Hieronymus Hopfer - Bildnis des Johann Pfefferkorn

Johannes Pfefferkorn (original given name Joseph; 1469,

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

– Oktober 22, 1521,

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

) was a German

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

theologian Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

and writer who converted from

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...

. Pfefferkorn actively preached against the

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

s and attempted to destroy copies of the

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cente ...

, and engaged in a long running pamphleteering battle with humanist

Johann Reuchlin Johann Reuchlin (; sometimes called Johannes; 29 January 1455 – 30 June 1522) was a German Catholic humanist and a scholar of Greek and Hebrew, whose work also took him to modern-day Austria, Switzerland, and Italy and France. Most of Reuchlin's ...

Early life

Born a Jew, possibly in

, Pfefferkorn lived in Nuremberg and moved to

after many years of wandering. After committing a burglary, he was imprisoned and released in 1504.Reuchlin, Pfefferkorn, and the Talmud in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries
in ''The Babylonian Talmud. The History of the Talmud'' translated by

Michael L. Rodkinson Michael Levi Rodkinson (1845 – January 4, 1904) was a Jewish scholar, an early Hasidic historiographer and an American publisher. Rodkinson is known for being the first to translate the Babylonian Talmud to English. Rodkinson’s literary works ...

. Book 10 Vol. I Chapter XIV (1918), p. 76. He converted to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

in 1505 and was

baptized Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost ...

together with his family.

Writings concerning the Jews

Pfefferkorn became an assistant to the

prior Prior (or prioress) is an ecclesiastical title for a superior in some religious orders. The word is derived from the Latin for "earlier" or "first". Its earlier generic usage referred to any monastic superior. In abbeys, a prior would be l ...

of the Dominican friar order at Cologne,

Jacob van Hoogstraaten Jacob van Hoogstratenalso Hochstraten, Hoogstratten (c. 1460 – 24 January 1527) was a Flemish Dominican theologian and controversialist. Education, professor Van Hoogstraten was born in Hoogstraten, Burgundian Netherlands (now in Belgium) ...

, and under the auspices of the Dominicans published several pamphlets in which he tried to demonstrate that Jewish religious writings were hostile to Christianity. In ''Der Judenspiegel'' (Cologne, 1507), he demanded that the Jews should give up the practice of what the Church deemed

usury Usury () is the practice of making unethical or immoral monetary loans that unfairly enrich the lender. The term may be used in a moral sense—condemning taking advantage of others' misfortunes—or in a legal sense, where an interest rate is ch ...

(lending money against

interest In finance and economics, interest is payment from a borrower or deposit-taking financial institution to a lender or depositor of an amount above repayment of the principal sum (that is, the amount borrowed), at a particular rate. It is distinct ...

), work for their living, attend Christian

sermons A sermon is a religious discourse or oration by a preacher, usually a member of clergy. Sermons address a scriptural, theological, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type of belief, law, or behavior within both past and present contexts. El ...

, and do away with the books of the

. On the other hand, he condemned the persecution of the Jews as an obstacle to their conversion, and, in a pamphlet, ''Warnungsspiegel'', defended them against charges of murdering Christian children for ritual purposes. In ''Warnungsspiegel'', he professed to be a friend of the Jews, and desired to introduce Christianity among them for their own good. He urged them to convince the Christian world that the Jews do not need Christian blood for their religious rites, and advocated seizing the Talmud by force from them. "The causes which hinder the Jews from becoming Christians," he wrote, "are three: first, usury; second, because they are not compelled to attend Christian churches to hear the sermons; and third, because they honor the Talmud." Bitterly opposed by the Jews on account of this work, he virulently attacked them in ''Wie die blinden Jüden ihr Ostern halten'' (1508); ''Judenbeicht'' (1508); and ''Judenfeind'' (1509). In his third pamphlet he contradicted what he had written earlier and insisted that every Jew considers it a good deed to kill, or at least to mock, a Christian; therefore he deemed it the duty of all true Christians to expel the Jews from all Christian lands; if the law should forbid such a deed, they do not need to obey it: "It is the duty of the people to ask permission of the rulers to take from the Jews all their books except the Bible...." He preached that Jewish children should be taken away from their parents and educated as Catholics. In conclusion, he wrote: "Who afflicts the Jews is doing the will of God, and who seeks their benefit will incur damnation." In the fourth pamphlet, Pfefferkorn declared that the only way to get rid of the Jews was either to expel or enslave them; the first thing to be done was to collect all the copies of the Talmud found among the Jews and to burn them.

Criticism of Hebrew texts

Convinced that the principal source of the obduracy of the Jews lay in their books, he tried to have them seized and destroyed. He obtained from several Dominican convents recommendations to

Kunigunde Kunigunde, Kunigunda, or Cunigunde, is a European female name of German origin derived from "kuni" (clan, family) and "gund" (war). In Polish this is sometimes Kunegunda or Kinga. People with such names include: * Kunigunde of Rapperswil (c. early ...

, the sister of the Emperor Maximilian, and through her influence to the emperor himself. On 19 August 1509, Maximilian, who already had expelled the Jews from his own domains of

Styria Styria (german: Steiermark ; Serbo-Croatian and sl, ; hu, Stájerország) is a state (''Bundesland'') in the southeast of Austria. With an area of , Styria is the second largest state of Austria, after Lower Austria. Styria is bordered to ...

Carinthia Carinthia (german: Kärnten ; sl, Koroška ) is the southernmost States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The main language is German language, German. Its regional dialects belong to t ...

, and

Carniola Carniola ( sl, Kranjska; , german: Krain; it, Carniola; hu, Krajna) is a historical region that comprised parts of present-day Slovenia. Although as a whole it does not exist anymore, Slovenes living within the former borders of the region sti ...

, ordered the Jews to deliver to Pfefferkorn all books opposing Christianity; or the destruction of any Hebrew book except the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...

(

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

). Pfefferkorn began the work of confiscation at

Frankfort-on-the-Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its n ...

, or possibly

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river. Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Magdebur ...

; thence he went to

Worms Worms may refer to: *Worm, an invertebrate animal with a tube-like body and no limbs Places *Worms, Germany, a city **Worms (electoral district) *Worms, Nebraska, U.S. *Worms im Veltlintal, the German name for Bormio, Italy Arts and entertainme ...

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main (river), Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-we ...

, Bingen, Lorch,

Lahnstein Lahnstein () is a ''verband''-free town of Rhein-Lahn-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated at the confluence of the Lahn with the Rhine, approximately south of Koblenz. Lahnstein was created in 1969 by the merger of the previou ...

, and Deutz. Through the help of the Elector and

Archbishop of Mainz The Elector of Mainz was one of the seven Prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire. As both the Archbishop of Mainz and the ruling prince of the Electorate of Mainz, the Elector of Mainz held a powerful position during the Middle Ages. The Archb ...

Uriel von Gemmingen Uriel von Gemmingen (1468 – 9 February 1514) was appointed Archbishop of Mainz on 27 September 1508, a prince elector, and chancellor to Emperor Maximillian I on 23 April 1509. Uriel was one of ten children of Hans von Gemmingen (1431–148 ...

, the Jews asked the emperor to appoint a commission to investigate Pfefferkorn's accusations. A new imperial mandate of 10 November 1509, gave the direction of the whole affair to Uriel von Gemmingen, with orders to secure opinions from the Universities of

Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital and largest city in the Central German state of Thuringia. It is located in the wide valley of the Gera river (progression: ), in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, north of the Thuringian Forest. It sits i ...

, and

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

, from the

inquisitor An inquisitor was an official (usually with judicial or investigative functions) in an inquisition – an organization or program intended to eliminate heresy and other things contrary to the doctrine or teachings of the Catholic faith. Literal ...

of Cologne, from the priest (and former

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

) Victor von Carben, and from

. Pfefferkorn, in order to vindicate his action and to gain still further the good will of the emperor, wrote ''In Lob und Eer dem allerdurchleuchtigsten grossmechtigsten Fürsten und Herrn Maximilian'' (Cologne, 1510). In April he was again at Frankfort, and with the delegate of the Elector of Mainz and Professor Hermann Ortlieb, he undertook a new confiscation. Van Hoogstraaten and the Universities of Mainz and Cologne decided in October 1510 against the Jewish books. Reuchlin declared that only those books obviously offensive (as the ''Nizachon'' and '' Toldoth Jeschu'') would be destroyed. The elector sent all the answers received at the end of October to the emperor through Pfefferkorn. Reuchlin reported in favor of the Jews; on 23 May 1510 the emperor suspended his edict of 10 November 1509 and the books were returned to the Jews on 6 June.

Battle of pamphlets

The ensuing battle of pamphlets between Pfefferkorn and Reuchlin reflected the struggle between the Dominicans and the

humanists Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humanis ...

. Thus informed of Reuchlin's vote Pfefferkorn was greatly excited, and answered with ''Handspiegel'' (Mainz, 1511), in which he attacked Reuchlin unmercifully. Reuchlin complained to Emperor Maximilian, and answered Pfefferkorn's attack with his ''Augenspiegel'', against which Pfefferkorn published his ''Brandspiegel''. In June 1513, both parties were silenced by the emperor. Pfefferkorn however published in 1514 a new polemic, ''Sturmglock'', against both the Jews and Reuchlin. During the controversy between Reuchlin and the theologians of Cologne, Pfefferkorn was assailed in the ''Epistolæ obscurorum virorum'' by the young Humanists who espoused Reuchlin's cause. He replied with ''Beschirmung'', or ''Defensio J. Pepericorni contra famosas et criminales obscurorum virorum epistolas'' (Cologne, 1516), ''Streitbüchlein'' (1517). In 1520,

Pope Leo X Pope Leo X ( it, Leone X; born Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici, 11 December 14751 December 1521) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 9 March 1513 to his death in December 1521. Born into the prominent political an ...

declared Reuchlin guilty with a condemnation of ''Augenspiegel'', and Pfefferkorn wrote as an expression of his triumph ''Ein mitleidliche Klag'' (Cologne, 1521).

Diarmaid MacCulloch Diarmaid Ninian John MacCulloch (; born 31 October 1951) is an English academic and historian, specialising in ecclesiastical history and the history of Christianity. Since 1995, he has been a fellow of St Cross College, Oxford; he was former ...

writes in his book '' The Reformation: A History'' (2003)

: ''Reformation: A History''. New York: Penguin Books Ltd. (2004) p. 665 that

Desiderius Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (; ; English: Erasmus of Rotterdam or Erasmus;''Erasmus'' was his baptismal name, given after St. Erasmus of Formiae. ''Desiderius'' was an adopted additional name, which he used from 1496. The ''Roterodamus'' wa ...

was another opponent of Pfefferkorn, on the grounds that he was a converted Jew and therefore could not be trusted.

Works

*''Der Judenspiegel'' (''Speculum Adhortationis Judaicæ ad Christum''), Nuremberg, 1507 *''Der Warnungsspiegel'' (''The Mirror of Warning''), year? *''Die Judenbeicht'' (''Libellus de Judaica Confessione sive Sabbate Afflictionis cum Figuris''), Cologne, 1508 *''Das Osterbuch'' (''Narratio de Ratione Pascha Celebrandi Inter Judæos Recepta''), Cologne and Augsburg, 1509 *''Der Judenfeind'' (''Hostis Judæorum''), ib. 1509 *''In Lib und Ehren dem Kaiser Maximilian'' (''In Laudem et Honorem Illustrissimi Imperatoris Maximiliani''), Cologne, 1510 *''Handspiegel'' (Mayence, 1511) *''Der Brandspiegel'' (Cologne, 1513) *''Die Sturmglocke'' (ib. 1514) *''Streitbüchlein Wider Reuchlin und Seine Jünger'' (''Defensio Contra Famosas et Criminales Obscurorum Virorum Epistolas'' (Cologne, 1516) *''Eine Mitleidige Clag Gegen den Ungläubigen Reuchlin'' (1521)

Reference Notes

External links

*''Jewish Encyclopedia''
"Pfefferkorn, Johann (Joseph)"
by Gotthard Deutsch & Frederick Haneman (1906). Now in public domain. *''Catholic Encyclopedia''
"Johannes Pfefferkorn"
by Friedrich Lauchert (1913). Now in public domain.

at sacred-texts.com

at Christian Classics Ethereal Library at Calvin College

Video Lecture on Johannes Pfefferkorn
by Dr. Henry Abramson of

Touro College South Touro University is a Private university, private List of Jewish universities and colleges in the United States, Jewish university system headquartered in New York City, with branches throughout the United States as well as one each in Germany, ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pfefferkorn, Johannes 1469 births 1523 deaths 15th-century German writers 16th-century German Catholic theologians 16th-century German male writers Early Modern Christian anti-Judaism Converts to Roman Catholicism from Judaism German non-fiction writers German male non-fiction writers German people of Jewish descent German Roman Catholics Critics of Judaism Writers from Nuremberg Supersessionism Antisemitism in Germany