Caricature used to ridicule certain flaws of the Church has existed for centuries: the Middle Ages, with its penchant for the monstrous, has provided some well-known examples, particularly in the form of illuminated manuscripts.

If these images were, for the most part, intended to provoke laughter or amuse the viewer, the satirical features took on an increasingly humiliating, acerbic or even shocking tone, around the time of the Religious Wars that raged throughout 16th-century Europe. Engravings, leaflets, medals, and objects of all kinds were used as a vehicle for a satire that was oftentimes vulgar, aggressive, even scatological, provoking violent tensions that broke out all over the continent.