Michael Gaismair — Padova, Italy - Citizen Memorials on Waymarking.com

Plaque commemorating Michael Gaismair, who was was murdered here on this site on 15 April 1532. The inscription (in Italian and in German) reads:

ALL'ALBA DEL 15 APRILE 1532 CADDE QUI PER MANO DI SICARI
MICHAEL GAISMAIR
EROICAMENTE AVEVA PROPUGNATO LIBERTÀ E GIUSTIZIA SOCIALE NELLA GUERRA
CONTADINA EUROPEA DEL 1525-26
COME CONDOTTIERO VENEZIANO ESPUGNÓ CREMONA 23 SETTEMBRE 1526
AMICO DEL RUZANTE E INSIEME "CAVALIERE DEGLI STROZZI" MILITÓ CON GLI
ESULI REPUBBLICANI FIORENTINI

DEN 15. APRIL IM MORGENGRAUEN FIEL HIER
MICHAEL GAISMAIR
MEUCHELMÖRDERISCHEN HÄNDEN ZUM OPFER,
MIT HELDENMUT HATTE ER IN DEN EUROPÄISCHEN BAUERNKRIEGEN 1525-26
FREIHEIT UND SOZIALE GERECHTIGKEIT VERTEIDIGT,
ALS ANFÜHRER DES VENETIANISCHEN HEERES HATTE ER
AM 23. SEPTEMBER 1526 CREMONA EROBERT.
MIT RUZANTE BEFREUNDET HATTE ER ALS RITTER DER STROZZI AN DER SEITE
DER VERBANNTEN ANHÄNGER DER REPUBLIK FLORENZ GEKÄMPFT.

Michael Gaismair (* 1490 in Tschöfs near Sterzing; † 15 April 1532 in Padua) was the son of a mining entrepreneur and farmer. He worked as a clerk in mining and provincial administration, and from 1524 as secretary to the Prince-Bishop of Brixen.
In 1525 he negotiated with the Tyrolean regent Archduke Ferdinand I on behalf of rebellious peasants. In August 1525 Ferdinand I had Gaismair arrested in Innsbruck, reversed his promises and took action against the rebellious peasants with mercenaries. After several weeks in captivity, Gaismair managed to escape to Switzerland. There he made contact with the reformer Ulrich Zwingli and developed a plan for a democratic reorganisation of Tyrol and Salzburg based on the example of Graubünden and Venice. During this time, Gaismair developed from a reformer to a social rebel and revolutionary (Friedrich Engels calls him 'an utopian socialist' in his 1850 work "The German Peasant War"). He once again gathered loyal followers around him, and in the spring of 1526 supported the peasants' uprising in Salzburg, but was crushingly defeated in the battle of Radstadt on 2 July 1526.
Gaismair escaped across the Alps to Venetia and in the following years tried several times to instigate uprisings from Graubünden, Tuscany and Venice. When Venice made peace with the Habsburgs in 1529, Gaismair retreated for good to an estate near Padua.
After several failed assassination attempts, Gaismair was attacked and stabbed to death on the morning of 15 April 1532 on the steps of the grand staircase of his Padua estate by muggers who snatched his gold chain and silver dagger.
source: wikipedia