imilation of divine and
human law is postulated, and the charge that the Lutheran Gospel caused
sedition, is met.

[Sidenote: Other manifestos]

Though the _Twelve Articles_ were adopted by more of the bands of
peasants than was any other program, yet there were several other
manifestos drawn up about the same time. Thus, in the _Fifty-nine
Articles_ of the Stuehlingen peasants the same demands are put forth
with much more detail. The legal right to trial by due process of law
is asserted, and vexatious payments due to a lord when his peasant
marries a woman from another estate, are denounced. But here, too, and
elsewhere, the fundamental demands were the same: freedom from serfdom,
from oppressive taxation and forced labor, and for unrestricted rights
of hunting and woodcutting in the forests. Everywhere there is the
same claim that the rights of the people are sanctioned by the law of
God, and generally the peasants assume that they are acting in
accordance with the new "gospel" of Luther. The Swabians expressly
submitted their demands to the arbitration of a commission of four to
consist of a representative of the emperor, Frederic of Saxony, Luther
and either Melanchthon or Bugenhagen.

{94} When the revolt reached the central part of Germany it became at
once more socialistic and more bloody. [Sidenote: Muenzer] The baleful
eloquence of Thomas Muenzer was exerted at Muehlhausen to nerve the
people to strike down the godless with pitiless sword. Already in
September 1524 he preached: "On! on! on! This is the time when the
wicked are as fearful as hounds. . . . Regard not the cries of the
godless. . . . On, while the fire is hot. Let not your swords be cold
from blood. Smite bang, bang on the anvil of Nimrod; cast his tower to
the ground!" Other leaders took up the message and called for the
extirpation of the tyrants, including both the clergy and the lords.
Communism was demanded as in the apostolic age; property was denounced
as wrong. Regulation of prices was one measure put forward, and the
committing of the government of the country to a university another.

The propaganda of deeds followed close upon the propaganda of words.
During the spring of 1525 in central Germany forty-six cloisters and
castles were burned to the ground, while violence and rapine reigned
supreme with all the ferocity characteristic of class warfare. On
Easter Sunday, April 16, one of the best-armed bands of peasants,