A Response to Luther Book 1

A Response to Luther Book 1 Page and line numbers correspond to The Complete Works of St. Thomas More (Yale University Press, 1969), volume 5. Side-glosses are given as footnotes. A complete concordance to this work can be found at www.thomasmorestudies.org/publications.html#Concordance . N.B. This English translation of the Latin is reproduced, with permission, from volume 5 of The Complete Works of St. Thomas More: Responsio ad Lutherum (Yale University Press, 1969), edited by John M. Headley, translated by Sister Scholastica Mandeville. Copyright © 1969 by Yale University. All rights reserved. The choice, learned, witty, pious work of the most learned William Ross in which he very admirably exposes and refutes the frantic calumnies with which that most foul buffoon, Luther, attacks the invincible king of England and France, Henry the eighth of that name, the defender of the faith, renowned no less for his learning than for his royal power. Printed again with the utmost care and divided into chapters, with indices added through the work of the very learned John Carcellius. London, a.d., 1523 JOHN CARCELLIUS: 3 TO THE HONORABLE READER, GREETINGS. The other day I went to a printer’s shop to visit and converse with the man. After we had chatted together for some time on a variety of 5 topics and especially on books and writing, I finally asked him whether he was engaged in any new work. He showed me one little book brought to him from Spain, written by Ferdinand Baravellus, a man very outstanding in theology. In this book he answers the insane ravings with which Martin Luther had so violently and shamelessly, 10 indeed, so scurrilously raged against a king most distinguished by all the noble qualities of a most exalted prince. The writer was led to do this partly from motives of religion, since he perceived that the Church and religion of Christ were everywhere being weakened by the factions and dissensions of wicked heretics; partly from vexation 15 that a most vile man was falsely using the pretext of holiness and the name of Christian religion, while in fact being led on by foolish conceit and a greedy desire for renown to slander whomever he pleased, with no regard for the rank of anyone. The printer said that he was planning to reprint this work for the 20 handsome profit which he hoped to gain from it since that copy was the only one in the country, and it was the kind of work he was sure everyone would be eager to buy. I promised my help also in the proj- ect, in case there were any service I could render. I asked to borrow the book for a few days; he willingly granted me this, asking moreover 25 that if I could add to the value of the work in any way, I should render him that service so that the book might be more favorably received when it was published from his shop. Therefore, after I had read through a good part of the work very carefully and found it to my liking, I thought it would not be useless, since the author had writ- 30 ten the whole work straight through without interruption, to divide the work into chapters with a title added to each chapter, and to add an index so that single items might be found more readily by the reader. This would likewise be useful in case further copies were imported later, which was likely to happen, seeing that printers do not 35 publish books for just one region. Moreover, the contents of the book 5 were such that it seemed to be just what all the people were looking for, both because of the significance of the controversy and because of the reputation of the men who engage in it. What more serious cause can be handled than that in which the religion of God all good and 5 great is concerned? Or what cause can be defended under more honorable patronage than that which the greatest princes, laying aside their proper pursuits, take up before the eyes of all the world? Not to mention all the other men of every rank, Henry VIII, king of England, justly called the Defender of the Faith, did not at all shrink 10 from joining battle in the cause of Christ with a mean and base little friar. When the latter had repaid the king’s wholesome admonitions and sound counsel with nothing but scurrilous jeers and violent abuse, and the high-minded king did not honor the vile charlatan with a second response, this man of whom I speak, Baravellus, a Spaniard 15 remarkably learned in every branch of learning, considering it shame- ful that a despised wretch should with impunity insult not only men but even the saints themselves, represented and exposed the wretch before all the world in such a way that no mirror can give a clearer image of the body than this work enables one to perceive the execrable 20 soul of Luther. As I said, if further copies of the work should be imported, still the copies which would be enhanced by my plan would assure a better sale to the printer whom I most favored. Since I was not able to do this without making some changes and without occasionally adding 25 some comments of my own, I must beg of you, honorable reader, if I have given you any satisfaction by the one part of my labor, as I have certainly sought to do, to forgive me for the other part in that I have boldly laid hands on the writing of another person. Moreover, as for the book itself, you need not look to me to praise it highly, for it will 30 immediately provide evidence concerning its own worth. This I certainly do promise, that if you read it through, you will regret neither the effort nor the time so spent, provided you are inspired by a love of religion or by desire for learning, or delight in a charming dis- position or a witty style. 35 FERDINAND BARAVELLUS 7 OF THE ANCIENT NOBILITY SENDS GREETINGS TO THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS FRANCIS LUCELLUS Have you ever heard, distinguished Sir, with what artifice I was 5 tricked into writing this work by that most honorable man and the glory of his country, your uncle? 1 Indeed, though by nature I always shrink from every kind of contention, I particularly shrink from that kind where I have to contend with a person who, 10 sensing that he has been overcome by reason, turns wholly to wrangling. 2 Well, as I was returning home from the university, I stopped off from my journey at the castle of your uncle so that, before any of my own family, I might visit the 15 man to whom I owed almost more than to my whole family. As various topics came up in the conversation, then, he deliberately, but as it were incidentally, threw in a mention of Luther, inquiring what our university thought about the books of this man. I told him the facts: that in the beginning there were various reactions, some men 20 captivated by novelty, others unaware of the new ideas; many thought that some things were not badly written and were handled with some skill, but that time alone, with the growing output of his books, would show what spirit inspired the man. Nor was that surmise wrong. For when one book after another appeared un- 25 interruptedly, each one worse than the last, 3 there finally appeared the Babylon , truly that tower of Babel which was built up against heaven, 4 from which the impious fellow undertook to destroy the heavenly sacraments of Christ. As soon as that work was read 30 through and circulated among the people, no one was found so senseless as not to realize what spirit inspired the madman. As a result, many men were already intending to write against his blasphemies, when behold there shortly appeared that most learned book of the most noble king of 35 England, such a work indeed that, so far as that problem was concerned, it deprived 1 In these footnotes are given translations of the side-glosses that appeared in More’s Latin text. The first is: How the author was prevailed on to write this work. 2 He says he shrinks from contending with wranglers. Such is Luther 3 Luther always appeared to surpass himself in malice 4 The spirit that governs Luther is evident from his Babylon everyone else of a reason for writing. For he attacked, stormed, over- 9 threw that Babylon, the stronghold of impious heresies, so thoroughly that it did not seem worth while for anyone to take up arms again against a fortress that was overthrown and destroyed from its very foundation. 5 At this point your uncle lit on what he had been looking for, that is, a place for catching me. “They say,” he remarked, “that Luther has answered the king.” “Answered?” I replied. “Shameless as he is, surely he will not, by trying that, act in such a way as to make more clear what a godless 10 and stupid cause he is supporting, one which has no means of defense.” “But what if it should perchance happen,” he said, “that instead of a defense he employs insolence, and though saying nothing is still not quiet; will I then be able to persuade you to expose and restrain with 15 your pen the madness of the shameless fellow?” I, not at all suspecting that this would ever happen, said: “I promise, and very willingly.

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