What did Luther write about the Peasants' War of 1525?

In 1524–1525, German peasants revolted partly inspired by Luther’s language of Christian freedom. Luther’s response — published while the revolt was still ongoing — was one of the most extreme documents he ever wrote.

The Text

Against the Robbing and Murdering Hordes of Peasants (1525) · LW 46:50
“Therefore let everyone who can, smite, slay, and stab, secretly or openly, remembering that nothing can be more poisonous, hurtful, or devilish than a rebel. It is just as when one must kill a mad dog.”

LW 46:54
“A prince can win heaven with bloodshed better than other men with prayer.”

The Context and Mitigation

Luther had earlier written Admonition to Peace (1525) urging negotiation with the peasants. When they revolted anyway, he wrote the harsh book. His defenders argue: the revolt was genuinely violent, Luther was terrified that Thomas Müntzer’s apocalyptic use of Scripture would result in endless revolution, and Luther’s later Open Letter on the Harsh Book acknowledged the outcome was catastrophic.

These mitigations are real. But the text is what it is — and it was quoted by mercenary soldiers while they killed. An estimated 100,000 people died in the suppression.

The Deeper Point

Luther had used the language of Christian freedom to challenge ecclesiastical authority. He then used the language of civil order to suppress those who applied the same logic to secular authority. He invited the secular princes to enforce his religious programme against the Anabaptists — using the same coercive state power he had attacked when Rome used it against him. The inconsistency was noted immediately by his contemporaries.