Selections of Johannes Pfefferkorn’s writings on the Jews

Johannes Pfefferkorn (c. 1469–c. 1521) was a converted Jew who became one of the most zealous anti-Jewish polemicists of the early sixteenth century. His principal works include the Judenbeicht (Confession of the Jews, 1508), the Judenfeind (Enemy of the Jews, 1509), the Osternbüchlein (Easter Booklet, 1509), the Handspiegel (Hand Mirror, 1511), and the Defensio Johannis Pepericorni (Defence of Johannes Pfefferkorn, 1516). Working in close concert with the Dominican inquisitors of Cologne — particularly Jacob of Hoogstraten — Pfefferkorn sought to have all Jewish books excepting the Hebrew Bible suppressed, to compel Jews to attend Christian sermons, and to abolish Jewish usury as preconditions for their forcible conversion. His campaign brought him into direct conflict with the humanist Johannes Reuchlin, and the ensuing controversy — documented in the Epistolae Obscurorum Virorum — became one of the most celebrated literary quarrels of the Reformation era.

The Latin and Early Modern German texts below are drawn from the Defensio Ioannis Pepericorni (1516), the consulting opinions of the University of Cologne, the University of Mainz, and the inquisitor Jacob of Hoogstraten, all of which are preserved together in the printed editions, as well as from the Passover treatise. Because several of the vernacular works survive only in copies whose OCR transcription is severely degraded, the passages below are taken from the most legible witnesses — the Latin Defensio and the embedded Consultationes — and provided with English translations. Where translations already exist in S. A. Hirsch’s A Book of Essays (1905), those are used; elsewhere new translations are supplied.

I. On the Synagogue of Satan and the Jewish Multitude

From the Dedicatory Epistle to Pope Leo X, Defensio Ioannis Pepericorni (1516):

“…instar divi Pauli synagogam sathane et colluvionem Iudaeorum execrabilem tortuosumque labyrinthium pro mea parvitate suppressero, immortale sim cum beatis praemium habiturus…”

Translation: “…in the manner of the blessed Paul, having suppressed, to the best of my small ability, the Synagogue of Satan and the execrable multitude of the Jews and their tortuous labyrinth, I shall have an immortal reward among the blessed…”

II. On the Talmud as the Chief Cause of Jewish Obstinacy

From Pfefferkorn’s Letter to Hermann, Archbishop-Elect of Cologne (1516), preserved in the Defensio:

“Respondi et reverenter et vere dicens maximam partem huius pertinacie esse falsos eorum libros, quos illorum Rabi contra sacram evangelium et in contumeliam, dedecus, infamiam et blasphemiam sacre fidei nostre composuerunt: in quibus quidem libris suos liberos a puericia instruant ac doceant: et deinde cum ad provectiorem etatem pervenerint, se malicie habitum non posse derelinquere. Et ita quicquid contra ecclesiam catholicam christianosve machinari possunt, id totum putant acceptum deo et iuste factum esse.”

Translation: “I replied both respectfully and truthfully, saying that the greatest part of this obstinacy lies in their false books, which their Rabbis have composed against the holy Gospel and to the insult, dishonour, infamy, and blasphemy of our holy faith; in which books they instruct and teach their children from infancy; and thereafter, when they have grown to a more advanced age, they cannot abandon the habit of malice. And so whatever they can contrive against the Catholic Church and against Christians, all of it they believe to be acceptable to God and justly done.”

III. On Jewish Contempt for the Cross and for the Virgin Mary

From Pfefferkorn’s Letter to Hermann, Archbishop-Elect of Cologne (1516), preserved in the Defensio:

“…presertim quando clanculum et commode possunt consequi sanctam crucem, sive fuerit in agris sive oppidis, eam continuo frangentes et pedibus conculcantes. Nec referre possum, quam contumeliosis verbis Virginem Mariam afficiant. Quorum cum recordor, animae meae continuo exclamat ac omnia membra quatiuntur horrore.”

Translation: “…especially when, secretly and at their convenience, they can get hold of the holy cross — whether it be in the fields or in the towns — breaking it immediately and trampling it underfoot. Nor can I describe with what contumelious words they assail the Virgin Mary. When I recall these things, my soul cries out without ceasing, and all my limbs shudder with horror.”

IV. On Jewish Curses Against Christians at the Passover Table

From Pfefferkorn’s Letter to Hermann, Archbishop-Elect of Cologne (1516), preserved in the Defensio:

“Manus igitur suas vino decies imbuentes et humorem toties digitis decutientes universae Christianitati maledicant, praesertim decem plagis Pharaonis in Egypto factis. Ultimo epotant vinum illud rubeum in derisionem et contumeliam Christianitatis. Ex hoc non obscure considerari potest, quod ipsi diluant sanguine christiano vinum illud, et ex invidia ebibant, quam habent adversus Christianos.”

Translation: “Dipping their hands in wine ten times and flicking off the drops as many times with their fingers, they curse the whole of Christendom, particularly with reference to the ten plagues of Pharaoh in Egypt. Finally they drink off that red wine in mockery and contempt of Christendom. From this it may not obscurely be inferred that they dilute that wine with Christian blood, and drink it out of the hatred they bear toward Christians.”

V. On the Punishment of God upon Christians for Tolerating the Jews

From Pfefferkorn’s Letter to Hermann, Archbishop-Elect of Cologne (1516), preserved in the Defensio:

“Christiana ecclesia commissorum scelerum (quae quotidie a Iudeis fiunt) luere poenam cogitur, ex quo aeterna deitas…sumpsit occasionem propter contumelias et passionem sibi illatam, non solum sontes Iudaeos in Hierusalem puniendi, sed etiam innocentes mulieres lactantesque pueros, et praeterea muros Hierosolymitanos evertendi. Nunc filius hominis in hominum memoria non semel male tractatus est a Iudeis, sed quinquies ad minus… Et ideo mirandum non est, quod Deus pater et filius et Spiritus sanctus tam acerbe Christianis hominibus irascatur, plaga videlicet pestilentiae, morbillis, febribus et aliis aegritudinibus insolitis, item bellis multorum principum, rapinis, incendiis, effusione sanguinis, excoratione pauperum, inobedientia inferiorum erga superiores, et variis seditionibus. Non dubium quin huiusmodi plagae veniant et oriantur ex illis pessimis et maximis peccatis Iudaeorum et eorum falsis et perversis scripturis quae causae sunt omnium malorum.”

Translation: “The Christian Church is compelled to suffer punishment for the crimes (which are committed daily by the Jews), from which the eternal Deity…took occasion — on account of the insults and the Passion inflicted upon Him — not only to punish the guilty Jews in Jerusalem, but also innocent women and suckling children, and furthermore to overthrow the walls of Jerusalem. Now the Son of Man has not been abused merely once in human memory at the hands of the Jews, but at least five times… And therefore it is no wonder that God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are so bitterly angry with Christian men, namely with the plague of pestilence, measles, fevers, and other unusual diseases, likewise with the wars of many princes, pillaging, conflagrations, the shedding of blood, the flaying of the poor, the disobedience of inferiors toward their superiors, and various rebellions. There is no doubt that such plagues arise and have their origin from the most evil and great sins of the Jews and their false and perverse scriptures, which are the causes of all evils.”

VI. On Reuchlin as a Betrayer in the Manner of Judas

From the Defensio (1516), Pfefferkorn describing his discovery of Reuchlin’s opinion:

“…et sic me tradidit sicut Iudas Christum, et multo peius, quia hic publice, ille autem occulte.”

Translation: “…and so he betrayed me as Judas betrayed Christ, and far worse, because this one did so publicly, whereas that one did so in secret.”

VII. On Christ Not Truly Slain as God by the Jews (Hochstraten’s Refutation of Reuchlin)

From the Epistola Apologetica of Ortvinus Gratius (Defensio, appended), citing the objection of the theologians against Reuchlin’s Augenspiegel:

“Non patiuntur Theologi, salvatoris nostri humanitatem habitui comparari mereticio, ipsumque ut simplicem hominem et servum, non ut Deum a Iudeis interemptum. Itemque non posse satis ex novo probari Testamento Christum salvatorem nostrum verum fuisse Deum.”

Translation: “The theologians do not permit the humanity of our Saviour to be compared to the garb of a harlot, nor that He should be described as a simple man and a servant — not as God — slain by the Jews. Nor, likewise, that it cannot be sufficiently proved from the New Testament that Christ our Saviour was the true God.”

(Note: This passage reflects Pfefferkorn’s side’s complaint that Reuchlin’s writings gave comfort to Jewish denials of the Incarnation and of Christ’s divinity.)

VIII. On the Talmud as a Compendium of Blasphemy and Heresy

From the Consultatio of the University of Cologne (1510), embedded in the Defensio:

“Quia manifestum est librum Iudaeorum quem Thalmud vocant tantos continere nedum errores et falsitates, verum etiam blasphemias et hereses contra legem propriam, propter quae ut notat Ioannes Andreae…moti Gregorius et Innocentius mandarunt eundem librum comburi. Habeantque plures alios libros, impias et horrendas blasphemias (ut dicitur) continentes, in Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum et eius fideles cultores Christianos, de quibus constito impium esset et irreligiosum eis talium librorum usum permittere, per quos ipsi irrisores Christi domini et blasphemi filios suos blasphemare docerent.”

Translation: “Because it is manifest that the book of the Jews called the Talmud contains not only errors and falsehoods but even blasphemies and heresies against their own law, on account of which, as Ioannes Andreae notes… Gregory and Innocent ordered that the same book be burned. And they have many other books, containing (as is said) impious and horrendous blasphemies against our Lord Jesus Christ and His faithful Christian worshippers, concerning which it is established that it would be impious and irreligious to permit them the use of such books, through which these mockers of Christ the Lord, these blasphemers, would teach their sons to blaspheme.”

IX. On Jewish Books as Storehouses of Wickedness (from the Joedenspiegel, as summarised)

From S. A. Hirsch, A Book of Essays (1905), summarising Pfefferkorn’s Joedenspiegel (Jews‘ Mirror, 1507):

“They were the storehouses of everything wicked and irreligious; they did the greatest harm to the Christian Church, against which they were directed in every point. Nothing should be left to Jews (no festival prayer book, no daily prayer book), nothing except the text of the Bible.”

X. On Jewish Physicians as Killers of Christians, and the Prayer Against Christians

From S. A. Hirsch, A Book of Essays (1905), summarising Pfefferkorn’s Judenfeind (Enemy of the Jews, 1509):

Pfefferkorn’s mistranslation of the Jewish prayer Avinu Malkeinu:

“May God destroy the thoughts and counsels of our enemies by massacre, and sword, and famine, and pestilence, and various plagues, and may this happen for our sake.”

And concerning Jewish physicians:

“He declares that all Jews were perjurers, and that no Jewish physicians, of whom a great number existed at that time, could be trusted, because they intentionally killed Christians. He maintains that the Jews must not be suffered to practise usury, nor must they be allowed to amass wealth in any other way. They must either be expelled, or the lowest work must be assigned to them, such as sweeping the streets, sweeping chimneys, removing filth, clearing out dog-kennels, and the like. The Talmud must be taken away and no book left them save the Bible.”

XI. On Jewish Obstinacy in Rejecting the Messiah (from the Joedenspiegel)

From S. A. Hirsch, A Book of Essays (1905), summarising the argument of the Joedenspiegel (1507):

“He tries to show in the Joedenspiegel how unreasonable it was of the Jews to decline to adopt the doctrines of Christianity, to go on expecting the Messiah and to refuse their assent to the belief that he had already come; that it was particularly wicked of them that they refused to believe in Mary in the same way as the Christians did. The Jews did not in his opinion reject Christianity because they could not, but because they would not believe in it. They would not believe in it even if an angel came down from heaven to announce its truth. Their unbelief arose entirely out of the stubbornness of their hearts and their obstinacy.”

XII. On the Killing of Christian Children (from the Joedenspiegel)

From S. A. Hirsch, A Book of Essays (1905), quoting Pfefferkorn’s Joedenspiegel (1507):

“I must defend the Jews in this instance, not however without a distinction. It is credible that there may have been and that there still are Jews who secretly kill Christian children. But not for the sake of having their blood, but only from vengeance and hatred.”

XIII. On the Talmud as Breeding Jewish Malice (Mainz University Opinion)

From the Consultatio of the University of Mainz (1510), embedded in the Defensio:

“Quod eorum Thalmudici et alii scriptores, praecipue hi qui post Christum natum scripserunt, in libris et scriptis suis plures errores sparsim seminarunt, quibus libros Moysi, prophetarum et psalmorum male et perverse interpretantur, plurimos sacrae legis passus ad falsum intellectum retorquentes…Iudaicam simplicitatem a fidei nostrae Christianae veritate abducentes, et cecitatis velamen ante eorum oculos ponentes.”

Translation: “That their Talmudic writers and other authors, especially those who wrote after the birth of Christ, have sown many errors scattered through their books and writings, by which they interpret badly and perversely the books of Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms, twisting many passages of the sacred law to a false understanding…drawing the simplicity of the Jews away from the truth of our Christian faith, and placing a veil of blindness before their eyes.”

XIV. On Suppressing Jewish Books as a Duty of Christian Princes (Hochstraten’s Consultatio)

From Jacob of Hoogstraten’s Consultatio (1510), embedded in the Defensio:

“Certum est libros Thalmudicos qui plurimi sunt, nedum errores et falsitates, immo blasphemias et contra Christum et contra propriam legem continere. Si doctoribus ecclesiasticis linguam hebraicam callentibus credamus… impium et irreligiosum est eis usum talium librorum permittere, per quos ipsi irrisores Christi filios suos blasphemare docerent.”

Translation: “It is certain that the Talmudic books, which are very numerous, contain not only errors and falsehoods but even blasphemies, both against Christ and against their own law. If we believe the ecclesiastical doctors who are skilled in the Hebrew tongue… it is impious and irreligious to permit them the use of such books, through which these mockers of Christ would teach their sons to blaspheme.”

XV. On the Imperial Mandate: That Jewish Books Blaspheme Both the Christian Faith and Moses

From the Second Imperial Mandate of Emperor Maximilian I (10 November 1509), preserved in the Defensio:

“…quomodo Iudei passim per nostrum imperium in eorum synagogis et Bibliothecis et in eorum manibus aliquos fictos et inutiles libros et scripta habeant, et illis utantur non solum in contumeliam et scandalum sacrae Christianae fidei, sed etiam contra libros et praecepta Moysi et prophetarum, quae tamen ipsimet Iudei credere et observare tenentur, quos etiam non solum a fide nostra Christiana avertunt, verum etiam illis in sua fide Iudaica errores faciunt, seducunt quoque et hereses movent.”

Translation: “…that the Jews throughout our Empire have in their Synagogues, libraries, and in their possession certain fictitious and worthless books and writings, and that they make use of them not only to the insult and scandal of the holy Christian faith, but also against the books and precepts of Moses and the prophets, which the Jews themselves are bound to believe and observe, and which not only turn them away from our Christian faith, but even cause errors among them in their own Jewish faith, and lead them astray and stir up heresies.”

XVI. On Jewish Books Confirming Jews in Perfidy Against Conversion

From the Baldung-Angelo-Gregory Consultatio, embedded in the Defensio:

“…duo libri quos nominant iuxam et Toldath Iesu hanosri, quam praedicti continent plures diversosque errores ac hereses contra legem naturae ac Moysi, Necnon blasphemias ac impietates atque contumelias contra Iesum Christum Deum ac Redemptorem nostrum, et suam dignissimam Matrem semper Virginem Mariam, in derisionem, scandalum ac vilipenditium sacratissimae fidei nostrae Christianae tendentes nihilominus ac operantes ad seductionem Iudaeorum, confirmantes eos in perfidia, excaecatione ac errore suo, Avertentes quoque eos ne ad sacratissimam fidem Christianam convertantur…”

Translation: “…two books which they call Izuma and Toldoth Jeshu Hanosri, which contain many and diverse errors and heresies against the law of nature and of Moses, as well as blasphemies, impieties, and insults against Jesus Christ our God and Redeemer, and His most worthy Mother, ever the Virgin Mary, tending to the mockery, scandal, and contempt of our most holy Christian faith, and moreover working toward the seduction of the Jews, confirming them in their perfidy, blindness, and error, and turning them away so that they do not convert to the most holy Christian faith…”

XVII. On the Passover Rite as a Figure of Christian Truth (from the Osternbüchlein)

From S. A. Hirsch, A Book of Essays (1905), summarising the Osternbüchlein (Easter Booklet, 1509):

“He considers the rites as symbols of Christianity, and yet he asserts that the Jews, in performing them, were heretics against their own law.”

(Pfefferkorn argued — following a tradition going back to the Church Fathers — that the Passover lamb prefigured Christ, the unleavened bread prefigured the Eucharist, and the entire festival was a figure whose truth was fulfilled in Christianity and emptied of meaning in the hands of the Jews who continued to practise it without understanding.)

XVIII. On the Three Causes of Jewish Obstinacy and the Remedy

From S. A. Hirsch, A Book of Essays (1905), summarising the Joedenspiegel (1507):

“The first cause was that they were permitted to practise usury. This should not be tolerated… For, as the second cause why the Jews clung to their faith, he assigns the fact that they were not compelled to visit the churches to hear Christian sermons. He therefore counsels the princes not to tolerate any Jews in their territories unless the latter be forced to go to church and hear Christianity preached to them. As the third impediment to their conversion he mentions their books. These must be taken away; they could not possibly be left to them.”

XIX. On the Residue of Jewish Books to Be Consumed by Flames

From the Baldung-Angelo-Gregory Consultatio, embedded in the Defensio:

“Residuos autem omnes vindex errorum et impietatum vorax flamma consumat, quemadmodum Reverendissimi consilia Domini Archiepiscopi Moguntinensis ac Universitatum supra specificatarum persuadent.”

Translation: “But all the rest shall the devouring flame, avenger of errors and impieties, consume, as the counsels of the Most Reverend Lord Archbishop of Mainz and of the Universities specified above urge.”

XX. On the Charge of Heresy Against Those Who Defend the Jews

From Pfefferkorn’s Dedicatory Epistle to Pope Leo X, Defensio (1516), on Reuchlin:

“Postquam serenissimus noster Imperator…omnibus universitatibus aliquot, Archipresuli etiam Moguntino…ac loannem denique Reuchlin…demandavisset, ut quidnam de libris Iudaeorum quibusdam scandaloris et in ecclesiam Dei blasphemis agendum foret…Cumque omnes excepto Ioanne Reuchlin, velut uno ore, ex instinctu Spiritus Sancti pro Christo et loquerentur et scriberent, solus ille inventus est, qui (ut multarum Universitatum testimonia probant) Iudaeorum perfidiae magis quam sedi apostolicae aut sacratissimo fidei negotio in sua consultatione adhaerebat.”

Translation: “After our most serene Emperor had charged certain universities, the Archbishop of Mainz, and finally Johannes Reuchlin, to decide as quickly as possible what was to be done concerning certain scandalous Jewish books and those which blaspheme against the Church of God… and when all, with the exception of Johannes Reuchlin, as if with one voice and by the instigation of the Holy Spirit, both spoke and wrote on behalf of Christ, he alone was found who (as the testimony of many universities proves) adhered in his opinion more to the perfidy of the Jews than to the apostolic see or to the most holy business of the faith.”

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