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The Peasants' War: A Historiographical Review: Part II*

Part of: Historiographical Reviews

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

Tom Scott
Tom Scott
Affiliation:
University of Liverpool
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Historiographical Review
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The Historical Journal , Volume 22 , Issue 4 , December 1979 , pp. 953 - 974
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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1979

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References

144 Stalnaker in Wehler (4), pp. 43–4. His criticism hardly applies to Blickle, who has recognized the usefulness of a dialogue between historians in East and West and who has done more than anyone else to bring it about. He has always argued, moreover, that the peasants' deteriorating economic situation was a vital precondition of revolt.

145 Buszello (3), pp. 33–4, summarizing his analysis of the actions of the peasants in the margraviate of Baden-Baden, the bishopric of Speyer and the Electoral Palatinate.

146 Cf. the analysis of the Bundschuh revolts on the Upper Rhine in Scott (as note 83), pp. 413–30. This point is also stressed for the Peasants' War itself by Bücking in Wehler (4), p. 176. Cp., however, Endres's remarks on Franconia, where he ascribes the lack of revolutionary demands mainly to the complicated and confusing territorial pattern of the region which could not help but impose upon the peasants the chronic blinkered vision (Lokalborniertheit) which Engels so bewailed. Endres, , Blätter für deutsche Landesgeschichte, CIX (1973), p. 68Google Scholar.

147 Buszello (3), p. 56 (cf. note 111 above).

148 Scott (as note 112), passim.

149 Rublack in Moeller (5), pp. 58–68, esp. 64 f.Cf. Rublack, , Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte, LXVII (1976), 76–100Google Scholar.

150 Ibid. pp. 96–9.

151 This mày ultimately call into question Blickle's underlying assumption that the Peasants' War divides neatly into two distinct phases: (1) a ‘phoney war’ under the old law until the spring of 1525; (2) thereafter real or open war once the peasants had embraced divine justice and formed Christian Unions. On a simple level this distinction holds, but there were undeniable attempts at mass revolutionary action beforehand (e.g. Hans Müller's campaign in the Black Forest round Villingen in Dec. 1524). And it has recently convincingly been demonstrated that the Swabian League was actively anticipating and preparing for war from Aug. 1524 onwards. Greiner, Christian, ‘Die Politik des Schwabischen Bundes wahrend des Bauernkrieges 1524/1525 bis zum Vertrag von Weingarten’, Zeitschrift des historischen Vereins für Schwaben, LXVIII (1974), 7–94Google Scholar.

152 Bücking in Wehler (4), pp. 188 f.

153 Ibid. p. 189.

154 Rublack, , Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte, LXVII (1976), 82–94Google Scholar.

155 Blickle, Peter, ‘Die Funktion der Landtage im “Bauernkrieg”’, Historische Zeitschrift, CCXXI (1975), 1–17CrossRefGoogle Scholar, esp. 16.

156 Siegfried Hoyer, Das Militärwesen im deutschen Bauernkrieg 1524–1526. Militär historische Studien, XVI (Neue Folge) (Berlin, 1975). This may be supplemented by the study of Saverne, scene of one of the War's most decisive battles, in Alphonse Wollbrett, ‘Saverne-Lupstein dans le tourmente’, in idem (11), pp. 55–66. Note also two studies of the organizational impact and function of musical instruments and bell-ringing in rallying support, intimidating opposition and fuelling defiance: Erich Stockmann, ‘Trommeln und Pfeifen im deutschen Bauernkrieg’, in Strobach (12), pp. 288–308; Doris Stockmann, ‘Der Kampf um die Glocken im deutschen Bauernkrieg’, in Strobach (12), pp. 309–40. Cf. also the interesting discussion of a hitherto neglected letter describing the mood of the Swabian troops in Obermann in idem (6), pp. 168 f.

157 Bücking in Wehler (4), pp. 181–4.

158 Blickle (1), pp. 172–3.

159 Ibid. p. 174.

160 Ibid. pp. 156–64.

161 Ibid. pp. 165–9.

162 Ibid. pp. 169–71

163 Cf. Heinz Stoob, ‘Minderstädte: Formen der Stadtentstehung im Spätmittelalter’, in idem, Forschungen zum Städtewesen in Europa, I (Cologne/Vienna, 1970), 225–45.

164 Cf. Bücking's argument that the more socially differentiated and technically progressive the larger towns (e.g. Constance, Salzburg, Freiburg), the more aggressive and antagonistic they were towards the peasants. Idem in Wehler (4), p. 173.

165 Cf. Erich Maschke and Jürgen Sydow (eds.), Stadt und Umland: Protokoll der X. Arbeitstagung des Arbeitskreises für südwestdeutsche Stadtgeschichtsforschung 1971 in Calw. Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für geschichtliche Landeskunde in Baden-Wüirttemberg, Reihe B, LXXXII (Stuttgart, 1974). The article by Franz, Günther, ‘Das Verhätnis von Stadt und Land zwischen Bauernkrieg und Bauernbefreiung’, Studium Generate, XVI (1963), 558–64Google Scholar, is a jejune review. Cf. the important study by Nicholas, David M., Town and countryside: social, economic and political tensions in fourteenth-century Flanders (Bruges, 1971)Google Scholar.

166 Kiessling, Rolf, ‘Stadt-Land Beziehungen im Spätmittelalter: Überlegungen zur Problemstellung und Methode anhand neuerer Arbeiten vorwiegend zu süddeutschen Beispielen’, Zeitschrift für bayerische Landesgeschichte, XL (1977), 829–67Google Scholar. In this otherwise valuable survey of the current state of research Kiessling adopts an entirely urban focus to the question. Certainly he is right to suggest that geographers' emphasis on centrality is historically inadequate to comprehend the complexity of town-country relations in the Middle Ages (it ignores, for instance, the influence of seigneurial rights and jurisdictions), but to say that a hierarchy of centres determined by functional importance is intrinsically too static a model quite overlooks the dynamic of immanent change at the heart of the method pioneered by Walter Christaller, Die zentralen Orte in Süddeutschland (reprint Darmstadt, 1968).

167 Scott (as note 26). Cf. de Vries, Jan, The Dutch rural economy in the golden age (New Haven/London, 1974)Google Scholar.

168 This is demonstrated for Saxony by Blaschke, although his emphasis is naturally on the consequences of early capitalism. In a brilliantly cogent passage he declares: ‘Es lag in der Konsequenz des mit der Arbeitsteilung verbundenen Fortschritts, dass er nach seiner anfänglichen Konzentration in den Städten auch auf das Land ausgedehnt wurde. Das Ziel dieses Ausgleichs musste es sein, die wirtschaftliche Sonderstellung der Stadt zu beseitigen…auch für die Dorfbevölkerung ein Recht auf Handwerk und Gewerbedurchzusetzen. Dieses Ziel ist lange vor…Agrarreform und Gewerbefreiheit erreicht worden…sondern nur im Laufe eines harten, von beiden Seiten erbittert geführten Konkurrenzkampfes…, [eine Entwicklung], die zugunsten der Dorfbevölkerung und zuungunsten des städtischen Monopolanspruchs auf Handel und Gewerbe ausschlug.’ Blaschke (as note 43), pp. 160–1. This argument effectively disposes of Oberman's contention: ‘Bei einem überspitzt konstruierten Gegensatz zwischen “Stadt” und “Land” ist von vornherein auch für den Bauernkrieg zu bedenken, dass der Markt in den Städten als Organisationseinheit des Landes betrachtet werden muss.’ Oberman in idem (6), p. 157, n, I; cp. idem, Harvard Theological Review, LXIX, 1/2 (1976), 103, n. 1. The point might have carried more weight if Oberman had recognized not only that the peasants preferred to visit the nearer, more convenient village markets wherever possible, but also that they constantly complained about the shady practices of urban market stallholders who tried to dupe what they took to be bovine rustics.

169 Blaschke (as note 43), p. 161; Scott (as note 112), section vi; idem (as note 26); idem (as note 83), pp. 112–18. Evidence up to 1525 in printed sources is infrequent, but cf. Franz, Aktenband (as note 108), pp. 24–5 (Salzburg, 1495); Fritz Steinegger and Richard Schober (eds.), Die durch den Landtag 1525 (12. Juni–21. Juli) erledigten ‘Partikularbeschwerden’ der Tiroler Bauern (Tiroler Landesarchiv, Handschriften Nr. 2889). Tiroler Geschichtsquellen, III (Innsbruck, 1976), 1, 68 (South Tirol, 1525). Amongst unpublished material for the area of the Peasants' War cf. the conflict between Villingen and its Fürstenberg hinterland (Stadtarchiv Villingen, E 7 (692); E 13a (2942); Generallandesarchiv Karlsruhe 184/479); the complaints of the Breisgau towns (1483, 1517f) (Landesregierungsarchiv Tirol, Kanzleibücher, ältere Reihe, Lit. D (1483), fo. 163; Stadtarchiv Freiburg im Breisgau, C 1, Landstände I (1453–1517), 3 (1517–20)); the grievances of the Outer Austrian towns' estates (1524) (Generallandesarchiv Karlsruhe 79/1657). After 1525 the sources are full of town-country conflicts.

170 Blickle (1), p. 157.

171 Ibid. pp. 165, 167.

171 Buck, Containment of civil insurrection (as note 81), p. 178. His analysis, however, is somewhat vague. He refers to ‘a “group” of urban rebels…which was sympathetic to the peasants' cause…The members…included artisans' apprentices, journeymen and radical printers’, without examining its size, formation, ultimate aims or even its contacts with the peasantry.

173 Jean-Laurent Vonau, ‘La Guerre des Paysans dans l'Outre-Forêt’, in Wollbrett (II), p. 41.

174 André-Marcel Burg, ‘La Guerre des Paysans dans la région de Haguenau’, in Wollbrett (II), p. 50.

175 Jean Rott, ‘Artisanat et mouvements sociaux è Strasbourg autour de 1525’, in Artisans et ouvriers d'Alsace. Publications de la société savante d'Alsace et des rég;ions de l'est, IX (Strasbourg, 1965), 148–9. It is highly instructive to compare the accounts of events in Strasbourg during 1525 given by Rott and Blickle. From Rott's account (pp. 146–8), a subtle and convincing attempt to recreate the atmosphere and mentality of the city in the face of crisis, there emerges the picture of a council clearly in control of the situation, cleverly directing opinion by appeals to civic solidarity and mutual protection. Cf. also idem, ‘La Guerre des Paysans et la ville de Strasbourg’, in Wollbrett (II), pp. 23–32. Blickle, on the other hand, describes a city in turmoil, with widespread latent opposition to the council and sympathy for the peasants. Idem (1), pp. 166–7. Rott's brilliant account, with its almost tangible sense of place, conveys a much greater feel for reality than Blickle's.

176 Schrieber, Heinrich (ed.), Der deutsche Bauemkrieg: Gleichzeitige Urkunden (Urkundenbuch der Stadt Freiburg im Breisgau, Neue Folge) (Freiburg, 1863–1866), part II, 22–4Google Scholar, Nr. OLX. What the document (an affidavit to keep the peace) says is that a group of inhabitants had sought to persuade the council not to imprison its subjects over civil cases and not to embark on any further military expeditions. Since the document is dated 8 Mar. 1525 it presumably refers mainly to the troops sent in Dec. 1524 to relieve Villingen from Hans Müller's armies. Cp. the corresponding affidavits of the same date in Stadtarchiv Freiburg, A xi, 482 and 483.

177 Cf. the affidavits in Stadtarchiv Freiburg, A iv b 33 (partly printed in Schreiber, Bauemkrieg, part III, 127–8, Nr. CCCCLII) and 34. Cf. also the description of events in Freiburg during the May siege, A vi a 37.

178 Stadtarchiv Freiburg, A XI, 484, 487 and 488; C 1, Diener und Dienste (Ratsbesatzung, 1520–1702); Schreiber, Bauernkrieg, part III, 105–7, Nr. ccccxxxv.

179 Ibid. The 1523 tallage lists mention most of the conspirators as members of the winegrowers' gild. Stadtarchiv Freiburg, E 1 A II a 1, 1523.

180 Kenzingen, cowed by the forcible suppression of Lutheran preaching and the expulsion of its pastor, Jakob Otter, in 1524, remained quiet.

181 Rudolf Endres, ‘Zünfte und Unterschichten als Elemente der Instabilität in den Städten’, in Blickle (2), pp. 169–70.

182 Oberman in idem (6), pp. 162 f.; cp. idem, Harvard Theological Review, LXIX, 1/2 (1976), 109 f.

183 This recognition is entirely missing in Oberman's remark: ‘Gegenüber der KonItruktion eines Gegensatzes zwischen Stadt und Land ist die Gemeinschaftsform des Dorfes zu berücksichtigen.’ Idem in idem (6), n. 23.

184 Cf. Scott (as note 83), pp. 467–505.

185 Cf. Scott (as note 112).

186 Karl Czok, ‘Bauernkriegsereignisse im Leipziger Land’, in (13), pp. 9–34. In view of the Marxist emphasis on the role of revolutionary ideology in the genesis of social protest it is worth quoting his altogether remarkable conclusion (pp. 22–3): ‘Wie diese Beispiele zeigen, bedeutete die reformatorische Bewegung zur Bauernkriegszeit auch in den kleinen Stadten, die in ihrer sozialökonomischen Struktur sich gar nicht so sehr von den Dörfern unterschieden, nicht notwendigerweise Teilnahme der Bürgerschaft an den revolutionären Aktionen bzw. führte nicht zum Hinüberwachsen in revolutionäre soziale und politische Aktionen in den Städten. Ein breites Bündnis hat es im Leipziger Land nicht gegeben.’ In Leipzig itself, however, the petit-bourgeois and plebeian opposition set all its hopes in the support of the surrounding peasantry. Cf. idem, ‘Zur sozialökonomischen Struktur und politischen Rolle der Vorstädte in Sachsen und Thüringen im Zeitalter der deutschen frühbürgerlichen Revolution’, Wissenschajtliche Zeitschrift der Karl-Marx Universitdt Leipzig, xxiv (1975), 53–68.

187 Helmut Bräuer, ‘Zu den Februarereignissen 1524 in Chemnitz’, in (13), pp. 35–51. Bräuer ascribes (p. 50) the lack of active solidarity between town and country to the absence of an influential ideologue (a radical preacher).

188 Cf. Wollbrett in idem (II), p. 56; Georges Bischoff, ‘La Haute-Alsace et la Guerre des Paysans’, in Wollbrett (II), p. 114. For the Bundschuh revolts cf. Scott (as note 83), esp. pp. 479 f.

189 Wunder in Wehler (4), p. 35; Bücking in Wehler (4), p. 185; Sabean (as note 37), p. 222. Press pleads for a greater analysis of town-country relations in the diffusion of reforming ideas and the development of social protest: idem, Nassauische Annalen, LXXXVI (1975), 175. In this context the function of brokers was decisive.

190 Buck, Containment of civil insurrection (as note 81); cf. Vogler, Günter, ‘Ein Vorspiel des deutschen Bauernkrieges im Nürnberger Landgebiet 1524’, in Der Bauer im Klassenkampf: Studien zur Geschichte des deutschen Bauernkrieges und der bäuerlichen Klassenkämpfe im Spätfeudalismus, eds. Heitz, Gerhard, Laube, Adolf, Steinmetz, Max and Vogler, Günter (Berlin, 1975), pp. 49–81Google Scholar.

191 There was, as Buck shows, unrest in all parts of Nuremberg's contado, but it failed to spill over into the city. Memmingen's villages remained at peace. Brickie (1), p. 161.

192 Cf. Buszello (3), pp. 133–4; Blickle (1), pp. 152 f.

193 Ibid. p. 175; Franz, Bauernkrieg (as note 108), pp. 171–2.

194 The best analytic survey is by Endres in Blickle (2), pp. 151–70 (with bibliographical references). Amongst recent works cf. Buck, Containment of civil insurrection (as note 81), whose monograph, though admirably clear, begs several important questions; Thomas A. Brady Jr, Ruling class, regime and Reformation at Strasbourg 1520–1555. Studies in Medieval and Reformation Thought, XXII (Leiden, 1978); Arnold, Klaus, ‘Die Stadt Kitzingen im Bauernkrieg’, Mainfränkisches Jahrbuch für Geschichte und Kunst, XXVII (1975), 11–50Google Scholar; idem, ‘Spätmittelalterliche Sozialstruktur, Bürgeropposition und Bauernkrieg in der Stadt Kitzingen’, Jahrbuch für fränkische Landesforschung, xxxvi (1976), 173–214; Hans-Christoph Rublack (as note 128); Hans-Otto Gericke, ‘Zum Klassencharakter der Volksbewegungen in Magdeburg während der frühbürgerlichen Revolution’, in (13), pp. 52–78; Günther Wölfing, ‘Die Burger kämpfe in den Städten Schmalkalden, Wasungen und Meiningen von 1476 bis 1525’, in (13), pp. 73–91; Scott (as note 112). More generally cf. the volumes in the new series Spätmittelalter und Frühe Neuzeit: Tübinger Beiträge zur Geschichtsforschung, eds. Engel, Josef and Zeeden, Ernst Walter (Stuttgart, 1978 f.)Google Scholar, the results of computer-aided research undertaken by the Sonderforschungsbereiche of the University of Tübingen. For town-country relations in the late Middle Ages cf. the bibliographical references in Kiessling (as note 166).

195 Otthein Ramstedt, ‘Stadtunruhen 1525’, in Wehler (4), pp. 239–6, esp. 271.

196 Endres in Blickle (2), pp. 168–9.

197 Struck (10), pp. 76 f.

198 E.g. Huppertz, Räume und Schichten (as note 55), pp. 240 f.

199 Except, of course, by Marxists (cf. Laube in Blickle (2), p. 90). The role of market integration is stressed, however, by Sabean (as note 37), p. 223. Cf. also the scathing remarks by Stalnaker in Wehler (4), pp. 44 f.

200 Blickle (1), pp. 174–7. His views are severely challenged in an important recent revision article by Ludwig, Karl-Heinz, ‘Bergleute im Bauernkrieg’, Zeitschrift für historische Forschung, v (1978), 23–47Google Scholar.

201 E.g. Bensing, Müntzer (as note 143), p. 182.

202 Adolf Laube, ‘Zum Problem des Búndnisses von Bergarbeitern und Bauern ira deutschen Bauernkrieg’, in Der Bauer im Klassenkampf (as note 190), pp. 91 f. Cf. Endres in Blickle (2), pp. 166–7.

203 Laube, ‘Bergarbeiter’, p. 98. The reasons for the alliances in Joachimsthal are not clear. Ibid. p. 104. Cf. Ingrid Mittenzwei, Der Joachimsthaler Aufstand 1525: Seine Ursachen und Folgen. Deutsche Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, Schriften des Instituts für Geschichte, Reihe 3, VI (Berlin, 1968). Cf. also Carlowitz, Horst, ‘Die revolutionäre Bewegung der Bergleute in den Silberstadten Annaberg, Märienberg und Geyer wahrend des Bauernaufstandes 1525’, Sächsische Heimatsblätter, XVI (1970)Google Scholar. In general, cf. Laube, Silberbergbau (as note 41), pp. 182–267.

204 Idem, ‘Bergarbeiter’, p. 107. On the lack of underlying solidarity cf. ibid. pp. 105–6; and the programmatic statement that there is no known instance of peasants ever coming to the aid of miners during the period of industrial unrest between 1450 and 1526, and that miners only on occasion came to the aid of peasants: Helmut Wilsdorf, ‘Kulturelle Entwicklungen im Montanbereich während der Zeit der frühbürgerlichen Revolution’, in Strobach (12), pp. 108–9. For Tirol cf. Laube, Adolf, ‘Der Aufstand der Schwazer Bergarbeiter 1525 und ihre Haltung im Tiroler Bauernkreig’, Jahrbuch für Geschichte des Feudahsmus, II (1978), 225–58Google Scholar (cp. preliminary version in Die Bauemkriege und Michael Gaismatr (as note 141)). In addition cf. Laube, , ‘Einige Bemerkungen zur Bündnisfrage in den Bauernbewegungen vor und während der fruhbürgerlichen Revolution in Deutschland’, in Aus der Geschichte der ostmitteleuropaischen Bauernbewegungen im 16. und 17. Jahrhundert, ed. Heckenart, G. (Budapest, 1977), p. 359Google Scholar. While the remarks on miners reflect the quality of his studies elsewhere, Laube in this article seriously overestimates indeed misrepresents, the willingness of peasants and burghers to ally and the extent of their common interests (e.g. in the case of Waldshut and Freiburg).

205 Blickle (1), pp. 177–9; in summary, idem in idem (2), pp. 127–31. Cf. Horst Buszello, contribution to discussion, in Blickle (2), p. 332. Buszello shares Blickle's cautious definition, but the latter argues, ibid., that the ‘common man’ should be taken to include the inhabitants of the territorial towns per se and those in the Imperial Free Cities who were herrschaftsunfähig. This is more, as I read it, than what Blickle is claiming in (1), p. 179.

206 Wunder in Wehler (4), pp. 31 f., who stresses the Samland peasants' reluctance to see their existing social differentiations levelled downwards into a unitary subjection; Stalnaker in Wehler (4), pp. 50 f., who emphasizes differentiation in the wake of economic specialization; Sabean (9), pp. 36 f.

207 Idem (as note 37), p. 225.

208 Heinz Schilling, ‘Aufstandsbewegungen in der Stadtbürgerlichen Gesellschaft des Alten Reiches: Die Vorgeschichte des Münsteraner Tauferrekhs, 1525–1534’, in Wehler (4), pp. 237–8. Although not directly concerned with the Peasants' War, this article is, in methodology and content, perhaps the most brilliant and original which the anniversary has produced. Its analysis of the course of inner-urban conflict in Münster is not only a model for all other research projects into urban protest, it is also a highly significant contribution to our understanding of Anabaptism.

209 Buszello (3), p. 144.

210 press, ‘Herrschaft, Landschaft und “Gemeiner Mann”’ (as note 73), p. 178; Scott (as note 26).

211 E.g. Max Steinmetz, ‘Die dritte Etappe der fruhburgerlichen Revolution: Der deutsche Bauernkrieg 1524 bis 1526’, in Wohlfeil (7), pp. 65–6.

212 Struck ascribes ‘revolutionary character’ to the revolt on the Middle Rhine, but makes no attempt to define the term: idem (10), p. 75. Buszello, whose analysis of the peasants' programmes is both subtle and penetrating, wisely refrains from saying whether their results would have been revolutionary or reformatory: idem in Blickle (2), p. 295. The historiography of the Peasants' War suffers from an acute reluctance to define such terms as ‘revolution’ and ‘revolutionary crisis’, a criticism which applies even to such otherwise valuable analyses as Georges Bischoff, ‘Colmar et la crise révolutionnaire de 1524–1525’, Annuaire de la société d'histoire et d'archeologie de Colmar (1975/6), pp. 43–54.

213 Blickle's identification of three revolutionary elements in the Peasants' War – an overriding ideology, a mass basis, and the recourse to violence – is only superficially convincing. On closer inspection each element turns out to be less coherent than it seems. Blickle, contribution to discussion, in idem (2), p. 332. A structural approach makes redundant the constant agonizing over the correct assignation of the peasants' demands, especially the Twelve Articles. Symptomatic of this difficulty is the main East German collection of sources on the War, in which the Twelve Articles appear in section A (the ‘moderate’ programmes) with the editorial comment that: ‘Die von Lotzer zusammengestellten Artikel waren zwar gemässigt, ermöglichten jedoch durch die Einleitung Schappelers eine radikalere Interpretation. ‘Adolf Laube and Hans Werner Seiffert (eds.), Flugschriften der Bauernkriegszeit (Berlin, 1975), p. 18.

214 For the military history of the War cf. in general Hoyer, Militärwesen (as note 156).

215 It is worth pointing out that, with a few notorious exceptions, the peasants' discipline was remarkably good. Cf. Oberman in idem (6), p. 168. It is also worth noting that the peasants' first concern was to negotiate with their lords; the recourse to arms was often a reaction to the lords' double-dealing.

216 Thomas S. (sic! F. = Frederick) Sea, ‘Schwäbischer Bund und Bauernkrieg: Bestrafung und Pazifikation’, in Wehler (4), pp. 129–67, esp. 136 ff.

217 Endres in Wohlfeil (7), p. 110 On the general issue of reparations cf. Sea, Thomas F., ‘The economic impact of the German Peasants' War: the question of reparations’, Sixteenth-century Journal, VIII, 3 (1977), 75–97Google Scholar.

218 Cf. Manfred Straube, ‘Uber Getreidehandel und bäuerliche Strafgelder 1525/26 in den kursächsischen Ämtern Altenburg und Borna’, in (13), pp. 92–109, who points out the marked increase in corn exports after 1525 as evidence that a market-producing peasantry was raising cash by corn sales to meet the ransoms. Ibid. pp. 99–100. The lesser the degree of market integration, clearly, the smaller the peasants' chance of readily raising cash.

219 Blickle (1), pp. 217–23. Cf. Vogler, Günter, ‘Der deutsche Bauernkrieg und die Verhandlungen des Reichstages zu Speyer 1526’, Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft, XXIII (1975). 1396–410Google Scholar.

220 Blickle (1), pp. 224–40; idem, ‘Die politische Entmündigung des Bauern: Kritik und Revision einer These’, in idem (2), pp. 298–312.

221 Franz, Bauernkrieg (as note 108), p. 229. The historiography of this view is traced by Blickle in idem (2), pp. 298–302.

222 Idem, Landschaften im Alten Reich (as note 2).

223 But cf. the pertinent remarks and criticisms in the exhaustive review by Press (as note 73), pp. 181 f. Bücking's view that 80–90% of the peasantry were depoliticized, so that the triumph of the territorial state, founded upon bureaucratic centralism, was assured, is much too extreme, even for the Habsburg crown lands in Austria. Idem in Wehler (4), pp. 191–2.

224 Winfried Schulze, ‘Die veränderte Bedeutung sozialer Konflikte im 16. und 17. Jahrhundert’, in Wehler (4), 277–302.

225 E.g. the struggle of the Hauensteiners in the Black Forest against the abbey of St Blasien from the mid-fourteenth century up to the so-called ‘Saltpeter’ revolt in the early decades of the eighteenth century. Cf. Wernet, Karl Friedrich, ‘Die Grafschaft Hauenstein’, in Metz, Friedrich (ed.), Vorderösterreich: Eine geschichtliche Landeskunde, 2nd edn (Freiburg, 1967) PP. 458 f.Google Scholar

226 Klein, Thomas, ‘Die Folgen des Bauernkriegs von 1525: Thesen und Antithesen zu einem vernachlassigten Thema’, Hessisches Jahrbuch für Landesgeschichte, xxv (1975), 65–116Google Scholar.

227 Cf. the important study by Albrecht Strobel, Agrarverfassung im Ubergang: Studien zur Agrargeschichte des badischen Breisgaus vom Beginn des 16. bis zum Ausgang des 18. Jahrhunderts. Forschungen zur oberrheinischen Landesgeschichte, XXIII (Freiburg/Munich, 1972).

228 relies, Klein on Clasen, Claus-Peter, Anabaptism: a social history, 1525–1618 (Ithaca/London, 1972)Google Scholar, without recognizing that its conclusions have met far from universal acceptance amongst scholars.

229 Cf. Bracken, Helmut, Bauernkrieg und Literatur (edition suhrkamp 782) (Frankfurt, 1975)Google Scholar.

230 Excellent presentation of sources in Struck (10), part 11, pp. 99–279, compensates for the rather pedestrian narrative and evaluation in part 1, whose background introduction relies uncritically on Franz.

231 Steinegger and Schober, ‘Partikularbeschwerden’ (as note 169). Cf. Hermann Wopfner (ed.), Quellen zur Geschichte des Bauernkrieges in Deutschtirol 1525, part 1: Quellen zur Vorgeschichte des Bauernkrieges: Beschwerdeartikel aus den Jahren 1519–1525. Acta Tirolensa: Urkundliche Quellen zur Geschichte Tirols, 111 (Innsbruck, 1908; reprint Aalen, 1973). Cf. also the materials in Landesregierungsarchiv Tirol, Innsbruck, Oberösterreichische Hofregistratur, Reihe A 12/30; Archivio di Stato Bolzano, Stadtarchiv Brixen, 66 Miscellanea I/XVI.

232 Franz, Bauernkrieg (as note 108), p. vii.

233 Many smaller town and nobles' archives have yet to be adequately explored. One illustration of the range and categories of material at the historian's disposal is given by Manfred Unger, ‘Dokumente zur Geschichte des bauerlichen Klassenkampfes aus dem 16.–18. Jahrhundert im Staatsarchiv Leipzig’, in (13), pp. 239–48.

234 Franz, Bauernkrieg, 1st edn (as note 1), p. ix. Even though this statement was questioned at the time by Hermann Wopfner, it has been repeated unaltered throughout successive editions of Franz's book until now. Cf. the remarks by Franklin Kopitzsch, ‘Bemerkungen zur Sozialgeschichte der Reformation und des Bauernkrieges’, in Wohlfeil (7), pp. 186–7.

235 This point is emphasized by Press, Nassauische Annalen, LXXXVI (1975), 175Google Scholar. Cf. Maurer, Justus Hermann, Das Verhalten der reformatorisch gesinnten Geistlichen Süddeutschlands im Bauernkrieg, (doctoral diss., University of Tubingen, 1975)Google Scholar. Reference kindly supplied by Dr H. J. Cohn.

236 Cf. DrCohn, 's forthcoming study on anti-clericalism in the Peasants' War in Past and Present (1979)Google Scholar, and the acute comment by Schilling: ‘Im Kern stellte der Antiklerikalismus aber kein religiöses, sondern ein politisches Problem dar.’ Idem in Wehler (4), p. 203.

237 Cf. Gottfried Seebass, ‘Bauernkrieg und Täufertum in Franken’, in Oberman (6), pp. 140–56, who points out that Hans Hut was able to recruit Anabaptists from amongst many of the rebels, but most successfully from north east Franconia whose demands had been the least radical of the Franconian peasants as a whole in 1525. Cf. more generally the revisionist essay by John H. Yoder, ‘“Anabaptists and the Sword” revisited: systematic historiography and undogmatic resistants’, in Oberman (6), pp. 126–39.

238 Cf. Störmer, W., ‘Ansatzpunkte politischer Willensbildung der Bauernschaft im spätmittelalterlichen Schwaben, Franken und Bayern’, Zeitschrift für Agrargeschichte und Agrarsoziologie, XXIII (1975), 165–80Google Scholar.

239 Rainer Postel, ‘Adel und Bauern in Schleswig-Holstein zur Zeit des deutschen Bauernkrieges’, in Wohlfeil (7), pp. 116–42; Rainer Postel, ‘Zur Sozialgeschichte Niedersachsens im Zeitalter des Bauernkrieges’, in Wehler (4), pp. 79–104.

240 Debard, Jean-Marc, ‘La Guerre des Paysans dans les manges occidentals du monde germanique: 1525 dans la Porte de Bourgogne, le comté de Montbéliard et le baillage d'Amont de Franche-Comté’, Cahiers de la société d'histoire et d'archéologie de Saverne et environs, XCVI/XCVII (1976), 33–48Google Scholar.

241 No research has been undertaken, but see the remarks in Claudia Ulbrich-Manderscheid, ‘Der Bauernkrieg im Saar-Pfalz-Raum’, in Wollbrett (II), pp. 133–6.

242 Gerlach (14), p. 15: comparison between St Albans and Kempten. He does not, in any case, differentiate between the various forms of serfdom within Germany.

243 Ibid. p. 11. Cf. the remarks on this subject by Boockmann in Moeller (5), pp. 15–16.

244 Gerlach (14), pp. 53 f. He later admits, p. 65, that no religiously conditioned demands were presented.

245 Ibid. p. 88.

246 Ibid. p. 17.

247 Rodney Hilton, ‘Soziale Programme im englischen Aufstand von 1381’, in Blickle (2), pp. 31–46, here 33.

248 Macek in Oberman (6), pp. 5–29. Cf. the criticism of his assertion that there existed ‘lively contacts’ between German radicals and Bohemia, above, note 83. Frantisek Graus, ‘Vom “Schwarzen Tod” zur Reformation: Der krisenhafte Charakter des Europäischen Spätmittelalters’, in Blickle (2), pp. 10–30, argues that if there was an economic recovery in the fifteenth century the peasants did not benefit from it. Ibid. p. 15. And from 1350 onwards, he contends, the urban gilds hindered expansion and innovation. Ibid. p. 19. Both these points are distorting oversimplifications. Frantisek Graus, ‘From resistance to revolt: the late medieval peasant wars in the context of social crisis’, in Bak (8), pp. 1–9, is a summary of the previous article, in which he repeats an outdated view of the late medieval agrarian crisis (p. 4), and sees the ‘ideological basis’ of divine justice as the chief catalyst of mass rebellion (p. 4). The article by Ferdinand Seibt (as note 62), however, is a valuable essay in revision which pours cold water on the notion of the Hussite revolution as a model for the Peasants’ War.

249 Peter F. Barton (ed.), Sozialrevolution und Reformation: Aufsätze zur Vorreformation, Reformation und zu den ‘Bauernkriegen’ in Südmitteleuropa. Studien und Texte zur Kirchengeschichte und Geschichte, Zweite Reihe, II (Vienna/Cologne/Graz, 1975), Idem, Reformation und ‘Bauernkriege’: Vorreformation, Reformation, ‘Bauernkriege’ und Sozialrevolution in Sud- und Südostmitteleuropa. Studien und Texte zur Kirchengeschichte und Geschichte, Erste Reihe, VI (Vienna/Cologne/Graz, 1976). Cf. Sozialrevolutionäre Bewegungen des 16. Jahrhunderts in Mitteleuropa. Erbe und Auftrag der Reformation in den böhmischen Ländern, Sonderband (Vienna/Cologne/Graz, forthcoming).

250 Sabean (as note 37), p. 228, argues that social anthropology has much more to offer the historian of the Peasants' War than sociology. For a pre-industrial society that is probably correct. Cf. the instructive essay by Sabean, himself, ‘Famille et tenure paysanne: aux origines de la Guerre des Paysans en Allemagne (1525)’, Annales: Économies-Sociétés-Civilisation, XXVII (1972), 903–22CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

251 Janos Bak, contribution to discussion ‘The Peasant War in Germany by Friedrich Engels’ (as note 1), in idem (8), p. 96.

252 Kurt Greussing and Hans G. Kippenberg, contribution to discussion, ibid. pp. 123–31, here p. 131: ‘The historical function of mahdism in the transformation of peasant societies is to sponsor a new type of solidarity beyond traditional loyalties, to propose a radical renewal of the world – not only the restoration of “good old conditions” – and to integrate different groups into a social movement. Certain parallels to the function of “divine law” in the German peasant war are quite obvious.’

253 Bak, Janos, review of Wohlfeil, Rainer, Reformation oder frühbürgerliche Revolution? (as note 6), in Journal of Peasant Studies, III, 4 (1975), 144Google Scholar (This review, together with Gerhard Benecke's review of Blickle (1) and Wohlfeil (7), is omitted from the hardback edition, Bak (8).)

254 Especially since a few lines earlier in his review of Wohlfeil Bak criticizes East and West German historiography by remarking: ‘Both sides would fare better if they moved away from the attempts at an overall ideological assessment of whole world historical periods and turned to the results of historical analysis of the development of forces of production, social relations and ideologies…’

255 The essays by Blickle (as note 7) and Sabean (as note 23) are the most useful. Wunder's article (as note 94) is no more than a preliminary report. Cohn's translation of and commentary on sources (as note 85) is valuable, as is Scribner's discussion of images of the peasant (as note 119). Graus's survey (as note 248), however, is quite inadequate, and Adolf Laube's brief comments, ‘Precursors of the Peasant War: “Bundschuh” and “Armer Konrad” – popular movements at the eve of the Reformation’, pp. 49–53, do not reflect his otherwise distinguished scholarship. The concluding discussion (as note 1) may have some historiographical interest and useful comparisons, but is otherwise barren.

256 Scribner, Bob and Benecke, Gerhard (eds.), The German Peasant War of 1535 – new viewpoints (London, 1979)Google Scholar. Cf. also the recent short review article by Midelfort, H. C. Erik, ‘The revolution of 1525? Recent studies of the Peasants' War’, Central European History, XI, 3 (1978), 189–206CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

257 Franz, Bauernkrieg (as note 1).

258 Idem, ‘Der Bauernkrieg 1525 in heutiger Sicht’, in idem, Persönlichkeit und Geschichte: Aufsätze und Vorträge (Göttingen/Zurich/Frankfurt, 1977), pp. 67–77 (also in Die Bauernkriege und Michael Gaismair (as note 26)).