ABSTRACT
With the sudden surge in religious debate that followed from Martin Luther’s posting of the Ninety-Five Theses in 1517, Germany became the setting for a war of words between the defenders of the Catholic Church and the exponents of the new theology of Wittenberg. While first sticking to the format of scholastic debate, Luther and his followers soon attacked their opponents using the range of media created by the print revolution, using texts and images as well as new hybrid forms of ridicule, satire, and slander that drew from the traditions of medieval anticlericalism and popular culture
