Peasant Fires: The Drummer of Niklashausen

by Richard M. Wunderli

"... lively and intellectually stimulating... " —Speculum "Wunderli... has lucidly reconstructed a controversial conflict in 15th-century south-central Germany.... this engaging narrative takes off from Hans Behem—the peasant who claimed to see the Virgin and gained followers until crushed by the established church—to explore larger forces at work in Germany on the eve of the Reformation... Wunderli also attempts to sort out the violent conflict that ensued and Hans's subsequent trial. His scrupulousness and sensitivity make for a small but valuable book." —Publishers Weekly "Fascinating and well written, this is highly recommended for academic and larger public libraries." —Library Journal "Richard Wunderli... deftly tells the story in ÂPeasant Fires, finding in it a foreshadowing of peasant uprisings in the 16th century." —New York Times Book Review "... a stimulating read... an engaging synthesis." —Central European History In 1476, an illiterate German street musician had a vision of the Virgin Mary and began to preach a radical social message that attracted thousands of followers—and antagonized the church. The drummer was burned at the stake. This swiftly moving narrative of his rise and fall paints a vivid portrait of 15th-century German society as it raises important questions about the craft of history. "A gem of a book.... It has a plot, good guys and bad buys, it opens up a 'strange' world, and it is exceptionally well written." —Thomas W. Robisheaux

Genres: History, Nonfiction, School, Religion, Read For School, Medieval, European History

176 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1992

Reviews

[Jan-Maat]

I bought this book from the website of Indiana University Press. By chance I found that on some University Press websites you can buy at knock down prices those books which were insufficiently loved and sit in piles in their storerooms. As it happened the exchange rate was in my favour too, so there was something nice (well for the book buyer, not the publisher obviously) about seeing amazing specialised titles available for modest prices and Peasant Fires was one of the titles I picked up.

It is a book like Montaillou, The Hanged Man, The Merchant of Prato or A Fool and his Money (and no doubt plenty of others too) that explores medieval history through a single event or cache of documents. In this case a shepherd who very briefly preached for moral reform and against the clergy in 15th century Germany.

Books like this can be very good, from a single point or story they can illuminate their wider world. Peasant Fires, however, is not one of the best of this type of book. Not necessarily because the event is obscure, the preaching only went on for a few weeks before the shepherd was arrested in a midnight raid by a gang of the local Bishop's knights, but more importantly either the source material isn't great or Wunderli is less effective at squeezing it than Bartlett (or perhaps even both).

Despite being about the same length as The Hanged Man Wunderli doesn't succeed in exploring his corner of late medieval Germany as well as Bartlett explores his patch of colonial Wales, while there isn't enough detail about peasant lives and conditions in Wunderli's book to tie it in as a forerunner or comparison to the German Peasants War of 1525.

Although not the best book of its type it is a readable story. It has popular religion, a touch of medieval Church politics and is set in the Mainz region of Germany in the late middle ages - so its something a bit different for English language readers.

[J.M. Hushour · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating exercise in trying to figure out how people a long time ago thought about their world, a challenging endeavor even now. Wunderli does his best with what he has in his attempt to reconstruct the mental/religious world of the late 15th century. He focuses on an event, the bizarre, Marian visions of a young shepherd drummer named Hans on 1476 in southern Germany, which led the drummer boy to preach sermons calling for an economic levelling and the mandatory poverty of clerics. Basically, why are they so rich and we are so poor? Let's beat it out of them. Should feel familiar to many.
Wunderli discusses the religious calendar, previous calls from reformist clergy for the church to stop being so goddamn greedy, indulgences, purgatory, and the special place in peasants' hearts for the Virgin Mary.
Great for fans of late medieval history, German history, and fairness in the dealings of human with human.

[Clare Corson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly, I got invested by the end, and I grew to appreciate Wunderli's writing style. So: not bad.

[Mir · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the one hand, this is unusually well-written, accessible, and entertaining for a historical study. On the other hand, the author fills in all the gaps in the record with educated guesses, but doesn't tell the reader until the end that he made up a lot of the material. And to know which parts were backed up by records you'd have to already know about this subject.

[๖ۣۜSαᴙαh ๖ۣۜMᴄĄłłiƨʈeʀ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I did end up tearing this book apart in my seminar class, I think overall, Wunderli set out to accomplish what he wanted to do: 1. Show the world that German history began well before 1939. 2. It made history interesting and "popular" for non-historians. I would recommend the book to anyone who is not in the field; however, if you are... you will probably have some of the misgivings me and my class did.

Below is my book review for class:
Richard Wunderli's book, Peasant Fires, is a microhistory that deals with the event of the great pilgrimage to Niklashausen, Germany in 1476 and the story of Hans Behem's leadership of the "revolt" (he is also known as "the Drummer"). Wunderli states immediately in his introduction that he wrote the book for people who are not professional historians in order to reach a broader audience; because of this decision, the style of the prose and the methods he uses to analyse the sources are not completely conventional in the historical sense. While some of his interpretations are subpar as far as depth and critical analyses are concerned, the delivery of the prose is effective and certainly creates an easier and more enjoyable reading experience, specifically if the reader has absolutely no historical background. Wunderli also states explicitly that the purpose for writing this book is to highlight German history that predates 1933 for, as he notes, the scholarly work that exists on German history in English is few and far between. The author points out that more work has been written in the field of scholarly history than in the genre of popular history on the country which causes knowledge of Germany before the twentieth century to be practically nonexistent for the public. Wunderli's approach to the pilgrimage to Niklashausen is engaging, lively and most certainly educational; however, a deeper analysis of sources pertaining to other areas of Germany at the time might have helped him flesh out his argument for a slightly revised interpretation.

One of the issues that Wunderli has (along with many medieval European scholars) is the lack of sources for the event he researched. With the sources available, Wunderli deduces that Hans Behem was a young man, most likely a shepherd who claims that the Virgin Mary visited him one night and bestowed upon him the job of chastising the people who were consumed with their vanities [2]. He follows the chronological story of the drummer but like other microhistories, he intersperses the event with topics that discuss the larger picture of medieval German life. Again, due to the lack of sources available, Wunderli must critically analyse the sources that he has access to, in order to arrive at a possible explanation for the reasons behind the event; while he does use this method, he embellishes quite often, sometimes completely fabricating whole passages that appear as primary sources which he then informs the reader are not afterwards. For example, Wunderli writes: "Hans addressed the crowd below, shouting his sermon slowly to be understood, and perhaps addressing the peasant-pilgrims as brother and sister" [93] which he then follows with a "speech" made by "the Drummer" and only after eight pages of text (formatted like a block quote) do we find out that "Hans Behem didn't preach that sermon. It only exists in my imagination" [101]. There is no denying that Wunderli's fictitious reimagining is well written and gripping; however, the presentation of it certainly left me as a reader somewhat disgruntled and I could not help but feel like I had been tricked into thinking the text was an actual primary source. The author's argument that the book was written for non-professional historians still does not justify the freedom to fabricate whole passages (despite his disclaimer at the end) for Peasant Fires is still a non-fiction book and should be written as such simply because to do so otherwise is misleading. I have read several other microhistories, none of which embellish in quite the way that Wunderli does. To me, this type of "creative writing" should be left for the genre of fiction simply because it adds a certain dis-credibility to a scholarly work.

Despite his sometimes unconventional use of prose, the author does put forth some insightful theories on how to better understand medieval German history by trying to interpret the way people rationally processed unexplainable events. Perhaps the most intriguing theory in Wunderli's book is the one of "the great historical forces, both material and mental, that shaped much of Germany on the eve of the Reformation" [5]. He elaborates further on this theory by stating that "Hans Behem lived in an enchanted world. So did his contemporaries, including his enemies among the clergy who were university educated. The natural world for them was bounded by a mere translucent, porous barrier that led to the more powerful realm of spirits, devils, angels, and saints" [8]. Without the modern knowledge of science, the most obvious explanation for these calamities for people fell into the divine realm because sickness and other unexplainable phenomena were usually seen as a judgment from God for some wrong done in the community: "The 'other' realm was 'real.' It was in the 'other' realm that the inexplicable became explicable" [8]. With this theory, Wunderli argues that this was a very plausible reason for how Hans Behem, a peasant, was able to lead thousands of people on the pilgrimage of Niklashausen--he had been ordained by the Virgin Mary, a very real "other" realm saint. Considering the lack of sources that have survived (or may have possibly never been written), the theory is sound and Wunderli does a good job of explaining how he arrived at his conclusion. This theory is not new and I had seen it used in other works as well; however, Wunderli's explanation and contextualization convinces the reader that it is a plausible explanation for the reasoning behind the pilgrimage to Niklashausen.

Although his rhetoric is convincing, there are some slight issues that become evident when critiquing the book such as Wunderli's tendency to make broad, sweeping statements about medieval German peasants. For example, he states that "Peasants the world over live and have always lived a precarious existence" [29]. While this statement is certainly true for some medieval peasantry, it remains inaccurate to make a broad generalization without contextualizing the country, time and even city of said peasants. There are certainly sources that support Wunderli's claim about the rough "general conditions of 'peasants,' especially late fifteenth-century German peasants" [30] but it becomes problematic to use these sources to blanket all peasants. Similarly, Wunderli applies the same method to describing the town of Niklashausen, stating that "There is nothing we know about medieval Niklashausen to distinguish it from any other village--except for Hans' preaching and pilgrimage during a few astonishing months in 1476" (later on, Wunderli will refer to the town as "Everytown") [8]. While I am not arguing that many medieval German towns may have been similar during the fifteenth century, they could not possibly have all been identical in the manner that Wunderli suggests and if "we know nothing" about it, then isn't that more of a reason not to generalize simply so that a nice and neat bow can be wrapped around an otherwise problematic fact that may complicate ones theory? Despite these sometimes broad, sweeping statements, Wunderli's analyses of peasant life and his psychological theories of "peasant thought" are at times very insightful and hold water.

Overall, Peasant Fires accomplishes what Wunderli outlines in his introduction: the reader is far more informed of medieval German history upon completion of the book and the prose the author uses draws the reader in, especially one with no historical background. For me, the book has certainly piqued my own interest on the subject of German history before the twentieth century and has been helpful in providing a good starting base for further research. Wunderli does state when he is using "unconvential" methodology throughout the book and he does not hesitate to inform the reader when he is embellishing (albeit somewhat underhandedly) when providing certain critical analyses; however, for an untrained eye especially, this can be dangerous in making the reader assume that he is absolutely correct. Personally, had it not been for my professor pointing out certain methodological errors, they would have slipped past my attention as well (some, not all). As an avid fan of fiction and entertaining, fluid and clear prose, I congratulate Wunderli's style which enhances the flavor of his book; however, I stand by my opinion that fiction and non-fiction are to remain separate and should not be conflated because by doing so, it only misleads the reader and more importantly, it can cause severe misinterpretations of an event that might otherwise have been thought of differently.

[Jacob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wunderli was one of my professors and truly an amazing mind. It shocks me to read some of these reviews. The whole point of the book is to suggest a relativistic non positivistic world in which our conceptions of space, time, and thought are personal and intermingled with others thoughts and primary documentation that is also biased toward whomever wrote it. "Truth" in the sense of "what happened" is not attainable as everyone's truth varies. The whole point of the book was to suggest enchanted realms and perceiving history as humanity versus a science. It is human in the sense that all of us develop ways of understanding events that our unique to us but also part of humanity. We speak, as historians, to each other about what we perceive but there isn't a strong way to defend how we perceive primary documentation versus another human. We also can't defend against one primary document contradicting another as, oddly enough, humans were relativistic back then as well and perceived things based on their experiences and mindset. He's asking what is history? Is it a positivist linear patterning relative to material constraints? Cultural ideals spontaneously forming within the mind? Religious ideology and conditioning? Chaos in motion? An aspiration toward the divine? A reflection on our meaninglessness and the absence of a God? It varies. There isn't one truth or some dipshitted linearity and patterning to human behavior or our interpretation of humanity's existence. It annoys me to see millennial readers so conditioned by behaviorist tripe that they complain the book wasn't linear and what he wrote can't be trusted. That's the point you idiot. None of history can be. History is as much stories and constructions of our own mind as mentionings of events in space and time. Maybe if you did something besides trying to get a good grade on a test and critically think you might recognize history is a social process in which people talk and argue and critically support such arguments with primary documentation that varies in interpretation and by author. It isnt right or wrong. There isn't a right or wrong in interpretation of humanity. Youre complaining about the point of the book and it's baffling.

[R.L.S.D · Rating 5 out of 5]

"As participants in our history, we cannot know it's outcome or how it will be explained in the future...We all dance and posture on the stage of our existence; we try to comprehend our lives in terms of old vocabularies, traditional stories (that is, historical narratives), and statistical patterns that usually reaffirm what we already know...yet we are, unable to fully comprehend the mysterious historical forces that drive our history into the dark unknown. Only future historians can explain - or misread us."

Good grief what a good book! The superiority of the micro history to all so called "popular histories" with their interminable 800 pages padded with dull and irrelevant anecdotes, cannot be overstated. Read if interested in any of the following:

Good stories
Medievalism
Enchantment
Peasant life
Church life
Class warfare
Theology
Why there was a Protestant reformation in the first place
Human beings
Good writing
Yourself

*Religious readers may be amused to note certain indications that Wunderli never imagined a religiously persuaded individual picking up and reading his work.

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a microhistory of events occurring around the southern German town of Niklashausen in 1476. An illiterate shepherd and street musician, claiming visions of the Virgin, inspired a mass pilgrimage to her shrine there, upsetting the social order and terrifying the ecclesiastical authorities of the region with their denunciations of the establishment.

Author Wunderli puts these poorly documented (and then entirely by the authorities) in context as regards the consciousness of people of the time, the economic consequences of the end of the great plagues, the invention of the printing press and the beginnings of the Reformation.

[Emmy :) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Could not comprehend anything of what was going on in this book. I don’t particularly remember much of it.

[Bryce Downey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am shocked how much I enjoyed this book. What a unique fusion of historical analysis and fictional narrative work. Peasant Fires takes a fascinating yet unknown historical event, an anti-institutional pilgrimage led by a peasant herder that was only documented by harshly biased catholic clergymen and reimagines the event in objective terms.

Wunderli’s analyses in chapter 4, particularly from pages 58-64, which include themes of peasant Christian explanations of natural phenomena AND the duality of pilgrimages ad both religious experiences and an escape of social bonds/oppression were my favourite. Legit had goosebumps.

I am so impressed by the creativity it took to make this book, how the fuck did you do this with such little information to work from? Bravo

[David Partikian · Rating 4 out of 5]

What happens when a poor, illiterate shepherd from what is now South-Central Germany has visions of the Virgin Mary and starts preaching radical ideas like land reform and common property to a galvanized populace? No spoiler alert required since the result is obvious: The Powers That Be are pissed off and the shepherd, Hans Behem, ends up like any other religious martyr. A stake and pyre are the usual props for such impertinent insolence. A true incident from 1476 during the late Middle Ages. The crushed movement was a precursor to massive peasant revolts across Europe in the next century.

One of the more readable accounts of a strange happening in the Late Middle Ages with both timeless religious and social relevance. The incident was made into an atrocious, unwatchable movie by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, who usually did better.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

An account of events from 1476 when the shepherd Hans Behem (or Böhm) allegedly had a vision from the Virgin Mary telling him to preach of a new social order where the corrupt nobles and clergy would be brought low, rents and tithes would be abolished, and the woods and waters of the earth were to be held in common. Peasants flocked to Niklashausen to hear the shepherd boy preach about this imminent leveling of society. Needless to say, the nobles and clergy were not amused and took a rather dim view of Behem's activities. The subsequent disorder was crushed, with Behem and a few ringleaders being put to death.

[Annas Jiwa Pratama]

"No, the Drummer, the bishop, and the historian, all acted out their lives in an illusory, enchanted world in which they saw only darkly the true, divine mainsprings of history."

Wunderli offers two distinct phases of worldviews: the 'normal' time of class structures and authorities, and the 'enchanted' time, when miracles are at work and the divine manifests. These are the ways in which people, within their 'present' context come to navigate and attempt to understand their conditions, in which their innate cause and effects are so complex and opaque, that its truth may only be understood later as history. The events surrounding the Niklashausen pilgrimage recounts one such 'enchanted' time.

Enchanted time is marked with (religious) fervor, and the breaking apart of normal societal structures, as cause and effect becomes entangled with the religious mythmaking relevant to the times. In this case, the Niklashausen pilgrimages were initiated by Hans the drummer, who, after ostensibly receiving visions from Mary herself, lit a fire in his fellow peasants. His message was clear: the suffering of the peasants was undoubtedly at the hand of the clergy, and for this injustice they are to be killed. A divine revolution was to be had, and the pilgrimage is the bridge between normalcy and that enchanted time.

"..Hans and his peasant-pilgrims reacted to their changing material conditions (over which they had no control or understanding) by making an appeal to supernatural forces to find justice for their discontent and meaning for their misery; they expressed their discontent, anger, and resentment in their own peculiar language of guilt, longing for salvation (material and spiritual), and a desire for peasant, village justice..."

It's sort of a universal notion, occurring across cultures and time, that the poor and downtrodden seek supernatural liberation. However, while the pilgrimage itself is oriented around Hans and his revolutionary preaching, it is most interesting that navigating enchanted time is crucial for those at the top as well. As most revolutions go, it didn't end well for the peasants, and Hans was, of course, put to death. Afterwards, the church and nobilities scrambled to discredit Hans theologically. The church prioritized revoking his miracles, ridiculing his accounts in the following decades, and so on. At the end of enchanted time, normalcy must resume, and with that, the realignment of power and the divine.

"The authorities and the rebel-pilgrims shared the same assumptions about the constant and immediate influence on the earth of God and His saints. They disagreed only on how supernatural beings influence humans: whether through lawful authorities or through chosen laypersons."

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and view it as a wonderful introductory text showing medieval history through the lens of its peasantry and the context of the tension between them, the clergy and the nobility. I see many readers cast negative reviews over some fictionalization that was put into this book. As someone who is not using this book as reference or factual text, I thought it was a good choice by Wunderli, especially given that records on the pilgrimage was unclear and biased. At the very least, interpretations and judgment given by the author are explicitly marked.

Tangents
A couple of crucial factoids that were interesting for me:
• TIL European peasants hated Lent: "For many people in medieval Europe, particularly peasants, poverty was the normal condition of their everyday existence. Lent only justified and sanctified their misery."

• TIL Church reforms were generally a non factor in peasant revolts. (The bishop relevant in the story was more or less a reformer, and also, Martin Luther did not sympathize with the lower class all that much).

[valerio · Rating 4 out of 5]

From chapter 2: "At festival, the fool reigns, with his donkey’s ears, cockscomb, and bells. And out of the laughing, jeering mouth of the fool comes wisdom and common sense that mocks the foolishness of the workaday world. The mock ceremonies of the mass or the rule of the boy bishop or the foolish Lord of Misrule—all made fun of the most terrifying exercises of official power. Laughter. Wild, mocking, hooting, guffawing, finger-pointing laughter eased the fears of the powerless who had to face solemn and powerful people during normal, everyday time. In Carnival they had their chance to reduce powerful, privileged people to their own lowly level—defecators all. Their weapon was humor that was also fantasy. Wherever there was authority—and, therefore, solemnity and pomposity—there was Carnival laughter. Even hell in popular, festival representations was by the late fifteenth century increasingly conceived in folk imagination as populated by popes, kings, and other temporal and spiritual authorities. Folk fantasy condemned powerful authorities to hell, just as in their sermons preachers regularly condemned the powerless to hell. During this brief pulsation of timeless time, those who suffered found their liberty, their voice, and their fantasy revenge. [...] Here, at the threshold of the liminal state, people throughout medieval Europe dressed in masquerade. They became what they were not. The real, grim, everyday world was replaced by its opposite. The common theme of Carnival time was the world turned upside down, inside out. For this was what happened to time itself; it had Carnival become its opposite, it had stopped. So it was with people. They became something other than what they were. In some cases the inside-out symbolism was obvious: some people wore their clothes backward and rode their animals facing the tail. But laymen also dressed as clerics or donkeys or bears or dukes or kings or popes, and acted out their new identities in public with mocking solemnity. All expectations of the natural world were reversed. People brayed like asses, and asses talked like men—and the similarity between asses and men became hilariously apparent.

So, folk festivals such as Carnival were occasions of brief, ritualized liberation of common people from the hierarchy of powerful people who normally dominated them in their grim daily lives. For brief, carefully specified periods, common folk were allowed into an enchanted world of freedom, equality, and abundance. The pulsations of liminal time were marked by satire, parody, and laughter at everything that was sacred. By mocking the sacred, people came closer to it through their intimate familiarity with sacred objects and sacred rituals. Therefore, when they returned to normal time, they again held sacred objects in awe. During festival, all people were brought down to the same level: popes, emperors, kings, bishops, all were reduced to their essential bodily functions—eating and defecating. All, in the end, were hardly different from asses. During festival, the material needs of the body reigned supreme. Eat, drink, shit. Free yourself at last from the drab fare of everyday hunger and misery."

[Ky · Rating 4 out of 5]

7/10

An interesting look at a very minor event in history that is nevertheless quite interesting. The book is a mixture of things, both a recounting of the titular peasant revolt led by the Drummer of Niklashausen, as well as fictional scenes to fill in gaps within the history made from an educated position, and a general study of high Medieval/early Renaissance religion and societal structure within Germany and the HRE. Not knowing much about the historical event itself I had expected a grander narrative - but frankly the actual revolt takes up very few of the pages within the book, the author focusing more on the worldview and possible reasons for the revolt. There are some interesting ideas put forward here and even some comparisons and parallels to modern-day classist struggles and ways the upper-class keep the lower-class in line with propaganda and religious manipulation.

Where the book falls short in my opinion is an awful lot of repetition as well as a need to clarify basic knowledge I feel most people reading the book would have. It almost feels as if the book is made to be read hundreds of years from now in the event that someone reading it is completely unknowledgable about the Middle Ages and Catholicism, though maybe I just feel that way since I am a nerd about this period. The repetition absolutely is a problem though, with the same point being phrased the exact same way and sometimes even on the same page with nothing new added to it. The fictional speeches and scenes are very well written however, and I honestly think Wunderli should pen some historical fiction, he is quite talented at imagery and rousing speeches.

All in all I would recommend it as a general overview of the period and an interesting parallel to modern politics and lower-class struggles.

[Brumaire Bodbyl-Mast · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was assigned this for class, and was pleasantly surprised to find a simultaneously heavily historiographical work but which is meant for more casual readers. The main focus of the work is theoretically on Hans Behem of Niklashausen in 1476, but much more of the chapters are often dedicated to discussing the environment of the time, from the Franciscan Cult of poverty, pre-Reformation reformers, and Carnival, all while using Hans’ rebellion as a sort of central framing device. This is in part because primary sources on the drummer of Niklashausen are incredibly limited, but it is also meant for readers unfamiliar with Late Medieval/Early Modern Europe. Wunderli can often be overly speculative and often resorts to fabrications (which he owns up to- they are often pieced together from limited sources). His theorization of enchanted time sort of harkens back to Foucaultian understandings of the hour-wage system as oppressive (stretching further back to Marx!) and speaks to other cultures with similar concepts of a sort of ‘liminal’ sense of time.

[Kimathi Muiruri · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this work of microhistory, Richard Wunderli brings to life an awe-inspiring tale of religious rebellion, mass migration, and manifest societal discontent in early modern Germany. Centred around reconstructing the story of the massive peasant pilgrimage in spring 1476 to the tiny Bavarian village of Niklashausen, following the call of Hans Behem – a young Drummer who claims to have spoken to the Virgin Mary – the text anchors within this seemingly anomalous tale several patterns which illuminate very regular circumstances for the masses of feudal Germany. What Peasant Fires presents is the gift of personal concern and complex consideration, given to millions of long gone souls of the German peasantry, who are frequently voiceless in their own history.

[Sean]

So, the author struggles with a lack of source material, which he's forthright about, and that makes clarity of theoretical approach(es) all the more important, and the book is light on theory, and uncertain where it wants to go. It dabbles in economics after starting off with theology, moved into histories of mass groups, and ends in the history of religion, with smatterings of historical biography. But it never commits, which makes for a short but not overly satisfying read.

The book does make me want to read about subsequent peasant revolts in Germany--any suggestions for a non-specialist, anyone?

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting to anyone who is a church history wonk. As noted by the author: you'd sometimes think there was no recorded medieval German history, or any German history at all, before World War I...
This is the well-told tale of a young peasant preacher who caused a revolt against the Catholic Church and the fiefdom, and found himself at odds with those powers who could determine if he lived or died.
As promised by the introduction, I really enjoyed the glimpse into this time and place, and felt a bit like the first time I read a good translation of Chaucer: things were just so different than I imagined them then. And yet just as bad as I imagined them too.

[Zach McSwain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Richard M. Wunderli offers an intimate glance into the distant realm of late 15th century Germany in Peasant Fires. The narrative of the Drummer of Niklashausen, Hans Behem, is gripping and expertly contextualized. While Wunderli does take some interpretive liberties and occasionally pulls the collective chain of his audience, his research and neutrality to the plausibility of the history at hand are respectable. The book's relevancy to late-medieval / early modern European pop culture is undeniable and it is a highly recommended read for those interested in the topic.

[Kyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting write up of a very specific religious (and mostly non-violent) peasent uprising in 15th century Central-Southern Germany. Does a great job being academic but not overly so, providing good laymen introductions ofr the political state of the time (lots of tiny prince-bishop fiefdoms), the lives and living conditions of peasents (squalor and squalor) and what their concept of time was (killing time toiling in the field until the next field) and then divi9ng into why this one sheep herder seemd to draw crowds of 20 thousand or more. Interesting, if not earth shattering stuff!

[Brittany LeMoine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this for a history class I’m taking this winter. And it was a thoroughly good read. I learned stuff, and I didn’t get bored while plowing through in a day (it’s a short semester you know). I would recommend to anyone interested in history. Now I need to prepare the writing assignment, but luckily this is such a good book to be reading for a class.

[Edward Sanchez · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an academic book but it was surprisingly readable. The author does a great job of bringing the reader in at the beginning of the story. I liked how at the end the author points out that most of the historical sources end at the execution of Hans as most in the clergy simply wanted to forget this whole incident happened.

[Ashley Vu · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book should be 2.5 star because the way a single idea is interpreted in a long way and since the book is really old, the context is a little too sophisticated to understand. Read for European medieval class and the story is not that bad, more fictional than rational. Probably not my niche.

[Orla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this book for school was worth it cause I can count it on my read list. Jk (mostly—i do love to add to the list) no actually, this book was really fantastic! A funny, interesting, and at times even quite emotional read, that had me really invested. Peasant slay (literally—spoiler alert)

[Grace Pfaffle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was incredibly interesting. It was the second microhistory I’ve ever read and it was quite enjoyable. For how short it is, it felt entirely fleshed out without ever feeling rushed. The writing style was also good fun. I definitely recommend reading it.

[Tomi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book! Interesting story of a small peasant uprising against church and secular authorities in 1476. It's amazing how history repeats itself. I love history!

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

For school

[Ghina · Rating 4 out of 5]

The writer's style and informal made the historical events and information much easier to grasp. It was a very enjoyable and informative book to read.

[Sanjeev · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pain. I never finished It. BS ed my essay on it. And my teacher ended up never grading the summer reading essays.