Peasant with Sack and Turnip (1533) by workshop in the Swabian region of Lake ConstanceOriginal Source: Stadt Überlingen
A Massive Uprising
The peasants had long felt 'burdened and weighed down' – what finally prompted them to dare to resist?
In 1524/25, Europe witnessed the largest uprising it had ever seen. Tens of thousands of peasants took up arms and rose up against the nobility and the clergy. But in the spring and summer of 1525, they were crushed by the noble armies.
Rural Life
Around 1500, most people lived in the countryside — as peasants, craftsmen, or day laborers. They had to pay dues, often perform corvée labor for their lords and pay taxes to their princes.
It was an order ordained by God — or so the lords claimed.
Upper Swabia in the 16th century
This map of Upper Swabia shows many scenes from everyday rural life.
The villages consisted of a few large farms and smaller houses belonging to poor peasants and day laborers. Surrounding the villages were fields and common lands — meadows, ponds, and forests used collectively by the community.
Serfdom
In Heudorf, as in every village, there were freemen and serfs. Those bound to a lord or a monastery could not leave without permission and were expected to marry within the lord’s domain. When their parents died, they had to petition to inherit the farm — and in return, pay substantial dues.
Map Panel of the Danube Valley around Riedlingen Detail of Map Panel of the Danube Valley around Riedlingen (1589) by Johann Philipp RenlinLandesmuseum Württemberg
Social Tensions
In addition to serfdom, there were other causes for the uprising: the courts increasingly consisted of educated lawyers rather than peasant lay judges, and the lords tried to wrest the collective village fields from the peasants in order to farm them more efficiently. In both the countryside and the cities, many demanded more local self-government.
This detail shows the town of Riedlingen on the Danube.
Scorn for the Peasants
In art and literature, peasants were often portrayed as crude and simple-minded. Scenes of village festivals — depicting farmers as excessive, lewd, and prone to violence — proved especially popular among noble and urban audiences. Such images did more than entertain: they reinforced a social order in which peasants were expected to serve the nobility and the clergy.
Epochal Change around 1500
New ideas emerged from the growing discontent among the people. Reformers such as Martin Luther and Ulrich Zwingli initially sympathized with the peasants, calling for greater participation in religious life and criticizing the old clergy. In the fictional figure of “Karsthans,” they imagined a pious and righteous peasant who would help advance the Reformation.
To spread their message, the reformers turned to a new medium: the printed pamphlet.
AI characters (2025) by AI-generatedOriginal Source: Landesmuseum Württemberg
Encounters with eyewitnesses
The exhibition on the Peasants’ War also explores a new medium: artificial intelligence. Using AI, eight figures were created to represent real participants in the conflict, from Margarete Renner to Götz von Berlichingen.
For some of them, letters have survived; for others, only brief traces remain in the archives. These historical fragments became the starting point for the emotionally engaging texts that bring the exhibition’s main characters to life.
Creating Images with Artificial Intelligence
In accompanying videos, the figures speak in contemporary language. The museum team also used AI image generation to reinterpret their appearance in a modern visual style, since the dress codes, gestures, and language of the 1500s are often difficult for audiences today to understand.
A certain degree of abstraction helps preserve historical distance, while visualizing the prompts makes the creative process transparent.
Video excerpt from a conversation between Jörg Ratgeb and Margarete Renner
Armor and Cutting, Stabbing, and Thrusting Weapons (15th century to 17th century)Original Source: Bayerisches Armeemuseum, Stadt Löwenstein, Landesmuseum Württemberg
Organized Resistance
By the end of 1524, peasants around Lake Constance and in Upper Swabia had already begun organizing themselves into bands (Haufen), modeled after the mercenary armies. The three largest were the Baltringer Haufen, the Allgäuer Haufen, and the Seehaufen. Peasants in other parts of southwestern Germany also formed similar bands — in Franconia or Württemberg. At first, they took up arms not to wage war, but to compel the nobility and clergy to negotiate.
Contemptuous Reactions
The lords united in the Swabian League refused to negotiate with the peasants; many demanded their unconditional submission.
In February 1525, the League began recruiting mercenaries (Landsknechte) and assembling an army. Georg Truchsess von Waldburg was appointed supreme commander.
The 12 Articles of the Peasantry
The town of Memmingen, sympathetic to the peasants’ cause, offered the guild hall of its merchants to the three Upper Swabian bands.
In early March 1525, fifty delegates gathered there to deliberate. They founded the “Christian Association” and drafted the famous 12 Articles of the Peasants in Swabia.
The delegates also adopted a constitution for their alliance — a document that contained bold and far-reaching ideas for a new social order.
AI Character, Sebastian Lotzer (2025) by AI-generatedOriginal Source: Landesmuseum Württemberg
By Divine Right and the Power of Words
Sebastian Lotzer, a master furrier and lay preacher, helped the peasants draft the famous 12 Articles.
Article 3 declares that Christ redeemed all people with His blood — and that the peasants, too, were therefore free! “So it is written in Holy Scripture,” he argued.
The Uprisings' Demands in a Nutshell
Shortly after the meeting in Memmingen, the ‘12 Articles’ were printed and distributed in the thousands. In addition to the abolition of serfdom, the peasants demanded the right to elect their own village priests, free access to meadows, ponds, and forests, and relief from excessively high inheritance taxes.
While many peasants still placed their hopes in the courts and a negotiated settlement, others were already preparing for war.
Hook Gun (end of the 15th century)Original Source: Bayerisches Armeemuseum
Well Armed
The largest peasant bands numbered around ten thousand members, including experienced mercenaries skilled in the use of artillery. In addition to pole weapons such as halberds and protective armor, many peasants also owned firearms such as hook guns.
Weißenau Chronicle (1525) by Jakob MurerOriginal Source: Fürstlich Waldburg-Zeil'sches Gesamtarchiv, Schloß Zeil
A 'Where's Waldo' of the Peasants' War
Renewed negotiations based on the Twelve Articles also failed to produce a compromise. In early April 1525, the Swabian League decided to take military action.
From Ulm, its troops marched eastward and then south into Upper Swabia. The abbot of Weißenau recorded the events in this region, north of Lake Constance, in an illustrated chronicle. It offers a vivid microcosm of the war as a whole.
Looting of Ummendorf
Georg von Waldburg led the League’s army into the rebel territories. His mercenaries pillaged and burned villages — as depicted here in Ummendorf.
Battle of Leipheim
After the first confrontation near Leipheim, the League’s forces encountered a large peasant army near Weingarten — yet the two sides did not engage in battle.
The “Battle” of Leipheim, along with the clashes that followed in Württemberg and Franconia, was in fact less a battle than a massacre. Although the peasants often outnumbered their opponents, they were no match for the League’s cavalry and fled in panic. Tens of thousands were killed as they tried to escape. The brutality of these events is vividly recorded in the Weißenau Chronicle.
Weißenau Chronicle (1525) by Jakob MurerOriginal Source: Fürstlich Waldburg-Zeil'sches Gesamtarchiv, Schloß Zeil
Submission
The uprising ended within four months, in July 1525. In villages like Ummendorf, peasants were forced to submit under threat of violence and swear obedience.
Their defeat marked a return to the old order — although in some places they did manage to secure minor concessions.
Staging of War
Few lords later boasted of the brutal suppression of the uprising. In 1528, however, the town of Überlingen near Lake Constance incorporated the Peasants’ War into its coat of arms. In the upper section, it depicts a victorious battle between the League (on the right) and a band of peasants (on the left).
Disastrous Ending
While the Swabian League crushed the peasants in southwestern Germany, the uprising spread to Thuringia, Tyrol, Salzburg, Alsace, and northern Switzerland. There, too, the nobility responded with violence in 1525.
In suppressing the revolt, the lords killed an estimated 70,000 to 80,000 people.
Victors Write History
The sources on the Peasants’ War come almost exclusively from the victors. The defeated were denied the opportunity to tell their own story or to record the violence they suffered. Yet their remains bear unmistakable witness to it.
For the exhibition, human remains from a mass grave related to the Peasants' War were analyzed for the first time in 2024/25. The following video showcases their examination and presents new findings.
AI characters among the Peasants of 1525 (2025) by AI-generatedOriginal Source: Landesmuseum Württemberg
What Remains?
Did the uprising bring nothing but suffering? Was it a lost cause from the outset? Not necessarily. The struggle for a just society has had to be fought time and again. The peasants of 1524/25 therefore hold a rightful place in the broader history of the fight for freedom, democracy, and human rights.
Concept and Written Content: Marian Elsenheimer, Dr. Marco Veronesi
AI-assisted translation
Editing and Production: Noreen Klingspor
