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6 worse rather than better. They had been scourged with whips before, now they were scourged with scorpions. The result was that the peasantry were seething with dissatisfaction, ready for any desperate revolt at the first promise of betterment of their fortunes, only too willing to lend eager ears to any who would prophesy that the good time coming was almost here. And with this state of things the first throes of the Reformation and the circulation of Luther's brave early demands for freedom exactly coincided. It is no marvel that the peasants expected more than was then possible, that they were misguided by fanatics into a premature uprising. Nor is it any wonder that some of the Anabaptists were drawn into this movement. Many of them were from this peasant class, knew fully their wrongs, sympathised with their hopes and aspirations, and, it must be added, became partakers of their errors and excesses.

A scapegoat for these errors must be found. The Roman Catholic writers of the period were inclined to lay all the blame on Luther and his writings. This was unfair, but Luther and his followers became greatly alarmed lest the princes of Germany