The Bundschuh movement (German: ''Bundschuh-Bewegung'') refers to a series of localized
peasant
A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasa ...
rebellions in southwestern
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...
from 1493 to 1517. They were one of the causes of the
German Peasants' War
The German Peasants' War, Great Peasants' War or Great Peasants' Revolt (german: Deutscher Bauernkrieg) was a widespread popular revolt in some German-speaking areas in Central Europe from 1524 to 1525. It failed because of intense oppositi ...
(1524–1526). The Bundschuh movement was not a movement in the proper sense, but a number of loosely linked local conspiracies and planned uprisings. It was so called because of the peasant shoe (''Bundschuh'') the peasants displayed on their flag. Under this flag, peasants and city dwellers had defeated the troops of the French
count of Armagnac
The following is a list of rulers of the county of Armagnac:
House of Armagnac
*William Count of Fézensac and Armagnac ?– 960
* Bernard the Suspicious, First count privative of Armagnac 960– ?
* Gerald I Trancaléon ? –1020
* Bernard ...
along the upper Rhine in 1439, 1443, and 1444.
Individual uprisings – seeking relief from oppressive taxes, arbitrary justice systems, high debts, costly ecclesiastic privileges,
serf
Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism, and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery, which developed ...
dom, prohibitions on hunting and fishing, and the like – occurred in 1476 in Niklashausen (
Tauber
The Tauber () is a river in Franconia (Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria), Germany. It is a left tributary of the Main and is in length. The name derives from the Celtic word for water (compare: Dover).
It flows through Rothenburg ob der Tauber ...
valley), 1493 in Schlettstadt (now
Sélestat
Sélestat (; Alsatian: ''Schlettstàdt''; German: ''Schlettstadt'') is a commune in the Grand Est region of France. An administrative division (sous-préfecture) of the Bas-Rhin department, the town lies on the Ill river, from the Rhine and t ...
)/
Alsace
Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...
(for the first time under the Bundschuh banner), 1502 in
Bruchsal
Bruchsal (; orig. Bruohselle, Bruaselle, historically known in English as Bruxhall; South Franconian: ''Brusel'') is a city at the western edge of the Kraichgau, approximately 20 km northeast of Karlsruhe in the state of Baden-Württemberg, ...
and Untergrombach, 1513 in Lehen (
Breisgau
The Breisgau () is an area in southwest Germany between the Rhine River and the foothills of the Black Forest. Part of the state of Baden-Württemberg, it centers on the city of Freiburg im Breisgau. The district of Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald, ...
. Each of these was defeated very quickly, and the leaders, such as Joß Fritz, were generally executed.
''Bundschuh''
As a sign displayed on their flag the peasants chose the ''Bundschuh'' (= tied shoe), a leather shoe typical of peasants. It was to symbolise the joint rising and advance of the peasants against their lords. It also contrasted the boots worn by
knights
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the ...
* Thomas Adam: ''Joß Fritz – das verborgene Feuer der Revolution. Bundschuhbewegung und Bauernkrieg am Oberrhein im frühen 16. Jahrhundert''. Verlag Regionalkultur, Ubstadt-Weiher 2002, (''Veröffentlichungen der Historischen Kommission der Stadt Bruchsal''. Band 20)
* Friedrich Engels: ''Der deutsche Bauernkrieg''. 15. Auflage. Dietz, Berlin 1987,
* Albert Rosenkranz: ''Der Bundschuh. Die Erhebungen des südwestdeutschen Bauernstandes in den Jahren 1493–1517''. Winter, Heidelberg 1927 (''Schriften des wissenschaftlichen Instituts der Elsaß-Lothringer im Reich'')
*