About the peasants' revolt in Thuringia, of which Münzer was the author.
773 Letter from the Elector of Saxony to Duke John, advising him to settle the peasants' trade amicably. Char Friday, April 14, 1525.
This and the next letter are found in the Wittenberg edition (1569), vol. IX, p. 216; in the Jena edition (1585), vol. II, p. 510 f.; in the Altenburg edition, vol. II, p. 876 and in the Leipzig edition, vol. XIX, p. 241. Incomplete in all these editions. From the original written by the Elector Frederick himself, printed in Förstemann's "Neues Urkundenbuch", p. 259. We have subsequently corrected and supplemented this document.
1st Highborn Prince, friendly dear brother and godfather! Today and yesterday I received two letters from E. L., which I read and understood in a friendly way, and I am sending the paintings back to E. L. and thanking him kindly, I did not want to have them taken down, so that it would not come from me to the people. It is God's sending and work, God grant, for a blessed outcome. With my weakness it is in the old essence, it cannot go at all. On the next Wednesday, such a day of pain came to my right knee that I had neither day nor night to rest.
Praise be to God, the day of sorrow has been partially alleviated. For God's sake I deserve this and other things with my sins. May He grant me to bear such His gracious visitation with patience.
2 I would have liked to tell my heartily about my concern, what should be given to the princes for an answer, but my weakness is known to them. So this is a great bargain, that one should act by force. Perhaps the poor people have been given cause for such an uproar, and especially by forbidding the word of God; thus the poor are burdened in many ways by us temporal and spiritual rulers. God turn his wrath away from us. If God wills it so, it will go out so that the common man shall rule; but if it is not His divine will, and if it is not done for His praise, it will soon be otherwise. Let us ask God for forgiveness of our sins, and let him take it home; he will make everything fine according to his will and praise. I take care that E. L. and I, as much as possible, remain idle and do not mix with the clergy, who, as I am concerned, grant E. L. and me little good 2c.
1) "not" is missing in the original, but is rightly added in all editions.
For God's sake, I ask E. L. to be kind to my thoughtless writing; God knows that I mean it faithfully. The Union of Swabia will probably bring the peasants to obedience. Otherwise, they want to force the whole world. God send them to create, so that they will also see that God is the right covenant prince, and nothing else is constant. For God is opposed to all hope.
Where the falconer E. L. made a lot of Lusts, I liked to hear.
Today I received a letter from the Netherlands, in which it is written to me that the Vice-Reyhe [King] of Naples is supposed to have captured the King of France, and the King is supposed to have said that he would rather be captured honestly than to have fled disgracefully. But whether it is true, I do not know.
4 I did not want to restrain all this in E. L.'s friendly opinion, because I am quite willing to serve E. L. with divine bestowal. Almost hurrying to the Lochau on Char Friday [April 14]. In 1525.
Friedrich m. pp.
Is delivered on Easter Monday in Weimar. Anno Domini 1525?)
774 Another letter of the Elector, written to Duke John on May 4, 1525, the day before his blessed end.
See the previous number. From a simultaneous copy, the variants of which are given by Förstemann I. 6. p. 280, supplemented by us.
Highborn Prince, friendly dear brother and godfather! E. L.'s letter, which you have now sent to me with your own hand, in which you indicate to me all the opportunities, as it is at this time with the terrible 2) riots and uprisings in E. L. and my Principality of Thuringia. L. and my principality of Thuringia, and that the common peasants have subjected themselves to the monasteries, the houses of the nobility, and otherwise, by force 2c., I have read out together with a skilful copy, in which Burkhard Hund and others have had to commit themselves; and that the things in E. L. and my poverty have changed with the times. L. and my poverty are proceeding at a rapid pace, for which E. L. is undoubtedly experiencing no small amount of discomfort, for which I bear E. L., as my dear brother, heartfelt and friendly sympathy.
1) Duke John noted this on the address.
2) Förstemann: "indecent".
2 And because the almighty God has ordered it this way for the sake of our sin, we want to give this and other things to His divine will; He will, without a doubt, know how to do it for our good. At the present time, because I am in God's power and will, I can help E. L. little or not at all, although I would like to do so with all my will.
If the L. in Franconia could make a little silence and obedient will among the people with the tenth penny, it would not have done badly in this and other places. Our Lord God will undoubtedly repay E. L. and me again abundantly and graciously in other ways. And as your beloved ask that I have this market with your beloved patience, and that your beloved can give me nothing in the tithe, I will gladly do so, although it is somewhat inconvenient for me, because I am to give money to Hansen von Berlebsch, Ern Hansen von Minkwitz 3) and others in the present market. But I will do as I can, and thus tie one to the other, so that I may please your love in this.
I will well believe that E. L. could easily be led into a game by the advisors' statements and suggestions, which would be noticeably disadvantageous and insurmountable for E. L.. Let E. L. put her trust in God, as I will do, if God wills, as much as I am granted grace, who will not leave E. L. and me here temporally and there eternally. With the Turkish money deposited at Nuremberg, your beloved knows on what condition it was deposited; since it has not been used so far to resist the Turk, I take it for granted that if your beloved applies to those of Nuremberg for it, they will not hold it against your beloved. I hope that you will kindly excuse me for not writing to you with my own hand, for it remains solely due to my weakness. I did not want to behave this way in E. L.'s friendly opinion, and I am grateful to E. L. as my friendly dear friend. L., as my friendly dear brother, willing to serve him. Date Lochau, Thursday after Misericordia Domini [May 4] Anno 1525.
775: Letter from the council of Erfurt to Luther and Melanchthon concerning the peasants' revolt, in which they report that their citizens and country people have handed over some complaints to them;
3) Förstemann: Winckwitz.
Therefore, they ask Luther and Melanchthon to consult with them about this the sooner the better, so that sedition can be prevented.
May 10, 1525.
In Cyprian's "Nützliche Urkunden," vol. II, p. 343 and in Erlanger Briefwechsel, vol. V, p. 171.
776 A letter of escort that Count Albrecht of Mansfeld received from the rebellious peasants on May 11, 1525, to come to them and make a settlement with them.
This number, together with the four that follow and No. 793, constitutes the writing that Luther published in 1525 under the title: "Ein Schrecklich geschicht vnnd gericht Gottes über Thomas Müntzer, darin Gott offenlich desselbigen gehst lugen strafft vnd verdammet. Martinus Luther." iz Bogen in 4. Several individual editions followed. In the collective editions: in the Wittenberg (1551s, vol. II, p. 1061); in the Jena (1556s, vol. Ill, p. 138d; in the Altenburg, vol. Ill, p. 132; in the Leipzig, vol. XIX, p. 287; and in the Erlangen, vol. 65,
Walch has changed the original order of the pieces. In the original and in the other editions, they follow one after the other: No. 793. 779. 780. 777. 776 and 778. Because there is no internal connection between the individual pieces, we have left them in Walch's order.
1. grace and peace in Christ our Savior. Noble Count and Lord! We have read your letter, and thank you for the Christian assembly and faithful service you have done for us, even though in sending it we have alienated the poor people of Odersleuben from theirs. However, we order you and yours to have a Christian day with thirty horses safely, to appear tomorrow Friday at twelve o'clock at Mertens Rita before the bridge.
For this purpose, we give you our safe and harmless escort with our attached seal, and we secure you to and from your custody without any danger, also to such an extent that you will keep peacefully with your followers against poverty and Christian assembly in the meantime, and send us escort again, to such an extent as we do to you, according to which we will act. We are pleased to show you Christian loyalty and ask for a written reply. Date Thursday after Jubilate [May 11] Anno 1525.
Christian Assembly at Frankenhausen.
To the noble Count and Lord, Albrecht zu Mansfeld, Christian prince, our Lord and friendly brother in Christ.
777 A very impudent letter written by Münzer on behalf of the peasants to Count Albrecht zu Mansfeld. May 12, 1525.
See No. 776.
Fear and trembling be to everyone who does evil, Rom. 2, 9.
(1) That you misuse the epistle of Paul in this way pities me. You want to confirm the malicious rulers in all measure, as the pope made Peter and Paul masters. Do you think that God the Lord cannot stir up His foolish people to depose the tyrants in His wrath? Hosea 13, v. 11, and Cap. 8, 4. Did not the Mother of Christ speak from the Holy Spirit, of you and your like, Luc. I, 52: "He has cast down the mighty from the throne, and exalted the lowly (whom you despise)"?
2. did you not like to find in your Lutheran Grütz and your Wittemberg soups, what Ezekiel pointed out in his 37th chapter, v. 4? Nor did you like to taste in your Martinic building dirt, as the same prophet further says at the 39th, v.4., difference, how God demands all birds of the sky, that they shall eat the flesh of the princes, and the unreasonable animals shall drink the blood of the "great" Hanses, as described in the secret revelation at the 18th and 19,18. Do you think that God does not care more about his people than about you tyrants? You want to be a heathen under the name of Christ, and cover yourself with Paulo. But you will be led astray, so know how to keep up.
If you want to recognize Daniel 7:27, how God has given authority to the church, and appear before us, and break your faith, we will gladly confess this to you, and have it for a common brother; but if not, we will not turn to your lame, stale faces, and fight against you, as against an archenemy of the Christian faith; then know how to keep you. Given at Frankenhausen, Friday after Jubilate [May 12], Anno 1525.
Thomas Muenzer with the sword Gedeonis.
Brother Albrechten of Mansfeld for conversion
written.
778 Luther's epilogue to the writing: "Ein schrecklich Geschicht" (A terrible story) 2c., which primarily serves to explain the two preceding letters to Count Albrecht of Mansfeld.
See No. 776.
Martinus Luther.
These two letters to Count Albrecht, Lord of Mansfeld, come from the fact that the same Count, out of Christian goodwill, had offered in writing against the peasants of Frankenhausen to seek a friendly treaty with their overlords and to help them avoid bloodshed. Thereupon, as their letter reads, they named Friday for him, on their escort. But because there was business on the same Friday, the same count and lord again sent a letter, and agreed the next Sunday after. However, God sent Thomas Muenzer from Mulhouse to Frankenhausen; the same
perhaps thought that Count Albrecht was doing this out of fear and despondency, and managed so much that the peasants did not give the count an answer, and thus the treaty remained, but Münzer himself wrote this Brie, as you see.
The poor people have relied on these glorious words of Muenzer and thought that the Holy Spirit was speaking through Muenzer. So they were deceived, and unfortunately more than five thousand lost body and soul at once. O of the wretched misery! That's what the devil wanted, that's what he's looking for in all the other rebellious peasants. And everything could still be sued if only their souls were saved. But because they persist in public disobedience, unfaithfulness, perjury and blasphemy until the end, it is to be feared that they are eternally lost.
3. O LORD God, you wretched brutes, where are your words now, so that you have stirred up and incited the poor people, saying that they are God's people, that God fights for them, that one would slay a hundred, that with a felt hat they would throw five to death, and that the rifle stones would return shooting and strike the enemies? Where then is Muenzer's sleeve, into which he would put all the cannon stones that would be shot against his people? Who is the God who cried out such promises through the mouth of Muenzer for almost a year?
(4) Whoever does not want to turn back on this public judgment of God, which he has proven before all the world with his act of wrath, nor learn how these evil spirits have been against God and have led vain lies, will be deliberately and knowingly deceived and condemned. What should preaching and exhortation help, if such tangible deeds and experience do not help?
(5) I write all this and let it go out, not that I rejoice in his misfortune and his own. For what good is this to me? I do not know what God has decided about me, but I would like to warn all other rebels, and prevent them from falling into the same judgment and wrath of God, and to renounce the harmful false prophets, recognized by such judgment of God, and to give themselves to peace and obedience, as God has commanded and wills.
(6) For although I am very sorry that the poor people have been so miserably deceived and have lost body and soul, I must rejoice that God has passed judgment and judged the matter, so that we may know and confess with certainty how the spirits of the wicked have taught unjustly and falsely, that their doctrine and preaching is contrary to God and condemned by Him. This is so that one may henceforth beware of them, and better preserve body and soul by the right word of God.
In the end, I ask all devout Christians to help us pray to God with earnestness that His divine mercy will ward off the devil and turn his wrath away from us. For the peasants have become so deeply and severely hardened and senseless that they neither see nor hear, and no preaching, no writing helps, God alone must help, otherwise there will be no end to the misery through our doings and counsel. It is no longer time to preach, but time to ask, the wrath has begun; we must defend ourselves with prayer, as Aaron defended the fire with the censer. Deut. 16, 47.
8 I also ask two things of the lords and the nobility. The first, where they win and are obliged not to exalt themselves, but to fear God, before whom they are also almost criminal. For the fact that God gives them victory is not because they are so righteous and pious, but, as Moses also says to the children of Israel about his wicked, because God punishes the peasants' disobedience and blasphemy along with all their iniquities.
The other is that they would be merciful to the prisoners and those who surrender, as God is merciful to anyone who surrenders and humbles himself before Him, lest the weather turn and God again give victory to the peasants. May God help us soon to blessed peace, Amen. Anno 1525.
779 Münzer's letter to the peasants assembled at Frankenhausen and to the miners at Mansfeld, thereby preventing them from answering Count Albrecht of Mansfeld's hereditary offer. Before May 12, 1525.
See No. 776.
The pure fear of GOD before.
Dear brothers, how long do you sleep? How long have you not confessed to God His will, because He has left you according to your reputation? Oh, how much I have told you, how it must be. God can no longer reveal Himself, you must stand. If you do not, then the sacrifice, a heart-broken heartache, is in vain, you must then come again into suffering, I tell you; if you do not want to suffer for God's sake, then you must be the devil's martyrs).
Therefore beware, do not be despondent, do not be careless, do not flatter the perverse fantasists, the godless evil-doers any longer; look at and fight the Lord's battle, it is high time; keep all your brothers so that they do not mock the divine testimony, otherwise they must all perish. The whole of German, French and French-speaking countries are awake, 2) the master wants to play a game, the villains must take their turn.
In Fulda, four collegiate churches were devastated during Easter week; the peasants of Klegen in the Hegau and Black Forest are up to three times a hundred thousand strong, and the longer the accumulation, the greater it becomes. But my concern is that the foolish people are willing to enter into a false agreement, so that they do not yet recognize the damage. Where yours is only three, who left in God, seek alone his name and honor, will you not fear a hundred thousand?)
Now, now, now, it is time, the wicked are as free as dogs; stir up the brethren to come to peace, and fetch their moved testimony; it is exceeding great, exceeding needful; now, now, now! Don't let Esau suggest good words to you, Gen. 33, 4. Don't look at the mourning of the wicked, they will ask you kindly, cry, plead, like children; don't let them have mercy on you, as God commanded through Moses, Deut. 7, 16, and he has also revealed the same to us?
1) Marginal gloss in the Wittenberg and the Jena: Notice, dear reader, how the spirit of vice and murder promises to the poor people and seduces them so miserably. Fear God and hear His word with earnestness and thanksgiving. But if you despise it, you will have to listen to such devilish prophets to your eternal damnation. Protect, dear God.
2) Thus Walch. Erlanger: wag; Wittenberger and Jenaer: erreget.
3) Marginal gloss in the Jena edition: What great misfortune and misery you have already caused with this false promise.
4) Randglosse in der Jenaer: Yes, in the smoke hole.
Towns, and especially the miners with other good boys, which will be good for it; we do not have to sleep any longer.
Behold, as I was writing these words, a message came to me from Salza, how the people wanted to drag Duke George's bailiff from the castle, because he had secretly wanted to kill three of them. The peasants of Eisfeld have become merry over their squires; in short, they do not want to have mercy on them, it is a lot of being, in your image, you have to do it, do it, it is time! Baltzar 1) and Bartel Krump, Valten and Bishop are his followers.
Let this letter become the mountain journeyman; my printer will come in a few days, I have received the message, I cannot do otherwise now. I myself wanted to give the brothers complete instruction, so that their hearts would be much bigger than all the castles and armor of the godless wicked on earth. Go on, go on, go on, because the fire is hot!
Let not your sword grow cold with blood, forge Pinkepank on the anvil Nimrod, throw them 2) the tower to the ground: it is not possible, because they live, that you should be rid of human fear. You cannot be told about God because they rule over you. On, on, on, because you have day! God goes before you, follow. The history is described, Matth. 24 explains. Therefore, do not be deterred, God is with you, as written in 2 Chron. 20, 15: 3) "This is what God says: You shall not be afraid, you shall not shun this great multitude; it is not your battle, but the Lord's; it is not you who are fighting." Stand up manfully, for you will see the help of the Lord upon you. When Jehoshaphat heard these words, he fell down; so also do through God, who strengthens you in the right faith without fear of man, amen. Date Mulhouse, Anno 1525.
Thomas Münzer, a servant of God against the ungodly.
780. Münzer's very impertinent letter to Count Ernst von Mansfeld, a fierce Catholic. May 12, 1525.
See No. 776.
1) That is: Balthasar Stübener, as can be seen from No. 781, § 6. - Bishop" will probably be "Bishop of Welffenröd", cf. idiä, § 21.
2) Wittenberg and Jena: "jn", that is: "him" or "them"; we have chosen the latter. The Erlanger offers: "on the anvil; Nimrod throws in the Thorm to the ground".
3) In all editions: "2 Para. 2."
The steadfast strength, firm fear of God and the constant reason of His righteous will be with you, Brother Ernst.
I, Thomas Muenzer, pastor of Allstädt, admonish you for the sake of the living God's name to be idle of your tyrannical rage and to no longer incur the wrath of God upon yourself. You have begun to torture the Christians, you have accused the holy Christian faith of being an insult, you have subjected the Christians to extermination.
2. behold, you wretched, meager maggot, who has made you the prince of the people that God has purchased with His precious blood? You must and shall prove whether you are a Christian, you shall and must calculate your faith, as commanded in 1 Petr. 3, 15; you shall have safe conduct in true truth to bring your faith to light, as a whole congregation has promised you in the ring, and you shall also excuse yourself from your apparent tyranny, also declare who made you so thirsty that you want to be such a pagan villain under a Christian name to the detriment of all Christians.
(3) If thou shalt remain without, and shalt not discharge the matter laid upon thee, I will cry out before all the world, that all the brethren may boldly venture their blood, as they did against the Turks, and thou shalt be persecuted and put to death. For everyone will be much more diligent to earn indulgences from you than the pope gave in the past. We do not know how to get anything else from you, there is no shame in you, God has hardened you like Pharaoh the king, Exodus 7:3, and like the kings God wanted to destroy, Joshua 5 and 11.
4. be it ever more lamented to God that the world did not recognize your crude, buffalo-like tyranny beforehand; how have you done such noticeable, unrepayable damage, how can one have mercy on you other than God Himself? In short, you have been delivered to ruin by God's mighty power. If you do not humble yourself before the little ones, an eternal disgrace will fall on your neck before all of Christendom; you will become the devil's martyr.
5) So that you also know that we have a strict command, I say) the eternal living God has commanded to push you from the chair by force, given to us. For you are of no use to Christianity, you are a harmful stumbling block. 5)
4) Marginal gloss in the Wittenberg and the Jena: Yes, the tiresome devil in hell.
5) Erlanger: Stäubbesem.
of the friends of GOD; GOD has said it of you and your like, Ezekielis 34, 2. ff. and 39. Danielis 7, 26. Matth. 3, 10. 12. Abdias the prophet says [Obadiah, v. 4.]: Your nest shall be plucked up and broken.
We want to have your answer this very day, or we want to visit you in the name of God of hosts, so know how to direct yourself; we will immediately do what God has commanded us, do you also your best? Given at Frankenhausen, Friday after Jubilate [May 12] Anno 1525.
Thomas Muenzer with the sword Gedeonis.
Letter on the conversion of Brother Ernst of Heldrungen.
781 Thomas Muenzer's confession, when he was questioned in kindness, Tuesday after Cantate, May 16, 1525.
This writing is in the Wittenberg edition (1551), vol. II, p. 4796; in the Jena edition (1556), vol. Ill, p. 1426; in the Altenburg edition, vol. Ill, p. 136; and in the Leipzig edition, vol. XIX, p. 291.
1. he does not want that one should worship the holy reverend sacrament differently than in the spirit, but it is up to each one's discretion.
2. confesses that he gave the sacrament to the sick after noon, also at night, after each occasion, even if he ate at once, took wine and bread and consecrated.
3. in Clegkau and Hegau near Basel, he gave several articles on how to rule from the Gospel, made other articles from it; would have gladly taken him to himself, but thanked them. Have not made indignation, but have been ready to get up before. Oecolampadius and Hugefeldus directed him to preach to the people, since he preached that where there were unbelieving rulers, there would also be unbelieving people, that there should be justification. His wife had the letters written to him in a sack.
4. says that the castles are quite burdensome and overloaded with services and other burdens against the subjects.
1) Randglosse in the Wittenberger and in the Jenaer: I drive therefore, yes, on a gag into the Thmrm to Heldrungen, and am a beschissen prophet become.
6th In his alliance there were Bartel Krump, a tanner from Allstadt, and Balthasar Stübener, there they started the riot. Item, the locksmith 2) is also in it, although he made himself difficult at first. The alliance was against those who persecuted the gospel, and the two had a register in which the allies were inscribed.
7 He Thilo Ganse, preacher at Sangerhausen, admonished him to write a letter to the congregation there, to stand by the gospel, and to persecute those who oppose him; this was done by him.
8) Says that Doctor Strauss 3) has suggested to Weimar. When he disputed with the Barefooters there, he appeared at the request of Duke John, and let himself be heard by the brothers: If the Lutherans did not want to do anything else, except to vex monks and priests, they would have left it all the more alone. At that time he wrote against him in an epistle to Johann's friars at Mühlhausen: if he did not mind the way, he might well come to Mühlhausen and expel him; perhaps this was because he would have liked to be there himself.
The reason that he damaged and scolded my Lord, the Prince and Count Ernest of Mansfeld, was because the subjects complained that the Word of God was not preached to them, and he ordered them to inform his superior where it was not preached and forbade them to go to the Word of God, so that they would come to him if he wanted to preach it to them, and they should not let themselves be prevented or mistaken.
10 The people of Mühlhausen let him in, and Johann Röder, a furrier, and the wine-grower at St. Blasius accepted him.
He was in Mallerbach near Allstädt, and saw that they carried some images out of the church, and then burned the church. I preached that it was a spelunk and an idolatry with the signs that one enters from wax; it was not commanded by God. Thereupon the Kleusener there warned to go away; that happened so, afterwards the church was burned out.
12th He Apel Ellenwentz, house is plundered by the brothers at Mühlhausen and broken, that it is a burdensome house, from some arti-
2) Hans Zeis.
3) For D. Jakob Strauß, see St. Louis Edition, Vol. XIX, Introduction, p. 47 f. and Vol. XX, Introduction, p. 39.
none, so the brothers moved, which him 1) not mißlich, had been the twelve articles of the Black Forest peasants and others.
The council of Mulhouse did not want to enter into the alliance, but left the alliance to the common man. Claus Storch and Marx Stübener of Zwickau had been with Luther in Wittenberg in a small room, and he had also been there. Luther let himself be heard that he had beaten the All-City Spirit over the muzzle; he had not been there personally this time.
14 He Gangloff, the preacher of the sick at Frankenhausen, has accepted an ensign, if the ones from Heringen and Greussen were among them.
Embarrassedly asked, he replied:
15. Heinrich Gebhart at Zwickau, in the Hundsgassen, together with Hans Gebhart their appendix, are weavers, are also in his alliance.
16 He Heinrich Pfeifer has stated that it is enough that in each Pfleg there is one castle, the others are to be destroyed.
17" He pronounced the sentence on Matern von Sehofen from the mouth of the community and agreed to it. He was afraid of Count Ernsten and the community.
18. has had his refuge and reliance on Mühlhausen, that it pleases him all there. His principals there are two, as above, Kürßner and Weinbörner.
19. confesses, where he conquered the castle Heldrungen, that he wanted to cut off Count Ernsten's head.
20 He had made this outrage so that Christendom would become equal, and that the princes and lords who did not want to support the gospel and accept their alliance, if they were reminded of it as brothers, would be expelled or put to death.
21. bartel Krump, bartel Zimmermann, Peter Warmut, Niclaus Rucker, Andreas Krumpe of Allstädt; Bischof zu Welffenröd, Hans Rodeman, Peter Schütte, Peter Peher in Thal Mansfeld; Thilo Fischer zu Wimelburg, Thilo Panse, Peter Rotoman of Sangerhausen have been in the Allstädt alliance.
22 Their article was: Omnia simul communia, that is, all things shall be common, and shall be distributed to each according to need as occasion requires. And which prince, earl or lord would not do this, and of that first he-
1) "him" put by us instead of: "jnen" in the Wittenberg and in the Jena. We assume that "jme" should be read == him.
If they do not obey, their heads should be cut off or hanged.
The register has Bartel Krump at Allstädt.
In his youth, when he was a collaborator there, he also made a covenant with Aschersleben and Hall.
Inside are:
25. Peter Blinte zu Aschersleben, Peter Engel, is a churchman, Hans Büttener, Cuntz Sander zu Halle.
26. is against the bishop Duke Ernsten, high noble memory, gewest.
27. if it went to him right after his sense, he wanted to have taken the country on ten mile way around Mühlhausen, and the country to Hessen, and with princes, counts and lords, who would not have gone into their alliance, continued, as heard.
The people of Mulhouse lent him eight carts of rifles.
782 Münzer's farewell letter to the von Mühlhausen, written after the verdict he had already received, in which no sign of true repentance for his terrible vices is expressed. May 17, 1525.
This Brie is found from the manuscript printed in Seidemann's "Münzer", p. 1'46. After this we have given the text. Furthermore, in the editions mentioned in the previous number, immediately thereafter, only in the Jena one separated from it, Vol. Ill, p. 145.
Salvation and bliss through fear, death and hell beforehand.
Dear Brothers! Since it pleases God that I will depart from here in true knowledge of the divine name, and that I will repay some abuses, accepted by the people, who did not understand me correctly, only in view of selfishness, which leads to the downfall of divine truth, I am also heartily satisfied that God has decreed it this way with all His accomplished works, which must not be judged according to outward appearance, but in truth, John 7:24. 7, 24. Therefore you shall not be offended at my death, which was done for the benefit of the good and the unwise.
2 Therefore my friendly request to you is that you let my wife follow the goods I had, as books and clothes, which are the same, and not let her be paid anything for God's sake.
Dear brothers, it is of great importance to you that you do not receive such slaps as those of Frankenhausen. For such is without
Doubts have arisen that each one seeks his own benefit more than the justification of Christianity. Therefore, make a good distinction and take care of your cause so that you do not cause further harm. This is what I am writing to you about the Frankish-Husband affair, which was carried out with great bloodshed, namely over four thousand; come forward with the clear, constant justice of God, so that this will not happen to you.
I have warned you many times that the punishment of God cannot be avoided by the authorities, unless one recognizes the harm, which can always, if recognized, avoid the harm. Therefore, be friendly with everyone, and do not provoke the authorities any more, as many have done through selfishness. So that to the grace of Christ and his spirit commanded. With this manuscript, by Christoff Lauen, 1) I commit my spirit into the hands of God, and wish you the blessing of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Help my wife with diligence, and finally flee the bloodshed, for which I want to warn you faithfully now. For I know that the majority of you in Mühlhausen have never been subject to this rebellious and self-serving uprising, but would gladly increase the number and occurrence of it, so that you, these same innocent people, may not also be burdened, as happened to some in Frankenhausen, so do not make yourselves subject to the assembly and uprising, and ask for mercy from the princes, whom I hope you will find of the princely mind to show you mercy.
6 I want to report this now in my farewell, so that I can remove the burden and burden from my soul, and not give any further cause for rebellion, so that the innocent blood will not be spilled any further. Given at Helderungen in my prison and farewell, Wednesday after Cantate [May 17] Anno 2c. 1525 Thomas Münzer.
783. D. Martin Luther's three letters to D. Rühel, Thomas Münzer and the rebellious peasants.
First letter, May 4, 1525.
This letter is found in the Eisleben edition, vol. I, p. 215; in the Altenburger, vol. II, p. 886; in the Leipziger, vol. XIX, p. 243; in the Erlanger vol. 53, p. 291 and in De Wette, vol. II, p. 652.
1) This letter was dictated to Christof Lauen (Lawen).
1. grace and peace in Christ! Respectable, dear doctor and brother-in-law! I have always thought of your new newspaper, which I received last time, so that I must also write about it from here. And first of all, I ask that you do not help my lord, Count Albrecht, to soften in this matter, but let it go as your lord has begun, even though the devil becomes angrier and angrier about it through his possessed members; for here is God's word that does not lie, which says Rom. 13:4: "He does not bear the sword in vain," 2c. so that there is never any doubt that his earldom is decreed and commanded by God. Because of this, his grace is to be used for the punishment of the wicked, as long as a vein is stirring in the body. If it is forcibly taken from the hand of his grace, it shall be suffered and given back to God, who has given it before, and may take it again when and with what he wills.
(2) That therefore with a good conscience the state may be followed and adhered to even unto death, for the sake of the word of God, which hath ordained the same so long as it endureth; even as from no other good work shall any man desist, except it be forcibly put down; and in strife no man shall depart from his advantage, or desist from contending, except he be overcome.
For although there are thousands more peasants, they are all robbers and murderers who take the sword out of their own thirst and iniquity, and want to drive out princes, lords and everything, to make new order in the world, because they have neither commandment, power, right, nor order from God, as lords now have. To this end, they are unfaithful and perjured to their lords. Above this, they bring shame and dishonor to their great sins, the name of the Divine Word and Gospel, so that if God, out of wrath, were to impose upon them to carry out their actions without all the right and command of God, they would have to suffer it, as if someone else suffered injustice or had to suffer it, and yet did not agree that they would do right.
4. but I still firmly hope it will not continue or ever endure, even though God, through the most desperate people
sometimes plagues the world, as he did and still does with the Turks. But that they pretend not to harm anyone or to do harm is the devil's mockery. Doesn't that mean doing harm, chasing away masters and beating them to death? If they do not want to harm anyone, why do they gather together and command people to yield to their authority? To harm no one, and yet to take everything, the devil would also do well if he were allowed to do as he pleased, and would harm no one.
5 Nor is this a cause that they want to drive away masters, for pure courage. Why does one not correct what is evil about it? Look at the p. 1) regiment, which has also begun this way, and is worse than it has ever been, and still has neither fear nor discipline, but is a vain warrior. Summa, if God wants to let His wrath go upon us and devastate Germany, then the enemies of God and blasphemers, robbers and murderers, as these faithless and perjured peasants, are good for it; so we suffer it, and call them lords, as the Scriptures call the devil prince and lord, John 14, Eph. 6. 14, 30. Eph. 6, 12. But God protect all devout Christians, that they do not give in to him nor worship him, as he tempted Christ, Matth. 4,1. but resist with mouth and hands, as long as one always can, and die over it in the name of God.
(6) If they offer to harm no one, where we only yield to them, we again offer to yield to them, and if it must be, confess that they rule over us as unfaithful, perjured blasphemers and robbers, that they have no right from GOD, but vainly give in from the prince of the world, as he boasts Matth. 4, that he has all the power and honor of the world, and gives it to whom he 2) wills. This is both true, where God imposes and does not defend.
(7) And I (to whom it also applies, because the devil wants me badly dead) realize that he is angry, that he has not yet been able to do anything either by cunning or by might, and thinks that he wants to get rid of me, and that he should try his utmost and mix the whole world together; that I almost believe and think that I am the devil's cause, that I am the devil's cause.
1) Seidemann in De Wette, Vol. VI, p. 695 conjicirt: Schweizer.
2) In the editions: "it".
he prepares such things in the world, so that God may afflict the world.
(8) Well, when I come home, I will send myself to death with God's help, and wait for my new masters, the murderers and robbers, who tell me they will not harm anyone. Just as that highwayman did, who said to the good carter: I will not harm you, but give me what you have and drive as I wish; if not, you shall die. O a beautiful innocence, how beautifully the devil adorns himself and his murderers! But before I would approve and speak rightly of what they do, I would rather lose a hundred necks, that God would help me with grace.
9 And if I can, in spite of him, I will still take my Käthe in marriage before I die, when I hear that they are continuing. I hope they will not take away my courage and joy. But that they should not be munificent, believe their own God, and no one else. I write this to you so that you may also be comforted, and comfort others, and especially my gracious lord, Count Albrechten.
10) Stop that God only continues fresh, 4) return the things to God, and do his divine command to wield the sword enough, as long as he always can; the conscience is safe here, even if one has to go down over it. And again, even if they punish the princes and destroy them, serving God's wrath, he will still give them the hellish fire as a reward. It is a short time before the right judge comes, who will find both them and us: us with mercy, if we suffer their violence and iniquity; them with wrath, so that they take the sword themselves, by which they will also perish, as Christ has already passed such judgment, Matth. 26,52. Their deeds and victory cannot remain for long. Give my regards to your dear Riebe?) Given at Seeburg, on Thursday after Misericordias Domini [May 4] Anno 1525. D. Martinus Luther.
3) This is Luther's first statement about his intention to marry.
4) The very next day, Albrecht von Mansfeld delivered a meeting to the peasants near Osterhausen.
5) Rühel's wife was a relative of Luther. At the end of the third letter he calls her his "sister-in-law". Therefore, the designation "brother-in-law" is used in Rühel in a broader sense. Seeburg is located in Mansfeld, between Eisleben and Halle.
Second letter, May 23, 1525.
To the respectable, highly respected Mr. Johann Rühel, the Right Doctor, my favorable gentleman and friendly dear brother-in-law.
God's grace and peace! I thank you, respectable, dear sir and brother-in-law, for your new newspapers, which I would always have liked to know, especially how Thomas Münzer is doing. Please, let me know how he was found and caught, and how he fared; for it is useful to know how the arrogant spirit fared.
2 It is pitiful that poor people are treated so cruelly. But how should one do it? It is necessary, and God also wants it, that fear and timidity be brought into the people. If not, Satan would do much harm. One misfortune is better than another. It is God's judgment [Matth. 26, 52]: Qui accipit gladium, gladio peribit. It is comforting that the spirit has come to light, so that henceforth the peasants will know how wrong they are, and perhaps leave their rottenness or become few. Do not let it grieve you so hard; for it will benefit many souls, who will be deterred and preserved by it.
My most gracious lord, the Elector, passed away the day I left you [May 5], 1) between five and six, almost at the time when Osterhausen 2) was destroyed, with gentle courage, fresh reason and understanding, has taken the sacrament of both forms, and no oath. Is also without masses and vigils from us, and yet finely buried gloriously. There are several stones in
1) Luther had written the previous letter to him from Seeburg on May 4, but met with him later on the return trip. Lingke, Reisegeschichte, p. 157.
2) In the original: Osterhüsen.
in his lungs, and especially three in the gall bladder (which is strange), almost like the quintuple of a penny, and as thick as half a little finger is thick. He also died from the stone, but none was found in the bladder.
He did not yet know much about the uprising, but wrote to his brother, 3) he should first seek all ways with kindness, before he would let it come to the battle; thus he died Christian and blessed. The sign of his death was a rainbow, which we, Philips and I, saw in the night of the next winter, over the Lochau, and a child born here in Wittenberg without a head, and another with upturned feet.
5) Hiemit GOtt befehlt, und grüet mir eure Hausrebe sammt ihren Trauben. Also comfort Christoffel Meinhart, 4) that he may let God have His will, which cannot be so vainly good, even if we do not feel it. It has now become serious, what we have joked about before, about the disenchantment, boredom and amazement. Now it's time to keep still and let God prevail, so we will see peace, amen. To the [Archbishop of Mainz] 5) I am not disinclined to write, as you indicate. At Wittenberg, on the Tuesday after Vocem Jucunditatis [May 23] 1525.
Martinus Luther.
Third letter, May 30, 1525.
This letter is found in the Wittenberger (1569), vol. IX, p. 557; in the Jenaer (1556), vol. Ill, p. 144; in the Altenburger, vol. Ill, p. 138; in the Leipziger, vol. XIX, p. 247; in the Erlanger, vol. 53, p. 305 and in De Wette, vol. II, p. 669.
To the honorable and highly respected Mr. Johann Rühel, Doctori, my favorable master and friendly brother-in-law.
Grace and peace in Christ! I thank you, my dear Doctor and brother-in-law, of your service in the new newspapers, God grant the lamentation an end with grace, as
3) No. 773 and 774 in this volume.
4) Christoffel Meinhart, a cousin of the Schöfer zu Allstädt, Hans Zeis (Seidemann, "Münzer", p. 144); both followers of Münzer. Cf. St. Louis edition, vol. XV, appendix, no. 125, but also in this volume no. 785-787.
5) In the original, the bracketed text has been cut out. Cf. K 4 of the next number.
we should ask and hope. It is good that people call me a hypocrite, and I am glad to hear it; do not be surprised either, since you have heard for some years now how they have scolded me and talked me into many things, all of which in time have been destroyed and disgraced by yourselves. I would have to have a lot of leather if I were to shut anyone's mouth. It is enough that my conscience is safe before God; he will judge what I speak and write; it shall and will go as I have written, nothing helps.
2. to wish mercy to the peasants: if there are innocent among them, God will save and preserve them, as He did Lot [Gen. 19:15 ff] and Jeremiah [chap. 38,13. ff. 39,14. ff.] did. If he does not, they are certainly not innocent, but have at least kept silent and consented: even if they do this out of stupidity and fear, it is still unjust and criminal before God, just as much as he who denies Christ out of fear. For I also write all the more harshly against the peasants, because they force and coerce such fearful ones to their will of courage and God's punishment, and do not stop.
The wise man says: Cibus, onus et virga asino, in a farmer belongs Haberstroh. They do not hear the word, and are senseless, so they must hear the virgam, the cans, and it serves them right. We should pray for them that they obey; if not, there is not much mercy here; just let the guns go under them, otherwise they will make it a thousand times worse.
I will write to the bishop 1) and send you a copy. Thomas Münzer was not given proper interrogation; I would have let him ask much differently. Thus his confession is nothing other than a devilish, hardened obduracy in his behavior. Yet he confesses that he has done no evil, so that I am astonished by it, and I do not mean that it should be possible for a human heart to be so deeply hardened.
(5) Well, he who has seen the coiner may say that he has seen the devil in the flesh.
1) This that Luther in the letter of June 2, Walch, St. Louis Edition, Vol. X, 678.
seen in his highest fury. O Lord God, wherever such a spirit is in the peasants, how high time it is that they are strangled like mad dogs! For the devil perhaps feels the last day, therefore he thinks to stir the fury and to prove all infernal power at once. Haec sunt tempora, I mean. Well, God still lives and reigns, but will not leave us; his goodness is more, mightier and wiser than Satan's raging and raging.
6) There is a rumor that the locksmith in Allstädt is to be judged by the third party, but we hope that it is a lie. The same is said of Doctor Straußen 2). Greetings to your dear vine, my sister-in-law, Hanna Rühlin, with her grapes. Hiemit GOtt commanded. The two sermons at the funeral of the Elector 3) are printed. On Tuesday after Exaudi [May 30] Anno 1525.
Martinus Luther.
784 Two letters from Luther to Nicolaus Amsdorf, in which he complains about the accusations of some preachers in Thuringia and Franconia, and reports that some princes have already returned to the field against the rebellious peasants.
First letter, May 30, 1525.
This letter is found handwritten in 606th N. 24 n., k. 166; printed in Aurifaber, vol. II, p. 289; in De Wette, vol. II, p. 671 and in Erlanger Briefwechsel, vol. V, p. 182.
Newly translated from the Latin.
Mr. Nicolaus Amsdorf, his beloved in the Lord.
Grace and peace! You report a new honor to me, my dear Amsdorf, that I am called a flatterer of the princes; such honorary titles Satan has brought me in great numbers in these years. But I do not have so much sympathy for our clever ones.
2) These rumors about Zeis the locksmith and D. Strauss were unfounded. Compare numbers 785-787; likewise St. Louis edition, vol. XIX" Introduction, p. 47 f. and vol. XX, Introduction, p. 39.
3) Walch, St. Louis Edition, vol. X, 2032-2071.
1) I rejoice that Satan is so indignant and blasphemous as often as he is touched by me. For what are those voices but Satan's voices, with which he endeavors to insult me and the gospel? But he that hath hitherto so often trodden him under my feet, and crushed the lion and the dragon, will not suffer the basilisk to tread upon me [Ps. 91:13.]; let them therefore bark. Our conscience is sure that what has gone out of my mouth in this matter is right before GOD. Therefore, let it be crucified and displeased to those who are exalted by our efforts and the name (titulo) of the gospel, so that they may disgrace us by giving us this thanks, as the adulterous generation is wont to do. But they have been exalted so that they may be cast down, and their end be shame. Perhaps the time will come when I too may say [Matt. 26:31], "This night you will all be offended at me." In contrast, we soon forget the good things we have received. And how hopeful and ready are we to judge even those from whom we have learned! But Christ, who began without our counsel, will accomplish his work even against our counsel. Remind the brethren, therefore, since they have so often heard from the Gospel that we are nothing, and that the carnal mind must be put to death, that they not be hasty in their wisdom and in awakening the carnal mind. It is God who works above and against, under and apart from what we can grasp.
I cannot come to you at all, since I am so busy and called to do many things, otherwise I would like nothing better.
I am of the opinion that it is better that all peasants are slain than the princes and authorities, because the peasants, without having power from God, take the sword. On this wickedness of Satan, nothing can be done.
1) Instead of tzuars, with which in all editions a new sentence begins here, we have taken quaru as a corretative to turn. Huars gives no right sense.
Second letter, June 12, 1525.
This letter is found in Aurifaber, vol. II, p. 290; in De Wette, vol. II, p. 680 and in Erlanger Briefwechsel, vol. V, p. 192.
Newly translated from the Latin.
Grace and peace in the Lord! I believe, my dear Amsdorf, that you know everything that Satan is perpetrating through the peasants in Franconia. Then this, your Heinrich, as a living letter, will tell everything better what he has heard here. Although I wish that the peasants be given a sound mind, I fear that they will become obdurate and blinded, and that the wrath of God will bring a heavy defeat upon them. They fight with
2) Some of the Magdeburg preachers had sided with the rebels and adhered to Muenzer.
136 Erl. Briefw. V, 1S2 f. Section 4: Writings on the Peasants' Revolt. No. 784ff. W. XVI. 170-172. 137
The people of the region have a very bad conscience, and many of their confederates have been forced to join them by force and against their will. Our prince has indeed gone out strongly armed, for the sake of peace and reconciliation, as they say. Margrave Casimir is laying strong siege to Neuenstadt, where six thousand peasants are said to be assembled. The Swabian alliance attacks them from one side, from the other.
1) Neustadt an der Aisch, in Middle Franconia. The siege had already happened on May 29 and 30.
2) William VI of Henneberg had been forced to accept the peasants' articles on May 3. When the peasants nevertheless devastated his villages and castles, he united with the princes.
3) Instead of irnxsckire we have assumed imxsckiri; this was already done by the old translator.