Thomas Münzer (1490 – 1525) was an early follower of Martin Luther, during the very beginning of the Protestant Reformation. However, he soon broke away from the Protestant Movement, calling for extreme social reforms. In the Summer of 1524, Münzer led a revolt of Peasants in Thuringia.
Heavenly Prophets
Thomas Münzer was originally from the small German town of Zwickau. Following the posting of Martin Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses in Wittenberg, Münzer arrived, bringing his own style of Protestantism. Münzer was a member of the “Heavenly Prophets.” He believed in the same fundamental ideas as Martin Luther, but he also had several others, that did not fit with any doctrine of the time. Münzer believed that he was a prophet and that he should interpret the bible according to his own “inner light.” He relied on direct revelations, visions and dreams to guide him as God’s prophet. He also believed that the end of the world was about to happen at any moment and that a revolution by the common people was eminent.
Münzer and the German Peasant’s Revolt
Münzer saw the common people as God’s chosen people. When peasants in Southern Germany began rebelling in the summer of 1524, Munzer seized the chance and raised his own Peasant army. He wanted not only religious change, but also for peasants to be freed of their feudal obligations and abolish certain taxes. This political reform did not sit well with local princes. Nor did it sit well with Martin Luther, who saw his religious movement being exploited. The ill equipped peasant “armies” stood no match for militia. Over 100,000 peasants were killed and many more were left homeless. Thomas Münzer was captured in May of 1525 at the Battle of Frankenhausen. He was tortured and executed.
Martin Luther and Thomas Münzer
Luther urged the local governments to crush Munzer and all the peasants who were rebelling, calling them “…murdering, thieving, hordes of peasant.” Münzer was no fan of Luther, even though he was the one who had started the whole religious reformation. Münzer called Luther a scribe, a soft liver and a truckler to authority.
Anabaptists and Münzer
Münzer's beliefs influenced early Anabaptists groups. One of the earliest Anabaptist leaders, Hans Huth, was one of Munzer’s followers. Despite this, modern Anabaptists groups, such as the Mennonites, deny that Münzer had anything to do with their history.
Sources:
Dickens, A.G.. Reformation and Society in Sixteenth-Century Europe. London: Harcourt, Brace & World, INC, 1966.
Lyon, Rowen, Hamerow. A History of the Western World Volume I: Prehistory to 1715. Chicago: Rand McNally, 1970.
Stravrianos, L.S.. The World Since 1500: A Global History. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1966.
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