The German Peasants' War: A History in Documents

by Tom Scott

The 'German Peasants' War' of 1524-26 was the greatest popular uprising in European history before the French Revolution. Its significance is heightened by the contemporary struggle for religious renewal in the Reformation, which had a decisive influence on its course. Yet very little writing in English has discussed the Peasants' War in detail. This volume traces the war through contemporary documents, both published and original, for the English-speaking reader in translation. It gives generous coverage to the causes and course of the revolt, and to its ideological mainsprings and forms of organisation. At the same time it illustrates the authorities' response, the role of towns in the revolt, and the sociological variety of the participants. The main political theories inspired by the revolt receive full treatment, and the volume concludes with detailed coverage of the attempts to suppress the insurrection and its political and social aftermath. Accompanying the selection of 162 documents is an extended introduction, which traces the main issues facing historians in seeking to understand the revolt: it also provides thumbnail sketches of the course of the Peasants' War in the five main areas of rebellion. This volume includes eight maps for convenient reference and a select bibliography for further reading.

Genres: History

376 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1994

About the author

(NB. There are several authors with the same name.) This the author page for Tom Scott, historian, MA, PhD, LittD, FRSA. Honorary Professor, University of St Andrews.

Before joining the Institute of Reformation Studies in St Andrews in 2004, Tom Scott was based in the School of History at the University of Liverpool. Before that he was a research fellow at Clare College, Cambridge.

Tom Scott has worked principally on social and economic issues in the German Reformation, including the Peasants’ War, and more generally on town-country relations, regional economic systems, and regional identity. In 1997 his monograph Regional Identity and Economic Change: The Upper Rhine, 1450‒1600 was published by Oxford University Press. A volume of fifteen essays on Town, Country, and Regions in Reformation Germany followed in 2005 (Brill Publishers). More recently he has published The City-State in Europe, 1000-1600: Hinterland‒Territory‒Region (OUP, 2012), and, in the St Andrews Reformation Studies Institute series, The Early Reformation in Germany between Secular Impact and Radical Vision (Ashgate Publishers, 2013). He has just published The Swiss and their Neighbours, 1460-1560. Between Accommodation and Aggression (OUP, 2017).

As well as major articles on ‘The Agrarian West’ (Oxford Handbook of Early Modern European History, 2015) and ‘The Economic Policies of the Regional City-States of Renaissance Italy’ (Quaderni Storici, 145 (2014)), he has recently written surveys on Unresolved Problems in the German Peasants’ War, the Urban Reformation in Germany, and ‘The Problem of Nationalism in the Early Reformation’ (Renaissance and Reformation, Autumn 2015), as well as contributing to the forum on Peter Wilson’s Heart of Europe (Central European History, Autumn 2017).

His current research project focuses on the politics of the Swiss Confederation in the first half of the sixteenth century.

Reviews

[Gareth Howells · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favourite history books. Fascinating insight into the Peasant's war in Germany in the 16th century.

[T.D. Krupp · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thorough translations, well documented, includes in depth analysis of of the 12 articles. Additionally, an interesting piece of Goetz von Berlichigen's 'auto'biography is translated.