Documents relating to the Mallerbach affair.
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Historical background
The Mallerbach affair started as a rather minor matter involving the destruction of a “field chapel” at Mallerbach, just outside Allstedt. But the matter blew up into something of a cause célèbre, resulting ultimately in Müntzer’s departure from Allstedt in late August 1524.At the end of March 1524, the tiny chapel at Mallerbach was ransacked and set on fire by persons unknown. The chapel belonged to the nunnery at Naundorf, just down the road. The abbess of Naundorf was, understandably, not pleased with the attack on her property and complained to the ruling princes of Saxony, Friedrich and Johann. Johann – mostly – then demanded that Hans Zeiss, who was the steward of Allstedt Castle, along with the mayor and town-council of Allstedt, seek out and arrest the perpetrators. This never happened, since Zeiss and the Allstedt officials used a whole variety of delaying tactics and excuses in order to do nothing at all. This dragged on into June. The only event of any importance was the arrest, by Zeiss, of a town-councillor named Ciliax Knauth who, after strong protests by the townspeople and the threat of a minor uprising, was set free again.
The entire story is both comic and fascinating, providing a real insight into the mechanics of the Reformation at ground level. More can be read about it in my book The Dreadful History and Judgement of God...
Places and people mentioned
Individual places mentioned in the documents below are given more precise locations in the footnotes. Several places are mentioned frequently. Their locations are as follows:• Allstedt - about 70 kms west of Leipzig (→Google Maps)
• Naundorf – a nunnery about 3 kms north-east of Allstedt
• Mallerbach – field-chapel about 2 kms south of Allstedt
• Schmon - a village about 13 kms east-south-east of Allstedt
The main people involved are:
• Hans Zeiss - the steward/bailiff (Schosser) of Allstedt Castle, employed by Prince Friedrich of Saxony to collect taxes and generally maintain order in the town
• Friedrich of Saxony - Electoral Prince, who resided in Lochau (about 64 kms north-east of Leipzig) (→Google Maps)
• His brother, Duke Johann who resided at Weimar (→Google Maps)
• Hans Reichart - the mayor of Allstedt
• Sophie von Schaffstedt, the abbess of the Naundorf nunnery
On the translations
All of the documents contained in the papers are taken from the volume of letters in the best German edition of Müntzer’s works. This is Volume II of Thomas Müntzer, Kritische Gesamtausgabe, Leipzig 2010, edited by Siegfried Bräuer and Manfred Kobuch. The original 16th century German texts were translated into modern German by Lucas Wölbing; his versions were then translated into English by Andy Drummond.Open the Mallerbach Papers...