Scheming Papists and Lutheran Fools: Five Reformation Satires

By Erika Rummel

Book Overview

This volume is a collection of five satires from the Reformation period, written between 1517 and 1526. In her Introduction to the work, Rummel explains that the battle between reformers and champions of the old faith was waged on many fronts, not only by preachers thundering from the pulpits, theologians facing each other in acrimonious disputations, and church authorities issuing censures and condemnations. This collection focuses on the impact and importance of a supporting cast of satirists whose ad hoc productions reached a wider audience, in a more visceral manner, than the rational approach which typified scholarly theological arguments. Rummel explains: Satire, a genre that requires finely honed language skills, was the preferred weapon of the humanists, who by and large sympathizes with the reformers. The humanists and reformers were often so closely associated in the reading public's mind that the earliest phase of the Reformation was sometimes interpreted as a quarrel between philogists and theologians, a manifestation of professional jealousies. Thus Erasmus claimed that the debates of his time were the result of antagonism between the faculties of Arts and Theology.

Three of the selections contained in the volume represent the Reformers, and two support the Catholics, the Papists of the title. These satirical essays, circulated widely among educated laypersons, use wit and biting humor to ridicule and discredit their adversaries and belong to a genre which was part of a larger body of sixteenth-century satire. The proliferation of satires became a concern of authorities who moved to suppress what they called hate-mongering. Officials banned the publication of anonymously authored writings, effectively ending the publication of the satires, which were largely published either anonymously or carried only the name of the publisher. As a result, many of the pieces did not survive to the present day, many more are only known to us through obscure references in other literature.

This volume brings to light five of these satiric pieces, written in the pivotal period when the Reformation ceased to be a protest and organized itself as a full-fledged movement. The topical issues featured in each satire are brought into historical context by a headnote explaining the circumstances surrounding its publication and giving bibliographical information about the satire's author. The witty style makes this collection entertaining reading and the impact of these writings sheds new light on the history of the Reformation.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0823214834
• ISBN13: 9780823214839
• Release Date: January 1993
• Publisher: Fordham University Press
• Length: 122 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.0" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Excellent book, hardly any flaws

Overall, this book contains an excellent sampling of Reformation satires, selected by Rummel to communicate the entire spectrum of these writings, both Catholic and reformist. Additionally, Rummel's preface to each work provides outstanding background and commentary on the satire. Her selections provide a good balance of opposing viewpoints, with _The Powers of the Romanists_, _Theologists in Council_, and "A Journey for Religion's Sake" representing the humanist and Lutheran reformers, and "A Reuchlinist's Ascent to Heaven" and _The Great Lutheran Fool_ epitomizing the conservative Catholic theologians. These masterpieces of Reformation literature are extraordinary in many respects, not the least of which is the fact that these writings manage to educate and to entertain, to shock and to please, to generate feelings of abhorrence and of wonderment, all in the period of a single breath. The translations of each of these works more than adequately convey the spirit of the originals-even today they are capable of evoking the same intense emotions within the reader as they must have done in the sixteenth century. Just as Gratius, Rubianus, Murner, and Erasmus directed their writings toward a wide-ranging general audience, so too does Rummel keep the diction and style of her translations faithful to their originals. The remarkable cleverness of language and mastery of technique abundant in these wonderful satires is as evident and enjoyable today was they were nearly five centuries ago. This book is not without its flaws, however, though they are few and far between. One such imperfection is the vast amount of endnotes that accompany each selection. Although it is possible to read and even to understand the majority of the text without referring to the notes, it is not recommended, excepting those with a classical background-these notes serve to clarify certain Greco-Roman or Reformation Era references. It would have been better had the publisher printed them as footnotes rather than endnotes, as the constant page-flipping can become rather tedious. One other blemish concerns the selection _The Great Lutheran Fool_: Rummel presents this work only in fragments of prose. Even though the prose translation is a worthy one, it cannot fully convey the mood of the verse. This slight transgression is easily forgiven, however, when one takes into account the difficulty of retaining the meaning of the original when translating from German to English verse. The fragmentation of this selection is not so simply overlooked, as only small selections of the poem are used, all taken from the first half of the work. These minor defects, however, do not hinder the overall value and enjoyment of the book, and _Scheming Papists and Lutheran Fools_ is still an exceptional piece of literature.