THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE LUTHERAN REFORMATION

THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE LUTHERAN REFORMATION

1. THE KNIGHTS WAR (1522-3)

   • Knights wanted to politically change their status to how it was beforehand
   • Leaders; Hutten & Sickingen
     • Hutten; Skillful writings against the Pope & produced propoganda for Germans to join Lutheranism
     • Sickingen; experienced in minor wars & offered his services to protect Lutheranism
   • Attacked the city of Trier (1522) - owned by the Catholic Church (done in the name of the Lutheran reformation)
   • Failure
   • German princes attacked; hunted down & killed
   • Luther wanted nothing to do with it - he wanted a religious change
   • Printed images showed Luther fighting with Hutten against the Pope - presented false information to the public, who thought Luther wanted to oppose authority

2. PEASANT'S WAR 1524-5

   • part of a long serious outbreaks of violence including the Bundaschuh movement
   • Mainly peasants, but nobles & townspeople participated
   • bad harvests & famines (1500-24) - discontent was shown through protest
   • South & West of Germany - peasant freedom restricted (labour increase, can't seek food in a Lord's forest)
   • Rapid population increase - more division of land (in central Germany sometimes the land wasn't enough to feed a family)
   • Increase of taxes
   • Peasants had to pay tithes (tenth of their products a year) to support the Church
   • Began in south & rapidly moved to central Germany
   • Monasteries, convents, churches looted
   • No clear aims or leadership
     • Aims written down in the Twelve Articles of Memmingen - mixture of economic & religious factors possibly inspired by Luther
   • Philip of Hesse & Elector Fredrick crushed the rebels
   • LUTHER & THE PEASANTS' WAR
     • Blickle said that Luther greatly appealed to the rural populations
       • Lutheran preachers attracted large crowds - people would then report back in the town/city wherever they came from, thus the reformation would spread
       • Luther message was that the 'common man' was the ideal christian
       • Limited knowledge about whether the peasants actually understood Luther's views, especially, 'sole fide'
       • Cheap woodcuts show a negative view of the monks & popes - not a positive outlook of what Luther was trying to teach
       • Message seemed to be that now was the time for the poor to rise up & change the social order
     • Luther always sided with authority
       • BUT blamed them for not treating the common man fairly & for taxing them too much
     • Peasant's war of 1524-5 = Luther demanded swift action to end the rebellion
       • 'Rebellion brings with it a land full of murders & bloodshed...It is just as one must kill a mad dog'
       • Turned peasants away from Luther but convinced the Princes that Luther was on their side