All the humour of Piers the Ploughman seems to be more or less of this personal kind.

We must here notice the humorous though scurrilous attack made upon the Roman clergy in the “Letters of Obscure Men,” published in Germany at the commencement of the sixteenth century.  There was something novel in the idea of a series of ironical letters, and from their appearance, the steady progress of the Reformation may be dated.  The greater part of them seems to have been written by Ulrich von Hutten, and are addressed to Ortuin Gratius, a professor of the University of Cologne, who had attacked Reuchlin, a celebrated Hebraist.  The original quarrel was only about some translations of Rabbinical works, but it extended into a contest between the Church party, represented by Gratius, and those desirous of reformation.  Doctrine is scarcely touched upon in these letters, but accusations of immorality abound.  There is great variety in the plan upon which the irony and satire are conducted.  For instance, the writer says he has just heard from Gratius that he is sending flowers and gifts to another man’s wife.  “Reuchlin has written a defence of himself against Gratius, in which he calls him an ass.  Reuchlin ought to be burnt with his book.  Some people say the monks are grossly dishonest—­it is a horrible lie.  A preacher, after taking a little too much wine, has actually said that the principals of the University are given to drink and play.  Some profane men say that the coat of our Lord at Treves is not genuine, but only an old rag; he does not believe there is now any hair of the Virgin in the world; and the preaching friars who sell indulgences are only a set of buffoons who deceive old apple-women.  Another fool says that the preaching friars committed fearful abominations at Berne, and one day put poison into the consecrated elements.  A great calamity has happened!  A thief has stolen three hundred florins, which the preachers had gained by the sale of indulgences.  The people who gave the money are in sad trouble to know whether they still have absolution—­they need not be alarmed, they have as much as they had before they gave their money to the friars.  Query.  Is it a sin to play at dice in order to buy indulgences?  Gratius, in a letter to another Father of the Church, expresses his astonishment at hearing that he thinks so much about the ladies.  Such thoughts come from the devil; wherever they are suggested, he must make the sign of the cross on his back, and put a pinch of blessed salt on his tongue.  Women make him ill by employing charms and sorceries against him; it is no wonder, for he has grey hair and eyes, a red face, a large nose, and a corporation.  No man should ever make use of necromancy to obtain a woman’s love, for a student of theology once fell in love with a baker’s daughter at Leipzig, and threw an enchanted apple at her,[43] which caused her to fall violently in love with him, and finally led to a scandal in the church.”