1525 was a dramatic year in German politics. The Peasants' War swept through South and East Germany and mobilised a large number of peasants in support of the movement, and an even larger number on the side of the princes and ruling classes opposing it. Martin Luther, dependent on the princes to realise his Reformation ideas, wrote one of the most vicious pamphlets of his life, attacking the ideas of the peasants, particularly their use of the term 'freedom'. He defended his own use of the term as pertaining only to spiritual freedom and condemned insurrection in the strongest terms, calling on the princes to "slay, choke and stab" any rebel.

500 years after its first publication, this edition with a new modern English translation, extensive linguistic and historical footnotes, and a comprehensive introduction contextualises the attack, both in terms of its historic significance and its afterlife. As in the previous volumes from the Reformation Series of the Taylor Editions, the text is based on pamphlets from the Taylorian collection which are also provided as facsimiles. The volume is published open access and with additional resources such as an audiobook and 'fold-your-own-pamphlet' for both of the copies held in the Taylorian. The introduction consists of eight chapters: in the first three, Rahel Micklich discusses in turn the historical background of the Peasants' War (1), the underlying conflict with radical reformer Thomas M