SOURCE: "From Polemic to Propaganda: The Development of Mass Persuasion in the Late Sixteenth Century," in Archive for Reformation History, Vol. 73, 1982, pp. 175-95.

[In the essay that follows, Chrisman argues that the pamphlets distributed by both Protestants and Catholics during the Reformation were an early form of political propaganda.]

Polemic can be defined as a controversial argument, a discussion in which opposite views are presented and maintained by opponents. It connotes a two-way process, a dialogue, although it may be a dialogue between the deaf. Propaganda lacks that quality of interchange. It is one-sided, a systematic attempt to propagate a particular opinion or doctrine. Its purpose is to influence men's opinions and attitudes and thus their actions and behaviour.¹ In the sixteenth century ideological formulations experienced the shift from polemic argument to propaganda. Printing presses made it possible to develop new forms of mass persuasion which were directed to the creation and perpetuation of schism, suspicion and hatred between the Christian churches.

When the Reformation began the reformers believed it was a mere matter of time before the Roman church would be won over to see the errors of the past and thus proceed to the purification of doctrine and practise. Luther addressed his Freedom of a Christian Man to Pope Leo X in an attempt to maintain some degree of dialogue. As late as 1536 Calvin still hoped that Francis I would accept or at least listen to the new doctrines and dedicated The Institutes of the Christian Religion to him. An overwhelming number of polemic pamphlets flowed from the presses between 1520 and 1525, in the city of Strasbourg alone 296 editions were printed.

	Protestant	Catholic
1520	50	4
1521	36	4
1522	41	7
1523	79	13
1524	54	17
1525	26	4
1526	9	0
1527	2	3
1528	0	1
1529	8	2

Even more flowed from Wittenberg and Nuremberg.² The pamphlets were controversial and disputations. They set forth the arguments in favor of the new doctrines and customs. They criticized the errors of the Roman church. But they assumed a rational, if contentious, discourse.

By the middle of the century both sides had changed their tone and their purposes. The schism within the church was accepted as permanent. Faced with the necessity of maintaining the cohesion of its band of faithful in the face of its enemies, each group developed new techniques of indoctrination. As Leonard Doob has observed for the twentieth century, propaganda reflects conflict within a society. Competing groups use methods of persuasion to attract adherents from the ranks of the enemy, from among the neutrals and to strengthen themselves.³ After 1560, it was no longer a matter of rational argument. The object was to control group attitudes and behaviour. Instead of polemic pamphlets, popular broadsheets, newsheets, songs and woodcuts rolled off the printing presses.⁴ Viewed in the light of modern propaganda, the techniques of mass persuasion were already well advanced.

Printing was the instrument of new forms. It had always been possible to influence men's thoughts and actions through the spoken word, through sermons and harangues. Printing gave these words a greater permanence and a greater effect. By the end of the sixteenth century both sides, Catholic and Protestant, began to use the printed word in multiple ways to support their own version of the truth and, above all, to arouse fear of their anatogonists. The core of modern propaganda is stereotyping. Walter Lippmann pointed out that in a complex world men cannot have an accurate picture of reality. Thus they construct their own view of reality to achieve a sense of security.⁵ In the sixteenth century this meant the creation of a false image of the opposing religious group. The perceived differences were imbued with emotional and psychological elements as well as religious aspects. The opponent was so separated that his continued existence was viewed as a menace to a stable social order.

The intriguing element for the historian is how the change came about. The polemic tracts of the early years of the Reformation fit clearly into the context of medieval religious, political and scholarly life. Popes, emperors and other princes, for centuries, had used skilled writers like Marsilio of Padua and John of Salisbury to set forth their particular version of a political or religious controversy. Lorenzo Valla, Poggio Bracciolini, Flavio Biondo earned their keep as papal writers, turning out the desired opinion in elegant style. Francesco Filelfo wrote for the Sforzas as well as for the pope. The German humanists were engaged in the bitter Reuchlin controversy just before the Reformation, indeed Ulrich von Hutten moved easily from writing polemic against the Dominicans to writing tracts in support of Luther. What is important to observe is that in the case of Germany until 1525 these battles were open, fought among opponents who knew each other, who openly signed their name to their pamphlets and tracts and who were, by and large, educated men—clerics or scholars. Of the 296 editions of religious polemic published in Strasbourg between 1520 and 1525, only twenty-seven or less than one percent, were published anonymously. All of the polemic on the Catholic side was signed. The overwhelming majority of the Protestant pamphlets were written by clergy who had converted to the new movement and were eager to propagate the religious doctrines of the reformed party.

Then, after the Peasant's War, production of this polemic dropped dramatically (Table 1). Mark Edward's analysis of Lutheran publication in all the major centers of printing. Nuremburg, Augsburg, Wittenberg and Strasbourg shows the same pattern of production in every city—an outpouring from 1520-1525, a sharp decline thereafter.⁶ It is impossible not to conclude that the majority of Protestant clergy were afraid that their call for religious reform had been misinterpreted. The Peasant's War was an abyss, a yawning chasm, which opened at their feet. Terrified by the specter of anarchy, they quickly drew back. After 1525 the clergy adopted a far more sober tone, indeed few of them continued to write pamphlets addressed to the populace. It was men like Otto Brunfels, Matthias Flaccius Illyricus or the Anabaptists, none of them accepted by the established reformers, who continued to write for the larger public. The established reformed clergy continued their disputes over doctrine but they addressed each other. They wrote in Latin instead of in German. A few polemic treatises continued to appear. In Strasbourg the Council of Trent created a flurry of activity in the 1540s, then the polemic tracts were reduced to no more than one or two a year. The outpouring of 1520-25 was never repeated.

	Protestant	Catholic
1530-39	17	5
1540-49	26	3
1550-59	4	1
1560-69	7	1
1570-79	1	1
1580-89	2	0
1590-99	2	0

Instead, after 1570, new forms began to appear. While they did not reach the totals of the early polemic they outweighed the publication of Protestant doctrine, Biblical commentary or humanist works in these years.

	Propaganda Materials	Protestant Doctrine (including Catechisms)
1550-59	6	9

1560-69	11	17
1570-79	62	7
1580-89	24	3
1590-99	33	2

The major propaganda form was the illustrated broadsheet, a large, single sheet with a woodcut that might occupy the entire upper half. The text appeared below. The illustrations were usually in color, color which did much to enhance the dramatic and emotional message. A woodcut of the burning of two Anabaptist women is filled with red: the stockings of the executioner are red; the martyr's dress is red; the jerkin of the attending magistrate is red; the fire is red and yellow. A great cloud, like a wave, engulfs the martyr.⁷ The illustration might provide the entire sequence of an event: the assassination of the Prince of Orange in his Palace; the pursuit of the assassin; the latter's conviction and execution.⁸ Other broadsheets were in black and white but these were consciously manipulated to create dramatic contrasts. In addition to the illustrated broadsheets there were zeitung, usually composed of four leaves, perhaps eight. These were journalistic accounts of a major event, a battle, a political assassination, the St. Batholomew's massacre, important contemporary occurrences. These varied from quite factual accounts written by an eyewitness—the young Francesco Guevara, for example, provided an account of the siege of Malta, written ostensibly as a letter to his family⁹—to strongly biased versions of the close fought battles between the Dutch and the Duke of Alva in favor of the beleaguered Dutch.¹⁰ Poems, published in the form of large or small broadsheets, celebrated the constancy of martyrs to the faith, the bravery of leaders and troops fighting the Catholic or Protestant cause, the treachery of the opponent. Songs were equally, perhaps more important. Songs celebrated the virtues of Protestant heroes. Songs extolled Protestant victories. Songs deplored Catholic cruelty.¹¹

A significant element in the German propaganda is its anonymity. The polemic of the 1520s, as we have seen, was far from anonymous. Men and women, seemingly proudly, signed their tracts, bearing personal witness to their own conversion. The propaganda is largely nameless, all the more to be noted because other forms of broadsheets, reports of comets, reports of wonderful events, were usually signed and might even list other witnesses to the event. Thus, a report on the birth of quintuplets in 1566 gives the name of the midwife and those of three other women who attended the birth.¹² a report of a remarkable stalk of wheat which bore 72 kernels on one stem notes that the honorable magistrates of Strasbourg observed this themselves.¹³ A description of the capture of a crocodile by one Hieronymus Mantaner stated that the writer, Salvatore Flaminio, had been in captivity with Mantaner and had personally observed the event.¹⁴

Anonymity was not, then, an integral element of popular publication. Indeed for the wonder publications the opposite seems to have been the case. There was a conscious effort to establish witness and thus credibility. The propaganda broadsheets were an exception to the general rule. The anonymity cannot be causally related to fear of censorship. Most German cities had ordinances invoking censorship and forbidding the publication of schmähschrifien but it was the printer who was held responsible. Many of the propaganda broadsheets bear the name of the printer or the city.¹⁵ Who wrote these broadsheets? We do not know. It is my own intuition that in the case of the German broadsheets the authors were not clerics. Political accounts may have been the work of writers on the staff of a prince, city secretaries, upper members of the proliferating bureaucracy. It seems likely that the writers were working with certain printers. The writer may have conceivably been the printer himself. In Strasbourg Johann Fischart can be identified as a major propagandist. Although most of his propaganda works were unsigned they have long since been clearly attributed, partially because of his unique use of words. His brother-in-law. Bernhard Jobin, operated one of the largest printing shops in the city at the end of the century. Fischart translated and edited a barrage of propaganda—broadsheets, zeitung, poems—defending the Protestant cause in the French wars of religion. Jacob Cammerlander, another Strasbourg printer who made an important contribution to popular scientific and technological publication, printed violent anti-Catholic literature. Anton Bertram, whose major income as a printer came from turning out theses, disputations and other official publications for the Strasbourg Academy, devoted substantial press space to propaganda broadsheets for the Protestant cause.

Broad comparative study of printers in several cities may make it possible to establish some connection between the printing shops and the development of propaganda. It is certainly an area that calls for further study. The printers had discovered the size and the appetite of the popular market during the brief five years of the pamphlet revolution. When the clergy stopped writing these tracts the bottom dropped out for the printers, reflected in the production figures given in the tables. Until 1520 the Catholic church provided the major market for books. The Protestant church, without the monasteries, the chapter libraries, the large bureaucracy with its canon lawyers, never guaranteed the same stable and secure market.

Clearly it was essential for the printers to develop new groups of readers. In Strasbourg the immediate response to the cut-off of religious publication was a burst of popular and scientific treatises. People were health conscious in the sixteenth century and popular medical manuals always sold. By the end of the 1530s new popular writers began to publish novels, short stories and plays for the vernacular market. The journalism after 1560 would seem to be a continuation of this development of materials which would sell to a large audience.¹⁶

	Catholic Works
1480-89	160
1490-99	134
1500-09	159
1510-19	163
1520-29	99
Total:	716
	Protestant Works
1520-29	504
1530-39	130
1540-49	93
1550-59	55
1560-69	75
1570-79	55
1580-89	47
1590-99	35
Total:	994

The mass market was central to the propagandists. Religious polemic had attempted to change people's religious beliefs but it proceeded in traditional fashion, under the direction of men trained to persuade and to lead. Their writing led to the conversion of ordinary men and women to the new faith, but they did not create a new view of the world. Indeed the moment that the writers felt this had occurred, they stopped writing.

The propaganda created a new view of society, albeit one that had been politically recognized in 155. The world was divided into hostile camps. It was essential for each group to stake out its own claim to the truth and to maintain its separation from the unbelievers. The anonymous propagandists helped to make the separation clear, and laid the foundations of hostility which would end in the prolonged religious struggles of the seventeenth century. Viewed in the light of modern propaganda analysis these writers, whether consciously or unconsciously, adopted the major techniques of mass persuasion and opinion control. One of the primary objectives of the Protestant propagandists was to create a strong sense of identity within the fold by asserting the evils of Catholicism. G. Wylie Sypher has shown that the propaganda written by protagonists of the Catholic League in France had exactly the same aim.¹⁷ In both cases the message was destructive. Its purpose was to create suspicion and distrust of the enemy, to reinforce anxiety and play on the consequences of defeat, principles clearly outlined by Josef Goebbels at a later date.¹⁸

Portrait broadsheets were important to this type of propaganda. They were an integral element in the process of iconclasm which Louis-Jean Calvet has described as part of revolutionary propaganda. The new consciousness leads to the rejection of old symbols and customs, but the destruction of the old must then be accompanied by the creation of new symbols.¹⁹ Sixteenth century propagandists used religious and political leaders as their symbols. Portrait broadsheets depicted the leaders as heros and heroines, stressing their faithfulness, their constancy, their willingness to endure martyrdom for the cause. They were models of the new way of life, inspiring others to dedicate themselves in the same way.

Jan Hus, for example, exemplified the Protestant cause. A 1550 broadsheet showed him in academic regalia with an open book, symbolic of his preaching of the Holy Word of God. Hus, said the text, had preached the truth of Jesus Christ against the Roman papacy and had revealed the abominable errors of the Roman church. He had then been summoned to the Council of Constance where he went willingly on the strength of the imperial safe-conduct. On arrival, however, he and Jerome of Prague were charged with being stiff-necked and disobedient to the Church of Rome and condemned to be burned. The humiliation of Hus at the hands of his judge was described, but his death was triumphant. As the fire burned fiercely, he sang a hymn of praise in a joyful voice. On the day of his death, Hus said to his captors: "'Today you roast a goose, but after one hundred years a swan will come whom you cannot roast.' With these words he prophesied the coming of Luther. God grant us also such a firm faith that we will all stand by Jesus Christ eternally."²⁰"

Another broadsheet presented a handsome woodcut of Heinrich Bullinger. The text, written in verse by Johann Fischart, proclaimed that although great age and grey hair were worthy of respect in themselves, they were even more worthy when earned in the service of God, in dedication to the needs of the fatherland and the piety of the common people. Bullinger's name had climbed over the Swiss alps, his virtue was known to foreign people as well as to his countrymen. In every Christian place where God's word was heard, men know of his books which clarified the word and refuted errors. All men schould thank God for such teachers and abide by their doctrines.²¹

A broadsheet by Fischart written after the St. Bartholomew's day massacre extolled, in Latin verse, the virtues of the Admiral de Coligny. His bravery, his skill as leader of the Protestants, had been exemplary. Fischart then shifted into German for a final exhortation: "O Germany, how long will you be blind? How long will your native intelligence atrophy? Greed for gold overcomes all virtue. All fear of God is wiped from your mind and France. Spain and other foreign lands laugh at your dallying … O you pious lords and princes take counsel, take counsel. Be unified—behold the Fatherland, the miserable, unprotected people."²²

In 1587 a Catholic propagandist wrote an anguished account of the martyrdom of Mary Queen of Scots. Imprisoned twenty years before by her rebellious, heretical subjects because of her Catholic faith, Queen Mary had trusted in the Queen of England's promise to replace her on the Scottish throne. Instead she was taken prisoner by Queen Elizabeth and eventually killed by her and her advisors, suffering with great courage and in the full faith of the Holy Roman Catholic religion.²³ Throughout the account these last words reappear almost like a Greek chorus. They were the repeated phrase which would evoke a desired response, another basic technique of modern propaganda.²⁴

In the account Mary was portrayed as calm, utterly in control, refusing to see the Queen's deputy until he had presented himself formally at her door to say that he had an official commission for her. She then commanded Melvin, her servant, to convey to her dear son the true account of her death in the Holy Catholic Roman Religion and admonish James to bear no mistrust against the Queen of England. Furthermore, Melvin was to bear witness that Mary had died a Catholic, loyal to Scotland and France. She also asked all her servants to inform the King of France of her Catholic death. Having been denied a priest, she was led to the scaffold which had been prepared. She carried a wooden crucifix in her hand and a book. A gold crucifix hung from her neck and a Pater Noster from her belt. A minister approached her and asked whether she wished to die in sin. She silenced him. Again he approached her and she cried out, "Be quiet, Mr. Doppen, I will not listen to you. I will have nothing to do with you. You are very annoying to me."²⁵ One of the English nobles, noticing the crucifix, said that it sorrowed him to see her caught in such superstition. The Queen answered that it was a portrait of the Lord Jesus Christ, to remind her of his bitter suffering and death. The Calvinist Doctor then fell on his knees and made a comforting prayer. When he finished, the Queen began to recite a prayer in Latin, holding the crucifix in her hand. She prayed that the Queen of England might rule her kingdom long in peace. She prayed that her son, the King of Scotland, might be converted to the Catholic Roman Religion. Thus, concluded the broadsheet, "did the noble Queen of Scotland have to end her life in the Holy Catholic Religion for the heretical, seduced English who, together with their Queen, fear that the Catholics would come out of Scotland and their Calvinist sect would be endangered. This they prevented by her innocent death."²⁶

In the account the old symbols were stressed: the crucifixes, the rosary, the Latin prayers. Mary emerged as pure and constant to Catholicism, merciful towards her persecutor, resisting up to the end the ministrations of the Protestants, turned into Calvinists by the Catholic writer. In contrast, the tyranny, the cruelty, the treachery of Elizabeth were exposed. A Protestant broadsheet gave a similar account of a young woman who was put to death by order of the Cardinal of Trent. While the event lacked the political significance of the death of Mary Queen of Scots, the poem which recounted the martyrdom emphasized similar qualities: mercifulness; constancy; the nobility of her death; unswerving faith.

There was a godfearing and Christian young woman
who had ably learned God's word and catechism.
When she was young she eagerly attending the preaching.
She was sympathetic to the poor and served them diligently.
(But) the enemy wished to convert the young maiden to blasphemy.
With sweet words and harsh words, they talked to her.
But she stood fast as a wall, as gold in the fire.
No pains of martyrdom turned her away from Christ.
Having merited death she held herself nobly
Crying earnestly to God … Lord Christ into thine hands I commit my soul.²⁷

Broadsheets were not limited to martyrs. Political, religious and military leadership was also honored. A fine woodcut of Henry of Valois eulogized his accomplishments as King of Poland.²⁸ Another recounted the contributions to the Protestant cause made by Johann Casimir, Count Palatine. A brave and elegant knight, he had eagerly accepted the teachings of the Reformation. In 1567 he had gone to the aid of the French Hugenots, giving them support when they were in great need. He continued to campaign in France during 1573-76 and then went to the aid of the Dutch against the Spanish. At the death of his brother Ludwig he had succeeded in bringing the Palatinate back into the Reformation.²⁹ Other broadsheets were devoted to religious leaders: Rudolf Gwalther of Zurich; Matthias Flaccius Illyricus; Martin Bucer.³⁰ All these portrait broadsheets helped to identify the leadership of the two sides, to publicize their exploits and actions and thus help to develop a sense of identity within the group. Men and women could have confidence in the integrity, wisdom and piety of their leaders. Corruption, dishonesty, deceit, impiety were present only among the opposition.

Attacks on the corruption of the opposition were another major weapon of the propagandists. The licentiousness of the adversary was described in meticulous detail, creating a sterotype of unbridled sexuality. The sexual weapon was particularly important to the development of propaganda techniques. Sexual attitudes and customs are central psychological elements in the development of personality, regulating one of the most fundamental aspects of human behaviour.³¹ Accusations of sexual misbehaviour, laxity or perversion helped to undermine the integrity of the opposing side, to heighten distrust and fear.

Much of the Catholic case against the Protestants was based on the latter's sexual behaviour. The polemicists of the Catholic League again and again depicted their antagonists as morally corrupt, indulging in sexual orgies, sodomy and incest.³² Indeed, they wrote, the Protestants had perverted the concept of Christian love to mean that no woman could refuse to give herself to a man.³³ The Catholic writers conceded that much of this was the fault of the Catholics. The misbehaviour of the Catholic clergy in the past laid a foundation of sexual indiscipline which the Protestants now carried to the extreme. They impregnated nuns and violated young girls. Worse, they maintained that all women should be held in common.³⁴

The Protestant propagandists continued to push the old image of the lecherous priest or monk. Young women in the 1570s and 1580s, according to them, were just as liable to sexual molestation at the hands of a priest as their grandmothers and great grandmothers had been in 1500. If anything, their position was more dangerous because of the Jesuits. Protestant broadsheets provided detailed accounts of sexual attacks by priests or monks, each separate step of the incident depicted so that the reader could be conscious of the full hideousness of the event. One such attack resulted in murder rather than rape. A pious young woman, in an advanced stage of pregnancy, had gone into town with her father to make her confession before confinement. The priest who heard the confession noticed her fat purse, waylaid her as she returned home and killed her, plunging his sword into her swollen belly. The black and white woodcut depicted all these events as well as the punishment suffered by the priest. He was boiled in oil.³⁵

Another broadsheet recounted the rape of an eight year old girl, the daughter of a poor widow, by a monk. The latter was roused to excitement by his evil spirit. At first the monk tried to resist. He appealed to Mary to save him from his desires, but in vain. " … The whoremongering monk carried the young girl by force of violence to the cellar, ripping, tearing, dragging, shoving. He threw her under a barrel and held himself against the innocent child, against her shamefaced eyes, her chaste ears and the tender heart of this small youngling, and did such unnatural and unmanly things so shamefully that it is not to be described."³⁶ The illustration showed the return of the mother. In dismay and anguish she ran from the house to report to the authorities who quickly proceeded to imprison the culprit. He was later beheaded. All this in the one picture.

Another Protestant broadsheet reported the fate of a poor but honest girl. Twenty years old, pretty and pleasant, she could not find a husband, because her father had no property. The priest from a nearby town asked her to become his mistress. She would eat and drink only the best, never water, only wine. The girl replied that she would never do anything so immoral for she would have to go to hell and suffer eternal pain. Not at all, said the priest. He could fix it all, for he had the power from Rome to overcome the devil and he could forgive sins. Thus he could absolve her and lead her to Heaven. The young woman was persuaded and they lived together for seven years. Then the devil came unannounced, broke open the priest's house and took the maiden by the hand to lead her to hell. At that moment she discovered the priest's powerlessness. Evil, concluded the text, always becomes manifest and priests remain priests.³⁷

The Jesuits, in the eyes of the Protestants, represented a particular danger to young women. Johann Fischart carried on a relentless attack against them. Their four cornered hats, he held, were designed precisely for the purpose of covering their devil's horns. They were a constant menace to society, feeding on the innocence and sincerity of young women.³⁸ A broadsheet with a strong resemblance to the story of Little Red Riding Hood, provided a specific example of the perfidy of the Jesuits. A faithful Protestant young woman had resisted all efforts of a Jesuit to convert her to Catholicism. The Jesuit, undaunted, waited until she had retired to bed and entered her room, disguised as the devil. He was stopped in the nick of time by the arrival of a valiant young man who ran the cleric through with his sword, thus preserving both the virginity and the faith of the young woman.³⁹

After forty years the reformed churches were still obsessed by the image of the lecherous priest. Fischart described the high spiritual leaders of the Roman church as stinking rams, caught in their fleshly desires, raging and raving in the herd like proud bucks in heat.⁴⁰ The issue of sexual discipline hit close to the core of social stability and the sanctity of the family. In a period when family life was receiving increasing attention, to prove that the enemy was dissolute sexually was to strengthen internal cohesion against him. The moral rectitude, the virtue of each side was reinforced by the depravity of the opposition.

These sexual incidents, based on anecdotal evidence were important elements in building up fear and anxiety. While such incidents did undoubtedly occur, neither Catholic Europe nor Protestant Europe was faced with moral decline in the 1560s or 1570s. The curtailment of personal liberties, the invasion of individual rights was, however, very real. The establishment of the Inquisition, the English Act of Supremacy and the Acts of Uniformity. French legislation against the Protestants, all led to fundamental curtailment of human liberties. The menace of these acts was another major subject for the propagandists, usually in the form of longer polemic zeitung or newsheets. The zeitung were less blatant than the broadsheets. Since they were not illustrated they lacked the visual impact conveyed by the picture. The text was longer and contained at some point a relatively factual account of the particular event. At the same time their purpose was still to indoctrinate. The strength of the opponent was used to create fear and to demonstrate the absolute necessity of his defeat. Victory by the Catholics would bring disaster and death for the Protestants. Protestant victory, on the other hand, would lead to the destruction of Catholicism.⁴¹

An early zeitung (1546) on the Revolt of the Netherlands gave a six page account of the introduction of the Inquisition. "There is great persecution and pursuit of poor Christians in the Netherlands," the text began, "and a particular misfortune has been created in the new Inquisition." Established by the pope, with the consent of the emperor, it was cruel and terrible because everyone could be examined, high or low, merely on the basis of suspicion. If a person were found guilty both his life and property were taken.⁴² The manual of the Inquisition, the zeitung continued, contained many unchristian and dangerous articles. For example, men could go into all the houses in the town ask how many people lived there, list their names and leave slips of paper for each person, which had to be signed. Each person was then required to go to confession, to take the Sacrament and present his slip of paper. Those who did not attend would be known because there would be no slips for them. Then, they would be seized, burned, and their property confiscated.⁴³ Moreover, people were asked not only about their beliefs but about their neighbors—did the latter attend church and go to confession? Who were their neighbor's friends? The account demonstrated the degree to which men's privacy was violated, the sanctity of the home undermined.⁴⁴

In 1568 another zeitung described in even more detail the procedure followed by the Inquisition. The first section described sixteen steps followed in the questioning, beginning with orders to the familiares to watch a particular person. Then came the questioning: "They ask them to think whether they have done anything to come before the holy seat of justice. Do you want to make a declaration? Because we would like you to unburden yourself and free your conscience … Then, when the individual says some word against himself or others, the inquisitors are pleased, they look at each other and nod to show they like his words."⁴⁵ The steps of the inquisitional procedure were described meticulously, the use of witnesses against the accused, the taking of depositions from the accused to inculcate fear.⁴⁶ The last section described what happened to those accused. As soon as anyone was imprisoned he was forced to give up his keys to everything, including his chests. His goods were inventoried by a notary, then the neighbors were called in to check the inventory. The monks and priests taught that anyone who had turned away from the teaching of Rome possessed his goods falsely and the king was the legitimate owner. In prison the accused was again asked whether he had anything in his possession like a knife or a ring. If he had, he was forced to give it up. He was then left in prison awaiting further decision on his case. Men had suffered this cruel tyranny now for fifty-seven years, may almighty God soon make an end to it.⁴⁷

A Catholic description of conditions under Queen Elizabeth I of England revealed a similar loss of personal liberties, dwelling on the expanding power of a tyrannical government. Beginning with an inflammatory title, "The Calvinist cruelty … in England … under the abominable and frightening Calvinist Law."⁴⁸ the propagandist described the division and schism within the realm created by Protestantism. The kingdom was now split between Catholics. Protestants and Puritans leading to political as well as religious division.⁴⁹ The result had been to stir up obsessional fears on the part of the English. If they saw a ship upon the sea, they were convinced it was coming to invade the realm. If there was political unrest in France, the Netherlands or Spain, they were sure it would spread to England. The whole country was possessed by fear and suspicion with the result that it had been turned into a prison. No one, not even a child or a young person, could leave the country without written permission from the Queen. Everyone entering or leaving was subject to search and examination in all ports. Letters were taken from travellers. Every incoming package was examined in the belief that it might contain an instrument to assassinate the Queen.⁵⁰ Worst of all, even the highest and most powerful noble who might try to escape from this tyranny would be stopped in midflight and imprisoned. There was no means of deliverance. The only solution, according to the propagandist, was in the hands of the Catholic monarchs. The king of Spain should serve as a model for all others. He had never permitted heretics in any part of his realm but had rooted them out, hunted them down and dispersed them in order to protect and preserve the true Christian church. He had brought freedom of religion to the Netherlands.⁵¹ Catholics would be safe only when the kings, with the help of the pope, assumed the responsibility of chasing the Protestant wolves away from the flocks.⁵²

The extent of the religious polarization emerges clearly. Each side was deeply aware of the loss of personal liberty. English Catholics were restricted within the country, they could neither come nor go freely. Dutch Protestants could neither speak nor write freely and lived precariously under the watchful eyes of their neighbors who might denounce them to the authorities of the Inquisition. While each side recognized the danger of the loss of personal liberty to their own side, neither Catholic nor Protestant was willing to recognize the rights of their opponent. The solution, if one was offered, was to get rid of the enemy. Only then would it be possible to return to peace and tranquility. As long as there were heretics about, according to the Catholics, they would conspire against public order and undermine the monarchy. As long as Catholics were in the community, according to the Protestants, there would be tyranny, and violence would continue against men of firm faith and conscience.

The religious wars were a natural subject for the journalists. There were numerous accounts of the war in the Netherlands, the French wars of religion and local conflicts like the Bishop's war in Strasbourg. For example, there were two accounts of the siege of the city of Middleburg in Zeeland in 1573 and the relief of the siege in 1574 by William, Prince of Orange, with details on the tyranny of the Duke of Alva against the cities of Haarlem, Zutfen and Naarden. There was an illustrated broadsheet showing the pontoon bridge built by the Duke of Parma at the seige of Antwerp and another description of the siege of Ruhrort by Spanish troops in 1587.⁵³ These accounts, which were based on a factual description of the event, were also used to drive home the strength, the inhumanity, the brutality of the opponent and sometimes reflected similar qualities on their own side. An account of several Protestant victories in the Netherlands told how the Protestant soldiers had taken much booty. They had seized 200 wagons, nine pieces of field artillery and had clothed themselves in the gilded armor of the Spaniards. The captured German mercenaries had beseeched their countrymen to take them as prisoners but the Protestants, said the journalist, had been forced to execute them because the Spaniards never spared their prisoners but hanged them, everyone. The Spanish soldiers for their part, had tried to escape by entering a cloister, even climbing the trees in order to hide. They were shaken from their perches and all were put to death. "It was," concluded the writer, "a praiseworthy and glorious victory."⁵⁴

This account continued with the prayers of the Protestants on the battlefield to stir up the zeal of faithful. Count Louis of Nassau, wrote the reporter, had remained on the battlefield, convinced that Catholic reinforcements might arrive. His Grace held the field with God's help, praying that God the Almighty would grant His mercy, help and victory to these men and all others who fought for His Word so that the abominable Antichrist and his supporters could not say "Where is the stronger God?"⁵⁵ In the same way, every stout-hearted Christian should not neglect to appeal and pray to the heavenly Father, not only that He will never cease to support the poor, attacked Christians but that he will carry them forward to victory.⁵⁶

Johann Fischart wrote a long account in verse of the defeat of the Spanish Armada, tying this Protestant victory to a Protestant defeat just before. The description of the defeat of the Armada was followed by a long section on the prayer invoked by soldiers of the Protestant Swiss Alliance before an invasion into France in 1587. The question was whether, as one Catholic critic had charged, the prayer had included unchristian petitions.⁵⁷ In answer, Fischart reproduced the prayer in full. A summary provides the intent and the tone: "Almighty God … (you) know the evil counsel and deceitful practices of thine and our enemy, namely the Antichristian hoards and how they have made an alliance against they son. Jesus Christ, his Holy Word and Gospel … and (how) they have poured out the blood of countless Christians … There is no surcease in their violence against us … so that we are now pressed to take up the offensive in our hands, to come to the help of your hard-pressed Christians in France … Now we … fully recognize, true God and Father, that we are far too weak and small to stand up against the great power of our enemy and … we have earned through our sins that you might reasonably withdraw your hand and help from us … Therefore, gracious God and Father, we all come before you and petition you from our hearts that you will pardon our committed sins for the sake of your dear son Jesus Christ … but will shower down your violent anger against those who do not acknowledge you nor appeal to you by name … And that you will protect us from all evil. You will be the lord of our troops, marching with our commanders. You will be the highest general … giving courage to the leaders and strength to our soldiers. You will strike down our enemy with your strong arm … and redeem the blood of your servants."⁵⁸

The problem was that these same Swiss troops, having committed themselves to God's cause, had been cut down by the French with terrible losses.⁵⁹ Was this because they had prayed erroneously as a Catholic critic had been quick to point out? Was it because they had implored God's help against fellow Christians? No. The defeat of the Armada was witness to their virtue and the righteousness of their request. God had heard the prayer of the Swiss. But because of the sins of the Protestants he had let men feel his heavy hand. Then he had quickly followed the initial defeat with victory—and a far more important victory.⁶⁰ For the Armada had involved a far greater effort on the part of the Catholics. It had cost millions in gold since it costs much more to outfit one ship than to lead 1000 horses into the field, and ships had come from all over, from Biscay, Andalusia, Sicily and Ragusa. So much gold and treasure had been spent that a kingdom could have been bought with it.⁶¹ Yet despite all these efforts, despite the fact that the great chaplain in Rome himself had given the benediction, the flags had been consecrated and the sails blessed, God decided to deliver justice and the fleet was drowned in the cold northern sea. The two incidents together bore witness that God would take up the Protestant cause and deliver the Protestants at the right time. He alone, however, knew the time, the place and the people through whom he would carry out justice.⁶² In both these accounts, God was clearly proved to support the Protestant cause. He had abandoned the Catholics.

The propaganda which came off the presses in the last decades of the sixteenth century was clearly aimed at certain human reactions and emotions. Basic to propaganda technique, certain words, certain phrases reappear over and over again on both sides: the word Warnung; the image of the wolf and the sheep; the words abominable and abomination; the threat of Antichrist; the image of tyrannical rule. The most basic appeal in the newsheets, poems and songs was to fear. If all loyal Protestants, or all loyal Catholics, did not band together in unity these were the terrible consequences which they might expect. Suspicion and doubt were inculcated. The other side was not to be trusted. It was capable of conspiracy of all sorts and at all levels: attempts to convert the faithful; attempts to corrupt morality; attempts to subvert public order and set loose the forces of anarchy and unrest. Horror was another element. Horror at acts of terror and violence such as the assassination of King Henry III, the martyrdom of the Protestant clergy under Mary of England, the martyrdom of Mary Queen of Scots, the St. Bartholomew's day massacre—all these showed the inhumanity and brutality of the opponent. The propaganda created alarm and apprehension in a world already shattered by dissension.

Because the techniques of propaganda were new, the effect may have been particularly deeply felt. Political propaganda mounted by the fascists in the nineteen-thrities did not survive the second World War. The religious propaganda of the sixteenth century was more longlasting. Based on the principle of religious separation it created fundamental psychological and social distances which would become deeply rooted in Western European culture. The propaganda created a sterotype of The Other, each religious group accepted that stereotype of its antagonist. The Protestant would perceive the Catholic as priest-ridden, harrassed by an ignorant clergy given over to sexual excess and perversion, dominated by a tyrannical pope. The Catholic would see the Protestant as undisciplined spiritually and morally, contentious, willing to undermine the political order for his own ends. These false images made it impossible after 1600 to reestablish a unified society. In the end each group would develop its own life style, its own social mores, its own culture. The seamless garment of Christ was ripped by the religious leaders. It was torn assunder by the propagandists.

Notes

¹ Leonard Doob: Propaganda, its Psychology and Technique (New York, 1935). 75 76. See also Louis-Jean Calvet: La production révolutionnaire: slogans; affiches; chansons (Paris, 1976). 14.

² These figures and those which follow are based on my computer study of all surviving books published in the city of Strasbourg from 1480-1599. The book analyzes publication by subject matter. See Books, Lay Culture, Learned Culture, 1480-1599. 2 vols. (New Haven, forthcoming 1982). The statement with regard to Wittenberg and Nuremberg is based on a forthcoming computer study of Luther's publication by Mark U. Edwards, "The Printing and Reprinting of Luther's Works."

³ Doob, Propaganda, 77.

⁴ For this paper I have drawn on the printed broadsheets and Zeitung in the Wick Collection at the Zentralbibliothek, Zurich (ZB, Z). The illustrated broadsheets are kept in the Graphische Sammlung (G.S.). The numbers given in the footnotes refer to the catalogue of the collection recently completed by the curator, Bruno Weber. The Zeitung are kept in the Archives (A) at the Zentralbibliothek. I have also consulted Zeitung in the collection of Bibliothèque Municipale at Strasbourg, particularly a small collection made by Rodolphe Reuss.

⁵ Cited in Doob, Propaganda, 36.

⁶ Mark U. Edwards, "Printing and Reprinting of Luther's Works."

⁷ ZBZ (GS). PAS II 1/2. Ein schöner spruch von zweyen Junckfrawen vom Adel zu Delden drey meyl von Deventer verbrantt (Strasbourg. J. Frölich, 1546).

⁸ ZBS (GS), PAS II 21/11. Demnach ein Spaniardt in Brabant … (no place, no date).

⁹ ZBS (A). Wick Ms. F 1713. Neüwe Zeitung unnd Abschrifft eines Brieffs so letslich von Malta kommen ist (Strasbourg, T. Berger. 1565).

¹⁰ ZBS (A). Newezum theil glückliche und sigliche zeittung aus den Niderlander. Wie der Wolgeboren Her Herr Ludwig Grave zu Nassaw und des Printzen von Oranigen … mit den Spaniern in Friesland … Schlacht begangen unnd verbracht hat (no place, 1568).

¹¹ The titles of the following poems and songs provide an idea of the subject matter: Ein … newes Klaglied von einer Jungfrawen mit namen Dorothea wie sie umb der Augsburger Confession … jamerlich unnd erbermlich mit dem Schwerdt hingericht ist warden (Cologne, 1573, another edition Basel, 1573). Ein neüw Lied von der schlacht so zwischen Hertzog Moritzen von Sachsen … und Margraff Albrechten von Brandenburg, anno 1553 gehalten worden (Strasbourg. T. Berger, 1553). Ein neuw Lied, von der schlacht in Frankreich, zwischen den Hertzog von Condé und dem Herzog von Guiss … anno 1562 (Strasbourg, T. Berger, 1563). Ein schon und lustig new Lied von der Edlen Statt Strassburg, und Bistumb da selbs in jetzigen Kriegswesen gantz kurzweilig zu singen (Strasbourg, B. Jobin, 1592). Ein Kläglich New Lied … von der Lothringischen Bezalung, damit er die Teutsch Knecht unnd Bawren zu Dachstein … bezalt, verehrt und begabt hat. Aller Teucher zu trewer Warnung (Strasbourg, 1592). Ein Schön Neu Lied von der Wunderkuh so die Jesuiter zu Moltzheim Weyssagen gelehrt (Strasbourg, 1592)…. Klaglied von den absterben … Joh. Brentzen 11 September 1570 (Strasbourg, T. Berger, c. 1570). Ein Lustig Glossierendt Liedt. Ujf das Babstlich gedicht, von der Statt Strassburg…. Allen Romische Cortisanen und Poetischen Bapstfreuden zugefalien gsungen (Strasbourg, 1592).

¹² ZBZ (GS). PAS II, 6/6. In einen Dorff zwischen Augsburg und Dillingen … eines armen Baurers weib mit namen Anna Risin … fünff lebendiger Kindlein … geboren unnd auff Erden gebracht (Augsburg, M. Francken, 1566).

¹³ ZBZ (GS), PAS II, 5/3. Wunder Weitzenstock (Strasbourg, T. Berger, 1563).

¹⁴ ZBZ (GS), PAS II, 6/4. Warhafftige Beschreibung aines grausammen erschroklichen grossen Wurms … auff Teutsch Lindwurm genent (1558).

¹⁵ In a random sample of 40 Broadsheets, 28 (70%) bear the printer's name or give the name of the city where it was printed.

¹⁶ Graphs showing the production curves for the major types of publication in Strasbourg: Catholic, Humanist, Scientific, Popular Literature can be consulted in my article "L'imprimerie à Strasbourg, de 1480 à 1599" in Strasbourg au coeur religieux du XVIe siècle, Actes du Colloque international à Strasbourg, 25 29 mai, 1975 (Strasbourg, 1977), unpaginated, preceding p. 539. A fuller set of graphs and charts accompanies Volume 1 of Lay Culture, Learned Culture (New Haven, forthcoming, 1982).

¹⁷ G. Wylie Sypher: "'Faisant ce qu'il leur vient à plaisir:' The Image of Protestantism in French Catholic Polemic on the Eve of the Religious Wars." Sixteenth Century Journal XI (1980), 59 84.

¹⁸ Leonard W. Doob: "Goebbels' Principles of Propaganda" in Public Opinion and Propaganda, eds. Katz, Cartwright, Eldersvell and Lee (New York, 1954), 520.

¹⁹ Louis-Jean Calvet. Production révolutionnaire, 20-25.

²⁰ ZBZ (GS), PAS II, 13/20. Johannes Hus (Augsburg, c. 1550 1560).

²¹ ZBZ (GS), PAS II, 12/11. (Johann Fischart) Heinrich Bullinger Diener der Kirchen zu Zurch (Strasbourg: B. Jobin, 1571).

²² ZBZ (GS), PAS II, 10/17. (Johann Fischart) Epicedion in Mortum Casparis de Coligne, Domini de Castilione … una cum suis misere truncatus est; 24 August; 1572 (Strasbourg: B. Jobin, 1573).

²³ ZBZ (GS), PAS II, 24/3-4. Warhaffter und grundlich bericht welcher Massen die Edel und frumb Konigin auss Schotland Fraw Maria Stuarda von Leben zum Todt in Engeiland hingericht worden ist in disem 1587 jar (Munich: Adam Berg, 1587).

²⁴ Leonard W. Doob, "Goebbel's Principles," 518.

²⁵Bericht … Fraw Maria Stuarda von Leben zum Todt.

²⁶Ibid.

²⁷ ZBZ (GS), PAS II, 10/27. Ein warhafftiges newes Klaglied von ein Jungfrawen mit namen Dorothea, wie sie umb der Augspurger Confession … mit dem Schwerdt hingericht ist worden … durch den Cardinal zu Triendt … in disem 1573 Jar (Coln: Withelm Berek, 1574).

²⁸ ZBZ (GS), PAS II, 11/1. Effigies quam accuratissima. Invictissimi. Potentissimique Principis ac Domini D. Henrici Valesii, Henrici Galliarum quondam Regis Filii, modi in regem Poloniae, Lithuaniaque Ducem (Strasbourg: B. Jobin, 1574).

²⁹ ZBZ (GS), PAS II, 16/3. Contrafait des Durchleuchtigen Fürsten unnd Herrn, Herrn Johan Casimirs Pfaltzgrave bei Rhein (Strasbourg: B. Jobin, 1578).

³⁰ These portrait broadsheets are described in Bruno Weber: "Die Welt begeret allezeit Wunder", Versuch einer Bibliographie der Einblattdrucke von Bernhard Jobin in Strassburg, Gutenberg-Jahrbuch (1976), 270-290. The portraits referred to are, respectively, nos. 13; 15 and 65.

³¹ Leonard W. Doob, Propaganda, 43.

³² Wylie Sypher, "Faisant," p. 60.

³³Ibid,. p. 69.

³⁴ Gentian Hervet: Epistre aux ministres predicans et supposts de la congregation & nouvelle eglise (Paris: Nicolas Chesnau, 1561), fol. 200-21R, quoted in G. Wylie Sypher, "Faisant," p. 75.

³⁵ ZBZ (GS), PAS II, 12/50. Ein grausamlich mord so geschehen ist in dem Minsterthal … da ein pfaff ein schwangere frawen gemordt … (Strasbourg: 1556).

³⁶ ZBZ (GS), PAS II, 21/9. Eine schr greuliche … History wie ein heilosig Munch zu Dantzk in Preussen ein kleinis junges Megdelein … geschendet hat. (n.p., 1556).

³⁷ ZBZ (GS), PAS II, 1/1. Ein wunderbarliche, warhafftige seltzame geschicht von einmen Pfaffin und seines Kellerin … (Strasbourg: A. Fries, 1550).

³⁸ Bibl. Mun., Strasbourg. Johann Fischart, Die Wunderlichst, Unerhortest Legend und Beschreigung. Des Abgefuhrten Quartierten … und Viereckechten Vierhornigen Hutleins … (Strasbourg: B. Jobin, 1580), passim.

³⁹ ZBZ (GS), PAS II, 12/74. Newe zeytung unnd warhaffter Bericht eines Jesuiters welcher inn Teuffels gestalt sich angethan … (Augsburg, 1569).

⁴⁰ Johann Fischart: Im Munster zu Strasbourg, Gegen der Predigstul … (Strasbourg: B. Jobin, 1576).

⁴¹ Leonard W. Doob, "Goebbels' Principles," 520. Goebbels stressed the fact in his journal that propaganda should play on the consequences of defeat. The German people had to remain convinced that the war struck at the basic elements of their lives.

⁴² Bibl. Mun., Strasbourg, Coll. Reuss. Eine Zeytung auss dem Niderland welche anzaygen die Grausame … Tyranny wider die armen Christin … (n.p., 1546), folio aii.

⁴³Ibid., folio aii^v.

⁴⁴Ibid., folio aiii.

⁴⁵ ZBZ (A), Wick Collection Ms. F. 1823. Newe wunderseltzame und unchristliche Spannische Zeitung nemlich Wie und mit was sich der Konig von Hispanien durch sein unzifer und weritzeüg der inquisitoren in Hispanisen und Niderlanden … viel gute leüt… vor ihren Richterstul zu erscheinen … (Strasbourg: T. Berger, 1568), folio ai^v-aii. There was another edition of this published by Peter Hug in Strasbourg.

⁴⁶Ibid., folio aiii.

⁴⁷Ibid., folio aii^v.

⁴⁸ Bibl. Mun., Strasbourg, Coll. Reuss. Der Calvinisten Grausambkeit In zweynen Exempeln so in Engellandt newlich fur gelauffen, beschrieben und begriffen. Das Erst, begreifft das grewlich und scheusslich Edict der Calvinisten gegen und wider die Catholische newlich aussganen … (n.p., 1586), title page.

⁴⁹Ibid., folio a2^v.

⁵⁰Ibid., folio a3.

⁵¹Ibid., folio B.

⁵²Ibid., folio B^v.

⁵³ ZBZ (GS), PAS II, 11/2; PAS II, 11/3; PAS II 22/4; PAS II, 22/5-6; PAS II, 25/5.

⁵⁴ Bibl. Mun., Strasbourg. Newe zum theil gluckliche und sigliche zeittung aus dem Niderland (n.p., 1568), folio aii.

⁵⁵Ibid., folio aii^v

⁵⁶Ibid.

⁵⁷ Bibl. Mun., Strasbourg, Coll. Reuss. (Johann Fischart). Uncalvinische Gegen Badstublein…. (Strasbourg; B. Jobin, 1589), unpaginated folio.

⁵⁸Ibid., unpaginated folio.

⁵⁹ I am grateful to Professor Hans R. Guggisberg who helped me to identify this incident as the Tampiskrieg, an unofficial recruiting activity by Henry of Navarre in Protestant cantons which was tolerated by these governments. A mercenary army of 15-16,000 men from Bern, Zurich, Schaffhausen, St. Gallen, Glarus and other towns marched into France in 1587, getting as far as Estampes near Chartres where they were engaged with heavy losses and disorder. See: Handbuch der Schweizer Geschichte, I (Zurich: 1972), pp. 603-605.

⁶⁰ Fischart, Uncalvinisch Gegen Badstublein, folio B.

⁶¹Ibid., folio aiii.

⁶²Ibid., unpaginated folio.