The Peasant War in Germany

turning  into  almost  independent  princes,  and  cities  of  the  empire  on  the  one  hand,  the
knights  of  the  empire  on  the  other,  were  forming  alliances  either  against  each  other,  or
against  the  princes  or  the  emperor.  The  imperial  power,  now  uncertain  as  to  its  own
position, vacillated between the various elements opposing the empire, and was constantly
losing authority; the attempt at centralisation, in the manner of Louis XI
[2]
brought about
nothing  but  the  holding  together  of  the  Austrian  hereditary  lands,  this  in  spite  of  all
intrigues  and  violent  actions.  The  final  winners,  who  could  not  help  winning  in  this
confusion,  in  this  helter-skelter  of  numerous  conflicts,  were  the  representatives  of
centralisation amidst disunion, the representatives of local and provincial centralisation, the
princes, beside whom the emperor gradually became no more than a prince among princes.
Under these conditions the situation of the classes emerging from mediaeval times had
considerably changed. New classes had been formed besides the old ones.
Out of the old nobility came the princes. Already they were almost independent of the
emperor,  and  possessed  the  major  part  of  sovereign  rights.  They  declared  war  and  made
peace  of  their  own  accord,  they  maintained  standing  armies,  called  local  councils,  and
levied  taxes.  They  had  already  drawn  a  large  part  of  the  lower  nobility  and  cities  under
their lordly power; they did everything in their power to incorporate in their lands all the
rest of the cities and baronies which still remained under the empire. Towards such cities
and  baronies  they  appeared  in  the  role  of  centralisers,  while  as  far  as  the  imperial  power
was  concerned,  they  were  the  decentralising  factor.  Internally,  their  reign  was  already
autocratic, they called the estates only when they could not do without them. They imposed
taxes, and collected money whenever they saw fit. The right of the estates to ratify taxes
was seldom recognised, and still more seldom practised. And even when they were called,
the princes ordinarily had a majority, thanks to the knights and the prelates which were the
two estates freed from taxes, participating, nevertheless, in their consumption. The need of
the princes for money grew with the taste for luxuries, with the increase of the courts and
the standing armies, with the mounting costs of administration. The taxes were becoming
more  and  more  oppressive.  The  cities  being  in  most  cases  protected  against  them  by
privileges,  the  entire  weight  of  the  tax  burden  fell  upon  the  peasants,  those  under  the
princes themselves, as well as the serfs and bondsmen of the knights bound by vassalage to
the  princes;  wherever  direct  taxation  was  insufficient,  indirect  taxes  were  introduced;  the
most skilful machinations of the art of finance were utilised to fill the gaping holes of the
fiscal  system.  When  nothing  else  availed,  when  there  was  nothing  to  pawn  and  no  free
imperial city was willing to grant credit any longer, one resorted to coin manipulations of
the  basest  kind,  one  coined  depreciated  money,  one  set  a  higher  or  lower  rate  of  legal
tender most convenient for the prince. Trading in city and other privileges, subsequently to
The Peasant War in Germany
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be  taken  away  by  force,  in  order  that  they  might  again  be  sold,  seizing  every  attempt  at
opposition  as  an  excuse  for  incendiarism  and  robbery  of  every  kind,  etc.,  etc.,  were
lucrative  and  quite  ordinary  sources  of  income  for  the  princes  of  those  times.  The
administration  of  justice  was  also  a  constant  and  not  unimportant  article  of  trade  for  the
princes. In brief, the subjects who, besides the princes, had to satisfy the private appetites
of  their  magistrates  and  bailiffs  as  well,  were  enjoying  the  full  taste  of  the  “fatherly”
system.  Of  the  medieval  feudal  hierarchy,  the  knighthood  of  moderate  possessions  had
almost  entirely  disappeared;  it  had  either  climbed  up  to  the  position  of  independence  of
small  princes,  or  it  had  sunk  into  the  ranks  of  the  lower  nobility.  The  lower  nobility,  the
knighthood, was fast moving towards extinction. A large portion of it had already become
pauperised, and lived on its services to the princes, either in military or in civil capacity;
another  portion  was  bound  by  vassalage  to  the  sovereignty  of  the  prince;  a  very  small
portion  was  directly  under  the  empire.  The  development  of  military  science,  the  rising
importance  of  infantry,  the  spread  of  firearms,  had  dwarfed  their  military  importance  as
heavy cavalry, at the same time destroying the invincibility of their castles. The knights had
become  superfluous  through  the  progress  of  industry,  just  as  the  artisans  had  become
obviated  by  the  same  progress.  The  dire  need  of  the  knighthood  for  money  added
considerably to their ruin. The luxurious life in the castles, the competition in magnificence
at  tournaments  and  feasts,  the  price  of  armaments  and  of  horses  all  increased  with  the
progress of civilisation, whereas the sources of income of the knights and barons, increased
but little, if at all. Feuds with accompanying plunders and incendiarism, lying in ambush,
and  similar  noble  occupations,  became  in  the  course  of  time  too  dangerous.  The  cash
payments  of  the  knights’  subjects  brought  in  hardly  more  than  before.  In  order  to  satisfy
mounting requirements, the noble masters resorted to the same means as were practised by
the  princes;  the  peasantry  was  being  robbed  by  the  masters  with  greater  dexterity  every
year.  The  serfs  were  being  wrung  dry.  The  bondsmen  were  burdened  with  ever  new
payments of various descriptions upon every possible occasion. Serf labour, dues, ground
rents, land sale taxes, death taxes, protection moneys and so on, were increased at will in
spite  of  old  agreements.  Justice  was  denied  or  sold  for  money,  and  wherever  the  knight
could not obtain the peasant’s money otherwise, he threw him into the tower without much
ado, and compelled him to pay ransom.
With  the  other  classes,  the  lower  nobility  courted  no  friendly  relations  either.  Vassal
knights  strove  to  become  vassals  of  the  empire;  vassals  of  the  empire  strove  to  become
independent. This led to incessant conflicts with the princes. The knighthood looked upon
the  clergy  with  their  resplendent  grandeur  as  upon  a  powerful  but  superfluous  class.  It
envied  them  their  large  estates  and  their  riches  held  secure  by  celibacy  and  the  church
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