Reformation Sources: the Letters of Wolfgang Capito and His Fellow Reformers in Alsace and Switzerland'

H-German Young on Rummel and Kooistra, 'Reformation Sources: The Letters of Wolfgang Capito and his Fellow Reformers in Alsace and Switzerland'

Review published on Thursday, November 1, 2007

Erika Rummel, Milton Kooistra, eds. Reformation Sources: The Letters of Wolfgang Capito and his Fellow Reformers in Alsace and Switzerland. Toronto: Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies, 2007. 246 pp. $17.00 (paper), ISBN 978-0-7727-2032-0.

Reviewed by Shya Young (Department of Religious Studies, University of Alberta) Published on H- German (November, 2007)

Ad Fontes

Erika Rummel's article in this volume asserts that Wolfgang Capito's scholarly works "reflected a typically humanistic interest in source texts" (p. 47). This comment could just as easily apply to Rummel's own superb scholarship. The current book is a fine example of her continuing contribution to the project of making primary sources more easily available to a wider audience. It is the second book in which she, in collaboration with Milton Kooistra, attempts to rectify the inaccessibility of Capito's writings. The first is The Correspondence of Wolfgang Capito: Volume 1: 1505-1523.[1] While not a part of this planned three-volume set, Reformation Sources is a good complement to it.

This edited volume begins with a succinct introduction outlining its organizational logic and summarizing the contributions in each section. Part 1 supplies historical context for the source texts; part 2 deals with problems in transcribing and publishing these documents; part 3 provides a number of transcribed texts. The introduction begins with the impetus for this particular collection of articles and primary sources--a workshop bringing together North American and European scholars with the larger purpose of examining the issues surrounding the accessibility of Reformation manuscript sources using the correspondence of Capito and other reformers in Alsace and Switzerland. It ends by statings its aims as highlighting and addressing problems in manuscript transmission, illustrating the importance of making sources available to a wider audience, and aiding in their distribution.

Part 1 examines three different periods in the life of Wolfgang Capito. In "Wolfgang Capito and the Other Docti in Johann Froben's Basel Print Shop," James Hirstein examines Capito's role in the humanist circle advising Froben from 1515 to 1520, particularly in relationship with Beatus Rhenanus. He uses the correspondence of Rhenanus, Erasmus, and Capito to demonstrate Capito's growing influence as editorial consultant, and the concerns of Rhenanus and Capito with both "eloquence and ecclesiastical reform" (p. 40). This linkage of humanism with "Lutheran" reform is a good example of the third phase of the scholastic/humanist debate as delineated by Rummel.[2] Rummel, in "Capito and the Provostship of St. Thomas in Strasbourg," focuses on Capito's efforts beginning in 1520 to secure a lucrative benefice with the Catholic Church despite his reformist sympathies, and the legal and moral problems associated with that effort. Drawing on Capito's correspondence, she provides an engaging glimpse of his duplicitous attempts to negotiate a course between Catholics and Reformers until the unauthorized publication in January 1523 of a letter from

Luther condemning his duplicity made such a course impossible. However, not until 1525, after the parishioners of Young St. Peter had elected him preacher, did Capito finally resign the provostship. Thomas A. Brady, Jr., in "Reformers and Magistrates in Reformation Strasbourg: The Milieu of Wolfgang Capito," locates Capito within a revisionist interpretation of the city's reformation as "contested, plural and unfinished" (p. 60). He provides a fascinating account of how its governmental, social, and religious structures as well as events such as the Münster insurrection and influx of Anabaptist dissenters affected the course of the Reformation in Strasbourg. He engages our sympathy for Capito's decision to support compulsion and order over religious freedom, despite his empathy for the Anabaptists.

Part 2 illustrates the problems encountered in making primary texts--such as those used in part 1-- available to historians. Drawing on personal experience "in transcribing, editing and annotating" (p. 14) major editions of texts and correspondence of reformers in Alsace and Switzerland, the contributors in this section vividly illustrate the issues, dedication, and effort involved in a number of projects: work on the Amsterdam edition of the works of Erasmus began in 1969 and is slated to finish in 2015 with the entire series consisting of approximately sixty volumes; the Bucer project was first planned in 1952 with a current estimation of forty years required to complete his correspondence; the approximately twelve thousand surviving letters of Heinrich Bullinger written to over a thousand correspondents mainly in Latin; early modern High German, French, Italian, and Greek; and the entire edition of Theodore Beza's correspondence continuing until 2016, with twenty- eight volumes already published.

Johannes Trapman places the humanist emphasis on source material into contemporary context by cleverly interweaving Erasmus's editorial concerns with those of present-day editors, whom he terms "text-oriented" scholars. He provides an insightful overview of the publication process by outlining the history of the Amsterdam project, illustrating the decisions of its editorial board with practical examples, and highlighting an interesting case in which the critique of a lone reviewer resulted in a revised edition. Reinhold Friedrich describes the paleographical problems associated with deciphering Strasbourg reformer Martin Bucer's extremely difficult handwriting and chaotic letter- writing style. He provides an amusing anecdote of a deaconess who found that learning Latin explicitly to correspond with Bucer was not enough to enable her to decipher his letters. Photographs accompanied by Latin transcriptions and English translations are most helpful in illustrating her frustration and the complexity of the task. Wolfgang Simon focuses on the particular problem of dating correspondence. He takes the reader through his skilled detective work in dating letters written in 1531 between Simon Grynaeus and a number of reformers, in particular Bucer, concerning the request of Henry VIII for a favorable opinion from the Reformers on his efforts to divorce Catherine of Aragon. Based on mostly internal evidence, Simon challenges some of the dates of an earlier reconstruction. Alexandra Kess summarizes the history, methodology, and problems associated with collecting, editing, and publishing the correspondence of Heinrich Bullinger. She gives the reader a glimpse into the enormity of the project with a description of the wealth of material itemized and/or available at its headquarters. She then focuses on one particular letter to illustrate special challenges of the project, in particular the inclusion of supplements. Finally, Irena Backus insightfully links the publishing history of Theodore Beza's correspondence to such historical trends as the religious revivalist movement in nineteenth-century Germany, modernist interpretation of the sixteenth-century Reformation as direct ancestor to nineteenth-century Protestantism, and challenges by twenty-first century cultural history to the importance of unpublished sources. She

Citation: H-Net Reviews. Young on Rummel and Kooistra, 'Reformation Sources: The Letters of Wolfgang Capito and his Fellow Reformers in Alsace and Switzerland'. H-German. 09-30-2014. https://networks.h-net.org/node/35008/reviews/45251/young-rummel-and-kooistra-reformation-sources-letters-wolfgang-capito Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 2 H-German addresses the particular problem of editorial bias, using the publication of Beza'sEpistolae Theologicae (1573) as an example. Beza's omission of correspondent and third-party names and dates of writing reflected not only caution, but also his intention that the letters serve as a guide to Calvinist teachings.

As well as highlighting scholarly problems in transcribing, annotating, and editing, contributors touch on the more fundamental problem of finding both funding and scholars with appropriate editorial skill sets. Trapman mentions that the thirty-five scholars working on the Erasmus project generally do so in their leisure time, or in retirement. He laments the fact that the lack of grants and the unglamorous nature of the work make it difficult to attract graduate students. Backus ends part 2 by drawing attention to the irony of this dilemma. She notes that the Beza correspondence "constitutes an inexhaustible fount of knowledge about politics, education, and culture for the period" (p. 160). Innovative, groundbreaking history depends on primary sources, and is made easier through well- edited and readily accessible editions.

Part 3 contains a collection of source texts presented in their original language, without English translation. Most have only been available in manuscript or sixteenth-century imprints. Each chapter contains a brief summary situating the texts within their historical context and supplying the physical location of the original documents. Footnotes identify text variants, and clarify names, places, dates, and references. Documents in each chapter highlight the challenges Capito faced both personally, and as a Strasbourg reformer. Gavin Hammel transcribes six documents providing insights into Capito's struggle for the provostship; Brent Miles transcribes the Verwarnung der diener des worts (1524), a pamphlet written by Capito defending the reform position in a dispute with an Augustinian monk; Milton Kooistra finishes the collection withVon drey Straßburger Pfaffen (1525), another pamphlet written by Capito discussing attempts to retrieve goods taken by canons from the foundations of three Strasbourg churches, and again defending the Reformers.

This volume has done what it set out to do. It provides the reader with an appreciation of the problems associated with preparing primary texts, and solutions arrived at by editors in the field. It illustrates why these projects are so critical to good scholarship, and how they can enliven the characters of the past with their all too familiar concerns. Letters move from deep theological issues to wives' requests for butter, cheese, and cloth; Capito relies on whom he knows to secure the provostship of St. Thomas; Jacob Sturm, the Stettmeister of Strasbourg, supports law and punishment despite his assertion that "in matters of faith, which is a voluntary act and gift of God, little can be gained through laws" (p. 81).

While this volume also contributes to the dissemination of source texts, its manner of doing so leads to some frustration. Five of the six letters in chapter 9 are already available in their original language through the electronic Capito project.[3] Providing sources not so readily available would have been more useful. The reader has to dig a little to find their English translation in volume 1 ofThe Correspondence of Wolfgang Capito. Hammel does note both sources at the beginning of the chapter. Unfortunately there is no such option for the documents in chapters 10 and 11. Although the website section entitled Works by Capito lists these documents, there appears to be no plans to provide an English translation. This decision leaves the reader without knowledge of early modern German no further ahead than when the documents were available only in manuscript or print.

However, these limitations do not generally detract from the value of this volume. It will provide senior undergraduate and graduate students with a richer perspective on the Reformation in Strasbourg and the field of paleography. It will perhaps inspire aspiring paleographers to persevere in their field so that the humanist cry of ad fontes will not go unheeded in the twenty-first century.

Notes

[1]. Erika Rummel and Milton Kooistra, eds.,The Correspondence of Wolfgang Capito: Volume 1: 1507-1523 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2005).

[2]. For a nuanced discussion of the phases of humanism see Erika Rummel, "Et cum theologo bella poeta gerit: The Conflict between Humanists and Scholastics Revisited,"Sixteenth-Century Journal 23 (1992): 713-726.

[3]. Available at http://www.itergateway.org/capito/ or http://www.wolfgang-capito.com.The site's homepage states its purpose as providing "the text of letters from and to Wolfgang Capito which are either unpublished or have been published before 1850 and are therefore difficult to access." It continues: "The website is part of a larger editorial and translation project aimed at making the correspondence of Capito available to an English readership in conventional printed form. The first volume is now complete.... The second volume, covering the years 1524-1531, is scheduled for completion in 2008."

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Citation: Shya Young. Review of Rummel, Erika; Kooistra, Milton, eds.,Reformation Sources: The Letters of Wolfgang Capito and his Fellow Reformers in Alsace and Switzerland. H-German, H-Net Reviews. November, 2007. URL: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=13908

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