Nothing But God's Justice

500 years ago, following three bad harvests, the peasants in Lehen, a village near Freiburg, revolted against their corvée, high charges, and tax burden, demanding Nichts denn die Gerechtigkeit Gottes (Nothing but God's justice). As a symbol of their movement, the peasants showed the boots with straps they usually wore in their flag. I reported about the historical Bundschuh in an earlier blog.

Following the official commemoration and the academic reappraisal of the Bundschuh, the lighter part took place during the second weekend in June. Red Baron was invited as a guest of honor to the Mittelalterlicher Markt (Medieval Market) opening in Lehen, organized near the Bundschuhhalle (Hall of the Boot With Straps). This honor was probably due to my writing about the peasants' revolt on my historical website, for the Bundschuh revolt is intrinsically connected with Freiburg's history.

As a guest of honor, I carried a red ribbon, did not have to pay the entrance fee, and, in addition, I was offered one free drink. I was in good company. Bernhard Schätzle, Lehen's superintendent and Freiburg's city council member opened the Market wearing a historical outfit.

Bernhard Schätzle in good spirits

I saw the ancient lord mayor, an honorary citizen of Freiburg, my neighbor Dr. Rolf Böhme, and the current mayor responsible for Freiburg's finances, Otto Neideck.

Left: Dr. Böhme; right: Otto Neideck,
with his back turned: Bernard Schätzle talking to his wife.

The Market's opening was followed by tapping a barrel of Bundschuhbier. The unique stone issued on occasion I kept as a souvenir.

Men and women selling medieval food and handicrafts populated the surface around the central point, the Bundschuh oak.

Ladies selling medieval food are joined by a fortune teller wearing a watch.

Splitting wood the hard way

More ladies not wearing watches offer beer and wine.

The Bundschuh oak is a work of art by Thomas Rees commemorating the peasants' uprising, carved out of an upside-down trunk of an oak and presenting the signs of the times 500 years ago. One side shows the crucified Christ, his head bent down by the weight of two oppressors. To the right sits a clergyman pointing with one hand to heaven and opening the other hand for a euro. To the left sits a drinking nobleman squeezing out a peasant. Below are shown some greatly astonished people, full of fear, reading a book and possibly finding out: It ain't necessarily so.

Further to the upper right, Rees carved out events that changed the world during the outgoing Middle Ages: In 1439, Gutenberg started using movable type for printing books; around 1490, Leonardo drew the Vitruvian man; in 1492, Columbus discovered a new world; in 1506 there was the first stone laying of the new St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, that due to the abusive selling of indulgences for its financing eventually led to the schism of the only saving church with Luther's Reformation in 1517; starting in 1609 Galilei observed the universe and later proclaimed the heliocentric world: Eppur si muove! (And yet it moves).

Joß Fritz, the leader of the Bundschuh in Lehen, sticks out his head on the other side of the oak, surrounded by his fellow conspirators raising the Bundschuh flag:

Above the heads of the revolting peasants, you recognize the city of Freiburg and scenes showing the beheading of peasants. The airplanes on top remind the viewer of the bombing of Freiburg in World War II. Thomas Rees found bomb fragments lodged inside the trunk when carving the wood.

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