Eternal advice
As Eternal Council of the described themselves before the last decisive battle German Peasants' War , the Battle of Frankenhausen , the leaders of the remaining peasant army, which mainly from the Thuringian peasant troops to Thomas Munzer was and is Eternal God's covenant called.
The "Eternal Council" in Mühlhausen
This radical-democratic Eternal Council was elected on March 17, 1525 in Mühlhausen , precisely in the Marienkirche (Mühlhausen) , after social tensions had led to uprisings. The day before the Mühlhausen city council was deposed. Müntzer tried to lead the citizens on the "true path" of faith and took up the fight against the old believing clergy. With the Eternal Council the political and social demands should be enforced. But since important cities such as Eisenach , Nordhausen , Sangerhausen were not involved, the defenders in Frankenhausen were ultimately unable to counter the superiority of the united royal armies. They did not see through the policy of the princes, which - with success - was aimed at dividing the whole of the peasant army. This sealed the fate of the uprising. After the defeat of Frankenhausen, the now isolated peasants fell victim to the princely armies one after the other.
The "Eternal Council" in Erfurt
From May 5, 1525 there was also an "eternal council" in Erfurt , which initially led to a major setback for the council in Erfurt. However, here the council, which called itself the "Eternal Council", took the side of the rebels against the Kurmainz regiment and the peasants who had already left the city before. In addition, at the end of April 1525 he had already confiscated the ecclesiastical and Mainz property and taken over their administration. By negotiating skills, the Erfurt Council was ultimately able to achieve a relatively positive result for it. The negotiations dragged on until 1530 and ended with the Hammelburg Treaty .
Aftermath in art
Wilhelm Otto Pitthan painted a painting on behalf of the city of Mühlhausen in 1960 with the title: Thomas Müntzer Appoints the Eternal Council . This is located in the council chamber of the town hall of Mühlhausen.
literature
- Dietrich Lösche: Eight men. Eternal covenant of God and eternal counsel. On the history of the revolutionary movement in Mühlhausen in Thuringia from 1523 to 1525 . In: Jahrbuch für Wirtschaftsgeschichte 1, 1960, ISSN 0075-2800 , pp. 135-165.
Web links
- Documents from the Great German Peasant War at www.bauernkriege.de
- https://www.lesser-stiftung.de/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Band22_700Jahre-M%C3%BChlh%C3%A4user_Rathausgeschichten.pdf