page_title: Battle of Frankenhausen
section_title: Battle
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Frankenhausen / Battle
caption_attribution_description: English: A 16th century falconet in the Bauernkriegsmuseum, Muhlhausen
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: It is suggested that the truce was broken around midday when it had become clear that Müntzer was not going to be delivered up to the Princes. Starting with an artillery barrage followed by waves of horse and footsoldiers, the princes caught the peasants off guard and they fled in panic into the town, followed and continuously attacked by the mercenaries. Most of the insurgents were slain in what turned out to be a massacre. Casualty figures are unreliable but peasant losses have been estimated at more than 7,000 while the Landsknecht casualties were estimated to be as low as six. Müntzer himself was captured in the town, tortured, and finally executed at Mühlhausen on May 27, 1525.
caption: A 16th century falconet in the Bauernkriegsmuseum, Mühlhausen
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