From the Diet of Worms to the Augsburg Confession - James Aitken Wylie

misinterpreted, into the democratic doctrine of
equality of rank, and community of goods. "We
must mortify the body," said he, "by fasting and
simple clothing, look gravely, speak little, and
wear a long beard."
"These and such-like things, says Sleidan, "he
called the cross." Such was the man who, girding
on "the sword of Gideon," put himself at the head
of the revolted peasantry. He inoculated them with
his own visionary spirit, and taught them to aim at
a liberty of which their own judgments or passions
were the rule.
The peasants put their demands (January, 1525)
into twelve articles. Considering the heated
imaginations of those who penned them, these
articles were reasonable and moderate. The
insurgents craved restitution of certain free
domains which had belonged to their ancestors,
and certain rights of hunting and fishing which
they themselves had enjoyed, but which had been
taken from them. They demanded, further, a
considerable mitigation of taxes, which burdened
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