Hans Sachs, Die wittembergisch Nachtigall, Bamberg 1523 (Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Rar. 1535)

In 1523, Hans Sachs (1494–1576) created the “Wittenbergisch Nachtigall” (Wittenberg Nightingale), one of the most influential literary works of the early Reformation era. Sachs therefore expanded his master song “Das walt got” which he wrote in the same year many times over. The “Nightingale” is an allegorical poem by which Sachs wanted to portray Martin Luther’s (1483–1546) doctrine and criticism of the Church in a popular way. In addition, it is accompanied by a preface and by references to relevant passages from the Bible.

Meistersinger Sachs very quickly had great success with the poem – six editions were printed in 1523. The copy shown here is a first edition from the collection of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (Bavarian State Library) which was printed by Georg Erlinger (d. 1541) in Bamberg.

The allegorical programme of the poem is depicted right on the title page: the nightingale in the tree stands for Luther himself. Below the tree, a group of animals have gathered, consisting of a lion, a donkey, a wild boar, a goat and a tomcat as well as snakes, frogs, geese and snails. They cannot do anything against the nightingale. All these helpless animals symbolise Luther’s adversaries. For example, the lion stands for Pope Leo X (1475–1521, pope 1513–1521) and the wild boar for the theologian Johannes Eck (1486–1543).

To the digitised copy