Peasant or civil war? The uprising in southwestern Thuringia in April/May 1525

Topic: Peasant or civil war? The uprising in south-western Thuringia in April/May 1525

Speaker: Dr. Kai Lehmann, Director of the Wilhelmsburg Castle Museum, Schmalkalden

Time: Friday, October 10, 2025, 3:00 p.m.

Venue: TU Ilmenau, Faraday lecture hall, Weimarer Straße 32, access via Prof.-Schmidt-Straße

Admission: 5 euros

Was it "only" a peasant war or also a civil war? In his lecture as part of the TU Ilmenau Citizens' Campus, Dr. Kai Lehmann, historian and director of the Schmalkalden Museum Schloss Wilhelmsburg, will address this question. Lehmann shows that without the inhabitants of towns such as Schmalkalden, the most populous town in the Henneberg region in southwest Thuringia, it would not have been possible for the peasants to rise up so powerfully.

Even before the actual Peasants' War, Dr. Lehmann recalls, there were rumblings in Schmalkalden. When the army of peasants and burghers advanced on Schmalkalden, the sovereign city regiment was weakened by treachery from within. When the city gates were opened, there was massive looting of church buildings and Jewish houses. However, Schmalkalden's transfer to the peasants' camp was to have fatal consequences for the town. The other towns in the region also voluntarily joined the insurgents. Dr. Lehmann will try to answer these questions in his lecture - which ones and why. He will also explain why the uprisings in south-western Thuringia happened in the first place and how they took place in detail.

Ursula Nirsberger
TU Ilmenau Bürgercampus
+ 49 3677 69 4794
buergercampus@tu-ilmenau.de