German sermon literature during the late Middle Ages and the early Modern Age in the context of European narrative tradition: Johannes Pauli's 'Schimpf und Ernst' (1521) as a medium of reception

Contrary to older opinions regarding the fifteenth century as the great divide between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance/Reformation, sixteenth-century sermon literature demonstrates through its great preference for exempla the extensive continuity of older traditions. This article illustrates, using Johannes Paulis collection of exempla, Schimpf und Ernst (1521) as a representative example, to what extent he and other clerical authors were familiar with a large portion of medieval and early-modern literature which they easily integrated into their own texts and used them for their moral-didactic purposes.