ABSTRACT
This chapter examines examples of anticlerical literature from Bamberg printed in the years between 1522 and 1524, in particular, a satyrical pamphlet entitled aThe Courtesan and Prebend-Eater, and the sermons of Johannes Schwanhauser. Assessing the relationship between anticlericalism and the Reformation is fraught with difficulty. Certainly the early years of the Reformation saw numerous vitriolic attacks on the clerical establishment. The new anticlericalism, according to Goertz, 'contributed decisively' to the Reformation movements. Anticlericalism led to an increasing polarization of political and doctrinal controversy, mobilizing the populace to 'spectacular deeds'. Schwanhauser's sermons and aThe Courtesan appear to have contributed substantially to the outbreak of violence in Bamberg in the spring of 1525. Five of Schwanhauser's sermons have survived in print, and, keeping mindful of the pitfalls implicit in the study of printed sermons, they give us a glimpse into some of the ideas current in Bamberg on the eve of the Peasants' War.
