Chapter Five. Catholic Postillenfresser: Postils, Catholic Reform, And The Counter-Reformation

Abstract

Since the settlement reached at Augsburg, it is true that only four new postils had been authored, but they and other collections previously released were regularly reprinted for a total of forty-one separate editions in that eight-year period alone (1555-1563). Catholic postillators, printers, and many of their lay and ecclesiastical princes had lent sweat, money, and mandates to these efforts well before 1563. Earlier medieval collections had offered needed support to counter-reformation efforts already in the late 1520s, but for nearly fifty years after 1545, postillators and printers in Catholic Germany forgot them almost completely. In Catholic circles Spangenberg, like the best-selling Corvin, had been accused of taking a late medieval short postil, plagiarizing its basic contents, and corrupting it with Lutheran poison. Johannes Craendonch's 1567 repossession of Spangenberg had already been printed three times, and Nas' more recent repair of Corvin twice.Keywords: Catholic Postillenfresser; Catholic Reform; Corvin twice; counter-reformation; Germany; Johann Spangenberg; Johannes Craendonch