Julius in front of the closed heavenly door
Julius in front of the closed heavenly door (Latin original title: Dialogus, Iulius exclusus e coelis ) is the title of a satire by Erasmus of Rotterdam , which he wrote in 1513 after Pope Julius II (Pope from 1503 to 1513) had died. The satire appeared anonymously. Erasmus denied authorship throughout his life.
In a long dialogue in which Peter refuses the “soldier-pope” who has just passed away, Erasmus criticizes the state of the papacy at that time and his turn to secular politics. When Peter asked Julius what he would have done for Christians as Pope, Erasmus had a verbose answer:
“I am amassing money because I understood that without money nothing sacred and nothing worldly can be done. I returned Bologna to the Holy See and crushed Venice, which had never been defeated before, in a campaign. I almost lured the Duke of Ferrara into ruin after the agony of a long war [...] Finally, I chased the French, who were a horror for the whole world at the time, completely out of Italy. I was in the process of driving out the Spaniards [...]
My reputation and my cunning had such an impact that there is no Christian king today whom I have not challenged to fight after breaking, tearing up and destroying all treaties [ ...] In addition, although I held a large army, I held great triumph festivals, organized a lot of games, built buildings in many places and still left five million ducats when I died [...] Although I was already in the I was dying, after all, I worked hard to ensure that the wars that I instigated all over the world are not settled [...] Do you still refuse, the Pope, who so deserves Christ and the Church made to open the gates of heaven? "
To the last question, whether he would like to open the door to heaven, Peter replied that he would let anyone in, but not such a monster as Julius. He would have capable men and immeasurable funds and would also be a good builder, so he could build his own paradise.
In this satire, Erasmus castigates the power politics of the popes of the time in general, in particular that of Julius II. This document, too, is evidence that Erasmus strongly condemned violence and war and did not shy away from satirically cloaking open criticism.
Distribution history
Erasmus wrote the pamphlet after Pope Julius II's death in 1513. It was not printed immediately, but was known in the Basler Freundeskreis des Erasmus in 1516 when Bonifacius Amerbach made a copy. It was first printed as a brochure at the beginning of 1517 and this year it was already known at the Burgundian court. It quickly saw several editions, initially without information on the place and year of printing, for example the probably edition [Strasbourg, around 1519], which is recorded in VD16 under the number L 1517 and digitized by the BSB ( digitized version ). The first dated edition appeared in September 1518 by the printer Dirk Martens in Leuven (Louvain). The sharp-tongued work found interested readers. According to Bonifacius Amerbach's testimony, it was still in print in 1528. In the age of the Reformation and during the agitation against the papacy, like the many other pamphlets, it had a great effect, even if its alleged author did not turn away from the Old Faith. Martin Luther also valued the text very much.
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Erasmus von Rotterdam: Pope Julius in front of the door of heaven, Julius exclusus e coelis, Latin and German , translated, with notes and an afterword by Werner von Koppenfels; Dieterich'sche Verlagbuchhandlung, Mainz 2011, 170 pages, ill. ( Excerpta classica , 26); ISBN 978-3-87162-074-4 .
- ↑ Werner Welzig (ed.): Erasmus von Rotterdam, selected writings in eight volumes . Darmstadt 1967-1975
- ↑ Erasmus of Rotterdam; Selected writings, edition in 8 volumes in Latin and German , ed. by Werner Welzig; Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1967–1975, Volume 5 (1968), foreword by Werner Welzig S. X-XI.