How Did Martin Luther Contribute To The Peasant Reformation

He also declared that monks and nuns were not obligated to uphold their vows. Luther not only acted revolutionarily towards political religious issues, but towards the social issues of the time as well. The most well known was the Peasants’ Revolt. Some religious leaders twisted and perverted Luther’s ideas to benefit their own causes, with the most prominent being Thomas Müntzer. They wrote the “Twelve Articles”: a petition of peasant demands and sent it to the Swabian League that called upon the Holy Roman Emperor to help the peasantry deal with economic and religious issues. When Charles V ignored the “Twelve Articles,” preachers led by Müntzer stirred the masses to revolt against the nobles. Luther believed the peasants were way out of line, as he was adamantly against mixing religious reformation with political and social revolution. He disassociated himself with Müntzer and the revolting peasants. He urged the princes to work together to “slaughter the swine,” or the peasants. He argued that religious subjects must be subordinate to their secular authorities. Luther proved himself a revolutionary over and over through many acts throughout his religious life.

Inhabiting the Holy Roman Empire in the 16th century, the upper class considered peasants a mere subhuman. Conversely, Martin Luther, a German professor of theology, influenced reformation to the German state. This reformation focused on the peasants, especially the peasant revolt of 1524. As the revolution continued, the Peasant Parliament formed to coordinate activates and strive for optimistic results of the revolt. Consequently, peasants offered moderate reforms that were supported by the towns, but condemned by the nobility and the leading Protestant reformer, Martin Luther. This would be known as the largest uprising in Europe before the

He stated that the bible had nothing to do with earthly justice. In the HRE, the church officials viewed the spread of Protestantism in Germany (which they viewed as heresy) was causing the rebellion to happen. As Michael Eisenhart is possibly a church official and views the rebellion as a part of Protestantism’s teaching. “…through certain citizens here who adhere to the heresy of Luther, it has come about that bad, false teaching has greatly got the upper hand.”(Doc 5) The church viewed this event as an event caused because of the teaching of a “heretic.” In the end, the nobles crushed the rebellion and killed about seventy five thousand peasants. This event strengthened the strength of nobles and Protestantism lost its appeal in the lower classes.

Their only real burden was choosing where they held their loyalty; whether Catholic or Protestant, they had a decision to make. A large majority of them saw Protestantism as a way of avoiding responsibilities thrust upon them by the Catholic Church hierarchy. Document 2 brings up the “Twelve Articles,” a list of peasant demands for the Protestant church. However, feeling devoid of responsibility, they did nothing to deserve any cooperation with these demands. While this new-found liberty was exciting for the peasants, they took advantage of it at times, angering the Protestant church with rebellions, specifically Luther himself. Document 3 brings up another example of the Protestant foundation being for everyone. It sought to let peasants be as successful as possible, rather than keeping them in the dark and in poverty as the Catholic Church did. Luther wrote, “Let the government, when it sees a promising boy, have him kept in school; if the father is poor, let it help him with church property.” This conveys Luther’s feelings towards the peasants, wanting them to reach their potential, while still helping the church, and being helped by the nobles. As it would play out, peasants typically converted to Protestantism, and were required to in England (under Henry VIII’s new Anglican Church). This impacted all of their lives, and unlike the Catholic clergy, it was usually for the

The Protestant Reformation began during the Renaissance time period, it was the attempt to reform the Roman Catholic church. It led to the creation of Protestant churches. This reformation began after multiple church leaders started demanding individuals to supply them with such large quantities of goods, food, and money that individuals did not have much left to provide to their own family. Several believed if they did not contribute and present the church with what they asked, they would be denied entrance to heaven once they passed away. People saw how the church thrived while those who contributed were ravenous and penniless. Martin Luther, a monk, noticed several inaccuracies between what the Roman Catholic Church practiced and the Bible as he studied the Bible. He decided to speak out by creating the 95 Theses, and nailing it on the entrance of a catholic church. Protestants who had similar view as Luther’s began Luther-ism. John Calvin, had very similar views as Luther and was even inspired by him to reform the Catholic Church as well. I most admire Martin Luther because of how he spoke up and protested against the Roman Catholic church when he knew it could put him in danger, but I am most similar to John Calvin because of how he believes in predestination and how faith is revealed by living a righteous life.

More specifically, a special decree was included in the Imperial Diet of Speyer in response to the rebellion (Document 7).  This decree ordered an examination of the revolt so that it could be prevented in the future.  Also, the decree included allowing those who “surrendered unconditionally” to return back to their estates despite their violent actions.  On the other hand, Martin Luther took a very different approach in his criticisms in Document 5.  He states that the peasants are acting like “raging dogs” in their violent revolts.  Also, he condemns their use of God was a motivation since instead they are merely trying to get others to join their devilish ways. Martin Luther, as the creator of Lutheranism, is an extremely credible source of criticism for the use of the will of God to inspire and justify the revolts since he is the actual creator of the religion the peasants now follow. At the same time, the German princes also reacted to the revolt by going to the aid of Emperor Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire.  He used his armies to assist the princes in shutting down the

Martin Luther was one of the most influential people in Christian history, when he began the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century. He questioned some of the basic beliefs and principles of the Roman Catholic church and his followers split from the Roman Catholic to begin the protestant tradition. Martin Luther spent a few years at the monastery and finally became an Augustinian monk. Martin Luther gained religious enlightenment through the studies of the scriptures. Martin Luther believed that the key to spiritual salvation was not the fear of God but the believe that faith alone will bring salvation. This thinking set the motion for the reformation. It led to one event after another and also peasant revolts. The following paragraph explain how Martin Luther influenced peasant revolts.

The German Peasants Revolt took place in the lands of the Holy Roman Empire. The peasant’s revolt was the result of the reformation in which Martin Luther and others went against the religion and traditions of the Catholic Church . The protestant reformation was led by Martin Luther who in 1517, nailed the Ninety-Five Theses to the door of the church in Wittenberg. The Ninety Five theses which pointed out the pope or the head of the church was suppressing the peasants by taking their money to sell them an indulgence. The clergy told the peasants if an indulgence paper was not purchased, their deceased loved one would suffer in purgatory . In the year 1522, the Pope excommunicated Luther from the church for the crime of heresy because of what he wrote in the ninety five thesis about the pope and the papacy. After this, Martin Luther and his followers broke away from the Catholic Church. Martin Luther then started to preach that the pope was “antichrist” . Martin Luther’s followers did not believe in teachings of the Catholic Church, and instead believed that only the relationship that mattered is their relationship with God. Followers of Martin Luther only believed in two of the seven sacraments, baptism, and the Eucharist or Holy Communion. Martin Luther did not believe that violence would help solve the problem of how the church made money of the peasants, through indulgences sold. So, Luther told his followers that even though they were suppressed by their rulers, they

The ideas of Luther, particularly the ones against authority, played a major role in the causes of the rebellion. In Document 3, the Peasant Parliament demands from their lords to be released from serfdom because Christ has already freed them, and they should reply in kind. While it is not specifically stated, this kind of thinking was clearly inspired from Martin Luther, as he was the one who expressed ideas that authoritiative figures should not be listened to, only the word of God. The peasants

Martin Luther didn’t agree with the

The Peasant’s War began after Martin Luther nailed his “95 Theses” to the doors of his local church in Germany. His theses discussed how the church needed reforming and how many of their methods, such as indulgences, were not supported by Scriptures. However, these ideas conflicted with what the church had taught for years on how faith should be. This made people begin to question what was true about their religion. Ultimately, this lead to a war between the nobles and peasants, called the Peasant’s War.

In the book The Protestant Reformation by Hillerbrand, “The Twelve Articles of the Swabian Peasants” published in 1525, brought many conflicts to the protestant reformation. Many of the peasants were followers of Martin Luther theologian views so they believed that their grievances would be supported and embraced by Luther who later blinded the peasants with the rejection of their grievances. Luther believed that many of their demands were “evangelical” to their character. Luther published his letter,“Friendly Admonition to Peace Concerning the Twelve Articles of the Swabian Peasants in April 1525, which addressed his arguments against their grievances. In this paper, I will discuss what were the twelve grievances of the german peasant and why did Luther who said he believed in a christian freedom, reject the peasants ideas of reformation.

Luther’s initial response to the uprising was even-handed in its condemnation of both sides in the conflict. His Admonition to Peace, written as a reply to The Twelve Articles blamed the princes and lords, especially the clerical lords, for causing the upheaval. Their greed and exploitation had pushed the commoners too far. But Luther also said the peasants were wrong to resist a political order created by God. He urged that the affair be resolved peacefully through mutual concessions. (Baylor

A German Augustinian friar, Martin Luther launched the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century. Luther grew up the son of a miner, but he did not maintain that lifestyle for himself. He lived in a period that had a widespread desire for reformation of the Christian church and a yearning for salvation.

“Unless I am convinced by proofs from scriptures or by plain and clear reasons and arguments, I can and will not retract anything I have written, for it is neither safe nor wise to do anything against conscience. Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen.” Martin Luther stated these words in 1521 when he was asked whether he still believed what his works taught. The Protestant Reformation was a movement during the 16th century, which aimed to reform some beliefs and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. The reformation was led by a German monk named Martin Luther and was further modified by John Calvin, a French theologian and Henry VIII, the king of England. The ideas bought forward by these individuals started the Protestant Reformation, which triggered wars, prosecutions and the Counter-Reformation.