The many commemorative events held in 2017 upon the occasion of the five hundredth anniversary of the publication of Luther's ninety-five theses resonated in France much as elsewhere throughout the global community. For their part, a group of prominent French scholars chose to memorialize the arrival in France of Luther's texts and the ideas contained therein. A collection of Luther's writings, printed in Basel, first passed into the French kingdom during the autumn of 1518, approximately a year after the publication of the ninety-five theses. The German reformer's “accursed books” (maudits livres) found a ready audience in France. They circulated widely and were soon translated and reprinted. At the same time, they were challenged, condemned, and at times publicly burned. What then were these early Luther texts and how do modern historians evaluate their message and significance? What was their attraction for some? And their danger according to others?
The volume at hand appeared in conjunction with an exposition held at the Bibliothèque Mazarine in cooperation with the Bibliothèque de l'Histoire du Protestantisme Français, both in Paris. The essays focus on the printed word and related elements: the invention of printing, new ways of reading, networks for book distribution, booksellers and their motivation, dangerous texts, religious sensibilities, and control mechanisms. Six individual chapters explore these and other issues. The chapters begin with an extended essay (in one case, two) examining the general contours of a particular theme. These individual essays are in each instance followed by brief presentations of relevant texts along with stunning color plates of title pages and key passages. Bibliographic notes penned by a variety of scholarly experts complete the ensemble. Chief among the strengths of this volume is the astonishing number of these abbreviated presentations (seventy-eight in all) of the books under consideration. They serve not simply to bolster the author's interpretations. They add an important series of tangible reference points to the many questions raised in the essays.
Frédéric Barbier opens the conversation with consideration of the print revolution and its impact during the first decades of the sixteenth century. Literacy increased; fresh approaches to reading and teaching followed. Renaissance philologists studied the texts ever more closely and new religious sensibilities emerged. Barbier concludes that the Reformation was “fundamentally a question of mediatization” (41). The media, with the book as the principal actor, shaped and framed the processes and discourse. The ensuing essay by Florine Lévecque-Stankiewicz focuses on the Luther texts that were available in Paris. Printers and booksellers quickly perceived the enormous possibilities inherent in the Lutheran controversy. Their motivation included personal commitment as well as increased profits. At the same time, they needed to guard against arrest and prosecution by the forces of orthodoxy. The first Luther texts to arrive in France were a selection issued by the Basel printer Johann Froben, who clearly understood their commercial potential. Parisian editions soon followed. The inevitable controversy and condemnation led to yet another phase: the clandestine printing and distribution of Lutheran texts.
Chapter 3 offers two complementary pieces on reactions to Luther's writings. Geneviève Guilleminot-Chrétien discusses Luther's condemnation by the Sorbonne and Louis de Berquin's trial and execution. Berquin's library of Lutheran works was his undoing. Yves Krumenacker then takes up the arguments of the anti-Luther theologians, notably Johannes Eck, Josse Clichtove, Henry VIII, John Fisher, Latomus, and Jérôme de Hangest. In the fourth chapter, Marianne Carbonnier-Burkard and Olivier Millet direct attention to the complex issue of Luther's influence on the French reforming movement. They underscore the importance of the blending of Lutheran ideas with humanist thought, as exemplified by figures such as Lefèvre d'Etaples, Marguerite of Navarre, and Clément Marot. Luther's presence in French literary circles was, in the words of Carbonnier-Burkard and Millet, vigorous but limited.
Carbonnier-Burkard and Millet continue to pursue these themes in chapter 5 with an analysis of developments in the 1540s. The crown mounted a far harsher campaign against the religious threat. The term “Lutheran” became synonymous with heresy and any hope of a middle ground evaporated. At the same time, John Calvin emerged as a dominant figure in the French Reformation. Calvin had read Luther closely and his early publications such as the Institutes of the Christian Religion reflect the weight of the German reformer's impact. Indeed, French translations of Luther, published at Geneva, appeared beginning in 1539.
Yves Krumenacker concludes this collaborative project with an essay on the black legend of Luther. A Catholic rumor mill erupted in Germany and France upon the occasion of Luther's death in 1546. Authors such as Cochlaeus recounted a broad range of scurrilous, often completely fabricated stories about the reformer's life and, in particular, his death. The genre thrived among French Catholic historians and theologians who continued to embrace a decidedly negative view of Luther well into the 1970s.
The editors doubtless envisioned this volume as having broad appeal. They seem to have pitched it to scholars as well as members of an informed public audience. In large part, they have succeeded. Still, Reformation specialists will find that the authors often cover familiar ground, while general readers may be slightly put off by the volume's sheer size (339 pages) as well as its occasionally heavy prose and myriad references. These are, however, minor concerns in comparison to the volume's singular achievement. This collection of essays offers a superb assessment of the lines of transmission, power, and consequences of Luther's message as it crossed the frontier into France and spread within the kingdom through the vehicle of the book. The authors demonstrate convincingly, both in their essays and in the annotated bibliographic material, the ways in which religious leaders, theologians, and publishers mobilized the printed word and, in the process, inspired dedicated followers as well as implacable opponents.
