Levellers

A fanatical party in Germany, headed by Muncer and Storck in the 16th century, who taught that all distinctions of rank were usurpations on the rights of mankind. At the head of 40,000 men Muncer commanded the sovereign princes of Germany and the magistrates of cities to resign their authority; and on his march his followers ravaged the country. The landgrave of He e at last defeated him; 7000 of the enthusiasts fell in battle, and the rest fled; their leader was taken and beheaded at Mulhausen in 1525. The English “Levellers,” powerful in Parliament in 1647, were put down by Cromwell in 1649, and their leader, Lilburn, imprisoned.