''Die Lügend von S. Johanne Chrysostomo'', first published by

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

in 1537, is an edition of the late mediaeval Life of

John Chrysostom John Chrysostom (; gr, Ἰωάννης ὁ Χρυσόστομος; 14 September 407) was an important Early Church Father who served as archbishop of Constantinople. He is known for his homilies, preaching and public speaking, his denunciat ...

as a hermit, characterised by Luther's sceptical, and often sarcastic, marginal commentary. It was influential on the decline of the literary form of the Christian legendary.

Content

Luther dedicated his edition ironically to the Roman Catholic clerics at the

Council of Mantua The Council of Mantua of 1459, or Congress of Mantua, was a religious meeting convoked by Pope Pius II, who had been elected to the Papacy in the previous year and was engaged in planning war against the Ottoman Turks, who had taken Constantinople ...

, including the Pope. The title of the edition is a pun on early modern German ''Legend'' ('hagiography'), and the German word ''lügend'' which means 'lying' (in the sense of saying things which are not true). This kind of pun is characteristic of Reformation-period satire and polemic. Luther provided his edition with a critical, and even sarcastic, marginal commentary which was intended to expose the implausibility of events recounted in the legend. Luther's preface accused 'the Roman church not only of having propagated these lies but also of rewarding with indulgences the faithful who read them'.

Bibliographic history and sources

Luther published his edition in 1537 in

Wittenberg Wittenberg ( , ; Low Saxon language, Low Saxon: ''Wittenbarg''; meaning ''White Mountain''; officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg (''Luther City Wittenberg'')), is the fourth largest town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Wittenberg is situated on the Ri ...

Augsburg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ' ...

, and Strassburg; the full title was ''Die Lügend von S. Johanne Chrysostomo, an die Heiligen Veter jnn dem vermeinten Concilio zu Mantua, durch D. Marti. Luther gesand''.The full text is available at http://reader.digitale-sammlungen.de/de/fs1/object/display/bsb10204257_00005.html (August 2014). See also Laura Fenelli, "From the Vita Pauli to the Legenda Breviarii: Real and imaginary animals as a Guide to the Hermit in the Desert", in Francisco de Asís GARCÍA GARCÍA; Mónica Ann WALKER VADILLO; María Victoria CHICO PICAZA, (eds.), ''Animals and Otherness in the Middle Ages: Perspectives Across Disciplines,'' Oxford, Archaeopress (BAR International Series 2500), 2013, p. 41, fn. 40 = https://www.academia.edu/3740182 His source text was one of the many editions of the German collection of saints' lives ''

Der Heiligen Leben ''Der Heiligen Leben'' ('The Lives of Saints'), also known as ''Passional'', was a German legendary, compiled by a Dominican friar from Nürnberg around 1400. Today, 197 manuscripts are known, along with 33 High German and 8 Low German imprints; t ...

'', presumably a redaction similar to the 1513 imprint from Augsburg by Johann Otmar.Marianne E. Kalinke, ''The Book of Reykjahólar: The Last of the Great Medieval Legendaries'' (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1996), pp. 3-5.

Modern editions

The ''Lügend'' is number 50 in the Weimar edition of Martin Luther's works.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lugend 1537 books Works by Martin Luther Medieval legends John Chrysostom