Michael Gaismair

Michael Gaismair (1490–1532), born at Sterzing in the County of Tyrol, was secretary to the bishop of Brixen before leading miners and peasants in revolt during the German Peasants' War of 1525.

Summoned to the Innsbruck diet by Archduke Ferdinand, he was arrested for treason but escaped after two months to Switzerland. In May 1526 he drafted a constitution for an egalitarian, democratic Christian Tyrol; his plans abolished noble titles and nationalized land and mines.

He then joined the Salzburg rising. Defeated, he fled to Venice and was murdered at Padua on 15 April 1532 by soldiers collecting Ferdinand's bounty.