Jakob Gross (Baptist)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pseudo-Schäufelein: The interrogation, around 1528
Baptist, Death and the Devil, woodcut from an anonymous dance of death from the 16th century

Jakob Gross , also Jakob von Waldshut , (* around 1500 in Waldshut ; † after 1531) was a furrier and Anabaptist preacher .

Life

The origin of Jakob Gross is undetermined. According to his own statements during his interrogation in Augsburg , Konrad Grebel ( ain student from Zurich ) introduced him to Anabaptism. Balthasar Hubmaier baptized him in Waldshut. When the Waldshut people mobilized in June 1525 to support the rebellious peasants in the siege of Radolfzell , Jakob Gross and Ulrich Teck , an Baptist friend, refused to do military service. They were placed in the tower and then expelled from the city with the property confiscated. The two turned to Grüningen , since they suspected they would find other pacifist comrades there. End 1526 is held in a Strasbourg interrogation report the following: "[Gross] Also says the Wass Magistracy is entitled, the [wanted] he keep vnd for his person ever to stand up against any top standardize willing, etc .; wanted to watch, beware, harnisch create, take the spear in hand: the sper he did nit; but to beat the people to death that is not written in any of the commandments of God . "

In August 1525 he worked as an Anabaptist preacher in the Grüningen office (Canton of Zurich) and supported Grebel in missionary work. As he stated after his arrest in Grüningen, he is said to have carried out more than 30 baptisms in one day together with Ulrich Teck , who also came from Waldshut . After he was expelled from the Zurich area, he went to the Bernese Unteraargau, where he began preaching and baptizing in Zofingen , Brittnau and Aarau, among other places , until he was arrested here too. During interrogation in Brugg , he skillfully defended his views on Anabaptism and at the same time attacked Zwingli and other predicants .

Gross then left the Swiss Confederation and went to Lahr and, when he was also expelled there, to Strasbourg . As soon as he arrived in Strasbourg in April 1526, he began to baptize here too and to spread his views on baptism and non-violence. However, he was arrested and interrogated in the summer of 1526. When he was not ready to withdraw, he was banished from the city. Jakob Gross is considered to be the founder of the Strasbourg Anabaptist community.

Jakob Gross saw himself as a preacher and left no writings. Only one note with Anabaptist principles, which was preserved in Strasbourg, is attributed to Gross by some authors. Jakob Groß, who came from a craftsman's class, certainly had reading and writing skills. In the distress following his arrest, his wife Veronika was forced to sell books from the couple's possession, the titles of which have been recorded in the Augsburg interrogation protocols.

Jakob Gross moved on from Strasbourg to Augsburg, where he arrived in late autumn 1526. Hans Denck had left Augsburg shortly before to go to Strasbourg. Gross took over the leadership of the Anabaptist congregation, which had become vacant after Denck's departure, and began successful missionary work. In the course of 1527, it is known that he baptized 22 people. In August 1527 he took part in the Augsburg Synod of Martyrs , where he led the group of pacifist-minded Swiss Anabaptists , which included Hans Beck from Basel and Gregor Maler from Chur . It was he who defended the Schleitheim articles at this synod . In September 1527, after a meeting in the house of the weaver Gall Fischer, he was arrested together with Hans Hut and about 60 other people and taken to the Augsburg prison. On the instructions of the Augsburg council, a disputation took place from September 21 to 26, 1527, during which Gross and his fellow prisoners Hut, Dachser and Salminger had to answer to anti-Anabaptist theologians appointed and paid by the council. These included Urbanus Rhegius , Stephan Agricola and Johannes Frosch . Gross remained imprisoned for four years until he revoked in June 1531. Nothing is known about his whereabouts.

Jakob Gross was married to Veronika Albrecht , who also came from Waldshut. According to her own statements, she was baptized by Wilhelm Reublin (presumably on Holy Saturday 1525 in the Waldshut church). In Augsburg she lived with her husband in the house of Eitelhans Langenmantel . A year after her husband, she was arrested in Augsburg too. Because she did not retract, she was whisked out of town with rods. Veronika Gross is one of the first Anabaptist women known by name.

Christening succession

The line of baptismal succession goes back to Jakob Gross (spring 1525) via Balthasar Hubmaier (spring 1525), Wilhelm Reublin (January 1525), Jörg Blaurock (January 1525) to Konrad Grebel (January 1525). The dates in brackets indicate the respective baptism date. Evidence of this can be found in the biography articles of the persons mentioned.

literature

  • Christian Hege, Christian Neff: Mennonite Lexicon . Frankfurt, Weierhof 1913-1967, Volume II, pp. 187-188.
  • Hans Guderian: The Anabaptists in Augsburg. Their history and their legacy. A contribution to the 200th anniversary of the city of Augsburg , Pfaffenhofen 1984, ISBN 3-7787-2063-5 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Clifford Arnold Snyder, Linda Agnès Huebert (eds.): Profiles of Anabaptist Women: Sixteenth-century Reforming Pioneers . Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press, 1996, pp. 26, 103 (Eng.)
  2. ^ Interrogation in Augsburg: Printed in: Journal of the Historisches Verein für Schwaben and Neuburg. (1844), pp. 245-246.
  3. ↑ Quoted from Urs B. Leu, Christian Scheidegger (ed.): Die Zürcher Täufer 1525–1700 , Zurich 2007, ISBN 978-3-290-17426-2 , p. 39.
  4. ↑ Hans Guderian, p. 34.
  5. ↑ Hans Guderian, p. 41.
  6. ↑ Hans-Jürgen Goertz: The Anabaptists. History and interpretation . Munich 1980, p. 23.
  7. ↑ Hans Guderian, p. 37.
  8. ↑ Hans Guderia, p. 91.
  9. ↑ Torsten Bergsten: Balthasar Hubmaier. His position on the Reformation and Anabaptism. 1521–1528 , Kassel 1961, p. 304.
  10. ^ Arnold C. Snyder, Linda Huebert Hecht: Profiles of Anabaptist women: sixteenth-century reforming pioneers . Waterloo 1996.
personal data
SURNAME Gross, Jakob
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Jakob von Waldshut
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German furrier and Anabaptist preacher
DATE OF BIRTH around 1500
PLACE OF BIRTH Waldshut
DATE OF DEATH after 1531