Textual Strategies of Argument in the Confessional Polemic of Racek Dubravius

The thesis focuses on the textual strategies of argument in the confessional polemic Ad libellum Martini Lutheri de instituendis ministris ecclesiae accepti relatio (1525) by Czech jurist and humanist Rodericus Dubravius of Dubrava. Chapters 1-4 provide a cultural and historical context of the early stage of Lutheran reformation, define main features of the polemic genre, and sketch the process of constituting of the anti-Lutheran discourse from 1510s to 1520s both in Europe and Bohemia by introducing some of its representative examples. The core of this thesis consists in Chapter 5, introducing selected examples of particular strategies of argument, such as personal invective, use of doctrinal arguments, etc. The analysis of selected textual samples is based on a particular set of methodological tools, most importantly a taxonomy of humanistic polemics by Marc Laureys, Roswitha Simons, and Arnold Becker which is presented in detail in Chapter 2