When: Friday, 30 October 2026, 5-6:30pm
Where: Taylor Institution Library, Room 2
Call for Readers for the launch of Hans Sachs’ ‘Dialogue on Greed’
450 years ago, Hans Sachs (1494–1576), one of the most influential German authors intervening in the Reformation debate, died. In 1524, he had published four highly successful polemical dialogues in pamphlet form. The first of these, the debate between a canon and a cobbler, the alter-ego of Hans Sachs, was published in 2024 on the Taylor Editions website and as print-on-demand, including its contemporary Dutch and English translations. For this year’s Reformation pamphlet edition, the last of the four dialogues is published, the topical debate on greed: Ein Dialogus/ des inhalt/ ein argument der Roͤmischen[/ wider das Christlich heüflein[/ den Geytz/ auch ander offenlich laster &c. betreffend (A dialogue containing an argument of the Roman Catholics against the little Christian flock; concerning greed, also other public vices, etc.)
In the debate, the characters ‘Romanus’ (a Catholic monk) and ‘Reichenburger’ (a merchant aptly named ‘rich citizen’) argue about all the topics which should be avoided at an Oxford dinner table: money, religion, and politics, while liberally quoting from the Bible, making use of Martin Luther’s then brand-new translation of the New Testament.
As with the previous Taylor Reformation Pamphlets, the launch will include a full relay reading of the original text with English subtitles. For this we are looking for German speakers (native and non-native) who would like to read out a short section of the pamphlet – full induction into early modern German pronunciation is provided! Watch the podcast of the “Sendbrief vom Dolmetschen” and read the introduction into Early Modern German on the website. Please contact Henrike Lähnemann if you are interested in participating – former readers have included the Mayor of Bonn, Oxford school children, emeritus professors, linguistics students, Dutch native speakers, members of the German Lutheran Church and many more. The reading will done in dialogue form, so please indicate whether you would prefer to voice the Catholic monk or the Protestant merchant.
Schedule of the Presentation 5-6:30pm
5pm Tea and sound checks
5:15pm Introduction to the new edition and translation (Henrike Lähnemann and Timothy Powell)
5:45pm Relay Reading of the ‘Dialogue on Greed’ in pairs
For further information on the Reformation Pamphlets, consult the Taylor Editions site.
Image from one of the three editions of the pamphlet in the Bodleian Library, Tr. Luth. 34 (53)
Ein Dialogus / des inhalt / ein argumēt | der Roͤmischen / wider das Christlich heüflein / den | Geytz / auch ander offenlich laster ꝛc. betreffend. [Nuremberg: Jobst Gutknecht,] 1524.
14 folios in 4to. Quire signatures: B, C, D, with C being a half-sheet
(Weller 1868: 18(a); KG, vol. 22: 9a; Pegg 1973: 3550; Köhler 1996: 3989; VD 16 S 211.)