This rare early study of vagabonds and beggars in Central Europe reads like a rogue's handbook, a social history, and a moral warning all at once. Edited by Martin Luther and translated into English with notes by John Camden Hotten, it presents rough, candid, pre-Reformation material whose old-fashioned style only sharpens its authenticity. At its center is The Book of Vagabonds, an early sixteenth-century survey of mendicant life, criminal customs, and cant speech, first printed in Augsburg and linked to the Basle trials of 1475, a crucial source on thieves' methods and secret language. The book traces how begging became a quasi-professional system, shaped by war, social upheaval, wandering scholars, mendicant friars, and the arrival of Gipsies. Luther's preface turns the work into a polemic against hypocrisy, warning that vagabonds exploit charity just as false religious orders do. Rich in comic detail and harsh judgment, the text catalogs Stabülers, Lossners, Klenkners, and Dobissers, exposing forged documents, fake injuries, holy scams, and street fraud. It also illuminates the English tradition that followed, influencing Harman, Awdeley, and later writers of rogue literature. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.