Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"On May 15, 1525, the Peasants' War suffered a huge defeat at Frankenhausen, resulting in the capture and execution of Anabaptist leader Thomas Muntzer. . . . In 1524, rebellion had broken out in Germany and spread into parts of what is now Switzerland and Austria. The revolt was the largest popular uprising until the French Revolution of 1789 and involved all sections of society form the nobility to the peasantry. . . . Thomas Muntzer became one of its leaders as economic distress and religious fervor quickly developed into a revolt against feudalism, aligned behind a list of grievances called the Twelve Articles of the Black Forest. . . . The favorable living conditions of the peasantry at the end of the fifteenth century were gradually eroded by the rising prices of food and wool during the early sixteenth century and by a drop in incomes. . . . However, religious factors may also have played a part, particularly the challenge to religious authority posed by a group known as the Anabaptists." [1001 Days]