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

ebellion, because he refused to pronounce an
unqualified condemnation of the peasantry; and the
peasants blamed him as truckling to the princes,
because he was not wholly with the insurrection.
Posterity has judged otherwise. At this, as at every
other crisis, Luther acted with profound moderation
and wisdom. His mediation failed, however, and
the storm now burst.
The first insurrectionary cloud rolled up in
Suabia, from beside the sources of the Danube. It
made its appearance in the summer of 1524. The
insurrectionary spirit ran like wildfire along the
Danube, kindling the peasantry into revolt, and
fining the towns with tumults, seditions, and
terrors. By the end of the year Thuringia,
Franconia, and part of Saxony were in a blaze.
When the spring of 1525 opened, the conflagration
spread wider still. It was now that the "twelve
articles," to which we have referred above, were
published, and became the standard for the
insurgents to rally round. John Muller, of
Bulbenbach, traversed the region of the Black
Forest, attired in a red gown and a red cap,
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