Mark Schwaner

Mark or Markus Schwaner (* 1639 in Zittau ; † September 22, 1713 in London ) was a German Quaker and employee of George Fox .

In 1639 Schwaner was born in Zittau , where he attended the municipal high school and studied in Leipzig . He then lived in Holland and England, where he was probably the first German to join Quakerism. When he visited his hometown of Zittau in 1675, he was captured, tortured and brought before the Inquisition . Schwaner is the only German Quaker who was questioned and sentenced by the Lutheran Inquisition. After serving his sentence, Schwaner had to leave Zittau and Kursachsen and went back to England.

Since then he has called himself Marc Swanner (or Swaner). In London , his linguistic talent was useful for the Quakers in drafting and printing their writings; he worked for William Penn and George Fox for many years . In 1679 he was referred to as the "corrector of the press of all friends books". He was thus editorially responsible for all Quaker writings that were in print at that time. He died in London on September 22, 1713.

literature

• Johann Benedict Carpzov: Analecta Fastorum Zittaviensium. Zittau 1716
• Contributions to the history of the church in Upper Lusatia. By Markus Schwanern. In: Lusatian monthly or contributions to the natural economic and political history of Upper and Lower Lusatia. Volume 1, 1791, pp. 110-112 ( digitized version ).
• Christian Adolph Pescheck : Marcus Schwaner, a Quaker. A strange inquisition story from Upper Lusatia, from the year 1676. In: Journal for historical theology. Volume 2, 1832, pp. 271-282.
• Günther Rautenstrauch: The Quacker Marcus Schwaner - Zittau's exiled son. A criminal grotesque from the confessional age. In: Oberlausitzer Heimatblätter. Volume 5, 2005, pp. 2-14.
• Claus Bernet : Inquisition protocols as prose text. A case study from Zittau 1676. In: Specialized prose research - border crossings. Volume 4/5, 2008/2009, pp. 149-166.
• Claus Bernet: "I do not see that I am seduced" The Inquisition of Markus Schwaner from Zittauer 1676. In: Neues Lausitzisches Magazin . Journal of the Upper Lusatian Society of Sciences, Volume 13, 2010, pp. 71–86.
• Claus Bernet: Marc Swanner (1639-1713): The man behind Fox and Penn . In: Quaker History. Volume 99, Issue 2, 2010, pp. 20-36.
• Claus Bernet:  Mark Schwaner. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 33, Col. 1210-1217, Bautz ,.