Münzer, Thomas

(c. 1490–1525)

   Rebel.

   Münzer was born in Stolberg, Germany, and he was educated at the Universities of Leipzig and Frankfurt. He met Martin luther at the disputation with eck in Leipzig in 1519 and, as a Reformer, he settled in Zwickau in 1520. There he came under the influence of the three radical ‘Zwickau prophets’ (Nicholas Storch, Thomas Drecksel and Marcus Stubner) and he began to teach that he was directly inspired by the Holy Spirit and had no need of intermediary priests or an institutional Church. Expelled from Zwickau, he moved first to Prague and then to Allstedt. His wild preaching attracted attention and, as a danger to public order, he was again evicted from the town. Eventually in Mühlhausen, he encouraged his followers to become involved in the Peasants’ Revolt. Luther himself was totally opposed to the peasants and Münzer and his army were defeated at Frankenhausen in 1525. Subsequently he was captured and put to death. He was one of the most effective of the Anabaptist preachers. He turned against Luther when the Reformer refused to countenance a social revolution, describing him as ‘Brother Soft-Life’ and ‘Dr Liar’. He has been the subject of much recent historical interest as the forerunner of later, radical leaders.

   E.W. Gritsch, Reformer Without a Church: The Life and Thought of Thomas Muentzer (1967);

   E.G. Rupp, ‘Thomas Münzer: Prophet of radical Christianity’, Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, xlviii (1966);

   G.H. Williams, The Radical Reformation (1962).