The Peasant War in Germany

confine  themselves  to  preaching  their  evil  doctrine,  but  incited  to  insurrection,  to  violent
lawless action against the authorities.
On  August  1st,  Muenzer  was  compelled  to  appear  before  the  princes  in  the  castle  of
Weimar, to defend himself against the accusation of incendiary machinations. There were
highly compromising facts quoted against him; his secret union had been traced; his hand
was discovered in the organisation of the pitmen and the peasants. He was being threatened
with banishment. Upon returning to Allstedt, he learned Duke Georg of Saxony demanded
his  extradition.  Union  letters  in  his  handwriting  had  been  intercepted,  wherein  he  called
Georg’s subjects to armed resistance against the enemies of the Gospel. The council would
have extradited him had he not left the city.
In  the  meantime,  the  rising  agitation  among  the  peasants  and  the  plebeians  had
enormously  lightened  Muenzer’s  task  of  propaganda.  In  the  person  of  the  Anabaptists  he
found  invaluable  agents.  This  sect,  having  no  definite  dogmas,  held  together  by  common
opposition against all ruling classes and by the common symbol of second baptism, ascetic
in  their  mode  of  living,  untiring,  fanatic  and  intrepid  in  propaganda,  had  grouped  itself
more  closely  around  Muenzer.  Made  homeless  by  constant  persecutions,  its  members
wandered over the length and breadth of Germany, announcing everywhere the new gospel
wherein  Muenzer  had  made  clear  to  them  their  own  demands  and  wishes.  Numberless
Anabaptists  were  put  on  the  rack,  burned  or  otherwise  executed.  But  the  courage  and
endurance of these emissaries were unshaken, and the success of their activities amidst the
rapidly rising agitation of the people was enormous. That was one of the reasons why, on
his flight from Thuringia, Muenzer found the ground prepared wherever he turned.
In  Nuernberg,  a  peasant  revolt  had  been  nipped  in  the  bud  a  month  previous.  Here
Muenzer  conducted  his  propaganda  under  cover.  Soon  there  appeared  persons  who
defended his most audacious theological doctrines of the non-obligatory power of the Bible
and the meaninglessness of sacraments, declaring Christ to have been a mere man, and the
power of lay authorities to be ungodly. “We see there Satan stalking, the spirit of Allstedt!”
Luther exclaimed. In Nuernberg, Muenzer printed his reply to Luther. He accused him of
flattering the princes and supporting the reactionary party by his moderate position. “The
people  will  free  themselves  in  spite  of  everything,”  he  wrote,  “and  then  the  fate  of  Dr.
Luther will be that of a captive fox.” The city council ordered the paper confiscated, and
Muenzer  was  compelled  to  leave  the  city.  From  there  he  went  through  Suabia  to  Alsace,
then  to  Switzerland,  and  then  back  to  the  Upper  Black  Forest  where  the  insurrection  had
started  several  months  before,  precipitated  largely  by  the  Anabaptist  emissaries.  There  is
no  doubt  that  this  propaganda  trip  of  Muenzer’s  added  much  to  the  organisation  of  the
people’s party, to a clear formulation of its demands and to the final general outbreak of the
The Peasant War in Germany
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insurrection  in  April,  1525.  It  was  through  this  trip  that  the  dual  nature  of  Muenzer’s
activities became more and more pronounced – on the one hand, his propaganda among the
people whom he approached in the only language then comprehensible to the masses, that
of religious prophecy; on the other hand, his contact with the initiated, to whom he could
disclose his ultimate aims. Even previous to this journey he had grouped around himself in
Thuringia  a  circle  of  the  most  determined  persons,  not  only  from  among  the  people,  but
also  from  among  the  lower  clergy,  a  circle  whom  he  had  put  at  the  head  of  the  secret
organisation. Now he became the centre of the entire revolutionary movement of southwest
Germany,  organising  connections  between  Saxony  and  Thuringia  through  Franconia  and
Suabia up to Alsace and the Swiss frontier and counting among his disciples and the heads
of  the  organisation  such  men  as  Hubmaier  of  Waldshut,  Conrad  Grebel  of  Zurich,  Franz
Rabmann  of  Griessen,  Schappelar  of  Memmingen,  Jakob  Wehe  of  Leipheim,  and  Dr.
Mantel in Stuttgart, the most revolutionary of priests. He kept himself mostly in Griessen
on the  Schaffhausen  frontier, undertaking  journeys  through  the Hegau,  Klettgau,  etc. The
bloody  persecutions  undertaken  by  the  alarmed  princes  and  masters  everywhere  against
this new plebeian heresy, aided not a little in fanning the rebellious spirit and closing the
ranks  of  the  organisation.  In  this  way,  Muenzer  passed  five  months  in  upper  Germany.
When the outbreak of the general movement was at hand, he returned to Thuringia, where
he wished to lead the movement personally. There we will find him later.
We shall see how truly the character and the behaviour of the two party heads reflected
the  position  of  their  respective  parties.  Luther’s  indecision,  his  fear  of  the  movement,
assumed  serious  proportions;  his  cowardly  servility  towards  the  princes  corresponded
closely to the hesitating, vacillating policy of the middle-classes. The revolutionary energy
and decisiveness of Muenzer, on the other hand, was seen in the most advanced faction of
the  plebeians  and  peasants.  The  difference  was  that  while  Luther  confined  himself  to  an
expression of the ideas and wishes of a majority of his class and thereby acquired among it
a  very  cheap  popularity,  Muenzer,  on  the  contrary,  went  far  beyond  the  immediate  ideas
and  demands  of  the  plebeians  and  peasants,  organising  out  of  the  then  existing
revolutionary elements a party, which, as far as it stood on the level of his ideas and shared
his energy, still represented only a small minority of the insurgent masses.
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