J'J.
 
 Uniform with this Volume : 
 
 LITERARY SOURCE-BOOK 
 
 OF THB 
 
 ITALIAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 : 
 
 Bound in cloth, $1.00.
 
 A LITERARY SOURCE-BOOK 
 
 GERMAN RENAISSANCE 
 
 MERRICK WHITCOMB, PH. D., 
 
 Instructor in Modern European History, University of Pennsylvania. 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, PA. 
 
 1899.
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1899, 
 BY 
 
 MERRICK WHITCOMB.
 
 THE RENAISSANCE IN GERMANY. I 
 
 THE RENAISSANCE IN GERMANY.* 
 
 The humanistic movement in Germany repeats, in many par- 
 ticulars of its development, the features of the earlier and greater 
 Renaissance in Italy. It differs, however, from its Italian proto- 
 type in this important particular at least, that the various phases 
 of its progress are compressed into a period of little more than half 
 a century, whereas the Italian movement covers two centuries 
 from its rise to its decline. Just before the middle of the fifteenth 
 century Aeneas Sylvius, himself an accomplished man of letters, 
 who had, moreover, as secretary at the imperial court of Frederick 
 III., abundant opportunity of observing the intellectual develop- 
 ment and tendencies of the Germans, as the result of his experi- 
 ence declares that the Germans were still in their mediaeval per- 
 iod; that such intellectual activity as they possessed was of a 
 character exclusively theological; that they still moved within the 
 narrow circle of scholasticism. "They are good people," he said, 
 " but they are not interested in the things that interest me." Of 
 the nobles, the future patrons of humanism, he remarked further: 
 ' ' They prefer horses and dogs to poets, and like horses and dogs, 
 they shall go down fameless unto death." Yet such a Renais- 
 sance as Germany possesses lies between these experiences of 
 Aeneas Sylvius and the end of the first quarter of the following 
 century, when Luther's bold and cumulative attack upon the 
 church of Rome turned the interests of young Germany from the 
 sunny fields of humanism into a new arena of theological struggle. 
 
 Certain conditions existed, however, favorable for a rapid de- 
 velopment of humanistic ideas in Germany. When that country 
 had arrived at a point where the more material needs were satis- 
 
 1 So far as I am aware, there has been no special treatment in English of 
 the German humanistic movement, which for the sake of brevity has been 
 termed I hope without too much violence the "German Renaissance." 
 It seemed not inappropriate, therefore, to preface the selections offered here 
 with a few remarks upon the significance and character of that general in- 
 tellectual quickening in German lands, whose genial activity was merged in 
 the struggles of the Reformation. The following account will seem less 
 meagre if taken in connection with the introductory notices placed at the 
 head of the various selections. Upon this subject compare Van Dyke: "The 
 Age of the Renaissance," Scribners, 1897, an excellent account in so far as 
 the limits of the work permit; also "The Renaissance," by Philip Schaff, 
 Putnams, 1891.
 
 2 SOURCE-BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 fied, and a wider intellectual field was necessary for continued 
 expansion, the materials for the new learning were found, already 
 elaborated, beyond the Alps. The early steps had been taken 
 there: the slow and tedious preliminary work had been accom- 
 plished, the enormous task of bringing to light the remains of 
 classical culture ; even the preparation of elementary treatises, 
 whose object it was to prepare the mind for the utilization of the 
 recovered treasures; all this had been done before the middle of 
 the fifteenth century, and it only remained for the enterprising 
 German pioneer to cross the Alps, bring home the results of this 
 tremendous labor, and give it a form adapted for the German mind 
 and inclination. . 
 
 Moreover, when Germany entered upon her humanistic career, 
 a potent instrument had been prepared for the dissemination of 
 the new ideas. In superseding the slow process of manual repro- 
 duction, which consumed so much of the time and strength of the 
 Italian humanists from Petrarch on, the printing-press gave a 
 mighty impetus to the diffusion of the new learning. It permitted 
 the more advanced ideas, in so far as they were consonant with 
 the prevailing trend of thought, to gain a rapid victory, accom- 
 plishing thereby in a brief period what in a time of less perfect 
 communication had required generations. It is on this account, 
 perhaps, more than on any other, that we find Germany, within 
 the space of half a century, passing rapidly through the various 
 phases of humanistic development, which in Italy required two 
 centuries. 
 
 These phases are a series of stages in the emancipation of 
 thought, and its subsequent progress from a condition of limited 
 theological interest, characteristic of the Middle Ages, to that 
 condition which comprehends the wide range of human interests 
 which we call modern. Along this track of progress are to be 
 found a sequence of individuals, whom for purposes of illustra- 
 tion and study it is convenient to arrange in groups, and to char- 
 acterize according to the degree of their advancement. 
 
 We have at first, as in Italy, a group of early humanists, who 
 may be called the theological humanists, by way of indicating that 
 they are still largely under the influence of mediaeval culture. 
 Although working earnestly for the introduction of humanistic 
 studies into Germany, these men are not given over unreservedly 
 to classical ideals; they are disposed to eliminate from the list of
 
 THE RENAISSANCE IN GERMANY. 3 
 
 Greek and Latin authors those whose works are in any respect 
 imbued with an anti-Christian spirit; their interest is not primar- 
 ily in the works themselves, but in their adaptation for Christian 
 purposes. Humanists of this description were conscious of a 
 divided allegiance, and it is impossible to resist the conviction 
 that their arguments in favor of the new learning are intended to 
 serve quite as much for self-justification as for the persuasion of 
 their readers. It is quite in the nature of things that with these 
 men youth is the period of rationalism, and that as they advance 
 toward the inevitable solution, in their individual cases, of the 
 great problem of the future, their conservatism asserts itself and 
 they recoil from the enterprises of their earlier days. Many of 
 them, in fact, revert to a condition of total obscurantism, and pass 
 the evening of life in retirement and religious meditation, doing 
 penance for the literary aberrations of their youth. 
 
 In Germany the theological group seems to include a great part 
 of the well-known men of letters. There are several reasons for 
 this. It is not strange that in a country where learning had been 
 almost exclusively an affair of the clergy, the first recruits for 
 humanism should be drawn from a class whose earlier impressions 
 rendered a separation from conventional theological ideas a mat- 
 ter of great difficulty. Then, too, the German mind, perhaps 
 because less composite in origin, and less subject to extraneous 
 influences in its national development, seems to have shown a 
 relatively great tenacity in respect to a small number of ideas, of 
 which the religious idea had been for generations one of the most 
 prominent. Such men were not likely to carry the new learning 
 beyond the pale of Christianity, and their predominant number 
 and influence gave to the German Renaissance a more truly re- 
 ligious character and a deeper sincerity of purpose than resulted 
 from similar intellectual impulses in Italy. It also happened that 
 the leaders of this group, men like Rudolf Agricola and Jakob 
 Wimpheling, turned their attention to educational matters and 
 embodied their principles in the organization of the German 
 school system. In the same manner the principals of the more 
 important secondary schools, as for example, Alexander Hegius, 
 of Deventer, were representatives of the same deeply religious 
 spirit, which was not without determining influence in their con- 
 tact with the rising generation of literary workers. 
 
 Another and later group of humanists may be called, for want
 
 4 SOURCE-BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 of a better term, the scientific group. The chief characteristic of 
 its members is that their interest in the new learning is for the 
 thing itself, and not for the use to which it may be put in advanc- 
 ing the interests of religion. They are not necessarily irreligious; 
 in fact such an element has almost no representation in German 
 humanism; they have simply advanced to a point, where, without 
 denying that religion is one of the most important, if not the most 
 important department of thought, they recognize that the circle 
 of human interests has grown to embrace other considerations 
 which, if not antagonistic, have yet no necessary connection with 
 religion. Another characteristic of these humanists is that they 
 are not necessarily clergymen. The humanities have come by this 
 time to attract men from all departments of life. At the high tide 
 of the German Renaissance, at the close of the fifteenth century, 
 lecturers upon theology, medicine and law were .speaking to empty 
 benches; the interests of the student body had turned toward the 
 new learning. The dethronement of theology from its supreme 
 position at the head of the university curriculum made place for 
 the introduction of other studies. Greek came more and more to 
 be the mark of a liberal education, and the knowledge of a third 
 tongue, Hebrew, was an indication of still greater attainment. 
 The field of speculation, loosed from its mediaeval entanglement, 
 drifted away from the sole contemplation of the spiritual results 
 of life, and came to include the facts of material existence. His- 
 tory came to be regarded as something other than the melancholy 
 confirmation of the results of Adam's fall; the world and its con- 
 tents came to demand attention, a tendency stimulated by the 
 recent extension of the earth's known area. 
 
 This second group embraces a wide range of intellectual effort. 
 To it belongs Erasmus, who although conventionally and prop- 
 erly religious in his observances, nevertheless affords at every 
 turn unquestionable evidence that the great interests of his life 
 are literary and not theological. To it belongs as well von Hut- 
 ten, in whom modernism has taken the form of a patriotic desire 
 to throw aside the yoke and influence of Rome, which has pre- 
 vented the formation in Germany of a centralized aud homogene- 
 ous nation, capable of approaching successfully the solution of 
 modern problems. This aspiration is in itself a recognition of the 
 importance of human association for material purposes, and a 
 denial of the exclusive importance of such association for the pur-
 
 THE RENAISSANCE IN GERMANY. 5 
 
 poses of spiritual preparation and advancement. In this group 
 also we find the mathematicians, the geographers and other men 
 of science, whose industry responds to the expanding needs of 
 human effort. 
 
 Moreover, in the same association we find the purely literary 
 workers, the ' ' poets, ' ' as all men were called at the time who were 
 capable of original literary production. These are the men who 
 seem least German, and most cosmopolitan ; they more nearly 
 reflect the contemporaneous idea of humanism in Italy, the striving 
 for a pure and graceful Latin diction. The conditions of this form 
 of literary work imply a contempt for the vernacular and an em- 
 phasis upon the necessity for style, even at the expense of content. 
 Such skill, although highly prized and greatly striven for by men 
 everywhere in the Renaissance, has but the faintest meaning for 
 posterity, whose interest is in the spirit of the Renaissance rather 
 than in its copy-book. 
 
 With this preliminary classification of German humanists, it 
 will be found profitable to approach the subject from another 
 standpoint, and to note the various centres of German life in which 
 humanistic effort finds its origin and support. In Italy the uni- 
 versities were not centres of the new learning. Its leaders were 
 rather to be found in the courts of princes or in the administrative 
 bureaux of republics. This is largely due to the fact that the 
 universities of Italy had been for so long the great professional 
 schools of Europe. The "bread-studies" were too firmly en- 
 trenched there to be driven into a subordinate position by mere 
 cultural studies. In Germany, on the other hand, the universi- 
 ties were relatively more numerous, of later growth, and their 
 interests less definitely determined. Lecturers upon poetry and 
 classical authors found little difficulty in filling their benches at 
 the expense of the more respectable departments. Progress in 
 this direction, however, varied according to the influence that 
 presided over the direction of each separate seat of learning. 1 At 
 Cologne, for example, where Dominican influences were par- 
 amount, the new learning was looked upon as questionable ; 
 
 ' The universities of Germany at this period were: Prague (1348), Vienna 
 (1365), Heidelberg (1385), Cologne (1388), Erfurt (1392), Leipzig (1409), 
 Rostock (1409), Greifswald (1456), Freiburg (1460), Basel (1460), Ingolstadt 
 (1472), Mainz (1476), Tubingen (1476), Wittenberg (1502) and Frankfort-on- 
 the-Oder (1506).
 
 6 SOURCE-BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 Erfurt, on the other hand, owing to the mild spirit there prevail- 
 ing, became the true centre of advance. Between these intellect- 
 ual poles lay the other universities, inclining to this side or to the 
 other, according as the nature and traditional bias of the domi- 
 nant territorial sovereign determined. The fact that the study of 
 the humanities afforded preparation for no definite career, led to 
 a vast increase in the number of students, whose residence at the 
 university was fixed by no particular curriculum, and in this 
 manner to a feeling of contempt for those degrees and titles which, 
 in the case of the older studies, had been the necessary qualifica- 
 tions for professional life. Again, by increasing the content of 
 the university curriculum, humanism discouraged the empty 
 routine of disputation upon points of infinitesimal importance, 
 which in mediaeval times made up so considerable a part of uni- 
 versity work. 
 
 It was not in the universities alone that the new learning made 
 its influence felt. Its progress was marked in the great secondary 
 schools, such as Deventer, Miinster and Schlettstadt, where thou- 
 sands of young men secured such preparation as was necessary to 
 fit them for teaching and other intellectual employments, as well 
 as for the advanced work of the universities. The fact that it was 
 the chief object of these schools to afford a working knowledge of 
 the Latin language made them especially susceptible to changes 
 which had for their object a substitution of classical models for 
 the monkish Latin so generally in use. This change made itself 
 manifest in the employment of new text-books in the place of the 
 clumsy and inadequate grammars and. lexicons of the Middle 
 Ages, and furthermore, in the rejection of Latin writers of the 
 declining Roman Empire and of the schools, in favor of the more 
 elegant authors of classical antiquity. There also took place, in 
 the more enterprising of the schools, an extension of the course of 
 study, to include at least the elements of Greek and Hebrew. 
 
 There is every reason to believe that an intense interest in edu- 
 cation reigned throughout Germany at the close of the fifteenth 
 century, and that many of the prizes in official and in public life 
 were to be won through the instrumentality of the new learning. 
 The introduction of the Roman law into Germany, the increase of 
 international communication, both diplomatic and commercial, 
 called for men of training and culture. The crowds of scholars 
 that thronged the highways leading to the great towns, the large
 
 THE RENAISSANCE IN GERMANY. 7 
 
 attendance at the universities and the crowded condition of the 
 lower schools give evidence of a desire for intellectual advance- 
 ment which, when the obstacles in the path of the ambitious stu- 
 dent are taken into the account, has never been surpassed in sub- 
 sequent times. 
 
 Other centres of humanism were the courts of princes. Not 
 only were skilled I/atinists and students of the laws a necessary 
 adjunct to the establishments of rulers; their ornamental qualities 
 were equally in demand. After the middle of the fifteenth cen- 
 tury the greater German princes were sufficiently instructed in 
 the essentials of the new learning to recognize its importance in 
 measuring a ruler's appreciation of the modern spirit. 
 
 Two emperors are associated with the Renaissance in Ger- 
 many. Frederick III., who reigned from 1440 until 1492, was 
 himself no humanist, either by education or by inclination, and 
 the constantly depleted condition of his treasury prevented any 
 considerable patronage of learning. It was only in the reign of 
 his son and successor Maximilian I., who by his marriage with 
 Mary of Burgundy added the rich provinces of the Netherlands to 
 the Hapsburg possessions, that the imperial court became a 
 potent factor in the Renaissance. Maximilian was himself a hu- 
 manist of no small pretensions. His political duties, which were 
 of the most complex and exacting nature, gave him, it is true, 
 little opportunity for actual composition; but in addition to the 
 fact that he made his court the centre of intellectual activity, he 
 even found time to evolve the material for two narratives, the 
 " Teuerdank" and the " Weisskunig, " which his secretaries, 
 under his direction, cast into literary form. A more important 
 contribution, however, to the advancement of learning, was the 
 stimulus he afforded to the study of German history. His pro- 
 ject for a great collection of German monumenta remained for 
 later and wealthier generations to carry out. 
 
 Maximilian's interest in the new learning was shown also in 
 his affection for the University of Vienna, and his personal atten- 
 tion to its welfare. The proximity of Vienna to the Italian 
 lands was perhaps a reason why the intellectual development at 
 the imperial university was more of a piece with Italian human- 
 ism than with the culture that prevailed at the northern seats of 
 learning. At Vienna the art of Latin poetry received especial 
 attention, and the greatest of the German stylists, Conrad Celtes,
 
 8 SOURCE-BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 who produced many volumes of verse in the manner of Ovid and 
 other classical poets, found the atmosphere of Vienna most con- 
 ducive to this phase of humanism. Here, under the auspices of 
 Maximilian, a special faculty of poetry was organized, and the 
 laurel crown and other insignia were conferred upon each appli- 
 cant who gave satisfactory evidence of possessing the qualifica- 
 tions of a professional verse-maker. 
 
 Of another character was the court of the Elector of Sax- 
 ony at Wittenberg. The Elector, Frederick the Wise, is an 
 enigmatical character, whose characteristic silence passes, as is 
 so often the case, for evidence of latent strength. That 
 strength, however, was wanting at a critical moment in his 
 career, when, during lyUther's absence at the Wartburg, the whole 
 ecclesiastical and social edifice seemed likely to fall about his 
 ears. The Elector was much less a modern man than Maxi- 
 milian, both in training and in inclination. He knew little 
 Latin, and his newly founded university at Wittenberg bade fair 
 to be little more than a feeble reflection of the great humanistic 
 centre at Erfurt, until the stirring events of 1517, so fatal to the 
 purposes of the humanists, drew the attention of the world upon 
 the little Saxon town and supplied the Elector with one of the 
 great r61es of modern history. 
 
 A more truly humanistic centre was the archiepiscopal seat 
 of Mainz, where the young and energetic sovereign, Albert of 
 Brandenburg, archbishop, cardinal and elector, gathered about 
 him a coterie of scholars for the glory of his reign and the embel- 
 lishment of his court. So long as rivers constituted the main 
 avenues of intercourse in Europe, the Rhine valley ever exhibited 
 a stage of material and intellectual progress in advance of the less 
 accessible portions of Germany. Mainz itself, the seat of the 
 new art ot printing, the last station on the way to the great fair at 
 Frankfort, was a point of first importance on this route of travel 
 and exchange. Its university was in touch with Cologne on the 
 north and Heidelberg on the south, and as temporal ruler of a 
 wealthy and populous district the Elector was one of the most 
 powerful princes of Germany. 
 
 Next to the imperial and princely courts the cities were the 
 most important centres of the new learning. Particularly in 
 South Germany the fifteenth century witnessed a remarkable 
 urban development. Augsburg, Nuremberg, Ratisbon and Ulm,
 
 THE RENAISSANCE IN GERMANY. 9 
 
 distributing points for the swelling stream of Eastern wares that 
 poured into Central Europe by way of Venice and the Alpine 
 passes, became great centres of wealth, and brought forward a 
 new and powerful social element, the burgher class, men of the 
 new time, keenly alive to the spirit of progress, unhampered 
 with precedent and eager to take advantage of the new opportu- 
 nities of pressing forward to importance and distinction. The 
 sons of these shrewd tradesmen, reared in an environment of in- 
 dustry and thrift, were much more likely to qualify themselves for 
 positions in private and in official life requiring intellectual skill 
 and technical knowledge, than the sons of a rash and undisci- 
 plined nobility, accustomed only to the pursuit of inclination and 
 pleasure. 
 
 These men of the upper middle class aided the progress of hu- 
 manism in various ways by their patronage of artists and liter- 
 ary men, for example. This was of especial value to literature at 
 a time when the profits of publication could hardly be expected 
 to afford a livelihood. All over Europe we find writers dedicat- 
 ing their works and fugitive pieces to men of wealth and distinc- 
 tion, from whom an honorarium might be expected in token of 
 appreciation. To stand in epistolary relations with so great a 
 humanist as Erasmus was an honor which many a weal thy burgher 
 felt well worth a generous purse. Even if he did not recognize 
 that such intercourse would snatch him from eventual oblivion, 
 yet the fact that Erasmus' letters became at once the property of 
 the literary world was sufficient to secure an honorable notice 
 before his contemporaries. Again, these humanistic procliv- 
 ities, particularly in the time of Maximilian, were often sufficient 
 to secure intimate relations with the imperial crown. Conrad 
 Peutinger and Willibald Pirckheimer, distinguished representa- 
 tives of the burgher class in Augsburg and Nuremberg, not only 
 materially increased their local importance, but reflected lustre 
 upon their native cities by means of their intimate relations with 
 the Emperor Maximilian and the assistance rendered him in his 
 effort to collect the monuments of German antiquity. Peutinger 
 and Pirckheimer were products of the best Italian and German 
 culture, and were themselves productive humanists. Their 
 wealth enabled them not only to entertain and aid their compan- 
 ions in letters, but also, by their patronage of artists and anti- 
 quaries, to accumulate large private collections, in which preroga-
 
 IO SOURCE-BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 tive of wealth they were pioneers in Germany. Their affluence 
 is in direct contrast with the Grub-street conditions which pre- 
 vailed generally in literary circles at the time; but the contrast is 
 softened and humanized by the fact that their wealth was so freely 
 employed, both in relieving the material needs of their literary 
 contemporaries, and in making possible the publication of their 
 works. 
 
 In another manner, however, the cities contributed even more 
 largely to the advancement of learning. Their liberality in 
 the foundation of bursaries made it possible for a multitude of stu- 
 dents from rural parts to obtain such education as only towns 
 afforded. In the eyes of the fifteenth century citizen it was one 
 of the essential attributes of a large and prosperous town that it 
 should be the educational centre of its commercial territory; and 
 not only did the bursaries furnish lodging and warmth during the 
 winter season, but the citizens themselves supported with alms a 
 great body of poor students who spent their afternoons in singing 
 for bread through the streets. The student and the street musi- 
 cian were one at the beginning of modern times. 
 
 Another institution that contributed to the advancement and 
 direction of literary effort was the society of literati (sodalitas lit- 
 eraria). There were two of these in Germany, the Danubian and 
 the Rhenish (sodalitates Danubiana et Rhenana). The former had 
 its permanent home at Vienna, where it enjoyed the patron- 
 age of the Emperor, and the personal interests of its most import- 
 ant member, Conrad Celtes, threw its activity almost exclusively 
 into the direction of verse- production. The Rhenish society had 
 no such distinctive seat, but included in its membership the pa- 
 trician humanists of Augsburg and Nuremberg, the learned 
 bishop of Worms, Johann von Dalberg (1445-1503), the Heidel- 
 berg literary group, and Johannes Trithemius (1462-1516), abbot 
 of Sponheim, famous not only for his general literary activity, but 
 also on account of his supposed magical powers, to which a still 
 credulous age attributed much importance. 
 
 It is by comparing these German societies with the academies 
 of Italy that we are able to arrive at the general relation of the 
 German to the Italian Renaissance. The German movement is 
 of a homelier and less aspiring character. While the Florentine 
 academy sought nothing less than a restoration of Greek philoso- 
 phy, the Danubian society was content with paraphrasing Ovid
 
 THE RENAISSANCE IN GERMANY. II 
 
 and Virgil. The Roman academy undertook to discern and in- 
 terpret the antiquities of that centre of the classical world, while 
 the Rhenish society attempted nothing more ambitious than the 
 publication of the works of the nun Hrotsvitha. 
 
 But if German humanists failed to inoculate their fellow citi- 
 zens with the philosophic spirit of Greece and Rome, they at 
 least discovered many practical applications of their learning, and 
 opened the way toward a larger view of human life. That the 
 spirit of theological strife descended and closed this way, and 
 filled the arena with internecine struggle, so that for two centu- 
 ries Germany was shut out from the van of European progress, 
 was a result which the ablest of German humanists predicted at 
 the opening of the Lutheran controversy. It was not the way 
 Erasmus would have chosen. Whether it led, after a lapse of 
 centuries, to as good or to better results, is one of the problems of 
 history for whose solution the material will ever be wanting.
 
 12 SOURCE-BOOK OP THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 RUDOLF AGRICOLA. 
 
 Rudolf Agricola, or Rudolf Hustnann as he was called before the adoption 
 of his scholarly name, was born in 1443 near Groningen in Friesland. His 
 parents were in modest circumstances. Agricola received his elementary edu- 
 cation in Groningen; at Erfurt he attained to his baccalaureate degree and 
 went thence to Lowen in Brabant for mathematics and philosophy. Agri- 
 cola's disposition is shown by the fact that during his residence in Brabant he 
 avoided, so far as possible, the rough and roystering life of his countrymen, 
 and sought the more refined and elegant society of the French. At the age 
 of sixteen he received the master's degree at Lb'wen, and continued his 
 theological studies at Cologne. At the age of 23 he went to Pavia, and there 
 took up the study of law, in accordance with the wish of his family and 
 friends. His interest in the law was feeble, however, and as time advanced 
 he gave himself up to the study of classical literature. In Pavia he became 
 acquainted with Johann von Dalberg, who afterwards became bishop of 
 Worms, and remained on terms of intimacy with this influential man during 
 the remainder of his life. In order to pursue to better advantage the study 
 of Greek, Agricola went to Ferrara, where he remained six or seven years at 
 the court of Hercules of Este. His presence here was the more appreciated 
 on account of his musical skill and his contribution to the services of the 
 ducal chapel. 
 
 Upon Agricola's return from Italy he spent three years in his native 
 country, residing mostly in Groningen. In 1484, at the urgent request of his 
 friend, von Dalberg, who in 1482 had been chosen bishop of Worms, he 
 made his residence at Heidelberg. Here he took up the study of Hebrew, 
 with the intention of revising the Latin version of the Old Testament. In 
 1485 von Dalberg and Agricola made the journey to Rome together. On 
 the homeward journey he fell sick and reached Heidelberg only to die in 
 the arms of his friend and patron, at the age of 46. 
 
 In his habits and talk Agricola more nearly resembled the Italians than 
 the Germans of his time. His interests were in music and painting, rather 
 than in the coarser pleasures of his countrymen. One of the earliest of 
 German humanists, his inclinations and extensive Italian experience made 
 him the most polished of the group. 
 
 Agricola's chief work was De inventione dialectica, begun in Ferrara and 
 finished in 1479 in Germany. He left also many letters, several translations 
 and lesser works, including a biography of Petrarch (written at Pavia in 
 U77), whose personality he much admired. 
 
 FROM A LETTER TO JACOB BARBIRIANUS.* 
 
 In the arrangement of your studies two considerations, it 
 seems to me, come prominently forward. In the first place, it is 
 necessary to determine what department of knowledge shall be 
 
 *Sammlung der bedeutendsten padagogischen Schriften aus alter und 
 neuer Zeit. 15. Band. Paderborn, 1893.
 
 RUDOLF AGRICOLA. 13 
 
 chosen. Then you must consider by what method it is possible 
 to achieve the greatest success in the department already chosen. 
 I wish to make myself clear on both these points. For some 
 persons the compelling force of circumstances, having its origin 
 either in external conditions or in natural capacity, determines th 
 choice of a profession. Others, on the contrary, turn with a free- 
 dom of selection to that which they hold to be the best. If, for 
 example, one has limited resources, he turns to that occupation 
 in which he may hope to secure for himself, in the briefest possi- 
 ble space of time, the means for satisfying the needs of his exist- 
 ence. If, furthermore, one is by nature less energetic and pos- 
 sesses a weak intelligence, then for fear of wasting his effort 
 he may not select that department which in fact most appeals to 
 him, but will be obliged to select that in which he may achieve 
 the greatest success. In the same way would he err, to whom 
 abundant means and fortunate spiritual gifts have been confided, 
 if with all his strength he did not pursue the highest aims, or if 
 able to reach the highest place, he should content himself with 
 the second or the third. Therefore one chooses the civil, another 
 the canon law, and still a third medicine. Very many devote 
 themselves to those wordy utterances resounding with empty ver- 
 bal contests, which are so often mistaken for knowledge. They 
 pass their days in labored and interminable disputations, or, to 
 use an expression much to the point, with riddles, which in the 
 course of many centuries have found no Oedipus to solve them, 
 nor ever will find him. With these things they torture the ears 
 of the unfortunate youth. Such nourishment they provide for 
 their pupils, with force, so to speak. In this manner they kill the 
 most promising talents, and destroy the fruit while yet in the blos- 
 som. Nevertheless, I commend all these intellectual exercises, 
 and would commend them still more, if they were undertaken in 
 a proper and orderly manner. For I am not so foolish as alone to 
 condemn what so many praise. Why should I too not approve it, 
 when I see that many thereby have attained to wealth, position, 
 esteem, fame and distinction ? Indeed I know and willingly ac- 
 knowledge that many of the sciences, as Cicero says, are more 
 easily converted into gain than others, of which it is said they 
 are unfruitful and resultless, since they enrich the spirit rather 
 than the pocket. If then you have gain in mind, you must 
 choose one of the much celebrated professions, by the practice of
 
 14 SOURCE-BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 which you may become rich. At the same time, you must 
 always remember that the fame which you secure in this manner, 
 you always have in common with every clever man of business. 
 But if you cherish the juster view, that that which is noble 
 should be pursued for its own sake, and if you are persuaded that 
 your resources are sufficient for your modest demands for when 
 our demands are excessive even the slender means of others 
 seem to us too great, and our own, on the contrary, were they 
 ever so great, too small then I advise you to turn your attention 
 to philosophy; by which I mean to say, give yourself the trouble 
 to acquire a competent knowledge of things in general, and the 
 ability to express adequately what you know. This knowledge, 
 like the essence of the things that form its subject, is twofold, 
 one branch relating to our acts and customs. Upon it reposes 
 the whole theory of a proper and well regulated manner of 
 living. This sphere of philosophical activity furnishes the sci- 
 ence of ethics. It is of the first importance, and deserves our 
 special attention. It is to be sought for, not only among the 
 philosophers, who treat it as a branch of literature, as for exam- 
 ple, Aristotle, Cicero, Seneca and others, who have written in 
 Latin, or who at least have been translated into Latin, so that it 
 is worth while to read them; but also among the historians, 
 poets and orators. They teach morality, not systematically, it is 
 true, but they indicate it and this is indeed the most effective 
 in their praise of the good and their blame of the evil, and by 
 their use of examples of virtue and its antithesis by way of illus- 
 tration. By reading them, you arrive at the contemplation of 
 the Scriptures; because you must arrange your life in accordance 
 with their injunctions; to the Bible you must trust, as to a cer- 
 tain guide in matters of the soul's salvation. All that which is 
 furnished^from other sources is more or less mixed with error; 
 for they did not succeed in constructing an ideal of life that was 
 absolutely correct and irreproachable in every respect. Either 
 they did not recognize the object and purpose of life, or they had 
 only indistinct perceptions, and looked, so to speak, through a 
 veil of cloud. Therefore, although they talked much about these 
 matters, it was not because they were thoroughly permeated with 
 their doctrine. It is otherwise with Holy Writ. That is as 
 far removed from all error as God, who has given it to us; it 
 alone leads us on the sure and certain way. It removes all ob-
 
 RUDOLF AGRICO^A. 15 
 
 scurity, and permits us not to be deceived, to lose ourselves, or go 
 astray. 
 
 There are, however, other things, a knowledge of which serves 
 rather to adorn the spirit, and the exploration of which must be 
 regarded rather as a noble pleasure than as a necessary condition of 
 existence. Here belong the investigations into the essence of things. 
 Multiform and manifold is this domain, and upon its various sides 
 it has been treated by talented men, gifted with the power of ex- 
 pression. If this sort of activity is not absolutely necessary for 
 the development of a moral man, at least it contributes not a lit- 
 tle thereto; for when a true interest in scientific investigation has 
 once seized upon a man, there is no more room in his soul for low 
 and common-place effort. That man learns to despise and belittle 
 things which the common herd gazes upon with admiration. He 
 pities those who are held to be fortunate on account of the pos- 
 session of such things, because he recognizes how vain and transi- 
 tory are these possessions in their nature, and because he recog- 
 nizes that no greater misfortune could fall upon the universe than 
 that all its parts, even the most subordinate, should be transformed 
 into such things as gold and jewels, to which the blindness of 
 humanity has attributed so high a value. With the aid of this 
 knowledge we recognize also the frailty and transitory nature of 
 our bodies, exposed to the mutability of events. Thereby we see 
 that we must give our whole attention to the soul, that to its care 
 we must devote our time, since in its care no pains are thrown 
 away, no success is perishable. I pass over much in my discus- 
 sion, for everything that could be said in this connection would 
 fill a book and not merely a single letter. It is sufficient, more- 
 over, to have merely indicated what is already known to you, 
 that this branch of knowledge is worthy the highest efforts of an 
 able man. 
 
 I am not willing, however, that you should assimilate merely 
 the rudiments of this science as at present we are conscious of 
 it daily it is presented in the schools; for that you have already 
 done with zeal and willingness, in a manner worthy of recogni- 
 tion. It is rather my meaning that you must come nearer to the 
 things themselves, and investigate the situation and the natural 
 qualities of countries, mountains and rivers, the customs of peo- 
 ples, their boundaries and their conditions, the territorial posses- 
 sions which they have inherited or extended, the virtues of trees
 
 16 SOURCE-BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 and plants, which Theophrastus has recounted, and the history of 
 living creatures, which Aristotle has treated from the literary point 
 of view. Why should I further mention the literary treatment of 
 agriculture and of medicine? These authors have written in many 
 fields, one on the art of war, another on architecture, a third on 
 painting and sculpture. These arts, it is true, do not belong ex- 
 actly to that part of knowledge which explores the essence 
 of things, but they are related to it, nevertheless, and spring, 
 so to speak, from the same source. Therefore, I have no reason 
 to be apprehensive, if I seem forced to present them in the same 
 connection. 
 
 All that, however, which, as I have said, has a bearing upon 
 our customs and upon the nature of things, you must obtain from 
 those authors who have presented these things in the clearest 
 light. Then you will acquire at once a knowledge of the things 
 themselves, and that which I regard as most important in a sec- 
 ondary degree the gift of suitable presentation. You are aware, 
 moreover, that upon this point the greatest men afford much 
 guidance. But it is necessary that you should lay aside the 
 teaching which has been given us as boys at school. Gather 
 up all that you have learned in this field, together with the 
 prejudices that accompany it, condemn it, and make up your 
 mind to give it up, unless you are again put in possession of it 
 through the recommendation of better vouchers, as though by 
 official decree. Therefore it will be very useful for you to trans- 
 late everything that you read in the works of classical authors 
 into your mother tongue, using words as apt and significant as 
 possible; for by this exercise you will bring it about that when 
 you are obliged to speak or write, the Latin expressions will 
 evolve themselves from your mind in immediate connection with 
 their originals in the vernacular. If, moreover, you wish to com- 
 mit something to writing, it is recommended that you first ar- 
 range the material as completely and correctly as possible in the 
 vernacular, and then proceed to express it appropriately and forc- 
 ibly in pure Latin. In this manner the presentation will be clear 
 and exhaustive; for it is easier to detect an error in the vernacu- 
 lar. In the same way every one will notice most readily, in the 
 language most familiar to him, whether a point has been expressed 
 too obscurely, too briefly, in too labored a manner, or in a man- 
 ner not in keeping with the subject. In order to avoid these
 
 RUDOLF AGRICOLA. IJ 
 
 mishaps, seek to express everything that you write in the purest, 
 that is, the most accurate L,atin possible. The adornment of the 
 discourse is a matter of secondary importance. This can only be 
 arrived at when the presentation is sound and faultless. It is 
 with discourse as with the human body; if all parts are not in 
 suitable condition ; if, for example, they do not possess the right 
 form and size, it is in vain that you embellish them with objects 
 of adornment. The ornament stands in sharp contrast to the 
 body itself, and the foreign embellishment makes the distortion 
 all the more noticeable by comparison. But enough of the 
 studies which you must pursue in this direction. 
 
 It remains for me to indicate the method by means of which, in 
 my opinion, you may reach the best results. Many, no doubt, 
 would differ with me, but my view of the matter is as follows: 
 Whoever, in the acquisition of a science will obtain a result pro- 
 portionate with his effort, must observe three things in particular: 
 He must grasp clearly and correctly that which he learns; he 
 must retain accurately that which he has grasped; and he must 
 put himself in a position to produce something independently, as 
 a result of that which he has learned. The first requisite, there- 
 fore, is careful reading; the second, a trustworthy memory; the 
 third, continuous exercise. In reading, the effort must be, to 
 thoroughly penetrate and comprehend in its full meaning that 
 which is read. It is not sufficient to understand what is treated 
 of; with classical writers it is furthermore necessary to give your 
 attention to the meaning of expressions, to the peculiarities of ar- 
 rangement, to the correctness and fitness of the diction, to the 
 balance of the sentences, and to the ability of the writer to clarify 
 a subject, to clothe the weightiest and most obscure things in 
 words and bring them forth into the light of publicity. It must 
 not be said, however, that when by chance we come across a pas- 
 sage in itself obscure, or at least unintelligible to us, we shall 
 stop and go no further. Many throw their book at once aside, 
 give up their studies entirely, or bewail their limited intelligence. 
 On the contrary, we persevere in our efforts, and are not neces- 
 sarily vexed. If you find something, the meaning of which you 
 cannot at once determine, it is best to pass over it for the moment, 
 and reserve it for another opportunity, until you find a man or a 
 book that will afford an explanation. Oftentimes repeated reading 
 is sufficient to clear the matter up; for one day teaches the next, 
 
 2
 
 1 8 SOURCE- BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 as I am fond of saying. If Quintilian reckoned it among the 
 virtues of a grammarian to be ignorant of many things, how 
 much more, I will not say necessary, but indeed pardonable it is 
 in our case, if we now and then are ignorant of something. I 
 wish above all things, however, not to give the impression that in 
 this discussion I am making a plea for superficiality. On the con- 
 trary! I believe that there is no way in which I can more effectu- 
 ally put a spur to zeal than by making it clear, how by reading 
 itself one opens the way to comprehension; and that all difficul- 
 ties which arise in reading are by reading itself set aside. 
 
 The next requisite is an accurate memory. Memory depends 
 immediately upon natural qualities; but even here art may be 
 helpful. This art has been presented in various ways by differ- 
 ent teachers. Nevertheless the essentials are the same. This 
 art seems to me especially adapted for two sorts of uses. It often 
 happens that you are compelled to speak or to bring forward a 
 great number of things without special preparation. The danger 
 is that you will fail in respect of consecutiveness or in respect of 
 completeness. If, for example, you have to present certain 
 claims before a prince or before a senate, or you are obliged to 
 reply to the arguments of an opponent, then you will most ap- 
 propriately seek help in this art. If it is desirable to exercise the 
 memory, however, it can best be done in the following manner: 
 That this method for the strengthening of the memory is in the 
 highest degree beneficial Quintilian assures us, and experience 
 teaches us as well, if we but make the trial; for the memory, 
 quite as much as any other gift, is capable of being strengthened 
 by frequent exercise, or of being weakened by a lack of interest 
 or by neglect. If it is wished that certain things should be 
 firmly lodged in our mind, it is necessary first of all to grasp them 
 as intensively as possible, then to reproduce them as frequently as 
 possible, and thereby establish the highest degree of certainty 
 conceivable. Finally, we must take up this exercise when our 
 spirit is otherwise unoccupied and free from the burden of press- 
 ing thoughts. For, let us do what we will, it still remains an 
 established fact that we cannot do two things properly at the 
 same time. True it is, as Sallust says, that the mind is strongest 
 when a strain is put upon it; but it cannot possibly be effective 
 when it is directed into several channels at the same time. The 
 third and last point that I have to raise treats of the art and
 
 RUDOLPH AGRICOLA. 19 
 
 manner in which we may derive an individual benefit from what 
 we have learned, and bring our knowledge to light; for the pro- 
 ducts of our effort ought not to remain idle and unfruitful in the 
 depths of our minds, but like seed corn, which has been entrusted 
 to the earth, they should bring forth abundant increase. This 
 subject is very comprehensive and productive. It deserves an 
 extensive treatment, which I have in mind for some further op- 
 portunity; for upon this question depends the principal reward 
 for a long-continued effort and for much trouble expended in pur- 
 suit of knowledge. That is to say, if we can leave nothing to 
 posterity, can transmit nothing to our contemporaries beyond 
 that which we ourselves have appropriated, what difference is 
 there then between us and a book ? Hardly more than this, that 
 a book preserves with accuracy for all future time that which it 
 has once taken to itself, while we must frequently repeat and im- 
 press that which we have appropriated, in order that we may 
 retain it permanently. In this connection two requisites make 
 themselves apparent. Each is in and for itself something great 
 and fine, but the union of the two in an intellectual career unques- 
 tionably deserves especial recognition. The first requisite is this: 
 All that we have learned we must have in constant readiness for 
 immediate use. For you frequently find people who have ac- 
 quired much and who remember many things, but they are una- 
 ble to recollect just the things of which they have especial need. 
 These people indeed know many things, but they have no exact 
 knowledge of anything. The second requisite is the ability to 
 discover and produce something outside the area of our acquisi- 
 tion, something that we may ascribe to ourselves and put forward 
 as our own spiritual property. In this direction two things 
 afford us great aid. In the first place, we must establish certain 
 rubrics, for example, virtue and vice, life and death, wisdom and 
 ignorance, benevolence and hate, etc. They are suitable for all 
 occasions. We must recall them frequently, and, so far as possi- 
 ble, arrange under them everything that we have learned, or at 
 least everything that we are learning. Then by each repetition 
 of the rubrics, everything that we have arranged under them will 
 be recalled; and finally, it will come about that everything we 
 have learned will be always present, before our eyes, so to speak. 
 It will often happen, however, that an example or a sentence 
 may be brought under various rubrics. Thus, for example, you
 
 20 SOURCE- BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 may place the account of the violation of L,ucretia under the head 
 of Chastity, because it teaches us how highly this should be val- 
 ued, when Lucretia believed she must repurchase it at the price 
 of her life. It goes equally well under the head of Beauty, for it 
 shows us how great sorrow this may cause, and how greatly it 
 endangers chastity. It may be included also under the rubric 
 Death; for death is no evil, since I^ucretia preferred it to a life of 
 shame. The account comes also in the chapter of Lust, for it 
 shows how this moral weakness has caused misfortune and war. 
 It also justifies the aphorism that great evil often produces great 
 good, for the whole circumstance brought to the Roman people 
 their free constitution. In a similar manner the saying, est virtus 
 placitis abstinisse bonis 1 may be classified in various ways. It 
 may be placed under the head of Virtue, for it is reckoned a virtue 
 to abstain from the benefits that fall to us. The rubric Benefits 
 may also come in requisition, since not all benefits are worthy of 
 effort. The idea of Continence may also be considered. 
 
 In the second place, in everything that we learn we must care- 
 fully consider, compare and thoroughly elucidate the individual 
 expressions. L,et us take, for example, a sentence from Virgil: 
 Optima quaeque dies miscris mortalibus aevi primafugit.' 1 First of 
 all, the poet says optima ; how must we value benefits, when 
 those which we consider best of all not only vanish, but hasten 
 away and torture us with fear in the face of a hopeless future, 
 which seems the more depressing when we contrast it with condi- 
 tions that have gone before ? Then follow the words dies aem, 
 the day of life ; how slight must that be reckoned, if it is so fleet- 
 ing, and the best it contains is destroyed at its beginning, in its 
 bloom, so to speak ! What joy can there be in life, when those 
 who rejoice in it are called, not only mortals, but also miserable ? 
 Why should they not be so called ? Are not their goods and their 
 very lives as fleeting as the day itself ! They are indeed made 
 subject to the law of death. Finally come the words prima fugit. 
 We have not come to know the day sufficiently well through use 
 of it. Therefore, all that follows, no matter how good in itself, 
 seems cruel in remembrance of that which is lost. The day van- 
 ishes, is not released or sent away. How deceptive and how un- 
 
 1 It is a virtue to renounce the things that please us. 
 
 * The happiest day of life most quickly escapes unhappy mortals.
 
 RUDOLPH AGRICOLA. 21 
 
 certain is fortune ! How little is it in our power ! How little 
 does it depend upon our approbation ! 
 
 If, then, you will pursue such a subject through all the points 
 of dialectic that is to say, of course, so far as it responds to your 
 spiritual disposition you will find yourself in possession of abun- 
 dant material for presentation, and also for your inventive facul- 
 ties to work upon. The method, however, I cannot perfectly 
 present in the narrow compass of a letter. I have treated this 
 question more at length in the three books De in-ve-nlione dialedica. 
 
 Whoever carries out these instructions properly and carefully, 
 especially when the theoretical development of dialectic is added 
 thereto, will obtain in a high degree the ability, which will be 
 always at his command, of discoursing over almost any theme 
 that may be presented. It must be assumed, of course, that the 
 theme concerns that department of knowledge with which he is 
 acquainted. It is in this manner, it seems to me, that the old- 
 masters, whom the Greeks called Sophists, that is, wise men, 
 have developed their powers, and attained to so great readiness 
 arid ability in discourse, that they, as is seen in the case of Plato 
 and of Aristotle, caused any theme whatsoever to be advanced, 
 and then discoursed upon it as extensively as was desired. 
 
 Thus Gorgias of L,eontini, the originator of so bold an under- 
 taking, thus Prodicus of Ceos, thus Protagoras of Abdera and 
 Hippias of Elis have first educated themselves and then taught 
 others. Moreover, that which I have treated of in the second in- 
 stance will afford great capacity for judgment in the appropriation 
 of knowledge, and lead to new demonstrations, to new conclusions, 
 or at least to a new arrangement of those already on hand. When 
 to this a suitable style is added, eloquence is attained and the 
 way is opened to the attainment of oratorical distinction. But 
 enough of this ! Demetrius of Phalerus, in his -xtpl tpweias, 1 says 
 that a too extensive letter is really no letter, but a book with a 
 formula of salutation at its beginning. Whatever may be thought 
 of this disturbs me not; for I have set myself the task of further- 
 ing in every possible way your studies, and in the event of my 
 failure, to show at least that I have made the effort. The will 
 may indeed be of little account, if measured by the result; but in 
 the domain of friendship, where the will stands for the deed, it 
 has so great a value that nothing greater can be asked or given. 
 1 Exposition.
 
 22 SOURCE-BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 And now to add a word concerning my personal affairs, let me 
 tell you that on the second of May I came to Heidelberg. My 
 lord, the bishop, received me kindly, and has shown me nothing 
 but amiability and benevolence. Let me tell you of my folly, or, 
 to speak more accurately, of my stupidity. I have resolved to 
 learn Hebrew, as though I had not spent enough time and pains 
 on the little Greek that I have acquired. I found a teacher, who 
 a few years before accepted our faith. The Jews themselves gave 
 him credit for an extensive acquaintance with their learning, and 
 were accustomed to oppose him to our theologians, when they 
 were challenged to disputations on the subject of religion. Out 
 of kindness to me the bishop undertook to care for him at the 
 court. I shall do the best I can, and hope to accomplish some- 
 thing. Perhaps I shall arrive at this result, because I am confi- 
 dent of doing so. Joseph Rink has informed me of your misfor- 
 tune. It came to you from a source, as I well know, whence it 
 was most difficult to endure. I am not certain whether I most 
 lament your misfortune or such perfidiousness. At any rate I 
 have sympathized deeply with you in your sorrow, and should 
 have given my sympathy expression in an elegy this form of verse 
 being specially adapted for such complaint had I been so quiet 
 and collected that I might have brought myself to poetical com- 
 position. I beg of you, send me something in the way of vocal 
 music of your own composition; but something finished, that will 
 earn you praise. We have singers here to whom I have often 
 spoken of you. Their leader composes for nine and twelve voices. 
 Of his compositions for three or four voices I have heard nothing 
 that especially pleased me. But my impression is in no sense a 
 proper judgment; very likely his compositions are too good for my 
 limited comprehension. Farewell, and be assured of my friend- 
 ship; give my regards to the distinguished and learned magister, 
 Ambrosius Dinter, our Nicholas Haga, the elegantly cultured 
 magister, Jacob Crabbe, your neighbor, and especially to Joseph 
 Rink, an amiable young man, who is very devoted to you. 
 
 The verses which I sent you I have carefully read through a sec- 
 ond time. I found three or four errors in the poem to Mother 
 Anna; the printer had transposed the letters. Therefore I send 
 you this manuscript, in order that you may correct your copy by 
 it. See to it, I beg of you, that this, together with the letter, is 
 delivered to the regular canon of St. Martin's, Adam Jordan in
 
 JACOB WIMPHEUNG. 23 
 
 Again farewell ! Heidelberg, June 7, 1484. Send me 
 exact information concerning ycur affairs through this messenger. 
 
 JACOB WIMPHELING. 
 
 Jacob Wimpheling (1450-1528) was born at Schlettstadt, in the Upper 
 Rhine country. His education was acquired in the schools of his native town 
 and at the universities of Freiburg, Erfurt and Heidelberg. Although for a 
 considerable time connected with the university of Heidelberg in the capa- 
 city of teacher, the most productive period of Wimpheling's life was spent 
 at Strasburg, where his more important works were written. These works 
 were mostly psedagogical. The Isidoneus, a guide for the German youth; 
 the Adolescentia, of a similar character, and the Agatharchia, or book for 
 the direction of princes, were all of them attempts to raise the standard oj 
 education in Germany. The Germania, written in 1501, during Wimphel- 
 ing's residence at Strasburg, was an appeal to that municipality to establish 
 an advanced system of public schools. Incidentally, however, he appealed 
 to the sentiment of German patriotism, defending the thesis that Alsace had 
 ever been a German land ; a contention which was opposed by another 
 famous German humanist, Thomas Murner (1475-1537). Out of this differ- 
 ence of opinion arose one of the most celebrated literary controversies of 
 the time. 
 
 Wimpheling's interest in educational matters won for him the distin- 
 Suished title of the "Schoolmaster of Germany." His writings obtained a 
 wide circulation and did much to determine the character of German educa- 
 tion for two centuries. Apart from this special work, Wimpheling was a 
 typical humanist of the earlier type, selecting his material with reference to 
 its value for purposes of Christian culture, and possessing all the homely and 
 substantial virtues of his race. He valued the new learning chiefly for its 
 adaptability to the purposes of practical life, and the methods he advocated 
 looked to the production of able and conscientious men rather than accom- 
 plished scholars. 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM THE IsidonCUS. 
 
 Chapter 25 : The Study of Greek. 
 
 In the matter of Greek I am not competent to render judgment 
 or give an estimate, since in the best years of my youth I had no 
 teacher in this branch. If I wished to follow the example of 
 Marcus Cato, and learn it in my mature years, there would be no 
 lack of excellent teachers in Germany. Thus Rudolph Agricola 
 has learned and taught Greek. Johannes Camerarius Dalberg, 
 Bishop of Worms, devotes himself with ardor to the study of 
 Greek he who is the ornament of Germany, the glory of his gen- 
 
 Sammlung der bedeutendsten padagogischen Schriften. Band 13. Pader- 
 born, 1892.
 
 24 SOURCE-BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 eration, the especial pride of Duke Philip of Bavaria, the crown of 
 bishops he whom, on account of his astonishing erudition, I re- 
 gard as born for something even more distinguished. With no 
 slight ardor does Johannes Trithemius, Sponheim's pious abbot, 
 devote himself to the study of Greek. Among those who at the 
 present time are competent to teach Greek is also Johannes Cap- 
 nion, or as he is commonly called, Reuchlin of Pforzheim, and the 
 poet laureate, Conrad Celtes. It is, moreover, well known that 
 Augustine in his second book of Christian Doctrine advances the 
 opinion that for those who speak Latin a knowledge of Greek is 
 necessary for the understanding of Holy Writ. It is also known 
 that teachers out of their ignorance of this tongue have commu- 
 nicated much of error to their pupils. For example, they were of 
 the belief that the name of Christ, which was written by our an- 
 cestors, who for the most part knew Greek, with three Greek 
 letters, XPC, had been incorrectly indicated with three Latin let- 
 ters, although it is beyond doubt that the first of these three let- 
 ters indicated to the Greeks not " x," but " ch;" that the second 
 stood not for "p" but for "r," while by the third not " c," but 
 " s " was meant. 
 
 Chapter 26 : The Aim of Grammatical Instruction. 
 
 Contemplate, O teachers, the aim of grammatical instruction ! 
 Bear in mind that this instruction is to enable the pupil to speak 
 Latin correctly and agreeably on all occasions, to understand it 
 perfectly and to be able to apply it to branches of knowledge that 
 promise the greater rewards. This is the object, this the aim, this 
 the sum and substance of your instruction. But when it is pos- 
 sible for any one to reach this goal with small pains and slight ex- 
 ertion, is he not foolish to wander here and there through by-wa} 7 s 
 and all sorts of turns and twistings at the expense of greater effort ? 
 But many remain obstinate in their errors and close their ears 
 even to the plain truth. Although a straight path is offered to 
 them for the study of grammar, yet they pursue a crooked way, 
 which brings them from the direct route; they abandon the level 
 road, in order to forge ahead over a way full of inequalities ; they 
 give up the short road, in order to deceive their uninstructed 
 youth with meaningless and windy discourses, together with great 
 loss of time and interruption of mental development ; to weaken 
 and unnerve them. They remain themselves, together with their
 
 JACOB WIMPHELING. 25 
 
 pupils, blind and lame, for their ignorance in respect to the ele- 
 ments of grammatical instruction permits them to grope about in 
 darkness. He will never attain to the object of grammar, who 
 during his entire youth has busied himself with his Alexander, 1 
 with the meaning of words, with figures and examples, all of 
 which is superfluous, and at the end can neither thoroughly grasp 
 nor understand the smallest preface of Jerome, nor any homily of 
 the fathers, nor anything whatsoever that is agreeably written 
 with all the grammar which he is supposed to have learned. 
 
 Therefore it is for you, who are placed at the head of the public 
 schools, to conduct your pupils by the nearest possible way to an 
 understanding and a knowledge of the Latin tongue. Leave un- 
 touched the old established explanations, which are full of ab- 
 surdities, and above all such as are calculated to cause one to 
 forget rather than to learn, in which there is nothing either 
 graceful or dignified, and which, moreover, are useless either for 
 the acquisition or the comprehension of Latin. 
 
 The Latin language I regard as the noblest of tongues; it can 
 be learned and understood by the people of every nation; it makes 
 the noble born still nobler; one who knows it not is thereby ren- 
 dered unworthy of the Roman imperial crown; in it have count- 
 less things been written, which can scarcely be translated into 
 the German or any popular speech; he who despises it shows 
 himself unworthy of it; he who refuses to become a Latinist, re- 
 mains forever a wild beast and a two-legged donkey. Our 
 princes and their trusted courtiers and flatterers not to call 
 them "worshippers," with Augustine as despisers of the Latin 
 language and literature, might be called barbarians by foreign- 
 ers; and such in truth they are. But you, admirable youths, love 
 this tongue; no other language is nobler, more graceful and more 
 expressive; no other language surpasses it in abundance and 
 splendor of high and enlightened thought. 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM THE AdoleSCCIltia. 
 
 Chapter I. The Choice of Books. 
 
 If I did not fear to be accused by others of presumption, I 
 should advise teachers to observe, in the introduction of the 
 
 J The Doctrinale puerorum of Alexander de Villa Dei, written 1209 (1199), 
 a famous Latin grammar, which came into extensive use in the Middle Ages. 
 With singular perversity the text was tortured into hexameter verse.
 
 26 SOURCE-BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 grammar, the orderly succession and the principles which I have 
 presented in my " Isidoneus." I permit myself to hope that 
 immediately after the instruction in the alphabet they will put 
 into your hands the Donat, 1 to which I have nothing to add, and 
 from which I have little to take away. Then will they make you 
 acquainted with the varieties and declensions of nouns and verbs, 
 with the easier forms of sentences and terminations according to 
 Sulpicius, 2 or some other good exercise book for boys. Then 
 they will place before you Basil the Great* and the letter of 
 ^neas Silvius to King L,adislaus.* After these have been com- 
 pleted, this book of mine may, I think, without detriment, be 
 placed in your hands, by means of which you may become ac- 
 quainted with Cicero, Sallust, Seneca, Tranquillus and Valerius 
 Maximus. In this manner you will be able more easily to attain 
 to an understanding of the remaining historical works; among 
 others to an understanding of Christian history, of the noble 
 deeds of the Germans, especially in the account of Otto of Frei- 
 singen, in whom your noble father, who possesses a carefully re- 
 vised and perfect edition of this work, takes great delight. 
 
 When you will read something of a more sprightly character, to 
 cheer you up or for amusement, turn to Luciau. Whenever any 
 sad mischance has shaken you, take your flight to Francesco 
 Petrarca, who for all the turns of fortune, be they good or ill, has 
 ever a perfect remedy and in a tasteful form, as well against arro- 
 gance and presumption as against discouragement and sadness. 
 If, however, you love brevity, take up the equally interesting and 
 instructive book of Baptista Mantuanus, De patientia. If you 
 take pleasure in learning of the tasks and duties of an upright 
 prince or count, or if for the relief and unburdening of your con- 
 science you will give to God an account of the days of your life, 
 then you may peruse my Agatharchia. 
 
 1 Or Donatus; the ars grammatica of Aelius Donatus (IV century A. D.). 
 This book, in two forms, the ars minor and. the ars major, came into general 
 use as an elementary Latin grammar after the middle of the twelfth century. 
 
 'Johannes Sulpicius Verulanus (Giovanni Sulpicio of Veroli), a humanist 
 of the XV. century; taught at Rome, and composed works upon grammar. 
 *St. Basil (329-379), Archbishop of Csesarea in Cappadocia. 
 * Vide Source-Book of the Italian Renaissance, pp. 55-63.
 
 JACOB WIMPHELING. 27 
 
 Chapter III. Boys of noble birth moie than others should be instructed in 
 the humanities. 
 
 If it is the duty of all parents to afford a good education to their 
 children, it is of especial importance that those boys who later in 
 life are to occupy prominent positions, and whose words and deeds 
 may not lie in obscurity, should be instructed in the higher 
 branches of learning, so that they may be worthy of their fortune, 
 their dignity and their prominence. It is a reasonable condition, 
 that those who demand for themselves the highest should also 
 produce the highest. There is no safer nor more enduring basis 
 for dominion than that those who rule should be considered most 
 worthy of their lordship. 
 
 Chapter IV. Learning and vit tue are more to be esteemed than all else. 
 
 Every one should strive for learning and virtue, which alone 
 confer nobility. These are to be striven for above all other things 
 to which the human mind directs itself. For money, honor and 
 pleasure are changing and transitory. The possession and fruits 
 of virtue on the contrary are unassailable and permanent, and 
 make their possessor immortal and happy. The youth, there- 
 fore, especially when he comes of distinguished parents, should be 
 reminded with especial emphasis, that he may value the soul's 
 advantage and not the gifts of fortune and physical accomplish- 
 ments. Each day he should exert himself, in order that he may 
 not become an awkward, lazy, stupid, foppish, wanton fellow, 
 as in our day most of the noble-born are, but that he shall be in- 
 telligent and educated; that he may be well instructed from his 
 youth and not ignorant of the humanities; that he shall apply 
 himself to the reading of Holy Writ; that he may be well-bred, 
 just, gentle and pious; that he may be no friend of wastlings and 
 buffoons, or of such as find their joy in biting calumny, or of such 
 as in any way outrage good breeding; in order that he may be 
 rather a friend of clever and cultured men. 
 
 Chapter V. A boy's disposition has to be determined at the start. 
 In the first place, each one has to give proof of his talents and 
 capacity. Since on account of their age this cannot be adequately 
 determined in the case of boys, it will be necessary for their 
 parents or the teachers to whom the youths have been entrusted, 
 to observe carefully the general direction of their mind, and talents, 
 according to their natural dispositions. Their studies should then
 
 28 SOURCE-BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 be directed into this same direction, and with these studies they 
 should occupy themselves exclusively. 
 
 Chapter VII. The sons of the great shall not apply themselves exclusively 
 to the chase. 
 
 What special signification has the art of the chase if indeed 
 this employment deserves to be called an art for a king or for a 
 noble prince, that for it he despises and neglects all other skilled 
 labors and exercises of the body ? Is it not true that an ordinary 
 man of base extraction, devoid of all distinction, of all cleverness 
 and aptitude, may be quite the equal of a prince in the exercise 
 of the chase ? The worst gallows-bird, empty of all ability, of all 
 cleverness, of all fear of the Lord, is qualified to apply himself to 
 this "delight." He too may carry the horn which hangs about 
 his neck; he too may jump about like mad, and race his horse 
 here and there through field and forest, and fill the air with cries; 
 he too in peril of life and health may follow the game and shoot 
 it with bow or gun or run it down with hunting-spear. 
 
 For a prince, however, that would be a more laudable art, in 
 which a man of common birth and low intelligence could not 
 equal him. Therefore he shall apply himself to use with ease the 
 noblest of tongues in reading and in speaking and particularly in 
 oral intercourse with foreigners; he shall consider it furthermore 
 his duty to learn the customs of the ancients and the manners of 
 foreign lands ; he shall make himself acquainted with historical 
 statements and relations, such as serve for agreeable and witty 
 entertainment or for elevating instruction; then too, the holy coun- 
 cils, which attend to the interests of the individual and of the 
 state, as well as to the public and civic welfare, should not be un- 
 familiar to him; in the range of his knowledge he should include 
 the arts of peace and war, as well as the proper training of chil- 
 dren, and law and equity, which may serve for the defence of just- 
 ice and the maintenance of right. Then will he rise above his 
 subjects; then will he be distinguished from them in his actions; 
 then will he draw upon himself beyond a doubt the love and ven- 
 eration of his people. 
 
 Chapter VIII. The indications of good natural gifts. 
 One indication of ability and of a spirit worthy of a free man is 
 shown in the striving after praise and the desire for honor.
 
 JACOB WIMPHELING. 29 
 
 Hence arises the contest for honor and distinction. It is another 
 token, when great things are dared for praise and honor. A 
 third token betrays itself in the readiness for good deeds, in the 
 disinclination for idleness and in the desire always to accomplish 
 something of importance. A fourth is shown in a dread of threats 
 and blows, and a still greater dread of dishonor and shame. 
 Hence arises that feeling of modesty and awe, which is of 'the 
 highest value at this time of life. It is also a good indication 
 when boys blush on being reproved, and when they mend their 
 ways after having been chastised. A fifth sign is when they love 
 their teachers and bear neither dislike nor hatred against them or 
 their discipline. A sixth sign is this: that children listen will- 
 ingly to their parents and are not deaf to their well-meant admo- 
 nitions; for youth is inclined to sin, and when it is not held in 
 bounds by the example and counsel of older people, it often seeks 
 in haste the road to destruction. 
 
 Chapter XL VI. The fifteenth rule forbids carousing. 
 
 The youth shall avoid most carefully immoderate use of wine 
 and intoxication. Immoderate use of wine injures the health, 
 and seriously limits the use of reason; it arouses strife and war 
 and excites evil desires. For this reason the Lacedaemonians 
 permitted drunken slaves to come before them at their meals, not 
 that they might enjoy their disgusting conversation or their filthy 
 actions for it is only a worthless man who takes pleasure in the 
 faults or in the vices of others but that they might place before 
 their young sons a living example of the shamefulness of intoxi- 
 cation. Was there ever an evil greater than this infamy ? If then 
 the disfigurement of the body is so disgusting, how great is to be 
 regarded the deformity and repulsiveness of the soul disfigured 
 with this vice? Whoever possesses the sense of shame that 
 deters him from that so-called pleasure of eating and drinking, 
 which man has in common with swine and donkeys, he may con- 
 sider himself fortunate. Socrates indeed said that many men 
 lived in order to eat and drink; he, however, ate and drank in 
 order to live. 
 
 A youth, therefore, who desires to be accounted wise, must 
 never smell of wine; he flees drunkenness as he would poison; he 
 follows not the seductions of the palate, for a full stomach does 
 not sharpen the senses. A pleasure-seeking and immoderate
 
 30 SOURCE-BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 youth bequeaths to age an exhausted body. The youth must 
 know that human nature is content with little, so far as needs are 
 concerned; in respect to pleasure, however, nothing is able to 
 satisfy it. He should know, finally, that food, taken in modera- 
 tion, is conducive to health; but that the contrary is the case 
 when taken in excess. Thus saith John Chrysostom : ' ' Nothing 
 is so pleasing as well-prepared and well-cooked food; nothing 
 more conducive to health; nothing so effectually sharpens the 
 wits; nothing drives away an indisposition so quickly as a mod- 
 erate refreshment. An excess, however, produces sickness and 
 disorders, and calls forth discord. The effects of hunger are 
 equally produced, and even to a greater degree and with more 
 disastrous consequences by immoderate indulgence; for hunger 
 carries a man off in a few days, and delivers him from the pains 
 of this life. Immoderation in food and drink destroys the human 
 body and causes it to wither and saps its strength through illness, 
 and then finally takes it hence in painful death." Jerome held 
 this view, and appealed to the physician Hippocrates and his ex- 
 positor, Galen. 
 
 Ivet the German youth accustom himself, therefore, to be mod- 
 erate and careful with his food and drink, so that the opinion of 
 foreigners may not be justly applied to him, when they say, with 
 injustice, and without ever giving thought to their own short- 
 comings, that all Germans are given to intoxication and drunken- 
 ness. Young men may believe me when I say that I have known 
 many a young man who has wasted his patrimony in debauchery 
 and riotous living, and finally has seen himself compelled in mis- 
 ery either to beg his bread in shame and degradation or to end 
 his life in the poorhouse. 
 
 Chapter XL VII. The sixteenth rule forbids curling the hair. 
 The young man shall turn his thoughts to neatness, but not to 
 such a degree that it may be too evident or seem labored; he shall 
 avoid negligence, which betrays a rustic mind and lack of culture. 
 In the same way he shall look to his attire, and in this matter, as 
 in most others, the golden mean is to be preferred. If in Holy 
 Writ long hair is forbidden to man and youth, as being conducive 
 to dishonor, how much heavier an offence is it then, not only to 
 roll up and curl the hair, which naturally grows smooth and 
 straight and is adorned with pleasing colors, but also to moisten
 
 JACOB WIMPHEUNG. 31 
 
 and dye it with artificial color. A well-mannered and modest 
 youth will hold himself aloof from such deceit and feminine prac- 
 tices; for nothing was so certain a sign of the worst of all vices to 
 the ancients as this wicked and shamelul custom of curling the 
 hair. Thus Plautus says of a certain one: ' ' Thou voluptuary with 
 the curly hair !" Curling the hair makes a woman of a man ; it 
 softens the youth; it produces an abundance of vermin; it strives 
 in vain for that which nature has forbidden ; it is a sign of arro- 
 gance and bluster ; it betrays epicureanism and sensuality; it of- 
 fends God the Lord and frightens away the guardian angel ; it 
 makes the head heavy and affects the brain; it weakens the mem- 
 ory and deforms the countenance; it gives old age a horrid, mangy 
 look; it is evidence of great simpleness. Is there anything more 
 absurd than to hold the hair in estimation above the head ; than 
 to care more for the color of the hair than for sprightliness of 
 mind, as the brave and honest poet Diether has said with playful 
 grace to your distinguished father. Finally, crimping the hair 
 shuts one out from the kingdom of Heaven; for how will God, the 
 best and highest One of all, deem those worthy of the kingdom of 
 the blest who, dissatisfied with the form, with the countenance, 
 with the hair which he has given them, are not ashamed to wear 
 false hair, to slight and despise that divine gift, and to seek 
 strange gifts. On the last day the Judge will be able to confront 
 those who crimp and curl their hair with these words : "I have 
 not created this man; I have not given him this countenance; this 
 is not the hair which I gave him at birth." Augustine bears us 
 witness with these words: <( God is against the arrogant and those 
 that curl their hair." 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM THE Agatharchia. 
 
 Chapter XIV. The Support and Direction of High Schools. 
 It should be the care and effort of a prince, that scientific 
 studies should flourish in his principality and that many wise 
 and energetic men should distinguish themselves therein. In 
 this matter you will do well to imitate your father. It was his 
 earnest desire, that the high school at Heidelberg should advance 
 in all excellent sciences, and particularly in the humanistic 
 studies, which before all are indispensable to young men, and 
 of value in the still more important exercise of the sacred law; 
 for it is not sufficient that this or the other branch of learning
 
 32 SOURCE-BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 should enjoy especial prosperity and consideration at the high 
 school. It is necessary that suitable arrangements should be 
 made for each branch of learning, through the whole range of 
 the higher arts and sciences. For in this wise such institutions 
 of learning show themselves worthy of the name of "University." 1 
 Thus your father acted well and advisedly, when he founded a 
 college for jurisprudence. For it is better that teachers and 
 pupils should dwell together, than that the latter should be 
 separated and scattered hither and thither in nooks and corners 
 without supervision. 
 
 Chapter XV. The Desirability of having suitable Pastors and Teachers. 
 
 A prince shall nominate or appoint for his pastors and for the 
 direction of his scholars, able, learned and cultured men, who are 
 qualified to give instruction. And although in other cases 
 princes are accustomed to state their desires rather violently as 
 some one has said : " When princes ask, it is a specially emphatic 
 form of command," or "The mighty put their requests with a 
 drawn sword " yet in these two instances, that is to say, in the 
 matter of the cure of souls and the education of children, the 
 prince shall not advance any one he chooses to an academic stand- 
 ard ; he shall not personally advance the claims of his favorite 
 without due consideration ; he shall not confide to an inexperi- 
 enced man a responsible position as pastor, simply because his 
 father understood his business or his service as cook, huntsman, 
 fowler or zither- player, to the injury of the man's own soul and 
 to the detriment of the prince himself. A prince will have to 
 give an account of all these things. It would be more to the pur- 
 pose to bestow offices of this sort upon men of distinction, mature 
 and blameless men, who have acquired a fund of human experi- 
 ence, who are able to awaken confidence, who are thoughtful of 
 the welfare of their native land, who love God and the salvation 
 of souls more than all other things, who allow themselves to be 
 directed by nothing, neither by the arrangements of this or that 
 one, nor by the demands of the faculty or the bursary, but simply 
 and exclusively look to the morality, the intellectual advance- 
 ment, the eloquence and the progress of those who are entrusted 
 to their care. It is also not to be permitted that at a high school 
 
 1 Academia Universitatum.
 
 JACOB WIMPHEUNG. 33 
 
 one faculty should subordinate, encroach upon or oppress another. 
 The prosperity of the high school and due respect for the founder 
 demand rather, that the faculty which was first established 
 should not give way; reason suggests that equilibrium should be 
 preserved; equal labor and equal remuneration, and in a similar 
 way, equal consideration on the part of those whose privilege it 
 is to bestow rewards and favors. Especially are those self- 
 seeking souls to be kept at a distance who do not hesitate, for 
 their own advantage and with unseemly pertinacity in their own 
 behalf, to undermine the whole academic structure, to violate 
 every approved regulation, to destroy the sacred harmony and 
 break down a just distribution of stipends. 
 
 Chapter XVII. The Training of Princely Children. 
 
 A prince should see to it, that his children are well educated 
 and well trained, and that from their earliest years they are 
 directed toward humanistic studies. They should be able also 
 to use the L,atin language in a satisfactory manner. This will 
 redound to their honor in the assemblies of princes, in their 
 intercourse with ecclesiastical dignitaries, in the reception of 
 candinals or in their intercourse with foreigners. Julius and 
 Augustus, Marcus Cato, King Robert of Sicily, Constantine, 
 Charles the Great and other princes and their sons have neither 
 impaired the honor of their names in any way through such 
 study, nor have they discovered therein any diminution of their 
 martial glory. What the characteristics of a good teacher are, 
 I have already indicated in my hidoneus. As to how they 
 should bring up boys, they may peruse the letter of Aeneas 
 Silvius to Ladislas. 1 In the training of older pupils they should 
 govern themselves by Holy Writ and the writings of the heathen. 
 They may find inspiration also in the treatise which John Gerson 
 addressed to the confessor of Charles VII. King of France; above 
 all they should not neglect the Summa of John Gallensis. 1 
 
 Chapter XXII. Precautions against the Artificial Raising of Prices. 
 
 A prince should take care that well-filled granaries are at hand 
 for the benefit of his people, so that an occasional famine may be 
 
 1 Cf. Source-Book of the Italian Renaissance, p. 55, et seq. 
 
 'English Franciscan monk. Taught at University of Paris in 1279. Hi3 
 Summa Collationum -was a book of aphorisms. 
 
 3
 
 34 
 
 SOURCE-BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 mitigated by means of the surplus of foregoing years. He shall 
 also take precautions, so that when, to punish us for our sins, 
 God in his wisdom limits the increase of fruits or sends destruct- 
 ive storms upon us, prices shall not rise out of reach through the 
 insatiable avarice of priests or citizens. He shall see that just 
 prices are made, so that the scarcity may be more endurable for 
 the poor; for there are such as collect and heap together the har- 
 vests of several years, and hold them back purposely, in order 
 that they may sell these products at advanced prices. People of 
 this kind sometimes bring about an advance in prices merely by 
 their avarice. If your father Philip had not broken this up and 
 forbidden, in years past, that the price of a bushel of wheat should 
 exceed 16 solidi, 1 the price of the same would have risen to a pound 
 denarii or nearly to two pounds and this merely through the wan- 
 toness of avaricious people, who cared not whether poor people 
 suffered hunger or even died of hunger, if they themselves could 
 get rich. I speak from experience. 
 
 Chapter XXIII. To Prevent the Exportation of Gold and Silver. 
 
 A prince shall take precautions, in so far as it is possible with- 
 out offense toward God, that neither gold nor silver shall be taken 
 out of his territory into foreign lands, unless a complete equivalent 
 therefor is returned. I do not know why it is that other people 
 have contracted the habit of draining the German nation dry, 
 while no gain comes to us from foreign lands. The Roman an- 
 nates, the spices and fabrics of Venice, the Italian rectorates, the 
 French jugglers and players, the regular orders, their hospitals 
 and settlements carry enormous sums out of our lands. Our peo- 
 ple, however, have only one order founded for the Germans, and 
 this has obtained in all France not one cloister, nor a single set- 
 tlement, nor any kind of income whatsoever. The French, on 
 the contrary, have in our midst the Antonines, 2 the Valentinians, 
 the Benedictines and many others; not to speak of the Cistercians 
 and Praemonstratensians. So great is either the simplicity or the 
 generosity of the Germans. 
 
 1 According to the Carolingian coinage regulations the pound silver was 
 divided into 20 solidi or into 240 denarii. 
 
 Established 1095. Under Boniface VIII, changed to a congregation of 
 Augustinians: 1774 united with the order of Malta; dissolved in the revolu- 
 tionary period.
 
 JCHANN REUCHLIN. 35 
 
 JOHANN REUCHLIN. 
 
 Johann Reuchlin (1455-1522) is, next to Desiderius Erasmus, the most 
 important character in the German Renaissance. A student at many uni- 
 versities in Germany, France and Italy, Reuchlin became licentiate in law 
 at Poitiers (1481), and returning to Wiirtemberg, was appointed to a judicial 
 position under the government of that state. His professional duties left 
 much time for study, and he became so proficient in the languages of an- 
 tiquity, that he was called the " three-tongued wonder of Germany." The 
 Hebrew text-books which he produced first gave an opportunity in Germany 
 for the study of that language and literature. 
 
 Various diplomatic missions led Reuchlin again to Italy, where he came 
 in contact with Pico della Mirandola, whose influence gave a mystical turn 
 to Reuchlin's philosophical writings a tendency which had little effect upon 
 his contemporaries or upon posterity. As a teacher, however, as a repre- 
 sentative of the widest culture of his time, and as a source of inspiration 
 toward intellectual effort, Reuchlin exercised great influence upon the 
 scholars of his time. As a humanist, he felt little sympathy with Luther's 
 schismatic attitude, but unwittingly he furnished the Protestant move- 
 ment with one of its ablest leaders, in the person of his nephew, Melanch- 
 thon, for whom he secured the chair of Greek at the university of Wit- 
 tenberg. 
 
 Reuchlin's eventual fame is largely due to the fact that he became, much 
 against his will, the central point about which raged a bitter literary con- 
 troversy, which occupied the attention of the world of letters in the decade 
 just preceding Luther's appearance. 1 
 
 BETTER TO JOHANN AMMERBACH.* 
 
 To the prudent, honorable and wise gentleman, my dear sir and good friend, 
 Master Johann Ammerbac'i, citizen and publisher at Basel. 
 
 My friendly and willing service is at all times at your disposal, 
 dear master Hans, sir and friend. I have received your letter, 
 dated Basel, August 2d, and have also learned of the complaints 
 you have made concerning the Jerome and my books 3 as well. 
 I should be very glad if everything could happen in accordance 
 with your wish and approbation, and where it does not so come 
 to pass, I am truly sorry; but nevertheless the fault in both 
 instances is not mine. I have done everything that my knowl- 
 edge, ability and duty indicated. I send you the lertia pars 
 epistolarum : I have attended to it carefully, so far as the Greek 
 
 'See below, "Letters of Obscure Men." 
 
 'Johann Reuchlin's Briefwechsel, von L. Geiger. Litt. Verein, Stuttgart, 
 1875- 
 *The Ruditnenta hebraica.
 
 36 SOURCE-BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 and Hebrew are concerned. The Latin I have not disturbed, as 
 indeed throughout the whole of Jerome. This you have not 
 asked me to do, and you will find enough people who can do 
 that. I send you likewise the commentaries on the Psalms. 
 
 So far, however, as the Jeremiah is concerned, I have informed 
 you more than once that to the best of my knowledge and belief, 
 I can find no old copy of Jeremiah in any cloister. I have done 
 much riding here and there for this purpose, and I should not 
 undertake to correct it for you without a text. There is, how- 
 ever, no real necessity for this, since master Bruno ' and yourself 
 are able to supply the lack, so far as the Hebrew is concerned, 
 and master Johann Cuno, the Dominican, can readily find a 
 Greek text amongst the books of his cloister, wherefore there is 
 no need of me. Likewise regarding the interpretaiiones hebrai- 
 corum nominum, no one would undertake this, because it is in- 
 correct; in fact, it was not composed by St. Jerome, but the 
 Greek church formerly possessed it, and so he translated it from 
 the Greek; and it contains much that is erroneous, because in his 
 exposition he has not followed his own judgment, but the common 
 error, as he himself permits it to be seen in the Epistola ad Fabi- 
 olam de 4.2 mansionibus, mansione nona. It would be possible to 
 point out appropriately in an introduction that it is not his own. 
 
 In the same way, so far as the two introductions are concerned, 
 the one in Uterus hebraeas, the other in literas graecas, since you 
 write that there will be need of them for those who wish to buy 
 and read St. Jerome, I must inform you that I have not been neg- 
 ligent of your interests in the matter, but have had master Thomas 
 print the introductorinm 1 of Aldus in Greek and Hebrew, and he 
 has done it well. I have also incorporated with it the seven peni- 
 tential psalms with my literal exposition and furthermore a syn- 
 opsis of the Rudiment*) and had master Thomas print the same, in 
 order that your Jerome and your Rudimenta which you purchased 
 of me, should be of more value and succeed better; for of what 
 use was it to make a vocabulary and grammar, when no one could 
 obtain a Jewish book, whereby he might have use for a vocabulary. 
 
 Master Hans Froben has already written me in your behalf, that 
 you have complained loudly because many of the copies of the 
 
 1 Son of Ammerbach. 
 
 1 Iniroductorium perbreve ad gramm. hebr.
 
 JOHANN REUCHLIN. 37 
 
 Rudimenla were wanting or had been injured, and that on this 
 account you have held back the money loaned by me; it was my 
 intention to arrange the matter with him at the last fair, but at 
 that time he did not come to Frankfort. However, my dear mas- 
 ter Hans, dear sir and friend, if any shortage has occurred in the 
 case of these books, it is not my fault. For when you made the 
 bargain with me, according to the terms of our written contract, 
 made at Basel and signed with your own hand, you directed me, 
 after having divided with master Thomas, to place 600 copies in 
 my sister's house at Pforzheim, so that you might find them there. 
 I did that, as certain reputable persons can testify who were there 
 at the time, and I had a carpenter build some shelving out of tim- 
 ber and boards in one of my sister's rooms, according to the ad- 
 vice of those who understood such things. Then master Thomas 
 counted me out 600 books and placed them there at your disposi- 
 tion. He also (as his people say) sorted them out one by one, 
 some weeks previously, in order to get the best copies. You 
 ought at that time to have had them taken away by one of your 
 own men, who would have understood better about arranging and 
 handling them than my sister, who nevertheless out of friendly 
 disposition and good will diligently supervised the task. They 
 lay there, however, a long time periculo emptoris, until I received 
 word from you through master Hans, that you desired I should 
 have the goodness to arrange with Thomas of Pfortzheim to pack 
 the books lying in my sister's house and send them to Strasburg 
 as quickly as possible, to a publisher named Johannes Knobloch, 
 and that I should advance the charges for carriage from Pfortz- 
 heim to Strasburg; that he would repay me, and would also make 
 good whatever the casks and packing cost. 
 
 I gave evidence of my friendly disposition toward you, and 
 wrote my sister, and also arranged with master Thomas, in ac- 
 cordance with the above request addressed to me, and I also paid 
 what was to be paid, as I have already written you. But a few 
 books, I do not know how many, which would not go into the 
 casks, are still lying in my sister's house. Wherefore I have now 
 requested my sister by letter to have these books carried to Frank- 
 fort, where they may reach your people; and in this matter I have 
 acted in every respect as if it had been my own affair. I have 
 also requested master Thomas to act in your interest, and he says 
 that he will do with diligence what you desire, and will again
 
 38 SOURCE-BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 look through his books, and if he finds any superfluous leaves 
 will send them to you; and this you are also to do for him. And 
 this may be done easily, for each leaf has its number, and may be 
 noted readily; and so I should very likely be informed by your 
 people that there was no further shortage or defect, but for the 
 fact that when they packed the books some iron nails were driven 
 into the casks to hold the hoops fast, and these have gone through 
 into the casks. The damage ma}' have happened quite as well at 
 Strasburg as at Pfortzheim, while they were taking the books out, 
 when they may have caught the leaves on the nails and have 
 torn them. It is not my fault, however; that must be evident to 
 you. Therefore I maintain my point and will not recede from it, 
 for there is nothing that might be reckoned my fault; and even if 
 you had discovered a shortage of eighteen books, and that thirty 
 books were defective or damaged, as master Hans writes, still it 
 would not even then justify a deduction of eighteen florins. 
 
 You also promised me through Conrad Leontorius, whom you 
 commissioned to bring your book to me, and who wrote me with 
 his own hand, that if I would correct the corresponding passages 
 in the Greek and Latin texts of St. Jerome, you would give me 
 twenty florins. I have corrected a third more than the agreement 
 called for, and have also placed Jeremiah last, for in your book 
 the New Testament stands after the epistles of Jerome. 
 
 Again, you instructed me to come to Basel, and the journey 
 cost me for myself and my servant and horse more than ten florins 
 in money. In addition to this I loaned you there five florins and 
 some shillings; then you promised at Basel to give me a Spanish 
 bed-cover and several books, such as the works of Augustine, 
 Ambrose, etc. I make no mention of the carpenter's food and 
 drink and the porters who helped to carry the books to and fro 
 and pack them, and the additional sum which I have spent in rid- 
 ing to the cloisters, Bebenhausen, Miihlbronn, Hirshau, Dencken- 
 dorff and L,orch, at your request. All that would have been suffi- 
 cient security, without the loan of money. Indeed I would not 
 take thirty florins and do for any one else the work I did for you 
 during the fourteen days I was at your place, as a certain one who 
 was at your house, master Adam by name, is said to have re- 
 marked jocosely at Frankfort, in speaking of the matter: "What 
 I have done is nothing, but there is one with you now, the latchets 
 of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose." But I am willing
 
 SEBASTIAN BRANT. 39 
 
 to let that pass. I have done the best I could; let others do their 
 part. 
 
 Although you write that you are willing to lose a third upon 
 the books you have bought, there are many people who do not 
 credit it. Master Thomas is dissatisfied to this day, because I 
 gave you my books, when he had sold all of his ; for I have suf- 
 fered a considerable loss in the transaction and merely because I 
 would not wait for him; therefore you must simply wait until the 
 book makes money. And that this will come to pass I have no 
 doubt, for if I live the Hebrew tongue must go ahead, with God's 
 help; and if I die, I have at least made a beginning that will not 
 easily be set aside. I am indeed willing to suffer loss for the com- 
 mon good, dear master Hans, sir and good friend. I am not will- 
 ing to forfeit your friendship for the sake of money. If I have de- 
 served any thanks at your hands, let it go to my account; if I have 
 deserved no thanks from you, then may God reward me, and may 
 he ever protect you and your wife and your children from misfor- 
 tune. Given the Tuesday after the festival of St. Augustine, in 
 the year 1512. l 
 
 DOCTOR JOHANN REUCHUN. 
 
 SEBASTIAN BRANT. 
 
 Sebastian Brant (1458-1521) was born at Strasburg, studied at the univer- 
 sity of Basel, became doctor of civil and canon law, and taught at Basel 
 until 1501, when he returned to his native town. There he held several 
 municipal offices and in 1521 was given charge of an embassy to Ghent by 
 the emperor, Charles V. 
 
 Brant's Narrenschiff, or Ship of Fools (Base.1, 1494) was one of the most 
 popular books of the sixteenth century. The work passed through numer- 
 ous editions and was translated into many modern languages. Alexander 
 Barclay's Ship of Fooles (1509) is based upon Brant's work, but is so ex- 
 panded and diluted that the vigor of the original is lost. The Narrenschiff 
 has uo purpose, other than that of a satirical presentation of the weaknesses 
 and foibles of society. Along with other classes of society it handles some- 
 what roughly the shortcomings of the clergy, and in this wise furnished 
 material for the opponents of the church. Brant, however, was thoroughly 
 orthodox, and wrote without polemical motive and without hostility to the 
 religious institutions of his times. 
 
 1 Aug. 31, 1512, at Stuttgart,
 
 40 SOURCE-BOOK OP THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 FROM THE Narrenschiff* 
 The foremost rank they've given me , 
 Since I have many useless books, 
 Which I neither read nor understand, 
 
 (i) Of Useless Books. 
 That I sit in this ship foremost 
 A special meaning has in truth, 
 And is not done without a cause. 
 For I rely upon my books, 
 Of which I have a great supply, 
 But of their contents know no word, 
 And hold them yet in such respect, 
 That I will keep them from the flies. 
 When people speak of knowledge, I say 
 I have a lot of it at home; 
 And am content with this alone, 
 To see a lot of books about. 
 King Ptolemy, he so contrived, 
 That he had all books in the world, 
 And held them for a treasure great. 
 Still he had not the law of truth, 
 Nor knew well how to use his books. 
 So I have many books as well, 
 And very few of them peruse. 
 Why should I break my head on them, 
 And bother myself with lore at all ? 
 Who studies much becomes a guy. 
 Myself, I'd rather be a man, 
 And pay people to learn for me. 
 Although I have a clownish mind, 
 Yet when I am with learned folk, 
 I know how to say " ita " for yes. 
 Of German orders I am proud, 
 For little Latin do I know. 
 I know that vinum stands for wine, 
 Cuculus for gawk, stultus for fool, 
 That " Domine Doctor " I am called. 
 
 1 Sebastian Brant's Narrenschiff, herausgegeben von F. Zarnke. Leipzig, 
 1854.
 
 SEBASTIAN BRANT. 4! 
 
 If my ears were not hid for me 
 A miller's beast you'd quickly see. 
 
 Who studies not the proper art, 
 He surely wears the cap and bells, 
 Is led forth on the string of fools. 
 (27) Of Useless Studies. 
 The students I cannot neglect; 
 They too are taxed with cap and bells, 
 And when they put their headgear on 
 The point may somewhat backward hang. 
 For when they ought to study hard, 
 They'd rather go and fool about. 
 To youth all learning's trivial. 
 Just now they'd rather spend their time 
 With what is vain and of no use. 
 The masters have the selfsame fault, 
 In that true learning they despise 
 And useless trash alone regard: 
 As to whether it's day or night 
 Or whether a man a donkey made, 
 Or Socrates or Plato walked. 
 Such learning now the schools employs. 
 Are they not fools and stupid quite 
 That go about by day and night, 
 Among themselves and other folk? 
 For better learning they've no care. 
 Of them it is that Origen 
 Speaks, when he says that they are like 
 The frogs and grasshoppers that once 
 Th' Egyptian land reduced to waste. 
 And so the young men get them hence 
 While we at Leipzig, Erfurt, Wien, 
 Heidelberg, Mainz and Bale hold out. 
 But come back home although with shame, 
 The money by that time is spent. 
 And then we're glad to turn to trade, 
 And then one learns to bring in wine, 
 And soon turns out a serving-man. 
 The student cap will get its bells.
 
 42 SOURCE-BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN /. 
 
 Maximilian I., emperor of Germany from 1493 to 1519, son of Frederick 
 III., emperor and founder of the Hapsburg power in modern Europe, was 
 born in 1459. In T 477 Maximilian married Mary of Burgundy, heiress of 
 Charles the Bold, thereby securing to his line the succession to the rich pos- 
 sessions of the house of Burgundy. 
 
 In addition to his patronage of literature and the arts, Maximilian found 
 leisure for literary composition. Among the works attributed to him are the 
 Theuerdank, a poetical allegory, setting forth the adventures of his court- 
 ship, and the Weisskunig, a general record of his life, in prose. Just what 
 part may be ascribed to Maximilian in the preparation of this work is uncer- 
 tain. It is believed, however, that the emperor furnished the material, and 
 that the literary form, of the Weisskunig at least, was the contribution of 
 his secretary, Treitzsauerwein. 
 
 FROM THE Weisskunig} 
 How the Queen gave birth to a son. 
 
 When now the time of the child's birth drew near, there was 
 seen, but as yet not clearly, a comet in the sky, and it gave rise 
 to many opinions. The old white king, likewise the exiled 
 prince and all the folk of the entire kingdom cried aloud to God, 
 with great devotion, asking that through his divine grace all the 
 people might have occasion to rejoice in the queen's safe delivery. 
 When any Christian man contemplates the mighty grace which 
 Almighty God conferred upon them both in this world, as for 
 example, the highest spiritual and temporal honor of their 
 coronation at Rome; and when he thinks as well of their piety 
 and humility, that in their love of God they visited and sought 
 to honor all holy places in the City of Rome and elsewhere; then 
 he need not doubt that God heard this prayer out of his benign 
 tenderness, for all good things come from God. And on this day 
 and at the hour of the child's birth the selfsame comet appeared 
 much larger than before and gave forth a clear and brilliant light. 
 Although comets, for many reasons, usually make melancholy 
 the heart of him who looks upon them, yet this comet with its 
 glow was pleasing to look upon, so that each heart was moved at 
 the sight of the comet, and thereby its special influence was a 
 sign and revelation of the child's birth. In the midst of this 
 
 1 Der Weiss Kunig ; eine Erzehlung von den Thaten Kaiser Maximilian I., 
 von M. Treitzsaurwein auf dessen Angeben zusammengetrageu, nebet den 
 von H. Burgmair dazu verfertigten Holzschnitteu. Wien, 1775.
 
 MAXIMILIAN I. 43 
 
 appearance of the comet, the queen, through the divine grace 
 granted and bestowed upon her, in the city called the Neustadt, 
 bore her child with gentle pains, and was in her delivery greatly 
 rejoiced, because the child was a beautiful son. Then out of joy 
 they began to ring the bells and throughout the whole kingdom 
 were lighted countless fires of rejoicing. How great was the joy 
 of the old white king and all the people of his kingdom, over this 
 happy birth. Now when this child was born, the comet ceased at 
 once with its glow, whereby it is to be recognized that the same 
 comet was a token of the child's future rule and of his wondrous 
 deeds. And the exiled prince recognized that b)' this comet 
 his counsel was confirmed through the influence of heaven, and 
 he also requested that he might raise the child from the baptismal 
 font, to which office he was called by the old white king, since 
 the prince himself was born of kingly race. One thing will I 
 make known: that when this child came to his years and to his 
 rule, he was most victorious and most warlike, and to look upon 
 his countenance he was most gracious, which indeed is wonderful 
 to see in one who is warlike and of all most warlike; in this may 
 be recognized the comet's bold and frank appearance, and its 
 gracious aspect, as a token of the future. 
 
 Note, that the king's countenance is likened to this gracious 
 aspect. 
 
 How the young white king learned the black art. 
 
 In this advancement of the young white king, his father, the 
 old white king, took great satisfaction, and his heart beat so high 
 with joy that a terror seized him when he thought that all joys 
 should have their source in the praise and honor of God ; and in 
 this manner his spirit was deeply moved to consider the future 
 upholding of the Christian faith. How great was his emotion ! 
 He recalled how often in former times, powerful kings in their 
 later years were fallen awa)' from the true belief into a new faith, 
 all of which had come about solely through the seduction of the 
 black art. Much is to be written thereof, but as a proof of what 
 I write, this same art is forbidden in the Christian faith and by 
 the ordinances of imperial law, and exterminated, whereby it 
 must be let alone, for the soul's salvation and for the increase of 
 our faith. Although this art is damning to the soul and an in- 
 jury to our faith, yet the human spirit is so weak and diseased
 
 44 SOURCE-BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 in its constancy, in its determination to discover hidden things, 
 that this art, whose false basis and unreality is hidden, is so very 
 dear to man that many come thereby into error and despair. 
 Now the young white king often heard speak of this art, and from 
 time to time he chanced to see the very ablest writings, wherein 
 this art is set forth. In the midst of the joy and the contempla- 
 tion of the old white king, as related above, the young white king 
 came to him. Then spake the father to the son : " What think 
 you and how do you regard the black art, which is a damnation 
 to the soul, and a crime and seduction to men? Are you not 
 disposed to learn it?" Thus did the father for the purpose of 
 making evident to him the hidden seduction, and to plant future 
 doubts. The son gave him answer: "St. Paul, that most ex- 
 cellent teacher of the Christian faith, writes and commands us 
 that we shall learn all things and experience all things, but avoid 
 the ill and cleave to that which is good." Thereupon spake the 
 father to the son: "Go hence and take to yourself the most 
 learned man in the black art, and investigate it thoroughly ; but 
 bear in mind the first commandment of God : Thou shalt believe 
 in one God ; and also St. Paul's teaching, which you have just 
 indicated to me." The young white king sought out an espec- 
 ially learned man in the black art, who began to teach him with 
 uncommon industry, with the idea that this same art should be 
 looked upon by the prince as good and useful and held dear. 
 And when the young white king had studied it for a time, and 
 satisfied himself of its uselessness, he discovered that the art was 
 contrary to the first commandment of God, which reads : Thou 
 shalt believe in one God; and for the first time he understood St. 
 Paul's teaching, for he who has not experience of it easily be- 
 lieves, and thereby it often comes about that he is led astray. 
 For a while the learned man disputed with the young white king, 
 in order to discover his spirit and his desire, and then he said to 
 him : ' ' This art is an art whereby great lords ma}- increase their 
 power." Then asked the young white king of him, whether 
 there were more gods than one. Thereupon he answered : ' ' There 
 is but one God." Upon this answer the young white king said : 
 " You have spoken truly, and thereby is the black art vain, and 
 the learning which I have discovered in the same, the seduction 
 of our faith. ' ' From this speech the learned man easily perceived 
 that he was sufficiently wandered in this lore. With how great
 
 MAXIMILIAN I. 45 
 
 wisdom had the old white king made the reflection above related, 
 and how prolific of usefulness was it to the Christian faith ; for 
 when the young white king came into his years and into his 
 powerful reign, he permitted no unbelief nor heresy to be kindled 
 or spread abroad, which, however, have often obtained the upper 
 hand ; and indeed it has happened from time to time that, through 
 the confidence and by permission of inexperienced men, men of 
 evil have been strengthened in their desperate enterprises and 
 have adhered to them, a thing which these kings through their 
 careful experience and their especial wisdom have avoided, to the 
 salvation and happiness of their souls and to the maintenance of 
 the Christian religion. 
 
 How the young white king came to the young queen, and how he was received. 
 
 \Vhen the young white king was on his way to visit the afore- 
 said young queen, then was this announced to the two queens 
 aforesaid. Thereupon they were filled with great joy and wrote 
 at once to all their retainers, and let them know as well of the 
 approach of the young white king. The retainers tarried not, but 
 came without hindrance to the two queens. Then counsel was 
 taken of them as to how the young white king should be received. 
 Thereupon was written to the young white king, he should come 
 into the city named Ghent, and the two queens, with their re- 
 tainers, would also come thither; and as soon as this letter had 
 been dispatched to the young white king, the two queens, with 
 their retainers, drew into the said city and there awaited the 
 arrival of the young white king, who, after a few days, himself 
 came thither; and on the same day that he entered the city there 
 rode toward him, first, the citizens of the city, most elegantly 
 arrayed, then all the retainers, princes, bishops, prelates, counts, 
 lords, knights and squires, a great multitude ; then the whole 
 clergy, with all the sacred relics, in a procession, and all the 
 people of the city, and received the young king with great honor 
 and high distinction, and with especial joy; and he too rode into 
 the city, with great concourse, in costly array and royal honors, 
 and all who saw him felt an especial pleasure in his beautiful 
 youth and upright bearing, and the common folk said, they had 
 never seen a finer youth, and the}' were filled with amazement, 
 that the old white king, his father, should have sent his son, in 
 the beauty of his youth, so far into a foreign land; and the young
 
 46 SOURCE-BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 king was festively entertained at his lodging, which was decorated 
 for him in the richest manner. The two queens had prepared 
 towards evening a grand banquet, and sent to the young king 
 persons of high degree, to invite him to the banquet, where the 
 two queens would receive him in person; and when he would go 
 to the banquet he dressed and adorned himself with elegant 
 clothes and jewels, and went with his princes, nobles and knights, 
 in royal array, to the banquet. Then night came on and the 
 throng was great, and there were many torches, for each wished 
 to see the young white king. Meanwhile the two queens were 
 alone together in an apartment, and conversing together said that 
 they would like to see the young king secretly. Thereupon 
 the old queen, the young queen's mother, disguised herself in 
 strange garments and went secretly and unknown out of the 
 apartment into the hall, where the young white king should 
 come. Now the crowd of people was so great that for a long time 
 the old queen was unable to get past, and was obliged secretly to 
 seek, and when finally she came past the people, at that same 
 moment the young white king entered the hall, and when he was 
 pointed out to her at first she would not believe that it was the 
 young white king, for she thought he was too handsome, and 
 that she had never seen a youth so fine, and she tarried to see 
 which of all really was the young white king. And now she 
 saw that all honor was done to this same handsome youth, and 
 moreover that he was escorted by the mighty archbishops and 
 princes, and that this youth could be no other than the young 
 white king. Thereupon the old queen went in haste to her 
 daughter, the young queen, in her chamber, and said from the 
 depths of her heart: " O daughter, no such beautiful youth have 
 I seen as the young white king and this young king shall be thy 
 lord and consort, and no other." From these words it is seen 
 that the king of France and his son came to grief with their 
 secret wooing, which I have mentioned before. 
 
 For the young white king was indeed a comely youth, well 
 built in body and bone, and had a sweet and lovely countenance 
 and wonderfully beautiful yellow hair; he was called, on account 
 of his beauty and his fitness, the white king with the gracious 
 countenance. Now when the young white king stood in the 
 middle of the hall, the two queens advanced to him with great 
 elegance and received him with royal honors, with great joy and
 
 DESIDERIUS ERASMUS. 47 
 
 friendliness. And as soon as the young queen saw the young 
 white king she was much pleased with his person, and with this 
 same contentment her heart became inflamed with honorable love 
 toward him. In this same hour, with her royal consent, the 
 marriage was confidentially discussed and joyfully determined 
 upon, and thereafter the banquet with great enjoyment carried 
 out. How rich in joy was indeed this banquet, where such a 
 royal marriage, between two persons of the greatest worth and 
 beauty was concluded! 
 
 DESIDERIUS ERASMUS. 
 
 Desiderius Erasmus (1467-1536), as he called himself according to the lit- 
 erary fashion of the time, changing the name of Gerhard to its Latin and 
 Greek equivalent, was born at Rotterdam, a natural sou of Gerhard of Prae't. 
 Left an orphan at an early age, he was induced against his inclination to 
 take monastic vows in 1486, but effected his release from a life which he 
 found distasteful, and went to Paris as secretary to the Bishop of Cambray. 
 A student at the university of Paris, Erasmus' health was broken with the 
 privations undergone, both iu Paris and during the following years of scant 
 existence. To Lord Mouutjoy, whom he tutored at Paris, he owed au intro- 
 duction to English society, and an acquaintance with the English scholars, 
 More and Colet. In 1506 he made the journey to Italy, and published from 
 the Aldine Press his book of Adages (printed for the first time in 1500). In 
 1509 Erasmus returned to England, hoping much from the new king, Henry 
 VIII., who as a prince was favorably inclined toward learning. At this time 
 he composed in England the Praise of Folly, best known of Erasmus' works, 
 perhaps because the Reformers found in it such valuable material for their 
 attack upon the Roman church. 
 
 Dissatisfied with England as a place of residence, partly on account of the 
 indifference of the king, and partly because of its remoteness from the great 
 centres of publication, Erasmus returned to the continent in 1513, and took 
 up his residence at Basel. Here he lived the greater part of his remaining 
 years, engaged in literary work. The Reformation broke in rudely upon 
 his labors. While sympathizing with Luther's early attempt to check the 
 abuses of the church, Erasmus' interests were not theological. His work 
 and few men worked more strenuously was literary. To him all was unwel- 
 come that threatened the repose necessary for the intellectual development 
 of Europe. The Reformers, unable to recognize his position or to sympa- 
 thize with a condition of indifference toward theological matters, branded 
 him a moral coward, and traces of this unjust stigma have outlived the per- 
 iod of dogmatic controversy and lingered on into modern times. 
 
 Of Erasmus' numerous works the Colloquies is said to have had the great- 
 est immediate circulation. "No book," says Hoefer, "passed through so 
 many editions in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as the Colloquies
 
 48 SOURCE-BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 of Erasmus. In them the author is found at his best, with all that nicety of 
 observation, that caustic and incisive vein, that purity, that versatility and 
 elegance of style which justify for Erasmus the name of the Voltaire of the 
 sixteenth century." 
 
 For the latest contribution from a scholarly source to the history of Eras- 
 mus, cf. Dr. Ephraim Emerton's Desiderius Erasmus, in the Heroes of the 
 Reformation series, Putnams, N. Y., 1899. 
 
 TWO COW.OQUIES. 1 
 
 /. Naufragium . 
 
 A. These are dreadful things that you tell. Is that sailing ? 
 God forbid that any such idea should come into my head. 
 
 B. Indeed, what I have related is mere child's play compared 
 with what you are about to hear. 
 
 A. I have heard more than enough of mishaps. I shudder 
 while you narrate them, as though I myself were present at the 
 danger. 
 
 B. Indeed, to me past struggles are pleasing. That night some- 
 thing happened which almost took away the captain's last hope 
 of safety. 
 
 A. What, I pray ? 
 
 B. The moon was bright that night, and one of the sailors was 
 standing on the round-top (for so it is called, I believe) keeping a 
 lookout for land. A globe of fire appeared beside him. It is con- 
 sidered by sailors to be an evil omen if the fire be single, a good 
 omen if it be double. In ancient times these were thought to be 
 Castor and Pollux. 
 
 A. What have they to do with sailors ? One of them was a 
 horseman, the other a boxer. 
 
 B. Well, this is the view of the poets. The captain who was 
 sitting at the helm, spoke up. " Mate," said he, (for sailors ad- 
 dress each other in this manner), "do you see what is beside 
 you?" " I see," he replied, " and I hope it may be lucky." By 
 and by the globe of fire descended along the rigging and rolled 
 up to the feet of the captain himself. 
 
 A. Did he perish with fear ? 
 
 B. Sailors are accustomed to strange sights. The globe stayed 
 there a while, then rolled along the side of the vessel and dis- 
 appeared down through the middle of the deck. About noon the 
 
 1 Opera omuia (edidit J. Clericus) I/vgd. Bat., P. van der Aa. 1703-1706.
 
 DESIDERIUS ERASMUS. 49 
 
 storm began to rage with greater fury. Have you ever seen the 
 Alps? 
 
 A. Yes, I have seen them. 
 
 B. Those mountains are mole-hills compared with the waves of 
 he sea. When we were lifted up on the crest of a wave, we 
 might have touched the moon with our fingers. As often as we 
 went down between the billows, we seemed to be going direct to 
 the infernal regions, the earth opening to receive us. 
 
 A. Foolish people, that trust themselves to the sea ! 
 
 B. The sailors struggled in vain against the tempest, and at 
 length the captain, quite pale, came toward us. 
 
 A. That pallor presages some great evil. 
 
 B. ' ' Friends, ' ' says he, I have lost control of my ship. The winds 
 have conquered me, and nothing remains but to put our trust in 
 God, and for every one to prepare himself for the last extremity." 
 
 A. O speech truly Scythian ! 
 
 B. "But first, ' ' says he, ' ' we shall relieve the ship of her cargo. 
 Necessity, a stern mistress, commands this. It is better to save 
 our lives, with the loss of our goods, than to perish along with 
 our goods." The truth of this was evident to us ; and many ves- 
 sels full of precious wares were thrown into the sea. 
 
 A. This was indeed a loss ! 
 
 B. There was a certain Italian who had been upon an embassy 
 to the king of Scotland ; he had a box full of silver vessels, rings, 
 cloth and silk garments. 
 
 A. Would he not compound with the sea ? 
 
 B. No; he wished either to perish with his beloved wealth, or 
 to be saved along with it ; and so be refused. 
 
 A. What did the captain say ? 
 
 B. " So far as we are concerned," says he, " you are welcome 
 to perish with your traps ; but it is not right that we should all 
 be endangered for the sake of your box, and rather than that we 
 will throw you headlong into the sea, along with your box." 
 
 A. A speech worthy of a sailor. 
 
 B. So the Italian also made his contribution, with many im- 
 precations upon the powers above and those below, that he had 
 trusted his life to so barbarous an element. A little later the 
 winds, in no wise softened by our offerings, broke the rigging and 
 tore the sails into shreds. 
 
 A. Alas ! alas !
 
 50 SOURCE-BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 B. Again the sailor approaches us, 
 
 A. With further information ? 
 
 B. He greets us. " Friends," says he, " It is time that every- 
 body should commend himself to God and prepare for death." 
 When certain ones who had some knowledge of the sea asked 
 him how many hours he thought he could keep afloat, he said he 
 could not say for certain, but that it would not be above three 
 hours. 
 
 A. This information was more serious than the former. 
 
 B. With these words he ordered all ropes to be severed and the 
 mast cut with a saw close to the deck, and to let it go by the 
 board together with the yards. 
 
 A. Why was this done ? 
 
 B. Because, since the sails were gone or torn to pieces, it was a 
 burden rather than a help. All our hope was in the helm. 
 
 A. What were the passengers doing meanwhile? 
 
 B. There you might have seen a miserable condition of affairs. 
 The sailors, singing " Salve, regina" implored the Virgin mother, 
 calling her star of the sea, queen of heaven, ruler of the world, 
 harbor of safety, and flattering her with many other titles, which 
 the holy scriptures nowhere attribute to her. 
 
 A. What has she to do with the sea, who never sailed, so far 
 as I know ? 
 
 B. Venus formerly had the care of sailors, because she was sup- 
 posed to have been born of the sea ; since she has ceased her care 
 of them, the Virgin mother has been substituted for her, in her 
 maternal, not in her virginal capacity. 
 
 A. You are joking. 
 
 B. Some fell down upon the decks and worshiped the sea, pour- 
 ing into the waves whatever oil was at hand, flattering it not 
 otherwise than we used to flatter an angry prince. 
 
 A. What did they say ? 
 
 B. " O, most merciful sea ! O, most noble sea ! O, most 
 wealthy sea ! Have pity, save us ! " Many things of this sort 
 they sang to the deaf sea. 
 
 A. Absurd superstition ! What were the others doing ? 
 
 B. Some were sufficiently occupied with sea-sickness ; but most 
 of them offered vows. Among them was a certain Englishman, 
 who promised mountains of gold to our Lady of Walsingham, if 
 only he might touch land alive. Some promised many things to
 
 DESIDERIUS ERASMUS. 51 
 
 the wood of the cross, which was in such a place ; others again to 
 the same in another place. The same was done in the case of the 
 Virgin Mary, who reigns in many places ; and they think the vow 
 is of no avail, unless you name the place. 
 
 A. Absurd ! as if the saints did not dwell in the heavens. 
 
 B. There were some who promised to be Carthusians. One 
 promised to go to James, who lives at Cotnpostella, with bare 
 hands and feet, his body covered only with an iron coat of mail, 
 begging his food besides. 
 
 A. Did nobody mention Christopher ? 
 
 B. I could scarcely refrain from smiling when I heard one with 
 a loud voice, lest he should not be heard, promise Christopher, 
 who is in Paris, at the top of a church, a mountain rather than 
 a statue, a wax candle as big as he himself. While he was bawl- 
 ing this out at the top of his voice, with now and then an addi- 
 tional emphasis, some acquaintance who was standing by touched 
 him on the elbow and advised him, saying, " Have a care what 
 you promise; for if you sell all your goods at auction, you will 
 not be able to pay." Then says he, in a lower tone, lest 
 Christopher should hear: " Hold your tongue, fool; do you think 
 I am in earnest ? When once I have touched land, I will not give 
 him a tallow candle." 
 
 A. O, heavy wit! I take it he was a Dutchman. 
 
 B. No, but he was a Zealander. 
 
 A. I wonder that nobody thought of Paul the Apostle. He 
 himself sailed, and when the ship was wrecked, leaped ashore; for 
 he learned through misfortune to succor the unfortunate. 
 
 B. There was no mention of Paul. 
 
 A. Did they pray meanwhile ? 
 
 B. Earnestly. One sang "Salve ! regina" another "Credo in 
 Deum." Some there were who had especial prayers, not unlike 
 magic formulas, against danger. 
 
 A. How religious we are in times of affliction! In times of 
 prosperity neither God nor saints comes into our head. What 
 were you doing all this time ? Did you offer vows to none of the 
 saints ? 
 
 B. Not one. 
 
 A. Why not j 
 
 B. Because I do not drive bargains with the saints. For what 
 is it other than a contract according to form ? "I will give this,
 
 52 SOURCE-BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 if you will do that ; I will give you a wax candle, if I swim out of 
 this; I will go to Rome, if you will save me." 
 
 A. But you sought the protection of some saint ? 
 
 B. Not even that. 
 
 A. Why not ? 
 
 B. Because Heaven is a large place. If I commend myself to 
 some saint, St. Peter for example, who is most likely to hear me 
 first of all, since he stands at the door; before he goes to God and 
 explains my case I shall be already lost. 
 
 A. What did you do, then ? 
 
 B. I went immediately to the Father himself, saying: "Our 
 Father who art in heaven." None of the saints hears sooner 
 than He, nor gives more willingly what is asked. 
 
 A. But in the meanwhile did not your conscience cry out 
 against you ? were you not afraid to call him Father whom you 
 have offended with so many transgressions ? 
 
 B. To tell the truth, my conscience did terrify me a little; but 
 presently I gathered courage, thinking to myself as follows: 
 There is no father so angry with his son, but, if he sees him in 
 danger, in a river or lake, would seize him by the hair and draw 
 him out upon the bank. Amongst them all no one behaved more 
 quietly than a certain woman w T ho had a baby in her arms, which 
 she was nursing. 
 
 A. What did she do? 
 
 B. She was the only one who did not cry or weep or promise. 
 Embracing her child, she prayed silently. In the meantime the 
 ship struck now and then, and the captain, tearing lest it should 
 go to pieces, bound it fore and aft with cables. 
 
 A. What a miserable makeshift! 
 
 B. Meanwhile an aged priest, sixty years old, whose name was 
 Adam, comes foreward. Casting off his clothes even to his shirt 
 and his leather stockings as well, he ordered that we should pre- 
 pare ourselves in a similar manner for swimming; and standing 
 thus in the middle of the ship he preached to us out of Gerson the 
 five truths concerning the usefulness of confession, exhorting us 
 all to prepare ourselves for life or death. There was present also 
 a Dominican. Those who wished confessed to these. 
 
 A. What did you do ? 
 
 B. Seeing that confusion reigned everywhere, I confessed 
 silently to God, condemning before him my unrighteousness and 
 imploring his mercy.
 
 DESIDERIUS ERASMUS. 53 
 
 A. Whither would you have gone, if you had died thus ? 
 
 B. I left that to God as judge; nor was I disposed to be my 
 own judge; yet in the meantime I was not without some hope. 
 While these things were going on, the sailor returns to us weep- 
 ing. ' ' Let every one prepare himself, ' ' says he, ' ' for the ship will 
 not last us beyond another quarter of an hour." For it was badly 
 broken, and the sea was rushing in. A little later the sailor in- 
 formed us that he saw a church tower, and advised us to pray to 
 the saint for aid, whoever might be the patron of that church. 
 All fall upon their knees and pray to the unknown saint. 
 
 A. If you had called him by name perhaps he might have 
 heard you. 
 
 B. He was unknown to us. Meanwhile the captain steers the 
 ship, shattered as it was, and leaking at every seam, and 
 evidently ready to fall to pieces, had it not been bound with 
 cables. 
 
 A. A sad condition of affairs. 
 
 B. We came so far in shore that the inhabitants of the place 
 saw our danger; and running in crowds to the beach, they held 
 up their coats and put their hats upon lances, to attract our 
 attention; and threw their arms upward toward the skies, to 
 signify that they were sorry for us. 
 
 A. I am anxious to know what happened. 
 
 B. The sea had already invaded the w T hole ship, so that we 
 were likely to be no safer in the ship than in the sea. 
 
 A. Then you w r ere obliged to flee to the holy anchor ? 
 
 B. Nay, to the miserable one. The sailors bail out the boat 
 and lower it into the sea. All attempt to crowd into it, and the 
 sailors remonstrate vigorously, crying that the boat is not able to 
 hold such a crowd; that each one should lay hold of whatever he 
 could find and take to swimming. There was no opportunity for 
 deliberation. One took an oar, another a boat-hook, another a 
 sink, another a plank; and all took to the waves, each one resting 
 upon his means of salvation. 
 
 A. In the meantime what became of that poor woman, who 
 alone did not cry out ? 
 
 B. She came first of all to land. 
 
 A. How was that possible ? 
 
 B. We placed her upon a wide board, and lashed her on so that 
 she could not very well fall off. We gave her a paddle in her hand
 
 54 SOURCE-BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 which she might use instead of an oar, and, wishing her well, we 
 set her adrift, pushing her forward with a pole, so that she might 
 float wide of the ship, from which there was danger. She held 
 her baby with her left hand and paddled with her right. 
 
 A. What a courageous woman! 
 
 B. When nothing was left, some one pulled down a wooden 
 image of the Virgin Mother, now rotten and hollowed out by the 
 rats, and embracing it, began to swim. 
 
 A. Did the boat arrive safe ? 
 
 B. They were the first ones to be lost. 
 
 A. How did that happen ? 
 
 B. Before it could get clear of the ship it tipped and was over- 
 turned. 
 
 A. How badly managed ! What then ? 
 
 B. While watching the others I nearly perished myself. 
 
 A. How so? 
 
 B. Because nothing remained for me to swim upon. 
 
 A. Corks would have been of use there. 
 
 B. Just at this time I would rather have had some cheap cork 
 than a golden candlestick. Finalty, as I was looking about, it 
 occurred to me that the stump of the mast would be of use to me ; 
 but as I could not get it out alone, I got a companion to help me. 
 We both threw ourselves upon it and so committed ourselves to 
 the sea, I upon the right end, he upon the left. While we were 
 thus tossing about, that priest, the sea chaplain, threw himself 
 upon the middle, between our shoulders. He was a stout man. 
 We cried out : " Who is this third man ? He will cause us all to 
 perish!" He, on the other hand, mildly replied : ''Be of good 
 cheer ; there is room enough. God will be with us." 
 
 A. Why did he take to swimming so late ? 
 
 B. He was to have been with the Dominican in the boat, for 
 all deferred to him in this ; but although they had confessed to 
 one another on the ship, yet they had forgotten something, I 
 know not what, and began confessing again at the ship's rail, and 
 one laid his hand upon the other. Meanwhile the boat was lost ; 
 for Adam himself told me this. 
 
 A. What became of the Dominican ? 
 
 B. He, the same one told me, implored the saints' help, put off 
 his clothes and took to swimming all naked. 
 
 A. What saints did he invoke ?
 
 DESIDERIUS ERASMUS. 55 
 
 B. Dominic, Thomas, Vincent ; but he relied most upon Cath- 
 arine of Sens. 
 
 A. Did not Christ come into his mind ? 
 
 B. This is what the priest told me. 
 
 A. He would have swum better had he not put off his holy 
 cowl ; with that off, how could Catharine of Sens recognize him ? 
 But go on about yourself. 
 
 B. While we were tossing about near the ship, which rolled 
 hither and thither at the mercy of the waves, the helm broke the 
 thigh of him who held the left end of our float, and he was 
 knocked off. The priest prayed for his eternal rest, and suc- 
 ceeded to his place, urging me to hold courageously to my end 
 and move my feet actively. In the meanwhile we swallowed 
 a great deal of salt water. Neptune had mixed for us not only a 
 salt bath, but a salt drink ; but the priest soon had a remedy for 
 that. 
 
 A. What, I pray ? 
 
 B. As often as a wave came toward us, he turned the back of 
 his head to it with his mouth firmly closed. 
 
 A. You say he was a stout old man ? 
 
 B. Swimming thus for some time we had made considerable 
 progress when the priest, who was a man of unusual height, 
 said: " Be of good cheer; I feel bottom." Not having dared to 
 hope for such happiness, I replied: " We are yet too far from 
 shore to hope to find bottom." " No," he said, " I feel the 
 ground with my feet." " It is," I rejoined, "some of the boxes, 
 perhaps, which the sea has tumbled thither." "No," said he, 
 " I plainly feel the earth by scratching with my toes." We 
 swam on for some time longer, and he felt bottom again. "You 
 do," he said, "what seems to you best. I will give you the 
 whole mast and trust myself to the bottom;" and at the same 
 time waiting for the waves to flow outward, he went forward as 
 rapidly as he could. When the waves came again upon him, 
 holding firmly to his knees with both hands he met the wave, 
 sinking beneath it as sea-gulls and ducks are accustomed to do; 
 and when the wave again receded he sprang up and ran. Seeing 
 that this succeeded in his case, I did the same. Then some of 
 the strongest of those who stood upon the beach, and those most 
 used to the waves, fortified themselves against the force of the 
 waves with long poles stretched between them, so that the outer-
 
 56 SOURCE-BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 most held out a pole to the swimmer; and when he had grasped 
 it, the whole line moved shorewards and so he was drawn safely 
 on dry land. Some were saved in this manner. 
 
 A. How many ? 
 
 B. Seven ; but of these two fainted with the heat, when set 
 before the fire. 
 
 A. How many were you in the ship ? 
 
 B. Fifty-eight. 
 
 A. O, cruel sea! At least it might have been content with the 
 tithes, which suffice for the priests. Did it return so few out of 
 so great a number ? 
 
 B. We were surprisingly well treated by the people, who fur- 
 nished us with all things with wonderful cheerfulness, lodging, 
 fire, food, clothes, and provisions for our homeward journey. 
 
 A. What people were they ? 
 
 B. Dutch. 
 
 A. No people are more civil, although they are surrounded 
 with savage nations. You will not go to sea again, I take it ? 
 
 B. No, not unless God sees fit to take away my senses. 
 
 A. And as for me, I would rather hear such tales than know 
 them by experience. 
 
 //. Diversoria. 
 
 A. Why do so many people stop over for two or three days at 
 L,yons? As for me, when I start upon a journey I do not rest 
 until I come to my destination. 
 
 B. Indeed, I wonder that any one can be got away from the 
 place. 
 
 A. Why, I pray ? 
 
 B. Because that is the place the companions of Ulysses could 
 not have been drawn away from. The Sirens are there. No one 
 is treated better in his own home than there at an inn. 
 
 A. What do they do ? 
 
 B. Some woman was always standing near the table to divert 
 the guests with wit and fun. First the woman of the house came 
 to us, greeted us, and bade us to be of good cheer and make the 
 best of what was set before us. Then came the daughter, a fine 
 woman, merry in manner and tongue, so that she might have 
 amused Cato himself. Nor do they talk to their guests as if they 
 were strangers, but as if they were old acquaintances. 
 
 A. Yes, I admit that the French people are very civil.
 
 DESIDERIUS ERASMUS. 57 
 
 B. But since they could not be present all the time, and the 
 business of the house had to be attended to and the other guests 
 greeted, a girl well supplied with jokes attended us during the 
 whole meal. She was well able to repay all jesters in their own 
 coin. She kept the stories going until the daughter returned, for 
 the mother was somewhat elderly. 
 
 A. But what sort of fare had you with all this? For the 
 stomach is not filled with stories. 
 
 B. Fine ! Indeed, I wonder that they can entertain guests so 
 cheaply. Then too, after dinner they divert you with pleasant 
 conversation, lest you should grow weary. It seemed to me I was 
 at home, not travelling. 
 
 A. How about the sleeping accommodations? 
 
 B. Even there we were attended by girls, laughing, romping 
 and playing ; they asked us if we had any soiled clothes, washed 
 them for us and brought them back. What more can I say? We 
 saw nothing but women and girls, except in the stables ; and even 
 there they burst in occasionally. They embrace departing guests 
 and send them away with as much affection as if they were all 
 brothers or near relations. 
 
 A. Very likely such manners suit the French ; as for me, the 
 customs of Germany please me more. They are more manly. 
 
 B. I never happened to visit Germany ; so tell me, I beg of you, 
 in what manner the Germans entertain a guest. 
 
 A. I am not certain that the process is everywhere the same. 
 I will relate what I have seen. Upon your arrival nobody greets 
 you, lest they should seem to court a guest ; for they consider 
 that mean and unworthy of the German gravity. When you 
 have shouted yourself hoarse, finally some one puts out his head 
 from the window of the stove-room (for they live there up to the 
 middle of the summer), just as a snail pokes its head out of its 
 shell. You have to ask him if you may be entertained there. 
 If he does not tell you no, you understand that place will be made 
 for you. To your inquiries, with a wave of his hand, he indi- 
 cates where the stables are. There you are permitted to take 
 care of your horse as you choose ; for no servant lifts a finger. 
 If the tavern is a large one, a servant will show you the stables 
 and a rather inconvenient place for your horse. They keep the 
 better places for those who are to come, especially for the nobility. 
 If you find fault with anything, you are told at once that if it
 
 58 SOURCE-BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 does not please you, you are at liberty to hunt another tavern. 
 In the cities it is with difficulty that you can get any hay, even a 
 little, and then they sell it almost as dear as oats. When your 
 horse is provided for, you go just as you are to the stove room, 
 boots, baggage and mud. There is one room for all comers 
 
 B. Among the French they show the guests to sleeping-rooms, 
 where they may change their clothes, bathe and warm them- 
 selves, or even take a nap, if they please. 
 
 A. Well, there is no such thing here. In the stove-room you 
 take off your boots and put on slippers. If you like, you change 
 your shirt ; you hang your clothes, wet with rain, against the 
 stove ; and you sit by it yourself, in order to get dry. There is 
 water at hand if you care to wash your hands, but it is generally 
 so clean that you have to seek more water to wash off that 
 ablution. 
 
 B. I cannot refrain from praising men who are so little softened 
 with the elegancies of living. 
 
 A. Even if you arrive the fourth hour after noon you cannot 
 get your supper before the ninth, and sometimes the tenth. 
 
 B. Why is that ? 
 
 A. They serve nothing until they see all the guests assembled, 
 in order that the same effort may serve for all. 
 
 B. They have an eye to labor-saving. 
 
 A. You are right. And thus very often eighty or ninety per- 
 sons are assembled in the same stove-room, footmen, horsemen, 
 tradesmen, sailors, coachmen, farmers, boys, women, healthy 
 people and sick people. 
 
 B. That is in truth a community of living. 
 
 A. One is combing his head, another wiping the perspiration 
 from his face, another cleaning his winter shoes or boots, another 
 reeks of garlic. What more could you desire ? Here is no less 
 confusion of tongue and of persons than there was once in the 
 tower of Babel. But if they see a foreigner, who shows some 
 evidence of distinction in his dress, they are all interested in him, 
 and stare at him as if he were some animal from Africa. Even 
 after they are at the table they turn their heads to get a look, 
 and neglect their meals rather than lose sight of him. 
 
 B. At Rome, Paris and Venice no one wonders at anything. 
 A. Meanwhile you may not call for anything. When the 
 
 evening is far advanced and no more guests are expected, an old
 
 DESIDERIUS ERASMUS. 59 
 
 servant appears, with gray beard, cropped head, a savage look 
 and shabby clothes. 
 
 B. It was necessary that such should be cup-bearers to the 
 Roman Cardinals. 
 
 A. He casts his eye about and silently reckons how many 
 there are in the stove-room. The more there are present the 
 more violently the stove is heated, although the weather may be 
 uncomfortably warm outside. This is the certain indication of 
 hospitality, that everybody should be dripping with sweat. If 
 anyone who is not used to this steaming, should open a chink of 
 a window, lest he be stifled, immediately he hears: " Shut it! " 
 If you reply: " I cannot bear it! " you hear: " Then look out for 
 another tavern ! " 
 
 B. It seems to me there is nothing more dangerous than for so 
 many persons to breathe the same air, especially when the pores 
 are open, and then dine and stay there several hours. Not to 
 speak of the odor of garlic and bad breaths. There are many, 
 too, who are affected with secret diseases, and every distemper is 
 to a certain degree infectious. Certainly many have the Spanish, 
 or as some call it, the French evil, although it is common enough 
 to all nations. I think there is not much less danger from these 
 than from lepers. Just think, too, how great danger there is from 
 the plague! 
 
 A. Oh, they are sturdy fellows. They laugh at these things. 
 
 B. But at the same time they are brave at the expense of 
 many. 
 
 A. Well, what can you do about it ? They are accustomed to 
 it, and it is a sign of a constant mind not to depart from estab- 
 lished customs. 
 
 B. Twenty-five years ago nothing was more common among 
 the people of Brabant than public baths ; now there is hardly one 
 to be found, for the new ailment has taught us to avoid them. 
 
 A. But listen to the rest. The bearded Ganymede returns and 
 spreads with linen cloths as many tables as he considers necessary 
 for the number of guests. But heavens and earth ! how far from 
 fine are the cloths. You would say they were sail-cloths taken 
 down from the yard-arms of a ship. He has reckoned on eight 
 guests to each table. Those who know the custom of the coun- 
 try now sit down, each one where he pleases ; for no distinction 
 is made between a poor man and a rich man, between a master 
 and a servant.
 
 60 SOURCE-BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 B. That is the old equality which tyranny has driven out of 
 existence. Thus, I believe, Christ lived with his disciples. 
 
 A. Well, after all are seated, the grim Ganymede comes out and 
 counts over his company once more. By and by he returns and 
 sets before each guest a wooden dish and a spoon of the same kind 
 of silver; then a glass and a little piece of bread. Each one 
 polishes up his utensils in a leisurely way, while the porridge is 
 cooking. And thus they sit not uncommonly for upwards of an 
 hour. 
 
 B. Does no guest call for food in the meantime ? 
 
 A. No one who is acquainted with the temper of the country. 
 At length wine is served good Lord, how far from being taste- 
 less ! Those who water their wine ought to drink no other kind, 
 it is so thin and sharp. But if any guest seeks to obtain some 
 other kind of wine, offering to pay extra for it, at first they dis- 
 semble, but with an expression as if they wished to murder you. 
 If you insist upon it they answer that a great many counts and 
 margraves have lodged there and none of them has complained of 
 the quality of the wine ; if it does not suit you, why then, look 
 out for another tavern, for they look upon their noblemen as the 
 only men of importance, and exhibit their coats of arms every- 
 where. Already, then, the guests have a crust to throw to their 
 barking stomachs. By and by the dishes come on in great array. 
 The first usually consists of pieces of bread soaked in meat-broth, 
 or, if it be fish-day, in a broth of herbs. After this comes another 
 kind of broth, then some kind of warmed-up meat or salt fish. 
 Again the porridge is brought on, then some more substantial 
 food, until, when the stomach is well tamed, they serve up roast 
 meat or boiled fish, which is not to be despised. But here they 
 are sparing, and take the dishes away quickly. In this way they 
 diversify the entertainment, like play-actors who mix choruses 
 with their scenes, taking care that the last act shall be the best. 
 
 B. This is indeed the mark of a good poet. ' 
 
 A. Moreover, it would be an unpardonable offense if anybody 
 in the meantime should say : ' ' Take away this dish ; nobody 
 cares for it." You must sit there through the prescribed time, 
 which they measure, I suppose, with an hour-glass. At last, the 
 bearded fellow, or the inn-keeper himself, who differs very little 
 from the servants in his dress, comes in and asks if there is any- 
 thing wanted. By and by some better wine is brought on.
 
 DESIDERIUS ERASMUS. 6 1 
 
 They admire most him who drinks most ; but although he is the 
 greater consumer he pays no more than he who drinks least. 
 
 B A curious people, indeed ! 
 
 A. The result is that sometimes there are those who consume 
 twice the value in wine of what they pay for the whole meal. But 
 before I end my account of this entertainment, it is wonderful 
 what a noise and confusion of voices arises, when all have begun to 
 grow warm with drink. It is unnecessary to say that the riot is 
 universal. So-called jesters thrust themselves in everywhere, and 
 although there is no kind of human beings more despicable, yet 
 you would scarcely believe how the Germans are pleased with 
 them. They sing and prate, shout, dance and thump, so that the 
 stove seems ready to fall. No one can hear another speak. But 
 it seems to please them, and you are obliged to sit there, whether 
 you will or not, until late into the night. 
 
 A. Now do finally finish the entertainment ; for I too am worn 
 out with the length of it. 
 
 B. Very well. When at last the cheese, which hardly pleases 
 them unless rotten and full of worms, has been taken away, the 
 bearded fellow comes forth, bearing a trencher in which are drawn 
 with chalk some circles and semi-circles, and lays it upon the 
 table, so silent, meanwhile, and sad, that you would say he was 
 some Charon. Then they who comprehend the design lay down 
 their money, then another and still another, until the trencher is 
 filled. Then having observed who has contributed, he reckons 
 it up silently ; and if nothing is wanting he nods with his head. 
 
 B. What if there should be something over? 
 
 A. Perhaps he would return it. As a matter of fact, this 
 sometimes happens. 
 
 B. Does nobody ever cry out against the reckoning as unjust? 
 
 A. Nobody who is prudent. For he would hear at once : 
 " What sort of a fellow are you? You are paying no more than 
 the others !" 
 
 B. This is certainly a frank kind of people you are telling about. 
 
 A. And if anybody, weary with his journey, asks to go to bed 
 soon after supper, he is ordered to wait until the rest also go to bed. 
 
 B. I seem to see a Platonic city. 
 
 A. Then each is shown to his rest, and it is truly nothing more 
 than a bed-chamber ; for there is nothing there but a bed, and 
 nothing else that you can use or steal.
 
 62 SOURCE-BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 B. Is there cleanliness ? 
 
 A. Just as at dinner; linen washed six months ago, perhaps. 
 
 B. In the meantime what had become of the horses ? 
 
 A. They were treated according to the same method as the men. 
 
 B. But do you get the same accommodations everywhere? 
 
 A. Sometimes more courteous, sometimes harsher than I have 
 told you ; but on the whole it is as I have said. 
 
 B. How would you like me to tell you how guests are treated 
 in that part of Italy which is called L/ombardy, or in Spain, or in 
 England and in Wales? For the English have assimilated in 
 part the French and in part the German customs, being a mix- 
 ture of these two nations. The Welsh boast that they are the 
 original English. 
 
 A. I should like you to tell me, for I never had occasion to see 
 them. 
 
 B. At present I have not time, for the sailor told me to meet 
 him at the third hour, or I should be left behind ; and he has my 
 baggage. Some other time we shall have an opportunity of 
 chatting to our hearts' content. 
 
 ULRICH VON HUT TEN. 
 
 Ulrich von Hutten (1488-1523) was born in the castle of Steckelberg, in 
 Franconia, of the knightly class, and was destined, on account of his slight 
 stature and delicate health, for the church. He broke through the parental 
 plans, however, and gave himself to a life of literary effort. Von Hutten's 
 career was full of adventure and disorder, and lacked purpose, until his asso- 
 ciation with the Reformers turned his ardent energies into a distinct channel. 
 With all the impetuosity of his race he took up the cudgels against the 
 papacy. Although co-operating with Luther, von Hutten's interests were 
 never doctrinal, but economic and political. He looked forward to a united 
 Germany, in which the emperor, with the free knights at his back, should 
 sweep away the territorial barriers to his power, and rid the land of the Italian 
 yoke as well. Although he contributed much to the advancement of the Luth- 
 eran movement in its early and critical stage, yet it was well for him and for 
 the Reformers that he passed away before the movement came to be defined. 
 He would have had little sympathy with its doctrinal tendencies, or with that 
 alliance with the decentralizing forces in the empire, which alone assured its 
 success. 
 
 INSPICIENTES. 1 
 (Sol, traversing the heavens in company with Phaeton, his son, having 
 
 HThe On-lookers.) Ulrichi Hutteni equitis Gerrnani opera. Ed. E. 
 Bocking, Vol. IV. Lips. 1860.
 
 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 63 
 
 finished theuphill journey, employs his leisure in discussing with his young 
 companion the manners and customs of the Germans, over whose land his 
 chariot is now passing. Beneath him is Augsburg, where the diet of 1518 
 has just been assembled, whither Caietano, legate of pope Leo X., has been 
 sent for the purpose of adjusting a trifling controversy which has lately 
 broken out at Wittenberg. The habitual drunkenness of the Germans has 
 just been mentioned with regret. ) 
 
 Sol. This fault is inborn with them, as deceit with the Italians, 
 thievery with the Spaniards, pride with the French, and other 
 vices with other peoples. 
 
 Phaeton. If indeed they must have a fault, I should rather they 
 would have this one than those you have just mentioned. I hope, 
 however, that time, which mends all human faults, will remove 
 this as well. But let us turn our attention again to the Reichstag 
 and the Pope's legate, for he (just look, father!) is moved to 
 anger and heated with rage. Now he is shouting out something 
 to us from his place in the procession; and I really believe that he 
 is angry at us ; for he is looking this way. 
 
 Sol. Yes, he is enraged at me. Listen, then, to what the little 
 fellow says, as with wrinkled brow and haught)' air he threatens 
 me. 
 
 Caietan. Here, you! At my merest suggestion, not to speak of 
 my command, you ought to shine clearer and brighter than you 
 have been doing! 
 
 Sol. What's that you say, legate ? What's that you say ? Is 
 this the way you talk to me ? 
 
 Caietan. To you! As though you did not know you were 
 guilty of a great crime ! 
 
 Sol. In truth I do not. Tell me then, what evil thing have I 
 done? 
 
 Caietan. I'll tell you then. So you are coming out a little, you 
 rascal ? You are shedding your rays upon the world ? You who 
 ought, upon my slightest hint (let alone my command) to shine 
 clearer and brighter than you do. 
 
 Sol. I don't see yet, what evil I have done. 
 
 Caietan. You don't see? You who for ten whole days have 
 shed no beam of your brightness; you who have obstinately 
 wrapped yourself in clouds, as though you begrudged the world 
 your light. 
 
 Sol. That is the fault of the astrologers and star-gazers, if it is
 
 64 SOURCE-BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 anybody's fault, for they with their prognostications have ar- 
 ranged that I should not shine during this time. 
 
 Caietan. But you should have considered what would be 
 agreeable to a legate of the pope rather than what would 
 please the star-gazers. Don't you know what I promised you, 
 when I left Italy, if you did not warm up the German lands, 
 which are so unseasonably cold, and make them quite summer- 
 like for me, so that I should have no need to wish myself back 
 in Italy ? 
 
 Sol. I paid no attention to your orders ; for it has never been 
 my opinion that mortal man could command the sun. 
 
 Caietan. It hasn't been your opinion? Perhaps you are not 
 aware that a Roman bishop (who has in this instance endowed 
 me with all his powers) has the power to bind and loose whate'er 
 he will, in heaven and on earth ? 
 
 Sol. I have heard of it, but I did not believe that what he 
 claimed was true, for I have never known a mortal man to change 
 anything up here. 
 
 Caietan. What ? You do not believe it ? Perverted Christian 
 that you are, they ought to put you under the ban and hand you 
 over to the devil for a heretic. 
 
 Sol. Would you cast me out of heaven and give me over to the 
 devil, and, so to speak, blot the sun out of the skies? 
 
 Caietan. Indeed I will do it, if you do not quickly confess to 
 one of my secretaries and seek absolution from me. 
 
 Sol. When I have confessed, what will you do with me then? 
 
 Caietan. I shall lay a penalty upon you, that you may hunger 
 with fastings, or perform some difficult task, or tire yourself with 
 pilgrimages, or give alms, or contribute something toward the 
 Turkish war, or give money for an indulgence, wherewith the 
 cathedral of St. Peter, which now is fallen into ruins at Rome, 
 may be rebuilt ; or if you wish to save your money, that you be 
 scourged with rods for your sins. 
 
 Sol. That is rather severe. What will }*ou do with me after 
 that? 
 
 Caietan. Then I will absolve you and make you clean. 
 
 Sol. Thus, as the proverb runs, you will brighten up the sun ? 
 
 Caietan. Yes, I will do that, if it please me, by virtue of the 
 powers which the tenth Leo has conferred upon me. 
 
 Sol. What trickery do I hear! Do you mean to say, that any
 
 ULRICH VON HUTTEN. 65 
 
 one, even amongst mortals, is silly enough to believe you have 
 this power? Not to speak of the sun, that has oversight upon 
 all. You had better go and take a dose of hellebore; for it seems 
 to me you are losing your mind. 
 
 Caietan. " Losing my mind! " You are de facto under the ban; 
 for you have spoken disrespectfully to the Pope's legate, whereby 
 you have fallen into great and intolerable damnation. Therefore 
 will I shortly proclaim you publicly and with all the pomp of a 
 great assembly under the ban, because you have angered me. 
 
 Phaeton. Father, I should scorn this arrogance. What may a 
 wretched mortal do against immortal creatures ? 
 
 Sol. Let us rather treat him with contempt. He is indeed to- 
 be pitied, for he has gone mad through illness. 
 
 Phaeton. What sort of illness ? 
 
 Sol. He is sick with greed. Since the matter which he has 
 in hand in Germany will not come his way, he has fallen into 
 a rage and lost his mind in consequence. But I am disposed to 
 chaff him further. What say you, holy father? Would you con- 
 demn me unheard and guiltless ? 
 
 Caietan. Just as I have said. It is not customary to permit all 
 those to have a hearing, who have been condemned by the Pope 
 and his legates. 
 
 Sol. That would be wrong, however, if anybody but you should 
 do it. But be gracious, I beseech you, and forgive me my sins 
 just this once. 
 
 Caietan. Now you are talking properly; for whoever will not be 
 damned, must sue for grace. Wherefore I command you, to look 
 out for me, wherever I may be ; and now, so long as I remain in 
 Germany, to make good weather, and by virtue of your heat to 
 banish that cold which tortures me yet even in the month of July. 
 
 Sol. Why don't you put the cold under the ban ? 
 
 Caietan. That is worth thinking of; but you attend to that 
 which I command. 
 
 Sol. I should have done this before, but I thought that you 
 were engaged in some secret undertaking which you did not wish 
 these ordinary German people to see. Wherefore I feared that if 
 I should shine brightly, and display these secrets of yours to the 
 eyes of the people, your affairs might miscarry. 
 
 Caietan. How could you show my secret affairs to others, when 
 you do not know them yourself? 
 5
 
 66 SOURCE-BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 Sol. I don't know them ? Do you think I don't know that your 
 present wish is to prevent Charles from being chosen Roman 
 King in accordance with the desires of his subjects? That you 
 have many other things under way, in which, if the Germans 
 knew, they would no longer assist you, but would hate you with 
 a deadly hatred. 
 
 Caietan. L,et them hate me, for they must fear me too. I have 
 indeed not wished to have you disclose such things. Moreover, 
 if you do it, you are under the ban. 
 
 Sol. What a tyrant you are, to be sure ! 
 
 Caietan. Furthermore, I command you that you shall direct 
 your arrow and shoot pestilence and sudden death amongst the 
 Germans, in order that many benefices and spiritual fiefs may be- 
 come vacant, that pensions ma)' accrue and money flow to Rome, 
 and something of all this shall be mine. For it is now a long 
 time since clerics have been dying frequently enough in Ger- 
 many. Do you hear what I tell you ? 
 
 Sol. Perfectly. 
 
 Caietan. But first of all shoot at the bishops, that the pallia 
 may be bought. Then hit the provosts and the wealthy prelates, 
 in order that the Pope's new creatures may have wherewith to 
 live ; for they must be considered each according to his rank, in 
 order that they may want nothing. 
 
 Sol. In order that I may bring about a pestilence it will be 
 necessary to bring on clouds, to drop a mist upon the earth and 
 darken the atmosphere ; wherefore I fear that this bad weather 
 will displease you. 
 
 Caietan. Well, I prefer that the pestilence should lake place, so 
 that the benefices may be vacant. So far as the atmosphere is 
 concerned, darken it as little as you may ; but if you cannot avoid 
 it, do what is best and most useful. 
 
 Phaeton. O miserable rascal ! Now for the first time 1 perceive 
 where the shoe pinches, what pleases and displeases him, what 
 makes him sad, what, joyful. Let the stream flow to his desire, 
 and he can endure all kinds of air, cold and bad weather. I will 
 address him. Listen, wretched man. A shepherd should pas- 
 ture his sheep, not murder them. 
 
 Caietan. What say you, church-thief? What say you, wicked 
 driver? You, whom I shall crush and crunch in a moment with 
 my curse. Will you seek to hinder my affairs !
 
 LETTERS OF OBSCURE MEN. 67 
 
 Phaeton. Indeed, I certainly shall, if I am able. For why do 
 you seek to kill those from whom you are forcing money in every 
 way without this means? 
 
 Caietan. You accursed one, you malefactor, you condemned, a 
 son of Satan, how dare you yelp against me? Is it wrong that a 
 shepherd should shear his sheep ? 
 
 Phaeton. That he should shear them is not wrong; for the good 
 shepherds do that as w r ell; but they do not kill and flay them. 
 Tell that to your Pope Leo, and say to him as well, that if he 
 does not send henceforth more temperate legates into Germany, 
 he will some day see a conspiracy of the sheep against an unjust, 
 harsh and bloodthirsty shepherd, and they will perhaps do a deed 
 that is both right and merited. Already indeed they sing and 
 talk about you, and it is my opinion that they will no longer 
 tolerate you, not even if you should send wagons full of excom- 
 munications against them across the mountains. 
 
 Caietan. You are letting out a thing that should not be talked 
 about. Wherefore be you excommunicated! I lay this punish- 
 ment upon you for the discourteous, thoughtless talk which you 
 have addressed to me. 
 
 Phaeton. Then I leave you, an object of derision to the Ger- 
 mans, whom you are in the habit of plundering; and may they 
 drive you hence with ridicule and abuse, even handle you 
 roughly, and so use you, that you may be an example to pos- 
 terity. Scorn be upon you! Thus I punish you. 
 
 Sol. Cease with your scurrility; it is time to guide our car down 
 the slope and make way for the evening star. Let him lie, cheat, 
 steal, rob and plunder at his own risk. 
 
 Phaeton. The devil fly away with him! Come, then, I will 
 prick up the steeds and get us hence. 
 Jacta est alea. 
 
 LETTERS OF OBSCURE MEN. 1 
 
 Johannes Pfefferkorn, a converted Jew of Cologne, desiring to give evi- 
 dence of his zeal for the Christian faith, secured from the emperor Maxi- 
 milian I. an order which called for the suppression and destruction of all 
 rabbinical writings, as hostile to Christianity. It was the belief of German 
 humanists that Pfefferkorn was nothing more than the instrument of the 
 Dominicans at Cologne, who sought in this manner to counteract the grow- 
 
 1 Epistolae obscurorum yirorum, Ed. Bucking, Leipzig, 1864, passim.
 
 68 SOURCE-BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 ing interest in the study of Hebrew. The archbishop of Mainz suspended 
 the execution of the order until the matter could be more thoroughly in- 
 vestigated. Opinions regarding the value of the Hebrew writings were 
 requested from several universities, from Jacob von Hochstraten, papal in- 
 quisitor at Cologne, and from Johann Reuchlin. Of these, Reuchlin alone 
 went deeply into the subject. His report was favorable to the Hebrew writ- 
 ings as a whole, excepting certain ones which dealt in witchcraft or were 
 abusive of Christian doctrine. These he considered worthy of extinction. 
 In general, however, he was unfavorable to this method of combatting error, 
 and suggested the foundation in each university of a chair of Hebrew, for 
 the better understanding of these works. Other opinions were unfavorable, 
 and thus Reuchlin stood alone as the champion of Hebrew lore and the 
 defender, in this particular, of the claims of humanism. 
 
 Pfefferkorn continued to be the instrument of the Cologne party. His 
 Handspiegel, which he sold, with his wife's help, at the great Frankfort fair 
 of 1511, was a violent attack upon Reuchlin, who replied in the Augen- 
 spiegel, which in turn elicited a Brandspiegel from his detractor. The con- 
 troversy was seasoned on both sides with the violent abuse of the time. The 
 faculty of Cologne condemned the Augenspiegel as heretical in 1513. The 
 University of Paris followed in 1514. Reuchlin was cited before the tribunal 
 of the inquisition, and although his case was transferred to the curia, his 
 book was publicly burned. A commission appointed by Leo X. sat at 
 Speier and declared Reuchlin free of heresy, adjudging the costs to Hoch- 
 straten, whereupon the inquisitor proceeded to Rome, well supplied with 
 funds, and secured a reversal of the decision. A protest of Reuchlin sus- 
 pended execution, and the matter drifted on in the curia without result. 
 
 But the case, if silenced in the ecclesiastical courts, was taken up before 
 the bar of public opinion. Reuchlin, feeling the need of public rehabilita- 
 tion, published in 1514 a book containing a selection of letters of sympathy 
 addressed to him by men of note in the world of humanism. This was the 
 Clarorum virorum epistolae etc. The title proved a source of inspiration for 
 certain waggish scholars, humanists, and partisans of Reuchlin, whose 
 identity even at this time is imperfectly known. In 15 15 appeared at Hagenau 
 the first series of letters, known as the Epistolae virorum obscurorum. 
 The letters are addressed for the most part to Ortuin Gratius, a distinguished 
 member of the faculty at Cologne, a man of high attainments and of ability 
 as an author. The writers of the letters are supposed to be clergymen, at 
 Rome and elsewhere, who seek or desire to impart information regarding 
 the Reuchlin affair, or who appeal to Gratius to settle some point of dispute. 
 The general effort of the letters is to expose the ignorance and baseness of 
 the clergy and to throw ridicule upon the rank and file of the Cologne party. 
 It is a part of the internal protest against the bigotry and shortcomings of 
 the clergy, a protest that became schismatic only under the lead of Luther. 
 The letters are supposed to be the work of half a dozen men; but among 
 them the most prominent are Crotus Rubeanus (1480-1540) and Ulrich von 
 Hutten.
 
 LETTERS OF OBSCURE MEN. 69 
 
 MASTER JOHANNES PELUFEX PRESENTS HIS GREETING TO MASTER 
 ORTUIN GRATIUS. 
 
 Friendly greeting and endless service, most worthy Master! 
 Since, as Aristotle says in the Categories, it is not wholly useless 
 in certain cases to give way to doubt, I will confess that a certain 
 thing is lying heavily on my conscience. Not long ago I was at 
 the Frankfort fair, and, while walking along the street toward 
 the market with a bachelor, we met two men who, to all appear- 
 ances, were quite respectable; they wore black cloaks and great 
 hoods with tassels hanging down behind. God is my witness 
 that I believed they were two masters, and I greeted them, there- 
 fore, with reverence. Then the bachelor slapped me on the back 
 and said: "For the love of God, what are you doing? They 
 are Jews, and you have taken off your hat to them!" At this 
 such a fright seized me as if I had seen the devil, and I answered: 
 ' ' Sir Baccalaureus, God have mercy upon me. I have done it in 
 ignorance; so what do you think; is that a grievous sin?" Then 
 at first he said: " According to my view it is a mortal sin, since it 
 comes under the head of idolatry, and therefore violates the first 
 of the ten commandments, which says, ' I believe in one God;' 
 because, if any one honors a Jew or a heathen as if he were a 
 Christian, he acts against Christendom, and puts himself in the 
 position of a Jew or heathen, and then the Jews and heathen say: 
 ' See how we are progressing, since the Christians honor us; for 
 if we were not progressing, surely they would not honor us;' and 
 in this way they are strengthened in their evil ways, despise the 
 Christian faith and refuse baptism." Upon this I answered: 
 "That is very true, if the thing be done knowingly, but I have 
 done it unknowingly, and ignorance excuses sin; for had I known 
 that they were Jews, and then had shown them respect, then I 
 should have deserved the gallows, because that would be a heresy. 
 But neither by word nor deed God knows had I any knowledge 
 whatsoever, for I believed they were two masters." Then he 
 answered: "It is nevertheless a sin," and related the following: 
 " I too went once through a church, where a Jew, made of wood, 
 with a hammer in his hand, stood before our Saviour. I believed, 
 however, that it was St. Peter, and that he had the key in his 
 hand; so I bent my knee and took off my cap. Then for the first 
 time I saw that it was a Jew, and this made me very sad and re- 
 pentant. But at confession, which I made in the Dominican con-
 
 7<D SOURCE-BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 vent, my father confessor told me that it was a mortal sin, since 
 you must be on your guard. He would not have been able to 
 give me absolution if he had not had episcopal powers, for it was 
 a case reserved to the bishop; he also added that if I had done it 
 intentionally, it would have been a case for the pope. So I was 
 absolved because he had episcopal powers. And, really, I believe 
 that if you would keep your conscience clear, you must confess to 
 the officer of the consistory. Ignorance cannot excuse your sin, 
 for you should have taken care. The Jews have always a yellow 
 ring on the front of their cloaks, which you certainly ought to 
 have seen, for I saw it; so it is gross ignorance on your part, 
 and cannot effect forgiveness of sins." Thus reasoned in my case 
 this bachelor. But, since you are a deeply-read theologian, I 
 want to ask you earnestly and humbly that you will solve the 
 above question for me, and write me whether it is a question here 
 of a mortal or venial sin; whether it is a simple case, or an epis- 
 copal, or a papal reserved case. Also write me whether, according 
 to your view, the citizens of Frankfort do right that they permit, 
 in this wise, Jews to go about in the garb of our masters. It 
 seems to me that it is not right, and likely to arouse great bitter- 
 ness, that there should be no distinction between the Jews and 
 our masters; also, it is a mockery of the sacred theology, and the 
 most excellent Emperor and lord ought not to permit that a Jew, 
 who is at the best only a dog and an enemy of Christ, should go 
 about like a doctor of the sacred theology. I also send you a 
 composition of Master Bernhard Plumilegus (in common lan- 
 guage, Federleser), which he has sent to me from Wittenberg. 
 You know him, for he was your fellow scholar at Deventer. He 
 told me that you had jolly times together; he is a good fellow and 
 cannot praise you enough. Then farewell, in the Lord's name. 
 Given at Leipzig. 
 
 NICOLAUS CAPRIMULGIUS, BACCAI.AUREUS, TO MASTER ORTUIN GRATIUS. 
 
 Many greetings, with deep respect to your excellence, as is my 
 duty in writing to your Mastership. Most worthy Master, you 
 must know that there is a most important question, in regard to 
 which I desire and beseech a decision from your Mastership. 
 There is here a certain Greek who, when he writes Greek, always 
 puts accents over the words. Recently I had occasion to say: 
 " Master Ortuin, from Deventer, also dealt with Greek grammar,
 
 LETTERS OF OBSCURE MEN. Jl 
 
 and understood it quite as well as this man, and he never wrote 
 the accents, and I know that he understood what he was doing 
 quite as well as this man, and could have excelled the Greek if 
 he had desired." But the others would not believe me, and my 
 comrades and colleagues besought me to write your lordship that 
 you might instruct me as to how it ought to be, whether you 
 ought to put the accents there or not. If not, then we will make 
 it so hot for the Greek that he will feel it, and we will bring it 
 about that he shall have few listeners. I remember to have seen, 
 when I was with you in Cologne at the house of Heinrich 
 Quentel, where you were proof-reader and had to correct Greek, 
 that you drew your pen through all accents that stood above the 
 letters, with these words: "What is this foolishness?" And so 
 it occurred to me that you had some reason for this, otherwise 
 you would not have done it. You are a marvellous man, and 
 God has imparted to you the great grace to know something of 
 everything knowable. Therefore, you must give thanks to God 
 the Lord, to the blessed Virgin and to all God's saints in your 
 poetry. Take it not evil of me that I trouble your excellence 
 with questions of this nature, since I do it for my instruction. 
 Farewell. Leipzig. 
 
 MASTER JOHANNES HIPP TO MASTER ORTUIN GRATIUS, GREETING. 
 
 "Rejoice in the Lord, O ye just: praise becometh the up- 
 right" (Psalms xxxii. n). In order that you may not say in 
 anger, "What does he want with his quotation?" you must 
 hasten to read a piece of joyful news, which will wonderfully re- 
 joice your excellence and which I will briefly relate. There was 
 here a poet, by name Johannes Sommerfeld; he was very arro- 
 gant, looked down upon masters of arts and made little of them 
 in his lectures, saying that they were ignorant, that one poet was 
 worth ten masters, and that in processions it was proper that 
 poets should have precedence over masters and licentiates. He 
 lectured on Pliny and other authors, and expressed himself to the 
 effect that the masters of arts were not masters of the seven 
 liberal arts, but rather of the seven deadly sins; that they stood 
 upon no good foundation, since they were not learned in poetics, 
 but knew only Petrus Hispanus and the Parva logicalia. He had 
 many listeners, and among them noble bursars, and he said there 
 was nothing in the Scotists and the Thomists, and made sport of
 
 72 SOURCE-BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 the holy teachers. The masters waited for convenient opportunity 
 to avenge themselves, with the help of God, and it was the divine 
 will that he held a discourse wherein he scored masters, doctors, 
 licentiates and bachelors, praised his own branch and spoke 
 slightingly of the holy theology. In this manner he aroused 
 great anger on the part of the gentlemen of the faculty. The 
 masters and doctors took counsel and said: "What shall we do? 
 This man is behaving in a shocking manner; if we let him go on 
 in this way the world will believe he is more learned than we. 
 Let not these upstarts come and say they are of more importance 
 than their elders, and in this way bring shame and ridicule upon 
 our university." Then said Master Andreas Delitzsch, who, 
 moreover, is a good poet, that it seemed to him that Sommerfeld 
 was, in respect to the university, somewhat like the fifth wheel to 
 a wagon, because he stood in the way of the other faculties, by 
 whose aid the academic youth might be suitably prepared for 
 graduation. The other masters swore that this was so, and the 
 result was that they came to the conclusion that this poet should 
 be expelled, or, at least, shut out, even if thereby they should 
 draw upon themselves his enmity. They summoned him before 
 the rector, and posted the summons on the church doors; he ap- 
 peared with counsel, demanded the privilege of defending himself, 
 and was accompanied with other friends, who stood by him. 
 The masters demanded that these should retire, otherwise they 
 would be forsworn if they appeared against the university. In- 
 deed, the masters showed themselves full of courage in this 
 struggle; they remained firm, and vowed that in the interests of 
 justice they would spare no one. Certain jurists and courtiers 
 plead for him. To these the masters replied that it was not pos- 
 sible; they had their statutes, and according to these statutes he 
 must be dismissed. What was remarkable is, that the prince 
 himself (Duke George) interceded for him. It did no good, how- 
 ever, for they said to the Duke that it was his duty to uphold the 
 statutes of the university, for the statutes are to the university 
 what the binding is to a book; were there no binding, then the 
 leaves would fall apart, and were there no statutes there would be 
 no order in the university; dissension would reign amongst its 
 members and result in complete chaos. Therefore, the prince 
 must look out for the best interests of the university, as his father 
 had done before him. In this wise the prince allowed himself to
 
 LETTERS OF OBSCURE MEN. 73 
 
 be persuaded, and declared he could not stand out against the 
 university, and that it was better for one to be dismissed than 
 that the whole university should suffer. The masters were much 
 pleased with this, and said: " My lord Duke, God be thanked for 
 your wise decision." Then the rector caused an order to be 
 posted upon the church doors, to the effect that Sommerfeld was 
 retired for ten years. His auditors, however, expressed them- 
 selves variously in the matter, and said that the members of the 
 council had done wrong toward Sommerfeld; but these gentlemen 
 replied in turn that they did not care a penny's worth. Certain 
 bursars expressed themselves to the effect that Sommerfeld would 
 revenge himself for the insult and would summon the university 
 before the Roman curia. Then the masters laughed and said: 
 "Nonsense; what would the fellow accomplish?" And know 
 that great harmony now reigns in the university, and Master 
 Delitzsch lectures on the humanities, and also the master from 
 Rothenburg, who has written a book quite three times as large as 
 Virgil's complete works. He has gotten together much of value 
 in this book in defence of our holy mother church and in praise of 
 the saints; he has recommended especially our university, both 
 the sacred theology and the humanistic faculty, and he blames 
 those worldly and heathen poets. The masters also say that his 
 poems are as good as the poems of Virgil, and are without errors; 
 for he perfectly understands the art of writing verse and has been 
 a good versifier for the past twenty years. Wherefore, the gentle- 
 men of the council gave him permission to lecture on this book 
 instead of on Terence, for it is more valuable than Terence, and 
 inculcates good Christian doctrine, and does not deal with harlots 
 and scalawags, like Terence. You must spread this news in your 
 university, and perhaps it will happen to Busch as it has hap- 
 pened to Sommerfeld. When are ) T OU going to send me your 
 book against Reuchlin ? You often mention it, but nothing has 
 come to me yet. You have written me you would be sure to send 
 it, but you have not done so. May God forgive you, since you 
 do not love me as I love you, for you are to me as my own heart. 
 But send it to me, for "I have greatly desired to eat this Paschal 
 lamb with you " that is to say, to read this book. Also write 
 me the news, and compose an essay or a few verses to my honor, 
 if I be worth the trouble. Fare you well in Christ the Lord our 
 God, from everlasting unto everlasting! Amen.
 
 74 SOURCE-BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 BROTHER SIMON WURST, DOCTOR OF SACRED THEOLOGY, TO MASTER 
 ORTUIN GRATIUS, GREETING. 
 
 Since the defence of Johannes Pfefferkorn "against the calum- 
 nies, etc.," which he composed in Latin has been received here, we 
 have had something new every day. One says this, another that; 
 one is for him, another for Reuchlin; one defends, another con- 
 demns him; it is a desperate struggle, and they are angry enough 
 to come to blows. If I should relate to you all the feuds that 
 have arisen out of this book, the period of an Olympiad would 
 not suffice, so I will merely make a few remarks by the way. 
 The majority, and for the most part the worldly masters, the 
 presbyters and brethren of the Minorites assert that Pfefferkorn 
 could not possibly be the author of the book, for he has never 
 learned a word of Latin. I replied that this objection had no 
 force, although it has been urged against many prominent men to 
 this very day, but unjustly; for Johannes Pfefferkorn, who always 
 carries pen and ink with him, could write down what he hears, 
 whether it be in public lectures, or in private assemblies, or when 
 students or brethren from the Dominican order come to his house, 
 or when he goes to the bath. Holy Lord, how many sermons 
 must he have heard during twelve years! How many admonitions! 
 How many quotations from the holy fathers! These he might re- 
 tain in his memory, or he might communicate them to his wife, or 
 write them on the wall, or enter them in his diary. In the same 
 way I called attention briefly to the fact that Johannes Pfefferkorn 
 says of himselfnot with boasting that he can apply to any 
 theme, be it good or evil, everything that is contained in the 
 Bible, or in the Holy Scriptures, either in Hebrew or in German; 
 and he knows by heart all the evangels that are expounded the 
 whole year through, and can say them off to a letter, a thing 
 which those jurists and poets cannot do. Moreover, he has a 
 son, Lorenz by name, a really talented young man, who is pale as 
 a ghost from nothing but study; and, indeed, I wonder that his 
 father allows him to pursue his studies with those devilish poets. 
 This son collects for his father sentences from the orators and 
 poets upon every possible subject, as well those which he himself 
 uses as those used by his teachers, and he also knows how to cite 
 his Hugh. And thus Johannes Pfefferkorn has come to know 
 much by means of this talented youth; and what he, as an un- 
 learned man, is not able to accomplish of himself, his son does
 
 LETTERS OF OBSCURE MEN. 75 
 
 for him. Therefore, woe to all those who have spread abroad the 
 false report that he did not himself write his books, but that the 
 doctors and masters in Cologne are the true authors! Johannes 
 Reuchlin has reason to blush and to sigh to eternity for having 
 said that Johannes Pfefferkorn did not himself compose his 
 " Handspiegel" whereby it has been contended amongst learned 
 men that three men furnished him with the authorities which he 
 cited. Whereupon a certain one said: "Who are those men?" 
 I answered: " I do not know. I believe, however, that they are 
 the same three men who appeared to Abraham, as we read in the 
 first book of Moses." And when I had spoken they laughed at 
 me and treated me as if I were a simpleton. I wish the devil 
 would strike them with a plague, as is written in the book of Job, 
 which we are now reading at table in our monastery. Say, then, 
 to Johannes Pfefferkorn, he must have patience, for I hope that 
 God will work a miracle; and greet him in my name. Also greet 
 for me his wife, since you know her well, but secretly. Farewell. 
 Written in haste and without much reflection, at Antwerp. 
 
 MASTER BERTHOI.D HACKERUNG TO MASTER ORTUIN GRATIUS. 
 
 Brotherly love in the place of greeting, honored sir! When I 
 left you I promised that I would keep you informed of all news, 
 and let you know how I am getting along. Know, then, that I 
 have been two months in the city of Rome and have as yet 
 secured no patron. An assessor of the Roman curia was disposed 
 to take me. I was quite delighted, and said: " It is well, sir, but 
 will your magnificence kindly tell me what I shall have to do." 
 He answered that I w r ould be an hostler, and my duty would be to 
 take care of a mule, to feed and water it, curry and rub it down, 
 and have it in readiness when he wished to ride forth, with bridle, 
 saddle and everything. Then I must run beside the mule to the 
 court-room and back home again. I told him that such work was 
 not for me; that I was a master of the liberal arts in Cologne, and 
 could do nothing of the sort. He answered: " Well, if you don't 
 want to do it, it's your own loss." And so I believe I will go 
 back home. I certainly will not curry a mule or clean out stables. 
 I had rather the devil would fly away with his mule, stable and 
 all! And I believe, too, that it would be against the statutes of 
 our university; for a master must conduct himself like a master. 
 And it would be a great disgrace to the university if a Cologne
 
 76 SOURCE-BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 master should do such a thing. For the honor of the university 
 I shall return home. And, anyway, I do not like Rome; the 
 people in the chancellery and in the curia are so haughty; you 
 would not believe it. One of them said to me yesterday, he 
 would spit upon Cologne masters. I told him I hoped he might 
 have a chance to spit on the gallows. Then he said he too was a 
 master, that is to say a master of the curia, and that a master of 
 the curia stood high above a master of the liberal arts from Ger- 
 many. I answered: "Impossible;" and said, moreover, "You 
 mean to say you are as good as I, when you have passed no ex- 
 amination, as I have, in which five masters have tested me thor- 
 oughly? You are a master made with a seal." Upon this he 
 began to dispute with me, and said: " What is a master?" I an- 
 swered: "A person of proved ability, regularly promoted and 
 graduated in the seven liberal arts, after he has passed the 
 master's examination ; who has the right to wear a gold ring, and 
 a silken band on his gown, and who bears himself toward his 
 pupils as a king toward his subjects. And magister is used in 
 four senses: In one sense it is derived from magis and ter, because 
 a master knows three times as much as an ordinary person. In 
 the second sense from magis and terreo, because a master excites 
 terror when his pupils look upon him. In the third sense from 
 magis and theron (that is, status), because the master in his posi- 
 tion must be higher than his pupils. In the fourth sense from 
 magis and sedere, because the master must sit far higher than any 
 one of his pupils." Then he asked me: "Who is your author- 
 ity?" I answered that I had read it in the Vade mecum. At 
 once he was disposed to blame the book, and said that it was no 
 reliable source. I answered: " You discredit those ancients, and 
 yet you do not know any better. I have never heard any one in 
 Cologne discredit this book. Are you not ashamed of yourself?" 
 And in great anger I left him. And once more I tell you that I 
 am disposed to return to Germany, for there the masters are 
 gentlemen, and rightly so. This I can show from the gospels, 
 for Christ called Himself "Master " and not " Doctor " when He 
 said, "Ye call me Lord and Master, and ye do well, for such 
 am I." But I cannot write further, for I have no more paper, 
 and it is far to the Campo Fiore. Farewell! Written at the 
 Roman curia.
 
 LETTERS OF OBSCURE MEN. 77 
 
 MASTER CONRADUS UNCKEBUNCK TO MASTER ORTUIN GRATIUS, MANY 
 GREETINGS. 
 
 "A mouth have they and speak not; eyes have they and see 
 not; ears have they and hear not," says the Psalmist. These 
 words may serve as introduction and as text for what I am about 
 to say. Master Ortuin has a mouth and speaks not; not even so 
 much as to say to a servant of the curia on his way to Rome: 
 " Give my regards to Conrad Unckebunck. " Eyes has he also 
 and sees not: for I have written him many letters and he has not 
 answered me, as if he read them not, or merely glanced at them. 
 In the third place he has ears and hears not: for I have asked 
 several friends to greet him when they came where he was; but 
 he has heard none of my greetings, for he has not answered them. 
 In this you clearly do wrong, for I am fond of you and you ought 
 to be fond of me in rtturn; but you are not, for you do not write 
 me. I should be so glad if you would write me, for when I read 
 your letters my inmost heart rejoices. I have heard, however, 
 that you have few hearers, and that your complaint is that Busch 
 and Csesarius have drawn the scholars away from you; and yet 
 they do not understand how to expound the poets allegorical!)', as 
 you do, nor how to quote the holy writ. I believe the devil is in 
 those poets. They are the ruin of all universities. I heard a 
 I/eipzig master, who has been a master for thirty-six 5 r ears, say 
 that in his younger days that university was in a nourishing con- 
 dition, because there was no poet for twenty miles round about. 
 And he also said that the students diligently prepared their 
 lessons, as well the general as the professional, and it was reck- 
 oned a great disgrace if a student went through the streets with- 
 out his Petrus Hispanus or the Parva logicalia under his arm; and 
 if they were students of grammar they carried the Partes of Alex- 
 ander, or the Vade mccum, or the Exercitium puerorum, or the 
 Opus minus, or the Dicta of Johannes Sinthen. Moreover, in the 
 schools they gave attention and held the masters of arts in horor, 
 and when they saw a master they were as frightened as if they 
 had seen the devil. And he said that the bachelor's degree was 
 conferred four times a year, and that on each occasion sixty, or 
 at least fifty, degrees were given. At that time the university 
 was nourishing; if any one passed in half the subjects of a year's 
 course he received the bachelor's degree, and if he passed in half 
 the subjects for three years, a master's degree; the result was
 
 78 SOURCE-BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 that their parents were satisfied and willing to spend their money, 
 for they saw that their sons were attaining to honors. But now 
 students wished to hear Virgil and Pliny and other new-fangled 
 authors, and when they have listened for five years, even then 
 they are not graduated; and when they go back home their par- 
 ents ask: "What are you?" and they reply that they are nothing, 
 but that they have studied poetry. But their parents do not 
 know what that is; and when they see that they are not gram- 
 marians, they are dissatisfied with the university and regret hav- 
 ing spent their money. And they say to others later on: "Do 
 not send your boys to the university, because they study nothing, 
 but hang about the streets by night, and the money is wasted 
 which is given for study." And this master told me further, that 
 in his time there were quite two thousand students in Leipzig and 
 as many at Erfurt, and at Vienna four thousand and as many at 
 Cologne, and so on at the other universities. But now at all the 
 universities together there are not as many students as formerly 
 at one or two. The Leipzig masters bewail the lack of students, 
 for the poets have done them this injury. When parents send 
 their sons to the bursaries and colleges they are unwilling to re- 
 main there, but go to the poets and study worthless stuff. He 
 told me also that he himself formerly had forty pupils at Leipzig, 
 and when he went to church, or to market, or to stroll in the 
 Rosengarten, they marched along behind him. It was then a 
 serious offense to study poetry; and when any one acknowledged 
 in the confessional that he had secretly heard a bachelor expound 
 Virgil, the priest imposed a severe penalty upon him, causing 
 him to fast every Friday or to repeat each day seven penitential 
 psalms. And he swore to me upon his conscience that a candi- 
 date for the master's degree had been turned down because one 
 of the examiners had once seen him, on a holiday, reading Ter- 
 ence. If such conditions obtained nowadays in the universities, 
 I should not be slaving here in the curia. But what can we do 
 at the universities ? There is nothing to be made. The bursars 
 are no longer willing to stay in the bursaries or under the masters, 
 and among twenty students scarcely one has any intention of 
 studying for a degree; but all wish to study the humanities. 
 And when a master lectures, he has no hearers; but the poets 
 have at their lectures an incredible number of hearers. Thus, all 
 the universities of Germany are losing; and we must pray to God
 
 LETTERS OF OBSCURE MEN. 79 
 
 that the poets may die, for " it is better that one should die," etc.; 
 that is to say, that the poets, of whom there are only a few in 
 each university, should die, rather than that so many universities 
 should perish. Write me now, or I will complain loudly of your 
 negligence. Farewell. Written at Rome. 
 
 JOHANNES KALB TO MASTER ORTUIN GRATIUS. 
 
 A friendly greeting, honorable sir and venerable master. It 
 surprises me greatly that you are always pestering me with your 
 everlasting demand: "Write me some news." You are always 
 eager to learn the news, but I have other things to do. I cannot 
 bother about novelties; as it is, I am obliged to run hither and 
 thither and solicit in order to get a favorable decision and acquire 
 that benefice. But if you will be content, I will write you once, so 
 that in the future you may let me rest with your news. You have 
 no doubt heard that the pope has a great animal, called Elephant, 
 and that he holds it in great honor and loves it much. Now you 
 must know that this animal is dead. When it was taken sick the 
 pope was in great distress, and summoned several physicians and 
 said to them : " If it is possible, cure Elephant for me. ' ' Then the}' 
 did their best; made a careful diagnosis and administered a purge 
 that cost five hundred golden florins, but it was in vain, for the 
 animal died. The pope grieved much for Elephant. They say 
 he gave a thousand ducats for Elephant; for it was a wonderful 
 animal, and had a long snout of prodigious size. When it beheld 
 the pope it knelt before him and cried with a terrible voice, "bar! 
 bar! bar!" I believe there was no other animal of the kind in the 
 world. They say, also, that the king of France and King Charles 
 have concluded a peace for many years with mutual pledges. 
 Many, however, are of the opinion that the peace was made with 
 reservations and will not last long. I do not know what the facts 
 really are, and do not care much; for when I come back to Ger- 
 many I shall go to my pastorate and enjoy life. I have there 
 many geese, chickens and ducks, and I can keep five or six cows, 
 which will give me milk, so that I can make cheese and butter. 
 I want to have a cook who understands such work. She must be 
 an elderly woman; for if she were young, she would be a tempta- 
 tion to the flesh, and I might sin. She must also know how to 
 spin, for I will buy her flax. And I will also keep two or three 
 pigs and fatten them, so that I shall have plenty of pork; for
 
 8o SOURCE-BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 above all things I will supply my house with an abundance ot 
 material for the kitchen. Once in a while I will butcher an ox, 
 sell half to the peasants and smoke the rest. Back of the house I 
 have a garden, where I shall plant garlic, onions and parsley, and 
 I shall also have cabbage, turnips and other things. In the 
 winter I shall sit in my room and study, so that I may preach to 
 the peasants out of the Sermones parati or the Discipuli, and also 
 out of the Bible, and in this wise I shall be well fixed for preach- 
 ing. And in summer I shall go fishing, or work in the garden, 
 and take no heed of wars; for I shall live for myself, read my 
 prayers and say mass, and have no care for those worldly affairs 
 which bring destruction to the soul. Farewell. Written at the 
 Roman curia. 
 
 JOHANNES BUTZBACH^ 
 
 Johannes Butzbach, 1478-1526, is to be reckoned among the conservative 
 humanists of the sixteenth century. The struggles of his earlier career, 
 related in part below, give evidence of his high appreciation of the value of 
 learning. This sentiment he never lost, and during the years of his admin- 
 istration of the affairs of the abbey of Laach, from 1507 to his death, his 
 constant effort was to infuse into the life of his community a zeal for study 
 and intellectual improvement. His literary activity centered upon the 
 much debated question, as to whether the reading of classical authors was 
 conducive or detrimental to Christian morals. Butzbach, true to the tra- 
 ditions of Deveuter, affirmed their utility, regarding their use as part of the 
 preparation for the completer understanding of the holy scriptures, whose 
 true significance might only be interpreted by men of universal culture. 
 Replying to the objection, so often urged, that classical writings contained 
 much that was contrary to Christian ethics, Butzbach founded his argument 
 upon the saying of St. Basil, that the literary worker, like the bee, should 
 learn to appropriate only the wholesome nectar and to reject the poisonous 
 juices of the flowers amidst which he labored. 
 
 Book i. Chapter 8. 
 
 In the earlier chapters Butzbach relates the story of his infancy and 
 primary education. His career in the school of his native town was brought 
 to an untimely close by repeated acts of truancy, resulting in a cruel chastise- 
 ment at the hands of the master. About this time a neighbor's son, himself 
 a wandering student, happened to be visiting at home, and offered to take 
 the young Johannes under his protection and make a scholar of him. The 
 
 'The following selections are from the Hodoporicon or Little Book of 
 Wandering. The sole manuscript of this autobiographical work of Butz- 
 bach is in possession of the library of Bonn.
 
 JOHANNES BUTZBACH. 8 1 
 
 parents, who resented Johannes'' cruel treatment at the village master's 
 hands, consented, and Johannes set forth zvith a slender store of money and a 
 large equipment of blessings and hope. 
 
 Robbed of my parents and homeless, a living image of grief and 
 sorrow, sobbing and crying aloud ceaselessly, I followed with 
 hesitating steps the student striding on before. If I failed at any 
 time to come to his bidding, he became ever freer with his harsh 
 words and bitter reproaches as the way lengthened that separated 
 us from home. In this way he wounded still more my lacerated 
 spirit. Indeed, he was by nature of unusual harshness; and the 
 less cause he had to fear my escape, on account of the growing 
 distance from home and my increasing ignorance of the way, the 
 more he sought to hold me in check with fear and at the same 
 time to spur me on with threats. After a march of two good 
 miles, which indeed was no trifle, as they say, especially as in 
 this instance they separated two creatures inspired with mutual 
 love, we came from Miltenberg at nightfall to the village of 
 Kiilsheim, already mentioned. Wearily I followed the student 
 into the best inn that the place afforded. 
 
 Chapter 9. 
 
 As we entered the door of the inn, the landlord came forward 
 to meet us, and very prudently inquired from what country we 
 were come, whither we were bound and what might be our wish. 
 The student gave him little satisfaction, but asked him if he could 
 accommodate us. To this the landlord replied: " If your money 
 is good, and you are good drinkers, you will be welcome guests." 
 The student rejoined: "The money is all right. Just have the 
 table prepared and an abundance to eat and drink set forth." 
 "You talk well," replied the landlord, " and I will do with pleas- 
 ure what you ask. I wish, however, that there were more of 
 you; for, hoping that guests would arrive, I have prepared a more 
 than usually sumptuous meal for this evening." When the 
 student heard this he exclaimed: "That is a piece of good for- 
 tune, that you have prepared such abundant refreshment. I have 
 here several relatives, with whom I shall be glad to pass a merry 
 evening once more before my departure; and since they are in 
 service and not well-to-do, I will pay the whole reckoning, and 
 you may rest easy on that score." "A bargain! " cried the land- 
 lord. " I will have them summoned at once."
 
 82 SOURCE-BOOK OP THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 The guests did not keep us waiting, but set themselves to the 
 table and showed themselves valiant trenchermen. The student 
 took no heed of what might become of his poor little companion. 
 When the landlord inquired: "Where is the young fellow that 
 came with you ? " the student looked about him and replied: " I 
 think he must have gone to sleep there behind the stove, tired 
 out with the journey. Let him sleep and rest out. Sleep will do 
 him more good than food." 
 
 Chapter 10. 
 
 I was not asleep, however, as he said; but I dared not express 
 the feelings his words aroused. During the day, occupied with 
 preparations for the journey, I had eaten very little, nor had 
 I desired to eat. Now I was hungry, but I dared not come to 
 the table without an invitation from the student. At the same 
 time the gnawing in my stomach and the pangs of hunger let me 
 neither sleep nor rest. I pretended to sleep, however, and sur- 
 rendered myself patiently to my fate, picturing to myself my 
 wretched and abandoned condition. When the meal was over, 
 the student paid the reckoning for all the guests out of my money, 
 just as though it had been his own. What could I say? What 
 had I the courage to do or think under the circumstances ? He 
 regarded me as something delivered over to him, sold to him, 
 indeed, or as some estray that he had picked up and made his 
 property. 
 
 Karly in the morning we got under way and came to the town 
 of Bishofsheim, two miles distant. There we took a bite and 
 wandered on our way to Windsheim, an imperial city. As we 
 entered the town I was lost in admiration of the massive walls, 
 the houses high as the heavens, and the churches and towers, the 
 like of which I had never seen in our native town or elsewhere. 
 
 On the following day we journeyed further and came to the city 
 of Ivongenzenn. Here we were affectionately received by a citi- 
 zen of the town, a weaver, who not long before had worked for 
 several years with my father. By him we w r ere entertained and 
 otherwise hospitably treated. We conveyed to him the heartfelt 
 greetings of our parents, as they had urgently requested. He 
 consoled me for the separation from my parents as if I had been 
 his own child, and succeeded in quieting my grief. He never 
 tired of cheering my saddened spirit with friendly conversation;
 
 JOHANNES BUTZBACH. 83 
 
 nor did he cease to soothe my wounded heart with gentle words, 
 and cleverly cited as an example the fact that he, and my father 
 as well, and many other persons, both of the worldly and of the 
 spiritual order, of whom I knew, had been obliged to endure 
 much in foreign countries, in order to learn something. The 
 next morning, refreshed and consoled, he set me upon my way, 
 once more urgently commending me to the student's care. 
 Thence I wandered on with my little pack, along the hard and 
 weary and unknown way, trotting ever along behind the student,, 
 to Nuremberg, a famous seat of trade and industry. 
 
 Chapter //. 
 
 When at last I saw from the distance the towers and the blue 
 smoke of Nuremberg, it almost seemed to me that I was looking, 
 not at a single city, but at a whole world. I thought we had 
 only a mile to go; but when we inquired of some people whom, 
 we met on the road how far it was, they replied that it was still 
 three miles. IT was not so much the distance as our impatient 
 desire to reach the city, whose image lay before us on the horizon, 
 that made the way so unwelcome. In order to while away the 
 time, the student related some incidents tending to exalt his in- 
 dividual prowess. A song or a story generally causes the 
 wanderer to forget the tedium of the way. When toward even- 
 ing we finally approached the city, we halted a little while under 
 the walls, to prepare us for our entrance into the town. The 
 student sought to spoil my expectations with his witticisms: 
 "Since you have never been here before," he said among other 
 things, " it will be necessary to sew up your mouth." When the 
 tears rose in my eyes at this remark, he added: " Now follow me 
 close behind and do not keep looking to this side and to that; and 
 do not gape at the house tops with open mouth. And look out 
 that I do not have to wait for you ever now and then in the 
 street, on account of your everlasting slowness, or when we come 
 to the inn you will get a good thrashing." 
 
 So I slunk into the city all of a tremble, exhausted with the 
 effort of keeping up with my companion. With very tired and 
 bruised feet I followed the student through many streets paved 
 with sharp stones, while from all sides crowds of school boys fell 
 upon me. Because I gave no answer to their shout: " Are you a 
 student? " they held their hands to their foreheads, stretched out
 
 84 SOURCE-BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 like asses' ears, and followed me in this manner all the way to 
 the inn. When they learned, however, that we intended to stop 
 in the city, they ceased from further persecutions and began ex- 
 tolling with fulsome praises their school above all other schools in 
 the land. 
 
 (Here follow various adventures of travel.) 
 
 Chapter 16. 
 
 When we arrived at a village, he sent me on to beg, aud waited 
 for me at the further end of the place. If I came back with 
 empty hands, he beat me furiously and'cried: " Aha! by Heavens, 
 I will teach you to beg yet! " If, however, I had succeeded in 
 getting something choice, he devoured it at once, and I got only 
 what remained. So it went on the whole time that I stayed with 
 him. Indeed, he was so suspicious that he often forced me to 
 rinse my mouth with water and spit it out, that he might see if I 
 had perhaps appropriated something good from my begging; for 
 it often happened that kindly women, moved by my modesty and 
 my delicate youth, took me from the street into their houses, and 
 when they had listened to the story of my misery and of my sad 
 parting from my parents, they were moved with pity and gave me 
 as rich refreshment as their own children enjoyed. This dissatis- 
 fied the student greatly, on account of his envious nature, and as 
 often as it came to his knowledge that such a piece of fortune had 
 happened to me in his absence, he fell upon me with fist and stick. 
 Chapter 17. 
 
 He compelled me to beg through places so foul and muddy, that 
 I was obliged to wade up to my ankles, sometimes up to my 
 knees in mud, and like one who treads dough, could go neither 
 forward nor backward. Sometimes I was attacked so savagely by 
 watch-dogs that I believe, if the inhabitants had not come to my 
 rescue, I should have been torn to pieces. The student himself 
 had a great dislike for begging and did not practice it, recogniz- 
 ing that he would be laughed at by the peasant people as a great 
 lazy rascal, and he did not care to soil himself with the mud, 
 which he knew was very deep in these places during the rainy 
 weather. Moreover, in order not to be bothered by the dogs, it 
 was his habit to go around the villages through the fields and 
 meadows, a thing which he could not permit me to do, by reason 
 of my begging. This custom he adopted on the other side of
 
 JOHANNES BUTZBACH. 85 
 
 Nuremberg, and held rigidly to it until we came nearly to the 
 town of Kaaden in Bohemia, and afterwards during the whole of 
 the remaining time that I was with him on the journey. 
 
 In Kaaden we were invited by the rector of the school to take 
 up our residence, and received one room for us both in the bursary. 
 Shortly thereafter came two wandering students from Vienna 
 with their schutzen, and were shown into quarters with us. Dur- 
 ing the day, or at least what was left of the day, after the public 
 lesson, the chorus and the begging, I stayed in our cell, but dur- 
 ing the night we young schulzen, as many as there were of us, 
 used to remain in the common room, on account of the cold, and 
 sleep on a wooden platform over the stove. Once I fell off the 
 platform, and although I did quite as much injury to my head as to 
 the stove, nevertheless I was thought to deserve a severe censure 
 on account of the damage I was guilty of. 
 Chapter 24.. 
 
 {After further adventures in Bohemia they came to Eger, where they 
 secured positions in the houses of certain wealthy citizens, acting as tutors 
 and companions to the sons of these citizens, and receiving board and lodg- 
 ing in return.) 
 
 The student was overjoyed at his unexpected good fortune. 
 My own, however, which seemed to him even better, aroused his 
 envy and anger. " It is not becoming," he said, " that a schiiize 
 like you should be so quickly promoted among strangers, and see 
 better times than I myself;" and since he had no longer any need, 
 on account of his new position, of my services in begging, he 
 handed me over to two other big students, for whom I was to 
 forage during the winter. .1 complained of this to the lad who 
 had been entrusted to me, and he told his parents, whereupon 
 they advised me to come home with their son immediately after 
 school and let the others go. After I had done this a few times, 
 against the commands of the student, he caught me one day as 
 we were coming from school, and together with his companions 
 dragged me to their quarters, where they tore the clothes from 
 my body, beat me for a long time with rods upon my naked skin, 
 and then left me tied in the room in the severe cold until the next 
 day. Next morning he asked me if I was disposed to attend to 
 my duties with the students, and I made haste to answer that I 
 was. Then he unbound me, turned me over to his companions 
 with threats and curses, and went his way to his dwelling.
 
 86 SOURCE-BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 Chapter 25. 
 
 Thus was my lad obliged to go to school alone that morning. 
 When he learned what had happened to me, he hastened to ac- 
 quaint his parents with the facts. The following evening, when 
 we had returned from school, I related to them, at their request, all 
 that had taken place, and they were much moved with compassion 
 for me. The)' ordered me to remain in the house, to await what- 
 ever might occur. The student, however, when he became aware, 
 both from the complaints of his fellow-students, to whom he had 
 sold me, and from my absence as well, of what had transpired, 
 fell into a great rage, and came the following morning to our 
 house, together with a great company of students and schuteen. 
 They succeeded in making their way up to the upper story, where 
 we were, when the father opposed them with weapons in his 
 hands, let drive at them promiscuously, and drove them out of 
 the house and court-yard, calling after them that they should 
 not presume again to enter there. 
 
 But alas for me! After this occurrence I knew not which way 
 to turn. . I had the courage neither to go to school nor even to 
 run an errand out of doors, because my students sent me word 
 that they would tear me into pieces, if they could catch me any- 
 where. Out of fear I gave up school, fled secretly from the city 
 and betook me to the baths. 1 There I served the guests at an inn 
 until the new year, when I was kidnaped b)^ a Bohemian noble. 
 
 Thus was I forced, through the cruelty of my student, to give 
 up school and the study of the sciences, since I could no longer 
 endure his godless treatment of me ; I, who had been so urgently 
 recommended to him by my parents. Neither of us has met the 
 other face to face since that time, nor have I ever learned what 
 became of him. At the baths, however, I came across two 
 schiitzen, who formerly had shared my room in the bursa at 
 Kaaden, and they related that their students had been hanged 
 for theft, committed at some place or other. Then the thought 
 came to me, that something of the kind might have happened to 
 mine. If this ever came to pass at a later time which indeed I 
 should not wish to happen at least it was not necessary that he 
 should have degenerated, for his father came to the gallows at 
 home on account of theft. In the meantime I have heard, that 
 
 1 Carlsbad.
 
 JOHANNES BUTZBACH. 87 
 
 after my departure he came once into the neighborhood of our 
 native place, but did not enter the town, both on account of his 
 shame, because his father had been hanged, and because he had 
 lost me. His friends, to whom he contrived to send word secretly, 
 went out to him, and with them my people, who had learned of 
 his coming. When he was unable to answer their pressing in- 
 quiries as to where he had left me, and became involved in even 
 greater contradictions, he took the first opportunity of getting 
 away from them, and from that day to this he has never shown 
 himself at our home. 
 
 Behold, you have before you all the misery to which I was 
 exposed from my seventh to my twelfth year under the school- 
 master's rod, and you have seen what fidelity that wretched 
 student, after all the careful recommendations of my parents, ex- 
 hibited toward me in the midst of strangers. May the almighty 
 God forgive him for that which he has done. Amen. 
 
 {The Second Book of Butzbach's narrative contains an account of his 
 adventures among the heretics of Bohemia, during which his school ex- 
 periences were wholly interrupted. He succeeded finally in returning home, 
 where he found opportunity of resuming his studies under more favorable 
 conditions.) 
 
 Book III. Chapter 8. 
 
 While occupied with the duties and exercises of a lay brother, 1 
 my inclination toward the higher functions of the brethren grew 
 apace, and I deeply bewailed my misfortune, that I had been 
 obliged to give up my studies. This did not escape the attention 
 of the younger brethren, who had but recently come from the 
 schools, and they secretly advised me to betake myself to De- 
 venter. There was in our convent an elderly monk, Peter Schlarp 
 by name, a very diligent and learned man, who gave me a letter 
 of introduction to the rector of the high school at Deventer, Alex- 
 ander Hegius. 
 
 Fortified with this letter I set out, although the abbot inter- 
 posed some objections, and expressed himself as having no con- 
 fidence in my success. In the preliminary examinations I was 
 unable to answer the questions put to me, but because the}- were 
 so astonished at the good and correct L/atin of mj r letter of intro- 
 
 1 Butzbach had been accepted as lay brother in the monastery of St. John 
 the Baptist at Johannisberg.
 
 88 SOURCE-BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 duction I was put into the seventh grade, where I set out to 
 master the rudiments of grammar, along with the little boys. 
 But through want, hunger and cold I came into such distress that 
 I was obliged again to give up the studies I had undertaken. 
 With a few comrades, upon whose advice I acted, I left the place. 
 
 Two noble lords, Johann G , who afterwards died of the pest, 
 
 and his brother Frederick, who is still living, interceded for me, 
 and I was taken back into the cloister, although previous to this 
 I had laid aside the garb and entered the cloister of Eberbach, 
 unmindful of the commands of the abbot to return. This cloister 
 is said to have been founded by St. Bernard at the time when he 
 was in that region as imperial legate. Thus I received a second 
 time the habit of the order, and a further departure, or a continu- 
 ance of my studies, was no more to be thought of. 
 
 In a quiet way I had about reconciled myself to remaining here 
 forever, when it happened one day that I had occasion to accom- 
 pany the abbot to Frankfort. Here we encountered my mother. 
 She had heard that I was already a " Lollard," had sought me in 
 the cloister and had followed us with a heart full of sorrow. The 
 whole day she interceded with the abbot, praying that she might 
 be permitted to send me once more to school. But the abbot was 
 not to be moved with the most urgent entreaty. When my 
 mother saw that she could accomplish nothing in this way, she 
 gave me money secretly and made me promise that upon our 
 return I should leave the cloister, even against the abbot's will. 
 
 Chapter 9. 
 
 We returned to our cloister. I had not the courage to beg for 
 permission to go forth. Already I was thoroughly reconciled to 
 remaining in my humble condition. Then it happened that the 
 abbot, disturbed in his heart by the woman's entreaty, came of 
 his own accord to me. He spoke to me kindly, and said that I 
 might undertake that which according to my knowledge and 
 conscience seemed the better thing to do. All abashed at his 
 graciousness, I confessed my fervent love for the sciences, and 
 the desire, which had always animated my soul, to attain to the 
 higher grades of the order. 
 
 Then the abbot said: " Go hence in the name of the Lord and 
 remain ever steadfast in thy good resolve. Thy mother's wish 
 shall be fulfilled. Go with zeal and endurance to thy studies and
 
 JOHANNES BUTZBACH. 89 
 
 complete them; then come hither and the order will be open to 
 thee." 
 
 So for the third time I left the cloister and betook myself to my 
 native town. I was a welcome guest with all my acquaintances; 
 and when the people heard that I was going once more to school, 
 there were certain masters who applauded my resolve and wished 
 me luck. Others, on the contrary, thought I was too old and 
 laughed at me. But my father expressed no little joy at the 
 prospect, and gave me at once the money for the journey.' Five 
 guilders he gave me. Moreover he knew that my mother had 
 still a very beautiful piece of money, which she had received from 
 Hillig when he became engaged to her, and he urgently de- 
 manded I should have that too. But my mother was unwilling 
 to give it up, and intended, without my father's knowledge, to 
 give me another guilder in its place. Thereupon a serious quarrel 
 ensued between them, the result of which was that my mother 
 was soundly beaten and her hair severely pulled. When I saw 
 that, I threw down my pack and the rest of m}^ money, and with 
 my brothers and sisters rushed to my mother's aid, against my 
 father. I succeeded in dragging her from under his feet. Weep- 
 ing bitterly, I left the house, and registered with myself a vow 
 that after such occurrences I would never again set foot in any 
 school, nor would I even go back to the cloister. Meanwhile my 
 father's anger had subsided, and when he came back once more 
 to his senses, unable to endure the stings of conscience, he ran 
 through the village in search of me. When at last he found me, 
 he begged me, in the agony of his spirit, not to abandon my 
 design. I might forgive him his offence, since he had done 
 wrong through his effort to further my plans. I should be recon- 
 ciled and go on with my undertaking, which had given him so 
 much pleasure. Thereupon he handed me the guilder obtained 
 with so many blows, and I accepted it for the sake of peace, 
 meaning secretly to return it to my mother at a later opportunit}% 
 when she accompanied me to the boat. 
 
 Finally, I tore myself away. Our boat sailed down the Main 
 and onwards down the Rhine. We changed masters both at 
 Mainz and Cologne. Unusually favorable winds filled our sails, 
 and after nine days we landed at Deventer. Again I was ex" 
 amined by the rector, and put into the eighth grade. There I 
 sat beside six other grown-up schoolmates, who in consequence of
 
 90 SOURCE-BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 an insurrection had taken to study through fear; because a few days 
 before our arrival a mob of seven thousand insurgents, who held 
 a city in siege, had been overwhelmed by the Bishop of Maestricht 
 and the Duke of Gueldres. A hundred of them had been con- 
 demned to death. These were executed on the day of my arrival 
 and on the two days preceding, and I saw them still lying on the 
 wheels. Of these schoolmates just mentioned, who entered upon 
 their studies more out of fear than from any thirst for knowledge, 
 only a few were steadfast. For the most part they were too slow 
 of understanding and made no progress, while I strove night and 
 day by diligent application to acquire a better degree of informa- 
 tion. 
 
 Chapter 10. 
 
 It was not long before my classmates were dismissed. One of 
 them, however, sat for four years in the same grade and scarcely 
 learned to read, notwithstanding he dwelt with the teacher of his 
 class, and had gone to considerable expense; but with no result. 
 For my part, I had been in the eighth grade but a short time 
 when I was permitted to pass over the seventh and to enter the 
 sixth grade, and from this I came at Easter into the fifth. At 
 that time I secured a place with the Brethren in the relief house, 
 where only those from the fifth grade upward were received, and 
 then only on condition that they intended to become monks. 
 Moreover I was free to visit the house of a canon in the town, who 
 was also provost at Ziitphen, when I was in need; for before my 
 entrance into the brotherhood house, while I dwelt in the city at 
 the house of a very pious maiden lad}-, I had the opportunity, on 
 several occasions, to be of service to the canon, by lending a help- 
 ing hand to his sewing people, 1 and on one occasion to the chief 
 of his household. In addition to this I had made several other 
 acquaintances, who were favorably disposed tow r ard me, and in 
 time of need and suffering gave me much aid and comfort. 
 
 During this time I had to struggle against many and various 
 difficulties in the way of ill health and sickness; so that at times, 
 in spite of all my eagerness for knowledge, I w r as half persuaded 
 to give up the attempt. It seemed to me that never before, up to 
 this time, had I been obliged to contend with such an insalubrious 
 climate and such a raw atmosphere as in this place, whereby I 
 
 1 After his return from Bohemia, Butzbach had been apprenticed to a tailor.
 
 JOHANNES BUTZBACH. 91 
 
 was persecuted day by day with all kinds of torments and sick- 
 ness, so continuously that I began to think seriously of hanging 
 my studies on the nail and taking up again my old trade, if only 
 to get away from this region and from its inhabitants. Now it 
 was burning fevers, now tumorous affections, which threatened 
 my life. Next came the quinsy, complicated with a swelling oi 
 the larynx; then the itch, and indeed in so horrible a form that 
 my whole skin was stiff from it. In addition to this I often suf- 
 fered from boils on various portions of my body. Then too I had 
 a swelling of the feet, and often for considerable periods a swelling 
 of the thigh. Finally I got help from a woman who possessed a 
 knowledge of the art of healing. With an iron instrument she 
 cut out the swelling from my thigh, which she called a " rose." 
 I was almost crazed with the pain of the operation. Moreover I 
 lived in constant fear lest some misfortune, of which they at home 
 were also fearful, should overtake me. Almost never did I feel 
 myself secure, and when, as it often happens, the outbreak of a 
 war was apprehended, I feared lest I should be obliged to return 
 home before the completion of my studies, still ignorant of the 
 sciences, an object of ridicule to those who were of the opinion I 
 w r ould derive no benefit from my studies, and who, when I went 
 seriously about it, looked upon me as insane. Moreover, it was 
 daily rumored that the pest was at hand. At the outbreak of the 
 pest or of war it was the custom to send scholars out of the town. 
 Furthermore, I suffered much from an itching malady, called "fig- 
 warts," which covered the body like the bark of an oak tree. 
 Moreover, I was constantly pestered with many other untoward 
 conditions, with which the enemy, with divine permission, over- 
 w-helmed me, in order to bring me from my undertaking, if such 
 were possible. Strengthened, however, with the instructions of 
 the pious Brethren of the Common Life, who interested them- 
 selves in the affairs of scholars with so much affection and with 
 so much success; fortified also with the consolations of pious 
 people, I overcame, thank God, all these tribulations with 
 patience, and put to shame the treacherous enemy with all his 
 
 machinations. 
 
 Chapter n. 
 
 Now that all these sufferings have been lived down, I dv;ell 
 upon them in my thoughts with much pleasure, because I believe 
 that they were all sent me for the purification and advancement of
 
 92 SOURCE-BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 my soul. Five times, however, it happened, that at the instiga- 
 tion of others I was on the point of giving up my studies and re- 
 turning home. It even went so far at one time it was a year 
 after my arrival and I was then Quintanus that one morning I 
 made my preparations to depart in company with certain com- 
 rades. Suddenly, on the evening of the same day, the swelling 
 of my feet and the abscess, of which I have spoken, attacked me. 
 A journey under the circumstances was out of the question. I 
 remained and was promoted to the fourth grade. Now I thank 
 God for this dispensation. Had I departed at that time no one 
 would have been able ever to induce me to return to so much 
 misery. 
 
 Two reasons in particular may be adduced, which determined, 
 me to hold out and bound me fast to the sciences: my father's 
 desire, while he was still living; and the prophec) 7 , if I may call 
 it so, of certain persons, that I should some time become a priest. 
 The former was expressed at home; the latter at Johannisberg, 
 while I was there as lay brother and cloister tailor; for on a cer- 
 tain occasion, while I was sitting at my work and engaged in 
 confidential discourse with an elderly and invalid father, for whose 
 care and service I was daily responsible; and while I was telling 
 him how greatly to my sorrow I had been obliged, as a lad, to 
 give up my studies while, as I say, I was telling my story and 
 lamenting that nothing had come out of my earlier studies and 
 my desire to become a priest, a certain round piece of bread, 
 which we call the host, and which I had fastened to the wall over 
 against my work table, out of devotional feeling and from a -de- 
 sire to guard against the temptations to which the vigorous period 
 of youth is especially subject, and also to have a remembrance of 
 the sufferings of our Lord always before my eyes, this piece of 
 of bread, I say, to our great amazement, detached itself from the 
 wall and fell to the floor. As the old man, who with shaking 
 head sat behind the stove, perceived this, he stood up, in spite 
 of the senile weakness which weighed so heavily upon him, and 
 in a loud voice exclaimed: "See, Brother Johannes! This is with- 
 out doubt a sign to thee of thy future priesthood! Thou shalt no 
 longer doubt, but of a truth believe, that, when thou givest thy- 
 self again to study, this thing which has just happened shall 
 have the meaning I have ascribed to it." 
 
 He also foretold the day and the hour of his death, and even
 
 JOHANNES BUTZBACH. 93 
 
 after he was dead the brethren called him back to life, to make 
 his confession. 
 
 His word I never forgot. A year passed before I again gave 
 myself to study, and with my parents' help returned to school, 
 and with God's grace and with the help of the blessed Virgin 
 Mary, within four years according to the prophecy I became 
 monk and priest. Now may this benefaction of God redound to 
 the salvation of my soul, unworthy that I am, and the souls of my 
 people, and to the glory of God! That is my most urgent wish. 
 
 Chapter 12. 
 
 The same was once said to my mother by a priest, a very 
 worthjr man and pastor in the town of Aschaffenburg, where once 
 upon a time he brought me a chasuble to be repaired and heard 
 the deep sigh I uttered to God, as I tried it on and said: "Would 
 that I too could be a priest." Furthermore my continuance at 
 study was largely due to my late father's desire, who, living and 
 dying, had expressed this as his especial wish. For this reason, 
 during his life, he sent me to school, and on his deathbed he 
 impressed this strongly upon my mother's mind. After her 
 death, when I had given up the tailor's trade and was taking 
 counsel with our friends, in reference to going back to school, the 
 following occurred : One morning, as my brother Kunz and I 
 arose and were dressing, my father's spirit, just as he was in life, 
 appeared in front of our room, remained standing a little time in 
 the open doorway, and looked at me in an appealing way, as 
 though he would say to me that I should carry out my plan, 
 which had been for so long his dearest wish, without fear or hesi- 
 tation. More than anything else was this occurrence a spur to 
 my zeal and it impelled me to persevere in my studies. If, in- 
 deed, I had been in some respects too little obedient to my father 
 in his lifetime, now I desired to make amends, since he so ear- 
 nestly desired that I should be a priest. God grant that now, 
 when I am one, it may contribute to the repose of his soul! 
 
 After this digression I shall now take up the thread of my narra- 
 tive, and I wish to occupy some little space with the praise of 
 Deventer itself, where I endured all the privations which I have 
 mentioned. 
 
 The people are wonderfully kind toward the poor, to an extent 
 which I have observed nowhere else ; and pious withal and much
 
 94 SOURCE-BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 attached to religion. At the same time the town, by reason of its 
 extensive trade with countries across the sea and with Holland 
 and Zealand, is extraordinarily wealthy. May I be set down as 
 a falsifier, if I have not known a citizen of the place, a great 
 benefactor toward me and toward other poor people, who gave 
 his daughter, upon the occasion of her marriage, a dowry of seven- 
 teen thousand guilders in hard cash. This same citizen's wife 
 was also a very upright woman and wonderfully charitable toward 
 the poor and toward strangers. No day passed that she did not 
 invite some six or seven needy clergymen to her well furnished 
 table, not to speak of the alms which she was constantly giving 
 to other poor men at her door. The kindness which this estim- 
 able woman showed me at the time of my sickness and need was 
 truly remarkable, whether it be in the way of food, clothing and 
 money, or with her cheering conversation. She and her family 
 truly deserve to be rich, for they are not, as is the case with so 
 many rich people, proud or miserty, nor do they place their trust 
 upon the volume of their riches, but, gentle, generous and pitiful 
 tow r ard the prayers of the poor, they set their hopes upon God. 
 And this noble cit}- has many more such God-fearing people. 
 
 In addition to this it possesses an excellent constitution and a 
 well-regulated government. Alexander Hegius, formerly director 
 of the high school at Deventer, has sung the praises of the city in 
 the following brief verses, which are moreover his latest composi- 
 tion : 
 
 "Of the piety of Deventer 
 
 Through the towns the rumor goes. 
 
 I esteem it worth the riches 
 
 Which there everywhere abound. 
 
 There the peasant is protected, 
 
 And the robber feels the law. 
 
 There each man receives what bounty, 
 
 Horse or foot, to him is due. 
 
 Ever full may stand the treasure, 
 
 Never touched by faction's hand. 
 
 Thus we pray, both youth and elder, 
 
 Night and day for native laud." 
 
 As its patron saint the city reverences the holy confessor Leivin, 
 once a monk of our order, and a pupil of St. Willibrod. In his 
 honor was built a beautiful church, wherein his bones, together 
 with those of certain other saints, as for example St. Margaret,
 
 JOHANNES BUTZBACH. 95 
 
 whose remains were brought from Rome, and St. Rathbod, bishop 
 of Maestricht, and many others, have been decent!)' laid to rest in 
 a costly chest. The holy Leivin came from England, and was 
 the first who won this land to the Christian faith. He dwelt on 
 the Y.ssel, a tributary of the Rhine, and even at the present day his 
 house is shown by people dwelling in that neighborhood ; al- 
 though, in truth, its appearance has much changed. 
 
 Besides the markets which are held at Deventer at various 
 times of the year, the city has another advantage, whereby it has 
 become famous, and rightfully so, far and wide, beyond all other 
 cities of this region. This is due to its Latin school, renowned 
 for a long time past, which, under the supervision of men of cul- 
 ture and ability, for a long time enjoyed great prosperity on 
 account of its cultivation of the humanities. After the death of 
 Alexander Hegius, of whom I have spoken above, a man of the 
 profoundest learning, versed in three languages, and withal a 
 philosopher and poet, who died in the year of our Lord 1498, the 
 first year of my student life in Deventer since that time (with 
 sorrow I chronicle the fact), the school has declined greatly, as 
 reports from there inform me. 
 
 That was indeed a man worthy of all praise, as in fact he has 
 been so deservedly extolled, both living and since his death, by 
 many distinguished men. Like a brilliant light he shone above 
 the people through his uprightness, his comprehensive knowledge 
 and his great gifts, superior to all his learned contemporaries. 
 His former pupil, the illustrious Desiderius Erasmus, in his 
 Adages pays high tribute to the great teacher. The accomplished 
 Rudolph Agricola, in his time rector of the University of Heidel- 
 berg, and Johann von Dalberg, the cultured bishop of Worms, 
 celebrate his brilliant gifts. 1 
 
 Chapter /j. 
 
 The school at Deventer has been of great value to the reformed 
 orders, insomuch as it has supplied them with many educated 
 and scholarly men. So long as the school preserved its merited 
 reputation, by means of good, thorough instruction and funda- 
 mental erudition, its graduates were everywhere eagerly sought. 
 At that time you might see the better-prepared scholars and those 
 
 1 Here follow selections from the poems of eminent humanists, written in 
 honor of Hegius.
 
 96 SOURCE-BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 best grounded in the humanities streaming into the orders at 
 Deventer and at Zwoll; and they were superior material to that 
 which I now find in the first and second classes; although at 
 present they read, it is true, a better selection of authors in the 
 schools than formerly. For I have heard it remarked, that out- 
 side of the Parables of Alanus, the Morals and the Ethics of Cato, 
 the Fables of JEsop and a few writers of this type, for whom they 
 have very little respect at present, it was seldom that anything 
 else was read. On the other hand, a strong effort was made to 
 broaden the student's mind by means of an inflexible industry, 
 which yielded not to the greatest difficulties. Now, however, 
 when all secondary schools, even the least important, are filled 
 with the various admirable works of old and new classical writers, 
 both prose and poetry, the ardor is nevertheless weakened, and 
 students for the most part apply themselves to their work like the 
 donkey to his lyre, as the Greeks say, "? ~m x^-^. All-devour- 
 ing time permits nothing to endure. Hence the phenomenon 
 that the orders began to decline as the school approached its 
 downward path. Still, since the reformation of the orders, which 
 is not yet a hundred years old in any cloister, they say that many 
 men of intellect have been sent forth from this school, who have 
 been received and provided for in the various cloisters of this sec- 
 tion of Germany. 
 
 But it is time to return to my previous narrative. I must close 
 with what I have already said of Deventer; moreover, these things 
 are w r ell known to those who have devoted themselves to the 
 various branches of learning, and have laid the foundations of a 
 wider culture. Many such with joy I chronicle the fact share 
 with me here the holy service and bear the yoke of the Lord. 
 Some have returned to the world's turmoil. But this digression, 
 into which my love and my enthusiasm for the times gone by have 
 led me, has been more extensive than I intended. L,et us finally 
 resume the course of our narrative. 
 
 Chapter 14. 
 
 I remained a half year in the fifth class, under the guidance of 
 an excellent man, Master Gottfried, a Baccalaureus of both laws 
 and Master of Arts. After an examination I rose to the fourth 
 class, where I passed a year under the industrious and well-in- 
 structed Master Johann von Venray, and with his permission, al-
 
 JOHANNES BUTZBACH. 97 
 
 though I hardly deserved it, I came into the third class. This class 
 was at that time under the charge of Master Bartholomew of 
 Cologne, an unusually industrious and learned man. His writ- 
 ings, as well in prose as in verse, are admired by the greatest 
 scholars and most highly praised ; for he is a man of fine, broad 
 mind, and of wonderful eloquence, and withal distinguished in 
 many branches of knowledge. It seemed very strange to everybody 
 that a man of his ability, versed in all departments of science, 
 should keep to his studies, like a perfect ignoramus, with tireless 
 industry deep into the night. He was fond of industrious pupils 
 and very cheerfully did for them what they desired ; wherefore 
 the energetic and zealous pupils, so far as I know, regarded him 
 with so much love that, after they had devoted themselves to 
 philosophic studies for several years in succession under so good a 
 master and reader, and finally came to go away, they could hardly 
 tear themselves from him. Although he indeed deserved it, yet 
 he had never been honored by any university with the master's 
 degree. For this reason he is at the present day a thorn in the 
 side of many blockheads, who are proud of their empty titles, and 
 his works have been criticised and unfavorably regarded as mere 
 school exercises. In the meantime, as a true and genuine philos- 
 opher, he concerns himself not at all with such people, whose 
 science consists merely in an empty title and certain externals, 
 like a camel decked in purple. It is indeed better to possess the 
 reality of knowledge than an empty name. What is a name with- 
 out the thing itself? Of what avail are titles without ability? 
 What avails an honor without the capacity ? A characterization 
 without the fact ? Nowadays when an)' one, even without industry, 
 has gone through his period of study, whether he knows anything 
 of the essentials or not it is an easy thing for him, by means of a 
 present, to acquire the bachelor's degree, or the dignity of master 
 or doctor. Our teacher Bartholomew for his part held to the ideas 
 of the ancients; he despised every modern usage, and valued an 
 earnest career of study more than empty splendor. A cultured 
 spirit was to him more than a brow bedecked. What value has 
 the red beretta, when within the spirit is shrouded in the darkness 
 of ignorance ? In any case knowledge without the title is more to 
 be valued than the mere title, it: which so many rejoice, without 
 the knowledge. But of this I have more to say elsewhere. 
 
 When, as I have already remarked, I came to this highly culti- 
 7
 
 98 SOURCE-BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 vated philosopher in the third class, I made up ray mind to remain 
 until Easter, when I would go home and thence, with my par- 
 rents' permission, back to Johannesberg in the Rheingau, whence 
 I had gone forth, at my mother's urgent request, and upon the 
 encouragement of the brethren, to my studies. I wished to see 
 whether I might assume the higher garb of our order, instead of 
 that humbler garment, which I had put aside, and be received 
 into the circle of the fathers. Scarcely had I been six weeks in the 
 class, however, when it happened that the worthy father steward 
 of the island of Niederwerth near Coblenz came to Deventer. 
 Besides the other business with which he was commissioned, he had 
 been requested by our distinguished lord, the Abbot of Laach, 
 to bring with him several scholars, who were willing to serve the 
 L,ord in that cloister, of which he had been already ten years the 
 head, under his secure guidance, in the monkish garb, according 
 to the rule. When he had presented his letters, addressed to the 
 rector, he also expressed his solicitude concerning this matter in 
 the house of the Brethren. Moreover in other towns of this 
 region, where his business took him, he made careful inquiries in 
 schools, bursaries and brotherhood houses, as well as with private 
 citizens ; seeking young clerks, so-called, endowed with a suffi- 
 cient knowledge of the sciences, and disposed to leave their 
 further stud}' for the sake of God's service, in order to devote 
 themselves to the life of the cloister and to the investigation of 
 holy writ. Something like three weeks elapsed, and as yet he 
 had found no one who wished to accept his offer. Returning 
 to Deventer, he considered it advisable to seek the cooperation of 
 the rector, Master Ostendorp, who, as an eloquent and learned 
 man, had succeeded the aforesaid Alexander in the government 
 of the school. Master Ostendorp came at once to the third and 
 fourth classes, and sought with eloquent words, such as stood to 
 his command, to awaken enthusiasm among the scholars for the 
 monastic life. First he spoke in praise of the Benedictines, then 
 he spoke in terms of highest approbation of the abbey of Laach, 
 as well as of the merit of its abbot. But all effort seemed in vain, 
 so far as the scholars were concerned, for the lectures had already 
 begun, and the auditors were inscribed with their new instructors. 
 In many cases the lessons of the new classes had been begun, and 
 the honoraria already discharged to the new instructors for the 
 semester, and it was thought shameful and unbecoming to demand
 
 THOMAS PLATTER. 99 
 
 these back from the rector and from the professors. Moreover, 
 each one had already made his provision for food and lodging, 
 and did not care to let these things go. Furthermore, it was an 
 unsuitable time for traveling ; a very great cold prevailed, which 
 frightened everyone from the project. 
 
 {Butzbach however, after much deliberation, accepted the offer and 
 made the tedious winter journey up the Rhine to Laach, of which 
 abbey he eventually ^became the head.) 
 
 THOMAS PL A TTERt 
 
 Thomas Platter, 1499-1582, affords another example of the strong general 
 impulse toward intellectual advancement which characterized the eve of the 
 Protestant Reformation in Germany. Born in Switzerland, in the canton of 
 Wallis, Platter obtained the rudiments of his education at Schlettstadt, iu 
 the upper Rhine country. Successively rope-maker, proof-reader, publisher 
 and finally chosen rector of the city school of Zurich, Platter, like Butzbach, 
 ever displayed an ardor in the pursuit of learning, which no obstacles nor 
 temporary interruptions of his course of study were able to extinguish. 
 Led away in childhood upon a course of mendicancy and thievery, he came 
 unscathed through these adverse experiences, retaining only an inflexible 
 desire for that culture of which his wanderings had afforded so meagre a 
 foretaste. A follower of the Zurich reformer, Platter took an active part in 
 the struggles of the Zwinglian party, became one of the leaders in Swiss 
 Protestant life, and died full of years and honors. 
 
 THE BACCHANTENSCHUTZ. 
 
 When they would no longer let me herd the goats I went to a 
 farmer who had married one of my cousins, a miserly and ill- 
 tempered man. I had to herd his cows, for in most places in 
 Wallis there were no common cow-herds ; and whoever had no 
 mountain pasture, whither he might conduct his cattle in sum- 
 mer, kept a herder for them, who pastured them on his em- 
 ployer's property. After I had been there for a while my cousin 
 Fransy came, and wished to take me to my cousin, Master Antoni 
 Platter, in order that I might learn my letters, as they say, when 
 they put anyone in school. This cousin Antoni was no longer 
 stationed at Grenchen, but at the church of St. Nicholas, in the vil- 
 lage they call Gassen. When the farmer, who was called Antscho 
 (that is Antoni) an der Habzucht, heard my cousin's intention, he 
 was much dissatisfied. He said I would learn nothing ; and put- 
 Thomas und Felix Platter, bearbeitet von H. Boos. Leipzig, 1878.
 
 100 SOURCE-BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 ting the index finger of his right hand into the palm of his left, 
 he added: "He will no more learn than I can poke my finger 
 through rny palm." I saw and heard this. Then my cousin 
 replied : ' ' But who can say ? God has not denied him gifts. He 
 might become an excellent priest." So she took me to the 
 -master. I was, I think, about nine or nine and a half years old. 
 At first it was very unpleasant for me, because the master was a 
 high-tempered man, and I an awkward peasant lad. He beat me 
 savagely, seized me often by the ears and drew me from the 
 hearth, so that I shrieked like a goat with the knife at his throat, 
 and the neighbors often cried out against him, that he would 
 murder me. 
 
 I . did not stay long with him. About this time there came 
 along another cousin, who had been away to school in Ulm and 
 Munich in Bavaria. He was a Summermatter, son of my old 
 grandfather's son. This student was named Paulus Summer- 
 matter. When my relatives spoke to him of me, he promised to 
 take me with him and put me to school in Germany. As I 
 learned of this I fell upon my knees and prayed to God the al- 
 mighty, that he would deliver me from the parson, who had taught 
 me just nothing at all, but had beat me sore ; for all I had 
 learned was to sing the Salve for eggs, along with other pupils, 
 who were also at the parson's, in the village. One time we 
 thought we would perform a mass ; so the other youngsters sent 
 me into the church for a candle, which I stuck all lighted into my 
 sleeve, and burned me, so that I bear the mark of it to this day. 
 
 When the time came for Paulus to set out again upon his 
 wanderings, I was to join him at Stalden. Near Stalden is a 
 house called " The Miihlbach." There dwelt a man, called Simon 
 zu der Summermatter, my mother's brother, who was supposed to 
 be my guardian. He gave me a golden florin, w r hich I carried in 
 my hand all the way to Stalden, and often on the way I looked to 
 see if I still had it ; and there I gave it over to Paulus, and thus 
 we went forth from home. 
 
 I had to beg now for mj'self and also to provide for my bacchant, 
 Paulus ; and an account of my simpleness and rustic speech people 
 gave me freely. When at evening we crossed the Grimsel mountain 
 and came to an inn, I saw there for the first time an earthenware 
 stove. The moon was shining on the tiles of the stove and I 
 thought it was a great calf, for I saw only the two tiles, and these
 
 THOMAS PLATTER. IOI 
 
 I took for its eyes. Next morning I saw some geese, which I had 
 never seen before, and when they hissed at me I thought it was 
 the devil, and that he would eat me up ; and I fled screaming. 
 At Lucerne I saw tiled roofs for the first time, and I marvelled at 
 the red roofs. We came thence to Zurich, where Paulus waited for 
 certain companions, who were to journey with us toward Meissen. 
 In the meantime I went begging and completely provided Paulus' 
 support, for whenever I entered an inn the people were pleased to 
 hear me speak the dialect of \Vallis and willingly gave to me. At 
 that time there was a certain man in Zurich, who came from 
 Wallis stock, an eccentric man, Karle by name, who was generally 
 thought to be an exorcist ; for he knew at all times what was go- 
 ing on here and there. He was well known to the Cardinal. This 
 Karle came to me (for we had taken lodgings at a certain house), 
 and said that if I would let him give me a certain number of stripes 
 on my bare back, he would give me a Zurich piece of six. I 
 allowed mj-self to be persuaded, and he seized me fast, laid me 
 across a chair and lashed me well. When I was done smarting he 
 begged of me I should lend him the money back again ; he 
 wished to sup with a lady, aud was in need of a piece of six to 
 pay the bill. I gave him the money, and never saw it again. 
 
 After we had waited from eight to nine weeks for our com- 
 panions, we set out for Meissen. For me it was a long journey, 
 for I was not accustomed to go so far, and moreover I had to look 
 out for our subsistence on the way. We set out then, eight or 
 nine of us together, three little schiitzen, the rest big baahavfcn, 
 as they were called, among whom I was the smallest and the 
 youngest schiitze of all. When I did not travel briskly enough, 
 my cousin Paulus, who walked behind, pricked up my paces with 
 a switch or a stick, laid upon my bare legs ; for I had no hose and 
 my shoes were worn out. 
 
 I can recollect no longer all that happened to us on the way ; 
 but some things I remember. While all sorts of things were 
 being discussed as we marched along, the bacchanten remarked 
 to each other that it was the custom in Meissen and Silesia to 
 permit scholars to steal geese and ducks and other things to eat, 
 and that nothing would be done to them, unless they allowed 
 themselves to be taken by the one to whom the property belonged. 
 One day, not far from a village we saw a great flock of geese, un- 
 accompanied by the goose-herd (for each village has its especial
 
 102 SOURCE-BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 goose-herd), who was quite a distance away in company with the 
 cow-herd. Thereupon I asked of my companions, the schiltzen : 
 "When shall we be in Meissen, where I may kill geese? " They 
 said, "We are there now." Then I took a stone, threw at a goose 
 and hit it on the leg. The other geese flew away; the lame one, 
 however, could not follow. Then I took another stone and hit it 
 on the head, so that it fell ; for I had learned the art of throwing 
 stones while I was herding goats, so that no herder of my age 
 could surpass me ; and I could blow the herder's horn and leap 
 with poles, for I had exercised these arts among my fellow herders. 
 Then I ran up to the goose, siezed it by the neck, stuck it under 
 my coat and went on through the village. But the goose-herd 
 came running after me and cried: "The boy has stolen one of 
 my geese ! " I and my fellow schutzen with me took to our heels, 
 and the goose's feet were sticking out from under my jacket. The 
 peasants came on with spears, which they knew how to throw, 
 and followed close upon us. When I saw that I could not escape 
 with the goose, I let it drop. Beyond the village I sprang aside 
 from the road into the bushes, but two of my companions, who 
 kept to the road, were overhauled by the peasants. They fell 
 upon their knees and begged for mercy, saying they had done 
 them no harm ; and when the peasants saw that none of them 
 had let the goose drop, they went back into the village, taking the 
 goose with them. When I saw, however, how they pursued my 
 companions, I was in deep distress. I said to myself: "Good 
 heavens, I surely think I have not said my prayers to-day ! ' ' For 
 I had been taught to say my prayers every morning. When the 
 peasants returned to the village they found our bacchanten at the 
 inn ; for they had gone on ahead, and we were following. The 
 peasants were of the opinion that they should pay for the goose ; 
 it was a matter of two pence. I do not know whether they paid 
 or not, but when they came back to us, they laughed and asked us 
 how we had fared. I tried to excuse myself on the ground that 
 it was the custom of the country ; but they said, the time for that 
 had not yet come. 
 
 On another occasion a murderer came upon us in a wood, eleven 
 miles this side of Nuremberg, when we happened to be all to- 
 gether. He sought to trifle with our bacchanten, in order to detain 
 us until his companions came together. We had with us at that 
 time an honest fellow, by name Antoni Schallbetter, from Visperze-
 
 THOMAS PLATTER. 103 
 
 henden in Wallis, who feared no four or five, as he had often 
 shown in Nuremberg and Munich, and in many other places. He 
 threatened the murderer, ordering him to get out of the way ; and 
 he did so. It was so late, however, that we could only reach the 
 nearest village. There were two inns, but few houses beside. 
 When we entered one of the inns, the murderer was there before 
 us, and still others, without doubt his companions. We would 
 not stay there, and went to the other inn, but they came thither 
 also. At supper time the people of the house were so busy that 
 they would give us little fellows nothing to eat, for we never sat 
 at table with our bacchanten. Nor would they give us any bed, 
 but we must lie in the stables. When, however, they were con- 
 ducting the big fellows to bed, Antoni said to the host : " Host, it 
 seems to me you have rather unusual guests, and that you your- 
 self are not much better. I tell you, landlord, you had better put 
 us where we shall be safe, or we will kick up such a row for you, that 
 your house will not be big enough to hold it." For the rascals 
 made every effort to engage our fellows in a game of chess, a thing 
 which I had never heard of before. Then they were shown to bed, 
 and I, with the other little fellows, were sent to lie supperless in the 
 stables. There came in the night certain ones, the host himself with 
 them very likely, to the chamber door, and sought to open it. 
 Now Antoni had set a screw against the lock upon the inner side 
 and rolled the bed against the door and made a light ; for he al- 
 ways carried candles and flint and steel with him ; and quickly he 
 wakened his companions. When the rascals heard this, they went 
 away. Next morning we found neither host nor servant. This is 
 the story they told to us boys. We were all rejoiced that nothing 
 had happened to us in the stable. After we had gone a good mile, 
 we met with people, who, when they heard where we had passed 
 the night, expressed their surprise that we had not all been 
 murdered, for the entire village has the reputation of being a 
 murderers' den. 
 
 About a quarter of a mile this side of Naumburg our big fellows 
 remained behind in a village ; for when they wished to feast, 
 they sent us on ahead. There were five of us. Then rode eight 
 men out of the open country upon us with cross bows spanned, 
 and demanded money, and turned their bolts upon us ; for as yet 
 no one bore firearms on horseback. Then one of them said : 
 " Give us money !" One of us, who was pretty well grown, re-
 
 104 SOURCE-BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 plied: " We have no money ; we are poor scholars." A second 
 time he cried : "Give us money!" But our companion said: 
 " We have no monej'-, and will give you no money, nor do we owe 
 you any." Then the horseman drew his sword, and aimed a blow 
 at his head, so that he severed the cord that held his pack. Our 
 comrade was called Johannes von Schalen, and was from the vil- 
 lage of Visp. Then they rode away into a wood, but we set off for 
 Naumburg. Soon our bacchanien came along ; they had not seen 
 the rascals. We have often at other times been in danger from 
 horsemen and murderers, both in the forest of Thuringia, in 
 Franconia and in Poland. 
 
 At Naumburg we remained several weeks. We schiiizen went 
 into the city. Some, who could sing, went singing, but I went 
 begging. We attended no school, and the others would not 
 suffer this, but threatened to force us to go to school. The 
 school-master also ordered our bacchanten to go to school, or they 
 would be arrested. Antoni sent him word to come ahead ; and 
 since there were several Swiss there, they let us know what day 
 they were coming, so that we should not be taken unawares. 
 
 Then we little schiitzen carried stones up to the roof, while 
 Antoni and the others held the doors. When the school-master 
 came with his whole following of schutzen and bacchanten. we 
 youngsters threw stones upon them, so that the)' gave way. 
 Thereupon we learned that we had been complained of before the 
 city authorities. We had a neighbor, who was about to give his 
 daughter a husband. He had a pen full of fat geese, of which 
 we took three by night and retired to another quarter of the town. 
 It was a suburb, but without walls, as indeed was the place 
 where we had formerly been. There the Swiss joined us, and 
 they feasted together. Then our fellows went to Halle in Saxon}', 
 and we entered the school at St. Ulrich's. 
 
 There, however, our bacchanten used us so shamefully that sev- 
 eral of us conspired with my cousin Paulus, with the intention of 
 running away from the bacchanten. In this manner we came to 
 Dresden; but there were no good schools there, and our sleeping- 
 rooms were so full of vermin, that at night we could hear them 
 crawling under us in the straw. 
 
 Again we got under way and came to Breslau. On the way we 
 suffered much from hunger, so that often we had nothing to eat 
 but raw onions with salt, often for several days only roasted
 
 THOMAS PLATTER. 105 
 
 acorns, wild apples and pears. Many a night we lay under the 
 open sky, when no one would suffer us to enter his house, how- 
 ever politely we begged for lodging ; sometimes they set the dogs 
 upon us. In Breslau, however, everything was abundant; so 
 cheap, indeed, that the poor scholars overate and often fell into 
 serious illness. At first we went to the school in the cathedral of 
 the Holy Cross. When, however, we learned that there were 
 some Swiss in the upper parish of St. Elizabeth, we went thither. 
 There were two from Bremgarten, two from Mellingen and others, 
 and many Swabians as well ; there was no distinction made 
 between Swabians and Swiss. We addressed each other as com- 
 patriots and protected each other. 
 
 The city of Breslau has seven parishes, and each parish has a 
 separate school. No scholar is permitted to sing in another parish 
 than his own, or they cry, Ad idem ! ad idem ! and the schiitzen 
 rush together and fight fiercel)'. There are said to have been sev- 
 eral thousand bacchanten and schiitzen in the city at one time, all 
 of whom were supported with alms ; some had been there from 
 twenty to thirty years and even longer, and they had their 
 schiilzen, who begged for them. I have often of an evening 
 carried five or six loads to my bacchanfen at the school where 
 they dwelt. People gave very willingly to me, because I was 
 small and a Swiss ; for the}' were very fond of the Swiss. There 
 was great sympathy for the Swiss, because at this time they had 
 fared ill in the battle of Milan, ' wherefore it was the custom to 
 say, "The Swiss have lost their good luck;" for previously it 
 was the belief that they were well nigh insuperable. 
 
 One day at the market-place I met two gentlemen or squires, 
 and later on I learned that one of these was named Berjzenauer 
 and the other Fugger. As the)' were walking by, I begged for 
 alms, as was the custom with the poor scholars. The Fugger said 
 to me, "Whence come you," and when he heard that I was Swiss, 
 he spoke aside with Benzenauer and then said to me: "If you 
 are really Swiss, I will adopt you and sign the papers before the 
 authorities here in Breslau ; but you must bind yourself to remain 
 with me all your life long, and to attend me wherever I may be." 
 I replied : "I have been entrusted to the care of a certain person 
 from home, and I will speak to him about it." When, however, 
 
 'Marignano, September, 1515.
 
 106 SOURCE-BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 I mentioned the matter to my cousin Paulus, he said ; "I have 
 brought you from home and it is my intention to turn you over 
 again to your own people ; what they tell you to do, that you can 
 do." So I declined the Fugger's offer, but as often as I went to 
 his house his people did not permit me to come away empty- 
 handed. 
 
 There I remained a long time: One winter I was sick three 
 times, so that I had to be taken to the hospital. The scholars 
 have their special hospital and their own physician. The city 
 gives sixteen heller a week for each scholar, and this answers very 
 nicely. They have good care and good beds too, but there are so 
 many insects that I preferred to lie in the common room, or, as 
 many did, on the stove. The scholars and bacchanten, indeed the 
 ordinary men, in man)' cases are so full of vermin that it is beyond 
 belief. Many a time, especially in summer, I went out to the 
 Oder, which flows by the city, washed my shirt and hung it up 
 on a bush to dry; meanwhile I picked the vermin from my coat, 
 dug a hole in the ground, threw a handful of lice into it, covered 
 them up with earth and set a cross upon the place. In the winter 
 the schiitzen lay upon the stove in the school; the bacchanten, how- 
 ever, slept in their cells, of which there were several hundred at 
 St. Elizabeth ; in summer, however, when the weather was warm, 
 we slept in the churchyard, collecting the grass, which in summer 
 the}' spread in front of the houses in the fine streets on Sunday. 
 This we carried to the churchyard, heaped it together in a corner, 
 and there we lay like pigs in straw; but when it rained, we ran 
 into the school, and during thunder showers we sang responses 
 and other offices with the chanter almost the whole night through. 
 Once in a while after supper in summer we went begging in the 
 beer-houses. The drunken Polacks gave us so much beer that I 
 often unwittingly became drunk, so that I could not get back to 
 the school, although I was only a stone's throw away. On the 
 whole there was enough to eat in Breslau, but not much study- 
 ing. 
 
 In the school at St. Elizabeth nine bachelors lectured at the 
 same time in one room; of Greek there was no trace anywhere in 
 that part of the country; moreover, no one had any printed 
 books, except the teacher, who had a printed Terence. What- 
 ever was presented had to be dictated in the first place, then 
 analyzed, then construed, and at length expounded; so that the 
 bacchanten had loads of trash to carry when they went home.
 
 THOMAS PLATTER. 107 
 
 Thence eight of us went on to Dresden. We suffered greatly 
 from hunger on the way. One day we determined to divide our 
 forces; certain ones should go after geese, others after turnips and 
 onions, one should bring a pot, and we little ones were to go to 
 the town of Neumarkt, which lay not far away upon our road, 
 and procure bread and salt. At evening we were to come to- 
 gether outside the town, and cook whatever we had collected. 
 About a rifle-shot distance from the town was a spring, where we 
 intended to spend the night. When the people in the town saw the 
 fire, however, they came out, but did not find us there; we took to 
 our heels behind a ridge of ground toward a pond in the woods. 
 The big fellows piled up bushes and made a hut; some of us 
 plucked the geese, of which we had two, while others prepared 
 the turnips for the pot, and put therein the heads and feet and 
 entrails of the geese; still others made two wooden spits and be- 
 gan to roast the geese, and as soon as they were a little reddened 
 with the heat we took them from the spit and ate them; and the 
 turnips as well. In the night we heard a noise; near-by was a 
 fish-pond; during the da>^ the water had been drained off, and the 
 fish were leaping in the mud. We gathered up the fish, as many 
 as we could carry in a shirt fastened to a staff, and went hence to 
 a village. There we gave one fish to a peasant, on condition that 
 he should cook the others in beer for us. 
 
 When finally we came to Dresden, the schoolmaster and our 
 bacchanten sent some of us boys forth to look about for geese. 
 We agreed that I should throw at the geese, while the others 
 were to get them and carry them away. After we had found a 
 flock of geese, and they had caught sight of us, they flew away; 
 then I threw a little club which I had with me up under them as 
 they flew, and struck one of them, so that it fell to the ground. 
 But my companions saw the gooseherd and dared not run for it, 
 although they had considerably the start of the herder. Then 
 the other geese flew down and surrounded the wounded goose and 
 gabbled as though they were speaking to it; and it stood up 
 again and went away with the others. I was vexed with my 
 comrades, that they had not carried out their promises; but we 
 did better after that, for we brought home two geese. These the 
 bacchanten ate with the schoolmaster at a farewell feast. Theiice 
 we set out for Nuremberg and further on to Munich. 
 
 On the way, not far from Dresden, it happened that I went beg-
 
 IO8 SOURCE-BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 ging into a village and came up to a peasant's house. The peas- 
 ant asked me who I was ; and when he heard that I was a Swiss, 
 he asked if I had not comrades who were also Swiss. I said : 
 "My comrades are waiting for me outside the village. " Then he 
 answered : " Tell them to come! " He prepared a good meal for 
 us and gave us plenty of beer. When w r e were quite comfortable 
 and the peasant with us, he said to his mother, who lay on the bed 
 in the common room : " Mother, I have heard you say, you wanted 
 very much to see a Swiss before you died ; now here you see sev- 
 eral of them ; for I have invited them on your account." Then the 
 mother raised herself, thanked her son for the guests and said : " I 
 have heard so many good things said about the Swiss, that I was 
 very anxious to see one. It seems to me I shall now die that 
 much easier ; therefore make merry!" and she lay down again. 
 We thanked the peasant and departed. 
 
 As we came near Munich it was too late to see the city, so we 
 had to spend the night in the lazaretto. When on the following 
 morning we came to the city gate, they would not admit us ; we 
 had, however, an acquaintance in the city, whom we gave as refer- 
 ence. My cousin Paulus, who had been in Munich before, was 
 permitted to look this man up, with whom he had lodged on the 
 occasion of his former visit. He came and went security for us, 
 and then they let us in. Paulus and I went to the house of a 
 soap-boiler, named Hans Schrall, who had taken his master's 
 degree at Vienna, but was an enemy to priestcraft. He had married 
 a beautiful girl, with whom he came, many years later, to Basel, 
 where he worked at his trade ; and many people here know him. 
 I helped this master boil soap more than I w^ent to school ; went 
 with him to the villages, buying ashes. Paulus, however, went 
 to school in the parish of Our Lady and so did I, but rarely, 
 merely because I had to sing for bread through the streets and 
 support my bacckant, Paulus. The woman of the house was very 
 fond of me ; she had an old blind black dog, and it was my task 
 to feed him, make his bed and lead him into the court. She al- 
 ways said : " Tommy, take the best care of my doggy ; you won't 
 be any the worse for it." When we had been there a time, Paulus 
 began to get too friendly with the maid. This the master would 
 not permit. Then Paulus determined that we should go home, 
 for we had not been at home in five years. So homeward we 
 turned toward Wallis. My friends there could scarcely understand
 
 THOMAS PLATTER. 109 
 
 me ; they said : ' ' Our Tommy speaks so strangely that scarcely 
 anybody can understand him ; " for I was young then, and had 
 learned a little of the speech of every place where I had stopped a 
 while. In the meanwhile my mother had taken another husband, 
 for Heinzmann am Grund was dead ; at the end of her period of 
 mourning she had married Thomas an Garstern. On this account 
 I could not be with her much, but spent most of my time with my 
 cousins, especially with my cousin Simon Summermatter and my 
 cousin Fransy. 
 
 A little later we set out again and came to Ulm. Paulus took 
 still another boy with him, named Hildebrand Kalbermatter, a 
 parson's son ; he too was very young. They gave him some 
 cloth, such as was made in the country, enough for a coat. When 
 we came to Ulm, Paulus had me go about with the cloth and 
 solicit the money for making it up. In this way I got a good 
 deal of money, for I was an expert at flattery and begging, and 
 for this reason the bacchanten had used me for this purpose from 
 the beginning, and would not let me go to school, nor even learn 
 to read. There at Ulm I seldom went to school, and at first, 
 when I ought to have been going, I went about with the cloth, 
 and suffered greatly from hunger ; for everything that I obtained 
 I brought home to the bacchanten. I dared not eat a morsel, for 
 I feared a beating. Paulus had associated with him another 
 bacchant, Achatius by name, a Mainzer by birth. My comrade 
 and I had to support them with begging, but Hildebrand ate 
 almost everything. Therefore they used to follow him through 
 the streets, in order to catch him eating, or they made him rinse 
 his mouth with water and spit it out into a dish, so that they could 
 see if he had eaten anything. Then they threw him upon a bed, 
 placed a pillow upon his head, so that he could not cry out, and 
 they beat him, these two bacchanten, until they could beat him no 
 longer. Wherefore I was afraid and brought everything home. 
 Often they had so much bread that it moulded ; then they cut off 
 the mouldy part and gave it to us to eat. I have often suffered 
 severely from hunger, and from cold as well, for I had to go 
 about in the darkness until midnight and sing for bread. 
 
 I must not forget to relate that there was a kind widow living 
 at Ulm, who had two unmarried daughters and one son, Paulus 
 Reling, who was also unmarried. Often in winter the widow 
 wrapped my feet in a warm piece of fur, which she put behind
 
 IIO SOURCE-BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 the stove, so that she could warm my feet when I came. She 
 gave me then a dish of porridge and sent me home. I have been 
 so hungry that I have driven the dogs from bones and gnawed at 
 them, and I have sought and eaten out of the garbage. 
 
 Thence we went again to Munich. There I was obliged again 
 to beg for money to make up the cloth, which, however, was not 
 mine. A year later we returned to Ulm, with the intention of 
 turning again toward home. I brought the cloth back with me, 
 and begged again for the price of making. I distinctly remember 
 that certain persons said to me: "Good heavens, is that coat 
 not made yet? I guess you are playing us a trick." So we 
 went away. I know not what became of the cloth, or whether 
 the coat has been made or not. We came home, however, and 
 went again to Munich. 
 
 On the Sunday of our arrival the baahantcn found lodgings, 
 but we three little schiitzen were not so fortunate. Toward night 
 we sought to go into the enclosure, that is to say the corn-market, 
 in order to lie upon the sacks. Several women were sitting there 
 near the salt-house, and asked where we were going. When 
 they learned that we had no lodgings and that we were Swiss, 
 one of them, a butcher woman, said to her maid : " Set the pot 
 with what soup and meat is left over the fire. They must stop 
 with me to-night, for I am fond of the Swiss. I once served at a 
 tavern in Innsbruck, when the Emperor Maximilian was holding 
 his court there. The Swiss had much to do with him at that 
 time. They were so kind to me that I shall be fond of them so 
 long as I live." She gave us enough to eat and to drink, and 
 lodged us well. Next morning she said to us : "If one of you 
 wishes to stay with me, I will give him his lodgings and his meat 
 and drink." We were all willing, and asked which one she 
 wanted ; and as she looked us over, I seemed to her a little 
 livelier than the others. So she took me, and I had nothing to 
 do but hand her her beer, bring hides and meat from the 
 shambles, and now and then accompany her to the field ; but 
 besides this I had to support my bacchant. That displeased the 
 woman and she said to me: " Good heavens, let that bacchant 
 go, and stick to me ! You do not need to beg. ' ' For a week I 
 went neither to my bacchant nor to school. Then came my 
 bacchant and knocked at the door of- the butcher-woman's house. 
 She said to me: "Your bacchant is there. Say that you are
 
 THOMAS PLATTER. Ill 
 
 sick ;" and she let him in. She said to him : "You are a pretty 
 gentleman, in truth ; and you want to see, do you, what Thomas 
 is doing ? Well, he has been sick, and is so still." Then he said: 
 " I am sorry, youngster. When you can go out again, come to 
 me." Some time after I went one Sunday to vespers, and after 
 vespers he said so me: "Here, you schtitze, you don't mean to 
 come to me ! I will give you a good drubbing." I made up my 
 mind, however, that he should not beat me any more, and I con- 
 cluded to run away. On Monday I said to the butcher- woman: 
 " I think I will go to school and then go and wash my shirt." I 
 dared not say what I had in mind, for I feared that she might 
 talk me out of it. I set out for Munich with heavy heart, partly 
 because I was running away from my cousin, with whom I had 
 travelled so far, but who was so harsh and merciless with me. 
 Then too, I was sorry to leave the butcher-woman, who had been 
 so kind toward me. I crossed the river Isar ; for I feared if I 
 went toward Switzerland, that Paulus would follow me. He had 
 often threatened me and others, that if any one should run away 
 from him, he would pursue him, and when he caught him he 
 would break every bone in his body. 
 
 Across the Isar is a hill. There I sat down, gazed at the city 
 and wept softly to myself, that I had no longer any one to take 
 me up. My intention was to go toward Salzburg or toward Vienna 
 in Austria. While I sat there a peasant came along with a wagon, 
 carrying salt to Munich. He was already drunk, although the 
 sun had only just risen. I begged of him to let me ride, and he 
 let me go with him, until he unhitched to feed. While this was 
 going on I begged in the village ; and not far beyond the village 
 I waited for him and, while waiting, fell asleep. When I awoke, 
 I wept bitterly, for I thought the peasant had gone along, and I 
 grieved as though I had lost a father ; but soon he came along, 
 now thoroughly befuddled. He told me to mount again and asked 
 me where I wanted to go. I said, " To Salzburg ;" and when 
 evening came he left the highway and said : "Jump down : there 
 is the road to Salzburg." We had travelled eight miles during 
 the day. 
 
 I came to a village, and when I arose the next morning such a 
 frost had fallen that it was like snow, and I had no shoes, only 
 tattered stockings; no cap, only a jacket without folds. In this 
 guise I went on to Passau, and from there it was rny intention
 
 112 SOURCE-BOOK OF THE GERMAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 to go to Vienna by the Danube. When I came to Passau they 
 would not let me in. Then I determined to go to Switzerland, and 
 asked the watchman at the city gate, which was the nearest way. 
 He said, " By way of Munich ; " but when I replied ; " I do not 
 wish to go by the way of Munich. I had rather make a circuit of 
 ten miles or even further," he pointed out the way by Freisingen. 
 There is a high school, and there I found Swiss, who asked me 
 whence I came. But only two or three days passed before Paulus 
 came with a halberd. The sthutze said to me: "Your bacchant 
 from Munich is here looking for you." Upon this I ran forth from 
 the city gate, as though he were upon my heels, and made for Ulm. 
 
 I went to my saddler's wife, who formerly had warmed my feet 
 in the rug. She took me into her house, and let me tend the tur- 
 nips in the field. This I did, and went no more to school. Some 
 weeks later a certain one, who had been Paulus' comrade, came to 
 me and said : " Your cousin Paulus is here and looking for you." 
 He had followed me for eighteen miles, because he had indeed 
 lost a good thing in me. I had supported him for years. When 
 I heard this, although it was night, I ran out through the city 
 gate toward Constance, but grieved to myself, for it hurt me sore 
 that I must leave my dear mistress. When I was nearly at Mors- 
 burg I ran across a stone-mason from Thurgau. We met a young 
 peasant, and the stone-mason said to me : "We must get some 
 money out of this peasant." To him he said: "Here, peasant, 
 hand out your money, or the devil fly away with you ! " The peas- 
 ant was frightened, and I was sore afraid, and wished I was some- 
 where else. The peasant began to pull out his purse, but the 
 stone-mason said : " That's all ! I was just joking with you." 
 
 Thus I came across the lake to Constance. As I was crossing 
 the bridge I saw some Swiss peasants in their white jackets, and, 
 O Lord, how glad was I ! I thought I was in the kingdom of 
 Heaven. I came to Zurich, and found there some big bacchanten 
 from Wallis. I offered to beg for them on condition that they 
 should teach me ; and they did so, as the others had done. At 
 that time the Cardinal von Sitten was in Zurich, seeking to enroll 
 citizens of Zurich to accompany him to the Pope's dominions ; but 
 it had rather to do with Milan, as the sequel proved some months 
 later. Paulus sent his schiitze, Hildebrand, from Munich, to tell 
 me I should come back to him ; that he would forgive me. I did 
 not care to do so, and remained in Zurich, but not at study.