Peasants' War in Focus: Important Event in Gotha Discusses Sharp Interpretations!

Peasants' War in Focus: Important Event in Gotha Discusses Sharp Interpretations!

On Tuesday, October 14, 2025, the Gotha Research Center at the University of Erfurt, in cooperation with the Thuringian State Center for Civic Education, invites you to an exciting evening lecture. At 6 p.m. in the lecture hall of the Landschaftshaus am Gothaer Schloßberg the topic will be “The Peasants’ War between Science and Instrumentalization”. The speaker, Prof. Dr. Gerd Schwerhoff, senior professor of early modern history at the TU Dresden, will examine the diverse interpretations of the Peasants' War of 1525. Admission is free, so anyone interested is welcome.

The lecture not only highlights different perspectives on the Peasants' War, which is interpreted as a rebellion against feudal oppression or as a religious struggle for freedom, but also the often controversial term "Peasants' War". Schwerhoff will also use historical sources to put the different perspectives on these events into context. This evening the instrumentalization of the Peasants' War will also be discussed in a wide variety of historical and political frameworks.

A significant uprising and its background

But what exactly is behind the Peasants' War? This important uprising, which took place around 1500 in the Holy Roman Empire and was characterized by social distress and the pursuit of justice and freedom, mobilized primarily farmers, craftsmen and ordinary citizens. They called for profound changes in a society that was heavily divided into classes.

The starting point was high taxes and feudal arbitrariness, which fueled discontent among the population. This discontent culminated in violent protests that were brutally suppressed. Before the actual Peasants' War, there were already individual uprisings, such as the Bundschuh movement led by Joß Fritz, who advocated for social and religious changes. The popular religious movement during this time, which was nourished by Martin Luther and his writings, set many in motion, but later also caused disappointment when Luther took a stand against the insurgents.

Research and publications for the anniversary year

In 2025, not only will the Peasants' War be remembered, but its effects and the various interpretations will also come into focus. Schwerhoff's upcoming non-fiction book "The Peasants' War. Story of a Wild Plot," which will be published in 2024 by C.H. Beck will appear, offers a brilliant overview of the topic. The work is consistently praised in literature, for example by Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, which highlights the “sleepwalking certainty” in the presentation of complex events, and from the The press, which describes it as a successful reinterpretation. Those too South German newspaper celebrates it as an “overall event-historical panorama of the drama” and highlights the multitude of information and connections.

This diversity of perspectives and publications makes the anniversary year 2025 a compact and particularly insightful year for the historical examination of one of the most formative uprisings of the early modern period. Anyone interested in the history and background of one of the largest uprisings of their time should not miss Prof. Schwerhoff's lecture!