The Eric Metaxas Show - Eric Talks Martin Luther (Encore)

Episode Date: November 2, 2022

In this special encore edition of a Fun Facts Friday, Eric reveals a number of offbeat oddities and quirky characters running amok during the life and times of Martin Luther. (Encore Presentation)

Folks, welcome to the Eric Metaxus show, sponsored by Legacy Precious Metaxe. There's never been a better time to invest in precious metals. Visit legacy p.m. Investments.com. Eric Metaxe show with your host, Eric Mettaxas. Hey, folks, welcome to the program. We've got a special treat for you today. As you know, yesterday was Reformation Day. And Albin and I thought that we would play the conversation we had when my Luther book came out a couple of years ago. I have been rereading the book. I'm really excited about some of the stuff that's in it, and we thought we'd play that for you today. Also want to remind you, go to SalemNow.com. No vacancies is there.

Border Battle is there. SalemNow.com. Okay, now stay tuned for my interview with Albin, or Albin's interview with me. Albin, first of all, we have to tell our audience. It's a fun facts Friday. I am in Dallas. in a hotel room doing the program from a hotel room in Dallas, not from the studio in Dallas,

but from a hotel room in Dallas. And we are pre-recording. So in my world, it's not really Friday. In your world, I guess it's not Friday either. No, it's not. But we're doing a fun fact Friday because we had a moment here. And I've got to say, for Todd Wilkerson to refer to pop off, I think that's a vodka. And I think that's not appropriate for this kind of an audience, Todd.

Well, Todd in a bubble bath is not appropriate either. You know what? Have you seen Todd? I have seen Todd in his bathing suit? No, not that. You want to talk about it inappropriate? I can't unsee that. No, I don't want to.

He looks like, if you see him walking down the beach, he looks like Abraham Lincoln in a bathing suit. Does he really? Yeah. Picture Abe Lincoln in a bathing suit. It's just uncomfortable to look at someone like that. And that's exactly what Todd looks at. As long as he's not wearing that stovet top hat. No, he doesn't need it.

He looks like Abe Lincoln, even without the beard. You just say, holy cow, it's Abe Lincoln. And then you realize that it can't be a blinking because Lincoln never wore a bathing suit and walked on the beach. And by the way, he died 150 years ago. Okay, listen, we're doing, Alman, this was your idea to do a fun Facts Friday. He said, hey, Eric, let's do a fun Facts Friday. Can I explain how I came up with it?

Because I've been having a great time reading your book. I haven't gotten all the way through it yet. I read it on the train to and from Terry Town. You know, I'm having a great time. but I realize Martin Luther lived in quirky times. I mean, really strange and odd times, right? Well, this is exactly what persuaded me to want to write the book. I've said a million times I didn't want to write any more biographies.

I figured I'll go out on a high note. Everybody seemed to think that the Bonhofer book was a good book. But Greg Thornberry, the president of King's College, and my mutual friend, Marcus Speaker, said, Eric, you've got to do it. Here's why. And I began to realize that Luther lived in such quirky times that this could be a very, very entertaining story. There's no doubt about it.

There's hilarious little facts and weird things in the story. It's one of those things, you know how they'll say, like, boy, if we told this story, nobody would believe it. They think we'd make it. And that's kind of this story. I'm reading this and saying, no, this cannot be true. This is just wild, wild stuff. I mean, really funny. Right. And that's, so was your idea to do a fun fact Friday?

And by the way, since I'm in a hotel room in, excuse me, since I'm in a hotel room in Dallas, my question is, are my sound levels okay? Are your sound levels okay? I mean, it's crazy to do radio from a hotel room. I know. I'm looking back at James in the control room. He's given the big thumbs up. All right, Jimbo. Yeah. Well, anyway, so, so you, it was your kooky idea that we need to do a fun facts Friday. on the Luther's story. And you said there were only two things that you needed. You said you needed the slide whistle.

And you needed the bell. But you know the bell, I don't have the bell right now to say yes. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. You got the answer correct. Well, the slide whistle is in some ways better than the bell. So you can use that for everything. Yeah. Okay.

So we're going to talk about Martin Luther. Obviously, maybe I should talk about my tour first because if it's Friday, I said it up. This is, I mean, this has been an extraordinary journey. If it's Friday, that means I'm currently, even though I'm taping this from a hotel room in Dallas, right? Yeah. On Friday, when you hear this, I will be in Albuquerque. Okay.

Because tonight, actually not tonight, tomorrow night. tomorrow night in Albuquerque, Saturday night the 21st of October. If you're listening to this, we may play this as a rerun, but I'm speaking in Albuquerque at Calvary Church in Albuquerque, Saturday night the 21st and Sunday at three services. I'm going to be fatigued. Three services on Sunday the 22nd at Calvary Church in Albuquerque. And then I'm speaking in Cherry Creek, Denver. It's Greenwood Village actually. Colorado Cherry Creek on the 24th of October.

So, man, I'm getting around. And they're expecting like 8,000 people or something at this Calvary. 8,000. Yeah. And one. And one. That's right. Yeah, they didn't count me.

They didn't count you. No, they did not. So, yes. And then I'm speaking at Michael Yusuf's Church in Atlanta. That's going to be on the 29th of October. And then that evening, I'm speaking at Peach Tree in Atlanta. that is 5 p.m. service at Peachtree. That's also the 29th of October Sunday.

I'm looking at this calendar. I'm going to be at Greg Lorry's Church, Riverside, in Harvest Church in Orange County, California, A. That's going to be on the weekend of November 5th. Holy cow. November 5th, that's right. So if we re-air this, if we re-air this, people can still go to that. But that's what?

That's my birthday. birthday, November 5th. Yeah, my twin brother and I. Yeah. Wait a minute. Your brother and you have the same birthday? We figured it out. We got it right. My parents worked it out. That's a fun fact Friday right there. That's amazing. A little nod to my mom and dad.

Yeah. But you know, guys, you cheated. You cheated. We cheated, right. Because you're twins, aren't you? We are. Yeah, you can't fool me. Yeah. We were pushing and shoving to see who would come out first. And it was me. I won. Yay. I crossed the finish. line. Wow, that's terrific. Okay. All right. All right. Well, anyway, so I guess that means on your

birthday, I'm going to be, I'll be in California, so I won't be able to, well, watch you blow out the candles on your cake. But let's see, after California, I go to Phoenix. I'm speaking in Phoenix. I don't know if that's a private event. It might be a private event. And then, oh, my gosh, November 11th, I'm speaking in Wichita, Kansas. I'm going to see my old friend Tim Ragland. Tim Ragland lives in Independence, Kansas. He is the illustrator of the Uncle Mugsy books, if you don't know the Uncle Mugsy books. Those are my favorite children's books. My favorite. His illustrations blow your mind. I never get to see Tim. He lives in Kansas. I'm going to be in Wichita, Kansas at Eastminster Presbyterian on, actually I think it's on the 12th, the Sunday, the 12th of November. I didn't mean to start fun facts trying to give in my schedule. We got to talk about Luther. We've got to talk about some crazy fun facts. Can I throw out just one funny fact to get us into the commercial,

and then when people come back, they're going to get into some crazy stuff. Because there's a guy named Frederick the Wise, and he had a collection of relics, okay, that were really very much, Ripley would be in awe of these relics. Okay, now you got to understand one of the reasons that I was excited about writing this book. When I discovered this stuff, I said this is going to make an entertaining book because it's right up my alley. This kind of weird, Ripley-esque stuff, I find so entertaining that I thought I'm going to put it in the book. And I'm so glad that you, who have a similar weird sense of humor, also find it entertaining. Well, and then people of the day all kept trying to, like,

outdo each other. Like, I don't, I don't know if you remember this from your book because he got so many fun facts, but there was one priest that one of the, talked about how wise he was. In fact, he said that his shoes were made, you know, the wooden souls of his shoes were made from the actual tree of knowledge from the from from from from Eden so that's why the tree of the knowledge of good and evil yeah in in Eden yes he was so smart yeah he claimed that his shoes the wood from his shoes came from that actual tree right and and you know what I think what I think um you you think that may not be true he may he was probably stretching the truth on that and I what I also like is that so many people had thorns from the actual thorns from the actual thorns

that were on Jesus' head, you know, the crown of thorns. The crown of thorns, yeah. But Frederick the wise claimed that he had a thorn that actually pierced the Savior's brow. And you know how they knew that? Yeah, how did the blood? No, this is not a joke. This is in my book. People, by the way, folks, if you're listening to Fun Facts Friday, this is all in the book.

So we're not making any of this up. This is all in my book. It came with a certificate that this thorn had pierced the brow of Jesus on the cross. This is not a joke. This was what the world of relics was like. We're going to a break, folks. Whether you like it or not, it's Fun Facts Friday. We hope you like it.

It's the Eric Mataxis show. We'll be right back. In case you haven't been paying attention, the Biden administration has caused a financial crisis, and they have no clue how to fix it. Oil prices have skyrocketed, and when oil prices go up, the cost of transportation and shipping spikes,

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Well, I tried to make it Sunday, but I got so damn depressed that I set my sights on Monday, and I got myself on there, folks, this Airman Taxis show. I'm coming to you on this special Fun Facts Friday. I'm on the road, Albin, you're not. I am not. You're not on the road. You're in New York. I'm firmly planted in New York right now.

In the studio. In the studio. Can you be firmly planted in New York? There's something about New York that makes me think you can't be firmly planted there, but I know what you mean. You're in New York. Yes. I'm on the road in a hotel room doing the radio show from a hotel room. I've got this great thing called a Comrex box, which if there's an Ethernet cable in the hotel room, I can do the show from the hotel room.

You know, if need be, I prefer to go to a studio. But today couldn't get to a studio. So we're doing Fun Facts Friday from a telephone. Well, I got to say you sound as clear as a bell or a slide whistle. You know, there's something about that slide whistle that suddenly, no matter where you are, no matter what time of date is, no matter anything, suddenly it's Fun Facts Friday. It puts a spring in your step. It's like the Pavlovian dog with the bell, except this is the slide whistle.

Suddenly, Bing, it's Fun Facts Friday. Well, okay, Fun Facts Friday. This is a special Martin Luther edition because this was your idea. You are reading my book. I didn't tell you to do this. And, you know, you didn't have to do this, by the way. You've got enough to do it. Yeah, I know.

But I'll tell you, it's like, what makes Eric tick? You know, I read Bonhofer blown away by that book. And I learned a little bit about Eric, not just about Bonhofer. Now I'm reading Martin Luther and just I'm having fun with your phraseology. Yeah. And a lot of other, just these quirky little stories. The Martin Luther book is a thousand times more entertaining and fun than the Bonhoffa book. Just because when you're writing about Nazis and the Holocaust, you know, there's a certain timbre that runs through it, whereas this is in many ways very funny and entertaining.

And that's why you wanted to do a Fun Facts Friday based on the book. Yeah, like, for example, and I thought you could expound on this little story about that self-deluded poet named Baraballo. Oh, no. This is just this is when I found this out. You can imagine. I flipped. Yeah. I flipped.

I said, this is so up my alley. Yeah. Can I put it in the book? Because it's got very little to do with Martin Luther. By the way, by the way, people might say like, well, they're telling me the whole book. I don't even have to get the book. I'm only like 100 pages into the book. And there are, I'm not kidding.

There are dozens upon dozens. I'm closing in on probably 100 quirky, weird things. And I'm only, I'm only like a, you know, a fourth of the way through this book. Yeah. No, it's crazy. Can you talk about this barber, Barbara. Barabalo, Barabalo. Hey, Barabalo.

Now, you have the book. You have the book. Because I'm on the road and I had to pack for three weeks on the road, I didn't carry this heavy book with me, right? I thought it was funny that I said, you, okay, so you got the book? I got the book. I don't got the book. I don't got the book. I know I should have.

It's kind of stupid, right, not to have a copy of my own book, but somehow I missed it. But anyway, here's the thing. I think I gave him a copy to Suzanne when we were on the road together because she wanted to, you know, read it. I said, probably be a good idea. People may have assumed that you read the book because you're my white. And so she's reading the book. I mean, look, she hears me when I'm writing the book. She hears all this stuff. But anyway, look, so here's the story. Barabala. The reason this is in there is that I thought to myself, when I told the story of when I told a story of Bonhofer, I had to tell the story of who he's fighting against. And to give this some chiaroscuro, to give it some context, to give it some

contrast as well. I mean, that's Shiaroscuro. But the point is that Luther was dealing with a Vatican that was so far from our view of the Vatican today. In other words, corruption and worldliness and all kinds of crazy stuff had crept in. And the Pope at the time of Luther was Pope Leo the 10th. Hard to believe that there were 10 Pope Leos. But Pope Lio's, but Pope Pope Leo the 10th is a figure so colorful. And I thought to myself, you need to know who this figure is to understand what Luther was dealing with. And Pope Leo the 10th, he was a little bit more like a depraved Roman emperor than a Pope. He was, he had fabulous wealth that people, you know, every, every faithful,

believer is sending their widows mites to the Vatican, and he's using it to create incredible art and all kinds of stuff, but he was a spendthrift. He basically was somebody who really liked entertainment and whatever, and so he really wasn't somebody you'd describe as a holy man, even though he was the Pope. And so he would do these crazy things, and one of the craziest things he did. When I read this, it was so entertaining and hilarious to me. I said, I've got to put this in the book. This is just too crazy

because it reveals what this Pope was like. If you want to know what is Martin Luther dealing with, you've got to tell the story. And the story, this is all from memory, of course, because I don't have a book in front of me, but the story deals with there were a lot of versifiers and poets

in the Vatican. And it was almost like if you had a court, right? The king has a court and he has these people that are schmoozing and trying to get in. He was like a court jester, but he was a court poet or something, right? Yes, this, this poet, his name was Baraballo, of course, Italian. Baraballo was the archbitt, now if you can believe this, he was the Archbishop of Gaeta. Now, Archbishops in those days, it was simply a title that you either bought or it was awarded to you, you know, when you were 20 years old. It has no correspondence when we think of Archbishop.

in the church today. And so he was the Archbishop of Gaeta, which kind of like he had a dukedom, or he was a prince, or he was a whatever, you know. And so he was hanging around the court, and he was a poet. And he kind of at some point went crazy. And what I found really sick was that the Pope, Pope Leo, who was actually extremely young, he became Pope when he was 37 years old, he he seemed to want to make fun of this barabalo like he's a court jester and I thought this is actually sick

because baraballo was clearly a deluded maniac and he thought that he was greater than the great Petrarch people know of course Petrarch the great poet Petrarch and you can't imagine that a Pope would do this but the bottom line is that Pope Leo the 10th created something, it was like a festival in the city, a big celebration where they spent an infinite

amount of money. And at the center of the whole thing was this public mockery of Baraballo, even though Baraballo didn't realize he was being mocked, which makes it so cruel. He was the only one that didn't know. He was the only one that didn't know, which is really cruel, if you think about it. It's actually cruel. And so they wanted to crown him the arch poet. I can't remember the details, but they They want to crown him the arch poet. And everybody's in on the joke, that it's a mockery of him. Maybe some of them thought he was sort of in on the joke, but it seems that he was not

in on the joke. His family tried to talk him out of it, and he said, oh, you're just jealous because they're celebrating me as a great poet. And the Pope had, how do I put it, Albin? The Pope had an elephant. Yes. The prince, I'm sorry, the king of Portugal as a way of curing favor with the Vatican, sent an elephant by.

by parcel post all the way to the Vatican and Rome from Portugal, an elephant. And the elephant, Pope Leo, was so thrilled with the elephant. And again, the details are in the book. You can find the details because I'm just given an overview. But the Pope so loved the elephant.

He named him Hanno. And Hano was involved in everything the Pope did. And I don't know if he slept with the elephant or what, but he was so close to this pet. He loved this pet. And so he wanted Hano to be involved in the mockery in this huge celebration through the city of Rome. So they had a moment where the Pope forced the Archbishop Lang. This was a dower German ecclesiastical figure who did not find any of this funny,

but it was his job to crown Baraballo with the crown in front of everybody. And then when Baraballo was crowned as the greatest poet who ever lived, he would then climb. He had to mount the back of the elephant and the African Mahout, who accompanied the elephant, had to help. Barabalo was a heavy elderly figure. So he had to get on top of this elephant and then ride through Rome while the people jeered and laughed. It's funny and sick at the same time, but it illustrates the depravity of the Vatican at this time, that it was no longer the Vatican and had been, and it was not the Vatican it is today. It was a very weird time. Oh, it was strange. And of course, happened to the elephant. Now, I don't know if we can get into that or if you want to get into what

happened to the elephant. Oh, I do. Of course I do. That's beyond the pale, too. Well, look, the book is loaded with scatological humor. People say, what's scatological humor? You'll have to look it up, but it's spelled S-C-A-T-A, scatological humor. And one of the most amazing things that I read is that when Hano, the elephant got sick, the Pope was so upset that he called the finest doctor. from miles around to heal the elephant. And all they could do, they had never dealt with the constitution of an elephant before. So they prescribed a gigantic laxative for the elephant to purge the elephant. And when we come back, it's a fun fact Friday on the Eric Mattaxas show.

I'm going to tell you what the laxative contained. On the Eric Metaxus show, we're talking about Martin Luther and laxatives and elephants We'll be right back. You've heard and seen the raw uncut truth about the brave men and women, patriots that were wrongfully arrested on January 6th by the tyrannical Biden regime and corrupt DOJ. But with your support, Jake Lang and all the January 6ers can find justice. Here is his message. Hello, my name is Jake Lang.

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The need is great. The time to donate is now. Thank you, and God bless you. Hey there, folks. This is the Eric Metaxis show, special Fun Facts Friday edition. I am not in New York City. Albin. I am.

I think you are. In New York City. You're driving the boat. You're the maestro. I'm driving it, baby. Look out. Get out of the way, kids. Look out.

You crazy kids. I should have honked my horn. Yeah. That'll get them out of the way. Well, okay, so when we went to the break. Yes. I was talking about, I mean, this is a Fun Facts Friday special Martin Luther edition. Right, the quirky life in times of Martin Luther.

Right. And so this was your idea, and I'm glad that you'd notice the corkiness in the book because there's such crazy stuff. But one of the crazy things we were talking about the Pope's elephant. I know, yes. Now, there's a book that I used in my research called The Pope's Elephant, and it gives you all the details. But I was just saying that when the elephant was dying, the Pope was so close to the elephant that he was very upset, he called on all the doctors. And the doctors, in those days, you know, 500 years ago, they had two cure-alls.

One was leeches. They would bleed the person. And the other one was a powerful laxative. Okay. But to use a purgative or laxative on an elephant, I mean, how much laxative do you use? These papal physicians were not used to dealing with elephants. So they used a tremendous amount. of laxative, and they wanted the highest quality laxative, and this is not a joke.

This is, again, it's all in the book. I hope people will read it for themselves. They used pure gold. This is not a joke. They believed that gold was a very powerful laxative. I have never tried it, and it's too expensive. But when you're Pope Leo the 10th, you've got nothing but money and love for your pet elephant. And so he spent, he spared no expense, and they used actual gold in the last.

laxative. And you know what happened? Can I think, can I tell you? You might as well, yes, tip the scales in the right direction here. What, what happened? I read it, but I want you to speak it. It sounds, it sounds like an explosive story. Yeah. But the fact of the matter is nothing happened, the elephant died. Yeah. And, and, and the Pope was so sad about it that he commissioned Raphael, the Raphael, to paint. a memorial to Hanno the elephant. I mean, this stuff is, this is true. Again, you can't make this up.

That's what's pretty wild about it. And again, one story after another, because what happens here in the book, of course, is you have to set the stage. Because for people to understand what Martin Luther was about and how the Reformation even came about, you have to know the times that he was living in. And so they're just a story after story.

I wanted you to share, if you could, the curious case of Anna Laminate. Do you remember that? Because I know, again, we talk about this. You don't have a copy of the book in front of you. I remember. This is something, when I discovered this, I flipped. This is, again, you know, for folks who listen to Fun Facts Friday, they know that both of us, we are students, lifelong students of the quirky. We like this weird, weird facts.

And to be writing a biography of Martin Luther to discover the most bizarre Ripley's style facts and anecdotes, I thought I've got to put them in the book. Well, you even titled this section of the chapter, The Curious Case of Anna Laminate, which is like a Ripley's story. Well, it is. That's exactly right. And this is early on in the book. This was in the first hundred pages or something. But Luther, when he was a young monk, he was a young monk. He was, I guess it was 1510.

So he's in his mid-20s. And he is driving his father confessor, Johannes von Staupitz, who's another incredible figure in the story. Just what a heroic figure who was very influential in Luther's life and who stayed faithful to the Catholic Church did not follow Luther out of the church.

It's dramatic that that's the case. And of course, you can read about it in the book. I'm not going to get into that. But the point is that he was, Luther was driving von Staupitz crazy because he was confessing incessantly every tiny thought, every, and he was just driving him crazy. And so von Staupitz kept thinking, you know, there's got to be a way to, they didn't have, you know, electro shock therapy in those days, but how can I reboot the computer that is known

as Martin Luther? And it sounded like he had OCD, right, because it was like, you. He had to constantly confess, constantly confessed. Oh, no, I've got to confess the fact that he didn't confess. He had a con, it was like that's a D. That's right. That's about right. So von Schaupitz figures, you know what I'm going to do?

Let's get him out of the house. Let's give him a different, something to see. Maybe if he takes a walk. And so he decides to send him to Rome, which was 800 miles away on foot. And that's just in one direction. Now, this is a curious case. if you walk there, it's 800 miles from Wittenberg to Rome, but from Rome to Wittenberg, it's only 250 miles.

Okay. That's not true. No. They discovered a tunnel through the Alps or something. Yeah, no, that's not true. Okay, when we come back, I will tell you what happened to Luther, who he met on the trip to Rome. This is at least entertaining and weird and interesting,

but it also gives you a picture of the religious world of that time. It's one of the reasons I included it, not just because it's wildly entertaining and funny and sad and crazy, but because it gives you a picture of the pietistic, ascetic activities that were popular when Luther was a monk. So we'll be right back with the Eric Mataxis show, Fun Facts Friday Edition. With the overturn of Roe v. Wade, lots of companies are coming out saying they'll pay for employee abortion travel and expenses. Most of you've heard about some of these companies. You've decided to stop shopping or doing business there, but did you know that you most

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So order now with promo code Eric at mypillow.com. promo code Eric at mypillow.com. Boy, do I hate to interrupt this music sometimes. Albin. Yes. I'm just grooving right now. I'm in my hotel room in Dallas, just grooving down. Okay, now we're talking about the curious case of Anna Lomit.

Now, this is a Fun Facts Friday, special Fun Facts Friday edition of the Eric Metaxe show, and we're talking about Martin Luther. And this was your idea because you said there's so many weird ideas in your book, Eric, that it would be a fun for a Fun Facts Friday. And I thought, well, there's enough for 10 Fun Facts Friday because there is so much weird. Right, right. And this whole thing about Anna, you pronounce it on, I guess, to Anna. Anna, but because like she was supposedly this very holy and pious woman.

Of course, the question that he asks are in her answers. No, no, no, don't. Don't get there. I'm just, yeah, but you go. You take it from that. Okay, so I was just saying that Luther is sent to Rome. He goes on a long trip, 800 miles from Fittemberg to Rome. He has to walk.

He goes with one of his fellow monks. We're not sure who it was for sure. But he goes, he walks to Rome. It takes months. You know, it's like 20, 25 miles a day of walking. and he gets there, he sees some stuff, and then he comes back. Okay, well, all of the details are in my book. But one thing that he sees on his way home, he comes into Germany and in a certain city, I don't remember, is it Augsburg? I can't remember. It's in my book. But the point is that

he hears that there is a woman who lives in the city who is very, very holy. She has become famous as an ascetic. Now, in those days, asceticism was very popular. People who, it can become works righteousness to use that theologically loaded term, but where people like the desert fathers would deny themselves food, water, they would fast for prolonged periods of time, which, of course, is a wonderful thing to do if you do for the right reasons. But it almost became fetishism. in a way, people became famous for being ascetic. And the focus in a way came to the person, you know. And so this woman named Anna Lominate was very famous for being a holy woman who, and hold on to your hats, because this is what, this is what is true, okay, because I did my research.

She was famous for never, ever eating a bite of food. or drinking anything. And as you would expect, she was equally famous for never going to the bathroom. To put it delicately, yes. To put it semi-delicately. She was, yeah. So Luther said, I want to meet this holy woman. Now, she'd become famous.

A lot of the wealthy people would visit her. And she actually became very rich. because she didn't pay taxes because she was considered a holy woman and all this weird stuff but it gets weirder and weirder and I don't know if I should tell the whole story because it's complicated and weird

but the bottom line is Luther visits this woman and he suspects because he was a sharp Saxon you know he suspect something is wrong something is off all these people are celebrating how she's so holy and she's so amazing. And as a serious monk, there was something awry with the whole picture, something fishy.

And Luther, at some point, and this is from memory, you have the book in front of you, but at some point he asks her, do you long to go to heaven? Because if you think about it, the goal of this kind of asceticism is to say, oh, I don't want to be in this world. I don't want to eat food or drink anything. I don't want to live in this world. I want to be like an ethereal ghost. I want to live in heaven. I don't want to live here on earth. Which in itself is a kind of heresy, because we're supposed to enjoy life here on earth.

To say that I hate this world, I mean, there are aspects of this world that we hate. We're supposed to long for heaven. But these people were trying to achieve it in a way on their own efforts. And so Luther says to the woman, do you look forward to going to heaven, or wouldn't you rather be in heaven? And she gives him the weirdest answer.

If you want, I could read it right from the book what the answer is. Yeah. Yeah. Her answer to the question shocked Luther. This is you writing. Oh, no, she answered. And then by way of explaining herself, said, here I know how things work. But there, I don't know what will happen.

Right. So Luther is stunned. Yeah. Because he says, this doesn't make sense. If you are a holy woman, you should long for heaven. And she kind of gives this weird thing. Like, I know how things work here. and it was almost like revealing that she is a kind of, she's a very canny woman, you know.

Even a charlatan, yeah. Even a charlatan. And so then we find out, I found out, the backstory. Yeah. And it turns out that this woman was a 100% fraud. Well, how they exposed the fraud, too, is very funny. Okay, I have to tell, I have to tell that. The way they expose the fraud is that this woman became very popular with,

with the highest figures in the land, including the emperor of the time. The emperor would bring his wife and they would visit her. So she is hobnobbing with the rich and famous and, you know, the emperor himself, big deal stuff. And I think it was Maximilian at the time. But the emperor's sister, who was a duchess, her name was Kunagonda. Yeah, Duchess of Bavaria. Yes, the Duchess of Bavere, which is the same name you have in Voltaire. There's a figure your name Kunigand in Voltaire's, what is it, the famous novel, I can't think of it. But anyway, the point is that she smells a rat, and she decides that this woman, this Anna Lamonet, is a fraud, and I'm going to expose her.

So she, being the sister of the emperor, invites Anna Lamonet to a monastery for the weekend or for the week or something like that. Annalaminate climbs into the trap, so to speak, comes to the monastery, and they put her in a certain room. And the Duchess of Bavaria, the sister of the emperor, could watch Anna through a peephole. Well, you know what I imagined was there's a painting on the wall and they removed the eyes and there's two eyes looking like from a Three Stooges movie. That's what it looks like. Since this Fun Facts Friday, it's important to mention the Three Stooges to use the slide whistle whenever appropriate. But anyway, thank you. Anyway, when we come back, I will tell you what the Duchess of Bavaria saw when she looked through the peephole at Anna Laminate, who neither ate nor drank nor went to the bathroom, as we understand.

Wait till you hear this. We'll be right back with Fun Facts Friday, special Martin Luther edition. Folks, it's Fun Facts Friday on the Eric Mataxis show, a little skinnered for you. Yeah. Albin, this is crazy. We're talking about, this is a special Fun Facts Friday edition, because we're talking about my Luther book. This was your idea because you realize there's so much quirky, weird stuff in there. And one of the quirkiest, to me, this was one of the most entertaining wacko things in the book. And I'm now going to reveal what the Duchess of Bavaria saw through the people. Can I say this, too, before you reveal? You know, this book is not a true hagiography, right? It really is for everybody, whether you're religious or even irrelius. religious. It's not Catholic bashing. It's not Protestants. Ra, rah, rah. What it is, it's a story of a time in our history, in human history, I should say. Right. And the reason why I think you're number seven on the New York Times list is because, even though it's called Martin Luther, it's not religious in a sense. It's about a time. Well, look, it thrills me to hear you say this, and anybody who knows you, as I do, knows you're not psychophantic and you're not saying this because you're on this program and whatever. I mean, if you feel this, I'm thrilled because I know you're just an honest guy.

But I agree. And that's why I got so excited and I got to put stuff like this in there, which is just, it's just flat-out, entertaining and wacky. But actually, I better get to the punchline because we haven't even scratched the service. We might have to do an hour two. Right. We have to do the relics yet. There's so much to talk about it. All right.

So we're going to do an hour two of Fun Facts Friday because, yeah, we have to do an hour two of Fun Facts Friday. because, yeah, we haven't even gotten to the third thing on the list here. So, okay, but so this woman is famous for neither eating nor drinking nor going to the bathroom ever. She's like this holy woman. And the emperor's sister says, I smell a rat. So she invites her to the monastery and she goes into this chamber and the Duchess can watch her through a peephole. And the Duchess watches her and eventually sees, aha, what is an alamunate doing? she dips into her luggage and pulls out all kinds of dainty, delicate gourmet food items like juicy pears and pepper cakes and all the stuff.

And she starts eating them. And the Duchess is watching her through this thing and just freaking out thinking, she, this woman is a liar. She's a fraud. And we've got her. And then what happens? What happens when you eat food? Well, the food goes through your GI tract and eventually seeks egress. in the form of, I think the word would be stools or feces,

and they spot this woman going to the bathroom. And then what does she do? She's got to destroy the evidence. So they see her coolly flinging it from the window of the monastery. And they thought, we gotcha. And so, of course, they confront her with the evidence. and she confesses and says, I'll never do it again, and they let her go, but she does it again and again and again. She has a life of fraud, and you can read the details.

It has a very sad ending, but it is one of the most entertaining, weird things, and it gives you a picture of the false religiosity of Luther's day. We're out of time with Hour 1. Fun Facts Friday. Folks, we are going to do Hour 2 today. We've never done that before. Fun Facts Friday, Hour 2 on Martin Luther. Coming up, stick around. Thanks for listening.