History of Bernese Anabaptism

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The first Anabaptists appeared in the canton of Bern from 1525 . Despite many persecutions, the Mennonite religious community has been able to stay here to this day.

Hans Haslibacher before the Bernese authorities, illustration for the Haslibacher song by Rudolf Münger

Fatalities

Because of the persecution that began immediately after the Reformation broke out in 1528, the Anabaptists avoided the rural areas of the Emmental and the Bernese Oberland . Between 1534 and 1540, at least 158 ​​Anabaptists were imprisoned in the canton of Bern. Of these, 109 were expelled and 26 were executed.

Until the last official execution of a Bernese Baptist, that of Hans Haslibacher in 1571, around 40 Bernese baptismal people were sentenced to death . Numerous other fatalities occurred over the centuries in prisons, on the run or on galleys .

Exile and oppression

After the end of the Thirty Years' War in 1648, many Swiss baptismal people emigrated to depopulated areas in Alsace and the Palatinate . Nevertheless, after 1650, in the course of the Swiss Peasant War, there was again an increase in Anabaptists and their sympathizers in the Bern area and correspondingly severe repression by the authorities through bans, fines, confiscations and exiles.

The Baptist Chamber

Since all of this was rather counterproductive, a special commission to combat the Anabaptists was founded in 1659, the Committed to the Anabaptist Business (later the Anabaptist Chamber ) and issued various Anabaptist mandates (1659, 1670, 1671 and 1693). In 1669 the government secretly recruited informers and Anabaptist hunters and promised them a bounty for every Anabaptist arrested. After the mandate of 1671, 700 Bernese Anabaptists fled to the Palatinate.

The beginnings of pietism

A new situation arose with the emergence of Pietism . In 1693 a pastor from Lützelflüh , Georg Thormann , who was close to Pietism , published the moderately anti-Anabaptist text Probierstein des Anabaptism , in which he addressed Reformed sympathizers of Anabaptism. In the following years, the Anabaptists experienced a schism between the followers of Jakob Ammann and those of Hans Reist , which resulted in the Amish communities . After the great Bern pietist trial in 1699, several radical pietist Bernese theologians such as Samuel König were expelled from the country.

Refuge in the Principality of Basel

After Louis XIV had expelled the Anabaptists from Alsace in 1712, the emigrants found refuge mainly in the area of ​​the Duchy of Basel , today's Canton of Jura , and later also across the Atlantic Ocean in Pennsylvania , Ohio , Indiana , Ontario . After another Anabaptist mandate from 1718 and the establishment of schools and parishes to combat Anabaptism, the Anabaptist Chamber was abolished in 1743. Basel is also considered to be the origin of Bernese Anabaptism.

Helvetic and Restoration

After the collapse of Old Bern in 1798, the Helvetic Constitution introduced freedom of belief and conscience. In the course of the restoration , however, there was again repression, e.g. B. to forced baptisms in Langnau in the Emmental . In 1815 the Congress of Vienna united the former prince-bishop's territories in the Jura with the canton of Bern, which led to another wave of emigration to the USA . In 1820 the Anabaptists were finally recognized by the state with certain restrictions. As a result of the preaching activity of Samuel Heinrich Fröhlich , the communities of the so-called "New Baptists" arose from 1832, and in 1835 there was a definite split between the old and new Baptists.

Bern in the new federal state

With the Swiss Federal Constitution of 1848, the Anabaptists achieved full equality, but now they were also made compulsory military service. This was only implemented in practice after the constitutional revision of 1874; many Anabaptists emigrated again.

During this time the Anabaptists came increasingly under the influence of the revival movement , that is, v. a. the community movement and the sanctification movement . At that time, the first Anabaptist meeting houses were built in the canton of Bern. a. 1883 in Cernil , 1888 in Langnau, 1900 in Jeangui , 1892 in Moron .

The foundation of the canton of Jura

In the dispute over the establishment of the canton of Jura, in which the Anabaptists tended to be on the loyal side for linguistic reasons, there was arson at Anabaptist courts in 1963. Since the Second World War , more and more Anabaptists had moved to the cities, which led to a sociological and theological opening. In 1950, the European Mennonite Bible School was set up in Basel and Liestal and has been known since 1998 as the Bienenberg Training and Conference Center . The training center also has its own theological seminary .

Bernese Mennonites today

Le Jean Guy, Mennonite Library

Today there are 11 Mennonite communities in the cantons of Bern and Jura with a total of around 2000 members, namely the communities of Bern, Langnau, Biel - Brügg , Sonnenberg ; Moron-Kleintal, Bassecourt / Vallée de Delémont, Vallon de Saint-Imier , Tavannes , La Chaux-d'Abel , Les Bulles / La Chaux-de-Fonds and Courgenay ( Ajoie ). Of around 1.4 million Mennonites worldwide, around 150,000 have Bernese roots.

Anabaptist year 2007

In 2007 the Emmental hosted a commemorative year dedicated to the history of the Bernese Anabaptists. The goals of this commemorative year were a. to remember the persecution of the Anabaptists and to promote neighborly dialogue between the Reformed parishes in Switzerland and the Anabaptist parishes. One of the highlights of the Anabaptist Year was the confession of representatives of the Bernese government and the Reformed Church that they were guilty of the cruel persecution of the Anabaptists in the past.

The Anabaptist Trail recalls the regional history of the Anabaptists .

literature

See also

Web links

Commons : Mennonites in Switzerland  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Fritz Blanke : Heinrich Bullinger : Father of the Reformed Church. Theological Publishing House Zurich , Zurich 1990, ISBN 3-290-10079-0 , p. 152.
  2. ↑ [1] Article on livenet: Basel as the center of early Anabaptism (accessed on: June 15, 2012).