Peter Blickle has been a major force in advancing the idea that the event was a “crisis of feudalism”. His interpretation of the event meshes the late medieval economic crisis and struggle for territorial consolidation by a revived serfdom into a general crisis of feudalism. If one is to look at some basic surface information one can see where this idea has some validity. Looking back at the twelve articles of the peasants there are grievances voiced that fit the idea that there was a problem in the feudalistic practices that were happening. One such example is the demand to end Todfall. Another example is that they state they will no longer let themselves be oppressed by lords anymore.
The “crisis of feudalism” label has some faults. This…show more content… The areas where the uprising took place were mostly German speaking. Two of the major areas where it began was the areas of the Upper Rhine and Upper Swabia. Other German speaking places where it spread included Württemberg and Thuringia. The next word is Peasants. Peasants were an important factor in the events that took place. They were not the only type of people to be involved, but they were a major factor. One of the most famous works from the event is aptly titled The Twelve Articles of the Peasants of Swabia. In Martian Luther’s accounts regarding the revolt he refers to the rebels as peasants throughout the entirety of his writing. The next part of the name is revolt. It is important to have this in the event. The first third of the uprising was mainly nonviolent. In order to not skip over the importance of the events that occurred during this period, it is necessary to include revolt to describe the events that took place. Lastly, war needs to be included the name of the event. On April 4th of 1525 the German princes sought to disperse or destroy the peasant revolt and attacked the peasants “armies” turning the rebellion into a war. The rest of the event involved battles between the two groups. This makes it necessary to include war in the
