In recent decades, research on the Reformation has focused on cities and princes. Studies on the dissemination of the new doctrine in rural society, on the other hand, are rare and often overshadowed by prejudice. Based on various focal points - community and pastor, church administration, relationships with the rulers, foundations, church building and church furnishings - the development of the Reformation among farmers and the lower nobility in various dominions of Thuringia up to the year 1570 is examined in this work. Starting with pre-Reformation forms of piety, the changes in church life in the villages can be presented by comparing written, architectural and pictorial sources.