Editing Reformation (section)

=== Saxon radicals and rebellious knights ===

{{Further|Radical Reformation|Knights' War}}

Andreas Karlstadt accelerated the implementation of Reformation in Wittenberg. On Christmas Day 1521, he administered the Eucharist in common garment; the next day he announced his engagement to a fifteen-year-old noble girl Anna von Mochau.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Zorzin |first=Alejandro |date=2020-09-01 |title=A Portrait of Andreas Bodenstein von Karlstadt by Lucas Cranach the Elder |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14622459.2020.1807762 |journal=Reformation & Renaissance Review |volume=22 |issue=3 |pages=238–252 |doi=10.1080/14622459.2020.1807762 |issn=1462-2459}}</ref> He proclaimed that images were examples of "devilish deceit" which led to the mass destruction of religious art. Enthusiasts began swarming to Wittenberg. The [[Zwickau prophets]], who had been incited by the radical preacher [[Thomas Müntzer]] (d. 1525), claimed that they had received revelations from God.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2003|pp=136–138}}{{sfn|Kaufmann|2023|pp=93–95}} They rejected transubstantiation and attacked infant baptism. Luther defended art as a proof of the beauty of the [[Genesis creation narrative|Creation]], maintained that Christ's Body and Blood were [[Sacramental union|physically present]] in the Eucharist,{{refn|group=note|Luther compared the physical presence of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist to the heating of a piece of iron that changes its physical features.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2003|pp=139–140}}}} and regarded infant baptism as a sign of membership in the Christian community.{{refn|group=note|Luther likened infant baptism to the [[Brit milah|circumcision of]] Jewish male infants [[Covenant of the pieces|prescribed]] in the [[Book of Genesis]]. His radical opponents would emphasize that the command of circumcision could not justify the baptism of infant girls.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2003|p=145}}}} To put an end to the anarchy, Frederick the Wise released Luther in March 1522. Luther achieved the Zwickau prophets' removal from Wittenberg, calling them fanatics.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2003|pp=138–140}} Karlstadt voluntarily left Wittenberg for [[Orlamünde]] where the local congregation elected him its minister. Luther visited most parishes in the region to prevent radical reforms, but he was often received by verbal or physical abuses. When he wanted to dismiss Karlstadt, the parishioners referred to his own words about the congregations' right to freely elect their ministers, and Karlstadt called him a "perverter of the Scriptures". Karlstadt was expelled from Electoral Saxony without a trial on Luther's initiative.{{sfn|Lindberg|2021|pp=131–134}}

Luther condemned violence but some of his followers took up arms. [[Franz von Sickingen]] (d. 1523), an [[imperial knight]] from the Rhineland, formed an alliance with his peers against [[Richard von Greiffenklau zu Vollrads|Richard von Greiffenklau]], [[Electorate of Trier|Archbishop-elector of Trier]] ({{reign|1511|1531}}), allegedly to lead the Archbishop's subjects "to evangelical, light laws and Christian freedom".{{sfn|Kaufmann|2023|p=93}} Sickingen had demanded the restitution of monastic property to the grantors' descendants, stating that the [[secularisation (church property)|secularisation of church property]] would also improve the poor peasants' situation.{{sfn|Stayer|2006|p=128}} Sickingen and his associates [[Knights' War|attacked the archbishopric]] but failed at the siege of Trier. Sickingen was mortally wounded while defending his [[Nanstein Castle]] against the Archbishop's troops.{{sfn|Kaufmann|2023|p=93}} Luther denounced Sickingen's violent acts.{{sfn|Stayer|2006|p=129}} According to his "[[Two kingdoms doctrine|theory of two kingdoms]]", true Christians had to submit themselves to princely authority.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2003|p=152}}