Peasant Fires Book Review

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Peasant Fires by Richard Wunderli
Peasant Fires, a self proclaimed tragedy written by Richard Wunderli, is a historical narrative that explores the rise and fall of young peasant named Hans Behem, a common herdsman, who believed he had been personally affirmed by the Virgin Mary to lead thousands of oppressed peasants on a pilgrimage to Niklashausen in a revolt against corrupt leaders of the established church during fifteenth century Germany. Thousands upon thousands of peasants dropped everything and sought after Hans in hopes of coming near enough to the prophet to be healed, enlightened, or both. It is believed that Hans’ teachings about “sacred poverty” were highly effective because of the powerful social myths that encompassed the core …show more content…
In the very beginning of the novel, Wunderli admits that we actually know very little about the life of Hans but by studying other sources and documents surrounding this time period, he was able to fill in the gaps that allow us to understand the underlying motives that created the narrative of Germany at this time. Wunderli writes to a general audience and frequently deviates to add in his own commentary. Aside from theses deviations, the author stays on track with a chronological format beginning with the origins of Hans’ early life and ending with the conflicts of his unorthodox trial at the end of the revolt. Wunderli goes about constructing his arguments by presenting multiple sources in each chapter as evidence. For example, in chapter four titled “Walpurgisnacht”, Wunderli uses direct quotes from the Sebastian Brant’s book, The Ship of Fools (1494) to support his claim that the theme of fools became built around “historical reality”. Another examples of a sources that Wunderli uses to s validate his made up narrative of Hans Beham are first hand witnesses of the peasant pilgrimage in 1476. Georg Widman wrote years after the pilgrimage, “ All of Germany seemed to be in commotion, “...stable boys left their horses, taking the bridles with them, reapers left their reaping, …and came to Niklashausen.” Due to this
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