615 - Wolffsbach, Nicolaus. A Thorough and Truthful Account of Whether It Is True That, According to a Pamphlet Published by the Late Wolfgang Mertzen, a Lutheran preacher, in a letter blown up in Truck, Bishop St. Ulrich of Augsburg once had a pond drained for fishing, and in it caught six thousand human heads, which he brought to light. Würzburg, Fleischmann, 1593. 4 leaves, 107 pp. 20 x 15 cm. New cardboard cover.

Wolffsbach, Nicolaus. A Thorough and Truthful Account of Whether It Is True That, According to a Pamphlet Published by the Late Wolfgang Mertzen, a Lutheran preacher, in a letter blown up in Truck, Bishop St. Ulrich of Augsburg once had a pond drained for fishing, and in it caught six thousand human heads, which he brought to light. Würzburg, Fleischmann, 1593. 4 leaves, 107 pp. 20 x 15 cm. New cardboard cover. BM STC German Books 926 - VD16 W 4301 - A response to a “certain fable—indeed, a mendacious tale intended to slander the clergy”—circulating in the Diocese of Augsburg, and at the same time a refutation of Lutheran doctrines in 15 “arguments.” The cause of the dispute is the polemical treatise (Epistola Pseudo-Udalrici de continentia clericorum) against celibacy, falsely attributed to St. Ulrich, Bishop of Augsburg (890–973). Bishop Ulrich is said to have found 6,000 children’s heads in his pond, accompanied by the saying: “It is better to marry than to give occasion for death.”—Contemporary inscription at the end of folio 4, slightly discolored. *