Title: Where Luther Got It Wrong: The Peasants' Revolt - Way To LEAD
Headings: Where Luther Got It Wrong: The Peasants’ Revolt
Where Luther Got It Wrong: The Peasants’ Revolt
Content: While not yet a Jeffersonian “all men are created equal,” which was to come two centuries later, they heard a fresh wind of freedom from an intolerable situation. Luther’s writings were not the cause of the revolt, but they certainly appealed to the peasants. When the revolts began to turn violent, Luther opposed them. He claimed the peasants had misunderstood what he was saying, and while he felt their cause was just, he could not support their insurrection and breaking of the peace. Responding to the peasants he wrote, Against the Murderous, Thieving Hoards of Peasants (Wider die Mordischen und Reubischen Rotten der Bawren). In this tract, Luther instructed the German Nobility to strike down the peasants as one would kill a mad dog. This was just what the Lutheran and Catholic aristocracy wanted to hear, and it is precisely what they did. The revolt was put down. When the smoke cleared 100,000 peasants were dead. It is easy with our 21st century, post-American Revolution eyes to judge Luther for his lack of democratic values.