Religious Devotion and Business the Pre-Reformation Enterprise of the Lübeck Presses

Elizabeth Andersen

Religious Devotion and Business The Pre-Reformation Enterprise of the Lübeck Presses

From the outset, Lübeck was a centre for the new art of printing. This leading position was maintained throughout the Reformation; thus it was that the first complete Lutheran Bible to reach the market in 1533 was printed not in Wittenberg but in Lübeck by Ludwig Dietz and it was a translation into Low rather than High German (illustration 1). The first Lutheran Bible of Sweden (1539, illustration 2), was the work of Jürgen Richolff the Younger, also a printer from Lübeck, and the first Danish Lutheran Bible (1550, illustration 3) was the work again of Ludwig Dietz. The strong lead in religious vernacular printing during the Reformation in the Baltic region rested on the foundations laid by the first generation of printers in Lübeck. The success of the Lübeck printers in the sixteenth century grew out of the particular intersection of business and devotion established in the fifteenth. The fruitful nature of this intersection was fostered by a fortuitous combination of political, economic and intellectual conditions which prevailed in the city. Against this background, the focus of what follows is trained on printers who were in business between c. 1470 and c. 1520, in particular Steffen Arndes, Bartholomäus Ghotan and the Mohnkopf Press.1 For the latter, the press of the Brethren of the Common Life in the neighbouring Hanseatic city of Rostock provides a foil which allows the fundamental difference in the business model of the two presses to emerge sharply. Specifically, this article considers the Low German Lübeck Bible (Arndes: 1494, GW04309, illustration 4), the Revelationes Sanctae Birgittae (Ghotan: 1492, GW04391, illustration 5) and the adaptation of the Revelationes into Low German, the Sunte Birgitten Openbaringe (Mohnkopf: 1496, GW04395)2 to highlight characteristic and seminal features of the religious and spiritual landscape in the period immediately prior to the Reformation.3 The continuity between the pre-Reformation printing enterprise in High German

1 As an introduction cf. Die Lübecker Buchdrucker (1994). On German incunables and the changes brought about by the Reformation in general see Füssel, Gutenberg (2003). All German prints of the fifteenth century are catalogued in the Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendrucke (GW) which is available online (http://www.gesamtkatalogderwiegendrucke.de/) with all relevant literature given and links to digitised copies which can be looked up via the GW numbers provided. The prints of the sixteenth century are catalogued in the Verzeichnis deutscher Drucke des 16. Jahr- hunderts (VD16), available at http://vd16.de. For literature on Lübeck cf. Freytag (1999). 2 No online version available yet; edition in the PhD thesis by Hildegard Dinges, ‘Sunte Birgitten Openbaringe.’ (1952), reprint by James Hogg, ‘Sunte Birgitten openbaringe,’ (1989). 3 On the religious landscape in Northern Germany in the century before the Lutheran Reformation cf. Mysticism and Devotion in Northern Germany (2013).

Ons Geestelijk Erf 87(1-2), 200-223. doi: 10.2143/OGE.87.1.3200545 © Ons Geestelijk Erf. All rights reserved. Religious Devotion and Business 201 and the success of Luther’s translation has been brought into focus in the last decade, not least because of the imminent fifth centenary of the Reformation.4 However, the same cannot be said for the Low German area where the stereo- typical view of the “sober Hanseatic merchant” still dominates the popular imagination. In what follows, a brief introductory account of the political position of Lübeck within the Holy Roman Empire and of the nature of the government of the city will establish the context in which the production of works of religious devotion was aligned with the interests of business.

Lübeck: Imperial Free City, “Queen” of the Hanseatic League and Printing Centre

Within the political structure of the Holy Roman Empire, the status of a city had far-reaching consequences for the form of its governance, as did the secular or religious alignment of its leaders for the trade and dominant culture of the city. In 1226 the Holy Roman Emperor Friedrich II granted Lübeck the status of imperial city [civitas imperii] through a letter of imperial freedom [Reichsfreiheitsbrief]. Lübeck’s special civic status was endorsed in 1375 when the Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV paid a ceremonial visit to the city. He declared Lübeck to be one of the five “Glories of the Empire”, a title it shared with Venice, Rome, Pisa and Florence.5 As an Imperial Free City, Lübeck enjoyed imperial immediacy [Reichsfreiheit / Reichsunmittelbarkeit]; this meant that the city was under the direct authority of the Holy Roman Emperor and the Imperial Diet [Reichstag].6 Under constitutional law, Free and Imperial cities were enclaves that ranked alongside the Imperial States with a seat and a vote in the Imperial Diet. This was in stark contrast to the majority of cities in the Empire which belonged to a territory and so were governed by either a secular lord (e.g. a duke, margrave, count) or by an ecclesiastical lord (e.g. prince-bishop, prince-abbot). In the Free and Imperial cities the source of political power and legitimacy shifted from religious or dynastic authorities to the urban élite. The status of Imperial Free City thus conferred semi-independence and a far-reaching autonomy. The constitution of these cities was republican in form but oligarchic in nature with a governing

4 Cf. the exhibition Umsonst ist der Tod. Alltag und Frömmigkeit am Vorabend der Reformation, and the accompanying catalogue. 5 The websites of the Verein für Lübeckische Geschichte und Alterthumskunde (http://www.vlga. de/) and of the Hansischer Geschichtsverein (http://www.hansischergeschichtsverein.de/) provide extensive material on the history of Lübeck; all digitally available texts are listed on the wiki- source page “Archiv_der_Hansestadt_Lübeck”. For an overview of the literary culture in Lübeck cf. Lähnemann (2013). 6 Selzer (2010), p. 35. General literature on the comparative development of German cities can be found in the Bibliographie zur deutschen Städteforschung edited by the IStG (Institut für vergleichende Städteforschung) at Münster University (available online). 202 ELizABETH ANDERSEN

ill. 1. Title page of the post-Reformation Low German Lübeck Bible (‘Bugenhagen-Bibel’), copy of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek – Lübeck: Ludwig Dietz, 1533 (VD 16 B 2840) RELiGiOuS DEVOTiON AND BuSiNESS 203

ill. 2. Title page of the first Swedish Bible (‘Gustav-Wasa-Bibel’), copy of the Göteborgs universitetsbibliotek Fol. Före 1600. Sv. [1541] – uppsala: Jürgen Richolff the Younger, 1541 204 Elizabeth Andersen

Ill. 3. Title page of the first Danish Bible, commissioned by Christian III, copy of Det Kongelige Bibliotek LN 15 2° – Copenhagen: Ludwig Dietz, 1550 Religious Devotion and Business 205

Ill. 4 Title page of the pre-Reformation Low German Lübeck Bible (‘Lübeck-Bibel’) with glosses from Nicolaus de Lyra; copy of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek with print of Nicolaus de Lyra glued in and handwritten additions of the 17th century – Lübeck: Steffen Arndes, 1494 (GW04309) 206 ELizABETH ANDERSEN

ill. 5 Colophon of the Revelationes Sanctae Birgittae, referring to the commission from Vadstena, copy of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek – Lübeck: Bartholomäus Ghotan, 1492 (GW04391) Religious Devotion and Business 207 town council [Rat], composed of a hereditary patrician class. The more powerful of the Imperial Free Cities, such as Lübeck, Nuremberg and Augsburg, were able to wage war, make peace and rule their people without outside interference. In the north of the Empire, because of the powerful territories of Brandenburg and Saxony, there were only a few imperial immediate cities (alongside Lübeck: Bremen, Cologne, Dortmund, Goslar and Hamburg). Thus the independence and autonomy conferred on Lübeck by imperial immediacy was all the greater as neither Friedrich II nor the rulers who followed him had a powerbase in the north of the Empire. Even more important for the understanding of Lübeck as a centre of printing is the economic alliance that dominated trade in Northern Europe: the Hanseatic League [Hanse], which stretched from the Baltic to the North Sea and inland during the late Middle Ages and early modern period (c. 13th to 17th centuries). It comprised 70 cities and 100 to 130 smaller towns, some of which enjoyed the privileges afforded by the Hanseatic League without formally becoming members of it. Late medieval Lübeck was deemed to be the “Queen of the Hanse”. With a population of c. 25,000 – 30,000, it was the second largest city after Cologne in the German-speaking lands and by far the largest and most powerful member of the Hanse. Like Nuremberg, the Imperial Free City of Lübeck derived its economic wealth and its political power from its strategic location. It stood at a crossroads of trading routes that ran west to east from Bruges in Flanders to cities on or near the Baltic such as Gdánsk, Reval, Novgorod and from north to south connecting Scandinavia with Nuremberg, Augsburg and Venice. The Stecknitz Canal, nowadays the Elbe-Lübeck Canal, gave Lübeck control over the lucrative salt trade between Lüneburg, Scandinavia and the lands along the Baltic coast.7 In the creation of wealth, trade establishes and fosters contacts and networks that facilitate not only economic but also cultural exchange. Even before printers set up in business in Lübeck, books had been exported from the city to the lands around the Baltic. It is thus scarcely surprising that Lübeck should have become the most important printing centre in Northern Europe, given its strategic position. Following Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press in 1450, presses were quickly established in Bamberg and Strasbourg in 1460, in Cologne in 1465 and in Nuremberg in 1470. The first Low German-speaking city to embrace printing was Merseburg in 1473 followed by Magdeburg in 1479, while further in the north of the Empire Lübeck led the way with the printing by Lucas Brandis of the Rudimentum novitiorum [Handbook for Beginners] in 1475, the first printed history of the world and the first printed book to feature maps.8 Rostock followed just a year later with the Brethren of the Common Life printing the Divinae institutiones [Divine Institutes] in which

7 Cf. Lohmeier (1994), p. 11; Undorf (2012), p. 110. For an introduction to the Hanseatic league see Hammel-Kiesow (2009). 8 Altmann (1974), p. 31. 208 Elizabeth Andersen the Christian apologist Lucius Caelius Firmianus Lactantius (c. 250-325 A.D.) sets out a systematic account of the Christian attitude to life.9 In the decades on either side of 1500 Lübeck was still at the height of its power; the social composition, the economic strength, the political autonomy, the well-developed trading and personal networks of the Free City provided very favourable conditions for the establishment of the new business of the book trade.10 Between about 1473 and 1525 nine print workshops set up business, establishing Lübeck alongside Cologne and Antwerp as a leading centre for the production of incunables in Northern Europe. The city was also linked into wider networks: Lübeck merchants regularly attended the Strasbourg book fairs while their own annual event attracted printers like Anton Koberger from Nuremberg.11 For a century following Lucas Brandis’ publication of 1475, Lübeck dominated book production in the markets to the North and to the East. In Scandinavia books were clearly seen as a commodity in line with other scarce resources such as salt. This is well evidenced by the toll which the city levied by the pound on all goods leaving the harbour. The customs books [Pfundzollbücher] from 1492–96 record numerous book shipments in chests, barrels and tuns [kisten, vaten, tunnen] to Rostock, Wismar, Stralsund, Stettin, Gdánsk, Reval, to Copenhagen and, as the prime market, to Sweden, in particular to Kalmar, Söderköping, Nyköping and Stockholm. What is more, the art of printing itself was introduced into Denmark and Sweden by Lübeck printers, notably Johann Snell, the brothers Lucas and Matthäus Brandis and Bartholomäus Ghotan.12 It was this close link between the economic and intellectual networks that secured the dominance of the Lübeck printers in the book trade of Scandinavia well into the sixteenth century.

Printing in Lübeck and Rostock; the Scandinavian Market

Within the Baltic region, Rostock was the second most important printing centre after Lübeck. With the invention of printing, presses were typically set up in traditional centres of learning and administration – in monasteries, diocesan and university towns and at the court of princes. Rostock had the first university in northern Europe, founded in 1429. Like Lübeck, the city enjoyed well developed connections with the Hanseatic area, drawing students from as far west as the Netherlands and from Scandinavia.13 Indeed, the flow of Scan- dinavian students continued even after the establishment of universities in Greifswald (1456), Uppsala (1477) and Copenhagen (1479). The first printing

9 Pieth (1926), p. 219. Lohmeier (1994), p. 55. Sodmann (1987), p. 92. 10 undorf (2012), p. 73. 11 Sodmann (1987), p. 306. 12 Menke (1987), p. 149; Menke (1998), p. 100, Undorf (2012), p. 192. 13 Altmann (1976), p. 6. Religious Devotion and Business 209 press in Rostock belonged to the Brethren of the Common Life. They had arrived in Rostock from Münster in 1462, bringing with them the values and way of life of the Devotio moderna movement, with its focus on personal spiritual regeneration through immersion in and imitation of the life of Christ, coupled with a concern for preaching and social ministry to the poor. This aligned them closely with the prevalent devotional character of urban spiritual life in Lübeck. However, a comparison of the printed output of the two cities highlights the difference in the impact of the respective political, social and cultural conditions on the business of printing. The range and reach of what was printed in Rostock was far more restricted. The Brethren had always earned a living through the copying of texts. The university was thus a major employer for them.14 The “Michael Brothers”, as they became known after the patron saint of their church, embraced the opportunity to have their own press in 1475 to meet the needs of the university. Their other two major patrons were the Church and the House of Mecklenburg. The Brethren received three types of printing commission: i) works of classical antiquity to serve the humanist Renaissance studies of the university, ii) liturgical books, letters of indulgence and theological works for the Church and iii) official, legal docu- ments for the Mecklenburg princes. They also received commissions from Denmark, some to do with the succession to the Danish throne and some promoting the Reformation. The economic benefits of accepting the latter were offset by the conflicted position the Brethren, who were staunchly Catholic, found themselves in. However, this was eventually resolved when the press was closed down in 1532 by Duke Heinrich of Mecklenburg, at the behest of Luther himself, for printing Jerome Emser’s Neues Testament, a counterblast to Luther’s version.15 A very different business climate prevailed in the Imperial Free City of Lübeck where neither the Church nor secular lords nor university men were dominant. This more egalitarian city, governed by the patriciate and with its strong business infrastructure and trading network, provided the new business of printing with an environment in which it could thrive vigorously. The city acted as a magnet for printers. Several printers setting up in the one town did not just mean competition, it also provided an opportunity for the development of synergies that would enhance business prospects mutually. Lucas Brandis was the first to settle in Lübeck in 1475 after having worked in the diocesan city of Merseburg. He left Lübeck temporarily in 1479 for Magdeburg where he worked with Bartholomäus Ghotan as a typefounder, (a manufacturer of metal type for printing). On his return to Lübeck he found increasing competition in the city. Johann Snell, who may well have worked for Lucas Brandis in 1478/79, set up his own printing business in the city in 1480. Lucas’ brother Matthias is attested in Lübeck in 1484 and is recorded as setting up shop in

14 Krüger (2001), p. 10. 15 Krüger (2001), p. 25. 210 Elizabeth Andersen

1487. Bartholomäus Ghotan moved from Magdeburg to Lübeck in 1484. Fol- lowing the example of Snell who had introduced the art of printing to Denmark in 1482 and to Sweden in 1483, Ghotan opened up a branch of his business in Stockholm. In 1486 Steffen Arndes, who had been trained in Mainz and worked in Foligno and Perugia from 1470 to 1481, moved to Lübeck. Arndes too did business in Sweden, publishing in 1490 his Graduale Svecicum.16 Finally, the Mohnkopf Press set up their printing business in 1487. Unlike the other printing concerns in Lübeck, but like the Michael Brothers in Rostock, there is no personal name attached to the Mohnkopf Press.17 Instead, the press presents itself as a unit in which the identity of the owner and of those who work in the printing house are subsumed in the collective effort. The obscuring of the guiding force behind the Mohnkopf Press may be understood as a reflection of the situation that obtained in the spiritual life of Lübeck where no one spiritual power-base dominated. The world of incunable printing in the North of Germany and Scandinavia was a close one and so there were many points of business contact between Lübeck and Rostock. It is thought likely that the initial printer of the Michael Brothers’ press had been trained in Lübeck by Lucas Brandis.18 Ludwig Dietz arrived in Rostock around 1504 to work in Hermann Barckhusen’s printing house. This he eventually took over in 1512. For bigger commissions from outside Rostock, Dietz would establish branches where the patron lived. Thus, the editing and printing of the 1533 Bugenhagen Bible was done in Lübeck.19 Although Scandinavia had its own domestic presses, it seems that they were not able or did not want to compete with the Lübeck printing houses with regard to quality and price.20 The dominance of the Lübeck presses in the Scandinavian market continued undiminished in the Reformation period. Like Brandis, Snell and Ghotan before him, Jürgen Richolff the Younger did business in Scandinavia. Born in Lübeck in 1494, he took over his father’s printing business in 1519. Shortly afterwards he spent time in Sweden, printing two works that were important for the Reformation in Sweden: a religious treatise (Een nyttwgh wnderwijsning [Useful Instruction] 1526) by Olaus Petri and a translation into Swedish of the New Testament (1526), commissioned by King Gustav I Wasa. This was followed in 1539 by the commission, again from the King, to print the first complete translation into Swedish of the Lutheran Bible (1541; illustration 2). King Christian III of Denmark followed suit, inviting

16 Cf. Menke (1987), p. 153. 17 Mohnkopf = Poppyhead. One of the characteristic Mohnkopf printer’s marks consists of three poppyheads. In the GW, 22 prints are listed as originating from the “Mohnkopfdrucker (Hans van Ghetelen)”. For an overview of arguments advanced about the identity of the figure(s) behind the Mohnkopf Press see Sodmann (1990), pp. 343–348. 18 Altmann (1976), pp. 14–15. 19 Although known as the Bugenhagen Bible, the translation was the work of Theodor Sme- decken. Cf. Brecht and Peters (2005). 20 undorf (2012), p. 99. Religious Devotion and Business 211

Ludwig Dietz to see through a print run of some 3,000 copies in 1550 of the first Lutheran Bible in the Danish language (illustration 3).21 With Steffen Arndes’ Bible of 1494 at its head, the Bugenhagen and Scandinavian Bibles stand in a strong Lübeck tradition of printing sacred texts in the vernacular. This is nowhere more evident than in the output of the Mohnkopf Press.

The Mohnkopf Press and Devotional Literature

Where the kind of printed works that emerged from the press of the Michael Brothers was determined by the needs of the University or the Church or the House of Mecklenburg and was overwhelmingly in Latin, the literature published by the first generation of Lübeck printers is pre-eminently characterised by its devotional nature with its overriding concern to communicate “useful instruction for simple people” [nutte lere den simpelen luden (Boek van der Bedroffenisse Marien, 1498, y3a; GW04506)] in the proper conduct of the Christian life. In this context “simple people” means the lay population, those who had not received the formal Latinate training of the Church. The development of this urban literary culture was influenced strongly by the mendicant orders, the contemporary monastic reform movements, and the Devotio moderna with their focus on making the teaching of the Church accessible to lay people. The religious devotional literature of the Lübeck printers was conceived as practical theology in offering pastoral care, be it through prayers, sermon examples, or glosses.22 The Mohnkopf Press exemplifies this trend to a greater degree than the other printing houses. Programmatically, their works are intended “for those not schooled in scholastic learning who do not understand Latin thoroughly” [vor de ungelerden de dat latyn nicht gruntlicken vorstaen (De salter to dude, 274v, GW M36239)].23 Where in the other Lübeck presses output in Latin constituted between 65 and 80% of the total production, the majority of the 31 texts printed by the Mohnkopf Press between 1487 and 1527 are in the vernacular. This statistic is all the more astonishing when set against the overall proportion of Latin to vernacular prints in the Late Middle Ages which was 7:1.24 The Mohnkopf Press thus established itself as one of the most important centres for religious writing in the vernacular in the German-speaking lands before the Reformation.25

21 Altmann,(1974), p. 22. 22 Menke (1993), p. 309. 23 There is no digital copy available, quoted from Sodmann (1990), p. 355. 24 70% of the incunables were printed in Latin, 10% in German. The data is based on the Incu- nabula Short Title Catalogue (http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/istc/) of the British Library (as of March 2, 2011). 25 Sodmann (1990), p. 351. 212 Elizabeth Andersen

The guiding philosophy behind the Mohnkopf Press was that the new art of printing was a divine gift for the instruction of the lay reader in devotional matters. It brought with it an express obligation to respond appropriately to the teaching. Thus, in the Mohnkopf Plenary of 1492 (GW M34208),26 a section carries the heading Wo gud unde durbar de kunst der prenterie is [how good and valuable the art of printing is] in which those people who do not avail themselves of the benefits of printing are vigorously taken to task. In the injunction to buy books as a way of improving your moral state, the impera- tives of ensuring both the business success of the Press and the salvation of the individual soul are addressed simultaneously: Scheme du mynsche de du ycht kanst lessen in dessen daghen. unde vorsumest de salicheit diner selen. welker salicheyt du sughen machst uth der kunst de god dyn here dy in dynen dagen heft ghe openbaret… Scheme dy du homidige mynsche dattu nicht vlyt deist dath du dy schaffest welke ghenoecchlike boke de du vmme ringe ghelt tuegen machst… (Plenarium, 1492, 273r).27 In Book 3 of the Sunte Brigitten Openbaringe (88v–89r) the anonymous adaptor inserts a lengthy excursus on the new art of printing. He expresses gratitude for what he perceives to be a divine gift: Eya wat gnade heft god de here gegeven dessen dudeschen lande. desse dudeschen steden in welken god sendet so vele predikers. so vele lerer. unde sunder- liken desse nyen kunst. de in dudeschen landen erst is ghevunden. unde over- vloedighen bloyet.28 He is convinced of the efficacy of the printed word for ensuring a God- fearing life: Wente hadden etlyke ketters efte andere unlovighe menschen hyr bevoren ghehat in eren daghen desse kunst dar mede ghedrucket unde gheprentet wert de hilghe schrift. se hadden syk bekeret.29 He also warns of the greater responsibility placed on the individual for his own salvation given the increased exposure to instruction: Hyrumme hebbe wy vele underwysynge entfangen. so wil ock des to scharper rekenschop van uns warden gheeschet.30

26 No digital copy available, quoted from Altmann (1974), p. 62. 27 “Shame on you, who can read in these days and yet neglect the salvation of your soul, that salvation which you may draw from the art which God your Lord has revealed in your time… Shame on you, you arrogant person, that you do not strive to acquire sufficient books which you could have for not much money.” 28 “Oh what grace God has shown to these German lands, these German cities into which God has sent so many preachers, so many teachers and in particular this new art which was invented on German soil and which has flourished vigorously.” 29 “For had some heretics or other unbelievers had this art in their day with which the Holy Scripture has been typeset and printed, they would have mended their ways.” 30 “Through this we have received much instruction and thus we will be held to greater account.” Religious Devotion and Business 213

The concept of printing as a divinely inspired art was not a new thought. Not long after Gutenberg’s invention, Nicholas of Cusa is said to have arranged for haec sancta ars, quae oriri tunc videbatur in Germania, Romam deduceretur.31 Within the Lübeck context, the concept was key to the prevalence of devotional literature and it was more central to the ethos of the Mohnkopf Press than anywhere else. Although the body of works printed by the Press is predomi- nantly pragmatic and devotional in type, it also includes four of the most out- standing secular texts of the Low German canon: Henselyn [wise fool Little- john, a shrovetide play, 1484, GW12267], Des Dodes Danz [The Dance of Death, 1489, GW M47262, reprinted 1498, GW M 47263], Dat Narren Schyp [The Ship of Fools, 1497, GW05053], and Reinke de Vos [Reynard the Fox, 1498, GW12733]. These too are adapted to conform to the programmatic devotional agenda of educating the literate classes in Christian virtue. Thus, in the adaptation of Sebastian Brant’s satire, Dat Narren Schyp the anonymous Low German author inserts comments about how the art of printing should be used in the service of God:32 Bruket de drucker alzo syne kunst Dat he wyl hebben godes gunst Dat god dar uth wert gheeret He deyt recht wan he so leret Drucket he ock dat schendlich mach wesen Dat de syk argeren de dat lessen Vnde deyt ok schaden eyneme ghelyck Vnde menet ane got to warden ryck Dat wreck eynem anderen kostet vyl He dat vort na drucken wyl De sus doet. Werde ick nicht vorghetten Jk wyl en ok eyn oor ansetten33 In the Mohnkopf Press the devotional turn of fifteenth-century literature endows the print culture with spiritual meaning. This concept was to continue to have currency, becoming a topos in Protestant literature. Thus Luther famously recognises the significance of the new medium for mass production when he speaks of the final gift of God with which He furthers the circulation of the Gospel.34 The modernity of the use of printing for religious literature may be illustrated through two of the most substantial outputs of the Lübeck presses.

31 “this holy art, which had then apparently originated in Germany, to be transferred to Rome.” Dedication letter of the Vatican librarian Giovanni Andreae dei Bussi to Pope Pius II, in Hieron- ymus, Epistolae (Rome: Konrad Swynheym and Arnold Pannartz, 1486). 32 Quoted from Sodmann (1990), p. 353. Cf. also Voß (1994). 33 “If the printer uses his art so that he has God’s favour by honouring God, then he does right by teaching in this way. If he also prints that which debases so that those who read it are made worse and also damage another person in the same way and think to become rich without God, this costs another dearly. He who would continue to print in this way is dead. If I do not want to be banished to oblivion, I shall pay attention to this.” 34 Cf. Flood (2005), p. 22, n. 80 and Flachmann (1994), p. 192. 214 Elizabeth Andersen

The Low German Lübeck Bible and the Sunte Brigitten Openbaringe

The two vernacular texts which, for the purposes of this article, bring into focus the issues more broadly addressed above are the Low German Lübeck Bible of 1494 from the press of Steffen Arndes and the Sunte Birgitten Open- baringe, from the Mohnkopf Press in 1496. Though from different presses, these two works, published within a couple of years of each other, emerge from the same literary culture of devotion that was so prevalent in Lübeck in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. Both texts are anonymous and are translations from Latin into Low German, addressing a lay readership that is exhorted to engage with the text and to benefit from the explicit instruction contained in them. Furthermore, these texts are illustrative of the channels of transmission and influence which the trading networks of the Hanseatic League in Scandinavia and Northern Germany opened up, strengthening the links that had been established in the Low German area following the Beguine movement, the Devotio moderna and the convent reforms. They reflect trends of what in modern terminology we might call a programme of outreach and widening participation in the spiritual life.35 In the period before Luther’s translation of the Bible into High German there were seventeen complete Bible prints in German, three of these in Low German: the Cologne Bible (two editions) of Heinrich Quentell (c. 1478), the Lübeck Bible of Steffen Arndes (1494) and the Halberstadt Bible probably of Ludwig Trutebul (1522). The High German Bible printed by Johann Mentelin in Strasbourg in 1466 was the first complete translation of the Latin Bible (Vulgata) into German. Mentelin had as his source text a manuscript, written in the middle of the fourteenth century, that was a compilation of various partial translations,36 all of which are characterised by their close adherence to the grammatical structures of Latin. Unlike the thirteen High German pre- Reformation Bibles which were all derivatives of the Mentelin Bible, the Low German Bibles were an independent translation of the Vulgate, based on the first edition of the Cologne Bible. Of these the Lübeck Bible is regarded as the most significant before the Reformation. It anticipates the nature of Luther’s translation which reflects his own theological encounter with the text as a living message from God to mankind placing it at the centre of Christian existence.37 The Lübeck Bible included the apocryphal Books III and IV Esdras as well as a rendering of the Song of Songs into Low German. In the Cologne Bible the Song of Songs was left in Latin because readers who had not received the appropriate training were not to be trusted to understand the spiritual meaning of the text beyond the literal level. By contrast, the Lübeck Bible posits a readership that may be trusted to comprehend independently the various levels of

35 On this topic see Mysticism and Devotion in Northern Germany (2013). 36 Cf. Reinitzer, Oberdeutsche Bibel (1987), col. 1279. 37 Wulf, Laienlesen die Bibel (2013), 228. Religious Devotion and Business 215 textual exegesis. The diction of the Low German, its conceptual clarity and its powerful expression anticipate Luther’s famous comment in his Sendbrief vom Dolmetschen [An Open Letter on Translating] that: […] man mus nicht die buchstaben inn der lateinischen sprachen fragen, wie man sol Deutsch reden, wie diese esel thun, sondern, man mus die mutter jhm hause, die kinder auff der gassen, den gemeinen man auff dem marckt drumb fragen, und den selbigen auff das maul sehen, wie sie reden, und darnach dolmetzschen, so verstehen sie es den und mercken, das man Deutsch mit jn redet.38 The title page of the Lübeck Bible points to how mit vlitigher achtinghe [with earnest attention] the Bible has been recht na deme latine in dudesck averghesettet [translated correctly from Latin into German]. In this Bible there is no trace of the theological controversy of the late Middle Ages that sur- rounded the issue of the translation of Holy Scripture into the vernacular with the concomitant access this gave laypeople not only to the text, but also to the interpretation of the text. The lack of any justification for this translation may be understood as a mark of the self-confidence of the author or rather team of authors in their enterprise.39 Instead, the Lübeck Bible is furnished with a more thorough apparatus of gloss and commentary than any other Bible before Luther’s. It draws in particular on Nicholas of Lyra’s commentary notes on the literal meaning of Scripture (Postilla literalis). The reader is informed that the translation is equipped “with spiritual enlightenment and glosses from the very learned Nicholas of Lyra and many other holy doctors” [Mit vorluchtinge unde glose: des hochgelerden Postillatoers Nicolai de Lyra Unde anderer velen hillighen doctoren]. In keeping with the prevalent devotional tenor of first generation Lübeck printing, the glosses and commentary were shaped for a lay audience. They constituted a theologia practica, dealing less with dogmatic and mystical interpretations of the Scriptures than with paraenetic-homiletic, didactic and moral instruction. The preface sets out the programmatic demand, unusual for the time, that the Bible is to be read by everyone [von allen to lesende] for the sake of their soul [erer sele salicheit].40 The accent falls on a personal encounter with the biblical message, on a personal piety. The reader is exhorted as an individual to lead a life of humility, to follow the example of the suffering Christ. The intended audience of this Low German Bible is quite clear. However, the identity of the author-translators is not revealed. In this it is clear that the Lübeck Bible is closely aligned with the guiding principles that underlie

38 “Only a fool would ask the letters of the Latin alphabet how to speak German in the way these idiots do. We must ask the mother in the home, the children on the street, the ordinary man in the marketplace and pay close attention to how they speak and translate in that way. Then they will understand it and realise that they are addressed in German.“ [Martin Luther: Ein Sendbrief vom Dolmetschen (1530). WA 30, 2, 632–646]. 39 The assumption is generally made that there was a team of translators. Cf. Hauschild (1981), p. 150. 40 Cf. Hauschild (1981), p. 151. 216 Elizabeth Andersen the literary production of the Mohnkopf Press. Although there has been specu- lation about the authorship of the Lübeck Bible,41 the text of the Bible as God’s word is backed up much more effectively by the authority of Nicholas of Lyra than by any named translator. The quality of the translation in the Lübeck Bible is matched by the quality of the typesetting by Arndes and the 92 woodcuts, some of which originate from the workshop of Bernt Notke (c. 1435–1508/09). Notke’s workshop, which also included painting and sculpture, operated internationally along the lines of the Hanse in the same way the Lübeck printers did.42 A book that could hold its own in terms of the technical achievement of the incunable press is the Revelationes Sanctae Birgittae, printed in 1492 by Bartholomäus Ghotan. This imposing volume reflects the strength of the cult of Birgitta, not only in her native Sweden but also in Northern Germany.43 Birgitta of Sweden (1303–73), as a Scandinavian saint with European impact, was a good fit for the programme and the ambition of the Lübeck printers. She was a charismatic and political visionary whose contemplative mysticism was interwoven with a pronounced social engagement and a commitment to the salvation of the world. After the death of her husband, Birgitta was called by Christ to leave Sweden for Rome in 1349. She never returned to Sweden, spending the rest of her life in Rome with one interruption to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. This imbued her with an authority unheard of for a woman, a lay person and somebody from outside the Holy Roman Empire. Birgitta was more than a regional saint for Northern Europe – she became a brand name for lay devotion. The printing of the Revelationes was shaped by the twin interests of business and devotion. Her texts were from the start the products of a shared enterprise. Within her native Sweden, Birgitta was supported by three confessors, Master Mathias Ovidi, canon of Linköping, Prior Petrus Olavi of the Cistercian Abbey of Alvastra and his namesake Mas- ter Petrus Olavi of Skänninge; the two Peters were the main transcribers and translators of her revelations from Swedish into Latin. These were then edited by Alfonso Pecha, a former bishop of Jaén, whom Birgitta met in Rome in 1367, as the Revelationes Sanctae Birgittae. That this was supposed to be a major scholarly work is endorsed by the preface to the edition by the Spanish Dominican Cardinal Juan de Torquemada, a leading scholar and conservative church figure.44 After the establishment of the Birgittine Order in the 1380s, the swift canonisation of Birgitta in 1391 and the spread of the Birgittine cult

41 Schwencke (1965), pp. 34–49, makes the case for the Franciscans while Menke (1984), also posits a team brought together by Hans van Ghetelen, p. 85. 42 Lohmeier (1994), p. 71. 43 Cf. the On-Line Bibliography of St Birgitta and the Birgittine Order on http://www.sanctabir- gitta.com/ 44 The edition starts with the Epistola domini Johannis Cardinalis de Turrecremata, an abbrevi- ated version of the defence of Birgitta written by Juan de Torquemada. Juan de Torquemada was one of early adopters of print publication for religious purposes. The GW lists 74 items under his name (GW M48162-M48303). Religious Devotion and Business 217 throughout Europe, interest in the Revelationes Sanctae Birgittae grew rapidly. With the advent of printing in Northern Europe, the motherhouse of the Birgittine Order at Vadstena responded to this interest with a commission to the Lübeck printer Bartholomäus Ghotan to produce the editio princeps, thereby ensuring their control over the legacy of their founding saint.45 Two men, Petrus Ingemari, later Confessor General to Vadstena, and a layman, Gerhar- dus, a German by birth, “who knows how to engrave and draw” [qui novit sculpere & depingere] were sent to Lübeck in 1491 to oversee the printing of the monumental Revelationes. They stayed close to Lübeck at the Birgittine Abbey of Marienwold which served as an important physical link between Scandinavia and Germany, not least for those on pilgrimage to Rome from Scandinavia. The local importance of Marienwold is highlighted in the Sunte Birgitten Openbaringe (125r) where it is reported that over six hundred mira- cles occurred there! An entry in the diarium of Vadstena records the magnitude and significance of the commission from Ghotan: eight hundred paper copies of the Revelationes and a further sixteen copies on vellum. In its dimensions, large folio in format, 422 leaves, with double columns and 46 lines to the page, including fifteen woodcuts as a series of full page and smaller illustrations, this volume was matched only by the contemporary ‘Nuremberg Chronicle’ of Hartmut Schedel, printed by Anton Koberger in 1493 (GW M40784/M40796). In the Northern German context, the authority and impact of Birgitta of Sweden is, however, clear long before the printing of the Revelationes in 1492. Extracts from Birgitta’s revelations are frequently included in selections from the Gospels, sermons and florilegia and in two prayer books, printed by Bartholomäus Ghotan, Birgitta is classified as an authority along with the evan- gelists, prophets and approved teachers of Catholic doctrine.46 In the context of the output of the first generation of Lübeck printers, the Revelationes, as a work of visionary mysticism, stands out as different in kind from the otherwise con- ventional devotional texts. The exceptional interest in Birgitta’s revelations may have been due to her identity as a northern saint, almost local, but, perhaps more significantly, the pronounced sense of social engagement and commitment to the salvation of the world that run through her revelations no doubt resonated with the dominant purpose of devotional literature which sought to instruct its readers in a Christian way of life. Birgitta’s revelations were a best-seller. No other text other than the Bible was drawn on by so many of the Lübeck printers, whether it was the Latin edition or an adaptation into the vernacular or excerpts that were inserted into composite devotional texts. Her close fit with the Hanseatic interest in combining devotion with practical appli- cation led to the utilisation of her name as a label for a particular type of practice-led religious vernacular writing. Birgitta’s name was thus used to

45 Vadstena Abbey invited Ghotan to help set up their own printing press in 1495, only for it to be destroyed by fire in the following year. 46 Hogg (1990), p. 153. 218 Elizabeth Andersen

market numerous other devotional texts, building up a significant body of pseudo-Birgittine literature. The earliest printed adaptation of the Revelationes into Low German comes from the press of Lucas Brandis in c. 1478, extant only in fragments. However, two copies survive of a Sunte Birgitten Openbaringe printed by Ghotan’s press between 1484 and 1494, thus roughly contemporaneous with the printing of the Revelationes.47 The work is a relatively short compilation of meditative and prayerful extracts that has an expressly devotional purpose and is supplemented with pseudo-Birgittine material on Christ’s passion. Ghotan’s printing of both the Revelationes and the Sunte Birgitten Openbaringe is evidence of the wide- spread appeal she had, not just for the enclosed world of the cloister but also for a secular lay audience. Birgitta’s revelations seemed to be a good business proposition and so the Mohnkopf Press did not miss the opportunity to cham- pion her too. The adaptation of the Revelationes by the Mohnkopf Press in 1496, also entitled Sunte Birgitten Openbaringe, is, however, a radically different rendering of the text, while at the same time also a more precise translation of the Latin than either the Brandis or Ghotan versions. The Mohnkopf Open- baringe is a carefully crafted book rather than an anthology of extracts. What distinguishes the Mohnkopf version is the handling of the biographical material. In the five books of the Openbaringe about half of the text is biographical, pre-eminently about Birgitta, with Book 5 devoted to her daughter Kata- rina, who was canonised in 1484. Biography thus provides the structural framework of the narrative. However, the anonymous adaptor does not con- ceal the inherent visionary nature of the Revelationes. Indeed, he inserts an excursus early in the work (21r–24v) in which he instructs the reader in the different types of vision Birgitta receives. In the Revelationes descriptions of Birgitta’s visionary experiences conform to the authoritative classification of visionary experience as set out in Book 12 of Augustine of Hippo’s De Genesi ad litteram [Literal Commentary on Genesis].48 The Mohnkopf adaptor draws on this tradition, providing his Low German readers with a clear and succinct account of the different types of vision experienced by Birgitta. By the late fifteenth century the political and ecclesiastical landscape was quite changed from the one inhabited by Birgitta in the fourteenth century and so the adaptor excises references to contemporary politics, as well as the attacks on and warnings to the Pope and ecclesiastical hierarchy. He also omits speculative and dogmatic discussion. In terms of genre, the Openbaringe is conceived as a saint’s life which includes a selection of revelations. The focus of the work is trained on the devotional and the didactic, as is made clear in the preface to Book 1:

47 Dinges (1952), pp. xx–xxxviii. Ghotan also printed a life of Birgitta’s daughter Katarina, Vita cum miraculis b. Katharinae. Cf. Undorf (2012), p. 98. 48 Cf. Sahlin, (2001), p. 60, n. 88 Religious Devotion and Business 219

God to love unde to eren. unde der iunckvrouwen Marien der moder unses heren Jhesu Cristi. unde der eddelen hylghen vrouwen sunte Birgitten. unde to beter- inge unses sundighen levendes so werden hyr ghesettet etlike capittele. ghe- nomen uth dem boeke der openbaringe sunte Birgitten dat dar heet uppe latyn Revelatio sancte Birgitte (10r).49 Repeatedly, the adaptor stresses the efficacy of the revelations for inciting the faithful to lead a more perfect Christian life and emphasises the responsibility of the individual to respond to what they read. He insists that they must accept the revelations made to St Birgitta as made to themselves: Hyrumme so merken alle mynschen de dar lesen in den openbaringen. dat god de almechtighe here nicht allenen umme erer salicheit wyllen er so vele heft gheopenbaret. men in erer personen so menet he alle mynschen. Darumme so neme dat eyn yowelck alzo to syck. alze eft dat to eme van gode worde ghespro- ken. (37v–38r)50 They signify the path to eternal life. As in the Lübeck Bible of 1494, the Openbaringe are to be read by everybody [van allen to lesende] for the salvation of their soul [to ere sele salicheit].

Conclusion

The economic, political and social composition of Lübeck in the late Middle Ages created an environment which was favourable to the development of a progressive and coherent urban literary culture in the new age of printing. The salient features of the Imperial Free City – with its absence of a dominant secular and, even more importantly, ecclesiastical authority – shaped the literary culture. The independence that Lübeck enjoyed allowed the printers to be free agents for a variety of religious groups and clients – the Franciscans and Dominicans, the convents and beguine houses, the Sisters of the Common Life and other adherents of the Devotio moderna and, not least, the brand new Birgittines. As has become clear, the imperial status of Lübeck as a Free City was both a cultural and a business asset; devotion became a democratic print ware, not the monopoly of, say, episcopal power. The primary clients for the early printing businesses were the Church and the monastic institutions who commissioned those books in Latin which they needed for the daily business of worship and devotion as well as the special commissions that were important to the institution, as in the case of the Revelationes Sanctae Birgittae for the

49 “To the praise and honour of God and of the Virgin Mary the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ and the noble holy lady Saint Birgitta and for the improvement of our sinful life here some chapters are recorded, taken from the book of Saint Birgitta’s revelations that is called in Latin Revelatio sancte Birgitte.” 50 “Now everyone who reads the revelations should take note that God the almighty Lord has not revealed so much to her just for the sake of her salvation but in her person he addresses all mankind. Therefore everyone should receive this as if God had spoken to him”. 220 Elizabeth Andersen

Birgittine motherhouse at Vadstena. At the same time, the presses, and in this regard most notably the Mohnkopf Press, both responded to and embraced the high demand for devotional literature in the vernacular. The printing and reception of Birgitta’s revelations by the Lübeck presses highlight the interde- pendence of business and devotion at the end of the fifteenth century. Like so many Lübeck printers, Bartholomäus Ghotan pursued his business interests internationally in both Sweden and northern Germany. The commission to print the editio princeps of the Revelationes must have been a consider- able coup for him. This was a work that was to be marketed in Sweden and across Europe. However, the local market was catered for as much as the international one. Unlike Ghotan and Arndes, and later Richolff and Dietz, the Mohnkopf Press did not have its eye on the international market. It was more focused on the regional one with a more specialised interest in vernacular devotional literature. The guiding ideological principles behind the Mohnkopf Press with its emphasis on the art of printing as a divine gift, emerge clearly in the Sunte Birgitten Openbaringe. The particular combination of international reach and local devotional groundwork found in Lübeck was to come to the fore when the Lutheran Reformation swept through northern Germany and the Baltic lands. The continuity in spiritual direction in the Low German printing enterprise before and after Luther’s translation is reflected in the title page to the Bugen- hagen Bible printed by Ludwig Dietz in the imperial city of Lübeck: De Biblie vth der vthlegginge Doctoris Martini Luthers yn dyth düdesche vlitich vthgesettet, mit sundergen vnderichtingen, alse man seen mach. Inn der Keyser- liken Stadt Lübeck by Ludowich Dietz gedrucket mdxxxiii51 The emphasis here on the threefold process of ‘translation’, that is careful translation and interpretation (vthlegginge; vlitich vthgesettet), and instruction (mit sundergen vnderichtingen) is reminiscent of the title page of the Lübeck Bible with its emphasis on accuracy in translation (mit vlitigher achtinghe… recht na deme latine in dudesck averghesettet), enlightenment and instruction (mit vorluchtinge unde glose). In this Bible, with its focus on the personal responsibility of the individual to engage with Holy Scripture, we can see how the printed literary culture of Lübeck was fertile ground for the Reformation to take root in. The Bugenhagen Bible shares much of the devotional intent of the prints of the Mohnkopf and the Lübeck Bible published by Arndes. Given the strength of the business acumen and the infrastructure of the Lübeck printers, it was not surprising that it was to this city that patrons looked for the printing of the new Lutheran Bibles, the Bugenhagen Bible as well as the translations of the Lutheran Bible into Danish and Swedish. With the extensive network of

51 “The Bible according to the interpretation of Dr Martin Luther, recast carefully into our vernacular German with inserted explanations, as is plain to see. Printed by Ludwig Dietz in the imperial city of Lübeck in 1533.” Religious Devotion and Business 221 business connections that had been built up by the first generation of Lübeck printers, Richolff, Dietz and others were ideally placed to take advantage of the demand for publishing that the Reformation brought with it.

Bibliography

Altmann, Ursula. Die Leistungen der Drucker mit Namen Brandis im Rahmen der Buchgeschichte des 15. Jahrhunderts. PhD. Thesis. Berlin: Humboldt University 1974. (open access on edoc.hu-berlin.de) Altmann, Ursula. Buchdruck in Rostock 1476. Rostock: VOB Ostsee-Druck 1976. Andersen, Elizabeth. “Birgitta of Sweden: Translation, Transmission and Reception in Northern Germany.” A Companion to Mysticism and Devotion in Northern Germany in the Late Middle Ages. Ed. Elizabeth Andersen, Henrike Lähnemann and Anne Simon. (Brill’s Companions to the Christian Tradition 44). Leiden: Brill 2013. 205–230. Brecht, Martin and Robert Peters. “Theodor Smedeckens niederdeutsche Übertragung von Luthers Neuem Testament.” Lutherjahrbuch 72 (2005). 49–76. Dinges, Hildegard. ‘Sunte Birgitten Openbaringe.’ Neuausgabe des mnl. Frühdruckes von 1496, unpublished dissertation Münster, 1952. Eisenstein, Elizabeth. Divine Art, Infernal Machine. The Reception of Printing in the West from First Impressions to the Sense of an Ending. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press 2011. Flachmann, Holger. Martin Luther und das Buch. Eine historische Studie zur Bedeutung des Buches im Handeln und Denken des Reformators, J.C.B. Mohr/Paul Siebeck: Tübingen 1994. Flood, John. “Hans Folz zwischen Handschriftenkultur und Buchdruckerkunst.“ Text- typ und Textproduktion in der deutschen Literatur des Mittelalters. Ed. Eliza- beth Andersen, Manfred Eikelmann and Anne Simon. Berlin: de Gruyter 2005. 1–27. Freytag, Hartmut. “Gedanken über Literatur in der Stadt Lübeck während des Mittel- alters und der frühen Neuzeit.” Niederdeutsches Jahrbuch 122 (1999). 7–24. Füssel, Stephan. Gutenberg und seine Wirkung. Frankfurt a.M./Leipzig: Insel 1999. English translation, Gutenberg and the Impact of Printing. London: Ashgate 2003. Hammel-Kiesow, Rolf. “Schriftlichkeit und Handelsgesellschaften niederdeutsch- hansischer und oberdeutscher Kaufleute im späten 13. und 14. Jahrhundert.” Von Nowgorod bis London. Studien zu Handel, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft im mit- telalterlichen Europa. Ed. Marie-Luise Heckmann et al. Göttingen: V&R uni- press 2008. 213–242. Hammel-Kiesow, Rolf, Matthias Puhle and Siegfried Wittenberg. Die Hanse. Darm- stadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft 2009. Hauschild, Wolf-Dieter. Kirchengeschichte Lübecks. Christentum und Bürgertum in neun Jahrhunderten. Lübeck: Schmidt-Römhild 1981. Hogg, James. “Sunte Birgitten openbaringe.” (Spiritualität Heute und Gestern 8). Analecta Cartusiana 35:8 (1989). 1–265. Hogg, James. “Sunte Birgitta Openbaringe.” (Spiritualität Heute und Gestern 7). Analecta Cartusiana 35:7 (1990). 101–213. 222 Elizabeth Andersen

Krüger, Nilüfer. Die Rostocker Brüder vom Gemeinsamen Leben zu Sankt Michael. (Veröffentlichungen der Universitätsbibliothek Rostock 127). Rostock: Univer- sitätsbibliothek 1999. Krüger, Nilüfer. 525 Jahre Buchdruck in Rostock. Die Druckerei der Brüder vom Gemeinsamen Leben. (Veröffentlichungen der Universitätsbibliothek Rostock 132). Rostock: Universitätsbibliothek 2001. Lähnemann, Henrike. “Lübeck.” Europe: a Literary History, 1348–1418. Ed. David Wallace. Oxford: Oxford University Press 2016. 1:596–610. Lohmeier, Dieter. “Die Frühzeit des Buchdrucks in Lübeck.” Die Lübecker Buchdruc- ker im 15. und 16 Jahrhundert. Buchdrucker für den Ostseeraum. Ed. Alken Bruns and Dieter Lohmeier. Heide in Holstein: Westholsteinische Verlags- anstalt Boyens & Co 1994. 11–53. Meltz, Carl. “Die ältesten niederdeutschen Bibeldrucke der Universitätsbibliothek Rostock.” Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift der Universität Rostock 4 (1954/55). 167–198. Menke, Hubertus. “Druckt to Lübeck. Niederdeutsche Drucke des 15./16. Jahrhunderts aus norddeutschen Bibliotheken.” Korrespondenzblatt des Vereins für niederdeutsche Sprachforschung 91 (1984). 57–103. Menke, Hubertus. “‘Na dem Holme 1 Vat mit Boken’. Zum spätmittelalterlichen Buchvertrieb Lübecks in den Ostseeraum.” Ed. Kurt Erich Schöndorf and Kai-Erik Westergaard. Niederdeutsch in Skandinavien. Akten des 1. Nordischen Symposions ‘Niederdeutsch in Skandinavien’ in Oslo. (Beiheft zur Zeitschrift für deutsche Philologie 4). Berlin: Erich Schmidt 1987. 147–157. Menke, Hubertus. “Die literarische Stadtkultur Lübecks um 1500.” Reynke de Vos – Lübeck 1498. Zur Geschichte und Rezeption eines deutsch-niederländischen Bestsellers. Ed. Amand Berteloot, Loek Geeraedts and Hubertus Menke. (Niederlande-Studien. Kleinere Schriften 5). Münster/Hamburg 1998. 81–101. Menke, Hubertus. “‘Ghemaket vmme der eyntvoldighen vnde simple Mynschen Willen’. Zur Lübecker Druckliteratur und der frühen Neuzeit.” Ausstattung Lübecker Wohnhäuser. Raumnutzungen, Malerieien und Bücher im Spät mittelalter und der frühen Neuzeit. Ed. Manfred Eickhölter und Rolf Hammer- Kiesow. (Häuser und Höfe in Lübeck 4). Neumünster: Wachholtz 1993. 299– 316. Mysticism and Devotion in Northern Germany. A Companion to Mysticism and Devo- tion in Northern Germany in the late Middle Ages. Ed. Elizabeth Andersen, Henrike Lähnemann and Anne Simon. (Brill’s Companions to the Christian Tradition 44). Leiden: Brill 2013. Pieth, Willy. “Lübeck als Pionier der Buchdruckerkunst.” Geschichte der freien und Hansestadt Lübeck. Ed. Fritz Endres. Lübeck: Otto Quitzow 1926. 210–243. Reinitzer, Heimo. Oberdeutsche Bibel. Verfasserlexikon 6. 1987. 1276–1290. Sahlin, Claire L. Birgitta of Sweden and the Voice of Prophecy. Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer 2001. Schwencke, Olaf. “Ein Kreis spätmittelalterlicher Erbauungsschriftsteller in Lübeck.” Jahrbuch des Vereins für niederdeutsche Sprachforschung 88 (1965). 20–58. Selzer, Stephan. Die mittelaterliche Hanse. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesell- schaft 2010. Sodmann, Timothy. “Buchdruck, Buchhandel und Sprachkontakt im hansischen Raum.” Sprachkontakt in der Hanse. Aspekte des Sprachausgleichs im Ostsee- und Nordseeraum. Akten des 7. Internationalen Symposions über Religious Devotion and Business 223

Sprachkontakt in Europa, Lübeck 1986. Ed. Per Sture Ureland. (Linguistische Arbeiten 191). Berlin: de Gruyter 1987. 89–106. Sodmann, Timothy. “Die Druckerei mit den drei Mohnköpfen.” Franco-Saxonica. Münstersche Studien zur niederländischen und niederdeutschen Philologie. Jan Goossens zum 60. Geburtstag. Ed. Robert Damme, Loek Geeraedts, Gunter Müller Robert Peters. Neumünster: Wachholtz 1990. 343–360. Umsonst ist der Tod. Alltag und Frömmigkeit am Vorabend der Reformation. Curator: Dr Hartmut Kühne (Berlin). Mühlhausen 29.09.14–13.04.14; Leipzig 04.06.14– 07.09.14; Magdeburg 07.11.14–15.02.14. http://www.umsonst-ist-der-tod.de/. Undorf, Wolfgang. From Gutenberg to Luther – Transnational Print Cultures in Scan- dinavia 1450–1525. PhD thesis. Berlin: Humboldt University, 2012 (open access on edoc.hu-berlin.de). Voß, Friederike. Das mittelniederdeutsche Narrenschiff (Lübeck 1497) und seine hoch- deutschen Vorlagen. (Niederdeutsche Studien 41). Cologne: Böhlau 1994 (open access on lwl.org). Wulf, Christine. “Laien lesen die Bibel.” Alltag und Frömmigkeit am Vorabend der Reformation in Mitteldeutschland. Ed. Hartmut Kühne, Enno Bünz and Thomas T. Müller. Petersberg: Michael Imhof Verlag. 2013. 227–228.

Abstract

This article examines how the social composition, the economic strength and the well-developed trading networks of the Free City of Lübeck, “Queen of the Hanse”, led not only to the development of the city as the most important printing centre in late medieval Northern Europe but also to the creation of a clearly defined, cohesive and coherent literary culture in the vernacular. The article takes as its focus the first generation of Lübeck printers (from c. 1470 to c. 1520), concentrating in particular on two texts, the Low German Lübeck Bible from the press of Steffen Arndes, commonly regarded as the most significant German Bible before the Reformation, and the Sunte Birgitten Openbaringe [an adaptation of the Latin Revelations of Saint Birgitta] from the Mohnkopf Press. These texts, published within a couple of years of each other in 1494 and 1496 respectively, are translations from Latin into Low German, are anonymous, share a devotional purpose and are directed at the same readership. Within the Lübeck context, particularly in the case of the Mohnkopf Press, the concept of printing as a divinely inspired art emerges as key to the dominant production of devotional literature. The two texts are illustrative of the channels of mutual transmission and influence which the trading networks of the Hanseatic League in Scandinavia and Northern Germany had opened up, strengthening the links that had been established in the Low German area following the Beguine movement, the Devotio moderna and the convent reforms. They reflect trends of what in modern terminology we might call a programme of outreach and widening participation in the spiritual life.

Address of the author: Visiting Fellow, School of Modern Languages, Newcastle Uni- versity, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UK ([email protected])