Authorship of the Epistoae formerly attributed to Reuchlin, Erasmus, Hutten and others. More recent researches have made it almost certain that Crotus Rubeanus and Ulrich von Hutten were the main contributors. To Crotus are credited the first 41 letters; to Hutten the 7 letters added later to the original series and most of the 62 letters of the second series, with the possible co-operation of a third person, Hermann von dem Busche. The authorship of the rest remains doubtful.

This translation of Epistolae obscurorum virorum is based on the third edition of v. 1, published in 1516 and containing 48 letters, and the second edition of v. 2, published in 1517 and containing 70 letters.