Manifestations of Discontent in Germany on the Eve of the Reformation

Book excerpt: An unusual anthology of material in translation, quite unlike the spate of source books and compilations of snippets which continue to pour from the presses. Strauss has assembled 35 documents of widely differing nature in order to illustrate a single topic, the uneasy state of Germany in the 15th and early 16th centuries, the period leading up to, and including, the beginnings of the Lutheran Reformation. It is a complex tale of grievances against the Papacy, social unrest, economic exploitation in various forms, imperial weakness, and wounded national pride. An excellent introduction provides the necessary background; brief headnotes to each selection and useful footnotes give further clarification; the translations are highly readable." -Choice. "Strauss permits humanists, knights, craftsmen, and peasants to proclaim their dissatisfaction in their own earthly words, show the causes, and suggest remedies. His selections from the vast body of 'grievance literature', dating chiefly from about 1490 to about 1525, provide the first genuine review of his age of dissent available to the English reader, while brief introductions place the period and each document in historical context." - Library journal