Mr. Parrow
AP Euro/ Period 5
February 13, 2012
DBQ #1
The peasant’s revolt in the German states of 1524-1526 was mainly caused by the peasants’ confusion of Lutheran teachings and also the economic depression that was oppressed by the lords. The response to the peasant revolts in German states varied from violent outcries to semi peaceful actions such as marches and gatherings. During 1524-1526 many peasant revolts occurred within the German states primarily caused by the confusion of Lutheran teachings and ideologies. In documents 1, 3 and 6 demonstrate how the peasants unified through Lutheran teachings and how it was used to explain the German serf uprising. In an official report from Leonardo Von Eck clearly states that the peasant’s demands come from “the word of god” in which shows that the peasant revolts root cause comes from Lutheran teachings and that religion is the driving force of these revolts since it led to a retaliation against the oppressor which are the lords and nobility (Doc.1). Leonardo Von Eck a chancellor of Bavaria a clearly a noble would likely be a biased view since he is trying to protect his own class from the peasants and also because he is more concerned in maintaining order and peace since he is a government official also but thus he also expresses a factual fact about the driving force of the peasant uprising. Another source that will reconfirm the views of Von Eck is from a group of Swabian peasants in which visibly asserts that god had renew them and given them the inner strength to stand up for themselves since it was a shame that they had to serve as slaves but also iterates their willingness to obey religious powers (Doc 3). The demands of the Peasant parliament of Swabia that was written in the Articles of the Peasants of Memmingen to the Memmingen Town Council is a reliable source since we can presume that these views are the same views of the serfs of that region. In document 6 a source who is not a lord but a German minister claims that the people of Allstedt need to participate in the revolt and destroy the upper class since it is God’s will power. In this passionate open letter evidently reveals the deep message of people joining in this revolt in the cause of god and calls for the serfs of Allstedt to reach for freedom and equality. The peasant revolts that occurred in 1524-1526 had a political response in which resulted into violent outcries. In document 5, 7, and 11 establishes the various violent responses coming from the peasants directing at the nobles and lords and vice versa. In a report of events from Johann Herolt states how the peasants are savagely acting by climbing castle walls and abducting children and women, he also asserts how nobles can’t live life peacefully since there’s too much social unrest coming from the peasants (Doc. 5). Johann Herolt a pastor has not a bias view since he does not belong in the upper or serf classes and also his view is reliable since he is not part of the endangered class and it not protecting the peasantry class. Moreover, another source that confirms the social unrest going on is by Martin Luther in which he claims that the peasants had taken it too far since they are acting like animals and are harming society with their violent acts and are not fulfilling god’s will and are going to be damned for that (Doc 7). Martin Luther a theologian is clearly not a reliable source since he sides more in protecting the nobles because according to his teachings he did not mean equality for all man in society but just solely in god’s eyes. In document 11 Wilhelm von Henneberg states how the peasants are taking over towns in a vigorous matter since they seem to sneak up and eat and drink everything that is available and when finish destroy all buildings just leaving a broken town. In this astonishing document clearly reveals the depth of how much destruction the peasants did to noble towns and how malicious they’ve become. The second response in the revolts of 1524-1526 was a social response in which lead to attempting to create some sort of compromise . In Documents 10 and 12 show how one part of society wanted to repair the damages done and move on forward with better regimes and regulation in which will make everyone happy and make society peaceful again. In a legal plea for leniency by Christoffel Von Linchtenstein asserts that many nobles had joined the peasant cause since the prince has not done anything to calm down the social unrest (Doc 10). Christoffel von Lichtenstein a nobleman is a presume to be a reliable source since he is part of the upper class an can have the same view as the upper class men of that area. Another source is from the decree of imperial diet in which state that the terrible social unrest that went on were oppressed and many observation were made in order to prevent major revolts to occur in the future (Doc 12). In this intense document one can see the immense effort that was made to stop the revolt and can see how they prepared themselves to prevent further revolt to go on in the future and grant peace and order back into society again.
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