outh, the 'messenger of our Lady,' as he was
called, sounding from his pulpit--a tub turned upside down--and as
yet, notwithstanding all that he had said and done, in perfect
harmony with the parish priest. Two nobles even are named as having
been amongst his hearers, the knight Sir Kunz of Thunfeld and his
son. Gifts began to pour in--rich gifts in money, and jewels, and
clothes; and peasant women who had nothing else to give, made
offerings of their long hair. Forty thousand worshippers of the
Virgin were collected around Niklashausen; booths and tents were
erected to supply them with necessaries, though at night they had to
lie in the gardens or in the open fields. The enthusiasm rose even
higher; but the priests now began to discover that they were playing
with edged tools, and to hint that Hans Boheim dealt in the black
art; that his inspiration was of the devil; and that the said devil
it was, and no other, who had appeared to him in the white robes of
the Blessed Virgin, and had prompted this ungodly rebellion against
temporal and ecclesiastical authority. But the hearts of men were on
fire, and the feeble sprinkling only made them burn the fiercer. They
flung themselves on their knees before the holy drummer, saying, 'O
man of God! messenger of heaven! be gracious to us, and have pity on
us!' and they tore and parted among them fragments of his garments,
and he esteemed himself happy who could obtain but a thread of so
precious a relic.'"--(P. 19.)

Yes, the drummer of Niklashausen was their god for the moment. Yearning
for help, and unable to help themselves, such simple crowds are ready to
believe in any voice that promises a coming salvation. But now the Bishops
of Mainz and Wurzburg, and the Senate of Nuremberg, began to bestir
themselves. Hans Boheim, after concluding one of his exhortations, had
invited his followers on the next holiday to come without their wives and
children, and "to come armed." What would have ensued at the next assembly
we are left only to guess, for the prophet, while sleeping quietly in his
house, was, in the middle of the night, fairly kidnapped by the Bishop of
Wurzburg, and thrown into prison.

Some sixteen thousand of his disciples marched off to Wurzburg to set him
free. But the Bishop spoke them softly, and after some demonstrations of
violence, they began to retreat.