Documents on the Peasants’ War (1524-1526) 1) The Twelve Articles of the Peasants (March 1525) 2) Friedrich Weigandt’s Draft of an Imperial Reformation (18 May 1525) 3) Michael Gaismair’s Territorial Constitution for the Tirol (1526)

The Twelve Articles of the Peasants (March 1525)

[Introductory note: “The Fundamental and Correct Main Articles of All the Peasants and Subjects of the Ecclesiastical and Secular Authorities” contained the points of agreement among delegates to an assembly of delegates from the peasant armies operating in Upper Swabia, who met in the imperial city of Memmingen on March 1525. The “Twelve Articles,” as they were called for short, were printed in large volume and distributed widely. Image: frontispiece of the Dye Grundelichen und rechten haupt Artickl / aller Baurschafft und Hyndersessen der Gaistlichen und Weltlichen oberkayten / von wöchen sy sich beschwert vermainen (1525). Image source: Wikimedia Commons].

The fundamental and correct main articles of all the peasants and subjects of the ecclesiastical and secular lords, relating to these matters in which they feel themselves aggrieved.

Peace to the Christian Reader and the Grace of God through Christ.

There are many evil writings put forth of late which take occasion, on account of the assembling of the peasants, to cast scorn upon the gospel, saying: Is this the fruit of the new teaching, that no one should obey but all should everywhere rise in revolt and rush together to reform or perhaps destroy altogether the authorities, both ecclesiastic and lay? The articles below shall answer these godless and criminal fault-finders, and serve in the first place to remove the reproach from the word of God, and in the second place to give a Christian excuse for the disobedience or even the revolt of the entire Peasantry. In the first place the Gospel is not the cause of revolt and disorder, since it is the message of Christ, the promised Messiah, the Word of Life, teaching only love, peace, patience and concord. Thus, all who believe in Christ should learn to be loving, peaceful, long-suffering and harmonious. This is the foundation of all the articles of the peasants (as Will be seen) who accept the Gospel and live according to it. How then can the evil reports declare the Gospel to be a cause of revolt and disobedience? That the authors of the evil reports and the enemies of the Gospel oppose themselves to these demands is due, not to the Gospel, but to the Devil, the worst enemy of the Gospel, who causes this opposition by raising doubts in the minds of his followers, and thus the word of God, which teaches love, peace and concord, is overcome. In the second place, it is clear that the peasants demand that this Gospel be taught them as a guide in life and they ought not to be called disobedient or disorderly. Whether God grant the peasants (earnestly wishing to live according to His word) their requests or no, who shall find fault with the will of the Most High? Who shall meddle in His judgments or oppose his majesty? Did be not hear the children of Israel when they called upon Him and saved them out of the hands of Pharaoh? Can He not save His own to-day? Yes, He will save them and that speedily. Therefore, Christian reader, read the following articles with care and then judge. Here follow the articles:

The First Article. First, it is our humble petition and desire, as also our will and resolution, that in the future we should have power and authority so that each community should choose and appoint a pastor, and that we should have the right to depose him should he conduct himself improperly. The pastor thus chosen should teach us the Gospel pure and simple, without any addition, doctrine or ordinance of man. For to teach us continually the true faith will lead us to pray God that through His grace this faith may increase within us and become part of us. For if His grace work not within us we remain flesh and blood, which availeth nothing; since the Scripture clearly teaches that only through true faith can we come to God. Only through His mercy can we become holy. Hence such a guide and pastor is necessary and in this fashion grounded upon the Scriptures.

The Second Article. According as the just tithe is established by the Old Testament and fulfilled in the New, we are ready and willing to pay the fair tithe of grain. The word of God plainly provided that in giving according to right to God and distributing to His people the services of a pastor are required. We will that, for the future, our church provost, whomsoever the community may appoint, shall gather and receive this tithe. From this he shall give to the pastor, elected by the whole community, a decent and sufficient maintenance for him and his, as shall seem right to the whole community (or, with the knowledge of the community). What remains over shall be given to the poor of the place, as the circumstances and the general opinion demand. Should anything farther remain, let it be kept, lest any one should have to leave the country from poverty. Provision should also be made from this surplus to avoid laying any land tax on the poor. In case one or more villages themselves have sold their tithes on account of want, and each village has taken action as a whole, the buyer should not suffer loss, but we will that some proper agreement be reached with him for the repayment of the sum by the village with due interest. But those who have tithes which they have not purchased from a village, but which were appropriated by their ancestors, should not, and ought not, to be paid anything farther by the village which shall apply its tithes to the support of the pastors elected as above indicated, or to solace the poor as is taught by the Scriptures. The small tithes, whether ecclesiastical or lay, we will not pay at an, for the Lord God created cattle for the free use of man. We will not, therefore, pay farther an unseemly tithe which is of man's invention.

The Third Article. It has been the custom hitherto for men to hold us as their own property, which is pitiable enough, considering that Christ has delivered and redeemed us all, without exception, by the shedding of His precious blood, the lowly as well as the great. Accordingly, it is consistent with Scripture that we should be free and wish to be so. Not that we would wish to be absolutely free and under no authority. God does not teach us that we should lead a disorderly life in the lusts of the flesh, but that we should love the Lord our God and our neighbour. We would gladly observe all this as God has commanded us in the celebration of the communion. He has not commanded us not to obey the authorities, but rather that we should be humble, not only towards those in authority, but towards every one. We are thus ready to yield obedience according to God's law to our elected and regular authorities in all proper things becoming to a Christian. We, therefore, take it for granted that you will release us from serfdom as true Christians, unless it should be shown us from the Gospel that we are serfs.

The Fourth Article. In the fourth place it has been the custom heretofore, that no poor man should be allowed to catch venison or wild fowl or fish in flowing water, which seems to us quite unseemly and unbrotherly as well as selfish and not agreeable to the word of God. In some places the authorities preserve the game to our great annoyance and loss, recklessly permitting the unreasoning animals to destroy to no purpose our crops which God suffers to grow for the use of man, and yet we must remain quiet. This is neither godly or neighbourly. For when God created man he gave him dominion over all the animals, over the birds of the air and over the fish in the water. Accordingly it is our desire if a man holds possession of waters that he should prove from satisfactory documents that his right has been unwittingly acquired by purchase. We do not wish to take it from him by force, but his rights should be exercised in a Christian and brotherly fashion. But whosoever cannot produce such evidence should surrender his claim with good grace.

The Fifth Article. In the fifth place we are aggrieved in the matter of wood-cutting, for the noble folk have appropriated all the woods to themselves alone. If a poor man requires wood he must pay double for it (or, perhaps, two pieces of money). It is our opinion in regard to wood which has fallen into the hands of a lord whether spiritual or temporal, that unless it was duly purchased it should revert again to the community. It should, moreover, be free to every member of the community to help himself to such fire-wood as he needs in his home. Also, if a man requires wood for carpenter's purposes he should have it free, but with the knowledge of a person appointed by the community for that purpose. Should, however, no such forest be at the disposal of the community let that which has been duly bought be administered in a brotherly and Christian manner. If the forest, although unfairly appropriated in the first instance, was later duly sold let the matter be adjusted in a friendly spirit and according to the Scriptures.

The Sixth Article. Our sixth complaint is in regard the excessive services demanded of us which are increase from day to day. We ask that this matter be properly looked into so that we shall not continue to be oppressed in this way, but that some gracious consideration be given us, since our forefathers were required only to serve according to the word of God.

The Seventh Article. Seventh, we will not hereafter allow ourselves to be farther oppressed by our lords, but will let them demand only what is just and proper according to the word of the agreement between the lord and the peasant. The lord should no longer try to force more services or other dues from the peasant without payment, but permit the peasant to enjoy his holding in peace and quiet. The peasant should, however, help the lord when it is necessary, and at proper times when it will not be disadvantageous to the peasant and for a suitable payment.

The Eighth Article. In the eighth place, we are greatly burdened by holdings which cannot support the rent exacted from them. The peasants suffer loss in this way and are ruined, and we ask that the lords may appoint persons of honour to inspect these holdings, and fix a rent in accordance with justice, so that the peasants shall not work for nothing, since the labourer is worthy of his hire.

The Ninth Article. In the ninth place, we are burdened with a great evil in the constant making of new laws. We are not judged according to the offense, but sometimes with great ill will, and sometimes much too leniently. In our opinion we should be judged according to the old written law so that the case shall be decided according to its merits, and not with partiality.

The Tenth Article. In the tenth place, we are aggrieved by the appropriation by individuals of meadows and fields which at one time belonged to a community. These we will take again into our own hands. It may, however, happen that the land was rightfully purchased. When, however, the land has unfortunately been purchased in this way, some brotherly arrangement should be made according to circumstances.

The Eleventh Article. In the eleventh place we will entirely abolish the due called Todfall (that is, heriot) and will no longer endure it, nor allow widows and orphans to be thus shamefully robbed against God's will, and in violation of justice and right, as has been done in many places, and by those who should shield and protect them. These have disgraced and despoiled us, and although they had little authority they assumed it. God will suffer this no more, but it shall be wholly done away with, and for the future no man shall be bound to give little or much.

The Twelfth Article. In the twelfth place it is our conclusion and final resolution, that if any one or more of the articles here set forth should not be in agreement with the word of God, as we think they are, such article we will willingly recede from when it is proved really to be against the word of God by a clear explanation of the Scripture. Or if articles should now be conceded to us that are hereafter discovered to be unjust, from that hour they shall be dead and null and without force. Likewise, if more complaints should be discovered which are based upon truth and the Scriptures and relate to offenses against God and our neighbour, we have determined to reserve the right to present these also, and to exercise ourselves in all Christian teaching. For this we shall pray God, since He can grant these, and He alone. The peace of Christ abide with us all.

[Introductory note: This draft of an imperial reform program was drawn up in the first half of May 1525, on the basis of the anonymous tract, Teutscher Nation notturfft (“The Urgent Needs of the German Nation”) of 1523. It was intended for discussion at the peasant assembly held in Heilbronn in mid-May 1525. The author is said to have been Friedrich Weigandt, an official of the elector of Mainz in Miltenberg, although his authorship has been called into question by many scholars. It provides especially detailed schemes for legal reform and for regulation of coinage, mining, and capitalist and mercantile business practices. Its underlying political model is of a federally structured empire that gives equal weight to all social groups at all levels. Source: Lorenz Fries, Chronik, vol. 1, pp. 434-40].

In what form an ordinance or reformation for the use and piety of all Christian brothers may be conceived and established.

1. All consecrated priests should be reformed as God bade and commanded them. Matthew 28:[20], without reference to their birth or origin, whether of high or low estate

There are four comments to be made on this article:

• The first concerns the bigwigs, such as bishops, provosts, deans, spendthrift canons, and the like.
• Item, all regular clergy such as monks, nuns, beguines, canons regular, and the like. whom one recognizes as clear as day to be ravening wolves in spiritual guise, should be reformed, as God has commanded and as is written in Genesis and in Matthew 19:[23].
• Item, each community should have good pastors who tend the sheep with the Word of God alone, founded in Scripture, and whom the community has the power to appoint and dismiss.
• Item, all priests or persons chosen for the service of God should guide mankind, as Christ our Redeemer did. They should also receive an honest remuneration, so that needy folk and the common good may be cared for from any surplus income.

There are also four comments to be made on this article.

• First, the lowly should be helped speedily and equitably to justice against princes and lords, likewise the poor against the rich.
• Item, all should be honorably provided for, from the princes down to the nobles enfeoffed by the holy [Roman] Empire and its vassals, each according to his birth.
• In return, they should serve the Holy [Roman] Empire loyally, protect the obedient and the pious, widows and orphans, and punish the disobedient and the wicked.
• Item, all vassals should serve the [Holy] Roman Emperor, as is founded in Scripture, above all other liege-lords as temporal princes of the Empire, honorably and respectably, for the maintenance of Christian peace and the augmentation of the Empire, and they should protect and shield the poor subjects against further impositions. and assist everyone to his rights, so that no one has to complain of injustice.

• Item, no one should introduce any old or new pretended usages, so that self-interest is suppressed and the poor helped, as well as the rich, and fraternal concord is maintained.
• Item, all ground-rents should be redeemed at a single rate of one penny to twenty pence.
• Item, merchants should be assured safe-passage, and a tariff for the sale of all goods be introduced, so that the common good may be advanced and augmented.

Comments on this fourth article:

• But so that imperial law will remain unimpaired. doctors of imperial law shall be appointed to every recognized college or university within the Empire, and when their counsel is sought by princes or other courts, they should all together give true counsel, grounded in the law, within a month so that each person will be more conveniently helped to gain justice.
• Item, since the doctors are not hereditary guardians of the law, but only its paid servants who want to hold up proceedings in their own self-interest and conclude business only slowly, they should not sit on any court or proclaim any judgments.
• Item, since it is publicly known in the light of day that on several occasions two [Iitigating] parties have been led around by the doctors [of law] for ten years or more in the [doctors’] own self-interest, such that they might better be called the step-fathers of the law rather than its true inheritors, they should not be admitted to or sit on any bench.
• Item, if a city or ruler wishes to have one or more doctors, they should have no seat on any council, but should be used only as jurisconsults. Yet it should be reserved to these advisers to use grace, reason, and wisdom to moderate the council’s decisions on what to augment. diminish, or leave alone, as God promised each just man how to learn to recognize justice.

• The Spirit of God is obscured to them by the wisdom and usages of the world, whereby they become lazy and neglect the service of God. Moreover, there is the greatest concern that they will be so seduced by worldly honor that they would thereby lose the grace of God, if they ever enjoyed it.
• Item, no consecrated or anointed person should be appointed, used, or employed in any secular office, for worldly honor impedes them in the service of God, as is as clear as daylight.
• Item, no consecrated or anointed person should be called upon or deployed in any court or in civil proceedings, for they thereby become the servants of lords and secular persons of high and low estate. Nobles and commoners are also sucked dry by the monks and turned into mere lodgers on their own property, which would be more fairly bequeathed to them than to the monks.

• Item, below the court of chancery there should be in the holy [Roman] Empire, as might be thought good, four courts of appeal. each court to be staffed by sixteen persons, namely, three from the princes, counts, and lords, three from the knights and gentry, three from the imperial cities, three from the territorial towns, and four from the rural communes in the Empire. All together they shall elect a lord to act as their judge, and the parties shall choose advocates and advisers from their number in the manner described above And such persons shall be honorable, and have previously sat in councils or courts.
• Item, there shall be sixteen territorial courts beneath these four courts appeal, and each shall be filled with sixteen persons, namely, with four from the princes, counts, and lords, four from the knights, four from all towns. and four from all rural communes, and each shall elect and install a person of knight’s estate [= rank] as a judge, and it shall be run in the manner described above.
• Item, beneath the territorial courts there should be sixty-four free court four under each territorial court, namely, four from the imperial cities, four from the nobility, four from the territorial towns, and four from all the rural communes. Each shall elect someone from the lower nobility as a tree judge, and it will be run as described above, but without prejudice to city courts and the territorial commons [Landschaft].
• Item, one may appeal from city or village courts to the nearest free court, but not for sums less than ten florins, unless it concerns a matter of honor or inheritance.
• Item, one may appeal from a free court to the nearest territorial court, but not for sums less than a hundred florins. Item, one may appeal from a territorial court to the nearest court of appeal, but not for a sum less than a thousand florins. Item, one may appeal from the court of appeal to the court of chancery, but not for a sum less than ten thousand florins.

8. It would be good if all roads in the German nation were free and unrestricted, without the need for safe-conducts or escorts, and that with no exceptions, for the princes and lords possess them as a feudal right from the [Holy] Roman Empire. And in whatever territory of a prince or lord anyone suffers injury or loses his own property, then that prince or lord should compensate him and pay for his losses fully and completely.

• Item, all excises on beer, wine, and mead should be abolished. unless some are allowed in exceptional circumstances.

10. All coins should be struck from gold and silver and assayed to the same fineness and weight, though without prejudice to each person’s rights and freedoms.

And all mines without exception should be free, whether they be gold. silver, mercury, copper, lead, or other mines It is also necessary that all known supplies of gold. silver, lead, and copper should be taken over by the Imperial Treasury, permanent prices set, and then brought into circulation. Gold and silver may be left alone, but any copper discovered mixed with silver should not be refined, instead silver should be added to it so that one may make farthings, halfpennies, or other [similar small] coins, for when it is smelted out by [mixing with] molten lead, the silver may be retrieved easily enough. But copper or head found not to contain much silver may be smelted and sold.

Many have established new coinage rights. so that the good old coinage has disappeared and poorer coins have appeared in great numbers. It would be good to investigate the origins of these privileges, and where no ancient authorization or privilege can be found, they should be abolished and the old coinage rights restored as may be required. Their [proportion of] minting royalties shall be determined by assaying their coin against the imperial coinage, in whatever denomination it may be issued; their coinage should display an imperial eagle on one side and the coat of arms of the holder of the coinage right on the other.

• Item, it would suffice for twenty or twenty-one coinsmiths to be established throughout the entire Empire. On their sworn oath and on pain of being branded [for cheating], they should coin silver and gold with a uniform fineness and weight throughout the entire Empire, so that the common man will not be deceived by the coinage. And such coinsmiths shall be appointed according to the requirements of the region and the state of commerce.
• Item, the coinsmiths mentioned above shall be distributed in the following territories and borderlands, namely, Austria, Bavaria, Swabia, Franconia, and on the Rhine.
• Item, a gold florin shall be worth 63 kreutzers in these places.
• Item, a heller shall be called an ort Item, the penny shall be called a heller. Item, the Austrian and Strasbourg coins [pennies]. which are worth twopence, shall be called pennies, the other new silver coins shall be denominated in florins. half-florìns, orts and half-orts.
• Item, the other coinsmiths shall be distributed in the holy [Roman] Empire according to the measures above and as thought best.

• Item, whatever is sold in the way of gold. silver, pearls, or the like shall be weighed with troy weights as before.
• Item, the tun of wine. the kilderkin, the pin, and the measure shall be the same everywhere, but the measure for beer, mead, and the like shall be larger.
• Item, corn, wheat, peas, lentils, chickpeas shall have a marked measure. but barley and oats shall have the same measure [on their own ].
• Item, all pickled goods shall be sold by the beer and mead measure.
• Item, what is sold by the hundredweight or by the pound shall be weighed and sold with the first-named as the largest of the measures.

If a company engages in a joint stock venture or trades on its own, it shall not have more than ten thousand florins’ trading capital. and anyone found with a higher capital should forfeit half the basic capital and half the excess to the imperial treasury. But any merchant who has excess capital over and above the ten thousand florins may advance or lend it to whomever he will. and help them in evangelical fashion [i.e. without usury].

• Item, if a merchant has money over and above his investment or trading capital, he may deposit it with a town council and receive interest on it of four percent per annum. The town council may lend this further to poor journeymen against security, and may take five percent interest. and by this means a poor man may be more readily able to support himself Item, an ordinance should be agreed between the bigwigs and the merchants, so that the poor may continue to buy at pennyworth and so receive a livelihood.
• Item, no one shall melt down coin on pain of branding, but silver and gold coins should be sent to the approved coinsmiths and they shall pay for them according to fixed rates or at face value, unless they are forged or lightweight. Item, the haberdashers who sell various wares and smallgoods in the towns should be made to specialize. and each allowed to sell only one kind of goods.

[Introductory note: Gaismair wrote this document in early 1526 It counts as one of the most significant socio-political reform programmes of the Peasants’ War. Influenced by Zwingli’s theocratic doctrines, Gaismair applied the Zurich reformer’s radical Christian principles to the constitution of an egalitarian republic which was strongly anti-urban and anti-capitalist in spirit The constitutional blueprint contains detailed provisions for a system of social welfare, and for agrarian and industrial reform which virtually amount to a national economic plan. The concluding section deals specifically with the mining industry, and reflects the modest position as small entrepreneurs which Gaismair’s family had built up over two generations. It is not, therefore, properly speaking a utopian socialist reform programme, but rather a very early example of mercantilist theory at the level of a self-sufficient territorial state.]

This is the territorial constitution written by Michael Gaismair in 1526.

(1) First, you shall promise and swear to pledge body and goods for one another, not to forsake one another, to do or to die together but always to act on orders, to be loyal and obedient to your superior authorities, and in all things to seek not sell-interest but first and foremost the honor of God. and then the common good, so that Almighty God will show us his grace and support (as he has many times promised those who are obedient to his commands), and we should trust wholly in him, for he is the complete truth arid deceives no one [see Romans 3:4].

(2) You should root out and expunge all godless men who persecute the Word of God, burden the common man, and hinder the common good.

(3) You will spare no effort to establish a wholly Christian constitution, which is founded in all things on the Word of God alone, and live wholly according to it.

(4) All privileges shall be abolished, for they are contrary to the Word of God and pervert justice, so that no one should have advantage over another.

(5) All fortifications around towns and all castles and fortresses should be demolished so that henceforth there should be no more towns, but only villages, in order that all distinctions between men will be abolished, from which disruption, pride, and disturbance may arise in the land, but rather that there will be a complete equality in the land.

(6) All images, wayside shrines, and chapels which are not parish churches should be abolished throughout the entire land, along with the Mass, for it is an abomination before God and wholly unchristian.

(7) The Word of God should be preached faithfully and truthfully everywhere in Gaismair’s land, and all sophistry and legalizing be rooted out and their books burned.

(8) The courts and parishes shall be situated throughout the land wherever is most convenient, so that they may be provided for with the least expense.

(9) Each commune shall elect a judge and eight jurors annually to its court, who are to see to the administration of the court for that year.

(10) There shall be a court session each Monday, and no cases are to be adjourned from one session to another but concluded by the second session; and the judge, jurors, clerk, advocate, court officials, and beadles shall take nothing from anybody during the court proceedings, but shall be paid by the territory; and they shall appear each Monday at court ready for service.

(11) An administration should be set up in the territory, for which Bressanone [Brixen] would be the most convenient place, for it has many priests’ houses and other facilities and is situated in the middle of the territory; and the rulers shall be elected from all its quarters, and also some from the mines.

(12) Appeals should be made henceforth to the administration and not to Merano [the old capital of the county of Tirol], for that is expensive and useless, and should immediately be abolished.

(13) A university shall be established at the seat of the administration, where one may only teach the Word of God; and three learned men from the university, experienced in the Word of God and holy Scripture (from which the justice of God may alone be expounded), should always sit in the administration, and they should judge and consider all things according to God’s command, as befits a Christian people.

(14) On interest payments, the entire territorial assembly [Landschaft] should discuss and decide whether they should be abolished immediately, or whether one should proclaim a jubilee year according to God’s law [Leviticus 25: 4, 8], and in the meantime collect interest payments for the common needs of the territory, for one must recognize that the common territory will have military expenses for some time.

(15) On customs, it seems to me good for the sake of the commonweal to abolish them throughout the territory, but they should be levied at the southern borders, namely, that imports go toll-free, but exports pay tolls.

(16) On tithes, these should be paid according to God’s command and used according to the teaching of St. Paul, whose competency is covered by the tithe; any remainder from the tithe should be given to the poor. In the case of the poor, however, no one should beg from house to house, so that vagrancy and many useless folk who are able to work may be prevented.

(17) Convents and houses of the Teutonic Order of Knights should be turned into hostels; the sick should be gathered in some, where they will be cared for and nursed; in others the old who are no longer able to work on account of their age should be housed, with the poor orphan] children, whom one shall teach and educate honorably; and the residential poor shall be assisted according to the advice of each judge within his administration, as he thinks best, out of the tithe or alms, depending on their needs. But if the tithe is insufficient for the support of pastors and the poor, then everyone should loyally give alms according to their wealth, and if there is still need beyond that, then a contribution based on income should be levied. In each hostel there shall be a superintendent and a senior bailiff or official appointed over all the inmates and the poor, whose duty shall be exclusively and permanently to serve the inmates, to care for the poor and to provide for them. Moreover the judges in each district shall assist them the officials] by distributing the tithe and alms to the residential poor, and by identifying and reporting them. The poor shall also be provided not only with food and drink, but also with clothes and all necessities.

(18) So that good order in all things shall be preserved everywhere in the land, four captains shall be appointed under a supreme commander, who shall take charge of all matters concerning the needs of the land in time of war, such as putting the country on alert and guarding the mines, passes, paths, bridges, weirs, roads, and whatever is necessary, and they shall loyally serve the land in whatever it requires, and they shall indicate any needs to the administration, after making inspection and gathering information, and act on its advice [...].

(19) In each jurisdiction, at an appropriate time of year, the entire community shall perform labor service in the forests and on the common fields, to clear them and make them fit for grazing so that the land may progressively be improved. No one shall engage in commerce in the land, so that no one will be polluted with the sin of usury. In order that there shall be no lack of goods, however, and good order be preserved without overcharging and deception, so that honest dealing and good wares prevail, a place should be chosen in the land, such as Trent, which is cheap and centrally located, where manufactures should be situated and transferred from [the rest of] the country, such as silk, hats, bronzeware, velvet, shoes, and other goods. A superintendent, to whom everything shall be accounted, shall be appointed, and whatever cannot be obtained within the land, such as spices, etc., shall be ordered from abroad.

In addition, in several specified places throughout the land, as occasion demands, shops shall be set up for the sale of all types of goods. On these goods no profit shall be marked up but only [what covers] the expenses involved, so that all deceit and falsehood may be avoided and everything have its just price; money will remain in the land and be turned to the great advantage of the common man. The superintendent of trade shall receive a stipulated salary, as shall his assistants.

(20) One shall establish a good, heavy coinage as in the time of Duke Sigismund [Archduke of Tirol, 1477-96] and expel and remove the present coinage from the land. In future no foreign coins shall be accepted at whatever rate of exchange, unless they first be assayed and valued, and those with a value equal to the land’s currency shall be accepted.

(21) One should take all the chalices and plate from all churches and monasteries and mint them into coin which can be used for the good of the land.

(22) Good relations should be established with neighboring lands. Savoyards should not be allowed to hawk goods in the land. Henceforth there should be a market in the Adige valley and one in the Inn valley; one should have uniform weights and measures and a single tariff in the entire land. One should keep a good watch over the frontiers and passes. One should have a good sum of money in reserve in case an unexpected war breaks out; and one should maintain the properties of exiled noblemen and other properties for the costs of supporting the courts [...].

[Postscript by an anonymous hand] This is Michael Gaismair’s territorial constitution, if he becomes cock of the roost.

All translations by Tom Scott and Bob Scribner, eds., The German Peasants’ War: A History in Documents (Atlantic Highlands, N.J., 1991).