preface draft. the hundred: a novel of young luther & his world

7/28/2019 Preface Draft. The Hundred: A Novel of Young Luther & His World.

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WORKING DRAFT: DO NOT QUOTE WITHOUT AUTHOR'S

PERMISSION


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PERMISSIONSkjelver The Hundred

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PrefaceThe past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.

- L.P. Hartley

Christopher S. Mackay opens the introduction tohis translation ofThe Hammer of Witcheswith this line.The 1486-7 manual for interrogating suspectedwitches, also known by its Latin name MalleusMaleficarum, was published when Martin Luther was

a small boy. This fact is not incidental to the personLuther was. Rather, it reflects the world that shapedhim, for his world was populated by witches, sprites,fairies, and demons.

In this novel, unseen entities are portrayed asactual because that is how the characters perceived

them. Many readers may find it hard to believe howintegral the unseen world was to the daily life ofmedieval people. The existence of a spirit world is notreally the point, however. What matters is that avibrant, interactive invisible world was very much areality in the minds of medieval people.

Theirs was not a world of coincidence. Everyoccurrence had an explanation, and usually it was aspiritual one. Storms or lack of rain, for instance, did


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not just happen, and they certainly had no scientificexplanation. Weather was a tool of God and theDevil. If God caused rain, it was a blessing. If Godcaused a storm, it was punishment or a test for hispeople. If the Devil caused rain, it might be to deceiveand lull people into a false sense of spiritual security.

If the Devil caused a storm, it was often seen as thework of a witch wreaking vengeance on her fellowvillagers for some slight. This set of examples is asimplification to be sure, but it demonstrates that formedieval people, nothing just happened. Nearlyeverything had a spiritual source, and that source was

never neutral. It was always Divine or Evil.My aim is to assist the reader in a deeper

understanding of Luther's world, of the forces thatshaped him. He indeed grew up in a world of laughterand music, love and joy. Yet his was also a world ofwar, famine, and plague; of deference and power; of

tremendous fear of God, the Devil, and all theirunseen forces.

While drawing on years of research rangingacross eight languages, much of it primary sourceresearch, this is first and foremost a work of fiction.This book is informed by Luther's own memories of

childhood and youth as expressed in his letters,sermons, and Table Talk. Memories are, of course,malleable; but they are also the best evidence we have


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of Luther's childhood. The views of hiscontemporaries - allies, enemies, and indifferentparties - likewise fill this work. Among thoseindifferent parties, Paul Dolnstein, the subject of mymaster's thesis, builds a bridge between Luther andthe fictional characters. And yet, heavily researched

as this novel is, it is still first and foremost a work offiction. Hence, it may help the reader to address a fewpoints:

LUTHER'S FAMILY: All of the characters in theLuther family are based on real people. Martin was

the second son, but at present, it is not known howlong the first boy lived. Martin's Uncle Hans was areal person. He was a scandalous figure and shared aname with Martin's father. The two men were knownas Big Hans (Martin's father) and Little Hans(Martin's uncle). The distinction was likely not

always clear to people outside Martin's childhoodcommunity of Mansfeld.

SCHOOL: We do not know when Luther startedschool. Some say as young as four, some as old asseven. He recalled an older student carrying him to

school when he was a small boy, according to HeikoOberman. I have chosen the age of five. The names ofmany of his teachers and classmates are fictional.


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PAUL DOLNSTEIN: The master builder andLandsknecht who served Luther's prince, was a realperson. Landsknechts were highly prized, highlytrained pikemen. Typically, they were mercenaries,but some also served their own princes in a fashion

akin to a modern National Guard. Dolnstein'ssketchbook provides the imagery and much of thedetail for the military events that transform the livesof our fictional characters. Some of the Landsknechts'names come from the sketchbook. Wolf von Zwickau,for instance, is a real person, who worked for Luther's

prince as a stone mason and Landsknecht.

THE GUTMANN FAMILY: Adelhait, Jger, Friz,Volker, and their family are all fictional. Though theirlives and actions are based on people and occurencesdiscovered in research, they are not historical figures.

For instance, Nicholas is based on the boy whocarried Luther to school. In reality, this boy's namewas Nicholas, but not Nicholas Gutmann.

MUSIC AND PRAYER: I have endeavored toremain as true to liturgy, song, and prayer as possible.

Some of the martial songs can be traced no furtherback than the nineteenth century, though the sourcesclaim that the songs are medieval. Their authenticity


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should be questioned, but the spirit of these tunes is inkeeping with a fictionalized account of real events.

COARSE LANGUAGE: I have included a little ofthe earthiness that marked Luther's personality. Ihave bowed to what I expect to be my audience's

preferences. I am unsure that I will remain in this safezone, for it does not match Luther's indisputable skillwith vulgarity. It was indeed useful to him later inlife. However, if I portray scatological vulgarity, Iought as well to portray sexual vulgarity, and this is atopic I am not sure I want to write more thoroughly

than I have. The latter form of vulgarity would effectLuther's portrayal very little, but it would effect theportrayal of Dolnstein and the fictional characters agreat deal. It would certainly be more accurate. Ihave not yet made up my mind about this particularaesthetic choice.

In sum, this book rests on years of research inoriginal sources, often in their original languages, aswell as over 500 books on Martin Luther and LateMedieval - Reformation Europe. Yet, in the end it isonly a novel. Though its foundation is stout, this book

is at heart a work of fiction.

preface draft. the hundred: a novel of young luther & his world

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