Muntzer’s next post is both relatively permanent…

March 1524 CE

Muntzer’s next post is both relatively permanent and productive.

In early April of 1523, through the patronage of Selmenitz, he had been appointed as preacher at St John’s Church in Allstedt in Saxony.

He had found himself working alongside another reformer, Simon Haferitz, who preached at the church of St Wigberti.

The town of Allstedt is small, barely more than a large village (population: six hundred), with an imposing castle set on the hill above it.

Elector Frederick holds the right to appoint to St John’s, but the town-council had either forgotten to advise him, or had not felt that his approval was necessary.

Almost immediately on arrival, Müntzer had been preaching his version of the reformed doctrines, and delivering the standard church services and masses in German.

Such is the popularity of his preaching and the novelty of hearing services in German that people from the surrounding countryside and towns were soon flocking to Allstedt—some reports suggest that upwards of two thousand people were on the move every Sunday.

Within weeks, Luther had heard of this and had written to the Allstedt authorities, asking them to persuade Müntzer to come to Wittenberg for closer inspection.

Müntzer had refused to gom being far too busy carrying through his Reformation and wanting no discussion ‘behind closed doors’.

At this time, he had also married Ottilie von Gersen, a former nun; in the spring of 1524, Ottilie had given birth to a son.

It is not only Luther who is concerned.

The Catholic Count Ernst II von Mansfeld-Vorderort had spent the summer of 1523 trying to prevent his own subjects from attending the reformed services in Allstedt.

Müntzer had felt secure enough to pen a letter to the Count in September, ordering him to leave off his tyranny.

Throughout the remainder of 1523, and into 1524, Müntzer had consolidated his reformed services and spread his message in the small town.

He had arranged for the printing of his German Church Service; the Protestation or Proposition by Thomas Müntzer from Stolberg in the Harz Mountains, now pastor of Allstedt, about his teachings; and On the Counterfeit Faith, in which he had set out his belief that the true faith comes from inner spiritual suffering and despair.

In the spring of 1524, supporters of Müntzer had burned down a small chapel at Mallerbach, much to the annoyance of the abbess of the Naundorf nunnery.

The town-council and the castellan had failed to do anything about her complaint, but in July, Müntzer had been invited before the Electoral Duke Johann in Allstedt Castle, possibly in lieu of a belated ‘trial sermon’, and there he preached his famous sermon on the Second Chapter of the Book of Daniel (aka The Sermon Before the Princes) – a barely concealed warning to the princes that they should pitch in with the Allstedt reforms or face the wrath of God.

The immediate reaction of the princes is not documented, but Luther had not held back, publishing his Letter to the Princes of Saxony about the Rebellious Spirit demanding the radical’s banishment from Saxony.

However, the princes had simply summoned all the relevant persons of Allstedt, Müntzer included, to a hearing at Weimar where, after being interrogated separately, they had been warned about their future conduct.

This hearing had had the desired effect upon town-officials, who had backpedaled rapidly and withdrawn their support for the radicals.

In the night of August 7, 1524, Müntzer slips out of Allstedt (by necessity abandoning wife and son, who will only be able to join him later), and heads for the Imperial Free City of Mühlhausen, around sixty-five kilometers to the southwest.