Reuchlin-Pfefferkorn Controversy

Johannes Reuchlin (1455-1522) was a Christian Hebraist (there were many of these in the Renaissance period). He had been instructed by Emperor Frederick III's Jewish court physician, Jacob Loans of Mantua, whom Reuchlin characterized as "my most humane [humanissimus] teacher and excellent man." Reuchlin continued his studies in Rome in 1497-99 with the famous Jewish biblical commentator Obadiah Sforno. At first Reuchlin was hostile to the Talmud, but gradually this attitude changed and in 1510 he sought a copy. He was not, however, a friend of the Jews. In a 1505 letter he explained that the long exile of the Jews was due to "the blasphemy committed by their ancestors against the true Messiah, our Lord Jesus, and the descendants' complete acquiescence in this to the present day."

Johannes Pfefferkorn was a Jewish convert to Christianity (his name was originally Joseph). A butcher by profession, he was convicted of burglary and theft, but released on payment of a fine. After his release, at the age of 36, he and his wife and children were converted to Christianity in Cologne (c. 1504). Like many zealous converts over the centuries, he began to polemicize against the Jews, inspired by the Dominicans. His attacks on Judaism betray his ignorance of rabbinic learning. But he was successful in arousing anxiety about Jewish texts, and was able to gain access to the emperor through his pious sister. He was authorized by the emperor to seize questionable Hebrew books for inspection. In September 1509, accompanied by two municipal officials and three priests, Pfefferkorn entered the synagogue of Frankfurt and confiscated all the Hebrew books there. The same was done later in other Rhineland cities. After local governments complained to the emperor (undoubtedly at the behest of the Jews) he ordered that Pfefferkorn's accusation be judged by four theological schools and three theologians, including Reuchlin. A year after the incident in Frankfurt, Reuchlin submitted well-reasoned arguments against forcible suppression of Jewish texts. He argued, "In matters relating to their faith the Jews are subject to their own judgment and to no other judge; no Christian is entitled to make any decisions about it...For they are not members of the Christian church, and hence their faith is of no concern to us."

The matter, initially a local one affecting mainly the Rhineland communities, became an international political matter. Finally Pope Leo X, who was sympathetic to Reuchlin and who was also influenced by his Jewish court physician Bonet de Lattes, submitted the controversy to the decision of the Fifth Lateran Council. In July 1516, the council declared itself on the side of Reuchlin. But the church had lost prestige in this episode. Erasmus called Pfefferkorn "a criminal Jew who has become a most criminal Christian." It was not perhaps mere coincidence that Luther promulgated his famous theses in 1517, while the storms of the Reuchlin-Pfefferkorn controvery were still raging.

Back