Müntzer, Thomas

Abstract

Thomas Müntzer was one of the most controversial figures of the dawning years of the Reformation in Germany and an important figurehead in the 1525 German Peasants’ War in Thuringia and Saxony (Bloch 1969; Gritsch 2006; La Rocca 1988; Martinuzzi 2016; Matheson 2012; Politi 2011). Theologian; deeply rooted in German Medieval mysticism; humanist scholar; learned in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew; Biblicist; reformer; pastor; prophet; and revolutionary, Müntzer’s turbulent life has inspired the work of philosophers, artists, and writers but also political movements and individual thinkers. As a contemporary of Luther, he took part in the great transformation of the Church, started in 1517 in Wittenberg, by seeking his own shade of reform based on the notion of direct revelation of God and the active role played by man in his own salvation, in sharp contrast with Luther’s fundamental ideas of sola Scriptura and sola fide. In the first half of the 1520s, the two reformers competed for the political support of the dukes of the Electorate of Saxony. When it became clear that the authorities would stand aside Luther’s Reformation, Müntzer joined the peasant and burger revolts in Thuringia and Saxony. After the 1525 massacre of Frankenhausen, Müntzer was captured, tortured, and then executed alongside other leaders of the so-called peasant revolution.