GermanyThe Peasant War was a local peasant uprising that broke out in 1524 and later expanded toGermanSouthern region (southern GermanyAustriaandSwitzerland）A large-scale peasant uprising in most of the region.By proposing《Article XII》The uprising peasants put forward clear requirements for the first time.In 1525, the uprising took place in SchwabenFranken、AlsaceandThuringiaBe suppressed.In 1526, the uprisingSaxonyandTyrolExtinguished.Before the outbreak of the peasant uprisingbritainandSwitzerlandA similar uprising has already broken out.
German peasant uprisingreasonThere are many.sixteenth centuryAt the beginning, there were many small feudal aristocratic territories in the south of German speaking areas, especially in Schwaben.Many local farmers' problems are regional and caused by local noble lords.These small fiefs made their lord's vision very narrow,each otherThere are many contradictions between them, which prevent the localeconomic development。
But the main reason why the uprising was extended to other regions and reached its degree was the general situation of farmers as the most numerous class in society at that time.This general situation is not very different under different lords.
Situation of farmers
The foundation of the feudal system isa farmer：Feudal lord、noble、official, CitynobleAnd monks all rely on the labor force of farmers.Due to the increasing number of these beneficiaries, their costs are also increasing, and these costs need to be paid through the farmers'TaxAnd corvee.In addition to the tithes on their income and harvest, they must also pay miscellaneous taxestariffandrentIn addition, they should undertake corvee for their lord.Staff Sgt. Waben, Wuertenburg, Franken, Saxon and Thuringia farmers customarily distributed their land to their sons, which led to farmers' land becoming smaller and smaller without increasing the land area.Because taxes and expenditures are still very high, many very small farmers actually cannot make ends meet.
More and more farmers have become serfs due to economic difficulties, frequent bad harvests and great pressure imposed by the lord, which makes them have to pay higher rent and more corvee.
In addition, more and more lords have become more and more liberal in their interpretation of the oral "old laws" left over from the past, or simply ignore these customary laws.publicpropertyThey were confiscated, and public grazing land laws, logging laws, fishing laws and hunting laws were restricted or completely abolished.
Situation of the Empire
sacredImperium RomanumThe internal high-level nobility are not interested in improving the situation of farmers, because they have to give up some privileges.The lower aristocracy themselves were threatened by decline, and their status was greatly reduced, which led to their own uprising (the Uprising of Pufalz Knights).Many lower class nobles tried to make a living by living as bandits, which further deepened the burden on farmers.
The monk class also opposed reform: Catholicism was a pillar of the feudal system at that time, and the Catholic institutions themselves were feudal lords.Almost all monasteries have their own villages.The church's income comes from donations, sales of redemption certificates and tithes.The latter is also the most important source of wealth for the nobility.
The call for the abolition of the old feudal structure came from the citizen class in the city.However, they were also influenced by the nobility and monks, so the voice was weak.
Reformation
At that time, the situation in the church was very bad. Many clergy lived a luxurious life relying on the inheritance and gifts of the rich and the taxes and donations of the poor.In Rome, position and power can be obtained by nepotism and buying and selling holy orders.The Pope himself was engaged in war, building and promoting art.
Map of German Peasant Uprising
stayMartin LutherSome people (such as Giroramo Savonarola of Florence) have criticized this situation before.In 1517, John Tezel, a monk of Dominicans, was sent by Archbishop Albrecht of Mainz, who was heavily indebted, and Pope Leo X to travel around Germany and sell vouchers for sins, which made Luther very angry. He wrote 95 Outlines, which was said to be posted on the door of Wittenberg Church.
Zwingli in Zurich and Calvin in Geneva openly believed that anyone could contact God directly without going through the church to obtain his soul peace.In this way, they overthrew the belief hegemony of the Catholic Church, thus proving to the farmers that many clergy violated their own teachings, and most of them were useless.
The peasant uprising broke out in the Black Forest in 1517
Citizens also launched an uprising.
1524
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In 1524Nuremberg NearbyFaukheimThe riots broke out again, and soon after thatMurhausenRebellion also broke out.In OctoberStulingenThe nearby peasants revolted, and soon after that, about 3500 peasants went toFutewangenGo ahead.stayBoden LakeThe peasants in the surrounding Staff Sgt. Waben area have been dissatisfied for a long time, so1525In February and March, three groups of uprising farmers were formed in a short period of time, of which 12000 farmers, citizens and monks were the largest.In a few daysBieberachGather in the reeds nearby.Forest roadThere were also about 12000 peasant uprisings nearby, including many lower level clergy and mercenaries.resistanceCamptonThe peasant uprising of the monastery lord of about 7000 people.
Terms and negotiations
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These uprising peasants wanted to improve their situation, not to start a war, so they decided toSchwaben UnionNegotiations.They sent 50 representatives to sympathize with the farmersImperial Free CityMeiminggen。Here, the representatives of the uprising peasants tried to explain their demands and used the Bible as the reason for their demands.After many negotiations1525March 20thThey published the Twelve Articles and the Imperial Reform Programme.These provisions are not only complaints, but also reform programs and political declarations.The peasants of the uprising took the old Swiss League as an example and used the "Twelve Articles" as the basis to announce the establishment of theUpper Schwaben Alliance。The three peasant groups of the uprising decided to help each other instead of being irrelevant as in the past.Soon these two statutes were printed and disseminated in large numbers, which was an important reason for the rapid expansion of the uprisings in South Germany and Tyrol.The insurgents spread the news of the formation of the Schwaben Alliance toAugsburg, hoping to negotiate on an equal footing with the Schwab Union.However, due to the corrupt discipline of the peasants in the uprising, they burned, killed and robbed everywhere, so the nobles who formed the Schwaben Union did not want to negotiate.In AugsburgFuggle Under the financial support ofSickleandFlailFarmers for weapons.
For the German peasant war, the discussion of the Twelve Clauses in Meimingen was an important turning point: here for the first time, the peasants' demands were expressed in a unified and written way.For the first time, peasants united against rulers.The previous uprisings were isolated and there was no support for each other.The Twelfth Clause has changed this.On the other hand, if the peasants did not attempt to negotiate with the Schwarzenegger Union from the beginning, but continued to expand their area of uprising, it would be difficult for them to be suppressed through their huge number, and their demands might be more valued.
These twelve articles include:
Abolish serfdom
Cancel the small tithe tax
Freedom to hunt, fish and get materials
Return public property and village forest land to farmers
Priests freely elected by the parish
Reduction of corvee, compensation for corvee and prohibition of arbitrary punishment
Other uprisings
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Before the outbreak of the German Peasant War in 1524, many regional uprisings had broken out because of the worsening situation of the peasants.The causes of most of these riots are generally regional in addition to the general situation.
The major uprisings include:
From 1291, the Old Swiss Alliance revolted against the Habsburg Dynasty
The peasant uprising broke out in Alsace in 1493
In 1502, peasant uprising broke out in Speyer
Citizens also launched an uprising.In 1448, an uprising broke out in Berlin.Before the outbreak of the peasant war, conflicts occurred in a series of cities. In this process, the citizen class and the peasants were united.Riots broke out in Elford in 1509 and Regensburg, Brunswick, Speyer, Cologne, Schweinfurt, Worms, Ahern, Osnabluk and other cities in 1511.
Almost all these uprisings were brutally suppressed, and only the Swiss Peasant War, which lasted the longest, finally won.In other uprisings, the situation of the peasants has not generally improved, and they have also been subjected to greater oppression.
Uprising process
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German Peasant War
At the end of March 1525, the troops of the Schwaben Alliance cameUlm。staythe danubeThere are about 5000 farmers gathering to rob local monasteries and aristocratic manors in Lepuheim, not far from the downstream.Therefore, the army of Schwarzenegger Alliance marched to Lephaim, and had defeated many groups of looting farmers on the way.On April 4, the first large-scale battle broke out near Lephaim.The local farmers were defeated.Lipheim had to pay a fine, and the farmer's leader was executed.
In early April of the same year, farmersNeckar Valley andOdenwald Mountainsuprising.On Easter (April 16, 1525), they gatheredVansberg。The uprising peasants will be tortured to death by the hated Count Ludwig von Helfanstein (a son-in-law of the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I) and his knights.This event led to the peasants gaining a reputation of blood and robbery, which made many nobles oppose them.As punishment, Vansberg was burned.The leader of the peasants was burned.The remaining peasants joined up with the peasants led by Florian Gay, a Franken aristocrat, and formed an uprising army of 12000 people.Under the leadership of Guz von Berluscingen, they fought against the armies of the archbishops of Mainz and Vilzburg and the Elector of Pufalz.
On April 12, the army of Schwaben Union fought with the largest peasant army in Boden Lake and won quickly.Farmers were disarmed and each had to pay a high fine.
On April 13, 1525, the army of the Schwab Union had to retreat in front of another peasant army whose military training was relatively good.A day later, he met Argoy's peasant army in Batur Zak.The leader of the Schwaben Union Army negotiated with the farmers and urged them to disarm.On April 20, he reached an agreement with the uprising farmers in Boden Lake in Weingarten.He guaranteed that farmers could retreat safely and let an arbitration court decide their demands.
On April 16, 1525, farmers gathered in Wuerttemberg, about 8000 people occupied Stuttgart first, and moved to Bobringen in May.
There are also some farmers gathered in Schweibischhar and Schweibischgmund. About 3000 people robbed the monasteries of Rauch and Mulhad, and Hohenschdorfinburg was burned.There were also monasteries and castles looted and burned in Krichgao and Ortennau.
After the uprising in Boden Lake was quelled, the army of the Schwarzenegger Alliance began to march towards the Neckar River.The peasant army in Balingen, Rothenburg on the bank of the Neckar River, Helen Berg and Boblingen on May 12, 1525 were defeated in large numbers, and their leaders fled south.On June 2, 1525, farmers in the Neckar Valley and Odenwald Mountains were also defeated.
On May 23, 1525, a group of about 18000 Nanhei forest farmers occupied Freiburg.After that, his leader intended to rescue the peasants trapped in Radovzil, but only a few followed him, and most decided to go home to farm.As a result, the number of troops to be liberated was very small, and they were soon wiped out by the army of Ferdinand I.On June 4, 1525, the army of the Schwarzenegger Union met the peasant army led by Guz von Beressingen in Wiltsburg. Guz von Beressingen fled on the pretext of running away the night before the battle, so the peasant army had no leader the next day, and about 8000 peasants died in two hours.
After that, the army of the Schwarzenegger Alliance moved south again and defeated the last group of insurgents in Argoy at the end of July.This army has transferred more than 1000 kilometers in four months.
Previously, on May 15, 1525, the rebel army of Thuringia led by Thomas Mintzer in the Battle of Frankenhausen had been defeated by the lord's army.Minzel was captured and beheaded in Mulhausen on May 27, 1525.Many other minor uprisings were suppressed, and all campaigns and punishments ended in September.
consequence
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Insurgent
The consequences were tragic for the insurgents.It is estimated that about 100000 farmers lost their lives during the crackdown.The surviving peasants were naturally deprived of their public rights and any rights, and anyone had the right to pursue them.Many leaders were executed, and many participants and supporters were punished, some of which were cruel.Many people were sentenced by the lord to beheading, dazzling, and amputating their fingers after the uprising was pacified.There are also many people who are forced to pay fines, and because they have to pay a lot of taxes, they cannot pay these fines at all.Many towns lost their rights because they supported farmers. Some cities lost their court rights, festivals were prohibited, city walls were demolished, all weapons had to be handed in, and hotels were not allowed to open at night.
In some places, the peasant war has brought benefits to the peasants.Some local lords made contracts with farmers to remove the evils of the past (for example, in 1526, the Shiper Imperial Parliament signed such a contract on the issue of Campton Abbey).In many places, the situation of farmers is not so clear as in the past. They do not have to pay taxes to their landlords, but directly to their landlords.
Military leader
For the army leaders who suppressed the peasant uprising, this operation was very fruitful.For example, the leader of the army of the Schwarzenegger Alliance obtained a lot of land in Upper Schwarzenegger.They also took the opportunity to rob and blackmail farmers to pay for their mercenaries.
empire
Some peasant armies (such as in Tyrol) persisted for several years after that.Some peasants deprived of public rights were still bandits in the mountains and forests decades later.But no large-scale peasant uprising broke out in the next 300 years.Until the March Revolution in 1848, the peasantsArticle 12The requirements set out in are fully realized.
The loss of 100000 peasants was a huge blow to the economy of the entire empire.This made the whole German political system have no chance to reform since then, and became the battlefield of other powerful countries in the Thirty Year War.
