Skip to main content

Primary sourceDocument1525

The Twelve Articles

1525

The 1525 peasants' demands from the German Peasants' War, which used the language of Luther's reform to argue for freedom and fair treatment.

These peasant demands show how Luther's reforming ideas were adopted by commoners for their own social and economic struggles.

Ask Martin Luther about this sourceView the original(opens in new tab)
Title page of a 1525 German woodcut leaflet. Black-letter heading reads 'Handlung, Artickel und Instruction, so fürgenommen worden sein von allen Rotten und hauffen der Bauren' with 'M.D.XXV'. Below is a woodcut of armed men with pikes and a banner, and a bearded man in armor and a helmet is held between others.
Twelve Articles, peasants' demands of the German Peasants' War, 1525.

About this source

What it is

The Twelve Articles were a list of demands drawn up by peasant representatives who met in Memmingen in March 1525, during the German Peasants' War. They called for the right to choose and dismiss local preachers, fairer rents and taxes, access to forests and hunting, and an end to serfdom, all argued using biblical language. They were printed widely and spread quickly across Germany.

Why it matters

The peasants used the reforming language that Martin Luther had made popular, arguing that scripture itself justified their demands for freedom and fair treatment. This shows how Luther's ideas escaped his control and were used for purposes he had not intended, and it helps explain the tension between religious reform and social upheaval in the 1520s.

Look closer

  • Which articles use religious language to justify political or economic demands?
  • Why might ordinary peasants have found Luther's teachings useful for their own cause?
  • What does the final article, offering to withdraw any demand shown to be against scripture, reveal about the authors' goals?

This document is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Martin Luther on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

More Martin Luther sources

Meet the AI Martin Luther →
Printed 1517 broadsheet page of Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses, in black letter type with red paragraph marks and a title header at top. Dense two-column Latin text, numbered theses, and a date near the bottom.Document

Primary source

Ninety-five Theses

Martin Luther · 1517

Black and white engraving of an interior room with coffered ceiling and four framed portraits on the wall. A man in dark robes and cap plays a lute at a table while a young boy with a tankard listens. On the right, a woman and a child sit by a window and an older man reads. Two children sit on the floor reading a book, and a dog lies near the left chair.Painting

Secondary source

Domestic Life of Martin Luther at Wittenberg

Pierre-Antoine Labouchère (design); J. D. Nargeot (engraving) · 1800-1899

Woodcut portrait of Martin Luther with a dove above his head in a radiating halo, wearing a monastic robe, hands resting on a closed book. Above the image is the title Martinus Luther; below are verses and a coat of arms seal.Painting

Primary source

Martinus Luther Woodcut Portrait

Unbekannt (Formschneider)

Scan of a printed page with a black-and-white woodcut portrait of a man with short curly hair in a monastic-style robe with a high collar, holding a book with a decorated cover. Architectural columns frame him, and the date 1520 is printed at upper right.Painting

Primary source

Woodcut Portrait of Luther in Sermon Pamphlet

1523

An open, worn leather-bound book lying on a dark background. The right page shows a woodcut title page reading 'Biblia, das ist: die gantze Heilige Schrifft Deudsch, Mart. Luth. Wittemberg' with the date MDXXXIIII. The left page has a small woodcut and handwritten notes.Book

Secondary source

Luther Bible

Martin Luther · 1534

Ready when you are

Start chatting with Martin Luther now.

20 messages free · No credit card · Available in 50+ languages.

Trial Humy for freeGet a quote for institutions