Emotions and the German Peasants’ War of 1524–6

Abstract

This article addresses the questions of the history of emotions to the German Peasants' War of 1524-5. The biggest popular uprising in Western Europe before the French Revolution, it overturned lordship in wide areas of Germany and beyond for about three months. It transformed the character of the Reformation as Luther condemned the peasant rebels. The revolt followed an emotional arc, shaped as much by the seasons as it was by the logic of revolution. The article argues that historians need to understand emotions and emotional cycles to understand how revolutions begin and unfold.