1 Margrave Casimir of Brandenburg Ansbach s Vengeance on the Peasants Report of the Margrave s Commander Michel Gross from Trockau 1526 On learning of the battles of K nigshofen and Ingolstadt the margrave accepted the surrender of those peasants who were still at home at Leutershausen had the town gates broken down ordered the tower to be demolished and had six peasants beheaded together with a priest and a mercenary who had wanted to foment mutiny among the margrave s soldiers cut off the fingers from others and consigned everything in the town as booty to his soldiers The same day he marched with his army from Leutershausen to Uffenheim whose surrender he accepted and on the last day of Pentecost 6 June marched on towards Kitzingen On the way at Martinsheim two peasants whose surrender had already been accepted climbed up into a tree to watch the army marching by and they were seized led off with others to Kitzingen and beheaded there When he arrived at Kitzingen on 6 June the margrave had his herald announce that his foot and horse should abuse or harm no inhabitant of the town on pain of corporal punishment On the Thursday after Pentecost 8 June the council and commune of Kitzingen were assembled at the town hall and whoever had his name read out from a list had to stand in a specific place All these were subsequently locked up together in a cellar not far from the town arsenal and sixty two of them had their eyes put out there Twelve died shortly thereafter and they were left to lie around openly on the streets Those who remained alive were exiled from the town with their wives and children and had to swear not to venture within a ten mile 46 kms radius of the town Eight peasants were also beheaded and on the same day the margrave marched off to W rzburg where he inspected the Marienberg interested as a military prince in seeing how well it had held out At the same time he had released Cuntz Guttman the castellan of Kitzingen whom the peasants had imprisoned in a dungeon in W rzburg The Kitzingers had to hand over their arms and armor just as other disloyal towns and markets and pay 15 000 florins compensation On Saturday after Pentecost 10 June the herald announced at Kitzingen the princely command that his horse and foot should not harm any subjects in villages and markets who had acquired letters of assurance either with fire plundering ransom or other damage on pain of serious displeasure and corporal punishment On Thursday Corpus Christi 15 June the margrave marched with the league into the bishopric of Bamberg where the bishop came to meet them with tears in his eyes hoping to make the league turn around for he would gladly have protected his own subjects But camp was pitched at Hassfurt where they demanded submission and ransom On Friday they marched before the little town and castle of Eltmann where they received homage and compensation as at Hassfurt and other places in Bamberg territory such as Zeil Hollfeld and Schesslitz From Eltmann they marched towards Bamberg and pitched camp between Hallstadt and Bamberg where the trumpeter sounded the alarm because several hundred peasants had taken Rattelsdorf and 2 entrenched themselves there They fired at those who were out scouting for fodder The league took the village and set fire to it and after six days the Bambergers also succumbed Some of the town council the city secretary and some of the citizenry were led off to the bishop s palace and held prisoner there and eight were beheaded On the Sunday after St John s Day 25 June they marched from H chstadt to Neustadt an der Aisch where camp was pitched on a meadow before the town On the following day eighteen citizens and peasants were beheaded and the herald announced to the foot or horse that they should not take anything from anyone since all the people villages and property in the Aisch area had been taken into allegiance again and granted security On the Tuesday after St John s Day 27 June they marched from Neustadt past Windsheim towards Burgbernheim and Rothenburg Since many of the league s troops had marched along with them thinking that they could pillage the entire landed territory of Rothenburg the margrave and the league s captain marshal Johann von Pappenheim proclaimed the following on pain of punishment in body and goods First since the Rothenburgers and all the inhabitants of their territory had settled with the league and were assured of their lives and goods except for the usual supply of fodder and provisions such assurances should be observed and there should be no pillaging burning or the like Second since all the soldiers with the exception of the cart horses were to be taken into the town they should maintain discipline harm no one and pay for what they bought or consumed take no one s lodgings from them or refuse to pay the bill etc So the margrave came from Burgbernheim to Rothenburg on the Thursday SS Peter and Paul 29 June and the following day proclaimed in the name of the league that every citizen in the town should appear at the market at 7 a m There they read out the names of the rebels who were gathered in a special place Eighteen of them were executed that same day on the following day the preacher Dr Johann Teuschlein the blind Franciscan Hans Schmid Stephan von Menzingen two citizens and two peasants So in two days twenty five were beheaded and left to lie around in the marketplace to serve as an example and to terrify others These all went willingly to their deaths some of them bared their own breasts for they were not bound and prayed with uplifted hands 0 lord Jesus let this bloodshed be a washing away of our sins etc and one comforted another and knelt down with joy Only von Menzingen was somewhat despondent and Dr Teuschlein had to comfort him continually Master Augustin the executioner had the effrontery to attempt to execute the blind friar as he stood but he missed his aim so that the friar fell down and was trying to get up when he was executed with the second stroke The city constable had bound the hands and feet of the priest Kumpf thinking he would hand him over to the margrave but as Kumpf knelt down in the circle without having said more than three words to the prince the executioner cut off his head before he was aware of it There was also a compensation of seven florins levied on each house which had to be paid on the spot The margrave marched next to Blaufelden and thence to Crailsheim From Crailsheim he marched to
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