Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Anabaptism in Central Germany I

The Rise and Spread of the Movement

  • Chapter
Lutheran Reformers Against Anabaptists

  • 66 Accesses

Abstract

The Schwärmer of Central Germany were only one manifestation of a larger radicalism which accompanied the Reformation wherever it found root. Everywhere there were men who were dissatisfied with what they considered the half-way measures of the Reformers, or non-Catholics who differed fundamentally with the theological formulations of the Reformers. One scholar has recently analyzed the extremists under the name Radical Reformation. As a fourth form of religious expression in the sixteenth century the radicals have had a pervasive influence on contemporary Protestantism.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Reference

  1. See (i) Wilhelm Pauck, “The Historiography of the German Reformation during the Past Twenty Years,” Part IV, Church History, X (1940), 305–40.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Walther Koehler, “Das Täufertum in der neueren kirchenhistorischen Forschung,” A RG, XXXVII (1940), 93–107; ibid., XXXVIII (1941), 349–64; ibid., XL (1943), 246–70; ibid., XLI (1948), 164–86.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Eberhard Teufel, “Täufertum und Quäkertum im Lichte der neueren Forschung,” Theologische Rundschau, XIII (1941), 21–57, 103–27, 183–97; ibid., XIV (1942), 27–52, 124–54; ibid., XV (1943), 56–80.

    Google Scholar 

  4. H. S. Bender and C. Krahn, “Historiography,” ME, II, 751–67.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Williams, “Studies in the Radical Reformation,” op. cit.

    Google Scholar 

  6. H. S. Bender, “The Täufer-Akten Publication Series of the Society for Reformation History,” MQR, XXIII (1949), 48–52.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Die Stellung Kursachsens und des Landgrafen Philipp von Hessen zur Täuferbewegung (Münster: Aschendorff, 191o) and Die Täuferbewegung in Thüringen (Jena: Fischer, 1913) are the principal works of value for this study. In both he relied somewhat on an earlier work, Inquisition und Ketzerprozesse in Zwickau zur Reformationszeit (Leipzig: Heinsius Nachfolger, 1908) for the basic attitudes of Luther and Melanchthon toward treatment of heresy.

    Google Scholar 

  8. So Walter Sohm, Historische Zeitschrift, CXVII (1917), 126–28, who devoted half a dozen lines to the praise of his printed sources and the remainder of a three-page review to the incompetence of his interpretation. Sohm challenged the accuracy of Wappler’s transcriptions in a few instances. Robert Stupperich, “Melanchthon und die Täufer,” Kerygma und Dogma, III (1957), p. 15o, n. 1, dismisses him as virtually useless because he is too partial. The fact of his bias is incontestable, although his antipathy to Luther and Melanchthon appears to be based more on humanistic than on confessional grounds. Wappler did not like religious persecution.

    Google Scholar 

  9. See the review by Hecker, Neues Archiv für sdchsische Geschichte und Altertumskunde, XL (2919), 200–202.

    Google Scholar 

  10. His most important collection is found in “Die Wiedertäufer im Amt Königsberg in Franken in den Jahren 1527/28,” Deutsche Zeitschrift für Kirchenrecht, hereafter DZK, XIII (1903), 291–353. Collections of lesser value: “Die erste kursächsische Visitation im Ortsland Franken,” ARG, III (1905–06), 336–402; “Die Wiedertäuferei im Ortslande zu Franken, im Zusammenhang mit dem Bauernkrieg,” DZK, XXII (1912), 378–403.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Kleine Beiträge zur Geschichte der Wiedertäufer in Franken, Zeitschrift für bayrische Kirchengeschichte, XV (1940), 1o5 ff., and XVI (1941), 165ff.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Die Wiedertäufer am Harz, Zeitschrift des Harz-Vereins für Geschichte und Altertumskunde, XXXII (1899), 423–536.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Mittheilungen aus der protestantischen Secten-Geschichte in der hessischen Kirche: Landgraf Philipp und die Wiedertäufer, Zeitschrift für die historische Theologie, XXVIII (1858), 538–644, and XXIX (1859), 167–234. Hochhuth wrote a monograph on the movement

    Google Scholar 

  14. Günther Franz, Urkundliche Quellen zur hessischen Reformationsgeschichte, IV (Marburg, G. Braun, 1951 ) hereafter TA, Hesse. Walther Koehler, Walter Sohm, and Theodor Sippell uncovered and edited many of the documents.

    Google Scholar 

  15. The Early Anabaptists in Hesse, MQR, V (1931), 157–78.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Bilder und Führergestalten aus dem Täufertum (3 vols.; Kassel: Onken Verlag, 1928–1952).

    Google Scholar 

  17. Gerhard Zschäbitz, Zur Mitteldeutschen Wiedertäuferbewegung nach dem grossen Bauernkrieg, Band I, Reihe B of Leipziger Uebersetzungen und Abhandlungen zum Mittelalter, eds. E. Engelberg and H. Kusch ( Berlin: Bütten und Loenig, 1958 ).

    Google Scholar 

  18. Jahrgang L, 1–16, 182–99. She has since published “Die Herkunft und Sozialanschauungen der Täufergemeinden im westlichen Hessen,” ARG, LII, 162–88.

    Google Scholar 

  19. TA, Hesse, p. 64. See the questions put to the Anabaptist leader Alexander, Wappler, Thüringen, pp. 348–51.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Thomas Spiegel von Ostheim, questioned and tortured on March 3, 1527, declared only after torture that the Anabaptists were to help the Turks extirpate ungodly nobles and civil officers. Beutelhans, a member of the same Franconian group, and like Thomas a disciple of Hut, revealed teachings of Hut that were apocalyptic but not revolutionary — i.e., the Anabaptists were not to use the sword in the great final struggle between Turk and European. Wappler, Thüringen, p. 235; Berbig, DZK, XIII, 313.

    Google Scholar 

  21. Thus Caspar Spiegel von Ostheim hearing, /527, Berbig, DZK, XIII, 309-Io.

    Google Scholar 

  22. See Sorga hearing, TA, Hesse, pp. 64ff.

    Google Scholar 

  23. From Keller, “Der sog. Anabaptismus am Harz im 16. Jahrhundert,” Monatshefte der Comenius-Gesellschaft, IX (r9oo), 182.

    Google Scholar 

  24. Wappler, Thuringen, pp. 25–37, is the principal source here. He should be supplemented by the sources, though not the narrative, in Berbig, DZK, XIII, 3o9ff.

    Google Scholar 

  25. Otto Clemen, “Zur Geschichte des ‘Wiedertäufers’ Melchior Rink,” Monatshefte der Comenius-Gesellschaft, IX (1900), 113–16.

    Google Scholar 

  26. A memo of the Tübingen theological faculty to Duke Ulrich of Württemburg on punishment of Anabaptists in 1535 referred to Rink as learned in both Latin and Greek, enough in the latter to lecture on Greek poetry. Printed by Wappler, Die Stellung Kursachsens, p. 240. Georg Witzel called him a man of excellent learning. Letter to MBF, December 24, 1531, printed by Wappler, ibid., p. 35, n. 2.

    Google Scholar 

  27. Letter of Eberhard to Landgrave Philip, March 2, 1532, printed ibid., pp. 333–34.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Letter of Eberhard to Elector John, November 25, 1531, printed in Wappler, Die Stellung Kursachsens, p. 145.

    Google Scholar 

  29. Letter of Rink to Eberhard, undated, ca. 1530, TA, Hesse, p. 31.

    Google Scholar 

  30. Wappler, Thüringen, p. 52.

    Google Scholar 

  31. Zur Linden, op. cit. p. 174 and note I. On Kautz see Hege, “Jakob Kautz,” ME, III, 159–60.

    Google Scholar 

  32. Wappler, Thüringen, pp. 47, 53; Raidt report of the proceedings, TA, Hesse, p. 4. 2 Ibid., PP. 4–7.

    Google Scholar 

  33. Ibid., pp. 8–15.

    Google Scholar 

  34. Ibid., p. 4.

    Google Scholar 

  35. Letter of Eberhard to Elector John, November 25, 1531, printed in Wappler, Die Stellung Kursachsens, pp. 145–47.

    Google Scholar 

  36. Letter of Elector John to Philip, December 4, 1529, printed ibid., P. 534.

    Google Scholar 

  37. Rink denied this. TA, Hesse, p. 36.

    Google Scholar 

  38. Letter of Rink to Eberhard, ca. 153o, ibid., pp. 31–32.

    Google Scholar 

  39. It is difficult to reconstruct the picture with accuracy both because many of the facts of the case must be derived by implication only and also because Rink’s sentence structure leaves something to be desired.

    Google Scholar 

  40. Rink’s untitled defense of his refusal to sanction divorce,sent to Eberhard von der Thann, 1531, TA, Hesse, pp. 33–37.

    Google Scholar 

  41. Baptism tract in Sammelband, pp. Kr.- K3r. Translated by J. C. Wenger, MQR, XXI (1947), 282–84. The tract was published anonymously in an undated Sammelband edition. See R. Friedmann’s description of the Sammelband in MQR, XVI (1942), 82–98. It is preceded by a one-page letter of which Rink declares himself the author. Friedmann assumed Rink to

    Google Scholar 

  42. Letter to Philip, ca. March r, 1532, printed in Wappler, Thüringen, pp. 333–36.

    Google Scholar 

  43. Letter to Philip, March 1, 1532, ibid., p. 333.

    Google Scholar 

  44. ß Letter of Eberhard to John, November 25, 1531, printed in Wappler, Die Stellung Kursachsens, pp. 145–47.

    Google Scholar 

  45. Letter of Elector John to Philip, December 21, 1531, ibid., pp. 152–53.

    Google Scholar 

  46. Letter of Philip to Elector John, January 3, 1532, ibid., p. 155.

    Google Scholar 

  47. Letter of Philip to the Statthalder in Marburg, December 26, 1538, TA, Hesse, p. 261.

    Google Scholar 

  48. Zur Linden, op. cit., pp. 463–66.

    Google Scholar 

  49. Max Lenz, Briefwechsel Landgraf Philipps des Grossmüthigen von Hessen mit Bucer (3 vols.; Leipzig: Hirzel, 188o-1891), March 17, 1540, I, 156.

    Google Scholar 

  50. Wappler, Die Stellung Kursachsens, p. 35. Today Bärbach is a small, agricultural-village, the seat of a former nunnery which lies in ruins. It is likely that Rink was incarcerated in the convent.

    Google Scholar 

  51. Bucer to Philip, March 17, 1540, Lenz, op. cit., I, 156.

    Google Scholar 

  52. s Philip to Bucer, March 22, 1540, ibid., p. 161.

    Google Scholar 

  53. Wappler, Die Stellung Kursachsens, p. 82.

    Google Scholar 

  54. Letter of Rink to Eberhard, ca. 153o, TA, Hesse, p. 31.

    Google Scholar 

  55. Witzei to MBF, December 24, 1531, printed in Wappler, Die Stellung Kursachsens, p. 35, n. 2.

    Google Scholar 

  56. I could find no record of his having taken such oaths, except a reference in a letter from Elector John to Philip of Hesse, Dec. 21, 1531, advising the death penalty for Rink because he had broken his oath about returning (letter printed in Wappler, Stellung, p. 153). Philip usually demanded an oath from the Anabaptists captured in his lands, that they would honor the sentence of exile.

    Google Scholar 

  57. Eberhard to Philip, ca. March 1, 1532, printed in Wappler, Thuringen, p. 335•

    Google Scholar 

  58. Testimony of Heinz Ot, Vacha hearing, ibid., p. 33o.

    Google Scholar 

  59. Eberhard to Philip, ca. March r, 1532, ibid., p. 335. ß Ot testimony, ibid., pp. 33o-31.

    Google Scholar 

  60. Letter of Rink to Eberhard, ca. 153o, TA, Hesse, p. 31.

    Google Scholar 

  61. Vermassung, p. 18.

    Google Scholar 

  62. Wappler, Thüringen, pp. 81–85. He relies for his information on the correspondence between Abbot Johann of Fulda and Count Wilhelm of Henneberg, March 25, 1532 to May 5, 1532, printed on pp. 336–44. Schannat, Historia Fuldensis (Frankfurt, 1729 ), III, 255, reports briefly on the incident.

    Google Scholar 

  63. Wappler, Thüringen, pp. 81–85.

    Google Scholar 

  64. Koch was reinterrogated in 1S37. She drops from the records after this time. TA, Hesse, PP. 252–53.

    Google Scholar 

  65. Wappler, Thiiringen, p. 87.

    Google Scholar 

  66. Letter of Eberhard to John Frederick, January 8, 1541, printed in Wappler, Die Stellung Kursachsens, p. 211. Ibid., P. 94 “… Dyweil er dan Leibs vnd halber… vast vnuormugelich vnd… das er biss auff diese seine misshandlunge Einen guten wandel gefurth vnd sich je vnd allewege billichs gehorsames gehalten, Er auch mit weib vnd kinder vnd zimlicher Bauerssnarunge… besessen… ”

    Google Scholar 

  67. Ibid., pi). 91–94.

    Google Scholar 

  68. Ibid. I can find no evidence of a sentence of life imprisonment on Erbe. In effect this is what he received.

    Google Scholar 

  69. Ibid., pp. 97–100.

    Google Scholar 

  70. Wappler, Thüringen, p. 105, says that many emigrated to Moravia, particularly the disciples of the Hutterian apostles like Riedemann.

    Google Scholar 

  71. Jacobs, op. cit., pp. 78, 81, 86; Wappler, Thüringen, p. 118.

    Google Scholar 

  72. Wiswedel, op. cit., I, 89.

    Google Scholar 

  73. Wappler, Die Stellung Kursachsens, p. 47.

    Google Scholar 

  74. The most substantial narrative of the movement here described is that of Hochhuth, op. cit. Much of this has been summarized by Hege, “The Early Anabaptists in Hesse,” MQR, V (1931), 157–78, and in “Hesse,” ME, II, 719–27. Rembert, op. cit., pp. 4.50–53, has worthwhile discussions of Tasch and Fälber.

    Google Scholar 

  75. Glaubensbekenntnis der in Marburg gefangenen Wiedertäufer,“ TA, Hesse, pp. 247–57. Earlier printed in part as ”Bekenntniss eines Wiedertäuffers,“ by zur Linden, op. cit., pp. 463–66.

    Google Scholar 

  76. Verantwortung and widerlegung der artikel, so jetzund im land zu Hessen uber die armen Davider (die man widertaufer nennt) usgegangen sind,“ TA, Hesse, pp. 165–80.

    Google Scholar 

  77. Blutsfreunde. Hochhuth, op. cit., p. 182, declares that these are the “Freie Brüder” of Bullinger. See below, pp. 205–09.

    Google Scholar 

  78. Jordan, op. cit., P. 49, rightly challenges Wappler’s assertions that Anabaptism found many supporters. Jordan cites six executions in Mühlhausen, a city of 85oo inhabitants and a reputed Anabaptist center. Wappler builds numerical strength on the theory that the court records of Anabaptist examinations cover only a small percentage of the total Anabaptist population. This theory is plausible but dangerous. Nor should one build numerical strength on the degree of concern of the princes. The civil authorities were worried, almost panicked, because they saw in the movement the constant threat of another peasant war. O. A. Hecker in a review of Wappler’s Thuringia book in Neues Archiv für sächsische Geschichte and Altertumskunde, XL (1919), 201, counted ninety martyrs in the entire region. Ninety martyrs to a cause is no small number; but one cannot speak of this movement as a mass one.

    Google Scholar 

  79. See Hege, “Hesse,” ME, II, 726–27 for the opinion of Walter Sohm. See also Franklin Littell, The Anabaptist View of the Church (zd revised ed.; Boston: Star King Press, 1958), p. 36 for the influence of Anabaptism on the state church.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Goshen College, Indiana, USA

    John S. Oyer

Authors
  1. John S. Oyer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1964 Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, Netherlands

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Oyer, J.S. (1964). Anabaptism in Central Germany I. In: Lutheran Reformers Against Anabaptists. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-9285-9_3

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-9285-9_3

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-011-8535-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-011-9285-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation