Melanchthon: Historic Thomae Münzers (1525), in Walch, XVI. 204 sqq. Cochlæus (Rom.
Cath.), in his writings against Luther.
II. Histories of the Peasants’ War, by Sartorius (Geschichte des deutschen Bauernkriegs, Berlin,
1795); Wachsmuth (Leipzig. 1834); Oechsle (Heilbronn, 1830 anti 1844); Bensen (Erlangen,
1840); Zimmermann (Stuttgart, 1841, second edition 1856, 3 Vols.); Jörg (Freiburg, 1851);
Schreiber (Freiburg, 1863–66, 3 vols.); Stern (Leipzig, 1868); Baumann (Tübingen, 1876–78);
L. Fries, ed. by Schäffler and Henner (Würzburg, 1876, 1877); Hartfelder (Stuttgart, 1884).
III. Monographs on Thomas Münzer by Strobel (Leben, Schriften und Lehren Thomae Müntzers,
Nürnberg and Altdorf, 1795); Gebser (1831); Streif (1835); Seidemann (Dresden, 1842); Leo
(1856); Erbkam (in Herzog2, Vol. X. 365 sqq.).
IV. Ranke: II. 124–150. Janssen: II. 393–582. Häusser: ch. VII. Weber: Weltgesch., vol. X. 229–273
(second edition, 1886).
The ecclesiastical radicalism at Wittenberg was the prelude of a more dangerous political and
social radicalism, which involved a large portion of Germany in confusion and blood. Both
movements had their roots in crying abuses; both received a strong impetus from the Reformation,
and pretended to carry out its principles to their legitimate consequences; but both were ultra- and
pseudo-Protestant, fanatical, and revolutionary.
Carlstadt and Münzer are the connecting links between the two movements, chiefly the
latter. Carlstadt never went so far as Münzer, and afterwards retraced his steps. Their expulsion
from Saxony extended their influence over Middle and Southern Germany.^557
Condition of the Peasants.
The German peasants were the beasts of burden for society, and in no better condition than
slaves. Work, work, work, without reward, was their daily lot, even Sunday hardly excepted. They
were ground down by taxation, legal and illegal. The rapid increase of wealth, luxury, and pleasure,
after the discovery of America, made their condition only worse. The knights and nobles screwed
them more cruelly than before, that they might increase their revenues and means of indulgence.
The peasants formed, in self-protection, secret leagues among themselves: as the
"Käsebröder" (Cheese-Brothers), in the Netherlands; and the "Bundschuh,"^558 in South Germany.
These leagues served the same purpose as the labor unions of mechanics in our days.
Long before the Reformation revolutionary outbreaks took place in various parts of
Germany,—a.d. 1476, 1492, 1493, 1502, 1513, and especially in 1514, against the lawless tyranny
of Duke Ulrich of Würtemberg. But these rebellions were put down by brute force, and ended in
disastrous failure.^559
In England a communistic insurrection of the peasants and villeins occurred in 1381, under
the lead of Wat Tyler and John Balle, in connection with a misunderstanding of Wiclif’s doctrines.
The Reformation, with its attacks upon the papal tyranny, its proclamation of the supremacy
of the Bible, of Christian freedom, and the general priesthood of the laity, gave fresh impulse and
new direction to the rebellious disposition. Traveling preachers and fugitive tracts stirred up
(^557) Ranke (II. 126): "Dass Münzer und Karlstadt, und zwar nicht ohne Zuthun Luthers, endlich aus Sachsen entfernt wurden, trug zur
Ausbreitung und Verstärkung dieser Bewegung ungemein bei. Sie wandten sich beide nach Oberdeutschland." Ranke attributes too much
influence to Carlstadt’s false doctrine of the Lord’s Supper, which he published after his expulsion.
(^558) So called from the tied shoe which the peasants wore as a symbol of subjection, in contrast to the buckled shoe of the upper classes.
(^559) On the connection of the earlier peasants’ insurrections with the movements preparatory to the Reformation, compare Ullmann’s
essay on Hans Böheim of Niklashausen, in his Reformatoren vor der Reformation, vol. I. 419-446.