Thomas Müntzer

MÜNTZER, Thomas. b. Stolberg, in the Harz mountains, ca.1490; d. Mühlhausen, 27 May 1525. Little is known of his early life. He studied at Leipzig and Frankfurt-an-der-Oder, and became a priest, serving briefly at Braunschweig (1514-17) before moving to Wittenberg, where he was associated with Martin Luther* and other reformers in opposition to church abuses, particularly the practice of selling indulgences. He became pastor at Zwickau, Saxony in 1520, but was dismissed, although his dismissal caused a brief uprising among the poor. He went to Prague, where he produced the Prager Manifest (1521), advocating a new church of the Holy Spirit. He seems to have moved constantly during the next...