net thought Pearson " in all respects the greatest divine of his age." See Burnet, My Oivn Times (ed. 1833), iii, 142 sq. ; Bioyraphia Brit. s. v. ; Macaulay, Hist, of Eng- land, vol. ii, ch. vi; Hallam, Literary IJist. of Europe ; Perry, Ch. Hist, of England, ii, 323, 6G1 ; Stoughton, Eccles. Hist, of England {Ch. of the liestor.); Whewell, Moral Philos. p. 174 ; Allibone, Did. of Brit, and A mer. Authors, s. v.; Darling, Cyclop. Bibliog. vol. ii, s. v.; (Lond.) Gentleman's Magazine, Februar\-, 1848, p. 158 sq. (J.H.W.)
Pearson, William, LL.D., an English divine, flourished in the second half of the 17th centurj-. He was prebend of York in 1G89, archdeacon of Nottingham in 1690, subdean of York in 1G95, and then chancellor of York and residentiary of the church of York. He died Feb. G, 1716. He published three separate Sermons, and after his death a[)peared Thirteen Sermons on sev- ei-al Occasions, preached at the Cathedral of York (Lond. 1718, 8vo). See Darling, Cyclop. Bibliogr. vol. ii, s. v.
Pearson, William Wesley, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was born in Mor- gan County, Ala.. Sept. 27. 1837. His father, Edmund Pearson, was a minister; hence his son was brought in daily contact with religious example in his boyhood, and early led to seek an interest in religious topics. At the age of sixteen he connected himself with the Meth- odist Episcopal Church, South. He was educated at Sarepta and Pontotoc ; afterwards taught school a while, but becoming impressed that God had called him to the work of the ministry, he entered the itinerancy in the Memphis Conference about 18G0. He filled eight regular appointments in the Conference ; then, his health failing, he sustained a supernumerary relation one year, and the last two years of his life he was superannuated. He died Nov. 3, 1872. Pearson was a good practical preacher. His sermons were plain, earnest, and forcible. His life was an example of uniform, unpretending piety, and in death he testified that all was well with him. "When he found that his end was near, he said, " My prepara- tion for deatli was made long ago. All is well ; I shall rest in heaven." See Minutes of the A nnual Confer- ences of the Meth. Episc. Church, South, 1872, p. 707.
Peasants' War is the name given to the great insurrection of the German and Swiss peasantry in the Reformation period. It is a subject so intimately con- nected with the origin of Protestantism that we briefly refer to it here. The war broke out in the beginning of the year 1525. Zschokke has described it as the '• terrible scream of oppressed humanity." The op- pression of the peasants had gradually increased in se- verity as the nobility became more extravagant and the clergy more sensual and degenerate. The examjile of Switzerland encouraged the hope of success, and from 147G to 1517 there were risings here and there among the peasants of the south of Germany. A peasant re- bellion, called in popular phrase the Bundschuh (Laced Shoe), took place in the Rhine countries in 1502, and another, called the "League of Poor Conrad," in "Wiir- temberg, in 1514, both of which were put down without any abatement of the grievances that had occasioned them. The Reformation, by the mental awakening which it produced, and the diffusion of sentiments fa- vorable to freedom, must be reckoned among the causes of the great insurrection itself; although Luther, Me- lancthon, and the other leading Reformers, while urg- ing the nobles to justice and humanity, strongly repro- bated the violent proceedings of the peasants. The Anabaptists, however, and in particular Miinzer, en- couraged and excited them, and a peasant insurrection took place in the Hegau in 1522. Another, known as the "Latin War," arose in 1523 in Salzburg, against an unpoplar archbishop, but these were quickly suppressed. On Jan. 1, 1525, the peasantry of the abbacy of Kemp- ten, along with the townspeople, suddenly assailed and plundered the convent, compelling the abbot to sign a renunciation of his rights. This proved the signal for
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a risin<; of the peasants on all sides tlirougliout the south of (Jermany. Many of the princes and nobles at first rei^arded tlie insurrection with some measure of complacency, because it was directed in the first in- stance chiefly against the ecclesiastical lords; some, too, because it seemed likely to promote the interests of the exiled (liiUc of Wlirtemberg, who was then upon the point of reconipiering his dominions by the help of Swiss troops ; and others, because it seemed to set bounds to the increase of Austrian power. But the archduke Ferdinand hastened to raise an army, the troops of the empire being for the most part engaged in the emperor's wars in Italy, and intrusted the command of it to the Truchsess Yon Waldburg, a man of stern and unscru- pulous character, but of ability and energy. Von Wald- burg negotiated with the peasants in order to gain time, and defeated and destroyed some large bodies of them, but was himself defeated by them on April 22, when he made a treaty with them, not having, however, the slightest intention of keeping it. Meanwhile the insur- rection extended, and became general throughout Ger- many, and a number of towns took part in it, as Heil- bronn, Midilhausen, Fuhla, Frankfort, etc., but there was a total want of organization and co-operation. To- wards Easter, 1525, there appeared in Upper Swabia a manifesto, which set forth the grievances and demands of the insurgents. They demanded the free election of their parish clergy; the appropriation of the tithes of grain, after competent maintenance of the parish clergy, to the support of the poor and to purposes of general utility; the abolition of serfdom, and of the exclusive hunting and fishing rights of the nobles: the restora- tion to the community of forests, fields, and meadows which the secular and ecclesiastical lords liad appropri- ated to themselves; release from arbitrary augmenta- tion and multiplication of services, duties, and rents; the equal administration of justice, and the abolition of some of the most odious exactions of the clergy. The conduct of the insurgents was not, however, in accord- ance with the moderation of their demands. Their many separate bands destroyed the convents and cas- tles, murdered, pillaged, and were guilty of the greatest excesses, which must indeed be regarded as partly in revenge for the cruelty practiced against them by Von Waldburg. A number of princes and knights concluded treaties Avith the peasants conceding their principal de- mands. The city of Wlirzburg joined them, but the castle of Liebfraucnberg made an obstinate resistance, whicli gave time to Von Waldburg and their other en- emies to collect and strengthen their forces. In May and June, 1525, the peasants sustained a number of se- vere defeats, in which large bodies of thom were de- stroyed. The landgrave Philip of Hesse was also suc- cessful against them in the north of Germany. The peasants, after they had been subjugated, were every- wluTe treated with terrible cruelty. In one instance a great body of them were perfidiously massacred after tiiey had laid down their arms. INInhitudes were hanged in the sireets, and many were put to deatli with the greatest tortures. Weiusberg, Kothenburg, Wurzburg, and other towns which had joined them, suffered the terrible revenge of the victors, and torrents of blood were shed. It is supposed that more than 150,000 per- sons lost their lives in the Peasants' War. Flourishing and populous districts were desolated. The lot of the defeated insurgents became harder than ever, and many burdens of the iieasantry orii;iiiated at lliis jieriod. The cause of the Jieformatiou also was very injuriously af- fected. See Sartorius, I'erxuch einer Geschichte des deutschcH liauernkrierjs (Herlin, 1795) ; Oeehsle, Beitrdge zur G(scliich(e des deu/sc/ieii llttiiernhicys (Ileilbronn, 182!)) ; Wachsmuth, l)er deutsche Jimtcrnkru;/ (Leipsic, 18.34); Zimmermann, A l/f/eii»iiie. Geschichte des tji-ossen Bidterukricys (Stuttgard, 1841-43, 3 vols.). — Chambers, Cycliip. s. V.