Battle of Frankenhausen

Battle of Frankenhausen
Part of theGerman Peasants' War
Date 14–15 May 1525 Location NearBad Frankenhausenin the present-dayGermanstate ofThuringia Result Princelyvictory
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.

Troop movements during the suppression of the uprising in Thuringia 1525

Preparations

On April 29, 1525, the struggles in and around Frankenhausen had culminated into an open revolt.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.

Initial skirmishes

Barren chalk gully (Wuestes Kalktal) probable site of the skirmish on 14 May between the princes' scouting party and rebel contingents

The 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).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 takenby 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.

Battle

A 16th century falconet in the Bauernkriegsmuseum, Mühlhausen

The 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.Müntzer himself was captured in the town,tortured,and finally executed at Mühlhausen on May 27, 1525.

Legacy

Replica Rainbow Banner of the Mühlhäuser band which set off for Frankenhausen under Thomas Müntzer - now in Mühlhausen Museum

At 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.The painting was ordered by thesocialistleadership ofEast Germany,who regarded Müntzer as a revolutionary and thus as one of their forebears;work on it went on between 1975 and 1987.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.

External links

• Werner Tübke,Monumentalbild Frankenhausen
• Frankenhausen Notgeld(emergency banknotes) depicting the Battle of Frankenhausen in woodcut.webgerman.com/Notgeld/Directory/F/Frankenhausen.htm

Further reading

• 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.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• W.Falckenheiner (1887).Philipp der Grossmütige im Bauernkriege. Mit urkundlichen Beilagen.Marburg.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• L.Fischer (1975).Die Schlacht unter dem Regenbogen.Berlin.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• S.Hoyer (1975).Das Militärwesen im deutschen Bauernkrieg 1524–1526.Berlin.{{cite book}}: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.{{cite book}}: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.{{cite book}}: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.{{cite book}}: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.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)