with himself at their head. Full of
contempt for that Christ, "sweet as honey," whom Luther preached, and
being resolved to employ the most energetic measures, he exclaimed,
"Like Joshua, we must put all the Canaanites to the sword." He
established a community of goods and pillaged the convents. "Munzer,"
wrote Luther to Ansdorff on the 11th of April, 1525, "Munzer is not only
pastor, but king and emperor of Muelhausen." The poor no longer worked;
if anyone needed corn or cloth, he went and demanded it of some rich
man; if the latter refused, the poor man took it by force; if the owner
resisted, he was hanged. As Muelhausen was an independent city, Munzer
was able to exercise his power for nearly a year without opposition. The
revolt in the south of Germany led him to imagine that it was time to
extend his new kingdom. He had a number of heavy guns cast in the
Franciscan convent, and endeavored to raise the peasantry and miners of
Mansfeld. "How long will you sleep?" said he to them in a fanatical
proclamation: "Arise and fight the battle of the Lord! The time is come.
France, Germany, and Italy are moving. On, on, on! (_Dran, Dran, Dran!_)
Heed not the groans of the impious ones. They will implore you like
children, but be pitiless. _Dran, Dran, Dran!_ The fire is burning: let
your sword be ever warm with blood. _Dran, Dran, Dran!_ Work while it is
yet day." The letter was signed, "Munzer, servant of God against the
wicked."

The country people, thirsting for plunder, flocked round his standard.
Throughout all the districts of Mansfeld, of Stolberg, and Schwarzburg
in Hesse, and the duchy of Brunswick the peasantry rose in insurrection.
The convents of Michelstein, Ilsenburg, Walkenfied, Rossleben, and many
others in the neighborhood of the Hartz, or in the plains of Thuringia,
were devastated. At Reinhardsbrunn, which Luther had visited, the tombs
of the ancient landgraves were profaned and the library destroyed.

Terror spread far and wide. Even at Wittenberg some anxiety was felt.
Those doctors, who had feared neither the Emperor nor the Pope, trembled
in the presence of a madman. They were always on the watch for news;
every step of the rebels was counted. "We are here in great danger,"
said Melanchthon. "If Munzer succeeds, it is all over with us, unless
Christ should rescue us. Munzer advances with a worse than Scythian
cruelty, and it is impossible to repeat his dreadful threats."

The pious Elector had long h