In 1525, a series of peasant rebellions incited by demands for greater local self-government and religious freedom swept through many of the southern German lands. The rebellions came to be known collectively as the Revolution of 1525, or the German Peasants’ War. This image decorated the title page of the so-called Memmingen Bundesordnung, one of only two surviving political programs of the peasant rebels. It was drawn up at the same assembly in Upper Swabia as the other document, the Twelve Articles. The image depicts a band of peasants armed with pitchforks and other primitive weapons. Inexperienced, insufficiently organized, and ill-equipped, thousands of peasants died in the uprising.