THE PEASANTS WAR.

CHAPTER I.

THE SITUATION DURING THE FIRST QUARTER OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.

IN a former volume 1 we considered at length the condition of Central Europe at the close of the period known as the Middle Ages. It will suffice here to recapitulate in a few paragraphs the general position.

The time was out of joint in a very literal sense of that somewhat hackneyed phrase. Every established institution—political, social, and religions — wns Rhnken and shewed the rents and fissures ransed hy time, and hy thp growth of a new life underneath it. The empire—the Holy Roman—was in a parlous way as regarded its cohesion. The power of the princes, the representatives of local centralised authority.

1 German Society at the Close of the Middle Ages, by E. Belfort Bax (Swan Sonnenschein & Co., London, 1894).

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- was proving itself too strong for the power of jhe emperor, the recognised representative of "tentralised authority for the whole German-speaking world. This meant the undermining and eventual disruption of the smaller social and political unities, 1 the knightly manors with the privileges attached to the knightly class generally. \ The knighthood, or lower nobility, had acted as a sort of buffer hefween_Jtke princes of the empire and the imperiaJ pnwnr .lQ__Hdlicil— tripy often looked for protection

against their immediate overlord nr their powerful neighbour—the prinre^ The imperial power, in consequence, found the lower nobility a bulwark against its princely vassals. Economic changes, the suddenly increased demand for money owing- to the rise of the ^world-market," new inventions in the art of war, new methods of fighting, the rapidly growing importance of jirtillery and the increase of the__mercenary soldiery, had rendered the lower nobility, as an

1 It should be remembered that Germany at this time

was cut up into feudal territorial divisions of all sizes, from

the principality, or the prince-bishopric, to the knightly

manor. Every few miles, and sometimes less, there was a

'fresh territory, a fresh lord, and a fresh jurisdiction.

\

SITU A TION IN SIXTEENTH CENTUR Y. 3

Itution, a factor in the political situation which was fast becoming negligible. The abortive campaign of Franz von Sickingen in 1523 only showed its hopeless weakness. The "Reicksregiment" or imperial governing council, a body instituted by Maximilian, had lamentably failed to effect anything towards cementing together the various parts of the unwieldy fabric. Finally, at the " Reichstag" held in Niirnberg, in December, 1522, at which all the estates were represented, the " Reicksregiment" to all intents and purposes, collapsed.

The Reichstag in question was summoned ostensibly for the purpose of raising a subsidy for the Hungarians in their struggle against the advancing power of the Turks. The Turkish movement westward was, of course, throughout this period, the most important question of what in modern phraseology would be called " foreign politics". The princes voted the 1 proposal of the subsidy without consulting the representatives of the cities, who knew the heaviest part of the burden was to fall upon themselves. The urgency of the situation, however, weighed with them, with the result that they submitted after considerable

THE PEASANTS WAR.

remonstrance. The princes, in conjunction with \x^their rivals, the lower nobility, next proceeded to attack the commercial monopolies, the Jirst fruits of the rising capitalism, the appanage mainly of the trading companies and the merchant-magnates of the towns. This was too much for civic patience. The city representatives, who of course belonged to the civic ^--aristocracy, waxed indignant. The feudal orders went on to claim the right to set up vexatious tariffs in their respective territories whereby to hinder artificially the free development of the new commercial capitalist. This filled up the cup of endurance of the magnates of the cities. The city representatives refused their consent to the Turkish subsidy and withdrew. The next step was the sending of a deputation to the young Emperor Karl, who was in Spain, and whose sanction to the decrees of the Reichstag was necessary before their promulgation. The result of the conference held on this occasion was a decision to undermine the "Reithsrcgiment? and weaken the power of the princes, by whom and by whose tools it was manned, as a factor in the imperial constitution. As for the princes, while some of

SITU A TION IN SIXTEENTH CENTUR K 5

their number were positively opposed to it, others cared little one way or the other. Their chief aim was to strengthen and consolidate their power within the limits of their own territories, and a weak empire was perhaps better adapted for effecting this purpose than a stronger one, even though certain of their own order had a controlling voice in its administration. As already hinted, the collapse of the rebellious knighthood under Sickingen, a few weeks later, clearly showed the political drift of the situation in the haute politique of the empire.

The rising capitalists of the cities, the mon polists. merchant princes and syndicates, are the theme of universal invective throughout this period^ To them the rapid and enormous rise in prices during thf parly years of the sixteenth century, the scarcity of money consequent on the increased demand for it, and the iirLpoverish-f large sections of the population, were

attributed by noble and peasant alike. The whole trenc^of public opinion, in short, outside thVwealthier burghers^f the larger cities—the class immediately interested—was adverse to the condition of things created by the new

THE PEASANTS WAR.

world-market, and by the new class embodying it. At present it was a small class, the only one that gained by it, and that gained at the expense of all the other classes.

Some idea of the class-antagonisms of the period may be gathered from the statement of Ulrich von Hutten, in his dialogue entitled 41 Predones," that there were four orders of robbers in Germany—the knights, the lawyers, \htpriests, and the merchants (meaning especially the new capitalist merchant-traders or syndicates). Of these, he declares the robber-knights to be the least harmful. This is naturally only to be expected from so gallant a champion of his order, the friend and abettor of Sickingen. Nevertheless, the seriousness of the robber-knight evil, the toleration of which in principle was so deeply ingrained in the public opinion of large sections of the population, may be judged from the abortive attempts made to stop it, at the instance alike of princes and of cities, who on this point, if on no other, had a common interest. In 1502, for example, at the Reichstag held in Gelnhausen in that year, certain of the highest princes of the empire made a representation that, at least, the knights should

permit the gathering in of the harvest and the vintage in peace. But even this modest demand was found to be impracticable. The knights had to live in the style required by their status, as they declared, and where other means were more and more failing them, their ancient right or privilege of plunder was indispensable to their order. Still Hutten was right so far in declaring the knight the most harmless kind of robber, inasmuch as, direct as were his methods, his sun was obviously setting, while as much could not be said of the other classes named ; the merchant and the lawyer were on the rise, and the priest, although about to receive a check, was not destined to speedily disappear, or to change fundamentally the character of his activity.

The feudal orders saw their own position^ seriously threatened by the new development of things economic in the cities. The gui 1 ds were becoming crystallised into close corporations of wealthy families, constituting a kind of

second Ehrbarkeit

or town patriciate ; the num-

p landless ana~j^npnyjjegeii r l^atk a^ most a bare footing in the town constitution, were increasing_Jn_ an alarming^p^roportion ;

THE PEASANTS WAR.

-~ the journeyman-workman was no longer a stage between apprentice and master-craftsman, but a permanent condition embodied in a large and growing class. All these symptoms indicated an extraordinary economic revolution, which wasjiaking itself at first directly felt onlyin the larger cities,_but the results of which were dislocatin the social relations of the Middle

Perhaps the most striking feature in this dislocation was the transition from direct barter to exchange through the medium n£_money T and the consequent suddenly increased importance of the role played by usury jnj:he social life of the time. The scarcity of money is ajperennial theme of complaint JoLJvhich the new large

made responsible.

The class in question was itself only a symptom of the general economic change. The seeming scarcity of money, though but the consequence of the increased demand for a circulating medium, was explained to the disadvantage of the hated monopolists by a crude form of the " mercantile " theory. The new merchant, in contradistinction to the master-craftsman working en famille with his apprentices and

assistants, now often stood entirely outside the processes of production as speculator or middleman ; and he, and still more the syndicate who fulfilled the like functions on a larger scale (especially with reference to foreign trade), came to be regarded as particularly obnoxious robbers, because interlopers to boot. Unlike the knights, they were robbers with a new face.

The lawyers were detested for much the same reason (cf. German Society at the Close of the Middle Ages, pp. 219-228). The professional lawyer-class, since its final differentiation from the clerk-class in general, had made ^-the Roman or civil law its speciality, and had done its utmost everywhere to establish the principles of the latter.._.in place of the old feudal law of earlier mediaeval Europe. The^^ Roman law was especially favourable to the j2retp.nsinn_s_ of the princes, and, from an economic, point of view, of the nobility in general, -~N jnasmuch as land was on the new legal principles lreajted^aLSJLhe__private prorjetty^of^hejord^over f ^whdcjijhejiad full power of ownership, and_not, as under feudal and canon law, as_ji trust ^ duties as well as rights. The class

of jurists was itself of comparatively recent

growth in Central Europe, and its rapid increase in every portion of the empire dated from less than half a century back. It may be well understood, therefore, why these interlopers, who ignored the ancient customary law of the -country, and who by means of an alien code deprived the poor freeholder or copyholder of his land, or justified new and unheard-of exactions on the part of his lord on the plea that the latter might do what he liked with his own, were regarded by the peasant and humble man as robbers whose depredations were, if anything, even more resented than those of their old and tried enemy — the plundering knight.

riest] especially of the regular orders, was indeed an old foe, but his offence had.npw Jbecome vejry_j^nk. From the middle _of the^ fifteenth^century onwards the stream of anti-_clerical literature_jyaxes alike in volume and, intensity. The " monk " had become the_object^ ^fjiatred and scorn throughout the whole lay world__This view of the "regular " was shared, moreover, by not a few of the secular clergy themselves. Humanists, who were subsequently ardent champions of the Church against Luther and the Protestant Reformation—men such as

Murner and Erasmus—had been previously the bitterest satirists of the " friar" and the "monk". Amongst the great body of the laity, however, though the religious orders came in perhaps for the greater share of animosity, the secular priesthood was not much better off in popular favour, whilst the upper members^oT the ^hierarchy were naturally regarded_as the chief blood-suckers of the German people ii the interests of Rome, The vast revenues which both directly in the shape of '^pallium^\

(the price of " investiture ")[annates\ (first year's

-r—II

revenues of appointments), Peter ^ pence, and recently of \indulgences\-the latter the Ipy no means most onerous exaction, since it was voluntary, though proving as it happened the proverbial "last straw " —all these things, taken together with what was indirectly obtained from Germany, through the expenditure of German ecclesiastics on their visits to Rome and by the crowd of parasites, nominal holders of German benefices merely, but real recipients of German substance, who danced attendance at the Vatican— .obviously constituted an enormous v drain on the resources of the country from all the lay classes alike, of which wealth the

papal_chair could be_plajnly seeru to be the _receptacle.

- If we add to these causes of discontent the vastness in number of the _regular_clergy, the

." already referred to, who

consumed, but were only too obviously unproductive, it will be sufficiently plain that the Protestant Reformation had something very much more than a purely speculative basis to work upon. Religious reformers there had been in Germany throughout the Middle Ages, but their preachings had taken no deep root. The powerful personality of the Monk of Wittenberg found an economic soil ready to hand in which his teachings could fructify, and hence the world-historic result. As we saw in the former volume of this history, thefpeasant revolts, sporadic the Middle Ages through, had ~~ for the half-century preceding the Reformation been growing in frequency and importance, but it needed nevertheless the sudden impulse, the powerful jar given by a Luther in 1517, and the series of blows with which it was followed during the years immediately succeeding, to crystallise the mass of fluid discontent and social unrest in its various forms and give

it definite direction. The blow which was primarily struck in the region of speculative thought and ecclesiastical relations did not stop there in its effects. The attack on the dominant theological system—at first merely on certain comparatively unessential outworks of that system—necessarily of its own force developed into an attack on the organisation representing v it, and on the economic basis of

the latter. iThe battle against ecclesiastical abuses, again, in its turn, focussed the ever-smouldering discontent with abuses in general; and this time, not in one district only, but simultaneously over the whole of Germany. The movement inaugurated by Luther gave to the peasant groaning under the weight of baronial oppression, and the small handicraftsman suffering under his Ehrbarkcit, a rallying point and a rallying cry^

In history there is no movement which starts up full grown from the brain of any one man, or even from the mind of any one generation of men, like Athene from the head of Zeus. The historical epoch which marks the crisis of the given change is after all little beyond a prominent landmark—a parting of the ways—led

up to by a long preparatory development. This is nowhere more clearly illustrated than in the Reformation and its accompanying movements. The ideas and aspirations animating the social, political and intellectual revolt of the sixteenth century can each be traced back to, at least, the beginning of the fifteenth century, and in > many cases farther still. The way the German of Luther's time looked at the burning questions of the hour was not essentially different from the way the English Wycliffites and Lollards or the Bohemian Hussites and Taborites viewed them. There was obviously a difference born of the later time, but this difference was not, I repeat, essential. The changes which, a century previously, were only just beginning, had, meanwhile, made enormous progress. The disintegration of the material conditions of mediaeval social life' was now approaching its completion, forced on by the inventions and discoveries of the previous half-century. But the ideals of the mass of men, learned and simple, were still in the main the ideals that had been prevalent throughout the whole of the later Middle Ages. Men still looked at the world and at social progress through mediaeval

spectacles. The chief difference was that now ideas which had previously been confined to special localities, or had only had a sporadic existence among the people at large, had become general throughout large portions of the population. The invention of the art of printing

was of COIirS^ Isrg^ly inQfmmp n fq1 in

The comparatively sudden popularisation of doctrines previously confined to special circles was the distinguishing feature of the intellectual life of the first half of the sixteenth century. Among the many illustrations of the foregoing' which might be given, we are specially concerned here to note the sudden popularity during this period of two imaginary constitu-tions_dating from early irT the~previous century. From the fourteenth century we find traces, perhaps suggested by the Prester John legend, of a deliverer in the shape of an emperor who should come from the East, who should be the last of his name ; should right all wrongs ; should establish the empire in universal justice and peace ; and, in short, should be the forerunner of the kingdom of Christ on earth. This notion or mystical hope took increasing

,6

THE PEASANTS WAR.

root during the fifteenth century, and is to be found in many respects embodied in the spurious constitutions mentioned, which bore respectively the names of the Emperors Sig-mund and Friedrich. It was in this form that the Hussite theories were absorbed by the German mind. First of all, it was the eccenjf ic and romantic Emperor Friedrich II. who was conceived of as playing the role in question. Later, the hopes of the Messianists of the " Holy Roman Empire" were centred in the Emperor Sigmund._ Later on still the role of the former Friedrich was carried over to his successor, Friedrich III., upon whom the hopes of the German people-^vere cast.

The Reformation of Kaiser Sigmund, originally written about ijj,8,_went through several editions before the end of the century, and was many times reprinted during the opening years of Luther's movement. Like its successor, that of Friedrich, the scheme attributed to Sigmund proposed the abolition - of the recent abuses of feudalism, of the new lawyer class, and of the symptoms already making themselves felt of the change from barter to money payments. It proposed, in

short, a return fn primitive ^nHi'i-ir^c:, It was

a scheme of reform on a Biblical basis, embracing many elements of a distinctly communistic character, as communism was then understood. It was pervaded with the idea of equality in the spirit of the Taborite literature of the age, from which it dated its origin. The so-called Reformation of Kaiser Sigmund dealt especially with the peasantry — the serfs and villeins of the time ; that attributed to Friedrich was mainly concerned with the rising population of the towns. All towns and communes w to undergo a constitutional transformation. Handicraftsmen should receive just wages ; -all roads should be free ; taxes, dues and levies should be abolished ; trading capital was to be limited to a maximum of 10,000 gulden; all surplus capital should fall to the imperial authorities, who should lend it in case of need to poor handicraftsmen at five per cent. ; uniformity of coinage and of weights and measures was to be decreed, together with the abolition of the Roman and Canon law. Legists, priests and princes were to be severely dealt with. But, curiously enough, the middle and lower nobility, especially the knighthood, were more

tenderly handled, being treated as themselves victims of their feudal superiors, lay and ecclesiastic, especially the latter. In this con-- nection the secularisation of ecclesiastical fiefs was strongly insisted on.

As men found, however, that neither the Emperor Sigmund, nor the Emperor Friedrich III., nor the Emperor Maximilian, upon each of whom successively their hopes had been cast as the possible realisation of the German Messiah of earlier dreams, fulfilled their expectations, nay, as each in succession implicitly belied these hopes, showing no disposition whatever to act up to the views promulgated in their names, the tradition of the imperial deliverer — gradually lost its force and popularity. By the opening of the Lutheran Reformation the opinion had become general that a change would not . come from above, _but that the initiative must rest with the people themselves—with the classes ""specially oppressed by ~ existing conditions, Apolitical, economic and. ecclesiastical—to effect by their own exertions such a transformation as was shadowed forth in the spurious constitutions. These, and similar ideas, were now everywhere taken up and elaborated, often in a still more

radical sense than the original; and they every-where found hearers and jidherents. _

The "true inwardness" of the change, of which the Protestant Reformation represented the ideological side, meant the transformation of society from a basis mainly corporative and co-operative to one individualistic in its essential character. The whole polity of the middle

ages, industrial, social, — p^litiralj ecd^siastira] was based on the principle of the group r>r_th

ranging in hierarchical order* from the i-rar^-ornj]H_j-n the town rorporation ; from

the town corporation through the feudal orders

to the imperial throne itself; from the single monastery to the order as a whole ; and from the order as a whole to the complete hierarchy

of the Church as represented by the papal chair. The principle ofthis^social organisation was now hreajdng down. The modern and bourgeois conception of the autonomy of the individual in all Spheres of life was beginning to afHrm~Ttself.

The most definite expression of this new principle asserted itself in the religious sphere. The Individualism which was inherent in early Christianity, but which was present as a speculative content merely, had not been

strong enough to counteract even the remains of corporate tendencies on the material side of things, in the decadent Roman Empire ; and infinitely less so the vigorous group-organisation and sentiment of the northern nations, with their tribal society and communistic traditions still mainly intact. And these were the elements out of which mediaeval society arose. Naturally enough the new religious tendencies in revolt against the mediaeval corporate Christianity of the Catholic Church seized upon this individualistic element in Christianity, declaring the chief end of religion to be jij3ej^Qj2aL_salvatkin, for the attainment of which the individual, -himself^ was suf6jcing r --apar4-^em---Ghurch organisation jtnd Chqrrh tradition This served as a valuable destructive weapon for the iconoclasts in their attack on ecclesiastical privilege ; consequently, % - - in religion, this doctrine of Individualism rapidly made headway. But in more material matters the old corporative instinct was still too strong and the conditions were as yet too imperfectly ripe for the speedy triumph of Individualism.

The conflict of the two tendencies is curiously exhibited in the popular movements of the Reformation-time. As enemies of the decaying

and obstructive forms of Feudalism and Church organisation, the peasant and

nn the side of \\\r n^w T

ualism. So far as negation and destruction were concerned, they were working apparently for the new order of things—that new order of things which longo intervallo has finally landed us in the developed capitalistic Individualism of the nineteenth century. Yet when we come to consider their constructive programmes we find the positive demands put forward are based either on ideal conceptions derived from reminiscences of primitive communism, or else that they distinctly postulate a return to a state of—things—the old mark-organisation—upon which the later feudalism had in various ways encroached, and finally superseded. Hence, they were, in these respects, not merely not in the trend of contemporary progress, but in actual opposition to it; and therefore, as Lasalle has justly remarked, they were necessarily and in any case doomed to failure in the long run. This point should not be lost sight of in considering the various popular movements of the earlier half of the sixteenth century. The world was still essentially mediaeval; men

itsmanvr

ndivid^T^

rii^firm *

THE PEASANTS WAR.

^— were still dominated by mediaeval ways of looking at things and still immersed in mediaeval conditions of life. It is true that out of this mediaeval soil the new individualistic society was beginning to grow, but its manifestations were as yet not so universally apparent as to force a recognition of their real meaning. It was still possible to regard the various symptoms ^of change, numerous as they were, and far-reaching as we now see them to have been, as sporadic phenomena, as rank but unessential overgrowths on the old society, which it was possible by pruning and the application of other suitable remedies to get rid of, and thereby to restore a state of pristine health in the body political and social.

Biblical phrases and the notion of Divine J Justice now took the place in the popular mind formerly occupied by Church and Emperor. All the then oppressed classes of society—the small >easant. half villein, half free-man ; the landless [journeyman and town-proletarian ; the beggar >y the wayside; the small master, crushed by isury or tyrannised over by his wealthier col-iague in the guild, or by the town-patriciate ; iven the impoverished knight, or the soldier of

fortune defrauded of his pay ; in short, all with whom times were bad, found consolation for their wants and troubles, and at the same time an incentive to action, in the notion of a Divine j Justice, which should restore all things, ancTtKe" advent of which was approaching. All had Biblical phrases tending in the direction of their immediate aspirations in their mouths. As bearing on the\development and propaganda of the new ideas, the existence of a new intellectual class, rendered possible by the new method of exchange through money (as opposed to that of barter), which for a generation past had been in full swing in the larger towns, must not be forgotten. Formerly land had been the essential condition of livelihood ; now/ it was no longer so. The "universal equivalent/ money, conjoined with the printing press, was rendering a literary class proper, for the firsft time, possible. In the same way the teacher, physician, and the small lawyer were enabled tOI subsist as followers of independent professions, \ apart from the special service of the Church or as part of the court-retinue of some feudal / potentate. To these we must add a fresh and very important section of the intellectual class

which also now for the first time acquired an independent existence—to wit, that of the public al or functionary. This change, although only one of many, is itself specially striking as indicating the transition from the barbaric civilisation of the Middle Ages to the beginnings of the civilisation of the Modern World. We have, in short, before us, as already remarked, a period in which the Middle Ages, whilst still V dominant, have their force visibly sapped by the growth of a new life.

To sum up the chief features of this new life : Industrially, we have the decline of the old system of production in the countryside jn which each manor or, at least, each district,

< was_Jbr the most ^part self-sufficing and self-supporting, where production was almost entirely for immediate use, and only the surplus was (exchanged, and where such exchange as existed took place exclusively under the form of barter.

^In_jplace_pf this, we find now something more £han the beginnings of a national-market and distinct traces of that of a world-market. In the

^towns the change was even still more marked. Here we have a sudden and hothouse-Tike nf fV>^ inflnprtrg^nrTnone. The

guild-system, originally designed for associa-jMnns..nf firafV.snien. for which the chief object was,the, man andjthe work, and not the mere acquirement of profit, was changing its character?^ Trie guilds were becoming close corporations *-capitalists, while a commerciaT

capitalism, as already indicated, was raising its head in"alTthe"largercentra llU£Qnsequence

ot this state of things^the rapid

of the towns and of commerce, national and

tnTernational, and the economic backwardness "of the countryside, a landless proletariat was

^""""""^""•"^ZIZII

formed, which meant on the one hancl art increase in n

jTiendicancy of all kinds, __ arid on the other the creation of a permanent— c 1 ass of only casually-employed persons, who m the towns absorbed indeed, but for the most part with a new form of citizenship involving ' only the bare right of residence within the [s. Similar social phenomena were of course manifesting themselves contemporaneously in other parts of Europe ; but in__Germany thej

change was more sudden than elsewhere, and_j .

was complicated by special political circum-'

stances. „

The political and militarv functions of that

for the mediaeval polity of Germany,_so important class, the knighthood, or lower nobility, had by this time become practically obsolete, mainly owing to the changed conditions of warfare. But yet the class itself was numerous, and still, nominally at least, possessed of most of its old privileges and authority. The extent of its real power depended, however, upon the absence or weakness of a central power, whether imperial or state-territorial. The attempt to reconstitute the centralised power of the empire under Maximilian, of which the Reichsregiment was the outcome, had, as we have seen, not proved successful. Its means of carrying into effect its own decisions were hopelessly inadequate. In 1523 it was already weakened, and became little more than a " survival " after the Reichstag held at Niirnberg in 1524. Thus this body, which had been called into existence at the instance of the most powerful estates of the empire, was " shelved " with the practically unanimous consent of those who had been instrumental in creating it. But if the attempt at imperial centralisation had failed, the force of circumstances tended partly for this very reason to favour state-territorial centralisation.

The aim of all the territorial magnates, the higher members of the imperial system, was to consolidate their own princely power within the territories owing them allegiance. This desire played a not unimportant part in the establishment of the Reformation in certain parts of the country—for example, in Wiirtemberg, and in the northern lands of East Prussia which were subject to the Grand Master of the Teutonic knights. The time was at hand for the transformation of the mediaeval feudal territory, with its local jurisdictions and its ties of service, into the modern bureaucratic state, with its centralised administration and organised system of salaried functionaries subjecttp a central authority.

s Z —

.The' religious^movement inaugurated by AithejNnet and was~a5sorbed by all these ele-

ments of change. It furnished them with a religious flag, under cotfer of which they could work themselves out. This was necessary in an age when the Christian theology was unques-tioningly accepted in one or another form by well-nigh all men, and hence entered as a practical belief into their daily thoughts and lives. The Lutheran Reformation, from its inception in 1517 down to the Peasants War of

^X~~

1525, at once absorbed, and was absorbed by, 11 the revolutionary elements of the time. Up :o the last-mentioned date it gathered revolutionary force year by year. But this was the urning point. With the crushing of the peasants' revolt and the decisively anti-popular attitude taken up by Luther, the religious movement associated with him ceased any longer to have a revolutionary character. It henceforth -became definitely subservient to the new interests of the wealthy and privileged classes, and as such completely severed itself from the more extreme popular reforming sects. Up to this time, though by no means always approved by Luther himself or his immediate followers, and in some cases even combated by them, the latter were nevertheless not looked upon w r ith disfavour by large numbers of the rank and file of those who regarded Martin Luther as their leader. Nothing could exceed the violence of language with which Luther himself attacked all who stood in his way. Not only the ecclesiastical, but also the secular heads of Christendom came in for the coarsest abuse ; " swine " and " water-bladder "are not the strongest epithets employed. But this was not all; in his Treatise o

Authority and how far it should be Obeyed (published in 1523), whilst professedly maintaining the thesis that the secular authority is a Divine ordinance, Luther none the less expressly justifies resistance to all human authority where its mandates are contrary to " the word of God ". At the same time, he denounces in his customary energetic language the existing powers generally. " Thou shouldst know," he says, "that since the beginning of the world a wise prince is truly a rare bird, but a pious prince is still more rare." " They (princes) are mostly the greatest fools or the greatest rogues on earth ; therefore must we at all times expect from them the worst, and little good." Farther on, he proceeds : " The common man begetteth understanding, and the plague of the princes worketh powerfully among the people and the common man. He will not, he cannot, he pur-poseth not, longer to suffer your tyranny and oppression. Dear princes and lords, know ye what to do, for God will no longer endure it ? The world is no more as of old time, when ye hunted and drove the people as your quarry. But think ye to carry on with much drawing of sword, look to it that one do not come who

THE PEASANTS WAR.

shall bid ye sheath it, and that not in God's name! " Again, in a pamphlet published the following year, 1524, relative to the Reichstag of that year, Luther proclaims that the judgment of God already awaits " the drunken and mad princes". He quotes the phrase: " Deposuit potentes de sede " (Luke i. 52), and adds " that is your case, dear lords, even now when ye see it not" ! After an admonition to subjects to refuse to go forth to war against the Turks, or to pay taxes towards resisting them, who were ten times wiser and more godly than German princes, the pamphlet concludes with the prayer: " May God deliver us from ye all, and of His grace give us other rulers " ! Against such utterances as the above, the conventional exhortations to Christian humility, non-resistance, and obedience to those in authority, would naturally not weigh in a time of popular ferment. So, until the momentous year 1525, it was not unnatural that, notwithstanding his quarrel with Munzer and the Zwickau enthusiasts, and with others whom he deemed to be going " too far," Luther should have been regarded as in some sort the central figure of the revolutionary movement, political and social, no less than religious. \——-

But the great literary and agitatory forces during the period referred to were of course either outside the Lutheran movement prop* or at most only on the fringe of it. A mass o! broadsheets and pamphlets, specimens of some of which have been given in a former volume (German Society at the Close of the Middle Ages, pp. 114-128), poured from the press during these years, all with the refrain that things had gone on long enough, that the common man, be he peasant or townsman, could no longer bear it. But even more than the revolutionary literature were the wandering preachers effective in working up the agitation which culminated in the Peasants War of 1525. ThjeJatter^comprised men of all classes, from the impoverished jmight, the poor priest, the escaped monk^or the travelling scholar, to the_rjeasant, the "mercenary soldietM3ut_o£^mpkTyrn^^ handicraftsman, or even_the__begga^. Learned and simple, they wandered about from place to place, in the market place of the town, in the common field of the village, from one territory to another, preaching the gospel of discontent. Their harangues were, as a rule, as much political as religious, and the ground tone of

THE PEASANTS WAR.

them all was the social or economic misery of f the time, and the urgency of immediate action \ to bring about a change. As in the literature, so in the discourses, Biblical phrases designed to give force to the new teaching abounded. The more thorough-going of these itinerant apostles openly aimed at nothing less than the establishment of a new Christian Commonwealth, or, as they termed it, "the Kingdom of God on Earth ".

/This vast agitation throughout Central Europe —Vreached its climax in 1524, in the autumn and / winter of which year definite preparations were \ in many places made for the general rebellion which was to break out in the following spring. \ In describing the course of the movement known as the Peasants War, since there is no concerted campaign throughout the whole of the districts affected, to be recorded, it is impossible to preserve complete chronological order. The several outbreaks, though the result of a common agitation working upon a common \ discontent, engendered by corLrliHrm^ ^Aiery-where essentially the same, ha4_eachofjthem

its own local history and its own local colour.

There^jvvas_nQ_general preconcerted plan of

SITUATION IN SIXTEENTH CENTURY.

/ampaign, and this, as we shall see, was the main cause of the comparatively speedy and signally disastrous collapse of the movement. _Xhe outbreaks occurred for the most part simultaneously or within a few days of each other, T)ut the immediate cause was often some local

circumstance, and no sufficient communication [ was kept up, even between districts wHere this would not have been^ difficult, while any concerted actionbetween the peasant forces of ^ north and central, or of central and southern Germany, was scarcely everTThought of. ~Like all other movements of the^time, that \ of the peasants and small townsmen had a strong infusion of religious sentiment based on Christian theology. <lt was, it is true, ( primarily a social and economic agitation, but I it had a strongj^gjifnous colouring. JTheJiivo- < cation of Christian doctrine and Biblical sentiments was no mere external flourish, but formed part of the essence of the movement. It must also be Temembered that there was more than

one_side to the agitation ; for example, _communism of Thomas IMunzer, whose name-is popularly most prominently~lTssocTated ' witff" the social revolution of 1525, was confined to

THE PEASANTS WAR.

one^town, and it is doubtful whether it wa really accepted by all the insurrectionary ele-ments, even in Muhlhausen^ not_to speak of the rest oTThuringia. There was undoubtedly ^ —a sub-conscious communistic element underlying / the whole uprising, but for the most part it was little more than a sentiment which took no definite shape. While partially successful in impressing his teaching on the Thuringian revolt, Mtinzer it seems had little success in Franconia or in southern Germany. Indeed, the south Germans appear to have been actually averse to anyjctehmte utopistic idealism such^as

that of Thomas Miinzer. and to have tended to

~ confine them§eh^ g ctnVHy tr> t nf > \\m\t* of t-frp

celebrated " twelve articles **. It is, moreover, in the latter document, which certainly comes from a south German soiirre, that we find formulated _the definite demands which constituted the ^tactical basis of the movement generally^ In the "^twelve articles" we have expressed^un^ doubtedly the ideas and aspirations of the average man throughout J^ermany who jook parf in the movement. What went beyond tjiese dema.nds was^merejvague sentiment, in which possibly the average man shared but

I

ich did not take definite shape in his mind. In this jgmarkable document, the precise authorship of which is matter of conjecture only, we have unquestionably the best expression of the

average publJCL npininn nf tVip " peasant" of

Central Europe, in the f\r^ half nf

'S

CHAPTER II.

THE OUTBREAK OF THE PEASANTS WAR.

HE growing discontent among the peasantry had led to many an attempt to curtail the right of assembly in the rural districts throughout Germany! These attempts were specially aimed at the popular merry-makings and festivals which brought the inhabitants of different parishes together. Weddings, pilgrimages, church-ales (kirchweihen), guild-feasts, etc., were sought to be suppressed or curtailed in many places. Even the ancient right of the village assembly was entrenched upon, or, in some cases, altogether withdrawn. But it was all of no avail. The fermentation continued to grow. From the spring of 1524 onwards, sporadic disturbances took place on various manors throughout the country. In many places tithes l were refused.

l The tithe was of two kinds, the so-called great tithe —1 the little tithe. The great tithe consisted usually of

(36)

The first serious outbreak occurred in August. *-1524, in the Rhine valley, in the Black Forest, at StiiKhfigen, on the domains of the Count of Lupfen, and the immediate cause is said to have been trivial exactions on the part of tlfev countess. She required her tenants on someU church holiday to gather strawberries and tol collect snail shells on which to wind her skeins 11 after spinning. 1 This slight impost evoked a I spark that speedily became a flame running \ through all the neighbouring manors, where the various forms of corvee and dues werej^

simultaneously refused. A leader suddenly^ , appeared in one Hans Mtiller, a former soldier fer-of fortune, who was a native of the village of Bulgenbach, belonging to the monastery of St. Blasien. A flag of the imperial colours, black, red and yellow, was made, and on St. Bartholomew's Day, the 24th August, Hans Muller at the head of 1200 peasants marched

crops (of hay, corn, barley, etc.); the little tithe generally of a head of cattle. This latter appears to have been especially obnoxious to the peasantry.

1 This story represents the uniform tradition ; but although not refuted, it is not authenticated, by any contemporary documentary evidence.

to Waldshut under cover of a church-ale which was^being held in that town.

/Waldshut, which constituted the most eastern of the four so-called "forest towns"—the others being Laufenburg, Sakingen and Rheinfelden

—was, at this moment, in strained relations with

the Austrian authorities.

.x^ f The peasants fraternised with the inhabitants

of the little town, and the first "JE^augelical Brotherhood" sprang into existence. 1 Every

member of this organisation was required to contribute a small coin weekly to defray the expenses of the bearers of the secret despatches, which were to be distributed far and wide throughout Germany, inciting to amalgamation \a_nd a general rising. Throughout the districts of Baden in the Black Forest, throughout Elsass, the Rhein, the Mosel territories, as far as Thuringia, the message ran : no lord should \ there be but the emperor, to whom proper

lr This is the view taken by Zimmermann, the great historian of the Peasants War, but it should be mentioned that Bezold and other later authorities are of the opinion that no formal association of this kind was constituted on this occasion, although they admit that an informal fraternisation took place, which was not without its results on the ensuing agitation.

X {^

.

OUTBREAK OF THE PEASANTS WAR. 39

tribute should be rendered, on the guarantee of their ancient rights. Jbut all castles ancLmonas-teries should be destroyed together with their charters and their jurisdictions.

As soon as the news of the agitation reached the Swabian League, unsuccessful attempts at pacification were made. The Swabian League, it must be premised, was a federation of princes, barons and towns, whose function was keeping up an armed force for the main purpose of seeing that imperial decrees were carried out, and for preserving public tranquillity generally. It was really the only effective instrument of imperial power that existed. As we shall presently see, it was this Swabian League that chiefly contributed to crushing the peasant revolt throughout southern Germany. Mean-while the forces of Hans Miiller were growing, unTir5y""the middle of October well-nigh 5000 men were ranged under the black, red and gold banner. At the same time, the troops at the disposal of the nobility within the revolting area were altogether inadequate to cope with the situation. In the districts of the Black Forest and elsewhere, the Italian War of Charles V. had drained off the best and most numerous of the fighting men.

THE PEASANTS WAR.

After marching through the neighbouring districts with his peasant army, whose weapons consisted largely of pitchforks, scythes and axes, proclaiming the principles and the objects of the revolt, Hans Muller withdrew into a safe retreat in the neighbourhood of the village of Rietheim on learning that a small force of about a thousand men had been got together against him. The winter was now fast approaching, and it did not appear to the aristocratic party desirable for the time being to pursue matters any further in the direction of open hostilities. Accordingly Hans von Fried-ingen, the Chancellor of the Bishop of Constanz, with three other gentlemen, proceeded to the -camp of the peasants to attempt a negotiation. They succeeded in persuading the insurgents to disperse on the understanding that the lords specially inculpated should agree to consider proposals from their tenants, and that, failing an agreement on this basis, the matters in dispute should be referred to an independent tribunal, the district court of Stockach being suggested. A basis of agreement drawn up between the Count of Lupfen and his tenants -+* contains some curious provisions ; while fishing

«—*.

was prohibited, a pregnant woman having a strong desire for a fish was to be supplied with one by the bailiff. Bears and wolves were declared free game, but the heads were to be reserved for the lord, and in the case of bears one of the paws as well. Meanwhile, the towns of northern Switzerland, in whose territories an agitation was also proceeding, began to get alarmed and to warn the Black Forest bands off their territories. Switzerland herself was at this time in the throes of the Reformation, and in the neighbouring lands of the St. Gallen Monastery a vehement agitation was going on. No attempt, however, was made by the German peasants to pass over into Swiss territory, a\f though it seems to have been more than once threatened. Zurich, Schaffhausen, and other Swiss cantons, indeed, in the earlier phases of the Peasants War, endeavoured to effect a mediation between the peasants and their lords. They were partly afraid of the agitation taking dangerous form with their own peasants and partly regarded the movement as belonging to the religious reformation, which had now taken root in northern Switzerland.

The following articles were agreed upon as

the basis of negotiation by the united peasants of the Black Forest and the neighbouring- lands of Southern Swabia, which were also now involved in the movement:—

1. The obligation to hunt or fish for the lord was to be abolished, and all game, likewise fishing, was to be declared free.

2. They should no longer be compelled to hang bells on their dogs* necks.

3. They should be free to carry weapons.

4. They should not be liable to punishment from huntsmen and forest rangers.

5. They should no longer carry dung for their lord.

6. They should have neither to mow, reap, hew wood, nor carry trusses of hay nor firewood for the uses of the castle.

7. They were to be free of the heavy market tolls and handicraft taxes.

8. No one should be cast into the lord's dungeon or otherwise imprisoned who could give guarantees for his appearance at the judicial bar.

9. They should no longer pay any tax, due, or charge whatsoever the right to which had not been judicially established.

10. No tithe of growing corn should be exacted, nor any agricultural corvee.

11. Neither man nor woman should be any longer punished for marrying without the permission of his or her lord.

12. The goods of suicides should no longer revert to the lord.

13. The lord should no longer inherit where relations of the deceased were living.

14. All bailiff rights should be abolished.

15 He who had wine in his house should be at liberty to serve it to whomsoever he pleased.

16. If a lord or his bailiff arrested any one on account of a transgression which he was unable to prove with good witnesses, the accused should be set at liberty.

Such were the very moderate demands put forward "By the peasants of the Black Forest districts, of the Klettgau, of the Hegau, and of the other manors associated with them. But the object of the feudal lords, as appears from the documents * which have subsequently come to light, was not peace on the basis of a fair

1 C/. Archives of the Swabian League and the Weingarten Archives in the Schmidt collection, the substance of which given in Zimmermann.

THE PEASANTS WAR.

understanding, but simply to hoodwink their tenants with the pretence of negotiations, until such time as they should have got together sufficient men to crush the rising, and compel them to unconditional submission. The Archduke Ferdinand writes expressly as regards George Truchsess, Count of Waldburg, the '•7 L chief commander of the forces of the Swabian League at this time, that he should " amicably treat with the peasants till he had collected his military forces together ". But it was not easy to obtain fighting men at this time. The struggle between the Emperor and Francis I., which was being fought out in Italy, was reaching its most critical stage, and nobles and soldiers of fortune alike were being drafted off south. By the end of 1524 Germany was almost denuded of the usual supply of men-at-arms at the disposal of constituted authority, and there seemed no immediate prospect of their returning.

Meanwhile, the movement in the country

districts and the small towns was growing and

spreading on all sides. The leader of the Black

Forest peasants, Hans Mliller of Bulgenbach,

I in his red hat and mantle, was everywhere

i active. He succeeded in collecting together

OUTBREAK OF THE PEASANTS WAR.

/^another force of some 6000 men under his \ flag, most of whom, however, shortly after-j wards dispersed, leaving him with only a small / residue of their number and some free-lances. [ The latter attacked and destroyed the castle of the Count of Lupfen, where the outbreak in August had originated. Other bands formed also in neighbouring territories. Truchsess, the generalissimo of the Swabian League, was not inactive. With the comparatively small force he had collected, he kept the peasants under observation, alternately negotiating with and threatening them. But as winter was near, comparatively little was done on either side. The peasant bands sacked a few monasteries ; and the Austrian authorities at Ensisheim, between Colmar and Miihlhausen in Elsass — the official seat of the hereditary Hapsburg power in the west—succeeded in gathering a small force, with which they attacked a body of the insurgents, burning some homesteads and seizing cattle. The day originally fixed for the opening of the arbitration between the lords and their tenants was the day of St. John the Evangelist, the 2/th of December. When, however, the peasant delegates found that the court was

composed entirely of noblemen, they entered a protest, and the proceedings had to be adjourned until 6th January, 1525 ("Three Kings' Day"). But the matter continued to grow more serious

^for the nobility, many of whom withdrew from their castles to Radolfzell and to other towns whose loyalty and means of defence offered sufficient guarantees of personal security. As many as three hundred clergy, some of them

--disguised as Landsknechte, and most of them with the tonsure covered, fled to Ueberlingen, on the Lake of Constanz.

The 6th of January came, and with it the delegations, not only of the peasants, but also, as had been agreed upon, of various towns lying within the disaffected districts; but neither the lords nor the representative of the Bishop of Constanz appeared; consequently no court could be held, and matters remained in statu quo. Finally, on the 2Oth of January, what seems to have been a kind of informal meeting took place between Truchsess and some other representatives of the Austrian power on the one side and delegates from a section of the disaffected population on the other. Truchsess, by fair words and promises, succeeded in inducing

a portion of those present to capitulate, but with the rest, notably with the inhabitants of the district called the Hegau, neither his promises nor his threats availed to make them consent to lay down their arms and disperse. \ They insisted upon their sixteen Articles, of which they refused to abate a single one. But he ruling classes now saw some prospect of acquiring an army sufficient to quell the threatened insurrection. The archduke had negotiated a loan from the Welsers of Augs— burg, by means of which he was enabled to scour the country in the search for men-at-arms who might be willing to join the League's forces under Truchsess. This was now being done with partial success, and there seemed a prospect of the League being able to take the field against the insurgent populations, if necessary, within a few weeks. On the i5th of February, Truchsess sent the Hegau bands an insolent and impossible ultimatum, with the threat to pursue them without mercy on their failing to accept his conditions. In a few days the whole neighbouring country was up in arms. But the instructions from Innsbruck, from the archduke, who after all was timid

and did not know how to act, considerably impeded the operations of Truchsess.

An accidental circumstance at this time caused a diversion favourable to the threatening "Insurrection. Duke Ulrich of Wiirtemberg was a fugitive from his ancestral domains under the ban of the Empire. Compelled to leave Wiirtemberg in 1519, on the grounds of a family quarrel, which had been decided against him by the imperial authorities, he had in vain sought help from the Swiss Confederation to re-establish himself, and was now constrained to turn to the very peasants whom he had driven out of his territories on the suppression of the rising known as that of " the poor Conrad" in 1514 (cf. German Society, pp. 75-77). As he himself expressed it, he was determined to come to his rights, " if not by the aid of the spur, by that of the shoe," by which was meant, of course, that on the failure of the negotiations he was making with the knights and nobles of various districts, extending even to Bohemia, he was prepared to enter into a league with the rebellious peasants. In fact, he now adopted the affectation of signing himself " Utz Bur " (" Utz the Peasant ")—Utz

being the short for Ulrich—instead of " Ulrich, Duke ". He had now established himself in his stronghold of Hohentwiel in Wurtemberg, on the frontier of Switzerland. Negotiations with the disaffected had certainly been carried on over a wide extent of territory ; and the imperial chancellor was emphatic in accusing Ulrich of fomenting the disorders.

Wurtemberg, whose inhabitants, for the most part, detested the house of Austria, and, in spite of exactions and oppression, retained a certain feudal-patriotic affection for their hereditary overlord, was favourably disposed to his return. The opportunity seemed now to have arrived for a successful invasion of his patrimonial territory. His negotiations with the peasant bands were not wholly successful, since he was largely mistrusted by them. However, an arrangement was come to with Hans Miiller of Bulgenbach, who arrived with a body of Black Forest and Hegau peasants to his assistance. In addition, he had engaged a large * number of mercenaries from the northern Swiss cantons and elsewhere, so that by the end of February he was enabled to start on his campaign with an army of some 6000 foot and 200

4

horse, besides a few pieces of artillery. But the Swabian League was beforehand with Duke Ulrich. At the instance of its commander George Truchsess, Count von Helfen-stein seized Stuttgart, leaving a garrison within the walls, while the duke was slowly advancing. Truchsess rightly saw that, as capital of the duchy, Stuttgart was the key of the situation. The fact was that Ulrich had allowed his men to carouse too long on the way at the little town of Sindelfingen. Had he proceeded on to Stuttgart at once without stopping, he would probably have succeeded in entering his capital before Helfenstein. As it was, all he could do was to lay siege to the town, To make matters worse for him, the news of the issue of the battle of Pavia, which was fought on the 24th of February, arrived. The signal victory obtained by the imperial forces decided the struggle between Charles V. and Francis I., which had until then been hanging in the balance. All whose interests, from whatever cause, were contrary to that of the emperor, Ulrich amongst the number, had naturally placed their hopes on the French king. These were now, of course, shattered. What was of

OUTBREAK OF THE PEASANTS WAR.

more immediate importance was that the Archduke Ferdinand, as representing the victorious house of Austria and imperial power, had just seized the opportunity of insisting that the Swiss cantons should immediately order the return of their men, who were serving with the duke, on pain of outlawry and confiscation of goods. The cantons at this juncture did not dare to refuse the demand, and accordingly the order was issued ; the Swiss free-lances, whose pay was in arrears, on its announcement, accompanied, it is said, by Austrian gold, promptly deserted and hurried back to their fatherland.

Ulrich with his remaining forces was unable to continue the siege ; indeed, he was glad enough in his turn to hurry back to his stronghold—his Hohentwiel—as quickly as possible.^ The Wiirtemberg peasants had not risen to his aid with the enthusiasm he had anticipated. Little as they might care for the Austrian regency in Wiirtemberg, the memory of " the poor Conrad," and of their friends and relations who had been driven from house and home on the suppression of that movement eleven years before, was too recent for them to be especially

eager to sacrifice themselves to reinstate the man primarily responsible for their troubles. Thus ended this attempt of Duke Ulrich to recover his territory by the aid of peasants and mercenaries. The whole episode from first to last occupied little more than three weeks, but during this time it served to divert the attention of the Swabian League.

The Swabian peasants, as already mentioned, had begun to stir in the autumn of 1524, at about the same time as those of the Black Forest and the Lake of Constanz districts. In Swabia, the first overt signs of disaffection showed themselves in the lands of the abbey of Kempten^ and the immediate occasion of ' them appears to have been the imprisonment and harsh treatment by the abbot of an old man, a tenant of the abbey, on the ground of a disrespectful expression he had let fall concerning him during the haymaking. The abbot's despotic government of the manor had everywhere incensed the peasantry. The prince prelate, after having promised to consider the grievances in conjunction with other high personages on a given day, appeared indeed, and listened to the complaints laid before him, but

it was only to give a categorical refusal to make any concession whatever. The result of his action was that those immediately concerned decided to call an assembly representing all the subjects of the extensive abbey territory, to lay the matter before them, and to consider what further course should betaken. On the 2ist of January, a numerous assembly met together — accordingly at a given place on the bank of the little stream called the Luibas, to take counsel as to further action. The little town of Kempten was in a ferment, part of the burghers sympathising with the peasants and part with K the abbey.

The meeting, at which in addition to representatives of the whole countryside, some members of the town council (RatK] attended, kept its proceedings within the bounds of the strictest moderation, repudiating any hostile intentions with regard to the foundation, and finally decided to lay the dispute before a competent tribunal, all present pledging themselves and their respective villages to contribute to the cost of carrying it through. Three days later, the representatives met in Kempten itself, and chose a committee of their number

to take steps in the matter. This committee immediately drew up a formal protest against the wrongs suffered from the abbot, which was forwarded to the council of the Swabian League ajid to the emperor. In this document was expressed the readiness of the villeins of the abbey to furnish all dues and all service to which the prince-prelate could establish his right by charter. On the other hand, it energetically protested against new and unjustifiable exactions and arbitrary oppressions, and prayed that the case might be laid before the supreme u court of the district. The league, meanwhile, undertook to prevent their lord, the abbot, from taking any hostile steps against them pending the decision. The latter, however, immediately answered this protest by a letter addressed to the Swabian League, in which he accused his subjects of having entered into a conspiracy against the foundation and demanded armed intervention in his favour. The Councillors of the League, who were sitting in permanence at the imperial town of Ulm, temporised, promising to consider the grievances of the peasantry, and, should it prove impossible to effect an informal compromise, to see that the

OUTBREAK OF THE PEASANTS

matter was legally decided by a competent authority.

By this time, the whole country ngrth and/ - "J south of Ulm was in a state of nascent insurrection! From Kempten northwards to the latter city, ecclesiastical foundations pressed v hard on one another. Their tenants were everywhere desperately angry. In the district known from its swampy character as the Ried, a blacksmith named Schmidt constituted himself leader of the rising. In all the village inns thereabouts bodies of peasants daily came together to take counsel. On the Qth of February, a camp of some 2000 peasants was formed at a place called Leipheim. Another contingent was started which soon rose to nearly 13,000 men. Armed bodies of peasants were now forming themselves into camps throughout Southern Germany. The insurgents were divided into three main bodies — those of the Ried, of the Lake of Constanz/ districts, and of the Black Forest. In the course/ of the month, these divisions amalgamated into the so-called " Christian brotherhood ?> . The leaders of the movement assembled at the small town of Memmingen, where the " Peasants

^"Parliament" was held at the beginning of x- March, where in all probability the celebrated "Twelve Articles" were drawn up, and where they were certainly adopted. Here also the) /most studied moderation was observed in the Vdemands made and in the proceedings generally./ The decisions arrived at at this conference of Memmingen were sworn to by all the camps throughout the country. The restoration of ancient privileges, where these had been abrogated, was demanded, such as the ancient right to carry arms, together with that of free assembly.

On the same day on which the order of federation was adopted, the representatives at Memmingen addressed a formal letter to the Swabian League explaining that the action taken was in accordance with ^the^ Gospel and with Divine. Tiistir.e. The Christian Brotherhood

^wasto form the bond of organisation for the

—whole country. A president and four councillors

were tcTBe chosen from every camp or organised

body ot peasants. These should have plenary

powers to enteF'into agreements with other

_similar camps or bodies, as well as in certain

cases to negotiate with constituted authorities.

No one was to enter into an agreement with his feudal lord without the consent of the whole" countryside, and even where such consent " was granted the tenants in question should nevertheless continue to belong to the Christian JBrotherhood and to be subject to its decisions. -Any who from any cause had to leave their native place should first swear before the headman of the district to do nothing to the hurt of the Christian Brotherhood, but to assist it by word and deed wherever necessary. The existing judicial functions should continue~~Tn exercise as before. U nbecoming pastimes, blasphemy and drunkenness shouTcT be for-~ bidden, and all such offences duly punished. Lastly, no on^shouldj from any cause whatever, undertake any action against his lord, or

commit any trespass on his lands or goods, Eit~a further decision had been taken. There

* i£

therefore, it will be seen, a definite

organisation of the peasantry throughout whole of the South German territories^ai prepared for action at any moment.

The Black Forest, the Duchy of Wtirtemberg, and Eastern or Upper Swabia were already organised. In the course of this month of

March, the Episcopal territories of Bamberg, of Wlirtzburg, the Franconian districts generally, Bavaria, Tyrol, and the Arch-episcopal territories of Salzburg, rose—from Thuringia in the north to the Alpine lands in the south, from Elsass and Lorraine in the west to the Austrian hereditary dominions in the east, the whole of Central Europe was astir. The " common man" was everywhere in evidence. By the beginning of April, as though it had been concerted, the Peasants War had broken out throughout Germany.

Before giving a sketch of the chief incidents connected with the rising, we will cast a glance at the formulated demands represented in the " Twelve Articles," at the different currents embodied in the movement, and at the men who were its intellectual heads—Weigand, Hipler, Karlstadt, Gaismayr, Hubmayer, reserving Miinzer and Pfeiffer for a subsequent chapter.

CHAPTER III.

DEMANDS, IDEALS AND APOSTLES OF THE MOVEMENT.

ASTROLOGY and mystical prophesvings appeared in the times shortly preceding the great social upheaval, foretelling strange things which were to happen in the years 1524 and 1525.

One of the principal of these indicated a Noachic delude for the summer of 1524. This vaticination was based on an alleged combination of sixteen conjunctures in the sign of Aquarius. So seriously was the prophesy believed in that extensive preparations were made, in view of the approaching catastrophe. Many, however, explained the presage as indicating a social inundation—the levelling of social distinctions by the " common man ". Portents were alleged to have appeared ; strange monsters to have been born. Illustrated broadsheets and pamphlets were in circulation, on the title pages of which might be seen portrayed pope, emperor, cardinals and prince-prelates trembling before

(59)

THE PEASANTS WAR.

the approach of a band of peasants armed with the implements of husbandry and led on by the planet Saturn. All these things testified to the excited state of the public mind and the direction in which popular thought was turned. Meanwhile, the thinkers of the movement were preparing to give definite form to the vague aspirations of the multitude.

In the uprising known as the ''Peasants War," as already stated, there is more than one strain to be observed, though all turns on the central ideas of equality, economic reform and political reorganisation. First of all, Wefhave^'the immediate and practical side of the agrarian mnv^Tflpflf, on the lines of which the actual outbreak originated, and the special representatives of which were the peasants of South-E astern Germany. This side of the movement is, of course, most prominently present every-where, but in other parts of the country, notably

in J^ rancoma and 1 hunngia, it is accompanied ^byicleas of a more far-reaching kind as regards social reconstruction, albeit clothedin a mystical religious garb. Then again we have certain definite~schefnes of extensive political reform. r Behind these things lay the distinction

between town and country, a distinction recently become so important, fit need scarcely be said that most of those.wider aspirations that entered into the movement had their origin in the new life of the towns, and, as regards their expres-jion, in the more educateci elements to be founc within their walls./ We will first cast a glance at the mainstay of the whole movement, the celebrated " /Twelve Articles^

In the last chapta|^^^a|ave already seen a specimen of the immediate demands put forward B^rthe peasants of the Black Forest. la there is no mention of religion. They aptly indicate the position of the cultivator of tfre soil, robbed often of his common pasture t of the right of hunting and fishing on his own. account ; •compelled to perform all sorts_of services for his lord at any time, were it haymaking, harvest, or vintage, even though it meant to him the loss

--- • -- -~^~ 3 __ __ ,IjJ,ii.Ttk«»a«iiiimin» • - ----- ^mffSSfBSS^^m

of his__crop ; made to furnish dues of every description payable in kind_a.nd_jiow_ pjjteri in money ; prohibited from

or driving away animals of the chase, even thoughjhey mighl be doing irreparable jamage to agricultural produce ; compelled to £ermit theJlorcTs hunting dogs to devour his poultry

,< • :

62 THE PEASANTS WAR.

at pleasure ; obliged to offer his live stock first "of all to the'jcastle before~seuTng it elsewHeTgT Torced to furnish the castle with firewood and timber and (a significant item) wood for the stake on the~bccasion of executions. And what was the penalty for the^neglect ot these things? /Imprisonment in the lord's dungeon; the piercing out of eyes ; or, in some cases, death Itself. At first the remedying of such grievances was demanded in a different form on different manors, sometimes in a greater, sometimes in a lesser number of " Articles ". Thus, in one case we find sixteen, in another^ thiffy^four, in another sixty-two " points'" in these several ^grariarTcEarters. In the month of March, 1525, however, tEey"we7e all condensed mto tweTve maia__daims in a document entitled " The fundamental and just chief articles of *all the peasantry and villeins of spiritual and temporal lordships by which they deern^ themselves ^ppre^t". This document was^accepted practically thr^tgEout Germany as the basis of the revolution. Owing to its importance, we give this charter of the German peasantry in fulL It reads as follows :—

INTRODUCTION.

" To the Christian reader, peace and the (V-grace of God through Christ! There are many anti-Christians who.now seek occasion to despise ^the Xjospel on account of the assembled peasantry, in that they say : these be the fruits of the new Gospel : to obey none ; to resist in all places ; to band together with great power of arms to the end to reform, to root out, ay and maybe to slay spiritual and temporal authority. All such godless and wicked judgments are answered in the articles here written down as well that they remove this shame from the Word of God as also that they may excuse in a Christian manner this disobedience, yea, this rebellion of all peasants.

" For the first time, the Gospel is not a cause of rebellion or uproar, since it is the word of Christ, the promised Messiah, whose word and life teaches naught save love, peace, patience and unity (Rom. xi.). Therefore, that all who believe in this Christ may be loving, peaceful, patient and united, such is the ground of all Articles of the peasants, and as may be clearly seen they are designed to the intent that men should have the Gospel and should live

(*>4 THE PEASANTS WAR.

according thereto. How shall the anti-Christians

then call the Gospel a cause of rebellion and of

disobedience ? But that certain anti-Christians

/and enemies of the Gospel should rise up\

I against such requirements, of this is not the

\Gospel the cause, but the devil, the most J

hurtful enemy of the Gospel, who exciteth such

by unbelief, in his own, that the Word of God

which teacheth love, peace and unity may be

trodden down and taken away.

" For the rest, it followeth clearly and manifestly that the peasants who in their Articles require such Gospel as doctrine and as precept may not be Called disobedient and rebellious. But should God^hear those peasants who anxiously call upon Him that they may live according to His word ; who shall gainsay the will of God? (Rom. xi.). Who shall impeach His judgment? (Isa. xl.). Yea, who shall resist His Majesty? (Rom. viii.). Hath he heard the children of Israel and delivered them out of the hand of Pharoah, and shall He not to-day also save His own? Yea, He shall save them, and that speedily (Exod. iii. 14; Luke xviii. 8). Therefore, Christian reader, read hereunder with care and thereafter judge.

FIRST ARTICLE.

" For the first, it is our humble prayer and desire, also the will and opinion of us all that henceforth the power to choose and elect a pastor shall lie with the whole community (i Tim. iii.), 1 that it shall also have the power to displace such an one, if he behaveth unseemly. The pastor that is chosen shall preach the Gospel plainly and manifestly, without any addition of man or the doctrine or ordinance of men (Acts xiv.). For that the true Faith is preached to us giveth us a cause to pray God for His grace that He implant within us the same living Faith and confirm us therein (Deut. xviii. ; Exod. xxxi.). For if His grace be not implanted within us we remain flesh and blood which profiteth not (Deut. x.; John vi.). How plainly is it written in the Scripture that we can alone through the true Faith come to God and that alone through His mercy shall we be saved (Gal. i.). Therefore is such an ensample

1 Gemeinde in the original. This means, of course, the "rural community " of the village or district. It might be translated "commune," or in some cases even loosely as "parish," though the old English " hundred" probably answers most nearly to it.

and pastor of need to us and in suchwise founded on the Scripture.

SECOND ARTICLE.

" Furthermore, notwithstanding that the just tithe was imposed in the Old Testament, and in the New was fulfilled, yet are we nothing loth to furnish the just tithe of corn, but only such as is meet, accordingly shall we give it to God and His servants (Heb. ; also Ps. cix.). If it be the due of a pastor who clearly pro-claimeth the Word of God, then it is our will that our church-overseers, such as are appointed by the community, shall collect and receive this tithe, and thereof shall give to the pastor who shall be chosen from a whole community suitable sufficient subsistence for him and his, as the - whole community may deem just; and what remaineth over shall be furnished to the poor and the needy of the same village, according to the circumstance of the case and the judgment of the community (Deut. xxv. ; i Tim. v. ; Matt, x.; Cor. ix.). What further remaineth over shall be reserved for the event that the land being pressed, it should needs make war,

and so that no general tax should be laid upon the poor, it shall be furnished from this surplusage. Should it be found that there were one or more villages that had sold the tithe itself because of need, he who can show respecting the same that he hath it in the form of a whole village shall not want for it but we will, as it beseemeth us, make an agreement with him, as the matter requireth (Luke vi. ; Matt, v.) to the end that we may absolve the same in due manner and time. But to him who hath bought such from no village, and whose forefathers have usurped it for themselves, we will not, and we ought not to give him anything, and we owe no man further save as aforesaid that we maintain our elected pastors, that we absolve our just debts, or relieve the needy, as is ordained by the Holy Scripture. The small tithe will we not give, be it^ either to spiritual^ or to temporal lord; for the God the Lord hath created the beast freely for the use of man (Gen. i.). For we esteem this tithe for an unseemly tithe of man's devising. Therefore will we no longer give it.

THIRD ARTICLE.

" Thirdly, the custom hath hitherto been that we have been held for villeins; which is to be deplored, since Christ hath purchased and redeemed us all with His precious blood (Isa. liii. ; i Peter i. ; i Cor. vii. ; Rom. xiii.), the poor hind as well as the highest, none excepted. Therefore do we find in the Scripture that we are_Iree_; and we will be free (Eccles. vi. ; i Peter ii.). Not that we would be wholly free as having no authority over us, for this God doth not teach us. We shall live in obedience and not in the freedom of our fleshly pride (Deut. vi. ; St. Matt, v.) ; shall love God as our Lord; shall esteem our neighbours as brothers ; and do to them as we would have them do to us, as God hath commanded at the Last Supper (Luke iv. 6 ; Matt. v. ; John xiii.). Therefore shall we live according to His ordinance. This ordinance in no wise sheweth us that we should not obey authority. Not alone should we humble ourselves before authority, but before every man (Rom. xiii.) as we also are gladly obedient in all just and Christian matters to such authority as is elected

and set over us, so it be by God set over us (Acts v.). We are also in no doubt but that ye will as true and just Christians relieve us from villeinage, or will show us, out of the Gospel, that we are villeins.

FOURTH ARTICLE.

" Fourthly, was it hithertoji .custom that no . poor man hath the right to capture ground game, fowls or fish in flowing water, which to us seemeth unbecoming and unbrotherly, churlish and not according to the Word of God. Moreover, in some places the authority letteth the game grow up to our despite and to our mighty undoing, since we must suffer that our own which God hath caused to grow for the use of man should be unavailingly devoured by beasts without reason, and that we should hold our peace concerning this, which is against God and our neighbours. For when God the Lord created man, He gave him power over all creatures, over the fowl in the air, and over the fish in the water (Gen. i. ; Acts xix. ; i Tim. iv. ; Cor. x. ; Coloss. xi.). Therefore f it is our desire when one possess a water that he may prove it with sufficient writing as

unwittingly purchased. We do not desire to take such by force, but we must needs have a Christian understanding in the matter, because of brotherly love. But he who cannot bring sufficient proof thereof shall give it back to the community as beseemeth.

FIFTH ARTICLE.

A

AT V« Fifthly, we are troubled concerning the woodsj for_ou£_lords have_taken^ untCL themselves all the woods, and if the poor_maji

_ requireth aught he must buy it with double money. Our opimorTis as touching the woocTsT be tKey possessed by spiritual or temporal lords, whichsoever they be that have them and that have not purchased them, they shall again to the whole community, and that each one from out the community shall be free as is fitting to take therefrom into his house so much as he may need. Even for carpentering, if he require it, shall he take wood for nothing ; yet with the knowledge of them who are chosen by the community to this end, whereby the destruction of the wood may be hindered ; but where there is no wood but such as hath been honestly purchased, a

brotherly and Christian agreement with the buyers shall be come to. But when one hath first of all taken to himself the land and hath afterwards sold it, then shall an agreement be entered into with the buyers according to the circumstance of the matter and with regard to brotherly love and Holy Writ.

SIXTH ARTICLE.

" Sixthly, our grievous complaint is as concerning the services which are heaped up from day to day and daily increased. We desire that these should be earnestly considered, and that we be not so heavily burdened withal; but that we should be mercifully dealt with herein ; that we may serve as our fathers have served and only according to the Word of God (Rom. x.).

SEVENTH ARTICLE.

" Seventhly, will we henceforth no longer be opprest by a lordship, but in such wise as a lordship hath granted the land, so shall it be held according to the agreement between the lord and the peasant. The lord shall no longer compel him and press him, nor require of him

new services or aught else for naught (Luke iii. ; Thess. vi.). Thus shall the peasant enjoy and use such land in peace, and undisturbed. But when the lord hath need of the peasant's services, the peasant shall be willing and obedient to him before others ; but it shall be at the hour and the time when it shall not be to the hurt of the peasant, who shall do his lord service for a befitting price.

EIGHTH ARTICLE.

" Eighthly, there are many among us who are opprest in that they hold lands and in that these lands will not bear the price on them, so that the peasants must sacrifice that which belongeth to them, to their undoing. We desire that the lordship will let such lands be seen by honourable men, and will fix a price as may be just in such wise that the peasant may not have his labour in vain, for every labourer is worthy of his hire (Matt. x.).

NINTH ARTICLE.

" Ninthly, do we suffer greatly concerning misdemeanours in that new punishments are laid upon us. They punish us not according to

the circumstance of the matter, but sometimes from great envy, from the unrighteous favouring of others. We would be punished according to ancient written law, and according to the thing transgressed, ancTnot according to respect of persons (Isa. x. ; Eph. vi. ; Luke iii. ; Jer. xvi.).

TENTH ARTICLE.

" Tenthly, we suffer in that some have taken to themselves meadows and arable land, which belong to a community. We will take the same once more into the hands of our communities wheresoever it hath not been honestly purchased. But hath it been purchased in an unjust manner, then shall the case be agreed upon in peace and brotherly love according to the circumstance of the matter.

ELEVENTH ARTICLE.

" Eleventhly, would we have the custom called the death-due utterly abolished, and will never suffer or ^permit that widows and orphans shall be shamefacedly robbed of their own, contrary to God and honour, as happeneth in many places and in divers manners. They have cut us

\

74 THE PEASANTS WAR.

short of what we possessed and should protect, and they have taken all. God will no longer suffer this, but it must be wholly ended. No man shall, henceforth, be compelled to give aught, be it little or much, as death-due (Deut. xiii. ; Matt. viii. ; Isa. x. 23).

TWELFTH ARTICLE.

" Twelfthly, it is our conclusion and final opinion, if one or more of the Articles here set up be not according to the Word of God, we will, where the same articles are proved as against the Word of God/withdraw therefrom, so soon as this is declared to us by reason and Scripture; yea, even though certain Articles ! were now granted to us, and it should hereafter /be found that they were unjust, they shall be deemed from that hour null and void and of J none effect. The same shall happen if there should be with truth found in the Scripture yet more Articles which were against God and a stumbling-block to our neighbour, even though we should have determined to preserve such for ourselves, and we practice and use ourselves in all Christian doctrine, to which end we pray God the Lord who can vouchsafe us the same

and none other. The peace of Christ be with us all."

Such are the celebrated "Twelve Articles". Such was the form in which they made the round of the countryside throughout Germany. They are moderate enough in all conscience, it must be admitted. It will be noticed that they embody the main demands of the Black — Forest peasants, already quoted. The same" may be said of other formulations of peasant reoj^m^ments. As I have said, they are supposed to have been drawn up, with all the Biblical phraseology and references as here given, at the small imperial town of Memmingen, in March, 1525, and it is further supposed, though this is somewhat uncertain, that they are at least mainly from the pen of the Swiss pastor, Schap_-jjej^r^who is known to have been present at the conference at Memmingen, and who was one of the most prominent advocates of the peasant cause in south Germany. But although this was the usual form and content of the " Twelve Articles," and a form which seems to have been everywhere the most popular^it may be mentioned that it was supplemented, perhaps in one or two cases superseded,

J

76 THE PEASANTS WAR.

certain districts by other versions. As among the most important of these variations we may note the twelve demands formulated__by_the peasants of Elsass-Lothringen. They have the merkof being short and to the point,_a.nd di-vested of all sermonising, and are as follows :—

1. Gospel shall be preached according to the true faith.

2. No tithes shall be given—neither great nor small.

3. There shall be no longer interest and no longer dues, more than one gulden in twenty [five per cent.].

4. All waters shall be free.

5. All woods and forests shall be free.

6. All game shall be free.

7. None shall any longer be in a state of villeinage.

8. None shall obey any longer any prince or lord, but such as pleaseth him, and that shall be the emperor.

9., Justice and right shall be as of old time.

10. Should there be one having authority who displeaseth us, we would have the power to set up in his place another as it pleaseth us.

12. The common lands which the lords have taken to themselves shall again become common lands.

fThe idea of there being no lord but emperor, at the time very popular amongst I constitutional reformers, here finds direct expression. I The articles, it will be noticed, are also more drastic than those given in the classical version!^

The movement was frequently inaugurated in a village by the reading of the " Twelve Articles " in the ale-house or wine-room, or it might be in the open air. They were everywhere received with acclamation, and the able-bodied among the villagers usually formed themselves straightway into a fighting contingent of the " Evangelical Brotherhood".

The " Twelve Articles" proper, as will be

seen, were exclusively ao;rarjaru in rfrftrarter ;

they dealt with the grievances of the peasant againstjiis lord, lay or '^ecclesiastic, but had nothing to say on the social problems ancT~? the ideas of political reconstruction agitating the mind of the landless proletarian or the impoverished handicraftsman within the wall£ of the towjis, The many small, and, according

THE PEASANTS WAR.

to our notions, even diminutive, townships spread over central and southern Germany had, it is true, many points of contact with the agrarian revolution, but they none the less had their own special point of view, which was also in the main that of the larger towns. As we already know, every town had its Ehrbarkeit or patriciate, which often monopolised the seats of^ the council (Ratti} and all the higher municipal offices. Many towns, even among thlT small ones above referred to, had a dls-_ contented_seGtiori of poor guTJdsmen, and most^had a proportionately larger or smaller contingent of precariously employed proletarians, who had either no municipal status at all, or who had at best to content themselves with that form of bare citizenship which conferred on them and theirs no more than the mere right ^residence. The fact of living withnTforTtried town walls, however small the area they enclosed, seemed itself to have the effect of creating a distinction between the townsman and the dweller in the open country, who in time of war had at best to secure his family and possessions in the fortified churchyard of his village. Hence, in spite of the strong bond of

DEMANDS, IDEALS AND APOSTLES.

sympathy and common interest between the poor townsman and the peasant—a sympathy which as soon as the agrarian movement had begun to make headway showed solid fruits-it is clear that a programme that might suffice

for the latter would not for the former. No

•-^_— —— — ^______

sooner, therefc

a serious part in the revolutionary movement Vg^ thatthe^ peasantry had inaugurated, than we^ find entering into it the new elements of some cases, of a

utopiancharacter. elements which we fail to observe in the great peasant charter, the

in the other subsidiary and local agrarian

J

Among the projects of political revolution to which the year 1525 gave birth, the foremost place is occupied by the " Evangelical Divine Reformation" of the empire, sketched out by two men, both of them townsmen of position and education, by name ^{finrH Jjjpler^and Friedrirh Weigand^. These men embodied in their_scjienie, in definite form, the average aspirations of the revolutionary classes of the towns. As we have seen, the idea of centrali-

sation and of an equality based on a bureaucratic constitution was present in the spurious reformation of Friedrich III., as in all the new political tendencies of the time. As was only to be expected, it entered into the general revolutionary scheme drawn up by the two men above named and designed to be laid before the projected congress of peasant and town delegates to be held at Heilbronn. Thejr both of them had held office at feudal courts. Wendel Hipler had been chancellor and secretary to The Count_ of Hohenlohe.and chief clerk to the Palatinate. Friedrich_Weigand had been a pro-minent court functionary of the Archbishopjjf ~Mainz~ They both threw themselves energetically into the new movement. Their marked intellectual sjjrjejiority^and practical knowledge of tactics is shown by their endeavours to effect a union on the basis of a definite plan of action between the various peasant encampments, as also in their conceptions of the proper position to take up towards their princely and ecclesiastical adversaries. The aim of Hipler and Weigand, as of most contemporary Apolitical reformers, was to strengthen the power o£_the emperor at the expense of thefeudal estates.

Weigand, whilst supporting the general view of compelling princes and lords to humble themselves to becoming simple members of the Evangelical League, conceived the idea of specially enlisting the lower nobility and the towns against the princes. It is probable enough that this project was debated in the standing committee of the movement, which sat during the greater part of its course at the imperial town of Heilbrdnn, and of which Hipler and Weigand were members, but respecting the proceedings of which we have little information. Weigand appears also to have broached the idea of an agreement being arrived at by a remodelled Reichsregiment* manned by_£e_rjr^s^nialLv£S^Qf the lower nobilityy-oT the't^n^ancLQf the peasantry—

The actual scheme of reconstruction drawn up by these two men was based upon the "J^formation of Kaisgr JFriedrich III." The language in which it is couched is studiously moderate, but the Biblical and pietistic phrase-" ology of the " Twelve Articles " is almost entirely wanting. Whilst it embraces the agrarian demands of the peasants, these are merely incorporated as arLglemgnt in the general

.

scheme of reform. The stress is laid on the

litical side of things — on the notions T equality before the law, of reformed administration, and of national or imperial unity. The secularisation of the empire is insisted on ; the ecclesiastical property is to be confiscated to the benefit of all needy men and of the common good. Priests or pastors 1 are to be chosen by the community. They are to receive a seemly stipend, but are to be excluded from all political or juridical functions. Princes and lords are to be reformed in the sense that the poor man should be no longer oppressed by them. At the same time, a distinction between -the estates was not to be entirely abolished. In this case, as in that of the " Twelve Articles," the moderation or opportunism of the official document is noteworthy when contrasted with the more sweeping and radical measures which were demanded in definite form by certain of the men and sections of the revolutionary party, and which, especially in northern and central Germany, seemed at times to animate the whole movement. In the Wendel Hipler project, indeed, a fourfold social division of the empire is proposed, consisting of/(i j) princes,

DEMANDS, IDEALS AND APOSTLES.

counts and barojis ;V. (2j\knights and squires ; ^L

^ntownships ;((^^ruraTcommunities. Equal \J '

justice is to be meted out to all. But princes

and barons, while retaining their nominal rank, shall cease to possess independent power and shall hold their positions merely as functionaries and servants of the emperor, the mediaeval representative of German unity. As a necessary consequence, all rights of treaty, of —

jurisdiction, of coinage, or of levying tolls, appertaining to the separate estates, as such, shall cease to exist. An imperial coinage is to be established, with separate mints in different parts of the empire, bearing, in all cases, on the obverse the imperial eagle, and only on the reverse the armorial bearings of the prince or town within whose territory the particular mint happens to be situated. Customs dues, passage dues, direct and indirect taxes of every description are to cease. The emperor alone shall every ten years have the right of taxation. Justice is to be thoroughly reformed throughout the empire. Below the supreme court of the empire, the Kammergericht, are to be four subordinate courts; below these, four territorial courts ; below these again four so-called " free

V "^V^ .

V.— courts, the administrative basis of the whole being the courts or open tribunals of the township and of the village-community. Whilst the higher judicial functions are allowed to be retained by the nobility and their assessors, every tribunal, from the highest to the lowest, is to be manned by sixteen persons, judges and jurors. Doctors of the Roman law are to be rigidly excluded from judiciaTTunctions and restricted to lecturing on their science at the universities. A thorough reform, in a democratic sense, of township and communal government is postulated. All mortgages on land are to be redeemable on payment down, of a sum amounting to twenty years' interest. Such are the leading features of the reform

ffi project drawn up by Wendel Hipler and Fried-rich Weigand for the consideration of the delegates from the townships and villages which should have come together in the month of June at Heilbronn. Thecongress in question was destined never to take place. The whole movement was, at the time it should have been held, in a state of imminent collapse, even in those districts where it had not already been crushed.

DEMANDS, IDEALS AND APOSTLES.

More agrarian and far more drastic in its revolutionary character was the planof reform put forward by Michael Gaismayr,_the intellectual leader of the revolt in Tyrol, in the Archbishopric of Salzburg, and in the Austrian hereditary territories generally. Michael Gaismayr, who was the son of a squire of Sterzing, had been secretary to the Bishop of Brixen. As soon as matters began to stir in the regions of the Eastern Alps, Gaismayr threw himself into the movement and ultimately became its chief. But it is noteworthy that, radical as were the demands he put forward, neither c-o iAX>Ki his activity nor his scheme of reform extended far outside the Tyrol and the neighbouring territories. This being the case, it is only natural that his revolutionary plans should be mainly of an agrarian type. All castles and all**" town-walls and fortlEcations were to be levelled i f with the ground, and henceforth there wer£_lQJ^ be no more towns, but only villages, to the end that no man should think himself better than his neighbour. A strong central government 1 -^ was to administer public affairs. There was to be c>ne university at the seat of government,*^ which was to devote itself exclusively to Biblical

studies. The calling of the merchant was to be forbidden, so that none might besmirch themselves with the sin of usury. On the other hand, cattle-breeding, husbandry, vine-culture, the draining of marshes, and the reclaiming of

t^waste lands were to be encouraged ; nay, were

to constitute the exclusive occupations of the

(inhabitants of the countries concerned. All

> /this is to a large extent an outcome of the .general tendency of mediaeval communistic

/thought, with its Biblical colouring, and would-

l be resuscitation of primitive Christian conditions, t were believed to have been such. It is the true development of the tradition of the English Lollards, and still more directly of the Bohemian Taborites.

The clflssirft] expression, however, of the religious-Utopian side of the Peasants War, and, indeed, of the closing period of the Middle Ages generally, isjx3 be found in the doctrines gpd social theory of Thomas Miinzej^ which played so great a part in the Thuringian revolt, especially in the town of Miihlhausen, and which subsequently formed the theoretical basis of the anabaptist rising, as exemplified in the " Kingdom of God " in Minister. Since, how-

ever, we shall devote a special chapter to the\ Thuringian episode of the Peasants War, with/ particular reference to Thomas Miinzer and his career, it is unnecessary to deal at length with it here. It is sufficient to say that if in the political plan of constitution formulated by Hipler and Weigand we have more especially the revolution as it presented itself to the mind of the townsman—just as in the Twelve Articles we have its formulation from the moderate peasant point of view, and in the scheme of Gaismayr the more radical expression of peasant aspirations as voiced by a man of education and intellectual capacity—so in the doctrines of Miinzer we have both sides of the movement fused and presented in the guise of a religious Utopia, on the traditional lines of

mediaeval communism, but of a more thoroughgoing and systematic character, the elaboration of which, however, was reserved for Miinzer's anabaptist successors.

In the town-movement, as exemplified in the Hipler-Weigand scheme, the stress of which was political, the main ideas are on the lines of the then trend of historic evolution— i.e. L towards centralisation and bureaucratic administration,

equality before the law, etc. On the other hand, ^he distinctively peasant programme, as T^gsallp has_[)Qinted out, was in the main .^reactionary, harking back_as it did to the old__village community with its primitive communistic basis, an institution which was destined to pass away in the natural course of economic development. The old group-holding of land, with communal property generally, was necessarily doomed to be gradually superseded by those individualistic rights of property that form the essential condition of the modern capitalist world.

In addition to the men who may be considered as the intellectual chiefs of the social revolt, we must not ignore the influence of those — who were primarily religious reformers or sectaries, but who, notwithstanding, took sides with the social movement and formed a powerful stimulus throughout its course. The influence of the new religious doctrines, and of many of their preachers on the current of affairs is unmistakable to the most casual student of the period. As prominent types of this class of agitator, two names may be taken—that of Andreas Bodenstein, better known from his birthplace as Karlstadt, .and that of Balthasar

The first-named was born at Karlstadt, Franconia, about 1483, was educated in Rome and became a Professor of Theology at Wittenberg. Drawn into the vortex of the Lutheran movement at an early age, he soon developed into a partisan of the extreme sects, and of the social doctrines which almost invariably accompanied them. Karlstadt, who was somewhat older than Luther, was twice rector of his university, besides being canon and archdeacon of the celebrated Stifskirche at Wittenberg. He it was who in his official capacity conferred the degree of doctor upon Luther. Karlstadt enjoyed general esteem in the university. Though at first he was closely identified with Luther, the objects of the two men were probably different even at the outset. Luther was only concerned with the freeing of the soul ; the theological interest with him outweighed every other. Karlstadt, on the contrary, though primarily a theologian, was still more concerned for the bodily welfare of his fellow Christians and for the establishment of a system of righteousness in this world. Luther had always regarded the authorities as his mainstay ; Karlstadt appealed to the people.

]

9 o THE PEASANTS WAR.

In theology and ecclesiastical matters as in social views, Karlstadt was essentially revolutionary, while Luther was the mere reformer. Finally, the tendency of Luther was to become more conservative or opportunist with years, while, on the contrary, Karlstadt became more revolutionary. As Luther placed the Bible above Church tradition, Karlstadt^placed the

inner light of th^. souj^ above the Bible.

Indeed, in his utterances respecting the latter, he anticipated many of the points of modern criticism.

While Luther was in the Wartburg, the mystics of Zwickau, the friends of Thomas Miinzer came to Wittenberg. This was the turning-point with Karlstadt. Carried away by these enthusiasts, a new world seemed to open up before him. Theology lost its importance ; life and political action became all in all. He now rejected all human learning as worthless and injurious; in the dress of a peasant or handicraftsman he went now among the people. That man should throw off all learning, all human authority, and should return to natural conditions, became henceforth his central teaching. In fact, his was the Rousseauite doctrine

before its time. In fanatical iconoclasm he had scarcely an equal.

At length he was compelled to leave Wittenberg. He repaired to the farm of his father-in-law and worked as a labourer. The life of the husbandman and the handicraftsman he proclaimed as the only worthy one. He demanded that all ecclesiastical goods should be confiscated for the benefit of the poor. This new departure naturally offended Luther, and the inevitable rupture between the two men occurred on Luther's return to Wittenberg. / Eventually, Karlstadt betook himself first to Orlamunda and then to Rothenburg on the Tauber, just" as the revolutionary movement was beginning there, into which he energetically threw himself. He was subsequently compelled to conceal himself in the houses of friends in the town, escaping the hot pursuit of the reaction by letting himself down by a rope at night from the city wall.

born in the Bavarian

town of Friedberg, near Augsburg, in the last quarter of the fifteenth century, began life as a learned theologian, and after teaching at the University of Friedberg became pro-

rector of the University of Ingolstadt. He was then made chief preacher of the cathedral at Regensburg, where he initiated an ar^i-Jewish, campaign, which resulted in the invasion of the Jewish quarter of the town and the total demolition of the synagogue. On the site of the latter a chapel was built in honour of the "fair Mary," the image contained in which had the reputation of effecting miraculous cures. Popular excitement caused by this led to a scandal (see German Society, pp. 268-271). This was in the year 1516. Shortly after the outbreak of the Reformation, being attracted by the latter, he left his post at Regensburg and became preacher in the little town of \Valdshtrt-on the borders of the Black Forest. About the same time, he made the acquaintance of Zwingli and the Swiss reformers, and soon assumed the character of an energetic apostle of the new doctrines. The citizens of Wald-shut, together with the clergy of the town and surrounding districts, acclaimed him with enthusiasm. He became the hero and prophet of Waldshut. Such was his success in his new capacity that the Austrian authorities at Ensisheim, the seat of the Austrian Government

in south-west Germany, became alarmed, and demanded the extradition of the popular preacher as a dangerous agitator. This was refused by the town. Hubmayer, however, insisted upon leaving " to the end that no man may be prejudiced or injured on my account, and that ye may preserve rest and peace". Accordingly, on the I7th of August, 1524, accompanied by the blessings and plaudits of the townsfolk, he rode out of the eastern gate. A small body of armed men were in readiness to receive him from the hands of the Waldshuters, and to conduct him to the Swiss town of Schaffhausen, where he found safety and a favourable reception.

Meanwhile, as we have seen, Hans Miiller von Bulgenbach, with his peasant bands, had fraternised with the people of Waldshut, and the Peasants War began to threaten. The result of the situation was that, notwithstanding hostile preparations, the Austrian Government found it prudent for a while to let Waldshut alone, more especially as the Swiss cantons of Schaffhausen and Zurich showed signs of moving in its favour. Emboldened by immunity, the Waldshuters recalled their favourite

preacher. He was received, as an official document of the time states, " with drums, pipes and horns, and with such pomp as though he were the emperor himself". A great feast was given him in the guildhall, and general rejoicing followed. About this time either Thomas Mlinzer himself or some of his followers who were agitating in the Black Forest districts, appear to have visited Waldshut. Hubmayer now became an enthusiastic partisan and apostle of the new social doctrines of the realisation of the Kingdom of God upon earth, in the shape of a Christian commonwealth based on equality of status and community of goods. Hubmayer threw himself with renewed zeal into the agitation for the cause to which he had been

over by Mlinzer^ or his disciples. The clergy more especially showed themselves receptive for the new doctrines. In fact, we have taken Karlstadt and Hubmayer as the most

eminent types of a._cla.ss---of-~refnrming prje^t-—

reforming in a social and political no less than in a theological sense—which at the time of which we write had numerous representatives throughout Germany. All developments of the social movement found their advocates among

the revolted priesthood—the moderate and im-mediate demands of the ppagantft as expressed in the official Twelve Articles ', the political and administrative reformation of the empire upon which the Hipler-Weigand scheme lays so much stress, and, perhaps more than all, the reHgious-econpjpic utoplanism of which Thomas MUnzer was the leading exponent.

CHAPTER IV.

THE MOVEMENT IN SOUTH GERMANY.

THE heads of the Swabian League sitting in the imperial town of Ulm were glad enough to keep up the farce of negotiations with the peasants, in accordance with the principle already laid down by the Archduke of Austria, namely, that of quieting them with promises and vague hopes until preparations for taking the field should be completed. Truchsess, the head of the military forces of the league, was meanwhile straining every nerve to get fighting men to join his standard. As a contemporary manuscript expressly has it, " they kept the peasants at bay with words so long as they could, and armed meanwhilePto aTSck~tHern ". But the landesknechte * employed by Truchsess were inclined to be mutinous. Their pay was in arrears, and they were especially indisposed to

1 Landesknechte or lanzknechte I shall in future throughout this work translate by its nearest English equivalent— free-lances.

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take the field against the peasants, the class from which most of them sprang, and whose grievances they well appreciated. Still, by dint of threats, promises and money, Truchsess at length succeeded in getting together a force of 8000 foot and 3000 horse. By the .end of Maj^ch^ the peasants, on their side, began to weary of the interminable negotiations~witFf the league at Ulm, whose object was now only too apparent, and determined to begin active operations. Truchsess, fearing lest the body encamped in the district known as the Ried, and called from its place of origin the " Baltringer contingent," might cut off his retreat to his own castle and domains and possibly invade them, determined to attack this section first. His relations with his own tenants seem to have been on the whole fairly good, arid he appears to have left his family at the Waldsee.

As we have already seen, the Baltringer or Ried contingent formed one of the three sections of the " Evangelical Peasant Brotherhood," the other two being the Black Forest and the Lake contingents. But in the marshy district where the Baltringer division was encamped, Truchsess could not transport his heavy guns

easily nor manoeuvre his cavalry with effect. All he could do, therefore, was to send a detachment of foot under Frowen Von Hutten to attack them. The peasants retired to a favourable position in the hope of inducing Truchsess to risk his whole force on the treacherous ground. He remained, however, where he was, contenting himself with sending out a foraging party which plundered a few villages, but which was eventually cut off by a body of peasants and its members either killed or driven back into their camp. The object the leader of the Swabian army had in view was to draw the main peasant force into firm open country and compel them to engage in a pitched battle, knowing that under such circumstances they would be at a hopeless disadvantage. To this end he sent sundry spies in the form of messengers into the peasant camp, but the insurgents, though they answered peaceably, proceeded to entrench themselves still more securely behind a wood. The peasants further endeavoured to induce Truchsess's free-lances to desert to their camp by means of secret negotiations. They were, they said, their sons and brothers, and this, in

fact, was the case. Most of the foot-soldiery y of the time was recruited out of poor town / proletarians or impoverished peasants' sons, who, \ in many cases as a last resort, had taken to trade of arms and were prepared to serve any master for a few hellers a day and the hope of booty. But, although this was their only chance of victory—to induce experienced fighting men to enter their ranks—many of their number were averse to being led by, or even to having in their company, any free-lances. The peasant leaders were partly jealous of the latter's superiority in war to themselves, while many of the rank and file dreaded their dissolute habits, for which they had an evil notoriety. Wendel Hipler and the far-seeing heads of the movement strove in vain to effect an understanding between the free-lances and the peasants. Their ways of life were different, and, though both belonged^to the people, a certain mutual distrust could not be surmounted. Finally, after a short and indecisive passage of arms with the main Baltringer contingent, Truchsess withdrew his forces in the direction of the little town of Leipheim, in the neighbourhood of which an important detachment of

TOO THE PEASANTS WAR.

insurgents was commanded by the preacher Jakob__Wehe. Wehe was an enthusiastic up-lolder of the peasant claims, and a prudent and energetic leader in action. He had already constituted a war-chest and a reserve fund. A train of sixty waggons, containing provisions and material of war, followed his detachment, which, in spite of the admonitions of their leader, showed itself not averse to excesses. The worthy priest had as his goal to unite with two other bodies encamped not far distant,. tp march on Ulm, and to seize that important imperial city, the seat of the heads of the Swabian League, whose patrician council had, moreover, shown itself so unsympathetic to the popular cause. His immediate objective, however, was the town of Weissenhorn. In Weissenhorn, as in all the towns, the wealthier guildsmen and the patriciate were on the side of the Swabian League. A garrison of 340 horsemen had been hastily thrown into the town by the Count Palatine. The gates were remorselessly shut against the peasants, the utmost concession made being the passing of bread and wine over the wall. Hearing of the near approach of Truchsess, and aware of the

hopelessness of attempting to withstand his cavalry charge in the open field, Wehe decided to retreat on Leipheim, where he had entrenchments.

On the following day a detachment stormed the castle of Roggenburg, making themselves drunk on the contents of the wine-cellars. In this condition they destroyed the church, with its organ and costly plate, making bands for their hose out of the church banners and vestments. One of their number donned the chasuble and biretta of the Abbot of Roggenburg, and, seated on the altar, made his comrades do him homage. This besotted jesting went on the whole day. Another detachment, also on plunder bent, was cut off by some horsemen of the league and partly destroyed and partly taken prisoners to Ulm.

Jakob Wehe, anxious to gain time, sent by a trusty messenger the following letter to the council of the league at Ulm :—

" As warriors of understanding and experience, ye will easily see that the assembly of peasants waxeth ever greater with time, and that such a multitude may not readily be compelled. That which hath happened that

is unmete doth with truth grieve us and our brethren in other places, who have been innocently moved thereto, but to the end that further mischief may be prevented, we entreat that the league shall be a true furtherer of God's glory and of peace. We will also ourselves, so far as in us lies, zealously do our utmost with other assemblies that complaints should be heard by God-fearing and understanding men, who hate time-serving and love the common weal, and that all grievances shall be made straight in peace and by judicial decisions.'' The above letter had scarcely reached Ulm before " Herr George" with his army was already within sight of Leipheim. Here the peasants were entrenched 3000 strong. The town was already in their possession. The camp was some distance outside and had on its right the river, on its left the wood. Its front was covered by a marsh, and behind it was a barricade of waggons. A vanguard of horsemen was kept at bay, but, as soon as the peasants saw Truchsess with his whole army advancing on them, they decided to retreat within the walls to await reinforcements. The retreat was only partially successful. The

peasants carried indeed their dead and wounded with them and buried the former in a ditch by the roadside. About 2000 succeeded in reaching Leipheim, whilst about 1000 were either driven into the Danube and drowned or cut down in the field. Truchsess now made direct for Leipheim, which he decided to storm. The inhabitants, however, lost courage, sending an old man and some women to beg for mercy. The general of the league forces answered that they must surrender themselves at discretion, and first of all hand over to him their pastor and captain, Jakob Wehe^ terms which were agreed to. No sooner did Wehe see the turn things had taken than, gathering together some 200 florins, he bethought himself of escape. His parsonage was built against the town wall, whence a secret subterranean passage led under the wall down to the Danube. Of this he availed himself in the company of a friend and succeeded in reaching a cave known to him in a rock on the banks of the river, where he remained in hiding. The town was entered, but under conditions causing great discontent to a portion of Truchsess's men, for the freelances were not allowed to plunder as they had

been promised in the event of the town being taken by storm. On Wednesday, the 5th of April, the neighbouring town of Giinzburg, which had also gone with the peasants, capitulated to the league, having to pay in all a ransom amounting to 1000 gold gulden. Three of the leaders taken prisoners at Leip-heim and four at Giinzburg were condemned to death.

Meanwhile, search was made everywhere for Jakob Wehe in vain, until his whereabouts were disclosed to some free-lances by the barking of a dog outside his retreat. The offer of the 200 florins he had with him proved of no avail to free him. His captors took him bound on a hurdle to their master at Bubesheim, where he was condemned to share the fate of the seven other captives spoken of above. On the 5th of April towards evening, they were taken to a flowery meadow lying between Leip-heim and Bubesheim to be executed. As Master Jakob was led forward to the block, Truchsess turned to him with the words : " Sir pastor, it had been well for thee and us hadst thou preached God's word, as it beseemeth, and not rebellion". "Noble sir," answered

the preacher, "ye do me wrong. IhaJ&e-JiQl. preached rebellion, but God's word." " I am otherwise miormed," observed ^iruchsess, as his chaplain stepped forward to receive the confession of the condemned man. Wehe turned to those around, stating that he had already confessed to his Maker and commended his soul to Him. To his fellow-sufferers he observed: " Be of good cheer, brethren, we shall yet meet each other to-day in Paradise, for when our eyes seem to close, they are really first opening". After having prayed aloud, concluding with the words : " Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do," he laid himself on the block, and in another moment his head fell in the long grass.

The preacher of Giinzburg, who had also taken part in the movement, and an old soldier of fortune, who had joined the rebels, were brought forward in their turn to submit to the same fate, when the old soldier, turning to Truchsess, observed : " Doth it not seem to thee a little late in the day, noble lord, for one to lose one's head ? " This humorous observation saved the lives of himself and the preacher. The latter was carried about with the troops

in a cage, until he had bought his freedom with eighty gulden. He lost, however, the right of preaching and of riding on horseback !

Meanwhile, the free-lances of "Herr George" were becoming more mutinous every day. They had not made the booty they expected, and their pay was long outstanding. The danger to the commander's own castles—notably the Waldburg or Waldsee, where his wife and child resided—was imminent. Still the freelances would not budge. Some of his noble colleagues and neighbours took the matter in hand and occupied his territories. It was, however, too late. The Waldsee had capitulated to the Baltringer and bought itself off for 4000 gulden. The attacking party did not know that the countess and her child were located within, or it would probably have gone badly with them. In the course of a few days, the League having undertaken to pay the month's arrears of wages, the matter with the free-lances was arranged.

The peasants, however, were by no means disheartened by the check that their cause had received at Leipheim. Truchsess, with a force

of double their number, including cavalry, and well-equipped with artillery, might succeed in crushing one body, but, with his eight or nine thousand men, he could not be everywhere at the same time. A few days after, Truchsess eagerly seized an opportunity of negotiating a truce with the so-called Lake contingent and the Hegauers, which relieved him for the moment and of which we shall have occasion to speak later on. Just at this juncture the movement was rapidly reaching its height. It was I computed that no fewer than 300,000 peasants,^-y besides necessitous townsfolk, were armed and / in open rebellion. On the side of the nobles, J no adequate force was ready to meet the emergency. In every direction were to be seen flaming castles and monasteries. On all sides were bodies of armed country-folk, organised in military fashion, dictating their will to the countryside and the small towns, whilst disaffection was beginning to show itself in a threatening manner among the popular elements of not a few important cities. The victory of the league at Leipheim had done nothing to improve the situation from the point of view of the governing powers. In

as if the "Twelve Articles," at least, would become realised, if not the Christian Commonwealth dreamed of by the religious sectaries established throughout the length and breadth of Germany. Princes, lords and ecclesiastical dignitaries were being compelled far and wide to save their lives, after their property was probably already confiscated, by swearing allegiance to the Christian League or Brotherhood of the peasants and by countersigning the Twelve Articles and other demands of their refractory villeins and serfs. So threatening i was the situation that the Archduke Ferdinand I began himself to yield in so far as to enter into negotiations with the insurgents. These were mostly carried on through the intermediary of a certain Walther Bach, one of the peasant leaders in the AllgSu and an ex-soldier in the Austrian service. The only result, however, was that Walther Bach fell under the suspicion of his followers and was shortly afterwards deposed from his position by them.

In brilliancy of get-up, none equalled Hans Muller from Bulgenbach and his two colleagues, Jians Ritel-and JohariiL-Ziigelmullet^ and their followings. We read of purple mantles and scarlet

birettas with ostrich plumes as the costume of the leaders, of a suite of men in scarlet dress, of a vanguard of ten heralds gorgeously attired. This combined contingent of the Black Forest and surrounding districts went from one success to another, taking castle after castle, including as before mentioned that of Lupfen, the seat of the Countess Helena of " snail-shell " notoriety, who was the alleged proximate cause of the insurrection. After leaving peasant garrisons in all the places captured, Hans Mtiller bethought himself of attacking Radolfzell, where,

o o

as we have seen, a considerable number of nobles and clergy had taken refuge. He does not seem, however, to have immediately attempted any formal siege of the town, but simply to have cut off all communications and laid waste the surrounding country. Indeed, as is truly observed by Lamprecht (Deutsche Geschichte, vol. v., p. 343), " the peasant revolts were, in general, less of the nature of campaigns, or even of an uninterrupted series of minor military operations, than of a slow process of mobilisation, interrupted and accompanied by continual negotiations with the lords and princes —a mobilisation which was rendered possible

no THE PEASANTS WAR.

by the standing right of assembly and of carrying arms possessed by the peasants ".

The duchy of Wiirtemberg, the home of the " poor Conrad," was, as we have seen, ripe for insurrection at the time of Duke Ulrich's abortive attempt to regain possession of his coronet. While Truchsess was operating about Leipheim and holding the Baltringer contingent at bay, the Wiirtemberg authorities, spiritual and temporal, found themselves face to face with a threatening peasant population, everywhere gathering under arms. The assembly of the estates of the duchy had been called together at Stuttgart to deliberate on the matter. The result was the immediate despatch of an embassy to Ulm to represent their case to the council of the Swabian League. The latter replied sympathetically, but observed that the regency of the archduke and the estates themselves were largely to blame for the position of affairs, pointing out that, while every member of the league was by the terms of its oath obliged to keep its most important castles and towns in a state of thorough defensive repair, in Wiirtemberg there was not a single castle which was capable of holding out, and that the frontiers

especially were entirely exposed. All that they could promise was that, as soon as Truchsess had settled affairs in Upper Swabia, he should come to their assistance. The allegations were quite true ; the duchy was absolutely denuded of fighting men through the Italian war, the archduke having taken no care or having been unable to replace those he had sent to his brother with any other sufficient force. The finances of the country, bad as they had been before, were now almost entirely exhausted by the resistance to Duke Ulrich's invasion. Turning from the league to the archduke, the estates were similarly met by promises, but no assistance was forthcoming.

Meanwhile, the small towns were everywhere opening their gates without resistance to the peasants, between whom and the poorer inhabitants an understanding usually existed. Here as elsewhere, defenceless castles were falling into the hands of the insurgents, who waxed fat with plunder, and in many cases drank themselves senseless with the contents of rich monastic wine-cellars. In the valley of the Neckar an innkeeper, named Matern Feuerbacher, was chosen as captain of the

popular forces. Feuerbacher was compelled to accept the leadership of the insurgents against his will. The nobles in the vicinity of the small town of Bottwar, where Feuerbacher had his inn, knew him well as an honest good-natured person, with whom they even at times conversed, as they sat in his wine-room, and they were by no means averse to the choice the insurgents had made. The innkeeper at first hid himself on the approach of the peasant delegates, who threatened his wife that if her husband did not, on their next demand, consent to place himself at their head, they would plant the ominous stake denoting his outlawry before his door.

Just at this time an event occurred at the little town of Weinsberg, of "faithful wife" fame, near the free imperial city of Heilbronn to the north of the duchy, which constitutes a landmark in the history of the peasant rising. The town-proletariat of Heilbronn had been stirring from February onwards, and by the end of March a good understanding had been arrived at between them and the peasantry of the surrounding country. The leader of the movement here was one Jakob Rohrbach,

commonly called by the nick-name of " Jacklein Rohrbach," or sometimes simply " Tacklein". He kept an inn in a village called Bockingen, a short distance from Heilbronn. He is described as young, well-built, and strong, of burgher descent, and intelligent withal. His reputation as a boon companion was immense, if and as he was of a generous nature and treated freely, his popularity, especially with the young ^ A people of the district, was enormous. Always D of a rebellious disposition, he had had many a tussle with constituted authority^ The most serious appears to have been in 1519, when he was accused of stabbing the head man of his village, against whom he had a grievance. For this he was to be arrested and tried, but threatened the constable and the judges that, if they dared to lay hands upon him, the whole place should be burnt to the ground. Knowing that all the countrymen of the neighbourhood were on his side and would very probably put this threat into execution, or, at best, avenge themselves in some other unpleasant way, the local authorities found it prudent to let the matter drop. Jacklein Rohrbach, in short, was

the terror of all respectable persons.

8

His chief companions were the sons of the peasantry, whom he saw oppressed on all sides. A village girl, with whom he was in love, was seized by the forest ranger of a neighbouring lord for gathering wild strawberries, maltreated and subsequently ravished. This may have given a deeper colour to his hatred of the aristocrat. In any case, by the end of 1524, Jacklein found his money spent and himself in an apparently hopeless condition economically. At the same time, his hatred of the existing order of society knew no bounds. An ecclesiastic had sought to obtain payment of a debt from Jacklein. The latter had assembled his peasants 3t Bockingen, and had, in addition, called out some of the town proletarians from Heilbronn in order to prevent the hearing of the case. On the demand of the priest, the council of Heilbronn sent one of their number to Bockingen, who speedily returned with the news that the village was full of armed men at the service of Rohrbach. The council, thereupon, advised the clergyman to let his plaint fall for the time being, as his pursuing it would only lead to a disturbance, which for the moment there was no means of quelling.

This was at the end of March. On the 2nd of April, Rohrbach, who had the previous day repaired with his following to the village of Flein, also in the Heilbronn territory, raised the standard of revolt, and soon had 300 more supporters from the neighbouring villages around him. He had been long in communication with Wendel Hipler and George Metzler, a leader of the Odenwald insurgents, of whom we shall speak presently. Jacklein was now strong enough to compel by threats, or otherwise, the neighbouring places to supply him with men to serve under his standard. As soon as he had gathered together 1500 partisans, he proceeded to join the main body of insurgents in the Schonthal, under the leadership of Metzler. The body was known as the " Heller Haufen" which may be translated as the "United Contingent". In the meantime, the bold Jacklein had seized the head-man of Bockingen, thrown him into prison, and set up a new one of his own choosing. As a taste of the good things in store for them, he had also allowed his men to fish out a small lake belonging to a patrician councillor of Heilbronn.

George Metzler, the commander of the

" United Contingent," had been from the beginning of the movement a zealous agitator and organiser. He was an innkeeper in the town of Balenberg, and his wine-room was the resort of all the discontented and insurrectionary elements of the neighbouring districts. As soon as the Swabians had begun to move, Metzler bound ajjea&arrtVshoe (the BundschuJi)

Lto a pole and carried it about the country, preceded by a man beating a drum. In a short time he had 2000 men around his "shoe". This body, which steadily increased, was given a form of military organisation by Wendel Hipler (the peasants chancellor), who now appeared upon the scene, and Metzler was definitely appointed its commander. Thus, while some of the other contingents were little better than hordes, the Heller Haufen assumed more the character of an army. It had its

x grades and its judiciary power, and in front of was carried the "Twelve Articles," which all were required to swear to and to sign. Princes, bishops and nobles had the alternative offered them of loss of property or life, or of entrance into the Evangelical Brotherhood. The two Counts of Hohenlohe, the most

considerable feudal potentates of the neighbourhood, received the challenge in question in the name of the " United Contingent". On their scornfully replying that they were ignorant to what order of animal the " United Contingent" might belong, Hipler is reported to have given the following rejoinder: "It is an animal that usually feedeth on roots and wild herbs, but which when driven by hunger sometimes consumeth priests, bishops and fat citizens. It is very old, but very strange it is that the older it becometh, by so much doth it wax in strength, even as with wine. The beast doth ail at times, but it never dieth. At times, too, it forsaketh the land of its birth for foreign parts, but early or late it returneth home again." u Tell my lords, the counts," added Hipler, it is said, to the envoys who brought him the message, " that it is even now come again into Germany, and that at this hour it pastureth in the Schupfer valley." On the foregoing message being returned to them, the counts seem to have given way. The two brothers, Albrecht and George, met the delegates of the " United Contingent," now 8000 strong, in the open air, and after some negotiations, during which they

endeavoured to persuade the peasants to submit their grievances to a judicial tribunal, they

re compelled to swear to the " Twelve Articles". This they were required to do with uplifted hands and to remove their gloves, whilst the peasants, on the contrary, retained theirs (probably assumed for the occasion). By this oath, the counts were admitted into the Evangelical Brotherhood.

But these things did not create that profound impression which constituted the landmark in the Peasants War before spoken of. It was the celebrated " blood-vengeance " of the peasants in the township of Weinsberg, near Heilbronn. that did so. Weinsberg, with its castle, had been occupied, by the orders of the Archduke, by Count Ludwig von Helfenstein, whose wife was the illegitimate daughter of the Emperor Maximillian and therefore half-sister to the Emperor Charles and to his brother Ferdinand. This Helfenstein, who was a young man of twenty-seven, had seen fifteen years' service in war and had recently shown himself very active in killing peasants, wherever he found them isolated or in small bands. His recent journey to Weinsberg had been signalised by several

acts of this description. A number of the citizens of the little town were inclined to open the gates to " the enemy". As a body of peasants appeared before the town demanding admission, Helfenstein without any parley made a sortie with his knights and men-at-arms and massacred them in cold blood. As he heard this, Jacklein Rohrbach is said to have exclaimed : " Death and hell! We shall know how to avenge ourselves on Count Helfenstein for his mode of warfare ! " It must be admitted, indeed, that for this act alone Helfenstein richly deserved the fate which afterwards befel him.