The Peasant War in Germany

Chapter 3
Precursors: Peasant Uprisings, 1475–1517
About  fifty  years  after  the  suppression  of  the  Hussite  movement,  the  first  symptoms  of  a
budding revolutionary spirit became manifest among the German peasants.
The first peasant conspiracy came into being in 1476, in the bishopric of Wuerzburg, a
country  already  impoverished  “by  bad  government,  manifold  taxes,  payments,  feuds,
enmity,  war,  fires,  murders,  prison,  and  the  like,”  and  continually  plundered  by  bishops,
clergy and nobility in a shameless manner. A young shepherd and musician, Hans Boeheim
of Niklashausen, also called the “Drum-Beater” and “Hans the Piper,” suddenly appeared
in Taubergrund in the role of a prophet. He related that the Virgin had appeared to him in a
vision,  that  she  told  him  to  burn  his  drum,  to  cease  serving  the  dance  and  the  sinful
gratification  of  the  senses,  and  to  exhort  the  people  to  do  penance.  Therefore,  he  said,
everybody  should  purge  himself  of  sin  and  the  vain  lusts  of  the  world,  forsake  all
adornments and embellishments, and make a pilgrimage to the Madonna of Niklashausen
to attain forgiveness.
Already among these precursors of the movement we notice an asceticism which is to
be  found  in  all  mediaeval  uprisings  that  were  tinged  with  religion,  and  also  in  modern
times  at  the  beginning  of  every  proletarian  movement.  This  austerity  of  behaviour,  this
insistence  on  relinquishing  all  enjoyment  of  life,  contrasts  the  ruling  classes  with  the
principle  of  Spartan  equality.  Nevertheless,  it  is  a  necessary  transitional  stage,  without
which  the  lowest  strata  of  society  could  never  start  a  movement.  In  order  to  develop
revolutionary  energy,  in  order  to  become  conscious  of  their  own  hostile  position  towards
all other elements of society, in order to concentrate as a class, the lower strata of society
must  begin  with  stripping  themselves  of  everything  that  could  reconcile  them  to  the
existing  system  of  society.  They  must  renounce  all  pleasures  which  would  make  their
subdued  position  in  the  least  tolerable  and  of  which  even  the  severest  pressure  could  not
deprive them.
This  plebeian  and  proletarian  asceticism  differs  widely,  both  by  its  wild  fanatic  form
and  by  its  contents,  from  the  middle-class  asceticism  as  preached  by  the  middle-class
Lutheran  morality  and  by  the  English  Puritans  (to  be  distinguished  from  the  independent
and farther-reaching sects) whose whole secret is middle-class thrift. It is quite obvious that
this plebeian-proletarian asceticism loses its revolutionary character when the development
of modern productive forces increases the number of commodities, thus rendering Spartan
equality superfluous, and on the other hand, the very position of the proletariat in society,
and  thereby  the  proletariat  itself  becomes  more  and  more  revolutionary.  Gradually,  this
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asceticism disappears from among the masses. Among the sects with which it survives, it
degenerates either into bourgeois parsimony or into high-sounding virtuousness which, in
the  end,  is  nothing  more  than  Philistine  or  guild-artisan  niggardliness.  Besides,
renunciation of pleasures need not be preached to the proletariat for the simple reason that
it has almost nothing to renounce.
Hans the Piper’s call to penitence found a great response. All the prophets of rebellion
started  with  appeals  against  sin,  because,  in  fact,  only  a  violent  exertion,  a  sudden
renunciation of all habitual forms of existence could bring into unified motion a disunited,
widely  scattered  generation  of  peasants  grown  up  in  blind  submission.  A  pilgrimage  to
Niklashausen began and rapidly increased, and the greater the masses of people that joined
the  procession,  the  more  openly  did  the  young  rebel  divulge  his  plans.  The  Madonna  of
Niklashausen, he said, had announced to him that henceforth there should be neither king
nor  princes,  neither  pope  nor  other  ecclesiastic  or  lay  authority.  Every  one  should  be  a
brother to each other, and win his bread by the toil of his hands, possessing no more than
his neighbour. All taxes, ground rents, serf duties, tolls and other payments and deliveries
should be abolished forever. Forests, waters and meadows should be free everywhere.
The people received this new gospel with joy. The fame of the prophet, “the message of
our  Mother,”  spread  everywhere,  even  in  distant  quarters.  Hordes  of  pilgrims  came  from
the Odenwald, from Main, from Kocher and Jaxt, even from Bavaria and Suabia, and from
the  Rhine.  Miracles  supposed  to  have  been  performed  by  the  Piper  were  being  related;
people fell on their knees before the prophet, praying to him as to a saint; people fought for
small  strips  from  his  cap  as  for  relics  or  amulets.  In  vain  did  the  priests  fight  him,
denouncing his visions as the devil’s delusions and his miracles as hellish swindles. But the
mass  of  believers  increased  enormously.  The  revolutionary  sect  began  to  organise.  The
Sunday  sermons  of  the  rebellious  shepherd  attracted  gatherings  of  40,000  and  more  to
Niklashausen.
For  several  months  Hans  the  Piper  preached  before  the  masses.  He  did  not  intend,
however, to confine himself to preaching. He was in secret communication with the priest
of  Niklashausen  and  with  two  knights,  Kunz  of  Thunfeld  and  his  son,  who  accepted  the
new gospel and were singled out as the military leaders of the planned insurrection. Finally,
on the Sunday preceding the day of St. Kilian, when the shepherd believed his power to be
strong enough, he gave the signal. He closed his sermon with the following words: “And
now go home, and weigh in your mind what our Holiest Madonna has announced to you,
and on the coming Saturday leave your wives and children and old men at home, but you,
you  men,  come  back  here  to  Niklashausen  on  the  day  of  St.  Margaret,  which  is  next
Saturday,  and  bring  with  you  your  brothers  and  friends,  as  many  as  they  may  be.  Do  not
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