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21.	Forgery in Favor of Territorial Sovereignty – Privilegium Maius (1358/59) This notorious Austrian forgery dates from the fourteenth century, when the practical devolution of royal authority to the princes was in full swing. Commissioned by Duke Rudolf IV of Austria, it....
22.	Friedrich Weigandt’s Draft of an Imperial Reformation (May 18, 1525) Drafted in May 1525, this imperial reform program was based on an anonymous tract, The Needs of the German Nation [Teutscher Nation notturfft] (1523). Like Wendel Hipler’s agenda, it....
23.	From Alpine Goatherd to Teacher of Greek – Thomas Platter (1499-1582) Thomas Platter’s (1499-1582) account of his life is one of the most famous autobiographical documents....
24.	From Reformer to Revolutionary – Thomas Müntzer, Sermon to the Princes (July 13, 1524) Thomas Müntzer (c. 1489-1525) was a priest and early ally of Martin Luther. After Münzter began pushing a more radical agenda, however, the two had a falling out. In 1521, Münzter was expelled from....
25.	Grievances and Demands – Thauer and Rettenberg (Tyrol) (May 15, 1525) The following document contains extracts from a petition submitted by Tyrolean subjects to their prince, Archduke Ferdinand (1503-64), the younger brother of Emperor Charles V and the ruler of the....
26.	Grievances and Demands – The Twelve Articles of the Swabian Peasants (February 27-March 1, 1525) The document reproduced below was the archetype for the numerous grievance lists drawn up during the German Peasants’ War. The journeyman furrier and lay preacher Sebastian Lotzer drafted these articles....
27.	Guild Ordinance for the Slipper-makers of Lüneburg (February 8, 1525) This ordinance for the slipper-makers of Lüneburg, which lay in the duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg, represents the midpoint on the spectrum between local autonomy and princely rule. It regulates relations....
28.	Iconoclasm – Andreas Bodenstein von Karlstadt Argues against Images (1522) The Franconian Andreas Bodenstein von Karlstadt (1486-1541) was the chancellor of the University of Wittenberg, where Martin Luther was a professor....
29.	Imperial Reform (1495) The first phase of the Imperial Reform under Maximilian I began with the legislation enacted on....
30.	Life between the Confessions – Nicodemism at Augsburg (1598) In sixteenth-century usage, the term Nicodemism referred to persons who overtly conformed to the official religion but privately practiced another (proscribed) religion or none. Sometimes it also....
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