There  was  also  a  vehement  and  continual  ferment  in  the  interior  of  the
towns.  The  old  struggle  between  the  town  councils  and  the  commons  or
people  was  continually  revived  by  the  increasing  demands  for  money  made
by  the  former  and  resisted  by  the  latter  ;  in  some  places  it  led  to  violence
and  bloodshed.  In  the  year  1 5 10  the  Vierherr2  Heinrich  Kellner  was  exe-
cuted in  Erfurt  for  having,  in  the  financial  straits  of  the  city,  allowed  the
house  of  Saxony  to  redeem  Capellendorf  for  a  sum  of  money  :  all  the
following  years  were  marked  with  violence  and  disorder.  In  Regensburg
the  aged  and  honest  Lykircher,  who  had  frequently  held  the  offices  of
chamberlain,  hansgrave,  and  judge  of  the  peace,  was  brought  to  trial ;
and,  though  the  treasonable  acts  of  which  he  was  accused  were  never
proved  against  him,  was  barbarously  tortured  in  the  Holy  Week  of  1513,
and  shortly  afterwards  put  to  death.3  In  Worms,  first  the  old  council,
and  afterwards  its  successor,  was  driven  out.  In  Cologne  the  commons
were  furiously  incensed  against  the  new  contributions  with  which  they
were  vexed  ;  and  still  more  against  an  association  or  company  called  the
Garland,  to  which  the  most  criminal  designs  were  imputed.4  Similar
disturbances  took  place  in  Aix-la-Chapelle,  Andernach,  Speier,  Hall  in
Swabia,  Liibeck,  Schweinfurt,  and  Niirnberg  :6  in  every  direction  we  meet
with  imprisonments,  banishments,  executions.  Domestic  grievances  were
often  aggravated  by  the  suspicion  of  a  criminal  understanding  with
neighbouring  states.  In  Cologne  it  was  Guelders  ;  in  Worms  and  Regens-
burg, Austria  ;  in  Erfurt  Saxony,  which  was  the  object  of  their  suspicions.
The  feeling  of  public  insecurity  burst  forth  in  acts  of  the  wildest  violence.
