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TheEpistolæ Obscurorum Virorum (English:Letters of Obscure Men) was a celebrated collection ofsatiricalLatin letters which appeared 1515–1519 inHagenau,Germany. They support the GermanHumanist scholarJohann Reuchlin and mock the doctrines and modes of living of thescholastics andmonks, mainly by pretending to be letters from fanatic Christian theologians discussing various topics. They tell each other stories about their lovers, give senseless recommendations, boast about their successes, meanwhile covering other topics such as whether all Jewish books should be burned as un-Christian or not. They are prone to quote the Bible along with Latin poetry, often mistakenly or in ill-suitedcontext.
The work was based upon the real-life public dispute between German humanistJohann Reuchlin and certainDominican friars, especially the formerly Jewish convertJohannes Pfefferkorn who had obtained Imperial authority fromHoly Roman EmperorMaximilian I to burn all known copies of theTalmud in 1509. The title is a reference to Reuchlin's 1514 bookEpistolae clarorum virorum (English: Letters of famous/bright men) which provided a collection of letters to Reuchlin on scholarly and intellectual matters from eminent German humanists such asUlrich von Hutten,Johann Crotus,Konrad Mutian,Helius Eobanus Hessus, and others, to show that his position in the controversy with the monks was approved by the learned. The Latin adjectiveobscurus ("dark, hidden, obscure") is the opposite ofclarus ("bright, famous, obvious") used in the title of Reuchlin's book.[original research?]
Most of the letters found inEpistolæ Obscurorum Virorum are addressed toHardwin von Grätz inDeventer and contain mock accusations against him, such as allegation that he had been intimate withJohannes Pfefferkorn's wife (Letter XII) and that Grätz had defecated his pants in public (letter XL). The letters profess to be written by certain ecclesiastics and professors inCologne and other towns ofGermany. Grätz had made himself odious to the liberal minds of the time by what they saw as his arrogant pretension, his determined hostility to the spirit of the age, and his lax morality.
The first issue of the work contained 41 letters, but more were added later. The collection was published anonymously, and the authorship has been a fertile subject of controversy, but the main portion of the letters are attributed to the humanistsCrotus Rubeanus a.k.a. Johannes Jäger, who is said to have originated the idea and the title;Ulrich von Hutten, who contributed mainly to the second volume;Erasmus; and Reuchlin. The work is credited with hastening theProtestant Reformation.
The book was banned in many places, and with regard to the rise ofMartin Luther'sProtestant Reformation,Pope Leo Xexcommunicated the authors, readers, and disseminators of theEpistolæ Obscurorum Virorum in 1517, citing the fact that the discussed matter of burning all Jewish books, especially the Talmud, was not held as a majority view among Christian scholars.[1]: 514–518
The modern termobscurantism derives from the title of this work.[2] As the theologians in the book intended to burn "un-Christian" works,Enlightenment philosophers used the term for conservative, especially religious enemies of progressive Enlightenment and its concept of the liberal spread of knowledge.
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