The Zwickau prophets arrive in Wittenberg disturbing the peace and preaching the Apocalypse. Philip Melanchthon cannot silence them. Martin Luther is being held in protective custody at the Wartburg castle at this time. He is later released and is able, by his preaching, to regain the peace.
The Zwickau Prophets (German: Zwickauer Propheten, Zwickauer Storchianer) were three men of the Radical Reformation from Zwickau in the Electorate of Saxony in the Holy Roman Empire, who were possibly involved in a disturbance in nearby Wittenberg and its evolving Reformation in early 1522.
The three men, Nicholas Storch, Thomas Dreschel and Markus Stübner, began their movement in Zwickau. Though these three names are favored in recent scholarship, others have been suggested. Lars Pederson Qualben used the name "Marx" for "Dreschel", and Henry Clay Vedder replaced Dreschel with Marcus Thomä (William Roscoe Estep gave Stübner the middle name "Thomas".).
The relationship of the Zwickau Prophets to the Anabaptist movement has been variously interpreted. They have been viewed as a precursory foundation of Anabaptism before the rise of the Swiss Brethren in 1525, as unrelated to the movement except for the influence on Thomas Müntzer and as being a dual foundation with the Swiss Brethren to form a composite movement of Anabaptism. Regardless of the exact relationship to Anabaptism, the Zwickau Prophets presented a radical alternative to Luther and mainstream Protestantism as demonstrated in their involvement in disturbances in Wittenberg.