51°21′58″N11°6′10″E/ 51.36611°N 11.10278°E
Battle of Frankenhausen | |||||||
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Part of theGerman Peasants' War | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Landgraviate of Hesse Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel George of Saxony | Peasants' army | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Philip I of Hesse George of Wettin Henry of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel |
Bonaventura Kuerschner Thomas Müntzer(captured) | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
c. 2,800 horse, 4,000 foot | c. 8,000 | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
6 | 7,000+ |
TheBattle of Frankenhausenwas fought on 14 and 15 May 1525. It was an important battle in theGerman Peasants' Warand the final act of the war inThuringia:joint troops of LandgravePhilip I of Hesseand DukeGeorge of Saxonydefeated the peasants under their spiritual leaderThomas MüntzernearFrankenhausenin theCounty of Schwarzburg.
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b8/Frankenhausen_Map_of_Suppression.jpg/220px-Frankenhausen_Map_of_Suppression.jpg)
Preparations
editOn April 29, 1525, the struggles in and around Frankenhausen had culminated into an open revolt.[1][page needed]Large parts of the citizenry joined the uprising, occupied the town hall, and stormed the castle of theCounts of Schwarzburg.In the following days, a rising number of insurgents gathered around the town, and when Müntzer arrived with 300 fighters fromMühlhausenon May 11, several thousand peasants of the surroundingThuringianandSaxonestates camped in the fields and pastures.Philip of Hesseand his father-in-lawGeorge of Saxonyhad originally targeted Mühlhausen as their strategic objective but, when news arrived that Müntzer left with a troop for Frankenhausen, they changed their march route and directed theirLandsknechttroops toward Frankenhausen.[2][page needed]
Initial skirmishes
editThe princes had great difficulties in recruiting Landsknechtmercenaries.Generally, they would have been better equipped than the insurgents, although morale and discipline were always dependent on the size of the war chest. The peasants were less well-armed, with a mix of improvised weapons from farming tools and polearms, breastplates, and handguns which many would have had by dint of their service in local militia bands (Landwehr).[3][page needed]Indeed, on May 14 they successfully repulsed a scouting party and its reinforcements but remained in position on the outskirts of the town having taken the decision not to pursue the Princes' "forlorn hope".The main column of Hessian and Brunswick troops were still in the process of arriving after a night's march and needed to rest up. Late that day a decision was taken[4]by the rebels to withdraw into awagon forton the hill overlooking the town. It is unclear who initiated a truce to enable some negotiation. This gave the princes time to meet up with George of Saxony's army approaching from the East and to encircle the wagon fort rather than lay siege on the town.[citation needed]
Battle
editThe truce was broken around midday when it had become clear that Müntzer was not going to be delivered up to the Princes. Starting with an artillery barrage followed by waves of horse and footsoldiers, the princes caught the peasants off guard and they fled in panic into the town, followed and continuously attacked by the mercenaries. Most of the insurgents were slain in what turned out to be a massacre. Casualty figures are unreliable but peasant losses have been estimated at more than 7,000 while the Landsknecht casualties were estimated to be as low as six.[5][page needed]Müntzer himself was captured in the town,tortured,and finally executed at Mühlhausen on May 27, 1525.[citation needed]
Legacy
editAt Frankenhausen, the battle is depicted, along with many other scenes of that age, on the world's largestoil painting,Werner Tübke'sEarly Bourgeois Revolution in Germany(Frühbürgerliche Revolution in Deutschland), which is 400 feet (120m) long, 45 feet (14m) high, and housed in its own specially built museum.[6]The painting was ordered by thesocialistleadership ofEast Germany,who regarded Müntzer as a revolutionary and thus as one of their forebears;[citation needed]work on it went on between 1975 and 1987.[6]However Tübke did not solely focus on the battle, contrary to the state's wishes, but placed the events at Frankenhausen in a much wider social, political and cultural context prevalent in Reformation Germany at the time.[citation needed]
Notes/Citations
edit- ^Günter Vogler (editor): Bauernkrieg zwischen Harz und Thüringer Wald (2008)[page needed]
- ^Martin Bensing: Thomas Müntzer und der Thüringer Aufstand 1525, (1966)[page needed]
- ^Siegfried Hoyer: Das Militärwesen im deutschen Bauernkrieg 1524–1526 (1975)[page needed]
- ^Siegfried Hoyer in: Vogler G. (ed) Bauernkrieg zwischen Harz und Thüringer Wald (2008): 221
- ^H.Müller: Über die Bauernschlachten am 14. und 15. Mai 1525 bei Frankenhausen in Historische Beiträge zur Kyffhäuserlandschaft, Bad Frankenhausen (1975)[page needed]
- ^ab"Tübke, Werner".Die Gesichter des Deutschen Kunstarchivs(in German).Germanisches Nationalmuseum.Archived fromthe originalon 6 March 2017.Retrieved6 March2017.
External links
edit- Werner Tübke,Monumentalbild Frankenhausen
- Frankenhausen Notgeld(emergency banknotes) depicting the Battle of Frankenhausen in woodcut.webgerman.com/Notgeld/Directory/F/Frankenhausen.htm
Further reading
edit- G.Droysen (1873).Zur Schlacht bei Frankenhausen, in: Zeitschrift für preussische Geschichte und Landeskunde Vol. 10, pp. 590–617.
- G. Einicke (1904).Zwanzig Jahre Schwarzburgische Reformationsgeschichte 1521–1541.Nordhausen.
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:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - W.Falckenheiner (1887).Philipp der Grossmütige im Bauernkriege. Mit urkundlichen Beilagen.Marburg.
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:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - L.Fischer (1975).Die Schlacht unter dem Regenbogen.Berlin.
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:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - S.Hoyer (1975).Das Militärwesen im deutschen Bauernkrieg 1524–1526.Berlin.
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:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - M.Lenz (1892).Zur Schlacht bei Frankenhausen Historische Zeitschrift 6.pp. 193–208.
- Marvin Mädel (2010).Historisch-archäologische Untersuchungen zur "Bauernschlacht" Bad Frankenhausen am 15. Mai 1525.(As-yet-unpublished lecture)
- Douglas Miller (2017).Frankenhausen 1525.Seaton Burn, Newcastle.ISBN978-0-9955572-5-3.
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:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)[1] - H.Müller (1975).Über die Bauernschlachten am 14. und 15. Mai 1525 bei Frankenhausen in Historische Beiträge zur Kyffhäuserlandschaft, Bad Frankenhausen, Heft 5.Bad Frankenhausen.
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:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Günter Vogler (2008).Bauernkrieg zwischen Harz und Thüringer Wald (Historische Mitteilungen Im Auftrage Der Ranke-Gesellschaft).Stuttgart.ISBN978-3-5150917-5-6.
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:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - R.Walinski-Kiehl (2004).Reformation history and political mythology in the German Democratic Republic, 1949–89.[2]Last accessed: 18.12.2017
- A.Wünsch (2003).Thomas Müntzer mit dem schwerthe Gydeonis – Letzte Tage des Kampfes, Studienarbeit Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen, Fakultät für Philosophie und Geschichte.Tübingen.
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:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)