The Heroic Death of the Old Stedingers
The Stedingers were Frisian peasants west of Bremen, on free land since 1100. When Archbishop Gerhard II of Bremen imposed the tithe in 1227, they refused. In 1232 Pope Gregory IX declared them heretics. On 27 May 1234 they were exterminated at the Battle of Altenesch: 2,000-4,000 dead, end of the free peasant land.
1 The refusal
The Stedingers had lived since 1100 on an island group in the Weser marsh. They had drained the land themselves, had their own jurisdiction, own churches. Archbishop Gerhard II of Bremen (1219-1258) in 1227 demanded the tithe. They refused: they had never paid tithe, the land was their own work. In 1229 Stedinger peasants killed twelve priestly tax-collectors. Gerhard called Pope Gregory IX for help.
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