Thomas Münzer

Thomas Münzer carried out the first radical action from the side of the Anabaptists. He was a follower of Luther for a short time, but he felt that Luther did not go far enough. Not only church had to be reformed, but also the whole society. Christian life had to be like the days of the early Christian church. Münzer strongly believed that the Second Coming of Christ would take place very soon. He believed that this Coming would be the beginning of a thousand-year reign of peace. He saw himself as an important prophet who would play a big role in the building of this kingdom. He motivate the poor peasants in the south of Germany to resist the church and the government. For many years, the poor peasants had been very unhappy that their poverty and lack of freedom. They often rebelled. And many of these peasants agreed with the critisims on the Roman Catholic Church. And Luther had shown clearly that he agreed with many of their claims. Luther wrote about this to the nobility: ‘Leave your tyranny and oppression, so that the poor man may live too.’ The first Peasants’ War in 1524 started under leadership of Thomas Münzer. Churches, monasteries and castles were plundered and their inhabitants were killed. Luther made clear he did not approve of this action. He hardly condemned the massacres and plundering. He exhorted the nobility to put an end to it. And the nobility did it. The peasants’ armies were utterly defeated in 1525 by the German princes. Ten thousand people died, and Thomas Münzer was sentenced to death. This had ugly consequences for Luther. Peasants and princes were angry with him. In the eyes of the peasants, Luther had let them down. From now on they called him Dr. Lüger (liar) and turned away from him. This did great damage to the Reformation.