page_title: Propaganda during the Reformation
section_title: Protestant propaganda
hierarchical_section_title: Propaganda during the Reformation / Printed texts and pamphlets / Protestant propaganda
caption_attribution_description: English: The Papal Belvedere by Lucas Cranach the Elder in the 1545 publication of Luther's Depiction of the Papacy. It features a papal bull complete with fire and brimstone, fresh from the hand of Pope Paul III meeting German peasants with farts, fresh from their "belvedere". [Belvedere refers to a building in the Vatican, but also means "beautiful view".] Roughly read (with sure mistakes-please make it correct): "PAPA LOQVITUR. Sententiae nostrae etiam iniustae metuendae sunt. Responsio. Maledetta Aspice nudatas gens furiosa nates. Ecco qui Papa el mio belvedere." Complete translation (roughly--the Latin is unclear and mixed with Italian): The Pope speaks: Our sentences are to be feared, even if unjust. Response: Be damned! Behold, o furious race, our bared buttocks. Here, Pope, is my 'belvedere' Deutsch: Das Belvedere des Papstes von Lucas Cranach dem Älteren aus der 1545 veröffentlichten Ausgabe von Luthers Wider das Papsttum. Dargestellt ist eine päpstliche Bulle mit Feuer und Schwefel, die frisch von Papst Paull III. herausgegeben wurde. Deutsche Bauern quittieren dies mit Fürzen aus ihrem "Belvedere" (Belvedere bezieht sich auf ein Gebäude im Vatikan, bedeutet aber auch "schöne Aussicht"). Text: "PAPA LOQVITUR. Sententiae nostrae etiam iniustae metuendae sunt. Responsio. Maledetta Aspice nudatas gens furiosa nates. Ecco qui Papa el mio belvedere." Ungefähre Übersetzung (das Lateinische ist mehrdeutig und mit Italienisch durchsetzt): Der Papst spricht: Unsere Urteile sollen gefürchtet werden, auch wenn sie unrecht sind. Antwort: Sei verdammt! Siehe, oh grausam Wütender, unsere blanken Hinterteile. Hier, Vater, ist mein Belvedere!
context_page_description: Propaganda during the Reformation, helped by the spread of the printing press throughout Europe and in particular within Germany, caused new ideas, thoughts, and doctrine to be made available to the public in ways that had never been seen before the sixteenth century. The printing press was invented in approximately 1450 and quickly spread to other major cities around Europe; by the time the Reformation was underway in 1517 there were printing centers in over 200 of the major European cities. These centers became the primary producers of Reformation works by the Protestants, and in some cases Counter-Reformation works put forth by the Roman Catholics.
context_section_description: Protestant propaganda and church doctrine broke away from the traditional conventions of the Catholic Church. They called for a change in the way that the church was run and insisted that the buying and selling of indulgences and religious positions be stopped as well as the papal corruption that had been allowed to occur. In addition to this, Reformers questioned the authority of the Church and in particular the Pope. Protestants believed that the main authority of their church should be the Gospel or Scripture (expounded by private interpretation) and not the Pope, who is the earthly head of the Catholic Church.
  Another dominant message that was found in Protestant propaganda was the idea that every person should be granted access to the Bible to interpret it for themselves; this was the primary reason why Luther translated and published numerous copies of the New Testament during the Reformation years. Protestants questioned the belief that the Pope had the sole authority to interpret scripture. This can be seen in Luther’s publication titled To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, which criticized the Catholic belief that the Pope was supreme and could interpret scripture however he saw fit. To combat this, Luther put forth arguments from the Bible that indicated that everyone had the ability to interpret scripture and not just the Pope.
  In terms of tone and style, Reformation propaganda, while sometimes serious in tone, was often satirical, featuring word-play and sarcasm. In this it developed earlier medieval traditions of religious satire. One example of this would be Martin Luther's commentary on the Life of John Chrysostom in his Die Lügend von S. Johanne Chrysostomo.
  The Reformation messages were very controversial and were frequently banned in a number of Catholic cities. Despite this attempt by the Catholic Church to contain and repress Protestant propaganda, the Protestant propagandists found effective ways of disseminating their messages to their believers. The use of pamphlets became the primary method of spreading Protestant ideas and doctrine. Pamphlets took little time to produce and they could be printed and sold quickly making them harder to track down by the authorities and thus making them a very effective method of propaganda.  The sheer number of pamphlets produced during this time period indicates that Protestant works during the Reformation were available on a consistent basis and on a large scale, making the controversial ideas accessible to the masses. This is one of the reasons that the Protestants were successful in their propaganda campaign and in the Reformation.
caption: From a series of woodcuts (1545) usually referred to as the Papstspotbilder or Papstspottbilder,[4] by Lucas Cranach, commissioned by Martin Luther.[5] Title: Kissing the Pope's Feet.[6] German peasants respond to a papal bull of Pope Paul III. Caption reads: "Don't frighten us Pope, with your ban, and don't be such a furious man. Otherwise we shall turn around and show you our rears".[7][8]
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