In the meantime, a decisive change had taken place in the region of Wuerzburg. The
bishop who, after the first
uprising early in April, had withdrawn to the fortified
Frauenberg near Wuerzburg, from there to send unsuccessful letters in all directions asking
for aid, was finally compelled to make temporary concessions. On May 2, a Diet was
opened with the peasants represented, but before any results could be achieved, letters were
intercepted which proved the bishop’s traitorous machinations. The Diet immediately
dispersed, and hostilities broke out anew between the insurgent city inhabitants and the
peasants on one hand, and the bishop’s forces on the other. The bishop fled to Heidelberg
on May 5, and on the following
day Florian Geyer, with the Black Troop, appeared in
Wuerzburg and with him the Franconian Tauber Troop which consisted of the peasants of
Mergentheim, Rottenburg and Anspach. On May 7, Goetz von Berlichingen with his Gay
Bright Troop came, and the siege of Frauenberg began.
In the vicinity of Limpurg and in the region of Ellwangen and Hall, another contingent
was formed by the end of March and the beginning of April, that of Gaildorf or the
Common Gay Troop. Its actions were very violent. It aroused the entire region, burned
many
monasteries and castles, including the castle of Hohenstaufen, compelled all the
peasants to join it, and compelled all nobles, even the cup-bearers of Limpurg, to enter the
Christian Alliance. Early in May it invaded Wuerttemberg, but was persuaded to withdraw.
The separatism of the German system of small states stood then, as in 1848, in the way of a
common action of the revolutionaries of the various state territories. The Gaildorf Troop,
limited to a small area, was naturally bound to disperse when all
resistance within that area
was broken. The members of this troop concluded an agreement with the city of Gmuend,
and leaving only 500 under arms, they went home.
In the Palatinate, peasant troops were formed on either bank of the Rhine by the end of
April. They destroyed many castles and monasteries, and on May 1 they took Neustadt on
the Hardt. The Bruchrain peasants, who appeared in this region, had on the previous day
forced Speyer to conclude an agreement. The Marshal of Zabern, with the few troops of the
Elector,
was powerless against them, and on May 10 the Elector was compelled to
conclude an agreement with the peasants, guaranteeing them a redress of their grievances,
to be effected by a Diet.
In Wuerttemberg the revolt had occurred early in separate localities. As early as
February, the peasants of the Urach Alp formed a union against the priests and masters, and
by the end of March the peasants of Blaubeuer, Urach, Muensingen, Balingen and
Rosenfeld revolted. The Wuerttemberg region was invaded by the Gaildorf Troop at
Goeppingen, by Jaecklein Rohrbach at Brackenheim, and by the remnants of the
vanquished Leipheim Troop at Pfuelingen. All these newcomers
aroused the rural
The Peasant War in Germany
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population. There were also serious disturbances in other localities. On April 6, Pfuelingen
capitulated before the peasants. The government of the Austrian Archduke was in a very
difficult situation. It had no money and but few troops. The cities and castles were in a bad
condition, lacking garrisons or munitions, and even Asperg was practically defenseless.
The attempt of the government to call out city reserves against the peasants, decided its
temporary defeat. On April 16 the reserves of the city of Bottwar refused to obey orders,
marching, instead of to Stuttgart, to Wunnenstein near Bottwar, where they formed the
nucleus of a camp of middle-class
people and peasants, and added other numbers rapidly.
On the same day the rebellion broke out in Zabergau. The monastery of Maulbronn was
pillaged, and a number of monasteries and castles were ruined. The Gaeu peasants received
reinforcements from the neighbouring Bruchrain.
The command of the Wunnenstein Troop was taken by Matern Feuerbacher, a
councillor of the city of Bottwar, one of the leaders of the middle-class opposition
compromised enough to be compelled to join the peasants. In spite of his new affiliations,
however, he remained very moderate, prohibiting the application of the Letter of Articles to
the castles, and seeking everywhere to reconcile the peasants with the moderate middle-
class. He prevented the amalgamation of the Wuerttemberg peasants with the Gay Bright
Troop, and afterwards he also persuaded the Gaildorf
Troop to withdraw from
Wuerttemberg. On April 19 he was deposed in consequence of his middle-class tendencies,
but the next day he was again made commander. He was indispensable, and even when
Jaecklein Rohrbach came, on April 22, with 200 of his associates to join the Wuerttemberg
peasants, he could do nothing but leave Feuerbacher in his place of commander, confining
himself to rigid supervision of his actions.
On April 18, the government attempted to negotiate with the peasants stationed at
Wunnenstein. The peasants insisted upon acceptance of the Twelve Articles, but this the
government’s representatives refused to do. The troop now proceeded to act. On April 20,
it reached Laufen, where,
for the last time, it rejected the offers of the government
delegates. On April 22, the troops, numbering 6,000, appeared in Bietighein, threatening
Stuttgart. Most of the city council had fled, and a citizens’ committee was placed at the
head of the administration. The citizenry here was divided, as elsewhere, between the
parties of the honourables, the middle-class opposition, and the revolutionary plebeians. On
April 25, the latter opened the
gates for the peasants, and Stuttgart was immediately
garrisoned by them. Here the organisation of the Gay Christian Troop (as the
Wuerttemberg insurgents called themselves) was perfected, and rules and regulations were
established for remuneration, division of booty and alimentation. A detachment of
Stuttgarters, under Theus Gerber, joined the troops.
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