Page:Readings in European History Vol 2.djvu/143

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

Course of the Protestci7it Revolt in Germany 1 05 and Sulzdorf. In all these battles the League lost not over one hundred and fifty men. On June 6 messengers are sent from Rothenburg to Casimir to ask for pardon. Next day others are sent to the League, but they are told that they must surrender unconditionally. On Thursday following, after the League had retaken the town of Wiirzburg, they beheaded sixty-two. After the League had attacked Bamberg they beheaded twenty-one. On Friday after Corpus Christi, mass was once more chanted in Rothenburg, as formerly. June 17. Vespers, complines, and matins are once more sung. On June 23 Dr. John Teuschel and the blind monk Hans are taken and shut up, but several others, including Dr. Andreas Carlstadt, who had done most to stir up trouble, secretly escape. On the eve of Peter and Paul's day Margrave Casimir Entrance rides into Rothenburg with four hundred horsemen, a thou- of Margrave , ,111 r 11 r i Casimir into sand footmen, and two hundred wagons lull or arms and R 0t henburg. equipments. Next day four hundred foot soldiers belonging to the Atrocities margrave and the League divide into two parts. One went of ^ soldiers. to the village of Orenbach, which they plundered, and burned the church to the ground. The other went to Pretheim, a fine village. This they plundered, killing a number of people, including the innkeeper, behind a table. They burned the village, including the church, and carried off six hundred head of cattle and thirty carts full of plunder. June 30. The citizens of Rothenburg are summoned to the market place by a herald and surrounded by pikemen. They are accused of deserting the empire and joining the peasants, and are threatened with the vengeance they deserve. The names of a number of citizens are read off, and they are beheaded on the spot. Their bodies are left on the market place all day. Some got away through the ring of