Peasants' War
Encyclopedia
The Peasants' War was a popular revolt that took place in Europe during 1524–1525. It consisted, like the preceding Bundschuh movement and the Hussite Wars
, of a series of both economic and religious revolts in which peasant
s, townsfolk and nobles
all participated.
At its height in the spring and summer of 1525, the conflict, which occurred mostly in the southern, western and central areas of what is now modern Germany
plus areas in neighboring Alsace
and modern Switzerland
and Austria
, involved an estimated 300,000 peasant rebels: contemporary estimates put the dead at 100,000. It was Europe's largest and most widespread popular uprising prior to the French Revolution
of 1789.
on behalf of some German peasants in 1524. The petition was called Twelve Articles which sought relief from some of the particular oppressions that the German peasants were facing. The petition began as a religious sounding document. Indeed, the first(hi) "article" called for church congregations to have the right to appoint and/or remove their own ministers. The main articles of the petition dealt with the economic hardships faced by the peasants. The remaining articles of the Twelve Articles petitioned the Holy Roman Emperor to abolish the "cattle tithes," and the death tax; and to preserve of all "common fields, forests and waters" for use by the peasants, rather than allowing these lands to fall into private hands. The petition also requested that the peasantry be allowed to hunt on the common lands and fish in the common waters. One article called for the abolition of serfdom and establishment of a system of leasing of the land under stipulated conditions.
Despite the fact that the petition made no attack on the government, the Emperor ignored the Twelve Articles. Revolt broke out in Swabia in late 1524 and soon spread throughout southern and central Germany.
Historians disagree on the nature of the revolt and its causes, whether it grew out of the emerging religious controversy centered on Martin Luther
; whether a wealthy tier of peasants saw their own wealth and rights slipping away, and sought to re-inscribe them in the legal, social and religious fabric of society; whether it was peasant resistance to the emergence of a modernizing, centralizing political state. Perhaps the best way to view the Great Peasant War of 1524–1525 is to regard the revolt as a struggle that began as an upheaval immersed in the rhetoric of Luther
's Protestant Reformation
against the Catholic Church but which really was impelled far beyond the narrow religious confines by the underlying economic tensions of the time. Peasant Uprisings had been occurring all over Europe and especially in southern Germany for many years before the Reformation. The Swabian League
had been formed by a number of cities, principalities and noble estates in southeastern Germany in 1331 then disbanded, formed again in 1376, disbanded and formed again in 1488, specifically for the reason of defeating peasant revolts.
A prime example of this underlying economic tension driving the Great Peasant War is Thomas Müntzer
. Although Müntzer was a religious leader, he was less worried about religious questions than he was in social position of the people.
Furthermore, Müntzer's concentration on the secular rather than the religious led him to become the main leader of the peasantry of Saxony in the Great Peasant War. Müntzer's rhetoric became more secular as the Peasant War intensified. Indeed, just as the Thirty Years' War
— which occurred nearly a century later (1618–1648) — also began as a supposed religious war and soon degenerated into a secular feud between contending secular groups in Europe, so too did the Great Peasant War of 1525 lose all pretext of a religious struggle as the War progressed.
Depending on the historians' own perspective, the war could be interpreted, as Friedrich Engels does, as a case in which an emerging proletariat (the urban class) failed to assert a sense of its own autonomy in the face of princely power, and left the rural classes to their fate.
. The Holy Roman Empire was a decentralized entity in which the Holy Roman Emperor
himself had little authority outside of his own dynastic lands, which covered only a small fraction of the whole. At the time of the Great Peasant War of 1525, Charles V
, King of Spain
and father of the future King of Spain, Phillip II
, was the Holy Roman Emperor, having been elected emperor just six years previously in 1519. Major events of the Reformation including the Great Peasant War are portrayed in the 2003 movie, Luther starring Joseph Fiennes. Also pictured in the movie is a young Charles V.
There were hundreds of largely independent secular and ecclesiastical territories in the empire, most of which were ruled by a noble dynasty (though several dozen were city states). One of these secular states was the province of Saxony. During the period of time of the Great Peasant War, Saxony itself was divided into a portion called Electoral Saxony and a portion called Ducal Saxony. Since 1486, the Elector of Saxony was Frederick III or Frederick the Wise. Frederick III was one of the "most Catholic" of the German princes. Frederick was devoted to his collection of religious relics, which he had spent a lifetime collecting. By the time of Luther's Ninety-five theses, Frederick's collection of relics had reached a total of 5,005 individual relics. Frederick hoped that his home town of Wittenberg would become the "Rome" of Germany. Indeed, Frederick had built the famous university at Wittenberg where Luther taught his new view of religion. He authorized the selling of indulgences to raise money for the university. In light of Luther's sermons and writings against both the collecting of relics and against indugences, Frederick was not the first person anyone would expect to become the "protector" of Martin Luther. Nonetheless, Frederick III did become the protector of Martin Luther by insisting that any "trial" of Luther for "heresy" be held in Saxony rather than in Rome before the Inquisition
.
Many rulers of the various states of Germany were autocratic rulers. They often failed to recognize any other authority within their territories. Princes had the right to levy taxes and borrow money as they saw fit. The growing costs of administration and military upkeep impelled the princes to keep raising their subjects' cost of living. Indeed, this was the economic position of Frederick III of Saxony. As noted above, Frederick III sold indugences to support the administration of Saxony.
In this role, Frederick III of Saxony was representative of other princes in Germany. Just as Frederick III supported the break with Rome, the class of princes, as a whole, tended to support the patriotic/national issue of a break with the Church in Rome with the patriotic/national slogan of "German money for a German church." Any German church that might be established would be under the control of the princes within their own realm. Under their control the German church would not be able to tax the princes the way the Roman church did. The princes could only gain, economically, by breaking away from Rome.
The princes were also centralizers in the towns and the estates. Accordingly, the princes tended to gain economically from the ruination of the lesser nobility by acquiring their estates. This is what happened in the Knights' Revolt
which occurred from 1522 through 1523 in the Rhineland. The Knights' Revolt
, which is mentioned in more depth below, was "suppressed by both Catholic and Lutheran princes who were satisfied to cooperate against a common danger."
To the degree that other classes, like the burghers, might gain from the centralization of the economy and the elimination of local territorial controls on manufacture and trade imposed by the lesser nobles, one could expect that the princes, as a class, might unite with the burghers on the issue of centralization of the economy.
The lesser nobility and the clergy paid no taxes and often supported their local prince. Many towns had privileges that exempted them from paying taxes, so that the bulk of the burden of taxation fell on the peasants. Princes often attempted to force their freer peasants into serfdom
through increasing taxes and the introduction of Roman Civil law. Roman civil law was advantageous to those princes who sought to consolidate their power, because it brought all land into their personal ownership and eliminated the feudal concept of the land as a trust between lord and peasant that conferred rights as well as obligations on the latter. By maintaining the remnants of the ancient law which legitimized their own rule, they not only elevated their wealth and position in the empire through the confiscation of all property and revenues, but increased their dominion over their peasant subjects. Under this ancient law, the peasants had little recourse beyond passive resistance. Even so, the prince now had absolute control over all his serfs and their possessions. Uprisings generally remained isolated, unsupported and easily put down until Thomas Müntzer
and similar radicals began to reject the legitimizing factors of ancient law and invoked the concept of "Godly Law" as a vehicle for rousing the people.
The evolving military technology of the late medieval period began to render the lesser nobility of knight
s obsolete. The introduction of military science and the growing importance of gunpowder and infantry lessened the importance of their role as heavy cavalry, as well as reducing the strategic importance of their castles. Their luxurious lifestyle drained what little income they had as prices kept rising. They exercised their ancient rights in order to wring what income they could from their territories. In the north of Germany many of the lesser nobbles had already been subordinated to powerful secular and ecclesiastical lords. Thus, the lesser nobility's latitude to exercise absolute power over their serfs was more restricted in northern Germany. However, in the south of Germany the powers of the lesser nobility was more completely preserved. Accordingly, the harshness of the oppression of the peasantry by the lesser nobles was the immediate cause of the Peasant Uprising and the fact that this oppression by the lesser nobles was worse in the south than in the north was the reason that the Peasant War of 1524–1525 broke out in the south-Swabia. The knights became embittered as they grew progressively impoverished and fell increasingly under the jurisdiction of the princes. Thus these two classes were in constant conflict. The knights also considered the clergy to be an arrogant and superfluous estate, while envying the privileges and wealth that the church statutes secured. In addition, the knights, who were often in debt to the towns, were constantly in conflict with the town patricians. Consequently, at odds with all other social classes in Germany, the lesser nobility was the most reactionary class in Germany at this time and, thus, would tend to be implacably opposed to any social change at all.
During the Knight's Revolt. The "knights," the lesser land holders of Rhineland in western Germany rose up in rebellion in 1522 through 1523. The rhetoric of the Knight's War was religious in nature and several leaders expressed Luther's ideas on the split with Rome and the new German Church. However, the Knight's Revolt was not a religious rebellion. The revolt was reactionary in nature and sought to preserve the old feudal order. The knights rose up as an expression of medieval feudalism, their source of income, against the new money order, which was squeezing them out of existence.
During the Knight's Revolt, the lesser nobility stood by themselves. As the religious rhetoric of the revolt indicates, even the lesser nobility was willing to join in with the support of the patriotic/national issue of the break with Catholic Church in Rome. A German church would be supported by the lesser nobility because any German church, might tax the lesser nobles less the Roman Church was currently doing. Accordingly, the lesser nobility might, as a class, gain economically by lower taxes on them and, thus, the lesser nobility might stand with other classes on the single issue of the break with the Catholic Church in Rome.
In 1525, the clergy as a whole, was feeing the influence of historic change acutely. The clergy or prelate class, was losing its place as the intellectual authority over all matters within the state. The progress of printing
(especially of the Bible) and the expansion of commerce
, as well as the spread of renaissance humanism
raised literacy
rates throughout the Empire. The Catholic monopoly on higher education
was accordingly also reduced. Over time, Catholic institutions had slipped into corruption. Clerical ignorance and the abuses of simony
and pluralism (holding several offices at once) were rampant. Some bishops, archbishop
s, abbot
s and priors were as ruthless in exploiting their subjects as the regional princes. In addition to the sale of indulgence
s, they set up prayer houses and directly taxed the people. Increased indignation over Church corruption
had led the monk Martin Luther
to post his 95 Theses
on the doors of the Castle Church in Wittenberg
, Germany in 1517, as well as impelling other reformers to radically rethink Church doctrine
and organization. Some clergy followed Luther in his break with the Roman Church and others did not. Those that did not tended to be the clergy that were well positioned in the Roman Church. This was the aristocratic clergy. The aristocratic clergy would only lose by a break with the Roman Church. Thus the aristocratic Church could be expected to oppose all change including any break with the Roman Church. This placed the aristocratic clergy in an extremely isolated position in regard to the rest of the social classes on this significant patriotic/national issue.
The part of the clergy that followed Luther was the poorer clergy-rural and urban itinerant preachers. This part of the clergy was not so well positioned in the Church. Thus, they might gain, economically, by a break with Rome. Therefore, the poorer clergy could be expected to support the great patriotic/national issue of the break with Rome. Luther's ideas on the new German church had some "populizing" ideas about the practice of religion. The Bible would be written in the language of the people and would be available for the people — the literate ones — to read the Bible for themselves and gain inspiration directly. Indugences, forgiveness of sins based on payments made to the church, were no longer to be sold to the people. Owning, collecting or praying to holy relics were no longer a road to salvation. Salvation and the forgiveness of sins came about only through a direct communion with God and God's own grace.
Some of the poorer clergy, sought to extend these popularizing and equalizing ideas of Lutheranism to the society at large. Ideally equality would be extended to all people in society. Some members of the poorer clergy supported the demands of the peasntry and the "Twelve Articles" as a start towards this goal of equality for all. Thomas Muntzer was the most famous proponent of this ideal. During the Peasant War of 1524–1525, Muntzer traveled from province to province offering leadership and encouragement to the peasants in revolt. Indeed, some historians have held that there may not have been a revolt in Saxony without the preaching of Thomas Muntzer.
Luther took a middle course in the Peasant's War. He, of course, supported the break with Rome. By doing so he alienated only the aristocratic clergy, all other classes tended to support him. He also tended to support the centralization of the economy. This position alienated only the lesser nobles, but shored up his position with the burghers. Luther, however, did not support any further extension of the popularizing and equalizing facets of his religious ideas to the society at large. He took every opportunity to attack the ideas of Thomas Muntzer. Luther was afraid that the princes, burghers, and the class of town patricians would all fall away from support of the new German church if he, Luther, attempted to follow Muntzer and support the peasantry. Luther was very afraid of alienating these classes of German society. Accordingly, Luther even declared against the moderate demands of the peasantry embodied in the 12 Articles of the Black Forest. Luther's article entitled Against the Murderous, Thieving Hordes of Peasants
, which appeared in May of 1525, alienated the lower classes.
faced increasing opposition. The patricians consisted of wealthy families that sat alone in the town councils and held all the administrative offices. Like the princes, they could seek to secure revenues from their peasants by any possible means. Arbitrary road, bridge and gate tolls could be instituted at will. They gradually revoked the common lands and made it illegal for a farmer to fish or log wood in what was once land held in common. Guild taxes were exacted. All revenues collected were not subject to formal administration, and civic accounts were neglected. Thus embezzlement
and fraud
were commonly practiced and the patrician class, bound by family ties, became ever richer and more exploitative.
. As noted below, writing this article in 1850, Engels intended it as a direct analogy on the revolution of 1848. In this regard, Engels stated in the article that the burghers in Germany during the Peasant War were, as a class, "the forerunners of our present day liberals."
Opposition to the privileges of the Catholic clergy was rising among several classes in the new late-medieval hierarchy, including the peasantry. Many burghers and nobles also despised the perceived laziness and looseness of clerical life. As members of the more privileged classes by virtue of entrepreneurship and tradition respectively, they felt that the clergy was reaping benefits (such as tax exemption and ecclesiastical tithes) to which they were not entitled. When the situation suited, even princes would abandon Catholicism in order to gain political and financial independence and increase their power within their territories.
The Peasant War developed directly out of the Protestant Reformation. On October 31, 1517 Luther nailed this 95 Theses
to the door of the All Saints Church
Wittenburg
, Germany. In less than a year the German peasantry began unorganized and local uprisings. Indeed between 1518 and 1523 there was a constant series of these revolts in the Black Forest and Upper Swabia regions of Germany. After thousands of articles of complaints were compiled and presented by the lower classes in numerous towns and villages to no avail, the revolt broke out in a systematic way in 1524. In April of 1524, the peasants of the Abbey of Marchthal refused to pay any tribute or to perform any statute labor.
The parties split into three distinct groups. The Catholic camp consisted of the clergy plus those patricians and princes resisted any opposition to the Catholic-centred social order. The moderate reforming party consisted mainly of burghers and princes. The burghers saw an opportunity to gain power in the urban councils, as Luther’s proposed reformed church would be highly centralized within the towns, as well as condemning the nepotistic practices by which the patricians held a firm grip on the bureaucracy. Similarly, the princes stood to gain additional autonomy not only from the Catholic emperor Charles V, but from the demands of the Catholic Church in Rome. Plebeians, peasants and those sympathetic to their cause made up the third camp, which was led by preachers like Thomas Müntzer. This camp wished to break the shackles of late medieval society and forge a new one in the name of God.
Germany's peasants and plebeians compiled lists of articles outlining their complaints. The famous 12 Articles of the Black Forest were ultimately adopted as the definitive set of grievances. The 12 Articles demanded the right for communities to elect and depose clergymen and demanded the utilization of the "great tithe" for public purposes after subtraction of a reasonable pastor's salary. (The "great tithe" was assessed by the Catholic Church against the peasant's "corn" crop [which was actually "wheat"] and the peasant's vine crops. The great tithe often amounted to more than 10% of the peasant's income.) The 12 Articles also demanded the abolition of the "small tithe" which was assessed against the peasant's other crops. Other demands of the 12 Articles included the abolition of serfdom, death tolls, and the exclusive fishing and hunting rights for only the nobility, restoration of the forests, pastures and privileges withdrawn from the community and individual peasants by the nobility and a restriction of the excessive statute labor, taxes and rents. Finally, the 12 Articles demanded an end to arbitrary justice and administration.
The Peasants' 12 Articles statement of social, political and economic grievances during the concurrent and increasingly popular Protestant movement unified the population into a massive peasant uprising that broke out first in Lower Swabia
in 1524, then quickly spread to other parts of Germany.
Charles V
, represented in German affairs by his younger brother Ferdinand
.
The religious dissident Martin Luther
, already condemned as a heretic by the 1521 Edict of Worms and accused at the time of fomenting the strife, rejected the demands of the rebels and upheld the right of Germany's rulers to suppress the uprisings. Luther based his attitude on the peasant rebellion on St. Paul's doctrine of Divine Right of Kings
in his epistle to the , which says that all authorities are appointed by God, and should not be resisted. His former follower Thomas Müntzer
, on the other hand, came to the fore as a radical agitator in Thuringia
.
On December 27, 1521, three Zwickau prophets
, both influenced by and influencing Thomas Müntzer, appeared in Wittenberg
from Zwickau
: Thomas Dreschel, Nicolas Storch and Mark Thomas Stübner. Luther's
reform was not radical enough for them. Like the Roman Catholic Church
, Luther practiced infant baptism, which the Anabaptist
s considered to be "neither scriptural nor primitive, nor fulfilling the chief conditions of admission into a visible brotherhood of saints, to wit, repentance, faith, spiritual illumination and free surrender of self to Christ
."
The reformist theologian and associate of Luther, Philipp Melanchthon
, who was powerless against the enthusiasts with whom his co-reformer Andreas Karlstadt
sympathized, appealed to Luther, who was still hiding in the Wartburg
. Luther was cautious in not condemning the new doctrine out of hand, but advised Melanchthon to treat its supporters gently and to test their spirits, in case they should be of God
. There was confusion in Wittenberg, whose schools and university had sided with the "prophets" and were closed. From this arises the allegation that the Anabaptists were enemies of learning, which is contradicted by the fact that two of them, Haetzer
and Denck
, produced and printed the first German translation of the Hebrew
prophets in 1527. The first leaders of the movement in Zürich
—Conrad Grebel
, Felix Manz
, George Blaurock
, Balthasar Hubmaier
—were learned in Greek, Latin and Hebrew.
On March 6, 1522, Luther returned to Wittenberg, where he interviewed the prophets, scorned their "spirits", banished them from the city, and had their adherents ejected from Zwickau and Erfurt. Denied access to the churches, the latter preached and celebrated the sacrament in private houses. Having been driven from the cities, they swarmed across the countryside. Compelled to leave Zwickau, Müntzer visited Bohemia
, lived for two years at Alltstedt in Thuringia, and in 1524 spent some time in Switzerland. During this period he proclaimed his revolutionary religious and political doctrines with increasing vehemence, and, so far as the lower orders were concerned, with growing success.
The Peasants' War began chiefly as a revolt against feudal oppression, but under the leadership of Müntzer it became a war against all constituted authorities in a forcible attempt to establish Müntzer's ideal of a Christian commonwealth based on absolute equality and the community of goods. The total defeat of the rebels at Frankenhausen
(May 15, 1525), followed by the execution of Müntzer and several other leaders, proved to be a merely temporary check on the Anabaptist movement. Scattered throughout Germany, Switzerland
and the Netherlands
were zealous propagandists whose teachings many were prepared to follow as soon as another leader emerged.
One branch of the Anabaptists became known as Mennonites. While in Germany in the sixteenth century, a split in the Mennonite community over an issue of religious dogma. The conservatives in this split followed Jakob Ammann. These conservative Mennonites moved from Germany to Switzerland to seek freedom from oppression. There they attracted other Swiss and Alsatian Anabaptists. The congregation came to be called Amish
after their leader. Later the Amish moved to Holland where they settled as a prelude to moving on to America. In the early eighteenth century the Amish moved to the State of Pennsylvania, settling near Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Since that time the Amish have spread to many other states-in Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota and other areas. In the year, 2000, it was estimated that there were a little over 168,000 Amish in the United States of America. By 2008 it was estimated that the population of Amish had grown to 227,000.
the article was intended to serve as an easily understood analogy between the events of 1524–1525 and the events of the Revolution of 1848. Stating specifically in 1850 in the Introduction to The Peasant War in Germany: "Three centuries have passed and many a thing has changed; still the Peasant War is not so impossibly far removed from our present struggle, and the opponents who have to be fought are essentially the same. We shall see the classes and fractions of classes which everywhere betrayed 1848 and 1849 in the role of traitors, though on a lower level of development, already in 1525."
Hussite Wars
The Hussite Wars, also called the Bohemian Wars involved the military actions against and amongst the followers of Jan Hus in Bohemia in the period 1419 to circa 1434. The Hussite Wars were notable for the extensive use of early hand-held gunpowder weapons such as hand cannons...
, of a series of both economic and religious revolts in which peasant
Peasant
A peasant is an agricultural worker who generally tend to be poor and homeless-Etymology:The word is derived from 15th century French païsant meaning one from the pays, or countryside, ultimately from the Latin pagus, or outlying administrative district.- Position in society :Peasants typically...
s, townsfolk and nobles
Nobility
Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...
all participated.
At its height in the spring and summer of 1525, the conflict, which occurred mostly in the southern, western and central areas of what is now modern Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
plus areas in neighboring Alsace
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
and modern Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
and Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, involved an estimated 300,000 peasant rebels: contemporary estimates put the dead at 100,000. It was Europe's largest and most widespread popular uprising prior to the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
of 1789.
Cause of the War
The Peasant War of 1524–1525 began as a petition made to the Holy Roman EmperorHoly Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a medieval ruler who, as German King, had also received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope...
on behalf of some German peasants in 1524. The petition was called Twelve Articles which sought relief from some of the particular oppressions that the German peasants were facing. The petition began as a religious sounding document. Indeed, the first(hi) "article" called for church congregations to have the right to appoint and/or remove their own ministers. The main articles of the petition dealt with the economic hardships faced by the peasants. The remaining articles of the Twelve Articles petitioned the Holy Roman Emperor to abolish the "cattle tithes," and the death tax; and to preserve of all "common fields, forests and waters" for use by the peasants, rather than allowing these lands to fall into private hands. The petition also requested that the peasantry be allowed to hunt on the common lands and fish in the common waters. One article called for the abolition of serfdom and establishment of a system of leasing of the land under stipulated conditions.
Despite the fact that the petition made no attack on the government, the Emperor ignored the Twelve Articles. Revolt broke out in Swabia in late 1524 and soon spread throughout southern and central Germany.
Historians disagree on the nature of the revolt and its causes, whether it grew out of the emerging religious controversy centered on Martin Luther
Martin Luther
Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...
; whether a wealthy tier of peasants saw their own wealth and rights slipping away, and sought to re-inscribe them in the legal, social and religious fabric of society; whether it was peasant resistance to the emergence of a modernizing, centralizing political state. Perhaps the best way to view the Great Peasant War of 1524–1525 is to regard the revolt as a struggle that began as an upheaval immersed in the rhetoric of Luther
Luther
As a German surname, Luther is derived from a Germanic personal name compounded from the words liut, "people", and heri, "army". As a rare English surname, it means "lute player" . Luther is also derived from the ancient Greek eleutherius, a liberator...
's Protestant Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
against the Catholic Church but which really was impelled far beyond the narrow religious confines by the underlying economic tensions of the time. Peasant Uprisings had been occurring all over Europe and especially in southern Germany for many years before the Reformation. The Swabian League
Swabian League
The Swabian League was an association of Imperial States - cities, prelates, principalities and knights - principally in the territory of the Early medieval stem duchy of Swabia, established in 1488 at the behest of Emperor Frederick III of Habsburg and supported as well by Bertold von...
had been formed by a number of cities, principalities and noble estates in southeastern Germany in 1331 then disbanded, formed again in 1376, disbanded and formed again in 1488, specifically for the reason of defeating peasant revolts.
A prime example of this underlying economic tension driving the Great Peasant War is Thomas Müntzer
Thomas Muentzer
Thomas Müntzer was an early Reformation-era German theologian, who became a rebel leader during the Peasants' War. He turned against Luther with several anti-Lutheran writings, and supported the Anabaptists. In the Battle of Frankenhausen, Müntzer and his followers were defeated...
. Although Müntzer was a religious leader, he was less worried about religious questions than he was in social position of the people.
Furthermore, Müntzer's concentration on the secular rather than the religious led him to become the main leader of the peasantry of Saxony in the Great Peasant War. Müntzer's rhetoric became more secular as the Peasant War intensified. Indeed, just as the Thirty Years' War
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....
— which occurred nearly a century later (1618–1648) — also began as a supposed religious war and soon degenerated into a secular feud between contending secular groups in Europe, so too did the Great Peasant War of 1525 lose all pretext of a religious struggle as the War progressed.
Depending on the historians' own perspective, the war could be interpreted, as Friedrich Engels does, as a case in which an emerging proletariat (the urban class) failed to assert a sense of its own autonomy in the face of princely power, and left the rural classes to their fate.
Princes
In the sixteenth-century, parts of Germany were associated with the Holy Roman EmpireHoly Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
. The Holy Roman Empire was a decentralized entity in which the Holy Roman Emperor
Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a medieval ruler who, as German King, had also received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope...
himself had little authority outside of his own dynastic lands, which covered only a small fraction of the whole. At the time of the Great Peasant War of 1525, Charles V
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...
, King of Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and father of the future King of Spain, Phillip II
Philip II of Spain
Philip II was King of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, while married to Mary I, King of England and Ireland. He was lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories such as duke or count....
, was the Holy Roman Emperor, having been elected emperor just six years previously in 1519. Major events of the Reformation including the Great Peasant War are portrayed in the 2003 movie, Luther starring Joseph Fiennes. Also pictured in the movie is a young Charles V.
There were hundreds of largely independent secular and ecclesiastical territories in the empire, most of which were ruled by a noble dynasty (though several dozen were city states). One of these secular states was the province of Saxony. During the period of time of the Great Peasant War, Saxony itself was divided into a portion called Electoral Saxony and a portion called Ducal Saxony. Since 1486, the Elector of Saxony was Frederick III or Frederick the Wise. Frederick III was one of the "most Catholic" of the German princes. Frederick was devoted to his collection of religious relics, which he had spent a lifetime collecting. By the time of Luther's Ninety-five theses, Frederick's collection of relics had reached a total of 5,005 individual relics. Frederick hoped that his home town of Wittenberg would become the "Rome" of Germany. Indeed, Frederick had built the famous university at Wittenberg where Luther taught his new view of religion. He authorized the selling of indulgences to raise money for the university. In light of Luther's sermons and writings against both the collecting of relics and against indugences, Frederick was not the first person anyone would expect to become the "protector" of Martin Luther. Nonetheless, Frederick III did become the protector of Martin Luther by insisting that any "trial" of Luther for "heresy" be held in Saxony rather than in Rome before the Inquisition
Inquisition
The Inquisition, Inquisitio Haereticae Pravitatis , was the "fight against heretics" by several institutions within the justice-system of the Roman Catholic Church. It started in the 12th century, with the introduction of torture in the persecution of heresy...
.
Many rulers of the various states of Germany were autocratic rulers. They often failed to recognize any other authority within their territories. Princes had the right to levy taxes and borrow money as they saw fit. The growing costs of administration and military upkeep impelled the princes to keep raising their subjects' cost of living. Indeed, this was the economic position of Frederick III of Saxony. As noted above, Frederick III sold indugences to support the administration of Saxony.
In this role, Frederick III of Saxony was representative of other princes in Germany. Just as Frederick III supported the break with Rome, the class of princes, as a whole, tended to support the patriotic/national issue of a break with the Church in Rome with the patriotic/national slogan of "German money for a German church." Any German church that might be established would be under the control of the princes within their own realm. Under their control the German church would not be able to tax the princes the way the Roman church did. The princes could only gain, economically, by breaking away from Rome.
The princes were also centralizers in the towns and the estates. Accordingly, the princes tended to gain economically from the ruination of the lesser nobility by acquiring their estates. This is what happened in the Knights' Revolt
Knights' Revolt
The Knights' Revolt of 1522 was a revolt by a number of Protestant and humanist German knights led by Franz von Sickingen, against the Roman Catholic Church and the Holy Roman Emperor...
which occurred from 1522 through 1523 in the Rhineland. The Knights' Revolt
Knights' Revolt
The Knights' Revolt of 1522 was a revolt by a number of Protestant and humanist German knights led by Franz von Sickingen, against the Roman Catholic Church and the Holy Roman Emperor...
, which is mentioned in more depth below, was "suppressed by both Catholic and Lutheran princes who were satisfied to cooperate against a common danger."
To the degree that other classes, like the burghers, might gain from the centralization of the economy and the elimination of local territorial controls on manufacture and trade imposed by the lesser nobles, one could expect that the princes, as a class, might unite with the burghers on the issue of centralization of the economy.
The lesser nobility and the clergy paid no taxes and often supported their local prince. Many towns had privileges that exempted them from paying taxes, so that the bulk of the burden of taxation fell on the peasants. Princes often attempted to force their freer peasants into serfdom
Serfdom
Serfdom is the status of peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to Manorialism. It was a condition of bondage or modified slavery which developed primarily during the High Middle Ages in Europe and lasted to the mid-19th century...
through increasing taxes and the introduction of Roman Civil law. Roman civil law was advantageous to those princes who sought to consolidate their power, because it brought all land into their personal ownership and eliminated the feudal concept of the land as a trust between lord and peasant that conferred rights as well as obligations on the latter. By maintaining the remnants of the ancient law which legitimized their own rule, they not only elevated their wealth and position in the empire through the confiscation of all property and revenues, but increased their dominion over their peasant subjects. Under this ancient law, the peasants had little recourse beyond passive resistance. Even so, the prince now had absolute control over all his serfs and their possessions. Uprisings generally remained isolated, unsupported and easily put down until Thomas Müntzer
Thomas Muentzer
Thomas Müntzer was an early Reformation-era German theologian, who became a rebel leader during the Peasants' War. He turned against Luther with several anti-Lutheran writings, and supported the Anabaptists. In the Battle of Frankenhausen, Müntzer and his followers were defeated...
and similar radicals began to reject the legitimizing factors of ancient law and invoked the concept of "Godly Law" as a vehicle for rousing the people.
Lesser Nobility
- Related article: Knights' RevoltKnights' RevoltThe Knights' Revolt of 1522 was a revolt by a number of Protestant and humanist German knights led by Franz von Sickingen, against the Roman Catholic Church and the Holy Roman Emperor...
The evolving military technology of the late medieval period began to render the lesser nobility of knight
Knight
A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
s obsolete. The introduction of military science and the growing importance of gunpowder and infantry lessened the importance of their role as heavy cavalry, as well as reducing the strategic importance of their castles. Their luxurious lifestyle drained what little income they had as prices kept rising. They exercised their ancient rights in order to wring what income they could from their territories. In the north of Germany many of the lesser nobbles had already been subordinated to powerful secular and ecclesiastical lords. Thus, the lesser nobility's latitude to exercise absolute power over their serfs was more restricted in northern Germany. However, in the south of Germany the powers of the lesser nobility was more completely preserved. Accordingly, the harshness of the oppression of the peasantry by the lesser nobles was the immediate cause of the Peasant Uprising and the fact that this oppression by the lesser nobles was worse in the south than in the north was the reason that the Peasant War of 1524–1525 broke out in the south-Swabia. The knights became embittered as they grew progressively impoverished and fell increasingly under the jurisdiction of the princes. Thus these two classes were in constant conflict. The knights also considered the clergy to be an arrogant and superfluous estate, while envying the privileges and wealth that the church statutes secured. In addition, the knights, who were often in debt to the towns, were constantly in conflict with the town patricians. Consequently, at odds with all other social classes in Germany, the lesser nobility was the most reactionary class in Germany at this time and, thus, would tend to be implacably opposed to any social change at all.
During the Knight's Revolt. The "knights," the lesser land holders of Rhineland in western Germany rose up in rebellion in 1522 through 1523. The rhetoric of the Knight's War was religious in nature and several leaders expressed Luther's ideas on the split with Rome and the new German Church. However, the Knight's Revolt was not a religious rebellion. The revolt was reactionary in nature and sought to preserve the old feudal order. The knights rose up as an expression of medieval feudalism, their source of income, against the new money order, which was squeezing them out of existence.
During the Knight's Revolt, the lesser nobility stood by themselves. As the religious rhetoric of the revolt indicates, even the lesser nobility was willing to join in with the support of the patriotic/national issue of the break with Catholic Church in Rome. A German church would be supported by the lesser nobility because any German church, might tax the lesser nobles less the Roman Church was currently doing. Accordingly, the lesser nobility might, as a class, gain economically by lower taxes on them and, thus, the lesser nobility might stand with other classes on the single issue of the break with the Catholic Church in Rome.
Clergy
The clergy in 1525 were the intellectuals of their time. They not only read and wrote, but in the Middle Ages any books that were produced were transcribed or copied by the clergy. Like the intellectuals of later times some of the intellectuals were supported by the rich and could be expected to support the causes of the rich. Other intellectuals were not supported by the rich, yet could support themselves by appealing to the masses. These intellectuals could support progressive forces of the society.In 1525, the clergy as a whole, was feeing the influence of historic change acutely. The clergy or prelate class, was losing its place as the intellectual authority over all matters within the state. The progress of printing
Printing
Printing is a process for reproducing text and image, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an essential part of publishing and transaction printing....
(especially of the Bible) and the expansion of commerce
Commerce
While business refers to the value-creating activities of an organization for profit, commerce means the whole system of an economy that constitutes an environment for business. The system includes legal, economic, political, social, cultural, and technological systems that are in operation in any...
, as well as the spread of renaissance humanism
Renaissance humanism
Renaissance humanism was an activity of cultural and educational reform engaged by scholars, writers, and civic leaders who are today known as Renaissance humanists. It developed during the fourteenth and the beginning of the fifteenth centuries, and was a response to the challenge of Mediæval...
raised literacy
Literacy
Literacy has traditionally been described as the ability to read for knowledge, write coherently and think critically about printed material.Literacy represents the lifelong, intellectual process of gaining meaning from print...
rates throughout the Empire. The Catholic monopoly on higher education
Higher education
Higher, post-secondary, tertiary, or third level education refers to the stage of learning that occurs at universities, academies, colleges, seminaries, and institutes of technology...
was accordingly also reduced. Over time, Catholic institutions had slipped into corruption. Clerical ignorance and the abuses of simony
Simony
Simony is the act of paying for sacraments and consequently for holy offices or for positions in the hierarchy of a church, named after Simon Magus , who appears in the Acts of the Apostles 8:9-24...
and pluralism (holding several offices at once) were rampant. Some bishops, archbishop
Archbishop
An archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...
s, abbot
Abbot
The word abbot, meaning father, is a title given to the head of a monastery in various traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not actually the head of a monastery...
s and priors were as ruthless in exploiting their subjects as the regional princes. In addition to the sale of indulgence
Indulgence
In Catholic theology, an indulgence is the full or partial remission of temporal punishment due for sins which have already been forgiven. The indulgence is granted by the Catholic Church after the sinner has confessed and received absolution...
s, they set up prayer houses and directly taxed the people. Increased indignation over Church corruption
Political corruption
Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...
had led the monk Martin Luther
Martin Luther
Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...
to post his 95 Theses
95 Theses
The Ninety-Five Theses on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences , commonly known as , was written by Martin Luther, 1517 and is widely regarded as the primary catalyst for the Protestant Reformation...
on the doors of the Castle Church in Wittenberg
Wittenberg
Wittenberg, officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is a city in Germany in the Bundesland Saxony-Anhalt, on the river Elbe. It has a population of about 50,000....
, Germany in 1517, as well as impelling other reformers to radically rethink Church doctrine
Doctrine
Doctrine is a codification of beliefs or a body of teachings or instructions, taught principles or positions, as the body of teachings in a branch of knowledge or belief system...
and organization. Some clergy followed Luther in his break with the Roman Church and others did not. Those that did not tended to be the clergy that were well positioned in the Roman Church. This was the aristocratic clergy. The aristocratic clergy would only lose by a break with the Roman Church. Thus the aristocratic Church could be expected to oppose all change including any break with the Roman Church. This placed the aristocratic clergy in an extremely isolated position in regard to the rest of the social classes on this significant patriotic/national issue.
The part of the clergy that followed Luther was the poorer clergy-rural and urban itinerant preachers. This part of the clergy was not so well positioned in the Church. Thus, they might gain, economically, by a break with Rome. Therefore, the poorer clergy could be expected to support the great patriotic/national issue of the break with Rome. Luther's ideas on the new German church had some "populizing" ideas about the practice of religion. The Bible would be written in the language of the people and would be available for the people — the literate ones — to read the Bible for themselves and gain inspiration directly. Indugences, forgiveness of sins based on payments made to the church, were no longer to be sold to the people. Owning, collecting or praying to holy relics were no longer a road to salvation. Salvation and the forgiveness of sins came about only through a direct communion with God and God's own grace.
Some of the poorer clergy, sought to extend these popularizing and equalizing ideas of Lutheranism to the society at large. Ideally equality would be extended to all people in society. Some members of the poorer clergy supported the demands of the peasntry and the "Twelve Articles" as a start towards this goal of equality for all. Thomas Muntzer was the most famous proponent of this ideal. During the Peasant War of 1524–1525, Muntzer traveled from province to province offering leadership and encouragement to the peasants in revolt. Indeed, some historians have held that there may not have been a revolt in Saxony without the preaching of Thomas Muntzer.
Luther took a middle course in the Peasant's War. He, of course, supported the break with Rome. By doing so he alienated only the aristocratic clergy, all other classes tended to support him. He also tended to support the centralization of the economy. This position alienated only the lesser nobles, but shored up his position with the burghers. Luther, however, did not support any further extension of the popularizing and equalizing facets of his religious ideas to the society at large. He took every opportunity to attack the ideas of Thomas Muntzer. Luther was afraid that the princes, burghers, and the class of town patricians would all fall away from support of the new German church if he, Luther, attempted to follow Muntzer and support the peasantry. Luther was very afraid of alienating these classes of German society. Accordingly, Luther even declared against the moderate demands of the peasantry embodied in the 12 Articles of the Black Forest. Luther's article entitled Against the Murderous, Thieving Hordes of Peasants
Against the Murderous, Thieving Hordes of Peasants
Against the Murderous, Thieving Hordes of Peasants is a piece written by Martin Luther, related to The German Peasants' War. The Peasants' War took place between 1524 and 1526, as a result of a tumultuous collection of grievances in many different spheres: political, economic, social, and...
, which appeared in May of 1525, alienated the lower classes.
Patricians
As the guilds grew and urban populations rose, the town patriciansPatricianship
Patricianship, the quality of belonging to a patriciate, began in the ancient world, where cities such as Ancient Rome had a class of patrician families whose members were the only people allowed to exercise many political functions...
faced increasing opposition. The patricians consisted of wealthy families that sat alone in the town councils and held all the administrative offices. Like the princes, they could seek to secure revenues from their peasants by any possible means. Arbitrary road, bridge and gate tolls could be instituted at will. They gradually revoked the common lands and made it illegal for a farmer to fish or log wood in what was once land held in common. Guild taxes were exacted. All revenues collected were not subject to formal administration, and civic accounts were neglected. Thus embezzlement
Embezzlement
Embezzlement is the act of dishonestly appropriating or secreting assets by one or more individuals to whom such assets have been entrusted....
and fraud
Fraud
In criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation...
were commonly practiced and the patrician class, bound by family ties, became ever richer and more exploitative.
Bürghers
The town patricians were increasingly criticized by the growing bürgher class, which consisted of well-to-do middle-class citizens who often held administrative guild positions or worked as merchants. To the bürghers, their own growing wealth was reason enough to claim the right to control civic administration. They openly demanded a town assembly made up of both patricians and burghers, or at least a restriction of simony and the allocation of several seats to bürghers. The bürghers also opposed the clergy, who they felt had overstepped their bounds and failed to uphold their religious duties. They demanded an end to the clergy’s special privileges, such as their exemption from taxation, as well as a reduction in their number. The bürgher-master (guild master, or artisan) now owned both the workshop and its tools, which he allowed his apprentices to use, and provided the materials that his workers needed to make their products. In exchange, they received payments whose size the bürgher determined after taking into account how long their labour had taken, as well as the quality of their workmanship and the quantity of products produced. Journeymen lost the opportunity to rise in the ranks of the guild and were thereby deprived of their civic rights. Frederick Engels wrote a long two-part article on the Peasant war of 1524–1525 entitled The Peasant War in GermanyThe Peasant War in Germany
The Peasant War in Germany by Friedrich Engels, 1850, is an account of 16th century uprisings.This book was written by Friedrich Engels in London, during the summer of 1850, following the revolutionary uprisings of 1848-1849. The book draws a parallel between the uprisings of 1848-1849 and the...
. As noted below, writing this article in 1850, Engels intended it as a direct analogy on the revolution of 1848. In this regard, Engels stated in the article that the burghers in Germany during the Peasant War were, as a class, "the forerunners of our present day liberals."
Plebeians
The plebeians comprised the new class of urban workers, journeymen and vagabonds. Ruined petty burghers also joined their ranks. Although technically potential burghers, the journeymen were barred from higher positions by the wealthy families that ran the guilds. Thus their “temporary” position devoid of civic rights tended to become permanent. The plebeians did not have property like ruined burghers or peasants. They were landless, rightless citizens, and a symptom of the decay of feudal society. It was in Thuringia that the revolution which centered around Müntzer would give the plebeian working class the greatest expression. They demanded complete social equality as they began to believe, with Müntzer's encouragement, that the evolution of their society should be driven by themselves from below, not from above. The authorities hastened to put down such explosive aspirations, which posed the greatest threat to their traditional authority.Peasants
The lowest stratum of society continued to be occupied by peasants, who were heavily taxed. In the early 16th century, no peasant could hunt, fish or chop wood freely, as the lords had recently taken these common lands for their own purposes. The lord had the right to use his peasant’s land as he wished; the peasant could do nothing but watch as his crops were destroyed by wild game and by nobles galloping across his fields in the course of their chivalric hunts. When a peasant wished to marry, he needed not only the lord's permission, but to pay a tax. When the peasant died, the lord was entitled to his best cattle, his best garments and his best tools. The justice system, operated by the clergy or wealthy burgher and patrician jurists, gave the peasant no redress. Generations of traditional servitude and the autonomous nature of the provinces limited peasant insurrections to local areas. The peasant’s only hope was the unification of aspirations across provincial lines. Müntzer was to recognize that the recently diluted class structures provided the lower stratum of society with a greater claim to legitimacy in their revolt, as well as more scope for political and socio-economic gains.Rise of social conflict
The emergence of the newer classes and their respective interests began to soften the structure of authority of the old feudal system. Increased international trade and industry not only put the princes in conflict with the interests of the growing merchant capitalist class, but also broadened the base of lower-class interests (the peasants plus the new urban workers). The interposition of the burghers and the necessary plebeian class weakened feudal authority, as both these classes opposed the top of the hierarchy while also being in natural opposition to each other. The emergence of the plebeian class strengthened lower-class interests in several ways. Instead of the peasantry being the only oppressed and traditionally servile estate, the plebeians added a new dimension that shared similar class interests, but did so without a history of outright oppression.Opposition to the privileges of the Catholic clergy was rising among several classes in the new late-medieval hierarchy, including the peasantry. Many burghers and nobles also despised the perceived laziness and looseness of clerical life. As members of the more privileged classes by virtue of entrepreneurship and tradition respectively, they felt that the clergy was reaping benefits (such as tax exemption and ecclesiastical tithes) to which they were not entitled. When the situation suited, even princes would abandon Catholicism in order to gain political and financial independence and increase their power within their territories.
The Peasant War developed directly out of the Protestant Reformation. On October 31, 1517 Luther nailed this 95 Theses
95 Theses
The Ninety-Five Theses on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences , commonly known as , was written by Martin Luther, 1517 and is widely regarded as the primary catalyst for the Protestant Reformation...
to the door of the All Saints Church
All Saints Church
-Australia:*All Saints Church, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory*All Saints Church, Henley Brook, Western Australia*All Saints Anglican Church, Brisbane, Queensland-Canada:*All Saints Anglican Cathedral, Edmonton, Alberta...
Wittenburg
Wittenburg
Wittenburg is a town in the district Ludwigslust-Parchim in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. Population 5570, area 46.25 km². Wittenburg should not be confused with the much bigger Wittenberg....
, Germany. In less than a year the German peasantry began unorganized and local uprisings. Indeed between 1518 and 1523 there was a constant series of these revolts in the Black Forest and Upper Swabia regions of Germany. After thousands of articles of complaints were compiled and presented by the lower classes in numerous towns and villages to no avail, the revolt broke out in a systematic way in 1524. In April of 1524, the peasants of the Abbey of Marchthal refused to pay any tribute or to perform any statute labor.
The parties split into three distinct groups. The Catholic camp consisted of the clergy plus those patricians and princes resisted any opposition to the Catholic-centred social order. The moderate reforming party consisted mainly of burghers and princes. The burghers saw an opportunity to gain power in the urban councils, as Luther’s proposed reformed church would be highly centralized within the towns, as well as condemning the nepotistic practices by which the patricians held a firm grip on the bureaucracy. Similarly, the princes stood to gain additional autonomy not only from the Catholic emperor Charles V, but from the demands of the Catholic Church in Rome. Plebeians, peasants and those sympathetic to their cause made up the third camp, which was led by preachers like Thomas Müntzer. This camp wished to break the shackles of late medieval society and forge a new one in the name of God.
Germany's peasants and plebeians compiled lists of articles outlining their complaints. The famous 12 Articles of the Black Forest were ultimately adopted as the definitive set of grievances. The 12 Articles demanded the right for communities to elect and depose clergymen and demanded the utilization of the "great tithe" for public purposes after subtraction of a reasonable pastor's salary. (The "great tithe" was assessed by the Catholic Church against the peasant's "corn" crop [which was actually "wheat"] and the peasant's vine crops. The great tithe often amounted to more than 10% of the peasant's income.) The 12 Articles also demanded the abolition of the "small tithe" which was assessed against the peasant's other crops. Other demands of the 12 Articles included the abolition of serfdom, death tolls, and the exclusive fishing and hunting rights for only the nobility, restoration of the forests, pastures and privileges withdrawn from the community and individual peasants by the nobility and a restriction of the excessive statute labor, taxes and rents. Finally, the 12 Articles demanded an end to arbitrary justice and administration.
The Peasants' 12 Articles statement of social, political and economic grievances during the concurrent and increasingly popular Protestant movement unified the population into a massive peasant uprising that broke out first in Lower Swabia
Lower Swabia
Lower Swabia is a region in Germany in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg. The name, which refers to medieval Swabia, is applied to the region around Heilbronn. The exact geographical location of this area has not been strictly defined. However, most of the area is situated in the North of...
in 1524, then quickly spread to other parts of Germany.
Ultimate failure of the rebellion
The peasant movement ultimately failed, with cities and nobles making separate peaces with the princely armies that restored the old order in a frequently still-harsher incarnation under the nominal overlordship of the Holy Roman EmperorHoly Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
Charles V
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...
, represented in German affairs by his younger brother Ferdinand
Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor
Ferdinand I was Holy Roman Emperor from 1558 and king of Bohemia and Hungary from 1526 until his death. Before his accession, he ruled the Austrian hereditary lands of the Habsburgs in the name of his elder brother, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.The key events during his reign were the contest...
.
The religious dissident Martin Luther
Martin Luther
Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...
, already condemned as a heretic by the 1521 Edict of Worms and accused at the time of fomenting the strife, rejected the demands of the rebels and upheld the right of Germany's rulers to suppress the uprisings. Luther based his attitude on the peasant rebellion on St. Paul's doctrine of Divine Right of Kings
Divine Right of Kings
The divine right of kings or divine-right theory of kingship is a political and religious doctrine of royal and political legitimacy. It asserts that a monarch is subject to no earthly authority, deriving his right to rule directly from the will of God...
in his epistle to the , which says that all authorities are appointed by God, and should not be resisted. His former follower Thomas Müntzer
Thomas Muentzer
Thomas Müntzer was an early Reformation-era German theologian, who became a rebel leader during the Peasants' War. He turned against Luther with several anti-Lutheran writings, and supported the Anabaptists. In the Battle of Frankenhausen, Müntzer and his followers were defeated...
, on the other hand, came to the fore as a radical agitator in Thuringia
Thuringia
The Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....
.
Anabaptists
On December 27, 1521, three Zwickau prophets
Zwickau prophets
The Zwickau Prophets were three men from Zwickau of the Radical Reformation who were possibly involved in a disturbance in nearby Wittenberg and its reformation in early 1522....
, both influenced by and influencing Thomas Müntzer, appeared in Wittenberg
Wittenberg
Wittenberg, officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is a city in Germany in the Bundesland Saxony-Anhalt, on the river Elbe. It has a population of about 50,000....
from Zwickau
Zwickau
Zwickau in Germany, former seat of the government of the south-western region of the Free State of Saxony, belongs to an industrial and economical core region. Nowadays it is the capital city of the district of Zwickau...
: Thomas Dreschel, Nicolas Storch and Mark Thomas Stübner. Luther's
Martin Luther
Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...
reform was not radical enough for them. Like the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
, Luther practiced infant baptism, which the Anabaptist
Anabaptist
Anabaptists are Protestant Christians of the Radical Reformation of 16th-century Europe, and their direct descendants, particularly the Amish, Brethren, Hutterites, and Mennonites....
s considered to be "neither scriptural nor primitive, nor fulfilling the chief conditions of admission into a visible brotherhood of saints, to wit, repentance, faith, spiritual illumination and free surrender of self to Christ
Christ
Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...
."
The reformist theologian and associate of Luther, Philipp Melanchthon
Philipp Melanchthon
Philipp Melanchthon , born Philipp Schwartzerdt, was a German reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther, the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation, intellectual leader of the Lutheran Reformation, and an influential designer of educational systems...
, who was powerless against the enthusiasts with whom his co-reformer Andreas Karlstadt
Andreas Karlstadt
Andreas Rudolph Bodenstein von Karlstadt , better known as Andreas Karlstadt or Andreas Carlstadt or Karolostadt, was a German Christian theologian during the Protestant Reformation. He was born in Karlstadt, Franconia.-Education:Karlstadt received his doctorate of theology in 1510 from the...
sympathized, appealed to Luther, who was still hiding in the Wartburg
Wartburg
The Wartburg is a castle overlooking the town of Eisenach, Germany.Wartburg may also refer to:* Wartburgkreis, a district in Germany named after the Wartburg* Wartburg , former East German brand of automobiles, manufactured in Eisenach...
. Luther was cautious in not condemning the new doctrine out of hand, but advised Melanchthon to treat its supporters gently and to test their spirits, in case they should be of God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
. There was confusion in Wittenberg, whose schools and university had sided with the "prophets" and were closed. From this arises the allegation that the Anabaptists were enemies of learning, which is contradicted by the fact that two of them, Haetzer
Ludwig Haetzer
Ludwig Haetzer was an Anabaptist.Born in Bischofszell, Thurgau, Switzerland, he wrote an article against the uses of images in worship, translated some Latin evangelical texts regarding the conversion of Jews, together with Hans Denck he translated the prophets of the Bible into German and...
and Denck
Hans Denck
Hans Denck was a German theologian and Anabaptist leader during the Reformation.Denck was born in 1495 in the Bavarian town of Habach. After a classical education, he became headmaster at the St. Sebaldus school in Nuremberg in 1523...
, produced and printed the first German translation of the Hebrew
Hebrews
Hebrews is an ethnonym used in the Hebrew Bible...
prophets in 1527. The first leaders of the movement in Zürich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
—Conrad Grebel
Conrad Grebel
Conrad Grebel , son of a prominent Swiss merchant and councilman, was a co-founder of the Swiss Brethren movement and is often called the "Father of Anabaptists".-Early life:...
, Felix Manz
Felix Manz
Felix Manz was a co-founder of the original Swiss Brethren Anabaptist congregation in Zürich, Switzerland, and the first martyr of the Radical Reformation.-Birth and life:...
, George Blaurock
George Blaurock
Jörg vom Haus Jacob , commonly known as George Blaurock , with Conrad Grebel and Felix Manz, was co-founder of the Swiss Brethren in Zürich, and thereby one of the founders of Anabaptism.George Blaurock was born in 1491 in Bonaduz in the Grisons, Switzerland...
, Balthasar Hubmaier
Balthasar Hubmaier
Balthasar Hubmaier was an influential German/Moravian Anabaptist leader. He was one of the most well-known and respected Anabaptist theologians of the Reformation.- Early life and education:...
—were learned in Greek, Latin and Hebrew.
On March 6, 1522, Luther returned to Wittenberg, where he interviewed the prophets, scorned their "spirits", banished them from the city, and had their adherents ejected from Zwickau and Erfurt. Denied access to the churches, the latter preached and celebrated the sacrament in private houses. Having been driven from the cities, they swarmed across the countryside. Compelled to leave Zwickau, Müntzer visited Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
, lived for two years at Alltstedt in Thuringia, and in 1524 spent some time in Switzerland. During this period he proclaimed his revolutionary religious and political doctrines with increasing vehemence, and, so far as the lower orders were concerned, with growing success.
The Peasants' War began chiefly as a revolt against feudal oppression, but under the leadership of Müntzer it became a war against all constituted authorities in a forcible attempt to establish Müntzer's ideal of a Christian commonwealth based on absolute equality and the community of goods. The total defeat of the rebels at Frankenhausen
Battle of Frankenhausen
The Battle of Frankenhausen was fought on 15 May 1525. It was the final act of the German Peasants' War: joint troops of Landgrave Philip I of Hesse and Duke George of Saxony defeated the peasants under their Anabaptist leader Thomas Müntzer near Frankenhausen in the County of Schwarzburg .On April...
(May 15, 1525), followed by the execution of Müntzer and several other leaders, proved to be a merely temporary check on the Anabaptist movement. Scattered throughout Germany, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
and the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
were zealous propagandists whose teachings many were prepared to follow as soon as another leader emerged.
One branch of the Anabaptists became known as Mennonites. While in Germany in the sixteenth century, a split in the Mennonite community over an issue of religious dogma. The conservatives in this split followed Jakob Ammann. These conservative Mennonites moved from Germany to Switzerland to seek freedom from oppression. There they attracted other Swiss and Alsatian Anabaptists. The congregation came to be called Amish
Amish
The Amish , sometimes referred to as Amish Mennonites, are a group of Christian church fellowships that form a subgroup of the Mennonite churches...
after their leader. Later the Amish moved to Holland where they settled as a prelude to moving on to America. In the early eighteenth century the Amish moved to the State of Pennsylvania, settling near Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Since that time the Amish have spread to many other states-in Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota and other areas. In the year, 2000, it was estimated that there were a little over 168,000 Amish in the United States of America. By 2008 it was estimated that the population of Amish had grown to 227,000.
Legacy of the Peasant War of 1524–1525
Frederick Engels wrote in his two-part article in 1850 called The Peasant War in Germany in 1850 more than 300 years after the Peasant War of 1524–1525. Published in two parts in separate issues of Neue Rheinische ZeitungNeue Rheinische Zeitung
The Neue Rheinische Zeitung - Organ der Demokratie was a German daily newspaper, published by Karl Marx in Cologne between June 1, 1848 and May 19, 1849. Its name refers to a paper earlier edited by Marx, the Rheinische Zeitung...
the article was intended to serve as an easily understood analogy between the events of 1524–1525 and the events of the Revolution of 1848. Stating specifically in 1850 in the Introduction to The Peasant War in Germany: "Three centuries have passed and many a thing has changed; still the Peasant War is not so impossibly far removed from our present struggle, and the opponents who have to be fought are essentially the same. We shall see the classes and fractions of classes which everywhere betrayed 1848 and 1849 in the role of traitors, though on a lower level of development, already in 1525."
Primary sources
- Martin LutherMartin LutherMartin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...
(1525). Against the Murderous, Thieving Hordes of PeasantsAgainst the Murderous, Thieving Hordes of PeasantsAgainst the Murderous, Thieving Hordes of Peasants is a piece written by Martin Luther, related to The German Peasants' War. The Peasants' War took place between 1524 and 1526, as a result of a tumultuous collection of grievances in many different spheres: political, economic, social, and... - House Book of the Monastery of Maria Mai (ca. 1525). For a translation and commentary of the description of peasants' war by the nuns of Maria Mai see Corine Schleif and Volker Schier, Katerina's Windows: Donation and Devotion, Art and Music, as Heard and Seen Through the Writings of a Birgittine Nun, University Park: Penn State Press, 2009, pp. 401–464
Secondary sources
- Roland H. Bainton, Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther (Pierce & Smith Co.: Nashville, 1978).
- Ernest Belfort BaxErnest Belfort BaxErnest Belfort Bax was a British socialist journalist and philosopher, associated with the Social Democratic Federation ....
(1899). The Peasants War in Germany, 1525–1526, from Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
. HTML source. - Peter Blickle, (1985), The Revolution of 1525: The German Peasants War from a New Perspective, Translated by Thomas A. Brady Jr. and H. C. Midelfort, New York, Johns Hopkins University Press
- Friedrich EngelsFriedrich EngelsFriedrich Engels was a German industrialist, social scientist, author, political theorist, philosopher, and father of Marxist theory, alongside Karl Marx. In 1845 he published The Condition of the Working Class in England, based on personal observations and research...
(1850). The Peasant War in GermanyThe Peasant War in GermanyThe Peasant War in Germany by Friedrich Engels, 1850, is an account of 16th century uprisings.This book was written by Friedrich Engels in London, during the summer of 1850, following the revolutionary uprisings of 1848-1849. The book draws a parallel between the uprisings of 1848-1849 and the...
. HTML source - Gunther Franz (1956), Der Deutsche Bauernkrieg, Darmstadt, Wissenschaftliche Buchgeselschaft
- Mark S. Hoffman (Editor), World Almanac and Book of Facts 1991 (Scripps-Howard Pub.: New York, 1990).
- Peter J. Klassen, Europe in the Reformation (Prentice-Hall, Inc.: Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1979).
- Henry S. Lucas, The Renaissance and the Reformation (Harper & Row Pub.: New York, 1960).
- Corine Schleif and Volker Schier, Katerina's Windows: Donation and Devotion, Art and Music, as Heard and Seen Through the Writings of a Birgittine Nun (University Park: Penn State Press, 2009), pp. 401–464
- John B. Wolf, The Emergence of European Civilization (Harper and Row Co.: New York, 1962).
- Hillay Zmora (1997), State and Nobility in Early Modern Germany: The knightly feud in Franconia 1440–1567, Cambridge University Press, 1997 (hardback), 2002 (paperback), ISBN 0521561795
- Tom Scott and Robert W. Scribner (1991). The German Peasants' War: A History in Documents, Humanities Press International, New Jersey, ISBN 0-391-03681-5
External links
- Martin Luther's Violent, Inflammatory Rhetoric and its Relationship to the German Peasants' Revolt (1524–1525) by Dave Armstrong
- Der Bauernkrieg von 1525: The German Peasants’ Revolt by Christopher Handisides