Geiler von Kaisersberg, JOHANNES, a famous pulpit-orator of Germany, was born at Schaffhausen, 16th March 1455, studied at Freiburg and Basel, and in 1478 became preacher in the cathedral of Strasburg, where he died, 10th March 1510. Geiler von Kaisersberg was one of the most learned and original men of his age; his sermons, usually composed in Latin and delivered in German, are marked by great eloquence and earnestness, nor do they disdain the aids of wit, sarcasm, and ridicule. Of his writings, which have now become very rare, may be mentioned Das Narrenschiff (Lat. 1511; Ger. by Pauli, 1520), comprising 142 sermons on Sebastian Brandt's Narrenschiff; Das Irrig Schaf (1510); Der Seelen Paradies (1510); Das Schiff der Pönitenz und Busswirkung (1514); Das Buch Granatapfel (1511); Christliche Pilgerschaft zum Ewigen Vaterland (1512); and Das Evangelienbuch (1515). See the studies by
Ammon (Erl. 1826), Dacheux (Paris and Strasb. 1876), and Lindemann (Freiburg, 1877).