alles eine frage der religion?
Is it all a question of religion?
In many regions of the Alpine area, as well as in southwestern and central Germany, broad sections of the population rose up in the early 16th century—Salzburg included. The term “Peasants’ War” is somewhat misleading in Salzburg, as on May 24, 1525, it was primarily miners and mine owners who called for revolt, and on June 6, 1525, the inhabitants of the city of Salzburg willingly opened the city gates to them.
This was followed by a nearly three-month siege of Hohensalzburg Fortress, where the Prince-Archbishop resided, before an agreement was reached. During this time, the insurgents—who confidently referred to themselves as the “Landschaft” (claiming to represent both rural and urban populations)—effectively brought large parts of the Prince-Archbishopric under their control in June and July. With their victory in the Battle of Schladming on July 3, the leader of the insurgents, Michael Gruber, achieved both the greatest military success of the uprising and the capture of the Styrian provincial governor, Sigmund von Dietrichstein.
After troops of the Swabian League under Georg von Frundsberg, who had come to assist the Prince-Archbishop, reached Salzburg on August 16, negotiations began. Bishop Berthold Pürstinger of Chiemsee, who had remained in Salzburg throughout, acted as a mediator between the parties. On August 31, 1525, a treaty was finally concluded in the camp outside Salzburg between the insurgents and the troops of the Swabian League.
Subsequently, a provincial assembly (Landtag) was convened in October, where the insurgents had the opportunity to present their grievances. However, the outcomes of this assembly, as well as those of another held in March 1526, were insufficient for many, leading to a second wave of uprising, which began in Saalfelden on March 27, 1526. The religious reformist ideas that had still played an important role in the 1525 uprising increasingly receded into the background and were, by 1526, of only minor significance, if any.
The uprising finally came to an end on July 11 with the “Blood Court of Radstadt,” during which the ringleaders were executed.
We ask ourselves the following questions:
What angered the people?
What did this uprising have to do with religion?
Erzstift Salzburg
Archbishopric of Salzburg
In the 14th century, Salzburg achieved legal independence from the duchies of Bavaria and Carinthia and was thus recognized as a sovereign territory.
From 1328 onward, the archbishop was also the territorial prince and thus the sole ruler of the Prince-Archbishopric of Salzburg. From then on, the archbishop governed the territory, combining both spiritual and secular power. As the center of a large ecclesiastical province, Salzburg extended its influence far beyond the borders of the present-day federal state.
With the flight of Prince-Archbishop Colloredo in 1800 ahead of Napoleon’s advancing troops, the end of Salzburg’s independence began. In 1803, Salzburg was secularized (separation of church and state), and in 1816 it finally became part of Austria.
Matthäus Kardinal Lang von Wellenburg
Matthäus Cardinal Lang of Wellenburg
He served as Archbishop of Salzburg from 1519 to 1540. Born around 1468, he first made a career as a diplomat and close advisor to Emperor Maximilian I before assuming ecclesiastical offices. On September 26, 1519, Matthäus Cardinal Lang of Wellenburg received both priestly and episcopal ordination on the same day in Salzburg Cathedral.
His secular rule in the Archbishopric faced severe challenges. The efforts of Salzburg’s citizens to gain greater autonomy were still suppressed in 1523 through a demonstration of military strength (the so-called “Latin War”). However, the Peasants’ War of 1525 placed the territorial ruler under extreme pressure.
Cardinal Lang of Wellenburg attempted to prevent or at least contain the spread of the new teachings through a diocesan ordinance issued in 1522. Some of the measures demanded provide insight into the prevailing abuses:
- Obligation to wear clerical clothing and the tonsure
- Priests were reminded of their duty to celebrate the prescribed Masses and the Liturgy of the Hours
- Admonition to maintain a proper lifestyle: priests were not to visit taverns, gamble, or operate their own wine taverns
- Concubinage was prohibited
- No one was allowed to preach without permission and prior examination by the bishop
- Excessive stole fees—fees charged for certain religious services requiring the wearing of a stole (such as baptisms, weddings, and funerals)—were forbidden.
Tisch
Table
The Forest Ordinance of 1524. The mine owners—the Gewerken—among them the influential families Weitmoser, Strasser, and Zott, felt their rights were curtailed by this new regulation, as it restricted the use of forests and thus interfered with the smooth extraction of ores.
The peasants were radicalized by Luther’s misunderstood writing “On the Freedom of a Christian,” printed in Wittenberg in 1520.
The oppressed population interpreted this message as applying to their own social hardships.
Across southern Germany, peasants became restless in the hope of improving their social and religious conditions.
High and newly imposed taxes levied by the territorial ruler, as well as arbitrary administrative measures.
The influences of the Reformation and the attempts by the territorial ruler to suppress them—for example, by banning study in Wittenberg. The University of Wittenberg, where Luther held the chair of biblical studies, had become a center for the spread of reform ideas. At this distant institution in Saxony, several sons of Salzburg mine owners and wealthy citizens studied, such as Christoph Weitmoser from Gastein, Georg Brenner from Werfen, and the brothers Siegmund and Rupert Matschauer from Salzburg. After their return, these young mining lords, together with their well-organized miners, also contributed to the spread of the Reformation.
Was bedeutet Religionsfreiheit in einer
vielfältigen Gesellschaft?
What does freedom of religion mean in a diverse society?
Freedom of religion is a fundamental human right. It protects the right to practice a religion, to change one’s religion, or to have no religion at all. At the same time, in a pluralistic society, different beliefs come into contact with one another.
How does political participation come about?
Discuss together
Why is it important that everyone in a community can participate on an equal footing?
Discuss together:
What can be done to stand up for democratic rights and values such as equality, freedom of religion, and tolerance—on both a small and a large scale?
Discuss together:
What role does communication or the exchange of information play in a democracy?
Discuss together:
What do you understand by freedom of religion?
Discuss together:
Why is freedom of religion important for a democratic society?
Discuss together:
Where are the limits of freedom of religion when other rights are affected?
Discuss together:
How can respectful coexistence between different religious and ideological groups be achieved?
Discuss together:
What roles do schools, the state, and society play in protecting freedom of religion?
Heiliger Paulus
Saint Paul
partially polychromed, around 1520
Saint Paul lived in the 1st century and is considered one of the most important and influential authors of early Christianity—his letters remain central to this day and had a significant impact on the Reformation.
In particular, his Letter to the Romans and Letter to the Galatians emphasize that a person is justified through faith.
Martin Luther adopted this idea and made it the core of the Reformation (“justification by faith alone”). Paul also taught that salvation is a gift of God’s grace and cannot be earned through good works. This made Paul an important foundation for the thinking of the Reformers.
Auslöser des Bauernkrieges
Triggers of the Peasants’ War
Two events at the end of May 1525 mark the beginning of the “Salzburg Peasants’ War”:
1.
The liberation of the Lutheran preacher Eustachius of Heiterwang and the subsequent execution of two of his liberators by the Prince-Archbishop.
This event reflects the fact that, alongside economic, political, and social factors, questions of faith were also decisive.
2.
The meeting of mine owners (Gewerken), miners, and peasants on May 24, 1525, at the “Silberpfennig” in the Gastein Valley.
They gathered to take action against the territorial ruler, Prince-Archbishop Matthäus Lang of Wellenburg (1468–1535), and then marched together toward Salzburg.
In Gastein, they formulated 14 demands in the so-called Gastein Articles. The first focused on religion and, among other things, called for the free preaching of the Gospel:
“1) First and most essential article:
It is determined that we shall be provided with duly God-fearing parish priests and pastors—such as preach and teach the divine Word rightly, without fear of man and without coercion, as described above.
We also firmly demand that if we choose or appoint such a priest or pastor among us, he may not be removed by any ecclesiastical or secular authority without a serious, clear, and honest reason.
Rather, it should first be duly examined how this priest has conducted himself properly, whether well or poorly …”
Berthold Pürstinger
Berthold Pürstinger, who was born in Salzburg around 1465, was a theological writer, auxiliary bishop of Salzburg, and Bishop of Chiemsee.
In the course of his work, Bishop Pürstinger was not blind to the weaknesses of the Church of his time. In 1524, the booklet “Onus ecclesiae” (The Burden of the Church) was published, in which the anonymous author (who was probably Pürstinger) denounced the abuses within the Catholic Church.
Wappen von Berthold Pürstinger
Coat of arms of Berthold Pürstinger
coat of arms of Saalfelden likely developed from the coat of arms of Bishop Berthold Pürstinger. The three thistles in his coat of arms were transformed into three green, poplar-like deciduous trees on a green triple hill against a golden shield. The Saalfelden coat of arms as we know it today already appears in the heraldic panel of 1620.
Excerpt from a letter by Berthold Pürstinger, in which he demands 200 florins from the citizens and peasants of Saalfelden who received lodging and provisions during the siege of Hohensalzburg Fortress in 1525:
Twelve years ago, namely in the year 1525, after the first uprising, when the citizens and peasants of the region of Saalfelden, with their banner, stayed in my residence in Salzburg and at my expense for about 14 weeks with 50 people…
During the siege, Pürstinger remained in the city at the Chiemseehof and, according to his own account, had to accommodate a “company” of 50 citizens and peasants from the “Saalfelden district” at his own expense in the Chiemseehof. In addition, he was required to hand over a sum of 200 guilders, the repayment of which he ultimately waived in favor of the Saalfelden brothers’ house.
In the second wave of the uprising, which historian Dopsch referred to as the “Pinzgau Peasants’ War” due to the numerous battles in the Pinzgau region, the insurgents burned down all the important castles that served as seats of the prince-archbishop’s officials (including Lichtenberg near Saalfelden, Kaprun and Taxenbach, as well as the tower at Walchen, and the Chiemsee castle of Fischhorn near Zell am See—the latter on April 20, 1526).
As the conflicts became increasingly intense, Pürstinger resigned from his episcopal office and withdrew to a monastery near Burghausen, from where he moved to Saalfelden in 1529.
Buchdruck
Printing Press
From the 1520s onward, Protestant teachings spread rapidly in the Archbishopric of Salzburg thanks to circulating printed works and traveling miners.
So quickly, in fact, that Archbishop Lang was released by Pope Clement VII from a planned journey to Rome, as he was needed in Salzburg due to the “rampant Lutheran heresy.”
Through prohibitions and strict punishments, the archbishop attempted to curb the spread of the new doctrine. However, the religious mandates issued in 1523 and 1524 caused resentment among the population and also came too late.
Some of the listed religious offenses and threatened punishments included: imprisonment or banishment from the country for mocking church ceremonies, despising councils, rejecting celibacy, papal primacy, or abolishing the litany.
Punishments by death were imposed for denying the virginity of Mary, rejecting the doctrine of purgatory, refusing to recognize the seven sacraments or the sacrificial character of the Mass, and for administering or receiving Communion in both kinds.
With the help of printed books and pamphlets in German, which spread even into the most remote valleys, legal and religious questions could also be discussed among the general population. People learned to read and write from their sextons and organists.
Boston Tiegel
Boston Platen Press
A manually operated platen printing press, a so-called hand platen press (1850).
The “Boston principle” was developed by J. Golding around 1850 in Boston, hence the name. The Boston platen consists of a stationary, vertical frame into which the printing form is inserted. The platen swings on a shaft and, during the printing process, is pressed against the printing form or the frame. The entire mechanism is operated by a hand lever on the left side of the press. With the right hand, the printer places the paper in position. By operating the lever, rollers pick up the printing ink from a rotating ink plate and then transfer it onto the printing form.
On loan from the Fuchs bookbinding workshop.
Ablass
Indulgence
According to church doctrine, a sinner who repented could have the penalties for sins remitted by the Church.
Because the fear of purgatory was immensely great, believers tried to rescue even those who had already died from it.
In the late Middle Ages, this increasingly occurred through financial payments. It was no longer about repentance and penance, but rather about a business with the salvation of souls that was exploited by the Church.
Paying for indulgences was an intolerable abuse not only for the monk Martin Luther.
Thesis 82 by Martin Luther:
For example: Why does the Pope not empty purgatory out of the most holy love and the greatest need of souls—this being a truly compelling reason—when he redeems countless souls for the sake of disastrous money used to build a church—a very trivial reason?
With the publication of the 95 Theses against the sale of indulgences by Martin Luther, the Reformation began to take shape.
The attempt to reform the Church ultimately led to a division of Christian doctrine—into Protestant and Catholic branches.
The invention of the printing press with movable type was an important driving force behind the spread of the new faith.
Setzkasten für Bleilettern
Letterpress printing is a process used to create printing forms for book printing. Individual pieces of type—single letters cast from type metal, an alloy of lead, tin, and antimony—are assembled to form the complete layout of a page.
On loan from the Fuchs bookbinding workshop.
Lateinischer Krieg
Latin War
The “Latin War” in Salzburg (1523) was a conflict between Cardinal Prince-Archbishop Matthäus Lang of Wellenburg and the inhabitants of the city of Salzburg, which the Prince-Archbishop ultimately won.
In the “peace treaty,” brokered by Bishop Berthold Pürstinger, the city of Salzburg was forced to renounce all disputed rights it had claimed since the municipal charter of 1481 and to grant the Prince-Archbishop a compulsory loan.
Lang had an artillery tower—the so-called Mayor’s Tower—built at Hohensalzburg Fortress. The cannons installed there were directed toward the city.
Schwäbischer Bund
Swabian League
The “Swabian League” was a military alliance of nobles and imperial cities, initiated in 1488 by Emperor Frederick III with the aim of preserving public peace. If a member of the league was threatened, the allies would respond collectively.
During the Peasants’ War, the League—under its commander Georg Truchsess of Waldburg—was deployed as a force against the insurgents.
Ablass – Erlass von Strafen für Sünden
Indulgence – Remission of Penalties for Sins
It was therefore possible to “buy oneself free” from the penalties for sins. Not everyone agreed with this.
With his 95 Theses, Martin Luther primarily sought to criticize abuses within the Church and to initiate a discussion. The sale of indulgences particularly troubled him. He wanted to make clear that only God forgives sins—if one truly repents—not if one pays money.
Confessio Augustana
Confessio Augustana
On June 25, 1530, at the Imperial Diet in Augsburg, the Protestant princes declared their faith in the so-called Augsburg Confession (Confessio Augustana in Latin). It was the first written formulation of Martin Luther’s teachings.
Vier „Arme Seelen“ im Fegefeuer
Four “Poor Souls” in Purgatory
Wood, polychromed
Early 18th century
Private loan