Fatal Discord
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the nearby Tauber valley: Roy L. Vice, “The Leadership Structure of the Tauber Band During the Peasants’ War in Franconia,” Central European History, 21(2): 175–195, June 1988; Scott and Scribner, German Peasants’ War, 29.
George Metzler: Scott and Scribner, German Peasants’ War, 243–244.
A notorious exception occurred at Weinsberg: Ibid., 29, 32, 158, 236–237; Bax, Peasants War in Germany, 113–133.
rampage through the bishopric of Bamberg: Janssen, History of the German People, vol. 4, 257–260; Endres, “Peasant War in Franconia,” in Scribner and Benecke, German Peasant War of 1525, 77.
The one major holdout was Würzburg: Scott and Scribner, German Peasants’ War, 35; Bax, Peasants War in Germany, 163–175; Endres, “Peasant War in Franconia,” in Scribner and Benecke, German Peasant War of 1525, 76.
swept northward into Hesse and Thuringia: Scott and Scribner, German Peasants’ War, 36–44.
Müntzer arrived: Scott, Thomas Müntzer, 141–146.
Müntzer sent sympathetic preachers: Ibid., 152–153.
“The time has come”: Scott and Scribner, German Peasants’ War, 238; Cohn, Pursuit of the Millennium, 248.
a request from Count Albrecht: See Luther’s Correspondence, vol. 2, no. 672, Luther to Spalatin, April 16, 1525, 305.
The Admonition to Peace: Luther’s Works, vol. 46, 17–43; “We have no one,” 19; Luther endorsed the peasants’ demands, 22–25; As Paul taught at Romans 13, 25–26; all teach that Christians should suffer, 29; “even a child,” 29; “As long as there is a heartbeat,” 32; a “lying preacher,” 38; the peasants should first humbly ask, 38; “Did not Abraham,” 39; “to obey and respect,” 20.
“It is not the case”: Quoted in Scott and Scribner, German Peasants’ War, 238.
continued on through northern and central Thuringia: Bornkamm, Luther in Mid-Career, 376–377; Brecht, Shaping and Defining, 178–179.
The peasants “are forming bands”: Quoted in Scott and Scribner, German Peasants’ War, 159.
estimated that there were 35,000 troops: Bornkamm, Luther in Mid-Career, 375–376.
Almost alone among the princes: Hajo Holborn, History of Modern Germany, vol. 1, The Reformation, 174.
“In many ways”: Quoted in Bornkamm, Luther in Mid-Career, 375.
Luther sent Rühel a letter: Luther’s Works, vol. 49, no. 154, May 4, 1525, 106–112.
CHAPTER 37: THE MURDERING HORDES
“It is not safe for me”: Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 11, no. 1554, February 24, 1525, 54–56.
Capito was now sending: Ibid., vol. 10, no. 1374, July 6, 1523, 44–49.
“My neighbors”: Ibid., vol. 11, no. 1607, September 5, 1525, 262–264.
Basel itself was untouched: Ibid., vol. 11, xi–xiii.
The center of complaint: Ibid., vol. 11, xvi–xvii.
Pierre Cousturier: Ibid., vol. 11, 99, note 10; Rummel, Erasmus and His Catholic Critics, vol. 2, 61–73.
“Mere rhetoricians”: Quoted in James K. Farge, Orthodoxy and Reform in Early Reformation France: The Faculty of Theology of Paris, 1500–1543, 187.
Béda had served as the head: Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 11, no. 1571, introductory note, 95–96; Rummel, Erasmus and His Catholic Critics, vol. 2, 29–59.
Béda sent him a long and menacing letter: Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 11, no. 1579, May 21, 1525, 117–128.
In a lengthy rejoinder to Béda: Ibid., vol. 11, no. 1581, June 15, 1525, 130–162; “labyrinthine intricacies,” 151; “clinging to them,” 153; “A few radical preachers,” 159.
in a letter to Willibald Pirckheimer: Ibid., vol. 11, no. 1603, August 28, 1525, 249–257.
the peasants had overrun Salzburg: Scott and Scribner, German Peasants’ War, 51–52; The Cambridge Modern History, vol. 2, The Reformation, 182; Bax, Peasants War in Germany, 187–213.
“not a few pious men”: Bax, Peasants War in Germany, 205.
In Alsace: Chrisman, Reformation in Strasbourg, 150–153; Janssen, History of the German People, vol. 4, 242–243.
In the Black Forest: Scott and Scribner, German Peasants’ War, 27, 189.
Wine in particular: Bax, Peasants War in Germany, 164–165. “It must . . . be admitted by the best friends of the peasants and their cause,” Bax writes, “that gluttony and wine-bibbing contributed as potently as any other influence to the politically unproductive character of the peasant successes and to that lack of cohesion and discipline which led the way to the final catastrophe and soaked the German soil with the blood of its tillers.”
The peasants’ occupation of Würzburg: Scott and Scribner, German Peasants’ War, 166–169.
a wine war: Bax, Peasants War in Germany, 164.
Karlstadt included: G. H. Williams, Radical Reformation, 71–73; Bax, Peasants War in Germany, 180–181; Vice, “Ehrenfried Kumpf, Karlstadt’s Patron and Peasants’ War Rebel,” Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte, 86: 153–174, 1995. For Karlstadt’s own (somewhat self-exculpatory) account of his experiences during the peasant uprising, see “Apology by Dr. Andreas Carlstadt Regarding the False Charge of Insurrection Which Has Unjustly Been Made Against Him,” in Furcha, Essential Carlstadt, 378–386.
“I was among the peasants”: Quoted in Furcha, Essential Carlstadt, 383.
his pleas grew more urgent: Edwards, Luther and the False Brethren, 73ff.
Against the Robbing and Murdering Hordes: Luther’s Works, vol. 46, 49–55; “are robbing and raging,” 49; “a great fire,” 50; “Therefore,” 50; If a ruler is a Christian, 52; he himself “becomes guilty,” 53; “may be a true martyr,” 53; A “pious Christian,” 54; “Let whoever can stab,” 54.
Philip of Hesse: Scott and Scribner, German Peasants’ War, 39, 159–160.
major center of resistance: Scott, Thomas Müntzer, 161.
the prospect of plunder intervened: Scott and Scribner, German Peasants’ War, 145–147; Scott, Thomas Müntzer, 156.
When Müntzer finally did set out: On the battle of Frankenhausen, see Friedenthal, Luther, 421–424; Scott and Scribner, German Peasants’ War, 289–291; Cohn, Pursuit of the Millennium, 248–251; Scott, Thomas Müntzer, 161–166; Gritsch, Thomas Müntzer, 101–105.
“In your Lutheran gruel”: Quoted in Bornkamm, Luther in Mid-Career, 382–383.
another count, Ernst: Scott and Scribner, German Peasants’ War, 239.
seeking to rouse the camp: Bax, Peasants War in Germany, 264; Cohn, Pursuit of the Millennium, 250.
the peasants broke ranks: Scott and Scribner, German Peasants’ War, 289–291; Friedenthal, Luther, 423; Bax, Peasants War in Germany, 263–266.
“their heads were like”: Quoted in Bax, Peasants War in Germany, 266.
Müntzer, on whose head: Scott and Scribner, German Peasants’ War, 292; Scott, Thomas Müntzer, 166; Gritsch, Thomas Müntzer, 105.
the princes marched their armies: Gritsch, Thomas Müntzer, 109; Bax, Peasants War in Germany, 270; Scott and Scribner, German Peasants’ War, 241, 292–294.
unleashed a vengeful pacification campaign: Scott and Scribner, German Peasants’ War, 149–153; Bax, Peasants War in Germany, 284–291.
on the outskirts of Würzburg: Scott and Scribner, German Peasants’ War, 163–169, 296–298; “like roaming wolves,” 297; “guilty or innocent,” 298.
Margrave Kasimir: Ibid., 299–301; Bax, Peasants War in Germany, 283–284.
Alsace would stand out: Bax, Peasants War in Germany, 312–317; Scott and Scribner, German Peasants’ War, 48, 308.
In the Black Forest: Scott and Scribner, German Peasants’ War, 302–303.
The death toll: Bax, Peasants War in Germany, 353.
No one fared worse: Gritsch, Thomas Müntzer, 105–109; Scott, Thomas Müntzer, 167–169; Scott and Scribner, German Peasants’ War, 239–240; Bax, Peasants War in Germany, 269–270.
On May 25, 1525, Müntzer: Scott, Thomas Müntzer, 169.
Luther received a copy: Scott and Scribner, German Peasants’ War, 291–292.
Nikolaus von Amsdorf wrote: See Luther’s Correspondence, vol. 2, no. 686, Luther to Nikolaus von Amsdorf, May 30, 1525, 319.
“They have gone mad”: Ibid., vol. 2, no. 687, May 30, 1525, 320–322.
To Amsdorf he wrote: Ibid., vol. 2, no. 686, May 30, 1525, 320.
An Open Letter on the Harsh Book: Luther’s Works, vol. 46, 63–85; “rebels at heart,” 65; “this is not a question,” 66; The “Scripture passages,” 70; Those who are advocates, 71; “as I wrote then,” 73; Luther conceded the point, 74; when he had the time, 75; “the donkey needs,” 76; “These are plagues,” 78; is time “to stop complaining,” 79; everyone must help rescue him “by stabbing,” 80; “I would forget my spiritual office,” 81.
Herman Mühlpfort: Quoted in Scott and Scribner, German Peasants’ War, 322–324.
Heinrich von Einsiedel: Bax, Peasants War in Germany, 351–352.
Melanchthon thought that even serfdom: The Cambridge Modern History, vol. 2, 193; Bax, Peasants War in Germany, 352; Robert Kolb, “The Theologians and the Peasants: Conservative Evangelical Reactions to the German Peasants’ Revolt,” Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte, 69: 103–131, 1978.
“What an outcry of Harrow”: Luther’s Correspondence, vol. 2, no. 690, June 15, 1525, 323.
Now he seemed the leader: The Cambridge Modern History, vol. 2, 194; Marius, Martin Luther, 425; MacCulloch, Reformation, 156; Eire, Reformations, 210.
According to Friedrich Engels: Engels, The Peasant War in Germany; “a veritable hymn,” 62; a “magnificent figure,” 47; “a genius’ anticipation,” 66.
The German Democratic Republic: For an image of the note, see Eire, Reformations, 198.
“slew all the peasants”: Luther’s Works, “Table Talk,” vol. 54, 180.
The peasants themselves: Rice and Grafton, Foundations of Early Modern Europe, 183; Hajo Holborn, History of Modern Germany, vol. 1, 176–177.
great flood of popular pamphlets: Holborn, History of Modern Germany, vol. 1, 177.
“priests are arrested”: Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 11, no. 1653, December 24, 1525, to Nicolaas Everaerts, 393.
the margraves Kasimir and George of Brandenburg: Scott and Scribner, German Peasants’ War, 330–331.
Archduke Ferdinand: Bax, Peasants War in Germany, 359.
The current Catholic character: Bainton, Here I Stand, 221.
Luther would imprint German Lutheranism: Marius, Martin Luther, 424, 427–428.
went to the nuptial bed: Luther’s Correspondence, vol. 2, no. 689, Justus Jonas to George Spalatin, June 14, 1525, 322; Martin Marty, Martin Luther, 106.
In a letter to Nikolaus von Amsdorf: Luther’s Correspondence, vol. 2, no. 695, June 21, 1525, 329. See also Brecht, Shaping and Defining, 197.
“Everywhere the smoke”: Quoted in Friedenthal, Luther, 432.
Writing to his friend Joachim Camerarius: Luther’s Correspondence, vol. 2, no. 692, June 16, 1525, 324–327.
decided to hold a very public feast: Friedenthal, Luther, 438–439.
to Leonhard Koppe: Luther’s Correspondence, vol. 2, no. 694, June 21, 1525, 328–329.
In a letter to John Rühel: Ibid., vol. 2, no. 690, June 15, 1525, 323.
Karlstadt on June 12 had written: Ibid., vol. 2, no. 703, Luther to Elector John, September 12, 1525, 336–337; Luthers Werke, Briefwechsel, vol. 3, no. 889, 429–430. Karlstadt’s epithets against Luther are cited in Against the Heavenly Prophets, Luther’s Works, vol. 40, 186.
he would live in secret: See Luther’s Works, vol. 49, no. 158, to John Briessmann [after August 15] 1525, 120–125, in which Luther reports that “that miserable man found a secret refuge in my house.” See also Edwards, Luther and the False Brethren, 79–80.
CHAPTER 38: FATAL DISSENSION
“oblivious of everything”: Quoted in Friedenthal, Luther, 439; For a full year: Bainton, Here I Stand, 226.
“has strange thoughts”: Luther’s Works, vol. 54, “Table Talk,” 191.
“Doctor, is the grandmaster”: Ibid.
“I must be patient”: Luthers Werke, Tischreden, vol. 2, no. 2173A, 347; Friedenthal, Luther, 446.
proved an astute household manager: On Katharina’s life with Luther, see Kirsi Stjerna, Women and the Reformation, 51–70; Roland H. Bainton, Women of the Reformation in Germany and Italy, 29–43; Bainton, Here I Stand, 226–228; Friedenthal, Luther, 434–444; Bornkamm, Luther in Mid-Career, 411–415; Brecht, Shaping and Defining, 201–204.
also received twenty guldens: Friedenthal, Luther, 439.
sent to Gabriel Zwilling: Luther’s Works, vol. 49, no. 163, January 2, 1526, 142.
“It is a good thing that God”: Ibid., vol. 54, “Table Talk,” 23.
Luther acquired a lathe: Luther’s Correspondence, vol. 2, no. 758, Luther to Wenzel (Wenceslas) Link, May 19, 1527, 399.
to Wenceslas Link: Luther’s Works, vol. 49, no. 173, July 5, 1527, 166–167.
he would not be able to attend: Luther’s Correspondence, vol. 2, no. 715, November 11, 1525, 352–353.
he sent Spalatin a racy message: Ibid., vol. 2, no. 719, December 6, 1525, 355–356.
Duke George’s succinct greeting: Quoted in Ozment, Serpent and the Lamb, 178.
Monachopornomachia: Friedenthal, Luther, 432; Roper, Martin Luther, 364–366.
“a few days after the singing”: Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 11, no. 1633, to Daniel Mauch, October 10, 1525, 323–326.
“Luther is now becoming more moderate”: Ibid., vol. 11, no. 1653, to Nicolaas Everaerts, December 24, 1525, 392–393.
appeared in twelve editions: See Universal Short Title Catalogue (ustc.ac.uk); Pettegree, Brand Luther, 233.
Seven Strasbourg theologians: Luthers Werke, Briefwechsel, vol. 3, no. 797, November 23, 1524, 381–387; Bornkamm, Luther in Mid-Career, 417.
Joachim Camerarius: Brecht, Shaping and Defining, 225.
“I am altogether”: Luther’s Correspondence, vol. 2, no. 704, September 27, 1525, 337–338.
The Bondage of the Will: Luther’s Works, vol. 33, 15–295.
he would later say: Ibid., vol. 50, no. 282, to Wolfgang Capito, July 9, 1537, 171–174.
What for Erasmus was a lively clash: See Smith, Erasmus, 351.
“That I have taken so long”: Luther’s Works, vol. 33, 15–16; Erasmus had treated the subject, 16; “refuse or ordure,” 16; “but sheer disgust,” 17; “is a pure fiction,” 18; Luther hoped that, 19; “Take away assertions,” 21; “a Lucian or some other pig,” 24; Luther took similar offense, 24–28; Das ist zu viel, 29; “by his immutable,” 37; “to know that God,” 43; “far more important than faith,” 50; “it ought to be asserted,” 50; “Truth and doctrine,” 56; “Tumults, commotions,” 53; “has no free choice,” 70; “like a beast of burden,” 65; On God’s hardening of the pharaoh’s heart, 164–175; Judas, he maintained, 185, 195; “something that even,” 127; “I am amazed,” 151; “that sharp Greek mind,” 83; gleefully mocked Erasmus’s title, 125, 128; “See how the invincible,” 115; “No one since the Pelagians,” 107; “stands unshaken,” 205; Diatribe “is baffled and beaten,” 210–211; “if we believe,” 293; his own “special gift,” 294; “I for my part,” 295.
The deities described: For a discussion of this contrast, see Ozment, Age of Reform, 290–302; Smith, Erasmus, 352–354; Marty, Martin Luther, 130–133.
taken up and amplified by John Calvin: Smith, Erasmus, 354.
“Man himself”: Immanuel Kant, Religion Within the Limits of Reason Alone, trans. Theodore M. Greene and Hoyt H. Hudson, 40. On the similarities between the ideas of Erasmus and Kant, see E. C. Galbraith, “Kant and Erasmus,” Scottish Journal of Theology, 46(2): 191–212, January 1993. “We may conclude,” Galbraith writes (210), “that there are good grounds not only for considering Erasmus to be the forerunner of Kant, but also for placing Kant’s thought, especially with regard to evil and salvation, closer to Catholic doctrine than to Lu
ther.”
Luther finished his book: Luther’s Works, vol. 49, note 3, 140.
it would be reprinted: See Universal Short Title Catalogue (ustc.ac.uk).
was creating a new religious model: Volker Leppin, in the introduction to The Bondage of the Will in The Annotated Luther, vol. 2, Word and Faith, ed. Kirsi I. Stjerna, observes (156) that Luther in this work “laid the grounds for the fundamentalist Lutheran understanding of the infallibility of Scripture and its centrality in Lutheran theology, especially prominent in so-called Lutheran orthodoxy.” Marius (Martin Luther, 468) writes that “for those who admire Luther and his treatise, it stands as an unequivocal assertion of God’s sovereignty, stirring as some declaration of war or a brave defiance that comes with a refusal to surrender to overwhelming forces. To us in the late twentieth century, who have lived through declarations of war, defiant refusals to surrender, and the willingness of zealots of all sorts both to be martyrs to their causes and to kill others in the name of their righteousness, Luther’s uncompromising rhetoric reeks of sadness and futility and of bloodshed to come in rivers of anguish throughout Europe and the Americas.”
he could not obtain a copy: Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 12, xiii–xiv.
“so as to prejudice”: Ibid., vol. 12, no. 1678, to Michel Boudet, March 13, 1526, 81.
“No matter what I do”: Ibid., vol. 11, no. 1624, to Thomas Lupset [October 4] 1525, 307.
a group of Dominicans collaborated: Ibid., vol. 11, no. 1571, to Noël Béda, April 28, 1525, 101, note 14.
Jacobus Latomus: Ibid., vol. 11, 146, note 58; vol. 12, xvi.
a group of “rabble-rousers”: Ibid., vol. 11, no. 1554, to Jean Lalemand, February 24, 1525, 56; vol. 12, 165, note 6.
a committee appointed by the Sorbonne: Farge, Orthodoxy and Reform in Early Reformation France, 191.
Pierre Cousturier: Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 12, no. 1687, to Willem Bibaut, April 7, 1526, 133.
Noël Béda published a collection: Ibid., vol. 12, no. 1721, to the Parlement of Paris, June 14, 1526, introductory note, 237. See also Rummel, Erasmus and His Catholic Critics, vol. 2, 33–37.