Publisher's Synopsis
The German Peasant's War of 1524-26 was the greatest popular uprising in European history before the French Revolution. Its significance is heightened by the contemporary struggle for religious renewal in the Reformation, which had a decisive influence on its course. Yet relatively little writing in English has discussed the Peasant's War in detail. This volume analyses the War through contemporary documents, both published and original, presented here in translation. Accompanying the selection of 162 documents is an extended introduction which traces the main issues facing historians in seeking to understand the revolt.;The editors give coverage to the causes and course of the revolt, and to its ideological impetus and forms of organisation. The main political theories inspired by the revolt are examined and the volume concludes with coverage of the attempts to suppress the insurrection, and its political and social aftermath. The volume also contains outlines of the Peasant's War in the five main areas of rebellion, eight maps for convenient reference and a select bibliography for further reading.;This study may be of particular interest to undergraduate and graduate students of history, politics, religion, sociology and anthropology taking courses on early modern Europe, revolutions and social movements, peasant studies, the transition from feudalism to capitalism and the Reformation.
