The term “Peasants’ War” generally refers to the events of 1524/25, when peasants and citizens in Switzerland, Upper Swabia, Württemberg, Austria, Tyrol, Thuringia, and Franconia dared to revolt against their feudal lords. The respective regional and local concerns played an important role that should not be neglected in a generalized account of the events, but there were also commonalities: a strong anti-clerical movement developed, particularly in areas where monasteries, abbeys, and other ecclesiastical landlords were strongly positioned. The lords’ control over the local and, in some cases, centuries-old special rights of peasants, citizens, and knights became stronger, and the conflicts with them became more intense. The mostly oral local laws of villages and noble lordships were pushed back in favor of the new written state law based on Roman law.
The rebels operated in a diverse and fragmented landscape of various territorial rulers in Franconia, which made it difficult for them to take concerted action. This area is defined by a complex conglomerate of different rulers, towns, castles, and monasteries. Is this complexity of different rulers in a small region with open borders one of the causes of the uprising? Specifically, the following topics are addressed: Wine growing and vineyard workers, the deliberate destruction of vineyards, the ownership of mills, in general the natural resources and their use by humans, as well as the importance of the ‘community’ (gemein) in cities and towns, whose quartermasters had significant political influence in times of uncertainty. These would be intangible resources of social and political coexistence within the framework of city districts. This meant that conflicts in the Peasants’ War are focused on various natural, economic, social, and religious resources, which defined the respective scope for action, which took place in narrowly defined areas.