Reformation Printing and Propaganda
Reaching an Illiterate Society Through Broadsheets and Pamphlets
Mar 31, 2009
The success of the 16th century Protestant Reformation can be attributed in large measure to the “print revolution” that enabled inexpensive and mass propaganda to reach thousands of people. Although Europe’s literacy rate was still only between 2-3%, the advent of the printing press – movable type, begun in the 1450s by Johannes Gutenberg in Mainz, enabled efforts to improve that rate, particularly in the cities. This first great print revolution gave Reformers a powerful weapon, one that would help them to create permanent organizations apart from the Catholic Church.
Foundations of Reformation Propaganda
Martin Luther’s 95 Theses were published in 1517 and in 1522 he began translating the Latin Vulgate into German. At the time of his death, over 400 editions resulted in one million printings. Much of this was possible because the print revolution begun in the 1450s had introduced all types of books, pamphlets, maps, and even calendars. Further, Latin was no longer the standard. Historian Miriam Chrisman cites figures from one year of printing in the city of Strasbourg: of 5,677 surviving books, 49.5% were in Latin while 45.9% were printed in German.
For the Reformers, the print revolution led to mass propaganda in the form of picture books, broadsheets, and even crude comic strips. Because literacy rates were low, these forms of communication featured drawings that conveyed message and included simple, briefs rhymes that enabled peasants to connect the picture with the desired message. In other cases, people living in towns tended to be more literate or semi-literate, enabling them to read aloud the messages.
Town life, based on merchant organizations and the Guild system, depended upon a higher degree of literacy for success. This included the facilitation of town law and other culturally necessary elements dependent on a literate community. Thus, it is not surprising that the Reformation was often the strongest in the cities while rural peasants had greater difficulties transitioning from Catholicism and the age-old superstitions that had often become entwined with religious belief and practices.
Reformation Messages
In 1545 a series of drawings was published in Wittenberg called the Depictions of the Papacy. Martin Luther endorsed the collection with his name affixed to each page. Perhaps vulgar by contemporary standards and expectations, the pictures resonated with the common people. The general thesis was that the papacy originated of the devil, that the pope himself was a monster or anti-Christ figure, and that politically, the Roman church through its popes had sought historically to enslave the German people. Although the last charge was pure propaganda, one of the pictures depicted a smiling pope about to behead Conrad IV, who was killed in 1268 but not by the pope. R. W. Scribner discusses all of the images in detail in For the Sake of Simple Folk (Cambridge, 1981).
Another picture, “Origin of the Monks,” relies on Luther’s frequent use of scatological language and imagery. The devil, flanked by two demons, sits atop a gallows, defecating monks. Luther capitalized on medieval superstitions that associated defecation with the devil. The devil’s presence was often announced with a ghastly stench. In German, the phrase “Teuffels Dreck” (Devil’s Dirt) could be applied in many ways. Preaching a sermon as a young man, before the 95 Theses, Luther spoke of the sin of back biting, relating the practice to the “devil’s excrements.”
The goals of Reformation mass propaganda were to incite action. Taking full advantage of the new technology, the Reformation message, as well as through the Bible and religious commentary, reached thousands of people and enabled them to obtain a better understanding of the issues. While good preaching had always been a mass persuading technique, the proliferation of printed matter reinforced preaching and provided a written legacy that helped Reformation organizations succeed. This also directly impacted both Lutheran and Calvinist goals to forge fully literate societies emphasizing scripture reading.
Sources:
Miriam U. Chrisman, “Printing and the Evolution of Lay Culture in Strasbourg, 1480-1599,” The German People and the Reformation, Edited by R. Po-Chia Hsia (Cornell University Press, 1988).
Steven Ozment, “Pamphlet Literature of the German Reformation,” Reformation Europe: A Guide to Research, Edited by Steven Ozment (St. Louis: Center for Reformation Research, 1982).
R. W. Scribner, Popular Culture and Popular Movements in Reformation Germany London: the Hambledon Press, 1987).
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