Anti-Turkish and Anti-Mennonite Sermons

Coloniæ [Köln]: in officina literaria honesti civis Petri Quentel, Anno m.d.xxxvii. [1537]. 325 x 225 mm (12⅜ x 8½ in). Folio. [4], cxlvii, [11] ll. In Latin. 

Title page within a four-part illustrated woodcut border: running down the left and right are views of four Church Fathers and four Evangelists (all engaged in scribal labors); at the top is a woodcut illustration of the Transfiguration showing Jesus Christ surrounded by Moses (holding the tablets containing the Ten Commandments), some Apostles (John, Peter, and James), and Helia (Eli); the lower portion has portraits of Charles V and his successor Ferdinand I, dressed in armor, standing beside their coats-of-arms and those of the seven electorates (dated in the lower right corner, ​“1531”). 

Numerous historiated woodcut initial letters figuring children from the ​“Alphabet of children” by Hans Holbein the Younger (?) throughout. The ​“T” that begins the text of folio CXLVII is extravagant, illustrated with a scene of the crucifixion with Charles V and Ferdinand I on either side of the cross/initial ​“T.” The ​“T” measures a fantastic 3½ x 3½ inches.

Bound in full calf, spine compartments with gilt ornamentation and gilt lettered title label; shelf mark at foot of spine (“F”). All edges stained red. Marbled endpapers. Old shelf mark on front free endpaper. Green fabric bookmark still attached.

Very good. Boards rubbed with minor worm damage to top and bottom of spine; paper repairs at heads of title page (no loss to woodcut border) and three final leaves (no loss); a handful of pages with very light worm damage to margins; paper mildly age toned. 

First edition of this collection of sermons by the Bishop of Vienna, Johannes Fabri a.k.a. Johann Faber (1478–1541). A gathering of sermons on the Eucharist, patience, against the Anabaptists and on the victory against the Turkish during the Siege of Vienna in 1529. 

The siege of Vienna. The siege of Vienna in 1529 was the first attempt by the Ottoman Empire to capture the city of Vienna. Suleiman the Magnificent, Sultan of the Ottomans, attacked the city with over 100,000 men, while the defenders, led by Niklas Graf Salm, numbered no more than 21,000. Nevertheless, Vienna was able to survive the siege. The failure of the siege of Vienna marked the beginning of 150 years of bitter military tension between the Habsburgs and Ottomans, punctuated by reciprocal attacks, and culminating in a second siege of Vienna in 1683. 

Victories against the Turks. In this book, the section on the Church’s [“Victories Against the Turks”] is extensive and forms its centerpiece. The Anti-Turkish sermons comprise folios 57–93, in a series of 37 sermons and are an extensive discussion on consolation, courage, and religious justification for war and self-defense by a very important figure in Vienna, the city’s Bishop. 

Against the Anabaptists. The latter part of the books contains five sermons [“Against the Anabaptists”] (i.e. Mennonites and Quakers), who at the time were considered a fringe or radical movement within the Protestant Reformation (folios 135–141). Fabri was one of the Anabaptist’s most vehement opponents, which earned him the nickname, the ​“Hammer of Heretics”. 

With afterwards an oration to Margaret of Austria (1480–1530), Governor of the Habsburg Netherlands (starting on the verso of folio CXLIII)—she was the first female regent of the Netherlands. And lastly, the book contains the ​“Triumphus beati Job propheatae summi Dei […]” by the theologian Gratius Ortwinus (1480?–1542) (starting on folio [CXVIII]). The doctor in civil and canon law Fabri was a well-known Erasmus friend and became bishop of Vienna in 1530. 

Rare. Four copies reported by oclc WorldCat, spread across multiple records (see 17287149, 1049512022, 81916151, 20474788, and 977388297) No copies in the trade at the time of cataloguing.

References:

Bietenholz, Peter Contemporaries of Erasmus: A Biographical Register of the Renaissance and Reformation. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1986.

USTC 626167

VD16 f 234

$1,250