This worthy had lost his hand during youth, and replaced it
with a hand of iron. He was bold, daring, and unscrupulous, but scarcely
fitted for generalship, his knowledge of war being confined to the
tactics of highway robbery. Nor can it be said that his leadership of
the peasants was voluntary. He was as much their prisoner as their
general, his service being an enforced one.
With the redoubtable Goetz at their head the insurgents poured onward,
spreading terror before them, leaving ruin behind them. Castles and
monasteries were destroyed, until throughout Thuringia, Franconia,
Swabia, and along the Rhine as far as Lorraine the homes of lords and
clergy were destroyed, and a universal scene of smoking ruins replaced
the formerly stately architectural piles.
We cannot go further into the details of this notable outbreak. The
revolt of the southern peasantry was at length brought to an end by an
army collected by the Swabian league, and headed by George Truchsess of
Waldburg. Had they marched against him in force he could not have
withstood their onset.
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