The Peasants are Becoming Aware:
Reflections on the Quincentenary of the Great War of 1525 in the Holy Roman Empire
Professor Beat Kümin,
Professor of Early Modern History, University of Warwick
Date: 18th of November 2026
Time: 20:00
Venue: Zoom
Following a surge of fresh interest in 2025, this talk looks back at the greatest popular rising in pre-modern Europe and how historians have interpreted it. Key aspects include the development of communal organization, long tradition of peasant unrest, interplay of religious and secular motives during the Reformation as well as influences of modern ideologies. In 1525, radical demands pushed large parts of the Holy Roman Empire to the brink. Had they been realized, society would have looked very different.
About the speaker:
Beat Kümin is Professor of Early Modern European History at the University of Warwick. His research interests focus on political agency, religious life and social memory in local communities, particularly in England and German-speaking Europe. Recent publications include Imperial Villages: Cultures of Political Freedom in the German Lands c.1300 1800 (Leiden, 2019) and "The Great German Peasants' War", in: History Today 75 (3/2025), 28-39.
Image attribution - "Wilhelm Volkhart Szene aus dem Bauernkrieg Weinsberg" is public domain.
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