The German Peasant War of 1525 – New Viewpoints

146 Pages·2021·5.314 MB·English

by  Bob Scribner, Gerhard Benecke

ROUTLEDGE LIBRARY EDITIONS:
POLITICAL PROTEST
Volume 10
THE GERMAN PEASANT WAR OF
1525

THE GERMAN PEASANT WAR OF
1525
Edited by
JANOS BAK
Firstpublishedin1976byFrankCass&Co.Ltd.
Thiseditionfirstpublishedin2022
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ISBN:978-1-03-203038-8(Set)
ISBN:978-1-00-319086-8(Set)(ebk)
ISBN:978-1-03-204209-1(Volume10)(hbk)
ISBN:978-1-03-204210-7(Volume10)(pbk)
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DOI:10.4324/9781003190950
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The
German Peasant War
of 1525
Edited by
JANOS BAK
Routledge
Taylor & Francis Group
New York London
First published by FRANK CASS & CO. LTD.
This edition published 2013 by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon 0X14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
Copyright © 1976 Frank Cass & Co. Ltd.
ISBN 0 7146 3063 2
This group of studies first appeared in a Special Issue on
The German Peasant War of 1525 of The Journal of Peasant
Studies, Volume 3 No. 1, published by Frank Cass and
Company Limited.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior per-
mission of the publishers
Contents
Editors' Introduction vii
Sketch Map of the German Peasant War viii
From Resistance to Revolt: The Late Medieval Peasant
Wars in the Context of Social Crisis Frantisek Graus i
The Peasants of Swabia, 1525 Henry J. Cohn 10
Images of the Peasant, 1514-1525 R. W. Scribner 29
Precursors of the Peasant War: Bundschuh and Armer
Konrad—Movements at the Eve of the Reformation
Adolf Laube 49
cOld Law' and 'Divine Law' in the German Peasant
War Heide Wunder 54
The Economic, Social and Political Background of the
Twelve Articles of the Swabian Peasants of 1525 Peter Blickle 63
German Agrarian Insitutions at the Beginning of the Six-
teenth Century: Upper Swabia as an Example David Sabean 76
cThe Peasant War in Germany' by Friedrich Engels—125
Years After Janos Bak— 89
Rainer Wohlfeil—Ernst Engelberg—
Giinter Vogler—Edward Friedman
Kurt Greussing and Hans G. Kippenberg

Editors* Introduction
The immense importance of the German Peasant War, both in
itself as the first national peasant revolt in Germany and because
of the influence of Engels' work on the subject, hardly needs to be
emphasized here. When Janos Bak suggested the possibility of a
special number of the Journal of Peasant Studies on the War, in
this the 450th anniversary year, we accepted his idea with alacrity.
Janos Bak has taken responsibility for the issue as guest-editor
and we are most grateful to hi™ for the imagination, skill, and
careful hard work with which he has prepared it. He, in his turn,
wishes to acknowledge the help of his friend, Dr. Edward J. Hundert.
One of our contributors remarks that he was 'struck by the simi-
larities between the Swabian peasants of 1525 in their organiza-
tion, demands and action and those that occurred under Zapata
in the heart of Mexico during the second decade of the twentieth
century, as outlined by Eric Wolf (Benecke). The comparison is
an intriguing one. We believe that our readers will find others which
are no less fascinating.
EDITORS, The Journal of Peasant Studies