The Supreme Court {Reichskammergericht} of the Holy Roman Empire, which existed from 1495 to 1806, was besides the Aulic Court (Reichshofrat) in Vienna the highest judicial instance in the so-called Old Empire. For a long time it has been lamented that the Supreme Court's acts, preserved at Wetzlar, the court's final seat, had been distributed among several archives of the German states in the...
John Owen on Heb. 6:4?6: Perseverance in Puritan Exegesis
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Modern studies of the development of Reformed doctrine of the saints' eternal per severance frequently ignore the exegetical debate from which it arose. The exegesis of Heb. 6:4?6 provides the background for examining the interpretive strategy and methodology of the Reformed exegete John Owen. Owen rejects the interpretation of the English Arminian John Goodwin because of Goodwin's failure to...
Witchcraft & Homosexuality in Pico's "Strix
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This study draws on theological and demonological works that discuss demons' reaction to sodomy, and concentrates on Gianfrancesco Pico's 1523 dialogue Strix. While the medieval theological view stressed the demons' abhorrence of sodomy and refrainment from engaging in sodomitical relations, fifteenth-century demonologists already found it difficult to reconcile such a view with the newly...
Karlstadt's Tract on Images & Begg
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Andreas Bodenstein von Karlstadt's Von Abtuhung der Bilder und Das Keyn Bedtler unther den Christen seyn sollen were printed as a single tract on January 27,1522, and headed by a single, dedicatory preface. A rhetorical analysis of both essays shows aspects of Karlstadt's legalistic hermeneutic, with its heavy reliance on the Old Testament, and a notion of "offense" rooted in material-...
uThe Book of Sir Thomas More" & Laughter of the Heart
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Sixteenth-century Protestant and Catholic martyrologists use joyfulness, wit, and gallows humor to reveal what is in a martyr's conscience, what motivates martyrs to endure suffering. Despite prominently displaying More s famous sense of humor, how ever, the Elizabethan play called The Book of Sir Thomas More maintains a steadfast silence about the reasons More suffered execution. Failing to...
Building & Property Disputes in Prague, 1541-?6
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This article examines building and property disputes before the Six-Man Councils of the Old and New Cities of Prague from 1547 to 1611. On one level, the disputes pro vide rich descriptive information about Renaissance architectural innovations and everyday interaction in this bilingual and multiconfessional city that was undergoing a transformation into a Habsburg residence. On another level...