Whilst a large part of the population of the Frankish Empire was Christian by the early 8th century, the Germanic tribes on the right bank of the Rhine remained pagan, especially those living in the north and east. To remedy this situation, on 15 May 719 Pope Gregory II commissioned the Anglo-Saxon monk and scholar Wynfreth – to whom he gave the name Boniface – to convert the “heathens” of the Frankish Empire. Coinciding with wider moves to renew western European ecclesiastical structures, this commission also met the desire of the secular Carolingian rulers to establish a single, well-organized religion, which would provide unity for their empire. Given full imperial and papal backing, Boniface experienced great success and converted the populations of modern-day Friesland, Hesse, Thuringia and Bavaria, for which he became known as the “Apostle of the Germans”. Boniface was martyred on his last missionary journey after being beaten to death in Friesland.
Weitere Ereignisse
1525 Thomas Müntzer leads his peasant army to a devastating defeat
In contrast to the conservative Father of the Reformation, Martin Luther, the reformer and social revolutionary Thomas Müntzer believed that the establishment of earthly justice required violent social revolution and worked to foment rebellion amongst the Thuringian peasantry. In the spring of 1525, the town of Frankenhausen had developed into a centre of the uprising, which thousands of peasants and townspeople used as a base from which to attack and capture castles and cloisters in the surrounding area. Müntzer and other insurgents rushed to Frankenhausen to lead some 8,000 peasants armed with agricultural instruments in defending their headquarters against advancing princely armies. A surprise attack of a 6,000 strong mercenary army launched on 15 May 1525 overwhelmed the peasant army, which was wiped out in the ensuing combat. All survivors, including Müntzer himself, were executed.
1997 The Bundestag makes marital rape a crime
Before 1997, it was not possible for a man to rape his wife in the eyes of the law, as regular sexual intercourse was regarded as essential for male health and a right to which a husband was entitled. The only prosecutions for rape were brought by women coerced into sex by a man to whom she was not married. Long years of campaigning to change this situation culminated in a parliamentary vote held on 15 May 1997. Passed by 471 votes to 138, a new law now established forced sex within marriage as a crime by removing the word “extramarital” from Section 177 of the German Criminal Code. Since 2004, public prosecutors are obliged to open an investigation into all cases of rape committed by a spouse.
About the Deutschlandmuseum
An immersive and innovative experience museum about 2000 years of German history
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