Jakob Falk

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Execution of Jakob Falks and Heini Reimanns
Memorial plaque on the banks of the Limmat, which also reminds of Falk and Reimann

Jakob Falk , also written Jakob Falck (* 15th or 16th century; † September 5, 1528 in Zurich ), was a martyr of the Anabaptist movement .

Life

Jakob Falk was a farmer and came from Gossau . Nothing is known about his origins and his life until he joined the Anabaptist movement .

At the end of June 1525, a few months after the first Anabaptist congregation was founded in Zurich , Konrad Grebel came to the Grüninger office as an Anabaptist missionary . As in other parts of the Zurich area, there was considerable tension between the peasants and the authorities. The fact that Grebel's sermon fell on fertile ground during his 15-week activity was on the one hand due to the revolutionary mood of the peasantry. Grebel was also - albeit for different reasons - in opposition to the city council of Zurich. On the other hand, Grebel, who was born in Grüningen, seems to have had a number of contacts in his homeland that he obviously knew how to make fruitful for his Anabaptist concerns. If one trusts contemporary sources, Grebel's preaching did not touch the social and political questions that had arisen. He preached "right Christian baptism and the sanctification of life".

One of the fruits of Konrad Grebel's missionary work was Jakob Falk. He was baptized and was considered to be "one of the most ardent and loyal followers of Konrad Grebel" until the end of his life. In the same year Falk was thrown into jail in Appenzell together with Heini Reimann , another Baptist ; however, she was released after a short time for unknown reasons. On a May Sunday in 1526, Falk and Reimann took part in a secret Anabaptist service that took place in a wooded area between Bubikon and Wetzikon . The Grüninger Landvogt Jörg Berger must have found out about this meeting. He surprised the worshipers and arrested them. In the interrogations that followed, both Falk and Reimann admitted that they had been baptized and that others had also been baptized.

On March 7, 1526, just a few months before Falk and Reimann were captured for the second time, the City Council of Zurich issued a so-called Anabaptist mandate. It stipulated that all Anabaptists, especially those who were rebaptized themselves, were to be punished with death. The Zurich council asked the Grüningen authorities to extradite the two prisoners. The latter, however, passed the case on to the Bern authorities, invoking an old Austrian privilege. After a trial that lasted about 18 months, the proceedings against Falk and Reimann were referred back to Zurich from Bern. The two Anabaptists were transferred to Zurich after spending a year and a half in Grüninger prison. When asked by the Zurich judges, Falk stated that he would continue to adhere to the baptism of believers and that he was willing to continue to practice it. The Son of God will make him strong and never leave him. The court then sentenced Falk and Reimann to death by drowning. At noon on September 5th, 1528, this judgment was carried out on the two Anabaptists.

literature

  • Emil Egli : The Zurich Anabaptists. Zurich 1878, p. 51, p. 58, p. 81f.
  • Christian Hege , Christian Neff : Mennonite Lexicon. Frankfurt, Weierhof, Karlsruhe 1913-1967, Volume I, p. 628.
  • Armin Sierszyn : On the Anabaptist movement in the Grüninger office. In: Zwingliana. Contributions to the history of Zwingli, the Reformation and Protestantism in Switzerland. XXXIV, 2007, p. 39ff ( online , accessed March 30, 2011).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Fritz Blanke: Anabaptism and Reformation , in: Das Anabaptertum. Legacy and Commitment (edited by Guy F. Hershberger), Volume II in Series B Die Kirchen der Welt , Stuttgart 1963, p. 61
  2. ↑ Diether Götz Lichdi: Konrad Grebel and the early Anabaptist Movement , Volume 2 in the series The Fathers of the Anabaptist Movement (edited by Heinrich Klassen, Johannes Reimer and Johann Richert), location 1998, ISBN 3-927767-70-0 , p. 141
  3. ^ Christian Neff: Falk, Jakob (d. 1528) . In: Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online ; Accessed March 30, 2011
  4. ^ Christian Neff: Falk, Jakob (d. 1528) . In: Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online ; Accessed March 30, 2011
  5. ↑ See to Landvogt Jörg Berger: Doris Klee: Conflicts communicate. The letters from Grüninger Landvogts Jörg Berger to the Zurich Council (1514–1529) , Zurich 2006, ISBN 3-0340-0775-2
personal data
SURNAME Falk, Jakob
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Falck, Jakob
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Baptist Martyrs
DATE OF BIRTH 15th century or 16th century
PLACE OF BIRTH Gossau ZH
DATE OF DEATH September 5, 1528
Place of death Zurich