Peasant Fires: The Drummer of Niklashausen

Germans celebrated the Feast of St. Walburga, or Walpurgisnacht, following Easter. They believed this saint offered protection from famine and plague, and the celebration of her feast coincided with May Day, the pre-Christian festival celebrating the transition from spring to summer. Once more, the peasantry celebrated with bonfires, but rather than ensuring fertility as they had during Carnival, these fires offered protection from witchcraft. Since they believed witches could cause crops to fail (and thus famine), Walburga’s feast was both “joyful” and “portentous with witches and the threat of a summer season of pestilence and hunger” (47).

Soon after Walpurgisnacht, Behem’s pilgrims flooded into Niklashausen, where they believed he performed divine miracles. Sources describe the peasant-pilgrims traveling in groups both small and large, some carrying banners, and coming from throughout Germany. Years later, Georg Widman noted that elites were fearful because these lesser folk sought no one’s permission to go, leaving behind their work obligations to their lords and acting outside of the Church’s authority. Elite angst was high because of previous peasant uprisings. The Count of Wertheim corresponded with the Archbishop of Mainz to make him aware of the events at Niklashausen and request that the Church examine the miracle claims.