Philosophy 17

“Until now it has been practice that we have been treated like serfs, which is deplorable, since Christ redeemed all of us with his precious blood, both the shepherd and the nob-leman […]. Accordingly we hereby declare that we are free […].”

Quote: Twelve Articles of the Peasants Picture: Cleveland Museum of Art, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons,

Unknown author. The text was adopted after a peasant assembly in Memmingen during the German Peasants' War (1524-26).

In the aftermath of the Reformation, many peasants saw their belief confirmed that the previous legal order did not represent God's will and that it was unjust. Drawing from the Bible they argued against the church-sanctioned order. The Twelve Articles of the Peasantry are considered to be an early claim for human rights and freedoms in Europe. In addition to the abolition of serfdom, the claims included the right to hunt and fish, the freedom to elect and depose a pastor, and an independent judiciary. The rebels explicitly referred to Martin Luther (1483-1546), who, however, rejected the uprising and called for the crackdown of the peasant uprisings. The crackdown followed and the Twelve Articles of the Peasantry did not come into force.

*Translation of the entire text here. *Joshua J. Mark (2022): Twelve Articles. World history encyclopedia.

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