Hans Römer (Baptist)

Hans Römer (* in Erfurt ; † probably on May 18, 1535 in Göttingen ) was a leading figure in the radical Reformation Anabaptist movement in Thuringia . Römer initially represented chiliastic teachings and initially stood for violent Anabaptism. After the encounter with the Swiss Anabaptists , his views changed.

Live and act

Nothing is known about the exact origin, childhood and youth of Roman. He came from Erfurt, was a trained furrier and moved from Erfurt to Eisenach and married here. In the late summer of 1524 he joined the paramilitary organized Eternal Covenant of God in Mühlhausen . In the spring of 1525 he preached in Mühlhausen and Frankenhausen .

Peasants' War

After the battle of Frankenhausen on May 15, 1525, which the rebellious peasants lost and the Romans took part in and escaped, he probably went back to Mühlhausen and from there to Franconia, which was controlled by the rebellious peasants . Here he preached as a staunch supporter and former combatant of Thomas Müntzer before the assembly of the Bildhäuser Haufen that one must destroy the authorities with the sword and shed their blood. He achieved that the group split into a reformatory-moderate and a social-revolutionary- radical camp.

The preacher of the peasantry could not stop this conflict. The leaders of the Bildhauser heap feared internal turmoil . They called on 30 May 1525 by the mayor and the city council Neustadt an der Saale , in the Peasants' War was allied with the Houses pile, for the following day at seven o'clock in the morning working in the city of evangelical theologians Andres and Johann Lindemann on. As " those who understood the Holy Scriptures ", they were supposed to bring about an arbitration in the camp of the peasants. It is not known whether this happened.

Follower of Hans Hut

In June 1525, Hans Römer returned to Thuringia, where he changed his whereabouts several times for fear of being recognized. He then went to Bautzen for a few weeks with another Baptist . He continued to travel across the country and sought contact with former fighters of the Peasant War. Here he got to know the Anabaptist movement of Hans Hut and became his follower. It was a colleague of Hans Hut who baptized Römer in June 1527.

Hut, a pupil of Thomas Müntzer and Andreas Karlstadt , announced the return of Christ for Pentecost 1528. Römer shared this expectation from early summer 1527, but, in contrast to Hut, took the view that the wicked should be destroyed. As early as 1527 he began to gather like-minded people. These were mainly laypeople and former fighters of the Peasant War, for whom the Romans, as "sent by God", foretold the end of the world in seven months, which would be accompanied by an earthquake and destroy all those who did not believe in Anabaptism. Roman's most important fighters were the furrier Christoph Peisker , the farmer Volker Fischer and a shoemaker named Christoph from Meißen .

Erfurt uprising

Hans Römer planned a large-scale attack on Erfurt for January 1, 1528 with Christoph Peisker, the tailor Niklas Hofmann and the pastor of Alperstedt . The time was not chosen by chance, but corresponded to the teaching of Hans Hut that between Christmas 1527 and Pentecost 1528 criminal judgment should take place on sinners . On that day he wanted to come to the city and give a sermon he had previously announced in front of the collegiate church of St. Mariae . At the same time Niklas Hofmann was several houses burn and the doors open in the city. In the chaos that now ensued , his armed supporters standing by in front of the city and in some villages were supposed to penetrate Erfurt and kill the authorities and all who opposed the rebels. The citizens of Erfurt who refused Roman baptism or refused to share their belongings were also to be murdered . Römer himself then wanted to publicly accuse the Erfurt clergy of arson because they refused to preach the true word of God . The plan for the attack on Erfurt was prepared in detail, but failed due to treason . About fifty people were arrested, seventeen accomplices were tortured and twelve of them were executed , including Niklas Hofmann. Römer managed to escape with some of his closest combatants. The aim of the attack on Erfurt was to rebuild the old "destroyed Jerusalem " with the rulership that was subsequently established and to initiate the return of Christ at the Last Judgment . He hoped that the attack would generate a worldwide wake-up call and penance. Römer located the new Jerusalem in the city of Erfurt.

Wanted poster and Anabaptist mandate

In December 1528 Hans Römer took part in an Anabaptist meeting in Magdeburg and later also in Naumburg . In the meantime, he was already a warrant searched. In the personal description of these profiles, a curly-haired man with a gray skirt and a round scar over his right eye was searched for . In 1529 the Anabaptist mandate was passed at the Speyer Diet . With this mandate it was now possible to punish Anabaptists and especially their leaders with death . In 1531 Martin Luther and Philipp Melanchthon wrote an expert opinion on the use of the death penalty for Anabaptists at the request of the Saxon Elector .

Escape to Basel and influence of the Swiss Anabaptists

Römer fled to Basel with two followers and came into contact with the Swiss Anabaptists , who rejected the use of weapons. Without joining them, he advocated nonviolent ideas from now on .

Last years of life and death, following Römers

He later returned to Thuringia with his wife and initially lived in Eichsfeld . In August 1534, Hans Römer was captured in Göttingen. He immediately revoked his teachings. He was interrogated twice in September 1534 by Erfurt councilors who wanted to have him extradited and thus his execution - but without success. The Göttingen council, however, turned to the Schöppenstuhl in Leipzig and demanded the death penalty for Romans. However, this was initially rejected by the Schöppenstuhl because the uprising planned by Römer in Erfurt had not been implemented.

It is believed that Hans Römer was executed in Göttingen on May 18, 1535, after the Leipzig Schöppenstuhl had passed a second judgment in March 1535 , the reasons for which are not known. Roman's successor as leader of the Thuringian Anabaptists was Hans Peißker , who was executed with the sword on January 26, 1536 in Jena on the express advice of Melanchthon .

Baptist rituals

Hans Römer performed the baptism in a similar way to Hans Hut by marking a cross on the forehead of the person being baptized with his thumb dipped in water and saying a formula for it. This was done in secrecy . The person to be baptized was then assured that he would be spared the final judgment that would fall in eleven months .

The desired ideals were Christian love , sinlessness, renouncement of personal property , and in some cases also the recognition of the authorities. Catholic and Lutheran preachers and the sacraments they give should be avoided and, in the extreme case, the Anabaptist should be prepared to be martyred . The agreed identification mark of the Anabaptists was a handshake combined with the greeting “Dear Christian Brother”.

literature

Ingrid Würth: Geissler in Thuringia: The emergence of a late medieval heresy , Berlin 2012, p. 435.
Gottfried Seebaß : Müntzers Erbe: Work, Life and Theology of Hans Hut , Gütersloh 2002, p. 379 and 380.
Richard van Dülmen: Reformation as Revolution: Social Movement and Religious Radicalism in the German Reformation , S. Fischer Verlag 2015, Section 12 c.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Römer, Hans
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Leader of the Thuringian Anabaptist Movement
DATE OF BIRTH	15th century or 16th century
PLACE OF BIRTH	Erfurt
DATE OF DEATH	uncertain: May 18, 1535
Place of death	Goettingen