country was soon in motion; but the captors
had a considerable start, and the Thur, swollen to the full, prevented
the passage of the excited multitude. In a rage they then fell upon
Ittigen, the hated monastery of the Carthusians. It was plundered, and
set on fire by some one, who was never found out; which act, as is easy
to imagine, awakened the earnest interference of the Confederates.

They who were most deserving of punishment fled. Zurich herself cast
into prison some others, who were suspected, on account of their
prominent place among the insurgents, and not powerful enough to make
resistance. These were Hans Wirth, _sub-vogt_ at Stammheim, with his
two sons, both priests, and Burkhart Ruetiman, _sub-vogt_ at Nusbaumen.
But the Confederates demanded the delivery of the prisoners at Baden
before the court of the ruling cantons, since the criminal act was
committed in the Thurgau, and not in the canton of Zurich. The Council
of Zurich had to comply. But in Baden the prisoners were tried for
other things than the transactions in the Thurgau, put to the rack, and
with the exception of one of Wirth's sons, actually executed. The
sentence was unjust. Not even the most remote personal participation in
the plundering and burning of Ittingen could be proved against them.
For the part they took in the removal of the images at Stammheim, which
chiefly kindled the hatred of the Confederates, they were not
responsible to them. That the government had delivered up these men, so
beloved in the circle of their home, to such a fate, produced a very
unfavorable impression on the inhabitants of the northern part of the
canton, the more so, because the condemned had met death in a brave and
Christian manner, and aided not a little to increase the disorders,
which afterwards prevailed there.

At this juncture the flame broke out in the German provinces lying
beyond the Rhine. Thomas Muenzer, at a later period leader of the Saxon
Anabaptists, had come to Basel in Frickthal, and Waldshut in Cleggau.
In Waldshut he made the acquaintance of the preacher at that place,
Balthasar Huebmeier, who, though a man possessed of an honest will, a
tolerable knowledge of Scripture and great courage, was yet apt to lend
a willing ear to everything new and striking. When preaching at
Regensburg he had raised a riot against the Jews, then founded a chapel
for pilgrims, then turned to the doctrines of Luther, and was just now
as ready to embrace thos