We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2020
Erich Schmidt's brilliant essay, Fatisi und das sechzehnte Jahrhundert, gave the final sanction to the thesis, voiced by Goethe himself, that the Faust legend is in all its attributes a product of the Reformation. Despite recurrent protests, raised before and after the publication of Schmidt's essay, the Lutheran character of the legend has come to be regarded by literary historians as a dogma. To be sure, the universally Christian ancestry of Faust, Simon Magus, Theophilus, and other Manichæan and mediæval forerunners of the sixteenth-century Devil's Disciple, was unearthed by a host of parallel hunters; still, the Lutheranism of the legend has been upheld until today. Eugen Wolff's attempt to prove that the Volksbuch was a Catholic pamphlet met with little success. Although Adolf Hauffen conceded that there must have been a Catholic Faustbook also, the “genuine Lutheran tendency” of the legend, the triumph of faith over learning, was emphatically pointed out by Wolfgang Stammler in 1927; its Humanist and Lutheran tendencies were stressed by A. Bernt in 1930; and the familiar argument was reiterated by the recent work of G. Bianquis, who declared that in its form of 1587, and in all its subsequent versions, Faust's life is a Lutheran treatise.
1 First printed in Goethe-Jahrbuch, iii (1882); reprinted with slight changes in Charakteristiken (Berlin, 1886), pp. 1–37.
2 Letter to Zelter, Nov. 20, 1829.
3 For a full history of the interpretation laid on the religious tendencies of the legend and the Volksbuch, cf. G. Milchsack's introduction to his edition of Historia D. Johannis Fausti des Zauberers nach der Wolfenbüttler kandschrift nebst dem nachweis eines teils ihrer quellen (Wolfenbüttel, 1897), p. ccci ff.
4 Wolff, E., Faust und Luther. Ein Beitrag zur Entstehung der Faustdichtung (Halle a.S., 1912), p. 25.Google Scholar
5 Op. cit.
6 Zeitschrift f. deutsche Philologie, xxviii (1919–20), 455.
7 “Von der Mystik zum Barock, 1400–1600,” Epochen der deutschen Literatur ii, i (Stuttgart, 1927), 426–127.
8 Hofstaetter, W. und Peters, U., Sachwärterbuch der Deutschkunde (Leipzig u. Berlin, 1930), i, 315.Google Scholar
9 Faust à travers quatre siècles (Paris, 1935), p. 38.
10 Janner, A., “Problemi del Rinascimento,” Nuova Antologia, lxviii (1933), 458 ff.Google Scholar
11 Martin, A. v., “Coluccio Salutati und das humanistische Lebensideal. Ein Kapitel aus der Genesis der Renaissance,” Beiträge zur Kulturgeschichte des Mittelalters und der Renaissance, xxiii (Leipzig-Berlin, 1916), 1–17.Google Scholar
12 Huizinga, J., Wege der Kulturgeschichte (München, 1930), pp. 89–139.Google Scholar
13 Cf. A. Janner, “Individualismus und Religiosität in der Renaissance,” Deutsche Vierteljahrschrift f. Literaturwissenschaft und Geislesgeschichte, xiii (1935), 357 ff.
14 Taylor, H. O., The Mediaeval Mind. A History of the Development of Thought and Emotion in the Middle Ages, 4th ed. (London, 1930), II, 318.Google Scholar
15 Cf. the much-quoted Epist. xxii, 30.
16 Cf. H. O. Taylor, op. cit. i, 61 ff.
17 Sermo in Cantica xxxvi, 4; Migne, Patr. Lat., clxxxiii 969AB.
18 The passages of the Vulgate are quoted in the Douai version.
19 In dating the patristic authors, G. Rauschen, Grundnss der Patrologie mit besonderer Berücksichtigung des Lehrgehalts der Väterschriften, 6. u. 7. Aufl. von Jos. Wittig (Freiburg im Breisgau, 1921) is followed.
20 Q. Sept. Florentis Tertulliani Opera (Paris, 1641), p. 232D.
21 Ibid., pp. 235D–236A.
22 H. Holtzmann u. R. Zöpffel, Lexikon f. Theologie und Kirchenwesen, 2. Aufl. (Braunschweig, 1891), p. 45.
23 “The Confessions of S. Augustine,” The Ancient and Modern Library of Theological Literature (London, 1886), p. 217 (Confess, x, xxxv).
24 De Genesi contra Manichæos ii, 4; Migne, Patr. Lat., xxxiv, 175.
25 De Moribus Ecclesia Catholicœ i, xxi, 38; Migne, Patr. Lot., xxxii, 1327.
26 De Vera Religione xxix, 52; Migne, Patr. Lat., xxxiv, 145.
27 Expositio Quarumdam Propositionum ex Epistola ad Romanos lviii, Migne, Patr. Lat., xxxv, 2077.
28 Norden, E., Die antike Kunstprosa vom VI. Jahrhundert v. Chr. bis in die Zeit der Renaissance (Leipzig, 1898), ii, 650.Google Scholar
29 Commentarius in Ecclesiasten; Migne, Patr. Lat., xxiii, 1064D–1065A.
30 Ibid. 1080A.
31 de Labriolle, P., Histoire de la littérature latine chrétienne (Paris, 1920), p. 332.Google Scholar
32 De Trinitate x, 55; Migne, Patr. Lat., x, 385C–386A.
33 De Vocatione Gentium xxi, Migne, Patr. Lat., li, 674B.
34 Epigrammata 91; Migne, Patr. Lat., li, 526.
35 Oratio 20; Thesaurus Patrum Floresque Doctorum (Paris, 1823), iii, 185.
36 Epistolae ii, 273; Migne, Patr. Gr., lxxviii, 703AB.
37 Epistolae ii, 93; Migne, Patr. Gr., lxxviii, 538B.
38 Picavet, F., “De l'origine de la philosophie scolastique en France et en Allemagne,” Bibl. de l'Ecole des Hautes Etudes, Section des Sciences religieuses, i (1889), 264.Google Scholar
39 Grabmann, M., Die Geschichte der scholastischen Methode (Freiburg im Breisgau, 1911), ii, 111 ff.Google Scholar
40 Epistola ad Patr. de Corpore et Sanguine Domini; Migne, Patr. Lat., cxxxvi, 648.
41 Manitius, M., Geschichte der lateinischen Literatur des Mittelalters, iii (München, 1931), 69.Google Scholar
42 Epistolae vi, 18; Migne, Patr. Lat., cxliv, 419C.
43 Cf. also the outset of his famous Proslogium: “I do not attempt to penetrate into thy altitude, O Lord, for in no way do I compare my intellect to it.” Migne, Patr. Lot., clviii, 227.
44 D. Anselmi Cantuariensis Archiepiscopi ... in omnes sanctissimi Pauli apostoli epistolas enarrationes (Venice, 1547), p. 68D, and elsewhere.
45 Eruditio Didascalica v, 7; Migne, Patr. Lat., clxxvi, 796A.
46 Sermo in Cantica xxxvi, 3; Migne, Patr. Lat., clxxxiii, 968D.
47 Chas. H. Haskins, The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century (Cambridge, Mass., 1927), p. 257 f.
48 De Eruditione Hominis Interioris; Migne, Patr. Lat., cxcvi, 1315C.—I am indebted for this reference to Prof. A. C. Pegis of Fordham University.
49 Mirabilia; Migne, Patr. Lat., ccx, 257CD.
50 On its popularity in mediæval literature, cf. R. Köhler, “Quellennachweise von Richard Rolle's von Hampole Gedicht ‘The Pricke of Conscience’,” Jahrbuch f. romanische und englische Lit., vi (1865), 196 ff.
51 De Contemptu Mundi i, 13 (“De Studio Sapientum”); Migne, Patr. Lat., ccxvii, 707; the citation follows the text of the Lyon edition, 1570, published under the title Ioannis Gersonis ... De Imitatione Christi, etc.
52 Grabmann, M., “Neu aufgefundene Werke des Siger von Brabant und Boetius von Dacien,” Sitzungsberichte der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosophischphilologische und historische Klasse, 1924, 2 (München, 1924), 14.Google Scholar
53 Propositions condemned at Paris in 1277. Cf. M. Grabmann, “Der lateinische Averroismus des 13. Jahrhunderts und seine Stellung zur christlichen Weltanschauung,” Sitzungsberichte der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosophisch-historische Abteilung 1931, 2 (München. 1931). 8 f.
54 “Die Exempla aus den Sermones feriales et communes des Jakob von Vitry,” hgg. von J. Greven, Sammlung mittellateinischer Texte, ix (Heidelberg, 1914), 22 (Nr. 28).
55 A. Lecoy de la Marche, Le Treizième Siècle littéraire et scientifique (Paris, 1894), p. 49.
56 De Eruditione Filiorum Nobilium, A Critical Edition by A. Steiner (The Mediaeval Academy of America, Cambridge, Mass., 1938), Chapt. xiii, pp. 47–52.
57 Grabmann, M., Der lateinische Averroismus, etc. (cf. note 53), p. 8.Google Scholar
58 de Nolhac, P., “Pétrarque et l'Humanisme,” Bibliothèque de l'Ecole des Hautes Etudes, 91 (Paris, 1892), 74 fi.; P. Kibre, The Library of Pico della Mirandola (New York, 1936); B. L. Ullman, “Manuscripts of Duke Humphrey of Gloucester,” The English Historical Review (1937), p. 671 ff.Google Scholar
59 Francisci Petrarchœ ... Opera (Basel, 1581), p. 45 (Chapt. 46).
60 Ed. cit., p. 323.
61 Senilia I, S; the selections from this letter printed in Fr. Petrarchæ Epistolae Selectae, ed. A. F. Johnson (Oxford, 1923), p. 141, are inadequate.
62 Fra Jacopo Passavanti, Lo Specchio della vera Penitenzia, ed. by Maria Lenardon (Firenze, 1925), passim, particularly p. 350, p. 376 ff.
63 Charbonnel, J. -Roger, La Pensée italienne au XVIe siècle et le Courant libertin (Paris, 1919), p. 212 ff.Google Scholar
64 Ed. cit., pp. xxviii f.
65 F. De Sanctis, Storia della letteratura italiana, Prima edizione milanese a cura di P. Arcari (Milano, 1913), i, 92 f.
66 Monteverdi, A., “Gli Esempi dello ‘Specchio di vera penitenza’,” Giornale Storico della Letteratura Italiana, lxiii (1913), 288.Google Scholar
67 Cf. The Following of Christ, The Spiritual Diary of Gerard Groote (1340–1384). Translated by Joseph Malaise, S.J. (New York, 1937), pp. ix ff. The passages quoted follow this translation.
68 Taylor, H. O., op. cit., ii, 214.Google Scholar
69 This passage is missing in Fr. Malaise's translation; quoted from Of the Imitation of Jesus Christ, translated by Thos. Frognall Dibdin (London, 1828).
70 To seek the sources of Luther's inspiration only in Occam's opposition to metaphysics, as was done by G. Müller, Die deutsche Dichtung von der Renaissance bis zum A usgang des Barock (Wildpark-Potsdam, 1927), p. 122, is insufficient; for a full account, cf. Fr. Ueberweg, Grundriss der Geschichte der Philosophie, new ed. by M. Frischeisen-Köhler und W. Moog (Berlin, 1924), iii, 96–97.
71 Cf. Allgemeine deutsche Biographie (Leipzig, 1893), xxxv, 221 f.
72 Infelix Literatus, Labyrinthis et Miseriis Suis Cura Posteriori Ereptus, et ad Supremae Salutis Domicilium Deductus, etc. (Augsburg, 1680), pp. 864, 884.
73 Only the few lines concerning Faust are reprinted by A. Tille, Die Faustsplitter in der Literatur des 16. bis 18. Jahrhunderts (Berlin, 1900), p. 132.
74 Fünfzehn Essays (Berlin, 1882), iii, 192, 198 ff.
75 Poesia Germanica (Milano, 1927), p. 227.
76 Zeitschrift f. deutsche Philologie, xiviii (1919–20), 315 ff.
77 Now easily accessible in “Laurentii Vallae De Libero Arbitrio, ed. M. Anfossi,' Documenti Inediti o Rari Pubblicati da G. Gentile, vi (Firenze, 1934).
78 Gaspary, A., Geschichte der italienischen Literatur (Strassburg, 1888), ii, 656.Google Scholar
79 Charbonnel, J. -R., op. cit., p. 223.Google Scholar
80 Gaspary, A., op. cit., ii, 137.Google Scholar
81 Clausen, J., Laurentius Valla, hans Liv og Skrifter (Kjöbenhavn, 1861), p. 80; on Valla's attitude on Scholasticism and Aristotle, cf. G. Zonta, Storia della Letteratura Italiana (Torino, 1930), ii, 378.Google Scholar
82 Mancini, G., Vita di Lorenzo Valla (Firenze, 1891), p. 113.Google Scholar
83 Ed. cit., p. 52.
84 Gothein, E., “Il Rinascimento nell'Italia Meridionale, traduzione, note e indici a cura di T. Persico,” Biblioteca Storica del Rinascimento, vi (Firenze, 1915), 231.Google Scholar
85 Rossi, V., “Il Quattrocento,” Storia Letteraria d'Italia Scritta da una Società di Professori (Milano, n.d.), p. 56.Google Scholar
86 A. von Martin, Mittelalterliche Welt- und Lebensanschauung im Spiegel der Schriften Coluccio Saluattis (München, 1913), pp. 124 ff.
87 Oratio IV contra Iulianum; Migne, Patr. Gr., xxxv, 597.
88 Biblia |Das ist | Die gantze Heylige Schrifft | Teutsch (Frankfurt, 1563).
89 Müller, G., op. cit., p. 188.Google Scholar
90 Cf. also the story told by Plutarch in his opusculum on Isis and Osiris, which was the main source of Schiller's Das verschleierte Bild zu Sais. The bearing of Schiller's ballad, often misunderstood [for its various interpretations, cf. G. Frick und P. Polack, Aus deutschen Lesebüchern, iv, ii (fourth ed., Leipzig und Berlin, 1908), 442] is identical with the Christian tradition of the Faust legend: the guilt of Schiller's hero is the sacrilegious curiosity which instigates him to pry into divine mystery.
91 Teuffei, W. S., Geschichte der römischen Literatur, iii (6th ed., Leipzig-Berlin, 1913), 204Google Scholar
92 Leopold, W., “Polarity in German Literature,” JEGP, xxix (1930), 420 ff.Google Scholar
