Reformation dialogues

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Title page to A beautiful dialogue from Martin Luther and the sent message from Hell by Erasmus Alberus, 1523

In German-language literary history, the term Reformation Dialog encompasses all those written texts that correspond to the literary genre of dialogue and that were written during the Reformation (1517–1560). They are part of the so-called Reformation literature, the content of which is primarily tied to the religious and denominational problems of their time.

Brief description

The fact that current topics, discourses and events of the time are dealt with in the Reformation dialogues is made clear by the diverse characters who have their say in the fictional conversations: In addition to prototypical characters such as monk, priest or Müntzerischer enthusiast, there are well-known names such as Erasmus von Rotterdam , Franz von Sickingen , Martin Luther and Thomas Murner . The eager disputants also include representatives of the lowest social classes (farmers, tailors, weavers, shoemakers, etc.), who appear as biblically firm and victorious advocates of the Reformation. The latter are the focus of the presentation for the first time in German literary history.

As a rule , two to five people discuss in such a dialogue, whereby the dispute between a representative from the people and a clergyman (tailor - pastor, weaver - pastor, farmer - monk, etc.) was particularly popular. The talks do not take place at places of learning, but in public places that are accessible to the general public, such as streets, markets or taverns.

The primary function of the Reformation dialogues was to present "processes of convincing and being convinced", to enlighten the addressees by reading or listening to the dialogues in the spirit of the Reformation and to practice critical argumentation . Although they have a scenic - dramatic character, they were not intended for dramatic performance.

Dialogue proved to be a necessary literary genre, especially in the fighting years from 1520 to 1525, which ended with the suppression of the peasant uprisings. It was the spiritual venue for the current conflicts and offered the opportunity to deal with the most varied of views and to refute the opponent with polemical and satirical means and the power of arguments or to profile one's own position. Thus, the Reformation dialogues are an “extraordinarily vivid literary testimony” of the “polemical war” of that time, in which not only the reformers, but also humanists and the lower nobility rebelled against the domination of the Roman Church .

The total number of Reformation dialogues is estimated at around 150. Their authors include a. Johannes Agricola , Erasmus Alberus , Utz Eckstein , Johann Eberlin von Günzburg , Caspar Güttel , Ulrich von Hutten , Andreas Karlstadt , Heinrich von Kettenbach , Urbanus Rhegius , Utz Rychser, Hans Sachs and Balthasar Stanberger. The authorship of most dialogues - e.g. B. that of the famous Karsthan (1521) - but could not be adequately clarified until today. The Reformation dialogues were published and distributed in the form of pamphlets , which often appeared anonymously ; Presumably the authors wanted to avoid the danger of persecution and confiscation of their works.

Origin of the genre dialogue

Dialogue (Greek: diálogos = conversation, exchange speech) appeared as a literary genre as early as ancient times, with Plato , Xenophon , Cicero and Boëthius particularly using this form. Plato tried, with the help of the Socratic method presented in his " Platonic Dialogues ", to reach the goal of finding the truth by skillfully asking questions. The alternation of question, answer and refutation practiced by him determined the methodology of philosophical , theological and scientific knowledge. The peripatetic dialogue founded by Aristotle and further developed by Cicero as a confrontation between different positions of thought had a far-reaching effect and particularly influenced the medieval tradition of doctrinal and disputes as well as the Reformation period and the dialogue literature of humanism.

The question-and-answer game between teacher and pupil aimed at imparting knowledge emerged from the mediaeval monastery school and university business. The disputation also originated in the form of a debate (e.g. in the theological dispute to discuss subtle scholastic doctrines) or as a means of rhetorical training in medieval university life. But it was only when new philosophical currents such as Renaissance and Humanism came to life that dialogue entered German literature. E.g. in Ackermann from Böhmen (around 1401) by Johannes von Tepl and in a dispute between the farmer Markolf and King Solomon (in manuscripts and prints from the 14th to the 16th century) that was not oriented towards religious questions.

Dialogue has existed as an independent genre since antiquity and was also used in the Middle Ages, although until now it was only an essential part of a literary era during the Reformation.

The first Reformation dialogues around 1520

Among the first Reformation dialogues were those of the humanist Ulrich von Hutten . He had trained his art of dialogue based on the example of the ancient Greek poet Lukian and wrote four conversations in Latin between 1518 and 1520, in which he decidedly on the side of the Reformation and against all Roman and secular religious practices. He translated these dialogues into German and published them in 1521 under the title Conversation Booklet .

Even Erasmus used the genre dialogue in his work Colloquia Familiaria (Familiar calls) from the year 1518. Two of the discussions contained herein, which are directed against monastic life and greed of the church, are also counted among the first Reformation dialogues. They were translated from Latin into German in the early 1520s.

The Karsthans Dialogue

Luther, Murner, Studens, Karsthans (from left) Title page on Karsthans , Strasbourg 1521

The Karsthan's Dialogue , created at the end of 1520 and first printed in January 1521 , was one of the most effective and widely read pamphlets of its time. It is the first Reformation dialogue that, unlike its predecessors, was written in German and represents (not only in terms of language) the link between humanist dialogue taught in Latin and popular conversation. Most likely, the Karsthans was written in southern Germany. Its author is still unknown to this day, although research already looked at Matthias Zell, Johann Sapidus, Nikolaus Gerbel and Martin Bucer as possible authors and most recently the St. Gallen doctor Joachim von Watt was considered the reliable author of the Karsthan.

In addition to the targeted use of the so-called vernacular to reach a larger audience, one major innovation in this dialogue is particularly noteworthy: The type of "farmer" was already used in late medieval German literature (e.g. in Hans Rosenplüt's Der Bauern Lob ) A positive role is assigned, but in the Karsthans for the first time a representative of the "common man" ( fnhd. expression for members of the so-called lower class) as a respectable and thoroughly serious person is brought to the center of attention.

To the subject

The term "Karsthans" (Karst = field hoe) had a negative connotation until the appearance of this dialogue and stood for a rough, backward "peasant block" in the Alemannic language area. For example, B. Johann Geiler von Kaisersberg tellingly in 1498/99 in one of his sermons that he gave about Sebastian Brant's ship of fools in the Strasbourg cathedral , the derogatory rhetorical question : "What should I have to do with the Karsthansen or Bauernklotz?" the term was also used by the Strasbourg Franciscan Thomas Murner in his work To the great mightiest nobility of the German nation (December 1520). As a reaction to this, Karsthan 's previous name was raised to a name of honor in the Reformation Dialogue .

characters

Its importance in the dialogue is already clear from the positioning on the title page: Luther and Murner (with a cat's head) - raised from the group of four - faces Karsthans. He is the type of the simple-minded farmer as a champion of the faith, who is positively characterized in dialogue by uneducated judgment and thorough knowledge of the Bible. He has the role of the "arbiter" because he is supposed to decide in the course of the conversation whether Murner or Luther is right. To the right of Karsthans is his son Studens - slightly pushed into the background - who defends the hierarchical rule of the church in dialogue and demands obedience to the clergy. The fifth figure, Mercurius, who acts as the commentator of the conversation and speaks Latin almost without exception, is missing on the title page.

Structure and content

The Karsthans follows a clearly structured structure: Even before the conversation begins, the main thrust is given in a short preface. The aim is to expose the Franciscan Thomas Murner , one of the most vehement opponents of Luther, as a false teacher. The following conversation is divided into two parts, the first being satirical - polemical and the second being programmatic - disputative .

The first part has the task of exposing the opponent and representative of the Roman Church Thomas Murner to ridicule according to all the rules of the art. A reference to the comic role assigned to him can already be found on the title page, where Murner is shown with a cat's head. Significantly, “Murner” ( onomatopoeic term for cat / tomcat in the 16th century) or “Murrnarr” (name caricature) can only utter cat tones at the beginning of the dialogue.

Luther's appearance functions as a “connecting piece” to the two main parts. The reformer, who had previously been presented to Karsthans as a heretic , now becomes a preacher of true Christianity for the peasant. He recognizes Luther's writing principle as the weapon suitable for his concerns , to overcome the old, outdated orders - including the hierarchical separation of clergy and laypeople .

In the second part of the dialogue Murner has to leave the field. The focus is now on a factual dispute between Karsthans and his son (Studens). Here the statements from the area of ​​proven dogmatics represented by Murner are argued rejected and central aspects of the Reformation doctrine are presented with emphasis and persuasiveness.

The fact that Karsthans appears here as a rhetorically skilled, disputation-tested interlocutor can indeed be seen as an exaggeration of the argumentative skills and biblical education of the so-called lower class, but this representation is not entirely unrealistic - this is attested by the ancient church complaints from the Reformation about biblically formed and debating " common man ”and postscripts from public lay discussions.

reception

With a total of 10 editions, the Karsthans found huge sales within a short time, with an edition at that time corresponding to 1000 to 1500 copies. After the first edition in Strasbourg, nine reprints appeared within a few months (two in Strasbourg, three in Basel , four in Augsburg ). Soon the Karsthans was "on everyone's lips as a symbol of the reformatory-minded peasant threatening with the flail". Wandering preachers appeared under his name and numerous writings refer to him. However, the considerable impact of this dialogue was mainly limited to the bourgeois-Reformation camp. In peasant- plebeian circles, on the other hand, his message - despite the central peasant figure - was not able to gain acceptance for the following reasons: On the one hand, the contemporary peasant generally could not become a recipient of the script, because he repeatedly used Latin and numerous allusions (e.g. B. references to the Reuchlin dispute as well as to Eck and Murner satires, which are often written in Latin ). On the other hand, it is postulated in the Karsthans - in times of the peasant uprisings - that the existing order in the social area was instituted by God himself and should therefore be maintained.

Although the figure and dialogue were created to make it clear to a broader audience that the rule of the Roman Church must be abolished, a call for armed resistance cannot be derived from this pamphlet. In the dialogue, Karsthans' repeated threat (“Where is my care?”) Is typically rejected by the Luther figure - this also explains why “Karsthans” did not become the “catchphrase of the peasant war ”.

The popular Karsthans Dialogue was followed in the same year by the so-called New Karsthans conversation book, probably written by Martin Bucer, and soon afterwards almost all of the more or less important contemporary writers of this genre conquered.

Reformation dialogues by Hans Sachs

The well-known master singer and shoemaker Hans Sachs wrote a total of four Reformation dialogues and published them in pamphlets in 1524 . The first two pamphlets mainly served to justify and disseminate Protestant doctrine to the outside world. In Dialogues III and IV, on the other hand, Hans Sachs makes people sit up and take notice with internal Protestant criticism of Lutheranism actually practiced .

Title page to Hans Sachs' Von einer Schumacher und Canonherren

From a Schumacher and Canons (I)

In the first dialogue, the shoemaker Hans brings back a pair of slippers to a canon that he mended for him and on this occasion he immediately reveals himself to be Protestant . As a result, a dispute develops about the true faith and the role of the laity in the church, whereby the shoemaker can score with well-founded knowledge of the Bible.

Interestingly, right at the beginning of the dialogue there is a reference back to the verse poem Wittenbergisch Nachtigall (1523) written by Hans Sachs , with the title of which he refers positively to Luther . Master Hans - the poet's Alter Ego - noticed right at the beginning that this nightingale had only just started to sing, and in the course of the conversation he made a name for himself as an extremely biblical “layman” who firmly adheres to his beliefs.

The canon, on the other hand, does not know how to defend himself against the testimony of the Gospels due to a lack of knowledge of the Bible ; he mainly invokes the councils , the church fathers and the traditional arguments of the Pope's claim to sole representation . Thus he appears as a comic figure, which is particularly evident in the almost playful elements of the dialogue: Frustrated, he asks for the Holy Scriptures at one point in the dialogue . His cook first mistakenly brings the decretal . When she does get the right book, it must first be freed from the dust, which the canon tries to excuse with the following words: "... I haven't got around it much, I know how to read it." the Bible takes a lot of effort, so that he finally sends for his assistant, from whom he hopes for exegetical assistance. But this is already infected by Protestant ideas, which is why his master chases him off with cursing.

From the headlights (II)

In a conversation about the lights of the clergy and their vows , two Franciscan monks meet the shoemaker Hans and his colleague, the farmer Peter, while they are begging. A theological dispute sparked between the two parties about the fundamental religious vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, which, according to Hans and Peter, are mere sham works. The shoemaker and the farmer are of the opinion that monastic poverty is a lazy and parasitic well-being at the expense of the working population, celibacy is an unnatural commandment and the obedience of monks is limited to following external regulations such as wearing frocks , Fasting, silence, singing, reading, going to the fair, standing in the choir, bending down and kneeling - “inside holy and glistening […] inside but […] full of hypocrisy and vice”, this is how Schuster Hans sums up his criticism in this dialogue.

Title page to Dialog III by Hans Sachs

Against greed (III)

The full title of the pamphlet reads Dialogus of the content of an argument against the Roman Christian handful of avarice and other vices offenlich etc. concerning . Criticism is also exercised in this dialogue, but in this case it is directed at the Protestant camp. Paradoxically here Romanus, a representative of the Catholic camp, becomes the mouthpiece of Hans Sachs and - in contrast to the canon from the first dialogue - is allowed to shine with a good knowledge of the Bible. This theological dispute is about grievances in trade and commerce. The Nuremberg merchant with the descriptive name of “Reichenburger” appears as a representative of the emerging early capitalist society, who can only argue weakly and is increasingly being cornered by the biblically versed Romanus. Because of the social and capitalism criticism that Hans Sachs expresses in this dialogue, research has attempted to bring the poet into connection with the enthusiast and Thomas Müntzer . However, this assumption has not yet been adequately proven.

Conversation between an Evangelical Christian and a Lutheran (IV)

As in the third dialogue, it is about the grievances in one's own Protestant camp. Here it becomes particularly clear that Hans Sachs endeavors to take a differentiated view. In this dialogue, the themes of charity, truly Christian nature and complete teaching are at the center. Shoemaker Hans and farmer Peter appear again as discussion partners, but in this case they face each other: Peter had eaten meat on one of the days of fasting, which offended his Catholic father-in-law, Master Ulrich. Although there is actually nothing wrong with Peter's actions, since a ban on eating meat on public holidays cannot be based on the New Testament , the shoemaker Hans condemns Peter's behavior in this case anyway. He thinks that Peter has violated the commandment to love his neighbor, because he did not refrain from eating meat out of consideration for his father-in-law.

List of selected Reformation dialogues

literature

  • Berger, Wilhelm Richard: Hans Sachs. Shoemaker and poet. Frankfurt: Societäts-Verlag 1994. ISBN 3-7973-0577-X
  • Bernstorff, Wiebke from: Dialog. In: Metzler Lexicon Literature. Terms and definitions. 3. completely rework. Ed. By Dieter Burdorf, Christoph Fasbender, Burkhard Moennighoff. Stuttgart, Weimar: Metzler 2007, p. 152. ISBN 978-3-476-01612-6
  • The truth must come to light! Dialogues from the time of the Reformation. 2nd ed. And with an introduction by Rudolf Bentzinger. Leipzig: Reclam 1988. (= Universal Library. 948.) ISBN 3-379-00480-4
  • Fauser, Markus: Dialogue. In: Literature Lexicon. Concepts, realities, methods. Vol. 13. Ed. By Volker Meid. Gütersloh, Munich: Bertelsmann Lexikon Verlag 1992, pp. 172–173. ISBN 3-570-04713-X
  • Kampe, Jürgen: Problem “Reformation Dialogue”. Investigations into a genre in the Reformation media competition. Tübingen: Niemeyer 1997. (= contributions to dialogue research. Ed. By Franz Hundsnurscher and Edda Weigand. 14.) ISBN 3-484-75014-6
  • Karsthans. Thomas Murner's “Hans Karst” and its impact in six texts from the Reformation period: “Karsthans” (1521); 'Gesreu biechlin neüw Karsthans' (1521); 'Divine Mill' (1521); 'Karsthans, Kegelhans' (1521); Thomas Murner: 'From the great Lutheran fool' (1522, excerpt); 'Novella' (ca.1523). Edited, translated and commented by Thomas Neukirchen. Heidelberg 2011 (Supplement to Euphorion 68). ISBN 978-3-8253-5976-8
  • Langer, Horst: Karsthans. Impact strategy, work design and reception of a Reformation dialogue. In: Zeitschrift für Germanistik NF 1 (1991), pp. 28–36. ISBN 3-86032-000-9
  • Neukirchen, Thomas: Art. Karsthans. In: Early Modern Times in Germany 1520–1620. Literary Studies Author's Lexicon (VL 16), ed. by Wilhelm Kühlmann, Jan-Dirk Müller, Michael Schilling, Johann Anselm Steiger , Friedrich Vollhardt. De Gruyter, Berlin 2014.
  • Polenz, Peter von: German language history from the late Middle Ages to the present. Vol. 1. Introduction, Basic Concepts, German in the Early Middle Ages. Berlin, New York: de Gruyter 1991. (= Göschen Collection. 2237.) ISBN 3-11-012458-0
  • Roloff, Hans-Gert: Reformation literature. In: Reallexikon der deutschen Literaturgeschichte. Founded by Paul Merker and Wolfgang Stammler. 2nd ed. By W. Kohlschmidt and W. Mohr. Vol. 3. Berlin, New York: de Gruyter 1997, pp. 365-403. ISBN 3-11-007399-4
  • Walz, Herbert: Reformation time. In: Literature Lexicon. Concepts, realities, methods. Vol. 14. Ed. V. Volker Meid. Gütersloh, Munich: Bertelsmann Lexikon Verlag 1993, p. 278. ISBN 3-570-04714-8

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Wolfenbüttel digital library
  2. ↑ Begins with Luther's theses and ends with the death of Philipp Melanchtons. Compare Joachim Knape: Reformation, Reformationsliteratur. In: Literary Studies Lexicon. Basic terms of German studies. Edited by Horst Brunner and Rainer Moritz. Berlin: Erich Schmidt 1997, p. 279.
  3. ↑ Werner Lenk quoted from Jürgen Schutte : What is the benefit of our freedom / if we are not allowed to use it. In: Hans Sachs: Studies on early bourgeois literature in the 16th century. Edited by Thomas Cramer and Erika Kartschoke. Bern: Peter Lang 1978. (= contributions to the older German literary history. Ed. By Joachim Bumke, Thomas Cramer, Gert Kaiser and Horst Wenzel. 3.), p. 50.
  4. ↑ The truth must come to light! Dialogues from the time of the Reformation. 2nd edition, edited by Rudolf Bentzinger. Leipzig: Reclam 1988. (= Universal Library. 948.), blurb.
  5. ↑ Horst Langer: Karsthans. Impact strategy, work design and reception of a Reformation dialogue. In: Zeitschrift für Germanistik NF 1 (1991), p. 28.
  6. ^ Sächsische Landesbibliothek - State and University Library Dresden
  7. ↑ Quoted from Rudolf Bentzinger (Ed.): The truth must come to light! Dialogues from the time of the Reformation. 2nd edition Leipzig: Reclam 1988. (= Universal-Bibliothek. 948.), p. 114.
  8. ↑ Ibid., P. 117.
  9. ^ H. Burckhardt quoted in Bentzinger, p. 117.
  10. ^ Wolfenbüttel digital library
  11. ^ Wolfenbüttel digital library