Michael Sattler and the Peasants Revolt of 1525

Michael Sattler and the
Peasants Revolt of 1525

Michael Sattler and the
Peasants Revolt of 1525
Christian Faith, Politics,
and Social Justice

Staufen im Breisgau
• Photo from Google

• Staufen

Freiburg

• Freiburg
• Staufen

St. Peters Abbey

• St. Peter‟s
• Freiburg
• Staufen

Freiburg University
“Around 1500 about 6,000 young men were
studying in German universities, of which a
few grew to supra-regional size and
standing, while others, such as tiny Freiberg
im Breisgau could boast a mere 100
students.”
Brady, 25

Freiburg University
“Around 1500 about 6,000 young men were
studying in German universities, of which a
few grew to supra-regional size and
standing, while others, such as tiny Freiberg
im Breisgau could boast a mere 100
students.”
Brady, 25

“In the Breisgau the people first affected by
Luther‟s message were quite naturally those
close to the academic community—the
professors, students, and graduates of the
University of Freiburg.”
Snyder, 50

1512
 Abbot Petrus III dies

1512
 He had rebuilt St. Peter‟s and established its reputation
as a place of learning and Benedictine practice

1512

 It is likely that he had been Sattler‟s patron and mentor

1512

 It is likely that he had been Sattler‟s patron and mentor
 He is replaced by Abbot Jodocus

1513
In 1513 the monastery annals
recorded a Bundschuh revolt on the
outskirts of Freiberg.

1513
In 1513 the monastery annals
recorded a Bundschuh revolt on the
outskirts of Freiberg.
“The Peasants‟ War culminated a
generation of rural conspiracies.
“They began in 1493 with one that
flew the sign of the laced farmers
boot, the Bundschuh.
“In such groups first appeared a
new slogan, „the godly law‟.”
Brady, 186

1514

“In 1514 extremely
unfavorable weather is
reported.
“The monastery helped
the city of Freiburg by
sending in six
wagonloads of wheat.”
“Beginning in 1515 we
have notices of several
self-donations to the
monastery.
“It seems that economic
hardship was the primary
motive.”
Snyder, 42

Poor Conrad Revolt
“For centuries feuding had been
habitual in all of the Empire‟s governing
classes, and the commoners learned from
the nobles.
“By the 15th century revolts by burgers
and peasants became common from
Upper Swabia to the Black Forest.
“The rebels aimed to defend property
and livelihood by forcing the nobles to
negotiate grievances and acknowledge
the rights of their subjects.

“Revolt was, in effect, a mass feud conducted by common people.”
Brady, 96

1515
“The Bundschuh and the Poor
Conrad were only the two most
important of a wave of discontent in
South Germany between 1513 and
1517.

1515
“The Bundschuh and the Poor
Conrad were only the two most
important of a wave of discontent in
South Germany between 1513 and
1517.
“Events in this decade were
characterized by growing radicalism
in the rebel demands, and by
growing participation of urban
commoners.
“They were also characterized by
the spread of the principle of godly
law as a justification for revolt.
“Almanacs and astrologers predicted trouble in 1524.”
Brady and Midelfort, xiii-iv

Erasmus came to Basle in August 1514. His
multi- volume edition of Jerome‟s works was
published in 1516, followed by his text of the
Greek New Testament, and a revised
translation of the Vulgate.

1516-18

Erasmus came to Basle in August 1514. His
multi- volume edition of Jerome‟s works was
published in 1516, followed by his text of the
Greek New Testament, and a revised
translation of the Vulgate.
“The years 1516-18 were the culmination of
Erasmus‟ career. Applauding crowds
surrounded him.”
The Freiburg jurist Ulrich Zasius wrote, “I
am pointed out in public as the man who has
received a letter from Erasmus.”
His colleague on the University faculty,
Wolfgang Capito wrote, “I know and I teach
nothing but Erasmus now.”

1516-18

“The faith in an easy triumph of pure
knowledge and Christian meekness in a near
future speaks from the preface of Erasmus‟
edition of the New Testament.”
Huizinga, 89-99

1517
“After 1517 reformist enthusiasm spread
through Germany, fanned by Luther's
eloquence, and by the underlying anticlericalism of many Germans, who had long
resented clerical privileges and exactions.

1517
“After 1517 reformist enthusiasm spread
through Germany, fanned by Luther's
eloquence, and by the underlying anticlericalism of many Germans, who had long
resented clerical privileges and exactions.
“By 1521 the spark ignited in 1517 had
become a conflagration.”
Maltby, 24
“With or without permission printers
greedily snapped up and published the
young monk‟s pronouncements.
“Thousands across Europe now read him
and gathered their own impressions.”
Marty, 34-35

1517
The monastery's annals report “In the
year 1517, in which Martin Luther
began to spread his teachings, there was
an enormous shortage of crops lasting
the entire year.
“Earthquakes were felt in many
places with enormous injury.
“For many people the earthquakes
were followed by a mortal illness of the
head and the destruction of the mind.”
Snyder, 41

1517
The monastery's annals report “In the
year 1517, in which Martin Luther
began to spread his teachings, there was
an enormous shortage of crops lasting
the entire year.

“Clouds of tough mercenaries, back from
the Italian Wars, scoured the poorly policed
southern regions to make up their lost pay
by robbing peasants and merchants.

“Earthquakes were felt in many
places with enormous injury.

“In 1517 rural insurrection flared once
again on the Upper Rhine. Its leader was the
charismatic Joss Fritz, whose banner flew
the Bundschuh.

“For many people the earthquakes
were followed by a mortal illness of the
head and the destruction of the mind.”

“It was the beginning of a great wave of
rural insurrections.”

Snyder, 41

Brady, 123

1518

“The miserable end of Maximilian's
Italian Wars provoked an important
change of mood, which surfaced at
the Diet of Augsburg in 1518. It was
anti-Roman and anti-Italian.

1518

“The humiliation felt at the Italian
defeats was accomplishing what the
Emperor Maximilian's braggadocio
had never been able to do, diverting
attention to the foreign foes
responsible for German woes.”

1518

“The humiliation felt at the Italian
defeats was accomplishing what the
Emperor Maximilian's braggadocio
had never been able to do, diverting
attention to the foreign foes
responsible for German woes.”
“At the Diet of Augsburg Martin
Luther rose out of his provincial
obscurity into the Empire‟s public
life.”
Brady, 123-24; 147

The Political
Triangle

Pope

Prince

Emperor

1519
 Emperor Maximilian dies.

1519
 Famine which began in 1513 continues for a seventh year.

1519
 Up to half the monks, and many others, die in a plague epidemic.

1519

 An additional tax to finance the Turkish War is imposed.

1519

 Luther moves from protest to open revolt.

1519

 St. Peters joins the Bursfeld monastic reform.

1519

 St. Peters joins the Bursfeld monastic reform.
 Michael Sattler is appointed prior of St. Peters.

1520
 Pope Leo threatens Luther with excommunication.

1520
 Luther responds by publicly burning the papal bull.

1520
 Publishes The Babylonian Captivity and The Freedom of the Christian Man.
Says he is now certain “the pope is the Antichrist”.

1520

 Suliman the Magnificent at the head of the Turkish army
advances up the Danube Valley.

1520

 Suliman the Magnificent at the head of the Turkish army
advances up the Danube Valley.
 Charles V, elected emperor at age 20, raises hopes he will solve
the rapidly growing political-religious crisis in Germany.

1521

The Diet at Worms
“When Luther arrived
at Worms, some half a
million copies of his
writings were in print,
an explosion unfathomable in its uniqueness
and its power.

1521

The Diet at Worms
“When Luther arrived
at Worms, some half a
million copies of his
writings were in print,
an explosion unfathomable in its uniqueness
and its power.
“Germans immediately saw that if Luther
was not a damnable
heretic, as Church and
Empire had pronounced
him to be, he was
perhaps a great new
prophet.”
Brady, 156

“If I am not overcome by the testimony of the Holy
Scriptures or the clear arguments of reasons—for I believe in
neither popes nor councils alone as witnesses, since they
have often erred and contradicted themselves—I remain
overcome by the Bible as I have explained it.
“I can and will recount nothing, because it is always
burdensome, unwholesome, and dangerous to act against
one‟s conscience. God help me! Amen.”

The Great Division

“If I am not overcome by the testimony of the Holy
Scriptures or the clear arguments of reasons—for I believe in
neither popes nor councils alone as witnesses, since they
have often erred and contradicted themselves—I remain
overcome by the Bible as I have explained it.
“I can and will recount nothing, because it is always
burdensome, unwholesome, and dangerous to act against
one‟s conscience. God help me! Amen.”

The Great Division
“It is certain that a single monk errors in his opinion,
which is against what all of Christendom has held for
over a thousand years to the present.

“According to Luther's opinion all of Christendom
has always been in error.”

1522
Archduke Ferdinand
“The Habsburgs had pursued an
aggressive policy of acquisition in Alsace
and the Breisgau since the 14th century, and
this continued unabated in the 16th.
“In 1521 Charles V began to transfer
control of his eastern territories to his
brother and in February 1522 the Breisgau
came under Ferdinand‟s direct control.
“Ferdinand was a militant Catholic, and
he moved forward with a purpose, as will
be noted presently. “
Snyder, 51

The University Divides
“By the beginning of the 1520s,
Sattler saw the university that had
provided him with a humanistic
education under Capito and his
other teachers take a very different
direction under Zasius.
“Perhaps Zasius‟ betrayal of
Capito, and thus his betrayal of
humanist ideals, encouraged Sattler
to follow the path he would.
“Given the position of the
university in which „the mere
appearance of the prince‟ was
determinative—to the detriment of
the Reformation—he was in a
difficult situation.”
Muhleisen

Revolt at St. Peter‟s

“The peasants were clearly feeling the
economic squeeze, but the monastery
was likewise having financial difficulty.
“The increasing financial pressure
from the Habsburg government
exacerbated these conditions.
“The Habsburgs imposed a new tax
on its subjects in 1519, and Abbot
Jodocus passed it on to the monastery‟s
tenants.

Revolt at St. Peter‟s

“The peasants were clearly feeling the
economic squeeze, but the monastery was
likewise having financial difficulty.

“The increasing financial pressure from
the Habsburg government exacerbated
these conditions.
“The Habsburgs imposed a new tax on
its subjects in 1519, and Abbot Jodocus
passed it on to the monastery‟s tenants.
“The peasants refused to pay, whereupon Abbot Jodocus appealed to the local
Habsburg authorities.
“The peasants in turn appealed to the
local margrave, who in March of 1522
invaded St. Peter‟s with an army of
mercenaries, putting Abbot Jodocus to
flight.”
Snyder, 42

Book Burning at Freiburg
“On November 7, 1522, an edict was
issued from Nuremburg in which
preaching in the reformed sense was
outlawed.
“All books containing such ideas
were banned.
“This edict found an immediate
response in Freiburg. The council
ordered it read in every guild.
“Any questionable books were to be
brought for examination, and a houseto-house search was to be made.
“The result was a public burning of
about 2,000 Lutheran books in the
Freiburg Munsterplatz, including
Bibles.
Snyder, 53-54

1523

Country Preachers
In March the Freiburg City Council told the
Austrian government that a local country
preacher “Instructs the ignorant common
people everywhere from the standpoint of the
Lutheran doctrine, causing disobedience and
Bundschuh offenses.”
“A month later, the Council volunteered
that the preacher had been active in and
around Freiburg some years before, that he
practiced medicine, and that despite their
efforts, they had not been able to apprehend
him.
“The impact of such undercover evangelists
on the Breisgau countryside is difficult to
assess, but it is clear that itinerant preachers
like this one were able to move freely among
the common people.“
Snyder, 54

Anti-Clericalism
A 1523 pamphlet accused the clergy
of straying “by becoming monks, nuns,
and pastors, wearing habits and
tonsures, and screaming day and night
in church at matins, prime, terse,
vespers, and compline.”

Anti-Clericalism
A 1523 pamphlet accused the clergy
of straying “by becoming monks, nuns,
and pastors, wearing habits and
tonsures, and screaming day and night
in church at matins, prime, terse,
vespers, and compline.”
Duke William IV of Bavaria said the
common people in his area openly
declare “They wish to kill all the priests,
saying that in these days the priests
behave so un-priestlike that it would be
impossible and against the Christian
faith to tolerate them any longer.”
Brady, 18, 293

Zurich
In June Zwingli preached his famous
sermon, stating that “So long as the
Council demands payment of the tithe, it
is the civil duty of the Christian to pay it.”
“He received full support from the
Zürich clergy, while the country preachers
Reublin, Stumpf, and the young Zürich
radicals Conrad Grebel and Felix Mantz
opposed him.
“The rural pastors had radicalized
Grebel and Mantz, and by the October
disputation the Zwinglian reformation‟s
division had become a public matter.”
Snyder, 68

1524

The Revolution Begins

Michael Sattler found himself in a veritable hurricane of events that were
far beyond anyone‟s ability to control—and equally beyond the ability of anyone
at the time to understand.
Forced by the civil war that was emerging he was forced to take a stand.
He had three options:

1524


 To join the ruling class against the working class, as his abbot had.

1524


 To accept the peasants‟ demands, which would have alienated the rest of
his struggling monastic community.

1524


 To accept the peasants‟ demands, which would have alienated the rest of
his struggling monastic community.

 To find some new political relationship which both parties to the conflict
could accept.

The Twelve Articles
This proposal coalesced German peasant
aspirations into a national movement when it
was published in March 1525.
It‟s origins are still unclear. My hypothesis is
that it was composed by Sattler in 1524.

The Twelve Articles
Whoever wrote it was educated, thought
clearly and in a way characteristic of persons
familiar with legal matters, and who was
attempting to find a way to avoid civil war
through negotiation.

The Twelve Articles
Whoever wrote it was educated, thought
clearly and in a way characteristic of persons
familiar with legal matters, and who was
attempting to find a way to avoid civil war
through negotiation.
Whoever that person was he was also deeply
formed by the scriptures, and by the belief that
they required social justice.

Failure

In December when the tenants of the adjacent monasteries of St.
Blaisen and St. Trudpert plundered St. Trudert‟s—a few km from
Staufen—it was clear a negotiated settlement was not possible.

What was happening in the Breisgau
was happening everywhere in southern
Germany as the year 1524 came to an
end.
On Christmas Day the pastor of Our
Lady‟s Church in Memmingen reported,
“As I went to the altar a great murmur
arose from the Lutheran women and
men, who drove me into the sacristy
with great violence and there reviled
and scolded me with their fists and with
many words of abuse, beat me about the
head and shoulders, pelted me with
stones, tore out the window panes, and
took the candles.”
The attack lasted two hours, and “if
Mayor Keller and six town councilors
had not arrived, I would have been
struck dead.”

The 1525 Revolt
“In the summer of 1524 an
anti-seigneurial revolt erupted
in the southern Black Forest.
“Over the following winter
and into the spring
revolution spread into
the Upper Rhine,
Swabia and Franconia,
and thence northward
into Hesse and Thuringia
and southeastward
to the borders of Hungary.”
Brady, 186

“Over this zone armies
of rebels formed, the
largest counting perhaps
10,000 to 12,000 fighters.
“They swore oaths,
unfurled banners, armed
themselves, called on
burgers and miners to
join them, and were
determined to teach the
nobles and clergy the
justice of their demands.
“By Easter 1525
perhaps 300,000 rebels
lay under arms.”
Brady, 186

“By the high summer
most of their formations
had either been defeated
in battle, dispersed
without major fighting, or
pacified through
negotiations.
“About a third of the
rebels—130,000 by a
contemporary estimate,
somewhat fewer by
modern ones—were shot,
cut down, blasted,
skewered, smashed,
hanged, or tortured to
death.”
Brady, 186

Valerius Anshelm reported that in the Black Forest “The
lords, having gained their victory, became more ungracious
and unjust than before.”
The peasants were stripped “of their armor and weapons,
their fine clothing, berets, and leather shoes, prohibited from
visiting inns on pain of life and property,” and each household was fined six gulden “under threat of fire and pillage.”
Many, he reports, “came out shorn like sheep,” and even
the innocent and those who had opposed the rebels “were
secretly and publicly shorn and butchered.”
Brady, 200-01

Switching Sides
 On March 25, 1525, a „brother Michael‟
wearing a „white coat‟, appears at a trial of
Zurich-area Anabaptist leaders. He is a nonresident, and so rather than being jailed is
forced to abjure all Anabaptist beliefs, to swear
never to return to Zurich, and is then expelled.

Switching Sides
 In early November 1525 the Zurich authorities
demand all adherents of Anabaptist beliefs
appear for a public three-day debate.

Switching Sides
 In early November 1525 the Zurich authorities
demand all adherents of Anabaptist beliefs
appear for a public three-day debate.

 This is followed on November 18 by a trial,
which orders the Anabaptist leaders to be
imprisoned. However “Michael Sattler from
Staufen in the Breisgau is to be released, upon
the swearing of an oath of loyalty and the
payment of costs.”

To Oberglatt

Michael Sattler was expelled from Zürich in
November, together with two country preachers. It
is likely they traveled north to Oberglatt.

To Oberglatt

Michael Sattler was expelled from Zürich in
November, together with two country preachers. It
is likely they traveled north to Oberglatt.
Hans Kuenzi, a weaver who lived in Oberglatt,
wrote some time after May 21, 1526:

“A person came to me who had been a monk, and
who urged me to teach him to work, for he wished
to eat bread from his own hands. This is the same
Michael who had earlier been your prisoner.
“This Michael has conducted himself at all times
in a quiet manner, and has not dealt with baptism,
and also is not re-baptized.
“At my suggestion he once went with my brother,
on account of a young woman, where he was asked
to read to the group, and where there was quite a
crowd present.”
Snyder, 83, 85

Becoming a Weaver

“When we join Michael Sattler at his
weaver‟s loom in Hans Kuenzi's house,
and consider the events which he
pondered, we see that he continued to
hold to the peasant critique of his
monastic estate, and that he continued to
accept their democratic teaching on
community.
“However he rejected their violence
and the entire project of reforming
society at large according to the scriptural
pattern.
“There can be no reform of society or
„the world‟, for it is ruled by Satan—as
the recent mutual slaughter had amply
demonstrated.”
Snyder, 201-02

Margaretha

The official charges at their trial name
“Margaretha, the wife of Michael Sattler
from Staufen.”
Valerius Anshelm tells us she had been a
Beguine, and that she was a “refined and
comely little woman”.
Possibly she was the Margaretha in
Aarau to whom a letter was written in
1525. There was a Beguine house in Aarau
which was still in existence in 1509.
“The word Beguine was used loosely in
the 16th century. It could indicate actual
Beguines, but also Beghards, and even
Franciscan Tertiaries.
“A common function of the Beguines
was that of serving as „Marthas‟ (domestic
labor) in the local monasteries.”
Snyder, 101; n.57, 219

1526

Anabaptist Pastor

Sometime in the summer of 1526 Sattler
crossed the boundary between
sympathizer and leader.
His first recorded action was to travel to
Strasburg where his former teacher Capito
was now a leader of the reformation there.
Several Anabaptists had been
imprisoned in Strasburg and Sattler
successfully plead for their release,
apparently on the basis of religious liberty.
From Strasburg he crossed the Rhine and
took up pastoral responsibility for the
small evangelical community in Horb.

1526

Anabaptist Pastor

Sometime in the summer of 1526 Sattler
crossed the boundary between
sympathizer and leader.

“More than a full year went by before
his acceptance of the heavy cross of adult
baptism.

His first recorded action was to travel to
Strasburg where his former teacher Capito
was now a leader of the reformation there.

“When he finally did accept a rebaptism, not only was his commitment
total and unconditional, but the
Anabaptism to which he committed
himself was something newly defined in
both religious and socioeconomic terms.”

Several Anabaptists had been
imprisoned in Strasburg and Sattler
successfully plead for their release,
apparently on the basis of religious liberty.
From Strasburg he crossed the Rhine and
took up pastoral responsibility for the
small evangelical community in Horb.

Snyder, 198

1527

Schleitheim and Martyrdom

 When Sattler accepted leadership in the infant Anabaptist community
in the last half of 1526, he set out to provide this disorganized and
disparate movement with a structure able to survive on-going
persecution. The result was the Schleitheim Confession, which required
non-violence for lay evangelicals, and which has sustained the Amish
and Mennonite communities to the present.

1527

Schleitheim and Martyrdom

 When Sattler accepted leadership in the infant Anabaptist community
in the last half of 1526, he set out to provide this disorganized and
disparate movement with a structure able to survive on-going
persecution. The result was the Schleitheim Confession, which required
non-violence for lay evangelicals, and which has sustained the Amish
and Mennonite communities to the present.
 Three months later he would be burned at the stake by the Habsburg
government, but his martyrdom would provide a permanent witness to
his commitment to non-violence, one that would have far-reaching
impact.

“That in the course of a meeting men could change their
opinions and come to unity, is not only a striking rarity in
the history of the Reformation, it is also the most important
event in the whole history of Anabaptism.
“Had it not happened, the Anabaptism of Grebel,
Blaurock, and Mantz would have died out, together with
its founders.
“But now it has taken on a viable form and was in a
position to resist the licentiousness of the fanatics, the
coercion of Christian governments, and the persuasiveness
of the preachers.”
— John Howard Yoder, The Legacy of Michael Sattler

The New Community
In the five centuries after
Michael and Margaretha
Sattler‟s deaths the vision they
died for has been lived out by
communities of other
Christians willing to die rather
than inflict death on others.

The New Community
In the five centuries after
Michael and Margaretha
Sattler‟s deaths the vision they
died for has been lived out by
communities of other
Christians willing to die rather
than inflict death on others.
Those communities are
increasingly recognized as
models for the future.

It is no longer difficult
to convince Christians we should be non-violent.
The difficult thing now is to convince them
it is possible.
The peacemaker‟s task now is
not telling others what we should do,
but providing examples of what we can do.
And 500 years of Amish and Mennonite life,
lived in communities formed by
Michael Sattler‟s leadership and example,
provides the most convincing answer possible
to that challenge.

Was Michael Sattler a Heretic?
It is certain that Michael Sattler left his
Benedictine monastery some time in 1525.
Whether he left voluntarily we do not know.
It is clear that his political views and those of
his abbot had diverged substantially.
It is also clear that Michael Sattler did not
leave behind his Benedictine formation. The
evidence indicates that Sattler took the Benedictine tradition with him when he transferred his obedience to a lay community.
Did this action make him a heretic? Or did
it make him a missionary? Did he leave the
Catholic faith or was he an early martyr
witness to the principles of social justice, so
badly being disregarded in the medieval era?

Praying the Psalms each day for years on
end leaves an indelible impact. How can
monastic communities join in praying Psalm
82 without being moved by the power of the
poetry?
How long will you judge unjustly,
and favor the cause of the wicked?
Do justice for the weak and the orphan;
Defend the afflicted and the needy.
Rescue the weak and the poor;
Set them free from the hand of the wicked.

This forces us to ask whether Sattler would
not have been a heretic to have remained in
leadership in a monastic community that was
systematically involved in injustice—injustice
that above all affected the poorest of the poor?

Michael Sattler and the Peasants Revolt of 1525

Michael Sattler and the Peasants Revolt of 1525

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