t his life is Leo. [Sidenote: Hans
Sachs] The next year Hans Sachs published no less than three pamphlets
favoring the reform. They were: 1. A Disputation between a Canon and a
Shoemaker, defending the Word of God and the Christian {87} Estate. 2.
Conversation on the Hypocritical Works of the Clergy and their Vows, by
which they hope to be saved to the disparagement of Christ's Blood. 3.
A Dialogue against the Roman Avarice. Multiply these pamphlets, the
contents of which is indicated by their titles, by one hundred, and we
arrive at some conception of the pabulum on which the people grew to
Protestantism. Of course there were many pamphlets on the other side,
but here, as in a thousand other cases, the important thing proved to
be to have the cause ventilated. So long as discussion was forced in
the channels selected by the reformers, even the interest excited by
their adversaries redounded ultimately to their advantage.

[Sidenote: The Peasants' War, 1524-5]

The denunciation of authority, together with the message of the
excellence of the humblest Christian and the brotherhood of man,
powerfully contributed to the great rising of the lower classes, known
as the Peasants' War, in 1524-5. It was not, as the name implied,
confined to the rustics, for probably as large a proportion of the
populace of cities as of the tillers of the soil joined it. Nor was
there in it anything entirely new. The cry for justice was of long
standing, and every single element of the revolt, including the hatred
of the clergy and demand for ecclesiastical reform, is to be found also
in previous risings. Thus, the rebellion of peasants under Hans Boehm,
commonly called the Piper of Niklashausen, in 1476, was brought about
by a religious appeal. The leader asserted that he had special
revelations from the Virgin Mary that serfdom was to be abolished, and
the kingdom of God to be introduced by the levelling of all social
ranks; and he produced miracles to certify his divine calling. There
had also been two risings, closely connected, the first, in 1513,
deriving its name of "Bundschuh" from the peasant's tied shoe, a class
emblem, and the {88} second, in 1514, called "Poor Conrad" after the
peasant's nickname. If the memory of the suppression of all these
revolts might dampen the hopes of the poor, on the other hand the
successful rise of the Swiss democracy was a perpetual example and
encouragement to them.

[Sidenote: Causes]