page_title: Battle of Frankenhausen
section_title: Initial skirmishes
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Frankenhausen / Initial skirmishes
caption_attribution_description: English: Barren chalk gully (Wuestes Kalktal ) probable site of the skirmish on the 14th May 1525 between the Princes scouting party and rebel contingents
context_page_description: The Battle of Frankenhausen was fought on 14 and 15 May 1525. It was an important battle in the German Peasants' War and the final act of the war in Thuringia: joint troops of Landgrave Philip I of Hesse and Duke George of Saxony defeated the peasants under their spiritual leader Thomas Müntzer near Frankenhausen in the County of Schwarzburg.
context_section_description: The princes had great difficulties in recruiting Landsknecht mercenaries. Generally they would have been better equipped than the insurgents, although morale and discipline were always dependent on the size of the war chest. The peasants were less well-armed, with a mix of improvised weapons from farming tools and polearms, breastplates, and handguns which many would have had by dint of their service in local militia bands (Landwehr). Indeed, on May 14 they successfully repulsed a scouting party and its reinforcements but remained in position on the outskirts of the town having taken the decision not to pursue the Princes' "forlorn hope". The main column of Hessian and Brunswick troops were still in the process of arriving after a night's march and needed to rest up. Late that day a decision was taken  by the rebels to withdraw into a wagon fort on the hill overlooking the town. It is unclear who initiated a truce to enable some negotiation. This gave the princes time to meet up with George of Saxony's army approaching from the East and to encircle the wagon fort rather than lay siege on the town.
caption: Barren chalk gully (Wuestes Kalktal) probable site of the skirmish on the 14th May between the princes' scouting party and rebel contingents
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