphlet's closing list of thirty articles adopted by "Noble Helferich, Knight Heintz, and Karsthans and all their adherents," article five called the pope the "Endchrist," the Antichrist of the Endtimes, and article six labeled the "cardinals, protonotories, officials, bishops, auditors, and others at Rome" the "devil's apostles" (DS 1:443). [BACK]

49. See chapter 3. [BACK]

50. Clemen 4:108-109. [BACK]

51. DS 1:446. [BACK]

52. See, for example, Karsthans, New Karsthans , Stifel's Against Murnar's . . . Song . [BACK]

53. Uerkündungs Brieff der Uniuersitet , i(v). [BACK]

54. Uerkündungs Brieff der Uniuersitet , ii-iii. [BACK]

55. Ain gutter * grober dyalogus Teütsch , Aiv(v). [BACK]

56. DS 1:469-470. [BACK]

57. Ain gutter * grober dyalogus Teütsch , Aiv(v). [BACK]

58. Ain gutter * grober dyalogus Teütsch , Aiij(v). [BACK]

59. DS 1:459. [BACK]

60. Uerkündungs Brieff der Uniuersitet , iij(v). Eck and the bull of excommunication are also severely criticized by the author of Ain schoner * dialogus , DS 1:468-469. [BACK]

61. Laube 1:548-557. [BACK]

62. Clemen 4:89. [BACK]

63. Clemen 4:90-91. [BACK]

64. Clemen 3:289. [BACK]

65. DS 1:468. [BACK]

66. Clemen 4:83. [BACK]

67. Kück, 26. [BACK]

68. Kück, 26-27. [BACK]

69. Hüpsch , Aii(v). [BACK]

70. Hüpsch , Aiv(v). [BACK]

71. Murner's name is deliberately misspelled to pun on the word for clown [ Narr ]. [BACK]

72. Wider Doctor Murnars falsch erdycht Lyed: von dem vndergang Christliche glaubens. Bruoder Michael Stifels von Esszlingen v b leg vnnd Christliche glo b darüber (Strasbourg, 1522). [BACK]

73. Wider Doctor Murnars falsch erdycht Lyed , F(v). [BACK]

74. Clemen 4:76. [BACK]

75. Marcellus, a4-a4(v). [BACK]

76. Clemen 4:91. [BACK]

77. DS 1:417. [BACK]

78. Hüpsch , Aij(v)-Aiij. [BACK]

79. Another distinctive teaching, dealt with by only a few of the pamphleteers is Luther's view of the sacraments. A Pleasant Argument explains that Luther taught that the Mass was a testament (B-B(v)), that there was a purgatory and masses did help souls (Biv(v)-C), and that there were no more than three sacraments (Eij). Stifel, in Wider Doctor Murnars falsch erdycht Lyed , informed its readers that Luther taught that the Mass was an admonition and a certain sign to all believers of the remission of all sins. It was not a sacrifice that we offer but rather a pledge that we should receive (Bij-Bij(v)). As with the case of the priesthood of all baptized Christians, some of the characterization in A Pleasant Argument would likely have been disputed by Luther himself. [BACK]

80. Clemen 4:116-117. [BACK]

81. Hüpsch , Bij. [BACK]

82. Hüpsch , Bij-Bii(v). [BACK]

83. Hüpsch , Bij(v)-Biij. [BACK]

84. Although I interpret the evidence somewhat differently, I am indebted to Gottfried Blochwitz, "Die antirömischen deutschen Flugschriften der frühen Reformationszeit (bis 1522) in ihrer religiös-sittlichen Eigenart," ARG 27 (1930):145-254, for alerting me to this division. [BACK]

85. Chrisman P1.1.3. [BACK]

86. StA 2:265; WA 7:21. For a translation from the Latin version, see LW 31:344. [BACK]

87. StA 2:273; WA 7:24-25. For a translation from the Latin version, see LW 31:349. [BACK]

88. StA 2:271. [BACK]

89. StA 2:271, 273. [BACK]

90. DS 1:415. [BACK]

91. DS 1:425. [BACK]

92. DS 1:433-434. [BACK]

93. DS 1:429. [BACK]

94. DS 1:427. [BACK]

95. DS 1:419. [BACK]

96. For example, DS 1:436. [BACK]

97. DS 1:423-424. [BACK]

98. DS 1:445. [BACK]

99. DS 1:446. [BACK]

100. Laube 1:552-553. [BACK]

101. Kück, 19-20. [BACK]

102. Kück, 28. [BACK]

103. Kück, 22. [BACK]

104. Clemen 3:49. [BACK]

105. Clemen 3:340. [BACK]

106. Clemen 3:316. [BACK]

107. Hüpsch , Biij(v)-Biv. [BACK]

108. Hüpsch , Biv. [BACK]

109. Hüpsch , Biv. [BACK]

110. Hüpsch , Biv-Biv(v). [BACK]

111. Hans-Joachim Köhler, "The Flugschriften and their Importance in Religious Debate: A Quantitative Approach," in Paola Zambelli, ed., `Astrologi hallucinati': Stars and the End of the World in Luther's Time (New York, 1986), 159. [BACK]

112. Ibid., 161. [BACK]

113. It is worth noting that Luther's Catholic critics did not overlook this theme! [BACK]

1. Except perhaps a few fringe spiritualists such as the Zwickau prophets. [BACK]

2. UF das Fürhalte * so durch Keyserliche Maiestat Vnd des heiligen Reichs versamleten Churfürsten, vnd stande * , Dem Hochgelerte * Doctori Martino Luther. etc. durch des Reich Redner zu * Wormbs erzelt. Ist di b sein personlich (Zum * kürtzistenn) begriffen antwort . . . (Strasbourg: Knobloch, 1521), iiij(v)-iiiij. [BACK]

3. See, for example, Walter Mostert, "Scriptura sacra sui ipsius interpres: Bemerkungen zum Verständnis der Heiligen Schrift durch Luther," Lutherjahrbuch 46 (1979):60-96, and the wealth of literature cited there. [BACK]

4. The literature on the German Luther Bible is immense. For the best scholarly treatment and an extensive bibliography, see Hans Volz, Martin Luthers deutsche Bibel: Entstehung und Geschichte der Lutherbibel (Henning Wendland, ed.; Hamburg, 1978; Berlin, 1981). For subsequent bibliography, see editions of Vestigia Biblia: Jahrbuch des Deutschen Bibel-Archivs Hamburg . For a stimulating yet different (and occasionally flawed) treatment of the topic of this chapter, see Jane O. Newman, "The Word Made Print: Luther's 1522 New Testament in an Age of Mechanical Reproduction," Representations 1 (1985):95-133. [BACK]

5. WADB 6:2; LW 35:357. [BACK]

6. WADB 6:4; LW 35:358. [BACK]

7. WADB 6:8. [BACK]

8. WADB 6:8; LW 35:360-361. [BACK]

9. WADB 6:8; LW 35:361. [BACK]

10. WADB 6:9. [BACK]

11. WADB 6:9; LW 35:362. [BACK]

12. WADB 6:10; LW 35:362. [BACK]

13. WADB 7:384; LW 35:396-397. [BACK]

14. WADB 7:404; LW 35:399. [BACK]

15. WADB 7:2; LW 35:365. [BACK]

16. WADB 7:2; LW 35:365-366. [BACK]

17. WADB 7:2, 4; LW 35:366. [BACK]

18. WADB 7:6; LW 35:366. [BACK]

19. WADB 7:6; LW 35:368-369. [BACK]

20. WADB 7:172. [BACK]

21. WADB 7:172; LW 35:384. [BACK]

22. WADB 7:258; LW 35:388. [BACK]

23. WADB 7:284; LW 35:389. [BACK]

24. WADB 7:272, 314; LW 35:389, 392. [BACK]

25. I have not counted as glosses the many cross-references to other parts of Scripture found in the pages of the German New Testament . These cross-references also perform a certain function in directing the reader's understanding of the text, but Luther's cross-references do not appear to differ significantly from cross-references in previous vulgate editions. [BACK]

26. Only five glosses explicitly criticized the papacy or monasticism. Three are found in 1 Corinthians and one in 2 Corinthians and one in Matthew. The rest of the glosses tabulated as "on Theme" deal with issues of faith, promise, law, works, and Christian freedom. [BACK]

27. For a brief overview of Emser's efforts and their background, see Kenneth A. Strand, Reformation Bibles in the Crossfire (Ann Arbor, 1960). [BACK]

28. Hieronymus Emser, Auß was grund * vnd ursach Luthers dolmatschung vber das nawe testament dem gemeine * man billich vorbotten worden sey. Mit scheynbarlicher anzeygung, wie, wo, vnd an wolchen * stellen, Luther den text vorkert, vnd ungetrewlich gehandelt, oder mit falschen glosen vnd vorreden auß der alten Christlichen ban, auff seyn vorteyl vnd whan gefurt hab . (Leipzig: Stöckel, 1523); Tü 318-321/905. [BACK]

29. This gloss refers to verse 7 (in today's versification; Luther's German New Testament did not have verse numbers). In Luther's translation this verse reads, "For if in such fashion the truth of God becomes through my lies more wonderful to His glory, why should I still be condemned as a sinner?" [Den * so die warheyt gotis durch meyne lugen herlicher wirt zu seyne * preysz, warumb solt ich den * noch als eyn synder gerichtet werde * ? (WADB 7:36)]. [BACK]

30. WADB 7:36. [BACK]

31. Emser, Auß was grund * , xij. [BACK]

32. The New Jerusalem Bible translates these verses: "No distinction is made: all have sinned and lack God's glory, and all are justified by the free gift of his grace through being set free in Christ Jesus. God appointed him as a sacrifice for reconciliation, through faith, by the shedding of his blood." [BACK]

33. WADB 7:38. [BACK]

34. WADB 7:38. [BACK]

35. Emser, Auß was grund * , xij(v). [BACK]

36. Emser, Auß was grund * , xij(v). [BACK]

37. Emser, Auß was grund * , xij(v). [BACK]

38. WADB 7:40. [BACK]

39. WADB 7:40. [BACK]

40. Emser, Auß was grund * , xiij. [BACK]

41. WADB 7:38. Note that Luther emphasized this verse by having it begin a paragraph. The same is true with the verse singled out by the second gloss. [BACK]

42. WA 30/2:632-646. [BACK]

43. WA 30/2:640-643. [BACK]

44. The literature on this and other sixteenth-century biblical illustrations is extensive. See the bibliography in Volz, Martin Luthers deutsche Bibel . See also Philipp Schmidt, Die Illustration der Lutherbibel 1522-1700 (Basel, 1962), and Hermann Oertel, "Das Bild in Bibeldrucken vom 15. bis zum 18. Jahrhundert," Jahrbuch der Gesellschaft für Niedersächsische Kirchengeschichte 75 (1977):9-37. For the woodcuts in Revelation, see Peter Martin, Martin Luther und die Bilder zur Apokalypse: Die Ikonographie der Illustrationen zur Offenbarung des Johannes in der Lutherbibel 1522-1546 (Hamburg, 1983). [BACK]

45. The following discussion is based on the bibliographic descriptions in WADB 2. Unfortunately, the description of each edition is not consistent, and for a few editions the description in the WADB seems incomplete. For example, the WADB does not explicitly indicate that Luther's name was omitted in two editions, yet the title as cited for each edition does not mention Luther's name. Is this an oversight by WADB or is Luther's name mentioned elsewhere in the edition, say, in a preface? I was unable to examine the specific editions myself. Although the WADB indicates that there were twenty printings issued in 1524, one of these editions, printed in Leipzig, was seized and destroyed at the insistence of the staunchly Catholic Duke Georg of Albertine Saxony. As a result, we do not know its format or whether it gave Luther's name or reproduced the offending woodcuts in Revelation. [BACK]

46. M. Reu, Luther's German Bible (Columbus, Ohio, 1934), 164 and 355, n. 46. See also WABr 2:581, n.9. [BACK]

47. This is the count I get from WADB 2. Hans Volz, in his introduction to Die gantze Heilige Schrifft Deudsch (Munich, 1972), 61*, identified three from Augsburg, seven from Basel, and one in Grimma and one in Leipzig. WADB identifies two Strasbourg editions. One [number 243] by "Hans" Schott was probably published in 1523. Chrisman dates this Schott edition to 1522, which WADB allows as possible but unlikely. The second Strasbourg edition, produced by Johann Schott in 1523, is number 248. Where Chrisman identifies only one edition, WADB has two. [BACK]

48. Based on my count of editions in WADB 2. Chrisman lists only one Knobloch edition in 1524 (while WADB has three). The only Köpfel edition she lists is for 1538, while WADB lists this for 1524 [number 52]. I assume this is Chrisman's mistake, since the Köpfel edition is dated. This Köpfel edition is also interesting since in it Luther's glosses have been removed from the margins and published in a separate pamplet (WADB 2:326-327). See the discussion below. [BACK]

49. The recorded price for the September Testament ranges from one-half to one and one-half guldens. The difference probably depends on whether the New Testament was bound or unbound and whether it had specially hand-decorated initials (Martin Brecht, Martin Luther: Shaping and Defining the

Reformation, 1521-1532 [Minneapolis, 1990], 53). The price equivalents come from Walter Krieg, Materialien zu einer Entwicklungsgeschichte der Bücher-Preise und des Autoren-Honorars 15. bis zum 20. Jahrhundert (Vienna, Bad Bocklet, Zurich, 1953), 19-22. For those interested in further equivalents, Krieg's list of equivalents for one and one-half guldens goes on for two pages. It should be noted, however, that the price for Luther's German New Testament was but a sixteenth or less of the price paid for a printed German Bible (Old and New Testaments) just fifty years earlier. Printing costs had come down considerably, making material such as the German New Testament accessible to much larger numbers of people. [BACK]

50. Over half of the editions of 1523 (seven of twelve, or 58 percent) were the handier and less expensive quarto and octavo format. In 1524 almost two-thirds of the editions (twelve of nineteen, or 63 percent) were quarto or octavo, and in 1525 three-quarters of the editions (six of eight, or 75 percent) were quarto or octavo. If we consider only the handiest (and likely least expensive) octavo editions, their percentage of the total rises from a sixth in 1523 (two of twelve, or about 17 percent) to slightly more than half of all editions in 1524 (ten of nineteen, or about 53 percent) to five-eights of all editions in 1525 (five of eight, or about 63 percent). Note that although there were twenty editions in 1524, we know the format for only nineteen, since the twentieth, printed in Leipzig, was seized and destroyed. [BACK]

51. See the "genealogy" of these editions in WADB 2:201-727. [BACK]

52. See Peter Martin, Martin Luther und die Bilder zur Apokalypse . [BACK]

53. These figures are based on the bibliographic descriptions in WADB 2. [BACK]

54. WADB 2:698-699, no. 243. [BACK]

55. WADB 2:326-327, no. 52. [BACK]

56. See chapter 4. [BACK]

57. Bernd Moeller, "Was wurde in der Frühzeit der Reformation in den deutschen Städten gepredigt?" ARG 75 (1984):176-193. [BACK]

58. Holm Zerener, Studien über das beginnende Eindringen der Lutherischen Bibelübersetzung in die deutsche Literatur nebst einem Verzeichnis über 681 Drucke—hauptsächlich Flugschriften—der Jahre 1522-1525 , Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte Texte und Untersuchungen, Ergänzungsband IV (Leipzig: M. Heinsius Nachfolger, 1911). [BACK]

1. Erklerung Wie Karlstat sein ler von dem hochwirdigen Sacrament, vnd andere achtet vnnd geachtet haben wil. Mit eyner Epistel M. Lutheri . (Strasbourg: Johann Knobloch, 1525). For the attributions, see Zorzin, nos. 77E and 77F. [BACK]

2. The Admonition was separately reprinted the following year under the title The Rejoicing of a Christian Brother Concerning the Union Undertaken Between Dr. M. Luther and Dr. Andreas Karlstadt. With an Indication What Is To Be Maintained Concerning the Articles on the Body and Blood of Christ (As One Calls Them). [Frolockug * eins christliche * bruders von wegen der

veregynigung, Zwische * D. M. Luther vnd D. Andres Carlostat sich begeben. Mit annzeyg was von dem artickel des leybs vnnd bluts cristi (as mans nent) sey zu halten . (Strasbourg, 1526)]. [BACK]

3. For their involvement see Walter Köhler, Zwingli und Luther: Ihr Streit über das Abendmahl nach seinen politischen und religiösen Beziehungen , 2 vols. (Leipzig, 1924; Gütersloh, 1953); Ernst Bizer, Studien zur Geschichte des Abendmahlsstreits im 16. Jahrhundert (Gütersloh, 1940; Darmstadt, 1962); Thomas Kaufmann, Die Abendmahlstheologie der Straßburger Reformatoren bis 1528 (Tübingen, 1992); and my Luther's Last Battles: Politics and Polemics, 1531-46 (Ithaca, 1983), esp. chapter 4. [BACK]

4. W2 20:312. [BACK]

5. W2 20:312-313. [BACK]

6. W2 20:313. The attack goes on for several paragraphs. [BACK]

7. W2 20:314. [BACK]

8. W2 20:314. [BACK]

9. W2 20:314. [BACK]

10. W2 20:314-315. [BACK]

11. W2 20:315. [BACK]

12. WA 18:454. [BACK]

13. Frolockug * , Aij. All citations are taken from Frolockug * but have been checked against the original printing in the Prüß edition of the Explanation . [BACK]

14. Frolockug * , Aij. [BACK]

15. Frolockug * , Aij(v)-Aiij. [BACK]

16. For example, Frolockug * , B-B(v). [BACK]

17. Frolockug * , B(v). [BACK]

18. Frolockug * , B(v)-Bij. [BACK]

19. Frolockug * , Bij. [BACK]

20. Frolockug * , Bij-Bij(v). [BACK]

21. Frolockug * , Bij(v). [BACK]

22. Frolockug * , Biij-Biij(v). [BACK]

23. Frolockug * , Biij(v)-Biv. [BACK]

24. Frolockug * , Biv. [BACK]

25. Frolockug * , Biv(v). [BACK]

26. ACTA ET RES GESTAE, D. MARTINI LVTHERi, in Comitijs Principu * Vuormaciae, Anno M.D.XXI. (Strasbourg: Johann Schott, 1521). [BACK]

27. Passion D. Martins Luthers, oder seyn leydung durch Marcellum beschriben (Strasbourg: Prüß, 1521), a3; Ho 3908; Tü 1566/4061. [BACK]

28. Laube 1:548. [BACK]

29. Brüder Michael Styfel Augustiner von Esszlingen. Von der Christförmigen, rechtgegründten leer Doctoris Martini Luthers, ein uberuss schön kunstlich Lyed, sampt seiner neben vsslegung . (Strasbourg, 1522), Aii. [BACK]

30. By my tally 166 printings had occurred through 1523, not counting editions of the German New Testament . Another 25 printings were issued in 1524. These figures may differ from Christman's since, as has been remarked upon, identification and dating of printed works is at best an inexact science. [BACK]

31. See chapter 5. [BACK]

32. Luther and the False Brethren (Stanford, 1975). [BACK]

33. WA 15:392; LW 40:66. [BACK]

34. WA 18:62; cf. WA 18:136. [BACK]

35. See my Luther and the False Brethren , 52-53. [BACK]

36. WA 15:393. [BACK]

37. WA 15:394. [BACK]

38. WA 15:396-397. We see here several characteristics of Luther's tactics with intra-Evangelical polemics. As I have argued at length in Luther and the False Brethren , Luther found it polemically effective and necessary in intra-Evangelical disputes to enhance his own authority with special claims and denegrate the authority of his opponents with ad hominem attacks. I do not claim that either tactic was disingenuous, only that they helped distinguish the positions when agreement was large and disagreement relatively small. We see both these tactics at work in this letter. [BACK]

39. In the middle of October 1524, Karlstadt paid a short, four-day visit to Strasbourg. Shortly after Karlstadt left Strasbourg, the city council issued on 31 October a mandate to the preachers that they preach ''only the clear Gospel" and that they refrain from topics that might promote unrest. They were also urged in their sermons to their congregations to turn away from direct action [von tätlichem Zugriff abzuweissen] and themselves not to induce any substantial innovations. This mandate was probably prompted by Karlstadt's visit (Hermann Barge, Andreas Bodenstein von Karlstadt [Leipzig, 1905], 2:213-214). Prior to this visit, eleven of his treatises had been reprinted in Strasbourg, thanks largely to the efforts of the printers Johann Prüß and Johann Schwan. During his brief stay, he arranged to have two more sermons published. Somewhat later, on 6 November 1524, the Prüß press issued Reasons Why Andreas Karlstadt Was Driven Out of the Lands of Saxony , a collection of letters Karlstadt had left behind to document his allegedly unjustified expulsion from Electoral Saxony. The list is from Erich Freys and Hermann Barge, "Verzeichnis der gedruckten Schriften des Andreas Bodenstein von Karlstadt," Zentralblatt für Bibliothekswesen 21 (1904):153-179, 209-243, 305-331.

Ad Leonem X. Pontificem Maximum. Resolutiones disputationum de uirtute indulgentiaru * . . . Contra D. Joannem Eckium Ingoldstadiensem Sophisti cum argutatorem, Apologetice propositiones D. Andreae Bodenstein Archidiaconi Vuittenbergesis . . . (Strasbourg: Matthias Schürer, 1519).

Uon vermüge * des Ablas: wider Bruder * Franciscus Seyler Barfusser ordes * Anders Carolstatt Doctor . (Strasbourg: Martin Flach, 1520).

Uon geweychtem Wasser vnd Saltz: Do. Andreas Carlstat Wider den vnuerdienten Gardian Franciscus Seyler . (Strasbourg: Martin Flach, 1520).

Von den Empfahern: zeichen: vnd zusag * des heylige * Sacraments, fleysch vnnd bluts * Christi . (Strasbourg: Johann Prüß).

Von den empfahern: zeichen: vnd zusag * des heilige * Sacraments, fleisch vnd bluts * Christi. Auch von anbettug * vnd eer erbietug * der zeichen des Neüwen Testaments . (Strasbourg?, 1521).

Von anbettung vnd eer erbietung der zeychen des neüwen Testaments . (Strasbourg, 1521?).

Von beyden gestalten der heylige Messze. Von zeichen in gemeyn was sie wircken vnd deüten. Sie seind nit Behemen od' ketzer, die beyde gestalt namen, sond' Euangelische Christen . (Strasbourg: Johann Prüß, 1522).

Sendtbrif. D. Andree Boden. von Caralstat meldende seinner wirtschaat. Nuwe * geschicht von pfaffen vnd munche * zu * Wittenberg . (Strasbourg: Johann Prüß, 1522).

Uon manigfeltigkeit des eynfeltigen eynigen willen gottes. was sundt sey. Andres Bodensteyn von Carolstat eyn newer Ley . (Strasbourg?, 1523).

Uo * de * Sabbat vnnd gebotten feyrtagen . (Strasbourg: Johann Schwan, 1524).

Von den zweyen hochsten * gebotten der lieb Gottes, und des nechsten, Mathei. 22. wie die rechte lieb zu * dem nechsten nicht menschlich, sonder gotlich * sein, vnd auß Gottes willen fliessen . (Strasbourg: Johann Prüß, 1524). Preached in 1523 but probably printed in October, when Karlstadt visited Strasbourg.

Von Engelen vnd Teüffelen ein Sermon . (Strasbourg: Johann Prüß, [October] 1524). Preached in 1523 but not published in Strasbourg until Karlstadt's visit.

Vrsachen der halben Andres Carolstat auß den landen Zu * Sachsen vertryben . (Strasbourg: Johann Prüß, [6 November] 1524). Reprinted in Hertzsch 2:50-58.

40. Ob man mit heyliger schrifft erweysen müge, das Christus mit leyb, blut * vnd seele in Sacrmament sey . (Strasbourg: Prüß, 1525); Tü 1127/2883. See Zorzin, no. 66B, n. 56, for the attribution.

Dialogus oder ein gesprech büchlin. Von dem grewlichen vnd abgöttischen mißbrauch, des hochwirdigsten Sacraments Jesu Christi. Andreas Carolstatt . (Strasbourg: Prüß, 1525). Reprinted in Hertzsch 2:5-49; W2 20:2313-2359.

Auszlegung dieser wort Christi. Das ist mein leyb, welcher für euch gegebe * würt. Das ist mein Blut * , welches für euch vergossen würt. Luce am. 22. Wider die einfeltige vnd zwyfeltige papisten, welche soliche wort, zu * eine * abbruch des kreützes Christi brauchen . (Strasbourg: Prüß, 1525). The Basel first edition is found in Tü 1446/3833.

Eln schone kurcze vn * Christliche vnterrichtug * der rechten (widder die alte vnnd neüwe papistische) meß . (Strasbourg: Johann Schwan, 1524). The Basel first edition is found in Tü 95/256. Reprinted in W2 20:2306-2313.

Wie sich der glaub vnd vnglaub gegen dem liecht vn * finsternus, gegen warheyt vnd lügen, gegen Gott vnd dem Teüffel halten. Was der frey will vermoge * . Ob man als bald glaub, als man Gottes warheyt gehort * . Von dem einsprechen Gottes. Wer Augen hat der wirt mercken, was die sünd in den heyligen geyst. Item, Wenn man tauffen. Item, Wie ein erleüchtes, vnd hohes leben des Christen ist. Die rouhen Christen seind in dem kleynen vngetrew unnd vngelassen, wie mochten * sye in dem grossen gelassen vnd getrew sein? (Strasbourg: Prüß, 1525); Tü 1128/2884. For the attribution see Zorzin, no. 71B, n. 56.

41. Ein schone kurcze vn * Christliche vnterrichtug * der rechten (wider die alte vnnd neüwe papistische) mess (Strasbourg: Johann Schwan, 1524). Reprinted in W2 20:2306-2313. [BACK]

42. Auszlegung dieser wort Christi. Das ist mein leyb, welcher für euch gegebe * würt. Das ist mein Blut * , welches für euch vergossen würt. Luce am. 22. Wider die einfeltige vnd zwyfeltige papisten, welche soliche wort, zu * eine * abbruch des kreützes Christi brauchen (Strasbourg: Prüß, 1525). The Basel first edition is found in Tü 1446/3833. There is a pun in the "einfeltige vnd zwyfeltige papisten" that I was unable to render into English. "Einfeltige" also means "simple." This is a variation on Karlstadt's "old and new papists,'' that is, followers of the Roman Church and followers of Luther. [BACK]

43. Of the two other reprints, Whether One May Prove With the Holy Scripture That Christ With Body, Blood, and Soul Is In the Sacrament , and Dialogue or Conversational Pamphlet Concerning the Horrible and Idolatrous Misuse of the Most Highly Revered Sacrament of Jesus Christ , both reprinted

in 1525, the former was the least polemical of the lot, while the latter presented in dialogue form several of the arguments advanced in the other treatises, along with a good deal of ridicule for the opposing position. Ob man mit heyliger schrifft erweysen müge, das Christus mit leyb, blut * und seele im Sacrament sey . Andres Carolstatt. M.DXXV. (Strasbourg: Prüß, 1525); Tü 1127/2883. See Zorzin, no. 66B, n. 56, for the attribution. Dialogus oder ein gesprechbüchlin. Von dem grewlichen vnd abottischen * mißbrauch, des hochwirdigsten Sacrament Jesu Christi . Andres Carolstatt M.D.XXV. (Strasbourg: Prüß, 1525); Tü 136/369. Reprinted in Hertzsch 2:5-49; W2 20:2313-2359. Citations from Hertzsch. [BACK]

44. W2 20:2308. [BACK]

45. W2 20:2309. [BACK]

46. W2 20:2310. [BACK]

47. For example, Auszlegung , aij. [BACK]

48. Auszlegung , aij(v). [BACK]

49. Auszlegung , aiij. [BACK]

50. Auszlegung , b. [BACK]

51. Auszlegung , dv(v)—dvi. [BACK]

52. Auszlegung , dv(v)—dvi. [BACK]

53. Wolfgang Capito, (W)Aß man halten, vnnd antwurten soll, von der spaltung zwischen Martin Luther vnd Andres Carolstadt (Strasbourg: Köpfel, 1524); Tü 79/213; W2 20:340-351. [BACK]

54. W2 20:346. [BACK]

55. W2 20:346-347. [BACK]

56. W2 20:347. [BACK]

57. W2 20:347-349. [BACK]

58. W2 20:349. [BACK]

59. W2 20:349-350. [BACK]

60. W2 20:350-351. [BACK]

61. W2 20:340. [BACK]

62. W2 20:341-342. [BACK]

63. W2 20:351. [BACK]

64. W2 20:351. [BACK]

65. Frolockug * , Bij(v). [BACK]

1. Johann Cochlaeus, Sieben kopffe Martin Luthers, von sieben sachen des Christlichen glaubens (Dresden: W. Stöckel, 1529), bij(v). [BACK]

2. The literature on Luther and the Peasants' War is extensive. See the discussion and cited literature in Bernhard Lohse, Martin Luther: Eine Einführung in sein Leben und sein Werk (München, 1981). [BACK]

3. See the discussion in chapter 1 and especially figures 7 to 10, and my article "Catholic Controversial Literature, 1518-1555: Some Statistics," ARG 79 (1988):189-205. [BACK]

4. Hieronymus Emser, Auff Luthers grewel wider die heiligen Stillness

Antwort Item wie, wo und mit wolchen wortten Luther yhn seyn büchern tzur auffrur ermandt, geschriben und getriben hat (Dresden, 1525); Tü 242/667 and Theobald Freudenberger, ed., Hieronymus Emser: Schriften zur Verteidigung der Messe (Münster: Aschendorf, 1959). [BACK]

5. Emser, Auff Luthers grewel , Aiv(v). [BACK]

6. Emser, Auff Luthers grewel , B. [BACK]

7. The Catholic publicists were careful to cite accurately and identify the location of the citation. They used the printer's marks to locate the quote since pagination was seldom practiced at this point. Although the citations were accurate, they were often taken out of context, a practice that could easily distort their meaning. [BACK]

8. WA 6:407. [BACK]

9. WA 6:409. [BACK]

10. WA 6:370. [BACK]

11. WA 7:630, 10; 631, 19-20, and 32-33. [BACK]

12. WA 8:251, 36; 252, 5, 17-19, and 24-27. [BACK]

13. WA 11:408, 22-23. [BACK]

14. WA 8:251. [BACK]

15. Adolf Laube, ed., Flugschriften der Bauernkriegszeit (Berlin, 1978), 362. [BACK]

16. David V. N. Bagchi, in his Luther's Earliest Opponents: Catholic Controversialists, 1518-1525 (Minneapolis, 1991), does a superb job showing how the issue of authority is at the center of the Catholic response to Martin Luther. [BACK]

17. Emser, Auff Luthers grewel, Bij(v). [BACK]

18. Luther was referring particularly to Duke Georg's demand that his subjects turn in Luther's translation of the New Testament. The Duke's objection was not to a vernacular New Testament per se but to Luther's specific translation. The Duke later sponsored Emser's revision of Luther's translation. See, among others, Hans Becker, "Herzog Georg von Sachsen als kirchlicher und theologischer Schriftsteller," ARG 24 (1927):161-269, and my Luther's Last Battles: Politics and Polemics, 1531-46 (Ithaca, 1983), chapter 3, esp. 41-42. [BACK]

19. Luther's To the Christian Nobility; German New Testament; Answer to the Hyper-Christian . . . Book; On Taking Both Kinds of the Sacrament; On Secular Authority, To What Extent It Should Be Obeyed; That A Christian Assembly Has the Right to Judge Teachings; A Faithful Admonition to All Christians To Guard Themselves From Rebellion; On Confession and Whether the Pope Has the Power To Command It; A Sermon on the New Testament, That Is, The Holy Mass ; and On the Adoration of the Sacrament of the Holy Body of Christ . The one Latin work was Luther's Confitendi ratio of 1520. [BACK]

20. Emser, Auff Luthers grewel , C. [BACK]

21. Laube, Bauernkriegszeit , 367-368. [BACK]

22. Emser, Auff Luthers grewel , Ciij. [BACK]

23. Laube, Bauernkriegszeit , 370. [BACK]

24. Emser, Auff Luthers grewel , D. [BACK]

25. "Si fures furca, si latrones gladio, si haereticos igne plectimus, Cur non magis hos Magistros perditionis, hoc Cardinales, hos Papas et totam istam Romanae Zodomae colluviem, quae Ecclesiam dei sine fine corrumpit, omnibus armis impetimus et manus nostras in sanquine istorum lavamus." (WA 6:347, 22-26). For obvious reasons, this is a favorite in the Catholic arsenal. Here is Emser's comment: "In dem buchlin wider Sylvestrum Prieratem. In disem buchlin ermanet Luter den adel abermaln, dass sie die hend yn der geistlichen blut waschen sollen, wölchs er in dem buchlin: Auff das uberchristlich etc. D am letzten bletlin also dewtet, er hab es per contentionem geschriben. Dann wo der bapst die ketzer verbrennen woll, sey es billich, dass man yn mit all seyn secten auffs allerschentlichst erwurge" (Emser, Auff Luthers grewel , D(v)). [BACK]

26. "G.iij. Dz ich yn Gotes namen angefangen, vnd meyn leer das rechte wort Gotes sey, Hab ich keyn stercker beweysung, Dann dz sie so geschwind yn alle welt vermhert worden, vnd vneynikeit anricht, vnd wan sie das nit thet, wer ich langst vertzagt vnd mat worden" (Emser, Auff Luthers grewel , D(v)). Although I checked two different editions of Luther's treatise, I was unable to find this exact wording. Emser appears to have used ellipses to good polemical effect and also added a few words. The WA and the two editions I checked in the Tübingen collection read: "ich hab meyner hoffnung, das ich in gottis namen angefangen und das recht wort gottis lere, keyne sterker beweysung und wundertzeychen, denn das sie sso schwindt yn alle welt on meyn treyben und suchen, dartzu durch untzehlich widderstend und vorfolgung aller geweltigen und gelereten vormehret worden ist und uneynickeit anricht, Und wenn sie das nit thet, were ich lengst vortzagt und mat worden" (WA 7:280, 25-31). This passage does not occur on Giij in either edition. In fact, the treatise is too short to even have a Giij. Given the page reference, Emser may be working from a collection that I have not identified. [BACK]

27. Laube, Bauernkriegszeit , 373. [BACK]

28. Emser, Auff Luthers grewel , Bij(v). [BACK]

29. Emser, Auff Luthers grewel , Biij. This was picked up and used by Petrus Sylvius: "Das er aber auch fürnympt mit seynem anhang Gotte gleych zu seyn ynn der herschafft vnd freyheyt, bezeuget seyn eygen schryfft, so er bey der Epistel j. Cori. x. am rande also schreybet. Christus ist Herre vnd frey, also auch alle Christen ynn allen dingen uzw" (Sylvius, Die letzten zwey beschlisslich . . . büchleyn . . . so das Lutherisch thun an seyner person . . . schrifftlich entplossen [Leipzig: M. Blum, 1534], E; Ho 3430). [BACK]

30. Emser, Auff Luthers grewel , Biij(v). [BACK]

31. Johann Cochlaeus, Antwort Joannis Cochlei zu Martin Luthers buch, genant Wider die Stürmenden Bawern Jetzt auffs nawe mit einer sonderlichen Schlussrede M. Pe. Sylvii in Druck gebracht (Dresden: W. Stöckel, 1527). I have not been able to find this edition, so I am using the 1525 Cologne edition reprinted in Laube, Bauernkriegszeit , 376-412. The quotation is on page 378, 31-40. [BACK]

32. Petrus Sylvius, Eyn klare beweisung wie Luther würde seyn eyn

vrsache, des steten eynzuges des Türcken, des vnchristlichen yrthums, zwitracht, auffruhr, vnd empörung des gemeynen volckes . . . (Leipzig: J. Thanner, 1527), B(v)—Bij; Tü 1183/2965. [BACK]

33. Sylvius, Eyn klare beweisung , Bij. I found a quite similar quote in a 1525 treatise that may have been published in Leipzig or Dresden. In this treatise Petrus Sylvius identified Luther's notion of Christian freedom with the priesthood of all believers and saw both as subversive since they destroyed the two estates and undercut all hierarchy and authority:

Darumber hat er ouch offentlich geschrieben vnd geleret, Das eynitzlicher Christen von rechtswegen sall seyn vnd ist frey, vnd syn selbest eyn Herre, Furste, Konig, Bobist [sic] vnd Bischoff uzw. Syntmall die Christen wern alle zu gleych Priestern vnd Konigen, vnnd ein yeder magk glawben halten vnd thun was er wil vnd darff nyemand ansehen. Sall ym ouch nymand etwas widdersprechen, Wie er dann tzum ersten yn seynem Tractat von der Christlichen freyheit vnd Babilonischen gefengknis angetzeygt vnd nachmals yn viel Tractat, Als von beyden gestalt des Sacrament zu entpfahen. Item ym Tractat wyder den falsch genant geystlichen stand, Vnd sonderlich ym Tractat von weltlicher öberkeyt klerlich aus gedruck hat Darynne er die geistliche vnnd weltliche herschafft gantz verkleynet vnd vernichtet, Sprechend, Das die Fursten vnd Hern seyn gemeynigklich dy grosten buben vnd narren tzu welchen man sich nichts guts versehen sall, Dann sie seyn Gots stockmeyster vnd hencker vnd büttel, Vnd das vnder den Christen sal vnd kan keyn öberkeyt seyn, sonder ein itzlicher ist dem ander zu gleych vnderthan uzw (Petrus Sylvius, Eyn Mssive [sic] ader Sendbriff an die Christliche versamlunge und szonderlich an die oberkeit Deutzscher Nation zu wegern den untthergang irer herschafft, vnd das iemmerlich verterbnis der Christenheit , [Dresden? Leipzig? 1525]; Tü 996/2528).

34. Johann Cochlaeus, Sieben kopffe Martin Luthers, von acht hohen sachen des Christlichen glaubens (Dresden: W. Stöckel, 1529), Aiv(v)—Bi; Tü 136/370. [BACK]

35. Paulus Bachmann, Luthers widerruf vom Fegefewer mit farbe ausz gestrichen durch den Abbt zur alden Zcellen (Dresden, 1530), Eij; Tü 691/1789. [BACK]

36. Johannes Fabri, Christenliche vnderrichtung Doctor Johann Fabri, vber ettliche Puncten der Visitation (Dresden: W. Stöckel, 1528), Bij—Bij(v); Tü 520/1342. [BACK]

37. Fabri, Christenliche vnderrichtung , Bi. [BACK]

38. Johannes Fabri, Christenliche vnderrichtung , Eiij(v). [BACK]

39. Sylvius, Die letzten zwey . . . büchleyn , C—C(v). [BACK]

40. Johannes Mensing, Von dem Opffer Christi in der Messe: Allen Christ-glaubigen / Teutscher Nation not tzuwissen Denen zu Magdeburgk in sonderheyt / tzu gut geschriben vnd auszgangen. Beweret mit Götlicher schriffte . (Leipzig: N. Schmidt, 1526), Aiv(v). [BACK]

41. Paulus Bachmann, Ein sermon des Abts zur Cellen yn auffnhemung der Reliquien Sancti Bennonis, gehabt am .xxi. tag des Monats Julij. Geteylt in drey artickel (Dresden, 1527), Dij(v); Tü 1183/2966. [BACK]

42. Sylvius, Die letzten zwey . . . büchleyn , Giv—Giv(v). [BACK]

43. This effect of a "mind-set" or Erwartungshorizon is well known in psychology of perception and in literary theory. For a discussion of the Erwartungshorizont , see Hans Robert Jauss, Toward an Aesthetic of Reception

(Minneapolis, 1982), and Robert C. Holub, Reception Theory: A Critical Introduction (London, 1984). [BACK]

44. Duke Georg of Saxony, Widder des Luthers warnung an die Tewtschen, das sie dem Kaiser nicht sollen gehorsam sein, Ein ander Warnung, das sie sich dar durch nicht verführen, noch zu vngehorsam bewegen lassen, durch einen gehorsamen vnparteischen (Dresden: W. Stöckel, 1531); WA 30/3:421. This particular passage is found only in the two reprints, one in Dresden, the other in Leipzig. For a full discussion of this treatise and the Catholic reading of Luther's rhetoric, see my Luther's Last Battles, especially chapter 3. [BACK]

45. See, for example, Wolfgang Wulffer, Wider die unselige Aufruhre Merten Luthers (Leipzig: M. Landsberg, 1522), and Emser's and Alfeld's many early treatises. [BACK]

46. Deutsche Nationale Literatur , J. Kürschner, ed. (Stuttgart, 1884-1893), 18, 17, 2, 163, 160. [BACK]

47. Subtitled "The just and fundamental articles of all the peasantry and tenants of spirtual and temporal powers by whom they think themselves oppressed." [BACK]

48. Peter Blickle, Die Revolution von 1525 (2d rev. ed.; Munich, 1983) [ The Revolution of 1525: The German Peasants' War from a New Perspective , trans. Thomas A. Brady, Jr., and H. C. Erik Midelfort (Baltimore, 1981)], chapter 3. [BACK]

49. From the translation in the English version of Blickle, The Revolution of 1525 , 197-198. [BACK]

50. See the discussion above. [BACK]

51. Peter Blickle, Die Revolution von 1525 . [BACK]

52. Peter Blickle, Gemeindereformation: Die Menschen des 16. Jahrhunderts auf dem Weg zum Heil (Munich, 1985), 69-71. [BACK]

53. See, for example, Cochlaeus's Sieben kopffe Martin Luthers, von sieben sachen des Christlichen glaubens , with which we began the chapter. The other books in Cochlaeus's "Seven Heads" series were compiled in the same way. [BACK]

1. WA 1:239-246; Benzing, nos. 90-114. This little sermon went through twenty-five editions in three years and was published all over Germany, from Wittenberg and Leipzig to Augsburg and Basel. [BACK]

2. There were at least thirty-three reprints of the speech itself [Benzing, nos. 905-937]. [BACK]

3. Uf das fürhalte * , ij(v). [BACK]

4. Uf das fürhalte * , ij(v). Interestingly, although the manuscript speaks of "their most wicked teaching and example," the Strasbourg first edition dropped "and teaching." See WA 7:870, notes to line 11. Whether this was an oversight or a deliberate omission is hard to say. [BACK]

5. Uf das fürhalte * , iij. [BACK]

6. Uf das fürhalte * , iij. [BACK]

7. Uf das fürhalte * , iiij(v)—iiiij. [BACK]

8. From the translation in the English version of Peter Blickle, The Revolution of 1525: The German Peasants' War from a New Perspective , trans. Thomas A. Brady, Jr., and H. C. Erik Midelfort (Baltimore, 1981), 197-198. [BACK]

9. Bernd Moeller, "Was wurde in der Frühzeit der Reformation in den deutschen Städten gepredigt?" ARG 75 (1984):176-193. [BACK]

10. Bernd Moeller, "Stadt und Buch: Bemerkungen zur Struktur der Reformatorischen Bewegung in Deutschland," in Wolfgang J. Mommsen, ed., Stadtbürgertum und Adel in der Reformation: Studien zur Socialgeschichte der Reformation in England und Deutschland (Stuttgart, 1979), 25-39. The thesis is on page 30. [BACK]

11. This statistic does not take into account the likelihood that the size of print runs also increased in this period, a fact that makes this upsurge even more dramatic. [BACK]

12. It may be that more Germans were able to read than were able to write and that literacy figures need to uncouple the two skills. [BACK]