The most energetic men were away, either under Florian Geyer or under Jaecklein Rohrbach, who, after the capture of Heilbronn, also separated himself from the troops, apparently because he, judge of Count von Helfenstein, could no longer remain with a body which was in favour of reconciliation with the nobility.This insistence on an understanding with the nobility was in itself a sign of demoralisation.Later, Wendel Hipler proposed a very fitting reorganisation of the troops.He suggested that the Lansquenets, who offered themselves daily, should be drawn into the service, and that the troops should no longer be renewed monthly by assembling fresh contingents and dismissing old ones, but that those of them who had received more or less military training should be retained.The community assembly rejected both proposals.The peasants had become arrogant, viewing the entire war as nothing but a pillage.They wanted to be free to go home as soon as their pockets were full, but the competition of the Lansquenets promised them little.In Amorbach, it went so far that Hans Berlin, a member of the council of Heilbronn, induced the chiefs and the councils of the troops to accept the Declaration of the Twelve Articles, a document wherein the remaining sharp edges of the Twelve Articles were removed, and in which, a language of humble supplication was put into the mouths of the peasants.
This was too much for the peasants, who rejected the Declaration under great tumult, and insisted on the retention of the original Articles.
In the meantime, a decisive change had taken place in the region of Wuerzburg.The bishop who, after the first uprising early in April, had withdrawn to the fortified Frauenberg near Wuerzburg, from there to send unsuccessful letters in all directions asking for aid, was finally compelled to make temporary concessions.On May 2, a Diet was opened with the peasants represented, but before any results could be achieved, letters were intercepted which proved the bishop's traitorous machinations.The Diet immediately dispersed, and hostilities broke out anew between the insurgent city inhabitants and the peasants on one hand, and the bishop's forces on the other.The bishop fled to Heidelberg on May 5, and on the following day Florian Geyer, with the Black Troop, appeared in Wuerzburg and with him the Franconian Tauber Troop which consisted of the peasants of Mergentheim, Rottenburg and Anspach.On May 7, Goetz von Berlichingen with his Gay Bright Troops came, and the siege of Frauenberg began.
In the vicinity of Limpurg and in the region of Ellwangen and Hall, another contingent was formed by the end of March and the beginning of April, that of Gaildorf or the Common Gay Troop.Its actions were very violent.It aroused the entire region, burned many monasteries and castles, including the castle of Hohenstaufen, compelled all the peasants to join it, and compelled all nobles, even the cup-bearers of Limpurg, to enter the Christian Alliance.Early in May it invaded Wuerttemberg, but was persuaded to withdraw.The separatism of the German system of small states stood then, as in 1848, in the way of a common action of the revolutionaries of the various state territories.The Gaildorf troop, limited to a small area, was naturally bound to disperse when all resistance within that area was broken.The members of this troop concluded an agreement with the city of Gmuend, and leaving only 500 under arms, they went home.
In the Palatinate, peasant troops were formed on either bank of the Rhine by the end of April.They destroyed many castles and monasteries, and on May 1 they took Neustadt on the Hardt.The Bruchrain peasants, who appeared in this region, had on the previous day forced Speyer to conclude an agreement.The Marshal of Zabern, with the few troops of the Elector, was powerless against them, and on May 10 the Elector was compelled to conclude an agreement with the peasants, guaranteeing them a redress of their grievances, to be effected by a Diet.
In Wuerttemberg the revolt had occurred early in separate localities.
As early as February, the peasants of the Urach Alp formed a union against the priests and masters, and by the end of March the peasants of Blaubeuer, Urach, Muensingen, Balingen and Rosenfeld revolted.The Wuerttemberg region was invaded by the Gaildorf troop at Goeppingen, by Jaecklein Rohrbach at Brackenheim, and by the remnants of the vanquished Leipheim troop at Pfuelingen.AR these newcomers aroused the rural population.There were also serious disturbances in other localities.On April 6, Pfuelingen capitulated before the peasants.The government of the Austrian Archduke was in a very difficult situation.It had no money and but few troops.The cities and castles were in a bad condition, lacking garrisons or munitions, and even Asperg was practically defenseless.The attempt of the government to call out city reserves against the peasants, decided its temporary defeat.On April 16 the reserves of the city of Bottwar refused to obey orders, marching, instead of to Stuttgart, to Wunnenstein near Bottwar, where they formed the nucleus of a camp of middle-class people and peasants, and added other numbers rapidly.On the same day the rebellion broke out in Zabergau.The monastery of Maulbronn was pillaged, and a number of monasteries and castles were ruined.The Gaeu peasants received reinforcements from the neighbouring Bruchrain.
