Thomas Müntzer went from Luther's protégé to leader of a peasant revolt
Luther once recommended Thomas Müntzer for a pulpit. Within a few years the two men were bitter enemies. Convinced the world was about to end, Müntzer preached that believers must help God usher in a new age, and in 1525 he led armed peasants into battle and was executed.
Müntzer was born in late 1489, or perhaps early 1490, in Stolberg in the Harz Mountains. A popular legend says his father was executed by feudal lords, but that is untrue; his long education suggests a fairly comfortable upbringing. He enrolled at Leipzig in 1506 and later at Frankfurt an der Oder, though patchy records leave his degrees uncertain. In May 1514 he became a priest in Braunschweig, where he began attacking the sale of indulgences.
In autumn 1517 he was in Wittenberg, meeting Luther during the debates that led up to the 95 Theses. Yet he was already reading medieval mystics such as Johannes Tauler and wondering whether God spoke through dreams and visions. Luther's recommendation brought him in 1520 to Zwickau, a mining town of about 7,000 split between new wealth and struggling weavers. At the weavers' church of St Katharine he joined forces with Nikolaus Storch, a self-taught radical who trusted in revelation by dreams, until riots led the council to dismiss him in April 1521.
He sought refuge in Prague, where he was first welcomed as a follower of Luther and wrote a statement of belief later called the Prague Manifesto, begging the church to worship a living, speaking God rather than a mute one. The authorities expelled him within months. After a year of wandering he landed in 1523 at Allstedt, a town of about 600, where he led services in German. Reports suggest upwards of two thousand people came each Sunday. When Luther summoned him to Wittenberg for examination, he refused. He also married a former nun, Ottilie von Gersen.
His theology explains his politics. Believing the last days had come, he broke with Luther over compromises with princes and turned against feudal authority. During the uprisings of 1525 he organised an armed militia in Mühlhausen. After the defeat at Frankenhausen he was captured, tortured and executed on 27 May 1525. Few Reformation figures remain as contested, and he is now counted among Europe's early revolutionaries.
Source: Thomas Müntzer
