Comparing The Protestant Reformation And The Peasant's War

During the early 1520s, a series of events changed the very foundation of Europe, effectively splitting one of the most powerful institutions of that time. The Protestant Reformation and the Peasant’s War that followed greatly shaped Western Civilization and Christianity While it started as just another theologian debate premise, it soon grew and was adopted by the common man who sought to better not only the church but society as a whole. In 1525, the line between Christianity, rebellion and violence began to blur in southern Germany as the ideals and rhetoric of the reformation unexpectedly incited a rebellion known as the Peasants War.

On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther, a knowledgeable theologian and scholar, posted a list of grievances

Civil unrest was growing in the years leading to the Reformation and peasants used this opportunity of a popular movement to address some very real and important concerns. Martin Luther had posted the 95 Thesis at a time where Germany’s population was increasing resulting in an all-around higher cost of living. “Real wages deteriorated, as price inflation outpaced wage increases, and the purchasing power of money fell.” (Baylor 4) Lords were also looking to reinstate serf-like requirements by raising renting fees to reacquire land and stockpile natural resources. As is the case with politics of this time, religion was heavily involved; the lords began to affiliate with the Church. In local churches, they would often take a portion of the tithes and would appoint clerics they favored as pastors. This may have caused peasants to associate the Church and their lords closely with one another, further interweaving the two. This association can be seen in the Twelve Articles, whereas two of the twelve had to do with religious reformation, the other ten articles dealt with property rights and wages. However, the Twelve Articles used the Bible as the basis for their claims and even stated, “...that if one or more of the articles we have composed here is not in accordance with the word of God, we will retract these articles, if they can be shown to be improper with the Word of God.”

However, when the rebellion began, and Luther released his statement condemning the insurrection, Müntzer opposed Luther's view, believing he was a sympathizer for the feudal lords. Müntzer, in fact, was "the first to legitimize ... armed rebellion against impious rulers." (Baylor 13). His core beliefs dealt heavily with iconoclasm as well as social issues such as living wages. Müntzer even created a group of his followers called the Union or League of the Elect (Bund der Auserwählten) which, at one point, burned down a local convents shrine to the Virgin Mary. He became so outspoken that Catholic lords of the region prohibited any of their subjects from attending his services, even threatening to raid their homes and/or villages if they did. Müntzer significantly contributed to escalating tensions during the reformation and further blurred the line as to the purpose of the Peasant's