Introduction

Pitocles of Samos once related that Pericles, the famous Athenian orator, had such a great gift of eloquence and such a power of arousing emotions that – as related in the ancient comedies – it was believed that he did not talk nor have a voice, but rather caused lightning and thunder. He exercised this special gift not only to create a sense of awe about what he had to say, but he also practised it each time new obligations caused him to voice his concerns in public. This great orator, who by the brilliance of speech penetrated peoples' minds, bid them to fear the consequences of his oration.

This erudite episode, told in elegant, humanistic Latin, opens an oration by Francesco Chiericati (1480-1539), who sought to produce a similar effect on the delegates present at the Diet of Nuremberg on 19 November 1522. The thunderous tone of Chiericati's oration, given at the Diet shortly after the fall of Belgrade (1521) and fall of Rhodes (1522), was characteristic for the spokesman of Pope Hadrian VI (1522-1523) and, at the same time, of Hungarian king Louis II (1516-1526), whose kingdom was believed to be the next target of the Ottoman army. Chiericati's speech, warning about the approach of the ‘the Turk’ and Luther's schism, was disseminated in the form of a brochure in at least four editions and two language versions shortly after it was delivered in Nuremberg.