102 Readings in European History Demands of the artisans. Religious revolution. pledge he was secretly sent home without his companions' knowledge. March 26. Chrischainz, the baker, knocked the missal out of the priest's hand in the chapel of our Lady and drove away the priest from mass. To-day the peasants let them- selves be seen in the field outside the Galgenthor. The following Monday, while the priest was performing service in the parish church and chanting " Adjuva nos, deus salutaris noster," Ernfried Kumpf addressed him rudely, saying that if he washed to save himself he would better leave the altar. Kumpf then knocked the missal on to the floor and drove the scholars out of the choir. On Tuesday eight hundred peasants came together. Those who would not join them willingly they forced to do so or took their property, as happened to a peasant at Wettring. On Friday the peasants all gathered, as many as two thousand strong, and camped near Neusitz. Lorenz Knob- loch went out to them, and they promised to make him a captain. The same day some of the peasants were sent into the town to give a report of their demands and plans. Mean- while representatives of the emperor and of the Swabian League arrive with a hope of making peace, but they ride away without accomplishing anything, as did those from Nuremberg. On this same day all the artisans were to lay all their complaints and demands before a committee. The taxes, wages, and methods of weighing were discussed. The peas- ants encamped near Santhof. Friday, April 7, Kueplein, during the sermon, threw the lighted oil lamps about the church. Some of the peasants came into Rothenburg and the neighboring towns, everywhere plundering cupboards and cellars. On Good Friday all services were suspended in the churches of Rothenburg, for there was neither chanting nor preaching except that Dr. John Teuschel preached against emperor, kings, princes, and lords, ecclesiastical and lay, with foul abuse and slander, on the ground that they were hinder- ing God's word.
