The ''Epistolæ Obscurorum Virorum'' (

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

: ''Letters of Obscure Men'') was a celebrated collection of

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual arts, visual, literature, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently Nonfiction, non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ...

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

letters which appeared 1515–1519 in

Hagenau Haguenau (; or ; ; historical ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Bas-Rhin Département in France, department of France, of which it is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture. It is second in size in the Bas-Rhin only to Strasbourg ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. They support the German

Humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humanism" ha ...

scholar

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

and mock the doctrines and modes of living of the

scholastics Scholasticism was a medieval European philosophical movement or methodology that was the predominant education in Europe from about 1100 to 1700. It is known for employing logically precise analyses and reconciling classical philosophy and C ...

and

monk A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. A monk usually lives his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many reli ...

s, mainly by pretending to be letters from fanatic Christian theologians discussing various topics. They tell each other stories about their lovers, give senseless recommendations, boast about their successes, meanwhile covering other topics such as whether all Jewish books should be burned as un-Christian or not. They are prone to quote the Bible along with Latin poetry, often mistakenly or in ill-suited

context In semiotics, linguistics, sociology and anthropology, context refers to those objects or entities which surround a ''focal event'', in these disciplines typically a communicative event, of some kind. Context is "a frame that surrounds the event ...

Background

The work was based upon the real-life public dispute between German humanist

and certain Dominican friars, especially the formerly Jewish convert

Johannes Pfefferkorn Johannes Pfefferkorn (original given name Joseph; 1469, Nuremberg – Oktober 22, 1521, Cologne) was a German Catholic theologian and writer who converted from Judaism. Pfefferkorn actively preached against the Jews and attempted to destroy cop ...

who had obtained Imperial authority from

Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans (disambiguation), Emperor of the Romans (; ) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period (; ), was the ruler and h ...

Maximilian I to burn all known copies of the

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

in 1509. The title is a reference to Reuchlin's 1514 book ''Epistolae clarorum virorum'' (

: Letters of famous/bright men) which provided a collection of letters to Reuchlin on scholarly and intellectual matters from eminent German humanists such as

Ulrich von Hutten Ulrich von Hutten (21 April 1488 – 29 August 1523) was a German knight, scholar, poet and satire, satirist, who later became a follower of Martin Luther and a Protestant reformer. By 1519, he was an outspoken criticism, critic of the Roman Cat ...

, Johann Crotus,

Konrad Mutian Konrad Mutian (Latin: Conradus Mutianus; 15 October 1470 – 30 March 1526) was a German Renaissance humanist. Biography He was born in Homburg of well-to-do parents named Muth, and was subsequently known as Konrad Mutianus Rufus from his red h ...

Helius Eobanus Hessus Helius Eobanus Hessus (6 January 1488 – 5 October 1540) was a German Latin poet and later a Lutheran humanist. He was born at Halgehausen in Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel). His family name is said to have been Koch; Eoban was the name of ...

, and others, to show that his position in the controversy with the monks was approved by the learned. The Latin adjective ''obscurus'' ("dark, hidden, obscure") is the opposite of ''clarus'' ("bright, famous, obvious") used in the title of Reuchlin's book.

Structure and presumptive authors

Most of the letters found in ''Epistolæ Obscurorum Virorum'' are addressed to Hardwin von Grätz in

Deventer Deventer (; Sallaans dialect, Sallands: ) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Salland historical region of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Overijssel, ...

and contain mock accusations against him, such as allegation that he had been intimate with

's wife (Letter XII) and that Grätz had defecated his pants in public (letter XL). The letters profess to be written by certain ecclesiastics and professors in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

and other towns of

. Grätz had made himself odious to the liberal minds of the time by what they saw as his arrogant pretension, his determined hostility to the spirit of the age, and his lax morality. The first issue of the work contained 41 letters, but more were added later. The collection was published anonymously, and the authorship has been a fertile subject of controversy, but the main portion of the letters are attributed to the humanists Crotus Rubeanus a.k.a. Johannes Jäger, who is said to have originated the idea and the title;

, who contributed mainly to the second volume;

Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus ( ; ; 28 October c. 1466 – 12 July 1536), commonly known in English as Erasmus of Rotterdam or simply Erasmus, was a Dutch Christian humanist, Catholic priest and Catholic theology, theologian, educationalist ...

; and Reuchlin. The work is credited with hastening the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...

Bans and papal excommunication

The book was banned in many places, and with regard to the rise of

Martin Luther Martin Luther ( ; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, Theology, theologian, author, hymnwriter, professor, and former Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. Luther was the seminal figure of the Reformation, Pr ...

Pope Leo X Pope Leo 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 and banking Med ...

excommunicated Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to deprive, suspend, or limit membership in a religious community or to restrict certain rights within it, in particular those of being in communion with other members of the con ...

the authors, readers, and disseminators of the ''Epistolæ Obscurorum Virorum'' in 1517, citing the fact that the discussed matter of burning all Jewish books, especially the Talmud, was not held as a majority view among Christian scholars.

Legacy

The modern term

obscurantism In philosophy, obscurantism or obscurationism is the Anti-intellectualism, anti-intellectual practice of deliberately presenting information in an wikt:abstruse, abstruse and imprecise manner that limits further inquiry and understanding of a subj ...

derives from the title of this work. Bozman, E. F., ed., ''

Everyman's Encyclopaedia ''Everyman's Encyclopaedia'' is an encyclopedia published by Joseph Malaby Dent, Joseph Dent from 1913 as part of the Everyman's Library. The set was descended from the 1850s ''English Cyclopaedia'' of 1854, which in turn was based on the ''Pen ...

'', 5th ed., Vol. 9 (

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

: J. M. Dent & Sons, 1967)
p. 261
As the theologians in the book intended to burn "un-Christian" works,

Enlightenment Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to: Age of Enlightenment * Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...

philosophers used the term for conservative, especially religious enemies of progressive Enlightenment and its concept of the liberal spread of knowledge.

Notes

References

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External links

* *. . *. . * * *
Bilingual Edition (Latin/English), 1909, translated by Francis Griffin Stokes, with historical introduction and footnotes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Epistole Obscurorum Virorum Collections of letters Satirical books 16th-century books in Latin 1515 books 1517 books Works published anonymously Works of uncertain authorship Renaissance Latin literature Erfurt