Peasants Revolt of 1381

In 1517, Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses on a Church in Germany and began a change Europe. Many people second guessed how the Catholic Church was practicing religious teachings and this grew in Germany. After years of battling for religious reforms, a new religion was formed named Lutheranism. Between 1524 and 1526, German peasants began to revolt the Holy Roman Empire. The peasant revolts were caused by greed and wanting to get rid of serfdom and corrupt leaders in the Holy Roman Empire, and both positive and negative responses were seen. Most positive responses were seen by peasants while most negative responses were shown by some religious leaders and Holy Roman Empire leaders.

The burden of paying taxes fell upon the peasantry since the majority of nobility and high bourgeoisie were either exempt or effortlessly evaded payment. The social distress amongst the peasantry caused by the war taxation resulted in several uprisings between 1636 and 1639, which the Cardinal crushed violently and dealt with the rebels in a harsh manner which Machiavelli would have promoted.#

Lorenz Fries stresses this anger in his report to the Archbishop of Wurzburg, as he describes the wealth’s inability to share their profits and income with the poor (Doc 8). The peasants believe they are entitled to a share of wealth because all are considered to be brothers in the public eye of God. Considering Fries’s report is secret, it most likely states his candid opinions (Pov3). Although economic oppression is a crucial factor in pushing the revolt, Protestant influence is responsible for the revolt as well.

One night during one of the king’s parties, an old lady found her way to this kingdom. Before she could even knock on the door of the king’s palace, two guards shoved in front of her and asked for her cause. She explained how she only wished to stay a night as she was on a long journey. They interrupted her, saying she was not worthy of being there. She was pushed to the ground. Angry, she left in a haste and ventured her way to the outskirts. As she did this, the guards went back in and informed the king of the visitor. The king simply laughed upon hearing the news and announced that peasants should know their place in society and continued feasting and partying.

Nevertheless, this social injustice was the reason that leads to the farmers’ Revolt, seeking to remedy their

Grain stores were looted, chateaux were attacked and documents listing peasant obligations were seized and destroyed. The National Assembly realised that it had to act – the mainly bourgeoisie deputies feared for their property following the Great Fear which had spread the peasant rising throughout most of France. Consequently, the National Assembly issues the August Decrees, considered an important start in the process of dismantling the ancien regime. They marked the end of noble power and the privilege of birth, establishing a society instead based upon civil equality. The peasants were satisfied with this new regime as it removed their feudal obligations and thus they gave their support to the revolution in fear that if they did not support the changes, aristocratic privileges and the tithe would return. The support of the peasants had proved to be vital and necessary primarily due to the fact that they had such a huge influence because they made up such a huge amount of the population. The events in Paris had served as a catalyst which sparked the revolt in the countryside and brought about the August Decrees.

In the early 1500s religious reforms were constant throughout all of Germany, including the ideas of Martin Luther. Martin Luther brought the idea of equality to the peasants (1,3,6) , which in term started the revolts. In document 1 Leonhard van Eck states that the peasants were

In “‘Twelve Articles’ of the Peasants during the German Peasants’ Revolt”, the peasants address to their indefinite ruler that they “are ready and willing to pay the fair tithe of grain” (1), and they “will let [lords] demand only what is just and proper” (1). The peasants were aware of the greedy, clerical abuses of power by pastors, but they were unwilling to accept paying more than fair to support “a decent and sufficient maintenance” (1) for the pastor. This is similar to the “Manifesto of the Peasants of Angoumois,” that showed that the peasants were aware that the burden of taxation from the centralizing France state was put onto the poor peasantry, rather than the richer Middle Class. The peasants in this developing absolutist monarchy attempted to state that “those with sufficient property” (3) should pay the taille, “without regard to personal connections and without fear of the power of the rich” (3). In both these documents, neither state’s peasantry refused taxation or had a desire to change the system. This reactionary idea is also present in the “‘Twenty-Nine Demands’ of Kett’s Rebellion” from England in 1549. This direct list of demands to the definite monarch from the peasantry, was in a request “to redress and

Some authors believed that the peasants’ urge to end their serfdom led to the revolt (Doc. 2, 3, 4). In Document 2, Sebastian Lotzer states that the lords should not take advantage of the peasants, but rather compensate them for their hard work. He continues by stating that the peasants should not be oppressed by their lords. In Document 3, The Parliament of Swabia, made up of peasants, was a petition. Since the petition held the demands of the peasants the document is not very reliable. It is biased because it is reasonable to assume that these were widely held views among the peasantry of this area. Within the document, the basis of religion is used to release serfs, saying that they will obey all authority “appointed by God” so serfdom must be gone. In Document 4, the Memmingen Town Council replies to the peasants demands made in Document 3, for their release from serfdom. Based on the document, the town council, made up of “educated people”, would be predictable because the

England, France, Russia, America, and countries all across the world have housed many different rebellions in the form of riots, strikes, massacres, protests, and debates. It has been stated that there are two constants to a revolution: they begin moderate then turn radical, and no one is more conservative than a successful revolutionary. The French Revolution is the perfect archetype of this. What began as a want for a constitutional monarchy due to economic and political issues, soon turned to a ruthless massacre of nobility at the guillotine with the rise of Jacobins. With the dawning of Enlightenment, came criticisms of absolute monarchy. Along with this, the strain of finance after the American revolution led to issues of taxation and contributed to the mistreatment of the poor (ABC-CLIO). However, not all rebellions involve the shedding of blood. In England, the industrial revolution was one without bloodshed. The industrial revolution fought for new innovations to better many people’s lives. In a way, it rebelled against the old ways in order to

The peasant's rebellion in the German states was an even that took place between 1524 and 1526, when the peasants rose up and attacked authoritative figures like churches and nobles. The revolt was eventually crushed and suppresed by the German Princes, and over a hundred thousand rebels were killed in the process, The revolt was ultimately caused by poor economic status for the peasants and Martin luther's anit-authoritiative ideas. After it had begun, the responses to the revolt were mostly negative to the people with high economic status- Martin Luther and other lords despised it.

Digging a little deeper, it is seen that the peasants’ revolts were in fact influenced by the Black Death. In “A History of Western Society” it is made clear that people were weak and sickly even before the Black Death infected them. “People were already weakened by famine, standards of personal hygiene remained frightfully low, and the urban populace was crowded together. Fleas and body lice were universal affections.” (History, 326). When people are dying from starvation, sickness and the Black Death they tend to fight to remain alive. It is known that a number of peasants’ revolts took place and one of these is recorded by an unknown monk in 1381. The source document called “The Anonimalle Chronicle: The English Peasants’ Revolt”. It delves into the issues around labor shortage because of

Before the time where an urge to revolt arose, the wealthy had the power. As part of their power, they had to keep things running smoothly. Unfortunately, their ideas of the world as a better place was making the working class do all the labor and in return giving them the least amount of reward possible so they could take most of the revenue into their own hands. The upper class made decisions for the feeble lower class and then it was up to these unstable people to produce the result desired. As far as the bourgeoisie were concerned, there was not anything wrong in the way they were going about life. This was one of the biggest problems at the time. The bourgeoisie

7. The causes of the peasants’ uprising known as the Great Fear of 1789 was the peasants impatience and want to take matters into their own hands because they were furious with being forced to deal with the most of the taxation, the church tithes, and the nobles abusing their privileges effecting their lives. The cause that pushed them over the edge to begin the uprisings was the rise in the price of bread. The outcomes of the uprising were the destroying of feudal documents, enclosed lands raided, and most importantly the Nation Assembly having no choice but to issue a decree on August 4, 1789 that abolished all noble privileges including the hunting rights, the fees for legal cases judged in a lord’s court, forcing peasants to work on roads, along with the abolishment of tithes.

When prices got so high that peasants and other third estate citizens couldn't afford food there was an inevitable uprising. The peasantry became a class with the ambition to counteract social inequity and put a stop to escalating food prices. This unrest caused a riot, known as the bread riot, which became a central cause to the French Revolution.