© Gerhard Pfeiffer, ed., Quellen zur Nürnberger Reformationgeschichte (Nuremberg: Einzelarbeiten aus der Kirchengeschichte Bayerns, 1968), extracts. Translated by: Scott Dixon.


05.33 Nuremberg Council Minutes of 1524 [Extracts] ©


11 June 1524

Take appropriate action with the booksellers and forbid the sale of derogatory verse and unsuitable pictures - with the warning, that the punishment will be harsh where such things are found. Following on this, commission someone to search for such things and, if they are discovered, root them out.

4 July 1524

Issue the order to search for and root out Luther's portrait and the scandalous pictures wherever they are sold publicly.

12 July 1524

Send delegates to interrogate the Miller of Vach and look into why he has threatened the preacher. Bring his answer to the Council.

5 August 1524

Send delegates to Bernhard Sammat, vicar of Our lady, to interrogate him on his inappropriate words on the Evangelical mass. Register his answer and bring it to the Council

5 August 1524

Following the answer and confession of Bernhard Sammat (in which he said that he shits on the new ordinance of the mass), he should be subject to a severe rebuke and told that he has caused the Council considerable displeasure. Since he is a priest, the Council thought him smarter than that. In the future he should avoid such inappropriate outbursts or the Council will be moved to demonstrate the degree of their displeasure with him.

6 September 1524

The public sale of the Lutheran pamphlets with the Imperial Mandate and those which call the Emperor and the princes fools should be forbidden. Further, the knaves who sell these pamphlets in the market should be cited; and it should also be forbidden to the foreigners who sell the painted cloth at Pirkheimer Place to offer for sale the scurrilous portraits of the Pope.

8 October 1524

Issue a warning on the Council's behalf to the members of the Butcher's guild to leave off their daily blasphemy in the sheepstall or they will be incarcerated and punished. It should be made clear that they will not be spared.

10 November 1524

Send a delegation to Marx von Wiblingen, Innkeeper, and have him describe on oath the shameful nature of the disrespect of the blood and body of Christ. Have him identify the same guests along with their names.

1 December 1524

Register the Council's displeasure with Andreas Osiander, preacher at Saint Lorenz, on account of his recent publication against the regular clergy. Much bother and ado may result because of it, regardless of whether it is good or not. Make it clear that it is the Council's wish that he leave off such things and no longer publish without the knowledge of the Council.

12 December 1524

Look into what happened yesterday at both convents, what words or otherwise inappropriate actions occurred, and bring this information to the Council. On the Council's behalf deal with all of the preachers and cordially ask that they desist from abusing and insulting one another (or other people) in their sermons from the pulpit. In particular the preachers and friars should be forced to stop their inappropriate and unfair sermons so that the Council does not have cause to deal with the matters in other ways.

24 December 1524

Appoint a number of overseers today in those churches and monasteries where Christmas matins are being held. These men should keep a watch out where any improprieties occur and impose order. They should then report the same transgressors and offenders to the Council so that they might be punished.


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