Thomas Müntzer

In July 1524 Müntzer preached before the dukes of Saxony at the castle of Allstedt and printed the sermon. It told them that the sword was theirs to root out the godless and would be taken from them if they did not use it (Müntzer, Sermon to the Princes title and closing sections). That September Conrad Grebel and his friends at Zurich wrote to him at Allstedt as to a brother and told him that the gospel and its adherents are not to be protected with the sword (Grebel, Letter to Müntzer address and closing).

Martin Luther blamed the rising of 1525 above all on the man he called the archdevil who ruled at Mühlhausen (Luther, Against the Robbing and Murdering Hordes Works 4, p. 248). Müntzer was taken with the rebel army at Frankenhausen, and a confession taken from him was printed with the date 16 May 1525; the library that holds the pamphlet describes it as obtained under torture (Müntzer, Confession title of the pamphlet, with the library’s description). Luther asked for news of his capture a week later; the editors of Luther’s letters give 27 May as the day of his execution at Mühlhausen (Luther, Letters, to John Rühel, 23 May 1525, with the editors’ note). See the German Peasants’ War.