Thomas Aderpul

Thomas Aderpul was a preacher of the Protestant Reformation who taught an extreme form of egalitarian religious polity; consequently, the German Democratic Republic admired him as a proto-communist.

Aderpul came to public notice in 1529 in the Klützer Ort, a district between Wismar and Lübeck, which was on Mecklenburg territory but fell within the Bishopric of Ratzeburg, and was mostly owned by the von Plessen family who had built up considerable debts to the diocese.

The latter complained to the Duke of Mecklenburg, reporting his letter that early in December 1529 Aderpul had preached that “All things above, below and in the earth, wood, water, meadow and game, should be held equally in common and belong to no-one in particular.” The next day the Bishop had him seized in a night raid and locked up in the dungeon of his splendid official residence at Schönberg.

On Boxing Day 1529, the armed cavalcade – 100 knights and many men-at-arms, marched up to the castle gates where the bishop was lodged, with his prisoner in the dungeon below.

The Duke of Mecklenburg ordered the von Plessens to keep the peace, but as this did not satisfy the Bishop he kept Aderpul locked up for a further year in Schönberg, when he was released with the remark that he had forever made himself an enemy in his domains.