The Peasants War, Reformation, Anabaptism and the Swiss and German Constitutions in 1525
13 February 2025
The previous war was less than a generation old, and new acts of violence occurred on both banks along the High and Upper Rhine.
The Peace of Basel (1499) took place during many significant changes. Although historical comparisons are mostly anachronistic (as are current criticisms of our ancient ancestors), it is nevertheless interesting to mention them in the context of the period around 1500 (Humanism-Renaissance) and 2000 (too early for a label).
Printing around 1525. Collection: Dreiländermuseum Lörrach
New communications (printing press (1500), digital media and artificial intelligence (2000), the discovery of new continents (1500), globalisation and exploration of the universe (2000), (radical) reform and protest movements of Protestants, Anabaptists peasants and citizens (1500), presidents (USA), citizens and peasants (various European countries (2000), fear of other religions/countries Ottoman Empire (1500), immigration and terrorism (2000), opposition urban oligarchies/politics-countryside (1500) and urban society-countryside (2000).
The Dreiländer Museum in Lörrach has done that in the informative bilingual exhibition ‘Umbrüche/Ruptures‘. It discusses the revolt of 1525 in the context of the Reformation, particularly the movement of the Anabaptists (Wiedertäufer).
While the future is unknown, the situation around 1500-1525 can be broadly mapped, including the peasant war (Bauernkrieg) and its relation to the Reformation.
Woodcut around 1500. The three classes were the church on the left (praying), nobility on the right (fighting and protecting) and peasants below (working). Private loan during the exhibition
The title ‘Umbrüche’, or upheaval, characterises the period. The privileges of aristocracy and church, oligarchic town councils, church abuses, poverty, hunger, and lack of perspective and co-determination for most of the inhabitants (peasants and poor townspeople at the time) formed the basis for the peasant war of 1525.
However, the Reformation from 1517 onwards was the ideological spark for the uprising:
„Hier liegt die These nahe, dass In der Radikalisierung der reformatorischen Bewegung der revolutionaire Aspekt des Bauernkriegs zu suchen ist. Der Bauernkrieg war eine Massenbewegung. Getragen wurde sie vom Schwung der evangelischen Bewegung, deren Ziele in Bezug auf die Abschaffung des geistlichen Standes die Empörer mit radikalen Mitteln umzusetzen suchten. Überdies zielte der Aufstand mit einem großen Spektrum von beschwerden und Forderungen“, G. Schwerhoff, der Bauernkrieg, blz. 581/583).
The existing power structures of the church, aristocracy, and leading bourgeoisie in the cities became the target of rebellious peasants and disgruntled townspeople. However, the reformers did not want a change in social structures, only a church reform.
Collection: Dreiländermuseum Lörrach
While the reformers could disagree on religious matters (Martin Luther and Huldrych Zwingli, for example), they were united in the (very) violent suppression of the rebels. The Anabaptists deserved the same treatment because this religious movement also challenged existing power structures.
As a result, the Anabaptists and the (Protestant) peasants became allies. Although Anabaptists formally rejected violence, they sometimes sided with the rebellion in this war with weapons.
The Catholic and Protestant areas in the Eidgenossenschaft around 1700. This situation existed from around 1530 onwards. The Catholic regions remained relatively peaceful in 1525. Image: Historisches Museum Baden (CH)
The peasant war of 1525 and Anabaptists in the Eidgenossenschaft
The peasant war that set large parts of central Europe ablaze, particularly southwestern Germany and Alsace, began with the Reformation in Zurich in the Eidgenossenschaft of 13 cantons.
Huldrych Zwingli introduced the Reformation in Zurich around 1524. Soon, opposition to the church and the ‘correct’ interpretation of the Bible translated into German took on a social dimension.
Collection: Dreiländermuseum Lörrach
In this religious reform movement, the peasants saw the momentum for social change for more control, democratisation and change of privileges for landowners.
The peasants organised themselves, and due to the printing press, the movement spread as fast as the Reformation. Riots, iconoclasts, looting, and armed revolt occurred in several cantons, especially in Bern, Zurich, Schaffhausen, Solothurn and Basel.
One notorious example is the looting of the Kartause Ittingen (the Ittinger Klostersturm, 18 July 1524, at the time a subject territory (Untertanengebiet) of the Eidgenossenschaft). It is no coincidence that precisely these cantons were or would soon become Protestant. It even applies to Solothurn, which, after all, was also Protestant for a short period.
Kartause Ittingen today
The pragmatism, willingness to compromise, and moderate repression ensured a quick end to the peasant revolt. The peasants got some concessions, which did not eliminate dissatisfaction on several issues (see, for example, the peasant uprising in 1653). Overall, the compromise model worked satisfactorily.
Only towards Anabaptists did positions remain irreconcilable well into the 18th century, although the number of executions remained limited compared to other countries.
The Roman-German king and emperor, the seven electors left and right next to the ‘imperator’ and other members of the Holy Roman Empire. Collection: Dreiländermuseum Lörrach
Peasant war and Anabaptists in Germany and Alsace
The revolt of peasants, or rather the population (about 80%) outside the cities, and dissatisfied city dwellers quickly spread to areas on the right bank of the Rhine in southwest Germany and from there to northern regions and Alsace.
The motives, role of the Reformation and Reformers, and demands were the same. These were even summarised in the ‘Twelve Articles of Memmingen’ of 15 March 1525 (Die Zwölf Artikel von Memmingen).
The Twelve Articles of Memmingen in contemporary German and the original title page. Collection: Dreiländermuseum Lörrach
By today’s standards, these were moderate and reasonable demands. To the Protestant and Catholic rulers, however, they were ‘heretical’ views that challenged God-created social structures. Unlike the Eidgenossenschaft, however, the rulers in this region were noble dynasties and monarchs who were not willing to compromise in any way.
The Swabian League (Schwäbische Bund), already discussed in a previous article, has now turned against its subjects. The ill-trained peasants were no match for their opponents’ armies. After initial successes and looting of monasteries, churches, castles and other institutions, they suffered defeat after defeat.
The rulers were as ruthless towards these insurgents as they were towards the Anabaptists. The exhibition at the Three Nations Museum focuses on the motives and course of the peasant war and the role of the Anabaptists in this region.
The choreographer and dancer Marie da Silva addresses the ‘Umbrüche’ theme in a video presentation with students of the Lörrach dance school ‘Art & Dance’.
Conclusion
The museum aims to connect the past with the present. However, it does not do so from an anachronistic point of view; it lets the visitors interpret and judge for themselves.
The peasant uprising in the Eidgenossenschaft was short-lived and relatively peaceful. The same goes for the Reformation, although it led to a split into (strictly) Catholic and (strictly) Protestant cantons or divisions into towns, families, and cantons. There were a few more excesses in 1529, 1531, 1656, 1712, and finally, the Sonderbundskrieg of 1847.
Persecution of Anabaptists was also relatively mild, although they were not tolerated in the Eidgenossenschaft either. Catholic and Protestant cantons agreed on that.
The decentralised set-up of cantons, the Landsgemeinden, and the absence of monarchs and their associated dynasties prevented the situation from getting worse. The peaceful division of Appenzell (1597), the Simultaneum and the toleration of Protestant or Catholic communities also indicate this.
Moreover, the Eidgenossenschaft was an alliance of equal Catholic and Protestant cantons. Protestant Bern and Catholic Bern, for example, worked closely together in several areas on an equal footing. Protestant Basel experienced only a brief period of repression of Catholics (1529-1533), and catholic Erasmus (1466-69-1536) was even buried in the protestant Münster in 1536, not far away from the reformer Oekolampad (1482-1531)!
The siege of Molsheim in Alsace in 1610. Alsace was Habsburg territory until 1648 but had Catholic and Protestant areas. Protestant troops besiege the Catholic town of Molsheim in this copper engraving (around 1615). Collection: Dreiländermuseum Lörrach
Political organisation differed in Germany and Alsace despite many free imperial towns (i.e. towns with Reichsunmittelbarkeit). Over a hundred years later (1618-1648, 1672-1697, 1702-1714, 1756-1763), this region was again embroiled in dynastic conflicts, which largely bypassed the Eidgenossenschaft.
To end with the beginning of this contribution. The current period also has developments that make residents anxious and uncertain. However, as one statesman proclaimed around 1976, ‘rien ne dure sans les institutions’.
In this respect, the old Eidgenossenschaft and the new Confederation of 1848 have proven to be the least bad political system in several crises.
It is of great importance that the Three Nations Museum pays attention to the first major organised popular uprising in German territories and puts it in perspective of the Reformation and Anabaptists. After all, every protest or reformation movement stems from several causes; this was true around 1500 and is still true today.
(Source and further information: Gerd Schwerhoff, Der Bauernkrieg. Geschichte einer wilden Handlung, München, 2024; Dreiländermuseum Lörrach)