Chapter Two— First Impressions in the Strasbourg Press
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]