Upper Austrian Peasants War, 1594-1597



In German, Upper Austria is referred to as Oberösterreich. Following a series of defeats Emperor Maximilian suffered at the hands of the Turks, peasants in Upper Austria began to rebel. They resented suppression by regional nobles (excessive demands for corvee labour; also, the introduction of Roman Law had deprived the peasants of traditional rights, among others regarding the forests) and denied freedom of religion (the majority of the peasants was protestant). On November 13th 1595, a peasant force 4,000 men strong defeated Imperial troops 400 men strong at Kledt, near Neumarkt im Hausruck; 142 soldiers fell. The peasant revolt, which in 1596 extended into Lower Austria, was terminated by agreement in fall 1597; two rebel leaders were executed, but a number of rights restored to the peasants.




EXTERNAL
FILES 		Geschichte 1493-1740, from Land Oberösterreich, in German
Die Geschichte von Neumarkt, from Neumarkter Turnverein, in German
Zeittafeln Oberösterreich, from Archiv Verlag, in German
Johann Rainer, Die Glaubensspaltung, from Religionen.at, in German
Historisches über St. Peter in der Au, from St. Peter in der Au, in German
Peasant Insurrection in Austria, from W. Ward, The Empire under Rudolf II., posted by MATEO
DOCUMENTS
REFERENCE Walter Kleindel, Österreich, Daten zur Geschichte und Kultur, Wien : Ueberreuter 1978



This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted on February 25th 2004, last revised on November 17th 2004

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