A Short History of the World in 50 Lies

by Natasha Tidd

As the violence reached its apex in 1525, leaders of the rebellions released their list of demands, which included multiple Reformation ideals, such as the ability to elect preachers, to be preached to in an understandable way, and for barriers to be put in place to prevent unnecessary funds being funnelled away from the community and to the Catholic Church. There were of course other demands – freedom from serfdom, reduced compulsory labour, and return of land seized by the nobility – however, it was the ones that condemned the actions of the Catholic Church that sparked fear and rage; the Reformation threat had spiralled so far out of control that now even peasants, the lowest of the low, had taken up its banner. Martin Luther quickly jumped ship, publishing Against the Murderous, Thieving Hordes of Peasants, which likened the rebels to ‘the devil’s own’ and urged swift and bloody punishment. This was deftly dealt out, the peasants quashed, their rights taken away and an estimated 100,000 dead by the rebellion’s end. Yet it wasn’t only the peasants who’d lost; the wheels of reformation slowed almost to a stop. Those outside the nobility were left with a bad taste in their mouths, following Luther pushing the German rebels under the bus.