Thomas Müntzer

Painting of Thomas Müntzer 

         Thomas Müntzer was born in 1489. He was a German theologist and pastor during the early Reformation-era. Like others during this time Müntzer took interest in the confrontation and criticism of the church by Martin Luther and jumped on the bandwagon. However, Martin Luthers' views and ideas did not go far enough for Müntzer. He rebelled Luther and his idea of infant baptism (as well as other things,  Müntzer views drew a very fine line between Luthers.) In 1521 Thomas Müntzer broke away from this and become one of the founders of the
 Anabaptist movement. The term Anabaptist come from the Greek term which means "one who baptizes over again". It was given this name because Anabaptist require people to make their own confessions of faith, which would go against any form of infant baptism. Although Thomas Müntzer was opposed to infant baptism much doubt  surfaces if he himself was ever "re-baptized" in his adult life.
          After fleeing Allstedt where he was a preacher, Thomas Müntzer then become apart of the uprising movement of the German Peasants' War. He led a group of about 8000 peasants at the battle of Frankenhauser in 1525. There Müntzer was utterly defeated, captured  imprisoned and then tortured for days. He then recanted and accepted the Roman Catholic mass before being beheaded on May 27 1525.