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ULRICH VON HUTTEN 
 
 Wli% Hife antJ ^imt% 
 
 By DAVID FRIEDRICH STRAUSS 
 
 translated, with the author's permission, from 
 the second german edition 
 
 By Mrs. G. STURGE 
 
 LONDON 
 
 DALDY, ISBISTER, & CO. 
 
 56, LUDGATE HILL 
 
 1874 
 
SR 3 5-0 
 
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 I.CNDON : 
 PRINTIil) BY VIRTUE AND CO., 
 
 ^cS^l 
 

 PREFACE. 
 
 A ■\7'E recall the memory of departed friends both in good 
 and evil times. In the one case we long for their 
 advice and aid, in the other to make them sharers in our 
 joy. And as with individuals, so with nations : in times of 
 affliction and of prosperity they call up the spirits of their 
 illustrious dead. These are mostly combatants, who have 
 fought for light against darkness, for culture against bar- 
 barism, for freedom against despotism, to save their country 
 from foreign aggression ; and whether their eftbrts were 
 crowned with victory, or whether they perished in the struggle, 
 they are equally honoured and beloved by posterity. The 
 nobleness of a nation depends upon its being comi^assed 
 about by a cloud of witnesses of this sort, and if any nation 
 can boast of it, it is the German. 
 
 I once called forth a form out of this cloud in an evil time. 
 It was the time when Germany was lying prostrate after 
 exhausting throes ; when oppressors, great and small, had 
 again mastered her, when overbearing neighbours insulted 
 her, and birds of prey were already hovering over her. It 
 was the time of the Concordat ; of that servile contract with 
 Rome, with which, after Austria had taken the lead, the 
 other states of Germany were threatened. I then exclaimed 
 — " Is there no Hutten here ? " — and as none appeared 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 amongst the living, I undertook to restore the portrait of the 
 departed, and to exhibit it to the German nation. It was 
 not without effect. Words in season were found in the 
 knight's invectives against Rome — the foe of light and 
 liberty; in his earnest appeals to the Germans ;to stand firm 
 and united against the insolence of the foreigner. 
 
 Meanwhile good times have succeeded to bad. Rome in 
 the spirit of Nemesis of old has fallen to pieces like a rotten 
 idol, just as she madly thought to heap up her measure be- 
 yond all bounds. Our insolent neighbour, our oppressor for 
 centuries, has by her most ruthless assault put an end to our 
 disunion ; united Germany has hurled her to the ground, and 
 stands at the head of the nations an object of wonder and 
 envy. We have an Emperor again, and for the first time 
 one who is master at home, who seeks nothing abroad, and 
 will, therefore, be better able to foster internal prosperity, 
 security, and independence than any of his predecessors. 
 And now should we not once more think of our Hutten, 
 when we have attained that for which he was striving all his 
 life ? — now that he might exclaim : " It is a pleasure to 
 live " in a far more emphatic sense than in his days. We 
 should be very ungrateful if we did not recall his memory. 
 
 And it is not merely as a guest at our festivals in honour 
 of victory that we may recall him ; he would not consider that 
 the matter was at an end with an enthusiastic speech after a 
 banquet. He would say : " Let us keep holiday to-day, 
 but let us go with redoubled energy to work to-morrow." 
 He would remind us that if it is difficult for a nation to 
 reach an eminence, it is still more difficult to maintain the 
 position. Though it may take centuries to attain, it is often 
 lost in a few years. And are we already at the summit ? 
 If we are united, are we therefore agreed ? If we are strong 
 
PREFACE. Vii 
 
 are we also free ? The edifice of our new empire is stately 
 to behold, but much is still wanting to make it habitable. 
 The Pope's temporal power is indeed at an end, but his 
 spiritual power is so far from being so, that his gloomy 
 hosts, the foes, now as ever, of intellectual progress and 
 national prosperity, are still in our midst, and even sit in our 
 Diet. We call ourselves the most cultivated of nations, and 
 really are so ; but how long shall we suffer that the sources 
 of knowledge, even in Protestant Germany, should be 
 rendered turbid by the jealous administration of priestly 
 obscurantists? Hutten always conceived the power and 
 greatness of Germany, for which he was so enthusiastic, as 
 based upon liberal mental culture, untrammeled by clerical 
 influence or ecclesiastical dogmas ; and as, in the war just 
 over, he would have been foremost in the fight against the 
 foe from without, so now he would have been foremost in 
 combating the foes of liberty and culture from within. This 
 is the task I propose for him in this book, and I hope it 
 will be an easier one than it was fourteen years ago, as cir- 
 cumstances are more favourable in a literary as well as in a 
 political sense. There was then no complete edition of 
 Hutten's works; his writings, and still more those of his 
 coadjutors and opponents, were rare and scattered and 
 accessible to but few. I was therefore obliged to make long 
 extracts which encumbered the book and restricted its 
 circulation. Meanwhile Bocking's complete edition of 
 Hutten's works has appeared, which has rendered so much 
 detail needless, as those who wish to verify the quotations, 
 and to test my portraiture, can refer to this edition, which 
 should find a place in every good public library. The dili- 
 gence of German historians has also elucidated many points 
 in Hutten's career, particularly in his early life, so that 
 
VIU PREFACE. 
 
 many corrections have been made, though I have seen no 
 reason to alter the ground-plan of the work. 
 
 And so the knight sets forth again, this time unencum- 
 bered, and he hopes for a no less friendly reception than 
 when he came in an evil hour. 
 
 Darmstadt, May, 1 8 7 1 . 
 
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 A LTHOUGH the life of Ulrich von Hutten cannot have 
 the special interest for English readers which Dr. 
 Strauss claims for it for his compatriots, it offers sufficient 
 interest in itself to render it worthy of a closer acquaintance 
 than many of them possess ; for though his name is fre- 
 quently mentioned in connection with the Reformation, he 
 is, if I mistake not, little more than a name except to those 
 who have wandered into the more curious paths of literature, 
 and his writings are almost entirely unknown. His life also 
 offers a contribution to the history of the beginning of the 
 Reformation, and from a different point of view from that 
 commonly presented to us. 
 
 No words of mine can so well introduce Hutten to the 
 reader as the following quotation from a review of the 
 second German edition of the book ''' : — " In one sense this 
 is an old book in a new shape, and yet ft deserves the title 
 of novelty. In the season of despondency and reaction that 
 followed the miscarriage of popular hopes in Germany after 
 1848, Dr. Strauss sought, for himself consolation, for his 
 countrymen encouragement, in the study of Ulrich von 
 
 * Spectator, June 15, 1872. 
 
X translator's preface. 
 
 Hutten, the scholar-knight and free-lance poet of the Refor- 
 mation period, literary fellow-worker with Reuchiin and 
 Erasmus, ardent ally of Luther, and companion in arms of 
 Franz von Sickingen, that last of the barons — a strange, 
 daring, indomitable man of queerly chequered nature and 
 adventures ; buoyant in mind, stout in heart, quick with 
 blows, alike ready with tongue, pen, and arm ; a type 
 of dauntlessness in defying might; but above .all in every 
 circumstance of life, and to the bitter end, never failing in 
 the unquenchable glow of his passionate desire to see the 
 German Fatherland freed from outlandish trammels, notably 
 those of Rome. In this ever-repeated conviction that Ger- 
 many only need will it to be able to wrench herself free from 
 foreign influences, lies what marked Hutten out amongst 
 his literary contemporaries, and what made him a suitable 
 subject for Dr. Strauss's purpose of keeping up the failing 
 spirits of his countrymen. Twenty years have passed and 
 Germany is in possession of what Dr. Strauss, when he 
 wrote, entertained no hope of living to see accompHshed. 
 And so in the kindlier atmosphere of bettered conditions, 
 he has reverted to the contemplation of that same life from 
 which he had once drawn comfort, and the result is a version 
 which — we are not afraid of saying too much— constitutes a 
 model biography. Those who have heard of Dr. Strauss 
 only as a theological critic of extreme keenness, may be 
 surprised to be told that he is also a master in Hfe-like por- 
 traiture, showing men and times as seen, not through the 
 distorting refraction of some prism, be it panegyrical or de- 
 tractory, but through the medium of a mind eminently 
 unprejudiced in personal matters, but essentially capable of 
 vivid impression. In the manner in which Hutten — a true 
 man in the fulness of his strangely composite qualities, and 
 no whit metamorphosed into a hero of semi-divine perfec- 
 
translator's preface. xi 
 
 tion — is kept before our sight, simultaneously with the 
 manifold relations in which he stood towards the great 
 influences of the age, we have a union of faculties rarely to 
 be found in the same individual, of the close analytical 
 thought which distinguished a Hegel, along with that gift of 
 picturesque conception which was Schiller's distinctive 
 quality as a historical dramatist. 
 
 " Throughout his career Hutten appeared as a sort of 
 outlaw, always striving hotly at something not within grasp, 
 and so overreaching himself as to encounter fall after fall 
 without yet losing heart or spring. It is to this career that 
 he owes his popularity. The brave failures of the indomit- 
 able German man — the terse ring of his plain-spoken Ger- 
 man words — survived in the popular memory when the 
 elaborate elegancies of Erasmus and Eoban, Crotus and 
 Mutianus, had all evaporated. Erasmus and Reuchlin, 
 Luther and Melanchthon, all express admiration for his 
 parts, and love for his warm-hearted qualities, and over his 
 grave there arose quite a chorus of lamentations from men 
 of choice though varied natures. Dr. Strauss has traced 
 with admirable clearness the manifold relations of Hutten, 
 and while mingling with the throng of figures which he has 
 evoked into life — the men who in various degrees contributed 
 to make up the Reformation movement — it has repeatedly 
 occurred to us, that more than one likeness suggests itself 
 between lineaments revived in these pages, and features 
 in some important actors in that religious movement now 
 afoot, with what result is yet a problem, in Catholic Ger- 
 many." 
 
 It only remains to say that the book has been consider- 
 ably abridged in translation ; for, notwithstanding the reduc- 
 tion of the work in the second edition of which the author 
 speaks, the abstracts of Hutten's writing were still too long. 
 
Xll TRANSLATOR S PREFACE. 
 
 and the biography itself went too much into detail, for 
 general English readers ; but great care has been taken to 
 omit nothing of importance, and to preserve the picturesque 
 character of the narrative.* 
 
 Sydenham, August, 1874. 
 
 * While the finishing strokes were being put to the translation the 
 news arrived of the death of Dr. Strauss. 
 
CONTENTS, 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 TILTS AND TOURNAMENTS. 
 
 T. hutten's lineage, and life in a monastery . 
 II. university years.— early friends 
 
 III. travels and adventures in GERMANY 
 
 IV. first visit to ITALY, AND RETURN TO GERMANY 
 
 V. MURDER OF HANS HUTTEN BY DUKE ULRICH OF WUR 
 TEMBERG, AND ULRICH HUTTEN'S AGITATION AGAINST 
 THE DUKE , . 
 
 VI. HUTTEN's SECOND JOURNEY TO ITALY ... 
 VII. REUGHLIN'S CONTEST WITH THE COLOGNE THEOLOGIANS 
 
 AND HUTTEN's SHARE IN IT . 
 
 VIII. THE "EPISTOL^ OBSCURORUM VIRORUM " 
 
 IX. HUTTEN's CORONATION AS POET, AND SEITLEMENT AT 
 MAYENCE. — OPPOSITION TO ROME 
 
 X. HUTTEN AT AUGSBURG, DURING THE DIET 
 
 XI. A CAMPAIGN, AND PROJECT OF MARRIAGE . 
 
 PAGE 
 
 3 
 
 14 
 30 
 
 47 
 
 60 
 
 79 
 
 95 
 120 
 
 141 
 149 
 168 
 
XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 BOOK II. 
 HUTTEN IN CONFLICT WITH ROME. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I. HUTTEN IN LEARNED LEISURE.— HIS PROSPECTS AND 
 
 PLANS l8l 
 
 ^ II. DECISIVE OPPOSITION TO ROME.— RELATIONS WITH 
 
 ^^jyajgER 189 
 
 III. HUTTEN's JOURNEY TO THE COURT OF ARCHDUKE FER- 
 DINAND. — DISAPPOINTMENT.— PAPAL PERSECUTION . 212 
 
 «-^ IV. HUTTEN AT EBERNBURG WITH FRANZ VON SICKINGEN . 219 
 
 ..Jk" V. HUTTEN BEGINS TO WRITE GERMAN .... 24O 
 
 ^ VI.^Jg&ANZ VON^JjC KINGEN AS HUTTEN'S PUPIL, AND THE 
 
 HERO OF HIS NEW DIALOGUES 261 
 
 Wvil. THE DIET OF ^ WORMS. — HUTTEN' S THREATS . . .275 
 
 •-^VIII. PETTY FEUDS, AND ATTEMPTS TO EFFECT AN ALLIANCE 
 
 BETWEEN THE NOBLES AND THE CITIES . . . 29O 
 
 IX. SICKINGEN'S CAMPAIGN AGAINST TREVES. — HUTTEN' S 
 
 DEPARTURE FROM GERMANY . . . . . 305 
 
 Jd^X. HUTTEN's CONFLICT WITH F.P^^.gJATTTS .... 315 
 
 -^XI, LAST DAYS OF SICKINGEN JiND HUTTEN . . . 347 
 
 .J^XII. SENTIMENTS EVOKED BY HUTTEN'S DEATH, AND THE 
 
 LAST DAYS OF HIS OLD FRIENDS .... 363 
 
TILTS AND TOURNAMENTS. 
 
 SiHceriter citra poinpam. 
 
 B 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 hutten's lineage, and life in a monastery. 
 
 /^N the confines of Franconia and Hesse, between the 
 Vogelsberg, the Spessart, and the Rhon, on the banks 
 of the Kinzig and the Salza, dwelt from ancient times the 
 knightly race of the Huttens. It appears from the family- 
 archives to have been so numerous in the tenth century, to 
 which time they go back, that it probably existed at a much 
 earlier period. 
 
 The Franconian nobility to which the Huttens belonged 
 was one of the proudest, most powerful, and warlike con- 
 federacies in all Germany. After the fall of the house of 
 Hohenstaufen without a duke, though the bishop of Wiirz- 
 burg assumed the title, Franconia, divided as it was amongst 
 various petty rulers, temporal and spiritual, offered an 
 attractive field for the exploits of an independent nobility. 
 They got offices and fiefs conferred on them by the neigh- 
 bouring prelates and counts, and obtained booty in their 
 raids, with the proceeds of which they built castles, bought 
 estates, acquired mortgages, and sometimes endowed monas- 
 teries or founded masses for the dead. They changed 
 masters as they pleased ; and frequently joined in a warHke 
 league against one of the greater rulers. They acknow- 
 ledged no one but the emperor as paramount lord, and 
 how little that signified in mediaeval times is well known. 
 
4 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 It was under circumstances such as these that the Hut- 
 tens rose to eminence. They had but moderate allodial 
 possessions, and it was chiefly by the aid of the offices and 
 fiefs conferred on them by the abbots of Fulda, the counts 
 of Hanau, and the bishops and archbishops of Wiirzburg 
 and Mayence, that they acquired importance. We find them 
 as castellans, chamberlains, councillors, and marshals in the 
 service of these magnates. A few of them entered the 
 Church j we meet with them as canons of Wiirzburg, Bam- 
 berg, and Eichstadt ; a Hutten was also abbot of Hers- 
 feld in the beginning of the fourteenth century. But they 
 were more in their element at the tournament and in the 
 field than at the altar. Some of them gained renown in im- 
 portant campaigns, but they are far more often to be found 
 in frays and feuds with their neighbours, knd were by no 
 means the least distinguished in burning villages, driving off 
 herds of cattle, and plundering the merchants. 
 
 The Hutten family was at an early period divided into 
 several branches, mostly named after the abodes which the 
 scions of the house had built or obtained possession of. 
 We find a line at Stolzenberg, Hansen, Gronau, Steckelberg, 
 Trimberg, Arnstein, Birkenfeld, and Frankenberg. Except 
 the line to which the hero of diis biography belongs, only 
 those branches are of any importance to us of which indivi- 
 dual members crossed his path. 
 
 About the end of the fifteenth and beginning of the six- 
 teenth centuries the Hutten family was very numerous, 
 and of considerable influence and importance in Franconia. 
 Ulrich von Hutten reckons not less than thirty of the name 
 who had served in war under the Emperor Maximilian ; and 
 Louis von Hutten says, in his proclamation against Duke 
 Ulrich of Wiirtemberg, that he cannot call half so many 
 knights to his aid as he, the simple noble. This Louis von 
 
HUTTEN'S LINEAGE. 5 
 
 Hutten, founder of the Frankenberg line, by the purchase 
 of the castle of Vorder-Frankenberg, near Uffenheim, was, 
 together with Frowin von Hutten, Marshal of Mayence, re- 
 garded as the head of the family. In his younger days he 
 had visited Italy, Greece, and Jerusalem. He was wealthy 
 enough to advance ten thousand florins to Duke Ulrich of 
 Wiirtemberg, and the same prince afterwards had proof of 
 his influence to his cost. How Louis assisted his young 
 cousin Ulrich, and how a disaster in his family was an incen- 
 tive to Hutten in his career as an author, will appear in the 
 proper place. 
 
 Frowin von Hutten, of the Hansen line, was in high 
 esteem, first as marshal and then as steward, at the Court of 
 Mayence. He enjoyed the confidence of two successive 
 archbishops, and had gained the affection of the Emperor 
 Maximilian, who conferred many favours on him. Though 
 not learned himself, he was a patron of learned men, of his 
 cousin Ulrich among the rest, and was susceptible of bold 
 and lofty ideas. 
 
 About the end of the fifteenth century, Ulrich von Hutten 
 father of the subject of this biography, was living at Steckel- 
 berg. This castle, of which but a few ruins now remain, 
 was situated on a steep hill in the district called Buchau, or 
 Buchonia from its beech-woods, not far from the source of 
 the Kinzig, two (German) miles from Schliichtern, six from 
 Fulda, and about nine from the Maine. At the beginning 
 of the fifteenth century, Steckelberg, as a fief of Wiirzburg, 
 was a joint possession of all the lines of the Hutten family, 
 and about the middle of the century they resolved to admit 
 thirty-two other joint owners or shareholders, not members 
 of the family, who should have the right, in consideration of 
 a sum of money paid down and an annual tribute, of making 
 the castle, in case of need, a warlike rendezvous. It does 
 
6 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 not need much acquaintance with those times to know that 
 this meant little else than to make it a robbers' nest, which 
 the neighbourhood soon discovered to its cost. The 
 nuisance became so great, that the feudal lord, the Bishop 
 of Wiirzburg, felt compelled to interfere. In 1458 he be- 
 sieged and took the castle, and only returned it to the 
 owners, under certain restrictions, in the following year. 
 Perhaps this, or at a later period the Internal Treaty of 
 Peace (Landfriede),''' spoiled their possession for the share- 
 holders, for by the end of the century, we find that not only 
 they, but the joint family owners had retired; so that Ulrich 
 von Hutten, father of our hero, was left sole owner, and 
 tried in vain to make his cousins contribute to the cost of 
 keeping it up. 
 
 We have a picture of these knightly abodes, and what 
 went on in them, from our hero himself, doubtless chiefly 
 taken from the paternal castle. The buildings were crowded 
 together within walls and ramparts, and the space for 
 dweUing-rooms was still further limited and darkened by 
 armouries and powder-magazines, stables and dog-kennels. 
 The poor fields, at any rate at Steckelberg, demanded much 
 labour and yielded but scanty profit, and were tilled by 
 bondsmen. Arms, horses, and dogs were the lord's dearest 
 possessions ; mounted retainers, by no means select, some of 
 them mere bandits, his daily companions. Their coming 
 and going, the horses, carts, and cattle, kept up a lively 
 scene at the castle, and at Steckelberg, according to Hutten, 
 was added the howling of the wolves in the neighbouring 
 forests. 
 
 Amidst these surroundings, a vigorous but hard and coarse 
 
 « The Decree of the Diet of Worms, 1495, by which all inde- 
 pendent warfare amongst members of tlie empire was forbidden, and 
 the ♦* law of the fist " abolished.— TV. 
 
((U1TI7EESIT' 
 
 THE HUTTENS OF STECKELBE^/^^ f-- v. 
 
 race grew up. Ulrich von Hutten has left a memSr^ft=m===s====^^ 
 one of his works of the ancient simplicity and temperance 
 of his grandfather Lorenz, whom he had known as a boy. 
 The worthy man would have neither pepper, saffron, nor 
 ginger in his house, was clothed only in homespun wool, 
 and inveighed against the growing luxury of the times. He 
 held offices at Hanau and Fulda, but in his younger days 
 had had a share in the plundering expeditions of the joint 
 owners of Steckelberg. 
 
 Lorenz Hutten had three sons, one of whom was the 
 father of our hero. He was in office at Hanau and Hesse, 
 had fought in the Imperial army in Hungary, but had been 
 largely employed in more peaceful affairs by princes and 
 cities. His wife, Ottilia von Eberstein, bore him four sons 
 and two daughters. He appears to have been a severe, 
 reserved man, and his obstinate adherence to a resolution 
 once taken had momentous consequences to his son. His 
 mother, whenever her son mentions her, appears in a 
 motherly and womanly light. He wishes to conceal from 
 her the mishaps of his youthful wanderings, that he may not 
 grieve her more than he has already done, and, amidst the 
 bold adventures of his riper years, her tears fell heavy on 
 his heart. 
 
 In one of his youthful poems, the son gives a description 
 of his father's wealth, which forms a great contrast to the 
 want and misery he was exposed to himself, the result of 
 their disagreement. He speaks of him as the owner of 
 several villages and castles, of numerous servants and really 
 princely possessions. But later he says, that his share of 
 the patrimony would not enable him to live in suitable 
 style. The elder Ulrich often complained of the burdens of 
 the repairs to Steckelberg, as it was left on his hands ; still in 
 1509 he built the round bastion, which may stiU be recog- 
 
8 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 nised among the ruins, and which bears his name and the 
 date on the key-stone of the arch of the door. 
 
 It was on the 21st of April, 1488, that a son was born to 
 Knight Ulrich, to whom he gave his own name. Melanch- 
 thon, who had a weakness for astrology, tried afterwards to 
 account for bis physical weakness by the position of the 
 stars at his birth : of far greater significance are the constel- 
 lations of remarkable events and births around him which 
 presaged his historical position. Hutten first saw the light 
 during the latter part of the reign of the Emperor 
 Frederic III., amidst the commotions occasioned by 
 remodelHng the constitution of the empire; thirty-three 
 years after Reuchlin was born, twenty-one after Erasmus, 
 eighteen after Pirckheimer, sixteen after Mutianus Rufus, 
 eight after Crotus Rubianus, seven after Franz von Sicken- 
 gen, five after Luther, four after Zwingli, in the same year 
 as Eoban Hesse, and nine before Melanchthon. Destiny 
 afterwards brought him into contact with all these men ; 
 had he not been Hutten, this would have been of little sig- 
 nificance ; but even Hutten without this constellation would 
 not have been what he was. 
 
 Ulrich was the first-born : his parents at once destined 
 him for the Church, which was more often the case with 
 younger sons. There might have been some pious motive 
 or vow, or perhaps the boy's physique made him seem ill 
 adapted for the representative of a warlike race, for he* was 
 small and weakly. He early showed quickness and fond- 
 ness for learning, which favoured the idea of an ecclesiastical 
 career ; and the relations of the family with the Abbey of 
 Fuida and other Franconian foundations suggested that it 
 might lead him to honour. So in 1499, when he was in his 
 eleventh year, his parents took him to the neighbouring 
 monastery of Fulda, as he himself says, " with devout and 
 
HUTTEN AT FULDA. 9 
 
 good intentions," not only that he might receive his school- 
 ing there, but "with the intent that he should stay and 
 become a monk." 
 
 The Benedictine Abbey of Fulda, founded by the cele- 
 brated apostle of the Germans, had lost much of its ancient 
 prestige and wealth, and the times were long gone by when 
 its school was the most flourishing in Germany. In the 
 fifteenth century, these ecclesiastical institutions did not 
 keep pace with the progress of the age. The teacher of the 
 youth was also the instructor of the monks, and his duties 
 must have interfered with each other. The abbot, at that 
 time John II., of the family of the counts of Henneberg, 
 was a rigid ecclesiastic who tried to exclude all worldly 
 occupations from his monastery, and to restrict his subjects 
 to devout exercises. 
 
 When Ulrich was taken to Fulda, he made no opposition, 
 for, as he says, he " had not then understanding enough to 
 know what was good for him, and what he was fit for." 
 But as he came to know himself and life better, it seemed 
 to him that, " with his nature, he could serve God better 
 and be more useful in the world in some other state." The 
 abbot took great pains to induce him to enter the Order, 
 and held out brilliant prospects to his parents to secure 
 their co-operation. But there was one excellent and influ- 
 ential man who understood the youth's vocation better, and 
 protected him from this importunity. 
 
 This was Eitelwolf vom Stein, who not only had so much 
 influence over Hutten's life, but is to so great an extent a 
 representative of the times and of the degree of culture that 
 had been reached, that we must speak of him more particu- 
 larly. Born of a noble Swabian race, he received his first 
 instruction at Schlettstadt, then went to Italy, as was just 
 becoming the fashion, where Philip Beroaldus, of Bologna, 
 
lO ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 taught him Latin. He had just begun Greek when his 
 family recalled him, which he always regretted. He took 
 office under the Elector, John Cicero, of Brandenburg, and 
 w^as employed in important affairs of State both by him and 
 his successor, Joachim I. The founding of the University 
 of Frankfort -on-the-Oder was mainly Stein's work. His 
 intercourse with Albert, Joachim's younger brother, had 
 important results, for Stein seems to have given him the 
 taste for humanistic * studies, by which he was afterwards 
 distinguished when archbishop of Mayence, and he at once 
 took his old friend into his service. 
 
 Eitelwolf did what was new in Germany — he combined 
 the conduct of affairs in high offices of State with learned 
 studies. With all the weight of his character and position, 
 he set himself to oppose the rough centaur-like life of the 
 majority of the nobles, and their prejudice against learning. 
 He was a patron of learned men, and generously supported 
 many. He once said to one who apologized for coming to 
 him, that a man of learning was never unwelcome to him, 
 and he kept a distinguished courtier waiting while he read 
 over and over again a poem by Hermann von dem Busch, 
 which he had just received. When Hutten once said some- 
 thing about " people of our class," he asked, " Which 
 class? the learned or the nobles, for we belong to both?" 
 He called books " weapons of the other sort," and always 
 had some by him even on horseback. He was acquainted 
 
 * " That remarkable mental phase of the fifteenth century known by 
 the name of Humanism : psychologically, the questioning of man's 
 understanding with the awakened sensibilities of his soul ; historically, 
 the turning aside of students from the technical ways of thouglit 
 Stereotyped in the learning of the schools to investigate the experience 
 and the taste of classical antiquity under their national conditions.'* 
 (From article on the Popes and Italian Humanists in the Edinburgh 
 Review, July, 1872.)— Zn 
 
EITELWOLF VOM STEIN. II 
 
 with all the great contemporary authors ; took the keenest 
 interest in Reuchlin's contest with the Obscurantists of 
 Cologne, and when he saw a new work by Erasmus, his 
 hopes rose for Germany. He once heard that Erasmus, 
 Reuchlin, and Hermann Busch were at Frankfort-on-the- 
 Maine. He hastened thither to invite them, and all there 
 who inclined to the modern tendencies, to a Socratic meal, 
 which, however, an attack of illness prevented from taking 
 place. The next morning Erasmus left Frankfort, and 
 Eitelwolf could not for a long time forgive Hutten for not 
 sooner letting him know that he was there. 
 
 Eitelwolf set especial value on history. A knight once 
 tried to shame him before an assembly by saying that he 
 was not old enough to remember the circumstance under 
 discussion. " Old man," retorted Eitelwolf, " you may per- 
 haps remember the events of forty years or more ; I remem- 
 ber those of two or three thousand years ago." 
 
 We shall recur to Eitelwolf vom Stein in Hutten's life ; he 
 now first appears as his good genius. While in office at 
 Brandenburg he must have visited Fulda, and have become 
 interested in young Hutten. The abbot's endeavours to 
 persuade him to a monastic life made him uneasy. He 
 warned his parents not to induce their son to take a step 
 which he might afterwards repent, and said to the abbot, 
 " Do you want to ruin such a genius?" a saying which will 
 be remembered in history, as it was by Hutten. The only 
 effect which Eitelwolf's warning had upon his father was to 
 prevent him from urging his son to make his profession in 
 haste, but it did not alter his previous intention. So the 
 son took the matter into his own hands, and conceived the 
 idea of making his escape. 
 
 A step of this kind is not easy without the advice and 
 help of a confidant. Camerarius, in his life of Melanchthon, 
 
12 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 assigns this part to Crotus Rubianus, a friend of Hutten's 
 in his youth, of whom more presently. If he did not advise 
 his escape, he helped him in carrying it out. So far as is 
 known, Crotus was living as a student or ex-student at the 
 University of Erfurt; he may have visited Fulda, have 
 made acquaintance with young Hutten, and projected with 
 him his plan of escape. Hutten speaks of him as his con- 
 fidential friend from early youth, but says nothing of him 
 in connection with his escape, perhaps in order not to 
 involve him in any responsibility for it; but merely says, 
 that having arrived at the conclusion that he was not adapted 
 for monastic life, "not being as yet bound or entangled by 
 any profession or vows of obedience," he forsook it in order 
 to pursue other things for which he felt himself to be better 
 suited. He lays special stress on " not having made any 
 profession," because his enemies afterwards stigmatized 
 him as a runaway monk who had broken his vows. Hutten 
 not only strenuously denies this, but expressly challenges 
 his enemies to convict him of the lie, — to name the abbot, 
 prior, provost, or dean, before whom he had made his pro- 
 fession, or who had consecrated him, which would at that 
 time have been quite possible, so that we cannot doubt his 
 assertion. Besides, according to rule, he was not old 
 enough to have taken his vows. 
 
 The date of Hutten's escape from Fulda is determined 
 by two circumstances. In one of his writings, pubHshed in 
 15 1 5, he speaks of the toil and trouble which he had under- 
 gone, from love of learning, for ten years, amidst the fiercest 
 storms of fate, in Germany and Italy ; and these he began 
 to encounter at once on leaving the monastery. Then 
 Crotus was still at Erfurt, in the summer of 1505, for it 
 was on the 17 th of July of that year that Luther entered 
 the Augustine monastery, and Crotus speaks of it as if he 
 
HUTTEN'S FLIGHT FROM FULDA. 1 3 
 
 had been on the spot. But at the beginning of the winter 
 term, we find the names of the two friends in the matricula- 
 tion-book of Cologne University, and they took their way 
 thither from Erfurt and Fulda. 
 
 An escape like this seems to be a sort of typical event 
 in the youth of various men called to free self-development, 
 and the liberation of others from bondage. Restraint braces 
 the powers ; a man of strong will takes his fate into his 
 own hands. The fetters are burst, and the future life 
 and character receive a lasting stamp. Thus it was with 
 Schiller and with Hutten : theirs were kindred souls, and 
 not in this feature alone. On the other hand, an event 
 which w^as in striking contrast to this was happening in the 
 same neighbourhood. But a few weeks after Hutten fled 
 from the monastery of . Fulda, Luther took refuge from the 
 world in the monastery of Erfurt. It was an indication of 
 the character and destiny of each. The one wants to be 
 amongst his fellows ; the other to make peace with God. 
 Luther did indeed afterwards perceive that this was a false 
 way, and left the monastery ; but his mind and character 
 never lost the impress they had there received. Notwith- 
 standing the breadth and grandeur of his subsequent career, 
 and strictly self-contained as he was, still his mental horizon 
 was limited and obscured by it; while Hutten's was a 
 worldly, chivalrous, unconstrained nature, cheerful even in 
 misfortune, but certainly unstable, and prone to undertake 
 more than he could perform. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 UNIVERSITY YEARS. EARLY FRIENDS. 
 1505—1509. 
 
 '\T /"E do not know whether the two youths travelled 
 together to Cologne. The name of Adelricus Hotten, 
 our Ulrich von Hutten, is found in the university lists 
 under date of 28th of October, while his friend's name 
 appears, first, on 17th of November, 1505. 
 
 Camerarius gives as the object of Hutten's journey to 
 Cologne, the study of " the best arts and sciences." 
 Humanistic studies were then thus designated, as distin- 
 guished from the old scholasticism ; bonis Uteris operant 
 dare, meant to learn Latin and Greek from the classical 
 authors, instead of as before, not learning Greek at all, and 
 Latin from the fathers of the Church and scholastic writers,- 
 and forming taste and style on their model. It may excite 
 surprise that these two young men should seek these better 
 sciences at Cologne, where, as was shown a few years later 
 in the Reuchlin contest, scholasticism and mediseval dark- 
 ness were most securely ensconced. It was here that 
 Albertus Magnus and Duns Scotus slumbered in their 
 graves. The scholastic method of teaching was still em- 
 ployed by an Arnold von Tungern and a Conrad Kollin, 
 supported by the Grand Inquisitor, Jacob Hochstraten, and 
 Ortuinus Gratius had placed his philological learning at 
 
CROTUS RUBIANUS. 
 
 15 
 
 their service. But even at Cologne, just then, the new 
 intellectual life was stirring, though it could not prosper 
 at a place where ecclesiastical interests were so supreme. 
 One after another the representatives of humanistic ten- 
 dencies were driven away ; Johann Csesarius, Hermann von 
 dem Busch, Peter of Ravenna, Rhagius ^sticampianus, 
 though the latter was probably then still at the university. 
 Strange to say, the scholasticism of Cologne had an attrac- 
 tion, at any rate for the elder of the two students, whom 
 we must now mention more particularly, for the thread of 
 his life is henceforth interwoven with that of our hero. 
 
 The real name of Crotus Rubianus was Johann Jager. 
 He was born at Dornheim, near Arnstadt, in Thuringia, 
 probably about 1480, and his parents seem to have been 
 obscure people, for he speaks of having herded goats when 
 a child. In 1498 he went to the University of Erfurt, 
 where, two years later, he took the bachelor's degree. He 
 studied scholastic philosophy and theology. The first seeds 
 of humanistic tendencies seem to have been sown in his 
 mind by Maternus Pistoris, and fostered by intercourse 
 with Mutianus Rufus, at Gotha. Connected with this is 
 his change of name, and as it is the first instance of the 
 kind in our story, we shall not grudge the time spent on a 
 short episode on the subject, especially as it is characteristic 
 of the time and tendencies of which we write. 
 
 The custom of latinising German names did not originate 
 at this period, but in the Middle Ages, because Latin was 
 the language of the Church and the learned. But now that 
 people considered themselves masters of real Latin, and 
 Greek as well, these changes were made to a much greater 
 extent, and with more taste and method, even if the taste 
 was not always the best and the method sometimes little 
 better than madness. The Humanist felt himself to be a 
 
1 6 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 cirizen of ancient Rome and Greece, and thought he had a 
 claim to a Latin or Greek name which he was very in- 
 genious in inventing. The real or supposed meaning of 
 personal names was translated, and the many German names 
 derived from trades or callings easily lent themselves to this. 
 Thus Fischer readily became Piscator; Miiller, Molitor; 
 Kiirschner (furrier), Pellicanus. But some of these trans- 
 lations are not so easily guessed. Few will see at first sight 
 that Foeniseca was in German Mader (Mahder) Maher 
 (mower, reaper). When we come to the end of these easily 
 translated names, the system becomes more complicated. 
 We may recognise Kopfiin in Capito, but Kohlburger and 
 Spiesshammer in Brassicanus and Cuspinianus less easily, 
 while no one nowadays would recognise Resch (Rasch, 
 quick) in Velocianus. Sometimes names had to be well 
 strained and twisted before anything could be made of 
 them. Thus the name Schwarzert, though in the lawless 
 orthography of the times often spelt Schwarzerd, had no 
 more to do with mother earth than the cognate names 
 derived from colours, Weissert, Griinert, or Gelbert; yet 
 Schwarzert's great uncle, Reuchlin, prided himself upon 
 having thought of the name Melanchthon for it. It was 
 Greek too, and of course Greek names were the most dis- 
 tinguished. In the case of Reuchlin himself, the Latin 
 translation of his name, Fumulus, was used only by his adver- 
 saries ; while the Greek, Capnion, was used by his friends. 
 He himself preferred his German name. Instead of trans- 
 lating a name, they often contented themselves with giving 
 it an antique sound, especially when a German name had 
 the good fortune to have a Greek or Latin sound. Thus 
 Oehmler sounded something like the noble Roman name 
 ^milius ; Maier was made into Marius ; Joachim von Watt 
 was called Vadianus ; Johann Rack, as Rhagius, acquired a 
 
TRANSFORMATION OF NAMES. 1 7 
 
 touch of a Greek sound. Such a name as Krachenberger 
 seemed to mock all Humanist efforts, and the bearer of it 
 implored Grand-master Reuchlin to help him, and the ugly 
 grub was metamorphosed into Gracchus Pierius. Besides 
 the personal names, the names of the birthplace or neigh- 
 bouring rivers were often employed and added to the per- 
 sonal names. Thus Rhagius was Rhagius ^esticampianus 
 from his birthplace, Sommerfeld ; and George Tannstetter, 
 of Rain, in Upper Bavaria, was called Tannstetter CoUimi- 
 tius. More frequently the real name is quite superseded by 
 that of the place of abode. Thus George Burkard, from the 
 little town of Spalt, now famous for hops, became known as 
 Spalatinus ; Henry Loriti, from near Glarus, as Glareanus ; 
 Peter Schade, from Bruttig, on the Moselle, as Petrus Mosel- 
 lanus ; Beat Bild, from Rheinau, in Upper Alsace, as Beatus 
 Rhenanus. Among the nobles and the city patricians we 
 do not so often find these transformations. The Humanistic 
 Count Hermann von Nuenar was styled by his friends Comes 
 de Nova Aquila or Neastius ; in the case of Eitelwolf vom 
 Stein they went beyond the Latin, de Lapide to Ololycus 
 (OXoXvKos) for the first name; but Hutten and the Pirck- 
 heimers and Peutingers left their names unaltered except 
 the Latin terminations. 
 
 To return to the man from whom we have made this 
 digression, and whose name was typical of these Humanistic 
 transformations. As Johann Jager, of Dornheim, he was, in 
 1506, called Joannes Dornheim Venatorius ; but in this case 
 the birthplace was not translated at all, and the name only 
 in an ordinary manner. Jager was indeed Venator, or Vena- 
 torius : but a Jager was also an archer, and was to be found 
 not only in the woods but amongst the stars, and the name 
 of the archer, a constellation, v;as Crotus : he was the son 
 of Eupheme, the nurse of the Muses, by Pan, had played on 
 
 C 
 
1 8 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 Helicon with his foster-sisters, who had therefore prayed 
 Father Jupiter to place him among the stars. Could there 
 be a more select name for one about to enter the service of 
 the muses ? In order also that the birthplace might not be 
 left in its thorny original, it was added to Johannes Crotus 
 as Rubianus or Rubeanus, though it was not a precise trans- 
 lation, and thus the notion of the Arch-Humanist Conrad 
 Celtis was complied with, that a poet, like the old Romans, 
 must have three names. 
 
 Meanwhile, at the time when he was pursuing his studies 
 with Hutten at Cologne, the transformation had not fully 
 taken place either in his name or his mind. He still held 
 Arnold von Tungern and his scholastic masters in esteem, 
 learnt with his younger friend, as he afterwards jestingly 
 reminded him, to dazzle with syllogisms, to oppose, assume, 
 respond, to argue pro and contra — in short, to practise all 
 the dialectic arts of the philosophy and theology of that 
 period. But these things soon became sport to Crotus ; he 
 learnt to mimic his teachers admirably, and was thus prac- 
 tising for the " Epistolse Obscurorum Virorum." 
 
 Crotus was a talented and amiable man; his great gift 
 was wit, and he loved to make himself merry over the follies 
 of mankind. This must have met with a response in young 
 Hutten's mind, in whom a German Lucian also lay con- 
 cealed. With Hutten however, afterwards, a laugh at wrongs 
 was not all, it turned to indignation ; he saw in them not 
 only folly, but ruin. Crotus loved fun for its own sake. His 
 hair did not turn grey over the evils of this foolish world ; 
 his unfaihng gaiety must have made him the pleasantest of 
 companions. 
 
 Being about eight years Hutten's senior, and having in 
 the main completed the academical studies which Hutten 
 was beginning, Crotus was on many points the teacher and 
 
HUTTEN LEAVES COLOGNE. 19 
 
 mentor of his friend. We can only conjecture who were 
 Hutten's other instructors, but he afterwards called himself 
 the pupil of Rhagius. 
 
 A few years later Count Hermann von Nuenar or 
 Neuenar, the ruins of whose ancestral castle are still 
 to be seen in the neighbouring district of the Ahr, 
 appears as the support of the Humanist party at 
 Cologne in the quarrels with Reuchlin and Hermann 
 Busch. He was first canon and then provost of the 
 cathedral, and appears to have been on friendly terms 
 with Hutten. 
 
 The question now arises, where did Hutten get the means 
 of living during his student years? After his flight from 
 Fulda his father renounced him. This wilful step thwarted 
 his plans and embarrassed him in his relations with the 
 abbey. We do not know whether at first he even knew 
 what had become of his son, and Ulrich might think it best 
 to remain concealed for a time lest he should be forcibly 
 brought back. The father thought he should most effectu- 
 ally compel his return by leaving him without means. 
 Hutten afterwards extols the liberality of his cousins 
 Frowin and Louis in aiding him in his studies, and he was 
 certainly in great need of help. 
 
 It is generally believed to have been in 1506 that the 
 intrigues of the Dominicans compelled Rhagius ^Esticam- 
 pianus to leave Cologne, and as Crotus and Hutten vanish 
 thence in the same year and appear elsewhere, it ha;^ 
 naturally been supposed that the expulsion of the teacher 
 was the cause of the departure of the scholars. But they 
 did not, as might have been expected, follow him to his new 
 sphere of labour, for while Rhagius accepted the professor- 
 ship offered him at the University of Frankfort-on-the-Oder, 
 opened this year, Crotus, attracted by the reminiscences of 
 
20 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 his earlier student years, took his young friend with him to 
 Erfurt. 
 
 The University of Erfurt, founded towards the close of the 
 fourteenth century, enjoyed at the beginning of the sixteenth 
 such a reputation in Germany that, as Luther once said, 
 all the others were but infant schools compared with it. At 
 the time of the great schism, it took the side of the Council 
 of Basle and the Reform party, and was afterwards distin- 
 guished among the other universities by its liberal spirit. 
 Teachers like Maternus Pistoris and Nicolas Marshalk and 
 their pupils had made it the nursery of Humanism in Ger- 
 many. Its most flourishing period was from the middle of 
 the fifteenth to the first decade of the sixteenth century, when 
 it was injured by disturbances in the town and the ecclesi- 
 astical difficulties. The university had just recovered from 
 the first blow, a town and gown quarrel in 1505, a precursor 
 of the more serious one that followed, and the lectures were 
 going on again. Crotus, a talented fellow-student, and a 
 learned private gentleman whose acquaintance he made, 
 were of more importance to Hutten than the professors. 
 
 Two years earlier than Hutten, Eoban Hesse, then six 
 teen years of age, had come to Erfurt from Frankenberg in 
 Hesse, and with him Hutten formed the second of those 
 academical friendships which lasted through his life. Eoban 
 was born in the same year as Hutten at Bockendorf in Hesse. 
 His father's name is uncertain, but the son derived the name 
 of Eoban from some saint revered in the neighbourhood. 
 Instead of the surname he added to this the name of his 
 home, Hessus, and in order that the three names proper for 
 a poet should not be wanting, in reference to the Sunday 
 on which he was born, as well as to the god of the sun and 
 of poets, whose servant he was, he prefixed the name of 
 Helius. The boy early betrayed his poetic talent; once 
 
EOBAN HESSE. 21 
 
 when Horlaus gave him and some advanced pupils the task 
 of putting the text from the gospel of St. John into Latin 
 verse : " Ego sum lux mundi, qui sequitur me, non ambulat 
 in tenebris;" the young Eoban at once detected the half 
 pentameter in the last three words, and soon made so 
 spirited a translation of the text that the master was 
 astonished, and from that time entertained great hopes of 
 his pupil. He was afterwards always writing verses and 
 tormenting his teachers by asking them to correct them. 
 In Erfurt also he soon made himself known by his poetry ; 
 he described in verse the dispersion of the students on ac- 
 count of the plague in 1505, the students' row of the same 
 year, sang the praises of the university, and attempted idylls, 
 epics, heroic, elegiac, and lyrical poems of all sorts. Even 
 then Crotus said of him that though a boy in years he was 
 old in the poetic arts, and Mutian addressed some verses to 
 him which he prized all his life, in which he predicts that he 
 will be the pride of the sacred spring. 
 
 In short, not only in Germany, but abroad he was con- 
 sidered the first poet of the age. If revived Latinity had 
 produced its prose writer in Erasmus, it had now a poet in 
 Eoban. If Erasmus was the modern Cicero, Eoban was 
 Virgil and Ovid ; and the last comparison is not an empty 
 phrase, for Eoban had Ovid's facility in throwing off verses ; 
 he was said to be the only poet who composed and wrote 
 his verses at the same time. He was not, however, merely 
 a successful poet, but a diligent man of learning ; his lectures 
 at Erfurt, and afterwards at Marburg, attracted students 
 from afar. He learnt Greek from Johann Lange and 
 Joachim Camerarius, and translated Theocritus and the 
 Iliad into Latin hexameters, and, at the suggestion of Luther, 
 the Psalms into Latin distichs. 
 
 Eoban was a man of rare good nature ; he was tall, hand- 
 
22 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 some, and well built, had a splendid beard and martial look ; 
 Albert Diirer used to say that he should have taken him for 
 a soldier ; he excelled in fencing, dancing, and singing, and 
 unfortunately also in drinking ; arts which a residence of 
 some years at the court of Bishop Job at Riesenburg-on-the- 
 Weichsel had given him ample opportunities of practising. 
 He was hasty and blunt, but guileless as a child. With a 
 scanty income and an increasing family (though now we are 
 anticipating), and the carelessness of a poet about economy, 
 his circumstances were always straitened and sometimes 
 wretched ; but he never lost his cheerfulness. " Patientia ! " 
 he would exclaim amidst the most adverse circumstances. 
 
 But the real chief in this circle was not Eoban, and lived 
 not at Erfurt but at Gotha. This was Conrad Mudt or 
 Muth, who Latinised his name as Mutianus, and added that 
 of Rufus, perhaps from his red hair. He was born in 1472, 
 at Homburg in Hesse, where his father was a Government 
 official. He had passed through the school of Alexander 
 Hegius at Deventer, the most fruitful Humanist nursery- 
 ground of that time ; had then studied at Erfurt, and gone, 
 as was the custom, to finish his studies in Italy. He was 
 made doctor of laws at Bologna, became acquainted with 
 many Italian Humanists, and gained patrons and friends 
 amongst the cardinals at Rome. After his return in 1502 he 
 was for a time in office at the court of Hesse, where his 
 brother was chancellor. But this soon became irksome to 
 him. Another brother was commissioner for the archie- 
 piscopal court of Mayence at Erfurt, and he procured for 
 him a canronry at Gotha. Here, after 1503, he lived in 
 learned leisure which nothing ever enticed him to give up. 
 The more uncongenial his colleagues were, the more attrac- 
 tive was the society at the neighbouring University of Erfurt ; 
 the most distinguished professors were his friends, and the 
 
MUTIANUS RUFUS. 23 
 
 most talented students, Crotus, Eoban, Eberbach, Spalatin, 
 and soon Hutten also, were his pupils. We find that about 
 this time the matriculation fees were remitted to several 
 students " out of respect to Dr. Mutianus." His sovereign, 
 Frederic the Wise, soon learnt to know and value him. Upon 
 Mutian's recommendation, the young Spalatin was appointed, 
 in 1508, to the important post of tutor to the electoral 
 prince, John Frederic. At Mutian's intercession, condemned 
 persons were pardoned; projects for legislation were sub- 
 mitted to him for approval. When the important office of 
 provost of All Saints' Church at Wittenberg became vacant, 
 the Elector offered it to Mutian. He recommended Justus 
 Jonas, who accepted it. He would accept nothing for him- 
 self but a small benefice which involved no work, to enable 
 him to buy books. For the cost of books and hospitality to 
 literary friends consumed his moderate income. It was just 
 at the time when the printed editions of Greek and Latin 
 classics were being published by Aldus at Venice and other 
 places in Italy, and they were costly. Mutian could not 
 afford to buy all that he wanted, and some of his friends 
 shared their purchases with him. Once when he received 
 from a friend, Cicero, Lucretius, Curtius, &c., at once, he 
 wept for joy. 
 
 With all his learning and superiority, Mutian had an 
 aversion to authorship ; but he wrote many letters, and a 
 considerable number, some of them unprinted, are pre- 
 served.* If Eoban's letters are the most genial, those of 
 Erasmus the most learned and elegant, Mutian's are the 
 most intellectual. His concise style sometimes makes them 
 obscure; even in the learned digressions in which he in- 
 dulges he is never diffuse. He often sends his friends an 
 
 ♦ Most of them are in the MS. Codex of the City Library at Frank- 
 fort. 
 
24 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 epigram or some other little poem, but is very angry if any 
 one has them printed. When asked what was his objection 
 to publishing, he said that his productions were never good 
 enough, and that he preferred amusing himself with the 
 follies of others. He thought it noteworthy that neither 
 Christ nor Socrates had left anything written. He said that 
 our best knowledge was not for the multitude. He there- 
 fore did not seek, like Erasmus and Reuchlin, to influence 
 a miscellaneous public by printed works, but a smaller circle 
 by letters and word of mouth. Nothing gave him greater 
 pleasure, says Camerarius, than to hear that young people 
 were zealously devoting themselves to Humanist studies, 
 and he used to do all in his power to help them, and 
 invited them to his house, however little he had to spare. 
 
 His house stood behind the cathedral at Gotha ; he had 
 had it built after his own fancy. Over the entrance there 
 was a tablet with the words, BEATA TRANQVILLI- 
 TATAS. When he had freed himself from office at Hesse, he 
 wrote over the door of his office, VALETE SOLLICITV- 
 DINES. When the door was opened a second inscription, 
 BONIS CVNCTA PATEANT, invited to self-examina- 
 tion whether the visitor was worthy to enter. On the walls 
 of the room were the arms of proved friends — the stork of 
 Spalatin, the horns intertwined with straps of Crotus, 
 Eoban's swan soaring from a laurel-bush into the clouds. 
 The visitor beheld in his host a noble and manly form ; his 
 manners were a mixture of dignity and suavity ; his conver- 
 sation displayed profound knowledge, and ripe insight inter- 
 spersed with pleasant jest. 
 
 When the young people who came to visit him from 
 Erfurt were acquainted with the classic forms of the ancients, 
 Mutian tried to introduce them to their mind and spirit, 
 just as he sought to give them a deeper insight into religion. 
 
MUTIANUS RUFUS. 25 
 
 In order to prove them, as well as to spur them on, he 
 sometimes proposed questions to them, either to be solved 
 at once or answered in writing. Thus they once had to 
 write verses in turn upon the deceased poet Conrad Celtis. 
 At another time he gave Henry Urban the task of writing in 
 praise of poverty ; to Spalatin he proposed the question : 
 " If Christ alone is the way, the truth, and the life, how was 
 it with those who lived so many years before his birth? 
 Had they no part in truth and salvation?" He then gave 
 him a hint for his answer. The religion of Christ did not 
 begin when he became a man, but is as old as the world, as 
 his birth from the Father. For what is the real Christ, the 
 Son of God, other than, as St. Paul says, the Wisdom of 
 God, which did not dwell with the Jews alone in their 
 little Syrian country, but also with the Greeks, the Romans, 
 the Germans, various as their religious customs might be ? 
 
 Mutian had clear views of the Bible, particularly of the 
 gospels, but they were mixed up with odd fancies. On 
 the principle of the difference between the exoteric and 
 esoteric method of teaching, he considered that the authors 
 of the gospel histories had hidden many secrets in riddles, 
 enigmas, and parables. Apuleius and ^sop wrote fables, 
 and so did the sacred writers of the Jews, among which he 
 reckoned the book of Job and the history of Jonas. 
 
 There was something Neo-Platonic in the ideas of these 
 Humanists which, as well as their skill in languages, they 
 had brought from Italy, where Mutian, especially, had be- 
 come acquainted with Count Picus of Mirandula. 
 
 " There is but one God," he wrote at another time to 
 Urban, " and one Goddess, but there are many forms and 
 many names : Jupiter, Sol, Apollo, Moses, Christ, Luna, 
 Ceres, Proserpina, Tellus, Mary. But do not spread it 
 abroad; we must keep silence on these Eleusinian mys- 
 
26 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 teries. In religious matters we must employ fables and 
 enigmas as a veil. Thou who hast the grace of Jupiter, 
 the best and greatest God, shouldst in secret despise the little 
 gods. When I say Jupiter, I mean Christ and the true 
 God. But enough of these things, which are too high for 
 us." 
 
 It may be imagined how the Church of that day appeared 
 to Mutian from these somewhat misty heights. He wrote, 
 " I do not revere the coat or the beard of Christ ; I revere 
 the living God, who wears neither coat nor beard." He 
 called Lenten food, fool's food ; the begging friars, cowl- 
 wearing monsters ; rejected confession, and masses for the 
 dead, and regarded the hours spent in serving at the altar 
 as so much lost time. It was in his house that Crotus used 
 to give vent to his keenest wit on these topics. 
 
 It was not mere criticism or philology, nor mere know- 
 ledge that Mutian tried to impart to his young friends. 
 *' We are pursuing," he wrote, " a narrow and steep path : 
 narrow because few are striving with us after better know- 
 ledge and more gentle manners; steep, because no one 
 can acquire the Latin language and all that is connected 
 with it, to real mental profit, without labour. We aim 
 at righteousness, temperance, patience, concord, truth, and 
 friendship." Mutian exercised nearly as salutary an in- 
 fluence over the youths who were attached to him in morals 
 as in learning. He would not suffer any dissensions among 
 them. They were not to take it amiss if he found fault 
 with them. " You can only offend me," he would say, *' by 
 not taking the right way when I point it out." He kept 
 them around him like magic. In the Humanist circles a 
 " Mutianic host " was talked of, and they were not the least 
 considerable part of the " Latin army." 
 
 The friends of progress, however, had good reason to 
 
MUTIANUS RUFUS. 27 
 
 band together to defend themselves against the party of the 
 old school, for they were suspected as dangerous free- 
 thinkers. '' He is a poet, he speaks Greek," it was said ; 
 *'and therefore he cannot have much Christianity." In 
 ecclesiastical circles a poet was a term of reproach, which 
 a man would not wish to incur; it Mas a stigma, like 
 Pantheist or Materialist nowadays. "Poets ruin the 
 universities," said the old gentlemen ; they were not looked 
 upon as good Germans, but as Bohemians and Frenchmen. 
 They were also called philosophers, but in a malicious 
 sense. There were all sorts of intrigues to prevent the 
 promotion of these feared and hated people. "Who can 
 believe," wrote Mutian, " that these priests have the true 
 religion and a good conscience? And how much more 
 holy these poets are who harm no one by secret intrigues." 
 And again : " The theologians bid us hope, in order to 
 deceive us : while we are waiting for the heaven that they 
 promise us, they take possession of all the earthly goods." 
 
 We know, from Hutten's own testimony, that Mutian 
 influenced him as well as others. " Not far from^ Erfurt," 
 he says in the elegy before mentioned, " Rufus lives peace- 
 fully to himself, though he is second to none, and need not 
 fear to measure his strength with any one." 
 
 ** Crotus takes counsel of him, and Hessus elects him as leader: 
 And to myself how often profit has come from his teaching." 
 
 Mutian admired Hutten's talents, but his vehemence and 
 irritability were unpleasant to the lover of beata tranqiulli- 
 tatas. 
 
 It is not surprising that neither Hutten nor Crotus was 
 acquainted with Luther, for he had only just entered the 
 monastery. Besides, Hutten was but a short time at Erfurt. 
 He spent the summer of 1 506 there, but during the follow- 
 
28 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 ing winter we find him at the newly opened University of 
 Frankfort-on-the-Oder, whither he had probably been pre- 
 ceded by his revered teacher, Rhagius ^Esticampianus. 
 
 The Elector John Cicero had intended to found a univer- 
 sity in his territory, and his son and successor, Joachim I., 
 aided by his tutor, Dietrich von Biilow and Eitelwolf vom 
 Stein, carried it out. The new institution was solemnly 
 opened in April, 1506. Von Biilow was its chancellor; 
 Conrad Wimpina, who was afterwards Luther's opponent, 
 the first rector • Johannes Lindholz, first dean of the philo- 
 sophical faculty; Publias Vigilantius Bacillarius Axungia, 
 the first professor. 
 
 Besides Hutten's two cousins, the young Margrave Albert 
 of Brandenburg may, at Eitelwolf's instigation, have con- 
 tributed to his support, for Hutten afterwards said that he 
 helped him before he was cardinal archbishop. According 
 to usage, it was not too early for Hutten to take his B.A. 
 degree, though he afterwards denied that he took any. Yet 
 we know that he did so, for Lindholz says that Hutten was 
 the fourth on whom he conferred it at Frankfort while he 
 was dean. The subsequent denial had a purpose. These 
 academical degrees were despised by the Humanists as part 
 of the apparatus of ancient scholasticism. It is one of the 
 accusations against the poets in the " Epistolae Obscurorum 
 Virorum," that they prevented their followers from taking 
 degrees. In disclaiming the lowest of these dignities, 
 Hutten displayed the most withering contempt for the old 
 order of things. 
 
 Hutten seems to have been content to stay at Frankfort 
 rather longer than either at Cologne or Erfurt, for he was 
 there a whole year. Rhagius did not remain longer. The 
 university took a course which was not in unison with the 
 intentions of the man who had been most active in founding 
 
hutten's first poetical attempt 
 
 V OF" THRj ^4 
 
 UNIVERSIT 
 
 it. Hutten tells us that more than once Eitelwolf vom 
 Stein said that he repented of his co-operation, for instead 
 of the professorships being filled by Humanists, they were 
 filled by ignorant men of the old school. Trebelius and 
 Vigilantus remained, but Rhagius went to Leipzig, and 
 Hutten followed him. In the Leipzig matriculation-books 
 of the winter term of 1507-8 we find the names of ^sti- 
 campianus, professor of rhetoric and^ crowned poet, and 
 Ulrich Huttenf from Buchen. During the same half-year 
 Veit Werler, who wrote the " Memorial of Hutten," of 
 which we shall have only too soon to speak, took his M.A. 
 degree. After him the young B.A. lectured with approval 
 at Leipzic, but we find no mention of any fees in the uni- 
 versity records. 
 
 The first of Hutten's poetical attempts that have been 
 preserved to us, date from about this time, when he was 
 eighteen or nineteen. There are four of them : an " Elegy 
 to Eoban," written at Erfurt ; a poem in praise of the Mark, 
 written at Frankfort ; a few verses in praise of a printed 
 collection of epigrams by his tutor Rhagius ; and a poetical 
 exhortation to virtue. They were all small additions to 
 larger works of friends or teachers, as was then customary. 
 They display great faciHty in Latin expression and construc- 
 tion, though there are some awkward lines. The young 
 poet had a large store of classical names and examples at 
 command. The ideas are skilfully expressed, but without 
 any marked tendency ; they are mere schoolboy work, and 
 do not bear the pecuHar stamp of Hutten's mind. 
 
 The youth had made good use of his student years, but 
 before he could mature into the man and master-spirit, it 
 was necessary that he should set out on his travels and 
 bring the full force of his mind and will into play by bat- 
 tling with the difficulties of life. 
 
H 
 
 CHAPTER IIL 
 
 f 
 
 TRAVELS AND ADVENTURES IN GERMANY. 
 1509— 1512. 
 
 UTTEN was, as we have seen, a restless spirit; a 
 love of travel was deeply ingrained in his nature. It 
 was also characteristic of the spirit of the age, and of the 
 / party with which he had associated himself. The travelling 
 scholars of the latter part of the Middle Ages are well 
 known. Among the German Humanists of those times, 
 Celtis, Rhagius, and Busch were travelling teachers. Hutten 
 wanted to see the world, that he might know it not from 
 books alone. He had an irresistible desire to observe and 
 associate with all sorts of people, to measure his powers 
 with theirs. Even the difficulties and dangers of such a 
 life had the charm for him of an adventurous game ; the 
 possible gains attracted him, and the possible losses did 
 not alarm him*. Then he was ambitious ; he wanted to be 
 somebody, and saw plainly that he must not shun the 
 world. What was blessed peace to Mutian was to him 
 intolerable dulness. 
 
 Hutten more than once speaks of this impulse with pride. 
 While others would not leave their parents or cross the 
 threshold of home, he sacrificed the comfortable life that 
 he might have lived to the wish to visit foreign lands and 
 to achieve a name. He had the example of the wisest of 
 
HUTTEN IN POMERANIA. 3 1 
 
 the ancients, a Pythagoras and a Plato. And what could 
 be more attractive to an energetic youth? He says: "There 
 is nowhere I Uke so well to live as everywhere — my home 
 is in every place." There was something of the knight- 
 errant in Ulrich Hutten. 
 
 He could no longer be content to sit upon the academic 
 benches, often as he had changed them. We do not exactly 
 know how long he remained at Leipzig. He inscribed 
 himself there for the winter term of 1507-8, and late in 
 the summer of 1509 he was on the coast of Pomerania, ill 
 and in distress ; and in a poem of the following spring he 
 says that it is a year since he disappeared from amongst 
 his friends, so that he probably left Leipzig in the spring 
 of 1509. But we cannot even conjecture what took him to 
 the shores of the Baltic, nor do we know much more of the 
 particulars of his journey up to the time of an unfortunate 
 voyage, but whether he encountered shipwreck or merely a 
 storm we do not know. 
 
 Our young knight cuts a pitiful figure when we meet him 
 here. He was quite destitute, and very ill. He begged 
 his way through the country, knocked at the doors of poor 
 peasants' huts to beg for bread, was often repulsed, and 
 had to lie on the ground in the open air. His increas- 
 ing illness prevented him from making detours, after 
 the manner of travelling students, to obtain the means of 
 subsistence from learned men. He soon afterwards describes 
 his miserable plight in one of his elegies, and contrasts this 
 restless and wretched life with the domestic comfort and 
 happiness of his friends. Hutten speaks of this illness in 
 the following year as a quaternion fever, from which he 
 was still suffering, and which weakened and emaciated him 
 to the last degree. 
 
 The sick and helpless traveller at length dragged himself 
 
32 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 to Grelfswald, where the university gave him hope of suc- 
 cour. He addressed himself to the professors, who were 
 but modest Hghts ; and the rector inscribed his name in 
 the books without fees, in consequence of his destitution. 
 There is no date, but it was probably in the autumn of 
 1509. 
 
 Before long he received further assistance. One of the 
 chief families in the town interested themselves in him. 
 Henning Lotz, professor of jurisprudence, and canon of 
 the collegiate church of St. Nicolas, received him into his 
 house. He was a wealthy man. His father, Wedeg Lotz, 
 was burgomaster, and used to attend the Frankfort fair, 
 probably as a merchant. The professor clothed Hutten, 
 most likely from his father's stores, and lent him money. 
 At first he was treated with great kindness, but by degrees 
 there was a change : the guest became less welcome, the 
 host was overbearing, or made sport of his literary efforts. 
 A friend whom Hutten had found in the town warned him 
 to beware of the man, but Hutten hoped to conciHate him 
 by patience. 
 
 If we had any version of the story from the Lotzes, we 
 should be better able to form an opinion. Hutten was not 
 at any time of his life the lamb that he represents himself. 
 There may have been many things in the conduct of the 
 young poet which vexed the professor. Hutten represents 
 his wrath as caused by jealousy of his superiority. He was 
 a jurist of the old school, and seems to have been un- 
 acquainted with Humanistic culture. But it is very doubtful 
 whether the young poet always treated his weaknesses 
 tenderly. At all events, Hutten saw that he had better take 
 his departure ; but the Lotzes wanted their loans returned. 
 If the needy youth had with pardonable pride spoken of the 
 wealth of his father and relations, they might at first have 
 
ATTACK BY THE LOTZES. 33 
 
 reckoned not only on the return of their gifts, but on 
 valuable presents. Hutten tried to make them understand 
 that, if they required repayment, the best thing they could 
 do was to let him go. He might elsewhere succeed in 
 making his fortune, he should never do so there. If it then 
 first came to light that his father had cast him off, and that 
 nothing was to be expected from that quarter, it was not 
 likely to improve his hosf s feelings towards him. At last 
 Hutten tells us, he prepared to leave with his host's know- 
 ledge and consent. But Henning Lotz denied having ever 
 given it. 
 
 It was in mid-winter, December 1509, that Hutten left 
 Greifswald for Rostock. The cold was very severe ; all the 
 rivers, even the sea on the coast, were frozen. It was no 
 light thing for Hutten still in ill-health to undertake this 
 journey of twelve miles (German) on foot. But in the hope 
 of meeting with a better reception at the Mecklenburg 
 University, he plodded cheerfully along. But when he was 
 crossing a frozen marsh some horsemen appeared, and cried 
 halt ! They were servants of the Lotzes ; they ordered him 
 to submit at once, and to give up all that he had. Resist- 
 ance was vain, entreaties useless ; they stripped him of his 
 warm clothing, and one threatened him with his halberd, if 
 he did not keep quiet. Old Wedeg wanted the clothes back, 
 for which he had probably furnished the materials. But 
 this was not enough ; the poor son of the muses carried a 
 little bundle, containing some books and a few poems. 
 They will not get rich out of that, he thought, and was going 
 to keep it, but the villains took even that from him, and, 
 adding insult to injury, told him that he had only to sing 
 to people and they would soon give him more clothes. So 
 Hutten says in his poetical account of it. 
 
 Half naked he journeyed on. In what state he reached 
 
 D 
 
34 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 Rostock may be imagined. He sank upon a sick bed in 
 miserable quarters, and had no means to procure nursing or 
 food. By degrees he let the professors and students of the 
 upper classes know of his condition, and presented them 
 with specimens of his talents. Attention and kindness were 
 soon shown him. Ecbert Haarlem, so called from his 
 birthplace, professor of philosophy, sought him out, and 
 received him into his house. He was a bachelor, a learned 
 and upright man, who aided others besides Hutten. He 
 was no Lotz, and so treated his guest that Vadian compared 
 Hutten's quarters with him to those of Ulysses with Calyp^. 
 He furnished him with medicine, nursing, and money. In 
 his house Hutten began to revive. Other professors showed 
 him favour, and a circle of students gathered round him, to 
 whom he gave lectures on polite literature. He was quite 
 the fashion at Rostock, and was called merely the new 
 poet ; it was even then worth while to envy him. 
 
 He now felt in possession of his powers again, or rather 
 he was for the first time fully conscious of them. The short 
 period since he set out on his northern journey had been 
 fruitful in experience. At two-and-twenty he had emerged 
 from the youth into the man. But it was significant that 
 the culminating point of this experience was an outrage 
 which called forth his indignation and his powers also. 
 Indignation was the nurse of Hutten's genius. His writings 
 increase in importance in proportion to the importance of 
 the subjects which called it forth. It was the treatment 
 Hutten had received from Wedeg and Henning Lotz, or 
 the Lossier, as he calls them in his Latin verses, which now 
 incited him to take the pen.* This work is on the lowest 
 
 ♦ " Ulrici Hutteni equestris ordinis poetse in Wedegum Loetz Con- 
 sulem Gripesualdensem in Pomerania et filium eius Hennigum, etc. 
 luris doctorem Queiclarum libri duo pro insigni quadam iuiueria sibi 
 
THE "QUERELEN." 35 
 
 grade of the scale just indicated, but is important, as being 
 the first that bears the stamp of Hutten's mind. His pre^ 
 vious attempts might have been the work of any other gifted 
 son of the muses of those days; the "Querelen" against the 
 Lossier could only have been written by Hutten himself. 
 
 The work consists of two books, each containing ten 
 elegies, some of them of great length. They are preceded 
 by a prose dedication to sixteen professors at Rostock, dated 
 15th of July, 1510. 
 
 In the first elegy, the poet complains to the gods, espe- 
 cially to Christ, who was acquainted with suffering, of the 
 inhuman treatment he had received, and calls upon them to 
 avenge him ; the second contains the narrative of the outrage 
 of Lossius (facinus Lossii) from which our account is chiefly 
 derived. The third and fourth are appeals for help, one to 
 the young Count Eberstein, of Naugarten, who was studying 
 at Rostock, the other to the professor of philosophy, Joachim 
 Nigemann. These two poems, though they may have been 
 improved afterwards, were doubtless sent to them when 
 Hutten was lying helpless at a public-house. We know 
 that the latter, at any rate, was not without result. In the 
 fifth elegy, Hutten accuses the Lotzes to their ruler, Duke 
 Buslav X., and demands their punishment. The sixth is 
 an accompaniment to the fifth, and is addressed to his 
 friend Valentine Stoientin, now secretary to the Duke of 
 Pomerania, and he prays him for the sake of their former 
 friendship to hand his elegy to his master, and to plead his 
 cause. In the seventh, the poet sends his muse to his 
 
 ab illis facta." On the other side, " Excussa sunt hsec Francophordii cis 
 Oderam per Joannem Hanaw, 15 10." Hutten's Schriften, vol. iii. 
 Compare Bocking's " Index BibHographicus Huttenianus." This Index 
 will not hereafter be quoted for every work of Hutten's, but is here 
 referred to, once for all, for everything relating to titles and editions of 
 Hutten's works. 
 
36 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. * 
 
 cousin and benefactor Louis von Hutten, with the news of 
 the ill-treatment that has befallen him. He indicates the 
 way to his castle near the Maine, describes the chivalrous 
 pursuits in which he will be found engaged, and the sym- 
 pathy he will feel with Hutten's misfortunes. He makes his 
 cousin speak of his muse as the pride of the Huttens. His 
 •special request, however, is truly characteristic of Hutten, 
 and of a knight of those times. He describes Frankfort-on- 
 the-Maine : 
 
 " Thou knowest the beautiful town, the city so long ago founded, 
 First built in the wars of the Franks, and bearing the name of its 
 
 founders. 
 Through its streets runs the stream of the Maine, and gurgleth under 
 
 its bridges, 
 Hasting to meet with the Rhine, and join with the might of its waters. 
 Lofty the height of its walls, and splendid the show of its buildings. 
 Yet more than of either of these it boasteth the fame of its people. 
 Sought for by strangers afar, who throng in the streets of the city, 
 Finding the wares of the world displayed in its turbulent mart." 
 
 Then comes the charge — 
 
 *< Lossius the Father will come at the fair- time to visit the city ; 
 Then with a troop of thy horsemen, do thou I pray thee, waylay him ; 
 Seize him and hold him in durance — it may not be better to slay him ; 
 Thou may'st his punishment leave safe in the hands of the poet." 
 
 The eighth elegy is addressed to the friend at Greifswald 
 who had warned him against Henning Lotz ; the ninth to 
 Nicolas Marshalk, who had advised him, if his enemy 
 kept quiet to abstain from further hostiHties. But he says 
 that Lossius was still pursuing him, and would like to kill 
 him. The tenth is a concluding elegy addressed to the 
 reader, in which the poet gives an account of his ancestry, 
 character, and plans. He describes his father's prosperity, 
 the pleasailt life on which, for the sake of learning and travel, 
 he had turned his back, and contrasts it with that of the 
 
THE "QUERELEN/' 37 
 
 Lotzes. Just now fickle fortune had deprived him of every- 
 thing except his mind and courage, and Lossius would have 
 robbed him of those if he could. 
 
 The first elegy of Book II. is a preface ; he cannot keep 
 silence, for Lossius, incensed that Hutten is honoured at 
 Rostock, impugns his talents and reputation, and attacks all 
 who show him kindness. In the third elegy he says that 
 Lossius is specially enraged at the approval his lectures find. 
 His hearers must not heed it. The second is addressed to 
 his old patron, Bishop Dietrich von Biilow — in the fourth 
 he expresses his gratitude to his host, Ecbert Haarlem — in 
 the fifth he holds up the warning example of Lossius to an 
 envious opponent, whom he calls Philopompus — the seventh 
 is in memory of a benefactor who had just died, Jacob 
 Paver (Bauer) — the ninth is addressed to Johann Lobering, 
 an advocate who had taken up Hutten's cause — the sixth to 
 Crotus Rubianus, the eighth to Eoban Hesse; to the first 
 shortly and to the second in detail he describes the outrage 
 by Lossius, and begs them to write against his implacable 
 foe, or at any rate not to blame him for what he has done. 
 Finally, in the tenth elegy, addressed to the poets of Ger- 
 many, he makes his quarrel with Lossius the common cause 
 of all the German Humanists. In conclusion, he sends his 
 elegiac muse to make the tour, already mentioned, of all the 
 men of learning of the modem school, to enlist the sym- 
 pathy, if not the aid, of masters and scholars for the perse- 
 cuted member of their order. 
 
 This sympathy, this solidarity among the choicer spirits 
 of that age, really existed, and was not merely a fancy 
 of Hutten's. Reuchlin's quarrel with the Dominicans of 
 Cologne, a few years later, afforded striking evidence of it. 
 
 Hutten appears to have sent the MS. of these poems to 
 his former teachers, Vigilantius and Trebelius, at Frankfort- 
 
38 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 on-the-Oder. They had them printed, and, according to the 
 fashion of the time, appended some smaller poems of their 
 own in which they took up the cause of their pupil with 
 great warmth. The gist of their additions is that it is dan- 
 gerous to offend a poet whom the gods take under their 
 special protection, and who has all the rest of the poets to 
 aid him. In this case, however, it does not seem to have 
 been very dangerous. The Lotzes, even if they were so bad 
 as Hutten painted them, were protected by wealth and 
 family influence, and were so little injured by his poetic 
 darts that the son was promoted from being canon to pro- 
 vost, and the father rose to be first burgomaster instead of 
 second. They also appear to have escaped to a remarkable 
 degree the ignominy with posterity which Hutten intended 
 for them. Whether only a few copies of the work were 
 printed, or whether the Lotzes bought them up — at any rate 
 after a slight notice of them at this period, all mention of 
 them disappears for two hundred years. In 17 17, the 
 learned and accurate Burckhard wrote about Hutten with- 
 out mentioning this work or his stay at Greifswald at all. It 
 is not until after 1722 that we hear of it again; a copy 
 haunted Silesia, which however never came to light till 
 about the close of the century, when it fell into the. hands of 
 Meiners; and finally, in 18 16, Mohnike, who had meanwhile 
 discovered a second copy at Wolgast, completed from the 
 Gottingen copy, brought out a new edition. Since that 
 time it has come to light that there is a copy in the British 
 Museum, which possesses the advantage of having been 
 corrected by the poet's own hand, and it has a dedication in 
 verse to the lawyer at Wittenberg, Kilian Renter. 
 
 While Hutten was passing through these adventures in 
 the north, his friends in central Germany lost sight of him. 
 They first learnt the particulars of his fate from the printed 
 
POET^I ON VERSIFICATION. 39 
 
 " Querelen." Crotus received the book as a present from 
 Mutian. Towards the end of 15 10 it was said that Hutten 
 intended to be a professor at Frankfort-on-the-Oder, and 
 Johann Weiger went there on purpose to attend his lectures. 
 It was true that he had left Rostock, and thought of going 
 to Frankfort, but at the end of the year we find him, at 
 Wittenberg, and soon afterwards he sent to his friends the 
 Ostens, at Frankfort, instead of coming himself, his poem 
 on the Poetic Art, which he had written at their desire. 
 
 Hutten's " heroics," namely, this poem in hexameters on 
 the art of versification, had a much wider circulation than 
 the elegies.'*' However little a poem of this sort containing 
 nothing but technical rules is to our taste, it was very much 
 to the taste of those times. It passed through a number of 
 editions at Leipzig, Nuremberg, and Paris, and became a 
 school-book. It treats of the alphabet, vowels, consonants, 
 diphthongs, syllables, and feet ; then of metres, but he men- 
 tions only pentameters and hexameters. But rules cannot 
 comprise everything : they must be supplemented by the 
 reading of the poets. The intending poet must study 
 philosophy, natural history, history, &c. He must be con- 
 versant with the laws of rhetoric, and be able to distinguish 
 between poetical and rhetorical expressions. Finally, he 
 treats of poetic figures of speech and ornament — of epithets 
 and anaphora, metaphor and metalepsis, transposition and 
 diaeresis, allegory and irony. The prose dedication to the 
 brothers Osten is more attractive than the work itself. Let 
 them not be led away by those who would withdraw them 
 from Humanist studies, and attract them to what are assumed 
 to be higher branches, for nothing can be done in the latter 
 
 * Ulrici Hutteni de arte versificandi liber unus heroico carmine ad 
 Jo. et Alex. Osthenios Pomeranos equites (151 1). Hutten's Schriften, 
 iii. 
 
40 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 without the former. He hopes they will give the poem 
 written at their request a friendly reception. Though 
 scarcely older than themselves, he did not hesitate to write 
 it for them — for young readers a young poet is appropriate. 
 
 This poem was finished in February, 1 511, in the house of 
 Balthasar Fachus, or Phaccus, at Wittenberg, whose guest 
 he was. About this time Hutten must have been again in 
 communication with his father. But the tone of his letters 
 was not friendly, and he appears to have made his son's 
 return to the monastery the first condition of help. Hutten 
 turned to his old friend Crotus for advice and mediation. 
 Crotus was then at Fulda, where he filled the twofold office 
 of teacher of the monastic school and instructor of the 
 monks. 
 
 He wrote a long answer to Hutten, first assuring him of 
 the continuance, nay, increase of his friendship and esteem. 
 He had neglected nothing since he has been in the solitude 
 of Fulda that could advance his friend's interests ; had often 
 spoken honourably of him to his father and the black 
 brethren, the Benedictines of Fulda, and pleaded his cause. 
 It was difficult to understand his father. He spoke of his 
 son with the utmost contempt, despised his productions, and 
 said he was not worth a farthing. On the other hand, it was 
 evident that he liked to hear him praised, and therefore 
 Crotus often turned the conversation on him. He was 
 inclined to think that old Hutten was not in earnest in 
 blaming his son and urging his return to the monastery, but 
 that it was a mask to prevent the monks from suspecting 
 that he had been a party to his flight. One night lately, 
 after the departure 'of other guests, he had spoken freely to 
 Crotus and two others over a sleeping-cup. First he said 
 he would have given anything if his son had not spent so 
 many years in the monastery; he very much doubted 
 
HUTTEN AND HIS FATHER. 41 
 
 whether he would ever have made a good monk. A relation 
 of a cousin who lived in Italy, and had risen as a lawyer, 
 had told him that if his son would give up his fooleries (the 
 bonas Hteras), and devote himself to the study of law, he 
 would send him to this cousin ; he had better be a petti- 
 fogging lawyer {rabtila forensis), who might be of some use 
 to the Hutten family, than a monk in bad odour with his 
 superiors. Considering these expressions, Crotus advised 
 Hutten to return, not to enter the monastery, but to acquaint 
 himself with his father's intentions. If he could not venture 
 to do this, he might go for a time to trustworthy friends and 
 relations, let his father know where he was, and beg him to 
 communicate his wishes. If he could not comply with them, 
 he could do as Pomponius Lsetus did when his friends 
 recalled him from Rome : he wrote back, " Pomp. Laetus to 
 his relations and friends, greeting. What you desire cannot 
 be. Farewell." Then the world would be before him. But 
 let him make this attempt first. 
 
 To help himself out of his pressing poverty, Hutten, who 
 knew his father's obduracy, had boldly addressed himself to 
 the monastery from which he had fled. He sent a young 
 man named Zonarius (Giirtler) to Fulda with letters, from 
 which it must have appeared that he would return to the 
 monastery if the fathers would effectually help him. They 
 sent him, through Crotus, a very friendly answer, assuring 
 him that the monks, especially the abbot and the coadjutor, 
 were well disposed towards him, but no money was sent. 
 The wary fathers had no mind to be cheated ; they told him 
 he must first fulfil his promise, and then they would provide 
 for his studies. 
 
 But Hutten was not more disposed to fall in with the 
 views of his friend Crotus and apply to his father than the 
 monks of Fulda were to fall in with his. After he had 
 
42 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 finished his poem on the art of versification at Wittenberg, in 
 the summer of the same year, we find him in a most desti- 
 tute condition on his way through Bohemia and Moravia 
 to Vienna. It appears that he had not consented to study 
 law, which both he and his friend Crotus thought a miserable 
 study. However, his destitution only lasted till he reached 
 Olmiitz, in Moravia. Here the learned provost, Augustin, 
 introduced him to the bishop, Stanislas Thurzo. Like his 
 brother John, Bishop of Breslau, he was an admirer of 
 Erasmus, and promoter of the revival of learning ; he hos- 
 pitably received the knight-errant of Humanism into his 
 palace, presented him on his departure with a horse, and 
 money for travelling, which lasted until he reached Vienna, 
 and the provost added a valuable jewelled ring. 
 
 Humanism had taken root in Vienna, especially through 
 the instrumentality of Conrad Celtis, who was summoned 
 thither by the Emperor Maximilian in 1497, and remained 
 there until his death, in 1 508. Celtis was the founder of 
 the learned associations in Germany, and the advocates of 
 the modern tendencies were living partly in free commu- 
 nities at Vienna. At that time Joachim von Watt (Vadianus), 
 of St. Gall, a certain Marius (Maier), and Peter Eberbach, 
 of Erfurt, were living in such a contubernium. Hutten, who 
 had probably known Eberbach before, joined them on his 
 arrival at Vienna, and on the very first evening related to 
 them the perils and adventures of his journey. They listened 
 with sympathy and admiration, and looked upon him as 
 another Ulysses. In the midst of such converse Hutten took 
 some papers out of his bosom on which some verses were 
 written ; he said it was a poem addressed to the Emperor 
 Maximilian, which he had written amidst the fatigues of 
 travel. They must judge of its merits. The friends liked it 
 so well as they read it together from the Sibylline leaves, 
 
HUTTEN'S HORTATORY POEM TO MAXIMILIAN. 43 
 
 that they copied it and had it bound, and in the following 
 year Vadian had it printed.* 
 
 This poem, calling upon the Emperor Maximilian to make 
 war upon the Venetians, is an important point in Hutten's 
 career. He now turns from the partly personal, partly 
 literary interests to which his authorship had been devoted, 
 to the affairs of his country. He no longer feels and acts 
 merely as a member of the republic of letters, but of the 
 German nation. Instead of venting his indignation on his 
 private wrongs, he vents it on the political ignominy which 
 his country and its head had suffered from the Venetians. 
 Maximilian, in whose lofty but unstable mind the ancient 
 idea of the Roman Imperialism of the German nation had 
 flickered up, had desired, in accordance with ancient usage, 
 to make an armed march to Rome and to be crowned there. 
 But the Venetians had refused him a passage through their 
 dominions (1508). He had augmented his forces in order 
 that he might at the same time settle the affairs of Italy in 
 the spirit of the ancient Imperial supremacy, but after a 
 successful beginning he was repulsed. Ill supported by the 
 States of the empire, mocked by the faithless Italian-French 
 policy, and vacillating himself, Maximilian continued his 
 contest with the Venetians with transient successes, but all 
 hope of regaining a part of the Imperial territory had to be 
 given up. To insure peace the rich repubhc was ready to 
 pay a sum of money, or even to promise an annual tribute. 
 The States were for accepting the offer, but the chivalrous 
 Emperor, supported by Louis XII. of France, would not 
 hear of it. 
 
 ♦ "Ad divum Maximilianum Caes. Aug. F. B. bello in Venetos 
 euntem Ulrici Huttenieq. Exliortatio." At the end, "Viennse Pannoni^ 
 apud Hieronymum Vietorem et Joannem Singrenium. Mense Januario, 
 anno,l5i2." Hutten's Schriften, iii. 
 
44 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 It is at this point that Hutten's poem comes in. The 
 main idea is this : success has made the Venetians super- 
 cilious, and after having repeatedly offended the emperor, 
 they now want peace. It ought not to be granted them, 
 for they only want time to recruit. The rise and progress 
 of the Venetians is placed in an odious light, partly from the 
 prevailing dislike to them for their haughtiness, partly from 
 the aversion of our needy knight to a republic of wealthy 
 merchants — a feeling which he never entirely got over, even 
 towards the German imperial cities. 
 
 The chivalrous poet beholds the empire in all its mediaeval 
 glory, though he does not ignore the changes that have 
 taken place. Properly and legally speaking, the whole 
 world is subject to the emperor, and it would certainly 
 better become him to march against the Turks, to conquer 
 Asia, Egypt, &c. ; but since fate has restricted him to 
 narrower limits, let him win the humbler fame which victory 
 over the Venetians would promise. He wants no foreign 
 aid : if the German races, which are proudly enumerated, 
 stand by him, he is a match for any foe. Let him not 
 therefore allow himself to be mocked any longer, but strike 
 the final blow. 
 
 In a prefatory epigram Hutten calls the poem a juvenile 
 production, which he hopes will be followed by more 
 mature fruits. He carefully revised it six years later. It is 
 too diffuse, and is not without repetitions, but it is perme- 
 ated by patriotism, and is in parts very successful in form. 
 The metaphor of the eagle (with reference to the Imperial 
 arms), which often flaps its wings as if considering, and 
 stretches its claws as if to prove them before it takes flight, 
 is truly poetical, and the conclusion rhetorical. All the 
 reasons for the war have been enumerated, and the pens of 
 an Erasmus and Crotus, Busch and Eoban, are engaged to 
 
POEM ON THE GERMANS. 45 
 
 celebrate, in prose and verse, the victory which is to be. 
 At last, as if his persuasions had been successful, let all 
 rejoice, for 
 
 " See, Maximilian takes against Venice the field." 
 
 When Hutten began to take an interest in these subjects 
 he must have been struck by the contrast between the 
 literary condition of his country, to which his attention had 
 been previously directed, and its poHtical situation. In 
 the first Germany was making rapid progress, in the second 
 it was certainly at a very low ebb ; in the one case there 
 was everything to hope, in the other much to fear. 
 
 A poem, which seems to have originated about this time, 
 and in which Hutten tries to show that the Germans are by 
 no means degenerate, shows how he tried to reconcile this 
 contrast.* He calls attention to that law of history accord- 
 ing to which a period of warlike exploit is followed by one 
 of peaceful culture. Germany was now in the latter stage. 
 Learning, the arts, commerce, and industry were flourish- 
 ing, land formerly unfruitful was brought into cultivation, 
 and morals, with the exception of some infection from 
 Italy, and especially from Rome, still untarnished. The 
 previous period of strength was, to say the least, very one- 
 sided. Posterity had to become acquainted with the great 
 deeds of their forefathers through the works of foreign his- 
 torians, for our martial ancestors knew how to perform great 
 deeds, but not to record them. If the Germans of the pre- 
 sent day could record but not perform them, it was but 
 reversed onesidedness. If, with all their culture, they were 
 not still a warlike people, how was it that no one ventured 
 
 * " Quod Germania nee virtutibus nee ducibus ab primoribus de- 
 generaverit, Heroicum." Afterwards revised under the title, *' Quod ab 
 ilia antiquitus German orum claritudine nondum degenerarint nostrates, 
 Ulr. de Hutten, eq. Heroicum." Both in Hutten's Schriften, iii. 
 
46 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 to attack them within their own territory ? Why did other 
 nations seek them as teachers of the art of war and com- 
 panions in arms ? It was no sign of degeneration or tor- 
 pidity that in these later times the Germans have made two 
 discoveries unmatched by antiquity or modern Italy, that of 
 gunpowder and printing. 
 
 Vadian added another little poem to his edition of the 
 address to Maximilian — Hatten's " Greeting to Vienna," 
 where he hoped to find rest and refreshment. 
 
 From this, and from a story in the " Epistolse Obscurorum 
 Virorum," which probably refers to Hutten, it appears that 
 he intended a long stay at Vienna. Magister Johann Kra- 
 bacius, from Nuremberg, remembers that when he was at 
 Vienna, a fellow had arrived from Moravia who was said to 
 be a poet. He had written verses, and wanted to give 
 lectures on poetry, yet he was neither B.A. nor M.A., had 
 in fact taken no degree at all. The rector at the time, 
 Magister noster Heckman, from Franconia, an enemy of all 
 poets, objected ; but the fellow was so assuming that he 
 would not give it up. The rector then forbade the students 
 to attend his lectures. The fellow went up to his room, 
 gave him high words, and even " thoued " him. He came 
 like a soldier, with a hat on his head, and a long knife by 
 his side. The rector sent for the sergeant to have him 
 arrested, but friends, whom he had in the city, interfered. 
 Johann Heckman was really rector of the University in 
 1 51 1, and in the fellow who makes nietra, wants to lecture 
 on the artem 7?ieirijicafidi without having taken a degree, 
 who makes as if he were going to fight, and thous the 
 rector, we think we recognise our Hutten. 
 
 Whether these difficulties cut short his academical labours, 
 or whatever it might be, he vanishes from Vienna in the 
 autumn of 1511, and in the following spring we find him in 
 Italy. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 FIRST VISIT TO ITALY, AND RETURN TO GERMANY. 
 1512-1513. 
 
 TT UTTEN could hardly consider himself a true member 
 of the order of Humanists without following the 
 example of his predecessors in making a pilgrimage to the 
 birthplace of Humanism. Besides, he could there best 
 pursue the legal studies which his father urged upon him. 
 
 We know nothing of his route, but about the middle of 
 April he arrived at Pa via, where, according to his father's 
 desire, he began to study law. He attended the lectures of 
 the learned Jurist, Jason Mainus, and also took lessons in 
 Greek. But his health was very bad ; in consequence of 
 swellings and ulcers on his legs, he was lame ; indeed the 
 left leg was almost useless. 
 
 The French still held Lombardy, but a few days before 
 Hutten's arrival, the French general, Gaston de Foix, had 
 fallen victoriously, April, 15 12, and now twenty thousand 
 Swiss, asked for by the Pope, and sent by the Emperor, were 
 entering the country. In July they advanced to Pavia. The 
 French tried to hold it, and kept the young knight, 
 whom they might suspect as an imperial subject, besieged 
 for three days in a small room. Suffering as he was from 
 fever, he thought himself a lost man, and composed the fol- 
 lowing epitaph on himself : — 
 
48 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 ** He who was nurtured in grief, ever pursued by misfortune, 
 He who by land and by sea was ever by danger surrounded — 
 Here lieth Ulrich von Hutten. He who no crime had committed, 
 . Was by the sword of the Gaul cruelly bereft of existence. 
 He was appointed by fate only to seasons of sorrow. 
 Ah, it was well for him then early to rest from his troubles. 
 He amid danger and pain shrank not from serving the muses, 
 And with the gifts that he had, poured out his spirit in song."* 
 
 At last the French were compelled to evacuate the city, 
 and the Swiss entered it, but this did not improve Hutten's 
 situation. The Swiss, who took him for an ally of the 
 French, plundered him and dragged him about until, with 
 the little that remained to him, he managed to buy himself 
 otF. He could no longer stay at Pavia, now the scene of 
 bloodshed, famine, and pestilence, and in July he went to 
 Bologna, where he found a nice circle of learned men. But 
 he needed medical aid, and his means were soon exhausted. 
 These melancholy details are derived from a pleasant, 
 sometimes even humorous, letter to his hospitable Witten- 
 berg friend, Balthasar Fachus. He writes shortly to him, 
 not because he wants a short letter from his friend, but 
 because the bearers of letters think themselves overladen if 
 you give them a large one. Fachus must tell him every- 
 thing that will interest him. As for himself, he was more 
 like Vulcan than ever, and much worse than when his 
 friend saw him, whether it was to be ascribed to fate, or 
 that he had taken so little care of himself But he con- 
 gratulated himself on having found many things that he was 
 not looking for in the pursuit of polite literature. And how 
 was it with his friend ? Had he decided to take a wife, 
 or to adopt the tonsure ? or was he still simply Fachus ? 
 Then follows the story of his adventures in Italy. 
 
 * Given in this form in the letter to Fachus, about to be mentioned. 
 Schnften, i. Expanded, but, as often happens in these cases, not im- 
 proved, in Hutten's Epigrams to the Emp. Max. Schriften, iii. 
 
CARDINAL LANG. 49 
 
 This is the earliest of Hutten's letters that we possess, 
 the others being merely dedications. They are an essential 
 and valuable part of his literary productions, for they are 
 genuine letters, never like those of Erasmus, and sometimes 
 of Mutian also, mere exercises in style and displays of learn- 
 ing. In spirit and humour they are nearly equal to Eoban's, 
 but superior to them, as we shall see as we advance further, 
 when they begin to bear the stamp of his force of character 
 and power of persuasion. 
 
 About this time, Matthias Lang, Bishop of Gurk, one of 
 the Emperor's most confidential advisers, came to Bologna 
 as ambassador to Pope Julius II., who wanted to negotiate 
 peace with Venice. The Italians, after their fashion, loaded 
 the intended envoy of peace with addresses and poems. 
 The Germans in the city did not wish it to appear that 
 they had no one among them who could produce things of 
 the same kind, and challenged Hutten to write something. 
 Hutten accordingly wrote an adulatory poem, which was 
 copied, handsomely bound, and handed to the Imperial 
 ambassador. He received it with an indifference which 
 deeply hurt the young poet. Nevertheless, supported by 
 strong recommendations, he tried to gain a post in the 
 retinue of the bishop, whom the Pope immediately after- 
 wards made cardinal, but in vain. The bishop appeared 
 not to notice him when he met him in Bologna, though 
 the mere appearance of the poor son of the muses might 
 have moved him to acknowledge the homage he had 
 received. Hutten never forgot this treatment from Cardinal 
 Lang. 
 
 Extreme necessity at length induced Hutten to enter the 
 army, although it was but a poor means of helping himself 
 It was a sad interruption to his studies, and with Jiis con- 
 tinued ill-health a life of torment. But there was no position 
 
 £ 
 
50 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 from which this man of genius did not seek to gain some- 
 thing for himself and the world. Thus, I will not say from 
 his service in the army, but from what he saw of the tumult 
 of war while he was in Italy, arose one of his most spirited 
 and charming works, his book of epigrams to the Emperor 
 Maximilian. * 
 
 They originated, as he says, in a preface added later, at 
 different times and in different places in events in which he 
 took part, or heard of from others. Part of the book is similar 
 to and of the same date as the admonitory address to the 
 Emperor written in Germany ; parts might have been written 
 in Bologna and Pavia before and after he entered the army, 
 and some parts appear to have been added during his 
 second stay in Italy. Thus the book follows the vicissi- 
 tudes of the war, and gives us a lively picture of victory and 
 defeat, hope and fear, the loss and conquest of cities and 
 territories, the conclusion and dissolution of alliances. 
 
 After two introductory poems on the book and the writer, 
 he begins by representing the long inaction of the imperial 
 power as only the preparation for great deeds. Maximilian 
 is endowed with more humane and peaceful virtues than his 
 warlike predecessors; but his love of peace is only for- 
 bearance, not cowardice, as his onslaught at length proves. 
 
 We are then conducted to Padua into the midst of the 
 conflict. The Venetians within the city, the Imperialists 
 without. Hutten, who is vexed that his lameness prevents 
 his taking part in the conflict, at first gives out in jest that 
 he is only a curious traveller ; then he says he longs for 
 death. At another time, when he is too near the walls, and 
 the shots of the besieged whistle round him, he retreats as 
 fast as his lame foot will allow. The Venetians are rejoicing 
 
 * Ulrfci de Hutten eq. Germ, ad Caesarem Maximilianum Epigram- 
 matum liber unus. Schiiften, iii. Preface to the Emperor. I. 
 
EPIGRAMS TO MAXIMILIAN. 5 1 
 
 too soon over a slight repulse they have given the Im- 
 perialists ; the Eagle will soon soar aloft again. At Cremona 
 he served the frogs (the Venetians) out. 
 
 This, as well as sundry others of these epigrams, is illus- 
 trated with woodcuts. The rapacity of Venice is everywhere 
 hated. Her commander, Bartolomeo d'Alviano, is a pattern 
 of treachery and godlessness. Then as a contrast he writes 
 a memorial to the German general, Jacob von Ems, who fell 
 in the battle of Ravenna, and celebrates in two epigrams the 
 bravery of the young Saxon nobleman, Joachim von Maltzan. 
 
 Proud Venice will fare worse than Troy or Babylon, Car- 
 thage or Corinth. The vicissitudes of fortune which Venice 
 has undergone are the theme of a number of epigrams. 
 
 The poet then turns more against the French, who, at first 
 the Emperor's allies, are now his enemies. There was an 
 epigram near the beginning bringing forward remarkable 
 instances to show how nations retain the same peculiarities 
 for centuries. The pride of the cock who thinks himself 
 above the eagle, but who will some day be plucked and 
 beat a retreat is made sport of in various ways. The epi- 
 grams still follow the vicissitudes of war. The French have 
 taken Milan ; are repulsed and evacuate Lombardy amidst 
 terrible tempests. Here is an epigram which might have 
 been written yesterday : — 
 
 FLIGHT OF THE COCK FROM ITALY. 
 
 Why is he flying away, comb bleeding, and feathers dishevelled, 
 
 He, the proud cock and the valiant, the dread of the birds all around 
 
 him ? 
 Why but because he preferred the din and the clamour of battle, 
 Thinking to win o'er the eagle a victory easy and sure. 
 Little he measured his foe : he bore it awhile and was patient ; 
 But when his rage was aroused he defended himself with his talons. 
 Truly, ill fares it with those who rashly dare to offend him. 
 Better to make him a friend than be crushed by the might ot his anger. 
 
52 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 The most noteworthy point, however, is that towards the 
 end the epigrams are directed against the pope. The year 
 before Hutten went to Italy, Julius II. had personally con- 
 ducted the siege of Mirandola, and entered the town, sword 
 in hand, on a scaling-ladder. If not the instigator, he was 
 the director of the wars of those times, and the contrast 
 between the spiritual office and the worldliness of the Papacy 
 was never more glaring. It was of great importance that 
 Hutten saw with his own eyes the devastation caused by 
 this war. Pope Julius and his doings opened his eyes about 
 the Papacy. Instead of a shepherd he was a wolf; instead 
 of the key of Peter, he was armed with the sword of Paul, 
 not like the Apostle to fall by it, but to cut down others.' 
 Next, Hutten attacks the pope's morals, the traffic in 
 indulgences and bulls, and the gain made of Germany by 
 the Papal Court. Clad in steel, so he describes the pope, 
 terrible to behold, with his wild eye, brazen front, and 
 threatening mien, he slays the people by sword and bullet, 
 by land and sea, and involves rulers in war ; pest of the 
 world, scourge of mankind, his work is death, his recrea- 
 tion shameless excess; unHke Christ and Peter in every 
 respect, what is there to make him worthy of the name of 
 pope? 
 
 The eyes of others had also been opened about Julius. 
 A prayer appeared for him in Germany, apparently during 
 his lifetime.* Christ, who by his almighty power can turn 
 a devil into an angel of light, is prayed to turn Pope Julius 
 from one of the worst of his titles into a saint, from a tyrant 
 into a father — "Grant that he may henceforth be drunk 
 only with the Holy Spirit, be ashamed only of shameful 
 things, love nothing but heavenly things," &c. When he 
 
 * Oratio ad Christum O. M. pro Julio II. Ligure P. M. a quodara 
 bene docto et Chustiano prescripta. Printed in Hutten's Schriften, iv. 
 
POPE JULIUS II. 53 
 
 died, in February, 15 13, satire was let loose. Hutten wrote 
 an epitaph on the shepherd who was a wolf, the dealer in 
 bulls who was himself but a bubble (bulla).* There was 
 also a " Dialogue of the Dead," in which the deceased goes 
 to the gate of heaven, accompanied by his genius. He 
 tries to unlock it, but has only the key of his cash-box 
 about him, not that of the gate of heaven. The noise and 
 knocking bring Peter. The assumption of his pretended 
 successor makes no more favourable impression upon him 
 than his appearance and escort. Julius relates his exploits 
 with pride, and exhibits the glaring contrast between Church 
 and pope, as they actually were, and what they were in- 
 tended to be. Since Peter seems less than ever inclined to 
 open the door, Julius declares heaven to be in a state of 
 siege, and hopes with the sixty thousand martial souk who 
 will soon arrive from the wars he has occasioned, to be able 
 soon to take it.f Luther liked this, and Erasmus, to his 
 great chagrin, was taken for the author. Both Dialogue 
 and Prayer have also been attributed to Hutten, but both 
 pieces have a smoother rhetoric than his writings. The 
 probable author is also indicated on the title-page of the 
 Dialogue, namely, a certain Faustus Andrelinus of Forli, a 
 poet who was under the protection of Louis XII. of France; 
 and the polemics of the Dialogue are rather from the French 
 than the German point of view. 
 
 In 1 513, probably while Hutten was in Italy, there 
 appeared a poem with the title, "The Good Man,"| accom- 
 panied by a curious allegorical picture, of which the poem 
 
 * Julii II. Liguris P. M*, Epitaphium, Hutteno auctore. Schriften, 
 iii. 
 
 t F. A. F. Poetse Regii, libellus de obitu Julii P. M. Anno Dni. 
 1513. Hutten's Schriften, iv. 
 
 X Ulrici Hutteni ex equestri ordine adolescentis, carmen emunctissi- 
 mum. Vir bonus. 1513. Schriften, iii. 
 
54 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 is the interpretation. The picture represents a man with a 
 head with long ears, set upon a serpent's or swan's neck, to 
 indicate that the good man is more ready to listen than to 
 talk. Out of his mouth proceed a lily branch and a sword, 
 the former to indicate the beneficial effect of his words, the 
 latter the force he will use in case words fail. Upon his 
 breast is a lion's head, symbol of strength ; one foot is a 
 bear's paw, symbol of stability; the right hand holds a 
 closed purse, while with his left he scatters money abroad, 
 to indicate frugality and generosity, each in their right place. 
 These allegorical features, and the moral common-places, 
 remind us of the youthful poem on virtue, and considering 
 the word "adolescens" on the title-page, which does not 
 occur after that time (in 15 13 Hutten was twenty-five), we 
 may suppose that this is a relic of earlier days, now printed 
 by his friends at Erfurt. 
 
 A little while before this, " Nobody"* had appeared in 
 print. We do not know whether the poet made this lucky 
 hit when in Germany or Italy. That such it was he knew 
 very well, and he afterwards brought it out again in an 
 enlarged form. We postpone more on this subject till we 
 have accompanied Hutten back to Germany. 
 
 We know nothing of the particulars of his return, except 
 that it was probably in 15 13. There is a letter of the end 
 of that year adcfressed to some German prince, probably 
 Albert of Brandenburg, from which it would appear that 
 the writer was not far off; also two notes to Ulrich's cousin 
 Dietrich, from which he seems to have been at Steckelberg. 
 He describes the reception he met with from his family as 
 by no means cheering. Instead of bidding him welcome 
 after his long absence and many misfortunes, they appeared, 
 
 * First ed., Ulrici Hutteni Nemo. With the later form in Hutten's 
 Schriften, iii. 
 
THE UNIVERSITY OF MAYENCE. 55 
 
 with few exceptions, among whom we may reckon his 
 mother, to regard him as a prodigal son who deserved to 
 be fed on swine's husks. As he brought no title with him, 
 they considered that he had been wasting his time. They 
 excused themselves for having left him to himself so long, 
 and for doing nothing then to promote his objects, on the 
 pretext that he had learnt nothing and was nothing. 
 
 But favourable prospects seemed to open from another 
 quarter. The Margrave Albert of Brandenburg, brother of 
 the Elector Joachim, had just been elected archbishop of 
 Magdeburg, administrator of Halberstadt, and archbishop 
 of Mayence. He had attracted Eitelwolf vom Stein, Hutten's 
 patron from the time he was at Fulda, from the service of 
 Brandenburg into his own. Eitelwolf intended to take 
 advantage of his new position to promote the revival of 
 letters. In the service of a young prince whom he had 
 interested in learning, he hoped to accompHsh on the shores 
 of the Rhine what he had failed in achieving on the banks 
 of the Oder. He intended to reform the University of 
 Mayence, founded by Archbishop Diether von Isenburg in 
 1477, and to make it a match for any in Europe. The 
 incompetent professors were to be dismissed, the most 
 able men attracted from all quarters. Means would not be 
 wanting, considering Eitelwolf's influence with the generous 
 Elector, and he did not mean to spare his own. Mayence, 
 with its university, was to be the scene of the learned lei- 
 sure of his old age, when, having renounced all political 
 offices, he should live for study and learned men alone. 
 He was fired by the example of Mutian, and used to speak 
 of him with great admiration. 
 
 He at once thought of Hutten. Hutten appears during 
 the following summer and autumn to have been engaged in 
 executing official commissions for the Elector at Erfurt and 
 
56 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 Halle. He exercised the functions of a judge, and, to use 
 Booking's expression, was now " rigidly the man of law." 
 But Hutten had by no means the temperament for a judge, 
 and was not so far wrong when he declined the study of 
 law. If we may trust a confused old Erfurt chronicle, once, 
 when a prisoner was being conducted back to prison with- 
 out having been convicted, the Commissary of Mayence, 
 " Ulrich von Hotten," exclaimed, gnashing his teeth with 
 rage, " Thou must die according to law, even if thou wert 
 as tall as a tower ! " Another case occurred in the course 
 of the same summer, in which Hutten gained no laurels 
 either as poet or judge. He appears to have taken part at 
 Halle in the trial of a baptized Jew, which resulted in his 
 being burnt in September, 15 14. The delinquent had 
 played the priest without consecration, as well as doctor, 
 and now under the rack confessed to all sorts of things, 
 possible and impossible ; not only to sacrilege and insulting 
 the host, but he asserted that he had seen the host bleed 
 when pricked ; that as a doctor he had poisoned Christians 
 and slaughtered Christian children, and had taken bribes 
 from the Jews to poison all the peasants in the dioceses 
 of Magdeburg and Halberstadt. It is not that we blame 
 Hutten for helping to sentence this man to death, for, 
 according to the notions of the age, he richly deserved it. 
 But he wrote a poem of one hundred and nineteen hexa- 
 meters, on Joh, Pfefferkorn, in which he recounted the 
 bleeding of the host, and such like things, as if he believed 
 in them, whereas he would have treated them, under other 
 circumstances, as priests' fables.* 
 
 It was high time to give the new official some employ- 
 
 • In sceleratissimam Jo. Pepericomi vitam Ulrici ab Hutten eq. 
 exclamatio. Schriften, iii. Together with the documents relating to 
 the trial. 
 
PANEGYRIC ON ALBERT OF MAYENCE. 57 
 
 ment better suited to his powers. An opportunity now 
 occurred which his patron did not fail to take advantage of. 
 In November, the new Electoral Archbishop was to make 
 his solemn entry into Mayence, and Eitelwolf thought that 
 Hutten should give him a specimen of his talents, and thus 
 ensure his favour. He advised him to write a panegyric on 
 the occasion, which Hutten speedily accomplished.* He 
 was not quite so ready to have his poem printed. In the 
 dedication to Eitelwolf he assigns his scruples to the short- 
 comings of his performance, and it is plain that he feared 
 to incur the reproach of flattery. 
 
 The poem represents the festal joy of the Mayencers on 
 the entry of their new ruler, to make way for whom two 
 archbishops have died within a short time. At the death 
 of the old Elector of Brandenburg, Albert Achilles, Mars 
 consoles Germania, by pointing to his three grandsons, 
 Joachim, Albert of Brandenburg, and Casimir of Anspach. 
 At the inauguration of Albert's reign. Father Rhine has 
 invited all the river gods to a festival. He advances up 
 the river in festal array to meet the prince ; a costly mantle 
 is suspended from his shoulders, in which the nymphs have 
 woven the history of Germany. The address from Father 
 Rhine to the new Elector contains some good advice as 
 well as fine speeches, which is received by the young prince 
 with blushes and good resolutions. The poet then portrays 
 Albert's character, representing him as a Hercules making 
 choice of virtue, and a pattern to all the bishops of his 
 time. 
 
 The prince, whose praises were sung, gave the poet a 
 gracious reception, and made Hutten a present of two 
 hundred gold gulden, through Eitelwolf vom Stein, and 
 
 • In laudem reverendissime Alberthi Archepiscopi Moguntini. Ul- 
 richi de Hutten Panegyricus. Schiiften, iii. 
 
58 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 promised him an office at his court, as soon as with his aid 
 he should have completed the studies broken off in Italy. 
 
 Hutten remained some time at Mayence, where besides 
 Stein he had a patron in his relative, the Marshal Frowin 
 von Hutten. They emulated each other in appropriating 
 the promising young man. When Frowin once said in a 
 company of learned men, " That is my Ulrich," Eitelwolf 
 rejoined, " He is mine too ! " His relations with the latter 
 were the most intimate, for Frowin, though a patron of 
 learning, was not learned himself. But with Eitelwolf he 
 could talk of what was his forte, and sometimes when 
 Hutten feared to intrude on the busy statesman, he would 
 say, " Come, I will snatch a few hours for our studies." 
 Such men were indeed exceptions to the general rule ; 
 most of the cathedral chapter cared far more for dogs and 
 falcons, money and pleasure, than for books and learning. 
 But if one of them had been at Rome, even had he been 
 only in the stable of one of the prelates there, he was un- 
 bearable; he v/anted to play the connoisseur in learned 
 matters, even though he knew nothing at all about them. 
 In such cases Hutten could not be quiet, and now and 
 often afterwards this involved him in difficulties. 
 
 It was at Mayence also that Hutten made the acquaint- 
 ance of Erasmus, who, in the summer of 15 14, was on his 
 way from England to Basle ; he returned to England in the 
 following spring, when Hutten again met him at Frankfort- 
 on-the-Maine. For Hutten the meeting with Erasmus was 
 a great event, as it was for Eoban and every other Hu- 
 manist. He was considered, and really was, the head and 
 leader of the whole party, to which Hutten, as he says, was 
 devoted with religious enthusiasm. Of the personal amia- 
 bility and the charm of the conversation of Erasmus, Hut- 
 ten could not say enough; Reuchlin and Busch were 
 
DEATH OF EITELWOLF VOM STEIN. 59 
 
 nothing to him. A correspondence was begun, and master 
 and scholar were well pleased with each other, not fore- 
 seeing the collision which was one day to take place be- 
 tween them. 
 
 Meanwhile Hutten was compelled to do something for 
 his health. In the spring of 1515 he went to Ems, and it 
 seems to have been his intention, if the warm springs re- 
 stored him, to proceed again to Italy, where he hoped to 
 meet his friend Jacob Fuchs, canon of Bamberg and Wiirz- 
 burg. But while at Ems he received a twofold blow. On 
 the very same day he heard of the death of Eitelwolf vom 
 Stein, and the murder of his cousin, Hans von Hutten, by 
 Duke Ulrich of Wiirtemberg. 
 
 Eitelwolf had for some years suffered from stone. The 
 only advice the doctors could give him was to spare him- 
 self, and being an active man he was but little inclined 
 to follow it. He was under fifty when he died. Hutten 
 deeply felt the loss of so wise and revered a patron, and 
 wrote an interesting memorial of him in a letter to Jacob 
 Fuchs, from which we have taken most of the particulars we 
 have given. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 MURDER OF HANS HUTTEN BY DUKE ULRICH OF WURTEM- 
 
 BERG, AND ULRICH HUTTEN'S AGITATION AGAINST THE 
 
 DUKE.* 
 
 1515—1517. 
 
 nPHE other misfortune, the murder of his cousin, was 
 communicated by the canon of Mayence, Marquard 
 von Hatstein, to his friend Ulrich at Ems. The reader will 
 remember Louis von Hutten, of whom we have spoken as 
 one of the heads of the family, and who was one of Hut- 
 ten's benefactors when cast off by his father. He had one 
 daughter and four sons, one of the younger of whom he sent, 
 after he had served under the Emperor in the field, to the 
 court of Duke Ulrich of Wiirtemberg, with whom he was on 
 friendly terms. 
 
 Hans was the favourite of his old father; he was a 
 spirited young man, handsome, well-built, and foremost 
 among his comrades in dancing, fencing, and swimming, 
 and always in good humour. He was a treasure to a 
 pleasure-loving prince like Duke Ulrich, who made him 
 master of the horse. In forest and field, over his wine and 
 play, he was always at his side. But they came in contact 
 on a point in which collision is perilous. 
 
 • The chief sources for the subject of this chapter are in Booking's 
 edition of Hutten's Schriften, i., iii., and iv. 
 
DUKE ULRICH OF WURTEMBERG. 6 1 
 
 The young Franconian's good fortune seemed complete 
 when the fair Ursula Thumb became his bride. Her 
 father, Conrad Thumb, was the first man at the Court of 
 Wiir tern berg. The duke had created for him the office of 
 hereditary marshal, and given him first a house at Stuttgard 
 and then the castle of Stettenfels, with the village of 
 Gruppenbach from his conquests in the Palatinate. As a 
 young man, the duke had often strolled into the marshal's 
 house ; had been fond of visiting the ladies' apartments and 
 joking with the daughter. These visits had not been dis- 
 continued after his marriage ; for his proud and querulous 
 wife Sabine, who had been forced upon him from political 
 motives, neither could nor cared to gain his affections. 
 Three years after his own marriage, the charming Ursula 
 became the wife of his master of the horse. The young 
 couple lived in the house of the bride's father, where the 
 duke continued to direct his steps. This was hazardous. 
 He became intrusive. The young husband remonstrated. 
 The passionate duke so far forgot himself as to fall at Hans 
 Hutten's feet, and to entreat him, for God's sake, to permit 
 him to love his wife, for he neither could, would, nor should 
 help it. 
 
 It is difficult for a prince to forgive any one before whom 
 he has humbled himself, and made himself ridiculous. It 
 was of no use to request silence about this scene ; it was 
 soon no secret at court, and the duke found himself exposed 
 to derision. In his perilous position young Hutten needed 
 good advice and turned to his father. He advised him to 
 relinquish his post and come home, and let his father-in-law 
 send his wife after him. But that would give rise to 
 gossip. Another way would be for his father-in-law to put 
 him into some office away from the court, when it was to be 
 hoped the duke might forget it. But Urach, where he pro- 
 
62 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 posed to send him, was an occasional ducal residence, and 
 Hutten declined it. His father-in-law, who wished to avoid 
 a breach, advised him to wait and see how the duke would 
 behave; but meanwhile scenes took place between them. 
 Hans had spoken of the matter not only to his father and 
 father-in-law, but to the duke's brother-in-law, Duke Henry 
 of Brunswick, with whom he was not on the best of terms, 
 and to brothers, cousins, and friends. The duke took him 
 to task for this treachery, as he considered it, and called 
 him a faithless wretch, who had treated him as Judas treated 
 the Lord. Hutten then thought best to ask for his dismissal, 
 but this was refused. He would have taken his wife with 
 him, and have talked against the duke. The father now 
 sent his eldest son, Louis, to the duke with a request that his 
 brother might be allowed to ride to Franconia to a family 
 conference. The duke said neither yes nor no. According 
 to the Huttens, he prevailed upon Hans to stay. 
 
 On the following day there was to be a ride to Boblingen, 
 and, according to the Huttens, the duke graciously invited 
 Hans to go, while the duke asserted that he went uninvited 
 and in spite of warnings. This does not seem Hkely, as he 
 was not in armour, had no other weapon than a dagger, and 
 was "on a little insignificant horse," while the duke was 
 clad in mail and well armed. On the way, he sent his 
 retinue forward, and while they were in a wood, desired the 
 servants to stay behind, and then turned upon his former 
 favourite. Whether, as the Huttens said, he took him by 
 surprise, or warned him to defend himself, makes but Uttle 
 difference, considering the duke's advantage over an un- 
 armed adversary. It certainly was not an ordinary duel ; 
 the victim attempted to fly ; his hat was found at some dis- 
 tance from his body, and five of the seven wounds by which 
 he fell were behind. The duke added insult to the murder ; 
 
MURDER OF HANS HUTTEN. 63 
 
 he wound a belt round Hutten's neck, and fastened a sword 
 to it, which he stuck into the ground. This was to denote 
 hanging, which his knavery deserved. The body was found 
 by the retainers. Duke Henry of Brunswick had it buried, 
 and warned Hans's brother to ride quickly home. The 
 family afterwards wished to have the body disinterred to be 
 buried in the family vault, but the duke refused. 
 
 This blow aroused all the family feeling of the Huttens, 
 and they felt themselves to be members of a powerful class. 
 A prince had murdered and insulted a noble ; — this in- 
 flamed all the bitter feeling of the nobles against the growing 
 power of the reigning princes. Eighteen counts and nobles 
 who held office under the duke relinquished their posts; 
 they grasped the sword and the pen ; and for Ulrich von 
 Hutten it was a fine opportunity to distinguish himself as an 
 author. The family held a conference, but Ulrich was not 
 present ; he wrote an elegy on the melancholy end of his 
 relative, and sent a letter of condolence to his father."^' 
 
 Both these compositions show how thoroughly Hutten 
 had profited by his Humanistic studies. The one shows 
 how his mind was imbued with his Cicero, Seneca, and 
 Plutarch, including the letter of condolence from Servius 
 Sulpicius to the former ; the other, his intimate acquaintance 
 with the poet who sang the early deaths of Daphnis and 
 Marcellus. 
 
 The necessity that the Hutten family should hold together 
 as one man, and Ulrich's usefulness when the pen was re- 
 quired as well as the sword, seem to have caused his father 
 to relent towards him ; for in July he was riding about near 
 
 * Ulrichi de Hutten eq. Germ, in miserabilem Joannis Hutteni gen- 
 tilis sui interitum deploratio. Schriften, iii. And Ulrichi de HuUen, 
 &c., ad Ludovichum de Hutten eq. auratum super interemptione filii 
 consolatoria. Schriften, i. 
 
64 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 home collecting debts. During these rides, or while he was 
 at the paternal castle, Ulrich composed his first oration 
 against the Duke of Wiirtemberg. The Huttens had issued 
 an address to the Wiirtemberg Diet, calling upon it to 
 avenge their duke's act, otherwise they must pubHsh it 
 everywhere, and call upon every one to help. In order to 
 give emphasis to this attempt, they convened conferences 
 of the different branches of the family at Spire, Windsheim, 
 Friedberg, and Anspach. Whether Ulrich was present we 
 do not know, nor what share he had in drawing up Louis 
 von Hutten's " Proclamation to the Empire," which, though 
 not published till later, was written at this time. His first 
 oration, however, is only a rhetorical version of this docu- 
 ment. 
 
 It was expected that Duke Ulrich would be cited to 
 appear for trial by the Emperor, and Hutten composed his 
 oration in the character of counsel for the plaintiff against 
 the duke before the Emperor and empire. He afterwards 
 apologized for the imperfection of his work by saying that 
 he had had no practice in preparing indictments, and was 
 without books. It is plain that he was deeply versed in 
 Cicero's Orations and the Philippics, and he clothed them 
 as it were in flesh and blood. When he wrote elegies and 
 letters of condolence he was not in his element, and adopted 
 a scholastic style ; but invective was his forte, and he pro- 
 duced works which are worthy to take their place by the 
 side of the classic models. The 'Roman naturally has the 
 advantage in purity of language and the art of rhetoric ; 
 but in spirit and flow of words, in the art of turning every 
 item to account, in lashing and crushing his foe, in carrying 
 his readers along with him, Ulrich von Hutten against the 
 Duke of Wurtemberg is not behind Cicero against Catiline 
 or Clodius. 
 
FIRST ORATION AGAINST DUKE ULRICH. 65 
 
 In the first oration,* after a somewhat playful commence- 
 ment, in which he says that no expression exists appropriate 
 to the crime which is to be his theme, Hutten bespeaks the 
 sympathy of the judges while he describes, as if they were 
 before his eyes, the grey-headed father, the mourning 
 brothers, the weeping sister, the desolate wife, behind them 
 the Hutten clan, and the Franconian nobles. He then de- 
 scribes the criminal as if present ; on his hands and face 
 may be seen traces of the blood of his victim, and from his 
 wild look you may picture to yourself his terrific mien when 
 he perpetrated the crime. The deed for which he is ar- 
 raigned is the most horrible, the most cruel, the most in- 
 human, that has ever been committed. The accused is the 
 most reprobate creature on the face of the earth ; his crime 
 the quintessence of all other crimes ; words fail to charac- 
 terize it. 
 
 The narrative then begins. The friendly relations of 
 Louis Hutten with the duke are described ; the sacrifice he 
 made in sparing his son ; the son's good conduct and faith- 
 ful service, acknowledged by the duke himself; their inti- 
 macy ; the confidence his father had shown in allowing him 
 to choose a wife in the duke's country. But now comes a 
 curious gap in the story; there is not a word about the 
 duke's relations with the wife, and it is just the same in 
 Louis Hutten's proclamation. It might have been in the 
 interests of the wife, whose cause the Huttens then iden- 
 tified with their own, that they thought it best to be silent 
 on this deHcate point ; but it makes all the rest inexplicable. 
 Still he goes on, the duke had shown no disfavour to 
 young Hutten. (Why should he ?) When he refused him 
 leave of absence, it was taken to mean that he could not 
 
 * *« Ulrichi de Hutten eq. Germ, in Ulrichum VVirlenpergensem 
 oratio prima." Vol. iv. of Hutten's Schriften. 
 
 F 
 
66 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 spare him. Louis Hutten also allowed himself this mitruth, 
 though he confessed that there had long been correspond- 
 ence between him and his son about the duke's passion. 
 Then the duke made believe that he would allow Hans to 
 ride home with his brother, only he must first ride part of 
 the way with him; he need not be armed, he was not 
 going far, the road was safe, &c. ; of which, however, we 
 must only accept as actual fact that there was nothing in 
 the duke's previous conduct to excite alarm. The vivid 
 and powerful description of what followed is a masterpiece 
 of rhetoric. We are told how the duke sent away one after 
 another of his retinue, how he sought a place for the deed, 
 rode straight across the fields, selected the wood for it, had 
 his spurs and bridle buckled tighter by his servant, while his 
 victim held his horse ; then the attack, the unequal combat, 
 the maltreatment of the corpse ; how he looked, after the 
 deed, like a criminal pursued by furies, the amazement of 
 his retinue until the riderless and blood- sprinkled steed 
 solved the enigma. 
 
 The object of the second part of the oration is to per- 
 suade the judges to convict the accused. An extraordinary 
 crime demands extraordinary punishment ; life for Hfe, arid 
 the law should be alike for all — rank should confer no pri- 
 vilege. Besides, there was the public good to be considered. 
 Before this crime, Ulrich had shown himself to be a mis- 
 chievous ruler; had excited a popular outbreak by his 
 extravagance (that of poor Conrad), and had put it down 
 with cruelty ; the brave Swabians deserved to be delivered 
 from such a tyrant. If his crime went unpunished, order 
 and morality would be at an end, and Germany would forfeit 
 her good name among the nations. The orator then goes 
 off into hyperbole against his foe ; he might have painted 
 him black enough if he had kept to truth, but that did not 
 
FIRST ORATION AGAINST DUKE ULRICH. 67 
 
 satisfy him ; he apostrophizes his enemy as " Thou blot on 
 the Swabian name ! eternal disgrace to thy people, thou 
 monster of cruelty, rage, treachery, &c. Thy sole desire 
 was to outdo all the villains that have ever lived by sum- 
 ming up every crime in one." Duke Ulrich was like any 
 other young prince of reckless character and scanty educa- 
 tion, who begins to reign at sixteen, but he was not the 
 monster that Hutten painted him any more than any other 
 man. Had our orator lived twelve years longer, he might 
 have found the prince whom he had helped to depose by 
 the sword of his mouth, after his restoration, a champion of 
 the Reformation from conviction, and fighting in the ranks 
 which Hutten himself finally joined. 
 
 As a contrast to this caricature of the duke, the murdered 
 Hans is described as a pattern of perfection. No wonder 
 that his reputation extended throughout Germany, and that 
 his friendship was sought by all. The greatest effect, how- 
 ever, is produced when he makes the shade of the murdered 
 man speak ; he gently reproaches his murderer, to whom 
 he had been so attached ; petitions that his corpse may be 
 restored to his sorrowing family ; breathes a farewell to his 
 country, for which to live and die had been his highest 
 ideal — to his father, his brothers, and the Franconian and 
 German nobles. 
 
 One remark must be made, for it is one which will often 
 recur in noticing Hutten's larger, and especially his rheto- 
 rical works. In the second part of the oration, after the 
 thread of the story is broken off, there is a want of arrange- 
 ment. Exhausted points are taken up again, and we some- 
 times feel as if moving in a circle. There was much pas- 
 sion and power in Hutten's style ; words and ideas crowded 
 upon him, and though they were made to subserve a certain 
 general plan they were not sufficiently reduced to order. 
 
68 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 His mode of thinking was rhetorical, not logical ; he aban- 
 doned himself to his feelings, and, carried away himself, he 
 carried his readers along with him. But he never fails to 
 draw up at last, and to conclude with a powerful peroration. 
 So in the case before us j a short summary is given of all 
 the facts of the case, and the Emperor and princes are called 
 upon to convict the criminal ; or rather he is convicted 
 already, it only remains to pronounce in words the sentence 
 which has fallen upon him in fact. Every one avoids 
 him, all hate and despise him. Hutten suggests sentence of 
 death, but appears disposed at another place to be satisfied 
 with imprisonment for life. 
 
 Neither this nor the following orations were then printed, 
 but Hutten and his fellow-nobles circulated copies of them. 
 They produced an effect, however. The duke heard of them, 
 and the orator would have fared badly if he had fallen into 
 his hands; but it was scarcely to be expected that the 
 Emperor would take steps against the guilty prince. It is 
 well known with what difficulty the imperial power then 
 maintained itself in Germany. Without adequate resources 
 of his own, dependent on the good-will of the states of the 
 empire, and involved in foreign wars, it was Maximilian's 
 policy to hold each class in check by means of the others ; 
 not to let any grow too powerful, nor to allow any to sink 
 too low; to lay some under obhgations in order to turn 
 them to account against others. Thus he had made Duke 
 Ulrich one of his creatures by consenting to the deposition 
 of his uncle and the exclusion from the throne of his insane 
 father, by declaring him of age prematurely, by confirming 
 his conquests in the Palatinate, and by giving him his niece 
 Sabine, of Bavaria, to wife. He naturally did not want to 
 forfeit the prince's gratitude for these favours by proceeding 
 with severity against him. So when the duke came to him 
 
FLIGHT OF DUKE ULRICH'S WIFE. 69 
 
 at Augsburg, not long after the murder, he not only assured 
 him that he would not desert him, but invited him to Vienna 
 to the approaching betrothal of his grandchildren, Ferdinand 
 and Mary. He appointed the Palatinate and Wiirzburg 
 mediators in the affair, and they were to seek to effect a 
 reconciliation. A declaration was to be made of the inno- 
 cence and uprightness of Hans von Hutten, and his murder 
 declared to be a misfortune which the duke's hot temper 
 had brought him into, and he was to pay ten thousand 
 florins to the father for the loss of his son, and two thousand 
 for masses for his soul. The Huttens might perhaps have 
 accepted this, or some similar arrangement, had not a fur- 
 ther misfortune befallen the duke which made their position 
 more advantageous. 
 
 In November, 15 15, Duke Ulrich's wife fled, and took 
 refuge with her brothers, the Dukes of Bavaria. The loose 
 nuptial bond had been broken by the commotions which 
 followed the murder of Hans Hutten. During Ulrich's 
 absence at the festivities at Vienna, Sabine had taken 
 measures to inform against him before the Wiirtemberg 
 Diet. It was suspected that she was conspiring with her 
 brother, Duke WilHam, to depose him and constitute her- 
 self regent for her son Christopher, then six months old. 
 After his return, therefore, Ulrich ordered her, as he said, 
 for the sake of economy, to give up her separate court at 
 Urach, and to come to him at Stuttgard ; but she did not 
 trust him, and no wonder, if, as the Emperor afterwards 
 wrote, his commands sounded like a threat to hang and 
 quarter her. Her flight was fortunate for the Huttens for 
 two reasons ; they might hope to have the dukes of Bavaria 
 with them against the Wiirtemberger, and that the Emperor 
 would also turn against him for the sake of his niece. 
 
 Ulrich von Hutten took advantage of this circumstance, 
 
70 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 though not until a year had elapsed, for another rhetorical 
 attack upon the duke. The contents, in a few words, were 
 as follows : — The Emperor and princes will now see what 
 comes of their delay. To one outrage the criminal has 
 added another — the threat upon his wife's life, and so he 
 will go on unless they render him harmless. If they hesi- 
 tate much longer, he will defy their tribunal at the head of 
 an army, for he was already negotiating with Switzerland 
 and France. The criminal was indeed self-condemned 
 already ; for, so says the orator, he is the most miserable of 
 men, suspects everybody, trembles at every sound, sleeping 
 and waking his crime haunts him. The billows of care 
 flow over him, remorse consumes him. But this does not 
 absolve the judges from their office. If the Emperor and 
 princes delay, the subjects of the criminal must bestir them- 
 selves. "Up, Swabians, grasp the liberty you long for. 
 You will not suffer a robber and an assassin to be your ruler ; 
 you, whose forefathers would not have a king. Put an end 
 then to the tyranny of the bloodthirsty monster; deliver 
 others from terror and yourselves from ignominy ; it will be 
 deemed a meritorious act." In another place Hutten says, 
 " He is no longer prince nor noble, German nor Christian : 
 nay, he is no longer a man ; for morals and the life, not the 
 bodily form, make the man. He has put off the garb of 
 humanity, and put on that of barbarity, cruelty, and inhu- 
 manity." 
 
 In the previous orarion the contrast to the dark figure 
 of the duke was the murdered Hans ; now it was the fugi- 
 tive wife. " Nothing can be more distinguished than her 
 form, more gentle than her manners, more charming than 
 her society. She has been all grace and sweetness in order 
 to gain her husband's affections." If we only imagine that 
 Hans Hutten was idealized, we know that it was so in this 
 
SECOND ORATION AGAINST THE DUKE. • 71 
 
 case. Her form was distinguished certainly, for she was 
 taller than her husband, but she was anything but amiable. 
 She was a masculine woman — hard, proud, and violent. 
 Her husband's complaints of her are credible, for in her 
 fifty-third year she was so furious with her brother about an 
 inheritance, that he had her shut up, and kept her in con- 
 finement for some months. Hutten acknowledges to having 
 availed himself in these orations of the usual rhetorical 
 license. 
 
 But it was not only for the sake of contrast that Hutten 
 painted Sabine in the brightest colours, but on account of 
 the relations in which her flight to her brothers had placed 
 them and the Huttens. The union between the parties 
 took place in February, 15 16. The Huttens now felt them- 
 selves to be supported by an adequate power ; their orator, 
 therefore, contemptuously rejects all offers of reconciliation ; 
 they want not the assassin's gold, but his head and life. 
 Louis von Hutten did not appear at the meeting appointed 
 by the Emperor to arrange the business at Augsburg in 
 August, neither would the Bavarians agree to any settlement. 
 By their advice, Louis von Hutten now published the pro- 
 clamation about his son's murder, which runs parallel to 
 Hutten's first oration, and it was illustrated by a woodcut. 
 The Huttens and Bavarians prepared to take the matter 
 into their own hands. In September they had nearly one 
 thousand two hundred horse near Wemdingen, in Riess. But 
 Duke Ulrich was not idle. He had a refutation of the 
 Hutten's proclamation drawn up, called out his subjects, and 
 wrote to the princes, nobles, and cities in alliance with them, 
 for help. Thus everything was tending towards war ; and 
 now Hutten's third oration comes in, for though, like the 
 second, not written until afterwards in Italy, it assumes to 
 have been delivered at the beginning of Septembei. 
 
72 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 What the orator had foretold had come to pass ; the 
 criminal now confronts his foes in martial array. Like a 
 true Catiline, he was seeking to smother the firebrand he 
 had ignited in the ruins of the fatherland. It was still in 
 the power of the Emperor and princes to disarm him 
 by their sentence. If once pronounced, the bandits who 
 had joined him would take flight, and he could be led 
 away to his doom. Not that the Huttens could not avenge 
 themselves in case of need. They are thirsting for revenge ; 
 and as for the speaker, the endeavour to punish every 
 assassin will only end with his life. But let the princes 
 consider the mischief of intestine war of this sort — the dis- 
 grace to the German name if it was said that there was no 
 right in Germany except by might. The Huttens once 
 more addressed them that all might see that they had only 
 taken it into their own hands because they could not get 
 legal redress. 
 
 In order to avert the threatened war, the Emperor at length 
 cited the duke to appear before his court at Augsburg in 
 the middle of September, on account of the murder and 
 the quarrel with his wife. Ulrich sought to gain time, and 
 pubHshed a proclamation to contradict Louis von Hutten's 
 account of the deed. Although immediately after the 
 murder, he had confessed in writing to the Count Palatine 
 that he was sincerely sorry for it; — although friendly princes 
 had tried to effect a reconciliation on the ground that " it 
 was only an accident occasioned by the Wiirtemberger's hot 
 temper," now, sixteen months after the event, he retracts 
 all this, and defends the deed as not a murder, but the exe- 
 cution of an evil-doer. Among young Hutten's misdeeds, 
 he had been faithless to the duke after pledging him his 
 word. It is not stated on what subject. Further, he had 
 slandered the duke to persons of high and low degree, and 
 
THE VEHMGERICHT. 73 
 
 had fabricated a story that he had sought to dishonour a 
 lady of good repute, of honourable race and name. The 
 duke, also mentions having repeatedly remonstrated with the 
 younig knight about his undutiful conduct, when he was 
 sometimes penitent, sometimes defiant. But the author of 
 this proclamation, feeling how little all this justified the 
 duke's act, alludes to " several important points in which 
 Hans von Hutten had acted maliciously and treacherously 
 towards the duke, but which he would pass over in order to 
 spare persons of high and low degree." 
 
 It was a strange device by which the duke sought to get 
 out of his difficulties. Even if Hans Hutten had been 
 guilty, how could the murder be called an execution ? As 
 has been related, after dispatching his victim, he stuck a 
 sword into the ground at the foot of a tree, and fastened it 
 to a belt round the neck of the murdered man. He could 
 scarcely have had any other motive for this than to insult 
 him as one who deserved hanging. But it now occurred to 
 him, or his advisers, that it was the usage of the WestphaHan 
 Vehmgericht * to stick a knife in the tree on which a 
 criminal was hung, as a sign that it was a legal proceeding. 
 Ulrich had been like many princes of his time, a judge of 
 the Vehmgericht. But six years before he had induced the 
 Emperor to release him and his subjects from its jurisdiction. 
 
 * The Vehm- or Fehmgericht was a tribunal instituted by Charle- 
 magne to maintain some kind of order in his newly conquered dominions. 
 A kind of jury, generally of eminent persons, met in the open air at 
 fixed intervals, and heard complaints against persons too powerful to be 
 dealt with in the ordinary way, and especially against the robber knights. 
 The proceedings of the court were recognised in Westphalia as legal. 
 The criminal was cited four times ; if he appeared, he was tried accord- 
 ing to the ideas of the time. The Vehm inflicted only one punishment, 
 death, and in only one way — by assassination. Its agents waited till 
 the criminal was off his guard, and then hanged him to the nearest tree, 
 leaving his sentence in writing stuck to the tree with a dagger. — 2r. 
 
74 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 According to its laws, the criminal must be taken in the act ; 
 the execution had to be preceded by a sentence of the 
 court, and three judges had to be present, to say nothing of 
 a man's being plaintiff, judge, and executioner in his own 
 person. But, in defiance of all this, Duke Ulrich now- 
 declared that he had intentionally acted towards Hans 
 Hutten as judge, in accordance with the laws of the Vehm- 
 gerlcht. 
 
 The prevarication of thi^ vindication was so palpable 
 that the Huttens were soon ready with a rejoinder. It is 
 dated 22nd of September, 1516. They had hitherto been 
 silent as to the relations of the duke with Hans Hutten's 
 wife. The duke had only mysteriously hinted at it, but 
 now the Huttens came out with it. They produced a cor- 
 respondence between Hans and his father-in-law with old 
 Hutten, which placed the duke's conduct beyond a doubt, 
 and disclosed the fatal scene when he fell at Hans's feet. It 
 was for no other reason, they said, than that he might the 
 better carry out his base designs that he had murdered an 
 innocent man. 
 
 Meanwhile the old Emperor seemed at last to be in 
 earnest. When cited to appear at Augsburg in September 
 the duke did not come, and the negotiations with his 
 ambassador were fruitless, as the duke refused to comply 
 with the Emperor's demands that he should retire from the 
 country and government for six years. 
 
 On the nth of October the Emperor pronounced the ban 
 over him, which released his subjects from their allegiance. 
 But at the instigation of the councils of the Palatinate and 
 Wiirtemberg, the duke made a humble apology to the 
 Emperor, and prayed to be allowed to remain amongst his 
 people. Cardinal Lang interceded in his favour. So ten 
 days after the proclamation of the ban, a treaty was entered 
 
\ TREATY OF BLAUBEUREN. 75 
 
 into at Blaubeuren, by which Ulrich was released from it, 
 on condition of the cessation of hostilities on both sides, 
 and that Ulrich should abdicate for six years in favour of a 
 government to be arranged between the Emperor and him- 
 self The Huttens were to be quietly appeased by a sum 
 of twenty-seven thousand guldens, to be paid by Wiirtem- 
 berg into the Emperor's hands. 
 
 How this treaty incensed Ulrich von Hutten may be 
 imagined. He entirely ignored it in the third oration, which 
 was written after it took place, and even in the fourth, which 
 was not written till 1517. He could do this with the more 
 propriety as it appears only to have altered the state of 
 things for the moment. The duke broke it immediately, 
 attacked the castles and villages of Dietrich Spat, his wife's 
 adviser, and of Zeisolf von Rosenberg, son-in-law of Louis 
 von Hutten. The country refused to pay the compensa- 
 tion, the Emperor renewed the ban, the parties their prepa- 
 rations, and everything was just as before. 
 
 As Hutten's first oration runs parallel to the first procla- 
 mation of the family, the fourth runs parallel to the second, 
 and contradicts the duke's vindication. It is the most com- 
 prehensive of them all, though hastily composed in a few 
 days. The duke's manifesto was made to be cut up by 
 Hutten. He calls it a document full of contradictions. 
 First, the duke says that young Hutten was oppressed by 
 the consciousness of his misdeeds, and more than once 
 wanted to kill himself or to flee ; then, that he mocked at 
 and defied the duke. That he had been warned before the 
 fatal ride, yet had ridden out with the duke unarmed. He 
 had said that Hans was faithless and perjured. What 
 about ? Let him state plainly. Then, if Hans Hutten were 
 a criminal, why did not the duke have him publicly tried 
 and condemned? Why a lonely wood and a personal 
 
76 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 attack ? If it was an execution, why challenge his victim to' 
 defend his life ? An execution is not a combat, nor a com- 
 bat an execution. Finally, if he had legally put Hans to 
 death, why did he offer an apology and compensation 
 money to his father ? The appeal to the Vehmgericht could 
 on other grounds be very easily refuted. 
 
 In their second manifesto the Huttens only briefly 
 alluded to the real cause of the murder, and it is not stated 
 whether the wife favoured the duke's attentions. But in his 
 fourth oration Hutten calls her the Helen of this war, 
 applies the most insulting epithets to her, and says that she 
 had an understanding with the duke before her husband's 
 death. The circumstance that she remained at court after- 
 wards, sufficiently condemned her. 
 
 To appear before the Emperor and princes with so incon- 
 sistent a defence, amounts, in the orator's opinion, to mad- 
 ness. The duke was relying, not upon his arguments, but 
 upon his preparations for war. Let him make the 
 onslaught; he will find himself deceived. The Swabians 
 are weary of his cruel and corrupt government, and in the 
 rest of Germany he is abhorred. The common people call 
 him the Wiirtemberg hangman. While he trembles with 
 fear, Ulrich Hutten, whose life he seeks, confronts him 
 fearlessly, and openly declares him to be his irreconcilable 
 enemy. The tyrant pretends to despise him, but he fears 
 his pen, and would give anything if he had never learnt any- 
 thing. By means of Hutten and his literary friends, he and 
 his deeds will live as they deserve to do. " I envy thee 
 thy fame, thou hangman," says the orator. " A year will be 
 named after thee ; a day will be named after thy foul deed. 
 Posterity will read that such a one was born in the year 
 when thou coveredst Germany with shame. Thou wilt 
 have a place in the calendar, thou villain ; thou wilt enrich 
 
FOTJRTH ORATION AGAINST THE DUKE. 77 
 
 history. Thy deed is immortal ; thy name will be handed 
 down to all times : thou hast attained thy desire." Truly 
 an EJratrostatic immortality, but very appropriate for a 
 monsiter. 
 
 " Thou vilest of bipeds," he once addresses him ; " thou 
 delightest in all that is bad, and in nothing good. Thou 
 art utterly depraved. One would think that nature wanted 
 to make in thee a masterpiece of evil." 
 
 In a spirited peroration, he challenges the Emperor to 
 proceed against so dangerous a criminal. " Give ear to us, 
 O Emperor ! give ear, thou protector of innocence, upholder 
 of justice, guardian of liberty, lover of virtue ! Listen, thou 
 successor of Augustus, rival of Trajan, lord of the terrestrial 
 spheres, chief of the human race ! Put an end to the 
 universal fear; save what can yet be saved of Germany. 
 Justify thy age, thy reputation, thy renown. Avenge the 
 good, punish the bad. The plaint of the orphan, the blood 
 of the innocent, cries to thee. Let him who has murdered 
 many, and is scheming to murder more, who has robbed 
 wives of their husbands, fathers of their sons, friends of their 
 second selves, Germany of its hopes ; who has plundered 
 sanctuaries, laid hands on priests, and robbed temples ; 
 who has sold Germany, and sacrificed the lives and property 
 of honest citizens ; who has kept his victim from the family 
 grave, and forbids us to mourn for our dead ; who is 
 ingenious in cruelty, active in inhumanity ; — this murderer, 
 bandit, executioner of the good, this foe of innocence, 
 enemy of gods and men — let him be torn in pieces, crushed, 
 put to death, annihilated, given up to fire and sword, the 
 gallows and the rope. And you, princes and men of Ger- 
 many, draw out from its scabbard the sword of justice. 
 Let not your arm be weak. It is unworthy, shameful, 
 ruinous to let such a scoundrel escape. Your posterity 
 
78 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 will be ashamed of their fathers, who have so degenerated 
 from the virtue of their ancestors. Well, then, either let 
 not posterity know (which is impossible) what crimes have 
 been committed, or (and this depends on you) let it know 
 that they were avenged." 
 
 During the rest of the old Emperor's life, he allowed him- 
 self, as he once gloomily remarked, to be outwitted by the 
 manoeuvres of Duke Ulrich, and his new chancellor, Vol- 
 land. How Hutten continued his contest with the duke, 
 and saw the day of vengeance at last, we shall see by- 
 and-by. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 HUTTEN's second journey to ITALY. 
 15IS-1517. 
 
 T T has already been mentioned that Hutten met with a 
 very chilling reception from most of his friends on his 
 return home. Instead of being honoured he was ridiculed 
 and despised. The times had so far changed that the 
 nobles now recognised the legal profession as one that 
 might be tolerated in a member of their class, besides the 
 usual chivalric, military, and clerical careers. Besides the 
 canon law, they studied the Roman or imperial law, which 
 at that time was more and more introduced into Germany, 
 took the doctors' degree, and made their fortunes as coun- 
 cillors, chancellors, &c., at the imperial or princely courts. 
 This was the career which the elder Hutten had in view for 
 his son after he declined the Church. But now, after a 
 short time, Ulrich had again taken to his nonsense {nugce)^ 
 as the old man called it, even before he left Italy, and 
 instead of coming back doctor or master of arts, had come 
 back as nothing and nobody. He had cast off his nobility 
 by his ignoble studies, and had not gained any other distinc- 
 tion. The family availed themselves of his pen in the feud 
 with the Duke of Wiirtemberg, without altering their opinion 
 about his studies in general. 
 
 This " nothing and nobody " which Hutten had so often 
 to hear and feel, reminded him of the poetical jest which 
 
8o ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 he had thrown off during his first Italian journey. He 
 looked up his " Nobody," worked it up, and added a prose 
 dedication to his friend Crotus. The Nobody is as the 
 Greek word * on the title-page and an epigram prefixed to 
 the first edition show, the Homeric Owis with which Ulysses 
 mocked the Cyclops. It figures in the second part of the 
 poem as the standing excuse of good-for-nothing servants ; 
 whatever they break or spoil. Nobody has done it. But 
 this part, even in the first edition, is preceded by another, 
 more epigrammatic, the wit of which consists in the ambi- 
 guity with which Nobody is at first represented as a real per- 
 son, of whom incredible things are said, and then gives place 
 to the mere negation. Nobody was before the creation of 
 the world ; nobody can do nor knows everything, nobody lives 
 for ever, nobody is exempt from errors and mistakes, nobody 
 is wise when in love, nobody can serve two masters, &c. 
 
 The second edition is improved and enlarged ; verses are 
 inserted which have a moral or political sting, such as : 
 *' Nobody gets up in the world by means of pure morals ; 
 nobody puts the public good before his own ; nobody can 
 be both a good man and a courtier ; nobody can make one 
 hat cover all the Germans ; nobody can keep off the Turks ; 
 nobody comes to the aid of the groaning Italians and frees 
 the city of Quirinus from the dominion of the priests ; no- 
 body ventures to find fault with the luxury and idleness of 
 the clergy or the Pope." This is no longer the harmless wit 
 of a young scholar, but the ideas of one who has seen the 
 world and thought over the affairs of men. 
 
 The only allusion to Hutten's personal affairs in the new 
 
 edition is that nobody gives the student his deserts. He 
 
 met with this nobody, he tells his friend Crotus, on his 
 
 return home. Then in allusion to the common opinion of 
 
 * " Ouri£, Nemo." Schriften, iii. "Dedication to Crotus," i. 
 
THE HUMANISTS AND THE LAW. 8 1 
 
 him, he calls himself nobody. His friend complains that he 
 has not written to him for a year; how can anything be 
 expected from one who is nothing? The multitude are 
 ruled by those who think of nothing but rank and title; 
 they do not care what a man knows, but only whether he is 
 Doctor or Master of Arts. He, for his part, will sooner 
 remain " nothing" for ever, and now and then make merry 
 with his friend over the follies of men, than be turned a span 
 from his purpose. 
 
 But the old lord of Steckelberg would not give up his 
 purpose of one day seeing his son an influential lawyer. He 
 opened his coffers to him on condition that he would go 
 again to Italy and Rome and resume his legal studies. The 
 Archbishop Albert of Mayence also gave him assistance for 
 the journey. Among the older generation of Humanists 
 the combination of legal and philological studies was not 
 unusual. The latter gave a man no position as a citizen, so 
 he called in the aid of the former. Thus Reuchlin was at 
 first Assessor of the Wiirtemberg Court of Justice, then 
 Judge of the Swabian Confederation, and called himself even 
 on the title-pages of his philological and theological works 
 Legum Doctor ; and Wilibald Pirckheimer was considered 
 as great a lawyer as a philologist. But the younger men 
 would no longer consent to this combination. They wanted 
 to base their lives on Humanist studies alone, of which how- 
 ever they often had to repent. Thus one fine morning 
 Eoban Hesse sold the law-books with which his bishop had 
 furnished him for his studies at Leipzig, and went back to 
 Erfurt to devote himself entirely to the belles-lettres. But 
 in order to get bread for his family he was before long com- 
 pelled to study medicine. 
 
 It went sorely against Hutten to comply with the wishes 
 of his friends, but he set out with several companions in the 
 
 G 
 
S2 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 autumn of 151 5. He would have liked to go byway of 
 Basle, where Erasmus then was, in order to see him again, 
 but his companions preferred another route, and he wrote a 
 letter to him from Worms, amidst the noise of the guests at 
 the inn, in which he enthusiastically expressed his admira- 
 tion for the sublime master. It was unfortunate that cir- 
 cumstances had kept them apart when he would have liked 
 to attach himself to him like Alcibiades to Socrates. 
 Erasmus was, in fact, the German Socrates, and had done as 
 much for the culture of the Germans as Socrates for that of 
 the Greeks. Whether he would have been so fortunate as 
 to please such a man he did not know, but he would not 
 have been quite unworthy to serve him, and it would have 
 been no dishonour to Erasmus if a German knight had 
 devoted himself to him. He would especially have liked to 
 study Greek at his feet ; he had thought of going to him, 
 and perhaps of accompanying him to England, and would 
 greatly have preferred it, not only to the court life which 
 was unfortunately to be his calling, but also to the journey 
 to Italy, where the troublesome generosity of his friends had 
 sent him for the sake of legal studies. Should Erasmus 
 come to Italy, nothing should prevent him from breaking his 
 legal prison to come to him. He then asks for an introduc- 
 tion to a learned magnate at Rome, for whom, however, he 
 wished to perform literary services, not those of a stable-boy. 
 This was not seldom the career of the *' courtezans," * as 
 Hutten called them, and to whom he was afterwards so 
 strongly opposed, namely, German ecclesiastics who went 
 to Rome in early youth, put up with the most menial offices 
 about the court, to return with the expectation of German 
 benefices and the most ultramontane views. 
 
 * The term ** benefice-hunters " has been subsequently adopted in 
 the translation. — Tr. 
 
ROUTE TO ITALY. 83 
 
 Wte do not know what route Hutten took to Rome unless 
 we conjecture that it is preserved in one of the letters in 
 the second part of the " Epistolae Obscurorum Virorum," 
 of which, as we shall presently see, he was the chief 
 author. The one or two points we know of Hutten's 
 route agree remarkably with what Magister Wilhelmus Lamp 
 reports of his in the " Letters of Obscure Men." Starting 
 from Steckelberg, Hutten must have gone through May- 
 ence as well as the Magister from Cologne. We know 
 from his letter to Erasmus that he passed through Worms, 
 and since he did not go to Basle, Augsburg would also 
 be his course, and the time given in Lamp's letter agrees 
 with that of Hutten to Erasmus. From Augsburg, Lamp 
 went by way of Landsberg and Schongau to Innsbruck, 
 where he fell in with the Emperor with a numerous re- 
 tinue ; then over the Brenner, already covered with snow, 
 to Trent, where he witnessed the Imperial preparations for 
 war, which Hutten mentions having seen, in an epigram 
 written at Rome. Between Verona and Mantua the Magister 
 was detained by the Venetian forces, and Hutten may have 
 arrived at Bologna about, if not precisely, at the time of the 
 meeting of the Pope with the King of France in December, 
 1 5 1 5, which Lamp professes to have done. It is also very 
 probable that, like his " obscure " counterpart, he pursued 
 his way through Florence and Siena. Considering the bad 
 roads and various hindrances, Magister Lamp can hardly 
 have reached his journey's end before the spring, which 
 agrees with Hutten's arrival at Rome during Lent. He 
 spent there part of the summer of 151 6. 
 
 Hutten has given us the impressions made upon him by 
 papal Rome in several epigrams in hexameters, which he 
 sent to his friend Crotus Rubianus in Germany. The first 
 concludes with the words, "Renounce thy desire to see 
 
84 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 Holy Rome, my friend ; what thou seekest at Rome is to 
 be found there no longer." 
 
 In another he expresses himself very strongly about the 
 way in which everything, especially indulgences, is to be 
 bought at Rome : " You may live from plunder, commit 
 murder and sacrilege, break the laws as you will ; your talk 
 may be shameful, your actions criminal ; you may revel in 
 lust and deny God in heaven — but if you do but bring money 
 to Rome, you are a most respectable person. Virtue and 
 heavenly blessings are bought and sold at Rome. You may 
 even buy the privilege of sinning in future. You would 
 then be crazy to be good ; sensible folks will be wicked." 
 
 In reference to Mayence, where the finances were severely 
 trenched upon by the purchase of palls in consequence of 
 the deaths of several archbishops in quick succession, he 
 exclaims : '* Your bishop is dead. Now, my countrymen, 
 you must have a new pall ; only bring gold enough, and 
 Simon of Rome will give you one. And thou, Simon of 
 Rome, mayest sell palls in peace so long as Germany has no 
 brains and shuts her eyes to the scandal." 
 
 By degrees Hutten made many literary acquaintances at 
 Rome. The reverence which he expressed for Erasmus, the 
 new editions of whose works he took with him and exhi- 
 bited, brought him many friends, as he afterwards wrote to 
 Erasmus, and it need not be taken as a mere compliment. 
 
 But annoyances were not wanting. From an allusion in 
 Hutten's fourth oration against Duke Ulrich, an ambassador 
 from the Court of Wiirtemberg at Rome was plotting against 
 him; and afterwards, when he was at Bologna, Wilibald Pirck- 
 heimer thought it necessary to warn him against assassins in 
 the duke's pay. It is difficult to discover how much truth 
 there was in this, but a real danger soon arose connected 
 with changes in the political world. 
 
HUTTEN'S " PROGNOSTICOl 
 
 ;univbr3ity; 
 
 Since Maximilian, now no longer young, had been" 
 fronted by a fiery and younger monarch, Francis I. of France, 
 instead of Louis XII., the affairs of Italy had been getting 
 more critical. In the very first summer of his reign Francis 
 had crossed the Alps in order to regain Milan, lost by his 
 predecessor ; he had succeeded at the battle of Marignano, 
 September, 1515. But now the Emperor began to arm. 
 Hutten (taking the route of Magister Lamp in the " Epist. 
 Obsc. Viror." as his) had found everything in commotion 
 at Trent and Verona, and heard the firing of the Venetians 
 at Mantua. If the present Pope, like his predecessor, 
 fanned the flame of war, there were terrible times in store 
 for Italy. This is the gist of Hutten's '* Prognosticon " for 
 the year 15 16, a little poem in hexameters addressed to 
 Pope Leo X., which must have been written at this time. 
 Astrologically and politically, it is stated, everything por- 
 tends war and ruin for Italy ; the Emperor, France, and 
 Venice in arms again ; let the Pope pray the gods for peace 
 that Christendom may spend its forces against the Turks, 
 and be able to reconquer the Holy Land and Sepulchre. 
 
 In the spring of 15 16 the Emperor advanced into Lom- 
 bardy, but soon retreated, deceived by the French, and, as 
 usual, in want of money. The Italians made fine sport of 
 him. There were jests about him at the theatres, pas- 
 quinades and caricatures appeared about him ; he was re- 
 presented riding on a crab, with the motto, " Tendimus in 
 Latium." Candles were lighted at mid-day to search for 
 him. The French in Italy were greatly elated at the success 
 of their young King. Hutten wrote two epigrams on the 
 subject, which he seems to have sent to Eoban Hesse, but 
 they were afterwards incorporated in his book of epigrams 
 to the Emperor. 
 
 The boastfulness of the French on the one hand, and 
 
86 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 Hutten's German heart and hot head on the other, were sure 
 to lead to some colHsion. One day he was riding with an 
 acquaintance to Viterbo just as an ambassador from the 
 King of France to the Pope was passing through. Five 
 Frenchmen, perhaps part of his suite, were making fun of 
 Maximilian. Hutten took up the cudgels for his Emperor. 
 From words it came to blows ; the five fell upon their one 
 opponent, whose companion left him in the lurch. Hutten 
 drew his sword, stabbed the one who was nearest to him, 
 and put the rest to flight. Not without reason, he thought 
 this a valiant exploit, enshrined it in six epigrams, which he 
 sent to Crotus, boasted of it to the Emperor in the third of 
 his orations against Duke Ulrich, and related it to his friends 
 when he returned to Germany, who had already heard of it 
 from his letters and epigrams. The more Hutten devoted 
 himself to study, the more desirous he was to be esteemed 
 also as a knight and a soldier, and none of his portraits after- 
 wards pleased him so well as the one which represented him 
 in arms. 
 
 This chivalrous exploit, however, naturally brought upon 
 him the enmity of all the French in Rome, and he found it 
 advisable to remove to Bologna, where he had made some 
 valuable acquaintances during his first stay in Italy. Here 
 he lived with the canons of Wiirzburg, Jacob Fuchs and 
 Frederic Fischer. 
 
 Hutten had devoted himself chiefly to legal studies at 
 Rome, and, though very unwillingly, gave most of his time 
 to them at Bologna. He afterwards looked back on these 
 studies as a bitter potion, and reckoned the four years nearly 
 which he spent in Italy as almost lost time. 
 
 But while thus conforming to the wishes of his family, he 
 did not lose sight of his own schemes. He found his know- 
 ledge of Greek imperfect, and at Bologna he and some other 
 
HUTTEN AND COCHLAUS. 87 
 
 young Germans took lessons from a Greek named Tryphon, 
 with whom he read Lucian and Aristophanes. The imitation 
 of the Roman bad habit of interspersing letters and even 
 poems with Greek phrases and stanzas dates from this 
 Grecian zeal. The study of Lucian and Aristophanes, how- 
 ever, was an epoch in Hutten's authorship. 
 
 The impression made by Hutten on Johann Cochlaus, 
 who was tutor to three young Germans at Bologna, is worthy 
 of note, for while he could appreciate Hutten, the difference 
 in their characters kept them at the distance which favours 
 observation. This man, whose real name was Johann 
 Dobneck, from Wendelstein, and Latinised the latter as 
 Cochlaus, was one of those who originally belonged to the 
 liberal Humanistic party, and were at first favourable to 
 Luther, but were soon repelled from the contest ; frightened 
 by danger on the one hand, and enticed by advantages on 
 the other, they turned more and more away from the Refor- 
 mation, and at length, without breaking their ties with the 
 Humanists, became its most zealous opponents. Cochlaus 
 blamed Germany for neglecting a man of Hutten's talents 
 and patriotism. He specially admired his sparkling wit and 
 talent for satire, and saw in him, even before he had written 
 one of his Dialogues, a second Lucian. But still the young 
 noble did not altogether please him. He was too sharp and 
 bitter, and wanted repose and gentleness. He feared that 
 his German plain-speaking would bring him into danger, 
 and thought that his friends should try to moderate him. 
 In personal intercourse he disliked his vehemence. For the 
 sake of peace he would pocket an affront; but after Hutten's 
 departure he confided to his patron, Pirckheimer, that he 
 and Hutten would be better friends at a distance. It was 
 just the same as we have seen with Mutian, and as we shall 
 see with Erasmus ; so also with Melanchthon. So it is to 
 
88 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 this day with Erasmicand Melanchthon-like characters; they 
 admire but do not like Hutten ; he is uncongenial to them. 
 The mediocre portraits which we have of him do not show it 
 any more than they indicate his mental powers ; but contem- 
 poraries assert that there was something austere and even wild 
 in the pale face of this slim, insignificant-looking man, with 
 light hair and dark beard, and that his conversation was 
 often cutting and repellent.''' This was not incompatible with 
 a winning pleasantness sometimes, and in some moods. 
 But it required a vigorous and somewhat martial nature to 
 find Hutten as Eoban Hesse did, "altogether lovable." 
 But we must return to our knight's studies at Bologna. He 
 found time for writing poetry, as well as for perfecting him- 
 self in Greek. In July, 1516, he sent his poetical epistle 
 from Italy to Maximilian to his friend Nicolas Gerbel, at 
 Strasburg. In September Cochlaus sent Hutten's satirical 
 poem, " Marcus," to Pirckheimer, and the poem on the 
 fishing of the Venetians dates from the same period. These 
 poems are of the same nature as the " Exhortation to the 
 Emperor " and the epigrams before mentioned. " Marcus," 
 and the poem on the fishing, are directed against Venice, 
 which is threatened with the Emperor's vengeance, while 
 the Epistle is an appeal to him to restore German honour 
 and supremacy in Italy. 
 
 The two first of these poems t treat of one and the same 
 thing — the rise and pride of Venice, and were suggested by 
 
 * There are various woodcuts of Hutten in his works ; for instance, in 
 the "Phalarismus," the "Gesprachbuchlein," the "Conquestiones," and 
 " Expostulatio." That in the last is probably the best. Booking thought 
 he had found a genuine portrait of Hutten in the Museum at Berlin by 
 Albert Diirer, and reproduced it in his edition of Hutten's works. But 
 the picture and the whole collection are now said to be spurious. 
 
 t " De piscatura Venetorum," heroicum, and *' Marcus," heroicum. 
 vSchriften, iii. 
 
ITALIA'S EPISTLE TO MAXIMILIAN. Sg 
 
 Venetian vain-glory in a poem by Sabellicus. Both are in 
 a different form from the usual one, and it may be con- 
 jectured, that after Hutten had treated the subject in his 
 usual style, it had occurred to him, perhaps in reading the 
 Homeric " Batrachomyomachy," that they would be more 
 effective in the form of allegorical parody on this Greek model. 
 Hutten confesses that he stole three days from his legal 
 studies to write the poetical epistle from the Lady Italia 
 to Maximilian.* In vain did France and Venice woo her 
 with brilliant proniises, she would fain be made great and 
 free by the Emperor, as of yore. She is a bride worth 
 fighting for, but how is she neglected ! (Then follows a 
 caustic description of the state of Rome.) By the renown 
 of his race, by the dignity of the empire, by the gods who 
 have assigned him his exalted position, by the bones of his 
 father, and the welfare of his grandson Charles, she adjures 
 him to tarry no longer. Hutten sent this poem to Gerbel, 
 and wrote to Richard Crocus, an Englishman who was 
 teaching Greek at Leipzig, that he had better get a copy of 
 it, and, if he could find time, answer it in Maximilian's 
 name, for he wished that some one else should do that. 
 Hutten's old friend Eoban Hesse undertook it, and before 
 long had the Epistle and the Reply printed together. Her 
 letter, the Emperor tells the beautiful Italia, has quite 
 inflamed him. 
 
 " Murmur no longer : impatient my steed paws the ground till we start." 
 
 But he did not come, 'and before long had to give up 
 Verona to the Venetians for a sum of money. 
 
 These three poems were not the only occasional labours 
 for which Hutten found time at Bologna. It was there 
 
 * " Epistola ad Maximilianum Csesarem Italise fictitia," &c. Schrif- 
 ten, i. *' The Emperor's Reply," by Eoban, the same. 
 
90 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 that he composed his third and fourth Orations against 
 Duke Ulrich. And now the writings of Lucian which he 
 read with his master incited him to a new work. In 
 l/ucian's works he made acquaintance with dialogue, and it 
 must have specially commended itself to his lively, social 
 character. It afforded scope for the poetic element in his 
 nature, yet concealed his shortcomings as a poet. He 
 eagerly adopted it; and it was in this form that he produced 
 his best and most effective writings. 
 
 As far as form is concerned, Hutten's authorship may be 
 divided into three periods. First, the poetical, from his 
 earliest epigrammatic and elegiac attempts in 1506-7, to 
 the "Epistle from Italia," in 1516. The process against 
 Duke Ulrich induced him, after 15 15, to throw himself into 
 the rhetorical form, and he cultivated also the epistolary 
 style. After 15 17 he adopted the dialogue, though he 
 sometimes recurred to invective. Latin poems become 
 more rare, but we find not a few German rhymes after he 
 began to write in German. Of this by-and-by. 
 
 Lucian's "Dialogues of the Dead" have often been 
 imitated, and Hutten had not far to seek for a subject. His 
 murdered cousin and his father, who had died not long 
 before ; the princely assassin, who unfortunately was not yet 
 in the other world. In one of his dialogues, Lucian represents 
 a tyrant who was dead brought into the nether regions ; 
 Hutten makes the Hving tyrant descend thither to ask the 
 advice of Phalaris. This is the situation in the Dialogue 
 "Phalarismus,"* which was printed in 151 7, while the 
 Orations were only circulated in manuscript. 
 
 The dialogue consists of two scenes, the first of which 
 takes place on the shores of the Styx, between Charon, 
 
 * " Phalarismus," dialogus Huttenicus. Mense Martio, 15 17. 
 Schriften, iv. 
 
THE "PHALARISMUS.'* 9 1 
 
 Mercury, and the *^ tyrant." Upon Charon's astonished 
 inquiry how he came to bring a living man there, Mercury 
 explains that Phalaris, who had long been dead, animated 
 by the desire to see tyrants in Germany, where they had 
 hitherto been unknown, had appeared to this Swabian 
 prince (real names are avoided), and given him the neces- 
 sary instructions. Charon then asks, " Can this, then, be the 
 tyrant of whom lately the shade of a young Franconian 
 noble, and soon after, that of his father, were complaining ? " 
 " This is he," answers Mercury ; and then a contest arises 
 between Charon and the tyrant, who, with his accustomed 
 pride, refuses to take an oar, which however they compel 
 him to do. 
 
 Conducted by Mercury, the tyrant arrives at the second 
 scene, in the Valley of Rocks, where his exemplars are 
 assembled- Phalaris, whom he greets as his master, is 
 delighted to see his pupil, who tells him how he has profited 
 by his instructions, and finally relates the murder of Hans 
 Hutten. Phalaris congratulates his pupil, for he had not 
 himself gone so far as to murder friends, but had confined 
 himself to those whom he suspected. The tyrant goes 
 on to say that he had escaped vengeance for this murder by 
 a treaty, which he did not abide by ; but under pretext of 
 recovering his wife, who had fled to her brothers, made pre- 
 parations for war. In case of victory, he intended to give 
 vent to his animosity, and he was come to ask hints from 
 his master. Phalaris recommends his brazen bull, and 
 other classical contrivances. It is a pity that he cannot 
 read the histories of Tiberius, Caligula, and Nero, in the 
 original, but he might have them translated. Quartering, 
 flaying, and putting salt or vinegar on the flesh, cutting 
 ofl" hands, feet, tongues, &c., were not bad methods. 
 Some of these he had already practised, answers the 
 
92 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 scholar, and had had his arms, the stag's horn, burnt in 
 upon the cheeks of some persons. Not to believe in any 
 gods, to persecute the most worthy people, suggests 
 Phalaris. That he had long done, was the answer. After 
 such discourse, Phalaris introduces his visitor to the tyrants 
 around him, from Astyages and Cambyses to Domitian ; 
 shows him also his uncle, Eberhard II., who is amusing 
 himself with a pet monkey, and Mercury conducts him 
 back to the upper world. 
 
 As may be imagined, this biting satire on a still-powerful 
 prince gave great offence in many quarters. At Wiirzburg, 
 where the bishop was on friendly terms with Duke Ulrich, 
 the "Phalarismus" was torn to pieces in the market-place by 
 the canon, Peter von Aufsass, for which the aggrieved author 
 sharply reprimanded him in a printed letter. 
 
 The consciousness of the hazard involved in publishing 
 such a work caused Hutten to exchange the tame Humanistic 
 motto which he had hitherto employed, with sundry varia- 
 tions, for those words of Caesar's which have since been 
 connected with Hutten's memory. Conscious of the purity 
 of his aims, he had previously loved to subscribe his 
 writings, " Sinceriter citra pompam," to which he sometimes 
 added, " Zelo virtutis." On the title-page of the "Phalaris- 
 mus" stands, for the first time, " Jacta est alea." At first 
 he sometimes went back to his old motto, but after 1520, 
 when he had entered upon the great contest with Rome, the 
 cast die had acquired significance, and was henceforth, 
 sometimes in Latin, sometimes in the German form, " Ich 
 hab's gewagt " — " I have ventured it " — the standing motto 
 of our hero. It was now and then strengthened with other 
 words of similar import. 
 
 But we must return from this digression to Hutten at 
 Bologna. He was not delivered from his usual plagues, 
 
VISIT TO VENICE. 93 
 
 illness and strife. He had scarcely recovered from an 
 illness in 15 16 when disturbances broke out among the 
 students. He was chosen spokesman for the Germans, and 
 thought he had spoken with moderation, but the stadtholder 
 thought otherwise, and Hutten found it best to leave the 
 place. An incautious word had also brought him into 
 trouble from another quarter. He spoke of Francis Maria, 
 whom Leo X. had deposed in favour of a nephew, as the 
 Duke of Urbino. But this was forbidden by the Pope, and 
 so Hutten had practically fallen under the ban. 
 
 He first went to Ferrara, where he made acquaintance 
 with Nicolas Leonicenus, then in his eighty-ninth year, the 
 last of the race of the great ItaUan Humanists of the fifteenth 
 century. Hutten did not lotig remain here, for two of his 
 cousins, who were intending to sail for the Holy Land, sum- 
 moned him to Venice. Here it was shown that the bond 
 between the Humanists in all countries was stronger than 
 national and political animosities. Hutten had expressed 
 himself in his writings as most unfriendly to Venice ; but it 
 was then a centre of Humanistic aspirations, and he met 
 with a more flattering reception there than anywhere else on 
 his travels. On the news of his arrival, young men from 
 the best families showed him about the city, and introduced 
 him to their acquaintances. His collection of books was 
 also enriched. 
 
 The cousins who had summoned him to Venice tried to 
 persuade him to accompany them to the East, for these 
 pilgrimages were not yet out of fashion, but he was dis- 
 suaded from this fantastic expedition by Crotus Rubianus. 
 His position at Fulda had been by no means brilHant, and 
 he had undertaken the office of tutor to two young nobles, 
 and accompanied them to Italy, where, as it appears, they 
 met with Hutten at Venice. Hutten returned to Bologna, 
 
94 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 remained there for a few days in privacy, in order to avoid 
 being waylaid, and at the end of June set out for Germany. 
 Cochlaus gave him letters to Pirckheimer at Nuremberg, 
 and to various acquaintances at Augsburg and Ingolstadt. 
 It is noteworthy that it was at the house of Cochlaus, just 
 before his departure, that he saw the work of Laurentius 
 Valla on the fictitious gift of Constantine, with the publica- 
 tion of which Hutten began his campaign against Rome. 
 Cochlaus, though timid about the publication, fully agreed 
 with the contents of the work. To this subject we shall 
 recur. We must now no longer delay to give a connected 
 account of the Reuchlin contest in which Hutten had taken 
 part, and especially while he was in Italy. 
 
CHAPTER VIL 
 reuchlin's contest with the cologne theologians, 
 
 AND HUTTEN'S share IN IT. 
 
 isi'— 1517. 
 
 AMONG those who helped to raise men's minds out of 
 the mists of the departing Middle Ages into a purer 
 air, and combated ignorance and scholasticism by opening 
 up the new sources of culture in thorough knowledge of 
 the ancient languages — in a word, among the Fathers of 
 Humanism, Johann Reuchlin,* or — as his name was 
 Grecianised — Capnion, took, about the close of the fifteenth 
 century, a prominent place. Hutten only expressed the 
 general opinion when he called Reuchlin and Erasmus the 
 two eyes of Germany, and said that it was due to them that 
 the Germans had ceased to be a barbarous nation. They 
 were revered almost as supernatural beings. Those who 
 were intimate with Mutianus Rufus and his more retired 
 labours were disposed to connect his name with those of 
 these two great men, but with his somewhat ironical 
 modesty he declined the honour. 
 
 Reuchlin was born in 1455 at Pforzheim, and was twelve 
 years older than Erasmus. His fame not only preceded 
 that of Erasmus, he took the position of a pioneer, of a 
 
 * " Joh. Reuchlin, sein Leben and seine Werke." Leipzig, 1871, by 
 L. Geiger. 
 
96 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 venerabilis inceptor. He was the first learned man in Ger- 
 many of the modern school, and was also the first who 
 mastered the whole range of the erudition of those times. 
 In this respect, even among those who afterwards surpassed 
 him, he had few followers. Even Erasmus was only " the 
 marvel with two languages," while Reuchlin was the marvel 
 with three. 
 
 Besides Latin, which he helped to purify, he learnt Greek 
 from learned Greeks, and Hebrew from Jews. He helped to 
 naturalise the study of Greek in Germany, but he founded that 
 of Hebrew in modern Europe. His work " De Rudimentis 
 Hebraicis," 1506, dictionary and grammar in one, although 
 mainly derived from old Judaic grammarians and lexico- 
 graphers, was the first system of the Hebrew language which 
 had originated on Christian soil, and he was fully entitled 
 to say, with Horace, at the end of the work, " Exegi monu- 
 mentum," &c. Then these feats of learning were only the 
 fruits of his leisure hours. He was only an amateur philo- 
 logist, for it was by the law that he gained his living, and 
 he did not always speak of it with respect. Erasmus was 
 more favourably situated. He was brought much more 
 into contact with princes and great men than Reuchlin, and 
 managed to Hve by his studies and authorship without any 
 special calling. No wonder, then, that he surpassed his 
 elder comrade in fertility, and therefore in influence and 
 fame. In fame also, because his study of the two classic 
 languages fell in with the Humanistic tendencies of the age, 
 while Reuchhn was singular in his fancy for the barbaric 
 Semitic tongue, and Erasmus wrote Latin with an elegance 
 very different from Reuchlin's inartistic style. 
 
 Besides this, the two men, who are often regarded as repre- 
 sentatives of the same principles, were even on this common 
 ground a contrast to each other. First, in externals ; the 
 
REUCHLIN AND ERASMUS. 97 
 
 slim, Insignificant-looking Erasmus, always carefi.1l of his 
 delicate health, was a striking contrast to the stalwart form 
 of Reuchlin, who, temperate as he generally was, could stand 
 an occasional outbreak. He once sat up far into the night 
 with his friend Johann.Wacker, of Heidelberg, in order to 
 taste all his wines, and was nearly changing clothes with him 
 in the mental fogginess of the next morning. Straightfor- 
 wardness and openness were as conspicuous in Reuchlin as 
 adroitness and reticence in Erasmus. The one could storm 
 and scold, and in these moods overstep the bounds of 
 justice and propriety, but his thrusts and blows were inno- 
 cuous compared with the pricks and stabs dealt out in 
 polemics with all poUteness by the other. In courage 
 E.euchlin was no hero ; he was by nature timid, and more 
 than once succumbed to threats' of danger; still, on the 
 main point, it was his firm attitude which gave rise to the 
 contest in which he appears as so tragic a figure. We can- 
 not conceive of Erasmus involved in any such conflict ; he 
 would have adroitly contrived to avoid it. They also differed 
 intellectually ; the younger man was a cool, ironical spirit ; 
 his way of looking at things, if the expression will not be 
 misunderstood, was rationalistic, and he aimed at perspicuity; 
 the elder, with equal powers of mind and not inferior learn- 
 ing, was a mystic soul with a subtle attraction to hidden 
 depths. His liking for Hebrew and for the Jewish books 
 was connected with this, and it involved him in the conflict 
 we are about to describe. 
 
 Reuchlin's interest in Hebrew was in the first place a 
 philological one in the peculiar construction of the lan- 
 guage. The necessity of a knowledge of it for the study of 
 the Old Testament added the theological interest. But 
 Hebrew was also for Reuchlin the language in which God 
 himself and the angels had spoken, the sacred language 
 
98 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 above all others. And in this tongue God not only spoke 
 that which is open to all in the books of Moses and the rest 
 of the Scriptures, but there was also a hidden teaching by 
 angels to Adam, the patriarchs, and Moses, preserved in the 
 later Jewish writings. Reuchlin was prepared for this 
 mysticism. He had studied the systems of Greek philo- 
 sophy, and had been especially attracted to the Pythagorean 
 system in its later form. In a work of 151 5, he says that he, 
 Capnion, intends, with the assistance of the angels, to present 
 to Germany the Pythagorean philosophy, as Marsilius Ficinus 
 founded the Platonic philosophy in Italy, and Faber of 
 Etaples had restored the Aristotelian in France. Reuchlin 
 had had a forerunner in this project in an Italian, Count 
 John Picus, of Mirandula, and although they came but 
 cursorily into personal contact, he greatly influenced Reuch- 
 lin's ideas. Picus was a mystical eclectic, who, in Neo- 
 Platonic style, sought to combine, not only Platonism and 
 Pythagoreanism, but also the Jewish mysticism, the so-called 
 Cabbala, and to turn the combination to account in favour 
 of Christianity. 
 
 In this attempt Reuchlin trod in the footsteps of Picus. 
 In his work " On the Miraculous Word " (" Vom wunder- 
 thatigen Worte"), 1494, are the words : •' God is love, man 
 is hope, the bond between them is faith. By an indescrib- 
 able union they can be so combined, that the human God 
 and the divine Man are to be henceforth considered as but 
 one Being. This union is effected by the miraculous Word, 
 the mystic names, Jehova and Jesus." ReuchHn evolved 
 the most complicated phantasies out of this pure mysticism. 
 In the Pythagorean system numbers, in the Rabbinical 
 letters, play a great part. Reuchlin beheld mysteries in 
 every word, every letter, and even every point, in the Old 
 Testament. He taught Laurenz Behaim, canon of Bamberg, 
 
REUCHLIN. 99 
 
 at Rome to find the seventy-two unutterable names of God 
 in a single verse of Exodus. In the three letters which 
 compose the Hebrew word in the first verse of Genesis 
 which indicate the divine act of creation, he found the 
 Trinity. In Proverbs xxx. 31, a prophecy (which was cer- 
 tainly not fulfilled) that after Maximilian, Frederic of Saxony 
 would be Emperor. Erasmus assigned such attempts their 
 right place in his " Praise of Folly." But it is plain that 
 Reuchlin must have placed a great value on the later 
 Jewish writings in which this sort of wisdom is to be 
 found. 
 
 Apart from this, however, ReuchHn's philological studies 
 of the language of the Ofd Testament were intended to be 
 entirely in the interests of religion, directed not only against 
 scholasticism, but also against the profane direction which 
 Humanism had taken, especially in Italy. But it was 
 impossible to avoid collision with traditional interpretations. 
 Reuchlin honoured his predecessors, but would not be 
 bound by any authority. *' St. Jerome," he wrote, " I 
 revere as an angel, and esteem Nicolas of L)Ta as a teacher, 
 but truth I adore as^a god." It may be imagined that 
 Reuchlin had a very poor opinion of the translation of the 
 Bible called the Vulgate, made with such scanty knowledge 
 of the original languages. But the Vulgate had long sup- 
 planted the original in the Western Church. The knowledge 
 of it had been lost in the Middle Ages; the clergy only 
 knew the Bible through the Vulgate; dogmas and usages 
 had been bas^d on its errors. In attacking the Vulgate, , 
 therefore, Reuchlin seemed to be attacking the Church 
 itself; and as he derived his emendations from the instruc- 
 tions and writings of Jews, it was easy to suspect his Chris- 
 tianity, even without the occasion for it which we have to 
 narrate. 
 
lOO ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 Reuchlin had passed his fiftieth year, and began to long 
 for repose. He had gone through a good deal; in his 
 younger days he had resided in France and travelled in 
 Italy, had been employed in important affairs of State, been 
 ennobled by the Emperor Frederic III., and had been 
 honoured by the friendship of one of the best of German 
 rulers, Duke Eberhard of Wiirtemberg. He had been 
 obhged to flee from his unworthy successor, had returned 
 after his deposition, but could take no pleasure in the noise 
 and riot of the young Duke Ulrich's court. So, as the office 
 of judge to the Swabian Confederation, which he had held 
 since 1502, only claimed his attention occasionally, he retired 
 to a little property not far from Stuttgard, where he pursued 
 his studies and indulged his fancies, such as rearing white 
 peacocks. 
 
 In the summer of 1509, a baptized Jew from Cologne 
 came to ReucWin at Stuttgard with a singular project.* 
 After trying in vain to persuade his brethren in the faith to 
 be converted, he had hit upon another plan. In a number 
 of addresses (he must have got help from the theologians of 
 Cologne in the Latin ones) he called upon rulers and people 
 either to convert the Jews by force, or to banish them and 
 bum their books. As this also failed, in 1509 he rode to 
 the Emperor Maximilian, then in the field, and in the camp 
 before Padua extorted from him and his corrupt secretaries 
 a mandate to all the Jews in the empire, requiring them to 
 exhibit all their books which are contrary to the Christian 
 religion, or to their own laws, " to our and the empire's 
 faithful Johann Pfefferkorn " (this was his name), " as one 
 well versed and grounded in their faith," and he was em- 
 powered, with the concurrence of the priest and two magis- 
 
 * The Chronicle of the contest is to be found in Booking, " Hutteni 
 Operum," Supplem. ii. 
 
REUCHLIN AND PFEFFFRKORN. 101 
 
 trates in every place, to take away these books and suppress 
 them. 
 
 PfefFerkorn now showed this mandate to Reuchlin, and 
 requested him to ride with him to the Rhine and to help 
 him to carry it out. But Reuchlin did not admire either 
 the man or his project. He pleaded that he was too busy, 
 and, besides, the mandate was wanting in some formalities, 
 which as a lawyer he pointed out, and as the Jew wanted 
 to have what was wanting in writing, he tore " a scrap off a 
 piece of paper " and wrote them down. 
 
 The fellow then departed ; but Reuchlin was not to be 
 let off so easily. In August, next year, he received an im- 
 perial mandate through the Elector Uriel of Mayence, to 
 give his opinion "whether it would be good, praiseworthy, 
 and beneficial to our holy religion, to destroy such books as 
 the Jews used, besides the books of the Ten Commandments 
 of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalter of the Old Testa- 
 ment?" It was desired, therefore, to consider the subject 
 more maturely, Pfefferkorn having set about it too fiercely 
 in Frankfort and the neighbourhood on the strength of the 
 first mandate. But it was no longer a question of destroy, 
 ing pernicious books, but all the books of the Jews except 
 the Bible, to such an extent had the scheme been carried 
 by the intrigues of Pfefferkorn and the Dominicans of 
 Cologne. Besides Reuchlin, the Dominican prior and in- 
 quisitor, Jacob Hochstraten of Cologne, Victor von Carben, 
 formerly a rabbi, now ' a Christian priest, were required to 
 give an opinion, as well as the universities of Cologne, 
 Mayence, Erfurt, and Heidelberg. 
 
 Reuchlin's opinion, or " advice whether all the books of 
 the Jews shall be taken from them and burnt," given at 
 Stuttgard, 6th November, 1 510, is a proof of the clearness 
 of his understanding, the integrity of his character, and the 
 
I02 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 moderation of his views. It is obvious that he desired that 
 the Jewish books should be preserved, not only on account 
 of their literary value and the rights of their owners, but 
 also on account of the mysteries he assumed that they con- 
 tained ; which is only to say, that, as is generally the case 
 in human affairs, some illusions were mixed up with the 
 good work which he did. 
 
 Reuchlin said that much might be said on both sides of 
 the question, but in order to arrive at a conclusion the 
 Jewish books must be divided into classes. Firstly, there was 
 the Old Testament, which was out of the question ; secondly, 
 the Talmud, a collection of expositions of the Mosaic law 
 of various periods. No one who did not understand the 
 language in which it was written could say that this ought 
 to be burnt. This was aimed at the Cologne theologians 
 and Pfefferkorn. He had not been able to get a copy of it, 
 and knew it only from refutations. To judge from these, 
 there may be many things in it contrary to Christianity. 
 But it was the very faith of the Jews that Christ was not 
 God, and it cannot be considered any insult to us ; and 
 many good things had been preserved in the Talmud which 
 it would be a wholesome exercise to separate from the bad. 
 Thirdly, the Jews possessed the " great mystery of the speech 
 and words of God," called the Cabbala. This was Reuch- 
 lin's special favourite, and he agreed with Count John 
 Picus of Mirandula that " there was no art which so assured 
 us of the divinity of Christ as Magia and Cabbala." A 
 fourth class consisted of the various expositions and com- 
 mentaries on particular books of the Old Testament, which 
 were as necessary for the right understanding of it as Ser- 
 vius and Donatus for Virgil. Fifthly, the sermons and cere- 
 monial books ; these belong to their worship, the right of 
 which had been conceded to the Jews by papal and im" 
 
REUCHLIN'S OPINION ON THE JEWISH BOOKS. 1 03 
 
 perial laws. Sixthly, books on arts and sciences, which 
 should only be destroyed so far as they taugHt forbidden 
 arts, such as witchcraft, treasure-seeking, &c. Seventhly 
 and finally, poetry and fables ; among these there might be 
 some, though very few, which contain insults to Christ, his 
 mother, the apostles, &c. The writer is only acquainted 
 with two, Nizahon and Tholdoth Jeschu, and these most of 
 the Jews consider to be apocryphal and fictitious. " If any 
 book be found in the conscious possession of any Jew that 
 with express words insults, mocks, or dishonours our Lord 
 God, Jesus, his worthy mother, the saints, or the Christian 
 ordinances, let it be burnt, in accordance with the imperial 
 mandate, and the Jew punished, but not until he has been 
 properly tried and sentence pronounced." The opinion 
 concludes with the advice " that the books of the Jews 
 should not be burnt, but that by reasonable discussions 
 they should be gently and kindly, and with God's help, 
 persuaded to embrace our faith." And, in order to gain 
 something out of the afiair for the cause of learning, he 
 suggests that the Emperor should decree that every German 
 university should institute two professorships of Hebrew for 
 ten years, for which the Jews shall supply the books. 
 
 The other opinions were different. All except Heidel- 
 berg, which suggested that a commission should be estab- 
 lished, proposed to take away the Jews' books, that they 
 might be investigated, except the Old Testament. The 
 Mayence opinion did not even except this, until it should 
 have been ascertained that the copies had not been 
 tampered with to the prejudice of the Christian religion. 
 Reuchlin sent his opinion sealed by a sworn messenger to 
 the Elector of Mayence, who was to send all the opinions 
 with his report by Pfefferkorn to the Emperor. The three 
 men to whom the Emperor submitted them decided in 
 
104 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 favour of the majority ; but the Emperor, being doubtful, 
 postponed the subject for consultation with the States of 
 the empire, and as the meeting of the Diet was delayed, 
 the matter rested. But Pfefferkorn thought it intolerable 
 that the Jews should meanwhile have the books back again 
 which he had taken from them, and he attributed this frus- 
 tration of his schemes to Reuchlin's opinion. He had, no 
 doubt, an official right to read it, but none whatever to 
 make use of it in a public print. But this he did in his 
 " Handspiegel " (hand-glass), in which he declared that 
 Reuchlin had been bribed by the Jews to draw up his 
 opinion in their favour. He also spoke contemptuously of 
 Reuchlin's knowledge of Hebrew. 
 
 Reuchlin asserted that at the Frankfort fair of 15 ii 
 " Pfefferkorn himself hawked about this libel on him for sale, 
 that his wife offered it to every one in an open booth, and 
 that he also gave it away." Not long after the Emperor 
 came through Swabia, and at Reutlingen Reuchlin showed 
 him Pfefiferkorn's libel ; he was displeased with it, but being 
 in haste he dismissed the doctor, saying that he would refer 
 the case to the Bishop of Augsburg. This, however, appears 
 to have been forgotten, and Reuchlin felt obliged to write 
 an answer for the next fair, as he expresses it, " as a wounded 
 man, to cure and physic himself." 
 
 This was the origin of Reuchlin's " Augenspiegel " (eye- 
 glass), of which there was a drawing on the title-page. He 
 relates the whole story from the beginning ; gives his opinion 
 verbatim ; adds a scholastic discussion in Latin, in which he 
 adduces and refutes a number of objections to his opinion, 
 and shows that the baptized Jew has told no less than 
 thirty-four lies about him. He repudiates the reproach of 
 having been bribed with all the disgust of an honourable 
 man. He was also highly incensed by Pfefferkorn's accu- 
 
reuchlin's "augenspiegel." 105 
 
 sation that he did not construct his Hebrew Grammar him- 
 self. Others might have given isolated rules, but no one 
 had reduced the Hebrew language into rules in a book; 
 " and if envy breaks his heart," he says of his opponent, 
 " still I am the first." It was nothing but a speculation of 
 the baptized Jew, " to get money out of me by selling me 
 behind my back at a book-stall. He has made more gulden 
 out of me than Judas made pence out of our Lord God." 
 
 This was Reuchlin's retort to PfefFerkorn's imputations ; 
 but shameful as it was to cast them on a man of Reuchlin's 
 reputation, still his accusations against Pfefferkom are not 
 proved. The fanaticism of a convert combined with a^fiery 
 temperament partly account for his conduct ; but nothing 
 can make him appear otherwise than a malicious, revengeful, 
 unbearable man. 
 
 Pfefferkom was again at Frankfort at the autumn fair, and 
 persuaded the priest, Peter Meyer, to preach against the 
 Jews and their patron Reuchlin, if only outside the church- 
 door. Meyer looked through the " Augenspiegel," issued a 
 manifesto against it, and sent it as a dangerous book to the 
 theological faculty of Cologne. They handed it over to 
 Doctor and Professor Arnold von Tungern to investigate 
 its orthodoxy. 
 
 When this came to Reuchlin's ears, he thought it advis- 
 able to try to avert the storm. He had been previously 
 acquainted with one of the Cologne theologians, Professor 
 Conrad Kollin, from Ulm, and to him and Arnold von 
 Tungern he wrote complaisant, or rather obsequious, letters. 
 He said that he had drawn up his opinion in obedience to 
 a high command, without thinking that others might differ ; 
 he had no wish whatever to forestall the opinions of the 
 faculty of Cologne. He had no legal precedents in relation 
 to the Jewish books by him, and had discussed the subject 
 
I06 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 freely as if he had been speaking, and had taken the lenient 
 side. He had only interfered in theological matters just as 
 a country priest practises medicine. He affirms that he 
 entirely agrees with the faith of the Church, and that if he 
 has said anything contrary to it, which he does not believe, 
 he is willing to retract it. " Have patience with me," he 
 writes to Tungern, " and I will pay thee all. Give but the 
 command, and I will sheathe my sword; when the cock 
 crows I will weep ; thunder first before thou lightenest." 
 
 Reuchlin might think it prudent thus to humble himself; 
 but it is never wise to humble yourself before priests. They 
 think they have intimidated you and double their audacity. 
 This is shown in the answer of the faculty of Cologne, whose 
 dean was the grand inquisitor Jacob Hochstraten himself. 
 Reuchlin had tried to frustrate the praiseworthy project of 
 the Emperor, by which he not only rendered himself open 
 to the suspicion of favouring Jewish unbelief, but gave the 
 Jews fresh occasion for mocking the Christians. Besides 
 this, he had adduced arguments which could not be proved, 
 distorted the meaning of passages from Holy Scripture, and 
 interspersed them with assertions obnoxious to pious ears, 
 which threw doubts upon his orthodoxy. Out of pity for 
 the sick member, before proceeding to extremes, they have 
 sent him a list of his misapplications of Scripture, that he 
 may explain himself, or recant them after the example of 
 the wise and humble Augustine. Kollin accompanied this 
 address of the faculty with a private letter, which was meant 
 to be friendly, but was really only calculated to intimidate 
 Reuchlin, and to drive him into the trap. It is written in 
 the barbarous Latin, and with the theological conceit over 
 which the " Epistola^ Obscurorum Virorum " afterwards made 
 themselves merry. 
 
 In his reply, Reuchlin extolled the piety of the faculty. 
 
NEGOTIATIONS. 107 
 
 and thanked them for their forbearance in first hearing him 
 before they condemned him, as God did Adam. He says 
 that his powers of mind are small, and, as a twice-married 
 layman, he does not presume to have any judgment on 
 theological questions, and is quite wiUing to be corrected 
 where he has been in error. Let them send him the decla- 
 ration they desired from him by their own messenger at his 
 expense, and restrain further proceedings until they have 
 received his answer. But Reuchlin indemnified himself for 
 his forbearance in a letter to his pretended friend, who 
 seems to have been the stupidest and lowest of the whole 
 set. Reuchlin criticizes his bad Latin; then says he has 
 neither frustrated a praiseworthy project against the Jewish 
 books, nor favoured Jewish unbelief; he had only given 
 an opinion when he was asked for it in accordance with his 
 convictions. It was not he who was guilty of any offence, 
 if offence there was, but the traitor who had made public a 
 sealed opinion intended for the Emperor. He deserved to 
 be hung ; God help the fellow. 
 
 The faculty then came out with what they wanted. Reuch- 
 lin was to prevent the sale of any of his books at the Easter 
 fair, to withdraw all those that were already in circulation 
 by a public proclamation, and to beg all the possessors of 
 them to believe that he in all things agreed with the CathoHc 
 Church, and rejected the Jews and their profane books, espe- 
 cially the Talmud. If he refused they would be compelled 
 to summon him to appear. They were induced to ask this 
 from affection ; and not only duty, but prudence dictated 
 that he should comply ; otherwise, as he could easily imagine, 
 after his death, when he could no longer defend himself, 
 people would pull the dead lion's beard, and speak of him as 
 one condemned to the lowest hell. 
 
 The shameless KoUin again added a friendly letter, but 
 
i08 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 Reuchlin's patience was exhausted, and he confronted the 
 Obscurantists as he ought to have done at first. 
 
 He had hoped that they would have been humane and 
 Christian enough, after his explanations had satisfied learned 
 men, to give him an opportunity of satisfying them also by 
 showing him in what form they wished him to make his 
 declaration, for even had he a double portion of Daniel's 
 spirit he would not be able to interpret every man's dream. 
 But as they had not done so, in order to please them, he 
 will for the next fair give in an enlarged form, in German, 
 the explanations which he had given to his opinion in the 
 " Augenspiegel " in Latin. He cannot stop the sale of the 
 "Augenspiegel," for it is the property of the printer. 
 
 On this his friend Kollin received a commentary. If he 
 had exerted himself for him, he had done no less for his 
 faculty. Reuchlin was well advised in this matter, and was 
 backed by such powerful friends that any illegal measure 
 would be likely to turn out worse for his opponents than for 
 him. It was easy to raise strife ; not so easy to allay it. 
 
 " For what a commotion will it make," he writes, 
 
 " when an orator with the power of a Demosthenes unfolds 
 the story of this quarrel from beginning to end, who cared 
 
 for Christ and who for the bag And beHeve me, 
 
 the poets and historians, of whom there are now a great 
 number, will join themselves to this host of the strong ones 
 who revere me as their former instructor; they will per- 
 petuate to the end of time the memory of this great wrong 
 which my enemies have done me, and describe my innocent 
 life to the everlasting shame of your university."* 
 
 The negotiations were now broken off. Reuchlin pub- 
 lished his " Clare Verstentnus," namely, his German expla- 
 
 * This correspondence is to be found in the collection " Clarorum 
 Virorum Epistolae ad Reuchlinum," of which more presently. 
 
REUCHLIN'S "DEFENCE/' 109 
 
 nations, and the faculty of Cologne published the result of 
 the investigation of the " Augenspiegel" {" Articuli sive pro- 
 positiones;' &c.), by Arnold von Tungern. It was prefaced by 
 a poem by Ortuinus Gratius, who taught honas literas at the 
 university, and was put forward by the theologians to show 
 that they also had a poet on their side. The book is dedi- 
 cated to the Emperor, and written with all the pomposity of 
 a scholastic theologian, all the scent for heresy of a priest, 
 and all the narrowness of a man who was ready to take the 
 field with the authority of an Albertus and a Thomas, against 
 Reuchlin, whose line of argument was of a totally different 
 nature. The faculty of Cologne also contrived to effect that 
 an imperial mandate should be issued to the members of 
 the empire, and especially to the Council of Frankfort, 
 ordaining that the " Augenspiegel " should be confiscated 
 wherever found ; and Pfefierkorn put forth a libel against 
 it, the very title of which, " Brandspiegel " (burning-glass), 
 sufficiently characterized it. 
 
 Reuchlin now felt himself released from all restraint, and 
 gave full vent to his irritated feelings. He wrote " A De- 
 fence against his Cologne Calumniators," which was also 
 dedicated to the Emperor. It is prefaced by the following 
 declaration as a sunimai'iiun : " Whoever says or writes that 
 I, the aforesaid doctor, in my opinion about the Jewish 
 books, have acted otherwise than as a Christian,, pious, 
 honourable gentleman, lies like an unbelieving, wanton, dis- 
 honourable villain, and I challenge him for the sake of right 
 and honour to come forward." If there was anything wrong 
 in his opinion, the right way would have been to have 
 accused him before the Church or his bishop. The grand 
 inquisitor had no authority to judge of controversies within 
 the Church, nor of merely suspected heresy, only to proceed 
 against it when pronounced. But even suspected heretics 
 
no ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 should be leniently dealt with to help them to regain the 
 right path. But this was not the object of the Cologners ; 
 they wanted to ruin him. They were not true theologi, but 
 theologistce, who spent their time in mere quibbles. He was 
 no more a patron of the Jews than the Emperor or the Pope. 
 In Tungern's book he found more insults than arguments, 
 and the latter were mostly taken out of his own writings. 
 In the Latin appendix to the '' Augenspiegel," and in the 
 " Clare Verstentnus," he had adduced objections that 
 might be made to his opinion and refuted them ; the 
 author of the Cologne treatise had adopted the objections, 
 but omitted the refutations, and replaced them by a lot of 
 theological stuff. 
 
 One of the chief accusations against him was, that he 
 had given to passages of Scripture a meaning that did not 
 belong to them. This he denied ; but if he had, it was allow- 
 able. The Church itself gave to many passages of Scripture, 
 the New Testament to passages from the Old, a sense 
 different from the original one. Thus, the Song of Solomon 
 was applied to Christ and the Church, or the soul of man. 
 Paul gave to the inscription on the altar at Athens a mean- 
 ing different from the real one. Matthew quoted a passage 
 from Jeremiah which was not there. If the literal meaning 
 was lost in these later adaptations, it was replaced by a 
 deeper, one. 
 
 But Reuchlin did not choose to be behind his opponents 
 in abuse any more than in argument. He calls Pfeflerkorn 
 a venomous beast, a villain, a monster ; and his theological 
 patrons, dogs, horses, mules, swine, foxes, wolves, Cerbe- 
 ruses, and Furies. Arnold von Tungern was assisted by a 
 man half Jew, half heathen, who had prefaced the book 
 with bad verses : Reuchlin then goes off into puns in the 
 bad taste of the times, and has the weakness to read 
 
IMPERIAL MANDATE AGAINST THE " DEFENCE." 1 1 1 
 
 Ortuin a lecture on having been guilty of a heresy unheard 
 of in heaven or hell— that of having called Mary Jovis 
 alma parens. 
 
 The impression made by this controversy on Reuchlin's 
 friends was various. They were all agreed in reprobating 
 his opponents, but Erasmus and Pirckheimer thought that 
 Reuchlin should not have immortalised a wretch like 
 Pfefferkom in his works. Mutian was concerned that 
 Reuchhn had accused the Church of false interpretations 
 of Scripture. He did not deny that he was right, but he 
 had better have kept this esoteric opinion to himself. The 
 wisest men have fabricated things, and pious frauds were 
 necessary for the public good. " But we must not babble of 
 secrets, nor disturb the opinions of the masses, without 
 which the Emperor would not be able long to retain the 
 empire, nor the Pope the Church, nor we our property, and 
 all things would lapse into confusion. Therefore, most 
 learned Capnion, leave us the faith of our fathers, and do 
 not so favour the Jews as to injure the Christians." Never- 
 theless Mutian said that any one must be a stupid barbarian 
 not to wish Reuchlin well, and he compared the attack 
 upon him to the attack upon Socrates. 
 
 In June, 1513, Reuchlin found an opportunity of hand- 
 ing his " Defence " to the Emperor, at Geislingen, and he 
 obtained from him a mandate enjoining silence on both 
 sides ; but only a month later his enemies persuaded the 
 same Emperor to issue a mandate to the Rhenish arch- 
 bishops and the grand inquisitor to seize and suppress 
 Reuchlin's " Defence "wherever found. The faculty of Cologne 
 now applied to the principal universities for opinions on 
 Reuchlin's " Augenspiegel" and "Defence," as had been done 
 about the Jewish books, only they substituted Louvain and 
 Paris for Heidelberg. All, with varying degrees of leniency 
 
112 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 towards the author, condemned the " Augenspiegel." The 
 theologians of Paris, after forty-four sittings, almost unani- 
 mously declared that Reuchlin's book should be burnt, and 
 the author called upon to recant. 
 
 When the theological faculty of Cologne had pronounced 
 the same sentence on the "Augenspiegel" a year— on 9th 
 of September, 15 13 — the grand inquisitor, Hochstraten, 
 cited Reuchhn to appear before him at Mayence. Upon 
 the protest of the procurator, the time was extended, and 
 on the 9th of October, Reuchlin appeared at Mayence, 
 accompanied by a doctor of theology and laws, and a 
 steward of noble birth whom Duke Ulrich had appointed to 
 assist him. The chapter proposed a compromise ; the 
 archbishop wished for delay ; Reuchlin appealed to the 
 Pope. But the grand inquisitor smelt fire, and was not 
 to be restrained. On the 13th of October, the Dominicans 
 went in solemn procession to the court ; there was a vast 
 concourse attracted by curiosity and promises of pardons ; 
 Hochstraten took his place on the judgment-seat ; the 
 bonfire was prepared, and the sentence about to be read 
 condemning the " Augenspiegel " to the flames. At this 
 moment a messenger arrived from Aschaifenburg with a 
 mandate from the archbishop, putting a stop to the sittings 
 of the court, staying further proceedings, and accepting 
 Reuchlin's appeal to the pope. Hochstraten departed, 
 beside himself with rage; but he had the satisfaction ot 
 seeing the " Augenspiegel " soon after publicly burnt in his 
 own city, as a wicked book, savouring of heresy, favouring 
 the Jews, and disrespectful to the holy teachers of the 
 Church. 
 
 Meanwhile Pope Leo X. had referred the appeal to the 
 Bishop of Spire, the young Count Palatine George, who 
 appointed his canons, Dr. Thomas Truchsess and George 
 
HOCHSTRATEN'S APPEAL TO ROME. II3 
 
 von Schwalbach, his delegates. Between 29th of March 
 and 24th of April, they pronounced their verdict that 
 Reuchlin's " Augenspiegel " did not savour of heresy, was 
 not wicked, nor disrespectful to the Church, nor unduly in 
 favour of the Jews ; that it might therefore be circulated ; 
 that Hochstraten was to be bound over to silence, to pay 
 damages to the amount of one hundred and eleven Rhenish 
 gold florins, and under pain of ban to be reconciled to 
 Reuchlin within thirty days. 
 
 But Hochstraten, who had at once appealed to the Pope 
 against the Court of Spire, was not converted by this sen- 
 tence, and so Reuchlin was compelled to send the documents 
 to Rome, with a request to the Pope to decide the matter 
 as quietly and with as little expense as possible. This 
 request was^ supported by the Emperor, by various electors, 
 princes, bishops, abbots, and fifty-three Swabian towns, all 
 bearing testimony to Reuchlin's edifying teaching and life. 
 The best hopes were entertained of the new Pope, Leo X., 
 as a friend of Humanism. The Cologners, meanwhile, to 
 be ready for every emergency, hastened to print the opinions 
 of the universities which favoured their side, with an intro- 
 duction from the pen of Ortuinus Gratius. The Pope 
 intrusted the business to the learned Cardinal Grimani, 
 Patriarch of Aquileja, who summoned Hochstraten to 
 Rome. He came in- good style, with good introductions 
 and plenty of money, which he hoped would soon enable 
 him to settle the question ; for Reuchlin was now Without 
 office, and had but a limited income. The Pope showed 
 favour at the outset to the Dominicans by nominating 
 eighteen prelates to decide the question ; still opinion 
 seemed to incline to Reuchlin's side ; and Leo said to the 
 learned Poggius of Florence: "Never fear; no harm shall 
 happen to the man." 
 
 I 
 
114 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 This uncertainty stirred up all the ire of the preaching 
 monks. They abused Cardinal Grimani, called the Pope a 
 schoolboy, and threatened in case of an adverse decision to 
 appeal to a Council, or even to rebel against the Papal 
 Chair. Pfefferkorn continued to fret and fume. His 
 " Burning-glas's " (Brandspiegel) was followed by an " Alarm- 
 bell " (Sturmglock), and as the burning of his namesake at 
 Halle* caused unpleasant mistakes, he called himself on 
 his next title-page, "J. Pfefferkorn who has not been 
 burnt." 
 
 Reuchlin, on the whole, showed good courage. He had 
 a good advocate and active patrons at Rome ; and it must - 
 have been most encouraging to observe that all good and 
 clear-headed men in Germany and Italy were on his side, 
 took up his cause as their own, and offered their services. 
 In order to show what influential friends he had, in 1514 
 he made a collection of "Letters of Eminent Men," addressed 
 to him ; a new edition, with a second part, appeared in 
 1 519, and on the second page are the words, "The army 
 of the Reuchlinists." f Reuchlinists and Arnoldists were 
 the watchwords of the two camps, and to hold to the one 
 and despise the other was considered to be the duty of 
 every honourable man. Reuchlinist was used as a signature 
 and address for letters, and to be a good Reuchlinist was 
 the best introduction to the republic of letters of that day. 
 
 * See page 56. 
 
 t The first edition was called, " Claroram Virorum;" the second, 
 "Illustiium Viroium. Epistolae hebraicse, grascae, et latinse ad Jo. 
 Reuchlinum," &c. The list of the Reuchlinists was headed by 
 Erasmus, as "the most learned man of the age." Then followed the 
 two nobles, Nuenar and Hutten, an English bishop, &c. ; then Peutinger 
 and Pirckheimer, Mutian, Crotus, Eoban, and Eberbach, Hermann von 
 dem Busch, Vadian Glarean, Melanchthon, (Ecolampadius, Capito, &c. 
 —altogether forty-three names. 
 
THE TRIAL QUASHED. I15 
 
 The esprit de corps and energy in this camp are remarkable. 
 Mutian worked quietly for Reuchlin by speaking and writing; 
 the Peutingers, Welsers, &c., exerted themselves at the 
 imperial and papal courts for him ; Erasmus commended 
 him and his cause to the Pope and cardinals. It may be 
 said that this question first organized the party of progress 
 into a compact body. 
 
 Meanwhile the process went on for years before the 
 Commission at Rome, amidst constant fresh intrigues from 
 the monastic party. At length the open sitting of the court, 
 at which judgment was to be given, was fixed for 2nd of 
 July, 15 16. The president, the venerable Archbishop of 
 Nazareth, gave his opinion in favour of the " Augenspiegel," 
 and was followed by all his colleagues, except the Magister 
 sacri Palatit, the Dominican Sylvester Prierias, who began 
 to play the part against Reuchlin which he afterwards 
 played against Luther. Thus the trial had resulted in 
 Reuchlin's favour; nothing but the proclamation of the 
 sentence was wanting. But Leo X. was afraid of the power- 
 ful preaching order. He did not want to offend them, nor 
 to encourage the German princes, who, while exerting them- 
 selves for Reuchlin, were always more and more strongly 
 urging a reform of the papal court. So a Mandatum de 
 supersedendo was proclaimed, that is, the trial, was not 
 decided, but quashed. 
 
 But even this was a victory for the party of progress. 
 Reuchlin had indeed come out of the six years' contest with 
 great pecuniary loss, but with the glory of a martyr. Hoch- 
 straten, after staying for a whole year at Rome, went back 
 an object of contempt to all right-minded men. Writings 
 appeared lauding Reuchlin and deriding his opponent. 
 Wilibald Pirckheimer, senator and imperial councillor at 
 Nuremberg, distinguished for his learning and wealth, pre- 
 
Il6 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 ceded his translation of Lucian's " Fisherman," in 1817, by 
 a letter in defence of Reuchlin, in which he took his part 
 with great warmth. 
 
 The Reuchhn trial excited special interest in the little 
 circle to which Hutten belonged. No one was more in- 
 terested in Reuchlin's fate than Hutten's oldest friend, 
 Crotus Rubianus; no one more warmly assured him of 
 his affection than Eoban Hesse. No one expressed himself 
 more strongly against ReuchUn's opponents than Hutten's 
 patron, Eitelwolf vom Stein. How could Hutten remain 
 unmoved ? This was something different from the brutality 
 of two ignorant rich men on the Baltic coast to a poor poet, 
 or the murder of an insignificant cousin by a hot-headed 
 prince, — it was a systematic attempt by the retrograde party 
 to suppress, in the person of one of the champions of culture, 
 all that Hutten held most dear. 
 
 When Hutten first made the acquaintance of Erasmus at 
 Mayence, before his second journey to Italy in 15 14, he 
 showed him a poem called " Reuchlin's Triumph." Erasmus 
 was pleased with it, but persuaded Hutten not to have it 
 printed then, in order not to give occasion for ridicule by 
 premature triumph, or to damage Reuchlin's cause, then 
 pending. Erasmus once says expressly that Hutten was the 
 author of the poem, but at another time he wrote to Hutten 
 in a way that suggests that several authors were concerned 
 in it. It did not appear until the end of 15 18, under the 
 fictitious name of Eleutherius Byzenus. 
 
 About the same time Mutian received a poem with the 
 same title, but with another name — Accius Neobius ; and 
 Mutian says that Hermann von dem Busch, not Hutten, 
 was the author. Hermann von dem Busch was about 
 twenty years older than Hutten, and his career was not 
 unlike his. He belonged to a noble Westphalian family, 
 
THE "TRITJMPHUS CAPNIONIS." 117 
 
 was the friend of all champions of the modern tendencies, 
 was always travelling in France, Germany, and England, 
 and was a real missionary of Hmnanism. When driven 
 from one university by the professors of the old school, he 
 went to another. Strange to say, when the Reuchlin dispute 
 broke out, he contributed an epigram against Jews and 
 their patrons to Arnold von Tungern's book, which he 
 afterwards repented. Mutian writes, in 15 14, that Busch 
 had sung a palinode, and was on good terms with Reuchlin. 
 Whether this was the " Triumphus Capnionis " of Accius 
 Neobius, and whether this and the one under the name of 
 Eleutherius Byzenus were identical, is uncertain. The 
 former was said to have been accompanied by an epigram 
 of Hutten's, the latter by an introduction and conclusion 
 in prose ; but these might have been substituted for the 
 epigram before the poem was printed. Eoban Hesse 
 beheved the poem to be Hutten's, and it is included in the 
 collection of his poems of 1538, supposed to have been 
 made by Eoban. There can be no doubt that the prose 
 introduction and conclusion are his, for they are exactly in 
 his style. He might have incorporated Busch's poem with 
 his own, if any poem of Busch's ever existed. 
 
 In accordance with the title, Reuchlin makes a solemn 
 entry into his native city, Pforzheim, after the fashion of an 
 ancient triumph, to celebrate his victory over the theologians. 
 The procession passes through the decorated streets ; first 
 come the weapons and gods of the vanquished party, sophis- 
 tical conclusions and arguments, bought titles, bonfires, &c. ; 
 then the monsters. Superstition, Barbarism, Ignorance, and 
 Envy ; then the vanquished foes in chains, first Hochstraten, 
 the man of fire, who eats fire, spits fire, and whose every 
 other word is " to the flames ;" then the tipsy Ortuin, the 
 sanctimonious Arnold von Tungern, the Judas Pfefferkorn; 
 
Il8 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 and last, the enemies of Reuchlin at Mayence and Frank- 
 fort. The captives are followed by animals for sacrifice, 
 musicians and singers who sing in praise of Capnion ; then 
 in a carriage profusely decorated with garlands appears the 
 form of the triumphant Capnion himself, his brow wreathed 
 with laurel and ivy, the " Augenspiegel " in his right hand and 
 an olive-branch in his left ; and last of all come the host of 
 lawyers and poets, also crowned, whom he has saved from 
 the fate which the Obscurantists had in store for them. The 
 first edition is illustrated by a woodcut. 
 
 During Hutten's second residence in Italy he followed 
 with hope and fear the vicissitudes of the Reuchlin trial. On 
 9th of August he wrote to R. Crocus, at Leipzig, that the 
 sentence was daily expected, and that it would be a decision 
 not only for Reuchlin but for all the Humanist party. A 
 month later his friends in Rome were still in good heart, but 
 he was afraid of the effect of the sophists' gold, for he well 
 knew the avarice of the Roman courtiers. About this time 
 Hutten addressed himself to Cardinal Adrian, Leo's suc- 
 cessor in the papal chair. This upright but narrow and 
 scholastically educated man, was by no means a patron of 
 the Humanists ; a few years later we find him spoken of in 
 a satire as the foe of all learned men, but Hutten hoped to 
 gain his favour as a German (Dutchman) for the German 
 savan. The poem which he addressed to him was almost 
 like an extract from the description of Reuchlin's virtues and 
 the depravity of his foes in the " Triumphus Capnionis." Of 
 course it was of no avail ; it was sent to the wrong quarter. 
 
 Hutten would have been only too glad to have written often 
 to Reuchlin, to show his sympathy and keep him informed 
 of the progress of his cause. But prudence forbade it. It 
 was a time of political suspicion in Wiirtemberg, and Reuchlin 
 was suspected by the duke. He had taken part in discus- 
 
LETTER TO PIRCKHEIMER. II9 
 
 sions at Stuttgard about saving the country from the conse- 
 quences of the duke's violence by his temporary deposition. 
 Had any correspondence between him and Hutten been 
 discovered it would have ruined Reuchlin, and therefore 
 common friends undertook to convey his greetings and intel- 
 ligence. Once, however, when ReuchHn wrote to him 
 under great depression he answered him. To Pirckheimer, 
 who began to be anxious about the result of the trial, 
 Hutten wrote : " Brave Wilibald, why do you fear for the 
 cause of our Capnion, whose innocence is his protection ? 
 So many thousand bad men are persecuting him, and a few 
 good ones — for I call those good who do so — protect him. 
 Which will be of the most consequence to posterity ? But 
 N. N. (the pope) will condemn him, swayed by the gold of 
 the Order. ^ An Erasmus, a Faber (of Etaples), a Wilibald, 
 a Mutian, have borne witness to the truth. And if you put 
 me to the rack I must say that I care more for your approval 
 than for that of the man who is lighter than spray, more 
 fugitive than down. And say what you will, I shall always 
 think more of an arrow that Erasmus lets fly at a scoundrel 
 than for the ban of the Florentine. We shall succeed -, the 
 innocence of the party whose cause we uphold is as patent 
 to the world as the unholiness of the most holy Leo. No 
 one with any sense can doubt it." 
 
 But the experienced Pirckheimer wrote back that many a 
 man has perished behind the shield of innocence. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE 
 
 A YEAR before the date of this last letter, August, 1516, 
 Hutten received news from home that a satire on 
 Reuchlin's opponents had appeared under the title of " Epis- 
 tolae Obscurorum Virorum," which had attracted a good deal 
 of attention. He had not then received a copy, but a month 
 later he wrote to Richard Crocus at Leipzig : " I have re- 
 ceived the * Obscure Men.' Good gods ! what a capital joke. 
 The Sophists not only suspect, but say, that I am the author. 
 Do take up the cause of your absent friend, and not let this 
 dirt be cast at me. Tell me all about it, and let me know 
 their designs." 
 
 The letters were already read and approved in England, 
 and a second edition had appeared in Germany. 
 
 By the dirt which Hutten wished to avoid he did not 
 mean the letters, but the attacks of the Obscure Men upon 
 the supposed author. Not long afterwards he read letters 
 in the same style to his countrymen at Bologna, who took 
 him for the author, but he put them off with a jest. 
 
 To the third edition an appendix appeared, then a second 
 part of the letters, to which also an appendix was afterwards 
 added. The " Epistolae Obscurorum Virorum," therefore, as 
 we now have them, consist, first, of the forty-one letters of 
 the first and second editions of 15 15 and 1516 ; secondly, of 
 
THE "EPISTOL^ OBSCURORUM VIRORUM." 121 
 
 the seven letters forming the appendix to the third edition. 
 Thirdly, of the second part, 15 17, containing sixty-two 
 letters, to the second edition of which an appendix of eight 
 letters was added. The ninth, or rather first letter, is a 
 repetition of one in Part I. ; the eighth letter of the first 
 appendix is a later interpolation; and the so-called third 
 part of the " Epistolae," first printed in 1689, is a collection of 
 additions of various periods, and has nothing whatever to do 
 with the original work.* 
 
 The title and idea of the work originated as a contrast to 
 the " Epistolae Claromm Virorum" to Reuchlin, pubHshed by 
 his party in 15 14, by way of throwing a weight into the scale 
 in his favour. The idea of producing a fictitious correspon- 
 dence on the part of his opponents would readily suggest 
 itself. Reuchlin had on his side illustrious and well-known 
 men, but the other party consisted of obscure men, known 
 to nobody. The first collection was intended to show what 
 noble spirits, what praiseworthy efforts for culture and pro- 
 gress, had rallied round Reuchlin ; this, to give a glimpse 
 into the abyss of ignorance, stupidity, and vulgarity which 
 was the element of his opponents. The letters were ad- 
 dressed, not to Pfefferkorn, he was too vulgar; not to 
 Hochstraten or Tungern, they were too formidable ; but to 
 their Latin hodman and political shield-bearer, Ortuinus 
 Gratius. Desirous of being a Humanist and polite scholar, 
 and yet of serving old scholasticism, he always cut a comical 
 figure j a man who employs the culture which he owes to 
 modem progress in opposing progress in the service of the 
 old school is sure to be looked upon as a traitor by, and to 
 be a special object of dislike to the adherents of the new. 
 
 These letters also form a complement to the " Trium- 
 
 * "Epistolae Obscurorum Virorum ad venerabilem virum M. Ortuinum 
 Gratium," &c. The text in Bocking's " Hutteni Operum," Suppl., i. 
 
122 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 phus Capnionis," in which the opponents of Reuchlin and 
 Humanism were combated with seriousness, pathos, and 
 contempt, while in the *' Epistolae " the weapons of satire 
 come into play. It is not a third person who writes about 
 the Obscurantists, but they themselves — the masters and 
 bachelors of arts, Genselinus, Caprimulgius, Scherschlei- 
 ferius, Dollenkopfius, Mistladerius, &c. ; sometimes even 
 Ortuinus, Hochstraten, and Tungern are the assumed cor- 
 respondents, a plan which elevates satire into the region of 
 pure comedy. Barbarism is, as Erasmus says, barbarously 
 laughed at, for it exhibits itself unblushingly without a sus- 
 picion of its absurdity. To do this effectively it was neces- 
 sary to collect together as in a focus the scattered elements 
 of rudeness and imbecility. Satire involves caricature. But 
 it is artistic only when so far tempered with reality as to 
 produce the illusion that it deals with real persons. As is 
 well known, these letters stood this test to such an extent, 
 that when they first appeared the mendicant friars in Eng- 
 land were delighted with a book in their favour and against 
 ReuchHn, and in Brabant a prior of the Dominican Order 
 bought a number of copies to present to his superiors. The 
 last letter in the Appendix to Part II. exchanged irony for 
 invective, and opened the good folks' eyes. 
 
 The first letter gives a good idea of the work. Amidst 
 all sorts of quotations from Aristotle and the Bible, Thomas 
 Langschn eider, bachelor of theology, submits a question 
 which had lately been discussed at a banquet of masters of 
 arts at Leipzic, to his former teacher, Ortuin Gratius. He 
 does not fail to relate how doctors, masters, and licentiates 
 had been feasted at the expense of the new M.A.s on roast 
 capons and fish. Malmsey and Rhine wine, Torgau and 
 Neuburg beer. Thus exhilarated, they began to discuss 
 important questions ; among others, whether one who was 
 
THE "EPISTOL^ OBSCURORUM VIRORUM." 123 
 
 about to be made doctor of theology, or, in the language 
 of the time, magister noster, should be called magister nos- 
 trandus or noster magistrandus. Magister Warmsemmel 
 (Hot-roll), an acute Scotist, was in favour of the latter ; for, 
 says he, magistrare is a verb, s. v, a magistrum facere, and 
 from this comes magistrandus ; nostro, nostrare, on the con- 
 trary, is not the usage, and is not in the dictionary. But 
 Magister Delitsch, artist, physician, and jurist (a real per- 
 son), took the other side. It was not at all immaterial 
 whether noster stood before or after magister. Magister 
 noster means a doctor of theology, but every master of any 
 of the arts, liberal or illiberal, maybe called noster magister; 
 therefore magister nostrandus only can be right. It does 
 not signify that nostrare is not according to usage, for, 
 according to^ Horace (" Ars Poetica*'), it is allowable to coin 
 words. The writer begs Ortuin to decide which of these 
 opinions is correct, and to tell him at the same time how the 
 fight with Reuchlin is going on, for he has heard that the 
 fellow will not recant. Will he also send him Arnold von 
 Tungern's book against Reuchlin, and he hopes he will not 
 be offended at the freedom with which he has written. 
 Erasmus was so fond of this letter, of which a copy was sent 
 him in manuscript, with its prandium magistrale, and read it 
 so often to his friends that he could nearly say it by heart. 
 
 It fully introduces us to the life and mental horizon of 
 the men with whom we have to do in the " Epistolae Obsc. 
 Viror." Similar scenes and discussions, each more scholastic 
 than the last, are always recurring. Thus Ortuin once said 
 of a certain magister noster that he was a member (mem- 
 brum) of ten universities. But the acute Dr. Klorbius re- 
 marks that it is incorrect to speak of a member of several 
 bodies, because though a body has many members, a member 
 cannot belong to several bodies. But neither would it do 
 
124 ITLRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 to call the said magister noster a body of ten universities, 
 as then the universities would be subordinate to their mem- 
 bers, and therefore also to him, which would be derogatory 
 to the universities, and too much even for a magister 
 noster, who, after all, is but a man. What remains, there- 
 fore ? Dr. Klorbius decides that he who has matriculated 
 at ten universities may say, " I am members (membra) of 
 ten universities," in which case the incongruity of the plural 
 is no greater than when Virgil calls the one Alexis " delicias " 
 of his lord. 
 
 Sometimes conscientious scruples give rise to these subtile 
 discussions. Somebody eats an egg in which the chick was 
 developed. He remembers that it is Friday, and his con- 
 science is troubled. A friend consoles him by saying that 
 unhatched chickens are no worse than the grubs in cheese 
 or cherries which may happen to be swallowed in Lent. 
 But he is not satisfied, and applies to Ortuin ; for worms, he 
 has been told by a doctor who is considered a good 
 naturalist, belong to the order of fishes, which may be eaten 
 in fast time, whereas the developed chick in an egg is for- 
 bidden meat. 
 
 While these Obscurantists th&s sharpen their wits on 
 nothing, they are as ignorant as can be of the intellectual 
 progress of the times. They confound the grammarian 
 Diomedes with the Homeric hero. They complain that 
 Reuchlin (called, as they say, in Hebrew^ Capnion), and 
 another person, called Proverbia Erasmi (alluding to the 
 " Adagia " of Erasmus), want to introduce a new Latin ijito 
 theology. They consider Greek and Hebrew to be useless, 
 for the Holy Scriptures have been sufficiently translated, 
 and we should not make the unbelieving Jews and schismatic 
 Greeks vain by learning their languages. The question is 
 put, whether it is necessary to eternal salvation that scholars 
 
THE "EPISTOL^ OBSCURORUM VIRORUM." 1 25 
 
 should learn grammar from profane poets, such as Virgil, 
 Cicero, and Pliny. It is decided in the negative, since, 
 according to Aristotle, poets tell many lies, and he who lies 
 sins, and he who bases his studies upon lies bases them 
 upon sin, and God is the enemy of sin. Their derivations 
 also are on a par with their knowledge of languages. 
 Mavors (Mars) the God of War, is the man-eater, mares 
 vorans; Mercurius, he qui mercatores curat. Magister is 
 either compounded of magis and ter^ because he must 
 know three times as much as any one else, or else of 
 magis and terreo, because he should inspire his pupils with 
 fear.- 
 
 But Ortuin's correspondents do not give up their claims 
 to be poets and polite scholars any more than he did. 
 They pride, themselves on their style. They send their 
 poetical performances to him with a request that he will 
 improve and scan them, for they are aware that they are 
 lame in the feet. But what signify the feet? They are 
 not profane but theological poets, who are concerned with 
 the sense, not the form. The good old poetry, which is 
 approved by the magistri nostri at Paris and Cologne, 
 is one thing, and the new-fangled poetry by fellows with no 
 degrees on the models of Virgil, Pliny, and other modern 
 authors, is another. What these profane poets write is mere 
 nonsense, while the ecclesiastical poets sing the praises of 
 the saints; the former interpret the heathen authors literally, 
 while the latter apply the fourfold system of interpretation 
 even to the " Metamorphoses " of Ovid, and find allegories 
 about Mary and Christ even in Semele and Bacchus. The 
 expulsion of one of these profane poets, Rhagius ^sticam- 
 
 * On this point neither party could plume themselves. Etymology 
 was not the forte of the age. Many of Reuchlin's derivations are not 
 much more correct. 
 
126 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 planus, from Leipzig, is narrated with great glee, and the 
 Cologners are advised to treat Hermann Busch in the same 
 way. The abuse was on the increase. In his time, writes an 
 old magister, there was but one poet of the name of Samuel 
 (the author of the edifying rhymes, " Disce, bone Clerice," 
 &c.). Now there were at least twenty at Leipzig alone, 
 who played off all sorts of tricks upon the adherents of the 
 old school. If things went on so the universities would be 
 ruined. Their glory was departing, and the lecture-rooms of 
 the magistri artium, in which the youth might have learnt to 
 make such subtile distinctions, acute objections, and clever 
 syllogisms, were deserted. Even the degrees they had to 
 confer were despised ; the pupils of the poetical professors 
 no longer tried to get the degree of B.A. or M.A. When 
 they went home and' their parents asked what they had 
 become, the answer was, " Nothing." The parents regretted 
 their wasted money, and warned others not to send their 
 children to the universities. 
 
 There was no end to these colHsions between the masters 
 and the poets. Now it is about the holy coat of Treves, 
 which one of the latter called a lousy old coat ; now about 
 the reliques of the three kings at Cologne, which the same 
 free-thinker says very likely belonged to three Westphalian 
 peasants ; about the scholastic lesson-books, and the ques- 
 tion of the day, Reuchlin and Hochstraten, and how the 
 poets say that the University of Paris, on account of its 
 condemnation of the " Augenspiegel," must exchange its 
 title of Mater Studiorum for Mater Stultitiae. Acts of violence 
 between the parties, as in a farce, are not wanting. The 
 journey of Magister Schlauraff, which he describes in rhyme, 
 recounts a series of blows and boxes on the ears which he 
 receives from the poets' party as an opponent of Reuchlin, 
 and he is driven from one university to another over half 
 
THE "E?ISTOL^ OBSCURORUM VIRORUM." 1 27 
 
 Germany. The Crown at Mayence is the special horror of 
 the M.A.S., because it is frequented by poets and free- 
 thinkers. They went about with daggers at their sides, 
 betted on Hochstraten's pardon-ticket, used blasphemous 
 language, and would not permit an honourable M.A. to eat 
 the dinner he had paid for in peace. Ulrich von Hutten 
 was now and then there, a rascally fellow who had said 
 that if the preaching friars served him as they had served 
 Reuchlin, he would declare war against them, and cut off 
 the ears and noses of all who came in his way. The writer 
 is only too glad that Hutten is gone away to get his doctor's 
 degree, and has not shown himself at Mayence for a year. 
 The devil take him. 
 
 The writer takes advantage of discussions of this sort to 
 call attention to serious abuses. Our correspondents tell 
 each other in confidence the wholesome truths they now and 
 then hear. In the imperial camp at Innsbruck, W. Lamp, 
 M.A., heard many complaints of the benefice-hunting at 
 Rome, and that so much German money goes there , at a 
 dinner at Worms he heard a severe conversation about 
 pluraHties and the lives and morals of the clergy. A magister 
 of Wiirzburg complains of a preacher there, Johann Reyss, 
 that he professes to belong to no school but the school of 
 Christ, and holds monkish vows and cowls cheap, for God 
 does not regard the clothes. He had also a strange way of 
 preaching; there was no art in it, no subtile questions, 
 objections, and syllogisms, but he went quite simply to 
 work, and, strange to say, the people heard him gladly. 
 He had even allowed himself to speak against indulgences. 
 He had contradicted brother Jacob, who had declared in 
 the pulpit that the indulgence briefs were as true as the 
 Gospels, and that he who received them was as fully 
 absolved as if absolved by Christ himself. Reyss said that 
 
128 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 nothing can be compared to the Gospel, and that he who 
 does right will be saved. " If any one receives pardon a 
 hundred times, and does not live a good life, he will be 
 damned, and the indulgence will not help him ; while he 
 who lives uprightly, or repents and amends if he has sinned, 
 will be a citizen of the kingdom of heaven, and requires no 
 other help to become one." This contains the essential 
 elements of Luther's doctrine against indulgences, and there 
 is another passage which shows how much had been done 
 before his time. At Frankfort-on-the-Oder Magister Klingesor 
 heard some one, " who was always contradicting him," 
 explain as follows the prophecy in Zephaniah i. 1 2 : " And 
 it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jeru- 
 salem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on 
 their lees," &c. " I will search Jerusalem," means, I will 
 search my Church in order to reform it, and to put away 
 the errors that have crept into it ; " with candles," means 
 by learned men, such as Erasmus of Rotterdam, Johann 
 Reuchlin, Mutianus Rufus, and others ; " and will punish 
 the men who are settled on their lees," means the theo- 
 logians who obstinately adhere to a corrupt, mystical, and 
 senseless theology, which they have followed for hundreds 
 of years, forsaking the ancient theologians who walked in 
 the hght of the Scriptures, and understand neither Latin, 
 Greek, nor Hebrew to enable them to interpret them. 
 Therefore the Lord will ''punish" them, and send other 
 doctors who understand those languages, and after clearing 
 away the " lees," i.e. the subtilties of false theology, will 
 bring '* candles " to illumine the Scriptures and restore the 
 true old theology. Erasmus has pubHshed an improved 
 edition of " St. Jerome." He has likewise improved the 
 text of the New Testament ; and, says our commentator, 
 " I consider that to be a more useful work than as if twenty 
 
THE "EPISTOL^ OBSCURORUM VIRORUM." 1 29 
 
 thousand Scotists and Thomists should dispute over Ens 
 and Essentia for a hundred years." 
 
 But our Obscurantists do not take these sermons and 
 misadventures too much to heart. They eat and drink with 
 relish, sleep well, and enjoy the pleasures of love. So far, 
 indeed, as they belong to the ecclesiastical order, they are 
 forbidden the joys of matrimony, but they contrive to defend 
 themselves for their evasions of this law by the examples 
 of Samson and Solomon ; the spirit of God came over the 
 former many times, and it was the general opinion of the 
 doctors that the latter had gone to heaven ; and, writes 
 Magister Conrad of Zwickau, "I am not stronger than 
 Samson, nor wiser than Solomon :" a turn given to it by 
 ^neas Sylvius, afterwards Pope Pius II. It was a bitter 
 satire upon scholasticism that questions of the coarsest 
 kind were discussed after the manner of the schools. Jests 
 of this sort came naturally to the authors of the " Epistolae," 
 from the custom of the age. There had been many comical 
 parodies on the disputations at the universities, especially 
 on the Quodlibets, so called, with the distinctions between 
 qiKBstiones principales and minus principales, referring to the 
 most gross and obscene topics. Several specimens of them 
 have been preserved, and they help us to understand the 
 letters better. 
 
 Through all these jests and improprieties there runs the 
 scarlet thread of the Reuchlin trial, forming a solid back- 
 ground to the jocular foreground, and a connecting link for 
 the letters, forming the whole almost into a romance. There 
 are but few letters in which this theme is not touched upon. 
 There is early mention made of Hochstraten's being at 
 Rome, and we have the vacillating prospects of the cause, 
 the hopes and fears as we know them from Hutten's and 
 Mutian's letters, portrayed as from the other side. Now 
 
 K 
 
130 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 they send good news from Rome; Hochstraten has had 
 remittances, and has given a banquet to the cardinals and 
 auditors, and it is said that Reuchhn's means are exhausted. 
 At another time it is reported that the Pope will confirm the 
 sentence of Spire, and permit the " Augenspiegel " to be 
 printed at Rome. They have not much confidence in 
 Leo X., because he is a poet himself, and does not under- 
 stand St. Thomas Contra Gentiles. The first part of the 
 letters originally ended with the report that Reuchlin had 
 conquered ; in the enlarged edition there is a letter purport- 
 ing to be from Hochstraten himself, in which he sa3^s that he 
 wishes he had never undertaken the business, for things 
 looked bad ; he often had not bread to eat, and when he 
 took a walk with Peter Meyer, of Frankfort, in the Campo 
 Fiore, they were called after, " There go the two men who 
 want to devour Reuchfin." Towards the end of Part II. 
 the case is still pending, but it is known that the majority of 
 the Commission are for Reuchlin, and all eyes are turned to 
 the Reuchlinist conspiracy in Germany w^hich is determined 
 to gain his cause before the tribunal of public opinion. 
 
 So much has been said of Reuchlin that every one must 
 be anxious to see him, and there is a letter in which a 
 bachelor of arts describes a visit to him : — " When I entered 
 his house, he said, 'Welcome, Mr. Bachelor; pray be 
 seated ! ' He had a spectacle (unum brillum) on his nose 
 and a book before him, which looked strange, and I saw at 
 once that it was neither German, nor Bohemian, nor Latin. 
 And I said to him, ' Excellent Mr. Doctor, what may the 
 book be ?' He answered, ' It is called the Greek Plutarch, 
 and treats of philosophy.' Then I said. ' Read it then, in 
 God's name,' and it made me think that he understands 
 strange arts. Then I saw a little book, newly printed, under 
 the bench, and said to him, ' Excellent Mr. Doctor, what is 
 
THE "EPISTOL^ OBSCURORUM VIRORUM." 131 
 
 it lying there ?' He said, ' It is an offensive book, which a 
 friend at Cologne lately sent me ; it is written against me 
 by the Cologne theologians, and now they say that Johann 
 Pfefferkorn wrote it.' Then said I, ' What are you doing in 
 the matter? Will you not justify yourself?' Said he, * Not 
 I ; I am justified enough already. I do not trouble myself 
 any more with such nonsense ; my eyes scarcely suffice to 
 study what is useful to me.' " 
 
 Although we have honestly tried to give our readers an 
 idea of the " Epistolae Obscurorum Virorum," we cannot 
 escape from the humiliating conviction that we have at- 
 tempted an impossible task. It is in the language that the 
 difficulty lies. The Obscurantists of the early part of the 
 sixteenth century are made to speak in their own tongue, in 
 a Latin — if such it can be called — which had been formed 
 in the course of the Middle Ages from a mixture of ecclesias- 
 tical and vernacular elements with the original stock. It is 
 so comical, because though at every step it offends against 
 the laws of classical Latinity, and, caricatured as it is, it is 
 obviously a language that was actually in use. The writers, 
 in spite of the absurdity of their doings, are as satisfied with 
 themselves and each other as possible. But all these 
 comical characteristics are bound up with the Latin; no 
 skill of the translator into German or any other language 
 can reproduce the impression of the original. 
 
 It evaporates the soonest in those parts where the 
 ludicrousness lies not so much in the grammatical as in the 
 logical construction, or when ignorance exhibits itself so 
 naively as in the following letter to Ortuin from Rome : — 
 *' You said when I took leave of you, ' Peter, when you get 
 to Rome, see if there are any new books, and send me 
 some ! ' Well, here is one for you, printed here, and as you are 
 poet, I think it will be of great use to you. For I heard from 
 
132 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 a notary, who is said to be perfect in this art, that this book 
 is the well-spring of poetry, and that the author — named 
 Homer — is the father of poets. And he said there was 
 another Homer in Greek. And I said, ' What do I want 
 with Greek ? Latin is better ; I will send it to Germany to 
 Magister Ortuinus ; he does not want Greek stuff.' And I 
 asked what the book was about. And he said about certain 
 people called Greeks, who went to war with some other 
 people called Trojans. I have heard of them before, and 
 these Trojans had a great city, and the Greeks besieged it 
 and lay there ten years. And the Trojans sometimes came 
 out and fought with them hand to hand, and they slew each 
 other till the whole plain was filled with blood, and there was 
 a river that was dyed red with blood ; and some one threw 
 a stone that twelve men could not lift, and there was a horse 
 that spoke and prophesied ; I don't believe that though, for 
 it seems impossible, and the book does not appear to me to 
 be very authentic. Please write and tell me what you think 
 of it." 
 
 Some idea might be given of the Latin verses by transla- 
 tion, but the doggrel rhymes are by no means so ludicrous in 
 the German as in the precise metre of the Latin. The full 
 appreciation of the " Epistolae Obscurorum Virorum " must 
 be confined to those who can read them in the original. 
 
 It has been the custom to estimate them rather from their 
 historical interest than as a work of art. But if our descrip- 
 tion has not quite failed in its purpose, the reader will agree 
 with us in taking a different view. The work reminds us 
 more than any other of the first of its kind, " Don Quixote ;" 
 that world-wide satire in which the contrast between a waning 
 and dawning phase of life and thought was seized by the 
 hand of genius and lifted out of the region of satire into that 
 of humour. Just so with the " Epistolae." They have not 
 
AUTHORSHIP OF THE *'EPISTOL^." 1 33 
 
 the compact form of the romance, nor do they present actors 
 on a stage ; they may be compared rather to a group of 
 figures in relief, in which asses, satyrs, and bacchantes are all 
 jumbled together, and in which the value of the individual 
 figures makes up for want of unity. But this unity is not 
 altogether wanting, and all who note the impression left by 
 the perusal of the book will allow that it soars into the 
 region of poetic humour. It may be compared to that pro- 
 duced by a comedy of Aristophanes, or an episode with 
 Sancho or Falstaff. 
 
 We should have had no right to go thus into detail about 
 the " Epistolae " if Hutten did not stand in the first rank of 
 the conjectured authors. He was suspected on their very 
 first appearance, and did not disclaim all share in it so 
 decidedly ^as anxious friends desired. But it is only a ques- 
 tion of a share in it. Erasmus thought he knew of three 
 authors. The question then resolves itself into two : which 
 part of the collection is Hutten's, and who were his coad- 
 jutors? It seems to have been the aim of the Reuchlinists 
 in the championship of their master that these satirical shots 
 should appear to proceed not from one person, but from a 
 number who were combining against the Obscurantists. Indi- 
 viduals systematically kept in the background, that they 
 might be more formidable as a masked army, more incon- 
 venient as a nameless swarm of wasps. 
 
 In looking round the Humanist circle with a view of dis- 
 covering whence the " Epistolae Obscurorum Virorum " pro- 
 ceeded, many indications direct us to the Gotha-Erfurt 
 circle. Crotus wrote in 15 14 to Reuchlin, ** You have on 
 your side the whole Mutianic order; it comprises philo- 
 sophers, poets, orators, and theologians, all ready to fight for 
 you. You have only to give the word of command." Crotus 
 enumerates, besides Mutian, Eoban Hesse and Hutten, and 
 
134 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 probably alludes to the " Epistolse," for he says that Hutten 
 will crush the empty-headed Ortuin at a blow, 
 
 Crotus does not himself assume the position of a general 
 in the enterprise in question, but there is irrefragable evi- 
 dence that he was more than a subaltern officer. We have 
 an anonymous letter addressed to Crotus Rubianus in 1532, 
 formerly attributed to Justus Jonas, but now to Justus 
 Menius. Crotus, once the bosom-friend of Hutten, Reuch- 
 lin's zealous champion, and later the admirer of Luther, had 
 by this time deserted the cause which he had not a little 
 advanced, joined himself to the party of the old Church, 
 and acknowledged the change in an apology addressed to 
 Archbishop Albert. The writer of the letter to Crotus tries 
 to undermine his new position by disclosing his antecedents. 
 He reminds him of his biting jests against the old Church 
 system in the Mutianic circle at Gotha, of the anonymous 
 lampoons which, even before Luther appeared, he and 
 Hutten, at his instigation, had put forth against pope and 
 cardinals, theologians and monks. The sharpest of all 
 these was his " Epistolae Obsc. Vir.," which the writer justly 
 calls "A not incomparable but immortal poem," a book 
 which furnished those who had not so much wit at their 
 command with new weapons against the papal supremacy, 
 and which perhaps had been more effectual against it than 
 any book of the age. 
 
 He writes as one who had belonged to the circle of which 
 Crotus was one (Menius was at Erfurt from 1514-1516); 
 he reminds him of their walks and confidential talks when 
 Crotus had his work in hand, and used to read parts of it 
 aloud ; he would rather that the Iliad were lost than Crotus's 
 immortal jokes over the papists. 
 
 The conception, then, of the " Epist. Obsc. Vir." is attri- 
 buted to Crotus by an obviously well-informed contemporary. 
 
AUTHORSHIP OF THE "EPISTOL^." 1 35 
 
 A share in it is not denied to Hutten ; one letter is expressly 
 assigned to him, and it is remarked that in cutting up the 
 cardinals and bishops, &c., Hutten was not equal to Crotus. 
 But the writer had an interest in speaking thus, since all he 
 could say in favour of the former Crotus sent the renegade 
 up in the scale. He is so far right, that Hutten would 
 hardly have hit upon his friend's peculiar style, but his 
 versatile talents enabled him to adopt it. He was more 
 incHned to pathos than Crotus. Hutten's wTitings, even 
 his satires, spur his readers on to deeds ; he never forgets 
 that wrongs and stupidity must not only be laughed at, but 
 fought with. The author of the " Epistolse " forgets that 
 the Obscurantists are rogues, because they are such absurd 
 fools ; he would be sorry if they mended, for then he would 
 not have them to laugh at ; he forgets the practical in the 
 sesthetical aspect of things. 
 
 And this answers to what we know of the character of 
 Crotus. The humorous element in him did not exclude an 
 interest in the struggles of the time, and his jests were 
 weapons against stupidity ; but his interest in these things 
 was not so great as to induce him to incur danger, or to 
 prevent him from making peace with the old state of things, 
 rather than involve himself in tedious conflicts. He liked, 
 therefore, to send forth his arrows from concealment; he 
 never put his name to any of his writings, except to that 
 last one which called forth this bitter anonymous rejoinder 
 which silenced him for the rest of his life. 
 
 Ulrich Hutten had been since the autumn of 151 5 in 
 Italy. The rest of the year was taken up with the commo- 
 tions which followed on the murder of his cousin. This 
 will explain how it was that he took at first no active part 
 in an undertaking, which afterwards awakened in him so 
 lively an interest. His share in it must be assigned to the 
 
136 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 second part. The Cologners did not seem to have 
 been sufficiently chastised. Pfefferkorn had published his 
 " Defensio," in which he took up his quarrel with Reuchlin 
 from the beginning, and denounced the " Epist. Obsc. Vir." 
 to Pope and Emperor as a blasphemous, worse than 
 Saracenic book. A rejoinder was therefore called for, and 
 thus arose Part II. 
 
 It is quite equal to its elder brother. ^It stands in maiiy 
 respects in the same relation to Part I. as Part II. of " Don 
 Quixote" to Part I. It is assumed that the writers of the 
 letters have read Part I. The knowledge that many of the 
 Obscurantists had taken the letters in earnest is turned to 
 account. Still there are differences between the two parts. 
 First> an external difference. The letters in Part I. are all 
 from places in Germany, including the Netherlands. The 
 first letter from Rome is in the appendix ; and one-third of 
 the seventy letters in Part II. is from Rome. There is often 
 news from Rome in Part I., but not direct ; in Part II. 
 news comes direct from those who are studying or practising 
 law there. Roman sights are mentioned — the Pope and his 
 elephant ; the Campo Fiore and the oranges ; the intolerable 
 heat ; a route before mentioned from Germany to Rome, 
 with its stations and objects of interest. It is certain that 
 Crotus had never then been in Italy ; and such little pecu- 
 liarities as that there was no good chalk and no proper boot- 
 laces to be had in Rome, point to a writer who had suffered 
 from these Httle inconveniences himself. 
 
 There is also an internal difference. Jests, fun, and im- 
 proprieties abound in Part II.'''" as in Part I. ; but serious 
 
 * In a subsequent chapter, part of which is omitted in the transla- 
 tion, Dr. Strauss remarks that except in Hutten's share in these letters, 
 in which coarseness enhanced the satire, his writings are remarkably 
 pure ; his letters, especially, are favourably distinguished in this respect 
 from many others of the time. — Tr. 
 
S^-^ OP THr5'^^ 
 AUTHORSHIP OF THE " EPISTOlMJ'N I Y^f. E SI T IJ 
 
 discussions under the form of reported conve^^^£^|IQ T5 '§*V^^ 
 
 more often interwoven. Letters like that about the^^a= 
 
 burg preacher and the interpretation of a prophecy, do not 
 
 occur in Part I. (we have quoted from both indiscriminately). 
 
 Pathos more often appears beneath the irony. Bocking 
 
 says that in Part I. a gimlet was used not less sharp than in 
 
 Part II., but it made less noise and fewer chips. And he 
 
 thinks he detects this more noisy gimlet, namely, Hutten 
 
 as author, in the appendix to Part I. An interview with 
 
 Erasmus is mentioned, and the author sometimes falls into 
 
 good, Hutten-like Latin, as if he were not quite master of 
 
 the jargon of the Obscurantists, and sometimes overdoes 
 
 the caricature. The appendix to Part II. betrays a heavier 
 
 hand, and it is altogether superfluous. The subject had been 
 
 exhausted, -and treated with all possible variations. The 
 
 best joke must come to an end, or it produces satiety. All 
 
 this favours the conjecture that Hutten was the chief author 
 
 of Part II. and the appendix to Part I., as well as the fact 
 
 that he is himself often mentioned and spoken ill of. As 
 
 he spoke of comrades, and Erasmus mentions three authors 
 
 of the " Epistolae," various conjectures have been rife as to 
 
 who else had a share in them, but we need not go over this 
 
 wide field, as all we have to answer for is our hero's share 
 
 in it. 
 
 And even here we do not get beyond conjecture, though 
 it has a high degree of probabihty. The most certain 
 indication is the journey in rhyme by Magister Schlauraff, 
 which Hutten read to his friends at Bologna. This carmen 
 rithmicale, with its sparkHng humour, its inexhaustible quips 
 and cranks, and jumble of Latin and German in the rhymes, 
 is unquestionably the gem of the whole collection. Then 
 the time and route coincide with Hutten 's second journey to 
 Italy; in another letter there is a memorial to Ecbert Haarlem, 
 
138 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 Hutten's hospitable friend at Rostock; the servile offices 
 accepted by the German benefice-hunters at Rome are 
 spoken of in terms similar to those used by Hutten in a 
 letter to Erasmus, and another assumed writer speaks of 
 the perpetual darts of Hutten's polemical pen, and describes 
 the preachers Peter Meyer, at Frankfort, and Bartholomew 
 Zehender, at Mayence, quite in the style of the author of 
 the " Triumphus Capnionis." 
 
 One further remark only remains to be made, which marks 
 the rapid progress of the times. The " Epistolae " were very 
 widely circulated, and found so many imitators, that Hutten 
 was wearied with communications in the same style. Three 
 editions of Part I. appeared before Part II. was printed, and 
 two editions afterwards up to 15 18. There is then no trace 
 of any fresh edition till 1556. In October, 1517, Luther 
 had put forth his theses ; in 1519 the disputation with Eck 
 occurred at Leipzig, and from that time the whole intel- 
 lectual interests of the times were centred in the Reformation 
 movement. 
 
 How this work, projected in his service and honour, was 
 received by Reuchlin himself we do not precisely know. 
 The letter in the " Lamentations " (of which presently), in 
 which he deprecates them, is undoubtedly a fiction of his 
 enemies. There is, however, a credible tradition that the 
 worthy old gentleman, though he had written a satirical 
 comedy in his youth, now thought the buffoonery of his 
 young champions somewhat too extravagant. Erasmus tells 
 us how much he was amused by some specimens sent him 
 before the whole was printed; there is an old story that 
 laughter over them cured him of a dangerous swelling by 
 causing it to break. The first printed collection alarmed 
 him ; but when a new edition came out, with an appendix 
 in the very first letter of which he himself was introduced, 
 
THE "LAMENTATIONES OBSCURORUM VIRORUM/' 1 39 
 
 and, though mentioned with great respect, hit off exactly 
 with his weak voice and his refined smile at the follies of 
 men, — when a second part followed, in which he was repre- 
 sented as " one by himself," and yet as an ally of these 
 turbulent young spirits, — the thing appeared to him to be 
 fatal, and he was loud in his displeasure at a course which 
 could only make the Humanistic tendencies hated. Just so 
 Luther, at any rate at that period, wanted the humour to 
 enable him to appreciate a work like the " Epistolse." He 
 thought it impudent, and called the author a harlequin. 
 Crotus could only laugh at the Obscurantists, Luther could 
 only scold at and oppose them, Hutten could do both. 
 
 The objects of the attack turned, as was worthy of them, 
 to the ecclesiastical authorities. They spent a great deal of 
 money, and ^t length obtained a papal brief, which com- 
 manded all possessors of copies of the " Epistolae " to burn 
 them within three days, under pain of excommunication, and 
 to report all who refused to do so to the parish priest. 
 Armed with this weapon, Ortuin thought he could take the 
 field in a literary sense against his enemies. He turned the 
 appellation " Obscuri Viri " against the originators of the 
 letters. They were the real Obscure Men, and he makes 
 them lament over their, as he assumes, unsuccessful under- 
 taking.''' The papal brief and the condemnatory letter of 
 Erasmus were printed at the beginning. Another, assumed 
 to be by Reuchlin, shows by its clumsiness that Ortuin was 
 by no means a match for his adversaries. He makes the 
 authors of the *' Epistolae " join in a stupid Pater Feccavi, in 
 flat and wearisome exclamations, '' Froh Jupiter/'' and 
 ^'Froh dii immortales /" over their defeat and the victory of 
 
 * " Lamentationes Obscuronim Virorum, non proliibitae per Sedem 
 Apostolicam, Artwino Gratio auctore." The first edition, of forty-five 
 letters, appeared at the Easter fair of 15 18. 
 
140 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 the theologians. The " Lamentations " are an absurdly stupid 
 retort to so clever a production as the " Epistolse Obscurorum 
 Virorum." Happily they are mostly very short, sometimes 
 only a few lines, and it is plain that the powers of the writer 
 could no further go. The worst piece is a list of the moral, 
 that is immoral, principles ascribed to the Reuchlinists. The 
 style was not intended to be bad, since the Humanists are 
 assumed to be the writers, and Ortuin evidently does his 
 best. It was often bad enough, yet not so as to be ridicu- 
 lous. He wished to be thought moderate, and discriminates 
 between good and bad Reuchlinists and poets, and for the 
 sake of the latter he regrets that the ancient Church dis- 
 cipline of cutting off hands, tongues, &c., is at an end, and 
 commends them as forerunners of Antichrist to the punish- 
 ment of the secular arm. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 hutten's coronation as poet, and settlement at 
 mayence. — opposition to rome. 
 
 "X^rE broke off the thread of Hutten's life in June, 15 17, 
 when he set out from Bologna on his return to 
 Germany. In July we find him at Augsburg, where he was 
 hospitably entertained by the learned patrician, Conrad 
 Peutinger. The Emperor Maximilian was then at Augsburg, 
 and Peutinger wished to take advantage of the occasion to 
 obtain some favour for Hutten. The scheme was for Hutten, 
 in order to make himself known to the Emperor, to publish 
 his Italian epigrams, of which a few only were printed, with 
 a dedication to him. Hutten consented, looked through 
 the poems, and wrote the dedication. 
 
 Meanwhile, at a brilliant assembly at the Emperor's court, 
 Peutinger turned the conversation on Hutten; described 
 his studies, his arduous journeys, not forgetting the adven- 
 ture with the five Frenchmen, and suggested all sorts of 
 titles and privileges which might be conferred on so dis- 
 tinguished a young noble. Maximilian determined solemnly 
 to crown him as poet. Peutinger's daughter Constance 
 tastefully wove the laurel wreath. Thirteen years before, 
 her gifted sister, Juliana, now no longer living, had at four 
 years of age received the Emperor on his entry into the city 
 with a Latin address. With a brilliant suite Peutinger con- 
 
142 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 ducted Hutten on the 12th of July to the Emperor, who, in 
 presence of the whole court, placed the crown upon his 
 head, with which he was afterwards so fond of having his 
 portrait taken. 
 
 The following year Hutten heard that a present from the 
 Emperor was on its way to him, but it does not appear 
 whether the report was true. 
 
 Peutinger and other friends tried to attract the newly 
 crowned poet to the Imperial court ; others reminded him 
 of the Archbishop of Mayence, for whose service Eitelwolf 
 vom Stein had once destined him ; but Hutten did not at 
 once decide. He went first to Bamberg, where he met his 
 friend Jacob Fuchs, and saw Camerarius for the first time. 
 He tells us of the brilliant reputation, not only for learning, 
 but also for valour, on account of his exploit with the five 
 Frenchmen, which had preceded Hutten to Germany. 
 
 In Franconia, the family feud with Duke Ulrich again 
 claimed his attention. He also wrote a report of his journey 
 and coronation to Erasmus, and thanked him for the hon- 
 ourable mention of him in the preface to his edition of the 
 New Testament. Towards the end of the year we find 
 Hutten at Steckelberg occupied with a remarkable work. 
 
 It has been mentioned that the day before Hutten's 
 departure from Bologna, he saw at the house of Cochlaus a 
 copy of the work of Laurentius Valla about the gift of Con- 
 stantine. Hutten wished to be allowed to make a copy 
 that he might reprint it in Germany. Cochlaus did not 
 quite like it, but a copy was made and forwarded to Hutten. 
 
 It was natural that this work of an ItaHan Humanist of 
 the first half of the previous century should be a treasure to 
 Hutten. It was a fine specimen of the Humanistic style of 
 the Renaissance; was written in classical Latin, and the 
 arguments were presented in imaginary speeches by Con- 
 
VALLA'S "GIFT OF CONSTANTINE/' 1 43 
 
 stantine's sons, the Roman people, and Pope Sylvester, after 
 the manner of the ancient historians, while it attacked the 
 claims of Rome on its most tender point with the disinterested 
 love of truth by which Hutten himself was distinguished. 
 The chief support of the papal claims was the pretended 
 edict of the Emperor Constantine, by which he gave to 
 Bishop Sylvester and his successors, in addition to his 
 ecclesiastical primacy, not only the Lateran Palace with all 
 the imperial insignia, but the city of Rome, Italy, and the 
 whole of the West, while he retired to the East. Valla's 
 " Declamation " exhibits the spuriousness and inconsistency 
 of this document in so striking a light, that we cannot 
 wonder at the persecution he incurred, nor the evil repute 
 of his work among the authorities in the Church. 
 
 This work- Hutten now published, and, with the audacity 
 peculiar to him, dedicated it to the Pope himself, as if he 
 were sure that he would approve of its publication. Not 
 that he really thought so ; he had found out that Leo was in 
 the main just like the rest of the Popes. The year before he 
 had called him a frivolous, avaricious Florentine, a Holy 
 Father about whose unholiness all agreed. It was only a 
 stratagem to embarrass the Pope by making it impolite to 
 express dissatisfaction with Hutten's audacity. 
 
 Hutten connects his dedication with the title of the 
 " Restorer of Peace," which had been given to Leo in con- 
 trast to his warlike predecessor. He had restored also 
 justice, truth, and liberty; learning could lift up its head 
 again ; things might be brought to light which had had to 
 be concealed, like this work of Valla's. Other Popes had 
 interdicted it because they would not listen to the truth, but 
 Leo was the friend of truth. What was said about bad 
 Popes did not concern him, for he was conscious that he was 
 a good one. Those were bad Popes, or rather no Popes at 
 
144 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 all, who had invented the gift of Constantine, or taken 
 advantage of the shameless fiction. Leo would willingly 
 give up what would have had to be taken from a bad Pope 
 by force. Only thus could he be the restorer of peace, for 
 peace cannot be restored between the robber and the 
 robbed until the stolen goods are restored. He then men- 
 tions various abuses and acts of oppression as if they were 
 only to be laid at the doors of Leo's predecessors, though he 
 knew very well that they were continued under Leo, and 
 goes on : " Wouldst thou not reckon those among thy worst 
 foes, illustrious Leo, who should class thee with such thieves 
 and tyrants ?" He concludes with the audacious remark 
 that he is so convinced that the little book will please the 
 Pope that he hopes he will pubUcly express his approbation. 
 
 The effect of this work may be judged by the impression 
 it made on Luther, into whose hands it came rather late in 
 the day. He was amazed that such shameless Hes should 
 have been maintained for centuries and held as articles of 
 faith, and it appeared to him more than ever that the Pope 
 was Antichrist incarnate. It does not appear to have 
 reached the Pope ; at any rate, he took no notice of Hutten's 
 authorship until three years later. 
 
 Meanwhile, Hutten had resolved upon taking office at 
 Mayence. It is significant of the times that the Archbishop 
 Albert took into his service the man who had just pubfished 
 such a book. The fleecing of Germany by the Curia had 
 long been so oppressive, that the interests of a spiritual 
 prince in Germany no longer entirely coincided with those 
 of the Papal Chair. The archbishopric of Mayence was 
 greatly impoverished by the price of the archi episcopal pall, 
 which had risen to twenty thousand gold gulden, and it 
 had had to be raised several times owing to the see having 
 been repeatedly vacated within a short period. In conse- 
 
HUTTEN S JOURNEY TO PARIS. 1 45 
 
 quence of this, Archbishop Albert had promised to pay it 
 himself. The indulgence of which the Pope had granted 
 him the administration was to provide the means ; half the 
 profits were to go to the Fuggers who had advanced the 
 pall money. This explains that the same archbishop who 
 took great offence at Luther's attack upon indulgences, was 
 secretly not displeased at Hutten's attacks upon the papal 
 claims. 
 
 Before the end of the year 1517 Hutten made a journey 
 to the Court of France in the service of his prince. He met 
 with an honourable reception, not only on account of his 
 office, but of his Uterary fame. At Paris he was entertained 
 by the sub-prefect Louis Ruzeus, a lover of Hterature and 
 patron of learned men, and made the acquaintance of the 
 king's secretary, Budaus, the correspondent and rival of 
 Erasmus, in writing to whom, he praises Hutten's refined 
 and noble bearing. It was doubtless on this journey that he 
 also made the acquaintance of Faber of Etaples, known by 
 his commentaries on the New Testament and on Aristotle ; 
 and of two physicians, Copus and Ruellius, the former of 
 whom had a few years before exerted himself in vain for 
 Reuchlin at the University of Paris. Hutten used to speak 
 of them as the chief supports of learning and progress in 
 France. 
 
 Hutten returned to Mayence in February, in time to ac- 
 company his Elector to his Saxon dioceses, where he remained 
 until the Diet of Augsburg in July, but sent Hutten back to 
 Mayence with some commission in the spring. Here he 
 received a letter from Count von Nuenar, together with a 
 work of Hochstraten's, in which the count was insulted in 
 the usual style of the grand inquisitor. The count revenged 
 himself by printing the letters of his friends on the subject, 
 and among others, the one Hutten sent in answer to his own. 
 
 L 
 
146 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 Hutten says that he had read Hochstraten's libel with 
 pleasure ; the more shameless these fellows are the better, 
 for the sooner will the eyes of Germany be opened, and her 
 patience be exhausted. The contest with these internal foes 
 of Christianity was more urgent than that with the Turks. 
 The decline of religion, the schisms in the Church, the 
 apostacy in Bohemia, must be laid to their charge. Von 
 Nuenar asks what Hutten thought was to be done. He had 
 hitherto preferred the silence of contempt, but he began to 
 think that this was not enough. He should like to talk it 
 over with the count. Meanwhile it was a comfort that 
 their enemies were beginning to fall foul of each other. 
 
 It is noteworthy that it was under the aspect of a con- 
 temptible monkish quarrel, over which the friends of pro- 
 gress maliciously rubbed their hands, that a cause first pre- 
 sented itself to Hutten's notice, which two years later he 
 regarded as most sacred — the cause of Luther. First, he 
 alludes to a dispute a few years before about the conception 
 of Mary between the Franciscans and Dominicans, and con- 
 tinues — " But now, perhaps, you do not know that at 
 Wittenberg in Saxony (Hutten had just been in this neigh- 
 bourhood) a party has risen up against the Pope, while 
 another defends the papal indulgence. There are large 
 numbers on both sides, headed by monks. The leaders are 
 fiery and vehement, full of zeal and courage. Sometimes 
 they exclaim and scream, sometimes lament and bewail their 
 fate. They have lately taken to writing too. They make 
 work for the printers. There are propositions, corollaries, 
 syllogisms, and (what many have taken otfence at) articles 
 of faith sold. I hope they will bring each other to ruin. I 
 lately said to a friar who was telling me about it, ' devour 
 one another, that you may be consumed one of another.' It 
 is my desire that our enemies may live in as much discord 
 
LETTER TO COUNT VON NUENAR. 1 47 
 
 as possible, and be always quarrelling amongst themselves. 
 Aye, God grant that all who oppose the dawn of progress 
 may perish, that the living plants of glorious virtue which 
 they have so often trodden under foot may lift up their 
 heads." 
 
 Hutten then encourages his friend, assures him that he 
 will be his faithful ally, and says that he will do what he 
 can for the common cause at the princely courts ; and as 
 long as he was at the archiepiscopal court he kept his 
 promise. The cause for which he laboured was caHed the 
 cause of Reuchlin ; it was really that of Humanism en- 
 dangered through its champion. It was also the policy of 
 Erasmus to ensure scope and protection for Humanism by 
 doing homage to cultivated rulers, temporal and spiritual, and 
 Hutten remained true to it as long as he was merely a 
 Humanist. Luther's policy, the poHcy of the Reformation, 
 was a different one. It did not concern itself with the cul- 
 ture of a few distinguished persons, but with the needs of all, 
 even of the obscure. Enlightenment may be secured by 
 help of the great, but reform and reconstruction of a corrupt 
 Church and State can only be effected, whether the great aid 
 the cause or not, by the middle and lower classes. Hutten, 
 as we shall find, discovered this as soon as he left the 
 Reuchlinists' camp to fight under Luther's banner. 
 
 For the present he rejoices that there are so many 
 eminent men in France and Germany, at courts and in cities, 
 who have taken up Reuchlin's cause. At Leipzig, in spite 
 of the opposition of the Sophists, learning flourishes ; the 
 Elector Frederic has summoned professors of Greek and 
 Hebrew to Wittenberg. His own prince, Archbishop Albert, 
 was specially favourable to learning. He held Erasmus in 
 great esteem, and read his works. The court physician, 
 Stromer, showed him a libel of Pfefferkorn's on Reuchlin's 
 
148 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 friends ; he read it, and then put it into the fire by which he 
 was sitting, with the memorable words, : " So perish all who 
 so speak ! " 
 
 Count Nuenar, and some other friends of Hutten's, did not 
 like his taking office at court. Hutten assures him that he 
 has by no means given up his literary pursuits. He intended 
 in the future, however, to be fully reconciled to the muses, if 
 they should take offence at his unavoidable entrance into 
 the service of proud Mars ; but it would not be the first time 
 that they had passed the night in camp amidst the clash of 
 arms. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 HUTTEN AT AUGSBURG, DURING THE DIET. 
 1518. 
 
 A FTER a short stay at Mayence, Hutten returned to 
 Prince Albert at Halle ; but in May we find him at 
 Mayence again, where he occupied himself with a work sug- 
 gested by the approaching Diet at Augsburg. 
 
 Since the beginning of the reign of Selim I. in 15 12, the 
 Osman power had again become formidable. Selim took 
 Syria and Egypt from the Sultan of the Mamelukes ; the 
 Greek renegade, Horuk Barbarossa, established himself in 
 Tunis, and the Moors revolted. All Western Christendom 
 was in terror. The Pope summoned the ambassadors of 
 the Christian kings to a conference with a commission of 
 cardinals, and sent a document about the Turkish war to 
 the Emperor, who at once decided to lay the matter before 
 the Diet convened at Augsburg for the summer of 15 18. 
 
 It was more than doubtful whether the Pope's real object 
 was to get money or to fight the Turks. The Emperor also 
 hoped to strengthen his position by the money and materials 
 of war of which he hoped to get possession ; but this was 
 also an object to be desired by a patriotic German, and 
 Hutten's address to the German princes, in anticipation of the 
 Diet, was written entirely from the imperial point of view.* 
 
 * **Ulrictii Hutteni ad Principes Germanos ut Bellum Turcis in- 
 ferant exhortatoria." Schriften, v. , 
 
150 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 He begins by saying that there is urgent necessity for a 
 war with the Turks. He must call attention to unpleasant 
 truths, but as his sole object is his country's good, let no 
 man take offence. 
 
 This time it must be a war in earnest ; it was not a mere 
 alarm raised by the Pope for the sake of getting money, as 
 so often before. He then goes into a long digression on the 
 relations between the Pope and the Emperor, the papal 
 oppression and extortions in Germany, the abuses at Rome, 
 &c., those waters in which he now loved to disport himself, 
 and he cared at least as much for this part of his subject as 
 for the main topic of the address. 
 
 He next gives a sketch of the history, character, and con- 
 quests of the Turks, and expatiates on the reality of the 
 danger. What is most necessary for the war is unity and 
 unanimous obedience to the Emperor. Without unity, even 
 apart from this war, Germany will be ruined. " In truth," 
 continues Hutten, and his words seem prophetic of the 
 Peasants' War seven years afterwards, " if you will not Hsten 
 to me (you who are in fault), I fear this nation will witness 
 some event unworthy of it. For if (which God forbid) there 
 should be a revolt of the people, no questions will be asked 
 as to who is most to blame, but the innocent will suffer with 
 the guilty. . . . We have power enough in Germany, but 
 it is not rightly used ; we give ourselves to mere military 
 exercises, but there is no enthusiasm for the empire. The 
 Turk knows too well that unity and obedience are indis- 
 pensable to great deeds to be afraid of us. And not the 
 Turk alone : so long as we are wanting in these things, no 
 nation will fear to attack us ! " How true Hutten's words 
 were, the experience of three centuries and a half, each more 
 painful than the last, has taught us. We have at last learnt 
 the lesson, and proved the truth also of his words, that 
 
HUTTEN'S address on the TURKS. 151 
 
 " when the Germans once understand what it is they are 
 wanting in, they will be the first nation in the world." 
 
 Hutten animadverts on the pomp and pride of the princes, 
 who spend their time, even at the Diets, in banqueting and 
 gambling, and boast of the length of their genealogies instead 
 of trying to be worthy of their high position. Then follows 
 a panegyric on Maximilian, and an exhortation to obey him 
 as their leader, and the address concludes with a final appeal 
 to undertake the war, and with wishes for its success. 
 
 Hutten sent this address in MS. to his friend Peutinger at 
 Augsburg. He appears to have intended to deliver it 
 himself at the Diet, and afterwards to have it printed. 
 When, however, he arrived at Augsburg, his friends dissuaded 
 him from pubhshing it, fearing that the attacks upon Rome 
 would bring him into danger. He gave way amidst bitter 
 complaints of the evil times, in which a word could not be 
 freely spoken. It seems afterwards to have been arranged 
 that it should be printed with the offensive passages omitted, 
 but as we shall see, he could not long submit to this, and had 
 it printed entire. 
 
 At Augsburg Hutten associated with many excellent and 
 congenial men, some of whom resided at Augsburg, and 
 some were brought thither by the Diet. Among these were 
 Peutinger, Stab, Spiegel, Stromer, and Jacob von Bannisis, 
 Dean of Trent, and one of Maximilian's most trusted coun- 
 cillors : it was he who generally accompanied him on his 
 daring chamois hunts. There was also in the Emperor's 
 suite the Count von Helfenstein, who shared Hutten's hatred 
 of the Duke of Wiirtemberg, for he had burnt one of his 
 castles. CEcolampadius was also there from Basle, and 
 brought news of Erasmus. 
 
 Hutten followed the course of the Diet with intense 
 interest. " It offers," he wrote, '* the pleasantest spectacle 
 
152 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 to all beholders. So many handsome young princes, such 
 a multitude of counts and knights, the flower of the German 
 nobihty. No one who sees them can think the Turk so 
 very formidable. If the Germans ^had as much brains as 
 strength, I might threaten the world with subjection. God 
 grant that those may be well advised on whose counsels so 
 much depends." He was glad to observe that there was 
 less extravagance than usual at these assemblies, but there 
 was still great extravagance in attire. The Germans wanted 
 to vie with the French, and there was a vast deal of 
 drinking in order that German fashions might also be 
 kept up. 
 
 At this Diet, the ban against Hutten's foe, Duke Ulrich, 
 was renewed, though not executed, and a great honour was 
 done to his patron, Archbishop Albert. The Pope sent 
 him, and to the astonishment of every one gratuitously, the 
 cardinal's hat and purple, and he was invested with it by 
 the papal legate at a solemn high mass in the cathedral, 
 surrounded by princes and nobles, and in presence of a vast 
 concourse of people. 
 
 The Emperor himself accompanied him from the cathe- 
 dral to his quarters, and sent him a costly present. Our 
 knight considered that so much good fortune — the two 
 archbishoprics, the electoral dignity, and now the cardinal's 
 hat — all within five years — was a pledge of the special 
 favour of the gods to Albert. But we may be allowed to 
 doubt whether his joy was quite unmixed. Would not 
 these favours be links to attach the well-meaning but 
 impressible prince to the interests of Rome ? 
 
 The chief business of the Diet, the Turkish war, did not 
 make much progress. The legate explained the Pope's 
 views, especially about raising money. He and the 
 Emperor soon came to an understanding, but he met with 
 
HUTTEN AT AUGSBURG. 1 53 
 
 opposition from the princes. On 24th of August the nego- 
 tiation was still going on, and Hutten was hopeful. Three 
 days afterwards the States gave a decided refusal. Hutten's 
 feelings were mixed. He was not sorry that the project of 
 the Curia for raising money had fallen through, for he was 
 sure that it was intended for the pockets of the Roman 
 courtiers ; but he was vexed that the German princes 
 should be so indifferent to the danger from the Turks. He 
 would not have been sorry to see them roused from their 
 apathy by an attack from them. 
 
 While occupied with these political affairs, Hutten con- 
 tinued faithfully to interest himself for the cause of Reuch- 
 lin. He took many a walk at Augsburg to gain adherents 
 for it, but had the satisfaction of finding that most of the 
 best men were on his side already. The trial seemed to be 
 in abeyance. News came from Cologne that Count von 
 Nuenar had driven Hochstraten out of the town on account 
 of his libels on him. Hutten's new friends in France wrote 
 that Reuchlin's name was in high esteem there, and that the 
 theologians had great hopes of victory. 
 
 During Hutten's stay at Augsburg, the enlarged edition 
 of his " Nobody " first appeared in print. It attracted 
 considerable attention in Germany, and the attacks in the 
 preface gave great offence to those whom they hit, especi- 
 ally the lawyers. But he had the satisfaction of knowing 
 that learned and sensible men joined in his laugh, and gave 
 him their approval. 
 
 Although the path Hutten was pursuing was leading him 
 nearer and nearer to Luther, he at present neither showed any 
 interest in his cause, nor regarded it from a higher point of 
 view than before, though they were for some time at the same 
 place. From 7th to 20th of October, Luther was carrying 
 on the well-known discussions with Cajetan at Augsburg, 
 
154 ULRICH V^N HUTTEN. 
 
 but Hutten does not even mention his being there. He 
 writes with pleasure of the young Melanchthon's call to the 
 Greek professorship at Wittenberg, and of Eck's attack 
 upon Carlstadt with the interest of a fellow-countrymen ; 
 but when he speaks of Luther's contest with this same Eck 
 and others, he knows as yet no better than to rub his hands 
 at the spectacle of the theologians tearing each other to 
 pieces. 
 
 Of the legate, on the contrary, with whom Luther had to 
 do at Augsburg, Hutten took more notice than could have 
 been agreeable to him. The knight felt an aversion to him 
 simply as papal legate ; then Cardinal Cajetan made a dis- 
 play at Augsburg amounting almost to folly. He was a 
 vain Italian, and nothing in Germany was good enough for 
 him. None of this was allowed to pass unnoticed. Hutten 
 was already taking aim at him, even if his dialogue 
 " Fever," in which he transfixes him, was not written at 
 Augsburg. 
 
 Hutten did not remain another year at the Court of the 
 Elector of Mayence. He had for a long time seen the 
 shady side of court life. He writes in May, 1 5 1 8, from 
 Mayence to Peutinger : — " You ask how court life suits me. 
 Not very well. Still what can one not put up with, with so 
 truly princely, so humane and generous a master as Arch- 
 bishop Albert, and so true a friend as his physician Stromer. 
 But I am heartily tired of the rest of it — of the flattering 
 promises and everlasting salutations, sly talk and empty 
 vapouring." 
 
 Stromer had the year before published the work of .^neas 
 Sylvius on "The Miseries of Courtiers," with a preface 
 which might be called an amplification of the German pro- 
 verb—" Ennui at court, and ennui in hell " {Lang bet Hof, 
 Lang bet Hdll), He was amused at Hutten's jokes at his 
 
DIALOGUE ON fOURT LIFE. 155 
 
 novel position, and while they were at the Diet together, he 
 incited his friend to write something on the subject. 
 
 It was no light thing for a would-be courtier to write 
 against court life. Hutten reminds his friend of this in the 
 dedication, and jokingly alludes to the bodily maltreatment 
 to be expected from his lusty colleagues, who will not 
 allow such a work from a " writer," as they called a learned 
 man, to go unpunished. 
 
 In this work Hutten went back to the form of dialogue, 
 which continued to be his favourite style. Castus, on meet- 
 ing Misaulus as a courtier, admires his fine clothes, to which 
 the other replies that he was happier in his rags, for then he 
 was free, now he is a slave. Castus is, to some extent, 
 Hutten himself, who, after his adventures and privations, 
 finds court Jife very pleasant and instructive as a school of 
 experience. Misaulus, on the contrary, is an experienced 
 and rather superseded old courtier, who sees only the shady 
 side of life at court, and does not think it a good school. 
 He compares court life to a ship at sea, which has to 
 encounter the storms of partiality, envy, ambition, and 
 luxury, and to avoid the rocks of the prince's displeasure 
 and suspicions, the danger of falling in love with his 
 daughter, the calumniation of colleagues, &c. The pirates 
 are the prince's enemies, who may take you prisoner, and 
 then you have to ransom yourself. Then a picture is drawn 
 of the want of cleanliness on board the court ship in colours 
 not too glaring for the taste of that day, though repulsive 
 enough to us. 
 
 The wealth which attracts many to court often exists in 
 appearance only, for extravagance has impoverished the 
 German princes, and the courtier often finds it hard to get 
 his scanty pay. Then princes are so stupid in choosing 
 their attendants. They want men with stalwart forms, 
 
156 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 whether they have any brains or not, and insignificant-looking 
 people are always put in the background, let them be ever 
 so clever. Amidst a good deal more talk of this sort, the 
 bell summons Misaulus, and he goes off with a warning to 
 his friend not to enter into bondage. 
 
 One of the first persons to whom Hutten showed his new 
 dialogue was Wilibald Pirckheimer, with whom he had 
 lately become more intimate. It was no wonder that 
 Hutten was attracted to him. No other denizen of the 
 imperial cities of Germany comes so near to a Roman 
 patrician. He had a powerful frame, early steeled by 
 chivalrous exercises ; he sprang from a noble race in the 
 first German city of the age, had inherited wealth, acquired 
 learning in Italy, and had been trained in court life and 
 war in the service of the Bishop of Eichstadt. When 
 advantages like these were enjoyed by a man of a large and 
 comprehensive mind, a character above the common run 
 might be expected to be the result. 
 
 His education was scarcely finished when he took his 
 place in the council of his native city. His imposing pre- 
 sence, his eloquence, his diplomatic bearing, specially 
 adapted him for embassies. The Emperor Maximihan 
 soon learned to appreciate him, and made him his coun- 
 cillor. Many a favour granted to Nuremberg was owing 
 to the esteem in which he held its representative. When 
 the war with Switzerland broke out in 1499, Pirckheimer 
 had an opportunity of exercising his military talents ; he led 
 the Nuremberg troops to the Emperor. The war was unsuc- 
 cessful, but he proved his ability, and wrote a history of the 
 campaign. During this war, Maximilian was once crossing 
 from Lindau to Constance in the same vessel with Pirck- 
 heimer, and read aloud to him some of his memorials which 
 
WILIBALD PIRCKHEIMER. 157 
 
 he had been dictating on board, and asked him how he 
 liked the CavaUer Latin. 
 
 The time which was not occupied with public affairs, 
 Pirckheimer gave to learning and to intercourse with learned 
 men. The most eminent of them approached him with 
 reverence, and attached great importance to his opinions. 
 His house, which his guests called regal in its splendour, 
 his hbrary well stocked with books and MSS., was open to 
 every man of learning. His banquets, at which he loved to 
 assemble men of talent, were famous ; and it was he chiefly 
 who made Nuremberg a literary centre. He was a Humanist, 
 and took a foremost place in the ranks of the Reuchlinists. 
 His Latin, though not faultless, has a classical tone and 
 Roman dignity. In Greek he was quite at home, and trans- 
 lated works' of Plato, Xenophon, Plutarch, and Lucian into 
 Latin or German. Count von Nuenar corresponded with 
 him on ancient German history, Erasmus and Cochlaus on 
 theology ; others proposed complicated legal questions for his 
 opinion. Neither was Pirckheimer a stranger to art. He 
 was an amateur musician, admired the works of his fellow- 
 citizen, Albert Diirer, and was deeply grieved to see him 
 prematurely cut off, the victim of a tormenting wife. 
 
 The description which Pirckheimer gives us of his life on 
 his brother-in-law's estate, when the plague was raging at 
 Nuremberg, is like a picture after the antique. Here, far 
 from the turmoil of politics, he lived entirely for study and 
 nature; he read Plato in the mornings, and in the after- 
 noons, as the gout kept him indoors, he watched from the 
 castle windows the country folk in the fields, the fisherman 
 or sportsman in the valleys and on the neighbouring hills, 
 entertained visitors from the neighbourhood, or his bailiffs 
 and tenants with their wives and children. The evening was 
 
158 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 again devoted to study, especially of history, and of works 
 which treat of the manners of men and the glories of nature. 
 He sits up late at night, and, when the sky is clear, he fol- 
 lows with an instrument the course of the planets, by which 
 he thinks to read the events of the future, the fate of rulers 
 and nations. 
 
 From a man of this stamp, who did not scruple to criticize 
 a Reuchlin or an Erasmus, Hutten could but expect a candid 
 opinion if he submitted any of his writings to him. And 
 Pirckheimer, who was eighteen years Hutten's senior, had 
 passed part of his youth at an ecclesiastical court, and had 
 since had much diplomatic intercourse with rulers, had had 
 far more experience of court life than Hutten, who was but 
 a novice. He let him feel this with good-natured irony. 
 He thought the dialogue smart, but immature ; Hutten 
 would know more about it when he had twenty years' expe- 
 rience of it, but he hopes that this experience may be spared 
 him, and that he may soon be able to live to his friends and 
 the muses. 
 
 The way in which the younger man took this criticism is 
 worthy of both. He did not defend his work (which is, in 
 fact, one of his weakest), but said that, since his " Dialogue 
 on Court Life" was immature, his "friend should allow him 
 time to gain more experience, and not entice him away when 
 he was only on the threshold. And then Hutten develops 
 his plan of life in one of the most attractive communications 
 we have from his pen, and which gives us a deep insight 
 into his mind, and the culture of the time. 
 
 In a few words, the gist of the letter is, that a combination 
 of a learned and practical life is not only possible, but, for a 
 nature like his, desirable ; that his position at the Court of 
 Mayence was rather an advantage to his studies than not. 
 He had warned others from court life, and yet remained at 
 
LETTER TO PIRCKHEIMER. 1 59 
 
 court himself. But what else can he do ? He was too 
 young (he was just thirty) to live merely a student's Hfe, 
 even if he were fitted for it. He must first see something of 
 the world. His friend will remind him of his twelve years' 
 wanderings. True, he had learnt and seen much during this 
 time, but he had accomplished nothing ; it was but a prelude 
 to Hfe. Now he must begin life in earnest. Pirckheimer 
 did not quite know him. Besides study, he must have inter- 
 course with all sorts of men, and with those unlike himself. 
 He could much more easily endure this social bustle, from 
 which he could always withdraw, than solitude. He there- 
 fore sought to combine the two. He had earned some dis- 
 tinction by writing, and did not despair of ^acquiring some 
 fame in the affairs of the world. But his beloved studies 
 should never be neglected ; his friends were much mistaken 
 if they thought they were so. His persistent defence of 
 Reuchlin had proved how deeply ingrained his love of 
 learning was. And if not always a prudent, he should ever 
 be a zealous opponent of those who darken the rising sun 
 of culture and obscure the light of truth. He cares not for 
 their hatred, but they shall fear him too. In future he meant 
 not only to deride them behind their backs, but to withstand 
 them to their faces. We must not be discouraged at the 
 slow progress of the good cause. It will come to pass 
 " that learning will revive, the knowledge of the languages 
 of Greece and Italy will unite us with those lands, culture 
 will take up her abode in Germany, barbarism will be driven 
 back over the Hyperborean mountains and to the Baltic 
 Sea. Meanwhile we will emulate the palm-tree, by aspiring 
 the higher the more they seek to repress us, and oppose our 
 oppressors with unyielding persistence." In this task they 
 will each do his part ; Pirckheimer as veteran and leader, 
 Hutten as recruit. He will drive the foe from the field, that 
 
l60 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 Pirckheimer and others may sow it with the seeds of higher 
 culture. 
 
 Erasmus had awakened men's minds in the Rhenish 
 country and nether Germany, ReuchUn had instructed his 
 Swabians, and Pirckheimer had taught Nuremberg. Nurem- 
 berg could boast of having gained the favour of Hutten the 
 noble, who had always had an aversion to cities and com- 
 merce. Of all the cities of Germany it was the most fruitful 
 in clever men, and best knew how to prize them. They had 
 a proverb at Venice that all the German cities were blind, 
 but that Nuremberg could see with one eye. Nuremberg 
 also distinguished itself in art and industry. Albert Diirer, 
 the Apelles of modern times, belonged to it, whose name 
 the Itahans put to their works to make them sell. Such a 
 city had been a grateful soil for Pirckheimer's labours ; the 
 infusion of culture into Hutten's own class was a much more 
 difficult process. The idea had always prevailed among the 
 nobles that learning was beneath them. Eitelwolf had tried 
 to disabuse them of it, but he died too soon. Now a brighter 
 prospect was opening. The most distinguished councillors 
 of the Emperor and princes, and some of the princes them- 
 selves, favoured the Humanist party; and so they were 
 extolled and compared to Maecenas and Augustus, in order 
 to encourage them. It had come to be thought that patron- 
 age of learning became a prince. He thought that all sorts 
 of traps should be set to catch the favour of princes, and 
 learned men must take office under them, as the theologians 
 and lawyers did.* 
 
 * The irony with which Hutten did this himself may be seen from 
 his letter to Erasmus of March, 1519. He asks Erasmus to praise the 
 archbishop well for the favour he has shown to himself ; it will be for 
 the good of other learned men ; the archbishop always hoped to be 
 mentioned in one of Erasmus's works when he showed favour to a 
 Humanist. 
 
LETTER TO PIRCKHEIMER. l6l 
 
 After this digression, Hutten returns to his theme. Pirck- 
 heimer himself has given convincing proof that time may be 
 secured for study amidst pubUc business, and even amidst 
 the tumult of war. Not that he will compare himself to so 
 great an example, but a life of study alone would not suit 
 him ; at any rate, not yet. " First," he exclaims, " let this 
 ferment subside, let this restless spirit get weary, let it earn 
 the repose, to which, as it seems to me, you are calling me 
 before the time." The good prince had given him a dispen- 
 sation from ordinary business. In spite of the turmoils of 
 the present year, he had studied much and written some- 
 thing. In order to be able to read and work anywhere, he 
 carried a portable library about with him, and was seeking 
 a young man as reader and amanuensis. 
 
 If he did not remain at court, where could he go ? In 
 a city you can study in peace and quiet, but not in a 
 noble's castle. The limited space, the bustle, the cares 
 of the farm and for defence, left no time for study. That 
 was not the peaceful haven to which Pivckheimer could 
 summon him. Perfect peace and security was nowhere to 
 be found on earth. Not courts alone, but life itself, may be 
 likened to a stormy sea. 
 
 He had before him a definite aim, but he must live while 
 pursuing it ; and this his post at court enabled him to do. 
 It was a reasonable ambition with him to maintain his name 
 and dignity, to be worthy of his nobility, to make it his own 
 by real merit, to add to the family fame. If he neglected 
 this, he should increase the prejudice of his class against 
 learning. To a certain extent, he was counting on good 
 fortune ; there were many things that nothing but this could 
 give him, while there was nothing worth speaking of that 
 misfortune could take away. Fortune could add lustre to 
 his rank, but not diminish it. He should maintain peace of 
 
 M 
 
1 62 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 mind. He could seek for honours, and yet despise them. 
 Let his friend, then, not seek to detach him from court 
 Hfe until he had attained his end. When he had achieved 
 something, and given evidence that he had lived, he would 
 bury himself in learned seclusion, and laugh at the courtiers, 
 theologians, the nobles and lawyers. 
 
 After communications about his health, the Diet, and the 
 society he found at Augsburg, Hutten turns to literary 
 matters — Erasmus's new edition of the New Testament, 
 Budaus's " Commentary on the Pandects," and other signs 
 of the revival of learning in France and Germany, and con- 
 cludes with the triumphant exclamation, " O age ! O learn- 
 ing ! It is a pleasure to live, my Wilibald, if not yet to 
 settle down to repose. Learning is flourishing, minds are 
 awakening. Be hanged, barbarism, and make up thy mind 
 to be banished." 
 
 Hutten knew that by this letter he had raised a lasting 
 memorial to Pirckheimer and their friendship. He pro- 
 claimed this openly by sending a number of printed copies 
 of it, together with copies of the " Dialogue on Court Life " 
 and the " Address on the Turkish War," for the booksellers 
 at Nuremberg, and others to be forwarded to Leipzig. 
 
 While at Augsburg, Hutten was recommended by Stromer, 
 his prince's physician, to submit to a new process of treat- 
 ment for a distressing malady to which he had been subject 
 for years. Medical science was then groping in the dark, 
 and it is difficult to say which is the most painful, the 
 description Hutten gives of his condition, or of the torments 
 to which he was subjected by ignorant doctors. He dragged 
 his sufferings about with him from Greifswald to Rome, 
 from Vienna and Olmiitz to Mayence and Pans, when he 
 needed rest and care ; he tried all sorts of remedies, and 
 not seldom entrusted himself to quacks. One of his friends, 
 
hutten's malady/ 163 
 
 seeing his dreadful and apparently hopeless sufferings, 
 advised him to put an end to his life. He must have had 
 indomitable fortitude and courage, for besides the intrinsic 
 merit of his writings, he must have the credit of having often 
 composed them, full of spirit and vigour as they are, during 
 severe, tedious, and almost hopeless sickness. During the 
 course of medical treatment at Augsburg, the doctors' pro- 
 hibitions did not deter him from study and composition ; 
 they did not know that these occupations were rather a 
 pleasure to him than a labour. 
 
 From the use of guaiacum he now thought that a radical 
 cure had been effected. After three months' use of it he 
 felt as if new born, and speaks of the wood to which he 
 thought he owed his cure with a sort of religious veneration, 
 as a heaven-sent boon, and felt himself in duty bound to 
 immortalise it in a book, and to make it known to suffering 
 humanity.* 
 
 In a passage about the regimen to be observed during 
 the cure, he speaks of the luxury which has become pre- 
 valent in Germany. He inveighs against the vice of drunken- 
 ness, but still less excusable is the luxury in food and attire 
 which is coming into vogue, the taste for foreign spices, per- 
 fumes, and stuffs which unnerve and impoverish the Ger- 
 mans. According to Bliny, oatmeal porridge served the 
 ancient Germans for food. Now we hanker after foreign 
 
 * In Dr. Strauss's book the greater part of a chapter is devoted to a 
 disquisition on the causes, nature, and treatment of Hutten's malady, and 
 to an inquiry to what extent his moral character was involved in it. It 
 is omitted here as not being suited for general readers, and the short 
 notice above, abridged from the original, incorporated with the present 
 chapter. It may be remarked that it would at any rate be unfair to 
 judge Hutten by the moral standard of the present day. Dr. Strauss 
 observes that it is well known that in the Middle Ages people were far 
 less rigid upon such subjects than would be expected from the religious 
 views that prevailed. — 7>. 
 
1 64 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 delicacies, and our own products are sold to buy them. 
 It is this that has so enriched the Fuggers. Hutten 
 gives a formal Pereat to silk and saffron, and wishes that all 
 who cannot dispense with pepper may have the gout. The 
 book was printed at Mayence, and had a large circulation. 
 
 Hutten had scarcely regained his strength after his cure 
 at Augsburg, when, towards the close of 1 518, he went to 
 Steckelberg to visit his parents. Here he could breathe 
 freely once more and lay aside all scruples, in many of 
 which however he was certainly not in the habit of indulging. 
 He was vexed that his address on the Turks had been 
 mutilated in deference to the fears of his friends. If he 
 remained at court, as a means of living, must he renounce 
 the patriotic duty of speaking the truth ? In the free air of 
 his native hills he could stand it no longer. He printed 
 the address entire, with a dedication to all free and true 
 Germans. He had yielded unwillingly to the fears of his 
 friends, but it seemed to him ignoble to refrain from serving 
 his country from fear of personal danger, and moreover he 
 could not see the danger. If it should threaten him, he 
 relied upon his Germans. Hutten concludes with these 
 words, which might be taken to heart by the reactionary 
 party of all times : " In fact, if there is any one who wishes 
 to see German liberty so crushed that we may not protest 
 against wrong or ignominy, let him see to it that this gagged 
 and stifled liberty does not suddenly break forth and assert 
 itself to the discomfiture of its oppressors. How much more 
 prudent would it be, how much more advisable, even from 
 the standpoint of our oppressors, to allow it a little breathing 
 room, not to confine it within so narrow a space as to compel 
 it to procure air by a violent outbreak ! For liberty submits 
 to be restrained when it is cunningly done, but she will not 
 submit to be slaughtered : to annihilate her is impossible. 
 
NEW EDITION OF LIVY. 1 65 
 
 Let them then voluntarily give us a little liberty that we may 
 not have to take it by force. It is but little that I have 
 taken myself, namely, not to be silent about a real grievance, 
 and to give modest expression to the complaints of my 
 country. Courage,- then ! And you who have the liberties 
 of the Fatherland at heart, who care for German honour, 
 and are not quite given over to superstition, read, do like- 
 wise, and farewell." 
 
 When Hutten returned to Mayence, early in 1519, he 
 paid a literary homage to his prince by dedicating a new 
 edition of Livy to him. Fragments of two books of Livy 
 which had been missing had been found at St. Martin's, at 
 Mayence, and two scholars had had a new and improved 
 edition of this author printed by SchofFer at Mayence. They 
 asked Hutten to write the dedication, thinking that it would 
 be more flattering to the archbishop if written by a member 
 of his court. The learned historian himself, says Hutten, 
 could not have chosen a more worthy patron than one 
 who had so favoured learning and learned men as Albert. 
 On the other hand, the dedication of an author like 
 Livy was an honour to the Elector which he would re- 
 quite by fresh Maecenic services. " Thou knowest thy 
 calling ; thou favourest learning, and learning is glorified 
 by thee." 
 
 In February, 15 19, the dialogue called "Febris" ap- 
 peared, which, although perhaps written at Mayence or 
 Steckelberg, suggested itself to Hutten at Augsburg by what 
 he saw and heard of Cardinal Cajetan. It is a satire on 
 the luxurious lives of the clergy and men of wealth, with 
 special reference to the cardinal. Hlitten wishes to dismiss 
 Fever, which has taken up his quarters with him. Fever 
 begs in that case to be sent into other good quarters. 
 Hutten refers him to Cardinal Cajetan, who has been sent 
 
1 66 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 from Rome to Germany to raise money, ostensibly for a 
 war with the Turks, but really for the Court of Rome. 
 Fever would certainly be well off there, for the man reposes 
 in purple within heavy curtains, eats off silver, drinks out of 
 gold, and was such an epicure that he could not relish any- 
 thing in Germany. The German game disgusts him, the 
 bread is tasteless, and the wine brings tears into his eyes. 
 Fever does not fancy the meagre hypocrite; he is niggardly 
 to his servants, and will be sure to put him under a ban the 
 moment he crosses the threshold. With the princes and 
 merchants he is afraid of the doctors. Fever reminds Hutten 
 of a service he once did him ; eight years ago he was his 
 guest as a Quaternion fever for half a year, and how indus- 
 trious, pious, and patient it made him ! Yes, Fever had 
 greatly tormented him, and he had thrown himself into his 
 work to beguile himself, retorts Hutten, and if Fever does 
 not depart at once he threatens him with the physician 
 Stromer. He may go to the monks, whose good living with- 
 out exercise must be most inviting to Fever ; but they have 
 learnt to charm him away, says Fever, from the old women 
 who confess to them. Among the canons then there are 
 many well-favoured people ; they do, to be sure, take more 
 exercise in riding and hunting than the monks, but this is 
 made up for by the greater excesses they indulge in. But 
 they have so many other maladies already that there is no 
 room for Fever. Hutten sends him at last to a benefice- 
 hunter just come from Rome, with whom he will find all he 
 wants to his heart's content. 
 
 Amidst occupations of this sort a courtier's life became 
 more and more uncongenial to our knight. He had nothing 
 in common with these empty-headed, puffed-up parasites. 
 Yet he could ill dispense with the income which his post 
 brought him. His patron had already released him from 
 
HOPES OF A PENSION. 1 67 
 
 the duties of his office ; he hoped that he would set him still 
 further at liberty by granting him a pension which he might 
 spend where he liked. It was already half promised, and 
 now Erasmus was asked pubHcly to laud the Elector for it 
 in order to insure its realisation. 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 A CAMPAIGN, AND PROJECT OF MARRIAGE. 
 
 T T UTTEN'S literary leisure was now broken in upon by 
 an unexpected event. In January, 1519, the Em- 
 peror Maximilian died at Wels, in Upper Austria. At the 
 banquet held at Stuttgard on the occasion, Duke Ulrich 
 received intelligence that one of his castellans had been 
 stabbed by two men from Reutlingen. He sprang up from 
 table, mounted his horse, sounded an alarm in the country, 
 advanced to the city, and took it, thus reducing it from an 
 imperial city to a country town of Wiirtemberg. 
 
 The Emperor was dead. The regent for south-west Ger- 
 many, the Count Palatine Louis, was on friendly terms with 
 Duke Ulrich, so there was nothing to fear from that quarter. 
 But Reutlingen belonged to the Swabian League, from which 
 Ulrich had withdrawn, and in which his offended brothers- 
 in-law, the Dukes of Bavaria, held a prominent position. 
 The League therefore raised an army to confront the dis- 
 turber of the peace, which was joined by many of the Fran- 
 conian nobles ; the Huttens, who had never received the 
 compensation money promised them by the treaty of Blau- 
 beeren, at their head. How could Ulrich von Hutten stay 
 away, when such an opportunity offered of helping to de- 
 throne his ancient foe, and of playing the knight once more, 
 after having so long devoted himself exclusively to literary 
 
HUTTEN AND SICKINGEN. 1 69 
 
 pursuits ? In February and March, while reprinting his 
 " Phalarismus," he equipped himself, and rode meanwhile to 
 see Franz von Sickingen, who, previously in the pay of 
 France, and in league with the Duke of Wiirtemberg, had 
 been gained over by the Swabian League, chiefly by Diet- 
 rich Spat, Sabine's paladin. 
 
 It was this common interest which first brought these two 
 men together. They were soon mutually attracted, and 
 from their fraternisation great projects arose, but also great 
 misfortunes for both. During Hutten's visit, his dialogue 
 " Febris " was read aloud to Sickingen, and what he under- 
 stood of it (for Latin was not his forte) pleased him so well, 
 that he said he should like to have it in German. Hutten 
 therefore had it translated, and wrote a lively dedication to 
 the honourable, beloved, and renowned Franz von Sickin- 
 gen. He had heard that his friend had had to entertain 
 Fever in his castles, and desired to give him an antidote ; 
 but the little book was much prettier and more artistic in 
 Latin. 
 
 Just as Hutten was about to start for the campaign, he 
 sent a letter to Francis I. of France, with whom he was ac- 
 quainted from his embassy to France, to dissuade him from 
 supporting Duke Ulrich, as it was said he was going to do. 
 He reminded him of the old proverb, " He who would in war 
 be beaten, let him battle with the Germans." Not that Ger- 
 many is invincible, but no one has yet attained a complete 
 victory over her. He wrote to Erasmus that he was not 
 afraid of the bandits ; but they had some forces and allies, 
 and might involve all Germany in war. Should this struggle 
 cost him his life, let Erasmus take care that he should not 
 be forgotten in his immortal works. It appears from Hut- 
 ten's letters during the campaign that Duke Ulrich inspired 
 great fear, and it was prophesied in many quarters that he 
 
1 70 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 would beat the League. But when the Swiss deserted him, 
 his strength was gone. Besides them, the duke had only 
 armed country people and a few hirelings, who were no 
 match for the army of the League. The councillors of the 
 League knew this very well, and effected that the Swiss 
 Diet should recall their troops. The duke knew it too, and 
 wept when he saw them moving off. It decided the war 
 before it was begun, and there was nothing left for him but 
 to take refuge in his castle of Tubingen, and to abandon his 
 country to the advancing foe. 
 
 On 28th March, the army of the League set out from 
 near Ulm and entered Wiirtemberg, commanded by Duke 
 William of Bavaria. Franz von Sickingen with seven hun- 
 dred and eighty-nine horsemen, among whom w^as Hutten, 
 joined the army near Kirchheim early in April. It had but 
 to walk over the course; nowhere was there any serious 
 resistance. On 7th April, Stuttgard submitted to the con- 
 queror. 
 
 We have a number of letters from Hutten to his friends 
 which introduce us to the stirring life in camp. On 14th 
 April he wrote from Stuttgard to Arnold Glauberger that he 
 had seen no enemy as yet ; most of the towns and villages 
 had submitted. Tiibingen only held out. The nobles had 
 retired into the castle, and the duke had fled to France or 
 Switzerland (really to the Palatinate) to seek help. The 
 army of the League wished for nothing so much as a brave 
 foe, that they might gain booty and renown. He mentions 
 that before the duke's flight, the widow of his murdered 
 cousin was with him at Tiibingen. It was a pity that the 
 Helen of this war had not fallen into their hands, that she 
 might receive her deserts. 
 
 Hutten wrote this letter in Reuchlin's house. The good 
 old man was in terrible alarm on the approach of the 
 
HUTTEN IN CAMP IN WURTEMBERG. 171 
 
 enemy. He did not know what a friend he had in its 
 midst, and had buried his beloved books. Hutten, through 
 Sickingen's mediation, obtained a promise that, in case of an 
 assault upon Stuttgard, Reuchlin's house should be secured 
 by a public proclamation to the army. But it did not come 
 to this ; the city surrendered under conditions, and Sickin- 
 gen himself went with Hutten to Reuchlin, assured him 
 of his esteem, and promised him assistance in the process 
 never yet brought to an end. 
 
 The travelled knight was delighted with Wiirtemberg. 
 " There is scarcely a prettier country in Germany," he 
 wrote. " The Swabians call Stuttgard the earthly paradise, 
 so finely is it situated." More's the pity, thought Hutten, 
 that it should not have a better ruler. 
 
 On the 2-1 St of April, Hutten wrote to his friends at May- 
 ence, that the enemy had not yet been seen in the field. 
 All eyes were now directed towards Tlibingen. If it did 
 not surrender it was to be stormed. Hutten repeatedly ex- 
 tols the troops. "Confront me with the Turks," he exclaims, 
 " and bid me conquer Asia with these soldiers." On the 
 last day of April he tells his friends that Tubingen is taken. 
 Considering its strength, he sees in this success, and in the 
 whole course of the war, the hand of God and the power of 
 conscience. 
 
 Meanwhile the Huttens had endeavoured to do their 
 duty to their murdered cousin. He was buried in the village 
 of Kongen, not far from the scene of the murder; they 
 had the body disinterred and removed to Esslingen to be 
 afterwards laid in the family vault, and took it as a miracu- 
 lous sign of his innocence, that after four years it was not 
 decayed, and that the face was recognisable. 
 
 During this campaign, Hutten became more intimate 
 with Franz von Sickingen. He slept in his tent, and was 
 
172 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 mostly by his side. Hutten's letters are full of his praise. 
 He calls him in all respects a great man. He maintained 
 composure amidst good or ill fortune ; had great ideas, a 
 dignified and impressive way of speaking, his manners were 
 simple and sociable, and he was greatly beloved by the 
 troops. He wrote to Erasmus, " He is a man such as 
 Germany has not seen for a long time, and I hope he 
 will one day bring great fame to this nation. There is 
 nothing that we admire in the ancients that he does not 
 strive to emulate. He is wise, he is eloquent, quick of 
 perception, and energetic, as a leader ought to be. God 
 prosper his undertakings." 
 
 After the campaign, Hutten went to Wildbad for his 
 health. Shortly before he received a letter from Erasmus 
 from Louvain. He rallies his young friend on his martial 
 tastes. After telling him that occupation had hitherto pre- 
 vented his reading his " Aula," and that his " Febris " and 
 " Phalarismus " were forbidden at Louvain, on account of 
 the personal allusions they contained, he continues, " But 
 what do I hear ? Hutten, man of steel, is going to the 
 wars ! I see that you are born for combat, since you fight 
 not only with tongue and pen, but with Mars's weapons 
 also. It is no great feat indeed to fight amongst many 
 against one, when you once put so many to flight single- 
 handed at Bologna. I admire your courage ; but if you 
 take my advice you will keep their Hutten for the Muses." 
 Erasmus also tries to dissuade Hutten from paper warfare. 
 He had not yet seen the "Triumphus Capnionis," and 
 hoped as it had been kept back so long by his advice, 
 that it had been toned down. There was never any 
 end to squabbling ; the other party was far superior to 
 theirs in malignity, lying, and slander. The Humanists 
 should let it enjoy this supremacy, for they had some- 
 
FIFTH ORATION AGAINST DUKE ULRICH. 1 73 
 
 thing better to do than to waste their time in stupid 
 disputes. 
 
 From Wildbad Hutten went to Esslingen, where the 
 League held a numerously attended convention after the 
 conquest of Wiirtemberg. He had asked his friend Arnold 
 Glauberger to have his orations against Duke Ulrich 
 copied; he now revised them, as he had been asked to 
 print them, and wrote a final oration. The fourth con- 
 cluded with the stirring appeal to the Emperor and princes 
 to arraign the criminal, the rhetorical thunder of which still 
 resounds in our ears. The theme of the fifth oration is that 
 what was then demanded is now accompHshed ; the tyrant 
 was punished and made harmless, but not as demanded, by 
 imperial authority, but by the combination of several states 
 of the empire to help themselves. It was less than the 
 other, but still it was a success to praise God for. Then, to 
 show the greatness of the achievement, the depravity of the 
 banished ruler and the danger to be apprehended from him 
 are again described. There was nothing new to be said on 
 this subject, and the repetition is tedious. Hutten says, as 
 it was said among his subjects, that the duke wanted to 
 make himself king, and to overturn the constitution. 
 
 In August the duke invaded his country, but with insuf- 
 ficient forces, and he was again banished ; this time for some 
 years. In September Hutten had all his writings and letters 
 referring to his cousin's murder printed. They were eagerly 
 read, not only in Germany, but in France, England, Italy, 
 and Spain. The " Orations " were used as school exercises ; 
 the " Phalarismus " made the Wiirtemberg tyrant a by-word, 
 like the Sicilian one in former times. Moderate and pru- 
 dent men might disapprove the vehemence and exaggeration 
 of these writings, but they could not prevent the effect pro- 
 duced by them. 
 
174 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 But we are forestalling the time, and must return to 
 Hutten at Esslingen, where we find him now weary of the 
 restless life in camp. "I look back with longing to my 
 studies," he wrote to a friend, " and sometimes exclaim in 
 my sleep, * O Muses ! O learning ! ' " And to another, " I 
 shall go back from here to Mayence and my books and 
 studies, and for a time to court also." 
 
 Another desire which now began to arise in Hutten's 
 mind was connected with this. The leisure for which he 
 sighed could only be partially filled, for a nature like his, by 
 literary pursuits. He was in better health than he had been 
 for years, and thoughts of marriage occurred to him. He 
 wrote to his old friend, Fischer of Wiirzburg — " I am filled 
 with longing for repose, in which I may indulge in the 
 future. For this I must have a wife who will take care of 
 me. You know my tastes ; it does not suit me to be alone. 
 They talk to me in vain of the happiness of a single life, 
 and the advantages of solitude. I am not made for it. I 
 want some one with whom I can find relief from care, and 
 even from severe studies. Some one with whom I can 
 recreate myself, and enjoy light and pleasant intercourse. 
 Some one who will blunt the edge of sorrow, and lighten 
 the load of care. Give me a wife, my Frederic ; and that 
 you may know what sort of one, let her be pretty, young, 
 well-bred, cheerful, modest, patient. Let her have enough, 
 but not much. I do not seek wealth, and as to rank, I 
 think the lady to whom Hutten will offer his hand will 
 possess nobility enough." 
 
 This letter gives the idea that Hutten had not got 
 beyond a general wish to marry; but there is one to 
 Arnold Glauberger, written three weeks earlier, and 
 referring to one which is lost, from which it appears 
 that he had more definite views. " What 1 have said 
 
MARRIAGE SCHEMES. 1 75 
 
 to you about marriage," he writes, " is to be taken in 
 earnest. It is not a mere project ; it is my settled in- 
 tention, so far as they will allow it." " They " appears to 
 refer to the lady's family. 
 
 In May or June Hutten returned to Mayence, where it 
 had been rumoured that he was dead, and his admirers 
 mourned for him while his enemies rejoiced. The Elector 
 fulfilled his promise by releasing him from all duties without 
 withdrawing his income. He afterwards made another 
 attempt to secure Hutten's services at his court, but he 
 could not be persuaded. 
 
 Albert would also have Hked to adorn it by the presence 
 of Erasmus, and repeatedly invited him through Hutten. 
 Erasmus had dedicated his " Method of True Theology " to 
 him, and lauded him for the favour he had shown to filutten, 
 the great Latin scholar. Highly flattered, the Elector 
 destined for him a handsome silver goblet, chased with gold, 
 and commissioned Hutten to present it to him. Erasmus 
 neglected no opportunity at this time of recommending 
 Hutten to him as a young man who would one day be an 
 ornament to Germany. His present eccentricities would be 
 corrected as he grew older. 
 
 In his present position, free from care, Hutten was able 
 to pursue his marriage schemes. He once more wrote to 
 his friend Arnold, for the lady belonged to another branch 
 of the Glauberger family. Her father was dead, and her 
 mother had married again, and Hutten anticipated difficul- 
 ties with her, for she had lofty aims for her daughter. 
 Arnold's father-in-law, who was one of her guardians, 
 was to sound her as to what sort of connection she 
 desired for her daughter, and to try to gain her over, and 
 to disarm her of her suspicions that he was a revolutionary 
 and dangerous person. The brother was to ascertain what 
 
176 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 her mother will give her daughter now, and what she will 
 leave her. He was to tell them that there was no truth in 
 the report that he would take his bride to some eagle's nest 
 in the wilderness. It would not suit him at all ; it was his 
 wish to live in a city. " Pallas founded cities ; she is the 
 goddess of my studies ; the woods may suit centaurs." He 
 concludes by saying: "May you find Hutten worthy to 
 have your civic rights conferred on him, to enter your 
 brotherhood. He has not conquered many cities like a 
 fire-eater, but his fame has found its way into many empires ; 
 he has not caused many to perish, but loves and is beloved 
 by many. He does not stalk about on stilts ells high, nor 
 scare people by a gigantic form, but he is not second to 
 many in strength of mind. He is not indeed distinguished 
 for beauty, or a fine form, but he flatters himself that mental 
 culture has made him lovable. He is not used to boast 
 and brag, but he ventures to hope that those who have 
 learnt to know him will not cast him aside because he is 
 simple, honest, and open. But this is almost boasting. 
 Once more, farewell, and write soon and fully. P.S. — 
 I am at present engaged on works with which I hope 
 soon to give you pleasure. For the present I send the 
 'Febris' to your brother. My studies are the greatest 
 delight to me. I wish we were together, that you might 
 see with what jokes I amuse myself. Destroy this letter 
 at once if you care for my reputation; by your friend- 
 ship, I conjure you to do it." His friend did not carry 
 out this request ; the letter is preserved among the family 
 archives, without any detriment to the knight's reputation. 
 
 The negotiations seem at first to have promised success, 
 for half a year later Cochlaus wrote of Hutten that if his 
 hopes were fulfilled he would soon bring home a rich and 
 noble wife. 
 
FRUSTRATED HOPES. 1 77 
 
 Thus Hutten once dreamed of a simple and peaceful 
 life ; he regarded himself for the moment as a harmless 
 person, and his works as pleasant jests ; but he was even 
 then about to raise a storm by their means, which was to 
 drive him for ever from the haven in which he was thinking 
 to take refuge. 
 
 END OF BOOK I. 
 
 N 
 
33oofe M. 
 HUTTEN IN CONFLICT WITH ROME. 
 
 yacfa est alea. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 HUTTEN IN LEARNED LEISURE. — HIS PROSPECTS AND • 
 
 PLANS. 
 
 1519—1520. 
 
 A FEW weeks after Hutten's return to Mayence an 
 important political event occurred. The youthful 
 Charles of Austria, inheritor of Burgundy on his father's 
 side, and of Spain and Naples on his mother's, was chosen, 
 by the assembled electors at Frankfort, King of the Germans, 
 in the place of his grandfather Maximilian. For a long 
 time the princes vacillated between him and Francis I. of 
 France ; but Charles was at length elected under circum- 
 stances which were very encouraging for Hutten and his 
 aspirations. His patron, Albert of Mayence, and his friend, 
 Franz von Sickingen, were among the most active promoters 
 of Charles's election, while Leo X. and his legates did their 
 utmost to secure the German crown for the King of France. 
 Thus, from the first set against the Pope, and indebted to 
 Hutten's patrons, it appeared as if the young ruler might 
 easily be induced to favour our knight's plans. Much, 
 again, was expected from Charles's younger brother, the 
 Archduke Ferdinand, who had just arrived in the Nether- 
 lands from Spain. He was looked upon as a patron of 
 Humanistic tendencies, and revered Erasmus. It was there- 
 fore hoped that he would be an ally against barbarism. 
 
1 82 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 Under these circumstances it was impossible for Hutten 
 to keep to his literary jests ; he felt constrained to lift up his 
 voice more loudly and earnestly than ever against the root 
 of all evil, the Romish supremacy in Germany, in order, if 
 possible, to open the eyes of the new sovereign, and gain 
 him over to his cause. 
 
 Hutten was then at work on various writings, among others 
 on " Badiscus, or the Roman Triads," but the first that was 
 finished appears to have been the Dialogue " Fortuna," 
 which is connected with the plans of life and marriage men- 
 tioned in the last chapter. The " Fortuna " is the m.ost 
 happy of all Hutten' s Dialogues, as far as style is con- 
 cerned ; and though less impregnated with ideas of reform 
 tha.n " Badiscus," and some later ones, it gives us a great 
 insight into his character. It represents a parley of the 
 reason with the desires, in which the latter, like women, 
 according to Schiller's " Wallenstein," after talking rationally 
 for hours, come back to their first point. 
 
 It will be remembered that in Hutten's letter to Pirck- 
 heimer he said that he was to some extent reckoning upon 
 fortune. "There are things," he writes, "which are only 
 attainable by good fortune, not even by virtue ; in these 
 cases I look, for the turning of the wheel, to the bHnd god- 
 dess, the mad ruler, the queen of all vicissitudes. I look 
 for a lucky turn of the wheel to prosper me." 
 
 In the Dialogue Hutten approaches the goddess with 
 the request that she will grant him so much of her super- 
 fluity as will enable him to live a quiet life of learned leisure. 
 To live in suitable style and dignity he must have some 
 accession of fortune. If asked how much ? — If he takes a 
 wife he should like to buy a house near her home, with a 
 garden attached ; farther off, some land, with fish-ponds ; he 
 must have dogs for the chase, a few riding-horses, servants, 
 
THE DIALOGUE " FORTUNA." 1 83 
 
 herdsmen, cattle. The house must have galleries, a library, 
 dining-rooms, bath-rooms ; there must be enough for dress and 
 ornaments for his wife ; nothing for mere show, but every- 
 thing suitable and proper ; and one must be able to lay by 
 something for children. For all this Hutten thought he 
 should require an income of one thousand gold guldens. 
 Fortuna doubts whether this would suffice ; at any rate, the 
 Fuggers are in much greater need, for they say they want an 
 income of two hundred thousand florins to keep up their 
 commercial monopoly. She must first help them, and 
 Hutten must have patience. In vain Hutten represents 
 that people's wants must not be measured by their own 
 fancies, but by the real facts. Fortuna regards neither wants 
 nor worth, being blind ; made so by Jupiter, because, when 
 she could see she favoured the good, and spoiled them ; 
 now she showers her gifts to whomsoever may chance to get 
 them. 
 
 Hutten then says he must address himself to Jupiter ; but 
 Fortuna tells him that he has long been deaf to the fooHsh 
 requests of men ; the only proper prayer is for a sound mind 
 in a sound body. The disputants now discuss the question 
 whether there is a Providence. The success of bad men 
 seems to be against it, yet the retribution which the Swabian 
 tyrant has just met with is in favour of it. One thing is 
 clear, that the theologians reason about this question in a 
 most capricious fashion. If the good prosper, it proves that 
 virtue never goes unrewarded; if they do not, then — 
 " Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth." They have a 
 thousand reasons for the prosperity of bad men ; — God is 
 inviting them to mend by his longsuffering, &c. ; but when 
 misfortune befals a man whom they think bad, they always 
 foresaw that God would not let evil go unpunished. 
 
 They are just as inconsistent in what they say about con- 
 
1 84 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 tempt of riches, for no one is more avaricious than the 
 theologians. 
 
 When advised to work instead of praying, Hutten says 
 that he had been working for a long time, and yet had not 
 attained his end. He had been pursuing his studies under 
 greater difficulties than any one else in his day, wandering 
 as an exile, struggling with poverty and disease. It was 
 love of knowledge which had induced him to do it, and he 
 had always hoped some day to be able to study in inde- 
 pendent leisure. Now, then, says Fortuna, he must 
 work to get rich. Hutten replies that he had hoped this 
 would happen to him while pursuing the former object ; 
 and he had been living two whole years at court in order to 
 enrich himself like other people, but without success. 
 Whether it was that he was unlucky, or that he was not 
 skilled in flattery, he could not say, but he thought now he 
 deserved to be able to live. 
 
 So he can, rejoins Fortuna, if he will be content to 
 be poor, like many of the greatest men. But Hutten says 
 he regards poverty, if not exactly an evil, yet as something 
 wretched. And yet, says Fortuna, it is far more favour- 
 able to study than wealth, with all the care and business it 
 brings. Did he know any rich man who enjoyed peaceful 
 leisure ? There are the priests, says Hutten. But to them, 
 says Fortuna, Jupiter sends gout, fever, and all sorts of 
 maladies, and sows envy and enmity among them. Hutten 
 would be just like them if he were rich. He did not want 
 to be rich, only to have enough for moderate desires. The 
 goddess might grant him something from her cornucopiae. 
 Fortuna warns him that it contains evil as well as good, and 
 he wants to look in and see what he would like, but Fortuna 
 bids him get out of the way that she may have a throw. 
 Looking down to earth, Hutten perceives a great scramble, 
 
and concourse of men ; some look pleased, oth( 
 The best luck has fallen to Spain, and has given many 
 crowns, and even that of the Roman Empire, to the young 
 King Charles. Some of the other kings are displeased, 
 and their ambassadors pull long faces j the Pope's legate is 
 ready to hang himself. Bad luck has fallen to Africa, where 
 some barbaric princes have been defeated by Charles's 
 army ; a hopeful beginning of the new reign. 
 
 Hutten, above all things, desires a wife from the goddess. 
 Her warnings of the difficulties and dangers of marriage 
 make no impression upon him. "For the leisure I long 
 for," he says, " I must have a wife, who will relieve me of 
 domestic cares, help to provide for my wants, who will 
 bring me children, nurse me when I am ill, mourn and 
 rejoice with me, and to whom I can confide everything." 
 With such a wife he would live in industrious leisure, and 
 occupy himself with contemplation and study, reading and 
 authorship. " Oh, bliss to be desired ! haven that I long 
 for ! blessed repose ! Come, help me to this life combining 
 leisure and dignity — occupation without danger. This is 
 the sum total of my desires." 
 
 Fortuna tries all sorts of evasions — does not think there 
 is such a wife in her cornucopise. But Hutten contrives to 
 look in, and exclaims, " Here she is ; this is the one I wish 
 for — pretty face, fine figure ; she is charming ! Oh, lovely 
 creature ! " She has plenty of money, too ; and in spite of 
 Fortuna's warning that this will make him her slave, Hutten 
 is so eager that he is ready to pull the pretty child out by 
 her hair. 
 
 But the goddess will not allow him to usurp her office in 
 this fashion. She makes a throw — the girl is gone ; and, 
 alas, she is fallen to the lot of a bloated, pompous courtier. 
 And this unlucky throw has also desolated Hutten's paternal 
 
1 86 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 estate by a storm, and want stares the family in the face. 
 So Hutten despairs of good fortune, and betakes himself to 
 the nearest chapel to pray for mens sana in corpore sano. 
 
 His courtship, however, does not appear to have been 
 then in such a desperate condition, but soon after, during 
 a visit to Frankfort, ominous signs began to show them- 
 selves. It was said that he only wanted to ally himself 
 with the Glauberger family for the sake of their money. He 
 wrote to his friend Arnold again to sound the family as to 
 whether there was any hope ; if not, to veil the subject in 
 the deepest secrecy. But all his efforts were in vain. In 
 December Kunigunde Glauberger was married, not td a 
 pompous courtier, but to a respectable advocate of Frank- 
 fort. 
 
 We are indebted to Johann Cochlaus, then canon of 
 Frankfort, for the particulars of Hutten's stay there, at the 
 beginning of 1520. Hutten told him of the dialogues which 
 were to appear at the next fair — "Fortuna," *^ Febris II.," and 
 the "Trias Romana;" and mentioned a discovery which he 
 had made in the library at Fulda, and which he intended to 
 pubHsh. He now by no means employed the harmless tone 
 which he had assumed in the letters to Arnold Glauberger, 
 but used strong language about the Pope and the honour of 
 Germany. 
 
 In February Hutten went to Steckelberg to visit his sick 
 father, and wrote while there the dedication to " Badiscus." 
 But we must first mention another dialogue, which precedes 
 "Badiscus" in the collection, and comes next to "Fortuna." 
 We have before mentioned in "Febris I." a passage about the 
 priests, to whom Jupiter, in order to embitter their luxury, 
 has sent maladies and disagreeables of every kind. This 
 passage forms the text of a second dialogue, or second act 
 of the dialogue with Fever. The opening scene is a master- 
 
"FEBRIS II." 187 
 
 piece. Fever knocks at Hutten's door ; he looks out of the 
 window, and tells the boy in case it is any tiresome visitor 
 to deny him. Fever recognises his voice, and makes himself 
 known. Hutten orders the terrified boy to bar the doors 
 and windows. Fever makes vain attempts to entrap Hutten, 
 and shakes the house with his assaults; and it is all so 
 vividly described that you almost forget the allegory, and 
 imagine a real transaction. 
 
 " Febris II." connects itself with " Febris I." by Fever teUing 
 Hutten that he could not stay with the priest to whom he 
 had sent him, because he was afflicted with all sorts of other 
 ills, poverty among them, which does not suit him. This gives 
 occasion for a description of the immoral lives of the clergy, 
 evidently derived from extensive observation, and it repre- 
 sents them to be as wretched as they were immoral. Hut- 
 ten asks Fever whether Jupiter approved of the decree of 
 Pope Calixtus II. forbidding priests to marry. No, answers 
 Fever, Jupiter said that it was decreed without his know- 
 ledge, and must be abrogated. Hutten asks what is the 
 cause of the degraded lives of the clergy ? Idleness, is the 
 reply, and wealth. If then benefices were reduced and 
 priests had to earn their bread by the sweat of their brow, 
 would they be more respectable ? Fever does not doubt it, 
 and hopes it will not be long before the Germans take it in 
 hand. If once a time of scarcity occurred, industrious 
 people would not allow their property to be eaten up by 
 these idle and useless men, but would drive them as drones 
 from the hive. 
 
 Hutten is of opinion that the German princes could per- 
 form no better service to the empire than in applying some 
 of the funds now consumed by thousands of idle priests to 
 honourable wars and the support of learned men. Hutten 
 means to give King Charles this advice himself; to repre- 
 
1 88 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 sent to him how unworthy it is of an emperor to permit these 
 useless men, not only to stuff and cram, but to laud it over 
 everybody, princes not excepted. He is perfectly aware that 
 such counsel will draw down upon him the vengeance of 
 the clergy, but that he can bear, if only he can carry out 
 his patriotic schemes. Not that he wanted to do away with 
 priests, but only to put an end to their idleness and luxury, 
 and to make real ecclesiastics of them. Fever remarks that 
 Rome, the source of all this evil, must first be cleansed, in 
 which Hutten fully concurs ; and this forms an introduction 
 to the next dialogue — " Badiscus, or the Roman Triads," of 
 which Rome and its depravity forms the subject. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 DECISIVE OPPOSITION TO ROME. RELATIONS WITH LUTHER. 
 1519—1520. 
 
 A BOUT this time Hutten ceased to regard Luther with 
 the indifference, and almost contempt, which he had 
 felt for him during his stay at Augsburg. After the discus- 
 sion at Leipzig in the summer of 15 19, and the writings of 
 Luther which it called forth, his cause could no longer be 
 looked upon as a mere monkish quarrel. Hutten recog- 
 nised in him a champion of the cause which he had adopted 
 himself, and would have been glad to enter into relations 
 with him, had not outward circumstances at first prevented. 
 The Reformation gradually superseded Humanism as the 
 centre of Hutten's interests, and Luther replaced Reuchlin, 
 though without causing him to withdraw his adhesion from 
 the old objects. 
 
 It has been noticed that during theWiirtemberg campaign 
 Hutten tried to interest his friend of Ebemburg for Reuchlin, 
 that Sickingen had protected him, and promised to do so in 
 future. Reuchlin's trial had been only quashed, not decided 
 by the papal Mandatum de supersedendo ; the sentence of 
 Spire in his favour was null and void, and Hochstraten and 
 his party continued to libel Reuchlin and his friends. 
 Scarcely returned from the field, therefore, Sickingen issued 
 a proclamation and challenge " To the provincial and priors 
 
190 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 of the Dominican Order of Germany, and especially to 
 Brother Jacob Hochstraten, concerning that learned and 
 famous gentleman, Johann Reuchlin, doctor of laws." 
 
 He informed them that he was much displeased with 
 their behaviour to Reuchlin, and called upon them to leave 
 him henceforth alone, to make amends to him according to 
 the sentence of Spire, and especially to pay him the costs of 
 one hundred and eleven florins within one month after the 
 receipt of this letter. Otherwise he, and others of Reuch- 
 lin's friends, would take such action against them and the 
 whole Order, as should enable Reuchlin in his honourable 
 old age to enjoy the fame and esteem which he had acquired 
 in all countries, and if it please God, to end his days in 
 peace. 
 
 Soon after the issue of this challenge to his ecclesiastical 
 persecutors, Reuchlin became the victim of a more tangible 
 danger. In September, Duke Ulrich again invaded his 
 country. When he was advancing towards the capital, 
 ReuchHn was inclined to fly, but remained to protect his 
 property. He, however, suffered great losses when the 
 duke gained possession of the town, and when, four weeks 
 later, he was again banished, the League laid claim to 
 Reuchlin's property, until Duke William of Bavaria took 
 him under his protection. But the town was torn by con- 
 tending factions, and Reuchlin could not rest ; so in 
 November, 1519, he migrated to Ingolstadt. Here also 
 he was at first in a depressed state of mind. Impoverished 
 first by the trial and then by the war, he must have 
 exhausted his hardly earned savings, had not the munificent 
 Pirckheimer sent him thirty gold guldens. 
 
 Sickingen's challenge was beginning to take effect. 
 About Christmas the provincial of the Dominicians came 
 to the knight at Landstuhl, and by his advice two envoys 
 
SICKINGEN AND REUCHLIN. 191 
 
 of the Order set out to see Reuchlln at Ingolstadt. He was 
 prudent enough to refer them back to Sickingen ; he had 
 confidence that this " Hercules " would put a stop to the 
 tricks of his enemies. They tried all sorts of subterfuges, 
 asked for time, &c., but Sickingen let them know that he 
 was in earnest. In order to facilitate the negotiation, they 
 induced Hochstraten to resign his offices of prior and 
 inquisitor, and by the end of May, 1520, Reuchlin received 
 the costs of the trial in gold. Besides this, the Domi- 
 nicians sent a letter to the Pope, in which, after honourable 
 mention of Reuchlin, they requested that the trial might be 
 suppressed for ever. But the payment of the money was 
 the only reality ; all the rest was but a shameful priestly 
 cheat, as Reuchlin was only too soon to discover. 
 
 While Hutten was thus continuing to work for Reuchlin 
 and Humanism, he was trying to gain over the best of his 
 old allies in the fight with the Obscurantists of Cologne for 
 his new enterprise against Rome, as the head of the Ser- 
 pent. In August, 1 5 19, soon after his return from the Wiir- 
 temberg campaign, he wrote> after a long interval, to his 
 Erfurt friends, Eoban Hesse and Petrejus Eberbach. He 
 complains that the former, when passing through Mayence 
 during the previous autumn, did not take the trouble to 
 come ten or twelve miles to see him (probably when he 
 was at Steckelberg) ; that Eberbach had not written to him 
 for four years, and that Mutiaij had given him no sign that 
 he was not offended with him. He was afraid that his late 
 doings might have displeased his cautious friend. To his 
 two younger friends he sends the address on the Turks, and 
 asks if they do not mean to risk anything for the liberties of 
 Germany. Eoban had proclaimed his love of liberty in his 
 answer to " Italia's Epistle," but now he was holding back. 
 Let him not fear. More authors holding such views will 
 
192 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 come to light than he supposes, and it will be a venture that 
 will bring renown. They will learn presently how Hutten 
 was gaining over to the cause those who can be of great 
 use, but who had not hitherto understood it, meaning espe- 
 cially Franz von Sickingen. He was now at work on a 
 dialogue called " Trias Romana," the most vehement and 
 plain-spoken that has yet appeared against the Roman gold- 
 suckers. They shall have it when it is ready. And Eber- 
 bach, who has been at Rome, is he going to deprive the 
 world of the fruits of his observations ? " Do not be dumb 
 for ever," he exclaims, " but speak out ;" and before receiv- 
 ing an answer, he wrote again from Steckelberg to Eoban 
 in the same strain. He says also that he is prevented from 
 making common cause with Luther, from regard for Arch- 
 bishop Albert, who had an unfounded opinion that he was 
 concerned in the business, in consequence of which he had 
 lately missed a capital opportunity of avenging the ignominy 
 of the Fatherland. (Doubtless by taking up the cudgels 
 against some one of Luther's adversaries.) Nevertheless, 
 he was doing so all the same, and perhaps the better for 
 doing it in his own way, and Luther had an efficient coad- 
 jutor in Melanchthon. 
 
 In January, 1520, Hutten was with Sickingen at Land- 
 stuhl, and tried to interest him in Luther, as before for 
 Reuchlin. In the disputation at Leipzig, Luther had 
 declared against the Roman primacy, and the absolute 
 authority of councils, and had adopted the cause of Huss. 
 His opponent, Eck, still more embittered by the paper war- 
 fare called forth by the disputation, was about to set out for 
 Rome ; it was not difficult to foresee what would happen. 
 Luther had already been commended to Sickingen's notice 
 in a letter from a count of Solms : it was, therefore, all the 
 easier for Hutten to persuade Sickingen that Luther was an 
 
HUTTEN AND LUTHER. I93 
 
 upright and worthy man, and the more hated for this reason 
 by the Romanists. Sickingen commissioned Hutten to 
 write to Luther, that if he were in difficulties, and did not 
 know to whom to turn, he might come to him, and he would 
 do what he could for him. Out of regard for the Arch- 
 bishop, Hutten did not write direct to Luther, but when he 
 returned to Mayence he wrote to Melanchthon, who was 
 to communicate with Luther, and to get him, without 
 mentioning Hutten, to write to his generous protector. It 
 is well known how much this offer of Sickingen's, which 
 was soon followed by a similar one from the Franconian 
 knight, Sylvester von Schauenburg, encouraged Luther at an 
 anxious time. He took Hutten's hint, and soon wrote to 
 him and to Sickingen, and afterwards dedicated one of his 
 works to the latter. 
 
 Hutten wrote six weeks later to Melanchthon from 
 Steckelberg that he had great and important projects with 
 Franz ; he would tell him about them if they could meet. 
 He hopes it will fare ill with the Obscurantists and with all 
 those who subject Germany to the papal yoke. He is now 
 having dialogues printed ; the " Roman Triads," and the 
 " Spectators," which are very plain-spoken against the Pope 
 and the plunderers of Germany. He hopes Melanchthon 
 will like them. He would like above all things to meet 
 Luther. If ever his cause appears doubtful, let him at once 
 come and see Franz. On the way he and Luther might have 
 an interview. If Luther went by way of Fulda, he would 
 learn from the landlord of the Bear whether Hutten was at 
 home j it was only a few miles to Steckelberg. He would 
 furnish Luther with money for his journey if he needed it. 
 
 At Steckelberg Hutten finished the dialogues above men- 
 tioned, and dedicated " Badiscus " to Sebastian vcn Roten- 
 han. How could he ask whether Hutten was writing any- 
 
 o 
 
194 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 thing ? He had not failed to do so amidst the bustle of 
 court life, and the seclusion of Steckelberg was much more 
 favourable to it. You have a proof of it in " Badiscus." I will 
 not commend it to you as good, for the subject is of the 
 worst, but I may say it is plain-spoken and sincere, and that 
 you will approve. If I was ever satisfied with myself, it is 
 with this little book. Our liberties were bound in papal 
 chains — I loosen them. Truth was banished — I bring her 
 back. Though conscious of so great an act, I lay no claim 
 to a public reward. All I desire is, that if I should be 
 persecuted on account of it, all good men should take up 
 my cause. This shall be my reward. 
 
 Among the five dialogues which appeared in April, 1520, 
 "Badiscus, or the Roman Triads," is the most important. 
 It was Hutten's manifesto against Rome, the glove which he 
 threw down to the hierarchy, and for him in fact, in accord- 
 ance with his motto, the die was cast. By this act he 
 encouraged Luther ; indeed he was to some extent the 
 pioneer for his renunciation of Rome, for Luther's work on 
 the Babylonish captivity of the Church did not appear till 
 October, and the address to the German Christian nobles 
 in June of the same jear.\ 
 
 The scene of the dialogue is Frankfort-on-the-Maine. 
 Hutten comes there in the suite of the Elector, and meets 
 with an old friend, Emhold, with whom he enters into con- 
 versation. They begin by praising " Golden Mayence," its 
 mild and healthful climate, its pleasant position, its two 
 glorious rivers which facilitate travel and the arrival of 
 news from all parts of Germany. " No sooner do I catch 
 sight of the city," continues Hutten, "whenever I have 
 been away, than I feel refreshed and inspirited ; nowhere 
 else does work come so easy to me." 
 
 On being asked for news from Mayence, Hutten men- 
 
"BADISCUS." 195 
 
 tions that the printer there (probably Schoffer) had declined 
 — on account of the prohibition of Leo X. — to bring out an 
 edition of " Tacitus " for Germany, with five newly dis- 
 covered books. Hutten does not know which to be the 
 most indignant at, the jealousy of the Court of Rome of 
 German culture, or the stupid patience of the people in suffer- 
 ing themselves to be prohibited from printing an author 
 who spoke so highly of their forefathers. This leads on to 
 many other things which the Germans submit to from 
 Rome, but at the same time Hutten hopes that ere long 
 their patience will be exhausted, for the spirit of liberty is 
 beginning to stir, and he hopes much from the new 
 Emperor. These Italians only despise and ridicule the 
 Germans for their submissiveness ; but they are beginning 
 to find outAvhat is said of them. A certain Badiscus had 
 lately been in those parts who had made known what he 
 saw at Rome, greatly to the disgrace of the Romans. He 
 had put what he had to say into triplets, or triads. This 
 determined the form and explains the title of the dialogue. 
 Hutten quotes the triplets of " Badiscus " from memory, 
 and adds some of his own ; and now and then long digres- 
 sions are interspersed, from which, however, he always 
 recurs to the triplets of " Badiscus." They are in this 
 style : there are three things in superfluity at Rome — three 
 things are r§je at Rome — three things are forbidden at 
 Rome, &c. |I^ cannot be denied that there is something 
 epigrammatic, popular, and easily remembered in this form, 
 and it caused this dialogue to be particularly etfective. 
 Luther was well aware of this, and in his " Babylonish Cap- 
 tivity," published a few months later, he speaks of three 
 walls, with which the Romans have surrounded themselves, 
 of three rods which they have stolen from us in order that 
 they may go unpunishedT] But it is not a style adapted for 
 
196 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 a dialogue. The triplets are ready made, the witty inventor 
 —and still more he who quotes them— brings them like • 
 nuts or apples out of his pocket ; while in conversation 
 one idea should be suggested by another. 
 
 If we ask how Hutten came to adopt this incongruous 
 mixture, the answer is that, as in the case of the " Epistolse 
 Obscurorum Virorum," it was suggested by Crotus. In an 
 anonymous dialogue, "The Contest between Piety and Super- 
 stition," of which Crotus is probably the author, there is a 
 Roman consul, Badiscus, whose sole occupation is to observe 
 the manners of men. This leisurely observer is Crotus him- 
 self; only Hutten cannot have heard him talk about the 
 state of things at Rome, for he was still in Italy ; but he 
 may have sent his triplets to his friend, and they incited him, 
 as a melody incites a musician, to write variations. It was 
 not compatible with any logical order. Hutten felt this, 
 and when Ernhold asks in what order he meant to treat the 
 subject, he exclaims: "What order? as if there could be 
 any order in such nonsense." 
 
 We will now give some examples of the triplets. Three 
 things uphold Rome : the authority of the Pope, the bones 
 of the saints, and the pardon -shop. Three things are ban- 
 ished from Rome : simplicity, temperance, and piety ; or, as 
 in another place, poverty, the ancient constitution of the 
 Church, and the preaching of truth. Three things are desired 
 by every one at Rome : short masses, old gold, and a merry 
 life. There are three things they don't like to hear of: a 
 general council, the reformation of the clergy, and that the 
 Germans are getting wiser. There are three things they 
 never have enough of at Rome : pall-money, popes' months, 
 and annats.* Three things Rome annuls : a good conscience, 
 
 * Two of the most shameless papaj extortions, i. All ecclesiastical 
 offices in Germany, except bishoprics and abbacies, which fell vacant 
 
"BADISCUS." 197 
 
 devotion, and an oath. Three things pilgrims generally 
 take with them from Rome : an evil conscience, a bad diges- 
 tion, and an empty purse. Three things have prevented 
 Germany from getting wiser : the stupidity of her rulers, the 
 decay of learning, and the superstition of the people. The 
 three things they dread most at Rome are, that the rulers 
 should be united, the people's eyes opened, and their own 
 impostures found out. And three things only could bring 
 Rome to reason : the determination of the princes, the im- 
 patience of the people, and the Turks at their doors. 
 
 The grievances complained of in the dialogue are mostly 
 those which had been adduced for more than a century, only 
 Hutten gives them special force and urgency. He speaks 
 of the shameless audacity of Rome ; what was formerly 
 asked for as a favour is now demanded as a right. The Pope 
 takes undue advantage of concordats, and Rome nominates 
 to more ecclesiastical offices than ever ; the price of bishops' 
 mantles is always being raised, and fresh means are found 
 of extorting German money. Among other impostures the 
 coat of Treves is adduced, which was dug up a few years ago 
 and proclaimed by the Pope, for the consideration of a share 
 in the pilgrims' gifts, to be the coat of Christ. The papal 
 interference with the rights of rulers, in allusion to the 
 youthful Charles, is also mentioned, and the gift of Constan- 
 tine shown to be a lie. Charles IV. is said to have been 
 unworthy of the imperial name, because he allowed himself 
 to be dismissed from Italy by Pope Urban. Charles V. will 
 vindicate the imperial dignity, and not take his crown from 
 the Pope's feet. If he fulfils the expectations raised of him, 
 men of learning will sound his praises and write books in his 
 
 during the uneven months, January, March, May, Sec, were filled by 
 the Pope. 2. On a nomination to every ecclesiastical office worth over 
 twenty-four ducats a year, one year's income went to Rome. 
 
ig8 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 honour; he will be hailed as the guardian of German 
 liberties, as the bravest, most just, and most Christian 
 monarch. 
 
 But extortions and political leading-strings are not the 
 worst things we get from Rome. The moral depravity 
 which has its seat there is a still greater evil. There has not 
 been a true successor of St. Feter in St. Peter s chair for 
 centuries ; they are rather successors of Nero and Helioga- 
 balus. The Papal Court is a hot-bed of depravity. The 
 legates who come to Germany bring detestable vices with 
 them. We should not only be acting with prudence, but in 
 a manner pleasing to God, by withdrawing our gifts from 
 Rome. When shall we avenge our disgrace ? 
 
 Hutten is well aware that it will be no easy task ; that the 
 Pope and clergy will defend themselves with all sorts of 
 weapons, and that he will incur danger himself. " You do 
 right to lift up your voice against this tyranny," says Ernhold, 
 ''•' but you must be on your guard ; we must not despise our 
 enemies." " Nor do I," answers Hutten, " but no great and 
 memorable deed is done without danger. Even if it is 
 not achieved, the attempt is meritorious, and perhaps the 
 example will be followed and a stir be made at last. Ac- 
 cording to my mind, Germany could render no greater 
 service to Christ and the Church than by putting an end to 
 these extortions, and keeping her money at home." " May 
 you persuade the Germans to it," says Ernhold. " I'll try, 
 at any rate," rejoins Hutten. " I will speak the truth though 
 they threaten my life ! " May Christ give his blessing, is 
 Ernhold's prayer. 
 
 If we take exception to the form of this dialogue in an 
 artistic sense, while admiring its reforming zeal, no fault will 
 be found with either the form or spirit of the next. It 
 breathes the spirit of Lucian, from whom the title is borrowed, 
 
"THE SPECTATORS." 1 99 
 
 and towards the end reminds us of Aristophanes. It is the 
 last in, the collection of 1520, and is called " Inspicientes " 
 (the Spectators). 
 
 The Spectators are Apollo and his son and charioteer 
 Phaeton, who, while their steeds are taking breath after 
 reaching the noontide heights, cast a glance upon the earth 
 below through the parted clouds. Their attention is 
 attracted by a great commotion in Germany. A great 
 concourse of men, armed and unarmed, is converging to- 
 wards the same spot ; some are feasting, others sitting in 
 grave discussion. It is the Diet of 1518 at Augsburg. 
 Apollo is well acquainted with men and their affairs, but the 
 son is surprised at much that he sees. First, he is struck 
 with the incongruity of so much carousing with the grave 
 purpose "of the Assembly. The father points out some 
 temperate ones, who, however, are rather despised by the 
 majority. But they are favoured by some of the more 
 sensible princes, and even some of the drinking set begin to 
 think them clever. When Hutten describes the drinkers as 
 courtiers with stalwart forms, embroidered clothes, curled 
 hair, &c., and the others as mean-looking, but clever, and 
 makes Apollo exclaim, " The gods protect the great little," 
 we see that he is thinking of himself and his experiences. 
 
 While this conversation is going on, a procession appears 
 in the streets of Augsburg. The papal legate Cajetan is 
 being conducted to the Diet, to communicate the Pope's 
 wishes about the Turkish war. The war, Apollo explains, is 
 only a pretext ; it is a speculation to get German money, 
 but it will scarcely succeed, it has been repeated too often. 
 The Germans are getting sharper ; some of the princes are 
 making grimaces, and the legate does not look best pleased. 
 The fellow will try all sorts of arts to gain his ends. How 
 long will this game go on ? asks Phaeton. Until the Ger- 
 
200 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 mans get wiser. And will they soon be wiser ? Yes, for 
 this legate will be the first who has been sent back empty- 
 handed to the holy city, where they did not believe the bar- 
 barians would dare such a thing. That is what they call the 
 Germans, and indeed all nations except the Italians, and yet 
 if you look at real civilisation the Germans are the most 
 cultivated people, and the Italians the worst barbarians 
 of all. 
 
 Then follows a panorama of the manners and political 
 constitution of the Germans, on which Hutten loves to ex- 
 patiate without losing sight of what had now become the 
 leading topic with him. Phaeton thinks he should like the 
 Germans, if only they would not drink so much. Apollo 
 does not like this either, but thinks there is some improve- 
 ment. The Saxons are the hardest drinkers ; they always 
 have their cups before them, and consume an enormous 
 quantity of beer. All Germany could not supply them if it 
 were wine, and they eat in proportion. Phaeton says you 
 might fancy you were looking at a feast of centaurs and 
 Lapithse ; they must be very stupid. Far from it, replies 
 his father ; these upright and downright Saxons have as 
 much sense as any of them ; more indeed ; for nowhere is 
 the government so good as among them, nowhere is there 
 more security, and they are stronger and braver than any 
 other Germans. Their laws are traditionary, and they are 
 much better off than with a written code. You will say next 
 that they are all the better for their drinking, says Phaeton. 
 No, says Apollo, I do not say that, but it is a fact that they 
 do many things better than more temperate people. 
 
 Apollo then describes the German constitution, and the 
 national love of independence. They serve their rulers faith- 
 fully, but in a free sort of way. They all acknowledge the 
 old man there, whom they. call the Emperor, as their lord ; 
 
"THE SPECTATORS/* 201 
 
 as long as they approve of what he does they do him honour, 
 but they are not afraid of him, and do not obey him very 
 strictly. This gives rise to these long discussions, and to 
 many disputes, and the worst of it is that the Emperor is 
 compelled to foment them in order to sustain his own power 
 by weakening the princes. These peculiarities make the Ger- 
 mans ill adapted for ruHng over other nations. Some of the 
 rulers, Apollo continues, are hereditary, some elected. The 
 ecclesiastical princes are superior to the others both in numbers 
 and power ; more than half Germany is in the power of the 
 priests, for which the people must thank their forefathers, 
 who gave their property to the Church. Next to the reigning 
 princes come the counts and then the common nobles. 
 Hutten now comes to speak of his own class, and shows 
 how completely he was imbued with its spirit. One of the 
 curious expectations entertained of great minds is, that they 
 will be superior to class prejudices; instead of which they 
 often hold them with unusual tenacity. Hutten never rose 
 above them, and we must give him the more credit for 
 throwing them aside when necessary, as we shall find that 
 he did. He now freely expresses his knightly likes and dis- 
 likes. He justly praises the valour of the nobles, and says 
 they uphold ancient German honour. He cannot deny 
 that they molest people with their feuds and raids. They 
 do it partly in the interests of the princes, who use the nobles 
 as props of their power, partly from hatred of the merchants 
 and the free cities. He traces their aversion to the mer- 
 chants to their love of national manners and dislike to foreign 
 ways — to having foreign stuffs and spices, luxury and 
 effeminacy, introduced into Germany. It would be no harm, 
 says the young Hotspur Phaeton, if they put an end to the 
 merchants and their wares. 
 
 Hutten's views of commerce were most one-sided. He 
 
202 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 looked only at the imports (which then, no doubt, greatly 
 preponderated over the exports), which took money out of 
 the country, and brought increasing wants in their train. 
 Partly from class prejudice, partly from scholastic stoicism, 
 he ignored the fact that commerce has always been an in- 
 valuable lever of civilisation. He had no better compre- 
 hension of the cities. He gives at this point a most 
 ludicrous account of their origin; calls them products of 
 effeminacy, refuges for the idle and cowardly, who could no 
 longer hold their own in the open country. The nobles are 
 right in opposing such degeneracy ; and as they cannot get 
 at these people behind the walls and ramparts of their 
 cities, there is nothing to be done but to waylay and plunder 
 them when they come out. Of course one who numbered 
 Pirckheimer and Peutinger among his friends could but 
 make exceptions among the denizens of cities, and it would 
 not have done to run counter to the public opinion of those 
 days by praising the robber-lives of the nobles. But he 
 calls it manly mischief. They were only a little too violent ; 
 some more lawful way must be found of keeping out these 
 foreign goods, and these ministers to luxury must find some 
 other mode of life, or leave the country. 
 
 " But the priests," continues Apollo, " are a great deal 
 worse than the merchants. They contribute nothing at all 
 to the common weal, but only nourish themselves in idle- 
 ness and luxury. There is nothing whatever of the German 
 spirit in them, and it is a shame that they are still tolerated. 
 The monks are just as bad ;" and a comical account is given 
 of their confessionals and absolutions. 
 
 While these sublime spectators are thus conversing, they 
 observe that some one is angrily calling to them from the 
 procession below. It is the papal legate, who is reproach- 
 ing Apollo for not having shone more brightly in this chilly 
 
"THE SPECTATORS." 203 
 
 Germany, as he bade him do on leaving Italy. Does he 
 not know that the Pope can bind and loose all things in 
 heaven and earth, and has conferred the same authority on 
 him as his legate d latere ? Apollo has heard it, but did 
 not believe it ; whereupon the legate calls him a bad Chris- 
 tian, and threatens him with excommunication if he does 
 not beg pardon and confess. And what then? He will 
 impose a fast or pilgrimage upon him, alms, or scourging, 
 for his sins. Apollo laughs at this nonsense, and the little 
 priest gets into a rage and excommunicates the sun. Apollo 
 pretends to beg pardon, and maliciously remarks that he 
 had not shone more brightly on purpose to please the 
 legate, for he thought he had many things to do which he 
 did not wish the Germans to see, as, for example, his 
 intrigues to prevent Charles from succeeding his grandfather. 
 Cajetan answers that he did not care much for the Germans ; 
 Apollo must not betray him, but he would be glad if he 
 would bring the plague upon Germany, for it might render 
 some of the benefices vacant, which would bring in some 
 money to the newly elected cardinals, of whom he was one. 
 Then, says Apollo, he must not shine brightly ; for fog and 
 mist were necessary for the plague. Hutten's counterpart. 
 Phaeton, can now contain himself no longer, calls him an 
 infamous wretch, and bids him tell the Pope, that if he does 
 not send better legates to Germany, he will raise a revolt 
 among the sheep against such bloodthirsty shepherds, and 
 hold him up to the derision of all Germans. Apollo shouts 
 down an oath to him, and bids his son drive on. 
 
 During the same spring in which these dialogues came 
 out, Hutten also published another old MS. which he had 
 discovered, and accompanied it with a spirited preface. He 
 was staying at Fulda, whence he had run away in his youth, 
 and the nephew of his former superior, John of Henneberg, 
 
204 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 was now abbot. Hutten was attracted by the ancient 
 library, which possessed a most valuable collection of MSS. 
 He found amongst them a Pliny, a Solinus, a Quintilian, 
 and Marcellus Medicus, and added copies of them to his 
 library. In 15 19, Joachim Camerarius was there with him 
 for several days, and probably it was during this time that, 
 as he wrote to Eoban Hesse, while groping among the 
 dusty and fusty old books, he found a volume without title 
 or end, in very ancient characters, which he soon discovered 
 to belong to the time of Henry IV., and to be written in 
 his interests against Gregory VII."' " I think of pubHshing 
 the book," he wrote to his friend, " and you will make ac- 
 quaintance with an author such as you did not expect 
 to find in those days. He vehemently opposes papal 
 tyranny, and fights manfully for German liberties. I know 
 nothing more outspoken and finer of its kind, it hits the im- 
 postors so hard. I have thought it worth while to write a 
 preface to it. Tell your friends of this discovery, in order 
 to raise expectation, for I do not think any one has seen it, 
 and I plume myself on being the first to bring so opportune 
 a work to light." 
 
 The work dates from 1093, when Gregory VII. was dead, 
 but the confusion wrought by him continued ; it was written 
 for Henry IV. and Pope Clement III., as later researches 
 have disclosed, by Bishop Walram of Naumburg, and merits 
 Hutten's praise. It adheres to the spiritual supremacy of 
 the Romish Church, but is all the more decided against 
 papal interference with the temporal power. To set up and 
 depose kings is not the office of the Pope ; the power of 
 binding and loosing, conferred by Christ on Peter, refers to 
 sins, and not to the oaths of allegiance which subjects have 
 taken to their rulers. It behoves the successor of Peter to pro- 
 * ««De Unitate Ecclesiae," &c. 
 
DEDICATION TO ''DE UNITATE ECCLESI^." 20$ 
 
 mote peace and unity, not schism and dissensions ; his sword 
 is a spiritual one, not that of the warrior. These and similar 
 ideas are put forth clearly and consistently, but in a spirit 
 of apostolic meekness, though Gregory is severely handled. 
 
 In connection with this work, it was natural to think of 
 the new Emperor Charles. It would be no harm to hold 
 up this mirror to him, and to impress upon him, at the 
 beginning of his reign, the need of maintaining a firm atti- 
 tude towards Rome. Charles, however, was still in Spain, 
 but his brother Ferdinand had arrived in the Netherlands, 
 and it would be well to gain him over, that he might influ- 
 ence his brother. Sickingen also had his eye upon Ferdi- 
 nand. To him, therefore, Hutten dedicated this work, 
 which appeared at Mayence in March, 1520. 
 
 Hutten says in his dedication that it was the duty of 
 every one to give the new ruler the best advice he could, 
 and he considered it to be his vocation to urge him not 
 to allow the German nation to be any longer a prey to 
 papal tyranny. It was far more necessary to oppose 
 this than to fight the Turks. The discovery of this book 
 had rejoiced him, because it so well served his purpose. 
 Had Charles been on the spot, he would have taken the 
 treasure to him, knowing that he would value the gift, and 
 perhaps find one who could serve him in the ^ver. No 
 greater service could be rendered to both the young princes 
 than to release them from slavery. For all the German em- 
 perors who have submitted to the Roman bishops have been 
 their slaves. Not so Henry IV. ; let Charles take him as an 
 example, as he is represented in this picture, and let Fer- 
 dinand encourage him to do so. Hutten will be at his side 
 as monitor. Let him not fear Leo X. The Roman bishops 
 could do nothing better than renounce a position which ex- 
 poses them to the wrath of God and man. A summary is 
 
2o6 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 given of the system of fraud and extortion which is applied 
 to Germany, and the most disgraceful part of it is, that 
 " while our forefathers thought it unworthy of them to sub- 
 mit to the Romans when they were the most martial nation 
 of the world, we not only submit to these effeminate slaves 
 of lust and luxury, but suffer ourselves to be plundered to 
 minister to their sensuality. Let the illustrious brothers 
 inaugurate their rule by giving back the Germans their 
 freedom." 
 
 Hutten had sometimes quoted passages from the Bible 
 in the dialogues we have been reviewing, especially when 
 he wanted to bring out the depravity of the Romish Church, 
 but his quotations were generally from the classics, and 
 chiefly from the Roman poets. But as he gradually went 
 over from the Humanistic standpoint to that of Church re- 
 form, biblical quotations begin to preponderate. This is 
 the case in the preface we have just been considering, 
 though it is neither demanded by the subject, nor appro- 
 priate to the persons addressed. The two young princes 
 were more likely to be influenced by political considerations 
 than by passages from Isaiah and Ezekiel, Matthew and 
 John. He praises the ancient work for which he was 
 writing a preface, as being cleverly constructed from the 
 gospels antl the words of Christ, and perhaps he tried to 
 imitate it. Luther's example also confirmed him in this 
 practice. During the next year he translated his Latin 
 works into German, and began to write German. For the 
 circles whom he now began to address, the biblical style 
 was certainly the most effective ; but we cannot say that it 
 became Hutten as it did the old bishop and Luther ; for 
 their way of thinking is woven of threads spun from the 
 Bible and the Church. But with Hutten it was otherwise. 
 His training was secular, partly Humanistic, partly political, 
 
LETTERS OF CROTUS TO LUTHER. 20 7 
 
 and he looks at religious and political matters entirely from 
 this point of view. Cleverly as the biblical quotations are 
 sometimes interwoven, they are foreign to the style; you 
 fancy that you see Hutten, whom armour and laurels became 
 so much better, disguising himself in hood and cowl. For 
 his Latin works, he used the Vulgate, and for the German, 
 the pre-Lutheran translations, in which many passages, par- 
 ticularly in the Old Testament, are quite unintelligible, and 
 this made the matter worse."' 
 
 About the time when the last-named works appeared 
 Hutten was at Bamberg with Crotus Rubianus, who was just 
 returned from Italy. They had last met in June, 15 17, at 
 Venice. This Italian journey, especially his stay at Rome, 
 had been of great importance to Crotus, as it had been for 
 Hutten. The foe which he had hitherto been fighting was 
 scholasticism, and for this, with its ignorance and stupidity, 
 ridicule was an effective weapon. But even for Crotus, 
 " who laughed at everything," what he saw at Rome was 
 beyond jests. " I was lately at Rome," he wrote from 
 Bologna to Luther. " I beheld the monuments of the 
 ancients and the seat of the plague. I am both glad and 
 sorry that I have seen it." f The moral depravity, the want 
 of any reHgious earnestness, exceeded his expectations. 
 " And this depravity," he says, " we feed with our money ! 
 We must open the eyes of the Germans ; we must lift up 
 our voices against the pernicious morals that Rome exports." 
 But for this a different tone was needed from that which had 
 served against scholasticism. The first news of Luther's 
 proceedings reached Crotus in Italy. The first work on the 
 
 * Luther's translation was just appearing when Hutten's career as an 
 author was nearly at an end. The New Testament appeared in 1522 ; 
 the Pentateuch in 1523. 
 
 t The three memorable letters from Crotus to Luther are to be found 
 in Hutten's woiks, vol. i. 
 
208 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 subject which came into his hands was the dialogue of 
 Silvester Prierias against Luther. This was the same 
 Obscurantist who had been the opponent of ReuchHn, and 
 it therefore brought the old contest to mind. Then he read 
 Luther's report of the discussion at Augsburg with Cajetan. 
 Was this really his old comrade at Erfurt, the contemplative 
 musician and philosopher who had vanished behind the 
 doors of the Augustine monastery ? Yes, he had known this 
 Martin, and yet not known him ; he now began to under- 
 stand him. Now he recognised in him the man whom the 
 age, Germany, and Christendom required; as the first to 
 arouse the people of the Lord from their dangerous delu- 
 sions ; worthy to be called the father of the Fatherland, to 
 have a monument of gold set up in his honour. And now 
 he called to mind the special circumstances which had been 
 the immediate cause of Luther's entering the monastery, the 
 flash of lightning which had thrown him to the ground as 
 he was nearing Erfurt, and calls him a second Paul. 
 
 It was with these views which he expressed in sundry 
 letters to the acquaintance of his youth, who had, unobserved 
 by him, become a great man, that Crotus again met his 
 bosom-friend Hutten. He had sent Hutten from Rome a 
 work of the beginning of the fifteenth century, by Nicolas 
 von Clemangis, on the degenerate state of the Church, and 
 had received communications from Hutten which showed 
 that he shared these tendencies. He had not been long at 
 Bamberg before he was surprised by a visit from Hutten. 
 During the Easter holidays Hutten received from Erasmus 
 the sentences of the theologians of Louvain and Cologne 
 against Luther, which gave them cause for mirth as well as 
 anger. From this time Hutten and Crotus were allied for 
 Luther and the Reformation as they had before been for 
 Reifchlin and Humanism. 
 
HUTTEN AT BOPPART. 20g 
 
 Not long after this we find Hutten on the Rhine. In 
 May he went down the river, and at Boppart experienced a 
 gratification similar to one that had fallen to the share of 
 Erasmus two years before. Erasmus was on his way from 
 Basle to Cologne, got out at Boppart, the custom-house for 
 Treves, and walked up and down while the vessel was 
 examined. The custom-house officer, Eschenfelder, recog- 
 nised him, and his delight was equalled by the surprise 
 of Erasmus at finding a warm admirer at the seat of custom. 
 He invited him into the house, family and friends were 
 called together; Erasmus found his own works amidst regis- 
 ters of customs on the desk. Eschenfelder appeased the 
 impatient crew by sending them wine and promising 
 to remit the duty on their return voyage since they had 
 brought him such a guest. Now that Hutten came to 
 Boppart he met with a similar reception from the Humanistic 
 officer. He must be his guest, see his house and books, and 
 among these he found an old manuscript which strongly 
 attracted him. His host at once presented it to him, and, 
 though not equal to the Fulda one, it was so appropriate to 
 the cause which Hutten had now at heart that he deter- 
 mined to publish it. 
 
 It was a collection of letters dating from the end of the 
 fourteenth century, the time of the schism between the rival 
 popes of Rome and Avignon; a correspondence between 
 the Universities of Oxford, Prague, and Paris, letters from 
 them to Urban VI. and King Wenceslaus, a circular letter 
 from the latter to all Christian nations, and an admonition 
 to the Germans to be circumspect. To this collection 
 Hutten prefixed a dedication, " composed in the saddle," to 
 all freemen in Germany,* in which he gives an account of 
 
 * *' De schismate extinguendo et vere Ecclesiastica libertate adserenda 
 epistolae aliquot," Sec. To this is prefixed "Hulderichus de Hutten 
 
 P 
 
210 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 what he had done. He says, " From the day on which I 
 undertook, so far as in me lay, to restore the almost 
 quenched liberties of this nation, I have not been idle ; 
 now I seek among antiquities for anything that will serve 
 my purpose, and give to the world what conscience will no 
 longer allow me to withhold." He then narrates how the 
 present work came into his hands. 
 
 He tries to turn these proclamations of the three univer- 
 sities in former times to account, to make the Universities 
 of Cologne and Louvain ashamed of themselves for their 
 condemnation of Luther's works. " The old theologians," 
 says Hutten — and with variations to suit the times, the 
 same might be said now — " were guided by conscience ; 
 now they are but flatterers and fawners, who, when they wish 
 to exercise their functions, make much ado about nothing, 
 and endanger and ruin honest people to please the great. 
 Then when they want to curry favour with the Pope and his 
 legates, and condemn those who try to uproot superstition, 
 they give themselves out to be heroes. Up to this time not 
 one theologian has ventured to preach or write against the 
 benefice-hunters, the Simonists, or the pardon-shops." 
 
 " But," continues Hutten, " if I am not mistaken, their 
 tyranny has had its day. For the axe is laid to the root of 
 the tree, &c. Be of good courage, ye Germans, and en- 
 courage each other. Do not give up the contest. For with 
 such forces, good consciences, a favourable opportunity, and 
 a righteous cause, we must attain our end. Long live 
 liberty ! The die is cast." 
 
 Before Hutten proceeded with this project, he performed 
 a piece of literary championship for Erasmus. Edward Lee 
 an English theologian at Louvain, wrote some remarks on 
 
 likens in Germania omnibus Sahitem." Dated " Inter equitandum. 
 6 Cai. Junii, Ajiao 1520. Vive libertcis. Jacta est alea." Schritten, i. 
 
HUTTEN'S CHALLENGE TO LEE. 211 
 
 Erasmus's New Testament, in which he pointed out several 
 errors. Even if he were correct as to some of them, his tone 
 was so offensive that he gave great umbrage to the admirers 
 of Erasmus. He himself wrote a defence against Lee, and 
 now Hutten put forth a regular challenge. He calls him an 
 Eratostratus, and calls upon him publicly to retract his 
 insults to Erasmus, and to beg his pardon as the only 
 way to escape the chastisements that Hutten had in store 
 for him. Time or inclination to carry out his threats seems 
 to have failed our knight, but in the dialogue which origi- 
 nated with his party, called " Hogstratus orans," Lee, who 
 afterwards became Archbishop of York, is immortahsed as 
 a dog. 
 
 Hutten's recent writings were now beginning to find 
 approval in some quarters, and to produce embitterment in 
 others. Erasmus warned his young friend to curb the 
 licence of his pen, lest he should forfeit the favour of his 
 princely patron. Others warned him to beware of excom- 
 munication, arrest, poison, and the dagger. Crotus in- 
 formed him that Eck had denounced him in a letter to 
 Rome the year before, and was now gone to Rome himself. 
 But Hutten was not to be deterred, and, on the contrary, 
 resolved to make his views and aims bear fruit in high 
 quarters. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 HUTTEN'S journey to the court of archduke FERDI- 
 NAND. disappointment. — PAPAL PERSECUTION. 
 
 1520. 
 
 nPHE newly elected King of the Germans, Charles V., left 
 Spain in May for Germany, taking the Netherlands, 
 where his brother Ferdinand was awaiting him, by the way. 
 Hutten had, as we have seen, dedicated the ancient vindi- 
 cation of Henry IV. against Hildebrand to him, and sought 
 to gain him and his brother over for his project of delivering 
 Germany from the dominion of Rome. He wished to exert 
 his .personal influence, and prepared to set out in the be- 
 ginning of June for a journey to the Netherlands. 
 
 The friends of progress entertained the greatest hopes 
 from this journey. " Hutten is going to Ferdinand," wrote 
 Melanchthon, " to prepare the way for liberty with the most 
 exalted princes. What may we not hope from it ?" Crotus 
 expressed the hope to Luther that his friend might be 
 attached to Ferdinand's court, and already called him the 
 counsellor of two princes, Albert of Mayence and Ferdinand 
 of Austria. Hutten himself was less sanguine. 
 
 In the prospect of so decided a step, Hutten thought the 
 time was come to lay aside all scruples, and to enter into 
 personal relations with the man with whose aims his own 
 were identical, and whose significance Crotus had more fully 
 
LETTER TO LUTHER. 213 
 
 impressed upon him. On the 4th of Jurii^, therefore, he wrote 
 the following letter to Luther : — ^_If anything hinders you 
 in what you are so courageously doing I am very sorry for 
 it. We have not laboured quite without success here. Christ 
 be with us ! Christ help us ! For it is for his precepts 
 that we are contending; we are bringing to light his 
 doctrines which have been obscured by the mists of papal 
 dogmas ; you with success, I, so far as I am able. May all 
 recognise this, and repent and return of their own acco rd. J 
 It is said that you are excommunicated." (This was not yet 
 the case; the ban agaiAst Luther bears the date of the 15th 
 of June.) " How great, O Luther ! how great you are if this 
 is true ! All good men will say of you, ' They gather them- 
 selves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn 
 the innocent blood ; but God shall bring upon them their own 
 iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness.' 
 That is our hope and our faith. Eck is coming back from 
 Rome with benefices, and, as is said, with a present of 
 money also." (Crotus had just been telling Hutten of his 
 intrigues.) '* But what of that ? The desire of the wicked 
 is granted, but may God guide us in His trath. We will not 
 walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor sit in the seat of the 
 scornful. But take care and keep your eyes upon them. If 
 you fell now, you see what an injury it would be to the 
 common cause. I know that for your own sake you would 
 rather perish in your enterprise than live in misery. They are 
 lying in wait for me also. I will take care of myself as best 
 I can. If they use violence, I have forces at my disposal, I 
 hope not only equal, but superior to theirs. May they hold 
 me in contempt. Eck has given out that I belong to your 
 party, and he is not mistaken. For I have always agreed 
 with you so far as I understood you, though no intercourse 
 has taken place between us. He says that we have acted in 
 
214 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 concert, in which he lies to please the Pope. Shameless 
 wretch ! We must see that he gets his deserts. [So you be 
 firm and strong, and not waver ! But why do I exhort you 
 when there is no need ? You will have me for an ally in 
 any case. In future, therefore, do confide your plans to me. 
 Let us assert our common liberties. Let us free the 
 oppressed Fatherland. We have God on our side. If God 
 is for us, who can be against us? The theologians of 
 Cologne and Louvain have condemned you. They are the 
 devilish rabble who oppose the truth. But with Christ's 
 help we shall fight manfully and succ eed^ They ought to 
 have formed an honest and candid judgment. I have 
 challenged them in a preface which you will see."^' Capito, 
 court preacher of Mayence, will send it to you. To-day I 
 set out to see Ferdinand. I will do all I can with him for 
 our cause. N. (Franz von Sickingen) wishes me to ask you 
 to come to him if you are not perfectly safe ; he will treat 
 you honourably, and defend you from all your foes. He 
 has told me to write this to you several times. Your letters 
 will find me in Brabant. Write to me there, and farewell in 
 Christ. Greet Melanchthon and Facchus, and all the good 
 men there, and once more farewell." I 
 
 Hutten did not lack funds for his journey. The Elector 
 of Mayence had just sent him one hundred florins. Albert 
 therefore continued his relations with Hutten, although he 
 had entered upon a life-and- death struggle with Rome. 
 We have before discussed how far the archbishop might 
 desire that a check should be put upon Rome. The pro- 
 jects of Hutten and Sickingen might open an attractive 
 prospect to the first spiritual prince in Germany. We know 
 that when the imperial throne became vacant, the Pope's 
 promise to make the archbishop legate for Germany in case 
 * See page 209. f Schriften, i. 
 
VISIT TO ERASMUS AT LOUVAIN. 21$ 
 
 Francis I. was elected through his efforts, produced a great 
 effect upon him. If, through the labours of Hutten and 
 Sickingen, the Church of Germany became independent, 
 and Rome reserved only some honorary rights over it, 
 it appeared as if most of the privileges withdrawn from 
 Rome must accrue to the archbishop of Mayence as primate 
 of Germany. Hutten's designs went farther than this ; but 
 part of his project was as follows: Germany shall be freed 
 from foreign dominion, and the Church itself unsecularised ; 
 the first was Hutten's, the second Luther's, main point. 
 This explains how Albert, apart from personal questions, 
 could be Luther's enemy and yet Hutten's patron. 
 
 Full of his project, and with some congenial companions, 
 Hutten proceeded down the Rhine. Erasmus was then 
 living at Houvain. Hutten paid him a visit ; asked for a 
 letter of introduction to the court and a private interview, 
 both of which were granted. But Erasmus made fun of the 
 war which Hutten was about to declare against the Romans ; 
 asked what means he had for the enterprise, and gravely 
 advised the enthusiastic knight to let the mad scheme 
 alone. 
 
 We do not know the particulars of Hutten's arrival at 
 Brussels, nor how long he stayed there. It is scarcely likely 
 that he awaited Charles's arrival, or that he obtained an 
 audience of Ferdinand. From the very first, his acquaint- 
 ances at court warned him of dangers which he could only 
 escape by taking his departure as soon as possible. He 
 paid no attention at first ; but as his friends became more 
 urgent and he found the priests so powerful at Brussels that 
 there was no prospect of a favourable hearing, he took his 
 friends' advice and departed. 
 
 On his return, he met with a comical adventure, which 
 he v\^as fond of relating. As he was riding with his two 
 
2l6 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 servants near Louvain, he met Hochstraten, and told his 
 servants to seize him. "At last," he exclaimed, as he 
 drew his sword, "thou hast fallen into the right hands, thou 
 villain. What death shall I inflict on thee, thou enemy of 
 all good men and opponent of the truth ? " But, seeing the 
 wretched man begging pardon on his knees, he sheathed his 
 sword, saying — " No, I will not stain my sword with such 
 base blood ; but know, that many other swords are aiming 
 at thy throat, and that thy death is a settled thing." 
 
 On Hutten's return up the Rhine, he met with many con- 
 firmations of the warnings he had received at Brussels. 
 Travellers returning from Rome told him that the Pope was 
 specially embittered against him, and had determined to 
 prosecute him. When he reached Mayence, his friends 
 flocked round him to congratulate him on his safety; for 
 they had heard that he had been waylaid, and regarded him 
 as a lost man. In consequence of their advice not to 
 remain long at Mayence, he went to Frankfort, where he 
 heard that the Pope had suggested to several German 
 princes, particularly to Albert of Mayence, to send him a 
 prisoner to Rome. It was also reported that a papal advo- 
 cate had asked permission of Charles V. to seize Hutten 
 wherever he might be found, and to make use of the tem- 
 poral arm to this end. 
 
 From Frankfort, Hutten paid a visit to Steckelberg, 
 where both his parents were still living. On his way thither 
 he wrote to Capito at Mayence, asking him to keep his 
 letters till a safe opportunity offered, and telling him of the 
 papal suggestion to the archbishop. "Now, at last," he 
 wrote, " this fire begins to bum, and it will be a miracle if 
 it has not to be put out by my fall. But in this business I 
 have more courage than they have strength, Up ! up ! we 
 must win— my forbearance is at an end, for the Roman 
 
THE POPE S LETTER TO ALBERT OF MAYENCE. 2 1 7 
 
 lions thirst for blood. But, if I mistake not, they will bleed 
 first themselves and have to wear the bonds with which they 
 threaten me." From Steckelberg, Hutten wrote to Erasmus 
 that he wondered the Pope should be so blind as to suggest 
 such a thing to a prince like Albert. They think they have 
 terribly frightened him (Hutten), though he hears that they 
 will offer him honourable terms if he will make peace ; 
 but this was not till he has escaped their hands by leaving 
 Mayence. 
 
 Hutten also visited Fulda, and spent a few days with his 
 friend Crotus. 
 
 Hutten speaks of two letters from the Pope to the Elector 
 of Mayence : he did in fact receive five, only one of which 
 referred to Hutten. The Pope wrote that a book had been 
 shown himj^either written or discovered by a certain Ulrich 
 von Hutten, with a preface containing the grossest insults 
 against the Papal Chair. This was no doubt the work 
 "De Unitate Ecclesise" with the Dedication to Ferdinand ; 
 for he either had not seen or ignored the work of Laurentius 
 Valla dedicated to himself two years before. Those who 
 handed him the work, continues the Pope (probably Eck 
 and others), had told him that they had in their possession 
 much worse books by the same author, and have urged him 
 to inflict severe punishment on such a blasphemer. He 
 had learnt that he was in the service of the archbishop, 
 and that his books were printed at Mayence. It was 
 scarcely likely that this could have been done without the 
 archbishop's knowledge ; still he could hardly beHeve such 
 a thing of a prince to whom he had shown so much favour 
 (he had just sent him the golden rose), and he therefore 
 preferred to assume that he knew nothing about it. But 
 he should the more expect that he would suppress the 
 audacity of those who rebelled against the Holy See, and 
 
2i8 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 either lead them to repentance or else make such an 
 example of them as should deter others from such culpable 
 impudence.* There is nothing in this brief about arrest- 
 ing Hutten or sending him to Rome. Perhaps this was 
 communicated verbally, or was only a report. Hutten 
 tried for a long time in vain to get a copy of the document. 
 
 In his reply, by the hand of his councillor, Capito, 
 Hutten's friend and the diplomatic friend of the Reforma- 
 tion, the archbishop justifies himself by saying that he had 
 removed from about him all those in whom he had ob- 
 served alienation from Rome ; he had dismissed Hutten, 
 whom he had previously much valued, as soon as he heard 
 of his libel on Cardinal Cajetan ("Febris Prima"), that is, as 
 we know, he had given him the leave of absence he asked 
 for, and continued his salary. He had first heard of his 
 recent obnoxious writings on his return from the diocese of 
 Magdeburg; but he could not attack Hutten, as he was 
 keeping himself secure in the strongest castles, and was 
 ready at any moment to collect a force which might endanger 
 the archbishop. But he had arrested the printer (Schoffer), 
 a citizen of Mayence ; and, in spite of the remonstrances 
 of eminent men, had placed him in strict confinement. He 
 had also forbidden the sale or purchase of works in his 
 dioceses inimical to the Holy See. 
 
 It appears, then, that the intercession of the High 
 Steward, Frowin von Hutten, for the printer, which Ulrich 
 had begged for, had been in vain. The strong castles, in 
 which Hutten was keeping himself, were those of his friend, 
 Franz von Sickingen, whither our narrative must now follow 
 him. 
 
 ♦ This letter, and Albeit's answer, are in Hutten's Schriften, vol. i. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 HUTTEN AT EBERNBURG WITH FRANZ VON SICKINGEN. 
 1520. 
 
 T T is not easy for us, who live in times so totally different, 
 to form a correct opinion of the chivalrous figures of a 
 former age, such as Franz von Sickingen, Gotz von Ber- 
 lichingen, and others. We are apt either to over or under 
 estimate them. The former, when we regard them from a 
 distance ; the latter, when we obtain a nearer view. For it 
 dispels the illusion that these knights mostly drew their 
 swords on behalf of the oppressed from unselfish love of 
 right and liberty. They appear not only coarse, but, with 
 some exceptions, selfish. We are incensed at the brutality 
 with which in their feuds one of them will plunder the poor 
 vassals of another, burn their villages, and devastate their 
 fields, and are disgusted to find that all this was pursued as 
 a trade, in which booty and ransom were the real objects, 
 and self-defence against some noble or city nothing but a 
 pretext. This comes out plainly in the naive confessions of 
 Gotz to the old man;* and Franz von Sickingen, who has 
 been not inaptly called a Gotz of a higher grade, was cast 
 in just the same mould. 
 
 * On this point there is nothing more instructive, except this auto- 
 biography of Gotz, than a httle book called " Dem Landfrieden istnicht 
 zu trauen," edited by L. F. Freiherr von Eberstein. Nordhausen, I068. 
 
220 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 The race of the Sickingens was an ancient one, though 
 its importance only dates from Franz's father, Schweickard 
 von Sickingen. By the feuds which he carried on, mostly 
 against the cities, partly in the service of and partly under 
 the protection of the Palatinate, he increased his posses- 
 sions. We give an instance of the way in which these feuds 
 arose.* He was once walking about at Cologne, and wore, 
 as usual, his sword in his belt. This being contrary to the 
 city regulations, he had to take it off in the streets and 
 deliver it up. This he regarded as so great an indignity, 
 that from that moment he was the foe of the city, did it 
 much harm, and even proposed to take possession of it. 
 This ambitious man was a mathematician and an observer 
 of the stars. He is said to have noticed a remarkable con- 
 stellation at the time of the birth of his son Franz, from 
 which he deduced that he would attain a high position in 
 the world, but would come to a grievous end.f Schweickard's 
 own end was a tragic one. In 1503-4, in the Bavarian war 
 of succession, he contended for the rights of the Palatinate 
 against those of the Emperor Max, for which he had to 
 atone on the scaffold. 
 
 Franz was born at Ebernburg, near Kreuznach, in 1481. 
 Next to Landstuhl, near Kaiserslautern, it was the most 
 important of the Sickingen castles. His education, although 
 he says that ReucWin had some influence over it, was only 
 such as the nobles generally received. His father's misfor- 
 tunes and early death left him the task of restoring the 
 renown of the race. He worked his way up in the service 
 of various princes. It was his feud with Worms which first 
 
 * The feud, both in its origin and the mode of conducting it, was a 
 typical one, and Mangold was Hutten's maternal uncle, and intimate 
 with the Steckelbergers. 
 
 t See the " Flersheimer Chronik," by Franz's brother-in-law, Philip 
 V. Flersheim, reprinted in Munch's "Franz von Sickingen," iii. 
 
FRANZ VON SICKINGEN. 221 
 
 attracted attention ; in that with the Duke of Lorraine he 
 reached the summit of his fame. In these and other quar- 
 rels and campaigns, the causes and modes of warfare were 
 all of a piece. Banished citizens of some city, injured sub- 
 jects or neighbours of some prince, appealed to the knight 
 to defend them from some injury, real or imagined, and some- 
 times renounced their property or demands in his favour ; he 
 then demanded indemnity for them, or permission to return, 
 and the restitution of their property to him. If this was 
 refused he advanced to the city, or attacked the country, as 
 the case might be; devastated them, plundered the mer- 
 chants he met by the way, and extorted heavy ransoms. 
 He cared nothing for the remonstrances of the Court of 
 Judicature, nor, in the case of the feud with Worms, for the 
 Imperial ban itself, and his retreat was generally only bought 
 by large sums of money — Metz paid twenty thousand florins, 
 Hessy fifty thousand, for instance. The insecure position of 
 the Emperor made it impossible for him to be always a 
 severe judge in such cases. The injuries Franz inflicted on 
 Worms were condoned, because the Emperor required his 
 services against Duke Ulrich of Wiirtemberg. Instead of 
 enforcing the ban he took him into his pay, and when 
 Maximilian died, Sickingen was a power in the empire, for 
 whose favour the rival candidates, Francis I. of France and 
 Charles of Spain, contended. Sickingen gave up a previous 
 connection with the former, and devoted himself to Charles's 
 interests, forwarded his election as far as lay in his power, 
 and laid him under obligation by a loan of twenty thousand 
 florins in cash. Charles made him his general, councillor, 
 and chamberlain, with an income of three thousand florins, 
 and gave him a body-guard of twenty cuirassiers. 
 
 So far Sickingen's doings were simply those of a knight 
 who sought his own advancement with and against his com- 
 
222 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 peers, and at the expense of princes and cities, took every 
 opportunity of doing so with but little scruple about the 
 rights of others, and considered that he had complied with 
 all the requirements of honour when he had issued a regular 
 challenge before an attack. In the disintegrated state of 
 the German Empire of that day the noble felt himself to be 
 an independent power, who, in collision with similar powers, 
 was no more bound to be influenced by any principles of 
 law or morality, or by any motive other than his own 
 advantage, than was the case between political states, 
 though in both instances these high-sounding words were 
 often brought forward. 
 
 But there was at any rate one instance in which, so far as 
 -WQ can see, Sickingen disinterestedly took the part of an 
 injured man — that of ReuchHn; and another case now 
 occurs in which, though it might be to his political advan- 
 tage also, he certainly interested himself in a cause for its 
 own sake, namely, in the Reformation. In both instances this 
 was the result of Hutten's influence. Like a skilful gardener 
 he knew where to graft a fruitful branch on the rough but 
 hardy stock. Though not learned himself, Sickingen was 
 not without a taste for learnmg, so that Hutten's acquaint- 
 ance came to him opportunely, and soon ripened into a 
 friendship, which, though fate granted it but a short dura- 
 tion, is one of the most prominent amongst the examples in 
 which German history abounds. Sickingen was Hutten's 
 senior by seven years, and was as much his superior in 
 wealth and influence as Hutten was his in mind and educa- 
 tion. Thus each was the complement of the other, like 
 theory and practice — hands and head. 
 
 Up to this time Sickingen had kept to the traditional 
 religion. He and his wife, Hedwig von Flersheim, had 
 rebuilt and endowed a Beguine monastery near Ebernburg ; 
 
FRANZ VON SICKINGEN. 223 
 
 he even had a scheme, for which Hutten afterwards bantered 
 him, of " building a new nest for the wooden-footed Fran- 
 ciscans." Hutten first gained him over for ReuchUn, 
 then for Luther, and led him by the same path which he 
 had followed himself. At Hutten's instigation he offered 
 both an asylum in his castles. Neither of them availed 
 himself of the offer; the former was not in personal 
 danger, and for the latter, the neutral attitude of his wise 
 elector was the best protection. But Hutten himself now 
 stood in need of such an asylum, for his ecclesiastical 
 elector could no longer protect him without formally break- 
 ing with Rome, and he was not like Luther, content 
 with mere safety, but, as we shall see, tried to organize 
 from his friend's castles, beside the spiritual warfare, an 
 actual campaign against the emissaries and adherents of 
 Rome. 
 
 Ebernburg, situated on a steep rock in the angle formed 
 by the junction of the Alsenz with the Nahe, at the northern 
 end of the present Bavarian Palatinate, and provided by 
 Sickingen, as his chief seat, with stately apartments and 
 strong outworks, was in the years 1520-22 one of the 
 most remarkable theatres of German history. Hutten calls 
 his friend's castles " refuges of righteousness." They were 
 open to others besides himself who suffered persecution on 
 account of their zeal for Church reform. Caspar Aquila 
 had once been Sickingen's army chaplain, then parish priest 
 near Augsburg, until his devotion to the Reformation sent 
 him into the prison at Dillingen. He escaped, and the castles 
 of his former master afforded him and his wife and family 
 food and shelter. Martin Bucer, afterwards the Strasburg 
 Reformer, who had left the Dominican Order, also found a 
 refuge with Sickingen. Johann CEcolampadius, of Weins- 
 berg, afterwards so famous as the Swiss Melanchthon, had 
 
224 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 escaped from St. Bridgit's Monastery at Alten-Miinster, and 
 Ebernburg was open to him. Reuchlin's countryman, Johann 
 Schwebel, had forsaken the Order of the Holy Ghost, and 
 was no longer safe at home. Sickingen appointed him his 
 chaplain, and soon afterwards defrayed the expenses of his 
 wedding at Landstuhl. 
 
 From September, 1520, Hutten was at Ebernburg, and 
 his first business was to make public the attacks of Rome 
 upon himself, in order to incite Emperor, princes, and all 
 free Germans against a power which cherished such inten- 
 tions. Sickingen was just then setting out to greet Charles, 
 who had just come from Spain ; and at his coronation at 
 Aix-la-Chapelle (23rd October) Sickingen was treated with 
 a distinction which augured well for his influence. Hutten 
 gave him his appeal to the Emperor,* in which he informs 
 him of the plots against his life, and of the command of the 
 Cuiia to several German princes to send him bound to 
 Rome, and prays him not to comply with the suggestions 
 made to him to confirm it. A German knight has nothing 
 to do with the Bishop of Rome, he should only be judged 
 by the Emperor in Germany. In this appeal Hutten repre- 
 sents his cause as that of the Emperor. The hatred of the 
 Romish party is caused by his imperialistic views ; every 
 injury which the Emperor suffers to be inflicted on him is 
 inimical to his imperial power. He had first offended these 
 people by his address on the Turks, in which he had op- 
 posed their intrigues against Charles's election as King of 
 Rome, and nothing had so incensed them against him as 
 that he had wished to put an end to their interference with 
 the imperial rights, and had admonished the German nation 
 to remember its dignity. 
 
 * " Carolo, Romanorum et Hispaniarum regi." U. de Hutten, eq. 
 Germ. Schriften, i. 
 
APPEAL TO THE EMPEROR. 225 
 
 Hutten openly confesses that in his writings he had had 
 a change in the existing order of things in view ; and, to show 
 that he sees nothing wrong in this, he declares that he shall 
 continue to promote the same end. He was only contend- 
 ing for the common liberties and the imperial dignity against 
 the opponents of truth. " It is no private matter," he says, 
 " no quarrel of my own, no personal business. How scorn- 
 fully would they triumph if this enterprise concerned myself ! 
 Still they persecute and seek to ruin me, and want to use 
 your power as an instrument. But I trust first in my own 
 conscience, and next in your fairness. I have borne testi- 
 mony to the truth in outspoken writings. I wished to serve 
 you from duty, and the Fatherland from affection. On well- 
 sustained proofs I have combated the papal imposture, and 
 have soughf to frustrate their attacks on your authority and 
 the common liberties. What, I ask, that no one may think 
 I fear punishment as for a crime, should be the reward for 
 these services?" The whole category of papal sins, aggres. 
 sions, and extortions is then enumerated, and Charles is 
 warned against their increase if they are not checked. Hut- 
 ten would have been justified in taking up arms himself, 
 and aid would not have failed him, but he preferred to leave 
 all in Charles's hands; and he not only expected that he 
 would forgive him, but that he would call his persecutors to 
 account. 
 
 Scarcely less important for Hutten than the new Em- 
 peror's views were those of the highly esteemed and influ- 
 ential Elector of Saxony, whose attitude towards Luther, 
 however little it might satisfy Hutten's zeal, gave him more 
 hope than he could derive from those by whom Charles was 
 surrounded. About this time, therefore, he wrote several 
 letters to Spalatin asking him to sound his master as to 
 -what might be expected of him if the quarrel with Rome 
 
 Q 
 
226 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 came to blows. He now communicated his wishes to the 
 elector in an outspoken letter. 
 
 The attack upon him and the bull against Luther show 
 that nothing can be done by fair means with Rome ; her 
 tyranny must be opposed by force. The crimes of Luther 
 and Hutten consisted in their having tried to revive the 
 teaching of the Gospel, and to prevent the German nation 
 from being reduced to servitude. This enterprise, though 
 displeasing to the Roman Primate, was pleasing to Christ. 
 If Luther and he desired to serve Christ, it was impossible 
 to keep peace with Rome. It was time to be in earnest, 
 for the evil had reached its highest pitch, though, if signs 
 did not mislead them, the great Babylon was near her fall. 
 The princes should look to the commonweal and liberties, 
 especially Frederic^ the ruler of unconquered Saxony. It 
 had indeed been subject to the Pope, like the rest of Chris- 
 tendom, but this stain would be gloriously wiped out if 
 it took the lead in throwing off the yoke. Not that there 
 was any sign of this as yet, except that Frederic had given 
 shelter to Luther, and seemed to have preserved a spark of 
 manliness which might some day burst forth into a flame. 
 What can the princes be thinking of to allow him, a mere 
 knight, to show so much zeal in the cause when it was their 
 place to take it up. Bodi classes must work together ; the 
 power of the princes must be joined to the valour of the 
 nobles. Hutten would not cease to exhort them till he saw 
 them take heart, or perceived that they were no longer 
 capable of manly deeds. 
 
 After expatiating on the good purposes to which the 
 money now sent to Rome might be applied, and proposing 
 various reforms, Hutten exclaims, " But what shall we do 
 with the monks ? What can we do but abolish the whole set 
 of them to the great advantage of Christendom .? Is this to 
 
APPEAL TO THE ELECTOR OF SAXONY. 227 
 
 sink Peter's boat, and, as the sacrilegious Romans say, to 
 rend the seamless coat of Christ ? Is it not rather to purify, 
 to advance, to increase the Church by bringing other nations 
 into it by the reform of morals, and the removal of evil 
 examples ? " 
 
 " Would to God," Hutten continues, "that you had the will 
 to do this as well as the power, or that I had the power as well 
 as the will. But if I cannot move you, or kindle a flame to 
 consume these things, I will do what I can alone. I will do 
 nothing unworthy of a brave knight ; so long as I retain my 
 senses I will never swerve from my purpose but I shall pity 
 you for falling away from manliness (if you do fall away). 
 I shall ever be free, for I fear not death. And it shall never 
 be said of Hutten that he served a foreign king, let him be 
 ever so great and mighty, to say nothing of the Pope. But 
 now I desert the cities because I cannot desert the truth, 
 and keep myself concealed of my own free will, because I 
 can no longer be free among men, yet I contemn the danger 
 that surrounds me. I can die; but a slave I cannot be. 
 Neither can I see Germany enslaved. But I think the day 
 will come when I shall come forth from this hiding-place, 
 appeal to German truth and faith, and, it may be, exclaim to 
 a great concourse of people, * Is there no one who will dare 
 to die with Hutten for the common liberties?' 
 
 " I have written this rather out of the fulness of my heart 
 than with regard to your dignity. I thought it my duty to 
 write freely to a free man. Farewell, and take courage." 
 
 It was not to be expected that the old Elector Frederic 
 would be turned aside from the course of moderation he 
 had adopted by Hutten's youthful fervour ; still less was it 
 likely that his appeal would produce any effect on the re- 
 fined but indolent and, in many respects, dependent Albert 
 of Mayence. Hutten wrote to him in September with all 
 
228 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 the respect which was certainly his due. He says that he 
 was hurt that the archbishop had not informed him of the 
 Pope's demand ; it no doubt arose from his loyalty to the 
 Pope, which Hutten hopes will turn out to his advantage. 
 But he fears that the Pope, by so unheard-of a step, will 
 have drawn down a storm over all the clergy. It was for 
 the bishops to avert it. Hutten would dearly like to see the 
 archbishop, and curses those who have separated him from 
 a master who favoured true piety and goodness. There is 
 scarcely anything that he feels more in his present misfor- 
 tune, but he will bear it all and keep quiet. "I am ex- 
 cluded," he exclaims, " from courts and cities, and, alas ! 
 from golden Mayence, from pubHc life and the society of 
 my fellows : a man who cannot be accused of any mischief, 
 crime, or misdeeds, a champion of the truth, an advocate of 
 the right ; and they shut me out without having heard me, 
 aye, they want to send me to Rome to be punished. Who 
 that has a drop of German blood in him will not be incensed 
 at this outrage?" If the Pope calls in the aid of the tem- 
 poral arm, Hutten will trust in the arm of the Lord. He 
 wishes the archbishop all happiness, especially that he may 
 not be infected by bad example. 
 
 On the same day he wrote to the archbishop's councillor, 
 Sebastian von Rotenhan. ''What are you doing," the 
 letter begins, "while the thunders of the tenth Leo are 
 rolling over me ? What are your hopes and surmises for 
 the future ? And when you hear what the fathers of the 
 Church are every day saying against me behind my back, 
 what do you venture to whisper or to say openly ? Have 
 you no Franconian spirit in you, no hereditary courage ? I 
 cannot believe that the heavenly powers are so inimical to 
 Germany, that most men will not help me to bring about 
 what must soon come to pass, if not for the sake of our 
 
APPEAL TO ALL GERMANS. 229 
 
 liberties, for the sake of Christian truth. But if they leave 
 me in the lurch I shall console myself with my own con- 
 science, and with hope in posterity. For this fire cannot be 
 so smothered, but that it will some day break out again and 
 consume them." 
 
 1 Hutten also informed Luther, in a letter full of passionate 
 courage, of the persecution of him, and of his resolve to 
 take the field against the Pope with writings and weapons. 
 But the only knowledge we have of it is from the mention of it 
 by Luther, from which it appears that it had made a deep im- 
 pression on himJ*^ Luther felt himself included in the decree 
 of the Archbishop of Mayence against Hutten's and " similar 
 writings," and expressed his intention, as soon as he was 
 expressly mentioned, of uniting his spirit with Hutten's, and 
 of defending himself in such a manner as would not be 
 agreeable to the archbishop. " It may be," he adds, " that 
 they are hastening the downfall of their own tyranny by such 
 doings." 
 
 But Hutten wanted Germans of all classes to lay his 
 cause, which was really that of the whole nation, to heart. 
 And an appeal to them brought the series of these addresses 
 to an appropriate conclusion.! In this he details more 
 fully the attacks of Rome upon him, and the warnings which 
 had induced him to withdraw from public life. It had come 
 to this, that he who, not long before, had been appealing 
 for aid in the struggle for truth and liberty, had now to look 
 out for a refuge for himself. " Where shall I turn ? " he 
 exclaims, " where seek help ? To you I appeal, German 
 rulers and men, will you permit the innocent to be punished ? 
 
 * Luther to Spalatin, Wittenberg, Sept. ii, 1520. Hutten's Schrif- 
 ten, i. 
 
 t '* Omnibus omnis ordinis ac status in Germania Principibus, Nobi- 
 litati ac Plebeis," Ulrichus Hutten, Eques, Orator et Poeta laureates S. 
 Schriften, 1. 
 
230 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 I appeal to all to protect one who has laboured for all. The 
 labour and the enterprise were mine ; the result depends on 
 the will of God. I am no less in peril than as if I had 
 achieved that which I have undertaken for your sakes. I 
 should now be in favour with the Bishop of Rome had I not 
 desired to turn to the advantage of my country all that I 
 have acquired so laboriously in my travels, amidst severe 
 misfortunes and struggles with adverse fate ; the fruits of so 
 many night-watches, journeys by night and by day, the 
 poverty and contempt which I suffered, the homelessness 
 which I imposed upon myself for years in the heyday of 
 life. Will you permit me to be murdered unheard and un- 
 condemned ? I do not fear the law. I tarry amongst you 
 in full confidence ; but let not violence be done to me, lest 
 when my foes have compassed the death of an innocent 
 man they invent a crime for the dead. Unhappy man ! 
 Shall I be torn away from this earth that received me when 
 I was born, from these skies that have cherished me, from 
 these people amongst whom I have lived so happily ? Must 
 I leave these hearths, these altars? Shall I be dragged 
 away, not to live miserably in exile, but to cruel torments, 
 to an ignominious death? Help me, my countrymen! 
 Stand by me ! Let not him be put in fetters who has tried 
 to loosen your fetters for you ! " 
 
 " Open your eyes, ye Germans, and see who they are who 
 plunder you at home, and bring you into ill-repute abroad. 
 They are the shameless traffickers in indulgences, the crazy 
 traders in pardons, dispensations, absolutions, and bulls ; 
 who have set up a traffic in holy things in the Church of 
 God, from which He once drove out those who only bought 
 and sold worldly merchandise. It is they, also, who have 
 brought me into this danger and distress because I exposed 
 their artifices, laid bare their shame, opposed their thefts, 
 
COLLECTION OF HUTTEN'S APPEALS. 231 
 
 and thus their gains have been diminished, and true rehgion 
 increased. I have always avoided exciting revolt, and to 
 show how little it was my intention, I have written in Latin, 
 that I might admonish them tete-a-tete, and not proclaim it 
 to the multitude." Even now he did not wish to incite any 
 to violence against them, but only to protect himself and 
 prevent them from further wrong-doing. Hutten then adds 
 the text from Psalm ii., which now often appears with or 
 instead of his own motto : " Let us break their bands asun- 
 der, and cast away their cords from us." 
 
 In October, 1520, a collection of these Appeals appeared, 
 and they were often reprinted. When the booksellers were 
 afraid, Hutten's friends undertook it. There was a brisk 
 intercourse kept up between Ebernburg and Hutten's friends 
 in Mayence, Spire, Worms, &c. ; his secretary went hither and 
 thither with parcels and commissions. Martin Bucer was a 
 willing mediator, and a brother of Hutten's appears as a con- 
 fidant, to whom letters might be entrusted. Copies of Hutten's 
 works, when not given away, were generally exchanged for 
 books that he wanted, the Fathers, classics, or historical 
 works, or, when they were sold, other books were bought 
 and bound with the proceeds. He sent copies of his 
 Appeals to Luther and the Elector Frederic through Crotus, 
 who was now rector of the University of Erfurt, but the 
 " Appeal to all Germans " was openly offered for sale, possibly 
 at Mayence. 
 
 The papal attack upon Hutten's liberty and life only 
 served to make him (next to Luther) the popular hero. 
 About this time there appeared, under the name of Abydenus 
 Corallus, an address to the Emperor Charles and the Ger- 
 man princes, on behalf of Hutten and Luther,* the champions 
 
 » " Oratio ad Carolum max. Augustum et Germanos Principes, pro 
 Uiricho Hutteno, eq. G., et Martino Luthero, patriae et Cliristianae 
 
2 7,2 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 of the Fatherland and German liberties, and two Dialogues, 
 one called the "Captive," the other the "Glorified Hutten."* 
 In the address, the informal, illegal character of the proceed- 
 ings against Hutten is specially insisted on, and the shameful- 
 ness of the asserted attempts at poison. In the first of the 
 Dialogues Pope Leo incites the benefice-hunters against 
 Luther, and still more against Hutten, as the more dan- 
 gerous of the two. Headed by a Franciscan monk, they 
 sally forth to seize the knight at the imperial court ; Hut- 
 ten defends himself, and Sickingen interposes and offers to 
 bring the matter before the Emperor. Meanwhile Hutten is 
 to take refuge at Steckelberg, whence he is to appeal to all 
 Germany to aid him in the conflict. In the other Dialogue 
 Hutten is disarmed of his earthly weapons by the personifi- 
 cation of truth, and equipped with the spiritual ones, the 
 breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the sword 
 of the Word of God (which must be wielded differently 
 from the sword of eloquence). In this armour of a Christian 
 warrior, without earthly aims or revengeful personal feelings, 
 provided with good books, especially the Gospels, he is to 
 fight from some secluded tower for God and the Fatherland ; 
 he may reprove even princes if they oppose the truth, and 
 will be sure of victory, if not of life. All indications point 
 to Crotus as the author of these writings, and he had pro- 
 bably also a share in the "Intimatio Erfurdiana," so called, the 
 pubhc declaration of the University of Erfurt for Luther, and 
 against the papal bull. 
 
 Meanwhile Johann Eck and the Papal Nuncio Ale- 
 ander had returned to Germany with the bull against Luther. 
 
 libertatis adsertoribus." Authore S. Abydeno Corallo. Hutten's 
 Schriften, i. 
 
 * " Huttenus captivus." "Hutfenus illustris." In Dialogi septem, 
 festive candidi, authore S. Abydeno Corallo, Germ. Hutten's 
 Schriften, iv. 
 
BULL AGAINST LUTHER. 233 
 
 It was drawn up at Rome on the 15th June, 1520. Forty- 
 one passages from Luther's writings were adduced as 
 heretical, false, or offensive ; his books, so far as they con- 
 tained these passages, were condemned to be burnt, and 
 sixty days after the proclamation of the bull were allowed 
 him to recant at the Cathedrals of Brandenburg, Meissen, 
 and Merseburg. After the expiration of this time without 
 effect, he was to be separated as an obstinate heretic from 
 the communion of the Church, and to be sent to Rome to 
 be punished. While Eck had the bill posted up in Septem- 
 ber in Bavaria and Saxony, Aleander went down the Rhine 
 to make it known in those parts. He soon obtained per- 
 mission from young King Charles to have Luther's writings 
 burnt in the Burgundian provinces, and in the priest-ridden 
 cities of Cologne and Mayence the bloodless pile was soon 
 smoking. But even in dark Cologne the inhabitants were 
 much divided in opinion, and in intellectual Mayence they 
 were decidedly against the measure. "Luther," wrote 
 Hutten to Martin Bucer, " has been burnt at Mayence, but 
 without feeling it, I believe. These incendiaries can do 
 this, but nothing more." At Erfurt the bull was torn up, 
 and Eck's dwelling besieged. 
 
 These events incited Hutten to great activity. During 
 October and November he was engaged with several writ- 
 ings against the bull, the burning of Luther's works, and 
 the Romish tyranny in general. We will take them in 
 order. 
 
 Leo's bull stirred Hutten up to write a commentary upon 
 it. It might open people's eyes to put contradictions of the 
 papal dogmas and claims side by side on the same sheet, 
 and to interrupt the unctuous bombast of the document by 
 simple remarks and sharp cross-questions. He had the 
 bull reprinted, with the papal arms on the title-page, with 
 
234 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 his comments partly interspersed in small print among the 
 large print of the text, and partly printed on the margin.* 
 
 It was preceded by a preface, saying that this matter by 
 no means concerned Luther alone, but that with Luther the 
 Pope intended to stifle the newly revived Christian truth 
 and German liberties. Now was the time to avert it, and 
 the Germans would doubtless join Hutten in so doing. 
 
 The comments were some of them ironical, some pathetic, 
 many of them striking, others flat. When Leo in the pre- 
 amble calls himself, in the usual style, " the servant of the 
 servants of God," Hutten asks, " Why dost thou rule then, 
 and play the master so proudly?" When the bull itself 
 begins with the words, " Arise, O Lord," Hutten remarks, 
 " Yes, he will arise, but to the discomfiture of the Pope !" 
 When the modern heretics are called " foxes that spoil the 
 tender vines," the commentator says that the Pope outdoes 
 the fox in cunning, and the wolf in rapacity, in coaxing and 
 extorting money out of the Germans. " The rise of these 
 heresies in Germany," the document continues, " grieves the 
 Pope the more because he and his predecessors have 
 yearned over this nation in the bowels of affection." " Yes 
 indeed," exclaims Hutten, " for you have swallowed them, 
 but now you will have to eject them." " Before this," says 
 the bull, " the Germans have been the most zealous oppo- 
 nents of heresy." " Ah, had they really been so," sighs 
 Hutten, " for then they would have defended themselves 
 against the Popes." " If Luther had only accepted his 
 invitation to Rome," says the Pope, "he would, doubtless, 
 have repented and acknowledged his errors." "At all 
 events," adds Hutten, " nothing further would have hap- 
 
 * " Bulla Decimi Leonis contra errores Lutheri et sequacium." On 
 the reverse side of the tide-page : " Ulrichus de Hutten, eq. Germanis 
 omnibus S." The bull, with the comments, is in Hutten's Schriften, v. 
 
hutten's commentary on the bull. 235 
 
 pened to him had he been received at Rome by thee." 
 When the bull calls Luther's doctrines pernicious, Hutten 
 says that at any rate they threaten many most worthy men 
 with hunger, and their author with want. When the Pope 
 comes to the burning of Luther's books, " There you have 
 it," exclaims Hutten ; " they burn, but in the hearts of all 
 good men, what a ruinous conflagration for thee ! Extin- 
 guish it if thou canst." 
 
 In the epilogue Leo is informed that he had better have 
 kept his bull to himself. It had long been said in Germany 
 of the papal bulls as of money — the newer the worse. Let 
 him restrain his greed, and no longer persecute Luther and 
 his followers. There were more of them than any bishop 
 could ruin. Let him feed his flock with instruction instead 
 of with bufls. The gifts for a pope were wisdom, purity, 
 chastity, and contempt for earthly things. " Strive after 
 these things, and Germany will revere thee. It behoves 
 thee to gain all by kindness and not by compulsion. This 
 is outspoken, but true, as the cause and the times demand. 
 Farewell. From Germany." 
 
 About this time also Hutten was working at a poem, in a 
 two-fold form, on the burning of Luther's writings, in Latin 
 hexameters and in German in rhyme. They are two dis- 
 tinct poems, only coinciding in some points. The Latin 
 has the advantage in conciseness and form, the German in 
 popular rhetoric. We give an extract from the latter — 
 
 " Here, Lord, thy holy words they bum. 
 Thy teachings pure they from them spurn ; 
 Here are thy precepts thrust aside, 
 And license given to vice and pride ; 
 Here pardons granted every day, 
 But none to those who cannot pay. 
 Here lies are told, deceit begun. 
 And sins remitted ere they're done ; 
 
236 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 Here even thy holy heaven they sell, 
 And here condemn to pains of hellj 
 Whoever dares a word to say. 
 Here men of truth are driven away, 
 Our nation spoiled by robbers bold, 
 And wicked deeds allowed for gold. ^ 
 Here for his soul man careth not, 
 And thou, Lord God, art nigh forgot." 
 
 At the conclusion of the poem Luther is addressed — 
 
 " But, brother dear, I grieve for thee, 
 O'erwhelmed by force and treachery. 
 And yet at last the tide will turn. 
 And men thine innocency learn. 
 Servant of God ! have patience still ; 
 And may I but the part fulfil 
 Of strengthening thee with word or deed, 
 And helping in thy sorest need, 
 Gladly, in such a holy strife, 
 I'll part with goods or ease or life." * 
 
 But we are now come to the subject of Hutten's German 
 authorship, to which we must devote more special attention. 
 We will first, however, follow his relations with Reuchlin to 
 the close, which took place about this time. 
 
 We have seen how the worthy veteran of Humanism was 
 rescued by Sickingen's chivalrous intervention from the 
 "obscure cowls," who had worried him for years. They 
 had paid the compensation money, and written to Rome to 
 ask for a favourable settlement of the question. But like 
 true priests they did this with a reservation that they 
 
 * I must claim indulgence for these and the following rhyming 
 translations. They may be called imitations rather than translations, 
 and it must be remembered that the originals are in sixteenth-century 
 German, then, as Dr. Strauss says, a rude language, which had not 
 made the advance it soon after made, from the effect of Luther's 
 writings. It is impossible to reproduce in modern English the curious 
 quaintness of the originals. Only a selection of them has been given. 
 — 7r. 
 
REUCHLIN'S LATTER DAYS. 237 
 
 would immediately retract it because done under compul- 
 sion. So the letter to Rome was speedily followed by 
 another. The position of things there was favourable to 
 them ; some of Reuchlin's patrons at the papal court were 
 dead, others gone away. The contest with Luther, which 
 admitted of an interpretation as an offshoot of the Reuchlin 
 trial, made the latter appear in a serious light, and so in the 
 summer of 1520 a papal brief was issued which formally 
 reversed the sentence of Spire, and condemned Reuchlin's 
 book. Hochstraten, reinstated in the position which he 
 had only apparently forfeited, and his brethren proclaimed 
 the papal brief at Cologne with great glee. Reuchlin tried 
 to oppose it, and Sickingen's aid was again called in. He 
 wrote to the Emperor, and asked for the intervention of the 
 Electors of Saxony and Mayence. He invited Reuchlin to 
 Ebernburg, but in the beginning of 1520 he had accepted 
 from Duke William of Bavaria the chairs of Greek and 
 Hebrew at the University of Ingolstadt, and it does not 
 appear that he suffered any serious persecution. 
 
 But he had become weak, as was evident from his atti- 
 tude towards the dawning Reformation, as was indeed the 
 case with most of the Humanists, one after the other. It 
 was an ill omen that Reuchhn lived in the house of the 
 notorious Dr. Eck, at Ingolstadt ; still, when Eck proposed 
 to burn Luther's writings, he advised the university against 
 it. He would have liked to attract Melanchthon, whom he 
 had himself recommended to Wittenberg, away from 
 Luther's circle to Ingolstadt. His refusal to comply cost 
 him the inheritance of his great uncle's hbrary which had 
 been promised him. Alarmed by the news that there was 
 an attempt at Rome to connect his trial with the Lutheran 
 cause, it appears that Reuchlin drew up a justification of 
 himself for the Dukes of Bavaria. This came under 
 
238 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 Hiitten's notice, and he could not let it pass. He wrote 
 from Ebernburg : — " I have read your letter to the 
 Bavarians, in which you answer the accusations of Leo X. 
 Immortal gods, what do I see ! So deeply have you sunk 
 into fear and weakness, that you do not even refrain from 
 insulting those who have wished to rescue you, and some- 
 times incurred danger on your behalf. Franz, before whom 
 I have laid the matter, is greatly incensed at it." Why could 
 not he, like Erasmus, have been satisfied with saying that 
 he had never had anything to do with Luther, and had tried 
 to draw away his friends from him ? " Do you hope," Hut- 
 ten asks, *' by this disgraceful flattery, to conciliate those to 
 whom, if you are a man, you ought not even to send a 
 greeting ? But make it up with them if you can, and, if 
 your age permits, do that also which you say you wish to 
 do, go to Rome, and kiss Lord Leo's feet ; and since you 
 are not ashamed to do it, write against us into the bargain. 
 Then it will be seen that it is against your will that we 
 shake off the ignominious yoke, and that you agree with 
 the godless priests in opposing us. I am ashamed to have 
 written and done so much for you, since you end the affair 
 for which we have bestirred ourselves so manfully in this 
 wretched way. I could not have beUeved it of you. 
 Consider which beseems you, to show gratitude to your 
 benefactors, or to please those who have always wished 
 your ruin. If ever you oppose Luther's cause, or make 
 your submission to the Bishop of Rome, you shall know' 
 that I do not at all agree with you." 
 
 We do not know whether Reuchlin received this letter at 
 Ingolstadt. Though no longer in much danger of ecclesi- 
 astical persecution, there was no peace for the old man. 
 War and the plague had driven him out of Wiirtemberg, 
 now the plague drove him back to Wiirtemberg again. In 
 
REUCHLIN'S DEATH. 239 
 
 the spring of 152 1, he sought out his old abode at Stuttgard. 
 But Wiirtemberg was then under Austrian rule, and the 
 Government wished to adorn their university with such a 
 professor. So he went to Tiibingen, where he lectured on 
 Greek and Hebrew grammar ; and the former judge of the 
 League, like Dionysius the Tyrant, turned schoolmaster. 
 But his health was failing, and on 30th of June, 1522, this 
 worthy and sorely tried man, died of jaundice, at Stuttgard, 
 in his sixty-eighth year. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 HUTTEN BEGINS TO WRITE GERMAN. 
 1520 — 21. 
 
 T N the address to the Germans of all classes of September, 
 1520, Hutten appealed to the fact that he had written in 
 Latin as an evidence how Httle he desired violent revolution. 
 But, before the year was at an end, he began to write in 
 German. He says, in a poem we are now coming to — 
 
 •* In Latin until now I've writ, 
 
 A language that not all men spoke ; 
 Now call I to the country folk, 
 To German men in their own tongue, 
 That all may know what 'tis I've sung." 
 
 The knight had begun to see that the reform in the 
 policy of the Church which he was aiming at could not be 
 eftected with the help of those alone who understood Latin. 
 For some of these — the Church dignitaries — were trying to 
 prevent it, and the Humanists were neither strong nor 
 decided enough to promote it heartily. To ensure success it 
 was necessary to have the sword of the nobles and the weight 
 of the cities ; but to both German must be spoken, for most 
 of the nobles were in the case of Sickingen, for whom Hutten 
 had had his "Febris" translated, and in the cities the 
 Pirckheimers and Peutingers were exceptions. Hutten 
 perceived from Luther's example how much might be 
 
THE "LAMENTATION AND APPEAL. 241 
 
 eflfected in those agitated times by German writings, for 
 Luther's " Address to the Christian Nobles " had deeply 
 moved all classes of society. He had also another reason ; 
 he could not but wish, for his own justification, that the un- 
 learned noble and citizen should not be acquainted with his 
 works only through the misrepresentations of the priests. 
 This was only to be efifected by translating his Latin works, 
 and writing others in German. No sooner had he resolved 
 upon this, than he achieved a masterpiece. * 
 
 We allude to his "Lamentation and Appeal in rhyme 
 against the Unchristian Power of the Pope and the Unholy 
 Men in Holy Orders." * It must have been printed at the 
 beginning of December, 1520, for on the 9th Hutten sent it 
 to Luther, and reports the excitement which it had pro- 
 duced among the priests. 
 
 Hutten assigns as the immediate cause of his writing it, 
 the outcry made by the priests against his " Appeal to the 
 Germans of all Classes ; " they called him an enemy of all 
 religion, one against whom people should be on their guard, 
 and whom it would be a meritorious act to murder. 
 
 Notwithstanding the rhymes, this work must rather be 
 regarded as one of Hutten's orations than as poetry, and it 
 
 * " Clag vnd Vormanung gegen dem iibermassigen unchristlichen 
 Gewall des Bapsts zu Rom, vnd der ungeistlichen Geistlichen, durch 
 henen Vlrichen von Hutten, Poeten ynd Orator, der gantzen Christen- 
 heit vnd zuuoran dem Vatterland teutscher Nation zu nutz und gut, von 
 wegen gemeiner Beschwernuss vnd auch seiner eigen NotturfFt, in 
 Reymens weiss beschriben. Jacta est alea. Ich habs gewagt." 
 
 Lamentation over and appeal against the inordinate and unchristian 
 power of the Pope of Rome and the unholy men in holy orders, by 
 Ulrich von Hutten, poet and orator. Written in rhyme for the benefit 
 of aU Christendom, and especially for Germany, his Fatherland, on 
 account of the common grievances and his own distress. The die is 
 cast. On the reverse of the title-page is the crowned bust of the 
 knight, and over it, " Dirumparaus vincula eorum et proiiciamis a nobis 
 iugum ipsorum." Schriften, iii. 
 
242 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 partakes of their peculiarities. He speaks of one thing and 
 another just as it comes into his head, and there is much 
 repetition. But these defects are amply atoned for by the 
 warmth and sometimes vehemence of the style ; he carries 
 the reader along with him, and all the more so because he 
 lays no claim to instruct him logically. Hutten is an in- 
 comparable master in passionate appeal. We have seen 
 this in his Latin addresses, and in some passages of his dia- 
 logues; but the German language in its then child-like 
 stage of development, and the simple minstrel rhymes, added 
 a new and effective element of heartiness. There are some 
 passages which are quite touching, for you see how the 
 writer is consumed with zeal for the cause to which he has 
 devoted himself. 
 
 This Lamentation sums up all that Hutten had written 
 about the ultramontane plunder of Germany and the de- 
 pravity of the Church ; complaints about the recent persecu- 
 tion of himself run parallel to it ; the growing influence of 
 Luther's ideas is unmistakable ; he has not yet lost confi- 
 dence in the Emperor Charles, and his attention begins to 
 be directed to the cities, which, as well as the nobles, show 
 a special receptivity for the Reformation. Marginal notes 
 complete the popular form of the little book, though they 
 mar its poetical aspect. 
 
 Hutten, so the poem begins, feels constrained to lift 
 up his voice against sins and errors which deprave German 
 morals. Mankind oppose the truth and those who proclaim 
 it, and he prays God to enlighten them, especially the 
 princes, with his spirit, that they may learn to distinguish 
 religion from superstition, and Christianity from priestcraft. 
 He consoles himself that the persecutions which he suffers 
 can only touch the body, and cannot kill the soul. Then 
 he draws a distinction between the spiritual and temporal 
 
THE "LAMENTATION AND APPEAL." 243 
 
 spheres, and describes the interference of the Pope and 
 clergy with the latter. The power, wealth, and luxury, 
 which are now the objects of desire with the clergy and 
 magnates of the Church, are foreign to their calling. The 
 power of the keys, indulgences, the Turkish war, St. Peter's 
 church, the traffic in palls, and benefice-hunting, in short, all 
 the scandals in the Romish Church, are gone through again. 
 He turns to good account what he saw at Rome himself, 
 
 ** Hear, all ye people, while I tell 
 
 What me some years ago befell ; 
 
 How that I wanted Rome to see 
 
 And what their customs there might be ; 
 
 And yet to tell it shameth me. 
 
 In truth no common crimes I found 
 
 Such as in other lands abound, 
 ^No common crowds, too, did I meet, 
 
 Going to and fro each busy street ; 
 
 Horses and asses too, tricked out 
 
 With golden trappings all about ; 
 
 Full many a ducat's worth, and they 
 
 So crowded up the tortuous way, 
 
 'Twas well I was not crushed and slain 
 
 By haughty knight in narrow lane. 
 
 And then the cardinals rode by ; 
 
 Officials, abbots, prelates — I 
 
 Can't tell them all, nor yet will try. 
 
 But many a story could be told 
 
 Of priests thus clad in silk and gold. 
 
 Then came the Pope, in chair bedight, 
 
 And borne by many a satellite. 
 
 He's of the Holy Church the head 
 
 And must not touch the ground we tread. 
 
 Then went the Holy Virgin by 
 
 With baubles tricked to please the eye, 
 
 And we must Vivas loudly cry. 
 
 A benediction from the Pope 
 
 Came next, and blessed we were I hope. 
 
 But say, can you or I believe 
 
 Homage like this will God receive ? 
 
 Christ dwells in humble hearts below, 
 Nor will be served by pomp and show." 
 
244 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 The description of the procession continues :— 
 
 " Then followed clerks and copyists ; 
 Some thousands must have passed in all, 
 And even such as these they call 
 Part of the Church that reigns at Rome. 
 They say she's only there at home ; 
 But sure in this they greatly err, 
 The Church is where good Christians are. 
 Then came a long procession near 
 Of women, finely dressed and fair ; 
 And hosts of ruffians, such a pest, 
 Who every lane in Rome infest. 
 Next, advocates and auditors, 
 And notaries, all with servitors. 
 They publish Bulls, lay down the law 
 With which Rome keeps the world in awe. 
 All these, and more than I have told. 
 Live on our hard-won German gold. 
 Shall this go on as heretofore ? 
 Nay, beloved Germans, nevermore. 
 No, not a farthing more we'll pay, 
 And if they starve — well, so they may. 
 Then would no longer such a number 
 Of useless folk the earth encumber." 
 
 One of Hutten's desires is that the election of bishops 
 should be restored to the people, who would have more 
 regard to spiritual qualifications than the Pope. 
 
 "If only gold enough he'll give 
 A bishop hke a pig may live. 
 The Pope approves him all the same." 
 
 The bishops are sportsmen, soldiers, debauchees, and leave 
 preaching to some poor servant. Hutten's patriotic heart is 
 incensed that it is the Germans especially on whom these 
 abuses are practised. The Italians, he says, never think of 
 taxing themselves for St. Peter's, nor of buying dispensations 
 from fasting. 
 
THE "LAMENTATION AND APPEAL/* 245 
 
 " 'Tis of the Germans they make tools, 
 It vexes me they are such fools," 
 
 The Pope allures the German princes with the golden 
 rose, and not one of them has found out the trick and flung 
 it away. But he hopes better things of Charles, and begs 
 him to lend a gracious ear while he addresses him as 
 follows : — 
 
 ** All that I've done, my gracious king. 
 To thee shall nought but honour bring ; 
 Else 'twere disgrace, instead of praise, 
 Such uproar in thy land to raige ; 
 And all my countrymen I tell 
 To fight these evils long and well. 
 Their captain and their leader thou, 
 And triumph shall be theirs I trow. 
 For me, my prince, I give my word, 
 I'll fight thy cause, nor ask reward. 
 Be it but mine to live to see 
 Banished these ills, enough for me — 
 Gladly I'll die in poverty. 
 Nor praise, nor credit, shall be mine, 
 I ask it not, all shall be thine. 
 Up then, good king, for great our need ! 
 Command to many a glorious deed. 
 Give but the word, we'll take the shield, 
 We'll win the day in glorious field ; 
 The eagle ensign lift on high, 
 And raise the shout of victory." 
 
 Further on Hutten says that in the dark days of old 
 every one who testified to the truth was persecuted, and 
 Huss and Jerome of Prague were burnt. Since then no one 
 has dared to speak, they have dreaded the flames ; but now 
 Luther and he are standing forth, and who knows what may 
 be in store for them. 
 
 But he hopes they will not leave him in the lurch, and 
 appeals to the proud nobles and the pious cities to join 
 hands to defend their country. 
 
24C) ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 «* Beloved Germans, lift the hand, 
 Tnke pity on our Fatherland. 
 Now is the time to strike the blow 
 For freedom — God will have it so. 
 Take heart whose heart for freedom still 
 Can beat ; no longer bend your will 
 To those whose lies have wrought us ill. 
 Till now in ignorance we slept, 
 For priests the key of knowledge kept ; 
 But God has given us laymen grace 
 To learn from books his will and ways. 
 No lack of counsel now, nor lore. 
 And all men may partake the store. 
 And so I call on count and knight 
 To help me bring the truth to light. 
 Nobles' and burghers' aid I claim. 
 One country *s ours, our cause the same. 
 "Who'd lag behind at such a time ? 
 The Die is cast ! There is my rhyme." 
 
 Hulten says of this work, that he wrote it when incensed 
 about the misrepresentation of his " Appeal to all Germans," 
 and calls it an " angry piece." No wonder that his oppo- 
 nents considered that he had overstepped all the bounds of 
 propriety, and that no punishment could be too great for 
 him. They now let the " Appeal " alone, and attacked the 
 rhymes. 
 
 Hutten intended these verses for the Emperor, as well as 
 for the best part of the nation, and about the same time he 
 drew up, for his benefit, a short instruction on the attitude 
 which the Popes had always assumed towards the German 
 Emperors.* 
 
 * " Herr Vlrichs von Hutten anzoig Wie allwegen sich die romischen 
 Bischoif oder Bapst gegen den teutschen Kaysseren gehalten haben vff 
 dz kiirtzst vss Chronicken und Historien gezogen, K. maiestat fiirzu- 
 bringen. Ich habs gewagt." Schriften, v. 
 
 A short report, taken from " Chronicles and Histories," by Master 
 iririch yon Hutten, to show his Imp. Majesty how the Bishops of 
 Rome, or Popes, have always behaved to the Gtrman Emperors. The 
 die is cast. 
 
REPORT FOR THE EMPEROR. 247 
 
 Charles could not read German, but as Sickingen was at 
 court, it was probably intended that he should bring his 
 friend's historical sketch before the notice of the young 
 ruler. 
 
 Happy is he, Hutten say^ in the preface, who learns wisdom 
 at other's cost, and not unhappy he who learns it at his own ; 
 but he who learns from neither is hopeless, and generally 
 deserves his fate. Charles has already to some extent learnt 
 from his own experience what to expect from the Pope, and 
 is hereby shown from history how it has been with other 
 Popes. The Emperors have always been deceived, betrayed, 
 and rewarded with ingratitude. The sketch begins with 
 Otto I., and comes down to Maximilian and Charles himself. 
 Some of the scenes presented in this historical mirror are 
 the contest" between Henry IV., " the hero whose like was 
 never seen in Germany," and Gregory VH. ; the struggle 
 between Pope Alexander IH., and the "elect sword of 
 Frederic I., who next to Henry IV. was the most warlike 
 Emperor that ever lived ; " Frederic II., " who had to show 
 his teeth to three Popes in succession ; " and the mysterious 
 end of Henry VII. As an example to be avoided, Hutten 
 also brings forward Charles IV., who showed himself so 
 effeminate as to be driven out of Rome and Italy by the 
 Pope. He quotes a saying of Maximilian's shortly before 
 his death, which was called forth by the faithlessness of 
 Leo X. " Now this Pope also has treated me villanously ; 
 now I may say that in all my life no Pope has ever kept 
 faith with me ; I hope, if God will, that this will be the last." 
 " And God granted his desire," says Hutten ; "for not long 
 after God took him." 
 
 Charles must not suppose that the Popes will keep faith 
 with him any more than with the previous Empeiors. He 
 (Hutten) was projecting a reformation, but the Pope and his 
 
248 ULRICH VOxV HUTTEN. 
 
 party were trying to divert him from it, and if they succeed 
 they will laugh in their sleeves. Let not the Emperor be 
 persuaded by the Pope's fair speeches to persecute those who 
 are doing this good work. Charles had this advantage over 
 former rulers, that there were now those who were well 
 informed about these things from the Scriptures and could 
 instruct him. 
 
 If Charles, as Hutten wrote to Luther, promised Sickingen 
 that he would not permit Hutten to be oppressed, nor con- 
 demn him unheard, it might have been the result of these 
 representations. 
 
 Besides these original German works, Hutten now began to 
 translate from the Latin those which referred to the contest 
 with Rome. He first translated the " Appeal to the Germans 
 of all Classes," perhaps with the aid of Bucer, who at any rate 
 afterwards helped him. He says he had discovered that some 
 people misrepresented his writings to simple folk, and trans- 
 lated them incorrectly. So now to free himself from sus- 
 picion, and to enable every man to judge for himself whether 
 he had given the Pope cause to persecute him, he had re- 
 solved to translate into German, as well as he could, all 
 those works which had displeased the Pope, for he wished 
 that every man should know the rights of the whole matter. 
 And he did not doubt that when his works could be read 
 in German, it would be seen that he had written in no way 
 unbeseeming a pious nobleman. 
 
 It is evident that this undertaking met a want of the age» 
 and enlisted the sympathies of the better part of the nation, 
 for about the same time some " unknown lover of divine 
 truth and the Fatherland" translated Hutten's "Appeals." 
 " Up, then ! " exclaims the anonymous writer in the preface, 
 " it is time that we try to regain our lost liberties. Here," 
 (in Hutten) " you have the right leader who, if God will, 
 
TRANSLATIONS OF HUTTEN*S WORkV CUQ. ^^ ^\ 
 
 will stir up our chiefs, Emperor, princes, and nobles, to ht 
 us. Almighty God, to whose honour, as well as for our 
 good, he has undertaken it, grant him success in this and all 
 other laudable enterprises." " For the common good," he 
 continues, " I have translated some of his works from Latin 
 into German, so far as the polished Latin tongue permits. 
 God give you all his blessing, and a steadfast mind to stand 
 up for Christian truth and the freedom of the Fatherland. 
 I commend the good Hutten to you. Defiance to the 
 Romanists ! " 
 
 Hutten next translated some of the dialogues, the two 
 " Fevers," " Badiscus," and the " Spectators." " Fortuna" is 
 omitted as only cursorily referring to the Reformation, and he 
 wanted to bring out all his heavy artillery against Rome. The 
 curious adornments of the title-page proclaim this purpose. 
 The title is enclosed within a square, surrounded by four 
 pictorial illustrations. On the right. King David with his 
 harp stands upon the clouds and holds up to God the 
 Father on the left, a tablet inscribed with the text (Psalm 
 xciv. 2) in Latin : " Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth, 
 render a reward to the proud." God looks down in 
 wrath upon the earth, and holds the arrow which he is about 
 to hurl at it. On either side is a figure ; on the left, Luther 
 in a monk's cowl and with a book in his hand, and under- 
 neath the words : "For my mouth shall speak truth," Prov. 
 viii. 7. On the right, Hutten in armour, and girt with his 
 sword, and underneath the motto ; " Perrumpendum est 
 tandem, perrumpendum est." These two figures also stand 
 at the end of the book with German rhymes under them. 
 Under Luther : — 
 
 " Wahrheit die red ich, 
 
 Kauf des Neid an mich. 
 
 Gott geb mir den Lohn, 
 
 Habs falsch gethon." 
 
250 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 " It is the truth I speak, 
 For all their rage and spite. 
 If ever I deceive, 
 God will himself requite." 
 
 Under Hutten : — 
 
 " Um wahrheit ich ficht, . ' 
 
 Niemand mich abricht ; 
 Es brech oder gang, 
 Gotts Geist mich bezwang." 
 
 ♦* For the truth I fight, 
 None shall me affright. 
 If it fail or succeed, 
 'Twas God bade me speed." 
 
 Under the words of the title is a most amusing picture ; 
 a motley crowd of armed men, horsemen and footmen, with 
 outstretched spears, are rushing towards an equal crowd of 
 priests of every grade, the Pope with the triple crown in the 
 foreground, behind him a cardinal, a bishop, an abbot, and 
 hoods and cowls of every shape, and they cut a pitiful 
 figure. Over this are the words : " I have hated the con- 
 gregation of evil doers," Psalm xxvi. 5. 
 
 Hutten dedicated these four Dialogues to "the noble, 
 famous, steadfast, and honourable Franz von Sickingen, 
 councillor, servant and captain of his Imperial Majesty, and 
 his own most trusty good friend." 
 
 What Hutten had said of "Febris I." that it was much more 
 artistic in Latin, applies to all. Any work must suffer in 
 being translated from a poUshed into a rude language, which 
 German then v/as, and Hutten was but a novice in writing 
 German, and, owing to his early death, never made much 
 progress in it; he had not had the benefit of the great ad- 
 vance the German language soon after made from Luther's 
 writings, especially his translation of the Bible. The trans- 
 lations are very faithful, and on the whole readable. It may 
 
PROLOGUE TO THE TRANSLATIONS. 25 1 
 
 even be said of " Badiscus " and its triplets, that it is better 
 suited to the German of that age than to the Latin. 
 
 There were some slight alterations to suit the circum- 
 stances of the times, or the change in his own views. Thus 
 literarum imperitia, adduced in the Latin " Badiscus " among 
 tlie causes which had prevented the Germans from becoming 
 wise, is translated " ignorance of the Scriptures," showing 
 how Hutten's Humanistic ideas were supplanted by the 
 Lutheran opinions. There were also additions in the form 
 of rhymed prologues and epilogues to each dialogue, the 
 first and last of which belonged to the whole book. The 
 first is one of the most eflfective of Hutten's rhymes. 
 
 " Sing, Germans, sing ! I call on you, 
 ^ Praise God that Truth is bom anew ; 
 
 Deceit and guile have lost their shine, 
 
 And lies give way to truth divine. 
 
 For truth was smothered with a lie, 
 
 And now again is raised on high. 
 
 Ho, pious Germans, every one, 
 
 Consider what has yet been done. 
 
 Let each resolve with steadfast mind 
 
 Still to go on, nor look behind. 
 
 I faithfully my part have done, 
 
 Nor asked reward of any one. 
 
 And now a solemn vow I make, 
 
 That truth 1 never will forsake. 
 
 No man shall turn me, though he try 
 
 "With weapon, ban, or outlawry ; 
 
 Nay, though my pious mother weep. 
 
 Still I my vow must steadfast keep. 
 
 God comfort her ; and though He will 
 
 That obstacles my path should fill, 
 
 I will push on till they be past. 
 
 Nor turn aside while life shall last. 
 
 The die is cast.'* 
 
 Then comes the conclusion — 
 
 ** Now all have heard, for I have told 
 How for long time we've been befooled ; 
 
252 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 But God in mercy has designed 
 To bring us to a better mind." 
 
 Hutten says he did not know how he came to be drawn 
 into this game, but he protested that it was not for the sake 
 of any personal gain or advantage ; he was vexed at the 
 roguery by which so many were deceived. It was all one 
 to him whether this or that man reigned, and whether God 
 had really made the Pope lord of the world or not. 
 
 Hutten had especially incensed the clergy against him by 
 his " Appeal to all Germans," and they decried him as their 
 special enemy, which then meant, to be the enemy of all 
 religion and order. Although Hutten did not think that his 
 " angry piece was so bad," if taken in good part, nor that 
 he had done wrong in writing it, still he thought it advisable 
 to write an " Apology." * 
 
 It was easy to prove that he was not the foe of the clergy 
 from passages in his poems, in which he complains that 
 pious and learned priests are neglected ; the movement was 
 intended to benefit the really spiritual clergy who were 
 oppressed by the Roman courtiers. It was plain enough 
 what he was really aiming at. 
 
 If asked why he should meddle with these things? 
 " True," he says, *' it is not more my business than that of 
 many others ; but God has afflicted me with a spirit which 
 perhaps makes me take the troubles of other people more to 
 heart than some." He had waited long in the hope that 
 some cleverer man would take it up, but finding that no one 
 
 * «* Enndschuldigung VIrichs von Hutten, wyder etlicher unwar- 
 haftiges aussgeben von ym, als solt er wider alle Geystlichkeit vnd 
 Priesterschafft seyn, mit Erklarung etlicher seiner GeschrifFten." Schrif- 
 ten, ii. 
 
 An apology of Ulrich von Hutten, because some unjustly say of 
 him that he is the enemy of all the priesthood and clergy, and an ex- 
 planation of some of his writings. 
 
HUTTEN*S APOLOGY. 253 
 
 was willing, and that truth and liberty were more and more 
 oppressed, he had ventured upon it in God's name, and 
 hoped that good men would wish him well. He had no- 
 thing to lose but life and property, and he did not hold 
 either so dear, even had he been rich, as to refrain for 
 their sakes from so honourable an enterprise. But his 
 honour, with God's grace, he hoped to take unsullied to the 
 grave, and considered that this work would increase rather 
 than diminish it. If he perished in the attempt, he should 
 console himself with the belief that the good seed could not 
 be entirely lost. 
 
 He could not charge himself with having usurped the 
 priest's office, for he had not given his exhortations as a 
 preacher, but as a patriot. When it was needful to prove 
 what he had written he had referred to the Scriptures. 
 That was open to every Christian, and he hoped he had not 
 done it " with unwashen hands." Still less could he allow 
 that he had been guilty of any crime against the rulers. " A 
 faithful dog never barks at his master, but as soon as he sees 
 a thief, faithfulness and affection for his master induce him 
 to give warning." Besides, he had appealed to the Emperor 
 to take up the cause, and warned the princes that if the 
 rulers did not take it up, he feared that when the scandal 
 had reached the highest pitch, the common people would 
 take it in hand themselves and strike senseless blows. Can 
 he be the author of disturbances who gives warning of 
 them? 
 
 It is said that it is wrong to take up arms against spiritual 
 men. The unholy priests are become holy all of a sudden. 
 They go about looking like soldiers, and are ashamed of 
 tonsure and surplice. But no sooner does any one want to 
 settle matters with them, than they appeal to the indelible 
 priestly office. This could be borne if they were really 
 
254 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 holy, but then there would be no grievance and the contest 
 would be needless. If a priest is in the wrong he may be 
 punished like any other man. The Popes take the sword 
 themselves, and therefore it may be taken against them. 
 " Did not Leo spitefully command that I should be sent in 
 chains to Rome that he might dip his tyrannical sword in my 
 innocent blood ? Are such men God's anointed on whom 
 no man may lay hands ? " 
 
 His enemies said that he wanted to collect a rabble 
 together and carry out his schemes by brute force. On the 
 contrary, he had in the first place offered to discuss the 
 question on the basis of the Scriptures before the Emperor 
 himself. But if his opponents still prevented his being 
 heard, he certainly would defend himself, but not at the 
 head of a loose rabble, but of brave and honourable men. 
 
 Besides his writings, his life was attacked, and they go 
 back almost to his childhood. It is in this " Apology " that 
 Hutten expressly defends himself, as mentioned in the early 
 part of his life, of the charge of having broken his vows by 
 escaping from Fulda. He mentions a " great Romanist " 
 who had called him, behind his back, a villain; a traitor, who 
 was unworthy to die for his country ; a scabby sheep turned 
 out of the fold, who should be avoided by all good people. 
 As Hutten did not know who he was, he could only assure 
 him before God that he wronged him, and demanded that 
 he would accuse him openly. " If I cannot answer for ray- 
 self, woe is me that I ever wrote a word, ever read a book, 
 ever went to school, aye, that I ever was born. As if so 
 many good studies had not taught me, as if I had not learnt 
 from the many wholesome writings in which (boasting 
 apart) I have exercised myself, as if the many learned men 
 with whom I have associated, the many honest people with 
 whom I have lived, and all their good example and instruc- 
 
A BALLAD. 255 
 
 tions, had not sufficed to preserve me from such evil ways, 
 and to keep me in the path of honour." 
 
 About this time also Hutten gave expression to the lofty 
 and yet elegiac frame of mind induced by his patriotic 
 venture in the form of a popular ballad.* It begins as 
 follows : — 
 
 " I've cast the die, without recall, 
 And never shall repent ; 
 I nniay not win, but all shall see 
 And own my good intent. 
 And not for self, 
 Nor yet for pelf. 
 But for my country's sake, 
 Chide as they may, 
 They yet shall say 
 I did the venture make. 
 
 ^ ** Foe of the priests they call me ; 
 I reck not, for I ween 
 Had I been tamely silent 
 
 They had more friendly been. 
 
 I spoke the truth. 
 
 And so, forsooth. 
 Their rage doth me pursue ; 
 
 Good folk be sure 
 
 My aim was pure, 
 Though nothing more I do. 
 
 " Take up your own, your righteous cause, 
 O nation brave and strong. 
 Will ye not listen to my words, 
 And help avenge this wrong ? 
 
 The die is cast. 
 
 And I stand fast. 
 Whatever be my fate ; 
 
 The cards I'll play 
 
 As best I may, 
 And then the end await. 
 
 <* Although the cunning priests, I know. 
 Their snares for me have laid. 
 The man who knows his cause is good 
 Needs not to be dismayed. 
 
 * "Ain new Lied hen- Ulrichs von Hutten." Schriften, ii. 
 
256 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 I'll play the game, 
 
 And all the same 
 E'en though they seek my life. 
 
 Brave nobles all, 
 
 On you I call, 
 Join Hutten in the strife ! " 
 
 Two ballads that follow may be considered as a sort of 
 response from the chorus of the people to this appeal from 
 the chivalrous hero. They sang of the knight of Ebem- 
 burg:— 
 
 *' Franz Sickingen, the noble, will stand up for the right ; 
 He has full many vassals, and he'll bring them all to fight." 
 
 And of Hutten : — 
 
 "And Hutten, too, the noble, he aids the holy fight, 
 He pleads our cause in learned books he knows so Well to write." 
 
 He is called the guardian of the evangelical doctrines, 
 the champion of the word of God, and thus addressed in 
 conclusion : — 
 
 " Ulrich von Hutten, be of good cheer ; 
 I pray God keep thee free from fear. 
 At this time aye and ever. 
 God guard Christ's teachers from every foe, 
 Wherever they are, wherever they go, 
 
 Wherever ! " 
 
 The other ballad begins by thus addressing Sickingen : — 
 
 "Ah, brave Franconian knight, 
 Praise God who helps thee still 
 To battle for the right. 
 And help tliee ever will. 
 Here shalt thou foremost stand, 
 Thy cause is just and good. 
 And thou shalt lead thy faithful band 
 And guard the Christian blood." 
 
AUTHORSHIP VERSUS KNIGHTHOOD. 257 
 
 Let him never be turned away from the Word of God. 
 The poet afterwards speaks of his own steadfastness : — 
 
 ** Huttenus ne'er will fail us, 
 
 I know that firm he'll stand, 
 He is a valiant champion 
 
 Of Christians in our land. 
 He holds not life too dear, 
 He knows not craven fear. 
 God bid him speed I pray. 
 And prosper all his way." 
 
 Hutten received numerous letters, both from Germany 
 and neighbouring countries, assuring him that his words and 
 efforts were not without response. The Hussites sent him 
 the works of their master from Bohemia. But all this only 
 increased the feverish impatience which consumed him 
 during his enforced leisure at Ebemburg. The pen did not 
 content him, he would fain have taken the sword. The 
 author and the knight were contending with each other in 
 Hutten all his life. The author might do what he could, but 
 the knight wanted to achieve something also. It was a delu- 
 sion ; for what could the knight have done that would have 
 equalled what he did as an author ? It was a delusion that 
 had momentous results for himself, but his authorship 
 reaped the benefit of it ; the fire which could not find vent 
 through the sword illumined his writings, and gave them 
 that martial, heroic tone which is their imperishable charm. 
 
 " I am tormented," he wrote about this time to Capito, 
 " by these ever-recurring disappointments from my friends. 
 If I had only taken counsel with myself from the first, and 
 acted on my own account ; for the more I have to do with 
 my advisers the less I like them." And to Luther he wrote : 
 ''You would certainly pity me, if you saw how I have to 
 struggle here : so little is any one to be relied on. While I 
 am seeking new allies, the old ones fall away. Everybody 
 
 s 
 
258 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 has a host of scruples and excuses. What scares them more 
 than anything else is the superstition they have imbibed that 
 it is an unpardonable crime to oppose the Pope, however 
 bad he may be. But I do what I can, and never succumb 
 to misfortune." Franz von Sickingen was the only man on 
 whom Hutten could firmly rely, but he deterred Hutten from 
 an appeal to arms, because, as Hutten wrote to Erasmus, he 
 wished first to see whether the new Emperor would not take 
 reform in hand himself, or at any rate put no obstacle in the 
 way ; a hope that was indeed as good as frustrated by 
 ultramontane influence already, so that Hutten considered 
 that a final appeal to arms would be inevitable. He would 
 have been delighted to have waylaid and captured the two 
 papal nuncios, who were at Cologne after Charles's corona- 
 tion on purpose to influence him and the princes against 
 Luther, but what would have been the use of such a knightly 
 exploit? It might have found favour with a poet like 
 Eoban, and even with Luther in some moods ; but Sickingen 
 was right in dissuading his friend from it. 
 
 Hutten himself saw on reflection, that stronger forces 
 were necessary to secure any lasting result. He was, there- 
 fore, very desirous to ascertain the views of the Elector of 
 Saxony, and if possible to gain him over. As Spalatin had 
 given him no answer on this subject, he addressed himself 
 to Luther. He wrote to him on the 9th of November, that 
 it would not be labour lost if he would report in detail to 
 Ebemburg what was going on around him, and who might 
 be reckoned on in a venture. He wished particularly to 
 know how far the Elector might be relied on ; he wished 
 Luther would use his influence with him. He could not 
 think how important it would be for their cause if the 
 Elector would lend armed assistance, or at least connive at 
 some fine exploit, that is, give them a refuge within his 
 
LUTHER'S AVERSION TO VIOLENCE. 259 
 
 territory if need were. As soon as he was assured of this 
 he intended to visit Wittenberg. He could contain himself 
 no longer ; he must see a man whom, for his virtues' sake , 
 he so dearly loved. At the same time Hutten sent 
 corrected copies of his latest works to Luther, conjecturing 
 that he would have them reprinted, which in some instances 
 he did. 
 
 In the same letter Hutten complains that he had not 
 seen Luther's recent works, and wonders that he does not 
 send them to him, as it would be easy to find people who 
 would bring them to Franz von Sickingen. In January of 
 the following year he also complains to Spalatin that 
 Luther does not take the trouble to write to him. Luther 
 did write to jiim occasionally, but not so often nor so unre- 
 servedly as Hutten wished. These letters are lost, but we 
 know the reasons for Luther's reserve from what he said to 
 Spalatin on the receipt of Hutten's letter of the 9th of 
 December : " You see what Hutten wants. I do not wish 
 that we should fight for the gospel with fire and sword. I 
 have written to the man to this effect. By the Word the 
 world has been subdued, by the Word the Church has been 
 upheld, and by the Word it will be reformed; and even 
 Antichrist, as he has not used violence, will be overpowered 
 without violence by the Word.* The two men were agreed 
 as to the object in view, but not as to the means for effect- 
 ing it. Hutten was chafing with impatience to set about 
 what Luther only considered allowable as a last resort. 
 If it came to violence through the fury of the Romanists, 
 Luther wrote not long after to Spalatin (which would be the 
 case if any attacks on the clergy took place, as in Bohemia), 
 it would not be his fault, for bis advice had been, that the 
 German nobles should not seek to restrain these men with 
 * 16 Jan., 152 r. Hutten's Schriften, ii. 
 
26o ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 the sword, but with decrees and regulations. It appeared, 
 however, as if the Romanists would not be swayed by gentle 
 measures, but would bring ruin upon themselves by their 
 obstinate fury. 
 
 Luther, however, did not fail to make vigorous demon- 
 strations in his own way, besides his writings. On loth of 
 December, 1520, he threw the papal bull against him, 
 together with the decretals, into the fire, outside the 
 Elstergate at Wittenberg — an act which, in its symbolical 
 significance, has had endless consequences, and was for 
 himself the burning of the bridge which made return impos- 
 sible. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 FRANZ VON SICKINGEN AS HUTTEN'S PUPIL, AND TttE HERO 
 
 OF HIS NEW DIALOGUES. 
 
 1520—21. 
 
 npHE less prospect Hutten found of gaining support 
 for his schemes, even from those princes who were 
 most favourable to the Reformation, to say nothing of the 
 Emperor, the more desirous he was of securing the aid of 
 his host, Franz von Sickingen, whose power at that time 
 nearly equalled that of a prince. There were those who, 
 from family or party interests, sought to prejudice him 
 against Hutten and the Reformation. His brother-in-law, 
 Philip von Flersheim, afterwards bishop of Spire, whose 
 chronicle is the chief source of Sickingen's history, and 
 Dietrich von Handschuchsheim, were probably among those 
 who, Hutten wrote, tried to deter Sickingen from joining 
 so dangerous a cause. They tried to frighten him by mis- 
 representations of Hutten's opinions and plans, and even 
 quoted passages, as if from his WTitings, which were not to 
 be found in them. 
 
 Sickingen had but a superficial acquaintance with Luther's 
 writings. Hutten now took advantage of the winter leisure 
 at Ebernburg to acquaint his friend further with the works 
 referring to the Reformation. He read and explained 
 some passages to excite his curiosity; his interest was soon 
 
262 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 aroused and developed into conviction. He examined the 
 foundations and superstructure of Luther's doctrines, and 
 exclaimed, '•' And does any one dare to try to undermine 
 them, or think that he can if he tries ?" Before long, every 
 day after dinner, Hutten read something of his own or 
 Luther's aloud ; conversation ensued, and Hutten learnt to 
 admire his friend's power of grasping a subject, and his gift 
 for eloquently reproducing and enlarging on what he had 
 learnt. Sickingen was now proof against attempts to shake 
 him. When his friends warned him against joining so 
 doubtful a cause, he replied that the cause was not doubtful, 
 for it was the cause of Christ, and of the truth ; besides, it 
 was for the common weal of Germany that the admonitions 
 of Luther and Hutten should be listened to, and religion 
 protected.* 
 
 Let us linger a little over this picture ; it is one of the 
 fairest scenes in our national history. Two German knights 
 sit together in the winter evenings over the hospitable table 
 at Ebernburg, discussing the most vital affairs of Germany — 
 the one a fugitive, the other his powerful protector ; but the 
 fugitive, who is the younger, is the teacher, and the elder is 
 no more ashamed to learn, than is his knightly instructor to 
 acknowledge the great master, the monk of Wittenberg, as 
 his teacher. ' It is from this happy period in the relations of 
 the two men that the beautiful dedication of the German 
 edition of Hutten's works to Sickingen dates, more particular 
 notice of which we have delayed to this juncture. Hutten 
 says, that the proverb, " Adversity proves a friend," was not 
 invented without reason : no man could say that he had a 
 friend till he had proved him in adversity. Happy those 
 whom necessity has never compelled to put a friend to this 
 
 ♦ All this is from the above-mentioned letter from Hutten to Luther, 
 9 Dec, 1520. 
 
DEDICATION TO SICKINGEN. 263 
 
 test, but let those praise God for it who have one who will 
 stand it. " I," continues Hutten, " have no small cause to 
 thank God and my good fortune ; for when my foes had 
 driven me to extremities in body, honour, and estate, and 
 so fiercely that I scarcely had time to appeal to my friends, 
 you came to me, not as often happens with words of 
 comfort, but with helpful deeds. As the saying is, you 
 seemed to 'drop from the skies.' However little mere 
 cheerful companionship deserves the name of friend- 
 ship, still it is not to be despised, but it is as different 
 from true friendship as food that is merely good to the 
 taste is from that which is wholesome and supporting. 
 Thus at a time when I did not want dainty morsels, but 
 salutary physic, not joyous companionship, but willing aid, 
 as I believe", through divine Providence, I found you, who 
 cared not for what any one said of my cause, but took it 
 up for its own sake. You have not been deterred by my 
 foes from defending innocence, but from pity and love of 
 truth you have protected me from violence. And since it 
 has become dangerous for me to frequent the towns, you 
 have opened your houses to me (for which, and other rea- 
 sons, I call them refuges of righteousness), and have taken 
 fugitive Truth in the lap of your help, and boldly held it in 
 your protecting arms. It strengthened me not a little in my 
 project to know that you held it to be honest and honour- 
 able, and all the learned men and the lovers of the arts in 
 our nation (whom this cause concerns no less than myself) 
 rejoice, and are revived as by the beams of the sun after 
 gloomy weather. The maUcious priests and Romanists on 
 the contrary, who thought I was forsaken, and were well 
 nigh triumphing over me, now that they see, as the proverb 
 says, that I have been leaning against" a strong wall, have 
 given up their proud boasting, and almost let me alone." 
 
264 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 Hutten did not want the will, but only the power, to 
 requite these benefits. Should better times come, he will 
 do all in his power to show Franz his gratitude. Until then, 
 he would faithfully and diligently serve his friend with that 
 which neither force nor fraud, poverty nor misery, can take 
 from him — his mind and understanding ; and he could say 
 to him as Virgil said to the two youths, Nisus and Euryalus, 
 "^neid,"ix.,— 
 
 4 
 " So far as words of mine can reach 
 So far thy praises they shall teach." 
 
 Besides the special services which Franz had rendered 
 himj his chivalrous deeds deserved that all who had the 
 gift of handing down past or present events to posterity 
 should raise a lasting monument to his name. " For, flattery 
 apart, now that it seems to all men that the German nobles 
 have lost some of their prowes§, it is you who have shown 
 that German blood is still unconquered, and the noble 
 plant of German virtues not quite uprooted. And it is to 
 be hoped that God will cause our Emperor Charles so to 
 recognise your virtue and courage, that in his acts concern- 
 ing the Roman empire and all Christendom, he will avail 
 himself of your counsel and help, that thus your virtues 
 may be turned to greater account. Verily such a mind 
 should not be allowed to be idle, nor only be employed 
 within a narrow sphere." 
 
 It was not Hutten's purpose to sound Franz's praises, 
 but for once to pour out his heart, which was overflowing 
 with gratitude for the benefits which his friend had heaped, 
 and was continually heaping, upon him. He therefore pre- 
 sented him with this translation of his dialogues, executed 
 at Ebernburg, as a New Year's gift. Then comes the noble 
 conclusion which came from the inmost depths of Hutten's 
 
NEW DIALOGUES. 265 
 
 manly and vigorous mind : " And I wish you, not as we 
 often wish our friends, happy and peaceful repose, but ear- 
 nest, brave, and laborious work, wherein you may exercise 
 your lofty and heroic mind to the advantage of many. 
 God speed you, and grant you success therein." 
 
 While Hutten was translating his earlier dialogues into Ger- 
 man, he was also working at new Latin ones.* In these Sick- 
 ingen appears as one of the dramatis personce, and always 
 as the representative of the true and the right, of liberty and 
 moderation. Hutten has put the best that he knew into 
 the mouth of his Franz, as Plato did into the mouth of 
 Socrates. The new dialogues were dedicated to a princely 
 neighbour of Ebernburg, the Palsgrave Johann von Simmern, 
 ancestor of that ambitious Simmern line who adopted the 
 Reformation in the Calvinistic form at a later stage of its 
 course, but this ancestor, an able, cultivated, and much 
 esteemed prince (died 1557), adhered to the old Church 
 system. He had once said in conversation with Hutten, 
 that it was plain speaking that he liked in an author, and 
 that if he ever wrote anything plain-spoken, he should like 
 to see it. Hutten therefore sent his new dialogues as 
 answering to that description, to one who would appreciate 
 them. The Palsgrave would certainly find them plain- 
 spoken, and perhaps also polished and well finished. They 
 were written in this watch-tower which had long been open 
 to liberty, on almost the only theme now open to him, and 
 with the intention of irritating his foes, so far was he from 
 fearing them. 
 
 The first of the new Dialogues is the "Bull, or Bull-slayer," 
 one of the most dramatic of Hutten's writings. The Papal 
 Bull and German Liberty scold and fight so naturally that, 
 
 * " Dialog! Huttenici novi, per quam festivi." ** Bulla, vel BuUicida." 
 ** Monitor primus." ** Monitor secundus." "Prsedones." Schriften, iv. 
 
266 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 as in the case of the Fever, you forget you have only per- 
 sonifications before you. German Liberty, ill treated by the 
 Bull, exclaims, " Help, German citizens ! Protect op- 
 pressed Liberty ! Will no one dare to help me ? Is there 
 no true freeman there? No one who aspires to virtue, 
 loves the right, and abhors deceit and wrong ? In a word, 
 is there no true German there?" This is the signal for 
 Hutten's appearance ; for he had called himself on the title- 
 page the Champion of German liberty. This cry, he says, 
 from behind the scenes, concerns me, whoever it may come 
 from. I will see what it is all about. Why, so far as I can 
 see, it is about Liberty. I must hasten out. What is the 
 matter ? Who calls ? " Liberty," is the answer. " Liberty 
 is being oppressed, Hutten. It is the Tenth Leo's Bull who 
 is oppressing me." Now the Bull is face to face with the 
 hot-headed knight. To her terror he calls himself the Bull- 
 slayer, who, if not a Lutheran, hates Bulls and Rome still 
 more than Luther himself He sets himself to oppose her 
 progress, and relies upon the assistance of all good Ger-" 
 mans, especially of Franz von Sickingen, who long ago 
 built an altar and temple to liberty. He scorns the Bull as 
 an empty bubble (bulla), easily destroyed. No, indeed, 
 answers the Bull, she is not empty, but filled with power, 
 honour, and piety. Yes, says Hutten, she is inflated with 
 superstition, greed, pride, and vain-glory, but contains no 
 real righteousness. The Bull boasts that she comes from 
 
 Rome, the ruler of the world Where, interposes Liberty, 
 
 mules are valued more than horses, the men have no manli- 
 ness, human beings are gods, but real gods there are none ; 
 where evil is called good, and good evil ; where money is 
 worshipped, good faith banished, piety at an end, and 
 honesty rooted out. And he, rejoins Hutten, comes from 
 Ebernburg, the refuge of righteousness, where horses and 
 
"THE BULL-SLAYER/* 267 
 
 weapons are valued, sloth and cowardice despised ; where 
 the men are men, and good and evil are called by their 
 right names ; where fear of God, and love to man, righteous- 
 ness, and truth, prevail, and avarice and ambition are 
 banished. 
 
 It was Eck who showed the Bull the way here ; a stupid, 
 ignorant man, says Hutten, always at hand when there is 
 any mischief in the wind. Hutten will let what the Bull 
 says against Luther pass, but must punish her for trying to 
 enslave German Liberty. She appeals to all pious Germans, 
 the monks, the God-fearing women, and priests, to help her, 
 and promises all those who will help to get rid of Hutten 
 benefices and indulgences to their hearts' content; the 
 greatest villain can obtain pardon for all his past and future 
 sins ; the Saxons shall be allowed to eat butter and eggs on 
 fast-days, get drunk twice a day, go on pilfering the Poles, 
 &c. The benefice-hunters come to the aid of the Bull, but 
 Franz von Sickingen and his vassals come to help the 
 knight and German Liberty. The Emperor -and princes, too, 
 will soon make their appearance. As Liberty had foretold, 
 the Bull bursts of herself, and amidst mephitic vapours 
 (against which Hutten's medical friends offer preservatives), 
 her contents prove to be indulgences, superstition, ambition, 
 avarice, hypocrisy, cunning, perjury, luxury, &c. In order 
 to preserve their liberties, Hutten advises the Germans to 
 destroy the benefice-hunters who took the Bull's part, and 
 wrote the following epitaph on her : — 
 
 «* Look ! for the Bull lieth here, the bold Bull of Leo the Tuscan : 
 The death she was meant to inflict, on herself she inflicted." 
 
 In the two next Dialogues in the collection, called the 
 First and Second Monitor, there are but two interlocutors : 
 in the first, Luther, and in the second, Franz von Sickingen 
 
268 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 converses with an expostulating acquaintance. They are 
 not so drastic as the others, but contain rather a quiet dis- 
 cussion of the questions which in those days divided men's 
 minds. In the first, one of the superior clergy, who has 
 been a friend and follower of Luther, tells him why he and 
 many others have resolved to part company with him. Be- 
 sides fear of the Papal Bull, they were tired of Luther's 
 teaching, which they had at first liked. They could not 
 approve of reducing the Church from her present briUiant 
 position to her original poverty and insignificance. On the 
 contrary, Luther says, he was trying to purify the Church 
 from human additions, to preserve her from secularisation, 
 to restore her original lustre by making divine truth and 
 Christ's precepts the only rule of life. But the truth, replies 
 the Monitor, must be nearer to the Pope, as the successor 
 of St. Peter, and the representative of Christ, than to Luther, 
 who was anxiously clinging to the Scriptures, while the Pope 
 was so one with Christ that he could ordain whatever he 
 chose. Luther then controverts the assumed cession of the 
 power of the keys to Peter, and the doctrine that the Pope 
 is his successor. Christ had not delegated this power to 
 Peter alone, but to all the Apostles ; and even if he had, it 
 proved nothing about the Pope. To be the successors of 
 the Apostles means to imitate their lives ; to take upon 
 oneself a laborious life of preaching and ministration, not to 
 aspire to honours and privileges. On these principles the 
 successors of the Apostles are to be found wherever apo- 
 stolic virtues are practised. No one can be further from this 
 than one who, like the Bishop of Rome, is clothed in purple, 
 lives in pomp and luxury, surrounded by armed men, who 
 make war and conquests. The Monitor then expatiates on 
 the contrast between the early imperfect Church and the 
 present triumphant one. But Luther rejoins that the 
 
THE MONITOR I. 269 
 
 Church can but be one for all times ; if the Apostles held 
 suffering wrongfully to be victory, it shows what their idea 
 of triumph was. The duty of a Christian bishop was to 
 feed his flock by preaching, example, and prayer. But 
 Leo X. (of whose private life he would not speak) did not 
 preach at all, and, instead of saving souls, had ruined many 
 by his wars and indulgences. Such a shameless traffic and 
 imposture as this ought to open his friend's eyes. As for 
 the Papal bulls, the very name ought to be enough. The 
 Papal decretals ought to be burnt and abolished by all 
 Christian rulers as a collection of merely human dogmas. 
 The Monitor will no longer listen to such dangerous talk, 
 and maintains that safety is on the side of the Pope and 
 the majority. The outward pomp of Christ's representative 
 does Christ honour, and he does not at all approve of 
 Luther's dissuading people from making gifts to the Church. 
 The demands made on people by the Papal party were less 
 severe ; they allowed you to take life easily ; precepts that 
 were hard to practise were lightened by the priests or ignored 
 altogether; if you want to do anything wrong, the good 
 father makes out that it is allowable, which he is sure 
 Luther would never do. Most certainly not, replies Lu- 
 ther ; as an upright man, he could never give permission to 
 sin, and would not if he could. The other is quite content 
 with the papal permission to do evil. If any one was to 
 blame, it was the Pope, not he; and he trusts that the 
 Pope will answer for him at the day of judgment. But ac- 
 cording to Luther (as Hutten understood his doctrine), no 
 man can live on the responsibility of another, and as every 
 man must answer for himself, so he must act according to 
 his own conscience, and not on the opinions of any other 
 person. The Monitor appears to feel the hollowness of his 
 views, but interested considerations prevail. The diminu- 
 
270 
 
 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 tion of livings would oblige him to put down his horses and 
 servants, and he was hoping to be rewarded for his devotion 
 to the Papal Chair by a cardinal's hat. He leaves Luther 
 with assurances of continued personal friendship, though he 
 renounces his views, and Luther, sincerely pitying him, seeks 
 to gain over some other people for Christ. 
 
 The second Dialogue with the same title appears to have 
 been written just before the dedication to the collection, at 
 the beginning of 1 521, as it refers to the Diet of Worms. 
 The Diet was not formally opened till the 28th of January ; 
 but the Emperor was already at Worms in December, and 
 the princes were gradually assembling. The attention of 
 Franz von Sickingen is drawn by one of his friends to the 
 evil reports in circulation about him at the Diet. It was 
 said that he was an adherent of Luther, and was harbouring 
 Ulrich von Hutten, a man who would make great mischief 
 some day ; besides this, he had taken upon himself to call 
 the bishops and priests to order, in spite of Leo's bull, and 
 the instructions of previous Popes. This was true, answers 
 Sickingen, but it was no reason for speaking ill of him. It 
 was the duty of every honest man to withstand the dominion 
 6i the priests; it was no crime to favour Luther, who 
 preached the gospel ; Hutten, so far as he knew, had not 
 been condemned for his writings. The other remarks that 
 Luther and his party were innovators ; but Sickingen replies 
 that they rather sought to restore old things which had 
 been corrupted, and in this they were hke Christ. Let 
 them leave it to Christ, then. But God employs men as 
 instruments, says Sickingen ; well, leave it to the priests 
 then ; these things did not concern him and Hutten as lay- 
 men. But even if such a division of a Christian people 
 into priests and laymen is right, says Sickingen, the priests 
 would not be likely to reform themselves; God therefore called 
 
THE MONITOR II. 27 I 
 
 in the laity to help, and he for one felt moved by the Spirit 
 to protect Luther and Christian liberty. When his Monitor 
 warns him of the danger of such a course, he says that he 
 should rather be afraid of forfeiting Christ's favour if he left 
 it undone. He then, in a long speech, draws the well- 
 known picture of abuses, which were more than could be 
 told, and says that posterity will refuse credence to the his- 
 torians of the time who depict them. 
 
 Franz is reminded of the common saying, that no one 
 who is against the priests comes to a good end. Franz 
 adduces the Bohemian Zisca, and gives us an insight into 
 his own and Hutten's projects. " Did not Zisca free his 
 country from oppression, banish the idle priests and monks, 
 restore their property to the heirs of those who founded the 
 Orders, or apply it to the public good ? Did he not put an 
 end to Roman interference and rapacity, avenge the sainted 
 Huss, and all this without enriching himself? Yet he died 
 beloved and lamented by his countrymen." It was only by 
 his enemies, or those who were ignorant of history, that 
 these acts were depicted as crimes. "It seems to me," says 
 his interlocutor, " that you would like to repeathis exploits 
 here ? " Sickingen acknowledges that he should have no 
 objection if the priests would not take warning. In that 
 case there must be an appeal to force. 
 
 The Monitor is nearly convinced, but reminds Franz of 
 the views of the Emperor, who had threatened Luther's 
 party and promised to uphold the dignity of the Roman see. 
 He surely owed obedience to the Emperor. This considera- 
 tion, replies Franz with lofty candour, need not deter him. 
 He held it to be his duty to advise the Emperor, and not to 
 do just what pleased him for the moment. If Charles was 
 displeased with him now, he trusted that he would be grate- 
 ful to him hereafter. He should do his best to serve him 
 
272 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 until he was dismissed. There were cases in which dis- 
 obedience was the best obedience. Charles had other 
 things to do now than to listen to the priests — to abolish 
 pillage and the mercantile monopolies, to limit the power of 
 the lawyers and the number of the clergy and monks, to 
 frame laws about luxury, and to stop the drain of money to 
 Rome by the Fuggers. The Monitor remarks that it would 
 be well for him to have an eye upon the disturbances caused 
 by the Reform movement, to which Sickingen gives the 
 striking answer : " There would not have been any dis- 
 turbances if Charles had not meddled with it. He should 
 have let things take their course, instead of exciting party- 
 spirit by interference. Then would the spread of the evan- 
 gelical doctrines by Luther's means soon have transformed 
 the German Church system, put an end to priestcraft, and 
 increased the Emperor's authority; he was now making 
 himself subservient to the Pope in strange blindness to his 
 own interests." 
 
 If the Emperor suggests violent measures against Luther, 
 it is Sickingen's intention to protect him, and to warn him 
 not to subject himself to the Pope. Germany wanted a 
 shrewd martial emperor, not a slothful priestly one. Leo 
 first tried to prevent Charles's election, and then surrounded 
 him with his creatures, by whom he is completely ruled. 
 All depends now upon his altering his course. It is all one 
 to Franz whether he employs him or not, so that he chooses 
 efficient men. If Charles does not do this, Franz intends 
 to venture on something on his own account. He has a 
 zealous adviser in Hutten, who hated delay, and was setting 
 everything in train to compass the ruin of these dangerous 
 men. 
 
 The Dialogue closes with good wishes from the Monitor, 
 and thanks for Sickingen's teaching. 
 
THE ROBBERS. 273 
 
 The fourth and last Dialogue in the new collection, called 
 the " Robbers," also refers to the Diet of Worms. It marks 
 a turning-point in Hutten's ideas and projects. As we have 
 seen, he had imbibed with his mother's milk the prejudices 
 of his class against the cities, and the source of their pros- 
 perity — commerce. But at that period both nobles and 
 cities were threatened by the power of the princes. It was, 
 therefore, folly for them to continue at enmity instead of 
 combining against their common foe. There was also no- 
 where, except among the nobles, more receptivity, for the 
 Reformation than in the free cities. Hutten, perceiving this, 
 laid aside his prejudices and sought to bring about an 
 aUiance between the nobles and the cities to effect religious 
 and political reform. This is the main object of this 
 Dialogue, which begins with a /ray between a noble and a 
 citizen, and ends with a reconciliation. 
 
 A few months later Hutten wrote in the same strain to 
 Pirckheimer, and as long as he could, that is up to the time 
 of Sickingen's fall, he did not cease to try and effect an 
 alliance between the nobles and the cities. 
 
 During this winter at Ebernburg, Hutten did not neglect 
 to search the library of his " comforting good friend and 
 entertainer," and found something which he thought worth 
 publishing. Among other old books he found one belong- 
 ing to the later times of the Council of Basle, by an adherent 
 of Felix v., whom the Council elected Pope in 1439 i^ 
 place of Eugene IV., whom it deposed. It sets forth, the 
 necessity of councils, their superiority to the popes, that they 
 should be held in places not subject to the popes, and 
 exposes abuses in the Church. Soon after this discovery 
 Hutten received from Conrad Zarthn, of Bamberg, a little 
 work of his dedicated to Hans Schott, in which he speaks of 
 the Wittenberg doctrines (Zartlin was then at Wittenberg) as 
 
274 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 the original doctrines of Christianity, and those of Rom6 as 
 a tissue of human innovations invented by monks and 
 universities. Hutten had these two works printed together, 
 with a short preface, " to all lovers of Christian liberty," and 
 with some rhymes on the title-page. He neglected nothing 
 which might serve as a weapon against Rome."^ 
 
 * " Concilia wie man \die halten soil. Vnd von verleyhung geist- 
 licher Lehenpfrunden. Ermanung das ein yeder bey dem rechten 
 alten christl. Glauben bleiben soil, durch Herr Conrad Zartlin in 
 76 artickel verfasst." (How Councils should be held. And on the 
 granting of ecclesiastical Benefices. An exhortation to every one to 
 adhere to the ancient Christian faith, in 76 articles, by Master Conrad 
 Zartlin.) On the reverse side of the title-page, Hutten's preface. 
 St. Valerian, 1521." Schriften, ii. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE DIET OF WORMS. — HUTTEN'S THREATS. 
 
 IWr EANWHILE, on 28th of January, 1521, the Diet of 
 Worms had been opened. The question of Church 
 Reform was one of the first to be discussed. But the hopes 
 that had been entertained of the new Emperor in this matter 
 were already much lowered. In November, 1520, Luther 
 wrote to Spalatin, who had been with the Elector Frederic 
 at the coronation at Aix-la-Chapelle, that he soon expected 
 him back with much fresh news and some stale, namely, 
 that there was nothing to be hoped from Charles's court. 
 Erasmus, who had also been in the neighbourhood of it, 
 seeing him surrounded by papists and people of the old 
 school, had come to the same conclusion. Hutten had but 
 little hope left ; but Franz von Sickingen still beUeved that 
 at the Diet the Emperor's eyes would be opened, and that 
 he should be able to bring his influence to bear. 
 
 On all sides the young ruler was taken for weaker than he 
 was. It is perfectly true that he did not comprehend the 
 spiritual significance of the question, and that he did not 
 regard it from the German point of view, for he was not 
 only Emperor of Germany, but master of the Netherlands, 
 Spain, and Naples, and had to contend for Milan with 
 France. These foreign relations induced Charles to wish to 
 be complaisant to the Pope. Had it not been for this, 
 
276 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 Aleander might have harangued the assembly for more than 
 three hours against Luther in vain, and have spent still 
 more money than he did in bribing those about the Emperor 
 to no purpose. But now that the Pope had given up his 
 intention of abolishing the Inquisition in Spain, the chief 
 support of the royal power in that country, and gave Charles 
 reason to hope that he should not be averse to his attacking 
 Milan, Charles gave up the transient favour which, on the 
 advice of his ambassador at Rome, he had shown to the 
 Saxon monk in order to frighten the Pope, and was now 
 ready to help in suppressing him. 
 
 Charles's first idea was that the Elector of Saxony should 
 bring Luther to the Diet that he might be tried by learned 
 men. Luther was quite ready ; the Elector timid ; the papal 
 party opposed it with all their might. The papal nuncio 
 especially spoke against Luther's being heard. Had he not 
 declared that he would not be converted by an angel from 
 heaven? He had not answered the papal summons to 
 Rome. The business did not concern the Emperor or the 
 Diet. Luther was to be made to hold his tongue without a 
 hearing, and the Emperor had been brought round to it ; 
 he laid the plan of an edict before the States, by which 
 Luther was to be publicly condemned as a heretic, and the 
 papal bull against him enforced. 
 
 Ebernburg was only six miles (German) from Worms, and 
 early information was received there of what took place at the 
 Diet. Spalatin, with whom Hutten had long corresponded, 
 court preacher and private secretary to the Elector Frederic, 
 was at Worms in his suite. Hermann von dem Busch, who, 
 like Hutten, had advanced from the cause of Humanism to 
 that of the Reformation, was also there. Martin Bucer was 
 at Ebernburg, and was a useful medium of communication 
 with Worms. They received a precise account of Meander's 
 
HUTTEN'S INVECTIVE AGAINST ALEANDER. 277 
 
 long speech by nine o'clock the next morning. It was this 
 harangue and the zeal of the Romanists in persuading the 
 Diet to condemn Luther unheard which moved Hutten to 
 write the invective which he issued against the two nuncios 
 and the clergy assembled at Worms.* 
 
 Jerome Aleander, who had spoken for three hours against 
 Luther, was the first object of his wrath. He and his party 
 showed great folly in carrying on their trade so boldly in the 
 face of the great change in public opinion, and in supposing 
 that they have intimidated Germany by burning Luther's 
 books in the Netherlands, but it will all tend to their own 
 ruin. Let Aleander give the reins to his rage, the time for 
 vengeance will come. The Germans are not so indifferent 
 as they seem. They are closely watching the Romanists. 
 Every step was noted from Ebernburg as from a watch- 
 tower. Let them not count too much on the Emperor's 
 favour ; they take advantage of his youth to mislead him, 
 but he will grow wiser. Aleander is reproached with having 
 said that if the Germans succeeded in throwing off the 
 papal yoke, they would contrive to sow so many seeds of 
 discord among them at Rome that they would fall under 
 a far heavier one. This shameful speech betrayed his blind 
 confidence, but he will be undeceived. The bishops and 
 cardinals on whom he was relying will be helpless themselves. 
 Hutten, for his part, and he hereby gives him due notice of 
 it, will do all in his power to prevent Aleander's leaving 
 Germany alive. 
 
 The other nuncio, Marino Caraccioli, he had always taken 
 for wiser, though not better, than his colleague, and wiser 
 
 * " Ulrichi ab Hutten, eq. Germ, in Hieron. Aleandrum et Marinum 
 Caracciolum Oratores Leonis X. apud Vormaciam Invectivae singulae. 
 In Cardinales, Episcopos et sacerdotes, Lutherum Vormacia? oppognan- 
 teis Invectiva. Ad Carolum Imp. pro Luthero exhortatoria." Schrif- 
 teu, ii. 
 
278 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 than he proved himself to be, for he was shamelessly carrying 
 on the traffic in indulgences and dispensations in the face of 
 the Diet, as if they were still in the darkest days of the 
 Middle Ages. The Romanists now possessed the Emperor's 
 ear, but not for ever. " Some day," he exclaims, " I will 
 gain the ear now closed to me. Then I will tell him what 
 a pious legate you were. I will tell him that all you legates 
 whom the Bishops of Rome have sent here for centuries 
 have been traitors, plunderers of Germany, and breakers of 
 law and peace, and you will not be able to disprove it. 
 Begone, then, from here, begone. What do you linger for, 
 you villain ? Why do you tarry here longer, you greatest of 
 all thieves, most cunning and shameless of all impostors ? 
 This is the final warning. Better make up your mind to yield 
 to the pen lest you should be forced to yield to the sword." 
 Hutten then turned to the spiritual princes and dignitaries 
 of the Church at the Diet, most of whom were against 
 Luther. Before they attack him he will tell them in writing 
 what he would have sounded in their ears at the Diet, had 
 not the snares they had laid for him prevented his being 
 present. This led him to their unspiritual mode of warfare ; 
 instead of persuasion they employed force, instead of seek- 
 ing to enforce Christ's precepts, they had recourse to the 
 temporal power. They have exalted themselves above 
 Christ and demand obedience, not to the Scriptures, but to 
 their own highnesses. If they were only such pastors and 
 bishops as Christ and Paul described ! (Paul's exhortations 
 to them are then quoted.) But they were no true priests at all, 
 for the bishops, one and all, have bought their offices, and they 
 tread the common principles of morality under foot. Very 
 few of them could preach, and were ashamed to do it if 
 they could. No wonder they try to put Luther down, for the 
 truths he proclaimed threw a glaring light on their conduct. 
 
INVECTIVE AGAINST CHURCH DIGNITARIES. 279 
 
 " But the measure is filled up. Begone from the pure 
 streams, ye unclean swine ! Depart from the sanctuary, ye 
 infamous traffickers ! Touch not the altars with your dese- 
 crated hands. What business have you with the alms which 
 our fathers gave to the poor and the Church ? How dare 
 you spend the money intended for pious uses in luxury, 
 dissipation, and pomp while honest men are suffering 
 hunger? The^up is full. See ye not that the breath of 
 liberty is stirring:i-that, weary of the present, men are seek- 
 ing to bring in a better future ? I will spur, and goad, and 
 strive for liberty. I will convince those who do not now 
 approve by perpetual admonitions. I have no fear of the 
 consequences, but am determined either to ruin you or to 
 perish with^ a good conscience. 1 So long as you persecute 
 Luther and his followers I proclaim myself your implacable 
 foe. You may take my life, but you cannot blot out my 
 services to my country. You may arrest what is in progress, 
 but you cannot undo what is done, nor extinguish the 
 memory of a life with the life itselQ] They will gain nothing 
 by putting Luther down. If this movement is quelled 
 another will arise. "For it does not all depend on two 
 men linow that there are many Luthers and many Huttens. 
 And if anything happen to us it will be all the worse for 
 you, for then the champions of Hberty will combine with 
 the avengers of innocence." J 
 
 Among the spiritual princes at the Diet to whom this 
 reproachful epistle was addressed, Hutten's former patron, 
 Albert of Mayence, took the foremost place. He still had 
 a place in Hutten's heart. In the second edition of his 
 invectives, therefore, he added a special letter to him in 
 which he assures him of his personal affection and esteem, 
 and of his regrets if anything he had written against the 
 Diet had offended him; but the assertion of truth and 
 
280 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 liberty was above all personal considerations. It was a mis- 
 fortune for Germany, and the work of the devil, that Albert 
 had withdrawn from the cause of liberty and learning. Christ 
 grant that he may repent and leave this spurious Church. 
 If it were possible Hutten would shed his blood to effect it. 
 
 In the Address to the Emperor which Hutten added to 
 his Invectives he sought to convince him that in oppressing 
 Luther and German Hberties he was lowering his own dig- 
 nity. Between his own good sense and evil counsellors 
 the young ruler did not know which way to turn; it was, 
 therefore, a duty to offer him good advice. Above all 
 things, let him dismiss the priests who had always been the 
 ruin of the emperors. They want him to condemn Luther 
 unheard. Even if he were a criminal instead of a praise- 
 worthy man they would have to hear him. All brave and 
 honest men were incensed at it. The priests wanted to get 
 rid of Luther as quickly as possible, because he had spoken 
 and written against them. The Emperor would never be 
 in favour in Germany if he did not dismiss his priestly 
 advisers. He had observed the impression produced on 
 his voyage up the Rhine, when the Emperor was seen to be 
 surrounded by priests instead of soldiers. As a new ruler 
 he must be doubly cautious, and he must uphold the rights 
 of Germany against Rome. In this respect his treatment 
 of Luther was very important. Would the Emperor sacri- 
 fice himself and Germany to the Pope, who had done all in 
 his power to prevent his receiving the imperial crown ? " 
 
 " What has Germany done that she should perish, not for, 
 but with thee? Lead us rather into visible dangers amidst 
 sword and flame. Let all nations combine against us, all 
 weapons be aimed at us, so that we may but prove our courage, 
 and not perish Hke women, unarmed. The gods grant that this 
 beginning be followed by better things, for how can we feel 
 
ADDRESS TO THE EMPEROR AND APOLOGY. 28 1 
 
 confidence amidst such humiliation ? Is so great an Em- 
 peror, the ruler of many nations, so ready to submit to 
 bondage that he does not even wait till he is compelled to 
 do so ? It was said that Charles had as many masters as 
 there were bishops and cardinals about him. This alliance 
 with the Pope could not be of any advantage to him, for 
 no Pope, least of all a Florentine, ever kept his word. Had 
 Charles forgotten his grandfather's experience?" 
 
 Whether Hutten heard from Sickingen that the Emperor 
 had received this address ungraciously, or whether he felt 
 that he had gone too far, before long he felt moved to 
 write another, in which, to a certain extent, he apologizes 
 for the first. He acknowledges that it was severe, but it 
 was written with the best intentions. The fear that at 
 Charles's age he might not possess the firmness to withstand 
 evil counsels had perhaps caused him to be over zealous 
 and wanting in respect to the Emperor. In the time of 
 Frederick I. a legate who maintained that the Pope was 
 above the Emperor had had a sword run through his body 
 in the Emperor's presence. Hutten's wrath had been called 
 forth by still more insulting speeches, and if Charles could 
 not pardon this, he would rather be deaf than hear them. 
 He begs pardon and for a token of the Emperor's favour, 
 and, if he desires it, he will write nothing more of the kind. 
 
 The Emperor was compelled by the urgent demands of 
 the States of the empire to grant what Hutten had demanded 
 in his first address — a hearing for Luther. He summoned 
 him under safe conduct to Worms, to give an account of 
 his doctrine and writings, and sent a herald to Wittenberg 
 to fetch him. We may assume that what befell Luther on 
 this journey, April, 1521, and at the Diet, is well known, 
 and confine ourselves to those points which have special 
 reference to Hutten's history. One of these is Luther's 
 
282 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 reception at Erfurt, in which Hutten's earliest friends, Cro- 
 tus Rubianus and Eoban Hesse, took a prominent part. The 
 university went solemnly forth to meet him, four men on 
 horseback and a large number on foot, Crotus as rector at 
 their head; and when the Reformer arrived he presented 
 him with an address. Eoban was one of the horsemen, 
 and afterwards celebrated Luther's arrival, his sermon at 
 Erfurt, and his departure for Worms, in a series of elegies. 
 And it is not improbable that about this time Crotus wrote 
 the parody on the Litany, which appeared anonymously. 
 There was a prayer that Luther, who would soon be at 
 Worms, might be preserved from Italian poison, that Hutten, 
 Luther's Pylades, might be strengthened in his good inten- 
 tions, that the young Emperor might be delivered from evil 
 counsellors, Germany freed from the papal yoke, &c.* 
 
 Meanwhile a strange visitor had appeared at Ebernburg. 
 This was Glapion, a Franciscan monk, the Emperor's con- 
 fessor; he suggested to Sickingen to induce Luther to visit 
 him on his way, as he wanted to speak to him before he 
 arrived at Worms. He had been to Briick, chancellor of 
 Frederic of Saxony, to try to get an interview with him, 
 but Briick would not obtain one for him. He wished to 
 see Luther himself. He thought if he would only with- 
 draw his last repulsive work about the Babylonish captivity 
 of the Church, which was written in anger about the papal 
 bull, some method might be found of arranging the affair. 
 He spoke favourably of Luther to the lord of the castle and 
 his noble guest. Even his enemies must allow that he was 
 the first to open a door to Christendom for the better under- 
 standing of the Scriptures. And when Hutten asked, then 
 what great crime Luther was guilty of which this did not 
 atone for, Glapion answered, " None that he knew of." So 
 
 ♦ " AITANEIA Germanorum," &c. In Hutten's Schriften, ii. 
 
LUTHER'S ARRIVAL AT WORMS. 283 
 
 at least Hutten reports. Whatever the object of this man 
 might be, whom Hutten and Erasmus afterwards agree in 
 describing as the very scum of the priests, whether to 
 cause Luther to take a false step, or to save him as a tool, 
 which the Emperor might some day want against Rome, it 
 is clear that Sickingen did not take him for one of Luther's 
 worst enemies, or he would not have acceded to his pro- 
 posal. He sent Martin Bucer with some horsemen to Op- 
 penheim to intercept Luther with the invitation. But 
 Luther would neither listen to warnings, nor be turned aside 
 by invitations, and said that if the Emperor's confessor had 
 anything to say to him he could say it at Worms ; it was to 
 Worms he was summoned. 
 
 On the i^th of April Luther arrived at Worms, and the 
 next day Hutten greeted him and his companion, Justus 
 Jonas, with two addresses which Bucer took to Worms. He 
 calls Luther the invincible preacher of the Gospel, and his 
 saintly friend, and, falling into his theological manner, offers 
 him a cloud of incense in the form of texts, chiefly from the 
 Old Testament. As far as can be made out, he wishes him 
 steadfastness, since so much depends upon him, and pro- 
 mises devotion to him to his last breath. Their projects 
 differ so far as this, that his are human, while his friend, more 
 perfect, leaves all to God. Hutten would like to see the 
 angry looks and knitted brows of Luther's enemies. He 
 had great hopes for the cause, but great fears for Luther's 
 person. 
 
 Hutten highly commends Justus Jonas for sharing Luther's 
 danger. He loved him before, but now loves him a hundred 
 times better. He regrets that Crotus is prevented from 
 sharing the danger by the unfortunate rectorship. He 
 wishes he could be at Worms himself and raise a storm. 
 But it was better to keep quiet and protect Luther alive 
 
284 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 than to avenge his death. Jonas must keep him informed 
 of all that goes on. 
 
 The first hearing of Luther took place on the 17th of 
 April, when, on being asked whether he adhered to all his 
 writings as they stood, or would recant the obnoxious parts, 
 he asked time to consider. The second was on the i8th, 
 when he refused to withdraw his rejection of the authority 
 of the Pope and councils unless he was refuted by the Scrip- 
 tures. This was after he had been informed by the official 
 of Treves that, if he refused to withdraw this, the empire 
 would know how to deal with a heretic. Luther was then 
 summoned and questioned, but not exactly tried. The dis- 
 puted points were not gone into ; it was not proved that his 
 teaching was heretical, it was assumed ; he was called on to 
 recant, and when he declined he was pronounced a heretic. 
 
 When Hutten received from Luther himself information 
 of the course things were taking, his indignation knew no 
 bounds. Bows and arrows, swords and guns, were wanted 
 to curb the rage of these devils. His admiration of Luther 
 was unbounded also. He wrote to Luther that many had 
 come to him about that time, saying anxiously : " If he 
 only stands firm!" " If he does but answer firmly!" *' It 
 he is not intimidated!" His answer had always been, 
 " Luther will be Luther." And he had not been disap- 
 pointed : Luther's answer left nothing to be desired. And 
 in the private negotiations of which he wrote, he would 
 know how to act for the best. (Some of the States had 
 tried to induce Luther to give way on some points, and to 
 acknowledge the Emperor and States as judges of his doc- 
 trines.) Let him but persevere to the end, and let his foes 
 scream and rage and mock; for it was becoming clearer 
 and clearer that all the best men were on his side ; he will 
 not want for defenders or avengers. The fears and caution 
 
INDIGNATION AT THE TREATMENT OF LUTHER. 285 
 
 of Hutten's friends compelled him to keep quiet, else he 
 would have played a game with these fellows under the 
 walls of Worms. But he will soon come forth, and Luther 
 shall see that neither will he deny the spirit that God has 
 awakened in him. He was burning to see Luther, whom 
 he loved so much, and hoped he would let him know of all 
 that happened to him. 
 
 Luther wrote once more to Hutten before leaving Worms, 
 and told him of the Emperor's ungracious dismissal, and the 
 prohibition to preach by the way. Hutten could not read 
 the letter without tears, and all his indignation at the treat- 
 ment of Luther was renewed. He wrote to Pirckheimer 
 that it was a lie to say that Luther had been summoned 
 to answer for himself; he had not been allowed to do 
 so. And now some of the lawyers were maintaining 
 that the Emperor was not bound to keep to the safe con- 
 duct, or rather he was bound not to keep to it. The 
 ungodly bishops would like to play the same game their 
 predecessors had played after the Council of Constance.- 
 The Emperor was said to have expressed his determination 
 to defend the Pope and the Church of Rome at all hazards. 
 The priests were delighted, and thought the drama was 
 played out ; but the last act was wanting. On the other 
 hand, a notice had been posted up at Worms, that four 
 hundred nobles had entered into a league for Luther, with 
 the words " Bundschuh, Bundschuh !" appended (a term 
 which indicated a combination with the peasantry) ; a step 
 so fraught with danger for Luther, that it might be conjec- 
 tured to have proceeded from his enemies. It was now said 
 that a very severe edict was 'to be issued (the imperial ban 
 followed on 26th of May), but it would meet with great 
 opposition in many parts of the empire. It will now be 
 seen whether Germany has real rulers, or is only governed 
 
286 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 by decorated statues. Franz von Sickingen stood firm, and 
 was zealous for Luther. He had sworn not to forsake the 
 cause of truth, in spite of all the dangers that beset it, and 
 his word was like an oracle. 
 
 But Franz would not strike the blow, though the eccle- 
 siastics at the Diet were sometimes alarmed at his dangerous 
 proximity. The hope of pay and booty, and of increasing 
 importance in the service of the Emperor, who was sure 
 soon to be at war with France, was not the least of the con- 
 siderations which kept Sickingen and his adherents among 
 the nobles from hostilities. So Hutten's threats from Ebern- 
 burg remained mere threats ; and he was open to the impu- 
 tation of having threatened more than he could perform. 
 Towards the end of the year, Erasmus wrote to Pirck- 
 heimer, regretting the increasing vehemence of Luther and 
 his party, and saying that those who indulged in such 
 threats should have an army to back them ; this no doubt 
 was aimed at Hutten. But while Erasmus was blaming 
 him on this side, his younger and more hot-headed friends 
 only blamed him for not putting his threats into execution. 
 
 Hermann von dem Busch, though Hutten's senior, was 
 'almost more fiery than he was. He spoke no less wildly 
 against Luther's opponents at Worms than Hutten wrote. 
 He could not therefore blame Hutten ; but he, no doubt, 
 relied upon his promise that, with Sickingen's help, he would 
 soon commence hostilities, and was doubly disappointed 
 that it was not carried out. On 5th of May, when Luther's 
 business was almost finished without any disturbance (he 
 had already been gone a week), Hermann Busch sent a 
 letter to Hutten, in which he did not conceal his displea- 
 sure, and trie? to g;oad him on. He says that the Romanists 
 at the Diet, who M first feared Hutten, now made sport of 
 him, and said that he only barked but did not bite. The 
 
HUTTEN URGED ON BY HIS FRIENDS. 287 
 
 nuncios said that if there were no worse dangers for them 
 than Hutten, they were safe enough ; they had only to go 
 on with their work the faster, and they would soon lay it 
 completed at the Pope's feet. Hutten was reproached with 
 being the cause of Aleander's intimate relations with the 
 Emperor, of the subordinate part assigned to the German 
 princes, of the haughtiness of the Spaniards who cut out the 
 Germans with their mules, and get Hutten's " Commentary 
 on the Bull" and Luther's " Babylonish Captivity" from the 
 printers and trample them in the dirt ; if Hutten thought he 
 could do any good, he should have done it long ago. It 
 was very unwise to wait for Charles's departure, for then 
 Hutten's and Luther's worst foes, the nuncios, would go too. 
 If Hutten allowed these men to leave Germany with whole 
 skins, it would be a blot on his reputation. Instead of 
 firing random shots at Rome, he should punish her emis- 
 saries. 
 
 About the same time, Hutten received a poetical admo- 
 nition from Eoban Hesse to the same effect, though in a 
 more friendly strain. It was now time for the German 
 knight to protect Luther and German liberties with the 
 sword, since the pen had failed. He might expect aid from 
 every part of Germany, especially from Franz von Sickingen. 
 These two will put an end to the abuses of Rome ; but he 
 was especially placing his hopes on Hutten, whose courage 
 and valorous arm he has known from his youth. Let him 
 display these qualities to the nation. Destiny had called 
 him to restore to Germany her liberty and fame. He would 
 thereby lend lustre to the brilliant name of Hutten, while 
 the name would aid him in the struggle. Let him fulfil the 
 hopes he had raised, and take his friend's appeal kindly as 
 a signal for action. 
 
 Hutten says in his answer that his friend might have 
 
288 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 spared such an appeal if he had judged him rightly, still he 
 welcomed it as a proof that there were still free men in 
 Germany. If all were but of his way of thinking, but his 
 allies fail and flag. He will never swerve from his pur- 
 pose, whoever leaves him in the lurch. He had hitherto 
 laboured by writing ; now the time was come for an appeal 
 to arms, and he grasped them. The report that he had 
 given up his project was false. He despised the Papal 
 threats. Not a drop of Luther's blood should be shed in 
 his presence with which his own was not mingled. He 
 would support his fellow-labourer with the fist as he had 
 done with his mind. Neither exile nor death alarmed him. 
 It was not worth while to live in an enslaved Fatherland, 
 and death would set him free. But he hoped for the best. 
 Perhaps Franz would take up arms, and the nobles who had 
 forsaken him return ; at all events he foresaw the fall of the 
 Papacy and the victory of the Gospel. It was not his fault 
 that the nuncios had escaped ; he had left no stone un- 
 turned; had had the roads occupied, and ambushes laid 
 for them ; but the Emperor's army had protected them.* 
 Perhaps some other time they will fall into the snare. 
 It must be accepted as the will of God. Hutten submits 
 entirely to Christ's will : if it be his will that Leo should 
 seize him, it would be vain to try to escape ; and the same 
 with his foes, if Christ willed to give them into his hands. 
 But he hoped for Christ's help ; for it was only the oppres- 
 sion of the Christian faith that moved him to this struggle. 
 Let Christ give the signal for battle, otherwise Eoban 
 would sound the trumpet in vain. Meanwhile, he will con- 
 tinue to urge on the people ; many need it, though he him- 
 self was ready. His labours had not been quite ineffectual. 
 
 * Bocking refutes the trace of a story that he stabbed one of their 
 attendants. 
 
RESOLVE TO WIN OR DIE. 289 
 
 Rome had not sent any bulls for some time, nor legates, 
 nor dealers in indulgences, and the benefice-hunters were 
 somewhat restrained. Not that this was enough; the whole 
 brood must be exterminated. Hutten will do all he can 
 to effect it; if he fail, his country must take the will for 
 the deed. 
 
 *« And so will I join in the combat, the die is cast, once and for ever; 
 Fighting, my way shall be won, or I fall in the struggle." 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 PETTY FEUDS, AND ATTEMPTS TO EFFECT AN ALLIANCE 
 
 BETWEEN THE NOBLES AND THE CITIES. 
 
 1521—22. 
 
 nPHE Diet of Worms was a crisis in Hutten's career, and 
 not a favourable one. His onset had failed ; he dis- 
 covered that he had gone too far ; he had to acknowledge, 
 now on this point and now on that, that his actions had 
 come short of his words. In his writings his promises of 
 deeds had become more and more definite, and as these 
 were not performed, an embarrassing pause naturally took 
 place in his authorship. 
 
 The peaceful time with Sickingen at Ebemburg was also 
 at an end. In the summer of 152 1, Sickingen was at Wild- 
 bad, when he received an Imperial call to arms. Franz was 
 to furnish two thousand cavalry and fifteen thousand infantry, 
 and to be with them at Diedenhofen by the ist of August, 
 to fight against the Duke of Bouillon, Robert von der Mark, 
 and France which was supporting him. He accomplished it ; 
 and, with Count Henry of Nassau as second in command, 
 he entered Bouillon and France. But this campaign, which 
 it was expected would strengthen Sickingen's position with 
 the Emperor, ended in mutual dissatisfaction. The two 
 commanders did not agree, and therefore did not succeed ; 
 and the Emperor was short of money. Sickingen, who had 
 
HUTTEN IN CONCEALMENT. 29 1 
 
 not received back his loan of twenty thousand gold gulden 
 from the Emperor, had now also to be responsible for some 
 of the arrears of pay to the troops. Thus he was out of 
 humour with the Emperor, and the Emperor with him. 
 
 Towards the end of May, we find Hutten still at Ebern- 
 burg; but it appears that he had visited Franz at Wildbad. 
 But he doubted whether he should long be able to remain 
 with him, desirable as it appeared to him that some one 
 should be at Franz's side to counteract the perpetual attempts 
 of the opposite party to detach him from the cause of the 
 Reformation. Hutten was therefore much displeased with 
 Martin Bucer, who, in spite of a prospect of being provided 
 for by Franz, had accepted the office of chaplain to the 
 Imperial Stadtholder, the Count Palatine Frederic, from 
 whose lukewarm attitude nothing was to be hoped. Hutten 
 would have liked to take the field with Sickingen, but his 
 health had failed again, and he was compelled to keep quiet. 
 In the beginning of September we find him " in this hiding- 
 place," as he calls some spot which he does not name : a 
 few intimate friends knew it, and it was doubtless near 
 Worms or Landstuhl. He says he meant to stay there 
 twenty days longer, and then, if his health permitted, to 
 join Franz in camp. He would like to take Martin Bucer 
 with him, who was already beginning to tire of his chap- 
 laincy : and the magnanimous Franz promised him the next 
 living that should fall vacant, and if he would like a year's 
 study at Wiirtemberg, he would be at the expense. Hutten 
 was still more displeased with Capito than with Bucer, for 
 he had given credence to reports that Capito had renounced 
 the Gospel and written against the Lutherans under a feigned 
 name. But he was before long convinced that these reports 
 were groundless, and their former friendly relations were 
 renewed. 
 
292 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 It is doubtful whether Hutten carried out his purpose of 
 joining Sickingen. Otto Brunfels relates that the Emperor 
 had paid him two hundred gulden a year, but that he 
 renounced it on account of the Emperor's anti-Protestant 
 views. But it almost appears as if Brunfels referred to the 
 Wiirtemberg campaign, thinking that Hutten's service had 
 continued. 
 
 We now find him engaged in a number of insignificant 
 personal feuds, in which he gave vent to his ill-humour at 
 the failure of his great schemes in a way which it is difficult 
 to excuse. At the hiding-place before mentioned he gave 
 shelter to Otto Brunfels, who had escaped from the Carthu- 
 sian monastery near Mayence. This displeased the Mayence 
 Carthusians, and their brethren of Strasburg accused him of 
 having, with the printer Hans Schott, enticed two of the 
 monks away from the monastery. Besides this, they regarded 
 him as a heretic and a champion of Luther ; and as they 
 could not reach him, the prior avenged himself by an insult 
 to his portrait, still more shameful than that offered to the 
 portrait of Erasmus by the priest at Constance, who spat 
 upon it as he paced up and down the room. Our knight 
 could not brook an insult even to his portrait ; and he would 
 not have been a knight of those days, and a poor one to 
 boot, if he had not made it a pretext for extorting com- 
 pensation money out of the monks, which should for a time 
 replenish his purse. Towards the end of October, Sickingen 
 was expected with his army on his return from France, on 
 the Upper Rhine. It appears that Hutten came beforehand 
 to Diirmstein, near Worms — unless this was the " hiding- 
 place" — and on the 21st of October he issued a challenge 
 to the prior of the said monastery, demanding the sum of 
 ten thousand florins, in good Rhenish gold, within one 
 
DEATH OF HUTTEN'S FATHER. 293 
 
 month, and a written assurance that he would abstain from 
 further insults. 
 
 Burgomaster and council of Strasburg undertook to nego- 
 tiate the matter, an3 promised that their emissary should be 
 at the castle of Wartenberg in the course of a week. The 
 project for a reconciliation lies before me, which speaks of 
 an apology to Hutten, but says nothing of a money pay- 
 ment.''' Still, as Sickingen threw his sword into the scale, 
 the Carthusians had to submit, and though they paid only 
 one-fifth of what» Hutten demanded, it was a pretty good 
 price for the prior's jest. 
 
 The beginning of 1522 brought with it an event which 
 revived Hutten's hopes. The death of his father offered 
 the prospec^ of the possession of his property, especially of 
 the castle of Steckelberg, jointly with his younger brothers; 
 and from its inaccessible position, it seemed to him a desir- 
 able point in case of war. There were, however, difficulties 
 in the way of his entering on these possessions on account 
 of his revolutionary attitude towards the ruling powers, and 
 they were not overcome during the short remaining period 
 of his life ; still the prospect of independence revived his 
 courage, which was also supported by the position Sickingen 
 was gradually taking. 
 
 Sickingen might now be said to be decidedly gained over 
 for the cause of the Reformation. 
 
 In gratitude for his repeated offers of protection, Luther 
 dedicated his work on Confession to him ; and in the midst 
 of his martial exploits, Sickingen appeared as an author, to 
 advocate the principles of the Reformer. Dietrich von Hand- 
 schuchsheim had been dissuaded from adopting Luther's 
 cause, and wished to be a *' bulwark " of the ancient teach- 
 ♦ The documents are in Hutten's Schriften, ii. 
 
294 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 ing. Sickingen addressed a long epistle to him, in which 
 he instructed him that the Reformation was not an innova- 
 tion, but rather a restoration of a former state of things ; 
 then argued that the communion should be distributed in 
 both kinds, mass read in German, that celibacy and monas- 
 ticism were not divine institutions, while marriage was so ; 
 that worship should not be offered' to saints, but to God 
 alone ; that images easily attract the attention from devo- 
 tion, " and appear to be of more use to ornament handsome 
 apartments than they are in churches." Finally he tells 
 Dietrich that those who will not make up their minds, but 
 wait to see which turns out to be right, will not find out " till 
 they find themselves in Klepperlin's house, where hell-fire 
 darts forth from the windows." * 
 
 Among those of Sickingen's own class who had attached 
 themselves to him was Hartmuth von Cronberg. His interest 
 had been awakened by Luther's " Address to the German 
 Nobles;" and not long after he received a special missive 
 from the Reformer. He was a good, upright, but somewhat 
 narrow-minded man, and therefore the more easily gained 
 over as an enthusiastic partisan. He became all at once 
 a prolific theological author, issued addresses not only to 
 Sickingen, but to Luther, the mendicant monks, the Pope, 
 and the Emperor, and gave the latter the somewhat difficult 
 commission, " to have the goodness to convince the Pope 
 that he was the devil's stadtholder, aye. Antichrist himself." 
 He and Sickingen agreed that CEcolampadius, who was at 
 Ebernburg from April till November, 1522, should reform 
 divine service there in accordance with Cronberg's address. 
 
 • " Bis sie kommen in Klepperlins Haus 
 
 Da schlagt das hollisch Feuer zum Fenster hinaus." 
 
 Klepperlin, or Klapperbein, is one of the many names for death, 
 and represents him as a skeleton rattling his bones.— 7r. 
 
CHALLENGE TO PETER MEYER. 295 
 
 The gospel or epistle at the mass was read in German, and 
 the priests were married. 
 
 Hartmuth von Cronberg was a near neighbour of Frank- 
 fort, and Hutten now joined hira in a fray with an old enemy 
 of the Reuchlin times who had again offended him. ' This 
 was Peter Meyer, priest of St. Bartholomew's, at Frankfort. 
 Besides maligning Luther's doctrines from the pulpit, he had 
 informed against Hartman Ibach, and Yiisprotege, Otto Brun- 
 fels, as Lutherans, to the Dean of Mayence, whereby he had 
 drawn down a persecution upon Otto from which he only 
 saved himself by flight. After Hartmuth had affixed a warn- 
 ing to the Main-gate at Frankfort, with obvious allusion to 
 Meyer, against wolves and false prophets, Hutten issued a 
 challenge to him from Sickingen's fortress of Wartenberg, 
 which ran as follows : — " Know, Dr. Peter, that since thou 
 wilt not desist from annoying my good friends and patrons, 
 but art more and more filled with unchristian hatred and 
 devilish poison against us, and art always ready to sting us 
 like a scorpion, and likewise those pious, Christian, and 
 learned men. Master Otto Brunfels and Master Hartman 
 Ibach, two evangelical preachers, and hast treacherously 
 brought them into danger :— know, therefore, that hence- 
 forth I myself, with all my might, and with all I can get to 
 help me, will attack thy life and property in all possible 
 ways. And this being my final warning to thee, it is for 
 thee to act accordingly." 
 
 On the same day he issued an address to the Burgomaster 
 and Council of Frankfort, at the beginning of which, in 
 order to gain a favourable hearing, he says that " from his 
 childhood, and especially since he came to years of discre- 
 tion, he had been of opinion that the differences between 
 some of the cities and the nobles of the Holy Roman 
 Empire should be put an end to (Sickingen had had a spar 
 
296 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 with Frankfort), and the two classes on whom the power of 
 Germany depended be united in friendship." He then com- 
 plains to these gentlemen of the asp-like spirit of their parish 
 priest, Peter Meyer, and suggests that they should get rid of 
 him as a wolf in the fold. If not, they shall suffer for it ; 
 and he threatens them with their neighbour of the Cronberg. 
 
 A fortnight later Hutten had two challenges affixed to the 
 door of the Liebfrauenkirche at Frankfort, one against the 
 mendicant monks, the other against the benefice-hunters; 
 and if they did not come to terms with him, all soldiers 
 were challenged to aid him in attacking them at home and 
 abroad. 
 
 The correspondence about Meyer continued some time. 
 He denied the accusations against him ; the council referred 
 to the ecclesiastical authorities, as it was not for them to 
 depose the priest. Hutten said they should let him bear 
 the brunt of his attack ; to which they rejoined that Hutten 
 must be aware that it did not become them to permit 
 violence to any one in their city. Soon after Hartmuth 
 von Cronberg so persecuted Meyer with threats, and at- 
 tempts to convert him, that he appealed to the council for 
 protection. A few years later, however, the Frankforters 
 themselves expelled the quarrelsome priest. 
 
 It seems strange to see the fraternisation between the 
 nobles and cities inaugurated by a quarrel like this, and we 
 may well be surprised at the relations into which Hutten 
 entered, a few months later, with the city of Worms. On 
 the Sunday after St. James's day, from Sickingen's fortress 
 of Landstuhl, he issued an address to the same city of 
 Wonns,* which during a long series of years had been 
 injured by Sickingen more than any other city in a most 
 
 * "EindemutigeEnnanunganeingemeyneStattWormbss." Schrif- 
 ten, ii. 
 
ADDRESS TO THE CITY OF WORMS. 297 
 
 unwarrantable manner, and they were so far still unrecon- 
 ciled, that Sickingen had not ventured to appear there 
 during the Diet. This finds no place in Hutten's address, 
 indeed it admitted of no excuse, and the only way was to 
 ignore it in the common interests of the knight and the city, 
 if such there were. Hutten was of opinion that the Refor- 
 mation furnished these interests, and, in enlisting the sym- 
 pathy of the good people of Worms for it, he might think 
 that he was also doing his best to settle their quarrel with 
 Sickingen. There was at Worms a Lutheran preacher 
 named Ulrich, much in favour with the populace, but he 
 was a great offence to the Romish party, and especially to a 
 priest named Daniel. Hutten's purpose in the address was 
 to congratulate the city on the light it had received, to 
 encourage it to persevere in the truth, and to resistance in 
 case of attack. Let them take him and others for examples, 
 who suffer great persecution for the truth and yet stand 
 firm. With God's help, he will be steadfast to the end. 
 "No entreaties," he says, " can persuade me out of this re- 
 solve, no threats alarm me, no money bribe me ; for I know 
 in whom I have believed, and that God will not forsake 
 me." May they partake of the same consolations, and 
 acknowledge the bonds of brotherhood with one who was 
 so full of good-will to them in Christ. 
 
 Notwithstanding all this, Hutten's projects were not 
 carried out ; but, ill as he was, it seems to have been a 
 necessity to him to indemnify himself for the impossibility 
 of working on a large scale by knightly exploits on a small 
 one. It was no doubt about this time that, as Erasmus 
 repeatedly cast in his teeth as a well-known circumstance, 
 Hutten attacked three abbots on the highway in the Pala- 
 tinate, for which the Elector beheaded one of his servants, 
 and threatened him with vengeance. Whether the report 
 
298 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 of Erasmus that he had the ears of two Dominican friars 
 cut off is also true, we cannot say. It recalls the passage in 
 the " Epistolae Obscurorum Virorum," in which Hutten is 
 reported to have said, that if the Dominicans treat him as 
 they have treated Reuchlin, whenever he found one of 
 them, he would cut off his nose and ears. 
 
 In May, 1522, the Emperor was recalled to Spain by dis- 
 turbances there, leaving an Imperial Chamber, to which, on 
 the urgent demand of the electors, he had, in accordance with 
 his election-bond, most unwillingly consented. The electors 
 each sent a representative; the domains of the princes, spiritual 
 and temporal, the prelates an(i counts, were divided into six 
 districts, each of which was represented ; the imperial cities 
 sent two deputies, but the nobles were not represented at 
 all. No wonder that they were discontented, and tried to 
 incite the cities to discontent also ; for they were not repre- 
 sented in proportion to their importance, and were alarmed 
 at the project of the Imperial Chamber to surround the 
 German Empire with a customs line. The Chamber had 
 offended the Lutherans on its first assembling. While 
 Luther was at the Wartburg, those violent changes had been 
 introduced into the Church under the auspices of Carlstadt, 
 which caused the Reformer to take upon himself to re- 
 appear on the scene. But Duke George of Saxony, who 
 was taking his turn at Nuremberg, had in January obtained 
 an edict from the Government, ordering the bishops of 
 Naumburg, Meissen, and Merseburg to oppose the in- 
 novations at Wittenberg, and to maintain the ancient 
 usages. 
 
 This position of affairs seemed to favour Hutten's idea of 
 a combination between the nobles and cities, to effect an 
 ecclesiastical-political reform in the empire, and he again 
 gave utterance to it in the effective form of a German poem, 
 
• "THE WRONGS OF THE FREE CITIES." 299 
 
 which he called vThfi-Wrongs of the Free Cities of the 
 German Natipn."?*' It begins — 
 
 Ye pious cities give your hand 
 
 To the brave nobles of our land ; 
 
 If for their friendly aid you'll sue, 
 
 I swear the league you ne'er will rue. 
 
 Both cities free and noble knight 
 
 Groan 'neath the tyrant princes' might ; 
 [The nobles' substance they devour, 
 
 And rob you of your rights and power. 
 
 Full well I know their purpose sly 
 
 To stifle German liberty. 
 
 Singly 'gainst them 'twere vain to fight, 
 
 But if our forces we unite 
 
 Soon these long-suffer'd wrongs we'll right. 
 
 Coin hands ! there is no other cure 
 y^opwoes like those we now endure." 
 
 The poem goes on to say that at one time the imperial 
 power was the protection of the weak against violence in 
 Germany, but it is now so degraded by the disgraceful bar- 
 gains made by the Emperor with the princes for their votes 
 at the last election, that they do just what they please. 
 Some of them are even too indolent to attend to business 
 themselves, but leave it all to their corrupt secretaries, so 
 that the administration becomes more and more costly, and 
 the people more and more oppressed. Now, owing to the 
 absence of the Emperor, the country is altogether in the 
 power of the princes. 
 
 ** In solemn conclave now they meet, 
 With looks demure and words discreet. 
 Discussing how to rule. 
 ^ * The Kaiser's gone, and long may he 
 
 Remain, or ne'er come back, that we 
 The people may befool.' 
 
 '* The first presumptuous thing they did 
 Was Luther's teaching to forbid. 
 
 * "Beklagunge der Freistette teutscher Nation." Schriften, iii. 
 
300 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 As it were something wrong. 
 They put it down, for such as they 
 Whose lives must shun the light of day, 
 
 Truth's light is all too strong." 
 
 Seeing that stress of circumstances had so far brought down 
 Hutten's pride that he proffered his hand to the cities, to 
 the traders whom he so despised, it may be asked whether, 
 looking on a few years, he would not have gone a step 
 further and have appealed to the peasantry to aid in the 
 reform of public affairs. We have seen that he thought that 
 the continued resistance of the authorities to reform might 
 occasion rebellion among the common people, and have 
 noticed a passage in his *' Apology" which might be called 
 a prophecy of the Peasants' War. In the " Apology " 
 Hutten says, that if he is attacked it will be seen that it is 
 not a loose rabble that he has collected. Whether he 
 alluded to the peasantry, and whether even if he spumed 
 them then, he would not have accepted their aid after the 
 Diet of Worms, are questions which lead us to consider the 
 German Dialogue, " Neu Karsthans," '^ which, though it 
 appeared without his name, has by many been ascribed to 
 him. 
 
 The title has reference to an earlier Dialogue called 
 " Karsthans," also anonymous ; it was a satire, taking Lu- 
 ther's side, on the " Defence of the Papacy," by Thomas 
 Murner. The Dialogue is carried on between Mercury, a 
 student, Luther, and Karsthans,! a typical figure in the 
 literature of those days, representing the peasantry, zealous 
 for reform and the Bible, sturdy and pugnacious when occa- 
 sion required. Murner is represented amongst the others on 
 the title-page with the head of a tom-cat. This Dialogue is 
 
 ♦ " Gesprech biechlin neiiw Karsthans." Schriften, iv. 
 t Karst— mattock, or hoe ; Hans— Jack.— 7r. 
 
THE "NEW KARSTHANS. 301 
 
 not at all in Hutten's style, but the "New Karsthans " has a 
 striking similarity to it. 
 
 As in most of Hutten's later Dialogues, Franz' von Sick- 
 ingen is one of the speakers, and there is but one other, 
 Karsthans the peasant. Hutten himself does not appear, 
 but Sickingen refers to him as the source whence he had 
 derived the instructions he gives to the peasant. The Dia- 
 logue is supposed to take place in the summer of 1521, for 
 Sickingen says that last winter he read Luther's .works with 
 Hutten at Ebernburg. 
 
 The peasant is asked why he looks so downcast, and says 
 it is because of the priests' extortions. It is the old griev- 
 ance of the Synodal Courts, which, instead of being organs 
 of Church discipline, have long been turned into a source of 
 gain to the priests. Karsthans had been for some trifle 
 brought up before the court and fined, and, because he 
 could not pay at once, excommunicated. Franz promises 
 to speak for him to the bishop. The peasant says, when a 
 day of reckoning comes with the priests, as he hopes it will 
 come, he shall not forget this, and many other things. "All 
 we want," he says, " is a leader, then we shall succeed." 
 They want a captain from amongst the nobles, and it soon 
 appears that it is to Sickingen himself that they are looking. 
 Four years later, when Sickingen was no more, the rebellious 
 peasants pressed his counterpart on a small scale, Gotz von 
 Berlichingen, into their service as their leader. 
 
 The Sickingen of the Dialogue does not at first accede to 
 this suggestion. He is convinced that it will come to a 
 revolt of the people, but wishes to avert such a catastrophe, 
 because the multitude act without reason, and punish the 
 innocent with the guilty. The peasant is therefore advised 
 to wait patiently, and warned if he should take part in such 
 a struggle not to do so to serve his own ends, but in a 
 
302 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 Christian spirit, and to serve God and righteousness. As 
 to commanding them, he must leave the matter to God. 
 The peasant reminds him that he had promised to protect 
 Luther as he had protected Hutten. Sickingen rejoins that 
 Luther's writings, so far as he had read them, are Christian 
 and good, and if wrong or violence is done him, he will 
 come to his aid. He entertained Hutten as his good friend, 
 and one who had sought refuge with him ; so far as he 
 knew, he also had written nothing but the pure truth, at his 
 own peril, and no one shall harm him so long as he is with 
 him. But the imaginary Sickingen goes beyond this defen- 
 sive attitude, and says he considers that the time is come to 
 punish evil-doers, and if God calls him to such a task he is 
 ready. It is strange that after the Diet of Worms the 
 author should make Sickingen express a hope that the Em- 
 peror will not long remain a Papist, but take reform in 
 hand himself. 
 
 All the other ideas of the Dialogue are entirely Hutten- 
 Hke, and may be found, sometimes almost verbatim, in 
 writings that are undoubtedly his. The way in which the 
 imaginary Sickingen refers to Hutten as his learned authority 
 is very artistic. When the knight describes the true calling 
 of the clergy, in which he shows himself to be conversant 
 with the Pauline epistles, and contrasts it with their actual 
 worldliness, Karsthans exclaims : " Noble sir " (Junker), " I 
 wonder where you learnt these things ; I am not used to 
 hear you prove things from the Holy Scriptures ! " There- 
 upon Sickingen relates how last winter he and Hutten 
 generally read Luther's books after dinner, and discussed 
 the apostolic writings. At another time Sickingen speaks 
 of ceremonies. *' Noble sir,'" asks Karsthans, " what are 
 ceremonies?" To which Sickingen replies: "Hans, cere- 
 monies, as Hutten tells me, mean outward gestures, &c." 
 
THE "NEW KARSTHANS." 303 
 
 But these relations between Hutten and Sickingen were 
 well known beyond the Ebemburg circle, and it may be 
 thought it better became a third party to bring Hutten up 
 as an authority in this way. The Scripture quotations also, 
 although Hutten had lately given enough of them, are at 
 much greater length than usual, and the patristic learning 
 displayed seems rather to point to one of the theological 
 guests at Ebernburg — Aquila, Bucer, CEcolampadius, or 
 Schwebel. There is much to be said for Bocking's conjec- 
 ture, that CEcolampadius was the author. 
 
 We are again reminded of an observation we have often 
 made in the course of our narrative, that when all classes of 
 a nation are agitated by some great mental movement, the 
 gift of writing on the subject becomes comparatively com- 
 mon ; there is never a Homer, but little Homers appear 
 whose writings are sufficiently similar to be taken for his. 
 
 We have purposely left unnoticed until now the appendix 
 to this Dialogue, in which Junker Helferich, Reiter Heinz, 
 Karsthans, and their followers swear to hold fast the Thirty 
 Articles. It is appended to the only ancient edition of the 
 " New Karsthans " extant, but it can scarcely be of the 
 same date. For we hear nothing of Junker Helferich or 
 Reiter Heinz in the Dialogue ; the tone of the Articles is 
 also more vehement. They seem like a prelude to the 
 Twelve Articles in 1525, only that they are restricted to 
 religious questions. The priests as they now live shall no 
 longer be called spiritual fathers, but carnal brothers ; no 
 more heed shall be paid to their bans than to the cackling 
 of geese ; the Pope shall be called Antichrist, his cardinals 
 the devil's apostles, the Court of Rome the antechamber of 
 hell. The members of the League will admit no one be- 
 longing to the religious Orders into their houses, will throw 
 stones at any mendicant monk who begs of them, set dogs 
 
304 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 at priestly officials and envoys, and treat all benefice-hunters 
 as mad dogs, who may be beaten, caught, and killed. 
 Hutten and Luther are to be specially protected. Eternal 
 enmity is sworn to papal decrees and bulls, and those who 
 are the bearers of them shall have their ears cut off. All 
 holidays shall be abolished except Sunday, images shall not 
 be worshipped, confessions shall be regulated according to 
 Luther's suggestions, no priest shall be tolerated who cannot 
 preach the Gospel and does not live a respectable life, and 
 no one shall hold more than one benefice, to be adminis- 
 tered by himself. Finally, the conspirators swear to stake 
 life and property on these articles, and call God to witness 
 that their aim is not their own advantage but divine truth 
 and the good of the Fatherland, and that they act with 
 Christian and honourable intent. 
 
 Whoever it was who thought to advance the cause of 
 Church reform by a fraternisation between the nobles and 
 peasantry, and sought to prepare the way for it by the two 
 writings in question, Sickingen's next enterprise had not 
 purely ecclesiastical ends for its object, nor did he rely on 
 any other forces than those to which he had been accus- 
 tomed in his former feuds. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 SICKINGEN'S campaign against TREVES. — HUTTEN*S DEPAR- 
 TURE FROM GERMANY. 
 1522. 
 
 OICKINGEN was far from any thought of renouncing 
 his "ambitious schemes because the ill-success of his 
 campaign in France had brought him into disfavour with the 
 Emperor. He was all the more desirous of strengthening 
 his position among his compeers. The Emperor's departure 
 for Spain and the weakness of the Imperial Chamber gave 
 him scope for his projects. In August he summoned a 
 convention of the Rhenish nobles at Landau, which was 
 largely attended. Their minds were prepared for it, for 
 there was not one of them who did not think he had cause 
 to complain of the Imperial Chamber and Court of Judica- 
 ture, or of oppression from the neighbouring princes or 
 bishops. Many also were in favour of Church reform, and 
 were dissatisfied with the attitude of the last Diet in respect 
 to it. On the 13th of August a "Brotherly Agreement" 
 was signed by those present, to which those not present 
 could afterwards send in their adhesion. The chief purpose 
 of it was to make the nobles more independent, by inducing 
 them to refuse to submit to any jurisdiction but their own. 
 Not only were disputes between members of the Agreement 
 to be decided by special courts composed of the nobles, 
 
 X 
 
306 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 without right of appeal, but the allied nobles could only be 
 cited by members of any other class before a court of their 
 equals. Each member of the Agreement was to render aid 
 to any other member, threatened with an appeal to arms by 
 his foe, after he had offered this mode of settling a quarrel, 
 but no help was to be given to any member who declined 
 such mode of settlement. It was inevitable that, in feuds 
 between princes, counts, and cities, members of the bond 
 should serve on different sides ; in these cases they were to 
 spare each other as much as possible, and when the dispute 
 was settled to be bound to each other as before. The 
 Agreement was for six years ; Franz von Sickingen was 
 chosen captain, and he appointed twelve trustees for the 
 twelve districts in which the members lived.* 
 
 The day before the Treaty of Landau was prepared, 
 Sickingen had entered into a treaty with Franz von Sombrief 
 to obtain and lead some horsemen for him. He had fortified 
 and provisioned his castles anew, especially Ebernburg and 
 Landstuhl. His standing as imperial captain and councillor, 
 his personal reputation as a general, and the idea which he 
 favoured, if he did not set afloat, that he was collecting forces 
 for the Emperor against France, soon caused a numerous 
 army to be collected under his banners. 
 
 Sickingen's object in these warlike preparations was cer- 
 tainly not, as the good Hartmuth von Cronberg thought, 
 A " to open doors for the word of God," for in Sickingen's less 
 enthusiastic character personal ambition, class feeling as a 
 noble, and pious zeal for the Reformation, were jumbled 
 together in very human fashion. He wanted to strengthen 
 his uncertain position, which was as to his possessions that 
 of a noble, and almost that of a prince in power, and, with 
 
 * For this and other documents on which this chapter is based, see 
 Miinch's "Franz von Sickingen." 
 
SICKENGEN'S attack on TREVES. 307 
 
 the help of his compeers, to make a breach in the chain of 
 the German principaUties, which were becoming still more 
 firmly linked. For these ends the religious changes were to 
 serve him on the one hand as a lever, on the other as an 
 end which was to crown the new order of things. 
 
 He selected the enemy who was to be the first object of 
 his attack advisedly. Had he merely followed his personal 
 inclination he would have attacked Hesse, whose nobles, 
 under the protection of the Landgrave, had refused to fulfil 
 the engagements they had entered into after Sickingen's 
 
 X attack four years before. But Philip of Hesse was too 
 strong, and although he had not then decidedly joined the 
 cause of the Reformation, he was not a spiritual prince at 
 whom a blow could be struck as prince and priest in one. 
 Everything seemed to point to the Archbishop of Treves. 
 Richard von Greiffenclau-Volraths was indeed connected 
 with Sickingen by a family tie, but at the Diet of Augsburg, 
 in 15 18, no one had spoken more strongly against Sickingen's 
 campaign against Hesse, then proceeding, than he did. He 
 said that Franz was really getting too bold : first putting 
 down the cities, then the princes, one after another; the 
 princes and electors had better look to it. He (Richard) 
 was the first and probably the last of his race ; it concerned 
 the born electors more closely. As spiritual elector, Richar d 
 was one of the heads of the German ecclesiastical princi- 
 palities, and as to the Reformation, to quote Hartmuth's 
 expression, "He had closed the doors against the word of 
 God as securely as it was possible for a man to do." His 
 
 X hard, statesmanlike, and martial character was quite imper- 
 vious to the ideas of the Reformation. If his neighbour of 
 Mayence was a Leo X. on a small scale, Richard of Treves 
 might be compared to a Julius IL Franz did not take 
 these characteristics into account, or thought that they 
 
3o8 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 would not suffice to protect him in the isolation in which he 
 hoped to find him. As usual, in the episcopal cities, some 
 of the inhabitants were opposed to the ecclesiastical rule, 
 and this party gained strength by the advance of the 
 Lutheran doctrines. Sickingen had nothing to fear from 
 Albert of Mayence, and Richard would hardly get military 
 aid from his peace-loving colleague at Cologne. He looked 
 for help from the Palatinate, and hoped to have settled with 
 Treves before Philip of Hesse advanced. He hoped also 
 that the Emperor, who was absent from Germany, would be 
 by no means inclined to take up the cause of the agent and 
 advocate of his rival for the crown. Indeed the idea pre- 
 vailed that Sickingen was secretly co mmissioned _by the 
 Emperor to attack Treves. 
 
 But, on the other hand, warning voices were not wanting. 
 Sickingen must have known that he should get no help from 
 Wittenberg, as Luther was entirely opposed to war for pro- 
 moting the Reformation, He and Melanchthon afterwards 
 spoke of Sickingen's proceedings as only likely to make the 
 good cause hated. Martin Bucer said, at any rate after- 
 wards, that Sickingen had undertaken the war with the best 
 intentions but without the right call. And Balthasar Schlor, 
 the man whose claims on the Council of Worms Sickingen 
 had made a pretext for his feuds with that city, warned him 
 against the campaign. Schlor said that even if he took 
 Treves he would not be able to keep it, for the empire would 
 be down upon hirh. He was also risking his advances of 
 sixty thousand florins to the Emperor. Let him set some 
 one else upon Treves. He should also consider his health 
 (for though only forty-one, Sickingen suffered from gout), 
 and the warning prognostications of the astrologist Johann 
 Hassfurt for the years 1522 and 1523. 
 
 But Franz had made up his mind to attack Treves, and a 
 
PRETEXT FOR WAR. 309 
 
 pretext was not far to seek ; in accordance with the fashion 
 of the times, a gap was made in the hedge on purpose to 
 pick a quarrel. A fellow whom Sickingen harboured, 
 Gerhard Borner, took two magistrates of Treves prisoners. 
 At their request Franz interposed, and paid Borner five 
 thousand Rhenish gulden as a ransom and set them free, on 
 the customary engagement that they would pay him within 
 a given time or surrender themselves to him. But the 
 magistrates, instead of this, appealed to the Imperial Cham- 
 ber at Nuremberg, and when Sickingen complained of this 
 to the Elector of Treves he declined to forestall its decision. 
 This was probably just what Sickingen wanted to give him 
 a pretext for declaring war. 
 
 The firrst to whom the Elector turned for help was his 
 neighbour at Mayence, whom he asked for one hundred 
 anned horsemen. But Albert regretted that he required 
 them himself, partly for the Swabian League and partly for 
 his suite at the autumn fair at Frankfort. He had at once 
 summoned his retainers, but only twenty came instead of 
 two hundred, and they refused to serve under any one but 
 himself. Then he tried to enlist hired soldiers, but " they 
 really were not to be had just then." At last, on being 
 admonished of his duty by the Imperial Chamber, Albert 
 offered two hundred infantry and the cavalry which he had 
 placed at the service of the Swabian League ; but this was 
 not until so late that Richard of Treves wrote that he had 
 defended himself, and Albert might keep his men at home. 
 And not only had he no aid from Albert, but the ferryboats 
 of the Rheingau took over men and horses for Sickingen's 
 forces. Subjects and retainers of Mayence served under 
 him, and some of Albert's chief officials, his chamberlain, 
 Frowin von Hutten, the Marshal Caspar Lerch, and some 
 of the canons, favoured Sickingen's enterprise. 
 
3IO ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 On Richard's appeal to the Imperial Chamber at Nurem- 
 berg, it issued a mandate to Sickingen, ordering him, under 
 pain of ban and a fine of two thousand marks, at once to 
 desist from his attack on Treves, as contrary to the golden 
 bull and the internal treaty of peace (Landfriede). But 
 Sickingen had already entered the territory of Treves, taken 
 Bliescastle, and had encamped before St. Wendel. He had 
 ' issued an address to his troops and allies, in which he 
 declared that he had not undertaken the campaign to in- 
 crease his wealth or power, but for God's honour, for it was 
 directed against the enemies of the Gospel, the bishops and 
 priests. He had therefore thought that Christian princes 
 would help him, but they do not. But God will help him 
 and his followers, and either grant them a blessed death or a 
 glorious victory. But to render themselves worthy of this 
 some points must be observed. His troops were admonished 
 to conduct the war in a humane manner, to spare the inno- 
 cent, and to abstain from needless devastation, which Franz 
 had not always done himself. These admonitions were 
 fortified with examples jumbled together in true old Renais- 
 sance style from Scriptural and Roman history, so that, as 
 at the Ottoheinrichsbau at Heidelberg Castle, Joshua and 
 Horatius, David and Titus, stand side by side. 
 
 Franz expressed himself to the emissaries of the Imperial 
 Chamber in a somewhat less tame and godly style than in 
 this manifesto, which was written for him by Heinrich von 
 Kettenbach, formerly a Franciscan. " Tell the Stadtholder," 
 he said to the bringer of the letter, " that he need not 
 trouble himself; it will take something more than letteis." 
 He was as much the Emperor's servant as the gentlemen in 
 the chamber; he was notattackingthem, but the Archbishop 
 of Treves, and he was sure his lord the Emperor would not 
 be angry if he punished the priest a bit, and served him out 
 
SICKINGEN TAKES ST. WENDEL. 3 1 1 
 
 for the crowns he had taken, (From the king of France 
 before the election of Emperor.) He meant to introduce 
 more law and justice into the Empire than the Imperial 
 Chamber had done ; if he succeeded, the Emperor would 
 find more money and land in the empire (probably by con- 
 fiscation of Church property) than he was seeking abroad. 
 As to the demand that he should leave his quarrel to the 
 Court of Judicature, he had a court about him occupied by 
 troopers, and which made itself heard by means of guns and 
 cannons. 
 
 The Chamber issued similar warnings, and with as little 
 effect, to Franz's army. After being repeatedly stormed, St. 
 Wendel fell into his hands. Success loosed his tongue as to 
 his real -projects, for he is said to have said to the nobles 
 who defended St. Wendel : " You are prisoners, and have 
 forfeited your horses and armour. You have an elector who 
 can recompense you, wherever he may be ; but if Franz 
 becomes elector of Treves — as he may and intends to, and 
 not only that, but more — he will take care of you." 
 
 Instead of attacking Saarbriick, which he saw was pre- 
 pared for a vigorous defence, Franz advanced to Treves, and 
 the elector, who had been looking round for aid from Pfalzel 
 and Ehrenbreitstein, and had received promises from the 
 Palatinate and Hesse, now returned to his capital to put it 
 into a state of defence. And Richard von Greiffenclau dis- 
 played a martial skill not exactly appropriate for a bishop. 
 He mustered his forces in the market-place, animated them 
 and the people by an address, and himself inspected the 
 walls and towers. He was quite in his element in his 
 doublet of elk's skin among his soldiers, and when on the 
 advance of the enemy he was about to set fire to a barn 
 himself, a soldier took the brand from him saying, that such 
 work better befitted him than the archbishop. 
 
312 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 On the 8th of September, Sickingen and his army marched 
 down the Marsberg and encamped before the town. The 
 scared inhabitants gave up all for lost. But the archbishop 
 told the two horsemen whom Sickingen sent to demand 
 surrender, that if Franz wanted anything of him, he would 
 find him in the city. Sickingen then began to fire ; the 
 besieged came out and spiked his guns ; besides red-hot 
 shells he shot letters into the city with the intent of causing 
 dissensions, but the firmness of the archbishop suppressed 
 them. Emissaries from the Elector of Cologne made vain 
 attempts to mediate. Richard said he should get from 
 Franz as indemnity, the two hundred thousand gold guldens 
 he demanded as the price of withdrawal. Sickingen's troops 
 were enthusiastically attached to him ; but, after five mur- 
 derous assaults, his powder ran short, and the reinforce- 
 ments he expected did not come, while they did come to 
 Richard. So on the 14th of September Sickingen raised 
 the siege and retreated in good order ; in imitation of Zisca, 
 churches and monasteries were burnt to the ground on 
 principle, but, as the injured princes asserted, villages were 
 not spared, which was contrary to Sickingen's manifesto. 
 
 We have told the story of Sickingen's ill-fated campaign 
 against Treves, without a word about Hutten, for the simple 
 reason that just at this juncture we know nothing about him. 
 We know not whether he accompanied his friend into the 
 field, whether he remained to protect Ebernburg with Hart- 
 muth von Cronberg, or whether, detained by the state of his 
 health, he was in either of his friend's other houses. Still 
 it was necessary to give the history of the Treves campaign, 
 for it was doubtless planned by the two knights in concert, 
 and its failure had a decisive effect upon Hutten's projects 
 and fate, no less than upon those of his protector. In many 
 places it was reported that Hutten was dead, so entirely 
 
HUTTEN LEAVES GERMANY. 313 
 
 had he disappeared from the scene. Veit Werler at 
 Wiesenstieg so often heard the report that he began to 
 believe it, and wrote a memorial of the noble and talented 
 young man. It was three-quarters of a year too soon. 
 
 But Hutten was now compelled to leave his country ; the 
 exile began for him which he had long foreseen. It is a 
 misrepresentation to say, as Erasmus does, that Sickingen 
 sent his protege away in order not to incur hatred himself. 
 After the attack on Treves, his protection of Hutten was the 
 least of his burdens, and he knew well enough that it would 
 be futile to dismiss him then. Otto Brunfels, an intimate 
 friend of Hutten's later years, appeals to the testimony of 
 Sickingen's surviving sons, that his feelings towards Hutten 
 never changed, and a son of one of the preachers to whom 
 Sickingen had given shelter relates, that when the allied 
 princes were preparing to besiege Landstuhl, the knight, not 
 wishing to involve those dear to him in danger, dismissed 
 those who were least capable of bearing arms, and among 
 these would be Hutten on account of his health. It agrees 
 with this also that Martin Bucer left Sickingen's castles in 
 November of this year, in order to escape the turmoil of 
 war, and accepted an office as preacher at Weissenburg. 
 
 The allied princes of Treves, the Palatinate, and Hesse, 
 did not think it advisable to attack Franz immediately after 
 his retreat, but avenged themselves on his abettors and 
 relations. They took Cronberg, drove Frowin von Hutten 
 from his estates, fined the Elector of Mayence twenty-five 
 thousand gulden, and Sickingen's brother-in-law, Friedrich 
 von Flersheim, five thousand, &c. But Sickingen foresaw 
 that he would be attacked, and sought to fortify himself by 
 seeking help from knights and cities as far as Bohemia on 
 the one hand, and Switzerland on the other. 
 
 It may have been about this time that, as Otto Brunfels 
 
314 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 asserts, Hutten received an invitation from the king of 
 France to be his councillor, with an income of four hundred 
 crowns and free choice of residence. The persecution to 
 which Hutten was exposed in Germany, would have excused 
 his acceptance of it, but he declined it, not choosing to take 
 any office out of Germany. 
 
 We have no certain information when Hutten left his pro- 
 tector's castles, or Germany itself, or which way he took. 
 All we know is, that at the time of his appeal to Worms, in 
 July, he was still at Landstuhl, that, in November, Bucer and 
 OEcolampadius left Sickingen's castles, that on his way to 
 Basle Hutten spent some time at Schlettstadt ; that, towards 
 the end of November, Hutten, GEcolampadius, and Hart- 
 muth von Cronberg were at Basle, and possibly travelled 
 together. Hutten lived at the inn Zur Blume and intended 
 remaining at Basle, where he sought safety and repose till 
 spring ; safety which, now that the " strong wall " on which 
 he had leaned was tottering, he could no longer find in 
 Germany, and repose on account of his health. His safety 
 was no longer endangered by the Romanists only, but also 
 by the princes, who persecuted him as one of the most 
 active instigators of the revolt against their dominion. He 
 appealed to the Council of Basle for protection, as many 
 thought, needlessly, and it was promised him. People of 
 all classes visited him ; invitations and dinners were not 
 wanting. JBut to Erasmus, the very man for whom Hutten 
 cared more than for any one else at Basle, his stay there 
 was unwelcome. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 HUTTEN's conflict with ERASMUS. 
 1522— 1523. 
 
 T N the early part of our narrative we have frequently men- 
 tioned Erasmus, and Hutten's relations with him. On 
 the one sitie were the sentiments of reverence and admira- 
 tion for the older master and model, on the other, of satisfac- 
 tion in a gifted disciple, to whose homage the master was 
 not insensible, and whose stormy passion he excused on the 
 plea of youth in the hope that it would tone down in the 
 future. The difference in their characters was apparently 
 reconciled by the common standpoint of Humanism ; if 
 either deserted it, the difference was sure to re-appear. 
 During the last few years, Hutten had from a Humanist 
 become more and more of a Reformer, while Erasmus re- 
 mained a Humanist. It was impossible that Hutten should 
 regard Erasmus in the same light as before ; he could but 
 become aware of many blemishes in the brilliant model of 
 his youth. 
 
 In unfolding the memorable quarrel between these two 
 men, we must bear the greatness and historical significance 
 of Erasmus in mind. It is easy to say that compared with 
 Luther he was shallow and weak, and compared with Hutten 
 even cowardly and double-faced. These two men were the 
 representatives of the historical forces which left Erasmus 
 
3l6 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 behind. When a crisis of this kind is culminating, its pre- 
 cursors always appear at a disadvantage in comparison with 
 its representatives. To do Erasmus justice we must recur 
 to an earlier period, compare him with the standpoint from 
 which he rose, consider the superstructure he raised, and 
 what he achieved. We shall then behold in Erasmus the 
 living representative of all that the Western nations had 
 gained by the revival of the study of the ancients, during 
 a period of over a century. It was not merely knowledge 
 of languages, not only the formation of style and taste ; 
 men's minds had attained a wider scope, were cast in a 
 finer mould. In this comprehensive sense Erasmus may be 
 said to have been the most highly cultivated man of his 
 time. 
 
 He also understood the age, knew its wants, and met them 
 by his writings. His critical editions of the classics and 
 the Fathers ; his collections of adages, metaphors, and apo- 
 phthegms ; his translations from the Greek; his " Method of 
 Study," " Method of True Theology," and of writing and speak- 
 ing correct and elegant Latin, of which his letters were models, 
 were very opportune, and produced an effect in wide circles. 
 His Greek-Latin edition of the New Testament, in which 
 the Greek text was printed for the first time, appeared, with 
 a dedication to Leo X., a year before the beginning of the 
 Reformation. It w^as followed by his paraphrases of the 
 New Testament, in which it is characteristic that the 
 Apocalypse is omitted. Little as there was of the mystical 
 element in his nature, he was by no means wanting in 
 practical religion, as is shown by his " Instructions to a 
 Christian Soldier;" his writings on prayer, Christian marriage, 
 &c. In religion he always lays stress on the real meaning 
 and significance of things, apart from which the outward 
 ceremonies of the Church were worthless. He laughs at the 
 
WRITINGS OF ERASMUS. 3^7 
 
 superstition of the people, the ignorance and barbarism of 
 the clergy, especially of the monks, and the absurdity of 
 scholasticism, complains of the vexatious fasting rules, and 
 speaks pretty openly against the ambition and greed of the 
 Court of Rome. 
 
 In his *' Praise of Folly," all classes are passed under an 
 ironical review. In accordance with the taste of the time, 
 which certainly does not commend itself to us, folly per- 
 sonified boasts of her services to mankind; and as she 
 musters each class in turn, praises its special absurdity, 
 often however forgetting her part, and falling from simulated 
 praise into direct blame. This work went through twenty- 
 seven editions during the author's lifetime. 
 
 His " Colloquies " were received with scarcely less favour. 
 From an introduction to Latin conversation, it grew in the 
 later editions into a collection of dialogues, in which 
 Erasmus described the manners or abuses of the age, or 
 delivered his sentiments on important questions of life and 
 religion. We shall best indicate Erasmus's way of thinking 
 by giving a summary of one or two of these dialogues. In 
 the one called " The Corpse," two dying men are described. 
 The one, a soldier, who possesses much ill-gotten gain, 
 sends for the mendicant monks, dies with a Franciscan 
 cowl on his head, directs that he shall be buried in the 
 church, and advises his wife and children to embrace the 
 religious life ; the other, a sensible and upright man, dies 
 without any ceremony, trusting on the merits of Christ 
 alone, leaves not a penny to the monks or the poor, for he 
 has done what he can for the poor in his lifetime, receives 
 the communion and the last unction, but does not confess, 
 since he has nothing on his conscience. The legacy-hunt- 
 ing of the monks, the jealousy between them and the priests, 
 and of the different Orders amongst each other, are de- 
 
31 8 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 scribed. In the dialogue about eating fish, a story is told 
 of a person who in mortal sickness refused, even on the 
 advice of his physician, to eat eggs, but had no scruples 
 about disowning a debt by perjury. In the " Shipwreck," 
 while the rest of the passengers call upon one saint and 
 another, the sensible speaker addresses himself to God, 
 believing that no one hears the prayers of men more 
 quickly or grants them more wiUingly. 
 
 During the decade which preceded the appearance of 
 Luther, the fame of Erasmus was at its height. He was 
 considered, and really was, the most brilliant Hterary 
 star of the West. Aspiring young men, as well as the 
 learned of" more mature age, took long journeys to his place 
 of abode, and considered themselves happy to have seen 
 his face. Rulers, temporal and spiritual, sued for letters 
 from him, and rewarded him for his dedications. When on 
 his travels, he was received in the cities where learning 
 flourished like a potentate ; deputations met him with 
 addresses and poems, and the authorities testified their 
 esteem. 
 
 After returning from his travels in France, Italy, and 
 England, Erasmus lived in agreeable leisure without any 
 special office, first at Louvain, and then at Basle, until the 
 disturbances consequent on the Reformation induced him 
 to remove to Freiburg. After 151 6, he enjoyed the title of 
 Councillor to King Charles of Spain, with a pension of 
 four hundred florins, besides smaller pensions from some of 
 his distinguished patrons ; but in those days of scarcity of 
 money they were often intermitted. 
 
 The trial of Reuchlin was to a certain extent a prelude 
 to Luther's appearance ; and from the attitude of Erasmus 
 towards the former, his probable attitude towards the 
 Reformation might be foreseen. As the Reuchlin contest 
 
OPINIONS OF ERASMUS. 319 
 
 arose out of the Talmud, and other Jewish books, which 
 Erasmus did not understand, he could in some sense say, 
 with truth, that it did not concern him ; then the vehemence 
 with which it was carried on on both sides was repulsive 
 to him. He considered that the friends of the revival of 
 leaniing should go to work persuasively rather than polemic- 
 ally, should ingratiate themselves as guests rather than 
 attack as enemies. Considering the combative attitude 
 which Reuchlin's party had assumed, he was displeased that, 
 in Pirckheimer's vindication of him, he had placed his name 
 among the list of Reuchlinists. What learned and upright 
 man was not dear to him? he said; but his friend should 
 not have involved him in a conflict, of which, as later in the 
 Lutheran jtragedy, as he called it, he wished to be only 
 a spectator. But privately he was friendly to Reuchlin, 
 exerted himself diplomatically for him with the Pope and 
 cardinals, and, when death released him from the strife, he 
 celebrated him in an apotheosis which he incorporated with 
 his Dialogues. A student of Tiibingen describes a vision 
 which a pious Franciscan had had at the time of Reuchlin's 
 death. On the other side of a bridge he saw a beautiful 
 meadow ; Reuchlin, in bright raiment, was walking on the 
 bridge, attended by a cherub, his good genius. Some black 
 birds, like vultures, pursued and screamed at him ; but he 
 held up the cross to them and bid them begone, when they 
 flew ofl", leaving an indescribable stench behind them. On 
 the bridge he was met by that learned linguist, St. Jerome, 
 who greeted him as a colleague, and gave him a garment 
 like his own, adorned with tongues in three difl"erent colours, 
 to signify the three languages they understood. The air 
 and the meadow were filled with angels ; a pillar of fire 
 came down from heaven, and in it the two saints locked in 
 each other's arms, and amidst the songs of the angelic 
 
320 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 choir, ascended to heaven. The departed will now be 
 placed among the saints by the side of St. Jerome, and 
 invoked as the patron saint of linguists. 
 
 When Luther first appeared he enjoyed the sympathy of 
 Erasmus, and he did not fail to speak a diplomatic word 
 for him. When Frederic the Wise questioned him about 
 Luther, at Cologne, just before the Diet of Worms, he told 
 him in confidence that Luther had made two mistakes, in 
 seizing the Pope by his crown and the monks by their 
 bellies : it made a deep impression on the Elector, and 
 recurred to his mind shortly before his death. Erasmus 
 had previously given a very favourable report of Luther to 
 the Cardinal Albert of Mayence ; but he was greatly dis- 
 pleased when Hutten ventured to have it printed without 
 his knowledge. He also desired to have the " Axiomata" 
 back from Spalatin, which he had written to the same pur- 
 port at Cologne, but it did not prevent their being printed. 
 Erasmus was perfectly aware that Luther had not acted 
 without urgent cause ; he had himself complained of the 
 very same abuses. The burdens laid upon the people by 
 human dogmas; the obscuration of theology by scholasticism; 
 the scandals caused by the confessional and indulgences; 
 the deterioration of preaching, which, instead of being about 
 Christ and the Christian life, was mostly about the Pope 
 and lying miracles ; a ceremonial worship, which surpassed 
 that of the Jews, and threatened to stifle all vital religion. 
 The shameless extent to which all this was carried, stirred 
 up Luther to oppose it, and even in the opinion of Erasmus, 
 it excused some extravagance on his part. He gave Luther 
 credit for seeking neither gain nor honour, and found that 
 the best men took the least exception to his writings. 
 Luther appeared to him to have a rare gift for ascetic, 
 practical interpretation of Scripture, which had been too 
 
ERASMUS AND LUTHER. 321 
 
 much neglected in those days of hair-splitting scholastic 
 questions, and he wrote to that effect to the Pope himself. 
 He saw in Luther an effective instrument for the discovery 
 of truth, and the restoration of Gospel liberty. 
 
 Still there was, from the first, something in Luther's 
 writings (he did not know him personally) which was un- 
 congenial, and almost repulsive, to Erasmus, Their vehe- 
 mence, bluntness, and passion became more and more 
 disagreeable to him. He foresaw that disturbance and 
 schism must result from his proceedings. When Luther wrote 
 to him, he warned him in his answer to be more moderate. 
 But as, instead of this, Luther, in the course of the conflict, 
 became more vehement and reckless of consequences, 
 Erasmus became more and more estranged from him. He 
 began to question by what spirit the man was actuated. 
 The more unpleasant a business it was to oppose deep- 
 seated abuses, the more gently it should be done. What 
 was the use of insulting those whom your object was to 
 cure ? What was the use of extravagances which were sure 
 to give offence ? He thought that the wisdom, the urbanity, 
 which we find in the sermons of Christ and Paul, were 
 entirely wanting in Luther's preaching. Sometimes Luther 
 seemed to him like a physician who was compelled to resort 
 to the knife and the cautery, only he thought that the 
 remedy was sometimes worse than the disease. To 
 Erasmus, war and strife were the worst of evils ; he pre- 
 ferred to give up a portion of truth rather than disturb the 
 peace by insisting on the whole of it. 
 
 Erasmus gives a striking description of Luther's character 
 and proceedings from his own point of view. He found in 
 him the wrath of Pelides, which never yields. He pushes 
 his opinions to their utmost extreme. If you try to mode- 
 rate him it only excites him the more. This gives rise to 
 
 Y 
 
32 2 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 the paradoxes in his teaching, which, in the opinion of 
 Erasmus, were sure to occasion misunderstandings. Among 
 these paradoxes he reckoned Luther's chief dogma of justifica- 
 tion by faith alone, his opinions on free-will, good works, &c. 
 
 Nothing could be more opposed to the views of Erasmus 
 than that Luther should, as he considered, repulse the autho- 
 rities by his recklessness. The idea of Erasmus was to 
 reform the Church in concert with the Pope, the bishops, 
 and the spiritual rulers — to sugar the bitter pill as much as 
 possible, and he would sooner give up a considerable part 
 of the demand than cause them to oppose reform altogether. 
 Desirable as it was that things should take this course, it 
 was so contrary to all experience, that it was only Erasmus's 
 unconquerable aversion to violence, even under Clement 
 VI L, which made him think it could possibly succeed. 
 
 When he found that the cause he had most at heart, 
 that of Humanistic culture, was damaged by the projects 
 of Luther and his party, he was still more set against 
 them. For many of its former patrons had deserted it for 
 the Reformation movement, which they considered had 
 arisen out of it ; their reforming zeal had displaced Hu- 
 manistic aims as the centre of their interests. There is no 
 end to the complaints of Erasmus about the hatred with 
 which the Lutheran party had caused the revival of learn- 
 ing to be regarded. He tries to show that the two move- 
 ments have nothing to do with each other; asserts that 
 Luther is personally unknown to him, and had far too 
 little classical learning to be reckoned amongst the 
 Humanists. Nevertheless, his opponents made him an- 
 swerable for the whole Reformation movement. The 
 mendicant monks preached that Erasmus had laid the 
 eggs, and Luther hatched the brood. Yes, retorted 
 Erasmus, he had laid a hen's egg, but Luther had hatched 
 
ERASMUS AND THE REFORMATION. 323 
 
 quite a different bird. He who had only gone as far as 
 the shore, could not be the forerunner of those who were 
 plunging in mid-stream. It was only in apparent contra- 
 diction to this when, at another time, in consequence of 
 the contempt with which Luther and his followers thrust 
 him aside, he said, that he had taught nearly all that Luther 
 taught, only in a milder form and without insults and para- 
 doxes. He was for a long time averse to openly opposing 
 Luther, partly because he was afraid of disturbing the seeds 
 he had himself sown. 
 
 But each progressive step of the Reformation was more 
 disturbing to Erasmus than- the last. It was not only that 
 he found himself displaced from the foremost rank into the 
 second ; the Reformers assumed that he belonged to their 
 party, their opponents called upon him to declare himself 
 against them, and as he did not wish to do either, he was 
 between two fires. The one party considered him cowardly, 
 the other false. He saw old friendships broken up, and 
 strife everywhere, which soon became a fierce conflict. He 
 regarded the Reformation as the misfortune of his life, and 
 thought that a universal relapse into barbarism would 
 ensue. And the more so because, besides the attacks from 
 without, Humanistic zeal appeared to be on the wane within 
 its own ranks. Philological zeal cooled down as religious 
 zeal increased. Grammatical and rhetorical studies seemed 
 to have fulfilled their purpose by rendering a revolution in 
 theology possible. One after another the Humanists went 
 over to the Reformer's camp, and just those upon whom 
 Erasmus had reckoned the most — Hermann Busch, Justus 
 Jonas, Hutten, Melanchthon, whom he was as little pleased 
 to see at Wittenberg as ReuchHn had been. He soon dis- 
 cerned that wherever Lutheranism prevailed, there was an 
 end to Humanistic studies. 
 
324 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 If Erasmus regarded Hutten especially as one of those 
 who had forsaken the cause for which they had laboured 
 together, Hutten regarded Erasmus as one who was deny- 
 ing the principles which had previously actuated him. He 
 had already written him two letters to this effect from 
 Steckelberg and Ebernburg, one of which was the one of the 
 T5th of August, 1520, which we have already noticed, so 
 far as it related to the papal attack upon Hutten, but we 
 purposely deferred considering that portion of it referring to 
 his relations with Erasmus. He lets him know what he 
 expects from him in the present position of his affairs, and 
 does not conceal from him what has displeased him in his pre- 
 vious conduct. In the Reuchlin affair he had been weak and 
 timid. He had at first approved, but afterwards condemned, 
 the " Epistolse Obscurorura Virorum." As to Luther, he had 
 tried to persuade his opponents that Church reform was 
 nothing to him. It was quite useless, for his real sentiments 
 were well known from his writings, and so no one gave him 
 credit for sincerity. He had injured the Reform party, and 
 done himself no good. He had before now heard with 
 regret what was said about his friend, but had defended him, 
 although not satisfied with him himself. He hopes that he 
 will be good enough not to speak of him as he has done of 
 Reuchlin and Luther to those who entertain a high opinion 
 of him, and are still ready to serve him. Approbation he 
 will not ask, though nothing would do him more honour ; 
 only let him not from fear of man speak ill of him, consider- 
 ing how injurious a single unfavourable word from Erasmus 
 would be to Hutten. He has written freely, as to a friend. 
 
 Hutten did not then give Erasmus up for the cause of 
 reform ; he took his real concurrence with it for granted, 
 and thought circumstances would soon give him courage to 
 confess it, if he did not involve himself too deeply with the 
 
ERASMUS AND HUTTEN. 325 
 
 enemies of progress. Might it not be well to take advan- 
 tage of his timidity, and to persuade him that his life was 
 not safe among the Romanists ? He was still living at Lou- 
 vain. In the early part of the winter of 1520, the presence 
 of the Emperor and several princes took him to Cologne. 
 But these places were the chief seats of the Obscurantists, 
 and it was just at the time when Luther's writings were 
 burnt. Hutten took advantage of this circumstance to 
 frighten Erasmus. What could he be thinking of, he wrote 
 to him three months after the previous letter, to stay at 
 places where their party (to which he takes for granted that 
 Erasmus belongs) was held in the greatest abhorrence, and 
 where the papal mandates were literally carried out ? Did 
 he imagine that he could be safe where Luther's books had 
 been burnt ? He of whom their enemies had said that it 
 was he who had originated all this agitation against the 
 Pope? It was not so, Hutten concedes (for Erasmus did 
 not like to hear it), but he knows what sort of people they 
 have to contend with, and can imagine that their abhor- 
 rence of culture will incense them still more against one 
 who has filled Germany with learning. Erasmus must now 
 see that the attempt to gain the Pope over to the cause by 
 flattery was of no avail. Let him escape before it was too 
 late. The attack which Hutten and Sickingen were project- 
 ing would make the position of Erasmus still more perilous, 
 and he would have to fear not only open attack, but poison 
 and the dagger. Hutten therefore advised him to exchange 
 Louvain for Basle, where he had long been held in esteem, 
 where men's minds were by nature more Hberal, and had 
 been stimulated by Luther's writings and a German poem 
 of his own ("The Lamentation and Appeal"). Common 
 friends besought him, through him, to take care of himself 
 for the public good. 
 
326 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 During the course of the winter, Erasmus really did 
 leave Louvain for Basle, and besides his desire to superin- 
 tend the printing of his works in Froben's office, no doubt 
 the other reason had some weight, and he was glad to 
 escape the perpetual attacks of the Obscurantists from the 
 pulpit and the professor's chair. But he by no means 
 intended to go over to the camp of the Reformation ; he 
 looked upon Basle as neutral ground, and when — eight 
 years later — it decidedly adopted the Reformation, he 
 exchanged it for a city which had adhered to orthodoxy. 
 
 Two years had elapsed since this letter was written ; 
 Hutten and Erasmus had not met for three and a half, 
 when, towards the end of 1522, Hutten appeared at Basle 
 as a fugitive from Germany.* On his way thither, he said 
 to Beatus Rhenanus and others at Schlettstadt, that when he 
 got to Basle he should inspire Erasmus with courage, for it 
 was timidity which prevented his being more favourable to 
 Luther. 
 
 Erasmus received the first news of Hutten's arrival 
 from Heinrich von Eppendorf, a previous acquaintance of 
 Hutten's, who was studying at Basle at the expense of Duke 
 George of Saxony. We may reasonably doubt the sincerity 
 of the pleasure Erasmus expressed at the news, for after 
 the first inquiries as to Hutten's health and circumstances, 
 he commissioned Eppendorf to warn the knight in a 
 friendly way not to compromise him by his visits. This 
 was certainly the meaning of what he said, even if, as he 
 afterwards asserted, he qualified it by adding, unless he had 
 anything particular to say to him; and that if he could 
 
 * For what follows see Hutten's statements in his " Expostulatio " on 
 the one side, and those of Erasmus in his " Spongia " on the other, in 
 Hutten's Schriften, ii. For which, also, see various letters relating to 
 the subject. 
 
ERASMUS AND HUTTEN. 327 
 
 be of any service to him, it would give him pleasure. 
 The impression this message made upon Hutten may be 
 imagined, and Erasmus could not have been quite easy 
 about it, even if, as he says, Kppendorf told him he had 
 taken it very well. Some other persons must have given 
 Erasmus hints to the contrary, which accounts for his 
 repeated questioning of Eppendorf. Thus pressed, he at 
 length said that perhaps Hutten did wish to see Erasmus, 
 whereupon he states that he declared himself willing to see 
 him if he very much desired it ; only he doubted whether 
 Hutten could bear his cool rooms in his state of health ; 
 (there should be a fire, however). If he could have borne 
 stove heat, he would have called upon the knight himself. 
 
 We colild not be surprised if Hutten had refused this 
 ungracious invitation with scorn ; but by his account it 
 never reached him, — whether it was that the messenger 
 suppressed it, or that Erasmus never gave it. As to the 
 warm rooms, Hutten says that Eppendorf could have told 
 Erasmus that he often walked for two or three hours up and 
 down the market-place, and many times purposely passed 
 Erasmus's house. At Christmas Erasmus wrote to a friend 
 that he had not seen Hutten, and did not now wish it. He 
 was friendly to Hutten so far as he was so to him, but he 
 had other things to do. 
 
 The principal motive for this behaviour was, as Erasmus 
 confessed, lest intercourse with Hutten should compromise 
 him with his exalted patrons. " News of this visit," he says, 
 " would have reached the Pope at Rome, the Emperor in 
 Spain ; would have been carried to Brabant, where I have 
 eager accusers ; to England, where there are people who 
 make me a Lutheran whether I will or no." Besides, it 
 would not, he says, have been a question of a mere interview ; 
 intercourse once begun, he must have taken the sick and 
 
328 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 distressed knight into his house; he should have feared 
 being asked for a loan, being overrun by Hutten's Protestant 
 followers ; he had a horror of his bitterness and boastful- 
 ness, which must have increased with his misfortunes. 
 
 We learn from Erasmus, that while Hutten was at Basle 
 he wrote something very fierce against the Elector of the 
 Palatinate, for having had his servant executed for his 
 attack on the three abbots. But he could not find any 
 printer willing to print it. He, however, published a satire 
 on a doctor at Basle, who had probably betrayed his igno- 
 rance in treating him. Erasmus expressed his surprise to 
 Eppendorf that, sick and wretched as he was, he should 
 have the heart for such things. But Eppendorf said that 
 that was just why he did it, to beguile the time. 
 
 He must also have occupied himself with more serious 
 machinations against the Church, for, at the instigation of 
 the clergy, the Council of Basle withdrew their promise of 
 protection. Hutten was, therefore, compelled to leave 
 Basle after a stay of less than two months. On the 19th of 
 January he turned his steps towards Miilhausen, which 
 afforded him hopes of protection from the German princes, 
 and the council were in favour of Reform. 
 
 Before he left Basle, besides the personal affront, sundry 
 things had come to light which were not calculated to 
 increase his veneration for Erasmus. He now learnt that 
 he was about to attack the Lutherans with his pen. He 
 warned him, through Eppendorf, that if he attacked Luther 
 they could no longer be friends. About March he saw 
 Erasmus's letter to Laurinus, dean of the College of 
 St. Donation at Brugge, in print, and it caused the storm 
 which had long been threatening him to burst over 
 Erasmus's head. 
 
 The main purpose of this letter to his friend in the 
 
lUKVERSITy 
 
 ERASMUS'S LETTER TO ^AURINlS^^^ •4^ri^\^^ 
 
 Netherlands, with all its discursive descriptions of his 
 travels, was to contradict the unfavourable reports as to 
 his relations with Luther. These reports were in opposite 
 directions, according as his critics belonged to one party or 
 the other, and Erasmus contradicted both, but it is plain 
 that he is much more concerned to clear himself of the sus- 
 picion that he holds with Luther than that he is unjust 
 towards him. His departure from Louvain and residence 
 at Basle lent colour to the first suspicion, so he gives his 
 reasons, and says that he has no intention whatever of re- 
 maining at Basle. He was not out of favour with the Em- 
 peror or the new Pope, Adrian VI. ; there was not a word 
 of truth in the report that Hochstraten had burnt his books. 
 It was now said that Lutherans were flocking to Basle in 
 order to consult him. Would to God that all Lutherans 
 and anti-Lutherans would consult him and follow his 
 advice, and then the world would go on better. Among 
 the many strangers who visited him there might be Lu- 
 therans for all he knew, and he had not given up one of his 
 old friends, either because he was too zealous a Lutheran, or 
 because he was too much opposed to Luther, if he saw that 
 his intentions were good. Thus Hutten had been a few 
 days at Basle without their having visited each other ; and 
 yet if his old friend, whose fine talents he must still admire, 
 had come to see him he should not have declined an inter- 
 view, for what else he might be doing did not concern him. 
 But as Hutten, on account of his malady, could not dis- 
 pense with stove heat, which Erasmus could not bear, it 
 happened that they had not met. 
 
 As to Luther's doctrines, he had hitherto, from various 
 reasons, not formed any opinion about them, chiefly because 
 it was a matter which belonged to a higher tribunal ; he had 
 not read nearly all Luther's works, and those which were 
 
330 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 written in the Saxon {i.e., German) language he could not 
 read. But he had from time to time said in printed letters, 
 that with the Lutherans as a body he had nothing to do, 
 and he found too little Christian humility and too much 
 bitterness in Luther's books. But, at the same time, he did 
 not deny that Luther had called attention to many things 
 that were intolerable and ought to be reformed. But since 
 Luther did not hesitate to contradict, not only the teacher^ 
 of the Church, but even Councils, he could not object if 
 others contradicted him; and as every one was writing 
 against him, it must not be taken amiss if, in obedience to 
 the commands of those whom it was dangerous to disobey, 
 he also should, at a suitable time, deliver his opinion about 
 Luther. It has been, he continues with genuine Erasmian 
 irony, simply a matter of modesty with him to keep aloof 
 from this business. Since many exalted personages had 
 held him to be the originator of Luther's doctrines, and 
 even the author of several of his works, he must disclaim so 
 great an honour, and say, like John the Baptist, " I am not 
 he." Luther and his followers often call him a weak Chris- 
 tian who knows nothing of spiritual things. Then let them 
 bear this in mind, when he adheres to the opinions of re- 
 vered fathers and does not trust himself to take part in 
 Luther's innovations. Let him to whom the Lord has given 
 greater spiritual gifts employ them in his honour ; he will 
 not fly so high, but will walk all the more securely. His 
 wish was for Gospel unity, for peaceable reform of the evils 
 of the Church. He who treads this path will not lack 
 countenance from Erasmus. But he who prefers to turn 
 everything upside-down will have him neither for leader 
 nor follower. In conclusion, he says, " They allege that 
 they are moved by the Holy Spirit. Then when the spirit 
 of the Lord comes over them, may they dance to good pur- 
 
HEINRICH VON EPPENDORF. 33 1 
 
 pose among the prophets. This spirit has not yet seized 
 me : if ever it does, perhaps I also shall be called a Saul 
 among the prophets." 
 
 Everything in this epistle was repulsive to our knight. 
 The cool irony about a cause which set him on fire ; the 
 assumed impartiality, which was but a veil to hide his parti- 
 sanship ; the caution and love of peace, which was but luke- 
 warmness in a great cause. Then the passage about Hutten 
 contained various palpable untruths by which he tried to 
 soften down the conduct for which his conscience obviously 
 condemned him. It was not true that he had only been a 
 few days at Basle ; it was not true that the question of warm 
 rooms had prevented their meeting, nor that it was Hutten's 
 place to calf on him. 
 
 On the third day after this letter came into Hutten's 
 hands, he prepared to settle accounts with Erasmus in 
 detail, and the latter received timely notice from Eppendorf, 
 who travelled between Miilhausen and Basle, of Hutten's 
 sentiments towards him, and of the threatened attack. 
 
 This Heinrich von Eppendorf (whose assumed nobility is 
 questionable) was a travelling scholar, who, at first the ob- 
 sequious friend of Erasmus, afterwards attached himself to 
 Hutten. In the whole of this business he plays, to say the 
 least, a doubtful part. We should not like to adopt Eras- 
 mus's accusation that he was actually the cause of the 
 quarrel by his double-facedness, but when Hutten had begun 
 to write against Erasmus, it appears that he took advantage 
 of it to extort money from Erasmus or his friends, and sub- 
 sequently, when Erasmus gave a bad character of him to 
 Duke George, he fell upon him like a highwayman. But 
 Erasmus goes too far in accusing Hutten of attempting to 
 extort money. It is clear that in the controversy with Eras- 
 mus he was thoroughly in earnest in the cause, even if he 
 
332 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 afterwards allowed his officious follower to turn what he 
 wrote to account as a money speculation. 
 
 On learning from Eppendorf that Hutten, embittered by 
 the repulse he had received, was writing against Erasmus, a 
 correspondence ensued between them. Erasmus wrote that 
 he could but be surprised to hear it, considering that his 
 friendship for Hutten remained unchanged, though circum- 
 stances had for a time made intercourse impossible. He 
 had not repulsed Hutten, he had only asked him in a 
 friendly way not to embarrass him by a visit which could be 
 of no use to himself. Yet he had afterwards sent a message 
 to him through Eppendorf that, if he could dispense with 
 stove heat, he would be willing to see him. He had done 
 nothing to offend Hutten either now or ever. He wished 
 him no worse enemy than himself. Perhaps he was insti- 
 gated by people who wanted to misuse his pen to vent their 
 hatred of Erasmus. Let him remember that he could give 
 no greater pleasure to his own worst enemies than by 
 writing against him. It would be more prudent to commu- 
 nicate to him in a private letter what he had against him. 
 He must be much changed if Erasmus cannot succeed in 
 giving him satisfaction. 
 
 So far the letter was adapted for its purpose ; but it now 
 took a turn which would have made the fiery Hutten grasp 
 the pen, even had it not been in hand already. Regard for 
 his own reputation should restrain Hutten from his project. 
 For not only would an attack upon his innocent friend be 
 thought inhuman, " there would perhaps be some," he con- 
 tinued, " who, considering the present state of your affairs, 
 would suspect that it was done for the purpose of gain, and 
 it would be no wonder if many gave place to this suspicion, 
 against one who is a fugitive, deeply in debt, and in want of 
 the mere necessaries of Hfe. You must know what things 
 are said of you j you know why the Count Palatine is in- 
 
CORRESPONDENCE WITH ERASMUS. 333 
 
 censed against you, and what he threatens you with, having 
 already had one of your servants executed. I hope, there- 
 fore, that you will not attribute my remonstrance to fear or 
 an evil conscience, but rather to affection for you, and it is 
 far more for your sake than my own. You may write as 
 fiercely as you will, but it will not be against one who is 
 unused to such attacks, nor yet dumb. But even if I am 
 silent, you will do yourself more harm than me. Look well 
 to it then, my Hutten, and take counsel with your own 
 prudence, instead of with the passions of foolish men. 
 Farewell. I await your challenge."* 
 
 Erasmus meant by this an enumeration of Hutten's 
 grievances in a private letter. This reached him, he says, 
 in a very defiant epistle, which Hutten announced was to 
 be followed within three days by the accusation itself. 
 
 Erasmus sent an answer to this, in which he went into 
 Hutten's reproaches point by point, and once more tried to 
 convince him how much it was for the interests of both to 
 settle their differences privately. But the worst of it was, 
 that Hutten's " Accusation " had already come into the 
 hands of many persons at Basle in MS., and had been sent 
 to Zurich, so that Erasmus heard from other persons what 
 Hutten had said of him. In his answer to Erasmus's second 
 letter, Hutten said that the MS. was already in the printer's 
 hands, but that if Erasmus did not reply, peace and friend- 
 ship should be maintained between them. Erasmus attri- 
 buted the gentler tone of this second letter to the fall of 
 Sickingen, which had occurred meanwhile. 
 
 A copy at length reached Erasmus, but not sealed, and 
 Eppendorf now pressed him and his friends to buy off the 
 attack by a sum of money. Johann Froben, the publisher 
 of Erasmus's works, offered fifty florins, the canon of Con- 
 stance, Johann Botzheim, who came over in alarm, talked 
 * Erasmus to Hutten, 25 March, 1523. Hutten's Schriften, ii, 
 
534 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 of seventy ; but Erasmus did not incline to be taken in, for 
 he foresaw that the work would be published after all, so he 
 would neither give anything, nor allow his friends to do so. 
 Meanwhile Hutten had betaken himself to Zurich, whence 
 he wrote to Erasmus, that they would put down what had 
 happened to the Homeric Ate (the demon of hasty mis- 
 deeds), and in future he would be more prudent. He also 
 told Eppendorf that Erasmus had advised him against cir- 
 culating the work, which probably meant had persuaded 
 him to be bought off. But as this had failed, Erasmus says 
 that Eppendorf went to Strasburg and persuaded the printer 
 Johann Schott to undertake to print the work, which was 
 completed before the middle of July.* 
 
 Although an attack from Hutten could not be unex- 
 pected to Erasmus, he was taken by surprise by the mode 
 of it. He wrote to Pirckheimer that he did not suppose 
 that there was so much inhumanity, audacity, conceit, and 
 animosity in all Germany, as in this attack of Hutten's. He 
 considered it to be base ingratitude, thus to requite his re- 
 peated commendations of him to the Cardinal of Mayence 
 and other princes, honourable mention of him in letters, 
 ' writings, and all his good-will. He hesitated, or seemed to 
 hesitate, a moment whether he should answer it, and then 
 surprised his Basle friends by a rejoinder, which he says 
 was completed in six days. It was called, "A Sponge to 
 wipe off Hutten's Aspersions."! 
 
 Hutten's " Expostulation " is a work of considerable size in 
 'comparison with most of his others, and Erasmus desired to 
 answer it with laconic brevity, but his " Sponge " was nearly 
 
 * " Ulrichi ab Hutten cum Erasmo Roterodamo Presbytero Theologo 
 Expostulatio." With the German translation, Hutten's Schriften, ii. 
 
 t *« Spongia Erasmi adversus aspergines Hutteni." Hutten's Schrif- 
 ten, ii. 
 
THE "EXPOSTULATION'' AND "SPONGE." 335 
 
 as large again. He also intended to be cool, in contrast 
 to Hutten's passion, and to act chiefly on the defensive; 
 but he was led into attacks upon the character and conduct 
 of his adversary, which were the more cutting because he 
 chiefly confined himself to insinuations, and he did not 
 abstain from cruelly mocking his misfortunes. We must try 
 to give an idea of both works. 
 
 Both begin with setting forth the origin of the quarrel, 
 and Hutten asserts, in reference to the misrepresentations 
 in Erasmus's letter to Laurinus, that the conduct of Erasmus 
 at Basle was an insult* to a true friend and admirer, while 
 Erasmus thinks to show that he neglected none of the duties 
 of friendship or humanity. He is not successful ; he has 
 nothing to sdy which blunts the edge of Hutten's reproaches. 
 
 Erasmus serves up as a sort of side-dish an ofl'ence of 
 which Hutten had been guilty, about which he also might 
 have raised a storm. In 15 19 Erasmus wrote the letter 
 before mentioned to the Archbishop of Mayence, in which, 
 without adopting Luther's cause, he defended him from the 
 charge of heresy by the theologians of Louvain. It was sent 
 under cover to Hutten, to be delivered or destroyed as he 
 deemed best, instead of which he at once had it printed. 
 When three months later, the archbishop inquired for the 
 MS. original, it came soiled and torn from the printer's, at 
 which he naturally took offence. It was a truly Hutten-like 
 indiscretion, intended to advance Luther's cause, and to 
 urge Erasmus on, and it was exceedingly unpleasant to 
 him ; still it was not to be compared to the accusations 
 Hutten had to bring against him. 
 
 The personal affront, Hutten says, he might have over- 
 looked if the defection of Erasmus from the cause of the 
 Gospel had not become so evident, particularly in the letter 
 to Laurinus. It was indisputable that he had either shame- 
 
336 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 fully altered his views or was shamefully dissembling from 
 fear of man. What had induced this defection ? Envy of 
 Luther's fame ? Fearof the opposite party? Bribery? Or 
 had he really altered his mind ? Hutten thinks cowardice 
 is the chief source of the evil. The conspiracy of so many 
 rulers against the cause of the Gospel makes him doubt its 
 success, and so he thinks it best to withdraw from it, and 
 thus to court their favour. He wishes to do them a ser- 
 vice, and the most appropriate seems to be to write against 
 the Lutherans. He hits them so hard to frighten them and 
 make them give in, for could he succeed, no doubt much 
 fame and favour would accrue to him. But he may find 
 himself out in his reckoning. His vacillation has long been 
 disliked, but so long as it was only about immaterial things 
 it was atoned for by his merits ; but when it is seen that 
 he is swayed by his weaknesses and inclinations in im-' 
 portant affairs great will be the indignation excited. 
 
 Hutten then goes into the points on which he would 
 have liked to call Erasmus to account had he seen him at 
 Basle. They are partly of a personal nature. In some of his 
 recent writings he has insulted Hutten's friends and praised 
 his enemies. He adduces a letter from Erasmus to Hoch- 
 straten, in which he diplomatically remarks, in speaking of 
 the bitter letters of Reuchlin, Nuenar, Busch, and Hutten 
 to him, that he regrets that Hochstraten had given cause for 
 them by most bitter letters against them, and thus given 
 people reason to think that what they said was not unde- 
 served. To think that Erasmus should use these smooth 
 and almost flattering words to such a scoundrel. On 
 referring to the letter, we find that, though in the most 
 polite style, and sometimes concealed under soft words, 
 Erasmus really tells Hochstraten some bitter truths. Ought 
 he, he asks, to have addressed him in the true Hutten 
 
THE "EXPOSTULATION" AND "SPONGE." 337 
 
 language : Infamous wretch, dost thou dare to cast dirt at 
 great men with thy dirty books, &c. ? In many cases Eras- 
 mus can only justify his flatteries by sophistry, and as we 
 mostly know, from other sources, what different opinions he 
 really held, we can but feel them to be repulsive. His 
 principle was that you were by no means bound always and 
 eveiywhere to tell the truth, that it was sometimes 'even a 
 duty to repress it. Hutten cannot sufficiently express his 
 disgust at such sentiments, though as a Humanist he had 
 once held them himself; but this inflexibility had brought 
 him into collision with all existing circumstances, while 
 Erasmus, in his anxiety never to come into collision with 
 any of them, not seldom lost sight of all truth and dignity. 
 Thus these' two men confronted each other, holding fixed 
 and opposite views of this question. From a one-sided 
 point of view both are capable of justification, but from this 
 very one-sidedness both fall under condemnation. 
 
 But Hutten's chief accusation against Erasmus was his atti- 
 tude towards Luther and his cause. " O disgraceful spec- 
 tacle," he exclaims, " Erasmus has submitted to the Pope. 
 The Pope has charged him not to let the dignity of the Papal 
 Chair be attacked. It is like Hercules in the service of Om- 
 phale. Into the service of what a contemptible reprobate he 
 has entered ! What a transformation ! You who but lately 
 exhumed buried piety, brought the Gospel to light again out 
 of holes and corners, and restored religion, now lend a help- 
 ing hand to its destruction, banishment, extinction." Could 
 he be in his right mind ? He himself gives as the reason of 
 his actions, not dissatisfaction with the cause, but the impor- 
 tunity of an iVleander and Glapion, a Mountjoy and Duke 
 George of Saxony ; even the Emperor, he says, considers him 
 the most suitable man to refute Luther. " This shows," Hut- 
 ten exclaims, and these words strike at one of the worst weak- 
 
 z 
 
S3^ ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 nesses of Erasmus, "how pleased you are, how it tickles 
 you when great folks greet you and converse confidentially 
 with you, mystify you with their princely airs, and are 
 pompously gracious to you. Had you not hankered for 
 this nonsense they would have laid snares for you in vain, 
 and you would never have turned away from us had you 
 not felt it to be a great honour that the Roman Curia 
 breathes freely again on hearing of your conversion." 
 
 Erasmus gives as a reason for his devotion to the Papal 
 Chair that the Church of Rome is the Catholic Church. 
 *' May I be lost, body and soul, at this moment," exclaims 
 Hutten, " if you do not know perfectly well what a great 
 difference there is between the Catholic Apostolic Church 
 and this Church of Rome. Where are the apostohc writings 
 ' in which it is said that there is to be a Church at Rome at 
 the head of the others, and to have a bishop who may 
 tyrannize over the rest and abrogate the Gospel ?" Eras- 
 mus says, that every good man is friendly to the Pope. In 
 Hutten's opinion no good man can be friendly to one whose 
 very nature is hypocrisy, with which no true piety can exist. 
 
 Erasmus had given the reins to his contemptuous spirit 
 in speaking of Luther ; but if you ask him to say upon his 
 conscience what it was that the Pope was so angry with 
 Luther for that he desired to have his life, he would have to 
 answer. It is this, that he, though not the first to do it, has 
 most resolutely opposed papal tyranny, revealed the papal 
 imposture to the world, annihilated the power of bulls, closed 
 Germany against indulgences and all such jugglery. Hut- 
 ten had opposed these things before Luther; Luther was 
 not his teacher, nor were they now acting in concert ; but 
 since it was the fashion to call every foe of the papal supre- 
 macy and friend of the Gospel a Lutheran, he preferred to 
 accept the title rather than let it appear that he wished to 
 
THE "EXPOSTULATION." 339 
 
 deny the cause. But in this sense Erasmus was a Lutheran, 
 for he had eloquently pleaded the same cause before either 
 Hutten or Luther was heard of. He wanted to ignore this 
 now, but unless the greater part of his works were annihi- 
 lated every one must reckon him to belong to the party he 
 was now opposing, but which Hutten would defend, even 
 against him. He was sorry to do it ; " and yet," he says, 
 " if you prefer to side with these parasites we must part. 
 May you live secure among the great, who make presents 
 to you, and who, if you will but write against Luther, will 
 confer bishoprics and fat livings on you. As for me, I will 
 remain here in the midst of danger, amongst earnest, upright, 
 sincere, pure, steadfast, and free men, who are unshaken by 
 bribes, unmoved by honours, fearless amidst danger; whose 
 righteousness is saintly, whose faithfulness inviolable, whose 
 religion is an affair of the heart, whose truthfulness of their 
 conscience. What are the considerations to me by which 
 you say you are bound to the Roman Curia ? I will as 
 steadfastly oppose it for the public good as you will defend 
 it for your own advantage. And I shall have the easier task 
 and the better conscience, for I can speak the simple truth, 
 while you, in your unhappy position, must feign, invent, 
 dissimulate, lie, and deceive." 
 
 Erasmus is again reminded, in conclusion, that he may 
 be deceiving himself in reckoning upon the gratitude of the 
 party whose service he has entered. They will regard him 
 rather as a prisoner who has surrendered than as an ally. 
 They imagine that by detaching Erasmus from the cause 
 of the Gospel they deprive it of its mainstay, but they will 
 find that truth needs no such prop. They will find that 
 Erasmus will still labour for the cause and against the Romish 
 tyranny by his former writings, and they will never forgive 
 him for it. They will hate him as the man who struck the 
 
340 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 first blow at them. He will forfeit his former fame with- 
 out gaining it anew. He even says himself that with the 
 suppression of the Lutheran party much will be suppressed 
 for which he has laboured ; and yet he fights against it ! 
 The Lutherans are the less dismayed at the contest with 
 him because the former Erasmus will be fighting in their 
 ranks against the present one. 
 
 We must now Hsten to Erasmus's defence and counter- 
 charge. Hutten accuses him of having once belonged to 
 the Lutheran party, and of now opposing the cause of the 
 Gospel. The one charge was as false as the other. He 
 had always been averse to the party, and had never ceased 
 to be a sincere promoter of the cause of the Gospel. He 
 was not a party man ; he loved his own independence too 
 well. He had told the knight three years before, during 
 their interview at Louvain, that he did not wish to belong to 
 the Lutheran party. The whole business had been under- 
 taken against his advice. He had said from the first that 
 Luther was wanting in Gospel humility and gentleness, had 
 blamed him for his obstinate assertions, and had expressed 
 doubts by what spirit he was actuated. These views had 
 been more and more confirmed by Luther's later writings. 
 He was not conscious of any change. 
 
 Neither was he aware of any about the Papal Chair. He 
 had never taken papal tyranny and rapacity under his pro- 
 tection. He had neither rejected indulgences in the lump, 
 nor approved of the shameful traffic in them. He had said 
 that he would never desert the Papal Chair, but only so long 
 as it did not desert Christ. He had said that every good 
 man was friendly to the Pope. But it was those who loved 
 to see him adorned with apostolic virtues who were friendly 
 to him. You might hate Leo (he was dead) and yet love 
 the Pope ; he who countenances the Pope's misdeeds is no 
 
THE ** SPONGE." 34 1 
 
 friend to the Pope himself. These were, indeed, empty 
 words. For it had then been recognised that evil and 
 depravity were inherent in the papacy, and that even if a 
 better man, like Adrian VI., happened to be Pope, he 
 would either be spoilt, or his hands so tied that his per- 
 sonal merits would be of little avail to the institution. 
 
 The strife and disturbances introduced by the Reforma- 
 tion were among Erasmus's chief objections to it. Hutten 
 referred him to the words of Christ, that he came not to 
 send peace but a sword, and reminded him that these dis- 
 turbances must be laid to the charge of those who would 
 not tolerate the Gospel. But Erasmus thought he knew 
 how the cause of the Gospel could be advanced without any 
 commotion. He was only waiting until rulers and learned 
 men should come to his opinion. But he did not altogether 
 withhold his proposals now. Things were carried too far on 
 both sides. What would it lead to if the one party thought 
 of nothing but violence, strife, and insults ; the other of bans 
 and the stake ? They should seek reconciliation. They were 
 agreed about the ancient articles of Christian faith and life. 
 The contest was mainly about certain paradoxes which were 
 partly uninteUigible, partly unessential. Let the rulers, tem- 
 poral and spiritual, sacrifice their private interests to the 
 public good and the glory of Christ, and be advised by an 
 insignificant individual. Let the learned consult together 
 peaceably how to allay these dissensions, and how to pro- 
 mote Christianity, and communicate the result of their dis- 
 cussions in private letters to the Pope and Emperor ! — This, 
 then, was the arcanum of Erasmus. First preaching modera- 
 tion to both sides — very reasonable, but unhappily totally 
 useless in agitated times ; then a proposal so childish that 
 we fancy he must secretly have smiled at it himself, if we 
 did not know how the dread of revolution blinds the wisest 
 
342 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 men of his temperament as to the futility of the means they 
 propose to substitute for it. 
 
 Erasmus considers his caUing to be the advancement of 
 letters and the revival of a purer and more simple system of 
 theology. And for these ends he means to work as long as 
 he lives, whether Luther likes it or not. Hutten himself 
 does not Hke to be called a Lutheran ; and in this he is 
 right, for Luther does not acknowledge him, and he is very 
 much mistaken if Luther does not prefer an opponent like 
 Erasmus to a follower like Hutten. Whom did Hutten mean 
 by " we " and " us " ? Did he mean all, without exception, 
 who stand by Luther and bear ill-will to the Pope ? Accord- 
 ing to Erasmus's opinion, they are divided into distinct sets. 
 First learned and well-meaning people, who approve of most 
 of Luther's doctrines, and wish to see the power of the 
 Pope restrained. They desire that the popes and bishops, 
 instead of being temporal rulers, should be teachers of the 
 Gospel ; instead of tyrants, fathers, &c. But not one of these 
 approved of Hutten's enterprises any more than Luther did. 
 A second class of Lutherans consists of men without educa- 
 tion or judgment, and of impure lives, who adhere to Luther 
 without accepting his teaching or even knowing what it is. 
 They love best to form their evangelical alliances over their 
 cups. Their seditious projects must be opposed by force. 
 It is their fault that the real grievances are not redressed. 
 Erasmus will have nothing to do with people of this sort ; 
 nor does Hutten appear to wish it either. Then there is a 
 third class, whose only object is booty and plunder, and 
 who only make a pretext of the Gospel. Their principles are 
 very different from those of Luther : they hold that any one 
 who can make his nobility a pretext may attack and rob a 
 traveller on the open highway ; that when he has spent all 
 his money on wine, harlots, and play, he may declare war 
 
THE "SPONGE. 343 
 
 on any one out of whom he thinks he can get anything. 
 Perhaps some, when they have squandered everything, give 
 themselves out for Lutherans in order to gain patrons. It 
 would be obvious that this is aimed at Hutten and Eppen- 
 dorf, even if, in another passage, Erasmus did not say that it 
 might be an advantage to Hutten to call himself a Lutheran, 
 as the Lutherans gave him protection and support. 
 
 The following passage is also full of concealed darts at 
 Hutten. He sees, says Erasmus, many Lutherans, but few 
 evangelicals. If Hutten knew of people who spent their 
 time in reading the Scriptures and pious converse, instead 
 of with women, in drinking and play — who, instead of cheat- 
 ing about debts, freely gave to the needy — who, instead of 
 insulting those who have never harmed them, would give a 
 soft answer to an angry word — who, instead of making dis- 
 turbances, promote peace and good-will ; do not boast of 
 exploits they have never performed, but give the glory of 
 their good deeds to Christ ; — if Hutten would show Erasmus 
 Lutherans like these, he would joyfully join himself to them. 
 If there were any such they were extremely rare. 
 
 Hutten had said that Erasmus was giving the German 
 youth a bad example by his fickleness ; and Hutten would, 
 therefore, warn them to avoid his morals, as he had always 
 advised them to emulate his studies. Well then, rejoins 
 Erasmus, let them take Hutten's morals as their example. 
 To Hutten's suggestion that he should lift up his voice and 
 proclaim the Pope's vices to the people, Erasmus replied 
 that he was too deeply conscious of his own faults to set 
 up for a judge of other people's. Let Hutten, the perfect, 
 against whom no accusation could be brought, lift up his. 
 
 Hutten no longer possesses anything to lose ; perhaps it 
 is this which makes him so brave. For himself, he fears for 
 his works ; to the value of which even Hutten had borne 
 
344 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 witness. He was sparing himself in order to be of further 
 use. 
 
 As to the dedications of his works, for which Hutten had 
 accused him of seeking gain, from private persons he had 
 not received so much as thanks, and very few of the princes 
 had given him anything for them ; he had never asked for 
 anything. Yet it would be more allowable than to borrow 
 without repaying, to buy what you did not mean to pay for, 
 or to extort money by threats from those who owe you 
 nothing. He did not know, he says in another place, 
 whether those have any ground for it who say that Hutten 
 wrote works like that against him for pay, and, indeed, 
 double pay ; first from those who have employed him to do 
 it, and then from the objects of his attack, to prevent their 
 being printed. It was said that the printer has already 
 paid him something for his " Expostulatio." It is noteworthy 
 that Otto Brunfels, Hutten's defender against the " Spongia," 
 zealously refutes this charge. He says the printer swore 
 that he had not paid him anything for it. But if he had, 
 does not Erasmus live chiefly from such profits? It is 
 known that his pubHsher, Froben of Basle, gives him up- 
 wards of two hundred florins a year. Erasmus as zealously 
 contradicted the statement. It was then considered to be 
 quite in order for an author to live on gifts and pensions 
 from the great, in return for flattering dedications, but not 
 quite honourable to receive payment from a publisher. It 
 is some evidence of progress that these ideas are now 
 reversed. 
 
 Erasmus dedicated his "Spongia" to Zwingli, with whom, 
 although he disapproved of the part he had taken in the 
 Reform movement, he was on friendly terms. As the poison 
 (Hutten's libel) had gone first to Zurich, it was well that the 
 antidote should go there too. Hutten had also betaken 
 
IMPRESSION ON CONTEMPORARIES. 345 
 
 himself from Miilhausen to Zurich, and, in a private letter 
 to Zwingli, Erasmus expressed his dissatisfaction at the rela- 
 tions between him and Hutten, and gave him to understand 
 that he considered him answerable for the appearance of 
 Hutten's " Expostulatio." 
 
 The impression which this controversy made on contem- 
 poraries was on the whole a painful one. Erasmus was of 
 opinion that Hutten's attack on him gave great satisfaction 
 to the Obscurantists, the enemies of the revival of letters ; 
 in the camp of the Humanists it was altogether disapproved. 
 Even Hutten's oldest ally, Eoban Hesse, could not forgive 
 him for it, so high was the esteem in which Erasmus was 
 held. Among the Lutherans there were many who preferred 
 Hutten's plain speaking to his adversary's diplomacy, and 
 were glad to see doublefacedness unmasked. But in Luther's 
 immediate circle Hutten's work was disapproved. Melanch- 
 thon wrote in all directions that it must not be supposed 
 that he or Luther approved of it; and he wrote to the 
 printer, Schott, calling him sharply to account for printing 
 it. Melanchthon was of opinion that though the conduct of 
 Erasmus with regard to the Reformation was open to much 
 blame, it should have been overlooked, in consideration of 
 his merits and his age. Such a course was also dictated by 
 prudence, for a challenge Hke this might embitter him still 
 more against the Lutherans. 
 
 But it almost appears as if those who at first strongly dis- 
 approved of Hutten's accusation, began to think less hardly 
 of it after the appearance of Erasmus's answer. The vehe- 
 mence of the attack seemed harmless when compared with 
 the malice of the defence. " I wish," wrote Luther, " that 
 Hutten had not made the aspersions, but still more that 
 Erasmus had not wiped them off. If that is called wiping 
 off with a sponge, what is abuse and slander?" Luther 
 
346 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 thus doubtless expressed the feeling of the best of his con- 
 temporaries. 
 
 As Hutten had meanwhile disappeared from the scene, 
 pens were soon set in motion in his defence. The fiery- 
 Hermann Busch projected a work against the " Sponge," but, 
 as Erasmus believed, was dissuaded from it by Melanchthon. 
 It would doubtless have been more successful than that of 
 Otto Brunfels, whom gratitude and Protestant zeal induced 
 to defend Hutten, but his powers were too inferior to those 
 of both combatants. It is a well-meaning work, to which 
 we owe many valuable biographical notices of Hutten ; but, 
 compared with the writings to which it refers, it cuts a sorry- 
 figure, and not from its bad Latin only. While Erasmus 
 and Hutten fight in the open field of Humanism, and expa- 
 tiate within the wide range of reason, law, and fitness, 
 Bnnfels's vision is bounded by a merely religious, almost 
 sectarian, horizon. It only remained for the vindication of 
 Erasmus to be tried by the standard of Luther's doctrines, 
 a standard which was utterly unsuited for it. This was done 
 by Erasmus Alber. 
 
 Thus the spirit of the age became straitened ; but in the 
 process it rallied its forces, and this was necessary for the 
 task it had to perform. Humanism was large-minded, but 
 faint-hearted, as we see in no one more plainly than in 
 Erasmus. It was not to him that the change which had 
 taken place was due. Luther was more narrow-minded, 
 more limited than Erasmus, but this concentrated force, 
 which swerved neither to the right hand nor the left, was 
 necessary to success. Humanism is the broad, mirror-like 
 Rhine at Bingen.; it must become narrovv^er and more rapid 
 before it can make a way through the mountains to the sea. 
 What made Hutten so unique was, that he united Human- 
 istic breadth with the Reformer's strength of will. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 LAST DAYS OF SICKINGEN AND HUTTEN. 
 1523- 
 
 T T may well be imagined that the fate of Sickingen, on 
 whom -Hutten's last hopes were fixed, was anxiously 
 watched by him in his republican asylum. But the news from 
 Germany was not encouraging. On the 13th of February, 
 Otto Brunfels wrote from Neuenburg to Zwingli : — " There 
 is no news just now, except (evil omen) that Sickingen's 
 eldest son has been taken prisoner by the tyrant of the 
 Palatinate, with some other people of high rank, on whom 
 Sickingen had placed all his hopes. We looked for a great 
 deal from this man ; but his affairs are in a bad way, and 
 not his alone, but those of all the adherents of the Gospel. 
 Our Hutten is ill, and the rest of us depressed. We are 
 insulted in every country, and I forebode I know not what 
 disasters." 
 
 This misfortune which had befallen Sickingen's son (it was 
 not the eldest, but the second son, Hans), heroically as he 
 received the news, was in fact the beginning of the end of 
 the Sickingen tragedy.* Wartenberg, where Hutten had 
 been staying during the previous year, fell into the hands of 
 the princes, and Sickingen, hoping for reinforcements, asked 
 
 * The following account of Sickingen's end is derived from the 
 " Flersheim Chronicle " in Miinch's "Franz von Sickingen." 
 
348 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 for an armistice. But the three princes who were allied 
 against him refused, doubtless seeing through the object of 
 the request ; they had also declined the offers of mediation 
 of the Imperial Chamber. Immediately after Easter they 
 assembled a strong force of horse, foot, and siege artillery, 
 at Kreuznach, near Ebernburg, but hearing that Sickingen 
 was at Landstuhl, they proceeded thither to besiege it. In 
 vain his friends besought him to fly. What would his ser- 
 vants think of him, he said, if he left them alone in danger ? 
 He, however, sent away his youngest son, Franz Conrad, 
 with his most important papers, in charge of his faithful 
 Balthazar Schlor, and an escort of horsemen, and although 
 attacked by the enemy, they succeeded in making their escape. 
 Sickingen gave a jesting answer to the messenger who 
 brought him the princes' declaration of war ; he hears that 
 his master has new artillery, and he has new walls; let 
 them be tried against each other. But it soon appeared 
 that it would be the worse for the walls. On the 29th of 
 April the firing began, and was continued so murderously 
 during the following days that the strongest tower of the 
 castle was soon in ruins, and a breach made in the walls 
 twenty-four feet long. Sickingen, who was suffering from 
 gout, was led to an embrasure, behind which a gun was 
 posted, to watch the siege. Just at that moment a shot was 
 fired which threw the gun upon his feet, and he fell back- 
 wards upon some sharp pieces of wood, which inflicted a 
 terrible wound in his lef: side. With the heroism which 
 never forsook him he ordered his sei"vants not to cry out, 
 and to carry him away on a litter; he felt that his end was 
 near. He therefore requested an interview with the princes 
 in a letter which he signed with his own hand. They at 
 once ceased firing, and ambassadors from both sides met 
 before the castle. The besiegers demanded that Sickingen 
 
DEATH OF SICKINGEN. 349 
 
 and the rest of the nobles and horsemen in the castle should 
 surrender themselves prisoners of war, that the rest of the 
 soldiers should surrender arms and leave the castle, and that 
 Landstuhl and all its contents should be given up. Franz 
 agreed to the articles, and remarked, " I shall not be your 
 prisoner long." On the 7th of May the common soldiers 
 left the castle, the princes then entered, and, Ehrenhold 
 leading the way, were at once conducted to Sickingen, whom 
 they found lying in a dark vault, where alone he had been 
 safe from their firing. In presence of the Count Palatine, 
 his old feudal lord, Franz took off his red cap, and gave him 
 his hand j the archbishop of Treves asked him why he had 
 so grievously injured him and his bishopric, to which he 
 replied that he had done nothing without cause, and he had 
 now to answer for himself to a greater Lord. 
 
 When the Prince of Hesse was about to reproach him, 
 the Count Palatine reminded him that you must not quarrel 
 with a dying man. Louis von Fleckenstein, the count's 
 chamberlain, approached his couch and addressed some 
 comforting words to him. Franz answered: "Dear cham- 
 berlain, it is of little moment about me ; I am not the cock 
 round which they are dancing ; " meaning, perhaps, that the 
 real object of this war was to suppress the whole order of 
 nobles. The princes withdrew, and, at the suggestion of 
 the Count Palatine, Franz's chaplain made preparations for 
 confession and the communion. But he said he had con- 
 fessed to God in his heart ; the chaplain could give him 
 absolution, and show him the host. The chaplain did so, 
 and meanwhile Franz breathed his last. It was at noon on 
 the 7th of May, 1523. His brother-in-law, the author of 
 the " Flersheim Chronicle," says : " And as, during his Hfe- 
 time, his character was manly, honourable, and brave, he 
 preserved the same in his death." 
 
350 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 Within a month all Sickingen's castles were taken, and 
 most of them burnt down ; one of his sons was a prisoner, 
 the others fugitives ; the edifice of power, which, during his 
 active life, he had reared to a princely height, was in ruins. 
 His fall inspired the papal party in Germany with fresh 
 courage. " The mock emperor is dead," they said, and as 
 about the same time Luther fell ill, " the mock pope will 
 soon be dead too." The knight's fate made a deep impres- 
 sion upon Luther ; he had generously offered him protec- 
 tion, and he acknowledged Sickingen's good intentions, 
 though he disapproved of his mode of carrying them out. 
 When he first heard the report oi Sickingen's death, he 
 wrote to Spalatin that he hoped it was not true ; and later : 
 " Yesterday I heard and read the true and melancholy history 
 of Franz von Sickingen. God is a righteous but wondrous 
 Judge." It confirmed him in his opinion that the weapons 
 of war should not be used in the cause of the Gospel. 
 
 Latin poets and German historians celebrated Sickingen's 
 deeds and end. When Hutten's and Sickingen's enterprises 
 appeared hopeful, a Latin poet sung their praises in an 
 alternative song between Clio and Calliope ; now another 
 was written in honour of the Archbishop of Treves, repre- 
 senting Sickingen's enterprise and end as a warning example. 
 On the other hand, a popular Dialogue in German repre- 
 sents the lord of Ebernburg appearing before the gate of 
 heaven as the administrator of justice, who made war to 
 succour the oppressed and to make way for the Gospel, in 
 which he staked his life and property, and before he died 
 repented of his sins and placed his trust in God. In con- 
 sideration of his good end St. Peter opens the gates of 
 heaven to him.-x- 
 
 * Miinch, "Franz von Sickingen." Also Oscar Schade, '• Satiren 
 und Pasquille aus der Ref. Zeit." 
 
HUTTEN AT ZURICH. 35 1 
 
 When the news of Sickingen's death spread through the 
 country, Hutten was still at Mlilhausen, but he soon found 
 himself no longer safe there. His zeal for the Reformation 
 was no secret to the adherents of the ancient Church. Some 
 busybody proposed to storm 'the Augustine monastery, in 
 which he had taken refuge, with a mob of rabble. The 
 council averted the danger, but signified to Hutten that he 
 had better leave the town. If we may believe Erasmus, he 
 fled by night to Zurich. This was in May or June, 1523. 
 
 Zwingli was then actively engaged in his reforming labours 
 at Zurich. Having grown up amongst a free, martial people, 
 he had more in common with the pugnacious knight than 
 the Thuringian Reformer. With him Hutten sought and 
 found protection, help, and comfort. The magistrates hesi- 
 tated openly to protect a man persecuted not only by the 
 ecclesiastical, but political authorities, and accused of acts 
 of violence. He was utterly destitute. He received nothing 
 from his estates ; whether it was that his brothers (his mother 
 was now dead) shunned the responsibility of supporting one 
 who was practically under a ban, or that, as Otto Brunfels 
 asserts, he had voluntarily renounced his share, or that, when 
 turned into money, it had melted away. Thus he had to 
 try to obtain loans from friends and acquaintances, and even 
 to permit or connive at extortions by such people as Eppen- 
 dorf. Play also was said to be another resource. 
 
 The state of his health was no less melancholy ; he was 
 ill when he came to Basle, and was no better at Miilhausen 
 nor Zurich. The friends of the good cause at Constance 
 were grieved to hear how ill this man was, when he needed 
 an iron constitution. The abbot of Pfeffers was a friend of 
 Zwingli and of the Reformation, and he sent Hutten there 
 to try the waters, with an introduction to him. But Hutten 
 wrote that all the danger and trouble he had gone through 
 
352 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 had been in vain. At that time invalids had to climb down 
 hanging ladders into the gloomy gorge, or to be let down by 
 ropes. The evil was too deep-seated to be cured by baths, 
 and the summer was specially unfavourable for the cure. 
 There were incessant rains, and wild torrents poured from 
 the rocks. The little bath-house was often in danger of 
 being washed away, and the torrents cooled the springs. 
 But the abbot showed the sick knight much kindness, in- 
 vited him to spend some weeks at his house, and to come 
 and try the cure again, which, he said, had only failed because 
 of the rains. He provided him with horses and all neces- 
 saries for his return to Zurich. 
 
 On the 2ist of July, Hutten wrote once more to his old 
 and beloved friend Eoban Hesse, at Erfurt, and as this, and 
 a note written a week later, is, to a certain extent, the swan- 
 like song of the dying knight, we preserve it entire. " Will 
 the unhappy fate, O Eoban, that pursues us so bitterly, ever 
 be checked? I do not think it will, but we shall have 
 courage to stand its assaults. He who has given us over to 
 this inimical power, has left us this belief as our sote comfort 
 and hope. Flight has brought me to the Swiss, and I am 
 looking forward to a still more distant exile. For Geraiany, 
 in its present state, cannot tolerate me ; but I hope to see 
 this happily altered soon by the banishment of tyrants. I 
 have withdrawn from the tumult of war into learned leisure, 
 and devote myself entirely to writing. In this one point 
 fate has used me well, in leading me back from severe 
 storms to peaceful study. The bearer of this brings a work 
 of mine, which he is to get printed. I pray you help him 
 and me in it. It can be managed privately, and nowhere 
 better than in your town, where nobody will suspect me, espe- 
 cially as I am so far away. But once and again I pray you 
 not to delay in a matter which is most important to us. Let 
 
LETTER TO EOBAN HESSE. 353 
 
 a protest be at once and openly made against a new and 
 unheard-of misdeed. Future ages shall know what sort of 
 men they were who maliciously set themselves to oppose 
 honour, law, justice, truth, and piety. But you will not 
 need to be persuaded to do a kindness for a friend. I very 
 much want to know where Crotus is, and how he is. For 
 I have not been able to write home for a long time, as 
 the tyrants have possessed themselves of everything, and 
 lately, to my great injury, letters have been intercepted. 
 May it be well with him, wherever he is ! I do not give up. 
 all hope that a time will come when God will assemble good 
 men again after the dispersion ; do not you give it up either, 
 for He has;vengeful eyes, which nothing escapes. Erasmus 
 is shamefully fallen away from the cause of the Gospel ; but 
 he now repents the bad exchange he has made. I have 
 called him to account (I could do no otherwise, as it con- 
 cerned a public matter,) in a printed work which I now send. 
 Do you all do what you can that it may not look as if you 
 had withdrawn from the common cause. Greet Eberbach 
 from me and all our party, and write to me as soon as you 
 can. When you write, send it to Zwingli or to (Ecolam- 
 padius, and farewell." * 
 
 When Hutten commissioned his friend to get his work 
 against tyrants printed, namely, the princes who had annihi- 
 lated Sickingen's power, and which seems to have been an 
 extension of the work against the Count Palatine, written at 
 Basle, he did not know that Eoban had expressed his satis- 
 faction that Philip of Hesse had punished the robbers 
 {lati'unculi). He afterwards celebrated in song the victory 
 over Sickingen as one of Philip's great deeds. The good 
 Eoban meant no harm ; there were two sides to the ques- 
 tion, and he was wishing for a post at Marburg, as he was 
 * Hutten's Schriften, ii. 
 A A 
 
354 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 threatened with want at Erfurt. This explains why he did 
 not get Hutten's work against tyrants printed, even if it 
 reached his hands. Others also might have hesitated on 
 account of the impetus which Sickingen's fall gave to the 
 power of the princes ; and thus the work was lost. 
 
 A week later, Hutten wrote a letter to Nicolas Prugner, 
 with whom he had formed a friendship either there or at 
 Miilhausen. Hutten writes that he had expected to find 
 him at Zurich, but had now heard of his appointment as 
 reformed preacher at Miilhausen. He had given his books, 
 which he seems to have commissioned Prugner to sell, to 
 some one else. " For," he continues, " I have determined 
 to keep myself concealed for a few days with a doctor three 
 miles from here. Whatever fortune may have in store for 
 me, I shall remember your kindness and hospitality ' as 
 long as the spirit animates my limbs ; ' * if it favours me you 
 shall have a full share, if not you will partake of the common 
 fate. Do not fail to remember me to your council, and 
 especially to the clerk and Hagenbach. And write to me, 
 and whatever it may be, send it to Zwingli. When I am well 
 again I shall have no reason to complain of destiny. And 
 some time I hope ' a God will make an end of this.' f 
 Farewell." 
 
 Although the handwriting of this letter, the original of which 
 was at one time preserved in the Strasburg library, compared 
 with other memorials of Hutten's vigorous hand, betrays 
 his fatal weakness, so httle was his spirit extinguished, that 
 he begs Prugner in a German postscript to get for him, and 
 have copied, " a little book on how to make fireworks." j 
 
 The learned divine to whom we are indebted for this and 
 
 * Virgil. t Ibid. 
 
 J This letter first communicated by Rohricht, in Hutten's Schrtf- 
 ten, ii. 
 
HU TTEN AT UFNAU. 355 
 
 some other letters of Hutten's, remarks that it Is melancholy 
 to find that, even when dying, Hutten was still looking to 
 Fortuna. In this, and in his quotations from the classics 
 instead of from the Bible, we see only a return to his original 
 character and his Humanistic training. His thoughts had 
 acquired a Christian theological hue in intercourse with 
 Luther and his party, which they lost again when he was 
 alone and in misfortune. 
 
 The doctor to whom Hutten intended to go, was the 
 Pastor Hans Schnegg, who was skilled in medicine, and the 
 place the Island of Ufnau, in the Lake of Zurich. This 
 pleasant little spot of pasture land with its ancient church 
 and chapel, near Rapperschwyl, belonged to the monastery 
 of Einsiedeln, where Zwingli had been curate for two years, 
 and he was doubtless acquainted with Schnegg. Thus in 
 Hutten's last days, we seem to see Zwingli's firm and kindly 
 hand extended to him. The German Reformation had dis- 
 owned the knight, the Swiss one had adopted him. Whether 
 had he lived longer he would not have been disappointed in 
 this also, is quite another question. 
 
 In his loneliness and weakness at Ufnau, Hutten was 
 once more painfully disturbed by Erasmus. A friendly 
 hand from Basle warned him that Erasmus had written a 
 letter to his prejudice to the council of Zurich, similar in 
 style to the dedication of his " Sponge " to Zwingli. He had 
 no objection that they in their kindness should permit 
 Hutten to live there, only he hoped that having nothing 
 more to lose, he would not abuse it by some wanton and 
 impudent writing. If they could curb his impudence a 
 little, they would not only render a service to him, Erasmus 
 but to learning and their country. 
 
 On hearing of this, Hutten begged the burgomaster and 
 council, his dear masters and friends, on whose sincerity 
 
356 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 love of Christian truth, and evangelical doctrine he could 
 rely, if they had received, or should receive, such a letter, to 
 permit him to have a copy that he might answer it. For he 
 could declare that never since his childish years had he 
 acted or lived otherwise than as beseemed a virtuous, pious 
 knight and noble. Should any one, which he hoped would 
 not be the case, accuse him of the contrary, he should know 
 well how to defend his honour and moderation on the 
 ground of truth : and so he begs them to trust him, and to 
 be firmly assured that, now as ever, he bore a friendly good 
 will to them and the confederation, and was heartily disposed 
 to love and serve them.''' 
 
 But Hutten did not require any human protection much 
 longer. A severe attack of illness threw him on a sick-bed. 
 Physicians were called in, but neither their skill nor that of 
 the good priest were of any avail. On one of the last days 
 of August, or the first of September, death released him 
 from all the troubles that oppressed or threatened him. His 
 age was thirty-four years and four months. He only sur- 
 vived Franz von Sickingen about three months. The hope 
 of seeing Germany politically as well as ecclesiastically 
 renovated by means of the Reformation went with them to 
 the grave. Two years later the peasants attempted, with 
 still less success, what the nobles had failed in. Since 
 Imperialism had rejected the Reformation, it could only be 
 accomplished by the principalities, that is, at the cost of the 
 political unity and power of the German nation. But better 
 so than not at all; better that Germany should become 
 German piecemeal than continue altogether Roman; and 
 we are doing our best to make good the political mischief. 
 
 There is no doubt that Hutten died of the disease from 
 which he had long suffered. In many places in Germany 
 * Hutten's Schriften, ii. 
 
hutten's death. 357 
 
 poison was suggested, but unhappily no other poison was 
 needed to kill him than that already in his veins. It was 
 also said that his early death was to be attributed less to the 
 disease itself than to the murderous guaiacum cure to which 
 he had been subjected. 
 
 As may be supposed, he died in the utmost poverty. 
 Zwingli gives us ati inventory of his possessions. " He 
 left," he writes, "nothing of any value. He had neither 
 books nor furniture, nothing but a pen."* Zwingli and 
 other friends lent him books which were returned after his 
 death. In Germany he had possessed a fine collection of 
 MSS. and printed books, which he sought to increase by 
 exchange ^nd purchase. But, if not already lost, they had 
 not been latterly at his disposal. Joachim Camerarius after- 
 wards mentions that a physician, of the name of Locher, had 
 bought Hutten's library " from the booty." If this means 
 warlike booty, Hutten's books must have fallen into the 
 hands of the princes, perhaps at Ebernburg, and have been 
 sold by auction with the rest of it. This agrees with what 
 Otto Brunfels says of a collection of Hussite works which 
 had been returned to him from among Hutten's books; 
 -" a business," he adds, " of which it is neither profitable nor 
 advisable to say more, for a long story might be told about 
 it." At another time he says that it is a miracle of Divine 
 Providence that this part of Hutten's treasures was pre- 
 served. 
 
 Zwingli found among Hutten's MSS. a bundle of letters 
 from and to friends ; and Otto Brunfels had seen in Germany 
 a collection of two thousand, from princes, lords, ecclesias- 
 tics, and learned men of all nations, to Hutten, partly ex- 
 pressive of concurrence with his enterprise against Rome. 
 He used to arrange them in leisure hours, and intended to 
 * Zwingli to Boniface Wolf hart. Hutten's Schriften, ii. 
 
S$S ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 publish them under the title of " Confidential Letters." It 
 is a great loss for the history of those times that this collec- 
 tion perished. Besides these, there is said to have been a 
 collection of printed copies of his own works, which he was 
 correcting for a new edition. These copies are in the 
 library of the Waterchurch at Zurich, and comprise the 
 Steckelberg collection of the writings against Duke Ulrich, 
 the "Aula," the "Letter to Pirckheimer," the "Address on the 
 Turks," and the Invectives and Letters referring to the Diet 
 of Worms. The corrections evince the care which Hutten 
 used to bestow on the form of his writings, and some of the 
 alterations are a sign of a great change which had taken 
 place in the taste of the times, during the short period 
 since Luther's appearance. The heathen element in the 
 Humanist style had become unpalatable, and so Hutten 
 Christianized it ; the gods of his earlier writings give place 
 to the one God and Christ. 
 
 Hutten 's debts must be reckoned amongst what he left 
 behind him. They amounted to about one hundred and 
 fifty florins. It was said at one time that there were two 
 hundred florins left (perhaps from his patrimony in Ger- 
 many), which were assigned to Eppendorf, and he did aft( r- 
 wards boast of having paid Hutten's debts after his death. 
 But as he was deeply in debt himself, Erasmus was justified 
 in doubting the fact. Zwingli, who had nothing to spare, 
 was therefore wise as well as generous in writing, " I do not 
 ask about my claim ; if anything is paid I shall take it, but 
 if not I give it up." * 
 
 Under these circumstances Hutten's friends in the 
 neighbourhood had nothing to spare for a monument over 
 his grave. A few years afterwards a Franconian noble had 
 
 * Zwingli to Wolfhart, &c, Hutten's Schriften, ii. 
 
HUTTEN S LIBRARY. 359 
 
 a stone erected over it, but it soon disappeared, and with 
 it all knowledge of the spot. The priests of Einsiedeln 
 could not turn a heretical sanctuary of that sort on their 
 island to any account. 
 
 It soon came to the ears of Maurice von Hutten, a young 
 cousin of Ulrich's, that part of his library was in the posses- 
 sion of the physician Locher. Maurice belonged to the 
 Birkenfeld branch of the Stolzenberg line, had entered the 
 Church, was provost of VViirzburg and afterwards bishop of 
 Eichstadt. He early took an interest in the fame and re- 
 mains of the cousin who had made his great uncle and his 
 murdered son immortal, and wished to purchase the library 
 from the stranger. But the printers had also got wind of 
 the treasures, especially in MS., and Froben, of Basle, was 
 already negotiating with Locher for the works of Quintilian, 
 Pliny, and Marcellus Med., which Hutten had found in the 
 library at Fulda- The printer Setzer, of Hagenau, thought 
 he could make thirty gold gulden out of Marcellus alone. 
 At the suggestion of Setzer, who hoped to get it to publish 
 through Camerarius, in the spring of 1529, Camerarius in- 
 formed Maurice how the matter stood, and advised him 
 to carry out his project of buying Hutten's library before it 
 was dispersed. 
 
 One thing, which was probably a portion of it, had been 
 published the year before : the anthology from Sallust and 
 Curtius, published in 1528 by Johann Herwag, of Strasburg.'"' 
 It is a collection of passages which the Humanists used to 
 cull from the classics to enrich their Latinity,,and was cer- 
 tainly not intended by Hutten for publication. 
 
 One feels still more strongly tempted to conjecture that 
 the Dialogue " Arminius," which appeared in 1529 as a work 
 
 * " C. Sallustii et Q. Curtii Flores select! per Hulderichum Hut- 
 tenum, eq. ejusdemque scholiis non indocds illustrati." Schriften, v. 
 
360 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 left by Hutten, formed part of Locher's collection/^ Ft 
 looks like the first-fruits of the negotiation between him and 
 Maurice Hutten, only a poem prefixed by Eoban Hesse 
 bears the date of 1528, when the transaction had not taken 
 place. It is probable that Maurice did buy his cousin's 
 library, for it appears from Burckhard's researches that at 
 the beginning of the last century the episcopal library at 
 Eichstadt contained several books with Hutten's autograph. 
 
 However, wherever the Dialogue may have been found, 
 it is impossible to doubt its genuineness. Both contents 
 and form bear the true Hutten stamp, but there is something 
 still more decisive. In his letter to the Elector Frederic of 
 Saxony \i 5 20), he recalled Arminius to his memory, who, 
 even according to the testimony of his enemies, was the best 
 and bravest of all generals, and had freed his country from 
 the yoke of the Romans when at the highest summit of their 
 fame. What would our liberator in the lower regions think 
 when he sees that his posterity are subject to luxurious 
 priests and efieminate bishops, while he would not suffer 
 even the brave Romans as masters > 
 
 The Dialogue " Arminius " is but an amplification of this 
 idea. Arminius appears in the lower regions, and protests 
 before the judgment-seat of Minos against the decree by 
 which (in one of Lucian's Dialogues of the Dead) the first 
 place among generals in Elysium is given to Alexander, the 
 second to Scipio, the third to Hannibal, and none to him. 
 Minos blames Arminius for not having made himself known 
 before, but is not unwilling to reconsider the question, and 
 sends Mercury to summon the three generals and Tacitus. 
 Tacitus calls upon Arminius to read the passage about him 
 (end of Book II.) aloud; whereupon Arminius makes a 
 
 * " Arnunius Dialogus Huttenicus." Schriften, iv. 
 
THE DIALOGUE "ARMINIUS." 361 
 
 long speech about his claim to the first place among generals, 
 upon the ground that he who, amidst great difficulties, con- 
 quered the greatest nation of the world at the period of 
 their highest renown, must be the greatest. When he says 
 that he used to consider those to be no Germans who paid 
 tribute or were subject to the foreigner, that it was a dis- 
 grace that Roman fasces or togas were ever seen between 
 the Elbe and the Rhine, that he desired to blot even the 
 memory of the Roman power from Germany, we need not 
 remind our readers that Hutten referred to Papal Rome and 
 to the conflict going on in his days. Arminius declares that 
 the accusation that he had aimed at the supreme power in 
 Germany is a calumny, still it would have been no more 
 than he deserved had it been offered to him. This may 
 have been suggested by Sickingen's schemes, and the ideas 
 of both Sickingen and himself are unmistakable in the follow- 
 ing peroration of Arminius : — " It was not for fame, riches, 
 or dominion, that I fought ; my aim was to restore to the 
 Fatherland the liberties which had been wrested from it. 
 I lived in the practice of the highest virtues until I was 
 attacked by envy and the knavery of my own kin, and I 
 sent my free and unvanquished spirit to you conscious of 
 having rendered the greatest services to my country, and of 
 having led in all things a meritorious life." Minos, well 
 pleased with his speech, admits his claim to the first place 
 among generals; but since he cannot reverse the former 
 sentence, he has Arminius proclaimed by Mercury as the 
 first among liberators of their country, the freest, most in- 
 vincible, and most German. 
 
 There is no express reference to contemporary circum- 
 stances, and many of the accustomed rhetorical aids are 
 dispensed with, so that the Dialogue has a less lively colour- 
 ing than most of Hutten's writings. But it would be a 
 
362 ' ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 mistake to suppose that it was therefore written in Hutten's 
 last days when his strength was failing. If we really have 
 here a portion of the library bought by Locher " from the 
 booty," it is more likely that it was written at one of Sickin- 
 gen's castles, and was left there when Hutten left Germany. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 SENTIMENTS EVOKED BY HUTTEN'S DEATH, AND THE LAST 
 DAYS OF HIS OLD FRIENDS. 
 
 T T is uncertain whether the dying Hutten saw Erasmus's 
 bitter refutation. Erasmus thought not, for the printing 
 of it was not finished till the 3rd of September, when Hutten 
 was already in his grave. He might have received it in 
 sheets through the mediation of friends before it came out. 
 But the news of his death so far preceded the circulation of 
 the " Sponge," that a report arose that Erasmus had written 
 it against a dead man. Although he was able amply to 
 refute this, he was well aware that it would make an un- 
 favourable impression on its readers that the foe against 
 whom it was aimed was no more. 
 
 When, after a few weeks, a new edition was called for, 
 Erasmus might have counteracted this by a conciliatory pre- 
 face. Having defended himself, and by no means spared 
 his foe, now that he had fallen, he might have recalled his 
 good qualities to mind and taken a magnanimous farewell 
 of his former friend, whom circumstances had turned into 
 an enemy. But instead of this he boasts of having dealt 
 gently with Hutten, and touches up the glaring picture he 
 had drawn of him to satiety. Youth should learn, he says, 
 from Hutten's example, not to neglect the cultivation of 
 character for that of the intellect, and to curb their passions 
 
364 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 by means of reason. " For many," he continues, " cherish 
 their failings, hanker for youthful debaucheries, and consider 
 gambling and extravagance to be noble. Meanwhile pro- 
 perty decreases, debts increase, reputation suffers, the favour 
 of princes on whose beneficence you lived is forfeited. Want 
 leads to plunder, first carried on under pretext of war, then 
 when nothing suffices for the expenditure, like the leaky 
 bowl of the Danaides, shameful deeds are perpetrated, and 
 no difference made between friends and foes when any spoil 
 is to be got ; until at last, passion, like a horse that has 
 thrown its rider, hurls its victim to destruction." Erasmus 
 also defends himself from the reproaches that had been 
 made to him on account of the " Sponge," by saying that he 
 had not said a word in it about Hutten's repulsive life, 
 which is only so far correct in that in such passages he 
 had preferred unmistakable hints to direct mention of his 
 name. 
 
 A year before, Veit Werler, who had never forgotten 
 Hutten after meeting him in early life at Leipzig, on a pre- 
 mature report of his death had pronounced a more just and 
 reasonable verdict on him. After regretting the premature 
 loss of a man of so much talent, of an author so successful 
 in prose and verse, and recalling with tenderness the origin 
 of their acquaintance, he continues : " He was often re- 
 proached with having written too bitterly, with having heaped 
 abuse upon abuse, and with having pursued many people 
 with more than tragic hatred. It is true. But he was 
 irritable, he was young, and only did it in the heat of com- 
 position, and incurred more hatred by it himself than he 
 brought upon any one else. If this is a fault, he shares it 
 with many others. We cannot all be like our Lord and 
 Master Jesus Christ, who, when he was reviled, reviled not 
 again, but gave us his saving doctrines in return for bitter 
 
EOBAN HESSE ON HUTTEN*S DEATH. 365 
 
 scorn. However this may be, may the earth rest h'ghtly on 
 Hutten's grave, and fragrant crocuses bloom on it."* 
 
 When Hutten's friend, Eoban, received the news of his 
 death his grief knew no bounds. He wrote to Draco, who 
 had once belonged to the Erfurt circle : " O my Draco ! — 
 what is it ? — a misfortune without parallel. What bad news 
 have you to tell me, Hesse ? Why do you disquiet your 
 Draco ? — No, Erasmus is not dead, thank God ! but He is 
 gone. Who ? — Our own one. What one ; Jonas ? — No, not 
 he, and yet one of our own — our Hutten is no more. Judge 
 now whether my sighs come from my heart — our Hutten 
 has died of poison. Who was, I am tempted to say, th& 
 cruel god who envied us this gifted spirit ? . . . . But I 
 must take refuge in poetry, for a mere letter cannot contain 
 my grief. But, O my beloved Hutten, hast thou left us? 
 .... Thou wert thoroughly lovable. No one was Hke 
 thee, so hostile to the bad and gracious to the good. I can 
 scarcely keep myself from melting away altogether. Let 
 me solemnly bear testimony to thee, my beloved Draco, 
 that I heartily loved Hutten." Eoban soon after wrote the 
 poetical lament to which he refers ; he represents Hutten 
 parleying with death, and tries to damp his triumph over 
 him by pointing to his immortal fame.f 
 
 In the following year Melanchthon made a journey to his 
 native place, with Camerarius and some others, and at Fulda 
 visited Crotus Rubianus and Adam Kraft, from whom they 
 heard the particulars of Hutten's death. They celebrated his 
 memory together, and Melanchthon, who had never liked 
 Hutten's vehemence, his martial bearing, nor his love of inno- 
 vation, and had expressed himself severely about his attack 
 on Erasmus, now wrote an epigram to protect his memory from 
 
 * Hutten's Schriften, ii. 
 
 t Both letter and poem in Hutten's Schriften, ii. 
 
366 • ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 the insults of a certain Othmar Nachtigall or Luscinius. In 
 relating this, Camerarius remarks that the lines about Demo- 
 sthenes had often occurred to him in relation to Hutten, 
 which express that had the resolution and ardour of the 
 Macedonian been backed by power and means he would 
 have been master of Greece. For if Hutten had not wanted 
 support in his enterprises, especially a military force, a 
 general revolution would have resulted, and the state of 
 things would have been altogether different from what it was, 
 Melanchthon and his companions also visited Gotha, 
 where Mutianus Rufus still lived. But many changes had 
 taken place in the' quiet house behind the church. Years 
 and vicissitudes had made its inmate more serious and 
 gloomy. He had exchanged Virgil for the Psalms. Not 
 that he did not recur to the classics, but the words escaped 
 his pen that a priest should not read any heathen poet. He 
 was now diligent in the performance of the ecclesiastical 
 offices which he had formerly delegated to others. He felt 
 the need of deeper religious instruction, and complained 
 that he could not find any priest whom he could take as a 
 guide. As we know, he was lenient towards the existing 
 Church, had no wish to see the shortcomings of the clergy 
 exposed, and desired to uphold the distinction between 
 exoteric and esoteric teaching. Luther's proceedings there- 
 fore, which disregarded all these considerations, could not 
 be pleasing to him, still less Hutten's efforts to incite to 
 war and revolt. In 15 19, Hutten had complained of his 
 silence, and it was not likely that the course of events since 
 could have given him a more favourable opinion of the Re- 
 formation and its champions. They began to threaten his 
 " blessed repose." Luther had scarcely passed through Er- 
 furt on his way to Worms in 1521, when the attack upon 
 the priests was made, which was specially directed towards 
 
LAST DAYS OF MUTIANUS RUFUS. 367 
 
 the canons' houses. Similar scenes took place three years 
 later at Gotha, in which Mutian seems to have suffered. 
 He had been very lenient in collecting his revenues j had 
 often said, " If you give me half, it will do ; " but now the 
 peasants, excited by the Reformation, were unwilling to 
 contribute any more to the bishopric. 
 
 The next year brought a still worse fate. The Peasants' 
 War penetrated to Thuringia, and although Gotha itself was 
 spared, it was surrounded by disturbances and devastation. 
 The sources of Mutian's income were entirely dried up. He 
 wrote a letter to the Elector, which shows how completely 
 his spirit was broken : " My high and mighty prince and 
 
 lord ! My -soul is troubled unto death We are the 
 
 sheep of thy pasture. Under thy exemplary rule, we pray 
 the Almighty day and night to honour thy name." After 
 describing the state of things, he says, " Perhaps the bishop- 
 rics, and even that of Gotha, will never be restored. But 
 in that case may it be granted me as an insignificant person 
 to remain, as long as I live, in this abode of peace which I 
 bought and adorned with my books and chose as my refuge 
 
 in my old age But the means of living fail me. INIost 
 
 serene prince ! a little would suffice. Let me have bread 
 
 and something to eat with it I humbly fall at your 
 
 feet and embrace the knees of your mercy ; it Hes with you 
 to rescue me I will testify to posterity that I was sup- 
 ported by the beneficence of the illustrious Elector, the 
 pious Frederic, and his philanthropic brother." 
 
 When Mutian addressed this petition to Frederic the 
 Wise, he was on his death-bed at Lochau, where, on the 5th 
 of May, he died, also weary of a world from which it 
 seemed to him that love and truth had vanished. His 
 brother and successor, John, was for a long time engaged 
 in putting down the revolt of the peasants. And so it 
 
836 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 happened that the good Mutian continued in bitter distress. 
 But his release was at hand. About Easter he fell ill and 
 foretold the day and nearly the hour of his death, which 
 took place on the 30th of March, 1526. He died with the 
 words, " Thy will be done," on his lips. 
 
 Thus Mutian in his latter days, like Erasmus, was at 
 variance with the age and the Reformation, only that his 
 recluse life spared him collision with it. Erasmus's skir- 
 mishes with Hutten were followed by the great engagement 
 with Luther. Having been long urged by his princely 
 patrons to write against Luther, in 1524, he published his 
 treatise on " Free Will," which Luther answered just in the 
 style which Erasmus had described, by his on " Unfree 
 Will," or " Man's Will not Free." War was now declared by 
 the Reform party against Erasmus, and he almost preferred 
 this to being approved by it, because this caused him to be 
 suspected by the other side. For it was just as Hutten had 
 said, the papal party did not really trust him. Cardinal 
 Adrian had denounced him to Leo X. as the real originator 
 of the Reformation, and now Albert Pius, Prince of Carpi, 
 said that his works were the arsenal from which Luther and 
 his followers had taken their weapons. And while he was 
 defending himself from attacks from this quarter, Eppendorf 
 once more stormed into his room and extorted a humiliating 
 bargain from him by presenting a copy of a letter to Duke 
 George of Saxony in which he thought that Erasmus had 
 injured his reputation. Erasmus took his revenge, among 
 other ways, by introducing the counterpart of Eppendorf in 
 his "Colloquies." Though without his name, there is no 
 doubt that it was well understood by contemporaries that 
 *' The Knight without a Horse, or Fictitious Nobility," was 
 aimed at him. 
 
 Erasmus is also said to have introduced Hutten into his 
 
LAST DAYS OF ERASMUS. 369 
 
 " Colloquies," and in a far more damaging way. In the 
 " Unequal Marriage," we are certainly reminded of the 
 terms in which he elsewhere speaks of Hutten. 
 
 The progress of the Reformation at length disturbed 
 Erasmus at Basle. Now that the majority of the inhabitants 
 were attached to it, instead of enjoying their esteem as at 
 first, he was annoyed by obtrusive letters, libels, and carica- 
 tures. When mobs assembled, brought guns into the 
 market-place, and stood there for several nights under arms, 
 Erasmus thought his life and property were in danger. The 
 decree of the council to abolish the mass and to remove 
 images from the churches, averted an outbreak ; but Erasmus 
 was attacked by his contemptible fears about his exalted 
 patrons, who would think that he was a party to these inno- 
 vations, if he remained at Basle. He therefore resolved, in 
 the spring of 1529, to remove to Freiburg in the Austrian 
 territory, which had remained orthodox. Here, while con- 
 tinuing his other works, he laboured especially to allay the 
 disputes in the Church. In 1533 he devoted a work to it 
 which he dedicated to the theological diplomatist, Julius 
 von Pflugk. We must not, because of its futility, find fault 
 with his reasonable advice to both sides to be moderate 
 and not to insist on non-essentials, but we may blame him 
 for depriving himself in this work of the right of being so 
 reasonable. For, if what he here concedes is true, that he 
 is a worse man who rejects the teaching and communion of 
 the Church, than he who lives a vicious life, but adheres 
 to them, compulsion in matters of faith must be not only 
 justifiable but enjoined. Erasmus formerly sought to account 
 for his submission to the Church by the desire to secure a 
 firm support against the shifting-ground of reason in an 
 infallible authority, and, for a mind like his, there might be 
 some truth in it. But in considering dogmatic agreement 
 
 B B 
 
370 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 with the Church as more essential than moral conduct, he 
 decidedly forsook the Humanistic stand-point, which on this 
 question was the same as that of later rationalism. 
 
 Freiburg did not suit Erasmus, either physically or men- 
 tally, so well as Basle, at least during the early part of his 
 residence there. So, in 1535, he resolved to accept the 
 pressing invitation of Queen Mary, Stadtholder of the 
 Netherlands, to come there. But at Basle, where he 
 stopped on his way to superintend the printing of a book, 
 he was attacked by gout. Other maladies supervened, 
 which indicated that his end was near, while he continued 
 his learned labours. He died on the 12th of July at the 
 age of seventy, his mind being clear and composed to the 
 last. His labours were abundant, he had achieved much, 
 had paid dearly for his weaknesses, and took a not untar- 
 nished but rich garland of merit and fame with him to the 
 grave. 
 
 Pirckheimer, the friend of Erasmus and Hutten, during 
 the last few years of his life was in a position similar to 
 that of Erasmus. The days of his prime, when he wrote 
 the vindication of Reuchlin, and the satire on Eck, were 
 over at the time of Hutten's death. The latter was written 
 after the disputation at Leipzig, and published in 1520.* 
 It was written in the polished Latin of the Humanists, 
 interlarded with Greek quotations, except in a passage 
 where he mimics the dog Latin of the " Letters of Obscure 
 Men." It is conceived in the coarse and fantastic fashion 
 of the German pasquinades of this period. Though pub- 
 lished under a feigned name, its authorship was surmised, 
 and Pirckheimer was to pay dearly for it. Eck, who soon 
 afterwards returned to Germany with the bull against 
 
 * "Eccius dedolatus autore Joanne Francisco Cottalambergio." 
 Hutten's Schriften, iv. 
 
LAST DAYS OF PIRCKHEIMER. 37 1 
 
 Luther, included Pirckheimer in it, in virtue of powers con 
 ferred on him by the Pope. To avoid involving his fellow- 
 citizens in difficulties, he had to make up his mind to a 
 sort of recantation, which, however, did not entirely absolve 
 him. 
 
 The last letter that we possess from Pirckheimer to 
 Hutten dates from 1522. It betrays uneasiness, if not ill- 
 humour. He had been subjected to persecution, more on 
 account of his adherence to Reuchlin than to Luther, and 
 the satire on Eck. But God had helped him hitherto, and 
 would help him. Still, in those days, Pirckheimer was a 
 warm friend of the Reformation. When Adrian VL 
 ascended the papal throne in 1522, he thought of sending 
 an address to him (probably prevented by his death), in 
 which the disturbances in the Church were attributed to the 
 Dominicans, to their attack upon ReuchHn, their blas- 
 phemous abuse of indulgences, &c., and Luther is highly 
 commended, while his opponents, Cajetan, Eck, &c., are 
 mentioned with contempt. But the more the Reformation 
 gained ground in his immediate neighbourhood, the more 
 Pirckheimer withdrew from it, particularly after 1524. As 
 a statesman, he regarded with uneasiness the violence, the 
 disorder, the abolition of ancient customs, the unbridled 
 passions which were at first inseparable from it, and rose to 
 a fearful height in the Peasants' War. Those who took the 
 lead in the ecclesiastical changes at Nuremberg were repul- 
 sive to him, especially the brutal Osiander. Neither did he 
 approve of Luther's vehemence, and his often needless 
 coarseness. Then family affairs lent their influence. Several 
 of his sisters and daughters had devoted themselves to the 
 Church. His eldest sister. Charity, who was mentally 
 equal to her brother, was abbess of the convent of St. 
 Clair at Nuremberg. But the ill-will of the populace was 
 
372 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 from the first especially directed against convents, and the 
 treatment the poor nuns were subjected to, embittered him, 
 not only against the persons, but the party from whom it 
 proceeded. Then came the schisms in the Reform party 
 itself, the advance made by the Swiss Reformers, which was 
 so repulsive to Pirckheimer, that he got into a bitter corre- 
 spondence with CEcolampadius on the communion, in 
 which, to the vexation of Erasmus, he adhered mainly to 
 the Lutheran point of view. He makes a characteristic 
 remark in the preface to the first of these letters : while 
 acknowledging his opponent's superiority in learning, he 
 knows that he has the advantage in knowledge of affairs 
 and the world. If many people possessed as much of 
 the latter as of the former, Christian people would have 
 more peace, and many disturbances would have been 
 avoided. 
 
 Increasing ailments and isolation (in 1528 he lost Albert 
 Diirer) added to his dissatisfaction, for though he turned 
 away from the Reformation, he could not regain confidence 
 in the old system. In a letter written not long before his 
 death he says, that he had at first been a good Lutheran 
 like the departed Albert, for they hoped to see the Romish 
 knavery checked ; but now things were worse than before, 
 and in comparison with the evangelical knaves, the others 
 seemed pious. They practised hypocrisy and cunning, but 
 the present ones openly lead disgraceful lives, and delude 
 the people by saying that they must be judged by their 
 faith and not by their works. The common man is taught 
 by this Gospel to look for a community of goods, and were 
 it not for the severe penalties there would soon be a general 
 plunder. It is not that he in any way approves of the 
 doings of the Pope and his priests and monks, but it is 
 obvious that the present state of things is no improvement, 
 
LAST DAYS OF EOBAN HESSE. 373 
 
 as Luther and many good learned men acknowledge with 
 pain. 
 
 Pirckheimer, then sixty years of age, was too old and ill 
 to rise above these moods, and to hail the germs of better 
 things in the ferment of the present, and the vital forces of 
 the future. He died in the year when the Confession of 
 Augsburg was drawn up, and his last sighs were for the good 
 of his country and the peace of the Church. 
 
 Of all Hutten's old friends no one remained so true to 
 the course they had once pursued together, and so true to 
 himself, as Eoban Hesse. He was not a politician Hke 
 Hutten ; with all his love of liberty and country, he felt no 
 impulse to influence public affairs. He was thoroughly the 
 poet and teacher, and study, lecturing, the imitation of the 
 classic poets, and harmless joviality over his wine were 
 enough for him. But he was deeply attached to the cause 
 of the Reformation. We have already mentioned the 
 poems inspired by Luther's halt at Erfurt on his way to 
 Worms. He afterwards wrote an epistle from the captive 
 Church to Luther in the form of the " Heroides " of Ovid, 
 which Luther took pleasure in getting printed. Still he was 
 sometimes troubled with Humanistic doubts whether the 
 pious zeal called forth by the Reformation would not be 
 inimical to culture ; and when religious questions began to 
 be discussed in German, the Latin scholar feared that that 
 language would soon be looked upon as superfluous. In 
 1524, Eoban published three satirical dialogues against 
 these tendencies, and during the previous year he had had 
 letters printed from Luther, Melanchthon, and other leaders 
 of the movement, in which the necessity of the study of 
 poetry and rhetoric was insisted on. 
 
 Eoban's circumstances were not improved by the Refor- 
 mation. The University of Erfurt fell more and more into 
 
374 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 decay after it. The peasants' war altogether dried up his 
 resources, and if he had not had a generous Maecenas in 
 George Sturz, he and his family must have lived on bread 
 and water. In the following year Melanchthon procured 
 him a post in the gymnasium at Nuremberg. Here he pro- 
 duced his translation of Theocritus into Latin hexameters, 
 and began a similar one of the Iliad. 
 
 But wealthy Nuremberg was expensive for a poor poet, 
 and he was not a good manager. He did not feel in his 
 element in the great commercial city. He wrote to George 
 Sturz that he did not like having to do with these merchants, 
 who dream of nothing but pepper, saffron, and gold, and 
 are destitute of learning. So, in 1533, he was persuaded 
 to return to Erfurt; but he had cause to repent it; for the 
 university could not be revived, and he did not find the 
 generosity of Nuremberg in the decayed and factious 
 town. 
 
 When Philip of Hesse established the university at Mar- 
 burg, in 1526, Eoban the Hessian wished for an appoint- 
 ment at it. He kept the landgrave in view, and, in 1534, 
 sang his victories in Wiirtemberg. In 1536, he received 
 the call which gave him a scanty maintenance for the rest 
 of his life. But the old pecuniary difficulties accompanied 
 the poet to Marburg, and he more than once threatened to 
 resign if he were not better provided for. He attached 
 great importance to his fame as a poet, and his works were 
 read not in Germany alone, but in Italy, France, England, 
 and Spain, only they brought but little in. But by degrees 
 his position improved. Philip not only valued him as a 
 learned man, but liked him personally, and used to invite 
 him to his table. They sometimes played chess together; 
 but the poet was not a match for the landgrave's strategy. 
 
 Eoban had often been ailing ; he himself attributed it to 
 
LAST DAYS OF EOBAN HESSE. 375 
 
 his drinking, but yet did not leave it off. In 1540, his 
 health entirely gave way. He prepared for death, and 
 wrote to Melanchthon to pray for him. He had not spoken 
 for a long time, when all at once he said he wished to go 
 up to his Lord. They thought his mind was wandering, 
 and that he meant the landgrave's castle; but it was another 
 Lord he was thinking of, and not long afterwards he died ; 
 it was on the 4th of October, 1540, in his fifty-second year. 
 It would be a mistake to think lightly of his influence be- 
 cause he has no place in the history of German literature. 
 He laboured as an instructor and author in sustaining 
 Humanistic learning when it was on the decline ; he made 
 Homer and Theocritus accessible to the educated in their 
 own tongue (Latin), while he preserved their artistic form ; 
 and it was of great importance to the Reformation that the 
 acknowledged first Latin poet of the age was its zealous 
 advocate. 
 
 The life of Crotus Rubianus, who next to Eoban was the 
 most intimate friend of Hutten's youth, took a totally dif- 
 ferent course. Hutten, Eoban, and Hermann Busch, adopted 
 the cause of the Reformation with the ardour with which 
 they had fought under the banner of Humanism ; Erasmus 
 displayed the same diplomatic reserve in the Lutheran cause 
 as in that of Reuchlin ; the retreat was still more marked 
 in the case of Pirckheimer, though made with statesmanlike 
 dignity ; but Crotus is open to the charge of having retreated 
 further than Erasmus after having advanced nearly as far as 
 Hutten, and of having taken the step under circumstances 
 which cast a doubt on the purity of his motives. After 
 Crotus, although anonymously, had dealt the heaviest blow, 
 from a Humanistic standpoint, by the "Letters of Obscure 
 Men," he had not merely crossed the threshold of the Refor- 
 mation hesitatingly, like Erasmus, but with firm and rapid 
 
376 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 tread, and then turned round. When Luther's battle with 
 Indulgences took place, Crotus was m Italy, and became 
 convinced of the necessity of some such action as Luther's. 
 When he was chosen rector of the University of Erfurt, in 
 152 1, he informed Luther of it, and entreated him to guard 
 his invaluable life from the machinations of his enemies. He 
 congratulated Melanchthon on his marriage, and declared 
 himself in favour of married life. As before mentioned, when 
 Luther came through Erfurt on his way to Worms, Crotus 
 went forth at the head of the students to greet him with an 
 address. But this ceremony had unpleasant consequences. 
 Within a few days the students and rabble of Erfurt stormed 
 the houses of the priests. The investigation which Crotus 
 had to make as rector was a most unpleasant business to 
 him, and gave rise to doubts in his mind about the Lutheran 
 movement. He withdrew as soon as possible, in an uneasy 
 state of mind, to Fulda, though without forsaking the Witten- 
 berg circle. In 1524, Melanchthon and his travelling com- 
 panions visited him as one of their party. About the same 
 time Albert of Brandenburg, Grand Master of the German 
 Order, was in Germany, and invited Crotus to Konigsberg. 
 There he was intimate with the prince, and assisted him in 
 founding a library; and when Albert joined the Reforma- 
 tion, and changed his grand mastership into a secular duke- 
 dom, their relations remained unchanged. But it seemed a 
 serious step to the cautious Crotus : the absence of congenial 
 society did not suit him mentally, nor the northern climate 
 physically, and in 1530 he returned to Germany. He went 
 first to Breslau, then to Leipzig, and the next year we find 
 him as canon at Halle and councillor to Archbishop Albert, 
 of Mayence and Magdeburg. Hutten and Capito had both 
 felt obliged to leave his service if they wished to remain 
 true to the Reformation ; and since then times and circum- 
 
CROTUS AND THE REFORMATION. 377 
 
 stances were still more changed : to enter the archbishop's 
 service now, signified to be against the Reformation. 
 
 How this change came about cannot now be shown in 
 detail. From the few letters* from Crotus that are extant 
 while he was in Prussia, we learn that he disapproved the 
 violence on both sides. In the controversy between Erasmus 
 and Luther on Free Will he found traces of vain glory on 
 both sides, though he expressed himself warmly against the 
 contemptuous treatment of Erasmus which was becoming 
 the fashion. He had at first some hope of good result from 
 the Diet of Augsburg. 
 
 After Crotus had entered the service of Archbishop Albert, 
 he had to excuse himself to the duke, whom he had promised 
 to come to Prussia again. He did so partly on the ground 
 of health, partly on that of change of sentiment. " I con- 
 fess," he wrote, " that for several years I was devoted to the 
 Lutheran party ; but when I saw that they would not let 
 anything alone, even though it had been handed down to 
 us from the time of the apostles, and that one sect was 
 growing out of another, I began to think that the devil 
 might be introducing evil under the guise of good, and 
 employing the Scriptures as a shield. I therefore resolved 
 to remain in the Church in which I was baptized, brought 
 up, and instructed. Although there are many shortcomings 
 in it, still, in the course of time, it may be reformed sooner 
 than the new Church, which has split up into so many sects 
 in a few years." 
 
 In this Crotus was greatly mistaken, and his new master 
 had just interfered to prevent the administration of the cup 
 in his diocese of Magdeburg, one of the points which 
 Crotus would have had conceded. Luther had just called 
 attention to this in two valiant prefaces which he had written 
 
 * They aie to be found in the collection of Letters of Camerarius. 
 
 ^ 
 
378 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 to two sermons by Alexius Crossner, and a friend of Crotus, 
 whose name is not given, took occasion to banter him on 
 the- subject in a private letter. At whom did he suppose 
 the attacks upon tyrants in these prefaces were aimed ? If 
 at Archbishop Albert, of whose treatment of those who 
 partook of the communion in both forms, sad stories 
 were told, the praises of him which were sounded so loud 
 in some quarters were very ill bestowed. Crotus will be 
 able to inform his friend on these points, as he lived at 
 Halle, where these things were said to have taken place. 
 Let him also give his opinion about confession ; was it 
 necessary to enumerate particular sins, or was a summary 
 confession enough? — then a burning question between 
 Papists and Lutherans. 
 
 It was highly unpleasant to Crotus to be met by these 
 knotty questions on his return to his native country, and he 
 gave expression to this in his answer, which, as it was also a 
 vindication of Archbishop Albert, he had printed. We 
 already know what Crotus had to say against the Reforma- 
 tion. His position was, What has been ordained by the 
 Church can only be abrogated by the Church, or we lose all 
 firm foothold. Yet the author of the " Letters of Obscure 
 Men " knew as well as we do, that from what the papal party 
 called the Church, namely, the hierarchy, no real Reforma- 
 tion could be expected. He said that many of the things 
 so warmly debated were mere forms, while the essential 
 moral element was neglected. But Crotus must have known, 
 that from the principles which underlaid them these forms 
 had a real significance, and that the year after the Confession 
 of Augsburg was issued, for the Reform party to have given 
 up the cup at the communion would have been to stultify 
 themselves altogether. Crotus considers that the conduct 
 of the archbishop towards the innovators was lenient i 
 
Crotus's "apology" and the reply. 379 
 
 comparison with that of some of the Protestant princes 
 towards their Catholic subjects. There was, in fact, Httle 
 to choose between them, and yet there was an essential 
 difiference. The Protestant princes, notwithstanding all 
 their mistakes, acted in unison with the spirit of progress, 
 which then permeated all parts of the nation, and which, as 
 true sons of the nation, they shared ; the others did not 
 share it, but thwarted it, and thereby injured irreparably, 
 not only those parts of the nation which had the misfortune 
 to be subject to them, but the nation at large. 
 
 When this work by his former admirer came into Luther's 
 hands, he sent it to Justus Menius, then preacher and 
 superintendent at Eisenach, with the words : " See how this 
 epicurean Crotus venomously attacks us and flatters the 
 Bishop of Halle. We send thee the book, and do thou 
 take care and send it back to us well picked to pieces, and 
 painted with the colours of his epicureanism ; for that is thy 
 business." "^ 
 
 This was written on the i8th of October, 1531; in the 
 following spring, the anonymous answer to Crotus's 
 " Apology," before mentioned, appeared. Crotus was 
 spoken of as an epicurean in Luther's sense, namely, as one 
 who laughed in his sleeve at the dogmas which he advo- 
 cated, which renders it highly probable that Menius was the 
 writer. He holds up the mirror of his past life to Crotus, 
 and assumes that his convictions are unchanged, though he 
 denies them for the sake of outward advantages. He must 
 take care that the shrewd archbishop did not see through 
 him. For in what he wrote against the Protestants an 
 accusing conscience was obvious. It was so flat, the style 
 so halting and confused, that it was evident that he was not 
 thinking of the subject, but of the salt-pans of Halle, which 
 * Hutten's Schriften, ii. 
 
380 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. " 
 
 he had his eye on. A passage in which the writer invokes 
 the shade of Hutten is very caustic. He represents Crotus 
 swinging the censer at high mass — with outstretched arms 
 and earnest brow holding the bishop's mitre, kissing his 
 shoes, or bending .the knee with the choir; could Hutten 
 come to life again and witness this, would he not, fiery as 
 he was, and the sworn foe of all hypocrisy, shame the base 
 dissembler while yet in the temple ? 
 
 Luther henceforth called him Dr. Krote (toad) ; toad- 
 eater to the Cardinal of Mayence. 
 
 Crotus did not reply to these attacks from the Protestants. 
 He sank into obscurity, and it is not known in what year 
 he died, but probably about 1541. 
 
 We expect a hero to be brave in combat ; if he is also 
 reasonable and fair in his opinions, so much the better, but 
 we cannot always expect it. We must not therefore always 
 accept the judgments passed by Luther and his comrades on 
 those who deserted thei-r camp. And the good company in 
 which we find Crotus should dispose us to caution. 
 Although in a more repulsive way, he only took the same 
 course as Reuchlin and Erasmus, Mutian and Pirckheimer. 
 And in the utterances of them all we find the same grounds 
 for dissatisfaction with the Reformation. On the one hand 
 they dread revolution, on the other the 'retrogression of cul- 
 ture. To be driven from a stage of culture that has been 
 reached, even if felt at last to be an oppressive yoke, seems 
 at first like wandering in the wilderness, with the flesh-pots 
 of Egypt left behind. And there are flesh-pots of an intel- 
 lectual as well as of a material kind. What Crotus really 
 cared for was learned leisure — comfort, but not luxury. He 
 had never been well off, and when he complained, it was 
 chiefly because he could not afford to buy books. After 
 his return from Prussia he wrote to the duke : " It is my 
 
THE HUMANISTS AND THE REFORMERS. 38 1 
 
 chief desire to be at peace, with my beloved books ; they 
 are at Leipzig, and must be quite fusty. I know not when 
 I shall be reunited to them." It came to pass soon after, 
 when he was made canon of Halle. But if he thought he 
 had regained the blessed tranquillity of the old times at 
 Gotha and Erfurt, he was mistaken. It had departed with 
 the innocence of those golden days. 
 
 Goethe also, decided Protestant as he always declared 
 himself to be, reproached Lutheranism with having formerly, 
 Hke the French revolutionary spirit afterwards, "retarded 
 peaceful culture." For in his days a new and fairer 
 culture grew out of the Protestantism which had once 
 interrupted, the process of Humanistic education. The old 
 Humanists were far from having attained to it ; they were 
 separated from the future dawn by two centuries and a half 
 of night, and we must judge them leniently if they turned 
 wistfully to the fading glow of the departing day ; if they 
 were ready to wear their old fetters a little longer, rather 
 than see the advancement of learning arrested by the storm 
 and stress of the Reformation, and the quiet intellectual 
 enjoyments disturbed which made these fetters endurable. 
 Still they were to blame, they did not choose the better 
 part. Jonas, Menius, Bugenhagen, Brenz, and the rest of 
 Luther's body-guard, are not to be compared as to mental 
 powers and learning with Mutian and Crotus, Reuchlin and 
 Erasmus ; but they were far beyond them in recognition of 
 the one thing needful, in the brave resolve not to allow that 
 which they recognised as false to prevail any longer ; not to 
 permit things which were intolerable to go on, in forecasting 
 the new life still hidden in the womb of futurity. 
 
 It was obvious, from the fact that it spoke a foreign 
 tongue, that it was not Humanism that could meet the wants 
 of the nations who were breaking their mediaeval chains. 
 
382 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 In this respect it was just like the mediae-val Church. The 
 priest read his masses in Latin, and, though in a better style, 
 in Latin the Humanist wrote his poems, his letters, and his 
 treatises. The hierarchy was confronted by an intellectual 
 aristocracy; the masses had no more part in the culture 
 than they had in the religion. The German language was 
 not ready to be an instrument of Humanistic learning ; it 
 was still far too rough and clumsy. But the same may be 
 said of the nation as a whole, and it was only together, and 
 by means of one another, that the nation and the language 
 could be made capable of receiving the impress of the 
 modern civiHsation. The Reformation took both by the 
 hand; it taught our people to reflect upon their own affairs, 
 and to speak German. The German pulpit and the German 
 Bible achieved more than all the exercises of the Humanists. 
 The Lutheran preachers were not Erasmuses, but they per- 
 formed a task which Erasmus could not perform. The 
 German classical literature of the eighteenth and nineteenth 
 centuries is Humanism regenerated by the Reformation. 
 But this fruit could not ripen till the time was come when 
 every grade of the nation was leavened by Protestantism. 
 The parts of it which are not thus leavened will always retain 
 something of the character of heavy dough, which will long 
 prove indigestible to our new German Empire. 
 
 If the men whom we have just been contemplating kept 
 two of the threads in hand which were being unravelled in 
 their times, that of Humanism, and at first of the Reforma- 
 tion, but (with one exception) soon let go the latter, because 
 they got entangled, that they might grasp the former more 
 firmly — it was the distinctive merit of our hero, that besides 
 these two, he also kept hold as long as possible of the politi- 
 cal thread. It slipped from his fingers with the disappoint- 
 ment of the hopes he had placed upon Charles V., and was 
 
HUTTEN AND THE REFORMATION. 383 
 
 finally broken off with the fall of Sickingen. His early death 
 precluded him from having to make choice between the two 
 others, as well as his more vigorous character, which pre- 
 vented him from taking alarm, Hke Mutian and Erasmus, 
 at the first clang of arms occasioned by the Reformers' efforts. 
 But, had he lived, he could not have been spared the 
 painful choice. Had he survived Luther's contest with 
 Erasmus on Free Will, in which Luther, in order to exalt 
 divine grace, denied to man's nature any independent im- 
 pulse to good ; had he seen how, at the religious discussion 
 at Marburg, the German reformer entrenched himself be- 
 hind a word, and denied the Swiss reformer the name of 
 brother — Hutten would have turned away deeply pained 
 from the man whom he once called his saintly friend, the 
 invincible evangeHst. External circumstances at last placed 
 him on the side of the Swiss Reformation ; but when, after 
 the death of the liberal-minded Zwingli, the austere Calvin 
 piled the stake for Servetus, and evolved the doctrine of 
 predestination, Hutten would not have found it possible to 
 remain in this camp. He would never, like his friend 
 Crotus, have returned to the Romish Church ; he felt too 
 keenly how incompatible the mental bondage wjiich was 
 inseparable from her was with real progress ; her foreign 
 centre of gravity with national prosperity. But it is difficult 
 to imagine what his attitude at this later period would have 
 been, and we must consider him happy in having been re- 
 leased by death from cruel conflicts. Possibly, had he 
 lived two years longer, he would have grasped the broken 
 political thread again, and have rushed from his republican 
 asylum into the vortex of the Peasants' War on the Swiss 
 frontier. But no good would have come of this ; we can only 
 think of him as meeting death, taken prisoner by his enemies, 
 or at best, the victim once more of exile and persecution. 
 
384 tJLRICH VON HUTTEN. 
 
 Hutten and his enterprises made shipwreck ; not because 
 the latter were wrong or preposterous in themselves, but 
 because he wanted to effect all at once and immediately, 
 things which could only be accomplished one at a time and 
 at long intervals. Luther and German Protestantism con- 
 fined themselves to the religious sphere, ignored the political, 
 and only availed themselves of so much of the achievements 
 of Humanism as was indispensable for their purpose ; Protes- 
 tantism, in its conflict with Catholic reaction, destroyed the 
 unity and power of the German empire, limited the morals 
 and culture of the German people to a narrow sphere, and 
 clothed them in coarse raiment. But within its own sphere 
 it attained its object — the liberation of the purified Church 
 from Rome ; the education of the German people, so far as 
 they would receive it, to independent religious life. And 
 when the time was come the hard rind burst, liberal Human- 
 istic culture, and our German classic literature, sprang out of 
 the Protestant training. And again, when the time was come, 
 poHtical unity and power have sprung out of this permeation 
 of the German people with Humanistic culture. Now we 
 see that Hutten was right ; he would not have one without 
 the other ; all the parts, in fact, belong together — there are, 
 however, properly speaking, only two : Humanistic culture 
 rooted in Protestantism, and the political unity and power 
 of the nation so trained — and Hutten's error was only that 
 of all prophetic natures ; to behold and try to realise at 
 once a brilliant ideal, which can only be realised by man- 
 kind step by step amidst the conflicts of ages. 
 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Abbey of Fulda, 9 
 
 Albert of Mayence, 55, 147, 217, 279, 
 
 376 
 Aleander, 276, 277 
 Archduke Ferdinand, 181, 212 
 
 Brunfels, Otto, 292, 295, 357 
 Bull against Luther, 233, 260 
 Busch, Hermann von dem, 15, n6, 117, 
 286, 287 
 
 Camerarius, 365, 366 
 
 Capito, 218, 291 
 
 Cardinal Cajetan, 154, 165, 166 
 
 Cardinal Lang, 49 
 
 Charles V. and Reform, 275, 276 ; elec- 
 tion of, 181 
 
 Cochlaus, 87, 94, 142 
 
 Cologne, university of, 14, 15 
 
 Constantine, Gift of, 94, 142 — 144 
 
 Crotus Rubianus, 12, 15, 17, 18, 40, 93, 
 134. 135. 196, 208 ; defection from the 
 Reformation, 376 — 380 ; death of, 380 
 
 Diet of Augsburg, 149, 152, 153 
 Diet of Worms, 275 — 286 
 
 Ebernburg, 220, 223, 224 
 
 Ecbert Haarlem, 34 
 
 Eitelwolf vom Stein, 9— 11, 28, 55, 58, 
 
 59 
 Eoban Hesse, 20 — 22, 89, 282, 287 ; on 
 
 Hutten's death, 365 ; last days of, 
 
 373—375 _, 
 " Epistolae Obscurorum Virorum, 83, 
 
 120 — 132 ; authorship of, 133 — 138 
 Eppendorf, Heinrich von, 326 — 328, 331 
 Erasmus, Hutten's first meeting with, 
 
 58 ; letter to Hutten, 172 ; invited to 
 
 Mayence, 175 ; at Boppart, 209 ; and 
 
 Lee, 211 ; character, opinions, and 
 
 works, 315 — 324 ; letter to Laurinus, 
 
 329—331 ; his " Sponge," 335—344 ; 
 
 warning against Hutten, 355 ; 
 
 " Sponge," Second ed. of, 363, 364 ; 
 
 on " Free Will," 368 ; last days of, 
 
 369, 370 
 Erturt, university of, 20 
 Kschentelder, 2oy _ 
 
 Fachus, Balthasar, 48 
 Franconian nobility, the, 3 
 Frankfort-on-the-Main, 36 
 
 Frankfort-on-the-Oder, university of, 28 
 
 Glapion, 282, 283 
 Gcitz von Berlichingen, 219 
 Greiffenclau, R. von, Archbishop of 
 Treves, 307—311 
 
 Hochstraten, 14, 112, 113 ; meeting 
 with near Louvain, 216 
 
 Humanism, 10, 14, 42, 81, 147, 323, 380 
 -382. 
 
 Humanists, the, and the Reformation, 
 
 ,,383,384 ^ . „ 
 Huttenus Captivus, 232 
 
 " Huttenus Illustris," 232 
 
 Hutten, Hans, murder of, 59 — 63 
 
 Hutten, Frowin von, 5, 58 
 
 Hutten, Louis von, 60, 63, 65 
 
 Hutten, Maurice von, 3';g 
 
 Hutten, Ulrich von, his lineage, 4 ; his 
 father, 5, 6, 40, 41, 293 ; his mother, 
 7 ; his contemporaries, 8 ; at Fulda, 
 8, 9 ; flight from Fulda, 13 ; at Co- 
 logne, 13 ; leaves Cologne, 19 ; at 
 Erfurt, 20 ; at Frankfort-on-the- 
 Oder, 28 ; at Leipzig, 29 — 31 ; at 
 Greifswald, 32 ; attacked by the 
 Lotzes, 33 ; at Rostock, 34 ; at 
 Vienna, 42 ; first visit to Italy, 47 ; in 
 the army, 49 ; return home, 55 ; as 
 judge, 56 ; second visit to Italy, 79 — 
 94 ; and five Frenchmen, 86 ; por- 
 traits of, 88 ; his mottoes, 92 ; visit 
 to Venice, 93 ; return to Germany, 
 94 ; coronation as poet, 141, 142 ; in 
 office at Mayence, 144 ; journey to 
 France, 145 ; letter to Count Nuenar, 
 147 ; at Augsburg, 149,' 152, 153 ; and 
 Luther at Augsburg, 153, 154 ; his 
 malady, 162, 163 ; in camp in Wiir- 
 temberg, 170, 172 ; project of mar- 
 riage,^ x74=-i26j relations with Lu- 
 ther, (^89, 19 2, 19!;;^ letter to Erfurt 
 friendv~r9*T"^Lt~^amberg, 208 ; at 
 Boppart, 209 ; journey to Brussels,. 
 2J2, 214, 215 ; letter to Luther, 21^^ 
 *ii£jv visit to Erasmus at Louvaifi, 
 215 ; Papal persecution of, 216 — 218 ; 
 tnendsJuip witu oicKingen, 222 ; plots 
 against, 216, 224 ; at Ebernburg, 
 224 ; begins to write German, 235 ; 
 letter to Reuchlin, 238 ; letter to 
 Luther, (^gV his threats from Ebern- 
 
 C C 
 
386 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 burg, 286 — 289 ; quarrel with the 
 Carthusians, 292, 293 ; attack on 
 three abbots, 297 ; leaves Germany 
 for Basle, 314 ; quarrel with Erasmus, 
 315 — 346; at Miilhausen, :328; at 
 Zurich, 351 ; at PfefFers, 351, 352 ; 
 last letters, 352, 354 ; at Ufnau, 355 ; 
 vindication to council of Zurich, 356 ; 
 his death, 356, 357 ; his des titution, 
 357> 358 ; and the ReformationC383jJ^3> 
 Hutten's Works : Address on ~tEe 
 Turkish War, 150, 151, 164 ; Address 
 to the Emperor, and Apology, 280, 
 281 ; Address to Worms, 296, 297 ; 
 Appeal to the Emperor, 225 ; Appeal 
 to the Elector of Saxony, 227 ; Ap- 
 peal to all Germans, 122^ Apology, 
 252 — 255 ; Arminius, 360 — 362 ; Ba- 
 discus, 194— i9g> Ballad, 255 — 257 ; 
 Commentary on the Bull against 
 Luther, 233 — 235>jCouncils, on, 273, 
 274 ; Dedication to Livy, 165 ; Dedi- 
 cation to Charles V., 205, 206 ; Dedi- 
 cation of German Works to Sickin- 
 gen,262 — 264 ; " DeUnitateEcclesiae," 
 204, 205 ; Dialogue on Court Life, 
 154 — 156 ; Elegy on Hans Hutten, 
 6^ ; Expostulation with Erasmus, 335 
 — 340; Epigrams on Papal Rome, 
 
 83, 84 ; Epigrams to Maximilian, 50, 
 52 ; Epitaph on Himself, 48 ; Febris 
 I., 165, 166; Febris II., 186—188; 
 Fortuna, 182 — 186 ; German Poems, 
 235, 236, 240; Instruction for the 
 Emperor, 247 ; Invective against 
 Aleander, 276 ; Invective against 
 Caraccioli, 278; Invective against 
 Church Dignitaries, 279 ; Italia's 
 Epistle to Maximilian, 89 ; Lamenta- 
 tion and Appeal, 241 — 246 ; Letter to 
 Pirckheimer, 156 — 158 ; Monitor, I. 
 and II., 267 — 272 ; New Karsthans, 
 301—304 ; "Nobody," 54, 80, 81, 153 ; 
 Orations against Ulrich of Wiirtem- 
 burg, 64—68, 70, 71, 75—78, 173; 
 Panegyric on Albert of Mayence, 57 ; 
 Panegyric on Cardinal Lang, ^9 ; 
 Phalarismus, 91 ; Poem on Versifi- 
 cation, 39 ; Poem on PfefFerkorn, 56 ; 
 Poem on the Venetians, 88 ; Poetical 
 Exhortation to Maximilian, 43, 44 ; 
 Prognosticon, 85 ; Querelen, 35—38 ; 
 Share in the " Epist. Obsc. Viroruni," 
 133—138 ; The Bull-Slayer,^— z6^ 
 The Good Man, 53 ; The Robbers, 
 273 ; The Spectators, 199 — 203 ; 
 Translations' of Latin Works, 248— 
 251; " Triumphus Capnionis," 117, 
 118; Tyrants, lost Work,on, 353^^54; 
 Wrongs of the Free_Cities,<;298/2|2;;> 
 
 Julius II., 52, 53 
 Justus Jonas, 283 
 Justus^Ienius, 379 
 
 " Lamentationes Obscurorum Vir- 
 orum," 139, 140 
 
 Landstuhl, Siege of, 348, 349 
 Laurentius Valla, 94, 142 
 Leo X., 113, 115, 119, 143, 144, 217 
 Lotzes, the, 32—38 
 
 Lucian's " Dialogues of the Dead," qo 
 Luther at Erfurt, 13 ;'and Hutten com- 
 pared, 13, 346; and Humanism, 147 ; 
 his aversion to war, 259 ; at Worms, 
 281, 284 ; on " Unfree Will," 368 ; 
 and Crotus, 379, 380 
 
 Martin Bucer, 223, 276, 291 
 Maximilian I., 68, 78 ; death of, 168 
 Mayence, university of, 55 
 Melanchthon, 193, 237, 345, 365 
 Mutianus Rufus, 22 — 27, 95 ; last days 
 of, 366, 367 
 
 Names, transformation of, 15 — 17 
 Nuenar, Hermann von, 19, 145, 146 
 
 CEcolampadius, 223, 294, 303 
 
 Peter Meyer, 295, 296 
 Peutinger, Conrad, 141, 142 
 PfefFerkorn, 56, 100—105, 109, 114 
 Pirckheimer, Wilibald, 119, 156 — 158 ; 
 
 and the Reformation, 371 ; last days 
 
 of, 373—375 
 
 Rhagius ^sticampianus, 15, 28 
 Reuchlin, 95, 153, 171 ; his Hebrew 
 studies, 96 — 98 ; compared with 
 Erasmus, 96, 97 ; controversy with 
 PfefFerkorn and the Cologne theolo- 
 gians, 100 — 112 ; his trial at Rome, 
 113 — 115 ; and Hutten, 116— 119; last 
 days of, 238, 239; apotheosis of, 319, 
 320 
 
 Sabine of Wiirtemberg, 61, 69, 71 
 Sickingen, Franz von, 169 — 171, 219— 
 224, 286, 361 ; and Reuchlin, 189 — 
 191; and Luther, 192, 193, 214; 
 friendship with Hutten, 222 ; as 
 Hutten's pupil, 261, 262 ; campaign 
 in France, 290, 291 ; as author, 293, 
 294 ; campaign against Treves, 305, 
 311, 312 ; last days of, 347-35° ; 
 Schweickard von, 220 
 Steckelberg, Castle of, 5, 6 
 
 Treaty of Blaubeuren, 75 ; Landau, 
 
 305, 306 
 Turkish war, 149 
 
 Vehmgericht, 73, 74 
 
 Veit Werler, memorial of Hutten, 364 
 
 Venice, 51, »», 93 
 Vindications of H 
 Vulgate, the, 99 
 
 utten, 346 
 
 Wiirtemberg, 169—172; Duke Ulrich 
 of, 60—78, 91, 168, 169, 173 
 
 Zwingli, 344, 351, 355, 358 
 
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