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Epistolae Obscunorum Virorum

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Epistolae Praestantium Virorum

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(Epistles of obscure Men), a celebrated collection of letters by anonymous authors, in which the opponents of Humanism, and the Church of Rome in general, were castigated with pungent satire. The special occasion for the publication of these epistles was a bitter controversy between the learned Reuchlin (q.v.) on the one hand, and a converted Jew named Pfefferkorn, and the Dominicans of Cologne (headed by Hochstraten [q.v.], the inquisitor, and by Prior Ortuinus Gratius) on the other. The latter advocated the expulsion of all Jews from Germany, the burning of their books, and the forcible education of their children in the Christian religion. Reeuchlin, being asked for his opinion, advised that only the writings of the Jews against Christianity should be burned. The bishop of Spires declared in favor of Reuchlin. Pope Leo X, who personally cared more about the friendship of the Humanists than about the Church, but who, as pope, dared not to offend the monks, delayed his decision. The Humanists now organized themselves everywhere into a league, and flooded Germany with books against the fanatical monks. Among these books, the Epistolae Obscurorum Virorum are the most celebrated. They successfully imitate the barbaric Latin of the monks. The types, which were of very poor quality, and abounding in abbreviations, were a studious imitation of those used by Quentil of Cologne, the publisher of Pfefferkorn and the Dominicans. The name of Aldus Manutius was used as publisher, and Venice as the place of printing, and a pretended papal privilege guaranteed it for ten years against counterfeited editions. They were addressed to Ortuinus Gratius, a leading man among the band of literary fanatics at Cologne, who was regarded as the real author of the writings of Pfefferkorn against Reuchlin. They give a vivid picture of the opinions, the talk, and the writings of the monks and their friends, and expose their ignorance, hypocrisy, arrogance, and licentiousness. The satire was so skillful, and the imitation of the monkish language and spirit so successful, that, according to the testimony of Erasmus, the Franciscans and Dominicans of England at first received the epistles with great applause, and a Dominican prior circulated a number of copies among members of his order, believing them to be written in its honor. When the real character was discovered, the rage of the monks was great, and the pope was prevailed upon to issue against the epistles a brief of condemnation. Pfefferkorn wrote a book against the epistles in 1516 (Defensio Joa. Pepericorni contra famosas et criminales obscurorum virorum epistolas), and the monks, in 1518, published against it a work called Lamentationes obscurorum virorum; but all these books were so poor and insipid that they increased rather than weakened the effect of the epistles. The Lamentationes in particular, as a defense of the monks, are so ineffective that some Roman Catholic writers, though without good reason, ascribe the authorship to the Humanists themselves. The epistles consist of three parts. The first was printed in 1515 at Hagenau by the learned printer Wolfgang Angst, a friend of Reuchlin, under the title Epistolae Obscurorum Virorum ad venerabilem virum Mag. Ortuinum Gratium, Daventriensem ("a native of Deventer") Coloniae Agrippinae bonas litteras docentem, variis et locis et temporibus missae ac demum in volumen coactae. The second part was printed at Basel in 1517 by Froben; the third, which is much inferior to the two former, appeared much later. Sir William Hamilton (Edinburgh Review, 53:193) remarks that "the Epistolae are at once the most cruel and the most natural of satires, and, as such, they were the most effective. They converted the tragedy of Reuchlin's persecution into a farce; annihilated, in public consideration, the enemies of intellectual improvement; and even the friends of Luther, in Luther's lifetime, acknowledged that no other writing had contributed so powerfully to the downfall of the papal domination."

As to the authorship of the Epistolae, there has been much dispute. It appears certain that neither Erasmus nor Reuchlin had any part in the compilation. The recent German critics generally incline to think that the first part was chiefly compiled by Wolfgang Angst and Crotus Rubianus, and the second by Crotus Rubianus, Hutten, and Pirkheimer; but Hamilton, in the article above cited, shows almost decisively that Hutten, Crotus, and Buschius were the joint authors. A late writer, Chauffour-Kestner (Ulrich von Hutten, translated by A. Young), attributes the work exclusively to Hutten (see British and For. Evang. Review, October 1867, page 775). The Epistolae have frequently been printed; among the earlier editions, those of Frankfort (1643), London (1710), and another London edition (without date), with nine pictures, are the best. There are modern editions by Dr. Munch (Lpz. 1827), by Rotermund (Hanov. 1827), and by Boecking (Lpz. 1858). The London edition of 1710 is the most elegant in form. It was edited by the learned Maittaire, who really believed it to be the genuine work of the monks, as did Steele, to whom Mattaire's edition was dedicated, and who noticed it, as if genuine, in The Tatler. This edition was reproduced by Clements, London, 1742. The literary history of the Epistolae is very fully given in Sir W. Hamilton's article above referred to, which criticizes Munch's edition with some severity. Very full information on the Epistolk is given in the three last-named editions. See, besides the authors already cited, Herzog, Real-Encyklop. 4:111; Wetzer u. Welte, Kirchen-Lex. 3:633.