Boheim (or Behem), Hans

Boheim (Or Behem), Hans, a forerunner of the Peasant War in Germany, was born at Niklashausen, in Baden, about the middle of the fifteenth century. In his youth he was a farm-servant and a drummer at wakes and fairs. Awakened by the preaching of a Franciscan, he burnt his drum. He believed that the Virgin appeared to him, and revealed certain ascetic and extravagant doctrines to him, which about 1476 he began to preach. He soon gained influence among the lower classes by preaching against the vices of priests and princes, and against Purgatory. He probably had heard the teachings of the Hussites. Multitudes were stirred to enthusiasm by his preaching. He was burnt at the stake in 1482.-Ullmann, Reformers before the Reformation, i, 384 sq.