Excerpt from the Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia:

Thomas Müntzer (Muentzer, Muntzer) was perhaps the most controversial figure of the period of the German Reformation, a man who has been called at various times the “beginner of the great Anabaptist movement,” the forerunner of modern socialism, the beginner of the mystical-spiritualistic movement in Germany, a religious socialist, the leader in the Peasants’ War 1525, and other such designations, none of which really fit this versatile man who during the decisive last five years of his life (1520-1525) changed his position almost from year to year.

Much of the scholarly debate has been concerned with the consistency of Müntzer’s theology and his politico-social activism. How could an emphasis on cross mysticism and regeneration lead to an attempt at advancing the kingdom through the Peasants’ War? H.J. Goertz has suggested an answer in Müntzer’s unique integration of the “inner and outer order.” Müntzer astutely surmised a reciprocal relationship between individual and collective well-being. The salvation of the community depended on the regeneration of its individual members, but sociopolitical structures that reinforced fear of man or were preoccupied with creaturely matters could hinder the proper spiritual orientation toward God. Rulers who set themselves against the second coming in its individual and collective expression forfeited divine approval. The right to resist them devolved upon the people. Seeing the events of 1525 as resistance to godless tyranny and God’s instrument to purify Christendom, Müntzer placed his considerable talents at the disposal of the great uprising of the peasants and “common man.” Although not its instigator, he became one of its theologically most articulate defenders.

Modern scholarship has been fascinated by Müntzer’s theological integration of individual and collective salvation. His engagement on the side of the commoners makes it tempting to see in him a forerunner of liberation theologies. His intuition about the interconnection between institutional structures and ideological legitimation appears provocatively modern. However, Müntzer’s modernity should not be exaggerated. Nor should less attractive aspects of his ministry be ignored. He was not the atheist-socialist that Friedrich Engels thought he was. His egalitarianism was qualified by the advocacy of charismatic leadership, above all his own. The radical priesthood of all believers was mitigated by an elitism of the regenerate elect whose identification defied empirical verification. Müntzer misread the signs of the times. He failed to see that an armed defense of the future kingdom inevitably led to new coercive structures in the present. But despite these delinquencies or perhaps because of them, Müntzer deserves a fair hearing and a rightful place in the all-too-human story of the Reformation and of Anabaptist beginnings. 

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Also: Heriot, from Old English heregeat (“war-gear”), was originally a death-duty in late Anglo-Saxon England, which required that at death, a nobleman provided to his king a given set of military equipment, often including horses, swords, shields, spears and helmets. It later developed into a kind of tenurial feudal relief due from villeins.

The heriot was not abolished in Britain until 1922!