Frances Trafton ’26 Examines a 505-Year-Old Reformation Pamphlet that Went Viral

The senior said she was drawn to the self-designed project because it gave her a chance to learn more about an important period she had not studied in depth in her classes. "I was also interested in the interdisciplinary nature of the project. I have a wide range of interests," she said with a laugh, "and this allows me to pull together a lot of them."

Even physics, her minor? "People are always surprised by my German-and-physics combo, but both are very logical, which is why I like pairing them," she said.

Her advisor, Associate Professor of German Jill Smith, helped Trafton translate the antiquated Middle to Early New High German text. Smith said that Trafton's project extends beyond of the boundaries of a Bowdoin classroom, and that she has enjoyed mentoring her ambitious project, which also falls outside her own area of expertise-German literature, culture, gender and sexuality, and Jewish studies from the late nineteenth century to today.

"Though I have taught texts by Martin Luther and early modern artworks by Albrecht Dürer in one of my 3000-level courses, it has been a welcome challenge for me to analyze the "Passional" in dialogue with Francie and to help her bring together research from art history, history, media studies, and religion, an endeavor that reveals just how interdisciplinary German studies can be," Smith said.

The Pamphlet in Context

Trafton is asking several big questions of the Passional. First, she's examining how the context and history of the Reformation influenced the production of this specific piece of media. "What caused reformers to think this would be an effective tool for spreading their message?" she said.

People at the time were accustomed to seeing passionals, but ones focused on the lives and sacrifices of Christ and other saints. The Passional Christi und Antichristi would have been shocking, Trafton said.

She's also looking at the pamphlet through the lens of art history, studying the composition of images and associated text. "It turned the Pope's words against him," Trafton said.

Lastly, she's researching who might have read the leaflet and how far it spread among poorer and less educated segments of the population.