Johannes Pfefferkorn

Illustration showing the humanist Johannes Reuchlin (kneeling) and wringing his hands while Johannes Pfefferkorn stands by him in a master's robes. Woodcut, Cologne, 1521

Johannes Pfefferkorn (original given name Joseph; 1469October 22, 1521) was a German Catholic theologian and writer who converted from Judaism. He actively preached against the Jews, attempted to destroy copies of the Talmud, and engaged in a long running pamphleteering battle with the humanist Johann Reuchlin.

Early life Born a Jew, possibly in Nuremberg, Pfefferkorn lived in Nuremberg and moved to Cologne after many years of wandering. He converted to Catholic Christianity in 1505 and was baptized that Desiderius Erasmus was another opponent of Pfefferkorn, on the grounds that he was a converted Jew and therefore could not be trusted.

Works Der Judenspiegel (Speculum Adhortationis Judaicæ ad Christum), Nuremberg, 1507 Der Warnungsspiegel (The Mirror of Warning), year? Die Judenbeicht (Libellus de Judaica Confessione sive Sabbate Afflictionis cum Figuris), Cologne, 1508 Das Osterbuch (Narratio de Ratione Pascha Celebrandi Inter Judæos Recepta), Cologne and Augsburg, 1509 Der Judenfeind (Hostis Judæorum), ib. 1509 In Lib und Ehren dem Kaiser Maximilian (In Laudem et Honorem Illustrissimi Imperatoris Maximiliani), Cologne, 1510 Handspiegel (Mayence, 1511) Der Brandspiegel (Cologne, 1513) Die Sturmglocke (ib. 1514) Streitbüchlein Wider Reuchlin und Seine Jünger (Defensio Contra Famosas et Criminales Obscurorum Virorum Epistolas (Cologne, 1516) Eine Mitleidige Clag Gegen den Ungläubigen Reuchlin (1521)