In 1525, the peasants of Central Europe had rebelled with shocking violence all the more disturbing because it was decentralized. That rebellion had something to do with the new doctrines, though Martin Luther had condemned it roundly. In 1533, in Münster, the fanatical and not-at-all-pacifist Anabaptist Jan van Leiden had taken over the city and begun running it as an oppressive theocracy; only with great difficulty was the city retaken.

Ferdinand was taking no chances in his realm of Bohemia.