This biting satire and brilliant apologetic from the Reformation entertains and educates as it exposes the follies and vices of Roman Catholicism. The book shared popularity with Erasmus' Praise of Folly as the two most popular books among the Protestants of the sixteenth century. A skillful diplomat and theologian, Marnix submits all the peculiar dogmas, and the whole policy of the Roman Catholic Church, to the most subtle criticism, taking himself as a defender. The biographer of Marnix, Edgar Quinet, states: ""No one can read Marnix to the end and believe any longer in Catholic dogma. It...